<<<25 Feb 2057, 16:02—Eye of the Eagle
(NAN II) >>>

Back in Seattle again. After all the potential threats we've experienced in the course of this run, its conclusion was somewhat anticlimactic. Not that I'm complaining.

After a short battle with a couple of overlooked terrorists who were trying to escape in their small boat (and use their cannon on the ferry, which we couldn't, needless to say, allow to happen), we attempted to determine what to do with our highly dangerous cargo. Joe considered trying to defuse the explosives surrounding the canisters, but came to the conclusion that he wasn't sufficiently confident in his skills to take the risk unless it became necessary. I admire his restraint.

Fortunately, a course of action revealed itself to us in the form of one Michael Falling Star, who astrally projected to the deck of the ferry. He assured us that if we could get the ferry into Kitamat Harbour, he and his associates, who were preparing a massive ritual, could deal with the toxin. We were a bit suspicious, but since we had no other real choice, we decided to trust him. Summoning the great spirit Teel (the largest air spirit I have ever seen), we explained our course of action to it and asked for its assistance. With the aid of another spirit it called, Teel was able to significantly increase our speed, permitting us to reach the harbour in time. We vacated the ship in our small boat and got some distance away before the explosion occurred, hoping that Falling Star was true to his word (and reporting his abilities accurately).

I was able to watch the ritual from the astral plane, and it was impressive. It's been a long time since I've seen a ritual of such size and power, and never of the shamanic tradition. I watched with great interest as they did something to the toxin to render it inert-- the red, malevolent substance transformed into millions of tiny bats and dissipated. On the material plane, I'm told, this translated to black powder falling harmlessly to the ground.

After that, we got out of the NAN lands fairly quickly--I think that all of us, even Joe, were ready to get home. We stopped briefly to visit Michael Falling Star in his home; he was grateful to us for our help, but obviously very tired. We thanked him for the ritual (Joe, especially, seemed quite concerned about treating him with the proper respect) and took our leave.

Back in Seattle, we finished up business by meeting with Farseer once more. She, too, was grateful for our assistance, and completed our payment by giving each of us another bag filled with gold coins.

The next day, or rather the next evening, something rather interesting occurred. I was making my preparations to return to England as usual for our break when there was a knock at my door. On opening it (I was not expecting any visitors that evening) I saw ShadoWraith standing there, looking a bit troubled. He asked if I had time to talk, and I noticed that he had brought a bottle of fine Scotch with him. From past experience, this told me that he wanted to talk at length, and probably about something that was disturbing him. Curious, I invited him in.

We spent the next couple of hours discussing some fairly odd things. 'Wraith had recently become inexplicably concerned about Thayla--he was concerned about her safety, after we left her there on the bridge, and wondered if anyone was guarding her. As we talked further, the subjects grew further and further afield of the original topic: 'Wraith began talking about elves, and Harlequin, and eventually (I'm not sure he even realized it--he was a bit into the bottle at that point) brought up the subject of Desire.

Hearing that, I became convinced that Desire was the real source of his interest; Thayla and Harlequin and the Horrors seemed of less importance, though I think it would be nearly impossible to get him to admit it. He asked me about the metaplanes and my knowledge of them; I think he wants to go back to Thayla's metaplane, if it's possible to do so. I offered to give him some reading matter on the subject, which he accepted, but I kept getting the sense that he was trying to make sense of something that I'm not sure anyone can make sense of. I told him that I would help in any way I can, but that I don't have the knowledge or the ability to take others to the metaplanes-- and furthermore, that I doubt that I could even find that particular metaplane on my own. Now, I think, he's determined to find someone who can--which is probably Harlequin, since he's the only one we know who can do it. Not that we can find him, of course. We have no idea where he is. Perhaps if we could arrange it so we could have a meeting with our current patron (the dragon in Dragon Security) we might be able to arrange something. I doubt that we'll get this chance, though.

I look forward to pursuing this matter further as time goes on.