On the way back to Victors Hollow, Tressa scrawled away in her journal about the battle with Draefendi. She had developed quite the talent for writing and walking at the same time without her words coming out slanted or garbled, and she gladly used that to her advantage to finish sharing the tale of their encounter with Draefendi. She wanted to get it out of the way quickly before the treasure hunt began in full since she had no idea how long that was going to take them to finish. Hopefully, it would be a fairly simple and danger-free quest, but Tressa wasn't holding her breath. She was ready for a fight if it came to that, though she was hoping it would be easy enough to not require combat. She had seen more than enough conflict lately as far as she was concerned, and she needed a break.
Once Tressa was finished detailing the battle at the shrine from that morning, she flicked through the rest of her journal. The traveler who had owned the notebook before her had talked about his time in Victors Hollow. He had found something he was searching for there in Victors Hollow, and given what Tressa had heard from Cecily, it was sounding like she was going to end up that lucky too. The sooner Tressa could get all of this out of her head and off her plate, the better. She wanted to have her wares for the Merchants' Faire squared away and ready as early as possible so she could just focus on the journey ahead. She would need to be focused when they headed to Duskbarrow and then Stillsnow, after all.
The group arrived in Victors Hollow a few moments after Tressa had finished skimming over the Victors Hollow entries left behind by the notebook's previous owner. She tucked her pen out of view before clapping the notebook shut and glancing around the stalls that lined the entrance to the city. She had no idea where to start when it came to searching for a pirate's treasure, but she figured there had to be some clue left behind that would point her in the right direction. Pirates loved to mark their treasure down on maps and sea charts, so maybe she would be able to find something like that and then follow it to success. Maybe it was a bit of a stereotypical thought, but Tressa didn't mind it much. Even if it was stereotypical, she was looking forward to a good old fashioned treasure hunt as a way of taking her mind off everything that had happened over the last few weeks. It would be nice, simple, and fun. She had more than earned that.
Tressa started off by proudly walking through the stands near the stony entryway the city, passing over a few food stalls before her gaze fell on what she could only assume was an antique stand. The stall was littered with a variety of goods that lacked any sense of rhyme or reason. The items were simply there, and the only common thread between them all was their age.
It didn't take long for Tressa's eyes to lock on a rolled up piece of paper at the center of the table. She approached the scroll and eyed the ornate ribbon keeping it tied together. Even if her view of the page was somewhat limited, she could tell it was a map. Her treasure senses tingling, Tressa turned to the shopkeeper as the rest of the travelers caught up with her. She had gotten so wrapped up in the idea of her hunt that she had lost them in the crowd for a moment. "Excuse me," Tressa started, and the shopkeeper turned to look at her. "What can you tell me about this map?"
"That old thing? Hm... I don't really know where it came from," the antique dealer admitted. "Found it in the storehouse and thought about throwin' it out at first. But I figured I could make at least a few leaves off it this way."
"Mind if I take a closer look?" Tressa asked, her fingers itching to pull the ribbon apart and examine the map's contents. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions by thinking the map would have something valuable for her, but her excitement refused to be restrained.
Much to Tressa's glee, the shopkeeper nodded, and she unfurled the page after pulling the ribbon off and setting it on the table. The page was weathered, though the top layer of writing was stark against the page. It had been redrawn a great many times, though the older lines had faded into obscurity with the passage of years. Tressa sniffed at the paper and immediately recognized the strong, overpowering scent of seawater rushing to greet her senses. Everything about the page felt well-loved to her, as if the person who made it had poured their heart and soul into the construction of the map. It was special to the one who had made it, and Tressa could feel the sentimentality bleeding off the paper.
She turned it over and gasped when she was met with what appeared to be some kind of note. She squinted at the letters, trying to pull some information from them, but the scrawls didn't make much sense to her. Briefly, Tressa wondered if perhaps it was a code of some kind. Either that or the person who had written it had awful handwriting. Regardless, the map's age was going against it, masking the details of the note from Tressa.
