Kay's Journal - 3/18 - Reaper Errant

Kay’s Journal – 3/18

Abran spends some quality time with his newly won woobie/cloak. It protects him from the cold and will help camouflage him in snowy/mountain environments. Nice!

We get back to the ship. Fathom overhears some conversation – apparently one of the deck hands went missing for a while, came back, and got yelled at by the 1st mate. Fathom joins the conversation to learn more. The missing hand said he walked the shore line a bit. She asks if he’d normally shirk his duties like this – no, the crew says, he’s a solid worker at sea, though…less so on shore. 

We consider what to do. Is he another slaad? Or could he be the one who sabotaged the ship? Pujol suggests we try to track where he went on the beach. He goes to ask the captain about that. She agrees to let us go, so long as we don’t take too long.

Abran finds the tracks and we follow them. We come across a fresh water stream, at which point the tracks disappear. We follow the stream for a while, looking for tracks on either side, in case he hid his path by going through the water. Sure enough, after a while we find tracks leaving the stream and heading off.

We follow those tracks to a large boulder. Something has been carved into the stone. It’s different in style from the elven writing we found before, but it’s definitely ruins of some type. None of use recognize it.

I notice a broken piece of charcoal on the ground by the boulder – it looks like somebody did a rubbing of the carving. We see some charcoal dust around the area as well. Pujol thinks the charcoal was just pulled from a fire.

Pujol inspects the boulder, and thinks it’s a partly buried pillar, or maybe statue – it seems to have facial features, though not human features. Pujol walks a little ways in the direction the statue is facing, as far as he can get without getting out of sight of the rest of us. He doesn’t think out wayward crewman went that way.

Pujol has Abran do a walk around the place while he does a rubbing of the runes on his underwear. Abran finds Thorel’s path back to the ship; he also spots places where Thorel stopped and picked up shells. 

There are no indications of magic on the boulder. 

I copy the runes into the special book.

Fathom thinks the Fall is old enough (3-4 millennia since founding) that they’re likely to be generally interested in old stuff.

We get back to the ship and update the captain. Fathom asks the captain if she’d let us look through Thorel’s stuff. She will allow it, but only if we talk to him and he and the captain are there. We’re not so keen on that, so we decide to just watch him for a while.

But for now, we rest.

After resting, we decide to confront Thorel. We take the captain with us and go to Thorel at his bunk. The captain introduces the situation, saying we’re going to question him about his time on the beach. He seems caught off guard.

Thorel apologizes for skipping out when he gets on shore. CornCob asks if he saw a carved rock. He admits he saw it, and it looked old. CornCob asks if he took a rubbing, Thorel says he tried but isn’t sure he did it well. CornCob asks what he did with the rubbing. Thorel says it wasn’t very good, but after being asked again he says he has it and goes to get it out of his footlocker. It looks like he tried to do a good job, just isn’t practiced at it.

I ask where he got the paper, does he usually carry paper with him? He says he doesn’t usually carry paper, but he bought this in Ven. He was thinking about taking up drawing.

I look at him and in his footlocker with the goggles; there’s nothing magical in either place.

I ask what he was doing when the ship started leaking. He was the 2nd person to find it, and he started bailing right away. He had heard a rumor that it was sabotage.

CornCob asks what he plans to do with the rubbing. He planned to keep it – the salesman in Ven who sold him the paper suggested he document his trips. CornCob asks how he found the boulder – he says he just happened across it. This is a little odd, given that it looks like he made a direct line to the thing.

Pujol asks to take a look at the rubbing, and CornCob offers to buy it.

I think he might be lying – or, he might have been magically induced to do it. It seems like…maybe the second is the case. Maybe someone he met, like the vendor in Ven, made him do it, or maybe he’s a member of the order and they gave him the quest.

We decide to follow him the next time he goes ashore.

We consider adjusting the rubbing and giving it to Morgot. 

We ask Cook if he’s seen Thorel and Morgot hanging out much. Cook makes us omelets. Fathom asks if he’s seen Thorel hang out with anybody in particular – who are his friends on the ship? Cook says not really, Thorel goes his own way. Fathom asks Cook if Thorel hangs out with Morgot; Cook says they once had a dispute about bacon vs. pork belly. We ask Cook about tattoos; Thorel has two, a flower and a compass. The flower is old, but the compass is just a couple years old. The compass is under the flower. It has 8 points and is rotated a little.

We consider the compass tattoo. From a religion perspective, a compass might be used to highlight points in a text, but it’s not something that has a meaning of its own.

From a historical perspective, a compass was a guiding point to…something. There are a couple stories about errands to be run, and the hero of the story was given a map/compass that would always point in the direction they need to go. Fables include this as a motif in stories dealing with the rise and fall of nations or people.

All this goes into the magic journal.

