Summary
Mirtul 13th
The characters are travelling to follow their individual goals. Dolomoth is on the coastal road in Impiltur, between Hlammach and Lyrabar. Joan is there as well, but travelling east. Furath, Aria, and Prim are travelling north between Selgaunt and Ordulin in Sembia. Akari is also travelling that road, but is headed south.
The various people stop for the night, but their rest is disturbed by the sounds of screaming and battle. They rush out and find pirates are attacking the seaside villages where they had stopped. Dolomoth unfortunately runs straight into a couple of pirates and they knock him out. Prim picks off a couple in the shadows, but is caught looting one and captured. Akari, Aria, Furath and Joan fight in their respective towns, but are overwhelmed.
Everyone wakes up in the hold of a ship. Akari is seasick as well as recovering from being beaten. All are in manacles and leg irons; Akari, Aria, Joan and Furath are also wearing masks that gag them and prevent them from speaking to cast spells. There are also townspeople in the prison holds. They speculate they have been captured by slavers, possibly from Chessenta. They are given very little food and water. The ship comes to a small harbor on a small island and the prisoners are transferred into a warehouse with cells on the waterfront. A couple of ships deliver prisoners and the adventurers end up in the same cell. It is the night before full moon. They notice the pirates are heavily tattooed with a tentacle motif. The next afternoon, a group of heavily armed guards come into the warehouse and begin changing prisoners from manacles to rope bindings, They are casually violent and freely beat the prisoners to keep them in line. The characters watch out a window as the roped prisoners are marched to the end of a dock where an altar has been set up. The full moon is rising at sunset. As they watch, the water churns and a kraken surfaces! It delivers a chest of sunken treasure and the pirates push the prisoners into the water to be eaten alive by the kraken!
The adventurers realize they are next on the menu. There is one guard watching them and Prim begins to seduce him, luring him close to the bars. While he kisses her, she pulls two needles from her hair and stabs him in the head with both, killing him. She begins trying to pick the locks on manacles with the needles. Dolomoth uses Mage Hand to pull the keys from the guard's belt and everyone is quickly freed. Prim takes the guard's short sword and crossbow and slits his throat to be sure of him. A second guard enters and everyone attacks and kills him. Joan spots a back door and they flee after taking the second guard's weapons. They try to move everyone to the edge of town and safety, but the various townspeople scatter and try to hide. The adventurers move towards the edge of town. They stumble across another pirate and kill him quickly, taking his weapons and jewelry. They discuss what to do. Dolomoth tries to speak to his patron, but is unable to reach him. They want to steal a ship and escape, but none of them are sailors. Since they haven't been fed, they break into an empty house and steal some food and a kitchen knife. Maybe they should get out of town? They hear a patrol coming and Akari uses Disguise Self and appears as one of the dead guards and sends the patrol away from the adventurers hiding in an alley. With all the pirates searching for escaped sacrifices, they decide to flee the town. But they run into another patrol and must fight. With magic and numbers on their side, they kill three of the pirates, but one escapes. They seize more weapons and treasure and flee from the town.
The countryside is gently sloping, mostly barren land going up to a low central peak. louds have moved in and a thunderstorm hits, giving them cover in the darkness. They find a ravine to hide in and huddle up to share their food and warmth. Dolomoth is able to reach his patron, who tells them they are in great danger from the kraken and its followers. He says "As the kraken loves the depths and darkness, seek safety in the heights and light".
The next morning they climb the low mountain to the top and spot a road. It is centuries old, and leads to an artificial opening in the rocks of the peak. It looks like a narrow ravine that has been planed smooth. It leads to an open area, almost like a courtyard. There is a stone door in one wall with a pull handle. They manage to get it open and inside is a green glowing field, the size of a doorway. Arcane symbols are carved around it and Furath says it radiates conjuration magic. Aria touches the field and disappears.
Furath waits a few moments, then touches it as well and disappears. Akari and Prim follow and finally Joan drags Dolomoth with her. When Joan touches the field, they both disappear.
On the other side, Aria has appeared in a cold dark room with stale, musty air. When Furath appears beside here, there is a flashing green light like the portal, but then it stops. They are in a small room with more arcane inscription around the portal. Furath can detect no magic from this side. Prim and Akari arrive and the air is more difficult to breathe. They spot another door and manage to pull it open. Beyond is another dark hallway of musty air, but at least there's more volume. Joan and Dolomoth arrive and the party moves forward. The hallway makes a right turn and comes to another door. They pull this open and see a hall way with stairs down to the left, doors to the right and left and a broken window at the end, letting in cold, fresh air and a mix of rain and snow. Light comes from one of the open doorways, but there is also a smell of animal waste and dead meat. The wind from outside smells like mountain air. They move forward and beyond the open door is a room where the roof fell in and two harpies are nesting. They attack the party and charm Dolomoth with their song and knock Furath out and hurt Joan as well. The party manages to kill them. They find themselves in a long abandoned small manor carved into the rock face of a mountain. But what mountain and where? The air is colder, so it seems they have gone north. They gather some treasure from the harpies' victims, including a magical short sword. They decide to head downhill and use the crossbows to hunt for game. A couple of days travel brings them to the foothills and they see a city in the distance. They approach and find they are at the city of Phent in Thesk! They are almost four hundred miles west of where Dolomoth and Joan were captured and almost a thousand miles from Sembia! Akari and Aria are particularly depressed. Aria was maybe 300 miles from home, now it's more like 1,200. And Akari was headed to Suzail in Cormyr, her 500 mile journey is now like two thousand!!
Mirtul 19th
(GM's notes- This was one of my more railroading adventures and I gave the players bonus XP to compensate. Capture scenarios can be difficult to pull off, so I ran it more as a cut scene, rather than giving the players chance to roll until it came time to escape. And of course the portal dungeons are very linear. But, I wanted the party to see the threat and the horror of the kraken cult and escape together as a way to provide their bonding moment. For the most part, their goals will have them marching in the same direction.)
Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
Discussing Dolomoth's fey patron is in the Winter Court Fey and his spells will have an ice motif
Brittany "You're Frozone!"
Evan "Where is my super suit?!"
JoAnne, from the living room "Why do you want to know?"
Discussing that Jim has been bouncing ideas off of JoAnne and she wants to watch when some of the big campaign moments are revealed
Katya "So she's the harbinger of doom?"
Jack "It's like hearing the Jaws music before you see the shark"
Jack "She's the Watcher"
The characters are in chains and the casters are wearing masks to gag them
Jack "You gagged the casters…"
Brittany "BDSM Pirates. I feel a Con save should be a consent save"
Fighting the harpies
Evan "I use Mage Hand to pet the harpy"
Jim "She sues you for inappropriate touching"
Discussing eating the harpies
Nick "I have Purify Food and Drink"
Jim points out it's more of an evil issue, eating a sentient creature is more like cannibalism
Nick "I'm a cleric; I can purify our sins"
