Brenna had spent much of the previous week recruiting a crew for the Sea Ghost. Of the forty applicants Brenna, with input from Captain Baylore, Aella, Alot, and Bordar, selected the ten best:
- Anita "Four-Teeth" Chrom - a barbarian with a raspy voice and wrinkled leathery skin
- Erving "Two-Toes" Charles - with thumbs that looked like oversized big-toes.
- Radburn "Mad Eyes" Trollope - whose glassy googly eyes and a dopey grin.
- Hockney "Crew Member" Seth - about whom little could be said, or even remembered.
- Zelda "Phatasm" Outerbridge - wispy and mysterious
- Katherine "Pirate" Stratford - who could not tell a lie or keep a secret
- Minna "Devil's Grin" Reeks - with filed teeth and a wicket scar
- Winter "White Hair" Ward - with long straight white hair and a long white beard and smooth alabaster skin.
- Ewing "Shark Bait" Archer - who wore a red tunic. Though he was incompetent, you couldn't help but love him. He gave his best effort at everything he tried but nonetheless succeeded at no task he attempted.
- Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxbow - a dwarven shipwright.
With that done, Brenna gave some bad news to her ship-mates. She was leaving them. She had come to Saltmarsh looking for her half-brothers only to discover they had died. Now she was off to find the other disparate members of her family. Before she departed, she entrusted the ring of wishes to Captain Baylore.
With her departure, Alot was promoted to First Mate. In his place, Baylore appointed Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxbow as bosun.
That left an open position among the crew. Baylore selected Torr "The Fierce" Theodoric. Torr reported for duty arm in arm with another applicant, Trudy "The Fierce" Amarant.
Baylore protested, "I only need one of you."
"I'm sorry captain." said Torr, "We're a package deal, you see, what on account of both of us being called 'The Fierce', that's why they call of 'the Twins' you know."
Baylore grinned, "I love it. Okay, you're both hired!"
CHAPTER 42
"THE INAUGURAL GAMES OF THE AQUATIC ALLIANCE"
The B-Team:
- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, Deck Sorceress of the Sea Ghost.
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Bosun of the Sea Ghost.
- Captain Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk), Captain of the Sea Ghost.
- Brenna "The Sea Witch" Myrasdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler, First Mate of the Sea Ghost.
- Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), exiled from his clan, Ballast of the Sea Ghost.
- Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxworth - Lawful Good Dwarven Priest of St. Ogden (Cleric), sailor and shipwright.
Brain Jellies:
- Bruma - Neutral Good Human Swamp Guide (Ranger) for the smuggling cartel known as "the Organization", given a mission to find and kill Sakatha the Lizard King.
The Inaugural Games of the Aquatic Alliance
Once the crew was on board and the ship outfitted, the Sea Ghost set sail for the Inaugural Games of the Aquatic Alliance.
The village of Saltmarsh had received six invitations to the games several weeks ago. No one in town wished to attend so the invitations were given to the Alot and Aella.
The Games of the Aquatic Alliance was an evolution of the Lizardfolk Games, an annual tradition organized by Princess Orthokent, monarch of the Marsh Water lizardfolk tribe. In previous years she would hold a series of athletic games to challenge the best warriors from each of the tribes of the Hool Marsh. This year she expanded the invitation to includes representatives from each of the aquatic races. The games were meant to bring together the various species and cultures in order to strengthen the alliance against the Sahuagin. Such a display of diplomacy was unheard of for the lizardfolk but Princess Orthokent has continued to surprise outsiders with her education, her worldliness, and strategic acumen - all uncharacteristic traits for a monarch of the lizardfolk.
This year it was announced that the prize for the winning team would be a magical ring that allowed its wearer to control water elementals!
The location of the games was a section of beach where once stood the ancient city of Warthalkeel, located on the coast beneath the Tower of Zenopus.
Let the Games Begin
The ship arrived on the day of the opening ceremonies. The bluff overlooking the rocky beach was lined with hundreds of lizardfolk and bullywugs. Dozens more merfolk and locathah bobbed in the waters off the rocky beach beneath the bluff. On the beach itself could be seen about three or four dozen people representing various groups. There were about a dozen lizardfolk - among them was Princess Orthokent and her advisor Sauriv - and a half-dozen each of locathah, bullywugs, aquatic elves, koalinth, and merfolk.
