Saw the AU and decided it’d be fun to add in the character I’ve been with the longest and is still my mainly used character in the game, Rosetta Morris. I do love me some writing and I’ve seen many infection AUs, so why not join in on the fun?
Disclaimer: Involves some of the AO characters in the AU and loosely still slightly follows the canon storyline with major alterations. Hope ya’ like it!
Name: Rosetta Morris, Captain of the Jadewind Aurora.
Status: Alive, currently recovering with her crew from an intense confrontation between them and a fleet of Atlantean Ships.
Injuries: Half-blind (Right eye shot with an arrow), spine fracture from an Adolescent Dragon (Recovering).
Insanity Level: Insanity 1. Thankfully though, it has not gone any higher as she and her crew help to keep each other grounded, though she’s dipping closer to Insanity 2 due to slowly encroaching PTSD from all of the events that have taken place so far without any long moments of calm. If not carefully managed, she could very easily enter Insanity 3 and possibly into Insanity 4.
Whereabouts: Hiding out in the Nimbus Sea at the Forest of Masts.
Bronze Sea Arc
Rosetta Morris awoke at Dawn Island, the last thing she can remember is of being on a ship belonging to someone named Scarlett Shield, seemingly being taken to prison for something before cannons were fired and everything turned into chaos. Once she got her bearings, survival took priority.
While looking for some shelter from the torrential rain, after gathering what food she could find on the island, she had a surprise encounter with Edward Kenton, a former Grand Navy Captain. The two nearly killed each other on sight, but thankfully Rosetta had missed her instinct-casted Moonlight Blast from panic. They took shelter in one of the islands very small caves and got to know each other, deciding to team up to increase their chances.
The two started sailing on Edward’s Sailboat toward SIlverhold in the hopes of finding Edward’s old gear as well as something for Rosetta as she didn’t really have much more than her Moonlight Magic to defend herself with alongside her defenseless clothing. When the two arrived the entirety of the now-ruined Silverhold was surrounded by Atlanteans, however so many of their ships had been sunk around it that it allowed the two to make landfall at the fort relatively safely.
Whilst scavenging they managed to find Edward’s gear alongside some old Grand Navy armor for Rosetta and a katana, neither in great condition but they really weren’t working with much, not finding a lick of rations. As the two of them left Silverhold they noticed the Atlantean Ships all heading in the same direction for unknown reasons, deciding to tail behind them to see what was going on.
As it would turn out, the ships were following the adrift, fractured piece of Frostmill and attempting to make landfall, spotting flickers of flame in the darkness from Iris’s Flare Magic. If they didn’t do something the piece of Frostmill was sure to be overwhelmed, yet at the same time both Rosetta and Edward have little to nothing to fight the Atlanteans with aside from themselves. The decision was already made though; their senses of justice would not let them leave people in need in such dire straits.
It was Edward, Rosetta, and their sailboat versus nearly a dozen Atlantean Ketches but thanks to the boats smaller size the two were able to outmaneuver the ships, though with no cannons Rosetta had to utilize her Moonlight Blasts as ineffective cannonballs. The reality was they were never going to be able to handle the ships on their own, but with the distraction they provided, each ship and Atlantean was burned away by the Flare Magic.
The fight wasn’t without its losses, as by the time the last brig was sunk, Rosetta and Edward had to abandon ship and one Atlantean managed to get Rosetta in the right eye with a bow and arrow, leaving her half-blind. The remaining survivors of Frostmill took them in despite the lack of resources as thanks for their assistance. Yet without a ship it seemed like both Edward and Rosetta would have to stay on the fractured ice for a long time to come.
While recovering from the battle and her injury, Rosetta met Enzior who was the closest thing the Island had to a medic thanks to his potions, getting along from their relatable circumstance of being novices with their magic. She also met Iris, although it took some time before they could eventually get along, Rosetta even learned about Explosion spells from her.
Although thing seemed to be looking up, it wouldn’t last very long as a distant roar rapidly approached; unfortunately, an Adolescent Dragon had decided to move into the torrential, darkened Bronze Sea on Blackreach Island which they happened to be passing by. The attack was devastating and with so little there wasn’t a chance as it began melting the ice faster than even Iris’s own magic could do, forcing a retreat onto the island itself and into its labyrinth.
