The battle is finally over and the city has fallen. The king is still very confused about what has occurred and Josephus takes him away to better explain the situation. We begin to heal ourselves and work to fix our armor. Josephus returns a short while later and tells us that we will stay here at least one night. The allied forces will also camp in the area and heal their wounded. They take a more defensive stance within the city, moving the catapults inside. Josephus assists in putting out the fire on the river by calling out water spirits to quench the flames.

The next morning Josephus asks us to meet with him and the king in the main hall of the castle. The casualty reports come in and say that losses on both sides were heavy. Roughly a quarter of our forces perished, with more of those being Dwarves. Over half of the soldiers of Dakar were burned or killed in hand-to-hand combat. The unholy vines have been reduced to husks and are turning to ash.

We come to the great hall, which was also damaged in the fire. The king says that he will lead the survivors out of the city and make for the Midlands to establish a new settlement, since this town has been completely ruined. Sir Bradford and his crew will go with them. Josephus apologizes that he cannot assist with the move as he is coming with us to Gradaine.

Taking all of the supplies we can, we board a raft and travel south on the river. As we go there are less signs of the taint the further south we are. Closer to the city we see cultivated fields and then the city rises up from the horizon. Above it we see spheres above the city, giant zeppelins. Josephus says that he is not aware of how they stay aloft, by magic or otherwise.

We come into the town and we see that it is an extremly busy place. There are barges and other ships passing by and many people about. We come to a dock and disembark. The man who assists our docking asks for 2 gold to dock the ship and another gold for a pamphlet of local areas. A sign nearby says that the city is home to many crafting guilds.

We visit some shops and buy healing roots and armor. Later we search for a high quality inn to stay and decide that we will take baths and have our clothes cleaned. We are brought fresh meat and potatoes. We each get individual rooms with soft beds and are otherwise well-furnished. We stay two nights and then leave the next morning. Sarthisis pays for everything with a flourish since he has quite a lot of gold and jewels stocked up.

At the docks we board a large boat. The fare for all of us is 30 gold, and the journey will take at least one week. The captain warns us that there may be pirates or monsters on the sea during our travels. Nothing happens on day 1, but on day 2 we spot a ship on the horizon, slightly smaller than our ship. The captain says that it looks sinister. Porodo uses his far sight and is able to see that it is a group of dark-skinned bandits that are approaching to try and board us. As they come near they throw grappling hooks onto our ship.

Sarthisis casts a fire spell onto their ship and we engage them as they try to come across. They prove no match for us and fall easily to our blades and bows. In only a few seconds we have cut through their boarding ranks and pushed onto their ship. The remaining pirates surrender and offer to give us their cargo in exchange for their lives.

We go down into the hold and see many cages filled with hostage dark-skinned humans and elves, as well as one Merikii. Sarthisis busts the locks on all of the cages to let them go free. Aliga murders the captain in cold blood after seeing this. Also found are crates with food. We bring the food and captives on to the larger ship and lock up the remaining pirates in the cages. We do some minor fixes on the pirate ship and tow it along with us, planning on giving it to our captain once we land.