Far Isles Session #92 - Kwinsea Lives! And No One Dies!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird
and for a short time Wilhelm (Musketeer 2)
until the return of Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes

Due to contrary winds, it took Lynessa and the crew most of the day to bring the "No Man's Sea" within view of the cannibal's island. The party had her circumnavigate to get the lay of the land. This revealed an island of mostly impassable jungle with no obvious landing spots, with a rocky and equally inhospitable peninsula on the east. There was a long narrow bay formed by the two halves of the island, but Lynessa did not advise risking such a large ship in narrow uncharted waters. Rodrigo, meanwhile, had set himself in the crows nest to look for signs of any inhabitants as they sailed around. He was rewarded with the glimpse of a faint column of smoke,  back-lit by the setting sun. It rose from near the centre of the jungled half of the isle, and it certainly had the look of multiple fires burning. This, they assumed, was the cannibals village. 

Rather than all rush into the unknown, Chaff summoned the ebony fly and let Rodrigo take it aloft to search for the exact location of the village before it got too dark. It took a couple of hours, but the swashbuckler was eventually rewarded by the sight of a thinning in the jungle canopy. In the fading light he could see the last wisps of smoke rising from a collection of grass huts clustered inside a palisade of knarled wood. Inside he could see people and small four legged animals moving about, while outside the palisade in the jungle clearing were more four-legged creatures. Rodrigo pulled back from the clearing and landed in the jungle to hide for now, then sent the fly to pick up Chaff, Awg and Wilhelm. Once everyone was assembled in the dark jungle night, they put a cunning plan into play. Rodrigo would use his simian sword to summon some monkey friends, and use them to cause a distraction by hooting and howling and climbing the palisade. He would then rush the other side of the palisade, climb/fly over the wall, and snatch a cannibal. Preferably the shaman; only the best and brightest soul for Kwinsea. 

Unfortunately, the plan went astray right away. The howler monkeys were summoned, and set to hooting and climbing. But as Rodrigo was flying back to meet the rest of the party, he heard the monkey howls quickly turn to strangled cries and gurgling. He looped back to find most of his monkey band dead and dying, twitching and frothing on the ground. Poison! He looked closer at the palisade, and now saw the outside was studded with wicked long spines glistering ominously in the moonlight. He could also now hear that the alarm had been raised inside; flying overhead, the swashbuckler could see warriors pouring out of the huts. He flew back to the party and they changed the plan. Rodrigo popped over the wall alone (although Chaff use the wand of flying to get airborne and stand by in support if needed), and snatched the first non-idiot looking cannibal he could find. He dropped down behind one just emerging from a hut, dodged a spear thrust, and laid the native out cold with a punch to the head. The comatose cannibal was then stuffed in the bag of holding, and Rodrigo jumped aboard the fly and rose over the wall, followed by a hail of spears. 

Rodrigo buzzed the rest of the party screaming "cannibals, run!",  and took off towards the "No Man's Sea". Chaff followed, while Awg glugged a potion of flying and Wilhelm was the the recipient of an other shot from the wand of flying as Chaff fluttered by. The four then took off into the night, hoping their flying magic would last long enough to make it to their ship. In the end, it didn't. But at least they made it out over the water before ditching. The ebony fly was still in operation though, so Rodrigo buzzed down to let Chaff and Wilhelm climb aboard while he used the ring of water walking to stroll back to the ship. Awg simply flicked out flippers and swam all the way. It was a few miles, so it was dawn before everyone returned, having been thankfully unmolested on the way back. Then everyone went to bed after ordering Lynessa to take them back to H'sslik. 

Back at the lizard-wizard's rubbery dome, they stuffed Kwinsea plus the bound and tied cannibal (Wajawaja) into one of H'sslik protoplasm pits to stew for a few days.  While they waiting, the party spent a little time talking to H'sslik (when he wasn't competently off his rocker at least). They prodded him for info on Empyris and the Adonians. The lizard-wizard couldn't offer much; he knew of the Adonians but didn't really know them. He was amused when the party mentioned the Adonians called themselves "Gods Among Men"; H'sslik cackled as he told the party the Adonians were nothing more than inter-planner travelers; powerful yes, but not gods by any means.  

After 3 days in the pit, H'sslik had his servants fish Kwinsea out of the slime. To the party's relief, she was back no worst for wear (the same could not be said for the drained husk of Wajawaja.) Thanking H'sslik and promising more 'pretties' next time they visited, the party climbed aboard the "No Man's Sea" and turned back to the Coral Cays and the mysterious egg structure. That took five days, the wind again not cooperating. On arrival everyone girded their loins and the party used the ebony fly to get back to the entrance on the second egg, then made their way back to the third egg where they'd left off. With Rodrigo in the lead, they moved along the outer ring corridor until they encountered a door off to one side. The swashbuckler opened this to reveal a small room. It contained a significant amount of crystalline debris, as if something destructive had happened here. There were also three crystalline statues, similar to the one they'd encountered guarding the secret door in the first egg. These, however, were in pretty bad shape. One was headless, one was missing an arm and the third was battered almost beyond recognition. Assuming the worst though, the party moved in cautiously. And unsurprisingly, the three statues animated and turned to attack. Rodrigo responded with a flurry of sword swinging. Awg pulled the crystal cutter out of the bag of holding and was amazed to find it invariably hitting the statues with each swing. Kwinsea, getting flashbacks of her recent death after absorbing a hard blow, retreated behind the warriors and provided some cantrip  support. Chaff, after opening with a pistol shot, trapped one of the statues in a web. All this made relatively short work of the statues, which joined the shattered pieces of crystal on the floor. Rummaging around in the rubble uncovered a heavy, opaque crystal chest carved with beautiful abstract patterns. After checking it for traps, it was carefully opened to reveal several velvet sacks. Inside one was 1350gp; in another were three diamonds; and in the third was a jeweled golden orb.  All of which was dumped into the bag of holding along with the chest itself. 

Moving on to the corridor, Awg suddenly broke through the floor and tumbled down into a pit. Kwinsea, however, was quick with a spell and featherfalled the calmonari ,who landed without harm. The party hauled him/her up and they moved on. They next came to an archway, through which they entered a non-descript room with another archway at the far end. They moved cautiously across the room and entered the arch. On the other side was a triangular room, with a 9' tall statue at the apex. It depicted a powerfully built and handsome man, dressed in a simple garment, and with a pair of wings sprouting from his back. He stood in a defiant and far-seeing pose, looking above and to the left. After admiring it for a few moments, the party went into search mode. Awg and Kwinsea scanned for traps and secret compartments, Chaff and Rodrgio poked around the statue itself. It was firmly attached to a low base, so Rodrigo took out the crystal cutter to detach it from the floor; just in case there was something there. There wasn't, and Awg and Kwinsea were likewise unsuccessful in their searching. 

The party left the statue room, and unsuccessfully searched the first room for anything of interest. They then went back to poke at the statue again before once more leaving. At which point they noticed something was odd; the original entry room was now a different shape and there was no archway to the corridor; just a door in the wrong wall which led to a room they'd not seen before. Poking around the 'entry' room again, they noted that when someone walked into the centre of the room, they would sometimes disappear. Using Rodrigo as a test subject, they discovered there were at least three teleporters in play, dumping them in unknown locations with seemingly identical statues but (in one case at least) different entry chambers. Curious ...

TOTAL XP
14760*

GAINS

1350gp
Jeweled golden orb (1500gp)
3 diamonds (1000gp each)
Curiously carved chest (1000gp)

KILLS

Wajawaja the Cannibal
3x crystal statues

LOSSES
none

*2xp per gp rule in effects