Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth
Session Five of Blood and Water Campaign

Vítday, 36 Dark Days 204

Jonus does not mention the events of the previous evening to his companions. He considers his past irrelevant to his present, and what could would be served by worrying them? The day is peaceful enough. Elias receives some tutoring in the mechanics of Sorostraen from Sergenté who is still unaware of the investigation into his private life that the party secretly undertook a few days ago.

Jonus puts his efforts into another area, and he and Misgon sit down to analyse Narramac’s staff. Using his abilities as a servant of Zephyre, Jonus is able to find out more about the staff, more quickly than Misgon could. Jonus is of the opinion that the only way to recharge it, is to partially recreate it with the subsequent cost in time and energy. Such a thing is beyond both him and Misgon, but Misgon is determined to reactivated the old mage’s staff.

In the evening, Misgon talks to Drasha about Ravenna. He is becoming more and more concerned about her. He tells Drasha that Ravenna has asked him to physically prevent her from doing anything stupid if needs be, and he is fearful of what he may be forced to do. Drasha sympathises. She has spoken to Elias in the past about how far he would be willing to go to stop Ravenna should she be consumed by the taint of the Great Dark. There are no easy answers, they must play a waiting game.

Jessica wants answers from Elias. “Why are we going to Tibrai?” she asks. “I know it’s your home, but why Tibrai?” Elias explains that his primary reason is seeking the wisdom of a being called Quenqurial whom he thinks may have the power to save the soul of someone he cares about very much. Beyond that, the land of Jotun’s Point is his own, and he is the rightful ruler. He explains to Jessica how his father summoned a flight of dragons that devastated the area. Jessica says that she’ll help him on that score. “Powerful evil sorcerers are one of my pet hates,” she states. Of course, first they must reach Varosh and get to Ravenna’s mother before the Arcanum Incognita does. Ravenna desperately needs answers.

However, Elias will say no more while Torr is present. He has been given no reason to trust Torr at all. Torr has been secretive and has obstinately refused to say anything about himself. He has not said why he was working with Dysan, why he has come with them. He has said nothing. Torr regards Elias. He evidently does not want to give too much of his motives away. At length he says, “I’m searching for these Potentates.”

Whatever explanation Elias was expecting certainly was not that. Why is he looking for them? How could it have been his plan to come with the party to Varosh, when going to Varosh was only a last minute decision and Tibrai was always the stated destination of the expedition? Is someone after Torr?

“I am not being hunted,” says the wizard. “but I would be if I told you my full purpose here. The information is too dangerous. You have nothing to fear from what I am hiding. I will tell you later.” Elias is little infuriated. Torr is beginning to remind him a little of Raza, but he remains close-lipped.

After dinner, Elias does something that he knows he should have done a very long time ago. He approaches Drasha. Their relationship has been rocky since he returned from the Southern World, and her abduction by Mínaris, followed by their most recent adventures has only delayed a confrontation. He stands beside her, and they both look out to the sea in silence for more than a minute. Both can sense it is time for them to talk. Jonus can sense something is up as well, and decides to eavesdrop with a handy whispering wind spell.

“We have to talk,” Elias begins as lamely as humanly possible. Drasha looks at him and nods. “Yes,” she says, “it’s been fifty days since you sent that letter to me Elias. Of course, we’ve been quite busy in that time, but fifty days is a long time to let bad feelings fester, isn’t it?” Elias pauses. Now he has instigated this talk, he doesn’t know how to begin. Drasha ignores the pause, and continues, “We are sailing into an uncertain future. Either one of us could meet our deaths today, I do not want to go to Mortis with bad blood between us.”

Elias agrees with her, and then lapses into silence again. No-one told him that marriage would be so difficult. Of course, no-one told him that accepting the Rite of Horann would give him Drasha in the first place. His wife sighs and looks across at him. She knows him well enough to tell they could both stand staring out to sea all evening without him saying a word.

“All right, I’ll start,” she says and Elias breaths a sigh of relief. Tell me why you are going to Tibrai, Elias? Is it because you have decided at last the time is right to liberate your homeland, are we going to raise a force to retake Umbria or is it because of her?”

