Tales of Our Heroes

Volume II, Dark Tide

• Foul Deeds Underfoot - Our heroes investigate some mysterious disappearances to discover a vile cult beneath the very temple of Tyche, the goddess of luck
• Dark Tide: Act I - Our heroes follow up some rumors to find a foul lair of aquatic horrors.
• Dark Tide: Act II - Our heroes hatch plans within plans and eventually strike out for Ramsgate to investigate further to determine the actual threat and how best to deal with it.
• Dark Tide: Act III (Epilogue) - Our heroes continue their deception and try to take the fight to the beasts.

Foul Deeds Underfoot

"The first floor consist of gaming tables . . . a kitchen . . . a bar, and a corner stage, one that I played once, I might add.  The second floor is mostly guest rooms with some offices.  The third floor is the actual Temple of Tyche.  The casino is owned by a private interest and is not run by the priests.  I believe the temple area was donated by the casino owner.  The management of the casino is a very involved affair, so I can see why a priest would be loathe to get involved as it could very well distract them completely from their faith, what with all the accounting, etc. 

"I am not worried about the priests after having such good experiences with Lucky here, but perhaps I am naive in that respect.  I would similarly not be suspicious of the management, but they are a little more believable as villains, what with all of the opportunities for exploitation that gambling produces.  The casino does not operate like the Lucky Lady.  Markers, IOU's, and credit are allowed, so people can get themselves into a bad situation if they are not careful. 

"The casino does regularly tithe to the temple, daily I believe.  This may assuage any concerns about the casino's practice.  I have heard of more than one unlucky sap having his markers taken care of by the priesthood.  Their funds are such that they have two seagoing vessels, Tyche's Grace and Fickle Fate.  They use these to operate a shuttle service of sorts between the 'old world' countries and the colony lands here.  I believe they are ocean-going versions of the Lucky Lady, but a little less casino-like. 

"Speaking of which, the temple level of the Lucky Penny is remarkably . . . temple-like.  The priests there are usually engaged in worship and discussion of the faith.  They even seem to have a library and such, although I did not peruse it in depth.  I understand that some priests do work in the casino, but primarily only working crap tables, dealing, etc.  They are a minority of the staff, as they refuse to allow markers and credit, so they cramp the style of some of the staff and patrons. 

"That's about all I know about it.  I don't remember any of the names of  the big 'players' there.  Heck, I am not even sure what the name of the guy who hired me for my gig there was.  Jack maybe?" He smiles. 

They plan to go in separately.  John will go to find work entertaining there, with Mila as his bodyguard.  Sid will scout around outside and enter separately.  Magnus and Lucky will also enter separately, after stopping by the morgue and the temple of Osiris to make sure Alex has not turned up dead.  Also, our heroes follow up on the death of Jake, an old friend of Sid's.  In their investigations, they determine that Alex has not turned up dead, but Jake's body is missing.  With few avenues of investigation left, they plan to infiltrate the Luck Penny. 

Things go pretty smoothly and John secures a room and performs that night.  Our heroes spot someone roaming the second floor then disappearing where there appeared to be no doors.  They find out during a visit to the Temple of Tyche upstairs that there is record of a smuggling base beneath the casino, used by one Pirate James.  This information was discovered by Ty, the temple librarian.  Also on hand is Kim, a higher ranking priest.  The head priest had left, and the pro tempore Head Priest, Joseph, was out of town, dining with a wealthy supporter of the temple. 

The party moves down to the second floor.  Lucky chooses to use the Medallion they obtained and is transformed into a halfling-sized spider.  He gets down to the second floor without being killed by Mila and managed to keep control of his mind, unsure what might have happened if he had lost control.  However, he does have the ability to climb walls like a spider and the effect does wear off in about one minute.  John quickly discovers the secret doors, which are obvious to him in comparison to the well-crafted portals he became familiar with in the Elven communities in the Moon Forest. 

They find a shaft that opens into a vestibule of sorts and they defeat a pair of guards stationed there.  They discover a cult.  Sid skulks about without tripping any alarms and sees a huge, aquatic horror chained at the front of the room.  A human is leading a congregation of forty to one hundred followers in a service spoken in a hissing, sibilant, inhuman language. 

Being right under the Temple of Tyche, this cult distresses them considerably and they decide to act immediately.  With the assistance of two temple priests, Kim and Ty, as well as a bouncer and a couple of thugs John scraped up from the casino, they launch two pronged assault on the sub level.  Having learned from Ty that it was a smuggler's hideout, they glean from a text that there is a dockside entrance and a ladder under the front of the Lucky Penny's main entrance. 

The party attacked in two prongs.  Magnus, John, Kim, a bouncer, and one thug will approach from the congregation side to distract and stop the followers from escaping.  Lucky, Sid, Mila, Ty, and one thug will attack from the dockside entrance, hopefully flanking the priest and his foul creature. 

Things work out well for our heroes.  The priest turns out to be a lot tougher than expected, but thanks to Mila's Ring of Spell Turning and Sid's and Lucky's racial resistance to magic, they manage to hold their own.  Magnus' force successfully engages the minions and, with the help of a countersong from John and a few raps to thick skulls, they manage to shake a good number from the hold of the priest.  One of them is Alex. 

The priest continues to try to cast spells to no good effect, although Ty is Held.  The beast begins devouring minions that stray close enough.  Some followers actually embrace the beast's hunger with crazed screams of worthiness, seemingly glad to have the opportunity to be eaten by it.  It has snapped two of the four chains holding it, but it is pausing to devour the mindless followers. 

Mila managed to break the lines of the priest's guards and engage him, with the help of a spell from Lucky that held some of them, but she was quickly surrounded and fell, but not before almost killing the priest.  Sid, meanwhile has been attacking the beast, along with Lucky.  Sid and Lucky turn their attentions to the priest and from the throng Jake appears and begins beating the priest with a brass candlestick.  They manage to down the priest, but now the beast is almost free of its bonds, although slightly wounded by Sid and Lucky. 

