Our adventurers prepare to make their way out into the world in their continued pursuit of The Step-Queen. First though, it's Midwinter!
We begin in Castle Tethyr. The gang are gathered in the main hall, along with Odyeus. He is going over the preliminary plans for the party to make their way out to The Dead Tree Hollow in the lands of Impiltur. "Well," he begins. "This is quite the journey you all are accepting to take. To lands far away. To lands that are different and wild. So much more so than you are used to here in our humble home of Darromar. Follow me please." He leads them into his study where upon his great table is a beautifully detailed map of the whole continent. He waggles his wrinkly Wizardly fingers and the map comes to life! It appears as if breezes are blowing over the plains. Snow is falling across The Spine Of The World. The waters of the seas are rippling and churning. There are storms far to the south and foggy blankets covering the eastern expanses. A magickal view of this living world. He brings their attention to the east where a drawn star on the map indicating the capital city of the nation of Chondath, Arrabar, springs up off the map and dances inches above. He begins. "Your first stop is Arrabar. Situated at the throat of The Vilhon Reach, one of the most important waterways for the western lands. This city is also one of the fancier locations you shall ever witness. Particularly with Midwinter just around the corner. It is all lights and bourgeois establishments. Luckily for you, you will need to spend no more than the remainder of the day you arrive, and over night as I have arranged for you all the following morning to board a ship I'm told is named.." he shuffles through some papers looking for the info he is about to present to you. "Ah, here it is. The ship's name is 'The Starcross II'. That ship will be your temporary home away from home for a while as it will be able to take you through The Reach, and then north across The Sea Of Fallen Stars, finally making port in Raven's Bluff, on the western shores of Impiltur. From there according to my records, you will not be too far from Dead Tree Hollow, your next ultimate goal in tracking down The Step-Queen."
"And now on to my second point of interest before you all leave". The old Wizard turned his eyes to Sherrinford Benedict, the Rock Gnome Wizard. The newest member of this band of adventurers. With a comfort in his voice, Odyeus states "I do not know what brought you to our fair city, yet know you are welcomed, & I am pleased to know that you ended up with these fine individuals we all cherish so. Much has befallen our Kingdom as you may know, and they have been the ones keeping these walls standing. I fear with the recent developments with our Lady Princess, and having our Royal Pair in the wind(although we have issued a public statement that they had to go abroad), they and now maybe along with them you, can be our only rescue." The wizard turns his attention back to the group as a whole. "You have all done so much, we can never fully repay you. And now you continue your heroics for us as you make your way out into the wide, wild, world. I will do my best to keep eyes on you as you travel. I have set ahead so when you reach Arrabar, seek out The Seaside. It is one of the finer establishments in that city, and will lodge & feed you for the night. I do hear the city is having their festive Midwinter celebration so that will be something to look forward to while you're there. And in the morning, you board the ship and enjoy the ride. It will be a number of days/nights aboard the ship until you reach Impiltur's southwestern shores and the docks of Raven's Bluff. I do so wish you all well and may you be beyond any of the water sicknesses I see some poor souls suffering from losing their lunches over the sides and such. Alas, meet with me tomorrow morning.." he trails off for a moment as if in deep thought. "Tomorrow morning in the Royal Gardens!" he said with a bit of exclamation. "Have with you your steeds and I shall assist you in your departure to Arrabar." And with that Odyeus goes back to tending the Princess along with the staff. The late morning sun continues it's rise to midday as the party makes their way through their last day and eve in Darromar. Pip bought potions, Inka mixed a few, and Sherrinford read books.
After an errand filled day, it's nightfall. The party are all in their beds getting the possibly last good night's sleep they'll have for a while. Sherrinford. He quietly lies awake in his bed thinking over his recent days and where he stand professionally as his most recent mark is still out there somewhere. And now also thinking personally seeing as how he is now aligned with the Heroes of Darromar. As those thoughts are fleeting through his mind carrying him ever closer to oblivion, there is a sudden and clear "tap tap tap" at his window. As he approaches the window and pulls it open, there on the small balcony built off the wall, roosts an enormous black crow. Biggest one he has ever seen! It looks at him with its beady eyes and softly clicks and caws at him. It then lowers its head as he notices a necklace around its neck, the bird beckoning for him to take it. Once in hand the small golden pendant attached cracks open. And on the inside, the following words in Gnomish, or 'Gnim' are found inscribed:
My dear fellow Sherrinford Benedict
For our gait may not be as wide as many others
Please find this majestic feathered fellow an extension of your foots
To aid in your travels and letting you keep up with your new friends
wherever you may roam
Yours,
G.G.
