Home        the Savage Tide   Updated 02/28/2012

Journal updated 02/28/2012

                Well the Savage Tide Adventure Path has begun with character creation from the group. This is where it got weird as the group made up a strange group indeed. There are three gnomes, two humans and a half-elf. The strangest character is a half-ogre barbarian with massive strength and average intelligence. He wanted to play a monk but we both agreed that a barbarian would be better. The gnomes are all the spell casters in the group with them being the cleric, druid, and wizard. This could get interesting with three mischievous gnomes casting spells all over the place. 

I have come up with the introduction of the group being hired by a local alchemist to go out into the swamp to find some rare plants for components. As they were harvesting, they were jumped by bullywugs or frog-men. The half-ogre came along and used his club to nail one of the frog-men and sent him flying off into the water. The others swam away when they turned to see him.

            This introduced Humphrey Bogart the half-ogre to the remainder of the group. The gnomes were seeing eye to eye with him as they had jumped into the tree when the frogs attacked. They started talking to him and found that he didn’t talk much. He was a man of few words. He decided to accompany the group in their harvesting and he took along the dead body for lunch. He kept offering the body to the group and they kept declining. I got them back to the city and ended off with the group delivering the goods and getting paid for their services. Everyone in the city was looking at Humphrey and the frogman slung over his back. 

            They gave Humphrey a handful of coins and he was happy to get them even though he didn’t know what they were at first. He found himself a spot to camp in an alley and started a fire to roast his frog’s legs. Someone then came along and bought the remains of the frog man off him and headed around the corner. This ended the first session and set up the next one as I introduce the group to the noble who is going to hire them in the next session.

Chapter One; There Is No Honor (Dungeon Magazine #139 Oct/06)

Part One: A Noble in Need. Starting Date Fireseek 18, 594 CY

            The group with their new found notoriety comes to the attention of a noble who is having some troubles she wished to solve without involving the authorities. She invites them to dinner. She explains her problem and the group agrees to help her out for payment of services. After dinner they go investigate her ship that is under dispute over moorage and docking fees.

            Part Two: Trouble on the Blue Nixie. Fireseek 20, 594 CY

            Seeing as Humphrey is so large and heavy, the group gets rid of most of their gear as they find out that the ship is not docked at a port but moored about 100-feet off shore. They leave Humphrey on the dock waiting for them and he quickly becomes bored and a local water taxi stops and picks him up and takes him out to the Nixie. He manages to climb up the anchor rope and gets on board before anyone sees him. This occupies the sailors when they finally notice him when he tosses one of them overboard. The rest of the group has come around to the stern of the ship and started to climb up that way. They managed to kill the sailors but not before a small fire is started in the hold and something nasty and hairy that attacked Humphrey when he finally got down to the hold to investigate.

            He flew into a rage and pummelled the thing to death before anyone else got to helping him. The hold was full of cages but by the time the group got down there most of them were dead. The cages had been torn apart by the hairy beast. The group then had to put out a small fire and helped what animals were still alive. Humphrey had passed out after he was over his rage. The group healed him enough to get him awake and got ready to leave. Wik and Lucky had managed to find the ring their patron was looking for and they decided to vacate the ship. They headed back to their patrons house and returned the ring to her. She was so happy that she asked the group to come work for her for the next little while. The group agreed and she told them to meet her early the next day in order to accompany her to the family vault under Castle Teraknian.

            Part Three: The Vanderboren Vault. Fireseek 21, 594 CY

            The group accompanies Lady Vanderboren to the family vault and it takes them most of the morning to gain access to the vault. The lock was unique as it was a rotating pillar in the centre of the room. They had a clue that Wik pulled out of his pocket and showed the others. It seemed like nonsense until they finally figured out the clue. Once they had access, Lady Vanderboren was dismayed to find most of the treasure gone other than one chest full of coins and another coffer full of papers and a large ledger. She grabbed the coin and paid the group what she owed them and collected all the papers and proceeded back up to the surface. She stopped and talked with the clerk and was shocked to find out her brother Vanthus had been to the vaults a few days before. She informed the clerk that her brother had been missing for over a month and she wanted to be informed if he returned to the vault. The clerk agreed to do so and the group then headed back to her manor.

            Part Four: Peril under Parrot Island. Fireseek 24, 594 CY

            The next day the group met with Lady Lavinia and she asked them to find her brother Vanthus. She was worried about him and wanted to talk to him. The group then spent two days looking for any sign of him and they found that he had been keeping company with Brissa Santos a notorious pick pocket. But no one had seen either of them for a few weeks. Finally they were approached by a shifty half-elf who told them where to find Vanthus. He was reported to be setting up a smuggling operation below the island. So the next day the man led them to the island and showed them the trail that led inland and finally to the door in the ground that opened to show a pit thirty feet deep with a hook just below the door with a rope hanging down into the darkness. The group climbed down and were looking around when the man up above was whacked and then tossed down the hole. That’s when Vanthus started taunting the group and finally closed the door and rolled some boulders on top of the door. The group was now forced to investigate the ruins and quickly encountered some zombies. Cris’toff was forced to turn the undead a few times and as they were fighting, more of them came at them from the rear.  They finished off this group of zombies and continued exploring. The one tunnel they looked down was flooded with seawater as the tide was still in. they turned around and soon encountered more zombies and their undead master. They finished off the zombies and their master and then spent a few hours looking for an exit. The only thing they could see was the flooded tunnel. Humphrey packed the gnomes on his shoulders and the humans followed him into a large cavern that was flooded with water. They then spotted a landing with a tunnel. Looking into it they spotted a door and Humphrey managed to bash it open with his club. They found the remains of a man with a piece of scroll paper clutched in his hands.

