The Tonic-Taken

Summary of Events (3/5/2025):
12/1/4722

Ahhhh, THE RIVER REMEMBERS!

Morning brought DREAMS! Jotaro drowned in river visions! Kren negotiated fey contracts in her sleep! Shakoom’s orcish ancestors warned of danger! All three smelled river lilies upon waking—the Rusalka’s mark!

Captain Wasserman wanted his iron chamber pot returned! Inside, Kong’s fetch doll stared back with button eyes!

Marina the cook warned them: Cronwald has changed! People smile too much—practiced smiles! But old Petra Dragan, pearl diver, knows the river’s secrets!

They sailed past the Bridge of Confessions—ancient ruins where travelers once spoke their worst sins aloud! The river remembered every confession until one was so terrible it pulled the bridge down!

Then—ragged refugees! Three villagers in a failing boat! Miklos, Anya, and old Theodor fled their village in terror!

A peddler from Cronwald brought tonics—miraculous cures! At first, everyone felt better! But after weeks, they began smiling—wrong smiles, unnerving smiles! They forced children to drink! They came at night seeking those who hadn’t taken the tonic!

Kren and Shakoom examined the bottles: BLACK SAND! Necromantic magic! The tonic contained a consciousness that transformed victims into thralls who loved only one mistress—the benefactress who created it!

As mist thickened, three figures crawled aboard the Cestus! Ilena, Katya, and Gregor—transformed villagers with black veins spider-webbing beneath their skin!

“Come home, dear. Everything is better now. The headaches have stopped.”

“I kept trying to find you to tell you—it makes everything quiet!”

They reached with corrupted hands!

BATTLE!

Gregor’s hammer struck Jotaro twice! Ilena grabbed Hugh! But Hugh—magnificent Hugh!—kicked her flying off the ship with a critical shove! She plunged burning into the river, still calling: “Come home, dear…”

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Can they defeat these tonic-corrupted thralls?