This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Wendell: Please list the order in which your spells are cast and make two Arcana checks.
Guan Hao: In the slime-covered room, you spot amap depicting a series of islands on the wooden table and what looks to be a metallic tray of some sort submerged beneath a layer of slime on the floor. If you wish to enter the obelisk room. If you wish to search the obelisk room, please make a Wisdom save. If you wish to search the open deck, please make either a Perception or Investigation check.
Balasar: Aside from avoiding the obelisk room until the wizards are done, do you take any actions?
Reeves: Do you take any actions?
Elaric: Elaric, after approximately one minute of screaming and cowering as far from the obelisk as he can get (without actually jumping off the ship), will attempt to re-enter the obelisk room. As a result, he makes another Wisdom Save: 23 [OOC: He will not use another protection spell on himself as it would be one spell too many to recover during a short rest and he wants his full arsenal available when the party goes below deck.]
All Characters: Per concerns raised about a short rest vs the ship sinking, any character in on the discussion may make either an Intelligence or Wisdom check to determine whether or not you have time to rest. Also, as the point was raised, Reeves appears to be badly injured - any character who comes near him during this time is assumed to notice this fact and may act on that observation if they so choose.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
With some effort, Elaric is able to endure the fear-inducing effects of the obelisk. As with Wendell, he will attempt his own investigations, beginning with a visual examination of the object with special attention to the runes engraved on it.
With the casters examining the obelisk, Reeves staggers out to the open deck to try and assess the state of the ship since their skirmish.
Wisdom check: 21
Reeves is fairly certain that, while the ship IS riding low in the water, it has not dipped noticably since the party first sighted it. Though not a nautical man, if pressed, he would guess at least a few days remain before the ship sinks beneath the ocean's surface.
Reeves returns to the slime room to address Guan Hao and anyone else present.
"We should take a brief rest while we can. The casters look like they'll be busy for a while, and I don't think we have to worry about the ship sinking for a few days."
Reeves returns to the slime room to address Guan Hao and anyone else present.
"We should take a brief rest while we can. The casters look like they'll be busy for a while, and I don't think we have to worry about the ship sinking for a few days."
If the ship looks to be in no danger of sinking imminently, then we should attempt to rest while we can; there's no telling what we may encounter as we proceed further below.
Wendell is going to take a chance to look around the room we are currently resting in, specifically looking for any additional written records or books.
Choosing to rest and compose themselves before moving on, the party settles briefly in the aft cabin of the middle deck. While Wendell makes a perception check to look for book, what will the rest of the party do?
Wendell discovers a worn and faded book which appears to be a journal. Upon closer examination, however, he finds the pages soggy and molding. Whatever words it once contained have long-since smeared to a blotchy, illegible mess.
This time, his examinations have born fruit. He informs the group that the eyeball creatures appear to be a cross between a subspecies of beholder and some form of goblin, the results of which have been mutated by unknown magics. He recalls several fables - passed on by some of the oldest known goblin tribes - in which such abominations were named chaos goblins and were said to hail from realms beyond the planes of existence. They serve the goblin equivalent of a boogey man in that they would kidnap whole goblin villages, feeding the adults to dark gods of chaos while converting the children into new chaos goblins.
Elaric also conjectures that, based on the telepathic abilities of the creatures, both in the fables and witnessed here aboard the Emperor, the chaos goblins are likely to be highly resistant to any form of psychic damage.
With Aubreck’s chest safely loaded about the rowboat, the party makes their escape from the sinking wreck of the Emperor of Waves. Looking back, it is hard not to gape at the sheer size of the monster ensnaring and shattering the old ship as it is dragged beneath the waves. Writhing tentacles, 15 feet across and with the longest reaching at least 60 feet before disappearing into the ocean swells, encircle the entire ship. Each tentacle appears covered in hundreds of sharp boney protrusions, their ivory white standing in stark contrast to the purplish black of the creature’s flesh. Just as the final corner of the ship’s quarterdeck vanishes from sight, you catch a glimpse of a truly enormous maw beneath the waves which seems to be swallowing the ship whole. With a mighty crunch, the maw closes and, just like that, the ship is gone. The water goes eerily still almost instantly. Before anyone can do more than blink, a voice booms within your head: Ahsh sharbtuur vahdokan. Oshadhuur nag’raufrom. Ghund a'mahrr. Doraz badzurz agh auga homtuntis.
