The Sea Ghost sailed around the east coast of the island of Jetsom. The strait between Jetsom and Fairwind islands were notorious for their shallow sandbars. Patriarch Craig stood watch in the crow's nest and managed to avoid the sand bars for the first two hours of the journey. On the third hour they ran aground but a quick miracle from Craig raised the water around the ship, lifting it off the bar. The winds were unfavorable and the ship made poor time. It set anchor off the north coast of jungle island of Jetsom.
They resumed sail the next morning. The wind had picked up considerably, gusting and creating whitecaps on the waves. Although the winds were against them Aella used her sorcerous abilities to redirect the winds into the sails.
At mid-morning Patriarch Craig was standing on the fore deck of the ship. He saw above him what appeared to be sea eagles - an adult and five juveniles. The adult sea eagle dove at the ship. To Craig's surprise, it wasn't a sea-eagle at all - it was a raptor of prodigious size! The titanic bird was large enough to lift an elephant in its claws! Its golden wings gleamed in the sun. It was a roc! And it was diving right for him!
CHAPTER 78
"THE JOURNEY HOME"
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.
- Patriarch Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxworth - Lawful Good Dwarven Priest of St. Ogden (Cleric), sailor and shipwright, bosun 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.
Roc Attack
The mother roc and its five juveniles continued their dive towards the ship. Alot secured the tiller and picked up the magical Javelin of Lightning that Patriarch Craig had gifted him the previous day. He held his javelin ready.
Patriarch Craig prayed and a divine aura appeared around the mother roc. Alot hurled his javelin at the massive raptor, striking it. A bolt of lightning struck the javelin as it magically returned to Alot's hand. Corvid pointed his sword at the roc and a bolt of flame streaked through the sky. The bolt of flame burned the roc badly but the raptor was undeterred.
DM- Corvid rolled a natural 20 on the up-levelled Fire Bolt and did 41 points of damage with a cantrip!
The mother roc continued it dive, landing upon Patriarch Craig, grabbing him within her massive talons. Its beak pulled at Craig's flesh. The stoic dwarf grimaced to conceal his pain. The roc took flight with Craig still held in its talons.
Patriarch Craig closed his eyes and said a prayer to Saint Ogden the Judge. He became engulfed in a maelstrom of flying hammers that pummeled the roc.
Meanwhile Cai'luin, Aella, and Corvid huddled near the mast at the center of the ship while the crew followed orders and quickly sought shelter below deck.
Cai'luin played a song on his lute and the trio was engulfed in a swirling cyclone of tiny magical musical notes.
Alot threw his magical returning javelin at the juvenile rocks, killing two. Aella threw a sorcerous bolt of chaos at another, freezing it. The frozen roc fell off over the side of the ship and into the water. Corvid killed a fourth.
The fifth roc flew towards Cai'luin but banked quickly away as it entered the sphere of razor-ship music notes.
The mother roc screeched in pain from Patriarch Craig's vortex of hammers. She let go of Craig and the dwarf plummeted towards the water. As Craig hit the surface, he lost his concentration and the vortex vanished.
The mother roc flew away, gaining altitude. Alot said, "Well, I guess this one got away."
Aella narrowed her eyes and prepared a sorcerous spell, "No. I got this." She threw out her hands and a sorcerous ice storm appeared around the roc. The roc shuddered and fell out of the sky, frozen. It crashed into the water and disappeared.
Water Elementals
Later that afternoon as they sailed past Skyhorn lighthouse on they way towards Angler Island, they spotted what appeared to be two mounts of water swelling on the surface several hundred feet away. They steered the ship away but the swells moved to intercept them. As the swells drew nearer they burst through the surface revealing themselves to be two small spinning water-spouts - water elementals!
Alot, Aella, Craig, Corvid, and Cai'luin prepared for battle while the rest of the crew went below deck.
The defenders on deck watched as the two elementals landed on the bow of their ship. They stopped spinning, revealing two humanoid torsos made of water but wearing armor constructed from a strange green metal. They each carried long spears.
One announced itself, "Greetings, Mortals! I am Lashkar Khan and this is my brother in arms, Shuja’at Khan. We are both armigers who until recently were bonded to the service of Shah Javad Khorasani, Eye of the Tempest and Lord of the Thousand and One Bright Pearls, Ruler of the City of Jade in the Everlasting Sea. My companion and I have recently mustered out of the service of our glorious and radiant Shah and now seek our fortunes in your world! Your ship will serve as our means of trans- "
He was interrupted as Aella created a sorcerous tidal wave that washed over the deck, knocking both water elementals over. Cai'luin played a dissonant song on his lute and the the elemental was forced backwards. Corvid struck it with his magical sword as it retreated, cutting it in half and causing the water to fall lifelessly onto the deck.
