A Fiery Note

This is a follow-up to the first official issue of The Steel Anchor, in which a few hired swords found a sealed chest in a Navy shipwreck. The wreck had charred wood, that of which above the water line was burning. The steel and iron bands that reinforced the hull, deck, and mast were melted to the point the ship was falling apart more than it already was. Anyways, to the contents of the chest.

With the help of a particularly strong man at Sailor’s Lodge and some metal magic we finally opened the chest. Inside were the usual contents: Gold, schematics, weapons, and banners. However, there was one item in particular that caught my eye, or rather, my touch.

It looked to be an empty scroll, but my hands felt something. When I ran my hands on top of the paper, I felt the tell-tale bumps of sketchily made dry ink. This ink is seen commonly by either ruffians who try to scam you, merchants who’ve been tricked, or spies. You see, this ink leaves room for some extra chemical components without losing writing capability. And so, I deduced that whoever wrote this note added some extra salt water and ammonia. I enlisted a fire user at the tavern to carefully heat the paper, and voila. The note reads as follows:

"π‘€π“Ž 𝒻𝒢𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 π“Œπ’Άπ“ˆ 𝒢 π“‚π“Šπ“ˆπ’Ύπ’Έπ’Ύπ’Άπ“ƒ 𝒾𝓃 𝒯𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒢. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 π“ˆπ‘œπ“Šπ“ƒπ’Ή π‘œπ’» π’½π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝒽𝒢𝓇𝓅 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝒾𝓇 π“Œπ’Ύπ“‰π’½ 𝓂𝒢𝑔𝓃𝒾𝒻𝒾𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉 π“‚π“Šπ“ˆπ’Ύπ’Έ-π’«π’Ύπ‘’π“‡π“π“Šπ’Ύπ‘”π’Ύ, 𝐿𝒢𝓃𝒹𝒾-π“‚π’Άπ“ƒπ“Ž π‘œπ’» 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝑒𝒢𝓉 𝑅𝒢𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓃𝒢𝓃 π’Έπ‘œπ“‚π“…π‘œπ“ˆπ‘’π“‡π“ˆ. π’―π‘œ π“‚π“Ž π’»π‘’π“π“π‘œπ“Œ π’―π’Ύπ’·π‘’π“‡π’Ύπ’Άπ“ƒπ“ˆ, 𝒾𝓉 π“Œπ’Άπ“ˆ 𝒢 π“ˆπ“Žπ“‚π’·π‘œπ“ π‘œπ’» π’½π‘œπ“…π‘’, π“‰π‘œ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 π’Έπ“‡π‘œπ“Œπ“ƒ, 𝒾𝓉 π“Œπ’Άπ“ˆ 𝒢 π“ˆπ’Ύπ‘”π“ƒ π‘œπ’» 𝒹𝑒𝒻𝒾𝒢𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓃 π“ƒπ‘œπ“Œ, π’½π’Ύπ“ˆ π“‚π“Šπ“ˆπ’Ύπ’Έ π“ˆπ“‰π’Ύπ“π“ π’½π’Άπ“Šπ“ƒπ“‰π“ˆ 𝓂𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 π΅π“‡π‘œπ“ƒπ“π‘’ πΏπ‘’π‘”π’Ύπ‘œπ“ƒ π‘’π“π‘’π’Έπ“Šπ“‰π‘’π’Ή 𝒽𝒾𝓂 π“Œπ’½π‘’π“ƒ 𝐼 π“Œπ’Άπ“ˆ 𝓉𝑒𝓃.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒒𝓇𝒢𝓃𝒹 π’©π’Άπ“‹π“Ž, 𝑅𝒢𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓃𝒢, π“‰π’½π‘’π“Ž 𝒽𝒢𝓋𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒢𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 π“ˆπ“‰π“‡π’Ύπ’»π‘’ π“Œπ‘’ 𝒢𝓇𝑒 π“Šπ“ƒπ’Ήπ‘’π“‡ 𝒾𝓃 π“‰π’½π‘’π“ˆπ‘’ π“‰π’Ύπ“‚π‘’π“ˆ. π‘€π“Ž 𝒻𝒢𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 π“Œπ’Άπ“ˆ π’·π“Šπ“‰ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 π“ˆπ“‰π’Άπ“‡π“‰. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓃 π“ƒπ‘œπ“Œ, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 π΅π“‡π‘œπ“ƒπ“π‘’ πΏπ‘’π‘”π’Ύπ‘œπ“ƒ π’Έπ‘œπ“ƒπ“‰π’Ύπ“ƒπ“Šπ‘’π“ˆ 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝒢𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 π‘œπ“…π“…π“‡π‘’π“ˆπ“ˆπ’Ύπ‘œπ“ƒ π‘œπ’» π’žπ’Άπ“π“‹π“Šπ“ˆ.

π‘€π“Ž 𝓃𝒢𝓂𝑒 π’Ύπ“ˆ π’œπ’Άπ“‡π‘œπ“ƒ 𝐹𝒢𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓃𝒻𝒾𝓇𝑒, 𝒢𝓃𝒹 𝐼 π“Œπ’Ύπ“π“ 𝒽𝒢𝓋𝑒 π“‚π“Ž 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒."

Either this Aaron Fallenfire character has been apprehended and this note was stored by the Captain of the ship, or Fallenfire destroyed the ship himself. If we seen any more wreckages with his MO, then we’ll know which one is true. Stay safe, and I wouldn’t hitch a ride on any Navy or Ravenna ship for a while.

1 Like

Pretty nice.
Also Fallenfire best last name.

Thanks, I got Aaron from a comment on my first writing post and Fallenfire for the original backstory I came up with for the character before I scrapped it.

Lovely story

More great work from Sharpsight. Keep up on the writing.