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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 2689213" data-attributes="member: 301">Session 10 - Madness in Freeport - 10/11/2005 (Courtesy of Sully)Yo, ho ho!When last we left Nate, the Entertaining Bard with Roguish Good Looks; Bronson, the Sensitive and Insightful Cleric of Aster; Tavaari, the Handsome and Mysterious Rogue; and Sully, the Tragically Beautiful, Dazzling, Charming Master of Swords, Men and Beasts (Is there really a difference?); Theron had revealed himself to be K’Stallo, a cleric of Yig from the North. He had entrusted our daring heroes to retrieve the jade serpent from the Temple of Yig with which to fight the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.Sister Gwendolyn had promised that if Sea Lord Drac and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign were defeated, Bronson would be rewarded with land in the temple district on which to build a temple to Aster, Nate and Sully would be rewarded with a fine, sea-faring vessel from Drac’s seized fleet, and Tavaari would be rewarded too… I guess. (He didn’t really request anything, but I’m sure that Sister Gwendolyn will come up with something appropriate.)K’Stallo arranged for a ship to transport the party to the Temple of Yig. The temple was accessible through a cavern that could only be entered at low-tide, me hearties! At low tide, our heroes piled into a small rowboat and shoved off. Meanwhile, Bronson’s minions walked below the water accompanying the boat. Bronson used his superior sailing skills to pilot the boat into a wall. Nate and Bronson were cast overboard on impact, nearly sealing their fate and dooming them to watery graves, but they were able to stay afloat, and Sully moved swiftly to Bronson’s aid. As Sully attempted to free Bronson from the gloomy depths, she and Tavaari noticed four passages leading out of the caves and on the far side of the cavern, “Make-out Beach.” Sully was so distracted by the beach (even though it was not a good beach to tan on) that she failed to retrieve her trusted companion. Nate tried to swim for shore, but he was unable to make much progress and didn’t even notice the giant turtle in the water behind him. Fortunately, Sully and Tavaari did, and the latter wasted no time in attacking the beast with his might crossbow. Meanwhile, the turtle took his best shot at Nate, and it succeeded. Nate found himself badly injured and in the jaws of a beast he never saw coming. After pulling Bronson into the boat, Sully wasted no time in rowing the boat toward Nate. The creature saw the boat coming and dropped Nate, moving to attack the small vessel, giving Tavaari, Sully and Bronson and opportunity to take a shot at it. They used this opportunity to find vulnerabilities in the beast’s seemingly impenetrable shell. The monstrous turtle struck back at Sully and attempted to dive under the boat. This granted the party two boons. First, Sully’s fresh wound lit a fire in her belly to destroy the beast, and second, it gave the crew another opportunity the strike out at the monster. Although the water was reddened with the monster’s blood, the beast escaped into the morky depths. The party gathered on the beach to regroup and decide what to do next. As Bronson gathered his minions, Nate, Sully and Tavaari took a look around. Make-out Beach turned out NOT to be a great place to make out OR tan, much to Sully’s disappointment. It was littered with skeletons. Tavaari spotted a saber handle poking out of the sand and quickly retrieved the sword. The blade gleamed in the light of Bronson’s sword. Immediately, a shadow appeared out of the cave wall. Tavaari pulled confidence from his new weapon and charged the shadow. Sully lost her concentration for a moment. Bronson noticed that the shadow was incorporeal and could not be hurt by non-magical weapons and decided not to have his cohorts attack the fiend. Nate did a little dance. Bronson rebuked the shadow, and it cowered against the cave wall, that scurvy dog! Tavaari and Sully cut the shadow down as Bronson’s minions gathered around, and Nate did another little dance. Go, Nate, go!After dispensing the shadow, Nate and Tavaari took a moment to examine the saber. It emanated a magical aura, but the extent of the magic remained a mystery. Nate, Tavari and Sully shuffled weapons to make the party more effective. Then, they took a moment to consider their options. None of the outlets from the cave seemed remarkable in anyway, so Sully made a suggestion based on her experience with the Pirating Aptitude Test. She proposed that they choose the third outlet. Bronson supported their decision, and they were off.Bronson tied her skeleton and zombies to the front of the boat and instructed them to pull it down the third tunnel. The water began to move more swiftly. The tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the rowboat would be lost, but her course stayed true, and the waters calmed near a boarded cavern entrance. It read, “DANGER! KEEP OUT!” Bronson and Sully took a moment to consider the warning, but Nate and Tavaari blatantly ignored it, and broke right through the boards. After anchoring the boat, the party ventures inside. Beyond the entry lay an enormous ornate jade door. In the center of the door, there was a doorknob in the mouth of a serpent with an inscription in parseltongue below. Nobody was able to read the inscription, so Nate decided it would be a good idea to just open the door. As soon as he grasped the doorknob, he could feel the mouth