Defending the Lizard Colony (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

Tolman, Siegride, Elan, Ma'yah, and Llewellyn watched as the first wave of pirates were attacking the lizard colony.

Magical fires erupted from bright explosions in the sky and descended upon small storage huts, catching fire to them! Lizard folk men, women, and children were running in every direction for their lives! They were relentlessly pursued by pirates and berserkers and were struck down indiscriminately at every opportunity.

The group decided that they couldn't wait for the dwarves Tamroohk and Gorbash to make it back to the colony in time - if they did, the fight would be over and hundreds of lizard folk would be slaughtered!

At their vantage point, they got a layout of the colony: there was a gate area that lead to the beaches which was currently under assault; a stores area where the huts were on fire; a living area where the lizard folks made their dens; and a prayer area where a temple was built into a cliff-face. The party decided to make their stand at the living area. Far in the distance, three black ships were anchored off shore and a wave of smaller rowboats were coming-aground, landing even more pirates!

This area of the colony had a central system of wet soaking pools in a yard, and around the yard there were huts and mounds of undergrounds dens with small doors. The dens were stacked on top of each other so there were as a walk above the yard to those domiciles. Women folk were fleeing from the pools; men and children were coming out of their dens, wondering what was happening.

Arriving at the scene, Ma'yah cast Tongues on Siegride. Siegride immediately told a nearby guard that the colony was under attack by clerics of Tahkesis who've come to defile their goddess.  She told the guard to get the people and their queen to safety. The guard, completely taken back, followed Siegride's instructions and went off to inform the queen.

Tactically, the party had some advantages. First, there was a high and low ground - the low ground being in the yard and the high ground on the walk-way against the dens. Elan was first to perch herself on to the walk-way to take arrow-shots at the wave of pirates.

Second, there were two pinch-points - two areas where the pirates were rushing into the yard and they were guarding the only stairs into the prayer area. Third, there were the soaking pools in the middle of the yard that provided a rough terrain movement disadvantage for anyone caught on the opposite side.

On the first round, Siegride cast Sleet Storm on the area/huts that were targeted by the Flame Strikes. That helped to both delay the advance of pirates and put a stop of the fires. Everyone else got into position and started taking down what targets they could at long range, but there was another complication. The board was filled not just with pirates but with innocent lizard folk that were intermixed with the pirates, and would be the target of area-of-effect spell attacks. The combat was on, and it was going to be complicated!

* * *

Meanwhile, as the party was engaged in battle, up in the foothills, the dwarves Gorbash and Tamroohk were enjoying a leisurely morning in the dense fog - completely unaware of the attack on the colony - when Tolman's owl familiar arrived on-scene. The owl had a note clutched in one claw and it attempted to land with just one leg, bouncing up and down, trying to keep its balance. It bounced away as Gorbash tried to approach it, preferring instead to bounce over to Tamroohk who accepted the note and read it. It was from Tolman and said something to the effect of: "The colony is under attack. Your presence is appreciated."

The dwarves immediately gathered up their fighting gear and started rushing down the foothill path towards the colony. Rushing through the fog, they were no more than ten minutes into their run when they noticed they were not alone. That parliament of ravens was back, flying above them, rushing from tree to tree along side their path, watching where they were going.

It wasn't long before the dwarves encountered a fork in the path and there the ravens flushed from the trees and coagulated into a single dark mass! The shadowy form took shape, turning into the dark figure with an enormous brimmed hat, and two shadowy rapiers extended from its sides as if in a fighting position. And in their minds (Vongur, the dwarven amulet around Gorbash's neck included), they could hear it say in Dwarvish: "Your meddling in these affairs will not go unanswered, and I shall take your champion."

Vongur suddenly cursed an oath as he witnessed a blue transparent field of divine energy surround and encompass Tamroohk! A blue shadow of another female dwarf with braids and a fist full of energy came into being - it was the shimmering image of Tamroohk's Goddess, Berronar Truesilver! When Tamroohk spoke, it was both her voice and the voice of the Goddess in tandem: "You can try."

[DM's Note: I pulled a stunt here were Tamroohk, infused/possessed by the power of her Goddess, temporarily received +3 to her AC, +3 to Hit, and could cast spells as a 5th Level Cleric. The Dwarves would need an extra boost against this particular adversary.]

With that, the shadowy form raced up to the dwarves and started swinging! It was a spectacular fighter, committing two attacks per round and when striking caused psychic damage against the dwarves! Then, on a bonus action, it would burst into ravens again causing the flock of birds to race across them both and do piercing damage/scratching as the birds rushed by! Then it would re-form back into the shadowy figure and re-engage with them at a new initiative!

As Gorbash and Tamroohk connected theirs axes and maces against the foe, they learned the awful truth. The creature had resistance to those forms of attacks and the damage made against the creature became greatly diminished! It was barely phased. This was going to be a long fight!

* * *

While this was happening, back at the lizard colony, the player characters would engage the encroaching pirates for another four rounds. A flood of new pirates would arrive and they would try to hit them with distance weapons and spells, and mass-effect spells where possible. Eventually Siegride would cast Spiritual Guardians creating a small sea of spectral eels around her that - when adversaries stepped into - would attack her enemies.

Also, two clerics of Tahkesis arrived, as expected.

One was in green robes - apparently the green dragon cleric that the party had met last cycle fighting the pirates!  Unarmored, she lead her brigand force in to battle and backed them up by casting Dispel Magic on the Sleet Storm that was preventing them from going anywhere. She'd eventually take some serious damage from the party, but managed to get in a Flame Strike affecting two party members before play stopped.

Meanwhile, another one wore red armor, had a helm, a shield, and a mace. She had blazing red hair. When she arrived on the field of battle, she attempted to cast Silence on the party but Ma'yah performed a Counterspell to dismiss it. Later, the red Cleric would emerge from a Fireball spell cast by Ma'yah with flames licking off of her armor, and she was smiling gleefully as if she was both unaffected by the spell and really enjoyed the summertime heat. Eventually though a rash of arrows from Elan would force the red Cleric to take cover in a hut. While in the cut, peering through the reeds, she cast a Guiding Bolt on Llewellyn. When play stopped, she was still in the hut.

* * *

Back with the shadowy figure and the dwarves, the fight continued!

Tamroohk healed Gorbash to keep him in the frey as monstrously large claws emerged from the shadow to strike at him, rending at his soul!

Inspired, Tamroohk cast Spiritual Guardian and spectral bears began attacking the otherworldly foe, and this time, the damage was double - it apparently had vulnerability to Radiant damage - and now the Dwarves were able to kick it up as the spectral bears clawed their way through the shadow!

.... and that's where we left it!

More next week as the party takes on the next waves of pirates and Clerics of Tahkesis, and deals with the spooky shadowy thing!

R

The Truth is Out There

It was the 13th of First Harvest in the 47th Year in the Age of Rose: summer in the northern reaches of the Shattered Isles, and at the deep-water port of Shyn-Valour, a squat three-mast Caravel named the Dreaming Goddess approached the cliff-side mooring points and was secured to the dock.

Its captain, Rheese of House Cantour, descended the plank to confer with the Harbormaster and pay her ship's slip fees. Behind her, members of the crew began the work of securing the vessel and preparing cargo for lifts; travelers from Floreth departed the ship carrying their belongings and gear.

Two travelers made their way up the long seven flights of stone stairs to finally reach the town's square. The statue of its Matron held a lantern out with an extended arm to the sea.

One of the traveler removed a parchment from the folds of his black and brown robes; his companion, a woman of smaller stature, wore similar-colored robes, and she let her leather traveling bag collapse to the ground. He glanced over the parchment, nodded, and put it away. "This is it."

His companion rolled her eyes. "That was the longest, coldest, waterborne transit that I've ever experienced. It's freezing here and it's the dead-middle of summer. We're on the northern edge of the Fathoms, Mully. What ever do you ever expect to find here?"

