The Battle at Farshore

Once the Yuan-Ti sorcerer realized that the person who paid them was somehow taken over, rather than try to salvage the situation, he, and his bodyguards retreated.

Once the vrock dance was disrupted, the vrocks stopped fighting in a coordinated fashion, and they fought to their deaths.

As soon as the pirates realized that Vanthus had "turned" against them, most of the ones on shore gave up, although three of the five ships attempted to flee. Between the Jade Ravens, Livinia Vanderboren, the Olman tribesmen, the Phanatons, and the guards of Manthalay Meravanchi, all ships but the Yuan-Ti ship were taken with little damage.

Lord Sgiggy brought Vanthus back. When Livinia confronted him and was told that Vanthus had planned to make off with Livinia, and if he couldn't, then he planned to release a bloodstained shadow pearl to create another savage tide, she cursed him, saying her brother died the same night her parents did. This "Vanthus" is nothing but filth wearing his skin. He further said he stole the shadow pearl from his superiors before he left scuttlecove. He was transformed into a half-fiend by a process known to the Crimson Fleet. After Lord Sgiggy answers the party's questions, he beheads himself. He is buried ni a lonely plot to the south marked only with a simple wooden stake carved with the Vanderboren family crest.

The four ships are claimed as the property of Farshore.

The next few days in Farshore are celebratory, although interspersed wth funerals for those who fell in the assault.

Each member of the group gets 5,000 gp worth of loot.

Papers on one of the ships (the Brine Harlot, Vanthus' ship) indicates that the Crimson Fleet has been going to the northern shore of the Isle of Dread to meet with a group known only as the "Lords of Dread." In the log it says:

We reached Gallivant Cove with no incident, althugh the Sevent Coil yuaniti renewed their demands for shore leave. I denied them again, promising them all the leave they could want once my sister's little project is mine. Payment to the Glutton went smoothly (that beast's teeth would make fine trophies!), and I personally led a group of five to the caves. The trogs looked worse than they stank -- some kind of malady afflicts them for certain. Lords of Dread??? Hardly. Yet they took our payments and slaves readily enough.

There was only one shadow pearl ready for us. I made clear my displeasure, but the simpering lepers convinced me that they were being truthful, and promised several more in a few months' time. I've tried to avoid staring at the pearl overmuch. Its depth are hypnotic. After seeing what one of these little beauties did on Kraken's Cove, I made sure to keep it in a padded container at all times.

It's too bad we can't just toss the thing into Farshore with a catapult and let them kill each other off, but I'll not be the one to tell command we broke another of their toys.

---

Experience

		Ninth level characters	Tenth level characters
Amphibious Assault	EL 11	5,400	4,500
Yuan-Ti mercenaries	EL 11	5,400	4,500
Vrocks	EL 12	8,100	6,000
Vanthus	EL 14	16,200	12,000
Triumph	EL 13	10,800	9,000
Total		45,900	36,000
XP per PC		11,475	9,000

Equipment on Vanthus

• +3 Mithral shirt
• +3 Longsword
• +1 Keen Sickle
• Masterwork Dagger
• Ring of Protection + 2
• Amulet of Health +2
• Boots of Speed
• Shadow Pearl
• 4 Gold earrings worth 300 gp each

In the coming month, the wealth of Farshore increases due to increased trade. Farshore begins with an 800 gp limit on purchased items and assets of 9,600 gp.

• The triumph over the Crimson Fleet increases the assets by 20,000 gp
• Increasing the mine output increases the assets by 10,000 gp
• Casting Hallow on the Cemetary make people feel better, and increases the gp limit by 1,000
• By eliminating the troglodyte tribe, assets are increased by 5,000, and by the end of the month, the gp limit increases by 1,000
• Improving the clayworks increases the assets by 3,000 gp
• Improving the smithy increases the assets by 2,000 gp
• By bringing back the Olman artifacts, the gp limit is increased by 1,500
• By improving the greenhouse, the gp limit is increased by 1,000
• By improving the farms, the assets are increased by 5,000 gp

Thus, at the end of the month, the assets are 54,600 gp and Farshore has a 5,300 gp limit on purchasable items.





