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    Canonfire :: View topic - "Heirs of Turucambi": Undersea Adventures!
    Canonfire Forum Index -> Campaign Journals & General Online Play
    "Heirs of Turucambi": Undersea Adventures!
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    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:42 pm  
    "Heirs of Turucambi": Undersea Adventures!

    I am now compiling my notes for "Heirs of Turucambi", an undersea campaign that will begin in the near future.

    As the majority of the campaign will be set underwater, the game will draw heavily from supplements such as Stormwrack. Player characters must be able to swim (have a swim speed) and breathe underwater (aquatic or amphibious) without the use of magic. The campaign will begin at level 1-3, to account for characters with templates, monster races, and similar instances.

    "Heirs of Turucambi" is set in the Oljatt Sea of Oerth, the World of Greyhawk. Originally detailed in "[URL="http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD1/greyhawk/v5748btpy7mdt"]Greyhawk Adventures[/URL]" and later featured at wizards.com, Turucambi is one of the "[URL="http://web.archive.org/web/20030219001806/http://www.wizards.com/greyhawk/dndgreyhawkmysteriousplaces.asp"]Mysterious Places[/URL]" of the region. Knowledge of the World of Greyhawk is not required, for participation in the campaign.

    Given my preferences, the campaign will draw from my interests in marine biology and my hobby of keeping saltwater aquariums, coupled with my fascination with various mythological creatures such as hags, dragons, and demons.

    Be aware that life underwater has its limitations; typical potions are all but impossible to imbibe, paper scrolls will quickly disintegrate, and typical metal items are subject to corrosion. Many typical spells may not suitable for underwater casting. Treasure may be similarly altered, as many undersea races value rare corals, pearls, and shells far more than coins and gemstones.

    Keep in mind that some of the best inspiration for an underwater campaign can come from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, visiting your local aquarium or fish store, and perusing ocean-related materials in a bookstore.

    With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring?


    Last edited by Aeolius on Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:27 am; edited 1 time in total
    Novice

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    Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:51 pm  

    i would be interested, have you started it, or are you still looking for players?"
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sat May 26, 2007 9:28 am  

    It took awhile to find a suitable audience, but the day has come. Let's get this show on the road....errr... under the sea? ;)

    "...will you get your head out of the clouds and back in the water where it belongs?" - Sebastian
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:17 am  

    Within the next few days, I'll be posting the campaign background for "Heirs of Turucambi". Tonight (Sunday) at 9pm (Eastern) I'll be hosting an informal pre-game Q&A session. Hope to SEA you there!

    Server: irc.otherworlders.org
    Port: 6667
    Channel: #turucambi
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:34 am  

    Tonight (Sunday) at 9pm (Eastern) I'll be hosting another informal pre-game Q&A session. Hope to SEA you there!

    Server: irc.otherworlders.org
    Port: 6667
    Channel: #turucambi
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:34 pm  

    Last Sunday, I had a brief introductory adventure for "Heirs of Turucambi". There's always room for one more! Hope to SEA you there!
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:18 am  

    After seven successful sessions, the adventurers in "Heirs of Turucambi" find themselves on a quest to rescue a water-breathing human (aquatic racial variant) from the clutches of the ixitxachitl. Aided by the reef hag Ciliaris, they have learned of the evil machinations of the blackwater hag Diadema, her rival.

    There will be no session on 9/16. Play to resume on 9/23.

    Time: Sunday, 9pm-Midnight, Eastern (UTC -4)
    Server: irc.otherworlders.org
    Port: 6667
    Channel: #turucambi
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:53 am  

    "Heirs of Turucambi" is still going strong, after a year and a half of play.

    That being said, I do have an opening for a new player.

    To fit the current level of play, a new PC should begin with 16,000 XP, have a natural swim speed, and be able to breathe underwater without the use of magic.

    Yes, I allow sea sprites. ;)
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:04 pm  

    With summer's end and the new school year now in session, I now have an opening in my undersea campaign.