"Sculder," said the man, turning around to face the rest of the town. He examined its shops shaped out of the stone itself. "According to the record, the artifact was last seen here in this Shyn, last year, Wintertide. There - at that Inn - The Wayfarer's Landing. That'd be a good place to start. But not the best place."

His blonde traveling companion wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to keep herself warm. Her academic robes were better suited for the drier cold of the mainland. "Not the best place? What do you mean?"

"The best place to start," Sculder responded dryly,  "may be to ask the horse directly."

* * *

The bellows roared at the Four Dwarves Smithy. Whik, one of its proprietors, was busy slamming his hammer into the shoulder plate of a soldier's armor to shape it just right when the large barn doors of the Smithy slid slightly open to reveal two strangers to the Shyn, wearing the black and brown robes of teaching academics from Pax Arcana. Whik slowed his strikes and squinted at the strangers.

"Greetings," said the taller one, closing the door behind him.

The shorter one removed her cowl exposing her "It's quite warm in here. Very comfortable."

"Aye," Whik responded cooly. He set down his hammer and stalled his bellows. "Hot. That 'appens 'round here. Now, can I help ye?"

The taller fellow approached. "Yes. I'm Savant Mully and this is Savant Sculder. We're from-"

"-Pax Arcana, yes, boy, I recognized yer robes," Whik said, cutting him off. "I'm a dwarf, lad. I recognize yer uniforms. I asked 'ow I could help ye?"

Rolling her eyes, Sculder allowed herself to look about the shop and its many displays of tools spread across the wall - armor and weapons and shields hung there - while her partner continued and removed a parchment from his cloak.

"We are following-up on reports of an uncataloged artifact. Last year, at a Wintertide celebration held at Wayfarer's Landing, witnesses reported a singing amulet."

Whik's face flushed red and he waved his arms. "A singing what? Preposterous! I don't know what yer talkin' about."

"A singing amulet," Sculder stepped in, now looking directly at the flustered blacksmith, apparently becoming aware of his unexpected emotional response. "One that conversed freely with others and seemed to have its own will. It was supposedly made of stone yet it surprisingly demonstrated physical emotive characteristics. It reportedly even became intoxicated-"

"Missus Sculder!", Whik declared and brushed his hands against his smithy apron to smear black smut across it. He extended his arm to the door. "I swear to the both of you that I haven't seen no happy-talkin' drunk amulet 'round these parts an', if I ever run across it, I will notify the good folks at the university right away. Now, I bid ye a good day!"

The man named Mully interjected with a cool, dead-pan stare. "But sir, the amulet. It was reported to have been worn around the neck of a dwarf."

Whik's mustaches twisted into a knot.  "What're you sayin'? You're thinkin' that I've got some chatterin', obnoxious amulet shaped in the head of a dwarf around me neck? Right now? 'Cause I'm a dwarf? Here!" And Whik ripped open his shirt to expose a very fury, gray tuft of naked hair. "No amulet! Now get!"

Mully nodded at Sculder. "All right. We'll go. Sculder." And both of them exited the shop. The door slammed loudly behind them.

Sculder threw her cowl up over her head and marched down the path with Mully. She called out to him, "You heard him, Mully. We never mentioned that it was a dwarf's head. He's seen it before, that's obvious. So why are we leaving?"

Mully gave a sneer out of the corner of his mouth. "His testimony helped confirm some of the details that had been lacking in the initial reports."

"But Mully," Sculder replied as they made their way to the Wayfarer's Landing. "Shrunken talking heads isn't exactly new to magic. There are plenty of documented examples where rituals have kept severed heads alive post-death and enchantments that would both shrink the head and keep it talking, none of which represent true consciousness. They are common parlor tricks and not indicative of true infusement of both the spiritual and intellectual form, like what you're asserting is here."

Mully got a stubborn look about him and kept walking. "How else can these reports be explained, Sculder? An amulet that sung Wintertide carols? That told stories to small children and anyone who would listen? That reportedly conveyed unique experiences told from the perspective of a dwarven warrior? No, what we're dealing with here isn't common magicka in a role of trickery but in a role of transcendence.  This is unlike anything we've ever encountered, Sculder."

"What are you saying?", Sculder asked as they approached the Wayfarer's Landing. Mully rested his hand on the door and paused before opening it, and looked directly into Sculder's blue eyes.

"I'm saying that the amulet in question wasn't just animated, Sculder. It was birthed. It's a living, breathing thing. And it was here. I know it."

* * *

"Yah, I remember. Last year. Wintertide."

Ehren of House Hawthorne served both of the strangers a cold white ale in wooden mugs. Sculder found it oddly satisfying; Mully pushed it away and seemed to favor of the mug of water and bread they were served. He was showing the proprietor of the Inn rough sketches of the amulet.

Ehren's husbands busily attended to other patrons and managed the cooking in the kitchen. She pointed at the drawing. "It had a heavier chain. Brass, maybe. And it talked, yah, but it was, um, grumpy, you know? Always tellin' Gorbash to do this an' do that-"

"Gorbash?", Sculder asked, placing her hand gently on the hand of Ehren. "Any information would help with our investigation, miss. Who is Gorbash? Did this 'Gorbash' wear the amulet?"

"Did it look like he could take it off? Remove the amulet?", Mully interjected, looking seriously at Ehren.

"Yah, yah - he removed it, threw it in a mug, sure," Ehren said, withdrawing her hand cooly from Sculder's. "It sank in there and and it would talk. It made bubbles! It was kinda funny."

"But it was made ... made out of stone?", Sculder insisted. She looked bat at her partner. "Mully, this makes no sense. How could stone breathe?"

Mully took a long drink of his clear ale and he looked calmly at Ehren. "This Gorbash character. A dwarf himself? Or a local man? Which House did he belong to?"

Ehren glanced back at the kitchen to make certain her husbands weren't overwhelmed with the orders. She then smiled at her guests. "No, he was a dwarf of the Kingdoms. A freeman. He traveled with a companion, another dwarf. Her name ... her name was Tamroohk."

"Tamroohk?", Sculder said, looking back at her. "Another dwarf?"

She nodded. "Yep. Another dwarf."

"How do you spell that? T-a-m..."

"Excuse me," and Ehren went back to the kitchens to help expedite the dinner process.

Sculder leaned in over the table and looked directly at Mully. "What're the odds of so many dwarves converging in a single space in the cosmos at one moment in time?"

Mully washed down his last drink with a long pull on the water. "What're the odds of an animated shunken head being capable of befriending dwarven kensmen? Listen, apparently this Gorbash ... he could freely remove it-"

"-which would indicate a non-possessive, un-cursed metaphoric expression of the magicka," Sculder finished Mully's thought. She then took a long draw on her mug of ale. "But if there were numerous dwarves like Whik, and Gorbash, and Tamroohk, why did this amulet choose Gorbash?"

"Choice, free will, Sculder," Mully said. "Don't you get it? That's one of Anbar's First Principles. What we're dealing with here isn't an artifact or an item or a thing. It's an entity. An entity bound to a stone representation and suspended from a brass chain."

"What you're suggesting, Mully," Sculder shot back with a little bit of a drunken swagger, "is that our problem here is more of a possession than an enchantment. Perhaps we should be speaking to the Sister of the Shyn's Abbey-"

"Nonsense, Sculder. Magicka 101: the arcane isn't entirely isolated from spiritual. One man's spiritual possession is another man's cantrip. What can't be inordinately explained by the controlled wielding of cosmic forces can't be directly contrived as the workings of either deities nor demons-"

"-but nor can it be dismissed!", Sculder said, slapping the mug to the table. She frowned, apparently uncertain why she was feeling so light headed.

Mully cocked his eyebrow. "But the Abbey. That's a good lead. Let's go."

* * *

Sister Susyn of Gaia joined the pair marveling after the beautiful stained glass that hung in the Abbey. Susyn smiled and greeted her visitors.

