Reides' Homecoming

Arc Summary
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Session 74

 * Google document (11-11-22) (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATHAN!!)

We approach Aquos from above. The bioluminescent street lamps pierce through the underwater gloom. The city is laid out similar to a human city, but there are no roads. Reides explains they don’t need them down here! Homes have non-magical engineering installed that manipulates currents to prevent people from getting blown out of their homes. It’s water conditioning! The tritons of Aquos also have some tricks for creating rapids, allowing them to travel quickly within the city. There’s also an undersea mountain with a palace of white seastone at its peak- Reides’s former home. Jorah says he’s not afraid of heights, but it feels wrong to look down on a city like this. Reides feels the same about needing to look up at everything and dealing with gravity, though! Kilwin comments that we’ve flipped! Around Aquos, there’s large fields of aquatic plants like kelp. Reides tells us that seaweed won’t be a good safe word down here. Briar tries to test the water for the taste of dashi, but it just tastes salty. Jorah is the first to notice something rising toward the surface- the corpse of an older triton man, wearing commoner’s clothes. Jorah thinks working with the royal family is the only way to stop this. Reides agrees: He’s nervous, but it’s the right thing to do. They don’t fuck around when it comes to their home!

Reides knows where the tunnel that Viglis described leads- a large ridge to the southwest of Aquos, past the seaweed fields and a small ruin. We start to swim down and toward the southwest, where we see a field of coral in different colors. Reides knows ritualistic magic is used to give the coral some of the more fantastical colors. He explains to the rest of the party that this is a coral graveyard. He admits that he’s worried about what’ll happen if he dies on the surface, since this is how you want to go as a triton. As the party swims past the graveyard, Kilwin asks if we should bow when we meet Reides’s family. Reides says it’s not a bad idea, but there’s a good chance it won’t be enough. There’s members of his family that will almost definitely respond to us negatively, no matter what we do. He asks us to just let us roll over us and he’ll try to handle it. He asks us to please not kill anyone. Viglis will be rude, but that’s just because he’s Viglis. Reides asks the party again to not kill anyone. Jorah is not reassured by these repeated pleas. Reides says the circumstances are very different from the last time he saw everyone. Jorah asks Reides what he’ll do if someone from his family is involved in all this. Reides can’t imagine any of them would participate in something like this willingly, but Jorah was imagining them as controlled or corrupted. Reides says we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it! The discussion of people being controlled by whatever’s going on down here reminds the party of Nakros. Reides thinks Viglis might know who he was. Dhudus will not. Reides just wishes he knew what’s going on, though. Jorah asks if there’s any veiled insults they might try to use on us or that we should avoid. Ashara doesn’t think it matters, since it’s not like we can really respond. Jorah says he’s just curious! Reides clarifies that he doesn’t mind us responding, as long as that doesn’t mean killing anyone. He also says we should be fine. Any insults would be in Primordial and Reides will tell them to hush. He’s sure he’ll get lectured, but we go on anyway.

The graveyard is a ways out of Aquos, so it’s less likely to be attacked, and the ridge is more defensible than most of Aquos. The ridge also helps obscure the view of what’s beyond it. Reides wouldn’t be surprised if Viglis were the one to choose that spot to shelter. We swim for about fifty minutes, approaching the graveyard. We also barely make out a small cabin past the ridge. As we swim over the ruins, Ashara spots some lights moving through them, toward the ridge. She telepathically lets the rest of the party know, and they decide to swim down and check it out. It could be Reides’s family! It is, in fact, a group of sahuagin and sea spawn. They seem to be patrolling through the ruins. We decide to just leave. There’s a small crevice we could try to walk along to obscure our presence. We descend at an angle to reach the crevice, but sadly, the sound of Kilwin and Briar’s armor echoes through the water and the sahuagins start to look up. Two with sickly-looking blades turn and point up at us.

One blademaster swims and begins to attack Briar, his blade carving through the currents. Kilwin says a prayer and begins to swirl the water with his hand, which causes the water around the other sahuagins and sea spawn to swirl in a similar manner. Within six seconds, they’re all pulled into a roiling vortex. Briar goes primal beast mode. His hands become webbed and his facial features grow more angular. Slits also form on his neck: They don’t do anything, but Briar really wanted some gills. Briar’s eyes also sharpen and his nails grow into claws as he slashes at the blademaster who attacked him. Its blood flows upward and it curses in a language none of us understand. Briar wafts the blood toward himself and grins. The sea spawn both escape Kilwin’s vortex. One swims toward Briar, and the other swims toward Jorah. Reides casts Bigby’s Hand to punch the blademaster who wasn’t caught in the vortex. The other blademaster escapes the whirlpool and attacks Kilwin, who barely manages to hang onto his concentration. One of the sahuagin stays in Kilwin’s whirlpool and swirls its hand in a similar manner. Another whirlpool forms around the party, trapping them along with the sea spawn and sahuagin who attacked them. Jorah stabs a sea spawn near him, and its blood is caught in the vortex too. He then fires his crossbow at it, lodging a bolt directly into its brain. Jorah flows with the vortex toward one of the blademasters, but doesn’t successfully hit it. The last sahuagin escapes the vortex and swims toward Jorah. It carries an interesting sword and has tattoos of eyes all along its arms. It’s wearing a lot of necklaces of medals and shells and seems to have tears permanently coming from its eyes. It slashes at Jorah and, for a moment, he feels his throat tighten and begins to feel as if he’s drowning, despite his cloak and Reides’s spell. However, he manages to shake it off. One of the blademasters attacks Kilwin, and the whirlpool he conjured disperses. Kilwin heals himself, Briar, and Jorah and can’t break free of the vortex, so he just swims down to try to get a better angle of escape when he can manage. He also casts Toll the Dead on the wave shaper. Briar follows suit, casting Erupting Earth where the wave shaper stands. He’s mad that the other sahaugin didn’t stay in the whirlpool so he could combo. The wave shaper is badly hurt, but the whirlpool ensnaring the party continues to spin. The surviving sea spawn attacks Reides, missing twice but managing to chomp down on him. Ashara successfully escapes the vortex and swims as far as she can. She casts Crown of Madness on one of the blademasters. A jagged iron crown appears on its head and a red-orange glow fills its eyes. Reides moves Bigby’s Hand to punch the wave shaper. It’s knocked straight into the upturned seafloor and, as its body begins to float upward, the whirlpool dissipates. Under Ashara’s command, the crowned blademaster attacks the other one. Like the other sahuagin, the sight of its target’s blood seems to make the crowned blademaster’s attacks more ferocious. Jorah slashes the tattooed sahuagin to death. The blademaster in possession of its faculties deflects a crossbow bolt before swimming toward Ashara to attack her. Despite taking a beating, she manages to maintain control over its ally. Kilwin and Briar both cast Toll the Dead on it, and apparently the sound of the bell also carries better underwater. The sea spawn manages to attack Reides with its quills, nauseating him but nothing else. Reides then sends a Ray of Frost at the non-possessed blademaster. As the water freezes around it, so does the blademaster. Reides then punches the sea spawn with Bigby’s Hand, although it survives to be cut down by the possessed blademaster.

With the crowned blademaster as the last survivor, Jorah manacles it after some struggle. Jorah is glad we can finally interrogate someone. Reides can’t speak Sahuagin, so he’s not sure we can though. The blademaster, still wearing the crown, looks at us with venom. Reides gets in its face and asks if it speaks Common. It evidently doesn’t. He asks if it speaks Primordial. It evidently doesn’t. Briar shrugs and pulls out a knife. Jorah doesn’t want to kill this guy, but Briar points out that the sahuagin won’t know that Briar doesn’t actually want to kill him. He’s just trying to intimidate him! As we discuss if we should take the sahuagin with us or if there’s any chance any of us can speak with it, the sahuagin takes the opportunity to break its manacles. Jorah, dismayed that he has to shell out for another pair at some point, attempts to grapple it, but breaks his grasp. Briar casts Hold Person on it, but it shakes that off too. The fight resumes, with Bigby’s Hand and Crown of Madness dispersed. The blademaster picks up its sword from the seafloor and focuses on Jorah, who protests that he tried to take it alive but admits it’s fair enough. It’s battered by the party’s spells and takes one last look at the sea above before making a last-ditch attack on Jorah. Ashara casts Mind Sliver, annoyed by how this went, basically flicking the psychic spike at the blademaster before checking her nails. The blademaster is slain.

