Cursed Draw

Ahh the Oceans this adventurous soul has spent many a night watching the stars from aboard a floating vessel, but it was not my dear reader. Until I endeavored to write this book, that I came to truly understand the myriad wonders of the endless deep. By the time you finish the tome you hold I promise you will understand them all as well. This seminal work which I am proud to say is one part technical manual of greater than encyclopedic quality and one part log of my own adventures so grand they stretch credulity.

-The Audacious Deck Builder's Guide to: The Ocean, Forward

Chapter 19: Preparations

Alabaster

While the Knots family had been feverishly preparing for the All Isles Festival since their arrival on Cursed Isle this year. They could however spare a day or two devoted to helping the pair of boys on their journey. After lots of back and forth, it had eventually been decided that Alley and Darius would make for a swamp to the southeast.

Overland it would be a journey of several weeks but using Alley’s skiff they could head out onto the ocean. If they hugged the coast it should still be a safe trip whilst cutting their travel time in half at least.

The locals near their destination apparently called the place Rakino; Bad day in the tongue their ancestors spoke. The swamp was a bit of a mystery. While not an actual threat to the towns nearby, something in its depths routinely spat out swarms of weak undead and had for as long as anyone could remember.

It sounded almost perfect for Alley’s needs though he doubted they would find much in the way of Trials cards with the Pursuit resonance for Darius. In general, a Trials deck was the purview of people. Temples, schools, military fortresses, and hunting lodges. These were the types of places they would need to visit to strengthen Darius’ Library. In some ways, it was a far scarier prospect than hunting dead things past the edge of civilization for Alley’s.

There was one such hunting lodge on a tiny Island marked on the map almost dead east of the Rakino swamp. It was pretty far out in the ocean, but not such a distance that he feared his skiff wouldn’t be up to it. Such a trip likely meant he wouldn’t be able to make it to the All Isles Festival and his best chance to quickly rack up six wins and overcome rank twelve.

Alley had been weighing this up in his mind, going over the details again and again as he did not want to miss the festival. Yet the details didn’t change. With his own Deck Curse Locked, Alley would struggle to fight back against someone threatening him with a True Deck until he could touch them and initiate a Challenge Match.

They hadn’t discussed it yet, but Alley was sure both he and Darius realized the truth of the matter. Yes, the last surviving Roe could train his body and his techniques for fighting people and monsters, but if the pair of them ran into someone with bad intentions and the ability to change reality around him he would need Darius to help him close that gap more often than he wouldn’t. They were going to have to figure out a whole set of new strategies.

These were the thoughts that whirled around Alley’s mind as he prepared and filled a series of Meat Casks to keep fish, pork, and MuckDwell River Dragon meat fresh during the journey ahead. He tried to think of it as planning, but the truth was he was simply going over the same information again and again as excitement and anxiety made war over their tiny philosophical differences inside him.

Preparing food, tools, weapons, extra clothes, rope, sail canvas, ship maintenance supplies, and anything else they could think of that would reasonably fit on Alley’s boat and conceivably come in handy. Was an effort of two days for the entire family. Alley felt guilty monopolizing the labor of the Knots Clan, but with autumn having already started, if he was going to make this journey before storms made the seas south of Cursed Isle far too dangerous the pair of them needed to be on their way sooner rather than later.

It was strange every moment of preparation over the two days felt to Alley like it dragged as his hunger to depart grew. Occasionally in the times when he worked alone, he would whisper questions trying to prompt the strange voice he had heard to respond to him. If nothing else so that he could prove to himself that he wasn’t crazy, that he had indeed heard it directing him to where his sister’s card lay and again when he was trying to sleep the first night staying with the Knots.

The outcome was far from confirmation of his sanity. As whatever the entity that had communicated with him was, it didn’t make a peep.

Pushing the idea of his unstable mental state aside as best he could, Alley tried to simply bask in the hectic yet warm nature of the Knots homestead. He was sure there was no one quite like the family of monster hunters.

