Commissions and Complications

Thomas tells the group he needs a few days to find some prospects for them. As the group decide what to do. Ambryn decides to check on Minion again to see if he is doing better. Kainlan decides to go to Jack and see what he could find out about the arrowhead from the assassination on Ambryn. Thargrin decides he needs to go to the city, as he currently lacked the funds. Slick decides to stay on the ship to keep an eye on the captain.

After a few days, as the group is coming back to the ship from one of their many errands, they see a female dwarf standing near the ship. Ambryn recognizes the dwarf as the one she fought with in the bar. As she approaches the dwarf stands up and looks Ambryn up and down. 'You said you had work for me?' Ambryn nods, 'Yes you are a good fighter.' The others look on with distrust as is their nature, except Kainlan, who puts on his best charm as he introduces himself. 'Ingra.' says the dwarf with a slight nod then goes back to looking at Ambryn gauging the situation. Thomas appears on deck and beckons the adventurers to come with him. Seeing the dwarf, he raises an eyebrow and welcomes her along as well. Curiosity makes the dwarf follow the others on.

Without him, this group would be without a ship, Thomas thinks to himself. Well they are a good group for taking on dangerous assignments, and have been profitable for him, but they lack oversight and management. Thomas sighs as he sits down and pulls out a few pieces of paper, 'Rumors I found, as well as one commission  A dragon hunting an unknown island, talk of elven pirates hunting down merchant ships, black ship sailing around gateway, and a trading company asking for a mercenary group to help retrieve some goods from ruins nearby.' The group decide they would like to look in to the elven situation, Thomas gives the group all the papers with the information on them, and tells them he will take care of the ship while it is docked, and help find jobs for the crew.

The next day, the group heads out to find the location noted to find more information about the elves. As they approach, Slick sighs, for this is the same building he keeps finding himself coming to, at least this time he is with friends. As they reach to open the door, the old elf opens the door and is startled, he looks each of them quickly stopping for a sec and frowning at Thargrin, his frown getting deeper when he notices Slick. He composes himself and asks, 'What do you guys want?' his tone in obvious displeasure at the interuption. Kainlan mentions they are here about elven pirates, at which the old elfs demeanor changes. 'Go in the brothers will be wanting to talk to you.' As he wanders off he mumbles about no respect for elders and youth that are lost.

Back in the house, they can see lots of different symbols around the room. Ambryn notices there is power in each symbol, a different colored aura to each. Shortly an young elf walks in startled. 'Yes? My name is Jeche how may I help you today?' The group mentions the pirates, which puts a smile on Jeche's face as he beckons them to sit down. He proceeds to explain the situation, while glancing at Thargrin each time he mentions the pirates, as his inflection implies there is more than he is letting on. Thargrin sits forward, 'Speak plainly!' which cause Jeche to sit back in his char. 'No insult intended sir, but may I ask what is your buisness with the oakthorn?' Thargin replies that his business with them is done, gets up and walks out of the room. Jeches apologizes to the group, and hopes that no insult was intended, the others shrug it off as this was Thargrins way. The conversation turns more sober as Jeche concedes that the elven pirates are indeed renegade oakthorn, that pillage there ships and prevent supplies from getting back to the lands. Looking at Slick, Jeche smiles, 'We are trying to help the wildlings find there place in this world and would like to hire your group to take some weapons and food back to Heartland.' The group agrees, as they stand to leave, 'Never return if you plan to disappear and sell the cargo elsewhere.' Jeche tells them.

Back at the ship the group decide to prepare for departure, they find dock workers are quickly loading the cargo on to the ship. Kainlan decides to stay with the ship and rest for the rest of the day, Ambryn decides to go check on Minion, and Thargrin, angered at the morning encounter decides to walk the city. Ingra and Slick decide to follow him closely.

