"All aboard! We're leaving in five minutes!" Harrold heard a sailor yell in the distance.
Next to him, Pat perked up. "That might be our ship Harrold, let's pick up the pace a bit."
As if waiting for the moment, Pat instantly demonstrated his navigational skills by rapidly making his way through the docks and the many, many sailors without disturbing anything or anyone. It had been ridiculously busy ever since the flying fish boom. The docks weren't designed to fit such an amount of ships, so captains took it upon themselves to build their own anchoring spots. It resulted in a constantly expanding and already surprisingly large secondary dock, made entirely out of spare wood. To call it rickety would be an understatement. To call it a monstrosity would be a correct statement. It was as if thousands of tortured souls were connected, crying out in pain as they begged to end their suffering. Though to both the average and non-average human being, it sounded like creaking of old planks.
The ship in question was, of course, located somewhere near the end of this monstrosity. The slippery surface combined with the constant movement of sailors, on a surface barely wide enough for three or four people, made it hard for someone of clumsy nature to remain standing. It didn't help that Harrold also had to avoid barrels filled to the brim with fish, taking up precious walking space and covering the ground around them with dead fish.
The smell was absolutely unbearable. Harrold thought he had gotten used to the smell of fish by now, but the hot midday sun combined with the sheer number of the flying slippery bastards collected at the docks was too much for him. Unlike Pat, Harrold disturbed everything he could possibly disturb as he walked around the docks. Though he didn't catch much flack for it besides a few quick angry glances, which always turned into looks of surprise as the glancer noticed Harrold's hat. He also felt a very familiar and worrying urge. A sensation comparable to an itch that needs scratching in a spot that would be highly inappropriate to scratch in public. He didn't want to give in, but it was getting worse as he went along. He wanted to get on that ship quickly.
As soon as he tried to go faster, he was hit in the head by something wet and floppy. Before he could consider what this wet and floppy something might be, he was hit in the head by many more wet and floppy somethings, causing him to fall backwards. He managed to break his fall with his hands. As a result, his hands were filthy, but at least he prevented most of his clothing from sharing the same fate. As he looked behind him to see what hit him, he saw a school of flying fish trying to escape. A large group of shouting sailors with nets ran after them.
I hate flying fish.
He sighed and tried to get up, which turned out to be impossibly difficult due to how slippery everything was. Harrold was getting frustrated at this point. Everyone around him seemed either too scared to approach a wizard or too indifferent to bother helping. After a bit more struggling, something tugged on his robes and pulled him upwards with surprising strength. Expecting to see a large man in front of him, he instead was faced with... nothing. Then he felt another tug on his robes, lower this time. He looked down in response and was surprised to see a monkey. Though the sight of a monkey was strange enough on its own, the monkey also appeared to have two wooden pegs instead of legs and was wearing a white shirt covered in red stripes. Bound around its head was a red bandanna. The bandanna's color was slightly off compared to the shirt, which slightly annoyed anyone that noticed it. It also carried a scimitar on its back, which appeared slightly too large for the monkey to wield properly. The monkey aggressively pulled on Harrold's robes with such strength that Harrold was afraid his robes would be pulled down entirely.
"Hey, stop that," he said, before realizing that the monkey wouldn't understand him at all.
The monkey made angry monkey noises before forcibly pulling Harrold along. Harrold couldn't say that he liked this, but wasn't sure how to respond to this rather unique predicament. That's when Harrold noticed that the monkey was actually pulling him in the right direction and the pair were going at a much faster pace than Harrold was originally.
"I'll accept this for now," he said to the monkey, acting as if he had a choice in the matter.
The duo drew surprisingly few looks as they made their way to the ship. A monkey would be a strange sight on its own and so would a wizard around these parts. The combination of these equally rare and strange sights seemed to cancel each other out, turning the illogical into the perfectly normal. Somehow the monkey was still going in the right direction.
Maybe this little guy is the local guide.
Harrold considered the thought for a moment, before realizing he would've likely heard about the existence of monkey guides. He had also never actually told the monkey where he needed to go.
Good, at least it won't be expecting pay in that case. The service wouldn't deserve it anyway.
Without any input from Harrold's side, they soon made it to the right dock. Much to Harrold's surprise, the ship turned out to actually be an airship. Even Harrold with his, admittedly, limited knowledge on airships could see this was not a particularly impressive one, but even an older somewhat battered airship was still an airship. Reserved for the rich, famous and foolish. They are notorious for being the fastest non-magical form of transportation. The big downside being that one could never be quite sure if it would take you to your actual destination or your final destination. On the plus side, regardless of where you ended up, at least it would get you there quickly. That's the common perception anyway. Airships had a habit of disappearing suddenly and permanently, so no one really knew if accidents were quick and painless or horribly slow and excruciatingly painful. Harrold, knowing his luck, figured he'd soon find out.
