Arendel’s Serpent's Skull Journal. (Complete! 06/25/13, With Pictures!)

Erastus the 29th.

While resting at the dig site we were attacked by more of the cannibals. Only one managed to escape. On the return trip to Base Camp we were attacked by more of the large lizards as well. Once at camp we warned the others of the presence of these cannibals.

We offered Ishiru an equal share of the treasure. He was quite generous and turned down his share of the coins, taking only a masterwork cold iron short sword as his share. He explained to us his need to pay off a debt to the Aspis Consortium. A trade organization that is known to use questionable means to accomplish their goals and increase their profits. From what I have heard, they can often be found supplying both sides of a conflict and very likely instigated the conflict to begin with. It sounds as though his debt to the consortium is not entirely fair given the circumstances that brought him to that point. He still seems quite determined to pay it off.


Erastus the 30th.

Today, Sasha worked with those of us who had not yet trained on her combat techniques. She was reluctant to do so until Chumba offered to “Egg Sit” her dinosaur eggs. Ishiru also offered training in one of his techniques with a one handed weapon, but no one in our group felt it would benefit them as our main combatants use two-handed weapons.


Arodus the 1st.

We traveled west out of Base Camp reaching the camp where we had previously encountered the Yellow Musk Zombie. It appeared as we had left it. We then continued west along the coast. We encountered a few giant crabs on the beach. Once they were defeated, we took a short rest through the hottest part of the day and enjoyed the crab meat.

Further on we saw a huge crab which initially gave us considerable pause. As we approached it became obvious that it was rigged with vines and pulleys to operate its claws. We initially thought it might be a trap laid by the cannibals, but when we called out a single voice answered asking our names.

The crab was occupied by a single Tengu, a fellow castaway named Pezock. He told us about the wreck of his ship, the Crow’s Tooth and the loss of its beautiful Tengu captain. He said he had been a castaway for about 5 years and lived in this huge crab shell.

When we asked him what he knew of the island, he warned us of the cannibals, a desolate island to the West and to watch for bodies falling from the sky. We assume the latter refers to whatever sucked the blood from the goat we found in the tree. Suggestions of what this could be were bandied about and the possibility of dragons was mentioned, though it seems unlikely to me. He also mentioned the cannibal’s traps, which we (and by “we” I mean Max) have already experienced.

He also told us where we might find the Viper Nettles we seek for Aerys. He felt there were some to be found on an island to the West that could be reached during low tide. He warned us that the next island over from that one was a desolate isle, where there were no trees and no wildlife to be found on or around the entire island. He also mentioned a woman who lives in a tree nearby. I assume he is referring to a Dryad, as opposed to someone who lives alone in a tree house. We asked him to mark her location on our map, but when he handed it back I noticed he had marked four locations. I think too much time alone in the sun has rattled this poor fellow’s brain. We asked about his thoughts of rescue, and he seemed rather apathetic about the possibility.

After a pleasant visit with Pezock we traveled to the island where he mentioned the Viper Nettle berries might be found. At low tide we moved carefully across the slick rocks to the island. There we found the viper nettles and Chumba was able to expertly navigate the thorns to retrieve them.

We traveled to the western edge of the isle to see the so-called “Desolate Isle”. We saw it was covered with mushrooms and fungus. We also spotted a shipwreck just off the coast of the isle.


Arodus the 2nd.

We travelled to the Moldy Isle and encountered a number of small Fungus Covered humanoids, I believe they are called Vegepygmies. I quickly learned they were either very resistant or immune to electricity, but the creatures were eventually defeated. We are taking a short rest and shall soon continue our explorations.

So where are we? Looks like Thirteen days on the Shiv and things are moving along as we explore the Isle. It’s hard to come up with an exploration strategy because of the island's odd shape, but we're trying to be methodical. It also seems there are a lot of wandering monsters on this Isle (Though they could be planned encounters, sometimes it’s hard to tell).