The shopkeeper glanced at the writing and let out a whistle. "I'll be damned if ye can read those scribbles, young lady," he remarked. He went back to organizing his stand, picking up and sliding a few items around with a shake of his head.
Tressa pulled the paper in closer, squinting to try and glean the truth from the page. Eventually, she found something she recognized, and she clung to the letter like a lifetime as she read aloud. "'My dearest friend. Here lies my most precious treasure. -Baltazar.'" Tressa grinned to herself. That certainly sounded like a pirate's treasure, and the map wouldn't have wound up in Victors Hollow if it didn't point to something nearby. This was the lead she was looking for.
The antique dealer wasn't anywhere near as happy though, and he froze on the spot, his grip tightening on his goods. "B-Baltazar?!" he yelped. Tressa looked up at him and tilted her head to the side in confusion. "As in the dread pirate Baltazar of the Eastern Seas?! And this is his treasure map?!"
Tressa shrugged. "Sure seems that way."
The antique dealer's tune changed before Tressa had the chance to fully register it, and he stepped toward her to grab the map from her fingers. "It must be worth a fortune... Gimme that!" Tressa was too shocked to push back against him, and the merchant easily snatched the page from her before eyeing it with an excited, greedy gaze. He laughed darkly under his breath. "Lady Luck is on my side today!"
The antique dealer looked up to Tressa with his composure recovered, clearing his throat along the way. "Now let's keep this between us, young lady. Here, I'll even give ye some candy."
He quickly pressed a few pieces of candy into Tressa's palm, and she stared down at them with shock at how quickly the shopkeeper had changed. "But I didn't come here for candy," she muttered. She looked at the man for another long moment before sighing and shaking her head. She was just going to have to take another look around town to see if she could find something that would be able to help her. She gestured for the rest of the group to follow her, trying to hide the upset written all over her face.
Therion was quick to catch up to her, his gaze dark. "You do realize that I could just steal the map back, right?" he asked. "There's no point in moping when I could take it."
"It's fine, Therion," Tressa assured him with a loose wave of her hand. "Besides, I didn't get the chance to buy it from him. I was planning on buying it, yes, but it was still technically his. There's nothing I can do about that. He still owned it, so he can do what he wants with it."
"Or we could just steal it since he was an ass to you," Therion countered.
"Let's look around the town and see if anybody else can guide us in the right direction," Tressa said instead, desperate to divert his attention. "There's bound to be something else that will help us. Besides, the map might not have helped us to begin with. The writing did look pretty faded."
Therion still didn't seem entirely satisfied, but he didn't say another word on the matter, instead turning away and starting to look around the crowded area. There were more people than usual around the travelers, most of them whispering some observation or another about the tourney winners. It was hard to believe the battles at the arena had only taken place the day before. It felt like a lifetime had gone by since then between everything Olberic had learned and then the battle against Draefendi that morning. The past refused to be forgotten so easily though, and the consistent gazes of the other people of Victors Hollow made that clear.
There was yet another reason Tressa couldn't just send Therion to snatch the map back. As tempting as it was to a dark part of her mind, she couldn't ask him in good conscience to help her both because of her morals and because of how many people were watching them. Tressa had no doubts in Therion's skills, of course, but if there were so many people staring, then there was always the chance of getting caught, and Tressa didn't want to put him in a position like that. She didn't want any of them to end up caught and thrown out of the town after they had done so much the day before. They would just have to find another solution even if it was less direct than they would have liked.
While the travelers were wandering through Victors Hollow in search of another lead, Ophilia fell into pace alongside Tressa. The cleric had one gloved hand cupped around her chin. "I have to wonder what this pirate treasure is," she mused aloud.
"I'm not sure, but I'd love to find out!" Tressa exclaimed. "Wouldn't it be amazing? Putting your faith in an ancient maps, sailing the high seas, braving tempests and storms... It's a life of danger, but it's a life of adventure too." She was halfway tempted to offer a comment about how she would never become a pirate herself though, instead just pursuing the treasure they had left behind. Mikk and Makk still left a bad taste in her mouth when she thought about them for too long, and the last thing Tressa wanted was to follow in their footsteps regardless of if it was intentional or not.
