Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

Fianna blinks her thanks to Katernin and Molo.

Dain moves to the center-ish of the boat and holds an attack with his Maul ready in case that thing reappears.

Kelnan

"Keep an eye out and watch each others backs, friends. That thing could be anywhere among us on this boat, and I suspect it navigates the water's surface as easily as the land."

He can't help but think of how one might visit the ethereal plane like the spider. It seems to do so effortlessly, but perhaps by inverting a force conduit a destabilizing field could be developed. With the right weave resonance you could probably shift to and from such a nearby plane with just a bit of a push to get you over the hump. Of course it could also dissolve you to dust. Probably start with some pebbles, if that works rats are certainly plentiful back in town. The smith could surely put together a simple cage. Something to research anyway.

Oh right, the enormous spider.

Kelnan is lost in thought (Arcana: 19) 
He is fascinated by planar travel but he realizes it will take years of research before he might attempt it.
Fianna remains paralyzed.
Dain stands with his maul ready, determined to crush the teleporting spider the next time it appears.
Molo and Katernin tend to Fianna.
The two dwarves, one (Oskar) still bleeding from his shoulder wound, row furiously back to the Soul of Winter.
There is nothing visible of the Emperor, nor its attacker, but a thin film and a wide debris field across the cold, black swells.
The strange blue box is safe in the center of the skiff.

(Initiative is over.)
The spider doesn't reappear, although the battle with the beast feels frustratingly unfinished. You remain on high alert as the skiff returns to the dwarven schooner. Unless you have other business you want to propose, you warily climb the rope ladders back onto the deck, as the crewmen begin the task of winching both Fianna and the box aboard.

The captain, Windrune, grumbles a greeting, and bids you to haste. "Get aboard, get aboard! Let's go!"

He shouts urgent commands to his crew, and the vessel turns and runs northwest with the wind, before the empty skiff is even secured on deck.

"No Kraken for me today, thank you very much!" he mutters, glancing back at the empty sea where the Emperor once stood.

Fianna remains face-up on the deck, unable to move a muscle.

Fianna... rests.  (And as she can do nothing but, does this count as a short rest for her? lol)

Molo leans over Fianna’s face and speaks loud and slow. “FI-AN-NA. WE DIDN’T GET THE SPIDER. SO TRY NOT TO LOOK TASTY. IF IT EATS YOU AND LAYS EGGS IN YOUR EYES, IT’LL TURN THIS SHIP INTO ANOTHER ONE JUST LIKE THE ONE WE SANK. WHICH SEEMS DELICIOUS TO TENTACLE MONSTERS. SO TRY NOT TO LOOK TASTY.” 
Molo then pats Fianna on the shoulder and walks away to get a nap.

The ship continues its brisk run downwind, to the northwest. Dain, Molo, and Kelnan feel their seasickness beginning to return as the ship shudders with each swell and trough. The spider does not yet return.

Everyone may benefit from a short rest. Fianna begins to feel sensations in her fingers and toes, as the poison and paralysis begin to fade.

Molo tries to search the ship for the spider. 

Investigation? 7 

Fianna does nothing but use last of her Hit Dice for further healing:  8hp added.

The captain snarls at Molo as he explores the ship. "Get below! Get below! No place for you up here!" Molo finds no spider; just a short-handed dwarven crew bent on moving out of the area as fast as possible. "Unless ye' cook. Ye' cook? We need a cook in the galley. Cook got eaten yesterday..."

Fianna finds she can move again; the poisons in her body have finally cleared. 

It is late morning, heavily overcast; a light snow falls upon the black sea.

     Fianna does her best to stay out of the way and to finish recovering for the ordeal...  She may be able to move again but she's not sure she'll feel herself until she gets on dry land again!  Though despite wanting to remain unobtrusive, she'll do what she can to keep an eye on the box (bringing it below deck if it fits, peeking up on deck to check on it a lot if it doesn't.) but otherwise just try to stay ready for teleporting spiders, gross tentacles or other dangers...

Katernin stays on the alert for the spider as she meditates in the relative quiet of the moment.

Molo goes to become the cook, knowing very little about cooking. But he figures it’s a chance to set out spider bait. 

He’ll try to set up a trap. Something noisy. 

Dain will shake his head, amazed the group survived and somehow successfully recovered the box.  It best be worth it!  He will offer his services to the dwarven crew any way he's helpful or just keep out of their way if not.

Seven of the thirty crew died in the bloody attack by the Sahuagin just two nights ago (last May IRL!), and the captain has evidently forgotten that Molo helped out in the galley just yesterday (under Fianna's subtle supervision.) He's not exactly a good cook, but he didn't poison anyone.

The crew is definitely short-handed. (If attacked again, they lack the numbers to simultaneously sail the ship, handle the ballista, and fire the mangonel.) They gladly accept Dain's help.

Fianna manages, with help, to drag the blue box downstairs into her cabin and away from curious Dwarvish eyes.

The rest of the day passes uneasily - the short-handed crew racing the ship away from the tentacled horror, the party prepared for the sudden appearance of the blue spider - but the hours pass uneventfully. Eventually, you begin to relax a little.

The winter sun sets into the endless empty cold black seas. You are several days from Saltmarsh.

You may all take a long rest. Welcome to Level 5 - you may update your character sheets.

     Over the next couple of days Fianna will randomly, secretly use Message and her invisible Mage Hand from her telekinetic feat to whisper “the spider eggs are in your foot,” “they’re growing and hatching,” and other such worrisome thoughts into his head..,  and to invisibly scratch and tickle and poke his bum foot to try to convince him of this…

Deception: 14
     She will otherwise help where she can and back off when she cannot.  But she does have some healing spells she’ll happily use upon the crew, she can supervise Molo in the galley again and of course have Fi’Finella playing lookout…

Kelnan

Upon returning to the ship, Kelnan pours himself full time into study. The night is marked by strange sounds and energy coming from his cabin, and he emerges in the morning excitedly explaining how he has achieved a rudimentary form of planar travel by compensating for the weave phase variance by opening a slow energy trickle. It's temporary and a bit unpredictable, but he manages to cast Blink and does a quick patrol of the boat in ethereal form looking for the spider.

The night passes, and then another day. The weather begins to worsen, with snow squalls and bitter cold gusts of wind from the west. Dain finds himself put to hard labor on the decks (and learns how to fire the ballista), while Molo, tormented by Fianna's illusions, prepares worse and worse food. Katernin meditates, and Kelnan is furiously working on his new spells. 

It is with a euphoric mood that evening that Kelnan has a breakthrough and vanishes with a small pop into the ether. He finds himself in a foggy funhouse version of the ship, which appears to him in muted shades and swirls of fog. He can see a little way through walls and the deck and even into the black sea below them. It is with a shock that he spots the blue spider, healed of its wounds, staring at him, perfectly still, not ten feet away.

((Fianna didn’t really mean to torment so much as tease…  If Molo does indeed start to get more than annoyed/concerned she’ll back off.  Don’t really want an unstable coworker if ya can help it…)

Kelnan stares back for a moment, then makes haste in either ethereal or material form to the nearest party member.

"Our blue arachnoid friend seems to have stowed away. I don't know how often the thing needs to eat, but we need the crew to keep eyes on each other. And if we bring it back to town, hmm that could be bad..."

"Can ye take us with ye to visit 'im?" Dain asks with a grin, hefting his maul.  "Or does we have ta wait until he comes ta play?"