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!

A Poseidon Adventure

 Having returned to my compatriots at the port and passed on what I've learned, we proceeded to the lake. Mimi's sextant leads us under the surface. I was able to purchase a water-breathing ring near the shore, but Cole-Bey and Aerathor use a boat as a sort of diving bell. Mimi has an ancient suit of that she can dive in, and of course, the captain is in her element. We start to descend and soon see giant jellyfish. They are beautiful, but as we pass them, we also encounter several weird translucent tentacled monsters. They are not beautiful. We are forced to engage, and ultimately destroy them. The sextant leads down, into the inky depths. Captain has no concerns and dives deeper ahead of us and out of sight. After a time, Mimi produces a glowing crystal and lets it sink. I follow it, hoping to catch sight of our leader. An odd humanoid swims up to me...

She is? was? Sister Isolde?! She is very upset, and says she's never going back. I try to comfort her and find out what has happened...

Wolves and Butterflies

 Faith! What a day!

As we docked at Titan Prime, Mimi declares we must go out to the lake. However, the powers that be won't allow us as of yet. Some paperwork or whatever. Just then, She speaks to me yet again! Brother Luther needs assistance about a mile to the East! Well, when duty calls, she'll not find me wantin', so I hoist my shield, let my companions know I'll be back shortly, and set off at a trot.

When I finally spot him, Luther is being menaced by 5 wolves. Now, he's a strapping lad, and handy with a sword, but he does lack confidence, and if I can spot it in his face from 10 yards away, they can certainly smell it on him. So, I rush in, making as much racket as I can, hoping to pull their attention my way. It works for most of them, and we set to work dispatching the beasts. Unfortunately, the noise we've all made fighting (and them dying) attracted yet another creature -- an owlbear! We turn and fight another fearsome battle, and finally overcome. Praise be!

But the praises are not done yet, for Brother Luther was waylaid returning from a ruin in the woods and has even more relics from the dawn of our time! Another painting and a letter to go with it. The painting depicts a bride in her wedding dress casting blue energy out, filling massive cracks in the land all across in the distance. On piece of that land is already floating. It bears the inscription: "As the cataclysm began and the world cracked apart, the heroine gave her heart." The letter (again from Hector Cogsworth) speaks of having created this very painting and how he spreads the tale of how she, the woman he writes to, stopped "the great adversary" from breaking free, how she saved the world for a second time, and how it remains shattered. He mentions this new world being newly named Zepheria, instead of Gailatia (confirming our suppositions). Finally, he says that he will continue to search for her, possibly in or beyond the maelstrom below.

As we exchanged information that we had gathered, Brother Luther and I discussed some of the implications of the relics we had found. We of the order have long considered "Hector" to be a figure of evil, standing in opposition to our good Lady. And we have long assumed The One to been divine eternally before as she will be eternally still. But the narrative told by these letters and paintings (which seem to at least be reliably dated) tell a different tale. One of Hector on the side of good, partnered (*and married!*) to a caster, who, though extremely powerful, was more a person than an unknowable deity. At least, so she was considered by the author of our breadcrumbs. 

It seems plausible, perhaps likely(?) that this caster is The One. That idea will certainly cause no small amount of consternation among the faithful, and may be deemed a heresy. But does She not teach that we follow the knowledge wherever it may go? One cannot learn anything truly new if one discards any information that is uncomfortable. And as for "heresy," the butterfly was once a caterpillar, yet it is still beauty flitting through the air. If She was once a mortal, that does not diminish her divinity. Do we not gain strength from her? I shall sleep well and happily on this when next I have the chance.