The Harpies of Nyrond - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 60

 

Winter passed in Saltmarsh uneventfully. The Sea Ghost stayed in port for much of the season with Captain Alot spending much of his time with Commander Fireborn learning the Aquan and Draconic languages.

Now that Saltmarsh had a baron there was little need for a town council. Baron Solmor relegated the council to various inconsequential and irrelevant duties. Smuggling in Saltmarsh had disappeared. All illegal trade took place on Leper Island under the control of Baylore. The Traditionalist faction had been reduced to the salty fishmonger Eda Oweland. Her business has suffered thanks to the poor catches returned by the fishers of Saltmarsh. With spring coming, the baron prepared to travel to Niole Dra to spend the spring and summer in the royal court. 

Cai'luin became a mediator between Baron Solmor and the royal family of the sea elf tribe of Manaan. Since the attempt on the king's life, the sea elves had made fishing difficult for the fishers of Saltmarsh. Cai'luin worked to resolve this situation and to set strict rules for where the fishers of Saltmarsh could and could not fish. These rules did not go over well with Eda Oweland.

Aella, as a member of the town council, faced much of the brunt of Eda Oweland's fury. In an effort to assist the ailing fishers, Aella decided to invest her vast unspent wealth she had accumulated in her adventures on fishing expeditions to waters farther south. She funded several expeditions received, in turn, remarkable dividends on her investments. 

Corvid worked with the nuns of Tristin to improve the House of the Dying, a hospice to care for the dying and aid their transition to the afterlife. Corvid paid to have statues built of all three saints which were installed at the temple to Tristin.

One day, at the end of winter, Wellgar Brinehanded, High Priest of the temple of the sea-god Procan, paid a visit to the House of the Dying. He wished to enlist the aid of Tristin and the crew of the Sea Ghost. 

CHAPTER 60

"THE HARPIES OF NYROND"

The Crew of the Sea Ghost:

• Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Captain of the Sea Ghost.
• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, deck sorceress and first mate of the Sea Ghost.
• Cai'luin Manaan - Chaotic Good Sea-Elf Bard, member of the royal family of the tribe of Manaan. Cook of the Sea Ghost.
• Corvid Ravenson - Neutral Good Fallen Aasimar Paladin of Vengeance and Divine Soul Sorcerer, sent to Oerth to avenge those who wronged his angelic "brother", Auric Ravenson. Second mate of the Sea Ghost.

Brain Jellies

• Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxworth - Lawful Good Dwarven Priest of St. Ogden (Cleric), sailor and shipwright, bosun of the Sea Ghost.  

DM Note-

We start off this week with 3 months of down-time. I ask the players what they want to do - any personal agenda items they want to follow up on? Long-term plans? Off-screen activities? If there's a game-able down-time activity in Xanathar's Guide we'll use those. If they want to do something plot-related, it helps me plan ahead. 

Aella wanted to become a money lender and invest in town enterprises. I figured it was like gambling so I used the gambling rules. Unfortunately, the gambling rules results are total loss, fifty percent loss, break even, fifty percent gain, or one hundred percent gain. There's no middle ground. I might adjust those percentages. 

I treated Cai'luin's downtime as carousing. He wound up making 23 high class contacts. Meh. 

We're on a Mission from (a) God

Wellgar Brinehanded told Corvid that he had maintained regular contact with a man named Marwen - a priest cloistered in a hermitage on Firewatch Island in far away Nyrond. For years the two had communicated daily through prayer. At least they did until a few days ago when his friend suddenly ceased responding. In his last message his friend said that he had received ominous visions of events to come and that the hermitage was in danger. He worried for his friend and was concerned that something had happened to the hermitage. 

Brinehanded wished to hire the Sea Ghost to sail to far away Nyrond to visit this remote hermitage under the auspices of delivering a small cargo from the temple of Procan but with the true mission of checking in on his friend. He had little to offer in payment other than the blessings of Procan and prayers for clear sailing and good winds. 

Corvid gathered the crew back together, minus Father Craig who was away on a holy mission (to fight cancer). As it happened, Cai'luin was in town and was available to join the crew. Corvid explained the mission to Captain Alot. 

