Afterword - Book 2 - Chapter 22 (Patreon)

Chapter 22: Minor Interlude - Captain Bantus - Captain’s Log

(Original Chapter Title: N/A)

As I plotted out events as Ranthia selected them, I ran into an interesting problem.

Ranthia chose a 'hard mode' journey across the Nostrum, but I had no way to actually make that interesting to read. A few aquatic beasts culminating in a pirate attack sounds interesting, up until you remember that Ranthia'd be punching down hard the entire time. There was also a concern that it'd feel too similar to when Sentinel Dawn did a similar journey.

The solution was blindingly obvious and I am embarrassed at how long it took me to notice. A 'civilian' perspective.

I try to provide hints here and there of a truth, but given a (lot) of comments readers seem to fail to grasp just how disruptive and chaotic Ranthia can be even when she's not trying to inflict chaos. This was an opportunity to make those hints into a cluebat.

And so we get Captain Bantus, son of Captain Bantus, son of...

As usual when I introduce characters for all of once I've got backstories from them that'll never see the light of day. Except for you lot, rejoice!

Captain Bantus is operating under slim margins currently. He's still trying to escape the debts from having the Sea Strider IV built (the Sea Strider III was lost under his watch, hence why his first class is now focused on keeping the ship intact, instead of speed [thus slave labor]). This is the true reason he jumped at Ranthia's (poorly thought out) offer—he didn't necessarily believe she could erase risk, but he hoped he could hold the Sentinels liable if something did happen (not that he remembered what they were at the time).

Cutter was an ex-pirate and involved in the events that led to the Sea Strider III being destroyed. But Bantus saved him when everything went pear-shaped and brought him with his crew, no questions asked. Cutter isn't really his name, it was just his 'title' or role among his old pirate crew—a swordsman who cut down his foes, but he chose to adopt it as his name. A reminder of where he came from, and what he owes his new captain. Cutter is the first mate by sheer expertise (and Menius' desire to be left to navigation and not be bothered by everyone else's bullshit), but he largely considers his role to be the protector of the Sea Strider IV.

I leave the depth of the relationship between the men up to readers. I kind of like how it can be read a few different ways, that was intentional.

This interlude took a bit to shape. I wanted a running 'mental narration,' but I also wanted there to be some interactions with Ranthia and others aboard. Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to realize I could resolve everything with a Skill and [Captain's Log] was born. A short rewrite of what little I had later, the current version of the interlude was born.

I still love that Bantus casually mentions his grandfather was the victim of a mutiny (which strongly implies his father was part of the mutineers) while ranting to himself about Ranthia making Cutter quiver.

Bantus' writing style is intentionally inconsistent. He learned his letters all proper and formal like, but he talks like you'd expect a half-feral man of the sea to talk. He also tends to try to avoid writing a mass of swears and curses (the scrolls are, after all, mostly intended to show other people when they try to claim cargo went missing or crates ended up lighter than they should or such), which leads to some amusingly labored alternative swears and a single near-miss where he had to substitute 'duck' in at the last instant. He does lose his composure at a few points, but that's just the Ranthia Effect(tm).

Fun easter egg for the observant: Tertia's company is receiving a large number of the crates that the Sea Strider IV is carrying.

Another fun easter egg: I managed to, organically, get 'selkie' (well, 'selkies') and 'myth' into the same phrase! (And have been forever disappointed that no one commented on this.)

Flipping it around, here would be the summary of the trip from Ranthia's perspective:

- Watching the water from the deck wasn't working out, the angles were a problem and [Vision of the Void] wasn't working well enough. Plus, she could only monitor roughly a quarter of the water at a time from the deck. Eventually she figured out that standing atop the (poorly maintained, disused) mast worked better. Dancing made it easier to keep her footing (and was less soul-crushingly dull), plus it improved [Vision of the Void] enough to matter.

- No sea beast was dangerous enough to warrant a report, Ranthia focused on eliminating anything that got too close to the ship that was large enough to potentially damage it. She brought the carcasses aboard to supplement the ship's stores and when she offered to cook a sea monster she got overwhelming support from the crew. Still, overall, unimportant.

- Sought permission to exercise somewhere on the deck where she wouldn't get in the way. Got permission.

- The lunatic captain had a man thrown overboard for a single crass suggestion. Ranthia wouldn't even use violence at that stage. She retrieved the man and threatened to have the captain tried for attempted murder if he did something like that ever again. The captain relented.

- After the debacle where the man tried to kill one of his own crew, Ranthia decided to do a wellness check of the slaves. They weren't super-abused, but they were confined belowdecks during the journey and one of them mentioned missing the breeze on the deck. So Ranthia kind of brute-forced shifts for the slaves, with one shift allowed to spend time on the deck at all times. Eventually she starts offering to run light exercises for them, for fun. There's enough demand that she bribes some of the crew to take over for a half-gong worth of time each day so all the slaves can join in at once.

- The captain inflicted a route change and delay on them, at which point Pallos' most obvious trap began to close in on them. The water had been overly cleared by a larger predator and a strange fog built, at least until a natural storm broke through it.

- Unfortunately, the pirates struck during the night of the new moon. Ranthia wasn't one to stand there and hope for the best, she had trained in blind combat and her stats were still at her disposal—it just necessitated letting the Ranger (and possibly the crew) in on more than she would have cared to. But armed with direction and distance: she could act. They had a sea monster on their side, but the Ranger was able to guide her. The beast was too slow to hit her (and, thank Xaoc, [Combat Awareness] and [Rhythmic Grace] still applied somewhat even when she was blind—her eyes weren't her only senses). Ranthia finally struck it hard enough that it either blacked out or fled, then resumed her run to the pirate ship. There she gave them three simple choices: 1) Attack and meet Black Crow. 2) Surrender and face justice for their crimes. 3) Abandon crime and go legitimate, as Adventurers. Ranthia might have been blind, but she could tell that the pirates weren't doing well and weren't doing it for fun. They were struggling and their ship was a piece of junk. Many who barely had the strength (or an asset) to turned to crime were unaware of how that same bit of strength could give them a more legitimate path. It was all too easy to underestimate Adventurers. The pirates accepted, and Ranthia 'hired' them for their first job—a protective escort. A plesiosaurus companion bond was rare and gave them some serious chops for the right Adventurer work.

From Ran's perspective, it's simple and straightforward. She wasn't trying to be chaotic, she was just choosing the 'best' option at each point.

From Bantus' perspective, we see just how large a disruption she was. She changed his policies—permanently—with reckless disregard for the logic of the world. Ranthia was practically a natural force to him and his crew, unstoppable and inexplicable. Pirates became friends. Slaves became crew. And a splintering, unmaintained mast became a dance platform.

Weird.