Fathom considers trying to dispel the geas, if indeed Thorel is under one. She and Pujol go talk to him. Pujol chats him up while Fathom does the dispel. After the spell is cast, his demeanor hasn’t changed. Fathom asks again about why he was exploring. He talks about just…liking to explore. She asks if he was drawn anywhere in particular, and he says he was drawn to the NW side of the island. He says the rock was in a barren area and drew his attention because of that. He says it was just luck that he brought paper along that day.

Fathom asks about this merchant in Ven that got him interested in artistic pursuits. He describes a short man with greasy blonde hair, wearing a cloak where he carried all sorts of different stuff. Cook, Morgot, and a couple of the rest of the crew (the twins) were also there when Thorel met him. Morgot also talked to the parchment seller and bought a bunch of parchment from him, but then he always does.

Pujol asks who the first person at the whole in the ship was – it was Tanya. They had gone below to check the cargo. Tanya found the hole and sent him up to alert the crew.

Thorel seems more relaxed at the end of the conversation than at the beginning.

They ask him about his tattoo. He says he got it before Ven, and it’s on his butt. He had some extra coin and decided to get a tattoo. It’s flipped, so it’s pointing SE.

We go talk to Morgot to find out more about the weird parchment guy. Morgot says his name was Bryant. He sells all kinds of writing material. Morgot isn’t sure if he’s a patron of the arts, but does think the stuff he sells might be hot. Also, he sells bad ink that fades.

Pujol asks about Bryant’s personal life; Morgot doesn’t know. Pujol asks what temple they might be associated with; no answer. CornCob asks if Bryant has any special parchment that only goes to certain customers. Yes he does – last time he had some high quality stuff that must have come from the church or the military. CornCob points out that parchment like that could be used to fake orders. 

We show Morgot the rubbing; turns out that it’s on the special high-quality parchment, which as it turns out is not very good parchment for doing rubbings. We point out the symbol, but he doesn’t recognize it. We tell Morgot about the stone. CornCob describes it, and asks Morgot if he’s seen anything similar. He thinks he might have, on another island they came across. We are heading toward that island, more or less. CornCob asks if he has a sketch of what he saw on that island. He does; as he turns to get the drawing, we feel the ship nose dive suddenly. Winged creatures like the harpies we fought before are approaching.

Kay's Journal - 3/4 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal – 3/4/2022

Gooseneck has been sleeping it off on the ship, right up until the rolled the ship up on to its side for repairs. He leaves the ship, looks around, and spots Cook roasting a pig. He also learns that the rest of us have gone off with Morgot. He sneaks a piece of the pig and follows after us. He does get spotted taking the bit of pig, but the crew who spotted him aren’t talking – so far. They do look maybe a little jealous. There might be some payback later.

In the meantime, we are faced with a five-headed hydra. Abran casts a wind spell at it and retreats to a position that’s saf – er, better for bow shots. He shoots at it, hits. Fathom waits for people to clear away from the hydra before casting her fireball. Pujol shepherds Morgot farther away and casts a wall of thorns around the hydra. That seems to hurt it as it gets blood on the vines – but CornCob notices that its blood it damaging the vines in return. Oh good. Acid blood. 

CornCob moves away from it and casts a blast at it, which hurts it some. That clears the space so Fathom can cast her fireball.

The hydra pushes its way through the wall of thorns, heading after CornCob and Pujol. I duck behind some cover and shoot at the hydra.

Abran throws a fireball from his necklace at it, which hurts it some more. Gooseneck is close enough to hear the fireball go off. He rushes in and smacks it with his axe. Fathom casts another spell at it, does some more damage. Pujol keeps ushering Morgot away, and shoots the hydra with his crossbow. CornCob is right in front of the hydra and casts a bolt at it, and also summons his magic weapon. 

The hydra attacks CornCob and Gooseneck – one head at each of them. It misses CornCob, but hits Gooseneck. One of its heads, which had been ‘killed’, grows into two living heads. I fire one last arrow at it, and it falls dead at CornCob and Gooseneck’s feet. CornCob, Gooseneck, and Fathom continue to beat on it until they are sure it’d dead. It doesn’t seem to be regrowing anything, so we’re feeling pretty confident that it’s dead for good.

Abran looks down the hole that the hydra came out of. It’s dark, but he sees a stairwell about 10 feet down. He jumps down the hole. Gooseneck and CornCob follow. Morgot doesn’t want to, but since we’re all going to go, his options are to go with us, or stay up here alone. He decides to go. Pujol hangs a rope down so they can climb back out. Fathom looks down, and with her dark vision sees Abran, Gooseneck, and CornCob, and the stairs. We all end up going down the hole. 

This is a bad idea.

