River of Blood
The Mountains Off the River
3–15 Summer 218
The Suffering got cuter, by Sen SouvannavongThey find a cave with leathery egg shards and exploded corpses that clearly had gricks (the floating screaming creatures) emerge from them. A few eggs are collected and the rest are set on fire, which draws more gricks to be eliminated. After a night of rest and more searching, no more are found
Warbler and Sav provide some soil and care to the kidnapped flower from the Feywild, and Sav names it anei’has, “beautiful flower from another world” in Celestial.
Vanja displays a flicker of red during a conversation with Talith, which alerts everyone; after some pressure, it emerges that Vanja has been talking to the Suffering after all. Astarael and Warbler try to hug Vanja, but the red light grows more pronounced, and she suddenly Enlarges and throws them off. Talith grows dizzy with the pressure the Suffering is exerting, but fights it off and receives his Truesilver Vivian longsword again; Suffering-Vivian is revealed in the light from the sword, draped over Vanja. Any attempts to interact with the Suffering prove ineffective, and with Vanja unwilling to walk away and nobody willing to press the issue, everyone simply shrugs and walks on.
After weeks of traveling back, Ethan comes galloping up on Vengeance to tell them that the Beauty was taken by Imago and a one-eyed Swan captain. With the aid of summoned horses, they gallop back toward the ship.
Ethan's Campfire Synopsis
Half the crew was indulging in their second or third helping of the breakfast feast when the attack came. The Trident drifted through the thick morning fog preternaturally aware of The Beauty’s location. There was just enough time for the crew to realize the fight was lost before it even began. With a glance, a nod and a word, the crew sent Ethan chasing after the others while the rest stayed behind to buy him time.
Ethan grabbed his backpack from the deck (it always stayed close at hand) and rode out on Vengeance.
After a full day of hard travel, Ethan came upon the rest of the party, both surprised to see one another so much earlier than anticipated; he had estimated at least two to three days’ travel, if he was lucky. Finding the others so soon was remarkable.
Exhausted, he explained to the others the attack by the Trident and the arrival of Imago Weygarde and Deren Lake (known to Ethan only as “the one-eye Swan bastard”), along with their hefty band of mercenaries and Swan soldiers. The group agreed to rest for the evening. The night passed uneventfully, but for a brief scare of a tiny woodland creature - the first signs of life returning to a land that was cured of its sickness.
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