The damage doo the region was well handled and reduced thanks to the efforts of many. There are still plenty of prisoners at rge, but the undead outbreak was suppressed succesfully. The cause for this is believed to be closely tied to your special project. Logs indicate she had a neancer as a neighbour who was most likely freed in the proccess. I will endeavor to personally correct this mistake.-Report from the warden of Barthol to Ky'th the 14th lord

  anizing a retreat from Rivka was trivial sidering this is teically the first time I'm swimming in this body. What wasn't trivial was the sheer amount of garbage being pumped into the sea through the river. Apparently, many magical factories located along the river dump their trash into the river to get rid of it, creating a sort of magical pollution which is mildly poisonous for sea life and also the one of the reasons mermaids never even thought of properly joining the war. Luckily, even with the greatly weakened mermaids, we only lost about six mermaids of seventy. As we make it out into sea, one of the healthier mermaids with red hair and a determined look swims up to me.

  "My dy, what should we do now?" This won't do, not anymore.

  "What's your name?"

  "It's Lychta my dy."

  "I'm Esstrey pleasure to meet you, with the pleasantries done I need you to tell me as much as you about mermaid life but to start off start by telling me what ts as mermaid shelter."

  Lychta proceeds to give me a general idea of the situation. Mermaid s are apparently a lot like as but uer instead, with farms otom of the sea meant for cattle, as all of us are ivorous. The type of cattle apparently depends on whiermaid you generally belong to, their own e raided by human scuba raiders equipped for dealing with mermaids. Most of the warriors died with few esg, while most civilians surrendered, Lychta being one of the soldiers that stayed behind tahe surrender.

  "Before we try to build shelter we o get further away from the coast, I notice we have a great deal of speed uhe water ao make full advantage of that, you get a mermaid over that draw me a map of the area?"

  As Lychta excuses herself and the mermaids all slow down and start settling in for the day, even if this is not going to be a pce of shelter this will be camp and I start making a quick patrol and assign a watch rotation. The watch will mostly be there to wake me up and if I ot hahe problem alo is deemed too hard to handle and we leave early. Despite having been on the brink of never seeing the sea again, the mermaids look to be in high spirits and greet me cheerfully as the kids start to doze off.

  "Lady Esstrey, I bring a former cartographer by the name of Pakar who said he knows the local area well and draw you a map."

  An older merman makes a small bow to me and starts drawing in the sand. "Here is the river we just came out of and around here is where we should be, if we head westward we meet up with the mermaid eo our southeast lies more coast belonging to the Dalkans while to the southwest lies Mazurio and her coast. There is also a free port full of pirates on an isnd called Quintillius Landing to our north, while to the east and northeast lie the western edge mountains and the empire."

  "Excellent, you are dismissed. Lychta have the hunters returned yet?"

  "Not yet dy Esstrey, but they should arrive any moment now."

  "Once everyone has rested, I want them ready to move, sleep well."______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  As I wake up, I notice Lychta moving towards me.

  "Lady Esstrey it is good to see you up, I was just ing to wake you up. A ship otted sailing nearby."

  "What kind?"

  "The mert kind, midy."

  "Looks like things are looking up for us, I was looking forward to making some purchases. Get all bat capable mermaids up and anized, let's go shopping.

  It doesn't take long for breakfast and anizing a raid, as both are done in the same timeframe. I assign a single soldier to escort the mermaids northward while the rest of us go on an errand.

  "I don't think it's safe to move with only one capable guard."

  "That is because it is not safe, but it is needed since we he supplies this ship is no doubt carrying and the more supplies we have the faster we move and the faster we settle somewhere."

  Despite me not being very reassuring, I don't get any further pints, not even any questions on why we are not moviward. I think Jimmy did mention something about Mazurian culture practices in prison once. And here I thought he was simply babbling like a madman again. The trip to the mert vessel is predictably short since we are a pack of bat ready mermaids traveling through water.

  As the ship es into view, I signal for the mermaids to e closer, briefly fetting we talk uer and expin the pn. roach the ship and stalk it from below for a short while before climbing up the side. Getting closer to the deck I start to hear the voices of disgruntled sailors, all the mermaids are on one side so we more easily sneak in. I start chewing away at a piece of wood to get a grip a the process until I have a climbing wall all the way to the back of the ship, specifically the part with the captain's quarters. As we all hang underh the windows, I initiate our attack by bursting through the window into the captain's quarter and immediately go for the man to hold hostage and take his sable. My mermaid team following soon after.

