SCENE 01 – The crew decides that their best action would be to go straight to the governor’s house and tell him what’s going on. The morning dawns with a combination of thick mist and smoky pall from the pitch plants along the shore. Jein walks out into the foggy docks looking for someone he can get directions from. Seeing a woman’s shadowy figure flitting between pockets of mist, Jein approaches her and asks directions of her.

SCENE 02 – The Ardent woman cheerfully provides directions but once Jein is out of sight, she doubles back to where she had just left: the Black Lotus, where she tells Rebek about the encounter with Jein. Rebek is able to identify Jein from the woman’s description knows she has been double-crossed, and that the meeting with her contact will not be taking place …

SCENE 03 – As soon as there is enough light, the crew of the Terrapin passes through the town of Newfield, heading straight to the large stone houses on the hill. As they get closer, they can see the houses are made either in part or entirely from the nacre-flecked limestone, glittering in the sun, above the smoke-shrouded port town.

The governor’s mansion is a large limestone dwelling with pure-limestone columns on the front porch. A large wooden door with metal handles and a pull-bell, along with a plaque, announce that this is the governor’s mansion, the seat of governance for the entire Reach.

SCENE 04 – Ringing the pull-bell, it is answered by a stout Ardent housekeeper named Matilde. The party is able to bluff their way into the mansion and are told to wait in the foyer, a massive circular room with winding staircase leading upwards. The room is dominated by a huge limestone-and-nacre statue of a rotund Ardent man holding an open book in one hand and a lantern in the other. The lantern is lit with actual flame, and the crew notes that all of the lamps in the house are also lit with actual flame, a decadent luxury in the Wildsea.

SCENE 05 – After a few minutes, Matilde leads the crew to the dining room. At the far side of a table that can seat about 20 sits a rotund Ardent man, the spitting image of the statue in the foyer. Dressed in a dressing gown with covered plates arrayed on the table in front of him, the governor, Sebastian, explains that he was just about to sit down to breakfast and invites the crew to join him.

SCENE 06 – The crew tells the governor about the rumored attack on Chiquita Banana and the governor tells them that not only is this impossible, the Chiquita Banana is entirely too well defended, but it was a deliberate misdirection to mask the departure of the Rapacious Demon, who has already been contracted for the job. The crew tells the governor about the damage to the Rapacious Demon and that it is likely already affected by the Brittling. The governor says this does not change things. If the crew of the Rapacious Demon thinks they can handle the mission, then he must allow the agreement to stand. The governor explains that, while the crew of the Terrapin is passing through, the Rapcious Demon has served the governor well for years.

The crew says that perhaps a middle ground can be achieved, involving a joint mission with both crews. The governor thinks this over and agrees, so long as they can get the crew of the Rapacious Demon to sign on.

The mayor explains that, by chance, an acronaut pilgrim was on his way to a polyandrium on the Reach when his ship was affected by the Brittling. A passing ship was able to to rescue the monk and he has been a guest at the governor’s mansion. The governor has Matilde bring his honored guest in.

SCENE 07 – The doors to the dining room open, and a wizened Ardent man wearing yellow robes, shaven head adorned with faded tattoos, and a faint glow emitting from his eyes, enters the room. He sits at the table and tells the crew of the Terrapin that he was on a pilgrimage visiting all of the arconaut temples and tombs when his ship was struck by the Brittling. The ancient monk hails from the legendary arconaut monastery of Atluria. Legends say that this arconaut monastery is located very close to the Conflagration and that combining the intense heat of the ever-burning fire along with their ancient wisdom, the monks are able to create devices of miraculous power.

If the crew of the Terrapin can get the monk, Felix, to Atluria, they can acquire the necessary cure for the Brittling. However, due to the nature of the arcocaut ways, any monk on a pilgrimage only knows the location of the next stop on their path; they lose all memory of their previous locations so that no one can retrace the monk’s travels and locate the hidden monastery.

Felix explains that deep within the Blackfields is a tomb of the arconauts, protected by the spectres of those who are interred within. Inside this tomb will be an engraved poem; the arconaut language being tonal in nature, a monk can decypher the poem as directions to the next tomb. It is also possible to ask the spectres to provide the way back to Atluria, though only with the greatest need as they are unwilling to allow a monk to abandon the sacred pilgrimage path.

As Felix is explaining these things to the crew, they feel his words take physical form and wrap themselves around their brain stems: Whispers, living words, form in their minds, each telling a different facet of the arconaut miracles and legends. This, above all else, proves Felix’s words to be truth.

SCENE 08 – The governor tells the crew that as far as he knows, only the first mate of the Rapacious Demon, Dobasu, knows the location of the polyandrium, and he was to guide Felix to it. Due to the crisis of the Brittling, Felix’s existence on the Blackfields must be kept with sworn secrecy.

The crew agrees and they smoke cigars with the governor. Now they only have to convince the Dobasu to go along with this new plan …

SCENE 09 – Returning to the port, Jein boards the Rapacious Demon and tells the watchman that he must meet with Dobasu. The watchman tells Jein that he has been expecting him and was told to let him in.

Dobasu is sitting in the captain’s cabin and Jein is suprised to find Rebek is also there. Jein learns that Rebek knows of a secret smuggler’s cove which will get them close to the tomb without attracting any attention. Of course, they are willing to allow the Terrapin to be the vessel used, but with a few conditions: Dobasu and Rebek are to accompany the crew of the Terrapin; they are to stop at the neighboring island and drop off the chart as promised to Rebek’s contact; and Rebek, Dobasu, and the crew of the Rapacious Demon will get a cut of all rewards, resources, salvage, and specimens gained during this adventure. Jein agrees and they make ready to leave.

SCENE 10 – Returning to the Terrapin, Jein is about to explain what happened to Garu, when Dobasu and Rebek come aboard. Garu comments that things are going to get awfully tight and tense when Felix suddenly appears on deck. No one can recall the ancient monk’s arrival by rickshaw or the strange tolling of bells they heard — the effect of their being on the pilgrimage causes lost time. Mr Navigator swears to make accurate charts of their passage if he can…