Thargin makes his way in to the worn down parts of the city, quickly turning down smaller alleyways, Slick and Ingra have to get closer to keep up. Down one of the alleys, they see a group of 4 ragged men, holding down a 5th man dressed in cleaner garb. Thargrin without hesitation launches himself at the four. Slick and Ingra leap quickly behind him to support him. Quickly dispatching the four ragged group, they hear a maniacal laughter coming from the fifth man, as lightning begins to spark around him and his Thargrin. Slick calmly walks forward and stabs the man and Ingra invokes one of her devices and hits him directly with a bolt of fire. As the fire hits the man, the cackling stops and is covered in fire that forces them to shield their eyes. Looking back they see a pile of black ash where he once stood. Ingra takes a little from the ground and puts in the bottle. Thargrin proceeds to sit down, mixes the ash with the blood, and begins his ritual. Once satisfied, Thargrin heads off a few more alleys scaring a few more beggars before he decides his hunt is done for tonight.

 

On their way back the group meet up with Ambryn as she is heading back from Minion, still in bad shape. The group proceed to explain what happen, as Ambryn notices the blood on Thargrin's face is glowing a haunting black aura. Ingra explains the ashes and hands the bottle over to her. The ashes glow more vibrantely with the black aura, which causes Ambryn to slowly trail off and begin dancing around, mumbling about zombies, skeletons, liches, and battlefields littered with bodies. As they approach the ship, Kainlan notices Ambryn is in a good mood, and walks over to dance with her, only to realize what she is mumbling and looks to other in confusion, to which they shrug. Slyvia notices the group, when she sees Ambryn dancing she drops the bucket she was holding and rushes over, placing her hand on Ambryn's head and closing her eyes, chanting underneath her breath. Ambryn slowly stops dancing and mumbling, as she sits down, Slyvia next to her crumples to the ground, still has her hand on Ambryn and chanting. As Ambryn comes to, she notices Slyvia and begins to get worried, for Slyvia has no aura about her anymore. Confused she grabs Sylvia and quickly takes her to her room, mumbling how the others can't see the problem.

Sorrow, Distractions, and Bar Fights

Ambryn walks in to the hospital ward. Many know her by now, they know to bow, to wave, to smile, and mostly to not get in her way. She purposefully walks through the halls, eventually walks in to a large room. On the bed lay Minion, covered in bandages, tended to by a handful of nurses. Monitoring him, taking care of him, praying for him. Ambryn does her own 'ritual' and places her hand on his head. Willing him to get better. After a few moments, she looks at the nurses and says, 'Let me know if anything, ANYTHING changes.'

Thargrin walks into the cheapest bar he knows. Money has been hard to come by, as the ship is repaired. Thomas has given him money for his stay in the port, that money will be used to drink. If he is to drink, why not make it last longer at the cheapest place he knows. As he looks around, he notices a dwarf drinking in the corner. As he approaches he notices on the ground next to the dwarf, is a human passed out with a mug in his hand. Every few times the dwarf takes a sip from his mug, he kicks the human and laughs. Thargin sits down and asks 'What are you drinking?' The dwarf laughs and makes an offhand comment about elves and their weak stomach. As the barmaid walks up, Thargrin points at the dwarf, 'I'll have what he is having!' and puts the purse of cogs on the table. The barmaid eyes light up, as she has never seen someone pay that much before. She quickly walks back to get a mug, quickly walking away, as Thargrin and the dwarf begin to see how fast each can drink.

Kainlan decides to confront Jack about what happen. Slick decides he will go along, there might be some killing involved. As they approach the warehouse, the guards stand up to see who it is, once they notice the pair, one leans over to the door and knocks once. After a few moments, Jack comes out, looking tired and not having slept in many days. He beckons them to follow. Back in his room he sits down, looking at Kainlan he sighs. 'We have much to talk about.' The next few hours pass as Jack tells Kainlan about his brother. How he found him looking for a job after getting kicked off a ship. Offered him shelter for his services. Working his way up, taking care of business, selling, buying, trading. Jack tells how his brother had a gift with the word, making anyone open up even if they didn't want to. He also tells Kainlan about how his brother asked one day to join a sailing ship, for as much as he enjoyed the island and was good at it, he wanted to see the sky. Afterwards, Jack heard stories, stories that began to sound suspicious  Looking in to things, Jack realized that maybe letting his brother join the crew of Gladwing was a bad idea, especially since Gladwing it appears has recently fell in with another man, whose description was identical to the one of the person who confronted them on the docks. Jack lets Kainlan know that if there is anything he can do to help, he can come and ask, and he will endeavor to as best as possible.

