![[BtS-134-9.gif]] #### Kuthona 1st, 2431AS The past few weeks of travel have been relatively uneventful, however extremely busy due to the growing pains of a new ship and crew. There have been frequent sudden submerging practices on [[Zuzanna]]'s orders which has only made things more chaotic. The limited spare time I've had has been spent on practicing a new spell alongside assisting [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] with changing her fighting style. Ever since the fights in the [[Asereth Dynasty|Asethi]] encampment and maybe even before that she has felt like she has had gaps in her training due to her original focus on crossbow fighting. Remember when [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] was in the back with everyone else and only [[Arkai]] and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] were on the front lines? Good times... As for the rest of the group, only [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Badda]] really had the time to focus on their own projects. It took [[Wilborin|Wil]] two weeks to sew together a cape that he had designed to strengthen his connection with [[Arkai]]. It looks inspired by [[Arkai]]'s wings, shares a colour palette with him, and through magic it can be activated to transform into a smaller pair of [[Arkai]]'s wings to be used for limited flight. Given that [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Arkai]] can merge together and fly indefinitely now I don't entirely see the point of this, but perhaps there are some things they cannot do while merged. The project that [[Badda]] was working on was partially for [[Wilborin|Wil]] as well, finding a spirit to use as a guide to venture onto the Ethereal plane. With their prowess in communicating with spirits it did not take them particularly long to find one capable of doing what we needed. They did however spend quite a bit of time properly befriending the long forgotten scholar spirit, providing them with the name "Jellybean". While [[Badda]] did not say it, I am fairly sure that the spirit doesn't love the name. There was originally one more project planned for the twenty days of travel: installing the communication pendants into the navigation areas on both [[Phoenix's Cradle]] and [[Ad Majestas]]. Before we began [[Drafna]] and [[Anoretta]] approached us and recommended that we leave them as pendants with some fairly good arguments as to why. First, on [[Ad Majestas]] there are two navigation areas. This would mean that if the ship was traveling normally, messages would have to be relayed from the submerged navigation area to the ship's helm, which is understandably annoying for any crew member having to act as intermediary. The pendants would also remain more versatile should we leave them as such. In scenarios where it is important for [[Ex Nihilo]] to remain in contact with the ships, one of us taking a communication pendant would prove extremely useful. In the end we agreed to leave the pendants as pendants. As part of this we sat both [[Drafna]] and [[Anoretta]] down and made sure they were aware of how much they cost, and how we absolutely could not afford to lose them. On the 25th we finally received the report that [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]] had promised. It was a compilation of information from Group Six, now known as "The Fireguard", Group Eleven, and the church. Through the analysis of a large list of missing ships they were able to narrow down twenty that could likely be attributed to [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]]. From the expected paths of these ships and the scrying from before they could conclude that [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] has moved northwest to within 200 miles of E75N30. This is certainly confusing and concerning as they have moved much closer to [[Qarlandyr]], something which the report concluded as well. The real question was why were they moving closer to land. It is reasonable to assume that they were just running low on supplies and needed to acquire more, but that just didn't sit right. My initial thought was that their movements were somehow related to the fact that they didn't receive the planar shard that [[Vanathor Aunor|Vanathor]] was supposed to deliver. Both [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] did some research into it and thought about what they might have wanted the planar shard for. It could have been used as a planar key, but we could not think of a reason they would want to go to the plane of earth. It was more likely that they wanted to use it as a magical fuel for an extremely powerful ritual which we do not know about. It's also possible that they wanted to use it to stabilize the lower floors of the [[Zarkisor Castle|Castle]] before heading into the Terror Isles. With all of that said none of our theories could explain why they were moving closer to land, unless they were just looking to find another planar shard or something of similar magical potential. ![[BtS-134-1.png]] After the couple days of research we decided to send a message to [[Hradri Rineko|the King Consort]] to help keep them in the loop as they had for us. After some coaching from me, [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] sent the following message, receiving the response a couple minutes after. >[!Sending with the King Consort's Aide] >[[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]: Hello, [[Ex Nihilo]] reporting. Good authority that [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] will soon start pillaging east coast of outer crescent. Stay Vigilant. Would greatly appreciate relevant information. > >Aide: Thank you for the report. Aware of [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]]'s presence in Kita. Defense groups