Session 3: The Big Ass Hole... Report

The party continues on their errand, heading southbound, all the while discussing what is in Vadania's bundle. Andry keeps guessing based on the alphabet, but so far she hadn't had any luck (she did narrow it down though! She didn't have an animal for K, so it can't be that letter, and giants are too big to fit in Vadania's bundle, so it can't be G either). While Andry is guessing by letter, the group discusses further that Elcas is not someone that they trust yet, if ever. The biggest concern they have with him is why in the world he would ask a random group of people to help with this quest.    While heading southbound, the Party ventures into an old growth forest, named Tunworth, although it is also known as the Bigadarkie forest, depending on who you ask. The canopy is heavy, and walking through the forest is like walking in the twilight. Because of the way that the light is making it harder to see, Vadania looks around, but doesn't see anything out of place, other than Andry on Rothgar's shoulders. While carrying Andry, Rothgar attempts to scope out the area looking for animal trails or things out of place, but the light is too dim for him to see anything. They stop, Vadania noticing a foggy mist has started to cling to her shiny locks, as she grumbles, "ugh, what is this? Humidity??" The mist looks unnatural to her eyes, and is concerning to her, but Rothgar decides that he is going to continue leading the party into the mist.   Mist hangs on everything, cloaking it in an ethereal, yet creepy covering, and the area gets cold. Vadania and Rothgar notice a metallic glint off to the right, but neither of them hear anything. Rothgar chucks his seax towards the metallic glint, but hears the seax hit wood, nothing else. The Party can see that the object appears to be next to a tree, almost looking as though it is stuck in a tree since it is horizontal. Andry stays towards the back, keeping an eye on the trail and the woods beyond, while Rothgar and Vadania approach the metallic object.    A skeleton is impaled in the tree by a spear, which Rothgar and Vadania realize was the metallic glint they could see from the trail. More specifically, the metallic glint was silver that appears to be almost woven into the wood of the spear. Vadania approaches cautiously to inspect the spear and skeleton. She notices that the spear is of incredibly complex make, as it appears that the silver and the wood are almost grown together. It is evident that this is master craftsmanship, although it was unfamiliar to Vadania. The skeleton itself looks normal, but the bones aren't bleach white like expected. Instead, the skeleton gives off a blue tint. Vadania detects magic, being able to tell that there is enchantment magic on both the spear and the skeleton, although she can't tell what the precise magic is. She pokes the skeleton with a stick, but nothing happens. The Party decides not to pull the spear out, instead leaving it where it sits and heading back to the path.    The Party continues to head towards the supposed shipwreck, walking through more mist, with Rothgar marking trees with his seax as they go. Finally, after what feels like ages, the Party can see sunlight peeking through the leaves, and waves can be heard faintly crashing against the shore. The trail separates in a Y, one path going west, and the other heading south. Realizing that they are almost to the shore, the Party takes the westward path, making it quickly to the cliffs, where they can see the cliffs drop off and a shoreline below. At this point, the Party was unable to see any signs of a ship or shipwreck, so Andry and Rothgar head down the slope towards the shore, and Vadania flies a cautionary loop ahead of them.    Vadania doesn't see any signs of danger, so Andry and Rothgar continue their descent to the shore. As Vadania goes over the edge of the cliff face, and just before the beach starts, she sees a shipwreck with 3/4 of the wreck in the water. The mast of the ship is clearly broken, and there is a large gaping hole in the side of the hull. It looks like the ship was attacked at first glance. Vadania quickly flies back to the group to inform them of what she found. Andry immediately asks if they want her to investigate the big ass hole in the big ass hull. Rothgar suggests that he should be the one to investigate given his background with ships, to which Andry sadly agrees.   