Back at the ship, Ambryn is told the Shae is missing and so is the elf. Mumbling that a gods work is never done she heads out to find the two. After a few hours and checking the local establishments, as she nears one in a darker part of the city, a man comes flying out the window. Ambryn quickly runs over, and much to her surprise there stands Shae fighting with a dwarven girl, surrounded by many others, fighting, or holding back, the bartender trying to get some semblance of order restored to his bar. As Ambryn is grasping the situation, Shae notices her and focuses on her for a second, this allows the dwarf to get a clean hit, felling Shae to the ground. Ambryn jumps in with protective rage attacking anyone who got in her way towards the dwarf and protecting Shae. As the two fight it out and go back and forth, Ambryn finally lays a finishing hit knocking the dwarf out. She leans over Shae and gently picks her up to take her back to the ship. As she is walking out she places a pouch of cogs on the bar for the bartender, she looks at the bartender and nods to the dwarf, 'Let her know if she wants another round or a job she can find us at The Enlightened.' The bartender nods, wild eyed at what has happened this night at his establishment.

Kainlan and Slick notice Ambryn and Shae coming over to the ship, the quickly come over and help get Shae on board. Ambryn asks if they have seen the elf, to which both respond with a negative. Ambryn mumbles about how a gods work is never done and beings to head out followed by Slick and Kainlan. With the help of Kainlan, they find out quickly where Thargrin has gone and make their way there. As they enter, the scene in front of them causes them to stop for a second. Thargrin lay in the back of the bar, wet and smelling of ale, a few bruises on his face of what appears to be a mug, as a handful of them lay around him in different states of broken. Ambryn walks over and grabs him which allows Thargrin to awaken and grumble, he tries to fight off Ambryn while attempting to take a sip of his mug.

 As the group walks back in the streets, Ambryn gets irritated by the continuous fidgeting of Thargrin she eventually hits him hard across the head and knocks him out. Slick quickly walks over and kicks Thargrin as well, letting out frustration he has been feeling towards the elf since they first met. With Thargrin knocked out, the group makes quicker pace, when suddenly Slick stops as the alleyways have no sound at all. As they scan around, and arrow flies towards Ambryn barely missing her head and embedding in to the ground next to her. Slick and Kainlan pull out there weapons in time to tackle the ambush, as Ambryn slaps Thargrin awake yelling 'Ambush!' The fight goes by quickly, and Thargrin slowly regains his senses after the fight, complaining about the throbbing in his head being the worst he's had, and confused at the pain in his ribs. They decide to go back to the ship to see what their next move will be.

Thargrin

Thargrin was always a loyal elf. Even when younger he never questioned the order of things. He also enjoyed natures animals. As he grew older, he adopted a friendly deer wildling as his own. They became close and even had a 'friendship'. Shrea became his constant companion and solace for him. Eventually he joins the Oakthorns, the special forces of the elven army, unquestionable loyalty, will take care of any mission for the elven lands, no matter the cost. They maintain the order and give strength to the elves. One day after returning from a mission, he is called to a special meeting. Once he reaches an open clearing he notices a few wildlings, with a handful of Shepards around them. He gets a sick feeling in his stomach, he never cared for how the wildlings were treated, and generally turned a blind eye, as this was part of their society.

As he is called over, he notices one of the Shepard's hands is covered in blood. Looking down, the color drains from his face, and he feels warm sensation of anger growing inside of him. In front of him is Shrea, missing a few limbs, covered with unspeakable devices, barely alive, if that is what you would call it. Thargrin lashes out at the torturer slicing his neck open, he leaps at the other Shepards and takes them on in a bloody fight.

