Episode 6: On a Little Clifftop Village, They Gambled for My Soul

Episode 6 Summary
We pick up at the party having found the Shadow Guard rendezvous point. It is a reasonably sized, wooden palisade village with stone reinforcements. Small fires have been lit around the camp. A large tree stands in the centre with a lantern hanging to illuminate the area. Around the tree are small houses with wooden roofs.

An Orc in black breastplate armour chats with Akras saying he’s glad to have him back and that they were worried for a bit. Akras acknowledges and turns his attention to the party telling them they should be able to get a rest somewhere and they should be ‘safe’. Kaman asks curiously where are the villagers that were previously occupying this place. Akras can’t give an immediate answer but reasons that they’re probably fine, they weren’t at the village when the Shadow Guard arrived. Akras clarifies that this is simply their rendezvous spot and they do have big ships loaded up at the dock and will plan to ‘get the fuck out’ soon. The party ahhs in agreement. Akras says they did send scouts to check why there were no villagers in the first place too. The guy introduces himself as Lieutenant Arak, he points to a small hut in the distance and tells the party to use that to rest since its available, the fire has been set up in there too. ‘I need a shower.’ declares Yrsa. Unfortunately there are no shower facilities in the hut says Akras but there is a well available. Yrsa says she’ll do with that. ‘I’ll join you.’ Says Kie casually. Barra rubs his hands in glee ‘Aw yeah, that’s what I’m talkin about.’ Barra mental messages Akras before he walks off ‘You know that stuff you said about my mother, it’s not true is it?’ Akras looks over at Barra and squints ‘I suspect I would have been quite lucky to have met your mother, Barra. But I don’t think I did’ and he walks off. Barra looks down slightly in a mixture of relief and disappointment. It’s been years since he’s seen his mother. He reverts back to his chipper self ‘Right then, ONWARD!’ Kaman looks at Barra with concern and asks if he’s alright, but Barra brushes off his concern ‘…don’t talk about feelings! Come on! That’s BULLSHIT! AHHHH~!’ He punches a wall. ‘Let’s go to the hut, HUTS ARE MANLY!’

Kaman and Barra go to the ‘manly’ hut while the ladies take a rough wash at the well. The hut is quite nicely furnished for a small village with a stone floor. There is a fire and some bedrolls laid out. There is also a second room where 2 people could have some privacy to talk. There is also a small ‘cooking area’ with a table near the fire. It is a hill top fishing village level of accommodation. Kaman looks around curiously and wonders why is the place uninhabited. He checks for clues to see when was the last person residing in the place. There are obvious signs of someone coming in today to light the fire, there are other tracks in the dust that someone has come in to do a search similar to Kaman, which is walk to one wall to the other and check about like looking for missing doors or hidden rooms etc. Kaman does find old serviceable blankets, simple burlap bags and extra pair of sailors’ clothing near these bags. There is a sewing kit and a simple set of cooking utensils. Kaman reasons that the previous inhabitants didn’t seem to be living here a long time, whoever left didn’t really have a plan to leave, there’s no sign of a struggle or blood. Kaman makes an ‘hmm interesting’ face. He updates Barra who is busy punching the floor in boredom. ‘I’m very curious, I’m finding everything very curious here.’ Says Kaman puzzled. Barra decides to take the sewing kit to repair the tears in his clothing.

‘Sorry er, hey, I was a bit mean to you back at the mine’ says Barra to Kaman. He changes the subject to ask about the stone statue that Kaman had found. As Kaman talks about the stone figurine, Barra asks about the ellipsoid jewel of Eijnar instead. Kaman says that Kie is trying to help him find out more about it too. ‘Yeah like who’s that, I’ve never heard of this guy, you keep talking about it back at the ship.’ quizzes Barra. ‘Oh er, He’s the embodiment of knowledge.’ Says Kaman. Barra makes face. ‘…and boring’. As Kaman tries to explain further, Barra dismisses him and says he wants to take a shower too to look ‘nice and fresh when the Ambassador shows up.’

‘BRACE YOURSELF!’ shouts Yrsa chucking a bucket of water at Kie. Kie tries to wipe off the ghoul gunk off her clothes and skin. ‘There’s no point trying to wash those off, I think we’ll need to burn those clothes!’ remarks Yrsa ‘I wonder if there are clothes in the hut’ wonders Kie.

Barra approaches the ladies who are rinsing off next to the well. He shields his face with his hand ‘Hey girls, you guys done?’ Yrsa says they’re not ready as there’s a lot of gunk to get off. ‘I need a few more hours’ says Kie. Barra rolls his eyes ‘for a really tiny person, you take a really long time to shower. There’s really not much, you know, surface area.’ Grumbles Barra. ‘This is not a usual shower ok, it’s a cleansing’. Says Yrsa.

Barra smells a gust of salty sea air and suddenly remembers his home town. Ecstatic, Barra bids the girls farewell in a hurry, turns on his breastplate light and rushes to the sea. He passes a large armoured Orc who watches Barra rush head first in the direction of the beach, he directs him to take the sandstone stairs down to the beach. Barra passes a large fire pit along the way with a bunch of sailors seated around ‘Hi friends!’ he yells at them, they give him quizzical looks. Barra finds himself at the top of a cliffside overlooking the sea with the sandstone steps heading down to the beach. It is the Sagarma Ocean.

Barra casts prestidigitation on his breastplate and aims it at the sky creating a kind of ‘Barra Signal’, but as he looks up at the sky, he notices there’s a giant lighthouse a distance away shining its light. Barra looks at his light sadly that it has been ‘out shone’ by the lighthouse.

Yrsa and Kie hear Barra run off earlier and some raised voices. Kie sees a slight bit of light over in the corner of a fish riding a musical note (Barra’s sigil). Yrsa and Kie look up at the sky slightly confused. ‘Ha. I guess Barra found the sea.’ Declares Yrsa. ‘Seems like it, what is that?’ says Kie. Yrsa reasons that maybe they should go to the sea to wash off since it does a better job than the well. Kie agrees and they could use the sand to scrub off the blood and guts. They both run towards the sea in the same way Barra ran over. They encounter the same Orc who points them in the direction of the sandstone steps. They find Barra ‘beaming’ his signal in a heroic pose. This is the first time the 2 of them have seen the ocean where it doesn’t end at the horizon unlike what is seen in medieval style maps. They are amazed at the way the waves rise and crash against the rocks. They also see a jetty in a kind of cross formation with 2 large shadow boat forms parked there. In the mean time, Kaman is trancing in the hut trying to figure out the mysteries.

Yrsa, Kie and Barra do notice there really isn’t any proper villagers in the area eg. The old friendly fisherman. Everyone is clearly military in this village. Most of them are either Shadow Guard or sailors wearing simple outfits that go up to their ankles and short sleeves, the logo looks a bit like the ‘Mortal Kombat Dragon’ in red.

‘Yeah, one day I’m gonna cross that shore and people are gonna sing songs about me! It’s not just me singing songs about other people!’ says Barra to Yrsa and Kie. ‘It’s quite scary, its so big! And dark.’ exclaims Yrsa who has never seen the ocean. Barra assures Yrsa that he’ll protect her as she’s his great leader. Yrsa is just so overwhelmed with how big the ocean is that maybe it’s not a good idea they wash off here. ‘Oh don’t worry! I’ll show ya!’ says Barra, he scampers down the sandstone steps and wades into the sea, laughing with joy. Yrsa walks into the sea and scrubs herself thoroughly with the sand, Kie does the same but more elegantly. All their gear is rather soaked but will be able to dry out in the morning. Barra decides to run back to the hut to get dry clothes for the ladies. While washing herself, Yrsa takes note of the interaction between the sailors and Shadow Guard, they seem to be professional though not entirely used to working with each other but no animosity between them. But they don’t seem to be very rowdy in groups which is unusual.

