Shallow

Pirates.

Free sailors who also steal and pillage in their spare time. They often had bouts of scurvy and all other shits because you couldn't really find adequate supply of vitamin C in the ocean. Or maybe people just didn't know that you could eat some sea weed or that fish liver contained vitamin c to some extent. Considering neither provided enough vitamin C though, perhaps I was just tripping.

"Maybe they're just looking to stock up on lemons?" I said.

Why else would pirates come so close to the port and just risk getting captured and barbecued?

Or maybe they were into that?

Maybe.

"No, they were probably just waiting for the Sondarian forces to leave," Armen said. "Look more ships."

Roughly a dozen more ships. Those just manifested out of nowhere. I suppose they were using some sort of illusion magic? I believe the people of this world called this particular thing, mystic arts.