Session 45: Escape to Reality (3/29/26)

Desnova 25

Rickardt and Stellum move to the small island off in the distance where a rowboat was spied, and invisibly sneak upon a scene in the foliage above, where three of the surviving Lay Blade pirates are cooking and discussing the disappearance of their Captain. They are quite surprised when attacked, with the cook going down under a mighty swing from the storm giant, and then the powder monkey Taggit combusts all of his explosives at once, turning the whole islet into a fireball. Stellum takes a massive amount of damage while the plasmoid dives to safety, only to find out that the monk he thought he had beaten up was a wooden decoy. The real monk then calls Rickardt to a duel further up the islet from the conflagration, but is quickly defeated when his wooden style can't defend from the elemental attacks. The whole confrontation is witnessed by the other PCs from the shore, and the Golemeter.

Within the 'needle-like' tower of the coast of the Isle, the PCs find a hidden dock with some abandoned boats, and a level above that there's an old bedchamber and study for the place's last resident, a monk of St. Flume who passed some decades before. It mentions that many of the other brothers and sisters of his order had eventually been slain by pirate intruders or left to explore the rest of the Elemental Plane of Water, which the Isle of Skorbi is apparently a small part of. At the top of the needle, they find the glass windows they had seen earlier, and a strange mobile-like device of bones and wood handles. Bjork attunes to it and realizes he can start seeing through the eyes of the various golems that protect the place, so one by one he sets most of them to pursuit of the Golemeter vessel. Though it takes some time, Dr. Flargheist eventually has to set his vessel to circulate the demi-plane and stay ahead of them.

The PCs finally make use of the amulet of the planes to return home, but when cast, it throws them to a different part of their world, an endless span of russet grasslands near a small foreign village. They spy that the inhabitants are humans of a slighter build, and Aldren is sent in to communicate. Though the residents (of Hongyu) have a strange reaction, a bold farmer named Vin warms up to the half-elf, and eventually he and an elder gentleman with better language skills name Schuan accompany Aldren back to the rest of the party, where they exchange tales. It turns out the PCs are in the Tak'fang Empire, near the border of Caowan, on the vast continent of Shara-zai, southwest of Karnovya. After leaving the Tak'fangese hosts some liquor, the PCs use treeportation to return to Zolovny outside the Bloombark Tabernacle. Something is amiss...the wildflower fields show signs of trampling, red hoof-marks in the ground...and Old Shard has been murdered within its walls...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

NPCs

Navigator Heruway (human male): An unarmed man, slender and fit wearing a black-dyed vest and white cloths wrapped about his wrists. His hair is shaved to one side, the rest combed to the other and left in a series of cascading braids with bone baubles hanging in them, as well as a sharp bone piercing his septum. His broodish countenance and naturally tanned skin look foreign.

Schuan (Hsin male): An elderly man of some 70-80 years, a thin but long white beard flows down beneath a scarred nose, wizened eyes and thick white brows. His head is bare save for a few flecks of hair and moles, and he leans on a cane cut from a hoe.

Spoony the Cook (human male): A stout man wearing a blood-stained apron, arms swirling with tribal-patterned tattoos, a cleaver in his hand with bright feathers pinned through its hilt. He smokes a bourbon-scented pipe which seems to stay evenly lit and require little maintenance, an eyepatch with a single ruby at its center over his left eye, and has splotchy, pock-marked red cheeks glaring out angrily from a short but bristly brown bear.

Taggit the Powder Monkey (hadozee male): A wiry humanoid with thick membranes hanging below its arms to its back, it is otherwise decked out in a leather vest and crimson sashes. Its pointed jaw is thick with a goatee, its forehead is scrunched and its hair is formed into a skullet. Smoke rises from the creature in several places, behind its ears and from several objects carried in its sashes, vest and belts.

Vin (Hsin male): The primary 'speaker' of the Hongyu village, middle aged with skin tanned to chestnut hue from his work in the sun. He has short cropped hair beneath a wide-brimmed straw hat, and carries a fork, with a sickle slung through the sash of cream-colored farmers' garments.

