Wild:29 Bones

Starring: Brilla, Fuelwen & Splat, Nathaniel, Bo
Guest Starring: Ethyl, Deenar, "Lucenta", Cleric of Ralishaz, Chief Erclock
Challenge: Bog Hag, Dusk Hag, Dune Hag, Hagspawn, Night Hag (ran), Shrieking Hag, Earthquake trap
Location: Bone Island and vicinity
Date Played: 10 Jan 2010

🎲 DM The hags were all speaking Dwarven. The hagspawns spoke giant.

Approaching Bone Island, Rescuing Lucenta

Nathaniel: As we traveled to Bone Island, Chief Erclock of the thri-kreen approached us with a payment opportunity if we were willing to take it. One of their number was a druid who could etch a contingent spell upon our persons, as well as the rest of the crew. We unanimously agreed that this would be a wonderful payment and each of us selected a spell based upon our needs. Knowing that I cannot see the hidden as well as Brilla can, I chose to have Blindsight, greater etched onto my person, to be activated by keyword.

My companions were visited by dreams that were eerily similar and as I broached the subject Bo noticed a life raft in the distance. Deenar diverted the ship's course and we rescued a female pureblooded dwarf. Once she regained consciousness she introduced herself as Lucenta, a castaway on the dwarven ship we were seeking.

Brilla The thri-kreen came up with an interesting way to may payment to the ship for travel. Their elder shaman had the ability to scribe spells on a person that can go off when certain conditions were met.

Seeing as how our travels are dangerous and if I were to meet my end I would like it to be on my terms and take those that would have my life with me. I chose to have a flamestrike centered on myself with but a simple and secret mental utterance.

During the travels I had a dream of a magnificent beach. I hope this is what we have to look forward to on bone island. I fear this may not be the case with the name it maintains, though.

We soon came across a watery dwarven tart on a lifeboat. She showed little signs of life, but was able to be recovered by Bo. She claimed to be from the ship that we were sent out to seek. A little convenient, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Fuelwen: It's a stowaway. It admits as much. Brig it or chuck it back to sea. Of course we don't do that, so of course, this becomes a problem for us.

Lucenta

Nathaniel: It turns out that Lucenta had stowed away on board the ship to follow her love to sea. Her love is forbidden, as she is already married to an adventurer. I wanted to hear more of this romantic tale, but Bo keep coughing the word "liar". Bo fed her soup so that she could regain her strength and the cleric of Ralishaz took her to be washed. For her rescue, she offered us some booty—scrolls of Tiny Hut, Disguise Undead, and Charm Person, as well as 1,700gp.

When they returned, he was enamored with our castaway. We detected enchantment magic on him that he himself did not cast. I wished for Bo to dispel him, but sadly it seems that Bo fell for her enchantments. Bo did however cast Discern Shapechanger, revealing to us via work of art, that Lucenta was in fact a hag of some sort.

Knowing that she was a hag, and that she was enchanting members of the crew, we escorted her—peacefully—into the brig. As the days passed her enchantments faded.

Brilla: It is official; I don't like her. She is rude and ungrateful, and even had the nerve to call me fat. I know she didn't just come out and say it, but I could feel it in her words. With her bloated dwarven hips I'd be surprised if she could have fit in Rake's left-behinds.

At least she has some use on the ship. I put her to work fixing some of the old captains outfits that I could not fit into well without the use of cord and belts. She is also tending to the sails.

Her presence had a weird effect on most of the males of the crew, sans those of reptilian blood and ones with a sex drive as dead as their body. The crew seemed enamored with her and when they were checked for residue of magic, there was sign of an enchantment on them. This had to be of the doing of Lucenta. We determined the best course of action was to lock her away from the rest of the crew and hope that the affliction fades.

A storm appeared soon after we locked her up. The crew eventually rallied around the ship instead of Lucenta and we made it through safely.

Fuelwen: Next time I suggest throwing someone in the brig or overboard, perhaps someone will actually listen to me?

Rescuing Splat

Brilla: It puts marks on my ship from it's body and it reminds me of a few too many paladins I've met in the past. I doubt little good can come from this thing, but Fuelwen seems to like him, so I'll let this stand for now.

Fuelwen: Finally, the blob regained its senses. Where had it been? What had it done? What tales could it tell of the planes beyond ours? Nothing. It's a moron. A fool. Obsessed over battling some mysterious villain. Perhaps it was unwise to cart it along.

Bone Island

Nathaniel: A yellow-white, chalky desert wasteland, Bone Island certainly lives up to it's name, except for the wonderful beach we saw as we approached. Though all of us—including the crew—saw this, Brilla emphatically insisted that the beach was nasty and covered with thorns and trees. Before we could investigate the beach, there was wreckage in the water.

The wreckage turned out to be a dwarven vessel, which, to no one's surprise, isn't really made of stone. Turns out they use stone tiles to cover the wood planks. Bastards. As we explored, we were surprised to find no bodies, loot, or cargo. The only thing that we did find was some hag flesh on a broken timber, which appeared four weeks old. We also discovered smoothed boulders. I wonder where the giants bury their dead?

Bo looks up and notices that Lucenta is making her escape, and has made it to the island. She begins waving her hands—not for attention but in spellcasting. She disappears from my vision. Eventually we make our way to shore, identify her as a shrieking hag, and proceed to conduct a giant silenced pile on. I store her corpse for animating on the morrow.

Brilla: This island looks horrid. For some reason everyone say an azure blue sky and golden sands. Since I was the only one to see this I was dismissed as either being a loon or under the effect of some sort of spell.

