The White Oak's Captain's Cabin had been temporarily arranged into a sanctuary.
The scent of incense drifted through the room. Charms bearing Storm Runes hung over every door and window, while priests set bronze boundary markers in the four corners and tied strips of cloth soaked in holy oil to their tops. Finally, a copy of The Storm Codex from the Grand Cathedral was brought into the room to serve as the sanctuary's "pillar."
Only after all these arrangements were complete did Captain Lawrence enter the Captain's Cabin with Inquisitor Vana.
"I hope you do not mind our 'renovations' here," Vana said calmly, maintaining the composure and proper courtesy expected of a high-ranking cleric. "It is all for safety."
"Of course, all for safety—I am sorely lacking in a sense of security right now," Captain Lawrence said, nodding at once in complete understanding. He looked around at the holy objects in the room and let out a slight sigh of relief. "With these things here, ordinary twisted, corrupted creatures would probably die the moment they stepped inside..."
"You may speak to me about the Lost Homeland here without concern," Vana said with a nod. "Start from the beginning. Where did you encounter that ship, and how did it happen?"
Captain Lawrence steadied himself and began recounting the most terrifying day of his life. "It happened like this..."
Captain Lawrence went into great detail. Before a professional Inquisitor, he even accurately stated what he had eaten for breakfast that day and the exact times the sailors had their meals—whenever he could not remember something clearly, he consulted the captain's log from that day and the sailors' diaries.
Experienced captains all knew this: before many anomalous phenomena occurred, seemingly ordinary signs often appeared. Those present might find it difficult to realize the