Chapter 48: Some Coincidences Aren’t Accidental
In the early morning, Silver Scale Bay awoke from its slumber, bustling with people coming and going, lively and noisy.
There was almost no nightlife here; they went to bed early and got up early.
The town was distributed along the bay, narrow and curved like a crescent moon, with a winding main street running through the entire town—this was the widest and liveliest street in Silver Scale Bay.
Both sides of the street were filled with all sorts of shops, with scents, fishy smells, and strange odors mixing with the sea breeze and drilling straight into people’s noses.
“What is this? How much is it?” Brat stopped at the door of a small shop, where a male halfling was hawking a colorful dish with a strong aroma.
“Halfling goulash, sir.” The halfling’s accent was strange, but his tone was enthusiastic. “Chicken broth with hand-shredded chicken, onion, potato, red bell pepper, corn, carrot… delicious, just 9 copper coins…”
“What about this?”
“Oatmeal cookie, 4 copper coins each, you know, everything is getting more expensive now…” The halfling spoke quickly, words blending together unclearly, a bit hard to listen to.
“Three goulashes, six cookies.” Brat had just gotten a share of the “loot,” so he was flush with cash.
“Please wait a moment, sir.” The halfling took the money, his voice rising several pitches.
The goulash had broth; the halfling folded large leaves into round bowls as containers to hold it, and the cookies were similarly wrapped in leaves—not hot to the touch, with a fresh grassy scent.
“Eat it while it’s hot.” Brat handed the food to Anse and Finn.
“Didn’t you already eat?” Anse waved his hand and only took one cookie.
The cookie wasn’t as big as his palm, about an inch thick, golden yellow; one bite filled his mouth with rich oatmeal and milky flavor.
But something this small selling for 4 copper coins was really a rip-off. Most workers only earned a few copper coins a day, and at current prices, it wasn’t even enough for food.
“Moon Shadow Kui Ling’s breakfast portions are too small, too plain; this is satisfying.” Brat complained.
“Right.” Finn deeply agreed.
Moon Shadow Kui Ling’s breakfast was free, but only bread, pumpkin, and herbal tea per person; once eaten, it was gone, and it wasn’t enough for the two of them.
“This goulash is really good, just not enough meat.” Brat ate as he walked, the aroma making many passersby swallow hard.
“Be content; prices might get even higher.” Anse sighed.
Silver Scale Bay had fish and farms, and trade routes hadn’t been cut off, so food was still normally supplied, but with more and more refugees, things might get worse.
Brat quickly finished one goulash; he poured the broth into Anse’s portion, stirred it, and kept eating.
One goulash portion was neither too big nor too small; an ordinary person with a few pieces of bread could be full, but Brat’s appetite was two or three times that of an ordinary person.
By the time they reached the dock, the two had finished eating, and the remaining three cookies were stuffed into Anse’s backpack by him.
“This is Fishbone Pier, right? Aren’t there lots of ships?” Brat pointed to the bustling pier ahead.
“Don’t rush, let’s go take a look.” Anse was seeing so many sailing ships for the first time and felt quite novel.
Silver Scale Bay had many docks; Fishbone Pier was in the middle of the bay, the largest in scale, where passenger ships from various places mostly gathered.
The pier was crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder; many carried luggage, but few could board ships.
Anse and the others found the building selling ship tickets; the door and window were marked sold out, and many people were waiting outside with blankets.
A passenger ship was checking tickets for boarding, surrounded by a crowd; some tried to sneak on in the chaos, some wanted to buy others’ tickets, some wailed and begged—it was a complete mess.
“Kalenno was right; can’t buy any, unless taking a small boat.” Brat’s hopes dashed, a bit disappointed.
“It’s fine; we’re not in a hurry anyway.” Anse comforted; they had originally come to sell things and stopped by to check.
He walked south along the pier, eyes carefully scanning these wooden sailing ships that looked like antiques, the complex ropes and sails giving him a headache; he couldn’t help but wonder how they were maneuvered.
