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Story Hour
Chronicle of the Withered Seas
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<blockquote data-quote="Brimshack" data-source="post: 3140820" data-attributes="member: 34694"><p>Now my friends, I must relate a little more of the larger purpose behind our adventure. At least, I must tell you what I myself know of that larger purpose, which is not much than you, and I fear, not much less than the people behind our little venture. We know that a powerful creature emerged from a cavern on the Northern Clash, one known as the Cave of the Leftward Dragon. We know that this creature brought a small army up from the depths below and marched under cover of darkness straight out to the shoreline where it met with a fleet of ships. We also know that few locals were able to witness anything but the orc legions which constituted the flanking guards of this army. And we know that this fleet of ships set out in search of a great and powerful source of magic. What that magic is, we do not know, but we have reason to believe it is the sort of magic which will shift the balance of powers in our world.</p><p></p><p> This story is so far pretty standard ground is it not, a great power, an evil archenemy, and a fleet of evil ships. For the sake of convenience, let us call the latter, the “black fleet.” That should suffice to trigger all the good guy bad guy motifs with which you are no doubt familiar. But of course we are not the good guys in this story; someone else is. We also know that a small ship of would-be heroes has set out in search of the evil fleet. If you are looking for heroes in this story, that would be the crew of this other ship, we’ll call them the Heroes, or as my drow friend is prone to call them, the “useful idiots.” If the would-be heroes on this other ship are able to weaken our enemies so much the better, but of course, we do not wish for them to get the magic either. We want it for ourselves, or at least for our patrons.</p><p></p><p> We have one rather nifty piece of magic in our own bag of tricks. It is a compass which points to the last port in which the flagship of the black fleet has docked or dropped anchor. It doesn’t help us much when this ship is at sea, but it will point us to the last place they have landed, and frankly that is fine by me. I am not prepared to meet the kind of enemy we are talking about today, and with the possible exception of our flying minotaur and the ogre, I don’t believe that many of my companions are either. Better to learn a bit more about them and develop our abilities. A final and glorious battle is a wonderful aspiration to have, but it is one I am happy to leave as an aspiration, at least for now.</p><p></p><p> So, what happens next? Well the compass points us to a small island which barely makes it on the best maps of the known world. It was to the best of everyone’s knowledge uninhabited, or at least no kingdom flies it’s flags there and no known human settlements can be found on its shores. After first sailing around the island to see if we see anything interesting, we navigate our way into the small bay on it’s western shores. And then the fun begins...</p><p></p><p> As we drop anchor in the bay my shark woman friend, Nahala, surfaces and reports that small humanoids are following us about at a considerable distance. She is joined by the Nixie whose name escapes me (honestly, she looks so small and fragile, I just don’t see much need to learn her name), and the two of them set about investigating the bottom of the bay.</p><p></p><p> Well to make a long story short, they discover that a kelp forest out further in the bay has grown up around the skeletons of many dead sailors, most of whom appear to have lost the top of their heads. The creatures following us about turn out to be a monkey like creature with a playful demeanour. At first we thought they might be some form of shrimp, but no, they are monkeys. Some of them attempted to board our ship at some point, others took to bringing copper pieces up to play fetch with a random crew member. His arm was growing tired, and the whole game was becoming quite tiresome as Nahala caught and ate one of the annoying little creatures. They left us alone for a time after that.</p><p></p><p> So, the Captain sent off a party to explore the island. That party eventually discovered an extensive community of kobalds, all of whom appeared to have abandoned their homes in advance of our party. Our friendly flying minotaur was watching the ship when he sensed the presence of an invisible creature watching us from shore. On approaching the creature, he was stunned by some powerful force and fell into the water. he was not slain, but when the most powerful member of our entire party is rendered unconscious it is indeed cause for concern.</p><p></p><p> Needless to say our shore party was recalled - please excuse the speed of my narrative - events were moving quite quickly at the time, and I hardly recall much of the details. (For my own part I was stationed in the crow’s nest as the Captain thought it an apt place from which to utilise my rapidly growing marxmanship skills.) Upon reaching the bay, the shore party investigated the grounds from which we had been spied and discovered a human sized set of tracks just inside the tree line. The trackers guessed the individual had been watching us for some time, and his tracks moved just inland before disappearing altogether.