The party scrambles to regroup for what may be a very dangerous battle, with most of their magic spent and Mila down.  Suddenly Alex becomes lucid, breaks off from the crowd and launches a lightning bolt at the creature, felling it.  The city guard soon shows up, but they do not try to stop our heroes from doing as they will with the bodies.  Recognizing Magnus as a pupil of a member of the Octagon, the trio of priests of Tyche, and the fact that they are under the Temple of Tyche, the guards that show up feel they have little to complain about. 

Soon it is established that the group has done the city a service and the guard puts themselves at the temple's disposal to assist with immediate cleanup duties.  The group loots the body of the priest to find some items which, between Magnus' magic and John's knowledge of lore, are identified as: 

• Philters of Persuasiveness (two potions): these will make the imbiber more charismatic and make their suggestions magically more effective. One was given to Mila and the other to Sid.  John was offered one, but felt his comrades needed it more, in light of his own natural charm.
• Ring of Protection +1.  This was given to John.
• Cloak of the Manta Ray: this cloak, when reasonably immersed in salt water, will confer the abilities of a huge manta ray on the wearer, to include 18 m/round swimming movement and a stinger that does damage similar to a short sword.  The senses remain those of the wearer, which can be problematic in dark waters.  Anyone viewing the wearer when the cloak is active is 90% likely to see them as a manta ray.  Magnus was given this.
• Footman's Mace +1.  Lucky took this, being the only one skilled in its use.
• Ring of Spell Turning (unknown charges).  Mila took this one and gave the other such ring, now having one charge, to Magnus.

Dark Tide: Act I

The month of Juno comes and goes.  Magnus and Lucky manage to pierce the shadowy veil that allows them to access more powerful magics.  Lucky, Magnus, and John uncover information that suggests a grotto up the coast to the north may be worth investigating, variously hearing reports of a snake cult to the north as well as some strange cult housed in a grotto anywhere from three to eight kilometers up the coast, depending on which tale you believe. 

Alex, having agreed to examine Lucky's Medallion further, returns it.  He reports the following about it: 

• Alex dubs it the Medallion of the Spider.  There are three ways to use it:
• Say "Bes" - you gain the power to Spider Climb for about a minute.
• Say "Pat" - you gain the power to Jump for about a minute.
• Say "Bespat" - you transform into a spider and have both Spider Climb and Jump abilities.  Alex did not scry this, but what learned this from Lucky's reports.  What he did sense seemed to reinforce the notion, i.e. it would probably be impossible to guess a priori.
• Each power can be used but once per day, as far as he can tell, but he is not certain.  He suspects there is something else about the medallion, but is unsure.  Probably some way to use it more often during a given day.

Julian 8: The expedition was mounted without difficulty and they were soon underway.  The first grotto found north of Seahaven turned out to be eleven kilometers north.  The Fate dropped anchor and our heroes boarded a long boat, manned by Cecil, one of the more courageous, strong, and skilled sailors on board.  The group rowed to the grotto.  Just inside, the floor rose up from the water and they beached the boat, instructing Cecil to stand by at the boat, ready to leave.  Our heroes moved east down a dark, twisting shaft for a few score meters before reaching a four-way intersection.  They withdrew a short distance and Sid moved forward to scout ahead down the north tunnel. 

He discovered other branches and twists, including sharp narrowing that he chose not to squeeze past, as well as a cave that contained some old human bones.  As he was investigating, he heard the sound of metal and wood scraping briefly ahead of him.  He withdrew to the party to report.  He then moved slightly down the east branch., only to turn around at the sound of wet, squishy footsteps approaching.  The party spread out around the intersection and soon there were a little over a half dozen humanoid creatures visible dimly at the farthest reaches of Sid's Infravision.  Magnus and Sid had retreated a few meters back down the west branch, in the direction of the boat.  Mila had moved slightly into the north branch, in the direction of the scraping sound Sid had heard.  Lucky and John ducked down the south passage, which was unexplored as of yet.  One of the creatures stopped as if seeing something in Sid's direction and the group clustered and conversed in a hissing, gurgling, inhuman language. 

Down the northern shaft, Mila heard footsteps as well.  She leapt into action, charging down the hall, but unfortunately, the creatures were ready for her and she was almost killed by a spears set to receive her charge.  The other creatures, as well as most of the party, were surprised by this and the battle moved jerkingly into motion.  John and Lucky dispatched their foes quickly with the aid of Lucky's Hold Person and John's magical sleep powder.  A few beasts charged toward Sid and Magnus, who failed to stop the onslaught with missed arrows and a weak Sleep spell, respectively. 

John charged forward to assist Mila wihle she executed a fighting withdrawal.  Lucky moved into the intersection after a quick flurry of coup de grace strokes of his mace to send the Held beasts on their way to oblivion.  Sid and Magnus continued to exchange blows with their opponents, with neither side scoring a hit. 

John fired of a Sleep spell and, with a few good strokes from Mila's blades, her foes were no more.  The party dispatched the remaining creatures fighting Sid and Magnus as more streamed down the corridors to attack them.  Free of immediate foes to distract him and seeing that his comrades were safely clustered in the shaft leading back to the boat, Magnus hastily called upon one of his new spells to call forth a cloud of an overwhelmingly putrid stench. 

The foul, bilious, green vapors spewed out, filling the intersection of the cave mouth.  Lucky managed to barely move out of the path of the advancing cloud.  Our heroes managed to dispatch the remaining few creatures and make a hasty withdrawal to the boat in which Cecil was waiting.  A skilled boatsman, he rowed out to the ship briskly. 

The response of the beasts seemed to be delayed longer than the lifetime of the magic, putrid nebula Magnus summoned.  After a few minutes, the boat was about 1000 meters from the cave, but still another 500 or so meters from the ship.  The party began to breathe a sigh of relief, when they noticed motion at the cave mouth.  They heard a few splashes, then a long succession of splashes as a multitude of creatures leapt into the dark waters. 