Jorah, now injured again, apologizes for ruining Kilwin’s hard work in healing him. Kilwin heals him again, though, since he’s really not looking great. Reides and Jorah search the bodies, but only find some pouches of mystery meat and trinkets that seem to have been plundered from outlying areas of Aquos. Reides tosses those up into the sea to float away, so that they don’t get to keep them, even in death. Jorah examines the sahuagin warlock’s weird sword, but it seems just to be weird in shape and lacks the magical sense of a sword like Quickbrand. Reides explains that it’s absolutely fine with him that we killed these guys, since the sahuagin are always causing trouble for Aquos. Normally, the tritons can hold them at bay, but they seem to be working for whatever attacked Aquos, which seems to be helping them in turn. These sahuagin could just be some random guys, but for now, we assume they’re involved with Kal’dazzum. We decide to move on before anyone can come looking for them.

The ridge is now a few hundred feet away, so we reach it soon, but not before Ashara and Briar begin to feel exhausted. There’s lights coming from the small cabin, but they also extend far beyond it. Weaving through the graveyard is a sea of triton refugees, laying on the silt and clutching together under seaweed blankets. They seem to be sticking close to the ground. Reides is filled with relief at the sight of survivors. We near the cabin, which is rustic by triton standards. It’s made of brown seastone with membrane windows. There’s lots of guards around the cabin, wearing silvery armor that resembles coral. Reides says this is promising! Kilwin asks if he should put his hood up or if that’s weirder than just being a surfacer. Reides advises him to just be open about it, although he admits that he’s been in trouble a lot, so he might not give the best advice. Kilwin trusts his judgment, though! Once the guards notice our group, every single guard draws their weapon. They begin to shout things in Primordial like “Persana Below, surfacers!” and “You shall not take our king!” Kilwin bows. Reides swims ahead and says we’re with him and he’s a triton. He knows the king personally! He feels a little nostalgic being in trouble with guards again. Up close, he notices that the guards’ armor has been donned haphazardly, and some are missing entire pieces. They’re also wearing festive garb under their armor. One triton swims forward and says that, be that as it may, surfacers can’t be allowed to see the king. However, as he approaches Reides, his eyes widen in recognition and surprise. He manages to ask if Reides is the prince. Reides recognizes him as Dharsus, the captain of the royal guard. His green hair is tied back and his armor seems to be the most put-together of the guards. Reides jokingly calls him Dharry before explaining that we’re here to help and asking if he can make an exception. He says that the fall of Aquos and Lotlyn’s situation is more important than some surfacers. Dharsus sucks some water in through his teeth and turns away. He says if anyone asks, he didn’t see us. Reides thanks him and says it’s good to see him alive. Dharsus says the feeling is mutual. Jorah lets go of Quickbrand’s hilt before Reides leads the group forward. As he passes, Kilwin thanks Dharsus, but Dharsus doesn’t look at him.

We approach the cabin, and Reides peeks through the sliding door. Inside, there’s three regal-looking tritons, who were discussing something but immediately turn when the door cracks. The oldest one is a man with long dark blue hair and a well-kept beard. His armor is similar to that of the guards, but far more ornate. Reides freezes as he turns toward the door and commands him to enter. Kilwin asks if something’s wrong, and Reides says it’s his father. The triton man, Khavas, begins to call for his sword, so Reides says to calm down because he’s coming! He enters the cabin with the party behind him, and Khavas’s eyes begin to flicker around the room. He asks what the meaning of this is and who would dare allow surfacers here. His eyes settle on Reides. One of the other tritons, a woman with long green hair and an expensive-looking shawl, places her hand on Khavas’s shoulder and starts whispering in his ear. The third triton is another man who was sitting closer to the door. He has his weapon drawn. He has the same dark blue hair as Khavas, but no beard, and similar armor. He also carries a shield emblazoned with the image of a reef. His eyes also settle on Reides and he lowers his weapon, although he still seems suspicious. He grimaces and welcomes Reides home. Reides looks defeated but says hi to Viglis.

Reides switches to Primordial and says that the rest of the party is his companions, who he’ll vouch for completely. He’s hoping that everyone can put aside their differences to bring Lotlyn home. Khavas isn’t even looking at Reides now, although Reides’s mother, Arlyn, is still whispering to him. Viglis turns to them, sighs, and turns back to Reides and the party. He says we won’t be able to discuss anything here, so we should move outside. Reides would prefer that anyway. Reides fills the rest of the party in and Viglis leads us out and around the back of the cabin. On his way out, Kilwin bows, but Khavas and Arlyn don’t seem to notice. Behind the cabin, there’s a small stone table with seats carved out of the seafloor. Speaking in Primordial, Reides says he’s glad there’s survivors, but Viglis immediately asks why he came. He says he told Reides not to and asks why he couldn’t listen, just this once. Reides says he warned Viglis about this after finding the list and asks how Viglis could let this happen! Viglis leans over the table with his face in his hands. Reides quickly apologizes and says he’s here now and not leaving until Lotlyn and Aquos are safe. Viglis explains that he didn’t want Reides to be caught up in this, but Reides counters that he was already caught up in this. He asks why he’s not allowed to want to help, especially since Aquos is his home! Viglis snaps, asking if it’s still his home after he left for the surface. Reides says maybe if they hadn’t imprisoned him! It’s still a place he wants to keep safe, though, and Lotlyn is here. Viglis agrees that they both want to save Lotlyn, at the very least. He sits up and wipes his face. Reides crosses his arms.

Viglis switches to Common and explains that the attack happened during the year’s Stormbringing Festival. The city has fended off sahuagin, sea spawn, and, if you believe the legends, krakens before, but Aquos was unprepared when all attacked at once. A horde of sahuagin and sea spawn rushed the city, with a young kraken led by an aboleth at the front of the pack. Kilwin asks what an aboleth is. Reides explains it’s a beast. Viglis isn’t sure what brought them together and admits he’s at his wit’s end. Kilwin asks if it would help to know what might have brought them together. Reides introduces him! Kilwin says it’s nice to meet Viglis, since Reides has told him a lot about us before realizing he said it wrong and that Reides has told us a lot about him. He almost goes off on a tangent about how he always does this before getting back on track. Viglis says it wouldn’t help because they’ve all been brought together either way. Kilwin asks if he should say it anyway. Reides says he should. Kilwin explains that there are demons causing problems on the surface, and we found evidence that they had designs on Aquos too. Kilwin thinks it’s all connected and the attack on Aquos was incited by these demons. Viglis does not seem impressed. Reides explains that Kilwin has saved his life many times before! He brings up Nakros and asks if Viglis knows him. Viglis knows him as a priest of Persana. Everyone lost contact with him during the attack, but people are still looking for him. He asks if Reides managed to find him. Reides explains that we did, but he was not good. He explains that Nakros seems to have been possessed by someone named Kal’dazzum and had been transformed, although he transformed back after his death. He also says that Nakros was throwing lightning everywhere and that Viglis should thank Jorah for taking the brunt of that. Viglis tells Reides to stop trying to sell him on his surfacer friends. Reides says he will not stop and, in the end, he will succeed! Viglis hopes Nakros didn’t manage to gather any information about Reides, although Reides is pretty sure Nakros didn’t recognize him either, since most tritons would consider Aquos home.

