”Maybe the chest is nothing but a trap. We should not open it. Unless, maybe Polli or Donomsail can use magic to conjure something to open it for us while we are far away,” Marisan muses.
She gasps when Val’s eyes glow, bubbles escaping her lips. ”Valeria! When did you learn magic?”
Valeria sees nothing invisible in the chamber or nearby. The iron-bound chest could easily be moved somewhere else.
Donomsail answers in the negative - she has nothing that would open the stone box.
"I've had a lot of free time since Port Peril," Val replies flatly.
"I still don't see anything else in here though... once the first chest is opened safely, maybe we could use that metal rod to push open the stone one? That way whoever does it might be far enough away to avoid whatever comes out?"
"I don't summon things." Polli says. She considers going into the long arguments of either creating life only to see it lost in moments or stealing life from SOMEWHERE, enslaved to your will, potentially also dying in your service. But doesn't, because Why really.
"I wonder how the gas will behave in the water. I'd assume we'd have a moment to react. Maybe Marisan could crack the stone with a jab from the metal rob, and we simply wait as the gas bubbles away? From a safe distance of course." turning to Val "Which is what you were suggesting, sorry." she gives the archer a tight smile.
"From a safe distance is the only way to do that." Harmony agrees. "The throne is cyclopean, from Ghol-Gan if I'm not mistaken, so its been here a long time. The stone might have been there too, it might even be worth just leaving it alone. We know its a trap, why trigger it?"
Madison shrugs. ”Let’s go, then. We’ll check out the other psssages.”
Before they leave, the brawler hacks Krelloort’s head off his body, hoping the grim trophy might convince any remaining sahuagin to surrender.
"Shouldn't we open the non trapped chest first?" Polli asks quickly as their leader starts heading out.
Leaving both chests for now, the group moves back down the descending tunnel to the feeding chamber, heading out the nearest unexplored tunnel leads you to the west. Through a curving tunnel you eventually find yourself in a barracks of some sort with a number of the toothed fish-men.
Displaying your grisly trophy and with a demonstration of your martial abilities, the sahaugin that you don't slay flee handily. Searching through the detritus, you find several nuggets of raw gold and silver ore . You also discover a decomposed human hand wrapped in seaweed like a sushi roll, still wearing a magical ring .
Moving through the barracks leads you past another seaweed curtained cave, but you continue on to another large cavern where you see the fleeing sahaugin escaping to the east while riding sharks.
Marisan (who is carrying the deep-platinum necklace that the chieftain wore) pauses, though as she feels a strange draw towards the western end of the cavern.
After a little bit of searching, you discover a very narrow crevice buried beneath years of sediment that you can see opens to a larger cave. None of you are small enough to fit through it, however. Given a couple of hours of labor, you could widen it enough to pass through. Polli grumpily informs you that you don't have hours left to be able to breath water.
Deciding to leave that for now, you continue to the east, following the fleeing sahaugin. You pass through a chamber filled with scattering krill and jellyfish to exit out of a cave far below the surface of the blue hole. You can see the Siren floating in the clear water above you.
You return back in to the tunnels and find your way back to where the locathah matriarch is waiting and lead her back out to the entrance, taking a little side trip to retrieve the chest from behind the throne.
The locathah seems quite grateful when she reaches the opening out into the open sea. She offers a simple, but heartfelt, "Thanks to you," before securing the eggs to her back and swimming off with her strong arms into the dark water.
Swimming back up to your ship, the crew is happy to see you return. 'Barefoot' Samms informs you that they heard some odd sounds coming from below the water, like something knocking on the ship, but other than that there has been nothing of note.
Examining the chest further reveals that it's a captain's locker. Within the chest is a trove of valuables - a variety of luxurious silks, fine furs, exotic spices, raw gold and silver ore, and other plundered pirate booty .
Also within the chest is a magical figurehead , two fan feather tokens, slippers of spider climbing, an ornate crown with undersea motifs crafted of deep platinum , and a jeweled box containing assorted jewelry , as well as 2,083 gp, 18,900 sp, and 25,050 cp.
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At the information that someone, or something, has been knocking on the ships hull Harmony has Marisan and Val use the last few minutes of their water-breathing to check the Siren's hull for any signs of sabotage or other skullduggery.
