The session starts with the heroes fast-forwarding their sailing journey from Skeldharbor to Embermouth, passing by Brasswake, Saffron Anchorage, and Oakcrest.

During the journey, Lyra rescues a fellow druid called Wavekeeper who was about to be eviscerated by a sadistic gang of halflings with ponytails and tattoos. The handsome druid is also traveling to Zoqoi for unrevealed reasons, but he shares with Lyra that the chromatic dragons they’ve been hearing about and fighting are called the Unseen Paw. All the dragons want the same thing: fix what’s wrong with the world by finding and using the Wyrmspire, but there are several factions within the group. One faction is composed of one-dragon operations like Xul’Gath, who are looking for the mythical artifact by themselves. Another faction is made up of highly intelligent and organized dragons who have infiltrated human, dwarven, and elven society in high ranking positions and are amassing power to help them cover more ground looking for the artifact. Finally, there is a third group made of a small number of dragons from an ancient lineage who have the power the corrupt divine magic found in monasteries and other hole grounds so that instead of flowering into the air and over the world, it’s instead directed to the earth and used as a compass to triangulate the position of the Wyrmspire.

While the group was stopping at Oakcrest, Brand befriends an old man who became blind many years ago and whose sons recently died in an attack on the Western city of Tynnar. They will be buried next week, along with many other soldiers and the old man would give anything to see their sons one last time, at their funeral. That night, Brand’s God speaks to him through his 101 Paladin Manual and offers him to give the old man sight in exchange of Brand’s most cherished memory. Brand accepts the deal and decides to let go of the memory of his father and him forging their first blade. He writes it down on paper before agreeing to the pact, but once the deal is done, reading the story no longer triggers anything. In exchange for Brand’s help, the old man gifts him with his most precious belonging, an immovable rod that he acquired years ago.

While the party was ashore at Saffron Anchorage, Asmodeus, via a Minion, offers Nemo, protection for one year in exchange of him committing to going to the Ninth Layer of hell and agreeing to undergo a ritual to extract the soul inside of him. The preliminary contract promises no physical harm and no death, but Nemo is weary of the language’s precision and tells the minion to tell Asmodeus to fuck off. The elder minion promises Nemo he will regret it and leaves.

Soto, meanwhile, is assaulted by the dilemma of what to do with his two adopted goblin sons, Klik and Klak, because as they rapidly mature, their evil nature is turning into growing obstacles for both him and the party. In the end, he decides to not give up on them and keep them.

While approaching Oakcrest, the party comes across a swift brigantine comandeered by a broad-shouldered woman with the bearing of a warrior priest. The woman welcomes the heroes and asks them for help misdirecting the Queen guards that are chasing after them. The party learns that it’s because they stole something from her. The only committal hero who respondes to the offer is Nemo who agrees to help the thieves. When the galleon that was after the thieves reaches our heroes, Nemo confirms it’s the royal army and successfully lies to them as to the direction that the thieves took.

Finally, throughout the three weeks, the heroes have three opportunities to use their ship’s arcane magic to get out of challenging situations. First they use it to escape a dangerous storm that threatened their two ships colliding. Then they meet a ship of nudist pirates and decide to defend themselves instead of using their ship. Sadly, during the skirmish the pirates sink Paco’s ship. Finally, after leaving Oakcrest, they come across a drifting ship throughout the Severil Islands. Nemo explores the ship, finds nothing and the party decides to appropriate it before something bad happens to the ship. However, on the ship was a gibbering mouther, a large aberration that had absorbed the crew of the ship and that, attracted to the heroe’s arcane engine, threatens to destroy it. The heroes switch on the engine which vaporizes the abomination. However so much use of the arcane contraption causes instability and the engine explodes sinking the ship.

Paco, having lost both his own ship and the ship the heroes promised is furious at the heroes and despite his good-natured personality, makes it clear the heroes now owe them their original price for the journey to Zoqoi, 3200 gp. The heroes ask him for patience while they find a solution to the problem and, grudgingly, the situation gets postponed.

