Last we left our heroes, they were reeling from the recent explosion of Kane’s automaton. Wander and Havayla immediately begin pulling apart the wreckage to locate their compainions. Shouts of reassurance and post-trauma laughter come from underneath the wood and metal as Ryker and Nathan are located, battered and wounded, but alive. Arunak is coaxed out from behind a building and healing is cast liberally among everyone. As they take stock of the town and the rubble, it is realized that Yevin has vanished.
Too far away to reach on short-range message, Yevin is contacted by sending. He lets them know that he went to find Buck and Gwen and would be coming back shortly. The villagers begin to cautiously come out of hiding and a couple industrious rabbit-folk, or Haregon, begin collecting scraps from the mechanical marvel. Ryker digs through the rubble and determines that, apart from the broken animus crystal, there is nothing worth keeping. Arunak notices letters on a board “C-A-N.” He remembers a wrecked ship they had come across, just before meeting Wander in that giants tomb so many months ago. The ship was named Cancu.
Yevin returns with Buck and Gwen in tow. Buck speaks with one of the Haregon and they are invited out of the rain and in to a tavern and shop. The horses are settled in the attached stable while Yevin and Havayla engage in some bartering, Yevin purchasing a helm of teleportation. Nathan and Arunak imbibe in some questionable libations, which changes their form into that of different races for an hour. This leads to some amusement as everyone dries off.
After everyone has settled down with their drinks, Yevin and Gwen explain what happened. When Kane was killed, his spirit found and inhabited Gwen. She was made an observer in her own body as Kane began rebuilding his arsenal. Kane was always aware of where Yevin was, and they were on their way to find him when there was an explosion, searing pain, and Kane was gone. Buck found her in the woods and the rest is as they saw.
Then Yevin announces that he has come to a decision; he’s leaving. He has his memory back, he has Gwen back, he now knows his father. He doesn’t want to take Glarion’s deal and be tied to her now that he’s reunited with Gwen and no longer hunted by Kane. There are other things he wants to go after, places he needs to find answers, and those things will not be found alongside the Derailers. Yevin cautions them against trusting the Queen of Hearthollow. He saw a lot of things in the Kobold war that led to his defection and a mistrust of the government. He thanks the group for everything they have done with and for him. And then, Yevin begins to pull items out of his bag of holding, passing treasures to those he think will find the best use of them. Notably, he gives the air elemental ring to Ryker, allowing the Air Genasi rogue to fly. Among other items, he gives Wander the staff of Skulldrinker and the Orb of Dragonkind, which she had previously sold to Octavius. Yevin reveals that Octavius gave it back to him and now he’s entrusting it to her; should the dragons find him, better that they don’t find this too. The ring of spell storing is given to Nathan.
Goodbyes made, Yevin joins hands with Gwen, and with a nod, leaves the tavern alongside his father, on to their next adventure as a new family.
Exhausted, the group finishes their drinks, pays for boarding for the horses, and leaves to the edge of town to stay in Havayla’s magical hut. They’ll leave for Riverband in the morning, stopping in Deerlight on the way. Wander identifies the armor and weapons left by Gwen and every tucks in for the night.
The next few days of travel are a blur, broken only by a momentary visit in Deerlight to see Cindy again, who is saddened by Yevin’s departure, but relieved that Kane is no longer an issue.
Hours outside of Riverband, the Derailers are suddenly beset by brigands, intent on stealing their horses. Everyone but Aurora is caught in a woven rope trap as ner-do-wells surround the party. It is quickly revealed that these bandits picked the wrong mark as chain lightening strikes out from Arunak and Ryker, killing half the group and sending the rest to flee. Nathan manages to escape and firebombs the nearby bandit camp. Aurora skewers one fleeing fighter, Ryker shoots down another, and Aruanak tramples a third as he chases after Nathan. Bandits thoroughly quashed, attention turns to the remaining fighter. Aurora changes her tactic from attack to negotiate and offers the girl a job on Ryker’s ship. Wander intervenes and tries to find out more, encouraging the terrified teen to at least let them help her make better decisions than attacking an experienced adventuring party. Then Ryker tests her mediocre skills at archery. Overwhelmed at the odd amount of attention, the girl flees into the woods with a small amount of gold, and the party cleans up the mess and continues on.
They reach Riverband to find the crew and Ebony Wings engaging in off-duty time passing activities, primarily a fighting ring. Captain back on duty, everyone springs back into form and preps the ship for a morning departure. Arunak and Nathan take the horses in to town and sell them back to Travis the Stablemaster. All except Filleon, Nathan’s horse. He brings her back to the ship to stable with Arurora in the hold. Dinner is taken with the crew and the Derailers settle in for the evening.
And that is where we left off. What is next for the Derailers as they travel to Winterstall? How will they manage without their resident bard and sorcerer? We’ll find out next time…