Session+67

**2-21-15** **Crucible's Island... The Isle of Nal-Kashel**

After conversing with Dominic about the substance needed to make the lustberry potions... We spoke with Bishop who used his family connections to get us a fine merchant ship in thanks for his swift passage to Lyrabar. Mali and Posy sent for Ursus and Uther to join us. Shri accompanied Erevin. Wren turned to Kale and before she could ask, he interrupted her with a casual shrug, "I'm just a part of you now... because the minute I leave your side, you die horrifically." Wren laughed and shook her head, "That's not true..." Erevin laughed and nodded, "She just drowns." Kale nodded to him, "And we're going on a boat... in the middle of the ocean... surrounded by water." Wren laughed and nodded, "It's true." Erevin grinned, "And you... in all of your puffy armor... are going to jump in and save her?" Kale glanced over at him, "I'm very strong... I could swim in this armor... besides it doesn't take that much to get it off." Thorn teasingly mocked them as though Kale had fallen off, barely muttering, "Oh no... Kale is drowning... someone should help... Kale is sinking... Oh no... I just ate and I can't go after him..." Kale glanced back over at him, "I figure if I go overboard I'll be fine as long as I grab one person." Thorn pulled off his ring, "You'll have to see me first!" He slipped his ring back on, blinking out of sight, invisible. "You'll be the hole in the water," Kale nodded to him. "I wont be 'in' the water!" Thorn's voice came from just slightly out of arm's reach. Wren giggled, whispering to Kale, "You 'do' still have that "see invisibility" potion that I gave you before."

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bishop took us to a fine privateer ship and introduced us to a couple of slightly familiar faces, Captain Bloody Mary and her first mate, Samuel Bellamy. A skiff built to chase pirates, she called her ship The Bitch Queen. Bloody Mary wore an amulet to Umberly, a goddess of the sea. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">She nodded to us in greeting, "Master Medici said to take you wherever you want to go, and you'd like to go to that island where he's been getting shipments from lately. As you know last year some strange storms sprang up on the island, cutting off the shipments. I've been out there a few times scouting around, but I haven't had much incentive for getting close." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Erevin nodded, "Do you believe you can safely navigate it?" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">She nodded, "I believe so... We'll travel the outskirts and take a look. We'll make a stop at the Black Cove village first... it's on an island very close to Crucible island where they processed the plant. It's small, 50 - 100 people at most. There hasn't been much reason to stop there since they haven't been able to get the plant."

