Nearly three weeks had passed on The Naked Isle (3/22 – 4/12), with Tienarth’s Raiders enjoying a leisurely vacation amongst the natives. They learned how the elves made great use of the many frogs on the island, exploiting them for more than food. The skin of the frogs, once tanned, remained tough and slippery, sometimes used for wrapping the axles of wagons.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the island were greatly impressed by Zhargrave’s summoning of the angel. So much so, that more than a few professed their faith in the Anointed One. Soon, the old cleric was making plans for a temple and giving sermons. This put a damper on the party atmosphere in Osrendell as the people began to accept a sense of shame in their nakedness. Bonds were forming between the human sailors of Ephor’s crew and the elf maidens with whom they were pairing.
Zhargrave gave a detailed plan for a temple 180 feet long and 40 feet wide, one that rose two stories tall plus a 40 foot bell tower. Materials could be gathered from the surrounding wilderness, but he needed donations of funds to employee the humans and elves who were glad to help. Nate immediately made a donation of 4,000 gold pieces.
Ephor’s sailors were further encouraged to remain on the island. He no longer had enough of a crew to sail or row his galley, the Howl of the Demon. Yet not all of the elves were satisfied with the new religion taking hold on the island. Some of the male warriors were somewhat resentful and their thoughts turned to leaving the island with Ephor. The captain could still count on twenty humans to instruct another twenty elves in the duties of a sailor. He looked forward to doubling that total and sailing back to Slateholm. After all, he’d earned a hefty share of treasure and sticking around the dangerous southern seas seemed like pushing his luck.
Tienarth found the time to analyze the magic items recovered from the wizard’s tower. The bottled held a potion of gaseous form. The arrows, fit for a shortbow, provided a minor magical bonus (+1). They all poured over the map taken from the deep pool. It described a island with a large shaped like an eagle’s head. Below this majestic formation was a beach and a cave. A few of the elven fishermen recognized the shape and pointed to the south. Plans were made to set sail.
Eagle Rock Island
On the 13th day of the fourth month (4/13), a party went out on the captured caravel, as yet unnamed but still flying a black flag. They were Tienarth, Urgesh, Aderian, Ollie, Nate, and Ferris. With them went the two dwarven sailors, Felon and Brond. Also, two elves joined them in hopes of learning more of the sailing trade. With a crew of ten, they could operate the sails and made good progress in the small ship. Duko the Hunter, the elf who’d taken them into the jungle a month before, declined an invitation.
After a few hours, a large wave was spotted, only a hundred yards away and heading towards the ship. It had an unnatural form and was soon identified as a water elemental. It slammed into side of the caraval, rocking it but otherwise doing little damage. Nate, rushed up, and the creature not of this world recoiled, but soon maneuvered around to slam into the other end of the ship. Tienarth, having transformed into a dragon, let loose with a magic missile. Aderian fired a magic arrow which was lost into the briny depths.
Ollie stepped up to the wave and slashed at it with blade, doing real damage. The element responded by slamming him into the decking, splintering a board or two. Aderian joined him. Urgesh directed the crew to steer the ship away, but the elemental matched their speed. Tienarth cast a haste spell, and within moments, the the fighters had banished the elemental, with Nate making the final blow.
The next day (4/14) the ship was becalmed and made no progress. Three bloated cow carcasses bobbed in the water. The day after, black fins were seen in the distance, but the creatures kept away from the ship. Urgesh was pleased to have pulled a large, orange fish up on a line. Finally, they spotted the island on the third day (4/16). High above a beach was a rock with the distinct shape of an eagle’s head. They rowed the skiff ashore and found the small cave as shown on the map. Only twenty feet back, they found a chest, untrapped and unlocked. Inside was a fortune of coins and jewelry, which they hauled back to the ship.
The anchor was raised and they made for a return to The Naked Isle. In the morning (4/17) and fierce storm blew them with remarkable speed back their way so that they approached their destination by dawn (4/18). They spied another caraval five miles from the island, seeming to approach. It flew a purple flag with a prominent black X, the flag of the rebellion. The crew of this ship spied the party’s caravel and the black flag it flew. Soon, it was turned to flee.
The Ranger
Tienarth was determined not to let it escape. For being with the rebellion, no one among them would object to taking this ship. Zhargrave was loyal to the empire, and the rest of were neutral. Perhaps the elves had expect the ship for friendly trade, but they were not consulted. The old elf lifted himself into the air as a golden dragon, reaching the ship swiftly as the rest of them made steady pursuit.
The crew of the rebel ship were defiant, cursing the dragon and vowing to fight. Tienarth showed little concern over his own safety (he was a dragon after all), nor for negotiating with the crew who refused his one warning to surrender. He brought forth a poisonous cloud that immediately exterminated five of the crew. Yet, still they fought on, loosing a hail of arrows, one of which struck a tender spot between his scales. The cloud moved over to eliminate another group of five.
Before long, three men remained standing, one of them the furious captain. The other two stepped up to cut his throat. They hollered to the dragon that they surrendered the ship. When the other ship arrived, the dead bodies were tossed into waves, and the two sailors were offered jobs. The new ship was sailed back to the wharf where its cargo was examined.
Many barrels held 75 tons of dried garlic. A small chest held 2,200 cp and 1,600 sp. The murdered captian wore a fine necklace worth 1,300 gp. The surviving crewmen called the ship The Ranger. Urgesh pulled down the purple flag. 30 tons of the garlic was offloaded and brought into town. The elves were once again overjoyed with a rare foodstuff. A grand feast was prepared of giant frog legs roasted with garlic, and to honor this night, the unnamed caravel was given the name The Garlic Frog.
All of the treasure recovered in the short trip was divided evenly between the six adventurers, making 4,080 gp each. Nate, Ferris, Ollie and Aderian all gave these funds directly to Zhargrave for the building of the temple, and with that he had more than enough to complete construction. Tienarth took his share from the gold coins, which he stored in sack placed in Ollie’s magical backpack. Urgesh took his share in a selection of jewelry, including a tiara and a couple of earrings.
End Notes
- Days
- 3/22 – 4/12 Downtime in Osrendell on the Naked Isle
- 4/13 – 4/18 Sailing to Eagle Rock Island and back
- Treasure:
- 23,000 gp worth of coins and jewelry from the cave
- 1,482 gp worth of coins and nice chain taken from The Ranger
- Combat: 3,575 xp
- Water Elemental 3,385 XP
- 19 normal men 190 xp
- Characters 596 xp each (6 shares)
- Aderian (human, fight) 662 xp
- Ferris (human) 656 xp
- Nate (human, fight, faith) 668 xp
- Ollie (rugged, fight, up front) 614 xp
- Tienarth (haughty) 602 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, outdoors) 632 xp
- Ships
- The Howl of the Demon (Small Galley)
- Crew/Passengers: 40/0
- Cargo: 9 of 210 tons
- Food: about 383 man/weeks
- Water: 1500 gallons
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)
- Crew/Passengers: 4/ 0
- Hit Points: 68/75
- Cargo: 54 of 75 tons
- Food: 35 man/weeks
- Water: 5000 gallons
- 33 tons of sugar in 40 barrels
- The Ranger (Caravel)
- Crew/Passengers: 0/ 0
- Cargo: 40 of 75 tons
- Food: – man/weeks
- Water: – gallons
- 40 tons of garlic in 40 barrels
- The Howl of the Demon (Small Galley)