Jartik has placed a sixfold set of tests into the octagonal entry hall of his mountain stronghold. The doors in or out of this area appear to require all six artifact keys to unlock, and we have recovered five of them. The last one, guarded by a gigantic water elemental, almost cost several of us our lives.
Now we fight a bunch of small beholder-like creatures, popping in and out of holes in the ceiling. Ick!
I expect Jartik to appear, clapping sardonically, when we're finished. I can't imagine anybody who runs this gauntlet every day to come home, so this must be set up for his entertainment.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Turn the white key if the reason for your visit is "Jartik"
This place is creeping me out.
This is the keep built by some master strategist and looks like it should be occupied, yet I figure we’ve searched half the place without seeing anyone. That’s just wrong.
Maybe, like almost everything since Ghostwood, we’re one step behind the Medusan Lords and their hit man has been through to clean the place out.
Even worse, I think my fears about Obegard are justified—today we found a book and Obegard just stared at it in silence for a while, and when we asked if he was okay he said he was talking to it. Okay... And strangely enough, it was stolen from the wizard’s college on this island. It hasn’t asked to be taken back yet, but wouldn’t that be oh so convenient for Obegard if it did?
The keep is some sort of weird trap—we basically just walked straight in, but were then locked inside. The lock is some sort of artifact, so the only way out is to find the six keys to unlock it. Each key has been protected by either a cunning trap or some guardian (such as the massive water elemental we just dodged).
There’s another twist—there are two doors that need the keys. One way is the exit, and the other leads further into the keep. Since this part of the keep is empty, it’s clear we’re going to have to go further into the keep. But what if part of this artifact trap thing is that you can only use the keys once? Well, I guess there’s another way out of the keep because I can’t imagine Jartik has to go around and collect these keys every time he wants to leave. Although given how screwed up this whole island is maybe he doesn’t ever leave...
The others don’t seem to have considered the possibility that we might only be able to use the keys once. I guess I’ll let them continue on in peace—kids like them shouldn’t have to worry as much as they do.
This is the keep built by some master strategist and looks like it should be occupied, yet I figure we’ve searched half the place without seeing anyone. That’s just wrong.
Maybe, like almost everything since Ghostwood, we’re one step behind the Medusan Lords and their hit man has been through to clean the place out.
Even worse, I think my fears about Obegard are justified—today we found a book and Obegard just stared at it in silence for a while, and when we asked if he was okay he said he was talking to it. Okay... And strangely enough, it was stolen from the wizard’s college on this island. It hasn’t asked to be taken back yet, but wouldn’t that be oh so convenient for Obegard if it did?
The keep is some sort of weird trap—we basically just walked straight in, but were then locked inside. The lock is some sort of artifact, so the only way out is to find the six keys to unlock it. Each key has been protected by either a cunning trap or some guardian (such as the massive water elemental we just dodged).
There’s another twist—there are two doors that need the keys. One way is the exit, and the other leads further into the keep. Since this part of the keep is empty, it’s clear we’re going to have to go further into the keep. But what if part of this artifact trap thing is that you can only use the keys once? Well, I guess there’s another way out of the keep because I can’t imagine Jartik has to go around and collect these keys every time he wants to leave. Although given how screwed up this whole island is maybe he doesn’t ever leave...
The others don’t seem to have considered the possibility that we might only be able to use the keys once. I guess I’ll let them continue on in peace—kids like them shouldn’t have to worry as much as they do.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Land Shrouded in Darkness
The land beyond the end of the world is a strange place. We can only navigate during the night, but unfortunately, all night, all but those who worship the foul Basceron cannot cast spells. Fortunately, spells cast before nightfall still function, and I've changed my spells accordingly.
Our first stop was an abandoned tower, where we fought some sort of shadow creature that was actually the melding of three. This creature was tough -- it severely injured me and we were only barely able to overcome it after a long and exhausting fight. I was able to question the corpse afterwards, and get a few straight answers, including the location that we'd find Jartik. Unfortunately, it did not know how to escape this accursed place.
