Brave New World • Chapter 05

## Seaside Ways

Prev Chapter
Next Chapter

### Tyrenter*(8th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

The following morning, waking early to try and beat the crowds (a futile effort as it turns out), they carry on towards the city walls. The further they walk, the denser the crowds get: some moving into the city, others moving out, like a giant sea of people with many different currents and whirlpools that are nigh impossible to navigate.

Eventually, by the late afternoon, they make it to the city's gates, and pass inside alongside the crowds of people. Directly ahead of them rises the acropolis, the main centre of the city, originally the city in its entirety back when Thyr was only a city state. Aside from the colossus, they can see atop it an assortment of military buildings, the grand dome of a temple, and a stocky fort aimed towards the sea.

To their immediate left, just past the gate, is another splendid sight: a series of tired gardens, an almost random jumble of different plant life and trees but with its own elegant natural design, as though it had grown into this shape rather than be constructed. At the very centre rises the tallest oak tree any of them have ever seen, branches expanding into a broad canopy that casts soothing shade on the tangle of trees and plants and little cobbled paths that weave their way through the gardens. In the bark of the oak tree, made out of seemingly natural knots and whorls in the wood, is the vague shape of a symbol that’s very familiar to Oondak, because a copy of it hangs around his neck, the intertwined tree of the Earthmaven.

With the hours they have left in the day, they decide to press on to the acropolis and inquire about the oracle. After reaching the Temple of Atemos, they ask one of the priests there about an oracle, and after some discussion he tells them about one such witch that some called an oracle. He calls her the Starseer, but expressed a deep the concern that many had ventured towards her cave to seek answers, and many had not returned.

"*She is known by many names. In the stories, she is given the name Anscylla, the Starseer. The oracle of Lazos. It is said she is a witch of great power and terrible beauty. As terrifying as she is fair. If you seek answers, then she will give them to you yes, but there is always a price. The stories say you must bring with you an offering. An offering of great value, and if it is to her liking she will give you what you seek.*"
 ― Priest of Atemos

Troubled by this information, but having acquired a lead, the party retreats back into the city proper and find a place to stay for the night, a high-end establishment by the name Taverna Ambrosia. In the relative safety of the city, seeing no sign of immediate trouble, they relax for the night, a few partaking in more carnal pleasures, while others simply take the opportunity to get as much rest as possible.

Evendur, alone in his room studying, manages to hit a milestone in his studies into the Graviton Tensor, find the missing piece of the puzzle and successfully slotting the moving pieces of the cube into a correct position, which in turn haphazardly twists the direction of gravity to the left, sending him crashing into the wall. A few more tries later, battered and bruised but still more than thrilled with his discovery, he settles into take notes on the breakthrough, receiving a further message from Marsilio towards the end of the evening.

"*Evendur. I am told you have reached Tyrenter safely. How go your studies? An associate of mine will contact you shortly to discover next steps. The Inquisition is planning a naval bombardment of the wetlands. I may have more room to operate soon. Remain safe. I will be in contact.*"
 ― Marsilio Di Angeli

### Tyrenter*(9th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Immediately the next morning, the party makes plans to spend the day gathering as much information and necessary supplies as possible. They begin by visiting the market, purchasing an assortment of goods varying from arcane ink to healing potions from a halfling alchemist by the name of Ana Linsdale, who owns a little shop near the flea market. They also purchase some books, and other various general supplies.

By around noon, they split into three groups to begin gathering information about their upcoming journey. Lionel and Yuli head back to the acropolis, speaking with a high priest at the Temple of Atemos and trying to ascertain if any people who had visited the Starseer still remained in the city. The priest tells him that none remained that he knew of, but tells them to maybe look around the docks. They venture down to the busy piers and ask around, their search proving rather unfruitful. Along the way however, they run into someone from Yuli's past, her half-brother Jacques, who refers to her as Juliette and snidely informs her that their father had put a price on bringing her back to the family to discipline her himself. Yuli scornfully tells him she has no intention of speaking to him, and they part before things can turn ugly.

Meanwhile, Evendur and Ironstrong-4 venture to the Naos district and visit the Temple of Efforos, essentially a library. Here, they set about researching what they can about the Starseer, discovering her to be a rumoured shadow witch of monstrous form, cursed by the gods. It is said that to look upon her is death, and in fact none of the recountings have an accurate eye witness description. They also discover that, in terms of offerings, it is unclear what the witch demands, though it appears material treasures hold little to no value.

The rest of the party; Oondak, Gaeldrim, and Jendora, visit the Tis Miteras Gardens, the massive tiered gardens dedicated to the Earthmaven. They are greeted by one of the Gladekeepers, who shows them around and informs them that the garden is open to the public. Anyone could contribute, as long as they maintained the peace and treated the garden with respect. Oondak in particular is fascinated with all this, and spends hours going around the garden exploring the plant life. Eventually, they make it to the giant oak tree that dominates the peak of the gardens, known as the Birth Tree, where Oondak asks for guidance from the Earthmaven, seeking to discover what offerings would be asked of them by the Starseer. He is shown, oddly, a vision made of an amalgamation of his own memories: of family and home, an answer which he finds unclear yet worrisome.

