Campaign: Dominion of Adventure 13/10/2023

Under Neil, Zak and Sid’s guidance the Bliss sailed out from the harbour, turning to hug the coast line for a few miles before breaking off and heading out into the ocean proper in search of the Sea of Chaos. While the Renegades, rested or in Iivan’s case struggled with a bout of sea sickness as best they could Hamlet and Syslas leaned on the side of the ship keeping watch and chatting idly.

“What happened to you back there?” asked Hamlet

“What do you mean?”

“You jumped on the big airship then fell off – I wasn’t sure if you were ok”

“I did not fall off!” snapped Sylas

“Looked that way to me” said Iivan before turning back to the rail to throw up again

“You are expert in falling no” replied Sylas shifting uncomfortably

“So what did happen?” persisted Hamlet

“I uhhh spotted a, how do you call it…an underwater boat?” stammered Sylas

“An under water boat?” asked the Warlock

“Yes, yes airships were….distraction?”

“A diversion?”

“Yes, that is word – diversion, from their main attack”

Hamlet, looked at Sylas clearly waiting for more, as Navarro and some of the others wandered over to listen to their conversation

“So, while you all dealt with small diversion attack from airships, I realise main attack was from underwater so had to go down there to save us all”

“You managed that single handed?” asked Hamlet

“Yes, of course – if I fail you would have seen Dwarven underwater boat attack too no?”

Hamlet turned to look at Sylas, and saw nothing but sincerity on his guileless face

“Wow, that’s incredible”

Navarro, who had caught some of the conversation snorted derisively but even he had a nagging doubt that Sylas might be telling the truth

“All part of the job, Father Lucius say keep you all safe….so….I keep you safe by defeating underwater boat” said Sylas

“Boats that are underwater have usually been defeated already” put in Gunnar, drawing on his experience of ship battles but Sylas had seemingly convinced the others that he was telling the truth about this new Dwarven under water vessel.

Leaving Sylas to bask in Hamlet’s awe Dorian and Gregg went to speak with Zak about the Sea of Chaos, the wizard explaining that on her previous voyages with Neil into the Chaos Seas her magic would sometimes fail, or create wildly different effects from that which was intended.

“What is cause of this?” asked Sylas

“The cause of what?” asked Zak looking over Dorian’s head at the new arrival

“The magic going strange”

“Errr, probably this” suggested Gunnar, pulling out his map and letting it catch some of the sea spray to trigger the magical projection of the ancient Nearith pyramid complex

“And what is that?”

“Some kind of Nearith structure, we’ve been researching the history and we think they used to make a lot of magical equipment there” offered Dorian

“Treasure” stated Gunnar confidently as the same time as Dorian began their explanation

“So, treasure or magic factory?” asked Sylas

“Yes why not” sighed Dorian, seeing Gunnar smile happily at the thought of treasure.

Sat alone and thinking Gregg was trying to understand how Gunnar had seemed to be present in his vision dreams, and how the barbarian had been able to sense Gregg within the dream and interact with him – when clearly the half orc was not really a magic user like himself.

“Gunnar, I have a question for you” said Gregg thoughtfully

“Sure”

“What magic items are you carrying?” asked the Druid

“Oh lots, see” and Gunnar proceeded to show Gregg his magical equipment

“…and this ring helps me stay angry – this shield isn’t really magic but it’s master crafted Dwarven make so it’s almost magic, and of course this” he paused reverently before drawing his blade “…the bestest sword in the world ever”

“Where did you find that?” asked the druid eyeing the sword with interest

“Oh ages ago, we got into one of those hill tombs”

“A barrow” corrected Dorian helpfully

“Yeah a barrow, and we had to fight these strange blue flying goblin things inside” he paused to shout across the deck at Kagey and Pegs “Hey, you remember that don’t you? I got you a nice blue ear to….you know” he gestured vaguely at the ragged stumps where they’d each lost an ear.

“Bloody thing went mouldy though didn’t it” complained Kagey

“Tasted shit too” added Peggs

“And they had the sword?” asked Gregg trying to wrestle the conversation back on course

“Oh no, I found that in the big fancy tomb – it must have been something pretty special as after I took it we got attacked by an invisble ghost”

Gregg’s eyes widened in interest at that news

“But it was ok, Iivan cast a spell so we could see the thing and then we laid it to rest pretty quickly and I got to keep this beauty” said Gunnar caressing the blade gently

“And what does your sword do exactly?”