In the mean time, Kaman has managed to unlock the mysteries of ‘The Eye of Ejinar’ gem while he is trancing in the hut. He sees the gem begin to rise and he discovers that it is an Ioun Stone of Absorption. It orbits his head at 1 ft from him. Barra walks in and sees Kaman trancing with the orbiting gem. ‘What the hell. I leave you alone for like 1 second and you’re even weirder than before.’ Remarks Barra. ‘You smell like the sea’. Says Kaman breaking the trance. Barra says he’s back to get clothes for the girls, Kaman cautions to please have weapons with him as the sea is dangerous at night. Barra decides to bring up Kaman’s past ‘… You really don’t remember anything that happened before you were found at that place and brought to the village and ended up here right.’ Kaman declines to answer saying that the sea can be very dangerous. Barra says that Kaman shouldn’t be playing around with stuff he doesn’t understand i.e the gem. ‘Oh I perfectly understand this.’ Says Kaman, indicating the gem. ‘Yeah but you don’t remember what happened to you.’ States Barra. ‘I will remember eventually- did you want to get something?’ says Kaman, feeling uncomfortable. Barra picks up the spare clothes. Kaman says that the clothes don’t belong to them and belong to the former occupants. Barra eyes Kaman and leaves with the clothes anyway. Kaman sighs and returns to meditating.

Barra gives the clothes to the girls, they are sailor outfits but are like 90s hip hop baggy for them since they’re human sized. Yrsa flops around in it. Everyone goes back to the hut to prepare to take a long rest, Barra makes a mental note to wake up earlier to check out the boats.

Yrsa tells the team about what she observed about the sailors and Shadow Guard and just tells the party to be cautious. Kaman will be done trancing in an hour so Yrsa decides to take first watch. Barra gestures weirdly at Kaman like he’s some psycho with the gem going round his head. ‘You have a new…accessory?’ asks Yrsa indicating the gem. ‘Why is it palpitating now?’ ‘It’s a protective stone.’ Says Kaman. Kie asks what it is so Kaman explains. In the mean time, Yrsa reaches out with her hand and tries to catch the orbiting gem like it is a fly but it keeps slipping/ dodging away before she can. It looks at Yrsa with its little eye, makes a little wiggle as if saying ‘Ha ha!’ and keeps moving. She does it for a minute or 2 and eventually relents, deciding to keep watch while everyone else goes to sleep. Yrsa sits and looks at the door while sharpening her axe. She eventually gets bored and sits outside the hut while continuing to sharpen her axe. Sailors give her nods. No incident happens. Barra does some reading of the military tactics book while Kaman gives watch.

‘You really can’t remember anything? I just find it really suspicious. I used to have a sailor friend who said he couldn’t remember anything and I went to like this port and he turned out to be this fugitive!’ says Barra to Kaman. ‘So he used his amnesia as an excuse’ says Kaman. ‘He didn’t have amnesia. He was just PRETENDING.’ Says Barra. ‘Do you think I’m pretending.’ Says Kaman sincerely. There is an awkward silence. The gem continues to orbit around Kaman’s head. Barra goes back to reading. ‘Military Tactics Chapter 2’. He reads aloud. Kaman decides to look at the stars.

Barra finds the book compelling to read, possibly due to the mixture of magic and situations that Barra had found himself in earlier, he is rather engrossed in the book. Kaman suddenly has an unsettling feeling that something is not right with the sea.

‘Barra, I got a bad feeling about the sea.’ Says Kaman. Barra makes a cross face. ‘Just…be careful when you’re near the sea.’ Cautions Kaman. Barra says they’ll both visit the sea tomorrow unless the ‘hot Emissary lady shows up…you know what I’m talking about?’ He does a winky face. ‘Your left eye is twitching.’ Says Kaman, puzzled. ‘You..don’t know anything, I’m going to sleep.’ Replies Barra

Kie’s watch happens with no incident. Dawn rises, the morning begins. There’s a morning fog off the seashore. There is a thumping sound at the door. Yrsa opens the door to see Akras and the elegant figure of Emissary Makt Teras! She looks at everyone and gives a regal bow.

‘EMISSARY TERAS! I’m so glad you’re here!’ exclaims Yrsa. Barra, currently topless, is drying his clothes. He does a great big yawn and greets the Emissary casually. He gets down on 1 knee ‘Oh my lady, I’m so glad you’re safe! Can I say I’ve did everything in my power to make sure you’d be alright’ he takes her hand and tries to kiss it. Makt Teras smiles at lets Barra take her hand. ‘Barra, put on a shirt’. Whispers Kaman. ‘There’s lots of people here.’ Barra mumbles and says its fine. The Emissary stands and looks at everyone ‘Quite a lot has happened since…yesterday. And a lot has changed, I need to bring you up to speed with that.’ She says gravely. Makt Teras will let the party finish their morning prep and she will brief them later. Curiously, she uses the word ‘Sir’ to address Akras.

Barra mental messages Makt Teras to ask is everything alright. She messages Barra back that the ‘situation has become a lot more complex than what it turns out to be.’ She will tell them about it shortly over breakfast. Ambassador Djemana is also with her. Barra also mental messages her ‘Your hair looks really nice.’ Makt Teras looks at Barra, smiles and quietly says ‘thank you.’ And walks off.

Yrsa has a pow wow with the team. She tells Barra to keep looking out for Makt Teras. Barra updates the party about what Kaman told her last night about the sea. Kaman elaborates that he didn’t have a good feeling about the sea. ‘Was it that ‘thing’ that told you?’ asks Kie, indicating the orbiting gem. ‘No Kie, he is a Sea Elf, he is very atuned to the sea.’ Kaman says its an instinct he can trust. Barra says they should all check out the sea later. Kaman just says be careful near the sea. Yrsa and Barra go ‘Ha?’ in confusion. Kaman changes the subject and says they should get breakfast. The party agree.

Kie gets dressed and manages to look rather fashionable in the latest looks from Merak, one of the 5 cities of the Namandan Union and quite known to be fashion forward. Barra gives a ‘not bad’ face and raises an ‘ok’ hand signal. The party pack up all their things and leave the large stone hut. In the mean time, Barra sings a parody of ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)’ ‘You know, I really like these kinds of songs. It starts the day off on a right…note’ puns Yrsa. Everyone has a laugh. Kaman prestidigitates a ‘badum cht’ sound.

They follow a young half-orc sailor to the area to get breakfast. The party reach an elevated stone hut up some stairs. They see the large light house near by emanating a blue light, the structure looks a bit like a wizard’s tower. ‘It’s a good thing I’m not a ship. I missed this somehow last night.’ Remarks Yrsa only realizing the structure now. Barra suggests they check it out later. They are guided to the dining hall to have breakfast. Barra asks the sailor if he’s noticed anything peculiar about the sea. The sailor shrugs and says nope. Barra asked where all the previous inhabitants are, the sailor says that they sent out scouts previously, but they didn’t find anyone. There was a rumour however that the previous inhabitants defected to the Sivalai Kingdom and ran away. It turns out that the village is not owned by the Sivalai Kingdom as assumed. The sailor explains that it is a neutral village and owned by no one. ‘To be honest, I myself am quite confused by the political situation.’ The party learns the village is called ‘South Marabanda Clifftop’. Yrsa is fascinated by the lighthouse wondering who operates the blue light inside, they should indeed check it out. The party thank the sailor and head to the dining hall. Yrsa notices that the young half-orc looked slightly frustrated after guiding the party so she runs up to him and gives him a silver piece. The sailor is surprised and takes the tip ‘don’t tell the bosun!’ and races off. ‘Cht, teenagers these days’ says Yrsa. Kaman is impressed that Yrsa tipped the sailor, Yrsa just smiles matter of factly.

The party meet 2 sentries at the dining hall who remark that they must be the folks who brought Akras back. They thank the party graciously as Akras is an important figure to them. The party learn from one of the sentries that Akras’ former comrade, Makra grew up with him and they were very close. He checks himself and says they can chat more informally at a bar next time. ‘You know, there’s an Orcish saying for this: *Ak kah chiew ji, you be so close that you’re like 2 nuts in a nut sack.’ Says Yrsa ‘Aye, like 2 bollocks in a nut sack, yeh.’ Says the sentry agreeing. The party say their good days to the sentries and enter the dining hall through a corridor and a door on the left.