</p><p></p><p> Having spent the day in frustration, we sailed away from the island and spent the evening at sea before returning the following morning. At this point, the party split up once more, and those of us onboard the ship were sent to sea. We were given instructions to sail North for a day and then return. In truth, my friends, I think the party leadership was simply trying to keep us out of harms way as all our more powerful members were left on the island to go hunting. Unfortunately this plan did not work at all.</p><p></p><p> Less than an hour out to sea, our ship was boarded and attacked by 3 lizardmen and 2 terrible creatures, the likes of which I had never before seen or even heard of. All of them had approached our ship completely invisible and flying through the air. Within a short time virtually every character on deck was staggering about as though drunk and the brains of our best cleric had literally been pulled out of his head. It was the best I do could from the crow’s nest to assist in the slaying of a single lizardman. That, combined with the efforts of what few companions had held onto their senses for a time were enough to slay all 3 lizardfolk and one of the terrible creatures, apparently the weaker of the two. Although I am myself rather fearful the last of these creatures could have slain us all, it apparently decided not to chance fighting on alone. This was my first experience with a creature I am told to call an “illithid,” and I hope ever to keep such experiences to a minimum for the balance of my time on this ocean. ...actually, I wouldn't mind it if we had one of those on our own side, but I certainly hope never again to face one in combat.</p><p></p><p> The shore party spent the night by the bay only to be attacked by the shadows of fallen sailors flying in from out in the bay. Possessing little in the way of magic weapons but quite a number of clerical powers, the shore party was able to fight the shadows to a stand-off, and little else came of the experience. In time the Aquamonkeys became more and more of a nuisance to the lone sailor who had been foolish enough to play with them. They brought him coppers, and silvers, and even the occasional broken bottle of an erstwhile potion. By the time we returned to the island, the shore party was as frustrated as our ship’s crew was fearful and sad.</p><p></p><p> We had been unable at this point to learn just what the black fleet had wanted with this unnamed and miserable island, and our ship’s captain wanted nothing further to do with these illithids. So, we resolved to sail away from the island and wash our hands of the place. On our way out of the bay, though, we passed over a wrecked ship and decided to investigate the matter. With the help of the Aquamonkeys we discovered several viable potions, a quiver of magical arrows and a great sword, all of which we were to learn were specially designed for the purpose of combat with the fearsome creatures which ruled this island. ...we learned this from a ghost that night as we sailed out to sea. It seems that a ship had sailed into the bay some time before in the hopes of confronting and slaying the illithids which ruled the island. Betrayed by one of its own crew, the ship had been sunk and its crew slain before they ever had a chance to clear their weapons. Now the ghost demanded that we return to finish the job as we had inherited the weapons which had been made for that purpose.</p><p></p><p> Reluctantly, we returned to a battle of epic proportions. As the shore party landed, they were greeted by 2 illithids, both of which used their primary powers before attempting to retreat. A swarm of kobalds then filled into finished the reeling landing party. I and others from the ship were able to slay one of the illithids by concentrating all the fire we had upon it. The second was unfortunately placed in between our Ogre and the Minotaur. Truth be told, it was dead before the battle began. Over the next coupe minutes we managed to kill exactly 350 kobalds. A small party of lizardmen positioned itself beneath our ship, along with a fearsome bundle of moving coral, but they seem never to have gotten the word to attack. The leader of the illithids attempted to weaken our party, successfully knocking quite a few of the landing party out of commission with its primary attack. It did this at the cost of several arrow wounds, enough apparently to trigger an immediate retreat.</p><p></p><p> Minutes later we negotiated (this time) an honourable peace with the illithids of that island. We left them the great sword which had apparently attracted the attention of our ghost from the night before, and in return we received 18 doses of a special powder. Adding this powder to the material components of arcane magic would, we were told significantly increase its power. This it turns out had been the purpose the visit from the black fleet. They had purchased significant doses of this Arcane Powder from the illithids and left the island for parts unknown.</p><p></p><p> We left the island feeling a sense of accomplishment. True enough our main enemy was still alive, but we had faced him down and forced concessions. Whereas we had once gratefully accepted a merciful peace from pirates capable of demolishing what was left of us, this time we had negotiated from a position of power. And we had negotiated from this position against an opponent that would frighten the strongest among most adventuring parties. Hardly a sweeping victory, but it was certainly an improvement over our previous efforts. Perhaps next time we would not need to negotiate with anyone at all.