Research

You are an experienced Mariner, but it has been a while since you last steamed past the Saltisle – longer still since you last set foot on the barren sands. And you have never been a Captain before. The Sea of Mists is always treacherous, and any scrap of knowledge may prove invaluable.

And some preparations can be done from dry land.

{if Navigational Charts = 1}The annotated charts printed daily no longer surprise you. You have familiarized yourself with local weather patterns, with currents and with shallows. There is more to know, but an approach this thorough would take considerable time and considerable skill.

{if Feysilvered Lenses > 1} And maybe you have enough, maybe you should not attempt to calculate the revolutions of the Liar Stars. Maybe knowledge is more dangerous than even the treacherous Sea. {endif} {elseif Navigational Charts = 2} Endless columns, numbers and signs, surround your printed maps. They form a spiral, a form beyond form that suggests more than paper can show. And you dream. Lines, drawn and imagined, connect to the Liar Stars and to words no human tongue can pronounce. There is more to know, but your mind already struggles to remember -- and you fear that you may never forget.

{else} The newspaper prints daily annotated charts of the Mirrormap, along with forecasts of shifts and the weather. The former saves you a trip down to your cabin, and the later allows you to calculate some provisional routes. {endif}

{if Saltisle Rumours > 0} You have familiarised yourself with the Saltisle and its dangers, its surging tides and Fey currents. The latter warrants investigation {if A Heretic = 1} for even barbarous superstition may reveal the truths of the divine. And improper rites may well be the cause of their economic woes. {elseif An Occultist = 1}for even primitive superstitions may reveal ancient truth. And improper rites may well be the cause of their economic woes. {else} for obvious reasons. Though you would prefer a more mundane explanation for their economic woes. {endif}

{else} Northbeachisswamp, its locals and its dangers, are but a hazy memory for you and so you ask the Innkeeper’s Eldest. She advises you to ask the patrons come evening, or to try your luck at a public library. {endif}