The party walk in to hear Emissary Makt Teras and Ambassador Djemana having a discussion. ‘But will all due respect, Emissary, this is one of the key parts of the treaty provision- there has been a clear breech of the treaty. And all that we’re saying is that it is important that the Namandan Union fulfils its obligations to the 'Treaty of Thorns.’ Says Ambassador Djemana.

Makt Teras replies ‘I do concur, there has been a breach of the Treaty of Thorns. However, a 200 year old treaty is not sufficient for me to take the entire of the Namandan Union to a war footing with a civilisation we barely know. You must understand that.’

The party see that Ambassador Djemana is clearly an insectoid creature, no longer in her heavy hooded robe. Her head is a greenish brown with leopard spots with mandibles, she has 2 pairs of antennae, one from her head and another set over her head. She looks beautiful in a foreign alien-like way. She stands at 8 foot tall in a statue of a grasshopper or praying mantis. She also has a set of mother-of-pearl-coloured wings that are folded tightly over her body. She appears to be wearing a series of harnesses which has space for scroll cases and ink quills.

Barra tries to see if he can remember if he’s seen a creature like Ambassador Djemana but it just looks like he’s staring at her awkwardly and fascinated. He draws a blank. The 2 pause their conversation and address the party. Also seated at the table is Akras who is looking through a bunch of paper.

‘Ah! Survey Team 3, thank you! so good of you to have come so quickly, I’m sorry for interrupting your morning!’ says Makt Teras. After some pleasantries, Makt Teras introduces Akras as ‘Lord Akras Dhiman, formally of Duskholm’ She re-introduces everyone else round the table and says ‘You are perhaps the key to resolving a particularly difficult problem’. Yrsa looks at Makt Teras confused. ‘We are a Survey Team, madam, we are not familiar with the situation of this political climate.’ She says awkwardly, rubbing her arm and flashing a nervous smile.

Ambassador Djemana flutters her wings in a buzz and looks at the party. ‘I’ve spoken extensively with Negotiator Makt Teras about this, you may or may not be familiar but before the Namandan Union was formed, the nations of the Free Trading Cities, they signed a treaty known as the ‘Treaty of Thorns’ with the nation of Carambir and the then Dragon Monarch of what then would have been the combined territories of Carambir, Sivalai, Carth and the Shadow Throne. Obviously the Dragon Monarchy is long gone but the treaty still stands and is still considered to be valid. The treaty specifically states: the lands of the East of the Tarim Range and further to the South, bounded by ancient Mount Ju’an and Mighty Arambal, shall perpetuity, be the domain of the Shadow Throne. And any who enacts, violates or interferes, shall suffer the wrath of the Undesigned included: the Dragon Monarchy themselves and the Free Trading Cities. Nevertheless, this Treaty has not been significantly important in recent years because the Kingdom of Sivalai and the Shadow Throne are the Borgey Antarian family. The Antarian Family being the descendants of the Dragon Monarchy, despite the loss of the Great Crown and despite the horrors of that time, that single House was able to keep it unified, there was never an issue that came about. Nevertheless, about 5 years or so, my King was challenged and-‘ she pauses and chooses her words carefully ‘The Throne was rightfully usurped, as in all the forms and conventions were met. And yet, usurpation never furless. As the bastard Nakdarma…the less said the better about Naktrani and Setranbith, they deposed Nambalan the King, and it was through the efforts of myself and a few others, that we able to smuggle the heir Melena out of the capital of Sivalai. And she sought refuge in the Shadow Grove and was granted as such…’ Ambassador Djemana goes on to say that all the appropriate ritual was conducted, she said that she still went ahead with the plans even losing an important friend along the way. Djemana elaborates that the situation in Sivalai has been going awry with other groups ‘poisoning Sivalai society’ and has thus broken the Treaty of Thorns by both taking land from the Shadow Throne and kidnapping the exiled former heir Melena of the former Monarch and holding her against her will in Twilight’s End.

She summarises: The Sivalai King was killed through their own rituals and now they’re ‘fucking everything up.’ And they’ve broken a Treaty that will force the Sivalai to go to war with everyone in order to fix it. It is thus revealed why Ambassador Djemana’s kidnapping was faked with Lord Akras. The party ‘AH~’ in unison.

‘WAIT, You’ve been tricking us ALL THIS TIME!’ says Yrsa pointing at Akras. Akras laughs. Barra and Kaman are confused by what Ambassador Djemana just told them but Yrsa basically summarizes ‘No no, she doesn’t want people to attack the Sivalai Kingdom. She’s saying that the new King is an asshole who breaks treaties and now he’s going to get everybody in the Sivalai Kingdom to war with all the other people! So she’s trying to figure out a way to stop the war from happening!’

‘I faked my own kidnapping so my own children wouldn’t suffer the consequences of my twists’ says the Ambassador sadly. There isn’t a war yet but there will be one if someone discovers that the Treaty of Thorns has been broken. She says that it could be an opportunity for the Namandan Union and Carambir to gain more territory in a war. Barra says that but the Shadow Guard and Sivalai Kingdom now have a situation, but the Ambassador ensures it will be an internal matter and will not affect the Namandan Union. She explains that because former princess Melena is a citizen of the Shadow Throne, it will not fully damage country relations between the Sivalai since both nations are somewhat related due to nobility.

‘So you want Survey Team 3 to do what…’ clarifies Barra. Emissary Makt Teras interjects and says she’ll take over explaining. ‘We think it would be easier if a team of non-aligned people were to ‘fetch back’ Melena from where she’s currently held.’ Melena is located at Twilight’s End, East of the Tarim Range Mountains. It’s basically in Treaty lands that should not be invaded. If the Shadow Guard were to have wade into that territory, they would have started a war. As the Namandan Union is part of the treaty, Team 3 is obliged to fulfil the requirements.’ ‘…but as a ranking member of the Namandan Union, I’m ordering you to rescue Princess Melena from the Twilight’s End Encampment.’ She tasks Team 3 to do their research how to get there and asks Lord Akras for help if they are unsure about anything.

‘Wait were you in on this as well, from the beginning?!’ exclaims Yrsa, ‘No I was just concerned for my own personal protection, I must admit’ says Makt Teras. Barra asks if there will be additional compensation as they’re running out of Intan (15g to be exact). Lord Akras assures that the party will be well equipped before heading off on their mission and he will see to that. He pulls out a map and shows everyone. Barra surreptitiously pulls out his torn family map to compare along. Unfortunately the map doesn’t cover the Eastern parts. Maps in the World of Urtu are rare and most directions are contextual than they are actual to scale. Kaman asks about the settlements in Lord Akras’ map: Tarima, Twilight’s End, Dawn’s Edge, Indara, and who these cities belong to. Akras says they are part of the Shadow Throne per the Treaty. He personally has a bone to pick with the individual rulers of those cities for not defending them per the Shadow Throne but that’s for him to worry about. A lot of people are loyal to the Throne but a lot of them are aligned with the Sivalai Kingdom.

Kaman suggests to the party perhaps they should all conceal their identities as they’re part of the Namandan Union and don’t want to be suspicious. Barra rubs his hands in glee excited at the prospect of disguising. Emissary Makt Teras gives a cock of the head as if saying ‘you’re the experts here’. Yrsa asks Akras casually why Makt Teras and Djemana keep calling him a Lord. ‘…me and my blood brother, we’re from the fancy end of town. So we’re destiny aligned for the Shadow Throne…but we’re like 28 and 29 in line…’

‘So you’re like a Prince-let. Cause there’s like a Prince, and there’s like a Prince-let.’ Says Yrsa making hand gestures in height. ‘I’m still the same motherfucker you met yesterday.’ Says Akras flatly. Barra tries to hackle a map out of Akras with which he says that if they bring back Melena, he’ll get him a map. Kaman asks Lord Akras if he knows any contacts that are maybe loyal to him or the Shadow Throne. Akras says though they’ve suffered some losses in their spy network, he’ll get in touch with someone in both Tarima and Twilight’s End to help. The Shadow Guard however cannot help the party in any way. If the Shadow Guard get involved, the Sivalai Kingdom will use it as an excuse to go to war. ‘Whereas we barely have any relations with the Sivalai as the Namandan Union.’ Says Kaman, understanding. Barra asks something about getting to Lost Nag’Juen. Lord Akras says it’s not hard to get to but it is a day’s ride up north. Barra looks excited and checks his map with Akras’ big map, lost in his personal thoughts.

