sonofaspectre wrote:
I've been searching through my library, and I found an old module Web of Illusion. I don't actually know much about it, is it a good one? I like the interplay of the cold of Vorostokov followed immediately by the sweltering jungles of Sri Rajii, but I wonder if you folks have any experience with that module.
I remember running that adventure one time a long time ago. We did not really enjoy it, but cannot remember now why, but I have not look at it since.
What about Bleak House? Its level range is 5-12. You may not have to play all three parts of the adventure, only the higher level part to bridge the level gap between the last two adventures.
Only two things scare me and one is former back-up dancers for Christina Aguilera.
So, Saturday day is the first day of the new campaign. What started out as a simple group of modules has turned into a huge campaign map, which is really cool. After reading Gonzoron's campaign and really being impressed with the way he was able to weaving little plot threads from each character all throughout the campaign so well, I endeavor to do the same, though using mostly modules, to make my life easier as I move to my new house.
A rundown of the players (some have still not come up with names yet, which is irritating, but understandable):
- Gaston Beauchat, a CalibanAvenger born in Dementlieu, though he was raised in Mordent
- Orson Winchester, a Human Anchorite from Nosos with the Pistoleer kit
- An Elven Fighter from Darkon
- A Halfling Artiste from Borca
- A Human Enchanter from Dementlieu
The campaign starts on November 13th, 743, though some things will be moved out of the current timeline for character level sake.
Neither Man Nor Beast - starting in Martira Bay and landing them at the end in Port-a-Lucine
"A Night at the Opera" (CotN:W)
"A Bloody Canvas" (CotN:W) - set in Pont-a-Museau
"Last Dance" (Dungeon 64) Howls in the Night
"Missing Bones" (CotN:W) – set in Mordentshire
"The Victim" (CotN:V) – set in Mordentshire (unless I do not need this to pad their levels, then it will be removed to streamline them into Valachan)
"Family Feud" (Chilling Tales) – the part of Van Richten will be played by Professor Arcanus, who will be traveling with them at this point
The Lottery section of "Felkovic’s Cat" (Dungeon 50)
"Price of Revenge" (Dungeon 42)
"Baron’s Eyrie" (Dungeon 52) - my intent here is to bend the rules a little to allow Von Kharkov to escape his own prison to lead to a Wildlands adventure and be a Big Bad for this portion of the adventure
"Lady Adeline’s Maze of Thorns" – set in Kaylis, Farelle, this leads to Lady Adeline becoming the Darklord of Valachan for a short time being
"Waxing Horror" (CotN:C) – move to Mortilis, Farelle
[untitled Adventure set in Farelle]
[untitled Adventure set in Wildlands dealing with the PCs all being transformed into awakened animals and having to free themselves, with Von Kharkov as an antagonist here, as he created the spell to be able to finally be a panther again] Web of Illusion
"Laughing Man" (Dungeon 52) - by this point, Von Kharkov will have been returned to Valachan, once more asserting Darklord-ship, which both angers Lady Adeline and himself, really adding some personal hooks to ...
The rest of "Felkovic’s Cat" (Dungeon 50)
"The Unnatural" (CotN:W)
[untitled Adventure set in Darkon]
Forgotten Terror – Level 10-12
There will be a little more all throughout, especially in the last "Act" as it were (including a Juste adventure blatantly stolen from Gonzoron's portrayal of him), but this is my barebones outline.
sonofaspectre wrote:There will be a little more all throughout, especially in the last "Act" as it were (including a Juste adventure blatantly stolen from Gonzoron's portrayal of him), but this is my barebones outline.
Beware... if you use Juste similarly to the way I did, your PC's will want to kill him, preferably painfully. Somehow he struck a nerve like no other villain every did.
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
By the way, the last Pathfinder (Paizo) has a great adventure where the PCs needs to be an actor in a play, so they could get invited by the mayor's private party (and this is needed in the adventure so they could search it for something related in the campaign).
It is a deadly play, with real monsters, that was banned for being too dangerous. But if the PCs succceed, they are heroes and invited to the manor.
Great role playing idea there!
I will surely use thsi to get invited in Misericordia...
Joël
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Beware... if you use Juste similarly to the way I did, your PC's will want to kill him, preferably painfully. Somehow he struck a nerve like no other villain every did.
Fair warning. Since I plan on using him later in the game, I may just have to let him get "slain," and just have his name start popping up earlier.
