by ayten gilrin (vera D) 16-22 hsTL;DR: Adventurers arrive on Omgar and befriend its inhabitants, the Tortles. They explore the haunted palace of Umberlee, the human goddess of the sea aka "The Bitch Queen" sea pirate. They fight a lot of monsters and come back to Black River Island with a ton of resources. Plus, Ayten buys an almiraj and bloodhawk. He's using his share to start an animal sanctuary. After returning from the Eladrinne obelisk, the party and I thought of returning but instead we looked south to the rock formation that was off in the horizon. Dupree, a human cleric new to Black River Island joined us (Roscoe, Benny, Morgrimm, and Haldor). Rawq decided to head off to the west in search of stone. Roscoe offered the services of Rayberto, a fisherman, who could take us south to investigate. Upon arriving onto the rock, we discovered it was a well developed island. Two turle-men stood guard at the gates. I cautioned Benny not to run up and engage in a threatening manner and his brother, Roscoe, was ready to pull him back. I called out to the guards and let them know we meant no harm, just curious. And in a really laidback tone, the two guards, said, “Oh cool. Yeah, welcome to Ahoy Ahoy.” These fascinating islanders, Baka and Ubo, invited us to their bustling village, Ahoy Ahoy, and shared that the island, their god, Omgar, travels the world. They identified their race as tortle. Tortle Culture Tortles come of age at 15, and leave Omgar to adventure. The only reason they return to Omgar is to breed and then die. They have a saying “We wear our homes on our backs.” They are very hospitable and kind creatures. Tortles are pragmatic and they see beauty in the ordinary. I rather appreciate their simple and harmonious culture. They gather in the town square to share stories. They keep their young eggs in a hatchery that the parents tend to until they hatch. Then the parents go away and die. It’s rather sad and beautiful at the same time. Omgar is huge and the tortles say wherever Omgar goes, they go. There is legend of yuanti, evil snake people on the island as well as a haunted palace that the young tortles go to adventure and practice for going out into the world. Dunguaro - Palace of the Bitch Queen, Umberlee While in the market, I bought a unicorn horned rabbit (almiraj) and a bloodhawk. I want to find their natural habitat and set them free. Dupree bought a basket of snakes. Baka and Ubo invited us to a community performance for the village . Dupree shared his story with the younglings. As we were listening, Baka and Ubo mentioned that the young come of age by adventuring at the palace of the human sea goddess, Umberlee. She had arrived on the island more than 100 years ago and built herself a grand palace. Rumors were that it was haunted. We decided to check it out the next morning. We approached the ruined palace and found a giant and very dead lizard. Benny decided to investigate while we determine how to enter the building. A portcullis shut off the main entrance from the dining room and so I wildshaped to pull the lever and open the gate. We explored the rooms and while Roscoe and I checked out a bunkroom, Morgrimm, Benny, and Dupree investigated another south of us. We heard a loud boom and stench of burning flesh filled the air. We ran down and found that Morgrimm had picked up a wooden idol that served as a glyph. What was left of Dupree was merely a shadow. Devastating. From then on, we carefully checked for glyphs and traps. In another room, I found a necklace bearing Umberlee’s symbol, waves parting, in the bottom of a pool. Searching the rest of the palace, we found a hidden key, and many sea-themed rooms. We also found a room overlooking a large grotto -- we saw a drawbridge and path leading to another structure but there was no clear path down to that area. We circled to the southwest of the palace and encountered a number of monsters before noon: undead, a mimic, liches, and a large beast that nearly chomped Benny in half. I have to say Benny is quite a curious halfling and ready to jump into the thick of things. While Roscoe and I were rifling through bookshelves, he went outside to look at a gazebo. A large tentacled monster with a gaping mouth grappled him and nearly killed him. The halfling brothers have continually disregarded me but I could not let Benny die. I cast healing word and saved him from the jaws of death -- literally. The beast ran off, over the edge of a cliff and Benny, revived, hopped back to his feet after it. The monster caught him again and he went over the edge