Session 4, Sailing to Calimport
Coins End
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Session 4 – 2023-09-23
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Summary
Detail
The group finished clearing out the cave last week and started this session standing outside the cave. The rain had let up. The puddles that riddled the floor of the crater were full of water from the recent rain. There was still the sound of water dripping in the nearby woods but it was from leaves and limbs releasing the excess water from the rain. There was no sign of goblins or other creatures. They made their way across the crater floor, avoiding the deeper puddles. They did finally have to cross one deep puddle, at least it was deep to Brandy. Kipp carried her over the puddle so she wouldn't have to get completely saturated. They looked around the stone for bits of rock and stuff that was knocked off but found nothing laying around. The stone was a solid black obsidian with bits of a silvery metal showing through here and there. Kipp and Audra began dinging at it with the really nice picks. Each whack created a spark and a loud noise. It was amplified by the shape of the crater making each hit really loud. They imagined they could be heard for miles around. At first they stopped and tried to figure out some other way to get the rock without making so much noise. After a moment, Audra suggested that this was not an unusual sound around here. The goblins had been whacking at it for a while so the creatures around here should be used to the sound, even expecting it. They continued on. After about 6 hours, they had collected a pound or so of the Mythral and set off for Almraiven.
They headed back the same way they came. By the end of the day, they had made good time and set up camp for the evening. Pyreece took the first watch, Audra the second, and Brandy took the third watch. On Brandy's watch, she heard something that sounded like the screaming of a wild cat or two. Nothing that came too close though. They continued their trip at first light and made great headway that day. Kipp, Brandy, and Audra took the watches. During Audra's watch, something came quickly out of the darkness from the northwest. It was a rather large lizard. It lunged at her, surprising her. She let out a startling alert as she managed to dodge the first attack. Everyone stirred upon hearing her cry out. While battling the first one, a second one attacked from the south side of the camp. It moved in on Brandy. The first one hit Kipp. The second one attacked Brandy but missed. Brandy and Oglesby missed. Audra hit the first one causing it the screech out in pain. Pyreece moved on the second one and hit it. After a few moments more, they finished off the lizards and finished their evenings rest.
They continued on and made it through the forest and camped just on the other side of it. The evening passed without event. They woke and made their way to Almraiven. They reached it early that evening. They went straight to Veoden's tower. They knocked and he came to the door a little bleary-eyed. He seemed a little confused but when Pyreece spoke up saying, “We're back!”, his confusion cleared and he invited them in. Pyreece told him about what had happened to Arowain. He took the news hard. They told him about Daresh, the coin, and everything that happened while they were there. He was definitely concerned when he heard about the coin. He invited them to stay for the evening while he removed himself to researched the coin and what it meant. The party spent the evening resting as they had before when they were here. The night passed without incident. They woke and made breakfast and Veoden joined them. He told them that the coin Arowain had made was an item of great power. The power of the coin continues to grow as long as the owner lives.
Veoden said, “Further more, using the coin will corrupt the wielder to embrace and turn towards even more evil. It sounded like Daresh was already there. If they have any tendencies toward mercy, peace, or goodness, it corrupts them entirely. Normally, this is not too concerning as the coin is usually so powerful, that it destroys anyone who tries to use one after only a few weeks. However, in this case, with Daresh, and the way it became part of her, this is not going to be the case. The coin will not destroy her as it is now part of her. The two will feed off each other and that will keep her alive and her power will continue to grow and get even stronger.”. They talked more about this Halaan that Arowain had told them about. He didn't know this person but thought that he knew someone that would be able to help them find him. He told them, “There is a wizard in the city of Calimport, to the west. His name Geolain. He is a friend of mine from days past, very good man, and very good at getting information. He's amazing. He seems to know everything. He should be able to tell you how to locate Halaan.”.
It was then that Veoden said, “Oh, forgive me!”, as he ran back out of the room. He came back with the payment for the Mythral. The payment included 100 gold for a pound of Mythral and another 100 gold for trying to help Arowain and for the information about the coin. He offered to identify any magic items that they had found along the way. He said, “There isn't much I can do but I can do that, as a reward for something that was supposed to be a simple thing but turned out to be a much more dangerous thing than anticipated. Daresh knows who you are now. She is going to be a great threat to the community”. They had noticed toys about the tower and found out that Veoden had an 8 year old son which prevented him from traveling or adventuring. Oglesby asked, “What would be the best way to travel to Calimport, take a boat?”. Veoden told him that yes, he strongly urged them to go by ship. He could go with them to the harbormaster and see what kind of arrangements might be made. Maybe there is a merchant ship going to Calimport. It's a common occurrence. Almraiven is a stop-over port on the way to Calimport. There is a fair chance that they could pickup passage on a ship heading there in the next day or so. It would be a much shorter journey. A ship can probably make that trip in 7 days where and overland might be more like 15 days and be much more dangerous. He added that he could assist with that as well.
They pulled out the items that needed identifying. There was a dagger +1. There were 5 green acid arrows doing 1d6+1 damage + 1d4 acid damage. There were also 5 red tipped arrows that were fire arrows doing 1d6+1 damage + 1d4 fire damage. The short bow was a +1 weapon. The 2 picks were also +1. Brandy took the short bow +1 along with the acid and fire arrows. The dagger went to Elenor.
