Ok Ok Lets Go Hunt Some Pirates

Sitting on a dock rain pelting me in the face I felt maybe just maybe helping ghosts was a bad idea. Like perhaps when I set foot on land I should have just called the whole thing off. But no, I did as Hanlon told me to do and had the pirates sail me out to this castle in the middle of nowhere that had a bunch of armed guards protecting some object, and then after I'd survived I got back to the dock to find my ride completely missing. Pirates I tell ya not very reliable! Ghost pirates even more so.

I figured the survivors of the castle would be coming soon, I'd managed to take some ammunition from the dead. Not nearly enough mind you, never enough bullets from what I'd dealt with in life (or magical power, or sigils, or whatever you never know what you need until you don't have it!). So I sat with a rifle by my side, a pistol holstered up and my feet swinging from the dock like a kid waiting for his dad (I vaguely recalled all the centuries ago this very sensation). I could hear noise from the castle, and I was wondering if they were going to just shoot me in the back while I sat there when a ship materialized from the water, it wasn't the pirates, it was Hanlon, because of course it was. His ship wasn't one of the sleek steam liners, but instead it was an old sailing ship itself, crewed by what appeared to be his own group of pirates, I found myself in silent amazement to the audacity of the situation I found myself in.

"Ahoy!" Hanlon himself was dressed up like a pirate, my life is ridiculous.

"What in the gods name are you dressed in? Where did this ship come from?"

"Dry dock! I had her built for pleasure, but now she's the perfect thing to chase those pirates."

"And a steam ship would just?"

"Not get the job done obviously Trezlan! We need the wind in our sails!" The commotion from the castle was louder now. I figured I'd either join up with Hanlon or die, and since I hate dying so much.

"Ok, this is ridiculous, but ok fine lets," I sighed heavily and stood up, "Lets go get some pirates."

"That's the spirit, get to the quarters you need to change, I can feel the sliver as well, perfect we'll need it if we are going to stop them."

"I thought we were going to help them!" I knew we probably were never going to help them, that's not Hanlon's way from what I'd seen.

"We were, until they clearly deviated from course and now we have to stop them, keep up Trezlan, I'd figure you'd be used to be betrayed." I actually kind of was.

"But she was family!"

"Was Trezlan, but she died and in death people are not who they claim to be any longer." And on this Hanlon and I agreed and off we went, to hunt Trezlan, the other one not me, hunting me would be silly, unless a split personality somehow broke off and haunted a body that was not mine. Great now that I have proposed that very thing happening I've basically allowed the universe to have it be a real thing. Good job Trezlan.

Well I'm Sure Glad I Made the Trip

Bullets wizzed by my head, six people had pinned me into a corner. Myself I was out of bullets, and I'd used so much magic I could feel the corruption taking root in my fingertips (its a weird sensation I can't really explain, but just trust me here). I was cursing Hanlon for putting me in this situation, and wondering what in the gods name I had in a sack over my back (it was a glowing object that while not exactly evil, had the strangest pull on my sanity, like I could feel all the souls it had been connected to, calling out to me, which made sense since the object was named appropriately a "soul sliver"). My pursuers were closing fast and I could not see a way out of my current situation as it were.

"I say we call truce, you know just walk away from this whole exercise." I heard some laughter out of that, so at least brought joy to the people trying to kill me.

"Hand over the sliver and we'll talk." I'd have believed him more if when he said talk I hadn't distinctly heard the sound of reloading.

"Sorry this sliver is going in some ritual to make ghosts stronger." I don't know why I decided to tell them my plan, but it at least caused them to pause.

"What?"

"Yeah I was told by some dark entity that I can use this to make ship load of ghost pirates stronger, so you know if you are cool with ghost pirates, you should just let me walk away with your soul sliver." They were not cool with my ghost pirates and so they decided to rush my position. The first guy I used the last of my fire on to kill snagging his rifle prior to him dying, which I unloaded on the next guy (realizing after the fact probably should have saved some of that ammo), then took his shotgun and killed the next two guys before snagging one of those guys pistols and shot to death the next guy before wounding the final guy (did you get all that?). He looked at me like I was a supernatural creature, which in a way I guess I am.