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Three or four days of travel through The Fallen Stars Ocean... with deep dark water all around us as far as our eyes could see. Wren lingered quite close to Kale over these days of travel. Bloody Mary was a harsh captain, but Samuel moderated and smoothed things over... and despite her harsh overrule, her men were very loyal. She had a charisma about her that Erevin seen as quite like the purpose-driven ways of his own mother.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">On the fourth day, the water became blue and the weather was tropical... and on the horizon, a large black storm front could be seen flickering lightning. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">As we grew ever closer, we could make out that Crucible's isle was a couple of miles across and the black sky hung over it with heavy rainfall and lightning flashing.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">We pulled into the docks of the small island across from it... Thorn managed to pull his eyes off of the captain's chest long enough to gaze out at the isle... no one seemed to be on the isle... no one fishing, no boats in the water, no one on the beaches or anywhere... He glanced back over his shoulder, "Hey captain! Where's our welcoming party?" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bloody Mary stepped up next to Thorn, gazing into the distance as Samuel pulled out a spyglass, shaking his head, "There's no one on the island, Captain." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Well that's not good!" she shook her head, "Last time we were here was a month or more... but there should be about 100 folks there." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The wood of the ship creaked as we pulled up to the dock and lowered the gangplank. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bloody Mary looked around, laying a hand on her amulet, "Something wicked was here." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Could ya be a little more specific?" Mali looked up at her, before peering over the rail. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"No... if I could be more specific, I would," the captain glared slightly down at the red-haired halfling. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Hoping to have been able to talk to these people about any possible activity on Crucible's Isle, Erevin shook his head as he stepped onto the gangplank, "Let's go see what has befallen these people." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The wood creaked eerily and a shiver went up Wren's spine as she walked down, willfully becoming lighter as she walked. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Plenty of tracks were in the area... maybe a couple of weeks old, but plentiful. Among the human footprints were also three toed prints and furrows in the sand where perhaps a body was drug along. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Scattered in the area, but more prominently on the walls of the big stone lighthouse were strange disc-shaped marks. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Wren stared at the stone walls with wide eyes and shivered, "That's creepy! Do those look like... really big suction cup marks to you? Like from tentacles?" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Thorn followed her gaze, "That's not right..." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Houses appeared damaged, the doors broken, and tables overturned... not much of a fight, but the people here were fishermen, not warriors. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">In the lighthouse, Wren and Dominic looked over the alchemy lab with empty crates and basic supplies where they used to process the plant, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"I've talked to others before about a strange magic that the island gave off," Bloody Mary glanced across the way toward the storm filled sky, "and this island was close enough that it was effected being exposed to it for so long... Rumors said the people became fish people... going into the deep water." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Fish people?" Erevin raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">She nodded, "I only mention it because of this strangeness... I mean from what I understood, it took years for that happen. Those who were effected went into the sea." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Wren glanced uneasily toward the sea. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Posy shouted out "Hello!" across the isle, calling out to any who might answer... but she was met with only the rumble of thunder from the distance. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"So now what do we do?" Thorn looked around. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Scouting the area, there was no sign of any people... overturned boats and abandoned fishing nets... some with rotting fish. They found strange scrapes along the walls of the buildings and blood. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">While the others scouted the island, Wren stared at the deep blue water, watching... it felt like it watched it her too. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, and maintained a vigilant watch. The water was murky and turbulent from the storms across the way. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Erevin re-lit the lighthouse.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"> We returned to the ship, sailing closer to the stormy isle... the water was rough and choppy, tossing the ship. Most seemed to hold it together with Thorn walking around like it was nothing. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Yuki was green however, leaning against the rail, and Wren was fighting to maintain control. Thorn wandered by, slathering a moldy blue cheese spread over a big slice of cake, "Hey look at this blue cheese I found! You want some?" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">It was enough to send both girls vomiting over the edge. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Wren, you're such a good friend to puke with me!" Yuki thanked the witch beside her. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Oh the joys of friendship..." Wren nodded, patting her, "I can think of much better moments we've shared, Sweetie." She looked over the edge at the water and back at Yuki, "You're not going to draw tentacles to us, right? I mean... they 'do' kind of like you." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Wrennn!" Yuki exclaimed.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The outline of the island could be seen in the flashes of lightning and rain poured down in heavy sheets across the deck... so hard, the raindrops stung as they struck everyone's skin. An outline of a v into the cliffs showed a beach area where it was supposed to be safe to dock into the isle. A harsh screech sounded as the ship came almost to a halt, jerking everyone around and sending barrels across the deck as they broke their lashings! Posy skidded across the wet deck. Mali and Thorn glanced out to see a frothing in the water and a giant claw pierced into the side of our boat. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Hey Captain! I think we might have a problem here! I don't think that's supposed to be in the side of the boat!" Thorn called up. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"What?" Bloody Mary shielded herself through the harsh rain to get closer to him and peered at the now gaping hole in her ship with the giant claw, "Umberly's tit!" Her gaze moved out into the water, "What the fuck is 'that'?!" She pointed out into the raging sea. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">An enormous scaled flea-like body with rows of sharp teeth emerged out of the water. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Hey, Wren! This doesn't look good for you..." Thorn glanced over to the rails where the witch clung beside the priestess. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"What?" Wren glanced out into the sea and paled, stepping away from the rails quickly and pushing the priestess with her, "Back up, Yuki!" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bloody Mary quickly uttered a prayer to Umberly before pointing across the deck, "Get to the dinghy!" Samuel and a couple of the crew were already lowering a dozen-man row boat into the water with oars. Rain pouring down... the ship pitching... thunder crashing... Erevin guided everyone to the edge. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Wren peered over the edge at the little boat, "You want me to get into 'that'?! H-how about if I just fly over and meet you?" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"The winds are strong here!" Erevin shook his head, pointing to the boat.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bloody Mary concentrated, her cutlass lit up, and blood creepily seeped from her cuts down into the sword! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Thorn leapt over the side, landing in the boat. Posy leapt over, using her claws in the side of the ship to guide her down. Wren grabbed onto the rope hanging down and cascaded to the boat, thumping into the pitching ship on her way. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Put your feet out!" Erevin called down to her, and she nodded up to him, putting her feet out with bending knees to take the impact softer. Kale caught her, pulling her into the row boat as Mali took off into the wind as a gryphon and Shri and the others piled into the boat. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Mary leapt onto the back of the beast, plunging her cutlass into it's scaly hide! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Erevin drew his bow, glancing down to them, "Go!" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Erevin, get down here!" Wren shook her head. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"On my way! Go!" He yelled back, loosing arrows into the great sea beast!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Wren nodded to Kale who took one of the oars as Posy sat down beside him, taking the other and going into a rage. The two of them pulled with great strength on the oars. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Thorn... we need you to stand really near the edge... precariously so," Kale shouted to him through the pouring rain and crashing waters. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"I don't think so, you asshole!" Thorn shouted back. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Where one gentle shove will send you plummeting into the water," Kale nodded. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"I hate you! Get us out of here!" Thorn yelled back at him. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"We have too much weight!" Posy chimed in, grinning at Kale. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The elven warrior grinned back at her, "Yeah! Now you're talking!" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"I'm not that much weight!" Thorn yelled back at them both. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"Yes, but you're 'excess' weight!" Kale shouted back jovially, pulling with great muscled arms on the oar. Posy pulled with her might on the other side, the two of them pulling the boat away from the big ship. Erevin stood on the rails of the prow of the ship, the wind and rain blowing against him as he held his ground, loosing arrows into the beast beyond! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"EREVIN!!" Wren called to him again, "Hurry up!" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The elven ranger shouldered his bow, grabbing a rope on the ship and leapt off, swinging out to land onto the little lifeboat, rocking it.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Mali struggled against the torrent winds, the rain pelting her and drenching her feathers. A whirlpool formed beneath The Bitch Ship, spinning the great ship in the water. Posy and Kale managed to fight the current, using their great strength to pull away from the maelstrom. Erevin glanced back as the ship whirled in the spinning water, the beast had retreated back into the deep, and Bloody Mary was swimming on the surface against the current! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Mali dove down, attempting to grab the captain in one of her great claws, but the crashing waters struck her, dragging her gryphon body into the water! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Erevin tapped the rope gem on his glove and fired an arrow to pierce into Bloody Mary's hand! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">"SON of a FUCKING BITCH!!" Mary exclaimed, clenching her wounded hand with a rope now going back to the ranger. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"> Scrambling in the water as a soggy gryphon, Mali shapechanged quickly into a water elemental where she could see the whirlpool descending 30 feet to the bottom of the ocean where a huge multi-mawed creature with pincers devouring members of the crew and splinters from the ship indiscriminately! Mali dove down, one with the water, toward the creature, determined to buy her friends time to escape. It didn't seem to notice as it made meals out of victims. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"> Erevin pulled his rope, dragging Bloody Mary by her hand to pull her out of the whirlpool. Rampant thoughts of kicking Thorn out of the boat ran through Kale's head as the halfling rogue caught his gaze, "Quit staring at me, Kale!" Wren moved closer to the elven warrior, rubbing his shoulders and trying to soothe his thoughts. Kale and Posy continued to row with full strength to reach the shore where they pulled the boat onto the sand, and collapsed to the shore for a moment. Bloody Mary snapped the arrow, pulling it out of her hand, "Damn that hurts!" She glanced at Erevin, "Nice shot though!" The ranger nodded, "Sorry for the permanency of it." Wren took the captain's hand in hers, "Glad you made it!" The wounds on her hand closed as Wren released a hex heal over her. Mali swam into the maw of the creature, calling a flamestrike! The horrific monster clenched down on the watery form of her elemental body, smashing her and drenching her in it's very acidic innards!

