Lore/Story Tales Of Wynn, Chapter 5: Underwater

I'm sorry this took so long! It is by far the longest chapter so far, and I stopped writing for a while (about a month or two) before getting back into it. But enjoy!

V - Underwater


- Marion -​

We arrived at Maltic around noon. It was a much smaller town than Ragni, with only a few houses spread around the single road through. The path led down to the sea nearby. The outskirts of the town were lined with huge fields of crops. A few merchants sat at their stalls at the town center, surrounding a small well.

“Didn’t the book say this guy was near the coast?” Walter pointed towards the ocean. We followed the road down to the shore, passing a few fields along the way. A young man sat on a broken piece of wood, next to a half-submerged vessel. As we got closer, it was obvious that the figure was not human. His nose was slightly larger than normal. His skull was more pointed upwards, and he was wearing robes very uncommonly seen on humans. He was about 30 years old at the most. He sat under a small shelter made of logs, with a campfire nearby. He saw us approach, and promptly stood up to greet us.

“Hello, adventurers! My name is Deraj. What are yours?”

I exchanged glances with Walter. “Um, my name’s Marion, and he’s Walter. Don’t you need help with something?”

He turned around to face the ship’s wreckage, and looked back at us. “Here’s my problem. About 10 years ago, the villagers first ma-”

“So you’re a villager - not a human?” Walter intervened.

Deraj looked quite annoyed. “Yes, I am. You’ll see plenty of villagers in Wynn, mostly merchants in cities such as Detlas. We make up most of the population of Gavel, as well! Now where was I…?” His voice trailed off. “Ah, yes. About 10 years ago, the villagers first made an appearance in Wynn via this boat behind me, the SS NewFounder. Maltic was the first town we settled into, and is still where I live today! Sometimes I like to camp next to the wreck to see if anyone has yet to come help me. Back to the point, we carried some valuables in the ship’s hold. When we crashed, everyone survived, but the treasure was buried beneath the sand. There should be a path underwater to get to it, but no person can hold their breath for that long. However, I do know a fisherman nearby who has a magical breathing helmet. I didn’t need it myself, but maybe you could get it?”

Walter nodded. “Where is this fisherman?”

“Arjay’s favorite spot is just a bit east of here. His boat may not be docked - luckily, I have this small canoe so you can get there.” He nudged an old canoe with his foot. “Getting to his ship shouldn’t be a problem. Talking to him might be though.” He went back to throwing firewood on his fire without explanation.

* * *

We pulled up to Arjay’s boat after a few minutes of searching in the canoe. I climbed up his side ladder first, and helped Walter make his way into the ship. There seemed to be nobody on board. We started searching for anything that could help us find the helmet. Up on the top deck, there appeared to be nothing of interest. I ran my hand along the shelf. There was no dust, which was odd, because the vessel looked as if it was abandoned. A fishing line stuck out from the chair in front of me. I walked to the side of the chair, and then let out a loud yelp. The smallest man I had ever seen sat in the seat, completely invisible from the back of it. He looked up at me.

“Whoa, what the flippin’ hell are you doin’ on mah boat?” Walter climbed up to the deck as well. Arjay stared him down, and looked back to me. “What you lookin’ at? I ain’t so tall, yea, but you don’t gotta be rude ‘bout it!” That startled me back to my senses.

“Uh, we were wondering if you had a special helmet? Deraj sent us to get it from you”.

He paced the deck. “Sure, I could give it to you - lucky I have 2 of ‘em - but why should I? Unless you got some money for me”.

I sighed. At this rate, we were going to have to go back to the king every day for more emeralds. I only had 3 left, but I handed 2 to him.

“Ah, that’s great. Should buy me enough supplies to keep fishin’ the rest of the week. So, here are your masks, have fun.” He handed Walter the two helmets and went back to his rod.

The breathing helmets were made of a soft leather, with glass sewn into it. I didn’t see a way that it could possibly block water, but magic is magic. I should know that the most in our small group. We hopped back into the canoe and started sailing back to the wreck near Maltic’s coast.

