World of Embrel: Knights of Magic - Episode 9

==Summary==
After playing a decisive role in the defense of Wilderest from invading giants, the party became Knights of the Vanguard, knighted by the king of Oldirin himself. The Vanguard then tasked the party with a new adventure: to find a ship that will carry them south of the Summer Sea. There, they would find an isle with a shrine to the Goddess of Magic, where they might learn why magic in Embrel was dying—and how to prevent that death.
In this episode, the party faced the dragon of Tidesbane, defeating it through a djinn wish that turned it into a mundane housecat. But their victory was short-lived: After the party set sail on the Coral Breaker and Xochi freed the djinn, the group found themselves face to face with the Sea Terror.
==The Dragon of Tidesbane==
On the ship outside of Tidesbane, Uno Veracruz emerged from the sleeping quarters, his mind inhabiting his body. The other Knights thought that he was still Rose, the Hollow’s imprint that had kept his body safe for a few days, but Uno was quick to assure everyone that he remembered nothing since leaving the Lonely Coin and was disturbed by how well-groomed his body seemed.
The rhythmic growling of Tidesbane’s dragon soon regained the attention of those on the ship. Lucia thought that the dragon sounded asleep and urged everyone to be quiet as they slipped into the cove of Tidesbane. There, they found a massive ship tied to a small port. It was the Coral Breaker.
The merchants on the Knights’ ship came above deck and shouted about the awe-inspiring cove, but the party hushed them and explained their plan: to quietly shuttle all their supplies onto the Coral Breaker and leave while the dragon slept. But as Lucia pulled the ship to the port, Cat sprinted off the ship, chased by Toad. Linus dismissed Toad and tried to redirect Cat with a Floating Disk spell, but Cat ran across the port and up the stairs leading deeper into the fortress. Xochiquetzal was not worried, saying that Cat would return in her own time.
The party stealthily went to prepare the Coral Breaker. Though unattended for a year, the Coral Breaker seemed fresh and without barnacles. Linus deduced through engravings and an obsidian lacquer that the ship’s materials and arcane etchings must have worked to protect it.
Lugo prepped and loaded the ballistae while Ferrah tried to keep the merchants calm. Instead, she caused them to panic and consider drowning themselves rather than face the dragon. Lugo shuffled the merchants below deck. Uno messed with them and made dragon noises, causing them to freak out, but then he cast Calm Emotions to restore their peace.
Xochi tried to call Cat, but the cat didn’t return. Ferrah, Xochi, Uno, Face, and Lucia left to find Cat, Xochi Wildshaping into a cat in order to better relate to Cat. They went up the spiral staircase six rotations until they found an elevator lift with the sigil of Krolevadrek on the wall. Across a chasm were two skeletons and the elevator’s pulley system. Face explained that this was the room where he had been betrayed by Isabel and had fallen. He stated that they needed to animate the dead to use the pulley system. Instead, Uno flew over to the pulleys and used his muscles to help the others reach the top floor. After waiting for a minute, Uno got bored and flew back to the Coral Breaker.
The top floor revealed a keep both gorgeous and decrepit, left in disrepair for eons. The group stepped into an open room with dry fountains. To their right was a massive library, to the left went further into the keep. Straight ahead led to a massive terrace. There was the throne room, and in it, an unimaginable pile of treasure. There also was the smell of ozone and the sting of static electricity. On top of the treasure slept the dragon, as massive as the room, electricity crackling across the ground as it breathed. The dragon’s claws seemed dyed black, similar to Linus’ Rotter’s Blight.
Cat climbed over the treasure and eventually lay in a patch of sunlight, carefree. Xochi tried to call Cat back, but the cat continued to laze.
When Uno returned to the Coral Breaker, he explained to Lugo and Linus that the other party members had taken a lift to the top floor. Linus cast Sending to ask Xochi what she was doing, distraught that she was wasting their time and flirting with death when they needed to save magic. Eventually, he told her that they were taking the ship in five minutes and leaving with or without them, though without Lucia, he knew that it was an empty bluff.
Back in the throne room, Lucia’s necklace began to glow. Though awed by seeing a dragon, Ferrah pulled herself together and asked Lucia why she was really there. Lucia explained that the glowing necklace meant the djinn was still there. She had to get that wishing ring.
Though Lucia told the others to flee, Ferrah instead decided to help find the ring. After Face returned to the Coral Breaker—breaking the lift, but not the pulley rope, in the process—and stated that Lucia needed help, the other party members came to the throne room as well. Linus protested their recklessness, but in the end, the search began.
Ferrah, Xochi, Face, and Lucia looked for the ring. Lugo decided to look for treasure for himself. Linus looked for the ring, though he didn’t plan to give it to Lucia. Uno pretended to help, making it quite obvious that he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for.
Eventually, Lugo found a beautiful box that was similar to the box of bullets he had received from his uncles. He grabbed it, then realized the atmosphere in the room had changed. He looked up and found himself face to face with an awoken dragon.
