Sundered Lands 43

The Sundered Lands of Palladium

Session 43
February 26, 2017

Off To Blood Bay

October 30

On the Tiny Titan

The captain has stated that it will take some time to get to The Blood Bay and Kraken's Cove, possibly longer depending on the weather. He is very weary of pirates and raiders in this area as they have been very active in recent months. He wants to sail past the Blood Bay and put in on the headland which should be very near to Kraken's Cove based on the intel you recovered from the Sea Harpy lair. Shortly after losing sight of Essanos and the many ships in her soon to be closed port, one of the sailors calls you over.

Parsons 'Crooked' Barlow says "Hey all, quite good to see ya again."

Seeker says, “Thanks!”

Parsons 'Crooked' Barlow says "Yer little friend, the one with the wings an such? He was a buzzing around up near the crow’s nest a little bit earlier, then he stopped all tha sudden and looked like he seen a ghost! Then he tol me ta tell you that he had to "go back home" and would see you all soon."

Valinya adds, "Hmm. That doesn't sound good."

Parsons 'Crooked' Barlow says "He then turned north, toward the shore, not back toward Essanos er nothin, and then flew off!"

Arn wonders, “Why do ye suppose the ships were after us? Lockdown on the harbor since the Sea Harpy incident?” then joins the conversation about Fortis and adds, “could be that his family troubles have tracked him down once again”

Silver announces, “If I'm going to do scouting later, I should find a place for a nap first.”

Gorg helps Silver find a good napping spot, and explains the situation to the new additions to the ship. Silver finds a nice spot to nap in Dragon form, while the others find a dry spot below decks. The Captain says it should be about daybreak when they reach the far side of Blood Bay. Silver says, "Ooh that should be a good spot." She stretches and lets out a big yawn, and slowly shimmers and transforms into her dragon form. Once done, Silver looks over towards a gasp, obviously from one of the new mates, and winks at him, before curling up in a relatively out of the way section of deck.

Seeker pitches in with the sailors if they'll let him.

Gorg finds as much time as possible between first mate tasks to keep the group informed on the ship’s progress.

Valinya flits about the boat a bit to explore.

Arn initially takes in some of the passing sights and observes the crew at work. Picking up some new skills never hurts, but than retires to rest since he knows the day break will bring hard work and a hike.

Seeing so many of the group wanting to assist the crew to stay busy, Gorg calls out, "Mops enough for everyone, get to swabbing!"

Seeker swabs away!

Moonscar notices that Sings to Moon is more comfortable below deck. The Captain offers his quarters to the companions to use if they desire.

Valinya overhears the offer of the captain's quarters and with a gracious "Thank you" flits off to go sleep while others are awake ... and watching out.

The rain keeps up, sometimes a light drizzle and other times nearly a downpour. The sails are wet and the Air Warlock Aiolos is as busy as can be just trying to keep them dry. The wind stays fairly strong blowing in from the north, giving the Titan plenty of push, but the falling rain keeps trying to slow it down.

Time For Some Scouting

Silver stirs again later in the evening, and looks about the ship for someone to discuss scouting strategy with. She attempts to awkwardly squeeze below decks before thinking better of it and sends someone to round up the group and they gather on the rainswept deck.

Arn asks, “So Gorg....what weapon do ye fight with now adays?”

Gorg replies, “Arn, Still having fun with the Tempest, when I get a chance. Not a lot of sparring onboard, so I haven't been swinging it as much as I'd like lately.”

Silver reveals her plans, "I'm thinking of flying ahead while it's dark and making sure there's no large or obvious threats waiting for us"

Silver asks,  "How much light are we planning to have on the Titan tonight?”

Arn looks confused, “Tempest...is what again? A flail?” The Dwarf then turns to Silver, participating in two conversations at once and suggests, “Silver, stay to the shadows, and away from moon-lit clouds that could give away your silhouette.”

Silver nods and offers, “how about I test things out, I'll fly up above us and give me an idea of how difficult it is to spot me?”

Arn nods his head, “Sure thing.”

Gorg, eager to show it off some, quickly runs below and brings up Tempest, his custom maul

Arn remembers, “Nice...I had forgotten Gorg...it's been a while.”

