An elemental spirit of air guides the heroes on their journey to find the Fortress of Bone and Ice. Along the way, the Divine Reclamation enters the Lhazaar Principalities and arrives in the harbor of the Emerald Isle, where a long-lost love returns and beseeches the heroes for their aid in a quest to free a pirate prince—the rightful ruler of the Emerald Isle.

Lhazaar Principalities, 12 Zarantyr, 998 YK

The Divine Reclamation bore the form of a mighty colossus wielding a galleon—the rebuilt Reclamation of Lhazaar—like a fearsome cudgeol. Now the newly christened Reclamation waded across the lands with surprising speed, outpacing the sentinels and bounty hunters sent by Karrnath, until at last the vessel passed beyond upon the Mror Holds and the eastern-most reaches of the continent, entering the domain of the pirate princes of Lhazaar.

Along the way, Gerkin was deep in his arcane research until he discovered a means of summoning and binding an elemental spirit. He proceeded to call upon an “invisible talker,” a very talkative spirit of air from the elemental plane of Syrania. Gerkin asked the spirit how to find the Fortress of Bone and Ice, and the spirit answered with a long-winded account in Auran. Gerkin was dismayed, for he could not understand Auran, which sounded only like the voice of the wind. Myrnas was the only member of the crew who could understand the primordial language of Syrania, but he had become the captain of the new Reclamation and was still busy becoming acclimated to its helm controls.

Therefore, Gerkin proceeded to perform another arcane ritual to allow himself to comprehend the Auran language. In the meantime, SIMPLE and Lanfear attempted to entertain the invisible talker. But they found that they could not understand the alien nature of their extraplanar guest, and their cultural misunderstanding led them to accidentally offend the elemental spirit. When Gerkin had finally completed his ritual, all he could understand of the elemental’s speech were words of sorrow and homesickness.

To assuage the elemental and mend its mood, Gerkin sang it a dwarven song of departure and longing for one’s homeland. It was a famous song known to many people across Khorvaire, each changing the words to suit the places that they longed for. Though Gerkin was a tailor and not a singer, he found that the poignant words handed down by his ancestors now rang with a deep emotion in a previously unknown corner of his heart.

 

Farewell, oh lands that homeward lie,
The mountains and their crowns of snow,
The caverns deep beneath the sky,
The rivers where my memories flow.

Farewell, my friends in sunlit halls.
No more your hearth shall I come near.
To distant lands my journey calls.
No more your laughter shall I hear.

 

The elemental’s heart was moved by the song, so much so that there was no more need for a spell of binding to bend its will. The elemental spoke freely of the paths that might lead to the Fortress of Bone and Ice.

First, there was a path through its native plane, the elemental realm of Syrania. Next, there was a path across the seas in the material world. Lastly, there was a path through the depths of the Khyber, deep beneath the surface of the world.

Lanfear and SIMPLE both longed to see the ocean, and Myrnas yearned to return to the sea which was his birthright. So the decision was made to travel through the waters of the Lhazaar Principalities in search of the mysterious fortress. Although Gerkin and Wolfgang both feared the dangers of the waves more than the uncertainties of the planes and the subterranean horrors of the abyss, they steeled themselves and joined their companions on their new journey across the ocean waves.

Not long after the Reclamation left the eastern shores of Khorvaire, wading across the ocean upon its gargantuan legs, the crew arrived upon the shores of a lush green island, with a harbor beside a city whose tall spires glittered with emeralds. Myrnas recognized the city from tales he had heard during his travels. This was the Emerald Isle, ruled by gnome mariners who came to the Lhazaar Principalities long ago from the distant shores of Zilargo.

In this timeline, the Lhazaar Principalities were one of the few places in Khorvaire where warforged still had their freedom. The pirate princes did not care what a person looked like, so long as they could serve well as a strong sailor or corsair. Upon docking at the harbor, the crew of the Reclamation were startled to find hundreds of warforged eager to join their crew, being drawn to their vessel by the warforged proselytizers of the Becoming God. Their crew of a few hundred quickly swelled 714 warforged, and both of the warforged leaders aboard, Builder and Governor, were well pleased by this.

