After the Sahuagin leave, Lorric suggests that the Crimson Fists fly to Scuttlecove island but is turned down by his comrades on the grounds it is inhabited by hordes of bloodthirsty pirates. Though this doesn't stop him going on about it over the following days.
Six day pass as the ships are repaired. Finally both are ready to sail. Captain Nose-Chewer places a skeleton crew on 'The Siren's Teat' and 'The Southern Sun' takes it under tow and they leave Solport behind them.
Mol 2nd Lharvion, 998 Y.K.
9.30 p.m.
Three nights out of port and the sailing is going well, last night a storm struck but it quickly blew itself out and aside from a large shiver of sharks that followed the ship for a while there have been no incidents.
As the sun sets over the islands to the west a shimmering in the sea can be seen, like a great shoal of fish beneath the waves. As you watch you see several dorsal fins break the surface, these great sharks seem to have figures sat astride them, as they near you can make out the familiar forms of sahuagin riding the great whites, a contingent of over two-score warriors circle the waters around them as they approach the ship.
The crew raise shouts of alarm and the watch bell begins to ring out as weapons are drawn.
As you watch the sahuagin part ant a shark bigger than any you have seen before rises to the surface carrying two brightly coloured sahuagin, the yellow one in the front is adorned in pearls, brightly coloured corals and sparkling metals, whilst her consort seated behind has intricately carved shark-skin armour covering his muscular four armed form, he carries two pearlescent tridents.
A shout in common skips across the waves from the golden priestess, “We seek the Crimson Fist with all urgency.”
Three days of sailing pass calmly. On the third night Kapek observes twenty Sahuagin mounted on great white sharks approaching. He raises the alarm and all arm themselves and prepare for the Sahuagin. As the twenty Sahuagin reach the ship a especially large shark rises from the depths bearing a four armed Sahuagin warrior and what the group now recognize as one of the Sahuagin priestesses. In broken common she addresses the ship, saying she wishes to speak with the Crimson Fist, after a brief debate she is invited on board.
She explains she is carrying a message about the destruction of a ship, The Brine Harlot'. A ship that had been sunk in her waters carrying 'a darkness'. This turns out to be a Shadow Pearl, a magical gem formed from the slime exuded by the 'Hunger Below' and a vital component in the creation of the Ectha. She presents them with a scroll retrieved from 'The Brine Harlot' and explains that the Boiling Chasm wish the Crimson Fist to put a stop to the trade in Shadow Pearls.
She explains that to do this they will have to enter the waters of 'the glutton'- a fearsome Dragonturtle. She offers them a chest of treasures to buy passage with and a strange musical instrument that is dipped into the water and used to summon 'the glutton'. After some debate and conferring with Nose-Chewer the group agree to undertake the mission.
The Tale of the Brine Harlot
‘The Brine Harlot’ was sailing north, it’s starting point is unknown but it’s destination was quite apparent. It was heading for the waters around Bluescar and Yarkuun Draal. Whilst this is not unusual, its cargo was. A disturbance followed the vessel as it skimmed the northern waters, it carried a darkness, a shadow that permeated to the darkest depths, and when they hit troubled waters they could not save themselves. The Boiling Chasm was filled with blood that night as the waters became a churning feeding frenzy.
As the broken ship fell to the sea bed it became apparent that their cargo was not usual. Dark, maddening magics issued from a locked strongbox and when this was forced open the tribe gazed upon the source of this darkness. They worked their magics and studied their ancient writings, speaking with the wise and the deceased until they found the true use of the item they had recovered. Even now they have many unanswered questions.
The item they found was known as a ‘Shadow Pearl’, the thing is crafted or perhaps born from a substance that is referred to as ‘Black Bile’. This item is the key component in the creation of the Echtha.
Zol 3rd Lharvion, 998 Y.K.
1.30 a.m.
Later that night a ghostly figure appears on the deck of the ship. The strange lady the group meet at Bluescar has returned.
"With the sinking of the Brine Harlot and the discovery of the Shadow Pearls it has come to light that this could be the perfect opportunity to sway the will of Holashner. Olman Isle used to be the home of the Olman tribe, a society of barbaric seafarers that lived many thousands of years ago. Time watched their small civilisation fade into memory but their deeds are reverberating to this day.
Deep beneath the island there is an ancient artefact that is keeping Holashner in a state of confusion, he craves tribute and worship yet his most sacred places are defiled by those who would harness his power for their own purposes.
