2025/04/11: Searching Kierst Isle Part 6

General Summary

Knight, Buzz, Malakai, Rusti, Kal'vus, Kelsey   Loot distribution. Kelsey named her new parrot Pesky Bird, a.k.a. Grian.   The party headed back out to deal with the potential pirate ship. As they headed outside, Malakai felt an option appear, pushing him to summon his ship. Whether that ship was connected to him somehow, or at the bottom of the sea, or something else, he could bring it. He could feel it connecting to his old ship, the Ragnarok.   Far away, on the Isle of Necromancy, various undead in Castle Derguil are startled as chunks of ship flew through the passageways, crashing through the occasional door or window before swirling together into a draconic form. It spread its wings and took flight toward Kaelund.   Malakai: "It's going to be a bit."   The sky darkened. The clouds lowered. And then the Ragnarok, looking blacker and more draconic than he remembered, descended from the sky. It landed just in front of the party, with its new claws impacting the soil. A deep, draconic growl curled through the air.   The core of the ship is hundreds of feet long, something like 500 feet tip to tip. The giant draconic wings add to its presence. It looks more organic and perhaps a bit larger than before.   The party's various followers and familiars were reacting as if they were in a fear aura. Rusti's familiar was glad to be sent off to scout the pirate ship.   Knight was keeping an eye out for feelings of boiling as he approached the solcite ship structure, given certain negative past experiences. There was no boiling, but the ship's walls were growling at Knight in particular. He decided to stay well away from them.   Kelsey checked Teregrun's feelings on all this. Rather than having any negative feelings about using dragon bits, his main response was "that's a cute little dragon". He isn't as big as the ship, but he's seen much bigger.   Kal'vus was fascinated by the ship. He ended up getting assigned to the helm. Kelsey and Knight were pointed to weapons.   The ship's weapons had changed from what Malakai remembered. Most of those he remembered were missing, but there were controls for the claws and there was a new energy weapon of some kind in the mouth. The latter needed to be unlocked and aimed via swivel. The drop tubes were more numerous than before; where before there were six, now there are a dozen.   In the engine room there's now some sort of lighting power induction system. Big lightning globe.   The navigation system now includes a wireframe 3D map of the surrounding terrain. Rusti was put in command as XO as Malakai took the engine room.   After familiarizing themselves with the controls and interior, the party and the ship took flight. The engine noise was a bit different than remembered: There was the sense of wind in sails, or a dragon's wings beating.   The party found the ship they'd spotted under attack by a bunch of chimeras. It seemed more like a merchant ship than a pirate one; they weren't very well armed, and while there were some swinging swords around in martial arts fashion, they were clearly being overwhelmed.   Knight and Malakai tested the chimera defenses, Teregrun protected the crew, and Kelsey made a dramatic (and conclusively violent) introduction.   The leader of the crew was wearing a sort of ninja mask. The whole bunch were on the shifty side of things. The sort you'd get if you wanted a crew and weren't picky. There were seven of them still on the ship. Two had gone overboard, who Knight retrieved. None appeared to have died. The vibe definitely appeared to be smugglers, though they were trying to be subtle about it.   The leader introduced himself as "Sahzam", captain of this "fine vessel" (the Flotsam). He's a beige ninja. He maintains that he and his crew are just traders. They wouldn't even be here if not for things further south being... rough, at the moment. Natural disasters, monsters, giant floating orbs, and more. They're just trying to make a buck.   Sahzam informed the adventurers that there were more chimeras about, flying around in the clouds. Knight's Sky Gem revealed that they seemed to be following a search pattern. There was no indication of what they were searching for.   The fear aura from the Ragnarok was affecting the crew even inside the ship. Clearly Malakai was going to have his work cut out for him finding crew.   Rusti suspected that the chimeras were the product of a summoner who was also boosting the things.   Kelsey went through the ship's cargo in search of contraband. Mostly had a bunch of cheap booze, food from the Eastern Realms, and stuff like that. They had some corpses of deceased crewmembers in the hold; apparently they hadn't all made it this far in the journey.   The party took the Ragnarok back to Castle Kaelund along with the rescued crew. Left the ship there and teleported back to the dungeon. It took 4-5 hours. Rapsity and a full adventuring party dropped by to check on Buzz in the meantime and try to figure out what weirdness was going on in the area. Rapsity introduced the party of young but well-equipped adventurers. Rapsity apparently has a good opinion of Buzz, despite them never having met. He's good friends with the local fairies. He offered his and his party's assistance if they called.   The party regrouped in the dungeon and prepared to head into the Animus Society part of the dungeon. The usual fear aura ward was up, ignoring any immunities and resistances. Teregrun didn't even have a chance to resist, being sent running back up to the outside.   Greyish room filled with little boxes and knick knacks. There was grey dust everywhere. Some mild ambient lighting came from above. The floor was very uneven. One side of the room had been cleared for a magic circle with a large yellow crystal in the center.   With spellcraft and some good intuition, Knight decided the ritual circle was likely the only safe place in the room. It was the only place lacking the grey dust. He was able to push his way inside a soft barrier that defended it against gaseous forms. Rusti, observing and much more familiar with magic, chivvied everyone else in after him. It was revealed to be a good idea: Malakai wasn't able to fully push inside before turning solid, and he immediately turned to stone. A flesh to stone from Killgleam and a quick pull from Knight got him a second attempt, and he made it inside.   The party considered their options. The crystal was just a mundane semiprecious stone with a light spell cast on it. The stand it was on was mundane steel. The circle, when closely inspected, turned out to be deliberately overengineered: Rather than a "reverse petrification" spell of some sort, it was really just a low-level cleaning spell. Rusti blew some of the dust away from the area with wind dancing.

Rewards Granted

1 xp

Character(s) interacted with

Sahzam & the crew of the Flotsam, Rapsity, Teregrun, Trafalgar, Tobas, Kelsey's subordinates

Notes

NOTE: Malakai crashed his old ship, the Ragnarok, in Alvidar. Sort of a suicide ram. The remains were taken to the Isle of Necromancy.   NOTE: The Ragnarok['s] structure and chassis are made of Cyrussite (sp?), the remains of an ancient black dragon. It's extremely hard to work. The crash was dramatic enough to bend it.