Session One Hundred and Twenty (Graveyard of Empires Summary)
Session 120 – August 31, 2016
Noon, 28th of Jourilden in the Sonic Weapon manufactory flooded dome.
A happy and well-fed Charchus greets Chuq and the party. He tells the feast was great and that only a few small younglings were killed in the feeding frenzy. He enthusiastically accepts Chuq’s appointment as Adjutant to Chuq – Dagon’s Champion & the voice of Victory! Through his interpretation, we organize the Sharkmen war party into an escort and Sword of Dagon porter team. A shiver of sharks also join us. Charchus suggests we circle around the cove motu via the south moving at our best speed which is as fast as the ancient Dwarven submersible will move.
As we approach the cove from the south, Chuq towing water breathing Cannis and Ronin, split from the submerged war party and surface to greet the Bitterhorse which is keeping station at the mouth of the cover, coincidentally over the Dusty Gnome wreck. Once her crew hails the three bobbing in the waves, they approach swimming along the surface. Captain Evenwode and Admiral Dyconson lean over her gunwale and speak to the monk after he climbs aboard a row boat tied to her hull. As ever Evenwode asks after freeing the wrath of the waves and Dyconson wants word about Alain Grell. Glossing over their concerns, Chuq explains the Boys have returned with sharkmen & shark allies to exact justice on the man-eating trolls & hags lurking below the Bitterhorse. They agree to not interfere and are happy to hear we plan to free the Wrath that night.
Cannis doggie paddles to the Wrath of the Waves to study the night’s challenges. Chuq and Ronin direct the Sharkmen to secret the Sword of Dagon among the kelp shallows below the piers at the beach. Once secured, he informs Belisonte of the party’s return and plans for the day. She tasks Pons with policing the camp and making ready to depart. Edan needs her healing touch, she and a few other Mercs row out to the Bitterhorse where Thorfus and Edan have supervised the hoisting of our submersible onto her deck. Those shark men not hiding the Sword of Dagon establish a perimeter about the Gnome’s wreck on the ocean floor. They were told not to engage the Hags under penalty of death.
The Boys ingest enough water breathing coral to last the fight before sinking below the waves. Charchus has the shark men and sharks rally behind the aft of the wreck while the Boys mount the ruin of the collapsed tunnel overlooking the open decks of the Gnome’s rear half wreck. Ronin and Chuq swim decoy across the broken hull and succeed in luring the Trolls into the open. As the three monsters charge across the sea floor, Cannis entangles them with the plants littering about. Though one breaks loose and assaults the party on the top of the collapsed tunnel, it falls after a fury of blows from the Boys ending with a skillful skewer from Ronin from behind! Edan strikes the entangled with a blinding lightning flash. Then Cannis enters the entangling plants to dispatch each in kind.
As he does, a Sea Hag emerges from the dark of the wreck, her gaze flinging death at Edan – no doubt her greatest threat. Thank the gods, Edan stutters and clutches his chest before he demonstratively shakes her look from his gaze. His eyes alight with the fire of life, his and his alone! Elf is not on her menu today. She swings her look at the company of shark men and sharks answering the summons from Chuq to join the fight. Most shark men cower where they swim, refusing to fight such a fearsome sight. She was right, Edan’s missiles of Pure Energy send her soul to the afterlife. Her corpse and the trolls’ quickly disappear into the bellies of our shark allies.
Realizing the wreck is now empty of any thoughts, the Boys search the refuse, bodies and interior. Edan slyly notices a poison needle trap on a chest that Chuq overlooked. The trap is disarmed allowing Edan to collect the weakened poison needle and the loot within. Other booty is found but ultimately, not the body of Alain Grell, he must have escaped with the Imperials. Before returning to the surface, Chuq rewards the four Shark Men that did not fright from the Sea Hag with titles and a bauble souvenir. Their pride is apparent. Charchus’ is embarrassed he also was afraid until Chuq assuages his ego. Those that were feared are shamed into attending the Boys until the Sword is secured for the trip to Midmark.
The Boys return to the Bitterhorse after the water breathing wears off. Cannis rests in preparation for stone shaping the rocks holding the Wrath of the Waves. Word is sent to the beach so the Mercs would return to the fleet. Next challenge, releasing the Wrath into the cove….