Kaman asks Ambassador Djemana if there is an underway route to any of the places named. She says that the capital of Sivalai sits under the mountains, but beyond that, it is an overland route. Kaman asks for recommendations of travel. ‘My gut says, you could stride over land and head over to the Tarim Mountains through the jungle, than creep your way around the bottom and get to Tarima that way. Or even go straight across the mountains to Twilight’s End. But that’s a more dangerous journey, it’s a mess.’ He doesn’t recommend the Carambir way as it will take 3 weeks or more. Kie asks how long does it take to usually get to Twilight’s End.

Akras says the fastest way is to take a boat to Tarima, go through the Tarim Range Mountains. Or they could travel overland through the hills to Dawn’s Edge, there is a well-trod merchant’s trail there. Overall would take 1 month. Yrsa and Kie wonders if the mission is time sensitive. Barra asks how old is the Princess. Akras says she’s 24 years old. He also says that the situations are careening towards a war so it’s best they can finish the job as fast as they can. Akras does have a ship which can get them to Tarima.

Kaman asks the party what their cover story will be. Barra says leave it to him cause he’s really good at stuff like that, Lord Akras can attest to that. Barra gets chided by Akras to shut up about his previous disguise. Yrsa turns to Kaman ‘Well, let’s face it. You are a Sea Elf, you are blue, you have a gem in your head and another gem flying around you.’ Kaman quietly grabs the floating gem and puts it in his pocket. Kaman says he could wear a hood and wrap a scarf around his face. Kaman and Barra could pass themselves off as merchants.

‘But you did say the sea was dangerous and wrong…’ cautions Kie. ‘A premonition, you did mention it is the fastest way to get Tarima’ says Kaman, looking at Akras. There are 2 fast ships available, 1 will take the Ambassador and Emissary back to the Sivalai Kingdom, the other will be able to drop the party at Tarima. Kaman asks Lord Akras to provide forged documents just in case they get checked on the other side. Akras says it isn’t his speciality and he turns to Djemana and Makt Teras. Kaman says they do have to pretend to be merchants. Makt Teras says she could write something but it would implicate the party being from the Namandan Union. Yrsa says they also need to ‘trade’ something ‘…I don’t want to be lugging turnips all around the place!’ Kaman says maybe they could be smugglers instead. Barra just says maybe they should just ‘get on the ship, figure out what’s wrong with the sea and let’s go rescue a Princess!’

Kaman lastly asks Lord Akras if they have a contact they could smuggle something to. ‘Why? Then we could get in trouble with law and enforcement!?’ says Yrsa confused. ‘Bu-Then- Where are we from and why are we in Twili-‘ says Kaman exasperated. ‘We could just pretend we’re from the Sivalai Kingdom.’ Says Barra. Kaman relents saying he is clearly over-thinking this. The rest of the party says that they should just be adventurers and call it done. Yrsa asks for a picture of Melena so they can identify her.

Ambassador Djemana waves her insectoid hands about and casts a silent image of a lenticular image of a slightly reddish skinned, regal Hobgoblin woman. Yrsa asks if there’s anything they can show her to prove that the party have come to escort her. Ambassador Djemana unwinds a long beaded amber necklace with wooded dyed spaces around her arm and passes it to Yrsa. ‘She’ll recognize this, and she’ll know that I’ve sent you.’ Says Djemana. Akras doesn’t know where in Twilight’s End she is located but the party can look for a spymaster in Tarima who will know. The party will meet Ellen, Akras’ expert, afterwards to talk about this.

Kaman asks the party about which route they should take. Barra ops for the sea, naturally. Kie asks if Kaman’s intuition is worth the risk since he did say earlier the sea could be dangerous. Kaman says that both routes would technically take around the same amount of time but the sea route is slightly faster. Yrsa cautions that since she grew up in the mountains and her people would be hired to take travelers across them, mountains are dangerous too. Barra tries to convince Kaman to go by the sea, he is a Sea Elf after all. Akras also cautions that the Sivalai capital is in the mountains as well. ‘I suppose both ways are dangerous, but one is faster…’ Says Kie. Kaman says they should go talk to Ellen either way.

Yrsa asks Makt Teras if anything were to happen to Team 3, would they expect aid from the Namandan Union. ‘That’s a very interesting question but surely that’s one of the things you would know when you join a special team.’ She says quietly. ‘I know. But I just wanted to confirm how much of a shit we’re in.’ says Yrsa. Kaman shrugs and says ‘Hey! We could just be adventurers looking for Lost Nag’Juen’. Everyone agrees it’s a good idea including Akras. Akras says that many go to Lost Nag’Juen to find artefacts about the Dragon Monarchs and stuff like that. Yrsa asks Akras if the Dragon Monarchs were actual dragons or are people who look like dragons. Akras says they could have been dragons or dragonborn, he tells the party a story (which has been eroded due to time) that Pre-Cataclysm, after Nag’Juen was destroyed, there was a period where Carambir and the Tarim Range and the Shadow Throne and the entire area from the mountains across, were 1 nation called Carambir and were ruled by the Dragon Monarchs. They were superior, noble, wise and just and were pleasant to the peasantry etc. ‘Heh. Fairy tales.’ Mutters Yrsa under her breath. At some point there was a schism within the family and the then Dragon Monarch gave his crown to be taken away to be cast into the ruins of Nag’Juen so that his arguing children would not be able to inherit the whole of Carambir. This caused the area to be split into 4 nations: Carth, The Shadow Throne, Carambir to the North and the Kingdom of Sivalai. This took place a few hundred years ago. There are pictures of the crown it: it is a bright red, metallic crown as lustrous as Ruby itself which is inlaid with 4 different gems representing the various nations. Kaman asks that is everyone looking for this artefact. Akras says that everyone has and he himself had tried but failed to find it, he tried to find it at Nag’Juen but ‘turned tail quickly’, he was young then. Probably a will-o-the-wisp scared him. Barra looks to Kaman intensely. ‘Let’s go. We have a Princess to rescue.’ As if trying to tell him to stop dallying.

Makt Teras says Team 3’s rendezvous will be at Sagrana. She hands the team a sending scroll so that they can send a message to her. ‘You’ll probably leave today or tomorrow, so…good luck. It’s been a pleasure’ says Lord Akras, bidding them farewell.

Yrsa shakes hands with Akras, it almost looks hilarious as she has a tiny Goblin hand vs his giant Orcish meaty hand. They chat about the Shadow Guard warriors earlier who left Akras behind ‘A Prince-let! Who leaves behind a Prince-let!?’ Barra reminds Akras about the map and ‘if you see my mother, say hi’. Akras shakes his head in a kind of ‘whatever’ fashion and goes off to talk to the Emissary and Ambassador. The party are dismissed.

