Aderian came back from death a changed man. His testimony about the afterlife was strong, and his retellings were popular events at Zhargrave’s daily meetings with the faithful. He told of his spirit being drowned, dragged deep into a the darkest pit in the sea, with heavy chains holding him down. And there he was judged for the sins committed in life, particularly of taking slaves when he was a pirate serving on The Crimson Disgrace. And yet, a beneficent hand reached down to him, raised his back into life. Now he was filled with a strong desire to repent. His vision began to focus on slavery itself. With fist held high, he vowed to roam the seas to free any and all slaves. Ollie cheered, for he, too, felt a strong desire for bringing freedom to the oppressed.
Meanwhile, Urgesh proposed a deal with the other raiders. He wanted for his own The Ranger, a caravel taken from pirates a few months before. Ollie was quick to offer his share for a hefty sum, his greed perhaps getting the better of him. Several others chimed in with their demands, and in the end Urgesh was considered the owner but had little other personal wealth. Still, there was considerable loot still kept in Ollies bag that had yet to be divided.
Urgesh had no use for the recent attention paid to The Anointed One and Zhargrave’s temple to Saint Irevria. He’d rather all the elf maidens continue their custom of wearing no clothes. Maidens were pairing up with human sailors who’d left Ephor’s crew to settle down with a newly-traditional wife. But the half-orc must have felt some satisfaction when a galleon flying the flag of the druids arrived. Followers of the World Tree had sent word of the human cult recruiting members. They sought guidance from their own ancestral faith, and The Order of the Oak and Mistletoe were welcome allies. The barbarian found himself feeling aligned with these fellow who hewed to nature rather than an unseen sky god, even if his priest could summon what he considered bird men to answer questions. Saul, for his part, certainly felt more at home with fellow druids.
After two weeks of rest, a party was assembled to return to the island of Hestrin’s tomb. On the the day they embarked (6/28), an elf arrived with a soggy book she found in the tower on the eastern side of the Naked Isle. Its cover was embossed with strange symbols and six eyes. The pages were ruined and unreadable. Its exact meaning was not obvious, and being ruined was not considered immediately useful.
Sailing for Hestrin Isle
The small crew of The Garlic Frog, three dwarves and two elves, rowed from the harbor with the following adventurers:
- The dwarf, Ollie,
- Saul the druid and his lion ,
- the barbaric Urgesh,
- former pirate, Aderian,
- Nate, who twice was saved from death by faith,
- Ferris, a thief with an independent streak,
- Elven wizard, Tienarth,
- and Hocuspo, the old elf’s obedient student.
On that first day, Urgesh pulled a huge fish from the ocean that the elven sailors called a black drum. “It feeds on the bottom, feeling for morsels with its fleshy goatee,” they explained. It was more than enough meat for the day’s meal. They tossed the bones overboard as they passed by a large island seen four miles away.
The next day (6/29) offered no fish, though a manta was seen gliding under the surface. The day after that, they came upon a ghost ship flying a black flag. A short debate about whether to engage ended up being pointless, as the evil craft turned to meet them. Tienarth assumed his usual fearsome dragon form and made an approach by air before the ships could come together. He shrugged off the horrendous visage of the ghost captain and produced a lightning bolt that ripped through the spectral body.
As the two ships met, Tienarth destroyed the ghost with a magic missile. Aderian, Nate and Ollie lept onto the deck of the ghost ship to confront a snarling wight. Urgesh smashed skeletons to bits with ease. The remaining occupants of the ship were the miserable dead. When doused with oil and set on fire, they only continued their pitiful moaning. Aderian searched the ship quickly, as it began showing signs of sinking. He brought up a chest of treasure, and they all returned to The Garlic Frog to watch the ghost ship slowly slip beneath the waves.
The contents of the chest were coins of silver, electrum and gold, plus several magic items. Among them were scrolls of protection versus elementals and lycanthropes, two potions of speed, a potion of longevity, a potion of giant strength, and a magical longsword. The nature of the items was not known immediately. Tienarth identified them several days later.
On the first day of the seventh month (7/1), they passed by a merchant ship flying the flag of the empire, the red flag bearing an eagle holding a cross. Urgesh was unsuccessful in fishing once again, this day only finding the bloated corpse of a dolphin.
Early the next day, they came to a tiny island, not much more than a hill of sand and a single palm tree. In the shade sat a bedraggled woman. They came to know her as Manana, the sole survivor a ship sunk by a sea serpent. She was the captain of that ship, and she attributed her salvation to her faith in The Anointed One. She gladly accepted rescue, though she made a point to disapprove of the druid onboard.
Hestrin’s Tomb Opened
They found the doors which Tienarth had sealed to be still intact, making a swift journey into the tomb, past the stone snake guardians and to the room where statues danced. Once again, several of them fell asleep as they passed through this room, but Saul’s proof against poison allowed Aderian and Urgesh to carry the sleeping adventures out of the room where they were jostled out of their slumber.
They rushed through the fountain room and the room where they fought the eight statues of adventurers. Presently, they came the final chamber. Bold murals portraying Hestrin as kind and faithful servant to the people surrounded a single, stone sarcophagus. After some searching for traps, Aderian pushed the lid off to find the body of Hestrin still clutching a fine sword with a granite pommel. He wore abundant jewelry, and in an ornate belt was stuff a short rod.
Aderian grabbed the sword. Underneath Hestrin’s dried up hands was a fragment of the ring. It seems to be perfect slice of a ring, leaving only a third of its original width. Ollie grabbed it and dropped it into his magical backpack. He also stripped the corpse of it’s jewelry. Saul grabbed the rod. Urgesh took the belt and after a little coaxing, wrapped it around hist waist. He felt his strength surge.
