(D&D 5e) The Tempest Aloft the Haunted Isle In Character

[Requilac]

The Tempest Aloft the Haunted Isle

"“OGTHROD AI’F GEB’L—EE’H YOG-SOTHOTH ‘NGAH’NG AI’Y ZHRO!”"

Original Post of Out of Character Thread

[Requilac]

Prologue, Part One

Six months before the Tempest Crashes on the Haunted Isle...

“Please describe this quickly, you are running just one of the many expeditions which I have to report on about this time of year” one of the stewards for the Lady of Baharna announces. He hardly looks up from his parchment and quill when he says this, clearly more interested in scribbling down notes then looking outside the window at the docks he sees everyday. A priest stands next to him, whose only superfluous decoration is a necklace bearing the holy sign of Bastatan, an Old One renowned for their ability to predict disasters.

Captain Lacaille lays out a diagram of the structure of the Tempest on the table before him before responding in his most thunderous and entrepreneurial voice that “This, is the HMS Tempest. A Barquentine, measuring 25 feet in beam and 150 feet in length, with enough room to house a crew of nearly 30 men. It is decked with six guns, from the days when it used to be a warship in the Celephais Naval Corps , but hopefully we need not be using them.”

“Just two moons ago, the Lord of Celephais received a message from the prophet within Celephais’ Church of the Old Ones. Apparently the gods had sent the soothsayer a series of visions which pointed to a jungled island just some months South of the Isle of Oriab.” The Captain then lays out a folder full of close to two dozen sketches of what the soothsayer saw, sketched by the trained hand of prophet herself. All of parchments have annotations under them, with the seal of the prophet who made them present in each of them. “This jungle is a goldmine of resources. Durable Lumber, medicinal plants, fines resins, exotics fruits and nuts, fine spices, and peculiar furs and meats should all sell for quite some amount on the market. And the best part: it is almost completely uninhabited. We have been sent to scout out this golden isle for a force better equipped, but not braver, than us can conquer it under the flag of Celephais and any other city-state willing to fund us.”

“The Old Ones, for better or worse, do not lie. If we can succeed in our expedition, the skies will rain coins. If Baharna is willing to provide a certain amount of funds for our expedition, then they would be allowed a percentage of the land proportional to the aid you give us…”

“Stop! Son of Baharna, listen to this madness no longer!” The previously solemn and bored looking priest suddenly shrieks out towards the steward. “This expedition is fated for damnation! Just last night Bastatan, The Lord of Crabs and the Harbinger of All Calamities, had forewarned me of a tragic event. I witnessed a boat crashing upon the Devilish Reef near a mysterious island, and all of its crew being pulled into the sea by vicious currents manipulated by an evil force. Though the few crew who survived the piercing rocks struggled to push towards the shore, it was clear that they too would be swallowed by the ocean as well. And the ship I saw in this dream, though I did not know it until now, is that very ship in this diagram, The Tempest! This expedition is destined for failure, failure and... ”

The First Mate, an unusually burly aarocockra, interrupts the monk with an infuriated screech, and the Captain seems to be just at that point as well. Captain Lacaille bangs his hands on the table and looks towards the steward with ire when he claims that “This is sabotage! You know as well as I do that Bastatan and Yog-Shothoth have been at ends since the dawn of time, he is just trying to spite us for relying on Yog-Shothoth! this is in an act of petty feuding!”

The steward though seems to be more on the side of the priest though as he disdainfully glares at each officer of the Tempest. He then stands up and swiftly leaves the room, taking his notes with him, clearly indicating that the deal is off.

The priest motions to leave to, but momentarily stops right before the door and turns back towards the officers of the expedition. “You shouldn’t go on this expedition. Omens may be vague, but this one has a quite clear and unambiguous message. You will rue going on this voyage.” And without another word he or she (you really aren't sure) leaves.

As the Captain rubs his temples to relieve a fierce headache and sighs, the aarocockra continues to squak, clearly trying to get his attention. Eventually Laceille responds with “What are you going on about now?”, and then the aarocockra points to a figure standing at the table, looking through a list of the crew members. The person appears to be a woman aged somewhere in her early 20s who is dressed in funeral attire, evidently of Wood Elf descent given her maroon skin, black hair, and brown eyes. It is quite odd seeing her there, because you don’t ever remember seeing her approach the table, and she certainly wasn’t there before you got here.

Captain Laceille looks shocked by this, because he must not have noticed her enter either. “Huh… what the hell are you doing here?”.

Without looking up, the woman responds with “Oh, I am just trying to identify the ethnicities of each crew member. It seems like you have the last few people we need. Anyhow, I found what I was looking for now. Goodbye.” She then breezingly walks out of the room at a pace that seems disproportionately fast given how slow her feet seem to be moving, seemingly completely unconcerned with how many questions you may have had about that answer.

The Captain continues to rub his temple with increased vigor. “Somebody, get me some rum, I don’t have any damn clue what just went on during this meeting, but I know that I don’t want to remember it.”

Please do not post in the IC thread until I write the second part of the prologue.

[Requilac]

Prologue, Part Two

Now, we return to the present. Please read the description of your character's nightmare before you continue with the remainder of the prologue.

Spoiler: Roland Nauta's Nightmare

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As you crawl onto the black sands of the shore, you are gasping for air and violently coughing up the bitter algea you swallowed when your head went under the water. A fiery sting is set all round your body as the wounds you took from the many rocks of the shore are filling with salt. You plan on just lying there on the black sand to rest, but then you something in the corner of your eye. You hastily lurch up and draw out your revolver as soon as you notice the four shadowy figures moving towards you.