Captain Baylore, Aella, Alot, Bordar, and newcomer Craig, took a rowboat ashore to join the group. They were greeted and instructed to stand nearby as Princess Orthokent was preparing to provide opening statements to kick off the games.
Princess Orthokent climbed a large rock along with her adviser and a few lizardfolk dignitaries. Her guards blew conch shells to gain the attention of the gathered throngs.
"Welcome to the inaugural Aquatic Games!"
The crowd clapped their various claws and fins together politely.
"Traditionally, this event was held among the tribes of lizard-folk. This year, in the spirit of cooperation and comity with our fellows, with the hope of uniting the tribes of the sea with the tribes of the marsh, I have invited representatives from the locathah, the merfolk, the koalinth, the bullywugs, the quessari, and the humans to join us in friendly competition and athletic achievement.
"Beginning at dawn tomorrow there will be five events: the turtle shell toss, driftwood surfing, quipper wrestling, sparring, and - in the afternoon - the main event - a hunt for the grand prize! Each team will submit two contestants for each of the first four events. No contestant may compete in two events in a row. The entire team will be expected to participate in the final event.
"Representatives, you may introduce yourselves and your teams!"
A tall lizard-man stepped forward. He stood before a group of six muscular warriors from different tribes. "I am Nallasunt, subchief of the Marsh Spider tribe and these are the finest warriors from six tribes!" The lizardfolk gathered on the bluff above hissed and slapped their tails.
Princess Orthokent then gestured towards a small unassuming creature that resembled a beautiful tropical fish with arms and legs. The fish-man huddled close to his four companions. He hesitated in nervous anxiety before speaking, "Uh, Hello. My name is Gil, I guess I have been selected to speak on behalf of the Locathah School from Seadeep Shoals. We, uh, we are just so happy to be included!" There was polite hissing and slapping and croaking.
Orthokent gestured towards a large merfolk noble bobbing in the shallow water in front of his six companions. "I am King Lir of the Mer. The merfolk welcome the competition! I present to you, champion of the merfolk and leader of our team - Ludon!" The muscular merfolk high-fived and howled among themselves.
Before Orthokent could gesture again, a tall armored green-skinned aquatic hobgoblin covered in nets and barnacles strode forward in front of his four teammates. He looked annoyed and in a threatening display shouted his name, "I am Warlord Zradrog and we will crush you all! I will lead my team! All will bow before our dominance!" His fellow koalinth warriors screamed and beat their chests.
Orthokent cleared her throat and waited for them to finish. Afterwards she smiled and gestured towards the frog-men from the marsh. The fattest among them wore a crown and a dirty cape. He stood in front of a handful of frogmen warriors, one of which was taller than the others with red skin and four arms. "I, King Gulpa'Gor, "he paused to inflate his throat sack and release a bellowing "FRAP!" He took a deep breath and continued, " - am leader of the great Bullywug clan of the marsh. I give you our team led by Arrp." He paused again to allow Arrp to show off before the gathered bullywugs on the bluff. The crows croaked their approval with a deafening chorus. King Gulpga'Gor continued, "We are hungry!" He once again paused for effect, " - hungry for VICTORY!"
Orthokent next gestured to the delegation from Saltmarsh - a motley assortment of one human, one half-elf, one mechanical automaton, and two dwarves. The rest of the team looked at Aella to be the spokesperson for the team. She rolled her eyes at her team-mates, cleared her throat, and, in the language of the lizardfolk, introduced herself and her team. The gathered lizardfolk hissed and slapped their tails at the honor and Princess Orthokent nodded with approval before gesturing towards the final delegation.
Towards the back were a group of five elves with blue skin. The leader among them was older than the others. He had long hair and a white beard and wore intricate plate armor. Behind him where a prince and princess, an armored knight, and Oceanus, the sea elf spy once imprisoned aboard the Sea Ghost with Alot. Oceanus gave a friendly wave towards Alot in recognition.
