I love the enthusiasm! Well, it is 30 minutes to sunset and you estimate you'll need a couple of hours to get to each ship, so there isn't time before nightfall. But the night passes, dawn breaks and you set out for ship 'A'.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:59, Wed 16 Aug 2017.

But I mean there is time to cast healing spells or drink potions if you want to.

Reposted map since photobucket ate my last one. Good thing I kept copies of all the photos on my hard-drive.

Is Angati back to heal us? I also have a wand. Plus we all get 12 back if we get decent rest.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Wed 16 Aug 2017.

In reply to Celene (msg # 153):

She's not back quote yet.

Yes, you can (and probably should) use the wand.

No, you don't get a chance to rest over the coarse of the night and therefore don't get any hp back from resting!

I'll total up all the HP lost and then make the rolls to heal everyone back to full.

DM:

No, you don't get a chance to rest over the coarse of the night and therefore don't get any hp back from resting!

This means we do not get spells back either right?

In reply to Celene (msg # 155):

Correct. That is an important part of the challenge.

Can we lose spells of a level higher than one instead of taking damage?

I'll post the healing rolls shortly if you want to jump to the skill challenges.

I need to heal 249 HP. :( That's 27 charges at max healing.

15:26, Today: Celene rolled 152 using 27d8+27.  Healing x27.

15:26, Today: Celene rolled 52 using 11d8+11.  Healing x11.

15:27, Today: Celene rolled 17 using 5d8+5.  Healing x5.

15:27, Today: Celene rolled 19 using 3d8+3.  Healing x3.

15:28, Today: Celene rolled 4 using 1d8+1.  Healing x1.

15:28, Today: Celene rolled 3 using 1d8+1.  Healing x1.

Everyone is at full except Kinstal who is down 2 HP.

Wand has 2 charges left.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:29, Wed 16 Aug 2017.

In reply to Celene (msg # 157):

Yes, you can substitute spells of a higher level - I was going to write that but didn't think that anyone would be interested in that option!

I'll start the first skill challenge tomorrow.

That was a lot of charges. :(

Oh well. These things often don't end up getting used, and this is an emergency situation.

As the situation goes from desperate to simply bad, Kassius waits for a lull in the fighting and ends the spell on Kibeti, with Celene on hand to use the wand to stabilize and then heal the giant cat. Then, struggling against fatigue, he keeps careful watch, bow on hand to shoot down any vine creatures that get too close to the boat.

---

Kassius
Thanks for the healing Celene!

---

HP: 37/37 AC 19 (FF=14, Touch=15),
Saves+8/+11(+12)/+6
Spells Slots: 1st: 4/5; 2nd: 2/4;  Animal Focus Minutes Left: 5/6, Door Sight 6/6
Current Buffs:

---

Kibeti

---

HP: 42/42 AC 25( (FF=17,Touch=20), Saves+7/+9(+10)/+6
Current Animal Focus: Tiger(+2 dex)
Current Buffs:

At dawn break there is a lull in the fighting and the party decide to set out as quickly as they can. Alohan (now healed and played by Celene?) says he will join them, which means the follow people climb down from the Sea Wyvern and begin their squishy walk towards the nearest wreck:

Alohan
Logan
Celene
Kassius
Kibeti

Angati sadly remains missing, presumed dead below the sargasso sea.

Kinstal returns to his duties on the ship (and disappears back into NPC land).

Progress is difficult on the undulating, watery surface, and the hot sun beams down. The salt water that splashes up on their legs quickly dries again and again, leaving them chaffed and sore. Despite Kassius' create water spell meaning that they have as much fresh water to drink as they like, they seem to never be able to quite wash all the salt from their throats.

About two hours after leaving the Sea Wyvern they reckon that they are about half way there. They have pass numerous more minor wrecks and all sorts of debris and detritus. Smashed boards from the hulls of ships, rotting sails tangled up in the kelp, the remains of cargo such as split barrels. They reach an upturned vessel - only the ripped open hull is visible, with its keep sticking up in the air is visible - and are too tired to go around it. The climb over the rotting wood instead, but as they get about half way the kelp around the destroyed ship begins to bubble and boil with froth and the ship starts to upend... the stern of it sinking into the sea beneath them.

Worse still, the kelp enmeshed with the hull animates and tries to entrap them and drag them down to share the same fate.

OOC: Okay, DC20 skill check from each of you. You choose the skill and write how you use it. Failure = 1d8+5 points of damage or loose a spell.

The party get past this challenge, and make it onto the wreck... it is in a terrible condition with only the poop deck still above water. This means that the captain's quarters still exists, but beyond the ship's journal there is nothing to be retrieved.

Apparently this ship was called 'The Grand Venture', and was a merchant vessel from the Minothrad Guilds on the northern side of the Sea of Dread.

