Summaries and Reminders

[cassusaevum]

Session 1

The party found themselves in the city of Bridgeport on the coast of the Crescent Sea, eager to find adventure in a town known to be a hub for merchants, travelers, and fortune-seekers of all kinds.  Tired and thirsty from the road, they made their way to the Salty Spar, a dockside tavern full of cheap beer and questionable patrons.  It was not long before adventure found them, in the form of Sir Urso of Longshores.  Sir Urso had been sent to Bridgeport by his liege lord, Baron Sosii to find some stalwart adventurers to help the Barony in its time of need.  The party agreed to travel with Sir Urso to the Baron's estates, to hear what the Baron had to say and possibly take him up on his job offer.


Sir Urso of Longshores

The Baron's estates were North along the coast, a Barony within the Principality of Olduvar known as the Rocky Coast.  The journey was not entirely peaceful, as on the second day, a swarm of amphibious beetles came boiling from the ocean.  The beetles managed to pull one of the sailor's from Sir Urso's boat into the depths, though Amos and Kozmodan both jumped in after (as did Pyra - sort of).  Meanwhile Lyrie tended to the wounded aboard ship.  The dwarf and cleric managed to rescue the sailor, and the journey to Sosii's estates continued.

At the Baron's estates, the group was afforded a brief rest and then dinner with the Baron.  After the meal, he explained that over the course of the past 2 years, the various villages under his domain had lost better than 2-dozen people, all of them vanished.  He and his knights had been unable to determine what had been happening, being of limited experience in matters of investigation.  With the disappearances continuing, the Baron decided to hire outside help.  He offered the party 50 silver a week (each) as well as a 1,000 silver bonus should they put an end to the disappearances.

The Baron also had a secondary task.  A representative of the Prince would be coming soon to investigate rumors of smuggling along the coast.  While the Baron denied any knowledge of such things, he asked the party to keep an eye out for such matters as well, so that when the time came, the Baron could say (honestly) that he was being proactive with regard to any smuggling in his domain and hiring his own investigators.

The party accepted and were given a map of the area and a list of the missing.


Baron Sosii


The Investigation

The party began their investigation at Baron Sosii's estates, learning that the three missing from the estate proper (Abel, Bruce, & Dyfed) were a pair of sailors and their apprentice who went out for a normal fishing trip and never returned.  The weather had not been particularly bad, and neither remains nor the boat had been found despite search parties going out.

One of the servants claimed to have seen black ships moving up and down the coast at night, though there was no way to confirm this.

From Sosii's estate, the party took ship with Sir Urso down to Longshores, a large fishing village.  Amos and Kozmodan went to the smith to be outfitted for armor the Baron had agreed to have commissioned in lieu of some of their payment while Lyrie and Pyra began exploring the village and talking with the villagers.

The following information was learned about the missing:

• Joey and Jody were a husband/wife fisher couple who vanished a month ago out near the rocky bluffs where the Sea Wych's caves were rumored to be.  The currents out by those bluffs are terrible and a danger to even experienced sailors.
• Linny the Elder, his son Linny the Younger, and his daughter Licinnia all vanished on a fishing trip, about 3 months ago.  They, too, were rumored to have been sailing out near the Sea Wych's territories.
• Silis was out walking the shores of the village, looking for flotsam when he vanished without a trace.  That was about 8 months gone.

The villagers added the following bits of rumor and opinion to the mix as well:

• No one should ever sail out near the rocks that are rumored to be where the Sea Wych makes her home.  Fable or not, those currents are dangerous.
• Fisherfolk have been having more of their nets attacked by giant crabs of late.  Crabs the size of medium dogs.
• The Rock in the Storm is haunted, and a terrible, terrible place.  If people are missing, that place is behind it.
• You can't trust the folk of Sandy Bottom or Mud Hollow.  The Sandy Bottom folk fish outside their waters, and the Mud Hollow folk are a bunch of shifty halflings.

The Decision

After weighing their options, the party decided that rather than moving farther down the coast, they would explore the area where the Sea Wych was rumored to have her lair.  Once they determined if there were any merit to the rumors, they would then make their way down the coast to the Rock in the Storm.

[cassusaevum]

Forgot a bit of info you all obtained:

In addition to the above, one of the villagers talked about how the folk of Sandy Bottom and Mud Hollow had made up "Green Annie" because they were jealous of the fact that the more northerly-located villages had the "Sea Wych."

