Lauren Vandak[]
A quick glance around the office of Lauren Vandak makes her love for fishing very clear. The wooden hut, raised above the coastal waters like the rest of Moontide Bay, was heavily decorated with Lauren’s numerous trophies. A huge swordfish hanging above the door, and a collection of taxidermized quillfish and sturgeons, were some of her most impressive catches. She was especially proud of one certain sturgeon: Big Ribeye. He had been teasing her for years, swimming around Moontide Bay and never falling for her lures. She even had an enchanter infuse her lures with magic, but little did it help. Big Ribeye would not fall for her clever tricks and manevours. One day, when looking over her hundreds of boxes of lures, she realized something. She didn’t own a single plain lure. They were all heavily specialized, made specially for her by the luremasters of Old Promenade. She slammed open the door to her office, quickly moved through her hut and went to the nearest merchant. Marcus Blocking, a charming old man, was in the process of selling a basket of eggs when Lauren entered. Always ready to make deals with his leader, Marcus turned his attention to Lauren, who let him know about her needs. She needed a standard lure. No special tricks. Marcus smiled and nodded, taking out his notebook.
“Go on.” He said, wetting his pen between his lips. Lauren took a step towards him and closed his notebook. She shook her head and pointed to a boring standard wooden lure hanging behind the counter. Marcus didn’t expect that, but did not question the master angler. He handed it over, free of chage - there was no money to be made from those.
Lauren rushed out, grabbed the first fishing pole she saw and sat down on Moontide Bay’s main pier. She didn’t have to wait long. It took fifteen minutes before Old Ribeye showed up.
As she was sitting there in her office, admiring the taxidermized trophy of Old Ribeye, someone began knocking on her door.
She cleared her throat: “Yes?”
A young man entered. Brinath, a new addition to Moontide Bay. He had recently fled from Peacefall, seeking refuge from the conflicts in Westrand. Lauren liked the boy, and took him in as her assisant. She was fully determined to train her - some day.
“Sorry to disturb, lady Vandak, but-“ Brinath began, but Lauren cut him off.
“I’m not a lady, Brinath. I’ve told you this many times.” She got up, and gave him a nod, gesturing for him to continue.
“…right. Right. Well, miss Vandak, your brother has requested to see you. It seemed important.” Brinath said nervously, avoiding eye contact with Lauren. Lauren always wondered why he was like this, but he did not want to talk about his past. And Lauren respected that.
With a big sigh, Lauren walked over to the door, Brinath stepping out of the way.
“I told my brother to not disturb me unless it’s very important.” Lauren complained, as she began walking towards Moontide Bay’s main hall - which was just a wooden hut, slightly larger than the rest. Brinath followed right behind her.
“I don’t know, lady Vandak.” He said nervously, scurrying after her.
“I’m not…” She took a deep breath and shook it off. “Alright.”
Lauren and Brinath entered the main hall. Lauren’s brother was standing at the end of a round table. A big map of Trawler’s Shore was laying in the middle of it. Sitting by the table were also Brittani Hansen and Snickhty, the leaders of the two largest settlements in the region - not counting Moontide Bay, of course. Sal Wicker was also sitting by the table. Sal was in charge of the scouting of the Trawlers. His job was to make sure that no enemies would approach and cause havoc in the region. And he’d been doing a good job. Him and his crew had managed to fight off two attacks from the goblins of the Telakk-une Cartel.
“Lauren,” Grant Vandak began, looking straight into his sister’s eyes. “we have guests.”