The Isle of Terror: Part 1

I will, once again, skip into the future. We went on several other adventures, which went largely smoothly. Thus, I shall not go into detail about our quests for the Enchanted Tapestry of Cassandra, or a ceremonial mask of the elusive Order of the Prismatic Gopher, or the Fecal Cornucopia, considered by many wizards to be the funniest magical artefact created by man, or many others.

The focus will, instead, be on the expedition dispatched to the island known as Adahuya, located between Manea and the Sorcerous League. There are numerous isles in this area, inhabited mostly by fishermen and generally unremarkable. Nobody, however, lived on Adahuya. The waters around it are much too treacherous for any ship to approach, with sharp rocks and strong currents bound to smash anyone foolish enough to make an attempt to pieces.

What made Adahuya intriguing was a local legend that eventually spread to the mainland. According to this story, the island was, a few centuries back, visited by an ambitious young wizard from the League. The details about how he managed to brave the treacherous waters were lost, but what is known is that he emerged a changed man and would later become infamous as the person who turned his home country into a superpower, Arthacyros.

Since he founded the Royal Treasure Hunters, King Philoctetes was planning to organize an expedition to Adahuya. Finding the source of the enemy leader’s enormous power was a job of great importance. No captain worth his salt, however, dared sail to certain death, and this journey was thus postponed indefinitely.

A new circumstance appeared in the shape of a strangely dressed man, who was clutching his face in his hands. His clothes consisted of a white shirt, a black waistcoat, and trousers, all much tighter than common in Manea, but the telltale signs of his Celestian origins were the ridiculously elongated poulaines on his feet and the cap decorated with characteristic small wings. He was sitting, deep in despair, in our briefing room while the King explained his presence.

“...and then, having lost all his money, Captain Boro here wagered his airship on the next round of cards, and predictably lost. Waking up next morning, with a terrible hangover no doubt, he ran straight to the palace hoping to somehow sort the situation out”.

It was only natural that the Celestian captain panicked after losing his boat. Not only was his livelihood at stake, but airship construction was a closely guarded secret, and letting foreigners get their hands on one of them would endanger Celestian's monopoly on air travel. Letting that happen would carry serious repercussions.

It was also in the King’s best interest to help smooth things out, as the Celestians would likely threaten to impose sanctions on trade with Manea if their airship wasn’t returned. He agreed to buy back the vessel from the merchant who won it, but demanded a favour in return – captain Boro would have to provide his services on an expedition to Adahuya.

Boro reluctantly agreed and was now present at this meeting, where our plans were to be laid out. His mind wasn’t all there, however, likely trying to figure out how to explain this sudden journey to his crewmembers without arousing suspicion.

Our old friend Spiridon Nixon would sit this one out, as he was a cavalryman and would be a suboptimal escort in the tunnels we expected to find on Adahuya. Seven infantrymen and two sappers were considered to be sufficient help. We were also to bring a significant quantity of explosives, with instructions to destroy entrances to the caverns if we judged our findings to be too dangerous.

Civet, once again, brought an outsider along. Professor Gorchin was a leading expert on theoretical wizardry, though a deficiency in his magic glands made him unable to cast anything but basic spells, forcing him into the academia (on a side note, this was the first time I learned there was such a thing as magic glands, an organ that didn’t exist or wasn’t known about in my time). He would be able to gauge how useful or dangerous anything we found could be.

As soon as men and supplies were gathered, we departed from Hieropolis sky port. It was built on a nearby hill, out of which two docks, looking like unfinished aqueducts, protruded. There was room for around a dozen airships altogether, one of them being Captain Boro’s Soaring Griffin. Once we arrived, it became clear that even if we wanted, we couldn’t have brought a larger party. With all the provisions and equipment, the airship was nearing its capacity. This being a merchant vessel, there weren’t nearly enough cabins, and most of us were transported in the cargo hold. Thankfully, it wasn’t going to be a long journey, taking around 20 hours. We moved out late in the evening, so that we could reach the island tomorrow afternoon.

We settled in, and the ship, kept in the air by its massive balloon, took off. I was more comfortable with being airborne than my companions, given that I had already travelled by air in my previous life. To make the trip go by faster, I tried pestering the crew to let me onto the bridge so I could observe the scenery. Eventually, the Captain relented, on condition I wouldn’t ask any questions. At first, barely anything could be seen, but around dawn, I observed eastern portions of Manea, which had until recently been occupied by the Sorcerous League. They soon turned to sea, peppered with numerous small islands. When we finally approached our destination, the ship began to descend. Adahuya was small and rocky, with nary a plant in sight. The sea around it seemed as treacherous as every sailor had claimed, and I couldn’t see a beach or any other location suitable for a seafaring vessel to disembark. Things weren’t much easier for our air barge. We made two circles around the island until the Captain decided on a rock outcropping. As the airship hovered dangerously close to the cliff, two of the crewmen jumped across the gap with experienced nonchalance, having done similar perilous stunts hundreds of times across their careers. They tied the ship to some suitable rocks, and we could soon disembark. The plan was to set up camp and rest for the night. The next day, we would scout for cave entrances and begin our exploration of the isle’s interiors.

We set our feet on solid ground, glad the journey was over, yearning for yet another adventure. We were at the top of our game and ready for anything. Or so we thought.