There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone waited to see what the elementa's companion would do.
The remaining elemental looked at the wet spot on the deck that was once its colleague. It then stood up straight and declared, "Well done! You have passed my first test! You have proven yourselves worthy and capable warriors! I, Shuja’at Khan, look forward to serving as your new captain as we ply your oceans in search of loot and plunder!"
The crew looked at each other. Corvid said, "Is he for real?"
Alot shrugged and said, "I kind of like his style. How about this? You can't be our captain, but you may join our crew."
The elemental considered this, "Yes! That will be an acceptable compromise! I will serve as a paragon among lesser beings! As a consequence you will award me with two shares of your plunder, as is only appropriate for one of my prestigious provenance!"
"Uh, no. One share, like the others."
"That is unacceptable! I demand that you-"
Alot became impatient, "Nope. You're done now. Bye bye!"
Alot, Corvid, and Craig attacked the elemental. He was forced off the deck and disappeared beneath the waves, crying, "You will regret this!"
Back in Saltmarsh
The ship docked in Saltmarsh later that evening. The crew were given shore leave but told to be on standby in case the ship needed to set sail.
The next day, Corvid met with Aella. He wished to use the abandoned land of Crabber's Cove to open a monastery to recruit new holy warriors in the service of Tristin. Aella scheduled a meeting of the available city councilors to authorize the use of the land. In addition to Aella the council in attendance included Commander Fireborn, and Eda Oweland - Baron Solmor was still in the capital at the court of King Skotti and Manistrad Copperlocks was absent. The motion carried with Oweland voting againt.
After the vote, Commander Fireborn moved to discuss the plans for the upcoming celebration of the summer solstice. The solstice was in fifteen days.
Talk of the solstice reminded Aella and Cai'luin of the secret plans they had learned about - a scheme put in motion by the Scarlet Brotherhood to assassinate the king while a fleet of ships attacked ports along the coast of the Azure Sea and the resurrected black dragon Aulicus attacked the fortress in Seaton.
Aella apologized and said that she would be unavailable to help plan for the solstice festival - she and the crew of the Sea Ghost would be fighting to avert an attack against the Azure Coast.
Eda Oweland became livid. She complained that Aella was never present for town council meetings and that Aella had little respect for the people or the town of Saltmarsh. She demanded that Aella fulfill her duties and be present for the festival.
Aella asked if she could appoint a stand-in while she was gone.
Eda angrily reminded her that the town countcil of Saltmarsh allowed no stand-ins or substitutes. She accused Aella of being unfit for the position. The fact that Aella was the daughter of King Pelagius of Manaan - an enemy of the people of Saltmarsh - represented a gross conflict of interest and a slap in the face to the people of Saltmarsh. Eda Oweland demanded that, in light of Aella's constant absence, she resign her position.
Cai'luin came to Aella's defense, reminding Eda that Aella and the crew were trying to save the town of Saltmarsh from existential threats.
Eda turned her ire towards Cai'luin, telling him that the presence of a blue-skinned sea-elf, another member of the royal court of Manaan, was an additional insult! She lobbed several impolite epithets at the elven ambassador.
Commander Fireborn adjourned the contentious council meeting but did advise Aella that her position on the council was tenuous and that she might consider resigning for the good of the people of Saltmarsh.
DM- Some great role-playing there.
The Big Picture
While the drama unfolded at the town council, Patriarch Craig was busy elevating the nuns of Tristin to the position of priestesses. They had demonstrated their faith and it time for them to travel to other towns and build new temples.
Alot, meanwhile, hoped to begin preparations for the solstice attack. He used the magical scrying mirror of Saint Cuthbert on the Sea Ghost to spy upon the dragon priest Orgmond - the priest of Tiamat identified in the coded letters of the Scarlet Brotherhood as the one who would resurrect Aulicus. He found Orgmond marching up a steep hill in an unidentified jungle with a long train of porters and warriors. He had no idea where the dragon priest was.
Later, Alot asked Patriarch Craig to assist in the scrying. Patriarch Craig scried upon the dragon Aulicus, but saw nothing.
The next day, Alot scried upon Skerrin, the agent of the Scarlet Brotherhood serving as Baron Solmor's butler. He saw Skerrin working as a butler in the capital.
Alot confided in Craig and Corvid that his plan to use scrying to gather information was not working as well as he had hoped. He was beginning to feel helpless to do anything to prevent the impending attack. The three discussed their options. They could send word to the outlying towns and could even send their magical silver bird to take a message to Seaton, but the capital was out of range of anything they could do. It was too far away to reach and prevent the planned assassination of the royal court and ALSO be able to stop the attack on Seaton.
