Sail South From Sasserine

[Dantardis]

Moving on into the complex the party noticed that the walls of the areas they were heading into were much rougher and earthier than previously. There was also a slightly foul stench in the air. Moving into a chamber they saw a group of grey skinned feral creatures, which Seki identified as troglodytes. Grey attempted to hit one of the troglodystes but missed. Aust loaded a crossbow and fired, hitting one of the troglodytes. Two of the remaining creatures threw their javelins and hit Erin. Morning moved forward and killed one of the troglodytes. One of the other creatures was hit by Seki's snake. Aust tried to shoot his crossbow again but missed, the bolt boucing harmlessly into the wall. By this time the troglodytes had started to move forward, one hitting Erin and another clawing Bato. Erin retaliated by wounding one of the troglodytes. Morning by this time had moved around the creatures and managed to kill one of the troglodytes. Grey killed another one with an arrow, and the final one was decapitated by Morning.
Some further troglodytes entered the chamber from a side passage, Grey managing to hit one with an arrow as it entered. Seki had summoned a wolf which hit one of the troglodytes but failed to trip it. Grey, whilst trying to shoot one of the troglodytes failed and hit Erin by mistake. One of the remaining troglodytes was very unlucky, being hit and tripped by one of the troglodytes before being savaged by a second wolf, which Seki had summoned. A further troglodyte was ripped apart by another wolf. One of the remaining troglodytes savagely attacked Morning, doing considerable damage.
A troglodyte who appeared slighly tougher than the rest had by this time appeared at another section of the chamber, near Erin, he appeared to try and cast a spell at Erin but failed. Several of the remaining troglodytes hit the wolves, doing minimal damage. Bato and Morning, working as a team managed to kill some further troglodytes. The larger troglodyte cast a spell towards Erin and Grey, causing a sheen of glittering gold to appear, although Ern and Grey appeared unaffected. Combining might and magic Nimo and Grey finished off the larger troglodyte, while the rest of the party mopped up the rest.

 

[Dantardis]

The Party then came to an area which was laid out like a tomb, the walls and floors being of a more definitive workes stone. In one corner there were several dwarven sarcophagi. The party then came to a door. They opened the door and saw a collonaded chamber. Grey entered first and could see a grey skinned dwarf attempting to hide very badly in one corner. He called out to it and was greeted in response by a voice saying, "Go away, this is our place!" Grey retaliated by shooting on of the duergar through the doorway, killing it and called out for any others to surrender. Two more of the creatures promptly came forward and surrendered their weapons. The group then moved towards a door above a raised dias, which the duergar had indicated their leader lay behind. Opening the door, the found the duergar leader together with two other warriors. Grey moved in quickly and hit the leader, moving past the other duergar who failed to hit him. Following up his attack Grey quickly killed the leader, whilst Morning moved in to attack one of the warriors, staggering it. Erin. wielding her mighty trident also managed to hit one of the duergar, leaving Grey to finish it off.
Grey then moved to another door leading from the collonaded chamber. A draft beneath the door felt slightly cold. Opening the door the party saw two large skeletal figures, a smaller and more savage skeletal creature and finallt behind them a floaing black cowed figure that seemed to be continually talking to itself. This noise seemed to drill itself into Seki's brain and he ordered his dire bat to attack Grey, before moving off. Erin, who had been at the front of the group as they opened the door was brutally attacked by the two skeletons . Seki's bat, meanwhile hit Grey. Erin was again hit by the skeletons twice before she could retaliate. The black cowled figure, moving through the floor, reappeared next to Morning and hit her, draining some of her mental well being. Grey moved up to one of the skeletons and hit it with a positive energy attack, whilst the allip hit Morning again with its drain attack, shortly before Morning finished it off with a mighty blow. The skeletons continued their attacks on Erin, causing her to fall to the ground, mortally wounded. Fortunately Morning's healing aura stabilised her, causing her to stabilise. Morning then stood over Erin's fallen form and managed to kill one of the skeletons, causing it to crumble to dust. In retaliation the other skeleton hit Morning. Grey, who had been moving behind the main body of the fight moved in to attack the wight at the back and dealt it damage with a positive energy attack. Meanwhile at the front of the fight although Morning managed to hit the skeleton in front of her she was again hit by it and fell over. Seki, who by this time had recovered from the allip's incessant babble moved into the fray and hit the skeleton. The dire bat also hit the skeleton and it was destroyedm leaving only the wight to be dealt with. Seki moved in to hit the wight and Grey finally destroyed it with a mighty thrust.

