The attempt to reforge the ring was a failure. In fact, the wish spell being miscast, the ring broke into six parts. Such are the setbacks along the winding path of fate on which an adventurer travels. For six days (11/9 – 11/14) they did nothing productive, perhaps only nursing their sorrow with ale. At the end of the week, they came together to make new plans.
Much debate was made over what their next step ought to be. Aderion was nowhere to be found, probably sleeping off a night of drinking. Tienarth considered inventing a new spell, but it seemed impractical. Jerker suggested they speak with Zhargrave for advice. Ollie agreed, but he refused to enter the nearly-complete temple grounds. The senior cleric reiterated that he did not believe that Arianna existed, given no one claimed to see her but the Raiders. He imagined they were being haunted by a ghost or a demon. Regardless, he sensed no impending catastrophe threatening the world. Jerker pointed to Hocuspo’s message brought back from the afterlife, that they were pursuing the right goal for the wrong reason. As well, an angel told them Arianna could be trusted. Zhargrave could only explain that divine wisdom is not always interpreted correctly by mortals, even the priests. Jerker seemed to be angling for another consultation with a holy being, but Zhargrave’s words were discouraging, and this pursuit was abandoned.
Next, they went talk to Peran, the jeweler who had helped with the attempt to reforge the ring. The halfling shared his displeasure with not having been given the pendant, despite providing the actual service that it was meant to traded for. The party made a consensus and handed over the pennant. He promised to attempt another reforging in the future if they managed to get the required magic. They asked him for ideas about where they might get such magic, and the only thing that came to his mind was how on the journey to the Naked Isle, the sailors spotted a green dragon flying over an island to the northeast. The party wasn’t particularly excited about facing a green dragon.
They next went to talk to Silverfish. They found him in the tavern with two elf maiden companions, as usual. His suggestion was to visit the sentinel Island to look for clues and to scout out the terrain. They knew where the island was based on Urgesh’s map. They even knew the major features of the tiny island based on its depiction on the tapestry taking from Carrasthinian’s tower. This suggestion found Jerker’s favor Immediately. He breezed past Silverfish’s comment, “if you can trust me…”, interrupting what seemed like another of the old mage’s rambling soliloquies. “Fill my glass again, darling,” he said to one of the maidens as the group went to find Urgesh.
The found the half-orc barbarian halfway through a keg of ale and in no shape for setting sail that afternoon. With the day itself half gone and sailing not feasible at night, they used the balance of the day to make preparations. Urgesh agreed to pilot his caravel, The Ranger. He had food and water enough for his crew, but he insisted that the rest of the party find their own rations. Ollie took care of this expense, buying two weeks of food for eight of them, frog jerky morsels wrapped in wax paper. Urgesh confessed to an aversion to eating frog meat after his transformation in the week prior.
The next day (11/16), they set sail. By the map, Sentinel Island was five or six days to the northeast. When the sun was highest in the sky, they saw the black flag of a pirate galley at a distance of seven miles. It seemed disinterested in engaging, and the two ships never came close to each other. The day after giant squids were spotted near The Ranger. These monsters were let alone, and the ship sailed onward.
On the 18th they spotted a jungle-cloaked island. It could not have been Sentinel Island, for they had not traveled far enough, nor was the island as barren as shown on the tapestry. Tienarth transformed into a golden dragon, then flew over the island. He guessed it measured four miles across in the east-west dimension and ten miles going north-south. On the eastern side, he spotted what he guessed was a temple entrance. The party loaded into a long boat and ground it on the soft beach of black sand. Elaria stayed behind with the crew.
A path of loose flagstones led to a 20-foot entrance in the jungle slope. Everywhere else around it was choked with brush and trees. Sunlight streamed down a 40-foot tunnel. The stones of the building were rough-hewn and unmortared. Beyond the tunnel was a gallery 90 feet long and 40 feet wide (north-south). Along the north and south walls were four niches each. In seven of them were statues. The eighth was empty. Musty timbers held up a ceiling twenty feet above. At the far side of the gallery were two wide doors, 20 feet across.
The statues were made of glossy black stone, not obsidian, perhaps polished basalt. Each of them depicted human warriors in ornate armor and open-faced helmets decorated with crests of feathers. Each warrior held a shortsword and a shield. The two statues furthest from the entrance on the right hand wall were distorted, as if melted. Danger seemed suspended in the dank air, and they wondered aloud if the statues might spring to life. These expectations were not fulfilled, even when Ollie suddenly toppled one of them. It broke into several chunks on the flagstone floor. Jerker confessed some embarrassment over wrecking a statue that might have some value. He did his best to put the pieces back in the niche.
Ollie’s next impulsive act was to throw open the huge doors, beyond which he saw a stair. He bounded up them to face an iron gate, held closed with a heavy chain and padlock. Beyond the gate was a green dragon. Its yellow eyes stared back at the dwarf. Ollie dashed down the stairs and leaped to the side to avoid whatever blast of dragon breath was coming.
Meanwhile, a group of lizardmen swinging two-handed swords marched into the gallery from the east side. The party were set between two foes. Urgesh and Jerker turned to battle the reptilian warriors. All but Ollie were bunched together in the center of the gallery when the green dragon produced a web spell that spanned the width of the room. Urgesh struggled to free himself. The rest of them moved slowly through the webbing despite the benefit of a haste spell. Hocuspo, in the form of a red dragon, flew over the lizard men to land behind them. He paralyzed one of them with a spell. Nate, Ferris and Jerker moved out of the web and into melee with the lizard men.
The green dragon let loose a cloud of poisonous gas that filled half the chamber, stopping just short of lizard men on the other side of the web. Urgesh and Ollie breathed lungfulls of the poison gas. It produced a terrible burning followed by coughing. Tienarth, in the form of a gold dragon was immune. He made his way up the stairs to face the green dragon on the other side of the bars. She cast a mirror image spell. Tienarth answered with a wall of fire that encircled the dragon.
Urgesh broke free of the webbing, stepped over the corpses of lizard men felled by Jerker and Nate, and moved at full speed towards the boat. Nate, Ferris and Hocuspo followed. Jerker hesitated, as two lizardmen still faced him, but he followed the others as the cry went out to flee before the dragon breathed again. Ollie, still on the other side of the web, barreled straight into the sticky substance and was caught for a few agonizing moments. Fortunately, just as he pulled himself free, the green dragon did not breath. Instead, she opened a dimension door and disappeared.
Tienarth flew out of the temple, anticipating a continuance of the battle. The green dragon was no seen. They all rushed back to The Ranger and sailed back to the Naked Isle. They arrived on the 21st (11/21).
End Notes
- Days
- 11/9 – 11/14 Downtime
- 11/15 Making plans
- 11/16 – 11/17 Sailing for Sentinel Island
- 11/18 Landing at Green Dragon Island
- 11/19 – 11/21 Sailing back the Naked Isle
- Treasure: none
- Combat: 4165 xp
- Lizard men 240 xp ea
- Green Dragon 1765 xp
- Characters (8 shares of 521 xp)
- Elaria (hireling) 261 xp
- Ferris (human) 573 xp
- Hocuspo (hireling) 261 xp
- Jerker (human, fight) 578 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 578 xp
- Ollie (fight, lead) 531 xp
- Saul 521 xp
- Tienarth 521 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, wilderness, fight) 557 xp