Chương 126: 4.16 Outro - M83 (4:07)

Z3ke (Original Poster) Hey everyone, quick question. What the hell is Lashings? PixelBaron It's a pirate port. It's one of those major minor ports, if that makes any sense. It's big enough to be a decent quest hub and it's got some items you can buy, but it's not anything important and it's not somewhere the main story forces you to visit. If you're looking to hire some mercs, then Lashings is one of the better options.

There are some quests there that we can guide you through, but off the top of my head I don't think there's anything you absolutely need to do there. Why? HexaDeweyDecimal Weren't you headed to Brightharbor? That was the plan Mal gave you, wasn't it? Are we in one of those situations where we tell you to go somewhere but now you got caught up in another misadventure? Is this going to be like the Chapel Pit? Z3ke (Original Poster) I mean… not really? Kind of. There's a problem with Brightharbor.

Yes, the original plan was for me to head there and spend a few relatively quiet weeks getting my footing in a new game. Even after Simon Pucco pirated the ship I was on, that was still the plan. But shit has hit the fan. Ugh… let me start at the beginning. After the fighting ended all the ships were trying to rescue people, and while that was happening I updated you all on what was going on. Well, all the immediate rescue stuff is finished.

The people who were alive and treading water have been picked up, the ships that were going to sink have either sunk or been stabilized, and now we're all just sitting here and trying to come to terms with the big mess we've found ourselves in. NullSigil Oooo. I smell a leadership vacuum. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea. That's pretty much exactly what happened. After the fighting stopped, the ship that I found myself on went straight at the Kraken.

Our captain decided to look for Simon Pucco and see if we could find anything. The hope was he'd be chilling on the corpse and taking five minutes to breathe after killing the biggest fucking monster in the ocean. Or if not that, at least we'd be able to pick up his body and know for certain that he was dead. But we didn't find shit. No matter how much we looked we couldn't find a body, or a crazy man floating around on a piece of wreckage waiting for someone to rescue him, or really anything at all.

There was nothing there. And yea, Null is right about the leadership vacuum. We sailed away from the Kraken and told everyone that we couldn't find Simon and now all the captains that survived the fight have formed these little teenage-girl cliques. I'm not even exaggerating here. The whole thing is like watching a bunch of teenagers at school trying to figure out who is friends with whom and which of them is the "alpha."

They're all making these complicated social alliances where everyone is technically friends with each other, but they also hate each other's guts, and there's all these unspoken rules about which captain is allowed to talk to which other captain. It's ridiculous and making my head spin. I haven't gotten involved in any of it because… well, I don't know anyone here. I can't rightly walk up to someone and be like "look at me, I'm the captain now."

Everyone is gathering in these smaller groups and whispering at each other, and whenever a ship heads over to another ship suddenly there are three captains all interested in what's going on. Add onto that the fact that no one knows what Simon's disappearance means, and shit's getting rough. Back when Simon was still the leader of this group the plan was to kill the Kraken, survive the fight, and then everyone whose ship was pirated gets it back and we all go our separate ways. But… well, Simon isn't here anymore.

Okyea | There was nothing there. | You know it's possible Simon was the one to loot the kraken and that's why there's no glow. KnightsWHOsay-NIN-NIN You're thinking that Simon just dipped with all the loot? He was a loot goblin? It's possible, but highly unlikely. Why would he just disappear? Why not take one of the ships with him? The simpler (and more probable answer) is that Simon is D-E-D dead. And now we're seeing what happens when a cult loses its figurehead.

im_Panda Be serious now, this is Zeke we're talking about, it's REAL life looting monsters doesn't work like that. NullSigil Everyone's politicking and that's on us, Zeke. We should have seen it coming from a mile away and warned you about it. And when I say that it's on all of us, I obviously mean that it's on Mal and Caboodle for not keeping an eye on it. Caboodle (Proctor) Nope. My job is to protect Zeke from you heathens making shit plans and trying to get him killed.