Joël of the FoS wrote:By the way, the last Pathfinder (Paizo) has a great adventure where the PCs needs to be an actor in a play, so they could get invited by the mayor's private party (and this is needed in the adventure so they could search it for something related in the campaign).
It is a deadly play, with real monsters, that was banned for being too dangerous. But if the PCs succceed, they are heroes and invited to the manor.
That is intriguing, I'll have to take a look into that.
Session one finished Saturday. I'll have a session recap here (as to not clog up an already fairly slow moving board) just so you folks can see what's going on.
(Note: I am shamelessly stealing the set up by the Great Gonzoron. I cannot thank him enough for the inspirations I have found reading his own campaign journal to make my own game better. Thank you!)
A little pre-session setup. I am running this game in AD&D, mostly because I prefer that system and didn’t really have the time to translate everything to a new system. It is also a very nostalgic game, as this is the first game I played, and the module we start things with is the first module I DM-ed. Full circle, I suppose.
My Ravenloft as opposed to yours: I do have a few changes to the setting, for my own sake, as well as my players.
– I liked the Quoth the Raven addition of Zhershia and the Shining Bay Cluster coming into the Nocturnal Sea, and I have used that.
– I’ve added Farelle to the west of Valachan, as stated in the newest Quoth the Raven.
– I use an abbreviated Terror Tracks, using a 7 point system instead of a ten. I also include a specific redemption path for each person, though they are sometimes to ridiculously difficult to do as an adventuring PC.
– While my game is set in 743, to keep it pre-Grim Harvest, a few events will be happening out of the canonical time, so that my players may have a hand in shaping the recent histories of the game world, specifically “Neither Man Nor Beast” happening here instead of after the Grim Harvest.
– I plan on making a few more changes to the Core within this campaign, that my players will have a hand in, for future uses. (I have plans for running a parallel game explaining more of my changes as well as taking another set of players through the Grim Harvest series).
– As a small inside joke for my groups, all gnomes have a naming convention: their surnames reference feet or shoes. All gnome’s surnames. It is a matter of pride to invent more and more interesting ones. With my first campaign having one gnome PC (Felix Oneshoe) who returned to the second campaign with another gnome (Johnny Beetlefoot), and a villainous gnome out to kill any gnome he meets, it just seemed appropriate to continue the joke, even though there were no gnomes in the cast this time around. This becomes important later, as naming conventions will give the players small clues on where to go.
- I'm loose on racial requirements on stats, though I do use them as guidelines. I am NOT loose on racial prerequisites for classes or kits, though.
With that stuff out of the way, let’s meet the cast. Everyone is level 1. As a note of interest, when rolling stats for these guys, they all rolled amazingly well, the most significant being our Super-Halfling Artiste, whose stats are, in order, 7, 18, 10, 18, 17, 18. Man. If I didn’t enjoy the random entropy, it would be all point-buy after these guys.
The Cast:
– Gaston Beauchat, Caliban Avenger. Gaston is a Dementlieu born Caliban, raised in Mordent. Once his mother saw the creature she had giving birth to, she was driven insane and tried to kill both her and the young Gaston by leap from the tower room she was in. She died upon impact, though the baby survived. His father raced down, and wept, as he thought that his child’s strange lion-like deformities were a blessing, not some curse, as their house sign was that of a lion. To avoid any trouble, the Beauchats left Chateufaux and bought land to the south of Mordent. Here, his father raised Gaston in all the gentlemanly ways of his home country, though he did not allow anyone to see his son, in fear of what may happen.
As a growing young man, a beautiful servant girl caught Gaston’s, though she had never met him. One in late summer, he tried to come visit her alone in the stables, with no ill intent, just to talk to a woman he deemed beautiful. She screamed and ran, thinking him a monster. As she ran south and east, Gaston ran after her, trying to prove to her he was no monster. He was finally able to catch her arm and stop her screaming as rain began. In a small abandoned quarry, he kissed her, pleading she no longer scream.
It was at this point that it began to dawn on them that they were no longer in Mordent. A shrill howl took to the air as werewolves emerged from their hiding places all throughout the quarry. Above them, two werecreatures stood, holding each other, one male, one female. The male gruffly barked to the rest of the pack, “They’re yours.” The werewolves set upon the two misguided teens. Gaston fought his way through each one, trying to save the girl he just met and instantly loved, but in the end, after all the werewolves were killed or had fled from his fierce rage and skill with the saber, all that was left of his love was her heart.
