The sea calls

Greetings most honored matriarch,

  The voyage to this point has proven interesting. It is taking some time to get adjusted to a ship of this size. It is nimbler than I would expect, but it requires the deck crew to work swiftly as an integrated whole. I’m spending time learning as many of the tasks as I can, it might be necessary for me to pilot this massive beast, the sooner I know all the working parts the better. 

We did have some excitement the first full day out of port. Four rather large creatures, fish or shark men is the best I can do to describe them, complete with four arms, and wicked blades and thick shields.  As I described in my earlier letter, the steel-clad Nicolos waded in immediately, laying about with a staff of some sort. When he struck the fishman, he seemed to wither like a week old, beached fish. The lady Alex, I mentioned also, wrought some sort of arcane hand from the ether and pummeled another of the creatures. The two phalanx of Athenian hoplites each engaged one of the creatures. Lady Thalia was isolated at the prow, but far from helpless. She conjured some shining blade which set to attack the one nearest to her.  Rather than let that one run free, I ran up that way to force it to focus on me instead.

  As you might imagine this was far from a lopsided engagement, the fishmen were servants of Oceanus (apparently a titan of some repute) and very skilled with their massive blades. Alex continued to battle with one fishman with her conjured hand, it squeezed locking it in place. Nicolos scattered a plethora of various smithing tools and caused them to beat on his chosen target. One of the poor phalanxes held off one of the creatures on its own but suffered casualties as a result. With some help from Thalia, I was able to dispatch one and move to aid that phalanx and provide them some support, but it was too late. It was a brief assault but costly. Not long after I moved to support them, the tide turned and the remaining fishmen were dispatched. All in all, it left us with one severely injured soldier and three dead. Of my new companions, none save Thalia was spared injury.

Many of the companions and soldiers celebrated the victory and lamented the dead. Nicolos would spend much of the next day tending to the injured and preparing the dead. It seemed to take much of his time and attention. I’m not sure what Alex or the other companions got up to, mostly I was on deck learning about the ship and trying to distract the crew and lighten the mood (mast races and some cups and balls games).  I did see Thalia some, wandering around and talking with some of the soldiers, they all seem bolstered, which is good. I got a chance to pilot some on our third day. It was a good day to learn, fair skies and light winds. I’ll need more practice; Theos was kind in not over correcting me. Thalia did some sort of lengthy in-depth review of the hoplites. One seemed to come out of that process with a promotion of some sort. I’m not a soldier and don’t understand how that works, she must as a noble of some sort. Her new aide de camp is Eirix. I honestly don’t fully understand how some of these Grecian names are spelled, the pronunciation is tough enough.

Early on the fourth day, we were approached by an impressive trireme half a beam wider than it should be with a strongly reinforced hull. No one recognized the symbology, but they struck their oars and we approached with caution. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The vessel was a floating bazaar. It belonged to the Smythsong clan, and apparently traveled all over. There were many and wonderous sights to behold, most of them as expected far exceeded my purse. Not long after some of the companions and I returned to our ship. We should be approaching Sparta’s harbor port in a few hours. I’ll write more once we get settled.

A mariner’s new companions

(Penned by Gyasi to his mother in Alexandria)

Greetings to the most exalted and wonderful person in the world my own dearest mother,

It’s been a few days since I wrote, my apologies. I, as you know, tend to lose track of time when I’m at loose ends in harbor. As I wrote earlier, I was able to get Orestes, his sister, and the statue safely to port and escorted them to the temple of Artemis near Attica. They were nice folks, though the lady was a bit stern and difficult to get to know. By the time I was done seeing them settled, the ship I was working on had moved on. That turned out to be alright as father let me know I had another task to do, but first I needed to find the largest ship in Athens and join its crew before they set sail for Sparta.

He isn’t the best of explainers. As it turns out finding the ship in question was remarkably easy. I’ve never seen a vessel of this magnificence in my life. I have seen villas smaller than this ship. I introduced myself to the ship’s mate Theos. He said the captains were ashore and would be back in he hoped a few days’ time. He was good enough to direct me to their villa, so little Halima and I wandered that way. We got a bit turned around, but apparently not many with the mark of Bastet have been to Athens, so it made it easy to find people to ask. Once I got there, some of the locals said I’d not be able to miss them when the heroes returned. They would always chuckle before moving on.

As happens they were not wrong. Two days later, in the evening I spy a giant of man clad in armor that I didn’t recognize with several companions. He was like the bull men I told you about I caught glimpses of on Crete. Of course, I introduced myself like you taught me, he seemed perplexed for a moment then was able to catch up. Perhaps I talk to fast. His name was Nicolos. He seemed friendly. His companions were nearly as striking. Normally you’d figure one massive person would be sufficient for any group of people, but apparently not for the heroes. There was another large but quiet man. Nicolos introduced him as Ouroboros. He said not a word to me, perhaps he doesn’t like cats?

In addition to the taciturn Ouroboros there was also a lovely lady named Thalia. She was quite striking and very friendly. I think she must be of some noble descent, she her manner and dress seem to want to be noticed, but in the don’t let me catch you sort of way. Much like how little Halima plays with mice. We met another couple companions the following morning at the ship. Enroute, we chanced upon lady Alex. She is an odd mix, looks very young, but speaks with great intelligence. Dresses simply but carries a staff of some sort that looks more like a badge of office than a tool or weapon. Once on board I also met lady Irene. Interestingly she is studying to learn navigation. This is something I know and on the first day of our journey I spent time learning what she knew and sharing my own hard-won knowledge; again, as you taught me.

These must be some special folks as we were boarding the ship, they were met by a man from the Athenian army, who put 24 soldiers into their service. Lady Thalia gave them a solid once over before marching them onto the ship. She or this entire company must be terribly important as they were all anxious as a pack of cats with a bird on a nearby branch.

I’ll write more soon I promise. I love you and miss you. I’ll send little Halima to see you as soon as she gets used to the new ship. She’s having fun exploring and climbing everything in sight. Good night.

 Gyasi