CotBS Act 1 - Genso’s Plague

3E450/06/16 - The party of 5 (Plus Pete) travels from the mainland towards Cinoh aboard the Teal Star, but are ambushed by the Deep Rose pirates. Managing to defend against them, they crash the ship into one of Tikius' docks. However, they find out that the island is under quarantine, due to some new unidentified plague.
3E450/06/17 - The crew head to the old market and perform a song for some money, before heading to the Deep Rose brewery. They manage to sneak in with Yoruu masquerading as Zigzag, and find out about the experimentation. Sif lets out the pustuloids and it all ends up with a huge fight with Rumfuck and the pirates. The gang does manage to turn Gary in the middle of the fight though. Heading back, they rescue Amari from a pack of Velociraptors. Belanar sends them up towards the volcano, and they meet Xoe on the Rokal lakefront. At the summit, they discover the lava snake that's been terrorizing the island who is demanding sacrifices. Belanar hires them as a crew, as they're 'under a 2300 gold debt'. He gives them the repaired Teal Star, and sends them towards the island near Mokai with a plan to get back within 4-7 days to make it in time for a storm 'that can help them beat the lava snake'.
3E450/06/19 - After a day of sailing, they reach the town under Fort Rawan. They find a wanted poster of Roonan, but realize that the free island is now under Crimson control and are led by the soldiers up to the fort where Shoila is set to hang. They meet Commodore Zolen, who asks about their history and then tests their strength via sending them out to the dilapidated Shrine of Vertum to clear it out of beasts. The crew manage to clear it out of Pteranodons and Quetzalcoatluses, stealing one egg as they do so. Returning to the fort, they realize that the plagued monsters who were captured escaped, but manage to kill them with help from the soldiers. Zolen hires them to go hunt down Roonan, releasing Shoila upon their request. They buy a few tons of cod, and set off.
3E450/06/20 - The crew reaches the Anchorage of Whispers late at night, and manage to sell their offload of cod to a drow merchant in the Whispering Docks. Going through the town square, they see two drunks being executed by Xaniv the Whisperer, who seems to see right through Yoruu. They make it to the Overrated Lion Pub, where Laoch finds an old friend, Zorahim, who tells them about the place the Deep Rose is staying at in Cavetown. Elise and Yoruu manage to hook up with Zorahim and his girl, meanwhile Sif and Anlee get extremely drunk, Anlee being thrown out of the bar and taken back to the ship by Laoch.
3E450/06/21 - The gang makes it to Cavetown with Zorahim's lead where Yoruu buys a dubious potion of healing from a weird older pirate. They make it to the Purple Orange/Silent Room where Snort thinks Sif is his granddaughter, Baa. They disguise into the Deep Rose room and ask them where the captain is, leading them to Xaniv. Snort gives Sif two pirate coins, one of which they use to gain an audience with Xaniv. They encounter Dr. Genso as he's leaving, and pay Xaniv with their memories and Yoruu's monk knowledge to gain info. The gang offers a duel to Captain Roonan, and the crews of the two ships meet up at a small isle south of the Anchorage. The duel between Yoruu and Roonan turns into a full brawl until they convince the first mate, Linn, to take over the Deep Rose. As they sail back to Ko Philin with the captured Roonan and Shoila, they gain the location of Genso's lab- Yūbe. At night, they see a beautiful multicolor meteor shower, but one hits nearby. As they go to get the meteorite, they're ambushed by a few Byakhees and a Formless Spawn.
3E450/06/22 - At Fort Rawan, they hand in Roonan to Commodore Zolen for the bounty. He has them meet Dr. Baizo, who tells them what he knows about the disease and that he's headed to Cinoh as well. They also learn that Baa, Snort's granddaughter, was executed 3 years ago by the Crimson Empire for piracy. As they leave, they haggle with the shipmaster Bernard again, and buy 50 barrels of rum to weigh the ship down in the upcoming cyclone from the south. They manage to steer the ship through the storm though!
3E450/06/23 - They reach Tikius which is weathering the storm. Xoe goes to work at Ol' Scotty's forge on Laoch's sword, and Yoruu invades Ravir's house for Devil Juice. They meet with Belanar who had set up storm defenses and is setting up lava flow defenses. He sends with them a human and a triton upto the volcano summit, where they find the watchtower collapsed to reveal a cave entrance. Getting good loot in the cave, they manage to call out and lead the lava snake down into the lake with them where they kill him. The volcano erupts, but safely towards the west. Afterward as the storm is settling down, everyone has a big party in Tikius with lots of rum, where Belanar gives them a treasure map to La Isla Tumba, Elise sleeps with Salyn, and Laoch gets her new sword made by Xoe- Stormdancer.
3E450/06/24 - They set off in the Argent Star early in the day. Around midway through the trip, they're ambushed by pirates on a small junk. After a long fight during which the other captain rammed his ship into ours, they manage to kill the other crew. Heavily damaged, they make it to Port Cinoh around nighttime. Anlee and the gang go to his house, where his dad lets them stay the night, and they learn about the Yakuza kidnapping Dr. Baizo.
3E450/06/25 - They head to the citadel to meet with the Shogun. They run into the prince first, who has a bad interaction with Nyx. Regardless, the Shogun hires them to go rescue Baizo, and suggests they ask Yatra for help. They head to Shidono temple first, where Nyx fights Monk Shikaze in a non-lethal battle to be accepted back. After a hard fought battle with his friends, Nyx manages to succeed, being accepted back into the order. They take the jar for inspection, and give them the map of the side path to Abbeyin, where the Aekai Family compound is. As they leave, they run into the Princess, who's surprised to see a bird-person. They investigate Hoshiaki Inn, where they find a shuriken. They do move the crew there though. They buy some potions (and steal some unknown ones) at the Helpful Vine apothecary, and then head off to the Seven's Carnival which is in Cinoh at this time. Sif prevents a goblin from stealing from Elise, as Laoch enters the tournament, beating the champion Yatra with Elise's help. Yatra agrees to help them, having lost her memory due to the Aekai. The gang sleeps at the Inn, except for Yoruu and Anlee at his dad's house. Anlee's dad gives him a rusted katana that's been in the family for generations, but needs to be restored.
3E450/06/26 - Setting out in the morning as kids ask Laoch for handshakes, they make it to Naje town by evening. They see a Kabuki play about the cometfall, and Laoch visits the small temple of Atrius. The gang sees the white albatross again, before they realize two of the Samurai are corrupt through Detect Thoughts. They manage to capture both of them, and go on their way. They camp in the middle of the mountain river valley, having nightmares due to the proximity of the Cometfall Sea.
3E450/06/27 - After an uneventful day of walking, they see the cometfall sea in front of them, stretching out forever. They camp out for the night with Yoruu keeping watch, until he senses something off and wakes them. The gang fights four shinobi, coming out on top after a dicey encounter in the middle of the night. Three of them were from the Aekai, but one had an Akumakai pin.
3E450/06/28 - The gang infiltrates into the Aekai Compound, eventually making it to the library. Due to the shinobis though, they have to wait it out, Sif still hidden in the office. They all have a shared dream, of maggots and some kid. Upon waking up, they find Baizo curing Singularity's kid, and eventually manage to convince Singularity to let them help out. They head to the top of a nearby mountain to a shrine, to perform an exorcism. Succeeding, they unleash an Unspeakable Horror out of Tsubi. They fight it off, after which it possesses Singularity instead. Losing control, the top of the mountain flies up into the sky. They manage to hold him back and lose Yatra to the fall along the way, after which the black hole implodes with Singularity and the Horror inside. The shrine falls down into the ocean, as they black out. Due to Yatra landing in the town, they were rescued and brought to a hospital nearby.
3E450/07/01 - They wake up in Yushan, and have another shared dream, this time of ships being destroyed just before reaching Yube including the Hisui Maru. They decide to send the kid to the Anchorage to live with Snort, and Sif writes Snort a letter explaining everything. Yatra isn't intent on joining the crew just yet, but agrees to take the kid with her to the Anchorage where she'll ask for Xaniv's help with her memories. They make it to Naje by nightfall, still on the lookout for a triton mage to fix the rusted katana. They meet the Samurai from earlier, who give them lodging and explain that they questioned and executed the corrupt Samurai from earlier.
3E450/07/02 - They reach Port Cinoh by noon, which is in full celebration due to the last day of the Seven's Carnival for their eight years. They head to the citadel, running into the princess again who gushes over Kenkus. The Shogun explains Cinoh's delicate political situation, and gives them 2500 gold pieces as a reward. Meanwhile, Nyx meets Kazeshi at Shidono temple, who has developed a cursed-water cure with Amari for the plague. Nyx questions him about various topics including the Aekai and the true Yoruu. Kazeshi sits down to enchant the rope they found from Vertum's Temple into a quarterstaff for Nyx, by which time the others reach the temple. They smash open the jar, releasing the formless spawn inside. They manage to take it down, Nyx facing his ramming fear as they do so. In the evening, the gang partakes in some carnival games like Escape-The-Giant, before Elise realizes Uragan is playing. Meeting with him, they make a wager for Hazel's instrument and pirate coins. Big bard-off, with the gang winning out just barely. There was someone in the audience who polymorphed into a bird and flew away, but nobody noticed.
3E450/07/03 - In the morning, they receive a letter from Belanar telling them that they have been declared outlaws by the Crimson Empire because Roonan talked about everything. They see Yatra and Tsubi off, as well as discuss the Tikius cure with Baizo before setting sail. The quetzalcoatlus baby hatches, and the gang name it Duck Norris. Elise also learns about Pete (and Gary's) backstory, while Shoila was teaching Gary how to fight until Nyx interrupted them.
3E450/07/04 - The gang make it to Okuyama late at night around 2 AM, and buy a lot of stuff from Nowles' magic shop by waking him up. The next morning, they get some information from a young blacksmith about tritons and the cult. They head out towards Yube, when they're attacked right off the coast by a juvenile kraken. The Argent Star is torn apart during the fight, and they lose Gary to one of its tentacles. Anlee awakens his katana by striking the Kraken, and kills it with its own lightning. When they swim to shore, the white albatross talks to them finally- he was the one behind their shared dreams. He reveals himself as the god Vertum, and tells them about Varkanus' corruption and Genso. Anlee realizes that the Hisui Maru is among the crashed ships at Yube. The crew tries to get the lightly damaged Deep Rose unstuck from the rocks, as the gang heads into the Yube Lab via a side cave entrance. Fighting the cult members there including Onis, they manage to win after a hard fight. Investigating the lab, they see a projected image of Genso and have a conversation with him, during which he reveals that he's trying to lift the curse of the blood sea. They say some valid points, and he goes to think about them. Yoruu meditates on an altar of Varkanus, and inhales something that gives him permanent red eyes. Meanwhile, the gang free the remaining crew of the Deep Rose, who tell them that they overheard one of the cult members talking about a contact in Taltigo. The gang sails out on their newly acquired brig towards Taltigo.
3E450/07/08 - The gang reaches Taltigo just after dusk, docking in the Dark Harbour. Sif leads them to the Lilypad Home for Children, where they donate a lot of their earnings to one of the caretakers, Ashby. However, they find a sus dude marking the outside wall of the orphanage, and confront him. He marked it with the protected symbol though, and recognizes them as the ones wanted by the Crimsons. He leads them to Lady Lyn's brothel, the Sea's Embrace. There, he turns back into a female changeling, Zai, and they meet Lady Lyn herself. After a talk, she explains that they do something for her, and she'll lead them to this Varkanus cultist in Taltigo- But they'll talk business in the morning. Yoruu tries to awkwardly talk to Zai, but it doesn't go too well. Sif tails her, but gets caught as well. Yoruu and Elise spend the night at the brothel, with good company.
3E450/07/09 - The gang meets up with Lyn and Zai outside the brothel in the morning, and she sends them towards Warehouse 7-C to get her merchandise back from a rival 'shadowfell' gang, forcing Zai to go with them. They go through Potions and Poisons first, making their way through Crowstown and towards the Warehouse, passing by the Walls Orphanage. They are ambushed by some shadow dancers, but manage to kill most of them before one teleports away. Discovering that Lyn's cargo was slaves, they have a moral dilemma with Zai before agreeing to give the slaves over to Lyn. They head back to the Sea's Embrace, where Lyn welcomes them and cures some of Elise's wounds. Nyx trades a pirate coin for Zai's freedom from Lyn, to which Lyn reluctantly agrees. She tells them about the Varkanist Sect on Taltigo, led by a man named Yulis who operates out of the sewers under West Gate. Zai thinks about the offer to join them, running away. They then head to the Sand Chapel, the largest temple to Sigmus on land. They meet Father Gulnik, who removes the curse of Varkanus from Yoruu and talks about Yulis- As well as telling Anlee that he has sea sorcerous potential. At the ship, Amari is healing a brute who got messed up in a 'friendly' card game brawl. They decide on the crew positions, naming Laoch first mate and Pete the quartermaster.
3E450/07/10 - The gang wakes up to Ashby freaking out, saying that a young tiefling girl, Kiyis, got kidnapped- with the ransom note having Varkanus' symbol on it. The gang rush into the sewers, where they proceed to get lost for hours. They eventually hear Yulis' voice in their heads, warning them to stay away and that he knows their tactics. They get ambushed by an alligator, easily dealing with it, before being ambushed by two giant alligators which they have some trouble with. They eventually are let into Yulis' sanctum, where he talks about how he doesn't like/trust Genso but must serve him regardless. He tells them that he's headed to Gravesbry, and then introduces himself as the Paladin of Varkanus. He casts silence on them, and his cultists cast darkness- leading to one of the most hard fought battles. Sif and Nyx deal with the cultists, saving the bleeding kid from the altar which was healing Yulis. Nyx has some trouble with one of the cultists though. Meanwhile, Yulis beats down on Laoch and Anlee multiple times, both of them brushing by death often before they and Elise finally take him down using a combination of heat metal, create water in lungs, and lightning sword. Getting a lot of loot, they take the kid back to the orphanage and Ashby. They get contacted by Baizo using Project Image, who's with the crimsons at Yube. They tell him about Gravesbry, and discuss all that has happened. They meet Zai on their ship with them as they begin the 4½ day voyage to Tikius, as she dodges out of the way of Nyx's hug.
3E450/07/11 - Amari explains that Anlee and Nyx came down with the sewer plague, puking all over the place. It takes them the entire day to shake it off.
3E450/07/14 - Anlee and Laoch navigate through thick fog using his skills and her destroy water, docking safely at Tikius before sunset. Meeting Belanar, they sell the expensive golden furniture and stuff they found in the warehouse, settling their debt with him. They also take him up on that free ship upgrade, much to his dismay. Sif steals demon juice again, as Anlee and Laoch pay Xoe to melt down Yulis' adamantine plate into a half-plate for Anlee and a breastplate for Laoch. Meanwhile, Elise spends the night with Salyn again.
3E450/07/15 - The gang wake up to their repaired and upgraded ship, The Phoenix Nebula, properly decorated. They bid adieu to Belanar, sailing out towards Gravesbry through the summer reef… And get a vibe that they're sailing towards an unnatural storm. Yoruu has a heartfelt conversation with Zai, during which he apologizes and explains that the ship and the crew are good people. Zai thanks him, and says that she still needs to think about who she is, as the crew puts up storm sails.
3E450/07/18 - Around night, not that they can tell the time due to the storm, Duck Norris warns Anlee and Laoch about a ship behind them. A crimson frigate sails up to them, and forces them to sail towards Gravesbry Docks, where they meet Baizo. He tells them that he discovered that while Genso got here before them, he hasn't got the scroll yet because it's in an ancient sunken temple at the bottom of a trench nearby. They're taken to meet Admiral Isabeau, who tells them about Roonan being arrested on the mainland and Zolen's promotion being stalled. She essentially forces them to sign a tier one privateer contract with the Crimson Navy, sealing a magical contract with Anlee's signing. Meanwhile after an awkward (for Xoe) reunion, Baizo explains that the two researchers can make some sort of underwater pressurized apparatus that can go down to the temple. Meanwhile, Xoe suggests they pursue the treasure map Belanar gave them that led to Isla Tumba.
