The Ship, a week out from the Steadfast, no shore in sight, carries in its hull the latest expedition that is the brainchild of not just the Amber Gleaners, but a number of other organizations that call those kingdoms home. Their destination, not some part of the beyond to the north south or even east of the area though of as the “civilized” lands but a strange realm known to few and that even fewer know how to reach. The city of Anepus, nestled on the eastern coast of the living continent known as The Head, where everything lives and nothing dead or artificial may survive for long. The land known to some as The Liminal Shore.

One morning the travelers notice that a new strange sail has replaced the old one on the jib and that the water no longer resembles the pale blue of the day before but is now teal and more solid, like a weeping slime or sludge literally carrying them atop it, The crew of the ship turns it back, assuring their passengers that they are not giving up and heading home but indeed are but a few hours from the grand city Anepus herself, and surely as this is spoken the horizon gives birth to a thin coastline which grows in size and detail as the “water” now referred to as grume by the crew carries them in.

Desantion Lamet, the senior Amber Gleaner and official leader of the expedition takes in the site of the city seemingly grown from a massive entanglement of living tree plant and foliage, stares in wonder. He is joined by the lively Envoy Janaka, the expedition’s representative of the League. The Sarraccenians are represented by the reserved by sunny Gardener Asu, and the Aeon Preisthood by the cantankerous and self important Bartarmas. Alongside them are our heroes, brave adventures who have left their lives behind for a taste of adventure in the strangest of strange new lands. Vireth Ka’el, a Protective Glave who Radiates Vitality stands ready, checking to ensure his shield, the sole weapon he typically wields, is nearby. The Inquisitive Nano who Controls Gravity is Fjorta Frey, she considers what it is she might sketch and document first once they make landfall. Last and certainly not least stands Ffilc Notrub, a Cheerful Delve who Rides the Lightning, brightening the day of all who may find this new world strange and unsettling.

They make landfall along the deep blue land, called Marl by some, and toss a rope onto the dock fashioned or “tamed” as the locals say from living branches. Upon arrival Desantion explains that he had arranged for the crew to purchase and provide Tokens for them, small seven sided discs that when worn or carried arrest the debilitating effect that the shore has on inert, non-living items. The problem however is that they were unable to procure enough for the roughly 30 members of the expedition so a conversation would need to be had. Vireth, who is one of a few responsible for providing defence, takes one and Fjorta, not really paying attention, takes one on a whim. Ffilc refuses, even though cautioned of the fact that the shore will affect the Delves very mechanical parts just as much as anyone else. Ffilc  still turns it down simply stating his mantra that what will be will be.

Others take the discs as well, including Barmartas who states it is important for him to have one due to his status and the need to maintain the trappings of his stature. A few others take them leaving Desantion with a single remaining token, Vireth offers to take it, but Desantion points out that, as Vireth already has one, the last will be staying with him.

The heroes’ first order of business is to find Desantion’s understudy, a young woman named Wres who has been along on the shore for at least a few months. Desantion tells them that she is to meet them with their guide in a tavern called the Silver Gullet due to its colour and shape. It take a bit as the group is quite taken with the sights, sounds and smells of the docks of Anepus, Some asking around is done with the heroes, especially by Fflic and Fjort who are fascinated by the myriad assortment of creatures, called tasm by the locals. This requires a refocusing on of the groups and finding the establishment only to learn from Wres that her guide did not show up as she should do.

Wres, a slender woman with short reddish brown hair and a tasm which appears to be several interwoven tendrils that she calls Silk,  tells them that she thinks the would-be guide Mende did not simply take their muxen and run, but may be trying to get her brother Amuz out of trouble that likely came as a result of the latter’s gambling problem. While Desantion decide to return to the expedition to give the worrisome news to the others and to come up with a back up plan, Wres enlist’S the heroes’ aid to search for Amuz in a place they know that he frequents; a den of inequity known simply as The Cove.