Firewatch Island was located off the coast of Nyrond. The closest town was the small village of Uskarn. It would take the Sea Ghost seven days to sail to Uskarn, assuming fair winds and weather. 

Captain Alot and the rest of the crew agreed to the mission. Alot set about recruiting a new crew of sailors.

DM Note-

I asked my players if they wanted to play out the journey or just summarize it and arrive at their destination. They were unanimous in wanting to skip to arriving so I summarized.

Journey to Nyrond

The Sea Ghost sailed for five days east-northeast across the Azure Sea towards the city of Scant, capital of the Free State of Onnwal. They spent the night in Scant and sailed north to Nessermouth then on to Relpool. 

It was during their journey to Relpool that they encountered an unusually powerful storm that damaged their ship. They limped into Relpool needing major repairs. They decided to offload the small cargo and hire a wagon team and some teamsters to carry the cargo overland the remaining fifty miles to Uskarn. 

Queen of the Harpies

It was a two day journey overland along a coastal road to Uskarn. The road was little more than a gravel track that hugged the coastline. The day was hot and humid. The air was dominated by the sound of surf on the rocky shore. 

The caravan crested a small hill and the road passed near a low bluff to the left. Just after the bluff they saw a middle aged woman kneeling and weeping over the remains of a dead body on the side of the road- a human. Circling the air above her were several large birds of prey - possibly vultures. 

Captain Alot ordered the caravan to stay behind as he and the crew advanced to scout out the scene. As they drew near the woman stood up. She turned to face the advancing crew. Her face was covered in red gore. Her eyes were dark and hallow. She exploded into a cloud of hundreds of skeletal birds and her shape changed into a large grey-feathered harpy. 

Aella reacted quickly, creating a magical ice storm around the harpy queen and the harpies that surrounded her. Corvid quickly followed up with a bolt of fire.

One of the harpies began to sing, enchanting Corvid with its magical song. A second harpy began to sing and enraptured Alot and Cai'luin. 

Cai'luin quickly shook off the effects and countered with cutting words that inflicted magical pain on the harpies. 

Aella hurled a flurry of magical chaos bolts that exploded in fire and acid. Storm magic began to explode out of her, striking nearby harpies with small bolts of lightning. 

Several harpies descended upon Aella with claws and clubs. The other harpies scattered, dispersing themselves up and down the road and above the nearby bluff. As they began their songs they would lure Alot and Cai'luin away from the fight. 

Alot activated his magical winged boots and took flight to be near the flying harpy that had enchanted him. Aella disappeared in a clap of thunder and reappeared in mid-air next to the harpy that enchanted Alot. She channeled thunder magic through the Trident of Manaan to kill the harpy and free Alot from her spell. She then summoned a magical gust of wind to gently lower her to the ground.

DM Note- 

Aella's power-move there was pretty spectacular!

Corvid had become enchanted by the harpy queen, and she drew him close. Suddenly, Corvid called upon the favor of his god Tristin and broke her spell. 

With her spell broken, the harpy queen tore into Corvid, creating deep slashes with her claws. 

Corvid counterattacked with his magical sword, channeling divine vengeance into his attack. 

DM Note-

Corvid did 31 points with his first attack and 37 points with his second attack, for a combined 68 points of damage in one turn. It was brutal!

The Matriarch slashed Corvid again but was soon struck down by Corvid's magical blade.

Cai'luin had finally broken free from the harpy enchantments but found himself surrounded by three of the loathsome creatures. He was trapped! He decided to try a desperate maneuver.

He began singing a strange hypnotic song. The three harpies that surrounded him all fell under the sway of the hypnotic pattern. Unfortunately, so too did Cai'luin. The four of them stood there, dumbfounded, gently swaying under the effects of the hypnotic song. 

DM Note-

That was just hilarious. He knew it was a risk but he was hoping he'd make his saving throw. He even had Advantage! But he failed and we died laughing!

With the queen dispatched, Alot, Aella, and Corvid made quick work of the remaining harpies and eventually eliminated the three hypnotized harpies surrounding Cai'luin. One harpy attempted to flee but was killed in mid-flight at long range via Aella's magical chaos bolts.