I cast a spell the next day right before night fall that would turn us into translucent, wispy clouds. We glided through the night quickly, and arrive at what appeared to be a large field of rocks below. It was guarded by some sort of staff-wielding minotaur. Livy tried to talk to it and let us pass, but negotiations quickly broke down as it, like many others before us, tried to extort money out of us. The beast was able to animate a few of the rocks into hulking earth elementals but Livy used her fey granted gifts to cast a spell that confused an elemental and the minotaur. Borrow and I finished off the other one, and we stood and watched as the confused combatants pounded each other. The earth elemental won, and we destroyed it next. We returned to our wispy forms and ascended the stairs, stopping before entering a large fortress built into the mountain side.
Our first stop was an abandoned tower, where we fought some sort of shadow creature that was actually the melding of three. This creature was tough -- it severely injured me and we were only barely able to overcome it after a long and exhausting fight. I was able to question the corpse afterwards, and get a few straight answers, including the location that we'd find Jartik. Unfortunately, it did not know how to escape this accursed place.
I cast a spell the next day right before night fall that would turn us into translucent, wispy clouds. We glided through the night quickly, and arrive at what appeared to be a large field of rocks below. It was guarded by some sort of staff-wielding minotaur. Livy tried to talk to it and let us pass, but negotiations quickly broke down as it, like many others before us, tried to extort money out of us. The beast was able to animate a few of the rocks into hulking earth elementals but Livy used her fey granted gifts to cast a spell that confused an elemental and the minotaur. Borrow and I finished off the other one, and we stood and watched as the confused combatants pounded each other. The earth elemental won, and we destroyed it next. We returned to our wispy forms and ascended the stairs, stopping before entering a large fortress built into the mountain side.
Corruption
I’m starting to think that short-lived creatures shouldn’t practice magic. I’ve already observed that Obegard seems to be somewhat less stable than when we first met.
As we explored this ruined tower we came across some hideous creature that was a combination of two humanoids and some giant-type creature. Obegard has been reading the journal of the tower’s erstwhile owner and says the guy was clearly loopy, and in fact he was a part of this abomination we found.
And look at the elves—how bitter and twisted are they?
Anyway, this loopy guy was responsible for some big ritual that we don’t know the purpose of, and his mangling was a side-effect of that. Maybe with their short lives humans don’t take the time to fully analyse the forces they intend to work with...
What initially set him off was some magic college here on the island that kicked him out. Obegard says nobody has heard of his college in hundreds of years, so of course we’re going to go find it. Either everyone is dead, or they just aren’t smart enough to work out how to get back to the Accordlands.
Obviously I’m hoping for the former because even if they are only humans, if they’ve been working at it for hundreds of years without success, then what chance will we have? The others will be dead in a few short decades, and this whole magic schtick just isn’t my thing. I don’t fancy being stuck alone on this island for the rest of my life.
As we explored this ruined tower we came across some hideous creature that was a combination of two humanoids and some giant-type creature. Obegard has been reading the journal of the tower’s erstwhile owner and says the guy was clearly loopy, and in fact he was a part of this abomination we found.
And look at the elves—how bitter and twisted are they?
Anyway, this loopy guy was responsible for some big ritual that we don’t know the purpose of, and his mangling was a side-effect of that. Maybe with their short lives humans don’t take the time to fully analyse the forces they intend to work with...
What initially set him off was some magic college here on the island that kicked him out. Obegard says nobody has heard of his college in hundreds of years, so of course we’re going to go find it. Either everyone is dead, or they just aren’t smart enough to work out how to get back to the Accordlands.
Obviously I’m hoping for the former because even if they are only humans, if they’ve been working at it for hundreds of years without success, then what chance will we have? The others will be dead in a few short decades, and this whole magic schtick just isn’t my thing. I don’t fancy being stuck alone on this island for the rest of my life.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Divination: the Most Dangerous Art
My specialty school of Divination has been confirmed as the most dangerous, glamorous art of all. We discovered first-hand the fate of Stannis, Mage of Windkey Tower and former Head Diviner of that lost school: while preparing a divination ritual from an ancient tome, he was warped by the power of Bascaron and merged with his companion Nithas and an Athach into a foul, oily black abberation. Whatever good was in him must have died in that transformation.