Ollie produced his ring that allowed speaking with the dead and put the following questions to the body of Hestrin.
“Where are the other ring fragments?” he asked. Hestrin said “The old man has one. Carrasthinian has the other other”
“How do you get to the place where Carrasthinian has his fragment?” “You walk in.”
“Where is Carrasthinian’s phylactery?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Besides this room, what is the greatest treasure here?” “My jeweled iron golem”.
The ultimate prize of the tomb has been obtained, so they were ready to leave. They could not resist stopping to examine the fountains by which they had rushed before. Nate purified the black water in the gurgling fountain, and by spending enough time, the other two fountains changed from producing water to producing acid and poison. After a few moments of chaos, though, they escaped back to the room with dancers. These were stripped of their jewelry. One of the dancers was destroyed, and they were disappointed not to find any gems inside. Ollie grabbed the intact dancer and hauled it out of the tomb, somewhat awkwardly.
Ambushed by Gogglers
As they climbed up the stairs to exit the tomb, they spied a goggler priest and his attendants. “Give me the ring fragment,” the goggler croaked. In response, a boulder was hurled at the priest, and a battle began. Aside from the priest and his two acolytes, eight warriors stepped from behind trees and approached. As they passed by, several statues came to life, joining the melee in a three-way fight where the statues attacked indiscriminately. One of the statues was in fact a stone golem that delivered terrible punishment to the gogglers. The other statues were of men or large dogs, the latter having a particularly nasty bite.
All eyes were on Tienarth, who seemed to be preparing a spell. His companions knew to wait for a burst of magical speed before jumping into battle. The goggler priest may have also recognized this coordination, because he delivered a globe of magic silence on the old elf, neutralizing his chance at spellcasting. Hocuspo stepped away, out of the silence, and cast his own spells, starting with a slowing spell. Tienarth produced a wand that created a smelly cloud which prevents the gogglers from casting more spells. Hocuspo also wrapped up several gogglers in a magical web, which the stone golem had no trouble with.
The goggler warriors rushed forward to engage with the party. The statues followed behind. The dog statues were able to deliver several nasty bites that left a few of the party reeling. In the end, most of the monsters were killed. The goggler priest managed to slip into the brush, not to be found. Ollie took up a couple of the goggler shields which bore the sticky substance. He found that after a few days, the stickiness wore off.
From the gogglers that didn’t escape, the following treasure was recovered. 5 gp, 6 sp, Cup (1500 gp), Anklet (500 gp), Flagon (700 gp), Bracelet (400 gp), 4 sp, 15 sp, 10 sp.
Back to The Naked Isle
Thanks to a strong storm, the trip back to The Naked Isle was swift. After arriving, Tienarth found time to analyze the various magical items. The belt taken by Urgesh was a girdle of giant strength. The rod taken by Saul was a rod of cancellation. It was an item useful but once. It could remove all magic from one item it touched. The sword was called Hestrin’s Chisel. It carried the enchantment of sometimes turning those struck to stone.
End Notes
For recovering a ring fragment, each player (not PC) gets 14,285 xp to be added to whichever PC they wish in any proportion. It can even be added to a new PC to make an instant 4th or 5th level PC. Players are those who contributed significantly to getting the ring fragment so far on the quest: Bob, Sam, Jeff, Kyle, Jason, Tre, and Henry.
- Days
- 6/14 – 6/27 – Downtime on Naked Isle
- 6/28 – 7/5 – Expedition to Hestrin Island. Recovery of ring fragment.
- Treasure
- Ghost ship treasure chest: 3,100 sp, 1,200 ep, 2,300 gp, Scroll of Protection from Elementals, Potion of Longevity, Longsword +1, Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes, 2x Potion of Speed, Potion of Giant Strength
- Hestrin’s jewelry: 12,000 gp
- Rod of cancellation
- Girdle of Giant Strength
- Longsword +4 (Hestrin’s Chisel)
- Ring fragment
- Goggler treasure: 35 sp, 5 gp, Cup (1500 gp), Anklet (500 gp), Flagon (700 gp), Bracelet (400 gp)
- Combat: 12,130 xp
- Ghost Captain 1,390 xp
- Wight 175 xp
- 11 Skeletons 25 xp each
- Goggler Priest 1,150 xp
- 2 Goggler Acolytes 405 xp each
- 8 Goggler Warriors 100 xp each
- Stone Golem 2730 xp
- 4 Animated Human Statues 875 xp
- 2 Animated Dog Statues 1300 xp
- Ring Fragment Recovery: 14,285 xp for each player.
- Characters (8 shares of 1,516 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight) 1,698 xp
- Ferris (human) 1,668 xp
- Hocuspo (npc) 758 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 1,683 xp
- Ollie (rugged, haggler, greedy, fight) 1,577 xp
- Saul and Lion (human, wilderness) 1,683 xp
- Tienarth (magic collector, avoid combat) 1,546 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, outdoors) 1,607 xp
- Ships
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)
- Crew/Passengers: 5/ 8
- Hit Points: 68/75
- Cargo: 53 of 75 tons
- Food: 130 man/weeks
- Water: 5000 gallons
- 22 tons of sugar, 5 tons of cocoa, 5 tons of cotton
- The Ranger (Caravel)
- Crew/Passengers: 0/ 0
- Cargo: 40 of 75 tons
- Food: – man/weeks
- Water: – gallons
- 39 tons of garlic in 40 barrels
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)
Wow – epic