Session 38: Dangers of the Deep

General Summary

The Swift Mermaid slid gently through the Ossiarch River up to the coast just south of Harasan. From there they turned east along the coast. The day was spent writing letters by Nakor and Jeanne, and as evening fell Conn and Um engaged in a discussion. Um gave Conn the opportunity to finally learn the secret that wasn't his to share. He told Conn that all he needed to do was to write down his deepest darkest secret, written in blood and use it in a ritual that would bring him the answers he sought. Conn seemed a bit mistrusting of this but agreed. Thus, they performed the ritual in the dark of the cargo hold, where Um lit a small fire and Conn threw his note into this flame, which turned green and made the paper rot rather than burn. On this note Conn had written:  

We were preparing for an attack in Ballinkeeran. We would in the cover of night enter the garrison through a tunnel from outside the city walls, and totally overthrow them by the element of surprise. Only we were betrayed, by whom I do not know. When we entered the garrison, weapons drawn, we heard the screaming of the women and children outside. The ports of the garrison had been forced shut and barred from outside. The Osnarians were outside, had seen through our fake. We could do nothing and the Osnarians slaughtered the majority of them. We escaped back from where we came, never setting foot outside the garrison. If we had not done the action, the women and children of Ballinkeeran would still have been alive.

  The fire then spat out a new note, which Conn could read. On it, he learned the secret Um had been unable to word. When he tried to speak of it he too was unable to say anything other than "This secret is not mine to share". As they went to bed, Jeanne and Nakor noticed that something was off and investigated. They found traces of a fire and Jeanne shared her suspicions of Um being involved with a fiend. The next day they confronted the two and realised that they were now both aware of Um's secret. Um who was now 11 years old happily divulged all he could of their activities, and Conn was forced to confess as well but took the opportunity to vouch for Um's credibility. Somewhat content with this they moved on.   Later that day they reached a bay which would take them close to the eastern edge of the Alterion continent. As they entered the bay, they soon noticed a shipwreck some distance away. As they approached the wreck they soon noticed that the crew of the wrecked vessel seemed to be alive. The captain seemed a bit worried about the potential danger of the situation and asked the party to investigate with one of the lifeboats. When the party were more than halfway there, they noticed that the ship seemed to be stuck on some shallows, but unlike most beached vessels, it was completely torn to shreds. That's when they heard the crew of the stranded vessel shouting to them to turn back, and that there was a monster in the water. Soon thereafter, the party felt the boat shake, as if something was rocking it. Conn turned the boat around, just as something struck them and knocked the half-elf overboard.    Finding himself deep under the boat due to his armour, Conn looked beneath him and saw a gargantuan snake-like being staring back at him with curious eyes. He swam back to the boat with near supernatural speed and almost jumped back into the boat. He then quickly began to row them back to the ship. Meanwhile, the ship was beginning to get poked by the giant serpent. They managed to get the party onboard before they headed for the shallow waters close to shore. To get some extra speed and resistance to being sunk, the ship dove underwater. They could now witness the gargantuan sea-serpent for themselves as it swam around them and knocked into them, seemingly without intention to sink them. This was enough to knock Nakor overboard, however, but the prince managed to blink back to the ship in a thunderous boom. This took the attention of the serpent and they realised that it was easily distracted by sounds.    Wishing to save the crew of the other vessel, Nakor took the form of a bronze dragon and began to swim for the surface. The serpent followed. I would have swallowed Nakor, had it not been for the intervention of Um who slowed the serpent down, making it exist at a slower pace than everything around it. Thus Nakor managed to escape. As the ship now managed to outpace the serpent and make it to the shallows, Nakor flew over to the shipwreck. One of the dwarves recognized the form of Vurvayssun and addressed Nakor as such. He explained that he was not this particular bronze dragon, but never corrected the dwarf on thinking him an actual dragon. The prince then offered to cast a teleportation circle back to the temple of Desna in Zarastil for the shipwrecked crew. They accepted and offered him the map to the temple they had been sent to bring an exploring noble to. Nakor took it and when they had all walked through the circle, he took the draconic shape again and flew back to the mermaid.    He explained what had happened with the party and they agreed to check out the temple marked on the map. They followed the shore for a while to avoid the serpent out in the deep waters but were soon well on their way again. That evening Um offered to perform the same ritual with Nakor as he had done with Conn, but the prince refused. The next day, as Um awoke at 13 years of age, they reached the edge of the Alterion continent and now turned south and later that day they reached the jungles, and their appointed stop. The party stepped ashore as the mermaid dove to stay out of sight during their expedition. They decided to make a basecamp whilst Nakor would scout. The overconfident prince decided to change his shape to that of a seagull to scout the area unnoticed. This was the moment he realises that thus far, he only used this spell to take the form of intelligent creatures, and as he became the small bird, he forgot his mission and did what seagulls do. he flew out and dove for fish. The party became confused but managed to set up a hidden camp by the beach. An hour passed and that's when the rest of the party saw a bird become Nakor, who promptly fell 60ft down into the ocean and had to swim back whilst resisting the urge to throw up the raw fishes he had swallowed whole.   They spent the night in their camp and the next day they ventured into the jungle. Inside, following a three-hour trek, they reached a temple entrance made of bones leading down underneath a tree. They searched the area before Um ventured inside and found the first rooms of this underground temple. There he also found a room with a chest underneath a silver statuette depicting a snake's head with sapphire eyes. The party agreed to venture inside.