After a few days of rest (3/16 – 3/21), the party discussed what they ought to do next. Jerker was laid up with an aching head, and they wondered if was safe to go out to sea with him in a vulnerable condition. Saul was exploring the wilderness, perhaps pursuing another animal companion. Tienarth busied himself with pursuing musical compositions, as the planned to perform at a grand party the following week to celebrate the recovering of the tower. The folk tales described it as being haunted. With this disproved, it seemed a cultural artifact worthy of study.
A party of elves went to the tower to gather relics and clues about the origins. They returned with a hoard of treasure in the lower reaches and a tale of a giant octopus that attacked and ate two elven warriors. In honor of Tienarth’s Raiders, 500 platinum pieces were awarded plus a guarantee that the party could live amongst the elves indefinitely.
The invitation to stay proved very compelling to the sailors of Captain Ephor’s ship. After three weeks enjoying the comforts of elven companionship, the men’s thoughts naturally turned to giving up a life on the sea. It was a prospect that troubled the captain greatly, and he confided his fear to Aderian and the others. Meanwhile, Silverfish relayed Arianna’s growing disapproval over the lack of progress.
Ollie asked Silverfish more about the ring parts, and they learned that the ring produced an anti-magic effect. Even the parts of the ring produced a reduced dampening of magic, but once reassembled, the ring would be the key to entering the workshop. Ollie professed a suspicion that landing on the Naked Isle was more than blind luck, wondering if part of the ring was nearby.
Once again, Zhargrave was asked to commune with an angel to ask ten questions. He required a day of rest to prepare the prayer, and this lead logically to use the day to explore the tower once again. If nothing else, they hoped to lure the giant octopus out of the pool. They hatched a clever plan to grapple tentacles and stake them to cave floor with iron spikes. Jerker did not assent to lending his magic girdle, but both Aderian and Ollie benefited from magical strength.
Octopus Hunting
Aderian gave 50 gp each to his two remaining dwarven crewmen, Felon and Brond. Felon, a barbarian taken as a galley slave, offered to come along on the trip to the tower. Jerker handed over the magical spear he’d found there as Felon was already accustomed to fighting with a spear. He offered a suit of armor, but it didn’t fit the squat dwarf.
Down below the tower, in the room with the pool of sea water, they saw nothing in the deep water. Urgesh fastened a rope around his waist. Ollie held the other end and braced his feet against iron spikes. Felon expressed some doubt about this impending battle. It was some time before the octopus appeared, but when it did, it was not surprising. Eight legs flopped out of the water and thrashed around.
Aderian acted first, slashing savagely with a grappling hook, and owing to his giant strength, he severed the limb rather than simply hooking it. Nate stepped up and delivered crushing blow to another tentacle. Emboldened, Felon rushed up beside Urgesh and plunged his spear into body of the octopus, releasing a gush of ichor. The beast began to slip back into the water, dead. Urgesh made a vain attempt to grasp it, and while his hands made purchase, he hadn’t the strength to hold up the heavy body. Fortunately, Ollie dashed up and kept hold of on tentacle. Shortly, the entire octopus was pulled out of the pool.
Urgesh hoped for treasure in the pool below and announced his intention to go down into the water. He produced an air bladder which provided an extra breath of air. The pool extended beyond the reach of his vision until he sank deeper where he saw a passage leading horizontally about 80 feet down. What grabbed his attention most were the many coins scattered across the floor along with a few other items. He first grabbed a bone tube, a bottle and bundle of arrows meant for a shortbow. After returning to the surface, he rested a bit and then dove down again for the coins. After a few trips, he’d recovered 1,600 gold coins. On his last trip, though, he spotted an ominous shape approaching.
From the passage at the bottom came a great white shark, curious at first. It swam up to the strange half-orc with an air bladder tucked under one arm. Urgesh poked it with his spear, enraging the beast. Soon, Urgesh was ascending and stabbed as he could. The shark bit him several times. The rest of the party couldn’t distinguish how much of the cloud of blood came from the barbarian or the shark. When they finally pulled Urgesh from the water, he was badly injured, but the shark was dead.
They gathered the items, coins and both vanquished animals, carrying them back to the village. Giant centipedes were spotted in the swamp on the way back. Aderian drove them away by throwing the severed octopus tentacle at them.
The bone tube contained a map, kept dry by a wax seal. It described a small island some distance from the Naked Isle with a distinctive skull-shaped rock. It seemed to be a map to buried treasure. The bottle and arrows were handed over to Tienarth for analysis. Zhargrave confirmed they were both magical, as was the map.
Asking Questions
The next day (3/23), Zhargrave performed a ritual for the entire village, partly as a demonstration of the power of the Anointed One. As he prayed, dark clouds formed over the usually sunny island. Lightning flashed. Down from the heavens came an angel. In a booming voice, it called for ten questions. The party did their best to focus, but a few pointless questions were uttered and answered to little benefit.
- Is part of the ring on this island? No
- Is a part of the ring we are searching for on the statue island? Yes
- What else was there in the basement? No
- Is that six questions? No
- If you could state what you wanted to say in the case of a question how would you do it? No
- Is arianna trustworthy? Yes
- Is part of the ring for which we seek in the tower with the lich? Yes
- On the island of statues is a ring part above the level of the sea? Yes
- Is this ring fragment on the surface and not underground? No
- Is there a mage that lives in this dungeon? No
They were now convinced that no part of the ring was on the Naked Isle. Preparations were made to set sail in the following days, with the intent of returning to the island of statues.
End Notes
- Days
- 3/16 – 3/23 On the Naked Isle
- Treasure:
- 500 pp gift from the elves
- 1600 gp from the pool
- Map in a bone tube
- Bottle
- Shortbow arrows
- Combat: 1,750 xp
- Giant Octopus 875 xp
- Great White Shark 875 xp
- Characters 292 xp each (6 shares)
- Aderian (human, fight) 327 xp
- Felon (underground, fight) 298 xp
- Ferris (human ) 321 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 324 xp
- Ollie (suspicious, underground, fight, strength) 304 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, aggressive, fight) 312 xp
- Ships
- The Howl of the Demon
- Crew/Passengers: 86/9
- Cargo: 9 of 210 tons
- Food: about 383 man/weeks
- Water: 1500 gallons
- Caravel
- Crew/Passengers: 2/ 2
- Cargo: 54 of 75 tons
- Food: 45 man/weeks
- Water: 5000 gallons
- 33 tons of sugar in 40 barrels
- The Howl of the Demon