Fyrmont 21th 1014
They set sail for Safeharbour but the weather is against them. First they encounter calm weather that leaves them drifting then the ship is attacked by alus-vaarn, a form of evil water spirit. During the battle the ship is damaged, a number of the crew are hurt or killed and Dohrum loses his holy symbol, ripped from his grasp by one of the evil spirits.
Dragontooth Island
Fyrmont 23th 1014
They limp their way into a cove on Dragontooth Island and the heroes go ashore to look for fresh food, water and timber, the evil spirits having corrupted the ships' stores. Once ashore Jedon and Simon are attached by blood sucking birds but they win through with the aid of Jordan's sword craft. They find an old corpse in a halfling net trap that carries a worn and damaged map of the island and a unknown potion. They decide to follow the trail marked on the map after burying the corpse beneath a cairn of stones. The map leads them through a ruined village and an old grave, upon which is some ancient dwarven writing. Dohrum deciphers this and finds it to be a tale of one of the ancient dwarven kings who died here at the hands, or rather teeth of a dragon.
They continue along the trail to a broken bridge. Dohrum again reads some fragments of ancient dwarven writing on the bridge and with eyes closed sets out across it. The others see him get half way before falling to seeming death at the bottom of a deep ravine. They try to find his body but fail. Simon tries to repeat what Dohrum did with the same effect. However this is an illusion and both Dohrum and Simon are safe on the other side. They return to lead the others across.
They follow the path up the side of a mountain to a cave in which they find the bones of the dragon that killed the dwarven king Orry. However as they examine the ancient items preserved amongst the bones they are found by a group of strangely dressed halflings who after much jumping up and down escort them to their village where they are greeted by their chief who provides a magical feast for them.
However they find that the feast has a bitter after-taste. The chief tells them that the PCs have trespassed on the grave of their sacred spirit guardian and they must face their champion in a fight to the death. The tribes humour is not improved when Simon produces an impromptu magical fireworks display which includes a representation of a green dragon - their spirit guardian.
Fyrmont 24th 1014
Thinking that a halfling would be no match for Jordan they rest easy. However when the time for the challenge comes they are shocked to see a hulking ogre step into the ring to take on Jordan. Jordan's ogre upbringing gives him the ability to speak the same tongue as his challenger and he discovers that the ogre is sick of being kept with the halflings and longs for an escape and the two act in concert to break free and a chase ensues along the tracks through forest and mountain. As they run past the cave that caused all the trouble Dohrum snatches up helm and axe that he had determined belonged to the ancient king Orry. Jedon took the gold tipped arrow that was embedded in the dragon's eye socket and they ran for the shore. However as they left the cave a green dragon spirit formed within the cave. The heroes stood still in fear as the dragon spirit sniffed and looked at each of them in turn, especially Dohrum and Jedon before floating out of the cave towards the halflings. The frightened, awestruck halfings fell to their knees and this gave the PCs the chance to dash off.
A Fateful Meeting
As they arrived at the magical bridge they spy a group of elves and humans on the far side. It appears that they were sent by the Baron to retrieve the Talisman. Their story will be told elsewhere. After a wary exchange of threats and boasts they agree that it would be best to combine forces, at least for a while and they go down to the shore where they wait in dawns pale light for a lift back to The Flower Of The West. Verlis, one of the Baron's party decides to go back the The Black Page, the ship hired by the Baron, to try and distract the crew to give the remainder a chance to escape.
A Nasty Surprise
When the boat arrived, Jedon's suspicions were aroused when he realised he did not recognise any of those in the rowing boat. On arrival at the Flower Of The West a strange voice ordered them to come aboard. Realising something was up they fought and killed the pirates in the rowing boat and scrambled up the nets to gain the deck where a long fight ensured. The two sides were evenly matched and it looked as if the battle was going our heroes way until a large bald headed man appeared on deck and charmed Jordan into leaving the fight. This was Captain Vai of the Black Page. Then Dohrum managed to cause one of a pair of twin strong black bearded pirates to fall through a cargo hatch. At the same time the two twins transformed into bat like creatures with human bodies. The fight was turning the wrong way until the heroes bravery killed one of the creatures and the captain wounded and out of allies jumped over the ship. To the heroes horror he too transformed, into a shark and joined the other sharks around the ship.
He swum to a rowing boat that had come from The Black Page with Verlis in the bow. Transforming again he spoke with Verlis for a while before swimming away towards the Black Page leaving some of the sharks behind.
The battle seemed ro be evenly matched but when Verlis reached the deck he stabbed one of the pirates in the back swaying the balance back towards the companions. When the second bat creature died and Arrik returned to the deck with Captain Caduach in tow the remaining pirates surrendered and were locked in the hold. The crew of the Flower Of The West wasted little time in getting under sail and heading north-west towards Safeharbour.
A Restful Journey
Fyrmont 25th 1014
The journey on to Safeharbour began quietly enough but barely a day had passed before a drifting ship was sighted. Fearing that it was a trap set by Captain Vai but honour bound by Guild rules to investigate Captain Caduach drew the Flower of the West alongside. He soon recognised the ship as the All or Nothing, owned by the Exratty family out of Safeharbour. A quick inspection of the deck revealed no crew except for a much sun-blasted and seagull pecked mage hanging from the mast.
The companions investigated the deserted wreck and found little in the cabins of the crew until the captain's cabin was searched. Here they found the ship's log which described how a mage had chartered and modified the ship for some sort of hunt. All had gone well until some creature of the depths had been dredged up in the net. Here the log ended.
Realising the creature may still be in the hold the brave companions searched the lower levels of the ship. Here the discovered a horrible creature that tried to fool them with its mental powers. Dohrum and Verlis were nearly convinced that they saw a beautiful mermaid trapped in a glass bowl but them managed to see through the creature's illusion. Instead they saw a Terror of the Deep, a marine beholder.
Jordan and Dohrum smashed the glass tank and with the aid of Jedon and Simon finished the creature off. As it died it turned to stone and Captain Caduach, to prevent fear amongst his crew, pretended it was a statue and had it thrown over the side.
Further investigation of the ship led to the discovery of the mage's spell book and other items, including a note book that contained some valuable information on the nature of the beast.
Captain Caduach assigned a skeleton crew to the All or Nothing and both ships sailed towards Safeharbour once more.
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