Kilwin also explains the situation with the Abyssal Crests to Viglis and shows him the emblem on the Plate of the Ancestors. Reides shows him the same symbol on the Bands of the Archmagi. Viglis has never seen it before, although he admits that Khavas wouldn’t display something that important openly in the palace. Reides agrees that he Loves locking stuff away. Jorah rolls his eyes. Viglis initially assumes that Reides is blaming him for his imprisonment and gets angry, but once Reides explains, Viglis admits he found out and doesn’t know why their father went that far. Reides doesn’t particularly want to talk to Khavas to find out. Viglis says he can try talking to him after all of this. Jorah points out there’s someone in need of saving first, though, and the Crest will either be found or not. Reides asks how Lotlyn was taken, or if she’s just hiding. Viglis looks bitter as he explains that Lotlyn was off on her own during the Festival. Reides looks bitter too. Lotlyn managed to escape her caretakers and, next anyone heard, she was missing. Viglis has his head in his hands again. He thinks she’s in the hands of whatever beast did this. Reides mentions that he talked to her with Sending, which means something. Viglis agrees that she’s alive, but that also means they probably want something, likely the Crest. He says Dhudus is out on patrol looking for her, though. Reides admits he was worried when he didn’t see Dhudus in there, although Dhudus wouldn’t have sat back even if Viglis asked him to.

Reides asks if there’s plans to retake Aquos or if this is all still too recent. Viglis says it hasn’t been long since the attack, but they’re already gathering survivors for an attack. Reides says that we’re here and ready to help! The rest of the party agrees, although Jorah says we’ll help as much as they'll let us. He wants to help, leave, and never come back. Viglis says there’s a few plans of attack. One that Dhudus suggested was a full frontal assault on the palace gates. Reides agrees that sounds like Dhudus. Viglis had suggested a slight alteration where the attack on the gates was a diversion from a strike team sent into the palace to attack key points, but he doesn’t like the thought of the frontal assault team being used as sacrifices. Jorah asks if he knows where the kraken and aboleth are. Viglis believes they’re inside the palace, although he doesn’t know how many creatures are inside with them. That’s also a problem with Kilwin’s idea of using the tunnels to attack from inside, especially since the sahuagin patrols are sizable. Viglis observes that the party looks Bad and surmises that we ran into one. Reides confirms that we did, and Viglis asks where. Reides says we killed them all and Ashara killed the last one very impressively, and Viglis asks where. Viglis is dismayed by how close they came to the encampment and thinks they may need to move it. When that patrol doesn’t return, they’ll probably send a larger patrol and if that one doesn’t return, they’ll know where the tritons are. Viglis gets up, saying he needs to do his own patrol, even though he just got back from one. He tells us to stay here. Reides tells him to stop, but Viglis can’t just sit here when the enemy is getting so close. Reides asks Viglis to consider what if something happens to him out there. Viglis says he’ll be fine and looks around at the rest of the party for the first time. He tells Reides that his friends need to rest, but he’ll gather some people so he’s not alone out there. He says they’ll need to increase their patrol presence anyway. Jorah advises Reides to let Viglis do his job, although Reides still asks Viglis not to get killed. Viglis swims away wordlessly for a bit. Reides mumbles “Asshole” under his breath before Viglis turns back and says he'll be back in a few hours, so we should rest as long as we can. Reides says he doesn’t know where to go here! Viglis swims away, so we decide to rest here. Tritons typically use weighted blankets to keep themselves in place as they sleep. Kilwin admits he was a bit nervous about floating off into the ocean while sleeping. Jorah says Kilwin would probably just sink to the bottom without his helm, though. Kilwin says wow, although Jorah was just talking about Kilwin’s armor, and Kilwin agrees. We all settle down for a long rest!

Session 75

 * Google Document (11-25-22)

The party wakes up around 4 in the afternoon. Apparently, not much activity has happened around the shack, beyond what was caused by us. Viglis also doesn’t seem to have returned from his patrol yet. Reides worries, but after another hour of waiting, Viglis returns to the camp with a number of other tritons. Once they’re past the ridge and out of sight, he waves them toward the camp and swims over to the party. Reides is relieved to see him. Viglis asks if we had a nice rest. The party gives a range of responses. Reides asks how everyone’s first few hours underwater have been. Kilwin admits it’s been a little disorienting. Ashara complains about her difficulties in swimming, while Briar pretends he’s feeling totally fine and is having no issues. Reides asks how Viglis is. Viglis reports that things are about the same in the city. When Reides asks about additional survivors, Viglis admits that his group didn’t find as many as he hoped. Viglis has a satchel and takes out a white, opaque membrane from it. He spreads it out on the table, revealing that one side has dark ink markings on it. The non-tritons realize it’s a map! On the north side of the map, the castle looms over the city. To the southeast is the graveyard and ridge where we currently are. There’s also several points of interest shown on the map: A number of shipwrecks, a large crevice to the northeast of the city, and what appears to be an odd mountain range with plumes of smoke coming off the peaks. Viglis takes out a small needle and pierces the membrane with it. Ink flows from the needle, and Viglis draws circles around the city and a number of the outlying areas, with the last circle drawn around the crevice. Viglis explains that, at present, their forces wouldn’t do well in an attempt to retake the castle. He can’t quite suppress a yawn. He says he has a few jobs to help with preparation that he thinks our group can handle, and outlines them from least to most difficult.

First, the tritons need more people. Viglis intends to send some groups to look for more survivors, ideally ones skilled with weapons. There’s currently a force of about 5000 capable people, but Viglis estimates they’ll need about 7000 to deal with the number of sea spawn. Kilwin mentions that the sea spawn that the party has killed have reverted to their original forms upon death, but if the kraken can be killed first, they might be able to be saved. Viglis notes this, but asks if Kilwin thinks he can kill a kraken. Kilwin isn’t sure, but thinks it’s worth considering! Viglis points out some key locations to check for survivors. Some smaller groups may have sheltered in the shipwrecks around the city, although Viglis suspects the largest group would be at the hydrothermal vents (the smoking mountains on the map). People would’ve been working there. Jorah asks if they would have weapons there, and Viglis says they likely would, although not everyone who works at the vents is a weaponsmith. Reides asks about the Crystalline Trench, but Viglis says he’s getting to that. His next job is gathering information closer to Aquos. He’d like to send very small groups, about two or three people, toward the castle to scout it out. He doesn’t want to send any larger groups since they’d be too obvious and losing them too much of a risk. The last job is the hardest. It involves obtaining gear, since even a peasant can be much more effective in a fight if they’re outfitted well. This is related to the Crystalline Trench. Viglis explains that a long time ago, an old armory in the Trench was lost. Unlike some people, he paid attention in his princely studies and knows Emperor Zinthos drafted workers to try to excavate it when he was embroiled in a succession crisis, since the gear within is probably of high quality and in good condition. However, none of these workers survived. It’s still a legend among the miners that if you find the armory, you’ll be rich. Reides is pretty sure he read about that! Viglis asks if it’s all coming back to him now. He tells us that there’s also a number of sea spawn patrolling the Crystalline Trench, so they may be aware of the rumors too.