3E450/07/19 -Early morning, they boat out to Isla Tumba. Finding a single fishing shack, they meet an excitable half-orc kid named Can. He leads them through the forest on the island, in which Nyx almost gets swallowed by quicksand. They find a puzzle of five senses inside the tomb, which they manage to solve by finding the correct orbs and killing a rabbit. They find a lot of platinum, an unknown key, and an iron flask that's magically sealed. They meet the orc father on their way out, who sees them off. Back at Gravesbry, Xoe and Baizo finish the Apparatus of Kwalish, which the gang takes out to a rocky shore near the trench to deploy while Xoe teaches Sif how to pilot it. Around thirty minutes after the main gang descends into the sea, the crew is charmed by two Rusalka, one of which summons a Megalodon upon her death. As the crew dealt with that, the main gang reached the underwater temple, where a storm giantess named Amohr created an air pocket by pushing the air out. She foretells doom no matter who claims the black scroll, and they have to prove their prowess as warriors to claim it. After a difficult fight during which Sif figures out how to fly on the broom, Nyx pulls her down using his rope and the rest finish her off. She accepts defeat, handing them the map towards Darkgrove Isle and awakening Anlee's sorcerous talents- While Sif stole a lot of gold from around the temple. The storm dissipates, and on the ship the entire crew had delicious megalodon shark fin soup. However, at night, Anlee was woken up by a crew member stealing the map and using a sending spell, who tries to escape and turns into the Oni that escaped back at Yube, who was among them all along. After freezing the people on the deck, he turns to smoke and tries to escape. Anlee however pulls him back and Baizo disintegrates him, but he suffers some damage to his hands from casting that spell.
3E450/07/21 - They reach Fort Rawan around night, and have a meeting with Commodore Zolen, who wishes them good luck and lends them around fifty crimson soldiers to aid them on Darkgrove.
3E450/07/25 - They reach Darkgrove Isle around midday after Duck Norris scouts out where the dock is. Discovering the ruins of an old city that was last excavated decades ago, they investigate and find a large temple of Varkanus. Learning about the lore of the first Devils, the temple demands the blood sacrifice of someone truly faithful. After a Faithkeeper and Sif try and fail on the spiked bowl pedestal, Laoch finally manages to open the seal of the temple, seeing a vision of an old elf pre cometfall, during cometfall, and sealing the temple post-cometfall as an old man. She then sees a young Naoko researching about the curse and trying to lift it, being warned by King Sombra, and causing a plague accident in his lab that led him to a Shrine of Varkanus where he snapped. Leaving the soldiers and the crew up to defend them in case Genso comes, they head deeper into the Scroll Temple. In another room with carvings, Baizo mentions how he doesn't know what Genso even looks like. When Nyx turns into Genso, Baizo freaks out. Laoch with her divine sense senses evil in him, as he shapeshifts to and from Genso a bunch of times. The gang black out, and when they come to, Genso has already run deeper in and shadows form into their own fears- Anlee's Dad, the Formless Spawn, Snort, Uragan & Roonan. After dealing with the shadowforms, Xoe is still shaken from the ordeal. They get a sending from the Faithkeeper above that undead are rising all over the place- More plagued. Zai takes Xoe up, as the five fight through a blood hallway full of the plagued (the plagued!) towards the Scroll Sanctum. Once they reach it, they see Genso and Baizo are now half and half. The Doctor summons two plagued hulks, and the fight begins as he struggles with his own personalities throughout. Sif makes for the scroll, only managing to get it out of the shadow tendrils with Laoch's help- later simply passing around the scroll to keep it out of the Doctor's hands. Eventually, after Nyx and Laoch narrowly dodge a disintegrate beam, the five come together with Elise and take down the Doctor. Amohr reminds Laoch that once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown- and they must not open the scroll. Above ground, the crew and the crimsons have managed to take down the undead, but Xoe's still a bit shook.
3E450/07/26 - After midnight, the entire crew has a celebration party with a two story cake for Laoch's birthday as well as for Genso's defeat. Nyx is going to head off on a Journey of Discovery, and donates a lot of money for Sif's orphanage. Elise is going to write a book about this adventure, and is going to head back to her college. Xoe is also going to head back to the crimsons, and raises a toast for Baizo- who the rest of the world assumes was still a separate person killed by Genso. Anlee is going to go on a journey to discover his own heritage and origins, at least for a while. Sif and Laoch stay on the Phoenix Nebula, Laoch now made the captain of the ship. The crew cheers with swords and magic, until Sif's poison arrow lands on a crewmate, who Amari rushes to heal and the party continues.

3E452/06/22 - Shogun Kagegojuu Iwale is assassinated by the Akumakai clan, putting Princess Aite in charge of the country as a temporary shogun until Prince Miyoshi comes of age next year.

CotBS Act 2 - Brink of War

3E452/08/17 - Tidemeet at Shipwreck City! Laoch and Sif get wasted, and out of her paranoia Xiphalia puts them in her prison.
3E452/08/18 - A returning Elise, with the help of a disguised Zai, convinces lady Xiphalia into letting her see the captive friends. In the prison below, Sif and Laoch come to with a hangover. In the cell opposite them, they find Anlee with a beard, almost not believing it. He's been in prison for a week, and the minotaur Boz in the cell next to them has been here for a month. Sif takes the thieves' tools hidden in Laoch's bun and opens the cell doors just as Elise and Zai get there. After the short reunion, Zai reveals herself and throws a stick of dynamite into the cell, exploding the back wall. Letting out Anlee and Boz as well and getting everyone geared up, they go down the cliff into the beach and try to escape. They are cornered by a bunch of goons all of a sudden, but skeletal and zombie dogs quickly dispatch them- controlled by a vedavin necromancer casting blur. He found them through Elise's book, and reveals himself to be D'vorah. Finding Bajak with a boat, they all make it back up to the Phoenix Nebula where the crew reunites. They are however chased by one of Xiphalia's galleons, but manage to deal with them as it starts to drizzle and get choppy. Three more ships come after them, but between Laoch's channel divinity and full sails, they keep a steady pace ahead of them and have a moment to breathe, reunite and talk for a moment until they hit a rogue wave. In the wave, the iron flask from before finally cracks, releasing a Marid named Shah Heswaa el-Majraa who offers them one wish. She was imprisoned by the elves long ago and is pissed. After discussing for a bit, Sif asks for safety from the ships after them and Boz asks her about her knowledge of the abyssgate and the cometfall. She answers to the best of her ability, revealing to them her knowledge of a once-alive Xaniv's formation of the Pirate Order and the sealing of the abyssgate, but the seal has begun to wither recently. For Sif, she smiles, and turns into water. The ship sinks under the plane, and is planeshifted to a bubble island within the elemental plane of water. They all just stay there for many, many hours- Laoch praying to Atrius for a sign but feeling far away from her... Bajak, Mavros-Squid and Anlee swimming around the plane looking for different sights including far away features like kelp forests, islands, and another bubble, as well as just discussing the state of the world, the war, and how and why everyone is here. Eventually, water elementals and a water elemental in plate armor show up, and tell them that they must stand down and that they are now the property of "Sultan Mukaz al-Azad, The Emperor of the Dominions, The Pearl of the Almarjanu, and the Protector of the Second Gate." If prompted, they just repeated the same line. The gang does stand down, and the elemental in the plate armor touches every crew member on the forehead, giving them water breathing. The elementals then push the Nebula out of the bubble into the water, propelling it even with the sails folded through the kelp forest and towards a city-palace on a lion turtle, the Castle of Almarjanu. Them and Bajak are led into the marble-gold palace- passing by many slaves and another Marid, they are led to the throne room of the Sultan, who was in the middle of listening to a Xoennian slave. Dismissing him, he welcomes them as his new slaves, complains about his brother who they just passed, talks about their races and heritages, and asks for their stories, including reading Elise's book near instantly (after D'vorah burned his copy). He finally relents on them asking for freedom, and tells them about an Aboleth that has been stealing his slaves, and wants them to kill it to earn their freedom, inviting them to stay as long as they like otherwise. Left with many decisions, they exit the throne room and run into Gwenva, who guides them on a tour throughout Castle Almarjanu and introduces some of the other slaves, running into Heswaa as well. In the library, they find books and spells and such, like a book about demons and the abyss. Elise and Boz go to the slaves' quarters to rest for the night after a long conversation with the old sea elf cook, Akkar. Meanwhile, Laoch keeps company in the library as Sif creates poison, D'vorah copies the water breathing spell and Anlee goes through a monster manual of aberrations learning about the Aboleth.
3E452/08/19 - The next morning, Boz notices Akkar's bed is slightly ajar, and Anlee learns that Aboleths don't die permanently. The gang discusses their options, splitting off into groups. Laoch, Elise and Sif have a diplomatic talk with Heswaa who is fed up from a breakfast talk with the Sultan, while Boz, Anlee and D'vorah discover a cave under Akkar's bed that leads to the Second Gate, which is sealed from the other side. They meet back up to discuss their next move, during which Harry O'hare buts in. Boz distracts him by asking him about the yaoi book he found, which it turns out was written by Harry, and then some nude modeling happens. Laoch goes back to the ship and catches up with the crew as well, while Anlee and gang confront Akkar who explains his desire to escape after uncountable years of servitude here. Laoch asks for Atrius and in turn Sigmus' help, and they direct them to not go against the Sultan, but instead talk with Heswaa and go for the Aboleth. Heswaa makes a deal with them that she gets the credit for the Aboleth, and she'll transport them (and Akkar) back to the material plane. She transports them to the far-off reef island, where they go into the caves. D'vorah transforms Boz into a giant shark, and after a brief encounter with the Aboleth and his Kuo-Toa minions, have a fight during which the shark gets mind controlled, and the Aboleth causes much psychic pain to them, his grasp on their minds almost violating- he even calls down an illusion of Heswaa to attack them that all but D'vorah see. However, the Aboleth gets too overconfident, and Laoch's sword takes it by surprise as the gang manage to slay it- unsure if permanently or not. Heswaa keeps up her side of the bargain, transporting them to the material plane along with their ship, crew, and Akkar- in the gray Ashfall sea, by the harbor of Saturnia. They sail into Saturnia and dock at the Cuprum Docks, paying a tab to repair and dock the ship. Heading off with Zai towards the south gate, they are called over and have their fortunes read by a fortune teller that are scarily accurate- All except Elise, who opts out. Laoch almost senses a presence in the cards though. Zai leads them randomly to the Sparkling Triangle pub, where they discuss their plans, the rules of Saturnia and the Lunars, D'vorah's crimes against the Lunars, the current political situation, what all they were up to, etc. Laoch gets sent a letter by the crimsons and Grand Admiral Isabeau, and they report on what all happened back to them, omitting the newcomers' names and mentioning the abyssgate, and mentioning that Elise had joined back up with them. Seeing a lot of Carbon Agents around, they head to the Krypton Goods Center and shop for a lot of stuff and upgrades, and Sif steals more Yaoi. They receive another letter from the Crimsons, directing them to Cinoh. After discussion, they head to the district office of one of Laoch's old spy contacts, who is revealed to be a Senator- Chupov. He gives them rumors such as 'a monster of the crimsons' and such, and explains that due to Elise they have diplomatic immunity and can pursue a neutral position with the Lunars. He tells them about Bolt Krypton's engagement ceremony, and that he can get them in. They leave their weapons at the ship, and go to a tailors and get outfitted in high-class fancy clothes on Chupov's expense. At the late night gala, they see 'The Table' from the skyscraper ballroom's balcony. After seeing Bolt Mercury walk in with Silver Strela, they manage to get an audience with Bolt Mercury and talk about Cinoh after Strela leaves. However, Carbon Agents show up discreetly and arrest Chupov, taking him away to the Table. Bolt Carbon shows up, and explains that they'd been building a case against him for years and him bringing the gang was the final nail in the coffin they needed to arrest him for espionage. However, Carbon is way nicer to deal with than Kinzhal, and offers a neutral standing to the crew if they prove themselves to the Lunars, by taking out one of the Lunar Pirate Federation's slave rings, owned by the Ashlord. After they warn him about the Abyssgate, he tells D'vorah that he reminds him of Bolt Gold, who is a 'red vedavin'. D'vorah tries to get more information about this out of Bolt Kinzhal, but it doesn't work.
3E452/08/20 - After Carbon leaves, they stick around for the rest of the engagement ceremony near 1 AM, even wishing Bolt Krypton a happy married life and introducing themselves once she comes over to thank them for attending. They head over to the ship, where D'vorah and Boz have an arm wrestling competition, during which D'vorah turns into a giant ape but still manages to lose. Laoch puts them on deck repair duty as well, and the ship is fully repaired by morning. They leave for the Cove of Cries, but the wind is against them and it takes them until 4 PM to reach. After Mavros scouts out the island, they go in guns blazing with magic and an elemental and take out most of the pirates there, many of them lizardfolk. The leader summons three Hezrou before dying, the demons attacking the crew. After dealing with the demons, they take some loot and free around 52 slaves from the Cove of Cries. Boz recognizes one of the Minotaurs, and has a heart-to-heart during which the Minotaur swears to tell of Boz's heroism back home. They set out on the 20~ day journey towards Port Cinoh, with stops along the way. They go through the Kazarin Strait route, the busiest shipping lane in the world. D'vorah works on his spells, and Boz carves some anime yaoi figurines out of wood.
3E452/08/24 - The hermitage on Firewatch Island is stormed by a horde of drowned undead from the wreck of the Tammeraut.
3E452/08/25 - The gang reaches Canau in the early morning, to a warm welcome in the colorful city. Citizens and children flock to see the Nebula arrive, as the gang notices Fenya's flag flying proudly as well as the pirates roaming around in plainclothes. They are invited to Lady Cetrovna's mansion for breakfast, where she has a nice conversation with them about the sins of the pirate lords, Admiral Isabeau's history and nickname 'Nikki', and other topics such as the White Gull. She identifies their folding boat through a detect magic, and asks for a favor from them to go find Morley Tobe on Firewatch Isle for his debt to her of 8,000 gold pieces. As the gang leaves, they see a gharial lizardfolk walk in. Via Mavros, D'vorah learns that he had a yell-y conversation with the lady while she remained calm. At the dock, Sif notices a kenku and tiefling population working there. They try to ask them about the lizardman, but they don't have an idea. Zai having disappeared into Canau as usual, they take Pete with them on the folding boat to Firewatch Island around noon. Upon reaching and noticing a pure white albatross, they are attacked by a Peryton- swiftly taking it down after it surprise attacks Boz. Dealing with the ruined hermitage and the monsters surrounding it that were led here by yesterday's massacre such as swarms of rats (which Anlee fails to stomp), sea hags with an invisible stalker, assassin vines, giant coral snakes, chuul, etc- Boz and D'vorah getting into an argument about sticking together through it. They discover the old priest's journal, poem, and stash, eventually finding the cellar where the three survivors (and Archais' body) are hidden. After Janore explains everything, D'vorah heals Barret and Morley with Laoch's help. As sunset falls, the gang and the survivors barricade the doors again as Laoch plans out a strategy for that night's undead assault. With D'vorah raising the dead hermits against Janore's wishes, and Laoch's planning, they manage to outlast the undead horde until sunrise- Turning Boz into a giant ape along the way.
3E452/08/26 - After dealing with the aftermath of the battle, Laoch, Sif and Boz encounter the white albatross again, Vertum telling them about Syrgaul and what occurred here 300 years ago. While he seems colder, he's going to lead them to where the pit is, and demands that they destroy this smaller abyssgate at the Pit of Hatred. D'vorah calls Zai and the Nebula to the island via a sending, as Elise smoothtalks Janore. They follow the albatross to the Pit of Hatred, and dive down without sif but with Morley, Zai and Bajak- after convincing Morley that they'd settle his debt with Fenya. They dive down 300 feet into the pit, dealing with the undead and Syrgaul after a hard fought fight. They seal the small 4-inch abyssgate using a stone with Vertum's name carved on it. Vertum appears underwater, talking with the five of them. He explains that the large abyssgate was formed by Prince Demogorgon, who was sealed away five hundred years ago by Xaniv and the original pirate lords including Syrgaul. For Atrius, he rewards Laoch by reforming Stormdancer with divine magic, explaining the alien metal Arkaan. They swim back up to the surface with Boz carrying two of the skeleton dogs up, as Elise bangs Janore. The gang leaves the three at Firewatch Island, D'vorah sending a message to Lady Cetrovna that Morley is dead, though she is unconvinced yet vaguely lets him go for now. They head towards Île de Cratère using a shortcut.