At first you can’t identify any details about them due to a complete lack of light caused by the malevolent clouds that smother the light of the stars. But then lightning flashes, and you can see the troop of soldiers in all of their hideous detail. Slippery teal scales which shine in the moonlight are their replacement for skin. But you far more notice the distended and fishlike eyes and writhing gill slits cut into their neck, both of which are torturously bulging. At noticing you gasp, they respond with a kind of howling croak unlike any you have heard before. Eventually you muster the bravery to point your revolver and fire, only to realize too late that it is rendered useless after being clogged with water. Then, in an act of foolish bravery brought on by adrenaline and a need for immediate action, you rush towards the leading legionnaire, planning to use your revolver as a club.

In a moment you feel a terrible piercing pain as a trident from out of the dark, presumably held in one of the monster’s webbed paws, drives into your abdomen. In less than a second the others follow suit, as the last thing you feel before fading to black is something like a migraine as one of the otherworldly polearms goes into your skull

Spoiler: Ulysses Lomax's Nightmare

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As you trudge through the sweltering and swarmed jungle, you must use your scimitar to cut past all of the cumbersome vegetation in your path. You have finally gotten used to the rhythm of the constant slashing and marching. It has taken you a while, but you find that the conditions are not so bad when they are so constant and predictable.

That is part of why you are so shocked when you cut through a vine and hear a horrendous shriek coming from. It doesn’t sound like anything you have heard of before, but the closest thing you could think off being similar is if a bear cub where to roar inside of a giant turtle’s shell. Then the vines around you seizure maddly and seem to almost crawl past you, to a destination you cannot yet see. You start looking all around you for the creature you may have injured, but can only see the vines slithering and brushing past your legs like snakes.

Without warning, you feel your throat being compressed with a violent force. The scream sounds off again, but this time it is directly in front of your face, almost deafening you. You slash wild in front of you at your attacker, doing so without aim because you can only hear and not see where they are , only to find it making contact with vines to the sides off you instead of hitting your assailant… But suddenly you come to the realization that this cannot be what is actually occuring. Your sword swipes are hitting at the person choking you: and the person is constructed entirely of vines.

The screaming continues, but it now almost sounds like if you where hearing it with your head underwater. You continue to slash fruitlessly at it, but only after a few seconds you find that you cannot move your arm forward again. The vines are wrapped against your arms. As your senses numb due to asphyxiation, every stimulus seems to become less real as your mind and soul falls into oblivion…

Spoiler: Madeiline Sonderholme's Nightmare

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You step quietly towards the watering hole with your bow drawn out, and carefully survey the area. The tracks you saw looked like that of a landfowl, and they where leading directly towards this area. Your examination proves to be fruitful, because you can see a group of about seven animals, fairly reminiscent of chickens, bathing in the water. What sets them apart from the average chicken though is the fact that their feathers were red with orange strips, and they seem to be holding their feathers outwards in front of them rather than folding them against their sides.

You load an arrow into your bow, and ready to launch it at the unsuspecting exotic junglefowl. But before you can fire the arrow, all of their birds heads turn to you, and stare menacingly with cruel yellow eyes. They unleash a whooping screech, which surprises you so much that you accidentally release the arrow. It slams into the area just below the neck on one of the terrifying birds, pinning it to the ground without another word.

This proves to be your undoing, as the whooping now descends into a mad cacophony from the birds, each of which now sound like a woman screaming. The landfowl now bound towards your location across the lake, and show themselves to be able to use their wings to fly short distances as they hop across the lake.

You pivot around to run away, but as soon as you turn around you feel an army of vicous claws piercing into all areas of your body on the back of you. A great deal of weight is on your body now that wasn’t there before, and you realize with a shock that they must have briefly flied to jump on top of your and latch in with their talons. Your entire body convulses with fiery agony as they peck into your skin like woodpeckers would do to a tree. You try to swat some of them off, but there are just too many to remove quickly enough. The sensation ends when you realize that you cannot breathe, because one of them has knifed through your lung.

Spoiler: Valafar's Nightmare

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You can hardly hear the sound of your own footsteps on the charcoal sand of the beach before you, gossy in the brilliant moonlight. The only thing that stands out to you on the pale plain in your sight is what appears to be the patches of dull and hazy biege of abandoned canvas tents, gathered together just ahead of you. That camp is your destination. You saw the fire around here glowing last night, and are hoping to see if there are any survivors like yourself on the island within that camp.

As you get closer to the ruin of collapsed tents though, you come to the sudden realization that the last thing you want to do is meet with the denizens of this camp. Although it is apparently deserted now, the air is still trembling with the pressure of the ghastly massacre which happened here. For laying about the camp, you see the skeletons of several humanoids with only threadbare flesh left, evidently the cause of death being devoured. But the most disturbing part about this is not this fact, but that it was evident they where cooked over the fire by an intelligent being and then eaten. You are witnessing the cannibal’s art.

You noticed the oversized mushroom growing from a bloodstain in the sand next to a corpse, but you didn’t really give it much attention. Now your head is turned there though, because that mushroom seemingly jumps from the sand and reveals itself as a devil. Some creature mimicking an ugly old man the size of a small dog now stands in the place of the mushroom. It’s heavy steel boots and oversized sickle radiate menacingly in the moonlight, drawing your eyes to their wicked and savage design. A crimson mushroom cap is on the creature’s head like a nightcap, and you come to the shocking realization that the cap’s color is crimson because it is slick with blood.

Immediately you try to run away from the horrid thing, but you can hear the heavy pounding of its iron boots catching up to you. You assumed that you could outpace it because its heavy boots would weight it down, but you are realize too late how wrong you are. A crushing weight slams against the back of your calf and sends you falling down to your knees. The fey spirit’s red eyes glitter and carry the same murderous tone its cruel giggle reveals. You quickly try to get up, but the monster proves to use its sickle with impossible speed as it brings its sickle down over the top of your neck…

Spoiler: Zuu Greenbrook's Nightmare

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As you stand knee deep in the shore, you prepare to cast out your fishing net in hopes of catching the school of decently large sized fish you just saw. Just as you are about to throw it though, all of the fish in front of you suddenly zoom away. You have been waiting there and standing completely still for hours now, so you don’t understand how you could have possibly alerted them.

