The Treasure of Niverbo

The **Treasure of Niverbo** is the first quest for **Ramé Leviathan.** In this quest, all of the characters have been tasked with finding the Treasure of Niverbo with the crew of the Scarlet Maiden in order to find the treasure of Niverbo said to stop the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse.

## Characters

### Playable Characters

* Journey Bloodbow
* Lapis Emberpike
* Phoenix Zuchrud
* Warbler
* Kawaii Keko
* Yuki Beckstrom

### Non-Playable Characters

In order of appearance

* Mayor Woodengloom
* Guard Captain Monkley
* Kedric Thindrell
* Asuga
* Twister Tallgull
* Kessa Youngroot
* Crew of the Scarlet Maiden
* Sky Full of Stars
* Beauty of Summer
* Swift Fish
* Secret Robin
* Sook
* Zervinth the Cunning

## Plot

### Session I

The quest opens in the town of Whalehale in mid-autumn, just as the sun is beginning to set. The characters find themselves wandering around the town, each with their own purpose for being there.

Lapis and Warbler met in the market and spoke for a while, while Phoenix suddenly caught sight of Surtucuras and shouted out to him.

At this, Surtucuras quickly ordered Phoenix to remain quiet, as he was trying to keep an eye on "the kenku lurking through the town."

Lapis, however, heard Surtucuras's statement on the kenku, and instantly turned around and demanded why he was following the kenku when he had done nothing wrong.

Hearing of Surtucuras's actions towards Warbler, Phoenix also grew angry with him and proceeded to question him as to why he would do that. Warbler also joined, asking about his actions.

The four quickly began to climb into an argument, which most likely could have gone on for a while had it not been for the unfortunate interruption. While the four quarreled, a mysterious abandoned house on the hill began to sway in the wind, before the door burst open and a man came running out.

He was covered from head to toe in red boils, one eye swollen shut and the other bloodshot red. He raced out of the house and into the marketplace, practically rabid and sparking fear in the citizens.

Lapis, Surtucuras, and Phoenix were all stunned and stopped their arguing for a moment to marvel at the sight of the man. Warbler, however, leaped into action and pinned the man to the ground, becoming entangled with him and tumbling down a cliff towards the sea.

At the edge of the cliff, Warbler and the man stopped rolling and Warbler proceeded to shake him, trying to get him to speak to see if he could tell him what was wrong.

The man, however, only fell still on the grass as he began to foam.

By this point, many of the townsfolk had seen what had happened and come to watch the scene, including Phoenix, Surtucuras, Yuki, and Journey. Lapis, however, took notice of the house from which the man had burst and instantly became suspicious.

Sneaking away from the rest of the crowd, Lapis climbed the hill towards the house, peering through the open door and finding a room, completely empty save for a bed frame with an empty mattress, a nightstand, and a single journal. However, when Lapis came closer to inspect the journal, she noticed that the pages were empty. She still, however, chose to keep it with her.

Looking around some more, Lapis noticed a trap door in the corner. Pulling with all her might, the trap door suddenly sprang open and revealed a set of stairs leading down into what looked like a cellar.

Climbing down, Lapis found herself standing on a dirt floor where there were only a few things: a shelf with a blue potion, and a skeleton chained to the wall. His clothes were fairly degraded and his bones were covered with dust; as it seemed he had been dead for quite some time.

After closer inspection, Lapis found a single name sewn into the threads of his clothes: *Niverus.*

Having seen enough, Lapis climbed the ladder and left the house, returning to town just as Mayor Woodengloom was approaching.

Mayor Woodengloom arrived with Captain Monkley of the city guard and demanded information on what had happened. The group then delved into cacophony as they tried to explain what happened before Warbler finally took the lead and explained what had happened to the mayor.

Captain Monkley's face turned sour for a moment, and he turned away from the crowd to whisper to Mayor Woodengloom. Mayor Woodengloom nodded, then turned around to face the crowd and explained that there was to be a newly imposed curfew, and everyone was to return to their homes immediately.

