Having prepared the Spellcasting Materials in advance, Shade and Miss Princess continued forward.
As the dreadful sickly green glow became clearer and clearer, the end of the staircase finally appeared below. There were no rooms on the next deck at all; most of the entire level had been opened up, likely once used by the ship to store cargo and for recreation.
Rotting wooden crates and burlap sacks were piled all around, revealing the goldware and jewelry inside. Pearls, human bones, and gemstones of every color were scattered across the floor, magnificent yet wicked. Skull after skull hung from the deck overhead, swaying back and forth with the rocking ship. The green ghostly light within their craniums illuminated the place, while human skeletons clad in ornate armor stood by the walls.
The air on this deck was even more humid. In the middle of the cabin, covered in jewels and silt, stood a long table wrapped in seaweed.
The ghostly green pirate undead gathered around the table, playing cards, drinking, and roughhousing. Even after becoming undead, the deformities of their bodies remained. Though most appeared humanoid, traits of all sorts of strange sea creatures had seemingly been forcibly sewn onto their limbs, most of them fish-like.
In contrast to this horrifying scene, the tableware on the table actually held food that normal humans could accept. A fragrant roast chicken sat whole on a plate, surrounded by green vegetables; bunches of purple grapes lay in silver basins, reflecting an eerie sheen beneath the skulls' firelight; steam rose from rich fish soup sprinkled with spices, with the fish head protruding from a pure gold bowl, its eyes seeming to stare at Shade and Miss Princess at the top of the stairs.
As soon as the firelight from the skulls hanging overhead illuminated