Savage Tide Session 12

The party set their plan to catch the stowaway into action - 'Father' Feres stood up on deck to give his sermon (after a bumbling introduction from Avner), whilst the party split themselves up top and below decks to hunt out the sabatoeur. During the sermon, Zhedd and Stefanie's divinations pinpointed the presence of evil and magical auras toward the bow. Darting forward to purge invisibility, Stefanie revealed a dark-haired, ruddy-skinned woman hiding by the foremast. Whilst attention focussed on the ensuing battle, none aboad the Sea Wyvern noticed another ship coming up upon them from the southwest - and moving unnaturally quickly. As the stowaway was killed, this second ship, now visible as a pirate vessel of the Sea Reavers of Crimson Fleet, rammed the stern of the Sea Wyvern, and a boarding batttle began. This was short lived once Mendel quickly dispatched their captain - a strange winged minotaur species none in the party recognised. These pirates were also red-skinned, but grossly deformed and mis-shapen - some even displayed magical powers - yet all were sickly and easily defeated. The few captives that remained admitted that they hailed from the Arm of the Immortals, a region far to the west. They had been sponsored by an unknown power to ply their piracy on these seas, whilst they sought regions to mine ta reddish metal they call cinnabryl. They were currently operating out of a port called Scuttlecove in the Alatian Islands to the east, but their dead captain was the only one who knew the route.

 The Sea Wyvern, damaged form the collision, limped into the part of Renkrue in the island nation of Ochalea. After finding out that alcohol was forbidden in the port, the pary showed little interest in staying, beyond Mendel's visit to the Jade Raven monastery.

Setting out of part, the ship entered the Sea of Dread proper - which soon lived up to its name with a violent storm blowing to the north that tested the limits of Captain Amella Venkalie. During the storm, large eel-like creatures were spotted leaping between the waves. The ship rolled to the side, and Koravel was washed overboard; saved by his new-found Cloak of the Manta Ray, only to the swallowed by the eel creature looping under the vessel. Another eel landed on the deck of the ship as a swell formed to the starboard side, weighing the vessel down. It was quickly killed, and cut in half to dislodge it. koravel's body was nowhere to be found.

As the storm abated, a thick fog blew in and the ship drifted slowly ahead. Withe the morning, the ship was no longer moving, and the sea below looked thick and the sound of water lapping at the hull was gone. The smell of rotting cabbage was pervasive. As the rising sun burnt off the last of the mist, it revealed a strange island of matted vegetation - mostly kelp and flotsam - that had snared the Sea Wyvern. Open water was visible to the west, about half a mile away, but the land stretched to the horizon in the east. Sillouettes of other stricken vessels were also visible in the fog. Testing the 'island' Kathryn dissolved a patch of it, finding it 10 feet deep. The party set out arranging for the crew to attempt to dredge the ship clear, whilst they investigated the nearest other stranded ship. This was named 'The Rage', and was completely deserted. The kelp island had burst through the hull, its fronds growing into the hold.A voice was heard from the deck, but found to be a bundle of the kelp caught on the mast, vibrating the in the wind. A diary was found in a cabin that describbed the owners attempts to escape the island - but plagued by strange figures in the mist. They key seemed to ie i na forest a tthe centre of the island mass.

Returning to the Sea Wyvern, night and the mist was closing in. A lone figure appeared in the mist - another stranded sailor named Profexion, who beseeched the crew for aid. Other figures soon became visible at the edge of the mist - vaguely humanoid, silently watching. Some of the party heard a voice in their heads; 'Outsiders'. A few of the creatures attacked the ship, wet, humanoid masses of tagled kelp that tried to engulf the party. Several of these also combined to forma larger mass of plant material, dangerously stronger. The party bunkered down for the night, hoping the attacks would cease...