We end up 30 or 40 feet underground. Morgot thinks we’re actually under the water table. CornCob sees some moisture on some of the stones; one wall in particular is ‘extra wet’. It’s murky, and there’s some rotting vegetation and a smell of salt water. CornCob sees salt built up on one of the walls.

Abran doesn’t see any sign that the hydra was living down here; most likely it was summoned. He finds a spot where minerals have built up to create a wall across what had been an opening into another area. I look at it with the goggles. The opening and the mineral barrier don’t appear to be magic, but there’s a spot a little father down the wall that is magical. There’s also more elven writing. We do as we did before – I copy it down, and Abran reads what I’m copying. 

We notice that Morgot has some glasses which are generating just enough light for him to sketch by. That’s handy!

Abran reads the elvish script – ‘your trial awaits along the path forward’. He thinks this might be some kind of proving ground. The hydra was the first trial, and more await us along the way. He thinks the rest of the trials might also summon creatures; he also thinks that at the end, there might be a family or clan weapon or other item. This is something an elf of a warrior caste would be familiar with.

Gooseneck swings at the mineral wall with his stone-breaking axe. He hits it hard, and it shatters, revealing a passage behind it. A gust of cold wind blows out from the passage.

Abran casts dark vision on Gooseneck so we can move forward without having to light a lamp. We head down the passage and come to a wall of ice blocking the path. It feels like there’s an expansive cave on the other side. I look with the goggles, and see a rune inscribed on the other side. It looks like a conjuration rune that would summon something when we go through the wall.

CornCob and Gooseneck start breaking down the ice wall. After they spend half an hour or so chipping at it, Fathom steps in to bring in some fire and hurry the process along. After a little while longer, we get through the wall and go in to the next chamber. It’s quite cold. Most of the cavern is taken up by a pool of water. There’s frost on the walls and ice around the edges of the pool of water.

We’re pretty sure we triggered the rune, but nothing appears to have showed up yet. Unless, of course, it’s in the water. I fire up the goggles and look at the pool, and sure enough I see some motion under the water. Gooseneck throws a bit of leftover roast pig into the pool. A large remorhaz surfaces. Ah, there it is.

I shoot at it, miss. Pujol pulls Morgot away from it again, and shoots at it with his crossbow. Abran backs up and shoots it. CornCob casts a blast at it, and hurts it. He casts a shield on Fathom and Gooseneck. Gooseneck rages and swings at the creature. He hits it, but gets sprayed with its fiery blood in return and is hurt himself.

Fathom knows that neither fire nor ice will hurt it, so she hits it with a bolt of magic. It tries to grab CornCob and swallow him. It is successful at the first part, grabbing CornCob in its mouth. I shoot at it but miss, and Pujol starts using his harp to heal CornCob. Abran shoots it again. CornCob banishes it – it’s gone for 60 seconds, so that’s how long we have to prepare. 

We regroup, and set up to unload on it when it reappears. This works, and as soon as it reappears we all attack it. It’s not enough to take the thing down, though. CornCob summons the water elemental from the stone. We all keep attacking it. It grabs Abran in his mouth. Abran stabs it with a dagger, and that is enough. It dies, and as it falls to the ground, it disappears. All that hits the ground is a velvety, sky blue cloak.

The cavern warms up from ‘cold’ to ‘chilly’. Abran takes a look at the cloak and sees elven runes on it. It gives him a very comfy feeling, like it would warm him. He puts it on. It’s going to take a while for him to figure out what exactly it’s going, but he feels destined to wear it. 

We head back up.

Kay's Journal - 2/18/22 - Reaper Errant

Kay’s Journal, 2/18

We’ve finished the fight with the Sahuagin. It’s starting to rain, as we’re entering the storm now. Pujol starts using his weather control abilities, and gets the wind to die down. Yay! However, the mate is having some trouble dealing with the waves because it’s hard to tell what direction the waves should be coming from, with the wind moving…differently. They are inconsistent.

Fathom wonders if the Sahuagin could be affecting the weather as well – she thinks some of their high priestess would have the ability

.

Abran tries to carry messages between Pujol and the mate; it’s not helpful. CornCob suggests that Pujol go stand by the mate so they can communicate directly on what Pujol is making the wind do. That seems to help a lot; and the disconnect between the wind and the waves is much reduced.

Fathom searches the bodies of the dead Sahuagin and dumps them overboard after. Abran and CornCob help her. Fathom finds a uniquely woven charm made from some kind of kelp/seaweed, with arcane runic symbols on it. It looks like some kind of charm or badge. It’s very finely woven and surprisingly delicate.

CornCob shows it to the captain and navigator. The navigator seems nervous about going through the storm instead of around it. He thinks that controlling the weather this way is unnatural. CornCob tries to reassure him, then asks about the woven charm. Neither the captain nor the navigator is familiar with it; they wonder if it could be a symbol from the Sahuagin faith? CornCob doesn’t recognize it as a divine symbol.