Kilwin would like to look for survivors, but is open to the other options. Jorah asks if the camp has resources to support more survivors, and Viglis says he also has teams scouting for more supplies. Trying not to stretch any forces too thin, Viglis is able to send his own teams after survivors if we take a different job. Jorah also points out that we’re outsiders to any survivors we might find, which might make it more difficult for us than for a triton group. Reides agrees that having Viglis rescue them personally would probably be a big morale boost to anyone hiding from the sea spawn. Viglis isn’t so sure that they’d be happy to see the princeling who led their kingdom to ruin. Reides doubts that anyone thinks that about Viglis and, in any case, the Storm Prince is back to blame for everything! Jorah tells Viglis he should at least let the kingdom actually go to ruin before he starts talking like that. Kilwin asks if there’s healers in the camp. Kilwin explains he’s a healer and can help. Reides says Kilwin is a very good healer! Viglis says there’s sorcerers of Persana who’ve been blessed with healing magic who are working around the clock. He doubts they’d turn away extra help, though, and Kilwin says he’d like to if he’s able after our mission. Jorah offers his stealth-enhancing skills and offers to take one other person with a swim speed to the castle with him and quickly take care of that, although Viglis intends for all of these things to happen in concert. Kilwin also doesn’t like the idea of splitting up our party, which Reides agrees with. He thinks we’ll be okay down here, but still doesn’t want to risk leaving us alone. Jorah admits he’s looking for any excuse to not go to the crevice because it gives him a bad vibe. He’s willing to let Reides pick our job though. Reides is a little scared because that’s a lot of responsibility! He’s leaning toward the armory job, but doesn’t want to be a dictator, since we already have one. He gestures toward the cabin with Khavas inside. Ashara is open to any of the jobs and also defaults to Reides’s judgment. Briar’s not sure but says he trusts Reides’s intuition and doesn’t want to mess up Viglis’s plan at any rate. Reides calls Viglis our lovely tactician.

We decide to try to find the location of the armory. Viglis advises us to be careful in our approach, since he suspects that the sea spawn are able to communicate back to their master. Jorah realizes it’s a big ask but wonders if they might be able to spare a mount to help Ashara and Briar navigate. Viglis says we’d be lucky to find a wild hippocampus. Viglis gives the satchel to the party and tells them to fit whatever they can in there. He suggests not worrying about going back for a second trip, especially if anything catches wind of us. Kilwin reminds the rest of the party that we can’t open the Bag of Holding down here. Reides asks if Tetra, Viglis’s hippocampus, got out of the city okay. Viglis apparently escaped on her back. He says Tetra’s not so daft as to be caught by a measly little kraken. Reides is relieved that she’s okay. Viglis also gives us a more exact potential location for the armory, gleaned from days of pouring over ancient reports. Apparently, many patrols started and ended on the eastern side of the ravine. We’ll need to find a way to get through rock, but the armory should have gear for about 50 people. He tells Jorah that they should be able to part with two sets for our group, since the armor enhances one’s swimming ability. Jorah brings up the possibility that we’ll run into more enemies than we can actually handle and asks if there’s a place we can drop the gear without bringing them right to the refugee camp. Viglis tells him to pick his shipwreck and assures him that they’ll all likely be empty of survivors by the time we’re finished. Reides knows the shipwrecks around Aquos well, so he says he’ll find a good one for us if it comes to that. Viglis tells him to try to not get any splinters. Reides says he didn’t get splinters that often! Viglis argues that he’d have one for each finger. Reides says ten splinters isn’t that bad! Viglis sighs. Viglis also suggests that Reides talk to their mother. Reides’s not sure she wants to talk to him, but Viglis still thinks he should. Jorah tells Reides to just talk to her. Reides says he wants to! He complains that it’s like having two brothers. Jorah says he doesn’t get the chance to talk to his mother again, but Reides does. Reides knows this! Viglis reminds Reides that he does, in fact, have two brothers, but Reides meant older brothers. He asks if Dhudus made it back to camp, since none of us have seen him yet. Apparently, he returned a few hours ago and is currently boozing it up with some of the soldiers. Briar thinks Dhudus sounds like a man after his own heart. Viglis says he might think that until he meets Dhudus. Briar is now concerned. Jorah accuses Reides of stalling. He also notices the dark circles under Viglis’s eyes and tells him he should get some rest. Reides agrees, and Viglis says he’ll get right on that, smiling weakly. Reides reminds Viglis that he has spells now, so he doesn’t need a shield to smack him upside the head if he doesn’t go get some sleep. Before Jorah accuses him of stalling again, he says he’s going to go to talk to his mom. Briar asks which one, Arlyn or Jorah. Reides tells Viglis to not push himself too hard and that we’re here to make things easier for him so he doesn’t die of overwork. Viglis thinks if he dies of overwork, that would make a good tagline for his obituary. Reides strongly disagrees and says it would be the worst obituary and a shitty song. Viglis isn’t sure how he can say that when he hasn’t heard the song yet! Reides pouts but smiles at Viglis before Viglis swims away, head drooping. Jorah accuses Reides of stalling again before he finally swims over to the cabin.

Reides opens the door slightly to peek inside and check for Khavas. Khavas is there, but he’s in bed with a sheet wrapped around him, tossing and turning. Next to him, Arlyn is floating and half-asleep herself. Reides stares at her for a moment, remembers Jorah telling him he’s stalling, and lightly knocks. Arlyn looks around lazily and tells whoever it is to come in. Reides asks what if he doesn’t wanna come in. Arlyn’s eyes widen as she catches sight of what she can see of Reides through the door. She swims over and throws the door open before scooping him into a big hug. Reides hugs her back very tightly. Arlyn is sorry they couldn’t talk earlier, but Reides is still grateful to her for calming Khavas down. Arlyn says Reides knows how his old man gets, and Reides agrees that he does, a bit too well. Arlyn says Khavas means well and wants what’s best for the kingdom. Reides can only shrug in response. He explains that he and his surfacer friends are going to help Viglis with something, but Viglis said he should talk to her first. He’s sorry that this is happening. Arlyn assures him it’s not his fault and that people can say what they will about the Storm Prince, but she knows the truth. Reides is hoping her little boy can fix some stuff around here! He asks if Arlyn wants to meet his friends, even though they’re surfacers. She seems interested, but looks back at Khavas and says she shouldn’t leave him right now. Reides says if only Khavas would just, but doesn’t finish the sentence. He asks if he’s really doing that bad, even though he’s aware how much Aquos means to everyone, including himself. Arlyn says Khavas has been taking it hard, harder than most, and that he’s been blaming himself for what happened, even if he won’t say it. Arlyn doesn’t think anyone could have known what was coming though. Reides tells her that Viglis is blaming himself too, and Reides kind of also blamed Viglis, but he was responding to Viglis talking down to him and doesn’t actually mean it. He doesn’t think anyone should blame themself for this. Arlyn tells Reides to apologize to his brother. He swears he already did, so she asks if he meant it. He promises he meant it, and he’ll even do it again! Arlyn tells Reides to be careful and asks him to keep an eye out for Lotlyn. He tells Arlyn he talked to Lotlyn. She initially seems shocked until he continues explaining that it was with a spell. He fills her in on Lotlyn’s condition and promises that everyone will get her back, even Dhudus. Arlyn tells Reides that Lotlyn still talks about him. She misses him and wonders where he is and if he’s getting to see everything he wanted on the surface. Reides says she’ll get her answers soon, but she still has to hold on a little longer. He asks about her running off on her own. Arlyn confirms Viglis’s story and says she was like that too when she was that age. It runs in the family! She messes up Reides’s hair, and he lets her because it’s so nice to talk to her after so long. Reides and Arlyn tell each other to be safe, and Reides wishes her luck dealing with his father. Arlyn appreciates it, but tells Reides that Khavas was happy to see him, even if he’s not good at expressing himself. Reides thinks his mother must be insanely perceptive, since all he saw in that reaction was anger, but admits he could be biased because that’s all he’s seen from Khavas in a really long time. Arlyn says she’ll talk to Khavas about it, but Reides says that if Khavas doesn’t want to talk to him, Reides doesn’t need to. Khavas has a lot going on and right now, Reides just wants to save Aquos and Lotlyn. He hopes there’ll be plenty of time after that to think about making amends. Arlyn’s not sure the time is right for a reunion anyway, so they’ll burn that bridge when they get to it.