"What an adventure that would be... Just imagining it has my heart all aflutter," Ophilia admitted, her smile brighter than ever before. Tressa didn't think she had seen the other girl this happy since before Quarrycrest, and that was a victory no words could quite capture.
"You have the spirit of adventure in you too!" Tressa beamed. "I never would have thought you would want to do something like that."
"Of course I do!" Ophilia grinned back. "When I was young, I yearned for the romance of the open seas... Back when I still living in Creek, I'd often watch the boys playing at being pirates. I wanted to join them, but I was too shy."
"Oh, I used to play at pirates too!" Tressa cried out, clasping her hands together above her chest in glee.
"Cap'n Tressa, scourge of the seas!" Ophilia teased, nudging at the merchant with her elbow.
Tressa laughed with a nod. "Don't you know it! My motto was, 'Another day, another treasure!'"
"I can see it now! Wearing a bandanna and brandishing a wooden cutlass... I think it could fit you," Ophilia smiled.
"I think it would fit you too," Tressa chimed in, and Ophilia's expression changed slightly. "Maybe not being a pirate necessarily, but kicking back and letting loose a little bit to enjoy the spirit of adventure. I know this is all started because of the Kindling for you, but... I don't know. Maybe after all of this is over, you could use a break where you just travel for the sake of being happy. I bet we could figure out how to sail a ship if you really wanted to see what the ocean was like. The Central Sea has plenty of sights to offer."
Ophilia's eyes went wide when she realized Tressa was serious. "You would really offer to do something like that?" she asked.
"Why not?" Tressa countered, and Ophilia attempted to come up with a returning argument but ultimately ended up short. "If it would make you happy, we could at least think about it. Besides, I don't think I've ever seen you smile like that before. I definitely haven't seen you smile that way since we arrived in Quarrycrest. It's sweet."
Ophilia couldn't stop the pink that rose in her cheeks at that comment, and she looked away from Tressa in pure embarrassment. "I... I didn't..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence though, instead just settling on staring down at the ground like it might offer her some salvation. The stoned streets of Victors Hollow gave her nothing though.
Tressa smiled and nudged at Ophilia again. "It's not a bad thing. I think it's great, as a matter of fact. Things have been tough for us lately, and I think it's nice to be able to relax for a while and just focus on finding treasure and having a nice time together," the merchant continued. "You started all of this because of a religious journey, but I'd like to think it's more than just that now."
Ophilia thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yes... I suppose it is," she murmured. A thousand other thoughts were stirring together in her mind, but she couldn't find a way to put a voice to any of them, so she instead settled on continuing to stare at the ground. Just like before, the stones had no answers to offer her in the slightest, but she tried to find truth in them regardless.
When the travelers managed to break out of the crowd, they were in front of the tavern. Tressa gave the building a glance over her shoulder, considering asking around in there for answers about what to do next. Instead, her fingers drifted to her bag, and she pulled out her journal before flicking to the Victors Hollow entries once again. She somehow doubted the one who had owned it before her would be able to help her with her search for a pirate's treasure, but it would at least give her a little something to do while she was stagnated in her journey:
"In this world, there are countless treasures. But only one is precious to me. And I'll journey on until I find it."
Tressa hesitated after reading the words, rolling them over in her head a few times. He only had a single treasure that meant something to him even after he traveled the world over and back again. She had no idea what her treasure was meant to be nor how it was supposed to help her uncover what she was looking for to bring to the Merchants' Fair. Ali had said she would need something special to stand out, but how was she supposed to find one single treasure? Her mind drifted back to the map she had found at the antique dealer's stand, and she briefly entertained the idea of having Therion steal it anyway. How in the world was she supposed to figure out where to go with the map if she didn't even know what it said?
