Far Isles Session # 90 - The Sea Hag's Hoard

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 6)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 6)
Chaff (Vivimancer 6), with familiar Pretty Bird
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 6), with familiar Hermes

With Kwinsea out of commison for awhile, and everyone else rather battered a and spell-less, the party decided to head back to the "No Man's Sea" for rest and recuperation. Chaff noted he could use the recently discovered knock spell to open the secret door that appeared to lead outside, and tehnce back to the ship. Everyone thought this sounded like the best way to get out, so they all trekked back across the egg to watch Chaff do his stuff. There were, however, a few doubtful moments when the vivimancer stumbled over some parts of the unfamiliar magic. When he finished, everyone was surprised to see the whole door disappear, leaving a gaping hole though which they peered down on the ocean and the "No Man's Sea" below. Chaff then summoned the ebony fly and everyone was soon back on deck. They found the ship's company in good cheer, and the party settled in for a good 2 week rest while Kwinsea recovered. 

It was an uneventful time, at least right until the last couple of days. On a clear and dark middle watch early one morning, Chaff was awaken from his slumbers by a scream on deck.  Knowing there were just crewman on watch (the middle watch traditionally being Kwinsea's), he jumped out of bed, pounded on Awg and Rodrigo's cabin doors to rouse them, and then ran on deck to investigate. He found the stern castle eerily deserted, the two crew members usually stationed there were no where in sight.  While he checked the  deck, Rodrigo climbed the rigging to get a better view around, and Awg started walking the length of the ship, peering over the side. Over the stern they found a gruesome sight; one of the missing sailors (Bjorn), hanging upside tangled in a rope, his head mostly torn off. Chaff also noted water on the deck, so it looked as if someone or something had climbed on board and made short order of the unfortunate sailors. By now the ship was awake, and the party posted the musketeers to guard through the rest of the night before returning to bed themselves.

The Hag

Next day, the party rested so they would be ready for the night ahead. Their plan was to set an ambush, as they assumed the unknown assailant would be back. Rodrigo disguised himself as a sailor and stood watch in the stern. Chaff hid in a empty barrel nearby, and Awg climbed into the rigging to wait. They tossed a rope with baited grappling hook over the stern to attract whatever might be out there, and posted Jurgen the musketeer where the rope was tied to a stanchion, so he could cut it in case of emergency. Around the middle watch they were rewarded when something appeared over the fantail. It was a grey and drizzly night which made for limited vision, but it was an obviously humanoid shape. The figure hesitated a moment, then moved towards the musketeer, who was back on to it and not really paying attention. Rodrigo watched as the figure moved closer, and was surprised to see it was a beautiful, and completely naked, young woman. As she got close to Jurgan, the musketeer turned and immediately his jaw dropped open and he stood dumbfounded. At which point she sprang forward, opened her mouth, and bit down on his face. As she did so, the beautiful woman disappeared to be replaced by a hideous and repulsive hag. Jurgan screamed, and everyone jumped into action. Or at least tried to; as the transformation was completed, Awg and Rodrigo were so repulsed by what they saw, they could not face the creature. The calmonari jumped over the side, while Rodrigo turned and fled down the deck. That left only little Chaff, who shuffled over the the hag and dropped a web spell on her and Jurgan. He then screamed for the rest of the musketeers, who'd been pre-placed just below deck, and  followed up on the hag with a bone-warp to no effect. Rushing in with halberds, the musketeers hacked and stabbed at the ugly thing while Chaff prepared a dagger with paralytic poison. He had to move fast, as the hag was monstrously string and about to break out of the web. Luckily he scored a hit, and the creature almost immediately stopped moving. Which was good, as the musketeers were in turn starting to fall away in fear. But with the thing dead, everyone sheepishly drifted back to help the now traumatized Jurgen out of the web, and to haul the hag's corpse to the bow to be hung from the bowsprit. 