Upon reconvening at the Temple of Efforos, the group decides to camp nearby while Oondak and Ironstrong-4 spend a long night researching the sickness that was plaguing Oondak's homeland. They discover various things, determining that the symptoms were too varied for the illness to be natural, but unable to find exact clues to its origin. They believe it may be magical in nature, but cannot confirm that just yet.

### Sailing to Lazos*(10th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

The next morning, they purchase passage aboard a trading barge that was headed up the coast towards Lazos, a small village near to their destination. The barge, though slow, cuts a day or so off their travel time, and by the early evening they come to the precarious cliffside houses and elevators of Lazos and make their way to the plateau beyond. Following the road between the low hills and shrubs, they spend the few remaining hours before dark undisturbed, and eventually make camp off the side of the roadway, where they spend the night.

### Ponte di Lazzaro*(11th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Breaking camp early, the party continues along the road on its winding way to the northeast. The smell of the ocean is pungent here, the smell of salt and brine, the faint odour of fish and rotting seaweed, but their journey remains untroubled for the time being.

Some time after noon, they hear a strange mechanical noise approaching from the sky behind them. Turning to look, they spot a small flying contraption, which Yuli and Gaeldrim recognise to be a gnomish gyrocopter. The gyrocopter swoops over above them, coming to a halt and dropping two small pods that, upon hitting the ground, unfurl into warforged.

"*Attention, local residents. My identification code is Rescue-11, Emergency Response Unit. We have tracked an emergency transponder to this location and have been dispatched for emergency search and recovery as per Gnetwork directive 19, section A, subsection 54. Please remain at a safe distance while we conduct a thorough search of the area.*"
 ― Rescue-11

The two begin to search the area in a thorough grid pattern, but are cut off by Ironstrong-4, who reveals to them that he is the source of the emergency transponder signal. After some back and forth, he is ordered to cease all motor functions and await recovery, so that he may be returned to Rûkmodan for immediate repair and reset. The others, realising that this would wipe all of Ironstrong-4's memories, attempt to talk their way through things, but fail to convince Rescue-11, who is now certain that Ironstrong-4 is a rogue element of which the party is in illegal possession of.

"*Attention, this is your final warning. Refuse to cooperate and you will be considered in violation of Gnetwork directive 14, section E, subsection 22 and liable to immediate apprehension and incarceration. Please do not resist.*"
 ― Rescue-11

Things escalate quickly, and the two warforged attempt to subdue the group and recover Ironstrong-4. Thanks to quick and ballsy thinking from Evendur, who manages to crash the gyrocopter into the fight and severely damage the two warforged in the explosion, the party manages to overpower the search and rescue units, reducing them to charred piles of scrap.

Recovering what they could of the bodies, with Ironstrong-4 hoping they might be able to restore them, they press on until the end of the day, making camp at the top of a hill looking out across the area, with a clear sightline of the ocean in either direction. Despite his best efforts, Ironstrong-4 does not have the necessary tools to repair the warforged, and they abandon the remains nearby, leaving the possibility open of recovering them on their way back.

That night, around midnight, they see in the distant north (above the wetlands) a cloud of lights moving east, followed by the sound of cannon fire. They surmise this to be the Vigil Inquisition fleet that Marsilio had mentioned would be assaulting the seafolk in the near future. They witness the bombardment, which lasts for a few minutes, and then see the lights begin to go out, one by one, rapidly disappearing like fireflies being snuffed out until they are all gone.

### Ponte di Lazzaro*(12th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Morning comes to a sky thick with clouds. A dull grey pallor hangs over everything, and the faintest tinge of distant smoke mingles with the smell of the ocean on the sharp breeze coming in from the north. Within another couple of hours of travel, they finally reach the edge of the peninsula and catch their first sight of their destination: a small outcrop of rock jutting out into the rough sea, waves crashing against its base, leading to an opening flanked by a stone doorway, and a ramp that disappears down into the dark. A narrow path leads down to the outcrop, damp and slick with moss.

On the outcrop, standing between the party and the doorway, is a half-formed Abbie Walker, large parts of her still made entirely of swirling water and foam. Ignoring the pathway, surmising it to be too dangerous, they float down to the outcrop by magical means, and confront the half-risen creature.

