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homgeir was a captain a long, long time ago, even before King
Santhros united the realms to form the Kingdom of Santharia, back when the lands
we live in now bore the name Avennoria. [Note that the narrator inhabits the Manthrian region] Thomgeir travelled
often and far, from Marcogg to Strata and even far to the south to the
deserts of Aeruillin. He was a well-known trader and proud of it, renowned in
all those lands and he brought the most exotic goods from afar to the shores of Sarvonia.
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Image description. The Ghostship Varteran. Picture
by
Fiorellina. |
One day he sailed in a ship known as the 'Varteran' from Marcogg to the Isle of Doranthakar, which
now harbours the small Kingdom of Dorania,
when something unexpected happened...
Another ship approached, which soon turned out to belong to ruthless pirates.
Thomgeir's ship was only a small one, a vandrek, not the big barek he was used
to commanding, and small was his crew and also the treasure.
The pirates caught up and finally boarded the ship by force. Thomgeir's crew
tried to fend the intruders off, but it was to no avail. The little treasure
there was they transferred to the other ship, and seeing that the vandrek was
already severely damaged during the fight and in danger of sinking, the pirates
offered to take the whole crew as prisoners aboard their vessel and release them
as soon as they reached land.
Indeed, the men accepted, but Thomgeir refused to leave his ship as he still
thought he could make it to safety if given a free hand. The pirate captain
disagreed, but Thomgeir kept insisting.
Indeed as it turned out, the pirate captain had no patience with Thomgeir and
his love for his ship. And so he finally gave the gruesome order to leave the
captain on his ship, tied to the mast, leaving him to the waves. But if that
were not enough, one of the pirates even took a hammer and a large nail and
drove it right through the forehead of the doomed captain to keep him quiet once
and for all. And though, so the story goes, this didn't happen: It is said that
Thomgeir was still alive when the pirate's ship left him on the open sea, toy of
the tides.
The members of his crew who had survived the raid later told the tale, and they
also claim that he was shouting at the pirates when they left him, cursing them.
Yes, he did so, though nailed to the mast he was.
And so ends the story of Thomgeir. Though everyone here at Mossy Rocks Cove will
confirm that the vandrek of Thomgeir, the 'Varteran', is still out there
somewhere on the ocean. Throughout generations people have reported to have seen
this small ship, crewless, and some say as well that they have watched the
rotten corpse of Thomgeir nailed to the mast, passing them by and then
disappearing in the fog again.
None can say if this appearance is Thomgeir's spirit, which still hasn't come to
rest and seeks revenge at the pirates' descendants or if he only wants to warn
others of the dangers he faced.
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