Chapter 19: Old Favors Returned

The world was black now, and very, very wet. It took Arrien a few moments of gulping greedily for air and flailing around a good bit before she realized that she was several hundred feet from her target: the beach just outside the main gate of Booty Bay. She looked all around her for Tilanne, clutching the bag which held all of her worldly possessions, which were not quite thoroughly soaked, but couldn't see her Night Elf companion. As she finally managed to tread water, she turned about to see that she was a rather long distance away from the ships, which she could barely see from her current location. A wave suddenly knocked her about, nearly causing her to lose her grip on her bag. She spit out salt water and cried out.

"Tilanne! Tilanne, where are you?! This isn't funny!" She let out a quiet whimper. A sinking feeling in her gut told her she had just lost the last person that she had to cling to. Arrien glanced back to the ships, half tempted to teleport back to see if she could find her friend, and maybe even rescue the other lovely Night Elf she'd seen back on the Devil Shark, whose misfortune and subsequent blowing up she placed the blame squarely on herself for. She found herself praying to the Holy Light, to Cenarius, Elune... whoever would listen, that Tilanne and that Night Elf woman would be okay. Almost as an answer to these silent prayers, she felt something large and rubbery brush up against her leg. She looked down to see a rather large, purple seal looking up at her, mischief dancing in intelligent eyes. The seal flapped its fin, nudging at Arrien's hand, and the mage took the hint and grabbed on as they sped towards the shore, significantly faster than it would have been if she had attempted the swim. A few minutes later, Arrien found herself choking up salt water on the sand while the seal beached itself, transforming itself back into Tilanne's lithe form, a grin playing across her features as she attempted to clear her ears of water.

"I thought you were a goner," Arrien coughed, dropping her bag on the sand. Murgle pawed his way out, mewling irritably and shaking himself in futile attempts to dry his fur. He gave Arrien a glare that went largely ignored as the mage flung her arms around the Night Elf, who laughed.

"Thought you could get rid of me with a little water? It takes a bit more than throwing me directly at nature to get me down," Tilanne smirked. "What took you so long with throwing the fire in Lester's face, anyway?"

"I couldn't conjure any fire, that would have taken a fraction of a second too long... as soon as a bit of fire got close enough, though," she smiled satisfactorily, but suddenly remembered another victim of her pyromancy. "There was another of your kind on the ship, Tilanne! She had a big black wolf, and... and... I think I may have started the fire that blew up the deck and sent her flying back into the water," she frowned, "I... I... I hope it wasn't anyone you knew. I mean, I didn't mean to hurt her." There was a small part of her that was proud of the fact that she'd done that much damage to the ship in so little time, but it was overshadowed by the thought of having accidentally severely injured someone who was only defending themselves. Property damage didn't bother Arrien at all, just the loss of life.

"My people are more resilient than we look," Tilanne smirked, "I'm sure she's all right... but I'm not sure we can say the same for Booty Bay if we don't hurry along." Arrien nodded agreement as she gathered up her things, scooping Murgle up by the scruff of his neck and placing him on her shoulder, where he perched quite contently. They could see the gates of the goblin town from where they were, and it took very little time to reach the limits of them. The mage studied their design, rather fascinated at what appeared to be the jaws of a giant shark, and half-wondered whether they were from a real creature or if they had simply been fabricated to look intimidating. All manner of ill-intentioned people were leering at the Night Elf and human as they entered and exited the gates under the close watch of two goblin guards.

"Hold it there!" one of the goblins called as the two women passed, "Let me get a good look at you." He stared up from the height of Arrien's knees, his eyes full of scrutiny. "We've been on the look out for someone by your description working with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, helped ransack the Gilded Lady a few months back?" He levelled his oversized rifle at Arrien's head, "my cousin Grimbal was on that boat... never heard from him again... I think we should take you in for questioning."

"We don't have time!" Arrien snapped back, her eyes full of fire, "there is a Bloodsail fleet on their way to attack Booty Bay, we need to speak with whoever is in charge here."