Making their way to the structure, which resembles a cross between a mollusk and armor plated octopus, is easy, The area is even more lively than outdoors with various strange games of chance and event to wager of  in every corner in every space. They decide to split up and ask around about Amuz, but not before they exchange their shin for the violet jewel like bugs know as muxen that are used for currency. Thankfully the exchange is wone to one, and the place keeps them in a coral box that has a token on it. Fyorta, with Ffilc in toe to keep her safe, starts asking all of the wrong sort of questions. These questions do not get her answers but instead the notice of the club’s security and also its owner, a large bulky woman by the name of Chindra. 

Seeing the guards, who are now nervous as Fjorta is moving quickly towards their boss, the nano uses her gravatonic abilities to root their feet to the floor. Chindra is not amused with the Nano, who Vireth warns to take this meeting carefully nor immediately with Ffilc, who has unfortunately been caught in the middle of things. Chindra, irritated with the groups focus on Amuz, who she tells them she banned from her establishment for his own good, finds herself in the awkward position of describing Tasms and Tasm etiquette to a group of newcomers. She decides to make them a deal. Leading them to the lounge in the back, with its marl and branch chairs covered in a vibrant yellow soft mossy substance, she lays out the terms.

She needs a fighter to go up against Gogol. The fighter that she did have lined up came down with a serious case of two broken legs for not paying his gambling debt. This news snaps Fjorta out of her current flighty mood, she now begins to realize the seriousness of this. She tells Vireth, who as the only skilled fighter among the three is essentially volunteered by the other two, that if he makes the bare knuckle fight look good and if he goes down convincingly in the second round, she will tell them what she knows of Amuz’s likely location and even through in two tokens. Ffilc and Fjorta are then escorted out by guards who clearly carry a grudge for the earlier gravity manipulation and find a good spot near the ring, which looks like ropes made of sinew on a mat made of the same flesh as tongue. 

Vireth is given space to get ready. He is escorted out to a mix of mostly boos and cheers (with Ffilc and Fjorta, joined by the oblivious Wres, leading the cheering section). Not a moment after the massive Gogol, standing a full head and shoulders above Vireth arrives. The tap fists and the shell is wrung. Vireth starts off ducking and dodging, he then makes a step in and rocks the big man with an uppercut that clearly gets his attention. Sure enough this gets Gogol swinging, which Vireth manages to dodge long enough for the first round bell to ring. In the second round it is Vireth who starts off hard, swinging and landing a few more good hits that surely have Chindra worried of losing her wager until the glaive starts to “falter”. Gogol, not realizing the charade for what it is, moves in and belts Vireth, sending him to the mat. He stays there for a convincing amount of time before letting the others “ help” him up. The heroes cast an eye to the burly woman and her fox-like tasm. They”ve held up their end of the bargain, now will she ?

After the fight is over and the punters have all gone to cash in their winnings, Chindra takes our heroes out back, this time with Wres as well who is worried about the beating Vireth has taken during the fight. She is surprised to see the proprietor of the Cove pay him two whole tokens for his loss, the realization of what actually took place slowly dawning. Chindra then provides the much sought information of Menda’s brother Amuz, and how he has fallen in with a dangerous bunch of criminals known as the Grey Teng. The Teng prey on the weak and the desperate, will take high stakes bets on near anything that always tip in their favour, especially when addicts like Amuz are concerned. They always collect their debts owed, either in Muxen or in trade.

With this in mind, the heroes make their way back up to the Silver Gullet where Desantion waits. He is accompanied by the ever complaining Barmartas, the Envoy Janaka, as with the mysterious Aryx. The Gaian seems to have made a friend in the form of  a hawk shaped creature made out of leathery flesh, its pterodactyl style head ending not in a beak but in a protrusion that is home to a half dozen anteater like tongues that greedily wrap around and devour the grubs Aryx feed it. Fjorta is immediately a fan, asking Aryx, who responds in his heavy depalatalised drawl, anything and everything about it. She also takes note of the bowl, itself alive seeming to be made out of warm veiny cartilage, and the glass, a translucent gelatinous creature with visible organs and nerves, that makes a delightful “splork” sound when slammed down. 