  "This is a raid! Drop your ons or be annihited!" Turns out I have taken the navigator hostage, but he is hardly my main bargaining chip, as we outhe captain and the single crewman guard o two.

  "Who are you? What do you want?"

  "I SAID DROP YOUR ON!" I shout while cutting the navigator across his shoulder with his own sword. The captain, still caught up in a stupor, doesn't notice Lychta usiail to unch forward and tackle the man to the ground, the guard tries to do something but gets cut off and taken down by a swarm of mermaids instead.

  "Take their ons, this is about to get fast, and captain if you wish to see any of your men alive I reend telling them to surrender. I am not here as a Mazurian, but as a pirate. I am sure you figure out what that means."

  The captain only gets enough time to widen his eyes further in fear as the other two men are knocked out cold while the mermaids rush out of the . As we rush out, we are greeted by sailoing about carrying around cargo and talking idly as five men instantly get blindsided and killed by the mermaid tide crawling on their ded ung themselves on the unsuspeg victims.

  "e are utack! Mermaids on the deck!"

  "We have their captain! Victory is ours! Kill all who don't surrender!" Lychta yelled it as she raises the captains' saber into the air. Some of the men wh surrender, as two more are killed in the meahe captain rushes out of the behind us and starts anding his troops to surrender. Some don't still but are cut down without problems. As the sailors all start going to the deck to be disarmed and sit in a line, I start with my demands of the captain.

  "We will be taking everything we sider of value, bar the personal belongings of your crew and what is o make it back to port. Co-operate with us, and we will be out of your hair quick." It wouldn't do to needlessly destroy the lives of people who so graciously offered us their cargo.

  The captain however has one more offer to make as my girls start looting.

  "My sword is a family heirloom and important to my sponsors, I at least bargain for that back?"

  "It depends on what you have to offer at this point captain, after all your own life isly yours to ht now."

  "Would the location of a retly sunk pirate ship be good enough?" I give the captain a bright smile, All teeth of course.

  "Why that sounds like a lovely trade captain, do tell me more!"

  Having made out like a bandit with gold, silver and ons, we head back to our caravan ees, victorious and fat on victory.

  There are cheers as we get back with the goods, our caravan helps us carry it as I direct it toward the location of the destroyed ship.

  "My dy, why do you think the man wasn't lying?"

  "Simple, the destinatio was too close. At this distance, we could still go bad kill them." I am sure there is no love lost between pirates and merts.

  A few kids start swimming around me excitedly.

  "Are we pirates now?"

  "Yay, princess is a pirate!"

  I would say morale is at an all-time high, but that isly hard with how things have been going for them tely.

  When we arrive at the wreckage there is a shadow looming over it, I also spot multiple men pig through the wrecked ship with odd bubbles of air around them and wire eg them to the shadow above. It's another ship, and as the men spot our caravan approag they start tugging the wires and asding.

  "My dy, should we hunt them down?"

  "Go swim hem to prove a point, but don't kill them. I think these are pirates and would like to scare them a bit"

  As we swim around the asding men like sharks, the meremely nervous and maugging their wires out of panic. The first men to make tact with the surface scream out.

  "Mermaids! There be a whole enermaids down there!"

  I gesture for the others to stay behind as I move up to the surface, my suspis are firmed as it is easy to see the men carrying clearly non-standard gear. I decide to surfad give a good first impression oer-bound prote racket.

  "What brings you boys so far from nd? Got lost in a storm somewhere?" I give a nice big smile to really sell what I'm here for. A man dressed more fancily than the rest of the men responds.

  "Why ill be, if yer aren't a pretty face if I've ever seen one. I'd ask ye what such a lovely face be doin' round these prime huntin' waters, but a birdie told me bout' a sve raid on merm' waters. If ye be wantin' vengeance for the as of ndlubbers, ya came to the wrong pce. This naught me and me humble salvage crew 'ere." If his getup wasn't a big enough hint for the ck of respect for authority figures, the ck of respect for the nguage he speaks would do it. Just the types of men I was looking for.

  "Yuess is good mertsbane, but I did not e for ill-suited vengeance. I would like to lead my caravan to less hostile waters, but my supplies run lower than I wish them to be and the pockets of our quarry are full. What say you of hiring a small ti of odwellers for the time being?" I have knowypes of men enough times to know that nothing defuses a situation like some humorous stage py.

  "Why I'll be, that be some of tha' best news I 'eard all week. e aboard for parley, a be known tha' Nosk neve' leaves his guests to dry." I board safe in the knowledge that I have units in a position to strike, and the captain has nothing to win from attag me. I am sure this will be a fruitful retion until we reach our destination.