Cecil continued rowing as fast as possible, his skilled strokes making the boat cut through the water swiftly, but the creatures were remarkably fast.  They swam with a speed that exceeded that of Magnus when using his magical Cloak of the Manta Ray.  The dark undulating wave moved towards our heroes, at least fifty of the creatures.  In light of how much of a threat a dozen of the beasts were, things seemed dire for our heroes. 

Greek fire was launched from the Fate, as the crew responded to calls for aid from our heroes.  The wave of creatures submerged, with only an occasional fin or back appearing at random.  As our heroes clambered up rope ladders that were raised as soon as they exited the small craft, the tiny boat was swarmed by the beasts and torn asunder.  Before the foul things could launch spears into the backs of our brave quintet, the crew set the boat ablaze with burning pitch, sending the monsters back into the dark water, screaming inhumanly in protest. 

The crew was skilled and brave, but the number of creatures attacking was too great.  Soon, the decks were awash in the chaos of battle.  Fortunately, the priests from the Lucky Penny were on hand, but it was still a pitched battle.  An initial volley of the ship's ballista downed a few of the aquatic horrors, but soon a dark wave swept forth to engage the crewmen. 

Half a dozen men fell quickly and the crew's lines broke.  Mila charged forth to hold the line and sight of her was soon lost as a wave of beasts surrounded her.  Our other heroes did what they could, Lucky using his sling to deadly effect from the netting of the masts, alongside the crew's archers, Magnus and Sid helping bolster the lines of melee, and John whipping the crew into high spirits to better repel the foul tide. 

The battle raged on and soon Mila was once again visible among a pile of bodies, crew and beast alike, and she was visibly fatigued and wounded.  She stood with the line, keeping the horrors at bay while the temple priests called on Tyche's aid.  John's music, now less effective in the din of the prolonged battle, ceased and he joined the fray, trying to help Mila.  Lucky and Sid had managed to keep the masts clear, although they had a few close calls with spears [read lost a few hit points].  Magnus had the good fortune to have joined a rank composed mostly of priests rather than sailors and his line was holding with little difficulty in stark opposition to the remainder of the ship. 

However, the tide of battle had turned, the vile beasts withdrew, letting loose one last deadly volley with their spears.  John narrowly avoided getting wounded, but Mila was not as lucky and fell back, a spear firmly lodged in her chest.  Fortunately, with so many priests on board gifted with healing magics, she and other badly wounded crew were saved.  Ten were beyond healing, seven sailors and three priests. 

As the few creatures melted back into the dark ocean waters, the call was already given to make way and head back to Seahaven.  Once the healing had been finished our heroes and the head priests of the Temple of Tyche sat down alongside the bed of the now-groggy Mila, who was settled comfortably in the Captain's Cabin, and plans were hatched to deal with this dark threat. 

The party's investigations

Magnus speaks with his mentor Timotaeus about the events and his intention to investigate and resolve the situation.  Timotaeus responds: 

"Well, it sounds like you are keeping yourself busy in a productive fashion, in a civil sense, that is.  I have had the fortune to not have had any battles with beasts from the deep.  I have repelled a pirate ship or two, but nothing so exotic as you describe.  Most of my young foolishness was spent lurking about in dungeons and tombs, seeking items or trying to stop others from acquiring them. 

"At this point, I am not convinced of a real threat to this city.  I do remember a story of a peaceful tribe of sea-dwellers that cut off their relations with humanity in a very bloody fashion, but they were never heard of again.  I fear that you and your fellows are ill-equipped for an ocean-going expedition if it should come to that.  Your training has a long way to go first. 

"As for lizard folk, I have only dealt with ones that had a diet primarily composed of human and demihuman flesh, so most of my dealings with them have been brutal and violent.  I wish your friends good luck, for I fear they may need it. 

I encourage you to follow through with your plans to check our library.  It is the wisest course of action, right now.  What you need most is information.

Magnus inquires with the Octagon's librarian about octagon member(s) which specialize in ocean flora/fauna or which may have had similar encounters: 

The librarian, Erat, brushes a piece of lint of his robe, looks off in the distance and then shakes his clean-shaven pate.  "Hmm . . . no.  The Octagon's members are traditionally only sagacious with regard to magic and things magical.  There are a few texts of members and colleagues that have had aquatic travels of a sort, let me see . . ."  He helps Magnus find a large number of books, from which he gleans some information

Small bits of trivia on various sea-related legends of creatures that dwell in the sea.  Most revolve around large snakes, dragons, turtles.  Some speak of humanoid races beneath the sea, but mostly revolve around passing references to mermaids and mermen.  Focusing for the moment on trying to find information on things like the creatures our heroes face, he finds some other tidbits of information.

"The villagers warned us of the Merrogri, aquatic creatures that lived nearby in a lake.  They were reputedly fierce and deadly, but usually hunted in small packs.  The villagers do not know of any legends of spell users among the Merrogri, but they claim that the creatures have a magical ability to ambush victims."

Bar patron "They eat people, that's all they do, nothing else." 

Fisherman "Don't they eat people?"

Trader "I believe they sold some mineral rights to their land." 

Trader "Hmm, don't they usually eat people?" 

Trader "I am not aware of any goods they would have to trade, unless they traded goods they took from raids . . ."

Amidst one tome on ancient religions, Lucky finds: 

"One example of ancient monotheism is rumored to have existed among a mythical race of frog men.  They viewed the Sea as some maternal goddess to the exclusion of other deities.  The race is believed to be extinct now, having been driven out of existence with constant wars with all other sentient beings.  Their belief system apparently included human sacrifice, among other dark practices."

"One clear example of animism is rumored to exist among the Soggin, the so-called 'sea devils'.  They reputedly worship a shark deity.  However, their belief system is peculiar.  Apparently, their Shark deity, Ssekkolah, is considered a greater being, whereas sharks are simply viewed as companions.  So one would not expect a Soggin to bow reverently to a shark.  Given the rapacious nature of the Soggin, this is not surprising.  Interestingly, some rumors abound that the priests can attract a shark friend, not unlike the Rangers of the Bloodthorn League, which have an uncanny ability to befriend animals of the forest.  The Soggin are rumored to practice human-sacrifice.  Such a rumor is believable in light of the apparent pleasure they take in killing humans and demihumans alike."