Before Tressa could indulge too much in her fantasies of committing a crime, the door to the nearby tavern opened. A familiar figure stepped outside with a smile on his face as he approached Tressa. "Good to see you making use of that notebook.
The merchant whirled around in shock and was met with none other than Leon Bastralle, his blonde hair tied back just as it had been in Rippletide. His outfit was the same stark blue as before too, standing out like a sore thumb against the crowds of Victors Hollow. Tressa was so shocked to see him that she didn't even speak until after he had offered her a few more words of his own. "We meet again, lass," Leon smiled.
"Mr. Leon!" Tressa exclaimed once she had finally snapped out of her trance. "What are you doing here?" She had been hoping to run into Leon again at one point, but she never would have imagined he would stumble out of the nearby tavern just when she was starting to have a crisis about her life. Thank the gods he had shown up when he had; she was about to encourage Therion to commit a crime on her behalf.
"I should ask you the same. Don't tell me you ran away from home," Leon frowned. The best way Tressa could describe his gaze in that moment was disappointed, and she inwardly thought he would have made for a perfect parent if he really wanted to pursue that path. He had the disappointed lecture stare down perfectly.
"Not quite," Tressa assured him with a small laugh. "I just decided it was time I saw the world. And I have the notebook you gave me to thank for it!" She held up the notebook and shook it a little bit before letting her hand fall back to her side.
"Thank yourself for choosing it, lass," Leon replied. He glanced over Tressa's shoulder at the rest of the travelers where they were gathered nearby, and he raised an eyebrow in her direction. "I don't remember you having so many people following you the last time we saw one another. Would you mind introducing me?"
Tressa gasped, realizing a bit too late that she had neglected to go around and introduce everyone. Only Ophilia and Cyrus had met Leon while the group was in Rippletide. Back then, they hadn't even met Olberic yet. With how busy their travels had been, Tressa had completely forgotten how much time had passed since she last saw Leon. It filled her with a strange sense of nostalgia and pride, and it was more than enough for her to launch right into a string of introductions, a vibrant smile on her face all the while.
Leon nodded along kindly and quietly throughout the entire process, only introducing himself as Leon, the captain of a simple sea vessel, once Tressa had told him everyone's names. He wanted to keep his surname to himself because of his reputation, it seemed. Even if Tressa didn't hold his past against him, he had no way of knowing for sure if the others would feel the same way, so she couldn't blame him for wanting to hide it. She hadn't ever mentioned his past as a pirate to the newer members of the party, and she would respect his wishes to keep it secret if that was what he preferred.
After the introductions were finished, Tressa prepared to tell Leon all about the tournament the day before. That was the reason she was in Victors Hollow specifically, after all, and she wanted him to hear of her part in their victory at the tourney. He must have been in the city on other business, hence why he hadn't bothered with going to the tournament as it was happening, so Tressa was more than happy to fill him in.
She was on the verge of her explanation when another pair of footsteps reached her ears. "Sink me! I be ready to make a grave of me hammock..." complained a voice from somewhere behind Tressa. She only realized too late how familiar the voice was, and when she turned, her eyes went wide with pure shock.
Standing nearby were none other than Mikk and Makk, the former having been the one who spoke previously. They looked mostly the same way they had back in Rippletide too, though they carried themselves a bit differently. They seemed more relaxed than they had been before, but that did nothing to lessen the sting of seeing them there at all. "Mikk and Makk?!" Tressa yelped.
"Yer that kid that gave us quite the lashin' back in Drippleslime!" Makk cried out. He instinctively sunk into a combative position, and Mikk followed suit. Neither one reached for their weapons yet, but that was clearly their next aim if Tressa moved too much.
The merchant was unbothered by their attitudes though, instead just glaring at them with all the rage in the world. "It's Rippletide! Didn't you two learn your lesson yet?!" she fired back. If it was a fight Mikk and Makk wanted, then it was a fight they would get. Tressa was a much better fighter now than she had been back in Rippletide when they first attacked, and if they wanted to test her patience, then they could find that out firsthand. On top of that, she had five more allies now than she had the last time, and even just one of them could have taken out Mikk and Makk without blinking. The pirates didn't know what they were getting into.