A sudden screech from behind though suddenly reveals that you may not have been the thing that alerted them. You go to turn around, and you immediately regret this decision. Some flying creature you cannot see well directed its claws towards your head and raked them across it. As you scream in pain from the profuse blood welling out of your skull, you realize that you cannot see out of your left eye. A second later, you feel a nauseating and agonizing pain in the spot where your eye used to be.

You deftly take out your spear and whirl around to where you say the beast fly past you, and are immediately stricken with horror. What you behold is something like that off a terrible scaled bat, with a spearlike beak and matching crest, dyed red with your blood. You feel yourself almost paralyzed by its cruel yellow gaze as it dives towards you once again to deliver the killing blow.

You cannot bring up your spear in time to strike the monstrous flier as its talons tear through your jaw.

Spoiler: Elbalar Beiwaran's Nightmare

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You are breathing at a torturous rate as you are running away as fast as you can. No matter how tired and out of breath you are though, you know you can’t stop. The baying of the mad hounds behind you bars you from doing any such action. You only wish that the horrible sounds they made sounded more alien though, because the way that their whooping howls sound like a drowning wolves makes you more than nauseous than anything you have heard before.

It is only too late that you realize that you should have not tried to outrun these hounds. Before you take much time though to reconsider the soundness of your actions, you are knocked to the group with the force of a boulder thrown by a giant. One of the terrors has pinned you to the ground underneath its massive oversized paws. With the speed only a man who is about to die can perform, you roll yourself over and place your hands out in front of you. Instead of the Thanatic Dog’s teeth snapping your ribs, it instead crunches your hand, delivering a pain so deep you nearly faint.

In your pain caused daze though you can recognize the monstrous creature in all its hideous detail. It’s tight hair sheet of hair is light brown like dying autumn leaves, but scarred with black stripes. Although this creature may sound like a canine, it’s paw are clearly something closer to that of a tiger’s. But its humpebacked head is far more threatening than its claws, which has teeth so numerous that its snout must be extended like a crocodile’s to contain them all.

You never get to recognize what dread its eyes might have held before the beast buries its teeth in your chest, eager to feast upon your then half living body with ghoulish and sadistic vigor. Only a few seconds later, the anesthetizing pain daze is replaced by sensory oblivion.

You all are awoken from your disturbed sleep by the sounds of the roaring ocean, which apparently is in just as much distress as you all were. The winds are roaring at the ship’s creaking boards in a manner that is almost taunting, and the rain pounds on the decks above with leering disdain. The darkness is so pervasive where you all are that most of the crew can see nothing but silhouettes in the room until the lightning flashes outside to breathe color into the world. You can feel the hammocks you were sleeping under rocking back and forth, as if to shake you awake, as the ship is being tossed about. What is the most vulnerable victim to the storm’s wrath though is most definitely the sails, which you can hear flapping fretfully about over your head.

Currently you are within the hull of the Tempest, in the communal cabin. This is where all of the crew except for the Captain sleep in, but as of now only half the crew is sleeping and the others are working on the deck above. The only thing remarkable about this room is how many hammocks they managed to shove into such a small space. It’s not like anybody here without darkvision can actually see the other dozen and two (14) people down here clearly, but you all have spent the nights of the past six months below decks here, so you are all too familiar with how crowded it is.

Upon hearing a series of footsteps marching down here, one of the healers in the ship conjures forth some garish red lights to emanate from his staff. Moving down the ladder of a ship during a storm is already likely to result in injury, but in the dark it is even more hazardous, so the healer seems to want some light present so that he can lessen his workload some. It looks like almost all the members of the crew from above deck are rushing down the ladder in a single file line, seemingly to avoid the storm.

The door leading the captain’s cabin swings open frustratingly. Laceille voice is uncharacteristically enraged as he booms out “Damn you all! Why does it sound like a half dead condor has landed on our decks! By the gods’ bleedy nails, you bastards didn’t reef the sails did you! I can hear them snapping about up there, probably getting holes torn in them and tugging to break down the mast! Why the hell did you all not reef the sails!”

The Third Mate Gwendolyn, who was already down the ladder, seems to be the only one to have the courage to respond. “The storm came in too quickly for us to get to reefing sir! Just a literal minute ago the sky was clear, but it wrapped up into this cyclone in less than a minute. ”

“Bull****!”, hisses the Captain, “Storms don’t come that quickly, and you and I both know it. You all were too lazy and ignorant and didn’t reef the sails in time and are making up excuses! I have half a mind to make the lot of you go up there and furl the sails, knowing very well that it may kill your lazy asses!”

“No sir, I swear the storm grew that quickly! You are right that storms don’t come that quickly by nature, but this isn’t natural. A sea fiend is at work out there!”

Almost in response to hearing the word “sea fiend”, the wind scoops up one of the sailors at the top of the ladder and contemptuously throws him in the air with an almost intentional force. His screams merge with the maddening wind as you can hear him being thrown towards the sails and wrapped into them. But only a few seconds later, you notice that the sails could not stop the momentum of his body from reaching the mast as you hear a revolting crunch. You can’t hear anything after that, so you can only conclude that the sailor whom you had yet to see the face of is either dead or too injured to call out.

“Once everybody gets down, I would advise you all to close the hatch. We wouldn’t want anybody else dying before we reached the island, should we?” The same wood elf who apparently snuck in at your meeting in Baharna has now once again somehow got herself on this ship. She apparently hasn’t changed out of her funeral clothes, and her facial features seem to be oddly content despite the clearly present danger the ship is thrown in. You have no idea how she got here, because at no point in your voyage have you ever seen her on board.

You suddenly feel your body involuntarily lurch towards the Port side, and the rest of the crew and equipment apparently moves with you. Some unfortunate people are slammed up against the sides off the boat, and the cannons on the Port side clang against the metal reinforced hull as well. Only the ropes specifically meant to prevent such disasters from occurring prevent the cannons on the Starboard side from crushing the people underneath them as the ship tilts.