3E452/09/02 - 4 days into the journey, they go through a serious storm, probably the last big one of the monsoon season as they head into fall weather. Laoch feels the safety in the thunder and lightning due to Atrius, but the sea is very choppy. Pete calls for 'pretty-boy' Anlee to take over the wheel for the first time in years, and Anlee leads them through the storm into clear skies at night while Boz pukes from sea sickness. Later at night, while Anlee stays at the wheel, D'vorah tests out his speak-with-animals spell on Duck Norriss for a while, before his stopwatch hits the 13th hour between the two days. The sea turns red with blood, and the moon shines down with a sickening green light. He can move around as time is frozen for everyone else- The one exception being Anlee who can feel and see but not move. The god Varkanus appears on the ship, and talks about losing out on Genso as a plaything and how he's more interested in D'vorah now. He puts a hand on Anlee, but D'vorah swats him away. Varkanus talks about how D'vorah would 'betray' the gang and take the abyss gate's power to live forever, and that he was very similar to Xaniv 500 years ago. He takes his lantern and returns it with seemingly no change, as time resumes and he is gone. Anlee tries to probe into D'vorah's mind and fails, but doesn't let it slip that he witnessed all that.
3E452/09/03 - The gang reach Île de Cratère late morning, a major pit stop trading town on an island with a crater lake. The ganghas croissants and other street food in the bustling main market, while D'vorah keeps Mavros on Anlee's shoulder out of paranoia. Anlee is ambushed in an alley by an eighty year old man with a dagger, but Anlee kicks him in the face. A young man shows up by the time the others do, and apologizes, explaining that his grandfather is just confused and used to be a pirate or thug when he was younger. He goes away with his grandfather and puts him to bed. Pete comes over to get money for ship supplies, and Laoch and Boz walk back towards the dock, they notice Harrus and Cydney, the latter looking exactly like Laoch's brother, Niklaus. He seems to not have any memory of her though, and has amnesia from eight years ago. They are led to the Icicle Reaver, an infamous ship from the north, and their captain and first mate- Zeena and Ethesko. They tell them about a job from the city for 2000 gold about missing fishermen and a fairytale about a large monster inside the crater lake named Sivaas. Offering to split the money, they all head to the swampy part of town by the lake. Trying out various methods to lure out the monster including Elise playing a beautiful song and diving into the murky swamp water, while Boz and Laoch are being bait in a fishing boat, D'vorah removes a lot of water from the lake using control water, agitating the monster- revealed to be an ancient sea serpent. Launching Laoch and Boz back to the coast, the gang without Sif present but with the Icicle Reaver crew put up a hard fight against the serpent. Cydney is revealed to be a bladesinger, and to use sound magic- cementing the fact that he's definitely Laoch's brother. The second attack of the serpent's rime breath takes down almost everyone, until Ethesko revives them with a mass healing word and Elise picks up the slack after. Anlee manages to slay the beast with a lightning bolt to its insides as soldiers arrive. Zeena takes a tooth from Sivaas to add to her existing tooth from Cryovain. Town heroes, Elise gets to bang a whole bunch of people, as everyone gets ready to leave. Zeena sees them off, giving them money, a pirate coin and glamored armor for Elise, since their ship got the higher money out of the upgraded payment. Laoch finally convinces Cydney to stay and not go north, and he joins the crew reluctantly, adamant about not wanting to find out about his past. D'vorah tells Laoch about the impossibility of him being a bladesinger, since the art is elvish, secretive and takes centuries to master. They head off towards Cinoh directly!
3E452/09/10 - 7 days later and passing by a vague blockade of lunar warships at the lunar border, they reach Cinoh at noon! D'Vorah got to know Cydney a bit more through the trip, even exchanging spells. They find a lunar wanted poster for Belanar, and go off and do their own things. Sif heads with D'vorah to a Cinohan book shop, selling her yaoi book. Laoch and Anlee stock up on healing potions (Laoch buying Pete a new pipe and fishing rod), as D'vorah commissions armor for his dogs and Boz gets drunk on sake until D'vorah turns him into a rat. They find that Anlee's dad isn't home yet, so they head to the Citadel. Going through a strict security checkpoint, they enter the throne room of Cinoh to find Princess Aite as the acting shogun, and a young man who was in the middle of a talk with her. He introduces himself as Damien Daimao, and is honored to meet them- especially 'Professor' Pearlwynd. After he leaves, they meet with (and Laoch hugs) the princess, and have a discussion about Damien and the Daimao's rising political power. They head to a war room with Prince Miyoshi, a dragonborn investigator named Marax, and a large monk of the open hand named Watate. They have a discussion about the state of affairs and both the nations wanted to ally with Cinoh, but the prince is rather rude to them and D'vorah, during which Aite stays rather silent. He ordered for construction of warships, and was adamant on Cinoh staying independent, cursing Isabeau. Elise reveals to him that Isabeau's nickname is Nikki. MIyoshi wishes that Achlys wasn't cursed, and Cinoh had all of that land and the Cometfall Sea. Marax thinks that they need to find solid proof linking the Akumakai and Damien to the assassination of the Shogun, and suggests looking into one of their allied warehouses in the 'Mist Market' Moyacho below the city. Monk Watate agrees to take them at 2 in the morning. Laoch and Sif head back to the ship, meeting the crew and giving Pete his gifts- Pete almost burning his eyes by trying to use alcohol as fake tears. Anlee and the rest head to his house and meet his father again. As D'Vorah makes tea for them, Anlee discusses with his father about all he discovered about his bloodline and the sword's awakening. His father reveals that Anlee's ancestor was rumored to be a Water Genasi, and was a protector of the Aomoya Emperors, who bestowed on them multiple dragonmarks. Upon being pressed by everyone, he reveals that Anlee's mother was a traveler from Xoenn when he was a mercenary. After having Anlee, she couldn't bear to watch the humans grow old and left. Elise reveals a similar story of her father and her absentee sea-elf mother, to which Anlee's dad offers to send her father a postcard. Boz reveals about his own warrior father who went off to fight and never came back, being raised solely by his mother.
3E452/09/11 - At 2 AM, Monk Watate leads the group down into the Mist Market. Going through the seedy alleys of the red light district, they come to the warehouse. Elise teleporting inside with Sif, they easily unlock it and manage to find the hidden passages inside. As Mavros is sent to scout the maze-like hallways, he's shot down. They manage to make it through the maze halfway before shinobi attack them. After a fight, they manage to take down most of them except for two that escaped via smoke-bomb and one who they knocked unconscious. They reach the safe-house hidden within the underground complex, and see the two wounded shinobi. After being intimidated by D'Vorah to stand down, they kill themselves as a part of some ritual, which kills the unconscious shinobi as well. The three rise as shadow blades, but the group manages to take them down regardless. After a thorough investigation of the safe-house the group discovers a convenient letter in Cinohan asking for the assassination of the shogun, marked with a dummy floral stamp. After leaving the warehouse, D'Vorah goes to check a nearby shop that has a tunnel connecting to it. After realizing the fortuneteller lady has no idea, he buys a magic scroll as well as ink and parchment from her. Meanwhile, a dwarf approaches Anlee and sells him some drugs, which is revealed to be named Sapphire Dust- which Anlee immediately snorts. Elise charms the dwarf (as Sif pickpockets him) into going home and rethinking his life. Laoch finds a weapons shop that sells pistols, and the dark elf shopkeeper sells her an experimental new weapon called a 'revolver'. He discounts them after some much needed persuasion. Leaving to the surface, they realize it's dawn already. The gang goes to sleep at the ship, while Watate agrees to teach Boz the one push he needs to get to his level, and tries to teach him tranquil meditation resting. Boz fails, but makes a step towards starting this journey. D'Vorah has Sif make a copy of the letter, and fails at learning the burning hands scroll. At noon, the gang meets with the prince and explains to him the stamp and letter- the Prince decides to sneak away and takes them on a journey towards Taiyo, one of the twin cities, and to get the stamp from Damien's office. As the prince gets ready, Laoch finds the princess at the zen garden drinking tea and has a talk with her about her troubles and the state of things. The princess mentions that its good to have someone to rely on like the crew, and mentions offhandedly that Anlyth is rather handsome. The prince leaves them with without telling his sister, and after some more rude talk Sif punches him. He hires a cart and two horses since taking the ship would be conspicuous, and they leave towards the twin cities. On the way, they discuss about the Prince's intentions, and talk. D'vorah reveals his backstory with his troupe, him, Elise, and Sif forcing some sense of diplomacy into him. Setting up for camp, they track down a wolf pack to bring back Vega, but after dealing with the wolf pack follow (calling Anlee and Yuji over) a shadow towards an abandoned forest shrine with some sort of magic field around it. Finding Yoru under a cherry blossom, Elise thinks he's Nyx for a second before she realizes he isn't. After a small talk in which he remembers little and gives vague warnings, Sif mentions Nyx and he snaps, attacking them. The illusion breaks, the tree and ground withering and the pool of water turning into ichor. After a harrowing fight, they send him and his shadows back to the shadowfell. Sif collects some ichor as the gang finds his journal and learns of his curse and state. Sif fixes up the forest shrine before leaving, and they camp for the night.
3E452/09/12 - They spend the entire day traveling. Passing by a merchant headed the opposite way, they ask him about news and he tells them of ship construction. They reach Tsuki post dusk near 7 PM, and Miyoshi puts on a blue oni mask to disguise himself. Anlee negotiates passage with one of the ferry workers who was locking up for the night, and they travel across the channel- Spotting a crimson ship of the line, the 'Columbine' the harbor. Heading directly to the Akumakai Compound, they see crimson soldiers and a lot of rich folk gathering- Damien's birthday party. They convince the prince into getting polymorphed into a crow, sitting on Sif's shoulder. Via Elise's diplomatic presence, the Crimsons let them into the party. As the jazz band sings Devilman in the middle of hookah smoke, they see Damien dancing with a less-than-amused Isabeau. Boz breakdances and does some acrobatics, garnering the applause of many party goers. Elise, Sif, and Crow!Damien split off to infiltrate Damien's tower and office. After the samurai stop them from going further into the compound, Elise heads to the bathroom to turn the three invisible. Through some close calls, they manage to sneak into the tower, exploring it and letting Mavros in at the topmost floor. Mavros as a distraction flies down the entire tower at one point, the Samurai giving chase to the owl for a bit. The three lockpick into Damien's office just as polymorph expires. As Sif bypasses an acid trapped lock in a secret compartment within his desk, they discover many business papers bearing his real name- Fuchien- As well as a lovey letter with the Shogunate's seal and written in Infernal. Dated a year ago, from Aite. Yuji can't believe it, before Sif realizes that the room is filling with gas. She manages to lockpick her way through the now-locked door to meet another door. Elise teleports her and Sif out of the room, right in the middle of the Samurai and Shinobi. The three get arrested, and Damien is informed. D'Vorah figures out due to the lack of sending response that something went wrong. Damien leaves happily, winding down the party to go check out his birthday gift. At Laoch's command, D'Vorah sends a sending to Watate to bring backup without informing anyone. He tries to do the same to Pete, but hears back snoring- Proceeding to use up one of his scrolls to tell that to Zai. To escape, D'Vorah turns a samurai into a T-Rex after a failed attempt, and mixed with Anlee's fog and some thaumaturgy create enough distraction for the remaining four to escape the compound.
3E452/09/13 - Near 1 AM, the four end up booking into a decently overpriced inn called the Golden Hammer, getting two rooms. Boz feels incredibly saddened by the turn of events, Laoch comforting him. As D'Vorah puts Mavros on the windowsill to keep watch, he tries another sending to Elise- hearing back muffled voices, confirming that she's alive. They go to sleep for the night, vowing to save them. Elise and Sif are led a long while away into a dungeon, their hoods removed and Yuji still unconscious. Still gagged and bound in chains, they see Damien and some goons in dramatic red fog. He's in a good mood, and will deal with them in the morning- when he taunts the captured people, taking Sif's gag off. He gets tired of Miyoshi's struggling, and executes him by turning his hand into claws and destroying Miyoshi's head, leaving for Portci and saying that his sister would deal with the rest. The party in the inn uses sending to communicate with Sif and learns about the royal twins, before splitting off to prepare. Laoch and Anlyth recruit an old samurai classmate named Haru Kira who himself has been plagued by the Akumakai yakuza due to being cheated out of wins in gambling. Meanwhile D'Vorah and Boz struggle to get some magical items in the Homemade Arcana to help their raid but they scrape together some money to buy a cloak of protection. As they make their way to the compound, Elise and Sif use their sleight of hand and manage to free themselves. Elise sends off Miyoshi with an apology as the patrolling guards notice them. They make quick work of the Oni and the Samurai. Teamed up with Haru Kira, the party began raiding the Yakuza compound in a full frontal assault with everyone pulling out the big guns. Laoch utilizes her storm magic, D'Vorah raises all the fallen samurai as his own undead army, etc. A grueling and tiring fight ensues. Elise and Sif escape the dungeons and join in as well. And it appears to be over until Kiriba Daimao, the sister of Damien and lieutenant of the Akumakai Clan appears to kick some ass. The team unites to bring her down as Elise uses a psychic blade to end her, carving a threat into her body to hopefully infuriate Damien. The party escapes the compound and finds the Phoenix Nebula has arrived with Watate who is informed of the events that transpired. A somewhat happy reunion occurs as D'Vorah hugs Elise and grants her the Cloak. Sif passes out due to sheer exhaustion and gets carried to her quarters by Laoch. Boz is relieved by the rescue mission being successful but is disturbed by an internal struggle. Watate takes this time to speak to Boz about his internal struggles as well as providing a guided meditation to Anlyth who envisions his ancestors and sees the entire history of Suiryuto, acquiring the knowledge of his ancestors and their fighting styles while becoming more attuned to the blade. Watate speaks at length about how Cinoh will be in severe turmoil following the passing of both Miyoshi and Damien who both had the people's support/approval. He grants Anlyth a mark showing his ancestors had the approval of the past Emperors, and that he must speak his mind when the time comes. Anlyth speaks with Elise about D'Vorah's meeting with Varkanus in elvish, seeing how she is closest with him. After Elise and Shoila sleep together, D'Vorah himself voices his concerns to Elise about the meeting with Varkanus and how his lantern has been suspiciously granting him more power.
3E452/09/14 - Early in the morning as everyone wakes up, the gang and Haru deal with Duck Norris eating a random sheep leg. The crew are all concerned about the state of Cinoh when a sending message from Princess Aite tells them to leave and that their services are no longer required. A meeting is held to discuss what to do about the situation until it is decided that they must defeat Damien to bring peace to Cinoh. They also consider earning the support of the Monks of the Long Death to reach the citadel by force. Later at Dusk when they reach Portci, Elise and Haru Kira scout the city out and see that the samurais are on high alert, but not specifically looking for the crew. The crew all head into the city to get some armor and prepare for the incoming fight. The party, including Cydney, arrives at the Shidono Temple monastery where the monks are initially apprehensive but allow the party in on Kazeshi being named. It turns out Marax was already trying to sway the Monks to help take down Damien. The party gives Kazeshi the diary of Yoru so he can analyze the nature of his undead curse. Following this, the issue of Damien is brought up. Elise and D'Vorah convince them to fight against the Samurai so the party can reach Damien at the citadel. The monks and the party invade the citadel, keeping the samurai at bay. The princess and Damien are in the throne room. The princess appears to know of Miyoshi's passing and is okay with it. Damien starts to get angry when he learns that his sister is dead, but Aite tries to calm him down. The party engages in dialogue with Damien but an impasse is not reached and combat begins. Damien transforms into a demonic creature while Aite uses powerful wizard spells while being supported by samurai and hellhounds. Anlyth brings down a rain of sleet and turns the entire battle field into difficult terrain which renders most of the other combatants useless. Elise and D'Vorah engage in a lot of duels of magical prowess against Aite throughout the fight. D'Vorah counterspells a lot of devastating spells from her. It takes the skills of everyone but after a rather difficult encounter, Damien attempts to fly away with Aite in hand. A polymorphed giant ape Boz brings him down and lays him down before Elise. D'Vorah commands his undead wolves to tear into Damien as Elise casts a spell that appears to turn them all into zombified forms of Prince Miyoshi who continue to torment Damien in his last conscious moments. As he transforms back, Aite defends Damien and asks for them to stop. Elise is conflicted and tempted to kill him off for good. Aite attempts to cast spells on Elise but Laoch holds her back. Elise finally decides not to kill him but D'Vorah does not show mercy and finishes Damien off, sending Elise into a state of dissociation. Princess Aite appears to be sociopathic and extremely uncaring and she throws a tantrum of sorts. By this point, Watate, Kazeshi, Marax and Cydney enter the throne room. A serious discussion takes place on what happens next for Cinoh. Anlyth says that his ancestors protected Cinoh and its nobility but now that responsibility has ended and he promptly leaves. There is a lot of debate and discussion but ultimately Laoch proposes that the Shogunate be disbanded and replaced by a Council. Elise also snaps out of her stupor to add in her support. Princess Aite finally composes herself and says that she will go along with the idea. Tired and drained, the party is satisfied with the conclusion and leaves. Marax also gives the promised reward for solving the mystery of the last Shogun's death as Haru Kira takes his share and thanks the party for accepting him. He leaves, suggesting to look him up if the party comes to Cinoh again. Meanwhile Anlyth goes to speak with his father as he catches him up on all the recent events as well as discussing if his father will take shelter when the war comes, but Mr. Urata refuses to leave Cinoh. He will try to change his residence using Anlyth's fame though. They chat some more and bond as Anlyth takes his leave. Elise seeks out Shoila in the ship and shares a personal moment with her, opening up about how her typical bard behavior is an act and recent events have shaken her up. She also speaks about the truth of Genso and how she fears becoming like him. Shoila reassures her and hugs her. Shoila too opens up about her feelings for Roonan and how she questions if the crew is truly right in their actions, Elise reassuring her in return. The crew, finally done with Cinoh, sets off for Anchorage of Whispers.