The party is now outside the compound with the 2 burly Orc guards. Kaman asks the guards if they are going to escort them to Ellen. Barra says ‘Or we could find her ourselves.’ Suddenly he starts shouting ‘ELLEN. ELLEN. ELLEN. ELLEN’ like a child trying to annoy the heck out of his parents with something he wants. Yrsa sticks up a hand ‘Ok. Ok.’ To shush Barra. The burly guards point to a 5 foot 5 Half-Dwarf, Half-Orc with pale light-green skin, leaning on a wall, looking rather carefree. She has extended underbite teeth that have grown out. She also has dark hair pulled into a pony-tale and a scraggly short beard. She seems a rather unassuming character. The party go over and introduce themselves to her. Barra mental messages Yrsa to ask what kind of strange accent that Ellen has. Ellen comments ‘You do know that when you 'speak message', the spell, you actually say it out loud…?’ Barra awkwardly laughs, unaware that he spoke the message out loud. Yrsa asks Ellen about accents and ask what accent is she affecting. Ellen says her accent comes from the lands further North. Most of her early years were spent in Dar Chandar, up in the Darnise Islands. Ellen will provide the party with basic paper work. ‘OH WHAT’S MY NAME! WHAT’S MY NAME GOING TO BE?’ says Barra suddenly, wanting to assume a more glamorous identity. Yrsa suggests it be something close to his current name so the party don’t get confused. ‘Barramunda’. Says Kie. ‘AW YEAH! That would be my ‘secret identity!’. Says Barra excited. ‘Isn’t that just a longer version of-‘ ‘NO’ says Barra cutting Kie off. ‘And you can be a…’ ‘Kaman-Sandiego. Yes.’ Says Kaman flatly. Yrsa will call herself ‘Yrsa-la’ ‘Yes! Yrsa-la the Sea Witch!’ says Barra. Kie looks confused. Ellen says they can tell her their names later, best to not decide impulsively now. Ellen can also supply the party with things they need on their journey. Barra and Kie both request for some Intan as they’re almost out. Yrsa is nervous as this is her first sea voyage and is not sure how it will go. ‘If I fall in…will I die…?’ Ellen tells the party to head into a room where they can talk. In the mean time, Barra asks Kie what her alt name would be. Yrsa says it should be ‘Kie-nu’ ‘That’s a good one! I like that!’ says Kie sweetly.

The party enter a room which what looks like a former Town Hall. Ellen ushers them to the table where she lays out a map and a bunch of things. She hands Kie and Barra about 15g of Intan. A lady at the table hands them a letter of recommendation to the merchant Yafir Thamar. Ellen says that he is a sympathizer but not of the active Resistance of the Sivalai Kingdom. Basically the party should not put themselves in a situation that they could be caught and put to death. Ellen says they often use his caravan to smuggle goods and people across. The party will be considered as royal guards, replacing his guards who have ‘called in sick’. The letter will be signed from Jukhara Entaros. Jukhara is the half-brother of Lord Sintanvere Entaros, who is the current Crown Prince of the Sivalai Kingdom. Ellen considers it playing with fire a little but the story should wash either way. Just get to Yafir and let him deal with everything else. Kaman suggests they should get a change of clothes as they’re currently wearing cloaks of the Namandan Union. Perhaps they could trade in some of their armour and fittings. Ellen says they may have something however most of the Shadow Guard are all big sized. ‘Yeah what is with that? Do you all recruit from the big and tall department, is it?’ complains Yrsa. ‘They grow big in the Shadow Grove area’. Says Ellen ‘What is in the water?’ wonders Yrsa. Yafir has been instructed to drive from Dawn’s Edge to Twilight’s End, about 270 miles and will take 10 days. They should meet him in Tarima.

Barra says he’ll take care of the ‘costume department’ as he found a sewing kit. ‘I’m already fashionable!’ says Kie. ‘It’s true. I don’t know how you do it. It’s amazing. Mm good stuff’ Concurs Yrsa. Kie beams. Kaman pulls off his green cloak and passes it to Ellen, ‘maybe a grey cloak…?’ everyone seems to ignore Barra and his comment. Ellen says it’s not a problem. She also does point out that Yrsa and Kie look like they’re still in a pair of pyjamas so they will need to figure out something. Ellen tells the party to keep Yafir safe, he is a wealthy merchant who is very immutable to the Shadow Grove’s requests. Yrsa wonders how trustworthy is Yafir as merchants are mostly motivated by money. ‘We pay him well.’ Says Ellen matter of factly. Ellen says that Yafir knows he will be getting more guards and he doesn’t question. ‘Excellent. Nobody mention the Princess to this man.’ Says Yrsa cautioning the party. ‘Who?’ says Kaman ‘Exactly. Well done.’ Says Yrsa.

Ellen will provide a decoy box of goods to ease suspicion. Barra doesn’t seem to understand this and whispers to Kaman about what it is. As Kaman clarifies with Barra, Kie asks for a new cloak. ‘I’m just glad to have an excuse to NOT WEAR THIS ANY MORE!’ says Yrsa gladly handing over her cloak. Kaman switches to a dark set of clothes and armour. Ellen says the landscape would be more arable farm land with the occasional bits of woods. It should be far more tame compared to Namanda. ‘Do treat other members of the company with respect and stay out of their way. They are merchants of the Dar Confederacy who are from the North. They are significant merchants and have a lot of power in the area. They stay out of political affairs and are interested in money and commerce.’ ‘Do they function on the Black Market?’ asks Yrsa. Ellen says its more of a grey area. Yrsa frowns at Ellen as if saying ‘I see what you did there with my pun.’ Ellen shows the party a book full of Dar Confederacy sigils so that the party know what they identify as. One of the sigils is the sheath of wheat (which looks similar to the locket that Yrsa obtained from the geriatric mage prior) Yrsa pulls out the locket and compares it to the picture and ahhs. ‘Wh-where is this place?’ she points at the sigil. Ellen says its far North which is 3000 miles from where they currently are. Ellen says she has not been there. Barra looks at a sigil of a sea creature and seems to recognize it from one of the ancient Dar Collective of Buldar. Buldar is one of the ancient deities of Urtu which has been taken over by savage energies thanks to the cataclysm. Buldar is very much connected to water, there is a whirlpool in Urtu called Buldar’s Wrath (if you recall, that’s the name of the children’s book in blue dome stone room prior). Barra’s people would worship Buldar as they come from a village by the sea. Ellen asks if there is anything else they need. Barra says ‘Let’s go save the Princess!’ ‘Who?’ says Kaman. The party echo ‘Who?’ ‘Stop talking about the Princess, we’re not supposed to be talking about her.’ Shhs Kaman to Barra. ‘No no, we need a codeword, like let’s say we need to ‘protect the chest’’ says Yrsa. The party agree, Yrsa will also hold on to the decoy chest. Ellen says if there are no questions, she will see them on the boat at 8pm when the next tide comes in. The party are to assemble on the boat at 6pm. The current time is 10am.

The party decide to familiarize themselves with the documents and remove any Namandan Union sigils on them. Barra and Yrsa want to check out the lighthouse as well. Barra decides to spend time customizing a yellow and purple costume for himself. He goes about stealthily picking fabric and curtains from somewhere and fashions an outfit for himself. ‘Barra, what are you wearing’. Says Kaman looking at Barra’s new outfit. ‘..of what, Clown Fish?’ says Yrsa. Barra acts like nothing has changed. ‘That was mean…that was mean’ says Yrsa taking back her comment. Barra tells the party they should go to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is made of fine and heavy brick, it is clearly not made in the same style of architecture as the other buildings in the village. Kaman infers that the lighthouse was there longer than the rest of the village. The party sees there is a heavy wooden door behind a metallic grate at the bottom of the structure. Yrsa can see there’s a couple of windows about 1/3 the way up the tall structure. Kie tries to see if she can see any tracks or human activity in the building. Yrsa suddenly yells ‘HUI LING, HUI LING, LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!’ aping the famous phrase from Rapunzel. The party look at her strangely. ‘Oh it’s a nursery story from my village.’ Explains Yrsa. ‘You know, there was a princess named Hui Ling and she was locked in a tower and she had very long hair. Ah.’ ‘What does the name mean?’ queries Kaman. ‘Oh, it’s a kind of vegetable.’ ‘Is it a hairy vegetable?’ asks Kaman. ‘No no, it was just the name of the vegetable that the Queen was craving when she was pregnant with her.’ Barra looks up at the tower and thinks that he can see ‘Hui Ling’ but its probably only in his mind.