All the townsfolk begrudgingly agreed, but the party stayed where they were. They did not live here and therefore had nowhere to go.

Captain Monkley instead had a guard escort the party to the Giantmantle Inn, where a young dwarf woman greeted them at the desk.

The woman began to take the party members around to their rooms, locking them inside so that they could not get out. A few of them did manage to find their own way to escape, but Surtucuras had a different approach to things. Instead of trying to sneak around the woman, he approached her head-on, with intentions of strangling her unconscious so that he could escape.

However, things didn't quite go as planned. Surtucuras underestimated his own strength, and instead, accidentally strangled the woman to her death. Zanatina suggested using an illusion spell to cover up the murder, but instead fails horribly and alerts the city guard to come to the inn.

Lapis however, sees the guards, and immediately angry with them for trying to imprison her, uses her water genasi powers to drown them.

However, it was just then that a young man emerged from the shadows, clapping and saying how "he wondered when she was going to do that."

Lapis, obviously confused, asked who the man was and how he knew her name. The man only gave a mysterious smile and introduced himself as Kedric Thindrell, and how he "couldn't wait until they met again."

### Session II

Back inside the Giantmantle Inn, the rest of the party had just completed burning the body of the dwarf woman to hide the proof and were now attempting to decide what to do next. Warbler suggested that they go and find the captain of the city guard, Captain Monkley, and interrogate him, as he seemed to know what was going on here.

The rest of the party agreed, and when they went outside they ran into Lapis and Phoenix. The two of them asked what they were doing and immediately wanted to come along, and everyone else agreed.

In the end, it was decided that Warbler, Surtucuras, and Phoenix would go and storm the house, while Lapis, Yuki, Journey, and Zanatina stood outside and kept watch.

Sneaking around to the side of the house, Warbler handed Phoenix the tubular cap to his dagger and Phoenix held her hand up to it while setting her hand aflame, thus creating a hot laser that sliced through the glass, leaving a circular hole of which she, Warbler, and Surtucuras could leap through.

The three of them stepped into what seemed to be the mansion's parlor, but they couldn't hear any talking on this floor. Instead, they all moved to the next floor, where they could only hear someone writing in one room and what sounded like the mayor talking with someone else.

Curious, Phoenix, Warbler, and Surtucuras crept forward in an attempt to try and get a listen in, but while sneaking over, Phoenix accidentally bumped into a table and knocked a lamp off, instantly sending it shattering to the floor.

Warbler quickly rushed to hide behind the door while Surtucuras hid in a closet as the door opened and the mayor, as well as one other man, stepped out. The mayor, obviously confused as to what this girl was doing in his house, demanded an answer.

Phoenix, trying to think of an answer, finally pulled out a watermelon that she had bought from the Watermelon Man and offered it to the mayor, saying that she was sorry for being a burden on his investigation, and had come to bring him a watermelon to apologize.

Mayor Woodengloom instantly bought it, taking her watermelon and slapping it a few times. However, while he was doing this, the thought came to him as to how exactly Phoenix had gotten into his house, and he got around to asking her.

Phoenix immediately began stuttering as she scrambled for an answer, and while she did so, Warbler slowly crept out from behind the door and grasped his claws around Mayor Woodengloom's throat, as well as the man he was with, rendering them both unconscious.

With now only a little time left, Phoenix, Warbler, and Surtucuras rushed up the stairs to the third level of the house, where they finally came across a door with a label over it that read "Guard Captain Monkley."

Immediately, the three of them prepared to go inside, but they already heard voices inside, and the light was on. Pressing their ears up against the door, the small group heard what seemed to be Captain Monkley's voice, but it was muffled and garbled, as though he had been gagged. Alongside his, there was another voice in there, a female's, talking to him and making threats.

Wondering what was going on, Surtucuras leaned down to pick the lock, and the three of them stepped inside, clearly shocked at what they saw.