            It was a final confession from Penkus, former ally of Vanthus and he said that Vanthus had abandoned him here to the clutches of the undead. The note gave the group some clues about where Vanthus might be. One of them was the Taxidermists Guild as the owner was somehow involved with the Lotus Dragon Guild. The body was extremely ripe and the group didn’t want to get too close. They checked the room and didn’t see anything until Wik looked in and spotted the secret door in the back wall. They managed to open the door and found a small room covered in dust and cobwebs. Inside were three large sea chests and Wik managed to pick the locks and the group found coin in the first two and the third contained a dozen potions along with a wand and a small jade coffer. Inside the coffer was a brown gem with a slip of paper identifying it as an earth elemental gem. Humphrey packed the loot back while they checked out the pool. Wik then found the tunnel that led out to the ocean and swam it and managed to get back around onto the island about an hour later and managed to roll the rocks off the trap door and opened it to find the group waiting down below. They then climbed out and brought the loot up with them.

            The entire group has now gained enough experience points for third level except for Humphrey who still has to wait to gain fourth level before he can start gaining barbarian levels. The group then spent some time role playing lots of encounters in the city before they decided to investigate the Taxidermists Guild.

            Part Five: the Lotus and the Dragon. Fireseek 25 594 CY

        Next the group investigated the Taxidermists guild and found it to be a modest building in the Sunrise District. The group managed to get Wik inside to look things over while the rest distracted the shop keeper. The others were found out and chased from the building leaving Wik hiding inside. He found the trapdoor leading down and investigated before coming back up and waiting for the others.

            Humphrey proved to be the distraction while they recovered Wik without the shopkeeper realizing that he had been inside. Next the Lotus Dragons made their presence felt when they accosted the group coming out of a public house. A young male bumped into Humphrey and left a note in his belt. Sable noticed it and pulled it out and read it. It warned the group that the Lotus Dragons were watching and if they continued what they were doing there would be consequences for the group. They returned to the public house and planned there next action. They ended up being jumped by a pair of humans and Humphrey used one of the gnomes, Whisky to be exact as a gnome missile. He killed the human and the other jumped down a well in the center of the block. The group headed over to the well and looked down.

            Wik jumped down and started climbing down. Sable dropped the rope and bucket down fifty feet before he hit water. He cranked the bucket up to find the water foul and brackish. He dropped the bucket down and then grunted in surprise when a weight took the rope. Wik had grabbed on and was now dropping into the cavern. He hit with a splash. Then he had to fight a croc while the group watched on. Adla caused Humphrey to fall into the well and they hit the water with a splash. Then they managed to kill the croc and climbed back up the well with the rope that Sable tied off and tossed down. Humphrey had to be hauled up when he was knocked out by some attacks from behind while he waited for the other two to climb back up to safety.

            They finally managed to get out and staggered back to the mansion to lick their wounds and recover. Two days later the group returned to the Taxidermists shop to find a sign on the door saying it was closed due to a family illness. The group solved the problem about getting in by using Humphrey to open the back door. They then managed to get down into the tunnels and managed to squeeze Humphrey through the trapdoor by reducing his size by a spell cast by Lucky. They then attacked the rogues that were waiting and managed to start exploring. Humphrey soon found the guild leader; a woman named Rowyn and started talking to her. The rest of the group appeared and started negotiating with her. She gave them a job offer they couldn’t ignore so they agreed to leave to discuss it among them. Adla convinced the group that they had to take her out so they turned around and headed back. They soon fought the rest of the guild and quickly forced Rowyn and her pet to flee. After clearing the site they soon found themselves back at Rowyn’s quarters and soon found the only locked door there. Wik found out the hard way that it was trapped by setting off the traps. They found three chests, one contacted the mechanism for the floor trap, and the second held a whole bunch of loot and the third contained numerous bags of coin and jewels all with the family crest of the Vanderborens. While they were checking this out, Humphrey got hungry and wandered over to the kitchen and looked for something to eat. He encountered the cook named Churtle who was intimidated by him and quickly served him lunch. He was highly impressed by the meal and managed to talk Churtle into cooking for him and the group as her previous employer was now gone. He introduced her to the group and they were amused to see that she was a kobold and definitely knew how to cook. She also volunteered that she made poison and almost never confused which pot held which. She gathered her meagre belongings and accompanied them when they left. They returned the property to Lavinia and she was so happy that she paid the group a bonus. They then spent the next few days spending their money. Then had a banquet and dance in their honour after eliminating the Lotus Dragon Guild and were all awarded the Spire of Sasserine medal from the Dawn Council. Their patron then asked them to travel to Blood Bay and investigate Kraken’s Cove.

Chapter Two; the Bullywug Gambit (Dungeon Magazine 140 Nov/06)

            Part One: To Kraken’s Cove, Readying 10 594 CY  The group travels by ship, hiring the Loose Lady captained by Jocko and arrived late in the evening and camped for the night.

