The party has been sent to Iceferry, the northern district of Kalsgard, the capital (to the extent there is one) of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Following the directions provided before your departure, you are able to find the local Pathfinder Lodge. A gnome prominently wearing a wayfinder greets you at the door and introduces herself as Lirall. After letting you into the Lodge, she selects a cord labeled "Office" from one of a bundle of colored cords near the door. As she does so, a dog's howl is heard from further inside the building as a trio of blue-skinned goblins scampers through the entrance hall. A large husky, the apparent source of the howling, bursts out of another corridor and seems to be ready to chase after the goblins before a tall half-orc follows the dog and lays a hand on her back. The half-orc gestures for the party to follow him back the way he came, to a small meeting room. He indicates several chairs, but remains standing, watching the party members. "My thanks for your coming here. I'm Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen. And this is Mahki. Apologies for the ruckus. The Frostfurs are talented scouts, but they have an adversarial relationship with Mahki. She doesn’t particularly like them either.
"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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A male human with Big nose clad in scale mail and with large curved blade etched with runes and a spear affixed to a rope among his gear. He sniffs at the goblins then at Makhi and then the halforc
I am Grannik from Hyrantam. I am used to surveying the wilds for dangers. Assessing threats on sight and fighting in water, but I am not familiar with Valenhall
The Venture-Captain's dog nudges him whenever one of you talks, and he turns to whoever is speaking and watches them carefully. "Oddly enough, it's supposed to be warmer than here...not that that's saying much. Valenhall is on the coast of Arcadia. It's a settlement founded by Ulfen explorers more than five millennia ago, and when Linnorm Kings grow old they sail there to finish their lives. Every great Ulfen hero dreams of that voyage.
"Now, Grehunde the Sun Chaser never had the chance to sail 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. It should go without saying that Hlavard was an impressive warrior in his youth, but he's now an old man. 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 ocean. 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."
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Herkemer has never heard of Valenhall, or Grehunde the Sun Chaser, but he nods along as the Captain starts his briefing. "What exactly do you want us to do?" the halfling says, with a shiver. His last mission was in the tropics and before that the desert. Now he's in the frozen northlands, perhaps wishing for more temperate climes.
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Grannik takes a good sniff at his prospective companions. I can not speak for these boat captains but the ones I know generally take a wreck to be signs that mark a place you don't want to take a boat too close to as that is an easy way to wreck your own boat. My own skills lie in being almost at home in water as on land. Knowing what creatures frequent an area and fighting with weapons. What do you bring little ones?
"Grannik has the right of it. The other vessel was in a hurry to return to port, and didn't want to try to either navigate unfamiliar shoals or send a jollyboat in. They're sailors, not trained Pathfinders such as yourselves." He smiles a bit. "And they didn't say they saw a sea serpent, which I take as a good sign--sea stories grow in the telling, so if they'd seen so much as a large manta ray, by the time the tale got to us it would've been some sort of giant shark that chased them off!"
He turns more serious as he continues. "Shoreseeker's crew made it back here safely, though. Odd as this sounds, they didn't have a lot of information--at least, nothing consistent. Something might have attacked the ship, or it hit a shoal and ran aground, and Hlavard told them to leave while he investigated. He never lit the signal light that it was safe for the crew to return, so they made their way back to Kalsgard."
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"Mmmm. I suppose you have lined up a ship for us to use? Or is that something we will need to do. Have to admit, I know next to nothing about sailing so it will be up to our expert Grannik here if it comes to that."
Chén fú busies himself tossing a dart around from hand to hand when he is not talking, but once he speaks he becomes still.
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What do you bring little ones?
Herkemer looks at the tall man, and says, "I am nto much of a toe-to-toe fighter, but can hold my own in a pinch. Would rather be crafty, sneak around the flank, or get the drop on a foe. Can break locks and disarm traps, if you need it. Can talk my way out of trouble most times, at least so far."
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"How did the crew make it back, if the ship is still there? Can we talk to them? About how far is it to the crash site? Do we expect that journey will be dangerous or is it just at the wreckage of the Shoreseeker that we should expect trouble?"
Herkemer rattles off a series of rapid-fire questions at the Venture Captain, curious to see which he will answer.
"They took small boats and hugged the shore. Unfortunately, they shipped out again not long after they returned--Shoreseeker's loss meant they didn't get much pay, and sailors who've been to Arcadia and back don't tend to be ashore long. I expect them to be back in six months or so--too long for me to wait. As to the dangers of the journey, the sea's never entirely safe, but the ship I arranged for you--the Wandering Hearth--has a fine crew."
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Vivekanadra Samurthy is a new Pathfinder but she is well traveled and familiar with many things. She wears no armor, has few weapons (just a dagger, a mace, and a crossbow). She introduces herself to her companions as a wizard, having recently completed her studies as a Battle Mage. She has a familiar, a female capuchin monkey named Chhaya, whom she does not dress up in any cute little outfits. She speaks a number of languages. She is young (mid twenties), with dusky skin, black hair, dark expressive eyes, and a pleasant demeanor.
When she and Chhaya enter the lodge, the dog's presence causes Chhaya to hide behind Vivekanandra and to chitter nervously, while peering around her at the husky. Vivekanandra has no immediate questions, once it is clear that the venture captain has provided all the information about which he knows.