In another room of the tavern is Pip. He is in his room, tossing and turning, trying to shut the world down for the night. Its been a hectic recent past for the Dark Elf-not a Drow. Coming from just working at The Anvil's Ring, to hiding away reading his favorite books at the library avoiding The Stick, to now this grand adventure. It's a lot. Maybe though, a lot is a good thing. He ponders this while wondering when dreams will come, when a soft knocking at his door occurs. When he rises and cracks the door open, he sees it's Winky. "Ah hi Mr. Pip sorry for the late intrusion. Earlier there was a man who was asking for you. He said very simply if I could do the favor of leaving this with you!" Winky produces a small box and then wishes Pip a good night and hops away. Pip cautiously opens the box to see inside there is a piece of parchment, and a velvet pouch. The parchment reveals a letter written to him in Elvish and it reads:
I am so happy and proud to see you using your magicks so,
Showing the world the wonders within you everywhere you go.
And as you now make your way into the world beyond the walls,
keeping you and yours safe must be paramount of all.
Please find this little trinket, its rule for you to abide
To help you along your way, ensuring the goodness you will provide.
May the stage always be ours,
L.C.
Peeking inside the velvety pouch, Pip sees a small 3 inch long skinny vial adorned to a golden chain. Instantly he knows what this is, but why would someone give him the Bloodwell Vial?
The next morning arrives. Once the group and their mounts(horses four and an enormous crow) have been gathered it is time for them to head to The Royal Gardens. While they make their way through town, they notice it seems like there are a LOT of local folk waving to them, cheering them on, and as they continue on, the locals follow behind in procession. They toss flower petals, they sing songs, they toss ale into the air(much to the chagrin of any local Dwarves). 'Tis a very merry population. And soon enough they arrive at the archway entrance to The Royal Gardens of Tethyr. Everywhere is an explosion of holiday color with the local flora beaming in the morning light. Reds, greens, silvers and blues all around. And then there they see Odyeus in the Gardens. And hundreds of local Darromarians gathered! Everyone is there. Winky The Rabbit. Both Lt Dexlo and Sgt. Raghnall of The Darromar Guard along with a company of Guards all in formation and salute. Lady Liriel shines in her silver and golden robes, her smile unmistakable. The Tunazhee family stands together, waving to them all. Not smiling but still outstanding are the Frackfall clan. Their eyes beaming proudly, leathery fists clenched hard on their weapons in their various posts through the crowd. And Fissok is near the back of the crowd, as to be the first to get to the castle if needed. And on the edge of The Gardens, the party swears they feel the gaze of small black beady eyes silently admiring them, they camouflaged so well.
And there in the center of The Gardens, is a large and beautifully crafted white gazebo, adorned with streams of holly and flowers and tinsel. Odyeus invites them and their mounts within as there are five separate indentations in a circular pattern designed into the perimeter of the floor. Once situated, the old Wizard turns to address the crowd. Essentially he praises the Heroes of Darromar and gives assurances to the locals that the tasks ahead are nothing these five cant handle, and that Darromar and her people will always be here for them. And with that he turns to the party, and with almost the look of a proud Granpappy, he bows to them. And as he does, they all look out into the crowd as small fireworks go off. Yet they aren't as bright or as loud as the teleportation sequence begins. Yet if the heroes had the moment to take one last look to the grand tower of Castle Tethyr, they would see there high up in a window, the face of a young Princess, partially smiling, the morning sun beaming off her tiara, waving her small hand in a goodbye gesture and the all too familiar look in her eyes of youthful hope. These are the last things they realize as the city of Darromar watches as their heroes magically ZOOP! out of existence right before there very eyes, ending with thunderous cheer and applause. Each hoping for their quick and safe return home…
Moments later the group's senses return to them. Their eyes and noses and ears open. They are outside on a coastline. Looking out to the north they see the body of water known as The Vilhon Reach. And at the land's tip, lies the Chondathian capital, Arrabar. They are barely two or three miles away. And to their surprise as it is rather nice out this afternoon, it's snowing! A slow, almost hypnotizing sheet of snowflakes gently falls all around as far as they can see. It is that time of year for sure, but the temperatures of this region don't match the precipitation. Yet as they stick your hand out, or their tongues like they did as wondrous yutes, these are indeed snowflakes. Judging the sun's position it is approximately 2pm and check-in is at 3p! It's time to ride to the city of Arrabar.
