The Shimmering Gulf

"Do not be fooled by the beauty of the Shimmering Gulf. Its shining waters mask a truly treacherous sea, and many a sailor has been lured into a false sense of security before meeting his end."

-Rashaas al-Sabir, An Outsider's Guide to Ar-Jan'ai

A Grave Affair

While awaiting the completion of repairs on the Darrington the party took care of a few affairs in town; Grom bought a variety of bear traps, Ari purchased a pet blink ferret, and Ra'zon traveled into the dungeons of the Scarlet Fortress to speak with Admiral Jörsten Graves. There he learned from Graves that the assault on Crimsonhold was part of an effort by Hildonia to expand their navy; it was hoped that any pirates who did not accept a pardon would be easily defeated and their ships could be conscripted into service in the Hildonian Navy. Tensions between Hildonia and the other Pentarch states had been growing more and more tense, and it was hoped that a swift victory would bolster Hildonia's international standing and delay a war until they were more prepared. Unfortunately, now with Hildonia having suffered their second major defeat in the past five years, a war was all but inevitable.
To this end, after learning that his party was setting sail for Ar-Jan'ai Graves tasked Ra'zon with a secret mission to recover an artifact known as the Iron Hand of Petros. This artifact was a gauntlet that for centuries served as a symbol of the supreme general of the armies of Räsgard. It had disappeared two hundred years ago when a rebel general named Aureg Eddarda brought it with him across the Shimmering Gulf when fleeing after his defeat. If Ra'zon could recover this artifact and deliver it to the Hildonians, it would go a long way towards the impending war effort. Ra'zon agreed to this quest, and the next day the Darrington set sail for Ar-Jan'ai.

Run Aground

After several hours of sailing along the Inganna Archipelago, the Darrington came to a sudden stop in the water. Diving below, Grom realized the ship had run aground on a massive coral reef, and that a large protrusion of coral had impaled the lower hull. Grom was able to remove the protrusion using the shatter spell while Elria repaired the ship with mending. Elria then used commune with nature to determine a safe passage through the maze of coral. As the Darrington's crew began bailing out the water the ship had taken on, the party elected to dive down to the sea floor to investigate a shipwreck that both Grom and Elria had noticed. There they discovered the wreckage of a trading vessel teetering on the precipice of a nigh-bottomless ocean trench.
Ari took point on the investigation, finding most of the ship's stores to be lost to time except for a large locked chest. Before she could investigate it, the party was set upon by several giant leech-like creatures which the party was able to make quick work of. While Ra'zon held his own against one of the creatures, Elria managed to take one out using her reliable moonbeam. Meanwhile, Grom swam directly into one of the creatures and blew it up from the inside using thunderwave while Ari wild shaped into one of the creatures, nearly being attacked by a confused Grom in the process. With the beasts defeated, they hauled the chest up to the Darrington as the ship began navigating through the reef. Within, they found a small amount of gold and jewels, along with a harpoon-style crossbow which Ra'zon claimed.

Sailing the Gulf

While the Darrington suffered no further damage to the reef, the time it took to escape it caused the group to lose a day's worth of travel time. Elria soon realized they may be on a tighter timeframe than she initially thought; by her calculations, the autarch's daughter's disease would claim her life in around ten days, while the party was currently looking at eight days of travel. Given that they did not know what other issues they might face on the way there, Elria chose to utilize animal messenger in an attempt to persuade the autarch to meet the party halfway. Realizing that the spell itself would take five days to reach its destination, the party pressed onward.
The next two days were fairly uneventful save for a pod of dolphins that swam alongside the ship for several hours, much to Grom's delight. However, on the fourth day of sailing the party awoke to nearly-blackened skies as dark storm clouds rolled in over the horizon. They worked quickly to make their way through the storm, and despite some rather impressive nature magics from Elria and quick thinking from Ari, the ship was still overtaken by the storm and blown several days off-course. In the aftermath, the party decided to risk exhaustion by burning all of their spell slots and magical reserves to accelerate the ship and make up the time difference. Fortunately, they did not encounter any other dangers on their way, and after a day and a half of exhausting work managed to arrive at the northern coast of Ar-Jan'ai after a full week of sailing.

Arrival in Karka

The Darrington soon arrived at the heavily-defended Cyrion Bay which guarded Karka, the only city in the Rumiyyad Autarchy that was open to outsiders. The bay itself was filled with dozens, if not hundreds, of limestone pillars that jutted out of the sea to form a difficult-to-navigate maze of stone. As they neared the mouth of the bay, they were approached by a small flotilla of ships demanding to know their business. After hearing of their mission, they were told to follow very closely as the ships turned to lead them through the bay into Karka proper. Sailing through the bay, they could see why they were told to follow closely; many areas of the bay were guarded from above by defensive structures atop the limestone pillars, and from below by jagged rocks and chains that left only a few narrow passages traversable. After being led through one of these passageways their escort peeled off, and the party found themselves before a bustling dockyard filled with dozens of trade vessels. Heading towards one of the smaller, emptier docks, the party paid the 20GP docking fee to moor the Darrington and prepared to enter the city of Karka.

Chapter Twenty-Four

"The Shimmering Gulf"

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Previous Chapter: Heavy is the Head

Next Chapter: Chaos in Karka

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Ingame Date: 22-29^th of Rainseed, 1855
Real-Life Date: April 17, 2021
Protagonists:

• Ari
• Elria Sylvistra
• Grom
• Ra'zon

Locations:

• Crimsonhold
• Shimmering Gulf
• Karka