Book 1: Chapter 33: Patch 6.0: The Voyage South

Fenrir heads below deck where everybody else’s characters are still sleeping. Somehow, Oleander’s character has managed to crawl on top of Bonekraka in his hammock.

He decides not to question that.

With one hammock free, he picks up Serra’s sleeping character and places her on it so that she: one, is out of his way while he looks through everything down here; and two, because he’s a gentleman.

Well, sometimes he’s a gentleman.

There are several heavy crates and barrels spread around.

Fenrir opens up the nearest crate and finds stacks of tanned animal hides in it. The next crate is full of bones, fangs, and other hard animal and monster parts. Tucked away in the farthest section are several sealed barrels. He gives them a kick to try and figure out what’s inside of them. He is replied to with the sound of liquid swishing around. Whatever is in the barrels, it’s liquid.

Probably shouldn’t open those.

A few barrels with loose lids that don’t sound like they are going to spill their contents if opened are up against the wall. Two of the barrels are full of what looks like red wine, and the other barrel has water in it. Fenrir dips his finger into the water and then brings it back to his lips to lick. No salt. This must be meant for drinking during voyages.

The rest of the crates are full of more of the same. There are just a bunch of containers full of various animal and monster parts. Hopefully, they will be able to sell all of this when they reach the city.

Fenrir heads back up. However, when he sees Cassiel on her knees trying to get Rock’s attention, he decides to hide behind the wall and watch in secret.

“Come on… I’m sorry about fighting you first, alright? I thought you were a bad puppy, but now I know you’re a good puppy. You’re a good girl, aren’t you? Who’s a good girl? Whoooo’s a gooood giiiirrrlll?” Cassiel asks, her voice growing softer as if she is talking to a baby.

Rock turns her head up at Cassiel and goes back to rolling the cannonball around the deck.

“Is it because I wouldn’t pick you up earlier? I’m sorry, but I can’t—”

“Can’t what?” Fenrir asks, now standing in view.

Without saying a single word, Cassiel stands up, draws her sword, and points it at him without even looking at him.

“You have five seconds to throw yourself overboard,” Cassiel explains.

“Or what?” Fenrir asks.

“Or I chop you up and then throw you overboard.”

Fenrir is only saved when Rock growls at Cassiel. Seeing that she just made Rock dislike her even more, Cassiel lowers her sword and head.

She is defeated.

Fenrir makes eye contact with Rock and then points at Cassiel.

Rock understands the command and walks up to the defeated woman, sitting down in front of where she is looking to look up at her and whine with big puppy eyes.

“I don’t see anything,” Fenrir says.

“You… won’t tell the others, right?” Cassiel asks.

“Tell them about what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cassiel crouches down to pick up Rock, lifting the wolf pup up and cradling her in her arms.

Rock happily licks at the woman’s face with her smooth, rocky-yet-oddly-warm tongue.

Cassiel just makes sure to keep her back turned to Fenrir so that he can’t see the delighted expression on her face. “What did you find down there?” she asks.

“A bunch of animal and monster skins and body parts, some barrels full of liquid, some food, and then water and wine. Need a drink? We can test out how strong the wine is on you,” Fenrir suggests.

“I don’t drink.” Cassiel sounds serious.

“A waitress in a bar that doesn’t drink?”

“I… can’t drink.”

“Are you a lightweight or something?”

Her silence says everything he needs to know.

“Are you suuuuuurrreee you don’t want a drink?” he asks.

“I said no, you bastard! A-ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout by your ears…” she says, remembering that Rock is being held up in front of her face.

“I’m just teasing, don’t worry. I wouldn’t try pressuring you into doing anything you don’t want to do.”

“You better not.”

“I promise I won’t.”

“You better.”

“I do.”

“Good… bastard.”

Fenrir picks up one of the fishing rods and sits on top of one of the starboard cannons. He figures that he might as well practice—

He gets an idea.

One of the barrels on deck is half full of cannonballs. Digging into it, he looks for the smallest one that he can find and feels around to try and determine what it’s made out of. It just feels like rounded, smooth rock.

Perfect.

“Hey, Cass, bring Rock over here,” Fenrir requests.

Cassiel listens and walks over to him, holding Rock by the undersides of her front legs.

Rock’s tail starts wagging when she sees the small cannonball.

Fenrir holds it close enough to Rock’s maw for her to latch onto it! This one is small enough for her to actually wrap her jaws around, partially.

Rock uses all of her strength to bite down on the rock. While this would normally be cringe-inducing if she had normal teeth, her teeth are made of sharp rock just as hard as this cannonball. To both Fenrir’s and Cassiel’s surprise, Rock bites a chunk of the cannonball off and chews it up a bit before swallowing.

“Look,” Fenrir says, pointing to the side of Rock’s body where she was smashed with that mace during the attack on Coastedge. The chunks of rock missing from her side are regrowing. However, they grow in darker than before. The rock now making up a spot on her side is colored the same as the cannonball.

“How did you think of that?” Cassiel asks.

“Was just a random thought I had. I was feeding her rocks as treats, so she must treat rocks and other minerals like food. So, I’m wondering… what if I phase metal into her diet?” he asks, drawing his own sword and holding it up to Rock’s mouth. She isn’t interested. “I bet if I could somehow get her to start eating metal, she could become at least partially made out of it. Wait, we are in a fantasy setting, so what if there are like… fire stones? What if I feed her rocks of certain elements?”

“I – I guess there might be rocks like that, but I don’t know where you would find them.”

“What if I feed her something strong enough to withstand lava, and then let her drink lava? Lava is basically just melted minerals.”

“I don’t know! These are weird questions I’ve never heard of before. You can’t expect me to know everything!”

“Yeah, I guess that’s a strange question,” Fenrir admits with a nod.

“I’m calling animal services if you try feeding your puppy lava.”

“Rock, want to eat lava?” he asks in an excited voice.

Rock replies with an excited bark and wag of her tail.

“Of course she’s going to want to if you ask in that tone!” Cassiel says.

“Two versus one. We win,” Fenrir says, leaning forward and down so that Rock can reach his face for a lick. This puts his face much too close to Cassiel’s face for her comfort.

Before she has a chance to say anything, a winged monster flies overhead and lets out a strident screech.

Fenrir looks up to see what it is. “Is that… a pterodactyl?” he asks, sounding like an excited child.

Rock barks up at it, but the monster clearly has no interest in her.

With red cheeks, Cassiel calms herself to answer his question. “It’s at least modeled after one. Up north were plains and forests, but past the beach down here it’s like a giant jungle full of dinosaur-themed monsters. There’s this huge Aztec-inspired city in the center of it that has a ton of dungeons and raid bosses in it.”

“Okay. That sounds awesome. I want to see more dinosaurs. Wait… if there’s dinosaurs, are there sea monsters?”

“Of course there are. If there’s dragons, dinosaurs, and angels, why wouldn’t there be sea monsters?”

“I want to go fishing for a sea monster.”

“You – you… you what?”

“Extreme fishing for sea monsters. I want to find one and catch it.”

“Are you sure you weren’t the one punched in the head last night?”

“Cass. Rock. We’re going to go fishing for a sea monster. Maybe not yet, but eventually.”

“I want off this ship,” Cassiel groans.

“Yeah, we’re probably going to need a bigger ship. I agree. We’ll need to get off of this one,” Fenrir says.

“That’s not what I meant! I—” she pauses to look at him, seeing a smug smile on his face.

He knew full well what she meant. He just decided to tease her about it.

Cassiel sets Rock down and draws her sword. “Five seconds.”