The winds continued to rise as Calliope came on deck, her black tresses whipping madly despite the shelter of the imposing cliff before them. The green black sea rock reached high into the sky where faint twinges of sickly dark green vegetation to could be seen. Great sea birds whirled and pinnoned above from hidden eeries in the cliff side, though none saw fit to investigate the Weather Witch as she paid off to port before snugging up against her sea anchor. The loose canvas snapped as men went aloft and began to gather the sails, tying it in  tight bundles against the yards.

Since the incident with John, Jim had been off two minds about her. There was some more fear in his eyes when he looked at her but he still seemed just as flustered. Humans were complicated creatures, capable of holding a multitude of conflicting emotions. The rest of the crew was equally wary though Grimey and Sketti had returned to more or less their previous demeanors. She craned her neck to look up at the keep, barely visible atop the imposing clifftop.

Wyvenwatch was an old keep, dating back to the early days of exploration and colonization, when square rigged ships had first forced their way across the sea of swords. Improvements in technology meant that landfalls like this were less important than they once had been and many places like it had fallen into disrepair. That didn’t mean it was unoccupied though, even unimportant outposts often maintained a garrison, if for no other reason than the threat of being posted there kept other people in line.

“You said that there had been no word from this place?” Calliope demanded of Grimey. The former tyrant was dressed in a vest of dull black leather and brown hose off soft doeskin. A bandolier that secured her sword belt and held several small potions was draped across one shoulder. A capelt of strom gray was wrapped around her shoulders which provided a little warmth, though at present it was snapping in the breeze. As always her amulet hung concealed beneath her atire.

“Well that was true a month ago,” the gnome said defensively. According to Grimey she had a friend in the Andreed navy who had gotten drunk and mentioned that the fort hadn’t been in contact for nearly a year and that nobody had even noticed, it being such a benighted backwater. Grimey figured that plague or famine had done for the garrison and that it might be ripe for looting. The fact that no raven had been sent with a distress call was very strange, though even if two or three birds had been sent it was possible they had all met with accidents. Calliope had initally been suspicious, thinking that perhaps it had been taken by pirates, looking at it know though she found it hard to believe that even the craziest pirate would even attempt it. A half dozen drunks with broomsticks could hold this place to Calaverde was dust.

There was a stir as Markus came up on deck and headed for the long boats. Calliope joined him and climbed into the boat as they began to lower it.

“Assuming there are even guns here, its going to take us hours to load them,” she said as the boat touched the choppy water.

“If the storm strands us here we could be trapped for days.” The seasons was already growing dangerously late for westward voyaging and she was growing concerned they might not be able to beat their way westward against the storms if they didnt start soon. They had to reach the western waters before the storms closed the passage or they wouldn’t have much chance of finding the treasure convy in time to even think about raiding it.