Looking around from the beach, imposing cliffs rose high from the darkened sea and collapsed down to our beach of ground shells sand. Graceful spires and golden domes reached up toward the blackened stormy sky where there were a half dozen towers floating above the isle in an elliptical orbit. The island was shaped like a snail shell, winding and raising around slightly in a circle with a ziggurat at it's center. Pieces of the island floated rapidly through the wind and the rain. A large rock jutted up from the sand in the middle of the beach with some sort of writing on it. Erevin turned to Bloody Mary, "Is this some sort of temple to Umberly?" The captain shook her head, "No... not my goddess." Holding pieces of shell broken off from the isle, the pieces seemed to pulse and grow a little at random times. Taking a headcount, everyone turned back toward the sea, Wren calling out, "Mali!!" Mali whipped up a vortex in the creature's stomach acid, making him sick enough to vomit! A loud belching rumble came from the ocean as the beast spewed like a fountain up from the whirlpool, ejecting the whirling water elemental of Maliumpkin into the air. Splash! Mali returned to the ocean, swimming to the shore... a wave washed up on the beach, spilling out the halfling back in her normal form covered in acid burns! "Yuki!" Wren called back as she rushed out to meet the druidess on the shore, "Mali needs you!" The priestess quick in tow, healed part of Mali's wounds, "I've got her!" Posy glanced at the still obviously wounded halfling and back at Yuki, "Are you using minor heals or what?!" "But I...!" Yuki teared up a little as she casted again over Mali, healing up her remaining wounds. Wren patted her softly. "That's better!" Posy nodded encouragingly. "That's much better. Thank you, Yuki!" Mali smiled up at her appreciatively. "You're welcome!" the young priestess nodded happily, "I was worried you were going to be fish food! That vomit was gross! ...you might want to wash up." Mali blinked big eyes at her, "But I was just a water elemental! 'IN' the water!" "You sort of smell like fish guts," Yuki patted her. The rain poured down heavily in sheets, the wind beat the plant life that had survived these constant storm conditions, and in moments Mali was scoured clean anyway.

