The Slaywrights

The crew and Dakka square off against a pack of metal-eating earth elementals, and discover the guardian of Gond’s inner sanctum, who puts them through a gauntlet of tests.

Finch grabs a moment to prod at Galva’s frustration, and the crew finally learn some of their awkward fighter’s core memories and trauma. Wilhelm and Finch have a heart to heart, and the crew finally step foot into the temple of Gond.

After being explicitly warned not to make any deals with the Gondian Fae, Galva does an oopsie. 

In which Eo rolls a lot of 0s, 1s, and 2s, Khardak tips his hand and reveals his big secret, Finch shares their water phobia with Galva (who takes entirely the wrong message), and the crew finally make it to the Construct’s Cloister.

It’s a rock ‘em sock ‘em beatdown featuring the Fellstar Pirates, their buddy Khardak, and the aptly-named Ruin Grinder!

The crew and Khardak wind down after a rough fight. Galva tries to get Khardak drunk while Finch tries not to doom spiral. After a restful break, the gang venture forth into the abandoned town they have discovered, and incidentally learn something very interesting about fairies.

In which the cave known as Lolth’s Maw is full of spiders, actually.

Zellias and Finch have another epic Swan Boat Moment while Galva and Eo perform their tasks competently and with great style. The crew and Khardak encounter a derelict Adamantine Authority cruiser in the midst of the Gamma Bramble, which leads to some interesting revelations, and nudges Khardak to confess one of his main motivations for joining the Fellstar Pirates in the first place.

The Fellstar Pirates follow Shavhaga home, where they meet her children and she feeds them dinner. Halfway through the meal, Shavhaga’s older brother Khardak arrives, and HE invites the crew out for drinks and to talk business. 

Eo and Finch have private heart-to-hearts with MUUT. MUUT looks to Zellias for another heart-to-heart, Eo has a brilliant plan for taking care of the Tiamat phone, and Jonye finally shares the name of her contact who might know someone descended from Giga the Dreamer

The crew return to the Black Bazaar and report their discoveries to Admiral Jonye. Their discussion takes an unexpected turn, and with a few key pieces of information from Jonye, a lot of little puzzle pieces suddenly fall into place.

With the Death Tyrant dead, the Fellstar Pirates need to get OUT of the facility, which weirdly turns out to be more complicated than getting in.

Zellias’ draconic diplomacy goes about as well as can be expected given the circumstances. Once that all shakes out, the crew finally discover what waits for them at the bottom of the mine, and it’s not anything they were hoping for.

The Fellstar Pirates have a lot to process in the aftermath of Zellias’ injury.

The crew press deeper into the abandoned Adamantine Authority facility on their quest for answers. Unfortunately, they’re mostly just finding more questions, along with an unpleasant number of Fiends. CW for Dismemberment and amputation injuries

Things are tense as the crew are dogpiled by an irresponsible amount of Hellhounds. 

The crew return to the Black Bazaar, meet up with some old friends, and do a little shopping before their next employer seeks them out.

There are a lot of loose ends to tie up on Geebos, and a number of repairs to be made to the Reliable. Not all of the goodbyes made by the crew are happy ones, but they are at least hopeful.

Things are popping off faster than our heroes can predict in this action-packed, emotionally-charged penultimate session of Chapter 9. Content warning for botanical body horror

After finally making it to Jadrom’s heart, the Fellstar pirates learn a few new key pieces of information that greatly surprise them. Galva collects on Finch’s bet, Zalik and Zellias have a heart-to-heart, and Finch finally gets their chance to talk one-on-one with an actual, bonafide goddess.

Eo takes the lead as the resident expert on dealing with fairies. Galva is deeply annoyed by everything that is happening, and fueled with spite. Zalik is convinced everyone is going to die here, and Finch knows exactly how he feels. Meanwhile, Zellias is oddly calm. It’s weird, it’s almost like he trusts his crew to get everyone through this!

The Fellstar Pirates and their aarakokra guide traverse deep into the marsh on their search for Jadrom’s heart. On the way they encounter more local wildlife, Zellias has a magic oopise, Finch learns that maybe suffering in silence isn’t noble OR smart, and Zalik continues to question his life and his choices.

The Fellstar Pirates are joined by the aarakokra Ranger Zalik as they enter a suspiciously nostril-shaped cave on their quest to find the goddess Chauntea. CW for emetophobia

The crew need to repair The Reliable before they can leave Geebos as the cranky druid commands. Zellias convinces her to provide a safe shelter while the crew does that. Meanwhile, the cranky druid’s cleric companion takes a keen interest in the Fellstar pirates, and facilitates a round of much-needed communication.

The Fellstar Pirates get to know their guests. Zellias and Zalik make a friendly wager, Eo teaches Larz some basic self-defense, and Finch learns all about Larz’s research and about a mythical sect of Druids known as the Riders of Yggdra. After a short journey, the group locate and land on the fabled Geebos.