Reides rejoins the rest of the party, who’s been preparing for our expedition to the Crystalline Trench. Briar is meditating. Reides casts Mage Armor on himself and we group up in preparation for Jorah’s Pass Without Trace. Reides explains that the Crystalline Trench is where the sorcerers dedicated to Persana study magic. Jorah asks why. Reides says it’s related to Persana, since the sorcerers believe the Trench’s depth allows them to be closer to him there. Reides’s not really allowed there and admits that he wanted to be a sorcerer back in the day, but Persana made him study for his magic. He thinks we might encounter more people like Nakros down there, especially if the sorcerers didn’t manage to get out without being turned. As we make our way to the Trench, we don’t need to pass through Aquos, but we still see the city from a distance. We see large coral formations, schools of fish, octopi, and starfish. Once we’ve swum the whole length of the city, Ashara begins to feel exhausted again. Briar transforms into a giant octopus, and he and Jorah help Ashara make it the rest of the way. With their assistance, the party makes it there in about two hours.

Jorah asks the odds that Viglis actually went to rest. Reides thinks they’re pretty low, since Viglis tends toward workaholism. Couldn’t be Jorah! Still, Reides doesn’t think Viglis has a death wish, so he might be taking a nap. As the castle comes into view, Reides looks at it sadly, especially at a lone tower protruding from the castle. At the Crystalline Trench, the light from the surface makes its way down and refracts pleasantly through the crystals, making the ravine glow. Jorah casts Pass Without Trace, Briar darkens his colors, and Reides puts his hood up. We keep an eye out, and Jorah and Kilwin notice that some of the coral has a silvery blue metallic sheen to it. They ask Reides if this is normal. He says it’s a special ore called pelagic ore, not actually coral. It’s high quality stuff used in armor, like what we’re planning to retrieve. Reides says his old armor was made out of pelagic ore. Jorah is surprised that Reides used to wear armor, and Reides explains that he threw it into the sea. Aske helped! Jorah asks if it’s anything to worry about, but it’s just good metal. It has innate magical powers that enhance swimming ability, but it’s a bit of a process to forge it into usable equipment. If we just took some now, it wouldn’t help Ashara or Briar much and also Viglis would get really mad. Briar is disappointed that his plans for a magical underwater cock ring are dead before they’ve truly been born.

The Trench is too deep for any of us to see the bottom of it. This side of the trench has less crystals and it seems to be more of a mining section. Kilwin and Briar spot something shiny moving toward the eastern side of the trench and let the rest of the party know. We’re all pretty sure Viglis would’ve mentioned if there would be allies here! We decide to be careful. The ravine is about 150 feet at the top and narrows as it goes down. Reides knows that a group of Persana-worshiping sorcerers found it after a long exodus from their former home. They saw the light refracting from the crystals and wondered what it was, discovering the deepest trench they’d ever seen. No one has ever been to the bottom of the Crystalline Trench and returned, but the deepest that anyone has built anything is about 300 feet down. We decide to swim across the top of the trench and go down from the other side, since we’re not sure how far down anything is. Deeper in, we see larger fish swimming about. Reides keeps an eye out for seahorses, but doesn’t spot any. We find a perch on a rock shelf to take a better look at what Kilwin and Briar spotted. It’s a group of three sahuagin and a deep scion, swimming along a natural rock bridge and looking around. Two of the sahuagin are extremely large and muscular, like the one who boarded the Desperado. The third is much smaller, wielding a staff. All of their armor looks normal, though. They don’t seem to have noticed us. Jorah doesn’t really want to fight them, but we might have to. He and Kilwin look for any indications of a collapsed cavern, but can’t make out anything from here. Ashara defaults judgment to Reides, who admits he doesn’t really see any way around them. We decide that Jorah and Briar will each try to take on one of the big ones while the spellcasters focus on the sahuagin priestess. Kilwin plans to follow Briar and Jorah, but at a distance since he’s pretty sure he’ll give away their approach. Jorah says they’ll just think about seaweed really hard if it goes bad, and Ashara can keep a thought mind out for that, but we won’t be so spread out that the rest of the party can just watch.

Briar and Jorah rush in, with Briar grabbing one of the sahuagin barons with his tentacles. Reides and Ashara throw spells at the sahuagin priestess, with Reides’s Acid Arrow doing a lot of damage. Kilwin swims down from the rock shelf and summons Spiritual Weapon, but misses. Jorah attacks the other baron with Quickbrand, but it regains its bearings and attacks back, immediately dispelling Hunter’s Mark. The baron turns around, looking into the trench and something starts to rise. A really fucked up looking shark swims up and tries to bite Kilwin, but he blocks it. Kilwin is horrified by what he now thinks sharks look like. Another shark emerges from the depths near Briar, but fails to bite him. The deep scion tries to attack Jorah but fails and screams in frustration. Reides casts Ice Storm, centered on the priestess, pelting most of the enemy party with balls of ice. Ashara focuses her attention on the shark menacing Kilwin. Kilwin casts Toll the Dead on the shark attacking him. Reides and Ashara can hear the bell, which sounds like a funeral dirge, which is apt since the shark does not survive. Unfortunately, he’s still getting the hang of maneuvering Spiritual Weapon underwater. The sahuagin facing Briar doesn’t even try breaking the grapple and bites into Briar instead. He licks his lips, his taste for octopus seeming to have grown. Briar frantically thinks about seaweed. The sahuagin priestess starts casting a spell that looks like Kilwin’s magic, so Reides counterspells it. She follows up by casting another Kilwin-esque spell and light flows from her fingertips toward her companions. Their wounds seem to partially heal. She looks into the trench and a third shark swims up and toward Briar. Jorah tries and fails to attack one of the barons, and falls back on his last resort of rude gestures. One of the sharks circles around Briar to attack him from behind. It slips into a frenzy and, when it’s done, Briar is no longer an octopus. Briar shouts to Jorah that he’s getting overwhelmed and casts Toll the Dead on the priestess. When that doesn’t do anything, he Misty Steps away and around a rock. The deep scion looks between Jorah and the rest of the party before letting out its scream. Jorah resists its effect. The rest of the party hears it echoing through the water, but it doesn’t affect them. The sahuagin who had been grappled by Briar swims toward the rest of the party. He tries to attack Kilwin, but he’s too well-armored, so he lets loose a string of what’s probably Sahuagin curses. The priestess also swims toward the group and begins to cast a spell in Briar’s direction. Also recognizing it as similar to a spell Kilwin has cast before, Reides counterspells it. She looks cross and points at Reides, yelling something in Sahuagin. Jorah smites the baron before turning his back on him. He gets hit, but manages to make his way to the priestess and slash at her with Quickbrand. She somehow survives. The baron in the middle of the party swims up and throws some tridents at Reides. Reides manages to shield one away, but the other hits him. One of the sharks goes after Jorah, who manages to stay conscious. Briar summons an aquatic bestial spirit and becomes an octopus again. The deep scion, who most of us kind of forgot about, gurgles sadly before swimming over to attack Jorah. It’s too heartbroken to do much damage, though. Reides finally manages to kill the priestess with Chill Touch. With his last strength, Jorah ferociously attacks the sahuagin baron. He only does five damage, but it’s directly to his throat, and he perishes. Briar grabs one of the sharks, while his spirit companion rips into one of the barons, shredding his jugular. It then starts to swim down toward one of the sharks. The deep scion swims toward Briar, while Jorah floats up a bit before Kilwin gets a chance to heal him. Reides finishes off one of the sharks, while the deep scion survives Jorah’s attack. It retaliates, knocking Jorah unconscious again. Ashara kills the scion while Kilwin brings Jorah back to consciousness again. The last shark, now alone, attempts to swim away, but Briar’s spirit chews into it before Briar grabs it again. He wraps one tentacle around its head and another around its tail, pulling until the shark begins to tear in the middle and it is rent in twain.

