This was the biological laboratory.
Thick granite walls isolated all sound.
Rows of glass jars lined the shelves, steeping tissue samples from various organisms. Some specimens were so unsettling they even made the worldly Tristan uncomfortable.
Velin deftly navigated the rows of shelves, stopping before a bookshelf in the corner.
His research logs were stacked there neatly, organized by date and project.
He took down a notebook with "Project Codename: Disaster Star" on its cover, then retrieved a clay jar sealed with a thick layer of beeswax from a sealed cabinet nearby.
"This is..." Tristan looked at the clay jar, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
"A sample I collected last year in Tarry Port, from a shipwreck of the Golden Sail Commerce Association." Velin placed the clay jar on the lab bench. "Larvae of the 'Disaster Star' shipworm."
Tristan's pupils contracted slightly.