Rothgar dives into the water and swims towards the ship, the sheer immensity of it dawning on him as he gets closer. After much effort, Rothgar makes it to the top rail of the deck, peeks through the rails, but doesn't see anything. Because the coast looks clear, he climbs over the rail, realizing the ship looks like absolute destruction. The captain's quarters still appear to be intact, although the majority of it is underwater. Rothgar tries to wedge open the door to the captain's quarters, taking a look inside, but doesn't see anything special. Once he confirms that it's a merchant ship, Rothgar signals to Vadania and Andry. Vadania immediately flies up to Rothgar, leaving Andry on the beach going, "WTF friends!" Rothgar looks around, trying to find a better way for Andry to make it onto the ship beyond jumping from the cliffs. He asks Vadania to get the grappling hook from his pack that's still on shore, and they use it to create a rope that Andry can climb. Andry attempts to climb a rock in order to reach the rope, but slips and falls, getting soaked in the process. Rothgar ends up hauling her up, with Vadania patting her head, saying, "there there," much to Andry's chagrin.   The Party, now that they are all on the ship, decide to head below deck to see what they can find. Once they get below deck, they realize they can see the entire length of the ship, at least to the point where the water sits. A torch is lit, and Vadania goes to explore the hole in the hull, noticing that the wood looks burned. Centered on the other side of the ship on the floor is a smooth stone. It appears to be what caused the hole in the hull, and is carefully wrapped up by Rothgar, as he is the only one who can hold it for any length of time because it is exceedingly heavy. Because of how heavy the projectile is, they decide to drop it off the side of the ship for them to collect after they get off the wreck. Vadania flies out to see if she can see where it landed, and Andry stays below deck with the torch.    After dropping the projectile from the top deck, Rothgar goes back below, where he and Andry can hear a scattering, chittering sound. Rothgar thinks it's rats, which would make sense on a merchant vessel. From the bow of the ship, Andry and Rothgar see 6 to 10 large crabs. They are moving around, causing the noise, and it looks like they are coming to investigate the bright light of the torch. Andry immediately bolted up the stairs with the torch, while Rothgar asks if they are dancing crabs before doing a butt wiggle. While asking the inane question, the crabs made it between Rothgar and the stairs. As Rothgar gets near the hole in the hull in his attempt to find a way around the crabs, he hears a loud splash, and it sounds like something big got out of the water. He sees a crab roughly the size of an elephant emerge out of the water, and its creepy crab eyes are staring at him. "RUN."    Rothgar climbs over the other crabs, trying to escape the giant crab. Vadania, hearing Rothgar's cry, was extremely concerned, especially since she can't lift the stone projectile that's on the beach. Rothgar makes it to the top deck, grabs Andry like a football and attempts to run, as crabs are surrounding them on the deck. The small crabs attack Rothgar, doing 1 bludgeoning damage. Rothgar shakes it off, scoops Andry back up and grabs the end of the grappling hook, tying it to the rope and prepares to attach it to the railing. Andry, in the midst of being scooped, takes her rapier and stabs ones of the small crabs, doing 7 piercing damage, killing the small crab. The giant crab is pissed that Andry killed one of its friends, and tries to attack, but he can't quite reach the Party.    Vadania pulls her shield, making her bow materialize, and aims at the giant crab, doing 8 damage. The small crabs, in retaliation of their comrade's death, attempt to attack Andry again, but miss. Rothgar runs, heading toward the bow of the ship, jumps over the railing, and grabs the grappling hook in one hand, and begins to slide down the rope. Andry and Rothgar are halfway down the rope when the giant crab attacks, chopping straight through the rope and railing. Rothgar and Andry freefall, and Rothgar loses his grip on Andry. She falls, smacking face first into the water, taking 4 bludgeoning damage. Vadania attacks the giant crab, aiming for the spot that she hit before. She smacks him, dead on in the same spot, killing the giant crab. The small crabs are going crazy seeing the giant crab dead, and they charge, attempting to jump over the railing. They do 2 bludgeoning damage to Rothgar and Andry since they land right on top of them, and they attempt to attack Rothgar, but miss in the commotion. Rothgar, while trying to help Andry, kicks one of the small crabs, doing 4 force damage. Andry attacks the small crabs with her rapier, doing 11 piercing damage, killing another small crab, and the others scuttle away in fear of Andry.   Now that the crabs are gone, Vadania and Rothgar look for the projectile ball. Andry finishes swimming towards shore, and while she swims, Vadania spots the projectile, pointing it out to Rothgar. He wades into the water, picking up the projectile and moving it farther up the beach. After all of the hassle they went through to get the projectile, the Party is exhausted and decide to camp on the beach that night, eating a hearty crab dinner to celebrate.