Session 76

 * Google Document (12-4-22)

The party figures out how to proceed. While we’re not sure there’s enough time for searching the bodies to be worth it, Kilwin and Ashara still swim up to examine them, especially the priestess. Jorah heals himself so he doesn’t die, while OctoBriar is still in decent shape and declines healing. Reides and Jorah search the trench wall for collapsed rock or spots where coral is missing that might indicate a past cave-in. The two of them don’t spot anything of note at first. Farther up, Kilwin pushes some bodies down for Ashara to reach. The barons have nothing except the shell armor they were wearing. The priestess has what seems to be a component pouch, but nothing in terms of a map or orders. Kilwin opens the component pouch to look inside, finding some waterlogged twigs and some gold dust that quickly begins floating out of the pouch and downward. Kilwin closes the pouch and keeps it to examine above water for anything potentially useful. With no obvious leads, we discuss searching strategies. Since we’re near the location Viglis indicated (as far as we can tell), we decide to just broaden our search of the trench wall, splitting up slightly but keeping an eye out for more sharks. Kilwin and Reides bemoan not having Locate Object prepared, although they doubt finding the armory would be that simple. Kilwin points out that a sheet of lead would hide objects behind it from the spell, so that might be a tip-off if we find lead. Reides considers using Detect Magic, but since rock and metal can block it, he decides it’s not worth the time to ritual cast it.

We make our way along the wall and, eventually, Reides and Ashara find a part of the wall that feels softer than the rest, like dirt instead of solid stone. Reides is very excited, which confirms to Ashara that the wall’s softness is significant. They point it out to the rest of the party. Now that Briar sees it, he notices that, while the entire ravine wall is covered in algae and coral, the algae on this section of the wall is noticeably younger. He poses contemplatively. We consider trying to teleport in, but teleporting blind is scary. Briar attempts to dig a hole in the dirt about one tentacle deep. It takes him about 15 minutes to make a good dent, when he starts finding larger rocks in the wall. Kilwin offers to help move rocks, and after about half an hour of moving the larger ones, shafts of light start to poke into a space behind the wall. Reides swims up to take a look, but blocks his own light and is quickly discouraged by his fear of things popping out and poking him in the eye. Using Dimension Door to get into the cavern is brought up again, but Reides and Ashara don’t have enough spell slots between them to get everyone back out. The party weighs the time needed to continue digging versus the risk of causing a cave collapse by using magic to clear the opening. Briar offers to stand watch outside while the rest of us teleport in, but the rest of the party doesn’t want to leave him alone. Briar comes up with another idea, though, and unshifts from his octopus form. Kilwin notes that he’s bleeding! Briar says it’s fine. Briar casts Plant Growth on the algae and other aquatic plants on the ravine wall to grow their root network deeper into the wall. As a result, this part of the wall looks more like its surroundings. He then casts Blight on the plants. They fade from green to brown to black before they start disintegrating at the slight currents around them. When Kilwin tries digging again, it’s much easier. Everyone is impressed! Briar says it’s a trick he learned from an old companion. Jorah suggests digging a Kilwin-sized hole, since that’s all we really need, which takes about five more minutes thanks to Briar’s spells.

Light begins to flood into the chamber and, as we enter, we immediately notice this place is filled with skeletons. It takes the party a moment to process and realize that these are the workers trapped here when the armory was lost. Their bones are gently disturbed by the currents from outside. Many are on dilapidated stone beds, holding rotting seaweed blankets. Many of them have pieces of shell plating on their arms and rotten clothing. None of this gear is pelagic, since magical items don’t deteriorate like this. However, there’s also a door to the left. Jorah suggests collapsing the cave on our way out, so that the sahuagin don’t get to it, which the rest of the party supports. Reides says tritons don’t let their people rest like this, although Jorah calls it the peril of the lost and forgotten. The party hopes the remains can be relocated once the kraken situation is resolved, though. As the party moves to the left room, Reides whispers a prayer to Persana. In the next room, the stale water gets even staler, but there’s stacked rows of silvery blue armor and chain in all corners of the room. There are also, sadly, a few more skeletons, although most of them are in the entrance room. Kilwin begins to fill Viglis’s satchel, which appears to be a Bag of Holding, with armor. Jorah looks for a pelagic breastplate for himself, which he finds easily. It’s been refined out of its coral form, but still has a watery mirror sheen to it. There’s no lighter gear for Ashara, though. Jorah changes his breastplate and stands guard while the rest of the party keeps gathering. There’s some weapons strewn about, such as tridents and spears and shortswords, as well. Kilwin decides to take a few for good measure. As he touches them, he feels a familiar magical hum, so he puts some more in the satchel. Briar also takes a breastplate for himself. Jorah’s breastplate has the symbol of a conch shell on it, while Briar’s is emblazoned with a silver trident and silhouette of a conch. Reides explains these are symbols of Persana and Aquos. Jorah is a little worried about repping two gods at once, but Reides says Persana will play nice. Jorah points out that Persana isn’t the god he’s worried about. Reides assures him that Persana is very into death rites, so the Nameless God probably isn’t opposed to him, and Briar suggests that Jorah’s patron deity isn’t fond of the limelight anyway. Jorah takes a magic shortsword and dagger for himself too, to Ashara’s dismay. He tells her that he intends to give them back to the tritons once we’re done and he’s not a thief anymore. Briar is intrigued by this statement, but Jorah just says we all lived lives as kids. Kilwin looks for an accessory Ashara can use and finds a gleaming pendant, but it’s around the neck of one of the skeletons. Kilwin’s reluctant to take it, although Reides says the triton who owned it would probably want Aquos to be saved above all else. We’re not even sure if the pendant is magical and not sure if we have time for Reides to cast Identify to check. Ashara is deeply uncomfortable with the premise of our mission, and ultimately, we decide to leave the pendant where it is.

Near the entrance, Jorah is keeping watch as the pelagic breastplate shapes to him. He’s looking around the Crystalline Trench when he notices a large shadow passing above. He peeks his little eyes up and sees a long tentacle from farther up, swaying out toward him before it disappears again. Jorah backs away from the door and runs to the rest of the party, telling them that the kraken is here. Reides and Briar wonder how she made her way down here! However, as Jorah starts talking about how he’s not sure if it saw him but we’ll likely be found, they figure it out. Jorah thinks we might need to go through the kraken now or wait and go through the kraken and its friends. Reides doesn’t have any illusion magic ready to hide the cave entrance, if that would even help, and Ashara’s teleportation spells are both the wrong size for the current situation. Reides thinks Aquos should really invest in a teleportation circle, though! We’ve gathered a lot of armor, but Kilwin suggests that someone should sneak out to look to see if we’ve been discovered. He doesn’t think he should because of the sneaking part. Jorah volunteers and goes out to look for the owner of the tentacle. He doesn’t see anything until he happens to look down. Deeper down, there’s a few tentacles reaching up around the edge of the trench, their owner just out of sight. Jorah moves back into the cave, praying to every god he knows that he wasn’t noticed. He enters the armory, closes the door behind him, and tells the party that he doesn’t think we’ve been spotted yet, but it’ll notice us eventually if we stay. Kilwin asks Jorah if his pelagic breastplate is working yet, to see if he can spare the Cloak of the Manta Ray so Ashara can escape. After confirming with Reides that Water Breathing hasn’t worn off, Jorah removes the cloak and swims around. The pelagic armor doesn’t bolster his swimming prowess as much as the cloak, but it’s clearly taken effect. He offers the cloak to Ashara, who takes it and immediately announces her intention of not giving it back. Ashara is also given the satchel to hold now that she’s the fastest swimmer, just in case. Reides mentions invisibility as an option, but we’re not sure if that would work on a kraken. Kilwin and Jorah just know that krakens are big, have tentacles, and live in the ocean. Reides knows a little more, but it’s all shaped by legends. They sleep for ages waiting for a call or sign. Laverathian historians still struggle to reconcile gaps in the record caused by kraken attacks. Their appearance is exceedingly rare and they were once warriors of the gods, usually in service to Persana or Eadro. However, they’re said to have been cast away and eventually become enemies of everything living. They’re very powerful and, like many divinely sourced beings, can probably see through illusions. Reides decides Invisibility probably isn’t worth it, although Jorah casts Pass Without Trace on the party. At this point, we’ve gathered about three quarters of the armory and, remembering Viglis told us to cut our losses, we decide to try to sneak out and only fight if we have to.

