Chapter 1 - The Light

It is early morning when the crew of the Fading Dawn readies itself to leave the port of Narrowplate behind. The green waves of the Wildsea are lightly rustling in the gentle wind and shimmering and glittering with dew in the low sun, clearly visible in the clouddless sky. It appears to be a perfect day to put to sea.
Their stay in the town of simple wooden huts built on a huge – though comparatively narrow – plate of metal, undoubtedly originally part of a much larger construction from pre-Verdant times, has been a productive one. Narrowplate is a relatively old, at least a decade by now, trade town located on top of the canopy of the Thrash in a fairly well-traversed region. They managed to do some trading, fill up their rations and fuel and are now preparing their trusty ship to set out once again to traverse the green canopy of the Wildsea.Just as their preparations are finishing up, the ship and crew are approached by a small group of three ardent, two men and a woman. As Narrowplate has no formal government, matters of community organization are overseen by a council of merchants. Each of these three is wearing a fragment of black insect shell pinned to their clothes, a sign that they are members of this council.
One of them, an old man in long, simple clothes, raises a hand in greeting and says: "Good morning, my friends." Once the wildsailors have turned their attention to him and his group, he says: "As you are departing today, we were hoping you could do a favor for us."

The woman, short and stocky with darkly tanned skin, adds: "Unless of course you already have somewhere you urgently need to go. But I am sure we can find a way to make this trip worth your while."

Elrenna is enormous, both in the sense that she towers over most Ardent in height, and that her body is well built, her muscles dense but compact rather than bulky, the heft of a trained warrior. Her wildly unkempt hair, trying to cascade down her back in a waterfall of cowlicks that look like an animal's quills from a distance, is held in check by a simple tie that turns it into a gravity defying ponytail. Being able to keep long hair despite her combat-oriented profession is one of the things she uses as a mark of her skill. She is clad in a bodysuit of cloth made from some kind of stretchy fiber, wrapped in supple leather and with metal plates here and there to protect the vitals and along the outside of the arms to allow her to deflect blows. The irises of her eyes are as black as the pupils they surround, and her face is perpetually cast into a dour looking frown, the default expression she wears at most times unless something shocks her out of it.

For the moment, she is simply doing a gear-check with some of the others who share her profession, helping to sharpen blades and passing out some of the food she has scrounged up and cooked to the others so they can spend more time on their gear and less time looking for something to eat. Her own lack of weaponry gives her more time to dole out assistance to those around her, making her about as popular with the other ship-defenders as anyone who is so innately standoffish can be.

Caitriona, stood near the prow of the ship coiling up the tail end of a length of rope used to secure the crane arm to the deck.

Caitriona was tall and thin, agile, able to slip through openings most people couldn't. Her long crimson hair was tied back with a black ribbon in a loose ponytail, her complexion was pale, and her bridge of her nose was covered with freckles. She gazed suspiciously at the councilors with her blue green eyes as she adjusted the straps on her cropped grey tank top. Her feet and hands were bare, stained black from prolonged of crezzerin exposure. She wore a knee length pale green skirt, a wide black obi belt and a heavy forward bent kukri style blade. The skin of her shoulders was sunburnt to a brilliant red and had already begun pealing, pretty much standard fair for her. Caitriona lent on the upper rail with a displaying a scarred arm long geometric tattoos. The tattoos and scars continued on the right side of her stomach and down her right leg.

A small metal ball fell off the rail post as she touched it and fell to the deck with a thud, she grabbed it quickly screwing it back where it came from hoping no one else had noticed.

Cait grins, "What exactly is it you want us to do?"

Shaw walks up from the belly of the ship. Wiping his hands on a rag, he's satisfied that the ship is in working order. As he steps into the main deck, the slight rolling of the deck makes his stomach seem likes it's doing flips. Pausing in mid-stride, Shaw gets his footing and continues to walk. Cait has already started speaking to them, Shaw us content to simply stand beside her quietly.