The dragon stood and pinned Lugo to the ground with a clawed foot, asking in Draconic, “Why have you woken me, mortal?”
Ferrah understood the ancient language. Speaking in Draconic, she said, “Oh great dragon, we are here with a gift. We see that you are afflicted with Rotter’s Blight turning your fingers dark. It will soon weaken you as it has weakened many. We have something that will keep the blight at bay for a time.”
The dragon moved towards Ferrah, stepping on and crushing Lugo as it walked. The dragon was more interested in Ferrah than in her words. It breathed putrid breath over her, revealing that the creature’s body was rotting a little. In the common language, the dragon asked, “Why do you speak our tongue?”
Ferrah hesitated. Uno backed up, and that slight shift in movement made the dragon notice all the other people standing on its hoard. The dragon challenged them, asking why it shouldn’t eat them right then.
Linus offered the Wellbloom. The dragon asked what a Goblin was doing there, though Linus said he didn’t know what a Goblin was. The dragon asked if Linus sought to be of service, but Linus said he hadn’t actually wanted to be there. Long story short, the Wellbloom would help with the Rotter’s Blight until he and his party could stop the decay permanently.
Just then, the dragon spun around, noticing Lucia who still dug through the treasure. The dragon’s tail incidentally knocked Linus prone. Lucia stood, holding the djinn’s ring which she had just found. But then she saw the dragon staring at her and froze, terrified.
Linus cast Comprehend Languages and spoke Draconic, begging the dragon not to kill Lucia, saying that Lucia was an idiot but they needed her help. Ferrah kicked a mound of gold, trying to make Lucia lose her balance and shift away.
But it was too late. The dragon exhaled a ball of lightning that exploded on Lucia, charring her and leaving her twitching and unconscious. The ring rolled out of her grasp and fell in front of Xochi, still in the form of a cat, who put the ring on her thin cat wrist.
The dragon turned to Ferrah. “I can save you from your fate,” it said. “Bring me the ring.”
Ferrah shakily grabbed Xochi and whispered that the ring could grant wishes. Xochi stared at Ferrah, then jumped out of her arms and fled the room.
The dragon roared at the offense. Linus raised his hands and asked for forgiveness, but realizing that the dragon was no longer in a talking mood, he grabbed a handful of treasure and scampered away. The dragon attacked, rending both Ferrah and Uno. Both returned the blows. Uno smashed into the dragon with his flail, divinely smiting it. He knocked out a tooth and left an indentation in the dragon’s skull, then cast Shield of Faith on himself just in time to meet the dragon’s whipping tail. Divine energy blocked the blow.
Ferrah meanwhile jumped onto the dragon’s back and punched its face, imbuing her fists with acid. It felt like punching stone, the muscles so powerful that her strikes left her own knuckles bloodied. Ferrah then used the wrist wraps that she had received from her late mentor Messi to cast Misty Step, appearing beside Lucia.
Lugo stood and pulled out both arcane hand cannons. Without knowing what any bullet did, he loaded a jade bullet in Klace’s cannon and shot the dragon from point blank range.
The bullet pierced the dragon’s hide. The dragon turned to look at him. Its expression changed through a range of emotions, reaching confusion and finally fear as the dragon was ripped from the fabric of reality, disappearing without a trace. Though Lugo didn’t know it, the jade bullet had cast Banishment, temporarily sending the dragon to another plane.
While the others freaked out and wondered what had just happened, Xochi reverted to her Drow form and rubbed the ring. Time slowed. Hands rose out of the ring and grabbed Xochi’s shoulders. A red djinn climbed out of the ring.
The djinn gave the rules of the magic: No wishing for something to die, no wishing to bring someone back to life. She had three wishes, but only two were left.
Xochi looked over the slowed world and asked if she could use the wishes later. The djinn shrugged and went back in the ring, time returning to its normal pace.
People stuffed their pockets with wealth, then everyone fled to the Coral Breaker. It took about ten minutes to reach it, at which point the party heard what sounded like reality shifting. The dragon’s roar returned.
Xochi said that she could wish the dragon was a friendly cat, though Lugo urged her to heal Lucia first, since she was needed to steer the Coral Breaker. Realizing that Lucia was important, Uno used Lay on Hands to restore the woman’s health.
Lugo, Ferrah, and Face started raising anchor as the group discussed Xochi’s wish plan. Face urged her to be careful as genies would always try to twist wishes.
After some workshopping, Xochi rubbed the ring and wished that the particular dragon they had just fought would become a mundane housecat. The djinn waved a hand, and immediately the dragon’s roars faded away.
==Dangers of the Sea==
The party escaped. As they sailed away, they saw a little blue cat watching them from the top of the fortress. Unbeknownst to them, the djinn had twisted the wish: when the cat died, it would revert to a blue dragon in all its power.
Slowly, the group calmed down, realizing that they had succeeded in getting the Coral Breaker and escaping a dragon. Thinking they were safe, Linus said he’d like to return to the library. Lugo said that after saving magic, Linus could come back all he wanted.