 

[Dantardis]

Coming to a chain ladder leading down they could hear the sound of lapping water although below was in darkness. Lowering themselves carefully the party found themselves on a small beach, surrounded by a slow moving underground lake, in the middle of which was a small island. Between the beach and the island were all manner of floating debris that formed a kind of floating walkway. Morning mumbled under her breath and an area of the lake was illuminated in a series of glowing lights which moved and danced around the area. Erin, who had been moving carefully across the walkway, was suddenly surprised as a fierce, black, draconic head burst out of the water and breathed a cloud of acid at her, burning her slightly. Grey, who had managed to sneak over to the island picked up his bow and hit the dragon with an arrow. The dragon then retaliated by hitting Erin with its bite and claw attacks. Aust, who had managed to load his crossbow fired and hit the dragon. Erin moved forward to hit the dragon but missed. Morning cast a spell and a glowing bolt of cold energy hit the dragon, which quickly dove back under the water. Seki summonned two porpoises who also followed the dragon down into the water.
The dragon reappeared shortly later, near the island and moved forward to attack Grey, but Grey was quicker, striking the dragon with a blow which would have killed a lesser creature. The dragon breathed in and then spewed out a further stream of acid at Grey. Seki mumbled under his breath and a flaming ball shot out of his fingers and hit the dragon. This was immediately followed by Grey moving in to attack the dragon, and hitting it. The dragon tried to fly up at this point and flew straight into Seki's dire bat, hitting it. At this point Aust cast a spell and a shower of golden light hit the dragon, making it glow. Seki then cast a spell that made his hands glow with fire and hit the dragon making it staggered. Grey then fired an arrow and hit the dragon and it fell to the ground, a combination of Grey's arrow and the fall finally being enough to kill it.

 

[Dantardis]

Some time later the party had fashioned a crude sled to drag their treasures out of the complex. Their journey back to Sasserine was uneventful until they were about 2 hours away from the city. At this point Grey spotted some strange dog-like creatures hiding in the undergrowth and just had time to shout out a warning as the creatures burst out of their hiding place at speed. "They're Runehouds", yelled Seki, "we need silver weapons to kill them."
One of the runehounds had by this time already charged up to Morning and hit her with a bite. Morning in retaliation hit the runehound, whilst Erin hit a second creature. Aust, who found himself in the open with no protection from the creatures cast a spell on himself. One of the creatures continued to hit Morning, whilst a third tried to hit Grey and Aust but missed. Seki's dire bat moved in and with a mighty blow killed one of the creatures. Grey, who had taken up a defensive position on top of the cart managed to hit one of the creatures which had climbed aboard after him, whilst Erin, reversing the grip on her trident gave a mighty thrust, causing the runehound to fall over. The dire bat also hit the third runehound wounding it. One of the remaining creatures, whose wounds had healed up slightly hit Morning. Seki cast a spell and a ball of fire hit the remaining runehound before Morning dealt the killing blow. The rest of the journey back to Sasserine passed quickly and without incident.