Kie finds that some people have been to the lighthouse per the tracks, and notices a dark form of a Shadow Guard crouched on top of the deck in the distance keeping watch over the area. Kaman tries the gate and finds it locked. ‘Well its locked’ resigned Kaman. ‘I’ve got a lockpick’ smiles Barra at Kaman, showing the lockpick. ‘I’m good at climbing!’ offers Kie. ‘I can easily climb this’ she says confidently. ‘But..Barra’s going to try to lockpick’ says Kaman. Kie relents and let’s Barra try lockpicking. Barra gets ‘in character’ to pick the lock. ‘How do you get in character to pick a lock?’ asks Kaman. Barra pep talks himself and tries the lock, and it works! The gate opens and he pulls it towards himself. Barra wants to try the door, ‘One more! One more!’ eggs Kie, Yrsa cheers on too. Barra puts a hand on the door to ‘sweet talk’ the door. ‘Why…why is there always a barrier between me and my future?’ he whispers. ‘…No! I must get through this!’ Kaman looks away, nearly rolling his eyes in the process. ‘So half the time its mostly a monologue…’ ‘Hey! I need to get in character!’ He wiggles the lockpick around ‘NO! NO! NOT BETWEEN ME AND MY DREAMS!’ he yells dramatically. The lock does not open.

Barra looks at the door sullen. ‘It’s ok, you tried your best.’ Says Yrsa comforting. Barra gives a dramatic wail and walks away from the door. Kaman takes out his own thieves tools. He puts his hand on the door and concentrates, eyes closed. He turns and nearly breaks the thieves tools and quietly puts it away back in his pocket. Barra suggests they just bust the door down by brute force. Yrsa makes a face. ‘I know but I’m not that comfortable destroying public property. You know this building is probably older than me…’ ‘Which means it would break down faster!’ Smiles Kie. ‘Maybe considering its important role it plays, if we break something it would end up with ships wrecking…’ says Kaman sheepishly. ‘…so, we should go!’ Barra inhales and makes a ‘are you kidding me?’ face. ‘If you break down the door, I think the light would still work! You’ve got mending? Come on, let’s do it!’ ‘Oh you do have mending.’ Says Yrsa. She lifts a leg high and kicks in the door.

The door shudders with a solid thump, the dent looks rather significant. Seeing that’s she’s already started something, Yrsa tries again. Her foot skimmers along the edge of the door and she misses. ‘Ha, I meant to do that’ she says recovering, with a hair toss. Barra decides to sing an inspiring song (a parody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) to Yrsa to encourage her with her ‘fight against the door’. Kaman sees that the Shadow Guard from earlier has started to pay attention to them. ‘You do realize that this is technically Shadow Guard property.’ Says Kaman to Yrsa. ‘WE’LL JUST MEND THE DOOR FOR NOW! I’M TOO COMMITTED TO STOP! YAAAAHHH~!’ she roars and kicks the door open with a BOOM. The door slams open.

They look inside to see it is a bottom of a large, cylindrical tower. There are storage crates and containers, it is very dark in the area with some light at the top, there is a spiral winding stone stair that goes all the way to the top. Yrsa oos as she looks at the top. ‘So we’re going inside the tower just to see what’s at the top of the lighthouse…?’ asks Kaman. ‘Haven’t you seen one of these towers and wondered what is making the big light- Don’t you want to know?!? Aren’t you curious? WERE YOU NEVER A CHILD?!?!’ chides Yrsa. Kaman gives a face like a child that’s in trouble and is wrecking his brain how to fix the problem. Kie says she wants to see what’s in the storage crates. Yrsa agrees they should check them out. The party walk over to the chests and pops one open with a crowbar. They see in the crate are crystalline balls sitting in packing hay. They look more like translucent emu eggs. Yrsa picks one up ‘It’s so pretty!’ she says. Barra tells Kaman to detect magic. He closes his eyes and concentrates. The crystals seem magical in nature and are evocation magic. ‘KIE, Kie, Kie, have you used your ability to find out what a thing is today?’ says Yrsa to Kie excitedly ‘But I can only use it once a day and it’s the start of the day!’ she protests. ‘But but… it’s a thing!’ says Yrsa. Kie makes a hmm face. ‘It’s a thing…’ coaxes Yrsa. Barra grabs one of the crystalline objects and puts it in his pocket.

The party than head upstairs to one floor of the lighthouse and discover it’s a reasonably pleasant, well decorated home of about 10 feet radius. There are a couple of nice big armchairs and a bureau by the window. There is also a small stone cooking table with an indented recess that has firewood on it, there is a small kettle hanging up with some pots and pans and a small threadbare rug on the floor. Kaman and Barra check the space and it seems that things have been put away but someone doesn’t look like they’re staying there at the moment. There are no perishables left around, it seems it would need time and effort to make the place livable again. The party notice nothing seemingly peculiar about the place but want to look around more. ‘Aren’t you concerned that we are breaking and entering?’ says Kaman. Yrsa and Barra say that the people do look like they’ve been gone for a long while. ‘It’s fair game.’ Shrugs Barra. ‘It’s not going to stop me from checking out the rest of the place.’ Says Yrsa authoritatively. ‘I may not take their things. Maybe.’ ‘But we’ve taken their balls…’ ‘we could put them back.’ Says Yrsa. Kie suggests maybe they just missed a delivery. Kaman sighs and relents. They continue up to the next floor of the lighthouse.

The next floor has a fine stone floor, there are big pieces of furniture with double doors on them to store cloaks. There is a large mirror on the opposite side of the room. ‘NOT AGAIN. NOT AGAIN!’ wails Yrsa, having some sort of PTSD flashback from the previous encounter. Kie shields her eyes and shrieks. Kaman points out that the magic and 2 armoires are magical with conjuration magic. Kie suddenly asks Yrsa what evocation and transmutation mean. ‘Evocation is make things appear, Transmutation is make things different.’ Says Yrsa. Kie nods in realisation. ‘Did you not take the ranger 101 class.’ Asks Yrsa in suspicion. ‘I overslept.’ Says Kie smiling. Yrsa ‘ai yahs’ and shakes her head in disappointment. ‘Now that we’ve seen everything…?’ says Kaman, hurrying the party to move on and leave the place. Yrsa and Barra protest that they have not ‘seen everything’. Kaman relents and waves his hands for them to keep going then. Barra grabs hold and opens the left armoire while Yrsa takes the right. Kie and Kaman decide to hang back.

Barra opens the armoire and sees another mirror. Barra sees his other reflection captured in the mirror behind and so just plays with his reflection in both mirrors casually. The same thing happens with Yrsa but she suddnely finds, she’s in a different room altogether. The room looks rather similar to the one they found downstairs, however unlike that room, this one looks like its currently occupied as there’s a fire in the stove, there’s some food laid out, there’s some open books and someone has been writing at a desk. Yrsa runs over to the window and looks out, it seems a foreign and strange place. ‘Shit.’ She says to herself. ‘Oh no.’ She dashes out to go up a level to find 2 armoires and a mirror.

In the mean while, the other party members look at each other dumbfounded. Kaman reaches into his pocket and throws his gem upwards to float about. ‘Barra, Barra, can you speak to Yrsa?’ says Kie quickly. ‘I can’t see her..’ ‘Oh no!’ says Kie, realizing Speak Message only works if Barra can see the person. ‘You looked into the mirror and it was fine.’ Says Kaman to Barra ‘Yeah I always have no problem with looking into mirrors. I mean, it’s practice. I was looking into mirrors since I was a tiny boy, and I’d always like what I saw. I mean, maybe I got some insecurities or some shit like that-‘ rambles Barra ‘So maybe its just that particular mirror in that particular armoire that’s the problem.’ Says Kaman slowly. ‘So you want me to go look at that mirror.’ Says Barra hesitant. ‘No, we need to figure out how to get Yrsa back.’ ‘Oh..well we smashed the mirror last time and it worked.’ Says Barra, Kie let’s out an AHH! ‘It..doesn’t always work the same way?’ cautions Kaman. ‘Look, I’m telling you, its insecurity alright, if you’re confident about your own self-image and then you’ll be fine.’ Says Barra truthfully. Kaman licks his lips. ‘We all don’t want to be trapped, in a trap.’ ‘Sooo~’ ‘Sooo~ I say we give Yrsa 2 minutes to figure a way out, and then…maybe we’ll..try something…’ says Kaman.

