Dio's Letter to his family

Dear Mother and Father
 
Greetings it is your son Dio. Apologies if my writing is a little shaky, but I am writing this letter after a recent unpleasantness with some brigands. It has only been about a week since I joined the Dawnchaser and I have already seen more excitement than most of my life in Newood . You would be happy to know that I have already made some new friends who are both unique as they are powerful and my skills in the Artifice seem to complement them quite well. I am sure you you wish to know all the details so I will delay no further.
 
I arrived in Castow a little over a week ago spending most of the funds I brought to get there. Knowing how expensive it would be to charter my own ship I sought to gain passage as a worker. It took a while I have to admit, it seems most ships considered my lack of experience a detriment. However after a few days of searching I met Captain Araveene Moonlight and she agreed to take me on as a new ship-hand aboard her vessel The Dawnchaser. Captain Moonlight seems stern and intimidating, but she is also a woman of integrity . If it were not for her I don't think I could be writing you this letter now, but I am getting ahead of the story. On the day of departure I was joined by 3 other new recruits a human and 2 elves who are each a unique subspecies I haven't encountered before.
 
The human is named Harley Hartford, an easy going sailor who appears to be suffering from some Amnesia. He claims his most recent memories are of waking up on a deserted beach with no recall of how he got there. Harley also wields a strange magic that he believes may be related to his memory loss, however this does not seem to bother him though it does pique my curiosity. He does seem to have his older memories and claims he comes from the Hartford noble line of Arlen. I am inclined to believe him as he does carry some of the mannerisms of the upper class. I hope he would allow me to study his power in the future.
 
Next is Velenara a Sea-Elf by her claim. She is a very reserved individual who offered minimal details of her personal life. From what I gather she has been a sailor for quite a while. I did have opportunities to see her skills in combat. She wields a combination of magic and blade mastery that made her quite formidable. Her fighting style reminded me of old texts about the hero Seraph and he how used his blades to weave great magics. Perhaps Velenarra practices this same type of skill. If so I hope she will share more in the future.
 
Finally there is Memen. She appears to be half dark-elf though her personality would suggest otherwise. Memen is very excitable and approaches nearly every situation with joy and wonderment. She can seem a bit abrasive but I have come to find her mannerisms quite charming and a welcome reprieve from the seriousness of the captain and crew. Memen is a practiced druid and most notably is not from the Falonde continent. I would elaborate more but Memen requested that I not share information about her origins. I will say that she is a very kind and brave individual who has most definitely earned my trust.
 
Our first few days were uneventful. Captain Moonlight set us to working around the ship. Memen and I were to help with the lines which admittedly I was not great at. I have commited myself to learn more about ships and sailing and have already learned some useful information about sailing. For example I know we are sailing a Caravel style ship. After a few days at sea our first dangerous encounter. A ship full of goblins were headed straight for us. Captain Moonlight learned of my skills in firearms and had me on the cannons. You would be proud for I nearly sank their ship with one devastating blow to their broadside. With their ship nearly in ruins the goblins boarded our ship in an attempt to steal it. When I headed back to the main deck to assist I came face to face with a brown bear. I later learned that the bear was Memen displaying her shapeshifting abilities. I watched in awe as the rest of my new comrades fought with their great power. I did my best to assist with my shield beacon and my Firebolter. It felt inadequate in comparison to my new friends, but they assured me my support was invaluable. Once we routed the goblins we did our best to gather any useful supplies from their ship before it sank. Some of the supplies had a seal belonging to another ship that Captain Moonlight was tasked with locating, so we followed the direction from which the goblins came in hopes of finding this ship.
 