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Journey's End

In nearly six weeks of real-life time, the party has spent two days in the Journey's End Sargasso.

The first night, eight attacks by groups of Vine Horrors left the party tired, and they slept through much of the day. They used the Cloak of the Manta Ray to get a general idea of how large the sargasso is, and to figure out they won't be able to get the Sea Wyvern out in any reasonable amount of time.

The party decided that they will have to try to find the source of the Vine Horrors on the next day, and manage to go through the night with nine attacks of the Vine Horrors. They did allow their Ir, the Cleric and Lord Sgiggy, the Mage to sleep. Thus allowing them to gain levels.

The next day, the cleric gives everyone AirWalk, and they find the Thunderer which contains the heart of Journey's End. While walking (on air) down into the pit, they are attacked by the Mother of All, who nearly manages to kill a couple of party members before being dispatched.

A quick search of the ship reveals

• 1,200 gold
• 462 platinum
• Four fine scrimshaw carvings (each depicting one of the seasons), which, if cleaned will be worth 250 gold each
• Four golden goblets worth 100 gold each
• A silver candelabrum worth 350 gold
• A steel, barnacle-covered, shield depicting sharks devouring men (identified as a +1 animated tower shield)
• A watertight bone scroll tube containing an arcane scroll of
  • Hold Monster
  • Waves of Fatigue
  • Permanency

Over the next few days, many of the characters gain levels.

• George (Dahvid's Fighter) is 6th level with 15,377 XP
• Churtle is 7th level with 27,497 XP
• Morphumax (Josh's Binder) is 7th level with 21,860 XP
• Lord Sgiggy (Nasan's Sorcerer) is 7th level with 23,965 XP
• Ir Turalisj (Moshe's Cleric) is 7th level with 24,260 XP
• Rigond (Dovid's Paladin) is 7th level with 26,883 XP

Over the next few days, Ir contacts Lavinia (using Sending) on the Blue Nixie. She responds with the following: Sorry for losing track. Continue on to Farshore. Will see you there. Carry on, Lavinia

Off to the Isle of Dread, Part 4

Lavinia Vanderboren tells the party that they will have to evade the Scarlet Brotherhood blockade the next day. About noon, as they are rounding the penninsula, they are hailed by a Scarlet Brotherhood ship. The cleric walks across the water, and casts deeper darkness on the side of the ship. This allows the party to completely evade them.

Nine days later, the ships spy the ruins of Fort Greenrock. They stop to investigate, and it becomes obvious that lizardfolk attacked and destroyed the fort.

Four days after that, the ships make a last stop near the mainland at the Atikula river to refresh their water. While filling barrels at the waterfall, the ship is attacked by an aquatic seven-headed hydra. After the battle, the party spots some things at the bottom of this small bay. Morphumax dives in and finds

• 102 gp
• +1 chainmail
• a bright green cloak of the manta ray

After another six days, the ships stop at the Olman village of Renkrue to replenish supplies. All goes well until Avner Meravanchi attempts to buy one of the native girls. The chief becomes insulted, and no amount of diplomacy appears to satisfy him. He stops all bargaining and tells the ships to leave. The dim-witted fighter (Daveed's character) punches Avner out, and sometime later is admonished by Lavinia, who lets the party know that without the financial backing of the Meravanchi's, the expedition would not have been possible. She forces the dim-wit to apologize to Avner, who doesn't take the apology very well at all.

Four days later, the ships get caught up in the pearl current, which delays them somewhat by forcing them off course. Ten days after that, they reach the island of Ruja. From here, it should be only a matter of two weeks to reach Farshore at the southern end of the Isle of Dread

Off to the Isle of Dread - Part 2

Three days after the untimely death of Conrad Horst, the Blue Nixie and the Sea Wyvern stop at the Havekihu river to take on fresh water. A few hours after they leave the next day, they have to lay anchor due to intense fog. In the middle of the night, the Sea Wyvern is rocked and the party comes to the deck.