Fighting the abomination was a long, grueling process, as it hurled spell after spell: Nithas could cast divine magic even at night, since his dedication to Bascaron excused him from the moon's isolating power, and Stannis himself was a potent sorceror. A long battle of attrition ended with the merged beast dead, but Malakar's speak with dead got us most of the answers we needed.
Malakar has adjusted to the limitations of this plane with his usual exuberance, pre-casting a plethora of spells before night falls. He transformed us into clouds with wind walk so that we could quickly ascend the mountain where, according to Stannis, Jartik is to be found. Once there, we were accosted by a Yakfolk who claimed to guard Jartik. The Yakfolk attacked us when we did not agree to his terms, and awoke two dangerously huge earth elementals from nearby pillars. The fight looked grim, until Livia confused the Yakfolk and one of his elementals into attacking each other: we made short work of the remaining elemental, and let the confused enemies weaken each other. Creative elimination of threats has become a recent theme, an effective and rewarding one.
Now we proceed down the countless* stairs (fortunately in vaporous form, obviating the need to actually step on each of them), seeking the answers only Jartik has. I just wish we had more of a plan for getting those answers out of him: speak with dead won't serve us this time ("using at most 7 words, please explain in detail the fortifications at K'culdan's keep").
*The stairs aren't actually countless, but why would one bother to count them?
Fighting the abomination was a long, grueling process, as it hurled spell after spell: Nithas could cast divine magic even at night, since his dedication to Bascaron excused him from the moon's isolating power, and Stannis himself was a potent sorceror. A long battle of attrition ended with the merged beast dead, but Malakar's speak with dead got us most of the answers we needed.
Malakar has adjusted to the limitations of this plane with his usual exuberance, pre-casting a plethora of spells before night falls. He transformed us into clouds with wind walk so that we could quickly ascend the mountain where, according to Stannis, Jartik is to be found. Once there, we were accosted by a Yakfolk who claimed to guard Jartik. The Yakfolk attacked us when we did not agree to his terms, and awoke two dangerously huge earth elementals from nearby pillars. The fight looked grim, until Livia confused the Yakfolk and one of his elementals into attacking each other: we made short work of the remaining elemental, and let the confused enemies weaken each other. Creative elimination of threats has become a recent theme, an effective and rewarding one.
Now we proceed down the countless* stairs (fortunately in vaporous form, obviating the need to actually step on each of them), seeking the answers only Jartik has. I just wish we had more of a plan for getting those answers out of him: speak with dead won't serve us this time ("using at most 7 words, please explain in detail the fortifications at K'culdan's keep").
*The stairs aren't actually countless, but why would one bother to count them?
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Things that go Squelch in the Night
With the foul Kraken sinking into the depth, we returned to the gutten Black Lightning to salvage what we could. None of the sailors had survived the Kraken's rampage. The Captain carried a remarkable shrinking treasure chest with some of Harthn's most potent potions in it, and the navigational artifact I later determined to be a planar gate compass. Perhaps if I'd studied the compass more thoroughly before we rowed into the blackness, I could have prepared us for what came next. Then again, perhaps not.
Once through the blackness in our modest skiff, there was an almost imperceptible change in atmosphere. Looking back, we could see no blackness and no ship: it appears we traversed a one-way portal or barrier of some kind. With Durthen manning the oars, we quickly approached the sole island in sight -- the so-called Isle of Secrets.
It was clear to me that we were no longer on the material plane of Larisnar, but I didn't suspect the magnitude of the metaphysical journey.
The island seemed pleasant enough, a wide beach leading up to a temperate forest. We beached the skiff thoroughly (unsure of the magnitude of the tides here), and set out to find civilization. A thriving village named Sandpoint rested on an island in a river delta. The sparse population seemed happy and friendly, though unused to visitors. The first person we met in the street inquired curiously as to where we were from, and told us that the mayor was most likely to know about the Nothrog we sought. He also directed us to a tavern where we could rent lodgings.