"It's been too long since I've conferred with scholars of Pax Arcana. Especially so soon after the fall of Rhackdalia. It is a pleasure to meet with the both of you. How can I help?"

Mully bowed. "Rhackdalia's collapse unleashed a bevy of magical devices and artifacts into the wild and our order will spend decades to account for their loss and to re-catalog the inventory. But we're here today on another matter."

Sculder and Mully explained that they were following-up on witness accounts of a singing dwarven amulet at the Wayfarer's Landing over last year's Wintertide. They explained that they considered the artifact highly dangerous and needed to catalog it before it could do more damage.

"More damage?", Susyn asked. "You feel that it's somehow capable of manipulating its host?"

Sculder began. "It's possible that, originally, the stone amulet was by itself an innocuous stone amulet until a ritual was cast on it-"

"-cast on it as if it were a vessel-", Mully added.

Sculder continued. "-and the spiritual essence, a residue-"

"-a soul?", Susyn added. "A soul. You believe that the amulet trapped a soul within it? Or that it's somehow possessed? Why - that would be a feat of arcana and belief, plus the willingness of the subject to forgo eternal life with the Mother?"

"Willingness?", Sculder asked. "What do you mean?"

"A spirit is rarely compelled to remain somewhere that it doesn't want to be, Savant Sculder. Only the most cruel and powerful of magics can bind a soul to this plane. The subject would have willingly desired to remain and not pass to Mother's embrace."

Mully asked, "So you're saying that it's possible? That it's possible a malevolent spirit is trapped on this plain and suspended from a chain around some unsuspecting fellow's neck?"

Susyn shrugged. "I'm saying that a spirit - be it either malevolent or benevolent - could be bound or otherwise compelled to stay, given the right combination of will and sustaining magicka."

Sculder and Mully looked at each other.

Mully first said, "Sustaining."

Sculder then said, "Draining. But until what?"

Susyn looked at the both of them and smiled. "It is, um, rather spooky, how you complete each other's sentences."

* * *

"You know, boy," Vongur said from his hairy dwarven chest, looking out into the darkness and rain underneath a magical dome that kept them dry.  "This is cheatin'."

Gorbash had a very dwarven chest. It was the model of dwarvenness and would have been nearly pornographic to dwarven women who - if they were there and paying attention - would have drooled to put their face up to it, or, spend just a few minutes nuzzling in its awesome furyness. Gorbash, looking out into the darkness sporting a fake pirate eye patch, waiting for the darkness to suddenly sprout another hydra head, shrugged. "Whatchya mean?"

"Magics. Transparent domes. There's nuthin' a little bit of wet ever hurt," Vongur replied. "Does you good. Sleepin' under the stars. Snorin' in a mud puddle. The elements, lad, they toughen you up. Make you better. This here, yeah, it's like, well-"

Gorbash squinted at the darkness. He thought he saw it move. Gorbash felt tired; it'd been a long day. He's felt so lethargic lately. Must be all the sailing and sea-faring stuff.

"-unhealthy." Vongur finished. "And you need to be healthy, son. You need to be ... really healthy."

And then suddenly, Gorbash could make out a shadow in the darkness, human, walking along the edge of the camp ...

R

Daughter and Mother Rising (14th of First Harvest - 1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

In defeating the Merrow in their own lair, the party found a secret passageway behind a large statue. That passageway was dark and sloped downward, deeper; instead of stairs, there was a swooping track that edged right and left as a deep groove for fish-like bodies.  With their magical light cast upon a stone, the party descended and witnesses bass-reliefs carved into the stone walls. It was a story of the Merrow's exodus from the home of the Merfolk, and the eventual splintering of their clans. And then they wandered into a small cave of wonders.

Enormous clam shells lay open spilling over with gold, silver, and platinum coins. There were old chests recovered from surface-dwellers that laid here as well, filled to the brim with treasure, jewelry, gems, and other sparklies. Fine tapestries lined the floor and adorned some of the walls. And in the center abrupt against the wall, a 9' tall ivory statue of a deity - the room obviously organized to present tribute to the mighty god - and He watched over it with a greedy eye.

The statue was that of a man with a fish-like bottom-half, a male human torso, but the head of a sperm whale; behind his head were eight large tentacles like that of an octopus and in this representation looking more like thick dreadlocks. The creatures arms and hands were outstretched as to accept the bounty before Him.

Not exactly adventuring newbies, the party was smart enough to immediately decree nobody - no one - was to touch the treasure. It could be trapped. Tolman the Halfling performed and inspection yet didn't find any of the clam shells or trunks of treasures closed, locked, nor trapped; Siegride cast Detect Magic to find anything of spiritual and magical influence (only the statue of the god itself radiated a faint glow - it was of the Abjuration School of Magic - and none of the treasure or its contents radiated enchantment); and Gorbash the dwarf guarded the entrance to the treasure trove as the party did its investigation.

Thinking only of kindness, Elan contributed some gold coins onto a pile of tribute. Later, she may have come to regret that decision (and may have even scooped back up the coins), but I'm not sure. Meanwhile, Dru the Pseudodragon, the tiny companion to Ma'yah, sniffed the air in some delight. Then left her to prance over a pile of gold. Then the tiny dragon flipped over, rubbing itself in the gold like a dog might some smell in the yard. It made pleasurable cooing noises and curled up like a cat on a heat pad. At scale, it kind of looked like Dru was an awesome red dragon on top of a mountain of treasure, and the dragon probably probably liked it that way.

From the main anti-chamber, a single Merrow approached Gorbash who was guarding the door. He was an older Merrow and not with a buff physique of a soldier. He bore a white tapestry slung between both of his arms in a gesture of peace. He approached the dwarf and asked for conference with him and his companions. Gorbash allowed him in and he slithered down to meet the rest of the party.

"I am Kay-Den-Nay," the old Merrow proclaimed, "I have been dispatched by my Queen to negotiate your terms. And I was under the impression you were interested in a different sort of treasure than this."

The party conversed with Kay-Den-Nay who spoke fluent and articulate Common. He was the clan's academic, a scholar and elder, an advisor to the Queen. When asked, he named the god in the room - Pah-Ka-Steel - the Dark Deceiver, the Liar, the Corruption. Obviously, Kay-Den-Nay was no fan of this deity and he explained the story written on to the wall. He said that the Merrow were Merfolk in the beginning, that they were beautiful and artistic, cultured, but long ago, an idol was drug up from the deepest depths of the sea (pointing to the large idol in the room). It was a god, and it came to influence the thinking of his ancestors. This entity promised riches, wealth, power - a path to stave off the growing influence of surface dwellers who were trolling their seas, spoiling their resources, eating their fish. This entity promised longer life for the Merfolk. It wasn't long before the faction that followed Pah-Ka-Steel were exorcized from the Merfolk colonies and a great exodus occurred. Over time, mutations were introduced into the gene pool that turned Kay-Den-Nay's people (and the animals that dwelled with them like the shark-dogs) into twisted horrific mutants that fostered resentment, anger, and malice towards those who lived on the surface of the water. For generations they attacked ships and killed innocents.

"It was He," Kay-Den-Nay said, thrusting an accusing finger to the statue, "that transformed us. We were once beautiful. We are now monstrosities. But we are of our own making."

Further, Kay-Den-Nay was not sore towards the party for killing his countrymen, replying, "Does the cuttlefish resent the eel? No. The cuttlefish are as they are - prey. The eels are as they are - hunters. It's the way of things." He did desire to reach a compromise and his Queen had sent him to do so, at much distain from other elders. He convinced his Queen to allow him an audience with the intruders. "The Queen is of two minds. One mind is that of a grieving mother who lost her son today. That mind is erratic, chaotic, blood-thirsty, and full of revenge. The other mind is that of a monarch who wishes to protect her people. Currently, the latter mind commands her reason." Inasmuch, Kay-Den-Nay offered to bring the books taken from The Gentle Current to the party in exchange for their immediate departure. He lead the party back to the large anti-chamber where the books - 20 water-tight trunks tied together in three columns with a mesh of slick seaweed - were waiting.

