Archmage Halstead: The sixth session where shit gets realz

The Wrath of Nature

    The Wizlards were resting after their battle with the dark armor-clad knights.  They wanted to wrap up a few things in town while waiting for their ship to have its upgrades finished.  They did a little shopping, loving, and information gathering.  They talked to Keledek and had him come to the teleportation circle.  He was able to dismiss it and before he did, he told you it was connected to the town of Seaton.  This town was a little familiar to you as it is the home of Cassandra’s arranged marriage partner the Prince of Seaton, and the location of a booming gaming house called the Spire of Sin.  Cassandra approached the party and told them that she must stay in Saltmarsh when they shipped out as her father was an emotional wreck after the murder of her mother and Anders was taking the betrayal and death of Skerrin hard as well.  The party wished her well, but she did give Abe half of an earring that would let the party message her and vice versa once per day with a 25-word message if communication was necessary. 

The party boarded the Kraken Chaser and decided to travel south along the coast towards the location of the rumored pirate island and past the coastal town of Seaton with the intention of making a layover in the town and investigating.  As they traveled south clouds formed in the sky darkening the evening sky.  A voice spoke out to Lilly and the party telling them that they would regret betraying her and that Lilly had given up power with her decision to abandon the voices service.  Lilly retorted that things were not going so well for the disembodied voice and that she was doing well on her own.  The voice said that Lilly would regret her decision starting now and out of the strange wispy darkclouds dove two dragon-like creatures that approached the boat.  A battle ensued where the creatures would engage the party member and then teleport a distance away.  When they died an explosion would rock the area and they woulddissipate into nothingness.  The party destroyed the first creature without too much trouble, but the second parked itself between Leyash and Ellie and as it died the explosion knocked Leyash over the side of the boat unconscious.  In thedesperate scramble that ensued at first Leyash’s body was not found.  As he neared the everlasting embrace of death, he was found and pulled to the ship at the last moment.  The party healed him and continued their journey to the south resting through the night.

    As they approached Seaton, they found an amalgamation of boats tied together and a gnome in a fancy hat that they later found to be named Fizlan directing traffic on the flotsam and pointing at them.  A mix of humans, elves, and gnomes arranged themselves to protect the floating town and after parley welcomed the Wizlards aboard.  They exchanged tales of their journey, including seeing an iron sided boat traveling south a couple of days ago at haste.  They also told the Wizlards of a mysterious island where they had found some artifacts that was marked by a waterfall that ​fell over a cliff.  They had found their trinkets around the base of the waterfall and had noticed that there was a cave or cave system behind the waterfall but did not explore it any further being happy with what they had found.  They tried tosell the party some wares including some magical mini maces, and potions.  The party did buy a potion that the gnome said he did not know what it did and when Abe tried to identify the potion as he had with many other items in the past, he was not able to figure out what it was.

    The party pulled into the town of Seaton and when trying to dock offshore were approached by a couple of small boats and told they needed to tie up at the docks or leave the town. After some discussion, they agreed.  They asked for directions to three locations. The Spire of Sin, a religious temple, and the building where the head of policy for the town would reside.  They were given these directions to each place.  They noticed the town was very regimented with soldierswalking the streets in pairs like on patrol.  The well to do were strolling the streets and enjoying the day and there was also a part of the population that seemed poor and destitute in alleys and buildings as they walked down the streets.  They found the temple first noticing a beautiful four towered church with the symbols of lightning and tears in its iconography.  There were human guards posted at the doors in black armor wearing the symbol of Talos flanked by two smaller guard towers.  Being kind to the DM, the party decided to not pursue the investigation of this establishment further (It was fleshed out but not built and is built now if that is a place in the future you want to visit).  The gambling tower was found next, and it had three levels.  Three games of chance were played where a party member had to win for the party to be able to advance to the next level.  As they played and various winning and losing was done, Lilly and Leyash seemed disappointed at the lack of sin in the tower.  The various level bossed hinted that pleasures could be found in side-rooms but the party decided that gambling was sin enough for the day and kept progressing to the highest level. When they reached the top of the tower, they played the game hand of fate which, constituted winning a card game and then throwing an axe at a target.  After some members of the Wizlards won and other lost, they were approached by the owner of the establishment Dhargen Killthros.     He claimed to have a sister that lived on Pirate Island who ran a whorehouse there called below decks.  He wondered if the party would be interested in an operation of discretion for him.  He wants his Spire to be the most lavish and wonderful gambling establishment/pleasure house in Faerun.  He desires the blood sapphire that hangs above the common room fireplace at below decks and inquired if the party would be willing to steal it for him.  He would reward them greatly for their troubles and more importantly have bragging rights over his sister when they meet next.  The party agreed to think about the situation and left the spire to go talk to the duke.