 

[Dantardis]

On arival back in Sasserine they found that Lavinia had been bust stocking up both the Sea Wyvern and the Blue Nixie with goods and passengers. Lavinia asked them if there was anything which they wanted to take along as they would be travelling for almost a month. After making various purchases and training the party were ready and with a certain degree of ceremony both ships passed through the channel and into the open sea. Erin at this time was not with the rest of the party, stating that she had personal business to attend to in her homeland, but she advised she did have a colleague called Sangaya who she did not hesitate to recommend. With this new companion commanding the vessel the ship joined its companion vessel on its long voyage.
Hugging the coastline of the continent both ships travelled easily together. By the afternoon of the first day Grey and also Krash Goldragon, the ship's bos'n, who had been standing in the crow's nest with a telescope spotted a strange white crested formation in the sea behind their vessel, although some distance away. Sangaya, on receiving the information took command, ordering that the ship's bell be rung and that all non-essential crew members go below deck. Morning took charge of the ballista at the stern side of the ship whilst Grey readied to fire some salvos of arrows. Grey managed to hit one of the creatures with an arrow although the ballista missed and caused a splash on its first firing. As the creatures drew closer the ballista and arrows continued to rain down but this time were unsuccessful. The creatures at this time dived below the surface although it was obvious that they were still coming. Seki cast a spell on the water causing the immediate are around the ship to experience a sudden change of pressure. By this time the creatures were readying to climb aboard. From his position on deck Aust could see them quite clearly and called out to the rest, "They're Anguillans, a type of sea worm." He then cast a spell and a bolt of glowing colour shot out and hit two Anguillans, causing one to become blinded. The other creature moved forward to attack Aust, snarling and baring its teeth but Aust managed to teleport away before it could hurt him. A second anguillan hit Krask Golddragon, wounding him slightly. Seki's dire bat hit a third anguillan and killed it. Morning switched on her burning aura, hitiing an Anguillan and killed it. Sangaya, whispering a word to herself caused a glowing blade to spring from her hand and hit a further creature. Grey picked up his weapon and hit a further creature. Aust tried to luach a ball of acid at one of the creatures but it managed to dodge out of the way. By this time, at the foc'sle of the ship an anguillan managed to critical Sangaya, hurting her most severely. Seki's dire bat retaliated by hitting an anguillan, which was quickly followed up by another hit by Morning, causing it to catch on fire, killing it. Sangaya hit the same creature at more or less the same time, quickly finishing it off. The final creature tried to swim away but was hit before Grey and Sangaya beforeit managed to swim away. And so, the fighover, the good ship Sea Wyvern passed on its way.

 

[Dantardis]

INTERLUDE

In her home she waited, her children all around her. They needed feeding again. She knew that soon she could feed them. Food was always coming in to this area, it was just a matter of time.

 

[Dantardis]

It was a few days later and Grey, whilst on deck noticed that there were two areas of blackness which appeared to be moving towards the ship. Drawing his bow he fired an arrow at the ship's bell causing it to ring and summoning the rest of the party to the deck whilst the main body of passengers headed below. The black areas hit the Sea Wyvern causing it to shake, causing some of the people on deck to fall over. At the same time Grey fired at one of the creatures with an arrow. Seki had been standing near the bow of the vessel and fell over the side as the ship rocked. Fortunately his dire bat flew down and picked him up but not before one of the creatures bit a chunk out of his bat. Nimo muttered under his breath and a beam of energy flew out of his fingers and hit one of the creatures. Aust looked at the creatures and shouted, "They're Blackskates, a type of undead fish." Grey fired again hitting the second blackskate for minimal damage. Seki chnated to himself and a bolt of lightning hit the blackskate on his side of the ship. Morning seemed to be drawing power from deep within herself and lit up with flames. At this point the blackskates hit the ship again and a surge of green water moved across the ship, washing Morning astern. Grey hit one of the blackskates with a force effect. Sangaya arrived on the deck at this point and gave orders to the crewmen. By this point the Sea Wyvern was starting to list slightly to port as the blackskates attached themselves to the hull. Morning moved to the port side, provoking an attack from the blackskate and then hit the creature with a beam of light. Aust turned one of the blackskates causing it to to swim away. Nimo cast a further spell causing a jet of steam it the final blackskate, killing it.