After dealing with the Shepards, he releases the wildlings that remain as they run off in fear. He gently walks over to Shrea's body and sits down next to her. There is a pulse but she isn't aware. He realizes the shaking from Shrea has stopped and looks down. He doesn't know when it happened, but his dagger had severed her spine, taking away her pain. Looking down covered in blood, sweat, and tears, he just sits there rocking back and forth. He hears a scream, it sounds oddly like his own.

Aftermath

Kainlan awakens with a familiar face looking down on him. It his brothers friend. 'You're awake finally, how are you feeling?' Kainlan was sore, but better, 'How long have I been here?' 'Just over a week.' He begins to gather his stuff, 'I should go check on my ship.' His brother's friend has a look of concern on his face, 'I am not sure what you are in to, but please be safe, I cannot bear to lose you as we have already lost your brother.' 'He isn't dead!' Kainlan replies, as he stands up. His brother couldn't be dead, he just knew it, especially after he found the information he currently has, maybe Jack knew something as he heads out the door towards the ship.

Thargin woke up and looked around only to see darkness all around. 'Where am I?' he looks down, his armor is different, his weapons are different. They all seem familiar  they all seem to be what he used to where when he was part of the Oakthorns. 'This isn't right.' He strikes up a light pushing the darkness further and begins to walk methodically looking for a way out. After a few hours he being to hear a voice whispering, 'It wasn't your fault what happen to Shrea.' 'Shrea will always be with you.' 'Shrea. Shrea. Shrea.' Thargin crumples to the ground holding his head, shouting 'Stop!' as he passes out.

Slick finds himself in a small room, simple bedding, no adornments or furniture of any kind. He gets up gently opens the door to look out. He sees a bustling warehouse, elves, wildlings, humans, even a few drakins and dwarf or two, all running around carrying boxes or clipboards. Everyone moving things around efficiently and with purpose. As he steps out, and elf walks towards him, 'You! Come carry this over to section B!' Slick stares at the elf in confusion, he glimpses the symbol of a tree in a ring on the elf's clipboard. He pulls out his medallion  and gently places it on the clipboard. The elf stops mumbling and stares at Slick. 'Follow me.' as he hands back the medallion. They briskly leave the warehouse they are in, and Slick can see they are in the merchant district. After walking thirty minutes or so, they approach the lower trading district, Slick begins to recognize the streets, this is where the elfs who were told could help him were. They approach the elfs home and are greeted by an older elf, 'What?!' the elf carrying the clipboard replies 'This one is here to see the brothers.' and he walks off. The old elf looks down at Slick measuring him for a moment and just grumbles and leads Slick in to the house. 'The brothers will be back shortly. Always leaving me in charge of mundane things...' as he trails off mumbling and walks in to the next room. Slick waits till the elf is out of sight and walks out of the house, heading towards the ship.

Ambryn wakes up in a quiet room, familiar to her but yet not. She sits up and looks around noticing her surrounding. A small room, with candles lighting it up. The room was adorned with beautiful but simple tapestries and basic but sturdy furniture. Looking down she realized she is not wearing her armor but rather simple yet colorful robes. She begins to get agitated and distrustful, 'Who took my stuff?!' she mumbles to no one in particular for someone has disrespect this god. As she stands up and approaches the door, she hears song, walking out she is notices a large hallway, people walking gracefully, dancing and singing. The tapestries on the walls all seem to tell stories, full of detail and color that makes them seem real. As she walks to find answers, Ambryn slowly starts to sway with the singing and music, the words are unfamiliar to her, but the beat of the music is familiar. She sits down, lost in her world, soaring above the skies, talking, laughing, arguing with someone.

Thargin awakes suddenly, Slyvia is kneeling across the room filling a bowl with water. As she turns around, she gasps when she notice's Thargin is awake and hurriedly walks over to him, 'Are you ok? You kept mumbling about a Shrea.' as she wipes the his head down. Thargin swats her hand away and sits up, he's on the ship in his quarter he sees. Looking down he is in his armor and his axes lay against the wall where they should be. 'Leave me alone!' as he sits down next to his weapons and begins to sharpen them. She looks relieved, gets up to gather her things and walks out, leaving Thargin alone to brood.