A few rotted remaining strings of flower garland still decorated the large rock on the beach, and as we approached we could read "wedding rock" etched into the stone. "Wedding rock?" Wren blinked and added sarcastically as she looked around, "Because this looks like a 'great' place to get married." Erevin looked around, "Well... perhaps before all of 'this' settled in." Wren nodded to him, shrugging. As we walked closer to the rock, a low constant hum could be heard coming from the stone... drumming. Wren and Mali began to feel sick... and a flash of fast blurred visions of Kale and Ursus all dressed up for weddings, friends and family surrounding them throwing petals... and then the faces of their grooms started to change... large bulbous eyes, webbed hands and feet, covered in a slick mucousy skin... and then they kissed them with big fat fish lips... their hands roamed over Wren and Mali as tentacles... violating them in almost every way imaginable! ...leaving the two feeling nauseated. "Ugh!" Wren shrieked and slapped Kale! "What was 'that' for?!" Kale exclaimed in innocent surprise. "Don't touch me like 'that'! What is the matter with you?!" Wren opened her eyes to see a perfectly normal Kale as she examined him carefully, breathing out with relief. Erevin leaned close to Wren, "Do you need me to shoot him?" Wren shook her head, "No... no... he seems alright now... and 'you' seem alright now... I'm... I'm sorry. You were all fish people... and Kale had these tentacles...that weren't very nice." "Ew." Erevin glanced from her to Kale and back to Wren, "Ew." The young witch nodded emphatically, "Yes, EW! And Ursus had tentacles too... and they weren't very nice to Mali." She looked a little sick still, trying to shake the visions and feeling of disgust. Wren whirled to the the priestess, "Yuki, don't get any ideas! No one is getting married here!" "B-but it might be really beautiful if the sun was shining!" She protested. "No. Not ever," Wren shook her head.

"Let's get away from this rock," Thorn nodded as everyone started to feel sleepy. Wren leaned against Kale, fighting to stay awake until everyone made it further in to the isle and the feeling faded. "Fuck that rock! That thing is awful!" Thorn shook his head, feeling better now that he was more awake. Dominic nodded, "That might explain some things that happened to the villagers if they got married here." Wren glanced back over her shoulder, "Maybe we should destroy it? We don't want people to come back here." "Or maybe even a race of fish people were here and married the villagers? Producing offspring?" Dominic continued. "So where are those fish people now?" Wren gazed back toward the ocean, paling visibly, "In the water?" She backed up into Kale, "I... I don't want to." She shook her head. Erevin glanced at the stone, "How do we destroy it?"