"I hadn't time to open the cases," he explained, "and all should be intact."

Regular Merrow citizens were lined in a cavern away from the large anti-chamber - men, women, children, all of them mutated in some form or another, they watched as the party gathered up the books and dragged them ... they were slick from water and the vines, and could be drug easily across the stone floor.

Kay-Den-Nay lead them through a temple area where there were more reliefs on the walls and more statues dedicated to Pah-Ka-Steel. It was at this time in conversing with Kay-Den-Nay, in witnessing more of the reliefs and statues, and in receiving angry stares from Merrow clerical devotees, that Siegride recognized that Pah-Ka-Steel was a Tempest God, of the same domain of her own deity, Isthmeria. A sinking feeling came to her, and she stopped, withdrew her grimoire from her cloak, and started flipping through the pages.

Her Grimoire was the sum knowledge of certain demons that she had encountered. Her order collects that knowledge into Grimoires that are maintained at their various temples and holy places. She had spent many, many hours copying information from those tombs into her own Grimoire, and she was looking for the expression Pah-Ka-Steel, to determine the True Name of ...

"Agloolik!", he breathed, and read the True Name under her breath. "I knew it! Why am I running into this thing all the time?" She explained privately and quietly to Kay-Den-Nay that knowledge of the True Name could temporarily banish the demon from the prime material plane, and she taught he Merrow how to say the True Name. Kay-Den-Nay was truly gracious and thanked her. He said that such knowledge could change the course of destiny for his people, and Siegride told him that she could be found at the sanctuary in Sphant, should this entity be encountered again, and to come and find her.

The party was escorted to an enormous bolder that once moved aside revealed a tunnel that lead up a long slope through a network of caves. Kay-Den-Nay said that the secret passage would lead more towards the center of the island, and the party could head west to the colony of lizard folk.

After a long walk the party finally emerged from an open pit covered by thick brambles. The leaves of the plants and trees here were abnormally large, almost primeval. The insects massive. The flowers as big as their heads. It was if they just stepped backwards in time to a place not made civilized by humans.

The party pushed westward lead by Elan the Ranger. She said it would be a four to five hour march to the colony, dragging the columns of books. They cut their way to the west, but, what was to happen next was a flurry of blood, bashing, and battery.

Three Hook Horrors emerged from the swampy badlands! Their menacing hooks ripped at the foliage and tore away trees and vines and other obstacles.  They screeched wildly and shook their heads, their eyes useless and relying entirely on their sense of echolocation. As the party engaged, they arranged themselves in a way that would allow them to take on this new adversary when - suddenly - a giant maw erupted from the green and snatched at one of the Hook Horrors! It lifted the body some fifteen feet above the ground where another lizard-like head came and snatched at its lower half, eating it, and nearly ripping it in two!

An enormous figure emerged from the swamp with the body of a stocky brontosaurus and seven swirling heads with vicious teeth!

"A hydra!", announced Vongur to Gorbash; Vongur was an amulet of an old dwarf hanging around Gorbash's neck. "Look out boy! If you cut off one of its heads, two more will grow back!"

[DM's Note: At this point, I should have allowed the hydra a surprise round but I forgot about it and it didn't attack the party until the second round, wasting at least five other attacks it could have made with Advantage on that round. Plus, when I reduced the number of Hook Horrors, I brought the overall challenge rating from "deadly" to "difficult" - I should have replenished the Horrors and brought a few more into melee to really make a stronger impact. Also, I spread the hydra's multiple attacks around to multiple PC targets rather than focusing in on just one target, which spread the damage rather than concentrate it. To make matters worse, the hydra rolled poorly after a while and missed its attacks. Finally, during the second round, I forgot to allow one of the Hook Horrors to attack. Overall, I botched the melee which could have been more fierce than what it was. So it could have been much worse, okay? It could have been. Yeah.]

Gorbash rushed the Hydra and took some mighty swings at it. Ma'yah cast a spell then Misty Stepped (teleported) thirty feet away from the Hydra; Llewellyn evoked a song that created a Chromatic Orb and sent it hurling at the monster, and it exploded in a firey mess! The thing screeched in agony and pain, and one of the heads fell limp, and a new head didn't grow back. The party had discovered the creature's inherent weakness! "Fire!", yelled Llew. "Use fire against it! Fireball it, Ma'yah!"

Melissa (Ma'yah's player) shrugged. "I CAN'T! I didn't memorize Fireball! You guys told me not to fireball the ship!"

(And there was a collective groan at the table).

Melee with the Hydra and Horrors was, in fact, "difficult". Gorbash took the brunt of a double attack from the hydra that rolled a critical hit. It moved into a position that would allow its heads to attack multiple PC targets and started trying to attack them, too. Some PC's were bit, and when Siegride was hit, a lightning bolt erupted and electrocuted the beast - retribution from her deity, smashing into its body.

All of the PC's were engaged with the Hydra or the remaining two Hook Horrors until, finally, all of the things were dispatched. The party was hurt but not down, so they pressed on westward until they came to a forest grove overlooking the ocean. It was dusk. A parliament of ravens took to the trees nearby, and the party recollected the creepy ravens that attacked them last year when they were exploring the White Stands - the haunted arctic forest - and made jokes about buttered ravens (the meal that was served after said battle when Tolman used an infinite supply of butter from Brandyford's Endless Buttercrock to make a delicious meal out of their corpses).  Still, they made camp there. Llew cast Lemund's Tiny Hut which created a force dome for comfortable, safe, easy camping. They made food and posted watches through the night.

On Gorbash's watch, around 11:30pm, he was peering into the dark, windy, rainy night from the comfort of the magical dome. With his darkvision, he could make out the natural shadows of trees blowing in the wind. Then, his eye caught something. A shadow, one even darker than all of the other shadows, of a human, on the outskirts of the camp, slowly walking the parameter. Grabbing his weapons, Gorbash exited the dome and into the night air, rain pelting him, and Gorbash called out to the sulky shade.

The shadow seemed to be that of a human with a large, black, brimmed hat and dark cloak. Gorbash couldn't see his legs or torso or face, but could make out its black form enough to see that it stopped, turned, and faced Gorbash. Its black form stopped. Gorbash couldn't make any facial features out. He called out again for the shadow to state its name and explain what it was doing around here.

It said nothing. The shade just ominously faced Gorbash and made no sound whatsoever. It then, slowly, took a step backwards and as it did, from the shadow two, black, shadowy-sharp rapier-looking blades emerged in a lowered cross: a dueling or sword-fighting position as if to portray a defensive maneuver. Still, the stranger said nothing.

Recognizing that the shadow had now armed itself, Gorbash stepped forward and brandished his own weapon when - suddenly - the shade burst into a hundred black ravens that rushed skyward and past Gorbash and into the night sky. Gorbash shrugged and returned to the Hut; Vongur simply remained asleep during the whole ordeal.

Others took watch that evening and the shade didn't seem to return.

It was now the 1st of First Stores, Rose: 47. In the early morning, there was a deep cloud cover and mist over the island. Siegride announced that she wanted to visit the lizard colony and warn them about the possibility they could be attacked by the cultists of Takhisis who attacked Sunrock Abbey in Sphant last Cycle. She asked for volunteers to come with her to the colony. Tolman, Ma'yah, Elan, and Llew said that they would join her, while Tamroohk and Gorbash said they'd stay behind and watch after the books they recovered from the Merrow's lair.

It took about an hour for the party to close in on the colony, but as they did, they immediately thought something was amiss. They could smell smoke. They could hear screams. As the fog and mist parted, they were on a cliff-side, and could see the colony. It was on fire; there were lizard people running in all directions; they could make out three Black Ships off the coast, and small dots of dingys filled with men mounting a raid on the coast!

