On the way back
to the town of Corte, the party spied as evening fell a bonfire
burning on the beach at some distance. Approaching, they encountered
Gepaepyris, Scion of Pisces, the ancient crone who had told Baraldur
of the mermaid Orestia's dwellingplace. The hag gifted the
adventurers with four coral amulets, which she told them would for
the span of one moon allow any man who wore one around his neck to
breathe water as if it were air.
In Corte, Cruum
attempted to find a butcher willing to buy the strange two headed pigeon he and his men had trussed up. Finding none who would buy,
butcher, or train the creature, Cruum and his hirelings took it
outside the town and put it to the sword, though not without taking
some injuries.
The party then
headed for the island's southeastern coast. Not far from their
destination, they happened upon a statue in a wooded glade which
depicted an impish rake thrusting forth his tongue, wrought in
verdigrised copper. Fray stepped forward to investigate the statue,
and was caught unawares as it spewed forth a poisonous spray which
greatly harmed the cleric. Now greatly desiring the statue's
destruction but unable to approach it or harm it with arrows, Fray
ordered that the party would camp in the glade for the night. The
next morning, he awoke and called upon a succession of spiritual
hammers which ultimately rendered the statue down to a shapeless
lump. Satisfied that the blasphemous idol could offend the world no
longer with its sardonic visage, Fray and the others continued
onward.
The bay where
Orestia was said to dwell was a bright gob of silver ringed by green
land and pale horizon. Out in the middle of the bay was thrust up a
sharp pile of stones upon which was situated a statue of the nereid
herself, perhaps placed there by the admiring Merlin in ages past.
Sawlike fins cut circles around the statue, suggesting sharks.
Knowing that the lands beneath the waves would be a realm apart from
their usual habits and stratagems, the rogues adjusted their
equipment, doffing hacking weapons in favor of thrusting and piercing
implements and donning their amulets, giving one to Milo. Cruum had
to order his strongarms to stay upon the shore and keep watch.
Descending into
the bluecrushing abyss the adventurers discovered a cave entrance
sixty feet down the slope of the island's demarcation. Torches were
useless here, but Fray had prepared a number a light spells. He cast
one of these upon Cruum's person, and the men then slowly tromped
forward into the gelid darkness. The tunnel went on for 300 feet
before the benthic explorers emerged into a vast chamber the limits
of which neither Fray's light spell nor Cruum's dwarf eyes could
discover. Careful exploration found a wall 120' to the west, in the
vicinity of which the surface dwellers suddenly found themselves
beset by a gigantic eel. Fortunately the beast was unsuccessful in
its attempts to devour them and was slit open along its anterior by
the combined trident and spear work of Cruum and Baraldur. The party
explored northward and found a series of smaller caves, and within
one of these lesser chambers discovered the hulk of a fishing vessel,
secreted here by unknown means. Wary of running out of light, the
men attempted to return to the surface, though they met with a group
of sharks on the way. These they managed to slay.
After some rest
and a plentiful restocking of light spells now informed by the
unexpected vastness of the sea caves, the men returned to the deep.
Exploring northward from the great chamber they made to investigate
the shipwreck closely. As they drew near it, three long drowned
lacedons bearing ancient arms and armor emerged from the hulk and
swam with sharklike grace forth to devour warm flesh. The beasts'
skin was loose and pale from ages in sunless depths, and their mouths
were twisted lamprey-like razor holes. Battle ensued, and the
horrors were successful in paralyzing Baraldur before Fray could call
upon the power of Christ to remonstrate the creatures and send them
running off into the blackness. In the creatures' absence, Fray and
Cruum searched the shipwreck, finding within a scroll case. Once
numbness had fled Baraldur's limbs, the party went again to the great
chamber, and decided to explore southward from it.
They discovered
another vast cavern, and in the middle of it a deep black trench.
They were skirting it, looking for a way to the other side when a
tentacle emerged and made to grab at Cruum. The dwarf fended this
surprise attack off, but elation was short lived as the squamous bulk
of a great octopus emerged from the pit and made to devour the
interlopers. Fray briefly subdued the beast with a spell which
calmed and rendered helpful beasts of the natural world. Even this
strange creature was bound by such a call, and heeded Fray's
questions for a time. Questioned about the mermaid, the octopus owed
that he had some sense of her dwelling place in relation to his own,
it being to the north and west somewhere. When asked to guide the
adventurers to her, the octopus agreed to do so on the condition that
it be allowed to devour her should they find her. Fray assented to
this, reasoning that he could betray the brute later.
