A New Old Friend

 She (They?) guides and protects us through the Maelstrom. It was a harrowing experience. At one point, we are spotted by a Ship-breaker Behemoth, and we DIVE. Just cut the float crystal and ride the drop. We arrive at the core, shaken but unscathed. It is a barren, dark, crimson, rocky orb. We land near a house-sized metal structure. We have found Hector's capsule. Some yards away, maybe 1/4 mile, there is a small, tattered tent. As we slowly approach, a figure emerges. Hector is an automaton?! He and She reunited! A beautiful moment, somewhat marred by the urgency of the situation. We have only days before the adversary awakens. Fiona does something, and I find myself refreshed, and stronger, and with some interesting new ideas rattling around my skull. Interesting, indeed.

My Final Entry?

 This may be the last entry in this journal. I guess it depends on how this goes, or does it? Do I make an entry after a success? I guess that depends on what follows success? Again, I get ahead of myself. Indubitably a consequence of such heady, overwhelming occurrences and stakes. 

Mimi's sextant leads us to a tiny cottage on a tiny island on the very edge of Vorathis. It's obviously been abandoned for centuries. Nature has almost completely reclaimed it, even the interior. Inside, there is a field of a flower that is strange, but somehow familiar? As if it was used as a symbol by people I've only read about. Of course, I'm pressing a couple examples into this journal. Even if I am unable to return to the temple, someone will have the opportunity to study it. Apart from the vegetation, there is a large brass ring set into the floor. It looks similar to the hatch we found under the lake on Titan Prime, but as a seat for something rather than access to somewhere. Aerathor, bless his eyes, finds a letter on a bookshelf. It is dated 9 years after the last we've found. In it, Hector describes creating a capsule to traverse the Maelstrom, realizing that Fiona IS the aether that tries to hold the world together, and discovering another "that roams these skies" -- Zephyr, who he says is also her. This letter makes clear that Hector took his capsule into the Maelstrom, expecting to never return, but nothing remains to enable us to follow.

In a bolt of lightning, Zephyr stands among us again. She says that she remembers him. Suddenly (and yet gradually somehow?), the One also graces us. They both talk of their fondness for the flowers. They say they are two aspects of the same being. I notice that they wear identical engagement rings. Have I never noticed? Or were they never there until I was ready to see? The captain asks how they can both manifest if they were one being?

  "We sealed the adversary away and thought that would be enough. But he fractured the world on our wedding day. So I tried my best, used all of my power to contain the fracture and hold the pieces. I had to be everywhere on the planet. That fractured me into the aether (and these two beings). The spires have been absorbing the aether and weakening me."

Zephyr suggests that they can work together to get us to the center, maybe find Hector (?!?!), and try to defeat the adversary once and for all. (How we might expect to find him after more than a millennium is anyone's guess.) They grasp each others' hands and, in a flash of light, fuse into one Fiona Sterling. She looks like a mortal woman now. I struggle to grasp what that even means. Is she still divine? Was she ever? I don't know. I'm not sure those words have the meanings I once attributed them. I pledged my life to Her when she was merely an idea -- a concept I couldn't quite encompass in my head. How can I give less when she stands before me in literal flesh and blood?

In any case, I must send this journal to the temple. If we, or I, do not return from this trip, the Order should know all I have learned thus far. 

Finally Some Rest

 After weeks of constant travel and trials, it feels odd to tarry in one place, but needs must. We cannot travel without the ship, and the ship cannot travel without repairs. So, we wait on Vorathis.

But, though we do not progress physically toward our destination, we still progress emotionally with each other, and that may, in the long run, prove to be the more important journey. Mimi and I confronted Captain Averyn about her self-destructive demeanor. A few things that came to me in the moment: 

    "If Zephyr sees the good in you, why can't you?" 

    "Good is not an attribute; it's a choice. You have to continue to choose to do good." 

    "If you let yourself die early, you limit the amount of good you can do."

I have hope that we have gotten through to her and that she can find the acceptance in her own heart that already exists in others'. 

Over the course of a couple weeks, I tried to battle the curse that afflicts the captain's arm. With repeated sessions, I was able to slow its progression, but not halt it (never mind removing it). Given that failure, she had the arm amputated and grafted on a Gailatian replacement.