Mordentshire became ablaze with gossip and rumor of her death, and soon blamed the Beauchats for her death, calling his son the terrible were-creature that had been killing men and dragging them to that quarry, or eating them among the bogs. He was soon gathered up and lynched for this act, Gaston thrown into a small jail. That night, two more men were killed in the bog. With this new information, a saddened and shameful Mordenshire let Gaston free. The young Caliban had no hatred of the men who had killed his father. His heart burned in rage at the werecreatures that changed his life so drastically, blaming them for his father’s death. He grabbed what little he actually owned from his home and traveled north.
– Ketrathel, Elf Fighter. She isn’t much of an elf, being terrible with the longbow, and having piss poor aim. She is also incredibly strong for an elf, and incredibly pragmatic. Her father, who claims to have not been born here, but cannot remember where he was born, is an herbalist in their home town of Neblus, Darkon. Ketra took her love of the blade and her strength and decided to join the town guard, watching the Misty Border to the north for any sort of strange creature or vision that may come through.
One night in early November, while Ketra was on watch, a gnome came to her father’s home, looking for a place to stay. When Ketra returned the next morning, she found the store ransacked, and her father lying almost paralyzed after being attacked. He told her that the gnome stole something, a vial of some importance, though he wasn’t able to tell her what it’s purpose was before succumbing to unconsciousness. All she knew was that the gnome had a distinctive markings on his arms or hands, or that is what she believes, as her father mentioned the gnome’s “strange hands.” Though her father never asked her to, and though she probably should have stayed by his side, Ketra deemed it important to retrieve what was stolen, and packed up for Mayvin that night. Once there, none of the gnomes she spoke with knew of a gnome with “strange hands,” though one mentioned a Cyril Seaboots, who had odd spots on his arms. She met up with Orson Browning there, looking for the same gnome. They decided to travel together to Martira Bay, the last place Seaboots had been spotted.
– Orson Browning, Human Anchorite Pistoleer. Orson is a noble’s son from Nosos. His father was a fairly famous gunsmith, though he himself had no cares for the nobility and upper class machinations of his wife and son. Orson’s fear of disease was crippling, taking away his enjoyment of many things in his life. To help him, he turned to faith, the Church of Ezra. After a few years, he was found favorable by the clerics in his clergy, and was christened as an Anchorite, a traveling symbol of the faith. Orson loved the idea of leaving this place, and hoped his travels would help him overcome his own fear.
A few days before he was to leave, there was a break-in at his father’s shop. His father recounted the tale to his son: “I was working alone, with the doors locked, or so I thought. I felt the cold point of a snaplock pressed against the back of my neck as my assailant asked for my books. When I handed him the receipt book, he shot me in through my right hand. Then I relieved what he was looking for.” His father told Orson of a secret society of good men who called themselves Pistoleers. They traversed the Core, looking to help others as they could, all in their own way. His assaliant took a ledger that contained the names of the Pistoleers, and he feared they were in great danger. When Orson asked why he was spared, his father chuckled in surprisingly good spirits, telling him he never wished to travel, and only made their guns, never actually joining. He handed Orson his receipt book, saying that he may be able to find who the members of the Pistoleers were by searching through the book for names.
Immediately, a name popped out with its very distinctive signature: Cyril Seaboots, a gnome. Orson’s father suggested heading to Mayvin, as gnome city in Darkon, to look for clues to the whereabouts of this gnome, who may be in terrible danger. Orson left home then. He met up with Ketrathel in Mayvin in her own search for the same gnome, who they learned was getting on a boat in Martira Bay. Together, they headed that way, happy to meet a friend in their travels.
– Kris Tallfellow-Hairfoot-Stout, Halfling Artiste. A Borcan halfling, and self-proclaimed Artiste, Kris is a master of many schools of the arts, but cannot seem to be able to pin down what she wants to do. She can sing, act, dance, juggle, paint, knows ventriloquism, acrobatics, and fashion, but she does now know what art is truly HER art. So she left her family, who were well to do in Halfling circles of Borca, to take up an offer from her cousin Berry Stout, who said he could get her passage on a boat headed to Ghastria, where a fantastic painter named d’Polarno lived. She packed and headed north to Martira Bay.
