We head south, looking for a boar to steal, I mean borrow, no, I mean steal. The villages all have soldiers on the docks or in the bays. No one is getting a boat out of Italy without them noticing. So, we make a plan. Klyce will go out and sabotage a boat while Remy, Chirina, and Dalish prepare a boat for theft. Then they’ll swing close enough to the coast for the rest of us to catch up and get aboard before we sail away.

So, one more day of rest, and at dusk, they all head out. There’s some noise and shouting from the docks, but eventually, a boat comes slowly sailing along. Nat, Gerhardt, and I head out, but I can’t keep up. I have to fly up to get on the boat before it leaves me behind. I give us a favorable wind and we head in the general direction of Siciliy, with HeyHey as our scout.

As we near the coast, there are patrols ahead. We have another big discussion about swimming, pretending to be ghosts, and setting the boat aflame. In the end, most of us just hide in the hold, and Remy, Dalish, and Ceres slide us in between the patrols. There is, however, a cannon on shore that tries to sink us. We help them out by sabotaging our own boat and swim into shore underwater, away from their position.

Nat finds us a cave to sleep in, and we plan our next steps. Dawn has arrived while we sailed, so we need to rest and decide where we’re going. Italy is still bombing, so they haven’t made landfall, yet. We decide to head for Palermo to see what news we can find. The Sicilian rebels are camped all around the city, which is half on fire, and stll being bombarded when we arrive in the evening.

Chirina, of course, will lead us into the city, with stories of refugees and looking for family. When we approach the gates, soldiers come out and insist on taking our weapons if we wish to enter the city. Remy refuses, so we leave him and Aranea outside with any important weapons.

Inside, there aren’t a lot of people left. Most have headed for Syracuse and Messina. The shelling has been going on for weeks, and the entire dockside of town is destroyed. The government has fled the city, leaving only the Magia to care for the people. We discuss talking to them, despire our colorful past.

Chirina leads us to one of their soup kitchens. The tough in charge offers us some food, but says he doesn’t know anything about Americans being around. Chirina asks if there is someone else she could speak with, and the guy nods, then keels over. A thin green mist fills the room, and more fall to the ground, only Nat of our group is actually unconscious. Dalish, Philomena, and I stare around for the source. A voice calls out, “Time for the hunt to end.”

We fight in the fog, our attacker seemingly enjoying himself quite thoroughly, though we do manage to drive him off before he kills anyone. Afterwards, we all lay down to pretend we were knocked out like everyone else, though Chirina and I stay alert in case he comes back. When one of the toughs wakes up, we are all gathered up and carried away as suspects to a dark dungeon of a room.

A while later, it’s hard to tell how long, an older man arrives and speaks to us all in English. Klyce explains our situation simply, and says that the assassin was trying to stop us, and find the couple before we could. The man says he knows of the people we are looking for, that a lot of people are trying to find them. Klyce admits that they are his in-laws, and that a man must do as his wife bids. The man asks who the rest of us are, so we introduce ourselves and mention that Remy is waiting outside of town with our weapons. He says he will fetch him, and leaves us. We all relax and take a proper rest, having no idea the time of day or night in this cell.

When the man returns, he says he knows where the Youngs are, and he has an offer for us, given our history with the Magia. He will take us to them if we agree to not try and pull anything, and if we agree to stay out of Family business back in America. We all agree, so long as they stay out of fey business, we should have no need to tangle with them. He leads us up into a new building and a steward takes us up to the room where the Youngs are staying.

Mr. Young, predictably, is still mad at us for even coming. Mrs. Young is awake though, that’s good news. He wanted to disappear, and let Philomena go home and take over the family business. Of course, he didn’t tell her that. What nonsense! We ask how he’s done with the formula. Mrs. Young needs it every day to be stable. It is still incomplete. We offer to help. We want to heal Mrs. Young and Chirina’s uncle, and get out of Italy. Remy, Dalish, Gerhardt, and Nat dive into the research to see what they can figure out inside a private sanctum spell to keep prying eyes out.

Turns out it’s for a catalyst stone, to help create the potions. It took some 1,000 deaths to make the prototype!!! What would it take to make the real thing? This is ludicris! We can’t finish this, it’s awful! Taking a different tact, Remy asks if they’ll let Aranea look at Mrs. Young, since it was a fae that ruined her, but they will not allow it. Too afraid of what she might do.