With the battle won Alot examined the remains. They were unrecognizable. He decided to carry the remains to the next town in case they could be identified. 

Unfortunate Swimmer

The party continued down the road. Alot spotted a prone form lying face down on the gravel beach by the water. He ran ahead to investigate. Cai'luin scanned the edge of the beach for any sign of an ambush.

Alot found the dead body of a human man. He was lying face down and had evidently drowned. Crab and sea birds had pecked away at his flesh but he had been dead no longer than a day. He wore only simple homespun breeches. 

Alot picked up the body and added it to the cart with the other one.

Uskarn

The caravan arrived at the small fishing village of Uskarn late in the day. The village appeared to be home to no more than 900 people. The village was located on the south shore of Nyrond on a small bay. A bored-looking halfling in a chain shirt sat next to what passed for a gate into the village.

The halfling asked their business. Alot explained that they had a cargo for the hermitage on Firewatch Island and added that they had found two dead bodies on the road to town. He wished to speak to someone with authority to report the deaths so that they might be-

The halfling gruffly interrupted Alot and directed him to speak with the bailiff, Feldrin Kane. He could be found at the gaol.

"Where's that?" asked Alot.

"It's the building with the gibbet hanging out front." said the halfling, annoyed at this continuing interruption of his long hours of not having to do anything at all.

Alot led the caravan to the town gaol where they found Feldrin Kane. Kane was a tall intimidating figure who expressed concern at the loss of life that Alot had presented him. Kane did not recognize the victim of the harpies but he did know the drowning victim. He said his name was Philpert, a nice enough fellow. He had been a layabout and a drunkard for many years but after he joined the hermitage he seemed to have found peace. Why he had drowned presented a mystery. 

Kane dutifully took possession of the bodies. Kane asked Alot how long they planned to stay in Uskarn. Alot said not long and informed Kane of their mission to make a delivery to the hermitage on Firewatch Island. Kane old Alot that a ferry made the three-mile trip to Firewatch Island every morning just after sunup. He pointed the caravan to the town's only inn - the Fog and Frog. 

The crew spent the night at the Fog and Frog where they met several of the locals - chief among them was a half-elven merchant named Davus Raal. Davus Raal informed the crew of a bounty that he had offered for the return of a dwarf named Morley Tobe. The dwarf had fled town after failing to pay a substantial debt - and Raal wished to recover some of his loss. He offered 800 gold pieces for the dwarven fugitive. They said they'd keep their eyes peeled.

The Ferry

The next morning the crew assembled the cargo for delivery at the dock next to the ferry. The ferry was a keelboat operated by a half-orc named Ulder Raserhill. Raserhill was foul tempered with little love for his occupation. The crew left their hired hands behind in Uskarn and accompanied Raserhill across the bay to Firewatch Island.

On the way Corvid attempted to glean information about the island and the hermitage. Raserhill said he made the journey to the island every day. There's usually someone on the dock to greet him. Although increasingly annoyed the continued interruptions by Corvid and Alot, Raserhill did eventually reveal that no one had met him the dock for the last two days - which was unusual but not really a cause for concern.

Two days? Corvid pondered this. The priest had lost contact with the priest Marwen at least days ago! Something didn't add up! 

Firewatch Island

The ferry approached the dock and the crew unloaded their cargo. 

The island seemed peaceful. The hermitage was an old military garrison that had been converted into a monastery. The hermitage consisted of a stout tower that once served as a lookout post but now contained a belfry and a three story main structure. The buildings were situated between a large wide hill and a tall spire of rock. A wall surrounded the entire complex.

As they unloaded the cargo Cai'luin took note of the footprints of at least a dozen individuals in the gravel beach. The footprints seemed to emerge from the water and later return. There was no sign of a beached boat or anything being dragged.

Once unloaded, Raserhill took his payment and returned to Uskarn. He would come again tomorrow.

The party cautiously walked the path from the dock to the hermitage. 

Suddenly a shadow crossed over Cai'luin's eyes. He looked up and spotted a massive winged form diving from the air. The winged creature had the head of a mighty stag - it was a man-eating peryton! 

To be Continued...