Siegride recognized that her fears were warranted and she clinched her fist. "Of course! The first of the Cycle! Just like last time. They're attacking during specific lunar phases! Both Daughter and Mother* were in the sky! We're too late!"

[*DM's Note: Added a little content here that was spoken after the game - Daughter and Mother are the twin moons of Shae Tahrane].

The party readied their weapons, and Tolman called into existence his magical owl familiar. He wrote out a note to the Dwarves to tell them to hurry to the colony and handed to the owl.

The owl politely accepted the paper note and ate it.

Tolman then wrote out another note and told the owl not to eat it (which the owl, already full, accepted), and it flew off with the note towards the dwarves.

At thirty men a ship, Elan counted, there could easily be at least a hundred pirates - conscripts of the clerics of Tahkesis - attacking the lizard colony!

But the party was split up! It would take the Dwarves at least thirty minutes at a dead run to get to the edge of the colony, but by then it may be too late! What are our adventurers to do?! Should Siegride, Elan, Tolman, and Llew confront the evil clerics and their pirate forces alone without their fighting-powerhouse-tanking-dwarves? Wait until they arrive? Scout the situation? And what about the dwarves?! AND who was that weird, ominous shadow-thing?! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!

Well, we'll find out soon enough, true believers! Tune in next time!

R

Bad Days for Sharks and Merrow (13th - 14th of First Harvest, Rose: 47)

The party attracted a crew of all women sailors and left the port of Sphant bound for the lizard folk colony. Knowing only that there was a handsome reward for the return of books bound for Seminary, and with the faith that they would return shortly, they set sail for a two day voyage on calm seas.

The voyage itself was uneventful. During the trip, the sailors helped show the party how to jib the rigs, jiggle the mainline, and swab the deck. The hired crew performed admirably, following the directions of the young teenage girl-prophet and her Holy Company: a moniker for Siegride and the rest of the party who're emblazoned with similar dwarven artifacts. The sailors, citizens Sphant, naturally bore a superstitious and religious bent about them, and found the girls leadership, commanding presence, and vision - not to mention an uncanny understanding of weather patterns and storms - as something divine inspired. 

The girl prophet instructed the crew to weigh anchor just north of the colony's island some quarter-mile away from shore where rocks had claimed half a dozen ships over the decades; their husks were seen as ominous shadows in the moonlight. In the morning on the 14th of first harvest, the party boarded two small rowboats and cautiously approached the dangerous rocks where the Gentle Current had run aground.

The party could feel the intensity of the current building as it closed in on the rocks, and they felt their ships being pulled into that place. They saw the vessel leaning over some 40° in bad shape; it's masts were broken and it's sails were ripped and fluttering carelessly in the wind.

As they approached, the party started to take notice of dorsal fins cresting along the top of the sea line. Soon, it was obvious that the party was rowing through shark infested waters and that the sharks were becoming increasingly interested in their presence.

Just then, bursting from the sea, a massive great white shark with a rider - a Merrow Prince (Merfolk who, by legend, have been twisted by evil and demonic forces, who plunder the treasure of ships and feed off of the flesh their crews) commanded the party to return their vessel, or they would most assuredly die. Rising from the ocean depths were the Prince's hunting party: five other Merrow's armed with harpoons and wickedly Long claws.

Siegride summoned the force of her deity and created a localized storm that would yield to her command. She also cast water walk on the entire party so that they might walk the surface of the seas. But she waited and did not strike. She waited to vet out the intentions of the prince as the party began to row away.

Surrounded by a school of sharks and the Merrow, some members of the party thought it was prudent to begin rowing backwards, and to-in fact-return to the ship. The little row boats drifted in their turn to point their bows back toward the anchored Sea Wyvern.

However, one member of the party - Ma'yah - The rash young magic user-was not duly impressed with the idle threats of a demonic Merfolk prince mounted atop a great white shark commanding her to leave an area of the sea that he controlled. No. She prepared a spell and her mind that would release a bevy of magical arrows into the prince on her command.

Her companion, the tiny pseudo dragon named Dru, in seeing what she was doing, flew over and landed on her lap. He looked up at her with big, sad, pleading eyes… as if attempting to say, "I want to live… please don't... Whatever you're planning…" but the little dragon did not deter her.

On the end of second round, as the Merrow were encouraging the party to start rowing away at harpoon-point, the party struck first: Ma'yah cast Magic Missile on the prince and the seas exploded into chaos.

First, the prince fell off of his mount and the great white shark torpedoed for the boat that Ma'yah was on. It opened it's keeping maw and tore a chuck out of the boat. As it tried to return to the safety of the sea, it incurred attacks of opportunity that allowed the party to beset massive damage against it. Bad plan, noted the shark.

Meanwhile, other Merrow surfaced and brandished their harpoons and claws and teeth, setting themselves upon the party. All of this would've been fairly normal fare for the Merrow hunting party until, of course, the Dwarves and Humans started walking on water to attack them. They weren't prepared for that. Standard operating procedure is for the demonic Merfolk where to use their harpoons to stab and grapple a victim and pull them into the depths of the icy water, allowing them to drown and become fish food. Not today. It would appear that some divine intervention allowed the surfaced dwellers to walk upon the water as if it was the land itself, and the ensuing battle was very confusing.

Ma'yah was attacked with prejudice by a smaller reef shark that lunged out of the water, bit her, and dragged her with a STR check into the water! Again, let's check standard operating procedure's for a shark. Bite victim. Check. Victim Bleeds. Check. Lock jaw, preventing victim from escaping. Check. Maybe shake the victim a bit, right and left, check. Then plunge deep into the watery depths to drown the victim.

Everything seemed to be going according to standard operating procedure for the shark and her blood tasted rather nice, as such was the perks of the job, except that Ma'yah had water walk cast on her and was effectively a super buoyant mass of human flesh that raced to the surface at 60 feet per round. The shark, nose downward and dragging his victim into the sea, suddenly found himself swimming against the magical forces of the universe, its prey weirdly pulling him back towards the surface, whereas its body was thrust backwards and out of the water in a display of unintentional acrobatics that threw the shark into the air and, consequently, it let go of Ma'yah. She went spilling onto the surface of the ocean like it was a wet tile floor.

The party engaged the Merrow on their own turf, walking on water, shooting, stabbing, casting spells. Llewelyn cast a hypnotic pattern that affected three reef sharks who ended up swimming around in circles aimlessly ... The PC's duked it out with the Merrow's in hand to hand, and the aquatic hunters got in a few good licks, but were no match for lightning bolts hurled from the sky, sharpshooting Rangers, and, stabby halflings.

Ma'yah, prone on the water, struggling to get up, suddenly was the target of severe aggression (probably for her attacking the prince): a dark shadow appeared in the water underneath her and the massive jaws of the great white shark opened and snatched her, ferociously ripping at her, and drug her down into a watery doom.

Revisiting standard operating procedures for sharks: bite, bleed, shake, drown. Every shark learns that in school. That's what's supposed to happen, it's how one gets ahead in life, and the massive great white had a lot of power in its tail and attempted to take Ma'yah into the cold darkness, swimming 30' then sixty feet down. Ma'yah attempted to stab the monster with her dagger but couldn't penetrate its hide. Things looked mighty bad for her. still, it couldn't best the carnal forces of magic as its momentum slowed, and it's prey's body thrust the enormous fish backward through the water to suddenly burst forth to the surface - tail first - and into the air, where both Ma'yah and the great white were hurled some five feet above the ocean to crash back into the water (for the shark) and on to the surface of the water (for the divinely tweaked Ma'yah).  Once there, she was attacked by a Merrow and rendered unconscious and dying.

