Session 8 - Lost Shipwheel Report

General Summary

The party enters a small chamber flooded with water. Eels swim throughout the shallow water and the storm hag Crackle stands at the far end of the chamber. Mulush proclaims she must give them the shipwheel or end up like the rest of the hags, gesturing to their severed heads hanging from his and Varuna's belts. Crackle screams with rage and combat ensues.   Using her mastery of wind, Crackle keeps the party at a distance as her electric eels continually stun Varuna. Annie starts of the combat with a clever spell which inflicts persistant mental anguish and sickness on Crackle. Unable to reach Crackle due to the blasting winds, most of the party focuses on clearing out the eels while skirting the walls to get within jumping distance of Crackle.   Despite his overwhelming rage and high fortitude, Varuna finally falls to the many attacks he takes standing while being surrounded in the center of the chamber. With some quick help from Mulush and Euthen, he gets back to his feet. The eels have now been thinned out enough for Houdini to bravely charge past Crackle being some barrels in her chamber. With her attention split, she breaks off her onslaught of wind to deal with Houdini. This gives the rest of the party a chance to charge into her room. As a last ditch effort, Crackle lines up Euthen, Mulush, and Varuna to blast them with a lighting bolt. It isn't enough, however, and she is soon surrounded.   Crackle has been slowly but surely whittled down by the mental anguish Annie inflicted on her early. With some vicious strikes from Mulush and one final strike from Varuna, she is downed and bleeding out. Rather than deal the final blow, the party binds crackles hands and places a barrel over her to try to hold her down. Varuna stands imposingly over her, ready to strike with his massive weapon, while Houdini patches up her wounds some and returns her to conciousness.   At the party's mercy, Crackle points them to the shipwheel and her treasures. Annie holds a knife to her throat and tells her to revoke their deal or she dies. Crackle obeys, and revokes their deal where Annie promised Crackle her first born daughter. Crackle also promises to not attack the party or obstruct their departure as she begs them to depart and leave her alive.   Feeling merciless, Varuna tried to take Crackle by surprise and swing before she has a chance to react. Unfortunately, Crackle has been waiting for such an oppertunity and as Varuna pulls back to strike, she is a split second faster. She pushes off with her feet and wind blasts below her as she takes flight directly up into the natural stone chimney at the top of the chamber. Houdini rushes over and attempts a last ditch shot at her. The shot misses as Crackle soars out of sight and into the storm outside the coven.   A bit put out she escaped, but still victorious, the party heads back to the ship with their loot. Upon reaching the boat, they fine the man they shackled earlier near the boat. Lota informs them he was trying to jump into the Cloud Sea, screaming about how he just wanted it to end. The party decides its a mercy to prevent his wishes. They knock him out and drag him aboard the boat, throwing him in the tiny cargo hold, still tied up.   With some expert sailing, Captain McGruff manages to pull the boat away from the rock with minimal damage in the turbulant waters. Once they are saftely out of the storm, McGruff asks the party what to do next. The party then realizes they have no way to navigate back. The compass still points at the shipwheel they recovered, and all traditional navigation techniques are ineffective in the Shifting Sea. Luckly, it's McGruff's lucky day and he has a confident sense of the direction they should sail (nat 20). They set off, following his gut, and everyone starts to heal up from their severe encounter.   Before reaching the edge of the Shifting Sea, they come upon an old human man sitting alone on a row boat, fishing. They cautiously approach him and strike up conversation. He has a friendly demeanor, tell them his name is Ragna, and they don't detect anything amiss apart from his aparent memory troubles whenener they ask him to recall something. After feeling out the situation, they decide to invite him aboard and he shares some Fayleaf and some fish he has caught. They notice he has many old looking scars scattered about, like old fight wounds. They strike up conversation and share most details about their journey with him: Anna Stone, the magic compass, the shipwheel, the hags, and their current destination of Skyfoss.   With his permission, Annie jumps aboard his row boat and runs her fingers along the boat for a minute to feel it for a reasonance. She is overcome with horrible feelings of dread, spawning from horrible, horrible death. She steels her will and doesn't react to the feeling. Sounding perplexed by her behavior, Ragna lightheartedly asks her if she finds his boat interesting and lets out a whispy laugh. Annie gets back aboard, shares some of the fish they are eating raw and takes a smoke of his Fayleaf.   After sharing some fish and smokes, Ragna asks them if they would like to trade. He offers them two more of the delicious fish in exchange for Mulush's fayleaf. They agree and he tells them they need a barrel to fill with clouds for the fish to swim in on their boat. He helps them fill the barrel by diving right into the Cloud Sea, dunking the barrel, then helping them pull it back on board. When questioned about his very surprising willingness to dive into the Cloud Sea, he simply says "I am one with the sea, and the sea is one with me."   Ragna jumps aboard his rowboat and departs, bidding fairwell to each of them by name. As he is paddling away, Captain McGruff has a note of anxiety in his voice as he points out to the party that no one every gave Ragna his or Lota's name, but yet he bid them farewell by nam.Looking back over to where Ragna and his rowboat had just been moments before, he had vanished...

Rewards Granted

Milestone: Level 4

Loot
Lost Shipwheel (Quest Item)
Gate Attenuator (P3)
Staff of Water (P3)
Staff of Earth (P3)
Staff of Air (P3)
+1 Potency Rune (x2) (P2)
Bracelet of Dashing (P3)
Lesser Healing Potion (2d8+5) x2 (C3)
Crackle's chest, Simple Lock