Stella wrung her cloak out, sea water dripping from it, as she and Ais walked back to the Icebreaker. Suddenly, Ais halted in her tracks, "Uh, Stella? Does your ship usually emit an ominous green glow…?" Sure enough, a tealish-green light was shining from the deck of the galleon as it gently bobbed in the water. "Not usually." Stella replied, putting her cloak back on, "Let's go check it out."

Stella and Ais jogged over to the Icebreaker, scaling up the ladder onto the deck where a glowing portal had appeared on the deck. "Just throwing out a guess here," Ais began, "But you think this is the Ferryman's doing?"

"Only one way to find out, right?" Stella said as she stepped through the portal, Ais following behind her. The two found themselves back on the Ferry of the Damned where they saw Ali, Zhen and Koa on the deck, all of them looking ghostly in appearance. "Hey, you made it!" Zhen cheered. "I'm guessing this means you freed the captain?" Koa added. "Yup! How'd it go for you guys." Stella asked. "Great! We freed the rest of the crew too!" Ali smiled proudly.

"And for that, I am grateful."

Everyone's attention turned to the stairs leading up to the wheel where the Ferryman was descending down them, "You've returned my lantern and proven your mettle by freeing the spirits, but your fate is still tied to the Morningstar. Not only her crew, but to the vessel herself." The Ferryman glanced at Ais, "And I'm guessing Aisling has revealed her part in that fate to you."

"Yeah, I told 'em." Ais replied, "And as much as I'm grateful the Glacial Dragons are helping to clean up my old man's messes, what does this have to do with them getting to the Shores of Gold?"

"Your father seeks to claim the Shores of Gold for himself." The Ferryman replied, earning a stunned look from Ais before continuing, "He binds those who oppose him so that they may never return aboard my ferry and avenge themselves upon him."

"A Dhaid, leathcheann damanta tú..." Ais cursed in Irish under her breath as Stella spoke up, "Well how do we stop him? Shores of Gold or otherwise, he can't keep getting away with this. There's gotta be a way to stop him."

"Graymarrow isn't someone to underestimate." The Ferryman warned, "He is one of the most powerful Skeleton Lords ever known. As someone bound to the Sea of the Damned, I do not know of how to defeat him. However, I can tell you how to find him."

"We'll take any lead we can get."

"Very well. To find this Graymarrow, speak with the shipwright at Dagger Tooth. She knows the whereabouts of the Morningstar, and hold secrets of her own..."

"Oh, thank the Ancients it's close…" Stella heard Zhen mutter.

"Dagger Tooth. Shipwright. Got it." Ais sighed, clearly still frustrated by her father's actions, before turning to Stella, "My crew and I will meet you at Dagger Tooth then."

"Sounds like a plan." Stella smiled before addressing the Ferryman, "Thank you for your help, Ferryman."

The Ferryman shook his head, "I only pointed you in the right direction. Everything else you did yourselves. I cannot fully repay you for saving the souls of the Morningstar…but I can give you some information you might find useful."

"What's that?"

"Your mother, Azura Icewind. I have heard many tales of her exploits, her famed rivalry with Flameheart, and how she disappeared several years ago…however, her soul has never arrived on my vessel."

"Wait…could that mean…?" Ali began. "Mom could still be alive!" Stella finished. "Is that possible?" Koa. "It is a possibility." Ais spoke up, "There are records of Legendary Beasts passing on their powers before death if they determined that it was too dangerous to keep the soul anymore, or if they were too old to wield them. It could be possible that your mother got into a serious scuffle where her powers were on the line and transferred them to you early to keep them safe."

"That might also explain why she disappeared." Zhen added, "Maybe she's hiding from whoever endangered her powers or something."

"I sure hope so." Stella replied with a hopeful expression, "Seeing mom again…that'd be a bigger dream come true than finding the Shores of Gold."

"I wish you luck." The Ferryman gave a nod as he floated back up the stairs to the ferry's wheel.

"Right then, let's head to Dagger Tooth, meet this shipwright, and stop Graymarrow!" Stella announced with enthusiasm, earning a cheer from the rest of her crew.