While he had been anxious to depart during every moment of preparation when the time to leave finally came. Alley found himself dragging his feet. The entire Knots family had come to see their son and pseudo-son off, packing the rickety little wharf that played host to Alley’s skiff. The boat itself wasn’t exactly intended for long journeys but it was the only ocean-going vessel on the Island that wasn’t directly tied to the continued survival of the Knots family.

Alley and Darius tossed their packs of personal supplies onto the ship and turned to say their final goodbyes.

When they did, the view of Cursed Isle’s steep vibrantly green hills broken by the occasional boulder of jutting grey stone and smatterings of light airy woodland made the breath catch in Alley’s throat.

‘I’m never going to see this place again.’ The thought came unbidden and filled him with a strange sense of longing. It just felt true.

“Don’t be stupid” came the deep whiskey-soaked voice that only he could hear. “Of course, you will be back. You think you can catch up to that priest without using my Library? Pah!”

‘Now you talk to me.’ Alley’s frustration only grew when he realized he had missed something being said to him by Leshy and now the Knots family was looking at him expectantly.

“Uhh sorry just overwhelmed by emotion for a second.” he covered for the distraction. It wasn’t even really a lie, he was feeling a little overwhelmed.

“Can you say that again?”

“I said “ grinned the older man “ That we will carry a message about what happened here to the All Isles festival, and have marked on some of your maps where we expect to be and when over the next two years so if you are nearby don’t be strangers.”

Alley smiled thanked the man, and assured Leshy they would, whilst Darius dolled out hugs and words with his mother and siblings. Eventually, there wasn’t much left to say, Artunis reminded Alley to keep his bladed hook and CoreSteel chain close, and Darius not to leave his Ice Serpent scale cloak lying around as both items were prime bait for thieves and could easily save either boy’s life in an emergency.

“Yes Mom”

“Yes Mrs knots” they replied in unison with the tone of teenagers the world over being reminded of something more than once.

After that, there was nothing for it but to make the small leap to the boat and cast off. They had tried to keep the boat somewhat light despite the plethora of tools and supplies. It had been a partial success but his skiff which Alley thought of as ‘The Bay Runner’ still sat lower in the water than he had ever seen it. He hoped the tiny ship could still maintain the speed it had been built for.

Setting sail the boys quickly fell into an easy rhythm. They had been working together their entire lives, and taking this boat out for various short trips for the past five years. Despite being the far worldlier of the two Darius left navigation duties to Alley. The dark-haired boy didn’t mind, there was something about naval travel that just didn’t click with his friend. You could rely on him to find his way out of a forest or a cave with almost supernatural accuracy, but put him on water and he just had no idea where he was going.

“You think we'll ever see Cursed Isle again?” Asked Alley as he worked the rudder and his friend did his best to keep the single sail filled with wind.

“Huh,” said Darius with a glance over his shoulder at Alley. “ I hadn’t really thought about it but I guess not. I don’t think my parents have any reason to winter here now.”

The pair maneuvered out into the bay in a mild zig pattern intended to keep the wind at their backs. Once they crossed the headlands out onto the Silver Sea they would turn dead south and follow the coastline. It was far faster than the river travel Alley was accustomed to and if the weather held within three days he would have gone further from his home than he had his entire life up until this point.

Initially, he wasn’t sure whether to feel scared or excited by that idea. But it was clear in his every movement that Darius was excited to have finally dragged his best friend off on an adventure like he had been talking about for years. The energy from the red-headed boy slowly shifted the balance inside Alley towards excitement and wonder.

Yes, there had been tragedy he still hadn’t fully processed, yes he was maybe going mad, and yes the quest he had set for himself was probably impossible. In this moment with the salty wind blowing his wild hair, his own little boat stocked and shored up, his best friend idly talking about nonsense. None of the challenges Alley had faced or would face mattered. There was an impossibly large world out there and it was about to open up for him in ways he could scarcely imagine.