have mobilized. Will inform you of relevant information. That covers everything from the journey to [[Qarlandyr]]. We arrived early today, but only plan on staying until about noon tomorrow. It is much smaller than [[Fellheim]] and is absolutely not meant for tourism. The main feature is the academy, a large central group of buildings which is a major step in a [[Godril Kingdom|Godrilic]] officer's training. It is where [[Zuzanna]]'s grandson has been studying, and as such she took all of today off to see him. [[Erris Solé|Erris]] and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] also took most of the day off given that only [[Jean]] and [[Andrii Khareno Roi|Andrii]] were the officers with real work to do in the port. While wandering around I was able to practice with my new spell which is able to keep my hair always blowing perfectly away from my face. Given her expression when she noticed and the multiple failed attempts at messing up my hair, I think I will commission [[Wilborin|Wil]] or [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] to create [[Erris Solé|Erris]] a magical tool to let her cast the spell as well. ![[BtS-134-2.png]] --- #### Kuthona 2nd, 2431AS While at breakfast in a café near the docks everyone noticed that something was off with [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]. It seemed as though he didn't get a very good night's sleep, and he was even not drinking his usual glass of breakfast wine. Instead he was intently focused on a map of [[Ostium]], muttering "Ad Stellam" under his breath. Recognizing that it was [[Mithral Empire|Mithi]] I raised my eyebrow towards [[Wilborin|Wil]], who translated it as "To a star". I then asked [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] if he was okay, only to be told "No?" in a very confused tone. After a moment he looked up and explained that he had a nightmare last night, something which he didn't think he could have given that he doesn't dream much anymore. In the nightmare he was flying extremely high up, far higher and faster than we have ever been. Looking down he could see the islands of the [[Sentinel Federation|Federation]] and the Kita ocean, and that he was moving from west to east. Throughout the entire dream there was loud incoherent chanting in his mind which eventually resolved into, "Ex Nihilo Ad Stellam". Finally, the dream ended when [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] heated up to the point of pain due to friction with the air around him. ![[BtS-134-3.png]] Reasonably, [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] was worried that the gods had finally found out that he was still alive and had exited [[The Stormwall]]. Immediately [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] told him that they definitely knew the moment that we left and that he shouldn't worry about it. This comes from his recent deep dive into religious studies, his strong connection to Abadar, and his relationship with [[Ravali]]. Speaking of [[Ravali]], when asking for her input she had a few things to say about [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]. From the perspective of the church's teachings, Pharamsa should not be upset with him, at least not for remaining alive after so long. While the whole project he was working on was a bit questionable, he did not intend to cheat death when he was forced into the automaton body. Even so the fear of the gods had been put into [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]], something that [[Badda]] quickly jumped on. With some well timed comments they managed to convince [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] to worship the god of the mountain with them. Ah yes, worshipping to a local deity which likely cannot hear the prayers given that we are on the other side of [[The Stormwall]]. Surely that will help if the higher gods are angry with him. Once breakfast was over we returned to [[Phoenix's Cradle]] to get started on the last of the preparations. Unlike with previous trips [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] took charge for this, with [[Jean]] and [[Andrii Khareno Roi|Andrii]] helping. All together, without the use of magic to supplement ourselves, we should be good to be at sea for five months. One month longer than standard for our ships thanks to the work the three of them put in. Three and a half months worth of resources have been stored on [[Phoenix's Cradle]], with the remaining one and a half on [[Ad Majestas]]. At this time it was also decided that we will supplement all of our meals with food from the Create Food wand. This means that at no point will anyone need to eat an entire meal of food so bland not even a pile of spices can entirely fix it. Some people are still not thrilled by this, but extending our maximum travel time is of the utmost importance right now. ![[BtS-134-4.png]] All that was needed then was a proper course for the navigators to follow. [[Drafna]] and [[Anoretta]] had been working on a modification to our course since the moment that we received word from [[The Horizon Fleet|the fleet]]. They finished just in time for us to leave at noon, providing us with high level details and estimating that we will arrive at the massive search area for [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] in approximately fifteen days. Having [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Arkai]] frequently go high up into the air for scouting runs will likely allow us to find [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] in under a week once we get there, so they have agreed to do that once we get close. --- #### Kuthona 4th, 2431AS Today we received another packet of information from [[The Horizon Fleet|the fleet]], this time about the Terror Isles. It is