After three weeks of this, Mimi has a new reading on the Sextant that leads to a small island on the edge of Vorathis. 

BATTLE!

   Battle is chaos; fleet battles even more so. Fireballs and lightning flew back and forth. I even fell unconscious once. Thankfully, Ingrid sent a shot of healing my way. Unbelievably, Aerathor swings over to Sorren's ship and nearly single-handedly disables it with dynamite. Eventually, Sorren makes his way onboard and the Captain confronts him face-to-face. She is finally able to shove him off the ship, marooning him on some flotsam from his destroyed ship, keeping his hat as a trophy (and hopefully evidence for his bounty). Sadly, the Blade has taken enough damage that we will have to find repairs before we continue following the sextant.

TWO

   Thankfully, my friends were able to prevail in the battle and revive me. As She says, "no island floats alone." We are all dependent upon the people and the world around us. As it should be.

    I have received a letter from Sister Isolde. Upon her return to the temple with our notes, she joined the research effort -- specifically about aetherite crystal. It would seem that the Adversary Fragment that we most recently battled exists because of the aetherite. Aetherite relates to the spires, which their research seems to confirm are at the very least related to the Adversary (as Hector claims in his writing). Aetherite seems to have some level of sentience; it doesn't merely attract aether, it attracts AND repels subservient to some will. She also notes that the notorious pirate Sorren Starcaster is roving in an area somewhat near where we are. 

   As I sit on the deck, the Storm Lord Zephyr manifests herself! Even more incredibly, she addresses ME! She scoffs at my quest. Not just at my dedication, but to the very IDEA of reuniting the world. She is aware of the letters we have found, but has no interest in them. I, of course, am not swayed. Soon, The One ALSO manifests! These are not just visions, incidentally, they are physically manifest for all the crew to see. They argue for a bit, as they obviously do not see eye to eye. Zephyr, naming me Champion of The One, offers a prize to the captain to duel me, but thankfully, she seems uninterested in doing so. She also calls me weak, but I know that defending others is the epitome of strength. After She leaves, The One commiserates that the two of them don't get along. But that is no surprise to me. "The storm is always chaos, and rarely welcoming." Oof! Two deities arguing at me! If this keeps up, I'm going to start feeling important.

   Apart from her tattoos, the captain has been hiding a black spot curse. She is persuaded to disclose it to the party. From what we know, atonement will slow, halt, and with enough, even reverse the effects of the curse, which are beginning to be significant. She says merely, "you cannot bring people back from the dead." She seems resigned to a painful demise, but atonement is not merely (or even commonly) an undoing. It's a payment -- usually not back, but forward. Mimi suggest maybe the captain could adopt a child. After that is answered with a glare, I say simply, "atonement is always a path that can be chosen." Captain asks Mimi how much truth she can handle. Her reply is "I would prefer to help save you than let you die like you seem to want to." In response, the captain reveals enough of her tattoo to be recognized, and Mimi lapses into an uncomfortable silence.

   In any case, we have a new heading from the sextant, and we continue on our way. As our luck would have it, our trail takes us right into the path of Sorren Starcaster. We make our way to weapons, as the captains communicate. Starcaster seems to be stalling for the time to get his smaller ships into position around us, but I don't particularly like that idea. We fire as soon as they're in range, and the battle has commenced!

I Have Failed You

 When last I wrote, Aerathor was aiding 3 newcomers in neutralizing the basilisk threat. Under his direction, they lured both out the center cave mouth, and reflected their gazes back upon them. Suddenly, a THIRD comes from the far right mouth! Luckily, they were able to shuffle their reflective shield around to stop that one as well. That definitely bodes well for our exit.

In the back of the cave, our quartet heads further in and soon spot a giant floating aether crystal. Proximity to it dims my perception of The One, so I back off. Then, a strange floating tentacled monster appears between us and the crystal, and fires a beam of purple energy at the captain. She goes underwater, trying to approach it stealthily, so I advance slowly to hold its attention. It says only one word: "flourish." Cap and I both advance. Some globule creatures and some floating crystal prisms materialize and I realize that there are wall-tentacles that will likely be able to attack from the sides. I attempt to read the mind of our adversary -- it is thinking about consuming this world and moving on to another. She speaks to me briefly and tells me that this adversary is a manifestation of The Great Adversary! I brace for a shot from the creature, but it does not come from the expected direction. It fires at an angle, and refracts through the floating crystals back and forth across the cavern. I have time for only one thought as it hits me. My Lady, I have failed You.