We finally met another Castaway! Pezock, the Tengu with the sun-baked brain (I hope he’s not reading this). He warned us about quite a bit. Every time we were ready to walk out the door, he warned us of something else (much of it we already knew or experienced). We greatly appreciated the information on the location of the Viper Nettles and the warning of the Desolate Isle. Not too sure about the “Lady in the Tree”, but I’m pretty sure he must be referring to a Dryad. I find it hard to believe there’s a woman living up in a tree on the island. Though, come to think of it, he’s a bird-man, perhaps it’s a nest… I hadn’t thought of that possibility until now.

Another D&D/Pathfinder first for me, Vegepygmies. One of those creatures whose name stuck in my brain, but I know nothing about. I hope they’re not immune to fire (With plants, you’ve got about a 50/50 chance for some odd reason).

Ding! We also leveled up at the end of session, level 3 here we come.

Session 6​

Arodus the 2nd (Cont).

Having defeated the Vegepygmies we decided to return to Viper Nettle Island, to rest and prepare for more fungus related threats. Though they were unaffected by my electrical attack, I hope they will not be resistant to fire as I shall focus my spell selection upon my favorite element. My personal research has once again paid off as I can now project a scorching ray of fire at my enemies. It was one of my mother's favorite spells and I am proud to have mastered it.


Arodus the 3rd.

We returned to Fungus Isle and made our way to the wrecked ship on its Western shore. The entire ship was covered in a uniform gray mold obscuring its nameplate. To reach the vessel we had to climb across moldy tendrils that seemed as though they were meant to secure the ship in place among the rocks. Once aboard Ace and Kay'Es explored the officer's quarters while Max went to the bow to scrape the mold from the nameplate. It was the Night Voice, the ship Gelik the Gnome had asked us to find. In the officer's quarters Ace found a few trinkets and some musty books. They appeared to be about fifty to sixty years old, but in their condition they were worth little. Among them they found what appeared to be a journal by someone named Ames. The writing was hard to decipher so we packed it away for later.

In the hold of the ship we found bones, humanoid skeletons, arranged in neat piles. We were unsure of the reason for this, if indeed there was any.

Further down, within the bowels of the ship, we encountered more of the mold-men. There I learned they are quite susceptible to fire.

Once we had explored the ship fully we felt we should circumnavigate the isle in an attempt to clear it of other threats. We encountered another roving band of mold-men but more interestingly, we came upon a tower of rock on the western shore. More of the moldy vines grew here, allowing us to climb up to a cave almost concealed by moldy growths at the top. Within we encountered a horrible mold creature. A skeleton encased in Violet Fungi, a saprophyte whose mere touch can rot the flesh from your bones. It seemed resistant to my magical fire, which, from what I know of these creatures, is unusual. Luckily it was not resistant to the blows of Max and Chumba. It lashed out at Max, weakening him considerably, but the stalwart Shoanti was unfazed by its horrific touch and crushed the creature with his meteor hammer.

With the foul creature defeated and our resources depleted, we rested within the protected confines of the cave. Max used a magical potion to restore some of his drained vitality.


Arodus the 4th.

Today we left the Fungus Isle behind us and returned to the main island. We noted two more wrecks along the shore to the south. One was within easy reach but we decided to wait until morning to explore it.


Arodus the 5th.

Within the wreck we encountered Zombies and little else. The name of the ship has been lost to time.

We decided to return to Base Camp and share our findings with the others. Along the way we stopped to visit with Pezock. He remains as eccentric as ever. We gave him some of the coins we had recovered from one of the wrecks, as he has expressed an interest in all things shiny. He clarified the woman in a tree story, reinforcing my belief that she is a Dryad. He also described to us his previous camp, which it seems he shared with other survivors for a time.

We continued our journey along a slightly different path in order to try and locate Pezock's old camp. We found it in the jungle, a little ways in from shore. There were nest-like structures high in the trees and many old ruined weapons scattered about. We also found a well made dagger with the symbol of the Red Mantis Assassins etched upon the blade.