* * *

Deraj greeted us as we docked the canoe. “Great, you got the helmets! It may not seem airtight, but I’ve tested it a few times before. All you have to do is place the helmet over your head, and wait.”

I shrugged at Walter, and donned the helmet. The leather seam immediately constricted around my neck, and released. I shifted the glass seal into my field of vision, and saw that my view of the water was a lot brighter. Walter did the same.

Deraj moved a few boards out of the way on the shipwreck, revealing a small hole in the ground. “This is the entrance. As far as I have been able to explore it, there should definitely be a route from us to the treasure. You job is to find it, and bring it back! Should be simple enough!”

“On a count of three, we jump in. OK?” Walter nodded.

“3, 2, 1… ”


Immediately I noticed the difference the helmet made. The thickness of the water had no substance, allowing us to see much more than we would have been able to without it. There was a clear path forwards through the rubble. I led the way towards it.

We took a sharp left turn, and I realized that this may not be such an easy task. Lumber protruded from the walls of the ship, somewhat blocking our path for the next few meters. However, there were large enough spaces to pass under and over them, and we got through.

We made our way through the twists and turns of the tunnel leading us towards what would hopefully be treasure. Sure enough, eventually we reached an air-filled room with a chest, rusted and broken from years of being under the surface. I picked it up, and put it under my arm to carry it. On another countdown, Walter and I dove back into the water.

Knowing the way back to the surface, I decided to take a bit of time to get there. Some of the logs had growths of moss and lichens covering them. I could make out one of the rooms, with a few encrusted chests - what must have been the cargo bay. The timber above it ran up, and over Walter’s head… was that a crack there?

The entire ship shifted under our feet, throwing me against the wall. The chunk of wood above us had broken and fallen on Walter! I rushed to swim over to him, and realized that he couldn’t move. The trunk laid across his back, pinning him down.

“Help get this off of me!” He howled. I wedged the chest I had gotten under one side of the log. At that moment, the airtight seal around Walter’s helmet broke. He took a deep breath, and managed to escape the timber. “We’ve got to get out before the wreck sinks!”

I grabbed the chest from under the log and swam towards the exit. I didn’t know how long Walter could last without his helmet - hopefully long enough for us to escape. I kicked a piece of lumber out of the way, and pulled him through the hole to the surface, then followed myself.

Walter sputtered and spit water out onto the sand. He turned onto his back and stared up into the sky. “Thanks for saving my life. Let’s make sure that doesn’t have to happen again.”

I took off the helmet and laughed. Deraj was running down the path to the coast, seeing we had made it out.

“Are you oka- the treasure! You got it! Thank you so much!” As he picked up the chest, the bottom half of it broke off and fell to the sand, with all the contents with it. “Well, it’s not in peak condition, but you got it!”

Walter had managed to catch his breath. “We almost died in there. And we’ve only been in Wynn for a day! What could be that important?”

Deraj pulled out a heap of emeralds, as well as a few other bits and bobs. “My family’s honored necklace was in there. It’s very important to me, personally. You wouldn’t understand. But, as your payment…” He gave me a handful of emeralds, as well as a pair of boots. “Those aren’t just any boots, they’re treasure boots! They’ll make you luckier and fight better!”

I was doubtful of that, but I handed the boots to Walter and pocketed some of the emeralds. “I’m glad we could help you with your, uh, find. But we should be going now.”

Walter and I started down the path to Ragni, to meet up with our friends again.

---
Deraj - @Jared2183
Arjay - Requested name by my friend

________________________________

@XavierEXE @FlamingPinecone

 

FIRST COMMENT!!!
MOOOOOM GET THE CAMERAAAA!

 

Although they are changing the ending to underwater in the next update :P

 

ah fek

 

Bump dis up

 

This was a fine piece of writing

 

Thank you very much :D

 

Amazing i rarely come across something this good :)

 

Nah jk, liking the story so far!

 

what the necro dud

 

tldr pls

 

Srsly
It's a story
Go contact JK Rowling for a TLDR if you're too lazy to read any of her books too =P

 

Uh
Are you ASSUMING I read books?