During the journey the heroes also gather the following information: (TODO: summarize into a more readable and compact form): Oakcrest

• King Flora Margarina on high alert: several attempted murders

Embermouth

• Ruled by King Eldermore
• Southernmost bastion of the Mace of Pelor (name of the region).
• Trading hotspot
• Rule of law
• Ambivalent towards slavery → tensions with Mace of Pelor neighboring kingdoms

Zoqoi

• Northernmost point of Aquis (continent)
• Ruled by six slave lords and ladies
• Institutionalized slavery
• Seen as barbarians by the northern continent
• Entrance to the Red Sea
• Rich and powerful: important N-S and E-W trade routes

Red Sea

• Dangerous, vast desert: heat, sandstorms, monsters, and nomadic tribes
• Travel via defended caravans and from oasis to oasis
• Water is a matter of life and death
• White elves: a handful of nomadic tribes spread through the desert
• Treasure hunters scour the desert in search of old cities swallowed by the desert

Beyond the Red Sea

• High mountains and jungle
• Cannibal halflings, dwarven kingdoms

Misc

• Severance Protocol less active on Aquis
• Increased dragon and cultist activity everywhere you’ve visited
• Not uncommon to see creatures from Hell roam the desert

The fast-forward ends with the heroes arriving at Embermouth, a city famous for its massive red cliffs. While the party is resting at the inn, they overhear a half-ogre monk talking with a friend. They are going to participate in a martial arts tournament in Zoqoi, where the winner can easily gather 700 gp+. Soto is already seeing himself as the winner and the party starts assuming that prize money is theirs as they start looking for ways to pay Paco back. The heroes also convince the half-ogre and his companion to use Paco’s ship to get to Zoqoi, to appease Paco.

The heroes then account for their belongings and once they decide what to sell, Brand and Ike go to the Embermouth’s market to do sell their wares recouping 800 gp. Nemo also leaves a hidden ad message on a prominent street offering to sell a potion to get rid of your enemies and proposing a meeting place for that same night.

Late that day, Nemo and Soto go to the alley to see if any buyers show up, while the rest go to the market area and perform a very effective musical ad that involves Ike dancing on his stilts, Brand singing with his Pavarotti voice, and Lyra contributing in more limited way. The performance is a success and their “Go to Zoqoi” hit gains them six more travellers whom, after what they agreed with Paco, will lower the fee owed by the party.

At the alley, a buyer shows up, but he turns out to be a veteran office with four accompanying guards. Soto, who was hiding on the rooftop, masterfully climbs down and up rescuing Nemo from the tough spot and they run away over the rooftops. The guards chase them for several minutes, but the heroes manage to mislead them using their cunning, stealth and magic. Then, carefully, they make their way to the port to wait until the morning.

At the inn, while Lyra is taking watch and Brand, Ike, and Klik and Klak are sleeping, two bearded devils smash through the door and attack the heroes. They ask the heroes something in infernal language but, lacking a speaker, are limited to kicks. In the first round the devils bring Lyra down to two hit points and that’s despite being very lucky with the side effects of the attacks. The heroes realize they’re outgunned and flee. First Klik and Klak grab Lyra over their heads, run to the bed in front of the window and jump through it smashing it but landing on their feet despite being one floor high. Then Brand grabs their three backpacks and his heavy armor, throws it out of the window and also jumps without injuring himself. Finally, Ike gets on the bed facing the devils and, right after a cultist that was hiding behind the devils demands to know where Nemo is, Ike responds casting an upleveled Thunderwave at the devils throwing through the opposing room’s wall and knocking them prone, and then he jumps off the window, fails Brand’s attempt to grab him, but luckily also lands on his feet without hurting himself.

The devils then look at them via the window, but with their kidnapping attempt failed, without Nemo in sight, and with the heroes half-way out of reach, they retreat.

The party meets at the docks and decides to wait hiding in a warehouse until it’s time to leave.

During the wait, the raven that Lyra befriended shows up, throws another mysterious card, this time one called the Fates, and tells Lyra that something strange is going on in the North. The wind currents are unnaturally strong and he’s unable to fly to the Ice Kingdoms. Lyra asks him for more details about why the raven was flying so far away, where is he getting these powerful cards and why is he able to track Lyra over such long distances, but the raven just cocks his head and changes topic.

At the appointed time, our heroes depart Embermouth with the half-ogre and the rest of the travellers. During the following week nothing significant happens. Soto gets more information about the martial arts tournament and this mysterious Master Wei. Lyra tries to get more details about the card, but none of the passengers seems able to help with it. Nemo manages to decypher more of Sister Gloria’s notes, where he finds out that several of Zoqoi’s ruling lords and ladies are confirmed polymorphed dragons from the Unseen Paw.

The session ends as the heroes arrive at Zoqoi.