            Part Two: Kraken’s Cove, Readying 11 594 CY The group investigates the cove and is attacked by some deformed monkeys that savagely attack the group. Wik is bitten by one of them and instantly starts feeling the effects from the bite. The group finally gets down to the beach and finds chaos everywhere. The group is attacked by some savage pirates and Humphrey swings at one of them and horribly misses, losing his great club in the process. He ends up going for a swim to try and find it and finds the remains of a tree limb instead. The gnomes have fun casting spells on him and he is not impressed. Investigating the caves, the group finds a couple of creatures that attack and almost kill Wik but the group prevails.

They continue exploring and clean out the caverns until they encounter Harliss Javell, a pirate captain under attack from savage pirates. They save her and speak with her and find out that all of the chaos here has been caused by Vanthus trying to steal an item that she had on her ship. It exploded and caused the savage disease to run rampant through the caverns killing everyone. She tells the group that she has sent her first mate, the half-orc Drevoraz to Sasserine to wipe out the Vanderboren Manor. The group is horrified to find out what has happened and tells her that they were looking for Vanthus to arrest him. Harliss agrees to write a note for her first mate but can’t make any promises. The group then leaves her and clears out the rest of the caverns but not before they encounter Yo-Yo’s old friend and Vanthus’ lover Brissa, now horribly changed forever. The group is forced to kill her and they then leave. Once outside the caverns they head back to the beach. Before they get there, Sable and Jake are attacked by more savage monkeys and unfortunately Jake is bitten twice and succumbed to the savage fever. He attacked Humphrey and savagely bit him a few times before the group is forced to kill him in front of the stunned Sable. They make it to the beach and are delayed a day when they spot a large ship off the horizon with red sails. Their ship is forced to hide until it leaves. The next day they are picked up and return to Sasserine just in time to witness the Wormfall Festival going on at full blast. The streets are crowded with partiers all over as they arrive and dock.

Part Three: The Wormfall Festival, Readying 13 594 CY the group managed to land just outside the city and started heading to the Vanderboren Manor. They were seriously delayed three times; the first was a belligerent gnome who managed to cause a fight with Humphrey and the results were hilarious to watch. The group managed to get the gnome and his buddy into the nearest tavern for a drink as they continued on. Next they managed to save an open air tavern from a runaway float that still managed to kill a few patrons when the group stopped it just in front of the tavern but it was very unbalanced so it tipped over dumping lamp oil onto some people and caught fire. The last was a group of stilt-walkers that attacked the group as they passed. The group took them out with no problems except for Yo-Yo who was attacked by a woman wearing a black body suit with a white painted skeleton on it. She nailed him hard a couple of times but fled when she realized that her followers were all dead. The group finally made it to the Manor

Part Four: Frogs in the House, Reading 13 594 CY The group walked right up to the front doors and threw them open to find three bullywugs on guard inside. The group took only moments to kill them.  The group went through the house and managed to kill off all the bullywugs and the pet of the chieftain, a large rust monster. They rescued Lavinia and the Jade Ravens that had been captured.  They were not in time to save her servant Cora as she had been killed just before the group showed up. They killed the half-orc who had been sent to do the deed.

Churtle

Adla started removing the dead bodies and found that Churtle was quick to help. She found Churtle looking at something she had found and went over to her and found she was looking at a disk of wood. They spent the night resting and Cris’toff and Sable cast remove disease on Wik and Humphrey curing them of the savage fever. Next was the dispersal of the loot and the group gone to spend some money?

Side Trek; Fiendish Footprints (Dungeon Magazine #122 May 2005)

(I decided to throw this side trek in to give the group some more experience and to get them some fairly easy swag as they have been squawking about getting magic items. This encounter gave them more than I figured but they are going to need it for the events to come.)

The group had to call on the services of a sage in Sasserine to find out that the disk of wood contained a map to a ruin called Ashen’s Tower that was located to the west of Cauldron. The group was given permission from their patron to take the time to investigate if they wished and they decided to travel to Cauldron to get more information.  They found some information about Ashen’s Tower and found that it was to the west and it would be fairly hard to find. They were also told that a band of hobgoblins was operating in the area and they should be careful. After leaving Cauldron they traveled to the west.

Interlude; the Lucky Monkey (Dungeon Magazine #98 May 2003)

Readying 17 594 CY (I used this as a one shot event to give the party some quick experience and loot.)

It was late afternoon when the group came across the Lucky Monkey. The group became suspicious when they couldn’t get in and ultimately the group was forced to break in and found that a group of brigands had just attacked it and killed everyone and they were busy looting. The group killed all of the raiders including their boss, a large were-baboon named Tongue Eater. They rescued a woman in the basement who had managed to survive and ended up escorting her back to Cauldron. Once they were done they headed back west again.

Readying 22 594 CY The group found the trail leading into the woods and soon came across the scene of a battle between a group of elves and the hobgoblins they had been warned about. After speaking with the elves, the group agreed to try and capture the enemy leader that the elves badly wanted. They even offered a reward if they could produce his body. The group agreed and then was invited to stay for dinner.

