Paradise Lost

Defending Joy is the 31st session of the New Dawn Memories campaign. It is the fourth session of the Salty Seas and Somber Dreams story arc.
== Synopsis ==
The Uninvited arrive on Graviheer and learn about the divided island on the back of the gargantuan sea turtle.
= Development =
== Cold Open ==
Kilijan is celebrating after a win of his baseball team. During the celebration deep into the night, he leaves the tavern and walks the streets of Oeble. 
He notices Silis checking out two drunk guards of a coach shipment. He gives Silis a quartz with 50 gp to give to Marla. 
Silis takes it and asks Kilijan to help him with the guards. 
Kilijan accepts and, while he talks to the guards, Silis snatches a few daggers from their carriage.
Kilijan meets up with him later in an alley and is surprised by Marla. They talk for a bit, when Kilijan mentions Mycha and how he still weras the ring she gave them, even though they’re not working anymore.
Marla tells him to tell Mycha to try it sometime.
As Kilijan continues to go home, he hears screams and one of the fans running towards him, yelling something about Kilijan’s coach.
Kilijan rushes to the tavern and sees a sea of people gathered around a stabbed and bleeding-out Voren, the coach of Kilijan’s team. Kilijan inspects the body, and notices a ring shaped like a gear on his finger. Kilijan touches the ring, and it comes off, seemingly being pierced into his fingers. He makes out an inscription at the inside of the ring saying: “To the best listener of the violin”.
Guards arrive, and the captain of the guards Bran Freud shouts at the crowd to step back. He is furious, noticing that Voren probably died only over a few gold piece taken from him.
Kilijan goes home and Bran catches up to him, giving him his oath on a piece of paper, revealing to him that he is a paladin in training, and that he had enough of the crime in the city and wants to help the Uninvited if they share the same sentiment.
== Part 1 ==
Kilijan prematurely ejaculates as soon as Zendekay touches his groin. She kisses his ear and tells him to not worry. He celans himself and is embarrassed. 
The party talks for a bit before going to bed. Maiko visits them and makes small talk with them, before mentioning Aran and an item she wants to buy from him. Kilijan reveals that he is Aran’s son, and Maiko asks him to arrange a meeting to buy the cape off of him. Kilijan refuses and Maiko leaves.
The party goes to bed, but are awaken by Terrania, who’d heard a strange noise from the belly of the ship.
All of them, except Manasa, who is partying in first-clas, go to investigate. They climb down to the storage space of the ship and hear the chanting Terrania mentioned. Weneon manages to pick the lock of the lower deck, revealing stairs leading to the storage deck.
Lorkhan and Mycha refuse to go down, and make their way back. Kilijan and Weneon contemplate going further for a moment, but then decide to turn back as well.
The chanting voice stops chanting and calls to them saying: “Don’t be afraid. Visit me. I am a friend.”
Lorkhan and Mycha return to their cabins. So do Kilijan and Weneon, who are intercepted by Tristan smoking a cigarrete in the loby of their deck.
e Uninvited arrive in Graviheer and learn about the island on the back of a turtle.
He tells them about a story he heard about a giant being kept in the poor area of a city, showing them even an illustration he grabbed from a book he read years ago. They story concludes by Tristan asking the question where real power lies.
== Part 2 ==
In the morning, Joy is a few miles from the shores of Graviheer. The party makes their way to the canteen to have breakfast. They are joined by Zendekay and Terrania. 
Zendekay gets into an argument with Lorkhan and Mycha, while Terrania is trying to figure out what to do with her life once she gets off of Joy.
Serge arrives and chats with them, telling them that they’ll soon arrive in Graviheer, and to be ready to enjoy themselves. He warn them, however, to keep away from the northern part of the island, since there is “monkey business” going on, they wouldn’t want to get involved with.
Zendekay is irritated by Lorkhan calling her a bitch one too many times, and leaves the table. Kilijan goe after her and catches up with her at the upper deck.
He tries to explain Lorkhan’s behaviour, but their conversation is interrupted by a giant wave hitting the ship. 
They notice General Taylor on the bridge giving orders to prepare for 5 more waves before reaching Graviheer.
The rest of the party comes adeck and witness the waves emitting from the island they are approaching. After the fourth wave, they finally notice what is causing the waves: Graviheer, the island and the city are located on the back of a gargantuan sea turtle roaming the seas.
As the party witnesses this spectacular sight, the rest of Taylor’s team is helping them to get unscaved through the last two waves before reaching the shores of the western shore of Graviheer.
== Part 3 ==
Arriving in Graviheer East, the party witnesses a welcome party for Taylor and his crew. Taylor tells them that he’d arrange a guest house for them and to feel right at home.
