I notice a new ship on my arrival to Windhelm. I also notice very friendly EETC flags on the ship and uniform symbols on the guards on the quay. Entering the company office, I am very surprised to hear a familiar voice dressing down our clerk and I decide to interrupt his protestations before she can start again. "Hey, left hand! I guess they didn't tell you I was here and you don't have a problem to deal with." The armored lady spins with surprise before a wide smile breaks out on her face. "Rose! No, they didn't say you were here, but who got sent first?" She pouts at me, "Am I really left hand this time? Again?" A short discussion later, we determine that I was actually sent later than she was but I plead my mission to Raven Rock means I'm not really lefty this time either.

Noticing a confused look on Orthus' face, I fill him in. "Adelaisa and I have been sent to the same problem locations by different parts of the company so many times we feel we embody the saying 'The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.'" Addie continues "We've gotten to be friends even though we still don't have a good method for deciding who buys the drinks. As you heard, there often are other complications and sometimes we're not both there at the end to actually BUY the drinks. Stupid bureaucrats! Oh, no offense, Clerk Orthus." "None taken." Orthus says, "In fact, if you can get work and money flowing back into this office I'll find a way to pay for the drinks." We're both quick to accept his offer and settle down to discuss what I found. As it turns out, the ship full of mercenaries is Adelly's (she hates it when I call her that) and she was sent with some forces to investigate the pirate rumor. Isn't odd how two different departments in the same company will believe one rumor and be suspicious of the other, totally opposite of each other? Turns out, the Nine finally smiled on us this time as my subtlety and her force and tactics will both be needed to deal with this problem. We decide to brief the men and prepare the ship so we can leave quickly in case any local spies are able to get a message to Haldyn.

It is late the next morning when we spot the island and circle around toward the beach. Suddenly a thick fog forms over the water dropping visibility to nearly nothing. Captain Laisa quickly orders the anchor dropped and sails furled before we drift into the rocks around the island. We meet at the landward side to discuss our options and what she knows about Haldyn. We decide he's likely in the small tower on the top of the hill, but there are too more camps, likely full of pirate crews, on the island for me to deal with on my own and no way to get the ship in close with the fog. I will go in under the cover of fog and try to locate a way into the tower and deal with Haldyn, clearing the way for the ship to land and deal with the rest of the thread. With the majority of their force broken and friendly base destroyed, the rest of the crew should split up and scatter, ending their threat to the Company.

One of the sailors lowers a rope ladder to the sea while I prepare my spells of Invis and water walking. Casting the Walking spell, I swiftly run across the waves toward the last place we saw a low beach. As soon as I'm on dry ground I cast Invis and slowly make my way around the outside of the camp area. After a few narrow escapes and a well timed Muffle while scaling the palisade I am finally stopped by the door, barred from inside. There do not appear to be any other doors or large windows on this level and eavesdropping on the guards outside reveals an unpleasant fact: they take shifts and only the ones inside can let them in on break, and that won't be for several hours. They don't even leave someone posted at the door. I find a soft place to wait and whisper a prayer to Akatosh, the Divine of Time, that I won't need much of it and hope these guards are talkative and prone to spilling secrets. Either the prayer works or the guards are normally chatty and it isn't long before one mentions a cave inlet on the side of the island. Over a palisade, down the hill and into the cave I go.

The mudcrabs in the cave are disinterested in me but I'm interested in the sole pirate in a crumbling room slash cave against the wall of the ruins. He is obviously not concerned about the mudcrabs and a silent bowshot makes him permanently unconcerned about anything. He has no key (Curses!) but the door is unlocked (Yay!) and poses no barrier to entry. Not far into the tower proper I find a spike wall trap, the trap trigger and a few loose rocks. A few tossed rocks is enough to get the attention of a pirate (I could hear him singing to himself at the top of the stairs) and with his descending footsteps I ready the loose brick I found. Three things happened rather rapidly. The pirate reached the trap area, the pirate spotted me, and the pirate saw the rock sailing toward the trigger plate. The resounding bang was much louder than I usually prefer but I just cannot resist killing bad guys with their own traps. Two rushing sets of footsteps got my mind back on track and I swiftly readied my bow. Generic Pirate Man 1 and Generic Pirate Woman 1 soon fell with silencing arrows lodged in their necks. Man fell on his arrow and snapped the shaft but I retrieved the arrow head anyway. Haste of the essence, I snapped the shaft of the second rather than cut it out and put both into my spare quiver after wiping off the blood and gore.

The rest of the tower proved just as unaware and I no longer worried about reinforcements when I confronted Haldyn. Laisa wasn't sure if he would be the hyper-focused kind, magically peering out through the fog to see who we were and when we would leave or would be more aware of his immediate surroundings, leaving distant issues to distant underlings. I never found out for sure, as I found him bending over a table on the other side of the central room, his back to me after silently making my way up the tower. I was even able to stand straight as I drew my bow. As he fell to the ground. I walked over to the table. He had picked out some of the best loot his ships brought back and was probably studying the enchantments on a pair of very well made weapons. I tossed them in a convenient knapsack and headed back across the tower. Before I reached the steps, a few muffled thuds and explosions outside indicated the fog was down and our crew was taking their turn. Waiting by a window, I let the catapults on the ship cease throwing and the explosions stop before heading down stairs and outside.

Yah! I threw myself forward in a roll, having forgotten about the guards I overheard outside this door. They were a little smarter and a little more cowardly than their fellows and had not rushed down the hill. Too close and too focused on me, I knew my spell of invis would be little more than a momentary distraction. Ignoring my knapsack of loot, I drew my daggers and began the deadly dance of death. Later, my loot, scratches, scrapes and a bruise met Adelaisa down by our ship at the remaining dock. She laughed at my misfortune but was glad I took out Haldyn and made it back.

When the ship reached Windhelm we headed to the office to clean up and rest. I was surprised to find there actually were a few beds in the back of the warehouse when I first arrived and we decided to use them instead of heading into the city and paying the inn. While we were cleaning up, Laisa gave me a look that said "If I wasn't too tired, we could continue where we left off, last time." Suddenly, I wasn't quite as tired as I was a minute a go and I tossed my towel off to the side.

Things suddenly got very warm in that part of Windhelm and we nearly fell off the bed.

A few days later, our first shipments since the attacks stopped came in and the office got the first payments in months. Orthus quickly made good on his promise and had a nice case of good mead waiting for us. I am not sure if the nightly aural entertainment had anything to do with either speed or quality but we were both ready to share both liquid and warmth with him.

For an otherwise weedy clerk, he was quite skilled in things other than numbers and we all had a very enjoyable few days.

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