Polli and Donomsail are set to work installing the Siren's new figurehead while Harmony and Tessa take the captain's chest into the hold to be installed.
"Lacey," Harmony says while the two of them have a relatively high amount of privacy. "What are we going to do with the Sea Witch? We had this discussion before I know but I feel as though the circumstances are changing now. We have a loyal crew now, and with the sailors from the Sea Witch there's more than enough men to crew both. We've got good officers here too, Samms, Maheem, Ambrose, they could all do more than they do. I think we should keep the Sea Witch, crew it with the best of our officers and send them out to plunder as they will. Arrange to meet every month or so at Tidewater. In the end if they leave then we've lost relatively little, and if the deal works then we make twice as much plunder as we would before. The advantages of having a safe anchorage and mutual assistance would be enough to keep them on side I think." She pauses and looks at her fiancee. "Ideally we'd split ourselves across both ships but I don't think that would go down well, not with Polli at least. The only possibility would be me and one of Val and Marisan. What do you think? This is a decision for all of us, but if you and I are on the same page it'll make the discussion much smoother."
Marisan and Valeria head back into the water to examine the ship and discover that someone - the sahaugin being the most likely culprit - has disabled the rudder.
At the report, Polli, who was working on the figurehead, dives into the water and has her own look. When she surfaces, she'll shout angrily "Those fish f&~@ers f@%%ed us!" calling on the winds she'll have them raise her back up to the railing, then haul herself on deck. Finding the captains working alone in the hold, she'll make a report "The rudder is busted to the hells and back, a parting gift from the sahaugin, Mar and Val think. Two hours of underwater work at best. Which can't happen until tomorrow, cause I am out of water breathing spells."
"We've got the potions from the caves." Harmony replies. "If they'll last long enough we need to get the work going as soon as we can. They're in our cabin upstairs. Take whoever and whatever you need."
Polli nods. She goes to find the potions and gets to work.
Underwater carpentry is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Hitting things with hammers is not nearly as satisfying for example. In a couple of hours, the sylph surfaces, muttering about the violence she would very very much like to do on their fish people who got away, but she tells the others, "All done."
Val swims around near Polli while the sylph works. She watches carefully for fishmen and other threats, surfacing every couple minutes for air.
With Polli's abrasive efficiency, the rudder is put back to right in rapid fashion. Wanting to investigate the caves just a little bit more, the ladies and their crew settle in for the afternoon and then the evening.
The sun has set and the moonlight is filtering down through the green canopy above. With Valeria periodically coming by to make sure the tiefling and sylph don't get completely absorbed in what they're doing in the romantic setting, the evening seems peaceful. Life can't remain so, however, and the stillness is broken by the scream of one of the crew members.
In the lantern-light, the three officers can see a vine has descended from the greenery above and has wrapped itself around Syl.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
Syl screams again as she is being lifted from the deck and you see three more of the barbed-covered vines descend.
Polli and Donomsail were doing reasonably well at keeping watch, losing just a few minutes here and there to slow deep kisses that made the sylph's toes curl and yearn for their watch to be over. The scream broke one such minute, making the wizard quickly adjust her glasses and peer into the darkness.
"Vines? Why in the everloving heavens are there vines attacking us?" she weaves and mutters, before launching a bolt of fire at the one pulling Syl away from them. "LET HER GO!" she yells.
Donomsail moves to the scream looks at the plant trying to strangle Syl and tries to figure out what is going on. [Ooc]Not going to bother rolling can't get a 23 on Knowledge Nature[/] She will use the only spell she has with the reach to hit the main plant: Call Lightning "Gozreh, staak die plant. Hou op om my spanmaat seer te maak."
” To stations!” Val shouts as she tracks the vine up to the canopy. As soon as she has a sense of what she’s shooting at, she begins firing arrows.
Marisan is sleeping soundly...
Donomsail summons a small storm above the canopy and calls down strikes of lightning. Unfortunately, they seem to have no effect at all on the creature. One of Valeria's arrows strikes home, but the rest are lost in the vines above. Polli's flame burns through the vine lifting Syl and she drops to the deck below, but another vine descends from the greenery above to replace it.
Marisan continues to sleep through the commotion, but Tessa is awakened by Polli's 'serious' voice. .