"*Trying to outrun your fate? She will never stop hunting you. Whatever you do. Wherever you go. You could come willingly. She offers you this chance. Join us and be free of your shackles. She could give you power. Immortality. Meaning.*"
 ― Abbie Walker

Yuli rejects the offer, backed up by the rest of her companions, and Abbie simply laughs and melts away into sea foam. In response, from the depths rises a gigantic sea creature, resembling a decaying wyrm, with bone jutting through rotten skin crusted with barnacles and coral. From its bile rise more of the drowned, as a furious skirmish on the precarious cliffside ensues, many of the group getting tossed into the violent waves and battered against the rocks. Ultimately, the group manages to destroy the creature, just before it escapes with Yuli in its jaws.

After resting, they press forward into the opening, having to devise a clever plan involving their immovable rod and some acrobatics in order to cross to the entrance after the bridge leading there was destroyed in the fighting. Once inside, the sound of the ocean quietens, and they descend into the narrow corridor leading down beneath sea level towards the Starseer's lair.

### Starseer's Cave*(12th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

They walk for about an hour before the narrow confines of the tunnel begin to widen, the sides breaking away into other tunnels that lead off into the dark. These side tunnels seem more natural, not as straight or precise as the one they are following, though they remain wide enough for a person to feasibly crawl through if they had to. Down here, the damp has lessened, replaced by a fine layer of sand, dust, and powdered stone that lies on everything.

"*As you walk, the walls begin to change. What was once natural rock and stone becomes a strange amalgamation of materials: glass, silver, and other metals, all burnished and polished and reflective. Some pieces jut out at odd angles and random intervals, others lay flat against the wall. It makes the tunnel seem wider than it is, gives it a strange depth to it. You catch movements out of your eyes, your own movements, reflected a hundredfold, in a dozen different sizes. It makes you dizzy almost, uncertain, as though your brain is struggling to understand where reality ends and the mirrors begin.*"
 ― The Storyteller

Shortly after first encountering the strange mirrored walls, they reach an old, crumbled statue in the middle of the path, depicting a figure crawling back up towards the tunnel, face twisted in fear or agony. Much of the remains have cracked and fallen away to shards of rock. Just beyond it, more statues litter the tunnels, in various poses: some cowering, some fleeing, others trying to fight back. Many seem incredibly old, and few are entirely intact. Taking precautions and remembering their research, the group blindfolds themselves as best they can, and move forward.

Their way forward takes them through this strange collection of statues, having to duck under outstretched arms or clamber over piles of statues clumped together, trying not to knock anything over or make too much sound. At last, the tunnel opens up into a broad circular space, a domed temple of some nature, held up by six evenly spaced pillars of stone, plain and undecorated. The walls of this place, where they aren't broken away into tunnel entrances, are made entirely of reflective glass; mirrors in massive panels that reflect the entire room a thousand times. More statues clutter this space, all emanating from a central point.

"*Why have you come here? Do you not see what waits in these tunnels? Have I not sent the message clearly enough?*"
 ― Anscylla, the Starseer

They have little time to explore this space, before a booming voice echoes out from the tunnels, speaking in frustrated and bitter tones. Seeming angry that they had come, Ansyclla asks them if they knew the price they would have to pay. In response, Lionel inquires what the actual price would be, so they could evaluate that before deciding to pay it.

"*You misunderstand me, child. Now that you have come here, you are either willing, or you do not leave. I am sorry.*"
 ― Anscylla, the Starseer

Talking further with the witch, they learn that she was cursed to linger in this place as temptation for those greedy enough to seek her help. In exchange, one must sacrifice the person they hold dearest, who will simply cease to exist and be erased from memory and time except for those that sacrificed them. Ansyclla explains that she is tortured constantly by the screams and the grief of those that have been sacrificed, which she holds within her, the only escape from the torment being death which she cannot seek herself. Should anyone successfully kill her, they would free those that remained within, but none had managed to do so yet for the curse obliged her to stop them from doing so.

"*The choice is simple. Now that you have come here, a transaction must be made. If you are not willing, or if the price is too high, then I will claim you instead. For each desire you would see me fulfil, I must claim an existence. One of you must pay that existence. Whoever you hold dearest, whoever you wish only the best for, will cease to be. You will remember them, you will know what you did to them, but nobody else will know they ever existed. Gone, from memory and time, except for you...and me. Their screams will stay here with me forever, but your desire will be fulfilled. That is the price.*"
 ― Anscylla, the Starseer

Upon learning of the cost, the party begins to deliberate, all of course reluctant to pay the price. Eventually, Ironstrong-4 steps forward and offers to pay the first price. Yuli, refusing to let anyone else pay the price for her, though worried that the price will claim Gaeldrim, accepts to pay the second.

Ansyclla accepts the price, and none of the group disappears. She instead begins the process of ridding Yuli and Gaeldrim of their curse. The two open their eyes and are turned to stone, catching sight of a female face with eyes of marble nested in a tangled nest of snakes for hair in one of the manifold mirrors that surround them. Following that, Ironstrong-4 is tasked with carving out their hearts, cutting out their now marble chests with a simple knife that passes through the stone like butter. Taking the hearts of stone into the dark tunnels beyond, he presents them to the witch, keeping his eyes closed, and feels them turn to dust and reform into stone replicas of hearts that begin to beat steadily in his hands. He returns these hearts to the still forms of his friends, and places them within the cavities which promptly reform, leaving nothing but a twisting scar through each of their chests. Finally, Ironstrong-4 claims some of Ansyclla's blood, by her own bidding, and smears it across the statues, restoring them to life.