After the initial crash, the ship doesn’t seem to balance itself out as it should after tilting. Instead, you can feel everything about you rapidly moving as some unseen force pulls the ship by its port side towards some destination in the darkness. The flashing of lightning reveals to you that this location is the silhouette of an ominous island, guarded by an army of rocks pointing out of the water like obsidian pikes. With each flash, you realize that the deathly rocks are coming closer and closer.

“Well, that appears to be my cue to leave.” The enigmatic and goulish elf deadpans, seemingly still on her feet despite the momentum off the ship. “Thank you all for coming to the hunt, I will be with you all again shortly.” Without another comment, she hops on the ladder and climbs above decks, seemingly careless towards the obvious dangers on deck.


“It is there fault!” one of the engineers on the ship, Midshipper Cardiff, declares while pointing accusedly at the magic users of the party, seemingly especially venomous with Sonderholme. “We shouldn’t have brought those slithy witches with us! They have gone and turned on us, intend to kill us and sell our souls to some wicked thing! This storm out there is magic, and there ain’t anyone on this boat except for those mutineers who could have pulled off such a trick. I say we kill ‘em before they kill us”

Another one of her partners in the maintenance staff though, Midshipper Liliwen, seems to have had enough of Cardiff’s behavior though. “Shut up, you ignorant bastard! Did you not see that phantom just materialize on the ship? Clearly some other sea devil is at work here wrecking our ship. You are just as likely to be a blackguard to some wicked spirit as they are, so I would advise you to keep your mouth shut lest you run the Tyburn jig”

Tensions are running high among the crew, both with fear of the ship wrecking on the island and of a fight breaking out in the galley. Both of which are beginning to seem likely, the former explicitly, and the latter more implicitly by the fact that people are brandishing weapons and staring angrily upon one speaker or the other.

You have about one minute, if even that, until the ship crashes. Prepare for danger.

[Seanfall]

”Quiet all of you, this ships about crash! Grab something useful and brace for impact.” Valafar grabbed up his things and strapped them onto his back. “Figures my first time on a boat and it sinks.”

[Hypersmith]

The dark skinned Tiefling lurches awake from his dream, blinking owlishly as his natural vision kicks in to light the dark space. Seems the others were also waking - not that he cared too much in the moment. He takes a deep breath as though to assure himself before jumping down out of his hammock, stumbling a few feet with the lurching of the ship. His tail lashes out to help balance him, and his yellow eyes flash momentarily. Still, he's silent, the same quiet, subdued expression most of you have long become used to seeing on him. It only changes to a few moments of surprise when the woman in funeral dress appears seemingly out of nowhere - he was certain he hadn't seen her before in the gloom.

As the lurching gets worse, Ulysses takes a step with the momentum, using it to leap up to his hammock again and unhooking his double breasted trench-coat, a well worn thing. He lands, careening with the weight of the ship and crashing roughly into the nearby wall - or anyone between him and it. He's deliberately silent when accusations of witchery go up. He preferred to stay out of them if possible, and men did crazy things when they thought they were going to die.

He shakes his head a little incredulously at the line of thought. He should be afraid too. He didn't want to die, but if this it, it was nothing he could avoid.

The Tiefling's tail lashes with the rolling of the waves, his knees bent to absorb as much as possible as he braces. He feels his onyx flute in the trench coat bump against him. If he could play it without risking it going down his throat with another wave, it felt like it might be appropriate to hear the haunting notes again.

[Zergrinch]

What was that nightmare all about? Is it punishment from that damnable fiend from running away? Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, the paranoid half-elf barely has a moment to collect his thoughts before he hears the word, "Sea Fiend".

Zuu Greenbrook starts to panic, as he casts his eyes around for anything to lash himself onto. Is his fiend in actuality of the sea? He had thought not, with the patron's powers gravitating towards fire magic. But one can never tell with these devils!

Perception to find anything that might help him float.
(d20+3)[14]

[Seanfall]

Valafar pulled one of the hammocks down and grabbed up anything soft to wrap around himself, he took a step back from everyone else and cast a spell, hoarfrost the cold of the void started to cover him added extra protection.

Spoiler

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Casting Armor of Agathys +15 temporary HP.

[sandmote]

Despite having seen the crew member torn from the ladder, Elbalar attempts to climb up, first out of the room and then up to the rigging. "It'll certainly reduce the force if I can leap over to an area less pounded by the waves," he says as he does so, although the wind makes this hard to hear.

[bc56]

Roland shakes himself from his fitful sleep. Standing and wrapping his cloak about him, he realizes what's going on in time to see the elf, and feel the ship strike something. "ALL HANDS ON DECK! READY THE BOATS!" he orders the sailors who seem to be on the brink of fighting, rushing up to start the process himself.

[Requilac]

Roland shakes himself from his fitful sleep. Standing and wrapping his cloak about him, he realizes what's going on in time to see the elf, and feel the ship strike something. "ALL HANDS ON DECK! READY THE BOATS!" he orders the sailors who seem to be on the brink of fighting, rushing up to start the process himself.

Many of the sailors turn their eyes away from the people who where fighting and seem to take a moment to digest your command. Many are hesitant at first, but after recognizing that it is a command by their Second Mate, at least a dozen and a half of them rush up the ladders in single file lines and immediately start making preparations to launch the liferafts off the side. Captain Laceille seem to find that to be the best decision, because instead of correcting your command he seems to go through with it and help the men to prepare the liferafts. It is certainly not necessary for this many people to take the rafts to the sides of the ship and prepare to launch, but it definitely helps.

Only a few seconds after you come up, the First Mate Rashewk hops over to you, struggling to move his feathered and hollow boned body through a storm. With a gratingly high pitched and squawking voice he asks "What will we do to protect the lifeboats once they are in the water? They cannot resist the force of those rocks."

