• Chapter 22: The Ghost Pirates of Ithacobalt

    The representative’s boat soon arrived on the western docks of Ithacobalt Island, and it was a short walk to Ithacobalt Village, the fishing village of the island. And being a village that was tied to the sea, it had a temple to the god Poseidon.
    The representative soon escorted the party to Baron Zale Kovaltiou. The baron was an elf with blue-grey skin, blue-black hair, and blue-green eyes. He wore attire worthy of a man of the sea, as well as a government official.
    “Baron Kovaltiou,” said the representative, “I’ve brought the five as you have requested.”
    “It is good that you are here, friends,” said the baron. “And thank you for bringing them, Representative Kalchas Vathyble.”
    “It was a pleasure to serve our land,” Vathyble said with a bow.
    “I have heard you’ve been having troubles with a ghost ship,” said Valerius.
    “You have no idea how much so,” replied Baron Kovaltiou.
    The baron cleared his throat, and then explained:
    “Long ago, that ship belonged to a group of ferocious pirates. Even before the empire was united, they would harass any who would sail near them in the Ionized-Ionian Islands.
    “One day, during the 150th year of the empire, my ancestor and his army soon led an attack that overpowered all the pirates in battle. He himself captured and hanged the captain. All the people thought the troubles are over… it seems the ghost ship proved us wrong.”

    “I shall face these ghost pirates,” said Valerius, “for Delphinia’s sake!”
    “Yes,” replied the baron, “I have heard of Erebus causing you grief. All I can suggest is to please be careful. They haven’t lost their prowess after death.”
    “So this ghost ship appears at night,” said Valerius. “I shall gladly wait till then.”
    Valerius remembered what he heard of the ghost ship appearing on the northern coast of Ithacobalt. Some of the fisherman prepared a rowboat for him to go there.
    The sun began to set. Valerius fought the drowsiness as night would soon set in.
    Finally, the night had come, and it was a third-quarter moon that night.
    Black mist-like clouds gathered together in the sea, and they merged into a galleon shape. The mists soon solidified. Surely enough, this was the ghost ship.
    The human hero got into the rowboat and rowed the craft as fast as he could paddle. The glowing chain of the anchor was sturdy despite it being incorporeal. Thus Valerius climbed up the chain to get onto the ship.
    The ghost pirates looked like human-like glowing specters, in the attire they wore in life.
    “Ahoy!” said one pirate. “We have a stowaway!”
    “Let’s send this person to the underworld!” said another.
    At once, they got their ghost swords out and raced toward him.
    “It is YOU who shall return to the underworld,” said Valerius as he got out his plasma saber.
    The pirates soon lunged at him. Some went alone, some went in pairs, others in groups of three. But all of them soon became dissipated by quick strokes of the plasma blade.
    While this was going on, another craft was slowly approaching the ghost ship, but there didn’t seem to be anyone on it.

    Eventually, the numbers of ghost pirates dwindled.
    “Now,” said Valerius, “tell me where your captain is.”
    “Right here,” said an eerie, low, angry voice.
    Valerius looked toward the direction the voice spoke. The ghost had the same glowing complexion of the other ghost pirates, but wore an ancient Greek naval captain’s helmet—with black plumage. He also wore a mix of ancient Greek navy clothes, modern navy clothes, and a vest indicating a buccaneer, similar to what one might see in the Caribbean back in the day.
    This was certainly the ghost captain.
    “So,” said Valerius, “you are the captain.”
    “Indeed I am,” the ghost captain replied. “I am exacting my revenge for the island who brought my mortal life’s end.”
    “In the name of that man’s descendant,” said Valerius, “I shall send you back to Tartarus where you belong!”
    “You are welcome to try!” replied the ghost, getting out his scimitar. The scimitar looked new, despite not being used for so long. And an eerie green ghostly fire coated the blade.
    Valerius dodged the strikes as best he could, looking for an opening to strike back.
    Then he noticed that despite being a ghost sword, the scimitar would get stuck in the rotten timbers of the ghost ship, and the ghost captain would struggle getting the sword out for a few seconds. Now Valerius could go on the attack.
    “You couldn’t swing a bilge mop!” mocked Valerius.
    “You little land-lubber!” roared the captain as he charged for him.
    At the last possible moment, Valerius rolled out of the way and got the captain to miss.
    This was the moment he waited for.
    Valerius thrusted his plasma blade across the ghost captain’s neck.
    The ghost screamed, which was odd, since ghosts shouldn’t feel pain. But the neck was, after all, where the mortal blow was struck when he swung on the gallows at the end of his life.
    The head rolled off for a brief bit, and then both the head and body dissolved into sparkling dust.
    “Game, set, and match!” said Valerius.
    But soon, he noticed the ghost ship beginning to fade.
    “I need to get off, quickly!” Valerius said.
    When he looked about, he saw a fresher sloop coming near, albeit empty. But he knew better than to look a gift horse—or rather, a gift boat—in the mouth.
    Valerius took a running start and leapt onto the deck of the sloop. He then noticed some various nymphs controlling it, making themselves visible.
    “Hi,” said one nymph with a giggle. “We’ve been sent by Zanthe to help!”
    “Yeah,” said another nymph. “Your friend saw your need, and was afraid the rowboat might’ve been the destroyed in your scuffle. So we came here.”
    “Let’s get you back to shore,” said a third nymph. “You’ve had a tough battle!”
    The sloop soon made it back to the northern shore. The nymphs then escorted Valerius back to dry ground.
    “You can have the ship,” said the first nymph. “You’ll need it to go on further in your adventures.”
    “Take care,” said all the nymphs as they returned to their respective domains.

    Valerius soon returned to Ithacobalt Village. Baron Kovaltiou gladly welcomed him back to the mansion, knowing that the mission was a success, for one of the nymphs had visited earlier to give the news.
    The next day, the people declared a celebration, now that the ghost ship would trouble them no more.
    Representative Vathyble said, “I’ve had some magicians and nymphs soup up your sloop. Rumors are saying that Erebus was seen in the Trideconese Islands now.”
    “The Trideconese?” asked the baron.
    Some people heard this.
    “You must be careful,” said one human woman. “One of the islands is just teeming with monsters of all varieties.”
    “Yes,” said a male elf. “And there are reports of a mad scientist in that trio of islands.”
    The baron then said, “The only know city, or any settlement for that matter, is Archapalopolis, on the island of Archapalaia.”
    “I guess we’ll go to that island first to know our next move,” said Galina.
    “The gods protect you always,” said the baron.
    After a few more hours of celebrating, the party then left to their new sloop.
    Before getting on board, Zanthe prepared another helping of her homemade seasick remedy as a preventative measure to help Rouvin.
    “Much obliged,” said Rouvin with a soft chuckle.

    Since this was not a fast boat, the party would have to spend the night out at sea, so at a calm spot, the ship dropped anchor.
    During the night, Valerius had another dream.
    In the dream, Valerius saw Delphinia wounded.
    The darkened sky in the background showed Erebus’ evil face laughing. Between Delphinia and the Erebus-filled sky was the same mountain and tower Valerius saw in the previous dream.
    Valerius soon awoke in a cold sweat. The sun had started to rise as he looked out the window.
    The sailing soon continued, and Archapalaia Island soon came into view.