LSO Summaries

[Daos]

Chapter 1: Breaking Chains

On the morning of Flameday, Bludsin 2nd, in the year 316, the good ship Tiaru is heading back to Hashadeth to restock and resupply.

The party heads to the mess hall for breakfast, and all wind up at the same table together. As they eat, they discuss their situation. Mathias and Jaeron are still seen as outsiders and treated as such, because of their ties to the Guild. This seems to bother Jaeron more than it does Mathias, who seems more accustomed to the treatment. Senllip tries to turn the conversation to gambling, but to little success as everyone starts getting up. Mathias wishes to speak with the captain, so Kalana agrees to take the dwarf to him.

Up on the upper deck, Mathias and Kalana go see the captain while Jaeron walks the deck and Arieal climbs up into the crow's nest with Donato. Mathias asks the captain if he can continue on for awhile, as he doesn't want to return to Vaneil empty handed and still wants to capture the criminal he was originally seeking, a Picardian named Pierre Delacroix who is working for the League. Julak agrees to this, and even offers to put out the word among his contacts to see if he can shake anything loose.

Jaeron pays Varil a visit, and the two briefly discuss old Eonia and its flying ships. Meanwhile, Senllip joins Kalana and Mathias in speaking with the captain. A messenger seagull flies up to the crow's nest, and Ariael reads the message it brought. She brings it to the captain. It turns out to be a distress call from the Children of Meer, who are under attack from the Bloody Chain. Julak immediately orders the ship change course and head out to help them.

After an hour, they spot the floating village and the Bloody Chain ship that is attacking it. The Tiaru begins to close immediately. Julak warns not to use cannons, because the ship is likely holding slaves, and those slaves will die if the ship is destroyed. Arieal ignores him, though, and throws a fire spell at the ship, causing several fires to break out. Fortunately, the captain and first officer of the Shardarr are killed soon after, causing the slavers to surrender.

While Julak has his crew claim the ship, he sends the party on a rowboat to the floating village to see if they need any help there. They find an unconscious genasi woman, and Jaeron heals her. At first, she thinks they are more slavers, but they are able to convince her they are here to help. The woman, whose name they do not ask, says she is usually the guide for visitors to the village, so agrees to escort them to the village square, where Arieal spots (through her familiar's vision) a group of genasi gathering.

The party heads in that direction, coming across a dead genasi. The party laments there is nothing they can do for him, and the woman with them says she will send someone to collect his body later.

A bit further on, they find a house on fire and hear a child crying inside. Jaeron finds a bucket nearby and tries putting out the fire, while Mathias and Kalana rush in to save the child, both getting burned in the process. When successful, the woman asks they put the child in the water, and he darts off like a fish to the center of the village.

The party continues to the village square, where they meet Kaiyan, the leader of the Children of Meer. He thanks them for their help. The others are eager to help further, but Jaeron is curious about their history. After some questions and answers, the party helps with the wounded and that night there is a big feast. The crew all bail except for Senllip, Kalana and Mathias who stay and participate in the orgy. It is...rather efficient and perfunctory, and afterward Kaiyan casts a spell that reveals Senllip's partner will have a son and Kalana will have twins--a boy and a girl. However, Kalana reveals she cannot stay with them for the next nine months. Kaiyan is confused, but tells her of a spell that will speed up her pregnancy for 9 months, although it's risky. Kalana agrees to go through with it, and luckily the twins are born without complications. Toven is summoned, and he helps Kalana through it and then back to the ship, where he gives her the rest of the day off so she can recover.

The others, however, are just getting up for the day. Mathias goes to see Setra and ask for healing. Aftereward, he bumps into Jaeron and the two go grab some breakfast in the mess hall, where they meet up with Johannes the druid. Meanwhile, Arieal reports for duty but instead of being allowed on the Shardarr, which is being brought along to Tu'Valie, she is made to swab the deck of the Tiaru as punishment for disobeying earlier. She does so without complaint.

A few hours later, Mathias, Jaeron, Johannes and Arieal notice an undine and three dolphins out on the starboard side of the ship, being pursued by a score of sharks. The three men quickly throw down a rope to pull the undine up. However, the undine decides to fight instead of leaving her dolphin companions to die. Johannas convinces her to take the rope, promising that he would save the dolphins, but by that point the others had already let go of the rope. By the time they ready it again and pull the undine to safety, all three dolphins are torn to shreds.

With Johannas translating, the undine introduces herself as Nerice and explains that the war is going badly and her entire patrol was slain by the sahuagin, who sent those sharks after her. Nobody knows what war she is talking about, which she finds puzzling. She explains there is a great war going on under the sea, and has been for the past couple of years, between pretty much all the races. Nobody on the surface knows of this, though.

Mathias fetches the captain, and Nerice and Julak speak a bit. Julak then has the party carry Nerice to Setra to be healed and explains they'll drop her off that night, after having put some distance between them and the sharks. Mathias and Jaeron carry Nerice and Setra has them put her in a tub (usually used to make holy water) and then fill it with salt water so she doesn't dry out. Before the dwarf and gnome return to duty, Nerice hands them each a gemstone in thanks for saving her.

The following day passes without incident. The day after that is Bludsin 5th. The Tiaru comes across what seems to be an abandoned fishing boat that has run aground a sandbar. Curious, especially as it is close to Hashadeth, Julak sends the party on a rowboat to investigate. Finding no sign of the crew on the deck, Jaeron illuminates the lower deck with a spell, revealing a mass of purple, spongy fungus covering the walls, ceiling and floor.

The party discusses what to do next. Johannes speculates sunlight would kill it, but they have no way to expose the below deck to the sun. They talk about setting it on fire, but nobody has any torches or fire spells readied. They then discuss returning to the ship to get supplies, but they then hear a moaning down below. Kalana rushes down, with Mathias right behind her. Nobody else follows.

Down below, the pair find five large fungal pods. Four are empty, but the fifth is occupied by what might have once been a human woman. But her skin is covered in fungus and her head from the nose up has been replaced with mushrooms. The creature moans as if in pain and stumbles forward, but Kalana easily cuts it down without effort.

They return to the others, and together return to the Tiaru to report. Julak seems to recognize what they are describing, and orders the ship destroyed before walking off. The party presses Toven on what happened. The first mate explains that he, Julak, Divex and Setra all once lived in a farming village peacefully, but one day they were invaded by strange, fungus creatures. Although the four of them escaped, largely thanks to Julak's leadership and intervention from the Blue Lightning, everyone else from the village was kidnapped. This was five years ago, and since then they've been searching for their missing family and friends. But they later discovered that the fungus creatures perform terrible experiments on their captives, turning them into mindless monsters.

The party reflects on the tragedy of this, and returns to their duties before the ship arrives in Hashadeth.

[Daos]

Chapter 2:  Shore Leave

At around 1 PM on Bludsin 5th, Lightday in the year 316, the Tiaru makes dock in the capital city of Tu'Valie on the island of Hashadeth. The captain takes Toven, Setra and Divex with him on a mission. He has Varil and Heven remain to fix up the ship, and sends Kevara and Rahis to sell the captured Sharrdar. The rest of the crew he grants shore leave to.

Kalana heads off to the Queen of Harts Inn, while Mathias seeks out the harbormaster. Jaeron tries to go with Mathias, but the dwarf tells him he needs to do this alone. Johannes decides to visit a temple of Octhanus while Jaeron eventually decides on finding a temple of Gonto.

Kalana arrives at the Queen and asks if Aata Hauate has a room there. However, the front desk is reluctant to just give away the names of their guests, so instead Kalana asks them to deliver a message to him if he is there. She then joins some of her crewmates that have also gone there in a game of cards while she waits. Kalana offers herself as a prize for the winner, but the loser must streak through the market square. Donatu wins, but turns Kalana down. Enzo loses and looks ready to faint. Kalana then receives word that she is to head up to room 7 to meet with Aata, so she does so.

Mathias finds the harbormaster and offers him the gemstone Nerice gave him in exchange for information on the Siren's Song. The harbormaster quickly ushers the dwarf into his office, as the sight of the wealth captures quite a few people's interest. Once in his office, though, Mathias renegades on the idea, refusing to turn over the gemstone. First, he insists the harbormaster prove the records exist by showing them to him. Once the harbormaster does so, Mathias then pulls his gun out and attempts to steal the logbook. The harbormaster warns him he will call the guards, lock down the Tiaru, and make sure Mathias is fired from the Guild. Mathias then drinks his Philter of Persuasion and convinces the harbormaster not to press charges and allow him to 'borrow' the logbook in exchange for the gem, which ironically was the deal the dwarf had initially made in the first place. The harbormaster agrees. Mathias then makes his way to the bank and withdraws a thousand gold pieces. With the logbook in one hand and a big sack of gold in the other, he enters the slums and notices he is being followed by several rough looking individuals.

