Chapter 4: Smugglers in the Dark

Written by Skarth Diem to Dronaet Klingstone

We had another meeting with the Town Council. The meeting was to plan for the trap we intended to set for the smuggler’s ship. The Council were very insistent on us not telling anyone in case rumours of our plans reach the ears of the smugglers. This is why I’ve delayed writing this letter until after that situation was resolved.

We had the lantern and the signal codes but we needed more information about the process the smugglers in the ship would follow. Mr Seaforth and Ms Kelshann questioned the captive smugglers who are still sitting in their cells. From that, we learned that after the code signals are sent out, the boat would be rowed out from the cove and meet another boat rowing in from the ship. The two boats would then exchange their goods. We had the boat we’d taken from the smugglers. The Council allocated a couple of marines, Keth and Tym, to help row the boat and guard it while we boarded the ship.

During the day before, I asked that we have a practice sitting in the boat and rowing and getting in and out and so on. I had never actually been in a boat before and I thought it would be better for my first time to happen in the daylight when we could see and help each other, rather than when it was pitch black and when we were trying to be silent. The way the boat moved under me was very strange. I’m still not used to the sensation. And it was very strange to look around and be surrounded by water in every direction. I found myself needing to hang onto the edge of the boat with a very firm grip – particularly when we went over some of the bigger waves.

On the night in question, we waited in the cave under the house and stared out into the darkness, waiting for the signal. Then Ms Riellian, with her sharp elvish eyes, said she could see the ship arriving and dropping its anchor. We immediately climbed into the boat and set out as quietly as we could, leaving Ms Kelshann behind to send the signal codes with the lantern.

It was dark out on the water, but Ms Riellian sat at the tiller and steered us confidently. The others followed her whispered commands to row or not row. I sat in my place and held on as tightly as I could and tried not to get in the way. Beyond the boat, I could see the white glow of the surf as it broke on the rocks. I pictured in my head the result of us being thrown against those rocks by the waves, but Ms Riellian steered us safely out past the rocks and into the open water. Beyond the surf, it became pitch black in all directions except for the slowly disappearing line of white surf. Even the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks receded. This was the point where we had to be extra quiet as I was told that even small sounds would carry over the water and we wanted to be completely undetected.

In the meantime, back on the shore, Ms Kelshann waited for a short time to give us a chance to move away from the shore, and then she sent the signals to the ship. After that she started swimming out, holding the lantern up as if it were attached to the prow of our boat. Our plan appeared to work, because the smugglers sent their boat, thinking they were going to meet ours.

I found out later that when Ms Kelshann got close to the smugglers’ rowboat, she dropped the lantern and ducked under the water. The smugglers crewing the rowboat saw our light drop into the water and they must have wondered if ours had capsized. Then Ms Kelshann (the Dragonborn) reared up out of the water and grabbed the edge of the smugglers’ boat. She rocked it up and down until the edge went under the water, at which point the boat filled with water and started to sink. In the confusion and the darkness, the smugglers thought they were being attacked by a shark or a crocodile or something. It was pitch dark, their boat was attacked by some unknown creature and it sank underneath them. They must have been scared out of their wits. They ended up in the water in the dark and they were not very good swimmers. We don’t know what happened to them, but it is unlikely that they survived.

Ms Kelshann left them to swim to the shore if they could, where they would no doubt be smashed against the rocks by those fierce waves. She swam for the smuggler ship so she could join us in our attack. She was able to swim much faster than normal as a result of the enchantment in the armour she was wearing. This was the magical armour we’d taken from the hobgoblin we’d killed in the cave.

In the meantime, we made our way quietly to the off-shore side of the smuggler’s ship. We pulled up near the middle of the ship and my colleagues climbed up the side of the ship and onto the central deck. When I tried to follow them, I had a great deal of difficulty climbing up the side of the ship and ended up slipping and falling into the water. The swimming sessions I’d had with Mr Seaforth came into their own and I was able to get back to the side of the rowboat and haul myself back in. Then I tried again to climb up the side of the ship. With the aid of Tym pushing me from below and Mr Seaforth pulling from above, I ended up on the deck of the ship.

By the time I got to the deck, both of the smugglers who had been on deck were already down – slain by my colleagues. But one of them had raised the alarm and we expected that others would soon emerge to defend their ship. I loosened my shield and held it for protection in my left hand, but kept my right hand free rather than drawing my scimitar. I ran up the stairs to the higher deck at the back of the ship, expecting to find some smugglers, but it was deserted. I chose that route because of the presence of railings that I could hang onto. Crossing the open deck while it moved up and down the way it did seemed like too much of a challenge and I would have likely ended up sprawled flat on my face, which would have been dangerous in the middle of a fight.

From the upper deck, I could just dimly see that the raised deck at the front of the ship was also deserted. The only smuggler I could locate was up in the little look-out place at the top of the mast – which is the dead tree trunk they tie the sails to.

This seemed like an ideal opportunity to try out the new spell my first teacher had taught me in her message. I pointed at the smuggler in the look-out place and sang the first phrase of a song about lightning. Immediately, I felt the power move within me and a streak of lightning flashed out like an arrow. It struck the smuggler in the middle of his chest. This new spell is apparently quite deadly as he immediately shrieked and fell to the deck where he lay still. Or perhaps I just got lucky and caught him by surprise.

Encouraged by my success, I looked back down onto the middle deck for a new target. I had to move slightly to the side as Mrs Fisher came running up the stairs at that time. She moved over into the middle of the deck behind me, I don’t know what she was up to as I was concentrating on the action below me.

In the meantime, I saw that three new smugglers were emerging from doors leading to the cabins below my feet. Mr Seaforth was doing his best to make that difficult for them.

Suddenly, there was the sound of thunder and the whole back part of the ship jerked and moved about. Beneath my feet, I immediately heard a shriek and a clatter as one of the smugglers lost his balance and fell down some stairs because of the shaking. I later found out that the smuggler who fell was called Bosun. He had lost one hand at some stage in his life and wore a metal hook strapped to the stump of his wrist.

Once more I looked over the railing to see what was happening on the lower deck and saw Mr Seaforth in a sword fight with a smuggler, who I later found out was the captain of the ship. Almost directly below me, and behind Mr Seaforth, I saw a woman had emerged from another cabin and I was concerned that she might strike Mr Seaforth in the back. I sang the song of lightning again and pointed at her from directly above. To my amazement, I saw my bolt of lightning strike her robes and then immediately spread out and fade away with no effect on the woman at all. The woman raised her hands and uttered some words. Then she clapped her hands together and she disappeared. A sound behind me made me look around in time to see that she had re-appeared next to the tiller at the back of the upper deck. Ms Riellian came racing up the stairs and ran towards her, at the same time I saw Mrs Fisher moving in her direction. I decided to let them handle her and focused my attention on the lower deck where Mr Seaforth needed my help.