Daeron's Journal 48
Daeron's Journals #48
**Notes to follow**
My dearest Aldar,
Lost and sunken cities have been a part of folklore for millennia. Given my people’s history and beliefs about our origins, I’m sure you can guess how excited I was when Father Baer’s magics told us there was, indeed, a sunken elven city under the Sunless Sea. We set sail, and I tried not to show just how excited I was, for I had fears about it as well.
Father Baer had somehow cast his spell so that Amahd was the one actually receiving the benefit of its knowledge. Since he has knowledge of mathematics and triangulation for purposes of navigating, as our trip continued, he was able to judge the distance to the city by calculating how far we were traveling vs how much the angle of the line down to the city sharpened. A neat bit of thinking, that, if I do say so myself. My only regret is that, since we will be out on the water for a bit of time, Taine and Ekki have remained back on shore, promising to keep themselves safe.
As we were approaching Amahd’s approximation of where the city would be, about half a day after we set out, he suddenly cried out to us to hit the oars and backstroke. We did so, and he explained that he could tell the water was becoming shallow. We noticed after a time that it was warm and bubbling here and there, too. There must be activity under the water similar to what we have encountered back on the island we explored to the south. We asked Jeleneth to guard the ship and give us some kind of signal if anything went wrong, and we prepared to explore.
Amahd went first and came back with tales of crumbling ruins under the water, as well as albino fish swimming nearby. I was surprised; these were the first fish we’d seen in the Sunless Sea. Heric used his air-bubble necklace and his ring of free movement to be able to breathe and cast underwater, while Zerai took the form of a kuo-toa. Amahd, of course, was not inconvenienced in any way. Father Baer cast spells of water breathing on Silvermane, Naidaushas, himself, and myself, as well as a spell of free action on Naidaushas to make sure he could fight easily. I did not mind being unable to cast spells, for my items mostly work by will, and I was able to fight, albeit awkwardly.
As we explored the city, we came to a dark realization that confirmed my fears. A spider motif became obvious, and it was clear we were in a city that had once been ruled by the avathari.* I cannot say what Silvermane or Naidaushas were thinking, but I felt that we should explore. If nothing else, it would be a chance to put an end to any that remained.
We found a large temple-like building and prepared to enter it. As we approached, however, a translucent figure emerged, black of skin and female. At once, I recognized it from our legends – a baione sidhe, known to humans as a banshee. She let out a terrible wail, biut our stalwart party fell prey to neither the fear of her nor the legendary death magic it unleashes. Silvermane and I were on her in an instant, hacking at her with our weapons. She retreated, and Father Baer swam after her, preparing to try and turn her…when everything went wrong.
Two massive tentacles came out of the darkness of the temple and ensnared myself and Silvermane. I was able to wrench free after a moment, but Silvermane was still bound. I began to penetrate the temple, hoping to find whatever was at the center of these tentacles and put an end to it. The monster within was truly huge, like a nightmare squid, and later, Amahd told us a tale of these creatures, called Kraken. For that moment, I saw it only as an enemy. My companions were soon near me, but its many smaller tentacles seemed determined to squeeze the life out of us. I was dimly aware of Zerai and Hric both blasting it with beams, but then I was entangled again and could not get free! Suddenly, I was atop its central body. I realized that Zerai had somehow teleported me close to the creature, and I struck it several telling blows. More rays from Heric struck it, and then it had me entangled again. And then a simple magic missile from Heric ended its foul life. **
After recovering, we decided to alter our procedure a bit. Heric took on the form of a kuo-toa and gave me his necklace to allow me to talk and cast underwater, and then he transformed Father Baer into one for the same reason. We must make an odd sight, but, still, we pressed on. The monster had a treasure trove which we’ve not yet had a chance to count, but which looks like it will refill our coffers nicely. Through exploring the various chambers of the temple, we found little else of value except a magickal helm which Amahd says can help someone see and breathe underwater. Silvermane confirmed that it was helping him see better, but he could not figure out how to invoke its water breathing powers. We will rectify that soon.
We tried several other buildings, but there seemed little else, until we found what must have been the city’s docks before it sank. There, in a closed building, we found a strange golden cylinder. Once we were able to open it, slow experimentation from Zerai and Heric determined that it was, apparently, some kind of machine that imitates a lobster, allowing for underwater travel, combat, and exploration. Even as I pen this on the boat, they are experimenting with making it dive and rise, as well as moving about. It appears to be faster backwards than forwards…which is interesting, if not terribly useful. ***
Well, they are telling me they are ready to continue exploring, so I shall sign off. Sorry for the water stains. Wish us luck.
Your loving uncle,
Daeron
* The avathari, if it needs to be said, are the dark elves. Given that Silvermane is 1/4 drow, we knew there'd be no happy welcome for him, either.
** Ace says a lot of things like, "The kraken is looking really badly wounded," or "The kaken is on its last legs." When we heard that, given that everyone but Heric and Zerai were entangled, I said to Heric's player, "Nail him with a magic missile!" When it worked, however, it still got a big laugh from everyone. The mighty kraken, slain with the lowliest of spells.
