The Tale of the Last Captain (part1)

After much debate between our heroes (Blu, Jezabell, Mandingo, Nuwah-Kawah and William), Maeve, Malvolo and the two faen of Spellhold, it is decided to lend the Chalice of Life and Death to Laelith and help keep the Maze underneath sealed, forever if may be.

A few artifacts were recovered during the search of the catacombs that followed our heroes’ battle against Ivor and Garsh. These are given, after study by Malvolo, to the adventurers leaving the village with the two faen.

Ambush

Thus, Blu, William, Jezabell, Mandingo and Nuwah-Kawah travel down the Altalus river with Thendren Aranradh and the two faen. Their intention is to go up north to Hornsdeep, a citadel long owned – and long forgotten – by the God-King of Laelith, and decide there either to take a ship or to walk through Caras Calaedhon (the forest of the Sidhe) to reach the Holy City. But the travel isn’t as peaceful as could be expected: after a few hours of walk, they are ambushed by soldiers of Hornsdeep.

After a harsh fight, and some extensive search of the mercenaries’ corpses, the heroes find a note explaining their purpose here. The note reads (click on the picture to see full size):

It looks like these Hornsdeep soldiers where not sent by the Baron – but who? And what is this “cause” M. keeps talking about? This, our heroes will have to find out by themselves.

Dead Pirates

November 01, 2004 (10 AM to 6 PM)

They decide to go on and avoid Hornsdeep in case other mercenaries wait for them there. They go instead along the coast to the nearby pirate settlement of Skullcape. Hornsdeep and Skullcape have been in competition for the control of the Altalus’ mouth for some time, but when the heroes arrive at the settlement, this is to find it utterly destroyed, it ruins still smoking.

After visiting what remains of the settlement, our heroes realize that all the pirate ships have been sunk but one, a black trireme moored not far from the coastline, down the cliff on which Skullcape was located. There doesn’t seem to be any crew onboard, nor any way to gain access to the boat from the coastline.

A ruin in the settlement seems to stand aside, however. This building seems to have been some kind of temple or shrine. Four pillars of stone still stand within this ruin, and they are each bearing a socket. They have to be some kind of keyholes. They decide to camp within the ruins, pondering about these discoveries.

They are awakened by ghosts, literally. These spirits of the dead pirates did not find rest and wish their bodies to be taken south to Manifest, which stands above the physical Gates to the Underworld (or so the story goes). They confirm the heroes suspicions about the pillars and sockets: these are indeed the keyholes to a dimensional door leading below, to the ancient catacombs which existed well before the pirates settled in the region. It was thought better to seal these catacombs, and to keep the keys under the protection of their spiritual leader, Daena Sabertooth, a litorian witch. The settlement was attacked a few days prior to the coming of the heroes. Daena was taken prisoner, but she managed to hide one of the keys within the settlement’s boundaries. The ghosts lead the heroes to this key, a wand-shaped crystal, in exchange for their corpses to be carried to Manifest by Thendren Aranradh. The ghosts also indicate that through the catacombs one may gain access to the Trireme the Doomed moored not far. The goal seems now clear: find Daena, have the three other crystal keys back, and go through the catacomb to reach the ship and travel to Laelith.

Next Time: The PCs visit Hornsdeep and meet its mad Baron!