in its maw. We ran to his rescue and slayed it. Again, I cured Benny. He owes me. Before continuing on, we decided to take a long rest. It was 11:37 a.m. and we were exhausted. On my watch, I tinkered with the mechanical crab I had found in the room -- it moves only when you’re not looking at it. How fun! An hour into my watch, a young tortle happened to poke his head into our chamber. His name is Kyull, a fighter. I enjoyed his company and learning more about his culture. (I really do hope to spend more time with these wonderful people!) It was late in the evening when we decided to explore the rest of the palace. It was literally less than five minutes that we ventured back out into the hallway that Benny flung open a door and found himself in a room full of undead creatures that looked like dead six-year-olds. He was overpowered by the zombies and we had to save his halfling butt, yet again. He was knocked unconscious -- he really needs to take some precautions in a dangerous place like this! We defeated the zombies and continued searching. Roscoe opened the door to a bedroom. We peered in looking for a wooden token. That’s when Haldor stepped in and set off yet another glyph! We suffered some serious wounds. Whatever was in that chamber needed to be protected. We cautiously used a number of tactics to open the chests in the closet beyond the bed chamber but it turned out we opened a chest with a ring of 8 keys. Roscoe kicked in the other chest only to find it held women’s vestments. I grabbed the captain’s logs off the shelf and Morgrimm gave the wooden sea creature statues to Kyull who noted they were tortle-made. We looked in the room across that bedroom to find a storage room with many chests and barrels. What prevented us from walking in was the pile of bodies within 10 feet of the door. At the end of that hallway was a 12-inch wide orb, glowing with conjured magic. I threw my mechanical crab near the bodies to see if it would set off a trap. Nothing. It was puzzling. I thought to myself that perhaps it was a portal. We looked at the end of the hallway to the orb. It cast a light 30 feet in front of it. Haldor shot an arrow near it to see if it would trigger a reaction. Nothing. Benny had the guts (of course) to touch it. He disappeared immediately. Roscoe and Morgrimm followed. Haldor, Kyull, and I stood there flabbergasted. We retraced our steps and came back to the room in the front of the palace overlooking the grotto. Haldor caught a glimpse of a dwarf. That confirmed my suspicion that the orb was a portal to another part of the palace. We touched it and we were transported to a room with a giant statue of a kraken beast. We followed footsteps south and eventually found our friends. We continued down a path to the southwest and found a room. We faced the backside of a giant mask of a female (Umberlee) with jagged teeth. Since this palace is laden with traps and glyphs we made sure to look for magic and signs of traps. Nothing. At a hunch, I decided to put on the necklace bearing Umberlee’s holy symbol. I walked towards the mouth and it began to open. I pulled back and decided to test my theory. I sent one member in without the necklace. Nothing. I walked in with the necklace on, and the mouth began to open. I went back out and had Benny wear the necklace, and the mouth opened. Through the mouth, we saw the chest-filled room we had seen before touching the orb -- the one with the pile of dead bodies in the doorway! I wore the necklace and made the door stay open while the party passed through safely. We basically stumbled upon Umberlee’s pirate hoard. It took us a while to figure out how to get out of that room but we did. While Benny was tinkering with the gears, the whole room shook. Kyull matter-of-factly said, "Omgar has arrived at the next place." We hit Black River Island! The treasure was too much to even list. Essentially, we gave Kyull a share of the hoard to take back to the tortles of Ahoy Ahoy. The rest of the party decided to take the barrels of goods and treasure back to Black River Island. Benny said he’s starting a school, and Roscoe is starting his smithing shop. Haldor took the bejeweled spyglass so that he can have it replicated in Sanctus -- it is a lost technology of sorts. I am taking the money I recovered to start an animal sanctuary.
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AuthorThe journal entries here are provided by the active player characters participating in the Detroit Marches. Archives
July 2018
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