It's NOT to protect him from the schoolyard drama of a gang without their leader. Z3ke (Original Poster) Well, until a leader does come forward we're all just floating here. A bunch of the captains are sailing from ship to ship, trying to convince the other captains to all stick together. Some of them are forming these little blocs and they're talking about consolidating the surviving ships into a single large fleet.

I don't think anyone has come out and actually said "Simon is gone now which means I'm in charge," but that's basically what's happening right now. The whole thing is kinda annoying. It's a bunch of passive aggressive political bullshit and I've always hated stuff like that.

There's this captain who was talking about keeping the fleet together and organized "for everyone's safety," and that slowly morphed into him saying that everyone should fall under his command because he's got the most experience with navigating the ocean. Another captain spent ten minutes talking with others about how dangerous it was for the fleet to fragment into smaller ships and go their own way because we all need protection for further attacks.

He brought up the idea that the Krill Kraken might have been holding back other dangerous monsters - I'm pretty sure he was lying through his teeth about that - and then in the same breath he started explaining why he should be in charge. The Kraken tore the shit out of this armada. There are ships missing masts, ships with their sides ripped open, ships that are barely floating, and all the crews have lost a bunch of people.

Wreckage is everyone and most of the surviving ships all look like they've been dragged through a wood chipper. And with all that going on, the captains are all looking at the mess that is this armada and being like "you know what would make this situation better? Me being in charge." MushroomCleric So why bring up Lashings? You asked about it like it was relevant. Z3ke (Original Poster) That's because it is. The original plan was for me to head to Brightharbor.

That was where I was going before the ship I was on got pirated, and then Simon told everyone that once the Kraken was dead they'd all be able to keep their ships and leave. But now that Simon is gone, the captains all seem to think that is more of a suggestion than an agreement. What's worse is that the ship I was on, the captain was killed during the fight. That whole ship is kinda dead in the water because the captain bit it and a bunch of the sailors were killed fighting those zombie puppets.

All the surviving captains are looking around and grabbing ships and being like "my ship. That one is mine too. That looks pretty good, maybe I should have that one too." So, yea, the ship I set sail on has now been claimed by an asshole with no intention of letting anyone leave OR heading to Brightharbor. The ship that I'm on now is being captained by this dude named Cottenwaite. Do any of you know him? Any info about him would be appreciated.

From what I've seen so far, this Cottenwaite doesn't seem all that interested in playing the politics game or taking the rest of the ships in the armada. He just said his ship needed repairs and supplies, so he's headed to Lashings where he can get both. And that's why I'm asking you about the place. DeadMienWalking Cottenwaite… If I'm remembering correctly he's not secretly an important character or anything. He's more just a local who has connections in the harbor of Lashings.

Z3ke (Original Poster) Well, as long as he's not another Corva that's okay. But you didn't say anything about Lashings. What kind of people are there? Is it a place I can walk around without getting stabbed, robbed, kidnapped, or recruited into a cult? Because, frankly, that's all been happening to me ever since getting dropped into this world. Jaesten This is going to end in tears or hilarity. Probably both. StoryLeech Hey, at least Zeke has someone looking out for him.

Better Cottenwaite taking him to Lashing than any of the other captains finding out what Zeke can do and deciding to press gang him into service. Ratatoskr_The_Liar Zeke is lowkey that random goblin the adventure party found and marshaled into being a member. Malv0lio (Primary) WAIT WAIT WAIT. Everyone shut up and nobody say anything to Zeke about Lashings. I mean it. No descriptions, screenshots, or maps. Don't say a thing.

We've got an opportunity here and I'm begging for this forum to exercise a modicum of restraint for once in its miserable existence. Caboodle (Proctor)?? Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh, what the hell dude? Isn't the whole point of this forum to be giving me info? That's your one job. I write up all my adventures and you give me info about the games and make sure I don't accidentally walk into something horrible and dangerous because I don't know anything about this world.

