Summary
(GM's note- I originally saw the mention of the Oracle on the Forgotten Realms wiki and decided to use it, then went searching and found the adventure "The Oracle at Sumbar" by Paul Culotta in Dungeon magazine #48 and used that for inspiration, substituting manticores for giant seagulls, and taking more inspiration from locations in the Trials of Atlantis expansion for the Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG.)
Hammer 2nd
After Joan and Furath's dinner with their father, Captain bin Samak/Arik Samter, invites the rest of the party for dinner the next night. They spend the day doing shopping, Furath works on a Ring of Invisibility for Prim. Aria's sea shanty is still spreading in town. Prim looks for some forgery materials, but realizes she needs local items if she is going to work on documents for Sembia.
Dinner comes and the party goes to Samter's house, his maidservant greets them and takes them upstairs to the dining room. Samter, his bosun, Beckett, that they met at his ship, and another man are waiting. The new guest is Samter's first mate, a muscular Arabic man with many tattoos and a white turban embroidered in gold thread. Samter introduces everyone and calls in his cook, Brask the lizardman. Akari, Prim, Dolomoth and especially Aria are startled by his appearance, Aria actually stands and goes for a weapon. Samter calms everyone and Brask explains the menu for the meal and walks around the table serving out a fine red wine. Aria flinches when he passes by.
Over dinner, the party and pirates discuss some of the local political situation, mainly dealing with the way all the local view the Kraken Cult. All the pirate groups hate the kraken's worshippers for intruding into "their" area. The cult sometimes preys on the pirate holds for victims without retribution since the kraken will destroy any ships that attack the cult. Their only allies are some of the evil undersea races, like the sahuagin, who also worship the kraken and get powers from it. The sea elves in particular hate the kraken since it lends aid to their enemies. The sea elves once had a powerful magic weapon, the Spear of Anguish, but it was lost and never recovered. Beckett asks if anyone has ever asked the oraxcle about it, and there's a general response of what oracle? Beckett explains that on the isle of Sumbar in the Pirate Isles, there's an oracle, that takes the form of a wishing well. Throw in an offering and ask a question and the oracle will answer one question per individual's lifetime. Samter discusses that Sumbar is surrounded by reefs, making travel difficult. Beckett also says the island has very steep cliffs, there's only one halfway decent beach that is near a somewhat climbable area.
The party is interested and Samter is thoughtful. He questions his two officers if the ship's repairs are done and says a trip to Sumbar would be a good shakedown cruise. Beckett points out it's winter and a two week journey each way, but Samter is undeterred. He tells the party they can leave in two days, he will find a stable to accommodate their horses while they're away.
The party makes arrangements, Furath finishes the ring for Prim and the Badala sets sail on the 4th with the morning tide. The trip is rough, with a few winter storms. Furath tries to enchant a new necklace with a Dragon's Breath spell, using a vial of black dragon blood to give it more potency. But on the fourth day, his crafting is interrupted by a severe storm and he has to start over. The necklace itself is salvageable, but the vial of blood was lost in he casting. Prim sells Furath a vial she had and he starts again.
A few days later, lookouts spot a ship coming towards them from the north, showing no flags. It looks Cormyrian made, so it could be a naval ship on an anti-piracy patrol. Samter takes a risk and raises his flag, displaying his Pirate Isles colors. The other ship turns to parallel them and raises a pirate flag as well, Samter says she is the Immortal Seas. The two ships wave their flags at one another in salute, then turn to go their separate ways. Furath is able to complete his second attempt at crafting.
Hammer 17th
The Badala arrives at Sumbar, being careful to stay outside the reefs. Samter says they will take the ship's boat over the reefs at high tide for safety. Depending on how long their exploration takes, they may need to wait until the next high tide to return to the ship. The boat is prepared and the party boards it with Samter and Beckett and they row to the island. They beach the boat on a cobblestone beach, below the cliffs. High overhead a bat-winged creature is circling, they look at it with a spyglass and believe it to be a manticore or chimera. Looking at the cliffs, they find some skeletons at its foot and old climbing spikes with tatters of rope show where others have climbed the cliff. Aria goes to the skeletons and casts Summon Spirit and finds the ghost of a female pirate who died in a fall from the cliff 50 years ago. She is willing to answer questions, she came to the oracle and gifted it a jewelled dagger to find out the location of a treasure ship. She does warn them that asking the oracle without a gift causes it to kill you. Akari climbs the cliff easily with her Boots of Spider Climbing, Furath uses Dimension Door to take himself and Aria to the top, and Dolomoth casts Fly on himself, Prim and Joan. Samter and Beckett stay below to guard the boat. The party looks around, the top of the island is gently rolling hills covered with areas of forest or grassland. Small animals like deer and goats can be seen. The circling monster above lets out a lion's roar as the party looks for a path to the oracle.