Yrsa decides she should try to find the occupant of the tower to see if he/she can help her. She races back downstairs to the living room with the cooking area. As she heads down the steps back to the space, she hears a deeper, baritone sort of voice ‘No Dovier, I don’t think anyone would come visit us at this time of the year, we’re a long way from anyone out here.’ ‘Hellooo?’ Hai! says Yrsa meekly. ‘Hmm, I heard that too, let me get my bow’ says the voice. ‘Please don’t shoot! I come in peace!’ says Yrsa putting up a hand. The voice says he doesn’t seem to understand what Yrsa is saying, but Yrsa can hear they’re speaking in Common. She tries again trying to neutralize her accent. ‘Please, don’t shoot, I come in peace.’ Says Yrsa walking to the direction of the voices with both hands raised.

She sees a hunched over elderly Goliath creature of about 70 years old. Next to him is a regular sized wolfhound. ‘Oh. What have we got here then?’ enquires the old Goliath. Yrsa says hello again and ‘I’m…sorry, I was kind of fooling around with the lighthouse and kind of got zapped through one of the mirrors?’ confesses Yrsa. She tells him she was last at the Sagarma Ocean near South Marabanda. ‘Oh on Urtu? Haha Hahaha!’ laughs the elderly giant. ‘I’m not due back there for 3 more months I think!’ ‘Oh! You’re the lighthouse keeper!’ says Yrsa. The Goliath says that he is and he’s responsible for about 6 lighthouses. He identifies himself as The Keeper, he used to have a name but it seems he can’t quite remember and just wishes to be known as The Keeper. She asks how she could get back to her world. The Keeper suggested perhaps she shouldn’t have broken and entered in the first place. ‘I’m sorry, we were there and we were bored and…we just wanted to see how lighthouses worked.’ Says Yrsa apologetically. The Keeper looks at her puzzled, Yrsa pulls out the best ‘sad puppy eyed Goblin face’ as she could. ‘…Hm what do you think Dobby?’ he asks the wolfhound. The wolfhound looks back as if saying ‘what do I think, I’m a dog.’ The Keeper asks Yrsa if she could wait at least 3 more months but Yrsa says she can’t as she has to be back there by tonight. The Keeper chides her for breaking in and causing herself trouble. ‘That is true, but you know, thinking things through is not a strong suit of mine…I mean, I’m still a teenager, it comes with the undeveloped brain.’ Says Yrsa, putting on the best innocent face she can do. ‘Please help…’ she pleads.

The Keeper heaves a groan and agrees to help ‘You just wait there. Don’t touch anything. AT ALL. Your feet can touch the floor.’ He growls. ‘…Can I make friends with the dog.’ ‘NO.’ then he pauses. ‘…ok fine.’ He packs his things, tidies up and is ready to go. He will escort Yrsa back to the lighthouse and says he’ll just clean up things like fix the lock and service the place. Yrsa asks The Keeper about the interesting mysteries in the lighthouse. ‘Yes.’ ‘YAY!’ says Yrsa clapping her hands in glee. ‘But it would kill you some day..’ says The Keeper. Yrsa’s face falls.

They walk back to the space with the armoire, The Keeper makes a series of noises that Yrsa can’t make out. A circle on the floor begins to glow, Yrsa notices that another figure has superimposed itself on the Goliath. The Keeper instructs Yrsa to stand in the circle with him. The wolfhound comes over and sits where Yrsa is and begins licking her face in glee. The Keeper tells Yrsa to count to 3. While she says ‘One…’

On the other side, Barra, Kie and Kaman sense a displacement of air and they see a big black wolfhound seemingly biting Yrsa’s face. They gasp collectively in shock as they see a huge giant like being. ‘Well…these must be your friends then?’ he grumbles. Barra, Kie and Kaman start shouting. Yrsa yells at them to ‘HOLD YOUR FIRE!’ Everyone calms down. ‘This is the Keeper…of the lighthouse-ses?’ She thanks The Keeper for bringing her back and causing all the inconvenience to him. Barra tries to explain himself that they wondered into the lighthouse, that most of the village seemed to be abandoned by previous occupants and they wanted to find out more. Yrsa also asks The Keeper if he would know about this and that Kaman had said he had a bad feeling about the sea. The Keeper looks concerned, he drops his bag of things where they are and goes upstairs a level, he motions Dobby the wolfhound to follow him. The party follow The Keeper upstairs to the lamp area with a walkway that goes all around. They see the lamp is powered by these giant crystals and the egg spheres are placed around them. Barra immediately sneaks off downstairs to put back the crystal egg he nicked. The Keeper looks over in the distance to see the Shadow Guard ships docked below but he points over to a spot 300m over which looks like some humanoids. Kaman notices that something is up with them, that he has a bad feeling about these humanoid creatures. He notices his heart starts racing and something in his mind telling him that ‘that’s bad, that’s bad.’ Kaman immediately points to the group of humanoids ‘that’s what’s bad with the sea. They’re WRONG and they’re BAD!’ ‘That’s not very nice to point to a race of people and say they’re wrong and they’re bad!’ says Yrsa concerned. ‘Kaman, go downstairs and warn the sailors. Ask them if they have the..thing that allows you to see far far?!’ ‘Telescope…?’ ‘Ah yes! Check it out!’ says Yrsa. Barra just reaches back up to see while Kaman runs downwards. With that, everyone suddenly hears a warhorn ‘TO ARMS MEN, TO ARMS! ATTACKS FROM THE SEA AND THE FOREST!’

‘We’re under attack!’ yells Kaman. The rest look around in surprise. Yrsa excuses the party that they need to deal with the threat, The Keeper says he’ll tidy up the lighthouse. He doesn’t know who or what the humanoids in the distance are. Dobby gives Yrsa a nice lick and Yrsa says goodbye. The party exit the lighthouse and the door and gate promptly slams closed behind them.

The party sees the village is now a hive of activity. Soldiers are running across grabbing bows, crossbows and arming themselves. The party find Lord Akras strapping on his armour. It is different from the armour he wore previously, it’s a mixture of plate and leather. He pulls out a long sword. ‘Good. Perfect timing. I need you lot to get the Ambassador and your Emissary to the first boat, The Wind Weaver. You’re not on that boat, you’re on the other one. But get them there safely and once you’re there, get on the other boat and it’ll push off for you.’ Kaman informs Akras about creatures in the water. He thanks Kaman and tells the party to get going. He instructs the 2 guards standing by to inform the others. Barra asks what creatures are attacking the Shadow Guard. Akras says it’s the trees in the jungle but he’s not really sure what creatures. They’ve locked all the fences and are in defensive positions. The party get going to escort Ambassador Djemana and Emissary Makt Teras to safety.