Suddenly, the nature of the voice changes, its deep, resonant syllables causing physical pain as it seems to shout within your mind: NE’GUUL NE’SHAI
Thousands of images flash through your mind's eye along with a myriad of other sensory information, all passing too quickly for you to gain any clear sense of their nature beyond one thing: you feel utterly horrified. Nearly blacking out with the pain and dizziness of a sudden migraine, you try blink away the visions, only to discover thick, hot tears have begun streaming down your face. To your horror, you realize the wetness is not from tears, but blood. Looking up, you see that everyone one on the small rowboat is bleeding from their ears, eyes, noses, and mouths. One of the sailors has curled into a ball and begun gibbering in terror while the other looks at the party and cries, “What in the bloody hells was that?!”
Wiping away blood, Elaric, in a very quiet voice, replies, “I don’t know what those last words were, but the first were Deep Speech – the language of aberrations. Roughly translated, it said ‘One herald has failed. Another will be sent. The Keys are reclaimed. The Gate will open and the Eye will see.’ The words 'keys', 'gate', and 'eye' were given their meaningful inflections to denote specific items, but I’m afraid I know not to what they refer. But those other words- and the sensory information that came with them- It almost makes me wonder...” Trailing off, the Elf lapses into a weary and deeply contemplative silence.
After this, the ride back to Soul of Winter passes in tense and wordless vigilance, everyone’s eyes scanning the water for any hints of the monstrous horror lurking in the depths below.
Perception check for Guan Hao's poking around: 13
Do we have time for a short rest? Because Reeves could use an opportunity to recover some HP.
Wendell: Please list the order in which your spells are cast and make two Arcana checks.
Guan Hao: In the slime-covered room, you spot a map depicting a series of islands on the wooden table and what looks to be a metallic tray of some sort submerged beneath a layer of slime on the floor. If you wish to enter the obelisk room. If you wish to search the obelisk room, please make a Wisdom save. If you wish to search the open deck, please make either a Perception or Investigation check.
Balasar: Aside from avoiding the obelisk room until the wizards are done, do you take any actions?
Reeves: Do you take any actions?
Elaric: Elaric, after approximately one minute of screaming and cowering as far from the obelisk as he can get (without actually jumping off the ship), will attempt to re-enter the obelisk room. As a result, he makes another Wisdom Save: 23 [OOC: He will not use another protection spell on himself as it would be one spell too many to recover during a short rest and he wants his full arsenal available when the party goes below deck.]
All Characters: Per concerns raised about a short rest vs the ship sinking, any character in on the discussion may make either an Intelligence or Wisdom check to determine whether or not you have time to rest. Also, as the point was raised, Reeves appears to be badly injured - any character who comes near him during this time is assumed to notice this fact and may act on that observation if they so choose.
With some effort, Elaric is able to endure the fear-inducing effects of the obelisk. As with Wendell, he will attempt his own investigations, beginning with a visual examination of the object with special attention to the runes engraved on it.
History check: 20
Arcana check: 25
With the casters examining the obelisk, Reeves staggers out to the open deck to try and assess the state of the ship since their skirmish.
Wisdom check: 21
Reeves is fairly certain that, while the ship IS riding low in the water, it has not dipped noticably since the party first sighted it. Though not a nautical man, if pressed, he would guess at least a few days remain before the ship sinks beneath the ocean's surface.
Reeves returns to the slime room to address Guan Hao and anyone else present.
"We should take a brief rest while we can. The casters look like they'll be busy for a while, and I don't think we have to worry about the ship sinking for a few days."
Leomund's Tiny Hut - Detect Magic - Identify
Arcana 28
Arcana 27
Guan Hao, now firmly against going anywhere near the scary rock thing, spends his time searching the open deck.
Perception: 9
He'll also use his Second Wind ability to recover 10 HP.