A heavily scarred thug laughs as he talks to his partner, "Yeah she was pretty ugly, but even ugly people's gots dere uses. Ya know, Ramsgate, about seven miles norf a 'ere is a pretty strange little burg.  You can make easy money in slaving.  Dere's dese mates what will gif ya real good money for even da scrawniest and ugliest folks." 

At Black Jack's fighting pit two fellows are in a one-upping contest on who has seen the most memorable fight: "Thar wuz this one lad, a lizard man no less.  He slit this fella's gillet and then ate out his heart.  Aye lad, his heart!" 

A drunken lush, while not hitting on Mila, confesses: "Thith thmuggler fella wath attacked by fithmen jutht north a here. <sip> Big fithy fellas, they killed every latht manjack on board.  It wath horrible, tho I hear.  Thum kid thtowed away in tha cargo <hic> he wath the one whut told me.  Tho, baby, how's about you and me  . . . <wink wink> you know . . . 

The bartender serving the lush: "Hmm?  Oh yeah, little Scotty is the boy he's talking about.  A smart, quick lad.  I felt sorry for him and gave him a job cleaning up around here.  He's a good lad, ya know. 

Scotty "I didn't see much mister . . . um . . . ma'am.  There was all this fighting and screaming and blood everywhere." He pauses, visibly trying to contain his emotions.  "I wuz gonna jump outta the porthole, but there wuz a coupla them fish devils swimming in the water.  Then I hear this weird horn sound and they jump up and attack the ship too.  I almost made a break for the ocean when I saw more of dese fish devilsswimming besides sharks all chummy like, just below the surface.  I ain't never going out on the ocean again, never!"  He turns to once again wrestle with his emotions, but apparently fails, as he rushes off, saying "I got chores to do ma'am." The quiet, jerking sounds of sobs can be heard from him as he leaves.

"We have managed to make contact with a tribe of fish people, the Hokuta.  They were very leery at first and some of our party was killed in a misunderstanding.  I have managed to establish communications and they have allowed me on a brief tour of their community.  I spoke with a priest of theirs for some time.  They are quite a beautiful people.  They have such clean and simple desires, and their arts & crafts are a wonder to behold.  I was unable to establish any type of alliance with them, however, although I suspect they might allow further, cautious communications with our church.  Some aspects of our faith appealed to their priest.  I suspect the priest is the one that granted my access to their community.  He mentioned something cryptic about a messenger of Eadro, their one and only deity." 

A map in the journal shows the location of the community to be south of Seahaven, on the coast.

 He demands politely to see Lucky and "whomever is in charge here."  When Lucky and Joseph arrive, he bows deeply, whipping his cloak behind him, and gives Joseph a pouch and says "To continue your good works."  He then gives Lucky a pouch, saying, "To reward the courage and altruism of your brave party."  He does not allow time for the two priests to examine the pouches and they realize that they are expected to wait for some lofty soliloquy.  The nobleman speaks "Your brave actions have benefited this city, but moreso, the House of Sabre.  The heir to the house was among the victims kidnapped.  A number of heirlooms were liberated by him under the fog of enchantment that foul excuse for a priest placed upon him.  Your group's insistence that the spoils of the cult be returned to them and the rest divided among them has greatly impressed the House of Sabre. 

"My lord has insured that the other merchants in the guild recognize your party's endeavors.  Additionally, we have spoken to the city leaders.  We have decided to reward you with this.  We believe that your party's continued success is in our best interests and we wish to endorse such civil-minded behavior in our more adventurous citizens and visitors, alike.  I leave it to you to evenly divide this money among you and your companions.  Lord Sabre will be somewhat displeased if you do not keep this, though he wishes to convey it is yours to do with as you wish.  Your party's deeds were noble, and hence you will be considered noble guests if you should visit the House of Sabre.  Good day my good priests."  He spins on a heel with a flourish of his cloak and strides out of the room, tossing a handful of coins into the donation box as he leaves. 

Joseph hefts the pouch questioningly, wondering why it feels so light.  He opens it and empties it partially into his hand.  His expression turns to surprise as he sees gems of all types fill his palm.  "Goodness, there must be thousands of coins worth of gems here." 

Lucky similarly finds his pouch to be full of gems of varying shapes, sizes and types, including some pearls.  Lucky isn't sure at first glance, but he guesses the pouch contains about . . . one heck of a lot of gems!  [Lucky will be e-mailed the total value . . . ]

"We were just attacked by the vile devils of the sea, the Zawa Keen.  A few of our men were killed, but I managed to form them into a solid line and used various magics to kill off the beasts.  I expect they will trouble us no further, but to make certain, I am calling upon the wind to move our vessel faster.  I have few spells left at my disposal.  I will try to rest now. 

"They attacked again.  The numbers were far greater as the creatures swarmed from all sides.  By the time I had reached the deck, a full fourth of the crew had been tossed overboard and I was forced to use a ball of fire to repel the attack.  We have lost one mast and are pushing on hard to escape their reach.  We should reach Seahaven soon." 

The journal ends there.

"We came upon a large lair of strange fish men.  I later learned that they were called 'Chootoe' or something of that sort.  They were vicious, vile beings.  They attacked on sight and seemed to despise anything not themselves.  The lair was vast and our hardy group was almost decimated many times, but we managed to survive, Tyche be praised. 

"Most noteworthy was the presence of skills of skullduggery and priestly magic among them.  If we had been forced into facing the entire lair at once, we would most certainly have perished.  Some of our brethren in the underdark explained that one great failing among the creatures is a certain mental instability that compromises their cooperation and infrastructure.  They have beautiful, phosphorescent kelp and fungi gardens.  Seeing the large, vicious beasts placidly tending the fields amid the soft glow presents a stark contrast to their wicked nature."