of the serpent close on hand and lets go. Venom shot out of the serpent’s mouth, but Nate was able to dodge it. Bronson, Sully and Tavaari were unable to observe any of this, but Tavaari checked the door for traps anyway and found none. Bronson instructed one of her zombies to open the door, and he was able to do so without incident.The door opened into a round room with a large statue of a serpent in the center and a ramp at the edge of the room descending down into a pool of water. Nate was able to transform himself into a locathah and swam down into the water.Nate found himself in another round room with a statue at the center, and he could clearly see that the water did not continue down to the next level. Before returning to his friends, Nate noticed that the statue in this room was wearing a jade amulet, which he quickly took. As soon as he took the amulet, a serpent shadow appeared in the water with him. Showing a brief glimmer of wisdom, Nate swam up to join the others. The shadow followed right behind him. Bronson seized the opportunity and rebuked the shadow. Now cowering, the shadow was easily defeated by Tavaari, Nate and Sully.The party ventured down two levels into another round room where they encountered another snakeman shadow who sat pointing at an altar. Nate decided to attack first and ask questions later, but the shadow begged for mercy. He explained that in life, he had been Alistair, a cleric of Yig, and that Yig had abandoned his people and set a curse upon the temple. Meanwhile, Nate went and sat at the top of the ramp with his head in the water so as not to waste his spell. Alistair asked for the party’s help in lifting the curse. To lift the curse, he needed help performing a ritual which required four artifacts: the amulet of the serpent, the scales of the serpent, the venom of the serpent, and the fangs of the serpent. He explained that once all artifacts were retrieved, and the ritual was performed, the jade serpent would rise out of the altar, and the un-souls of the Yig clerics would be set free. The scales of the serpent could be found on the next level down with the cleric Vrosh who had gone mad. The venom of the serpent could be found in the second level down, where the cleric of Yig, Seth, had been imprisoned. The fangs of the serpent were to be found on the lowest level in the pit of the great serpent. The party ventured downward in search of the scales of the serpent. When they reached the next level, there were 3 doors, one to the left, one to the right, and one gaily forward. For lack of a more informed decision, the adventurers proceeded gaily forward, where they found what appeared to be a training room. The room was filled with racks of arms and armaments that had long since lost their awesomeness. At the center of the room stood a shadow serpent in shiny green scale mail, presumably Vrosh. “Prepare to fight for Yig!” he shouted, and Sully quickly answered his call. The party made short order of Vrosh, Bronson using his power over the undead, and the rest of the party using their swords to finish him off. Vrosh’s special armor seemed to do him no good at all, and the armor soon lay in the hands of the brave adventurers. Tavaari checked the other two doors for traps, and they seemed safe, so the party decided to check out the other two rooms, but there wasn’t much of value in either of them, so they moved on.On the next level, the group found 5 doors. A voice called out to the party from behind the center door. It was Sseth, who had been imprisoned there since Yig had abandoned the temple. Sseth explained how to remove the venom of the serpent from the serpent statue on that level. Sseth was a little… funny. Not funny haha, but funny hmmm… Our heroes contemplated releasing him but thought it would be better to just allow his soul to be freed when the curse was lifted. Further exploration revealed an incubation room full of crushed eggs, but there was one intact, which the party decided to hang on to. They also found a jade serpent, but since it didn’t rise out of the altar of Yig, they pretty much figured it wasn’t THE jade serpent, so they stowed it and moved on. Yar!The final level revealed two doors. One door was warped and magically sealed. It was beyond the skill of even Tavaari, so the party opted for the other door. Inside was a huge room, recessed in the center, and there, in the pit, was a HUGE serpent. After a hard-fought battle, the serpent was dispatched, and Sully cut the fangs from its jaw. A secret door on the other side of the pit revealed a small chest. Tavaari was viciously attacked by a tiny shadow serpent, but did that stop our heroes? NAY! They quickly killed the shadow and discovered Allistar’s journal and some booty. It weren’t big booty, but ‘twas booty just the same. Booty is booty.The brave and mighty crew raced up to Allistar’s level and quickly helped him to perform the ritual to free the souls of the priests of Yig. Always selfless, Bronson offered a blood sacrifice. As soon as the ritual was complete, the temple shook with terrible force as the jade serpent rose out of the altar. Nate, Sully, Bronson and Tavaari barely escaped with their lives, but their gallantry unrivaled, they pushed through to the cave entrance and shoved off. Nate wanted to explore the other caves, but the others reminded him of the pressing matters in Freeport, and the crew made off for the larger ship to rest and make their return.To be continued, me hearties!</blockquote>

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