Once the Great Elves are aboard and whatever salvage can be gained from the crashed airship is collected, Nazeer inspects the area one last time, pocketing a piece of Abbadon’s shattered armor. Returning to the Vigilance, he find Trostlos tending to the wounded, Brimmel and Sigurd leaning wearily against the stairs while Valaria sits slumped on the deck, holding a sleeping Adam in her lap. Nazeer walks over to her and she looks up at him, shifting Adam to pass him off. Nazeer grabs her arm suddenly, lifting her to her feet and kissing her deeply. Valaria, startled for a second, closes her eyes and embraces him passionately in return, running her fingers through his hair as she pulls him close. After a long moment, the two separate, looking deeply into each other’s eyes…and suddenly realize that everyone on the deck is staring at them. Sigurd and Brimmel look surprised, Trostlos curiously amused, and Captain Romano beams a smile of proud satisfaction, as though he were a happy father. Nazeer and Valaria clear their throats and step away from each other, and suddenly everyone finds that they have something to do, the crew scattering to get the ship ready to move, Brimmel and Sigurd contemplating the various dents in their armor, and Trostlos tending closely to his Great Elf patient.

Heading back to Throal, Adam wakes up in “auntie” Valaria’s arms with no memory of what took place. It seems Abbadon had no time to infect Adam with any of his power, and Adam himself was knocked senseless by Atreides right away and remembers almost nothing. Trostlos keeps both Yuriel and Remiel’s lover in a separate space away from Adam, sparing him the knowledge of their deaths while taking the time to bring them back to life. Once they are raised, Adam is none the wiser for what happened to them and is pleased to find Mommy and “Unkie” on board after two days of travel.

Returning to Throal, the Vigilance is met halfway by a contingent of Throalic ships that left to support you all in whatever battle might be taking place. They are pleased to find you still alive, and have news from Throal. King Neden is alive and well, having fallen in the battle and been brought back by Tannith’s nethermantic magic. She had anticipated that he might do something rash and foolish, and had prepared some life-giving spells on him just to be sure. This turned out to be a good idea, and Neden is currently resting in Throal.

The other behemoth that entered the fray is Named The Passion’s Hope, and was actually captured by the Sky Raiders. The death of Thystonius was the final impetus for the Trolls to put aside their old enmities and unite against the Therans once and for all. They abandoned the Crystal Peaks together and set sail for Thera, intending to spend the last of their life’s blood defeating every last Theran, only to find that most Therans were already very much dead from the cataclysm. They happened upon the behemoth making it’s way to Vivane Province and attacked it, intending to destroy it. When they had overwhelmed the vessel, their “patron” the Gray Woman Votanna appeared, and instructed them on how to use the behemoth. (Your intuition tells you Votanna is the mysterious invisible dragon Trostlos noticed on the behemoth. The Trolls are seemingly unaware of her true nature.) She guided them back to Barsaive with the hope of engaging the Therans in the Wastes, but they were unable to do in the confusing cloud. They did manage to rescue the Orks from the White Kingdom in Cara Fahd, appearing over the horizon to take on the Buunda as it left Wurchauz. When the fleet left the Wastes, the Passion’s Hope maneuvered to flank them at Throal, hoping to pin them against the Throal mountains and allow the Raiders to do what they do.

Back in Throal, recovery and healing efforts are already underway. Captain K’tanga and the Elven fleet from Shosara have brought medical supplies and food from the Elven nation, and are distributing it to all survivors and refugees from around Barsaive. The t’skrang houses V’strimon and Syrtis have also arrived with healers, trade goods and troop reinforcements from their own ranks to help maintain order. The Orks of Cara Fahd, the Sky Raiders, and the Banner of the Crow have devoted their time to tracking down and killing any remaining Theran forces that fled the battle. The stolen kilas and behemoth work together very well, and pockets of resistance are being rooted out from the ruins of Kratas and the depths of the Servos Jungle. Azazel and his people have set up camps outside the ruins of Bartertown, their Horrorships disguised with illusion magic, and they are patrolling the ruins of Bartertown and the surrounding areas for Horrors that may have been attracted by the battle. The residents of Throal, initially distrustful of the strange foreigners, have been pleasantly surprised at the success these strangers have had overcoming the few Horrors that have appeared.

The Ashen Fields where the behemoths came apart are still covered with the remains of the titanic ships. Much of the ruins are piled on the ground, in some cases hundreds of feet high, while other pieces of the shattered vessels continue to hang in the air, the magical feedback from the Null’s backlash keeping them “stuck” in mid-air. The Great Elves under Sulluvia’s banner have taken to searching the crashed ruins of the behemoths for survivors, although almost all survivors are Great Elves, being the only Name-givers that would remain alive after such an event. Sulluvia keeps the survivors at her camp far outside the ruins of Bartertown, barely visible to the west of the city. The few magical items and treasures recovered from the wreckage have proved dangerously unstable, causing a powerful magical backlash against any Adept that tries to use them or weave threads to them, apparently a corrupting effect of the Null.

Krathis Gron, Hayulaen of the Banner of the Crow, and Kerthale Farseer Stoneclaw have remained in Throal to greet the Passion’s Champions while their forces hunt the surviving Therans. Hayulaen greets Sigurd as a legendary hero, proclaiming him to be the greatest warrior Vasgothia has ever produced, and asking him to teach his fighting style to the fighters of the Banner of the Crow as well. Caelistus is also with Hayulaen, having gotten the word to Vasgothia of Barsaive’s need for aid after you encountered her at Stormhead Mountain. Captain K’tanga is orchestrating the distribution of food and medical supplies to the needy, and Alen is found eventually by Nazeer in the houses of healing, his sleeves rolled up and his hands red with the blood of those he has been treating. He moves quietly from patient to patient, giving care when he can and comfort when they are beyond care with the quiet confidence of one who has done this too many times.

Whatever else Merlinus might have said, one of his predictions does come true: the dead number in the tens of thousands. Across the miles-long battlefield, bodies of Theran and Barsaivian forces alike can be found. Hundreds of bodies form a macabre trail from Bartertown to the Ash Fields, some still clutching their weapons, others bodies broken as from a great fall. Some corpses are desiccated and nearly mummified by the effect of the Null backlash, others are burned, frozen, or even shredded from within by magic. Knackers and healers alike move across the battlegrounds, finding any who might have survived and collecting and destroying the bodies of those who have fallen. The Throalic forces are given mass hero’s funerals, and King Neden attends as many as it is possible for him to. The Theran corpses are piled and burned near the Ash Fields, with kernels of elemental fire and air used to burn them all right down to ash, which mingles with the falling ash of the fields.

You all have a month of time to work with, to spend LP and raise talents and whatnot. There will be a bit more roleplaying during this random month this coming Saturday.