</p><p></p><p> As to the ghost and his noble ambitions, let him wield his own sword against the illithid. It is no concern of ours.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Brimshack, post: 3140820, member: 34694"] Now my friends, I must relate a little more of the larger purpose behind our adventure. At least, I must tell you what I myself know of that larger purpose, which is not much than you, and I fear, not much less than the people behind our little venture. We know that a powerful creature emerged from a cavern on the Northern Clash, one known as the Cave of the Leftward Dragon. We know that this creature brought a small army up from the depths below and marched under cover of darkness straight out to the shoreline where it met with a fleet of ships. We also know that few locals were able to witness anything but the orc legions which constituted the flanking guards of this army. And we know that this fleet of ships set out in search of a great and powerful source of magic. What that magic is, we do not know, but we have reason to believe it is the sort of magic which will shift the balance of powers in our world. This story is so far pretty standard ground is it not, a great power, an evil archenemy, and a fleet of evil ships. For the sake of convenience, let us call the latter, the “black fleet.” That should suffice to trigger all the good guy bad guy motifs with which you are no doubt familiar. But of course we are not the good guys in this story; someone else is. We also know that a small ship of would-be heroes has set out in search of the evil fleet. If you are looking for heroes in this story, that would be the crew of this other ship, we’ll call them the Heroes, or as my drow friend is prone to call them, the “useful idiots.” If the would-be heroes on this other ship are able to weaken our enemies so much the better, but of course, we do not wish for them to get the magic either. We want it for ourselves, or at least for our patrons. We have one rather nifty piece of magic in our own bag of tricks. It is a compass which points to the last port in which the flagship of the black fleet has docked or dropped anchor. It doesn’t help us much when this ship is at sea, but it will point us to the last place they have landed, and frankly that is fine by me. I am not prepared to meet the kind of enemy we are talking about today, and with the possible exception of our flying minotaur and the ogre, I don’t believe that many of my companions are either. Better to learn a bit more about them and develop our abilities. A final and glorious battle is a wonderful aspiration to have, but it is one I am happy to leave as an aspiration, at least for now. So, what happens next? Well the compass points us to a small island which barely makes it on the best maps of the known world. It was to the best of everyone’s knowledge uninhabited, or at least no kingdom flies it’s flags there and no known human settlements can be found on its shores. After first sailing around the island to see if we see anything interesting, we navigate our way into the small bay on it’s western shores. And then the fun begins... As we drop anchor in the bay my shark woman friend, Nahala, surfaces and reports that small humanoids are following us about at a considerable distance. She is joined by the Nixie whose name escapes me (honestly, she looks so small and fragile, I just don’t see much need to learn her name), and the two of them set about investigating the bottom of the bay. Well to make a long story short, they discover that a kelp forest out further in the bay has grown up around the skeletons of many dead sailors, most of whom appear to have lost the top of their heads. The creatures following us about turn out to be a monkey like creature with a playful demeanour. At first we thought they might be some form of shrimp, but no, they are monkeys. Some of them attempted to board our ship at some point, others took to bringing copper pieces up to play fetch with a random crew member. His arm was growing tired, and the whole game was becoming quite tiresome as Nahala caught and ate one of the annoying little creatures. They left us alone for a time after that. So, the Captain sent off a party to explore the island. That party eventually discovered an extensive community of kobalds, all of whom appeared to have abandoned their homes in advance of our party. Our friendly flying minotaur was watching the ship when he sensed the presence of an invisible creature watching us from shore. On approaching the creature, he was stunned by some powerful force and fell into the water. he was not slain, but when the most powerful member of our entire party is rendered unconscious it is indeed cause for concern. Needless to say our shore party was recalled - please excuse the speed of my narrative - events were moving quite quickly at the time, and I hardly recall much of the details. (For my own part I was stationed in the crow’s nest as the Captain thought it an apt place from which to utilise my rapidly growing marxmanship skills.) Upon reaching the bay, the shore party investigated the grounds from which we had been spied and discovered a human sized set of tracks just inside the tree line. The trackers guessed the individual had been watching us for some time, and his tracks moved just inland before disappearing altogether. Having spent the day in frustration, we sailed away from the island and spent the evening at sea before returning the following morning. At this point, the party split