As Null gets around 500 ft from the ship her vision tunnels and she feels the same sensation she felt in Azher territory. Her skin freezes while her blood burns. It’s unnerving but familiar.
Berrick is busted out of the bug form he was clinging onto Null in after taking a massive smack of necrotic damage to the face. The hit leaves him vulnerable to necrotic damage, meaning he’ll take double the punishment from now on. One by one everyone else who passes through feels the same curse settle over them.
Cade rolls off the carpet and wildshapes into a Solar. Flynn takes the cue and polymorphs himself and Lotty into Solars too for their turn to take the same necromantic blast to the face as they close in on the ship.
Whenever anyone but Null touches the vessel they get the same necrotic whack to the chops. After a bit of digging Null finds the rope ladders and rigging thrown over the side; someone boarded or left in a hurry.
Cade swims down and spots a plume of sand to the east, a cloudy trail twisting through the water like smoke. The seabed is disturbed, maybe footprints, maybe drag marks there's furrows cut through the silt and sand as though something moved across it. The trail runs directly between the boat and the coastline. Whatever left it didn’t swim; it walked.
Meanwhile Flynn reaches out telepathically and learns the ship’s name: Mourning Tide. She speaks slowly and solemnly, explaining that she serves the will of her crew, who have since gone to port after realising they were being pursued.
The ship offers Flynn a place among her undead crew below deck and also indicates that Null is a potential candidate too - which explains why she’s the only one not being harmed by the ship’s necrotic wards. Flynn accepts the invitation, only to realise too late that it’s a trap. The moment he crosses the threshold necrotic energy rips through him, killing him instantly. Cade is still underwater at the time, following the trail of sand, so Berrick, Lotty and Null rush to the grate where Flynn vanished. Mordecai’s magic refuses to let him go, and as Berrick and Lotty drag him back from the brink he clings to life while downing healing potions, Lotty hanging on to him for dear life.
Later, when Null speaks with the ship, Mourning Tide explains that Null’s strange immunity is due to her connection with the undead - something the ship recognises instinctively.
Cade rejoins the Ashen Company aboard Mourning Tide before they make for port, ready to face whatever waits onshore.
Once ashore Null uses her cloak of invisibility and her Ghost Walk ability to scout ahead, slipping unseen through walls into what appears to be the crew’s hideout. It’s a ramshackle place with a kitchen, a bar and the sound of ghostly swashbucklers drifting through the walls. She listens at doors, unseen, before returning to report what she’s found.
A stealthy approach is vaguely attempted but doesn’t last long. The moment a plan is needed blades are drawn the bar erupts into chaos. Ghostly pirates swarm in from every direction, dealing double necrotic damage while the Company’s healing magic is halved. Lotty and Flynn, still under the sadistic after-effects of a wild magic surge, throw themselves into the fight, laughing through the pain. Flynn casts Maddening Darkness, engulfing part of the tavern in swirling shadows. Lotty’s Spirit Guardians flare beside Cade’s own radiant warding magic. Berrick, invisible, fires precise shots through the melee while Null weaves between enemies with her blade flashing. Cade, now in wildshape as a massive owlbear, casts a radiant sunburst in juxtaposition to Flynn's darkness.
Silas remains behind at Ezra’s tower, blissfully unaware of the chaos at sea, busy planning a party.
The battle is only beginning, but the Ashen Company are in their element.