Part 26: Deja-vu

Journal entry 25 – Deja-vu

From The Journal of Captain Petra Blackwood

July 8th, 1888

Our stop in London was short, and rather uneventful.



The Unfinished was put in dry dock to recover from the damage the Prophets caused, while I made my normal visit to the Admiralty and sold what goods I could at the Exchange.






And now, a quiet evening at home – I've had the Unfinished restocked with supplies for another trip, much like the last. The Coral needs more supplies, after all, and I plan to take full advantage of its payment.



Cue nearly identical stops at Venderbight, Wither, The Codex, and Mt. Palmerstone. Not a single new event in any of them.

July 16th, 1888



We finally arrived at Port Cecil today. I've been eager to deliver a few more of the bits, and disembarked quickly. I think the crew is starting to get a little worried – Maybe they think I like chess too much? It's hard to say. I'd brought a few more baubles with me, including something I'd been carrying for some time without quite knowing why.




I returned once more with armloads of Scintillack, almost more than I could carry.

When I returned to the ship, Celia told me that she'd heard that a recent change in the Coral had brought some ancient structures to the surface; I wasn't going to let that go uninvestigated, so I took a small group of the crew with me to investigate.






The more brave or curious of my crew – S.M, McClay, Celia, Draki and Jones – came with me. The things we discovered I've cataloged separately, but it was enough to be sure that the ruins were not of human origin. Perhaps these are some of the homes of the Rubbery men? Imagine, living in an amber dome below the Zee! But there's no way to know without another chance to investigate – perhaps someday I'll get so lucky.

July 17th, 1888



We arrived in the Khanate, and I went into the city in hopes to meeting my contact.




I found another familiar face first – or rather, she found me. I suppose I can't complain about the price of this 'fish', but I'll have to find some use for it before it starts stinking up the hold.



If only I'd be so lucky in finding my contact – although, I suppose, all things considered, I'm luckier than my contact is. I don't suspect I'll be seeing her again. We made a quick departure after that.

July 20th, 1888

Not far north of Verchas lays Jack-a-Dandy Stack, a barren little pile of rocks jutting from the Zee. Today, though, when we passed it, we saw quite a sight -



A full-grown Jillyfish! We'd all seen many of the little ones, but the adult ones are quite rare.




And, as it turns out, territorial.



Fortunately, even fully grown, they're no match for the Unfinished.




It reminds me even more of Flourishing-of-Years than the small ones do. They're such unusual creatures – And I swear, it almost sounded like it spoke. But in the end, it was only a short diversion – We'll be reaching Varchas later today. I imagine I'll be spending a few days here trading Scintillack.



And so she did. Skipping over that, and an unremarkable visit to Adam's Way -

July 25th, 1888
I'm charting a slightly more northern course on our return trip this time – In hopes of avoiding another run-in with the Prophets. We had a fairly normal visit – Went ashore, spoke to the locals, collected enough stories for a port report and left.



But several hours after departing, Slaan told me we had something unusual in the pantry.



A pair of Blemmigans had snuck aboard. They seemed nice enough, as ambelitory fungus goes, so I'm letting them stay – for now. I fully plan to unload them in the first couple places that seem hospitible. I do feel a little bad about what happened at Kingeater Castle, with the last one.

I'll try to find these better homes.

This has a chance to happen anytime you collect the port report at the Uttershroom – I simply clicked through the page without taking a SS of it. Whoops! I'll try to catch it next time.

July 26th, 1888

Brief stop at the Isle of Cats. I think, of all the things on the Zee, nothing scares me more than what happens to make Red Honey.



But I reckon you can't make honey from a mushroom. It should be safe enough here, although I don't plan to stick around to see it out. Godspeed, little mushroom.



Godspeed.

July 27th, 1888



My visit with the Fathomking today was short – But outside, we encountered something more dangerous. Or at least more openly hostile. Another Lorn-Fluke was wandering the waters – They're cruel buggers, and I need a core for the Coral besides. I wasted no time in giving my crew the orders to go to combat positions.



It seemed reluctant to pursue us too close to Port Lorkin. I can't imagine why – Perhaps the King's byzantine system of rules applies even to these creatures.

It seemed to be tethered to stay fairly near it's spawn point – it kept de-aggroing, letting me shoot it, and chasing me for about two seconds before drifting back again. Made for an easy fight, let me tell you.






There wasn't much left of it when we were done – but the core survived. With this, I'll be able to finish the desires of whatever mind lives inside the coral. I imagine it shall be quite a spectacle – I hope I'm not about to inadvertently sink an entire island. I'd feel rather bad about that, in the end.

July 30th, 1888

I know we visited the Iron Republic. My crew all agrees on that.



I can't remember a damned thing, though, save bits and snippets of what I think was some kind of marching song. I suppose it doesn't really matter, Not much seems to have changed.



Except that, for whatever reason, we have TWO Blemmigans on-board again. Did it make a freind? Did it split in half? Are they really even Blemmigans? I don't know. But I'm more eager than ever to find them new homes.

From here, we'll heading straight back to London. I want to visit Port Cecil again, and see what's in store for me.