    So..tell me... what would you do with 20,000 XP, assuming your PC must have a natural swim speed and the ability to breathe underwater without the use of magic?
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:20 pm  

    a recap of last week's session:

    Swimming at the base of what once must have been a mighty tower, the party examined the ring of statues carved into the ancient stone. Seemingly serving as buttresses, the statues joined one another, hand in hand, save for one. The aventi known as Sir Boral noted one concave depression, roughly humanoid in shape, seemed strangely out of place. From twin indentations which reminded the paladin of unblinking eyes, a stream of foul-smelling bubbles rose slowly towards the surface.

    The party watched in morbid fascination as the metallic bones, once attached to six fearsome skeletal foes, began to repair themselves using bits of bone strewn upon the ocean floor. Acting upon impulse Sir Boral grasped one of the clockwork limbs, still alight with eldritch flame of azure hue, and placed it in what seemed to be the corresponding groove within the concave depression. As the arm grew still, unseen gears were heard locking into place.

    "There are whispered tales of such devices." the ambergris hag Xaetra spoke aloud "The Avenger, the transports of Drawmij, and more."

    As the sounds of hidden mechanisms filled the surrounding seas with cacophonous discord, the final piece of the puzzle was put into place. As the pearlsteel-gilded skull was lifted into its resting place, the stream of noxious bubbles subsided and the waters were silent once more.

    Without warning, the petrified remains of the locathah Canthus mysteriously animated, stumbled clumsily backwards, and stepped within the awaiting alcove. The statues held hands once more.

    Having readied for battle at the thunderous sounds of unseen mechanisms, the viletooth lizardman Dorman, oceanid NeeKaa, and sea elf Sakura silently watched the scene unfold. Within moments, the silence was broken as six pearsteel staves, gilded metal over the skeletal remains of eels, animated of their own accord. During the battle which followed, Sakura awakened the power of her spiked chain, its magics transforming the weapon into a blackskate - a beast of blackwater. Still unable to explain her affinity for the chilling waters of the deep, Sakura watched as two of the staves, shattered by swordplay, reassembled into nunchakus of bone.

    Having hovered silently in the nearby waters, Xaetra regarded the child Reiko. The girl had recently been kidnapped by the enclave of tentacle-tailed mermaids known only as the Grasp. There she had been entrapped by the sea hag fleshwarper Purl, who experimented mercilessly upon the young girl. The tail of a water naga, twin tentacles from a squid, and single eye of a seaholder, aquatic cousin to the beholder, were grafted onto Reiko before her rescue at the hands of the party.

    "By the gods,” the hag eidolon remarked “the eye of a seaholder, looking at all of us as plain as day."

    Sakura now realized they had the three components needed to restore her mother to health; the tears of the unliving, found within Xaetra’s arcane apothecary, a living tide, trapped within a decanter discovered within bones strewn beyond the lair of a monstrous hermit crab, and now the eye-of-the-deep, the living eye grafted to Reiko’s forehead.

    Seeking the solace of slumber before their journey to the Deadwater Fountain, the fourth location to be restored before the clockwork mechanisms hidden within the Sinking Isle would yield a weapon of mystical Oerthblood, the party readied a suitable site for their camp. They knew full well that to sleep meant to dream, and to dream meant they would return to their shared ethereal retreat known as Dream Lake.

    Once a spacious pocket dimension known as the Sea of Dreams, the mysterious realm, nestled between the ethereal and the region of dreams, was compromised when Xaetra was nearly defeated at the hands of the Sisterhood of Blood. The vile covey, led by Xaetra’s own granddaughter, the the blood magus Tempest, had slain the night hag in life, then weakened her unliving spectral form in a second attack. Now doomed to haunt the dreams of those she knew in life, the spirit hag took sanctuary within the malleable dreamstuff of her new home.

    Yet, as foretold by the first Tome of Apotheosis, the spirit hag would know freedom once more. Using a powerful artifact known as the Lazarus, the party entrapped the soul of an albino tauric sea hag known as Lusca the bloodless. Within the waters of Dream Lake, they exchanged the soul of Lusca for that of Xaetra, before returning to the world of the waking. Dream Lake was now Lusca’s to command.

    Within the etheric sea, Lusca found redemption. She shed the skins of evil and swore to teach Xaetra’s progeny how to control the dream realm. She also knew of Xaetra’s newborn daughter Jariah, born within a massive pearl from a spirit plucked from the dreamscape itself. The second Tome of Apotheosis had shown the means to craft a body of ambergris for the spirit hag to inhabit. That she had been reborn with child was a serendipitous discovery.