Here, a 30-meter sailing ship was considered medium-sized; in his previous life, he’d seen many fishing boats bigger than this.
‘Won’t get seasick on this?’ He thought taking this kind of ship on long voyages might be more painful than jail.
Brat’s attention was on those cannons: “Heard these cannons are very powerful; ordinary professionals can’t withstand one shot.”
“Mm.” Anse certainly knew.
Faerun’s muskets and cannons were very backward, developed for years but stuck at front-loading smoothbore level, poor accuracy, but still hot weapons, couldn’t be weak in power.
A light smoothbore cannon with a dozen-pound caliber had a maximum range of 2400 feet（≥720 meters）, hit damage 8d10（8-80）; low-level professionals mainly relied on dodging—taking it head-on was suicide.
At this moment, a medium sailing ship slowly approached the adjacent berth; before the ropes were secured, a bearded man picked up a bell and stood at the ship’s rail.
“Ding ding ding…”
The urgent bell rang suddenly, attracting a lot of attention.
“Anyone going to Paros? Just five gold coins per person, includes food, as long as 80 people, departs when full…”
Before he finished speaking, the crowd surged forward; Anse and the others were right by the berth and nearly got pushed into the sea.
“Me me me, I have money…”
“I’ll buy three tickets…”
“Don’t push…”
“Mommy…”
“…”
The bearded man grinned happily: “No pushing, line up…”
Soon, the sailing ship steadied; a group of crew members in leather armor and carrying muskets came out of the cabin; they nimbly lowered the gangway, spread out in positions, eyes scanning around, very alert.
The crowd had no patience to wait and scrambled to climb aboard.
The crew didn’t stop them; the bearded man held open a bag, letting people throw money in without counting.
Some even slacked off in the chaos, casually tossing in a few silver coins.
Brat frowned and elbowed Anse: “Something’s off; this isn’t right.”
Passenger ships had rules and procedures for taking passengers: set time, destination, and fare; print tickets; board with ticket at time, and departure and berthing reported to the dock, requiring tax payment.
“Five gold coins, like charity.” Anse touched the holy symbol on his chest, hot to the touch.
He’d heard of Paros; a small port city, seemingly over a hundred miles north of Baldur’s Gate.
Normal tickets wouldn’t be less than three gold coins; now in extraordinary times, people took them for twenty or thirty; five gold coins was indeed no different from charity.
Besides, could such a small ship hold eighty passengers and dozens of crew? Unless packing them like livestock.
If Anse and the others could see the problem, so could others; many were suspicious and stayed outside without approaching.
“Slaver!” Brat whispered, hand instinctively on his sword hilt.
Anse shook his head slightly at him—not because he was heartless, but truly couldn’t intervene.
He focused his gaze on the bearded man:
【Conch First Mate, human, level 4 warrior（Combat Master）】
Among those crew were professionals, all with muskets; a few volleys and Brat and the other would likely be riddled with holes.
Thanks to Mao Xian Ni Zai Na Li and Book Friend 20190124165609900 for the rewards.
1. Goulash:
In a small flat-bottomed pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat, add rosemary, garlic, and a pinch of salt, cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside to let the butter infuse the spices.
In a Dutch oven or large stockpot, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, red pepper, bay leaf, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt; cook and stir until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce to medium-low heat, cover, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until vegetables release juices, about 8 minutes. Add chicken broth and potato, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to very low heat, cover, and simmer until potato begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add green beans, bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to very low heat, cover, and simmer until green beans begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add scallion, corn, chicken, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper; bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to very low heat, cover, and simmer until potato is fully soft, green beans soft, scallion wilted, corn and chicken heated through, about 3 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Return seasoned butter to medium heat to melt. Strain the liquid. Ladle out the soup, drizzling one or two teaspoons of seasoned butter over the surface of each serving.
2. Musket: Faerun has muskets and cannons, varying in quality.
Handgun: 1d10 piercing, range 30/90;
Musket: 1d12 piercing, range 40/120.