“Do?” asked Gunnar in a puzzled tone “It kills people, look – you take the pointy end here” Gunnar helpfully pointed to the blade for Gregg “into the thing you want dead and it’ll do them a right mischief” he finished with a grin

Gregg sighed, but contined “Have you ever had it identified?”

“But, it’s…. I know it’s a sword” explained Gunnar, wondering why the Druid was so unfamiliar with basic war gear

“Yes, but it’s magical isn’t it – how do you control it?”

“Oh I don’t, it just does things sometimes, it’s saved us all a few times now”

“Turned you blue once too” added Hamlet helpfully

“Yeah, and made my hair fall out….I’ve stick got it in a sack somewhere actually” added Gunnar thoughtfully “oh and I had my own private cloud for a bit when we were travelling on that boat to Coatlan” he added “that was a bit shit, but other times it’s healed us or teleported us out of danger and things so it’s still the best”

“But, you don’t get to control the magic because you’ve not had a wizard identify it – just think how much better it could be if you know what it does” persisted Gregg

“I can do that” chipped in Sylas

“Ok, sure” agreed Gunnar hesitantly, and Sylas began the ritual to identify the weapon. After a few minutes of concetration and incantations Sylas opened his eyes

“This blade is called Wild Oblivion” he announced finally, with a confused look on his face

“Oh, ok cool” said Gunnar, quickly retrieving his sword from Sylas – his muscles subtley untensing as he took the blade back

“And?” asked Gregg looking at Sylas

“And…nothing – it’s strange, I couldn’t get anything else out of it” answered Sylas

“Very strange” muttered Gregg thoughtfully, clearly troubled that the spell had not revealed more about the nature of the sword.

“That’s not how that spell works normally” offered Dorian

“Perhaps this is something we can investigate another time” answered Gregg as Gunnar ambled happily off

“Gregg, I could use your help with something” asked Dorian, and they went to speak with Zak about the scroll Dorian had recovered in Coatlan. With Gregg’s help and Zak’s expertise with arcane magic the three of them were able to ascertain that the scroll would halt the progress of the Blight in up to 10 people. When Dorian asked if Zak could reproduce the scroll she considered the challenge and confirmed that she might be able to make copies of the scroll but if the process failed then they’d loose the scroll entirely – a risk Dorian wasn’t prepare to take at this point.

While this was going on Hamlet resumed his conversation with Sylas and eventually their discussion turned back to the topic of their familiars

“I think familiars are like family” mused Hamlet

“Do you have any family then Hamlet?” asked Sylas

“Kevin, he’s my family” replied Hamlet

“No, I mean apart from the cat”

“Of course I have family, I’m a Half Elf”

“Who gave birth to you?” interjected Dorian trying to help clarify the question

“Well my father” began Hamlet

“Your father gave birth to you?” asked Dorian increduously

“No, my father was a human and my mother was an Elf” continued Hamlet

“I think we should really have a talk sometime about where you came from” suggested Sylas

Gunnar wandered past the still sea sick Iivan, prompting another bout of retching from the beleaguered Drow, Gunnar paused and determined that it had perhaps been a little while since he’d enjoyed a good bath and decided to address the issue. Eyeing the Bliss’ impressive speed through the water thoughtfully and idea began to blossom in what passed for the barbarian’s brain. Uncoiling two legnths of rope from his pack he fastened them together and tied one end to the stern rail before looping the other end around his waist and clambering up onto the rail

“Gunnar…what are you doing?” asked Hamlet

“Mind if I borrow this?” he asked pointing to Hamlet’s escutcheon shaped shield in a sudden burst of inspiration after all the shield roughly resembled a ship, with the point at it’s bottom acting as the bow and then sweeping back to a blunt “stern” at the top.

“Err ok” replied Hamlet who then watched as Gunnar placed the shield face down on the rail, then hooked one of his feet into the shields arm grips before the half orc grinned and standing on Hamlet’s shield jumped off the stern of the ship to fall into the sea with a splash. Hamlet cried out in alarm and the Renegades rushed to the rear of the ship to see what was happening, below them Gunnar had vanished under the water, the rope he’d tied to the Bliss was steaming out and quickly became taught against the ship’s speed. Then, at the point where the rope entered the waves behind the Bliss the Renegades saw a dark shape below the surface, which began to rise up slowly admist a billowing fountain of spray until they could just make out Gunnar, balanced precariously on, and riding Hamlet’s shield along the tops of the waves, a feral grin fixed to his face.