up once more, and those of us onboard the ship were sent to sea. We were given instructions to sail North for a day and then return. In truth, my friends, I think the party leadership was simply trying to keep us out of harms way as all our more powerful members were left on the island to go hunting. Unfortunately this plan did not work at all. Less than an hour out to sea, our ship was boarded and attacked by 3 lizardmen and 2 terrible creatures, the likes of which I had never before seen or even heard of. All of them had approached our ship completely invisible and flying through the air. Within a short time virtually every character on deck was staggering about as though drunk and the brains of our best cleric had literally been pulled out of his head. It was the best I do could from the crow’s nest to assist in the slaying of a single lizardman. That, combined with the efforts of what few companions had held onto their senses for a time were enough to slay all 3 lizardfolk and one of the terrible creatures, apparently the weaker of the two. Although I am myself rather fearful the last of these creatures could have slain us all, it apparently decided not to chance fighting on alone. This was my first experience with a creature I am told to call an “illithid,” and I hope ever to keep such experiences to a minimum for the balance of my time on this ocean. ...actually, I wouldn't mind it if we had one of those on our own side, but I certainly hope never again to face one in combat. The shore party spent the night by the bay only to be attacked by the shadows of fallen sailors flying in from out in the bay. Possessing little in the way of magic weapons but quite a number of clerical powers, the shore party was able to fight the shadows to a stand-off, and little else came of the experience. In time the Aquamonkeys became more and more of a nuisance to the lone sailor who had been foolish enough to play with them. They brought him coppers, and silvers, and even the occasional broken bottle of an erstwhile potion. By the time we returned to the island, the shore party was as frustrated as our ship’s crew was fearful and sad. We had been unable at this point to learn just what the black fleet had wanted with this unnamed and miserable island, and our ship’s captain wanted nothing further to do with these illithids. So, we resolved to sail away from the island and wash our hands of the place. On our way out of the bay, though, we passed over a wrecked ship and decided to investigate the matter. With the help of the Aquamonkeys we discovered several viable potions, a quiver of magical arrows and a great sword, all of which we were to learn were specially designed for the purpose of combat with the fearsome creatures which ruled this island. ...we learned this from a ghost that night as we sailed out to sea. It seems that a ship had sailed into the bay some time before in the hopes of confronting and slaying the illithids which ruled the island. Betrayed by one of its own crew, the ship had been sunk and its crew slain before they ever had a chance to clear their weapons. Now the ghost demanded that we return to finish the job as we had inherited the weapons which had been made for that purpose. Reluctantly, we returned to a battle of epic proportions. As the shore party landed, they were greeted by 2 illithids, both of which used their primary powers before attempting to retreat. A swarm of kobalds then filled into finished the reeling landing party. I and others from the ship were able to slay one of the illithids by concentrating all the fire we had upon it. The second was unfortunately placed in between our Ogre and the Minotaur. Truth be told, it was dead before the battle began. Over the next coupe minutes we managed to kill exactly 350 kobalds. A small party of lizardmen positioned itself beneath our ship, along with a fearsome bundle of moving coral, but they seem never to have gotten the word to attack. The leader of the illithids attempted to weaken our party, successfully knocking quite a few of the landing party out of commission with its primary attack. It did this at the cost of several arrow wounds, enough apparently to trigger an immediate retreat. Minutes later we negotiated (this time) an honourable peace with the illithids of that island. We left them the great sword which had apparently attracted the attention of our ghost from the night before, and in return we received 18 doses of a special powder. Adding this powder to the material components of arcane magic would, we were told significantly increase its power. This it turns out had been the purpose the visit from the black fleet. They had purchased significant doses of this Arcane Powder from the illithids and left the island for parts unknown. We left the island feeling a sense of accomplishment. True enough our main enemy was still alive, but we had faced him down and forced concessions. Whereas we had once gratefully accepted a merciful peace from pirates capable of demolishing what was left of us, this time we had negotiated from a position of power. And we had negotiated from this position against an opponent that would frighten the strongest among most adventuring parties. Hardly a sweeping victory, but it was certainly an improvement over our previous efforts. Perhaps next time we would not need to negotiate with anyone at all. As to the ghost and his noble ambitions, let him wield his own sword against the illithid. It is no concern of ours. [/QUOTE]
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