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