Morrow's Savage Tide Adventure Path

[Morrow]

Sea Wyvern's Wake Part 3 (Garnham)

From the journals of K. Garnham, Seeker as translated from the Valossan.

I am in prison.

The walls are the ocean stretching out to every horizon and my cell the confines of the Bronze Dragon.

Less than a week ago a storm caught up the two ships of our expedition. When it had passed there was no sign of the Blue Nixie and no way to know if any of her crew or passengers have survived.

Not even Lavinia.

I have spent the past three days pacing out the length and breadth of my cell like any diligent prisoner, searching for signs of a way out; looking for signs of hope, but none have appeared. My mood is foul and I have separated myself from my companions to avoid venting my bile on them.

I have been negligent in my journalling of late and will use this time to update events. Hopefully it will help keep my mind off things that are, frankly, beyond my control.

After returning from Tamoachan the two survivors we depetrified were able to tell something of their tale. The dwarven woman is Ilsa Baldrick

a warrior and member of Zelkarune's Horns. The human woman is a Witchwarden abjurer named Sabine Taskerhill, the fifth or sixth child of Kalmadar Taskerhill, Cudgel District's representative on the Dawn Council and quiet possibly the richest man in Sasserine. Neither had any recollection about the elf who supposedly escaped the basilisk and started the chain of events that led Urol to direct us to the the ruins.

Taskerhill has some knack for alchemy and believes that she can use the basilisk liver and eyes recovered by Liame to make more of the depetrifying paste. She has been working on that in the hopes that she can return and recover her other comrades who are still stone statues on Tamoachan.

The next week and a half was uneventful. We encountered something odd at the mouth of the Havekihu River. I heard it referred to as a flotsam ooze. It was a large mass of living clear floating glue. Over the years of it's life it had accumulated debris which stuck to it's surface. It became attached to the Dragon and would have dragged us over the edge were it not for Dexter's great strength and a generous dousing of universal solvent. It was beaten and we found some valuables amongst the filth and corpses that covered it's gelatinous body.

What a glamourous life.

Some fine sailing from the Captain and magic from Elyosha allowed us to completely avoid a Scarlet Brotherhood blockade and in two weeks time we came to Fort Greenrock. What little there was that remained. All of the physical evidence showed that the fort had been attacked en masse by lizard people. There were no building that remained intact and no sign of the populace. Elyosha and Dexter found this odd. Lizard people don't usually coordinate strikes of this size. I personally hold a theory that the Scarlet Brotherhood aided the assault in some fashion. If not physically than at least tactically. I have no evidence to substantiate that and we lacked the resources to risk a direct confrontation with the lizard folk in their own domain.

Four days later we came to a waterfall where the Atikula river meets the sea. We stopped to take on fresh water and had to deal with a seven headed hydra. Ilsa demonstrated her skill with a weapon managing to sever multiple heads.

Two days later we made port at the last corner of civilization before Farshore, the Ohlman village of Renkrue. It proved a very pleasant locale and we set about some much needed shore leave. Lavinia and I were able to steal away for a few hours and enjoy paradise.

Avner also attempted to enjoy paradise; in his own loathsome fashion. It had become obvious that he and Lirith,one of the crew members, had been having a sexual relationship. Apparently the company of the young swordswoman wasn't enough for Avner and he attempted to purchase a native woman from her parents. This didn't sit too well with the locals and it took some quick negotiating from Elyosha and Maggie to keep the peace. In the end Avner was given to the village for one days indentured servitude. A day he spent toiling in the tropical sun.

I had previously made plans to steal Avner's diary of conquests, but had decided to wait. Fed up with the overbearing lothario I took the journal and substituted a similar one that had been through a wine related accident. Avner wrote of his encounters with Lirith. His tone and choice of words were far from pleasant so I passed them on to her.

Now Avner has the rest of the journey to recover from sunburn, practice celibacy and not drink fine wines.

We set out from Renkrue the next day. There was one change in the passenger allocation. Ilsa and Sabine transferred to the Nixie while Liame and Tolin joined us on the Dragon. I'm unclear of the exact reason, but I suspect that Sabine, who hasn't been enjoying sea life at all, didn't want anything else to do with Avner.