– Emil, Human Enchanter. Emil is a noble baker and older man from Port-a-Lucine. His family have run a famous bakery there for 50 years, and Emil as become surprisingly well known because of it. He is now the sole proprietor and owner, though he rarely actually works the bakery, leaving that to hired workers, as he is rubbing elbows with the elite of Port-a-Lucine. Unmarried, Emil is stricken by whims and wants, generally floating from one thing of interest to the next. A Hazlani man came through with fantastic magics learned, and Emil immediately hired him to teach him those strange spells. Emil preferred the subtlety and fun of Enchantment to the obviously flashy evocations and the seemingly pointless necromancy, but soon learned all he could from his Hazlani teacher, who left him with a beginner’s school book for Enchantments.
Currently, Emil has gotten it into his mind to write a great book about travels across the Core, a travel and adventure guide. Figuring it would only take him a month, he packed up, and hired Gaston Beauchat as a companion and body guard for his travels. They both headed north to Martira Bay, for no reason other than Emil’s whims.
With all that said, into the actual rundowns. I've breezed over things, though I plan on taking better notes from now on, to make sure a better rundown is made, if you kind folks of the Fraternity show an interesting in this story.
Sunday, November 13th, 743, Martira Bay
Over the course of the day, our PCs all meet up and find Cyril Seaboots, a gnome with a dark wooden box chained to him. He recalls the tale of a group of adventurers he traveled with who stole a powerful magic item from a wizard in Blaustein, where he cursed them all. Now Cyril is the only one left, and he is trying to return the damned box back to the wizard before he dies from “the spots,” a disease covering his body with black spots. This tale of adventure and excitement catches the ear of Emil who decides he would like to travel along with the rest. Ketra doesn’t believe a word the gnome says, but bides her time. Orson tries to draw information from Cyril about the Pistoleers, which he seems to be obviously a member of based on the three guns he carries on his belt and the rifle in the chair beside him, but Cyril constantly denies until Orson proves he is trust worthy.
After this, and checking on the cargo ship, Sunset Empires, the group goes to sleep, as only one person speaks the language here (the elf).
Monday, November 14th, 743, Martira Bay
As preparations are made for the group to get passage on the ship, Gaston and Kris head to a synagogue of the Eternal Order, wanting to know about the holiday they witnessed ending. Gaston, believing the church to be evil and the masks of the undead and dead to be indication of graverobbing, goes on a personal crusade to try to prove this, only to be thwarted (thankfully) by a language barrier and Ketra shrugging it off.
Ketra went looking for information of what the vial that the “strange hands” gnome stole from her father could have been. She found an apothecary, but the woman did not know anything about the viscous red liquid, though she suspected a wizard and wrote his name on a note: Felkovic, in Valachan, may know. Unable to read, Ketra asked Emil to read the note for her.
Tuesday, November 15th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
The party, now getting to be closer friends, get on the ship and they travel on their way: Swing by Blaustein (but not making port), a stop off at Dominia, then to Ghastria, then south to Mortilis, Farelle. The first day goes by without a hitch, though Captain Stewart is an incorrigible drunk, and the half-elf first mate Mr. Monterey doesn’t make any friends among the cast. Emil, the baker, makes great friends with Old Singe, the ship’s cook, and when he brings out his extensive collection of jams and jellies, friends with the rest of the crew as well, who offer him a smattering of random items of wealth, from coin to a oxidized copper ring to a literal gold tooth. They swap stories, sing songs, dance, and all in all, it is a pleasant first evening on the sea.
Wednesday, November 16th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
After an uneventful morning, Gaston takes note of a few sailors who are tormenting a black cat locked away in a cage on the deck. He gets very personal about it, coming over and telling the sailor to stop poking the cat who then proceeds to start poking the lion-faced Caliban. Gaston drew his saber, at which point he was jumped by other sailors, getting stabbed and knocked upside the head with the piece of driftwood. Here, Gaston slices the wrist of the first sailor, who begins to bleed out, disarming him. Thinking quickly, Orson ran over and healed the sailor before he died there on the deck. Mr. Monterey stopped anymore fighting with a well placed short sword to Gaston’s neck, forcing Gaston to remove his saber and pistol, and he manacled the Caliban to the foremast, whipping him within an inch of his life, leaving 5 ugly scars across his back. Gaston then growled out a curse that Mr. Monterey to die from the pain "pound for pound, lash for lash" for what he had done to him.
When Orson offered healing, Gaston refused out of pride and principle, though the Anchorite did sit beside the cat the rest of the day to make sure no more incidents happened as such.