If there's something about Lashings that is gonna get me killed, then I'd very much like to know about it first. Malv0lio (Primary) I'm NOT trying to get you killed. I'm not Binary. If there were monsters or factions or quests or horrible bullshit that you needed to avoid, then I'd obviously tell you about it. I'm not suggesting that we let you walk into Lashings completely blind only to discover the place is a murderous cess-pit. First, Lashings is NOT a giant death trap that is going to immediately murder you.

It's a functioning city. Yes, it is a pirate port and that sounds dangerous, but it's also a place with shops, a shipyard, taverns, markets, merchants, and all the other normal things you'd expect in a city. There are dangerous people there, obviously, but the place isn't one big combat zone. The reason that I'm saying people shouldn't give you a detailed breakdown of the place is because I think it would be good for you to see it for yourself.

Remember when we told you to head to Cliffhaven and you got there and started walking around the place? Your update talked about the city and the harbor, and you weren't constantly looking over your shoulder waiting to get shivved. In fact, your updates seemed almost normal and they were the least frantic writing you've done since getting isekai'd into the Fracture-verse. You said it yourself that you liked Cliffhaven.

If you compare your time there with your updates from The MIZ, all those posts had an underlying sense of panic and dread to them. But once you got to Cliffhaven, it was like all the stress you were carrying just melted off of you. You were able to walk around a beautiful city and just exist for a while without feeling like everything was trying to kill you. I've already told you that Emberveil is my favorite game, and one of the reasons for that is because not everything is designed around killing the player.

You just finished fighting the Krill Kraken, and before that you were stuck in Frontiers and the post-apocalyptic hellscape that was the Deadlands. Now you're heading into Emberveil and you deserve to see a beautiful setting. That's why I'm saying we shouldn't just dump the wiki on you. I'm hoping you'll sail into the harbor, look around, and have your own reaction to the place. Lashings is weird, but it's a good kind of weird.

It's one of those cities that couldn't exist in the real world, and it's one of the places where I think your first impression is going to be much more interesting if we don't tell you everything about it beforehand. You're going to sail into Lashings and say what the fuck and then jump in here and ask us about it. I'm NOT keeping the info from you to be malicious or get you killed. All I'm saying is that it would be good to get you to that harbor without all the spoilers we could give.

Caboodle (Proctor) This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I hate to say it, but I think Mal makes a good point. Zeke, as your Proctor, I would normally be arguing against anything that sounds like don't tell Zeke something. That's literally part of my job. I'm supposed to make sure people aren't screwing you over and that you have enough information to make informed decisions. That being said, I see where Mal is coming from.

Seeing Lashings for the first time without everyone else's descriptions coloring your expectations might actually be worth something. Like he said, it's a city you can't find back in the world and you might walk into it and immediately think it's one of the best places you've ever seen. Z3ke (Original Poster) So you're telling me there's nothing I need to worry about? Caboodle (Proctor) I'm telling you that there's nothing I think you need to know in advance just to survive being there. It's still a pirate city.

There are criminals and there's probably going to be some trouble. I wouldn't recommend heading into random alleyways by yourself. But Lashings doesn't come with some giant warning label. If you want me to tell you everything about it, I will. I can give you screenshots, quest info, NPC names, and whatever else you want. But I'm with Mal on this. You should head there first and get a feel for the city and then come back and tell us what you saw.

Z3ke (Original Poster) WE ARE FREE!!! Cottenwaite was able to get us away from the armada and that's the best news I've heard all day. Let me tell you this, that whole thing was a powder keg. All those captains were bitching and moaning at each other, and it was only a matter of time before it all ended in bloodshed. There were too many people thinking they should be in charge, and too many crews not wanting to give up their ship, and too many guns floating around for things to NOT turn violent.

Thankfully we've left that and we're on our way to Lashings. I spoke with Cottenwaite and he assured me that unless something goes horribly wrong between here and there, we'll be safely ensconced in the harbor within a few days. SpicyShoyu | unless something goes horribly wrong between here and there | Jeezus Zeke, have you learned nothing from every story ever written? You don't tempt fate like that. You might as well have said that you were only two days away from retirement.

