The Rectifiers found themselves in a vision of the past, taking place in Ristum, shortly before it fell. They were watching the siege of the city by the then Governor of Luxen’s forces, led by Korrin and Thalend. Nearby, on another rooftop, they spotted a red specter leaning against a wall, also spectating. Below, they spied the Luxenian fighting against the almost hypnotized forces of the mad King Ragnok. Siege engines fired, and buildings collapsed left and right, creating the recognizable ruins they had just left earlier.
After a short time spectating, they spotted two figures exit out of the main keep onto a balcony overlooking the main battlefield. Soldiers began to cease their skirmishes to see what was happening above. King Ragnok, with his black and silver crown with purple jewels, stood with Korrin as a prisoner. He tossed Korrin’s black and white glowing blade to the ground in victory. He gave a few words to the onlookers, though it was muffled in this vision. Ragnok reared his sinister halberd back to swing down on Korrin’s neck, but when he did, a blast of light erupted from the necklace Korrin wore. With Ragnok momentarily stunned, Korrin retrieved his magic blade and sliced the head of Ragnok from his body. The orc’s head fell to the ground, his crown clattering to the stone floor beside it. The Luxenians began to cheer, and Ragnok’s forces seemed to “wake up”. Before the vision faded, the party saw the crown give off a slight purple aura…
Before The Rectifiers could gather themselves to continue on their way, Karth’s skeletal arm began to burn. The red ley lines in the bone were lit up. With that, he was called away to The Red Inquisitor’s storefront. Inside, he found two empty pedestals with a receptacle in front. The rest of the store was barren. Karth placed an offering inside and gifts appeared on the pedestals. He took the two gifts, the pedestals receded, and his arm began to grow its veins, skin, and muscle back. He was seemingly free of the arrangement with The Red Inquisitor.
Shortly thereafter, The Rectifiers’ amulets began to heat up with an intense burn. All but Gale put them on, though the amulet bounced itself around her neck as well. When they arrived, Karth recounted what had happened to him. A large bowl erupted from the ground, with a glass box materializing above it. An enchanted note was affixed to the bowl. It was written in an unrecognizable language, but it began to speak with The Red Inquisitor’s voice. It told the group that though they had traded, laughed, and yelled, The Red Inquisitor’s time with The Rectifiers had come to a close. The note said it was doubtful they would ever see one another again. It asked for one last trade: he would take back their amulets in the bowl and grant the group another Spike of Creation from the glass box above.
One-by-one, The Rectifiers placed their amulets in the bowl, the fire growing more intense each time. Embers began to spew out. The group began to fade away from the storefront, and Duma Van lingered as long as he could. He held his amulet tightly one last time, watching the fireballs ignite the entire chamber on fire. Slats of the wooden platform began to burn and fall away into the abyss below. Duma reluctantly added his amulet to the blaze, and the fire grew wild. The bowl spilled over and the entire chamber grew to an inferno. Before he was consumed, Duma Van was also sent from the chamber back to Amanta.
Some of the group was relieved to be done with The Red Inquisitor, others were not so sure they had seen the last of him, while others were quite sad to see the arrangement come to a close. Despite their feelings, the group continued the Emerald Expanse to meet Harin.
They found Harin, Sandon, and other dwarves of the city waiting by the strange green orb that served as the centerpiece for the Expanse. He greeted them, asked if they were ready to embark, and nodded to Sandon once he received their ready. Sandon began to cast a spell on the orb. It slowly began to stop rotating. Once it had, hidden plates in the orb began to separate, revealing a glowing portal inside. Harin and Sandon stepped through, asking the group to follow.
Through the portal, they found themselves in a deep underground dockside of sorts. A dark channel flowed rather quickly toward a miniscule source of light far off in the distance. Far more impressive was the size of the dock and the ships that bobbed in the dark water. There was an immense fleet of ships. Some held large grappling hooks on the side, others held large sails, while the strangest held enchanted contraptions that glimmered with different magic. Countless knights and mages were readying the ships for battle. Harin ushered The Rectifiers to an open-air dock house to discuss their plan.
Harin offered the party three options in the fleet to command. The first were the boarding ships, vessels equipped with the large grappling hooks. Harin stated this option would cause the least amount of lost life on both sides. Though Turner commanded bands of pirates, Harin advised they could not know by what means Turner convinced them to side with him. Once the snake had lost its head, Harin said they could potentially gain allies.