Readying 23 594 CY This day the group headed into the woods and were attacked twice by forest creatures and managed to drive them off. Finally the group found the ruins of Ashen’s Tower and found the entrance underground. Once they entered they were attacked by the hobgoblins and quickly killed them all. The group then started exploring the remaining ruins and had to get past a wall of stone. Sable managed to soften the rock and they entered into the ruins that had been untouched for decades. They became worried when the first things they encountered were some sort of vampire as Wik was hit twice and drained of energy.  They encountered more of these until they came to a room with a massive suit of armor wielding a scimitar. Humphrey whacked it apart with a little help from the group and they turned back and checked out the last room. There they found a vampire that they killed and destroyed. They searched the body and Wik found a cloven hoof along with bracers and a ring.  The hoof he slipped into his pouch. (This would later turn out to be fatal after the hoof finally cursed Wik with vampirism and an intense craving for blood.) They then searched for the loot and found it in the wall of the first trap. They found some interesting things including a Deck of Many Things (I have wanted to use this ever since I had purchased the deck last year. Cool Prop!) What amazed me was that three out of eight drew the Rogue Card; someone you trust will turn on you. This gives me lots of possibilities. That and the party cleric drew Flames, gain the notice of an Outsider, I already know who? In fact it’s more than one!

Readying 24 594 CY they stop and visit with the elves and hand over the head of the hobgoblin and stay for dinner. This is when the cohorts from the deck appear and Cris’toff acquires Leadership and has twin brother elves pledge their services to him. Now the group is a dozen and can’t get any larger.

Chapter Three; The Sea Wyvern’s Wake (Dungeon Magazine 141 Dec/06)

Part One: A Modest Proposal, Coldeven 3 594 CY They have returned to Sasserine and met with their patron Lady Lavinia who informs them that she intends to follow up her parent’s legacy and travel to the Isle of Dread to support the colony of Farshore that her parents started years ago. She has her ship the Blue Nixie mostly loaded but she still needs more room. Does the group want to accompany her there? Of course! Now where to find a ship? They remember the caravel that had been at anchor in Blood Bay when they had been there. The group travels there and recovers the Sea Wyvern and returns her to Sasserine. Now the group owns a ship and they are ready to go. The crew has been hired along with a haughty nobleman who is accompanying them as his family’s sponsor seeing as Lady Lavinia had needed the help of another family to fully finance the mission south. The group spends some money while Sable acquires a new pet, a baby dinosaur that is newly hatched. This could be fun.   

Part Two: Life on the Ocean Waves, Coldeven 7 594 CY The group sets sail after a short delay waiting for Avner Meravanchi to board the vessel. They had to resort to magic to prevent him from bringing his warhorse Thunderstrike on board. So off they went to sea even though they won’t get out of sight of the coast until they round the continent and hit the open sea.

Coldeven 10 594 CY Lady Lavinia hosts a dinner party on board the Blue Nixie. Just the group is their so they are glad for the extra bit of room seeing as this ship is larger. They enjoy themselves and speak with the Jade Ravens. When they go to return, the first person going back is tossed into the water when the rope snapped. This was good for Cris’toff as he would have gone for a swim if had not cast a water walk in time. He landed softly on the water and walked over to the ship and climbed up. When he did, he was attacked by a mephit that nipped him a few times and then dove into the water and swam away.

Coldeven 20 594 CY the ships arrive at Fort Blackwell, their first stop in their long journey. They spend the night and proceed south in the morning, one of the passengers stays overnight at the local shrine and returns in the morning.

Part Three: The Voyage South, Coldeven 27 594 CY the passenger that stayed overnight at the shrine, Father Feres becomes ill and is seen to by Cris’toff. Seeing as Cris’toff had been poisoned during dinner the night before, the group is concerned that he may have been poisoned. What has happened to him is much more sinister as later that day the group is horrified to find some sort of egg inside of him that proceeds to hatch by bursting out of the body, killing the man instantly. The creature grew to become a blue slaad and it attacked the group. It was finally driven off when it made a passage through the side of the ship and dove into the water.

Growfest 594 CY The ships stop in the afternoon to take on water at the Havekihu River. After watering they set sail again. Soon after they are forced to stop and anchor due to sea fog and Humphrey takes the change to go fishing after dusk and manages to hook a large flat fish and hauls it aboard.

Planting 1 594 CY Early in the morning, three of the party wakes up when something bumps into the hull of the Sea Wyvern. The ship is attacked by something oozy that has some fun with Humphrey before they kill it and recover a couple of magic items.

Planting 5, 594 CY (First PC Death; hopefully not the last) the noble is attacked in his bunk and evidence suggests a vampire as he has puncture wounds in his neck and Wik is accused of doing it. All because of the magic item he picked up from earlier. He now had a craving for fresh blood. Humphrey then disappears before morning. His club has made him go for a swim to awaken its powers. He manages to swim to land and gets lost in the jungle. He wakes up and soon realizes that his great club can do things now. Things come to a head with Wik when he finally succumbs to the curse of the hoof and turns evil. He attacks Adla and is soon killed. They recover Humphrey and continue on.

Planting 6, 594 CY Introduce the new PC, Grat Sunseeker, a hadozee from the Forgotten Realms. He comes through a magical vortex when the ship he was on was attacked and destroyed blowing him through the hole in time and space to this world. He is rescued by the group and agrees to join them. What else is new! This is a game after all. Adla drops the body of Wik overboard when they see some sharks feeding and drops the hoof he had been cursed from overboard in an iron box over a deep spot while they sail. (Too bad someone was watching what they did. There is more to come about this later. Evil Grin!)