"*It is done. Ware that I have cured the symptoms, but not the disease. That which hunts you will not stop. It is not in its nature to do so. Remember always: I had no choice in paying this price; you made yours willingly. You must now learn to live with it. Leave this place. Do not return.*"
 ― Anscylla, the Starseer

### Ponte di Lazzaro*(12th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Leaving the Starseer's temple, the party retreats back southwest towards Tyrenter, and spend a night in quiet contemplation of the choices they have made. Discussions about the next steps they will take intermingle with talk of prices paid and the things that bind the group together. Ultimately, they decide the obvious next goal must be to travel east and fulfil the contract with Balthamos, though they still lack a ship or means of transportation across the ocean.

### Ponte di Lazzaro*(13th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

The next morning, they set off down the same road they had journeyed on on the way here, under an overcast sky dull with grey clouds and a humid heat that seems almost suffocating. They leave behind the steeper hills at the edge of the peninsula and cross over into the more rugged areas just north of Lazos. By the evening, they're roughly a day's walk away from Tyrenter, and decide to make camp in the countryside.

While refilling their waterskins, Evendur is caught alone by an assassin he assumes to be Gyoda, who ambushes him with a garotte and almost succeeds in strangling him into unconsciousness before Evendur manages to break free through the unexpected use of his Graviton Tensor. Scrambling to safety, Evendur alerts the rest of the group, particularly Jendora, who chase after Gyoda to no avail. More wary now, they retreat to the cover of the dome and set up a close watch that night, though there is no further sign of the bounty hunter.

"*Be seein' ya, Dundragon. Give Miss Grimshaw my regards...*"
 ― Gyoda

### Ponte di Lazzaro*(14th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Early the next morning, on their continued travel towards the capital, they run into four individuals barring the road ahead: a strange assortment of an armoured half-elf, a tall minotaur with an Aldwyran accent, a purple-skinned tiefling, and a squat gith bearing the symbol of a deity they don't immediately recognise. The four, as explained by their leader, Richard Donoghan, had come to arrest Evendur and claim the bounty set by the House of Hollows.

Tired from the last few days' events, the group resolves to diplomacy instead of immediate violence, and convince Richard and his companions (Verity the tiefling, Aldric Braun the minotaur, and Jarid Saleem the githzerai) that the bounty was false and that no justice would be met by killing or arresting Evendur. They learn also that the group had been tipped off about the bounty by none other than Gyoda, perhaps hoping to weaken the group and then swoop in for the prize himself. Still somewhat wary of each other, the two groups continue to Tyrenter together, swapping stories until they are more comfortable with one another.

### Tyrenter*(14th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Once at Tyrenter, while most of the group heads back to the Taverna Ambrosia, Lionel and Evendur sneak their way (illegally) to the top of the Colossus of Thyr with Verity and Aldric, the latter of which is much less brazen about the great heights. At the top, they share a comfortable few minutes looking out at the setting suns, and eventually Lionel and Evendur have a heartfelt, private discussion about their ties to each other and what it could end up costing them.

By that evening, the two parties have become good companions, drinking and feasting together at the tavern into the later hours of the evening. Once everyone eventually retreats to their respective rooms, Lionel and Evendur take Verity with them to the library, where they find a strange development. Like the trail of a slug, the strange mismatched architectural corruption that Lionel had noted about the library before spreads away from where he had left a book sitting on the floor. Following it, the trio make a breakthrough in navigating the twisting corridors, discovering that not all was as it seemed about the "straight" halls, and that some strange warping of space caused them to fold over the same space while simultaneously curving and branching away from each other down different paths. Intrigued by the discovery, but with not enough time to utilise it further, they return to their physical selves and go to bed mulling over the possibilities.

That night, Oondak has vivid dreams of the Earthmaven in which he and she are walking through a vast field of lush grass and golden wheat beneath a sunless sky. From Oondak's perspective, it seems as though he is in the middle of someone else's conversation, for despite the Earthmaven speaking to him, she does not react to his questions and instead continues as though someone had said something different. Oondak surmises that it must be some kind of memory in which he has taken the part of someone else.

"*It’s good that you’ve come, my friend. You have done well. I know it has not been easy. I regret...I must ask more of you again.*"
 ― The Earthmaven

Somewhat confused, but tagging along nonetheless, Oondak tries to piece together the conversation from what the Earthmaven says. They continue walking through the vast grassland, while she speaks of someone, a he, toying with powers he doesn't understand, having done something unforgiveable to "her children".