The next option were magic artillery ships, boats equipped with the strange magical contraptions. Harin explained these would fire blasts of powerful enchantments, but attacking with this force in the lead would cost Turner’s side grievously.
The final option offered was a single stealth ship The Rectifiers could take underwater to get straight to Turner’s boat. Harin was wearily offering this, as it would cost both sides dearly, as a drawn out battle would have to be waged to keep Turner’s fleet distracted from the stealth ship. The underwater vessel could not take much force before tearing apart.
The Rectifiers weighed their options and eventually came to the conclusion they would take the slower but safer route to Turner; they would take the boarding ships. Vint offered to command the magic vessels and provide a magic barrier to prevent Turner from escaping. The Rectifiers went their respective ways on the docks, the main group finding their way to the flagship of the boarding fleet.
Once aboard, they saw that mages awaited in each ship’s crow’s nest. Another mage stopped by and cast a voice enhancing spell to allow one of The Rectifiers to rally the dock before embarking on their voyage. Azalea offered words of encouragement, and the ships began to break away from the docks, heading toward the small dot of light in the distance. The mages aboard each ship began to cast spells of wind magic to add speed to the ships. After a short distance away from the docks, the flagship crossed over a dim glowing line beneath the water’s surface. Once that line had been crossed, the captain of the boat warned The Rectifiers to hold on. With barely any time to grab onto something, the ship blasted away from an innate enchantment on the channel of water. Waves flew by the front of the ship, their color growing white with the great force pushing them aside. Mages were waving their respective tools to add magic wind to the already inhuman speed of the boats. The light grew larger and larger until the ships completely breached out into the open air in the Gulf of Blackharpe.
The flagship bearing The Rectifiers drifted slowly out into the daylight until all the ships behind them had erupted from the underground. Once the fleet had regrouped, they set sail toward the small band of dots on the horizon. As they grew close to the dots, the detail increased to show the ships bearing the symbol of Turner: a set of teeth biting down on a gold coin. A vicious storm began to suddenly form above Turner’s fleet, blotting out sunlight as The Rectifiers approached. An intense rain covered all the boats. Vint took the magical ships and formed a semicircle around what would be the oceanic battlefield. Once in formation, the ships burst to life with electricity, connecting in a latticework of lightning to form a blockade. With their plan in motion, the captain of the flagship veered the boat toward Turner’s outer fleet to begin the attack.
The ship barreled toward the nearest pirate ship, cutting through the intense rain. Right before the ship would have collided with its target, the captain executed a sharp turn, causing the boat to veer side-by-side with the target, spewing water all above its deck. The grappling hooks were fired to tie the ships together. The nearby Amantan boats all executed similar tactics. The Rectifiers hopped aboard the enemy vessel and dispatched the watery rogues they found aboard. While they collected some spoils, they heard a knocking sound from below deck. They opened the hatch and found townspeople, women, and children hidden below deck, all terrified. The dwarven captain sent knights aboard to capture the boat and escort the civilians to safety. The Rectifiers wiped a figurative band of sweat from their brow from not having chosen to barrage the enemy fleet with magic.
The group hopped back aboard their ship and continued inward to the next Turner vessel. Before they could find another target, a larger ship had made its way through several Amantan vessels. It had some strange water-enchanted cannon firing projectiles that could capsize a ship with one shot. The captain warned that it was one of Turner’s captains aboard that boat, and that they would need to intercept and kill him before he ravaged their fleet any further. The Rectifiers wielding magic abilities assisted the dwarven mages aboard to enhance the wind enchantments on the boat. With the enhanced speed spell, the boat was able to cut off Turner’s captain and grapple onto his ship.
The Rectifiers found a cocky swashbuckler wearing a pirate’s coat and wielding a vicious greatsword. He had deeply tanned skin, a scar down his face, and several gold teeth. He taunted The Rectifiers, offering a fair, gentleman’s duel aboard his ship and the ceasing of his watery missile if they would agree to detach their own vessel. They agreed and yelled for the dwarven captain to release the hooks. He offered protest, but The Rectifiers insisted. The flagship broke away to another target.
The Rectifiers drew their weapons and entered the rainy fray with Turner’s captain…