The party and crew recovered from the attacks over the next few days. When Kwinsea was finally recovered from her near-death experience, the party now had to decide what to do. Go right back to the egg, or track down where the hag had come from? Awg pointed out hags usually lair in underwater caves and the calmonari elders told stories about the treasure they amassed. Well that made the decision easy; off to hunt for the sea hag hoard it is. Awg went swimming and charmed a swordfish he encountered. Bringing it back to the ship, Kwinsea cast speak with aquatic animals  and started questioning, asking it if it knew anything about the sea hag. It did, directing the crew to a nearby islet where the fish ('Pokey) said the hag had it's lair. Asked about any other huge creatures in the waters, Pokey replied the 'man-fish', whose underwater city was nearby, kept the area pretty clear of most dangerous creatures. With that information, and with Pokey trailing behind, Lynessa raised sail, and in just a few hours they lay off the indicated isle. It was essentially a low sand bar with a large limestone cliff rising on the north side. Rodrigo climbed to the cliff top, but could see no obvious caves, entrances or structures. Awg and Kwinsea therefore dove into the sea to check the cliff from below the waterline, while Rodrigo stood watch in one of the ship's boats. Chaff meanwhile, bored on deck, decided to examine one of the crystal fruit. Nothing stood out to him, so the vivimancer popped it in his mouth to see what happened. In the process of gently masticating the crystal thing, he broke off most of his teeth. He spit the bit of fruit (and his teeth) out, noting only that he had the sudden sense of commune with a higher intelligence.   

Strangleweed

Back in the water, Awg and Kwinsea discovered a cleft in the cliff. With Awg in the led and accompanied by Pokey the swordfish, they swam in. They didn't get far before encountering a mass of seaweed blocking the way. Awg went forward and stuck his/her arms in the mass. Which then lurched to life, trying to wrap the seaweed strands around the calmonari's arms and draw him into the mass. Awg escaped, pulling back to where Kwinsea awaited. They swam back to the surface, explained what was going on to Rodrigio, and sent the swashbuckler back to get the hag's corpse. Hoping the scare the seaweed thing with it, they dragged the putrefying body into the cave. It had no effect on the seaweed, so Kwinsea cast another speak with aquatic animals  to open negotiations. The seaweed was not really intelligent, and was interested only in feeding.  Awg pushed the hag's corpse into the seaweed, and they watched the green mass engulf it and draw it deep inside.  Kwinsea then offed more food if the seaweed would let them pass in and out. It agreed, and Awg ordered Pokey into the growing mass. After much trashing and a little blood, the loyal swordfish was engulfed, and the seaweed shifted to open a passage at the bottom of the cleft so the two could swim through. 

The two swam deeper into the cave, having to work their way through several splits in the rock as one cleft petered out and another opened up. After a short while they came to a larger chamber, one partly above the water. Here a rock ledge opened into a dry passage. The duo climbed out of the water and worked their way in, finding themselves climbing a steep grade. Encountering another passage sloping down to the left, they choose to keep climbing for now. The passage started to narrow, and just before it got too small to pass, Kwinsea and Awg were surprised when a huge spider dropped on them from above. It snapped at Awg twice, missing each time, and in a short battle he and Kwnisea were able to hack it to death. After checking for treasure on the rock ledge the spider had dropped from (none), they backed up and headed down the steeply slopping passage. 

This led into another, large and dank cave. At the end opposite the entrance, there was a pool of water. Between them and the pool was a mass of junk and debris. Cautiously entering, the two started poking around. They found a mass of bones and other remains, varying from ancient to recent (including what was left of their second lost sailor, Goller). Shifting some of the bone and other offal and debris aside uncovered treasure! Gold and jewelry! Kwinsea and Awg started digging around and trying on various bit and bobs they found. Kwinsea found one of the rings was a ring of regeneration while Awg snatched up a ring of fire resistance and gloves of dexterity. Once the excitement ended however, the aquatic duo had to figure out how to get all this stuff out. They didn't really trust that the strangle-weed would let them pass a second time. The two went to check out the pool. It was only about 4' deep, fed through small cracks in the rock below the surface. There was also a significant flow of water, which spilled out of the pool and flowed towards the western wall of the cave. Going over to look, Awg found a narrow water filled sump. He squeezed through, and after a few minutes emerged into the ocean a few hundred yards west of where Rodrgio waited in the ship's boat. Awg swam over to get the swashbuckler, grabbed his bag of holding and aquatic duo started to ferry treasure out through the sump and back to the "No Man's Sea". There, Chaff used with kaladrian sight and his magical mind to discover there was also a rod of absorption and a couple of treasure maps mixed among the mundane jewelry and gold.

