The long time at sea had drained the stores of food, and by the time anyone thought to count rations (3/14), there was hardly enough to feed the crew and passengers on The Ranger for more than a few days. Sentinel Island was little more than a barren rock, it hadn’t rained in days, and no fish were caught at all for weeks. The area around the island seemed to be a dead zone. Not even the sail of another vessel was seen from the crow’s nest. Remaining became untenable, so Urgesh gave orders to sail south, back toward Beoll-Dur.
Two days later (3/16), they met a ship sailing northwest. It flew a flag embroidered with the shape of the World Tree, signifying they were aligned with the druids, but the crew were all dwarves. Though cautious at first, the captain responded in friendship seeing Bale’s ship. The gladiator was even recognized by name when introduced. The black, tightly-curled beards of the dwarves reminded them of the dwarves liberated from Tuiria.
Urgesh beckoned his wife, Jonja, whom he expected to recognize them. But these were no former slaves, they were corsairs in service to the druids. Their mission was to find and destroy aberrations on the sea, such as sea spiders. Presently, the three ships agreed to travel together to the Naked Isle, where the corsairs were headed. The plan included stopping at the unnamed tiny islet to harvest clams and mussels.
The next day (3/17), dark shapes passed over the ships. Two large rocs dove at them without warning, savage fury in their eyes. Urgesh produced an ostrich from his magic bag, and Ghevont doubled the bird’s size, making it an enticing morsel for the rocs. Meanwhile, Aderian and Jerker hurled boulders, scoring direct hits. Magic missiles were added to the damage, and one roc splashed down yards away from the The Ranger. The other roc suffered damage from a volley of crossbow bolts from the corsairs, plus more magic missiles and boulder hits. In response, it wheeled around to flee. Before it could get out of range, Jerker dropped it into the water with a well-placed boulder strike.
Urgesh and his crew latched onto the roc before it sank below the surface. Many feathers were plucked from it and the bulk of its meat was butchered and stuffed in empty barrels. The head was skinned, the bloody skull stuck to the bow of The Ranger as a grim warning to future enemies.
The next day, they anchored at the tiny islet and rowed ashore to conduct a feast of roasted roc meat. With little fresh water remaining, they drank deeply of Urgesh’s ale kegs. A few clams were gathered and Urgesh also contributed two large flounders. It was a much-needed celebration after the grim business on Sentinel Island. Perhaps a comment was made that such revelry is why they began adventuring in the first place.
Soon after lifting anchors, they spotted another tiny island. Through a spyglass was seen a lone figure waving his hands. They stopped to meet Malb, a castaway stranded alone on the island for some time. He was recognized as Yokraygan with stiff, black hair and tanned skin. He wore no more than a loincloth and a long beard. He was thankful to be rescued but was strangely reluctant to leave before explaining the caves he’d explored. Without light, he hadn’t made it far, but seemed obsessed by the primitive art he saw in the first chamber. Eventually, he convinced the party to come with him to explore before they left.
The cave seemed have formed from a volcanic vent long ago. It was a tube five feet across, such that most of the party had to crouch. Ollie lead the way. Before long, the tube opened into a larger chamber, roughly a 40-foot sphere. Several large boulder dotted the uneven floor. Another tube was seen on the far side. Ollie dashed across the room to come face to face with a goggler priest who raised his hands, preparing a spell. It was then that they spotted many goggler warriors stepping out of the shadows which danced over the wall filled with petroglyphs.
A short battle ensued. Poor Malb was the first to die, just after he was accused of leading them into a trap. Ollie shrugged off a hold person, though he seemed surprised about it. Ghevont countered with a paralyzing spell against the goggler priest. He stiffened, unmoving, and Ollie slit his throat with ease. Tienarth transformed himself into a massive dragon, pushing his companions out of the way as he munched on gogglers. The rest of the cut down many goggler warriors with little trouble.
Ollie and Aderian briefly went down the tunnel to find another larger chamber, this one decorated with many five-pointed stars, but then retreated out of caution. They all reasoned that they could return at any time to continue the exploration. Enough had been spent, and they wanted to resume the return to the Naked Isle.
The next day (3/20), a fierce storm struck, lasting most of the day. It drove them swiftly west, directly into the harbor of the Naked Isle. In the heavy downpour, they didn’t notice the red flag flapping from a pole on a buoy. It was meant as a warning against a spreading plague that had began earlier in the month. When they tied up at the pier, it was clear by the sickly look of the dockworkers. They called it the frog pox. The infected developed unattractive warts on the skin and in the mouth. Voices were lost or reduced to croaks. After a week, most recovered but some died. Those who recovered became immune. Those Zhargrave cured survived but could be infected again, and he could cure only two a day. The druids were also able to help.
Aside from risk of death, the plague had hurt the island economy. Cost for domestic goods had doubled. Imported goods, of which most were, rose to five times normal cost. Tienarth quickly realized his project to outfit a wizard’s lab had suddenly become much more expensive, if not temporarily impossible.
Note: the discovery of the petroglyph caves could earn 1,000 – 10,000 XP if shared in a large population center such as Fort Whitevault.
End Notes
- Days
- 3/1 – 3/13 Downtime on the ships
- 3/14 – 3/15 Sailing back to the Naked Isle
- 3/16 Met the Dwarf Corsairs in league with the Druids
- 3/17 Attacked by Large Rocs
- 3/18 Party on the tiny islet
- 3/19 Malb and Goggler Cave
- 3/20 Sailing back the Naked Isle on a fierce storm
- Treasure:
- Roc skull and Roc Meat
- Combat: 6900 xp
- 2 Large Rocs 1875 xp/ea
- 20 Goggler Warriors 100 xp/ea
- Goggler Priest 1150 xp
- Characters (8 shares of 575 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, strength) 1,189 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 531 xp
- Ghevont (human) 1,168 xp
- Hocuspo (hireling) 531 xp
- Jerker (human, fight, strength) 1,189 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 1,179 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, lead) 1,094 xp
- Tienarth (avoid combat) 1,073 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, simple pleasures, outdoors, fight) 1,147 xp