What'll I do now? This here Broken Bridge speaks to me some. A fair place to rest me old bones for a bit. And tell you what, with all this sunlight and fresh air, I can feel the calling forth of the poetic muse beneath me trousers!
Been a long time since I've felt this here compass point in any direction.
It's a bit of an embarrassing affair, truth be told.
Thought I could return to the golden days, you know? Be a terror of the high seas like in me youth. Problem was, they'd all forgotten me. Those young blighters sailing about, they had no clue who I even were! Figured if I could complete another great feat, like slaying that sea-bitch Merveil, maybe that'd earn me my respect back.
Arr, suppose I don't need to tell you; that girlie's stronger than she looks. All it took were one slip of the old hands and next I knew, the Black Crest were wrecked against the coast and I'm getting meself eaten alive by that hag.
Peeled each separate muscle from my bones, she did. I'll tell you, it weren't pretty.
Aye, I know Lilly be missing me something great, and it cuts me deep not to go visit the lass. Thing is, I reckon she should remember me as I was, not retch at the sight of this spectre I be now. Let the legend live on in her mind, I say.
Yeena's a pretty young thing ain't she. Bosoms to eclipse the sun, she has! Might be that I spend some time here, get to know the lass a tad more. Never mind that she's young and alive and I be... argh, old and dead. Once she hears me poetry, that is. Not a girlie alive who won't want for a bit of ol' rot tooth once he breaks out the... heh, tongue twisters and... word plays!
Not that she'd likely hold much interest in an old ghost like me. Still, a man can dream. Even a dead one.
Eramir? He's a tad dull, tends to ramble on a bit. Still, he's a few interesting stories of his own, so might be worth chewing the fat with from time to time.
Now speaking of navigations and the like, a long time ago, I had me a nice collection of riches stuffed away in a lockbox. Being the stupid arse that I am, I buried the thing one eve when I was high in me cups. Can't for the death of me remember where I... except, I know it was near this broken bridge.
The box has a silver locket in it, holds the portrait of me late wife, Meredith. It's the last thing I have in this world to remember her by. If you happen across me lockbox in your travels, I'd be appreciating of its return.
Me locket! Ohoh! Oh, me darling, my beautiful Meredith. How I miss your shuddering bosoms, your quivering thighs. She had a heart to melt an iceberg, and teats the size of... well, anyway, I thank you greatly.
Please, whatever else be in that lockbox, take your pick from it. This locket be the only treasure I need.
I be missing me granddaughter something terrible. You know, I used to tell Lilly bedtime stories till she fell asleep in me arms. She loved the ones about Kishara, a tough-as-nails Vaal lassie said to have explored every coast, cove and bay of this blasted continent with the help of her Star, some nifty artefact she nabbed from somewhere on her first voyage. Young Lilly, she were fascinated by Kishara's Star. Said to be fair humming with thaumaturgy, able to guide its mistress wherever she be fixing to journey.
Methinks me granddaughter liked to imagine that one day she'd hold the Star in her hands and explore the outer reaches of this world. I'd dearly love to see her again, but there ain't no way I'm making that journey with nothing to show for it. She looks up to me, does Lilly. So I'm reckoning that Star might put a smile on her pretty face. With such a gift in hand, I'd maybe have the guts to go visit me granddaughter instead of skulking here like some craven ghost... that's if some kind and brave soul fetched it for me.
So this is Kishara's famed Star. Hmmm, just as I reckoned, it won't point me in any one direction, it can't make up its mind I suspect due to me not being able to make up mine. I feel a tremor of prophecy coming over me, like some scallywag's just stomped over me grave. If I go see Lilly, there's to be only disappointment and sorrow.
If that's what the future has in store then it can keep it. I wish a long and vibrant life for the girly, one free of the trouble that an old, dead buccaneer like I might bring upon her.
Legend has it, Kishara got herself in some hot water with a certain Queen Atziri. Details are vague as to exactly how, but by all accounts, Atziri weren't the most understanding of lasses. Kishara, being the free spirited sort probably just pricked the royal arse with some spiky facts from the outside world. Almost lost her head for her trouble, Kishara. Atziri took her ship and made sacrifices of her crew. Forced the poor girlie into hiding.
Still, Kishara being of a wily inclination like meself, she slipped through Atziri's talons and right out of the empire. But before she left, Kishara hid the Star somewhere near the Causeway that leads into the old Vaal city up north, just in case she got caught, I suppose. Something like that in the hands of a tyrant like Atziri... who knows what trouble she might've found with it.
Think of the worst place ye can imagine. That's Pondium. Now think of the gods-be-damned best whore house you've ever had the pleasure of. That's Pondium. A 'pirate paradise' full of bodies to stab, holes to fill, and devious liquor to imbibe.
Brinerots control the whole island, and make sure it lives up to the lowest of expectations.
Can't imagine much has changed since I was there last. Still, it's a good place to swash your buckle and make love to a bawdy buxom bunter out back of a boozy bar!
Aye, them Brinerots be a nasty bunch. Led by me very own flesh and blood. Me baby sister, Lussi! The "Rotmother" they call her now. Used to be that I were their leader, back when the Brinerots were about one thing and one thing only - raiding, pillaging and plundering their scrawny black guts out!
Old Lussi were me first mate for years, but she got a whiff of the power that being Captain could gain her, and mutineered me! Me own sister! Dropped me on some deserted island off the coast of somewhere, the bitch. Took months to make it back to the mainland.
That Brinerot clan's been trouble ever since. Used to have some good old fashioned pirate honour, and now they're raving mad lunatics out for their next fix of fear and fortune.