As we get ready to leave to cave, we debate the merits of trying to wait it out again. We also discuss sealing the cave but, unfortunately, none of us have a quiet method of collapsing the cave. Still, we decide that the collapse could be used as a distraction. Briar can cast Erupting Earth from a good distance, so he agrees to collapse it. As we swim out and up, Briar touches the cave wall and quietly thanks Terathun. Outside the cave, it’s now dark because it’s nighttime. As we round the lip of the trench and look down, we see a large silhouette low in the trench, tentacles trailing behind. We can make out a few features: a long tail fin that looks like a tentacle, along with four other actual tentacles; a spine running along its back; three eyes arranged vertically on its face, with a round mouth filled with sharp teeth below them; long whiskers and pasty flesh. None of us think that’s what krakens look like, but none of us actually know enough about krakens to dispute it. Briar tells everyone else to swim ahead while he backtracks a bit to collapse the cave. Most of the party goes ahead, keeping Briar in view, but Kilwin only goes halfway. Briar casts Erupting Earth, collapsing the cave but making a loud noise that immediately draws the creature’s attention. It begins to examine the area of the cave-in, while Briar swims for his life, with Kilwin alongside him. As they turn down to look, they see three eyes staring directly at them. The party is informed as everyone swims as fast as they can toward a shipwreck Reides thinks will be a good spot to drop the satchel. Ashara swims slightly ahead, but not much farther ahead so she can stick with the party and let Reides (who knows where we’re going) direct the party. Briar heals himself as he swims. Most of the party focuses on just swimming, but Kilwin looks back and sees a large shadow, growing larger. Kilwin tells the party that it’s gaining on us and we probably can’t outswim it. Reides wants to keep trying. As we keep swimming, though, we realize it’s gaining on us so much that it’ll probably get us before we can reach the shipwreck. As it nears the party, everyone hears a voice in their mind that says “You.” Ashara attempts to cast Detect Thoughts on the creature, while everyone else responds to it in some way. The creature talks to each of us telepathically, leaving several party members visibly shaken and most of them still in the water. The creature turns and drifts toward Aquos, leaving the party behind physically unscathed. Jorah, who was still swimming forward, slows down. We realize we could try to fight the creature now, but opt to stick with the plan and return to Viglis. We make our way back to the refugee camp, Ashara swimming farther ahead, and Kilwin keeping an eye out for anything following us. We appear to be unfollowed.

Upon the party’s return, we seek out Viglis, but he’s slumped over a map on the table outside the cabin, covered by a blanket that someone else clearly placed on him. Reides doesn’t want to disturb him, since the man clearly needed some sleep, and thinks Dharsus would be a good person to give the armor and weapons to. Ashara hands over the satchel. Kilwin asks to go with Reides so he can ask about helping the sorcerers with healing.

Reides and Kilwin find Dharsus standing guard, arms crossed. Reides lets him know we got a ton of pelagic armor but Viglis was resting and we didn’t want to disturb him. Dharsus agrees that Viglis will be out for a while, which Reides is glad to hear. Dharsus is brought up to speed on the discovery of the armory and the possibility of returning to properly inter the dead within. He’s also told about the party’s encounter with the big creature. From its description, Dharsus doesn’t think it sounds like a kraken and he has, in fact, seen one now. He speculates that it might be the other creature who attacked with the kraken, but he didn’t see that. He was preoccupied with securing the royal family. Reides thanks him for that. Dharsus says the armor that the party recovered will be extremely helpful and that Viglis would agree. He mentions that they didn’t really have much time to collect gear once the attack started. The creature we encountered, though, sends chills down his spine. Reides says it knew things about him that it shouldn’t have known and he’s glad it fucked off. Dharsus cringes at the profanity. Reides apologizes because he knows Dharsus doesn’t care for the word, but says if he were there, he’d be glad it fucked off too. Dharsus says that nevertheless, Persana will help us and we just need to hold fast. Reides smiles. Kilwin explains his offer to help the sorcerers with healing and asks if Dharsus can tell him who he should talk to, although he says he’ll understand if he gets turned away. Dharsus directs him toward a large tent down the ridge with a large insignia of Persana. He says Kilwin will need an escort, but Reides volunteers to take him there as long as the rest of his friends will be left alone. Dharsus says it’ll be fine but warns Kilwin to be careful, since not everyone is receptive to outsiders.

On their way to the healers’ tent, Reides and Kilwin discuss their encounter with the creature. Reides confirms that it knew things about him and even brought up his dad. Kilwin was unsettled by what the creature told him, since it brought up stuff he hadn’t really discussed with anyone else. He finds it hard to talk about the specifics. They decide to bring it up with the party later and, while Kilwin wants to know what Reides was told, he also doesn’t want to make Reides go through it twice. As they keep swimming, though, they decide that they don’t want to be distracted by these thoughts long and to leave their trip to the healers’ tent for a little later and return to the rest of the party.

The party, reunited, realizes that the creature spoke to each of them telepathically, each saying something different after the initial “You.” Reides doesn’t want to dwell on his conversation anymore and freely admits that it offered him the freedom and belonging he craved. It’s everything he’s been chasing, even before he left Aquos, and Reides’s not sure how it knew about that. He told it that his freedom is something he’ll take with his own two hands, but it responded that he was siding with the father who betrayed him. Reides asked it about Lotlyn and it called her a bargaining chip, fine but scared. Reides told it that he trusts his father more than it, but it said this was an open offer and he’s welcome to come back if Khavas lets him down. Ashara says psychic connections aren’t clean and that she couldn’t get anything from it when she tried to read it. She suspects that the creature learned about Reides’s issues from his own mind. She’s frustrated she couldn’t get anything from it, when that’s kind of her thing. Reides says the only people he wants in his head like that are people on the other end of Sending or Ashara, and that’s it. Jorah says he thought the voice was Ashara for half a second. Ashara asks how he could ever think that. Jorah says he figured it out real quick, but Ashara keeps talking, saying she doesn’t sound like that and would never do that. She reveals that the creature told her that we would be the end of her, and now she thinks it was right. It made her an offer and she now wishes she took it, saying she’d enjoy ruling the depths and loves acting above her station. She doesn’t think it matters what she does, because it also told her happiness was above and she abandoned him. Kilwin suggests casting Sending to allay her fears about Kain, but she doesn’t want to. Reides looks deeply hurt and asks if Ashara really thinks that about the party and would really screw over Reides’s home like that. Ashara says that she told him she’d stay and finish this and she’s only talking about Jorah. She tells him she won’t call him Jorts anymore and no longer considers him a friend. Jorah says he mistook it as regular speaking and just wasn’t thinking in the moment. Apparently, it also offered him the empire and he turned it down. He says he doesn’t get why either. He thinks it just told him what it thought he wanted to hear, but he’s never wanted an underwater empire so he doesn’t think it looked deep enough, even if it rattled off a bunch of fears he’s never shared with anyone. Ashara says we shouldn’t respond if we hear it again, as a psychic safety measure. She thinks it might be in a desperate spot and asks what it told Kilwin. Kilwin says it offered to help him and talked about stuff he hasn’t shared with anyone. It told him that the pressures of the light can’t reach him here and it could help him be his true self. He told it no, but it’s still bothering him. He asserts that he helps people because he wants to help people, but he used to only want one thing in life and now that he’s left Cowersby, he wants so many things, but isn’t sure if any of them are compatible with each other. He still wants to be a priest in Cowersby and worries that he’ll let down Father Glasny if he doesn’t, but he also wants to keep adventuring and helping people out in the world and isn’t sure he’d even be a good priest anymore, considering his people skills. Reides and Ashara try to assure him that he could still be a good priest if that’s what he decides and he can find a path that works for him. Reides says they’re not dealing with the exact same issue, but compares it to him wanting freedom without always sticking out like a sore thumb. He tells Kilwin that his destiny is his own to find. Ashara says Kilwin can always keep adventuring and be a priest when he retires, saying that she plans to retire immediately after all this is over. Reides admits he’s still trying to wrap his head around surviving all of this. Kilwin thanks them but admits he’s not sure if he believes it. Reides asks what Briar heard and he snaps back to the conversation, admitting he was distracted. He explains that, as he told us, he’s from very far away and he came for a reason. He’s trying to save something, someone close to him and it’s why he’s here, why he left, and why he exists. It’s his everything and nothing and why he’s lonely and how he can go everywhere and still be lost. The creature offered to help him save this person. Briar told it to never speak its name, but now he wonders how he can turn away from this. He wonders if this means other beings know about this and if they might be conspiring against him. After untold years and untold worlds, he’s faced with the possibility that he could finally have a home. Kilwin tries to convince Briar that it knew about his friend because it saw them in his mind, while Ashara says something like that will take the smallest part of you if you don’t protect and it’s trapped underwater by its own nature. It can't do anything! Briar has no idea what this thing serves, although Kilwin points out it’s probably Alzrius. Ashara reprimands him because she’s trying to keep it positive, but Kilwin thinks this is just a neutral piece of information! Reides thinks it’s a good point though and asks Briar if he really wants to work with evil incarnate. Briar’s really not sure and is starting to have some doubts about himself. Reides doesn’t think he would, though, and if he did, he thinks Briar would regret it deeply once he saw the amount of bloodshed that resulted from his choice. Reides believes in him! Ashara asks if it helps to know that she asked the creature to put her down as a maybe. Briar does feel slightly reassured. Reides says that thing fucked up his home, so he’s going to kill it no matter what. He trusts his four companions to give him what he wants more than that thing. He’s been running and keeping secrets for so much of his life, feeling like he was born into the wrong existence, but then he met Aske and Kilwin and Erak and Slumberjack and Jorah and Ashara and even Briar, and they’ve all given him a greater sense of belonging than any underwater whispering thing ever could. Jorah says hear, hear! Reides says the party could also seek travel help from the Desperado for Briar’s quest, maybe, if he needs that and Reides gets Aske to put in a good word for him. Jorah remarks that our wallets might not be able to afford the Desperado again. Reides is glad that we were able to talk about this, even if some of us were less open than others, looking pointedly at Jorah. He also reminds Briar that he really wanted to try triton booze and now he can! Briar is admittedly still intrigued by the tubes. Reides grabs onto Briar, which Briar turns into a full hug. Kilwin says he’ll join them if he gets turned away from the healers’ tent, although Reides is planning on doing drinks later anyway. He thinks he’s earned it after today! He needs to find Dhudus too, since it’s almost like he’s been avoiding Reides, although Reides doesn’t think Dhudus cares enough to actually avoid him.

