12/2025

Shipyard. Protect the ships. adeline given flare gun once secured ship yard. heavy rain. more fires but more people being dispatched. fob is farethest back. ships seems untouched. rowan tries to check for illusions. thinks rain would disrupt any illusions. Aramil and Rowan scout ahead in the ship yard. Everything seems fine. Abel tries to draw a fish to him with a dried cricket. Hand sized fish comes up and eats. Casts Speak with Animals to see if it will check under the ships and let him know what he sees. The vagabonds that are usually hanging around are not present. Tana casts Call Lightning to attempt to lighten the rain. She slowly disapates the rain. She meets a lot of resistance. Creates a pocket above the city - not clear, but thinner, lighter. Rowan and Aramil investigate again now that the rain has stopped. Suspicously, there is noone and nothing here. No dock workers, captains, abandonned cargo. No blood. No damage to this half of the docks.

Arena. DT casts Arcane Eye on the instruments. The instruments move when they aren't being observed. DT gets the feeling that they are animated. DT opens up the tuba case and steps back. Gleaming silver tuba. He tries to play the tuba. He does badly. He feels that something is blocking it inside. He lays it down and climbs into the bell. Some of the valves and pulleys aren't coming out but no discernable pattern. DT starts taking it apart. Inside the valve is a little piece of paper. Blank paper. DT thinks there might be an illusion hiding the message but is not sure. Does the same with the xylophone. DT hands get stuck in the pipe. It's wedge in there. Corked plug. Bigger than a wine bottle plug. Like a mute for this pipe. There is a key after the cork drops out. They head back. As we walk away, Cindora hears a coin change hands.

Back to the ship yard. They make it to the other side of the dock. The fish returns and tells Abel that it's deserted. Relays that there is a really big fish but it's not moving. On the bottom. Really, really big fish. It almost smells weird. Horendous, horendous vibes. No one wants to touch that thing. Looks like a mossasarus. No weird metal shit. Abel gives him the whole unit of stuff. It was missing chunks. Everything is being scared off. Rowan sprints toward the Fist of Benevolence. All the repairs are done. Rowan heads on board. Caelum (Brenda mop, Patrice broom), Careis and Apple Bottom Jeans (who was taking a nap). All the other ship hands are gone. Abel casually walks that way and inspects the outer of the other ships. He finds signs of tampering on some of the ships. Scuffles. Barrels out of place (like someone was shoved into them). Evidence of a brief encounter. Finds nothing around the Fist of Benevolence. Tana messages Cindora (vibes off, everything fucked at docks but not fucked. Fish gone, signs of struggle.). Cindora tells DT. DT says we need to find out about the paper and key. Cindora messages back (Give us 5 mins).

Arena. They make there way to Squantch to ask about the key and paper. Wooden key with faux thorns (decorative). Well made. They come out at the bar to heated argument. DT goes straight up to Squantch. Hey man what's the deal with this key and the paper I found in those instruments I found. (I may have a situation to help you get out of here.) Mouthy portly dwarf "well what do you want to share". DT cast Motivational Speech. Squantch closes the meeting. Get your shit packed, we're going to the dock: Fist of Benevolence everyone. Wak and talk. Didn't happen to find a bag in there did you? No. Someone has been smuggling things behind my back. DT tells him that they are animated. DT tells Squantch uppies and takes Cindora's arm and they head that way. The guards are starting to sort through people. The rain has stopped. Seems like it's calming down.

Ship yard. Abel and Rowan investigate the tampering. Seems like it was someone mishandling things. Mismanged. Like someone disrupted and but back sloppily. Tana asks Adeline if she wants to use the flare gun. Adeline fires off the flare. Bright red flare shooting up in sky. Pierces the clouds. The guard should be coming in the next 5 minutes or so. Rowan goes to check on Friend. Friend is much better now that there is some light and some water. Not dropping quite as much. Rowan asks Careras to do something for Friend. Friend zaps Careras.

DT, Cindora, Squantch arrive at the same time as the guard. Apple-bottom jeans shows them where to put their stuff. The troop slowly files in. Then the guard arrives at the ship. Andessa too. She asks where everyone is. Adelines says very good question, probably scared off. They do the Predator handshake. Rowan tells her that the mossasaur is dead. Martin? Thought Martin would never die.  The troope is 60 people. DT keeps the key in his jammie breast pocket. The rain starts to come again but the city is calmer. Almost deafening rain. Rowan and Aramil leave to investigate what happened in the city. DT goes to take a nap. Adeline helps load the ship and keeps an eye out. Tana is keeping an eye on the weather waiting to cast Call Lightning to calm the weather again. She goes up into the Crow's Nest and looks out over the city. Most of the fires and being put out. She sees the train of the bard troop. She sees two people walk off north from the troop train. Toward western gate of the city. Inland gate. Towards the Reservation way. Abel jumps off the docks. He is water-tight. Hits bottom and wild shapes into a hunter shark. Seems like Martin is very dead. The wounds (bite marks) aren't recent. Gashes, slashes, bite marks. A giant hand seems to have raked Martin on one side and ripped off a fin on the other. Kraken like size perhaps. Closer to a hand shape (doesn't rule out a kraken). There are ruins down here. Long abandoned even since the 1st age. Martin is not decaying. The lake is very cold. Abel comes out of the water in a weird anamorphs way. He asks if anyone knows about some weird underwater God. Able asks Tana about it. Tana says yeah, I had a weird dream about stuff like that. Abel says we need to leave and survive. Cindora helps load the boat. She starts seeing rats. They seem to be coming down the line mainly from the north of the city. She decides to wait for Abel and tell him about the rats.