“What the fuck is he doing?” asked Sylas watching the scene with horrified fascination

“He’s finally lost it” called Peggs (or maybe it was Kagey)

“Not like he really ever had it in the first place” replied the other of the goblins who’d come to join the others

Hanging onto the rope grimly Gunnar peered desperatley through the spray as he struggled to stay upright against the buffeting of the waves, he began to feel like he was beginning to the knack for staying upright and started to enjoy the exhilaration of the experience. Shifting his weight he found he could steer from side to side and use the shield to skim across the Bliss’ wake.

“Well I’ll be damned” muttered Sylas watching as, despite a few wobbles Gunnar seemed to find a way to cruise along behind them, hair streaming out behind him in the wind

“Is this some strange pirate game?” asked Navarro to the goblins

“Nah, this is what happens when you let a daft bugger loose on the sea”

“Bet he stacks it” chimed in the other of the goblins quickly

“Ahh, now THIS is more of a pirate game” grinned the other accepting the bet

With his confidence growing rapidly, though perhaps not with any real justification… Gunnar began cutting wide arcs behind the ship, hauling on the rope and leaning into the turns to cut back across the Bliss’ wake with ever increasing speed

“Oh here were go, dick head’s getting cocky now” commented Peggsy watching this unfold from above

Eyeing a larger wave rushing towards him, Gunnar hunkered down and sped towards it at an angle an image of him soaring gracefully into the air forming in his mind as he did so. He closed in, focused on the approaching wave and tried to adjust the shield so he could use it as a ramp – hitting the wave edge he felt himself begin to rise and opened his mouth to bellow his success when the world suddenly began to spin violently and what felt like the entire ocean tried to force itself into his open mouth and down his throat.

Above him on the Bliss the watching Renegades saw Gunnar crash into the wave and launch, spinning wildly into the air they could make out Hamlet’s shield fly free of his flailing legs and a spraying trail of glittering coins catch the sun as they were ripped from his coin purse before the barbarian windmilling his arms desperately crashed face first into the sea in a burst of spray and vanished below the waves.

Disorientated and battered by the force of the ocean Gunnar was dragged along behind the Bliss underwater, he could feel the force of the waves tearing at his belongings and caught a glimpse of two of his long stored potions fall away behind him into the ocean depths. He cursed silently at the loss and grimly began hauling himself back along the rope towards the safety of the Bliss – thankful that he still had the ability to breathe underwater thanks to Gregg’s magic. Eventually, the battered and soaked barbarian pulled himself over the rails and slumped down on the deck in a puddle of water, the sound of goblin laughter ringing in his ears as he spat out as much of the ocean as he could.

Some time later as the Bliss entered the roiling stormfront, visibility dropped immediately as she was swallowed by the storm, Iivan could stand the battering no longer and staggered below decks his skin a palpable green colour. Kagey and Peggs grabbed legnths of rope and immediately began to tie themselves down to the deck, Gunnar then the others all followed suite – aside from Sid who extented claw grips from his metal feet and gripped into the wood of the deck to hold himself securely at the controls.

Curious to see what the storm would do to his magic Hamlet launched and eldritch blast into the skies, the storm transforming the spell and teleporting him off the deck onto the waves below

Gunnar whooped and cheered him on thinking the warlock was attempting to follow his lead and surf across the waves, luckily for the dazed warlock the others realised what had happened and were able to haul him back aboard with little injured but his pride.

“Fucking Sea of Chaos” muttered Hamlet darkly

They spend maybe another 20 minutes riding the storm as best they could before Navarro spotted a massive dark shape pacing them below the waves – could it be that Nick had been telling the truth and this was one of his under water boats trying to attack them? He called for the others but none of the others could spot it through the storm’s fury.

“We’re slowing down” called Neil

“Is that good?” asked Hamlet hopefully

“Not really – we’re at full power already….something’s slowing us down”

They all turned to peer over the sides of the ship looking for Dwarves and and Syslas’ mysterious underwater boats…there was definitely something below them….something big.

