Students of Life & Death #9

The Students hid outside the villa as the Dawn Chasers arrived on their boats on the dock. Upon seeing the Students' vessel, however, one of the crafts made their way back to Wayward, which the Students later learned was a group sent back to apprehend Elder Talindra

A woman with eyepatch in gleaming gold armor entered the house and almost immediately found Gore peaking in through the window

• Gore and the woman, who ended up being the leader of the Dawn Chasers, Grand Executrix Shala Bast, had a discussion during which Gore promised his services in debt of having killed her people in the villa

Eventually, Ridley informed Breakblade had an opening, causing her to stalk into the room and attempt to attack Shala from behind

• Shala made quick work of Breakblade, severing her head, and only stopped from dispatching the rest of the party due to Gore trying to save Shala before the attack

The rest of the Students came in, reasoning it was better to get things out in the open with such a powerful adversary

A discussion then took place in which many things were revealed:

• The Dawn Chasers were after the Daughters of Eve, two or three necromantic individuals who were children of Eve Galdarion

• They believed these daughters to be in the Arrowhead Isles

• They were commissioning so many vessels from Wayward to travel the River Pryce to Trine rather than brave the Duskmaker Plains

• Their eventual destination was Cypress where they would take up the hunt for the Daughters of Eve with the full might of the Dawn Chasers

Grand Executix Shala Bast also informed them that the vampire upstairs was Executor Poole, who had fallen in a fight at Venture Ridge, a town overrun with vampires

The Students negotiated an agreement where they would make their way to the Arrowhead Isles after they finished their business in Core Vandal, and their mission would be to locate and bring back a rogue Dawn Chaser, Executrix Altar, who was somewhere in the Arrowhead Isles

The group rolled Breakblade's body, took 80 gold and her magic artifacts

Shala provided the group with Hanu, a kelp to allow them to breathe underwater, and the group did not hand over Elder Talindra's treasure chest

Shala said their group would be moving out within the next few days, and urged the group to make haste to Cypress

The Students dove beneath Elfhome Lake on their way to Thalassa to solve the riddle of the Voice