For the most part airships looked the same as normal seafaring boats. Airships still required the capability to cross the violent seas after all. This one too followed the age-old standards. A large wooden hull, with probably two levels below deck Harrold guessed based on its size, and three masts holding up a collection of large sails. The hull had multiple closed shutters on the side. Harrold hoped they were not just to threaten, but also had some actual cannons hidden behind them. The biggest difference between this particular airship and the average dull boat would be the placement of the largest mast, which was more towards the back of the ship, and the fact that it had huge wing-like sails on the side. They were quite large, starting slightly before the center of the ship and sticking out at the end. The wings resembled those of an insect, small and thin at the base and broadening considerably towards the end. With the wings pulled in towards the hull, as they were currently, the back of the ship was mostly obscured from view. The wings actually covered off several of the shutters on both the upper and lower row, suggesting the vassal once started life as an ordinary boat and was modified later on.
As if the custom built ones aren't dangerous enough already.
The monkey violently pointed towards the boarding ramp and made some more angry monkey noises towards Harrold. Before today Harrold wouldn't have been sure what 'violently pointing' would entail, but it really was the only way to describe the monkey's motions.
"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Harrold said as he started walking up the ramp.
"Such an angry little guy," he muttered, which resulted in the monkey giving him a mean sideways glance, quickly followed by even more violent motions and angry noises. Harrold picked up his pace in response, hoping to avoid any potential conflict. He was not in the mood to deal with an angry scimitar wielding monkey today. Had it been yesterday, or tomorrow for that matter, the little fiend would've been in great trouble.
Harrold made his way up the ramp. Both the captain and Pat were waiting for him.
"Ah, just in time Master Wizard! Welcome aboard the 'Bon Voyage'", the Captain said enthusiastically as Harrold approached.
"What a subtle name," Harrold muttered under his breath.
He greeted Harrold with a handshake. It once again took Harrold slightly too long to realize his hand was quite dirty from the earlier incident.
"...I'll give you gentlemen a quick tour once we get underway," the Captain said with noticeably less enthusiasm.
Harrold noticed the monkey coming up behind him to pull up the boarding ramp together with a sailor. He shot a panicked look at the Captain.
"That thing is coming with us?" Harold asked too loudly. He instantly felt a pair of eyes burning into the back of his skull. He expected a scimitar to enter the back of his skull momentarily.
"Why of course!" the Captain answered, "Didn't I tell you fine gentlemen about an old friend coming to work for me after the banana GMM? Well, that friend was good 'ol Peggy here."
He leaned in slightly closer and whispered, "It's a touchy subject so don't mention it near her though."
Harrold frowned. Everything appears to be a touchy subject around her... Wait, that means a monkey can understand human speech?
There were some rare creatures that could communicate with humans, but he had never heard of a monkey being able to do so to this degree. Before he could inform about it, the Captain took off, Peggy in tow, and issued some final orders to prepare the ship for voyage. Harrold turned to Pat, who also looked warily at Peggy.
"I'm not sure this was a great idea," Harrold said.
"I almost got skewered by that little monster when I arrived, so I'll have to agree for now," Pat answered dryly.
If even the always optimistic Pat was having second thoughts, you knew you were in for trouble.
"On the other hand, look at us, Harrold!" Pat made a grand gesture with his hands, "We're on an airship! I've never been on one before. Can't wait to see this thing in action!"
Harrold, on the other hand, didn't mind waiting. He knew exactly how airships worked. Soon after, the anchor was raised, a few of the smaller sails were lowered and the boat slowly stirred into action. Pat was wide-eyed and looked as only a five-year-old, physically or mentally, could.
"Sooooo," he said, "when does the whole flying part start?"
Harrold wasn't entirely sure if it was smart to explain Pat the specifics on the matter. "You'll see," he chose to say instead.
After a short moment, Harrold spoke up again, "Did you read the notes the Captain gave us?"
Pat slowly turned his head and looked at Harrold with a blank stare.
"That's what I thought," Harrold said before grabbing a piece of paper from his pocket, "I've made a few notes on the important details of the job, so let's go over it right now."
Pat maintained his blank stare.
"Oh come on Pat, it'll be short. The flying isn't going to start soon anyway."
Pat finally gave in. "Alright, fine. Tell me the interesting stuff."
They walked over to the edge of the ship and looked at the city slowly decreasing in size. Not literally of course because that would be cause for some concern.
"Well, you already knew the Captain is looking for a magical artifact called the 'Staff of Ascension', a horribly dull name if you ask me, but did you know it apparently belonged to his family for a long time? The notes don't describe how or when, but they must've somehow lost it I guess."
Pat leaned forward and kept staring towards the now tiny city with a bored expression. "Harrold, I said 'interesting stuff'."
Harrold sighed. Fine. He continued reading, "The search for the artifact stalled for a while, but recently a new lead showed up. Someone called B. Adguy has informed the captain that he can aid in the search."
Pat finally looked up and gave Harrold a surprised look. "B. Adguy?" he asked.
Harrold looked at his notes again before responding, "Uh, yes. That's what it says."
Pat now looked at Harrold with pure disbelief. "Are you kidding me? B. Adguy? The great B. Adguy? You've never heard of him?"
"Should I have?"
"He's like one of the richest people in the world!" Pat said with exasperation.
