(By Ekommogold) As the expedition entered its seventh day since the last island was spotted, a dense fog had overtaken the ocean waves. The sea was aggressive for hours, rocking the boat, turning new blooded face's green, and doing a number on the Admiral Griobhaéch. But when the turbulent waves left, the fog stayed, and the wind slowed. The fleet found itself slowly cruising through the thick fog, lanters lit on every bow, mirrors in place to illuminate the immediate area. Quick blinks of the lanterns were used to communicate to the other ships, and soon the fleet was nearly side by side as they made way through the fog. Hour eight in the fog, and a helmsman on the front most vessel, The Bowhead, sent out the signal to the rest of the fleet: ship spotted. There looming slowly in the fog was a dark vessel, the deck at a strange angle, the bow pointing high in the sky, and the stern and mast missing. It didn't take too long once the crews got close enough to realize it was a floating shipwreck, the front half of an immense boat somehow staying afloat due to a lucky interior design, while the bottom half sagged below the waves, saturated or potentially even missing. The Freishannese Royal Marines went to the ready as soon as the ship was spotted, although the tension decreased after state of the ship was revealed. Aboard the Admiral Griobhaéch the Honorable Magus Laoithr Ghúmard prepared for his duties. The announcement of the sighting of the mysterious vessel had not changed the necessity to keep the wind up for the voyage. Meanwhile aboard the Bowhead the Magus Sáedir and the group of Marines stationed on the Seobagh ship came up from below deck. "Oi! Cote they mine sal!" shouted Captain Siorc, who had come to the bow of the Bowhead to look upon the wreckage. He turned to Saedir with a half-toothed grin. "Lokes lake soam one's bate ose tow et!" Murce had come up with the Freishannese with her Grogarian eyes widened at the ship, and her father sighed. "A dite! Less prepar toe bard!" Aboard the Liba, Has came down from the mast, approaching the eagerly-awaiting Bahar. "A shipwreck, captain." The captain nodded at the information, before Has continued. "Siorc's cut the main sail, headed for the wreckage." "Catch up to them, and then do the same," Bahar ordered, squinting through the fog while his sailors behind him awaited further orders. As the ships approached the vessel, they noticed the wood's darkness was due to intense saturation, mostly likely from being in the water for far too long, any laquer long stripped, but not long enough to sink the strange ship. Any aesthetic value left was completely alien, and no markings assigned it to any known nation. The deck was completely clear, a massive jagged hole blown into the top. Water smoothed scratches zigzagged across the wood, and many signs of aggression marked the entire ship. The boat was otherwise quiet, leaving the mind to wonder among the soft lapping of the ocean and hazy fog. “Captain we should stay back!” came the hurried shout of the Honorable Magus as he managed to get up to the sterncastle. Fixing his collar he continued perhaps a bit more tactly, “It would be prudent to wait, as I must be permitted to see what I can of any magical danger before we put all our Marines aboard such a damaged vessel.” “This ship wasn’t built to easily maneuver everywhere, especially with three vessels already, you’ll have your time.” Captain Solbhan replied before shouting, “Raise the sails and keep the watch!” Sáedir stepped back as the Marines prepared to board with the Seobagh sailors, planks and steadying ropes at the ready to maintain contact. "Eh...go a aid ten," Siorc shouted back to the Magus. He looked ot the marines and sailors. "Stan' back, let 'em doe 'es wark." The Liba, being the small size it was, hung back behind the Bowhead. "We'll support them if anything goes awry," Bahar announced to his men. With the ropes secured and the planks placed the few Freishannese aboard the Liba boarded the apparently abandoned vessel. They proceeded to move out in small groups securing the various locations that could be reached. Cabins and areas not under water in addition to searching the deck and the reachable castle of anything of import. The found the ship eerily empty. The cabins only holding discarded metal armor and a few heavily used weapons scattered about, but as they passed by the hole in the deck, they couldn't help but notice a light. A soft red glow faded out from the hole in gentle intervals, similar to a resting heartbeat. The last