Prince of the Apocalypse
And so, after our short story ends we have our four surviving heroes (as the others couldn’t make the session) created and described their characters and created Bonds with each other based on random statements I had made some of which related to the short story;
For example “I’m grateful for _________ quick words or that bar fight would have been much worse”
Our Party consists of;
Dee playing Capability Golden a Human Skill Monkey (Cleric/Bard) a know-it-all Gentlemen Explorer
Clem playing Ehren a Half-Elven Ranger a poncho wearing arrogant archer
Tim playing Red (I think the full name was Red-Cloud-Over-Water but I didn’t write it down) a cheerful and easily distracted Tabaxi rogue who can vanish easily
Finbar playing Red a grey clad lean human cockney cleric who is on a holy quest.
(Sorry if I misspelt names or have gotten any details wrong, I can’t always decipher my own writing)
So our four heroes talked with Vrol Cinderspark after saving him from being a sacrifice in the mines and agree to join in an expedition to the mysterious land of Chult, it turns out that the strange Death Curse that people have been talking about is due to some dark necromantic artefact somewhere within the Undead infested jungles of Chult and Vrol’s employer the successful merchant and magic user Syndra Silvane has been hiring as many skilled adventurers she can and Vrol will happily recommend that these fine heroes get to go along for the gold, glory and adventure.
After a bit of questioning of Vrol on the way to Baldur’s Gate to catch the ship already delayed by Vrol’s capture they discover that Syndra Silvane spent some time in her youth as an adventurer and had the misfortune of dying for less than a minute before the party cleric managed to revivify her. But that was enough to become effected by this strange Death Curse that is sucking the life out of any who have been touched by resurrection magic, as well as blocking such magic from working.
Regardless of the own personal reasons for wanting to go all were eager to join in the expedition to Chult and so they boarded the Prince of the Apocalypse, noting the huge strange cauldron being tinkered with in the middle of the main deck by a bunch of bizarre looking Dwarves. They were ushered into their shared cabin as the captain was very impatient to leave, Vrol says that they should have been away two days before and will need to catch up to the other two ships, Storm Kings Thunder and Dragon Queen, both also loaded up with brave adventurers.
Being told that they would be spending several days locked in the cabin, for their own safety, but that the journey will be far quicker because of an item known as The Cauldron of Storms will be granting the vessel a massive boost of speed. Leaving the cabin could cause blindness or even death. Oh, and make friends with your new traveling companions, their skills should complement your party greatly. (Note, these were the missing players)
The door had no sooner clicked shut than Ehren declared that there was NO way he could stay locked up for days! With Professor Golden and Red’s aid the picked the lock of the cabin and went exploring. Ruben the cleric just sat meditating on the vision of Chult that His “Governor” had sent him, the other adventurers were strangely passive (Hey if you can’t make the session then your characters don’t get up to nearly as much shenanigans)
Getting out the cabin was easy, making their way to the main deck they saw the dwarves working on the cauldron, lots of strange arcane glyphs being drawn, nozzles turned and for some reason hitting it with a hammer, this magical artefact seemed to be summoning small tornadoes directly behind Prince of the Apocalypse just far enough away to cause a huge gust of wind to propel the ship forward. Each time this happened the ship lurched, and a bright light emanated from the cauldron… which promptly blinded Red and Ehren (Professor Golden had noted that the dwarves all wore large helms with visors so had attempted to smug his own glasses, whether this had any effect the gods only know but it made him feel better)
Red decided that being blind was no fun and crawled back into the cabin, Professor Golden hid behind one door while Ehren while blind went sneaking out and very nearly fell off the ship when it lurched again. Managing to scramble back on only to be turned around and wonder aimlessly on the main deck. He was spotted by a large heavily armed Half-Orc who dragged him and Golden back into their cabin. Pulling off his helmet and pulling large clumps of wax out of his ears this half deaf half orc yelled politely at them warning them that some fool had his eyeballs melt. Not giving his name either because he didn’t hear the question or just didn’t care enough to answer he left locking them in their cabin once again but not before giving poor Ehren a flask of Dragon Whiskey, a fine drink but powerful to all but those of a strong constitution being on a vessel that shook violently every few moments didn’t help at all.
Jumping forward a few days of dark sea sickening days Vrol came to tell them that they had arrived in the Bay of Chult and they would soon be at Port Nyanzaru, giving them a sack of gold to help buy provisions for their upcoming trip into the jungle he advised trying to find a reliable guide.