As expected we encountered the Pearl Current. It cost us eight days of hard sailing and skilled navigation. We passed, but did not stop at the island of Ruja.

Three days later we hit the storm and lost sight of the Nixie.

That was three days ago. I will now try to get some sleep for the first time in those three days. I pray that the dawn brings better news.

 

[Morrow]

Sea Wyvern's Wake Part 4 (Garnham)

From the journal of K. Garnham, Seeker as translated from the Valossan

It's been three days since my last entry.

We found ourselves caught in a strange morass of seaweed that stretched out for miles around us, dozens of shipwrecks visible in the grim sargasso. The sailors referred to this as Journey's End. Scores of ships were supposed to have been lost to this place.

The weed was thick and strong; the crew dulled axe and blade trying to hack a path to open sea. They made no discernible progress.

Elyosha placed a blight on the weed, weakening it to the point that the Dragon was nearly freed. Some members of the crew went down to work at the blighted weeds when the remaining vegetation rose up into vine horrors, shambling mockeries of people.

Suffice it to say that they weren't friendly.

We fought off that attack with no casualties.

The Dragon was free of the immediate seaweed, but was still surrounded by Journey's End. Elyosha needed time to recharge her magics to make another go at the weed so we decided to rest the night and see what success we'd have in the morning.

There was another attack and we lost Yelda.

In the morning Elyosha made a concerted assault on the weed. Unfortunately it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to escape that way.

We had previously noted a ship near our position that seemed more intact than most of the other vessels. We decided to investigate. Dexter, Elyosha, Liamae, Tollin and I left the Dragon to visit the Rage while Maggie stayed behind to defend the ship.

What parts of the ship that we could access had been plundered. We barely were able to recover a journal kept by one of the former passengers, a monk named either Anhelm or Auhelm, water had made the script hard to decipher.

The journal recounted the Rage's fate after encountering Journey's End. It detailed attacks increasing as time passed. Eventually there was an expedition formed to find the heart of this place and kill it.

It had not been successful, but it gave us the information we needed to find the heart and mount our own expedition.

We went on.

As we approached we saw greater concentrations of the vine horrors. We kept ahead of them and made our way to the ship in the heart of the green web, the Thunderer.

We fought our way through several vine horrors until we finally made our way to the lair of the abomination.

We won out, but it was close. Bolk didn't make it.

With the death of the green heart the sargasso began to disperse. The Thunderer began to sink. Fortunately I had a boat in my pocket and we were able to return to the Dragon without having to swim for it.

While we were away the vine horrors launched an assault on the Dragon. Maggie, Captain Venkalie and Rowyn led the defense, but we still lost Jess Mobley from the crew and the colonists Therese Thoms and Quenge Asper.

There is a part of me that hopes that Rowyn's defense of the ship and it's crew is something more than self preservation. Dexter has made the effort to rehabilitate her and I would like to see something come of it. My worst, if wiser, self will be watching with a far more skeptical eye.

I can also confirm the fates of thirteen ships. I was on the Rage and the Thunderer. I passed the Vesper, the Desperado, the Basher, the Lamprey, the Landfall, the Broken Promise, the Albatross, the Argent Gate, the Maiden's Lament, the Longshanks, and the Trollop. The others were either too far away or too decrepit to identify.

 

[Morrow]

Here There Be Monsters Part 1 (Garnham)

From the journal of K. Garnham Seeker. Translated from the Valossan

Some time has passed since my last entry. We have found ourselves on the Isle of Dread, our situations greatly changed by new magics.

Five days after escaping Journey's End we were beset by a storm more potent than the one that separated us from the Nixie. I have to confess that my stomach, not bothered by average sea travel, betrayed me and I rode out the worst part below decks.

The Dragon found itself stuck on the reefs near the Isle of Dread. The situation turned bleaker when a giant eel-creature leaped from the choppy waters and attacked the crew. We fought it off, but not before it killed first mate Wendt and crewwoman Lirith. Maggie managed to get us off the reefs by magically raising the water. Elyosha used her magic to warp-wood-patch the largest holes in the hold.

Despite expert sailing prowess and Maggie and Elyosha's magic we still ran aground a hundred yards from shore.

We awoke hours later on the beach.

The only confirmed survivors were the members of the Silver Beetles, Arliss, Avner, Avner's horse, Rowyn, Captain Venkalie, Urol, Tovey, Lyle Underfoot and Barnaby.