As Slick approaches the ship, he notices Kainlan coming from the other direction and quickly catches up with him, each asking the other what happen, neither having an answer. As they board the ship, the are greated by the captain, who now has one of hands in a sling. A note of relief in his voice as he explains the bustling on the ship, for now there are dozens of saliors and workers on the ship and repairing the damage to the side of the ship. 'Ambryn is at the temple of festival, Thomas has taken care of everything, and I've maintained the ship in port as best as I could.' Slick gets a little riled up the Captain taking charge and reminds him kurtly that this is their ship, and he works for them. Kainlan decides to go grab Ambryn before they seek out Thomas. Slick stays behind to watch the Captain and make sure he doesn't get out of line again.

At the temple of festival Kainlan is greeted by a lovely young lady wearing glasses. 'How may I help you sir?' He introudces himself and she tells him her name is Loriel. He explains he is looking for a drakin, at which point the lady face lights up, and she beckons him to follow. Kainlan attempts to flirt with the girl, and she politely responds to his conversation. As she leads him, they are continuously pulled in to quick dances and twirls, and polite greetings. Kainlan notices Ambryn sitting down swaying back and forth and making a sound he would only call as purring. As he places his hands on her, Ambryn opens her eyes, and the look of peace and joy on her face goes away to be replaced by annoyance and when she notices the little lady, distrust. The lady looks at Kainlan, I hope everything is good now and turns to walk away. Kainlan quickly says 'I hope we can meet and dance again!' she looks back and politely nods and continues on.

Back on the ship, Thomas has gathered everyone and explains what has happened, the large explosion, the bright light, the damage to the ship, the damage to them. How Slyvia took charge and called or directed each to be taken care of. Ambryn realizes Sylvia did not look like she has rested in days, and makes a note to get her to rest. She also finds out minion is in the care of the best healers and has not shown any progress other than being stablized. The group decides to go talk with Jack to see what exactly happened.

As the adventurers head off the ship, Ambryn notices Slyvia, and the glow she had around her is very faint and weak, almost non exsistent. She walks over and lays her hand gently on her shoulders, Slyvia looks up and a smile comes across her face, followed by a frown. 'You should find Shae, she's has been going off and getting in trouble ever since the incident.' Ambryn tells her not to worry, and she should rest and take care of herself too. Slyvia promises to do so, once she finishes taking care of the crew. Kainlan and Slick head to Jack to gather answers, Ambryn decides to check on Minion and look for Shae, and Thargin holding a pouch of cogs Thomas has given him decides to look for a bar.

A Brothers Search and New Friends

Thargrin was drinking again at the bar, losing himself and his pain in the bottom of his mug. Most of the barkeeps knew him by now, as he was at one of their establishments every night.

One of the days of late drinking, a small and petite lady, dressed in nicely cut robes walks up to Thargrin, while he is passed out and gently touches his shoulder. "Grakslhlasf!" as he pushes her away, a look of concern appears on her face. "I am here to help ease your pain." she calmly tells Thargrin. "I donsh wanna your elp, I'm fiiiine! Leaf me aloon!" She beckons to the barkeep, "Take this one to my room, please sir." The barkeep motions two bruisers over as they follow the lady up to her room. Thargrin fights meekly all the way.

 The next morning when Thargrin awakes, he doesn't feel his hangover. Looking around he sees candles and feels a sense of peace, nothing like what he has felt since a very long time ago. As Thargrin grabs his gear, he hears footsteps coming towards the door, moving quickly and silently behind the door he waits. The door opens, as the lady from last night walks in to the room, Thargrin grabs her, as she screams and drops the food she was carrying. "I mean you no harm sir." as Thargrin gently releases his hold, his anger becoming harder to hold on to, and the feeling greatly confusing him. He shrugs things off and heads back to the ship, as the lady follows him, gently helping strangers on her way but keeping up with Thargrin.

Back at the ship, Thargrin goes to his spot and sits down, as the others greet the newcomer. "Sylvia, a priest of the Lifemother, pleased to meet everyone!" she proclaims with joy. Walking over to Slick and sitting down next to him.

