Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich held the coin closer to his eye and nodded in thought, "this is definitely real imperial gold."

"This must be the lighthouse's keeper's life savings," Frank suggested, "we must return it to his family members."

"Eh? I don't know about that…" Nathan countered, "the rules of adventurers state that anything that was not specifically mentioned in the quest is ours by right."

"You can't be seriously trying to take a whole family's inheritance," Frank argued.

"The quest is not over you two," Aldrich intervened, "I will decide after the quest, now think about this how did a lighthouse keeper of a small town make that kind of money?"

Nathan and Frank's expressions shifted, that's right. A single gold coin was equivalent to thirty silver coins, it was a big amount even in Voryhrm. And yet the found two here?

"Maybe he saved his money over all the years he worked and later converted them into gold?" Frank asked. Of he thought of the most optimistic possibility first.

"It's possible," Aldrich agreed, that was indeed a valid idea, "but did you all forget that he was out of work for years after the increase in piracy?"

"He should have been losing money instead of making it, unless he had some other business going on back then?" Hellen asked.

"Huzon would have told us about something like that," Aldrich replied, something was indeed strange. "Lets check on the notebook instead of speculating blindly, after that we can ask Huzon directly since he's here."

Of course the tower was draped in darkness but they had moss lanterns so visibility was not a problem. This made it so that he can read here instead of having to go out.

Aldrich undid the wrapping and took out the leather-bound notebook and opened it. Right from the start he noticed many pages were torn out of it.

He started from what he could read.

"It's bad these days, the pirates have pretty much closed the sea routes in the entirety of this region. The lighthouse is not needed without ships coming and going."

This was all he could make in one page so he turned to the next and soon he was done with the notebook. At last, he got a good idea of what happened to grandfather Langston.

It seems that after the port was shut down, the keeper worked with smugglers, bringing in goods at night during low tide through a sea cave at the base of the cliffs. He became quite wealthy due to his association with the smugglers.

However in his later years, the smugglers joined forces with local pirates, fencing goods that had been taken from looted ships.

They demanded the lighthouse keeper douse the light and allow ships to run aground, threatening to expose his past dealings with them if he did not.

This was a line the lighthouse keeper was unwilling to cross. The last entry in the journal reads:

"It's no longer smuggling. Now it's murder. There's a cutter they want run up on the reef tomorrow night, the new moons. They threatened to sell me out if I don't do as they

say. I won't. I'll have no blood on my hands. I'm heading to the top with my last bottle of rum and the potion the apothecary sold me. No more. I can do this no more."

'So this is why he killed himself.'

Aldrich couldn't help but agree with what Huzon said before, this man was indeed a good man despite his dealings with smugglers he was unwilling to cross the line and even ended his life on his own terms.

"We'll clear the last floor and then call Huzon up here," Aldrich said, in fact he should have thought of that from the beginning, it would be best if he remained in the safe ground floor.

"Guy…" Cole, had regained consciousness at some point while they were busy discussing the notebook, "thank you sooooo much for not ignoring a fallen teammate…" he said sarcastically.

"It's just a little bump, walk it off," Hellen said.

"How did I fall for that trap?" Cole was more angry at himself for not noticing that the false bottom was not the only trap.

They ascended the spiral staircase and reached the third floor. Stacks of old wood and barrels crowd half the space in this room.

A noticeable odor of oil is present here. The stairs end here, but a smaller ramp ascends one wall to a trapdoor in the ceiling.

As soon as he stepped foot on the floor here he noticed that his footing was not stable after a closer look he understood.

Wood and oil for the lighthouse beacon was

stored here. The stacks of wood and the wood of the barrels is old and rotten. Many of the barrels are leaking oil, making the floor slick.

"Guys be careful when you walk here, the floor is slippery with oil, also make sure that your lanterns don't fall off on the floor, the oil is likely flammable."

Aldrich warned behind him and make sure to walk slowly and carefully. He looked around and waited for the rest to join him, this place gave him an uneasy feeling.

He held his new sword and evened out his breathing.

Suddenly from the direction of the stacked barrels five giant rats charged at them. Each one of them was as big as a dog, with red eyes and several rotten patches on their fur.

Aldrich reminded himself not put too much power into the sword lest he break it like he did the last one. He did want to use the spear from the Ravenfolk but he decided not to bring it for this narrow environment.

Aldrich sidestepped the first rat and slashed it in midair, however when some of the blood and guts fell on him it burned slightly. Shit.

"Guys! These are poisons rats don't get bitten and—"

Before he could say anymore another rat sneaked behind him extremely quickly when he turned around to chase it he slipped on the oil and fell.