The fog that lay across the bay was so thick that you could scarcely see ten meters in front of you. There was not a breath of air, the waters so calm that it looked like glass. It was eerie.
Through the fog the Pirate's Fate sailed. Standing on the prow of the ship, Mila rubbed her arms, her breath steaming in the cool air.
"Pretty creepy out here, hey?" she said.
"Tell me about it," said Leeko, rubbing his hand together, "It's cold too. Should have brought a scarf."
Through the fog lights began to appear, and Mila pointed and said, "There's the fishing village."
"Yup," said Leeko, "that's the town of Glum. We'll be there soon. I hope the place is a bit more cheery than this gloomy weather."
"Let's hope," said Mila.
XxxX
Unfortunately Leeko was wrong and the town was just as bad, if not worse, than the weather. Glum consisted out of twenty residences, a small fish market, a pub and a small shop.
All the building were constructed out of wood, which were blackened by age and scarred by the storm that raged over the bay every ones and a while.Through the greasy windows the yellow light of a burning candle shone through.
As the Dread Pirates made their way into town, Mila felt uneasy. It was like something malevolent was hidden in the dark corners of this town, watching her specifically. She stayed as close to her crew as possible.
"Geez, what a dump," said Morgana, "I'm surprised this place hasn't been abandoned decades ago. I wonder why people even bother to stay here."
"Lack of money and sentiment values, maybe," said Darius, "People live out their entire life here. It's the only thing they know. But we're not here to criticize people's living standards. We're here to gather information. The pub over there seems like a good place to start."
XxxX
Leeko eyed the large mug full of black liquid.
"What the hell is this?" he asked, genuinely curious, "Is it beer or sewage water?"
"Probably the latter," said Morgana.
The pub was a place that was warmer and a little more cheery than outside, most likely due to the large wood burning stove in the corner and a few colorful decorations, but the ventilation was poor and smoke, which drifted from the kitchen, lay thick against the ceiling.
There wasn't much variety when it came to food and drinks, the only thing they had on the menu being fish and beer. The fish was okay, Mila guessed, although it tasted a little funny, but the beer was a different story.
She could tell it tasted horrible, but they ordered it anyway to avoid looking suspicious when they were asking questions about the tablet, although it was unnecessary, considering the fact that the pub was empty save for a old raccoon that was passed out on his chair in the corner, mug still in hand.
"So, tell me," said Darius to a ragged-looking vixen, who was a waitress, "is there any caves around here?"
"Why do you ask?" she said.
"Well, you see, I'm a cartographer, and this here is my insistent."
He placed his hand on Leeko's shoulder.
"And these two are some hired help," Darius continued, "We came here to map this coast and it's important that we know if there's any caves here."
"There's no caves here," she said.
"Will this perhaps loosen you tongue?" Darius said, offering her a gold coin.
She took the coin and bit it.
When she saw that it was indeed real and not imitation, she said, "To the West you'll find it, though it quite tricky to get to the cave. It's located on the face of a cliff, where large waves pound against it. The only way to reach the cave is by being lowered down by a rope."
"Good," said Darius, "Is there anything we should know?"
The vixen shook her head. "Nope, nothing," she said.
But Darius sensed she was holding back something and gave her another coin.
She took it and said, "The cave is cursed, okay! And you guys are stupid if you want to go exploring the dam place."
"Who so?" asked Darius.
"Monsters, that's why," the vixen said, "They emerge out of the cave every now and then. Don't know how they get up the cliff but they do. I've never seen one, of course, because it's been a long while since any of those beasts popped up, but my mamma remembers the last time one was seen and always told me the story."
"Really," said Darius, "Do you care to tell us?"
The vixen looked uncertain. "Not sure if I should," she said, "It's a long and dark story."
"We're interested in listening to it," said Darius, giving her a third coin.
She took it and began her story:
"It was a long time ago, about 15 years, to be precise. Fisherman John was a hardworking wolf, taking care of his wife and kin like a good husband should, catching fish from dawn till dusk."
"But, unfortunately, there was a nasty storm that came in one day and damaged all the ships in the harbor, and poor John's vessel received the worst of it."
"Hell, it sank! You could only see the point of the mast sticking out of the water. They managed to fish out the fishing boat, but it needed some expensive repairs, and John didn't have the coin."
"There's was no lumber around here either, so he had to work odd jobs to receive some payment, which he used to order supplies from the nearest city."
"But that wasn't enough. Without a boat he couldn't catch fish and put food on the table. His family was starving and he was growing desperate."
"He decided to enter the cave. Now, there's a legend that floats around that the monsters of the cave is protecting some big treasure. A lot of dumb people went to search for it and never came back. Probably got eaten by the beasts."
"But John was desperate enough to go look for it himself. Ten spite his wife's pleading, he went and, as expected, didn't come back that evening nor the day after that."
"Her worst fears was confirmed: John was dead. But then, one night later, something happened, something this town won't soon forget."
"John's wife's was awoken that night by loud hammering on the door. When she went downstairs to see who it was, the door gave in, and standing on the other side was the beast."
"It was tall, close to eight feet high, with bulging muscles and a lot of hair. The beast had two tusks portraying from its mouth, one pointing upwards and the other downwards, and glowing yellow eyes."
"It didn't growl nor attack. It had, John's wife would later admit, when the terror had worn off, a sheepish grin on its face, as if it didn't mean to break down the door and that it was an accident."
"But at the time John's wife was terrified. When it approached her, stretching out its huge hands, she screamed."
"Luckily, the neighborhood was woken up by the ruckus and several men jumped to arms, their guns and pitchforks at the ready."
"It grew enraged when the villagers attacked it. It killed one and severely injured others before fleeing the village. From then on it was never seen again, though rumored circulated that farmers had spotted a strange creature stalking the fields at night."
"But that's all I know and nothing more," the vixen said, finally concluding her story.
The Dread Pirates sat there in silence, transfixed by her silence. Even Morgana couldn't find anything sarcastic to say.
The silence was broken Darius cleared his throat and spoke, "Now, that's quite a tale. I think it's time that we go."
After Darius payed for the food and drink, the Dread Pirates stepped outside the pub and Morgana said, "Still want to find this rune?"
"We came all this way to find the tablet and I'm not going to be scarred away by some ghost story" said Darius, "Ready the lanterns and some rope. We're going in."
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