They went to the docks and spoke to the harbormaster about passage on a ship to Calimport. He pointed them to a ship going out today called “The Forsaken”. It was a merchant ship headed out to Calimport. The captain was Hagaar Pocaat. The ship was busy with loading and preparations for the voyage. As they arrived at the ship, they asked for Captain Pocaat but the captain wasn't there. The first mate was there. His name was Marcus. Veoden spoke to him. They negotiated a price for the trip. Oglesby tried to get a reduced rate saying something about helping halfling orphans. Veoden talked him down to 8 gold per person but Marcus agreed with the provision that they would have to assist with some of the duties. Veoden paid the man. The Forsaken was a Cog. A Cog is a single masted sailing ship used mostly as a merchant vessel, moving cargo form one port to the next. It was in good condition and well maintained. There were mounted ballista on the bow and stern of the ship.
Captain Pocaat returned. She was a woman, quite tall and muscular. The crew of 18 got things ready to go and set sail for Calimport. They moved off the coast and into deeper water, making their way east. When the evening got there, it got quite dark. They moved around through the crew and got to know some of them. Captain Pocaat was mostly all business. The crew was well disciplined and they felt comfortable amongst them. A few of them felt nauseated at first but quickly got their sea legs. There were crew bunks below decks. Some slept down there and some kept watch. Pyreece prayed for Selune's blessings on the voyage and slept on the deck under the moonlight, feeling closer to the moon goddess out there. Nothing happens on this first night.
Day two was quiet. The wind was light and their speed hindered. They got far enough out that they couldn't see land. On the second night, they doubled up the watch, two per shift. The second night passed without incident. On the third day, the winds were still light but they were moving. That night started out quiet but quickly changed as Audra and Pyreece were on watch and heard a weird sort of gak sound from the rear part of the ship followed by a splash. Looking back, they saw two creatures standing where the helmsman used to stand. They were green skinned, fish-like humanoids with webbed feet, gills, and a finned tail, standing nearly 8 feet tall. They were menacing the other crewmen. They also heard gurgled pleas for help off the port quarter. They also heard the cry, “Sea devils on deck! To arms!”.
Those below decks startled awake upon hearing the battle cry, grabbed weapons, and headed to the main deck. From the rear upper deck, the Sahuagin moved quickly to the main deck and attacked Audra and Pyreece, missing each of them with their trident's. As the others made their way to the main deck, Audra attacked the one on her and hit it. Several of the crew members moved in with shortswords and attacked and hit. One of the others was loading a crossbow for the next round. Kipp made it up to the main deck and fired his bow on the one on Audra, hitting it. Elenor reached the maindeck and heard splashing off the side of the deck and she saw one of the crew in the water fighting with a sahuagin. She sent a magic missile into the sea creature. Brandy makes it to the main deck. She saw the guy off the ship and fired at that sahuagin hitting it for maximum damage. Pyreece was stabbed with a trident. The sahuagin attempted to lift and sling her overboard but she managed to squirm off of the weapon before that happened. The other Sahuagin chose to attack the crewman instead of Audra and missed, nearly damaging his weapon. The crewman in the water was still fighting the sahuagin but the creature had moved underwater and couldn't be seen from the deck of the ship. Ogelsby made it up on the deck and used his sling to fire at the one on Pyreece and hit it. Pyreece hit it as well but it was still standing. The crewmembers struck back and hit a couple of them. The man with the crossbow moved down the length of the ship and positioned himself to fire on the one in the water if it dared show itself again. Audra attacked the one on her and hit it again. Brandy took her second attack on the one on Pyreece and missed. Oglesby missed his second attack as well. Kipp fired again and missed as well. Audra struck with her second attack and killed the one on her.
On the next round, Audra moved around behind the other sahuagin and struck it, killing it. Oglesby ran up to the rear deck and looked to see if there was anything out there to target. There was nothing up there that they could use to throw to the crewman to help him. While attempting to find something, the crewman suddenly dipped below the surface for the last time. The other crew began cussing the sea devils and the loss of their crewmate. Everyone moved to each of the other sides of the ship, looking off to make sure no one else was approaching. All seemed clear. Marcus walked through the deck and said, “They're hunters! They come in and do what they just did. They try to fish you over the deck and once you're in the water, you're theirs. You just about can't be rescued.”. Captain Pocaat came out asked what had happened. Marcus caught her up. She cursed the sea devils and curse the wind, or lack there of, for making them more vulnerable to these attacks. They continued the watch through the night and shifted to resting during the day.
The next day, a call went out from the crows nest above with the person on watch pointing to a distant object moving toward them. As they looked off to the southeast, they could see a large serpentine like creature moving their direction. Captain Pocaat ordered the ship about and sent people scurrying to the ballista, fore and aft. The party moved to assist the crew. The forward one fired and hit the monster. The rear one fired and hit as well. Between them, they had dished out some good damage. The ships crew and party prepared to fire again. The forward ballista fired and hit again. It was an above average hit. The rear one missed. With that, the creature went under and wasn't seen again. They continued on. After a few days without any more incidents, they sailed into Calimport and that's where this session ended.
Earned xps 378 + 10% = 416.