The Icebreaker and Nightstalker were anchored beside each other as their crew's disembarked onto the dock. Ais called out an order for her crew to stock up on supplies before following the Glacial Dragons to the shipwright's tent. Hammering away at a barrel lid was a bald, muscular woman with black face paint, an eyepatch over her left eye, black clothing, and a belt full of tools. Stella spotted what seemed like an old journal on a table beside the workbench. She was about to reach out and pick it up when the woman spoke up, not even looking up or ceasing her hammering, "What's your interest in that old book? Trust me, the ship it speaks of is too old and too well-beached to salvage anything of value...just a musty old wreck full of rotting scraps and broken promises. All I was able to scavenge was the Captain's final message. From what he says it seems there was only one survivor, and no-one's seen them in years."

"Um, we were sent here by the Ferryman. He said you could help us hunt down Graymarrow." Stella began. The mention of Graymarrow's name seemed to finally draw the woman's attention away from the barrel lid. She glanced at Stella for a moment before finally speaking, "Wait... I recognise you. Word around here is you're going after the Shores of Gold, just like the crew of the Morningstar. You're a little late, Graymarrow caught up with the Morningstar long ago, and stole their Shroudbreaker piece of himself. Even if you knew where to find him, he'd never give it up without a fight."

"I figured it wouldn't be easy." Stella replied, "But I don't intend on giving up either."

"Trust me, Sandra, nothing you say will change her mind." Ais added, "This lot are stubborn as all hell."

"Well then take the book if you think it'd help you." Sandra motioned to the book, "But if you're planning to take on Graymarrow, you should know that he's no ordinary Skelly, he's got some nasty tricks up his sleeve and plenty of friends too."

"That's what we've been hearing." Stella replied, "But we can do it. I know we can."

"Well, I've said all I can, you can either take my advice or not I suppose." Sandra shrugged, "Now leave me be, I've got a ship to finish." With that, Sandra went back to hammering as Stella picked up the book. She flipped through the pages as the group walked back to the ships, "From what I can tell, Graymarrow had put a bounty on the crew's heads for the Shroudbreaker jewel. So, to evade him, they beached the Morningstar at Boulder Cay. I imagine that's where we'll find our next clue."

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find it." Ali began, "Boulder Cay isn't a big island, so a shipwreck should stand out."

"Then we have our heading." Stella grinned, "Let's hit the seas."


"So, what do you think is in here?" Ais asked as she finished digging up a chest in wolf form. In the shipwreck, the Glacial Dragons and Ais had found ship logs that lead to the location of a chest on the island. "Let's find out." Stella hoisted the chest up and opened the lid.

"Er…not the treasure I was expecting…" Stella pulled out a white and red uniform.

"That's the Morningstar uniform." Ais said as she reverted back to her human form, "All crew members wore it."

"A little over-the-top for my taste, but the belt's nice!" Zhen commented.

"Says the man who wears flames on his clothes."

"What? I have a motif!"

"Uh-huh…"

"Guys, focus." Koa interrupted before turning to Stella who was now reading some pages that were inside the chest, "Where to, captain?"

"These pages talk about two trusted allies at Sanctuary Outpost; Tyler and Tracy. I think if we want to get any information on how to find Graymarrow, we'll have to talk to them. Problem is, they probably won't blab to just anyone, which is where this might come in handy." Stella held up the uniform, "If they see a member of the Morningstar crew, they might be more open to talking. The question is who should wear it. Already calling not it!"

"I think the outfit's a little big for me…" Ali chuckled sheepishly.

"To bright for my taste." Koa shrugged.

"Yeah, no." Ais stated with a deadpan expression.

Everyone slowly turned to Zhen.

"I'm not getting a say in this, am I?" Zhen asked.

"Nope!"

"Then let's do this!"


Stella, Ali, Koa, and Ais waited on the deck of the Icebreaker at Sanctuary Outpost when Zhen finally came up the gangplank, still dressed up in the Morningstar uniform. "How'd it go?" Ais asked. "Ok, so Tracy was pretty straight forward. We're looking for a crystal skull at Cannon Cove."

"And Tyler?" Stella asked.

"Tyler…was a little hard to decipher. His memory isn't that great. Apparently, 'if we want to find Commander Claysparrow, we need to find a mug at the Sinking Cove, or his name isn't Taylor'."