The last entries of the journal read:
To the Abyss with this accursed weed! We are well and truly stuck, and these deadly vines crawl over my ship! Brother Anhelm thought he knew of a sovereign poison to use against them, but the vines killed him before he could speak of it. Brother Neiken took over the search and found Anhelm's books, but all the notes are written in his blasted native Sindian tongue!

“Voittamaton äiti, äiti kauhut, elämän suon loputon Mikään vahingoittaa häntä, mutta aseita kuun metalli Päällystetty tehokkain myrkky, valmistetaan seuraavasti Kaksi osaa kaunis nainen, kuidutettu ja massa Seitsemän osat vampyyri seurakunnan, murskataan ja jauhetaan Kolme osaa Jobinkyynelheinä vuonna kuksa Sekoita hyvin, keitetään pasta Keskellä merta, tunkeutua hänen puolustuksemme vastasyntyneen lastentarha Kuten hän hätkähtää, pakenemaan syleillä”
Neiken has translated as best he could: The deathless Mother, mother of horrors, life of the swamp endless. Nothing harms her but weapons of the night's metal, coated with the absolute poison. The poison is made as follows:
- two parts of beautiful lady, pulped to a mass
- seven parts of the blood-sucking tick bane, crushed and minced
- three parts of Job's tears
- and one part of whale's lament to dissolve
Mix in a wooden cup. Boil to a paste. In the center of the sea, pierce her defenses in the "vastasyntyneen lastentarha". As she recoils, flee her embrace Whatever this means, we have not the ingredients to make the poison. No night-metal, no beautiful ladies, no tick bane or whale's lament, nothing! I don't even know what a vasta-whatever is! But we will not be defeated by weeds. We will set out for the center of this stinking seaborne swamp and see if determination and cold steel will prevail!

Celene recoiled from the weeds brandishing her wand of magic missile and trying to thwart their attempt to drag her down.

Can we make knowledge checks about the recipe?

The loss of Kinstal as a PC stole away quite a few uses of our wand. :( But if they do get attacked he'd better at full HP I guess.

---

Free :  | Swft :  | Move : | Stnd:  | Full :

Use magic device being used.

09:28, Today: Celene rolled 18 using 1d20+13.  Skill Check. :( Failed.

Sacrificed Level 1 Spell.

---

HP:  29/29 |  AC: 10/10/10  | CMD : 10 | Saves: +4/+4/+9

Special Notes:

  (De)Buffs :
 Conditions :
  L0 Spells :
   - Unlim. : Dancing Lights, Daze (DC16), Detect Poison, Drench, Flame Burst,
              Light, Mage Hand, Message,
   - 1/day  : Detect Magic, Light, Prestidigitation
  L1 Spells :
   - 08/10  : Burning Disarm (DC 17), Burning Hands (DC 17),
              Charm person (DC 18), Enlarge Person, Grease (DC 19), Hydraulic Push,
              Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Summon Monster I, Vanish
  L2 Spells :
   - 3/7    : Create Pit (DC 20), Glitterdust (DC 20), Scorching Ray,
              Summon Monster II
  L3 Spells :
   - 2/4    : Slow (DC 19)

  Abilities : Flame lance (9/9), Wand of Magic Missile (41),
              Wand of Alter Self (24), Wand of Cure Light Wounds (49)

This message was last edited by the player at 13:35, Thu 17 Aug 2017.

Alohan attempts a swimming technique using the spongy surface as he would the ocean bottom to propel himself away from the kelp.

---

Free :  | Swft :  | Move :  | Stnd: | Full :

Using Swim.

09:33, Today: Alohan Nuari rolled 29 using 1d20+12.  Swim. Passed.

---

HP: 52/52 | CMD : 25 (27) | Saves: +8/+7/+2 | AC: 18/17/13 | Rage AC: 16/15/11
Mage Armor AC: 22/17/17 | *Mage Armor Rage AC: 20/15/15*

Special Notes:

  (De)Buffs : Mage Armor: +4 AC (6 hours)

 Conditions :

 Abilities : Rage (7/12), Stunning Fist (3/3) DC 15, Feather Step (1/1)

As the ship starts to shift and sink below them, Logan jumps through the air, relying on his natural grace to allow him to land safely on the rolling seaweed floor below.  Sure enough, the rogue lands, rolls, and recovers with an easy grace.

---

Success!

---

HP: 39/39 AC: 23/16/17 CMD:19  F2 R12 W4

Abilities: Invisibility, Resiliency, Smite Evil, Haste (9)

---

13:52, Today: Logan rolled 22 using 1d20+14.  Acrobatics.

OOC: Kassius and Kibeti still to make their skill rolls.

OOC: No, you can't make a knowledge check! You're going to collect clues and then use your OOC character knowledge to solve the puzzle. This is am old school module, man.

