We are alive, barely in many cases, and Ularan's ship, and Emberlost himself, are sunk beneath the waves. It is astounding that we survived, but the whole situation does not feel like a triumph.
Or not to us all. Idris was giddy with the new weapon he claimed, or was before he tried to contact Talos and had it taken away again. So a failure there too, in wisdom if nothing else.
But about Emberlost, I do not know all the details. While Siax and Arya aided me in patching the ship, Effie managed to use the boon that Ularan had granted her in order to somehow calm Emberlost and bring him on side. The bard from the Wayside Inn, Tarbin Tul, was there and somehow involved. But we thought ourselves triumphant, and were relieved that we could hopefully return Emberlost to the Mere and call our task done, but the ship needed more repairs than we could manage on short notice, and it was while we were attempting to rest to have the resources to do so that the leader of the Talos cult appeared.
She came alone, but then she didn't really need any allies. She rode a storm and shrugged off even the boulders from a mangonel. Even against the five of us with aid from Emberlost, it was a close fight, especially as we had almost no resources left after the earlier battles. But somehow we managed. She died, leaving only her huge lightning spear behind.
We thought ourselves lucky, and prepared to rest again, setting up traps on the land against any enemies coming that way, and beached Emberlost to try and make repairs. But only Siax and myself managed to get enough rest I think, needing less, for not much past four hours it was not from the land that the threat came, but from the sea. Three ships full of Talos cultists bore down upon us.
We managed to slowly get Emberlost out into the open water where he was most able to fight, and things looked good at first, with Emberlost bearing down on the lead ship and smashing into it, sinking it handily. I managed to sink another with a spell to fill it with water, but that was where our good luck ended. Cultists swarmed our ship, and one of them, one in the garb of what I later found out was of Loviatar, managed to charm Siax and turn him against us.
Against me.
We had fought together for so long that we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, and his blades found the seams in my armour without fail time and again. With Siax doing such critical damage, and the barbed woman having teleported away to the last cultist ship afloat, I activated my cloak and followed her, not minding the blast from it was sure to catch Siax too. I could not have taken another hit, and he could take the damage.
I got to the other ship in an instant and called up the spirit guardians that I had once been so hesitant to use. The barbed lady got ripped apart by their spectral claws, and as she crawled towards me in the hope of turning me, much as she had to Siax, I crushed her skull before she could. She had given up the option of a less gruesome death, and I had no time to spare her for the battle was still ongoing.
I saw Effie fall into the water; stabbed in the back by an assassin, and I had my own problems, for a Talos priest ran across the water and cast a spell about my feet. So close to death already, I fell to that spell. I learned later that it was Siax who had killed the priest, my sharp exit having knocked him out of the charm. I managed to fight off death and woke only to find myself at the sharp end of the assassin's dagger. I crossed the border towards death again.
The assassin didn't get the chance to finish the job as he'd clearly intended. Whether through fate, luck, or providence, I fought back across the border to life once more. I saw the fear in his eyes as I rose, and he tried to fall back, but I was quicker, even after having fallen twice in quick succession. It was familiar to me, enough that I did not falter.
I gripped his face and drained the life from him, healing myself even as he fell at my feet, body crumbling to little more than ash as all the life he held was passed to me instead.
From my vantage on the ship, I watched as the last cultist was killed, Siax going into a sort of frenzy of hate and repeatedly stabbing the man even after he had more than passed on. And how a short time later Emberlost sank beneath the waves, the rest of the group swimming over to where I stood on that last floating ship.
I had not meant for this to happen. I had wanted to return Emberlost to the Mere. Perhaps, in time, also grant him the peace enough to move on as he had been unable to. That route was gone for us now, for a time at least.
Siax, still clearly overcome by his lapse in control and subsequent turning on the group earlier, fell to his knees at my feet, begging apology, tears streaming down his face. I did not know what to do for him, other than try to reassure in some way that I did not hold it against him. He was not at fault. I moved off to heal Effie, who had been saved by Arya, as a way to extricate myself from the emotional outpouring I had no idea how to deal with. Practical matters were permissible as an excuse, I figured.
We rest now in the cave that held the dead storm giant. I should contact the Three, for there are questions about Ularan that I feel necessary to know before we return. I should also contact Ularan himself once I have answers, for he might be able to send aid to help repair the ship under the water so I can then raise Emberlost again before more of the cultist reinforcements turn up. We killed so many that there are unlikely to be many in the area now, so it might be possible.
I have questions though. Why didn't Ularan tell us of the threats aboard the ship? Why didn't he tell us how to calm Emberlost, or about the sea hag in the cargo hold? Why is he blocking the Three? He gave me his reasons, but they make little sense to me, especially as the Three's abilities are hampered by his blocking their vision. And, perhaps more starkly, why was he willing to compromise and make one god out of the Three, and indeed be very willing to instead make someone else the basis for the new Death God, one that did not involve the Three at all?
I do not know that I trust his explanations. He has made his army and he has his plans, but is he truly working in the Three's best interests any more? I do not know, and with him blocking the Mere from their sight, perhaps They do not know about this either.
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