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Princess Lysanna bid four men good luck as they ventured into Sigurd's Isles.
Their chartered ship's crew threatened to abandon them if not for the princess' presence onboard due to the supposed curse of the ghost ship that had sailed here, the close proximity to Fremennik waters, and the plague persisting in the nearby kingdom of Ironfalls.

Kaladin Aren, Doctor Amalarik, Arthur Vale, and Sir Alexander Grimoire detected unnatural evil covering every inch of the three islands the very moment they set foot on the first; Cane Island. Alexander was separated early on as they encountered locals locked in a blank trance and doing repetitive tasks until their bodies succumb to fatigue where they will be carried away. Alexander would not be seen by the group again as he chose to remain by the shores and was mobbed when he tried to fight the people by the docks.

The remaining three then separated further with Kaladin and Arthur investigating the nearest village and the doctor continuing on the road to the next island. The pair discovered bodies of dead and dying villages piled within the decrepit inn and trading post. It was here that they realized that extensive use of magic caused them to be noticed by whatever presence was at the core of this dark aura engulfing the islands. With their magic neutralized partially, they resort to other ways to burn the buildings housing the bodies. They then fled the scene as the screams of the agonized dying men, women, and children filled the air.

Doctor Amalarik on the other hand encountered a crazed man just as he sets foot on the bridge. The man's sanity was too far gone but what little sense that remained in his words warned the doctor not to proceed into the town on the the second island, Haven, for anyone who did never returned the same if at all.

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Arthur and Kaladin rejoined the doctor by the bridge having cleansed the village of suspected infestation. Reunited, the three men headed into town to be registered as what everyone they had met in the island had blankly instructed with the doctor fiddling with a gadget on the way. Meeting the mayor wasn't so different. She had been reduced to an expressionless automaton like the rest of the people on the Cane and Haven Islands barring the insane man. They were led to a dirty main hall where they were made to drink an unknown concoction on mugs. The three adamantly refused and sensing the presence of guards outside the doors, the doctor activated his contraption, teleporting the three of them outside the town as the hall imploded completely obliterating it.

This did not come without consequence however. The use of such magic brought all three of them to the attention of the source. They narrowly escaped the onslaught of the surviving townspeople and are now on the run within a small island. They reached the shores again soon enough finding no access to the third and final island; Cradle. Cradle Island was where the source of the dark aura spewed from and something else equally as dark if not darker. And it has just awakened. Without a boat and hesitant to use their magic further and risk detection, they argued as to how to traverse the sea and access Cradle Island to deal with the threat once and for all.

It seemed that the three surviving men were faced with another problem before they could even solve the first. A Camelite naval frigate finally arrived to the islands as requested by the princess to assist in rescue and additional firepower if needed. As a response, 'Infected' islanders boarded boats and began to approach the clueless ship disguised as survivors and refugees.

The three elected they teleport to the ship risking detection to warn and save the crew. A bloody prelude to a bloodier conclusion just fell in place...

Conclusion of this plot event will take place tomorrow (9th April) starting from 8-9 pm EST depending if I can get home earlier.

The moment Kaladin Aren, Doctor Amalarik, and Arthur Vale boarded the ship the Forebearer, she and her crew were all but lost.

It turns out that the boats they have spotted were already the second wave of "seeded" islanders. A fight had broken out already moments before the trio were able to make it there. The upper deck was a scene of carnage as dead islanders and crewmen littered the area. An elven ranger appeared to be leading the sapling-morphs as they backed what remained of the surviving crew into the captain's cabin only warded off by fire spells spewed upon the entrance. It wasn't long before they too were noticed and the battle for the rescue of the surviving crew and to prevent additional boats to reach the ship ensued.

The fight was against the odds of the three at the beginning when it came to numbers with more threatening to be added to their ranks should the boats managed to reach and board the ship. Jasper Posloszky, another warrior under employ of Camelot, had been aboard the Forebearer hoping to assist with the campaign and has been defending what was left of the crew until the three arrived. He managed to clear the sapling-morphs surrounding the cabin and his addition to the three finally evened out the odds. Add the bravery of the ship's crew who helped the doctor dispose of all the approaching boats, they managed to defeat the elven leader while suffering only minor injuries. The ship had been saved but Posloszky brought news that the princess had been gravely injured defending the ship, stabbed in the heart by an unconfirmed Camelite knight who was leading the first wave of seeded refugees.

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To add to their distress, the ritual supposedly taking place in Cradle Island has been completed. Something dreadful has just been born into the world and whisked away while they were diverted to trying to save the Forebearer. The group then gathered what they could of the sapling-morph's remains and also the elf's who exhibited a much more mature growth stage of the sapling during combat nearly injuring Kaladin seriously had it not been for the team's effort.

Learning that the princess had been teleported back to Camelot in critical condition, Arthur Vale decided to part ways with the group and attend to her possessing anima absorbed from a couple of the saplings. The remaining three pressed on making landfall on Cradle Island. Spotting the wreck of the ferry the Mother's Favored beached on the shore, they headed up the mountiain to investigate the shrine where the ritual was suspected to have taken place. Along the path to the said shrine, they came upon piles and piles of dried husks absorbed of every bit of their anima. Strangely enough, the body count far exceeded that of the three island's population as it included families from mainland Camelot itself.

At the very center of the shrine atop the now ruined altar stood a lifeless gray crystal tree still grasping the corpses of druids and lunar mages in its tendrils in its final moments. Like the bodies, it is now but a husk as the three investigated. The doctor then detected residual teleportation energy directed somewhere deep in the forests of Baxtorian.

After a heated debate between the doctor who wished to follow the lead immediately and Kaladin who aimed to consolidate their approach by waiting and planning ahead first, Dr. Amalarik decided to make his exit leaving the two to purge the tree and the bodies in flames.

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Back in Camelot Castle, Princess Lysanna was attended by the healers who deemed her wound fatal and were barely able to keep her from completely slipping away. Arthur Vale arrived moments later offering to assist bringing his gathered energy to bear. Even with his resources and skill, it took him and six other healers' combined efforts to fully stabilize the princess' condition. He then bade the healers a temporary leave, just enough for him to perform blood magic away from their presence, to fully lift her from harm's way.