Test of the Tides

Before setting sail, the party discussed their journey. Sanasha worried Percy’s heavy armor would drown him, while Emelyne felt safe with her Ring of Water Walking, and Naoki noted he could Wild Shape if necessary. During breakfast, Naoki had an emotional moment eating an eel he mistakenly thought was from a petting tank. Emelyne gathered books from the inn, and they boarded the Sovereign Pearl, a brass-bottomed Purebirch fleet ship. They met Captain Bastion Graves, First Mate Aerie, Boatswain Kadek, Galley Master Finneon Alder, Doc, and Bramble the rat-catching dog. The crew noted a special crystal protected against monsters, but not ghost ships like the Dawnbreaker.

After settling bunks—Emelyne alone, Sanasha with Naoki (who filled the room with leaves), and Percy with Diablo—they spent a week at sea. Emelyne checked for scrying, Sanasha observed the crew, Percy schmoozed, and Naoki watched the sea. The weather turned violent, and Ruar, god of the sea, emerged to challenge them to "catch the wind" of a deck cyclone within three minutes. Naoki and Sanasha failed, but Diablo dissipated it by running in counteractive circles. Ruar remained unimpressed and left them to a storm. Naoki used Control Water to split a massive wave, and Emelyne rescued a drowning sailor with an arcane hand, but a wall of dark water ultimately crashed over the ship, knocking everyone unconscious.

They awoke dazed on a white sand beach beside turquoise waters. The ship was intact in a rock-blocked bay, but the crew was missing. Emelyne climbed the foremast and saw miles of dense jungle under a fog layer, while Sanasha noted their Orb of Time was frozen at noon despite them aging and feeling hunger. In the jungle, Naoki was shot twice with poisonous barbs after using Speak with Plants on aggressive flora, though he secured its seeds. Further in, Diablo meditated alongside an invisible orange ape, debating crime and punishment before taking a 1,000 gp diamond from what became an ape statue.

Deep in the canopy, they found a fountain containing a bound Marid water genie named Pashaazaela. He explained he was trapped by an entity at the island's center, a place called "Nowhere," who used hazards to filter out the weak. After teasing them for not using the ship's sails against Ruar's wind, he accepted their offer of freedom. Emelyne dispelled the magical runes, and Diablo chopped the physical chain in half. Grateful, Pashaazaela granted their wish for new power without harm, regression, or detriment, blasting spheres of primordial water directly into their chests.