24. Sorin: The Captain

Summary

• The chapter follows Sorin, a sailor who serves the Order of the Dragons and is on a mission to find significant items aboard The Iris, a docked ship.
• She sneaks onto the ship and manages to get into the captain's quarters, where she believes the treasures she seeks are hidden.
• Sorin searches the room, finds nothing, and decides to hide and wait for the captain's return.
• When the captain, Tellreg, arrives, Sorin, equipped with various weapons, confronts him and searches for the treasure. When threatened, Tellreg reveals a hidden compartment in an inkpot containing three Dragon's teeth that Sorin had been searching for.
• Just as Sorin's mission seems accomplished, Captain Tellreg catches her off guard, smashing a window and cutting his own wrist, attempting suicide.
• As Tellreg bleeds out, he asks Sorin to scuttle his ship, The Iris, so that he could carry it to the afterlife in a Jaskian tradition. Sorin reluctantly agrees and triggers a magical pendant causing a flood in the ship's hold.
• Tellreg dies as the ship begins to sink, while Sorin, in a fit of rage and regret, sets fire to the captain’s quarters and escapes by jumping into the cold harbor water.
• Sorin safely swims away, unnoticed amid the chaos and takes shelter on the dock, watching the ship sink and burn. She is burdened by the realization that her mission was not as discreet as expected and anticipates the anger of her boss, Magnes.
• The chapter concludes with Sorin returning to the Citadel, haunted by Captain Tellreg's last words -- hinting at an impending crisis that Sorin or her Order may not be able to stop.