"Who are you?" Fear crept into his eyes.

"Trezlan Gods Damned Lorentino." And then I killed him, because at times when you do something bad ass you need to leave the dead with something to talk about in the after life! So I got the soul sliver and made my way back to the pirates, who were mysteriously absent upon my return (stupid jerks how dare they disappear on me when I got the thing that would help them!) Turns out there was another twist to this play, because of course there was!

Making A Deal With Darkness

"No." I started walking away before Hanlon had even started talking. I didn't want to know what he was going to offer, because what he was going to offer was going to be awful. He followed me as I walked away because Hanlon is like a dog with a bone.

"Come on you didn't even let me offer what I can do for you!"

"Exactly I didn't let you tempt me with something that will inevitably turn out poorly for me!" It did turn out poorly for me. Yeah spoilers I agree anyway.

"Trezlan you wound me with your sarcasm, when have I ever been anything but your friend. Besides this idea of a ghost pirate fleet intrigues me."

"Its just the one ship."

"For now." He smiled, and I like an idiot didn't keep walking.

"So how can you help me help the ghosts?" There was a voice in my head screaming to stop, to turn around and run away, but like usual I ignored that voice of reason. I have no idea why it even bothers with me anymore.

"Well I have a theory..." Days later I was in the middle of a castle surrounded by men with high powered rifles and running low on bullets and magic myself. At this point I knew I really really shouldn't have listened to Hanlon.

Think of the Legends!

"No and leave my bar." Valrym of course was not too keen on helping me keep the ghost pirates around. He just hates fun! And murderous ghost pirates not under the control of anyone. But mostly fun!

"Come on Val, you hate the ocean you're earth its like your enemy!" I admit my reasoning here was a bit poor, but come on elemental rivalry! That has to be a thing right? Like if you are an elemental god shouldn't you be at war with other elements? That's a lot more interesting than "They got more followers than I did, so we died out and they prospered." Mostly I want the god's to be as petty as I am. Yes I can admit that.

"Trezlan if you don't leave I'll throw you out, I didn't resurrect your ghosts, nor do I know who would, and I certainly won't help you make them stronger, now get out of here." I want to say the patrons in his establishment were surprised by the way our conversation was going, but for whatever reason they cared not. Frustrated and fearing being "thrown out" I left. I at least had time before I had to return to Trezlan/I didn't have to return to her because they were frigging ghost pirates Its not like they could row their boat on the land. Well I hope they can't, that would have made my plan to aid them even dumber than it already was (see how much I had clearly thought this through?). I was walking a fugue so much I didn't even realize I had stumbled down a back alley and ran smack down in to a dark figure. Ordinarily this would be the point I'd tell you someone tried to mug me, but unfortunately this time the dark figure was not a mugger.

"So I hear you want to make some ghosts stronger." It was Hanlon, and I immediately regretted my life choices that had brought me to this point in time.

Confused, But Not Finished!

We had arrived at a small island. It was pretty much unremarkable, barely an island really, just a reef, and some sand and the wreck of Trezlan's old ship. There wasn't much of it anymore, the combined naval effort had obliterated just about everything, all I could see poking out of the sand was a bit of mast and some hull, weather and time had stripped the old wood of color. The ghost pirates didn't want to go near it, but Captain Trezlan had no issue, she was not afraid of the wreck as they apparently were.

"They really gave you guys all they had didn't they?"

"We pissed them off pretty bad, I figured they'd try to arrest us, but all they did was broad side the crap out of us. They actually hit our ship so hard they hit each other with cross fire." She was almost proud of how much damage had been done to her ship.

"So when did you guys come back? It wasn't immediately I take it?" Not like I knew anything I mean I'm so far out of the loop I'm finding stuff out now that I should have known years ago, its a symptom of my long prison stay/general not caring about current events.

