Quentin leaned on the forecastle railing of the<i>Black Pearl</i>, watching the riverbank drift past.  In the last few hours he’d seen scattered villages, pre-industrial farming and fishing community buries, and the wreckage of a large wood and stone  structure that had spanned the river at some point. A dam, most likely. One that had been r early destroyed.<br/><br/>“There’s something wrong here,” he said.<br/><br/>“What do you mean?” asked a hawk-faced man. Yusef, Quentin recalled.<br/><br/>“The Force,” he began, then reconsidered his words at the puzzled expression on the man’s face.  They’d said something about wizards and magic, right?  “The, uhm, the energies of life. If nature. They’re the source of my... powers.”<br/><br/>“Ah!”  Yusef nodded sudden understanding. “So, You and your wife are a Druidic order of knights?  I’ve heard of such things.”<br/><br/>“Sure,” Quentin agreed, wondering what a<i>druid</i>was, “let’s go with that. The Force is...”. He struggled to describe it. “There’s darkness here, a corruption tainting the river. But, out there. Along the shore, it’s... wild.”<br/><br/>Yusef stared at the shire. “Looks like farmland to me.”<br/><br/>“Not wild like unsettled,” Quentin replied, still struggling to describe what he sensed. “It’s... savage. Frenzied, Maybe. Raw and unchecked and burning with potential.  The sheer power is, is...”<br/><br/>“Terrifying?” Yusef suggested.<br/><br/>“No. Intoxicating.”  Quentin stared at the bank. “And<i>that’s</i>the terrifying part.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/>John turned the wheel a point and the<i>Pearl</i>shifted course slightly, maneuvering around a sandbar. When he’d been alive, the thought of taking a galleon upriver would have been laughable. But his ship was as changed as he was. She’d make it.<br/><br/>“You’re sure we’re heading for Matthias?” Faye asked, fingering her hilt. Hate blazed in her sharp features as she stared out over the river.<br/><br/>“The<i>Pearl</i>’s never let me down,” he replied. “Except for that time she was stuck in a bottle, and that wasn’t her fault.”  He patted the wheel comfortingly. “Was it now?”<br/><br/>Faye gave him a sort of curious sidelong glance, and then shifted away from him a little. “Hey,” she said suddenly, shading her eyes, “there’s a city. And... what the fuck is that?”<br/><br/><i>That</i>was a monstrous head of some fanged beast, easily the size of a four story house. The eye sockets were empty, staring blindly at an equally massive skeleton that choked the waters of the river. “No idea,” John said. “None at all.”<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/>“Right,” The other Sam said. “Mind tellin’ me who these folk are again?”<br/><br/>She’d followed Sam into the kitchen, making the claim that since she’d dropped by uninvited she should help out. Privately, Sam figured it was because she was feeling a little uncomfortable- and she couldn’t blame her doppelgänger. It was a weird situation.<br/><br/>“Well, Ah done introduced y’all ta Erik,” she began.<br/><br/>“Yep,” The other Sam grinned. “Wouldn’t mind introducin’ mahself a bit more though.  He’s kinda cute.”<br/><br/>“Back off,” Sam replied without heat. “The older gent talkin’ like a damn dictionary’s Algernon Swift, mah boss. We call him th’ Perfessor, mosta th’ time.”  She nodded at the couch, where he sat peppering Jackie with questions. “Th’ fancy French lady’s Anne Marie LaMonte.”<br/><br/>“Reckon she’s<i>his</i>boss,” the other Sam snickered. “Wouldn’t mind bein’ bossed around by her neither, y’know?”<br/><br/>“You behave yerself,” Sam admonished with a laugh. “Y’done got a wife.”<br/><br/>“Oh, Ah reckon Jackie wouldn’t mind. Long as Ah shared.  Who’s th’ new fellah?”<br/><br/>“Colin Drake,” Sam said. “Ah work wit’ him, an’ Ah’d call him a friend.”<br/><br/>The other Sam considered him. “Hm.”  She considered him a bit longer. “So, You two ever, y’know... f-“<br/><br/>“Nope,” Sam interrupted. “Fell hard fer Erik afire Ah ever found out he was innerested. An’ We both happen ta be married women, Samantha Margaret Cavendish!” she scolded in playfully severe tones.<br/><br/>“True,” the other Sam replied thoughtfully. “Still, mebbe Ah kin..,”<br/><br/>“Grab then there drinks an’ pass ‘em out?” Sam interrupted. “That’s a mighty fine idea.”  She laughed at the other woman’s expression. “Y’all done said y’wanted ta help.”