Planting 14, 594 CY (I was going to use the original Adventure for this but found one on the Paizo site that worked even better. It also took more game sessions than I first planned, but they accomplished what I wanted.) Arrive off the coast of Tamoachan and help Urol explore the fabled ruins. It takes a day and the group finds some nice magic items and a golden bat idol dedicated to Camazotz, the Olman God of Bats. They also received some vague warnings that the group was being watched by something from the Outer Planes.

Planting 19, 594 CY The ship overcomes an attack from a pirate ship flying the Scarlet Brotherhood flag. They easily destroy the ship and kill the corsairs and suffer some damage from being rammed. They capture a ballista and ammo.

Flocktime 1, 594 CY The ships plan to stop and re-supply at Fort Greenrock but find the Fort in ruins. Something has come out of the jungle and wiped it out. Looking further at appears an uprising of lizard-men has destroyed the outpost.

Flocktime 5, 594 CY The ships stop at the mouth of the Atikula River to refresh the water supplies. The Sea Wyvern is attacked by a Seven Headed Hydra and the group kills it and finds some treasure down below including a Cloak of the Manta Ray taken by Adla.

Flocktime 11, 594 CY The group stops at the village of Renkrue on the isle of Axuxal, just off the continent to the south. This is the last stop before the Isle of Dread. The group is feasted by the villagers and the group purchases food supplies.

Flocktime 22, 594 CY The Sea Wyvern gets lost in the Pearl Current and loses the Blue Nixie. The ship finally passes the isle of Ruja. Its cliffs towered a thousand feet high and Grat decided to get rowed over to the island and proceeded to climb them and launched himself back to the ship.  

Flocktime 26, 594 CY The ship finally runs into a storm and is tossed around during the night.

Wealsun 2, 594 CY The group awakens to find themselves mired in the Sargasso Sea, a massive growth of seaweed. They set out to explore and come across the Mother of All in the centre and finally destroy it.

Wealsun 8, 594 CY A massive storm strikes just as the ship sights the Isle of Dread. During the night the Sea Wyvern is forced onto the rocks along a desolate stretch of beach. The group manages to swim to shore.

Chapter Four; Here There Be Monsters (Dungeon Magazine 142 Jan/07)

Part One: Terror Bird Jungle, Wealsun 9, 594 CY The group awakens and is attacked by a T-Rex. The nobleman was attacked and swallowed by the beast before they could kill it. They spend the day salvaging food stuffs from the ship now 200 feet from shore. The only over survivors from the shipwreck are the Captain, Urol the gnome and Tavey the cabin boy. 

Wealsun 10, 594 CY After Urol plans a route to the south they move out through the jungle and walk. Then they come across a large depression and pass through it. They come across a young dinosaur being pursued by six terror birds. They attack the birds and kill them. They continue heading towards the mountains to the south. Then they came across ruins and found a little old lady sitting on a throne of bone surrounded by spiders. She was very intrigued about the group and they spent some time telling her about their adventure. After they were done she then gave them a message before letting them continue on, but not before warning them that some terror birds were nesting right where they needed to go. They found the birds and killed them and found the tunnel under the mountain.

Part Two: Dark Mountain Pass, Wealsun 11, 594 CY they finally came across an outpost and started exploring and encountered two colossal centipedes. Matt was nearly finished when he was bitten by one of them and almost became lunch. Exploring the ruins, they encountered 3 mummies’ that attacked the group when they opened the secret door. Amelia was attacked and died from the mummy rot. Lucky and Lamar were also infected. Then they fought some crabs outside and stopped for lunch. After dark something disrupts the watch a couple of times during the night. 

Part Three: Cliffs of Dread, Wealsun 12, 594CY the group senses that something is watching them. End of the day attacked by gargoyles waiting along the trail. Sable spots a large orang-utan above the trail causing a rockslide. He notices that it has massive fangs and red eyes. They then stopped for the night and were awakened just before morning by another rockslide that tumbled to the ground just outside the camp.

Wealsun 13, 594CY they walked until dinner time and came to a break in the trail. It continued on sixty feet above the lower road. There was a lift there but the group didn’t use it. Sable flew all the small people up as the others started to climb. Humphrey slipped and fell into the ocean over 100 feet below. Everyone enjoyed the splash.

Wealsun 14, 594CY they continued walking until dinnertime when they were attacked by more gargoyles and killed them. They continued until dark and camped.

Part Four: Fogmire, Wealsun 15, 594CY at mid-afternoon come to a change in the trail as it turns east and heads inland. After ten miles the trail leads into the wet jungle. Attacked by some jungle spiders and continue into the jungle. There is an aura of wrongness about the place when the group finds a clearing in the swamp. (The influence of the Abyss is strong here) They find a gruesome sight, a dead Olman male attached upside down on a wooden frame. It imparts a message to the group and they decide to camp for the night. While Humphrey is on watch, the demonic ape (a Bar-Igura demon) appears and attacks him then disappears. He turns in horror and looks across the campsite to see Urol and Churtle in the grasp of two other demons as they disappear into thin air, the demonic laugh echoing in everyone’s head.