Dressed in an assortment or clothes and furs, Shaw has developed the odd outfit into a functional work uniform. Topping his outfit off is a pair of goggles on his head. They serve a simple dual purpose, both for work and keeping his clothes out of his eyes.

Seeing the officials walk up, Shaw makes his way over to them. Seeing that

The old man focuses his attention on Cait as she addresses them.
"Just a simple errand," he explains. "But an important one. Two weeks ago, something unthinkable happened. A tallshank fell. Too far away to see from here but we felt it shake the sea. Of course we have all heard legends of tallshanks falling but I never thought I would hear it happen myself. They seem so eternal, especially to a spit-born like myself."

The tanned woman continues for him. "Wildsailors confirmed it. It happened a few days of travel to the west from here. The location they gave us is very close to another settlement and we haven't heard from our friends and families living there since the fall. We need someone to go there and confirm whether the settlement is still there or has been destroyed. And to report back to us afterwards."

"So you want a courier?" Caitriona looks at Shaw and Elrenna, "Go, look around, report back?" She looked at the docks of Narrowplate at the people working there, at the spirits that inhabited this place. There were three, no five spirits, still working the docks bound for eternity to the docks.

"You know we're a salvage vessel right?" Cait says looking back at the councilors, "Engine don't run on good will and happy thoughts, you know. What was the name of the tallshank?"

A gentle gust of wind caused the leaves rustle around the hull of Fading Dawn, an ethereal voice whispered in her ear, Your great grandfather Liam founded Needleshank, what have you done? Caitriona waves a hand as if brushing away a bothersome insect. She turned an looked out across the trees to the West. What have you done Caitriona Morrigan, what have you done?

"According to the sailors who told us about it, it was called Amberreach, but they said it did not have a settlement on it so different people might have called it by different names," the old man says. "And of course, we wouldn't expect you to take this trip purely out of the kindness of your hearts." He gestures to the second man, who has until now been quiet. He is much younger and has a bushy, black beard. "Wellon has agreed, in exchange for news of his brother, to part with a valuable and very new chart that is supposed to lead to the resting place of an old pre-V factory, most certainly filled with treasures."

"Plus, who knows what might have been pushed up into the waves when the tallshank fell,", the woman adds. "If you search around where it is lying now, that alone might make the trip worth your while."

Shaw who's been quiet, finally decides to speak. Those do seem to be adequate terms.Is there a time frame on how quick you need this done?

"There is no time pressure," the old man replies. "Though of course we are all anxious to get news of our sistertown."

"Seems fair," Cait says looking at Shaw and Elrenna, "throw in a basketful of fresh fruit and vegetables and we might even throw a little extra heat under the engines."

She grins a little then looks back at the councilors, "No seriously those yellow and orange things are delicious."

Elrenna was lost in her own thoughts for a bit, wondering what could possibly bring down a tallshank, visions of leviathan swam through the sea in her mind, things like fish, things like beasts, things leftover from the old world that had returned or come to life with the concept that everyone but those from a specific nation were enemies, only that nation no longer existed and so all things were enemy to them. Where most would shiver or shudder from these sorts of thoughts, her body's involuntary reaction differed... A bizarrely menacing-sounding growl coming from her stomach as though she were starving for days, snapping her out of her own thoughts. "Yeah, that's fine with me. It sounds dangerous but what isn't?"

"It shouldn't be too dangerous," the old man replies. "Of course we don't know exactly what the fallen tree might have done to the area but we have no reason to assume there are any lingering dangers there after its fall."

The younger man, Wellon, takes a step forward and hands one of the crew a wooden chart. "This will lead you to Earthhaven. My brother Senan lives there." He reaches into his robe and takes out a letter, which he also hands to the sailors. "Please deliver this letter to him and bring back news of how they are doing. If the colony is still alive, that is."

"The town is located beneath the Thrash, not very deep but within the Tangle," the woman says. She looks at the massive chainsaw-engines of the Longjaw ship. "But your vessel is clearly equipped to travel below the surface."

