Chapter 11: Mysteries of the Deep
Faced with a group of deadly harpies surrounding the entrance to the sunken ruins, the group decided to try to lure them out by firing cannons at them. Their shots proved accurate, and obliterated several harpies. Rasper cast a spell upon one of them, tricking it into attacking its own. As the two harpies fought each other, the remaining creatures darted through the skies aimed at the ship. Another volley of cannon fire combined with Olin's deadly marksmanship took down several more before they reached the ship. While several did manage to reach the deck, they were all dead before they could attack.
The group rowed out on the longship towards the island, where they found the surviving Harpy who had slain its sister. Faced with insurmountable odds, it took to the skies and tried to flee. Olin and Thrain both opened fire and took the creature down before it could escape. They explored the tiny rocky island and found stairs carved into the center, delving deep beneath the island. The stairs wound down into sunken ruins beneath sea level, where the group quaffed potions of water breathing (growing gills along their necks) and dove down (with Thrain activating his new cloak to grant him improved swimming speed and water breathing). Rasper found bio luminescent moss that provided enough light to see in the murky depths, and affixed it to their armor. They reached a central chamber and found once again that the architecture was decidedly elven, much like the ruins of elven towers across Sydonia. But this structure was built into a a steep rocky cliff descending into the depths of the ocean, much like the Dwarven mountain holds.
They ventured deeper, and soon encountered a monstrous humanoid sea creature known as a Sahuagin, along with 2 large sharks it had tamed. The Sahuagin was immediately aggressive and attacked the group along with its shark minions. The sharks tore through Thrain's armor and badly wounded him, but he fought back with thunder gauntlets and spells. He fought alongside Olin, who was forced to rely on his battle axes, whose deadliness proved diminished by fighting under water. Dox assaulted the enemy with psychic blades while Rasper used their bardic magic to hinder them and bolster the party. After a prolonged fight, the enemy was slain and they could press on. After healing some of their wounds, they found their way deeper into the ruins. In a large chamber, they found a whole ship badly damaged and rotten away. It was covered in thick vines and moss, and when Dox approached he was suddenly assaulted by grasping thorny vines. Thrain tried to wade in and help him, but found himself also grappled by the vines. After several attempts and many stinging barbs, they freed themselves and warned the rest of the group not to swim too low. In surrounding rooms, they found shelves of stone tablets detailing sea elf history and racks of ceremonial weapons and armor. The chamber seemed to be some sort of ceremonial burial akin to those of the northmen of Arlyss.
As they pressed on, they encountered a room with a large hole in a wall leading to a tunnel. As dox peered in, a massive shark appeared and nearly bit his head clean off. Rasper responded with magic that sent the shark fleeing for a moment, but it soon returned and attacked Dox once more. The second bite proved deadly, and slew him instantly. Fighting through the shock of Dox's death, Thrain pulled a furry orb from the bag of tricks and tossed it at the shark. Luckily, it turned into a giant bear that blocked the tunnel and provided the shark with an easier meal. Olin grabbed Dox's corpse and the group fled back towards the entrance to the ruins. In a moment of panic, Rasper suddenly began convulsing as flashes of memories appeared to her and something made a psychic connection with them. They reached down and chanted a spell over Dox' corpse, and diamond dust from the bag of holding flowed into Dox' mouth. He suddenly awoke, alive once more. Though he found himself alive again, he quickly began drowning as the effects of the water breathing potion had disappeared with his death. He quickly quaffed another, and could once more breathe in the water.