Rowan and Aramil go into the city. Rowan goes to the most popular Tavern to find the crew. They find three quarters of the crew there. A lot of people are worried about trade coming and going with E's death. Rowan hears that one of E's last orders was to get people away from the docks. They go to get the crew and leave.

Ship. Abel comes up out of the water and Cindora tells him about the rats. He casts speak with animals and questions the rats. The rat runs off. Abel follows. Abel drops down into the bilge and sneaks up on the rat. "Uuuhhh squeak". Abel threatens to put him in a jar. (Please don't put me in a jar). What are you doing here? (Why is it your boat?) "Dude what the fuck?" Abel finds out that the rat is trying to find Remy. His name is Whatsit Toya. He was following the other rats. Ida is the lead rat. Ida Know. Abel squeezes him. He screams. Abel unclenches his fist. Tenris is the lead rat. Abel tells Cindora to put all the rats in the jars. Cindora hits him with a dagger after Abel trhows the rat off the ship into the water. The crew starts hunting rats to capture. DT wakes up to a rat on his chest staring into his eyes. DT screams "Get the fuck off me" with his pecial helm. Rat leaps off DT. Abel hears this and runs to the noise. DT tells him it was a rat. Abel tries to find it. The rat is climbing up on the dock. ABel goes after it. DT's pocket is empty now. The key is gone.DT tells Squantch.

Pickles and the Sun brought us here. Kadavan looks up at the Sun as if for the first time. We explain how the Sun brought us here. Kadavan tells Pickles to tell everyone that there will not be evening scritches today. He will be busy. "Come on inside" He nods towards a mud hut. "Wipe your feet. He appears to be wearing a potato sack. He wipes his feet at the door. Shuffles inside, into the dark. We wipe our feet and walk inside. The food cooking in here smells like the best food we've ever smelled. The darkness blinded us for a second and then we see beautiful hardwood floors that seems well kept. There seems to be sunlight coming in through the windows somehow. Seems like a castle design in the side of a hill. "Sorry we don't have much prepared. I don't get visitors here. Welcome to the Kadavan Mountains." He asks if Krockhock is okay because he seems upset. Krockhock tells him it's been a very busy week. Only new people talk about weeks and years. Like Lumbo. Kadavan gets excited saying that is fantastic news. The Pook are mentioned. Lumbo mentions the Earth Elemental Lords and that that was us. He keeps looking up at the ceiling and going about his business. He talks about the ceiling architecture to cover. "Who is hungry?" A line of Pook is taking meals out for everyone. Krockhock mentions that these mountains have been stated to be cursed and that was known when he was born 500 years ago. Kadavan says they're not cursed but there are regional wards that keep things different here, like time and dead people. He mutters under his breath, "I've been here alone for 500 years because this asshole said the mountain is cursed." We eat the food. We each taste our favorite meal is. This is a small community. The Pook are running around doing jobs. Post Office, General Store, etc. It is a community event every time they eat. Most of the older ones are sitting when they eat. A lot of different types of dogs there. Kadavan is out walking around, playing with dogs, talking with a golden retriever with a tie. Type of dog is the class of dog they would be. 

AFter eating, Krockhock asks Kadavan what he is. We've met Dragons, Demons, etc. Kadavan says, as soon as I know, I can tell you. All I know is my name is Kadavan and I've been alone for a long time. I had some friends that said they would come back for me and they didn't. Time is not a concept I care to recognize. Krockhock says he feels like death needs to be apart of the natural world so people will apreciate their lives. Kadavan says that's not your thoughts. Krockhock says he's been having those thoughts in the back of his head for a while but they came to the forefront a week ago but really yesterday. Kadavan asks what cahnged. Krockhock says I tried to revive some kids and it didn't work. Kadavan presses, grabs Krockhock's lapels and demands to know what he saw. Krockhock tells him. It seems that he is looking at our scales and back up at the Sun and trying to do some math. Kadavan says he is bound not to influence our decision on things but to support your decisions. You can ask me any questions you like and I will answer but I will not volunteer any information. You are welcome here as long as you don't bring violence. Krockhock moves away and puts the shield down. For a brief second he feels like he sees through Dickshadadan's eyes and then it's gone. Krockhock walks back to Kadavan. "You know what we are, not who we are." Kadavan says he knows what we are but we don't. "If one of the main pillars holding up this world were to cease to be, would the world end?" The world would not exist as you know it, something could still be there. 

