Pferryn fires off a glob of acid that sizzles into the wood next to the would be pirate, while Fatham decides to show mercy on the fleeing men.
Mykel too stays his hand as the pirates rush to cut the last two remaining grapple lines. As the echoes of the brief but furious combat dies away over the river and the two boats begin to drift apart, three blasts of force come flying down from the rigging above to strike the three remaining pirates, killing each of them. Looking above, you can see Lady Riverbane clinging to the rigging with one hand, and returning a wand to her belt with the other.
From aloft, she releases a piercing whistle and begins to call out to her crew. "Alright you Lubbers! Get topside and get back to work. Trim these sails! Get a party to swab the blood from my deck and another to check the outboard starboard for any damage! Hop to!!"
Her crew begins to reappear at the double as she slides down the rigging to land back on the deck with you. "That was a fancy bit of fighting there! Very nice!!" she compliments with a big smile.
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"Those fey-loving wretches deserved to die. Well done" rumbles the phantom as Alaric coughs, a little embarrassed. "Is not certain they fey-lovers Thurismund." He sighs and steps on towards the side of the ship and adds: "At least now we look and see if they had many things that are of use. They are dead, and dead not need much, except maybe remembering."
Lady Riverbane seems to be momentarily taken aback at Ashara's tone and words. "Would you rather that those vermin board some pleasure barge next, killing the unarmed family aboard? They were beaten, but they violated the Pact and were subject to our discipline. There is no mercy for pirates that step out of line, otherwise we will all swing from a mast." She gives Ashara a hard glare before acknowledging the comments from the rest of the team with a nod and returning to her duties.
Alaric turns to the bodies of the pirates, but finds nothing of use or note on them. These ragged savages couldn't even take decent care of their weapons, it seems!
The Scrag Fisher sails on after the altercation with the river thugs and does not come across any other aggressive boats that day. The next morning, low gray clouds smear the sky, and by midday tall trees leaning over the riverbank further obstruct the pale sun. A gloomy mood falls on the pirate crew as the ship enters Echo Wood. A mere hour before dusk, the sailors’ misgivings crystallize when the
expedition comes across a barge trapped in giant webs.
The wind seems to come to a dead still as the Scrag Fisher approaches the wreckage of a hulking river barge. “It’s the Hanspur’s Luck, Milady —or what’s left of it,” grumbles one of the pirates. Like a large bee stuck in a spider’s web, the partially sunken boat bulges out of a mesh of sticky tangles, its deck slightly sloping abaft. Slowly turning the wheel, Lady Riverbane orders her ship toward the ensnarled derelict, and a minute later the Scrag Fisher’s moorings are secured to the Hanspur’s Luck. The captain turns around and says, “Here we are mates. That looks like a good place to start your investigation, wouldn’t you say?”
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Fatham examines the ship closely as they near it.
"What kind of spider could trap such a large vessel?" he wonders. "One, or many?"
As Lady Riverbane states her instructions, he nods.
"We should invesigate this thoroughly. Perhaps some clues will reveal themselves," he says as he draws his blade.
Vexer chitters, and Fatham responds "Yes, I'm sure the spiders are not good to eat."
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"Spiders don't behave like this unless they are fey-bound" grumbles Thurismund, who begins to step onto the wreck as Alaric, sighing, casts the Mage Armor spell once more. "Thurismund. Is possible not is the fey."
The phantom snorts. "Possible. But I think it is. And if you had listened to your gut, and actually tried, none of those families would have died. And you wouldn't have to listen to me talk about your failures, "master"" he sneers back to Alaric, before inspecting his environment.
Once the ship is tied up next to The Hanspur's Luck, the Pathfinders carefully make their way across to the derelict. It takes some concerted effort to make it across the deck as the team chops and pushes their way through the thick sheeting of all of the webs. Eventually, you find the hatch leading below decks and push it open. As the sunlight filters down into the hold you can see a wide stairway leading into the darkness!
The hold is dark, full of spider webs, and its aft section is partially under water. The air is damp and musty, and cartons, crates and boxes lie stacked in piles around the floor.
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Fatham lights a torch and burns away some of the webs. The arcane warrior holds the torch in one hand and his blade in the other.
"If we have to swim, this won't be of much use. But if we need to burn away some webs, it could prove helpful."
Vexer makes some unintelligible noises.
"Well, if you want to supervise, that's fine with me," the half-elf responds.
Fatham renews his mage armor from his wand, then says "Shall we?"
The team spreads out into the hold, most of you lighting up in some way or another as you search for clues. As the last of the group moves towards the hold, balls of webbing soar through the air!
Alaric and Thurismund both get smacked with gobs of sticky wet goo, but the ball of webbing meant for Fatham impact on an invisible shield of force just in front of him and slimes its way to the floor!
"Bold May Post
Fatham
Pferryn
Alaric- Entangled
~Thurismund- Entangled
Mykel
Ashara
Spiders
~Red
~Blue
~Green
Mykel rushes the length of the hold, his falcata rising and falling in a beautiful display of deadly swordsmanship. The razor honed blade slips into the spiders carapace as the creature rears up to receive him with its talon tipped legs completely oblivious that it is already dead. The falcata slides upwards like through butter, carving the beast from stern to stem in one fell blow. As a torrent of fluids gush from the beast, Mykel steps to the side and allows the twitching form to fall to the floor where it dies ignobly.