The leader sighed as if he were bored with the whole thing, "I am King Pelagius of the sea-elf kingdom of Manaan. We object to the inclusion of these koalinth in these competitions. Let us get this over with." As an afterthought he introduced his team, "Oh, our delegation is led by my son and daughter, Prince Aegeon and Princess Nix."
Aella stared wide-eyed at the man who was her father.
The Feast
A large feast was put out for the guests. The feast consisted of fish, seaweeds, anemones, clams, shrimp and lobster, eels, and rotting whale meat, all prepared raw and served on dishes made of large oyster shells and platters made of mother-of-pearl. Drinks included various extracts, cephalopod inks, and liqueurs - the more potent of which included distilled toxins from various poisonous fish or liquids fermented from decaying animals.
Alot made conversation with Oceanus and the two caught up.
Oceanus then introduced the members the B-Team to the rest of his party - King Pelagius, Prince Aegeon, and Princess Nix. During the introductions he was careful to watch Aella. Did she wish to be forthright about her parentage or did she wish to be more discrete? He was careful not to reveal any secrets she did not wish to reveal.
King Pelagius and his children were friendly towards the delegation from Saltmarsh. Oceanus had told the king about his adventures with Alot and Aella. Nix and Aegeon seemed excited to meet the group of daring adventurers.
King Pelagius said that Aella looked familiar and asked if she had ever been to Ket. She replied in the language of the quessari elves that she was born in Ket. This piqued Pelagius' interest. He said that he had once spent some time in Ket where he had made the acquaintance of a human woman named "Ma'um". He owed Ma'um a great debt.
DM Note-
I asked Aella's character if she knew her mother's name. She said, "I don't know - 'MOM' I guess?" So for the rest of the game I referred to her by name as "Ma'um".
"My mother's name was Ma'um," said Aella pointedly.
King Pelagius did not take the bait, "What an odd coincidence! Well, its been a pleasure meeting you!"
Nix immediately understood Aella's message all too well. She asked her how many seasons she had known. Aella's answer confirmed Nix's suspicions. Aella was older than either she or Aegeon. Aella could become a problem should she decide to make a play for the throne. Nix eyed Aella with cold disdain.
Captain Baylore sensed the tension and interrupted the conversation to introduce himself to the beautiful sea elf princess. Nix became distracted by the human sailor. She soon forgot all about Aella as she became smitten with the dark and mysterious pirate captain.
Prince Aegeon tore Captain Baylore away from his sister so that he could speak to the captain in private for a moment. Once a short distance away from the rest of the feast, Aegeon told Captain Baylore that he had a business proposition for him.
"I want you to kill Warlord Zradog and his men tonight. I don't want them to participate in these games and I don't want them to be part of this alliance."
Captain Baylore politely refused the offer.
"But I do not understand, you are a human are you not? I mean, isn’t that what you humans do? Isn’t that your thing? Assassination? Intrigue? Oh, right. Humans want money! Look, I'm willing give you 1000 gold pieces.”
DM Note-
I got a big laugh out of that line. Several players were offended, "That's fucking racist!"
Captain Baylore laughed and once again politely declined, noting that under different circumstanced he'd oblige, but Baylore had no desire to disrupt the games and offend his host.
Nix found the pair and pulled Baylore away, "Leave him alone brother! Its my turn!" Nix dragged Baylore off by the arm and the pair spent the rest of a pleasant evening together.
Event One: Shell Toss
The delegation from Saltmarsh, most of them anyway, spent the night on board their ship. The next morning they rejoined their captain, ahem, on the beach for the first of the day's events.
Each team was given two large leathery sea turtle shells. Two contestants from each team would hurl the shell as far as they could. The team with the farthest throw won the event.
In the first round, the merfolk threw their shell 20 yards. Alot's throw measured 15 yards . In the second round the koalinth won with a throw of 24 yards, just beating out the lizardfolk and quessari throws of 22 yards. Bordar's threw for 11 yards.
The koalinth roared in their victory and were awarded the prize, a dried out turtle shell painted in garish colors.
DM Note-
I made a Strength (Athletics) check for each team. Here are the results:
I said the prize was a dried turtle shell that looked like it was found in the woods and painted by a five-year-old at summer camp. Every player knew exactly what I was talking about and were immediately smitten by the prize.
