Finishing up in Ostro
Irving, also, wins the fishing minigame. Gorton is going to need more prizes.
Serafina helps the crew repair the boat.
Cynthia ponders her orb. The wave of revulsion at touching it is passing, but she hasn’t seen what it does just yet.
The group heads north up the river, opting to sail to Bihara.
Sailing to Bihara
Along the way, the group encounters - and overcomes - several dangers.
- Salty sea breezes that have come to life and animated as aggressive elementals.
- A storm that nearly threatens to capsize the relatively inexperienced sailors, damaging the boat’s speed somewhat.
- Ohmfish — flying, lightning-empowered fish.
- The currents around Nuono are actively dangerous; it appears the residents of that place have set up purposely rough waters to dissuade casual sailing into their waters.
Along the way, Serafina teaches Mero to curse (“Cursing is the language of the sea, that’s why sailors speak it.”); Mero adopts an eyepatch. Cynthia finally figures out the purpose of the mysterious green orb.
Northeast of Bihara the group stumbles across a waterfall grotto: a cave they can safely sail their ship into. Inside is a pool where the Lifestream surfaces, flowing freely.
Bihara, the ravaged village
Finally, the group approaches Bihara, and can tell even from the sea that their world tree sapling is burnt and blackened, similar to the one from the Tower of Stars. Landing, they discover also that weirdly, all color is sapped from the area - everything appears in black and white - and that Bihara is empty of miasma.
Exploring the village, they approach its sapling in the center; Serafina touches it and resonates with it, discovering that it feels empty and hollowed-out instead of alive. This somehow catches the attention of a number of tentacles that seem to be made of void, or anti-life; clobbering the group, they beat a hasty retreat, taking cover in an alchemist’s shop.
Inside, they find a journal detailing people leaving the city, as well as a number of ‘mermaid potions’ - potions that allow one to survive underwater, but can only be taken three times in the entirety of a person’s lifetime. They scout a bit and find that a massive phantasmal being, the “phantom hunger,” seems to be controlling the tentacles. Sneaking back to the boat, they escape for the time being to Nuono, seeking shelter, survivors, and maybe assistance.
After a brief skirmish with a blue drake seeking to waylay them for an easy meal, the group quaffs their mermaid potions and rides the anchor down to the seabed, then head north into Nuono, meeting a nice and very curious kelp farmer along the way.