"*It doesn't matter to him. He will take and take, until he gets what he wants. Madness, yes. But in madness often comes clarity, of a sort.*"
 ― The Earthmaven

Abruptly, the dream shifts, and Oondak finds himself standing at the edge of a precipice overlooking a vast valley. Far below, smoke rises from the crumbling remains of what was once, perhaps, a vast city, though unlike any he's seen before; buildings of deep grey stone, lines of gold-lined gems, sparkling blue crystals, towers and spires and mansions, all flattened by an indescribable force. He picks up the threads of the dream in the middle of a different conversation, with the Earthmaven mid-sentence.

"*...desolation, and what once was, will be again. The others are...distracted. Some of them.* Many *of them. They choose to ignore what is coming, and I fear by the time we resolve our squabbles it will be too late. In this, our kinds are much alike.*"
 ― The Earthmaven

Once again, Oondak is unable to participate in the conversation, despite his frustrations. Whoever the Earthmaven was speaking too, they seem to have been important to her, but Oondak can't figure out why. With the dream starting to crumble away and the haze of sleep beginning to lift, the last words he hears are ones of warning.

"*Difficult times are upon us, my friend. I have tried to delay it, to give you time, but I can only do so much. I will need a champion.*"
 ― The Earthmaven

### Tyrenter*(15th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

The party wakes to the sounds of uproar from outside, a general clamour of people and exclamations of surprise or fear. Looking out the windows, they immediately figure out why. Across the city, at the top of the tiered gardens of the Earthmaven, the Birth Tree is glowing. Even from this distance they can see veins of green and gold run through the entire tree, pulsing softly with light, down to the smallest capillaries in the evergreen leaves.

Following Oondak, who finds himself drawn inexorably to the tree, the group pushes through the gathering crowds and makes their way to the peak of the gardens. Along the way, Oondak describes the dreams he had to the rest, and they try to untangle some meaning from them. As they get closer, Oondak himself also begins to glow, the same green and gold as the tree. This inevitably draws attention, and the crowds part more readily now, with whispers of a prophet spreading quickly through the mob.

Finally reaching the tree, they pass through the gathered Gladekeepers, who are all shocked and baffled by the current events, and under the watching eyes of thousands of gathered people Oondak places his hand against the bark of the tree.

"*As soon as your skin touches the bark of the tree, the veins of green and gold flare up in a magnificent, almost painfully bright, light. There's a collective gasp from the gathered crowds behind you, but it sounds distant to you. You can hear the pounding rush of your heart beating faster and faster, and from within the tree an answering pulse, rising from a long sleep to match your own heartbeat, and a voice, raspy, tired, and slow, reaches into your mind.*"
 ― The Storyteller

"*You mmmmm have come at last. She mmmmm said you would come. There has mmmmm been a change. I mmmmmm am not all that mmmmm wakes.*"
 ― The Birth Tree

Conversing with the ancient heart of the tree, Oondak tries to discover more of what the Earthmaven wished for him. Eventually, the bark of the tree parts like water, revealing deep within the trunk a glow pulsing in sync with Oondak's own heartbeat. From the opening, a tall shield emerges: lined with intricate patterns of gold, seeming to have been grown rather than made, a seamless unison of nature's beauty and grace with utilitarian purpose. At its centre pulses a rough-hewn uneven crystal, the source of the pulsing light.

"*Claim mmmmm your birthright, Child mmmmm of the Forest. Mmmmm use it well.*"
 ― The Birth Tree

Somewhat shell-shocked by the tumultuous events of the night and morning, Oondak claims the shield, which attaches itself organically to his arm with wrapping vines, and turns to the crowds, who have witnessed much of this and now kneel in awe. Shouts of "prophet" echo down the streets and pathways leading away from the tree, much to Oondak's exasperation. Realising how much attention they are now drawing, the party sneaks Oondak away as best they can, returning to the tavern to regroup.

Once away from the many prying eyes of the city's populace, they begin to make plans on what to do next. Oondak's dream mentioned the same "desolation" that Ynalthed had mentioned to Yuli, and the party begins to suspect that a lot of the threads may be more connected than they thought. Their primary goal, ultimately, is to get east across the ocean, and to do this, they would need a ship.

While some of the group go shopping for supplies, others head to the docks to try and find passage on a ship bound for Almeras. Their options are limited to United Mercantile Company or Black Kraken Company ships, both of which are hesitant to bring aboard additional crew, and charge high prices for passengers which the group could not afford. Their conversation with Jacques Leroux, who was in charge of the Black Kraken Company ships at port, is particularly unfruitful and ends with Lionel snapping from frustration and explosively threatening the man with creative violence. Prior to that, Jacques also notes Gaeldrim's wartotem, which he recognises as lost cargo from the crashed Black Kraken Company ship.