Morphumax is attacked by something from the sea, is almost pulled overboard, and the party attacks the amorphous creature. Morphumax is finally pulled overboard, yet the Flotsome Ooze is killed. Before it dissipates and the poor unfortunates being digested float to the bottom, Churtle spots some interesting things that Morphumax retrieves. After identifying them, the party now has

• Ring of Mind Shielding
• Gauntlets of Ogre Power

Fourteen days later, the ships stop to investigate some ruins. Lavinia has promised the gnome Urol Forol a chance to exlore the ruins of the Tamoachan, and she has the party accompany him for his safety. After an hour, following jungle trails, they arrive at a clearing. There is a huge ziggurat, and the clearing is just one small part of it. Unfortunately for Urol, the basilisk first gazes at him. The party manages to kill it easily, but Urol neglected to share any of his stone salve with the party, and the party didn't ask him about it ahead of time. But, in his haste to investigate the ruins, he had moved to the front of the party.

Well, the party took his statuesque body back to the ship, and the next day, they managed to un-stone him. Then the party goes back to the ruins, and began investigating a room with a huge statue and a well. Out of the well came a gibbering mouther, which apparently was making a nest in the well. After killing the gibbering mouther, the party investigated the well and found

• six turquoise gems worth 50 gp each
• +1 dagger {unidentified}
• a folded ivory fan worth 180 gp
• a platinum bracelet worth 230 gp
• 124 gp

Off to the Isle of Dread - Part 1

After a few weeks of downtime, Lavinia Vanderboren summons the party and invites them along to Farshore in the Isle of Dread. First they recover the Sea Wyvern, bring it back to Sasserine and get it outfitted and fixed.

On the day of boarding the Sea Wyvern, they meet the captain, crew and passengers. The ship's captain is Amella Venkalie. The cabin boy is Tavey Nesk. The first mate is Lirith Veldirose. Among the passengers are the cleric Conrad Horst, Skald, and Urol Forol. Urol is there to study the Isle of Dread and doubles as the Navigator. A late arriving passenger is Avner Meravanchi with two servants and his horse Thunderstrike.

After some arguments about Avner's accomodations (in which the eventual result is that he is sleeping with the rest of the passengers and he is not happy about it, the expedition gets underway.

In the second day of the voyage, Lavinia invites the party and Avner to a dinner on the Blue Nixie. The ships get within 50 feet of each other, a rope and pulley is hoisted and a cart brings each person across. While going back, after Avner, and some of the party get across, the rope breaks while the paladin is brought across. A round later, a water mephit appears and begins it's attack. In investigating this, the party sees that the rope was sabotaged, and the mephit was being kept in a pickle jar.

In the thirteen days to Fort Blackwell, the Sea Wyvern is attacked by a water naga and an octopus. From the octopus' belly, the party finds:

• 300 gp
• potion of cure light (unidentified)
• wand of magic missile (first level) (36 charges) (unidentified)
• wand of magic missile (third level) (26 charges) (unidentified)

In addition, someone attempted to poison the paladin. At Fort Blackwell, the ships lay over for a couple of days. The crews are given shore leave and many of the passengers (including Conrad Horst and Skald) stay overnight in the small town.

After continuing the voyage, six days out, Conrad Horst takes ill. The party cleric casts delay poison, to no affect, and decides to cast cure disease the next day. Unfortunately, the next day, a blue slaad explodes, fully grown, from Conrad's body (killing him), which the party defeats.

Game Notes

All the player characters (except for Morphumax) are fifth level.

The Vanderboren Estate and the Bullywug Invasion, Part 2

While clearing out the first floor of the Vanderboren estate, the party notices a secret door. Inside is a hidden armory. On the floor is a dwarf druid, Kaskus Kiel, whom the party recognizes as a member of the Jade Ravens. He is alive, but unconscious. The cleric heals him, and he tells a tale of the invasion of the bullywugs, and the final stand the Jade Ravens made in the courtyard, before everything went bad. He tells the party, that, last he saw, Mistress Vanderboren was still alive. They take three vials of Cure Moderate from the armory.

