Christiane wrote:
> She had no idea what the Ravenlord was up to, and cared not to find
out. He would probably figure into the explosions, though.

Because of the thick, roiling fog that settled over Arcadia's port
that morning, no one saw the ship until it was on top of them ...

A morning fog was nothing new to warf inhabitants. So, at first, the
dockhands, shipwrights, sailors and other varieties of seaport life
paid this fog no more notice than casual acknowledgement. The
lighthouse was lit, the lonely horn sounded, and the days work
commenced ...

Though, as the hours passed, the harbor denizens noticed the quiet
cold that enveloped the docks. Again, as most old mariners will
attest, a dense fog will play tricks with sound. Thus, epople didn't
pay it much mind ...

... until they realized they could barely hear each other from more
than an arm-span apart ... and no mater how tight they pulled their
cloaks and coats about their shivering bodies, the cold sank in ...

But, if they walked to the end of the longest jetty, and cupped a
hand to an ear, they hear something out in the fog ... something that
made them hurry back inland as fast as they could move ...

Somewhere out in that fog was the most horrific storm they ever heard
and never saw, and they were glad for that. It sounded like gigantic
breakers of terror strove against gales of chaos for supremacy of the
sea. Sanity-blasting thunder cracked and rolled over the water ...
and resounded against the buffering fog. For all the unsettling
chill of the fog, the people on the docks that day blessed it for
holding back the onslaught raging beyond it ...

... And when the tall, tempest-tossed vessel suddenly slid through
the icy mist and into port, the people ran ...

The ship bore the scars of an enraged sea, and ragged tatters for
sails, so anyone braving the sight of it could only wonder at what
force steered it along the dock to an abrupt stop. It's wake crashed
up over the pier.

A gangplank slid down to the dock. A tall, dark figure appeared to
float down the plank and move up the road towards the center of
town ...

... and only those with the hardiest of hearts spared a glance to see
how the fog retreated from the sanguine fire blazing from under its
voluminous hood ...