            Wealsun 16, 594CY after waking up from a fretful sleep, Humphrey and some others were haunted by their dreams. (They fell under the Abyssal influence of the Gaping Maw, home to the Prince of Demons) Cris’toff manages to locate the gear of missing and the group soon finds the twin baboon heads guarding the Shrine of Demogorgon. They enter and have to overcome a bizarre room in order to advance. Cris’toff casts divination and it helps to figure it out. Then they encounter the demons and are attacked again. The next encounter is a spirit naga that Adla and Grat quickly kill. After finding a few unusual items (including a meta-magic rod) and the next room needed two monkey paws to get the door open. (This fight generated the first deaths in the group and the next one killed one of the PC’s, Wrong place at the wrong time.) They investigate the other door and find a throne room with a mob of baboons waiting inside. These attack and the demons pick this time to show up again. The fight is brutal as they manage to summon some others to help. The group kills all but one but they kill the elven cohorts of Cris’toff before they die.

            Humphrey attacks the mob of baboons and kills them all with the support of Sable. When the fight is over the he is snatched by a demon and the group has to rescue them. They find the other paw and pass through into the main throne room and encounter the boss demon and attack and finally kill it thanks to Adla and her good aligned weapon. A massive construct awakens after the fight and pounds Sable the druid into pulp. The others attack it and kill it, recover their dead and leave the Shrine. The gnome cleric of Pelor manages to revive Sable after sacrificing a magic item. The next day the druid reincarnates the dead twins and they come back to life as gnomes. (Talk about bloody confusing now. Out of the group of a dozen, most of the party is now gnomes. Good Lord!!! And I guess Poetic Justice of a sort. It’s the rise of the little people.)

Chapter Five; the Tides of Dread (Dungeon Magazine 143 Feb/07)

Part One: Raiders from Rats End, Wealsun 20, 594 CY after coming into contact with the Olman village of Tanaroa the group heads south to the south shores of the island and the villagers from Mora give them a lift to Farshore. Rounding the point they realize that the colony is under attack from pirates and they land to help out. The fight is brief and brutal with the group killing most of the pirates off easily. After the fight was over, information reveals that this was just the prelude to what is to come. They find out that the Crimson Fleet is going to attack Farshore in two months time and frantic preparations start in upgrading the defences of the colony. The group is tasked to get help from the Olman villages for warriors to defend Farshore.

Part Two: Zotzilaha’s Wrath, Wealsun 22, 594CY the group arrives at Tanaroa to find some sort of ceremony in full swing. Then an aspect of Zotzilaha appears and demands the return of a stolen bat idol that the group recovered in Tamoachan months before. The villagers agree to help the colony if the group returns the idol safely. They quickly agree to return the idol back to the shrine in the volcano where it was stolen from. The group travels to Nextepeua where the shrine is located and head into the volcano following the lava tube tunnel. They find the shrine and encounter the aspect of Zotzilaha now guarding it. They return the idol and for that act Zotzilaha rewards the group with an item of their choosing each from the secret room behind the bat carving on the wall. Everyone finds an item that they can use. Some of them are more valuable than the others but everyone is satisfied.

Unfortunately the items picked by Cris’toff, a set of gnome sized mithral breastplate and for Matt, a ring of invisibility, end up being tainted and the two of them are cursed. For Cris’toff he ends up changing sex and becoming a female and she renames herself Sparklegem. For Matt Finish the ring changes his hair color permanently to bright blue.

Part Three: A Trip to the Tar Pits, Wealsun 25, 594CY the group detours on the way home to check out the tar pits. Something the group will need in order to recover and repair the Sea Wyvern. They investigate the tar pits and soon encounter a massive T-Rex that has been using the tar pits as its dinner table. They find it attacking some small monkey-like humanoids that they recognize as phanatons. They attack the massive lizard and kill it and the body falls on Grat and almost kills him. They help him out from his depression in the ground and then start speaking with the phanatons. They are fascinated by Grat and the group thinks he is just a larger version of them except he doesn’t have a tail. 

Part Four: Temple of the Jaguar, Richfest 3, 594CY after going to the phanaton village and speaking with the tribe, the group gets an agreement for the village to send some of their finest warriors south to help Farshore. Then they are informed of an abandoned temple to the cat-people that Adla recognizes as Rakasta. They are told it is a three day trek north-west of the village into the deepest parts of the jungle to find it. The fun part is playing with all the nasty plants and critters that live in the jungle. After finding the abandoned temple the group is successful in negotiating with the serpent guardian and uncovers the hidden weapons, including three that are enchanted. The group then returns to Farshore with the weapons and help in preparing for the pirate attack.

Part Five: Reclaiming the Sea Wyvern, Reaping 23, 594CY the group borrows the Blue Nixie and loads it with materials to repair the Sea Wyvern, arriving at the wreck they find that an aquatic druid had taken over the ship and was using it for its lair. They manage to drive it off and spend a week repairing the Sea Wyvern and then sail it back to Farshore.

Part Six: The Crimson Sunset, Goodmonth 9, 594CY Farshore is alerted that the pirate fleet has been spotted heading towards Farshore. Everyone prepares for the fight to come. (The fight was brutal and took a lot longer than I thought. Four game sessions in fact.) To the horror of Lavinia and the residents of Farshore, the leader of the pirates is none other than her brother Vanthus, now changed into some sort of demon. He attacks with his pirates along with three Vrock demons who teleport right into the middle of Farshore and they summon another one before they start doing their dance of ruin.  Also in the assault are four flesh golems that come out of the water and start attacking at random. The group is forced to split up to attack the various components of the attack.

