Sea of Death Campaign Thread

"Much worse.," Sae says grimly.  "In four words: Hailstorm is not Blackstone but some warlock in the service of the powers of death and may well be the dead man himself; his second in command is a good man driven insane by the powers of death who now also wields their might; each of his ships carries at least one powerful undead mage; and to win Hailstorm's trust we must retrieve a powerful magical lamp for him that he guarded with all kinds of undead and traps before you most inconvieniently built this fort directly on top of it.  On the good side, we took care of the dragonborn for you.  I think."

"I see," the Admiral says, stroking his beard. His brow furrows with emotion, but you can't tell for sure whether it is worry or anger.

After a few moments lost in thought, he addresses you again.

"Hailstorm has always been obsessed with what would be best described as 'dark arts,' so perhaps I should have seen this coming. I... may even have some idea how this happened, and I pray to every power in the Heavens that I am wrong... Is there anything more that you can tell me about these 'powers of death' that hold sway over the pirates?"

Sayyida coughed, " There seems to be an 'angel' or shadowy feminine figure that they are following.....as one would follow a deity or the like.....they're a bit close lipped on specifics."

" Basically, do you want the lamp? Or do we give it to that piece of trash in order to keep the ruse going?", which way Sayyida is inclined seems fairly obvious.....

"And this "dark angel", as the Commander, Richards, calls her, has one of her centers of power in a cave in the island where he met her or rather was lured in by her.  The charm was so strong he instantly and unresistingly obeyed her command to join up with Hailstorm ... under whose thumb he also remains to this day.  And his adopted daughter is wrapped up in the mess too, tags along and cares for him as best she can."  Sae sighs.  "And we got in with Hailstorm by humiliating him and the two ships' crews under his command."  With that beginning and tempering factor, she goes on to fill in all other pertinent details that have been discovered.

Areleo shakes his head approvingly but says nothing.

The Admiral leans back in his seat and ponders for a few moments. You can almost hear the gears in his head. After a few moments, he answers.

"I see... if the Captain has actually returned, I think it would be best if you know what you're really up against," North says slowly. "I was sure that I had dealt him a death blow before he could complete his ultimate goal... but it appears that I was either mistaken, or this 'dark angel' has seen fit to coax his soul back from the abyss to give him a second chance. I won't mince words, in life, the Captain tried to craft a phylactery, and I stopped him several times before our final confrontation. I have my suspicions that what you have been sent to retrieve may be one of his failed attempts. Perhaps one that either the Captain or this 'dark angel' feels was close enough to be salvaged."

North closes his eyes for a moment and sighs.

"Before you return the lantern to its owner, bring it to me. It is too dangerous to simply hand it over to him without first understanding what it does and why he may want it."

" Aye-aye, Sir."

" We'd best be getting back."

Sounds like the plan, at least from Sayyida, is to go back to the cavern now... is there anything else that Sae or Areleo wants to do or say before returning to Emrys and Wade?

Sae nods and salutes before joining the general reunion pilgrimage.  As she does, you can hear her muttering, "I just wish I had some way of knowing what they're thinking.  This double cross is so obvious, you'd think they'd at least take precautions that allow for the possibility ... "  She carefully scans near and far surroundings before proceedin.

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Insight 13

Investigation 16

Quote from OisinmacCameron >>

Sae nods and salutes before joining the general reunion pilgrimage.  As she does, you can hear her muttering, "I just wish I had some way of knowing what they're thinking.  This double cross is so obvious, you'd think they'd at least take precautions that allow for the possibility ... "  She carefully scans near and far surroundings before proceedin.

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Insight 7

Investigation 7

" We will be discovered. It is inevitable.....one of the dead mages may be scrying on us as we speak.  It is best to simply ready yourself for when the trap does close, and fight ferociously to be clear of it.", Sayyida said with a grin.

With a 2/3 consensus, I'll assume that you decide to return to your companions.

The entire encounter only lasted about 15 minutes from meeting the guards to being sent on your way, and the total time you were gone was a little bit less than an hour. Emrys, Wade, and Yevelda are still where Sayyida, Sae, and Areleo left them (I assume... unless Emrys and Wade would like to do something else).

Now that the team is reunited and some of you have received additional orders from the Admiral, what is your next move?

Areleo speaks up, "Areleo is not very stealthy so it might be good if Areleo stays out here and protects the entrance." 

"Honestly, I ain't great at sneakin' round either," Yevelda says with a chuckle. "But somehow, I don't think that's our plan. I kinda figured we were goin' in swingin' and crushing all the zombies the Cap'ain so considerately left down there for us."

She glances at Emrys.

"But feel free to correct me if I'm off the mark."

Wade's all set

"Well, to sneak around well you first need some idea about the layout of the place you're sneaking around in.," Sae observes.  "Or plenty of time to scout it.  Doesn't seem like we're being offered either in this case.  We'll just have to be as unobtrusive as we can until we see what's waiting for us."

Sayyida waited until the others were ready to move in, she doubted the dead were posting lookouts.

As Sae prepares to follow Emrys, she suddenly slaps her forehead.  "Um, guess I shouldn't expect you to lead us well without full information, should I, Captain?  Here's our report."  She draws the warlock aside and fills him in on the upshot of her team's meeting with North.

He answers to Sae’s call and hear as she tell him their new orders, but them convinced that she enjoyed calling him captain as a way of teasing. The new order meant one thing for sure – the disguise would be busted. Unless they managed to convince Hailstorm that the lantern had already been retrieved. Either way, we’ll need to get the damn thing.

“I’ll keep your suggestion in mind.” He said as she finished, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Ok, everyone. Coast is clear and we are ready to enter. I can see up to 120 feet in complete darkness, even if it is magic darkness, and I can also hid completely behind someone larger than myself.” He turned his eyes to the tallest in the group. “We should enter in a single line, Arleo and myself on the vanguard.” The triton was sure to be a better swimmer than the half-orc.   “If everyone’s in agreement, make the prayers you want, take the potions you need and let’s dive.”

Emrys was ready to shadow Arleo, swimming in a way that he could hide behind the barbarian. The triton would soon notice that the halfling had no difficulty following him. Quite the contrary, he could swim even faster. And now it beings.

Wade crosses himself and says "Let's get this show on the ... road, waves... lets go." 

With that, those who are not aquatic by nature each down a potion of water breathing and everyone plunges into the depths. The shining moonlight fades as you swim down towards the gaping hole in the rock.

As you descend deeper and deeper towards the mouth of the cave, you notice how eerily still the waters are. Normally, you would expect to see fish and other sea life. But here... nothing. It is as if nature itself can sense that evil lurks within the cavern that is your destination.  At last, after what feels like an hour, but is likely no more than 10 minutes, you find yourselves at the mouth of the cave...



Those of you who can normally see in the dark might not notice it immediately... but after a few moments you realize that there is a faint blue light illuminating the cavern, but you can't quite tell what the source of that light is...

Everyone, please make a Perception check! The light in the cavern is dim, so anyone who doesn't have darkvision makes the Perception check at disadvantage.

Also, what order are you swimming in?