Session Fifteen - Recap

Session Fifteen - Recap

Pressing on in their exploration of the Sahuagin lair underneath Mancatcher Cove, mainly because of the crippled Locathah matriarch and her saltwater-dependent eggs, the crew swam deeper into the dim underwater catacombs. Faced with a crisscrossing intersection, they chose a path and came upon a small chamber. Inside was a massive "bed" of coiled and knotted seaweed, clearly a place where a creature the size of an Ogre slept. Searching about, they noticed a stone in the floor that seemed movable, and beneath located a small treasure cache. Inside they found some coin, and a small, crudely done soapstone statue of what the group identified as Kelizandri, the Elemental Lord of Water. In a relative hurry, they simply tucked the statue into Scolvus' quartermaster pack and swam forward beyond the room--finding the separation made by a sealed curtain of seaweed (as opposed to the more loose ones elsewhere. Pulling back the curtain, they realized why it was sealed. The room was evidently the nursery of the Sahuagin chamber, as it was swarming with hatchlings and fingerlings swimming every which way--plus the back wall was lined with thousands of Sahuagin eggs. More immediate, however, were some Sahuagin guards, and a massive Sahuagin female that began intoning spells at the crew: The Matron.

 The Matron, an oversized Sahuagin female who served as protector of the Sahuagin eggs.

The Sahuagin warrior guards swam forward and formed a defensive line, ready to strike any who assaulted them. As the crew swam forward, the Matron cast spells to hinder their attacks such as slow and mass reduce person. Eventually the crew managed to cut their way through the Sahuagin guards, and engaged the Matron herself. While she protected herself with mirror image, the weight of their attacks finally struck down her bloated form--a critical strike from Jax's weapon, Brine's Sting, sucked the water from her body with its magical power. 

Without conversation, as being underwater limited their speech, the crew seemed to sense that slaying the young of the Sahuagin was the consensus choice. Sadie the Goat decided to go for a grand sweep, and used repeated castings of purify food and drink to turn the seawater into fresh water--asphyxiating the hatchlings and fingerlings and killing all of the eggs. 

 How could they destroy us? We're so cute!

The crew swam forward deeper into the Sahuagin complex, finding a path that led to a cavern with a strange pen. Made of large bones, the structure held four hammerhead sharks which swirled about their enclosure with malicious intent. There was a crude door fashioned with a latch, but the crew chose to leave it intact--and the sharks contained--for the time being. While others were investigating the shark enclosure, Scolvus felt himself curiously drawn to the far wall of the chamber. There seemed to be something there, or rather something beyond there, that was calling to him somehow. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the wall was somewhat thin--and with minimal effort he and Azak were able to break through a thin lining of rock to reveal a passage beyond. 

Heading down the narrow passageway and around a bend, they found an abrupt end to a chamber--it seemed to vent upward, suggesting that once it had been a pool of water open to the surface above, but a large rockslide had covered it and buried this spot ages ago. More disconcerting was the figure before them: a man, utterly decayed by the seawater, strapped to a rusted and massive anchor. It seems that he was tied and left to drown here centuries ago, for some unknown purpose lost to time. Scolvus suddenly intuited why he had the strange draw to enter the room--around the neck of the drowned mariner was another strange necklace, designed to look like tentacles and fluke tails, made of the same whorled deep platinum as the first necklace they had found on the leader of the Sahuagin ambushers.

As trembling hands reached out to grab the necklace, with a sudden jolt the eyes of the ancient waterlogged corpse opened, and it reached forward to grab one of the crew. The crew began attacking the undead monstrosity, but their weapons seemed to do little--what had survived the centuries of seawater was not about to be undone by a few stabs from a cutlass. More horrifying was the manner in which the Ancient Mariner fought. It would grab a target by the head and neck, and then force its own lips over theirs. With a rush, it expelled a lungful of necromantically cursed seawater into the victim's lungs, leaving them drowning and dying for air even with their water breathing spells functioning. 

The disgusting, cursed seawater regurgitated into their lungs and stomach by the Ancient Mariner was the most horrific kiss that the Crew had ever experienced... so far. 

