Fresh upon the deck of the Lanalith, Melius Imryll speaks with the party as her crew backup to give them space. She asks of their well being and of what happened on the now sunken iceberg. The four adventurers are exhausted, wounded, and have seen many horrors. They fill her in with the bare minimum before being tended to with food, water, and amenities to clean themselves.
Mornington asks for alcohol and is provided a bottle of elven rum, which he drinks at an alarming rate. When it's his turn to bathe, he can see his belly has distended, dark veins forking over its surface. Amarion removes his breastplate, and can breath normally once again, the armour was bent and mishappen from puncture holes caused by monstrous teeth. Crom's skin is discoloured, bumpy and stinging, the acidic burns have caught a lot of his exposed flesh. Edward finds what he can to wrap his arm, the dark red devilish flesh could raise concerns with Melius' crew. He wraps his head as well, as has taken a few hits to the head.
Night draws in and dark clouds can be seen on route to their destination in the east. Most of the crew and our four adventurers rest for the night, sleeping in hammocks in the crew's quarters.
Some time later Mornington opens his eyes suddenly, and the ship is rocking violently. It seems a storm is upon them, he sees flashes of lightning and rain pouring down the ladder that leads to the deck. He moves up to investigate, and once he makes it to the deck he can see dark shapes rising from the surface of the water. Lightning flashes and he sees long, pale tentacles. They reach for the ship and the vessel shudders. The others are woken, and everyone rushes to the deck. Mornington hears a disembodied voice, it warns him that he should have accepted it's offer, and now they will be dragged to the dark depths of the ocean. One giant tentacle, probably ten times the size of the others, slowly rises on one side of the ship. It seems to be extending to great heights for a devastating attack. The party start to thwart some of the tentacles to free the ship, but it's proving difficult to get away from the eldritch beast that hunts them.
Things are very strange, as the lightning flashes, things are changing. Amarion moves up to the Captain's position at the rudder wheel, but when the lightning flashes, Amarion sees Captain Gregor stood in place of Melius, wrestling with the wheel. Crom looks at his own skin, and it is translucent, like when he contracted the disease from the Unknown. So too does Amarion, both returned to their fate of depending on water to hydrate their fragile skin. Edward uses his eldritch magic, streaking purple flames too and fro to fend off tentacles, but when his companions look at him, he is an ugly, impish devil, red skin and snarling teeth. This whole time, Mornington's head is wracked with the voice of the other worldly entity, telling him of his doom to come. The giant tentacle crashes down like a felled tree and slams into the ship, almost snapping it completely in half. Crom is caught beneath it and braces against it with all his strength, crashing him into the lower decks. A tentacle wraps around Mornington's leg and drags him off the side of the ship. He falls to darker and darker depths, and as he looks down, a wide maw emerges from the gloom. It's many teeth close around him suddenly as he feels the sharp agony of death.
Sharp pain screams through his body, not all over, just localised to his lower abdomen. Mornington's eyes snap open and he's in his hammock, a light storm can be heard brewing outside. It was just a dream, a stupid terrible dream, but this pain is real. In fact the pain is unbearable, the distraction of heavy drinking subsided, he can feel his belly moving! He lurches to his feet and quickly tries to find some of the crew. He finds a sailor on duty who helps him locate the ships cook/surgeon. At one end of the crews quarters Mornington is barking at the elves to tie him to a table and cut the abominations out of him. They are wide eyed when they see his alarmingly discoloured and distended belly. They do as he says and tie him with hempen rope to the table. Rope is placed in between his teeth as the surgeon approaches writhing flesh with his sharpest knife. The scream of agony fills the ship and wakes Amarion, Crom, Edward, and many others. They rush over to the dim lantern light and can see thrashing shadows cast against the wall. As they round stacked cargo the dreadful scene before them is revealed.