Vivekanadra doesn't recall anything in particular about the Steaming Sea.
Mission briefing completed, the party heads for Iceferry's harbor. The captain of the Wandering Hearth is Eynilla Vriggdahl, a middle-aged Ulfen woman whose sun- and salt-bleached hair, weathered face, and callused hands speak to long years spent at sea. Her people skills would indicate that she's accustomed to having people follow her orders, and that she doesn't often have passengers. "Make sure you're equipped for the voyage. The route is as safe as anywhere on the Steaming Sea, so be ready for ill weather. Things go bad, the crew won't have time to help you."
Her words, unfortunately, prove prescient. You're three days out of Iceferry when a storm comes up, and it's a bad one. Captain Vriggdahl shouts commands in Ulfen from the bridge, her voice carrying over the roar of the winds, and the crew desperately struggles to keep Wandering Hearth from heeling over--a task they seem to have in hand, but at the expense of making sure that the cargo stays put.
For all his dexterity and training, the monk is unable to assist.
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Vivekanandra is more of a scholar than an athlete, but she knows nothing about sailing that would help the more experience sailors, so she does what she can to help with ropes and rigging, too afraid of getting too close to the rails of the bucking ship. "Gruhastha save us!" she mutters as she pitches in.
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Herkemer has spent his first two Pathfinder missions on or around boats, but before that he was a landlubber all his days, so he is of no help with the crew and isn't strong enough physically to secure cargo. Instead he looks for a loose lines, broken by the wind, and tries to secure them to the railing of the deck.
In the chaos of the storm, Vivekanandra takes 4 points bludgeoning damage, and Herkemer takes 2 points bludgeoning damage. A lot of cargo went overboard, though. You get the impression that the captain would be angrier at you if you were regular crew members, but since you're landlubbers you couldn't be expected to do better.
Eventually the winds die down . Your vessel reaches the Shoreseeker at high tide, so the captain feels comfortable bringing Wandering Hearth close in. The Ulfen longship seems to have taken substantial damage on one side; to make it easier for the party, Captain Vriggdahl is able to sail around to the less damaged side before steering Wandering Hearth to within ten feet or so of the wreck and dropping anchors. Crew members lay several boards across the gap between the ships.
Shoreseeker is half-submerged, propped up by several more wrecked ships. Vivekanandra thinks it's probably the way the shoreline is shaped here that's caused multiple wrecks in one location.
The four of you cross the gulf that separates the two ships on boards that creak and shift as the current moves both vessels. Vivekanandra is about to set foot on the deck when Chén fú, Grannik, and Herkemer all shout for her to stop. They've noticed that the mold on the deck looks dangerous.
Grannik and Vivekanandra remember enough about this variety of mold to get past it.
Heading belowdecks, it quickly becomes obvious what happened to the ship, and to Hlavard. The somewhat scavenger-eaten head of an enormous sea serpent protrudes through an opening in the hull below the waterline, a skeletal figure in armor clenched in its jaws. The figure wears a gorget with the rest of its armor that matches the description you were given by the Venture-Captain. In one hand, the skeleton holds an axe that's firmly embedded in the sea serpent's head.
Vivekanandra, Herkemer, and Grannik are familiar enough with what happens to bodies left in the ocean for a while that the skeletal nature of the remains is not unexpected. Unfortunately, retrieving the body and gorget will take some underwater work--prying open the serpent's jaws and extracting the body from the fangs that have pierced it through.
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Vivekanandra again is not the athletic type, but she does what she can. She casts a light spell on a piece of wood and lets it float near the work to give everyone light. She also casts floating disk and positions it where it can be a support and as something to place salvaged items for transport up to the surface.
Then she takes a deep breath and dives in to try to help as she can.
Chén fú takes a deep breath and swims down to the serpent's head, where he tries to Force Open the creature's jaws. Unfortunately, he slips and catches one of the creature's spines.
Vivekanandra also takes a deep breath and follows the monk. She's unable to get the jaws open, but she doesn't injure herself.
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Vivekanandra helps Chén fú get back to the surface and back to the deck.
"Looks like this is a job for someone bigger and stronger," she says, glancing at Grannik. Then she sets to work treating Chén fú's wounds.
But the wounds are beyond her modest skills. She bandages the wounds to keep them from bleeding or getting infected.
Grannik doesn't do well on his first attempt, with the jaws being more solidly set than he expected. Apparently he broke some recalcitrant bit of sinew on that try, though, because the second attempt is an easy success. He hooks the skeleton with a rope and swims back to the surface while the rest of the party hauls it up.
Making your way back to the Wandering Hearth, though, your exultation is short-lived: cries of pain and anger echo across the water.
A pair of sea creatures that look like much smaller versions of the sea serpent that killed Hlavard have just come up over the side of the ship, and one has raked a crew member with the spines running down its back.
Round 1:
Initiative order
Vivekanandra
Grannik
Herkemer
Red serpent
Blue serpent
Chén fú
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Vivekanandra
Grannik-acted
Herkemer
Red serpent
Blue serpent
Chén fú
Grannik sizes up the small serpent, then slings his spear at his prey. He's on target and does a significant amount of damage.
They have no resistances.