The artefact was sacred to the Olman rain god Tlaloc and has held the island in check for nearly ten thousand years. With its destruction Holashner will turn his gaze and will begin to stir with direction."
She explains that she wishes the Crimson Fist while on Oloman to destroy an artifact that holds Holashner in confusion, so he may attack Thoon who was responsible for his condition.
She answers many questions the group have about the prophecies they have heard, during which she admits to being a demon.
After she leaves the Crimson Fist debate her request and decide that they can't trust her and so won't destroy the artifact.
Zor 5th Lharvion, 998 Y.K.
5.30 pm
They sail on to the island. When in sight of it Mirra dips the instrument into the water and plays it. With a mighty rush of water the Glutton arrives. The chest is tossed to him but he demands the same amount again. Despite Lorric's urging that they just attack the Glutton, the rest of the group provide him with the extra money. The Glutton grabs the money and vanishes into the depths.
'The Southern Sun' pulls into the cove and moors at a rickety wooden pier decorated with skulls burning with green fire that emit a nauseating gas. It leads into a cave that vanishes into the depths of the island. The Crimson Fist disembark and move along the pier into the cave. Inside they find a Dimetrodon, Kapek uses his skills as a dinosaur wrangler and calms the skittish beast.
A Troglodyte enters the cave and demands to know what they're doing. Ajax pretends to be there to buy Shadow Pearls and when the creature confirms they supply them, Ajax attacks and kills it. The Dimetrodon tears a chunk from Ajax's leg and three more Troglodyte's appear, one casting 'Hold Person'. The spell affects no-one and the battle is short and final. All the enemy are swiftly dispatched.Close examination reveals the Troglodytes are wrapped in robes smeared with some strange, slightly magical, black goo. They also seem to be diseased with some strange, rotting illness. Upon seeing this Sparky makes sure to clean and bandage the wounds of the group to ensure this infection doesn't spread to them.
Laogroat
The Crimson Fist penetrate deeper into the cave complex, a dark and foul place decorated with decaying intestines and with strange paintings on the walls. The group walk for at least four miles before a familiar smell assails them. They find an iron gate leading into vast underground cave filled with strange domed stone huts.
Laogroat
The Crimson Fist penetrate deeper into the cave complex, a dark and foul place decorated with decaying intestines and with strange paintings on the walls. The group walk for at least four miles before a familiar smell assails them. They find an iron gate leading into vast underground cave filled with strange domed stone huts.
Lorric and Ajax sneak into the cave, Lorric enters the nearest hut and finding four Troglodytes asleep he quietly kills them. Ajax sneaks into another hut and also finds sleeping Troglodytes. He is about to kill them when it strikes him that this is a dishonourable way to deal with enemies. He fills his lungs and yells "Wakey, wakey!" at the top of his lungs.
In response dozens of Troglodytes pour out of the huts and attack the group. Ajax and Lorric meet the claws of the Troglodytes with fist and claws while Oz pours arrows and Kapek boomerangs and Sparky lightning charged javelins into the enemy and Mirra intones epic poetry to inspire. As the group fight off the waves of Troglodytes, four of them cast 'Hold Person' but the spells are resisted. The Troglodytes break on the Crimson Fist and too late realize they are out-classed, they try to flee but are cut down to the last creature.In the middle of the cave is a pit and by it two cages. In one is found a Troglodyte who is free from the disease that had affected all the others. He offers to aid the group if they will spare his life. The Troglodyte claims that he had been asked by the ghost of one of his kind to gather warriors to defeat the Lords of Dread, those who are creating the Shadow Pearls.
He calls himself Irgzid Uzeye.
Irgzid explained the ghost had told him the Lords of Dread were debasing the worship of their god, Laogzed. Pointing at the two-headed statues Irgzid said that originally Laogzed was depicted with just one head. Irgzid offered to take the Crimson Fist to where his people would meet the Lords of Dread to trade for the Shadow Pearls. After a quick debate the Crimson Fist agree to his suggestions.
The group descend into the pit in the floor of the room, which leads down into tunnels beneath the earth. Irgzid leads them for miles through the tunnels, as they go they discuss Ajax's recent actions in alerting the Troglodytes. Ajax defends his actions but does agree to discuss such tactical decisions with the rest of the group beforehand in future.
The Burning Pools
Eventually a strange smell heralds the approach of the 'Burning Pools'. An area full of pools of acid where the air was full of poisonous fumes. They are informed they must hold their breath as they pass through.