Jaeron finds a small, shabby temple to Gonto with a single kohen asleep in a pew. Jaeron wakes him up, and at first the cleric thinks Jaeron has been sent to replace him. After clearing up that misconception, Jaeron offers the gemstone he received from Nerice to help fix up the place. While the kohen goes to buy some materials, Jaeron checks out a local bookbinding place. He binds 10 pages into a leather book and buys a 100 page papyrus book, as well. Then he returns to the temple.

Johannes finds a massive, crowded temple to Octhanus with a beleaguered crew of clerics tending to various injuries and illnesses. Johannes offers to help out, and uses his healing magic to fix several injuries.

Senllip heads into the marketplace, looking for pockets to pick, familiar faces and any local news. He catches word of some infamous thief named Senrik that has been terrorizing the city lately. Senrik is so good, that nobody has ever even seen them and has no idea what they look like. They only know the name from the calling cards left behind. Senllip then spots a wealthy looking woman browsing the shops, and approaches her.

Arieal heads to the local mage guild, the Thundergulls, to shop for spells and magical items.

After catching up with Aata a bit, Kalana invites him to check out the new magical amusement park that has opened recently. Along the way there, they discuss the Blue Lightning and the work Kalana has done for them. Once they arrive, Kalana picks out one attraction in particular, the House of Illusion, and the two get in line for it. Once inside the big, multi-colored tent, they have a seat and it looks like some kind of show is going to be put on. After the show, Kalana is eager to speak with the playwright, but lets on she knows the story it is based on a little too well and is forced to hurry out with Aata. They say goodbye, and Kalana returns to the ship.

Mathias stops and turns to face the ruffians, unafraid. They are all elves, save the leader, who is a half-elf. He demands Mathias turn over the large sack of gold to them. Mathias immediately attacks, and doesn't fair too well against five. But he then offers a hundred gold each to the ruffians to help him against their leader, and all five do so. The half-elf leader is quickly beaten and forced to surrender. Mathias presses him into forced servitude, and takes him at gun point back to the ship to tie him up.

Jaeron learns there is a library and a couple of museums on Governor's Island, so heads there. Upon entering the library, he finds it is not what he expected, so immediately turns around and leaves without even asking any questions. Then he heads for the Blue Lightning Museum, dedicated to famous pirate hunting captains of the past. The cleric then heads to a tavern, but doesn't talk to anyone. He just orders his food, eats it quickly and hurries back to the ship.

The following morning, the party sets out again. Kalana returns to the Queen of Harts and Jaeron returns to the Temple of Obedience, while Johannas stays on the Tiaru and Senllip heads back to his old thieves' guild.

Kalana meets up with her old friends and offers them a job. She's willing to pay them a ridiculous amount of gold (1,000 GP) to deliver 100 GP to her family in Shadowshore. The group is skeptical at first, but eventually agree to not only do it, but to leave that very day. Kalana then goes to visit the playwright. However, she is vague in her answers, but keeps inadvertantly giving too much away, at the same time. Eventually, she leaves.

Jaeron joins the elf kohen in morning prayer, finding the Temple of Obedience empty again. There are signs of construction, though, as he has been working to renovate it. Jaeron invites the kohen out to breakfast, so they head to the Queen of Harts. Jaeron notices Kalana there, and waves to her. After inquiring from a server about the history of the inn, Jaeron orders some plantain pancakes.

Johannas overhears Toven arguing with Mathias. Toven tells Mathias that keeping slaves is forbidden and kicks him off the ship. Johannas inquires as to what is going on, and Toven explains that Mathias was attacked by bandits, took one prisoner, and decided to keep him on the ship under forced servitude. Johannas volunteers to escort the prisoner to the constables. Kalana shows up, and upon hearing about what is happening, agrees to go with the druid.

Kalana and Johannas turn over the prisoner to the constable barracks, but as neither of them witnessed the crime or even know where or when exactly it occurred, the constable warns them that likely the offender will be released by the end of the day. Shrugging it off, they return to the ship to report to Toven. He thanks them despite nonetheless.

Jaeron and Samwen discuss possibilities on generating revenue and getting the word of Gonto out in the city better. Jaeron suggests taking a job, and working up the ladder. Samwen likes the idea, and promises to pay back Jaeron's investment. But Jaeron insists otherwise, so Samwen decides to invest back in the community, should he be successful. The two then bid farewell and Jaeron returns to the ship.

Natylie Korosuga, an elven warrior from Rabbah, makes her way to the docks. She had heard there was a Blue Lightning ship looking for recruits. Seeing Toven on the deck, she calls up for permission to board. Toven tells her he'll fetch the captain, and Kalana volunteers to give her a tour of the ship in the meantime. Afterwards, they head back to the deck for her interview with the captain. Natylie ignores Julak's attempt to flirt, and says that she was sent on a mission by her people to find a thief. Julak agrees to help her do this. Kalana shows her to her new room, and after that, Natylie decides to go to sleep.

Senllip returns to the hideout of the Midnight Brawlers, his old thieves' guild. There he runs into Athel, a halfling and long standing member of the guild. The two reminisce a bit, and Athel tells Senllip about their troubles with the lonewolf showoff, Senrik. Senllip comes up with a plan; if they can stage a big heist, Senrik might show up.

Later that evening, Kalana, Johannas and Jaeron are on deck when a man comes looking for Johannas. His name is Harrin Talbot, and he is an old friend of the druid's. He claims his sister, Rosina, was kidnapped by the Crimson Oars thieves guild, and asks the party to rescue her. He knows where their hideout is, an abandoned warehouse in the harbor district. He agrees to lead them there, but leaves the specifics of how to rescue his sister to them. At the warehouse, they find it guarded by two thieves disguised as homeless people. The party decides to approach them and ask for entrance. Kalana intimidates them into letting them in. Inside, they encounter five thieves sitting at a table, playing cards. One, the leader, is a half-elf with a very frightened woman sitting on his lap at knifepoint. Kalana attempts to negotiate for the woman's return, but Johannas starts openly casting a charm spell, which starts a battle.

Senllip meets with old friends, Amers and Eanindel, to learn more about the Calabrians. Then he meets with Thrumal and Metha, the only spellcasters in the Midnight Brawlers, to find out more about magic and ask about magical items. He and Athel then head to the Calabrian ship under cover of darkness. Using the Potion of Invisibility he had, the two became invisible and sneaked up onto the ship. Once they were down in the cargo hold, they found some guards that had been knocked out. They discover that Senrik had already been there and cleared the place out. The alarm sounds, and the two invisible halflings flee by diving overboard, lest they be caught and blamed for the theft.

Meanwhile, the others are not doing so well. Kalana flees the scene after being hit with a fear spell and Jaeron fumbles. But Johannas manages to get off his charm spell and succeeds, causing the Crimson Oar leader to call off his men. He reveals that a Guild dwarf paid him to kidnap Rosina, and offer a ransom that Harrin could not afford without breaking him. Then the Guild would make him an offer on his business, and he would have to comply. Kalana offered to just pay the ransom, so Harrin could keep his business and the Crimson Oars would have technically fulfilled their deal. The leader agrees, so Kalana hands over the money (half from her, half from Jaeron; as Johannas is broke). The party returns Rosina to Harrin and warn him of what they learned about the dwarf from the Guild. Then they return to the ship.

[Daos]

Chapter 3:  The Maelstrom

On the morning of Bludsin 7th, Flameday, 316, the Tiaru set sail once again, leaving the port city of Tu'Valie. For whatever reason, Julak and Toven are very secretive about their next destination, only saying that they have orders to not tell the crew until after they've arrived.

Julak notices something strange on the horizon. Three storms seem to be merging together, forming a massive hurricane. Using his spyglass, he spots an air genasi riding a dracolich that appears to be corralling and herding the storms together, and is now flying right toward them. The dracolich flies right over head, bringing the storms into the Tiaru. Red Slaadi begin raining from the sky, and several land on deck. Fights break out as the ship rocks and sways in the heavy storm.

Although in the end, one of the slaadi are defeated, the party is eventually knocked overboard and sucked into a whirlpool. When they come to, they find themselves in a cave illuminated by glowing algae. There are no exits, save for a hole in the ground filled with water. A triton named Corus swims up from the hole and offers seaweed for the party to eat.

Corus explains he found them and brought them here for safety. It's an abandoned undine lair, but unfortunately while they were out, a squad of sahuagin moved in and occupied the place. There is no way to get out without confronting them. The party discusses the logistics of how to get out, and Johannas eventually brings up he can cast Water Breathing. He prays to get the spell, then casts it and the party follows Corus into the water. As Jaeron cannot swim, he rides on Johannas who has shapeshifted into a dolphin.

Corus leads them through a tunnel that opens up into a small chamber with a seaweed bed. The seaweed gives them cover to enter the next chamber, where four sahuagin and a lieutenant are resting. The party jumps in to attack. Kalana, thanks to her Ring of Free Action, easy cuts down sahuagin with her sabres. Senllip uses his dagger while in manta ray form, thanks to his Cloak of the Manta Ray. Johannas shapechanges into a shark, both to attack and to transport Jaeron, the only one in the group who cannot swim. Jaeron, meanwhile, has a Helm of Underwater Action which lets him cast spells in the water. He uses Spiritual Hammer to attack from a safe distance.