place to look was down. The marines surrounded the hole, many of their hands rested on their blades. "The hell is down there?" One of them asked. "Oi," he shouted, "Is someone there?" No sound returned from the hole, just the beating of the softly glowing light. The marines looked to each other skeptically, murmering anxiously as they gazed down at the abyss. One of them picked up stone and tossed it down the hole, testing the depth of it. It didn't take long for it to make a soft clunk as it bounced off wood and into some water. One of the marines, holding a lit lantern, then announced, "Get me a rope." After tying the lantern to a rope, it was lowered deep into the hole, hoping to illuminate the darkness. The light revealed the bottom of the second deck. It was at a slant like the rest of the ship, with one end disappearing under the water, and the other end slanting out of the water. Craning his neck, the marine could make out a hollow doorway at the end of the slant, the pulsing light illuminating from there. He thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Hoist me down." After the marine was hoisted down to the second deck, he grab the lantern, which had been placed on the floor. "Be careful!" One of his comrades called after him, and he crept slowly towards the pulsing light. "H-hello? Anybody there?" He called, squinting towards the doorway the light was emenating from. The light's pulse quickened ever so slighty, and as the man got closer, the warmer he felt. He hadn't noticed it before, but the outside fog had been chilly, and his bones only just now began to thaw, safe from the ocean winds. Despite this respite, the ship remained quiet, the light his only companion. There was only one direction he could go. He swallowed hard, and pressed on, closer to the source of the light, a bead a sweat dripping down his neck. "I'm not here to hurt you...what happened?" The man now stood at the doorway, his foot pushing soaked dust, and the gentle light ever pulsing, beckoning him in. He breathed in deeply, and stepped in. As he did, a hand jumped out from his side, grabbing his belt and thrusting him to the wet floor. He lay prone on top of a body whose back was propped against the wall of the cabin, its hand now grabbing his collar. The marine stared with wide eyes as two pale blue eyes stared back from a rotting face, framed by dark wavy hair worn in a Lynnfairish style. Around the being's neck was a simple steel amulent, a pulsing ruby on the pendant. Everything else on the undead man was covered in endless white steel armor, complete with silver bands, and a gruesome wound shredding the armor away from its right hip, rotten flesh and chipped bone strewn everywhere. The two sat on a pile of dust, and the corpses jaw began to move, a ragged stone grinding cough for a voice. "Freishannese?" The corpse asked. "A-aye, sir," The marine responded, breathing heavily and nervously as he stared into the corpse's eyes. A great sigh erupted from the corpse, be it relief or something else, "bring me to Askor." The hand let go of the collar and the undead knight let its head fall back onto the wall. The Freishannese man began to formulate a response. "Who...what are you?" "I am... Robert... of the Silver Legion..." Thin lids stretched over Robert's eyes as he closed them, "and... I am a knight of Lynnfaire." “Prophetess protect me, you’d be d- I mean you’d have to talk to the Captains.” The man somewhat regained his wits as he edged away from the Knight to a more comfortable distance. "Just bring me to Askor," Robert groaned, "our very existances depend on it." He held up the amulet from his neck, the room pulsing with its red glow, a large crack going down its center, "I must make it." “Let me go get the Captains then.” The Marine moved to go back the away he came, back to the whole group. After returning he explained through panting, “...prophetess...living-corpse...silver legion…” And then more coherently to the now assembled Marines, two went back down to confirm the story as the others waved get the assorted leadership informed. When Bahar first was told the story of what they found, he was concerned for the marines' sanity; he knew they weren't quite used to being out at sea for so long. When he saw the undead corpse with his own eyes, he was a bit less skeptical. "Alright, the hell are you?" He said. Siorc smacked the privateer lightly on the shoulder. "Thes es a noit off thar Silvar Laysion, showe soam raspact boy!" "Respect to what? A rotting corpse? Bah." He snorted. "You can fall for whatever you'd like, but we should not forget that whatever this...