Trickles of water emerge from a crack in the ceiling of this cavern, splitting into numerous rivulets that roll slowly down stalactites and drip off into the deep, milky pools that dot the floor of this chamber.
However when they reach the cave it is inhabited by a strange, inky ball of ooze that Kapek identifies as a huge Black Pudding. The Crimson Fist open fire with missile weapons and the creature approaches and then shoots out a jet of black acid. Ajax charges it but is grappled and Lorric, Sparky and Kapek pile in. Sparky is also grappled but thanks to his 'Freedom of Movement' spell he slips out of the creatures hold with ease. With the whole group attacking, the Black Pudding is quickly slain.
The Hanging Forest
This seventy foot wide cavern drops away into a black gulf below. A forest of stalactites hangs from the ceiling, some dropping away out of sight into the darkness. A ledge, its surface glistening with moisture and mould, winds down the inner wall of the cavern, a descending path of dubious safety.
Once a volcanic shaft, this cavernous cavern drops 400 feet into a rubble strewn field of petrified trees of all sizes, subsumed by the earth in some geologic upheaval and subsequently petrified. Chunks of shattered branches litter the floor, but a number of the logs are surprisingly life-like.
Having passed through the cave the path curves down along a ledge on the side of a 400 foot high cliff. The Crimson Fist head down and reach the bottom and pass on to a petrified forest. Suddenly a sticky strand whips out of the darkness and grabs Kapek, Ajax, Mirra and Sparky. The strand appears to have come from out of a petrified tree.
Lorric and Ajax charge the monster as Kapek is dragged in closer. Ajax is bitten by the creature. Sparky hurls a lightning charged javelin into combat, unfortunately straight at Lorric, who snatches it out of the air and instinctively hurls it straight back at Sparky but luckily it bounces off Sparky's armour.
The creature is defeated and the remains of its victims searched for loot. The Crimson Fist decide to rest in the Petrified Forest for the rest of the night, as they think it is probably around 11 o'clock.
Next morning as the Crimson Fist are having breakfast Kapek suddenly yells a warning, six Hook Horrors are approaching. Lorric notices a shape hovering at the back, behind the aberrations and suddenly all their magic ceases to work.
As the creatures close in Oz puts a arrow through one's eye, instantly killing it. As the battle begins all the Crimson Fist feel their capabilities limited by the lack of magic. Mira can't use her bardic abilities, Sparky can't cast spells or produce magical javelins and Ajax finds himself unable to shift.
*Ajax comments
Ajax is horrified by what effects the Beholder's anti-magic ray has on him. No magic means no magic weapons, no healing from his healing belt or potions, less armour but most disastrously no abilities from his native ability to Shift or from the talents of the Warshaper he had learned.
Suddenly from behind the creatures several brightly coloured beams lance out and hit Kapek, Ajax and Lorric fortunately they all manage to resist the effects but illuminated by the beams the group see the mysterious creature for what it is, a Beholder !
However with its use of its other abilities the creature has dropped its anti-magic zone. Sparky casts 'Flame Strikes' on it.Lorric and Ajax tumble through the Hook Horrors and slam into the Beholder. Kapek lowers his head and charges Reaver straight through the middle of the Hook Horrors to join in the attack.
With all three of them attacking it the Beholder lasts mere seconds. Then caught between the two halves of the group the Hook Horrors are soon cut down.
The Cerulean Curtain
Having rested and healed the group push on for another 16 miles of tunnels. Eventually they reach the 'Cerulean Curtain' which leads into the domain of the Lords of Dread.
The tunnel widens into a large cavern nearly two hundred feet in diameter. A shimmering curtain of rippling blue light bisects this cavern from left to right, from floor to ceiling. The light resembles a translucent membrane that swirls and sparkles like the surface of a pond. The cavern on the other side is visible through this sheen, and the tunnel proceeds around a corner at the far end. Shapes and figures seem to ripple and writhe along this curtain of cerulean light, and now and then these shape pass by slowly enough to be identified as tribal warriors in full battle regalia, their mouths open in silent screams. A low whispering fills the room, but the cave is otherwise silent.
As you pass through the curtain, the whispering rises sharply to an almost painful roar, as of a thousand people shouting as many different phrases, it then falls silent again as you emerge from the other side.
He calls himself Irgzid Uzeye.
Irgzid explained the ghost had told him the Lords of Dread were debasing the worship of their god, Laogzed. Pointing at the two-headed statues Irgzid said that originally Laogzed was depicted with just one head. Irgzid offered to take the Crimson Fist to where his people would meet the Lords of Dread to trade for the Shadow Pearls. After a quick debate the Crimson Fist agree to his suggestions.