Ketra tried to gather information from the crew about Cyril Seaboots, drinking with the captain, but found that no one knew much. As she debated stealing the box from the unconscious gnome, thinking it contained the vial she was looking for, she decided against it, waiting.
Thursday, November 17th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
Unable to heal over the course of the night, Gaston was still manacled to the foremast, though he did accept the clerical respite Orson offered.
A pod of dolphins came into view, which then had the now hated Mr. Monterey pull out a ballista and start shooting at the dolphins, which everyone was uncomfortable with, but no one would make a move to stop him before the dolphins dove beneath the waves.
At this point, Orson sits with Cyril, who is looking worse. Cyril does reveal the society of the Pistoleers, saying that Browning Sr. was a good man, who made a particularly good gun, though all Pistoleers had their own preferences. He suggested a wandering showman named Professor Arcanus who may know more, as Cyril has not done anything but run from his curse for the past 5 years.
Kris, worried about Gaston, decided to try to nonchalantly take the keys to the manacles from Mr. Monterey, which she was able to do without him noticing, though how she was going to free the Caliban from his manacles was a different quest for another day.
The morning of Friday, November 18th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
After a brief breakfast, a terrible squall broke out over the ship. As Mr. Monterey came over to Gaston to find he didn’t have the key to unlock him, he decided to mock the lion-faced avenger as Captain Stewart barked orders to the rest of the crew. Ketra and Gaston, who were both above deck, saw the Relentless pass them by in the squall. As the sea calmed for a moment, and as Mr. Monterey continued to mock Gaston, they watched as his head was ripped off and he was “drawn and quartered from the inside-out,” as Kris said, by five tentacles, his head attached to the end of one, as the Soul Kraken attacked. Gaston screamed in horror.
Ketra wrenched the manacles off of Gaston, bursting the chains with her incredible strength, as she drew her longsword and began slicing through tentacles. Captain Stewart was the next victim of the Soul Kraken, as was Kris’ halfling cousin (though she shrugged off the horror check with a nonchalant “I didn’t know him that well” and a natural 20). As Emil pondered using if his enchantments would work on the giant Soul Kraken, Kris handed him off the key as she hid in a barrel half filled with Rum for safety.
Orson (very irritated that the rain ruined his smokepowder), Cyril and Ketra sliced, shot, and smashed tentacles as Emil undid the other chain around Gaston’s waist. As the ship sank, Gaston grabbed Captain Stewart’s cutlass and Mr. Monterey’s whip, and he and Emil headed below deck, to see the Soul Kraken pulled halfway into the ship, trying to eat a floating barrel in the water. Then Ketra and Orson were washed overboard. Then the ship hit rocks, and the two were thrown into the water.
While everyone was underwater, Emil was met by a beautiful woman, who he saw swim to him before he passed out.
sonofaspectre wrote:(Note: I am shamelessly stealing the set up by the Great Gonzoron. I cannot thank him enough for the inspirations I have found reading his own campaign journal to make my own game better. Thank you!)
Your welcome! Steal away, that's what it's up there for.
As a note of interest, when rolling stats for these guys, they all rolled amazingly well, the most significant being our Super-Halfling Artiste, whose stats are, in order, 7, 18, 10, 18, 17, 18. Man. If I didn’t enjoy the random entropy, it would be all point-buy after these guys.
Wow, rolling dice for stats! now you're making me all nostalgic.
As preparations are made for the group to get passage on the ship, Gaston and Kris head to a synagogue of the Eternal Order,
synagogue? Interesting way to differentiate the religions, I suppose, but a bit jarring.
The party, now getting to be closer friends, get on the ship and they travel on their way: Swing by Blaustein (but not making port),
How does cyril intend to give his box back without making port? Moot, I know since there's an unplanned stop at Markovia in their future, but still curious..
Wednesday, November 16th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
they watched as his head was ripped off and he was “drawn and quartered from the inside-out,” as Kris said, by five tentacles, his head attached to the end of one, as the Soul Kraken attacked. Gaston screamed in horror.
nice call-back to the five lashes and the curse!
Very cool, can't wait to hear more!
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
As a note of interest, when rolling stats for these guys, they all rolled amazingly well, the most significant being our Super-Halfling Artiste, whose stats are, in order, 7, 18, 10, 18, 17, 18. Man. If I didn’t enjoy the random entropy, it would be all point-buy after these guys.
Wow, rolling dice for stats! now you're making me all nostalgic.