Before a fight could break out though, Leon took a step forward. "That's quite enough," he said, his voice once again stern with that disappointed echo Tressa had reflected on moments prior.
Much to Tressa's surprise, Mikk and Makk straightened themselves out in a second, both abandoning the idea of grabbing their weapons to instead salute at Leon. "A-Apologies, Cap'n!" Mikk fumbled, his hand shaking slightly with the vocal stumble.
"'Captain?'" Tressa echoed as she glanced over in Leon's direction. It seemed that just as much had changed with Leon as it had with her, though she never would have expected to find Mikk and Makk waiting for her on the other end of Leon's story from the last few months.
"Aye. Our piratin' days are behind us. We be workin' under a different flag now," Makk explained. His hostility was gone as well, almost as if a switch had been flipped as soon as Leon had spoken. To say it was jarring felt like an understatement, and all Tressa could do was stare in empty shock.
"That day opened our eyes to the true greatness of Leon Bastralle. Now we be havin' the honor of callin' him our cap'n," Mikk went on.
Tressa couldn't help smiling at that. The longer she looked at the two pirates, the more she noticed they had changed. They were much more relaxed now than they ever had been in Rippletide, and their previous hostility was gone with Leon's words too. Her previous fears about ending up like them had been unfounded, it seemed. "I'm glad to see you two singing a new tune!" Tressa grinned.
"As am I. They've been doing well under my command thus far, but they still have a ways to go," Leon said. He looked pointedly at the two pirates at that.
Makk shriveled slightly under his gaze but clearly got the message. "R-Right you are! Now look alive, ye half-drowned dodo! There's work to be done!" he proclaimed to his partner. The two of them took off a moment later, off to tend to whatever work needed to be taken care of next.
Leon watched them go before turning back to Tressa. "It sounds like your travels have been faring well, lass," he told her without missing a beat, easily picking up their previous topic.
"I've been learning as I go, but I have a goal now," Tressa replied. "I want to sell something incredible at the Merchants' Fair. If I can do that much, it'll prove just how far I've come on this journey."
"Well, there's certainly no better place than the Fair for an aspiring merchant like yourself," Leon agreed. "And what exactly is it you've deemed worthy of the auction?"
"I wish I could tell you, but it's still waiting for me to find it," Tressa admitted, wincing. Her mind spiraled back to the map she had found earlier in the day, and she wondered if perhaps Therion should have just taken it when he first suggested theft. Tressa had never been one to condone thievery, but her curiosity was starting to nag at her more than she was comfortable with.
"A yet undiscovered treasure, I see," Leon chuckled. "Then I wish you all the best in your search, lass."
"Thank you, Mr. Leon," Tressa smiled, and he just nodded. She paused for a beat before tilting her head slightly to the side. "By the way, what brings you to Victors Hollow?" She almost offered a comment about the tournament from the day before, but she ultimately held herself back in case it was seen as boasting.
"It's the home of an old friend. He passed away around this time of year, so I decided to pay a visit," Leon explained. His eyes shifted downward, a sentimental sheen glossing over his irises.
"Were you close?" Tressa questioned experimentally even though the answer was already clear by the quiet grief etched in Leon's eyes.
"Aye. Baltazar and I were like brothers," Leon replied.
"Baltazar?!" Tressa cried out before she could even think of controlling her tongue. "As in... That Baltazar?!"
"Which Baltazar, lass?" Leon questioned in confusion.
"The Baltazar who drew the map I found earlier!" Tressa proclaimed even though she knew Leon wouldn't have a way of knowing for sure given that she had neglected to mention it previously. She hadn't wanted to admit to almost asking her thief friend to snag the page while the seller wasn't looking, though it seemed now that she didn't need to worry about that at all.
