Swamped

"Are you the Flaming Messenger, then? Wiz said you'd be arriving about now."

You feel more than a little confused, not least by the "Flaming" part.

"Maybe?" you reply. "I do have some things to tell somebody."

"Ah, I understand now," says a voice. It sounds a bit elderly. "There's an illusion spell on him. It's malfunctioning a bit because of the barrier, so he appears to be on fire. Nothing to worry about. Come in, please."

The officer steps back and you head in. There's about a dozen relatively important-looking people in here, plus a wizard. You feel a little in over your head.

"Have to say, Wiz," one of them mutters. From his uniform, he looks to be the captain. "Magic's one thing, but I'm not keen on the idea of prophecies. Sailing's got enough superstitions as it is."

"Not a prophecy," says the wizard. "A message from the future. Though not a very informative one, since apparently they needed someone to deliver the rest of it."

You definitely feel like you're missing something.

"Don't know what you're talking about, but I can tell you there's a couple of spies on your ship. One's the warden of the brig, the other's the cook. They're working together, they seem to have something to do with the pirate attack, and the warden at least can use magic. Oh, and they seemed to have an interest in the navigator's latest map. Don't know why. That and you seem to have a cult, they're chanting something weird a couple levels below and trying to keep people away."

There's some murmuring amongst the officers. Though the captain doesn't participate, and neither does a rather serious-looking fellow standing near him. The wizard doesn't say anything for a while, either.

"Very interesting," he finally settles on. "But the vision suggested you would be telling us about something else. Something with great importance beyond this boat."

"I don't know anything about a vision. I just know what I found out on the way here."

The wizard frowns.

"So are you telling me you don't know anything about the..."

What he says next surprises you immensely, not least because you do know something about it.