the ghost ship

When one of my less inebriated customers told me they saw a a ball of fire in the Northern sky. I rushed up the ladder to the attic and opened the shutters. It was supposed to be night, but the sky was bright enough to read a ledger by. I rifled through the desk for the spyglass and focused the lens on the burning object. I cursed as I heard a sizzle and dropped the glass. The light of the blaze through the lens almost burned my eyeball out! Those things are expensive I tell you! I only wear an eye patch for my wench costume!

Eye squinted up at the ship, watching the light dim to a dark green. I heard the raucous customers on the pier cheering for the free show.

"Do it again!"

"That glow! It's ghost light I tell ye!"

"It's the end of the world! Ye know what that means? FREE RUM!!!"

"TOUCH THAT KEG AND I'LL SCREW A TAP IN YER NECK!" I shouted. I hesitantly held the lens to my other eye. Indeed, it was an ectoplasmic green. I made out where the bottom hull of the ship had fallen away, smashing a treasure trove of Royal Bloodwine and the rest of the Blood Dolls with it. But the ship was changing shape again. It appeared to be rebuilding itself. This was Spark mastery, not Demon magic.

"What's going on over there?" I wondered aloud. "An odd time to try out new blueprints, Marcus. Or are Sparkfather and little brother up to something?" I saw metallic tentacles painting over the hull, wiping away the Ereb'ai markings of the ship. Maybe Father was renaming it? Foundation? Gygax 2nd Edition?

When I read the new title, I dropped my spyglass in stunned silence.

EREBUS III

"Jeremiah..."

"That's right Sister", said Koen...or in his red fur I should say Vortex...as he crawled through the window upside-down from he rooftops. Kira slippped in right behind him. "We've got a rescue mission."