Kern, the mayor, was again friendly and helpful, if rather uninformed. The town was apparently isolated by the prevalence of dangerous beasts and sea monsters in the surrounding waters and forests; townspeople who ventured too far generally didn't return. Kern did remember the Nothrog Jartik (he called him a 'half-ogre'), but apparently Jartik only stayed long enough to extort supplies before heading off across land. No sages nor colleges graced the village, and their longest-term records were lost when the lighthouse where they were kept was destroyed in a storm. Kern's passed-down understanding was that the island was about 100 miles by 80 miles, but no villager had explored in and returned in living memory.
We went to the tavern to rest for the night, but as we stepped into the common room, something unexpected happened. The sun was setting, and as the last light faded, the handful of villagers and the barkeeper changed horrifically into squirming masses of tentacles, terrible to behold. Durthen's Axe glowed brightly as these monsters moved to attack.
Not wanting to cut our way through a village of monsters (especially ones who were so friendly to us recently, I suggested that some of the villages stay back and see how things went before engaging us in combat; fortunately some of them listened to my forced advice. The remaining three who fought showed pseudonatural resiliance, but didn't last long against our combined onslaught. Before the others could join the fight, we retreated upstairs and I did something I hope Malakar never finds out about: I cast rope trick for us to retreat into and sleep in. First, though, we hid the bodies.
In the morning, as might be suspected, the villagers were back to normal. The tavernkeeper was curious whether we'd seen the "missing" villagers; apparently people have disappeared before, though never leaving bloodstains such as this before. We protested our ignorance, and he seemed satisfied.
Clearly something bad happens here at night. More investigation revealed some of the most inconvenient and disturbing features of this plane:
Borrow finally hit on the solution: we'd been travelling during the day and rope tricking by night to avoid the assumed profusion of nightly monsters (who knows what the squirrels might turn into!). As it turns out, the confusion effect functions only during the day (I begin to see why these are called the Islands of Light and Shadow), so we were able to get our bearings merely by staying out past sunset. Somehow we'd travelled into the forest, past a river which we'd never crossed: heavy magic indeed.
Proceeding eastwards, looking for Jartik, we came across a half-ruined tower keep in the forest. A brief battle with Athachs ensued as we entered its clearing, but the best part was yet to come: by some deft scouting and creative use of passwall, we obtained a potent Shield Guardian companion without any fighting at all.
I am intrigued, too, by the 700-year-old journal we found, written by a person named Stannis. Some of the pages show the aura of transmutation, a telltale sign of secret arcane writing, and tomorrow I will prepare the spells to read them. Though it may have nothing to do with Jartik, I feel this journal may be of great importance.
Once through the blackness in our modest skiff, there was an almost imperceptible change in atmosphere. Looking back, we could see no blackness and no ship: it appears we traversed a one-way portal or barrier of some kind. With Durthen manning the oars, we quickly approached the sole island in sight -- the so-called Isle of Secrets.
It was clear to me that we were no longer on the material plane of Larisnar, but I didn't suspect the magnitude of the metaphysical journey.
The island seemed pleasant enough, a wide beach leading up to a temperate forest. We beached the skiff thoroughly (unsure of the magnitude of the tides here), and set out to find civilization. A thriving village named Sandpoint rested on an island in a river delta. The sparse population seemed happy and friendly, though unused to visitors. The first person we met in the street inquired curiously as to where we were from, and told us that the mayor was most likely to know about the Nothrog we sought. He also directed us to a tavern where we could rent lodgings.
Kern, the mayor, was again friendly and helpful, if rather uninformed. The town was apparently isolated by the prevalence of dangerous beasts and sea monsters in the surrounding waters and forests; townspeople who ventured too far generally didn't return. Kern did remember the Nothrog Jartik (he called him a 'half-ogre'), but apparently Jartik only stayed long enough to extort supplies before heading off across land. No sages nor colleges graced the village, and their longest-term records were lost when the lighthouse where they were kept was destroyed in a storm. Kern's passed-down understanding was that the island was about 100 miles by 80 miles, but no villager had explored in and returned in living memory.
