Anya,

The next morning Fyn and Kenari report having horrible nightmares. All each can remember is loud ripping noises. The descend to the dining area to have breakfast and discuss our next steps. Kenari laments that she doesn’t “know what to do because everything here is horrible.” If the food is any indication, she’s right. Kenari, Fyn and the Captain all cringe simultaneously, as they can apparently feel the dimension shifting around us.

While eating breakfast, the waiter (a kid, really) keeps staring at Melchior. Finally, Melchior asks the kid “Can I help you, son?” The kid bolts, looking terrified. But he must be the only waiter in this place, because he eventually comes back out. Ef Utan asks the kid why he’s so nervous. The kid starts stammering about another group of adventurers who were in the area about two months ago and are rumored to be the ones who killed Strad. He describes a group of five men, and says that one of them could have been Melchior’s twin. He says the group called themselves “the Chendl Five”. And Melchior tells us that Chendl is a large trading city in someplace called Veluna. In Greyhawk, apparently. Which is where Melchior is from. And Anya, as an aside…you have to meet Melchior at some point. He has the most fantastic manners.

As we are settling the tab (ok, as Fyn is settling it) the barkeep tells us that he got word that a camp of Vistani have settled at the base of the mountain. As we were thinking of heading up the mountain anyway, this is rather serendipitous. As we approach, openly – we are here to talk after all – a group of kids spot us and run off to warn the camp. We are met in a clearing by a rather large man, wearing a yellow sash who asks us our business. Kenari tells him that the last time she and some of this group were here, they met Madame Eva and can we speak to her again? The man is clearly confused, but leaves – asking us to stay where we are. Eventually, we are brought into the camp and directed to a campfire at which sits an extremely elderly lady. Kenari asks “by any chance, do you remember me?” To which Madame Eva replies “you’re early and you brought friends.” This causes a great deal of consternation – as apparently the Captain, Ef Utan, Kenari and Lenata had been here before – but in this woman’s future. [Anya: time travel can be tricky and I don’t really recommend it.] We confer briefly and Kenari says we should tell Madam Eva everything. But as we are conferring, Madame Eva looks at Melchior and pulls out her Tarokka cards, inviting him to sit in front of her. She deals three cards face down in front of him and invites him to flip them over. He flips the first. It’s a gray, swirly picture and the caption says “Mists.” Madam Eva says: “The mists turn all enemies into the shadows of doubt.” The next card has a pair of crossed swords and is named “the Paladin.” Madam Eva says “The blade of the righteous burns bright.” To which Melchior replies “Merlin’s will be done.” The final card is red bordered and named “the Monk.” Madam Eva says “the strongest armor is the resolution of the heart and mind.” Melchior asks if the card has anything to do with him. Madame Eva taps the table…and Melchior stares at her. The Captain whispers “money”. Ef Utan comes to Melchior’s rescue by swiftly depositing a large stack of gold coins on the table (which disappears as swiftly). Madame Eva tells Melchior “Yes, he’s related to you. That’s your grandfather.”

There is a large quaking, shifting feeling – we all feel it this time – like something is being ripped apart. I ask Madame Eva what it is and she tells us all “That is change and it is coming very rapidly. Coming with Lord Strad.” At this point, everyone wants to go investigating and it takes a little bit of talking to get them to agree with Madame Eva, that maybe we should not be here right now. Kenari and Lenata teleport back to the ship (which Kenari tells us later felt horrible) and they find the ship’s crew barely hanging on.

The rest of us leave the camp and start walking back towards the river where we were dropped off – to catch up with the ship. When we find the ship, we can see it has been damaged and it turns out four crew were lost. Ravenloft is having a horrible effect on the haunted ship. As we board the ship, Ef Utan, Kenari and myself are all hit with negative energy that causes a fair amount of damage. The crew tells us that they tried to pull out of the mists, but they couldn’t breath. As we are shifting away, we hear hoofbeats and distant musket fire.

We go back through the mists and the haunts erupt. We have space shark ghosts – at least a dozen – trailing the ship. Lenata flies us through – avoiding lightning and we make it to the other side.

We shift with the planar sails to the ethereal plane, then back to the prime. As we shift, your Uncle Fyn falls off the ship (Ha! It wasn’t me this time!) and Ef Utan casts a quick fly spell and jumps over to grab him. (he’s fine, don’t worry) I see a large wicker basket with a giant balloon over it (and no Anya, I am not drunk) that has three human figures in the basket – 2 men and a woman in a rather poofy, impractical dress. Ef Utan flies over to the balloon and talks to the people. They tell him we are over someplace called “Turkey” and call Ef Utan “a bloody American.” None of us are at all sure what that means." The compass is pointing again – to a spot at the base of the mountains. We can just make out a couch sized machine and a man sitting in it – actually on the couch – wearing a brown suit and holding an umbrella.

Lenata pilots the ship closer and Kenari and I “door” down. We sneak over to get a better look at the guy. He seems to be pretty ordinary really. Short, dark hair. An oversized mustache. All at once, I am struck with an agonizing pain in my head and the start of a really ferocious headache. I run over to the guy, pull my sai on him and demand to know what he’s doing. He’s pretty startled at our sudden appearance – especially by Kenari – and tells us that it’s a device for traveling up and down the time stream. As Kenari questions the man, the slips a glowing crystal out of the back of the device. We signal for the ship to come down – but the man has realized that she has his crystal and demands its return. Kenari keeps talking to the man, trying to come to some kind of terms and he goes on a long explanation about his machine…lots of math. We teleport back to the ship and Ef Utan arranges for the crew to load the machine onto our ship.

Fyn takes over the talking part (Anya, your Uncle is really good at this stuff) and offers to give the man a tour. The man’s name is Reginald Lethbridge. Which is good to know. As we are loading the machine, the mist turns to black boiling smoke and clears – but now where Borovia was is an empty valley. Reginald is not certain how he is going to get home and given our interest in his machine, we volunteer to take him there. Fyn has that look in his eye he gets when he really wants something and he keeps talking about “mounting it on the prow.” I think he means the machine and so I almost feel sorry for Reginald. But then, this man is nothing special and would only be a danger to himself and others, wandering the timelines unchecked – so maybe relieving him of this device would be a good deed? We show him the map room and realize it’s going to take at least 3 days of travel to reach his home. So we set off and Fyn and Kenari keep working on Reginald. Reginald asks a lot of questions about Kenari’s jewelry and talks about someplace called Egypt – describing gods Kenari knows from other realms, but including some that she has not heard of. It may be that the Illithid have managed to interfere in this place, but we are not sure how.