ShivSays So is that the last update we can expect from you for a while? You're sailing and the next thing we hear from you is going to be you in Lashings? Or… as Spicy pointed out, you getting attacked by another kraken? Z3ke (Original Poster) I'm not tempting fate. I'm just telling you what Cottenwaite told me, that's all. And probably yea, this'll be my last update for a little while. We're just sailing towards Lashings now and not much is happening.

So unless one of the captains back with the armada manages to seize everything and organize them to come after us, I don't think there's going to be much to report. Things are pretty quiet right now. Cottenwaite is talking with his officers and working out a route, and a few of the sailors are trying to repair whatever they can before we reach port. Most everyone else is exhausted and just lounging around.

The tattooist joined our ship and she's calling people into her room and offering tattoos to members of the crew. RedCarpetManiac | she's calling people into her room and offering tattoos | OH YEA. That's what I'm talking about. Magical tattoo time. Oh, also, Zeke you mentioned that you had notifications during the last fight. What happened there? BaryBybax Wait… the tattooist is a woman? Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh… I haven't really given it much thought yet.

I don't know if I really want to take her up on the offer yet. And I got two bumps during the fight. My simple melee weapons moved to Rank 3 and my balance moved to Rank 2. And Bary, yes the tattooist is a woman. Why is that a big deal? Sweet-Berrypie Jeezus, here we go again. Zeke, you complain about literally everything.

You've been dropped into a magical world where people can put enchantments directly onto your body, someone is offering you a free magical tattoo that could make you stronger, and your first instinct is to find a reason to not do it. You are possibly the worst person in history at recognizing when the universe is offering you a useful power-up. Z3ke (Original Poster) What the hell? I haven't even complained yet. DeconstructedAntlers No. But we're familiar with your work. Z3ke (Original Poster) Okay fine.

I'll complain. I'm probably going to get the tattoo, and I know what you're all going to say. If this gives me an advantage and makes me stronger and protects me somehow, then it's a no brainer for me to get it. Anything that'll give me an advantage in fighting off the next monster that wants to kill and eat me is a good thing. But at the same time, I don't think any of you have actually thought through the actual tattoo part of this. If you had, you'd know why I'm a little hesitant.

DeconstructedAntlers What, are you afraid of needles? Is that what's happening here? Nut up and get the freaking tattoo. IT'S FREE MAGICAL SUPPORT Z3ke (Original Poster) Yeaaaa… it's not the needle that's the problem. It's the ink. Seriously, did you all NOT read the last few updates? Where do you think that this woman is getting the ink for her tattoos? Think back to the fight I just had. Remember the zombie puppets?

When we were cutting them apart, they were spilling all that disgusting shit all over the decks of the ships. There was salt water and pieces of rotted krill and BLACK INK. That shit was pouring out of them. Now we're on a ship that was literally in the middle of that battlefield, and there's a tattooist walking around offering people magical tattoos. Did any of you stop to think, even for a second, that maybe she's using some of that material we just pulled out of literal fucking sea monsters?

She's stabbing people with needles, and the ink has got to still have rotted krill in it. Is that shit hygienic? If all of you were here right now, and you just fought zombie puppets that spilled ink made from rotted fish, would YOU want to get that stuff embedded under your skin? Sweet-Berrypie Still think you should just shut up and grit your teeth and get your tattoo. It'll help. Stop bitching and just get it done. Z3ke (Original Poster) I already said I'm getting it. I'm getting it.

The question is what I should get and where it should be. Leaf Gotta get the tattoo on the chest or back. The limbs are for replacing. JimothyTheBarber Zeke, none of these cowards are going to give you the best advice. You should get a tramp stamp. In the Fracture-verse, a tattoo right above the crack of your ass has special meaning. It amplifies all your magic by 2x. Caboodle (Proctor) He's lying to you Zeke. A tramp stamp doesn't do that. SignalLoss | The limbs are for replacing. | Ooo, yes.