Session 44: All That Skitters (2/22/26)

Desnova 24

With their new giant friend in tow, the PCs decide to examine the island further to find the placement of their antagonists and a potential way out. With Condor's preserved corpse tucked away, they start to retrace their way along the various paths that range from the center of the main island to its shores. They discover an oddity in some of the bases of the isle's guardian statues, that they can be turned as platforms, which uncovers a large blue-faceted gem. In the dark phases on the island, the gem emits a bluish light that targets the southeast of the Isle.

They next find a strange fountain they had missed, with a clockwork fish swimming against the current spewed out of a trident of what they assume to be an image of St. Flume. Rickardt squishes down the water system as far as he can, while Stellum notices something in the fountain's stone beard. Nebol'shoy takes some time to look it over the the party recognizes that it's an amulet of the planes, shaped like a starfish. Unable to use it at the moment, the PCs continue to seek out other statues to realign their bases. They find another on the central Isle and then decide to walk underwater to some of the barrier islets and examine those.

They notice an accumulation of the small jeweled crabs that they encountered earlier on the beaches, most of which are scooting towards a cavern on one of the islets, where they seem to have a symbiotic relation with a colossal version of themselves! Energy attacks seem to reflect off the hide of the crustacean, which has an extra layer of protection from the 100s of miniature jeweled crabs that attach to it! Eventually they are able to crack the carapace and bring low the creature, showering its cavern lair with many of the dead miniatures. The PCs heal the best they can while some of them work at its hide to remove some chunks of the presumably valuable jewels.

They move along to the next islet, which they find hollowed out beneath into a natural cave. The place reeks of dead fish, and guts and fish-bones coat the walls and ledges about the central pool. But they are not alone in this place...a creepy voice reaches them, and it turns out there's an emaciated and seemingly immortal crewmember of Condor's father's craft who has been hiding out here from the other denizens of the island and visitors. Quite blind and quite mad, the man regales the PCs with tales of how he craves the flesh of humans and was a serial killer, skills which made him ideal for food preparation at sea. The PCs do free the creep from the cavern, but leave him on the islet itself, unable to swim away.

They make their way back to the shore and set up camp once they have aimed all three statue bases, which converge upon an outcropping of rock on the south shore of Skorbi. They also note that, while the Lay Blades' vessel seems to have been scuttled in conflict with The Golemeter, a rowboat has escaped to another rocky islet near where they enter the plane. Aldren scouts and notices the massive stone guardians of the Isle have rendered down the Lay Blades' craft into its components and are distributing them elsewhere on the island before returning to their rests.

Desnova 25

After a rest, the PCs decide to approach the further scout the southern beach. Nebol'shoy summons a bird familiar which flies above and notices that there are glass windows or some-such on the stone pillar off the beach. They also notice that the sky starts to darken on the far east of the beach, a surefire sign that the Golemeter is moving...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

Session 43: Carnage and Kittens (1/11/2026)

Desnova 23

Mockleg doesn't have a chance as the colossal, emerging turtle devours him in its maws, his staff and other implements flying over the field of flotsam. The creature proceeds to spray gouts of burning steam which dispatch Captain Condor, sending him drowning to the bottom of the pocket plane. The PCs react, with Nebol'shoy and Rickardt flying back to assist them, and Aldren firing off as much ammunition as he can at the massive opponent. Bjork does his best to use bardic magic to mentally halt the creature, with some success, while the PCs switch up their tactics, battering it with spells and monk-fists as much as possible. At one point, Aldren is riding atop the creature, and begins to burn from heat generated through its spines, and it then creates a cyclone of steam which buffets the whole party. As its health is whittled down, it starts to move, and Nebol'shoy transforms into a giant squid to grapple with it, while Aldren follows along the cliffside and Rickardt continues to punch away...