Before anyone could answer as they stood near the corner "V" of the cliffs, everyone turned around to see monsters jumping down to form in front of the cliffs! Lobster-like creatures in thick armored shells with tiny gleaming eyes above a mouthful of writhing tentacles and lobster claws for hands! "Ugh! They're icky!" Yuki shouted, "Like when we fought the Mindbreaker... like Ghaunadaur icky!!" "Great..." Erevin sighed and pulled out his bow. Two arrows flew from the ranger and sank into the carapace of one of the lobster beasts.

Posy went after another in a vicious rage with her acid dripping claws in a decimating blur! The corpse dropped to the ground with a claw twitching and she crushed it under her boot as she moved for the next. Uther stepped up beside her attacking another with Ursus becoming a bear and moving in to team up with him. Mali wove out a massive wall of fire, cutting off half of the approaching force. Thorn turned on the invisibility ring and moved up to wait for the monsters brave enough to step through the flames. The lobster creatures ran forward, burning themselves to get through the fire! One of them grabbed Bloody Mary in it's claw while another snipped across Uther's chest. Kale moved forward to strike another as Wren leaned in over his shoulder, blowing her frost breath over two of them.

Erevin sent another double shot of arrows, staggering back a monster with four arrows sticking out of it's chest. Posy slashed into the back of the one on Kale, leaving it still barely standing. Mali sent Melleron to aid Erevin by biting into another that was moving in on the ranger. Thorn crept in behind the arrow-wearing creature near to Yuki and eviscerated it, slashing into it's back again and again! Bloody Mary brought down a paladin smite into the monster grasping her in it's clawed hand, "Damn these things are tough!" One of the lobster men grabbed onto Erevin, squeezing him in it's enormous claw! Another grabbed onto Mali, dragging her closer toward it's tentacled maw!

A hopping thump followed by ribbiting preceded the drop in of a twenty foot tall three-eyed frog-like creature with tentacles for arms! The storm continued to rage around us. Wren pulled out her wand and let loose a bolt of lightning through the frog-man and blowing apart the wounded lobster creature beside Kale. The lightning didn't seem to harm the frogumuth, but it seemed to slow him with a strange effect. Kale turned and slashed another moving in to attack Maliumpkin. Erevin shouldered his bow, pulling out his shadow rapier to slice into one moving in as Bloody Mary managed to plunge her cutlass into the other, freeing herself from it's grasp! Posy unleashed her fury on one of the wounded, removing it's head from it's body and then still clawing into it in a blind rage! Uther and Ursus drop another as they work as a team, biting and clawing into it. Melleron clawed and bit into one attacking Erevin as Mali slipped out of the other's clawed grasp, transforming into an air elemental.

Thorn leapt onto the back of the one trying to get the white lion off of it, slashing into it mercilessly and dropping it's corpse to the ground as he giggled like a fiend, teasing Posy with his great display of overkill! The air elemental of Mali dissipating from it's grasp, the lobster creature turned it's clawed hand to grab firmly onto Wren! The frog creature moved in closer, struggling through it's slowed motions. Yuki threw out a wave of pink loving energy, healing everyone as still the lobster creatures moved forward, snipping into several with their claws. Kale turned to slash into the back of the lobster holding tightly to Wren who struggled with her magic, barely managing out a bit of cold from her hands. "Do that thing where you disappear!" He encouraged her as he continued trying to help free her. "Okay!" Wren nodded, trying to focus on her spell.

Erevin drew his moonblade, spraying out a cone of frost before him into the frog man, it's skin cracked as the cold covered it's body. It wore a belt of heads... as Erevin peered closer, he noticed the heads looked like those Crucible-made chimeras. Posy charged forward toward the frogumuth, but his tongue whipped out to wrap around her body, grappling her firmly! She clawed viciously at the tongue, but couldn't seem to penetrate the strange spongey material. Uther sprinted in to attack the frog creature, but one of it's four tentacles whipped out to grab up the large barbarian as well! Melleron turned and clawed into the lobster monster holding Wren to it's chest, leaving big slashes over it's back.

