Editing Game-Summaries:6/30/2018 Recollections (section)

==Recollections by Jeroy==

We head to the new island off of [[Kraken's Landing]] with captain Jenny Harken on the ''Second Best''.  We arrived with no complications.  The waters around the island are murky and surrounded by rocky reefs.  Harken would not risk her ship and sent us to shore in a row boat to row ashore and onto this mysterious new island.  The seas had turned and our rowing skills were lacking, we ended up lost for several hours before finally making it to land in a state of exhaustion.  The shore was rocky and barren.  The plants that can grow appear slimy and limp, like that of seaweeds.  The entire island appears to have been thrust up from the depths of the ocean.  [[Coin]] calls upon his trusted familiar, [[Owlie]], to scout around but his efforts were stymied by the thick clouds and fog surrounding the island.  He could see the island was only a few square miles and generally sloping up towards its center, but no other details could be seen.  With that small amount of information we decide to investigate the island to learn what we could.

We came upon a clearing in the slimy woods with a puddle.  [[Ci]] walked over to investigate, walking around the puddle several times with a curious look to his face.  Dissatisfied with the lack of action he retrieved a pebble and tossed it.  Small ripples began to form around the water, but unnaturally slowly.  This water was no normal puddle.  Soon a creature, made of the water, emerged from the puddle and stared directly at us.  No one moved.  [[Pearl]] attempted to speak with the creature but it doesn't respond.  We slowly backed away as close to the shore as we could.  We set up camp for the night to rest ourselves and eventually the water creature slumped back into its puddle.  I do 100 push ups.

We awaken at 10pm feeling better prepared for the quest ahead.  We pass several puddles but make no attempt to disturb them which allows us to pass without incident.  We soon enter a marsh, where Ci realizes we are being watched and from the swampy muck three Hags appear. We are instantly surrounded.  Cassio and [[Ember]] warn us that if they are like the [[Hags]] they have battled before then be wary to not get too close.  The creatures approach us and the battle has begun.  Pearl casts a flame sphere as Ci lets out a volley of arrows.  Ember is about to attack when the Hags tell us they have an offer for us.  They will take us to the temple for a low price.  They ask for a drop of blood and lock of hair from each of us.  We look towards each other to consider the proposition as we don't even know what this island is, why it is here, or whose temple it is.  However before we can discuss further Cassio springs into action shoving one of the Hags prone and declaring he "won't stand idly by while [his] friends make deals with dark magic!" and something else about his oath and greatness.  Ember roles her eyes at his antics, Coin stands jaw agape as he prepared to cut his wrist (not sure if it were for the blood or an exit strategy), while Ci, Pearl, and I prepare our weapons for battle.  

We kill two of the Hags when the third makes a mad dash for the swamp but Ci with his nimble speed (f@*king monks) he catches her before she can slip away.  We intimidate her into showing us where the temple is and she reluctantly agrees.  As we prepare to move on Coin turns to Cassio and in his most commanding and stern voice I've heard from him since meeting at the Magistery "Next time you want you want to speak for me during negotiations - don't and keep that thing in your pants."  Coin is much more articulate when mad.  As we make our way to the temple we ask who this temple is for however she only cryptically responds "the deep one." 

Soon we come to find the temple in the distance, a towering cathedral of bone, coral, and tentacles.  We let our prisoner go and she scurries off into the surrounding marsh and plants.  Owlie flies around the temple to see several guards armed with tridents.  Soon they spot him and then see us, they begin to charge at us wildly and again the battle is upon us.  One charges at me and we exchange raging blows, Ci launches several arrows, while Ember conjures a polar bear which kills the creature.  We look up to the temple to see several more charging towards us.  Pearl and Coin prepare a trap of a wall of thorns and fireball for when they get closer.  Coins fireball kills one, as Ci kills another with his bow.  The creatures dive into the water surrounding.  We cannot see them and are left in a tense state.  We do not know if they have left or are planning a sneak attack of their own.  Suddenly one spring from the water over all of us landing on Pearl and slashing at her.  Ember casts fire, Pearl swings back with her staff, Coin casts ray of sickness, and Cassio dispatches it with his sword.  Another leaps from the water again attacking Pearl, once it lands I charge and attack it for two mighty blows.  Ci attacks with his bow and a flurry of blows, as Ember kills it with a black flame.  The final creature, oblivious to the plight of its compatriots leaps out of the water directly into the middle of our group.  As it lands it realizes the mistake it has made as we all attack together, killing ti quickly.  The battle has been won as we look up towards the temple which waits for us.  Within the temple walls we find a large cavernous chamber illuminated by a glowing pink fungus.  In the center of a room we see a temple alter that looks to have been used for sacrifices that stands over a large hole over 80 feet deep.  We look at each other, pull out 100 feet of rope, and make our way to the bottom.

We enter a second chamber where at the far end a writing mass of eyes and tentacles stares back at us.  Within the tentacles is a statue of a mindflayer that we guess is [[Shar Ngolyeth]].  Beside the creature we see a specter of Captain Jarzon.  I turn to Pearl "Didn't we kill him?"  She looks straight ahead, shrugs her shoulders and calmly responds "Ember made a polar bear appear earlier, I guess anything is possible."

Jarzon turns towards us and asks if we are here "to make a sacrifice to the lower gods"  We shake our heads no.  Equally dissatisfied and pleased with our response he responds "then I will take what is mine."  We draw our weapons as he lunges towards us.  Pearl casts a flame sphere on the Aspect of Shar Ngolyeth and Ci launches two blows on the statue.  I charge in a rage at Captain Jarzon landing two powerful blows.  The statue melts into the ground and then reappears within our group.  The statue attacks Cassio with two mighty blows.  Jarzon touches me for 7 damage.  Ember conjures a plesiosaur that bites at the statue.  Coin casts a fireball on Jarzon who disappears.  We center our focus on the statue.  Pearl swings but misses as Ci attacks with his bow. I look down at my Soulmate and say "Good job today, you've earned  a rest" and draw my Skeleton Key.  I charge for the statue and in all my might I land two critical hits. The creature passes through me and then attacks me. Cassio attacks three times dealing massive damage. The plesiosaur bites into the statue with its ferocious jaws and Coin kills it with a fireball. The statue crumbles into multiple fragments. We gather as many as we can carry and make our way to the surface.

As we reach the surface we realize the island is becoming unstable but we successfully make it to our boat and out to see.  Captain Harkens picks us up and we are back on our way to Solace after another long adventure.  Once back at the Magistery we speak with [[Grandmaster Materiales|Grandmaster Jorlen, grandmaster of the material domain]].  We describe the encounter to him and he responds with only "the [[Cult of the Kraken|Kraken Cult]] is becoming a problem, we will have to deal with them."  

I arrive back at my bunk where I prepare to clean my Soulmate and Skeleton Key.  As I am about to sit down on my bed I find four letters resting on my pillow, each with a seal of different colors - green, red, blue, and black.