And once he heads to Null Protocol he can get a bunch of cyberware implanted everywhere. Zeke, you're going to be soooo powerful. BaryBybax | Why is that a big deal? | Because in Emberveil and Syndicate's Wake, the tattoos that you could get were from Malagwa Tattooist. And they are all men. Their island is a patriarchal society, and women aren't able to learn the arts. So I'm wondering why she's giving out tattoos. FarFieldVanishes Get something badass.

I don't know what the options are, but you need something that looks intimidating. You've got the Rockstar class, you fought off the Krill Kraken, you survived the Black Teeth, you killed the Hemocyte Swarm. You can't walk away from all that with a tiny flower tattoo on your shoulder. NullSigil Nah. Zeke, you definitely need to get a tiny butterfly. It would be hilarious for you to survive increasingly ridiculous disasters while carrying the world's most delicate-looking tattoo. HipsterCafe How about a sword?

Magical tattoos can act as weapons. If you get a sword or a dagger on your arm, you can activate it and you'll always have a weapon. 7Spirals Sure footing. It's always something useful, no matter where you go. Think of what it could have done when you were fighting the zombie puppets? Hambones Didn't we already have this argument? Zeke's got a dimensional storage space. He's ALWAYS going to have a weapon on him. NullSigil A tiny butterfly holding a sword. Village_idiot I'm starting to really doubt Zeke's luck.

He always gets a ray of hope in any situation just before shit finally hits the fan. Also, all the tattoo options everyone is suggesting are poo except the sure footing one. If Zeke can get a tattoo, they should give him a list of available ones so they can min max this in his favor. He already has access to an inventory, now would be the time to get some get out of trouble tricks. Invulnerable for 5 seconds, temporary speed boost, invisibility, adaptive camouflage. IridumSky Y'all under thinking it.

Get an AMPLIFIER tattoo. Something to boost your music. BunnyWaffles ^IridumSky. A built in Amp tattoo would be sick. Easy instant access to a music range/power multiply at will, without needing to stop to draw a glyph. Iunnrais An amp tattoo would be perfect, especially if he learns to use magic to be able to selectively target the sound. Imagine being able to perform to exactly and only the people he wanted to perform for and no one else. Z3ke (Original Poster) Okay. That actually sounds pretty good.

Z3ke (Original Poster) I'll check and see if she can do that, or give me any other tattoo that would help me with my class skills. And I'm also gonna check and make sure that she sterilized that ink and it's not gonna make me break out in hives or anything.

Z3ke (Original Poster) Hey Bary… thanks for bringing up that whole 'women not being allowed to be tattooist thing'. It was sooo helpful. I feel like such a jackass now. MushroomCleric Haaa. What happened? Z3ke (Original Poster) Well, I decided to take up the tattooist chick's offer of getting some more magical power. Her name is Namara, by the way.

I went to her cabin and she offered the tattoo and I said sure, but the whole time I was thinking if Bary is right and she's not supposed to be a tattooist and she doesn't have any training, do I really want that kind of person to be poking around with my skin? All I could think about was those prison tattoos or the self-tattoos that people get that come out all wonky, and I didn't want that. So I asked her about it. Thankfully, she wasn't completely offended by the question.

I asked her what her deal was and said something like "I thought all you Malagwa tattooists were men?" She huffed and said that I'd clearly been talking to people who knew about her culture, and then she got this saddish look on her face and didn't say much of anything else. We just planned out my tattoo. I told her that I had the Rockstar class and my skills came from music and performance, and then I asked if she had anything like an amp that could boost my music.

Well, she did and we eventually settled on something that would do just that. I'm not entirely certain how it's going to affect things. She was saying some mumbo jumbo about Malagwa tattoos being able to grow with the user, and she explained that she could guide the initial tattoo in a certain direction but that it would grow with how I use my powers. Supposedly, it can amp my performance and instrument mastery, but I'll have to fiddle around and see how the tattoo will work with everything else.

Anyways, the tattoo I decided on is a microphone that's on the inner part of my left forearm. It's surrounded by sound waves, and yes she's using the Krill Kraken ink. Shit's disgusting and nasty and also supposedly holds a bunch of magical resonance and I'm lucky to be getting it. Whatever. Halfway through the inking session we started talking and she explained that tattoos among her people are basically a record of your life, particularly your life at sea.