After defeating the first group, Corus leads them into the next, much larger chamber. It contains six sahuagin plus another lieutenant. The party swings in again, but it's mostly Corus and Kalana that do all of the fighting. In the end, they are victorious. Corus asks if the party wants to develop a strategy for the next group, but the only one who can speak is Jaeron and he just shrugs, so they just move on. (Senllip tries to write something on the ground, but nobody notices.)

The next chamber is even larger and has ten sahuagin, plus a chieftain. But if they can fight their way out, they can then make a beeline for the surface and escape. Jaeron drops a Hold Person spell among the sahuagin, paralyzing two of them, while Johannas (in shark form), Kalana and Corus split up to take on different enemies at once. After a very long and drawn out fight in which the party nearly loses, Kalana manages to kill the chieftain which causes the other sahuagin to flee.

The party parts ways with Corrus and swim to the surface. They find themselves in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight, but do spot a passing ship in the distance. Making a lot of noise, they get the ship's attention and it pulls up and fishes them out of the water. It's only then that they realize it's a Bloody Chain ship, the Blackmoon. The party is relieved of their weapons and escorted down to the hold where they are chained up. They learn that the ship's mage died recently, which is a blessing. Usually the Bloody Chain uses magic to enslave minds.

The party is locked up with an aarkocra woman named Bayla. She is the one responsible for killing their mage. Apparently her ship was attacked and she flew over to distract them so her ship could escape. She was successful, but still captured. The party decides to get some rest, then plan their escape the next morning, and promise to help Bayla, as well.

The following morning, Bayla tells the party what little she knows about the crew and officers. She tells them there are 14 people on board (4 officers and 10 crew) and that they will likely reach Gunn in the next couple of days. When their food and water for the day is brought to them, Kalana tells their jailer that she has an important relation in Gunn who will not be pleased at her being sold to slavers and demands to see the captain. After the jailer leaves, the party discusses some escape options. Then the captain shows up, annoyed at being disturbed. Kalana tells him that Tethys, the Marshal of Gunn, knows her and will be upset at her being sold. Calling her bluff, the captain agrees to send word to Gunn so this Tethys will be waiting for them when they arrive.

After the captain leaves, Senllip just picks the locks on his chains instead. He then frees the others, and Johannas and Jaeron expend all of their magical healing to get Kalana back into fighting shape. Then they decide to send Johannas and Senllip out alone to sneak up to the captain's quarters to steal back all of their weapons so they can fight. Once out of the brig, the pair spot a couple of sailors having a conversation. At first, Johannas decides he's going to summon an insect swarm to attack them. But Senllip suggests they just sneak up and hit them from behind. Johannas gets one sailor in a headlock, but he easily breaks free a short time later. Senllip fails to grapple at all, and a full blown fight breaks out. Kalana and Jaeron hurry after them to help. After fighting a few sailors for awhile, the evil sea druid Hillia descends the stairs to fight. She is wearing Johannas' armor and carrying his magic harpoon. It takes quite a bit of effort, but eventually the party wins. Johannas recovers his harpoon and loans his armor to Kalana. The party grabs some spare weapons and prepares to head to the upper deck to take the ship.

Deyren, Talinda and Unia are waiting for them, along with the rest of the sailors. Deyren offers them a surrender, but the party refuses and immediately attacks. After a few moments of fighting, Deyren and several of the sailors retreat back into the captain's quarters, inside the aft castle. Bayla falls, but Senllip saves her life by stabilizing her. The party first focuses on taking down Talinda. Even after she falls, Jaeron ignores his fallen mace and tries to use a whip, to little avail. Then he tries the flat of a cutlass. Eventually, Senllip retrieves the mace and hands it to him. Unia takes down Johannas (Senllip stabilizes him, too), and the party focuses on her next. It takes a long while, but eventually they injure her enough that she offers surrender. Senllip ties her up, then recovers his armor and sabre from her. Jaeron recovers his own armor from Talinda's body.

The party decides that Senllip will pick the lock on the captain's door and sneak in, while Kalana and Jaeron will rush from above, using the stairs. The fight does not go well, though. Kalana is easily taken down, but so are the remaining sailors. Thus it is Deyren and Unia against Senllip and Jaeron. Senllip manages to slip into the room, unlock the chest holding their equipment, and find and down his Potion of Human Control. This allows him to charm Deyren and convince him they need to work together. Deyren agrees--it takes at least 4 people to run the ship, so he offers Jaeron and Senllip a chance to join the crew if they help them get to shore.

However, Senllip keeps trying to ask for too much. First demanding that Unia turn over her weapons and then that nobody would be sold once they landed at Gunn. Even charmed, Deyren would not agree to such demands. Senllip also keeps trying to convince Deyren that Unia is dishonorable and cannot be trusted, but as they are slavers, Deyren isn't overly concerned with honor. He also tries to convince them to give up slavery altogether, but that doesn't fly, either.

The next morning, Jaeron and Senllip wake up early and slip into the brig to heal up their fallen companions. They are nearly caught, but manage to get back out of the brig and give Bayla her spellbook first. A few hours later, after Johannas and Bayla have had a chance to relearn their spells, they return and discuss strategy during lunch. Kalana learns that Tethys is waiting for her back at Gunn.

The party devises a strategy and doesn't really follow it, but they outnumber the pair, who are still injured from the last fight, so ultimately manage to kill them both. They then reacquire all their taken gear and start planning on where to take this ship. Nobody seems very sure where would be the best place, but ultimately they decide on the small port town of Enott on the island of Draska to resupply for now.

[Daos]

Chapter 4:  Freedom

It is Bludsin 15th when the party arrives at Enott, a northern village on the island of Draska not used for much more than a stay-over for pirates, slavers and smugglers. The party discusses what they must do--find a way to earn some coin, so they can buy supplies and hire more crew. However, Kalana and Bayla are the only ones actually willing to leave the ship. Senllip, Jaeron and Johannas all stay behind. Kalana stops by the tavern first to get info, then hits the orphanage, brothel and temple to find work.

At the same time, Imrich Irrlicht, a water genasi spellslayer, wakes up at the Golden Tooth inn, cleans up, gathers his things and checks out, heading for the docks. He sees the Blackmoon docked, and asks around learning it is a Bloody Chain ship captained by a human who dual-wields sabres. After Kalana has left, Imrich approaches the party and asks to join up. But they point out they have no coin to pay him. Shortly after that, a woman approaches and claims to be a representative of the Bloody Chains and wants to know where Deyren is. Senllip claims that he gave them this ship, but she points out that he was in great debt to the Bloody Chains, so she'll need to claim the ship. But she offers them a chance to work off his debt by working for her. The party turns her down.

After finding several possible jobs, Kalana returns to the ship to find Imrich and Emery there, and to watch as the former paralyzes the latter and then takes her hostage on the Blackmoon. Very confused and a bit angry, Kalana demands to know what is going on. Once the situation is cleared, Kalana decides their only option at this point is to make a break for it. Emery is put in the brig and chained up, and Imrich strips her of everything but her small clothes. Kalana decides to set a course for Sanctuary, since it should be safe there. Imrich believes their best option is to kill her now, but Kalana won't hear of it and the rest of the crew agrees with her.

Not long after they set sail, a sahuagin climbs up onto the deck and demands they surrender their food and weapons. Naturally, the party refuses, so the sahuagin summons more of them and a big fight breaks out. The sahuagin are weak, but numerous, and while the party is distracted in fighting them, several make their way below deck and start raiding it for anything useful they can find. Eventually, the party fights them off, but several get away with arms full of food and supplies. When the battle is over, Imrich hurries down below to find that while their prisoner and her gear are still present, all of their food is gone.

After some healing and looting, and tossing the bodies overboard, Imrich approaches Kalana and the two put together what they both know. Upon hearing Kalana's description of the man riding the dracolich that was corralling storms, Imrich realizes she is referring to none other than the Son of Crizza, a powerful mage his order has been after for some time. Kalana and Senllip question Imrich about his desire to attack mages, as opposed to say, priests or non-magical dictators.

A few days pass, and the ship hits a sand bar and becomes grounded. Bayla reports they can get the ship fixed and going again in two days, but they are sitting ducks in the meantime and the ship won't be as sturdy afterward. There's a risk it could sink if they hit another obstacle. But the nearest island aside from Sanctuary is still Draska, and none of the party are eager to return to it. Bayla also says the prisoner is demanding to speak with someone, so Kalana decides to go see her while the others start repairs.

Emery demands to be released and promises the Bloody Chain won't retaliate. But Kalana refuses to make that call without consulting with her crew first. So Emery casts Suggestion on Kalana, and convinces her to let Emery go. Once she is free and has her items back, she polymorphs into a gull and flies away, toward land.

A few days after that, they are making slow progress to Serenity, but the wind suddenly picks up again. One night, while Bayla reports that she hopes they will make it to their destination in the next two days, Jaeron moves away to check out how the repairs are doing. When he looks down from the railing on the bow, he spots a scrag stealthily climbing up the ship's hull. He runs back to report to the others and they all prepare for a fight.