We were awake for only a few minutes when a t-rex burst out of the jungle and attacked Arliss. The beast swallowed Arliss whole before we had a chance to rescue him. We fought the monster,but Dexter didn't survive. I crawled down it's throat, but it was too late.

We killed the bastard and spent time searching for survivors and supplies. Elyosha used newly mastered magic to reincarnate Dexter.

It was so strange watching his flesh both heal and...warp at the same time. After several minutes Dexter's hair and skin looked healthy, but he had lost a fair amount of weight. A few minutes more and it became obvious that Dexter's new flesh would be Dwarven. There was a brief moment that I thought I was going to have a sister, but the flesh coalesced into a male dwarf. He still had the birth mark on the back of his hand.

Dexter has taken his new situation well. I think he's a little disappointed that he didn't come back as something more exotic. I'm slowly getting used to his new face.

We spent the night healing. Elyosha took the opportunity to summon a new animal companion, a sun bear that she named Medvedya.

Rowyn has agreed to behave as long as her life is dependent on our mutual survival.

In the night we were attacked by a pack of terror birds and lost Lyle Underfoot.

The next day Maggie cast a spell and sent a message to Lavinia.

Lavinia is alive and well and in Farshore.

Urol estimated that we were about 10 days away from Farshore. We set out that morning for Farshore and Lavinia.

The day passed relatively quietly. Elyosha used her wilderness skills to avoid the worst of the jungle. We avoided a confrontation with half a dozen terror birds hunting a baby dinosaur.

The next day we caught sight of ancient Ohlman ruins. I'm curious about what we'll find there. We have the magical golden bat idol from the other Ohlman ruins. Elyosha identified it as some sort of magical key. I wonder if the lock is somewhere here on the Isle of Dread.

As we moved closer to the ruins we noticed layers and layers of cobwebs. We eventually came across an open air room with a stone throne. On the throne sat an ancient woman. Oddly enough, I caught the faint whiff of gingerbread in the air.

The old woman spoke to us in Sylvan which ELyosha translated.

She identified herself as Lithira and asked us about our purpose there.

We spoke with her a time. She told us that "four eyes have gazed upon you and his servants seek you out." She also gave us some practical advice for going through the mountains. She told us of an underground passage that would take us "safely" through the mountains. She warned of birds that nested outside the mouth of the passage.

With Lithira's warning we were prepared for the terror birds. Elyosha used her magics to hide herself and the castaways of the Dragon. The rest of the Beetles attacked and killed the terror birds.

We are now camping at the cave mouth.

 

[Morrow]

Here There Be Monsters Part 1 (Dexter)

Dear Mom,


A dear friend of mine named Urol wrote this letter for me. He did so even though I've made some tragic errors in judgment lately, because he's kindhearted and didn't like the idea of you worrying about me, not because I threatened him with any sort of physical harm if he didn't stop whining about a stupid dinosaur and write the damned letter already. I'm working hard like you said. Miss Lavinia made it to Farshore safely so we're doing a good job. We got stuck in a storm and attacked by giant eels, then our ship crashed and got destroyed. Most of the people on the ship died. The people who made it to shore are all fine. Except the ones that got eaten by dinosaurs. And the ones that got eaten by giant birds. Other than that everyone is fine. Garnham sends his regards.We're lost in a jungle thriving with fascinating indigenous life that for some unfathomable reason I completely fail to appreciate. You'd like it here. It reminds me of the stories you used to tell me about your childhood.We got directions from a kindly old woman who lives here on the island. She spoke a language only Elyosha understood. Then she turned into a spider and went and hid in some old ruins. The old lady, not Elyosha. Other than the spider thing she seemed okay. I will send money with this letter as soon as we get to Farshore. There's really no place around here to spend it and I figure you can use it better than I can. If you decide to donate it to charity I suggest the Ingalgete Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Abominations or the Foundation for the Promotion of Responsible Adventuring on Cauldron.


Your loving son,

Dexter


PS. A dinosaur ate me and I died. It didn't hurt though. And Elyohsa reincarnated me so I'm a dwarf now. But it's okay, I think I like it.