Meanwhile, the prince - realizing his peril - thought that a direct confrontation with these land lubbers was the wrong way to go, and he opted for something epic. Both he and his shark mount moved at the same initiative at the top of the round, so he disengaged the party allowing him to sink backward into the ocean and away from his assailants without incurring attacks of opportunity, then remounted his great white shark who burst out of the water to leap at the divinely inspired Siegride. The reader should bear in mind that this shark gets +10 to hit and had advantage because of the blood frenzy in the water, and still _missed_ the cleric because of her mondo awesome AC of 24, whereas the demonic Merfolk prince riding this massive great white shark leapt out of the water, huge mouth gaping rows of teeth, and sailed right pass her in super slow mo (one could just see the twisted agony and surprise on the Merrow's face, then pan over to the shark's expression which was went from uber smug to sharkly shame), then the shark and princely rider (most un-epicly) splashed into the water on the opposite side of the rowboat. Thereby he was attacked by a water walking dwarf with a holy weapon she acquired from some old mines some 300 miles away.

Returned to consciousness, Ma'yah unleashed a volley of Magic Missiles against the prince again to finally finish him off. His body sank to the sea, and one lone Merrow escaped into the depths of the sea.

It was a bad day for sharks and Merrow. But it was only going to get worse.

The party continued their way to the Gentle Current, climbed upon the nearby rocks, and boarded the vessel. There they investigated the ruins and found the remains of several sailors. They also found the ship logs:

The Current is a three-mast Barquentine with a shallow draft. Captain Herisha Jeremo; Quartermaster Lynn of House Parque, Merchants of Floreth; a crew of eighteen: a pilot, a navigator, a cooper, a doctor, a lookout, two cooks, a sailing master, three carpenters, seven able sea men. Logs would show the boat built Rose: 13 in Rhackdalia; recent voyages have been running legitimate merchant cargo to destinations throughout the Shattered Isles and Floreth....

Logs would show that the Current was carrying 20 water-tight trunks of books and scrolls and literature that had been smuggled out of Rhackdalia before the Wall fell. House Orlante financed the recovery of these texts and commissioned to have them sent to the Seminary in Sphant. There was other material - food stuffs, blankets, bedrolls, supplies for refugees; chests of artifacts from the library; tapestries from the library.

The ship's cargo was apparently dragged out of the hull and across the rocks down into the depths of the sea. Gorbash dove in and swam some 90' down into the coral reef to find a cave opening decorated by the Merrow, and he tried to descend further into the cave but had to return, fearing drowning. Meanwhile, Ma'yah cast a spell to allow her to shapeshift and breathe underwater, and she found that the cave opening lead to a cavernous lair. She then returned to the group. The party concluded that it would be too difficult for everyone to hold their breath for seven or eight minutes, so they had to find another way.

Returning to the ship, the astounded crew was in awe of what they had seen: water-walking, flames shooting out of their hands, lightning called down from the heavens, streaking magic missiles ... pretty fitting of a Holy Company, they had thought, and they spoke to all of the party with some reverence. There the party waited, slept, and took eight hours to rest and heal up, and, to wait for the tides to lower so that they could explore the caves against the face of the cliff, facing the water.

The party returned at low-tide and found the cave, saturated from being inundated with water, and descended into the depths. They wandered in the dark, down some 90-feet, and came across a large pool of water where on the opposite edge was a syphon of water that spilled into a hole. Then the party noticed the fins - sharks - but these sharks moved oddly and, in fact, climbed out of the water. They were mutants! Six of them! Scary! They had four legs and truncated torsos, and gaping maws with rows of teeth! Oh yah. Sounds menacing. Yet, as usual, they were clumped together thus dazed by some uber-powerful bard spell, rendered useless and mowed down by a frenzy of maces, axes, arrows, and daggers. It wasn't long before the party had taken one of their bodies, tied some rope around it, and tossed the body of a shark-dog into the hole. So much for that encounter. 

Kersplat! Some 30' down. Siegride thought she heard some voices but couldn't understand the language, so Ma'yah cast a spell on Siegride that allowed her to comprehend and speak any language. Turns out some female voices down below were surprised that the sharkdog on a rope had fallen through the hole, and they went to go get some guards. Meanwhile, they pulled up the sharkdog and did the kersplat-thing again, and followed the corpse down into the hole.

At the bottom, Siegride was first to realize that she stepped into a birthing pool filled with tadpoles and a white muck (the guts of squished tadpoles that had been crushed by the falling sharkdog). The rest of the party descended. There was phosphorous moss growing in the pool and soon it was obvious they were in some Merrow nursery. 

Exploring their surroundings, the party were in some narrow caves that were dimly lit with the phosphorous moss with water (that fell from the spillway above the cavern) into nursery. It wasn't long before the party was met in battle by Merrow guards who were sure that these were the scoundrels who killed their prince. 

In the next fifteen minutes of game time, the party would encounter some fourteen armed Merrow guards and - to their credit - Siegride kept screaming in their Abyssal tongue that the carnage they were unleashing could be avoided if they simply surrendered the books stollen from The Gentle Current. It was a bloody mess. The Merrow got in a few good licks but they were no match for the seasoned adventurers. Regrettably, most of the guards didn't even understand the concept of a book ... but the party did encounter some more intelligent Merrow (who whisked themselves away in fear as they were met by Merrow guards) where one Merrow aristocrat did cry out, "Books? Books?! What books?! Kay-Den-Nay has books! We must find Kay-Den-Nay!"... before being arrested by his friends and dragged away into other chambers. 

Eventually the party would come across a large 9' tall statue and find its craftsmanship somewhat shoddy in concealing a secret passageway behind it. The party opened the statue and saw a descending slope downward....

... and that's where we'll start up next time!

Massacre at Sunrock Abbey (8th - 11th of First Harvest, Rose: 47)

The remaining pirates on-shore were quickly dispatched, and the party moved to tie up and subdue the charmed brigands and cleric of Mother Takhisis.

About 300' away, the former pirates' (well, their bodies were strewn around the beach so former is an apt term) ship was all aflutter. The remaining crew was preparing to take some kind of ultimately futile action in either escaping with their lives, or, foolhardily attempting to defend themselves. What happened next was somewhat pathetic but entirely predictable.

Siegride cast Water Walk allowing all of the party members to walk on water. If that didn't look like the End Times for the poor pirates onboard the vessel, what they saw next was a bit of medieval shock and awe. The two dwarves got in front of a dingy and, hoisting up some ropes, started dragging the boat across the waves since - as the spell works - the dingy would simply float. In the dingy, Elan was readying her bow.

Vongur was whooping and hollering, saying he'd never walked on water before (he has no legs, that's the irony, get it?), and was encouraging the dwarves to dig in and haul the boat across the water.

Ever seen Princess Mononoke? Sure you have. There's several scenes where Ashitaka is slinging arrows with his possessed demon-arm. The arrow flies through the air and amazingly, like, decapitates samurai or makes their chest explode with one shot. Okay, keep that image in your mind for a second. Elan is a 6th Level Ranger with Sharpshooter Feat and she ignores the disadvantages of distance with her bow. She attacks twice per round. The bandits have 16 HP a piece; each connect with her arrow would bring that and maybe 5-10+ extra HP of damage.

Now imagine the scene. The pirates see the party walking on water like Gods whereas a Sharpshooting Ranger being dragged across the waves by Dwarves like some Hell-born watery chariot ... her first shot connects to a bandit on the center mast trying to get the sail up, and he explodes; her second shot connects to another bandit on the stern mast and he explodes. Bloody corpses fall from the masts to the deck. The pirates freak. That was just the first round.

As the party closed in, the pirates feebly fired off arrows at disadvantage because of the range penalties. Arrows fell limply on all party members. Within two rounds of water walking, Elan had dispatched the four archers on the ship.