When the party engages the scrag, it calls out something in Aquan. Imrich understands it, and realizes the creature is communicating with more of his kind, who are sneaking up on the party while they are distracted. He warns the others of this. Bayla flies up to the crow's nest to keep look out and offer arcane support. The party manages to take down the first one, before the other three coming up behind them can engage. Johannas, however, goes down quickly.

Kalana and Jaeron team up on one, while Senllip and Imrich fight another, and Bayla disables the last one with a Stinking Cloud spell. Eventually the party finishes off the two they are fighting, and the last one jumps overboard to save itself. The party then revives Johannas, heals up a bit, and decides to behead the scrags and toss them overboard the next morning.

Two days later, they pull into Serenity harbor. Right away, a halfling named Kile greets them. He has the name Blackmoon on his records as a slaver ship. The party corrects the misunderstanding, and he tells them about the refugees coming in from Tu'Valie after it was attacked by the Son of Crizza. Half the party asks the halfling for more information, while the other half gets distracted trying to come up with a new name for the ship. Kalana, not wanting to risk leaving anyone behind after what happened last time, ushers the party to a nearby inn--the Hearthglow, for food, drink, baths and rooms. Imrich offers to pay for it all.

After eating and bathing, the party checks out the first of three leads they were given about work. They head to the temple and meet with a cleric named Saren. He tells them that half a dozen refugees have dropped dead in the past two weeks for no apparent reason. They were in good health, and their autopsies showed no sign of poison, magic or injury. He asks the party to investigate, as he and his crew are spread too thin with helping Tu'Valie rebuild.

Although Kalana feels this should be a priority, she then leads the party to the sheriff's office to look into a second job. The sheriff, Aguru Smallfoot, explains that there was almost no crime in Serenity. But because of this, he has a rather small staff that is now overwhelmed with the many refugees flooding in. He wants the party to expel a party of mercs at the Azure Palace Inn who are causing a ruckus--and preferably without violence.

The party then heads to the old abandoned hospice, which really did look quite dilapidated. Kalana knocks on the door. A window on the door opens, and the man on the other side seems alarmed by how well armed the party is. He tells them they don't need anyone else today and then slams the door shut. Some of the party finds this very suspicious and worries something is amiss, but Imrich is convinced it's none of their business and they should focus on the other tasks (and if something is wrong, surely they will be hired to look into it). With some reluctance, the others agree and they head for the refugee camp where they are directed to a man named Flinn who is sort of their leader.

Flinn tells them that another person died that morning, a dwarf who is currently in his tent. Kalana wants to question the families of the dead, hoping to find a connection despite Saren telling them that there was none. Flinn worries this will just open up old wounds and not actually bear any fruit. The party examines the dead body, but can't find any clues as to why he might have died. They decide to get some rest and try again tomorrow, when the casters can choose more applicable spells.

[Daos]

Chapter 5:  Serenity

On the morning of Bludsin 27th, the party woke up and grouped up in the common area of the Hearthglow Inn. Both Kalana and Jaeron had rough nightmares about past events. The others find this strange and suspect it has something to do with the recent refugee deaths. They split up. Kalana and Jaeron go to speak with Saren again at the church while the others return to the refugee camp to speak with Flinn.

Kalana and Jaeron fill in Saren and discuss their theory. They conclude that maybe experiencing a traumatic event is what triggers the nightmares--this would explain why only Kalana and Jaeron had the nightmares, but also why it would be afflicting any of the refugees, as well. The two then head for the camp to join up with the others.

Meanwhile, Imrich notices the pendant Flinn's daughter, Rose, wears is magic. Flinn has no idea and insists it's just an old trinket that belonged to the girl's mother. He explains that Rose's mother was killed in the attack on Tu'Valie right in front of them, and it was quite gruesome. And ever since then, Rose has not spoken a single word to anyone. He also confirms that quite a few refugees have nightmares when they sleep.

Once Kalana and Jaeron rejoin the others, Kalana asks for Rose's help, believing she knows what is going on somehow. The only problem is, of course, is that Rose hasn't spoken since the attack. Kalana asks Rose to show them where she found the dwarf. Flinn explains she won't go anywhere without him, so she takes his hand and leads him, and the rest of the party, to the dwarf's tent. They ask Rose to draw what she saw in the room. The party can't really make heads or tails of it, though; it looks like an upside down beholder to them. Flinn sheds some doubt on this; Rose has a habit of making up things, as she has a wild imagination. However, after Flinn and Rose depart, Imrich remembers something from his studies--a creature called a 'feyr' (pronounced 'fear') that feeds off trauma and fright. The party decides to head to the local university's library for research.

The university seems rather run down. So is the library, but it has plenty of books. An old dwarven woman offers to research for them, in exchange for a hefty donation to keep the place running. They wind up asking four questions: Can a feyr turn invisible? How do you fight a feyr? What does a feyr eat? Where does a feyr lair?

The librarian tells them to return tomorrow, so they head for the Azure Palace Inn, where they were told of the Red Hawk mercenaries causing a ruckus there. Sure enough, they find four human warriors, drinking and carousing messily in the common area. Kalana decides to pose as a waitress and flirt with them, but this backfires because when she asks them to leave, they think she's just a rude server. So she draws steel and threatens them with violence instead. The Red Hawks try to call the party's bluff and provoke them into fighting, but they don't. So the Red Hawks leave, but promise revenge for this. The party returns to the sheriff to report on the matter. Aguru is relieved the party actually followed his instructions, and pays them 200 gold pieces for their efforts.

The party returns to the Hearthglow, then shortly after head to the docks and learn it will cost 1,500 GP to get the Blackmoon back to shipshape. They give 160 GP for now, and hope to get more later. They also notice that they haven't seen Bayla for awhile, and aren't sure where she is. For some reason they think they left her on the ship. Kalana mentions wanting to find her to pay her. The party returns to the inn and drops off their weapons (except Jaeron), then head back to the abandoned hospice in hopes of having better luck than last time.

However, they are turned away again, told there are too many among them, and that the position has been filled. Jaeron tries to convince them they aren't pirates by talking like one. Not sure what else to do, the party returns to the inn again. The place is crowded for the dinner rush, and the only free table happens to be one next to the Red Hawks. The party sits anyway. The Red Hawks make several attempts to be obnoxious and goad the party, but are largely ignored. While ordering their food, Bayla enters the common area. Imrich goes to speak with her, asking if she is okay. She seems surprised that Imrich, of all people, would care. She says she has been looking for work.

After Imrich reports back to the others, Kalana goes upstairs after Bayla. Kalana asks Bayla to consider staying with them, at least until they find her old ship, despite how she had been treated so far. Bayla told her she would consider it. Kalana then returned to the others and they decided to go up to Senllip's room so they could discuss their next move without fear of the Red Hawks listening in. Once up there, they come up with some ideas on how to infiltrate the abandoned hospice.

The party then heads to said hospice and Imrich casts Fly on Senllip. Senllip also drinks the last of his potion of Invisibility, as well. He comes up with a complicated plan involving a fake letter to leave at the door, but eventually decides to just ask Imrich to cast Knock to let him in. The door makes a loud squeak when it opens, though, alerting those within. They move quickly to close and relock the door, but Senllip is able to fly in before they do. He listens in as three human guards play cards, and he notices a door to the south. He silently picks it and opens it, revealing a small room with several cages, and people locked up inside them. He manages to get out, and tell the others. They send Johannas, who shapechanges into a seagull, to fetch the sheriff.

When Aguru arrives with Johannas and a pair of deputies, he is a bit put off that the evidence the party has of any wrong-doing was obtained by Senllip illegally breaking and entering. Aguru knocks on the front door multiple times but there is no answer. His deputies inform him that the building is not owned by anyone, so technically it's not private property. The guards within try to slip out through the back, but see Jaeron and return inside. Senllip picks the front door's lock and Aguru moves in. The guards instantly attack. Johannas is run through and dies almost immediately. Imrich unlocks the back door and flies in, then paralyzes two of the guards. Working together, the party knocks out the last guard.

Searching the place, they learn these are Crimson Wolves guards. They were apparently duping people into being captured into slaves by promising work to refugees. The party releases the prisoners and finds some coin on the table from where the guards were gambling. They also find a note that mentions the abandoned apartment building not far from there. Aguru deputizes the party and asks them to check out the apartment while he takes the guards in for questioning, helps get the refugees to safety, and finds a priest to raise Johannas. The party sets off for the apartments.

Once there, Senllip scouts around the perimeter, then he picks the lock on the door and they enter the main hall. It's pitch black inside, so Senllip lights his lantern. The first room they find is abandoned. Moving on, they find a goblin digging in some refuse. Kalana bribes him with three GP to learn that the Crimson Wolves bring their prisoners to this building under cover of night, and then take them to the old landlord's office at the end of the hall, eventually leading them to the docks, to Warehouse C.