Round 2
Vines grab at Polli, Donomsail, Valeria, and Syl. Valeria is the only one that avoids a grasping tendril. The others feel the green grasping vine slipping into places that they shouldn't be and begin to grow weaker.
Val drops her bow and draws her shortswords as she moves to whichever crewmember is closest. "" she calls out again as she slashes at the vine wrapped around her shipmate.
Polli yells in pain as the thorny vine violates her. Her brain is a frenzied mess of worry and anger, but not so lost it didn't notice the lack of effect Donomsail's lighting attack had on the vines. "f+%! f~!! f++&" the lightning focuses wizard muttered, before grabbing on to the one remaining non lightning spell she had memorized.
Tessa listens and nods along with Harmony. "Before, when we had the option to keeping the other ship we had, I suggested we keep both. At the time most of the crew was against the idea, so I relented and went with the popular opinion to take what we could get from it and move on. But I agree with you, keeping both and crewing both is in our best interest. We have loyal crew and if we're going to own the Shackles, it's not going to be on the deck of the Siren alone."
"I don't like the idea of you being on another ship, but if we're going to keep both of them going together then it makes the most sense for us each to be on separate ships. We're going to have a third, and a fourth eventually. We can deal with those when the time comes, but so far we've never had problems recruiting loyal and talented sailors. I say we keep pressing."
Ready to plunge Wayfinder through his chest, Tessa stands toe to toe with the Kraken and is about to tell him how he's going to die when suddenly she is awakened by sounds when there should not be sounds. She sits up suddenly and shouts "VI! VI GET UP! Trouble!" and scrambles across the bed to snatch up her rapier and burst out the door shouting the alarm
Seeing that her lightning has no effect on the creature, Donomsail sends an icicle at the vine beginning to lift her aloft. The vine trembles and drops the tiefling to the deck. Valeria slashes at the vine lifting Polli and her blade cuts neatly through it, releasing the sylph. After being released herself, Polli sends a blast of fire and the vine holding Syl sizzles and burns.
Tessa bursts out from the captain's cabin calling everyone to arms. Marisan and Harmony wake to the alarm.
Round 3
The victory over the vines is short-lived as more of them drop from above, grabbing at crew members as they come pouring onto the deck from below. Some of the crew that's not grabbed begin slashing at the vines holding their crewmates. The rest of them look to you for orders. Some of them move to the ballista in case they're needed.
"Val, the ballista." Polli suggests "There, where the vines angling from, if it is possible." the wizard also does the unthinkable, she draws her dagger.
"We can't aim the ballista that high..." Val calls out as she slashes at the nearest vines. "Cap'n, order us out of the cove! Anyone who doesn't have a sword in hand, get the Siren ready to move."
Harmony, who comes running up on deck in her night-shirt, trousers and bare-feet, looks at the situation and immediately agrees with Val. She dives onto the quarterdeck and pulls something from a small locker at the base of the wheel. She hurls it into the air with a shouted word and a gigantic fan appears behind the ship - it immediately begins to flap, producing a powerful wind that immediately threatens to drive the Siren from the bay.
"Cut the anchor!" She yells, "We'll come back for it!"
Marisan emerges onto the deck just after Harmony. Quickly taking in the scene, the brawler adjusts her stance and lunges upwards, aiming a high kick at a vine!
"It doesn't tilt up?!?" Polli exclaims "We'll see about that later." gears, pegs, all sorts of things stumble through her head... attempt to distract her from the pain and dripping blood.
With Harmony taking control of getting them out of here, Tessa dashes across the deck with her rapier in hand to join Marisan in the battle of the vines. Standing without her armor on, she slashes her rapier at the vines and says over her shoulder to Marisan "At least we're wearing shirts this time, eh?"
Rosie Cusswell takes a moment out from slashing at a vine that's attempting to make off with Jack to turn and bring her blade down on the thick anchor-line.
Cut loose and with a strong draft of wind from the magical trinket, the Siren begins to move out of the cove and into the open moonlight. You manage to hold off the attacks from the plant-creature until you make your way out to the calm water surrounding the island. There's a quick bustle of activity to furl the sails to keep the ship from travelling too far and she comes to a quiet stop.