We went to the tavern to rest for the night, but as we stepped into the common room, something unexpected happened. The sun was setting, and as the last light faded, the handful of villagers and the barkeeper changed horrifically into squirming masses of tentacles, terrible to behold. Durthen's Axe glowed brightly as these monsters moved to attack.
Not wanting to cut our way through a village of monsters (especially ones who were so friendly to us recently, I suggested that some of the villages stay back and see how things went before engaging us in combat; fortunately some of them listened to my forced advice. The remaining three who fought showed pseudonatural resiliance, but didn't last long against our combined onslaught. Before the others could join the fight, we retreated upstairs and I did something I hope Malakar never finds out about: I cast rope trick for us to retreat into and sleep in. First, though, we hid the bodies.
In the morning, as might be suspected, the villagers were back to normal. The tavernkeeper was curious whether we'd seen the "missing" villagers; apparently people have disappeared before, though never leaving bloodstains such as this before. We protested our ignorance, and he seemed satisfied.
Clearly something bad happens here at night. More investigation revealed some of the most inconvenient and disturbing features of this plane:
- no divine magic at night (hence no healing)
- no teleportation effects (perhaps indicative of limited access to the astral plane)
- no access to the plane of shadow
Borrow finally hit on the solution: we'd been travelling during the day and rope tricking by night to avoid the assumed profusion of nightly monsters (who knows what the squirrels might turn into!). As it turns out, the confusion effect functions only during the day (I begin to see why these are called the Islands of Light and Shadow), so we were able to get our bearings merely by staying out past sunset. Somehow we'd travelled into the forest, past a river which we'd never crossed: heavy magic indeed.
Proceeding eastwards, looking for Jartik, we came across a half-ruined tower keep in the forest. A brief battle with Athachs ensued as we entered its clearing, but the best part was yet to come: by some deft scouting and creative use of passwall, we obtained a potent Shield Guardian companion without any fighting at all.
I am intrigued, too, by the 700-year-old journal we found, written by a person named Stannis. Some of the pages show the aura of transmutation, a telltale sign of secret arcane writing, and tomorrow I will prepare the spells to read them. Though it may have nothing to do with Jartik, I feel this journal may be of great importance.
Virgin Isle by day, UrotsukidÅji by night.
So I rowed us to the isle of Bali. Or was it the isle of Cayman? No, wait, I think it was the isle of St. Lucia... well, either way, it was pretty pretty. Had some beaches, some trees, some rocks. All the good stuff.
We manage to pull up near a nice peaceful villiage. Go us! We wandered into town as we had no reason to expect badness. Besides, 200+ level 1-4 commoners are nice fireball fodder and not a threat. The villager we met, along with the others, were very polite and told us we were the first visitors in 20 years -- the last visitor was a nothrog, which boded well. They all pointed us towards the elder village mayor for more information.
Mayor said the orc left for the east. That was all he knew. Looky that, old people don't know anything useful. Lesson learned, moving on.
We spent the next day sorting through the burned down lighthouse, as it was the only point of interest in the village and housed the lost records of the town. We didn't find anything useful, and as we returned to the inn the sun set and the island paradise sorta turned into a tentacle ghetto, kinda like Jersey.
Yeah, you heard me -- all the villagers became these weird nasty masses of tentacles. Which immediately raised the obvious question: do they procreate during the day, or at night? Most intelligent species fornicate at night, after morning breath is gone and when you've managed a few ales to make the bumping action less noticeably squishy. So reason leads you to think they make little tentacled masses deep into the night. And THAT begs the question: which is the "special" tentacle, or all they all... "special"?
If the latter, I am soo not letting them land any touch attacks. Ewww.
Fortunately for us, Oby used some sort of magic to convince half the common room to leave us alone. It must have been magic, because who listens to a wild-haired bitter man who spends all day fondling his staff?
Borrow and I subdued the rest, and after the fight Borrow attempted to fix our wounds with Malakar's wand (he was back at the boat, resting up the lazy...). It didn't work, and Oby hypothesized it was the effect of the plane at night. Lovely.