You're right in that she comes from a patriarchal society. They're from this island called Mala'Gwa and the tattooists there are highly sought after because of the magic. The tattoos are used to mark accomplishments, experiences, survival, and respect, with different tattoos representing voyages, battles, trials, monsters, storms, or anything else that a sailor's endured. There's this whole history and symbology associated with the tattoos, and it reminds me of those sailor jerry tattoos that you see people get.

Something like a sparrow meaning that you're always supposed to find your way home, or a star meaning someone to be respected. I don't know. Anyway, being a tattooist is a pretty prestigious position among the Malagwa. You're trusted to know the meaning behind all the designs and you're supposed to know when someone has actually earned a tattoo, so there's a lot more responsibility involved than simply having someone pop into your shop and point to a picture on the wall.

She described it as something like being a historiographer of a person's life, except instead of writing all of it down in a book you're carving it directly onto their skin. The whole explanation was actually kinda interesting. Her ancestors figured out a long time ago that the sea wasn't something they could actually conquer, so they stopped trying to pretend it was and instead built their culture around proving that you could survive it. That's what the tattoos are supposed to represent.

They're not really saying "look at me, I'm stronger than everyone else." It's more that you went out to see, faced whatever was out there, and then came back. I actually like that idea. It's kinda cool. They're all stories that you can read as long as you know the language. But that's not really what she's tattooing on me. When I asked her about learning all this stuff, she kinda got cagey again and then told me that - like Bary said - tattooists among the Malagwa are all men.

Her father, it turns out, was one of the most respected tattooists on the island. She'd been raised around the craft, so she knew how it worked. She'd watched her father work for years and had learned a ton just by being around him. But she was born a woman and thus couldn't actually be a tattooist. I'm not sure what the whole thing is but, yea, women aren't allowed to take up the craft.

Her father was going to marry her off to this guy who was supposed to become her father's apprentice, eventually inherit his position, and carry on his work after he was gone. But apparently the guy was a complete asshole. He was abusive, controlling, and treated her like property instead of an actual person. In short, Namara was expected to spend the rest of her life watching a man who she didn't want to marry, take over the profession that she'd grown up loving. Eventually she ran away.

I didn't get all the details, but she eventually ended up being found by Simon Pucco and he knew enough about magical tattoos to recognize what a gift he suddenly had. He gave her a place on the armada and offered her the opportunity to keep practicing her craft, but she's not actually a malagwa tattooist. I don't know. The whole story was kinda getting tragic, and she was obviously having a hard time with the fact that we didn't find Simon Pucco's body.

She said something about the man defying the odds or some shit like that. All in all, the whole thing is a lot more complicated than I'm guessing anyone else's first tattoo has ever been. So, yea. I got a whole history lesson that you made me sit through Bary. Thanks for that. Ass. StoryLeech HAAAAAAA. It's Cole all over again. MushroomCleric Meh. Cole was long-winded. This Namara lady seemed to be biting off most of what she was saying. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea.

I got the feeling that she really didn't want to tell me a bunch, but at the same time she finally had someone who was showing an interest in her story and so it all just came rushing out of her. It was an okay story, but not something I really cared about learning. BaryBybax This is WAY more information than we've ever gotten about the Malagwa. The whole tattoo meaning that you went to the sea and came back is interesting because it puts the emphasis on survival rather than power.

That could be why a bunch of the tattoos aren't focused on combat and more about balance and regeneration. I don't think the game ever explained that distinction. ShivSays This is exactly why Zeke should be talking to everyone. We've spent years digging through quest texts and loading screens and item descriptions trying to piece together small tidbits of culture, and Zeke just walks into a cabin and gets the actual explanation from someone who grew up there.

NullSigil I'm more impressed that Zeke managed to have a normal conversation without immediately getting kidnapped or cursed. Z3ke (Original Poster) Hmm… yea. Thanks for that Null. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and try not to think that I just got a bunch of sea-monster ooze injected into my body.