First week

Volume 2 : Life at Sea

 At dinner I asked the chef to serve the best items on the menu which included some of the best items from the Golden Dragon's loot. Everyone is pleased with the food and compliments it all the time, thanking our chef as well, Jhon and his father are really pleased and say that they have only eaten something like this when visiting some lords in their own territories, Fatty Zhang doesn't say a word the whole dinner just nodding his head every now and then, so I talk about the lessons with Aisha and Jhon says he doesn't know the Asshai'i language thanking him for the opportunity to learn. I then ask them what they know about Asshai and they say it's not much since it's their first time going there and they only know about the city's port and common information. So I turn my questions to the native inhabitant of the city, Aisha.

"I wasn't actually born in the Shadow Lands, I was born in a fishing village on a small island near the Manticore Islands. During my childhood my mother taught me the Asshai'i language but she died when I was less than 10 years old, then when I became a woman my father started taking me on his trips to the port of Asshai where I visited quite often. It was only 2 years ago that my father decided to come to Valyria under the promise of "lucrative" business, but he was tricked by someone, his ship was taken and we ended up in slavery due to debts. After that he died in the depths of the 14 flames while he was enslaved."

Everyone gives their condolences to the girl who lost both her parents and she continues:

"There are some rules and facts about the land of shadows that you should take into consideration: The first is that there are no children there, they say that women and men are infertile while they are in the city, others say that it is because babies die while still in their mothers' wombs, and some say that children will get sick and die as soon as they step into the territory of shadows, because of this, no one takes children there. The second important fact is that everyone wears masks inside and outside the city, either to avoid having their faces stolen by shadow creatures or to avoid being affected by visual spells such as curses or diseases. The third rule is that despite there being no laws, no one commits crimes there, but if someone does so and offends the wrong person, a terrible fate worse than death awaits them. It is an unwritten law, even so everyone follows it, but if something still happens and you cannot do anything about the criminal, you can go after one of the aristocratic families that live in the city to demand justice. They will help you if you are a foreigner."

Everyone is thoughtful for a moment and I say:

"I didn't know about the children, I allowed a couple to bring their child and most of the youngest orphaned brats are only 10 years old."

"They can stay in some villages like mine until they are age, Boss." Aisha added.

I find it strange that Aisha calls me that, she didn't usually use the same title as Ted and always preferred the word Sir, but I accept it without saying anything and ask again:

"These villages seem like a good place for my water company, how far are they?"

"The ones closest to Asshai are affected by the waters of the Ash River, making it difficult to use the seawater for anything and there are no edible fish near that area of ​​the sea, you would have to go away for a day by ship before reaching an island free of contamination."

"This distance isn't bad, we can choose one of these islands before we get to Asshai. And the city itself? What do we need to know about business there?"

"And magic? Are there teachers there?" Omar also asks.

Fatty nods quickly, curious, and I notice that after the last questions Jhon is much more attentive in his answers.

"Like any other city, there are all kinds of establishments such as shops, bazaars, temples and taverns. The most popular goods are precious stones, amber and dragon glass since they are specialties of Asshai and are highly sought after by merchants who come there. While food and water are something that the Asshai'i buy at high prices. The city has many empty properties and the price to buy one is cheaper too. Regarding magic, there are many people on the streets offering these types of services and selling items like this, but not all of them deliver what they promise and there may even be hidden dangers. The prices are high and they always target visitors. The best option would be to find a tower master, or a Shadowmancer with a certain reputation, if you are looking for a long-term teacher. Oh yes, I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain what a Shadowmancer would be or about these tower masters, they are rare to see and very respected, no one would talk about them so easily for fear of offending them."

"Okay, I'm already an apprentice so I should be able to help you find a good and real teacher." Rafael says to the others.

"Are you an apprentice, Rafael? I'm one too." Jhon quickly answers.

I'm surprised at first but I answer:

"Yes, but I'm still at a low level compared to other apprentices, if you don't mind we can exchange knowledge during the trip, Omar and Fatty Zhang are learning too. But let's not get into that today so as not to exclude your father and Aisha from the conversation."

After that I arrange with Aisha the common language class at 9:00 in the morning and Asshai'i class at 4:00 in the afternoon, each class will last 1:30 and I also told her to accompany me twice a week in the evening for an extra class for me, Omar and Fatty.

After dinner I ask Aisha why not everyone can learn the language of Asshai, and she says that it is a magical language and that some words cannot even be heard or pronounced by ordinary people. But it would not be a problem for them to learn basic words to get by. After that we all say goodbye and the night ends.

Soon a week passes, the introduction of the classes has been a success and many are participating. The crew always takes turns to learn without being away from the duties of the sailboat. In the private lessons, Aisha reinforces our pronunciation and all 3 of us are accepting the language well without any problems, which shows that we are not inept in the mysterious language. In addition, Omar invited me to take sword lessons with Sir Arthur, the classes take place every day before breakfast, and I have changed my schedule to meditate before bed. Also after 1 week Omar finally finished calculating the cargo and due to the many price variations, we decided to divide it into percentages for the larger cargoes, keeping the smaller high-value cargoes for me, him and Fatty.

For the larger cargo I get 30%, Omar gets 25%, Fatty gets 20%, Jack gets 10% and Captain Henry gets 15%. Of course, he will split the Captain's percentage with the 1st mate and the crew. I leave this division to him because he already has experience in what is fair. As the afternoon class ends, I'm heading to my cabin when a quest I had forgotten about reappears, along with new ones:

[Optional quest Escape to Westeros has been removed]

[Optional quest Escape to Essos (Free Cities) has been removed]

[Optional quest Escape to Asshai has been updated to: In Progress]

[New side quest issued]

Keep as many crew members on your ship alive as possible 109/109

[New special quest issued]

Kill pirates: 0/200

Kill sea monsters: 0/10

[Optional quests issued]

-Store and study the corpse of a mutant sea creature

-Plunder shipwrecks 0/3

 New quests! Some are hard goods, but I guess if my crew kills it it counts? Studying a corpse on board the ship can be dangerous due to disease. Looting shipwrecks can be easy or hard, what will count as loot? Grab everything of value? Go in and explore a bit and come out with some coins? I'll have to try that one out when the opportunity arises, plus it's time to test my Bloodmage spells and I should have a dinner with Esmer.

As morning dawns the next day and I'm about to start my studies, something happens. A ship appears on the horizon and signals contact with our sailboat.