The Wandering Isles: Session 99

Just before the group leaves, Eos takes a quiet mental note of the scales of Minerva, the gift once given to her in a temple of the goddess long ago. They are unbalanced now, and that imbalance feels uncomfortably reflective of her own turmoil. Around her, the final preparations begin. Amaedrianna Blüdfist gets the boat ready, while Hatsu Toshitsugu helps where he can before turning back to training. Boreal Paleclaw wakes his mother, Kokoro Toshitsugu, and asks if she needs anything before he departs. Kokoro asks only that he take care in Palperroth, warning him that it is a dangerous place. Before leaving, Boreal catches a fish and leaves it as a gift outside Virelya of the Broken Glade’s hut. Eldrin Drosk sleeps until sunrise, while Weslyn Theiwyse sits with Chicken the Fox and recounts his recent premonition or dream, trying to make sense of the strangeness that has been following him. Elsewhere, Lysa Sablewood shows Amaedrianna that she and Dash Heidmann are now engaged.

Hatsu says goodbye to Ayame Fujiwara, and when Ayame asks what she should do if strangers approach, he tells her to hide the magical folk in the bastion. Eos packs her backpack, takes her new mask, and leaves with Duckie. Eldrin gathers discarded cork and ritually casts Water Walk, allowing the group to cross over the water toward the ship. For those unused to seeing such magic, the walk is surreal and fascinating. Eldrin tries to reassure them by saying it is fine, that it is just magic, but Weslyn scolds him immediately. Magic, he says, is never just magic. When they climb aboard, they find Chicken has somehow already made it onto the ship ahead of them. Soon after, they set sail, with Eos navigating and Hatsu at the helm.

About an hour into the journey, Hatsu begins testing something new. He moves on all fours, trying to hide, dodge, and leap from side to side across the deck. When Eos questions him, he explains that he will tell people more once he has perfected the technique. For now, he demonstrates his ability to climb quickly and fall slowly. The group discusses the strange way he lands, and Amaedrianna compares it to how Eos can shoot magical lightning from her fingers. Hatsu insists it is different, though he offers little more explanation.

Then Amaedrianna gathers the group and tells them what she has decided. She believes her father, the Archon, may already possess several artifacts like the ones they have recently learned about. Because of that, she intends to leave them and go to Vurduar. She will keep the Hearthstone Hatsu provided, linking her back to the Pearl in case she must return quickly. Her goal is to find out as much as she can, slow the Archon down if possible, and perhaps stop him entirely. She may reach out or try to meet up with them again, but she suspects they will next see her back on The Crescent Pearl someday. Before leaving, she gives Hatsu control of Albi, her familiar, explaining that Albi will serve as a warning system. If Albi vanishes, Hatsu will know something has happened to her.

Hatsu is openly concerned for Amaedrianna’s safety, but she explains that she does not think the Archon is in Vurduar at the moment. That gives her an opening, a chance to move before the worst danger returns. If things go wrong, she can teleport back to the bastion using the Hearthstone. She then explains where the gems and currency are kept aboard the ship and reveals a hidden nook where valuables can be concealed. The space is protected well enough that almost nothing short of burning down the ship should expose it. She leaves Hatsu in command of her vessel and tells him to appoint his own first mate.

The farewell is difficult. Eos tells Amaedrianna that almost no one, apart from her mother and adoptive father, has ever treated her with such kindness. Eldrin says that when they meet again, they will have a rematch in sparring, and he looks forward to that day. Amaedrianna says she is looking forward to meeting Eldrin’s father, alluding to the possibility that he may be able to help with something different she has been working on for her mask. She reminds everyone to secure provisions for the way back and to keep the ship discreet, since it is stolen and they do not want it recognised. She tells Boreal to keep the skies clear and mind their sky domain until she returns, then asks him to watch out for his brother. Boreal jokingly declines.

Weslyn is concerned that Vurduar will be more difficult than Amaedrianna realises. He calls the Archon a blunt instrument and hopes she will be safe. Amaedrianna explains that this is exactly why she wanted the egg from Weslyn: to keep it away from the Archon. Weslyn answers that he has been drowning in magic for longer than she has been breathing, and that long after she passes, he will still be doing the same. Then, understanding the threat ahead and the dangerous nature of magic as a force that taps into endless possibilities, he offers her a gift to keep her safe. It is a small deck of cards, powerful enough to alter the fabric of reality itself.

Weslyn gives the gift with caution. He questions the power of the wish he feels brought them together, the force that may have made them chosen. Amaedrianna asks why he has not drawn from the deck himself, pointing out that whatever she draws may be destined for all of them. Weslyn says he does not feel it is his role to draw. Instead, he sees himself as a dealer of fate. He says his own journey will take him home, where he will become a law speaker, and when his mission is finished, he will board the boat all witches do and sail.