After the goblin runs off, they continue down the hall. There are two doors here. One is open and just reveals another abandoned apartment. The one to the south, though, is closed. Assuming there are guards within, the party kicks it open...and finds nothing, just another abandoned apartment. They come to the final hallway and find two doors. One is reinforced, one is not, and both are locked. Senllip insists on investigating the reinforced door first, even though it is at the end of the hall, as he comes to believe there are prisoners inside. He picks the lock and finds a trap door on the floor, then returns to the others and reports.

He then picks the lock of the other door, and they find four guards inside. Imrich holds three of them immediately, and then the others beat up the fourth one, ending the battle in a single round. Aguru and his deputies arrive moments later, too late to do anything but start the clean up process. The party reveals what they learned about Warehouse C, and Aguru asks them to investigate it. They return to the landlord's office and find that the trapdoor leads into the sewer, and reason that the slavers were using it to transport people without being seen. They all decide to head to Warehouse C through the sewers, except for Imrich who insists the sheriff fetch a healer for him, because he was shot by a crossbow in the fight.

While the others trudged through the sewers, Imrich waited for the healer to arrive. Deputy Ray returned with an acolyte who healed Imrich up and asked for a donation in return. Imrich told her he would...later...if he survived, then went after the others.

Imrich arrived on the scene just as Senllip had finished scouting out the building. Since he didn't take the sewers, Imrich got there faster and didn't reek of sewage. Opening the front door, they found five swordsmen, three crossbowmen, and an elven archer. The archer demanded to know why the party was on private property. The party reveals they are deputies. The archer realizes that the party is why tonight's shipment never arrived, and decides they should cut their losses and leave with the 'cargo' they have already, which will include the party. A fight breaks out quickly. Using a Scare spell, Imrich disables all of the melee fighters, leaving only the archer (who is blinded by another spell) and the three crossbowmen.

Imrich and Jaeron knock out the archer, and then Imrich uses her body as a shield, before throwing her at the crossbowmen, killing her in the process. A few rounds later, the party knocks out the rest and starts tying them up. With this done, Senllip moves to the next door, and upon entering it he is immediately attacked by two swordsmen by the door and two crossbowmen taking cover behind a pair of water barrels. They effectively bottle-neck the party at the door, making combat difficult. Imrich literally rips the door off its hinges to use as a makeshift weapon for some reason. While Imrich and Kalana fight at the doorway, Senllip tumbles past the enemy and starts attacking the crossbowmen. After taking care of the swordsmen, Kalana and Imrich up up to the barrels and hop on them. They are kicked over, and although Kalana lands on her feet, Imrich has a less graceful fall. Shortly after, the crossbowmen are knocked out, as well. Without tying them up or searching them, Kalana opens the next door and crossbow bolts come flying at her.

The door leads to a stairwell, and at the bottom are some crossbowmen. The party comes up with a rather convoluted plan that involves using the door Imrich took off its hinges as a shield and walking to the bottom of the stairs, before attacking. However, once they are down the stairs, they walk past a lone barrel that is rigged with a trip wire. And upon being tripped, it starts leaking oil all over the hall. One of the crossbowmen throw a lit oil flask at the party, and the entire hall catches fire.

Senllip and Jaeron manage to fall back, while Kalana stays and fights. Imrich shapechanges into an aarakocra and flies over the fire to help her. Once the crossbowmen are defeated, Jaeron and Senllip then run through the fire to rejoin them. They quickly kick down the door and rush into the next room, dragging the unconscious crossbowmen with them. Once on the other side, they bar the door. Imrich questions the wisdom of proceeding, as they are all injured and largely out of spells. But the others want to press on, and with the fire behind them, there really isn't much choice.

The next room is quite large and has lots of guards in it, plus a wizard leader and six slaves locked up in cages. The wizard offers the party a deal--take 1000 GP and let him and his men go with the slaves they have. Kalana tries and fails to convince the wizard that the refugees are cursed and thus would die before he could sell them. The wizard doesn't believe her, but claims he can just sell them to necromancers to experiment on, if that's the case. The party pretends to take the deal in an effort to stall for time, hoping the sheriff and his deputies will show up and help.

They learn that the leader was a wizard working for the Bloody Chains, but he defected to the Crimson Wolves because he felt he wasn't appreciated. The party decides to let the slavers escort the captured refugees out of the room, so there will be less combatants when they strike. After the refugees and five of the slavers have left, the party attacks. A few moments later, the sheriff, his deputies and the acolyte from earlier all show up, as well.

The battle doesn't go well. The deputies are all shot down, Aguru is badly wounded, and the acolyte uses up all of her healing, which isn't very much to begin with. The wizard and several of his crossbowmen escape, although the party does knock out the two swordsmen and three crossbowmen. The party then questions whether they should continue or not, as they are badly beaten up. However, the lives of the slaves were still at stake. Imrich was angry at Aguru and the church for ever allowing the situation. Kalana was torn between doing what was right and what was practical.

Stepping into the next room, they find an underground river with a boat tied up to a makeshift dock. The slaves and crossbowmen and wizard were all boarded, while the swordsmen stood on the harbor, guarding the gangplank. Realizing they could not reasonably win this fight, Kalana and Jaeron turned away. But Imrich chaffed at the idea of being bested by a wizard--his family's sworn enemies. Unable to help himself, he tried to use his final Hold Person on the wizard as the boat was swiftly pulled away by the current. The spell failed, and realizing someone had just tried to magick him, the wizard threw a fireball in rage. The blast consumed Imrich and Senllip, killing them both instantly.

[Daos]

Chapter 6:  Feyr is the Mind Killer

A few days later, the fallen had been raised in the church, save for Johannas. For whatever reason, the ritual did not work, and the druid's soul did not wish to return to his body. The priest who raised them, an elderly halfling man named Seredic Farfoot, also fined Imrich 200 GP for the killing of the elven woman. Kalana agreed to pay it out of the party's funds, which Imrich was fine with, despite the fact he had more than enough gold to pay it himself. Jaeron asked if he could speak to the temple's archivist to learn more about their history, and was given directions while Imrich argued with the priest about morality. Imrich felt the church were hypocrites who cared more about protecting criminals than defending their victims. Farfoot, however, argued the world was not so black and white and if the church tried imposing its will on everyone, they would be no different than the slavers. Kalana asked if Imrich felt redemption was not possible, and he claimed redemption could only be given by the wronged party, which sent the warrior into a depressive tailspin. Imrich then stormed out and returned to the inn, where he learned the party had lost their rooms over the past few days of being missing. He had the innkeeper summon him a tailor, a bottle of Teufelstöter (Swadian liquer that is popular among adventurers), and prepare new rooms.

Senllip went to the tailor and ordered new clothes to replace his torn and burned ones, then made his way to the inn to join up with Imrich. Jaeron spoke with a gnomish woman in the temple archives, asking her about the temple's past. He also seemed under the impression that slavers were allowed to legally operate in Serenity, and she had to help clear up that misconception. Meanwhile, Kalana asked Farfoot if redemption was possible. He told her that forgiveness and redemption were not the same thing and asked her which she was seeking. She said both. Farfoot explained that if she seeks forgiveness, she must earn it from those she wronged and it may not even be possible. If she seeks redemption, she must look to Octhanus.

Afterward, Kalana went to the library and picked up the information on the feyrs that they commissioned from the sage there. She then returned to the inn, as did Jaeron, so all four met up there. They then discussed strategy in how to reveal and fight the feyr. Kalana decided to find a map of the city, while Imrich got drunk and then went up to his room to sleep it off. Kalana returned to the shrine to ask Saren for a map, and he suggested she try the city archives. Kalana borrowed the only blueprints of the city they had, then returned to the inn to speak with the others. After, she, Senllip and Jaeron then went back to the temple to ask Saren if he had any magical items that would help. He suggested they try the local mage guild.

However, upon arriving at the guild, they find that magical items don't come cheap. Even a simple scroll would be costly, and they don't have a mage to cast it anyway. They instead head to the refugee camptown to ask for Rose's help. Flinn isn't crazy about the idea, but the party insists they can protect her. Flinn reluctantly agrees, but only if he is present to help protect her. With this settled, the party then goes to the docks to check on the Black Moon. They pay for two more rounds of repairs and change the ship's name to the Blue Moon.

The following day, Dymin 1st, the party meets back up in the inn. Imrich has sobered up and everyone is now refreshed and well rested. They eat breakfast and discuss what to do. Imrich brings up the idea of using unpaid refugees to help lure the feyr in place with a tent, but the others don't like the idea. They finish up breakfast and then head to the refugee camp to meet with Flinn and Rose.

Once there, they explain that they are going to head to random nearby abandoned buildings and basically ask Rose to point out the feyr if she sees it. Before they can depart, though, Rose points above Flinn's tent, and then watches as something unseen floats directly above the party. Suddenly, everyone in the nearby vicinity starts screaming and running away in horror. This includes Kalana and Flinn, but the others are able to fight it off. Rose falls to the ground, having some kind of seizure.

