2023-08-08 Sailing to the Moon

• Date: 2023-08-08
• Region: East Ocean
• Session #: 48

Player Characters

• Atalanta
• Essa
• Callisto
• Auri
• Tarhun

Allies

• The crew of The Annabel Lee

Summary

Quasar was discovered unconscious in the Celestial Study, with signs of a struggle all around. Some of the lab was smashed, Quasar was injured and disoriented, and the steel cube that Caim left behind was gone. The entire place wasn't destroyed, though; it seemed the intruder was after the cube.

Quasar attempted to scry on Caim, but it didn't work.

Quasar attempted to scry on the location of the moon at moonrise, as well as the sun at sunrise, but both attempts failed.

Tarhun's calculations put the moonrise point about 400 miles east of Feather Island, well beyond the edge of the map.

The party teleported to Port Quelarza and searched for a ship and crew. They met Captain Arno, a wackly old human man who was happy to explore the lost corners of the world in search of something new. The crew was lacking many of the main positions.

• Callisto became the surgeon, as there wasn't one.
• Essa became the quartermaster, as there wasn't one. She spend a lot of time in the crow's nest to distance her nightmare aura from the rest of the crew.
• Tarhun became the first mate, as there wasn't one.

The party sailed around the south side of Feather Island.

Near the island, they heard a pained wailing. Essa spotted a siren upon some rocks, who appeared to be fine but was crying in agony and sorrow.

The party sent a tenderboat to visit her, and discovered that she was not in pain, but just a terrible singer. Essa showed Neri, the siren, the basics of playing the viol. They promised to exchange gifts with each other when Essa would return later.

The ship sailed eastward into uncharted waters. They encountered a large whirlpool, and Atalanta cast gust of wind to steer around it.

Four days in, in the middle of the day, a ship suddenly surfaced from underwater. The PCs boarded it cautiously, finding no crew and less water damage than expected. Atalanta believed something had deposited it there. Auri detected no magic. The PCs found a small, cute fuzzy creature that scrambled away from them on the lower deck. Tarhun lured it out with fishy bread and caught it. Auri kept it and tried to calm it down.

Two days later, a storm brewed. The waters suddenly calmed for a moment, before transforming into a massive elemental sea serpent: a leviathan! The party banished it to gain some ground, but when it reappeared, it caught up to them. The oceanic monster conjured a tidal wave, and Atalanta boosted the ship speed with more wind to escape it. As the leviathan chased them, Tarhun let out a draconic roar in the elemental's face, stunning it and allowing the party to sling ballista bolts and spells. Finally, Atalanta transformed into a shark and chomped her way through the leviathan's head, destroying it.

Two days later, the party saw several identical islands ahead. The island appeared to have grasping stone tentacles surrounding it in an invisible dome. A small jungle encircled a massive cannon with blue and yellow lights in its barrel.

The crew watched as night fell and the moon appeared from the cannon. Callisto and Atalanta, attuned to its lunar grandeur, witnessed a gargantuan manta ray spirit that ferried the blue orb into the sky. They recalled tales of this spirit, which was named Hahalua.

The party sailed up to one of the islands. Essa through a rock at one, and the illusion vanished. More islands seemed to materialize.

The party visited many of the islands until they found the correct one. The stone bounced off the invisible dome around the island, which the massive stone tendrils appeared to be squeezing.

A huge, stoic, powerful, but somewhat skinny ancient brass dragon stepped out of the jungle trees and onto the beach. He introduced himself as Dawnzithyre, and demanded to know why the party had come. He believed they didn't "smell evil" to him.

• Tarhun told him that the party had come because they were curious about the world and the moon. Dawnzithyre continued to be suspicious of them.
• The dragon stated that a powerful ancient mithal was responsible for the invisible dome, and that nothing could enter its range without his permission.
• The dragon told how his duty was to guard Dawn Island and its cannon, lest "the cycle" be destroyed. The sun and moon cycle is crucial to the survival of the spirits, and in turn all life. He was lonely and bored from his duty; he had counted 89,473 total sunrises (about 250 years) since there was nothing else to do.
• Dawnzithyre mentioned that the people were different than he remembed; he recalled humanoid races that were insect-like and had four arms.
• He spoke of the Dragon Council, a group of five of the strongest metallic dragons in the world. They worked together to create and guard the mithal and the cycle. Dawnzithyre's sister, Duskrethyre, was responsible for guarding the other side of the cycle.
• Dawnzithyre told the story of a past era. Demons and devils spread throughout the world, looking to claim all souls and destroy all life. The Dragon Council worked to help the insect people in that war, and spread out to protect the spirits with their might and magic. They even formed alliances with ancient chromatic dragons to survive, such as Dalinax. Dalinax betrayed them, however, and tried to stop the cycle. Dawnzithyre knew that the insect folk were driven underground during the war, but did not know how, and was surprised that they were losing. He resigned to his duty on Dawn Island and does not know what happened afterward.
• The PCs told Dawnzithyre that the thri-kreen were not around any more. Essa told him about the Destroyer, a malevolent force with fiendish affiliation that they believed was trying to destroy all life.
• Dawnzithyre mentioned some other dragons:
  • Cormythenar, a gold dragon who cared deeply for the spirits.
  • Cuprinioth, a copper dragon who spent a lot of time studying the ancient ones.
  • Plutathampos, a bronze dragon who fought for the thri-kreen in the war against fiends.
  • Grathaliar, a white dragon who tried to control the undead of the Haunted Realm but was instead slain by them.
• As thanks for their time and stories, Dawnzithyre gave the party a staff of healing and a staff of frost, both crafted from fallen moon rocks. In addition, he gave each character a sunrise or moonrise emblem of their choice.
• He informed the party that if they were curious, the edge of the world was only 20 miles east of Dawn Island.
• Dawnzithyre emphasized that it was crucial that Dawn Island remained a secret. It could be dangerous if the populace learned about the island and his presence there.
• Dawnzithyre noticed the scent of something eldritch and evil. He demanded that they forfeit the cute creature from the risen ship. The thing tried to flee, and he blasted it with fire, revealing that it was an eldritch abomination in disguise. Angered by the party's accidental transportation of the eldritch stowaway, he told them to depart.

Essa gave a speech to the crew of the ship, thoroughly terrifying them into silence for at least 5 years. They were reminded of her threats in their nightmares for the next few nights.

The party sailed east to the edge of the world. They saw a sort of gradient: a line along the ocean where the blue-green waves faded to monochrome, and motion slowed to stillness. The ship compressed as it came into contact with the edge; they found that time became progressively slower until it stopped completely, forming a sort of wall where air and water were solid and unmoving. The space beyond appeared as a still, colorless image; only light seemed to be able to pass through.

The ship sailed back to Feather Island.

The PCs crafted a lyre from bone and siren hair and gave it to Neri, encouraging her to practice it instead of her atrocious vocals. In gratitude, she gave them a valuable pearl necklace.