*** The funny thing was that we'd been discussing the possible appearance of an Apparatus of Kwalish in my own campaign.
- Andy
Daeron's Journals #48
**Notes to follow**
My dearest Aldar,
Lost and sunken cities have been a part of folklore for millennia. Given my people’s history and beliefs about our origins, I’m sure you can guess how excited I was when Father Baer’s magics told us there was, indeed, a sunken elven city under the Sunless Sea. We set sail, and I tried not to show just how excited I was, for I had fears about it as well.
Father Baer had somehow cast his spell so that Amahd was the one actually receiving the benefit of its knowledge. Since he has knowledge of mathematics and triangulation for purposes of navigating, as our trip continued, he was able to judge the distance to the city by calculating how far we were traveling vs how much the angle of the line down to the city sharpened. A neat bit of thinking, that, if I do say so myself. My only regret is that, since we will be out on the water for a bit of time, Taine and Ekki have remained back on shore, promising to keep themselves safe.
As we were approaching Amahd’s approximation of where the city would be, about half a day after we set out, he suddenly cried out to us to hit the oars and backstroke. We did so, and he explained that he could tell the water was becoming shallow. We noticed after a time that it was warm and bubbling here and there, too. There must be activity under the water similar to what we have encountered back on the island we explored to the south. We asked Jeleneth to guard the ship and give us some kind of signal if anything went wrong, and we prepared to explore.
Amahd went first and came back with tales of crumbling ruins under the water, as well as albino fish swimming nearby. I was surprised; these were the first fish we’d seen in the Sunless Sea. Heric used his air-bubble necklace and his ring of free movement to be able to breathe and cast underwater, while Zerai took the form of a kuo-toa. Amahd, of course, was not inconvenienced in any way. Father Baer cast spells of water breathing on Silvermane, Naidaushas, himself, and myself, as well as a spell of free action on Naidaushas to make sure he could fight easily. I did not mind being unable to cast spells, for my items mostly work by will, and I was able to fight, albeit awkwardly.
As we explored the city, we came to a dark realization that confirmed my fears. A spider motif became obvious, and it was clear we were in a city that had once been ruled by the avathari.* I cannot say what Silvermane or Naidaushas were thinking, but I felt that we should explore. If nothing else, it would be a chance to put an end to any that remained.
We found a large temple-like building and prepared to enter it. As we approached, however, a translucent figure emerged, black of skin and female. At once, I recognized it from our legends – a baione sidhe, known to humans as a banshee. She let out a terrible wail, biut our stalwart party fell prey to neither the fear of her nor the legendary death magic it unleashes. Silvermane and I were on her in an instant, hacking at her with our weapons. She retreated, and Father Baer swam after her, preparing to try and turn her…when everything went wrong.
Two massive tentacles came out of the darkness of the temple and ensnared myself and Silvermane. I was able to wrench free after a moment, but Silvermane was still bound. I began to penetrate the temple, hoping to find whatever was at the center of these tentacles and put an end to it. The monster within was truly huge, like a nightmare squid, and later, Amahd told us a tale of these creatures, called Kraken. For that moment, I saw it only as an enemy. My companions were soon near me, but its many smaller tentacles seemed determined to squeeze the life out of us. I was dimly aware of Zerai and Hric both blasting it with beams, but then I was entangled again and could not get free! Suddenly, I was atop its central body. I realized that Zerai had somehow teleported me close to the creature, and I struck it several telling blows. More rays from Heric struck it, and then it had me entangled again. And then a simple magic missile from Heric ended its foul life. **
After recovering, we decided to alter our procedure a bit. Heric took on the form of a kuo-toa and gave me his necklace to allow me to talk and cast underwater, and then he transformed Father Baer into one for the same reason. We must make an odd sight, but, still, we pressed on. The monster had a treasure trove which we’ve not yet had a chance to count, but which looks like it will refill our coffers nicely. Through exploring the various chambers of the temple, we found little else of value except a magickal helm which Amahd says can help someone see and breathe underwater. Silvermane confirmed that it was helping him see better, but he could not figure out how to invoke its water breathing powers. We will rectify that soon.
We tried several other buildings, but there seemed little else, until we found what must have been the city’s docks before it sank. There, in a closed building, we found a strange golden cylinder. Once we were able to open it, slow experimentation from Zerai and Heric determined that it was, apparently, some kind of machine that imitates a lobster, allowing for underwater travel, combat, and exploration. Even as I pen this on the boat, they are experimenting with making it dive and rise, as well as moving about. It appears to be faster backwards than forwards…which is interesting, if not terribly useful. ***
Well, they are telling me they are ready to continue exploring, so I shall sign off. Sorry for the water stains. Wish us luck.
Your loving uncle,
Daeron
* The avathari, if it needs to be said, are the dark elves. Given that Silvermane is 1/4 drow, we knew there'd be no happy welcome for him, either.
** Ace says a lot of things like, "The kraken is looking really badly wounded," or "The kaken is on its last legs." When we heard that, given that everyone but Heric and Zerai were entangled, I said to Heric's player, "Nail him with a magic missile!" When it worked, however, it still got a big laugh from everyone. The mighty kraken, slain with the lowliest of spells.
*** The funny thing was that we'd been discussing the possible appearance of an Apparatus of Kwalish in my own campaign.
- Andy