The sliver of a moon is only barely visible occasionally in the clouded sky. Silver should be nearly invisible if she keeps her altitude. If the moon breaks through and shines right on her, she might be visible, but the rain should keep most from looking up, right?

Arn suggests, “Seeker and I can show ye some techniques, maybe work on some defensive moves as well”

The sun has set and by all accounts you are about 1/3 of the way there by now. Not many other ships have been seen this afternoon or evening.

Silver says, “I'll be back in a few minutes, lets see how this goes.”

Seeker suggests "Let's have a Guardian on watch with the crew through the night. I'll take a shift. Arn,Brother? Gorg?”

Silver walks over to the port side of the ship, and jumps off, causing a slight jolt to the Titan to starboard.

Gorg says, “I'll be out here still, and I'll ask the boys up top to see if they can spot you.”

Moonscar watches as Silver takes flight and circles, gauging visibility and trying to track her flight

Arn agrees, “Aye, good Idea Seeker. I'll stay up first, as I’m helping Silver.”

Moonscar says, "Mmhmm. Whichever watch is fine"

Since you are looking for her, you are able to spot Silver, but not all the time, especially when she flies a bit higher. She should be plenty obscured this evening.

Silver works her way up towards the clouds, keeping an eye on the Titan so she doesn't lose track of it

Even though Silver has great night vision, tracking the boat on the water from too great a height is difficult but she manages. the sound of the sails helps quite a bit.

Silver after a bit of circling, she looks around to see if there's anything else of note out on the waters.

Valinya let's Seeker know that she plans to sleep now and help with watching later in the night a she prefers to be awake when there are less eyes watching.

Silver spirals back down to the Titan after a bit, and swoops in to land on the deck, almost at the same point she launched from. "Did it work?"

Silver does not see much of anything, and realizes that for most of this stretch, it is even difficult to detect the actual coastline due to the low lying marshland that covers it. A string of long, narrow islands, mostly just sand bars and such, give a better indication of the general whereabouts of the coastline. Several sailors jump at the sight of Silver landing and quickly move away to other parts of the ship.

Moonscar says, "You're good. I could barely track you even knowing you were there."

It is probably around 8pm in the evening, and with the rain and wind, Silver figures she should be able to make it to Kraken's Cove by midnight at the latest.

Arn says, “Well, it was a nice try. best we rest up”

Moonscar adds, "Moon will set well before then."

Silver says, “If I make my way to the cove and back, I'm somewhat concerned with finding the Titan on my way back. Maybe Valinya can magic me a message if I don't find my way back by morning. I have a spell that points me the right direction if I really need it.” Silver hearing no further comments, she turns and launches once more back into the rain-filled sky.

Moonscar thinks, “Speaking of magic and reconnaissance - I could try scrying the cove. Any ideas  along those lines Sis?”

Gorg walks over to Moonscar and says, "So you're one of the ones I don't know as well, what do you do for the group?"

Moonscar explains, "Fill in the gaps mostly. Talk to the smokes. Scout or rear guard."

Looking rather confused, Gorg responds, "talk....to the smokes?"

Moonscar tries to elaborate, "The ones all around us that most can't see or hear. Wind, rain, Wolf, Rat. Remember all last voyage with us to Essanos the rats left your supplies alone and pulled watch around the lower decks?"

Seeker leans over. "He's a druid. He talks to nature spirits and the like."

Gorg’s face lights up, "Oh yeah, I do remember that, many of the guys noticed....I had no idea that was you!" The Ogre then nods towards Seeker in acknowledgement of the 'sane' answer. Gorg continues, "ah yes, I knew some guys like that long ago, from back home. Good to see you again too, Seeker."

Seeker comments, “Looks like sea life treats you well, Gorg.”

Gorg replies, “I do love being out on the water, but I'm really excited to get back into the fun with you guys. It's about time for my time off from Guardianship to be over.”

Moonscar asks, "So Sis - do you want to sing any spying songs tonight?" She nods her head no and goes to find someplace to rest.

Valinya sleeps peacefully before her watch ... Zzzz

Seeker replies, “We're glad to have you!”

Arn finishes up his watch shift and sleeps till morning.