We resumed our journey. Along the way, Max's sharp eyes spotted another devious trap. He was able to disarm it.

Upon reaching base camp we gave the Viper Nettle berries to Jask. Hopefully this will help Aerys and ease the symptoms of her withdrawal.

We sat down as a group with Gelik to help him decipher the book from the Night Voice. It turned out to be the Captain's log, one Havner Ames by name. It was indeed a Pathfinder ship, an organization that is dedicated to uncovering ancient secrets, lost artifacts, and general knowledge of the world's most exotic locations and cultures. It is an organization that interests me considerably, as my interests lie along a similar vein.

It would appear that on a routine stop to forage for supplies, the crew found what they thought was a coco palm nut. It turns out it was not. The pod exploded, infecting the entire crew with a vile, rotting disease. The log describes the wreck of the Night Voice upon the rocks of the Shiv and the Captain's intent to carry the pod to the top of a spire of rocks. I can only assume this is the cave where we fought the Violet Abomination and that the abomination was in fact the putrefied remains of Captain Ames.

According to Gelik, the early entries in the log hold useful information for navigating the waterways of southern Garund. Perhaps this information will be useful to the Pathfinders.

Just over two weeks on the Shiv and no further signs of the Captain and few ideas as to how we will get off this isle. Not the place I thought I would spend the night of my twenty second birthday.

The 5 PC castaways are as follows:

Arendel Whisperson – Human Fire Elemental Wizard 3 (Abciximab)
Chumba-Wumba – Human Female Barbarian 3 (Gretchen)
Max “Little” Hammer – Human Fighter/Rogue 2/1 (Peteinmaine)
Acemodius and Kay Es – Tiefling Summoner 3 and his Eidolon. (Mundinironhand)
Taraz Nadar (AKA: T’ar Roddan) – Aasimar Oracle 3 (Adam B.)

We have explored about one-third of the island and hit level 3 at the end of session 5. We rested to take advantage of our new found abilities. It’s nice to finally dish some damage with 2 Magic Missiles per casting & Scorching Ray.

We’re still not sure of our overall goals. I hope to find the Captain and his Girlfriend of course, but how we are to get off the island remains a bit of a puzzle. Assuming we get rescued/off the island somehow is a bit of metagaming as this assumption is based on the fact that we are running out of island to explore. I suppose there could be significant underground adventuring sites, but I doubt that would get us beyond the next chapter in the AP.

We plan to talk a little more in depth with Gelik (the Gnome Bard NPC) to see if there are any details of the history of Smuggler's Shiv that might be helpful.

Arodus the 6th.

We have decided to relocate our base camp to Pezock’s old camp as we are moving further south in our exploration of the Shiv. The relocation went smoothly with no encounters on the trail. Hopefully we have had an impact on the number of creatures that would do us harm and jungle travel will be slightly less troublesome.

Once the camp was relocated we made for the wreck we saw on the south-western shore of the Shiv. Along the way we heard voices and then saw a group of cannibals coming up over the edge of a seaside cliff. Once they were dealt with we discovered a bag with some of the blood red pearls we have found to be rather popular with the cannibals. Looking over the cliff we saw fairly shallow oyster beds. As Max is probably the strongest swimmer among our group, he offered to explore the bed. It was challenging, but in a few dives he came up with two more pearls. As it seemed rather time consuming, we chose to continue on to the wreck. Exploration of the wreck revealed little more than a pair of ghouls, though we did find a potion and an Arcane Scroll of Knock as well.

Getting back on a game trail we continued south through the jungle. We encountered two shocker lizards along the way but they were quickly dealt with.


Arodus the 7th.

After encountering another of the cannibal’s spring traps, we went off trail to find the location of what we expected to be a Dryad. Sure enough, in an immense Banyan Tree, we met a beautiful fey woman. She thanked us for our work on the Fungus Isle and offered her support and knowledge of the Shiv as her reward.