3E452/09/15 - Elise uses a Sending spell to Zolen to find out about Roonan's condition at present, and he says that he'll check in with some contacts to look into it. Boz goes to the deck to point to the sky and has a real moment in the morning. Amari reports hundreds of rats in the basement which have eaten through the food supply. Elise uses Hypnotic Pattern to charm the rats as the crew deals with them, as Laoch tells Amari to not feed the rats anymore.
3E452/09/16 - To restock on food, the party stops at Fort Rawan at like 2 AM. There they find out about a siege about to hit Tikius in a week or so. They also meet Dr. Lord Volnax Blackwood The First, a nobleman and scientist. Genso was his apprentice at some point. He is also not happy to be here. He is an immortal human apparently, and he is rude to the party and refuses to entertain their questions, stating his nobility and the lack of importance of the party in terms of rank or nobility. Sif manages to steal a flask of crude oil from him, which he probably uses for his Automatons that he seems to hold in a higher regard than bioscience. The party, while returning to the ship, encounters a drunk doomsday fanatic who speaks of 'The Pure Light', some radiance or a god of gods who will destroy the world. He bears the religious symbol representing that radiant being, which is a simple circle of white. D'Vorah questions him but not to much avail but by their conversation he recalls an ancient legend of his village about 120 years ago, that Abmarah is actually the second world consisting of chaos and order, and the prior world of light and darkness was destroyed. As D'Vorah and the party discuss the legend and the possible implications on the ship, this triggers something in Elise as she calls out to a gem draconic spirit. It apparently served Elise's mother and now passes itself along to Elise. It claims Elise's mother still lives but it cannot sense her.
3E452/09/18 - The party heads towards the Anchorage after sunset and as Elise tries to warn Shoila about Xaniv's harsh penalty, Shoila is immediately magically levitated and choked by Xaniv who has already arrived at the port. The party attempts to retreat with Laoch using water control magic to maneuver and D'Vorah even counterspelling Xaniv's psionic abilities with which the ship is brought to a standstill- But to no avail. Xaniv declares his rule of the death penalty for any violence in the Anchorage and the whole party attempted to bargain with him, with even the crew volunteering to die instead of Shoila. Laoch, D'Vorah and Elise all attempt to make a deal but it does not work. Elise sneakily casts Death Ward on herself while Boz jumps onto the docks and uses Xaniv's fist to hit himself as a kind of recompense, but Xaniv refuses to budge. Finally, Elise volunteers and approaches Xaniv. Letting Shoila go, Xaniv uses his tentacles to try and extract Elise's brain. She almost dies for good but Death Ward brings her back up as D'Vorah rushes to her and heals her. Xaniv is not fully satisfied with the events but he agrees his law was upheld and the party would come to meet him at the bathhouse. The party takes a moment to recover from the tense encounter as Laoch lays on hands and restores Shoila and Elise. Shoila, unconscious from the psionic attacks is carried off into her room at the ship. The party goes to a magic bookstore owned by a penguin kenku and acquires some spell components and scrolls. D'Vorah heads off for the bath house as the rest of the party go to Snort's shop where Tsubi also lives. They catch up on events as Tsubi talks about how shinobi attempted to take his life but were thwarted by Xaniv. He also finds out about the fall of the Akumakai, but doesn't have much of a reaction. Snort appears to have come to terms with the news of his granddaughter's death and has taken a liking to Sif regardless, and is nearing the end of his life. Afterwards, the party heads towards the bath house but many notice someone is following them. Sif attempts to intercept the stalker from behind to find that it is Elna Rudges, the woman who was part of an orgy that took place between her, Elise, Nyx and Zorahim 2 years ago. She appears to be infatuated with Elise and wants to get married, but Elise turns her down gently but promises one last date before she goes. At the bath house, Boz and Anlyth "bond" in the male section while the party cleanses themselves and heads inside. The door into Xaniv's chamber is guarded by 3 Alhoon followers who step aside and let them in. Xaniv asks for the party's entire history as payment for the information this time- all of them going to nostalgic flashbacks with key figures from their childhood. The party returns to the present moment as Xaniv reveals to Elise that her mother is in fact the pirate lord Xiphalia. Boz asks Xaniv what he knows of the abyss gate. Xaniv uses the water in his room as a makeshift way of showing visions- Showing them the original pirate council sailing out and sealing away the Demogorgon as he became a lich. Most of the party is impressed and in awe of the legend, but Sif and D'Vorah notice that the vision is an exaggerated re-telling to make Xaniv more heroic than he actually is. D'Vorah even realizes that there is deceit happening as Xaniv's Illithilich transformation may be false entirely. D'Vorah and Sif confront him about this and he says he never promised them about the truth, only information of the abyssgate. He then says to re-seal the abyss gate, the pieces of seven are required. So all the pirate lords need to be reunited and Xaniv says he shall join them on the fateful day. D'Vorah and Sif notice there's something off about his words. D'Vorah also asks about Xaniv's life but he refuses to reveal anything. Xaniv is agitated by the barrage of questions. Finally, after constant questioning, he reveals that he is the Abyss Gate. He doesn't call for it nor can he control it but it merely is and he fooled the pirate lords into continuing this abyss sealing cycle on and on. He also goes on to say that the only way to end him is to destroy the phylactery and kill his body at the same time. The party is requested to leave, which they do before promising to kill Xaniv. Outside, Elna awaited Elise. They go on a date (while D'vorah prays to Varkanus for help) as one last fun activity and Elise leaves, but she seems to be unhealthily obsessed with Elise, standing on the docks waving the ship goodbye. The party sails towards Tikius. Shoila reawakens and is informed of the events that happened.
3E452/09/19 - Xaniv crushes a symbol of Varkanus and scatters it into the pool as he leans into it and says "Hunt them down". Late at night, Elise and Laoch are unable to sleep due to nightmares and share tea and stories of family. D'Vorah detects that the hidden thirteenth hour appears, however it goes away within moments, alerting him and in turn he alerts the party. Hunting Horrors appear all around the ship, descending from the sky like black lighting. The party faces a difficult fight against them. Anlyth and Boz get swallowed by one of them and that creature attempts to escape by plane shifting, however an eldritch ball from D'Vorah manages to bring it down. However, it is too late, as while Boz barely clings to life, Anlyth dies. His corpse is brought aboard by Boz and Elise attempts to resurrect him but his spirit refuses to return- opting to head on through the Veil. His spirit appears and bids everyone farewell. Anlyth is given a sea burial, after Laoch paints his body with the customary colors. The party is left to pick up the pieces and move on towards Tikius to face the siege, now aware of Xaniv's power.
3E452/09/20 - The party is in mourning after the events of last night. Barely anyone slept. Boz is fixing the ship after the damage he did. Elise addresses everyone and tells them if they do not wish to cling to life, they should quit while they're ahead. Boz gives a crazed hyped speech to the entire crew to keep their spirits up to a resounding cheer. Elise adds in a few words of her own.
3E452/09/22 - Around midday, The party docks in at the former Deep Rose Brewery which has now been turned into the new Silver Songbird Rummery. The crew begins to chill there and wind down. Rumfuck appears to be alive and working for Laoch and he arrives to tell them of a tabaxi guest who had come to meet with them. They see that it is Zorahim. He notices Elise and Shoila and greets them separately as he remembers them from the foursome two years ago- Much to Shoila's confusion. Zorahim tells them the city of Tikius will go down due to the siege, and people are fleeing while Belanar does nothing but drink and party with his men. He too will flee but before that he sees the crew winding down and decides to have a drinking competition. Elise, Boz, Laoch, Sif and Zorahim begin the contest as all the crew surround them and cheer along and make bets. In order, Sif, Laoch and Boz pass out/tap out, the final round being Elise and Zorahim but Elise too pales before Zorahim's drinking. Turns out Shoila and Pete bet against the party and make profits while the opposite happens for Cydney. Finally, the party, done with merriment, heads out towards Tikius, leaving the ship docked at the Rummery.
3E452/09/23 - The party reaches Tikius near the afternoon, along with Amari. On the way to Belanar's Bar, they meet with Salyn and see she's setting out from her shop as the party talks to her a bit. Amari goes to her own shop 'The Bloom Room' where a Githzerai florist is standing. He goes by Fek and is a follower of Magmus. The party meets with him and befriends him. After being asked about his origins, He says he will fight for Tikius and will accompany the party from here on. In Belanar's Bar, loud music is playing as everyone drinks aggressively. The party approaches Belanar and tries to convince him to fight against the Crimsons rather than flee. After much persuasion from Elise and D'Vorah he finally sways as Amari warns them of someone's arrival- a follower of Xaniv, Xesk. Xesk's presence alarms Fek who is wary of the new arrivals. Xesk says that he is here to carry Xaniv's will, who has decided that Belanar is no longer fit to be the Pirate Lord of Greed and must give up his piece of eight. Elise says that this is not a fair judgment and refuses. Xesk does a mind blast, turning most of the pirates into zombies as the party and him begin their battle. Xesk attempts to disintegrate Laoch but is counterspell chained by D'Vorah and Elise. D'Vorah destroys the zombies with his eldritch ball, as the strays are picked off by Sif and Laoch. Belanar is too drunk to be of any use, throwing a bottle at Boz, and trying to swing at the zombie dogs. Elise's draconic spirit appears and begins attacking as well. One of the cultist followers brings up a wall of force, but Boz disrupts the caster and puts it down. Fek brings out his signature weapon, the Sunforger, a hammer infused with sun energy- bringing it down to smash the other cultist. He screams as his Zealous Presence empowers everyone. Finally, everyone focuses on the cultists and brings them all down, although not before Xesk escapes away using a Plane Shift. Belanar retires for the night and decides to stay away from drinking any more. The party begins to prepare for the siege. Laoch suggests using molotov cocktails using the Songbird rum, Boz sets up ruin stone pillars to throw at the ships, D'Vorah sets up corpses to be raised, Elise suggests setting up barricades and traps along the docks. Elise also gives all the pirates a rousing speech as they prepare for battle.
3E452/09/24 - Early in the morning, everyone finishes setting up and the crew also arrives at the city. The weather gets cloudy as the party stands and waits in the old market- Belanar's flag tearing off and flying into the sky. From the horizon and through the morning fog, a fleet of about 20 ships approaches, led by Isabeau's ship-of-the-line 'The Columbine'. Laoch sees her along with Doctor Lord Volnax Blackwood the First using her spyglass. The party mentally prepares and shares some words of encouragement as they see the overwhelming odds. The firing begins from the side of the Crimsons, Belanar's fleet and the cannons from the city versus the Frek Fleet of the Crimsons. Isabeau claims that Volnax owes the Crimsons due to an oath. Volnax sighs, jumping into the water and transforming into a Black Dragon. He flies over the city, spewing acid breath across it and melting buildings and people alike. A brig ship not unlike the Nebula is annihilated by the Columbine. With that, the Siege begins. The party and the pirates of the city rush into battle as the acid released by the dragon leaves the city in ruins with green fog and haze everywhere. The cannons shoot out automatons called Siegeforged into the market, created by Volnax. The party battles with them as the dragon continues to spew acid during fly-bys. The acid continues hurting all the fighters all around as the fog and haze thickens. Finally, Volnax flies close to the party and engages in battle. Eventually after a lot of setbacks, the party manages to take Volnax by surprise and take him down. The fog and haze clears revealing the party is surrounded by Faithkeepers and Redcoats. The party makes a valiant stand against them along with a polymorphed Boz but the numbers are very much against them. Suddenly, cannon fire happens as the crew of the Phoenix Nebula and other pirates rush in, led by Belanar. They cut a path through the army of Crimsons as Belanar, the party and the key crew members go on ahead to reach Isabeau's ship. Another battle happens at the docks as they continue pushing through, supported also by D'Vorah's undead, although a Redcoat manages to hit D'vorah with a ballista bolt to break the polymorph. The party notices The Columbine in the distance and begins rowing towards it as Laoch produces an obscuring fog around the boat to allow them to sneak onto the ship. The boat is almost seen and fired upon, but they just get by. The party reaches the ship and climbs up next to the steering wheel, where Isabeau stands with some of her men and Siegeforged. She asks them one last time to stand down, but Laoch refuses. They exchange a lot of blows as D'Vorah is paralyzed in pain due to Isabeau's Power Word Pain. Meanwhile, Boz has been struggling with himself throughout the fights. D'Vorah does eventually break free with Elise's inspiration and counterspells a Chain Lightning spell from Isabeau. Belanar, Boz and Laoch rush in to attack Isabeau, as Fek and Elise's dragon bottle-neck the stairs to Isabeau. While the battle reaches its climax, the Cinohan Navy arrives and begins firing at the Crimson ships all around. With Belanar's support, Laoch beats down on Isabeau while laughing at her in a moment of losing sanity. She does not kill her though as Belanar had instructed otherwise. Seeing the situation most of the soldiers give up and back off. Taking Isabeau in tow, the party lands at the docks. They suffered many losses, including Pete's right leg as well as Ravir. Mr. Urata arrives in battle gear along with other samurai who are all around. He says that this whole incident should be water under the bridge and conflict be brought to an end should Nicole apologize for all the events. Elise also teases her with her embarrassing nickname: Nikki. The city is also to be under control of the Council of Cinoh. D'Vorah also approaches Mr. Urata and apologizes as he informs him of Anlyth's passing. He apparently knew as the princess had informed him but he seems to be taking it in stride. Boz also speaks up about how Anlyth was a true friend and loved by the crew though he seems to be struggling in keeping down another persona of him that seems to pop up every so often. Boz also asks Mr. Urata to pass his thanks to Monk Watate for the Wataboz that was granted to him. Seeing how the situation is, Belanar pulls out his piece of eight: the card and decides to give it to Sif who would now become the Pirate Lord of Greed. He then walks away to speak to Mr. Urata about being promoted to Governor. The party discusses the happenings that transpired. D'Vorah and Elise appreciate Fek and his skills in combat as D'Vorah grants him a ring. Boz chimes in with the both of them to ask Fek to join the crew. Zai comes over and the party also mock D'Vorah's choice of words as usual. Elise then opens up to the party and tells them that she has begun to enjoy the pirate lifestyle and truly appreciates being there. Laoch reminds her of her heritage as her mother is also a pirate lord and this might be her genes acting up. Boz thinks back of his meeting with Xaniv and is reminded of something. He says he will talk to the party about it soon. The party stays behind in Tikius to help with repairs and take some rest.