When they went into the house, Phoenix, Warbler, and Surtucuras had been prepared to take down the captain of the guard with all force needed, but it appeared that someone else had beat them to it.

Captain Monkley sat tied up in his chair, a gag in his mouth while a kitsune woman stood over him, demanding "where it was."

When the group came in, the kitsune immediately unsheathed her daggers, but slowly lowered them again when she realized that all of them looked like foreigners from the town, and none of them were wearing the guard's uniform.

Confused, she went on to ask who they all were, and Phoenix explained that they had come to kidnap and interrogate Captain Monkley. The kitsune then explained that that was what she was just doing.

After a few moments of confusion, it became clear that the four of them had come for the same purpose, but one of them had beat them there first.

Laughing at the irony of the situation, the kitsune woman held out her hand and introduced herself as Asuga. Bringing a metal orb out of her pocket, Asuga spoke into it and ordered two people called Twister and Kessa to stop what they were doing and come here.

Within moments, two more people entered the room. The blue man introduced himself as Twister Tallgull, an air genasi, while the girl who was apparently Kessa remained silent and watched. However, Asuga proceeded to introduce her as Kessa Youngroot.

The party explained their entire story to Asuga, and once they were finished, she told them to escape as the mayor and the man he was with could wake up at any moment.

Both of them complied without hesitation, Kessa slinging Captain Monkley over her shoulder and Twister sucking in a deep breath, before blowing it all out a forceful wind, breaking the glass beneath the force. Moving his finger in a swirling pattern, a twister formed below leading down to the ground.

Kessa jumped in first, with Asuga after her. Just as he was about to jump in, Twister turned around with a grin and said to the other three, "well? Are you coming?"

Before they knew it, Phoenix, Warbler, and Surtucuras were all on the ground alongside Asuga, Twister, and Kessa, racing through the mansion grounds and getting the attention of Yuki, Lapis, Journey, and Zanatina.

A garbled explanation later, Asuga led the group silently through the town, over to an alleyway where they finally dumped Captain Monkley on the ground and removed the gag around his mouth so that he could speak.

Captain Monkley, after being intimidated by Journey, went on to explain that he, as well as the mayor, knew the plague was coming beforehand. He wouldn't go into detail, as he himself didn't know all the facts, but something had happened in the kingdom that should not have happened. Something was waking, and he and the mayor were doing their best to keep that fact hidden.

When it became clear that that was all they were going to get out of the Captain, the party, Asuga, Twister, and Kessa walked over the docks and dumped him, still tied up, into the ocean where he drowned.

Once all that was done, Twister turned the party's attention to a large brig with crimson red sails, two black swords in the shape of an X imprinted upon them.

He explained that the ship was called *The Scarlet Maiden* and that if what Captain Monkley said was true, it would be best if they boarded it, considering they were set to sail come morning.

Quickly climbing aboard, the party was hidden in a small wine cellar below deck.

### Session III

In the morning, the party awakes in the wine cellar of the Scarlet Maiden. Up above on the deck, voices are heard, although it's unsure what they're talking about. The rest of the party convinces Zanatina to cast a spell in order to hide them so that they may go up onto the deck and see where all the issues are coming from.

Zanatina reluctantly agrees and brings everyone except Yuki, Warbler, and Journey up onto the deck. There, they see Asuga, Twister, and Kessa, along with three of whom they do not recognize. The first is an old tabaxi with an eye patch over one eye, along with a khajiit and a goliath with a metal arm. All three of them look down at Asuga, Twister, and Kessa disapprovingly and explain to them how irresponsible it was to sneak out during the night.

Just then, Lapis, being allergic to cats, sneezes in the tabaxi's presence and Zanatina quickly rushes the party back below deck.

However, they don't stay down there for long, as a moment later, Twister arrives and announces that it's safe for them all to come out.