They can see the whites of the elves eyes. Knife in hand, one is covered in blood, while the other is holding Mornington's shoulders down. The bard has lost consciousness, a great opening at the base of his abdomen is host to several thrashing appendages. Worms? Tentacles? The three heroes rush in to help, Edward casts spare the dying, Amarion runs to grab a scroll from his belongings, and Crom rushes in with bare hands. Mornington is clearly dying, so they have to act fast. They can't attack the thing without risking Mornington, so Crom grabs the thrashing tentacles and pulls. Mornington's belly deflates suddenly and tentacles wrap around Crom's arms as the entity begins wrestling with him. Amarion returns with a scroll, reads it, and completes the incantation upon it. This powerful scroll bought from Anlyth creates a Aura of Vitality, it rapidly starts healing Mornington while Edward and the surgeon hold the wound shut. Meanwhile, Crom struggles with the creature he now holds, it's no longer the worms that burrowed into the poor nobleman, but one creature. As it squirms in his grip a head opens to reveal a mouth of needles, blank yellow eyes are scattered across its body, and Crom realises exactly what this must be. Crom resorts to crushing it with his bare hands, a loud crack is heard and the creature squawks in shrill agony as it's tentacles thrash frantically. Suddenly all of it's eyes rotate, revealing pupils that look ahead, focusing on Crom. Dark energy starts to surround the creature, drinking up the light. Reality starts to spiral, and the creature draws itself inward. A terrible sound scrapes at the heroes ears, a tear in realities. Crom's hands slam together, and just like, he holds nothing. The creature, vanished.
The next day the party sit in the Captain's Cabin and explain to Melius what had happened the previous night. Thanks to the healing scroll Mornington has made an incredible recovery, but has one ugly scar to show for it. The next two days of sailing pass uneventfully. Their travel across the sea, and arrival in the Shimmer Isles is accompanied with grey clouds, and constant rain.
When the Lanalith finally arrives at Anlyth's river port they all notice just how many ships have arrived, and are still arriving. Even though its late at night a large group of elves are gathered on the dock, new arrivals looking for directions. Once the party enter the city it is very quiet, even for night time, and black banners are hanging from many of the buildings. They make their way to the Temple of the Ancients where they immediately ask for audience with Jandar Bijor. The Eparch Cleric informs them that Ulahice has passed since their departure, the oldest to have lived in elven history, and of course the nation is in mourning. Her replacement is to be an elven man named Zaos Aeron, an individual from Onannor who believes in the Divided Spirit, as opposed to being a worshipper of the Ancients. This has Jandar concerned for the future. Jandar offers the party a holy ritual on the morrow to celebrate and bless them for their achievements, the party humbly agree.
The party rest for free in the temple again due to Amarion's privileges. When they wake the next morning they notice many elves are seeking refuge here, some are recognised as those from the docks the night before. After questioning one of the individuals it transpires that the Feywild Portal (Druindar) is now permanently open. No longer does it follow the patterns of the moon, but now puts the town at risk from extraplanar invaders. Many fear the worst and are fleeing in droves, they believe that Iris Iknar could be a threat to their home.
The party move on to Lunas Orberus to meet with The Tide. The Dome Chamber is still being used for the funerary rites of the late Ulahice. The throne is empty and the great branch that reaches around it features a newly carved hollow where her body lies, silken fabric draped over the opening. The members of the Tide are found here in mourning, kneeling upon cushions on the floor arranged behind rows of pews. The Tide welcome the party and they arrange cushions so that they can sit in a circle together. Luirlan Ysabella is the only member missing, as she is with the people, facilitating events for the nation to unite and mourn. Discussion begins and the Tide are pleased to hear of the party's accomplishments, Vanya Norralei is particularly pleased that trade routes can return to normal across the Hourglass Sea. Folas Carna informs the party that they have received a raven from Guradam, specifically from the king Dras Gura.