"I have just recently acquired writing materials from my benefactors.  I have lost my traveling spell books, but I was able to remember how to magically communicate with others.  They are a fascinating race, these Hokati.  They look like large, humanoid fish beings.  They dwell in the coastal waters here.  I am not sure which direction I have been taken, but I am probably on an island coast or the coastline south of Seahaven.  The people keep to themselves, unsure how to react to me. 

One of their wise men tells of a breaking off of relations with land dwellers after numerous betrayals.  The trade arrangement was broken off violently and in a very bloody manner.  I have seen these people repel one small raiding party and I would not want to be on the receiving end of their spears.  I am uncertain who was the real culprit, honestly, as I am uncertain about their belief system.  They have had some uneasy alliance with a nearby colony of people that they refer to as the Ssikar.  Unfortunately, they plan to take me to Seahaven now, and they insist that I agree to be drugged into unconsciousness.  How I would love to spend more time here and catalog the amazing objects they can craft."

Timotaeus offers something about Balgon: 

"Hmm, he left the Octagon about ten years ago, shortly before I took up residence here.  He ventured out beyond the colonies, I believe to set up a place of residence and conduct his own research, free of the demands of the Octagon."

"They're pretty fierce critters, but not too tactical, unless of course they got their collective back to the wall.  Then they use traps, hit-and-run tactics, and all kinds of nasty tactics to survive.  When I fought some, our whole unit attacked them like madmen, we didn't want to be eaten by them.  A couple of our guys did fall, though, and one of the . . . things actually stopped fighting to take a few bites out of him!  Well, that cinched it.  We burned out their whole stinking lair.  It was a nasty two weeks slogging through the swamps, but we got every last one of them buggers, but good."

"Oh my, you're one of the young fellows that helped kill that dastardly mage aren't you?  My you are cute." 

"Thank you milady, but you said you have seen the lizard folk?" 

"Oh yes, eerie people, hissing and slinking about.  They seemed nice enough, in their own, inhuman, savage way.  Chroghari with scales, but a little less warlike, if you ask me.  But enough about them, let's talk about . . ."  She strikes up bedroom eyes and spends the rest of her time trying to seduce Magnus.

More composed and serious, Scotty offers Mila some information, after somehow managing to track her down.  "Ma'am?  There was one other thing I remember, some of those fish devils on the sharks rose up through the surface.  They wuz chanting 'Shecola' or something.  I think they was priests or magicians or something.  That's all I gotta say, I don't really like talking about it much.  I hope you is working to kill those bastards."  He shuffles off.

John heads straight for his companions, taking a seat and a deep breath before starting.  Sid sits down just as john begins to recount his tale.  "Well, friends, we learned some, but less than we had hoped.  There is a town north of here, Ramsgate, where people tend to go missing more often than in most places.  The other communities were not very informative.  We did discover that a small fishing community had essentially vanished from the coast, but it was about ten years ago. 

"One seemingly unbalanced individual seemed to recall seeing our foes, but he described two varieties, one that matched our descriptions, even down to the blackish green coloration, and a second type that seemed somewhat different.  He had only seen a body of the second type.  While taking shelter in an old mine, he noticed a strong smell of dead fish and followed it to find a large, grey,  dead body of a fish-like man.  This creature lacked the claws and the rows of fangs that creatures we encountered did, though they both had webbed hands and feet.  From what he said, it also sounds like the second variety lack the black fins like the ones that we encountered. 

"An older fisherman yielded something interesting after I interrogated him with my favorite tactic . . . getting him stinking drunk.  He confessed to having witnessed an attack of these gray fish men upon a caravan.  They attacked without warning and dragged every survivor back into a cave they had emerged from in the hill.  Strangely, the old man is convinced the hill was no where near the coastline, rather, he claims it was a few miles inland. 

"We made contact with the lizard folk.  It was an unsettling encounter.  They are trading peacefully with their neighbors presently, but they have a rather repugnant custom of eating their slain foes.  There were skulls everywhere and they had a strange aloofness to them that made me feel an awful lot like food.  I am unsure what to say as to their involvement.  They claim not to be at war and from what Sid could find from his scouting forays, they are only really equipped for hunting.  Their numbers seemed appropriate for the number of buildings present, so I doubt they were the ones we attacked, unless they have hidden homes elsewhere.  I had hoped to arrange some alliance with them, but that seems highly unlikely.  A lot of them are itching for conflict.  Luckily, the local communities hire them out to patrol the area and keep it clear of monsters, a very real problem north of here where the lands are apparently still quite untamed. 

"Sid and I masqueraded as vicious thugs and managed to setup a sting of sorts for some slavers, but we had to spring it too soon to prevent one of the captives from being killed.  Sid  fought admirably and I gained a new appreciation for the little magic I know.  Sid and I  . . . convinced one of the thugs to tell us where the meet was to take place.  We dressed up some of the thugs as farmers and bound and gagged them.  We went to the cliff side where the meet was to occur.  Then, when the 'buyers' arrived, bedecked in long, hooded cloaks, we attacked.  They turned out to be humans!  The thugs tried to take advantage of the confusion and fell upon us.  We tried to subdue them, but the size of the opposing force was large enough that we did not have the luxury to knock them all out bloodlessly.  The one we did manage to subdue fell on his own dagger and the others that we tried to capture leapt off the cliff.  However, all was not lost,  on the remaining martyr we found this."  He pulls something out of a pouch and slides it to the center of the table.  The briny stench of it is noticeable and there is a small bloodstain on the thong that would hold about one's neck.  It is the same coral and shark tooth medallion that Jake had.  Interesting is it not?" 