Sheepishly, the party emerges from the wine cellar to face the tabaxi, khajiit, and goliath. As they do, Asuga explains how they sneaked out during the night to break into Mayor Woodengloom's house and steal a map from it. Digging it out of her pocket, Kessa hands the map over to the tabaxi, who scrutinizes it and hands it over to the khajiit.

The tabaxi finally introduces himself as Broken Chains, or Captain Chains. The khajiit is is his quartermaster, Jotsien Sikahr, and the goliath is his first mate, Riverchaser.

Captain Chains said that since they're already out at sea, the best option, for now, is to keep them aboard the ship and have them pull their own weight, or run the risk of being thrown overboard.

The party quickly agrees, but not before Captain Chains assigns Asuga, Twister, and Kessa extra chores as a punishment for sneaking people aboard. With that, Captain Chains disappears with Jotsien and Riverchaser at his side.

### Session IV

After facing the unfortunate consequence of extra chores aboard the ship, Asuga, Twister, and Kessa decide that it would only be fitting to show the party around the ship, and to stave off doing chores until much later.

Leading them into the hold of the ship, the party is shown the place where everyone on the ship hangs out and the sleeping chambers. On this tour, they meet Tazlin Taalrusjar, Flix Bluemint, Halgurn Boulderforge, Eslith, and Folhani Pecaluck.

After this, Folhani informs Asuga, Twister, and Kessa that they're wanted up on the deck to do their chores.

The three of them begrudgingly agree and move their way up to the top deck with the party following behind them. There, they see a large half-orc standing next to the cannons, standing with the same man that Lapis met on the cliff outside the Giantmantle Inn.

Asuga introduces them as Falemira Sageslaye, their master gunner, and Kedric Thindrell, their sailing master. Kedric introduces himself to all of them in a pleasurable manner, before calling down his apprentice from the crows' nest to say hello.

A young boy of about fifteen years of age slowly descends from the crows' nest, and Kedric introduces him as Caelan Luemoroth. Caelan sheepishly introduces himself to the group, and Warbler proceeds to try and make a bit of conversation with him about the book that he's holding.

After that, the party all split up to explore the ship. It's during this time that Lapis, still on the deck, notices something unusual in the water. Peering over the edge of the ship, she sees the water next to the ship bubbling and hissing, as though alive. Within moments, the water creeps over the edge of the ship and onto the deck, taking the form of an angry water elemental.

At the sound of this, the party quickly rushes up to the deck to help.

### Session V

On the deck, the water elemental is beginning to make his presence known. Looking around the deck and scouting out victims, Lapis slowly moves to hide behind Kedric. Kedric then goes on to mention "how odd it is that the water elemental is attacking since elementals are typically peaceful creatures."

The party immediately launches into battle, but it seems that no one can quite get the upper-hand.

At some point, Warbler is smashed by a wave of the water elemental and is immediately knocked unconscious as his hit points drop to zero. Luckily, though, Warbler succeeds on all three saving death throws and gets to live to see another day.

However, while the battle wages on, Warbler's journey is not quite completed. While unconscious, Warbler enters the state between life and death. He finds himself on a black-and-white reflection of the Scarlet Maiden, where the entire ship is empty, save for a single black raven.

The raven reveals herself to be Kryphion, the goddess of death. She goes on to explain that Warbler's monk training allowed him to be able to enter another plane of existence on the verge of death, one in which he is able to speak with her.

Kryphion uses this time to warn Warbler that trouble is coming. Something big is happening; something nearly apocalyptic. There are those on the ship who know more than they should, and Warbler should keep an eye out, as this quest shapes more than just their measly existences.

Right before she sends him back, Death tells Warbler that this is not the last time they will meet.

Back on the ship, everyone begins to notice Warbler's unconscious body, and panic starts to break loose. Phoenix is able to channel another level of her elemental being in which she summons white fire from the emotion that came from hurting Warbler and is able to evaporate the water elemental, destroying it instantly.