Senllip and Imrich hurl projectiles at the area they believe the feyr is at. Imrich even manages to hit it a couple of times. Kalana, once she gets a good distance away, regains control of her senses. But every time she tries to approach again, the terror returns. The feyr becomes visible and bites Imrich, and this causes Jaeron to be filled with horror and run away, as well. Senllip recovers Rose and carries her to Flinn. Flinn then runs with her to the west. Shortly after, the feyr starts being pulled westward, against its will. It turns invisible again and then the party loses track of it. The party gathers themselves, then heads after him. They eventually find him at the docks, looking for a ship to leave the city with his daughter.

The party tries to convince Flinn that running away won't solve anything, and that they need to take Rose to the church to be healed from this affliction. But Flinn is skeptical--the party had assured him they could defeat this feyr, and failed. He now suspects they are just making this up as they go, and speak with certainty on subjects they are, in fact, not certain about. The party insists that this time, though, they know the church can disconnect the feyr from Rose, so Flinn reluctantly agrees to go with them to the temple.

At the temple, Saren explains that there is no way to disconnect Rose from the feyr, aside from destroying one or the other. The feyr was born from the trauma and despair and terror of the refugees, and Rose's mind became the focal point. Imrich calls out Saren, telling him that he needed to get involved personally. Despite being out of spells for the day, Saren agrees and asks what Imrich's plan is, but the genasi doesn't offer one. Kalana gets angry at Imrich for picking arguments with the priests, and Imrich tells her that if she doesn't come up with a better plan than last time, he was quitting the group. Jaeron then ran off, considering quitting, as well. He heads down to the archives again to ask if they have any books on feyr, but the cleric there explained they only have books on the temple's and city's history.

Kalana comes up with a new plan, and sends Senllip to go get some flour and finds Imrich. She then heads down to the archives to retrieve Jaeron (the cleric there asks for the blueprints back, but Kalana tells her she'll bring them later). Kalana then gets some paint and meets up with everyone at the inn.

The plan is simple enough. They will head to the warehouse where they fought the slavers. Saren will send a cleric to meet them there who can cast Remove Fear. Flinn and Rose will meet them there, too. They will use the paint and flour to make the feyr visible, then attack it, and hopefully ward off its fear with the cleric's spell. When they arrive at the warehouse, they find that the cleric Saren sent was none other than the same one who healed Imrich in the slaver fight, and who he never gave the donation he promised. Imrich promised that this time, he totally would before he left the island. Skeptical, the cleric casts Remove Fear on Kalana.

Kalana asks Rose to point out the Feyr. As soon as she tries, she again collapses and starts having some kind of seizure. Fear floods the room, and Imrich and Senllip are forced out, as is the cleric, but Jaeron, Flinn and Kalana hold their ground. The battle doesn't go well at first. The cleric, Imrich and Senllip are able to return to the room, but then witness one of the feyr's gruesome attacks. The cleric and Jaeron both run away at full speed. However, then the tides turned, and the party started dishing some real damage on the feyr. Eventually, they managed to destroy it. Shortly after, Saren arrives with backup, but it's too late. The party is already victorious.

The others disperse, with Flinn taking Rose to the temple with Saren to get her checked out, and the party returning to the inn while discussing nightmares. Jaeron retires early, while Kalana and Senllip have a discussion about which kind of alcohol is the best. Just before Kalana retires, Senllip reminds her she still has the city blueprints she borrowed from the temple archives. Kalana decides to head to the temple first, and Senllip and Jaeron join her. Once there, they drop off the blueprints, have a brief conversation, and then return to the inn to retire for the night.

[Daos]

Chapter 7:  Picking Up the Pieces

Six days later, the party met up on the deck of the newly christened Blue Moon. They were awaiting the new crew that Kalana hired to arrive. They are surprised then, when Saren showed up. He explained that they never discussed payment before, and he had forgotten all about it. So before they left, he wanted to give them something to thank them for defeating the great feyr. He handed them 330 gold pieces. Kalana asked if he would give Octhanus' blessing, and he did so. Everyone except Jaeron stepped forward to receive it, even Imrich, to Kalana's surprise. Saren then departed.

At that point, the new arrivals showed up. First, the two new crewmen were a male human named Liko Maleko and a female dwarf named Mirinda Kadrat. Mirinda recognized Jaeron's vestments marking him as a kohen and seemed excited, as she was also a follower of Gonto. Jaeron became confused, though, and thought her name was Kohen. Both the gnome and dwarf fumbled through apologies to each other for the misunderstanding. Next came Bayla and the cleric who aided Kalana in the fight with the feyr and healed Imrich after he was shot by a slaver. She reminded Imrich he had promised her a donation for that incident and never paid up. Imrich called her a panhandler, and gave her a single gold piece, which she accepted. Then the Red Hawks arrived, causing a commotion. Kalana explained she agreed to transport them to Tu'Valie for 10 gold each. The ship then set sail.

On the evening of the second day, a cargo ship called the Goldmeasure crossed their path. Its captain was a male dwarf merchant named Rakit who seemed to have a crew of kobolds. Kalana allowed him to board, and he offered to sell magical items to the party at incredible prices. The party asked for a few items, and indeed, he was willing to sell them at a whopping 90% discount. Despite this, none of the party had the coin to afford anything, except for Imrich, who suspected Rakit was running some kind of scam. Annoyed that he was invited on board when the party never had any intention of buying anything, Rakit packed up his things and departed.

A few days later, on Dymin the 10th, the Blue Moon arrived in Tu'Valie. An elven dock worker approaches them to ask them some questions. In turn, the party asks her whether the Tiaru is around. She tells them that it just departed a few days ago. The party leaves the crew behind on the ship and go see the harbormaster for more info. He tells them the Tiaru's last charted destination was Marit, Doubloon. Interestingly, they left one of the crewmen behind--Donato. Kalana is eager to see him again, so they head to the old warehouse that is converted into a sort of inn/tavern for the workers who are rebuilding and cleaning out the town.

They find the Red Hawks already in line for grub, and Imrich and Senllip get in line, as well. Jaeron goes to the Temple of Obedience, and Kalana, having learned Donato is at his parents' house, spots Aata and his group and joins them. She learns they finished the job she sent them on, and her family isn't doing well; they're pariahs and practically homeless. What's more, Kalana learns that the Blue Lightning has withdrawn from Shadowshore, because their numbers were decimated in the Tu'Valie attack, and Gunn is building a fleet--there are rumors that Gunn might re-invade Shadowshore. Kalana finds this very distressing.

Meanwhile, Jaeron finds Samwen in the small temple to Gonto, and also Nara, Jaeron's old mentor who taught him to fight. He tells her he wants to switch from being a cleric of Gonto to a paladin, instead. Nara tells him there is a way, but it would mean changing his lifestyle and once he takes that path, he cannot return to being a scholar again. Jaeron agrees. Nara tells him she will prepare the ritual necessary to make the change, but it won't be ready until the next day. Jaeron asks about why Nara is here in the first place, and she explains that she was sent by her superiors in the church to determine if the Temple of Obedience was worth salvaging or if they should pull out of the island. On the one hand, they have always met heavy resistance from the Octhanians and Crizzites that dwell here. On the other hand, those two groups are weakened, as are the Blue Lightning. The governor is missing. The town is in chaos. With a strong show of force, the Gontorites could sweep in and take over. Jaeron agrees this would be a good idea. He then goes to check on the bookbinder shop he visited last time, Off the Book, but finds it closed down and damaged from the attack.

Kalana heads to Donato's place, finding it badly damaged. He is surprised to see her, as most of the Tiaru's crew thinks she and the others were dead. But Julak never lost hope, and left their belongings with Donato, in case they ever showed up. Donato also explains why he stayed behind. A number of slaadi that were summoned during the attack have holed up at an old inn, the Whispering Wind. They captured a bunch of townsfolk and are holding them there as incubators for their eggs. Donato is trying to get one of the mercenary groups to go fight them, but he doesn't have anything of value to offer them. Kalana agrees to take care of it, on the condition that Donato joins her crew. Donato agrees.

Kalana and Jaeron both return to the tavern and regroup with the others. Kalana tells them of the job to help Donato and the one Aata gave them involving undead. They decide the Donato one should take priority, due to the time limit involved. Imrich wants to find someone with experience fighting slaadi, as he has never done so. But it turns out, Kalana, Senllip and Jaeron have all fought them before--briefly, before they were swept off the Tiaru in the storm. Kalana also asks Aata and his group about the Whispering Wind. Moray remembers staying there in the past; it has two stories and a back kitchen entrance. The party decides to head there right away to stake it out.

Once they arrive, Senllip scouts around the building's perimeter, and manages to spy inside through a window to see a few Red Slaad wandering around. The party then comes in through the back door, after Senllip has removed the trap on it and picked the lock. The party enters a small room with two doors. One leads to a small washroom with another door, but the party ignores it and tries the other one, which leads into the kitchen, which is a big mess. From there, they find a door that leads to the common room. They spot at least three slaadi there and so attack. Kalana is able to take out one of them in surprise.