The creature dissolves into a field of blue motes that drift off into this strange plane...leaving little to nothing behind. Condor's drowned corpse is recovered from the depths beneath the wreckage, while the PCs desperately try to recover Mockleg's remains. They find some of his clothing and items, but no trace of flesh or blood, all of which were consumed by the monstrous mythic reptile before it, too, dissolved. After mourning, the PCs decide to try and solve the riddle of the statue floating among the wreckage, dragging it to shore nearby. Using location magic and Rickardt's elemental flight abilities, they drop off Nebol'shoy and Bjork at the turtle's egg-pit above the cliffs, where they discover that one of the eggs is now covered in cracks and bleeding blue light, perhaps reincarnating to take the spot of the guardian they defeated! They also manage to find the statue's foot nearby.

Aldren and Nebol'shoy are flown south, staying low to the trees to avoid the pirates and Flargheist's aerial scouts, and manage to locate the other piece of the statue in the jungle near the fallen abbey. Unfortunately it is in the den of several of the kamadan cubs, obviously the offspring of those they fought in the ruins, and one of them must be dispatched before it can be recovered. The PCs regather on the beach after bringing back the missing limbs of the statue, and then rest and recover in a leomund's tiny shelter.

Desnova 24

The following morning, the petrified statue is reconstructed and Nebol'shoy uses magic to transform it to flesh, and it turns out to be a young storm giant named Stellum, who hails from a place called Maegra. The PCs discern that this is a distant nation from their own world. The giant claims he was abandoned here after being cursed by his cousin, a storm giant witch who didn't want him interfering in her marriage. Very bold and forward, he confers with the PCs about getting out of this blasted plane and back to his home. They determine that either of the opposing parties on the island might have the means to return without Condor's river ritual, and so they march off with Stellum to confront them, dragging Captain Condor's remains along in the bag of holding.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

NPCs

Stellum (male storm giant): An adolescent, blue-skinned giant standing roughly 15' tall, he has long shock-white hair and the beginnings of a flowing beard. Armored only in a toga, his frame ripples with lean muscle. Scars remain on his arm and leg where they were severed and later reconnected to his body.

Session 42: The Rile on the Isle (11/30/2025)

Desnova 23

After rummaging around a little further in the egg-pit, the PCs find no more traces of Friedereck's fishing manuals, which they decide might hold the key to their escaping this plane. They scan about the rocky north end of the island and find a garden of flotilla wreckage below the cliffs, but then notice a figure to the south on one of the paths leading to the farm valley, a crab-like humanoid who is scanning the area for any trace of the Ley Blades' quarry. The PCs decide to surround and engage the scout using Nebol'shoy's magic to transport to a nearby tree, and they find themselves entrenched in a melee with about half of the crew of the Maiden Voyager, including their first meeting with Captain Ponce! He is accompany by a human woman with some sort of accordion, the elven lookout they encountered earlier, the crab, which is obviously some sort of berserker, an ounce cabin girl, and another woman, some sort of ship's surgeon.

The PCs gain the initial advantage but are pressed back by the ferocious attacks of the Captain and his first mate. They quite easily fell the four female antagonists, but the Captain uses a whistle to summon forth the roc-parrot which instantly makes a massive impact upon the battlefield. Fortunately, through some crafty moving of the wounded to safety, the already-taxed Captain decides to take his leave, and the roc follows. The PCs recover as best they can, and pick over the bodies to find a few items before they make their next move. They decide to search the abbey ruins once more for some of Friedereck's angling books, to no avail, before circling back to the north and that mysterious flotilla.



It turns out to be a bunch of wreckage of vessels that must at some point have traveled to the Lost Isle, and hung up in them is a petrified statue of some titan missing a hand and leg. There are numerous flags and pennants amidst the wreckage, unknown to the characters, but little of value remains, and being able to see cleanly to the bottom of the demi-plane, there's nothing much below either except for some schools of fish that seek shelter here. Aldren and Rickhardt scale back up to the highlands when they notice something is very wrong. A rumbling, a splash, and a large part of the water's surface seems to be a moving island! They manage to stay out of the way of what appears to be a colossal turtle, but those still over at the flotilla are only made aware when the wreckage begins to shift, and a massive maw emerges as the isle's guardian seeks to deal with another disturbance to its feeding grounds!