Event Two: Driftwood Surfing
The second event required the contestants from each team to ride a driftwood log being pushed along by the surf. The contestant who stayed atop the log the longest won the event.
The merfolk won the first round with a total time of 126 seconds, though the lizardfolk posted an impressive challenge of 120 seconds. Aella used her innate magical powers over wind to cast a spell and aid in her run. Despite the magical assistance she was only able to stay atop the log for 90 seconds.
During the second round the Captain Baylore surprised everyone by staying atop his log for an impressive 168 seconds! His time eclipsed the next highest time of 126 seconds posted by the locathah competitor.
Afterwards, Captain Baylore was awarded a ceremonial piece of driftwood similarly painted in garish colors.
DM Note-
For the surfing, each contestant had to make Dexterity (Athletics) checks. The highest roll won the event.
Aella's player asked if she could use her "Storm Guide" power to provide her favorable winds. I thought it was an imaginative solution so I gave her Advantage on her roll. She provided the same Advantage to Captain Baylore, who rolled a natural 20 on his check. Here are the results:
Event Three: Quipper Wrestling
For the third event, a metal bucket was produced. The bucket was filled with ravenous quippers. The challenge was to see who would hold a quipper in their hand the longest.
The bullywugs both ate their quippers immediately. The merfolk, lizardfolk, and quessari could only managed a few seconds before the quipper escaped. The locathah likewise managed only a few seconds. Bordar held onto his for 12 seconds while Craig kept his for 18 seconds. The koalinth held theirs for 24 seconds and won the prize - the bucket decorated with shells and starfish and polished stones.
DM Note-
This event called for the contestants to grapple a quipper until it escaped. I wasn't about to roll multi-round grapple results for each contestant so I just rolled d4 for each NPC team.
Event Four: Sparring
The fourth event allowed two contestants from each team to face an opponent in non-lethal combat. The two would fight in the surf. Each pair would fight until one side capitulated or was no longer able to fight.
Captain Baylore faced off against Warlord Zradog of the koalinth. Warlord Zradog wielded a long blunt wooden stick and Baylore decided to fight only with his fists. The conch was sounded to start the fight. Captain Baylore landed three lightning fast punches against Zradog and the koalinth leader fell unconscious into the surf.
Alot faced the bullywug champion Aarp. Alot struck Aarp with a padded wooden sword twice and the four-armed bullywug fell down.
For this event, every winner was rewarded with a pearl worth ten gold pieces.
The Main Event: Find the Magic Ring
After a luncheon it was time for the main event. Each of the teams were to compete in searching for and finding a magical ring hidden somewhere off shore with the underwater ruins of Warthalkeel.
Warthalkeel was once a city of an ancient empire. The citizens of Warthalkeel worshiped a mighty kraken. In time the priests of the sea god Procan came to the city and built a temple. The kraken became jealous and caused a massive earthquake. The port city sank one hundred feet beneath the waves while a mountain rose up and buried the areas further inland. It is said that the tower of Zenopus was built atop the hill that covers the ruins of the city.
For this event, Baylore donned his magical manta ray cloak that allowed him to breathe and swim underwater. Bordar put on his ring of swimming. Alot was already adapted to living and working under the sea. Bordar, Aella, and Craig each drank a potion of water breathing that allowed them to survive underwater for up to an hour.
The party entered the surf and joined their aquatic competition.
The competitors gathered around Princess Orthokent just a few dozen feet off shore. They were ten or fifteen feet beneath the surface and standing on the precipice of a high cliff. They could make out ruined structures in the gloom at the base of the cliff under sixty feet of water. They could see a large four story structure that appeared to be some kind of temple. It was adorned with sculptures of coiling tentacles. Near it was a more mundane temple structure. Near the base of the cliff was a strong structure made of heavy stones indicating some kind of important civic structure - an armory of vault. On the other side of the temples was a deep rift. Near the rift was a ruined windmill.
Princess Orthokent told the assembled group, "I have given the ring to a stone-faced guardian somewhere in the ruins of Warthalkeel. Your task is to find the ring. The one who returns to me with the ring will keep it and win the event. Good luck!"
Bordar and Baylore looked at each other in confusion, "Is that it? That's our only clue?"