### Session VI

In the wake of all the commotion, Captain Chains storms out of his cabin, with Jotsien Sikahr following behind him. The second he steps out, he looks around and realizes what has happened.

Immediately, he orders everyone below deck while the gunners and Karmora get the cannons set up. Reluctantly, everyone heads below deck and proceeds to go about their business.

Meanwhile, Phoenix and Yuki catch sight of Asuga, Twister, and Kessa making their way into the armory very suspiciously, and decide to investigate them.

Peeking inside, the two listen in and hear them talking about the map that they stole from Mayor Woodengloom's house, and how odd it is. However, Phoenix and Yuki are spotted before they can hear any more, but rather than turning them away, the two are invited to go and sit down with them.

It's explained to them that the map is a basic map of Naephemon, with a line leading from Whalehale all the way to the middle of the Vast Depths and then stopping short.

On the back, there are four things listed: three dragon turtle scales, the head of a heart's goldenglow, the blood of a demigod, and powdered moonlight. Below is a diagram showing a dish of demigod blood with a flower floating in the middle, three scales around it, and a fine powder surrounding the whole thing.

Asuga, Twister, and Kessa aren't sure what it means, but they have a feeling that the thing on the back is some sort of spell.

Just then, the bell for dinner rings, signaling everyone to go down to the dining hall and eat.

Everyone enters the dining hall for their meal, but just then Lapis notices Caelan nervously leave the room.

Suspicious, Lapis gets up to follow him, and eventually finds him hiding out in the boiler room, reading with the glow of a lantern in the dark.

After a bit of questioning, Caelan shows her the Reflection Map. He reveals the meaning of the four horsemen of the apocalypse hidden in the words, but before the two of them can go on, people begin to exit the dining hall.

Caelan suggests going up to the crow's nest to further discuss this, and Lapis agrees. However, as they leave, Warbler notices them leaving the hold and follows them.

After Warbler asks them, Caelan and Lapis reveal the map and the four horsemen of the apocalypse meaning. Warbler follows them up to the crow's nest, and once there, they somehow come to the idea that they need to contact Muriel, the goddess of water in order to find the way to this strange place.

Lapis goes and fetches Zanatina to contact a goddess, but Zanatina can only get in contact with the goddess of the rain. The rain goddess doesn't tell them but instead advises them that they can get more help than they expect from those around them.

Zanatina relays this message, and Warbler chooses this time to reveal that while looking for candles for Zanatina's ritual, he saw Asuga, Twister, Kessa, Phoenix, and Yuki all sitting suspiciously in a circle. With this new information, Zanatina, Warbler, Lapis, and Caelan go down to investigate.

### Session VII

Zanatina, Warbler, Lapis, and Caelan enter the crew chambers, where they find Asuga, Twister, Kessa, Phoenix, and Yuki all sitting in a circle.

After a quick exchange, the two sides discover that the other has the opposing map that matches up with theirs. When placed side by side, it is quickly discovered that Asuga's map, later called the Niverbo Map, ends where the Reflection Map starts.

After reading both sides of the map, Kessa comes to the conclusion that the Reflection Map features a demiplane where the island exists, and the Niverbo map has the spell on how to get there. Once the spell is cast at the location the map ends, it will transport them to the demiplane where the supposed island is.

Furthermore, the information on the back of the reflection map is an omen to the apocalypse, mentioning strongly the four horsemen of. 'The white treasure' it speaks of is most likely what will be used to stop the four horsemen.

The only task that remains is gathering the items needed, to which Lapis proceeds to remove the powdered moonlight that she obtained in Whalehale.

Kessa immediately gets excited at the sight of this, demanding Lapis to know where she got it, and mentions something about Niverbo whilst explaining. She is, however, speaking in rapid sign language with Twister translating, so exactly what she meant is unknown.

It is just then that Jotsien Sikahr enters and asks what everyone is doing, to which Warbler tells him about the maps but tries to use reverse psychology to make it seem like they aren't searching for it. Jotsien quickly catches on but plays along, taking the maps and announcing to the ship that there is a treasure to find.