Elsewhere, Kainlan receives a message to meet a man that has information on his brother. Heading over to the agreed spot, the man points Kainlan at a local business man, Jake Muller. Kainlan heads back to the ship and shares the information he has found. The adventurers decide to help their friend, and join him to go meet Jake, so they bring heading over to the warehouse district.

An arrow whistles by and hits Ambryin square in the shoulder. Thargrin and Slick run from the direction of the arrow but are too late, the assassin is long gone. Syliva pulls out the arrow and gently places her hands on Ambryin wound, a light glows and when she removes her hand, it appears to have been healed. Ambryin thanks Syliva, as everyone examines the arrow. "This appears of distinct design, we should keep it and investigate this." as Syliva puts the arrow away in her pack.

Once at the warehouse, the group is confronted by a few bruisers, one of the steps up to Kainlan, "Jake will only see you." The others rile up up at the veiled insult, but Kainlan explains the importance of the information to him and they reluctantly agree to wait. Inside, the hallways is more exquisite than anything Kainlan has seen. At the end of the hallway a great room, with only one man sitting there. "Kainlan, welcome! I know you seek your brother, a favor I ask in return for information, bring me back a shipment of Cotton and I will give you the information you need." he pulls out a bag of cogs and hands it over to Kainlan. "2000 cogs to help you on your journey and expenditures, and 10,000 cogs plus the information on your return." Kainlan questions the ease of the deal as it appears too simple and easy for such a great payout.

Back at the ship, the crew discusses options, they decide to take some material with them, and find out from the locals where the best cotton island can be found. Ambryin and Kainlan go out on the town, asking around, they discover metals and sand are good commodities to trade and Bridgeway has the best cotton supplies in the skies. Once the group has gathered the supplies, they head in to the skies.

"Harpies!" shouts the captain on the third day. As the adventurers and crew scramble to engage. The fighting gets fierce, one of the ladies dies to the harpies, as her friend (Shaelyn) screams and kills the harpies near her trying to get to her friend. After the battle Syliva puts her hand on Shaelyn and shakes her head, Ambryin puts her hand on her shoulder as comfort  the crew as a whole are pained at the lost. Shaelyn gets a void look in her eyes for the rest of the trip, making others worry about her.

As the crew nears Bridgeway, they notice a ship limping in the distance, as they get closer a larger ships appears to be chasing it. The smaller ship has an injured Orc, in the outfit of the couriers guild, he is pulled on to the ship where Syliva rushes to treat him. Before he passes out he hands Kainlan a message saying this needs to get to the Couriers guild as soon as possible. The crew look around and decide to out run the pirate ship, which they do with ease. The Orc is taken below deck and tended to, as the group breaks the seal and opens up the couriers message. It reads as gibberish to the group so they decide they will return it to see if they can get some rewards.

 Once at Bridgeway, the adventurers travel with the Orc to the nearest couriers guild. Once inside, the guild is bustling with people running around efficiently  carrying messages and notes as fast as possible. The orc continues to the back of the hall where he is greeted by the local courier overseer. "Greetings! What messages do you bear?" The Orc beckons to Kainlan as he hands over the message to be handed to the overseer. His eyes squint in displeasure when he notices the seal was broken, "Who broke the seal? All courier messages should have their seals maintained, otherwise we cannot guarantee the message inside. There will be some disciplinary actions taken." The overseer glances over to the Orc, who turns slightly white at the comment. Thorgrin chimes up about a reward, and overseer nodes and calls over a page. "Escort them to the quartermaster." As he hands the page a note. Once at the quartermaster the group receives 1000 cogs for their troubles. Slick and Thargrin feel that the couriers are being insulting and spit on their way out of the halls. As Slick looks back, a page runs up and quickly cleans up before running off again, leaving a grin on his face.

Ambryin and Kainlan proceed to attempt to sell off the goods, and find some cotton for the trip back. Once the cotton is secure, the group begins their trip back. While in the void, they are ambushed by two small pirate ships. The captain with the help of the crew deftly maneuver the ship and blow up one of the small ships with their cannons and chase off the other.