"That is your only clue. Begin."
Baylore immediately turned to Aella and Craig, "You are all slow swimmers. Stay here and try to keep whoever finds the ring from returning it. Bordar and Alot, you take the big temple, I'll take the little one. Go!"
Bordar and Alot immediately swam towards the roof of the four story structure. Baylore took off for the rear of the smaller structure.
The quessari and koalinth both swam as fast as they could towards the civic structure. The merfolk swam for the front of the large temple. The locathah and bullywugs swam for the smaller temple.
Prince Aegeon and Princess Nix, along with King Gulpa'Gor and Aarp of the bullywugs, stayed behind on the top of the cliff.
Craig wasted no time. He prayed for a miracle from Saint Ogden. A large swirling vortex formed in the open plaza between the cliff and the large temple. The vortex drew in the koalinth, bullywugs, and locathah. They were thrown around the swirling whirlpool and several were knocked unconscious.
The Temple of the Kraken
Bordar swam into a gaping hole in the roof of the four story structure. He explored the rooms at the top, swimming past a ballroom and down a grand staircase. He encountered the lizardfolk swimming up from the collapsed wall in the first floor of the structure. The lizard-man shaman attempted to waylay Bordar with some totem magic while a handful of lizardfolk warriors attacked. Bordar evaded the combat and swam for some stairs leading up a side tower.
As he was ascending he noticed a curious sight - the remains of several fish and crab tied to strings and attached to a metal loop driven into a nearby wall. He barely had time ti register what that meant when suddenly a massive octopus crawled out from under the stairs.
Bordar swam as fast as he could to avoid the giant octopus only to run into the lizardfolk again. They had simply ascended through a gaping hole in the ceiling/floor.
Bordar had no wish to fight the lizard-folk - that would only be a distraction from his goal. He decided to swim back up to the roof and try his luck elsewhere.
The lizard-folk stayed behind to explore the structure.
Alot was a slower swimmer than Bordar. He was soon surrounded by merfolk and was forced to fight them off. Alot fled and swam to the front door of the large temple. He was followed by the merfolk but Alot heard Bordar calling for him on the other side of the building. Alot swam away and allowed the merfolk to enter the front door.
The Abyss
Captain Baylore swam into the crumbling hole in the wall at the far end of the structure. He encountered a room filled with kelp and a giant crab. He quickly swam past the crab and into the next room. It was a long chamber filled with quippers. He swam through them and winced as they bit into his flesh. He entered a room with what appeared to be an altar. He had yet to see any "stone-faced guardians" so he left out another gaping hole in the wall.
He swam to ruins of the windmill. Inside the windmill he saw three long-dead bodies and three glowing spheres. The spheres whispered to him, "You'll not find what you seek here. Its in the abyss!"
"Got it!" replied Baylore. He left the windmill and began descending into the dark fathomless abyss within the rift.
Captain Baylore continued to descend for almost a minute. He was in complete darkness. He had to be several hundred feet beneath the surface. Above him was the faint light of the surface. He continued to descend.
Perfidy Below the Sea
King Gulpa'Gor and Aarp attacked Craig with blunted weapons specially created for this competition. Craig was distracted and lost his concentration. The miraculous vortex created by his prayers and faith disappeared. While Craig fought off the two attackers, Prince Aegeon and Princess Nix attacked Aella with their very real and very deadly trident and rapier.
Aella shouted, "Hey watch it!"
Princess Nix growled, "You'll never take our birthright! We'll kill you first!"
"Hey! I don't want it!" she protested.
"We don't care. We must take precautions! Please understand, its nothing personal!" said Prince Aegon as he thrust his trident with intent to kill.
Aella quickly threw out twin arcs of lightning at her attackers. Prince Aegeon quickly fell but Princess Nix pressed her attack, injuring Aella. Aella counter-attacked with a ray of magical frost. Nix twisted her body in pain at the icy attack and fell unconscious.
Craig said another prayer and was immediately surrounded by a swirling vortex of celestial hammers. The hammers knocked Aarp unconscious and King Gulpa'Gor was forced to retreat.
