[read below, some new info here!]
The Shadow had anchored in the Bay of Teeth and its dinghy brought the Captain and Brobard back safely to shore, after Ahappi unleashed his dark fear spell to scare off two young, hungry mosasaurs that chomped at Brobard. But their run across the slate beach did not go as well. One darkness spell bought them passage past a nesting mosasaur, but the next one was wilier and poked its head through the darkness, unleashing a bolt of lightning from its jaws that stunned Brobard. The Captain ran back to help him but was struck upon the head by a powerful glancing blow from its jaws that he'd parried, and this left him senseless too.
Seeing this, the encamped Boamund, Baronet and Miguel (leaving prostrate Danilo at camp) rushed to help, passing the mosasaur nearest them who was distracted by the fracas. Baronet blasted the mosasaur, who was threatening to eat Brobard and Ahappi, in the tail and face with his blinding Darkstrike magic and then the three saviors dragged or carried them back to camp while the thrashing blind mosasaur lashed out ineffectually. Ahappi was healed and Brobard quickly woke up back at camp.
But, as you investigated Elder Useless's shack, you; led by Boamund; found a slate there that proclaimed he was unhappy about your violence on the beach and so he slept, then took a long time being fed by his crabs while night set in. Fearing more spirits' arrival like on the previous night, you grew anxious but soon he called for the body of Danilo to be brought and his crabs accepted the chocolatl from you, bringing it to him in formal procession.
Elder Useless sucked on the chocolatl and savoured it, going blank-faced and euphoric for some time. Then he brought out some runestones from under his seat and touched them ritually, including an odd blank one, and then touched the tied-up Danilo, who convulsed along with the Elder and fell asleep, as the Elder said he would (he had written that only bleeding would awaken the Penjang). Elder Useless then petted his crabs lovingly and slumped back against the wall of his shack. Indeed, on closer examination the Elder had died with a blissful smile on his face.
Your quest seemed finished but you were frightened by what the death of the Elder might mean. Boamund, knowing proper local practice as reminded by the Baronet, burned the body of the Elder and you left the shack and its crabs behind. Something, though, had changed on the Fanged Shore. A dense fog had slinked in with nightfall and The Shadow was no longer visible in the Bay. Ahappi looked and saw something moving on the shoreline. Picking your way through the nests filled with slumbering mosasaurs, you saw that it was the body of a Giranois, but entirely boneless and rubbery, just the pale, dead flesh of a long-dead native that the fog and surf of the Fosnoir had ushered in. It was inching its way across the slate beach like a worm.
It raised its head-sac with empty eyes and weak lips that let rivulets of sea-foam slide out as it spoke:
“Woe to Giraine, woe to men, those who quest for power will be its fodder, this Elder Useless would teach, and now his words wash away with the ages. Turn back! Take your accursed vessel far across the seas and avoid the doom that you conspire to bring! Let your flesh swirls in the depths like mine, like so much clothing in washing-water, the bones lying in foreign lands bleached by sun, surf and time. The colours that flense and devour will shine again as the lofty lantern burns. This Granno spoke of, and his words too will soon be lost, for we are all useless if we step into the parade of fools that quest for power.”
It stayed staring at you, swaying in the fog that clothed it and surf that lapped at it. You asked three questions, the surf tugging more insistently at the corpse with each one. Asked which of you it meant was on the “parade of fools” it did not specify, but told that you did what many others had done and so your fate was sure if you continued adventuring on Giraine. Asked what the four saints had done, it denied their sainthood and told of how Granno was the true saint, who had broken the circle of doom that was wrought on Giraine but suffered as a martyr because to do so, he needed to step into that “parade of fools.” Asked of how you could save yourselves and make things right, it said that many ships had come before but now the Fosnoir was bare of ships save yours- to save yourselves you must leave for safer shores and abandon Giraine to its doom. Then the surf drew it backwards one final time and returned the corpse to the depths of the Fosnoir.
You wondered how many bodies lay down there, and you felt the nearness of the Underworld. Just into that dense fog bank and lapping surf, there was an infinite black abyss that contained all who had died there since the Second Age. Ahappi wondered if you could heroquest there now, but with no clear path, he reasoned that to swim into the Fosnoir now would mean to truly and forever find death (or worse).
A growing, cold, desperate sense of isolation came over you while pondering your situation. You were stranded on this bleak shore with no ship accessible and treacherous cliffs to your backs, with deadly reptiles sure to awaken sometime.
Some of you even could feel empathy for Elder Useless: he'd sat in that shack for what must have been centuries, staring out at the indifferent Fosnoir and the ships that dared its black waters. Perhaps now and then a brave crew came ashore, hoping to plunder sea-monster nests or seek other glory here, but the Fosnoir took their souls as he watched. He had been abandoned by his kin for some reason (Eschewing violence? Being helpful? Too powerful? Not a proper Giranois by blood or something?) and so was as isolated as you were. Much as the beasts of the Fanged Shore tore their prey apart with their teeth, the Fanged Shore strips away its tenants to their raw individual essence, and those that survive it become wiser and more self-aware.