Ais snorted, trying to hold back a laugh, "So my name is actually Aisling Claysparrow guys. My bad!"

Stella laughed at Ais's joke before turning to Ali, "Any map referencing a Sinking Cove?"

"I think he might mean 'Sunken Grove'." Ali replied.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Stella giggled, "Cannon Cove is closest, I think, so we'll start there and then work our way to the 'Sinking Cove'."

"I kinda wanna see how many of the islands' names we can mess up now." Ais chuckled.

"Ship-deck Cay."

"Tree-Dock Isle."

"Tyre's Hack-stone."

"Cow's Best Forest."

Stella burst out at Ais's last one as Koa sighed, "You're gonna be doing this the whole trip, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Sí!"

"Of course." Koa's amused smile betrayed his sigh as he went below deck to get the ship ready.


"Man, Gripper did not give thar skull up without a fight."

"I'm surprised the skull didn't shatter with all the bombs you threw.

"Shh." Ais hushed, "Voices ahead."

The five pirates quietly made their way up the slopes of the Sunken Grove as the voices ahead became clearer.

"Why are we stopping to rest? We know where that old cup is here, buried under the big skull!"

"Ah told yeh, Cleaves, it ain't just a cup. If yeh knew who it belonged it yeh'd want to leave it well alone."

"Rrr nrrrnrrr rrrr Crrrrprrr Frrrhrrr rrrr mrrrrs!"

"You said it, Nobby. They say he sank with his ship an' all them cursed cannons. Gone fer good, I reckon! An' if we don't bring Graymarrow what he wants this time, we'll be done for either way!"

"Ahright, ahright! We'll go find the chalice... right after I finish meh grog!"

"Chalice…? No, they couldn't be referring to…" Ais muttered.

"Do you know what they're talking about, Ais?" Stella asked, keeping her voice down.

"Possibly. Only one way to find out and that's taking out these bonehea- urk!"

Ais grabbed her right arm as it began twitching violently, "Cac! Bonereaper is acting up again. Mind if I take this fight solo? I don't wanna risk hurting you."

"Go for it. I won't say no to a break." Stella smiled.

"Thanks. I'll let you know when I've gotten a grip. Back in a sec."

Ais removed her glove and summoned her scythe before dashing up the hill. The Glacial Dragons could hear the voiced up ahead.

"Hey! Who are-?! Oh no."

"DIE SCUM!"

"BrrnRrrprr!"

"Wait, isn't that Graymarrow's ki-?"

"RARGH!"

"ARGH!"

"MOMMY!"

"NRRRR!"

"Got it!"

The crew slowly made their way up the slope where they saw Ais holding the bottle containing Graymarrow's orders to Captain Shaw as broken bones lay scattered all around her with some slash marks engraved in the nearby trees and rocks. "I feel like I should be concerned for your mental health, Ais." Stella spoke up as she glanced about the skeletal remains. "Don't. I came to terms with my insanity a long time ago." Ais shrugged as she pulled the orders out of the bottle and read them.

'LAST CHANCE, SHAW!

BRING ME THAT CUP! I'M NOT TO BE ROUSED 'TIL YOU AND GRIPPER HAVE BOTH RETURNED, I SHALL TAKE MY REST AT ' 4 '.

DOUGLAS KNOWS THE MORNINGSTAR'S CREW ON SIGHT. WITH HIS HELP, WE'LL FINALLY HUNT DOWN THE COWARD WHO ESCAPED ME...

GRAYMARROW.'

"So, this one says 4…and the other order letter said N…"

"Hmm…hang on." Ali pulled out a map of the Sea of Thieves, "I knew it! N4 are coordinates for an island! Old Faithful Isle to be exact."

"So, we just need to find this chalice and head straight there?" Zhen asked. "Looks like it. The stage for our fight against Graymarrow." Stella replied. "Well, we have to decode these orders first." Ais interjected hurriedly, "Someone hand me the cypher?"

"I have it." Ali handed Ais the cypher as Ais went over the notes. Stella stared at Ais, concerned about Ais suddenly changing the subject. But she brushed it off as nerves. Right now, she needed to focus on preparing for the fight ahead. Once they deliver those relics to Old Faithful Isle, there'd be no turning back. But they were ready…

…she sure hoped so.

To Be Continued…