Sid finishes his fourth drink, saying "Ah, not a single decent tavern north of this damn place.  Well, anyway, things were getting a little too hot there, as people started to recognize us and take notice of our presence.  So, we figured we had done all we could and would just hurt our cause if we hung around any longer.  Not to mention that I could not stomach another backwater bumpkin too-tall offering me a 'small beer' and rolling around laughing like some fool baboon!  Small, large, or otherwise, I would not grace any of their dishwater brews with the title 'beer' anyway.  They would not know a decent brewing apparatus if it slapped them in the face.  Oh, but I do miss Herr Mueller's hospitality."

Dark Tide: Act II

• Hokati: not the creatures they fought, possibly 'good' creatures.
• Soggin: probably the creatures they encountered.  They worship a shark deity and are quite evil.
• The creature from the cult is not a Soggin, it maybe a Chootoe.
• Slavers from Ramsgate are apparently selling people to robed figures that have the same symbols as the cult members our heroes vanquished in Seahaven.
• Temple of Osiris: the body of the evil priest was in fact still human when they cremated it the day after they received it.  The ashes were scattered over the ocean.

• "Frog men" or "Chootoay": the body of the creature from the cult under the Lucky Penny.  It is probably sensitive to light and somewhat resistant to electrical damage.  In light of Alex's Lightning Bolt killing the creature, the resistance is clearly not complete.  The creature from the cult is the only one of its kind the guild has seen.  They appear to be amphibian, freshwater beings.  The size of the brain suggests intelligence.  Their bodies have a gray coloration.  They appear to be omnivorous beings.
• "Fish men" or "Sea devils": the guild has not seen any of these for years, almost a decade.  They are dark green to black, with lighter colored bellies.  They have fins and are fish-like, saltwater beings.  They have teeth similar to a shark's.  Their diet appears to be primarily, if not exclusively, meat.  They are probably sensitive to light.

Within a few hours, they reach the site that John and Sid described encountering the other robed figures that tried to buy the "slaves" from them.  Once there, they discover a slope that travels down the cliff face, which Lucky explores, still Invisible.  He finds the same pair of figures, now a few hundred yards behind the party, still sneaking up the coast.  He also spots the shark riding fish-man.  The party escapes detection and the pair of figures move out into the water, apparently conferring with the rider.  They then walk into the sea, dropping out of sight prematurely, as if an opening or cliff was present just beneath the waters. 

The party camps and discusses strategies.  They finally  decide to masquerade as representatives of a wicked merchant from Seahaven, interested in expanding his business into slaving.  Sid offers up the name of Garth Brookes, a.k.a. "Garth the Black," one of the more powerful and wicked merchants operating out of the mighty port city. 

Magnus plans to enter the tavern in Ramsgate, the Filthy Whore, taking the guise of Samuel, an agent of Garth, accompanied by his bodyguard (Mila).  John turns himself Invisible and he and the still Invisible Lucky follow the pair as backup.  Sid stays near the rear of the tavern in sight of it and the party's gear, just inside a sparse copse of trees.  Magnus quaffed one of the Philters of Persuasiveness and they begin implementing the plan. 

Magnus and Mila were soon talking to Pete (they don't learn his name until later), who described himself as the head slaver, and his six guards.  Magnus notices something in the corner behind him, but continues to talk to Pete about the fictitious business proposition.  At some point, Magnus decides things have soured and fires off a Color Spray into the corner where he believes someone is waiting to strike.  Within seconds, Lucky had Held three of the guards, John had Slept two via his sleep powder, and the sixth had surrendered.  The mysterious character had disappeared from the corner, after failing to Sleep Magnus, thanks to his half-elven blood.  Magnus did get a good glimpse of the man and identified him as a human in a dark cloak and leather armor before he vanished from the room.  Unfortunately, Pete was Invisible and had left the room via a window while the party was engaging the others. 

[Warning to all you grammar fiends, I am switching tenses at will because I am too lazy to edit the e-mail stuff that follows] 

John moves to the window sill and makes a gesture with his arm, which the Magnus and Lucky figure is an attempt to dispersing another dose of the sleep dust. to stop the fleeing Pete. 

Lucky assesses the situation, and steps close to Magnus and mutters to him, "Magnus, use the magic power of that potion to get that invisible guy to come back inside and talk this over." 

The remaining guard tries to listen in but is foiled by Mila as she steps towards him, her weapons lowered, saying "We came here to talk not to fight. Help me put your friends on the couch."  The guard looks back and forth between her and the others, clearly confused.  Mila waits, not sure what the guard is going to do and not wanting to spook him. 

Magnus processes Lucky's comment and seemingly quickly agrees with it as a good course of action as he rushes to the window sill and says loudly, "Come back! It's all a misunderstanding!" 

The guard in front of Mila answers her suddenly "Huh, must just be a misunderstanding."  Then he seems to do as Mila asked. 

Magnus listens intently, the blood pulsing in his ears a deafening distraction.  After what seems like an eternity, he hears someone moving up the wall.  Magnus glances down and notices subtle handholds strategically placed in the wall.  Magnus spies Sid off in the distance, standing over a fallen body equipped much like the person that was 
standing in the corner . . . 

"Excuse me" is heard and Magnus backs up.  Lucky spied outside to find no one in the raucous bar has responded, although it does occur to him that the two door guards are not visible and that might raise an eyebrow inevitably.  He leaves the door slightly ajar so that approaching people might be heard. 

Soon, the guards are sitting on the couches, the "head guy" is invisible but seated behind his desk, and the party is trying their level best to look calm and collected. 

The fellow slowly fades back into view as whatever magic he used goes away.  He looks *very* wary and suspicious, fleeting glimpses of glossy-eyed submission to the potion are barely noticeable. 

"Misunderstanding huh?  Yeah, that happens.  At least no one's dead. So, why the hell did you jump Shade?  Better yet, how'd you even know he was there?  And when did Garth start hiring mages to do errands?  BTW, 
my name's Pete, what's yours?"  He gestures to the group, waiting for your response. 

Magnus suggests that two of the guards go back outside and guard the door as usual.  Lucky keeps the door slightly ajar, listening and watching through the crack in the door to make sure they don't run off and/or so he can hear/see any funny business.  Over the din of the tavern, it is *very* unlikely that anyone outside the door 
would hear normal conversation inside. 