Elias squirms slightly. “All those reasons,” he says truthfully. Although admits that some reasons are higher on his list of priorities than others.

“Alessandre,” Drasha sighs. She shakes her head, and the tone in her voice is one of despair rather than anger. “Yes, it always comes down to her doesn’t it? All of this is about her. This quest for Quenqurial you have placed us on.” Drasha turns away, and in a small voice says, “This is a quest for the soul of the woman you love. Yet, I am your wife and I am here, Elias. It is as though with every word and deed you twist the knife that little bit more.”

Jonus suddenly decides that this isn’t the best conversation to eavesdrop on and shuts down the spell. Drasha continues, “You are a good man, Elias, but you wounded me. You betrayed me. I want to forgive you, but you do leave heartbreak and sorrow in your wake, just as you said in your letter. I realise our marriage did not begin in the most fairytale of ways, but we are still man and wife. There is a responsibility there, a duty. Joseph Leston understood, I cannot see why you do not.”

“I am your wife, and I take that responsibility as seriously as I take my own life. I will follow you into the mouth of Hell if needs be, but you give nothing back. She is dead, Elias! She is dead and she still comes between us! Is this is what it will be like for the rest of my days? Knowing that every time you look at me, you are seeing her. Knowing that you would have preferred it if I had died in her place?”

“That’s not true!” Elias exclaims. He’s not offended as much as he is shocked that Drasha could think such a thing. “I did not tell you of what I saw in Mínaris’s maze. You were trapped underwater. You were drowning. I only have seconds. And around you was Alessandre’s soul. It was in torment. Trapped in the Great Dark, and she was in agony. I could only save one of you. I chose to save you.”

Drasha does not know what to say. She stares out to sea again. The thoughts churning through her mind. And then the one thought that has dogged her the most over the past few weeks bubbles to the surface. “And what do you intend to do Elias? You get Quenqurial’s help, you find Alessandre’s soul? What will you do with it? How will you act?”

Elias looks at Drasha. For a moment he doesn’t understand what she is implying. “How far would you go?” she demands again. Resurrection. That is what she means. In the Greymere Elias agreed without question when Arvan offered to reincarnate Alessandre. What would he do given the chance to bring her back to life. He is no follower of Mortis, the act is no sin for him, and Alessandre has always played free and loose with the laws of the Moon Faiths, she may agree. But to Drasha there could be few higher sins that stealing a soul from Mortis. She is of the Moon Faiths, worshipper of Terranor and all the Covenant stands for. She wouldn’t stand for raising Alessandre from the dead.

“She is gone,” Elias says at last. “If she is free, I am content.” Drasha stares closely at her husband. Does he mean what he is saying? He has said many things in the past that he meant at the time and then went back on days or weeks later when it served him. He might be sincere now, but if faced with a chance to restore Alessandre to life would he be able to resist taking that chance?

“I am guilty of all that you have said, but I do actually love you,” Elias says slowly, reaching out and touching his wife. Drasha holds his gaze for a moment. “I know,” she says and turns and walks back into the hold. Elias watches her go, and then turns his head out to sea. “Arsecakes,” he says loudly.

It takes Elias several minutes to realise that Misgon is standing next to him. The young wizard has evidently heard some or all of the conversation. Elias wonders what he is thinking. He has always been close to Drasha. She looks on him as a younger brother. Misgon takes Elias’s hand and presses something into it. He says, “I took this from the townhouse. I needed something, something of hers. I never thought I was going to see her again. I thought she was dead. Take it back Elias, and give it back to her. Give it to her and mean it this time.”

Misgon walks away, leaving Elias alone in the light of the moons. Slowly the paladin opens his hand. Within it is a necklace on which is the ring he asked Jhasik Tannesh to make for him. It seems like an age ago. So much has happened since then. The ring, and within it the inscription: “I promise that I will always be true to you – Elias.”

Terday, 37 Dark Days 204

The weather draws in and it is rough going for the newly renamed Lady. The party and much of the crew descend below decks to weather the storm. Elias is not sure if clearing the air with Drasha has really accomplished anything. He hopes so, and he hopes that their continuing journey to Tibrai does not drive a further wedge between them.