As they approach the city's gates, they decorated heavily with Midwinter festives, the party are greeted by the city's guards upon entry. They also are decked out in moderately themed attire within their impressive armors and postings. Once proven they do not bring ill-will to their city for the holidays, the guards welcome them, and give them directions to The Seaside, the gem of the Harbor District. It's not hard to miss either because while en route they realize Odyeus wasn't kidding. This city is lavish. And very lively. The Midwinter spirit is alive and well in this part of town. Every structure and street post is decorated to the hilt! There are folks bussing about here and there, children running through the lightly snow covered streets and music fills the air from various establishments. Eventually making their way to The Seaside, they are greeted and treated like the lovely guests they are. The holiday outfit-themed staff offers to tend their mounts, and they escort the party to the front desk. The staff checks them in, assures all costs have been covered, and they are given the key to the Bright Sun Suite where they shall spend a glorious evening. They also proudly, and maybe with a lil bit of enthusiasm, invite the party to join in on the city's Midwinter Festival activities tonight that will begin shortly after sunset in the center of town. Arriving to their suite, which is essentially a large rectangular two story section of the backside of the hotel that has been constructed out as an ultra luxe suite for the five of them. There are five separate rooms between the two floors, each roomy and thickly decorated for the holiday, (including the bathtub of hot water that will never go cold) and the entire back side of the suite is a thickly glassed wide open view to the harbor itself and the lands beyond the Vilhon Reach. There are numerous ships gently bobbing in the harbor. Many dockhands milling about doing their duties. One of those must be The Starcross II they think as you decide what to do now as sunset approaches on this Midwinter Eve, and the city opens up the celebrations.
The Seaside, Arrabar's exclusive Inn & Tavern nestled in the Harbor District
Arrabar offers holiday revelers many festive Midwinter festivities such as:
Ice fishing contest at the pond in the park.
Sledding races on Shining Hill
Ice skating races on the recently constructed Icedrome
Eating and drinking contests nearly everywhere you could look.
And as the banner that the party saw upon entering Arrabar advertised, the main event of the evening, the annual Arrabar Midwinter Snowball Extravaganza. Itself beginning at the stroke of midnight signaling the arrival of Midwinter Day, and the start of Deadwinter.
Pip decides to try his hand at ice fishing. It blew his young mind to think you could pull fish out of pure ice and not moving waters like in the river back home. Making his way through the crowd and observing how this is done, he is offered a simple but still extravagant to him fishing pole. It had an actual reel and all. Not just a stick and string like he was used to. He attached some bait and lowered his line into the small hole in the ice. Not a minute later, he was reeling in a large silver fish with a thick red stripe down its body! This turned out to be a tasty treat for he and Sendak. A Goliath eating raw fish with a Dark Elf. There's a story in itself! As they were enjoying the snack, a raggedy old man came upon them. "Hah. You ain't caught nothin til you caught Ole Mouthy! Alas nobody can catch that old bugger!" Then the man just wandered off into the crowd as if he was never even there in the first place. Well now the idea of catching a monster fish no one ever caught before ate away at Pip. He made his way over to the fishing vendor stall and inquired about the monster under the ice. The vendor in the booth laughed it off as a tall tale and then just sort of slinked out of his stall and into the crowd. When he closed the door behind him, Pip saw an enormous fishing pole hanging on the door. Easily seven feet long, and a reel the size of a homemade pie! No way was he going to pass up this chance. After working a little of his Elven magic, he made his way back to the ice with the extra long pole in his hand. To anyone else, yes the pole still rested on its hooks on the door of the stall. Using bits of the silver fish he had caught earlier as bait, he tossed his line into the ice hole. And waited. Pip suddenly had a bite alright. Such a bite that the pole and Pip himself were pulled almost all the way into the hole in the ice! On his belly and straining to hold on, Pip called out to his buddies for help. Alystn, full of local food and drink, first ran out and slid on his belly down to grab Pip's feet. And then Sendak seeing his strength was needed as well, dove down and grabbed Alystn's feet. Then someone grabbed the Goliath's feet! Unknown amounts of strength were used in a chain of hands on feet before the hole became sections of broken ice as finally the biggest fish anyone had ever seen came roaring out of the ice. Ole Mouthy had been caught! The raucous applause and cheer was so loud even Sherrinford way up in town at the library and Inka over at the sledding competition heard the revelry of their friend's victory. Catching their breath together, the gang were approached by festival officials asking if they could have Ole Mouthy to mount as a celebration of the events for this Midwinter. Ole Mouthy now hangs in the Town Hall for all to see.