The group descend into the pit in the floor of the room, which leads down into tunnels beneath the earth. Irgzid leads them for miles through the tunnels, as they go they discuss Ajax's recent actions in alerting the Troglodytes. Ajax defends his actions but does agree to discuss such tactical decisions with the rest of the group beforehand in future.
The Burning Pools
Trickles of water emerge from a crack in the ceiling of this cavern, splitting into numerous rivulets that roll slowly down stalactites and drip off into the deep, milky pools that dot the floor of this chamber.
However when they reach the cave it is inhabited by a strange, inky ball of ooze that Kapek identifies as a huge Black Pudding. The Crimson Fist open fire with missile weapons and the creature approaches and then shoots out a jet of black acid. Ajax charges it but is grappled and Lorric, Sparky and Kapek pile in. Sparky is also grappled but thanks to his 'Freedom of Movement' spell he slips out of the creatures hold with ease. With the whole group attacking, the Black Pudding is quickly slain.
The Hanging Forest
This seventy foot wide cavern drops away into a black gulf below. A forest of stalactites hangs from the ceiling, some dropping away out of sight into the darkness. A ledge, its surface glistening with moisture and mould, winds down the inner wall of the cavern, a descending path of dubious safety.
Once a volcanic shaft, this cavernous cavern drops 400 feet into a rubble strewn field of petrified trees of all sizes, subsumed by the earth in some geologic upheaval and subsequently petrified. Chunks of shattered branches litter the floor, but a number of the logs are surprisingly life-like.
Having passed through the cave the path curves down along a ledge on the side of a 400 foot high cliff. The Crimson Fist head down and reach the bottom and pass on to a petrified forest. Suddenly a sticky strand whips out of the darkness and grabs Kapek, Ajax, Mirra and Sparky. The strand appears to have come from out of a petrified tree.
Lorric and Ajax charge the monster as Kapek is dragged in closer. Ajax is bitten by the creature. Sparky hurls a lightning charged javelin into combat, unfortunately straight at Lorric, who snatches it out of the air and instinctively hurls it straight back at Sparky but luckily it bounces off Sparky's armour.
The creature is defeated and the remains of its victims searched for loot. The Crimson Fist decide to rest in the Petrified Forest for the rest of the night, as they think it is probably around 11 o'clock.
As the creatures close in Oz puts a arrow through one's eye, instantly killing it. As the battle begins all the Crimson Fist feel their capabilities limited by the lack of magic. Mira can't use her bardic abilities, Sparky can't cast spells or produce magical javelins and Ajax finds himself unable to shift.
*Ajax comments
Ajax is horrified by what effects the Beholder's anti-magic ray has on him. No magic means no magic weapons, no healing from his healing belt or potions, less armour but most disastrously no abilities from his native ability to Shift or from the talents of the Warshaper he had learned.
Suddenly from behind the creatures several brightly coloured beams lance out and hit Kapek, Ajax and Lorric fortunately they all manage to resist the effects but illuminated by the beams the group see the mysterious creature for what it is, a Beholder !
However with its use of its other abilities the creature has dropped its anti-magic zone. Sparky casts 'Flame Strikes' on it.Lorric and Ajax tumble through the Hook Horrors and slam into the Beholder. Kapek lowers his head and charges Reaver straight through the middle of the Hook Horrors to join in the attack.
With all three of them attacking it the Beholder lasts mere seconds. Then caught between the two halves of the group the Hook Horrors are soon cut down.
The Cerulean Curtain
Having rested and healed the group push on for another 16 miles of tunnels. Eventually they reach the 'Cerulean Curtain' which leads into the domain of the Lords of Dread.
The tunnel widens into a large cavern nearly two hundred feet in diameter. A shimmering curtain of rippling blue light bisects this cavern from left to right, from floor to ceiling. The light resembles a translucent membrane that swirls and sparkles like the surface of a pond. The cavern on the other side is visible through this sheen, and the tunnel proceeds around a corner at the far end. Shapes and figures seem to ripple and writhe along this curtain of cerulean light, and now and then these shape pass by slowly enough to be identified as tribal warriors in full battle regalia, their mouths open in silent screams. A low whispering fills the room, but the cave is otherwise silent.
As you pass through the curtain, the whispering rises sharply to an almost painful roar, as of a thousand people shouting as many different phrases, it then falls silent again as you emerge from the other side.