Zephday, 38 Dark Days 204

Another day of poor weather, in which very little gets done. The new members of the crew are integrating in well enough. Masantha is helping with lessons in Sorostraen. Rakmallion is notable for never being seen without his pipe, although no smoke is ever seen rising from it and Dugin apes everything that Black does.

The most notable thing happens well after everyone has gone to bed. Elias snaps awake as rough, scaly hands grab his arms and legs. Standing over him are three hulking creatures, that in the half-light of the swinging lantern resemblance a cross between man and shark. He struggles widely, but Drasha in the adjacent hammock seems to hear nothing. A poultice of sweet smelling herbs is clamped across his nose and mouth, and Elias begins to feel groggy. Yet he continues to fight against the three of them until everything goes black.

Caladay, 39 Dark Days 204

Jonus awakes at dawn well rested to discover something very disconcerting. Everyone on the ship is heavily asleep and cannot be wakened. There is a strange sweet smell in the air, and a thin pink mist is visible below decks. Everyone seems to have been drugged. He wasn’t affected because of the power of Zephyre that blesses him. Jonus quickly heads upstairs. Dugin is lying by the tiller, he has been bludgeoned into unconsciousness. In her cabin, Captain Montague is also unconscious. The ship is adrift.

Using magic he brings Dugin around. The lad stammers in a terrified fashion that he was set upon by the devils of the deep! They climbed aboard and attacked him! They struck him and knocked him unconscious. “I can’t understand why they didn’t kill me! I never knew we’d be facing this sort of thing, or I never would have signed up.” Shaking Dugin to his senses, Jonus gets him to help him move everyone out onto the deck and into the fresh air. It is then he notices that Elias is missing.

It is midday before everyone awakes. And then the chaos begins. Drasha acts in a manner most un-Drasha like. She seems on the verge of abstract panic and has to be calmed down by Ravenna and Misgon who do all they can to reassure her that he will be found. Fallor finds wet footprints on the deck that confirms Dugin’s story. Elias was abducted by sea devils. Misgon, explains that sea devils, also known as sahuagin, are a malign ocean-dwelling race known for preying on ships. However, the events of yesterday evening does not speak of sahuagin attack.

The sahuagin should have butchered everyone on this vessel, but they did not. They even knocked Dugin unconscious rather than kill him, and then they used something to put everyone else to sleep. Torr has found a pouch of alchemical powders, and he recognises their noted soporific effect. There was some controlling force behind the Sahuagin’s actions, but who. “Does Elias have any enemies?” Torr asks. Ravenna falls about laughing at the question.

However, the kidnappers were not completely thorough. They forgot Hedwig. Elias’s family is still present, but very distressed. It sits on Drasha’s arm hooting mournfully, while Drasha strokes its feathers. Which is comforting the other more is hard to tell. “If Elias was dead, then Hedwig would be dead,” says Ravenna authoritatively. “He’s still alive, and therefore there is still a link between him and the owl. Captain Montague, turn the ship around. If we get within a mile of Elias, Hedwig will know.”

The captain agrees. The Lady turns in a lazy arc and heads back towards the east. Jonus flies ahead with Hedwig, Drasha stands on the prow. She is determined not to lose Elias. The ship was probably drifting for twelve hours after Elias was taken, who knows what has happened to him in that time?

About the same time his drugged companions were coming around, Elias too regains consciousness. He lying on the floor in a sea cave barely lit by a single guttering torch. He has the mother of all headaches and his wrists and ankles are securely bound. He notices that the place smells faintly of fish.

Moments later two incredible creatures enter from a higher chamber. Though bipedal they are hunched at their enormous piscine shoulders, and sport a huge shark-like head full of razor-sharp teeth. Yes, Elias recognises this pain from last night. Their thin arms and legs end in webbed claws. Evidently some sort of sea-going race, but not at all like the Vampire of Sorgar. Something else, then.