With crew members reeling from the vile kiss of the Ancient Mariner, they fought a retreating action--using the narrowness of the freshly-excavated entrance to limit their foes' assault. Sadie attempted to bond with the hammerhead sharks in the prior room, hoping to win their friendship and free them in an attempt to assist against the deadly assailant. With the sharks proving unwilling, it was up to the spells of Scolvus and cautious flank attacks by the crew to finally end the undead creature's tortured existence. With the Ancient Mariner finally ceased, Scolvus reached down and took the deep platinum necklace--placing it in his bag next to the prior one they found. 

At this point, the crew was beaten, bloodied, and near death. Some had suffered from the deadly kiss, and healing resources had run quite short. They still were escorting the crippled Locathah Matriarch and her eggs, and time was running short on their underwater breathing and swimming spells. They had entered the complex by the back entrance, and presumed that the front entrance had to be nearby--thus, they pushed onward. Pulling aside another set of seaweed chamber dividers, they came upon a room swirling with activity. A few Sahuagin guards were there, but the center of the room held a massive creature. The closest they could explain it was some sort of alien turtle, with Scolvus thinking it resembled a planar beast known as a Tojanida. In their bruised and hurt shape, the crew decided to put safety before valor and fled from the room--knowing that while the Sahuagin that were alerted could pursue them, the massive turtle-beast could not squeeze toward them. 

Nope. Not having this fight. Not today. 

The crew swam quick as they could back to where they first entered the complex, near Inkskin's small lair. They hastily sent a few of their number out, who hailed down to the ship to send up two of their water barrels. They planned to load the barrels with seawater, which would hopefully give the Matriarch and her eggs time to survive before they got them down the cliffs to the water below. With the barrels fetched and filled, and some of the crew above and some yet below on watch, they started hoisting the barrels free.

Just then, the enraged leader of the Sahuagin--along with his few remaining guards--swam into the chamber still below. The dread shark-man had four arms, and carried a vicious trident. With a bellow that rumbled underwater (and sounded like "Krellort" to their untrained ears). the leader and his minions attacked. Krellort immediately singled out Scolvus, directing his warriors to mark him as the primary target. Given their hurt state, and the fact that two of their number were up top hoisting the barrels out of the cavern entrance, the battle quickly turned against the crew. While they managed to slay the other Sahuagin, Krellort's attacks were savage and unrelenting. In desperation, Scolvus chose to try and appease the dread attacker. He pulled both deep platinum necklaces from his bag, and tossed them as far as he could toward the far end of the chamber. Krellort, who was also wounded, suddenly retreated back and grabbed them--he seemed to weigh his options briefly, then suddenly disappeared down the corridor from which he came.

I came for the Necklaces. Also to kill you if I can. But I'll settle for the Necklaces.

The crew breathed a huge sigh of relief at this, and themselves fled from the back entrance. They got the Locathah Matriarch and her eggs safely to the ship, where they were carefully guarded by the crew while in the water. The crew then crashed in their bunks, planning to return to the caverns on the next day.

When they returned, the crew found the place ransacked. Krellort had no doubt taken what he could from the rooms that remained unsearched by the crew (his throne room and a chamber for his concubines), and swam with his Tojanida guardian for the open seas under the cover of night. In his throne room, they found a massive stone throne carved in the manner of the lost cyclops empire of Ghol-Gan. They managed to shift the 8,000 pound stone chair and found a small treasure chamber hidden beneath that the Sahuagin chieftain did not know about (or was unable to reach because of the weight of the massive chair). Inside were two chests--one a trap, and one the original treasure of Cyrus Wolfe: a magical captain's locker chest that functioned as a Type IV Bag of Holding or could expand the cargo space of a ship. And inside that chest, alongside heaps of gold doubloons, was another deep platinum piece: a strange crown covered in the same whorls as the rest.

Having cleared Mancatcher Cove and discovered the ancient treasure of Captain Wolfe, the crew left the isle ready to spread the word about their successes. They were convinced that this would make them renowned enough to gain a Letter of Marque to become officially recognized pirates within the Skackles. However, they still needed enough plunder to enter Port Peril convinced that they had enough pull and draw to be able to bargain their way to that recognition. It was time to prey on more ships and villages!

Infamy and Disrepute Tracker

Infamy Score: 13
Disrepute: 13

Port Infamy list:
Rickety's Squibbs: 2
Bloodcove: 1 (favored port)
Besmara's Cradle: 2