The Sovereign Tide Must Rise
Safeharbor
68 Spring 218
They find Safeharbor abandoned and somewhat damaged, with shellshocked survivors who talk about leaving town, and blame the falling stars for cursing the town. There are wrecked ships in the harbor, and some crates of supplies are retrieved.
Athelia and Avarian start to ask questions about why it’s so goldang important to chase after Danica; Vanja starts to talk about it, but Astarael cuts her off.
Avarian tells Athelia that Ethan told him Prince Alistair still lives, and helped them when they were children, and they discuss whether to entrust them with their own secrets.
Sav finishes the lutebow for Roux, and tells him that she’s there because Danica is the last of the skyfolk, a living piece of the people that turned her into something more than a worthless street urchin. She also says that she won’t be going with them once they reach the point to turn off toward the fallen star, because Danica has people who care about her, but whatever that star is, or whatever was in it, may not have anyone but her.
Athelia and Roux play a song while on watch, which summons an enormous white serpent-eel creature, with black veins wrapping over it, to harmonize. She speaks to the möther sërpënt and it agrees to give them safe passage in return for help healing its children and the tainted river.
The others discuss the event and come to the conclusion that the falling star might have brought the creatures tainting the water.
Athelia reveals that she’s been lugging about a cask full of fey folk to try and return them to the Feywild, making her way toward places in the world where the border is thin and she can send them through (it’s a one-way trip). She also reveals that her people are sirens who come from the East Sea, but that many of her village and people were killed after the stars returned, as it made other folk around fearful of anything strange.
Ethan and Sav experiment on the grub and discover it’s parasitic, its mouth has hairlike tendrils like nerves, and that while it swims it doesn’t appear to take sustenance from it, and Ethan thinks he could come up with a poison that would paralyze it after ten minutes.
Roux encourages Vanja to have hope.
Ethan's Campfire Synopsis
The Beauty approaches the port town of Safe Harbor in the early predawn hours. After Warbler reports the devastation ahead, the ship is initially set to drop anchor. Ethan convinces the captain to press forward, however, in hopes of looting the destroyed ships.
By the time the ship arrives, his theory/gamble about the giant monster appears correct - it is nowhere in sight. However, the waters are infested with many smaller beasts feasting on the bodies floating (and sunk) among the wreckage. Too risky to leave the ship, the crew simply pulls crates and barrels from the water as they drift past on their way into the port of Safe Harbor. Unfazed by the death and destruction, a single tear rolls down Ethan’s face as he stares out at the unclaimed treasures lying just out of reach…
Once docked, most of the crew remains aboard while Athelia, Avarian and Vanja move into the town to seek information. They encounter a handful of injured survivors who talk about a curse, a giant beast, and ‘the whole world going mad’; they trace these events to the falling star they witnessed two turns (months) ago.
With little hope of securing supplies in town, the trio elect to return to the ship rather than investigate the further.
The mysteries of Safe Harbor and its people are left for other heroes to uncover…
By the time they return to the ship, the sun has peaked over the mountains and the activity in the water ceases. Whether the creatures are influenced / effected by sunlight or they were simply full remains unknown.
There is also discussion about the merits and feasibility of the group’s current course - a handful of people on one little boat hope to travel to the capital and defeat the Baroness? Rescue their friend? And live?
Who is Danica Thorne? What makes her so special…? (Vengeance, for one, has never understood what the big deal about her is. She can’t run very fast or carry much equipment. He has no idea why Ethan cares. I mean, she’s not even that great, really…)
The Beauty sails onward.
Conversations aboard the ship ensue: Garth and Tarin have a lively debate about the best board game. York and Easter lose a bet and are forced to swap roles for the day - the meal is terrible and the deck is filthy. Both men learn a valuable lesson and find a deeper sense of respect for each other’s contribution.
Athelia and Avarian discuss privately the ‘nobleman’ and his friends. Astarael and Ethan discuss similar topics. All arrive at the decision to trust one another a little more.
But these stories are lost as our attention is focused elsewhere…
That night, Roux and Athelia are on watch together. Harmonizing with Roux’s recently repaired lutebow (#SavCanFixIt), Athelia sings along to a song mused from divine inspiration or perhaps simply carried across time by some fragment of humanity’s soul. No matter it’s origin, their music carries across the water and is soon joined by a third voice.
From out of the fog, an impossibly large creature emerges, it’s face twisted by the same affliction as the last beast. It hovers above the ship as it sings along for a moment, staring at the tiny curiosities on the vessel below. It speaks in a language only Athelia understands. The Captain is tested and succeeds. The creature describes a sickness in the water. Hurting her. Killing her children.
In exchange for their help, the creature will allow The Beauty safe passage through her waters.
After the being departs, Athelia reveals that she is a Siren from the Cult of the Sovereign Tide and the last of her kind. She is following The Song on a quest to help others pass into the Feywild where they can be safe from the hatred and persecution they have endured since the stars returned.
Putting the pieces together, it would seem there is some connection between the creature or creatures hunting Danica’s people from legend (The Beast with a Thousand Eyes), the falling stars, the parasite locked in their chest below and the sickness now plaguing the river.
The group contemplates these pieces as they prepare for the next waypoint along their journey: a Swan base.
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- Ethan manipulates games with the crew, but not to win, merely to learn. (Ethan)