The pair hoist Elias to his feet and drag him painfully from the cavern, and up some slimy steps and down into another chamber. The ceiling here is about eighteen feet above his head, and the floor is about an inch deep in water. At the far end of the chamber a rocky ledge, seven feet from the ground. In the centre a post runs from floor to ceiling. The two creatures securely tie Elias to this and leave the room chuckling evilly to themselves.

Elias waits until they have gone and then begins to struggle against his bonds. He cannot budge them, and is very annoyed to discover that his magical rings (the only magical items that he was wearing while asleep) have been removed. One belonged to Alessandre! One was of the Order of the Dragon! Now he’s mad. Who has done this to him? The answer cannot be long in coming. Heavy footsteps herald a figure, who soon appears on the rocky ledge.

He is a strange sight. Clad in black leather with heavy metal books, and a cylindrical metal helmet that must be about two feet high. Elias can tell by the way he walks that he is not used to moving and balancing that helmet at the same time. There is, in fact, something faintly ridiculous about this figure. Although, Elias is having trouble appreciating quite how ridiculous while tied to this stake. He is still in his night attire, soaked and freezing.

“You know why you’re here!” intones a rather desperate voice that sounds like someone speaking from the bottom of a coal scuttle. “No,” Elias says as amiably as he can muster, “why am I hear.” – “Don’t play games with me! You must know!” – Elias smiles politely. “You are hear to face your punishment!” – “Punishment for what?” – “For murder!”

Elias is stumped. What does he mean murder? He has killed many people in his life, but always in self defence. He begins to go through a mental list of everyone and thing he has killed since embarking on Narramac’s grand quest. The list is long. And what is more annoying is that he recognises this man’s voice. He can almost place it. “Who are you?” he asks.

But the villain does not reply. And the room in which Elias is tied is slowly filling with sea water. The man in the metal helm keeps telling Elias how it is his just fate, and Elias keeps throwing names at him, but still Elias cannot place the villain or the person he is supposed to have killed. This is stupid, he tells himself. This is a stupid way to die.

The water is icy cold, and Elias has completely lost the feeling in the parts of him submerged in the water. By the time it has risen to his waist, he is beginning to believe that he may not get out of this one. “I want you to suffer as she suffered!” yells the villain, sounding increasingly unstable. She? And then it hits him.

“Mortimer?” Elias asks. “You killed her,” replies the man who is obviously Mortimer. “You killed her and I will make sure you pay.” He wrenches the helm from his head. Mortimer, looking very small in the outfit, glares at Elias malevolently, his eyes stained with tears. “You killed her! I loved her and you killed her!”

Elias shakes his head disbelievingly. He always knew that Mortimer had a crush on Alessandre, but he hadn’t stopped to consider what news of her death would do to him. “I loved her,” Elias declares.

“No! You didn’t! You couldn’t! If you loved her you wouldn’t have taken her with you, wouldn’t have forced her in to danger. You took her with you, she died, you killed her. Your responsibility! Your fault! Your fault! You should have left her. You should have left her with me! I would have protected her, I would have taken care of her. She would have been safe with me. But you took her! You took her away! You killed her! Murderer!”

Mortimer has completely lost the plot. With the helmet off, the mad gesticulations and the phlegm flying he is far, far more terrifying than any affected villain that he might try to imitate. There is a mad glint in his eye. Elias suddenly realises that Alessandre’s death has pushed Mortimer completely over the edge. He realises that Mortimer truly believes that he is responsible for Alessandre’s death. And he realises that he is going to die. Mortimer can’t be reasoned with, can’t be talked down. Unless help arrives in the next few minutes the water will rise and it will be the end of him. Mortimer in his mad passion for Alessandre would have done what hosts of more powerful foes could not, and cause his death.

“Mortimer, listen to me!” Elias begins, “There’s still a chance to help Alessandre, to bring her back! I know someone who can help, but I have to go to Tibrai I…..” But it is too late for that. Mortimer is deranged. He looks at Elias and floods of tears stream down his cheeks. Not tears for Elias, but tears for the bard. “You will die, and you will deserve it!” the young man yells and flees from the cave.