The group returned to the surface to catch their breath, rest and recover from their ordeal. After an hour had passed, they dove back down into the ruins. As they explored further, Rasper revealed they had captured the "shadow" of the Sahuagin and could assume its appearance and gain a measure of its memories. Rasper turned into the Sahuagin and led the group down, staying well ahead to avoid being seen with them. They came across a group of Sahuagin Priestesses who telepathically asked about the intruders. Rasper lied and told them they were taken care of, and that they should go and clean it up. The ruse proved successful and they departed, and so the group pressed on without battle. From the slain Sahuagin's memories, Rasper learned that they served a kraken master and guarded an ancient sea elf relic. Guarding that relic was a 5-headed creature known as a hydra. Rasper passed through a door into the relic chamber, which proved to be a burial chamber with a large pyramid in the center. Atop it was a stone sarcophagus and the hydra, who calmly moved aside as Rasper entered in the guise of the Sahuagin. Carved around the pyramid and the sarcophagus were elven text and pictorial depictions of elves battling sahuagin, krakens and unknown whale-like tentacled creatures. Rasper found that, through the Sahuagin's memories, they could read the elven text (which detailed the fall of the sea elves). They opened the sarcophagus and found a cloak and several potions within. Stealthily, Rasper grabbed the items and hid them before leaving. The hydra returned to its vigil atop the sarcophagus as Rasper left.
The group quickly tried to leave the ruins, but were attacked by the priestesses at the entrance (who had found the dead Sahuagin and set up an ambush for the group). Rasper was badly wounded by their magic, but they eventually slew the priestesses. Before they could leave, however, they were attacked by a shark who had heard the commotion and come to defend its masters. Using the last of their resources, they slew the shark as well and left the ruins. Back on the ship, they studied the cloak and found it to be a cloak of elvenkind that could improve the wearer's ability to hide by shifting colors to match the surroundings. Dox donned the cloak, and they retired below deck to rest and recover as the ship set out across the seas again (after telling Captain Forkbeard all about their ordeal).
The next few days proved uneventful, but as they traveled further south they began to see glimpses of the mistwall on the southern edge of the sea of ruin. The captain explained that it was a mysterious wall of mist along the edge of the world, and that none had ever crossed it and returned. On the fourth day, they were suddenly cursed with a great impenetrable mist all around the ship. It did not seem to travel with the wind, but remained in place. Suddenly, a booming horn was heard across the water and the mist thinned a bit. They could see the shadow of a massive galleon several hundred feet from them. The captain barked orders to get the ship moving, and the mysterious galleon opened fire on them with 3 cannons. They exchanged several volleys, with the Draugr largely missing or failing to penetrate the enemy's armor. As the enemy ship approached, they could see it was encrusted with coral and barnacles. The ship's sails were black and badly damaged, and its figurehead was that of a bulbous head with many tentacles sprouting from it. Before long, the Draugr was badly damaged and the mast destroyed. The enemy began to board, revealing themselves to be hideously mutated humanoids covered in barnacles and scales. Some had tentacles for arms, while others had gaping maws and thick chitinous bladed arms. Leading them was a craature with a tentacled head and a face spit into 4 "flaps" revealing a hideous maw of sharp teeth. Rasper used their magic to hinder an ensorcell the enemy (forcing a pair of sailors to fight each other), while Olin opened fire, Dox tossed a flurry of psychic blades and Thrain fired one of the "dragon's breath" shots from the cannon (setting the enemy ship ablaze, along with one of the enemy sailors). As the enemy boarded the Draugr, thrain beat them back with thunder gauntlets and spells. Olin and Dox fought side by side, but the leader unleashed a psychic screech that stunned Rasper before unleashing claw and maw against them. Olin, Dox and Thrain fought their way through enemies to reach Rasper and bring them back into the fight. After Thrain healed their wounds, Rasper cast a spell upon the tentacled leader that forced him to throw himself down and cackle manically. This allowed the rest of the group to gang up on him, stabbing, slashing and pounding him into oblivion. Thrain delivered the final blow, crushing his head into the deck.
Rasper captured the creature's "shadow," and the captain peeked out from behind the helm to ask if the fight was over. They looked around and, finding no more enemies and the mist fading, assumed the fight was over. But just as the mist faded, thick storm clouds rolled in and lightning flashed all about them. The sea turned dark as the night, and giant tentacles as large as a ship appeared out of the water. The tentacles wrapped around the enemy ship, crushing the galleon in two as if it were a toy boat before pulling it down into the depths of the sea. The clouds parted, and the ocean turned blue once more. An eerie silence gripped them as they looked around in panic, waiting for the kraken to destroy them but finding it had gone...
Comments