"*That does not belong to you. The Black Kraken Company acquires all of its goods in a legal manner. We have a charter from the crown of Atheldael, and authority to do business in many other countries besides. It would do you well to return it to our possession immediately.*"
 ― Jacques Leroux

Running out of options, the group seeks out the local chapter of the Drowner Triads, hoping to redeem the token that had been given to them by Lawrence Brooks. Making contact with a few triad members, they are taken to the head of the local group, a gruff dwarf called Bull. He informs them that the situation on the coast was dire at the moment, and barely any Drowner ships could leave port at the moment due to the ongoing war just further north in Edraxis and the heightened dock security. At best, he could try to smuggle them out in two weeks time, minimum, if things calmed down sufficiently.

Somewhat despondent, the party return to the Taverna Ambrosia to discuss their other options. While here, Evendur receives another message from Marsilio Di Angeli, urging him to return to Lavente.

"*Evendur. Things have changed dramatically since we last spoke. I have need of you and your friends in Lavente. The time has come to act. The Inquisition has failed. People are scared. We are on the brink of civil war. I believe I can prevent it. I need your aid. Head north to Rhodens. My people there have means of returning you quickly. We can end this war before it begins, together. Please be quick. I am afraid the artefacts will have to wait. This is more important by far, an opportunity unlike any other. By order of the Authority.*"
 ― Marsilio Di Angeli

Knowing that they could not afford to help Marsilio due to their contract with Balthamos, the group debates what they should do. By almost unanimous agreement, they decide not to return to Lavente, believing it to be better for their survival and for Marsilio's own safety. Instead, they resolve to hedge their bets on the strange compass ring that Jendora had found on their way here, which bore nautical decorations that possibly indicated it could lead them to a ship of some kind.

While having dinner, Gaeldrim also receives a letter marked with the seal of the Black Kraken Company, supposedly from the leader of the mercantile guild, inviting them to visit his offices in Silverthorne City for dinner and a conversation.

"*To whom it may concern,

It has been brought to my attention that you are in possession of a unique heirloom illegally acquired from the wreck of a Company ship following its downing over Edraxian territory, which is within our trading jurisdiction. As you know, goods taken from a wrecked ship are legally still the possessions of the owners of that ship, which, in this case, would be myself. It is well within my rights to have you prosecuted to the full extent of the law and, I assure you, I have plenty of power to do so.

That being said, as Guildmaster of the Black Kraken Company, I have also been notified that you appear to have an attachment to this heirloom on account of your heritage. While the heirloom itself was acquired through legal means, as per the stipulations laid out in Section 4 on the topic of Anterran trade of the royal charter issued by His Majesty Harold the 2nd, of various titles, I understand that an emotional attachment to such objects is often the root of many conflicts with your kind, which I would in good conscience wish to avoid.

As such, in a gesture of good faith, I have instructed Monsieur Leroux to not pursue legal action on the Company’s behalf. The artefact will remain yours for the time being, with my blessing. I do have, however, a request. I am uniquely interested in potentially useful investments such as yourself, and wish to make your and your companions’ acquaintances. I would like to formally extend my invitation to you and your companions for dinner, on my expense, at the Company Headquarters in Silverthorne. You may present this letter as a writ of passage to any Company ship for transport to the city, within reason, and as a formal invitation once you arrive at the city.

I look forward to speaking with you in person.*"
 ― Black Kraken Company Letter

Having decided on a plan, they spend the evening making final preparations to leave the city at first light, planning to travel south along the path pointed out by the compass ring, and hoping it would lead them to a solution. Keeping it hidden from the others, Evendur sends a response to Marsilio, regretfully informing him they could not help, to which the latter replies with some concern, but wishes him luck and the hope that they knew what they were doing.

### Tyrenter*(16th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

The next morning, the party leaves Tyrenter under an overcast sky. They make a quick detour to purchase some horses, hoping to expediate their journey south. Thanks to the increased pace, they reach the outskirts of the city's suburbs in the early evening, and push on for an extra few hours to make camp for the night in the countryside.

### Thyr Countryside*(17th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Morning comes with a faint layer of mist that lays low on the ground, shifting gently under a breeze from the west. There’s a few clouds still overhead, keeping the air cool and allowing the mists to persist into the early morning. Now that they've left behind Tyrenter and its suburbs, it becomes readily apparent that much of Thyrian civilisation and infrastructure is focused on the northernmost quarter near the capital. The roads here very quickly become little more than suggestions, occasionally breaking off almost entirely into gullies and crags, only to haphazardly continue on the far side.

Just past noon, they enter one such gully and find themselves facing the entrance to a cave. The smell of rotting corpses hangs on the air, and up ahead near the cave's mouth are a trio of vaguely humanoid creatures, their entire bodies overgrown with fungal growths of various colours and shapes, and their skulls split open with massive mushroom folds, leaving only slack jaws that loll around as they walk. Their motions are jittery and inhuman, twitching periodically at random intervals. Seemingly unable to see too well, the creatures are letting off series of rising clicks, which the group surmises to be some kind of echo-location.