You don't really know how to read the tone of birdfolk, but it sounds like he is criticizing your plan. But then again, she always kind of sounds like that, so you aren't sure of that.

”Quiet all of you, this ships about crash! Grab something useful and brace for impact.” Valafar grabbed up his things and strapped them onto his back. “Figures my first time on a boat and it sinks.”

Somehow you must have really struck a cord with them, because upon hearing this the crew members who are in line for climbing up the ladders momentarily break from the line to hastily take survival necessities out from their sea chests before climbing up seconds later. You really are not in any authority to lead the others, but they sure are behaving as if you do.

The Tiefling's tail lashes with the rolling of the waves, his knees bent to absorb as much as possible as he braces. He feels his onyx flute in the trench coat bump against him. If he could play it without risking it going down his throat with another wave, it felt like it might be appropriate to hear the haunting notes again.

You know that if you played a specific tone on it that you could strike terror into everybody on board, but you decide against it and instead play a more gentle tune. The moving off the ship, although jarring, is constant, so you are able to actually play the flute with decent fluidity.

When you do this though, you suddenly realize that the weird elven woman has reappeared and is standing just a few feet from you. Now that you get a better look at her, it becomes pretty clear that although her clothes appear to be unblemished, she is not in the best health. The skin of her head (which is the only skin you can actually see) is probably just as much gray as it is brown, and it looks shrivelled and sallow from malnourishment. Her hair, although decently well kept, is losing its color and falling out in patches. And her eyes appear to be sunken and reddened, as if she has lost sleep from mourning.

With a dehydrated voice she asks "where did you get that flute from? I think I have seen it before."

This unnamed and uncanny half-fey seems to not care about how much mortal danger she is in right now.

Perception to find anything that might help him float.
[roll0]

There isn't exactly much in this boat that is specifically meant to float except for what's on the hull. After a quick scan of the area though, you quickly take notice of the large barrels in the hold just in the next room. The barrels are meant to hold rum or water, but after this many months at least one of them must have been emptied by now. You could seal yourself inside one of the empty barrels, or tear off a few planks of wood to float on.

Despite having seen the crew member torn from the ladder, Elbalar attempts to climb up, first out of the room and then up to the rigging. "It'll certainly reduce the force if I can leap over to an area less pounded by the waves," he says as he does so, although the wind makes this hard to hear.

You jump on the ladder as soon as you can, and deftly try to make your way to the mast as quick as possible. When you finally reach the middle mast, you have to avert your eyes as you realize that your crew mate's crushed body is still swaddled in the sail. You don't know that their wounds are bad enough to kill them, but given how likely it is you don't want to stare for too long. Instead, you just focus on climbing the rigging.

As soon as you are a few feet up though, the wind seems to notice your trespassing and seems to attack you. Several strong breezes pound against you and try to force you back to the deck of the ship. Somehow, the very air itself seems to have adopted a living form specifically to oppose you. As you tightly clutch the mast you aren't confident of your ability to stay on, but you hope for the best and steel yourself. When the wind realizes it cannot defy you, it pushes harder, and you are caught off guard.

The wind slams you to the ground and thwarts your attempts to climb the rigging. The fall stung a little, but you didn't take anything but superficial damage from it.

__________________________________________________ ____________

Cardiff, who accused you all of causing the whole mess, seems infuriated that everyone has taken no heed of what she has said. The midshipper tries to get more people to agree with her case, but everyone else seems too busy to pay her much attention. After seeing Valafar cast a spell, Lomax play his magical instrument, and Beiwarin flee though, she seems to to take it as evidence of her claim. Due to the confusion all around, Cardiff isn't quite sure who to attack first, but after a moment she strides towards Sonderholme, whom she has expressed the most suspicion over. A dagger is drawn from Cardiff's belt as she continues to saunter against the ship in bloody pursuit of the apparent witch.

[Zergrinch]

There isn't exactly much in this boat that is specifically meant to float except for what's on the hull. After a quick scan of the area though, you quickly take notice of the large barrels in the hold just in the next room. The barrels are meant to hold rum or water, but after this many months at least one of them must have been emptied by now. You could seal yourself inside one of the empty barrels, or tear off a few planks of wood to float on.

The half-elf warlock follows his eyes into the barrel hold, and frantically raps on the wooden casks to find an empty one - one that sounds hollow. If successful he will attempt to pry off the lid and stuff himself in there, in the process dismissing his raven familiar with a snap.

[Hypersmith]

Ulysses looks gently towards the sick woman. "I... I can't remember. I think it was a trinket I collected during a job. Or was it the reward after? Do you want to hear it?"

He starts, catching himself and defaulting to normal manners.

"What happened to you? Are you alright?"

[Hattish Thing]

Madeleine Sonderholme

The pale woman had spent a majority of the night drenched in a cold sweat, strange sounds and quiet, agonized mutterings periodically escaping from her crooked lips, much to the annoyance of those nearby. After several torturous hours spent writhing about, her dark blue eyes flash open as a frightened shriek attempts to escape from within, only to die at her throat, leaving her gasping for breath, sunken features contorted into an expression of silent horror. As the ship lurches about violently, the surviving Sonderholme crumples to the ground, tearing her hammock down with her as she flails about in a helpless panic. The nauseating motion of the Tempest causes the woman to promptly vomit over to the side, an unfortunate consequence of her jumbled nerves, the aftereffects of which only become slightly more bearable as the last tendrils of fear begin loosen themselves from her newly awakened self.

Rising up from the quaking floor, she reaches for her staff, as well as for her sword, her head reeling somewhat as she stands up upon her own two feet. Recognizing the danger of what was occurring despite her grogginess, she sluggishly whispers something incomprehensible to herself, shivering as the strange magic washes over her form. <"Guide me, father below."> Sonderholme takes a swig from her waterskin as she staggers forward, spitting it out soon afterwards if only to rid her mouth of the acrid taste of spill. Still half-asleep, the pale woman's eyes widen as the sailor at the top simply vanishes, his sudden death proving to be more than enough incentive to force her to attention.

