Having recovered two fragments of the powerful ring, the party was ready to make a third attempt at taking the last ring fragment from Carrasthinian. Despite the admonition from Senator Avitus to leave the lich as a problem for the empire to solve, they set out at night. The Garlic Frog had no crew to speak of save the dour dwarf Mulisma. The rest of the former crew had perished in a sea battle a month before. Aderian and Urgesh had learned to navigate the three-day trip, and the rest of the Raiders helped raising the sails. All together, they were Ollie, Tienarth, Hocuspo, Urgesh, Aderian, Jerker, Elaria, Nate and Ferris.
The voyage was uneventful and soon the tower over the cliffs were spotted. The ship circled around to the north side of the island, anchoring only 200 yards from the beach. Two longboats were put in the water. The first held Jerker and Urgesh. The second held Aderian, Elaria, Nate, Ferris and Ollie. Tienarath and Hocuspo remained on the ship with Melisma. They prepared to transform into dragons.
Unfortunately, Urgesh and Jerker grounded their little boat on underwater rocks. They dove into the rough waters and swam for shore. After joining the others, they wall moved as a group up the hill towards the tower, taking care to keep a fair distance from each other. Ferris, who Tienarth had made invisible, hustled at a quick pace for the tower.
In the grove of trees, all but Urgesh were surprised as a small creature appeared before Aderian. Urgesh instinctively attacked, but missed the small humanoid. They guessed it was a leprechaun or perhaps on of Carrasthinian’s illusions, but their confusion only intensified as the little figure waved his hands. Most of them shrugged off the effect, though Nate struck Elaria out of misplaced aggression. In the next moment, Ollie stepped up and cut the leprechaun in two. The tiny hand, now limp in death, revealed the two ring fragments still on the chain that had hung around Aderian’s neck.
Meanwhile, at the tower, Ferris climbed up to the 4th story window and began probing with his x-ray ring. He confirmed that an unexplored room was hidden above. Then, he climbed out and up to the top of the tower.
Ollie raised his face up to spy the skeletal form of Carrasthinian flying towards them. The hardy dwarf called out “Damn you, lich!” From the ship, Tienarth and Hocuspo could see the flight and launched themselves towards what seemed like a battle beginning. It wasn’t long before the lich arrived to the group. They were spread out, hoping to avoid being caught together in a fireball. Carrasthinian hovered in the air, pointing at the half-orc barbarian, saying “A brutish beast, your strength is nothing without wit. You are a mere tool in the hands of fate.” Withe insult delivered, he cast a spell at Urgesh that failed to produce the desired effect.
Jerker held his ring, pointing at the vision of Carrasthinian and shouted, “Get back, Jack!” which activated his ring. Tiny needles stabbed into his finger, but the ring did not repel the undead mage, a curious outcome.
Next, the lich turned to Aderian, declaring “A scurvy dog, your treasure-hunting days are over. You’ll find nothing but bones here.” Once again, he hurled a nasty spell, but as before it fizzled, and Aderian was uneffected. Spears and rocks were thrown at the lich, but none seemed to hit their mark. Presently, Carrasthinian called forth twenty spectres that rose silently from the rocky soil. They surged around each of the five visible combatants. Elaria had made herself invisible.
Urgesh claimed the spectres were unreal, yet as they touched him with icy claws, he and Aderian felt intense weakness run through them. Jerker produced a bone of Saint Jaludi and launched it at Carrasthinian. The image of the saint did not appear. The lich counted with a spell of confusion that only affected Nate and Elaria. Over the following minutes, the paladin and mage at times were attempting to attack their companions or to run away.
Jerker was struck with several magic missiles from behind. He noticed their direction and turned to search for their source. The spectres begin to disappear as they were struck with weapons, and the it became obvious they were merely illusions. The lich was ready for a new tactic. He exploded a fireball at the barbarian’s feet, but owing to his ring of fire resistance and turning away from the blast, Urgesh hardly seemed hurt at all. He returned the insult by throwing a spear that didn’t seem to harm Carrasthinian.