    As they returned to the warming waters of Dream Lake, the party knew all was not well. Gone were the golden waters shimmering above. Gone was the ornate circular reef in which dreamfish once swam. All that remained was a darkened oubliette.

    Each party member emerged as a bioluminescent mote in a chamber pocked with passages. Upon closer examination, they found that each egress was shaped like a particular sea creature; abalone, anemone, crab, nudibranch, sculpin, sea cucumber, starfish, sea urchin, shrimp, and conch.

    Having resigned her fate to the path of oneiromancy, NeeKaa was the first to pass through an egress, choosing the passage of the conch. She emerged as a diminutive queen conch in an etheric tide pool. One by one her companions followed, emerging as tiny avatars in the form of the egress they had chosen. In the company of Xaetra, now in the form of a hagfish, NeeKaa is led to the unmoving body of a small octopus. Lusca the Bloodless was dead. Before her eyes, the white-skinned octopus transformed into a statue of stone. Encircling the statue Sir Boral had chosen the form of a crab, Sakura had chosen a sea star, and Reiko emerged as a sea urchin.

    Yet she was not alone. NeeKaa was joined by her companions and Xaetra, as well as the shellycoat Meir, who had chosen the form of a chiton, a hermit crab avatar of the mechanatrix Jaenan, Xaetra’s last born from the days when the spectral hag wore a metal skin known as Grandmother Clock, and a blue-mantled scallop representing the form of the reef hag Ciliaris. Looking closer, NeeKaa spied a small barnacle on the silvery shell of Jaenan and surmised that the newborn Jariah was also in her company.

    "And now, my friends, we should discuss the day to come..." the hagfish gurgled
    GreySage

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    Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:50 pm  

    Aeolius, you think up the weirdest stuff! Laughing Laughing

    Sounds good though. Wink
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    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun May 01, 2011 1:09 pm  

    A bit of an update Over Here .
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Thu May 19, 2011 5:34 pm  

    I posted a campaign recap on the greytalk email list. I thought I would repost it here, for others to peruse.

         I am still running "Heirs of Turucambi", my mid-level undersea 3.5e chat-based game, set beneath the surface of the Solnor Ocean, that I run each Sunday night via an IRC chat room. Having summoned a magical maelstrom, the PCs have traveled from the Sinking Isle to the Jungle of Lost Ships.

    Their journey was premature, however. They left several tasks unfinished. Using the mantle-pen of the kraken Mikros, they were to forge a weapon of Oerthblood with which to defeat an enclave of tentacle-tailed mermaids. The mermaids were in the company of a sea hag fleshwarper and an insane half-vampire shellycoat. The fleshwarper Purl had abducted one of the party members, grafting strange body parts in place of her own.

    Using a dagger fashioned from a shard of crystal made from the altar beneath the Sinking Isle, the party obeyed the wishes of the dying Dylander who accompanied them from her former prison near the Hearth of Hearts, the mysterious Oerthblood forge deep within the Isle itself. Her soul was absorbed into the dagger, inadvertantly releasing the soul of Aedorich himself. His new life within the Drylander was short lived, however, for the woman was aging faster by the second. Although the human was over three hundred years of age, her departure from the Hearth caused her years to rapidly return.

    Now in the depths below the Jungle of Lost Ships, the party briefly explored the seamount beneath the weed-sea above. They knew, with luck, they would encounter a third twice-named ship, a temporal anomaly left laden with clues.

    Among them they hoped to find the third volume of the Tome of Apotheosis, a manual detailing transforming the lifeless into the living, and the third volume of the Dreamer’s Journal, describing the ways of Oneiromancy or dream magics.

    The party had used the first tome that they had found within a strange wooden ship in the shallow waters of Turucambi Reef, along with a brass artifact known as the Lazarus, to retrieve the soul of the spirit hag Xaetra from the region of dreams. The second tome had been located in an unusual metal submersible in the central cavern which pierced the heart of the Sinking Isle. Its pages detailed the creation of an eidolon construct from ambergris, to house the soul of the spirit hag.

