Recall that
last time, our heroes defeated a dao, though there were some casualties amongst the citizenry. They retire to the Sapphire and bed down, and in the morning, they split up to do some investigation.
Aisling, Clara, and Fearg go to the Bard's College and ask about the chalices they found in the
ruined city. The bard master they speak with doesn't know anything about the chalices (other than that they're dwarf-made, so maybe they need to talk to an artificer) and doesn't recognize the names inscribed on the bottom. When Aisling tells him where the city was that they found them, however, he remembers a song - "The Ballad of Dabhag the Dagger." The ballad tells the story of the titular adventurer, a fighter and sorcerer, who had "came from the town of shadow" and had various adventures before "he walked into the fire and was never seen again." Aisling finds the tune familiar, but had never heard the song, and the bard says that it's kind of an obscure one, granted. It's also widely believed to be an a mishmash of other stories. That is, "Dabhag the Dagger" might not have been a real adventurer, just an amalgam of others. He thought of the song, though, because it came out of the area that they indicated.
The three of them hit the College's historical records and don't find much of anything on Dabhag, or on Mealla, for that matter. But Aisling does find a couple of scattered references to a city called Scáth...which means "shadow." The references are often devoid of context and there's no description of the city, no records of its founding or destruction, they're just tucked away in some other documents. Very weird.
Meanwhile, Zook, Keenan, and Dara grudgingly go back to the Wizard's College and ask to speak to an artificer to learn about the box that the dao was being held in. They are shown to a separate building (if someone has a habit of working with explosives, it's better to give them a little space) and mean Mac, a grubby human with a prosthetic hand and some truly weird-looking goggles. He's friendly enough, though, and examines the box, prodding it, scraping it...licking it. (Dara: "Did he just..." Zook: "Lick the science, yeah.")
He's able to determine that the materials this box is made from are indeed from this plane of existence (which was a worry the characters had). They're more commonly found in the western badlands. But he's never seen this method of working them and never this alloy before. He does confirm there's no lingering magic on the box - apart from its unique metallurgy, it's just a box. Zook offers to give him a part of the box and he pops the hinges and takes the lid.
The heroes meet back up and share their findings, and troop back to the Wizard's College to show Mac the chalices. They find him outside his workshop as foul-smelling smoke pours out the windows ("Still experimenting with this metal!"), but he's fine, this happens. He looks at the chalices and is able to confirm that they aren't magical, they're dwarven made, and there should be a fourth one - for whatever reason, dwarves make stuff like this in even numbers. He also tells them that while the chalices are dwarf-made, the etchings on the bottoms were made later and with human tools (also if dwarves had written the inscription, it would be in dwarven script, and this isn't). He dates them at about a century, but the writing is more recent, though he can't be sure exactly when.
They tell him about the ruined city (potentially the city of Scáth, though he's never heard of it) and how it was destroyed. He says that a powerful enough wizard could call down a meteor swarm, but that's serious magic. There usually aren't many wizards at any one time that can do it.
Aisling suggests heading to the College's library to look for more information on the mysterious city of Scáth and on any known wizards who might have destroyed it, and with the help of Zook and Fearg, they find a few more references. But it's the same as before - scattered, isolated, and often in boring stuff like census reports. They find a few names of wizards that might have been able to destroy the city with a meteor spell, but the problem is that when you allow for the extended lifespans of non-humans, the range of dates becomes unmanageable. Zook jots down a list of names, though, just so they can look out for them.
The heroes retire to the Sapphire to discuss their next moves. They could go north and try to find more information about Mealla and the chalices, but "the north" is a pretty big area to search and they don't have much of a lead. Aisling notes that if they go to her home city of Cnoc, they might learn more, given the bardic tradition there, but that's way north (likewise, going to the dwarven strongholds would involve going all the way to the northern border of Abhaile).
But Aindriú is going to be heading out of town and going west soon, trying to find his sister's grave. He's offered the heroes a place in his caravan if they want to travel with him, and Clara is happy to have the snacks. Keenan, likewise, loves traveling in comfort, and Dara says that she'd like to help Aindriú bring this quest to a close. Fearg, while he's not a fan of traveling with the caravan (too soft for his tastes), does agree that it seems the right thing to do to see this through. Zook also wants to know what exactly the story was with Aindriú's sister, AilÃs, because the descriptions of her magic aren't anything he recognizes.
