Salvation Outpost

Earic waits until 37 locks Cyre’s door and your group is in Shadeborn’s quarters. He then locks the quarter’s door as well.

The body of a young Cyran soldier lays on the floor near a table. Earic stares at him, lost in thought for a moment. His brow is furrowed as if trying to solve a problem. The half-elf hesitates before finally speaking. Very unlike his usual energetic self, his voice is somber with a note of confusion.

"I…", he lets out an exasperated sigh, "I don’t know if what I just saw was real, a dream, or some enchantment of the mists, but if it’s real, we may have a problem on our hands, Gentlemen. I feel I need to remind you that Lady d’Cannith demanded that ’the Warforged’ in this ship be destroyed…"

He lowers his voice, "However, if the vision I had is true, we cannot allow that to happen."

Earic begins pacing about the room in deep contemplation as he continues, "I saw a massive creation forge. Somewhere in Cyre before its destruction. I assume a colossus forge. This massive ship, the Cyre ir’Wynarn, was in its core. That’s incredible enough, I was watching the creation of a warforged! But this forge was different. It was filled with dark magic. Merrix was there, he had some arcane device integrated into the forge. Then the most terrible of all, they brought a young child to the machine. She had a mark of storm…". He stops and looks to each of you, "They took her essence, her spirit… I don’t know, but her mark vanished and the warforged awoke and the girl was dead. I think they put her into the Cyre. I think she IS Cyre. I know it sounds crazy…"

He looks around at all of you hoping you believe him.

Earic listens intently to 37’s vision. "I have been to the forges of Eston, they were not like the ones in our visions. The creation of a warforged is a wonder to behold. This… this was different. Warforged do not need a person’s spirit to wake. The methods used by House Cannith are not necromantic in nature. It is a true creation formed of magic. I would be fascinated to find out if Cyre and possibly 37 actually have another’s spirit bound to them. Perhaps Lady d’Cannith can give us a lead on who we can speak with…."

Earic takes out his journal and begins scribbling feverishly. "Kleber, Gzizmix, I agree we cannot let Cyre be harmed, she should have her freedom. However, she cannot fly on her own. Lady d’’Cannith is the only one I know with resources to make Cyre’s repairs. The Lady’s heart is fair and she believes in the plight of the warforged. She may be our best hope right now."

He looks to the door of the room, "I know the Captain is still willing to deliver her as is. We may need to protect her from Rune. If we have only one pilot, this will be a long trip home. Be alert. See what you can learn from the Zarantyr’s crew. Does any of you have anything further to add? Any questions?"

Earic nods. "I agree with 37. We have no means to protect or repair Cyre and turning on the Zarantyr’s crew would be ill advised. I personally am not willing to sacrifice my relationship with Lady d’Cannith without at least speaking with her first."

Next he addresses Vice, "I’ll speak with Captain Vren. Rune is his first mate. I would not presume to tell him how to handle his crew."

"Kleber is quite correct, however. We are a very large target in a wide open sky at the moment. Perhaps we should learn how to use Cyre’s weapons sooner than later. Whether from without or within, we should be prepared to defend Cyre, just in case."

Earic leaves and returns shortly after his conversation with Vren. "The Captain has confined Rune to his quarters for now. He’s asked if we can assist with his watch overnight and then assess in the morning. In the meantime, he’s going to find a location to hide the vessels in the Thornwood from prying eyes."

As if on cue, you feel the lurch of the tugging resume and the ship turns south. Outside the windows, you see the last remnants of dusk and within the hour, the blue glow of Zarantyr’s ring is the only light you see.

Sloane seems less shaken than everyone else. She too was concerned for the fragile status of the ship, but happily reports everything seems in order. The Khyber crystal was undamaged.

Shortly after, Captain Vren orders her back aboard the Zarantyr to prepare for their approach into the woods.

As she returns, you inspect the cables and confirm all five are still in place and appear undamaged.

Cyre explains that she has "eyes" in front of the helm and on the front part of the under side of the ship. With those eyes, she can see for miles in all directions. You recognize the golden orb on the poop deck she’s talking about and assume there must be a similar one on the bow’s keel. Using these she can aim the various weapons. She explains that she can’t load the ballistae or cannons herself, the crew would have to do that for her.

She admits she can hear everything, everywhere inside the ship except the General’s quarters. "That’s private.", she says bashfully.

She explains that she could only ever control the air elemental, but the fire elemental ring was added after. When both rings were active, she had to work with the General as he controlled the fire elemental or risk possibly tearing herself apart. "Usually, I had to go where they wanted. Sometimes they would let me choose. Once they turned off the Fire. I got to fly with dragons!", she says excitedly.

When asked about her history, you discover she was only a year or so old at the time of the Mourning. Much of this year was spent as shakedown time, learning to handle her elemental while the General and first mate controlled theirs. There was target practice and dry runs and demonstrations throughout the Kingdom of Cyre. She sounds very proud of these moments. The hunt of Lady Illmarrow and their diversion to support the troops at Arythawn Keep and the Plymdomwood was to be her first real test.

She describes her loneliness in the air above the Mournland. How she lost track of the time. How the smoke prevented her from seeing anything, but she recalls moments of hearing voices and even recognizes your search of the wreck beneath her. She explains that the ‘Wind’ was watching someone float up toward the ship and taking a piece of her soarwood away. She giggles, "She was mad. She said if he had come come aboard, she would have thrown him right back overboard."

You get a deep sense of child-like wonder in her voice.