 

[Dr Simon]

I'm glad you're continuing this after the long pause. I loved Jollydoc's telling of the campaign, and I'm interested to see how your characters handled it. I like the various viewpoints.

 

[Morrow]

I'm glad you're continuing this after the long pause. I loved Jollydoc's telling of the campaign, and I'm interested to see how your characters handled it. I like the various viewpoints.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. We only play Savage Tide once a month, so if we miss a game it makes for a LONG break.

 

[Morrow]

We only play Savage Tide once a month, so if we miss a game it makes for a LONG break.

Speaking of which, thanks to some nasty weather here in NH, December's installment of Savage Tide was canceled. We're going to try to make it up by playing twice in January, so expect a double helping of Isle of Dread related madness in a few weeks.

 

[Morrow]

Here There Be Monsters Part 2 (Margaret)

Dear Diary,

What can I say about the Isle of Dread except that it’s, uh… dreadful. Hahaha. I crack me up. Anyway, we finally met some intelligent undead, but I’ll get back to that later.

About a week ago, I guess, Dexter died, and Aliosha brought him back AS A DWARF, which actually came in really handy because after we shipwrecked, we had to go through a pass under a mountain, and so his newfound stonecunning skills came in handy. Of course, he’s still annoyed about it, but I told him to embrace his new body as the blessing it truly is. He told me that I should embrace it, but I think he was joking. All the same, I could check “live male dwarf” off my list if I did, but if he’s really willing to help me with my list, he should have started helping me when he was still a half-orc, and then I could’ve checked off two, and it would have been much easier than doing it with two people. Speaking of my list, I really need to get moving on it because so far, I don’t have any checkmarks on it. I don’t think Aster would be pleased.

Anyway, we went under this mountain, and it was mostly just a really long tunnel, and then there was this throne room or something, which was pretty boring, and then there was a crypt, and I was a little disappointed because the people who built it were clearly worshippers of Meculatectli, who’s kind like Aster, except not as awesome. So, not only do these people already have their own god of death and undeath, but they clearly have no respect for him either because there were these mummies, and all they wanted to do was kill us, which I found quite rude. There was also this gross, oozy thing, and I try to respect all beings, but it was clear from the start, that all this thing wanted to do was undress Dexter, and he did not consent, so I thought it was quite rude too.

After we killed the ooze, we went outside and got on this coastal road which was fine, except that some rocks and skulls fell on us, and all of a sudden, Garnham got all surly and started throwing skulls around. It was kind of weird. Then we got attacked by gargoyles, and they were quite rude too. At first, I thought they were pretty goof judges of character because one of them pushed Avner off a cliff, but then Avner lived, so they probably didn’t do it right, and then when we got attacked again, they did it to Barnaby (who died) and tried to do it to Garnham, which I did not like at all. It wasn’t really too bad, though, because they left us alone most of the time, and only one of us died.

Oh, and then there was this thing with crucified birds. It was really weird. I don’t know why anyone would want to crucify a bird, but one morning, we woke up, and there were a whole bunch of them just outside our camp. I think it was Garnham who came up with the theory that they were crucified by other birds, but what could a bird do that would make other birds so angry, they’d crucify it? Maybe they were cannibal birds that ate the other birds’ eggs. That’s why I think everybody should just be a vegetarian. It would prevent a lot of bird crucifixions; that’s for sure.

So, we’re going along the road, and then there was this path that went inland, which Avner thought was a good idea, and Aliosha talked to a bird who told her the shore road ended ahead, but we checked it out anyway, and it did, and there was this Ullman guy who stabbed himself in the chest and fell off the cliff, which wasn’t very helpful at all. So, we went back to the other road, and Aliosha turned into a giant eagle and soared high above the land, and she said the other road looked safe, and really, it was fine, but then we got to the guy.

So finally, the guy. There was this dead guy, upside-down on a cross, with a big wound in his chest, and then he started talking to us, and I thought that was great because most of the undead on this island are so uncivilized, but then he told us we couldn’t leave, and I thought that was unfair, because people should really be able to do what they want. I mean, he should know that considering the degree of discrimination he surely faces on a daily basis, that people should be free, whether alive or dead. It’s just really a big letdown, but I think I can probably convert the guy. I just need some time, and he doesn’t want us to leave, so it should be easy. Should be…

Yours,

Maggie
xoxoxo

 

[Morrow]

Here There Be Monsters Part 2 (Garnham)

From the journal of K. Garnham, Seeker translated from the Valossan

There was a time, not long ago, when I knew the name, the face and basic biography of every person that I'd killed; the abomination Alden, Mathias Carruthers and Damned Barker. Now I have trouble remembering all of their species.