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

Captain Rubrik Ponce (human male): A dashing, limber, handsome man with perfect sideburns and spectacles dyed a deep blue, he wears a crimson tricorn and enormous, billowing pants which are woven with patterns of narwhals and sea-stars. He wields a whalebone saber and a rapier with a golden basket hilt that sheds glittering light as it cuts through the air, and an additional pair of scimitars are clutched at his belt. He seems to wear a suit of banded leather below, and has a large bone bird-whistle jangling about his throat on a cord.

Crawla the Cabin Girl (ounce female): A hunched humanoid feline with her left ear bitten off and replaced by an array of colorful feathers, she wears a crimson leather jerkin over ragged beige fur, and breeches set in the pattern of palm trees. A pair of serrated daggers are clutched in her paws and she has an extended left front tooth with looks menacing beneath her dark yellow eyes.

Maulghaz (yurian male): A hulking humanoid clad in a thick, crimson shell that has been marred by many arrows and blades. Beady eyes stare out from a taut, mandibled face, and four jointed arms clutch a pair of belaying pins and an oar that seems to have been fashioned into a three-spiked trident. Stubby legs support the creature as it scuttles about, with a segmented tail that leaves a slight residue of slime and water as it moves.

Morale Officer Finch (human female): A slim, attractive woman with white streaks through brown hair tied back in a ponytail, she wears a tricorn lilted slightly to the side with an arrogant attitude. A glint of mail lies beneath a fashionable robe of burnt yellow, and a longsword is slung across her back with a fancy basket hilt. In her arms she clutches a concertina whose grating sounds seem to mesh with the breezes surrounding her ship and the cries of birds wheeling above.

Pryvykyn the Lookout (high elf female): A slender, scarred elven woman wearing a low-cut studded leather skirt and tunic, her hair is set in a wedge-like white Mohawk with trailing braids. She has red and blue tattoos on the sides of her head and cheeks, and her pointed ears, lips and chin are pierced with jewelry of bone and gems. A birchwood shortbow is cluthed in one hand while the hilt of a scimitar is stuck through a crimson sash at her belt.

Spirit the Monster Parrot (roc male): An enormous tropical bird with a wingspan of some 40’ or more, it has talons that look as if they could grip horses with little effort, and a beak that could penetrate the side of a ship. Its feathers are decked out in blazing displays of crimson, yellow and indigo.

Session 41: Like Father, Like Scum (11/2/25)

Desnova 22/23?

The PCs get their bearings in this new environment. With no sign of Rucia, they decide to paddle the still waters about the island and approach the Lost Isle itself. The corsairs' ship The Maiden Voyage fires upon them, nearly hitting them, and they come up with a ruse: Nebol'shoy will give the crew and their pets the ability to breathe water, and Mockleg will coordinate an illusion to make it seem that their ship has been destroyed. It seems to work, and the PCs travel on the floor of the pocket realm, beneath with is nothing but open space. Nebol'shoy notices a massive shape under the water moving away from them, not attached to the island. They weave their way to the beach and notice there are large-headed statues spread out about the island and its neighboring islets. They discover a chest full of taxidermized lampreys and vials of 'vampire shark' blood, as well as some other goodies along the beach. Rickardt finds a sign near a trail inland that was taken from an old hull, and reads The Hateful Skate.