Ole Mouthy, the legendary fish of Arrabar Pond
The party continued reveling in the seasonal activities as the evening waned on. Sherrinford and his raven companion proved that yes, birds could ice skate. And so damn well that they won the whole damn thing! Never again could someone say they didn't see a Gnome and a raven win an ice skating relay race! And Inka won a silver medal in the sledding competition! A Firbolg on a snow sled, flying down Arrabar's Shining Hill screaming with joy. Oh what a night was had by all.
Ending the festival, and beginning Midwinter Day, Arrabar's Snowball Extravaganza was a wild and merry event. The city's Mayor appeared in the middle of the park's immense snow covered field. He addressed his citizens and the tourists alike, welcoming them to the city's celebratory night. Thanking them for partaking in the revelry, he removes his top hat and admires it. And then, as he tosses it into the air, in a surprisingly boisterous voice exclaims, "let the Midwinter Snowball Extravaganza begin!" In nearly the same action he immediately charges out of the park as all around the crowds dive down and begin making snowballs, and unleash the most epic snowball fight of all time. Dozens and dozens of folk slinging and throwing, ducking and diving, juking and jiving, yelling and screaming and laughing as the snowballs of Arrabar fly through the night. Eventually, all the snow is used up and the extravaganza comes to an end. Its now time for everyone to gather at the great tent that has been erected in the park and join in food and drink and merry times with each other. With dawn then approaching in mere hours, everyone full of food and drink, some more than others, makes their way home. The party all make it back to their suite and prepare to settle down for the night. Everyone but Pip was able to settle because when he took a moment to look out over the harbor in the snowy night sky, he saw the most peculiar thing.
Under the guise of the snow and stars, a group of dock hands are loading an extra large crate onto a galleon ship. They struggle and heave and ho until it makes it onto the ship's deck. They then pass it off to a group of the ship's deck hands, who continue the crate's journey to the galleon's storage somewhere below. The dock hands then regroup on the deck and meet up with a large man in a snazzy red suit who came out of one of the ship's rooms. He is bald & has a very distinguished white beard and big ole gut. They exchange some words, maybe some heated, until the big guy in the red suit appears to hand something to each of the dock hands. The three smaller men look to each other, then to their hands, then scurry off the ship and into the darkness of the Harbor District. The big guy in the red suit then looks around as if checking to see if anyone is watching, and satisfied he starts making his way towards the innards of the ship. Just before Pip lost sight of him, he swore the red suited feller stopped and suddenly turned around and "oh shit is he looking at me?!" Pip thought. He ducked down out of the way and jumped into his bed, thinking "ehhh this probably happens all the time in this place" as he settled down and quickly fell into the sandman's embrace.
Morning in Arrabar arrives like it does in every other settlement of the Realms. The sun rises, the comfortable air settles and the people begin another day anew. The party awakens maybe a bit worse for wear, maybe not from their most jubilant night last night. After gathering their things and wolfing down breakfast, and checking out of the room, they make their way down to the Harbor District on this Midwinter Day. Plenty of ships in the harbor today, and one of them is their ride, but which? As they are making their way through the Harbor, a familiar(minus to Sherrinford) and surprising voice rings out. "Oy I believe this is the ship you be seeking, millllaaadddyyyy." They follow the voice and see their old buddy Borfo hanging off one of the masts of a beautiful galleon ship on the east end of the harbor. He scrambles down(as a man of his stature can scramble) and greets them all. He explains that since Odyeus isnt able to make the trek to Impiltur with them, he figured since it will be a ship-heavy scenario, they could use a heavy ship guy. And ole Borfo certainly fits that bill! And he also is just for today festively dressed with reds and greens and silvers amongst his leathery and cloth sailor gear. Even has a small bell on the back tip of his hat which rings as he salutes them all as they make their way up the gangway to the deck of the ship. And that is where Borfo introduces them to the Captain of the Starcross II, Capt. Morsho. He is a tall and sea-built man clearly a master of cutlass and blunderbuss as they see him admiring them admiring his unique weapons. As the ship's deck hands, which number in the couple dozen, make their way all around prepping the ship for departure, the Captain gives you a tour of the ship and an overview of his ship rules. Essentially there is only one…Don't be an arrrrsehole.