a compilation of annotated maps of landmasses and water currents which will help us navigate the areas of the Terror Isles that are known. There is also a small booklet of anomalies that Group 11 has found during their time in [[Ibelon]]. Unfortunately some parts are a little rough around the edges, something which Group 11 did apologize for. It seems that they had been told that we had just recently set out, and they wanted to send it sooner rather than later. I guess it makes sense that the church is still scrying on us, but it does feel a bit uncomfortable to think about. At least I know they aren't scrying on [[Erris Solé|Erris]] and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] at night, thank you wand of Peaceful Bubble! --- #### Kuthona 9th, 2431AS When heading up to the deck to do our morning stretches, [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] passed by a rather disheveled and exhausted looking [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] in the galley. While we were getting started on the top deck I mentioned it to [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]], who told me that she had woken up late last night to faint bangs and clattering coming from [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s room. [[Ralph]] was sent over to investigate, but his [[Shiro|arch-nemesis]] prevented his return. Just as [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] was about to get up she heard the door next to hers open, which was followed by a knock at her door. Opening it revealed a disheveled [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] who promptly shoved a piece of paper in [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]]'s face. Barely awake all she could make out was a bunch of eyes, and all [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] said was, "It happened again, the dream isn't going away.", before Translocating away. [[Shiro]] trotted off after him, but not before dropping [[Ralph]] at [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]]'s feet. Feeling that it could wait until morning, [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] and [[Ralph]] both went back to sleep. Once we were done with our stretches I grabbed one of the night crew before they headed off to bed. Apparently [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] had Translocated to the top deck and just stayed staring at the stars for a few hours. The entire time he was referencing a map in his hand before eventually returning to the galley. Heading back into the galley we found [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] still sitting at the table, a piece of bread in one hand and a pen in the other, various coloured vials of ink on the table. He was copying down a star chart while also drawing sets of faceless eyes at very particular points among the stars. Once all of [[Ex Nihilo]] arrived at the table he began to explain what had happened. The dream started the same way as his last one had, him falling in the upper atmosphere from west to east. "Ex Nihilo, Ad Stellam" echoed out in his mind as he looked around to get a better look at what was going on. Looking down he could not see any chains latched on to his body, yet he felt a powerful force dragging him towards the Terror Isles. Looking towards the stars he could see the eyes, each bigger than the whole planet, yet all fitting together in a mind bending way. All of them were slightly different in look and expression. When he first looked up they were all staring off into the universe, but once they noticed his gaze, theirs turned to him. Their stare put an almost unbearable pressure on him and his mind, burning it into his memory. To share this scene with all of us he was copying it down onto a star map. This was clearly a message for us, it couldn't be more obvious. With a quick glance [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] was able to connect two different sets of eyes to deities within [[The Ring]]. One was Abadar, golden eyes with key shaped pupils. Another was Pharasma, greyish outline with full sclera white pupils. None of us could link the other sixteen pairs of eyes to gods, but with that said we don't have the best religious scholars in our immediate group. Given that two were almost certainly gods made us feel that the rest were as well. Adding on to this that there were no lasting magical effects on [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]], and according to [[Badda]] the only spirit in the area was Jellybean, we were certain that this was a message from the gods. With that said we still aren't entirely sure of what the message was trying to say. Our current best guess, which [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] posed, is that there was an explosion on one of [[Xanar and Deteer|the moons]], an uncommon but largely natural occurrence to our knowledge. An explosion could have knocked a piece of [[Mithral Empire|Mithi]] technology down to [[Ostium]], where it could have landed in the Terror Isles. Following up on this I questioned if this technology is what [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] needed the planar shard for. In the distant past [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] had a vision of an explosion during a [[Mithral Empire|Mithi]] mining operation on [[Xanar and Deteer|Xanar]] which gives some credence to this idea. There are still some metaphysical aspects of this which we aren't sure about though. Being at this point one of the worlds foremost experts on the planes, [[Wilborin|Wil]] is going to do some more research on the topic. In the meantime I handed [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] the Linked Letter and told him to start writing as we absolutely needed