They press on through the strange multi-biome foliage of the island, avoiding what sounds like patrols of Ley Blade pirates on the path, and they come to an old shack, with some farming plots and graves around it, that seems as if it was made from furniture and structure of a ship. This is the last resting place of Norin 'the Narwhal' Verkhovsky, captain of the Hateful Skate, and his corpse is within the shack, but the PCs first have to deal with an elven scout left behind by the pirates. Despite her finesse with a bow, she is defeated by Rickardt and Aldren and then tied up. Aldren speaks with her and she warns them to let her go and flee for her life. They keep her restrained, while Nebol'shoy loots an impressive swordfish-shaped blade from the skeleton pirate within. They also find a glass sphere which seems to predict weather, and it's flashing with some electricity and fog within...

Condor seems dejected, as if he expected to find something, and as the PCs travel further into the island, he confides in Bjork that the real reason he's wanted to find this place is to find his father, who he believes was the skeleton in that shack. His father tattooed the map onto his scalp, and though Condor thinks Norin's crew must have treasure somewhere, the real treasure he seeks is in knowing Norin's fate and acquiring Galeweaver, a family heirloom sword (which Nebol'shoy stowed away in his bag of holding unknown to the party). The PCs head north to a valley amidst the rocky northern cliffs of the isle, and find a place where the monks have set up farmland and stables, though they are no longer around. They stash the elven pirate in a stable and examine the huge area, finding an unusual cropping of rocks up one of the hillsides, a magical scythe stuck into a stump, and massive footprints that have trampled some of the farmland. They get to high ground and Aldren notices an electric storm arriving to the south, near the portal that brought the PCs here. They assume Dr. Flargheist has caught up with them, and then there are cannon shots and lightning blasts as the Golemeter and Maiden Voyager skirmish. The giant bird they saw earlier with the pirates has engaged the doctor's firebat creature.

Having earlier communed with nature, the PCs know that there is an abandoned abbey to the east where the monks of St. Flume must have resided, and they travel into denser woodlands to find the multi-storied place collapsed, giants bells and stone blocks everywhere and overgrown with kudzu. Aldren heads to the far side of the abbey but notices he's being stalked by a vicious looking cougar with a ring of snakes about its head, and a bunch of them attack the party at the abbey! Though their sleep breath, pouncing and poison bites are enough to cause concern, they are inevitably defeated by our heroes, who then find some treasures like an angling manual through the abbey ruins. Aldren once again explores eastward, finding a gap in the cliffs which he sneaks through, and then a secret landing where footholds lead down to a dock where a single old boat bobs. A large shape can be seen under the water's surface, moving southward. He returns to report while the PCs take a short rest, then Rickardt squeezes through, retrieving some jugs of old air-sealed rum from the boat. On their way back from the abbey ruins, they notice some of the native statues have left their position and now congregate on the beach to the south.



They check the high ground again and find that the Golemeter has moved off west of the island where they themselves beached, and the statues seem to be standing sentinel against the Ley Blades. Condor comes clean to the whole group, and Nebol'shoy retrieves the sword for him. They return to the valley to get a closer look at the colored stones on the mountainside, which have now disappeared. In their place, there is a stinking pit full of rotting foliage that is used as insulation around three spherical egg objects, which the PCs deem to be related to a turtle of unusual size. There's a skeleton crushed near one of the spheres, which they identify as possibly belonging to Friederick, the author of the planar angling guide they found in the abbey...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

Session 40: The Real Riverside Blues (8/10/25)

Desnova 21

The PCs manage to fight back an entire village of the vile amphibians, or at least the male warriors and their ginormous 'pets', while the females and children flee or curl up in their muddy domiciles. Afterwards, they search through the area and recover some of the water lilies needed for Condor's ritual, at the same time destroying some of the egg clusters in the same pond they found the plants. They proceed on a course that will lead them back to the Skorbi river and encounter a strange shack high up in a tree on the bank. The place is littered with ropes and strings, bait and tackle, serviced by a single dock by which a small toy boat is moored.