By then, Tienarth and Hocuspo had nearly arrived. The group dashed for the tower and Carrasthinian followed. He landed on the the tower roof where Ferris remained invisible. The thief saw the image of the lich double. Tienarth approached the western side of the tower and cast a spell that opened up a tunnel through the wall into the hidden level. Ferris climbed down the outside of the tower and entered through the newly made hole.
At ground level, Aderian busted through the front doors. He, Urgesh and Jerker sprinted up the stairs. Urgesh paused to examine the tapestry of the lich when he still lived that featured maps of four islands. Meanwhile, the lich flew down to face Ollie, shouting “boo!” as he landed. The dwarf shrugged off the fear and struck him with the shortsword Morto-im-Morto. Jerker raced back down the stairs and tossed the bone of Saint Jaludi whose form appeared. The next moment, Urgesh followed, dragging the rolled-up tapestry. At the sight of the lich, he panicked, dashing away from the tower. Likewise, Aderian was overcome with fear and made his own escape.
But the force of the holy saint drove the undead mage away. He flew at maximum speed out over the ocean. They knew they were safe from his torments, at least temporarily. Ferris began an examination of the contents of the exposed room. On a desk were four stone coffers. The trap-detecting rod he borrowed from Ollie revealed all four as being trapped. He could see the contents of the coffers through glass panels, so he chose the one holding the ring fragment and began a deliberate disarming of the trap. The minutes ticked by, but he got past the magical protection and then made a quick attempt and opening the lock. That succeeded, and he had the ring fragment.
Now, he was tempted by the other items of treasure. He paused a moment and then made to disarm the second coffer but failed. A noxious gas filled the room. He and Ollie, who had been lifted up by Tienarth, were overcome with delirium. Tienarth reached inside the room and pulled the two of them out, setting them each on the ground.
Jerker entered the room and grabbed the locked coffer. Nate entered the room and touched the other two coffers, setting off the trap and suffering his own bout of delirium. Before the lich could return, they gathered three delirious heroes and the four coffers, speeding back to the north shore and the boat.
The journey back to the Naked Isle was mostly uneventful. A tiny desert island was spotted but avoided, and there was tense moment at the site of a ship flying a the purple flag of the rebellion. It kept its distance, and by the 9th day of the month, The Garlic Frog sailed back into the harbor.
The next day (10/10), Tienarth analyzed the three magic items taken. The first was a wand of illusion with 20 charges. The second was a necklace small bells. See Mainaar’s Missile Necklace. The third item was a small cube, only an inch across. It had the power to create a protective cube of force. See Vaelden’s Cube of Force.
End Notes
- Days
- 9/29 – 10/3 Downtime
- 10/4 – 10/9 Expedition to Carrasthinian’s Island
- 10/10 Analyzing items on the Naked Isle
- Treasure:
- Wand of Illusion (20 charges)
- Mainaar’s Missile Necklace
- Vaelden’s Cube of Force
- Combat: 1529 xp
- Leprechaun 49 xp
- Carrasthinian 1480 xp
- Ring Fragment Recovery: 8,333 xp for each player. May be applied to any PC directly.
- Characters (8.5 shares of 180 xp each)
- Aderian (human, fight) 200 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 90 xp
- Ferris (human, skills) 200 xp
- Hocuspo (hireling) 90 xp
- Jerker (human, fight) 200 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 200 xp
- Ollie (fight) 182 xp
- Tienarth (outdoors, avoid combat) 184 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, outdoors, fight) 193 xp
- Ships
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)
- Crew/Passengers: 1/9
- Hit Points: 75/75
- Cargo: 30 of 75 tons
- Food: 54 man/weeks (half ton)
- Water: 4760 gallons (20 tons)
- 2 tons of sugar, 2 tons of cocoa, 5 tons of lamp oil (34 barrels, 7 barrels/ton)
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)