John moves to the window sill to see what is going on with Sid and looks as if he is about to leap out.  Magnus stops him and points out the concealed handholds on the outside of the wall, which John uses.  John moves over to Sid and they come back to the area beneath the window, holding the body of the fellow.  John re-enters the room, with Sid and the body remaining outside so as not to spook anyone inside. 

John seems worried about something and calls Magnus over to the window sill.  Magnus sees that the body appears to be equipped exactly  the same as the fellow that was in the corner, except instead of a human, he 
sees a Dark Elf.  He communicates this quietly to Lucky and Mila. John stays by the window to obstruct any attempt by the head guy to look out and possibly blow the suggestions Magnus is using. 

(Where did the body come from?  When the fellow, Shade, vanished from the room, he appeared outside, from the shadows of the bar.  Sid saw the signs of battle in the room just before he appeared, making him suspicious.  When the fellow's facial features turned from a human's to a Dark Elf's, Sid prepared to take action.  Shade headed straight for Sid's position.  Being a skilled rogue, Sid had done a good job of covering the most likely escape routes from the tavern.  Sid hunkered down behind a barrel next to an outhouse and waited for Shade to pass.  Shade did not see him as he rounded the barrel and Sid moved forward, ramming his magical blade deep into the Dark Elf.  He dropped immediately, blood gushing forth in a torrent. [Sid used the Thief ability of "back stab" successfully and did maximum damage with his blade and a critical hit, thanks to using up his luck points.]) 

Magnus composes himself pulls up a chair in front of the couch where Pete waits for a response. Magnus sits down and addresses Pete, like a friend having a confidential meeting. 

"In our line of work, one learns never to assume anything. My training has taught me to see past the obvious and into what lurks in the shadows," Magnus begins hinting at some non-existent rogue training. 

"I had hoped to incapacitate the intruder before things got out of hand, but alas your men were on the ball. My employer *really* does not appreciate deception with potential business partners..." Magnus pauses letting the idea of teaming up with Garth the Black sink in, "and I try very hard to satisfy my employer's wishes." 

"Garth takes his business very seriously. Having mages under his command," Magnus indicates himself, "as well as other well-trained operatives," motions to Mila. "He had hoped to enter into a very lucrative arrangement with yourself, but you need to be entirely forthcoming. You see, the request that I made, although legitimate, was not my only reason for being here. He is curious about your operations and wishes to perhaps expand your trade into the Seahaven area. However, I need to know what you are obviously holding back if this business 
relationship is even going to start." 

Magnus adopts his best concerned-friend-trying-to-help face. "So, why don't you explain again what is going on here?  By the way, you can call me Samuel." 

Pete looks slyly at Magnus as he talks about 'our line of work', but his suspicions slowly erode visibly as momentary flashes of slackness in his expression clue Magnus in that the potion is having an effect. 

He continues with an interested look which is masked reflexively when you begin talking about plans of expansion of Pete's business.  Not surprising as he is simply not wanting to look to eager. 

"Yeah, Mages make pretty good operatives, especially when they are good at . . . other things, like Shade.  Sound like Garth has got some serious clout.  I mean I knew he had some pull, but if he's got Mages working for him, then maybe he's the man to hook up with.  Actually, I have been working on and off with people from Seahaven.  Some jokers from there were supposed to handle a transaction for me the other night, but I haven't heard from them since.  If I guess correctly, the bastards probably tried to renegotiate once they got there." [The "jokers" are the slavers that John and Sid foiled and then were killed in self-defense] 

He gives a nodding, sideways, just-between-you-and-me look, but continues talking loud enough for everyone to hear, "I'm telling you right now, you do *not* want to do that.  It's bad business and it's dangerous with these particular customers.  That's why I usually use the out-of-town guys for those jobs usually.  They help me weed out the riff raff from the professionals.  There may not be much honor among thieves, but I if I keep this racket up for long, there'll be a hell of a lot more of it." 

He shrugs, "Of course, there's gonna be a lot less slavers too.  But you gotta break a few eggs to make breakfast."  He starts laughing as he talks and nudging Magnus "And as long as it ain't one of my eggs, break away!" 

"As for Shade, don't worry about him, he comes and goes whenever he pleases and I am sure he can take care of himself.  He's been brokering my deals with my current major buyer.  He's a strange customer.  He must have grown up a *long* way from here, because he talks kinda strange and seems to have this real thing for darkness.  Hey, different strokes, right?  Besides, he ain't wanna my eggs, if ya know what I mean.  I think maybe he is a free agent." 

"Ya know, I may be going out on a limb here, but I really like you friend.  There's just something about you.  Hey, I don't wanna be your bitch or anything," he guffaws, "but you seem like a real straight shooter and I wouldn't mind making Garth happy too, so I am gonna let you in on some of the details of our little operation." 

He grabs some pieces from a backgammon board and uses the small coffee table as a prop.  "OK, here's the coastline." He gestures to a long edge of the table.  There are three main places I do business with my current 
major client.  "Here, here, and here."  He grabs an inkwell and plops it down.  "This is Ramsgate." 

The party quickly surmises that they were near the central site, and that the other sites are probably about one kilometer north and south of that site.  We make trades every Tiusday [no, this is not a misspelling], rotating through the sites, 1, 2, and 3."  He refers to the sites in order from south to north.  "This Tiusday, we will be making a drop at site 3.  It's about 1 click north of site 2 which is almost directly west of here.  Site 2 is near a large path down to the coast.  Site 1 is near a shallow, low spot in the cliffs, and site 3 is near a really big boulder." 

John catches Magnus' eye and signals that he knows all three of the locations Pete speaks of. 