Mali called down a flamestrike into the frog creature, its slimy skin barely able to deflect part of the heat. Thorn dashed invisible heading around the frog creature, but another of the tentacles lashed out, grabbing onto the invisible form and squeezing him mercilessly! The frog monster sucked in it's tongue, swallowing Posy whole!! It's tentacles crushed Thorn and Uther as he continued to squeeze onto them. He continued to move forward slowly, whipping it's tongue back out to wrap around Yuki! A third tentacle lashed out to wrap around Kale, pulling him back against the warrior's strength to fight to help Wren! Wren struggled in the clawed grasp of the lobster monster, screaming out as her hands reached outward for the elven warrior, "Nooo! Kale!" as the lobster monster pulled her closer to it's slimy mucous coated tentacles at it's maw! "Cirdan, dance!" Wren sent out her raven to form as the black feathered bow firing a lightning arrow into the monster squeezing her as she flailed about. She pulled a dagger from her belt, stabbing the thing in the eye in a panic! It dropped dead, finally releasing her. She scrambled back, free... she'd never killed anything with her bare hands before!! "Good job, Wren! It gets easier every time!" Thorn's voice came from one of the tentacles of the frog creature as he nodded his approval at her weapon choice. "Thanks, Thorn!" Wren nodded, regathering herself to help free the others. Erevin sheathed his moonblade, calling his bow back to his hands and named the frog beast as it's mark, sending off arrows aided by Yuki's prayers to pierce the thick rubbery hide with heavy thumps!

Posy grabbed her ring of retribution, sending out a blast of fire from within the creature! Everyone watched as the monster's belly swelled out with a reddish glow before re-collapsing around Posy! Mali called down a bolt of lightning from the surrounding storms into the lobster monster fighting Bloody Mary, blowing the creature into bits with an amazingly mighty BOOM! The strange magic of the storm was ancient and strong. The captain stepped back from the explosion in shock, "Holy shit!" Swinging around in the air, Thorn managed to just barely squeeze his way out of the binding tentacle, tumbling gracefully behind the monster! The frogumuth's tongue flicked back into it's mouth, swallowing Yuki whole! The young priestess landed inside beside Posy, the two of them being crushed in it's stomach! "Yuki!" Wren called out before the tongue lashed out again, this time grappling onto Erevin, "Noo!" She released the prepped cold bolt from Cirdan, following it with an empowered bolt of cold through her wand, freezing the creature in place! It's tentacles and tongue broke apart easily, releasing Kale, Uther, and Erevin. With Posy and Yuki still trapped inside, Erevin took aim with his bow and pierced it with a pair of arrows to shatter it like an ice statue, spilling the two women to the ground! Yuki sent out powerful waves of healing over everyone as the storm continued to flash lightning in the sky with crashing thunder and to pelt us with heavy pouring rain. Mali called down more mighty bolts of lightning from the magic storm into the wedding rock, shattering it with the third strike!

Wren looked around at the slabs of island floating above and the constant raging storm... the heavy magic in the air warned against using any teleporting here... so much for that idea of getting off of this forsaken island. Streets of the city wrapped the island like a huge mollusk. Along the broken roads urchin-like spines dangled chains holding glowing bluish orbs of light that banged around in the battering winds. Densely overgrown vines covered the buildings here. It seemed rather otherworldly here with much of the surfaces made of shells. Exhausted from their escape from the ocean, the battle, and the battering of the storm, the weary group moved into a shelter with some both old and freshly dead bodies of chimeras. The blood from Bloody Mary's cutlass creepily crawled back into the captain's body, closing up her wounds. Everyone rested briefly to get warm and dry and moved swiftly forward using caution like they were being hunted.

Climbing up a treacherously sharp shelled cliff in the harsh blowing winds, it took the party a couple of hours to reach the top. We avoid the few chimera patrolling the area and Wren noticed a cloaked figure, silhouetted by the lightning watching the party. The witch subtly brought everyone's attention to his presence. Coming up to a ruined courtyard of dead trees and plants, copper plates randomly whipped through the air. One of them stopped at Erevin's touch, and he leafed through it finding it was an ancient and very worn book written in very ancient common. Everyone took up various disks, finding bits of history of the island of Nal-Kashel. A bastion university where the ancient wizards of Netheril researched strange and powerful magics.