She told us of a creature living on Red Mountain on the south-eastern portion of the island and, more interestingly, of an old Lighthouse to the south. It would seem the cannibals make their camp there. We decided to check out that location in the morning. Of the creature she knew very little, other than the general area in which it resides.

She also warned us of a greater evil on the island, but could not give us any specifics. It seemed more of a “feeling” of hers rather than a known threat. As I trust her intuition and ties to the earth and island, I take this warning quite seriously. We shall have to wait and see what the future reveals. We chose to rest within the relative safety of her immediate domain.


Arodus the 8th.

Quite a day, I must say. We went straight south to try to observe the Lighthouse from across the bay from where it sits. Very little detail was revealed, though we did spot a submerged wreck below us. We climbed down to the beach and consumed a potion to allow us to breath beneath the water. There was little of any worth left and it appeared to have been stripped of much of its useful material, including the planking of the ship itself. It was very interesting to note that it was the Thrune’s Fang, an old Chellish navy ship. I suspect we have found the ship that was the source of the cannibal scourge on the Shiv.

With very little learned from the observation of the lighthouse and our underwater exploration, we traveled up and around the small bay toward the lighthouse. We did note that the lighthouse seemed to be incomplete or damaged, missing the very top where the lamp would burn.

We encountered yet another spring trap on the trail and chose to attempt to approach the lighthouse off the trail. It was all but impossible to approach the lighthouse through the dense jungle with any semblance of stealth, so we wound up back on the trail anyway.

Surprisingly, we were able to approach quite close and Max attempted to get even closer to observe what might be going on within the camp. He would have succeeded had Ace’s pet Kay’Es not decided to tag along. The creature can be quite stealthy when it wants to be, but I think it wasn’t clear on what we were attempting to accomplish. A number of javelins were launched from a hunting blind in a tree and all attempts at stealth were off as a grand melee commenced.

About a dozen barbaric cannibals took the field as well as their female Witch Doctor and one who appeared to be their leader. The witch doctor released a number of undead skeletons from a cage, but Taraz damaged them all with a burst of Positive Energy and I finished them with a fan of flames.

Taraz, Max and I took on the witch doctor while Chumba, Ace and Kay Es held off the rest with hammer, claw and abundant Grease spells. The Witch used a wand to drain Max’s life essence and used that life force to augment her own. Taraz was hard pressed to compensate for her wands draining touch with his magical healing to keep Max on his feet. It took all our efforts, as well as all three of my Scorching Rays, to finally drop her. Taraz and I made sure she was truly dead while Max went to reinforce the others.

Though it took all of our skill and pretty much all of our resources (I have only my Cantrips and one casting of Protection from Evil left) we were able to win the day against the daunting force of cannibals.

Our success against superior numbers has really driven home how much of a cohesive team we have become. With Max and Chumba’s fighting skills, Ace and his menagerie of creatures and grease spells, Taraz with his protective magic, healing prayers and Positive Energy Bursts (used to great effect as he can exclude enemies from the effect) and my magic, both offensive and defensive, we have truly become a force to be reckoned with.

The battle has just ended and I hope we have the opportunity to rest here before there is any more trouble. I am concerned that cannibal patrols may return while we rest, but I hate to leave this place as it seems the most defendable position we have found. We have yet to explore the structures though, which may hold dangers yet undiscovered. We have much to discuss as we decide what our next step should be.

This is great fun - thanks for posting and roll on the next instalment!

Wow, thanks to cromm10k and carborundom for the positive feedback, it’s always nice to know there are people reading and enjoying the Story Hour.

I have found writing the Journal Style is less work than the Third Person Style, so I expect to see this campaign through to the end (most AP’s seem to take about a year and a half for our group). I hope to get the journals out on either the Thursday or Friday after the Game (our games are on Monday, every other week) with an OOC report to follow on the following Monday.