A False Alarm
Alot joined up with Bordar and the pair explored the smaller empty ruins along the edge of the abyss. There they found nothing but the detritus of the lost civilization.
Suddenly Bordar heard a loud croak coming from the smaller temple. A bullywug had found the prize and was swimming as fast as he could towards the cliff. Bordar used his ring of swimming to close with and tackle the bullywug. Alot swam behind and was almost knocked over as a locathah swam across his path clutching something. The locathah appeared to be swimming around the outside of the buildings and keeping a low profile. What was he up to?
Bordar wrestled the bullywug to the ground. Out of the bullywug's hand fell a silver trident - the holy symbol of the god Procan.
Bordar rolled his eyes, "Never mind! The bullywug's an idiot!"
Murder in Warthalkeel
A few moments after entering the front door of the large temple with his merfolk companions, a long merfolk, injured and covered in bites, emerged and called for aid! His fellows were being attacked by a massive swarm of octopus and squid! Princess Orthokent immediately ordered her lizardfolk, who had already exited the rear of the temple to render aid.
Meanwhile, Aella and Craig saw Oceanus flee the civic structure in a panic. He looked like he had seen a ghost. With Princess Orthokent distracted by the plight of the merfolk, they decided to leave their defensive position to help their friend.
Aella grabbed Craig's arm and said, "Hold on." She closed her eyes and a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky and into the sea. She disappeared in a clap of underwater thunder and a massive cloud of bubbles. Another bolt of lightning struck near Oceanus and from it emerged Aella and Craig.
They checked on their friend. He told them that something horrible had happened. There had been a murder within the civic structure.
Craig went to the entrance and looked within. He saw the quessari knight removing his greatsword from the body of one of the koalinth. All of the koalinth looked as if they had been lined up and executed.
The knight looked at Craig but called out to his king, "Your majesty, I am done here. Did you find anything?"
A voice came from another room, "No. It is empty." King Pelagius emerged and saw Craig.He looked down at the bodies of the koalinth, "Oh, Yes. The beasts attacked us, you see. We were forced to defend ourselves. Luckily no one else was hurt."
The knight glared at Craig as if saying "Are you going to be a problem?"
Craig backed away from the door, "Of course. I understand."
Aella looked at Oceanus. His slowly shook his head as if silently saying, "That is NOT what happened."
Aella whispered to Oceanus, "Do you need protection?"
King Pelagius overheard, "Don't worry, Oceanus. You are a trusted and loyal servant. I'm sure you have nothing to fear."
Oceanus retained his composure. He slowly returned to the side of his king. He meekly said, "I live to serve you, majesty."
Bordar, Alot, and Captain Baylore had by this time reunited and were swimming towards Aella and Craig.
A conch was blown atop the cliff. There was a great commotion as Gil the locathah had returned the ring to Princess Orthokent to much fanfare.
The lizardfolk warriors were helping the injured merfolk out of the temple of the kraken.
King Pelagius looked up at the cliff and said, "Well, it seems we've all lost."
Craig looked at King Pelagius with narrowed dwarven eyes, "You lost a long time ago."
To be Continued...
DM Note-
No, seriously, Craig's player said that exact line and I said, "Oh my god! That's the perfect line to stop on! To be continued!"
I ran the entire event turn by turn. The ring was on the finger of a statue of Procan in the far north room of the temple of Procan. I really thought Baylore would find the ring right away. HE WAS RIGHT NEXT TO IT! But alas, he went right and didn't go into the room to the left.
Instead, I pretty randomly split up the different groups. Gil was a favorite of the players. They love unassuming underdogs. They were rooting for him to win. I didn't plan on it. that was just the direction the locathah went. When the locathah found it, I had them split up and take a different route, each pretending to have the ring. Gil's a tactical genius that way I guess. They they all converged on the cliff. It just so happened that everyone else was very distracted.
The players were happy that Gil won. Good for him!
The players had been looking forward to the "Lizard-man Games" for weeks. They needed a nice role-play heavy and fun diversion after all the grueling deadly combat of the past few weeks.
A friend of mine asked me what I had planned and I told him. He said, "Oh my god! You're doing a beach episode! Like in every anime!" I hadn't thought of it that way at first but he was right.
Next Week - The Final Enemy
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