    They also hoped to find the third fragmented shard cast off from the hag Xaetra herself. The first had been found in the form of Echo, the last written word of Xaetra, now transformed into a living tattoo. The second had been procured in the form of Shadow, a ghostly visage resembling the hag herself. The third fragment was known simply as “Me”.

    With the hag restored to life, the party hoped to defeat their nemesis, the blackwater hag known as Diadema. An unliving amalgamation made of the remains of three hags, Diadema had been fashioned from the sea hag blood magus Tempest, who was once granddaughter of Xaetra, and Salkt, the sea hag daughter of Xaetra. The third component came from the undead deathlock which arose from Xaetra’s own corpse.

    Diadema sought the secrets of the threefold altars, knowing that the proper ritual would siphon water from the Solnor through a planar maelstrom, straight into the hollowed heart of the lesser moon Celene. Deep within two of the numerous subterranean lakes within the handmaiden were two prisoners, the twin daughters of the demon lord Dagon and elemental princess Olhydra. Separated and powerless, they were tended by a devoted cult of kuo-toans. Should the waters of the Solnor join the two hidden lakes, the sisters would awaken.


    Last edited by Aeolius on Thu May 19, 2011 5:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
    Grandmaster Greytalker

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    Thu May 19, 2011 5:53 pm  

    Love the update!

    Thanks for sharing your campaign with us I really enjoy your ingenuity.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:43 am  

    "Heirs of Turucambi", now a mid-level campaign, is recruiting for new blood!

    PCs begin with 45,010 XP and must have a natural swim speed as well as the ability to breathe underwater without the use of magic. I allow use of all WotC 3.5e books and supplements, so long as they are intended for the World of Greyhawk. No evil PCs, please.

    While the adventure has explored such regions as Turucambi and the Sinking Isle, the party is currently adventuring in the waters beneath The Jungle of Lost Ships, the Weed-Sea itself!

    My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light, with an emphasis on story over stats. Entire game sessions may involve PC and NPC banter and exploration, without an instance of melee.

    The main protagonist is Xaetra, a spirit hag now inhabiting an eidolon construct fashioned of ambergris. The party seeks the means to restore Xaetra to life, so that their nemesis might be weakened or destroyed.

    The main antagonist is Diadema, the blackwater hag., an undead amalgamation comprised of a sea hag, salt hag, and the deathlock of Xaetra herself.

    Diadema seeks to drain the sea itself, awakening three magical maelstroms created to drain water through a planar portal into the hollowed caverns of the lesser moon, Celene. There, imprisoned by Dagon, are the daughters he sired by his union with Olhydra.

    The game meets Sunday nights from 9pm-Midnight (Eastern) in an IRC channel (chat room). More information can be found at http://www.squidieval.com .
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:27 am  

    A recap of last week's game session:

    In the last session (10/16/11) the party found themselves within the rusted remains of a metal ship. The iron vessel, wedged within the Weed-Sea, was home to a company of sea ghouls and their captive yet reluctant guardian, the pink coral princess Millepora.

    Once they had deciphered the means to free Millepora, the party looked to the metal ship made of metal, with no mast or oars. The third of three “twice-named” ships, the Enora Norray reportedly held the final volumes of the Dreamer’s Journal and the Tome of Apotheosis. With the first, the oceanid NeeKaa hoped to hone her skills as Oneiromancer and strengthen her hold upon the Region of Dreams. With the latter, the party hoped to restore the spirit hag Xaetra to life and thus either weaken or destroy their nemesis, the blackwater hag Diadema, by severing her bond with Xaeta’s unliving corpse.

    Diadema, an undead amalgamation of three hags reanimated by the mysterious powers of blackwater, sought to awaken three magical maelstroms. In so doing, the waters of the Solnor Ocean would be siphoned through a planar portal into the hollowed caverns of the lesser moon Celene. There, the twin daughters of the demon lord Dagon and elemental princess Olhydra were imprisoned in separate cells by their father. Diadema, instructed by the hags known as the Blue Coven who in turn were directed by Olhydra, sought to free the sisters from their father’s tyrannical imprisonment.

    Two of the portals, one within Turucambi Reef and the other beneath the Sinking Isle, had been found by the party. The third, they had learned, rested atop an undersea mountain beneath the Jungle of Lost Ships. The portal, awaked through the act of sacrifice upon an alter ringed by stone monoliths, was guarded by a being known as the Olio.