The original human kingdom of Netheril dated many thousands of years ago with powerful sorcerer kings back when Mystral was still the goddess of magic and there were no boundaries... they raised mountain tops into the sky for their kingdoms. A powerful wizard called Karsus the mad had attempted to usurp Mystral's control of the weave and become a god. He managed to obtain the control from her, but without any real understanding of how it worked... it drove him mad. To prevent the destruction of the world, Mystral ended all magic for a time, killing herself and plummeting the floating kingdoms of the world to crash into the earth. Only one was able to escape into the realm of shadow, but was later driven out where it too crashed to the earth. Mystra then became the new goddess of magic, barring such a horrific outcome from repeating... she put restrictions on the power of magic.

The University of Nal-Kashel was one of the few universities doing research on the ground. The books went on to tell of a wondrous artifact called the auri of Nal-Kashel and mentioned one of the wizards named Crucible with a crude portrait of him. We packed up the disc books to take back to Myth Coramanth. Erevin took another set of runed plates from a cabinet where they immediately formed a circle around his head. Wren and Mali looked over the runes, identifying it as a circlet of blasting. Erevin collapsed the ring from around him, handing it to Wren, "That's better in your hands than mine." Wren nodded, thanking him, and put it away in her haversack.

A book called the Seventh Column talked about a secret society of mages here in the university that were executed by a gruesome drowning for attempting some kind of coup against Crucible and his colleagues. They were transforming humans into aquatic hosts for alien entities under the guise of something called The Unwelcome Guest. The books pre-dated the fall of Netheril meaning Crucible must be thousands of years old... if in fact it was the same person. Wren turned to the priestess, "Yuki, you said Anauria was from Netheril, correct?" "Yes," Yuki nodded, "She was from Netheril and so was Umbras... he was one of the advisers to Karsus." "So does any of this mean anything to you?" the young witch tilted her head. "Nope!" the priestess shook her head, "But wow, he must be really old! He must look like a shriveled up raisin! All of the Netherese were human." Wren laughed and nodded, then added thoughtfully, "Perhaps he's a lich? Like Szass Tam?" "Or perhaps he combined himself with something?" Erevin chimed in, "Like an elf to gain old age?" "His experiments with those chimeras were on elves, so that makes sense!" Mali nodded. Bloody Mary pondered a second, "I think I remember someone who fought the chimera before said something about he was trying to make the perfect body for himself." "Ahhh," Erevin nodded, "That makes sense." He turned to everyone, "This guy is going to be difficult to bring down." "Aquatic hosts and the unwelcome guest certainly has a Ghaunadaur stink to it," Dominic chimed in, "though the worshipers were killed gruesomely back then." Erevin nodded, "And these water beasts are killing his creations now... so he doesn't seem to be on Team Ghaunadaur." Voices chatted away to Wren about how much she could be improved with more dragon blood.

Moving out of the archives, Wren noticed again the cloaked figure watching from a distance, moving with almost an elven grace with it's clawed feet. "It's still following us," Wren whispered to the others, "Do you suppose 'that's' Crucible?" "Mmm perhaps," Erevin pondered, "It's not wild like most of the others." Thinking back to the cure and Mari, he recalled to the group that she mentioned a need to get back to this place... to cross the water. "So they were all called back... but why? To guard him? Did he finally perfect it... "improve" them?"

Everyone pressed on through the rain, though the storm seemed to lighten here as though the graveyard was shielded from the worst of the storm. Shadowy pools of silvery light seemed to pulse bigger and smaller. Crumbling copper markers laid among the ruin. Glancing over the writing on the markers... it seemed to be archives of lessons. Posy poked a stick into one of the pools, the liquid disintegrating the stick almost immediately. Running fingers over the words on the markers caused the pools to coalesce into a figure giving a lecture on celestial spheres and lenses that Mali and Wren found interesting, but the others found the mage chatter rather boring.

Everyone moved on to the ruins where Erevin and Mali set up a quiet area hidden away for us to rest for the night. The cloaked figure continued to watch from a distance avoiding the frogumuths and aquatic monsters roaming around. The evening passed uneventfully, everyone able to rest. In the morning, however... Wren and Posy woke up with a phlegmy wracking cough, Erevin was nauseous and vomiting, Mali's joints were painful and webbing had formed between her fingers and toes, and Thorn's eyes looked bulgy! Wren coughed roughly, "I don't like this... I don't like this at all." Mali turned to her, "Are you coughing because you're losing your lungs and about to grow gills?" Wren shuddered at the thought. Posy shrugged, "Well if I grow gills then I can handle swimming in the water and I can just carry you all with me to get off this island." Wren laughed and nodded to her, "Way to think of the bright side, Posy!" Everyone had some sort of effect except for Melleron and Mari who seemed normal. It was decided there would be no more resting unless absolutely necessary...