[cassusaevum]

Session 2
The Sea Wych's Cave

The party set out aboard the Dart to seek out the rumored lair of the mythical Sea Wych.  The waters near the rocky bluffs where she was said to make her home were treacherous indeed and only through careful sailing and acts of strength and skill were the heroes able to lay their craft alongside the mouth of a water-filled cave that delved into the heart of the isle.  They secured the vessel and Amos leaped over the side, ready to enter into the caves.  The currents proved treacherous and the cleric was swept from his feet and dragged into the watery darkness.

Pyra went immediately after him and she too was caught up in the currents.  Lyrie and Khaz'modan opted for a bit more careful approach, tying off some safety lines before they, too, entered the waters (Lyrie a bit behind Khaz'modan).  Meanwhile, Amos and Pyra managed to regain their feet and caught a flash of movement from one of the many tunnels that came together in the tumultuous mixing bowl they had entered.  Tracking the movement, they discovered a pair of teenaged waifs, malnourished and terrified.  Lyrie and Khaz'modan reached them and they set about trying to calm the captives.

The heroes learned that this pair was none other than Licinnia and her brother, Linny the Younger, both of whom had been taken captive months ago when the Sea Wych attacked their boat, killing their father and capturing them.  They had been trapped here ever since, feeding on what scraps the currents provided and terrified to attempt to leave, lest they be devoured by the foul creatures that the Sea Wych had gathered to her.  The party decided that the best course of action was to return the two to the Dart before exploring the caverns further.  When they tried to leave, however, they were ambushed by a scuttle of giant crabs.




The heroes defeated the crabs and deposited the children safely aboard the Dart.  They once again began exploring the caverns, and, this time, Khaz'modan found himself face to face with the Sea Wych herself.  He lowered his head and charged... right into a long patch of poisonous barnacles that cut his feet and sent poison coursing into his blood.  Still, dwarven stubbornness carried him on until he was face to face with the foul hag.  Pyra managed to land a telling blow and the hag, perhaps surprised by the ease with which the heroes had circumvented her trap, turned and fled into the darkness of the cave.



But it was not a simple matter to give chase, for as that fight unfolded, a giant octopus sprang from its concealment in the depths and grabbed Amos, dragging the cleric away.  Lyrie tried to move after him, but could not keep up with the aquatic creature in the crashing waves and currents of the sea caves.  Pyra and Khaz'modan ignored the fleeing hag to try to rescue their companions.  Meanwhile, the octopus deposited Amos in a deep cave, under thirty feet of water.  Little did the creature know that the blessings of Iomedae flowed freely within Amos and his goddess had already answered his call and provided him with a bubble of life-sustaining air.



An epic battle ensued in which the party, including Amos who escaped from the watery depths to bring the fight to the octopus once more, battled valiantly against the monster, eventually cutting it down.  In the aftermath, they tended their wounds and searched the lair of the octopus before moving on to follow the Sea Wych.  In a broad cavern that appeared to be the hag's resting place, they discovered another captive, a beautiful girl named Ella.  Lyrie was suspicious, but to her knowledge, hags had no ability to change form.  They freed the girl, destroyed the magic circle that the hag was likely using to empower her magic, and found some interesting items and money among the hag's effects.  Then the party took Ella back to the Dart before going into the caves for a final time, to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

When they returned, Ella was gone without a trace, though Licinnia and Linny the Younger still slumbered.  The party concluded that Ella had been the hag all along, somehow altering her appearance despite that not being a thing for which sea hags were known.  With no avenue to search for the hag, they opted to return the children to Longshores, where they were greeted with a heroes welcome.  The town happily accepted the crab and octopus that the heroes had loaded aboard their vessel and offered up a grand feast as thanks for returning some of the lost villagers.  There were many whispers about the Sea Wych and how she was real.

The following morning, the party departed once more, determined to find out what was going on in the Rocky Cape.  They set out for the Rock in the Storm, the Hyperborean-era lighthouse rumored to be haunted and the home of dark and evil things.  Getting there was no easy task and they were forced to beach the Dart and attempt to cross the remains of a collapsed bridge.  Though it was a harrowing process, the heroes managed to make their way across and stand before the Rock itself.



Lyrie thought back to her studies and recalled the story of the Rock in the Storm.  In the ancient days, it had been manned by a dedicated staff, but when horrendous storms swept down the coast, the bridge that connected the lighthouse to the shore was destroyed.  Trapped on the island for weeks, the lighthouse keepers were driven slowly mad.  Legends say they gave into depravity and committed horrible atrocities upon one another.  Now, or so the story goes, the place is haunted by their spirits who crawl out at night and claim any who wander too close.  As such, the lighthouse is avoided by all sane folk.