There is an old pitbull berating Lumbo about feeding the dogs the stew. Lumbo offers the pitbull some food. Lumbo asks where they get mail from. "We haven't in a really long time." So, no one is running the post office. "Eventually some of us get to go back home. I'm from Treehome." "When I woke up there was Kadavan there." "One day when my time is up as a Pook, I'll get to go back home." "It's our job as the Pook to take care of our loved ones." 

Krockhock gets a message asking where he is and if he can pick up the shield. He messages back, busy, one second. Vesperi go and puts the Beryl's gun under the shield. She hears a low growl and then hears, "Oh hey, do you need me to watch that too. The name is Tim. He's a great pyrenese. Lumbo, Nyx, and Ferris set their scales with Tim. Krockhock says we need it to be more private. Kadavan snaps his fingers and says that's all you needed to say. It becomes night. Kadavan now looks like he has Mercury colored hair. Kadavan puts a hand out and all the scales fly towards him and he spins them in front of him. He says he's a concept. That he's a bit of magic. A little bit of Dragon. He scoops a handful of Graatuin up out of the earth and reforges it into a figure with his hands. I am illegal, a problem, I am the hearld of a new age. The illusion then vanishes. "Cal seriously, you can't give one of them the power of illusion."  "Clearly you have spoken to my father." We tell him that Heckabus is loose in Comraich. He asks about the elemental lords and we tell them they are dead. Tell him Brooke's door is still sealed. "I was supposed to save the world by getting ahead of Yardantal. She can never see what is happening in the moment." "What's wrong with wanting mechanical things to live? I asked my aunty that and she said that was a great idea and she was going to make a toy. I've been waiting 500 years for that toy, Pevan." I'm the epitome of change. "We were chosen because your agents of chaos. Meet my good friend Ikora. She is chaos." "My father doesn't have a way to leave. HE thinks I'm dead." HE creats a Soul Totem, unbreakable soul containers. "I was tasked with bringing them to life. I cannot, I will not, it's not right." Lumbo asks why they wanted him to do that in the first place. "My mother was pivotal in bringing the Elemental Lords here to make the world." HE was the reason for the Church being built. He's been the main target the entire time. "You need to understand the original problem." We see Beryl and Yardantl. Yardantl is a time dragon. Lumbo mentions that he heard the name Yardantl in the final days of the laying to waste of Faerun.  "Etineene has Yardantl's scale is in his Tower. If it's unprotected, others will be drawn to get it." He hand Nyx Piotr's scale. "Say hi and tell me what he says." Nyx does. and hears"Lass where are ya?" Cal it's them. They're okay." Nyx tells Kadavan. "The only safe place on the surface it Etineene's Tower." Yardantl's brain was damaged as a child. She doesn't process all of time without going crazy like other Time Dragons. "This is one mind split a million different ways. This is how she keeps her mind quiet." "I created the Pook so the souls had somewhere to go. If the souls made it down there, they are creating an army." 

Krockhock gets a message from Gilliam saying Vames is coming and he sees this hole near the sealed door. Kadavan asks what the roots grow deep, what does it mean. Swamp Aeiss comes over and says "Greeba". Krockhock says, yeah my god says it. "Your God? There are gods here? Oh, I get it." Greeba and Krockhock have a heartfelt conversation where she checks in on him. He feels LM supporting him and cheering him on. A feeling of calm. KAdavan is putting a silver filigree on the shield and lays it on Krockhock. Him and Greeba were working on the shield. 

Kadavan grabs the hammer and looks at Lumbo. His eyes light up and he says that's too predicatble and hands it to Lumbo. Bazwell split his scale in two; here and the Reservation. He gives Nyx a Cloak of pure moonlight, looks etheral, clasp has small medalion with AX connected on it.  He asks to look at Vesperi's hand. He says "You do not like me." Vesperi says she doesn't like Dragons, it's nothing personal. He plucks one of his hairs and wraps it around the barrel of Beryl's gun. 

Each one of these Bastards you take down, the more powerful they get. 

A single beam of sunlight hit the crystal (Ferris) and it refracts painfully everywhere. He creates a shielding around it and turn it into an amulet.

Krockhock asks about a Marut. Kadavan starts looking around nervously. "Yardantl can't deal with Maruts. It's the one thing. She found herself in a city called Sigil. The city of doors. The leader of Sigil, the Lady of Pain does not tolerate behavior such as Yardantl displayed. Yardantl was sent to a maze (The Halls of Solitude.  A Pennance). This was where Yardantl's psyche fractured. She escaped and there is still one there. 

We ask about Comraich. HE says that was the one thing his father did right. Shutting Beryl off from the Elemental Lords. There was dark magic at play that we don't use anymore. 

We need to stop one Beryl. New Beryl. Will see Heilgan soon and deal with the fallout. Plug up Comraich hole. Yardantl. Circle back to Yardantl. Guard Etineene's Tower (Yardantl scale). Shield has Fast Travel. Swamp Aeiss will stay here for Fast Travel. Krockhock will grow mushrooms here.