"Mind if we follow?" purrs Morgan, curious to see where this literal trip down Memory Lane goes.
"You are free to try," she replied pleasantly. "I would not imagine that it is quite so simple for mortals, however."
Kaelic pondered the situation, eyeing the book Nurai held. He couldn't think of a way to escape, but given how they found the ship, he suspected they'd end up in the right place anyway, and if this was due to the book's magic, perhaps the right time as well. He decided to hold his peace and await their fate.
Nurai wasn't entirely sure of many things going on currently or otherwise, but she did not like the sound of that. She held the book, ready to close, as she took another look around debating the risks of seeing whether or not whatever this was would show what caused this or not -- or how long this vision thing was taking in the odd Twilight time.
I think we are sort of stuck: I admit that I'm not sure how to proceed in this illusion/memory/time travel. Is there something that I/we missed completely, or maybe forgot?
EDIT:
The young man nodded once again and gently pushed his way past you all, his mother (perhaps) following behind. "Well then. If this is some form of temporal traverse, and we do meet again, I'm sure things will be...interesting."
Unless someone stopped them, they headed out onto the deck and vanished from sight.
The ship continued to sway - more and more violently, as the waves began knocking the prow aside. You could hear the distant shouting of some of the crew.
The heartbeat within the book, once barely noticible to Nurai, upped its tempo once again.
"So, uh, do we want to go investigate that crew? They might need help." Izami said, turning her attention towards the prow of the ship.
Nurai gripped the book tightly in concern, trying to see if anything had changed with it other than that.
At Izami's suggested, Nurai shrugged though didn't look up, "I'm not sure how much we can help or affect this memory. My guess is maybe that artifact is part of how it ended up in the Twilight so the rest is just seeing how much more this can tell us or not."
Morgan followed the couple towards the deck, keeping to the shadows and avoiding attention.
As far as Nurai can tell, the book was otherwise the same as before.
Morgan was able to sneak up to near the bridge, where he could see the crew fighting again the waves that were blowing into the ship relentlessly. They seemed to be fighting to keep the prow of the ship aimed at the worst of the waves - taking one to the side of the ship would be fatal.
...and the stranded vessel in the twilight did not have her hull shattered.
Morgan moves back downstairs. "There's some awful weather out there, but it didn't look like the ship had been smashed to tiny pieces by the storm, did it? Is it possible that there's something we need to do so that history actually turns out the way it's supposed to?"
"Or so that we don't die in the past? I hate to meddle in this kind of thing, but you might be right. Let's find the captain and ask how we can help. Unless any of you happen to be seasoned sailors?"
"Actually... what if we just finish reading the book?"
"Nerd."
"I mean, I can probably read it while the rest of you walk. There's no reason we can't do two things." Izami noted. "As long as someone holds it up for me, anyway."
Nurai listened as she tried to watch what was going on and hold onto the book. After a quiet chuckle at Jennifer's retort, Nurai responded to Kaelic, "The last entry is on them preparing for this storm. Like I said, it's frustratingly incomplete and nothing has changed yet. I've no idea if this panic beating the book is giving off is meant to be a clue beyond probably the obvious feelings of the crew. I'll keep an eye out for if anything new appears or if we need to try to close it quick which will hopefully take us back rather than death...but I guess we head upstairs now if we want to see what's going on and try to help or at least not hinder the crew..."
Cloaked in her shadow, Nurai tried to quietly move up the stairs that Morgan had come down...
...as she crept closer to the top, Nurai had an idea. Once at the top and out of the way of the others and anyone else as best she could, Nurai chose a suitable place to try to peer into the Twilight. Maybe watching both at once could help...
Nurai was easily enough able to sneak along to the bridge as well - the crew were not paying any attention. The captain is screaming orders is a desperate bid to keep the small vessel together.
This...this was odd, though probably not as surprising as Nurai felt when she first spotted the figures. She had thought there might be something about these ships - maybe an item on them or their paths - that landed them in the Twilight. This actually made more sense though still didn't explain the why.
Keeping her glowing eyes on the image and holding the book tight in the storm, she waits for one of others to get closer before saying, "A group is using...ritual looking magic in the Twilight to pull it through..."
"Can you describe them? Do they look like fey or regular people?"
She turns to Kaelic.
"Was that racist?"
Kaelic starts to remark, but then stops himself with a frown.
"I'm going to go see if I can keep us alive."
Kaelic arrives to find the bridge in chaos, with the Captain fighting the wheel in desperation as the ship, slowly, begins to turn sideways under the unstoppable might of the sea. If anyone notices him then no one bothers saying anything - a strange man on the bridge is so low on their list of concerns currently as to be unmentionable.
Kaelic, being a fey, is possessed of superhuman strength. Or at least pretty strong human strength.
He approaches the wheel with intent to help, but also knows he may not be welcome there.
The only winged myth Kaelic can think of would be that of the Albatross, but that myth doesn't end well for either the sailors of the albatross.
The captain stares at Kaelic for a moment, but it's clear it doesn't register that he isn't supposed to be there. "What are you doing wandering around? Nevermind that, help me turn us, damn your eyes, or we'll snap in half on the next big wave!"
With mixed emotions, Nurai looked over and shrugged awkwardly to Kaelic at Jennifer's remark before returning her attention to the odd people conducting the ritual, trying to see if she could spot anything identifying quickly. The more she watched the storm and through the thinning, the more she wanted to make sure they weren't on the boat when it went through...though guilt started to rise as she couldn't think of any ways to ensure any of the struggling men weren't on it either...