OOC: Re: Kinstal. For the final battle, AngryJohn can bring along either Kinstal or Urol, his choice.

I actually prefer that. See the whole succubus cult adventure. :)

I think having another flanking buddy would probably play better to Logan's strengths, especially if there's a big bad to take down.  Urol might do better against swarms of weaker opponents.  My vote would be for Kinstal.

Concur. He has lots of hit points too and can use AOO's to give AC to allies.

Kassius' normally keen eye fails him, and he and Kibeti blunder into the monster. Kibeti attempts to leap free, but is caught by the tentacled foe and battered. Kassius then calls on his magic to increase his speed, and man and cat flee.


Ugh, terrible rolls:
21:41, Today: Kassius rolled 18 using 1d20+12.  perception.
21:42, Today: Kibeti rolled 14 using 1d20+12.  acrobatics.
21:45, Today: Kibeti rolled 9 using 1d8+5.  damage.
Kassius uses a first level spell (expeditious retreat) to escape, Kibeti takes 9 damage.

---

Kassius

---

HP: 37/37 AC 19 (FF=14, Touch=15),
Saves+8/+11(+12)/+6
Spells Slots: 1st: 3/5; 2nd: 2/4;  Animal Focus Minutes Left: 5/6, Door Sight 6/6
Current Buffs:

---

Kibeti

---

HP: 33/42 AC 25( (FF=17,Touch=20), Saves+7/+9(+10)/+6
Current Animal Focus: Tiger(+2 dex)
Current Buffs:

THE MOTHER OF ALL SKILLS CHALLENGES - STAGE ONE COMPLETE

Pass: 2
Fail: 3
Total: 5

CLUE REGISTER

The BBEG can only be killed using a weapon made from:

Weapon Material Clue
- night's metal coated in a special poison

Poison Ingredient One
- beautiful lady

Poison Ingredient Two
- blood-sucking tick bane

Poison Ingredient Three
- Job's tears

Poison Ingredient Four
-  whale's lament

The party finish their search of The Grand Venture and reckon that there is time to travel two the next ship and get back to the Sea Wyvern before night fall. This means another two hours of hard slogging through the kelp while constantly skirmishing with the old vine horror and navigating obstacles.

When they get to the next ship they see that it is in much better shape than the last one - the figurehead at the prow is some sort of mighty bird of prey and don't look like it has been out in the elements that long. The deck is still above the waterline, although there is a strong list to the port, and along the starboard side of the ship are written the words "The Sturmkondor" with funny angular letters...

...it appears this ship is, or rather was, a vessel of the Heldannic Knights. These xenophobic bigots claim to be sailing the seas in order to preach their faith, but are really little better than pirates. (Think Germanic Templar knights with a strong chip on their shoulder about their spiritual superiority and how other people should recognize that).

The forecastle and quarterdeck are also in good condition, and the party set about searching for clues while avoiding the dangers that such an abandoned vessel might have. In addition to the captain's quarters (mentioned below) there is also a impressively stocked galley in the forecastle. This contains a locked wooden cabinet which (when opened *cough* *cough* Logan) is found to contain several bottles of fine wines and exotic flavorings.


OOC: Okay, second round of the skills challenge please. Who knows what exciting encounters the party will...er, encounter!

The captain's cabin in under the quarterdeck as is decorated in faded and mud-covered tapestries. The captain's journal on his desk in good shape. The final entry reads:

Being trapped by weeds is ridiculous, but we think we have a solution. Laurel led some of the knights on a scout last night, and found an interesting log in the captain's quarters of the Venture. I don't think that poor captain succeeded, but he was obviously not as skilled as the mightly Order of the Heldannic Knights. We shall overcome this, find some treasure, and add it to our exploits! That bit of drivel is almost incomprehensible, but it might be the key to getting out of here. Luthar is consulting our god for better instructions. Here are his oracles:

What weapons can be used to defeat this swamp?

- Blades of Diana's beams, gifts of the heavens, coated with flora exterminor regnus.

What are the ingredients of flora exterminor regnus?

- The maiden's flower, that opens the eyes
- The rose of bad breath
- The acid of rotten pearl barley
- Grey amber.

Where should we strike?

- In the heart of the Sargasso, beneath the Thunderer, lies the essence of motherhood.

But this is too easy! Smelly flowers, rotten roses, alchemical acid and some ground up amber. And we have a couple of sky-metal weapons as well since Gunter has a few meteoric iron arrowheads. We've made the poison and now we are heading out!

But there is time for one last oracle just to be sure we're right...

With our weapons and our poison, how shall we fare against the Mother?

- In attacking the Mother, you will find freedom

Hah! Another victory for the Heldannic Knights! Two short and one long cheer! Hu-rah! Hu-rah! HUUUUUUUUUUUUU-RAH!