Oby finally cast his only useful spell, this rope-trick thing where we get to sleep in some sort of magic floating hut. He should cast that more often. I wonder why he doesn't?
The next day we sent Erson out to scout during the day, but he kept getting lost. Said it was weird an unexplainable and not natural. I just thought he was drunk. So we left on foot, and the same thing happened to us. Finally, Oby struck on the bright idea that we could only travel at night, and after spending an evening by our camp and a nearby rabbit hole (the rope trick) we realized we weren't going to get slaughtered by horny tentacles and we actually *could* travel by night.
So we did, and it worked. On the first night we ran across a lone building in the forest (what luck!) and upon cracking open the door some monstrous construct lurched to life. So we shut the door. All our wisdom scores must have been magically raised by a planar effect, because such common sense was unheard of before.
Oby said if we found a nearby pendant, we could keep the construct as a pet. So we did, by popping through the building's wall, and discovered some sort of summoning (or so they say) circle and a bunch of rubble.
I wonder what we'll run across next? My guess is it'll be a planar effect where all constructs that travel more than 1 mile immediately turn into dust. And not even gold dust at that! :-/
We manage to pull up near a nice peaceful villiage. Go us! We wandered into town as we had no reason to expect badness. Besides, 200+ level 1-4 commoners are nice fireball fodder and not a threat. The villager we met, along with the others, were very polite and told us we were the first visitors in 20 years -- the last visitor was a nothrog, which boded well. They all pointed us towards the elder village mayor for more information.
Mayor said the orc left for the east. That was all he knew. Looky that, old people don't know anything useful. Lesson learned, moving on.
We spent the next day sorting through the burned down lighthouse, as it was the only point of interest in the village and housed the lost records of the town. We didn't find anything useful, and as we returned to the inn the sun set and the island paradise sorta turned into a tentacle ghetto, kinda like Jersey.
Yeah, you heard me -- all the villagers became these weird nasty masses of tentacles. Which immediately raised the obvious question: do they procreate during the day, or at night? Most intelligent species fornicate at night, after morning breath is gone and when you've managed a few ales to make the bumping action less noticeably squishy. So reason leads you to think they make little tentacled masses deep into the night. And THAT begs the question: which is the "special" tentacle, or all they all... "special"?
If the latter, I am soo not letting them land any touch attacks. Ewww.
Fortunately for us, Oby used some sort of magic to convince half the common room to leave us alone. It must have been magic, because who listens to a wild-haired bitter man who spends all day fondling his staff?
Borrow and I subdued the rest, and after the fight Borrow attempted to fix our wounds with Malakar's wand (he was back at the boat, resting up the lazy...). It didn't work, and Oby hypothesized it was the effect of the plane at night. Lovely.
Oby finally cast his only useful spell, this rope-trick thing where we get to sleep in some sort of magic floating hut. He should cast that more often. I wonder why he doesn't?
The next day we sent Erson out to scout during the day, but he kept getting lost. Said it was weird an unexplainable and not natural. I just thought he was drunk. So we left on foot, and the same thing happened to us. Finally, Oby struck on the bright idea that we could only travel at night, and after spending an evening by our camp and a nearby rabbit hole (the rope trick) we realized we weren't going to get slaughtered by horny tentacles and we actually *could* travel by night.
So we did, and it worked. On the first night we ran across a lone building in the forest (what luck!) and upon cracking open the door some monstrous construct lurched to life. So we shut the door. All our wisdom scores must have been magically raised by a planar effect, because such common sense was unheard of before.
Oby said if we found a nearby pendant, we could keep the construct as a pet. So we did, by popping through the building's wall, and discovered some sort of summoning (or so they say) circle and a bunch of rubble.