CotBS Act 3 - Sins of the Past

3E452/09/26 - Two days later, on the day of the Nosalia Harvest Festival. It is to appease Nosos and thank her for not destroying crops and to continue to be merciful for the winter. Fek heard rumors of a giant bounty on the Nebula, as well as of Laoch being a lunar agent all along. D'Vorah suggests a scheme to Sif to convert a large rock into gold using the power of Sif's new pirate lordship using the card. With Fek's help they convert the stone into gold. D'Vorah takes the gold along with Boz as the rest of the party gives it for repairing the city. Fek approaches and tells everyone of the rumors as the party discusses a bit. A letter arrives to Laoch, different from the normal letters that appeared with the Crimson Navy. This letter has a branding of a higher importance. Elise deduces it may be from King Sombra. The letter in fact comes from Grand General Zoan Mistgleam speaking for Sakaii Sombra. The letter pardons the party for their desertion and asks them to come to the Kingdom of Sombus to meet. Further details will be provided on location. All the while, Boz seems to continue struggling with the multiple personality issue. They go to a tavern in Tikius before leaving. D'Vorah asks Zai about the paints that they used for Anlyth's funeral. When questioned on his purpose by Laoch it also sparks Elise to ask about D'Vorah's recent influx of healing and bless spells which is unnatural for a wizard. D'Vorah explains meeting with Varkanus scared him so much he took to divine support from his own god, Omegus. This causes Fek to gasp as his god is the antithesis of that god. Cydney also asks if the party will go by Jasiv and says he has something important to discuss in private. The party decides to tell the crew to move on and that they will continue discussing at the ship. Here Cydney reveals about his history in Jasiv. He woke up 8 years ago there with no memory where he was taken in by the Crimson Navy. Volnax's private lab was in the city, the Blackwood Institute of Science where he experimented with no limitation/supervision. Genso, Baizo, and Xoe all have come from there as well. That place experiments with making super soldiers/constructs and so on. Apparently Cydney's bladesinging comes from an experiment that was done to instill memories onto his body. That's how he knows bladesinging at such a young age. He eventually did escape from there. Cydney requests the party to break into the facility and steal/destroy the research so it does not fall into the hands of equally sadistic son Volnax II who is half-dragon with draconic features. The party discusses the memory technology and argue a bit before deciding they will take the research and try to achieve something good with it, otherwise it shall be destroyed. Psionics are also brought up which reminds Boz about a mind flayer he saw when he was young. Cydney also says their research has eventually shifted to mage-killing beasts. He also speaks more about the facility and how it is mainly a college that is busy during the day due to students. D'Vorah and Sif agree that sneaking in at day then hiding out and performing the heist at night, as they set sail towards Jasiv.
3E452/10/04 - Six days pass by as the ship finally arrives at Jasiv. It is a grand city. In the main market center, they find a large statue of King Sombra kneeling before Jakuna on top of Krros. It is an interpretation of an event called The Red Signing where he broke his pact with Krros and was blessed by Jakuna. They also discuss King Sombra's past a little. The party goes to a magic store called The Laughing Skull where the manager is an actual undead skeleton but in nice robes. The party begins making some purchases. Sif steals an Amulet of Health for Elise and Elise buys a Cloak of Elvenkind for Sif. D'Vorah buys spells. Boz buys more protection with Defensive Bracers. In the entrance, guards check for identification so Elise says she is from the Hall of Harmony from Terros on a scouting directive. Inside, she once again says that she is here to scout on behalf of her college and even D'Vorah is recognized as an arcane student from the necromancy college in Alphanim, and the party is let in. The party heads into the library to pass the time until night, researching and doodling in the meanwhile. Night falls as the party begins the heist. Elise turns most of the party invisible except Laoch and Sif. They sneak by some guards but D'Vorah and Fek run into a guard by mistake. Elise uses her glamor armor to appear as a Crimson guard and tell him that he is wanted elsewhere and that she will keep watch. This sends him away as they continue sneaking into the facility. They sneak into a store room led by Cydney where mostly biological contents are kept but old documents and lab equipment are also present. They move on and find Laboratory One full of strange creatures including a Mindflayer in large tubes along with research papers and a large crystal power source. Cydney finds the research documents where they find his name in the material, and includes Yatra's name who was paid to be an experiment but she did not have enough memories to continue working. The material then shifts to the topic of Project: Magehunter. D'Vorah studies the creatures as Cydney reads about them. The tiger with the eye tail that can reflect magical energy called The Absorber. The Reverser, a green beast which can prevent healing and turn it into damage instead. The Nullifier that looks like a monster with many gaping mouths that can dispel and counter magic entirely. The Mindflayer wakes up and psionically calls for help. Cydney mentions it identifies as a female Vass. They let her out on the condition of peace. Fek is on edge due to his racial history. Suddenly a sun elf biomancer appears with some cyclops cyborgs and tells the party to put "their property" back. D'Vorah refuses. The elf initiates combat in response. The party beats down on the biomancer who tries to release the magehunters as Elise summons Cynthia and D'Vorah summons negative energy on him. The Cyclops react to magic casting and rush up to beat D'Vorah and Cydney. Boz finally smacks the biomancer and ends him. Vass recovers, wildshaping into a Byakhee and going to town on the biomancers that walk in as a cyclops nearly kills Cydney whom Laoch promptly heals. Sif uses stealth to keep raining down arrows that take down a cyclops. D'Vorah brings an Earth Elemental into play, needing to counterspell the biomancers' cantrips to prevent the magehunters from being released. Fek is polymorphed into a rat but he breaks free from it after getting purposefully hit from Laoch's claws. He enters rage and begins bringing down his weapon on the enemies. As combat continues, a desperate biomancer manages to release the Absorber from his tube but is brought down by Boz soon after. The other biomancer is eaten up by Cynthia, as he was caught and sliced up by Vass. Boz continues to suppress and alternate with his Zob personality. The Absorber proves to be strong but with the combined effort of everyone it is weakened until Laoch finally tears it down with her blade. The party then sneaks out with Vass and gets spotted. Elise turns Vass invisible and tells them about how they were stuck in the library. Then they walk out as the guards open up the gate. In the ship, they allow Vass to rest as they discuss the invitation from King Sombra and what the meaning behind it might be or whether it may be a trap. Boz remains in a corner, covering his mouth while muffled sounds are heard. He assures everyone he is alright. Laoch says that the crew would be notified if it was a trap and they should flee so that the crew may survive.
3E452/10/05 - The next morning, D'Vorah and Elise question Vass about her captivity. They find out about the experiments done and memory alteration. Also about Xaniv's possible weakness. D'Vorah and Elise also invite her to the crew if she is willing. She starts speaking about Realmspace and aberrations as Laoch enters with food. They discuss byakhees and hunting horrors and so on. Vass says the aberrations came from the space between spaces and thousands of years ago their kind and Abmarah treated each other when there was technology to access realmspace. Vass also speaks about Monolithic Blood. Vass says that the gods worshiped in Aurial, they are not the only gods. But in Xoenn, beings believed to be higher than gods called Monoliths or Old Ones are worshiped. Varkanus is not a Monolith, he is not recognized as one. He may be a higher or lower being, it is not known. She also knows nothing in particular of the Abyss Gate.
3E452/10/08 - The night before arrival, Elise once again decides to make the most of the night with Shoila before the uncertain results from the upcoming meet.
3E452/10/09 - The Crimson City is a grand sight and its sheer scale is gargantuan. The party is amazed by it as they head on in. The crew docks in the Wharf District. The party considers exploring the cities. D'Vorah seeks more spells and Laoch suggests trying some less than legal stores in the Wharf District. Elise mentions Xoe has a lab set up in the Arcane District. Laoch leads everyone around to the magic store which is atop many flights of stairs. Boz offers a ride and Elise and Fek oblige as D'Vorah polymorphs into a bird and flies above. D'Vorah buys two spell scrolls and requests for a third one which could be procured later. He attempts to intimidate the shopkeeper and settles for a 100 gold discount. The party arrives at the Arcane District after a very lengthy bridge and sees it is a huge location. Elise does a Sending to ask the location of Xoe's lab exactly and they head on over there and travel to the top floor using a magic portal/elevator mechanism. Yizuko Labs is in front of them. The moment they open the door a ballista bolt whizzes past D'Vorah and almost hits Fek. The party heads in and introduces themselves as friends of Xoe. The gnome lady who fired introduces herself as Factore. They head on in. They finally see Xoe who looks to be very messy/unhygienic from her experiments. Boz mistakenly thinks she is his neighbor from back home. She drinks coffee which is recognized by a few of the party. She seems to be working on prosthetic limbs. Elise notes it down. D'Vorah shows her the dragon tooth to forge a weapon with. The party tells them they slew Volnax and she seems okay with it on the grounds that he was creepy. She is also told that the party is here on summons from the king. She is also given the research taken by D'Vorah about the Siegeforged and the one taken from Volnax. The Scarlet Keep is big but in comparison it seems smaller. The garden in the keep has trees of white bark and red leaves. They feel magic in the air due to the magic leyline beneath the keep. The flowers and plants in the area are recognized by Fek as endangered Eteru flora from a magical eco system called The Scarlet Moorland. Fek conveys this and plucks a few flowers. The party heads in through the main gates. Faithkeepers and military are present all around along with Crimson knights as well. The Grand General Mistgleam arrives in front of the party. He tells them to wait a few hours as the king is busy. After a failed attempt at taking the flowers, Fek and Laoch approach a gardener to take some seeds of the plants. D'Vorah wants to talk to Sif about her pirate lordship but she wants to avoid the conversation. Sif goes to meditate under a tree with Boz. Commodore Zolan sneaks up to Elise and the rest, but Elise notices him. He came to tell them that there is a secret prison where Roonan may be held and he seems very much on edge to find this information and convey it. Elise thanks him and appreciates his help and tells him to take care as he goes away. Elise tells Laoch that the prison may have the Redfields held there and she tries to assure her that they will remember her, Laoch appreciates it but prefers not to think about it. Feeling the leyline well, D'Vorah remembers his college. Laoch asks Elise and D'Vorah about their own college lives a bit. Zoan Mistgleam appears before them and ushers them into the Red Tower. He tells the party to act dignified. He introduces the king with his titles and opens the door to his study. King Sombra's study is luxurious with expensive carpeting and a large window overlooking the whole road to the keep. The king works away at a desk and finally looks up to the party. He seems to be a heavy presence despite not being quite as god-like as the descriptions and statue depict him as. He addresses them and says he has heard a lot of them. Elise and Loach wonder if they're good things but he seems to only hear of how the party has killed his men, humiliated Isabeau and so on. He says he is impressed with the party's skills and needs them for a potential threat. Elise wonders if he is talking of the Abyss Gate but he says it is not and that there are many threats. He asks if the party knows of the Pure Light. D'Vorah says he knows of it. It is an entity of times before even gods when the Pure Light and Chaos existed in the universe in the first cosmos before a full reset happened and the second cosmos came to be. He talks about Bolt Gold, Kol Han. He says Bolt Gold is a worshiper of The Pure Light. He shows them a stone tablet uncovered in the north, with some ancient text about the alignments. He says the Light is pure and it corrupts. Order and Chaos and balance exist and Light and Dark also exist in this calculation. It was known that Kol Han wields the Light and has turned it into one of the Star in the Darkness. Ten Legendary Weapons and one of them is a dagger, Lightclaw wielded by Kol Han. He was to become a herald of the Pure Light and his radiance would've destroyed the world. The Omniborn fought Kol Han and took away his dagger and sealed him away in stasis. When he awoke he and his followers were the last of his race and got to work. He is strong but without his dagger he does not have his entire power. The dagger's sealed location was found out by the Crimsons and King Sombra wants the party to take the dagger before Kol Han can. D'Vorah wonders with Elise if this can be used to deal with the other issues awaiting them but Sombra says it will corrupt anyone who tries to wield it. The King says he will take the dagger and seal it away behind a stone door in his study. He has been hoarding powerful artefacts and items and storing them to the stone door in his keep. He will keep these items protected using his own soul for all of eternity. Laoch wonders if the weapon can be destroyed but he says only one was ever known to be destroyed so it will be important to keep it stored. The King also says that Kol Han and his followers are known as the Ballista, explaining about the original Crossbow and her bolts. D'Vorah suggests transferring the Dagger via a Bag of Holding to prevent contact with it. He provides the party with a Bag of Holding and then gives them a Tome of Knowledge of Gunian that can help one person become more dexterous than ever before. Sif accepts the book reluctantly and tries to read it. It is a moment for everyone but for her she is bombarded with knowledge in that instant. The King says he will help the party with the Abyss Gate should they help him with this. Elise is impressed by his self sacrifice and good intentions and promises to aid him. D'Vorah asks if Sombra can give him a Chain Lightning spell and Sombra says he will copy the spell and grant it to him. Finally he teleports the party to Forfey to the west. The town is built inside the corpse of a giant crab and there are large trees all around in a swampy area. The party considers boating to the west and asks a fisherman who suggests taking a ranger with them to guide them and points them to a house. They knock and are allowed in. It is a messy bedroom where an older tabaxi seems to be gearing up. He seems to be a very grumpy boomer type fella who bashes Laoch for being a tabaxi who forgot her roots. Laoch gives him 1 platinum initially but he seems annoyed so she switches to 10 gold instead. Laoch asks for his name but he asks them their name back so they all introduce themselves. He says his name is Fa'azha and wonders why the party is going to the middle of nowhere. He leads the way. He trudges into knee deep water inviting the party to follow. Laoch offers a ride to Sif but she rides her broom instead. Boz offers a ride, Elise thanks but refuses while Fek takes up the offer again. D'Vorah is about to cast Dancing Lights but Elise puts his hand down as Fa'azha tells everyone to not cast any lights and merely follow his lead. As mosquitoes swarm them Elise reassures them that she can cast Restoration to heal them. Boz attempts to slap at mosquitoes but it triggers the Zob persona to come out. He throws Fek down and doubts if Fa'azha knows the way. Fa'azha says to be wary of the people of the swamp, and that they shouldn't sleep tonight and just walk through. Swamp Tritons who can potentially attack them. Laoch keeps watch and everyone notices shadows in the distance as well as things swimming in the big water but nothing actively comes after the party.
3E452/10/10 - The party discusses the uncomfortable conditions of the swamp at night. Elise claims she will be sure to write about these cons of being a "hero", as D'Vorah and Laoch bicker a bit. Boz's Zob persona continues talking and Laoch tries to understand his origins but he refuses to elaborate. Fa'azha is annoyed by the bickering of D'Vorah and Laoch which Elise tries to stop. Zob also makes a "deez nuts'' joke which Elise appreciates. Laoch asks Fa'azha about being a proper Tabaxi that isn't a city Tabaxi. Zob and D'Vorah both pipe in rudely. Fa'azha talks about Eqos Tabaxi who leave and settle down elsewhere and forget their roots. He asks her about her worship of Atreus. Bickering continues. Fek suddenly hears arguing in a foreign language. Fa'azha shushes the party and tells them to sneak. The party notices Trolls in the swamp arguing with each other. D'Vorah notices they have skin peeling off implying they may be unnatural trolls. D'Vorah wants to distract them using Maverick as the rest of the party is turned invisible by Elise so they can sneak past them except Sif and Fa'azha. However D'Vorah's heavy armor causes too much noise and the trolls notice the non invisible people and begin attacking. Immediately Elise begins blasting away at the troll and summons Spiritual Weapon. D'Vorah casts Haste on Sif. Laoch shoots at it with the pepperbox. Zob rushes in horns at the front. Sif shoots with poisoned arrows. A spinosaurus appears from the water and begins attacking Boz and almost takes him underwater but he survives due to Laoch's Aura of Liberation. The other troll begins to rush in. Everyone continues beating down on the troll and the spinosaurus. Boz whacks the troll but cannot kill him. Fek tries to hold back the Spinosaurus and tells Elise and D'Vorah to head to dry land. Laoch and Boz attack the second approaching troll along with a raging Fek. Boz returns to his normal personality and apologizes for Zob's rudeness for a moment. D'Vorah uses Control Water to turn all the surrounding land into dry land as the Spinosaurus emerges to the east of the party. Elise summons Cynthia to begin attacking the Spinosaurus. The battle continues against the Spinosaurus once the last troll has been taken down by Sif's arrow. The Spinosaurus retreats into the water and the party waits a bit. D'Vorah helps Fek after the battle as Laoch heals Boz. Boz says he is struggling with his other personality. D'Vorah feels that this was due to Xaniv's mind searching that has left Boz like this with his split personality. Fek offers to give Boz a ride seeing his condition. Through the day the party keeps traveling and decides to rest at night. At night, the two moons are visible in the sky and everyone ponders about the third moon which is very rarely seen in the sky. Fek and Laoch take turns keeping watch. Laoch notices a large frog and is alarmed but realizes what it truly is.
3E452/10/11 - Finally, daylight peaks through. The party keeps trudging through. Almost everyone is plagued by nightmares since Xaniv's session except Fek. Elise tells D'Vorah that she had a dream where he sacrificed her for making a Phylactery. He assures her she won't be the one he sacrifices as he likes at least 2 people in the ship. Upon nightfall, the party decides to push through the night to be out of the swamp. Fek notices a beautiful grove of flowers ahead that D'Vorah and Elise assume to be a trap and want to avoid. They notice the flowers are on top of rotting corpses and skeletons. They are Corpse Flowers. D'Vorah casts Dancing Lights and the plants awaken and release a zombie each. Fek uses his Sunforger to blast the enemies followed by a Cone of Cold from D'Vorah. The rest use their weapons and magic to keep attacking the enemies. The flowers devour the corpses within their stomach to slowly regain their health. As Boz takes down one of the Corpse Flowers, the Spinosaurus returns and tries to go for D'Vorah and then attempts to attack Laoch next with its tail and causes her to go prone. The party keeps attacking the flowers as Fek slashes away violently on one of them. His powerful roar and Zealous Presence aids everyone in the party. The flower attacks back in retaliation but Elise's cutting words help Fek take less damage. Laoch gets back up and attempts to tear apart the spinosaurus in front of her with Divine Smite. The Spinosaurus continues attacking the party. Elise's Spiritual Weapon takes down another flower, as she summons Cynthia to rend the Spinosaurus. Fek takes down the final flower with his raging strength. D'Vorah uses Negative Energy Flood to damage the Spinosaurus as Sif takes shots at it. Laoch comes in with slashes and Divine Smite. It tries to make its escape as Fek catches it by its tail and pulls it back, stabbing it in the throat and slashing it. D'Vorah heals Fek to show his gratitude. D'Vorah also takes the corpses and uses them to carry him through the rest of the walk.
