Session One Hundred and Fifteen (Graveyard of Empires Summary)

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Session 115 July 13th, 2016

6:00pm 26th of Jourelden – surrounded by sharks and Sahaugin (shark men).

Later the next day, we learn our attendant Shark Man is named Sah-Jin. He arrives shortly after Ronan’s victim is chum in the water. Miming at the party and repeatedly pointing at our sleeping druid, Cannis, it appears he wants us all to sleep while his brethren munch on the soon to be dead Gooter the Kaligan slaver. After our slumber, somehow, we will then speak with Carchus and a shark man lord/leader. Sah-Jin’s attention makes Gooter uneasy. We are loath to giving another man over to them. Well, that is all of us except Ronin. Feigning our possible heroic intervention, Thorfus encourages Gootter to talk to save his own skin.

Gooter talks about Alain Grell’s plan to sell the experimental vessel to SilverThrone but they weren’t interested. It is curious that they didn’t feel the need to keep the propulsion method out of the empire’s clutches. Grell had called the experimental vessel the ‘Wrath of the Waves’ though we didn’t notice any armament or armor on board her. About a dozen independent pirate ships and crews that plague the waters about Angmar’s Folly were ostensibly allied with Alain. His personally commanded fleet was five vessels that included the Cranky Archer & the Pale Hydra (both likely lost during the Empire’s naval attack).

Gooter describes a tall, skinny, old, white goateed man with a cultivated accent known as the Gardener, no doubt an Imperial contact who had enlisted the dervish assassins responsible for Thorrell’s murder. Chuq shares Gutter’s personal impression of the Gardener with Thorfus, who recognizes the man as Jardin. Gootter claims the Gardener sails under sails with the Red Crescent, an Imperial sigil.

Pragmatically, Chuq explains the mortality of Gooter’s imminent future and offers the Boys will hear his last words and consider fulfilling any last wishes. Gootter says his last words and asks that his soon to be widow, Virginia be comforted. Since Thorrell is now dead, any potential solace will only likely come from us. At best we might visit her closure if we find ourselves back in Vargen. Edan ends the interview by stabbing Gutter with a dagger at the top of his spine. The body drops below our pen as a shiver of young shark kids frenzy over the still warm body. Sah-Jin expresses pride over the antics of one of the kids, sharing images of it’s cannibalistic origins with Chuq.

The party spends the next few hours waiting on Carchus’ return. Some sleep while Chuq and Thorfus keep watch. During this time, Chuq speaks with a random shark. We learn the local shaman shark man, Sha-Ki has foretold of land dwellers cleansing the ‘bad water’ for Dagon’s children. Unfortunately the local lore doesn’t have a parallel to the Mahdi, so Chuq fails to persuade the sharks he is the actual true Voice of Dagon.

Edan’s rest is uneasy though. When he wakes, his mind is distracted by wailing and lamentations of being shut from the world within a dark quite chest. He grumbles about other fantastic visions but doesn’t share the details with us, his only true friends.

Eventually Chuq senses the overly proud and chipper sand shark arrive within the dome. Not long after that, Sah-Jin delivers more water breathing corrals to the party. The party swims to an enclosure hugging the southern dome wall where we meet Carchus and the aforementioned Sha-Ki, the shark man lord imagined by Sah-Jin. Carchus and Chuq interpret so that Sha-Ki and the Boyz can parley. As per the random shark’s story, Sha-Ki expects us to ‘clean the bad water’ in exchange for the sword of Dagon, which he expects us to ‘to conguer the surface in the name of Dagon’.

The sword of Dagon is a large lozenge suspended over the floor by chains in the room we are in. Based on our visual inspection and Sha-Ki’s answers, we deduce the Sword of Dagon is actually an ancient Dwarven underwater sonic weapon (more like a mine or bomb) and that this particular dome is not only a testing/proving ground but also a manufactory for the weapon. We attempt to parley not only the sword but the entire dome as payment for our services, but Sha-Ki is reticent to abandon the Dagon’s ‘promise land’. We plant the seed that they just might have to if we are expected to fulfill the ‘conquer the surface in the name of Dagon’ part of the prophecy. The ‘bad water’ as described is undoubtedly another Kaligan/BioForge undead curse, albeit possibly the largest we have encountered to date. Confident we are the men for the job, we agree to cleanse the water after suggesting the Shark Men turn over all terrestrial items they found when settling within the domes. Sha-Ki agrees to the logic that Dagon likely left those items for our benefit. Besides clothing and other trifles, the shark men hand over a small fortune in imperial platinum coins and statuaries.

Edan and Kalgunn examine the sonic weapon, learning a bit of its inner workings, controls and likely usage/testing here in this dome. They interview Carchus about the adjacent tunnel and the sea floor beyond the tunnel. They figure the tunnel leads to a proving ground for the weapon. Carchus description tells that the weapon indiscriminately effects everything in a very large radius. After Carchus mentions a fresh attack on the Midmark navy moored in the hidden bay, we decide Chuq should return topside to assess their condition.

Using his cloak of the manta ray and shadow stepping, Chuq covers the distance ahead of Carchus. Bellisonte and Captain Evenwode tell that while the Bitter Horse was answering a call for help from the Dirty Maid north of the hidden cove, Sea Hags and Trolls boarded the Javelin and slew the entire crew. Worse even, the Bitter Horse wasn’t able to save the Dirty Maid from an assault of undead sharks and shark men. She sunk with a great loss of life. Also, Humprey the cleric has not been seen since yesterday and presumed missing.

Understandably, Captain Evenwode holds the party responsible since his fleet is waiting for either a high tide or our help to free the Wrath of the Waves. Chuq’s assurances that the party is trying to fix the undead problem fall on deaf ears. The captain does agree to the suggestion that the fleet and mercs abandon the cove at dusk to spend the night in safer waters. Pons has ‘volunteered’ to hide in the tower every night on the beach. It’s hoped he will use his hiding skills to observe the beach overnight and alert the returning fleet and mercs if trouble is afoot in the morning.

While the monk is away, the party prepares for our assault. Our monkeys are repaired via the material littered in the dome and more water breathing corral is collected. We set off the next morning joined by a shark man clean up crew and Carchus after Sha-Ki has blessed us all by anointing our persons with fresh killed meat. Funny how their idea of success tends to include red salty water….