On a sunny morning, around 76 years after the Sundering, where the world changed, the Weave was scarred and the Forgotten God, Vuthul, was destroyed by a group of heroes, a Spire sits in the waiting room of the office of Samson Algier. The receptionist has taken a note of her arrival, before another person enters the building. An elven woman, who takes one look at the half-galapa before walking to the other side of the room, sitting as far away from her as possible. After a few minutes, the door opens again, revealing a gnome, who happily sits next to the half-galapa, smiling at her.
The receptionist realizes that there won’t be any more applicants, so she gestures for them to follow her so they can see mister Algier about the job. All of them have found a notice on a bounty board about a potential job that will lead them to the city of Goldenworth on the Krawdoth continent. As they are about to enter the office, the front door slams open, revealing a small halfling woman with red hair, who hurriedly joins the rest, apologizing for her tardiness.
The receptionist leads them to the office, where a very well dressed and groomed middle aged human man sits behind a desk, looking over some papers. The office is filled with various artworks and statues, which catches the attention of the group, before Mr. Algier gestures for them to sit down. He introduces himself as a facilitator of sorts, and needs someone to accompany an item and deliver it to a buyer. He leans down, producing a very The Package on the front with his initials. He explains that the job pays a chest of gold, roughly 1000 gold pieces, and that they can get 100 gold now, and the rest on delivery.
The elven woman disdainfully remarks that she was hoping that this was a one-person job, as she has little interest of working with the rest of the group, but Mr. Algier explains that he has had difficulties with deliverymen and women running off with his items, and he is tired of having to hire people to reclaim his property with… “interest”. A group of people can hopefully keep each other honest. He does however request that they not discuss with anyone who they’re working for or what they are transporting, as the officials don’t like his business. Without taking down their names, he slides over the box and the bag, while ringing a bell, signalling the receptionist to come fetch them, explaining that he has a ship on retainer, ready to travel as soon as they are able. He tells the receptionist to lead them to the Unsinkable II for departure, before returning to his work.
𐡸
The receptionist gestures for them to follow yet again, while the party introduces themselves to each other. The half-galapa woman is called Spire, the elf calls herself Raenerys, the gnome is known as Miryks, while the tardy halfling proclaims that her name is Quill. As they walk through the “streets” of Smoulderharbor, a couple of drows, a man and a woman nod their heads to someone in the party, but it’s hard to determine who.
They eventually reach a fine looking dark ship with a beautiful figurehead of a young woman. The name “The Unsinkable II is proudly displayed in brass letters across the bow. A katari spots them coming, and grabs a rope, stylishly making her way down to the docks to greet them. He thanks “Lizzie”, the receptionist for leading the group to her as she departs. A drow and a goblin is on the deck looking down at the new arrivals. The katari introduces herself as captain Max, while gesturing to the first mate Lizeer, the drow, and Phillip, the goblin deckhand. She also points to the crows nest, where a figure, Nalral the navigator, can be seen sitting. There is also a galapa known as Shelley below deck as the cook.
The party climbs aboard the ship and is led to their accommodations, a clearly improvised room with three bunk beds, six total, where they will be staying. Raenerys is clearly displeased with the situation, but Spire tells her to make the best of it. They put what little belongings they have on their beds, and then are shown the rest of the ship, getting introduced to Shelley during dinner.
The ship sets sail soon after, and the party spends the next few weeks getting acquainted with the crew. Miryks tries to befriend Phillip, the goblin, but is unsuccessful in the beginning. After a couple of days however, he apologizes, and they talk. She tells him that she actually has a bit of goblin in her already, which prompts Phillip to make a lewd joke, much to Miryks offense, but they eventually reconcile. Spire spends some time with Shelley and gets to know the whole crew. Quill wanders around being fascinated by being on the actual ship once sailed by the legendary Flock, the group that took down the forgotten one. Spire doesn’t know much about them, so Quill lends her her book about the group written by Kody Camden, a famous bard. She quickly makes her intentions of writing a book about the boat and its inhabitants known, and tries to interview Nalral in the crows nest. He tells her about his life on the ship, and gives some insight into the Flock when he met them, although it was only a few days nearly eighty years ago, so he doesn't remember much.
