Your group disembarks from the ferry to Iceferry, on the opposite bank of the Rimeflow River from Kalsgard, the largest city in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. A pink-haired gnome with an over-sized wayfinder around her neck awaits for you, and introduces herself as Lirall, an agent stationed here in Iceferry. She leads you wordlessly to a building whose roof is built from an overturned Ulfen raiding longboat. There's barks and howls coming from the kennels next to the Lodge.
Inside, she goes to several cords of rope with tags attached. She picks one that is labeled "office" and pulls it. Shortly thereafter, three blue-skinned goblins come scrambling down a hallway, not even paying attention to you. A large husky are chasing after them, barking and snarling at them. Then, a calm, collected half-orc confidently strides down the hallway. He places a hand on the husky's shoulder and it calms down. He is Venture Captain Bjersig Torrsen. He motions for you to follow him into a room with a long table for you to sit.
Lirall says "The Venture Captain is battling a sore throat, so I'll be interpreting for him." Bjersig begins to sign with his hands. "Apologies for the ruckus. The Frostfurs are talented scouts, but they have an adversarial relationship with Mahki. She doesn’t particularly like them either." One of the goblins sticks its tongue out at the dog.
To the reason I called you here! The Grenskuldr family traces their lineage back to the storied warrior Grehunde the Sun Chaser, a Linnorm King who ruled over the city of Jol and whose victories in battle were legendary. The family still has a lot of influence. I’ve asked them to help out the Society, and they’ve asked for a favor in exchange. That’s where you come in. Are you familiar with Valenhall?”
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The elven wizardress enters, her hand upon a quarterstaff. On her shoulder is an owl of snowy white, which matches the robes that the elf wears. Her skin is the color of ivory which only serves to highlight her midnight black hair and purple eyes.
She speaks in a nuanced elven accent Greetings to my fellow Pathfinders. I am Avonathalanthalasa Caldon, from Kyonin and a student of the art of the Magaambya.Elven is often difficult for non native speakers to pronounce so you may call me Avonatha, if that is easier for you to pronounce. Are there any other followers of the Vigilant Seal present for this mission? . Her tone is friendly but matter of fact.
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From hot to wet to cold, there's always a mystery to solve. Swayaah keeps her tail tucked under her coat. Fae bounces alongside her, taking notes, noting tinctures and blabbing on in Celestial and Abyssal tongues.
Swayaah lets her tail escape as she gets indoors. "I'm Swayaah. Good to see ya'll. This is my assistant, Fae. She's okay with Medicine. Or at least she'll try." Fae approaches the goblins and the dog to play with 'em.
"Hello Avonatha. Mindartis. Rathal." Swayaah greets them all. "I guess I'm the token non-elf of this group!" She laughs. "Radiant Oath Faction, represent."
The Venture Captain clears his throat before she notices him. "Sorry Captain. I'm kind of chatty. What's the mission, again?" She nods, pulls out her journal and starts scribbling. "Valenhall? Hmm. We're currying favor with some nobles, I take it? Reminds me of mom."
Swayaah has never of heard of Valenhall.
"An old Linnorm king left his lands centuries ago and sailed west across the sea, past shattered Azlant into Arcadia. Since then, millenia's worth of Ulfen warriors have dreamed of setting sail and living their last days in the mythic Valenhall. Some have even done it. But Grehunde the Sunchaser never got to sail off to Valenhall— she died in what she planned to be her last battle. Her gorget was passed down to her descendants, most recently Hlavard Grenskuldr, also a Linnorm King. Hlavard was an impressive warrior in his youth, but a month ago he sailed off toward Valenhall to set up a shrine to Grehunde there and finish her journey. He planned to ensure the gorget found its final home in a place of honor. Unfortunately, something happened to his ship, the Shoreseeker, along the way. Merchants report that the ship is still partially above water, but they didn’t get close enough to find out what happened. While his children respected Hlavard’s decision, they would rather not have their father’s body and the priceless family heirloom at the bottom of the sea. I’d like you to find the ship and retrieve Hlavard and the gorget. I’ve arranged a ship for you, the Wandering Hearth, to follow the Shoreseeker’s path through the Steaming Sea."