King Dras's message speaks of the village of Greenvale, it has been entirely reduced to ashes, with very few survivors. Those who survived reported a huge dark winged dragon that has now been spotted near the Village of Kites. Everyone in the meeting shares concerned looks and they all know this to be Karna-Kar. Not only has he killed a whole village, but it looks like his next target is lined up, and on his current trajectory he could end up at Spearpoint. If he makes it to the Capital then who knows how many innocent people could die. The message did not ask the elven people for help, but simply asked them to let the Storm Breakers know. The conversation quickly turns to what can be done to help, the party ask if the elves will go beyond their previous promises around the Iceberg and seeking balance. Will they send the armies of the Shimmer Isles to hep them combat this evil?
Lethhonel Marlia and Vanya Norralei excuse themselves from the meeting, they realise their expertise are of little use here. They trust Folas Carna and Elauthin Rohorn to do what's right, and work with the heroes and the Kingdom of Guradam. The Lanalith and its crew are once again at the disposal of the party, and they will be able to take elite soldiers along with them on the ship. It will take longer to muster the military forces of the isles, but they will send aid to Guradam in these troubled times. Not only this, but Folas agrees to let the party take what ever Magical Artefacts the Order of Arcanum have been creating under his leadership. The meeting is brought to a close and the party have strong allies at their back, just as the balance of the world seems to wane.
That evening they return to the Temple of the Ancients and Jandar has arranged the ritual basins in the centre of the great garden plaza. He has arranged this honour for their recent victory and for freeing yet another Unknown spirit. Edward has a particular intention and offers to go first, he steps up to the four large stone basin; water, fire, air, and earth. He has done this before, he knows that water is first in line, and is hoping for a miracle. He unravels the bandage on his right arm, revealing the devil red flesh and black pointed nails. Jandar's face drops into a look of horror, and others in the plaza look on in shock. Before they can stop him Edward plunges his arm into the basin and steam immediately billows from its surface. It only partially hurts, and Edward hopes to hear the voices once again. Behind them in the plaza something starts to happen to one of the statues of Eloranos, the one with a water feature that trickles water from her cupped hands. All of a sudden the water starts billowing out along with sounds of hissing steam and cracking ice. The gentle rain that had persisted through the canopy stops, and in its place snow flakes start falling from the sky. Ice starts to form rapidly around the statue, encasing it. A body starts to form from the ice and a very tall humanoid figure takes shape before their eyes and takes a step forward. Clouds of steam billow around its shoulders, water pours from its head like a waterfall of hair, and giant circlets of ice spin around its head and torso. Its glass like body approaches the four at the alter, and the Unknown they freed stands before them once more.
It moves to Edward who winces at the pain in his arm, and pulls him closer. "You are a dark flame, and one I fear I cannot fully quench. However, I am grateful for what you have done for me, for returning me to the source. I will help you as you have helped me." The elemental holds Edward by the shoulder and with the other hand grips his arm and moves slowly along its length towards his hand. Where the being touches the red skin it leaves behind Edward's natural form. A few short moments later Edward is free of pain, free of his afflicted limb, and for a moment, free of guilt. Where Edward's arm is restored, the Elemental's has melted, a miracle enacted. The frozen face of the elemental leans down and gently kisses Edward on the forehead, his eyes move rapidly beneath his eyelids and he feels a rush of energy, of learning, framing of his past experiences. The Primordial being then turns to the others one by one and does the same, a kiss for Crom, for Mornington, and for Amarion. They all feel the same thing, a complete rush of perspective, of knowledge. The Paladin of the Ancients is overwhelmed by the manifestation of his faith, his devotion rewarded in troves, in legends to be told. The being stands to its full height, and it's obvious now that its body is continuing to melt.
"I would not want to lie to you and tell you that there are no trials ahead. Your world is at a cross roads that has not been seen in an eon. But where darkness can be found, the light that opposes it bravely shines, ever brighter, ever stronger. This is your world, and it's yours for the taking. Fight together, fight for what is yours."
Everyone present in the temple are stood in silent wonder. By the time the Primordial utters it's last word its body has returned to water. It trickles down the steps of the divine garden, joining rivulets of the gently pouring rain.
Next Session. 103
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