Raenerys takes a quiet moment to approach Lizeer, the drow, as she steers the ship. She expresses her disdain with the rest of the party, and that she really doesn’t want to be in Quill’s book, but Lizeer tells her to lighten up, calling her pompous, and that she should give her group a chance, because she suddenly might find herself liking them. She tells Raenerys about how things were shortly after the Sundering, when the drow started making their way to the surface, how she walked around hating everyone, recognizing herself in Raenery’s, but eventually got past that, and found a family, looking at Max. Raenerys thinks a bit about it, before returning to her cabin, ignoring the offerings Spire has hung around her area, walking over to her own.
One night, while the party is sleeping in the cabin, Raenerys and Miryks are awoken by a resounding thud from something hitting the ship. They look around, seeing a figure standing over the sleeping Spire. They suddenly see the steel in Phillip’s hand as he is about to plunge it into Spire, but when Raenerys shouts, Spire wakes up, and reflexively throws him aside. Miryks restrains him with her druidic magic, and they tie him up with some rope, just as more thumping can be heard and the sound of something big grinding against the ship. A bell suddenly rings, and Max yells out from the hallway that the ship is being attacked.
The party leaves Phillip restrained, noting his eyes are milky white, making their way up to the deck, with Quill finally waking up to join them. Raenerys makes sure to grab the box they are supposed to deliver, following the rest. When they reach the deck, they see a massive kraken attacking the ship, with its tentacles, clearly damaged from a previous encounter of both fire and lightning, wrapping around the mast and making their way inside the various portholes it can find. They hear a voice speaking to them telepathically.
“Destroy. Evil.”
Quill tries to reason with the kraken, saying that there is no evil on the ship, but it ignores her, attacking the group, while smashing one big tentacle onto the deck, separating the party from the rest of the crew which is preparing the dinghy to escape. The party fights back, but the hide is too thick to penetrate, and they see the tentacles smash into them, throwing them back. One tentacle suddenly takes hold of Spire, and she is flung into the air, before disappearing into the terrifying maw of the kraken, who swallows her whole. Then, the large tentacle makes another attack on the ship, just as the crew manages to lower the dingy, causing something in the cargo hold to detonate, exploding the ship, plunging the rest of the party into darkness.
𐡸
Quill is the first to awaken. Wet and cold, she finds herself on a beach with a jungle nearby. The whole area is littered with debris from the ship, and looking around she sees one of the taller people, most likely Raenerys, lying a few hundred meters away. She gathers whatever belongings she can find, finding that the book Spire borrowed from her is floating on a piece of debris, being completely unharmed by the explosion. She pockets it, and walks to Raenerys, hoping to find her new friends.
Raenerys wakes, coughing up water and looks down at her hands. She quickly composes herself as she sees someone approach, and looks around. Behind her is the front half of the ship, and she can hear someone calling for help, a voice she hasn’t heard before. She begins to look around as Quill reaches her, asking if she’s okay. They wander to the destroyed ship, and quickly discover that the voice is not coming from inside. Walking to the front, they see the figurehead struggling to keep her head above the rising tide.
Nearby, Miryks suddenly splashes out of the water, coughing up a storm, while asking where they are. Raenerys and Quill explain the situation, while trying to free the figurehead so that she doesn’t drown. Miryks takes a moment to search through the ship, finding little of value, other than the decapitated hand of a goblin. Poor Phillip didn’t stand a chance.
Raenerys and Quill manage to free the figurehead, who introduces herself as Gaia, but she has no recollection of what happened or why she is… alive. They help her up, and then begin looking around for their belonging, but most importantly, the package they were supposed to deliver. After some time searching, Quill finds the box submerged in the sea, stuck in the sand. The seal is broken, and there is a soft green-blue glow coming from within. She can’t help herself, and since the box has already been opened, she takes a peak.
Inside she sees a beautiful gemstone of green and blue, surrounded by a golden lattice. She recognizes it immediately as a Hearthstone, but she doesn’t know what the metal surrounding it is for. The others join her, looking at the gemstone, asking what it is. Quill explains how the Hearthstone works and that it can help them get off the island. Raenerys at least confirms that it is magical, so it might help.
Suddenly, they hear the nearby bushes of the jungle rattle, as a group of gnolls come charging against them, while goblin archers pester them with arrows. Still wounded, the party takes a desperate stand against the attackers, with the help of the recently liberated and awoken Gaia, who has found Spire’s old weapon and shield. Quill yells for everyone to get close to her, as she takes the Hearthstone, trying to activate it, but nothing happens.
The gnolls hit hard, and Raenerys in particular is having a hard time, clearly being unaccustomed with combat. She hears a whisper in her ear, like someone is standing just behind her.
“Use my gifts.”
