Loose threads The naiad pianist survived; a naiad queen resides within the cavern's waters; the naiad queen seems to have an undead dragon at her command
Participants Adaya, Ezekiel Laggrond, Maldor Bronzestrike, Balkan, Eli McKinney
Locations Abandoned Pirate Cove
Short summary:
The party ventured within the Abandoned Pirate Cove, fought against musical undead and the naiad, though she managed to escape. Eli followed her and discovered a more powerful naiad, a Queen, and a skeletal dragon clad in coral. We opted to not confront them given our myriad disadvantages.
Full Report
To the Cove
A notice was posted regarding an evidently-not-very-abandoned pirate's cove, mentioning that "suspicious activity beneath the waterline". There was little else intelligible to be gleaned from it. We formed our group and set off.
As we approached our destination, a storm approached rapidly. We rushed to a nearby cave Balki was familiar with, and were met with what I can only describe as a poor attempt at an undead band. While their music was undoubtedly terrible, their battle strength was quite formidable. Many sound-based attacks, in addition to more typical spells, were thrown out and were quite effective against us, all things considered. Nevertheless, with some injuries, we managed to pull through.
In the aftermath, Balki found sheet music that evidently functioned as their spellbook.
Deeper Waters
With the undead destroyed, we managed to rest in the cave overnight, safe from the storm. During Maldor's watch, early into the night, he heard the naiad singing to him, but he resisted her allure, and she eventually gave up.
The next morning, we ventured further into the caves, whereupon we found the naiad, complete with a piano, and two winged skeletons. After Eli destroyed the naiad's piano almost immediately, giving her quite the grudge to enact against him. The skeletons were a force to be reckoned with, with a mental 'screech' and powerful talons. They were ultimately dispatched before they could emit another screech, but the naiad managed to escape.
Unbeknownst to us, Eli attempted to follow the naiad, but lost her fairly quickly. At the bottom of the still lake were three twisting tunnels; he ventured through the third, arriving at what he described as a vast underwater concert hall. Towering columns of coral rose and branched out into delicate arches and balcony boxes for more important guests. The centrepiece was a brilliant white coral throne, which another naiad was sat upon – the Queen, presumably.
The pianist was already there, conversing with her, but Eli's eyes caught the mound of coral behind the throne moving. It turned out to be a large draconic skeleton clad in coral. He must have been quite lucky, as it somehow didn't notice him despite staring straight at him, and he managed to return with the information.
Based on my own recollections – though, reader, I would urge you to take this with a grain of salt, and verify the information for yourselves – the Queen would have more powerful spells than the pianist, whose spells we were already struggling to deal with. She may be weak to sonic-based attacks.
The dragon, on the other hand, I'm sure would have ripped us to shreds. I certainly wouldn't survive more than a single bite, if that. Its coral encasing may render it immune to bludgeoning attacks, which, if true, would be a highly-effective method for shoring up the weaknesses of a skeletal entity.
After thinking things through, our disadvantage was clear. We were ill-prepared for another such combat, and thus opted to return to First Landing.