Combat Ends!
After a quick roll call, it's evident that you were lucky enough to not lose any crew members. Although a number of them had quite rude encounters with probing vines that have left them slightly weakened.
"Everyone who was... probed... needs a checkout and a thorough cleaning. Now!" Polli worries about sorts of unknown parasites, fungi, or anything else that could take hold in places. And will lecture anyone refusing on the benefits of good hygiene.
"That's an order!" Harmony adds, lending her authority to Polli's. She may be barefoot and somewhat dishevelled, but her glaring power is not diminished and anyone who refuses the doctor's ministrations feels its full force.
Donomsail requests a private inspection later.
Val sheathes her shortswords and retrieves her bow from the deck. While Polli checks out the victims physical wellbeing, she gently inquires about their emotional health after the violating experience and does her best to console those who need it.
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The crew grumbles somewhat about the physical inspections. Although some seem to take more amusement in having Polli do the inspection than is warranted.
"Are you sure I'm good, Doc?" Syl asks with a completely inappropriate grin. "You didn't check there and I'm sure I felt something there when we was being grabbed."
- Day 92
No other excitement takes place that night and the morning dawns warm, portending a hot day.
"Grumble all you want, but who will be cleaning you up if you get an infection down there, swell up so bad not even your piss can't get out, and you need to be cut just to get any relief. Who? ME! So stop whining and this will get done as quick as I can." Polli's bedside manner is glowing. Syl she just glares at and decides next time she is in the city she is buying the silence spell.
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +11)
. . 3rd—lightning bolt (DC 19), water breathing (3)
. . 2nd—aggressive thundercloud[ACG] (DC 18), burning arc (DC 18), detect thoughts (DC 17), scare (2, DC 17)
. . 1st—mage armor, magic missile (3), touch of the sea[APG] (DC 16), windy escape[ARG]
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, jolt[UM], mage hand, ray of frost
unless we are going vine killing instead, then it will be lots of fire spells (since no one knows what the vines are).
Gathering the officers in the longboat, Harmony and Tessa lead the others back into the deep blue waters of the deadly cove. After receiving spells of water breathing from Polli, they dive into the calm waters. They descend down to the entrance of the tunnels into the sahaugin lair and enter. Reaching the first large chamber, Marisan feels again the strange draw towards the crevice at the rear of the cavern.
They set to it in earnest with picks and shovels and a couple of hours later, the opening is widened enough for you to pass single file. It opens into a smaller chamber, perhaps only twenty feet in diameter, filled with foul water.
Near the back wall of this darkened cave, a ship’s anchor has been driven into the ground. Its heavy chain has been coiled about the skeletal remains of a man. The rotten remains of a captain’s coat still hang from the skeleton’s frame, and a silvery pendant dangles from his neck.
Harmony checks the skeleton for magic. Something is going on here, and it smells fishy...
”It looks like he was trapped here on purpose...” Val remarks quietly, ”we better be careful. There could be a curse, or his angry ghost...”
”Donm, will my magic let me see ghosts?” she asks as she focuses and her eyes start to glow once again.
Harmony detects no magical auras on the chain-bedecked corpse. Neither does Valeria see anything unseeable.
"Nothing magical..." Harmony says, burbling in the water. "Let me see if I can detach him."
Harmony moves in closer to attempt to slip free the heavy chains and as she does so the figure turns its head to look up at her with a rictus grin.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
Full expecting this sort of thing, Val quickly studies the unliving sailor as she begins firing arrows at it.
Marisan swims over to deliver a kick!
Donomsail sees the skeleton start to move and instantly starts to cast a spell, making sure that her captain is all right. "Gozreh! Beskerm my kaptein teen skade!"
Tessa moves up and stabs at the horror with Wayfinder. Her blade strikes true, but fails to fulfill its promise.
Valaria fairs slightly better as two of her arrows strike the thing as it begins moving. Marisan's foot also finds purchase on the undead creature.
The creature slips unhindered from the chains that seemed to bind it and everyone near it feels waves of despair roll over them. Rising from its false bonds, the creature grabs Harmony with a icy grip and pulls her in to press its cold, rotting lips against hers. Struggling to resist, the bard feels disgustingly foul water forced into her mouth and into her lungs.