“Mortimer!” Elias calls after him, but it is too late. There is no-one else to hear him down here. Again Elias struggles against his bonds, but to no avail. And all the time the water creeps in further and further. It rises to his chin, it covers his mouth and Elias realises he is going to die. Then the water is over his nose. He holds his breath for as long as he is able, and then release and the water floods into his lungs and all is darkness.

And then he wakes up. He is naked and covered in a warm blanket. A foul smelling creature is standing over him. Elias spots the plaited nasal hair. “Nosuch?” he asks. “Aye lad,” says the gnome, “try not to move. You’ve been through a rough time and no mistake. Took me a while to get through those ropes. You nearly drowned.”

“Where’s Mortimer?” Elias demands. “Ah, yes. Now you shouldn’t judge the lad too harshly. He was in love with Alessandre you see. We all were, you know. Who wouldn’t love her? When she died, it turned him a little strange,” Nosuch circles his index finger rapidly around his ear, “Actually it turned him into an utter nutjob.”

“Now listen, I’ve got to go to him now. I’ll try and keep him out of trouble. Best you don’t follow. Sorry about your magic rings, but here – have a toffee.” Elias takes the toffee, but can’t help but think that the magic rings would have been nicer. “You take care. Your friends turned the ship around. They’ll find you if you wait here.”

Sharday, 40 Dark Days 204

“Hedwig has him!” calls Jonus back to the boat. Drasha scans the shoreline. No more than a mile from here would still be in the Wilderlands that surround Calclafique. Dangerous territories packed full of monsters and beasts. “Jonus,” she calls, “you and Torr fly ahead and find him. I’m going ashore.” Misgon, Ravenna, Jessica and Fallor get into a boat and head ashore.

They beach the boat and climb a rocky path up the cliff. Moving eastwards along the cliff top they hurry toward where Elias can be found. Jonus finds in through a cave system at the top of the cliff and, leaving Torr to guide the others, flies down with Hedwig. Very soon they have both found Elias who is close to freezing to death. Elias briefly explains what happened and Jonus goes to search for Mortimer, although Elias knows that he will be long gone.

Drasha and the others reach the top of the cliff without incident and Torr points to a crevasse they must climb down to reach Elias. Drasha rushes forward and in her haste slips and falls down about sixty feet. She is battered and bloody, but in no mood to see to her injuries as she hurries to find Elias.

When she finds him she faces forward and embraces her freezing husband. She kisses him, something she has not done before, and then steps back, her eyes full of concern. “What happened?” she asks. “What was all this about?” Elias opens his mouth and then pauses. “Actually,” he says, “it was all about Alessandre.” Drasha’s eyes narrow. And then she laughs, overcome with a terrible attack of the giggles.

They are all back on the ship by midday. Captain Montague welcomes Elias aboard. She confesses that she did not expect to see him again. Elias tells his story, and Jonus has tried to used his chimes of finding spell on the toffee wrapper and the blanket. Mortimer and Nosuch are somewhere in land. Elias suggests that they let them go. With any luck, Mortimer will believe he is dead.

Elias is still deathly cold, but his relationship with Drasha seems to have warmed. “Now can we please go Varosh?” asks Ravenna meaningfully. “I do have my parents to find.”

Morday, 41 Dark Days 204

They are now one day behind schedule. Ravenna is feeling the delay keenly, and there are times when it almost feels as though she regrets saving Elias’s life. Misgon watches this callous streak with concern. However, the weather is fine (for Dark Days) and the ship makes excellent progress.

Sunday, 42 Dark Days 204

In the evening, Torr is standing on the deck alone when he approached by Rakmallion Singar. The cheerful sailor walks up closely and removes the pipe from his mouth. Then something truly remarkable happens. Nort, Torr’s owl familiar, flutters over and lands on Rakmallion’s wrist. Rakmallion strokes it calmly, making Torr extremely uncomfortable. “Come with me,” he says a low whisper that is almost unintelligible, and leads Torr to the prow, where he sits on one of the cargo chests nailed to the deck. He gestures for Torr to do the same.

