Characters
Catarina, unconventional prioress
Pendleton, rogue anatomist
Raoul, necromancer
Geradd, swashbuckling nobleman
Daytona, dhampir gunslinger
Panthalassa, empowered feral child
Asudem, undead antiquarian
Events
On the way to Lachryma, the party deposited Emily and Lenore at Chateau Frankenstein for safekeeping. Serafina and the Widow also left the party at this point; Serafina promised to dig up information about where the Skarnesti Circus was headed, as that was to be their next destination once the business with the Brineblade was at an end.
Every night on their journey to Lachryma, Panthalassa and Catarina had the same dream: they approached an island by sea, and once they was upon it they found themselves ascending the tower of a fortress. The tower's roof was compromised; rain was pelting down from above and running down the stairs. Drops of blood were mixed in with the rain. Looking up, they could see a winged humanoid suspended from chains at the top of the tower--the blood was coming from several wounds on the creature's torso. The dream's perspective then shifted. They could now see the blood dripping into the sea, where it hardened into a cage that kept Scylla trapped in the depths.
When the group arrived in Lachryma, they found the town in a state of turmoil. They had spotted people on the road fleeing the town, taking whatever worldly possessions they could load onto wagons or carry on their backs. From the vantage afforded by the hill, it was clear that a few ships were on fire in the harbor. Daytona stopped a man who was leaving the town to ask him what was happening. The man told them that the Church had stepped up its efforts to reclaim Lachryma from Scylla's cult and the chaos they saw was the result of Church terrorism.
As they hurried to the temple presided over by their ally Belle Silvra, they saw a towering angel with a sword of flame also making its way to the temple. Correctly ascertaining that the angel meant to destroy the temple and all within it, Panthalassa ran forward to strike at the angel with her maul. What really got the angel's attention, however, was Daytona unloading a devil's blood bullet into it. It made a beeline for the gunslinger and very nearly dealt him a crippling blow. The angel was ultimately destroyed by one of Raoul's necrotic bolts. Daytona recovered what was left of the flaming sword--merely a hilt they did not yet know how to activate.
Inside the temple, they were escorted to Belle Silvra's sitting room. There was a pistol laying on the desk in front of her--less a method of self-defense and more insurance that she would not be taken alive should the angel have breached the temple. In their conversation, it turned out that Belle had been having the same dream as Panthalassa and Catarina. As to why that would be, Belle conjectured that the primordial sea spirits that Panthalassa had forged a pact with were possibly Scylla's children and that Catarina's possession of the Brineblade drew her into connection with Scylla.
Asudem managed to piece together the dream island's location from their description of it and his recollections of his own travels at sea. Belle summoned Captain Laurant to give the party passage aboard her ship, the Dawnrazor. Captain Laurant's presence was the cause of some nervousness among the party, as they were not sure how much of a grudge she nursed against them for blowing up not one, but two of the ships she had captained.
Wanting to get underway as soon as possible, the group made their way with Captain Laurant to where the Dawnrazor was docked. The Dawnrazor proved to be a man o' war bristling with armor and cannons. Half of the ship's crew were human pirates and fish-man hybrids. The other half were undead under Laurant's control. Speaking of awkward interactions, on the second night of their voyage Captain Laurant sent her zombies with invitations for the party to dine with her in her cabin. It became clear what she thought of several party members: she respected Asudem's navigational abilities and saw him as favored by Scylla; she was intrigued by Daytona and Geradd's capacity for violence; she still held enmity toward Pendleton, who was responsible for planting the explosives that scarred her body.
Soon after, the night was interrupted by the sound of cannon fire. Everyone rushed on deck and discovered that the Dawnrazor was under attack by a vessel flying the flag of Churchmen. Captain Laurant gave orders to her crew to engage the ship; meanwhile, two rowboats were prepared for the party to make their way ashore and enter the fortress. However, the party saw that their rowboats were being pursued to shore by a similar boat launched from the Churchmen's ship. The party fought the interlopers on the beach, with Panthalassa staving in one of their heads with a well-thrown rock.
However, Daytona and Catarina's pistol shots had alerted the guards at the fortress that they were about to be infiltrated; the group could hear the sound of a warning bell clanging madly. As they looked up toward the fortress, they could see a number of armed combatants spilling from within.
We will find out how they deal with that obstacle next time.