As opposed to going to the beach first, we found the wreckage of the ship we were sent to look for. The bodies were missing, except for small bits of flesh that were stuck on the inner hull. The flesh did not appear to be that of a dwarf. Upon examination, it was that of a hag. That would explain the power that Lucenta had over the crew.

Also of note was that the ship appeared to be ravaged by boulders. Since this is not common occurrence in the ocean, we have concluded that there are giants on the island and they must have attacked the ship.

Upon leaving the wreckage we saw Lucenta on the beach waving her arms along with Bo's homunculus and our ghostly companion. She showed her true hag form and summoned a tornado to try to take us out, but it eventually hit the ship and threw the crew around. I'm glad they got enchanted with vigor before this.

After this fight we turned our attention to the rest of the island. I took some time to prove that what they were seeing was an illusion. After having to climb a tree, they eventually saw the real nightmare around them.

Fuelwen: The island appeared inviting. Brilla disagreed, and claimed that the island was a foreboding wilderness. Despite what my senses told me, I considered how things normally go for us. I favored the worst possible of all worlds.

We explored the beach, and Brilla climbed a tree that none of us saw- when she hung in the air, we believed that we were witnessing an illusion. That realization broke the spell. As we explored, we saw Lucenta making good her escape from our ship. We fought, and it did not go well. Her first blast of lightning devastated us. We fought, we survived. Lucenta was revealed as a hag, thus confirming the stories we had heard about this island.

Splat: Owie. The villain made with the electricity and BAP. And now, my little tattooy thing is gone. It was so pretty! Stupid bad guy. I hate the bad guy. At least daddy took care of the bad guy, this time. But where am I going to get another tattooy thing?

Inland

Nathaniel: Slightly further up shore is a used campground, where we spy a glint of armor and four hiding/sleeping humanoids. Some of us move in to investigate and the trap is sprung as we are attacked by more hags, with one of them in the outfit of a princess, claiming that we've rescued her while attacking Bo.

Some of the minions we skilled at backstabbing, and seeing me by myself they surrounded me. Much to their chagrin, their blades were not as effective as they would've liked. I simply smiled, saying "You've messed with the wrong person!", promptly calling Scarebear and Thanos to my side. They fell easily to my creations, save one who was teetering on the edge of life. I wound back my gauntleted fist and unleashed a punch that dropped him! Some days I daydream of having been a hunter in my village...but then, I would've died centuries ago.

As the last hag died, she screamed out "By the stars, damn you all to an obscure death!"

Brilla: As we turned our attention to the adjacent hill the group noticed some sleeping bodies and a person in armor standing at a distance. Fuelwen decided to investigate, taking the lead up to the camp.

A trap was sprung as the four bodies jumped up and attacked Fuelwen as a "princess" rand down the hill from a hag asking for help as another aquatic hag came out of the water tried to drag me in.

The fight was fierce, and even Nathaniel got directly into the mix. It sounds odd to say, but there was a certain life to his eyes afterward.

Fuelwen: A camp, on this island, is certainly a sign of a trap. Sure enough, we were beset by hagspawn. Already reeling from the last hag, this battle nearly killed me- except for the contingent spell placed upon me, I might not have survived. This was largely because of poor prioritizing on my part- I thought I could dispatch the hags, obviously the leaders, and ignore the weaker members- most of whom I could fell with one blow. But by ignoring them, I gave them license to attack my vitals. A foolish mistake.

In any case, we dispatch them. Splat proved… enthusiastic, if not useful.

Ruins (It's a Trap!!!)

Nathaniel: As we travel the island, the terrain gets more barren and has the consistency of walking on quartz. Eventually we encounter a ruined village with a well. Being experience adventurers we avoided the well, but surprisingly the trap was in the middle of the village.

Brilla: More illusions! This island is extremely weird. I found some tracks among this fake village, and we came upon a chest sitting out in the middle of the ground. Upon examining it we triggered a trap that opened fissured under our feat that swallowed up Splat and both of Nathaniel's minions. Splat and Scarebear were able to escape, though the ogre was swallowed whole.

Splat: "Melt the wooden box, Splat." Okay, right? And then BOOM. Earthquakes. Lucky thing Grandpa gave me that phantom steed. WHEEEE!

Night Time

Brilla: It was a tough day that led to a night of well deserved rest. This was not to be had. A hag was hovering over Bo during the night and appeared to be eating some white wisp that were coming from his body.

We began to fight and realized we were too tapped from the earlier combats that day. Deciding to fight another day, we ran.

For Next Time

Fuelwen:

• fought off cackle fever disease
• 2 int damage from mind fire disease
• nightmare
  • d10 damage
  • fatigued for the day
  • does not recover spells

Splat:

• 3 dex damage from filth fever disease
• 3 int damage from mind fire disease

Brilla:

• contracted but cured mind fire disease
• fought off bog rot disease

Bo:

• 1 con DRAIN from night hag

Expectations:

• giants of some sort?
• extremely cold weather?
• more hags? one cycloptic? (Please, I ask you not go looking for them!)

Rewards

Wiki Update Reward: Corrupting touch. One use of Contagion (compare to the spell) as an extraordinary special attack. Treat its caster level as your HD, and its saving throw as 10 + 1/2 HD + CONMOD. Standard action. Nathaniel, Brilla, Fuelwen

• Treasure moved to the Wild:Slush --Randy (Talk) 12:41, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Contigent Spells

• fuelwen (used)
• bo: druid 4 cure at 0
• brilla: key word flamestrike
• nathaniel: key word blindsight, greater
• splat: used
• deenar: (anti-lose-control-of-lycanthropy)
• ethyl: ?
• each member of the crew: lesser vigor (15 rounds) when below 1.