The party, being of sterner stuff than most villagers, boldly forced the door, entering into what appeared to be a fairly mundane cloakroom, though one with centuries-old cloaks surprisingly intact.  Just as things were starting to seem a little too normal, the door slammed shut behind them and the cloaks fluttered to life...

Next time: The Secrets of the Rock in the Storm

[cassusaevum]

Session 3

Locked within the Rock in the Storm, the heroes found themselves assaulted by animated cloaks.  Every strike sent clouds of sickening dust into the air, but neither allergies nor ambulatory outerwear could stall the progress of the party.  They defeated the guardian garments and were left with a feeling that some sort of dark spirits were behind the assault.  This was confirmed as they heroes entered the storage area and were assaulted by armored suits, once again made ambulatory through the presence of some dark entity.  The entity (at least in that room) seemed quelled with the defeat of the armor, but the group was certain it was merely slumbering and not truly defeated.



After some discussion, the heroes proceeded up the tower.  They found the remains of some sort of mystical battle, but as they were taking no precautions to be quiet, they drew the attention and ire of Leace of Reme (though they did not know her identity at the time).  The maddened wight challenged the party and when she felt insulted by their actions, leaped to the attack.  The wight was no match for the heroes, however, and was summarily put down.



A search of her chambers was scarcely underway when the sound of Khaz'modan's smithing drew the attention of more denizens of the tower.  Skeletons - or rather, some sort of animated bones that were not truly undead - poured into the hallway.  They were met with fire and steel as Lyrie unleashed multiple burning hands and the others hacked their way to victory.



Further exploration of the 2nd level of the tower uncovered a number of magical items of interest, including a pair of slippers that provided a swim speed (but were painful to wear on land), a coral fan that produced light when waved and granted the one holding it the ability to breath under water and a whistle that, if you were standing in seawater, would summon a number of dolphins to do your bidding.  They also found several arcane scrolls and the remnants of a spell book.  The purpose of all of this was made clear when they found the diary of Laece of Reme.

Laeca's Journal

• Laeca of Reme was a powerful wizard intent on exploring the mysteries of the Sinnar Ocean 
• She came to the Rock in the Storm to claim the tower for herself and begin research into magical constructs that would allow her to explore the oceans 
• She discovered that the tower was infested with maddened spirits 
• Laeca battled these spirits, and as she did, she learned of their past
• The spirits belonged to the keepers of the light house 
• When the bridge broke, and they were abandoned, a madness overtook them 
• They gave in to all manner of debasement, debauchery, and sin to the point that the gods themselves turned away, cursing the lightkeepers 
• Their spirits reside here in a constant state of torment, but they are bound to the tower and cannot leave it
• Leaca thought she had defeated the spirits, but she had merely quieted them for a while and the place itself seemed steeped in madness 
• Still, Laeca persevered and kept doing her research, eventually creating a whistle, fan, and slippers that would be helpful in her endeavors 
• After detailing those items, the journal begins to slip into maddened ravings  
• She becomes obsessed with a staring into a crystal ball, scrying endlessly 
• Towards the end, the entirety of the journal is just the rantings of a madwoman obsessed with finding some "dark leviathan rising from the deep intent on consuming all life on land" 

Continuing Up the Tower

As the heroes continued up the lighthouse, they found themselves on the top floor.  Here, a great hearth stood and heaps of coal covered the floor.  A stone cranks stood in the middle of the floor, connected to complex gearworks designed to turn the lens of the lighthouse above.  As they entered, spirits rose, taking skeletal form, and their leader seemed to be ordering the heroes to turn the crank.  They did so, and the spirits began to work, building up the fire.  The party was able to determine that the brilliant light coming from the coals was reflected from numerous (and long since broken) mirrors before making it's way to the lens on the topmost floor of the lighthouse.

After about five minutes of manning the crank, the party stopped working.  The spirits, incensed, attacked.  Once again, the heroes proved their mettle, dispatching the cursed spirits... at least for a time.

The Glass Shards


The top level of the lighthouse was covered in broken glass, some from the large lens that had long ago warned ships away from the jagged coast and some from the windows that had once enclosed this level.  Once again, the malevolent spirits rose, pulling the glass into the shape of crude weapons.  The glass shards swept in to the attack.  In the ensuing battle, Lyrie went down, but the others managed to defeat the animated shards.  Tired and wounded, the party camped atop the lighthouse, finding a moment of solace amongst the chaos.