3E452/10/12 - The party reaches the last stretch of the Everswamp. Laoch keeps watch and guides the party away from some alligators. Fa'azha guides the party through a slightly longer route to avoid a Hydra's lair. Finally at dusk, the party is at the edge of the Everswamp at the foothills of the Kosmosi Mountains. They set camp as Fa'azha keeps watch. Elise says she misses her bed and Shoila's thighs. The party is at the edge of Lunar-Crimson territory as they rest for the night.
3E452/10/13 - Fek dreams of ancient battle grounds and red skies over wastelands marked with charred corpses of four armed humanoids. There is a brown-red Leonin that Fek sees who is apparently Magmus, his god. He attempts to try to hit a flying female Omniborn with mechanical arms wielding the light dagger. Magmus' arms are lost to the dagger and so he turns into a dragon and breathes acid on the light wielder. She tries to destroy Magmus using her magic but he endures as mountains and canyons crumble up in the wasteland. She channels her magic into a light energy Scythe and slices Magmus in half who transforms into an Efreeti and chars her in response until she turns into ash and the dagger falls to the ground. Magmus turns to Fek and that is when he wakes up. Fek's eyes are purple for a moment before going back to normal. Walking and talking, Fek talks about the Lightclaw/Liikal being wielded by some female Omniborn. They think it is a sign or message from Magmus perhaps. Elise urges Boz to talk about his history. Boz says his father was a pirate who one day went off with his crew and never came back. Few days later, an Alhoon of possibly Xaniv's cult, arrived. He did something psionic to Boz that caused him to be sick for days. Boz was an entertainer in the arena who played a bad guy persona known as Zob. His Zob persona took over him and he injured his friend. Worrying about this, he set off and left his home seeking some peace. He had a map left behind by his father leading to an island where he discovered everything he has talked about so far. The entire party except Fek recall the visions shown by Xaniv and they realize the pirate lord of Gluttony was a Minotaur lady. There is a possibility of Boz having her lineage. Elise sings In The Shadow of the Valley as they go across the valley. A Nightmare Kalashtar appears in the trees before them, warning them going after things they cannot comprehend. Everything seems to wither around them and they have a menacing appearance. They begin questioning the party as they block the path. Elise asks them about who sent them honestly. She tries to convince them to let them pass, but they seem mistrustful- especially due to D'Vorah's undead. The Kalashtar does a devastating Psychic Scream immediately in response that stuns Boz, Laoch and Fek. D'Vorah raises up a Wall of Force to block them in. Elise summons her Spiritual Weapon inside the Wall of Force. Laoch breaks out of her stun but Zagho uses some form of fathomless teleportation skill to make it out of the wall and appears before a nearby waterbody. Sif takes a shot at them as Zagho uses Dominate Person to mind control Fek. Fek comes rushing at Elise and slices once. She takes it and does Kinetic Jaunt and dances away blasting at him with eldritch beams to help him break the mind control. Fek snaps out of it. Elise asks The Kalashtar's name but they don't seem to be sure so Elise and they agree to refer to them as "ugly goth". D'Vorah blasts them with Negative Energy from his lantern. Laoch protects Fa'azha and shoots at the enemy with the pepperbox. The bullets turn to goop as they land on the body. Sif gets them with a poisoned arrow. Zagho rushes in towards Sif. They also direct an eldritch tentacle summoned up by them to hit Boz. Fek, now free, tries to convince them to stop fighting, saying Lunars will be coming to attack. Fa'azha is freaked out by everything that's happening. Suddenly, everything including the party turns into the goop as multiple tentacles come out and drag the party into the earth. The party arrives under the earth with the Kalashtar standing before them, grinning. Fek grabs the Kalashtar by the collar to tell him he didn't appreciate the mind probing. The Kalashtar says he doesn't have a good opinion of the party but they realize that the party was being truthful and thus lead them below to the ruins. Elise jokes with them a little. They are interested to see how things unfold and disappear. D'Vorah and Elise look around the ruins and see an elevator but nothing to activate it with. The party splits and looks for any arcane or mechanical means. As Sif and Elise look around they notice ancient runes of Omniborn on fallen pillars. Laoch takes a guess and Divine Smites the runes and it activates the elevator. Fa'azha will be waiting above and give the party the day or he will leave without them. The elevator goes down and down into pitch darkness for a very long time. As the party waits, Boz meditates with deep breaths as Elise sings Sugar We're Going Down. Finally, they arrive at the bottom floor. D'Vorah lights the area with Dancing Lights. Sif notices 4 yellow glass circles at 4 corners of the room. There is a glow in one of the circles. The walls are adorned in ancient Omniborn language with carvings of ancient heroes and such. The rest of the party also split off until suddenly Sif and Laoch run into a four armed statue that attempts to attack them. Sif screams and the party runs in to help. Laoch proposes retreating to block the entity off in the corridor. Boz, however, being in his Zob persona rushes in to attack another four-armed statue in his own area. Mavros flies in to scout at the southern area. D'Vorah scouts with Mavros further and sees a Gargoyle awaiting in the southwest room. With coordination, Elise, Sif and Laoch take down the initial statue. The other one drops a key of sorts that fits into one of the circles in the central room. Fek who is raging is concerned he might lose his rage if he does not get hit or hit something so Elise offers him to punch her so he can continue raging. He does so as she is unfazed and he continues running. The Gargoyle is banished by D'Vorah who decides to wait at the rear so he can maintain the banishment. Fek with his rage brings his greatsword down upon one of the statues and destroys it.
3E452/10/14 - As midnight rolls onward, D'Vorah thinks and realizes that the statues are held by divine magic and cleverly attempts to dispel that magic which deactivates the remaining statue. They happened to be guarding a key. The keys are fitted as the party heads to the last unexplored area to take down the final statue and get the last key. They encounter another Gargoyle whom D'Vorah uses a magic web to hold it in place as Boz rushes in to hit it. It swiftly tears the web away and flies in towards the rest of the party. Elise and Sif rain it down with beams and arrows, Laoch slashes at it with her Stormdancer which hurts the Gargoyle much more than normal added with Divine Smite. The final key drops and is slotted into the last circle. The elevator descends further into a grand colosseum-esque large room with elvish runes all around the walls. Elise translates it and it says "MARKAL ZURIEL - GLADIATOR OF MOROS". It strikes Boz, D'Vorah and Elise that Zuriel is the name of an angel. Angels are always born as twins, one red one blue. Elise knows that in the year of 600 or so, there was a tournament where gods sent their champions and Zuriel was in the top 10. Elise tells this to everyone. An angel with dark, bat-like wings appears before the party bleeding black blood. He looks almost deranged. He has the Lightclaw in his hand, and it seems he is to defend it. Elise tries to reason with him but he does not seem interested. She begins to rain down magic and summons Panthera. Sif shoots her bow. Laoch attempts to shoot but misses. The party almost hears ghostly cheering from the seats yet there is no crowd. Zuriel says it is his duty to protect the dagger and throws it and it almost seems telekinetically controlled as it attempts to hit everyone with radiant power. Now Zuriel himself rushes into battle and slashes at Elise, taking her down in one shot. Fek blocks his other blow. Boz takes this opportunity and whacks him from behind to try and stun him using monk techniques. D'Vorah goes to Elise and heals her with all his power. She rises and casts Mass Cure Wounds to aid everyone. She pulls back and tells everyone that there is something off about him and the dagger might be the reason. Laoch backs off as well, refusing to fight him. The dagger continues to assault most of the party. Markal Zuriel takes a swing at Boz then takes flight. Fek shouts with Zeal and rushes to the dagger and holds it as it causes him to burn with radiant energy. D'Vorah rushes in and covers the dagger in the bag of holding and tells Fek to let go as he tightens the bag. The only light illuminating the room happened to be the dagger so it immediately goes pitch black. Markal appears behind D'Vorah and tries to slash at D'Vorah but Elise's cutting words make him miss. He then attempts to bring in the dagger from the astral realm directly. Boz and Fek go in to attack and he appears to be taking damage. D'Vorah pulls away and puts himself into a wall of force. Elise and Sif keep shooting at him with magic and arrows, as Elise continues healing. Laoch goes in to slash at him. Markal screams out and it causes the barrier between realms is broken doing a radiant blast. He is able to pull out the dagger and clutches it in his hand and falls unconscious. Elise suggests Fek to slash the arm off but it doesn't seem to work, though the grip does loosen and the dagger falls loose. As D'Vorah, Boz and Fek are wondering and discussing how to transfer the dagger, Elise and Laoch realize it may be possible to transfer the dagger along with Markal as they are still attuned. The party decides to do so and take him on to the elevator and begin ascending. In the long ascent up, the party wonders and realizes it was not Markal but the dagger itself that pulled itself through dimensions. Markal's left hand was used to hold the dagger and his veins seemed to be glowing. Boz recalls the brother of Markal, Valkan Zuriel, the Golden Knight. He was a famous hero and the main champion of Aethys until one day he eventually died. The party ascends to the top where they rest with Markal restrained. As the sun rises, he says he cannot allow the party to take the dagger though he is much calmer. He is confused by the party as they are all new races that he hasn't seen since thousands of years of isolation. He asks what gods the party serves and is surprised to see Fek serves Magmus. He speaks with the party more about his circumstances. He says he is willing to be sealed along with the dagger wherever the party takes him. Boz gets the feeling that he might be atoning for something. He realizes he is being corrupted, so Elise tries to convince him to step down from his duty. He doesn't know who else will do it if not him. Elise plays some music to calm the situation down but it strikes a thought in D'Vorah who thinks about how powerful this dagger is. Everyone thinks about how much revolves around it and how its sheer power didn't just burn away the party. The overwhelming power of the dagger is revolting. Markal asks if the party trusts Sombra, so D'Vorah says yes, Laoch says he is the better choice and Elise says he's done a lot of good in his life so he is trustworthy. He continues to get a bit more familiar with the party. As the party begins traveling back, they ask him to tell his story. Especially D'Vorah as Elise gets ready to jot down the details. He says Valkan was portrayed as the perfect hero yet he and his goddess Aethys did horrible things in the name of the Pure Light. Moros used to be the goddess of the afterlife, though Thetus is now. In a tournament in the Golden City, Aethys was in attendance. For fun, Valkan was to spar with Markal and Markal was meant to lose but Magmus stepped in, crashing the party with his destruction. Aethys was about to call it off but Magmus and Varkanus ended up killing his brother and he let it happen. Feeling guilt for it, he chose to volunteer as a result. D'Vorah does a Sending to Sombra who says the party should arrive at Faypass and he will teleport them back.
3E452/10/19 - Five-six days later, the Nebula has reached Faypass to pick up the crew once they reach the city. The town is being decorated for Ashrest. A purple alien moss has begun to grow all around the ship. Amari sees this and brings it up to Pete saying it is not doing any specific kind of damage. Pete and Zai discuss the new arrival of Vass. Vass steps up on the main deck, she seems to have produced clothes for herself. Amari tells Vass that the moss must be dealt with but Vass says it makes the ship better. The crew discuss the situation a bit more as Cydney and Bejak also add their comments in. Vass looks across the docks and sees graffiti on a wall that is the symbol. The crew wonders about it and Xaniv's influence and reach. Soon, Vass also heads on to the deck carefree and the crew follows behind. As they check around, they come across a bar that is marked with the signs indicating pirates may wind down there. The party goes around and tries to gather information from the crowd, Zai specifically trying to find information through the Thieves' Network. Cydney gets into a bar fight and is thrown out. They find out artificers/engineers have been going missing in town lately, and there's not much explanation behind it. Cydney goes around town. The town seems to be preparing for Ashrest Celebration, which is the celebration that follows the day of prayer and mourning. And the town seems to have more and more graffitis and they seem to be marking a path. He comes back and informs the party who comes out of the bar now. They send Shoila back to inform the rest of the crew to be prepared as the main few head into the city and follow the trail. They see the final symbol is on an abandoned school building and they decide to explore inside. Zai takes a toothpick she got from a meal at the bar and uses it to pick the lock. Zai and Cydney notice there are artificer tools and bits of tech around. Cydney finds a map tucked away and looks at it. The map seems to lead to a small island a little ways off Faypass. The party deliberates about what to do and finally decide they have time until tomorrow and go off towards the location. The island is small and has an abandoned church in it, they head on inside and investigate seeing old structures and elvish wordings written. The church seems to be dedicated to Deltus. Cydney notices all this and that the altar at the very north seems to be off. Cydney asks Zai to come and help and they see a lock mechanism beneath the altar and it is trapped but with their combined work they also bypass traps and the altar moves away revealing a staircase going deep. They hear chanting from deep within and Amari suggests Zai to sneak up and scout ahead, and it seems to lead to a chamber where strange humanoid creatures with tentacles seem to be chanting to some deity. The crew decides that this is above their pay grade but the altar closes. They also see the corpses of various engineers all around and decide they have to attack and go through. Zai tells Pete to have her back and says she can give the fight a head start. Amari casts Mage Armor on herself. Zai draws her rapier and rushes in to stab one of the strange humanoid priests. He screams out in pain and this alerts all the priests. Zai takes another poke and disengages back. Pete heads into the fray, slashing at that same priest with his twin Cutlass, ending him. Bejak goes in to stab at another priest with his Trident. Cydney does his Bladesong and gracefully steps into battle with his twin Scimitars and slices at that priest. But from his position he sees a mechanical Kraken at the southern depths and is surprised. A third priest uses thunderous touch and tries to attack Cydney whose bladesong helps him dodge away. Amari uses Mind Whip to damage one priest who is stunned by that magic. The fourth priest channels the Kraken's voice and that thunderous voice strikes fear into Pete and Bejak. Zai steps in front and tells Pete to not fear and takes a shot at another priest. Pete steps off to that priest and slashes him apart. Bejak also continues attacking and the both break free from their fear soon. The priest attempts to cast dark magic but Cydney promptly counterspells him immediately. The Kraken withdraws some tentacles and is able to go through the gaps and head towards the party and smacks at Bejak who is able to block one blow but gets hit once. Amari conjures a Psychic Lance to incapacitate a priest and he is befuddled by glowing spores. Zai takes a shot at the other priest and hides behind a pillar. Pete rushes at the incapacitated priest and hacks away. Bejak stabs one of the priests and kills him while taking another hit and gets the Kraken. Cydney casts Haste on Zai and moves on to the only remaining priest and takes on him along with Pete. Amari casts Erupting Earth and produces spikes of rocks to attack the Kraken who gets one tentacle sliced off. They suggest everyone to slice off the tentacles. Cydney and Pete continue their attacks on a now retreating priest as Zai pops off another arrow at the Kraken that snaps off another tentacle. Pete goes after the priest, takes him down and then takes another slice at Kraken. Cydney moves towards the Kraken now with Green-Flame Blade, as the fire passes from tentacle to tentacle, then teleports away using Misty Step. Bejak backs off to preserve himself. Pete gets more swipes on the Kraken as it moves towards Amari. The party continued their assault on the Kraken. Finally, Cydney starts spinning with his blades and takes down the Kraken entirely as it drops down dead. As the party gets a moment, Amari releases healing spores that help Pete and Bejak return to their normal condition. The crew looks around the area and finds some books in Abyssal, and Cydney finds a spell book. It seems to be the same sort of spell book that the Alhoons hold. They realize that the Kraken the party fought years ago was turned into this mechanical one and the humanoids were low level members of the cult of the Whisperer who were granted magic.
