Session 16 – Ocean Voyage

[avisarr]

Session 16 – Ocean Voyage

Day 25 – One More Survivor
The Third Wind plucked another survivor from the wreckage of the Vanguard. It was the Vanguard's first officer. His name was Hanrik and he was able to give Callister a detailed account of the events that had transpired upon the Vanguard prior to her sinking. It had simply been the storm magic of the thallasians (the mermen creatures). Although the captain of the Vanguard had fought a brave battle, the Vanguard had been doomed. There was no saving her against the sheer force of that tidal pool. Callister made him a low ranking member of his crew.

Day 26 - The Half Way Point in the Journey
Early in the morning on day 26, several hundred Thallasians surfaced and formed a long line of bobbing heads behind the two ships. [This was a show of power and a warning never to return to their waters]. One thallasian warrior approached the Third Wind and tossed a huge ornate seashell up to the crew. The creature then turned and left. Without a word, all of the thallasians submerged. The heroes assumed that this must be a gift of sorts from the thallasians signifying "you fought well and have been warned".

Also, on this day, Callister ordered a crow released. It was the fifth crow and three were left. This crow circled a few times in the sky and then flew to the EAST! This was hugely significant. It marked the half way mark of the journey. A light fog blew in a cold wind blowing from the north and covered the surface of the sea.

The group finally decided to resurrect the body of the strange humanoid creature that they have on ice in the hold. (The creature that they found dead, floating in the ocean, tied to a barrel). Ugida resurrects him and heals his wounds. They find that he speaks several languages, none of them known by the players. It takes them awhile to get past this obstacle. (We've had lots of discussions about Comprehend Languages and other such spells. I have modified them to make them much harder to cast. But I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say, the players have to work at it before they are finally able to converse with this fellow).

They spent a good amount of time talking to this humanoid. His name was Gremal and he was a saridian, a unique "dual minded" race from the far side of Aggradar. His entire race have two separate and distinct minds, only one of which is ever active at a time. (Read up on the Saridians in the Greater Races section of Khoras). Through some hilarious role playing, they learned about his... um... unique mental condition. They also learned that even though the saridians are from Aggradar, this particular saridian was not. He grew up in Qeshir (the third continent). His knowledge of Aggradar was very limited and he was not able to answer many of their questions about Aggradar. Gremal knew some magic and was particularly proficient at mechanical things – locks and traps and such.

Day 27 - The Fog
A heavy fog rolled in during the evening. Strong cold wind and icy currents from the north chilled the crew. 
[Here are few interesting tidbits from the mind of the DM at this point in the voyage:

Because Callister was using "dead reckoning" as his navigation technique (which is not very accurate), they were further north than they believe.

The Third Wind was now out at deep, DEEP sea in heavy fog. Cold winds were blowing from the north and the seas were getting a bit choppy. All of this was so that I could position them far to the north and throw a few icebergs at them. In the real world, large icebergs can actually float into tropical waters before they melt. So it's not a big stretch of the imagination to have a large one pose an obstacle here in temperate waters in the middle of the summer. However, I was dropping lots of hints last session and this one that the weather was a bit cool for summer).]

Ugita discovered that his magical chest (which is linked to an identical chest back in Rukemia) was getting weaker and weaker. The magic was taking much longer to activate and sometimes it took several attempts before it would work at all. The magic was being strained by the sheer distance. It would fail completely soon.

Day 28 – Last Session (Drellis Phase Day 2)
The party spent most of the day dealing with its newest member – Gremal. They healed him up and continued to talk to him. They wanted to learn as much about Aggradar as they could before they got there. It was, apparently, very much like Ithria. It was a huge continent with several different nations and cultures. However, to the players, these cultures sounded more exotic and the areas between them more wild and untamed.

Day 29 - The Ice Berg ( Drellis Phase Day 3)
The heroes and crew of the Third Wind were woken in the middle of the night by the sounds of a great horn being winded. They stumbled to the deck and found the men of the Titan yelling and putting their long boats in the water. It was soon conveyed to them that the Titan had struck an iceberg. As the Third Wind circled the other ship, a huge jagged blue fang of ice, some 15 feet out of the water, became clear in the moonlight. It had ripped a hole into the Titan.

Not wanting to lose another ship, both crews worked desperately to save the Titan. The crews attached heavy ropes from the Third Wind to pull the Titan off the iceberg and to tow her. Both crews worked together on patching the breach in the hull. It took every bit of magic, skill and spare wood and pitch to do it, but they managed to keep the Titan floating. However, the Titan was damaged. One good storm and she would go down. Both captains decided to stop at the next bit of land they came to, no matter what it was, and make more substantial repairs in calm, shallow water.
Day 30 - Calm Seas ( Drellis Phase Day 4) No encounters. Ugita's magical chest failed to work on this day. No amount of charms or luck could make it open. The link to Ithria had been broken. The chest had provided a daily batch of food, water, supplies and communications with their mainland. The heroes are truly on their own now.

Day 31 - The Spawning Grounds ( Drellis Phase Day 5)
"Breach in the water". A lookout spotted a large beast in the water. Then a second and a third. The two ships soon found themselves amidst hundreds of huge beasts. A vast gathering of them as far as the eye could see. They looked like whales, but with horny, spiked hides on their heads and ridges down their backs. [These were horn whales].  They have blunt, armor plated heads. All the beasts were female and all pregnant. The players witnessed one of them give birth. This was the spawning grounds.

Not only did the two ships have to deal with dozens of agitated females, but also dozens of young and a dozen male bucks intent on protecting the females and the young.

The bucks were head butting each other. It was an impressive sight. Two males would rush each other and the water would spray up like a whale spout between them. They rammed head with a loud crash.

Several of the bucks begin pounding Third Wind. Each male weighed about 4-6 tons and put that much weight into a single hit. The Titan began to flee the area, not wanting to know if the patched hull would withstand a hit. The Third Wind held its ground giving the bucks a target to hit while the Titan escaped. Mutaki cast some sort of Speak with Animals spell. What does a "horny" hornwhale say?
"The female is mine!" and then the buck crashed into the side of the Third Wind. The cracking of timber could be heard.

"The female is mine!" and another crash.

The heroes desperately tried to talk the creature out of headbeating their ship to kindling. But it was stubborn. Bull-headed you might say.

"The female is mine!" CRASH! "The female is mine!" CRASH "I demand that you yield!"

"Ok, ok," cried the heroes in desperation. "We yield!"

"Then DIVE! As is our custom!"

Of course, the Third Wind was a ship and couldn't dive. So, they just braced themselves and rode out the battering. It must have been struck 15 or 20 times before the crew was finally able to sail away from the group of whales.