The Cellar

With the main lighthouse tower cleansed (and no sign of any of the missing villagers), the heroes ventured into the cellars beneath the lighthouse.  They discovered the lighthouse cistern, which seemed full of brackish water, but there was something glittering on the bottom.  It proved to be a trap as a water elemental burst forth, grabbing Amos and pulling him into the deep.  Iomedae once again extended her protections, and a bubble of air formed around Amos' head, preventing him from drowning.

The ensuing battle against the elemental was a near fought thing, and Lyrie was again struck a near mortal blow.  But the wizard managed to survive, and the party prevailed once more.



In the final occupied chamber, the heroes came across the rotting bones of numerous animals.  Again, the foul spirits of this place went to work, assembling the bones into something reminiscent of a Minotaur skeleton.  It, too, proved no match for the heroes as the combination of steel, wizardry, divine protections, and sheer sneakiness overwhelmed the creature.



With the spirits quieted, the heroes decided to try and cleanse this place, a task that will require a complex ritual and perhaps draw the ire of the gods down upon them all.

Next time: A Challenge to the Gods...
  

[cassusaevum]

Session 4
(Don't forget, you leveled up at the end of this session)

The session opened with the heroes intent upon freeing The Rock in the Storm from the haunting presence of its long-dead and long-accursed Lightkeepers.  The heroes began the complex ritual to summon the eyes of the goodly gods upon them and make offerings such that their boon might be granted.  There was much cleaning, and chanting, and a little more cleaning (for cleanliness is next to godliness) and an avatar of Iomedae appeared before them.  Though the Lady of Valor answered the call, the heroes felt the weight of all the goodly gods.  In the end, their prayers were answered and the curse was lifted from the Rock in the Storm.  The Lightkeepers were allowed to rest at last and the heroes each felt the blessings of a boon descend upon them.

• Amos felt the touch of Iomedae and her grace carried with him, manifesting as a sort of permanent prestidigitation for his gear and clothing so that he might always present himself as a right and proper knight.
• Khaz'modan felt the touch of Torag and in it, he knew that the Father of Dwarvenkind would answer his call (once, at least) and repair that which had been rent asunder.  More, Torag whispered in Khaz'modan's heart that the time would yet come for the halls of Khaz'modan to be taken from their dark oppressors and the forges of the dwarvenhame to ring once more.
• Lyrie felt the touch of Sarenrae, and knew that the Lady of Light would answer her prayers and provide her with a healing touch (again, once), lifting all wounds from the one to which Lyrie ministered.
• Pyra, not one to be religious, still felt the laughing grace of Cayden Cailean, the Drunken God who admired her gusto and lust for life if not her strict adherence to religious doctrine.  He placed his boon upon the goblin, allowing her to never suffer the ill effects of overindulgence in spirits.

With The Rock in the Storm cleansed, the heroes set back to Longshores, to drop off the Dart and pick up the armor that was being crafted for them.  That done, they turned their sights south, headed for Mud Hollow to further the course of their investigation.  The town proved (for the most part) to be a filthy and unwelcoming place, mostly inhabited by halflings.  The party (with the exception of Pyra) was met with little hospitality.  That alone raised some suspicions, since the rest of the villages of Rocky Cape had been far more welcoming.  Through observation and investigation, they learned the following:

• Green Annie was a fact of life for the town - a creature that lived in the Fens and was dangerous to those who ventured into them.  But beyond that, no one seemed particularly concerned.
• The town boasted more wealth than they were letting on.  In fact, they seemed to be intentionally hiding their wealth from outsiders.
• The people were hostile, but beneath the hostility, their was something else, as if they were hiding something.
• Someone or some group was living in the Black Fens, which, given the dangers of Green Annie, seemed odd indeed.

Things came to a head in Muddy Hollow when the party began talking to the villagers.  Khaz'modan - suspicious of Halfa, the mayor - tried to push his way into her hut.  He managed to catch a glimpse of what lay within - riches far beyond what a simple village mayor should have had.  But the town reacted with surprising speed and vigor, hurling themselves bodily upon the dwarf.  For a moment, it seemed that bloodshed was inevitable, but cooler heads prevailed.  The party was escorted to the edge of town and told in no uncertain terms that they weren't welcome in Mud Hollow, business of the Baron or not.

Determined to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the town, the heroes turned to the Fens, and began to explore their boggy depths, in search of Green Annie, the mysteries swamp dwellers, and whatever else the gods might put into their paths.



Next Time: Green Annie and the Dwellers (probably)