Raenerys looks around in confusion, and as a gnoll comes swinging towards her, she puts her hand out, ready to defend herself with her dagger, but dark magic comes flowing out of her fingers, striking the gnoll. She looks down at her hand in disbelief, and turns to another gnoll, doing something to him. The others can just see her whispering to herself, while the gnoll puts its hand to its ears in pain.
Eventually, only one gnoll remains, and Raenerys stabs him in the gut. As he falls backwards, she follows him, holding the knife in place. He whispers to her his final words.
“You will never make it off this island alive…”
He then passes, and the goblins, who have been obscured by some of Quill’s magic, sees they’re at a disadvantage, promptly retreating. Quill gives a rousing speech about the victorious adventuring party overcoming the danger.
𐡸
The party needs to recuperate, so they decide to venture into the jungle, away from the exposed beach, to try to find a place they can rest. Quill expresses a hope that there are dinosaurs on the island, as that would be “very cool”. As they enter, Raenerys’ ring grows cold. She bumps into Quill who was walking right in front of her, and finds that time has basically frozen around her. Behind her, she can feel the thrumming of the ground of someone approaching. Whoever it is speaks in a calm, cold voice.
"Ah… a first line for the ledger. How neat the script, how final the ink."
The figure, a tall aberration in leathery blood red clothes, wearing a metallic mask over their face, observes her. They introduce themselves as a “bookkeeper”, known by some as the “Registrar of the Unsaid”. They remark that by putting on the ring, they accepted the seal. Raenerys is clearly uncomfortable, but the figure simply asks her to remember what he told her to do. “Record their final words”. They ask Raenerys to be their eyes and ears, writing down the last words of those she comes across. She needs not seek the dying, as they will come to her in time, and when they do… she should just listen.
Raenerys says that she has nothing to record it in, so the figure simply puts their hand in their pouch, handing her a leathery red book. A ledger, for the words. She accepts the book, and with that, she stumbles as she suddenly finds herself back in the position she was before time stopped. In her side pouch, she can feel the ledger resting. She takes it out, writes down the last words of the gnoll, before putting it away.
After some time, Miryks finds an old tree that has fallen over an old, nearly dried out riverbed, and so they hide there. Raenerys has been observing the jungle, helping the rest of the party keep away from obvious dangers like traps and hidden crevices.
Safe beneath the fallen tree, they take some time to rest, repairing their armor, while Miryks takes a quick run around the area, bringing back some berries and mushrooms to eat. She also takes the time to make some makeshift clothing out of leaves and plants, when Gaia expresses discomfort with walking around “naked”.
After resting, the party steps out, wondering where they should go next. Gaia suggests looking for a landmark or something similar, so she decides to climb one of the nearby trees, peering over the treeline. In the distance she sees a mountain to the south, with a plateau of some sort beneath it. Without thinking, she lets go of the tree to make her way down, and suddenly finds herself flying. Surprised by this, she looks behind her at the spectral wings that have suddenly appeared. When she peers down at her companions, she is surprised at how… natural it seems, to be looking down at them. She quickly descends, telling the party what she saw.
Miryks decides to try to find some more information, so she puts her hand on a nearby tree, connecting to the forest, asking about where they are. She learns that they are on the north side of a large island, and that there are several settlements of the “natives” in the area. She tells the others what she learned as well, and so they decide together to go to the mountain to try to climb it, so that they may be able to either see any landmarks that might help, or signal a passing ship.
Suddenly, something big is coming their way, which makes the ground vibrate with their steps. Through the trees, they see a massive tyrannosaurus rex has caught their scent, and move towards them. The group runs away, just barely managing to give the dinosaur the slip, appearing on the beach, a few hundred meters away from where they fought the gnolls. Quill remarks that “that was AWESOME!”, to the glares of the others. The party decides to walk southwards towards the mountain. Curiously, only Miryks and Quill are feeling the effects of the sun burning their skin, with Gaia and Raenerys looking completely unaffected.
After a few hours, discussing gods and the history, learning from Gaia that she can remember Roshan, a god that has been dead and forgotten for thousands of years, they come across a dinghy lying on the beach. They recognize it as the same one the crew used, as it has the name of the ship written on it. There is blood in the boat and on the beach, and there are several footprints leading into the jungle.
Miryks asks the grass nearby if they know anything about what happened, and learns that the crew on the boat was taken by a large group of natives. They were taken inlands, near where the “large stone pyramids” are. The party decides to follow the tracks, so that they might save the captured crew, or at the very least, learn something from the pyramids.