Things go well, at first. But one of the slaad uses a high pitched shriek to disable Jaeron and Imrich, while another one gates in two additional slaadi. Things take a turn after that. Kalana goes down, and then Imrich. Jaeron revives Kalana, and Imrich gets back up and attacks. Kalana and Imrich go down again, and Senllip runs upstairs to free the prisoners, only to discover another half dozen slaadi, who quickly cut him down, as well. Then, finally, Jaeron drops last.

The four wake up some time later. Kalana and Jaeron are in an inn room, on the beds, while a slaad guards the door. Imrich and Senllip are in another room in an identical situation. Kalana realizes they are prisoners and incubators for the slaadi young; a prospect Jaeron finds intriguing, despite the direness of the situation. Imrich has given in to despair and sees no point in even trying to escape. Senllip mostly just pesters the slaad guard with questions.

Jaeron and Kalana come up with a plan. Jaeron casts Feign Death on Kalana, in the hopes that the slaad will carry her 'dead' body outside and leave it there, and then when she comes to, she can seek help. However, it turns out the slaadi eat the dead, so Jaeron quickly wakes her up again. Then they come up with a plan to have Jaeron distract the slaad in conversation while Kalana removes a curtain rod and pries off the boards on the window. However, the slaad easily hears this and tries to stop her.

Meanwhile, Imrich and Senllip engage in a sort of philosophical conversation with their slaad guard, apparently trying to convince it to let them go by pointing out flaws in its philosophical beliefs. The slaad's lack of pronoun use seems to confuse matters further. Senllip attempts to convince it to incubate non-intelligent creatures and Imrich tries to convince it that a horde of angry villagers will soon arrive and burn the whole inn down.

Back in the other room, Kalana and the slaad begin to wrestle. Kalana orders Jaeron to escape, but he refuses. Then changes his mind and does just that. He moves into the hallway after discovering that the inn rooms only lock from the inside. He makes for the stairs, but discovers slaadi in the common room, so instead starts checking all of the doors in the hall. But most are locked, except for a couple of lavatories. The slaad stuns Kalana with its croak, then goes after Jaeron. Once the stunning effect wears off, Kalana begins working on the window again. She manages to pry off enough boards to jump out and start limping away.

Meanwhile, Imrich has an abrupt change of heart and decides he does want to escape, and blinds the slaad. He and Senllip begin to attack it. They manage to shove it out of the room, then close and lock the door. They pry off enough boards from the window to escape while the slaad starts to break down the door. Imrich casts fly on himself and abandons Senllip to his fate. But Senllip leaps after him, tumbling to the ground safely and goes after Kalana.

[Daos]

Chapter 8:  Once More with Feeling

Kalana and Senllip spent the last couple of days resting and recovering from their ordeal (Jaeron still being imprisoned and Imrich having joined the Dark Sun), and they all had their slaadi eggs removed by the local priests. They held a meeting with Bayla and the cleric to discuss strategy. Kalana finally asked the cleric her name. A little offended, she introduced herself as Auli'i Kahale.

Meanwhile, an elven priestess of Renos barged into the makeshift inn/warehouse on the docks, demanding work. A dwarf sharpshooter spoke to her about there not being any unless you're in a group. Aata approached them both to give them advice. Most of the groups were all filled up, but he did recommend the Blue Moons, docked in the harbor. Brax and Kallian went and spoke with Kalana, offering their services. At first, Kalana was skeptical. Brax told the party that he is an exile, and that his love died in the attack on Mond, and that he is a gunsmith and gunslinger. Kalana accepted him, but wasn't too sure about Kallian, who seemed abrasive and quarrelsome. But the elf won her over by pointing out that her clerical abilities include abjuring and warding extraplanar creatures. Kalana invited them both onto the ship and introduced them to Bayla and Auli'i. Auli'i and Kallian clashed, exchanging sarcastic jabs at each other.

After coming up with a plan, and a couple of backup plans, the party headed out to the inn. Senllip scouted out the perimeter and discovered that the window Kalana escaped from was still open, but the window Imrich and Senllip escaped from was boarded up again. Bayla flew up to the window with some rope, so the others could climb up. Checking the door, Senllip opened it quietly to discover a single red slaad patrolling the upstairs hallway. Auli'i cast Silence on one of Kalana's swords, then the party ambushed the slaad when it got close enough. They manage to defeat it, and move to the next room north and attack the slaad inside. After defeating it, they discover Jaeron, tied up and unconscious but stable. The silence spell ends and Auli'i heals up Kalana.

The party starts checking doors around the second floor, moving counterclockwise. They find an untouched and empty room, a trashed and empty room, and a trapped and empty room. From there, they find a couple of bathrooms. The next room is more useful; inside they find their stolen belongings, including Imrich's and Jaeron's things. Kalana is annoyed to find that Imrich had quite a bit of gold on him, despite making her pay for his raising out of the party's funds. She retrieves her sabres, and Senllip grabs his sabres (now carrying three of them), then they move on to the next room and find a locked chest sitting on a bed. Senllip thinks it is unimportant now, but Kalana insists, claiming it may have something useful inside. Senllip takes care of the trap and lock, and inside are some gemstones and coin, to Kalana's disappointment (although the others are more pleased). The party decides to leave it for now.

The next room is some kind of trashed shrine to what appears to be Crizza. The room after that contains a slaad standing guard over three prisoners. The party again sets up a silence spell, bursts in and kills the slaad in two rounds. Auli'i handles the prisoners while the party moves on to the next door, finds another slaad guarding people, and without silence, just attacks. They are able to defeat it in a single round, before it even has a chance to do anything. Among the new prisoners are Donato's parents.

There is some discussion among the party as to whether they should just send the prisoners on their way, hoping they will find their way back to the docks on their own, or wait until the party has cleared the entire inn and then escort them. Eventually, they decide on the latter. Senllip attempts to lure one of the slaadi upstairs, but all of the racket from the ensuing fight summons all three of them, one after the other. The party manages to slay them all, ending the slaadi threat.

The party retrieves all the prisoners and treasure then return to the inn for healing and egg removal. With that done, they escort Donato's parents home, where they have a reunion with their son and Donato thanks them profusely. The party feels pretty good about their work, except Kallian who decides to abruptly leave the party. The party returns to the inn and divides up the treasure. Jaeron takes his share and tells the party he has decided to stay on the island and rebuild the Temple of Obedience. Brax offers him a donation to help.

The next day, Dymin 17th, the party wakes up and has a strategy meeting on how to face the undead for their next job. The party then sets out to the graveyard where the undead were reported. They find only a handful milling about, but assume there are more in the catacombs. So they just walk up and start attacking. Sure enough, more start spilling out of the mausoleums as a result. The zombie aren't very tough, but more and more continue to arrive, until the party is in danger of being overrun.

Eventually their leader appears, a zombie lord. Auli'i turns some zombies to make a path to it, while Bayla casts a filtering spell on Kalana so she doesn't breathe in its fumes. Kalana then makes a beeline for the creature, and eventually is able to kill it after Auli'i softens it up a bit with some sunscorch spells. Once the zombie lord is defeated, though, the zombies do not stop attacking (although they stop being so coordinated). It takes some doing, and they come close to falling, but eventually the party is able to mop up the rest without casualties.

When the battle is over, Kalana loots the zombie lord of quite a bit of treasure, and they decide to head back to the inn.

[Daos]

Chapter 9:  Chasing the Tiaru

Two weeks later, the Blue Moon has mostly been repaired (although still has some damage) and the crew had expanded to include some new folks, including an ice genasi. Kalana announces they are setting course for Doubloon, in hopes of finding the Tiaru. The first three days at sea are largely uneventful, but on the fourth day the crew spots a small, uncharted island with a shipwreck on it. Kalana suggests they check it out.

She takes a rowboat with herself, Brax, Auli'i and Bayla, to investigate. Once on shore, they start going through the wrecked ship, which appears to be a dwarven cargo vessel. They start with the captain's quarters, and find a bunch of scattered papers and maps, but are all written in dwarven. Brax offers to read them, but he is illiterate, so just sort of fakes it. Bayla manages to find a receipt in elven and learns that the ship is called the Spitfire. Kalana finds a chest with some unique looking bullets in it, but just leaves it there.

They check out the cargo bay, and most of the goods on board are water-damaged, but they find a few items in good condition. Just then, they hear distant but beautiful singing. They immediately cover their ears, but after a few moments, they give up on that and climb back up onto the deck. They can see a figure standing at the top of a large rock cropping, singing while looking out into the sea. The party climbs up to meet her, asking who she is. She stops singing and introduces herself as Moiroloi, a sirine. She wants the party to hand over command of their ship.

It seems a fight will break out, but Senllip insists on talking with her, emphasizing with her, so she tells her story. A pack of scrags attacked her island, and killed her two sisters. She wants the party's ship to hunt them down and get revenge. Based on the details of the story, Kalana realizes that the scrags are the same ones the party fought and then tossed overboard, allowing them to regenerate again. So they agree to loan her the ship, despite her threats, willingly. Moiroloi is surprised by this supposed altruism, but accepts their offer. They all cram back into the rowboat and return to the ship. Moiroloi tries giving orders to the crew, but Kalana isn't having it. Kalana, Brax and Auli'i wonder if this is a good idea, but Senllip is convinced this is the right thing to do.

