Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Having finally reached their destination, the party let out a collective sigh of relief, five days of continuous travel did that to you. Aldrich was especially glad that he was off the damn bridge.

Not too far from the shores of Ebrict one could also see the silhouette of an island in the distance.

"That's the Umbra island, where the Umbra monastery was supposedly established. In the the legends it's said the high scholars made pilgrimage to it even in the age of Dread making it their home even in death."

Nathan sighed as if he lamented that reality could never be as romantic as fiction.

Ebrict had a few gates that were manned with a few soldiers armed with muskets and crossbows. The wall was nothing like Voryhrm but it was much better than a regular small-time town.

This was strange, Aldrich thought that it should be a rundown village devastated by pirates, bandits and monsters. But that was clearly not the case the defenses and traffic going in and out of the town was not small at all.

Listening to the conversations of other travelers, he got a better understanding of what was going on, the lord of Ebrict was constructing a new port and he even sent his men to suppress the pirates in the region.

Many people came here for the jobs, they were fishing and building ships and opening all kinds of stalls. After seeing the security of the town and seeing results in the lord's endeavor many decided to settle down here.

Aldrich could see a bright future for Ebrict if the lord was successful in making the water routes safe once again.

Aldrich and the rest passed by the gates easily, there was not much hassle anyway. The streets were a bit narrow for his liking but it was expected after all the town was just getting revitalized.

Aldrich picked an inn on the Easthill called Yellwsprings. It was a decent place and not too expensive, the tavern of the inn was also packed with people of all kinds some elves and dwarves here and there too.

"Thanks that will be fourteen coppers," the receptionist, a half elf with long blond hair said.

"Of course, here," Aldrich handed her fifteen coppers. The receptionist counted them and at the end she paused before looking back at him.

"Uh, sir, you made a mistake, you gave me an extra copper." She said honestly.

"Mistake? That was not a mistake, it's yours" Aldrich smiled and returned the copper to her.

"But, I can't, I will get in trouble for this…"

"Nonsense!" Aldrich righteously declared, "you deserve it, I was able to feel your dedication and hard wok the moment I walked in this fine establishment. I insist."

"I don't know what to say, thank you, sir!" The elf said looking emotional.

Aldrich coughed, "oh… it's just that I was wondering if you've heard any rumors?"

"Rumors? I did hear about many rumors what are you looking for?" She asked.

"Eh, why don't you tell me about the lord and the new port, how about that?" Aldrich said, he was curious and he also didn't want immediately reveal why he was really here.

"Oh, that's easy. The lords of Ebrict have always wanted to restore peace in the sea here and they've been working at it from the last generation. Now after building up manpower and with five Crestmasters it was time to start cleaning up the waters."

"Wow, five Crestmasters? That's impressive. But how successful has it been?"

"Very successful they even took down the Black company and executed the first mate and the captain publicly on the docks for all to see, if not these many people wouldn't have been confident to settle here."

"Oh, wow. As expected of such a great personage, truly inspiring." Aldrich shower complements and then asked, "oh, what about the old marblehead lighthouse over there? We got a glimpse of it when we came in."

"Oh," the elf sighed, "there are too many rumors about it, some say Johny the town trickster was dared to spend the night there but no one ever saw him again. Others talk of a swarm of bats making it their hime now that it was abandoned, some even said they saw strange lights shining from it."

"Well, thank you very much, my friends and I will have some rest and then we'll go the tavern for some lunch."

Aldrich and the party were in desperate need of rest so today was definitely not the day to tackle the lighthouse especially since they still needed to gather more information. And they needed to visit a certain family too.

After a hot bath and a change of clothes Aldrich felt like he was a human once again. He needed to get his hands on a wondrous item that kept one clean at all times.

After a three-hour long afternoon nap the party gathered in the tavern for lunch. But of course the tavern was empty since most people already had lunch by now, which also annoyed the cooks and the staff.

But hey, they were paying customers so there's that.

"Isn't it weird that the lord didn't do anything about the lighthouse with rumors like that flying around?" Hellen asked.

"Yeah, and it's not like he lacks the power to do it. He had five Crestmasters under his command, Crestmasters are very well aware that ghosts are real right?" Frank agreed with her.

​ "Well," Aldrich mused, "you guys have a point but actually it's not that strange. The lord is clearly busy with the pirates and the new port all of his resources are probably invested there."

"That's true," Nathan said as he munched on a giant crab's leg, "don't forget that commoners spread all kinds of rumors, he can't possibly investigate all of them right?"

"But still didn't she say that a person went missing after going there?" Cole asked.

"I don't know, we can't know for certain unless we ask the lord himself so instead of that let's focus on what we can do…" Aldrich pointed out so that the focus remained on the quest.

"Where to first?" Emma asked.

Aldrich smiled, "we have to meet, Irene Langston, the girl who issued the quest. So we're going to pay a visit to house Langston."