Moonscar announces, "I'm going to head below for a while to scout a bit"

Arn speaks up for Gorg....."I typically use Olum Kanat Sican, my enchanted Bat-effigy mace to lead off fighting. It's enchanted and flies back to my hand when I throw it

Moonscar spends the next hour or so performing a ritual. When he has completed his preparation, he starts in on his ritual early in the morning and about 40 minutes into it is granted some visions.

Arn continues, “It also grants me the power to cast darkness once a day and see in the dark. However, I have a new toy, my newly commissioned "Karrzark Cuttrumm", my enchanted axe, that translates from Dwarven as "Thunder cutter" That one doesn't return to my hand, so if anyone sees me throw that, please help recover it for future use.”

Gorg looks slightly confused again, "so what happens for everyone that can't see in the dark?"

Silver concludes her scouting and flies back to the Titan. The rain continues and manages to get her lost a bit, and it takes her nearly 2 hours to find the ship again. She finally finds it at about 3am and lands. Most everyone is asleep.

Silver finds Valinya on watch, and sits nearby, tail twitching. "Didn't spot any ships, but I did find the cave, and it's big enough to hide a ship in if you wanted to. There's a landing point a bit to the north of the cave, and a path that kind of goes up and around, coming down to some kind of board walkway that leads into the cave on one side. Definitely someone in there, there was torchlight in farther.” She twitches her tail again and continues, “I managed to resist going inside to snoop around, and let me tell you that wasn't easy! that could be a seriously BIG cave inside!”

Valinya says, surprised, “Wow. We will have to be very cautious then.”

Silver adds, “We could easily sail the Titan right into the cave mouth, although maybe not two wide. By the way, does anyone know why they call it "blood bay" anyways? It didn't look bloody, but it was rather dark.”

Seeker muses, “I imagine we'll get a hint when we get there.”

Silver muses, “I thought maybe it had to do with busy pirates or something.”

Arn tells a tale, “Aye, tis on the eve of the Red Equinox....the Kraken was summoned to stop the reign of Karmathus the Sea Dragon......so much devastation turned the sea to blood. Of course I'm just making that last bit up.” He chuckles.

Valinya says suspiciously, “Um ... that sounds like an interesting tale. Hopefully it' just a tale. So what part isn't made up? Sometimes these tales are based on truth and I'd rather be prepared just in case.”

Silver looks worried, “why do I have the feeling either the Kraken or the Sea Dragon lived in a big cave?”

Seeker applauds Arn’s story. 

Arn explains, “just something I heard from those sailors when we shared a drink before leaving.

The carnage was so intense, that if the sunlight catches it just right, you can still see blood in the water, and on the beach.”

Valinya gives Arn a skeptical look, complete with arched eyebrow. "Really? And how much ale preceded this tale?"

Arn shrugs, “only 2,” he pauses and grins. “Pitchers,” he adds.

Valinya scrunches up her face. "Hmm. Then there may indeed be some true parts."

Magical Findings

It is about 4am and everyone is too anxious to sleep much anymore. Ready to be at Kraken's Cove. Moonscar comes running up onto deck to share his vision.

Moonscar says, "They seem to be bugging out."

Seeker asks, “You get an idea to where?”

Moonscar answers, “An estuary to the north of the cove and I Think they have the package with them”

Seeker continues his questions, “Any idea how long we have to get there?”

Everyone remembers that the Captain does not want to sail INTO Blood Bay and only agreed to take you to the point on the far edge.

Arn suggests, “What if we bribe the Captain?”

Moonscar says, "I don't know how well we can course along the coastline - it's pretty soggy"

Silver asks, “can we take a boat and row it?”

Moonscar adds, "Hopefully the west shore of the bay is not as bad"

Seeker thinks out loud, “Ah, if only we had the folding boat. But it is with Janore now.”

Silver looks confused, “the what?”

Seeker reminds her, “we had a boat that would fold up into a tiny package for ease of transport.”

Arn says, “I think between Gorg and I we can get the boat to move along pretty well. But we should try to bribe the captain to get us closer.”

Moonscar says, "The bay seems clear to enter, but getting out? Neither Silver nor I were looking for pirates anywhere along the shore outside the bay. What's the risk of him getting trapped if he takes us in?"

Gorg chimes in that he agrees with the captain, it would not be a good idea to take the boat into that cove, but he's sure we could use one of the rowboats

Arn adds, “...and, any sign of Pirates, we will jump in our little boat and draw them off!”