Three days later, Bayla tells the captain they are coming up on Shadowshore. Moiroloi is impatient with the ship's progress, and criticizes the fact that they weigh anchor each night instead of just sailing through it. Kalana asks Brax to talk to her, hoping they're similar experiences with losing loved ones and wanting revenge would help. As the ship passes by Shadowshore, Kalana climbs up to the crow's nest and uses her spyglass. She then returns to the deck, looking disturbed. Senllip prods her about what she saw, but Kalana remains tight-lipped about it. Meanwhile, Brax's conversation with Moiroloi doesn't go well. She seems determined to get her revenge, and cares about nothing else.

That night, as they are weighing anchor and preparing to get some rest, they hear a thump and a splash on the port side. Kalana yells out a warning for the crew to be aware. Three scrags slip up onto the deck from the starboard side, and Kalana calls for the entire crew to come fight.

The fight doesn't go particularly well. More and more scrags start climbing up to the deck, and the party is just barely able to keep them at bay. The crew aren't adventurers, just sailors with no armor and nothing but belaying pins for weapons. Malika is killed, and the others can barely touch the scrags. So the party basically carries the fight, with some help from Bayla and Auli'i and Moiroloi. Once the scrags are all down, the sirine warns them not to chop them up or throw them into the sea, as this will cause them to heal and multiply. So instead, they drag the corpses into the hold to await burning once they reach land.

Moiroloi is strangely dissatisfied with her revenge. Kalana invites her to join the crew and replace Malika. But Moiroloi is not interested in taking orders and sailing a ship. She departs, jumping back into the sea. The party holds a funeral for Malika, and sets her body out to sea.

A few days later, they are approaching Doubloon and see three cargo ships attacking the Tiaru. Despite having no artillery and only one crossbowman and two slingers, the Blue Moon moves in to help. The Tiaru easily dispatches one of the ships, but another one breaks away and moves toward the Blue Moon. Using her spyglass, Kalana sees that it is crewed by some kind of weird mushroom people. Fortunately, they are able to maneuver close enough to board the ship without losing any crewmen. Once Kalana is on board, she cuts through them pretty easily, and Bayla puts half of them to sleep, to make things even easier.

With the battle ended, Kalana checks on the Tiaru and sees it had sunk the third cargo ship and is now approaching. Bayla signals to them, and they ask for permission to board after hearing Kalana's name. Julak boards the ship, pleased to see her and Senllip, but notices that Jaeron and Johannas are missing. Kalana explains the former left the ship and the latter died.

She also asks for his help. Knowing that Shadowshore is under threat again, she needs the Blue Lightning. But they effectively don't exist anymore. Even the Tiaru can't fight off an entire Gunn fleet alone. The only other Blue Lightning ship Julak knows of is the Lleiset, which was last seen heading toward Octhanus Island. Julak offers some of his own crew so Brax and Senllip can each take one of the cargo ships, as well. Kalana asks about the mushroom folks, which Julak calls Myconid, and he suggests she speak to Toven about it.

While Brax searches the ship and finds some coin, Kalana speaks with Toven. He explains that the Myconid dwell underground, but for some reason something has riled them up and they have started attacking settlements, kidnapping people and transforming them into monsters. His sister was among those taken, and he's trying to track them down. But they don't have a spoken language, so they can't be interrogated.

While Brax and Senllip try to choose which ship they want, Kalana asks Bayla if she knows anyone who has communication magic. Bayla thinks there may be someone at the Storm Sorcery Academy on Ketos who might. Nevertheless, Kalana orders a course set for Octhanus. Julak points out there are no docks or cities on Octhanus, so they might want to dock at Doubloon or Gunn first to resupply and recrew. Kalana agrees, so sets course for Doubloon instead.

[Daos]

Chapter 10:  Chasing the Lleiset

After a day of rest, the party all meets up at the docks to watch as their ships are loaded up with supplies. Kalana realizes she is an admiral now, and Senllip and Brax are captains. Boarding their respective ships, Brax and Senllip realize that their new crews are mostly rough and tumble types, likely former pirates, as they were all hired from Doubloon.

The three ships set sail toward the island of Octhanus. On the sixth night, seawolves board all three ships while they are anchored and attack. Kalana melees the wolves while having her crewmen fire crossbows at them. Senllip sends his men into battle, where they quickly start getting slaughtered, so he has them withdraw and use crossbows while he melees. Brax fires with his melee pistols and orders his crew to use their crossbows, as well. When the seawolves die, they shapeshift back into their humanoid forms. The party discusses what to do with the bodies, worried about repeating the incident with the sea trolls, but eventually just throw them overboard anyway.

Thirteen days later, the island of Octhanus comes into view. The party sees the Lleiset anchored not too far from the shoreline. Kalana has Bayla signal them, telling them they wish to speak and need help. When the elven captain of the Lleiset boards, she asks who the party are, as she does not recognize them. Kalana explains they sailed with Julak about the Tiaru. The captain is embarrassed Julak named his ship that, then introduces herself as Captain Tiaru Jarok of the Lleiset. It seems Julak has held a candle for her all this time, but she does not return his affection.

Kalana explains the situation with Shadowshore, and Tiaru wants to know what their plan is, since five ships is hardly a match against a dozen warships. However, Kalana doesn't seem to have any kind of plan, other than 'find more ships' but she has no idea where. Kalana speculates that Gunn doesn't even want Shadowshore, and this is all a ploy by her ex-husband to trick her out of hiding, something Tiaru is skeptical about.

Tiaru tells them that the Lleiset is tasked with taking care of a family of black dragons terrorizing the area. Kalana offers to help them do so. Tiaru explains they are trying to lure the dragons out. If the party helps, they can have a portion of the dragons' hoard.

A short time later, the ships are in position, and the dragons are approaching by air. The three younger dragons go for the party's ships, one each. Fortunately, they are too young to have dragonfear auras, and they are reluctant to use their breath weapons out of fear of damaging the ships' cargo. Kalana manages to take hers out first, but Senllip falls to his and Brax isn't doing well, either. Kalana steers her ship closer to Brax's to aid him, and thankfully even though Senllip falls, his crew is able to finish off their dragon. Kalana then boards Brax's ship and finishes his dragon off, bringing the party victory.

After a few hours later, once everyone has had a chance to be revived, the three captains meet Tiaru on the shoreline. A gnomish druid, a representative of the island, hands over the dragons' hoard and then tells them to please leave. The party discovers that each of them gets 43,530 GP. Pleased, they decide to set sail for Serenity, while the Lleiset heads toward Tu'Valie to rendezvous with the Tiaru.

Once they land in Serenity, 18 days later, the party makes a beeline for the temple to recruit Saren and the Seleya. Saren is skeptical that six ships can handle a dozen Gunn warships, but Kalana again insists she'll come up with a plan by 'getting more help' but not specifying where this help is going to come from. He reluctantly agrees to gather his crew and meet them in Tu'Valie, so the party then heads for the inn so Senllip and Brax can each recruit a henchman. While they wait to see if anyone bites, Kalana heads to the docks to work on ship upgrades. Meanwhile, Senllip questions the innkeeper about the Son of Crizza and Brax orders a bottle of Teufelstöter.

By the time Kalana returns to the inn, a small woman wearing the vestments of Octhanus approaches, claiming to be Cassie Browndoor, Senllip's little sister. She wants to join Senllip's crew to keep him out of trouble. Senllip brags to her how he is a father now, but upon learning the mother is with the Children of Meer, Cassie is skeptical he'll ever see the kid.

A short time later, another person wearing blue vestments enters, but this time it turns out to be Brax's elderly uncle Thom. Like Cassie, he is a priest now, but also a mage. He heard about Brax's predicament and wants to help. He suggests that Brax upgrade from his dagger pistols to a pepperbox. But despite the mountains of gold the dwarf has, he doesn't want to spend that much, so instead gets a pair of double-barrel pistols instead. He also only gets a few small ballistae for his ship. Senllip and Kalana also upgrade their ships, including cannons, medium catapults and medium ballistae.

The next day, they sail off for Tu'Valie, arriving almost a month later. They head straight to the inn, where Kalana asks for Aata's Adventurers (and learn the Red Hawks are long gone), before sitting down with Tiaru, Julak and Saren, as well as their first officers. They then begin discussing possible ideas--everything from riding dragons into battle (somehow), trying to run the blockade, sneaking in and sabotaging the enemy ships, involving the merfolk somehow and even pretending to surrender Kalana to Tethys.

Kalana suggests they sneak into town by coming around the back end of the island and climbing the mountains to reach the town, just her, Senllip and Brax. Then Senllip and Brax can somehow set fire to the docked ships while she distracts the guards by being the Villain of Shadowshore. Senllip is concerned, though, that splitting up the party is a bad idea. Ultimately, Kalana changes her mind and decides to just have the fleet try to run the blockade instead.