One of the warforged also brought a letter for Myrnas, which surprised the captain. Not simply because a letter had been addressed to him, but the manner in which it had been letter-locked and magically sealed had startled him. For it was the same method that his beloved Bomal had used. Bomal, a dragonmarked scion of House Medani, was alive in this timeline! Myrnas recalled the tragedy that befallen him, resulting in Bomal’s execution and Myrnas’s own excoriation from House Lyrandar. It seemed that such events had not come to pass in this timeline. Myrnas was so excited by the prospect of meeting Bomal once again that he almost triggered the traps upon the letter, but he stilled his racing heart and carefully opened the letter. Then his excitement and joy were tempered by the urgent message that Bomal had written to him.

 

My beloved Myrnas,

How I have longed to see you since our separation. Though the chaos caused by the alien invasion and the freeing of bound elementals weakened dragonmarked houses and the traditions that had once kept us apart, the cruel hands of fate have seen fit to part our destinies. Yet I foresaw the arrival of your strange vessel upon these shores, and my heart leaps with joy that we might once again be reunited.

Yet I am saddened that our reunion must be postponed, and that I must ask of you and your companions for aid before we have even had a chance to meet again. A most dire fate has befallen my ward, the Emerald Prince. But to understand what I am about to ask of you, you must first understand the history of the Emerald Isle.

Long ago, gnome mariners settled upon this isle and became its rulers, with help from genie retainers summoned from the elemental planes. The mariner princes grew rich and powerful among the pirate princes of Lhazaar. But over time, they fell to an unnatural sickness, until at last they could no longer hold power but gave up their authority to a line of regents. The Emerald Prince, the last of his line and my ward whom I have sworn to protect, has long suspected the regents of foul play. But now, he is held captive by the current Regent, somewhere deep in the dungeons of the Emerald Citadel. I beseech you to find the prince inside the dungeon and set him free!

You may also find the genie retainers loyal to the prison who are imprisoned elsewhere in the dungeon. If you find them and set them free, they may be able to lend you aid in this mission.

Be warned that the Regent will most likely send you an invitation to dine at his citadel this evening, but he secretly plans to arrest you and commandeer your vessel. The Regent is drawn to all manner of artifice, and he will surely desire to possess such a wondrous vehicle which also attracts the loyalty of numerous warforged. I have provided with this letter a map of the dungeon and a secret passage leading therein, as well as an exit that leads out to the harbor, so that you might choose which way to enter.

If you have read thus far, I pray that you and your companions will lend your strength to this cause, and I hope for fair winds to bear you forth on this dangerous quest.

Your love,

Bomal

 

The heroes agreed to help Myrnas’s long-lost love and save the Emerald Prince. Following the map and directions provided by Bomal, they entered the dungeon beneath the Emerald Citadel and faced the dangers within.

They passed through wondrous chambers decorated with wall reliefs and ornately carved pillars depicting the history of the Emerald Isle. They saw how long ago the first mariners came to the isle, full of joy and wonder. But then they discovered the magical emeralds and their happiness was soured by greed. As the centuries passed, the carved faces of the smiling rulers grew more sullen, until the face of the last Emerald King was frozen into a scowl.

The heroes had help from the friendly elemental spirit that Gerkin had summoned. It led them through the winding passages to the prison of a mighty djinn retainer. Bypassing the magical traps that held the djinn inside its rune-covered chest, the heroes set the retainer free. The retainer begged the heroes to save the Emerald Prince and transformed itself into a set of magical wind fans, promising to come to their aid in their time of need.

Yet the heroes found that the dungeon was not without traps and dangers. For in the course of their journey, Lanfear found a small stone on the floor of the dungeon, and it came into her mind to set it into a brooch, though it was only a humble shard of masonry. But when she had accomplished her task, she was startled to find that the lowly stone had transformed into a shining emerald. And more shockingly, the hand she had used to set the stone into the brooch had also turned into a solid piece of emerald, hard as a crystal and unmoving.

Lanfear tried to hide her affliction from the others, but Wolfgang’s three humonculi discovered her secret and grew curious. Lanfear tried to swat them away, and the constructs that were touched by her hand were each transformed into a solid emerald statuette.

The heroes began to understand the strange curse that had befallen the princes of the Emerald Isle.

 

To be concluded…