A good session, ending with a great battle wherein we utilized great strategy. I had hoped to recon the camp beforehand, but that was not to be.

Going into it I had visions of our Kingmaker Campaign and the fall of the Stag Lord. The Stag Lord was a long battle that was very close to a TPK for a while, but they did succeed (which says a lot about the player’s ability to rethink strategy and bounce back, because I don’t pull punches as a DM). The battle against the cannibals started out quite intimidating (DM’s just love putting a load of minis on the battlemat), got a little nerve wracking but ended swiftly once things were going our way. A good balance to keep it interesting.

I knew something was up with the witch. We got her bloodied fairly quickly (a concept we borrowed from 4th ed), but then she started sucking up a lot of damage (gathering Temp HP from Max it turns out) and we just couldn’t drop her. Thank goodness we have a dedicated healer. I’m not one that likes to think a dedicated healer is required, but boy it does make things so much easier when it gets down to the wire. Once she was down, things really turned around for us. Battlefield control FTW!

The crowd control from the Summoner and the Barbarian was invaluable. I was sure I would end up in melee and had buffed my AC accordingly. Turns out I didn’t need to, the others did a bang up job protecting our flank and Max went toe to toe with the witch so I could offer indirect fire support. A fun session overall.

We’re actually very close to 4th level (220 xp away!) so I expect we’re getting near the end. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Session 8​

Arodus the 8th (Cont).

We explored the rest of the site and found no other enemies. In the old woman’s hut I did find scribing supplies, which will be very useful. Within the lighthouse we found old personal effects scattered around a statue of Asmodeus. This is most likely the figurehead from the Thrune’s Fang. Most everything we found was spoiled or so disgusting I shall not mention it here. Another find that was of great interest were rations that were obviously from the Jenevire. Someone from the ship has been here. We suspect it might have been the Captain and his “Mate”.

Beneath a pile of sticks next to the lighthouse we found a pit going down. We decided to rest within the lighthouse tonight and explore the pit in the morning. We sent Jask back to our base camp to gather our gear and companions as the lighthouse will serve as our new camp. They all arrived safely just before sundown.


Arodus the 9th.

Using vines that were staked next to the pit we descended to the natural caverns below. I quickly cast Light to illuminate the dark caves. Exploring the winding caverns we found a number of undead creatures. Foul, diseased creatures called Festrogs and horrific Ghouls. In an area of worked stone we ran into the creature we believe to be this, “Mother Thrune” we have heard so much about from the Cannibals. She was surrounded by more Ghouls and Festrogs. Obviously undead herself, she demanded our submission and offered to assimilate us into her undead legion. We were disinclined to acquiesce to her request.

The paralyzing touch of the Ghouls and diseased touch of the Festrogs made the fight rather challenging. Max was out of action for quite some time, paralyzed by their foul touch. I think Mother Thrune may have regretted ordering her minions to protect her from Chumba’s attacks instead of killing Max outright. When he was finally able to overcome the paralysis he immediately ran to her and crushed her skull with his meteor hammer. Then again, it’s very likely her minions actually saved her from an earlier death at the hands of Chumba.

Within this strange place we found an odd note written by our esteemed Captain Kovack. It was written in a rambling style with a few odd punctuation errors. I shall transcribe it below with some corrections for clarities sake. I assume grammar was not foremost on his mind when the note was written.

I am Alizandru Kovack, Captain and betrayer of my crew and destroyer of the good ship Jenevire. Hell would be a welcome escape from what hideous unlife looms before me, but it is no less a punishment than I deserve. That I was enslaved mind and body to a serpentine demon who wore a Varisian’s skin does not pardon me. It is my weakness that led the Jenevire, her crew and her passengers to their doom. That Ieana has abandoned me here is nothing more than the fate that I deserve. I do not beg forgiveness, but I despair she lives still and that she seeks something dire on this forsaken isle. She is following to the Red Mountain I don’t know what (sic).

