Alot Aname looked around. He was underwater.
He was standing in his oyster bed at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Keoland near the fishing village of Saltmarsh. A bag made from a fishing net was draped over his neck and shoulder. The triangular oyster dredge was harnessed to his shoulders. He had apparently been dragging it behind him to harvest oysters.
He had no idea what day it was. The last thing he remembered was fighting trolls in the Drowned Forest.
He unharnessed himself from the dredge and returned to Saltmarsh.
Alot found his friend, the half-elven sorceress Avastana Kádár, known as "Aella". It was mid-day. The sun was out and a warm breeze blew in from the sea. He asked her what happened.
Aella blinked as if only just now realizing where she was. She was standing outside a market in the Old Town of Saltmarsh where she had just purchased some vegetables. She said the last thing she remembered was defeating Aulicus, the venerable black dragon of the Drowned Forest. She suddenly stopped and looked at Alot.
"Oh Alot. They're all dead! I couldn't save them! Auric, Annor, and Marlin were all killed by the dragon! The last thing I remembered was getting captured by bandits!"
"Where was I?" inquired the warforged sentinel.
"You had the brain jellies. You just sort of stood there on the skiff," she replied.
"Damn brain jellies! How long have we been out?"
The pair checked with a few people in town - the guard at the gate, the messenger boy, some dock people. They discovered that it had been three weeks since they left Saltmarsh on their mission to the Drowned Forest - which means it had been two weeks since the battle with Aulicus. Aella and Alot had returned from their mission, saying only that the others had died. They reported that they had found no bandits and had returned empty-handed.
Alot still possessed all his belongings. His magical short sword hung in its sheath.
Aella went to her house. She had all of her possessions too. If she had been captured by bandits, either they failed to take her belongings or she was able to retrieve them when she escaped. She had apparently recovered nothing from her fallen companions or the dragon's hoard. She did, however, find a sack with 1650 gold coins embossed with the image of Iuz. She had apparently sold something to the Loyal Quartermasters of Iuz.
Alot was looking out the window across the street, "Aella, you better look at this."
"What is it?" Aella drew aside the curtain to see at what Alot was looking.
The Whalerson house and the goat farm had been burned to the ground. Only charred ruins were left.
"Well, shit." She muttered.
There was a knock at Aella's door.
She opened the door and saw a woman wearing a traveler's cloak, her hood drawn despite the sunny skies. The woman withdrew the hood. It was Lemundo, daughter of the Duke of Seaton.
"Lemundo?"
"Sh!" admonished the woman, "I'm incognito. Call me Lemony Butterscotch. I need your help!"
CHAPTER 25
"SECRET MISSION TO LEPER ISLAND"
The A-Team:
- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket.
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.
Introducing the B-Team:
- Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk).
- Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler.
Special Guest Star:
- Bobert the Red - transient Halfling Druid with a drinking problem.
It was Friday - Valentine's day. I am married and my wife and I feel VD is pretty much corporate BS, so we decided we'd celebrate on Saturday. Likewise Brenna's player (who is formerly Marlin's player) and his wife as well as Baylore's player (who is formerly Auric's player). Annor's player DID go out with his wife. Aella's player is single so she was okay to hang out with us.
But because it was Valentine's Day, we had a special guest player! We were joined by a very good friend who is single and didn't want anything to do with VD. Also, her regular Friday D&D group wasn't playing. So I invited her over to play and she said yes! So welcome Bobert!
The Secret Mission of Lemony Butterscotch
Lemundo, using the alias Lemony Butterscotch, brought Aella and Alot to a local tavern - the Empty Net. She told them that she thinks she located where her father, the true Duke of Seaton, was being held prisoner. She wanted to hire a team to take her to the location and help her free him. She was sad to learn of the fate of the A-Team but was happy that Aella and Alot had survived. In order to assemble a new team, she posted a recruitment offer on the town notice board.
They found three people waiting for them at the Empty Net.
One was a human woman with gold hair and gold eyes and red clothes. With her was a human man in a black loose fitting shirt and black pants with high boots. His face bore a long scar and he was missing an eye. Despite his intimidating countenance he carried no weapons. In a nearby chair dozed a halfling with long matted hair. The halfling wore dirty tattered rags and bits of fur.
Lemundo addressed the group, "Greetings. Thanks for responding to my advertisement. Before we begin we should do a round of introductions. My name is Lemony Butterscotch. This is Aella and this is Alot. And you are?"
The one-eyed man replied, "My name is Baylore. That's all you need to know."
"Oh, well, thank you. And you?"
