Chapter 3 - Session 5

Echoes from a Doomed Voyage: Relics, Writings, and Revelations

Events and Actions

The party continued their exploration of the ruined temple in Old Port, Zylos. After dealing with a group of deserters in the previous session, they had crossed the chasm where the bridge had collapsed and reached the temple's private quarters, finding a collection of old, damaged writings there. A search for valuables yielded 11 silver pieces and, more significantly, a finely crafted épée — a +20 AP, -1 size rapier with the bearing of a holy sword — which Cosimo found and gave to Mani.

Noddy dispatched his seagull familiar, Pocket, to scout the surroundings while the search continued. Pocket surveyed the clifftop around the temple and the collapsed port below, finding little of note beyond a small boat grounded on the rocks. The party then decided to leave the deserters — Big Red, Tibalt, and Perkin — behind. Mani gave them food and booze and told them to claim they had been shipwrecked if anyone asked, assuring Big Red that he did not consider them deserters and that if he ever commanded a ship of his own, he would remember men who had proven loyal.

Concerned about plague exposure from Chronicler Willem's grave, disturbed earlier in the investigation, Riu cast a "Cure Disease" ritual on the entire party as a precaution — eight castings in all. It succeeded on everyone but Knick Nab. The party then re-excavated Willem's grave — Riu working alongside Salter and Batu Batu, the "Amada"'s cook, who had helped dig it up the first time — and, examining the remains with Mani's assistance, concluded that Willem had been stabbed in the back, not killed by plague as his headstone claimed. Searching further for anyone of note, they found a second grave from the same year, also marked as a plague victim, belonging to a "Peter De Rendal" — Werner's own grandfather. Excavating it turned up no obvious wound, but also no trace of any personal effects, which struck Werner as strange for a man of his station. While he searched, Cosimo, genuinely devout, quietly said a prayer for the dead man's soul, since Werner was too absorbed in the discovery to pause for one himself. Once the examination was finished, the party reburied Peter, and Cosimo spoke a short blessing over the grave asking the two to watch over his rest. Rather than carry the bones home immediately, Werner took a rubbing of the headstone and carefully noted the grave's exact location for a later return.

With their business at the graveyard finished, the party marched back across the island to the anchorage, camping overnight at the same spot they had used on the way in without incident. They signaled their ship from the shore near the fishing village and were ferried out, taking on fresh fish and water before setting sail.

Riu then set about salvaging and deciphering the fragmented writings recovered from the temple, and the party spent a long while puzzling over the cryptic, damaged pages together. The fragments spoke of a "Maelstrom" that could not be passed without the aid of a "heretic," and of "De Rendal's forecast" — which they slowly realized referred to Werner's own grandfather. Other pieces described a "totem" covered in scratches that gave off wisps of light whenever struck, the "sacrifice of Bayar" to end an unspecified heresy that "Grantos" had first described, and "Sebastian's insistence" that the expedition accept an unnamed outsider, presumably the heretic. One passage told of an "Affliction," resembling a plague, that spread among the crew after they returned with a captive guarded by "the I'hand" — evidently a rank rather than a name — possibly a native from the West; the author of the writings confessed to suffering the same affliction and doubted he would live to finish his account. A final fragment mentioned a "Diad," a holy relic of the Divinity of Two carried on the voyage and afterward lost or consumed.

Turning to the totem itself, the party compared the single scratch on each of their own medallions against the writings' description of something "covered in scratches," taking rubbings and striking the medallions against Chronicler Willem's shard to see if anything happened. Nothing did, though the exercise reminded them of an earlier occasion — when Cosimo, having taken command of a captured rice ship, released its crew a day out from port under a solemn vow invoking the mother and father, and wisps of light were visibly drawn from each of their necklaces into his invocation, a display so convincing that Nicolas, the young priest who witnessed it, took it for a genuine sign of the two's favor. Recalling it now raised the uneasy thought that whatever caused the Affliction in the old writings might not be as unfamiliar to them as they had assumed.

The party discussed these fragments and their implications at length, theorizing about the nature of the expedition, the Great Change, and the fate of the crew, before deciding to return to Newport to consult Randolph the Chronicler and Steel Hand.