Mighty tentacles burst from the depths around them and the Renegades prepared for battle, the gigantic beast crashed and flailed at the Bliss and Navarro leapt down to the churning waves, walking across the water thanks to Gregg’s magic and charged the beast chanting a litany of hate as he closed the distance and struck it with his spear – unleashing Helm’s fury to smite it, but the wild magic surging around them cause the the paladin’s smite to leap from the beast to Gregg above them on the Bliss, but a shoal of glittering flying fiush broke the surface and swirled around the vengeful warrior

“Ha, see foul beast – even the sea rejoices at my victory!” he called in challenge

The others braced themselves as best they could, or launched magical attacks at the giant tentacles surrounding them. Then from the churning sea ahead of them the mighty head of the Kraken broke through the waves, it’s giant maw opening as it roared at the skies which seemed to answer in a crescendo of thunder and lightening

Following Navarro’s lead Sylas leapt down to the sea and attacked one of the tentacles, Hamlet following closely behind him – to the visible confusion of the battle hardened warrior. Seeing he needed to get closer Gunnar sprinted along the foremast and leapt onto the Kraken’s head, somehow keeping his footing and hacking at the creature with his sword as the rest of the crew remained on board the Bliss to defend it.

“I’m sorry, I have to leave you” called Sylas over his shoulder to Hamlet before casting misty step to reappear alongside Gunnar and hacked away at the beast’s head, Navarro cut down one of the tentacles he was battling and Gunnar pounded the creature, drawing blood from it’s thick hide. Seeing the tentacles closing in round him Hamlet used his magic to teleport to Sylas’ side once more and tried to find an opening with his javelin. One of the tentacles wrapped itself around Dorian and tried to drag the Dwarf into the depths, Gregg lashed out at it frantically but it was too strong and Dorian was pulled overboard.

Roaring in pain the Kraken lashed at Gunnar with it’s tentacles, grabbing the half orc and dragging him down below the waves, peering around him he could see Dorian had suffered a similar fate and now they could see the true extent of the creature they were battling – it’s body alone was larger than a warship. Too far from each other to coordinate their efforts the pair struggled with the tentacles graspig them, grateful for Gregg’s spell which meant that at least drowning wasn’t an immediate concern. With Gunnar gone, the best turned it’s gaze on Sylas and it’s massive jaws opened and swallowed the flailing knight whole. Trapped inside it’s belly Sylas lashed about himself with his sword, desperately trying to cut himself free, and desperately trying to ignore the pain as powerful acidic bile began to eat away at his armour and exposed flesh. Gregg tried to bind the creature but again the magical storm caused his spell to fail, alone now Hamlet stabbed with his javelin but did little but draw the gaze of the giant creature’s head down on him. He quickly attempted to teleport away but yet again the storm whipped the magic away – though by a stoke of luck it effected Sylas who was saved from a grusome end and appeared badly wounded but alive on the seas surface panting for breath. Alone Navarro maintained his furious assualt, stabbing and cutting another of the tentacles away in a spray of blood. Lashing at the Bliss with it’s remaining limbs the beast shattered the mast, and sent Sid flying from the deck to crash into the sea where the constuct quickly began to sink – Captain Neil crying out in anguish at the sight.

The beast continued to drag Dorian and Gunnar deeper into the sea, so they had a perfect vantage point to see Sid’s battered body fall slowly past them and sink deeper into the abyss below until his eyes flickering red one last time the pressure of the ocean crushed his metal body. Dorain attempted to curse the beast but it seeemd to shrug off the cleric’s magic, Gunnar frantically cut at the tentacle clasping him and trying to free himself before the pressure got too much for him too. The Kraken was finally able to knock Navarro unconsious, where he lay unmoving on the churning sea surrouded by the floating remains of the severed tentacles he’d been battling. Seeing the desperate state of the ship Zak called forth a magical storm of her own and unleashed a flurry of lightening bolts on the Kraken’s still visible limbs trying to drive it off.

Below the water Gunnar finally cut through the tentacle trapping him and he began to swim desperately for the surface, Dorian continued to struggle against the arm gripping him. Gregg finally was able to master the power of the storm himself and rained down more lightening on the creature. Seeing the paladin fall Sylas cut away at the tentacle nearest to him then risked another spell to teleport to his side and rolled the limp form over to try and tend his wounds. But Helm must have been watching out for her champion that day for Navarro’s eyes flicked open

“What happened?” he gasped

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you” said Sylas reassuringly

Revolted at the thought of being saved by Sylas Navarro teleported himself back to the Bliss

The Renegades prepared for the next onslaught but to their surprise it seemed the Kraken had had enough and abandoned it’s attack to nurse it’s wounds and seek easier pickings elsewhere

Seeing the creature sink back to the depths Navarro spat and commented “No doubt Sylas tasted so foul it saw no sense in attacking us further”, then slumped back to the deck exhausted.