“I will be brief in case we are over heard. My name is indeed Rakmallion Singar, but I am not as I appear. I am a High Invigilant for the Arcanum Incognita. I am here on important church business and I need your help. The sorceress Ravenna is leading this merry band toward the island of Varosh. Once there she seeks to oppose a group of rogue wizards calling themselves The Potentates. One of these wizards is her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in over a year. But the Arcanum Incognita are all ready there, and engaged in a very delicate operation against these Potentates – an operation that Ravenna cannot be allowed to interfere in.”

“That is why I demand your help. With the will of Zephyre, the Church will have concluded its business on Varosh long before this vessel arrives on it. But if we have not, then Ravenna will have to be stopped. That is why I am here. It is preferred that nothing fatal happens to her, but I have the authority to protect this mission by any means necessary. I have therefore been given mastery of your Zetoile Mark.”

Torr’s eyes open widely. That explains why Rakmallion could call Nort. Torr rolls up his sleeve and examines the brand of the eight-pointed star on the inside of his forearm. It looks no different, but it tingles to his touch. They he looks to Rakmallion. Mastery of the Zetoile Mark gives this man great power of him. He cannot control his mind, but any spell Singar cast would be much more effective, and worse, he could sever the link with Nort at a whim. But the Church does not hand out mastery of the Zetoile Mark lightly. The brand is given to all wizards as part of a binding contract, but it’s powers are never used! Torr cannot remember an occasion in his lifetime when such a thing has happened. He looks at Rakmallion. There is something far more serious happening on Varosh than he could have thought possible. He was right to come here, right to do a favour for his ally. But, how to get himself out of this pretty pickle. He cannot go directly against the Sorostraen Church.

Rakmallion continues, “I have no desire to cause you pain or discomfort, but you will do as I say in this matter. You have allegiance to the Arcanum Incognita and have enjoyed many privileges because of it. Now is the time to repay the Church. Watch Ravenna and report anything unusual to me. If this ship gets to Varosh and the Church’s work isn’t done we will have to take steps to stop her and the rest of your companions. Do I make myself clear?”

“I will do all I can to help the Church,” says Torr meekly. He and Rakmallion understand one another, although Torr has some fast thinking to do before this ship reaches its destination.

As a parting shot, Rakmallion says: “Cross me and you cross the Church. Interference in this matter may not be necessary, but if you tell your companions who I am, I will sink this ship in an eyeblink. I have no qualms about killing everyone aboard. One more thing. Keep an eye on her companion, this Misgon. He is a wizard, but he doesn’t wear the Zetoile Mark. After all this over he should be taken into custody by the Church. I may need your help there.”

Vítday, 43 Dark Days - Caladay, 46 Dark Days 204

The Lady presses on. Torr can feel Rakmallion watching him as he watches Ravenna and Misgon. It is a tense few days as the ship heads ever westward toward peril. Lessons in Sorostraen continues, and Little Bobby Proudfoot complains of a twinge in his bunions that may portend something dire on the horizon.

Sharday, 47 Dark Days 204

In the evening, the Painted Lady again appears to Jonus. She kisses his forehead and settles down to watch him sleep. However, this time she is seen by Fallor, who bellows and dives for the woman. Alerted, Elias also sees her and runs forward. Jonus awakes to see Fallor to one side, and Elias to the other charging toward the Painted Lady who stands above him.

She gives Jonus a longing look and vanishes into the ethereal plane. Fallor and Elias realise they are charging straight toward one another and let out a brief exclamation. Elias rolls to one side. By this stage everyone is awake and demanding an explanation from Jonus.

He explains that the Painted Lady believes that she is his son, and that this is the second time she has come to visit him.” And are you her son?” asks Ravenna suspiciously. “I never knew my mother,” admits Jonus, “I do not know where I was born. But I do not see how I can be her son.” – “You are the right colour.” – Jonus nods, “But not the right age. I am what my body shows I am, but I do not fear her. I think she is misguided.”

Misguided? This is strange news. A mass-murdering, ethereal travelling demon has adopted a member of the party as her long-lost son. This could certainly complicate matters. But Jonus does not see a problem as long as she doesn’t attack any one. That, of course, is everyone else’s point.