"No it was recently, one minute I was in a place I'd rather not talk about, the next I was here near this island with my ship and crew, I believe its been a few months, we've been on the ship I can't tell you exact dates." I got a look at the hull and noticed there was some new sigils and the scent of magic having been applied sometime recently. Though the sigils and magic were both completely new to me.

"And your men avoid the wreck because?"

"Some of them believe they never died, and don't like to see that we did, I do not fear such foolish things. Its why I don't feel the need to hide my appearance, I'm not a alive like you, well anyone else but you, you're alive through things no one should survive by." I let that one go, people always tell me I shouldn't be alive, until they need me, sometimes even when they do need me! The sigils though were intriguing, they were in a dead language, of a culture that only one person I knew of still had any knowledge of. The problem was he hated me, like most people.

"Ok we have to return to the mainland I have to see a man about a magical incantation." The other Trezlan sighed, but did as she asked. I have to say having my own spectral ghost pirate ship was really nice, that and for whatever reason I didn't get sea sick on their ship. It was great, made me sad I had to see them go at some point. But like most things I'm getting there!

Sit a Bit and Let Me Explain How Screwed You Are

"Sit." We had retired to the captain's quarters, it was there I discovered something amazing. The ship itself was also a ghost. I hadn't noticed when I came aboard, but being inside of it I could feel the spectral energy in everything. It explained how it looked so nice and how the ghost pirates were probably able to sneak up on Morley's ship so easily, they simply were gone one minute and there the next. I did take a seat in a nice hard wooden chair. Captain Trezlan's quarters were exceptionally nice, I had forgotten how much looting she had done prior to both Ronerawth and the guard getting her ship between two of their warships and blowing the crap out of it.

"How did you find me?" I started with the important one, well important to me.

"I sensed something on that ship I had a connection to, it was strange to see it was you, but it makes sense we are related." Very distantly related, but I guess the power of a ghostly connection is there.

"So what do you want from me, I assume since you didn't simply kill me you want something, to be freed from your undead curse?" She laughed, it had a haunting tone to it. Like she was laughing through a mega phone.

"Curse? No this is the greatest thing that ever happened to us! We are literally unstoppable, no I don't want you to end this curse, I want you to figure out a way to make it stronger!" To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Then again the ghosts had saved my life, and I hated the water so helping a bunch of ghost pirates become stronger appealed to my inner child of destroying things I didn't like.

So I had a new mission to try and make a band of murderous ghost pirates stronger, which at least as a necromancer is in my wheel house of awful things I have experience with. Turns out though, making ghosts stronger? Its not easy! I know! I think I'm the first person to ever actively want to do it!

Maybe If I Pretend They Don't Exist They'll Go Away

The ghost pirates at least didn't kill me like they had killed everyone else (I was really confused as to how they even existed, I mean in theory ghosts could manifest like this, but to be able to do that and be strong enough to kill people? That's a lot more than just simple ghosts). They did leave my shackles on because they were dicks. I was brought to the deck of the ship as the rest of the crew was being summarily executed (they held their throats out to the ocean and spilled the blood into the water like it mattered maybe it did? Maybe that was how the ghosts were powering themselves?) I didn't see a captain, though I did see their ship, an old sail ship stained red, it looked like quite the beauty despite being run by murderous ghosts. The ghosts took me past the slaughter and to their captain who surprisingly enough I knew.

"Trezlan." The captain only had half a face, the rest of her crew was mostly fine, but she seemed to be proud to show that half of her skull had been blown open, ghosts are weird like this I've never questioned why some show the moment of their final state and some show what they looked like in life. Outside of the missing face her body looked mostly in tact, she was wearing a blood red jacket as was the description I'd read on wanted posters. At the mention of my name her ghost compatriots looked at her funny.

"Trezlan." I offered back since I was in the ghost precense of Trezlan the Red, my distant relative who stole my name and apparently was now stealing my ability to live throughout the gods damned ages, though I admit I looked a lot better than she did. So what happened? Why were the ghosts there? Why do I always ask questions of people who probably aren't reading this? Next entry!