Vanthus and all his demons were slain but not before Vanthus attempted to use a shadow pearl on Farshore. The group managed to put the pearl into the enchanted haversack belonging to Matt Finish but all the items in it were destroyed when the pearl went off in the sack. By the time the fight was done, Matt Finish and Alarice were dead along with Bucky and Tolin the leader of the Jade Ravens.

Chapter Six; the Lightless Depths (Dungeon Magazine 144 Mar/07)

Part One: Negotiating With Monsters, Harvester 12, 594CY the group sails to the north end of the Isle of Dread to Gallivant Cove and meet and negotiate with Emraag “The Glutton.” A dragon turtle that has ruled the seas around the Isle for decades and is now considered a legendary creature. He is impressed by the eloquence of Adla and agrees to give the ships of Farshore free passage through the waters he controls.

Part Two: Dread Descent, Harvester 12, 594CY the group encounters some trogs as they enter the caverns and bluff their way past the first group. Soon they encounter a small village of trogs and rescue two captives. One a trog that has tried to prevent his tribe from falling under the influence of the Lords of Dread and the other is an Olman warrior who is somehow feebleminded. The trog agrees to lead the group down into the tunnels to show them where the Lords come from and they take the warrior with them as he cannot look after himself. Thirty miles inland the group comes across a blue shimmering curtain that bisects the cavern that they are moving through. The group can see images of Olman warriors in full battle regalia passing by them. They all appear to be crying or screaming. The group passes through the curtain and watch in amazement as the Olman warrior comes to his senses when he passes through it. The group is impressed with the power of the curtain and also realizes that the curtain is holding massive amounts of water at bay. The Olman warrior talks with the group and soon leaves heading back to the surface but not before the group gives him some gear to help him get back to the surface.

 Part Three: City of Madness, Harvester 17, 594CY the group finally arrives at the edge of the alien city of Golismorga and is almost overwhelmed by the alien architecture of it. Clearly created by some sort of alien intelligence the group has to climb down over 200 feet before they stand on the cavern floor. They can see two areas of interest, a large crater off to the west and a ziggurat that stands out to the south.  Humphrey is influenced towards the crater and the group follows him. They have to avoid buildings that appear to be alive and finally come to the crater to find a large stone reptilian head at the bottom of it.

 Part Four: Tlaloc’s Crater, Harvester 17, 594CY Humphrey looks at the crater and he instinctively knows what to do. He jumps down into the crater and lands on the rock and starts pounding away with his great club. The rest of the group is forced to deal with some sort of alien brain that appears and attacks the group while Humphrey is occupied. It manages to confuse most of the party before it turns its attentions to Humphrey but he manages to destroy the relic of Tlaloc before it can attack him. The resulting blast blows the creature somewhere else as the magic that held the waters at bay disappears when the relic blows up. Now the group has to explore quickly before the waters come.

 Part Five: The Heart of Madness, Harvester 17, 594CY the group finds that the ziggurat is the only thing occupied and manages to get to it to explore it further. At the base of the ziggurat they find an alien squid like being that swims through foul black liquid. Inside the liquid are multiple savage pearls steeping in the black bile of the world. They manage to destroy the guardian and the leader of the Kopru but not before Lamar is killed by the foulness of chaos. The group then runs out of the cavern back to the tunnel they used to enter and move as fast as they can to get back to the surface before the incoming waters flood the cavern again. Lamar is reincarnated as a human as there is not enough left to raise from the dead.

Chapter Seven; the City of Broken Idols (Dungeon Magazine 145 Apr/07)

Part One: The Missing Missionary, Patchwall 1, 594CY the group is asked to attend the church and there they find the Olman warrior that they rescued from the trogs. He bears a missive written by Noltus Innersol a member of Pelor’s church spreading the teachings of Pelor to the natives. He is now missing and the group is asked to find him. His last known location is the central plateau of the Isle of Dread. With the letter the group is given a disk showing three Olman Gods cooperating in building some sort of bow and Noltus figured that it was important. One of the members of the group is taken by the prowess of the Olman warrior and asked to be taught the means of becoming a Totemic Demon Slayer. The warrior says that they need to find one of the Olman wise women in order to become one. The group agrees to split up in order for Rey Roscoe the ranger to learn the teaching of the wise woman while the rest of the group will sail to the Isle and they agree to meet at the phanaton village. Patchwall 5, 594CY the group meets up again at the phanaton village and the next day proceed to start walking towards the central plateau. Rey is now covered with Olman tribal tattoos. Patchwall 8, 594CY the group arrives at the escarpment to the central plateau and has to figure out how to cross over the river canyon. They get across and head inland and have to fight a tough demon standing guard at the crossroads.

Part Two: the Central Plateau, Patchwall 10, 594CY the group stumbles across a group of lizard men who worship Pelor and they tell the group that they are waiting for their leader, a cleric of Pelor named Noltus to return from exploring the Taboo Island. The group spends the night in the camp and in the morning the cleric returns with his followers but it turns into an ambush with demons masquerading as the human and his followers. All the lizards are slain but the leader and the group manages to kill most of the demons and drive off the spell-casting acolyte before it is killed. They continue on until they reach the edge of the lake and the abandoned Olman village.