    Through their council with a circle of fey, the party had learned there were two ways to defeat the Olio.

    “What do you know of the Olio?” the sirene Gemmifera had spoken “The Olio is a monstrous creature composed of the dead. Perhaps you are familiar with salp, massive rope-like creatures made from masses of jellyfish? Together, they act as one. Such a creature now envelops the ruins below. It grows stronger, from the offerings of the dead. The golden jellies, fashioned from the flesh of the dead, all find their way to the Olio.”
     
    “The prophesy and omen pertain to the means by which the Olio might be destroyed, freeing these waters from its grasp.” the nereid Coerulea continued “By the prophesy of the Leviathan, the Olio will meet its end in a battle of beasts. By the omen of euphony, the Olio will be broken like the links of a rusted chain, bested by fugitives imprisoned unjustly, now acting as one. We no not which path will come to pass.”

    Once they had freed a metal-skinned captive from beneath coils of rusted anchor chain, the party examined a metal chest filled with silver coins, the spoils of their combat with two lacedon sentries.

    The aventi Noi, in pursuit of the lone sea ghoul which fled the scene of melee, discovered that the door through which the undead creature had found egress now warmed the surrounding waters and clouded his vision with boiling bubbles.

    His attention drawn to the silver treasure, the viletooth lizardman Dorman was taken aback, when he found that many of the coins became incorporeal, slipping through his fingertips.Those coins that remained held an electrical charge. The shock was uncomfortable, but did no apparent damage. Examining the chest in closer detail, Dorman found a false bottom concealing a pair of gloves, some scraps of parchment, and an unusual metal wand.

    “Seek the golden tome and the pouch shaped in the form of a hand” the undead shrunken head Meir had whispered, echoing the words of the coral princess.

    Both gloves, NeeKaa discovered, were fashioned of pale skin and contained drawstrings in the manner of a pouch. Within one glove, an assortment of glass tiles were found. Each tile was colored either red, yellow, or blue and held a unique rune. Touching but a single tile, NeeKaa knew the tiles, used together, comprised the third Dreamer’s Journal.

    Biding his time as NeeKaa examined the tiles, Noi examined six glass globes floating in a darkened corner of the rust-streaked chamber. The glass globes appear mundane in nature, save for one which seemed hollow and held a sprig of seaweed and a small red shrimp within crystal waters.

    Without warning, a lone lacedon entered through the sole metal door, which Sakura noticed no longer radiated heat. Without speaking a word and uninterested in the party, the sea ghoul made fast for the pile of silver coins. Grasping a handful of coins in its withered grip, the creature vanished without a trace.

    As if prompted by the strange disappearance, dozens of golden jellyfish swarmed through the open hatchway, forcing the party to retreat into the second chamber. The ephyra Phreb found their melodious droning made concentration difficult. When a single jellyfish brushed against him, the jellyfish merman heard their shared song, saw the image of a city with towering spires in his mind, and felt a warmth within.

    Unleashing her blackwater weaponry, the sea elf ninja Sakura was satisfied when the blackskate chain whip responded eagerly. At that moment a voice audible to only Sakura and Neekaa whispered "Find me”. Sakura felt the disorienting pull of blackwater towards the center of the vessel.

    The second chamber was rectangular in shape and roughly half the size of the previous room. There were several white fish, here, each with a whip-like tail. Serpent sea stars clung to the rusted walls. Bits of metal littered the floor. There are doors on either side of the far walls. A rectangular section, also holding a door, protruded from the far wall.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:16 pm  

    A recap of last week's session:

    In the last session (11/27/11) the party remained in the depths beneath the Jungle of Lost Ships, nestled within ruins resting upon the lowest ledge of the submerged seamount, over which the Weed-Sea slowly spiraled.

    Having defeated en envoy of kapoacinth, seafaring gargoyles with skin of living stone, they watched in wonder as the creatures stiffened, petrified, and oozed ebony ichor from beneath fallen flakes of stony skin. Those caught within the ebon waters also transformed into statues of stone.