But things changed as you turned from staring into the hopeless fog and exploring the Fanged Shore in night's embrace. You spotted a rune-stone there amongst the slates– a final message from Elder Useless: “The light of dawn will bring your escape, but… when times are darkest, return here and I will help you once more.” And as you walked the shore together, carrying the slumbering Danilo, although you were together your minds drifted apart. Each of you took a journey inside your minds, ruminating over your desires and goals, and focusing on what you most wanted. Each of you then found some sort of symbolic answer to how you'd make that personal journey, and gained new confidence and focus as the night ended and you saw the first glint of dawn burning off the clammy fog and shining off the sails of The Shadow, which had safely berthed in anchor there overnight. Each of you saw a vision of a thing; a symbol of your life-goals.
Ahappi wanted to be the greatest sea hero, and saw a ship's wheel. Baronet Shaven wanted to unite the people of the lands, and saw a flag. Boamund wanted to be famed for his own greatness, not just a servant of the Baronet/Captain, and saw a cup of tea. Bobard wanted a permanent safe home, and saw a silver coin. Miguel wanted… (? For Alford to answer)
Each of these symbols stays on your minds, and you can invoke them at one point in the future. Their magic is powerful stuff, raw energy from pre-Time and tied to the Law, Mastery and Truth runes. If invoked for peaceful aims, not violence, the symbols of peace and dedication will give you +1 level of success on your next challenging action that is intended to bring you closer to your goal. In addition (Player option), these symbols and this experience can cause a change in your PC's personality (opportunity for big PC changes!?)– take new/change Passions, etc.—to be revisited at next Improvement Roll stage, but give it some thought.
You returned to The Shadow safely- the mosasaurs ignored you now, and the seas were placid, and time slipped by as if it were nothing. The Shadow's crew remembered only a quiet night sitting in cold fog, sure that you'd return. And in turn you returned your ship home, piloting through the Night-Channel back to your settlement.
But things were not quite right, as Ahappi noticed. The Night-Channel's shores and waters were again haunted by pale spirits and corpses from the reefs. Much as in the Fosnoir, the oceans, underworld and god-plane were stirring– big events of dark consequence were afoot, unleashing grim energies that left the dead with unease. Further away, the Hero Wars were churning up their own troubles, which sent ripples through the cosmos.
But being home was good. Danilo awoke as soon as he was put ashore, and spoke quietly with Miguel. Cyroosta embraced her son and ritual-husband, and the Dronari (workers) of the land were calmed again by their Talar's return.
But… being home meant news that quickly came your way and drove back the feelings of peace. Cyroosta and Maugis spoke in private of how the whole island now knew that the Baronet had died and returned with a serpent's head, and there were divisive factions each with their own interpretations of what this meant, and many different tales of what had actually happened, none of them correct.
Further away from Giraine, war came to Seshnela! Skirmishes and raids by King Guilmarn's forces had boiled into full-fledged war on land, with the focus on Nolos's (northern) borders with the Kingdom. Mercenaries from many lands join both sides, and the fighting is intense. Conflicting reports reach your shores. What is happening and what will it mean for you? By the time you hear of it, it may all be over and the consequences on their way.
Horali (soldiers/knights/Men of All), in particular, have learned of how the Paragons, horali raised to talari (noble) status, had uprooted Seshnelan society and created loyal new vassals for the King while leaving others in poverty. This was surely driving his war effort, rendering many past nobles uprooted and ancient Houses devastated. And the paragon promotions were reaching even Pithdaros, which was a frightening trend. Could it happen on Giraine?
Word also came, to zzaburi (wizards) like Maugis, that the Watcher Supreme of the Rokari Church, Theoblanc, had called a Rokari convocation in Leplai n and that there was even talk of a great Seventh Malkioni Ecclesiastical Council being discussed! The Sixth Council was not good for many Malkioni, e.g. this account: <a href="http://www.etyries.com/malkioni/mardron.htm" target="_blank">Mardron</a> More neutrally: "At the Sixth Ecclesiastical Council of Malkion the united churches of Seshnela and Loskalm declared unanimously that there is only one god and he is the Invisible God and his prophets were Malkion, Hrestol and Rokar. All good Malkioni accept this decision." What would the next council mean for newer churches like the Navigationalist/Ship of Life Church, or venerable secret societies like the Arkati? It seemed not a question of if there would be a council, but when and where-- Loskalm, Seshnela, or Ralios? The momentum of current politics suggested that Seshnela would be it, and thus the Rokari would have profound influence on the future of Malkionism...
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