Morday, 48 Dark Days - Vítday, 1 Baretwig 204

Over these few days, the weather gets increasingly worse. The waves rise as high as the aftcastle, and it soon becomes apparent that the coaster cannot hope to continue to traverse the seas and remain afloat. Sergenté, who has been studying the sky for some time, announces that a terrible storm is coming and they must seek shelter.

Terday, 2 Baretwig 204

The ship heaves to a storm-tossed day off the southern coast of Junos. According to Sergenté the land to the north is Valley of Gold, wherein lie the Pits of Walhoon. Jessica is a little nervous at this. Dinosaurs dwell in the Valley of Gold, and how can they be anything other than dangerous. “Large lizards eat people,” she says, “it’s a universal truism.”

Beyond the bay is a sandy beach and a thick, impenetrable jungle. In the last light of the day, the crew of The Lady can see a heard of tortoise-like creatures with long tails, each the size of a horse. Suddenly, a huge bipedal reptile some twenty feet in height bursts from the forest and leaps onto the last one in the line. With amazing strength it flips over its prey, the club-like tail flailing wildly. Then the predator is upon it tearing open the soft under belly. It sees the ship and roars in its general direction, though show no inclination to swim out to them for a fight.

Zephday, 3 Baretwig 204

By the following morning, the storm has passed and a helpful breeze has picked up from the East. The Lady makes excellent time as it slices through the water toward Varosh, at this speed only two days away. Ravenna can almost taste destiny calling now as she leans out over the side of the vessel to be the first to spot anything unusual. Yet the further they go, the more ominous their destination becomes.

The further west The Lady takes them, the darker the sky becomes. But this is not the colour of rain, this is a dense black smoke that is hanging in the Heavens before them. Although it is still impossible to see where the smoke column originates, it seems too much of a coincidence to suppose that Varosh isn’t at the heart of this problem. The air has taken on an acrid, almost metallic, taste and a great sense of foreboding rests heavily on the crew.

Just after lunch Dugin gives a yell from the deck and points alarmedly over the side of the vessel. There, floating in the water surrounding the ship, are hundreds upon hundreds of dead fish. Tuna, mackerel, squid – even the body of a sea devil – predator and prey alike struck down by some unseen hand. The further to the West the ship journeys, the worse the problem becomes until The Lady are ploughing through a sea of corpses sitting atop the undulating ocean.

“Well, it’s not a good sign is it?” says Dugin as he urges the captain to turn back. Torr turns from watching Ravenna to watching Rakmallion. He seems worried, apprehensive. What has happened to the Arcanum Incognita on Varosh, Torr wonders.

Caladay, 4 Baretwig 204

The further west, the wilder the ocean becomes. There is very little wind, but the sea is extremely rough, dangerously so in fact for the ill equipped coaster. As the unnatural cloud in the sky moves to cut off the sun, the sea ripples and foams around the ship as if it is being shaken by a great unseen hand. Waves crash over the deck. It takes four on the tiller to fight the power of the ocean through the day and into the night.

The waves have broken up the slick of dead things in the sea, but the tension on the boat continues to increase. Ravenna’s excitement his risen to new heights. She prowls back and forth across the desk like a tiger, impatient to be ashore – impatient to find answers to all her questions. Torr too is becoming worried. The closer they get to Varosh, the sooner he will have to act. Will it be for Rakmallion or against him?

Sharday, 5 Baretwig 204

Dawn does not break on this morning because of the thick darkness in the sky above. The sun cannot be seen, yet even without the sun there is light. There, on the horizon, not fifteen miles away a tremendous gout of flame can be see shooting into the sky. The whites and reds cooling to orange and yellow as it falls back to the ground. Great clouds of steam can be seen rolling across the windless sea. It is hot and oppressive, and the air reeks of sulphur and poison.

Captain Montague looks out toward the fire, with her eyes agog and turns quickly to Sergenté. “Take us back,” she commands, “find another way to destination.” Sergenté leaves the tiller and unrolls his maps on the rocking deck. “Captain,” he cries in dismay. “That is our destination! Varosh has erupted!”

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