The City of Fallen Ships

The cohort slowly made their way back to the kobold's cave, being absolutely sure they were not, and could not be followed by the forces of Velling. Late the next evening while they ate their cold, stale rations Naivara began inspecting the tablet they found on the arcanaloth they killed.

"Guys, this has a message for us on it." She said surprised.

"What?" Asked Charles.

"Yeah, I keep looking at it, just to see if anything interesting comes up and it's mostly just been quiet or random gibberish about troop movements or supply runs, but this one seems to be addressed to us." She ripped the sheet off the tablet to read from and show the others.

To Whomever it concerns,

My Father has returned to our home in Hollow's Heart. I know not who you are, or what you want, just now this: I will find you, and I will exact vengeance for my father. Prepare what you can, it will not save you.

-Kastros

"Well one thing is for certain." Said Hal, as he passed the sheet to Akash after finishing reading it. "This Kastros appears to be the demon who my father had dealings with. The handwriting matches my sword, and the letters we first found on that tablet. Which also means that we killed his friend and nearly killed his father."

"Yeah, I see why he's so angry with us." Commented Charles. "There's not much we can really do about it right now though. We'll just need to prepare as best we can once we get back to the cave." The rest of the cohort assented and after finishing their rations settled in for the night.

They made it to the cave late afternoon of the next day to find it in a peculiar state. The kobolds who had previously been slight annoyances that one might catch a glimpse of occasionally were now patrolling the main cavern in groups of two to three, and staring down the refugees.

"That's new." Commented Hal as one of the kobold patrols passed by them, glaring intensely.

"We should ask about it when we get to the command tent." Said Charles.

Finishing the winding trek through the tents they once again came upon the large red pavilion tent that acted as a base of operations for the refugees of Nestrin. Walking inside they were greeted with the sight of Naivara's father struggling to converse with the kobolds' leader who was standing atop the central table chittering very quickly and very loudly. Seeing the cohort enter the tent, Naivara's father immediately had a wave of relief wash across his face.

"Thank the gods you're back." He said, "Are any of you hurt? What was Velling like? Did you stop the demons?" His questions came tumbling out in quick succession.

"We're fine, had some close calls, but nothing that Gnoll and Akash couldn't handle." Reassured Naivara. "As for the city, it's been completely overrun, nobody is left except for the demons. There's even a portal that seems to be connected to the Abyss." What little color remained in her father's face after living underground for months completely drained away. Seeing her father's reaction, Navara quickly continued. "We did at least slow their plans down. We almost killed the demon who was acting as Baron Eldbridge, but he managed to escape back to the Abyss before we could finish him off."

"At least you bought us some time. What's the next step?"

"We need to do more research in the kobolds' library, and then I think we will probably need to go north of the wall. The demon in Velling wasn't the head of the snake, we need to find out what is really going on in the northern kingdom."

Her father winced at the mention of the library. "Funny story about the library." He paused and gestured to the kobolds' leader, "Unfortunately Tizaak apparently stole some books from the library and ran off. Now the kobolds are angry with the rest of us, hence the patrols that I'm sure you encountered on your way in."

"So that's what that was." Commented Charles, "Have they said what we can do to fix it?"

"That's what we were attempting to discuss right before you got here. Unfortunately without Tizaak to translate it's been frustrating at best to converse."

The next hour was spent negotiating with the kobold leader, attempting to gain enough trust back to be allowed to resume use of their library. Eventually an understanding was established where the cohort could use the library, but only under strict supervision and books were not to be taken out of the library's chamber. Following the meeting, Gnoll, Hal, and Naivara went to conduct research on the fragments of information that was acquired on the excursion to Velling. Charles and Akash stayed above to check in with the militia and oversee their training.

After a week of research, training, and recuperation the cohort began preparing to venture north of the wall once again. The militia was rounding out nicely, and the research squad managed to find some valuable information regarding their enemy, including a map of Hollow's Heart and the Drooling Jungle within. With little fanfare, they set off for the wall and the northern kingdom beyond.

Altering their strategy from the first encounter with the wall, the cohort opted for a more stealthy approach. They waited for the dark of night and then, in a gap between watchtowers they stole across the clear cut field, scaling the wall through various means. Not waiting around for a patrol to see them, the cohort continued further north until the wall was well behind them. For the first night in a while, humans, not demons, were their main concern.

Morning came as it always did, and the cohort continued further north towards the city of Oak Harbour. As the southernmost city that still remained north of the wall it had been selected as an ideal target destination to evaluate the sentiments of the northern kingdom and the remaining citizens.

"Do we have a plan for not getting killed immediately upon entering the city?" Hal asked, after they had been walking for a couple hours. "Charles and Buck will obviously be fine, and I can just keep a hood up to hide my ears, but how are the rest of you going to hide the fact that you're not human?"

"I was also kind of just planning on putting a hood up" Said Naivara, "My ears might push it out a little, but with a heavy enough material I think it should work alright. I would mainly be concerned about Gnoll's size, and the fact that Akash is, well, blue."

"Gnoll, I don't suppose you have any magic to shrink yourself a little do you?" Hal asked him.

"No, but if I just hunch over we might be able to get away with it."

"Well, that might be our best shot. I do also have something for your skin." Hal swung his pack to his front and rummaged through it for a moment before producing a small wooden box that was filled with brushes and various colored powders. "I should be able to make your skin look a bit more human with this since your gray skin is a nice neutral base." He then looked over to Akash, "I don't think it will work quite as well with you since your skin is so much more vibrant."

