Sessions 17-18
Once they had caught their breath, the party decided to move in a northeasterly direction toward the sound and smell of running water. Trance was desperate for a bath and the ability to wash clothes. Once they found a good spot by the riverbank, they set up camp, washed, and had an interesting meal of boiled giant centipede.
Sylas and Helena took one of the night watches, having a moment alone together for the first time in a week. Sylas broke the awkward silence by addressing the elephant-monkey in the room: Helena's familial ties to the Vinseraj corporation. She was not pleased to have to discuss it at all, but she assured him that she left all of that mess behind her ages ago, and they held no sway in her life. Her allegiance was to the Sunchaser and her crew, not to her estranged family. Sylas was relieved to hear this, but urged her to tell the rest of the crew at the first good opportunity. Just as Helena agreed to this, there came a loud rustling, and something large and hairy attacked out of the darkness.
The monstrous beast appeared to be some bat-wolf-bear hybrid, and its deadly claws slashed open Helena's chest piece with a single swipe. She crawled away from it, calling out to the rest of the party, while Sylas regained his bearings.
The sleepers sprung into action, no time to don armor. Alarac grabbed his sword; Umi, her staff. Trance was still befuddled from sleep, and grabbed her sabre when she meant to grab her bow and quiver. This forced her to engage the enemy face-to-face.
Alarac took some debilitating blows to his bare chest (lessened by Sylas's magic shield), but stubbornly stayed upright as he continued to slash. Umi cast ice armor on Alarac to make up for his vulnerable state of undress. Mischief and Guncat peppered the beast with bullets; Sylas summoned an icy sword with which he stabbed and sliced. Trance slashed at herself to activate her sword's dark magic, and delivered an onslaught of blows from behind. Helena, suffering from her wound, could only sit back and shout orders. But under her guidance, the party acted as a well-oiled machine of death, and swiftly dispatched the offending creature. Trance's bloodlust was not sated, however, and she found herself crouched on the thing, gnawing noisily at its neck. She came back to herself, however, at the taste of wet dog. Yeauch.
Wounds were healed, and the party settled back down to exhausted sleep. They foolishly did not appoint another night watch, but luckily, they were not disturbed for the remainder of the night.
Session 19
The party roused at dawn, sore but determined. Before they had a chance to discuss their heading, a brilliant green flare was seen over the canopy, and to the northeast.
Uncertain at first, they looked to one another, questioning what to do, but Mischief confirmed it looked like a flare of her design. This could only mean one thing: The Sunchaser had been repaired and was waiting for them in that direction. Relieved and travel-weary, the party set off for "home."
They had some difficulty crossing the wide river, mainly due to the thick mud along the bank. Trance, loathe to stick her paws in the muck a second time, offered to fire a rope arrow into a tree on the other side to make a guyline. Umi offered to use frost breath to create a makeshift bridge of ice, then tie off the rope on the other side. Where she blew onto the river, a sheet of ice formed in a cone, anchored in the mud. Running across, she continued to blow ice breath, freezing the way before her. Trance fired her arrow, and Umi had to throw herself into the thick muck on the other side before her ice bridge cracked and was swept downriver. Luckily, Alarac was following behind, and managed to make it before the bridge was wholly lost. Umi tied off one end of the rope, Sylas tied the other. Trance leapt lightly onto the rope and expertly darted across. She perched, balanced on the other end, looking expectantly at the rest of the group. Sylas, annoyed, grabbed the rope and shook it, trying to knock Trance off. She merely swayed with the rope, smiling. The rest of the party climbed along the rope to the other side.
Before them stretched what before appeared to be a field, but what now proved itself to be a bog. Slogging through the mud would be slow going, and Trance refused to set another paw in any of it. She sweetly recruited Alarac to be her mount, and draped herself across his shoulders. Umi, however, had an idea. She gathered bundles of reeds, and began weaving snowshoes. Placed upon her feet, she was able to stand atop the mud much like she was able to with snow in her homeland. Trance asked to be given some reeds so that she might help make more for the rest of the party, but insisted upon remaining on Alarac's shoulders. She did make herself a pair, just in case. Alarac, unfortunately, was too heavy in his plate armor to benefit from the delicate shoes.