They rush the 2 VIPs down the steps to the sea area. There are now turrets aiming at the forest and Shadow Guard yelling to fire volleys of arrows into the forest. In the mean time while running, Barra chats with Kie about ‘monk life’, Kie says that she genuinely enjoys living the monk life. ‘Monks can be fashionable and attractive I think.’ Barra gives her crap about not finding any dates. ‘What? How do you think monks reproduce?!’ Yrsa makes a ‘huh?!’ face ‘I thought it was just a choice of lifestyle you do after that.’ Asks Yrsa ‘Well my parents were monks and I was born in a monastery.’ Says Kie. ‘So like your monastery, do they all like sleep with each other?’ asks Barra ignorant. ‘No no no no, we started one in our own village!’ says Kie clarifying. ‘A swinger monastery.’ Says Barra. Kie keeps saying no while Barra keeps insisting. ‘Barra!’ chides Kaman ‘It sounds really cool!’ grins Barra. ‘Help me leader! I cannot argue with such-‘ pleads Kie to Yrsa for help. ‘Sounds like I wanna go and check out this religion!’ jokes Barra. ‘I know you’re trying to understand more of her religion but it’s starting to come across as a little bit strange and creepy?’ says Yrsa telling off Barra. Barra apologizes and wonders if its rude/ racist to call Yrsa a barbarian. Yrsa says its fine ‘I wouldn’t really call it an occupation, working in the team is my occupation. Barbarian is just who I am, you know? You must find the bear in the barbarian!’ ‘Hhahah Now that’s a one in a million! A bear in the barbarian!’ Kaman slouches at the joke.

The party spot these bluish tint humanoid creatures shambling up the beach. Kaman sees they don’t seem to be the ones he saw in the distance; these seem to have got here earlier. He casts Spike Growth at the creatures to block them off from the dock area. Barra questions Kaman’s actions that they perhaps should take the VIPs to the boat first before they fight. Kaman says this is to slow the hostile creatures down.

Kie escorts Djemana and Makt Teras to the Wind Weaver. Yrsa stands at the edge of Kaman’s Spike Growth area and wait for the creatures to come through to attack them if needed. ‘Watch out! They may come from the water as well!’ she yells to her team. The party hear a different warhorn tune sound from the forest. Kie sees a full plumed bird humanoid with a jaunty tricorn hat in a kind of prince charming shirt. It starts squawking loudly as if coordinating with another figure in the crow’s nest of the ship, another bird figure who is looking out and steadying a crossbow. The parrot creature looks at Kie and yells ‘HURRY UP! HURRY UP! READY TO GO!’

Kaman fires 2 bolts of Eldritch Blast in his finger pistols at the nearest 2 shambling creatures, they both explode into a mist of gore. One of the shambling creatures gets hit with a crossbow bolt from the parrot in the Dream Wave, nothing really happens. Ambassador Djemana skitters over to Kie’s position. A shambling creature just reaches Kaman but falls over dead from crawling through the growth, it is covered in thorns. Another one is impaled by thorns and flops over, pulled into the ground. Barra decides to run about and ‘confuse the horn signals’ by making similar sounds of the enemy horns. In reply, there are 2 confused horn sounds like a odd sliding trombone. Some confusion seems to have been caused. Barra then runs towards the Wind Weaver. Makt Teras follows him.

They can hear Lord Akras yell for his troops to fall back near him. Kie runs up to their boat, the Dream Wave, she sees a very large minotaur with a peg leg on the boat. He’s wearing a fine brocade coat with buttons. ‘Hey yes lass! Corporation to come a board granted! By all means!’ says the minotaur in a booming voice.

Yrsa moves ahead since the shambling creatures are dead and moves up to the dock. A fanged creature bearing a trident, crawls up on the nearest dock. It heaves its large trident and flings it at Yrsa but it sails right pass her. The trident jams into a nearby rock, Yrsa sees that the creature is readying a net about to throw it at her.

The parrot captain creature notices Yrsa is under attack and fires a crossbow bolt at the sea creature. A crossbow bolt zaps into it but does nothing.

The party hear a soldier stumble and fall down the steps. Kaman Eldritch Blasts the dock trident creature, 2 red dots converge on its eyes and its head explodes into a mess of red. ‘I TOLD YOU THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE SEA!’ he yells to the others. He rushes towards the Dream Wave.

Another creature pulls itself up on the dock, it looks about and spots Ambassador Djemana. It pulls out a javelin and heaves it at her, snagging her back. Greenish blood spurts from her shoulder and she cries out in pain. The party gasp! Djemana stumbles away, rears up her great insectoid body and shoots a dart at the dock creature. It barely flinches. Another creature clambers up the dock near Emissary Makt Teras and throws a jaggered javelin at her which snags her in the shoulder. She yelps but bites hard and cuts the rest of long piece with her hand, reducing it to an embedded piece in her shoulder and charges ahead. Another javelin flies over her head and misses. The party can hear Lord Akras trying his best to defend the area and coordinating his team.

Barra rushes up to the dock, spots the sea creature on the pier to the right and sings dissonant whispers (an offkey ‘Hot Stuff’) to it. The fish head creature starts swaying to the beat strangely enough, it jumps into the water and swims away. Barra sings an inspiring song to Kie (a parody of ‘Don’t Dream Its Over’) to get her going.

Kie weaves her way through Kaman and in front of Makt Teras. She sees the strange odd being that has hopped onto the dock: it is a head of a fish with a humanoid scaled body holding a trident. It flaps its gills. Kie grabs hold of one of the fishman’s gills and tries to trip it into the water but it steadies itself into balance being a hefty creature, her hands are now covered in goopy fish slime. Yrsa yells ‘BARRA! BOUNCE ME!’ and she leaps, barrel rolls over Barra’s back and lands behind the fishman. She slices twice into the creature recklessly with her axe. The fishman looks bloodied and very hurt, gasping for air. She finishes it with ‘Fury of the Small’ sending it into the water, dead.

Djemana races onto the Wind Weaver safely, Kaman makes it to the front of the Dream Wave and readies himself for any other hostile attackers. Barra yells insults at the fishman that swam away from his Dissonant Whispers. It seems like its pride was hurt when Barra said that ‘its mother was a piece of shit.’ Barra squeezes pass the others on the dock and makes it to the Dream Wave. Emissary Makt Teras pushes herself and nearly stumbles off the dock when Kaman catches her and ushers her onto the boat.

The party see Lord Akras and his men are slowly getting pushed back down the sandstone steps. Hundreds of sea creatures are shoving them back. ‘GO GET MELENA, JUST GET MOVING NOW! We’ll be fine, let us do your jobs, you do yours!’ he yells.

The Parrot Captain calls out ‘Git on board! Ready to go! Ready to go!’ Barra gets ready to cast Hypnotic Pattern to brace for impact, Kaman prepares a Spike Growth spell, Yrsa jumps onto the Dream Wave to check if everything is ok. Kie scrambles up the crow’s nest and hangs from under it to get a better vantage, she misses her footing but just manages to grab a rope in time. The parrot sailor at the crow’s nest looks at her and goes ‘Hmm lucky. Hmm, splat you would have been!’ he teases.

Akras blocks javelins with his heavy shield as he and his men get pushed back. Angry sea creatures glare and hiss at them and the party see that the village has been swamped by them! A bigger sea creature pulls out a coral scimitar. ‘DON’T LOOK BACK!’ yells Barra letting lose a Hypnotic Pattern of a fish riding a musical note at the hostile sea creatures. 20 sea creatures stare up at the image entranced. Akras and his 2nd in command Patrick make it just in time to the Wind Weaver. Ellen rushes up to the party at the Dream Wave and gets on to the boat too. At the same time, the party see the Wind Weaver push away with Akras, Makt Teras and Ambassador Djemana.

The musical note pattern starts to fade and the Spike Growth spells takes effect, as the sea creatures suffer the effects of the thorny brambles that lay into them. The ships sail off into the mist. Barra mental messages Akras ‘It was a pleasure serving a long side you. If you see my mother, say hi. And if I don’t see you…Happy New Year I guess!’ He hears Akras yell back ‘I’ll give your best, to your mum!’

Kaman turns to Yrsa ‘…When’s the New Year?’ ‘I don’t know anymore, the days just blur into each other. It’s been a very strange year.’ Apparently in the Namandan Union, New Year is about 10 weeks away.

A steady drum beat guides the Dream Wave on as sailors rush about tending to the vessel. As they head into the Sagarma Sea, they look behind them to see that the village of South Marabanda is long out of sight…

END OF SESSION

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Cultural Notes

Ak kah chiew ji – is a Hokkien saying that 'you’re so close, you’re practically siblings'. This expression is used to say you have fantastic relations with someone that’s not blood related.