If the Sun were a basketball in New York City, Proxima Centauri would be a golf ball in Warsaw, almost 7,000 km away. This speaks to how empty a galaxy really is – not only because the stars are so far apart but because there’s so little in between them that we can see so many in our sky at night.
Fufulupa needs you to assist his fellow Brass Blades.
Fufulupa: The Brass Blades of the Rose have need of your assistance once more, Marion!
Fufulupa: Thaumaturges from the Ossuary are presently surveying the Footfalls for ancient relics.
Fufulupa: As the area is rife with wild beasts, the Horizon garrison has been charged with their security.
Fufulupa: But Captain Baldewyn sent only a handful of Brass Blades! Despite his assurances to the contrary, such a small unit cannot possibly be sufficient to protect our patrons.
Fufulupa: I would have you offer your assistance to my comrades. Pray travel to the Footfalls and speak with Totoruna.
Totoruna: A bleedin’ ‘venturer, come to help? I ain’t heard nothin’ from Cap’n Baldewyn ’bout this. He said trusted men only…
Totoruna: Anyroad, we’ve got this under control─an’ besides, this operation ain’t got nothin’ to do with Fufulupa.
Totoruna: Boy’s got a stick up his arse the size of a sabotender. It’s no wonder the cap’n told him to stay at Horizon…
Staring us all down from 655 light years away, the Helix Nebula is the graveyard of a solar system that may have been a lot like ours. Today, what was once the solar system’s sun is now a white dwarf about the size of the Earth. Creepily, some comets still orbit around inside the nebula, like zombies wandering around a cemetery.
Haldbroda has a suggestion for the kind adventurer who came bearing foreman Ahtbyrm’s message.
Haldbroda: Now, the way I see it, if you have time to be standing here questioning my character, then you most certainly have the time to get that arse of yours down to the Salt Strand and help us search for survivors of the wreck.
Haldbroda: Who knows? You may just run across this Fyrilsmyd everyone seems so eager to find. Here’s to hoping the Navigator hasn’t found him first.
Fyrilsmyd: Aye, I’m Fyrilsmyd. Ye say the foreman’s wonderin’ on me whereabouts? I thought he might be. But ye must know, I cannot show me face at the Drydocks until I’ve righted the terrible wrong I caused.
Fyrilsmyd: Two nights past, I made the trip from the Drydocks to Candlekeep Quay, just as the foreman asked. The seas were right rough, and the cap’n of the cargo ship was wary of bringin’ her too close to the cliffs, so I paid a few coins to a fisher to take me out to meet her.
Fyrilsmyd: By the time we was halfway ‘twixt shore and ship, the swells had risen to nigh on ten yalms, and ’twasn’t long afore the waves had hold of us. Try as we might to steady the boat, nature’s grip was too tight, and we was flung headlong into the Lominsan galley.
Fyrilsmyd: When I awoke, both ships were gone, and the cargo I was to collect lay strewn across the Salt Strand. I’s made every effort to salvage it, but the sands are crawlin’ with Qiqirn, and I ain’t a one with a sword. And now ye see why it is I cannot return to the Drydocks…
Fyrilsmyd: That night, I was tossed into the sea like some doll of rags, and it weren’t long afore the world ’round me faded to black as I slipped deeper into the abyss. But lo, the Navigator wouldn’t see me to the gates of the seven hells, and I woke to find meself washed ashore. And here I’s been, ever since, waitin’ for a chance to salvage me master’s cargo.
Fyrilsmyd: The missin’ parts! I-I don’t know how I can repay you!
Fyrilsmyd: I’ll deliver the supplies right away…but first I must stop by the Quay so that I might pay me respects to the widow of the brave fisher who gave his life fer a handful o’ coin.
Fyrilsmyd: Could ye tell Ahtbyrm that I’ll be back at the Drydocks by nightfall? Many thanks, adventurer! I will not forget this kindness!
Ahtbyrm: I am relieved to hear that both Fyrilsmyd and the supplies are unharmed, though it was foolish for him to believe that I would blame him for that which was obviously out of his hands.
Ahtbyrm: You see, there was no storm that day, and the seas here adjacent the Drydocks were as calm as a slumbering child. This leads me to believe that the trouble the ships encountered off Candlekeep Quay was of a less natural sort─the sort which the Sahagin have been known to conjure.
The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most beautiful natural spectacles in the Universe. Our only objection is that scientists obviously misnamed it — we don’t know about you, but we clearly see a duck in that main cloud rather than a horse head. The pink glow in the background is ionizing gas that is illuminated by a nearby star. East of the Duckhead Nebula there is a very active star formation region, containing very young stars with masses similar to our Sun.
Lothaire, a guard at Galvanth’s Spire, wants you to visit the Hedgetree.
Lothaire: I have another task for you, adventurer. I need you to head to the Hedgetree to the southwest of here and speak with Hearer Leonnie.
Lothaire: After tending to the Hedgetree, the Hearer was scheduled to board a boat from the Mirror Planks… Well, the vessel’s departure time has come and gone, but there is still no sign of her.
Lothaire: Knowing how absorbed the Hearer becomes in her work, I am not unduly concerned. Armelle, however, was responsible for organizing Leonnie’s transportation and is likely wondering if her wayward passenger is ever going to arrive. Perhaps a gentle reminder is in order?
Leonnie: Yes, what troubles you, my de─? Ah. Yes. The boat. I had quite forgotten.
Leonnie: Hm? Oh, my task with the Hedgetree is well and finished, but the elementals murmur of a malevolent presence in the vicinity of the Tam-Tara Deepcroft.
Leonnie: I must abide a while longer, that I might better divine the source of the elementals’ distress. Please inform Armelle that I shall be late in arriving.
Armelle: You bear a message from Hearer Leonnie? An evil presence in the Deepcroft? That does sound grave, indeed.
Armelle: I shall organize a vessel for a later time, then. Perhaps a bell from now? Two? Better make it three, just to be safe. Thank you for your trouble.
In 1840, the highly British 3rd Earl of Rosse noted this object through his 0.9 meter—long telescope and sketched out what he saw. The drawing looked like a crab and so the Crab Nebula’s nome came to be. Eight years later, the 3rd Earl of Rosse had upgraded to a double—size telescope and was like, “oh wait no it doesn’t look like a crab” but no one cared, so that was that. The Crab Nebula is 6,500 light years away from us and is the fallout from a supernova that happened in 1054 AD. The effects of the supernova are still so powerful that the nebula keeps expanding at an incredible rate of about 1,500 km/s.
Keishinrei