Linus made sure the party realized that the attempt to find Cat and the ring was risky. Xochi reminded Linus that Toad was chasing Cat, which had started all of the problems. Linus remembered that he hadn't resummoned Toad and snapped his finger. Toad appeared, though his feelings had been hurt over being dismissed.
Cat meanwhile was in the sleeping quarters, curled in a hammock as if she'd done nothing wrong in her entire life.
Lucia then asked for the ring. Linus refused, which caused Lucia to drop anchor, call him a bastard, and beg for the ring so that she could save her daughter from the Witch to which she was bound.
Xochi summoned the djinn and introduced him to everyone, though he had an unpronounceable name. The djinn asked for his freedom, which he said would allow him to return to his correct plane of existence. With little hesitation, Xochi wished the djinn free, to the shock of those around her. The djinn thanked her and climbed into the sky.
Lucia looked at Xochi with hatred. Xochi said that Lucia would understand someday. Without a word, Lucia walked back to the helm. Face removed his mask, feeling the most uncomfortable he had ever felt.
Xochi told the party that they had gotten lucky, barely. A djinn wasn't the right way to do things. Even if the djinn broke the bond between Lucia’s daughter and the Witch, the daughter would die. They needed to save magic, but why not let something be free along the way?
Lugo asked Hope what a free djinn would do. Linus remembered the folk tales of djinn and had read that the only reason they came to the mortal realm was because they destroyed their own world. They made a deal with celestials to only bestow their powers on mortals. The free djinn would try to cause harm because they wanted to take over the mortal plane and make it their own, though they were not all powerful when let free. Linus relayed the fairy tale to the others. He hoped that the djinn would give them aid rather than hindrance, if it messed with them at all.
Face explained how Lucia saw the ring stolen by Isabel and Quetzal before watching her friends slaughtered in front of her. She got a second chance with the Knights, but she just watched it slip away again. Linus feared that Lucia would no longer be helping them. Lugo asked Face if Lucia needed space or discussion. The group kept debating, but eventually Xochi turned to Face and said that he might be the best at explaining the pragmatism of her decision. Face said that he did not understand emotions as she did, but Xochi said that was the exact reason why Face was the best person to explain. Face’s lack of emotional undertones or guile was the best way to reach Lucia. He agreed that he would talk to her tomorrow morning.
Face later took Xochi aside and told her that he agreed with her decision to free the djinn. He did not think anything should be bound no matter what it could offer. Xochi thanked him for his support and said no matter how unalike they were, they understood each other well. The two smooched and stared at the moonlight.
Having overheard the fear that Lucia would not go where they needed to go, the merchants went to Uno and said they could make sure the ship was going the right way. Uno asked how much they would charge for the service. The merchants were confused, but offered an ounce of gold. Uno flicked it over, striking the deal.
At midnight, the Knights used the communing bowl to talk with Lovich and Hazzel. Hazzel said that Linus had been absent, having promised to contact Hazzel days ago. Linus explained the whole story, from Tidesbane to the dragon, from the djinn to the dragon becoming a cat. Hazzel warned that genie wishes were loaded, but the Knights said it had been a desperate moment. Lugo also showed off his dual arcane hand cannons. Hazzel was shocked by how much had happened to the Knights.
Linus asked what a Goblin was, but Hazzel didn’t know. The group also explained their fears that Lucia wouldn't help them anymore. Lovich would look into a way to remove the binding magic, but realizing the complicated situation they were in, Hazzel started to laugh and said they needed to get along with their captain.
The party would meet Hazzel and Lovich in Sunward in five days. They promised to call as often as possible.
Rain pelted the deck as bad weather arrived. Lucia continued to look out at the ocean, standing at the helm. Xochi told Face that the time might have been right to talk to Lucia. Face put on a crying, sympathetic mask, then told Xochi that he had met many people made of flesh, but she was one of the most special of them. He thanked her for everything.
Then he left to talk to Lucia. Lucia wouldn't even look at him. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged away. When Face continued to talk, Lucia pulled out her hand cannon and pointed it at him. Ferrah tried to jump to Face's rescue, but Xochi held Ferrah back.
A tense moment passed. Lucia dropped her gun, fell to her knees, and cried. Face hugged her. Xochi herded everyone downstairs so the two could have their moment.
As the night wore on, the storm picked up. Most were having trouble sleeping. Xochi peeked upstairs and found heavy rain with Face and Lucia still at the helm. Lucia seemed to be steering recklessly. Face sat looking into the ocean.
Xochi cast Druidcraft beside Lucia to keep the rain off of the captain. After a minute, Lucia asked Xochi if she knew what a Sea Terror was. The captain grinned.
Face pounded on the deck to wake everyone up as the Sea Terror rose from the ocean.
==Unknowns==
===Current===
*What gives the Coral Breaker the ability to break through coral?
*Why was Lucia Bonebeard imprisoned?
*Where are Lovich and Hazzel? How are they doing?
*Where is the ancient Blue Dragon?
*Where has the Immortal Man gone?
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Knights of Magic - 09