TOTAL XP
87635*

GAINS

40000gp

Torc (40gp)

Chain (20)

Pendant Earings (40gp)

Bangle (1200gp)

Orb (900gp)

Fob Chain (20gp)

Rod of Absorption

Gloves of Dexterity

Ring of Regeneration

Ring of Fire Resistance

Treasure Map x2 (4000gp Treasure) 

KILLS

1 Sea Hag
1 Giant Water Spider

LOSSES
2 crewmen (Bjorn and Goller)

*2xp per gp rule in effects

Far Isles Session # 89 - Rats in a Maze

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 6)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 6)
Torak (Cleric 6)
Chaff (Vivimancer 6), with familiar Pretty Bird
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 6), with familiar Hermes

Finally fed up with finicky fabrications, the party crawled on. Rejoined by Kwinsea, they headed through the eastern tunnel, which proved to be mercifully short. It led into a larger, long and narrow room. On the opposite wall was another of the infernal mechanical devices, this one a huge crank wheel. They pointedly ignored this one, and performed a quick scan of the room before moving out of an exit to the south. This was another short passage, open to the lightning field above, which led into a small room. There was an alcove on the east wall as well as a series of four spouts extending out of the walls to the west. Chaff went to examine the spouts. They were dry, and there was no sign of staining or dampness from liquid, so they appeared to have been dry for some time. In one there was a rolled up piece of parchment, which the little vivimancer retrieved with a cantrip. It proved to be blank. Awg went to the alcove, and immediately noted the outline of a door. But try as he might, the calmonari could not get it to open. Nor could anyone else who tried.  Kwinsea, sizing up their map, surmised that it led to the outside. Rodrigo, noting air leaking in around the 'door', smelled the scent of the landwash and concurred with the aquamancers guess. He then headed back to the crank in the previous room, and gave it a few turns in the hope that it opened the door. It didn't, but there was the sound of squealing and grinding as something long immobile moved in the lighting field to the west. 

That didn't help them with the door, so the party decided to move on quickly and attempt to thoroughly map this egg as they had the first. Following Rodrigo, they headed south, and after some time came to another long narrow room. The floor of this room was covered in mineral deposits that looked to have dripped from above, giving the floor the appearance of a coral reef. The party moved in to investigate, and once they were in the room, there started a low audible humming noise. Nothing untoward seemed to happen, but everyone thought it best to get out before it was to late. They choose to crawl through a tunnel which led west of out this room, It led into a maze of crawlspaces, which first dumped them in a small 10' x 10' chamber. It was roofed like the tunnel, but instead of a floor, there was a grate. On the walls they noted the same strange condensate, which slowly trickled down and into the floor grate. Interesting, but the party did not linger, instead pushing on in exploration mode. They crawled further and deeper into the maze, at one point encountering a pair of slitherrats. These emerged out of a dead end wall and approached Rodrigo, crouched over on his hands and knees at the head of the party. He pulled out his black crystal sword, holding it ready but not threatening. The two crystalline creatures approached the swashbuckler, one sticking it's snout right in his face, the other going to sniff the sword. After a few moments, the two backed up and melded back into the walls. 

Getting a little tired of crawling around this particular maze, the party decided to head back to a couple of rooms under the lighting field where there were unexplored tunnels. With the redoubtable Rodrigo in the lead, they found the first led into a lair of at least a dozen oozanderthals. When they noted the swashbucklers head poking out of the tunnel, they simply stared at him curiously. Bravely, Rodrigo entered the room, holding his talisman crystal sword before him. As he circled to room looking for anything of interest, the oozanderthals let him pass unmolested. They watched him curiously for awhile, them went back to ignoring him. Rodrigo, finding nothing of interest, crawled back in the hole with the rest of the awestruck party, and they moved on. Checking out another unexplored tunnel, they found another mineral encrusted room. This one was different in that it contained a oval track on which sat a cart. There was no indication of the original purpose, but the cart was well stuck to the floor. Chaff jumped in and begged someone to push him around, but they all ignored the little weirdo and headed off to explore some more.