Her mouth agape, Sonderholme stares up towards where the sailor once was for several second, her expression dull, dark eyes vacant as she slowly takes in what had occurred, the appearance of the funereal figure all but slipping her mind as she struggles to comprehend the brutality before her. The woman's vapid expression fades into one of dread as Midshipper Cardiff's accusation rings out, startling her back to reality.

She stumbles backwards as far as she can, raising her free hand up defensively. "Stay b-back! Miss, please! Don't! I can't... I don't want to hurt you!"

--

Spoiler: Actions:

Show

Casting Armor of Agathys and Water Breathing after waking up.

Readying Eldritch Blast if Cardiff approaches within 10 feet.

[Seanfall]

Valafar is surprised when the other sailors jump to it and work to save themselves. The Tiefling's next task was to make it to the top of the ship, his body rocking too and fro as the ship was tossed. To be honest, he wasn't sure where was safest inside the ship or on top but well...being INSIDE a sinking ship seemed like a bad idea. Course his freezing aura turned every drop of rain that pelted him into ice, it was a trade-off.

No it's fine, I'm sure nothing will happen on my first boat trip. This thought was followed by a string of curses in his native tongue.

"I saw a bunch of other little boats attached to this one! Can we use them?" Valafar made a mental note to learn how boats worked if he survived this, and then never set foot on one again.

[Requilac]

The half-elf warlock follows his eyes into the barrel hold, and frantically raps on the wooden casks to find an empty one - one that sounds hollow. If successful he will attempt to pry off the lid and stuff himself in there, in the process dismissing his raven familiar with a snap.

It takes some effort, and more time than you would like, but you manage to pop the lid of the barrel. It's going to be quite uncomfortable inside, but you can curl up in an awkward sort of fetal position within the container. It is a cumbersome task to fit the lid back in, but you can manage to do that too. Luckily, the lid was already opened, so putting the lid on and off is easier than if it where first sealed.

Ulysses looks gently towards the sick woman. "I... I can't remember. I think it was a trinket I collected during a job. Or was it the reward after? Do you want to hear it?"

He starts, catching himself and defaulting to normal manners.

"What happened to you? Are you alright?"

You don't notice any change in her facial expression as she speaks. "Am I alright? I just haven't eaten for too long. I will deal with that soon. " She then brusquely moves on, offering no more explanation. "Yes, I would to hear the flute. Are you sure you don't remember where it is from? I know that I have seen it before. And I think somebody I have met before made it."

Madeleine Sonderholme

Her mouth agape, Sonderholme stares up towards where the sailor once was for several second, her expression dull, dark eyes vacant as she slowly takes in what had occurred, the appearance of the funereal figure all but slipping her mind as she struggles to comprehend the brutality before her. The woman's vapid expression fades into one of dread as Midshipper Cardiff's accusation rings out, startling her back to reality.

She stumbles backwards as far as she can, raising her free hand up defensively. "Stay b-back! Miss, please! Don't! I can't... I don't want to hurt you!"

--

Spoiler: Actions:

Show

Casting Armor of Agathys and Water Breathing after waking up.

Readying Eldritch Blast if Cardiff approaches within 10 feet.

Seeing that you have awakened and are now clearly aware of her, Cardiff lunges forward with the dagger attempting to run you through before you can fight back. You are far more agile than she is though, and just as she is upon you a blast of dark blue lightning erupts from your outstrectched hand and launches into her. She doesn't have time to say anything before rapidly convulsing upon contact with the lightning, and just as quickly collapsing onto you. The force off Cardiff's body knocks you back again, slamming you against the wall of the ship. You instinctively push Cardiff's body off of you, but do not so immediately stand up from where you are sitting against the wall of the ship.

Although it is possible, you highly doubt that Cardiff could have survived such an attack. You are hesitant to actually check though, out of the very likely fear that you may find that she is dead.

Valafar is surprised when the other sailors jump to it and work to save themselves. The Tiefling's next task was to make it to the top of the ship, his body rocking too and fro as the ship was tossed. To be honest, he wasn't sure where was safest inside the ship or on top but well...being INSIDE a sinking ship seemed like a bad idea. Course his freezing aura turned every drop of rain that pelted him into ice, it was a trade-off.

No it's fine, I'm sure nothing will happen on my first boat trip. This thought was followed by a string of curses in his native tongue.

"I saw a bunch of other little boats attached to this one! Can we use them?" Valafar made a mental note to learn how boats worked if he survived this, and then never set foot on one again.

Captain Laceille, who gets on deck just behind you, surprises you when he shouts a command over the wind at you. Despite the fact he is using his loudest voice, it sounds like a whisper through the storm. "Yes, we better use them. Those boats where meant for this purpose. Now, get to preparing those boats to launch like the others, you bilge rat!"

As soon as he says that, he goes to prepare the boats with the rest of the crew as well. There really doesn't need to be anybody overseeing or commanding the operation, so everybody goes to work.

[Zergrinch]

It takes some effort, and more time than you would like, but you manage to pop the lid of the barrel. It's going to be quite uncomfortable inside, but you can curl up in an awkward sort of fetal position within the container. It is a cumbersome task to fit the lid back in, but you can manage to do that too. Luckily, the lid was already opened, so putting the lid on and off is easier than if it where first sealed.

The half-elf clambers into the barrel and attempts to seal it to the best of his ability. While inside the barrel, he immediately launches into a ritual, focusing on the spell he had hastily added to his spellbook once he decided to embark on a nautical adventure.

Spoiler

Show

Cast Water Breathing as a ritual. Casting time is ten minutes plus an action.

This spell grants up to ten willing creatures you can see within range the ability to breathe underwater until the spell ends. Affected creatures also retain their normal mode of respiration.

[Seanfall]

Bilge rat?