Silver says, “I looked up and down the shore around the cave a bit, but didn't see anything, although admittedly there's a lot of coastline I didn't see.”

Seeker says, “all right them Gorg, as soon as we drop anchor we'll set out in the boat.”

Gorg says, “We can all fit in one easily enough, and it will certainly beat trudging through the swamps.”

Arn shouts, “Then let's get moving.”

Valinya says playfully, “Or floating, as the case may be.”

Moonscar considers, "I wonder if they spotted you. Seems they left just after. They may have magic alarms. . ."

Silver says, “I hope not. that would be very annoying.”

Moonscar then adds, "Maybe Seagull will help track," and goes to the railing to talk to Seagull.

Seagull seems uninterested in Moonscar’s request and flies up to the top of the crows nest. He poops on Arn on the way up.

Arn frowns and mutters, “WE know who that is.”

The Seagull smoke did look a lot like another similar Gull that has been around recently.... Moonscar sighs.

Gorg giggles a bit at Arn's predicament, "You get used to that happening when you're out on the water"

"I think this was a deliberate attack, Gorg," Arn replies

Moonscar sings, "Gull looks like a Magpie"

After a few hand gestures, the lookouts up in the nest shoo off the gulls

Moonscar watches the Gull Smoke fly around the ship, it does not come back around him, but does not leave the area either.

Moonscar shrugs and then says, "I'll ask Squirrel once we make landfall"

Arn says, “We make landfall, and double-time it and catch these bastards.”

Arriving at The Blood Bay

The eastern horizon begins to lighten as the day will be approaching soon, by the bells of the ship, it is around 5am. The Tiny Titan is now speeding past the open mouth of Blood Bay toward the predetermined point of departure. As the sky gets lighter, a lookout from the Crow’s Nest calls out.

Rubie 'The Marked' Sampson says "Dark smoke on the horizon. Just off the far point of Blood Bay inlet"

Gorg asks, “Silver, isn't that where you said they were heading?”

Moonscar thinks out loud, "They sure like to burn things down behind them"

Seeker calls out, “Okay, folks, gear up. We may not be back here soon. Go prepared.”

Arn plans, “This time we get ahead of them and make our way back to the smoke, cutting them off!”

Valinya watches the smoke with visible concern

Arn concedes, “Oh, right you are there Val. They are planning on looting the ships, we should get moving.”

Captain Alixandir Tahir says "We should hit land within the hour. you still want to be let off there?"

Moonscar says, "Whatever is fastest to the river mouth across the bay - our quarry is on the move already"

Captain Alixandir Tahir says "I said I would take you here, I am not comfortable taking the Titan into the Bay, too dangerous for the ship, my crew and our cargo." He adds, "You are welcome to the launch. It will hold you all, and Gorg too, if you must take him."

Moonscar concedes, "Understood - closest point"

The Titan approaches the same sandy beach that Silver scouted earlier this morning. The rain continues to fall, not too heavy though. The billow of smoke gets thicker and darker as time goes on. Gorg heads off to prep the launch.

Moonscar offers, "You'll be glad to know there are a few less pirates there this morning"

About 100 yards from the shore, the captain calls for a stop. "Here you go, the launch is yours. Light a fire here on this beach to signal. We will pull up and head down the coast to look for a safe place to harbor, I will wait until daybreak tomorrow for you, then you are on your own... though you will owe me a rowboat!" He chuckles weakly

Seeker turns to the Captain, “Thank you, Captain. We will try to be here before your deadline.”

Arn says, “Aye Captain....stand by.”

Moonscar continues, "This time tomorrow you can expect fewer still."

Captain Alixandir Tahir says "Good luck, friends. Hope to see you by daybreak tomorrow!"

Cast of Characters: 

+Arne Jamtgaard plays Seeker, a teenage Wolfen Warlord

+Stephen Kolmetz plays Valinya, an Elven Wildsong Mage

+Mike Biancone plays Arn, a surly Dwarven Warrior

+Amergin O'Kai plays Moonscar, the esoteric Kankoran Druid

+Daniel White plays Silver, a young and curious Dragon
+Mike Williams plays Gorgukk Torgnaz, an Ogre sailor and mauler
and +Jason GURPS as the GM