That's the only way to do it, in my book, for AD&D. Merely because a character is playable with all 9s in that system, and the randomizing really matters to character creation. Now, you do end up with some super characters because of it (was generous and used a 1d12+7 method for rolling stats to insure no crazy lows, but that backfired a little).
Now, the ones after this you can't do it this way, as it leads to serious balancing issues. But here, a Thief with a Dex of 9 and a Thief with a Dex of 18 are very similar, and their class abilities vary in such a small way that I'll roll stats, just so the players can have that feeling of accomplishment when they roll that 18. Or three of them, as the case may be.
As preparations are made for the group to get passage on the ship, Gaston and Kris head to a synagogue of the Eternal Order,
synagogue? Interesting way to differentiate the religions, I suppose, but a bit jarring.
I really wanted to stay away from the word "temple," so they felt the urban nature of being in a port town instead of just another random fantasty city.
The party, now getting to be closer friends, get on the ship and they travel on their way: Swing by Blaustein (but not making port),
How does cyril intend to give his box back without making port? Moot, I know since there's an unplanned stop at Markovia in their future, but still curious..
The players asked the same thing. Sunset Empires was going to pull in close to the tower, where Cyril would throw the box overboard, as there is a strong current pulling things towards the Tower for some reason.
Wednesday, November 16th, 743, Sea of Sorrows on the ship Sunset Empires
My brain has been blown. I was really wondering why they kept refering to him as Mr. Monterey. I figured it was part of his douchey character. A guy that shot at dolphins for fun with a ballista would make his underlings call him "Mister" all the time. This makes much more sense, and is very cool. Unfortunately, I'm the only one even remotely a Trekkie in the group (and I really am no where near Trekkie-hood), so I don't think anyone else got the reference either. I'll have to share.
Very cool, can't wait to hear more!
I'm glad to hear it! Hopefully we'll be playing again this coming weekend, but if not then, soon after.
All right. Session 2 was two nights ago, though it was abbreviated because of: a Wedding rehearsal, a lingerie shower, and my wife getting absolutely tired during our Wendy's run. A lot of mood happened, two people almost died, and a player started finding out one of his curses. All in all, good stuff.
The afternoon of Friday, November 18th, 743, unknown island
The PCs awoke, finding themselves washed up on a beach, debris and possessions washed among a small lagoon. After a quick headcount, the group of 26 passengers and sailors on the Sunset Empires has dwindled to 9: our heroes; Old Singe the cook; Agar, the sailor in a knit-cap Gaston almost killed; Shanty the singer, though he lost his squeeze-box; and Jonny, how is mostly toothless, though that happened before the kraken. Everyone seemed fine, except for Kris, who was unconscious, clammy, and had a high fever.
After a few hours of scavenging and finding everything they owned in pretty good shape (except for Emil's breads, which were ruined and waterlogged). Ketra searched for Cyril Seaboots and his box, and found not hide nor hair of either, to her aggravation. It is at this point that Orson noticed Gaston's beard, which was much longer than normal, and greying. On further inspection, Gaston found it not to even be truly a beard, as it connected around his neck to his hair. Disturbed, he shaved it as closely as he could.
Gaston, Old Singe, and Jonny headed south down the beach and found crashed along the rock barrier to the lagoon what was left of the Sunset Empires. After a quick suggestion by Old Singe to look for anything that was salvaged, they were attacked by a Bone Naga, which Gaston blasted the head off with his pistol. At that point, they realized it was the Kraken's tentacle, which didn't make things any better and forced them back to camp.
At this point, they saw someone floundering out in the ocean. After some quick thinking, Ketra waded out to waist deep water (chest deep for the short elf) and through out the line to the drowning Cyril, though upon seeing him, abandoned him to swim the rest of the way with Gaston's help.
My memory for some reason is a little foggy here, but for some reason, Gaston got knocked unconscious instead of sleeping. Which is good, because this is the first night of his nightmares from a failed horror check back when Mr. Monterey was "drawn and quartered from the inside out."
Late that evening, they all heard a blood-curdling shriek from within the jungle, though everyone was accounted for. Freaked out, but too tired to be worried, they went back to sleep.
Saturday, November 19th, 743, unknown island
The next morning, the group deemed it a good idea to check further inland, though Old Singe and the rest of the sailors refused to leave their camp. Gaston (after the strange growth of beard again) climbed a tree to get a visual, seeing two mountains in the center of the island and just barely being able to see the coast on the other side. This place was much bigger than they thought it was, and they wondered if they had found a new continent within the mists.