The next few days the weather got bad and not having my sea legs yet, I did not handle it well. One night in particular the storm grew very rapidly and we had to make ground at the nearest shore. Captain Moonlight suspected and unnaturalness to the storm and her suspicions we proven correct when the island in particular that we weighed anchor at happened to have a shipwreck that fit the description of our missing ship. The Captain requested Harley, Velenara, Memen, and I to investigate having witnessed us in combat and believing we had the best chances of coming back. I admit I was apprehensive but my curiosity overtook my fear with some encouragement from Memen. When we made landfall on the island we were quickly met by a strange ape-like creature. At first glance it seemed like a chimpanzee of some sort but it could speak common, or at least enough that we could understand each other. The creature told us it's name was Puka and that this island belonged to an "Old Man Storm". When I pressed further on the nature of this Old Man Storm he couldn't really elaborate possibly due to language constraints. Puka told us the Old Man Storm was angry because something was taken from him and that a "Father Earth" had tasked him with calming the storm. Again Puka couldn't elaborate on this "Father Earth" either but we surmised that Puka and us had the same goal of investigating the ship. We opted to work together and headed towards the ship-wreck. As we approached we noticed a strange blue-ish glow in the ships cabin. We boarded the ship and were met with strange undead creatures. They seemed like a typical raised corpse but were infused with a strange electrical pulse. My friends and I were able to dispatch these creatures and inspected further into the ship until we came across what must be the artifact Puka mentioned. We debated taking the artifact to Captain Moonlight but Puka insisted we return it to Old Man Storm. We agreed to follow Puka inland to return the artifact to Old Man Storm's temple. Soon we came to find a very old structure that seemed abandoned. Puka told us that we only need return the artifact to the temple and the Old Man Storm would be pleased. It was quite the archaeological spectacle to behold. It was a short hall ending in small chamber where it seemed people would offer tribute. There were still some jewlery and silver around but having witnessed what we had we decided not to pillage the ruins and put the artifact back inside. Once again outside we noticed the storm had calmed and Puka was very pleased with us. We headed back to the Dawnchaser but before we left the island Puka did a very peculiar thing. He offered us a pristine conch shell and thanked us for his help, he then told us to blow on the conch if we needed his help and then... he turned into sand. Yes that is right Puka turned into sand before our very eyes. I still have the conch he gave us. Once we returned Captain Moonlight sent a team to salvage what they could from the ship-wreck and then we headed for the nearest port which was Bergar.
 
We arrived in Bergar a few days ago and things did not go so great. While Captain Moonlight set to have repairs made Harley, Velenara, Memen, and I decided to head into town for some errands. My original goal was to get to a postal service to send you a letter and possible visit the local library or archivist to acquire some texts on sailing. we were interrupted by a halfling woman who wished to conduct a survey on the state of the port, or so we thought. She was in actuality distracting us from her brigand friends to surround us. We attempted to fight them off but I must have been knocked unconscious for the next thing I remember was waking up in a damp ship hold tied up with my friends and some other unlucky souls. The Captain of this vessel said that we work for him now. I was terrified. I thought I would never see Newood again. As the evening came and my other friends began to rouse we started working on an escape plan when we heard fighting. Not too long later a burly goliath followed by an orc burst into our makeshift prison. They were from the Dawnchaser. Captain Moonlight had sent them to find us and I am so very grateful she did. I had expected Captain Moonlight to just cut her losses but as I said earlier she is a woman of integrity. With the help of our rescuers we easily escaped the ship and the guards were called and arrested the kidnappers.
 
The whole ordeal has shaken me quite a bit and has taught me to practice some caution when speaking to strangers in strange ports. Regardless I have opted to stay with the Dawnchaser despite the dangers. I feel indebted to Captain Moonlight and to her crew. I have also grown a fondness for my new friends and am eager to see what excitement will follow. Out of caution though I will remain with the ship for the rest of our time at port. Captain Moonlight has offered one of her crew to send this letter in my stead to ease my fears. I apologize if this news worries you but the new experiences I believe outweigh the dangers. I promise next port we make I will send another letter with more of my adventures. Until then be well and give my best to my brothers and sisters
 
Sincerely
Dio Thoradin Heartbrand.