At this point, their sitting ducks because the ship has no armor or assault weapons, and, they're fresh out of archers. Nobody wants to climb up the masts to hoist the mainsail because, well, death, so they just wait for the party to approach, who, upon closing into range, start hailing wind, fire, arrows, and doom upon their heads. Meanwhile, the Dwarves and Halfling scaled the side of the ship, boarded, and proceeded to obliterate the opposition. It didn't take long before the ship was theirs.

After claiming the ship and looking around, it occurred to Gorbash that things looked familiar around here. Others agreed, and suddenly, it dawned upon the party that this ship - or a ship just like it sharing the same name, The Sea Wyvern - was the derelict, broken, beached hide out of Moonshade Phenelope of House Morley, and belonged to Lord Aphik Mackery of the Bullywugs. It was grounded, its hull busted, and old - maybe 100+ years old - with holes in its hull. If this wasn't the same ship it was remarkably like it in nearly every detail.

The party was able to recover one dingy (not all four depicted in this map).

But the party shelved that conundrum and pressed on to heal themselves, and take an inventory the loot between the ship and the shore:

• Sacks and bags of grain, millet, rice, peppernuts, and other foodstuffs; regular clothes; blankets, topsoil, cured meats; many barrels of pickled tuna; flasks of wine; salted pork; many glass jars of preserved fruits.
• 22 ceremonial wax candles, 14 garments, 4 tapestries, 7 ceremonial bowls and goblets
• Black Armor and Green Armor, Stylized Dragons, Half-Plate and Helm +2; difficult to fit others; would fit a woman human well; two Maces +2 (One Black, one Green)
• Four books - the books are holy books and scriptures that confess the Goddess to be a lizard woman; barrels of scrolls containing scripture, collections of philosophies, written in Common; they are of academic and spiritual interest only
• 4459 Crowns in a chest
• Large Copper Statue (800 Crowns), life-sized, 500 pounds - now green - Lizard woman
• 1 solid copper egg (stylized lizard egg or dragon egg); now green; 200 pounds
• 2 Potions in a copper vase - Elixir of Health; red clear liquid with tiny bubbles of light in it.
• A box of tongues (the tongues from the dead clerics) 9 of them

On board the vessel, the party found maps and tactical information about an abbey not far from the shoreline. The details of the map included defenses, elevations, armaments, extended information on its occupants; it was written in a flowing script not common to Floreth, but resembled Arabic; it was obvious these weren't nautical maps but were created by seasoned soldiers. There were also nautical maps that showed a remote island to the south with specific water depths ... this was a sailor's map, and seemed to correlate to the nautical locations of the pirate cove outlined by the very mouthy pirate under Siegride's truthiness spell.

The party ventured out to that abbey on the map during the dusk and evening hours. There they found a very simple abbey, primitive stone structures, farm animals, hay, a single water well - a very simple way of life. Some of the walls of the abbey had bas-reliefs of a Goddess with a lizard-like head: the torso of a human female but the head of a lizard. Regrettably, the party also found the nine bodies of the clerics who used to worship here: their mouths sewn shut and their eyelids cut off so that their eyeballs appeared to bulge out of their sockets.

Tamroohk took some time to gather up the bodies of both clerics and dead pirates and performed some last rites on their corpses.

Tolman rolled a natural 20 on a Religion check. Although the Halfling knows nothing of Tiamat (Takhisis) or its dragon-cult, and certainly couldn't identify this particular representation of the Goddess, he ascertained that the cultists arrived and proclaimed their harmless sect heretics, and then killed them and mutilated their bodies; the tongues taken and mouths sewn shut so they couldn't speak their truth in the afterlife, and, their eyes permanently open to the Truth as perceived by the followers of Tahkisis. Again, he was only guessing, but it was a pretty sound guess. Meanwhile, the loot found in the hull of the ship (the large statue and egg) would have been holy symbols and objects recovered by the cultists.

During this time, the party realized that their on-shore captives had - during the skirmish - escaped. That is, the cultist with the green dragon tattoo escaped and slit the throats of the remaining berserkers; some degree of tracking led them to conclude that she must have escaped to the populated areas of Sphant and would be difficult to track there.

Some Detect Magic and Identify spells were cast on the objects and they determined the magical properties of the potions, half-plate armor, helms, and maces. These were found on-shore from a tent that went up in a mess of fireball. They are ornate, religious in nature, very skimpy and small for a midsized creature (seemingly custom-crafted to a small-stature female human). The maces were fashioned as dragon claws grasping a spiked orb and were both black and green in color.

The party spent the night in their newly acquired boat and, in the morning, sailed feebly and unexpertly to Sphant. Siegride made a successful ability check and navigated the ship there. They secured a slip and moored their vessel; the Harbor Master charged 5 Crowns a day for the slip, and Siegride paid for up to seven days; 35 Crowns total. The Harbor Master (a woman dressed in red robes with a book chained to her wrists, like it's been in every port you've ever seen in Floreth), recorded the date/time of the ship, and passed along paper to the quartermaster or captain to keep in their logbook.

The party did try to report the ship as being formerly owned by pirates, but she did instruct the party to take the matter up with the Magistrate as to dispensation of the craft. She had no vested interest in the matter.

The party wanted to spend some time running some investigations:

• Collectively, the party agreed that now would be a good time to establish a Company with the Croupier. Without a House backing the Company, the party would need to produce a deposit of 10,000 Crowns. That becomes the floor to the account - additional monies could be added and spent, but the 10,000 Crowns is collateral held by the Croupier to cover their losses should a Company abuse their spending. Stormhammer Company was the name bandied about (or, alternatively, a Phalanx of Tiny People Company).
  
• Elan returned to Pathfinder Abbey and explained what she found at the brigand's landing site, and, that the pirates had been taken care of. The Rangers called this place Sunrock Abbey and the clerics were worshipers of Lacerta-Mulier, an old representation of the Goddess. They live like the Amish might in a similar setting, decrying the advances of time and comforts of technology. There are many such small sects in these forests, they explain, who sought sanctuary on this island. The Rangers were appalled at the grizzly attack and considered it uncharacteristic of pirates in the Shattered Isles to be so merciless and ritualistic in their brutality. In hearing of this, the Ranger community tasked Elan with learning more about the clerics of Takhisis and their possible intentions in the Shattered Isles. They also promised to be on the lookout for the missing cleric that could be hiding out in Sphant.
  
• Siegride was tasked to find an able-bodied crew for the ship. The ship can be manned with a crew of seven. Siegride would be able to find such a crew - they would collectively require just 1 Crown of pay per day away from Sphant. They could be corralled to leave Sphant whenever the party felt like leaving.
  
• Gorbash went about unloading non-essential equipment and trading it in for what he could get off it in cash; I said he could get 1/2 of the PH listed value for whatever he was trading in.
  
• Tamroohk would be gaming and drinking, on the lookout for the cleric. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything related to the cleric but did hear about the rumors of a holy massacre at Sunrock Abbey. Some of the people she was playing with indicated that those clerics were private folk and kept to themselves; they awaited the arrival of a new age as represented by their eggs - a collection of different kinds of eggs crafted in different metals. Tamroohk recalled that the party found only one egg, a solid copper egg, that had greened with age and exposure to the sea. Tamhrook did run into Whylo of Dhyane again who was astounded of the news of the party taking on the bandits, and Whylo wanted to hear more stories (and even offered to purchase more wine and ale for Tamroohk to hear them) about the assault!
  