While they are leaving the ship, Zendekay tells Kilijan to visit her on a cliff she shows to him in the evening.
After Taylor thanks his crew for being with him for the last month on sea, he notices a tall intimidating human male by the name of Aster Tresant, who is commanding a crew of his own.
Taylor whispers to the Uninvited: “And now, let’s deal with the assholes.”
Aster asks him if his shipment arrived well, and Taylor tells him that he can unload it once his crew is finished with prepping the ship for anchoring.
Mycha tries to talk to Aster, but he ignores him completely, giving his crew orders to get ready for the unloading.
As Mycha is looking towards Aster, he notices a barrel starting to shake on the dock and falling of it into the sea.
Taylor escorts the Uninvited to the house he prepared for them. They immediately notice that it is his house he is giving to them. He tells Kilijan that Aran is in the medical station of the village and that he will be taken care of. “Talk to the nurse Sabrina if you want to visit him later,” Taylor tells him before leaving for the tavern Mia Bella Signorina, where he awaits them in the evening for a drink.
== Part 4 ==
The party and Terrania make themselves at home at Waikiki, the nickname of Taylor’s house. As they look around the house, they notice Willfried in the backyard already sipping on a rum cocktail and falling asleep.
Terrania tells them that she wants to visit the western part of the island to inquire about possible ships she can board to leave for Everwind.
Lorkhan and Kilijan also visit the western city part of Graviheer, where they find dwarf blacksmith borthers Duje and Ante, and Josipa, Ante’s wife (who might or might not have had an affair with Duje). After barganing for a few moments, Kilijan decides to buy a dagger, hoping he can mold it inot something better in the future.
Noticing this, Duje switches the dagger Kilijan just bought for Lorkhan for a magical dagger. While doing this, he also gives him a note, consisting of a map to the local enchantable stone mines in the mountain at the center of the islands. The map illustrates the traps found in the dungeon of the mines.
Mycha hangs back in Waikiki and tries to activate Marla’s ring, as Kilijan suggested to him before he left for town. Mycha does this and describes the beauty he is witnessing from the balcony in Waikiki. To his surprise, the ring activates, and Marla responds with the word: “Maybe you’ll show me one day.”
Weneon investigates the shipment Aster was talking about and sneaks to the docks. He sees Aster’s crew unloading a giant box covered with a mstrong leather sheet. Aster tells his crew to be careful and approaches the box. He lifts the cover and puts his head underneath it as he says: “It’s there. And it’s disgusting.”
Weneon hears a voice from underneath the docks. A humanoid creature calling to him to smuggle him to the village, offering him gold in return.
Weneon agrees and helps the creature disguise himself from head to toe, as they crouch throught he busy village streets. Once in the clear, the creature gives Weneon a pouch of gold, but, before expecting it, Weneon asks him why he wasn’t supposed to be seen.
The creature takes off his balaclava revealing that he is a male simian by the name of Hamlet. His kind is not very welcome in Southern Graviheer he tells Weneon, and asks him to help him defeat Claudius and rescue Ophelia for more gold.
He tells Weneon to meet him in his base of operations near the old mines if he is up to it. Then he climbs the house roofs and sprints away with his red wooden bamboo stick hanging from his back.
== Part 5 ==
Returning to Waikiki after the day spent in Graviheer, the party regroups over a drink. Terrania comes running in, pale as a host. Weneon jumps up and asks her if everything is fine. 
She tells them that she made a horrific realization. The next ship going out is in two months, steered by Aster.
But the main part of her realization follows as she tells them that she managed to make out their coordinates. She takes a bit of charcoal and draws a rough map of the Sea of Swords on the wall, and then shows them that they are in the far north, although they were picked up in the far south. She tells them that this is not possible by normal seafare.
Kilijan becomes immediately suspicious of Graviheer and runs out to the medical center. He finds the nurse Sabrina and asks he to see Aran. She tells him that no patient by that name has been committed to the center.
As she tells him that, Maiko’s bodyguard, a male human samurai they’ve seen earlier in her presence, tells Kilijan not to cause a scene.
Kilijan asks him where his father is, to which the samurai answers that his master Maiko always gets her way. Kilijan tells him that he will pay for this, and the samurai draws his sword running towards Kilijan.
He is stopped by Maiko’s words just before attacking Kilijan.
Kilijan smirks at him and tells him: “Listen to her, dog.”
As he looks over to her, Kilijan notices that Maiko makes a motion with her hand over her shoulder, revealing the Cloak of Leaves that belonged to Aran.
“I told you”, she said, “everyhing has it’s price.”