3E452/10/20 - Meanwhile, the main party continues traveling towards Faypass as Markal gets a little more comfortable with the rest of the party. Elise suggests angels are a major buzzkill as Mark agrees before Laoch can say it can be chalked up to his past. Boz says he is part of the crew and will be treated as one. "Mark" says he wants to go to the Golden City, which was the epicenter of Cometfall so Elise sadly breaks the news to him. D'Vorah asks about the city and he says it has a more positive reputation than it actually is. D'Vorah also asks about the Omniborn but Mark has a less than good opinion of them. Elise notes it all down, promising to be truthful of these myths. The party continues talking with Markal as he also mentions Azydos, City of the Dead which he says he will not spoil the surprise for. D'Vorah goes on another pessimistic rant but is stopped short. Boz is friendly with Mark and seems to respect him. They think about how Ashrest is coming and consider a ritual for Anlyth. Laoch has some thoughts about her faith and Atrius. The party heads towards Faypass and sees a storm brewing above the city and Laoch wonders if this is Atrius sending a sign. Elise is upset due to how they are like pawns in a cruel game being played and watched by uncaring gods. Mark agrees that gods are assholes. Elise tells Mark that the world is a whole new place for him to explore and he should not go back into duty to gods or such. Boz continues being super kind to Mark even suggesting they pair up when Mark mentions he feels a void since his twin died. In this time, in the dark weather, thunder flashes and a four armed humanoid that is not a Vedavin appears before the party slowly approaches them. It seems they are the same Omniborn from Fek's dream, but undead. It wields two giant scythes, one made of gold and one made of light. D'Vorah immediately puts the party into a Wall of Force bubble to protect them as Mark stands in front of the party. Mark recognizes her as Zanisa, who was a servant of Aethys and was 8th in the grand tournament centuries back. Zanisa says she is "Ballista Aries of the Pure Light" and demands the dagger. Elise mockingly calls herself "Elise Thunderpussy of the Hall of Harmony". Aries does something to the dagger and it glows in Mark's hand who is really struggling for control. He is busy maintain control as the rest of the party heads out of the barrier for a fight. She immediately starts the fight by crashing down into the party with light energy which only Sif and Boz dodge. Fa'azha, hurt, tries to escape but is brought down by Aries swiftly. Sif disengages away and takes a shot at her. Elise absolutely guns it away from her but she shoots a beam which Elise deftly manages to barely dodge with her inspiration. Boz swings his Watabo and takes many punches as he switches into his Zob persona. Laoch takes swings with Stormdancer producing divine smites but it seems to hurt her less. Fek rages as the symbol of Magmus burns brightly on his face and he brings down his Greatsword on her and takes heavy swings. D'Vorah panics and flips through his book, doing a magica dispel on Aries' scythe. Aries realizes her scythe is missing so she resummons it and hits D'Vorah. She uses her scythes to swing around and tries to swipe away everyone's very souls doing immense damage and D'Vorah is downed and Fek is slowed by that attack. Fa'azha's soul is utterly destroyed by that attack and beyond saving. Boz, enraged by Fa'azha's death takes swings and punches. Aries then teleports into the Ethereal Plane and notices Sif and swings at her with a strong blow but Elise's Cutting Words and her evasion prevents it from being too devastating. Sif disengages and runs into the midst of the party. Elise eventually summons Cynthia and she begins spitting "Roses are red, shit is brown, shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down" and to the beat Cynthia swipes with claws and Panthera slices at her, but despite her body taking damage she has enough life in her to teleport away and escape. Elise takes a bow. Boz and D'Vorah are mourning Fa'azha. Laoch realizes that the storm and lightning warned them of Aries' arrival and in some way guided and ensured their trial was not as severe as it should have been. Mark's left hand seems to have some form of degeneration caused by the absolute light's corruption. Elise worries that Aries might come back. Mark says she survived a thousand years and she is hard to kill. He talks about the 12 ballista of the houses of the Collective. He says Aries used to be Zanissa who was a companion of her brother. D'Vorah continues bombarding him with a multitude of questions. Boz confidently says he will crush them all but D'Vorah says it may not be so easy. Elise says they took down 2 champions of gods so they are stronger than they realize. The party heads into Faypass which is silent on the first day. The party boards onto the ship as Shoila asks what happened. They explain what all happened. The party mourns together for all the crew that has been lost. D'Vorah and Cydney also have a funny exchange where he makes him say please for the spell book he nicked from the cult base. Fek mourns the flowers that died in his shop. Elise mourns Anylth with the rest but she also takes a moment to mourn Genso/Baizo. Elise Comprehends Languages on the book but it is difficult to transcribe the book as it is in Qualith, but she is able to get an inkling and enough to D'Vorah being capable of learning some spells. He chooses to learn Disintegrate and Globe of Invulnerability.
3E452/10/21 - The second day of Ashrest is much more celebratory in mood. The party takes this chance to celebrate. Boz uses D'Vorah's help to send a message to his mother who can barely believe he's alive and thinks her ears are ringing. D'Vorah asks Elise if she has anyone to message and she thinks she has no one when Shoila steps in and speaks about her mother. Elise says she's afraid of knowing what her mother might think. Shoila mentions the father and says they face death daily so now's the right chance to talk to him. Elise does so and gets a curt but positive reply from her father. D'Vorah is asked about his own family as Zai also joins the conversation. D'Vorah says he cares for his undead whom he considers his family as they have been through a lot with him. Cydney whispers to Laoch that it's just him shaping their personality in their heads and she says it's his coping mechanism. Elise says there's more family than he realizes and hugs him. He appreciates it. Boz takes them both into a bear hug. He also asks about Nyx who had left the party and Elise decides to message him and says he misses him. He responds and says he would meet the party at Sombus. Elise sees the people dancing in the main streets, and takes Shoila's hand and asks for a dance as they head into the crowd. D'Vorah shoots a Disintegrate spell into the sky as a way to test the spell and also for celebrating. Pete talks to Laoch about how the ship has a Mindflayer, an Angel and has purple otherworldly moss growing on it. Laoch says she knows but there's a lot going on and she is tired. As the dances are over, Elise holds Shoila's cheek and kisses her. She says Elise has saved her many times and Elise says she'd love it if Shoila would also play the hero sometimes and Shoila says she'll certainly try. As most of the crew reaches the ship, Vass says she is here to repay her debt. The ship is apparently now alive due to the moss and D'Vorah asks the ship questions using Speak with Plants and realizes it speaks in an almost stoner-esque voice. She asks the entire crew to get on the ship so Elise uses Thaumaturgy to cause an announcement. Vass says there's more to it and she takes a map of the blood sea, points at Sombus and the ship seems to enter into a magical portal of sorts that is conjured, and ends up in Sombus instantly. The ship can now teleport thanks to the otherworldly magical moss. With this, Vass says her debt is repaid and Laoch thanks her for all her help. She sets off as Laoch offers her help any time she needs it. She puts on her hood and leaves for good into the bustle of Sombus, petting the railing one last time as she does. The crew heads to the Aerie Spa to wash up, where Elise and Laoch have a conversation with D'Vorah about his recent obsession with Fek. Afterward, D'Vorah takes Fek out to a sort-of date at a nearby bar in Sombus.
3E452/10/22 - Heading to the Scarlet Keep, they run into Prince Mu who introduces himself to everyone. He talks about Uragan, and doesn't know Elise. Talking with King Sombra, he rewards them and talks about how Mark can stay in Sombus for the time being as the dagger would be safe here. About the abyssgate, he says that he'll have his scryers look into a phylactery, but they can figure out how to deal with Xaniv after they deal with the abyssgate, and to recruit the seven lords. On their way out of the city, they head to Yizuko Labs to meet up with Xoe. She gives D'vorah the dragonsteel sword he ordered, and suggests that she take him to the Carminus Universum campus to learn. D'Vorah agrees, as the crew goes on without him. At the docks though, Elise runs into what looks like Genso but is revealed to be Nyx. Teleporting to Shipwreck City, they run into some resistance from Xiphalia's crew but are eventually let in to see her. She is scared and paranoid as usual, but agrees to hold the shipwreck meeting with suspicion. Elise says that she is her child, but she doesn't believe her at first. When proven, something happens and the crew is sucked into Xiphalia's head where an amethyst dragon attacks them. After standing up to his barrage, he calls off this 'test', and reveals himself to be Golzoorhah. He explains to them about his role in Xiphalia's head and his aim to destroy the abyssgate and Xaniv, and asks them to bring the meeting together so he can peer into the Alhoon followers' minds. Elise is shaken up by the reveals. Back on the ship, Nyx and Boz do a sparring match that Nyx ends up winning.
3E452/10/23 - Teleporting to Canau, they are led to Countess Fenya Cetrovna's ship and casino- the Broken Quill. Entering it, they meet up with her after a standoff during which her crew raises pistols at an eager Nyx. She refuses to go right off, knowing that she won't make it back. As they discuss this, Uragan heads into the ship to much fanfare, and notices Elise. They eventually decide to have a bardoff, which Uragan barely manages to outedge until Boz and Elise secure a thin victory. During the performance, they notice Carbon Agents, Bolt Carbon and Princess Aite walk in among the many rich guests. After Uragan and Elise have a nice moment for once, the group goes over to Carbon and Aite to make conversation, during which Zob insults Carbon much to his contempt. Elise, Laoch and Fek decide to go talk to Cetrovna in her office, trying to convince her to join them to which she asks them to repay Morley's debt of 10,000 gold. Meanwhile, Nyx and Boz play poker in which Boz ends up losing money. Nyx eventually stalks a Carbon Agent to the bar, where the Bartender feeds him some information. Luring the agent into the bathroom, Nyx and Boz beat the guy up and tie him to interrogate, Zob even pissing on him. Elise joins them as they find out that they're here to arrest Cetrovna. Uragan offers to offer them a distraction while Fenya escapes. Laoch jumps out the ship with Cetrovna, but Nyx ends up trying to scare the many agents advancing on the office. Boz rushes to help Nyx, and a fight breaks out in which Boz goes down multiple times and is stuck as the others try to escape. Boz eventually jumps out the window barely escaping capture, as Carbon's plan is foiled. Cetrovna decides to accept their offer and join in for the Pirate Court.
3E452/10/24 - The next morning, Boz is lamenting his split persona and the issues that cause him and his friends. Laoch, frustrated after hearing how Zob refused to retreat, goes and slaps him and declares a punishment for his actions. Boz says that he wishes to run away to prevent further harm but the party convinces him otherwise. Elise decides to utilize the wisdom of Golzoorhah to see if a solution can be found. Communing with him using the medallion, he advises her to tap the medallion to Boz's head which will bring them inside Boz's mind realm similar to what happened with Xiphalia. Zob breaks out and begins to get violent so he is restrained automatically by the ship's vines. His mind appears to be like the arena where Mark fought the party except all is in red lighting with debris, junk and skeletons lying about. Boz is also here, separate from his personality Zob whom he notices atop the pile of skeletons. It is a difficult battle as Zob seems to shrug off most injuries and his punches manage to stun anyone it hits, but the party pulls through initially.In the second half of the fight, Zob distorts the entire arena causing rubble to be flung and a destructive wave causes major damage to everyone. The party suggests Boz to communicate with Zob or fight mentally to get back control of his head as the fight seems to be unwinnable otherwise. Boz communicates with Zob and suggests to him that he will not do away with that persona but they can come to a compromise and he can do a mixture of both their behaviors. This seems to pacify Zob who disappears, bringing the party out of the mind realm. This new persona is accepted into the crew by an initially wary party. The ship teleports to Taltigo, deciding to approach Lyn directly. She seems to have hired a new right hand man, a fire Genasi named Qarex. Lyn seems to not be bothered at all and says she does not care for the Abyss Gate opening and will just hold out on her own. Lyn also mentions her informants found out Xaniv's men were seen at Gravesbury where a giant's skeleton was uncovered along with a black scroll. Elise and Fek realize that Lyn is charmed and being influenced by Qarex. Sif catches on that Zai leaving left her in a vulnerable state, allowing Qarex to act. The party decides to walk away for now, seeing no progress. Elise and Nyx disguised themselves as hookers and infiltrated the building to ask questions and find out more about the situation. Laoch suggests bringing Zai might have an effect so the rest of the party heads off to the ship to bring her before Lyn. Nyx attempts to seduce Qarex to take him away from the crowd and get him alone. Sif goes snooping around and runs into Lyn's office where she investigates and finds some gold, eventually finds a letter in a safe. Qarex is not only unaffected but he also manages to charm Nyx and make him stay in place. Elise attempted to rescue him from the situation but Qarex became suspicious and began questioning her. Nyx is also unwilling to trust Elise and be rescued due to the powerful effects of the charm. His life force is half drained due to a draining kiss from Qarex. Elise being immune to his charms, Qarex becomes visibly upset and he unmasks Elise and begins pressing her. At this point the party rushes in with Zai and Laoch comes in to help Elise by putting on a facade that she came here to get some fancy drinks. Qarex, still enraged by Elise's resistance, reluctantly lets her go. He does say the party should stay in the building for the night, and this is more of a threat than anything. The party discusses the situation without Nyx, who is still held in place. Sif joins the party and shows them the letter. She also feels guilty and returns the earnings of the brothel back. Elise reads it and it says that Qarex was sent by Krros himself to allow the Abyss Gate to be opened. Zai says that there will be a switch of employees at a certain time of night and this would be an ideal time to strike against Qarex. At the time of switching, the party heads in and confronts him. He forces Nyx and Lyn into combat and they begin fighting against each other. The fight is brutal as Qarex causes Fear in the hearts of almost all combatants who are forced to flee against their better judgment. Elise also tells Sif to leave as Lyn starts heading after the members who have fled. All this while, he decides he is done with Nyx and drains his life force entirely using his kiss. Qarex offers to let them all walk away, seeing that he has the upper hand. After pretending to consider, Elise spits blood in his face and attempts to end the battle but her Psychic Lance is not strong enough. Finally, an inspired Laoch manages to rush in and using her sword and Divine Smites she manages to successfully slay Qarex, but as is normal with Devils he is teleported to hell instead of dying properly. With his last few breaths, Elise insults him and he cusses back in kind. Elise uses the last of her power to bring Nyx back to life. Laoch and Sif decide to take Lyn to a bed to give her some aid. In that brief moment when Nyx died, he apparently reached the very first frontier of the afterlife where he stood by the bank of a river of blood. Varkanus appears before him and initially wants to give him the gift of life. However, he senses Nyx is being revived and attempts to eradicate him entirely until Ashus steps in and intimidates him. Varkanus relents and says billions will be here on this river bank soon enough. Nyx comes back to life and relays all this to the party. It takes him a while to notice that the kiss degenerated his body so badly his arm was lost even though his life was spared. Lyn says she will be willing to sail to Shipwreck Cove and is with the pirate union. The revival process itself left Nyx severely damaged as well, so he realizes he cannot help the party any more and decides to walk away. Elise, saddened, weeps into Laoch's shoulder.
3E452/10/25 - The party begins heading back and reaches Sif's orphanage on the way. Sif and Laoch notice that the funds may be being embezzled, so they go and address a certain Madame Deleslie. They press her a bit to find out about the funds. Seeing that she may be entirely culpable, they intimidate her to sway her on to the right path. She seems to be convinced by their threats. Meanwhile, Elise and Fek encounter the tiefling child the crew saved 2 years ago from Yulis' clutches. The party returns to the ship finally, and Elise requests Laoch that they need a break and she wants to meet her mother. Laoch is anxious about the time crunch but she agrees. In the morning at Shipwreck Cove, Elise heads into the Meeting Room of the pirate lords where Xiphalia sits. Elise and her reconnect properly after three decades. Their exchange is awkward, but there is some break through. Elise updates her mother about her life while asking about what Xiphalia did this whole time. Elise asks her mother to hold her once. Though initially reluctant, Xiphalia relents and they embrace before setting off. Elise returns to the ship and tells Laoch how she understands the pain of family not recognizing you. Laoch reassures Elise in return. She then says she is glad to have Laoch as captain. With this heartfelt exchange, they decide to rest up for the day before heading off to seek the other lords.