The PCs climb to the shack, but Aldren notices something unusual on the signage, that this 'Kozmo's' unusual shop might be a front for something else. They purchase a 'river serpents' egg, another component they need to find the Lost Isle. Bjork fiddles with the toy boat, offending the crotchety human shopkeep, who shuts down his business and arms a bunch of traps, one of which sends several PCs crashing down to the docks. Most of the group decides to leave and float on further down the river, while Aldren stays behind to try and make amends. The ranger manages to exchange a few words with Kozmo, who is indeed operated a dispatch the Brotherhood of the Hovering Skull, a cabal of deadly assassins the world wide, with several contracts out, at least one of which Aldren recognizes. Kozmo says the PCs can get in his order's good graces by fulfilling one of them, but if they interfere any more he will add them to the list!



Aldren heads out along the shoreline, but in the wrong direction, mistaking where he thought the PCs would shove off in the folding boat. He ends up traveling through the dark night, miles back towards the Jaggerhead, before realizing the error. He sees an electric storm approaching from that direction. Meanwhile, the others have decided to set up camp on the riverbank opposite, further inland, away from the Northeast region. They meet a curious, strange-eyed young girl named Elka who lives in a nearby farming community, and whose land the PCs are setting up their leomund's tiny hut on. She manages to bilk them into buying her silence for around 50gp. The PCs turn to sleep, except Rucia who decides to travel along the river for a spell and locate missing Aldren, who should have caught up with them hours earlier.

Desnova 22

Having realized his mistake, Aldren has doubled back along the riverside, using his stealth and passing without trace to make haste back to the cover where they found the remains o the Slack Mallard. The electric storm he spied earlier continues to creep forward across the river and Tzarswald, but he sets up to rest for a few hours in a covered spot where he can see out to the river. Across the waters, he notices another of the violet magical typhoons which spawned the bat-like creatures the PCs fought at the cemetery off the Jaggerhead Lake. He believes he avoids detection, but there is an instant where one of the eyed things is definitely staring into the cove. It returns through the vortex, meanwhile Rucia has given up and hitches a ride with a night fisherman named Marhli that returns him to the others, while warning that there might be some stormy weather rushing on. Aldren notices the fisherman's boat and they are rejoined.

After getting some rest, they set out again with the folding boat, noting that the sky is darkening even after dawn, that storm unceasing and nearly upon them. Nebol'shoy summons up a water elemental from which they draw 'blood' to use as the final component for Condor's ritual. The Captain takes on a more authoritative air than the PCs expect of the lush, and recants an invocation after consuming a broth of the three components. At first, nothing happens, and the PCs believe that the whole thing was a farce, not too surprisingly, but soon...the river seems to warp around them, its waters churn, and then they find themselves hurtling through a tube of multi-colored water. Most of the PCs manage to grip onto the boat, but Rucia slips and falls into the watery void to an unknown fate!

The boat finally collapses from this 'wormhole' into a strange void full of river-floes, ponds and lakes. Ethereal apparitions of great whales and jellyfish loom off in vast distances, providing a sort of 'starlight', though rays of some unknown sun also filter about. This is The Place All Rivers Run, the home plane of St. Flume (and gods know what else), and the PCs have been deposited into a sunny lake upon which sits a strange island surrounded by a few rocky barrier islets. Judging by the well-armed galleon, The Maiden Voyager, which sits a few hundred yards off the shore of the primary island, a colossal parrot scouting about it in the air...they are not the first to arrive...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

NPCs

Elka (human female): A petulant child with a mop of unkempt blond hair, dirt-stained clothing and a large gap between her teeth. Quite curious about the world beyond the borders of her Pa's plot, south of the village of Bolkyn. Manages to acquire 50gp off of Nebol'shoy.

Kozmo of the Kray (human male): A middle-aged man wearing a fur coat with its arms cut off to reveal muscular arms, and its buttons popped to allow a view of a chiseled, gray-haired chest. His knuckles and hands are heavily tattooed with strange markings, and he puffs at a cigar with a thick smell of clover and honeydew. His disheveled beard and coat are smeared with worm guts and other artifacts of his trade, his hair is greased back in a topknot and his gray eyes are full of wisdom and distrust.