As everyone seemed to be diversely occupied, Morgan picks up the book with a strand of telekinesis and keeps it upright for him and Izami to read. The ability to move things without touching them was useful for everyone, but invaluable when you lacked thumbs.
Nurai kept a close eye on the circle of people, and it would seem they were Fae of some kind. The variety in size was the only easy hint - from up here the green robes they wore made it difficult to tell, but some were far too small to be human children. The floating was also a hint.
Cheshire was unable to pull the book from Nurai's firm grasp, but a quick glance at it's open pages didn't show any new writing after the section talking about preparing for the storm.
"Huh." Izami said as she looked over the book. It still wasn't clear how she actually saw, given her apparent lack of eyeballs, but oh well. "I wonder if this is getting written in as things occur..."
It certainly didn't seem to be updating, but anything was possible.
Nurai didn't react to any tugging she felt on the book. Hearing Izami, Nurai replied, "As this is the captain's log, I do not think he lived long enough to write another entry...
After another moment's consideration, she looked to Jennifer, Whoever they are, they're floaty and with what I can see of the rituals they're using, I'm guessing fae or at the very least non-human-ish fae-like magic users -- and I don't think we want to try to meet them through that..." gesturing towards the storm and the image Nurai could see. Seeing who they were up against was of benefit, but with no other benefits she could see and that before them, Nurai went to close the book...
Jennifer nods, not able to think of anything to do other than letting history play out.
Fighting, hard, Nurai is slowly able to force the book shut...and the storm vanishes. The ship is once again a dead vessel in the planes, with no sign of the waters that were pounding it.
On the Bridge Kaelic found himself standing at the steering wheel, now coated in dust. On the far side of the bridge a humanoid form lay beneath a ragged blanket, and the windows were long gone. Other than that the bridge looked similar to how it had before.
Kaelic calls out loudly, "Did you fix it?" He can tell he's probably back, but without a line of sight to the others...
Though this humanoid form is an object of curiosity. He slowly approaches, wary of whatever might lay beneath the blanket.
"Ah. That was easier than I was picturing it." says Morgan, brushing his fur to clear it of dust.
The captain lays beneath the sheet, his skull cracked on the back and shattered. It is clear that he died around the same time the ship came to this world, although the exact cause isn't as obvious.
Nurai looked around with relief. It was nice when things were that easy.
She attempted to make her way over to Kaelic and the body, "Depends on what we're calling fixed, but we're back whole at least -- and know this is intentional weirdos rather than just planar weirdness." Nurai held the book tightly closed as she looked around and checked for any other remaining magic...
"So, someone is stealing ships: one of them was this one, where that fairy lady was travelling, and another is the Blackwing, carrying highly classified, likely magical technology. Does that sound about right? Do you reckon they are thieves?"
"I'd guess they're assembling some kind of... something. Pulling magical parts from different places and times. And ships. What did that lady say was aboard this vessel?"
"I think Carmilla and/or her son was the cargo the fey cultists wanted from this ship."
"Why is the captain the only body we've found on this ship?
"Also, can we leave now and get back to finding the Blackwing?"
"Hm... odd that they would pull the ship here but leave the artifact untouched. Maybe they really were after something else, or maybe... they're very patient."
Nurai didn't detect anything differnt, or additional magic signatures, now that they were back.
There didn't seem to be anything stopping you from continuing the search for the ship. There was clearly something happening here, but whether there were more answers here was unclear.
"Sometimes people just don't make sense." the sword opined. "Best to not worry too much about that - try and understand every motivation of every fiend and you'll be at it together. Better to focus on our own goal."
"And our goal is on another ship, so..."
Nurai nodded to Jennifer. While they might be able to find something else here, whatever they really wanted was likely either already gone or the off item they'd already grabbed from the cargo that whoever might eventually come back for. Looking out to the sky, with mild annoyance that it would give no information on how much time had passed, "Another ship that they've pulled in, so let's see if can get our goals and see if we need to stop theirs..." before making her way back through the ship to leave...
Morgan nestled back inside Jennifer's pack and closed his eyes, purring softly.
The party continued on there merry way, or not so merry in some cases, with the gieger counter reading getting incrementally stronger as they continued along.
The terrain turned to jungle, of some kind. Occasionally strange structures of stone could be seen in the distance, and stranger noises heard through the vegetation, but nothing more dangerous that midges approached the party as they followed animal trails and river banks.
As the sun approached the horizon the group crested a hill, and it was soon apparent that you had found what you were looking for. Sitting in the centre of a large body of water was the Blackwing her anchors down and the ship itself seemingly untouched. Of note was another vessel, part buried in the jungles by the shore - the nose of what might have been some kind of attack sub.
In fact, from this vantage point it was possible to see start of a pattern, with ships slowly spiralling out from this central point, each one twice the distance from the last until there was miles between each ship. There must be dozens of vessels, at the very least.
"Did we bring a raft or anything?"
An inflatable raft was not among the list of supplies you were carrying.
"S*@~."
"Can you not fly?"
Kaelic unfurls his wings and begins to hover above the land.
"I can carry the cat, if you can stomach being carried by the cat."
Even as he says this, he looks for a lifeboat or other readily available craft he could access.