Craig spent the evening communing with the holy trinity of Tristin, Saint Ogden, and Saint Splug. He asked if there was anything they could do to prevent the assassination of the king. Saint Ogden, the judge, keeper of the book of the dead, told Craig that King Skotti was in the book - his fate was sealed. The king would die in 14 days from poisoning. There was nothing Craig could do.
He told Alot what he had learned. Alot understood and agreed to focus his efforts on defending the coast.
Preparations Begin
The following morning, Alot and the crew met with Commander Fireborn. He recapitulated what was known about the impending attack, sharing the coded letters with Commander Fireborn. Commander Fireborn saw the seriousness of the threat and promised to gather together all the members of the town watch and muster the town's defense.
Aella whispered a message to the magical silver sparrow and directed it to deliver the message to Lord Westland in Seaton, an aristocrat and owner of shipping business:
Attn: In best finacial interests to leave Seaton harbor now. Remove all ships to protect investment. Will explain upon arrival. From Aella
DM Note- why she didn't send a message to Duke Feldren is beyond me.
Alot gathered the crew together and the Sea Ghost set sail west to the lizard-folk Stronghold. He requested an audience with Princess Orthokent to ask for the assistance of the lizard-folk in the defense of Saltmarsh. Last year, when Orthokent needed help retaking the stronghold, it was Alot and Aella who convinced the people of Saltmarsh to help the lizard-folk - now the time had come to repay that debt.
Princess Orthokent agreed.
Tragedy at Manaan
The ship set sail that afternoon towards the underwater palace of Manaan - home of Aella's father, King Pelagius. As they approached the defensive atoll that surrounded the palace they began to see floating bodies being eaten by sharks and sea birds. They were the bodies of sea elves and koalinth, dolphins and sharks. They had known there would be a battle between the sea elves and the koalinth but they had hoped they would be able to somehow avert it. They had failed.
Aella drank a potion of water breathing so that she could join her crew-mates beneath the waves. They left the ship in the hands of the deck crew and dove overboard. The depths were littered with floating corpses. The dome of the palace below was shattered. The outer buildings were destroyed.
They came across a lone sea elf floating dejectedly, his head hung low. The sea elf turned, startled, his trident ready. It was their friend, Oceanus. He was injured and bloody. He looked distraught.
Oceanus told them the story of the battle. King Pelagius was dead! He had died in battle! Prince Aegon and Princess Nix disappeared - they could not be found. He looked at Aella and sobbed. She was now the queen.
Oceanus recounted how the royal guard, led by Anapos, had died defending the grove of the sacred coral polyp - the most revered site to all the people of Manaan - the underground site where the druids kept the magical polyp from which all the coral used to construct the city of Manaan had come. Without the polyp, the sea elves could never re-build Manaan.
Oceanus' face twisted into a sneer of disgust. The koalinth took it! The vile fiends had killed its defenders, desecrated the grove, and had taken the sacred polyp as a trophy! They had to pay! The polyp had to be returned before it could be twisted towards their evil influence!
Cai'luin, too, became incensed. This was an affront that could not stand! Cai'luin joined Oceanus in trying to persuade the crew to infiltrate the Forsaken City, the home of the koalinth, in order to retrieve the stolen polyp.
Alot was not convinced. He was worried that such a diversion would jeopardize the defense of the coast. He apologized to Oceanus and Cai'luin and declined.
Oceanus was livid in his anger. He accused Alot of cowardice and betrayal and said he would go rescue the polyp alone if he had to - even if that meant certain death. Cai'luin echoed the accusations and threatened to join Oceanus in his quest. Alot reminded Cai'luin of his duties and ordered him to remain with his crew.
Oceanus turned and fled, swimming away into the darkness of the deep.
Corvid swam after him to try to catch him but it was too late. Oceanus was gone.
DM - More great role-playing in this scene. I don't usually do a lot of hard-core emotion in my elf-games but this was raw emotional stuff!
Back on the ship, Cai'luin was bitter in his anger and regret. Alot questioned his decision. Corvid reminded him, "Hey, I mean, aren't the sea elves kind of bastards anyway? Didn't they originally try to commit genocide against the koalinth? And didn't King Pelagius assassinate the king of koalinth last year, threatening Princess Orthokent's alliance? And didn't they eliminate all fishing in this part of the bay?"
Alot pointed out, "Well, that was in retaliation of us accidentally poisoning King Pelagius."
Corvid continued, "Which we FIXED! And the prince and princess tried to kill Aella - SEVERAL TIMES! Plus, they disappeared? Like, ran away you mean. Yeah, I think they kind of deserved it."
Arrival at Seaton
That evening, the Sea Ghost sailed into the Axe river estuary and into Seaton. The citadel of Seaton shone in the setting sun, high atop the defensive hill overlooking the town.
To be Continued...
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