L&T Session Three

Edward, Vara, Gremond and Sturloch decide to commandeer the abandoned galley and set sail to the south. From the crow's nest, Gremond takes one last look back at the blue tower high above the shore and see's a single flash of light from within. "The tower blinked at me."

On board, Edward shoots the lock off the hull door and the party discovers some provisions, in particular a few large casks of wine. The skies are clear and sunny, and by nightfall the ship has made good distance, passing beyond the southern point of Nefk and into the Sea of Scattered Stars. Gremond spies a great black tree on the horizon, but the four travelers elect to deal with it in the morning, dropping anchor and turning in for the night. In the wee hours of the morning, Vara, on watch, hears the flapping of great leather wings, and the group comes under attack by a flying beast with the body of a lion, the wings of a bat, a spiked tail and the face of a feral human. It peppers the deck with spikes, narrowly missing the sleeping men. Vara manages to conjure several blasts of magic against the thing despite her exhaustion, but it is Sturloch who eventually downs the beast, hurling his pike through its neck while it flies. It falters and drops dead to the deck of the ship, where Gremond unwisely tastes its blood and Edward removes its tail as a trophy.

The next day the skies are clear again, and the party decides to investigate the island with the black tree. Upon using Edward's spyglass to get a closer look at the object, Gremond sees that the bark bleeds and there are runes carved in it. Sturloch immediately voices that they should continue on, consumed by his quest to find the serpent that killed his wife and convinced that this diversion will only slow his progress. Still, the rest of the party is curious. Gremond takes the rowboat to the island and explores the tree, discovering a strange cone-shaped rock before it. After much experimentation and the involvement of the rest of the crew, the tree is discovered to be a portal leading to three other similar trees and stones. The stones are keys and all four are pressed at once, though Edward must use both of his hands to do so, sticking one arm through the portal to the untouched stone, as Sturloch refuses to have a hand in such devilry.

As the four stones are touched, the sea begins to boil and the ground shakes, and from the water an entire city of living coral rises, draining rivulets of fish-filled water down slender towers and back into the deep. Beneath the city, a colossal, whale-like creature floats, and it is clear that the coral grows from and is supported by its back. Sturloch's mood is even further darkened by this revelation, declaring his party members foolish and self destructive for tampering with such magic. And now a city stands before them on the back of a demi-god. But it is Vara who tells Sturloch that the merfolk, who are known to dwell in cities of coral, may know the location of the Ophidian Grottoes, the legendary nest of the sea serpents that he so burns to find.