Captain 'Silver-Eye' Morsho, head of the galleon Starcross II
If any help is ever needed with something, the party just needs to seek out any of the ship's hands and they can assist. They are told this should be a smooth sail through The Vilhon Reach, and up through The Sea Of Fallen Stars. And before they know it, they'll be pulling into Raven's Bluff. The group are shown to their quarters, two levels below deck. Stately enough rooms with a simple bed/storage and porthole to toss your waste out of. En route down, they are instructed to please avoid any trips into the first level under-deck as that area has been reserved for a couple of VIP passengers who are essentially just hitching a ride along with them. Capt. Morsho is sure they will make their introductions soon enough, probably at the dinner bell which strikes precisely at dark each evening. An extra passenger or two is not too uncommon of a practice, especially if it lines the Captain's pockets for his ship that much more. After any Q&A is had, and they are all confirmed prepared to leave, the Capt begins barking orders to his clan. And what a process to watch it is. Every one has a job. And that job is done to near-perfection. It is almost like watching a dance choreographed live in front of them all. From the tip of the masts down to the rowers and rudder-men below and the artillerists in between, The Starcross II is now ready for it's voyage out to the seas. And so she goes…
The galleon ship Starcross II. Named so in honor of the original Starcross, rumored lost ages ago.
Through the snowy day and into the night, The Starcross II makes it's way through The Vilhon Reach without interruption. Except onboard by Larvis Cantrell every five seconds. You see, Larvis Cantrell is one of the two VIP passengers along for the ride. And he is a Bard. A Bard that never shuts up! And he has a flair for all the things that make a Bard...well, a Bard.
A recent portrait painted of the famed Bard, Larvis Cantrell.
Truly though he did give the touristy overview of landmarks and locations through the Reach as they passed by along the journey. And his music wasn't too shabby either. Songs about a Rooster and a Man In A Box. So it wasn't all bad. The other VIP passenger well, was too good to be true if he wasn't right there in front of them all, in the flesh, living and breathing. It's Santa Claus! Red suit, white beard and big ole gut. He greeted them all kindly but he did share that after all that work he does in one night he is tuckered out and just wants to go to sleep. So he ate and shared a story or two with all, then quietly and quickly retired to his room.
Night fell deeper in and the ship had grown quiet as most of the crew and the Capt have turned in for the night. The only sounds the party hears are the lapping waves and the sails billowing. The five of them are on the deck, admiring the snow fall among the blackness, when both the winds and the snows suddenly and ferociously pick up, reducing visibility all around. And out on the waters, or maybe up in the skies, they can't quite tell as the precipitation has so intensified that they have to shield their eyes, a booming & sinister voice rings out.
"Well look at them now, on their little boat, thinking they are going to find all their answers, when all they're going to find... is their end!" The echoing cackle in the darkness rings out sending a different type of shiver down their spine as it is the exact voice they've not heard since the day of The Attack in Darromar! As they all think of how to get past this madness, Larvis Cantrell the Bard comes bursting upstairs to the deck, panting, and yelling gibberish. He nearly trips because well…he's barely dressed as he tries to keep his pants from falling around his ankles. He pauses, taking a big gulp of air and says "Who the in the nine hells did they let onto this ship! That is not the jolly fat man of Midwinter!" his finger pointing to down below the ship. The look in his eyes is familiar. The party has seen it before. It's genuine fear. Larvis then bolts away towards other parts of the ship, his unabashed Bard-ly shame not far behind. And thats when they see it. The large man that was once Santa is no more. Pieces of what was the Santa Claus they met at dinner earlier, are now falling off of, and disappearing from, The Thing That Should Not Be.
Straight out of a nightmare, 'The Thing That Should Not Be' makes it's entrance
As it menacingly stands on the opposite side of the Starcross's outer deck, hardly visible through the torrent of wind and snow all around, what the group at first thought were the deck hands coming to their rescue, are no longer they, but now these chilling silent beings.
