Together we Map the World is a canon and OC forum that takes place directly after the first film left off, behaving as if the series and second film after never happened. With a wealth of locations, dragons, and characters to choose from, the possibilities are endless. What the tides of storytelling will do with these building blocks is up to you. How far will you go?
The small, battered ship slowly makes its way towards Berk, bobbing on the waves outside the docks. The sails are nearly nonexistent, burned away, and despite scorch marks and heavy damage the ship is still floating, though it dips heavily, on the verge of sinking. Though where it came from is a mystery it’s a miracle that the ship even lasted a day on the open ocean, though by the unrecognizable pattern on the sail it might have come from further. The wood groans at the rising swell and the ship tilts, taking in water. A terrified shriek echoes across the water from the boat as it begins to sink.
The red haired young Viking found herself preoccupied these days with her healer training. Adelaide had been taking every step she could to memorize every herd, remedy, and medicinal needs she could, especially having decided to start using her own self-made medical journal. The plants Gothi had showed her were drawn to the best of her ability within its pages and what remedies they could used for or aches, pains, and diseases they'd be the best for.
Unlike the rest of her family, Adelaide wasn't solely concerned with combat.
'One of us has to be diverse, break the Jorgenson expectation.' Adelaide thought to herself, sketching a new plant Gothi had showed her earlier that day. Next to her, the Prickleboggle, Cinnamon, was curled up, snoozing peacefully with little care in the world it seemed. Adelaide felt some envy for her dragon companion but at the same time couldn't help giving a soft smile as the glanced at the cinnamon colored dragon...until a sound off in the distance made them both perk up. It was not a sound they often heard unless a dragon or someone was in distress or hurt. But from Cinnamon's reaction Adelaide was assuming it was probably a dragon this time.
Squinting her eyes slightly, Adelaide looked off into the distance and spotted the source of the noise; a ship was slowly moving on the waves heading towards Berk's docks, but in its condition she was amazed it had made it this far. It had seen better days, and she half wondered if a battle had occurred with its crew and some dragons. Though such a thought could wait another day, it looked like its luck was running out. "We got a ship going down!" Adelaide called out to any other Berkians close by, eyeing the cliff she sat upon for a long moment realizing she wouldn't be able to reach the ship by normal means, but Cinnamon could. "Cinnamon, go see what you can do girl." She gestured quickly towards the ship, the female Prickleboggle giving a soft grunt in response before she took off towards the ship, diving towards it to grab part of its damaged bow in her claws, giving her wings a hard flap to try and keep it up until more help could come.
In the meantime, Adelaide had thrown her journal and charcoal pencil into her pack before grabbing it and sprinting towards the docks, going through her mind of the possible injuries and such that would be of concern in this situation.
Ever since the war with the dragons ended, Hallgrim's life had taken a turn for the worse.
Oh, it wasn't that he was unhappy that there was peace now - no, it was because he was no longer needed to repair buildings or do odd jobs around the village. He was forced back into his little box, down on the docks, where he faced the sea that he feared so much every day to bring in ungodly amounts of fish for Berk's dragons. He prayed every day that he might do something different. He prayed for an opportunity to prove his skills elsewhere.
It seemed that, today, the gods had answered his prayer. He was standing on the docks, working on tying a few ropes, when an unusual ship sailed into harbor. He winced at the sight. Gods, were they attacked by some sort of sea monster? Dragons on the waves? Things like these were exactly the reason as to why he hated ships. If you got a hole in your hull, you were nothing more than a sitting duck.
Hallgrim dropped what he was doing and skirted around the docks to get closer to the ship. He couldn't get to it from here, and he certainly wasn't taking a rowboat of any sort to board a sinking ship. They needed to drag it to shore somehow. He watched Cinnamon swoop down and grab it, fighting hard to keep it above water.
"Bring the ship towards the docks!" he yelled half-heartedly. The dragon probably wasn't going to listen to him. Nobody did. Oh, gods, did everybody else hear? Were they shaking their heads and calling him an idiot? He had to fight the urge to swallow his next words. No point in turning back. "I... I think we should tie it down here, so it doesn't get dragged off!"
The ship lifts slightly under Cinnamon’s talons, the small skiff slowly making its way closer to shore. Upon closer inspection the vessel appears to be fairly simple, like those used for fishing, though dragon hunting equipment litters the decks. After much work on the part of the dragon currently keeping it afloat the little fishing ship is finally near enough to the docks for a couple of workers to lash it to the wooden posts, firmly securing it in place. An observant Viking could probably tell that though the boat no longer moves and is somewhat held up by the ropes, a heavy weight upon the obviously dragon-damaged deck would probably sink it, or at least flood whatever might still lie belowdecks.
Other than various nets and weapons the main deck is deserted, save for a particularly brave, or perhaps stupid gull that now picks its way across the deck. From below comes a frightened whimper and thin jets of smoke, streaming from a hole torn through the ship’s deck. Through the hole the water can be seen lapping against a vague form and the faint bars of some sort of cage. Claws and a small face reach up, vibrant yellow-orange eyes wide with shock. The voice, now clearly that of a dragon shrieks yet again, but this time more pitifully as if slowly growing weaker.
The Prickleboggle flapped her wings hard as she headed to where Hallgrim had called from, the ship luckily not being too heavy for her to handle. But it was clear the ship wouldn't last if she didn't keep a hold of it, keeping it above the waves from her efforts for the time being. But for sure there was something below deck, causing a bit of weight to the otherwise seemingly simple boating vessel.
By the time Cinnamon had returned to the dock, Adelaide arrived to give Hallgrim some aid to secure the damaged ship so it wouldn't risk floating away once more. Upon inspection though, the red haired young Viking frowned upon seeing the hunting equipment, wondering if this ship was a dragon hunter's ship who had met an unfortunate end. Possibly karma coming to bite them in the butt. But it wasn't the weapons and equipment that drew her attention the most. Just visible through the damaged hull she could make out claws and a face, no doubt struggling to be free but the weakened cries concerned her that the dragon within was losing its battle with the sinking vessel. "Hallgrim, can you get in there and help the dragon? Cinnamon will keep it from sinking any more than it has but you got to work fast, I don't think it will last much longer if we don't help it."
Adelaide wanted to follow in helping, but with the state of the ship she was worried any additional weight aside from one person might cause additional damage and put not only the ship but the dragon at risk as well.
Hallgrim began to let out a sigh of relief as his call was heeded, but bit down on the air the moment Adelaide asked him to venture inside. He wasn't brave, not by a long shot.
But he was more cowed by peer pressure than he was cowardly. He shot the dock-workers a quick, strained smile, praying that he looked calmer than he was, and teetered out to the edge of the dock. Before he could waste time overthinking, he leapt the short gap between ship and dock. He landed haphazardly on the broken deck, which let out a groan as his weight sunk in.
Thankfully, he weighed little, and his small size allowed him to slip through the hole - his sleeve snagged on the wood, and he swore shakily, but freed himself quickly and turned to the caged dragon.