Weslyn shuffles the cards, and Amaedrianna cuts the deck. He tells her she may draw as many as she likes, but warns her not to tempt fate. Whatever she draws cannot be stopped. He tells her to focus on the untapped potential that exists around them. If destiny is real, then this should not be an issue for her. Hatsu steps forward and prays: "Mother of light, creator of shadows, send us a bee for those in need". Radiant energy flows from his hands onto Amaedrianna, shielding and strengthening her. She draws a card symbolic of a warrior, and immediately feels her strength emboldened, both physically and emotionally. She feels more prepared for the journey ahead.

Weslyn then tells Amaedrianna something far darker: Remington Maleficum is destined to die, and his death will spark a very bloody revolution. He shares the vision with her. Amaedrianna tells the group to stop it before that can happen. Then she bids farewell to her party, her friends, her family. She gives Hatsu a tricornered pirate hat she made long ago, then flies off toward a city that runs on gold and information, with a powerful shadow looming above it.

With Amaedrianna gone, Hatsu sets sail on a ship he has been gifted and burdened with, while Eos navigates. Sometime after, Eos takes Eldrin up into the crow’s nest to speak privately. She asks why, since Anbudon, he seems to have found more confidence, suspicious for a moment that he might be a Metamorph. Eldrin says it is simply growth. She asks his age, and he says twenty-five. She says she is twenty-eight, then calls herself an Aelvar and explains that by those standards she is still very young.

The conversation turns inward. Eldrin says he used to feel as though no one gave a shit about him. Eos shares that her father is unknown, while her adoptive father is missing or dead, and she believes her blood father may have been involved in Eldrin’s capture. Eldrin says that is exactly the kind of thing he means. He journals while everyone else sleeps, using that time to process, reflect, and take in the bigger picture. Seeing Dash’s child, a child with eyes like his own, brought up questions he cannot ignore. He has no nephews, sons, daughters, or anything like that. But he knows he would protect that child with his life. He may be a healer, but not only a healer. If it came to protecting her, he would deal out pain. He cannot afford a clouded mind or clouded judgement when that is what is on the line.

Eos then asks Eldrin for help. She is worried about her stepfather and does not believe he is dead. He may be missing, lost, or something else, but she wants to find out. When they are finished in Palperroth, she asks if Eldrin will help her figure out what happened. She believes Ashrest may be the best place to start, a place where a paper trail might still exist. Eldrin is eager to help. He then raises a concern of his own: Eos collected his blood on the beach the night before. Since people are already after him for his blood, he is understandably worried. He suggests they speak to Weslyn about it, just in case. When Eos asks if there is anything else he wants to talk about, Eldrin admits that sometimes he used to feel an urge to scream just to feel heard. Now he feels past that, and he is glad they want to get to know each other.

Eos asks about the time Eldrin met Simul Decker. Eldrin explains that he has been familiar with Simul since he was a boy, because his father, Wilheim Drosk, worked with him in the past. Eos asks if they can bring Hatsu into the conversation, so they return to the main deck and join him. Hatsu immediately tests her on navigation, grilling her on how far they are and how fast they are going to make sure she understands the role she has taken on.

Eos explains that when she is finished with Palperroth, she wants to find her stepfather. Hatsu questions whether going to Ashrest is wise. It is a military base, and not one friendly to magic or magical beings. He then tells a story about his grandmother, Sakura Gohemon, when she was a girl in a dojo. She and others once approached the sensei there and asked how he became so skilled. He answered that when he sits, he sits. When he eats, he eats. When he walks, he walks. The boys said they did the same. The sensei said no: when they walk, they sit; when they sit, they eat; when they eat, they walk away. Hatsu’s point is clear. It is very late to begin looking for Eos’s stepfather, and she needs to focus. Sit when she sits, or she will have a problem on the current mission. They can talk about it after Palperroth, but for now, this requires her full attention.

Eos mentions that Simul went to Eldrin’s father. Hatsu reminds her that she met Simul in Saigo no Toshi during the parades, and that she also remembers his popularity at The Arcanum. When Hatsu asks why she is so interested in him, Eos says she is concerned. When he asks why, she says it is the same reason she destroys her blood or collects it: precaution. Hatsu then asks why she seems more concerned about Simul than Dr. Harrow, but Eos says she did not mind Harrow at first. Harrow seemed perfectly fine. Hatsu asks if Simul did something personally to her, and she says no; she simply does not trust him. Hatsu struggles to understand how she can feel fine about Harrow, given all the sorrow and hardship Harrow brought, while focusing on someone who has not personally harmed them. Eos admits she learned about Harrow’s actions much later, and that she applied trust retroactively. Hatsu remains confused.