The golden-haired woman spoke in a strange foreign accent. She seemed full of defiant energy, "My name is Brenna Whalersdottir and I don't give a flying fuck about your advertisement! I'm looking for man who makes this cheese!" She produced a small wheel of Ten Goats of Cheese and shoved it in Lemundo's face.
Lemundo became flustered, "I- what?"
Aella gave the sad news, "I'm sorry to report that the man you are looking for, Annor Whalerson, recently died. He was torn apart by-"
Brenna interrupted her, "I don't fuckin' care! Just point me towards his house! I came to claim me birthright!"
Alot pointed towards the House of Whalerson, "I'm afraid the house burned down.
Brenna angrily declared, "I don't care about the fuckin' hoose! I want what was IN the hoose! Did anyone search the ashes?"
Aella shrugged.
Brenna slammed the table with her fist, "Just point me to where the house USED t' be then!"
Alot pointed up the hill, "Take this street up the hill, its the fourth house on the right past the old stone bridge. At least it used to be."
Brenna furrowed her brow and sniffed defiantly. She made a small grunting sound and burst out of the pub.
There was a moment of silence before Lemundo continued, "Well, I guess that just leaves our halfling friend. You are, sir?"
The halfling started and woke up. He had bloodshot eyes and looked hung over. "What?"
"Your name?"
"My name is Bobert. Am I in trouble? Do I need to leave already?"
"No sir. Thank you for answering my advertisement."
Bobert blinked in confusion. "The what now?"
Homecoming
Brenna marched angrily up the street to the former site of the House of Whalerson, now a pile of ash and charred timbers. She sifted through the remains near what was left of the fireplace.
She pulled out a silver harpoon tip. It was a metal rod about two feet long that ended in a sharp barbed tip. The wooden handle had burned away with the house. The silver tip had miraculously survived.
She muttered to herself, "The Hearthspoon. I found it, right where Uncle Gillian said."
The silver harpoon tip glowed magically in her hand. She smiled.
She then looked around at the ashen ruins, "Sorry I didn't get to meet you, brothers. We probably wouldn't have gotten along anyways."
She shoved the harpoon tip into a leather holder and marched back to the Empty Net. She found Lemundo still addressing the others.
"I got what I was looking for. Now, as it happens, I'm low on coin. Are you still hiring?"
Sea Trip to Leper Island
Bobert woke on a sailboat at sea. He had no idea how he got here. He had a terrible hangover and the bobbing of the boat in the waves wasn't helping. The sun was setting in the west.
He got the attention of the woman in the cloak. She seemed to be in charge. "What? Where am I? What day is this? What's happening?"
"Good evening, Bobert. It's the same day. We're on our way to Leper Island!"
"We're WHAT?" the halfling replied incredulously.
"Leper Island! Like I said earlier in the briefing. My father is being held prisoner there!"
Lemundo continued, "You see, I am, in truth, Lemundo Feldren, daughter of Obertus Feldren, the Duke of Seaton. And before you ask - No! Duke Obertus did not die from natural causes as reported by my uncle Marik. My uncle Marik faked my father's death and assumed the title of Duke. I later learned that Captain Horatio Vile, a fiendish pirate, had been secretly transporting my uncle to an unknown location to gloat over my father!"
"I tried to stow away on Captain Vile's boat to find where my uncle had imprisoned my father. But Captain Vile betrayed my uncle! He took my uncle prisoner and handed him to Gellan Primewater, a smuggler from Saltmarsh, so that the wizard Keledek might use some mind control magic on him! In doing so, I was discovered and captured."
"Luckily, Aella and Alot helped save me. They captured Captain Vile and freed my uncle, not knowing what else to do with such a high ranking nobleman. Since then I've been trying to find where my uncle had my father hidden. I eventually determined he was being held by corrupt priests of Procan on Leper Island!"
"Baylore here said that he knew about those corrupt priests. They allowed pirates to use the island and their abbey to smuggle stolen goods to the Sea Princes to the south. He said that after Captain Vile was imprisoned, his remaining crew attacked the island hoping to sack it and raid it of its stored treasures. He said that no one had heard from the pirates since, so he had no idea if they succeeded or not."
"So we're going to Leper Island, which is forbidden for obvious reasons. We're landing after dark to conceal our approach. We're going to find the abbey, enter it, find my father, and rescue him. Any questions?"
Bobert blinked wearily. He groaned, laid back down in the boat, and went to sleep.
A Long Walk on the Beach
The sun had set. It was now dark. A bright full moon rose over the eastern horizon. The island loomed before them. The island was oblong, a mile wide and just over three miles long. The island was a long flat slab perched at an angle. The far side was a cliff almost a hundred feet tall. The near side dipped into the sea and was covered by a sandy beach and hundreds of feet of windswept dunes.