They cannot be totally described, except that they are no longer the deck hands of The Starcross II
These beings exude bitter cold and supernatural light from where their bodies once were inside their seafaring clothing. They surround the party, landing and scurrying all around them from their rests in the masts and nettings and various ship spots, but they do not advance towards the party. Their counterpart however, silently observes from the far side of the deck. It makes no sounds or words, but they can feel it. Pressing on the edges of their minds. This is a distracting feature. As the winds whip up and the snow blows in sheets like a terrible blizzard, they regain their attention back to the being, but it is gone. After a moment through the snow Borfo appears, panting as if he had just ran up to find out what the ruckus was all about. "Are you all, are you all OK?" he yells out through the wildly increased weather. Before any of them can even get out the words of confirmation, Borfo attacks! He gets a running start and jumps high into the snowy air and comes slamming down onto the deck with thunderous force. This effort ends up knocking Inka prone. Once they all regain their senses and bearings, they come to find Borfo is nowhere to be seen. Gathering together on the deck, the Bard Larvis Cantrell finally comes running back. This time with his pants securely in place. And he is glaring at them all, sneering even. And then suddenly he unleashes a vile, disgusting, make their mamas blush string of insults at Sherrinford who kneels down in anguish from the mental attack. This is all so surprising to the party. What the hell could be going on? Which begs the big question. What the hell are they gonna do?
What they do best. They steeled themselves in place, doing their best to keep track of each other's positions through the ferocious blinding weather. Knowing whatever that thing was, it had to go down. And whatever it was, it had power. Power that could not be explained. At times it was in front of them, slamming them with horrendous attacks that really really hurt. And then it would just disappear from sight. And then instead of it, other members of the party were attacking each other! Pip stabbed Sendak in the gut. Sendak attacked his friends with his mighty quarterstaff and boots. And while all this was going on, any time they tried to cross the ship's deck to get to the creature(if it even was a creature), they were blasted by extreme attacks of cold from the things that replaced the deck hands, which were standing all over the place. After what felt like an eternity, the fighting paused. And each member of the party on deck suddenly felt trapped in place as a voice rang out. But not out loud. The voice, sinister and oozing, was in side their heads. They could only look ahead to the other side of the deck, to see The Thing That Should Not Be standing there. "You will not win. You shall fall!" As these words wracked their minds, The Thing That Should Not Be suddenly and effortlessly climbed over the side of the deck of the ship, and leapt into the waters below. The replacement deck hands that were stoic but deadly, suddenly were no more than piles of clothing and outfits where they "stood".
After that intense fight, Capt Morsho appeared unharmed and checked on his men that yet remained. Their numbers had certainly dwindled to less than a couple dozen now. The Thing That Should Not Be now seemingly gone, they all breathed a bit easier. This is when Pip remembered the night before and what he saw from his suite window. He gave the details as best he could to the group and the Captain. Which then Capt Morsho raised a good question. Looking around he says, "Well if that thing got on the ship, what the hell is in its crate down in cargo?"
Led by the Capt, with Borfo picking up the rear, the group cautiously made their way down to the cargo hold. They came upon the aged wooden crate seen previously by Pip. It was easily seven feet tall and four to five feet wide squared. And it appeared to be sewn closed as instead of nails and bolts and hinges, there were skinny coils of this red and white pulsating magical energy of sutures wrapped all through the edges of the perimeter of the lid of the crate. No weapon or tool of theirs could cut it. After many weapon strikes and curses, the newest member of the group, Sherrinford, deduced that if it was a magical seal, then something magical must be able to get past it. He called forth his magical raven companion which took immediately to the puzzle. It began eating away at the sutures with its beak as if they were strings were Midwinter candy! Once it got enough of the seal pulled away, the lid fell off and landed flush to the floor with a pronounced boom that made Larvis jump and let out a whimsy "oooh!". A cloudy mist escaped from the box revealing a tall man, adorned in a flashy red suit, sporting a glorious white beard, & a big ole gut!. His eyes fluttered open long enough to stare down each of the individuals standing around, and then probably out of instinct, he just bolted out of the box, past the party out of the room, and made his way topside. By the time they all got there too, they make it in enough time to watch Santa Claus whistle out into the darkness through the now lessening winds and snowfall. After a moment he looks at them all and winks, and then they hear what they think are…Midwinter bells? Suddenly down from the sky and alongside the ship, comes this grand flying contraption with six massive antlered reindeer at the fore. Santa Claus looks at them all, and as he vaults up and over the side of the ship and up onto the sleigh, he says down to them with a gleam in his eye and chuckle in his voice, "Some Midwinter, huh? "Ho ho ho!" are the last words they hear as the jolly old fat man of Midwinter disappears into the skies above.
The group all gathers on the deck of the ship. The party, Borfo, The Bard, and The Capt with some of his recovered men all watch as the winds die down, the snowflakes stop falling, and the clouds dissipate above, revealing the purple hued signal of dawn to the east. As they're all observing this, one of the deck hands up in a crow's nest on the main mast yells out "Ahoy! Land ahoy! We be coming upon the Pirate Isles!"
Merry Midwinter!
FIN
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