We continue to make our way to Farshore from the other end of the Isle of Dread.

The old woman's advice on using the mountain passage turned out to be good. Five or six miles of very straight tunnel saw us through without too much trouble. Elyosha's new pet got nervous part way through, as if something were following us. We took precautions, but didn't encounter anything until we got to nearly the end.

We finally came to a carved stone room with what appeared to be a stone throne towards the middle. On it was a human skeleton pinned to the solid rock by a longspear.

We travelled further finding two large bridges leading across a chasm to a pair of large earthern doors. Our combined strength was unable to budge them so Elyosha used her magic to turn the stone around the doors into clay. That was messy, but effective.

We then came upon some sort of burial hall. Multiple dessicated corpses were placed into alcoves along the path. At the entrance was a statue that Maggie identified as Mictalantechtihi- the Ohlman god of the undead.

A mummy fight ensued.

While searching the area after the fight we came across a hidden door, behind which was the tomb of an Ohlman priest. There was a trap, but it was avoided.

Maggie and Elyosha had concerns about desecrating the grave,

In the fight with the mummies Maggie had turned one. It had run in the other direction, bolting into rooms we hadn't explored yet.

We followed it's trail and saw no sign of it. I scouted ahead.

The final room seemed, initially, to be empty. A plain space with water pooled into one of the corners. As I approached the water an amophous pseudopod reached out and tried to grab me.

Fortunately it missed. I pulled back. Medvedya charged the blob and Dexter followed the bear.

Two minutes later the blob is dead, Dexter is naked and Maggie is telling him that he should embrace his body. Dexter had a counteroffer.

A pulley system we had found in the room before the one with the blob opened the exterior doors.

As an aside I would like to point out the sophistication of the Ohlman society that dug this place into the mountain. Tunneling that many, relatively straight, miles through that much mountain is a feat that I would normally only associate with Dwarven engineering. The trap I bypassed and the mechanism for opening the exterior door were efficiently made and managed to survive the centuries while maintaining their functionality.

The open air was welcome to us all. Especially Captain Venkalie who didn't take to underground travel that well.

The doors led out to open beach. A man-made path led up and skirted the mountains and sea.

We travelled along the path for some time and rested.

The next day the path ran along a sheer cliff face. As we passed rocks came tumbling down upon us. Among the rocks were several human skulls.

I assumed they were dropped on us by the servants of the four-eyed being that we had been warned about. I wrote my innermost feelings about Four-eyes on one of the skulls and threw it over the cliff. I sincerely hope that Four-eyes has a reproductive system, otherwise it may not understand my heartfelt message.

Nothing else happened that day.

The next morning we awoke to find a dozen bird carcasses had been crucified Ohlman style and left at the edge of our camp. Elyosha and Urol could find no trace of anyone putting them there.

I used the wood of the bird crucifixes to repeat my message to Four-eyes.

On the road that day we were attacked by a pack of gargoyles. Gargoyles with Ohlman symbols on their stony flesh.

Avner was knocked off the edge by one of them, but we managed to save him before he drowned.

The next day we were also attacked. This time one of the pack stood out from the others. He wore a stone crown and bracers. Know Dexter wears a stone crown and bracers.

We lost Barnaby in that attack.

We made further progress and had a peaceful night.

The next day we came to a decision. The path passed open jungle. There was a man-made trail. Avner was set on re-entering the jungle, but the path we were on seemed safer.

Elyosha spoke to some birds and learned that the path we were on came to an end. Maggie asked for divine guidance and was told that the jungle trail wasn't a good idea. We followed the path to confirm the bird's story.

When we came to the end of the trail we saw an Ohlman man on the edge of a cliff. He stabbed himself and plummetted to his certain doom.

Or so it seemed. Elyosha detected a hint of illusion magic in the area.

Seeing no way to continue forward, we turned back and went along the jungle trail. Elyosha became an eagle and scouted ahead.