As the party approaches the private dining hall, they smell cigar smoke. On entering the room, the bullywug smoking orders her three lieutenants to attack. Upon seeing them be easily defeated, she rages, but is ultimately killed.

• Items
• Potion of Barkskin +3 (unidentified)
• 2 +1 hand axes (unidentified)

In the courtyard, the party discovers the remains of the estate's guard force, brutally slain. In addition three bullywugs' corpses are hear, and the remains of Kaskus' badger animal companion.

After clearing the top floor, the party decides to go downstairs. There, they interrupt the chief of the bullywugs in the midst of torturing Liamae Teslikaria. The party attempts to attack, but it is hard moving through the mud on the floor. Liamae makes an attempt during combat to cast Charm Person on the bullywug chief. Amazingly, it worked. The chief's pet rust monster makes short work of the +1 Glamered chain shirt the paladin was wearing, but it was killed rapidly. The party makes short work of the rest of the bullywugs in the basement, and now has an "ally" in the person of Chief Lorpth.

• Items from Chief Lorpth
• Potion of Shield of Faith +2 (unidentified)
• Potion of Cure Moderate
• Salve of Slipperiness (unidentified)
• +1 hide armor(unidentified)
• +1 greatclub (unidentified)
• Wooden crown with seven moonstones (100 gp each)

The chief tells the party of Dravoraz' intent to take the estate, kill everyone, steal as much as possible, and burn it to the ground. Meanwhile, the chief has been amusing himself getting the rust monster to eat tableware stuck into Liamae's clothing. Other than that, he knows very little of who is where in the building.


.

Catching up on lost time

In the vault, they manage to eventually figure out the combination to the Vanderboren wealth.

Unfortunately, most of it is gone. But, there is enough for Lavinia to begin taking care of the estate. In addition, there are many papers including ledgers cataloging the debts owed to the Vanderborens from various guilds and noble families in Sasserine. Also, included are papers in her mother's handwriting with several maps of jungles and island areas.

Lavinia charges the group to help find her brother, Vanthus, and to bring him to her.

Session 2: The game is afoot.

The group began near the Blue Nixie (Lavinia Vanderboren's ship), which is being held by Soller Vark, even though Lavinia paid to have it released to her.

As soon as the ship was boarded, the watchman called out an alarm, and shot back. The watchman was injured, and two more of the group boarded the ship. The wounded thug leapt overboard, but three more appeared on deck from other cabins. One thug was gored to death, another wounded, and still another knocked unconcious.

Then Soller Vark and his girlfriend appeared on deck, and one of the group was knocked down by the girlfriend. The group managed to get the unconcious member awake, and damage Vark's girlfriend and Vark himself.

Vark's girlfriend jumped overboard, another damaged thug jumped into the rowboat, and Vark himself began attacking after yelling "Burn them." There was a bloodcurdling scream from below decks. The group shot at Vark's girlfriend (and missed), but got the thug in the boat. After beating up Vark some more, Vark surrendered. None of the thugs know what is going on, but Vark did tell the group that he was being paid to collect animals and deliver them to another ship during the night.

The group tied up the remaining thugs and Vark and investigated below decks. They were attacked by a Rhagodessa, but quickly killed it. The room was filled with dead animals and a dead thug.

Score: 2 thugs gone, 1 thugs dead, 4 thugs captured, Soller Vark captured.

Found Vanderboren payment to Vark, and the Vanderboren signet ring

After selling the equipment, the group went to see Lavinia Vanderboren. She was happy to know that her ship is her's again, and especially happy to receive her father's signet ring. She offers the group employment (at 110 gp each per month) and hints that the rewards of being associated with one of the Dawn Council's families is worth far more.

She asks the group to accompany her to her family's vault, warning them that there is likely to be a construct guardian. The go to the vault, and once inside, are attacked by an Iron Cobra. They beat it up pretty well, but notice that it avoids attacking Lavinia. Lavinia presents the ring to it, and the Iron Cobra retreats to its alcove. Then they open the door to the vault itself...

The adventure begins

The four adventurers were invited to the home of Lavinia Vanderboren.