Taking the first
northward leading tunnel from the octopus' cavern, the rogues
eventually came upon a small cavern in which was located a solitary
dolphin. Sensing psychic impulses from the creature, the adventurers
found themselves mentally greeted and offered aid and counsel. Cruum
was making tentative responses to the dolphin's psychic overtures
when the octopus reached forward a suckered member, clearly intending
violence upon the friendly cetacean. This seemed an intolerable evil
to the octopus's reluctant allies, who turned upon and slew the beast
at once before resuming conversation with the dolphin. They learned
that the creature had become separated from its pod and lost, but was
willing to aid them in their search for the mermaid. It warned of
sharks ahead. Not desiring to encounter any more dogfish and having
taken some considerable wounds from the octopus, the party resolved
to withdraw from the caverns once more and rest upon the surface,
entreating the dolphin to wait in the bay for them. On the way out
through the exit tunnel, an enormous lamprey detached itself from the
cavern walls and made to devour the adventurers, but they overmatched
the pale worm and cut it to bits.
After resting and
the liberal application of healing spells, the party descended once
more and made their way to the former octopus' chamber. Skirting the
trench they discovered another oblong cavern from which branched
several passages. As they pondered which passage to explore, a
crabfish the bigness of a horse scuttled out of the darkness sensing
an easy meal. The creature's carapace was soon cracked asunder,
spilling its vitals to darken the surrounding waters. Their foe
dispatched, the divers picked out a northwest leading passageway
along the bottom of which ran a shallow trench. This tunnel they
followed for a considerable distance, ignoring side passages, until
at length it turned around a corner and revealed a chamber some 60 by
120 feet large. The spell-light fell upon the cavern floor revealing
the immense coiled skeleton of a great sea worm, an evil and ancient
being which had perished long ago. Among the calcified bones they
spotted something shining, but had no chance to investigate before a
giant shark emerged from the darkness beyond. With the nimble
assistance of the dolphin, the creature was overcome, although it
managed to deliver two great rending bites to Cruum. Within the sea
worm's bony gullet was discovered a large bloodstone of great value,
evidently swallowed by the creature.
After one more
trip out of the caves to tend to Cruum's wounds, the party returned
to the trench-tunnel and followed a side passage leading westward.
Down its length they found the dwelling of the sea-maiden Orestia,
who reclined upon an immense clam-shell bed surrounded by shelves
holding abundant curios from the world above, as well as colorful
seaspawn and stranger artifacts. The mermaid was blue skinned,
silver of hair and scale, and had great sad green pools for eyes.
She welcomed the strangers to her home, and asked their purpose.
Cruum replied that they came in search of information and counsel of
how they might release the wizard Merlin from his entombment. At the
mention of the wizard's name, the mermaid tearfully replied that she
knew not the location of the Cave of Mists, having never been to
land, but she did owe that she had a shard of the Word of Power which
sealed those caves. Drifting over to her shelves, she tapped thrice
a large clam shell which opened to reveal an iridescent bubble one
foot in diameter. This she gave to the adventurers, saying that it
contained the word. When asked if the word could be held in another
fashion or spoken, Orestia told that the word, once heard, would
inscribe itself upon the listener's brain like the greatest of
dweomers, a tightly wound coil of energy which could be released when
spoken but might imperil the mortal mind holding it overlong. The
party chose to keep the word within the bubble, and asked for the
clam shell to contain it. In return for the taking of the word,
Orestia asked that should Cruum or the others ever meet with Merlin,
they should tell him of her unwavering devotion to him, and inform
him that she still awaited him beneath the waves 400 years later.
Promising to do so, the party asked her about the caverns, and the
fallen civilization of Atlantis. Of the caverns, she could tell them
that her people had once had a temple here, in one of the southern
chambers, but that it had been overrun and taken by the foul homarids
and converted to their dark god. Of Atlantis, the mermaid took a
moment to compose herself before weaving the tale...