In the end, they decide to go with the caravan for now, and then maybe break north after they've helped Aindriú find the grave. They spend a few days in Cian stocking up and taking advantage of Aindriú's generosity - Aisling buys some magic bolts for her crossbow, and spends some time every day identify the potions they stole from the Night Hag (back
here). Most of them have some beneficial effect and a baleful one as well - the one labeled "Torment," for instance, turns the drinker invisible but makes everyone around them forget they were ever there. She holds onto them; most of them have a benefit that balances the detriment, and the ones that don't, well, maybe they're good for pranks. Zook spends some time inscribe spells into his book, and Dara toys with the notion of buying some magical armor, but in the end, sticks with her wooden weave.
Aindriú lays out some money and buys a new carriage for the adventurers' use, complete with a bed for Maeve. The caravan gets on the road, and heads west!
Their travels for a week or two aren't noteworthy. They pass through various towns and villages, they share stories, and they ask about potential gravesites. But then, at a market, someone points them to the town of Amber Lake. They arrive at this place near sunset the next day, traveling through wheat fields, and a teenaged boy runs up to them, excited. He introduces himself as Colla, and asks if they'd like to talk to the Cranespeaker. Aisling says they would and he runs off to the village. (None of the adventurers have ever heard of a "Cranespeaker" but it sounds important; Zook opines that it's probably a druid.)
They approach the town and see where it got its name - there's a lake, and as the sun sets in the west the water turns golden. Colla returns, out of breath, and leads them down into the village (Aindriú lets the adventurers go on ahead and instead gets the caravan situated), and to a well-appointed house on the edge of the lake. They knock and area admitted by a very old lady who introduces herself as MÃde.
MÃde greets them all, but greets Dara in Druidic. She explains that the village fishes the lake, but they need to be careful not to overdo it. The cranes know when to stop fishing, and so the position of Cranespeaker is always held by a druid who acts as a leader and decision-maker for certain aspects of the village.
"But the time is coming for my waters to turn gold," she says "so it's time to pass the title. There are two candidates - Colm is an older fellow and very meticulous and clever, Sibéal is young and precocious and an amazing swimmer." The heroes ask how the decision is made, and MÃde says ultimately it's up to her, but she takes the interests and opinions of the village into account. And the cranes, but cranes aren't terribly bright. They're good at counting fish, but she wouldn't discuss philosophy with them. She does says, however, that she'd be interested in knowing Dara's thoughts if she has time to meet the candidates.
The adventurers explain why they're here, and MÃde says she does know where AilÃs' grave is, so Zook rides off to fetch Aindriú. When he returns, MÃde gets comfortable, taps her stick on the floor, and casts a spell. The walls and roof of her hut vanish and are replaced with a thriving but small village, clearly not Amber Lake.
"This is Daldy," she says, "where I was born. One day she arrived," AilÃs appears, red hair, metal armor, a sword at her side, and a presence that, even in an illusion, is undeniably. What her brother wished for, AilÃs was born with. For his part, Aindriú gasps and covers his mouth.
MÃde continues. "She came to the village searching for her former comrade, Onóra." Another woman appears in the illusion, slim, slight, wearing a black cloak and carrying the familiar box under her arm. "She said that Onóra had stolen the box and fled with it, and AilÃs felt it was too dangerous to possess. She was right."
In the illusion, Onóra opens the box and the dao appears. "I wish for my enemies to be destroyed!" The dao gives its booming laugh and reaches a hand to the sky, and horrible winged creatures appear, swooping down and attacking the village.
MÃde doesn't depict the slaughter in illusion, but she does show AilÃs laying about with her sword, driving the creatures back with magic that the heroes have never seen, and eventually winning the day...but mortally wounded in the process. The illusion fades, and Aindriú quietly weeps. Zook squeezes his hand reassuringly.
"Onóra fled during the battle," MÃde says. "The box was left behind, and AilÃs was buried and given a headstone. The villagers gathered her possessions, including the box, and sent them with a messenger to you-" Ainrdriú nods - "but our village was destroyed beyond repair. So we traveled here, and our village and Amber Lake merged, and we taught them to farm wheat and make bread and beer, and they taught us to herd sheep and goats and to make cheese. And we have thrived since."
Zook quietly opines that AilÃs would probably be very happy to know that the villagers have carried on and found a new life, and Aindriú agrees. He asks the adventurers to go with him to the gravesite tomorrow - he doesn't want to bring the caravan, but he does want them to come along. Obviously, they agree.
The village provides food and music, and the adventurers have bread and beer and cheese and fish and whatever food Aindriú has. Dara talks with Colm and Sibéal, and challenges the latter to a race across the lake. We fade out on them swimming for the shore, the gold fading to dark, and cranes flying overhead, watching them swim.