[i]thing[/i] has wrecked this ship, or something else wrecked it because of it." Siorc grimaced at Bahar's remarks, but still looked to...'Robert' expectantly. "By the grace of light," Robert scoffed, "I'm right here." The knight leaned off the wall, one of his arms propping him up slightly, "I am Sir Robert of Kamwell, Former Knight of Lynnfaire under King Richard III and current knight of the Silver Legion, under command of Lord Grand Marshal Veran." Robert seemed out of breath as he finished his small speech, letting his body fall back on the wall, his hand probing his gaping wound, "now if you don't mind, please bring me back to Askor." Bahar's eyebrows were knit, and he bit his lip as he looked at the 'knight'. "What happened to the ship, Robert of Kamwell?" He looked around him. "'Cause by the look of it, you sunk it." Siorc interjected. "Ya done know thote, Bahar." "What I do know is that the Silver Legion was slaughtered three hundred years ago, and [i]even if[/i] someone survived, last I checked, men don't live that long." The privateer looked to the other captain. "I say we leave him." Robert's rotted face twisted, "Do I look like an ordinary man? You want to know what happened, you get me out of here, or the world itself be damned." With what strength the wounded corpse had it ripped the amulet from its neck, the clasp snapping as he held the brightly pulsating ruby up to the onlookers, "take a good look, its your only salvation." Quickly, as Bahar tried to snatch the amulet from the corpse, the jewel immediately burned his hand with an intense heat, forcing him to drop it. "Damn!" He snapped. The corpse scooped it up and shook his head. "I said look, not take," Robert scolded, "I can see listening isn't the strong suit of this crew." Bahar rubbed his hand, continuing to inspect the knight. "What manner of witchcraft have you endowed in that gem?" the captain snarled. Siorc rolled his eyes, looking back to the corpse. "Fargef me frand, 'ey sames tow farget 'istry." "No witchcraft," Robert corrected, "it's broken, and when you took it from me, it started to break. Only the magic endowed in me is keeping it together." He paused, "a shame too, for I would much rather use such magic to render my hip together. Now you see why I must deliver it for my own personal reasons, on top of, of course, the damnation of all existence I keep blabbering about that you seem to keep ignoring." The broken knight brought the necklace up to his neck, the clasp turning a white hot as it melded itself back together. He slipped it back on, letting the cracked gem rest on his chest, pulsing its soft glow. Bahar's eyes widened at the sight of the self-repairing necklace, but he said nothing. "Yeah? Keep blabbering, corpse. I'm not going to be-" "Nar, Bahar," the whaler said, speaking up. He defiantly stepped in front of the younger man. "Ye cahn bay skepical if ya loik, bat oif gote a dyuti." He turned to Robert. "Coam, wafe-" "Siorc, this is rediculous," the privateer said loudly. "You can't possibly believe this...[i]thing.[/i]" The whaler puffed up his chest and locked eyes with the taller man in response. "I belafe en thar [i]Selfar Lasion[i]." The two kept eyes locked for a while, before Bahar finally broke. He sighed loudly, placing his face in his palm, and waited a bit longer before speaking up again. "I-I'll take him." Siorc raised his eyebrows at this. "If you won't budge, Siorc...you're more needed on this expedition than I am. I'll put the corpse on the Liba." The whaler start chuckling. "Thas me mahn, Bahar!" The younger man grunted, then looked to Robert. "But if I find out you're lying, corpse...you'll be deader than you already are." "If you're to truly take me to Askor, I owe you one warning," Robert's groan turned grave, "if you're planning on going any further than this shipwreck, you'll find nothing. It would be wise if all returned to Askor with me, and the gem." Bahar crossed his arms. "Really?" He laughed mockingly. "How do you know this, 'Sir Robert'?" "Where do you think I came from?" Robert looked at Bahar, "I left the continent of Yzaille, heading East to reach Askor, but I'm afraid you won't find much of Yzaille is left, and certainly nothing to sustain life." "Wote 'apent?" Siorc asked, a fearful look in his eyes. Robert looked at Siorc, "The Lord Emperor happened." "What do you mean?" Bahar asked as he stepped forward towards the corpse. "Now that's a story for the ride home, eh?" Robert looked up at the pair.