Game-Summaries:6/30/2018 Recollections

Recollections by Ci

For this mission we were led by Coin, a member of our initiate class that I had not spent much time with as of yet. I found him a very capable leader, and a fierce warrior. These brothers and sisters in arms in The Eternal Order continue to impress me. Coin had called for help investigating a rumor of a wholly new island that had appeared of the coast of Kraken's Landing. It appears that sometime after the events of the Mission to investigate Octopus Pirates (See Game-Summaries:5/12 Recollections), this new island simply rose from the sea, fully formed.

There was little more information available, so we decided to make our way to the island to "see with the clear eyes of truth, rather than the blind eyes of rumor" as the Book of the Mountain would say. we enlisted the help of friend Captain Jenny Harkens (for a modest fee) to transport us to this Mysterious Island.

Our trip on the Second Best was without incident, and we found the island easy. There were dangerous shoals nearby, however, and Captain Harkens would approach no closer than a few hundred yards. She did, however, leave us with a small launch and a promise to return in a few days. Unfortunately, our complete inexperience with boats and oars resulted in several hours of fruitless rowing before we finally reached the mist-clouded shores of the Island. Exhausted, wet, but alive, we prepared to make camp on the sparse beach.

A quick reconnaissance of the surrounded area, revealed nothing of note except for a small puddle on the only visible path. the rest of island seemed, to our eyes and that of Coin's magical companion Owly, covered with strange impenetrable aquatic flora, and little else. The puddle however seemed to emanate a fair magical aura detectable by our spell-casters. Not being able to identify anything strange about the puddle by visual examination, I dropped a small pebble in its center to observe the result. To my surprise, a creature seemingly made of water rose up in the puddle to face us. It seemed more curious than aggressive however, and we slowly backed away from the creature. After a few minutes it retreated to its puddle again, and we were able to make camp, rest, and cast off our exhaustion.

When we awoke, we made our way down the only visible path, making sure to keep our distance from the puddle containing what we later learned was a Water Weird. We encountered a number of these puddles along our path, but passed them all without incident. After a long march we were confronted with appeared to be something we recognized as similar to a Sea Hag (Ember had previously conjured such a creature to our benefit when battling the Gem Trolls). These creatures approached with menace, and knowing their dangerous and foul nature, I attacked them on sight. Though I damaged one, they seemed to want to trade with us, rather than fight. They offered to take us to the "Temple" in exchange for hair and blood for each of us. I remembered at once both our experience with the Intelligent Trolls and the words of my Masters, "All life has value. If we have but the wisdom to learn, all things may teach us" I feared not giving these creatures, the castoffs of this temporary vessel we call a body, and was indeed intrigued by what we might learn of this island and its nature from these creatures. Our dear impetuous Paladin Cassio would have none of it however, much as with the Trolls. He enjoined the Hags in battle and we were all forced to defend ourselves. I do respect Cassio's commitment to his beliefs, and the Mountain knows, I myself have little patience with those that would prey on the weak and defenseless, but I do wish... sometimes... that our Cassio was a little more... flexible.

In a brief but intense fight against the trio, we were able to slay two, and restrain the third. We were able to force the remaining Hag to give up the location of this "Temple of the Old Ones", as she named it, in exchange for her life. She kept her end of the bargain, and we released her accordingly, much to Cassio's consternation. As we approached the dread temple, Coin once again made use of his familiar to scout and then lure the temple's guardians to us. The temple itself seemed lifted or grown right from the sea bed, and it's multiple entrances were guarded by aquatic creatures we had never seen before. Were these the "Old Ones" the hag spoke of? Owly alighted near them, gained their attention, then led then on a merry chase towards our hastily planned ambush.

Pearl erected a wall of thorns across a narrow isthmus of land that led up to the Temple. We attacked with ranged attacks and magic as these creatures approaches us one or two at a time. Our fighters guarded the approach through the water to either side of the wall. though they were able to enter the water and leap into our midst almost unawares, we were able to take these creatures one at a time, and did not have to face their combined fury.

Once we had dispatched the "Old Ones" we approached the Temple itself. here we encountered an old nemesis, and a decidedly new one. In the highest chamber of the tower, we see a ghostly incarnation of Captain Jarzon. near one end of the chamber we see a statue that seems to resemble a Mindlflayer crossed with an Octopus (perhaps the pirate's masks that were described to me were intended to resemble this visage?). Captain Jarzon seems to have been more successful in death, than he was in life in his attempt to return Shar-Ngolyeth to this realm. Surrounding the statue is an otherworldly glow, and a mass of writhing tentacles much larger than I have ever seen. Knowing we have defeated Jarzon once, I trust we will be to do so again, and instead focus on closing whatever portal he has opened to allow this monstrosity through. I attack the statue, whereupon it, perhaps predictably, comes to life and moves to attack us in return. We find ourselves in a now desperate battle against both an undead captain, and some Aspect of the Horror he seeks to return to the world.

Jarzon falls quickly, as I expected, but the Aspect is much harder to bring down. We do triumph in the end however, without serious hurt. The destruction of the statue seemed to have broken the Aspect's foothold in our realm, as both the tentacles and the island begin to disappear. Thankfully the island's retreat back into the depths, proceeds at a reasonable pace rather than a cataclysmic one, and we are esaily able to make our way back to the shore to await our ride home. The pieces of the broken statue turn out to be worth a fair amount of money, so leave the island not completely empty handed after all.

We do not leave with much more information on this Cult of the Kraken than we had before, unfortunately. It does seem, however, that this cult may be more dangerous than we previously suspected. Any group capable of raising a whole island from the bottom of the sea, or entreating a being of powere to do so on their behalf, is capable of great damage.The Magistery agrees that The Cult of the Kraken bears further investigation.