Baylore possessed excellent night vision. He could see in the moonlight the remains of a pinnance smashed and broken and half buried by the sand. "That's the pirate landing craft. They never left the island."
They landed their launch near the remains of the pinnance. A clear path made by dozens of boots led away from the beach. The path was nearly three weeks old. Baylore had the best night vision so he led the way. The sand was loose and difficult to walk on. He followed the tracks through the towering dunes for about six hundred feet. To his surprise, the tracks veered sharply to the right. He shrugged and continued on, leaving the path of the tracks.
As they climbed the dune before them, a cold wind blew from the center of the island. The loose sand blew over the dune. Then more sand began to shift. It soon became apparent that humanoid figures wearing scraps of armor and carrying old rusted short swords and short bows were rising from the sands.
They were surrounded by the animated skeletons of the long dead!
The five of the skeletons charged the party and engaged in hand-to-hand combat while the remaining four loosed arrows from decrepit short bows.
Alot Aname slashed and stabbed at the skeletons with his short sword. Meanwhile Baylore waded into a throng of skeletons with nothing more than his bare fists. To everyone's surprise, Baylore would punch a skeleton in the skull and it would explode. He'd punch the next in the rib-cage and it would explode. He moved swiftly through skeleton after skeleton while Alot struggled.
The skeletons were soon destroyed. Brenna approached Alot and offered him a belaying pin, "Take this. They'll do more damage against yon skeletal beasties."
Alot sheathed his short sword, took the wooden implement, and thanked the sorceress.
The team pressed on. Baylore soon found the trail of footprints. It led from the right and made a turn directly ahead. They followed the path for three hundred feet before the path turned sharply to the left. Baylore once again shrugged and pushed on.
Once again they were beset by nine animated skeletons that rose from the sands! Once again they made relatively short work of the clattering fiends. Bobert was injured from some of the arrows but his wounds were tended by Brenna.
The Juggernaut of Bone
As they continued straight ahead the air became completely still and all was silent but the crashing waves of the Azure Sea. They were near the center of the dunes. The silence gave way to the sound of sliding sand all around them. Bones were rising from the dunes in all directions. They were surrounded by a clattering army of skeletons marching towards them. Before them rose a great pile of bones. The pile was twenty feet tall and took on an amorphous roughly humanoid form as it heaved towards them.
They were surrounded and squeezed together from all sides. Aella cast a witch-bolt spell at the juggernaut of bone and rose on a gust of wind that blew her backwards away from the crushing mass of skeleton warriors.
Alot shouted, "Stay away from the juggernaut! If it crashes down on you its bad news!"
Bobert managed to call upon the spirits of nature for help and a mass of weeds and vines sprang from the sand beneath the skeletons and the heaving juggernaut. The skeletons moved through the vines with east but the juggernaut became impeded. Bobert ducked low and scurried to safety away from the scrum of skeletons. Likewise did Brenna, Baylore, and Alot manage to maneuver away from the juggernaut while crushing skeletons.
DM Note-
All the player characters managed to stay or be more than ten feet away from the juggernaut. The range of its tidal wave of bone is ten feet. Alas, its primary attack was neutered!
The juggernaut of bone was ensnared by the net of vines and weeds that had overgrown it. The sustained lightning bolt from Aella's witch-bolt continued to burn away the juggernaut and bones began to slough away from the mass. Soon the juggernaut lost all cohesion and fell apart into a mass of bones. The bones soon reformed into separate humanoid skeletons.
Once the juggernaut was defeated the party made relatively short work of the remaining skeletons.
A few members of the party had taken a beating so they decided to rest for an hour before continuing.
The Ruins of the Abbey
The party continued their march towards the center of the island. They emerged from the dunes onto a grassy field. The moon shone high overhead and the wind blew through the tall grass in undulating waves. Small clumps of short trees were visible here and there.
They arrived at the site of the old Abbey. It was in ruins - burned to the ground. A pile of rubble, debris, and charred timbers were all that was left of what was once a tower. The ceiling of the attached refectory and leper hospital had collapsed and burned. The pirate raiders had sacked the abbey and left nothing standing.
However, the ruins appeared to have been moved. Stones were piled up. Areas had been cleared. There were several small piles of items that had been salvaged from the rubble - utensils and tools mostly. Someone had survived and someone had been trying to clean up the remains.
More importantly, the rubble had been cleared around what was once a trap door in the floor of the refectory.
Baylore looked at Lemundo. Lemundo nodded. Baylore said, "Right, let's go in, shall we?"
Bobert backed away, "I'll- I'll just wait out here." The scruffy halfling sat down on a block and uncorked a bottle. "Have fun though!"
To Be Continued...
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