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After the Fall of Serethis
The following morning, we sailed off on the Springfly leaving the crater and Sylcaryn’s remains behind. We remembered having passed over a shipwreck when we arrived at Visa Isle, and decided it might be worth checking it out for loot before returning to the mainland. Well, most of us… but even though I’ve decided to let go of the past, I wasn’t quite ready to raise an objection. When we arrived we brought the ship to float gently above the waves. Everyone else dove in and began swimming down to the wreck, while I remained aboard to tidy up some things, fish, and generally not go down there.
Not long after they disappeared beneath the waves, I settled onto one of the wings to fish. Mere moments later, a dark shape as large as the Springfly drifted through the kelp beds. I could just make out the plates of its shell: a dragon turtle. A gargantuan monster of the depths. It was all I could manage to not simply stay frozen in place. I may have decided to leave the past behind, but this cursed ocean clearly doesn’t aim to let me. I rushed back to Lamora to let her know what I’d seen, and started thinking of a way to assist.
There was no way I was going in that water, but maybe I could help speed their retreat. I climbed below decks to speak with Lolen. Maybe there was a way we could attach a rope to the mechanism powering this ship. I’d seen winches in the loading areas of cities throughout Tal’dorei, but they all needed to be powered by people or beasts. If we could use the spin of the (I forgot the name of the stone) to the same effect, maybe I could get a rope down to everyone underwater and help speed their escape.
Lolen threw cold water on the winch idea, but suggested we could turn off the thingy that makes the ship go forward/back and that would let us launch upward faster. I ran back up to the main deck and tied several loops into the rope so that everyone could grab on easily. I looped it through a deck cleat so I could lower it easily but still lock it in place in an instant, then attached a cog and sent it to the deeps. No sooner did it go slack than arrived the universal signal of someone tugging on the rope. I called to Lamora to raise the ship, and with The Boulder’s help hauled Cail and Doros onto the deck. Apparently Coratosh and Mitro couldn’t manage to hold on, so I tossed the rope back.
To my dismay, Cail and Doros followed it. Coratosh surfaced, looking much worse for the wear, and barely managed to grab the rope. Cail was immediately on the receiving end of several brutal swipes from the dragon turtle and made for the rope as well. As soon as they were both holding on, The Boulder helped to pull them up while I braced the open end of the line and sent an arrow down into the dragon turtle’s face, for whatever good that would do. Doros was nowhere to be seen.
Thankfully, things resolved themselves moments later, as Mitro emerged from the water with a giant crab (which looked like it was attacking him but apparently she’s intelligent and everyone loves her). Turns out Doros was doing a mislead, and managed to talk down the dragon turtle in exchange for us retrieving all the gold Zzib had stolen from it. Which seems like a bad call, but I wasn’t consulted, so. I guess this is the next thing. Coratosh directed us to the northern chasm entrance.
Into the Mouth of Darkness
While we sailed, Cail started playing some kind of sport with the children. It… reminded me of back in Walden. Before. I thought of how we’d come across the little gremlins, adrift in a cobbled together ship, not far from sinking. I thought of Caryarus’ unfinished catamaran, which I’d let go of at Sylcaryn’s Rest. I grabbed some scrap wood and started whittling a replica of the Sea Mouse. Maybe Melody or Glib will want it when it’s done.
We arrived where Coratosh thought the entrance was, a pair of blue holes in the shallows of the northern reef. Before we entered, we spotted an abandoned outpost Coratosh identified as Fort Timber and decided to “forage” for “supplies.” A couple cannons would complement the ship nicely. We landed and split up to go look for loot. Mitro joined me to find the armory. The first room we check is a mess hall, with a dart board (in surprisingly good shape, given how many hundreds of years this place has been abandoned). I snagged it and the full set of darts. They’ll be good for downtime on the ship.
We made our way to the next room. There was some really fancy dishware (took it, ship needed an upgrade), and some chests. The first chest was full of gold, but after examining and pocketing a piece, a scar formed over my shoulder and neck. Kinda put a damper on things. Taking the coin out and tossing it on the ground did nothing.
I picked the coin back up and tossed it back into the chest. This proved a bad idea, as a brand new scar formed on my forearm. There was a ruckus across the courtyard from where Cail and Doros had gone, so I decided it was probably best to deal with whatever that was about. We could deal with the scar situation afterward. By the time we left the room though, the problem was pretty much solved.
I cast Detect Magic as a ritual to figure out what the deal was with the scar. Learned that it was necrotic, and that Mitro had one too. Doros did some bard shit and figured out that it was a curse, and then I saw Sylcaryn flitting through the trees. Which was weird, since he’s dead. Probably the curse. We decided to head back to the Springfly to rest and recuperate.
Coratosh apparently didn’t like our shenanigans, because he got all distant and started drinking heavily from Cail’s Flask-o-Courage. Not really sure what that was about, but Cail and Doros had to talk some sense into him. Cail. and Doros. That might have also been a hallucination.
During the night, Mitro and I were transported somewhere weird. I saw a dead, waxy figure of Sylcaryn and heard cackling, decided it was a hallucination and waited it out… but apparently Doros was roaming the deck and we were fully gone. Not sure what that was about, but between Coratosh and Doros both of us had our curses removed. We decided to go back to the fort, but this time we’ll be more careful. Maybe figure out what the deal is with the gold before we try to touch it.