I wonder what we'll run across next? My guess is it'll be a planar effect where all constructs that travel more than 1 mile immediately turn into dust. And not even gold dust at that! :-/
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Monsters at the End of the World
So with Livy unconscious, our only choice was to negotiate with the fey creature. I have to say, I was impressed that Obegard volunteered to step up. I promised to help him defeat the prince once the ordeal was over. The prince let us know that the lieutenant went far away, where no one could reach him save one -- it was no other than the captain of the Black Lightning. Fortunately, Obegard could teleport us there, but to be safe, he also cast a spell that created a ship out of a log, so that if we were off target, we would be safe.
We appeared on the ship, however, to the surprise of the crew. After a quick negotiation, the captain agreed to take us there for the sum of 500 gold a head. We discovered that he, too, also made an agreement with the prince. His ship moved incredibly fast, with what appeared to be a storm elemental bound to the masts.
Soon enough, we reach what I could only describe as the end of the world. Past a certain point, all was just dark. Fortunately, from our current location, I could still divine a clear path home. Just as we were about to disembark, however, a giant sea creature -- a Kraken-- Obegard called it, appeared. As if this beast wasn't ferocious enough, Obegard said that it also carried a demonic taint within it. Before I could act, it called out with a powerful, baleful sound that rendered all my limbs weak and unable to move. Borrow, too, was affected. I could only see as the others tried to fight it, and all were killed. First were the crewman, and then the captain. Obegard and Livy tried their best to stay out of it's reach, but the monster was resistant to magic and blade. With no other targets, the monster attacked me as I stood helpless. By some divine grace, I was able to survive about a dozen of his blows, knocking me unconscious but leaving me alive, before the other two teleported Borrow and myself away into the waters. I healed myself up, and perhaps it was foolhardy or crazy, but we went back. I wasn't about to let that thing take potshots at me and get away with it.
I cast as many protective spells upon me as I could and charged in with Borrow. Unfortunately, with the Kraken's keen senses, the invisibility spell Obegard used on me wasn't effective. I struck out at it as hard as I could, both Borrow and myself landed a number of blows. It had hit me just as hard, however, and I had to cast a spell that would delay my death in case I sustained mortal injuries. I did and I fell unconscious yet again, but fortunately, the spell worked, and Borrow in his usual finesse, was able to finish the creature off with a stab to the eye. After the battle the ship was still afloat but badly damaged. With me hurt just as much, I volunteered to stay back and repair the boat for a day, and catch up with them later.
We appeared on the ship, however, to the surprise of the crew. After a quick negotiation, the captain agreed to take us there for the sum of 500 gold a head. We discovered that he, too, also made an agreement with the prince. His ship moved incredibly fast, with what appeared to be a storm elemental bound to the masts.
Soon enough, we reach what I could only describe as the end of the world. Past a certain point, all was just dark. Fortunately, from our current location, I could still divine a clear path home. Just as we were about to disembark, however, a giant sea creature -- a Kraken-- Obegard called it, appeared. As if this beast wasn't ferocious enough, Obegard said that it also carried a demonic taint within it. Before I could act, it called out with a powerful, baleful sound that rendered all my limbs weak and unable to move. Borrow, too, was affected. I could only see as the others tried to fight it, and all were killed. First were the crewman, and then the captain. Obegard and Livy tried their best to stay out of it's reach, but the monster was resistant to magic and blade. With no other targets, the monster attacked me as I stood helpless. By some divine grace, I was able to survive about a dozen of his blows, knocking me unconscious but leaving me alive, before the other two teleported Borrow and myself away into the waters. I healed myself up, and perhaps it was foolhardy or crazy, but we went back. I wasn't about to let that thing take potshots at me and get away with it.
I cast as many protective spells upon me as I could and charged in with Borrow. Unfortunately, with the Kraken's keen senses, the invisibility spell Obegard used on me wasn't effective. I struck out at it as hard as I could, both Borrow and myself landed a number of blows. It had hit me just as hard, however, and I had to cast a spell that would delay my death in case I sustained mortal injuries. I did and I fell unconscious yet again, but fortunately, the spell worked, and Borrow in his usual finesse, was able to finish the creature off with a stab to the eye. After the battle the ship was still afloat but badly damaged. With me hurt just as much, I volunteered to stay back and repair the boat for a day, and catch up with them later.
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