Behind Blue Eyes part 14: Corl the Squire

Less than a day from the seaside village, the party found itself followed by a teen named Corl. He sought to join himself to the party. He had spied their handiwork and as he himself was banished from the village and forced to live off its refuse, he sought to squire for one of them and learn his way in the world as a knight.

Lady Mara agreed to take him to apprentice. When the party returned to the Boldish, they learned the fell news. Kas had gone to entreat with Vecna (calling himself Seleseer) and had joined his cause. A day later 400 of the best warriors defected a joined Kas, protecting the entrance to Vecna's redoubt.

Corl allowed that he knew of this redoubt, as all the sea people did. He further advised that there was a secret entrance, guarded by intelligent manta rays and led by a king manta ray with the ability to steal life energy from those he bit. The party decided against a frontal attack, and demurred about sneaking the back door.

The party came to believe that their best effort was to find Peter Heimos again. His entreaty of Seleseer (Vecna) had obviously failed. Before leaving he had indicated that if his parley had failed, he would meet them at the Aksus Monde, across the Dagger Sea.

Instead, they decided to journey north and seek passage from one of the whale-hunting tribes to get across the Dagger Sea. The journey of two weeks found the party fighting a rock monster and his animated stone, also coming across a band of dark-skinned elves, calling themselves the Svartalf, who killed their dog and urged them on their way.

Finally, at the whale-hunters village, the party promised gifts of steel to those who could ferry them across the narrow sea. A contest was held and the winners won the right to the steel and the passage promised.

The next morning on the seabird of wood the party set across the sea and landed on the shores before a lonely mountain. The party passed the night in the shadow of the mountain, warned that the entire region was home to one-eyed giants of evil disposition.