Ffilc and Vireth discuss the situation with Desantion, ignoring Barmartas’ complaints. At the mention of the Grey Teng, the barkeep mentions it is better to forget their friend and move on. When pressed, the woman mentions the Teng can be found in an undercity-like portion of Anepus referred to as “The Tubes” hollowed out root-like structures tamed from large branches. The heroes decide to head down to find these Teng and hopefully Mende and Amuz as well. Asking around they find The Tubes, brown wooden walls with giant knots for doors and low glowing pulsating  bulbs that give off a low brown light. Dampness allows a light to moderate fog to hover above the floor. It is not long before they find a few members of the Teng where the fog is the heaviest and the most beige . A confrontation with a pair of the criminals leads to the location of Amuz, who is not too far away. It takes our heroes mere minutes to arrive at their destination.

Fjorta touches the knot and thinks of opening, the feature unravels revealing a number of men in the living grey cloaks associated with membership in the Teng, one produces a hairy clawed glove, another a length of living coral chain, pocked like a golfball and laden with barbs. Beyond them lies another knot leading deeper into the enclosure. A few terse words are exchanged before the Tengs attack. Fjorta hovers over the thugs and uses her gravity powers to trip up a would be assailant, while Vireth draws a would be attacker from her to him instead, battering the Teng with his shield with such force and fury that the man is instantly vanquished, nose broken and jaw snapped. Ffilc for his part, holds the third man’s chain weapon in high regard.  Using his own whip and expertise in such weapons, he manages to stop an attack by causing the chain to wrap around his forearm before demonstrating why people say he rides the lightning, delivering a shocking blast to the thug and seizing his weapon.

Fjorta manages to stay out of reach of her foe, whose ability to act is limited by his artificially increased weight. Unfortunately that is when the door behind her opens and three more Tengs, including this band’s leader, step out and first focus on her as the nearest target. Fjorta is thankfully able to react in time, moving out of the way quick enough to allow one to strike the other in folly. The leader watches, attempting to intimidate with his position, as his men fight our heroes, stepping in once he realizes that they are outmatched. Vireth redirects one of the thug’s attack back at the leader, who kills his underling for his incompetence before moving on to fight the glaive. The battle is hard pressed, and ends when Vireth brings his shield down hard on the man’s thigh, snapping his femur with such force it rips through the thigh muscles and punctures the skin in the back. Upon seeing this, the other Teng quit the fight and moved to flee. 

Ffilc and Fjorta make their way out back, finding Mende and Amuz affixed to the chamber via a length of elastic blue marl cuffed around their ankle. Vireth in the meantime, does what he can to keep Teng from bleeding out from his injury. Mende explains that she had followed a similar path to try and find her brother, but was captured and forced to tame cyphers for the Teng to pay her debt. She informs the heroes that even though she has a contract with the expedition, she will have to break it unless Amuz can accompany her as he will get himself into too much trouble otherwise. The heroes inform her that they can certainly work something out and make their way out of the roots and back up to the rest of the expedition.

When they arrive, they see Desantion negotiating with a massive creature, a wholkin guide by the name of Li Feng, who has agreed to lead the expedition across to the settlement site once Janaka and Desantion assure it that they have permission from the Empress of Everything. Fjorta, naturally fascinated, bombards Li Feng with questions. The wholkin for its part attempts to act comfortable with the fanatic level of interest Fjorta displays but the intensity of this prevents Li Feng from convincingly doing so. Janaka mentions in passing to Ffilc whose idea the hiring of another guide was with not so subtle gestures towards the cantankerous aeon priest. It is agreed that more is indeed merrier, all will go. Desantion thanks the heroes for all they have done, paying for a cozy room for them upstairs as thanks. They will need be well rested, for tomorrow they set out on their journey.