A quick jaunt north took them to the mouth of a small crystal clear river that provided fresh water to the lagoon. After traveling inland following the river, the group found an overgrown path headed north from the river. At the end of the path was a ruined monastery. They looked for any sign of anyone being here, but there was no one, not even a broken holy symbol or tattered remains of a robe. They noticed that the well in the center of the monastery was useless, as they could see the bottom of it, though it looked like someone had wedge a giant piece of rock under the well. Emil wondered if an earthquake could have caused this.
Once they returned to the river, everyone but the fop baker Emil realized they were being followed. They tried to quietly figure out who or what was following them, but once they told Emil, he very unsubtly shaded his eyes and started scrutinizing the underbrush on the other side of the river. Whatever was watching them bolted. The group chased after it, catching glimpses of a smallish creature, perhaps wearing a fur-cloak of some kind. Gaston immediately thought it was a were-creature, and pushed even further.
They reached a small clearing very quickly, but no one would enter it but Orson, afraid of a trap. Unfortunately, the huge tree trunk that fell upon them came at the mouth of the clearing instead of within, crushing Ketra, Gaston, and Emil, seemingly killing the baker. As Ketra and Gaston removed the tree trunk (for two warriors with 17 strength and 18/98 strength, this was a simple task), Orson used his prayer Detect Plants and Animals, searching the area ahead of him for jungle cats, since they had found a few cat tracks earlier. Though the divination he was given was somewhat blurry, it did show him a cat, racing away from the clearing, meeting up with a group of three more right at the edge of his prayer's range, before spliting into two groups, one heading further inland, and the rest heading south.
A quick orison brought Emil caved in chest cracking back to where it should be, and breath back to his body (though the wounds wear his ribs had punctured his lungs and back were still there), but he remained unconscious. Deeming it foolish to continue inland, they turned back to the beach, where Cyril revealed to the group he was a cleric of the Ancestral Choir, as was as Illusionist. With that, he healed Gaston and Emil, waking him from his unconsciousness. Ketra refused to be healed by the gnome.
By now, it was getting dark, and after another quick shave, Gaston and the party went to sleep. It wasn't 20 minutes before Gaston's terrible nightmares awoke him, and everyone else trying to sleep. When Emil tried to offer solace in a sleep spell, Gaston refused, and went back to sleep. Once more, he awoke screaming. Concerned, everyone offered suggestions, but Gaston would have none of it as he packed up his stuff to walk around a bit. He returned, once more went to sleep, and once more woke everyone with his screams of terror.
Still refusing the enchanter's help, Gaston decided he needed to bury Mr. Monterey, and went to the boat, searching for Mr. Monterey's head, which should still be attached to a tentacle of the kraken. Emil and Ketra followed.
Gaston, as a Caliban (I did a write up here), has nightsight, a more powerful infravision, so he did not bring a torch. Ketra also didn't bring one, with her infravision. And Emil doesn't think about things like that, the old fop. So he was effectively blind to what was happening.
Gaston hopped across two stones to get to the boat, then jumped down into the hold, which was no filled with blood and ichor as much as salt water. He yelled to the kraken creature to show itself, which slowly creeped across the bow of the boat and thrusted two tentacles into the hold at Gaston, Mr. Monterey's head and the injured "naga" Gaston had shot earlier. As he tried to attack, the one with Mr. Monterey's head on it wrapped around his throat and began strangling the Avenger.
Ketra raced across the rocks to get to Gaston as Emil shouted for someone to tell him wear the creature was so he could help! Ketra cut straight through the tentacle strangling Gaston as they tried to tell Emil where the creature was. Gaston scooped up the skull of the cursed first mate as Emil cast light on the Kraken's body, startling it (and waking the rest of the camp on the other side of the lagoon), and forcing it to sea again.
As Ketra and Gaston made their way back, they slipped on the rocks, and Gaston cracked his head open on the way down, knocking himself to death's door. As Ketra and Emil yelled for Orson, they pulled Gaston to the beach. Orson had nothing he could do, and as Gaston slowly drowned, Cyril rushed over and did CPR, bringing Gaston back to 0, but still unconscious. They dragged him back to camp and left the skull with him, as they tried to get some sleep. Gaston dreamed his nightmares, but no longer had the respite of screaming as he watched himself transform into the kraken and rip apart Mr. Monterey over and over again.