The casualties were nearly all of Frostmill’s remaining survivors, with only Rosetta, Edward, Enzior, Iris and four other Frostmill survivors; Rivas, Lowe, Miranda and Meyer. There was a lot of arguing over what to do, now stuck on Blackreach Island and practically waiting for the dragon to find and consume them alive, either it or the Atlanteans reaching them. By the end of the arguing, they had all nearly lost hope.
Despite the short amount of time Rosetta spent with these people, she couldn’t bear to let them suffer such a fate, rashly deciding to try and deal with the dragon herself; a dangerous decision, especially with what little experience she had with fighting up until now, but if it could save these people she had to at least try. With fear and courage playing tug of war with her heart, Rosetta quietly left the labyrinth of Blackreach roughly in the evening when everyone was sleeping.
Cautiously she made her approach on the dragon which had fallen asleep after such a large meal. Rosetta didn’t exactly have a thought-out plan: she figured that if she could ambush the dragon and blind it with her magic for long enough, she’d eventually win out through its impaired accuracy. It ended up being partially true; the ambush had gone only somewhat rocky, but Rosetta managed to get several attacks off on the dragon while keeping it blind. It almost went well until it threw her into a tree, fracturing part of her spine on impact, teetering on the edge of consciousness and into dreaming, perhaps forever.
She almost didn’t register the sound of a nearby tree snapping and falling directly onto the dragon preparing to consume her; Edward had arrived just in time with the others after all the fighting woke them up, taking over while Enzior and Iris got Rosetta out of the area quickly, trying to assess the damage done and do what they can.
In spite of their lack of magic, Edward alongside the other four got the dragon on its last legs, but it had put them in a similar situation. Despite this, an Atlantean Brig had been attracted and distracted the dragon, resulting in the death of both the dragon as well as all of the Atlanteans on board the ship from its final act of rebellion in its dying moments. After the battle, and a fiery scolding from Iris, in the end Rosetta’s act of selflessness inspired the group and reignited hope that there was still a way out of this living nightmare, there was a way to survive as long as they stuck together.
The now abandoned Atlantean Brig gave them leeway; with the help of Lowe, who was learning to be a Shipwright before the disaster, the ship was repaired and once more made seaworthy and she became the crew’s Shipbuilder. Meyer fixed up the cannons to be ready for any more attacks, as he used to work closely with their manufacturing and testing, becoming the Cannoneer. Miranda helped speed along Rosetta’s healing with Enzior, having a lot of experience with the wilderness and finding all sorts of useful resources, as she had been dreaming of leaving Frostmill to master the way of the samurai, becoming the ship’s Enchanter. Rivas knew his way around the War Seas as he used to be a travelling Boxer entertaining all kinds of folk around the war seas with friendly spars, memorizing every route of the ocean, becoming their navigator.
Nimbus Sea Arc → Present Day in the AU.
Before they set sail, Rosetta decided to name the brig the Jadewind Aurora, in the hopes of one day seeing one again if there was a chance to reverse the terrors of the Dark Sea. They set sail for the Nimbus Sea on Rivas’s suggestion; although Ravenna had been overrun, there may still be a chance that Sameria might still be holding out with their military power, knowingly much greater than Ravenna. The bad news was they would have to contend with an entire fleet of Atlantean Brigs which had sensed them, leading to an intense fight far riskier than at the fractured piece of Frostmill.
A major factor in their survival was the equipment the formerly Atlantean brig had, most critically an Arcanium Ram and several Arcanium Cannons alongside an archaic hull and sailcloth, though the sailcloth was far less effective due to needing a lot of patchwork. This allowed the Jadewind Aurora and its crew to better maneuver around the Atlanteans and blind them while ramming into their ships when they had the chance. The fighting took a heavy toll and the ship barely escaped to the Forest of Masts with the Atlanteans hot on their tail.
With some quick thinking, Edward got the idea to purposefully damage the ship and make it look like it’s in the same condition as the others in the Forest of Masts, as though it had been finished off and they had been killed. It was a long shot, but was thankfully hastened by Iris’s flames; purposefully changing the sails out for ripped ones, moving the cannons into un-useful spots among others. They then fled the ship and took shelter as the fleet sailed around them, and with some luck they had gone undetected.
They’re safe, but the question weighs heavily on their minds, especially Rosetta’s; for how long, and what’s their gameplan now with so many ships still looking for them? The truth is, they don’t know, none of them do. But so long as they remain persistent in their survival and continue to fight for something more than the ruined world they live in, they won’t be giving up anytime soon.