"Oh, the Baron very well may wish to have an audience with you... but I have a feeling this whole invasion thing might be a ploy..." The goblin narrowed his eyes. A fireball flared up in Arrien's hand in anger, and she took a fighting stance, one hand prepared to draw her sword. "Stand down or I'll blow your head off!"

"What joo doin, mon?" Arrien heard a young voice ask from behind her, "dis lady saved m'life..."

"Kul'kar, if you're done with your hunt, bring your goods to the butcher... I have guard work to do," the goblin growled. The voice sounded so familiar to Arrien, who risked momentarily letting her guard down to turn her head to see, first, that Tilanne had already pinned the other guard against the wall by his neck, much to the amusement of a few of the drunkards around, but then looked down to see the young troll from the village massacre.

"Joo let me live in jour city... I tellin' joo... dis lady isn't wit' da Buccaneeahs," Arrien tried not to smile at the troll's horrific lack of grasp on the common tongue.

"See? Is that good enough for you?" Arrien crossed her arms, satisfied, "my companion and I escaped from them just now... and we came to warn you of the imminent invasion."

The goblin considered this for a moment, then growled a bit, waving his hand to indicate that they should move forward, "Kul'kar, show them to Baron Revilgaz... and I'm warning you, troll-boy... if this ends up being a trap, it's your head." Kul'kar nodded firmly, grabbing Arrien and Tilanne by the hand and dragging them away. The guard the Night Elf had been holding up fell to the ground with a thud, resulting in much more drunken laughter. The only reply the other goblin received to his comment to Kul'kar was a sharp hiss from Murgle.

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The meeting with Baron Revilgaz was rather brief. As soon as he had seen the state the two women were in, he realized there was trouble afoot. The goblin boss, a bit larger than the rest of his fellows, and rather better dressed, with a pretentious-looking monocle perched on his left eye, had sent word to all of the ships of the Blackwater Raiders, his privateer company, to prepare for the invasion. Another of the goblin's officers rushed to the tavern to see how many semi-sober men he could find, and find out if any of them had battle-worthy boats to aid in the town's defense. In under an hour, three large ships and about a dozen smaller vessels were at the mouth of Booty Bay's harbor, ready to defend the cove as best they could. Arrien and Tilanne found themselves on one of the Baron's personal ships, along with a number of misfits from the local tavern.

"Get back here, you little bugger," Arrien heard a voice growl from behind her as she felt something small and leathery brush past her leg. She looked down to see a small green figure with large ears, horns, and a mouth full of pointed teeth. She let out a soft shriek and jumped backwards.

"I'll send you back to the Nether if you don't behave yourself... now... here's a snack for you," Arrien looked up to see a dark-robed man with shoulder-length dark hair and a goatee pluck an eyeball from a pouch in his robes. He looked up at Arrien and Tilanne, shaking his head, "Demons... they love the strangest things," he murmured as he dangled the eyeball just out of the imp's reach, smirking as it danced and grasped for it before he dropped it.

"You're a warlock?" Tilanne asked, a bit of a low growl in her voice.

"No, I just collect demons as a hobby," he said in a droll tone of voice, clearly unamused, "yes... I am a warlock... and before you ask... no, I don't flay babies or sacrifice virgins. I like to think of myself as a bit better than those types..." Arrien eyed him skeptically, "At least, I haven't flayed a baby in at least... three and a half weeks," he added with a smirk. The mage sincerely hoped he was joking, but found herself able to trust him much more easily than she had the last warlock she met, though she could see in Tilanne's eyes that the druid still fully distrusted any users of dark magic.

"So what are you doing out here helping us?"

"I like to think of myself as an opportunist," he muttered, studying his fingernails in a rather bored manner, "this was an opportunity to get myself in better standings with the Baron... which means more money... and better booze." He laughed softly, a gesture Arrien found herself returned.

"My name is Arrien," she said, bowing slightly.

"Heathcliff... and, in addition to the opportunity, by the way, there was something else that brought me out here tonight."

"What was that?" Tilanne inquired this time, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Quite simple, really," he remarked, procuring an apple from a pouch on his belt, glancing out at the approaching Bloodsail fleet as he bit into the fruit, "I was bored to tears."