• The party expressed interest in going after the shipwreck in the Shattered Isles that was carrying recovered texts from Rhackdalia's library and were donated to the Seminary. There had been a reward of 1,000 Crowns offered for recovering them by the House that sponsored their donation. The Rangers had thought that the ship grounded near a known colony of Lizard Folk. Ma'yah and Llew did some research at the library at the Seminary on the Lizard Folk. It's presumed that the colony has some 500 individuals. The colony isn't necessarily friendly to outsiders but isn't outright hostile - sailors who've been stranded on their island lived to tell the tale, and some even suggested that they were aided by the kind, gentle lizard-people. It's reported that they have intelligence, a language, even a form of tribal government, although they've no official treaties with Sphant or Floreth. Some Lizard Folk have emerged as guides or spotters for fishermen looking for an advantage in finding large schools of prized fisheries. The Lizard Folk don't seem to have any connection to Sunrock Abbey or the Lacerta-Mulier, although some religious academic observers have written that the parallels between the Godhead and the Lizard Folk are too similar to ignore, and perhaps early indigenous people found their hybrid manifestation to be a sign of the holy. Ma'yah and Llew learn that the Lizard Folk like to be left alone but have been known to trade for baubles - jewelry, gems, precious stones, and the like.
  
• Tolman attends to gardening, vegetables, and the like. Another Black Ship sighting took place on the 6th of First Harvest, this time in the waters to the south. Curious that the maps onboard The Sea Wyvern correlated the marked cove in those waters ...

Next we meet it'll be the 11th of First Harvest, and the party has crewed ship, stocked with provisions and ready for departure. What's next? Well, the story's up to them ... I just work here. Probably something to do with retrieving a cache of marooned books in a sea wreck on a remote island colonized by Lizard-people Sounds fun!

Stay tuned!

R


 

Beached Brigands! (8th of First Harvest, Rose: 47)

He didn't know it, but the Bandit Captain had 45 seconds longer to live.

A young woman of some 17 years of age and her companion, an effeminate-looking human male with a lute, just emerged from the treeline on the Isle of Sphant. Along the beach, the Captain's crew had staged a camp with tents, supplies, food stocks, and other matters. In the distance, their ship was anchored off the coast and two row boats were near it, off-loading cargo, whereas the crew on the beach seemed to be loading some cargo into two more row-boats.

The Bandit Captain had some twenty seasoned men on the ground with him - six of them gruff Berserkers used to rough up local militia if they ever encountered some. This had been an easy voyage thus far. He was enjoying a relaxing, sun-filled day along the coast, and was preparing to depart these waters for his secret mooring place elsewhere in the Shattered Isles when, suddenly, this blond, freckle-faced brat showed up demanding what he and his crew were doing.

"We're refugees," he explained casually with a broad smile, "from Rhackdalia. Escaping the giant onslaught. We're moored here for the afternoon and we'll be departing shortly." His bandit crew drew their weapons, nocked their arrows.

The young woman - Siegride of Isthmeira - wasn't convinced and demanded to know more. She evoked a divine prayer to compel those around her to tell the truth. Llewellyn the Bard (with a shiny new face) stood ready by Siegride's side. Still, the Captain continued with his story. "Look, we don't want any trouble. Why don't you and your ... pretty boy ... just go back the way you came. We'll even clean up around here ... zero impact. I realize that's probably important to some of you cleric-types-"

"We're pirates!", yelled one of his crew who, unfortunately, fell victim to the truthiness spell Siegride had cast, and that sent one of the nearby Berserkers into a frenzy! Pushing a couple of the crew aside, the Berserker came in swinging an awfully large ax.

What happened in the remaining 18 seconds would be hard for the Captain to absorb in just a small amount of time for, as I previously mentioned, he would be dead. Many things happened very fast.

First, the girl and her girly entourage wasn't alone. There were some severe fighter-types (two Dwarves), some sharp shooter in the woods (a Ranger), a spell caster, and a squat spell-casting, stabbing, halfling from the Erenlands. Tactically, he vaguely realized that he had seriously misjudged the situation, and there was a blur of blood and carnage.

Second, the girl was impossible - absolutely, mostly impossible - to hit. He was well-versed in his scimitar and dagger, and viciously tried to cut her. Yet, to his amazement, his sword and knife would miss the waif or pass eerily into the darkness of the cloak she wore - she was some kind of whispy waify jinks! He would have thought, "Just what in the Hell did I get myself in to?", if he had the time. But he didn't. 15 seconds.

Third, the pansy-looking fella was actually a Bard spellcaster. He ended up charming more than a third of his crew in those first few seconds, which meant that his side was going to take a beating by just standing there, listening to him sing and play a lute. There's nothing more embarrassing than that for a pirate, well, THAT and trying to kill a 5'1" freckly 17 year old blond girl wielding cosmic divine energies. 13 seconds.

Fourth, as he was becoming consciously aware of the fact that he should be retreating and running for his life but still - pridefully - convinced that his team could manage this problem, his insubordinate pirate crew member had started spilling the proverbial beans. During the height of combat, the truth-pirate told the girl where they sailed from (the Sagean Coast) and gave her an exact nautical position of his home village and sea port; then followed that up with a confession that they were pirates stealing goods from Sphant and loading them on to the boat so that they may go back to his secret mooring place in the Shattered Isles (which, again, the pirate conveyed precise nautical coordinates for). He would have face-palmed if he had the time to do so, but, really, he didn't. 12 seconds.

Around this time, there was a moment where things looked on the up and up. The priestesses he was escorting for their recent work emerged from their tent and called down some divine wrathyness. Both of them were dark-skinned, very tan, black hair, wearing skimpy outfits, and both of them had these amazing dragon tattoo sleeves down their left arms. The priestess with a green dragon tattoo caused a bolt of flame to descend on Siegride, but Siegride managed to roll well and throw up her shield before being baked by the Sacred Flame. Meanwhile, Elan the Ranger and Ma'yah the Wizard were paralyzed when the second priestess sporting a black dragon tattoo cast Hold Person, and they stopped in their tracks. All very encouraging. In the pit of his stomach, for an instant, he felt a twinge of enthusiasm. 11 seconds.

But that enthusiasm was quickly curbed by a rash of death levied by Tamroohk in a mighty mowing down of four adversaries in a row, and, as Tolman darted up to try to take out the Girl with the Black Dragon Tattoo. He brought her to her knees and she lost her concentration, freeing the two others from the spell. And, as the priestess raised her left arm, the dragon tattoo appeared to writhe as she prepared her spell that would have caused terrible necromantic damage against poor Tolman, she hissed, "Mother Takhisis will take you!" Two arrows from the Ranger silenced her and her petty threats forever.

Now, it was at this moment that the freckled little girl seemed to cast some divine thunderous energy that blasted the Captain and his standing crew back some 15' in the air from a massive concussive force. As his body was hurled backwards and tossed like a doll to the earth, it was at that moment that he thought, "You know, now would be a good time to exit-" ... nine seconds.

Except that, at that moment, Ma'yah unleashed a fireball on him and his crew that was immediately surrounding him. There was a massive explosion, tents immediately upended, stuff went BOOM, and his body was wracked by sering pain - three or four of his crew died instantly. Their blackened, charred corpses littering the beach.

Eight seconds.

Yep. That was the moment. The moment to flee.

In a frustrated gesture of surrender, he ripped off his piratey eye patch (apparently not believing he deserved it any longer), threw it to the ground, and ran. He started to sprint to the row boats in an effort to flee this madness, to get away from the freckled girl and her "tiny killing machines" (a comment yelled by one of the Berserkers before being uber-munched by the pounding from another Dwarf).  He sprinted, dashing across the battle map, racing for one of the boats to take him off of the island. Quickly, one of his trusty men ran up with a bow and was providing cover for his escape. He was thinking, "I should reward that guy when I get back-", but that was about the last thing he was going to think. Four seconds.

There was the smell of brimstone and bat guano. He felt the air super-condense and heat all around him. And he knew, right then and there, that the misfortune of meeting a freckled blond on the coast of Sphant would be the last thing he-

-the second fireball spell ignited the world around him, and his skin - and the skin of most of his remaining crew - burned to a crisp and he died in supreme agony. And that was that.

Meanwhile, the session ended before we could finish things up. The party had yet to dispatch a couple of Berserkers. Next time we meet: the party mops up the beach and likely assaults and acquires the dead captain's ship.

R