"Well you don't have to be mean about it!" Valafar nevertheless ran to the nearest boat and copied what the other sailors were doing. Trying not to get his fingers caught in the rope or otherwise mess it up. The fear came less from lack of experience and more that he was trying not to panic. A sword fight he was fine with, large force? No problem. Monster? Bring it on. But drowning? Dying in this lost place? That had put a shiver down his spin and set his nerves on edge.

[Hypersmith]

Unsure of how to further clarify his reply, Ulysses simply raises the flute to his lips and begins to play as chaos unfolds around him, his attention on the dark flute and his audience of one.

As the notes pierce the air, he closes his eyes and falls into the rhythm, gripping his flute and finding his balance. Perhaps he could take a little peace with him to the end.

[sandmote]

Frustrated by the wind, Elbalar instead moves to the side of the ship. "Come on, he shouts, I can take a few with me." It's almost as if he's planning to jump off...

[bc56]

Roland replies to the First Mate's question roughly. "With all due respect, sir, I doubt the ship could survive the rocks. The boats have a chance to go between them." He busies himself with readying the boats along with the other crew.

[Requilac]

Unsure of how to further clarify his reply, Ulysses simply raises the flute to his lips and begins to play as chaos unfolds around him, his attention on the dark flute and his audience of one.

As the notes pierce the air, he closes his eyes and falls into the rhythm, gripping his flute and finding his balance. Perhaps he could take a little peace with him to the end.

After you play the song for about 30 seconds, the yet to be named woman says something in a voice just loud enough for you to hear, but not enough to interrupt the song. "Oh, I remember now. This song was playing when we last met. The Autumn Priest was singing the same song you are now. You must have somehow gotten it off of her. Thank you, that's all I needed to know."

She then walks off to the ladder leading upwards, and goes to the top of the deck, once again moving much quicker than her feet could seem to be possibly taking her. You know that she is moving in something much closer to a trudge than a run, but still the figure moves as fast as if she where running.

Once on deck, the weird elf walks right behind Valafar and quips "Keep up the good work Valafar", and despite the fact that her voice is so quiet and monotone it somehow is clear through the wind. "Use a shiny bell next time too please."

Without offering any further explanation, she gingerly jumps off the side of the ship, and you cannot see the figure any more after that.

Frustrated by the wind, Elbalar instead moves to the side of the ship. "Come on, he shouts, I can take a few with me." It's almost as if he's planning to jump off...

Captain Laceille looks over at you, brows raised and confusion in his face, before asking "What exactly are ye trying to do, Beiwarin? Take a few with you to where?"

Roland replies to the First Mate's question roughly. "With all due respect, sir, I doubt the ship could survive the rocks. The boats have a chance to go between them." He busies himself with readying the boats along with the other crew.

Rashewk swivels his head around in a way that only birds can while analyzing your face. After a moment he just makes a squaking sound which sounds approving, and then hops awkwardly next to where you are working to help. Vocalizing is hard for aaracockra, so Rashewk doesn't like to talk any more than he has to, and apparently he has already reached that limit.

[sandmote]

Captain Laceille looks over at you, brows raised and confusion in his face, before asking "What exactly are ye trying to do, Beiwarin? Take a few with you to where?"

Calming down enough to look at the captain's actions, Elbalar clams a bit. "I can help a some people fall safely," he explains, "although doing it with the boat is probably a better idea." He goes to help with the boats, although he avoids entering the first few boats.

[Requilac]

Almost all of the crew is in a rush to prepare the liferafts before The Tempest crashes against the rocks, which the flashing lightning reveals is coming closer every second. Although you all planned on bracing for the impact, none of you could have possibly predicted the rate at which the ship would accelerate at to know when to properly steel yourself. Far before you thought it would occur, you hear a deafening shattering and creaking sound as the ship is torn asunder. A massive rock bearing an uncanny resemblance to a warhammer erupts through the hull of the ship like a whale breaching, as the ship is shattered in half. Smaller pikes of black rock stab through what remains of the two halves of the ships, with the same vigor that a hunting troupe would spear a boar.

Immediately when the crew hears the ship crash, they quickly jump on the boats and launch them off the sides, desperately hoping to avoid the sharp ends of the rocks. One of the boats takes off on the starboard side, but is immediately swept out to sea with a supernatural ferocity impossible for unmalicious forces of nature. The other two leave from the port side, one boat being immediately skewered on rocks and forcing the crew to leap out in a panicked frenzy. The final boat manages to make it to the water, but is then slammed up against The Tempest and rendered in no better condition than its destroyer.

Those who did not take the life boats are spilled forth from the guts of the great wooden whale and onto the rocks below. Wooden splinters fly out in all directions from the dying creature, some of which go flying into the people who did not leave the boat in time. Greenbrook is too vomitted from the ship, but his barrel somehow blocks the oak daggers, getting destroyed in the process but leaving Greenbrook miraculously unharmed.

Lomax and Sonderholme both take 3 nonmagical piercing damage

Now that the liferafts have been destroyed, many of you fear drowning, but feel a great sense of relief when you realize that the water only goes up to your thighs (except for Greenbrook, where the water level is up to his chest). This relief is quickly overpowered though when you realize that the current has changed with impossible speed and force, and is now pushing you all into the maw of the sea, the exact opposite direction of where it was just seconds ago. If there where any doubts before that the environment here is corrupted by witchery, than there are none now.

Past the rocks though, you can see the black sands of the shore less than a dozen paces away. The cruel tides which are attempting to drag you into the ocean's depths leave you with only one choice: your only chance to survive is by reaching the shore before the depths reach you.

Encounter N: King Neptune's Merciless Wrath; Round 1

Your characters have now been forced into something very vaguely resembling a Chase Encounter, as described on page 253 of the DMG. We will be running this under the side initiative system, despite the fact that technically no combat is occurring. The following map will be used to diagram out the situation. A character will "succeed" in the encounter if they make it past the green line on the map which marks where the shoreline will begin. A character will "lose" the encounter if they are pushed past the red line on the map, which marks where the water becomes too deep to stand in. Characters who lose the encounter will not die, but they will be given a severe penalty which I will not yet disclose.

