Cagyn Rilid offered them advice and potential discounts purchasing what gear they might need. In addition, he suggested that if they convinced Abria at the Jewel Box to go out with him, he would offer them a tracking ring keyed to the thermal vents where they might find the sea spiders that were the source of the gharolan. The only man he knew with real experience was the potentially unreliable Frund, who lived a few docks down with his dying partner.

First stop: Frund’s houseboat. The man turned out not to be the hard-drinking unreliable drug fiend his image outlined. He had a partner dying from cancer that the power of the Monolith was unable to address. He outlined for them how he pursued the vanishing cellosia, the blue crystal sea spiders, down to their last bastion (he knew of) at the thermal vents out in the sea.

They convinced Frund to help them – that any excess gharolan they harvested, they would share with him. He offered his dive gear, which would fit Roz, including some undersea solar-charging adjustable lights. When she was ready, she should lie down on the suit and it would “put her on”.

He told them the storm was growing dangerous out in the area of the cellosia, and that a truly massive boat had been sighted out on the sea, so to take care.

Based on his suggestions and influence, they hired 2 Skimmers, bought a small slew of seagoing equipment and then spent time recovering from their wounds.

On their way back from their shopping extravaganza, they stopped by to speak with the Constable. She had stopped them at the bridge and in her proper deep-Steadfast accent, expressed her desire to speak with them about their endeavors (on behalf of the Truth?) in Harmuth. She suggested that perhaps she would rather hear things straight from them than from Mayor Jaehn.

However, entering through the tall doors into her terracotta-tiled office, they found… something else.

A blue glass floor that extended toward infinity. A dark blue arched ceiling that extended into a different forever. A black glass table full of lights that went into the vanishing point. The Constable stood at a control panel full of slowly-moving seashells, gleaming under her fingers. She turned, but she was not herself.

She was Brother Thom. An old associate of Hasver’s. He told Hasver he was in fact … alive, and still with the Traveller, perhaps because the Traveller was… lonely. Hasver gave Thom his old journal back – with some updates. Thom, smiling, accepted it reluctantly.

He told them how the Traveller and he were in a long… return. But from where they had been and where they were, he had some important news he needed to share. First, the Gaians had a weapon they imagined they understood, but should they use it against the Steadfast, its consequences could be catastrophic. Second, the enemy they were arrayed against – that they confirmed to be the Insidious Choir – were in the process of trying to corrupt the Iron Wind itself, so that the unstoppable global storm would become an agent of change … for them.

He wished them well, and as the Constable sat down, she was herself again, slumped over her desk in her wood-paneled office, with her raw wooden desk. She was deeply unconscious, but seemed unharmed. They … left.

Gear, boats, suit, preparation. The storm awaits.