"Thank you for your help," the old man say with a small bow.
Unless one of the wildsailors has another question, the three merchants take their leave to allow the sailors to return to their work.

I notice they didn’t give you the basket of fruits. A chill voice whispers in her ear.

"I know, the cheek right?" Cait frowns goes back to readying the ship then looks at Shaw, "Fire, Shank, Water for midnight watch? Shank grows in Water, Water put out Fire, Fire burns Shank."

Shaw's stomach is doing it's best to resume it's troubles. Luckily Cait's timely statement turns out to be his salvation. Listening to her, Shaw finds himself able to concentrate on the job at hand. With only a slightly confused look, he nods his understanding. Agreed, I've managed to complete all of the checks. We are good to go and can leave when we are ready.

Elrenna didn't like to go below the Thrash, there was something disconcertingly comfortable about the Tangle, and the few times she had gone as far as the Sink she felt as though she almost belonged there, completely wrong and backward from the way anyone around her had ever admitted to feeling. But a job was a job and she'd do it just the same as any other, personal misgivings had no weight compared to that, where would she get the goods to trade for meat without salvage? "Don't care, you guys decide between yourselves, I'll take whatever watch you don't desire."

"I'll take middle watch," Cait says finishing her task, "I know you guys don't like it much but I'm good with it," she shrugs, "spirits like to too."

"Fire her up when you're ready Shaw and Elrenna can take us out. I need to put something on my shoulders and find my long sleeves." Caitriona heads below decks and into her cabin, she lops a leaf off the aloe plant and smears the gel on her shoulders and neck, she'll still peel but it won't be so painful this way. Once it's mostly dry she pulls on a loose shirt of pale green and her lunar moth inspired wing cloak before heading back out on deck.

Once all the preparations are done, the wildsailors remove the restraints tying the Fading Dawn to the dock section of Narrowplate and rekindle the chemical reactions that power its huge chainsaw propulsion.
Just as they are ready to engage the longjaw and begin their journey to Earthhaven, a familiar old man appears next to the ship. The merchant councilmember is carrying a large woven basket filled with fruit of many different kinds and even some vegetables, which are not easy to grow on spit settlements like this one.

As the chemical processor itself is fairly quiet and the massive chainsaw has not started digging into the wildsea yet, the man's shout can still clearly be heard. "You don't want to leave without your gift, do you?"
He climbs on board of the vessel. There is a trained precision in his movements that suggest that he might have some experience on the sea himself, though his slowness and hesitation in places suggest that the agility required for this profession has been lost to his old age.
He makes his way onto the deck of the Fading Dawn and hands the basket to Cait. "Thank you again for your help," he says, looking at each member of the crew in turn. "And good luck."
Then he makes his way back down and back onto the relatively stable ground of Narrowplate.
He doesn't wave but he stays at the docks, watching as Shaw engages the Longjaw bite and the ship, with a jolt, begins moving forward - west, towards the still rising sun.

The Fading Dawn slowly makes its way across the surface of the waves. There is a light breeze creating minor ripples as the leaves rustle in the wind but the journey goes very smoothly. The sea in these parts is well-travelled, both because there are many spits and even a large mountaintop in the area and because the Thrash is so thick here that traveling, even for tiny ships, is safe and easy.

Shaw is keeping watch and with the clear skies and the moderate speed they are going, can see ahead very far. Occasionally, he spots a ship in the distance, though none cross the Fading Dawn's path - until the afternoon, many hours after they set out to sea, that is.
Far ahead, he spots a fairly large ship, stationary and sideways in their path. It's hard to tell from this distance but he believes he can see Ektus on deck.

Cait thanks the counselor for the basket of food with a big hug, "I thought you'd forgotten, these are going to be so amazing," she says with an excited grin, "I get so tired of wild food all the time."

---

Cait climbs up to the bridge and stands next to Shaw, "What you got?" She brushes her long hair out of her eyes as her lunar moth wing cloak flutters to one side in the breeze.

"Oh that's a big one," Caitriona says looking at the ship, "wonder why she's at anchor way out here?"