Last time, the party found themselves fighting a group of raptors at a ruined temple. This temple was at the top of Ichio, one half of a pair of islands known to the raptors as Sorin's Maw.
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Once the battle was over, another group of raptors arrived, though their temperament was quite different considering the dead had transformed into vague humanoid creatures.
One of the raptors pointed to Talek and shouted "SIRITHEK!" This brought more raptors to the scene and upon viewing the grayish blood dripping from Talek's glaive, they called him Sirithek Cho Merelak. Roughly translated as Slitherflesh's Malice.
Talek, it seems, had been mistakenly referred to by his hero's name.
Just after this, Talek's sister arrived and was told of what had been found. The only problem is that the other raptors called her Sorin.
"You've finally arrived, little brother," Sorin said with a smile. "And you've brought friends. That is good!" Sorin took a long sniff in the air and looked directly at Bobo. "You will do nicely," she said matter-of-factly.
Sorin explained that the party had arrived at precisely the right time to help stop the raptor race from becoming extinct. The Age of the Egg Thief was well underway and Talek's arrival initiated an end to that age. She was happy to see that the changelings' plans were ruined and he was able to escape prison before he was assassinated. "After all, the hero of our people must survive to stop those who wish to destroy us."
With the explanation offered, Sorin took Talek's glaive, revealed her true, titanic self, and used the glaive to retrieve a single scale from her hide. Talek realized that his sister had a birth mark in exactly the same place. The glaive and scale were given to another raptor and a new glaive presented to Talek. "We will need our hero's weapon to continue our crusade against the changelings and, of course, to pass it to you when you're old enough."
With a final warning that the party should remain on the island, which has attained it's previous sea level, quite close to the temple, in order to "not be ripped apart by the time stream," Sorin resumed her true form and flew off, proving that her wingspan was indeed the distance from Ichio to Deiwa's peaks. Deiwa, by the way, had lava flowing from it's top...
They sky quickly changed to orange and the party watched the scenery around the island change dramatically. For most of the strange day, everything was fine then suddenly, the sea level dropped. A few minutes later, they were staring at a starry sky they recognized.
There was no sign of Lenny nor of the good captain that brought them to the islands until the wreckage of Lenny's ship (the wood having been petrified) was found on Ichio. Where was Lenny?
The party searched the remainder of the islands and found a raptor-crafted longship along the shore. After gathering supplies, they set sail back to New Unswich. Sailing went well until they spotted an archipelago that stretched to the north and south. Apparently Icho and Deiwa returned to a different part of the ocean, a part of the ocean much closer to the now-destroyed Egesa.
With fear growing within them, they set up base camp on an island that looked like it could support life. There were rumors about shadow serpents that swam these waters and one may have been spotted around the island the party was on. It was a tense week of scavenging for a trip to Marglith, a route that Ella had travelled once before. The party was able to make it to Sandytol, a port city on the southern shore of Marglith, without incident.
Now, they are planning on getting back to New Unswich where they have unfinished business.
Oh, and Bristol picked up the black blade that was found on the island. Nobody's seen it since, not even Bristol...