    As the petrifying fluids seeped upward, they enveloped the closest of the white smokers, volcanic plumes spewing scalding waters upward towards the shallows. Unable to escape, the diminutive jellyfish-merfolk known as ephyra were slowly turned to stone. Heeding the cries of Phreb, Xaetra used the magics at her command to create space within space, devising a spherical realm within the glass orb carried by the aventi Noi. Within the orb she placed the two surviving ephyra, now greatly reduced in size.

    "The storm hags seek the sky pearl." the dwarven sentry explained "The gargoyles paid for their folly with their lives, for I do not possess it.

    The pearl was hidden in a clam bed in the shallows." the water dwarf continued "A blue pearl hidden within a shroud of blackwater. The storm hags will stop at nothing, for wIthout it, they cannot control Cloudsea."

    As the red-skinned sentry spoke, Sakura recalled her recent ordeal with blackwater and giant clams, for the experience left her with a mystery; a doubloon of blackwater and a name, the Blackwater Phantom. Searching her belongings for the doubloon, she procured both the coin and one other item obtained at that time; a pearl of crystal blue.

    "The cloud pearl!" the sentry gasped "You... you must keep that out of sight! This is what the gargoyles died for.

    The cloud pearl would proceed the child of pearl, the prophesy had spoken." he continued “Cloudsea was once the home of a benevolent giant who used the pearl to give life to his domain.

    Guard that pearl with your lives." the sentry whispered "But you must make the choice. The storm hags killed my kinsmen. Only the Pillars of Time spared me from the same fate. Is a treasure wrought from bloodshed worth keeping?"

    The sentry’s musings were cut short, as a disturbance was sensed in the east. Chasing three phosphorescent squid, a lone sea elf approached. Preparing for melee, the party was relieved to discover the newcomer meant no harm. During the brief altercation, Sakura felt a gentle pull from her blackwater-infused spiked chain. Aghast, she realized the blackskate weapon led her to the oceanid NeeKaa.

    "My newfound friends and guardians of the cloud pearl," the water dwarf began "You are welcome to join me for a brief repast, before we see to the mystery of the skull."

    ----- ----- ----- -----

    The party recalled that the crystal skull was fashioned of unmelting ice, a substance frozen in time. Within the skull the final volume of the Tome of Apotheosis, a manual detailing transforming the lifeless into the living, was entrapped.

    The party lost a valuable ally, the mechanatrix child Jaenan, when the third tome was recovered. Hidden within the remains of a rusted ship with neither mast nor oars, the vessel was the third “twice-named ship” encountered by the party. Jaenan had been lost, when the ship returned to the time beyond time.

    The party used the first tome, found within a wooden ship in the shallow waters of Turucambi Reef, along with a brass artifact known as the Lazarus, to retrieve the soul of the spirit hag Xaetra from the region of dreams. The second tome, located in a rusted submersible in the heart of the Sinking Isle, detailed the creation of an eidolon construct from ambergris, in which to house the soul of the spirit hag.

    Just as the Lazarus was required to utilize the first tome and the manual entitled “Path of the Eidolon” had been used in conjunction with the second tome, a third catalyst was now required. The answer rested within the frozen skull itself.

    "Aqua Vitae keep death from the living... " Meir had whispered "Aqua Mortis may bring life to the unliving..."

    In the vicinity of the final tome, they happened upon the third fragmented Soul Shard cast off from the hag Xaetra herself. The first had been found in the form of Echo, the last written word of Xaetra, now transformed into a living tattoo. The second had been procured in the form of Shadow, a ghostly visage resembling the face of hag herself. The third fragment, trapped within a mirrored sliver of glass, was known simply as “Me”.

    Both to her dismay and delight, Sakura discovered that her father, long lost to her, was entrapped within the mirrored shard with “Me”.

    With the hag restored to life, the party hoped to defeat their nemesis, the blackwater hag known as Diadema. An unliving amalgamation made from the remains of a hag covey, Diadema had been fashioned from the sea hag blood magus Tempest, who was once granddaughter of Xaetra, and Salkt, the sea hag daughter of Xaetra. The third component came from the undead deathlock which arose from Xaetra’s own corpse.