Never Was Fond of Mushrooms

 The sextant points us behind the glowing mushroom in the back of the cave. There is a small water flow that is inhibited by it, as well. So, Cap and I start to hack our way through. While we're doing this, I take a closer look at the smaller variety we're cutting through. It's often used in potions, poisonous when raw, and often grows near semi-sentient varieties. As that last trait starts to politely clear its throat in my brain, the large central mushroom wakes! It "semi-sentiently" turns and attacks. As it stands, it releases the water it's been holding back, which pushes us a bit. I hold my ground and hear Her voice: "I will protect you." I don't think I'll ever get used to that. After a fierce battle, with the captain actually dropping once, she delivered the killing blow, stabbing it through the head.

During the fracas, Aerathor informs us of two inbound individuals. I gather they meant to loot previous non-returnees (and perhaps us), but once they were warned of the basilisks, they rethought their approach and, I think, are trying to lure them out the center cave mouth. At the very least, they may be distracting enough for us to get out unscathed (once we find our objective).

SHE!

 SHE MANIFESTED HERSELF TO ME!

Whew, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Anyway, we returned to the ship with the letter and items we found below. Once we were secure, I endeavored to determine what these Gailatian artifacts could do. The belt would designate a spot as an anchor, then let you teleport back to that spot when the mechanism was released. There was a hand-sized sphere that would transform into whatever weapon you required it to be. I believe the captain asked Cole-Bay to try to modify it to accept a more usable grip. Finally, I took the pendant, which stores enough magical energy for one spell even more powerful than those I've learned so far.

When I had finished, I went into my cabin, thinking to get some rest. Before I could do more than strip off my armor, though, SHE APPEARED IN FRONT OF ME! The One manifested herself to me, though she spoke like someone who has just woken, a little slow and sort of distracted. She has definitely heard me or experienced my thoughts in some way (which, honestly, is unsurprising), as she told me outright that she might be Fiona. "My memory is fuzzy." She longs for the things of Gailatia. "It's been far too long." "I feel like I know Hector, but I don't really remember him." Looking at her, she looks similar to, but not identical to, the statue of Fiona we saw. But whether that is because they're not the same entity, or an imperfect artistic representation is impossible to say. She expressed her desire to reset the world, then faded away. I was unable to do, say, or even THINK anything for the next 10 minutes or so.

Mimi's sextant gave us a new heading and we set sail again. After 2 days, we spy the Tihar Peninsula, home of our friend Cole-Bay. The trail headed toward the Stockmere Mountains. The locals do not recommend it. "You better plan on not coming back." Apparently no one ever returns. Nevertheless, we will not be deterred. We eventually find a cave system. Inside there are incredibly life-like statues, which immediately set off alarm bells in my mind. Sure enough, there are (at least) two basilisks in the cave. The captain starts up a waterway in the westernmost tunnel. I follow, as I do not want her to be completely undefended, though I can't see in the dark and don't want to light anything and give us away. Luckily, there are some faintly glowing mosses or plants or something up ahead.

A Soggy Retreat

 After a few moments, Sister Isolde sort of...melted away. It seems it was some sort of vision to mask an attack. There is a giant, tentacled monster attacking us physically and psychically! It took a while to pull the captain out of her beglamourment, and the creature swam around a lot, making it very hard to engage. It eventually broke the boat that half the party was using for air, so they had to abandon the fight. Finally, I managed to engage it and keep it from zooming around (almost dropping my mace in the process), long enough for Cap to zap it to death. Thank The One!

With the creature dispatched, Mimi's Sextant led us to some sort of Gailatian hatch. Unfortunately, Aerathor had to surface, but the rest of us got inside. It seemed to be some sort of large vehicle, but with no obvious means of locomotion or control. Getting in half-flooded the compartment, but we were able to find and extract a small chest containing another letter and two apparently Gailatian objects. I feel as if the image we chase comes just a little more in view with every discovery, but there is still so much to uncover!