Yasmina too gratefully accepts one of the scrolls before letting Lord Amir planeshift the team back to Captain Fox's ship.

Cal and Zander remain silent, perhaps awed by the presence of the Celestial. But soon the party finds themselves teleported away a third time, courtesy of Lord Amir. You all find yourselves stand on the deck of Captain Fox's ship, where the Captain is waiting to greet you.

"Welcome back," he says. "I suppose you probably had another eventful outing... is there anything else you need, or would you like me to return to shore?"

"Thank you captain for picking us up out here." The red-haired Half-Elf says with a friendly smile as she steps closer to the captain. "It all went fairly smoothly actually, not that it wasn't eventful." She says with a wink. "I don't think we need anything other than a place to rest while you take us back to shore thanks."

Lord Amir bids Milly and the others farewell for now as his time has expired, and he then returns to his extradimensional palace.

"We had a lot of fun, Fox!" Duwamilly laughs, happy to see the captain again and to be able to give him good news "We've pranked that scamp Firion who is responsible for poor Rupert's death a little more! We've stolen something from under his nose that he wanted to get hold of before us and probably we have earned him the enmity of a large white dragon! You will see, in the end he will reap the just fruit of his misdeeds! And you?" she winks "In our absence, what ways have you found to get yourself into trouble?"

If the captain has time for this, the ex-preceptor chats with him a bit and while they chat she asks what he has been doing in the meantime (just for the pleasure of the company of a nice person, not because she expects such information to be especially useful).

Cal will have a tear come down his cheek because he knows that this rod has stolen his ability to ever truly deserve to be there. He also wonders where his family is. 

"Fascinating," the Captain says to Milly. "In your absence, several military vessels have arrived. I can't say I know what it's all about, but they are apparently reinforcing the island's defenses. So, I'm afraid I haven't had many opportunities to 'get myself into trouble.'"

As you look out across the water, you can see that the Captain's words are true. Six frigates are anchored near the settlement, and if you look through a spyglass that the Captain offers to you, you can see that there are now soldiers setting up defenses all around the settlement, and turning some of the nearby ruins into makeshift guard towers.

Zander:

"They will do little against dragons and archmages." The red-haired Half-Elf scoffs. "I suppose they will soon make join the isle's undead population." She adds with a tired sigh.

"Come on, Fox!" Duwamilly jokes "Now that we're with you again, I'm sure we can help you to get into troub... er, I mean... we can keep you from getting bored!"

And to demonstrate this the ex-preceptor tells him the joke about the pirate with the peg-leg, the hook and the eye patch.

 The gnome cleric, then, if nothing else disturbs her, sits on the deck, looking at the horizon and enjoying the salty breeze. She doesn't share Yasmina's pessimism... Okay, dragons have tough skin and can be difficult to hit... But she believes that if enough arrows (or siege ammunition) are fired at them, sooner or later they'll get hurt... And if they were to get hurt enough times... But she is still aware that she is not exactly an action gnome - much less a war expert gnome, leaves these considerations and who should deal with it. It is enough for her to have pranked Firion once again... and to know that, soon, her and the other Accursed's curses should be removed. After that, Firion will surely be in serious trouble.

Zander looking out across the horizon turns and says “those are Baron Ryder's forces.”

The Captain chuckles at Milly's joke.

"I doubt that they are foolish enough to try to challenge a dragon or an archmage without some solid support from casters and artillery," he says to Yasmina. "Even so... I won't pretend to be extremely optimistic about their chances myself. Certainly not enough to be here when the battle takes place."

So you pull into port. As you draw closer, you can see more of the preparations that have been made. Ballistae are being set up around the perimeter of the town, presumably to take down areal threats. As you arrive on shore, you are greeted by a squad of six soldiers and a knight. All of the men have green cloaks, the same color as Zander's outfit.

"Greetings," the knight says, taking off his helm to reveal a battle-scarred face. "Good to see you again, Mr. Goldleaf... the boys and I were starting to wonder what had become of you after you decided to leave with the dead guy. Now then, let's get a look at the rest of you... I've heard a lot about you folks from the locals, sayin' you managed to fight the Exalted of the Dragon himself and came out alive. I'll say this now, I've seen that bastard in action before and know what a nightmare he really is on the field... if the four of you were really able to fight him then you already have my respect. Anyway, the name is Sir Tristan, knight of Baron Ryder and the guy who's been given the unenviable task of trying to fortify this town against dragons and mad death cultists."