Now properly shod, the party continued awkwardly through the bog. They soon came upon a large, lush tree bearing colorful teardrop-shaped fruit and sticky yellow vines dripping with slime. Trance's whiskers were vibrating with alarm, and she warned that this seemed like some carnivorous plants she had seen elsewhere. The party gave it a wide berth and continued. Soon, they were out of the bog and onto hard soil, finding themselves in another forest. This forest was much thinner than the jungle they had left, and they were through it shortly, and could see the Sunchaser, roughly ramshackled together from reclaimed pieces and fresh wood, off the coast. It was below them, as they were on a cliff, but they signaled to the ship, and a skiff was sent to get them. The deckhand that received them informed them of their toils, and of the fragility of their patch job. Sylas assured him that there was a plan in the works for dispelling the sandstorm, and the deckhand was glad to hear it.
Soon, they were back on familiar boards, road-weary and looking forward to cold drinks, a hot meal, and deep sleep. Trance, walking with Helena, went below deck to see what was for soup. Here, she met the shady character known only as Reed, stirring the pot. It was agreed that noodles would improve the simple soup, and Trance retrieved them. Bellies full, the party left for their various bunks, beds, and boxes. Sylas, insistent in his badgering Mischief to sleep instead of tinker, stubbornly slumped himself against her cabin door, and fell into deep slumber.
In the middle of the night, Trance woke from a nightmare. It was deeply disturbing, and she suddenly felt so vulnerable and alone. She crawled out of her box, clad in her dark sleeping tunic, and slunk upstairs. In her unrest, she did not notice Alarac sleeping next to the stairs.
Treading silently on stealthy paws, she traversed the deck above, trying to scent out a comforting, familiar presence, but the stench of unwashed shaveskins was too strong to differentiate any one being from another. She crept to the sick bay, peeking in, and was surprised to see an old rabbitkin reclining and reading. Casimir welcomed Trance, introducing himself. She told him her name as well, feeling awkward and ill at ease. She apologized for disturbing him and started to leave, but paused and asked after Sylas's whereabouts. He admitted he didn't know, but thought he might be with Mischief. This caused Trance to flatten her ears in suspicion, but she kept that to herself. Just as she was giving up and heading back to a sleepless night in her box, she saw a silhouette on the stairs leading to the upper deck. It startled her into hissing and backing against a wall. Reed twiddled his fingers at her in a creepy wave from his seat on a step, and went back to cleaning his nails with the tip of a dagger.
It was at this moment, Trance realized she was crouched next to a sleeping Sylas, still slouched against Mischeif's door. She tried to wake him, but he was fast asleep. Lacking consent but too desperate for companionship in that moment, she merely curled up next to him and fell asleep herself, her cheek resting on his thigh.
Some time later, he woke, noticing Trance's head in his lap, and only smiled, stroking her hair briefly before drifting back to sleep. When he woke much later, she was gone, and Mischief was hammering away in her room. He groggily shoved the door open to berate her, but she informed him it was ten o'clock.
Up on the bridge, Umi was gazing off at the horizon, demurely nibbling at a piece of buttered toast. Trance padded up to her, lonely and in need of conversation. They chatted for a bit about their families and tribes, and briefly discussed dragonborn egg production. Feeling awkward, Trance excused herself, but Umi bade her bring back another slice of toast. Trance had never heard of such a thing, and when informed, was incredulous that anyone would want to "cook bread twice." Umi assured her it was delicious and crispy, like Trance herself might be if properly toasted. This set off Trance's flight response, and she hastily bid the dragonborn farewell before fleeing to the lower decks.