The Tales of Rusty - 11

Wyrmscar Isle - a ghostly experience.
Early next morning I left Nolkai's temple and set out for Wyrmscar Isle. Mingus was a great swimmer, so I take it that Kessel was only joking when he told me to keep his elekks out of the water. When I could clearly see the shore of the isle, I also saw lots of small dragons flitting around. All stories I had heard of dragons, had led me to figure them bigger.Those ones were hardly bigger thanbig dogs.

I followed the coastline looking for captain Edward Haines. By an old ruin, I saw a ghost! He did not look like a sea dog to me at all, and as I came near I saw my mistake. He was an elven prince of old. I heard his ghostly voice speak to me. In sorrowful tones he told me of the days when he, prince Toreth, was the green dragonrider and blessed by Ysera. The green dragons were all killed by Deathwing and his kind, as he could not stand Ysera's kindness. Her cursed broodlings still inhabited the island, and the bones of green and black dragons, still littered the earth. Prince Toreth asked me to help him find his eternal rest by freeing the isle of the shadow of Razormaw, one of Deathwing's lieutenants, whose ghost still hung around circling the summit. Ilooked up, and heard the rustle of his batlike wings. This was more what  I had imagined dragons to look like.
I was to kill as many of the Ysera's spirit broodlings as I could. And then gather bones from long dead dragons and place them on the pyre on top of Wyrmscar. This would provoke Razormaw and his anger would help me overcome him.

I picked up the bones, they were easily big enough to come from dragons the size of Razormaw and even bigger. Luckily they were not mssive, and not as heavy as they looked. Many of them had been  dragged off to the mainland by wild beasts. But finally I had a nice bundle. I hauled the bones past the attacking broodlings, up a narrow winding path to the summit. Up there I killed off all Ysera's ghostly broodlings and threw the bones on the pyre. I could see Razormaw soaring around the summit, but he did not seem to be looking my way. My nervosity gave way to impatience, but finally, as my patience was almost worn thin, I saw him coming towards me. He was big! I backed up so that I stood with my back against the only big part of the old building up there. Then we engaged. My big sword was to almost no avail, as he was a ghost, but my paladinish bolts of Light hurt him more. He started to breath fire at me, and I was suddenly scared. I thought of fleeing, but he blocked the narrow path I had come by, and behind me the ruins blocked the access to the sloping part of the summit. I had to stay and fight to the end. His fire rolled around me once more, but I realized that it was almost as ghostly as himself and did not hurt much. I once again grabbed my sword tight and called on the Light. Bolts of power shot out from my sword and Razormaw fell to the ground, even more transparent in death.

Mourning Razormaw - a grand dragon.

As I came back to the beach, Prince Toreth thanked me profusely with his ghostly voice, and with a big sigh his spirit left this world. I knelt down and commended his spirit to the Light.

The last of the small islands
Captain Edward Hanes when I finally found him, was a real ghost as well as a real sea dog. And his only concern was his crew. He told me of the ancient Bloodcurse, haunting the island. He spun tales of Aszhara and the the shadows of the long dead elven people who like Prince Toreth once populated these islands and who somehow had turned into bloodcursed nagas who then turned the crew of sailing ships - and among those his crew - into ghosts. My head started spinning. Maybe ghosts are not good storytellers, mixing past, present and bits of the future into one tall tale. 
Anyhow, at the end he bade me put an end to the Bloodcurse, by putting the sailors to rest, and kill as many nagas as I could possibly manage. Then maybe finally he - and Odesyus - could sleep in peace again.
I did as he bade, but first he cast a ghastly spell upon me, making me partly undead myself and able to go without breath for long periods of time, that was needed, as I would probably have drowned from all the underwater fighting necessary, but nonetheless it was an unpleasant experience. When the unappetizing job of finishing off undead sailors and many, many bloodcursed nagas was done, The Captain asked me for one last favour. On the Island some way off - known as Bloodcursed Isle - lived, or rater unlived, the shadow of a being named Atoph the Bloodcursed he was in some ways that went straight over my head responsible for this mess and also worshipped as a god, or demigod, by the nagas. After a rest, i went over to the Bloodcursed Isle, again killing many nagas and finally fighting my way to a statue on top of the steep sided island. There I put some kindling to an effigy and called forth the Shadow of Atoph. I had learned much about fighting with nagas already, so it was relatively easy to finish him off, especially as the burning of the effigy made him angry. An angry fighter is a bad fighter, my old teacher said, and he was right.

Saying Farewell to Captain Hanes.

Captain Hanes bade me farewell forever and told me to dig in the sand nearby. Down there I found a shield in the form of a ship's wheel. It was very beautiful, but magic. And as I belong to the Order of Iron, I cannot use such. I'll keep it in a safe place as a souvenir.