Yasmina laughs softly at Milly's joke. They were getting better she thought to herself, or at least more to her taste.

"So who is this Baron Ryder then, and what are his forces doing here? Is he a servant of the Lich too?" The red-haired Half-Elf asks Zander. 

Yasmina gives Sir Tristan a scrutinizing look as he talks. "Then you have no doubt heard about the cursed artefacts we carry that also is the only reason we survived the encounter with the Exalted of the Dragon, or the scamp Firion as Milly's likes to call him." She says, giving the ex-preceptor a wink. "I suppose those massive crossbows might make dragons itch as they approach but I hope your men go for cover as the magical bombardment commences." She continues somehwat dryly, then ready to head back to the fortress of the Lich.

"It's like Yasmina, here, says, Sir Tristan..." Duwamilly admits "We managed to save ourselves also thanks to the power of the very items that the scamp Firion intended to steal from us".

"But I don't call him that because I like calling him that, anyway..." the ex-preceptor launches into an unexpected digression "I call him that because he is a true scamp! Do you know that he usurped his kingdom from his own family? And who wants to wake up a dragoness with delusions of grandeur of - literally - divine proportions? Do you know that she killed a poor innocent just to infiltrate a spy who was trying to follow our moves?"

"Above all, though..." the gnome cleric returns to the point, remembering a detail that, perhaps, could prove useful "You know what? He's very powerful with magic and other means, but... a little gullible - or at least a little sensitive to deception. Do you know that, at the start, I convinced him that I would give him what he wanted without any problem?" she still giggles at the memory "If an unexpected circumstance hadn't gotten in the way, that super-powerful scamp could have even lost his life or his sanity... This is to say: in battle, if facing him directly can be problematic... If your strategists find some way to deceive him perhaps you could gain a decisive advantage".

"Somehow, I doubt that trick will work twice," the knight says with a half-hearted smile. "But I'll keep it in mind. If you're going to see the Lich again, be wary. The fortress will almost certainly be the primary target during the coming battle. I have faith that Lord Akkron can take care of himself, seein' how he turned the tide of the war in our favor basically all on his own, but I wouldn't want to be caught in the crossfire between him and the cultists."

"So you think an attack is imminent," Delvindra asks, unable to disguise her concern.

Then, turning to her fellow accursed, "If it's possible that Firion is planning to attack these people to get to us then we need to leave immediately, and let him know that we've done so. We can't be responsible for putting innocent lives at risk."

"I would prefer it if we took shelter within the fortess of the Lich and let everyone else evacuate, but hopefully the cultists will come for the fortress anyway." Yasmina chimes in.

"I'm not sure our escape will solve anything in the long run, Delvindra, honey..." Duwamilly waves her wand nervously "Unless we can lure that scamp Firion into a trap and eliminate him ourselves, an assault to Shaded Isle is bound to happen, I think. Sooner or later we will free our objects from the curses. Transferring the curses into the objects to be delivered to Lord Matic Akkron. Who will therefore become Firion's new target anyway. And, just like now, the possibility of innocent deaths would remain open".

"We might win Lord Akkron more time..." the ex-preceptor reflects "but it seems to me that he has already made good use of the time he had".

"Anyway," the gnome cleric concludes "he certainly has more experience than us regarding war and magic - besides to have been in the world much longer than any of us. Let's communicate our success to him and consult with him about next steps. We will do what we need to do!"

Cal agrees that we need to get into the fortress as soon as possible or all is lost. 

Delvindra's heart sinks.

"You're right. This doesn't end with us. It was never about saving ourselves. As long as the magic remains on this plane, so does the danger. We can't just transfer the power to a new item. We have to lock it away. Forever."

The knight and the guards look rather uncomfortable at Delvindra's assertion.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about the arcane forces that you're dealing with," the knight says after a moment. "But my men and I will certainly do our best to keep the people here safe from the cultists' wrath while you perform whatever legendary feats of heroism you must. If you need to speak to his Lordship, I am sending two squads to the fortress within the hour if you wish to accompany them. It is doubtful that we have more than 24 hours to prepare for the cultists' arrival, possibly less than that."

"In that case, come on, kids!" Duwamilly urges the (hopefully not yet for long) Accursed "Let's go with the two squads and speak to his Lordship as soon as possible. Not only he can tell us if this is a good time to go to the plane... where we need to go to do what we know we need to do; if he knows how we can best help him against that scamp Firion, he will tell us that also".