Try as they might, they fail to sneak away from the monsters, and end up drawing a swarm of them from inside the cave itself, as well as a flight of misshapen winged insects that burst out of the rotten chests of the bodies that lie scattered at the cave's entrance. Relatively unprepared for conflict, the group chooses to mount a hasty defence rather than escaping, hoping to recover the contents of a leather pouch carried by one of the corpses. Several of them are affected by various clouds of coloured spores that the fungal creatures periodically spout out of their heads. Yuli seems to go mad with paranoia, and Evendur and Jendora both collapse in fits of scratching and itching. Gaeldrim is bitten by one of the insects, which latches on to his chest and hatches eggs just inside the flesh.

Despite the chaos, the party manages to survive the assault, and thanks to some quick surgery from Oondak extract and destroy the eggs from inside Gaeldrim. Evendur and Jendora however remain under the effects of the spores, seeing rashes growing on their skin that aren't there, while Yuli has entirely run off in the seeming belief that the party was trying to kill her. Oondak tracks her down some time later, and manages to convince her that he could cure her if she simply came back to the group for one night.

With the spore-infected trio beginning to feel steadily more feverish as the day wears on, the party make camp and bed down for the night. Over the course of the dark hours, all three of the infected begin to exhibit worsening symptoms. Periodic coughing lets of gouts of spores from inside their chests, they are all struck by vivid nightmares of insectoid creatures moving beneath the earth, slaughtering pale-skinned elves in the underdark while fungal growths swallow the tunnels, and by the end of the night a few have also begun to grow small patches of fungus bursting out of the pores of their skin.

### Thyr Countryside*(18th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

In the morning, Oondak hastily sets to work. With the blessing of the Earthmaven he divines the infestation that was affecting his friends, and manages to cure them. Each vomits and coughs out viscous slime and branching fungal growths that appeared to have been spreading in their lungs. By the end of minutes of violent retching, they are exhausted and worn, but alive. The sickness had been fully expunged.

Angry at some in the group for risking their lives again when they simply could have escaped, Lionel and Evendur ride in silence for the day, debating the wisdom of remaining with the party in the first place. Despite that, the group stays together for the time being, and continue on down the coast, following the compass ring on Jendora's finger.

### Iothlian Coast*(18th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Near noon, they begin to hear from up ahead the raucous cries of a flock of seagulls, and shortly thereafter catch sight of the tell-tale white dots in the sky, swirling and diving above what seems to be a cove basin in the cliffs. Oondak recognises the location from an earlier divination, and they head towards it.

Lionel scouts ahead through the use of his familiar, and comes into view of the cove itself. They see a beach of sand giving way to a basin of deep blue water dotted with pillars and escarpments of grey stone where the cliffside collapsed into the water long ago. Tall cliffs rise on either side of the basin, but slope down further inland to provide a path down to the beach.

Piled on the beach in haphazard fashion is a gory pile of what appear to be butchered sahuagin bodies: a heap of offal and guts mixed with dismembered flesh and bone that is swarming with seagulls desperately trying to peck away what scraps of meat they can. Moving around nearby are a cluster of strange creatures; humanoid from the waist up but with snake-like tails that leave writhing trails in the sand, oddly bony, lizard-like heads with protruding fins, and scaly skin. Lionel recognises these to be merrow, fiercely xenophobic and aggressive ocean-dwellers.

In the cove itself floats a large ship. Two-masted, built of this silvery-grey wood, some 150 feet long including the prow, and maybe 50 feet across. It appears seaworthy, or at least it's floating well enough, though they can clearly tell that it’s quite old and has probably been here for some time. The sides are encrusted with barnacles. Dark, weathered wood that has long lost the tarring that kept it largely waterproof makes up the hull, and they can see signs of parts of it warping from exposure to sea water. The masts are topped with sails furled at the top, seeming to have at some point been painted this deep nightingale-blue colour that has faded a bit since then.

The ship, though mostly intact, was clearly at some point stripped of parts. They see only the most basic rigging, no sign of cargo or cannons or crew, and pretty much anything of value on the deck, aside from the ship itself, has been cleaned out. They also see more of the merrow moving about on the deck, though it's difficult to make out what they're doing exactly.

Retreating out of range for the time being, the group huddles up to make plans for an assault on the beach, hoping to recover the ship from the merrow and claim it for their own. After a brief period of planning, they decide to attack before nightfall, deciding that it would only put them at a disadvantage.

In a simple yet well-executed plan, Oondak, Gaeldrim, and Ironstrong-4 draw the merrow to the beach, while the rest teleport onto the ship and clean out the deck. Complications arise in the form of a massive hydra that almost eats Gaeldrim, but is defeated by clever thinking from Lionel, who turns it into a tiny crab and throws it off a cliff.