"Huh, okay," Harrold said, not really caring about that fact, "So our next stop is the city of Güldenfurt. This apparently wealthy Adguy lives there. In exchange for the information, he wanted the Captain to arrange for a couple of 'helpful' and 'experienced' men. They also needed to tick both the brawn and knowledge boxes. I'm guessing that'll be the two of us then."
"Which one is which, though?" Pat asked suddenly.
Harrold blinked a couple of times before deeming the question not worthy of a response. "Anyway, that's about all we know so far. I know we didn't want the full explanation, but these notes he sent are a bit too much on the short and vague side," Harrold said. Maybe we didn't leave much of an impression that evening...
Pat looked at him anxiously. "Please don't ask for more details, please don't! You know what happened last time...", suddenly Pat's eyes widened, "Here he comes Harrold. Don't ask for details. We'll be fine!"
"Lower the sails!" the Captain shouted loudly from behind them, causing a sailor and Peggy to spring into action, then he walked over towards Harrold and Pat.
"Ah, gentlemen, good to see you haven't fallen overboard," the Captain said.
Pat began to laugh, but Harrold realized the Captain was completely serious.
"Anyway," the Captain continued, "sorry to keep you waiting. Truly sorry. Now that we're out of the crowded waters, we can start the journey proper! I must say, I've been looking forward to this. A great deal, in fact. If Sir B. Adguy says he has information, it's guaranteed to be good!"
"There's actually something I want to ask about that, Captain," Harrold said, causing Pat to shiver, "Do you know B. Adguy personally?"
"Well, as you probably know, every serious businessman on this planet eventually meets the man, but no, I wouldn't say I know him well personally," the Captain said.
Given that Harrold only recently learned of the existence of the man, he wasn't aware of this apparently well-known fact either. He wasn't planning on letting anyone else know that though.
The captain continued, "He's been a good business partner of mine for a while now, a good one indeed. Let's walk and talk, shall we? I'll show you around the Bon! She's a beauty, isn't she?"
The three of them started walking. The B. Adguy thing felt a bit off to Harrold. If they're just your average business partners it doesn't make sense to share a lead on a valuable magical artifact. He's also apparently as rich and well connected as they come, so why bother to hire people through one of his business partners, especially given the travel time. Whatever the task was, it likely could've been done by now if he had hired someone locally. There had to be more to this exchange than the Captain had shared, unless the Captain himself didn't know why either. He decided to leave it be for now, both because he didn't want to come across as overly inquisitive and because he really didn't care a great deal. There was probably a simple explanation anyway, one that involved coins.
The Captain showed the two around the fairly empty ship. Pat started the tour eager and, while still impressed, was also a bit disappointed that this looked very much like any ordinary ship. A sparsely decorated one at that. Harrold had expected it beforehand. Being a modified airship, the base of the ship was probably heavier than usual. The Captain had compensated for that by keeping everything else as light as possible. That also meant the ship had a, non-literal, skeleton crew and that there were only three cannons on the entire ship.
Even after all these lightening measures, the floor still took every opportunity to let its suffering be known. It would probably creak at a different tone if it knew just how much its kinsman suffered in the Rowdy Inn. Harrold felt truly annoyed as a result of this pampered behavior, though he himself had no clue why exactly he felt this way and mistakenly blamed Pat for it. The captain showed them their quarters which were also sparse, to put it lightly. Just looking at the bed made Harrold's back hurt already. Thankfully the trip shouldn't take too long if everything went right.
"Alright, this is the last section," the Captain said, "It's just for storage though, so there should be no need for you to come in here."
The Captain opened the door. The large room was absolutely filled with barrels and crates. Harrold suddenly felt dizzy. His vision started spinning. His breath became ragged. The urge, that annoying and intense sensation, came back. Not now, Harrold. Stay focused, you can resist it. His head hurt. He turned around, holding his hands to his head. Pat was the first to notice.
"Harrold? What's wrong buddy?" he asked as he went to check on his friend.
Harrold put an arm around him and drew him in closer. "Pat," he whispered, "Close the door. Quickly. No questions right now. Don't make it too obvious."
Pat looked at him with equal concern and confusion, but did as Harrold asked.
"Captain, could you take Harrold to his quarters? I think he's seasick," Pat said as he slipped past the Captain.
"Why, yes of course! I remember my first time on a ship, it wasn't a pretty sight either! No, indeed it was not. It was quite disgusting actually. Really quite disgusting," the Captain said as he pensively stared at the hull, "It was everywhere..."
The Captain remained focused on the wall. It was silent for a few, seemingly long, moments. Pat closed the door and the bang shook the Captain into action. Harrold quickly felt better but pretended to still be sick as the Captain escorted him. They soon arrived at Harrold's quarters.
"I hope your condition improves soon Master Wizard!" the Captain said, "I'll be sure to check in when we take to the skies. It's not a moment you want to miss! That would be highly regrettable."
The Captain and Pat left the room. Harrold was feeling fine at this point, but decided to try and rest. It would likely be a while before the flight procedure started anyway.