First Passage of the Dry Moon

Kerik’s story is an amazing one. Imagine being captured by pirates and put to work as a slave on their ship, where you work for almost a year. Then, one night, your ship is attacked by other pirates, and it shudders under the impact of ballistae and catapults. When the ram comes, water floods into your cell, but as the water rises over your head, the ship breaks apart, and you manage to wriggle free and swim to the surface. There, in the darkness, you find a piece of wood and begin to drift.

Kerik drifted for over two passages, eating raw fish and barely collecting enough rain to survive. When he landed on a mountainous isle, he began the arduous task of walking along the shore, and just as he had hoped, the island turned out to be Rel Morde.

"You can’t imagine the feeling of coming back to civilization after something like this," he told me.

From Shen he was taken to Aranor, where, among his other tales, sages have become extremely interested in his stories concerning ‘Pretty Cove’.

There have long been rumors of a ‘pirate city’ somewhere in the Known Lands, an unmapped settlement where pirates, shunned at every other port, can put in and do trade.

"Although I was never allowed in to shore," Kerik said, "we often ported in a place the pirates called ‘Pretty Cove’."

He went on to describe it as a small village, no more than thirty buildings, whose streets were filled with taverns, twylahs, and a few small shoppes.

The village is located somewhere north of Rel Morde, though they were led there by sea-stones and Kerik never had a precise feel for exactly where they were.

His tale substantiates the rumors, and even adds more mystery to the subject, for he heard many mentions of additional pirate settlements located near Jedda, Masalla, and Moraithe.

Tirian

Since the founding of Velsuna nearly 380 years ago, the residents have told stories of a great dragon that flew through the skies and descended to force villages into the granting of tithes. Sometimes the dragon would be absent for decades at a time – perhaps it was sleeping, but perhaps it was only hunting to the south, for it was also known to demand tithes in Japura and sometimes Tirané and even Moraithe.

The dragon has not been sighted for over sixty years, and the new King Avorine of Masalla sent his Chief Explorer, Lord Tarvus, to discover if the dragon had at last died.

Sailing in the Courage, a steel-clad ‘sabre galleon’ capable of weathering the worst of storms while still commanding the speed of a much lighter vessel, Tarvus set off to the north.

Now, eight moons later, the Courage has been sighted sailing south, and should, by all estimations, be passing Moraithe today. Rumors abound that Tarvus was successful in finding a large cache of dragon’s treasure, and that his ship rides low in the water with the weight of it. The cargo is destined for King Avorine’s coffers, and has the potential to make Masalla the wealthiest province in the world. Sages can only guess at the treasures that might be in the ship’s hold, which surely include numerous artifacts of Japuran design, old coins, and perhaps the famous ‘Emily’s Chest’, a tithe given two hundred years ago by the residents of Zhakarlay. The chest is said to be filled with loose gemstones of every variety.

Although the Courage has been attacked by two pirate ships, it repelled the attackers with little difficulty, sinking them both. The Courage is heavily armed. Arrival of the cargo in Masalla is expected within the moon.

Lord Kieran

Erinae, the famous majae of Moraithe, is visiting Queen Lillian in Aranor next passage.

Arriving in the Golden Gull, a small caravel crewed by her own men, Erinae comes to discuss ‘the growing prosperity of all provinces, and the hidden threat that could topple it all.’

A powerful diviner who has created her own systems of magical working, Erinae has also learned to harness and control the ‘inner magics’ present in all people, comparable to the 'Glamour' of the faerie races. She and Lillian met once before, and reportedly enjoyed each others’ company immensely. Although the visit is ‘official’, most sources say that the two are simply anxious to pursue a friendship.

Erinae will be staying for two moons, and will be giving a unique ‘magic show’ at the Theater of Aranor.  She will also be making numerous presentations and speeches, including one to the teachers at the School of Lysandra north of Aranor, all in support of her ultimate goal of creating a ‘renaissance of magic’, an idea inspired by Queen Lillian’s renaissance of knowledge.

Tania

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