Ushaka cracks the shell of the tentacled monster, shattering most it and causing the mass of writhing tentacles to spring lose and tumble, dying, off the edge of the warship and into the murky waters below. At the same time the stingers embedded in the party's flesh stop digging deeper and Gemma Redclaw goes limp, collapsing to the ship's deck. The black coral covering parts of her body melts away revealing a long dead desiccated corpse. Elsewhere in the dark cove, great chunks of black coral die off, becoming soft and waxy before the party’s eyes. Light breaks into the cavern as cracks appear in the black coral wall sealing off the cove.
The previously wriggling stingers appear to be 'dead'. The pressure from the falling water is more than enough to knock them free from Fahd's flesh.
Returning to the Magpie Princess with the treasure from the calcified warship, including Jemma Redclaw's legendary numerian prosthetic, the party is greeted somewhat coldly by what remains of the crew and their new captain - Heartbreak Hinsin. Nobody is willing to raise arms against the party for killing half of the crew and their late captain but it's clear the party's time among the Princess's pirate crew is at an end. A few days later, the party is wished farewell by the few members of the crew they'd formed a connection with and dropped off in Port Peril along with their share of the booty (a very substantial share).
After a handful of other less noteworthy adventures, the party finds themselves once again in the Grand Lodge in Absalom being debriefed by a visibly harried venture-captain Gallard Stormeye. It seems the party's return with the sought after Redclaw is welcome good news.
"You did good", the rugged venture-captain says as he looks over the metallic limb curiously. "You found the thing you were sent for and all made it back in one piece. If only all my agents were as reliable as you. What'd you make of the pirate life?"
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"They're all mad!" Zink cries, in an indignant squawk. "Well, one or two were okay, but their lives, their ways, they're so chaotic and uncivilized!" He pauses thoughtfully a moment, then continues, "I learned a great deal from them - well, from being among them, not directly from them. Most particularly, I learned the value of serving and spreading the virtues of civilized society. If I can, I hope one day to return to the Shackles, and restore the abandoned temple of Abadar that we found there, and perhaps serve as an anchor of order to the wayward pirates who make their lives there."
"That's the spirit. Keep the dream alive", venture-captain Stormeye says dismissively as he wraps the Redclaw in a soft cloth. "That'll do everyone. You're dismissed."