    When they reached the operations building of the town, which seemed more functional than lavish as they approached, they were met by the armor-clad guards who crossed pikes at the entrance.  They didn’t seem to want to let them in but dropping the name of Cassandra and trouble together seemed to gain them entrance.  When the met theprince and discussed the situation, he was with his advisor pouring over maps of the coast.  He asked what they required.  They inquired after the Duke Harrowfire and were told that he was away and would not return for several weeks.  He had left on his private yacht and the town was left in his capable hands of his son Rardor.  They told the very confident prince that they were looking for pirate isle and some runaways from the brotherhood from Saltmarsh and were concerned for the safety of those in Saltmarsh from the brotherhood including his betrothed.  He told them he did not have any idea of the island although it was rumored to be a couple of days sailing south.  He said that he would take care of the brotherhood and stamp out any signs of it in Saltmarsh since they could not do it themselves.  He told the advisor to organize the disciples and that they would leave as soon as possible and started to get up as to make preparations for the trip.  He asked if anything else was needed although clearly distracted, angered, and concerned over the situation and when nothing else was noted, dismissed the party and made ready for his trek to Saltmarsh.  As the party headed back to the Chaser, they messaged Cassandra warning her of the prince’s arrival in a couple of days.  She thanked them and said she would go to the haunted house to avoid him and would be in touch with them later.

    They continued their travels to the south and about a day later an island was spotted off in the distance.  Upon closingthe distance, they saw a waterfall and what looked like some stone structures at the top of the waterfall.  This seemed to be the island that Fizlan had talked about.  When they landed to explore the waterfall and its surrounding pool, they were attacked from the undergrowth by two Alpha raptors and three mini raptors.  The fight was going ok when two insect like humanoids joined from the top of the cliff firing arrows into the group below.  Eventually all the enemies weredefeated, and the waterfall was explored.  Crates were found marked with the Solmor crest and shipping company name.  Inside were some coin and manifests that looked like slaving logs with names.   The party had some discussion about what this meant and decided to explore the top of the cliff.  As they were approaching an altar, they noticed crystal clear water spewing forth from it and falling into a catch basin.  They tried drinking the water and felt a tingle but no observable outcome otherwise.  At that moment a Giant Ape exploded from the woods throwing a boulder at the party.  The fight was tough, but the party managed to survive.  They dove around stones in the stream and found wording at the bottom of the altar which indicated that death may be avoided by using the fountain.  They placed the Ape in the water, and he reanimated upon where a second less intense fight occurred.  After disposing of the ape the second time, Leyash decided to make use of a scoutable eye that had occurred with a wild magic surge.  Leyash used theeye to investigate the path into the woods.  It went about a mile upon which it emptied into a clearing where there werea massive amount of the insectoid creatures working around a large dirt hill with caves into its interior.  The eye went into the interior and found a large queen that was residing over the workers and a large amount of gold.  The party thought discretion was the better part of valor and left the island as there were too many creatures to fight.

    They continued to the south on the last leg of their journey where they eventually stumbled upon a ship flying a green flag with the face of an orc dripping blood from it fangs.  The ship seemed larger than the chaser and better armed and had many orcs and goblins pour onto its decks and arm themselves whereupon it started to approach.  The party used the message code that was found in the cave on the island and the ship flashed a message back and veered to the north leaving the Kraken chaser alone.  They approached an island that was split by a channel down the middle with a second opening further south to an interior cove flanked by two large cliffs with what looked like two fortresses at the top of the cliffs that had large guns covering the entrance.  They debated a plan of approach which included sailing in under disguise, navigating the channel, and what they eventually decided upon was sailing past the entrance to the cove and reconnoitering the island by circling it.  As they sailed past the entrance, they saw the iron clad steel horse with a lute dripping blood from the strings flag docked along with a large vessel that had a female from holding a decapitated head dripping blood, there was one other vessel docked there of size that they could not discern and many smaller ships in the harbor.  They circled around the southern end of the island and some rocky hills that eventually gave way to a large swamp and then more hills that surrounded the other end of the channel that apparently worked its way through the island.  They passed the channel going around the northern end of the island and saw some campfires in the dark on the top of the plateau but could not make out who was there.  They discussed where to try and make landfall and sneak to the town eventually settling on the swamp.  They trekked through the swamp unnoticed to a hill overlooking the town where they were able to view the entire town surrounded by a wall.  There were many functional buildings on its lower level by the docks and then a rise to a small section in comparison of the town that held seven houses in different colors.They were able to discern that this was the home of the seven pirate lords of the sea princes.  After discussion they figured that the black house belonged to the Nightstalker and its werewolf captain and devised a plan to get to the house and hole up for further discussion since they knew he was eliminated.  They got over the wall and worked their way to the house which was boarded up.  On their way to this house, they noticed a silver haired woman in a gazebo staring at a pond in thought and a man that looked very much like an older version of the prince of Seaton standing outside the yellow house.  

      As always questions are abound?  Does the sea elf settlement at the Oasis actually exist?  Where is the mountain and fortress with the white guards?  What is the deal with the Isle of the Abbey and the dubious clerics who inhabit it? Why is the Duke here and who is the woman?  Where is Below decks and the Sapphire?  Where is Mauara and Jon Bovi?  Howdo you get her and escape or do you fight the entire island?  What is the connection between the Solmor’s and the Sea Princes?  What is happening in Saltmarsh with the prince and his disciples?  Does the church in Seaton have any connection to who is hunting Ellie?  Who is trying to kill Lilly and now the party by extension and why?  When will the assualt on the Sahuagin and the Baroness be ready?  And I am sure many more.