Aboard the "Amada," they presented the writings to Randolph, along with the épée Cosimo had found; Randolph admired the blade, noting that its religious iconography suited a cleric of the two, though a duelist's weapon like this was an unusual — if not unheard of — choice for one of the faithful to carry. Randolph recognized Chronicler Willem's name and thought it plausible his grave lay at Old Port. He meticulously copied the fragmented texts but did not recognize the names Bayar or Grantos.

Mindful that their ship had been the target of sabotage in the past, the party agreed to keep their questioning discreet rather than draw attention by asking openly about a forty-year-old voyage on the King's Ship. Upon arrival in Newport, they sought out Steel Hand at the "Tattered Sail" tavern. He was not there when they arrived; Mani slipped the tavern girl a bribe of two bronze pieces for word of his whereabouts, and while she wouldn't say where he lived, she promised he'd be along within the half hour and that the party would be covering his food and drink for the evening. After a short wait, he was brought to their table. Plied with drink, Steel Hand revealed a great deal more about the fateful voyage, though it took patience and repetition to draw out. Werner's grandfather, De Rendal, had been the expedition's Sailing Master, not its captain. Bayar — whom Steel Hand called "the Badman" — was one of the two clergy aboard, and was responsible for the eventual destruction of the totem. Grantos, a native guide from the West who had "showed us the way," was very possibly the heretic mentioned elsewhere in the writings; his aid had been essential to crossing the Maelstrom, but he did not return with the ship. The natives they encountered in the West were, by Steel Hand's account, "very friendly" at first. Steel Hand confirmed he had once been "Iron Hand," the man who guarded the captive brought back from the West, and the first of the crew to succumb to the affliction. He also recalled a grueling stretch of the voyage spent hauling a boat, not the main ship, "over the ice" during an especially cold segment of the journey. Riu tried to examine his prosthetic hand directly, but found only a solid, seamless piece of metal fused to his arm, with no visible joints or mechanism; Steel Hand insisted it had worked fine before he fell ill, and had never worked since. Wary of being overheard as the questioning wore on, the party checked the room — only the tavern girl seemed to be paying them any real attention, keeping a close eye on how quickly the bottles she had brought were emptying.

NPCs & Creatures

Deserters: Big Red, Tibalt, Perkin (encountered in Old Port, left behind).
Pocket: Noddy's seagull familiar.
Chronicler Willem: (Deceased) His grave was investigated. The writings found in the temple may have belonged to him. Determined to have been murdered.
Peter De Rendal: (Deceased) Werner De Rendal's grandfather. His grave was investigated, then reburied with a short blessing from Cosimo.
Salter: Crewman who helped Riu re-excavate Chronicler Willem's grave, having assisted with the original dig.
Batu Batu: The "Amada"'s cook, who likewise helped dig up Chronicler Willem's grave, both this time and originally.
Randolph the Chronicler: Consulted aboard the "Amada"; copied the salvaged writings and admired Cosimo's épée.
Steel Hand (Ish): Questioned extensively in the "Tattered Sail" tavern in Newport, providing details about the ancient voyage. His prosthetic hand — a seamless, jointless piece of metal fused to his arm — worked fine before he fell ill with the "Affliction," and has never worked since.
Captain Otto "Cut Close" De Guzman: Commander of the "Amada."
Nicolas: (Recalled) The young priest who witnessed Cosimo's invocation aboard the captured rice ship and took it for a genuine sign of the two's favor.
Bayar: (Mentioned in writings/by Steel Hand) A member of the Divinity of Two (clergy/censure) on the original expedition; destroyed the totem.
Grantos: (Mentioned in writings/by Steel Hand) A native from the West who guided the expedition; possibly the "heretic."
Sebastian: (Mentioned in writings) King Sebastian III, who insisted someone (likely the heretic) join the expedition.
The I'hand: (Mentioned in writings) The guard of the captive, first to succumb to the "Affliction"; identified as Steel Hand himself.
Captive/Native: (Mentioned in writings) An individual brought back from the West, associated with the outbreak of the "Affliction."
Heretic: (Mentioned in writings/by Steel Hand) An individual whose aid was essential to cross the Maelstrom; did not return with the ship.
Tavern Girl: Barkeep at the "Tattered Sail" in Newport.

