Session 25: The Russel gets Tusseled

General Summary

Naval Combat: The Battle Against The Russell

The session kicked off with an intense naval battle as The Siren's Embrace faced off against The Russell, a notorious pirate vessel. During the chaos, Mina decided to livestream the battle on Sinstergram, specifically featuring Kolme and the girls handling the cannons. The viral stream gained Kolme another 1,200 followers, spreading their reputation far and wide.

As cannon fire rang across the ocean, the tides turned in a terrifying way—something massive began circling beneath the waves.

The Hungering Deep: A Predator of the Abyss

Battered and struggling from a previous battle, The Russell had little chance once the Hungering Deep revealed itself. The immense leviathan from the depths, drawn by the disturbance of battle, zeroed in on the weakest vessel.

With a single devastating strike, the beast engulfed The Russell whole, consuming the ship, its crew, and all its treasures in one horrifying moment. The party, though victorious, narrowly avoided the same fate, escaping with The Siren's Embrace badly damaged and barely afloat.

Making Repairs at the Atoll

Limping away from the battle, Mirella made the call to anchor at a nearby atoll, providing the party a chance to make emergency repairs before continuing their journey.

• Aeryth, still recovering from his earlier ordeal, entered a deep meditation that allowed him to mend portions of the ship, stabilizing some of the worst damage.
• The party worked together to right the mast, reinforce the hull, and repair crucial sections, making the ship seaworthy again for their final push toward TonTon.

Mirella & Keyes: A Moment of Vulnerability

During the repairs, Mirella and Keyes had a tense exchange, where Mirella—known for her tough and guarded nature—hinted that she had grown fond of the party. Though she dismissed it as foolish sentimentality, her developing feelings for Najzad were clear, though unspoken.

Keyes, true to form, pressed the issue, but Mirella refused to dwell on it, choosing instead to return to her usual no-nonsense demeanor.

Unraveling Lloyd’s Past

Meanwhile, Mina continued her investigation into the wizard Lloyd, whose interplanar travels had led him to Aeryth’s home plane.

• Through records from Perturbatus, Mina discovered that Lloyd had once been a student of her brother’s graduating year.
• He specialized in planar travel, but what caught Mina’s attention was his striking resemblance to Frelich—especially his skin tone and golden eyes, similar to Aeryth’s.
• Searching through HellPit, Mina found that Lloyd had enlisted the help of devils for his interplanar experiments, but his trail went cold after he secured his infernal assistants.

The connection between Lloyd, Frelich, and Aeryth remains an unsettling mystery.

The Hallucinogenic Flowers

As the party settled in for the night, a sweet, strange aroma spread across the ship, and soon, hallucinations took hold:

• Keyes transformed into a werewolf, seeing himself as a powerful but isolated beast.
• Mina envisioned herself as a high overlord, ruling over all.
• Kolme saw everyone as her beloved spouse, experiencing a life of adoration and devotion.

Only Corrin, wary of the strange flowers, managed to resist their effect. Acting swiftly, she shook the others free from their illusions—but not before Kolme had unknowingly warped Aeryth below deck, where Najzad was still asleep.

When Aeryth awoke, he too fell under the influence, experiencing his own vision as the ship rocked gently on the water.

Arrival at TonTon

Morning arrived with the scent of the sea replacing the fading influence of the flowers. The party, now mostly recovered from their surreal night, was greeted by Vako, a warrior from the Anquara tribe.

Vako escorted them to the village of TonTon, where they would finally come face to face with the Anquara’s elders, the keepers of the island’s secrets, and perhaps the only ones who could guide them to the truth of the Hungering Deep.