"No worries here, I can just turn into a mouse or something while we are out in public, and as long as I can find somewhere to change back to myself every few hours I should be fine." Replied Akash.

"What happens if we get in a fight, or get stuck in public when you need to turn back?" Asked Charles.

"If either of those happen, then we probably have bigger issues than my skin being blue."

"Ok, fair. However, I do think we should have a back-up plan just in case. Like, what if they have another blindfold thing to see who people truly are?"

"In that case we probably just camp outside the city, and you go alone to scout, or we sneak in around the main gates." Suggested Akash. "I've scouted places solo before, and you're even human, they won't bat an eye at you."

"That's actually a really good point." Nodded Charles, "any objections or better ideas?" he asked. Seeing none, the group fell into silence as they continued forth.

About an hour before they expected to come upon Oak Harbour the cohort's wilderness path met with a well-packed dirt road that presumably connected Oak Harbour to the main gate camp of the wall to the south. Taking the moment they stepped off the road for a bit and began donning their various disguises. save for Akash who didn't dare waste precious energy transforming before they were liable to meet anyone. Hal began working with Gnoll to bring a more human shade to his goliath skin tone. It wasn't the best work, Gnoll ended up looking rather sickly, but at a passing glance it seemed convincing enough.

Eventually the roofs, and strangely the masts of the city came into view. Akash shrunk down to a mouse and hopped inside one of the pockets in Gnoll's draping cloak. The outskirts were a mess of haphazard tents and fire pits, with crowds of thin, haggard people who congregated in long lines at cauldrons of simmering soup. Peering from his pocket Akash was astonished by the number of people, and the state in which they persisted.

The sea of tents gave way to the city limits of proper structures. However, where Akash would have expected neat rows of shops and townhomes there was instead a veritable fleet of skyships in variable states of repair. Some were in fair cognition, that given the opportunity Akash could imagine rising back into the great blue sky, but, more often the ships had buildings built around and through them, anchoring the once mighty vessels to the earth permanently.

Many of the shops and taverns the cohort passed seemed to take the name of the ship in which they were housed, or at the very least paid it an homage. A ship with emerald green script identifying it as The Spell Weaver was home to a potion and knick-knack shop called The Spell Weave, a bustling tavern signed as the Gilded Gryphon was encapsulated within a ship of the same name, and a lithe sloop was home to the cramped Silver Wind bookstore.

The streets of the city were similarly crowded like the encampment outside, however the citizens here did appear much better off. The cohort broke into two teams and continued to meander through various shops getting a good layout of the lower city.

Reuniting for lunch they left the city so that they could discuss their findings in peace.

"Did you all notice those creepy wizards that were patrolling the city?" Asked Akash as he passed out a supply of goodberries.

"Those are the Grey Veils." Answered Naivara, "They're the mage guild here in Woodernia. Those brass amulets they wear make them all look like their leader." She paused to take a bite of her berry. "I've also heard that the amulets give them some of their powers, but I don't know how true that is, they're a pretty secretive group."

"Are they dangerous at all?" Akash asked.

"Normally not really, but I suspect that given the current state of the kingdom, not to mention the number I saw this morning, that they have bolstered both their numbers and authority since I was last home." She answered.

"I bet Naivara is right." Said Charles, "I found a bounty board outside the Gilded Gryphon and there was a poster that was recruiting for the Grey Veils, it promised both power and riches. I also saw another poster that was put up by some guy named Erik Stone, I think. He's apparently trying to get a group of people together to retake the southern kingdom. There's going to be a meeting at the Gryphon tonight to gather volunteers. I think we should go, if for no other reason than to hear what he has to say."

"I agree." Ascented Hal, "Also, Akash here, I could practically feel your excitement when that Marlo guy brought this up in The Spell Weave." He handed over a gilded sextant with arcane runes inscribed along the armature. "Figured you couldn't buy it as a mouse so I picked it up for you. Granted, I have no idea what it's used for, care to elaborate?"

Akash accepted the artifact and began inspecting it. "This should let me track the positions of the stars and guide us anywhere we need to go."

"Interesting…how exactly is that different from a map?"

"A map can show you where you want to go, this can show us where we need to go." Akash began fiddling with one of the adjusting dials. "I theory anyways." The sextant let out a squeak as the metal rubbed against itself, and the cohort winced at the sound. "Sorry, I haven't actually used one of these before. How much was it, I can pay you back."

"Just give me a hundred and we'll call it even. I'm curious to see what you can do with that." Said Hal. Akash fished the gold from his coin purse and handed it over to Hal, and immediately went back to his new trinket.

"Ok, so we covered the mages, the meeting at the Gryphon, and Akash's new item. Did anyone else find anything of import?" Asked Charles.

"Well, I did find one other thing." Said Naivara, "The Silver Wind has a collection of textbooks by Alaric Evenheart. When I spoke to the shopkeep about them they mentioned that Alaric actually lives here in Oak Harbour. If possible I would really like to see if we could meet and talk with him."

"Who is he? What are his books about?" Inquired Charles.

"He's one of the foremost researchers of transmutation magic in the world. His work was actually the inspiration for the elemental inscriptions that I carve into my bullets."

"We can probably figure out something. But we all need to remember that we're in hostile territory right now. Well, all of you except me technically. So no matter who we talk to, keep a low profile."

Once again splitting into groups for the afternoon Gnoll and Akash secured a camping site on the very edge of the sprawling tent city while Hal, Charles and Naivara explored the upper city.