Locations

Old Port (Zylos): The primary location for the first part of the session, including the ruined temple and the nearby graveyard.
Fishing village (Zylos): The party resupplied with fresh fish and water here on their way back from Old Port, before being ferried out to the ship.
The "Amada": The party's vessel, where they consulted with Randolph the Chronicler en route to Newport.
Newport (Port of Zylos): The party returned here and visited the "Tattered Sail" tavern to find Steel Hand.
"Tattered Sail" tavern: An establishment in Newport where the party interviewed Steel Hand.

Conflicts

No new physical conflicts occurred in this session.
The main "conflict" was intellectual, involving the deciphering of cryptic writings and piecing together the history of the doomed voyage through questioning Steel Hand.

Learnings and Discussions

Piecing the writings and Steel Hand's account together, the party assembled a rough narrative: the King's Ship was forced by King Sebastian III to carry a heretic whose aid alone made crossing the Maelstrom possible, with a censure and a priest — one of them Bayar — aboard specifically to watch him. Where they landed, the natives were friendly at first and had a strange totem; when the two judged it too dangerous to leave standing, Bayar destroyed it — using the "Diad" to do so — and the fleeing ship was nearly overwhelmed by the effects even far out at sea.
The party suspected the totem's destruction, rather than the crew's later plague, may have been the true cause of the Great Change — and that the Maelstrom itself might have been sustained by the totem's power, meaning it may no longer bar the way west at all.
Comparing their own medallions to the writings' description of a scratched totem recalled an earlier occasion when one of Cosimo's rituals drew wisps of light from each of their necklaces, raising the uncomfortable possibility that the "Affliction" described in the writings has more in common with things the party has already witnessed than they would like.
The party confirmed that their own medallions each bear a single scratch, while another group entirely is known to mark itself with three; what that distinction actually means was left unclear, but it left them wondering just how closely their own necklaces might resemble the "totem" from the writings.
Chronicler Willem was murdered — stabbed in the back — rather than killed by plague as his marker claimed.
The heretic who helped the ship cross the Maelstrom on the way out did not make it back. Recalling what they already knew of wind witches, the party theorized that this "heretic" may in fact have been a captured wind witch, compelled by King Sebastian III to see the expedition through the Maelstrom.
Whether Bayar survived destroying the totem was left an open question; the party recalled Steel Hand's earlier claim that "the cleric" had returned to Old Port aboard the King's Ship, and reasoned the "sacrifice of Bayar" more likely meant the loss of the Diad itself than Bayar's own life.
Randolph raised the possibility that Chronicler Willem's own journals, if judged heretical, were never destroyed at all — only confiscated and filed away in the Church's secret index of banned writings, though he had no idea where, or even whether, such a collection actually exists.
With no official orders compelling them west — only the standing charge from their patron in Port Sardinia to try something the Admiralty's conventional tactics hadn't, since two years of Captain de Guzman's own efforts to intercept a wind witch at sea had already failed — the party weighed two ways forward: keep tracing the old expedition's route in search of a means to reach the West, or shift tactics and try to seize a wind witch ashore in a southern port instead, using the infiltration skills they had been building toward operating in enemy territory. They leaned toward continuing west, pending a few final questions for Steel Hand.

Items Gained

11 silver pieces (found in the ruined temple).
A +20 AP, -1 size Rapier (épée with holy iconography) (found by Cosimo in the ruined temple, given to Mani).
Several fragments of ancient writings (recovered from the ruined temple by Riu).
A rubbing of Peter De Rendal's gravestone (taken by Werner De Rendal).

Items Lost

Three bottles of booze and a couple days of food (given to the deserters by Mani).
Two bronze pieces (bribed to the tavern girl at the "Tattered Sail" for word of Steel Hand's whereabouts).
The cost of food and drink for Steel Hand's evening at the "Tattered Sail," covered by the party.
Power Points (expended by Riu for "Cure Disease" rituals).