If the ship looks to be in no danger of sinking imminently, then we should attempt to rest while we can; there's no telling what we may encounter as we proceed further below.
Wendell is going to take a chance to look around the room we are currently resting in, specifically looking for any additional written records or books.
Choosing to rest and compose themselves before moving on, the party settles briefly in the aft cabin of the middle deck. While Wendell makes a perception check to look for book, what will the rest of the party do?
Wendell Perception: 5
Wendell discovers a worn and faded book which appears to be a journal. Upon closer examination, however, he finds the pages soggy and molding. Whatever words it once contained have long-since smeared to a blotchy, illegible mess.
Reeves will take the opportunity to recover 3 HD worth of hit points during the short rest.
Recovery: 20
Guan Hao will use his Short Rest to regain 1 HD of HP: 8
Which puts him back at full, 49 / 49.
Elaric will recover 3 HD worth of HP: 18
After recovering, he will take another stab at examining one of the deflated tentacled eyeball creatures: Arcana check: 17 and History check: 16
Elaric's health now stands at 21/29.
This time, his examinations have born fruit. He informs the group that the eyeball creatures appear to be a cross between a subspecies of beholder and some form of goblin, the results of which have been mutated by unknown magics. He recalls several fables - passed on by some of the oldest known goblin tribes - in which such abominations were named chaos goblins and were said to hail from realms beyond the planes of existence. They serve the goblin equivalent of a boogey man in that they would kidnap whole goblin villages, feeding the adults to dark gods of chaos while converting the children into new chaos goblins.
Elaric also conjectures that, based on the telepathic abilities of the creatures, both in the fables and witnessed here aboard the Emperor, the chaos goblins are likely to be highly resistant to any form of psychic damage.
With Aubreck’s chest safely loaded about the rowboat, the party makes their escape from the sinking wreck of the Emperor of Waves. Looking back, it is hard not to gape at the sheer size of the monster ensnaring and shattering the old ship as it is dragged beneath the waves. Writhing tentacles, 15 feet across and with the longest reaching at least 60 feet before disappearing into the ocean swells, encircle the entire ship. Each tentacle appears covered in hundreds of sharp boney protrusions, their ivory white standing in stark contrast to the purplish black of the creature’s flesh. Just as the final corner of the ship’s quarterdeck vanishes from sight, you catch a glimpse of a truly enormous maw beneath the waves which seems to be swallowing the ship whole. With a mighty crunch, the maw closes and, just like that, the ship is gone. The water goes eerily still almost instantly. Before anyone can do more than blink, a voice booms within your head: Ahsh sharbtuur vahdokan. Oshadhuur nag’raufrom. Ghund a'mahrr. Doraz badzurz agh auga homtuntis.
Suddenly, the nature of the voice changes, its deep, resonant syllables causing physical pain as it seems to shout within your mind: NE’GUUL NE’SHAI
Thousands of images flash through your mind's eye along with a myriad of other sensory information, all passing too quickly for you to gain any clear sense of their nature beyond one thing: you feel utterly horrified. Nearly blacking out with the pain and dizziness of a sudden migraine, you try blink away the visions, only to discover thick, hot tears have begun streaming down your face. To your horror, you realize the wetness is not from tears, but blood. Looking up, you see that everyone one on the small rowboat is bleeding from their ears, eyes, noses, and mouths. One of the sailors has curled into a ball and begun gibbering in terror while the other looks at the party and cries, “What in the bloody hells was that?!”
Wiping away blood, Elaric, in a very quiet voice, replies, “I don’t know what those last words were, but the first were Deep Speech – the language of aberrations. Roughly translated, it said ‘One herald has failed. Another will be sent. The Keys are reclaimed. The Gate will open and the Eye will see.’ The words 'keys', 'gate', and 'eye' were given their meaningful inflections to denote specific items, but I’m afraid I know not to what they refer. But those other words- and the sensory information that came with them- It almost makes me wonder...” Trailing off, the Elf lapses into a weary and deeply contemplative silence.
After this, the ride back to Soul of Winter passes in tense and wordless vigilance, everyone’s eyes scanning the water for any hints of the monstrous horror lurking in the depths below.