Realizing that the Black Corsair attacked whenever an artifact bearing the strange runes was at sea, the crew decided to entrust their mask to someone on land. They brought it to Orlando’s forested elven homeland, some distance from the coast, to leave it with his father, but traveling there involved crossing a small lake on a ferry. During the crossing, they were surprised to learn that the Corsair could appear suddenly, not only at sea but on any body of water. The ferry was destroyed, but the crew managed to make it to shore and leave the mask with Orlando’s elf clan, and were in turn gifted magic items to aid them.

Returning to Areen Port, Old Bill visited the Dying Orphan and accepted a promisingly profitable charter job from some robed representatives of the Chandlers’ Guild for a fee of 15,000$. Together with a shipment of Orlando’s elf clan’s wooden armor, the crew hoped to make another profitable voyage for the Aigéan Trading Co. and make another step towards getting out from under the debt. The chandlers requested the crew make for Lesser Tros and remain at that port for up to 3 days while they conducted their business.

Meanwhile, the crew visited a sea cave, following a rumor of a hermit who knew of the Storytellers. After a short confrontation with some over-sized crabs that ended peacefully, Queequeg met with the hermit. Unfortunately he was unable to correctly complete the rite the hermit requested of him, and the hermit denied the crew passage deeper into the cave to learn what they might about the Storytellers.

Back aboard the Fisher Price My First Taupe Clipper, the crew tried not to be too creeped out as they observed the chandlers conducting their business. Soon after a candle was magically snuffed out and one of the chandlers returned to the ship with shouts of alarm coming from the port town, they requested the crew make sail and depart in the dead of night without clearance of the harbormaster.

Making a detour to Diveon, the crew traveled overland from the lee side to Durovernum to meet with the oracle who had translated the runed plate for Capt. Goodyear Tristan. For a fee, she translated the rubbings of the mask runes and revealed that they were a list of 20 locations known as “thins”, 13 of which she was able to pinpoint on a map. For a steeper fee, she revealed some secrets about Tristan’s visit, namely that the plate had been inscribed prior to melior gens settlement in the region and was attributed to an elf king named Kireg Callac, and perhaps more interestingly that the previous translation was paid for by the Aigéan Trading Co.

And Queequeg made a friend of one of the crabs, christening him Ishmael.