ONG: Labors, Myths, and Revenge

Expedition

The Iron Wolves begin their Operation: No Genocide, gather a crew in Yarguel, learn the folklore behind the Shid, and take their first deliberate wound from the Bunolsid.

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The voyage from Dawnbringer Command to Yarguel for crewman and information lasted from the 26th of First Harvest to the 1st of the Turning
 

1st of the Turning

  Upon Yarguel, Gregor's presence asking for aid gathered quite the crowd to be diminished by the admission of the danger of the voyage. In the end, a tayasu father figure (Kritham) and his two zibeth boys (Tascei and Saski) were all that was left. Some bartering of fees occurred and the end payment would be the construction of a large strong house after the voyage was complete to be honored members of their community. Gregor agreed to the deal assuming the party would be able to fulfill that promise.
  The time spent at Acor's revealed less information about the Shid and more the general regions of the northern islands. The companions would learn that the three main island chains of the north each had their own sea god that the indigenous peoples worshiped. The western Aracith isles worshipped a massive entity known as Charchithsathem. The beast was supposedly bigger than any of the islands and opposed anything in the waters that threatened it's size. The waters of the eastern Serpent Clutch were home to Zothix the Frilled Vane. The serpent was supposed to be a mistrusting one that demanded that it's worshipers bath in it's waters every day to be known to it. Because of this, few lived inland. These two present gods were set apart from the final.
  The central islands were known as the Dire Chain for the misfortune that has befallen them. The gods protect their islands but the Dire Chain has been hit by the full force of every natural disaster since it's god was cast out. Acor titled it The Wounded One. The god had been betrayed by it's people and so had been left. The Wounded One retreated to the dark depths, abandoning it's worshipers. Comparing the information to their maps, the Iron Wolves noted that the regions of sunk ships and sea monster worship overlapped with both the intense areas as well as the liminal space between.
  Having gained a crew and information, the Iron Wolves took to sea once more. Their next destination would be Brackland Hold, a Phaloxil outpost off the western side of the Serpent Clutch. It would be the next locale with relevant information and a waypoint as they journeyed into the jaws of this debacle. The voyage from Yarguel to Brackland Hold lasted from the 2nd to the 5th of the Turning. This leg of the journey would not be as easy as the previous few.
  The companions split into a day shift and a night shift with their crew to maintain optimal speed. Kain, Zeran, and Saski took the night shift, everyone else operated in the day. But it was the night where things went wrong.
  Around midnight between the 3rd and the 4th, as Kain stood at the helm sailing through the night, cold water ran across his boot. The sensation sparked alarm in his mind but there was nothing he could do. As suddenly as he was away, a series of rapid raking strikes hammered onto his back as venomous spikes lodged through his armor and pulsed into his blood stream. Zeran wheeled around to see Kain collapsing to the deck, the tortle corsair behind with a small acquatic troop flanking. Two more of the raiders climbed the front of the ship after the initial strike giving zeran a closer look at the sea-life armed and armored assailants. Sheets of laminated weeds and corals as defense, spined swordlike clubs as offense.
  Gregor only came to consciousness as Kain was pulled overboard by the assailants. The rest awoke as Zeran committed to ringing the warning bell. Saski tried to dive below deck but took a raking saber across his back crumbling him below in blood. The companions struggled to get up and fill the deck, balancing a counter attack with aiding the wounded. A potion was handed to Tascei for his brother. Lyle flooded the main deck with summoned rats. Gregor attempted to fight back the stalking soldiers while calling out a healing word to Kain. The unconscious man had been kept above the waters by his new armor. Zeran did his best to weave his new set of Kion's Claws to take out the enemies but always ended up punching out to knock the enemies unconscious, even as they turned in full flurry on Lyle. They had been given priorities. Their priorities were wrong though.
  Daniel hit the deck, bolstered by Lyle's spirit totem, to be the eye of the storm. Daniel psychically devastated and incapacitated the dangerous tortle corsair. Gregor called upon his deities to smite the his foe with one heavy hammer blow dropping down upon the tortle's skull with the second forming an uppercut that tore his jaw off dropping him dead. As Kain gained consciousness below the waters, the wizard blew him up to an ogreish size. Kain took the opportunity to switch who was in control of the grapples and telekinetically launched himself to the sails above with his quarry. Daniel then bestowed on Zeran flight to finish up the reluctantly airborn shorestalker.
  Below, one of the seafolk had slipped beyond Gregor to hoist the tortle into the waters. It tried to barter Kain for the escape the wounded and Kiarto but was not aware that Kain was no longer a hostage. The armorless, the goliath jumped over to finish of the fleeing raider, retrieve the tortle's body, and return to the ship. As he hoisted himself over, Zeran unmasked one of the assailants to reveal triton heritage on the captives. This night still had many mysteries remaining in it.
    After the deck of the ship had calmed and the companions had monitored everyone's conditions, decisions had to be made. While the tortle corsair and a number of the tritons had been slain, Zeran had fought with mercy and merely knocked a few unconscious. The Iron Wolves were forced to choose how ruthless, efficient, cruel, or kind to be with them. Tritons were not of a corrupted lineage. Though they differed in environment and culture, their faculties were on par with the other civilized folk of the lands. Thoughts of hanging them out to dry were bandied along with simply killing them to prevent reconnaissance returning to the Bunolsid. Despite this, the party knew Gregor would not approve of it. Even in his stupor of reflective and retrospective meditation, his distraction would not be so great to allow that. In the end, Daniel took charge of the situation to ensure it was handled delicately and matter-of-factly.
  The triton prisoners were bound to the mast for safety before Daniel ordered Lyle to administer goodberries. When members of the Iron Wolves made claims of the triton aggression and underhanded ambush in the night, they spat back venomous words of the attack as a necessity due to the Iron Wolves aggressions in succession in the past. Daniel accept the claim with the perspective of an illusionist, the perspective of perspective itself, recognizing that while the party's actions were for alternate purposes, the core truth was there. What followed was less negotiations and more laying cards out on the table. Daniel declared that the Iron Wolves wished to aid the Shid. The wizard dismissed the need of whether the tritons accepted the fact; it existed whether they believed or not. The tritons would be released and allowed to take their dead with them for the proper rituals. A portion of more healing would be granted to aid their travel as well as a temporary shark escort for the wounded warriors and bloodied corpses.
  After the prisoner ordeal was dealt with, attention turned back to the crew of three that had joined in Yarguel. Confidence was raised, Daniel provided dismissed ship duties for the next shifts, provided an illusory show ease the minds. Kittens purred through the night as Lyle conjured comforting companions for everyone to ease the situation. Daniel would also produce a large enchantment upon the hull of the ship to announce the approach of any other intelligent creatures approaching from the bottom. As the night closed, the companions continued on their travel to Brackland Hold.