Over the next two days we weren't attacked by anything significant.

A fog descended upon us and the animals we passed grew increasingly odd looking and miscolored. Urol caught some lizards and tried to make them into a stew with some wild herbs, but the meat was tainted and the spices held no flavor.

Finally we made it to some ruins. Ohlman ruins if I have the architecture down.

There was a corpse tied to a wooden X in the middle of all this. As we approached the corpse spoke to us, welcomed us, told us that we would never leave this place.

Maggie is having a word with it right now and I'm taking a moment to get this up to date before the next round of violence.

I miss Lavinia so much.

 

[Morrow]

Here There Be Monsters 3 (Margaret)

Dear Diary,
I have to tell you all about my new best friend! His name is Golnura, and he’s a zombie, and he’s super-nice!! I was a little worried at first because he said we couldn’t leave, but I think he just wanted us to stick around because he was lonely. Dexter hates him, but I think he’s jealous.

Anyway, I told you already about when we met him, but I didn’t tell you how warm and friendly he was right from the beginning. He welcomed us right into his home. It was a little broken down, but I can cozy it up for him when we get back from our quest to free him from his oppressor and rescue Urol. I untied him and took him down from his crucifix right away because it didn’t look comfortable at all. He said that somebody named the Master of Fogmeyer was his master, so I decided right away that we should free him, but he didn’t really seem to care. It doesn’t matter, though, because once he gets a taste of freedom, he’ll be so happy that he won’t be able to stop thanking me and praising Aster’s name. I can’t wait!

The others decided we should not spend the night with Golnura, but we couldn’t seem to find our way back to the last clearing we saw. Just when we were about to settle in for the evening, three demonic monkeys came out of nowhere and attacked us. One of them took Urol, and one of them killed Taavi, Aster curse them! Unfortunately, all of them got away. I animated Taavi as a skeleton. It was the least I could do considering the devotion he showed me in life.

Thankfully, we were able to sleep through the night, but I couldn’t find Golnura after my morning prayers, and then we left right after to go find Urol. He probably went ahead of us to help us out. I hope he’s okay.
We wound up at this cave, and Avner threw a huge fit about not coming with us, which was fine with me. He just slows us down anyway, and alerts our enemies of our coming the ways he’s always crying and screaming like a little girl. We wandered around in the caves for a little while until we finally found some doors which led to a small chamber. Aliosha discovered its purpose right away, but we didn’t get it quite right on the first try. She lit a candle and then had to sit on a bloody chair, and then she touched a mirror, and all of a sudden, there were two of her. There was one trapped in the mirror and another one that was wild and tried to kill us. After we knocked out the scary one, everything seemed to go back to normal, and then Aliosha asked me to do the other one because she was afraid it would happen to her again. I lit the other candle, and had to sit in the other bloody chair. It was awful and humiliating. It reminded me of that time a few years ago when Megan McDermitt came to school wearing a new white dress, and then, well you get the idea. Anyway, it was horrible, but then I touched the other mirror, and I didn’t turn weird. Well, I didn’t turn weirder.

Then, we went through the mirror and came out in another room with more demonic monkeys. This time, we were able to get some of them before they got away. Not me so much, but I helped. A big mob of baboons jumped down from the ceiling and grabbed Garnham and me, but we got them too, and then we all went up into the ceiling and found a smelly room with a throne and a secret door. There was a chest with a lovely dire flail in it, and I didn’t feel bad about taking it from those demons. It was clearly a sign from Aster that I’m in the right place.

By the way, Aster, thank you for the dire flail. I’m sure it will come in handy. I had planned on buying one for myself, but we haven’t been anywhere I could buy one for so long, and if you saw fit to send me some Celestial Armor, I certainly would be grateful for that too. I mean, if you don’t send it to me, I’ll understand. I haven’t converted anybody yet, but I’m trying so hard for you. My devotion knows no limits, really.

Back to my story, though. There was a naga, and it looked undead, but before I could even try to turn it, Aliosha killed it, and it didn’t turn out to be undead at all. Tricky, tricky! We were pretty worn out after that last battle, so we went back out of the cave to get some rest and make sure our traveling companions were okay.

I’ll tell you more later, but right now, we have to go back in to try to find Urol and kill a demon.

Hugs & Kisses,

Maggie