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.
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