Going on to the main deck they saw the other ships, one of which was taking the lead. They watched in shock a gigantic beast emerged from the depths before the lead ship Dragon Queen. Vrol quickly told them that there was nothing to fear as this was just the Dragon Turtle Aremag… it would take a small tribute and they would be on their way. The party remarked about what wonderful treasure slaying such a creature would bring, no sooner had they uttered such words then a bolt of arcane energy shot out from the Dragon Queen’s deck striking Aremag who surged forward shattering the much smaller vessel. They saw a figure in golden armour with a flaming sword leap upon Aremag but soon lost sight of everything as a huge shockwave radiated from the shattered parts of the Dragon Queen.
A massive vortex was forming as the skies blackened and the calm seas turned into a raging storm… streaks of lightning shot forth from the vortex towards Prince of the Apocalypse and Ehren took a shot at them as they moved too slowly to be true lightning. The bolts struck the deck and strange imp like creatures that flickered never in same spot for more than a moment, these storm elemental creatures attacked blasting waves of heat at the crew seeming to focus upon the cauldron of storms which now had glowing runes of warning.
The battle against these Storm Elementals was quick but dangerous as they exploded upon death and their heat was causing the Cauldron of Storms to become ever more unstable, with tornadoes being created all around this ship. The large Half-Orc bellowed for help to tie off the sails before the mast was ripped free of the ship which Red and Ehren managed to do while Ruben helped finish of the Storm Elementals, Capability proving his name managed to keep the cauldron from exploding despite having never seen such an artefact before with just a few helpful hints shouted by the surviving dwarf.
Great waves slammed into the ship that was barely able to turn into them and avoid being capsized and the Cauldron of Storms flashed with a release of power and the party found themselves with clear skies and everyone started to fall slowly upwards… then another flash as everything fell hard, knocking out half the party. Those still conscious looked around to find themselves alive and safe off the coast of Chult though far to the south and west of where they were. Ehren told the others when they woke that he saw over the edge of the ship only sky below them… as if they sailed in nothing but clouds for only a moment before the appeared above the waves once more.
And that is where we ended our first session. With a damaged but not destroyed ship and the whole party bruised but alive, which is more than can be said for many of the crew. The party’s other members came crawling out of their cabin bloodied and shaking asking what the hell just happened.
For example “I’m grateful for _________ quick words or that bar fight would have been much worse”
Our Party consists of;
Dee playing Capability Golden a Human Skill Monkey (Cleric/Bard) a know-it-all Gentlemen Explorer
Clem playing Ehren a Half-Elven Ranger a poncho wearing arrogant archer
Tim playing Red (I think the full name was Red-Cloud-Over-Water but I didn’t write it down) a cheerful and easily distracted Tabaxi rogue who can vanish easily
Finbar playing Red a grey clad lean human cockney cleric who is on a holy quest.
(Sorry if I misspelt names or have gotten any details wrong, I can’t always decipher my own writing)
So our four heroes talked with Vrol Cinderspark after saving him from being a sacrifice in the mines and agree to join in an expedition to the mysterious land of Chult, it turns out that the strange Death Curse that people have been talking about is due to some dark necromantic artefact somewhere within the Undead infested jungles of Chult and Vrol’s employer the successful merchant and magic user Syndra Silvane has been hiring as many skilled adventurers she can and Vrol will happily recommend that these fine heroes get to go along for the gold, glory and adventure.
After a bit of questioning of Vrol on the way to Baldur’s Gate to catch the ship already delayed by Vrol’s capture they discover that Syndra Silvane spent some time in her youth as an adventurer and had the misfortune of dying for less than a minute before the party cleric managed to revivify her. But that was enough to become effected by this strange Death Curse that is sucking the life out of any who have been touched by resurrection magic, as well as blocking such magic from working.
Regardless of the own personal reasons for wanting to go all were eager to join in the expedition to Chult and so they boarded the Prince of the Apocalypse, noting the huge strange cauldron being tinkered with in the middle of the main deck by a bunch of bizarre looking Dwarves. They were ushered into their shared cabin as the captain was very impatient to leave, Vrol says that they should have been away two days before and will need to catch up to the other two ships, Storm Kings Thunder and Dragon Queen, both also loaded up with brave adventurers.