### Session VIII

Ramé Leviathan proceeds to follow the rest of the crew to the deck, where everyone is extremely excited at the prospect of this treasure. Captain Chains speaks out to the crew, talking about how the map was found and calling on people like Lapis and Caelan to explain it.

The crew is immediately in favor of going on this quest, seeing it as another opportunity for treasure and adventure. During this, Captain Chains calls Lapis up to the raised deck once she says that she already has one of the ingredients for the spell.

Showing the vial off to the crew, Folhani immediately catches sight of this and rushes up to the deck to inspect it, claiming that it's authentic. Lapis then shows her the journal she picked up in Whalehale, to which Folhani's eyes go wide and she immediately takes and runs off with.

After this, the crew is adjourned to go about their daily business until morning, when they will set off for the first thing: a heart's goldenglow flower in the Ushos Jungle.

In the day following the announcement of the map, the crew wakes up to the sound of a bell ringing, to which they all begin to board the deck with delight. Ramé Leviathan is a bit confused at first, before being informed by Maldrak that the bell signals the sight of another ship.

It is explained to them that the crew will typically raid ships for supplies, and being part of the crew at the moment, Ramé Leviathan is expected to participate. The party decided to go along, with Surtucuras, Journey, and Zanatina staying behind.

The ship to-raid turned out to be an Usmesh ship from the nearby island-slash-empire and was said to be held with untold riches. However, as the party and crew boarded the ship, they discovered that it was empty. There was no crew in sight, and nothing to see all around.

### Session IX

Upon discovering the empty Usmesh ship, Captain Chains ordered the crew to look around the ship, searching for any signs of what might have happened and, more importantly, any leftover treasure. Phoenix, Yuki, Asuga, Twister, a yuan-ti named Thaztetsu, and a felis named Gulliver, ended up grouping together and started searching the captain's quarters. However, upon searching they found nothing but an empty bottle of beer, an empty desk, and a locked box.

Meanwhile, Warbler and Lapis broke off from the rest of the crew groups to go and explore below deck when they heard a strange sound and smell coming from below. Upon looking, they discovered hundreds of packages of meat, all rotting and fly-bitten.

Once down there, they also ran into a steam mephit, which had somehow managed to get on board the ship. The two ended up fighting the steam mephit, and when it was defeated, the succeeding death burst gravely wounded Lapis when she failed to dodge it.

### Session X

After Lapis was wounded by the steam mephit, Warbler ran onto the deck to get help, running into Phoenix and Yuki's group and urging them to get the captain and the medic. Phoenix and Twister ended up following him while the rest of the group stayed behind, Twister fetching Captain Chains and bringing him along.

Upon seeing Lapis, Captain Chains orders to cease the search opertation, as he "didn't sign up for whatever kind of unholy mockery is on this ship." He then orders Warbler, Phoenix, and Twister to bring Lapis to Dr. Takagaki, but Twister ends up healing Lapis with his "cure wounds" spell.

While down there, Warbler spots a strange envelope with an unopened Usmesh seal, and tucks it into his pocket, not telling anyone that he has it.

After healing Lapis, the group head back up to the deck, where the rest of the crew are heading back to the Scarlet Maiden, per captain's orders. However, it is here that Asuga suggests going to explore the ship some more instead of going back onto the ship.

Everyone except Yuki and Thaztetsu goes with her and ends up splitting into two groups: Asuga, Phoenix, and Gulliver in one group, with Twister, Lapis, and Warbler in the other.

Asuga's group checks the starboard deck, and Phoenix finds a strange helmet that will later be revealed to be a Helm of Comprehending Language. Meanwhile, Lapis and Twister go up to the crow's nest to see if they can spot anything. It is here that they spot a strange white cloud that they can't identify, but that is buzzing and drawing steadily closer.