"Actually, I sort of work out of Seahaven already, in a sense.  I get most of my stock from there.  There's a lot of hard luck cases there.   They are starving on the streets, selling their bodies, getting mutilated in the fighting pits, whatever.  Slavery is real step up for most of them.  I ain't seen them after we sell them, but Shade gives his word that they do not suffer.  It sounds like they work for a temple of some sort.  Shade says he represents a group of believers that were forced underground by others.  He says they are trying to rebuild a life for themselves and that they need the slaves to reach their goals.  Whatever.  I don't pretend to be no Paladin or nothing.  I like to think 
that I am helping people help each other, even if one of those people gets helped a lot more than the other."  He laughs and nudges Magnus again. 

"But I don't kill people that don't force my hand and I don't deal in drugs.  So you and Garth can be pretty sure I ain't gonna go off half-cocked and whack some poor schmuck cause he spilled a drink on me."  He waits for Magnus to respond.

Dark Tide: Act III

• Shade was equipped with a magical cloak, magical armor, a magical blade and a medallion, on it a symbol of a large spider with a a dark-skinned woman's head.
• Lucky explains that he knows of the Dark Elves and that the medallion is the symbol of their deity, who is a actually a demon.
• Timotaeus informs Magnus that they are probably dealing with a race of frog-men from the Underdark, called "Kuo-Toa."  They have priests, fighters, and rogues among them.  Additionally, some of them are remarkably well trained in unarmed combat.  These latter types police the rest of the Kuo-Toa, which apparently are given to going insane, the side effect of generations of inbreeding.  Tim explains that the inbreeding was a survival technique, as the race was driven to the brink of extinction by the other surface-dwelling races many ages ago.  He further explains that he believes the threat is minimal, that if the Kuo-Toa were present in large numbers, they would not waste time masquerading as slavers.
• As a last comment, Tim suddenly remembers that Ramsgate is built atop an underground lake.
• Timotaeus identifies the magic items:
• Dagger - the blade absorbs light; it has the ability to suck some essence from it's victims and give it to the wielder, perhaps their soul or some fraction of it?  Magnus agrees to let the blade be confiscated by Timotaeus and kept in the vault that only the Eight (the head mages of the Octagon) have access to.
• Cloak of the Shadows - this cloak greatly enhances ones ability to hide in shadows of any kind, rendering effective invisibility if the wearer is motionless.  It also allows some form of limited travel between areas of shadow.  This latter ability is unusual and could not be well discerned, but it will probably only work as a weak form of teleportation, allowing the user to travel from one area of shadow to another.  It is probably highly dependent on the wearer's familiarity with the destination and will likely not work over great distances.  It can only be worn by tall members of the short races, or short elves.  Given to Sid
• Leather Armor - it is of fine craftsmanship and above average enchantment [+2].  Given to John, who gave up his Ring of Protection to Mila, so it might be better used by the party.
• Sid hears a rumor that street bums are being abducted and sold as slaves south of Seahaven.

The meet comes and Magnus fails to convince Pete to take any action.  The party wallows in doubt as the robed figure addressing them speak in perfect common.  As more robed figures come up from the passage that was under the boulder, things become tense.  Suddenly Lucky calls upon Tyche for light and a glow as bright as day suddenly appears between the Pete et al and the robed figures.  Lucky and Magnus catch a glimpse of something  not human beneath the robes and cry an alarm.  A harpoon from one of the rear figures narrowly misses Pete and a torrent of arrows rains down upon the figures.  The battle is joined and within seconds the robed figures are dead and the boulder is back over the passage.  The group discovers they are in fact . . . Kuo-Toa. 

The party wavers slightly, but Pete surprises them all when he orders the boulder pushed out of the way and forms up his men, now including the 18 archers from the trees, to descend into the tunnel.  Our heroes, bolstered by the prospect of resolving this wickedness before it can skulk away and take root elsewhere, lead the way. 

The tunnels turn out to be light faintly by phosphorescent fungi.  Many minutes pass as they explore dead end after dead end.  Finally, they reach the cavern where the lake is.  The archers hang back and prepare to fire.  The party begins moving forward.  Soon, they see a small band of humans clearing a large cave-in which apparently has not only blocked a large entrance to this area, but also diminished the water source for the lake.  A human oversees, them spouting off words of encouragement twisted to reflect religious devotion to the Kuo-Toa.  he almost seems to refer to the leader of the Kuo-Toa as some avatar.  The Kuo-Toa are few in number, only eight guards, one large leader, and a few others helping clear the rocks.  It appears that the cave-in probably occurred many months ago. 

Pete turns our heroes and himself Invisible with a magical dust.  He explains that the dust is superior to the spells Magnus and John use in that it allows one to remain Invisible even after attacking, however, it only lasts for minutes.  The guards stop midway and the party moves forward.  Pete takes out the overseer and our heroes gang up on and kill the leader of the Kuo-Toa before it can get a warning off.  Those nearby do see it fall, however the archers begin raining down fire on the Kuo-Toa guards spurring them to rush towards the archers.  Our heroes easily dispatch the Kuo-Toa with the help of Pete's henchmen and archers. 

Suddenly, it is over.  The party explores the rest of the caves carefully, identifying a passage way that could be opened up to the Soggin lair.  Sid believes that with the proper engineering, the Soggin lair, or at least the majority of it, could be flooded with the fresh water from the lake, killing the beasts, or at least driving them out. 

Epilogue

The party nonetheless is recognized for being altruistic and selfless by the city fathers.  They are guests of honor at a feast held by the nobles of the city and given some gifts: 

• Mila receives a battle axe and bastard sword of fine craftsmanship, along with finely made scabbards/belts to hold them.  She also receives a black sable, hooded cloak.
• Magnus receives a set of four travelling spell books bound in black dragon hide, along with a water and fire resistant backpack/satchel in which to carry them.  Writing accessories accompany the books, as does a watertight ivory map case.
• Sid receives a fine set of Locksmith's tools in a sturdy water resistant storage pouch/roll.
• Lucky receives a finely wrought set of chain mail, from the mayor's personal arsenal.
• All of the party receive trained warhorses with finely made tack and harness.  Mila gets a heavy warhorse, Magnus and John get medium warhorses, and Sid and Lucky get light warhorses.