Being told that they would be spending several days locked in the cabin, for their own safety, but that the journey will be far quicker because of an item known as The Cauldron of Storms will be granting the vessel a massive boost of speed. Leaving the cabin could cause blindness or even death. Oh, and make friends with your new traveling companions, their skills should complement your party greatly. (Note, these were the missing players)
The door had no sooner clicked shut than Ehren declared that there was NO way he could stay locked up for days! With Professor Golden and Red’s aid the picked the lock of the cabin and went exploring. Ruben the cleric just sat meditating on the vision of Chult that His “Governor” had sent him, the other adventurers were strangely passive (Hey if you can’t make the session then your characters don’t get up to nearly as much shenanigans)
Getting out the cabin was easy, making their way to the main deck they saw the dwarves working on the cauldron, lots of strange arcane glyphs being drawn, nozzles turned and for some reason hitting it with a hammer, this magical artefact seemed to be summoning small tornadoes directly behind Prince of the Apocalypse just far enough away to cause a huge gust of wind to propel the ship forward. Each time this happened the ship lurched, and a bright light emanated from the cauldron… which promptly blinded Red and Ehren (Professor Golden had noted that the dwarves all wore large helms with visors so had attempted to smug his own glasses, whether this had any effect the gods only know but it made him feel better)
Red decided that being blind was no fun and crawled back into the cabin, Professor Golden hid behind one door while Ehren while blind went sneaking out and very nearly fell off the ship when it lurched again. Managing to scramble back on only to be turned around and wonder aimlessly on the main deck. He was spotted by a large heavily armed Half-Orc who dragged him and Golden back into their cabin. Pulling off his helmet and pulling large clumps of wax out of his ears this half deaf half orc yelled politely at them warning them that some fool had his eyeballs melt. Not giving his name either because he didn’t hear the question or just didn’t care enough to answer he left locking them in their cabin once again but not before giving poor Ehren a flask of Dragon Whiskey, a fine drink but powerful to all but those of a strong constitution being on a vessel that shook violently every few moments didn’t help at all.
Jumping forward a few days of dark sea sickening days Vrol came to tell them that they had arrived in the Bay of Chult and they would soon be at Port Nyanzaru, giving them a sack of gold to help buy provisions for their upcoming trip into the jungle he advised trying to find a reliable guide.
Going on to the main deck they saw the other ships, one of which was taking the lead. They watched in shock a gigantic beast emerged from the depths before the lead ship Dragon Queen. Vrol quickly told them that there was nothing to fear as this was just the Dragon Turtle Aremag… it would take a small tribute and they would be on their way. The party remarked about what wonderful treasure slaying such a creature would bring, no sooner had they uttered such words then a bolt of arcane energy shot out from the Dragon Queen’s deck striking Aremag who surged forward shattering the much smaller vessel. They saw a figure in golden armour with a flaming sword leap upon Aremag but soon lost sight of everything as a huge shockwave radiated from the shattered parts of the Dragon Queen.
A massive vortex was forming as the skies blackened and the calm seas turned into a raging storm… streaks of lightning shot forth from the vortex towards Prince of the Apocalypse and Ehren took a shot at them as they moved too slowly to be true lightning. The bolts struck the deck and strange imp like creatures that flickered never in same spot for more than a moment, these storm elemental creatures attacked blasting waves of heat at the crew seeming to focus upon the cauldron of storms which now had glowing runes of warning.
The battle against these Storm Elementals was quick but dangerous as they exploded upon death and their heat was causing the Cauldron of Storms to become ever more unstable, with tornadoes being created all around this ship. The large Half-Orc bellowed for help to tie off the sails before the mast was ripped free of the ship which Red and Ehren managed to do while Ruben helped finish of the Storm Elementals, Capability proving his name managed to keep the cauldron from exploding despite having never seen such an artefact before with just a few helpful hints shouted by the surviving dwarf.
Great waves slammed into the ship that was barely able to turn into them and avoid being capsized and the Cauldron of Storms flashed with a release of power and the party found themselves with clear skies and everyone started to fall slowly upwards… then another flash as everything fell hard, knocking out half the party. Those still conscious looked around to find themselves alive and safe off the coast of Chult though far to the south and west of where they were. Ehren told the others when they woke that he saw over the edge of the ship only sky below them… as if they sailed in nothing but clouds for only a moment before the appeared above the waves once more.
And that is where we ended our first session. With a damaged but not destroyed ship and the whole party bruised but alive, which is more than can be said for many of the crew. The party’s other members came crawling out of their cabin bloodied and shaking asking what the hell just happened.