If you read this and be a kind soul, seek out what I have become and destroy me and then seek out Ieana and destroy her as well and to those whose lives I have helped destroy I can only apologize from this, my dark cradle and darker grave.

~A.K. Captain Once, Damned Forevermore.

As the mother and her minions were quite a challenge, we have chosen to return to the surface to rest before we continue our exploration.


Arodus the 10th.

Returning to that strange room where we fought the Mother, we went through a door we were hesitant to enter previously. As we were all once more fully rested, we now felt up the challenge. Within was a strange temple. Etched into the stone walls were images of Serpent Folk and scenes that were obviously regions of this island, Red Mountain specifically. Some parts of the carvings were recently cleaned and filled with ink and possibly blood to increase the contrast between the etchings and the stone. It seemed to describe some type of ceremony at a site near there.

We have paused in our exploration so that I may study the drawings. There are scenes of blood poured on stones, snakes and lightning. There are words written in the otherworldly language of Aklo. As my Aklo is a little rusty, it will take some time to transcribe. Max is hovering over my shoulder, I was assuming he is eager to get on with the exploration of this place, but he actually just pointed out an error in my transcription. The snakes are fanged, obviously meant to be venomous. It is almost shocking to hear his voice sometimes as he is a man of very few words, but very perceptive.

Observations on the Carvings ~

The walls ancient, unsettling carvings depict images of anthropomorphic serpents using pointed stone megaliths to work incredible feats of magic, turning human armies into zombies, calling down flaming lightning bolts from the sky and parting the waters to dash human ships upon the exposed sea floor.

The last pictogram and Aklo inscription seems to have been recently cleaned and the inscriptions traced with either ink or blood.

It reads: To Command the Very Tides to Rise Up and Eschew What Lies Below: Empower the Four Sentinel Runes with the Blood of a Thinking Creature Tempered by the Kiss of a Serpent’s Tongue. Anoint the Tide Stone with Waters Brought from the Sea in a Vessel of Purest Metal. Invoke the Lord’s Sacred Name to Wrap His Coils around the Sea Itself that He Might Lay Bare What Lies Below and Cast Down Your Enemies on the Waves above.

I see the carvings represent Smuggler’s Shiv and a smaller carving appears to represent Red Mountain. It would appear the ceremony described above should take place on Red Mountain.

The 5 PC castaways are as follows:

Arendel Whisperson – Human Fire Elemental Wizard 4 (Abciximab)
Chumba-Wumba – Human Female Barbarian 4 (Gretchen)
Max “Little” Hammer – Human Fighter/Rogue 2/2 (Peteinmaine)
Acemodius and Kay Es – Tiefling Summoner 4 and his Eidolon. (Mundinironhand)
Taraz Nadar (AKA: T’ar Roddan) – Aasimar Oracle 4 (Adam B.)

So, we leveled to 4th about midway through the session. We should wrap up the exploration of the caves and then it looks like we are off to Red Mountain to find Ieana and figure out what she is trying to achieve. From the description of the carvings, I think we have a good idea of what she’s up to. I have to remember to do a Knowledge check to see if I can figure out whose Sacred Name needs to be invoked. It might give us some idea of what we are getting ourselves into.

I suspect she was down in the tunnels and was the one who cleaned off the etchings in the stone, though I have no idea how she got past all these creatures. I’m not sure if she was looking for the location shown (Red Mountain) or the instructions to the ritual, though it seems likely it was both. It occurs to me we might need to hurry to stop a certain ceremony. Uh, oh.

Abciximab said:

End of Session 7​

Wow, thanks to cromm10k and carborundom for the positive feedback, it’s always nice to know there are people reading and enjoying the Story Hour.

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You are welcome! For me it was always important to get feedback on the stuff I was writing. It keeps the motivation up. As a player I often tried to keep journal style records. As a DM I'm always trying to coax my players in some kind of journal, but they always gave up after a couple of entries. That is why I highly enjoy story hours like yours.

So please keep it going!!!