Having killed or driven off the merrow, the group begins to explore the ship itself, hoping to find what the merrow were looking for. In the captain's cabin, alongside some coin and other valuables, they find a strange coin made of lead, emblazoned with a rose curling through a skull. Yuli also spots a hidden compartment in a globe on the desk, inside of which they find a tuning fork and a page that seems to have been torn from a book. It is written in an archaic form of Viric that Ironstrong-4 manages to translate.

Upon reading the page out loud, there is a deep, unearthly rumble that shakes the ship. All of them feel an overwhelming sense of anger, hatred, and pain that sweeps through the ship like a wave. The rumble seems to oscillate, rising and falling in pitch, like the voice of something unfathomably large and unfathomably old, reverberating through every atom. The rumbling eventually slows and eases, and fades away into stillness.

Discussing the possible ramifications and meaning of what they have found, the group finishes exploring the remainder of the ship, encountering a sahuagin runt locked up in the brig at the bottom of the shop. Going by the name of Skeksis, the creature appears to be more than a little insane, but does respond to questioning. From him, they discover a few new things about the state of the ocean, specifically that a "He" and a "She" were working together after being rivals for a long time. The party gathers that this might be two Primevals, assuming them to be Jormundrekir and Aenathair. They also learn that there was some agreement between the sahuagin and Thyr for safe passage across the coastal region.

After feeding Skeksis and helping him recover somewhat from his wounds, they venture deeper into the ship and discover the final room: a barebones engineering bay that could feasibly be used to allow the ship to take to the skies. Inside the room there is a metal locker that requires two keys, of which they only have one.

With night time approaching, the group sets about cleaning out and mending parts of the ship so they can rest inside for the evening. They choose separate rooms and settle in, making the ship feel a bit more like home. Before going to bed, they gather to discuss officer positions and decide to name the ship *The Skeksis*.

That night, while the group is sleeping, Evendur finds a strange footstep in his room that wasn't there before and that seemed to have bypassed his Alarm spell. The party searches the ship, but finds nothing untoward except that the captain's quarters seems to have been slightly searched. It's only the following morning that Lionel realises the tuning fork that he'd taken from the hidden compartment in the captain's quarters is missing.

### Downtime

Over the next six days, while they wait for Eddie and his crew to reach the ship, the party has some downtime to spend as they will. They each go about their own tasks, together or alone, settling into their new quarters and preparing for future journeys as they do so.

Oondak prepares an infirmary room in the central deck of the ship, while Ironstrong-4 sets about repairing what he can of the ship's rigging and davits after acquiring the help of some skeletons that he animates from the remnants of sahuagin bones on the beach.

Lionel spends time exploring the strange library and slowly unravelling more of its many strange secrets and corridors, enlisting the help of Oondak as well in doing so. They discover some strange interactions between dispelling and casting magic inside the strange domain.

Evendur spends his time in the engineering bay cleaning and repairing what machinery he can. He also spends more time trying to figure out the Tensor, surmising that there seem to be missing pieces to the puzzle of spell parts that do not exist on the cube that he can see.

Yuli, Gaeldrim and Jendora help around with setting up rooms in the ship, spend their time relaxing and keeping watch, and generally rest for the duration of the few days in preparation for the upcoming travel.

### Iothlian Coast*(25th of Riferen, 4E 776)*

Eddie arrives at the cove early in the morning, bringing with him a skeleton crew of 90 to man *The Skeksis*. With him also are Tiny Pete and Ellie, who survived the escape from Decime.

While the crew sets about preparing the ship for sail, Eddie and the party discuss specifics and assign officer roles. The group informs Eddie of the troubles they are facing, and their destination. Together they chart out a journey across the Vastenean Ocean, with stops along the way for resupply.

By the afternoon, they set sail along the coast towards Tyrenter, where they will repair and supply their ship with the help of the Drowner Triads, thanks to the token they had acquired in Stillwater. The journey is uneventful, and the group spends their time getting used to shipboard travel and discussing what complications they might face during their sail east.

### Downtime

Arriving in Tyrenter on the evening of the 26th, the party spends three or so days getting the ship repaired and stocking up food and water for the journey. They also discuss terms with Bull to smuggle out a shipment of Samarkhesian spices and deliver them to Valenroux, making a substantial profit in doing so.

In order to finance the purchase of cannons, the group also takes a loan of ten thousand crowns from the Bank of the Faceless, hoping to pay it back with the money they make on their trip. They spend the last small remainder of their liquid cash to purchase some additional goods in the hopes of selling them at their first stop, Haley Isle.

Towards the end of the three days, Evendur goes to speak with Lionel in their room, but finds him to have disappeared. His clothes and belongings remain in a pile on the floor, where Evendur also finds a small, growing piece of corruption akin to that found within the Library.

Prev Chapter
Next Chapter