Session 2: Horror in the Well

General Summary

The crew of the Vestige (wtih the exception of the unknown man) rushed out of The Bronze Flask after seeing a group of Drowners attacking the town. Before engaging, Emmet mysteriously raised his eye patch while observing the undead creatures.
During battle, the party also noticed Emmet using some sort of magic to charge his dagger before striking down one of the Drowners. Towards the end of the battle, they were joined by the members of the Cerulean Guard and their captain in White Bluff: Tidgrud
At the conclusion of the battle, Tidgrud violently chastised the guards for staying out of the fight, and demanded the party follow him. Before following, Malcolm noticed that Emmet was no longer carrying the bag with the strange crystal in it. Emmet explained that he had left it in the tavern so it wouldn't slow him down during the fight. Malcolm told him to go back for it, and waited several minutes for him to return. The wait was long enough for Malcolm to be suspicious.
Joining Tidgrud in White Bluff Barracks , they listened to his explanation of recent events in town. His temper cooled, Tidgrud thanked them for doing more than his own guards and asked if they would finish the job for a reward. This was the first public sighting of the drowners, but citizens have been going missing for weeks, and the water in the well has been contaminated for nearly a month. He recommended walking down to Witch's Cove , where the underground river empties into the ocean. He offered 75gp for each drowner head brought back, and 100gp for each living citizen they return. He also offered a special reward if they can resolve the contamination of the well water.
Malcolm stopped at a local silversmith named Bertio to acquire materials for silver ammo. Fortunately, Bertio already had silvered lead ball bearings that he was able to quickly adjust for Malcolm's purposes. On the way out of town, they stopped by a small homestead where it was rumored Zuko could find a fletcher. Meara accompanied him. The man was deaf and mute, as well as having difficulty with numbers and no interest in coin, but Zuko aquired a significant amount of arrows in trade for a hunting trap.
During Zuko's negotiation for arrows, Malcolm confronted Emmet about the eye patch patch and his use of magic. Emmet revealed that he noticed before battle that while he had thought he was blind in that eye, the drowners appeared as glowing figures in it. He lifted the eye patch revealing that it too appeared to be undead. He admitted the magic was a surprise to him as well, and seemed to be the result of his anger at his difficulty hitting the drowners. Malcolm asked to take over carrying the bag with the strange crystal. AS he checked the bag to make sure Emmet hadn't switched it out, Emmet mentioned that Ralf Rieger was peeking in the bag when Emmet came back for it. Ralph's reaction to what was inside made Emmet suspect that Ralph recognized the crystal and it may be something that is considered illegal in the empire.
Malcolm passed this information to Zuko and Meara when they returned from the fletcher, and recommended they see if Bertio has any knowledge on the crystal once they return to town.
The party continued to witches cove and entered Witch's Cove . The smell of humanoid decomposition was carried with the river current. They came upon 200 foot tall waterfall in three tiers. Octavia climbed each tier and dropped a rope over for the rest of the party. Meara and Emmet fell several times among them, twice taking damage from the fall.
When they reached the top level, the smell of rot was even stronger. The party took a short rest and proceeded forward slowly. The party managed to surprise a group of six more drowners, killing and collecting the heads of all of them. Octavia killed the last of them clawing the creature into mush. It was at this point that Meara, who had some familiarity with the creatures, was sure that their behavior was more organized and intelligent than it should be. They then heard human screams from the south end of the fork in the river. Rushing forward they came upon a group of 5 drowners eating 2 White Bluff citizens. One more was already dead and devoured. The remaining 7 ciitizens where passed out and guarded. The party killed the drowners, with Malcolm ending the fight with a close range headshot.
Searching the Drowners, Zuko found that one of them carried a stone amulet known as a Hag's Eye. When he destroyed the stone they heard the cry of several creatures nearby. Malcolm woke up one of the citizens, Arzan , and assured him that they were now safe. Arzan told Malcolm that there were 10 of them dragged into the well and the 7 present were the only ones left. Malcolm gave Arzan a tinderbox and instructed him to lead the other survivors to the top of the waterfall and wait for the party to eliminate the hags. They returned to the fork in the river and sent Meara to scout ahead. She came upon a dam of stones that appeared to be created intentionally. Spying on the flooded chamber ahead, she saw the well opening above, a group of 3 Sea Hags, and a strange stone altar with human organs on it. They appeared disoriented from the destruction of the Hag's Eye.
Meara returned to to the party and relayed what she saw. They began another short rest and prepared to assault the Sea Hags.
To be continued.... @cove

Character(s) interacted with

Tidgrud Bertio Arzan

Campaign

Winds of Earrenia

Protagonists

Meara

Zuko

Octavia

Malcolm

Report Date

26 Mar 2019

Primary Location

White Bluff

Secondary Location

Witch's Cove