to bring [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]] into this conversation. > [!Linked Letter conversation with Irorika] > [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]: [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]] – Its [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]. Twice now I’ve had concerning dreams since the 2nd. Qarlandyr and another last night. I find myself falling across the horizon of [[Ostium]], falling faster and faster ‘til I am burning up in the sky like a shooting star. Voice chant louder and louder “Ex Nihilo, Ad Stellam” From Nothing To A Star. The 2nd dream involved eyes floating in the stars looking away before turning back to gaze down at me. I have a drawing of it I can send over as well confirming the stars in the sky match and that the last dream I was falling to the world over the terror isles. > > [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]]: I will put someone to research this. I don't personally recognize any details immediately. Repeated dreams can be signs of stress on the mundane side of things, or signs of attempted contact or even bestowed foresight on the more magical side of things. I will inform you if anything comes up, but I wouldn't expect much. In his haste [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s message did not include the link we had discovered between the eyes and the gods. As such this response from [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]] made sense, although it was not quite what we were looking for. Instead of following up with further clarification [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] simply used the Object Translocation Circle to send his finished drawing to [[The Horizon Fleet|the fleet]]. A couple of minutes later there was another message on the Linked Letter. > [!Linked Letter from Irorika] > I see... > *Pause for a couple minutes* > I will escalate the research priority on this. I would like to note that [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] did not give the Linked Letter back to me after this, constantly checking it until the next day for any updates. --- #### Kuthona 10th, 2431AS Later in the evening today we received further details related to the eyes in [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s dream through the Linked Letter. >[!Linked Letter conversation with Irorika] >[[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]]: All of the pairs of eyes have been identified. They are representative of all but two of the deities from within [[The Ring]]. >- **Pharsma**: Grey outline with white full sclera eyes. >- **Abadar**: Golden outline with key shaped pupils. >- **Asmodeus**: Two eye shaped flames burning way from each other. >- **Calistria**: Black silhouettes of eyes from a smirking face. >- **Cayden Cailean**: Smallest and most human, almost normal human. >- **Desna**: Extremely wide and unnatural eyes in the shape of butterfly wings with unnaturally coloured pupils. >- **Erastil**: Eyes of an elk. >- **Gorum**: Angry glowing red silhouette of eyes. >- **Gozreh**: Outline which stream into clouds on the side, pupils constantly shifting like eyes of a storm. >- **Iomedae**: Narrowed human eyes with pupils of a stylized sun. >- **Irori**: Greyish blue closed eyes, but still seeing ([[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s note). >- **Lamashtu**: Two eyes joined by a vertical one inbetween, all with glowing red full sclera pupils. >- **Nethys**: Eyes opened unnaturally wide, one perfectly white, one perfectly black. >- **Norgorber**: Outline of eye sockets with a bright star in the left eye. >- **Sarenrae**: Outline of wispy flames surrounding black full sclera eyes. >- **Shelyn**: Round eyes of a bird with constantly shifting colours in place of pupils. >- **Torag**: Cracked rocky dwarven eyes. >- **Urgathoa**: Humanoid eye sockets hosting glassy bug eyes. > > [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]: Fuck. As [[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]] wrote there are two major [[The Ring|Ring]] deities missing, Rovagug and Zon-Kuthon. Both of these deities are extremely chaotic and evil, so if there is a collection of gods looking to interact with us, I can understand those two being missing. It is intriguing that Norgorber was present however. Returning to our theory of [[Mithral Empire|Mithi]] technology falling from [[Xanar and Deteer|the moons]], [[Wilborin|Wil]] does not believe it to be possible. Between [[Ostium]] and [[Xanar and Deteer|the moons]] there is a barrier of Astral Plane which all debris from [[Xanar and Deteer|the moons]] passes through. With a reasonably high degree of confidence [[Wilborin|Wil]] claims that a complex thing such as a person or a machine could not pass through. Meteors that fall from [[Xanar and Deteer|Xanar]] do appear in the air above [[Ostium]], however ones that fall from [[Xanar and Deteer|Deteer]] appear at the bottom of bodies of water. It is possible that the meteors pass through the Astral Plane, then through the planes of either Air or Water, before ending up on [[Ostium]]. That last part [[Wilborin|Wil]] is not at all confident in, it is just a theory. ![[BtS-134-8.png]] Impatient, [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] thought of another way to get answers. Near the end of our conversation on the matter he announced that he will be busy for a while. He plans to meditate over his [[Gideon Roi#<u>Relic - The Celestial Twins</u>|guns]] and the book about Abadar that he has to try and get more information. Finally, in completely unrelated news, [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] has finished her long stint of training and is now confident in her new fighting style. It has been a long month of constant