"Bold May Post
Fatham
Pferryn
Alaric- Entangled
~Thurismund- Entangled
Mykel
Ashara
Spiders
~Red
~Green
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Alaric cries out in surprise as he finds himself caught up in sticky strands.
He tosses and turns, but cannot seem to escape, and his look turns to one of worry. Meanwhile...
"YOU HAD BETTER RESTRAIN ME FEY-BLOOD"
Incensed by the sheer audacity of the spiders, Thurismund bursts through the webbing like paper and approaches the spider closest to him. "LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT WE CAN DO WHEN WE AREN'T DECEIVED BY PARLOR TRICKS, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!"
Fatham and Vexer slide around the stack of boxes and barrels to attack the spider under the stairs, but both of their attacks miss as they dodge the flying webs.
Pferryn recalls a snowball spell and quickly tosses it across the hold as he moves into the middle of the deck, but his hasty attack slides right past its target.
Meanwhile, Ashara casts Bless over the party!
Alaric struggles futilely with his bonds, while Thurismund goes on another tirade against the fey blood that ended his life prematurely. The spirit given form harnesses his hatred and uses it to easily burst the restraints before moving in on his target.
As Thurismund steps in on the spider, the creature lashes out with fangs dripping with venom. The spider tears into the ectoplasmic Thurismund, venom trying to burn away at his strength!
The other spider lashes out at Fatham, but the half elf is much luckier than the ghost!
"Bold May Post
Fatham
Pferryn
Alaric- Entangled
~Thurismund- 6 dmg, Fort save DC 13
Mykel
Ashara
Spiders
~Red
~Green
Active Effects:
Bless
Mykel darts in beside Thurismund, bringing his sword in on a vicious underhanded slash at the spider. At first, the creature simply stands there in shock and wonder, then it slowly topples to the side as its belly opens and drenches the deck in foul offal and wet juices from a slash that runs almost the width of the spiders belly!
Fatham gets into the action, using both blade and.. Hair??!! His falcata dives in and scores a new crack on the spiders carapace while the hair distracts the beast.
Ashara casts a bit of divine guidance Pferryn's way!
Pferryn conjures up a glob of acid that helps widen the hole that Fatham created.
THe remaining spider lashes out at Fatham once more
"Bold May Post
Fatham- 7 dmg, DC 13 Fort Save Please!
Pferryn
Alaric- Entangled
~Thurismund- 11 dmg
Mykel
Ashara
Spiders
~Red 7 dmg
Active Effects:
Bless
Fatham continues to press the spider, but with mixed results. His blade passes under the creatures head, but his hair whips out and draws bloody lines across the spider. Unfortunately, the large creature is able to resist the hair as it struggles to entangle it!
Following this, Vexer darts in and is able to score a small hit.
Mykel darts around the crowded and web filled hold, taking a running leap to get atop the crates and dart in towards the spider.
Meanwhile, Ashara and Pferryn work together to launch another gob of acid, this one sizzling as it strikes the carapace.
Thurismund also moves through the hold and gains the top of the crates where he slams into the spider. The first one cracks through the spiders defenses, the second one smashes the soft innards, dropping the spider into a puddle of dripping goo.
As silence falls over the hold and the team takes stock of themselves, they also spread out through the ship looking for anything of use. You find no bodies or sign of what happened to the crew, but you do find 3 small vials of potion labeled in a foreign language.
The fore cabin contains a desk and some papers, including the ships logbook. Reading over this, it is clearly notated that the Hanspur's Luck was ordered to this location by Lady Riverbane to come here and await further instructions, but this is the last entry into the book.
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Pferryn uncorks one of the vials and takes a sniff. Holding it up to the light, he examines it for a time before turning to his companions. "Potions of Lesser Restoration, I would say!" Turning to continue his search of the ship, he silently pockets one of the potions with little effort to conceal his actions but nonchalant nonetheless.
The team gathers their spoils and returns to the Scrag Fisher and Lady Riverbane, and with a few shouted commands, she gets everything back underway and headed to the location of the ambush of the Black Marquis' men.
The next morning, Lady Riverbane anchors the ship and calls the pathfinders topside. "Not far from here is where we were ambushed. I have to stay here with the ship, but I will make you a map that will get you to your destination."
"The details remain the same, Mykel." Lady Riverbane states. "We were ambushed up there in the forest, and the map should lead you to the site. Daylight is wasting.. you should begin as soon as possible."
Turning to Ashara, she continues. "I do.. which is why we hired you. We have been bested by this foe twice now, obviously. Once in the forest, where I was the sole survivor, and something of the same must have happened to the Hanspur's Luck and her crew. We can ill afford to lose any more of our men. Please.. search them out and discover if any remain alive. Rescue them if you can. If not, serve vengeance and return here."
The group kits up and heads out, hoping to make the best of the daylight available to them. The journey is to take about 4 hours at a easy walking pace, at least according to the map provided by Lady Riverbane.
The forest here is ancient. Dense masses of leafage impose an eerie twilight of dark green while forlorn trees speak of a bygone age where humans wrestled for survival in a land of darkness. Many thick sheets of giant webbing stretch like great shrouds around the gaunt trees and groveling bushes. The trees close in on the trail and the path begins to take on a winding back and forth maze like quality.
As you are moving into the woods, Pherryn suddenly calls out from behind the group, stopping the leaders before they can take a next step. The little wayang darts forward and steps carefully around Mykel, showing him the pit that the warrior almost stepped into. Pushing aside the covering debris, Pferryn reveals a 20 ft deep hole with a body below.