For the duration of this encounter, the following rules apply:

- Every character who is not yet at the green line will be pushed back 20 ft. every turn by the tides

- A character who is pushed into a rock will take 1d4 damage and then just slide past it, so getting knocked against a rock doesn't prevent a character from being pushed back further.

- Every area on the map is considered to be difficult terrain

- For the duration of this encounter, a character may only dash a maximum number of times equal to their Constitution modifier (Minimum of once). This rule overrides what is stated on page 252 of the DMG.

- At the end of every round, a chase complication may occur.

- Actions which are not mentioned in the official rules will probably be necessary for most for characters to succeed on this encounter. Creativity will be encouraged, and rules are likely to be bended to ensure that these actions can be performed. You are allowed to consult with other players or the internet on the best course of action.

- If you are truly stumped on what to do, then on the discord ask "What is the person next to me doing?". I will then give you a brief description of what one of the NPC sailors (who are not marked on the map despite technically being present) are doing to reach the shoreline quicker or prevent themselves from being pushed.

[Requilac]

Encounter Statistics and Map

Nauta: 60/62 HP, affected by Water Breathing
Lomax: 45/45 HP, affected by Water Breathing
Sonderholme: 45/45 HP, affected by Agathys Armor (+12/15 THP), affected by Water Breathing
Valafar: 55/55 HP, affected by Agathys Armor (+7/15 THP), affected by Water Breathing
Beiwarin: 60/60 HP, affected by Water Breathing
Greenbrook: 52/52 HP, affected by Water Breathing

[Hypersmith]

There are moments when things are clear and paths open up if you can keep an eye out. The split in the ship is one of those, and an opportunity Ulysses doesn't give up - he stops his song to leap deftly through the crack, splashing into the dark waters below. Still, surprised to find himself alive, Ulysses hurriedly puts away his instrument, scrambling to his feet. With the tides already pulling him back, he pulls out his crowbar, leaping at a nearby rock and attempting to hook on with the bar.
There are moments when the path isn't so clear cut either.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Athletics with advantage (1d20)[5]
(1d20)[19]

[Zergrinch]

Zuu Greenbrook is not a thinker. And so, faced with the situation of suddenly having the world (in a barrel) explode on you and having to make a mad dash to the shore amidst a storm surge, the half-elf makes a mad dash to the shore. Finding that the current is working against him, the half elf tries a running long jump, only barely managing to land on his feet. Still far away from relative safety, his eyes fall on a rock outcropping just ahead of him. He makes another running leap, attempting to land on top of it and cling for dear life.

The paranoid half-elf is fully expecting to hear fiendish whispers comparing him to a frog any moment now.

Spoiler

Show

Move: 20 feet of movement, reduced to 10. However, this is enough to attempt a running jump with a distance equaling his strength score in feet (10), meaning he can moves a total of 10 feet, and jumps 10 feet more, for a total of 20 feet. Acrobatics to attempt landing on difficult terrain: (d20+5)[13]. On a fail, land prone.

Action: Dash. 20 feet of movement, reduced to 10. Make another running jump to land on the outcrop.

Rule reference: https://fexlabs.com/5ejump/

[Seanfall]

Valafar panicked as the lifeboat was torn apart. But he rallied quickly and pulled the rope off his pack, he held out his hand and summoned a black, curved longbow to his hand. An arrow appeared in his hand, the Tiefling tied the rope to the end of the black feathered arrow and drew back his bow and took aim at the outcropping in front of him. He pulled back and released, the other end of the rope tied around his waist.

Spoiler: actions.

Show

I figure that would take up both my actions for the round.

(1d20+8)[14] Attack on the outcropping.

[Requilac]

There are moments when things are clear and paths open up if you can keep an eye out. The split in the ship is one of those, and an opportunity Ulysses doesn't give up - he stops his song to leap deftly through the crack, splashing into the dark waters below. Still, surprised to find himself alive, Ulysses hurriedly puts away his instrument, scrambling to his feet. With the tides already pulling him back, he pulls out his crowbar, leaping at a nearby rock and attempting to hook on with the bar.
There are moments when the path isn't so clear cut either.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Athletics with advantage [roll0]
[roll1]

You run forward as quick as you can, only to find that the deep water and rushing tide turns your charge into a trudge. Still, you were able to move quick enough to give some force to your jump, as you leap up to the rocks just to the left of you. You raise your crowbar over your head as you leap and direct it towards the top of the rock just above your head, using the hooked end to latch onto the rocks.

Your crowbar's hook manages to catch inside a minuscule fissure, and you then use it to pull yourself up on the rocks. Once you get up there the wind is nearly enough to knock you over, but you manage to keep your footing. The tide should be unable to effect you now.

[bc56]

Roland leaps from the boat and charges through the surging surf towards shore, fighting against the current to keep moving.

Spoiler: actions

Show

move and dash towards shore.

[Hattish Thing]

Horrified by what she'd been forced to do, Madeleine simply screams and slides down against the wall, burying her face in her arms as she's promptly overwhelmed by the frightening situation, as well as by the realization that she may have just accidentally taken her first life.

Her heart beats violently, fast and hard, as it always does following usage of her occult abilities, intentionally or not. She finds herself short of breath, struggling for it, just as the ship is promptly ripped in half.

--

As she's flung out from the belly of the vessel, Madeleine gasps and shrieks, her voice drowning out as she's unwillingly submerged within the roiling waters of the black sea. Under the waves, there's almost a sense of peacefulness which washes over her, the familiar sensation bringing about feelings of comfort and safety.

Then, however, a scattering of splinters crashes up against her barrier shield, shocking her back to reality.

--

Closing her eyes, she offers another prayer in a strange and alien tongue, before her form melts away into seawater.

Spoiler: Action:

Show

Cast Misty Step, teleporting 30 Feet away, onto the beach.