Lirall stands ready to translate any questions you have for the venture captain. He coughs violently into the nook of his elbow. He takes out his handkerchief and blows his nose into it.
All three elves know that the Hellrung mountains that dot the Steaming Sea are volcanically active. Molten lava into the seawater whips up steam, thus the name, the Steaming Sea. New ridges and islands pop up all the time.
Rathal, having his memory refreshed, recalls that Valenhall dates back -473 AR, and was founded by the Linnorm King Ulvnass. Most recently, the Linnorm King Sveinn Blood-Eagle crossed over within the last two years.
The venture captain reads lips so does not rely on Lirall to translate. He has another hacking cough attack before answering. "The gorget does possess some mystical power, but we're told that it will only activate is worn by a member of the Grenskuldr family."
The Wandering Hearth is a well provisioned ship, captained by Eynilla Vriggdahl. She seems wary; there's old sailing lore that taking three elves by sea leads to bad luck, but the Venture Captain's gold keeps you all on board.
It turns out the old mariner's song is right, as a storm strikes three days into your journey. Its all hands on deck and you're expected to help out too! You can be of general help to the captain by acting as sailors , help secure crates and tools , or try to secure ropes to the sides of the ship .
The bird helps out as well.
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"Usually I'm the bad luck charm." Swayaah shrugs. "Elves do live for a long time, ya know. That's an awful lot of customers who will remember how you slighted them." She holds herself back from laying into a superstitious captain. Not worth the mission.
The storm doesn't help her argument. "Fae, get below deck. I'll secure these crates. I can't let Rathal hog all the glory."
"Great day for a storm, right?" Swayaah nudges her elven companion as she grabs some ropes. "It's never easy for a Pathfinder."
The storm passes after only twenty minutes of worry. Its hairy, but you get through it. Swayaah finds two crowbars in the the gear she secured. The captain says that the party is free to use the crowbars in your salvage mission.
Shortly after the storm ends, as the sun begins to start to set, the ship finds the remains of the Shoreseeker. It appears to be resting on top of several other shipwrecks.
Unfortunately, the tiefling fails to spot the graying mold growing on the Shoreseeker's deck in time before the group boards the ship. As the Pathfinders board the ship, the gray mold flies into the air and into their lungs.
Mindartis feels a sharp pain in his throat, and takes 3 points of damage.
With the assistance of Rathal, Mindartis starts to cough up the spores without taking any further damage.
It becomes quickly clear that the gorget must not be on the deck of ship, and thus, the next place to look is below deck.
Below deck, the story of the Shoreseeker becomes clear. In the flooded hold of the ship, there is a hole with a sea serpent's head lodged in. In its carriage-sized jaw, an rotting body is pierced by several fangs, but the man's greataxe is still clasped in his hand and its blade is embedded in the sea serpent's throat. He must have swung and killed the serpent with his last breath.
On the man's neck, there is an elaborate silver gorget.
Of course, retrieving the gorget is complicated by the fact that the water level has rose and the entire grisly tableau is under the water.
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"You scared me, Mindartis." Swayaah pats the man on the back. "Don't swallow stuff you don't know unless you're drunk at a bar."
Finishing the inspection of the top deck, Swayaah heads below deck and whistles. "Wow, died like a warrior. Let's get him out of there." She's about to dive in when Fae offers her some rope.
"Uhhh... oh yeah, good idea!" She ties the rope around her waist. "I'll help Mindartis open the jaws and get the body out. If anyone wants to stay here and hold onto the rope, that would be great. Hopefully I can tie this around Grehunde and we can haul him back gently."
With that said, Swayaah holds her breath and dives in. The water is quite cold. Mom would probably use this as an excuse to cozy up to some dummy near a fireplace, asking him to warm her up. She shakes the idea out of her head and swims to the beast.
There it is- the gorget itself. Now, if only she could open this serpent-sized lock on it...
It takes her a few tries but the tiefling is able to pry open the sea serpent's mouth and with the aid of Vathal, haul the corpse of Hlavard back to the surface and to the stair leading to the top deck.