Having exhausted all the obvious exits, they went back into the maze. After much crawling about and a little confusion, they entered a room which contained one of the man-sized egg tanks. This one was empty, and Chaff shoved past all the big people and headed over to examine it. It was pretty much identical to the others encountered thus far, with  the three dials at the base numbered '1,2,3'. There was a little back and forth trying to get someone to 'volunteer' to go in the tank, but in the end the party left it and moved on once more. Another twisting crawl led to a largish room with another floor grate. There was no sign of any condensation in this grate, so the party decided Rodrigo should be lowered down to investigate. The swashbuckler agreed, and was lowered two rope lengths (100') through a twisting and turning opaque crystal tube. Having not reached bottom, he pulled out a musket ball and let it roll down the tube. After several seconds Rodrigo could hear it come to a thudding stop, indicated the bottom was near. He tied on one more length of rope and crawled down, finding himself at the bottom of the tube. There was a man-sized opening in the side of the tube, which led into another room lit by a lighting field. Rodrigo didn't explore any further, but crawled back up to inform the party he'd found a way into the third egg.  

The party was now a little flummoxed, thinking they'd missed something critical in this second egg, even though all connecting passages and crawlspaces had been explored. They glanced up at the lightning field, brainstorming ways to avoid the electrical hazard so they could explore 'over the top'. One problem was the intensity of the field reduced visibility to about 10'. Torak hauled out the dark goggles found earlier, put them on and looked up. He discovered the pitch dark lenses filtered the light so he was able to see normally through the upper part of the egg. That was a positive step, but how to survive the lightning? There were the potions of lightning resistance, but the fear was they wouldn't stop all damage. Humm, what about the egg-tanks and the hook? They crawled back to the crank, and as Rodrigo turned it, Torak looked up with the lenses. He could see the great chain and hook raising and lowering as the swashbuckler turned the wheel. That was promising, but then came the problem of how to get the egg-tank to the hook. Given it was accessible only through the narrow tunnels, the only way to get it to the hook over the walls and through the lightning field. Which left them with the same problem as before. Flummoxed, the party spread out to search a few likely locations for secret doors in hopes of finding another way around, but had no success there either. 

In the end the party decided to head down to the next egg and hope to find better luck and more information on Empyrius there. But first there were two problems to deal with. The first was the cockatrice in the bag of holding. Getting anything from the bag was going to be difficult with a petrifying monster in there. So they hatched a plan to deal with the bird. A snare was placed at the opening of the bag, and everyone stood back while Chaff used a cantrip to loosen the drawstring. The furious creature emerged with a *squawk*, but ended up with it's neck in the snare. Still, it spread it's wings and flew into the air, heading for Rodrigo who held to other end of the snare rope. It pecked at the swashbuckler, who felt a sudden stiffing of his flesh before shaking it off. Everyone then lashed out with their weapons, while Chaff dropped an insect swarm on the thing, and it soon was dead and crumbled into a pile of dust on the floor. 

That done, the next step was rest. The party set up camp in the grate room, Kwinsea taking first watch. Everyone else had just dropped off to sleep when visitors arrived; a pair of slitherrats emerged out of the wall about ten feet away.  The aquamncer, hoping to repeat the non-hostile encounter earlier in the day, quietly slipped Rodrigo's crystal sword out of it's scabbard and held it in her hand. The rats were for some reason unimpressed this time, and with raised hackles moved to attack. Kwinsea dropped the sword on Rodrigo, screamed, and pulled out her trident to defend herself. As the others started to groggily wake up, Kwinsea was bit several times by the creatures, collapsing to the floor just as Chaff and Rodrigo were entering the fray. These two, along with Awg when he awoke, took care of the slitherrats. Torak, once he awoke, staunched Kwinsea's wounds and made sure she survived to adventure another day. 

After that excitement, the rest of the night passed without incident. Before moving on the next morning, Chaff cast a Kalandrian sight and detect magic to better inventory and identify their new magical finds:

2 potions of flying
2 potions of lightning resistance
Scroll - Knock, Detect Magic
Wand of Flying [command word - mouche]
dagger -1 [Cursed]
Bag of Holding 
3 golf-ball sized stones, glowing blue inside [evocation]
3 crystal fruit [divination]

TOTAL XP
620*

\GAINS

None

KILLS

2 slitherrats
1 cockatrice

LOSSES
Kwinsea (temporarily)

*2xp per gp rule in effects