Coratosh cleaned the gold and Doros and he gathered it into the bag of holding. Seemed it went off without a hitch. In the meantime, I found 6 cannons and with Lamora and the rest of the crew’s help, hoisted the four of them in the best shape onto the ship. The support structures are rotted beyond belief and the exterior could use some touch-up to deal with rime damage… but we should be able to get these into working shape while flying back to Westruun. I need to find sturdy wood to rebuild the supports.
We made quick work of it, and I noticed the rest of the party descending into the smoldering ruins of the tower where Cail found those evil hand thingies. I caught up with them, and we went down a corridor to a strange underground cave with pools of water and skeletons at the bottom. Cail walked into the middle of the room and disappeared, and then a bunch of scary flesh monsters popped out of the water. Doros urged caution and attempted to communicate with them, which was of course futile. Thankfully a skeleton dude popped out right away and gave a short monologue that made it super clear that these things were evil (baddies monologuing is always so useful). We dispatched them right out, no sweat. The skeleton tried to run away so I dove in after him and tried out Melora’s bow.
Becoming lightning is fucking sweet.
One moment, I was peering through dark waters at an evil bastard fleeing (probably for reinforcements) down a tunnel. The next, I was on the far side of him, watching his components drift apart and down towards the tunnel floor. Between those moments, lightning. Pure energy and destructive force not just coursing through my veins, but emanating from all of me. Words can’t capture it. It was a taste of ascendancy.
Scrawled in the margins of this page are an uncharacteristic annotation:
Ever since we resolved that mess in Rifenmist, Melora has been… present. Involved. Was I wrong to abandon her? Was she under attack even back… then? Her power to mitigate the fire and the serpent’s fury suppressed? Is it possible she didn’t abandon me? Inarie? Jorieth and Caryarus?
The Cleansing of Fort Timber Kindling
I swam back past his shattered remains and emerged into the cave again. As we were about to leave, we heard a woman calling to us from a pit at the far end. We approached, and she seemed a victim of the undead we’d just wiped out, so Cail went down to rescue her. Mitro and Doros would have done it, but they were too busy trying to one-up each other impressing her. Rescue was a bad call though; as soon as Cail got to her, she put him right to sleep. I tried to spring into action, but before I could get more than a couple steps I got hit with a spell and found myself in the shadow world from last night.
Moments later, I snapped back. The girl was gone, Coratosh had his bow in hand, and Mitro and Doros were exchanging innuendos about shafts and penetration. And just as soon as I’d taken in the scene, she reappeared across the cavern, now revealed as a hag. We unleashed everything on her. Coratosh anchored her to the shore with a grasping vine. I stabbed her twice with the stingray dagger, paralyzing her. Mitro flung his war hammer, its lightning blasting her directly in the face. Cail scrambled out of the pit and hit her with three crossbow bolts. Doros also helped.
When she fell, I dragged her corpse out of the water. Among its belongings, Cail discovered a bag made of flesh. And as one might expect, Cail opened it immediately, releasing something he claimed was a soul. Creepy stuff. Really creepy stuff. The other notable items were a normal bag with a cylindrical object (which turned out to be a disembodied eye in a jar), and an impressive black gem.
With the area clear, we had room to explore the cavern. Doros spent some time focusing, and let us know that the evil of the area was beginning to fade with the hag’s death. A dragon’s skull lay on the floor, which Cail tried (quite unsuccessfully) to lift. Coratosh suggested a more measured approach: casting Speak with the Dead so we could talk to it. With that, we learned a few things. The soul in the bag was the dragon’s, and his name was Sekathir. He used to have a temple on this island, before the hag killed him slowly over time with some sort of spell that drained his soul (and had effects disturbingly like the extraplanar portaling that the hag had done to Mitro and me). Out of appreciation for freeing us, he granted us with a gemstone from within his heart. It enhances abilities, grants domination over fire, and marks the holder as favored by Sekathir.
He also asked us to restore the caldera (check!) and recover the knowledge of his temple and share it with the world (pretty sure that was Coratosh’s plan anyway, so check!). With that, we left the cave and returned to the Springfly. We still had to talk to Zzib, and his cavern was not far away. On our way out, Coratosh thanked us for cleansing the area. Somehow that led to the place being renamed Fort Kindling (I wanted it to be Arsontown, but compromises were made).
A New Bargain with Zzib
(placeholder bullet point notes) dove into blue hole currents driven by nearby root network, bunches of floaty bacteria/plankton bundles emitting bioluminescent light we take the root, I go last, before I go in I do a final check and notice one of the glowy bundles has a dark stalk dangling below it into the darkness Coratosh finds the exit, and we all successfully get out there. I transfer my momentum into a graceful kick-up we exit into the northernmost part of the chasm network Coratosh summons Steve the Leviathan and we ride him to Zzib’s cave We chat with Zzib, who informs us the Staff of Power is no longer in his possession. Some time ago (before we arrived), some entity, an eel-like creature with three red eyes, invaded this cave, invaded his memories, and stole the Staff of Power Zzib asks us to kill that entity, offering that we could have the Staff in exchange We return back the way we came. Coratosh uses magic to reverse the flow of water in the root, and as we exit he uses Water Walking to zip us back up to the surface As we clear the coral, a large creature emerges from the deep, the bulb of glowing stuff attached to a stalk on its head. We barely clear its mouth as it attempts to bite us. We escape unharmed and make it back to the Springfly
Next: Two Chickens and a Spear (current events)