Six adventurers met in the ruins of Seaside, a town in the lost nation of Cyre now known as the Mournland. They were…

MYRNAS, a half-elf storm sorcerer and sailor. Myrnas was a Lyrandar heir. He fell in love with a Medani, who was subsequently executed, and Myrnas was excoriated. Now he considered the sea his home, and vengeance his ultimate goal, but also sought freedom and peace for his heart and mind.

ASH, a kenku ranger beastmaster and House Phiarlan agent. Ash was a kenku ranger who lost his parents before his birth. He was raised by a circus owner and became part of a traveling troupe. He and Soot, a panther found as an abandoned cub in the jungle, were working as intelligence gatherers for House Phiarlan in secret.

BRYNHILDR, a protector aasimar, cleric of tempest, and knight of the order. Brynhildr was part of a very old and forgotten order: the Valkyries, whose purpose is to guide the souls of brave warriors who died in the heat of battle to their world, in order for them to serve the almighty Allfather in their afterlife, as Einherjar.

IVORY, an aasimar warlock of the fiend and bard who grew up an urchin. Ivory was a young Aasimar orphan and a pact-of-the-tome warlock/bard. Her patron was Verenestra and her fey friend was a pseudodragon named Flair. Ivory was a happy go lucky person with a very optimistic view of the world, so she was happy to go along with whatever seemed fun and interesting.

KIARI, an aberrant dragonmarked kenku, warlock of the great old one, and an inheritor. Kiari was a Kenku with an Aberrant Dragonmark engraved into her beak. She was a Warlock with the pact of the Great Old One, and her pact was with The Blackness of the Stars. Her lineage was tied with this Eldritch being and helped her see and know more.

S.I.M.P.L.E., a dragonmarked warforged skirmisher with the Mark of Time an armorer artificer, and a soldier.
S.I.M.P.L.E. was one of the early warforged units that House Cannith had produced. Through decades of battles, S.I.M.P.L.E got faster and smarter, learning how best to survive. One day, a strange dragonmark manifested on him—the Mark of Time—and he instinctively knew that something terrible was about to happen.

The adventurers met each other in the ruins of a tavern. Ash had received a mission from his superiors in House Phiarlan to recover relics from a mysterious island off the coast of Cyre: the Isle of the Cyclopes. The island was rumored to be one of the last known destinations of Lhazaar the Mariner on her historic voyage from the distant lands of Sarlona to the continent of Khorvaire. Scholars and historians debated the truth behind the legends of Lhazaar, whether they were pioneers settling a new land, or unwanted outcasts fleeing from strife and turmoil in their homeland.

The adventurers boarded a ghostly sailing ship called the Queen Mishann’s Revenge. The sailors aboard the ship appeared as apparitions, but the command of the vessel was given to Myrnas, and the sailors obeyed him without question. The ship set sail for the nearby isle which appeared through a wall of mist. On the way, the newly met companions thought about the things that they wished to keep hidden from each other, for each of them was burdened by a terrible secret from their past.

The isle was surrounded by dangerous rocks and cliffs, so Myrnas guided the ship toward a safe harbor. But before the vessel could land, the ship came under attack from one-eyed monsters that crawled up from the water. These creatures appeared to be former adventurers who had fallen under a magical curse that robbed them of their humanity and left them with a single lidless eye. The eye granted each monster the power to peer into the hearts of others and pluck a secret from their minds. The companion fought bravely and repelled the monsters, but not before some of them had a secret stolen from them. As the last of the monsters fled back into the water, it mocked them and cried out:

“If you want your secrets to be kept hidden from the world, find the King Aommatos and make him a bargain.”

After the heroes landed on the isle, they soon found a dark cave littered with bones. Inside, they discovered a great giant who had lived inside the cave for countless centuries. The giant was blind and mad from long years without sunlight, warmth, or company. What visitors it had received had been transformed into one-eyed monsters, or were devoured by monsters on the isle and only their bones remained. When the heroes approached, the giant spoke.

“I am Aommatos, king of this isle. Long ago, a mortal mariner tricked me with a riddle, and I have never forgiven myself for my foolishness. So I have challenged all those who have passed through my realm with a test of riddles. My minions have stolen dreadful secrets from you. If you can answer my riddles, you may have your secrets back. If you tell me a riddle that I cannot answer, I will give you a relic left by the treacherous mariner.”

The companions answered the riddles of Aommatos.

“A one-eyed giant heads for the sea
On the way, he meets seven blind giants.
Each blind giant killed seven hydras.
Each dead hydra has seven rotting heads.
And each rotting head has seven eyes.
How many eyes are upon the sea?”

The answer was one.

“My child is my mother
And my mother is my seed.
I give birth to her
After she gives birth to me.
What are we?”

The answer was day and night.

The heroes answered both riddles, much to Aommatos’s dismay. Then they asked the blind king a riddle of their own.

“To all things and men I appertain,
and yet by some am shunned and disdained.
Fondle me and ogle me til you’re insane,
but no blow can harm me, cause me pain.
Children delight in me, elders take fright.
Fair maids rejoice and spin.
Cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep.
Smile, and I too shall grin.
What am I?”

The answer was one’s reflection.

The giant howled in rage for he could not guess the answer. But he remained true to his word and returned the secrets stolen from the heroes, wiping all knowledge of them from the minds of his minions. Then he gave to the heroes an ancient seaman’s chest. It contained relics from the voyage of Lhazaar the mariner. The relics revealed that the truth about the ancient migrants, whether they were exiles or explorers, lied somewhere in the middle.