Once back at Gateway, the adventurers are greeted by four hooded men and large man dressed in finely crafted clothes of dark material. "You have something of mine!" he proclaims, Thargrin calmly throws his ax at the man, and charges in to battle. Kainlan takes aim at the man and hits him squarely in the head, but instead of killing him, the man looks angered and hurt. "Kill them all!" as he pulls out a dark sword. Ambryin notices the dark glow the sword has and shouts to her friends, "Be wary of his sword it has a black aura!" as the adventurers throw themselves at the dark man, the four robbed figures begin chanting. Four large spheres of black void grow and engulf the adventurers. As Kainlan, Slick, and Thargrin pass out, Ambryin barely holding on to consciousnesses Syliva walks down the plank and calmly walks down as a light glow quickly expands from her. The dark man looks up with fear in his eyes, "The gods avatar! You should not be here!" The light gets very bright, the last thing Ambryin hears is the footsteps of men running away and a gentle voice saying "Rest."

Bloody Messenger

A bloody elf walks in to the bar, covered in blood and tattered clothes. Many patrons rush to his side to help  him. As the adventurers approach, he can be heard rambling madly about skeletons and undead coming out of the ground. Treasures greater than any have seen and screaming monsters. His ramblings pique the interest of the group, for the alternatives didn't seem 'fun'; following up on the gods warning, helping two elves with some smuggling, or helping a trader procure some cloth. Salvage and fighting seemed more excitable to the group.

Heading over to their ship, the adventurers realize they could hire on a few sailors to help them out. The elf asks Kainlan if they could find female sailors to help. After questioning one of the dock-hands  Kainlan is directed to the far end of the dock, where two ladies were helping load some cargo for a ship. One appears shy and hesitant to join, but is convinced when her friend shows excitement at the opportunity of proper sailor work. The dock-hand also petitions Kainlan to join the crew as he has aspirations to become a Captain, Kainlan reluctantly agrees.

On the way to investigate the island of the dead, the crew encounters a large ship. 'Take them on!' yells the crew; as the captain deftly maneuvers the ship in to position, out maneuvering the other ship very nicely. Once the ship is in position, the adventurers and their new found friends begin to board the ship. Lots of pirates engage them, with their captain in the back urging them forward. Ambryin heads in to the first group she sees and begins to slash away, taunting the enemy captain as well. The two ladies who have recently joined, are inspired and bring down a few pirates themselves. As the fight starts to sway in the adventurers favor, the enemy captain begins to get riled up, accidently shooting one of his own while attempting to take out Ambryin.

Once the pirates are defeated, the adventurers decide to take over the new boat as it is much bigger than their own and let is drop in to the abyss, moving themselves over to the bigger ship. As expected the ship is harder to pilot than their old ship, so food and water become a concern, especially for the return trip.

The rest of the journey to the island is uneventful. Once at the island, the adventurers disembark and begin investigating the ruins. As they approach, skeletons pop out of the ground and assault the adventurers. A wraith also joins the fray. Thargrin rushes to the wraith, while the rest of the adventurers, engage the skeletons.

After a hard fought victory, Kainlan while looking around spots a cache of goods hidden in the rubble off to the side, full of salvage and a relic!

The slow trip back to town to (due to the larger ship) puts the crew dangerously thirsty and exhausted. Once they reach town, Thomas greets them and takes their salvage for them.

Scavenger Hunt

Slick asks himself, 'Why did I accept this job?' He recalls a human coming to him and asking for his help finding his son. He understood the pain that losing a family member is, and reward was more than he has gotten so far doing any job, but now he questions the companions recruited. A quite elf, who is fascinated by his weapons, speaking very little. A female drakin, proclaiming to be his god and protector, followed around by what he can only see as a man in servitude to her. Finally, their captain, a large Orc, who 3 days in has begun to show his frustration at not being able to find their destination.