"They may just be one and the same. Could you show me where you found it?" Leon asked. There was something eager about his gaze even though he was trying his best to restrain his curiosity behind a layer of detachment.
"Yep! Follow me!" Tressa darted off in the direction of the stands near the entrance of town with that, and Leon followed her, albeit at a much more casual pace. The other travelers were hot on their heels, though none of them interjected with any commentary because of how quickly the conversation was moving. Therion shook his head to himself though, and it was clear he was still considering just stealing the map if they couldn't get it when they doubled back.
Tressa and Leon arrived at the antique stand first, and the dealer was still utterly giddy from his discovery earlier in the day. "Welcome back, young lady," he greeted Tressa. "I trust ye managed to keep the you-know-what a secret since you were last here."
Tressa shook her head. "I'm really sorry, but I couldn't."
The antique dealer's face twisted on the spot. "What do ye mean ye couldn't?"
Leon took a step forward at that. "Pardon the intrusion, but I heard you might possess a map belonging to Baltazar," he began, looking over in Tressa's direction carefully.
"Who are ye?!" the shopkeeper questioned angrily.
Tressa picked up on the message Leon was trying to pass along instantly. "This is Captain Leon Bastralle."
For the second time that morning, the shopkeeper went pale and began to stammer. "L-Leon Bastralle?! Scourge o' the seas?!" he yelped. He took a step forward to examine Leon in more detail, his gaze eventually falling to Leon's lance. "I don't want to believe it... But there's no mistakin' that blue spear. I heard all about ye and yer famous words... 'The strong take while the weak quake.'"
"Those are words best forgotten, sir," Leon cut in, his expression stony.
The antique dealer let out a laugh with a thousand indescribable emotions wrapped up into one. "Do ye take me for a fool? I know yer just here to loot my store!" He sunk into a combat position immediately, though Tressa could tell the man didn't actually know how to fight.
Leon didn't seem to mind though, and he just let out an easy laugh. "I can assure you I came for no such reason. I cast aside that lifestyle long ago," he assured the shopkeeper. "I'm simply curious about the map my friend here found at your stand earlier today. Would you mind showing it to me?"
The dealer thought about it for a moment, but when he noticed the ease of Leon's posture and the fact that the man wasn't reaching for his weapon, he began to relax. It took him a handful of seconds to fully decide that he wanted to show Leon the map though, and he nodded slowly. The antique dealer started to dig through his things before pulling out the page and handing it over to Leon so the blonde man could look at it.
Tressa smiled to herself and looked over in Therion's direction just to show that she didn't need him to steal things for her in order to get a job done. Therion just rolled his eyes, not saying a word out loud but knowing that Tressa had been considering his offer whether she wanted to admit it or not. Tressa watched eagerly as Leon continued to examine the map, and her hopes rose all over again. This was what she was looking for, and it was in her reach once again.
The travelers were going to get their treasure hunt after all, and Tressa couldn't wait.
Tressa chapter three time, baby!
I'm already having a lot of fun with chapter three. As much as I liked writing for chapter two, I feel like it's pretty easy to see that it's the least exciting stretch of events in the story of the game as a whole. I'm excited to jump into the buildup to the finale, and it's already proving to be an incredibly fun time.
Tressa is also a fun time, and I love writing for her. She's just a fun character, and I don't think anyone is going to object to that. She's great, and her banter with Leon is great too. I love the way the two of them bounce off each other, and it's enough for the rest of the travelers to just end up staring. I love Leon a lot, and it's nice to have him back. I can't believe he didn't have a chapter named after him before now. He's more than earned it.
As a minor side note, this chapter reminded me of something I honestly forgot about. The travel banter in this chapter of Tressa and Ophilia was the inspiration for a one-shot I wrote years ago about the two of them. It's the only ship content of the two in English, and it was based off the conversation in this chapter. I completely forgot where the idea for it came from, so writing it out here was a nice trip down memory lane.
Next week, we're going to pick up right where we left off with the continuation of Tressa's chapter three. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital