Now a couple weeks into month 4 of Gladys’s prophetic timeline, the Rovers were soon to set sail for Whig. Before leaving Lo’Thar, they had a couple errands to complete.
Aengus messaged Tommy, asking if there was any news of Darius Kensington. Tommy reported that Darius had recently raised an issue with the city council, stating that Darius knew of rumors that someone was spreading lies about him and the Kensington family. It seemed that the Rovers’ investigations in Hi’Thar and Lo’Thar were not going unnoticed.
Aengus recalled the book he recovered from the shadar-kai’s tent in Valonara describing the history of the Seldarine, which contained some undeciphered notes about evil wizards. Aengus thought this might be related to Urna’s schemes, so he took the book to Jani, who was researching Urna’s artifacts at the Arcanum library. She was happy to take it off his hands.
The Wild Rovers went to the harbor in search of a ship destined for Whig. While they waited for one such cargo-laden returning vessel to be granted berth, Urs and Desmond competed to see who was the better fisherman (the manta-ray-cloaked bear beat the dolphin), and Aengus tried to give away the party’s gold to a money changer.
At last, the Second Coming VII moored, fresh from Whig and soon to return. As crates of what the Rovers could only guess were gems were unloaded, two shackled prisoners — a regal-looking dwarf and a goliath — were escorted onto the ship and below deck. They met Captain Tuss Fringfoot, a man that could be mistaken for a tree with his wooden leg, hand, eye, ear, and teeth. The captain agreed to let the Rovers hitch a ride to Whig, though he, like Leon, warned that the Sea of Enemies was treacherous.
They embarked on what they expected to be a two or three day journey. During their second evening of sailing, the sea itself revolted against them as three water elementals appeared on the ship. Desmond and the captain were pulled overboard in opposite directions. A fiendish reptilian wastrilith surfaced, fouling the water and knocking Desmond unconscious with vicious strikes. As the serpent was about to climb the side of the ship, Vara stood defiantly at the rails, and her supernatural conquering presence struck fear in all the creatures, preventing them from moving closer. Without hesitating, Urs leapt overboard and channeled Tobias’s healing power into Desmond, who polymorphed himself into a tyrannosaurus (who, being a theropod, was naturally a good swimmer, despite the stubby arms). The wastrilith’s fear was proven justified when Vara leaned over the railing and dealt a series of devastating blows. In its last moments when it tried to flee, Desmond taught the serpent who the real king of lizards was.
After some further struggle, the Rovers finished off two elementals. They looked around and realized the captain had been carried off. Amazingly, they spotted him off the starboard side, swimming for his life as an elemental chased him. Like a gecko shedding its tail to escape a predator, the captain shed wooden prostheses to escape its grapple, and before it could recapture its quarry, Vara leapt overboard and evaporated the final watery foe.