Wren wove a Break Enchantment over everyone without any effect and Yuki tried removing diseases and curses and dispelling magic... but the strange aquatic changes remained. "My skin!" Yuki started to panic, "It's all clammy and oily!! Nothing is working!" "We need to get off of this island and soon," Erevin nudged everyone to get moving, "Let's go." Moving quietly through the ruins, everyone continued on back out into the harsh storm. A route of muddy water lead up to a domed structure where the watery liquid continued on in a loop to a pool on the floor and then free-flowing up the walls to form a waterfall that cascaded freely from the domed crystal ceiling. Taking a stairway down, it separated into five chambers with windows that allowed viewing into the pool. Peering into the various chambered aquariums of coral and rocks, Mali found a rather large octopus still alive... but no fish anywhere for it to eat. Mali greeted him with her magical speak with animals. "I've been here so long... and no one has talked to me," the octopus moved a little closer to the glass, "And you are such a little druid." "I could help you get out of there if you want... it has to be awfully lonely in that pool there all by yourself," the red-haired halfling peered into the glass. "Yes it is!" the octopus agreed, "And I am very hungry... I haven't had anything to eat for... a long time." "Oh sure! I have all kinds of things!" Mali nodded, rummaging in her bag. "You could come closer," he suggested. Mali looked up from her bag, "You're 'not' going to eat 'me'... but I could give you something 'else' to eat." "That little halfling?" the octopus offered, glancing over at Thorn, "He looks delicious." Mali laughed and shook her head, pulling out some sardines and tossing them into the water... he was so big, it was rather like a handful of jellybeans to him. She offered him several more things from her bag of food, some of which he enjoyed readily. "I have not felt full in a very long time," He sounded appreciative and seemed to have no real concept of time. "Have you seen anyone else pass by here recently?" Mali inquired. "Yes... other creatures wandering around... they sort of smell like squid or octopus, but not really... I tried to pull one in, but it was too strong and got away. They don't bother me anymore," he answered. "You probably don't know the name Ghaundaur... but have you heard of anything..." Mali went on to describe what she'd heard of the god's appearance. He didn't seem to understand the concept of gods and had no recognition of the names Ghaundaur or Crucible, though he dimly recalled people in robes and people watching him... but that was such a long time ago. He was the only one left of the aquarium. He was being kept alive magically, but was perpetually hungry. Mali told him that we would pick him up on our way back out and help to release him back to the ocean. 20ft long... we would need to reduce his size to carry him.

Everyone moved on through the ruins from the aquarium up toward the zigaurat, and as we grew closer it was surrounded by chuul trying to get in, scratching at an unseen force. Careful to move around them, we moved on trying to find another way in. A cracked crystalline dome building was on the other side with smashed doors of coral. Inside was dark with a remarkably clear and bright magical starry sky. Dozens of metallic globes, spheres, glyphs, and crystal lenses swirled in orbits around the room. Periodically a lens paused to look at the light of one of the bright stars above, the light traveling through to one of the glyphs circling the area. The magic was thick and powerful here... the auri that was likely responsible for all of the magic in place on this island, including the storm. Some of the lenses were cracked in disrepair... but handling them would take great caution as the magic backlash could bring the end of the island or many such consequences. Grasping some minor understanding from the lectures that they had watched in the graveyard, but not having memorized them, they decided to leave it be for now.

Climbing into the higher level, the rest of the broken tower could be seen floating above. Fairly intact, it floated in an orbit about 40 feet up. Wren flew up, avoiding the floating the debris, managed to get into the floating broken tower. Scattered broken glass littered the floor, but inside cabinets were various sized lenses in good condition as well as tools to make more and some lenses yet unfinished. The witch collected several of them into her haversack. Meanwhile, searching around in the ruined areas, Mali and Posy managed to find samples of the plant that we had come to the island for. Heading back through the ruins, there was a treacherous cove area with some ruined decade-old boats. Water lead out through a crack in the wall in the direction of the zigaurat. It was narrow... 6ft tall and only a few feet wide. Slowly we squeezed in to head toward the zigaurat...