3E452/10/26 - Boz feels his understanding of languages has expanded greatly and asks Elise to say things in foreign languages which he is able to fully comprehend. As they teleport to Sombus, The crew sets out and heads to Yizuko Labs. They see Factore lying on the ground and Boz and Laoch check her vitals and see she is just tired. They head in and see a ravaged and tired D'Vorah who has some news for the team. He mentions there is a copy of Elise's book with words marked relating to Amohr, Darkgrove Isle, and the Black Scroll. He mentions that the kid they met on Isla Tumba has something important about him or his father. Also pages mentioning Yulis were ripped off. He talks about the research he did about Lichdom and how the god Orcus was the sole domain god of Necromancy until Omegus displaced him and took part in the domain. He mentions followers of Omegus do "ethical necromancy", with respect to the dead. Elise and Laoch recall that Necromancy can be roughly positive or negative and the vast majority are negative. They discuss how Varkanus is the god of life and he thoroughly dislikes undead and necromancy. Finally, D'Vorah mentions that a star ship "The Star's Whisper" led by Xaniv in void space was destroyed by temporal lawkeepers, but it was believed his wife, Xie Min and he was supposedly killed by Mindflayers. However this was shut down by a person of unclear name and ranking of The Star Fleet who continues to say illithids do not exist in the star system. After all this information is relayed D'Vorah passes out. Xoe enters as the party talks with her a bit. They both fill each other in on recent events. Xoe asks about the next pirate lord they are pursuing and mentions she knows Baoshi and took a loan from him. They discuss a bit about the pirate lord and his domain. The party also hears barking yet no dog and Xoe assumes it is a companion D'Vorah made for himself. Boz carrying D'Vorah, they head out. Boz goes looking for a tattoo parlor while the rest go to the Laughing Skeleton and buy a Ring of Spell Storing with pooled money from everyone and then Elise stores a Raise Dead spell in the ring. Boz meanwhile acquires a fully detailed tattoo of a bull that grants him protection from Death once a day. A lifewell tattoo is placed on him by the dwarf tattoo artist.
3E452/10/27 - The party rests and awakens to the ship teleporting to Concar'ii. A sea town with asian aesthetics. Elise and D'Vorah notice the largest building which is the grand tangerine bank. The flag of Baoshi also comes to notice. As the ship heads to the bay, the party notices a gigantic cloud that dissipates and turns into flying creatures that rushes towards the city. They notice that it is in fact demons- The abyssgate has apparently opened as the city is under attack. The party docks immediately and rushes into combat. There were a variety of demons laying siege to the docks but the party fought valiantly and took them down with not much difficulty. The crew head on to the big building as they wonder if they could have made a difference if they were hastier or if it would have made any difference at all. They meet with Baron Baoshi who discusses the situation with the crew and is convinced to head to the Court. He will mobilize all forces and take his navy from Xoenn along and head to the Cove. Boz asks about the remaining Pirate Lord from Baoshi who discusses his ancestry regarding the passing of the piece of seven of Gluttony. Boz's possible father comes up during the discussion of preceding lords. Baoshi also talks about the Redfields with Laoch as well as mentioning the Xoenn equivalent of the Yakuza, the Triad being troublesome. With all that discussed, he wishes them godspeed as the crew head off. With some free time in hand, D'Vorah uses the spell Legend Lore to learn more of Xaniv now that they know his full name. Elise uses the Golzoorah medallion to add his knowledge to this spell as it is too much knowledge to bear- so they call for the whole crew to meditate together. The party begins seeing visions. Xaniv Tao commandeers a star ship in void space alongside Xie Min, his wife. They destroy many ships. Xaniv worships Attenos, the "good" side of Varkanus. The two conquer the stars as Omniborn ships try to chase them but they outrun them. Eventually a Mindflayer Nautiloid manages to take the ship down that sends his wife off to the cold void space as he himself bears near mortal wounds. He is taken over by Illithid parasites and comes to his senses deep in a hive mind. He begins to acquire spellcasting as he fights his way out of the hive. A wounded Illithid Xaniv meets some Gith-Yanki who are offered the Mindflayer colony location as he teams up with other Mindflayers of free mind. With Gith-Yanki allies he forms fleets in revenge. He goes back to his old life of violent piracy in void space. Finally, he sets sights on his home world of Abmarah. Varkanus whispers into his mind promising grandeur. His ships head towards the world as he is attacked in return by Omniborn ships who easily defeat him. As he is on his damaged ship, he sees a comet head towards Abmarah, and clings on to life still and tries to reach the comet. After the point of impact of the Comet, he calls to Varkanus but gets no response. His sheer willpower and negative energy opens a rift into the Abyss as his phylactery is formed. His phylactery appears to be a gold coin with a hole in it. The coin seems to have been lost in the sea as he loses his god's favor and becomes undead. The party discusses what the visions mean and what they might do next. There are a lot of conflicting emotions and D'Vorah does a lot of unnecessary overthinking. Fek, Boz and Elise are heavily determined to end Xaniv. Zai also joins in on the conversation. Shoila is a bit distressed by the discussion but is comforted by Elise. D'Vorah and Boz remember a bit more about the location where they are about to head next and realize the Ashpits are in that same location. It is a ruthless gladitorial pit where intense fights happen, often with no rules except for "no outside interference". Shoila and Bajak both claim to have heard of it. Apparently, Belanar made bets and Shoila herself made bets and even fought a little. The party discusses more about the Ashpits before the day comes to an end.
3E452/10/28 - Elise gives D'Vorah the Ring of Spell Storing and asks Fek if the scroll given to him is safe. Shoila warns everyone that this pirate lord will not be happy about the slavery operation the party had shut down recently. The ship teleports and arrives at Casthys, the party docks and is guided by Shoila into the city. She leads them into a wall that has a cavern leading in. The party runs into Anila Khai who stands over a particularly large pit with a lava pool in it. The party notices Yatra in that pit fighting an Orc Eye of Magmus whom Fek recognizes as mages who sacrifice an eye to gain magical prowess. Shoila introduces the party to Anila Khai. Boz wonders aloud to him about who would win between Yatra and the Orc. Anila Khai asks the party why they're here as they discuss the situation. The Yatra fight concludes with her victory as Anila Khai asks who is the strongest in the party. D'Vorah points to Fek. Elise asks Shoila about him but it seems she is hesitant to talk about it. Fek is challenged to a fight by Anila. He is cheered on by his friends as the two enter the pit to fight to the death. The pair rage and begin to assault each other with blows, Boz nearly interfering but is held back by Laoch. It is a very close battle but Fek refuses to go down and manages to completely take him down. Anila seems to not care at all and will only be defending the Ashfall Isles and gives the piece of seven: The Demogorgon Tooth to Fek. Anila also apparently has a history with Shoila who refuses to elaborate. Elise and Laoch notice Yatra and try to talk with her, who suggests going to a quiet place to talk. D'Vorah decides to take a fight and test his mettle. He gets into the ring with an elderly Genasi Forge Cleric named Agnii. D'Vorah is barely scratched due to his Otherworldly Guise of Lower Plane that protects him from all flame and helps him defeat Agni. The party now moves on from the arena after their victories as Laoch asks Yatra about what all happened. Elise, Laoch and D'Vorah speak to Yatra and recruit her for the battles ahead. All this while, Boz invites Anila, Fek and Yatra to the second Tournament of Champions that he will be hosting. Back at the ship, Elise pesters Shoila until she talks about her past here and she reveals she used to work here under Shri Kunala and got physical with Anila. Boz and D'Vorah work on making ice cream along with Akkar's help. Laoch gets news that Zolen has some information on the Redfields. He asks her to go to Arrecife del Verano: the Cyclone Inn and ask about the red cat to know more. In the down time between teleportation, Laoch and Elise talk a bit and Laoch, appreciating Elise, gives her an amethyst brooch that she joyfully accepts. Elise spends the night with Shoila.
3E452/11/01 - The next day, Boz, D'Vorah and Sif work together to use her card to produce more gold income for them. The ship arrives at the docks of Arrecife del Verano. They head in and warn the people of possible demonic attacks. They arrive at the inn where Laoch asks for the red cat, as Zolen asked. They are asked to wait and chill here. Captain Roonan unexpectedly arrives downstairs and there are no hostilities. He begins revealing what happened. Apparently he was imprisoned but Zolen paid his bail. He opens up a map to show that Arrecife del Voragine is actually a watchtower and to the north is a prison in the Red Maelstrom. He offers to help the party sneak in and rescue the Redfields from there; two last survivors have been held captive there for 8 years. They head back to the ship to talk further. The ship responds positively to his return as much of the crew is confused by his presence. Shoila is happy to see his return. He negotiates with them for him to get Cetrovna's piece of seven should she happen to die. The party and Roonan intensely discuss a plan to get into the prison and escape with Laoch's parents. They finalize on using Teleport and Plane Shift as a means of travel into and out of the prison. Elise, fearing mutiny anxiously tells Shoila that she really trusts her who teases in return. Boz continues bothering D'Vorah for ice cream and poison syrup, who reluctantly grants his request before beginning to work on preparation of the spell. The ship sets sail as Roonan enjoys the feel of the wind in his hair.
3E452/11/02 - In the morning, D'vorah asks out Fek below decks. After the party meets up, Roonan throws Elise a piece of broken rock that he got from the prison. As they teleport inside, they are engulfed by the antimagic field of the prison. They manage to take down some Faithforged guards without raising suspicion, and pick them off as they sneak deeper into the prison. Eventually making it to the prison cell where Alastorm and Phaona are held, one of the Faithforged disables the antimagic field before dying. The party is attacked by the mage-killing monsters, as guards try to break down the doors and enter. Alastorm throws in a fireball when Laoch goes down, not caring about others. As everyone manages to kill the monstrosities and save Laoch, Elise and Boz demand Alastorm to apologize to them, which he eventually does. As they go to free them, D'vorah hears Osmund, his old friend that betrayed him, in a nearby cell. A former lunar agent, he's been held here almost as long as Laoch's parents. D'vorah refuses to save him until he agrees to give information about House Gold. They plane-shift to the City of Brass, Elise spotting that they would've missed the city entirely if it wasn't for a shadowy figure correcting their course. Appearing on someone's rooftop, some of them head down to talk with the shopkeeper, a Vezaborn named Israa, while D'vorah stays and recovers while interrogating Osmund. Israa reveals the Holy Avenger Axe that she found to Fek, but as they can't afford it, she asks them to recover some Blood Cactus from near Varkunast in the material plane. Fek was allowed to take the axe, but she kept D'vorah's sword as collateral. Laoch caught up with her parents, and told them about Cydney. Osmund tried to escape, but was caught. As they plane shifted back to the Blood Sea, they appeared in the middle of the ocean with the Nebula on the horizon. Elise casted sending to Zai as D'vorah polymorphed into a blue whale and carried everyone back to the Nebula, where he promptly killed Osmund. Roonan teleports the ship to Shipwreck City, where Phaona and Alastorm de-board. Elise talks with Phaona about losing her son as she lost her mother, and then goes to have a conversation with Xiphalia which goes a lot colder than anticipated, but has some development.
3E452/11/03 - The party teleports to Isla Tumba. They investigate the shack where the orc father and his child lived but find it is abandoned presently and was rummaged through a year ago. They look around and D'Vorah and Boz see a patch of blood, also old. D'Vorah suggests Elise to sending the child but there is no response. The party notices footprints of Crimson Soldiers. Laoch stays overnight to keep watch but notices nothing.
3E452/11/04 - The party teleports to Varkunast. It is a grand city but devoid in color. D'Vorah says it was built on a leyline and is very important to magic. As they wander the city, Fek has a dreadful feeling from the central dome and warns everyone else. People seem to randomly look at the dome with fearful looks. Boz asks a local about the cactus who guides them towards the desert and Laoch wonders about the dome and they say screams were heard. They decide to head out into the desert and follow some plants hoping to find some cacti. An ash storm arrives and takes Sif by surprise who breathes it in and is drained of energy. The party heads on in and Fek and Sif notice something poking out and it is a small red cactus. They collect a few plants but then the ash storm strikes again, really draining Sif and Laoch both. Fek flies above and sees the general direction of the city. They continue and get one more plant sample and then D'Vorah Plane Shifts them to the City of Brass. They speak with Israa and take a full rest to recover. Then D'Vorah and Elise buy a potion she prepared.
3E452/11/05 - The party sleeps and takes a rest before Plane Shifting back to the ship. They arrive in a random street of Varkunast at night. The party goes to the central dome and see guards surrounding the temple. They ask some questions and decide to head on in. There are corpses and signs of a massacre all around. They head deeper in and Laoch sneaks ahead. She notices a huge creature in armor along with multiple undead. It kills a cultist of Varkanus and then proceeds to attack the party as Laoch warns everyone and combat begins. An intense fight ensues where everyone attempts to rush at Daskl, the Champion of Omegus. D'Vorah uses Steel Wind Strike to clear out a lot of the undead surrounding the boss, as Fek, Laoch and Elise use attacks with Radiant energy to smite him. It is finally brought down by a crashing star from Elise. It seems to not actually die and may come back. As the party is reeling and celebrating, Varkanus appears before them out of nowhere and claims they smell of Fate, same as Daskl claimed. Apparently this means Dradus has plans for them. He goes on to caress the corpses of his followers and makes the bodies vanish. He then talks about Omegus being the traitor god. D'Vorah is very defiant and disrespectful and has his soul taken out but after the talks are done, Varkanus returns his soul. He says the party is absolved of all transgressions against him by saving his temple. He says he will also try and remain neutral and that many gods are watching over the party. But if Xaniv earns his favor, he will be forced to comply. All the fighting done, they Sending a guard and tell them the temple is cleared before Teleporting to the ship. On the ship, the party winds down with some drinks as everyone talks over recent events and the future.
3E452/11/08 - Elise and Laoch talk about their recent developments with their family. Laoch offers to marry Fek to D'Vorah but Fek says it should wait until after the battles are over. Fek and D'Vorah also think about their retirement after all is done. Boz uses sending to communicate with his mother again. They wonder if the party members with no other close people outside the group will fare fine after the quest is over. Elise goes to Shoila and talks about her own issues and they get intimate.
3E452/11/14 - Near the end of the days, Elise goes to talk to her mother again. They seem to reconcile better. Xiphalia also takes this chance to see Elise has been negligent about her looks and gives her hair a trim as the two continue to bond. More and more pirate ships come to dock as the day of the council grows nearer.
3E452/11/19 - On the last day, Belanar also arrives to bring his aid and the party talk to him a bit and they head on inside the meeting chambers. Finally, all the pirate lords are reunited in the council room. After a long council meeting and votes, they all decide to leave in the morning towards the center of the cometfall sea. They also vote to have the Phoenix Nebula as the lead ship, and to split the territory of the Ashfall Isles and the Istapp Ocean into distinct seas. After the meet, Golzoorhah summons them to Xiphalia's room, and reveals that he found Xaniv's phylactery through the Alhoons' minds. After warnings, he transports them to the Astral Plane where they end up on top of the corpse of a dead god. Soon attacked by a Githyanki patrol, they manage to take them and their young red dragon down. Heading into the brain of the dead god, they manage to find Xaniv's phylactery as Xephak, his top lieutenant, attacks them with the raised githyanki undead. They manage to take him down before he can tell Xaniv about this, and transport back to the Phoenix Nebula as several days have passed- deep in the Cometfall Sea.
3E452/11/20 - The next day, as they approach the heart of the Cometfall Sea, the group has a final discussion as demons attack the fleet as well as the Nebula. As the fend of the demons, a few ships including the Nebula and The Soft Whisper get stuck around the maelstrom in the center above the abyssgate. The gate opens, as Demogorgon rises out of it with a deafening roar. Xaniv and his followers float up into the sky, binding the seven pieces of sin around the Demogorgon to stop him from fully materializing into the material plane and to weaken him. Demogorgon is lured to the Nebula, where the group manage to take him down after a hard fought battle. As Demogorgon falls, Xaniv reads from the black scroll. He aligns the magnetic south pole over the cometfall sea, causing an aurora in the sky that blasts away the storm. The sky turns green, the sea turns red with blood- across Abmarah. He forcibly summons Varkanus, binding him with chains, and starts to absorb his essense to replace him as the God of Magic. Golzoorhah leaves Xiphalia to try to hold down Xaniv, but Xaniv easily dispatches him into the abyss below. The group starts to battle him and his followers, as they hold nothing back and try to disintegrate them, throw them into the abyss, and straight up try to kill them with power words. D'vorah even controls one of the zombie clots, but eventually the group manages to take down the three remaining Alhoons. The fight against Xaniv is difficult, but the group eventually manages to take him down in the very last second before he would absorb Varkanus' essence, his body and Varkanus' dropping to the abyss. The world returns back to normal, as everyone celebrates. They all discuss what they'd like to do after this, and Elise checks up on her mother as well, who seems better. D'vorah creates a magical mansion to hold a feast for the crew of the Nebula. Laoch decides to create an underground safe haven for pirates, and takes over the Anchorage of Whispers with her parents, Sif, and the remaining Nebula crew. Elise continues to teach at Terros, but teleports all over the place to meet her friends and family. Fek and D'Vorah settle down in Tikius, where D'vorah starts to teach magic to people. Boz goes out looking for strong contenders to eventually hold another Tournament of Champions. Rest of the epilogue in the notes.