 

[Dantardis]

That evening Lavinia invited the party for a banquet aboard her ship, the Blue Nixie,the wine and the conversation flowing freely. On the return trip back to the Sea Wyvern Grey noticed a strange thing. The two crews had set up a rope chair to transfer the passengers back to the Sea Wyvern and Grey noticed that the ropes had been partially cut through. Calling out a warning to the rest of the party he walked quickly across the ropes back to the Sea Wyvern. At this point there was a loud crash and two mephits appeared into the air. At this moment Grey reached the topsail and cut it down, revealing an invisible figure beneath the sail as it fell to the deck. Seki cast a spell with a bolt of fire, aiming it at the mephit but this missed and hit the invisible figure. Sangaya drew her weapon and hit one of the mephits whilst Morning swam aboard. Nimo withdrew back to the Sea Wyvern and tried to climb aboard but was hit by the two mephits. Aust cast a spell and a beam of colour hit the mephits, blinding them. Seki's dire bat was then hit by the mephits in retaliation. Seki at this point muttered under his breath and changed into a medium sized dinosaur. Grey hit the invisible figure, dealing it a mighy blow and meanwhile Sangaya killed one of the mephits. Morning tried to hit the invisible figure at this point but missed. The mephits hit Sangaya, Grey and Morning. Seki and Sangaya both killed one mephit each. Once the fight was over the party examined the body of the previously invisible figure, Aust was able to identify it as Rowyn Kellani, a member of one of the noble houses of Sasserine. They also noticed that she wore a tatoo identifying her as one of the Lotus Dragons.

 

[Dantardis]

A few days later Krash Goldragon sighted land and both vessels docked in Fort Blackwell. After spending a few days training and buying equipment, they were contacted by the mayor of the Fort mentioned to the party that several of the Fort's druids had disappeared into the jungle and had not been seen for a number of days. The party decided to investigate this development.
After a trek into the interior which took about half an hour, the party came to a large clearing from which they could see several druidic figures who appeared to be tied to trees. Standing in the middle of the clearing was a strange figure, which appeared to have no face, rather it had what appeared to be a large mouth. It spotted soem of the party and started to emit a high pitched moaning sound which led to many of the party becoming shaken. Grey managed to shake off the effects of the figure and so did Nimo who cast a spell causing an area of golden light to appear around the creature, but it did not appear to be overly affected. Seki summoned two dire wolves and these raced towards the figure, one becoming shaken as it entered the area of the moaning effect, the other managing to hit the creature. Aust cast a further glitterdust spell at the creature but again it managed to throw off the effects. The creature hit both one of the wolves and Sangaya, who by this time had moved into the area. Morning hit the creature in retaliation whilst Nimo cast another glitterdust which again the creature was able to shake off. Grey, by this time had started to move around the perimeter of the clearing and started to free the druids, one by one. The creature, meanwhile hit Sangaya. By this time, however, the rest of the party had arrived and make short work of the creature. Once the druids had been freed they told that they had been going about a druidic ritual when the creature, known as a gloom golem had appeared amongst them and made them tie each other to the trees. The party were feted in Fort Blackwell for the rest of the day before they set sail again the following morning.

 

[Dantardis]

The following afternoon the Sea Wyvern spotted a strange sight, in the water off the starboard side of the vessel, there was a mound of debris, from which two figures were clinging. Once they had been taken aboard the Sea Wyverm they told their story. They revealed that they were whalers from the north who had been blown off course. On their way back north their vessel had been attacked and destroyed although some of the crew may have survived. They asked Sangaya if she would be willing to sail back to where the vessel was attacked to see if there were any other survivors.
A few hours later, as dusk was approaching the party saw a further area of debris, with a great number of whalers holding it to it, about twenty in all. When they saw the ship they cried out for the party to hurry up and rescue them as something was about to attack them. Nimo dived into the water to see if he could spot anything and simultaneously the whalers all appeared to be pulled beneath the waves.