    ----- ----- ----- -----

    As the sentry slowly walked into the distance, the party beheld the ruins of a once-intricate tower. By its weathered base a simple chest of porous stone was ringed by ornate chairs fashioned of the same ivory-hued stone. Resting upon the chest was a platter of stone upon which sharpened skewers of bone had been arranged.

    Reaching into an opening atop the chest, the sentry removed a small striped lobster.

    "I have been known to catch a sea bird, now and then." he admitted "But to be honest I do not care for the taste. I use them to attract eels and the like."

    "My daughter,” the ambergris hag spoke, addressing her daughter, the shrunken head known as Meir “tell me, who watches over Jariah now that NeeKaa swims amongst us?"

    The party recalled that, for her protection, the pearl-skinned infant she was placed in the otherworldly realm known as D’naeli’s Stairwell, left in the care of the living scarab called Glaucus. NeeKaa had then returned to explore the pillars and do battle with the kapoacinth.

    ----- ----- ----- -----

    The party recalled the Stairwell had been named for the hag D’naeli, one of two hags with whom Xaetra consorted, in life. The remaining hag was Iryaek, with whom Xaetra had conceived the male child known as the krampus. The krampus had been imprisoned upon a floating island by Xaetra herself.

    They also recalled that Diadema sought to awaken three magical maelstroms, each summoned through the act of sacrifice upon altars within forgotten temples. In so doing, the waters would drain through planar portals into the subterranean caverns of the lesser moon Celene. Within the caverns, the twin daughters of the demon lord Dagon and elemental princess Olhydra were imprisoned by their father.

    Olhydra had spoken to her minions, a group of hags known as the Blue Coven, who in turn spoke with Diadema, who now knew of the temples. Beneath the Weed-Sea rested the seastead, upon which the final temple waited. The temple was now protected by a monstrous creature known as the Olio. The guardian, in turn, was contained within a massive funnel-shaped sea fan known simply as the Living Barrier.

    The party learned from a circle of sea fey there were two ways to defeat the Olio. The first involved a clash of titans, unleashing a beast known as the hydrimera against the Olio. The hydrimera was imprisoned in the skies above, in a "stolen sea" locked within a cloud island. The second detailed the awakening the "ninety and nine" whose song would undo the Olio.

    The “ninety and nine” were rumored to rest within a floating island now entrapped within the edges of the Weed-Sea. Xaetra wondered if her son had come home at last.

    ----- ----- ----- -----

    Swiftly seizing command of the conversation, Xaetra excused the party, claiming the need for sleep.

    "I shall leave you to your rest." the dwarf replied "Please mind the brine pool along the western wall. Do not disturb its surface."

    After several moments Xaetra retrieved her magical apothecary and opened the doorway leading to the space within space. Within minutes, the ambergris-skinned hag screamed.

    "Gone!" she shrieked "Jariah, Glaucus, Anasta! All of them! All of them! Gone!"

    Joining Xaetra within her magical garden, Phreb noticed a single footprint, in shallow soil near a pumpkin patch. Sakura noted one section of flowering vine clinging to the wall seemed burnt.

    "It must be the sentry!" Xaetra fumed angrily "He wanted the child of pearl! He must have done this! He must pay."

    The spirit hag darted past the newcomer Khall without even acknowledging his presence. She swam to the main entrance of the ruined tower and into the waters beyond. The party heard a loud snapping noise accompanied by a flash of blue.

    "Help! Help!" a voice called, nearest to Phreb, who realized the sound emanated from within the glass globe.
    Black Hand of Oblivion

    Joined: Feb 16, 2003
    Posts: 3835
    From: So. Cal

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    Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:28 am  

    Your playing area better be a sand table laden with aquarium terrain, and with a blue-green tinted light bulb in the light overhead! Laughing Cool
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    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Oct 10, 2001
    Posts: 225
    From: NC

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    Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:12 am  

    Cebrion wrote:
    Your playing area better be a sand table laden with aquarium terrain, and with a blue-green tinted light bulb in the light overhead! Laughing Cool


    You'd be surprised how inspirational Live Rock can be.
    GreySage

    Joined: Jul 26, 2010
    Posts: 2695
    From: LG Dyvers

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    Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:46 pm  

    A real-life treasure from under the sea:

    http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/animal-house/201208/british-boy-stumbles-upon-extremely-valuable-whale-vomit

    SirXaris
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