He asks again why she is thinking about Simul and not Harrow. Eos says her gut cannot trust Simul. Hatsu still cannot make sense of it. From his perspective, a man destroyed his city, shattered his family, stole everything, and caused unimaginable pain, yet Eos is spending her attention on people who have not done anything to them. He acknowledges that they have reasons for mistrust, but insists they already have plenty of people who have given them those reasons. They do not need to make anything up. Eos says none of it is made up, but Hatsu asks why Simul matters right now. She says it came up as part of an active conversation, and that after going to Bricksunder and wondering what OmegaVerse might be doing there, she no longer knows if she should trust him. Hatsu says not to trust anyone if she must, but asks whether Simul is a priority. The answer is no. Again, he returns to the same lesson: sit when it is time to sit.

Frustrated, Hatsu leaves and goes to find Boreal. He asks for time with him, then tells him there is a reason their father, Hashirama Toshitsugu, gave his life to Thrakgar. He tells Boreal he has a brother. Boreal already knows. Then he shows Hatsu a letter.

Paleclaw, Boreal.

If you are reading this, then the time has come for a truth better written in quiet than spoken in haste.

You entered this house not by blood, but by need. Remember this: a house is not made worthy by blood alone, but by who it shelters and who stands for it. That is why you are here.

In Saigo no Toshi, we are taught that a sword is a promise before it is a weapon—steadiness, duty, restraint. I have seen those things in you. Not softness, but strength that knows where it stands. You may one day question whether you belong among the Toshitsugu. If that day comes, understand this: belonging is not only birth. It is discipline, loyalty, and the will to carry weight without bitterness. Blood matters, but choice matters more than men admit.

There is one truth I withheld. Before you, Asuka or Hatsu, there was a son of my blood. I hid him, and in doing so, I failed him. I named it duty, but it was fear. That failure did not leave me. It followed me to the day you entered this house. His memory guided my hand, but it was not the reason you stayed, nor the source of my pride in you. You were not a second attempt, nor a shadow cast by another name. You stood, you endured, and you earned your place—not by blood, not by my regret, but by who you chose to become.

Understand, you were not kept out of pity, nor convenience. You remained because it was right. Do not become another man’s shadow—neither Hatsu nor any other. Learn from them, but never become them. Become yourself, sharpened by truth and steadied by duty. A warrior who only knows how to strike is useful; a man who knows when not to strike is worthy. If anger finds you, master it. Pain may shape a life, but it must never rule it.

In my eyes, you are Toshitsugu. What others decide after me is beyond my hand; what you are is not.

Some are born into a house. Some become one. In my absence, Asuka and Hatsu will decide your place in this clan. They will decide if you are worthy of the Toshitsugu name.

Walk with honour, Boreal. And if honour feels distant, walk with honesty until you reach it.

Hashirama Toshitsugu
of Saigo no Toshi

After reading it, Hatsu says their father knew he could not outrun the monsters he created. In the end, Hashirama understood that he had to own what he had done. Hatsu does not like the way he chose to do it, but he respects that he did. He does not know whether they can convince Thrakgar that the people of Saigo no Toshi had nothing to do with his pain and suffering, but he tells Boreal never to doubt his place. No matter how many people judge him, throw shit at him, or try to make him feel lesser, Hatsu says he will always be there, no matter who wants to touch him. Boreal swears he will be there too, until death takes one of them. Hatsu reminds him that it goes even further beyond that.

Boreal says he never minds the jokes. He has even been looking out for a pack of crayons. With time comes wisdom. Hatsu says Boreal is proof of that. He is proud to see his little brother man up and take responsibility, and admits that when he felt things slipping through his fingers, Boreal’s strength helped him. Boreal says discipline would help the group: drills, training, structure. Hatsu is not entirely sure. What they know is borrowed until it is perfected, and until it is perfected, they cannot teach it properly. Boreal reminds him that their mother also taught them flexibility. Hatsu says he will think about it.

Then Asuka Toshitsugu unexpectedly chimes in, surprising them both. Who would have thought Boreal would be the one to school Hatsu? She tells them to take care in Palperroth. They need to sell the lie by making it convincing. They are to pretend to be first-time merchants, but not merely act the part. They need to be the part. She warns them not to go near the palace or the Crisis Response Unit, because they can detect magic. Eldrin asks whether his clothing should be changed, but Hatsu says no, since he is meant to be the ship guard. Asuka explains that the guards in Palperroth are not like guards elsewhere. They notice patterns. If the group tries too hard to hide, they will look like they are hiding.

Weslyn reminds them that people in the Crisis Response Unit may already know they are coming. He also reminds them that Dr. Harrow may be in Palperroth. The threats are real. As they pass the turn, Eos runs back to the wheel, and the ship suddenly gains speed. They are hauling fast toward Palperroth.

Then Dash jumps from the ship and runs back to his childhood home to find his mother. When he reaches it, the house is sealed with tape and marked with the symbol of the Crisis Response Unit. He goes inside anyway. All he finds is a leather jacket, mouldy fruit, and no signs of life.