Then five more manticores swoop down on the party from above the forest. Joan, Furath and Aria are taken by surprise, but Prim snipes one with her crossbow and it attacks her. Akari casts Greater Invisibility and hides as the manticores spread out to attack the party Everyone is attacked and Dolomoth disappears in a Misty Escape. He reappears behind them to start firing off a Hex and Eldritch Blasts. Akari and Aria attack with Thunderwave and Shatter spells, Joan is mostly busy healing the party and defending herself. The manticore that was circling above comes from behind to attack Prim. One manticore is pushed off the cliff and hits the ground before it can recover and dies. Another goes off the cliff and recovers, but Furath wraps it in a Web spell and it plummets to the beach. Prim finishes two manticores by jumping on their backs to stab them.
The party moves through the woods and finds the oracle, a simple stone well in a circular stone clearing, surrounded by columns. Ivy climbs the outside of the columns, but no weeds or moss mar the stone circle or the well. Looking in the well, the shaft descends smoothly into the rock of the island and disappears into darkness. Joan pulls out the painting she bought and tosses it in. It disappears in the depths and she asks "Where is the Spear of Anguish?". A gender neutral voice in uninflected Common replies, "The Spear lies in the Pit of the Abomination beneath the mountains that speak for the sands." Akari asks where the mountains are and the oracle replies "Between the Dalelands and the Anauroch desert". They realize the oracle means the Desertmouth Mountains. Furath asks if there is a magic item on Faerun that would allow him to defeat the kraken singlehandedly. The oracle says "No, not currently." (GM's note- I had to think about that long and hard for a while. Maybe an artifact could do it, but the only one I could think of was the Wand of Orcus. So…No) Aria asks in elvish where her brother is and the oracle replies in elvish, "Beneath Gothyl's Tower in the woods of spiders". Since Joan used her answer for the party, Furath goes back to the beach, jumps off and casts Feather Fall to float to the ground, then grabs dad and uses Dimension Door to go back to the top and leads him to the oracle. Joan gives him the gem she carries for the Revivify spell and asks Arik to ask the name of Joan's mother. The oracle replies "Kyloressa Tanethian".
Prim takes a turn and asks "Where is my mother?" and the oracle replies "Buried in an unmarked grave five miles north of Tilverton". Prim remembers that the men who killed her father and tried to capture her were told that they "let the most important one get away". Why is she more important than either of her parents?
Finally Dolomoth throws in the Belt of the Bear and asks "What is Rostok's true identity?" And the oracle replies "His true identity is Rostokarth". The party puzzles over it, Furath thinks that sounds Draconic (Jack got a 26 History roll), could Rostok actually be dragonborn, dragon bloodline, or even an actual dragon? Dolomoth calls on Culathos, but his patron doesn't answer.
They return to the beach and board the long boat and row back to the Badala. They head back to Starmantle, but encounter three different storms and the journey takes several days. Dolomoth continues to call for his patron without result (GM's note- I make it a Persuasion roll to call your patron, Evan rolled two 1's and nothing higher than a 4). At one point a pixie appears and tells Dolomoth the fey lord is busy and pops out in shower of snowflakes.
Alturiak 4
The Badala returns to Starmantle and Arik hosts a going away dinner. He uses his contacts to get passage for them on a ship headed to Urmlaspyr. Over dinner, he discusses their next step of finding the spear. Furath is wondering if the pirates would help with the kraken, but Arik brings that up himself. He tells them the Conclave of Pirate Lords and Captains is in about four months on the summer solstice, Kythorn 20. He will negotiate with the other pirates about supporting the party's war on the kraken. The pirates will probably not join the battle against the kraken, but if the party has the spear, and pledges to defeat the kraken, then the pirates may be able to field an invasion force to battle the cult. He will be in Starmantle two weeks before the conclave, to meet them and take them there.
Alturiak 5
Bidding dad farewell, the party sails the next day. The six day trip is storm free, but heavy, unfavorable winds slow their progress by two days.
Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
Katya has finished her summer classes papers and exams
Katya "Dobbie is a free elf!"
Discussing the lizard man cook, Brask
Jack "Everything is scaled appropriately"
Brittany "A lizard ate your chef"
Jack "Be careful, he's got spices"
Talking about Prim can make false identities and trying to lure the kraken into a trap
Katya "We're going to catfish it"
Joan asks the pawn shop owner for a work of art, he comes out with a painting
Nick "Of dogs playing poker?"
Jack "Dogs playing D&D"
Brittany "Dragons playing D&D"
A bat-winged monster is flying high above the Oracle's island
Jack "Oh God, it's Vengeance!"
Aria summons a ghost of one of island's visitors, who fell down the cliff
Nick "Can she point to a less clumsy ghost?"
What question would dad ask the oracle? How many children does he have?
Jim "You have five more"
The oracle says Joan's mother's name is Kyloressa Tanethian
Katya "Kylo Ren?"
Talking about Jack's crazy villain from his last game
Jack "He summons trains. He's a metromancer"
Evan "So you're going to railroad them"
Katya suggested he worships Thomas the Tank Engine
Describing the Spiderhaunt Woods and it's full of giant spiders
Brittany "So Spiders Of Unusual Size. SOUS?"
Jack "The forest is sus"
Brittany "They're SOUS chefs"
They encountered lots of bad weather on the way home
Jack "I want to speak to my travel agent"
Brittany, telemarketer voice "Triple Pay, how can I help you?"