Marhli (human male): A gaunt fisherman in his 60s, trawls the banks of the Skorbi for his catches, wears a drooping rain-hat and coat, practical but always willing to help out those in need.

Session 39: All Frogs Go to Heaven (7/20/25)

Desnova 20

The PCs decide to grab some rations and then take their own folding boat down the Skorbi to locate the stolen Slack Mallard, so they round up Captain Condor so as to eventually have him guide them to their destination. As they are leaving Zolovhny, they notice that Dr. Flargheist's circus is also wrapping up, his silent servants breaking it all down. They decide first to see if Condor's ship was scuttled over on the Jaggerhead Lake. When crossing the coast where they fought the winged creatures in the graveyard, Aldren notices a small primate hiding in the old cracked bell. He ties to communicate with it, to some response, then leaves some food behind for it, hoping it will still be there when he comes back.

They speak with some fishermen to no avail, including one they had met with in Zolovnhy earlier that morning, and then they come across a lone man in a boat who it turns out was dumping the recently slain body of his wife! Rucia makes quick work of the lout, sending him down into the drink. They head towards the Rowers' Point lighthouse to inquire with the Soverat about any sightings of their quarry, to no avail, but they do learn that there have been more sightings of Old Marrow...only smaller! They then decide to swing into Arkany to gather some goods. Nebol'shoy retrieves his spell component from the Silversmith, as well as a silvery, fancy pair of boots for Mockleg, whose process of regeneration has completed and is now whole again! Meanwhile, Aldren also gets Mockleg some more practical boots. Through the city, they notice a prevalence of the small, smoking mice that Bjork was given earlier by the old hag...when inquiring with the locals, there has indeed been an uptick.

They stop back by the graveyard en route to the Skorbi, and Aldren lures the strange animal, a lemure, back to their ship. Nebol'shoys peaks with it and learns that it was held as some sort of captain by pirates or traders and hails from a far-off land. Their initial journey Southwest down the Skorbi doesn't reveal too many clues, so they stop off at Borgaborsk for an evening, staying at the Inn. Bjork visits his minotaur contact at the Smeltworks to craft his piece of Old Marrow into some armor. They are largely undisturbed other than by a snooty dockmaster.

Desnova 21

The following morning they set off back down the Skorbi and eventually find a piece of rigging that is caught in some thorny reeds along the western bank, bobbing in the current. Nebol'shoy goes down to confirm that it is part of the Slack Mallard, and before long they find a little inlet cove where the ship has recently been scuttled into a stagnant pond. Several of the PCs dive into the wreck with Condor, where they are attacked by some sort of giant leeches! After putting the creatures out of their misery, they note that there are some small spears in the mast dripping a purplish ichor, and they hear some banging coming from an airtight barrel. Apparently the strange Mr. Hanz, escapee from Dr. Flargheist's Canvas of Curiosities, has stowed aboard, but hid out of fear of the powerful pirates that took the craft. When asked about Ekaterina, the amorphous individual claims she was taken by some native humanoids that dwell nearby in a swamp fed by the river inlet.

The PCs set out in pursuit after Aldren goes high to scan the area. Captain Condor notes to Nebol'shoy that in order to reach his Lost Isle on time, he will need three components for a ritual: a specific water lily, a river serpent's egg, and blood from a creature whose blood is water. They follow some tributaries to a village of humanoid frogs. Rucia and a few other PCs approach directly by boat, and are led off to a cabin to greet with an elder, while the rest of the party uses stealth to enter on foot. It turns out that the creatures disemboweled the girl and then smoked her in a ritual hookah...causing Rucia and the others to instantly engage! A mass of frog warriors attacks them, led by several spellcasters, and a pair of enormous aberrations they kept in the lake...while the PCs' initial onslaught of magic fells a large number of the native warriors, the fast-leaping adversaries manage to 'catch up' to them...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia/Richardt