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