It's decided that since they don't know what it is, it would be best for them to leave the ship right now. However, by the time they get down to Asuga's group to warn them, the strange cloud is dangerously close. At this point, they could all make out shapes in the cloud, to which they discovered that it was not a cloud, but a swarm of steam mephits.

Asuga remarked how steam mephits "didn't usually attack like this," but is was to no avail, as the swarm was directly upon them.

Everyone ended up making a mad dash for the deck, but the steam mephits were attacking from all angles. Just when they thought that they wouldn't get to the ship in time, Lapis cast the sleep spell, knocking out and killing at the steam mephits within a twenty-foot radius of her and giving them enough of an opening to escape.

However, the resounding death burst from all the falling steam mephits provided another issue, but only Twister was hurt in the searing hot mist.

The group ended up making it back to the Scarlet Maiden just before the crew was about to set off. Twister and Lapis ended up seeking out Dr. Takagaki, while Warbler spoke to Caelan and asked him to gather everyone who "really knew about the map," as he found a letter which he thought could be important to the cause.

### Session XI

On the ship, everyone began to calm down a little bit. Twister took Lapis to Dr. Takagaki, where he cast the spell "heal" on her, and Lapis regained full health. Meanwhile, Warbler told Caelan to gather everyone who knew about the map and gather in the boiler room, to which Caelan promptly did.

Later on, when Asuga, Twister, Kessa, and the rest of the party were gathered in the boiler room, Warbler read the letter out loud. It was a letter from the from an Usmesh noble that was being delivered on the ship, explaining how things were getting bad in the country. There had been a shortage in crops and harvest and the Screaming Blight plague was ravaging the world. On top of that, their country was talking about waging war in order to get the resources they needed. These events were connected to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

### Session XII

After the letter was read, everyone broke off to go do their own thing. A few of them went off to play Candor or Challengement (a version of truth or dare) while Lapis asked Folhani to make her glasses. After everyone grew bored of that, they decided to grab some beer and throw a party on deck to celebrate finding the maps.

While everyone got drunk, Lapis went below deck and hung out with Kedric, where the two eventually kissed. Everyone fell asleep soon after, and awoke to the sound of the bell ringing and Caelan shouting "Land ho!" as they approached Ushos.

### Session XIII

The Scarlet Maiden docked in Ushos, and most of the crew got off in groups to search for the heart's goldenglow. Ramé Leviathan got together, along with Asuga, Twister, Kessa, and Caelan. They all walked through the jungle for a while, coming across an ankheg but eventually defeating it. The party continued onwards, eventually coming across a large cliffside connecting the two sides by a fallen tree with a rushing river at the bottom.

When Warbler tried to cross the river, he fell off the tree, plummeting into the river below and breaking his leg on impact. Upon seeing this, Lapis immediately dove into the river after him, trying to save him. However, the two were swept farther down the river, prompting Twister to jump in after him. Using levitate, Twister lfited Warbler back up the cliff, but was knocked unconscious and swept down the river with Lapis, who was knocked unconscious soon after.

The party who remained on the cliff followed the river to find them, but eventually decided to settle down for the night and continue in the morning. Meanwhile, Lapis and Twister washed up on a bank next to the river, where they were found by a hunting troup of tabaxi from the nearby Njononchi Clan. The troup brought them back to their clan base, where they were placed in a hut and told to wait until morning when the shamanka would decide their fate.

While Lapis and Twister waited inside the hut, they were visited by a young tabaxi girl named Sky Full of Stars, who was fascinated by the prospect of outsiders and came to meet them, asking them where they came from and why they were there before being called away.

Lapis and Twister talked for a while longer before finally falling asleep, waiting for the morning trial.

### Session IX

In the morning, Lapis and Twister were jolted awake and dragged through the jungle, where they were brought to a large open, tiled area with tabaxi surrounding it and a tabaxi standing on a pedestal at the head of it, who introduced herself as shamanka Beauty of Summer. The shamanka proceeded