A deck hand rushes in – the ship has a leak, maybe there was some damage to the hull in the fight. We are taking on water. CornCob asks how big the hole is, and the hand says that it’s gotten bigger as they’ve tried to repair it. The crew doesn’t think they can patch it. The captain leaves her quarters and heads below to take a look. CornCob goes along.

Below, there’s water up to our knees. I look at the damaged area with the goggles, and it looks like something is still eating at the hull – acid, poison, some kind of chemical, as opposed to a spell. I point out to the crew where the bad wood is so they are trying to fix a patch on something that’s already rotten.

CornCob dives in to the ocean outside the ship, to take a look at the hold from the outside. The damage doesn’t look as bad from out there. He pulls away as much of the rotted wood as he can, and covers the hole with oil cloth. With that help, the crew is able to finish the patch on the inside.

The captain, navigator, and crew who reported the situation head in to the captain’s quarters; CornCob goes along. The crewman thinks the patch won’t hold for more than a couple days. The navigator says the last time they were through this way they passed an island that’s only about half a day away; the ship could put in there to make repairs.

There’s not much choice, so we go to the island. CornCob thinks everyone seems nervous. Go figure; we’ve been out to sea for like three days and it’s been nothing but crises.

I relate everything that’s happened since we set sail in the magic journal. Clearly, something is up with this trip. 

The crew maneuvers the ship onto the beach broadside, and then start moving everything in the hold to the port side so they can roll the ship to exposed the damaged area of the hull.

I hear the navigator talking to the captain and sneak in closer to listen. They are discussing topology – the navigator really wants to go map the island, and the captain doesn’t want to let him go. Finally, the captain agrees to let him go, but says he must take us along to keep him safe.

The navigator really, REALLY wants to go explore. Given the obvious sabotage involved in making sure we stopped at this island, this is looking more and more suspicious.

The island is maybe 5 miles in diameter and not very hilly. There are meadows and trees, but we don’t see much evidence of rivers or creeks. Pujol spots an area of vegetation that might be a sign of fresh water.

I make another entry in the journal about where we are and that Morgoth really, really wants to explore this place. 

We head out. We see some wild boar tracks – not monstrous, but dangerous all the same. Abran thinks the boar is about 600 pounds and came through a couple hours ago.

Morgoth stops to take notes at various spots; he’s very absorbed in what he’s doing. We’re getting a bit of rain, as well.

Abran sees some disturbed leaves that look like a very large insect might have passed through. He thinks the bug was maybe 10’, but tells Pujol it was definitely twice that size. CornCob wants to know what kind of bug it is, and Abran says he thinks it has 6 legs and is maybe ant-ish. He also thinks it went by maybe 10 minutes ago. Pujol listens to see if he can hear it still in the area, but he can’t. Abran thinks there are multiple of these insects on the island, but would be surprised if we saw more than 1 or 2 at once. We let Morgoth know.

Abran and I notice some movement in the under brush and a glint of carapace – not ant, maybe beetle.

The beetle rushes out and attacks Abran. It’s acting like it wants to grab him and carry him off. Abran hits it, then withdraws, carrying the navigator with him. Everybody else attacks the beetle, and it goes down pretty quickly. CornCob asks Abran if he thinks there are more, and Abran does indeed think so.

Morgoth finds a trail of overgrown cobblestones going up a rise. He sees an unnatural shape there, and thinks it might be ruins. It’s definitely something built by sentient creatures, sometime in the past. Abran follows the trail up and finds a fountain.

We go investigate. Abran looks for traps, while Morgoth continues to make notes. Abran sees a symmetry in the ruins, like this was a temple or altar. Fathom looks for magic, and sees a stone behind us that glows with it. Abran and I go to look at the stone. We see engraving on the stone in Elvish; Abran can’t quite make it out, but I can with the goggles. However, I don’t speak elvish, so I start copying it out for Abran to read.

CornCob wonders if the trees that are here are native to this environment or not. He sees some that would normally be in a swampy area, which this is not.

Fathom keeps looking for magic, and sees a glow in the center of the dais. She thinks it might be some kind of conjuration magic.

I finish transcribing the words on the magic stone – it’s something about offering a blade or a trinket to get a treasure, but also warns that the treasure comes with a price – ‘give yourself to be worthy of what you receive’. 

This place does seem pretty similar to some of the elven ruins we encountered back in the city.

Abran lets Morgoth go up to take his rubbing of the stones. CornCob notices an opening about big enough for a sword blade in the middle of the dais. Abran sticks his sword in the hole (because of course he does). A beam of light shoots out, and there’s a hum from the ruins. The top crumbles away, and multiple reptilian heads pop out. It’s a hydra. Lovely.