Chapter Text
Ocean waves splashed against the hull of a wooden sailing ship known as The Sea Stormer, a vessel renowned for her many voyages into the treacherous waters around Havenlight, a small port town situated on an island that lies somewhere off the coast of Bright Mornings, the city of magic studies. While most fishing and leisure boats stay close to the harbor, The Sea Stormer is an exploratory ship, built to last the long journeys she takes across the mist-covered sea.
You are her new Captain, tasked with the great honour of documenting the farthest reaches beyond the horizon. You have been entrusted with the care of The Sea Stormer and her crew and it is your choices that will lead them to prosperity or ruin. The public's view of the ship has waned in recent years, where once they sung her praises, now rumors and gossip follow her every move. You know that the cause of this distrust originates from her previous voyage and the unknown fates of both the Captain and the crew aboard the ship.
One day, months after her last departure, The Sea Stormer had simply sailed into the harbor on her own, not a scratch marring the perfect wooden planks she was made of. There was no one aboard and the crew's belongings had been left almost completely untouched. Authorities quickly swooped in and claimed they must have abandoned ship at some point, leaving The Sea Stormer to drift aimlessly until she fortunately ended up back at Havenlight. They fought hard to shun every notion that something wasn't right about the whole incident but could never quite squash the people's fears.
Following the strange disappearance of the entire crew, no new voyages had been planned for quite a few years, ten to be exact. Now, it was finally time for The Sea Stormer to take up her job once again and hopefully restore her reputation to that of her glory days. Her fate is up to you.
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You find yourself standing in the Captain's cabin, freshly furnished with the most modern stuff available, befitting for someone of your title. At least, that is what you were told when you first accepted this great mission. The cabin is comprised of two seperate rooms, an office and a sleeping space. You have been provided a desk for your work, a large drawer to store your personal belongings, a closet for your clothes and a large bed with the softest bedsheets you have ever felt.
You spend a moment to take it all in, noting the dreary choice of dark gray for the bed covers. Something catches your eye in the corner, an old chest covered in layers of dust and spiderwebs, why would this still be here? You thought for sure that everything belonging to the old captain would have been taken long ago and either kept for evidence or returned to the man's family.
Curiousity overtakes you and you walk over to the corner before crouching down near the chest, wiping off the dust and spider silk with the sleeve of your uniform. You struggle to open it, the heavy lid not wanting to work with you as you put all your strength into it. For some reason though, the chest isn't locked and you eventually manage to get access to its contents, the lid opening up with an annoying creaking sound.
Inside you find a little book with a solid black cover, the pages are tattered and crumpled, yellowed from age but you can still moderately read the words written inside. It seems to be a diary of some kind, cleary a very personal item. You gently put the book back down and spot a golden locket with its chain wrapped around a large folded piece of parchment. You leave those be for now and focus instead on the last item, a strange dark gray box, perfectly square shaped.
You're supposed to be meeting with your crew soon and get to know them a little better, as any good Captain should. You definitely don't have the time right now to properly check out each item in the chest yet still temptation beckons. Surely it can't hurt to take a closer look at just one of the items? After all, you'll have plenty of time for conversations with your crew once you all embark on your months long voyage.
Now, which item has captured your interest?
A) The Diary
B) The Locket
C) The Folded Parchment
D) The Box
E) Resist Temptation and go meet the crew
You'll find the link to the voting poll in the end notes, thank you for checking out the prologue!