Then they encounter some couatl or feathered serpents that are guarding the slain body of the village cleric. They manage to speak with the spirit of the cleric and find out that they must travel across the lake to the island and the temple located there.

Part Three: Taboo Temple, Patchwall 11, 594CY the group decides to water-walk across the water with Sparklegem casting the spell and they proceed across. The group is attacked by the largest crocodile that they have ever seen and they barely manage to avoid the thirty foot jaws. They head towards the dock and manage to get there just in time to fight an aquatic demon that is waiting for them and it forces the group to head into the temple and they are soon attacked by the demon guards. The fight is nasty as two of the demons are spell-casters and they pummel the group with fireballs, Lamar is slain again. The group finally prevails and seeks shelter to recover. The group finds a chamber still dedicated to the Olman gods and they solve the puzzle with the help of a disk given to them by the Olman warrior in Farshore from Noltus and the gods grant them a boon and Rey becomes the owner of the Nimbus Bow, an artifact of the warrior Macutotnal. Lamar is reincarnated again as a half-elf. The next encounter is with three large frog-like demons with a foul stench and this was a short fight as the group managed to gang up on them. The volcanic caverns in the depths proved a challenge as the Kopru guardians managed to befriend Humphrey and drew them off into the cavern and this forced the rest of the group to try and rescue him. Patchwall 13, 594CY Once the Kopru were dealt with the group finally encounters Khala, the aspect of Demogorgon. The two headed demon is responsible for creating the shadow pearls and they manage to kill him after an extremely tough fight. When he dies, for a moment the visage of the Prince of Demons actually appears in front of the group and marks them for his retribution.

Chapter Eight; Serpents of Scuttlecove (Dungeon Magazine 146 May/07)

Part One: A Brother’s Revenge, Patchwall 18, 594CY The Sea Wyvern returns to Farshore to find the Vanderboren Manor has been damaged with a hole in the roof above Lavinia’s bedchamber. They are told that an undead Vanthus had returned and taken Lavinia and said he was going to Scuttlecove, home of the Crimson Fleet. The Jade Ravens have commandeered the Blue Nixie and have sailed off to rescue her. Later that day Humphrey is contacted while he is sleeping by the woman swashbuckler named Harliss they had encountered months before telling him that Lavinia had appeared in Scuttlecove and had then disappeared. The group the restocks the Sea Wyvern and sails north-east to find Scuttlecove.

Part Two: City in Chaos, Ready’reat 8, 594CY the group finds a place to hide the Sea Wyvern and leave the cohorts and animal companions on board in a hidden cove and the group sails a longboat into the harbour of Scuttlecove. The dream that Humphrey had received was that Harliss was waiting for them at Red Foam Whaling.

Part Three: Red Foam Whaling They found the building and they are ambushed by some snake-men called Yuan-ti and a succubus pretending to be Harliss. They kill the snakes but not before Humphrey is drained of energy from the demoness. Harliss is nowhere to be found but they find a clue that leads them to Tyralandi the owner of the only brothel in the city and manage to speak with her and she informs them that Harliss is in the Birdcage, the home of a flock of Harpies.

Part Four: The Birdcage, the group attacks the Birdcage and kills off the Harpies and finds Harliss and rescues her. During this time they also rescue two members of the Jade Ravens and find another dead.

Part Five: The Minting House, Ready’reat 9, 594CY the group then locates the Minting House and attacks it and fights it out with more Yuan-ti and some hirelings. The snakes get away and the group is forced to try and find the location of the Crimson Fleet the hard way. This includes a running battle through the streets of Scuttlecove involving multiple groups of Yuan-ti. They are forced to retreat back to the Minting House to rest for the night. Finally they pay for information that leads them to the hideout of the Crimson Fleet.

Part Six: Against the Crimson Fleet Ready’reat 11, 594CY the group finally finds the lair of the Crimson fleet and it is hidden by magic so that no one sees it accidently. The group leaves the cohorts on the ship and manages to get inside the illusion of a desolate saltmarsh and for the first time see the Wreck. It is five ships impaled on a massive dead tree held together by ropes and guy wires and the group doesn’t know how the ships stay in one place. They attack all the people they see and finally are forced to take on the pirates in their lair as one of the pirates manages to alert the leader of the Crimson Fleet and the fight is on. (This encounter was only four minutes in length but took six game sessions to finish off and it was a close thing for the group as the enemy threw everything at them but they managed to prevail.)

Chapter Nine; Into the Maw (Dungeon Magazine 147 June/07)

Part One: Into the Abyss, Ready’reat 14 594CY the group sends half the group to Sassarine to unload most of the bulk treasure and pick up some much needed scrolls and items. Once they return to the Sea Wyvern the group prepares to travel to the Abyss. Under full sail and assisted by Rey casting control winds the ship is soon flying across the water as Grat concentrates to activate the wakeportal that is now embedded in the wyvern figurehead and the group keeps a careful watch as a mauve sparkling light appears in the wake. Then clouds start to form above them and rapidly circle around the ship. As the magic strengthens, things start to boil up from the water beneath them and the smell of brine and blood intensifies. Then a flash of lightning strikes up from the wake to envelop the ship and suddenly the ship is shifted and when the group can see again they are looking out to a reddish sky and purplish brown water. Now they have to find the entrance to the Gaping Maw, home to the Prince of Demons.

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