sparring, often with me and [[Nystrom]], but occasionally with the other members of [[Ex Nihilo]]. No longer does she fall under the combative archetype of "ranger", but she is born anew as a duelist. --- ![[BtS-134-5.png]] #### Kuthona 14th, 2431AS Up until this evening nobody except [[Badda]] had seen [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]. He had locked himself in their room, barely eating or drinking while remaining in a quiet solitude. Tonight he emerged, thin, scraggly, and disheveled from a three day long meditation. While stuffing his face with the best meat we had he explained that he had spent all of this time on a single question, "Is there something in the Terror Isles that worries you?". Near the end of today all of his senses went numb, it felt like he was drifting in a vast expanse of nothingness. All that filled [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s mind was a sense of great determination and purpose, a sign which was similar to the feeling one might have before an important presentation or meeting. "There is absolutely something in the Terror Isles." [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] mumbled, mouth full of more food, "The gods wish for us to find it.". From the description of [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s experience we are all inclined to agree with his assessment of the situation. Perhaps to quell his own concerned [[Wilborin|Wil]] commented that information from the gods appears to always come obfuscated. Looking around to the rest of us for confirmation I agreed, but elaborated that information can be more direct for people with extraordinarily strong religious connections or when the receiver is on the god's plane. Up until recently none of us were particularly apt in religious topics and even still none of us are particularly religiously powerful so it doesn't surprise me that all of the recent information has not been particularly direct. With this information [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] was finally relaxed enough to return the Linked Letter to me. Taking it back I began to write a message about [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s breakthrough to update [[The Horizon Fleet|the fleet]] on our progress with the dreams. While I was writing [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] asked me to mention that he had "borrowed" the book on Abadar a long time ago. There have been some upset faces appearing in the book, it seems that Abadar wasn't too happy with him just taking it. >[!Linked Letter conversation with Irorika] >[[Kitsuki Nagahashi|Kit]]: [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] spent the last three days meditating in an attempt to get more information about the dreams [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] had. To do this he used his [[Gideon Roi#<u>Relic - The Celestial Twins</u>|guns]] and the ancient book on Abadar that he borrowed from the library on [[The Sthira]] a while back. Towards the end of today he had an out of body experience where he was filled with a sense of great "determination and purpose". He is sure that there is something that the gods wish for us to uncover hiding within the Terror Isles. > >He apologizes for taking the book, and wants you to know that it has served us extremely well. > >[[Lady Irorika Galvira|Irorika]]: That is an impressive degree of connection and information on Gideon's part so send our congratulations to him. I will ask our priests to attempt a communion and will relay any relevant information to you. In regards to the book, I will do my best to break the news to the librarians gently. Please continue to take good care of it. Around when we were finishing up our conversation [[Ravali]] arrived at [[Ad Majestas]], having been stealthily called over from [[Phoenix's Cradle]] by [[Badda]]. While [[Ravali]] gushed over [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s experience he told her about the book he had taken, feeling that he should come clean to her as well. "I spent a week looking for it on [[Phoenix's Cradle]]!" she exclaimed, lightly punching [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s shoulder before continuing, "The church was worried it had been misplaced!". Thankfully she doesn't seem very upset by this, more amused that he had hidden it so well. Finally, [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Arkai]] are planning to begin performing extended scouting runs tomorrow with the hope of spotting [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] early. They wanted to start today, but the weather was fairly bad and it would have been impossible to scout. --- #### Kuthona 16th, 2431AS At about noon today [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Arkai]] returned from a scouting run with some interesting news. Off in the distance to the south east he had spotted an area where the water looked as though it had lost most of its color. This seemed to affect a massive region of water going far past the horizon in that direction. From afar the effect was very minimal and it is unlikely that most people would notice it. There was not much deliberation before we agreed that this is a sign of [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] hiding itself. As such it was time for [[Phoenix's Cradle]] and [[Ad Majestas]] to split up to avoid being spotted. Until we are finished with [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]], or something drastic happens, [[Phoenix's Cradle]] should remain outside the area that [[Wilborin|Wil]] spotted. Confident in our decision we presented it to the officers, all of whom agreed it was good to part ways for the time being. [[Ad Majestas]] will investigate the area of desaturation to the south