Kar looks around his 'crew' and surveys them, if there was a more in-sociable lot, he has yet to see it. At least they haven't killed each other yet. Where Thomas found this ragged group he will never understand, but the pay was good, and Thomas always was good to his customers. Kar barks out orders to his crew. The wildling shows surprising knack and agility for working on a ship. The elf seems to be very clumsy and has almost fallen off the edge of the ship a few times before Kar just stopped asking him to help. The insane drakin was useful, even if she proclaimed her godhood everyday and demanded he bow to her. She had some talent at least on spotting food and keeping the lines tight.

On the fourth day, a shout of 'Ship!' wakes everyone. Rushing up to the deck, they can see what the captain has called out, a beached ship. The adventurers hurry to prepare the island hopper to investigate.

As the hopper approaches the ship, four large apes jump down and being to throw rocks at the group. The elf takes a hit directly, and while he shakes it off, the others quickly close the distance and kill three, before the last ape makes his escape. While debating how to investigate the ship, the elf walks up to a corpse, and begins to soak his blades in the blood and draw symbols on himself. The sight causes a sense of unease between the group as they do not know what to make of this ritual.

The group makes its way up the side of the ship, to a gruesome sight. Skeleton heads adorn the mast, broken and wasted. The only way down is through the hold, that has a foul stench. The wildling throws up when he is hit by the smell of rot and decay.

At the bottom of the stairs, more apes start attacking. One of the seems different, the skin barely holding on to his bones, his eye's appear to be melting, and is clearly the source of the smell. After an intense couple of minutes, the apes are dispatched. Ambryin bleeding  as she took a hit squarely across her chest and the claws dug deep. While her minion took care of her wounds, Slick surveys the room and finds a tunnel that leads further in, possibly to a hold. As he looks up to inform the others, again the elf is soaking his blades in the fresh blood and eyeing the drakin weirdly.

As they near the hold, a sound of gently crying is heard, maybe this is the son! But as soon as the group walks in to a room, they see a large obese monstrosity leaning and scratching against the wall, the void glow coming through an opening creates and atmosphere of dread. The grotesque abomination notices the adventurers and turns around. Four skeletons stand up in from the rubble, attacked to the grotesque through tentacles. Slick steps up to a skeleton, and breaks it with one hit, however the tentacle releases and quickly darts to him and attaches to his neck. He begins to feel commands and thoughts in his head but resists them. The elf rushes over and cuts down the tentacle, causing the grotesque to scream. Ambryin goes toe to toe with the obese hulk, until finally it is cut down.

One of the skeletons is wearing the gloves of the son, as described by Thomas. Another has a pendant on him, that creates a sense of dread to Ambryin. Once back on the ship, Kor is taking aback by the pendant, even offering his share up in exchange for it. Ambryin decides she better not, as it seems to hold some power.

During the night, a scream is heard. As others rush to the deck to see what happened, Kar is enveloped in a bright void light, the pendant floating in front of him. The light envelops Kar, as he gets larger, as the light disapates, you see an Ogre, an orc who has gone glowmad! The elf swiftly steps forward, and with some help from his comarades, takes down the ogre quickly.

As the ogre dies, a sound is echoed in to everyone mind:

"I am the god Lightbringer, but before my insanity I was Oceanius, Lord of the Oceans.The disk you found was a holy symbol of my priests. I have not seen its like since before the dawn of this world. 

Seek these artifacts of the Souls in preparation for the final battle. The fuel that burns in the Queen's barge; the armor of Orcbane; Festival's harp, ignored by my followers; the hammer of the damned dwarf; and the raven staff. Recover them all, for soon the Shield will fail again. 

Begin your quest by seeking Joeseth Truthbearer in Gateway..."

After successfully returning the remains of Thomas' son, and bringing him closure, the events that transpired bring along many questions.

Thomas has offered his services for salvage recovery and sale as well as he will help in finding missions for the adventurers and has offered up his services and trade at discounted prices (10% discount).

You also find yourselves in ownership of a small Skyship (1 crew + 7 passengers). This means you need 1 person to be dedicated to flying the ship, the other 7 members can disembark/lounge. Your ship also comes with an island hopper ( 1 + 4 ) that ferries a small group from/to islands. The Skyship comes with 1 cargo hold.