east which likely contains [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]]. At the same time [[Phoenix's Cradle]] will head east to move past [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] towards the Terror Isles. After [[Ad Majestas]] is done with [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] we will use the Communication Pendants to link back up and head towards the Terror Isles. ![[BtS-134-6.png]] While one the top deck eating dinner all of us noticed something wrong with the sunset. Instead of being desaturated the sun was a more vibrant red than we had ever seen. A very thin crescent of [[Xanar and Deteer|Deteer]], which was rising just to the side of the setting sun, looked to be almost pure white. This was more in line with the desaturation of the area, so it was strange as to why the red sun was so vibrant. After the sun had set, [[Wilborin|Wil]] recommended that [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] stay out on watch. Through extensive training with those of us who can go invisible he has become adept at spotting movements in the air surrounding the unseen. Our expectation was that the desaturation was a side effect of [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] performing some sort of massive invisibility ritual. As such [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s skills would be very important to spotting it. As the sky darkened and night slowly came upon us, there was another notable exception to the desaturation. While [[Xanar and Deteer|Deteer]] was a pale white, [[Xanar and Deteer|Xanar]] was a bright red instead of its normal pale orange. Just like the sun it had turned red, causing us to realize the area didn't drain all colour. Whatever [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] was doing was amplifying the colour red, but why we did not know. Before we could think too much about it [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] shouted out that there were two dragon-like shapes high up in the distance. Immediately we began diving procedures, successfully submerging in just under ten minutes. [[Ad Majestas]] can stay under for a full day before we need to go to the surface for more air. Exchanging our stale air for fresh takes about thirty minutes, and we will not need to fully reset the ship in order to do so. Until then we will stay at a depth of approximately one hundred fifty feet below the surface. At some point after I began writing today's entry the [[Ad Majestas]] entered the area of desaturation. Everything was now almost entirely devoid of colour, with the exception of things which have a decent bit of red. Such items have become vivid red, just like [[Xanar and Deteer|Xanar]] and the sun. Notably [[Badda]] has become almost difficult to look at due to how unnaturally vibrant their scales are. Taking a step away from writing I had a discussion with [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]], trying to work out what was causing this. Coming at it from the angle of [[Asereth Dynasty|Asethi]] ritual magic I was coming up completely blank, so [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] took a more general approach. After taking everything in he came to the conclusion that [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]] has tapped into a [[Leylines|leyline node]] and is draining magical energy from it. Given that we are right in the path of the [[Leylines|Leyline of Rage]], which presents itself as red, that explains why all other colours have drained from the area. Just what are they planning to do with all of this magical energy? Is it to power a ritual? Is it to interact with whatever they have found in the Terror Isles? No matter what it is for, we have to go and stop it. --- ![[BtS-134-7.png]] #### Kuthona 17th, 2431AS Last night at about three in the morning [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]], who is the designated night contact for the crew, was woken up by a knock at his door. Using the magical polemoscope the night crew had spotted a three mast trading ship on the horizon. Knowing that [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] and [[Wilborin|Wil]] were better equipped to analyze the situation [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] woke them up and brought them up to speed. Looking through the polemoscope [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] could see that the ship was not flying any flags, and had basic weaponry on board. It could hold a maximum crew of about fifty people, and it seemed like there was minimal movement on the decks. The ship looked to be of the same class as two of the ships that [[The Horizon Fleet|the fleet]] had concluded to have gone missing due to [[Zarkisor Castle|Zarkisor]]. Wanting to get a better view of the situation [[Wilborin|Wil]] stepped into [[Arkai]] and together headed up to the galley. In the ceiling of the galley there is an enchanted hatch which leads up to the top deck. The enchantment creates a barrier that water cannot pass, allowing for people to exit the ship while it is fully submerged. Before exiting [[Wilborin|Wil]] cast Endure Elements on himself with his staff, and Water Breathing using the wand we had recently purchased. Given that it was so late, our Telepathic Bond was no longer active, and the wand had not recharged. The plan was for [[Wilborin|Wil]] to head towards the suspicious ship from above the clouds, peaking down to get a closer look. This was going to take him two hours, so in that time the [[Ad Majestas]] would also approach. In a bit of a rush they did not work out how [[Wilborin|Wil]] could re-board [[Ad Majestas]] however. >[!Recap Note] >The title of this session is a reference to the 1990 submarine spy thriller, "The Hunt for Red October".