Session 77

 * Google Document (12-10-22)

As the rest of the party settles down to rest, Reides escorts Kilwin to the healers’ tent. The tent is easy to find. It’s made of a dusty white material and has a silver trident and dark red conch embroidered on it. The sides are open with tritons moving in and out. There’s a long line of tritons waiting in front of the tent. Many are cradling arms, holding cloths to wounds, or trying to comfort crying children. There’s no obvious sorcerers or leadership from the outside of the tent, so Kilwin and Reides swim closer and hope that they don’t seem like they’re cutting in line. Near the tent, a triton in light blue robes with short-cropped green hair and no facial hair. They look down at the membrane in their hand and begin reading out a list of names. The people whose names are called start filtering into the tent. As they read the last name, they notice Kilwin and Reides and redirect them toward the back of the line. However, they manage to clarify that they’re not here to be healed and Kilwin offers his own healing abilities if the sorcerers will have him. The person agrees to speak to the healers inside. It takes a few minutes, and Reides and Kilwin hear some very heated whispering from inside before the clipboard triton returns. They rub the back of their head and explain that the sorcerers would like to see evidence of Kilwin’s healing abilities first. Apparently, they believe that there’s no way a surfacer could have magical healing abilities like a triton does. Kilwin says they follow different gods, so it might not be exactly the same, but they should still have plenty of magic in common. He’s willing to demonstrate and asks the triton to show him where to go. Reides vouches for Kilwin’s healing ability and says that he’s saved his life several times with them.

Inside the tent, there’s a number of portable beds with straps to hold people in place while the healers are working on them. There’s six tritons in light blue robes gathered around one bed in the corner. The triton with the clipboard points Kilwin there and tells him to assist with the injured man in that bed. Kilwin swims over, with Reides following. The tritons gathered around the bed look unhappy, like their day has been interrupted by this nonsense. One puts their head in their hands and shakes their head, while another says “Let’s get this over with.” Kilwin says it’s nice to meet them and makes his way past to examine the triton on the bed. He has a huge gash in his side, and blood is drifting out of it into the surrounding water. He’s muttering deliriously about the pain and not paying any attention to his surroundings. Kilwin casts Cure Wounds on him, and the gash begins to close. Still, Kilwin tries again. A second Cure Wounds spell fully closes the gash and makes the scar begin to fade away. The man clutches where his wound was and begins to pat at it, realizing that it’s gone. He says that the pain is still there, but much lessened. He finally notices Kilwin is there and recoils instinctively. He asks if Kilwin did this. Kilwin confirms that he did and asks if there’s anything else bothering the man. The man says anything else will simply heal with time, and he no longer needs magical healing while others are in need of help. He bows to Kilwin before swimming away, and Kilwin bows back for some reason. Reides says he told them all so! The sorcerers begin muttering among themselves. Reides apologizes to Kilwin because his people love to whisper. Kilwin says it’s fine, he was kind of expecting this! At one point, one of the sorcerers gets into Kilwin’s face and asks where he draws his powers from. Kilwin explains that Alethus gives him his magic, and she’s a big god on the surface, although he’s not sure anyone in Laverathia worships her. The triton contemptuously asks if the other sorcerers heard that if he swims back. Kilwin double-checks with Reides to make sure he didn’t just say something really silly, and Reides confirms he was fine. About 80% of tritons follow Persana, while roughly 19% primarily worship Eadro, with the remaining 1% focusing on other gods. Even those who follow Eadro are looked upon with disdain, so they tend to not vocalize their worship very much. Eventually, a wizened-looking sorcerer with dulling hair breaks out of the group and approaches Kilwin. He introduces himself as Kannen and invites Kilwin to heal with them. Kilwin thanks him and agrees! Kannen says his associates aren’t open to unusual methods of healing,  but desperate times call for desperate measures, so they should understand. As he says this, Kannen gives the triton who rolled his eyes and got into Kilwin’s face a withering look. He indicates that the other sorcerer has run out of his well of power for the day and is in no position to complain about help. Kilwin says he still has most of his reserve left and can help with mundane healing after he’s exhausted it. Kannen says they can talk about it, and he takes Kilwin aside to give him instructions.

Reides approaches the sorcerer who was rudest to Kilwin and tells him not to give him a hard time. He says they don’t have the luxury of being picky right now and being picky is silly to begin with. Reides says Kilwin is a good person, which is the first time the sorcerer has heard of a surfacer being a good person. Reides says that’s because he’s never seen the surface! The sorcerer claims he doesn’t need to because he trusts the word of their forefathers. Reides asks what word that is! The sorcerer begins to talk about surfacers polluting the sea, which Reides has to concede isn’t wrong, although he says there’s surfacers who don’t and also ones who try to help clean up. In the end, the sorcerer concedes that Kilwin has power that he won’t turn away. Reides is glad and says again that he owes his life to Kilwin. He doesn’t want anyone to cause him trouble and, while he’s worried about being in the way in the healers’ tent, he’ll stay if they make him stay. The sorcerer doesn’t think Kannen will let Reides stay and mentions that he’s a powerful sort. The sorcerer seems to have a traumatic flashback to his school days under Kannen’s tutelage. Reides is glad that everyone seems to be in good hands and gets ready to leave as the triton with the clipboard calls in the next group of patients. Reides lets Kilwin know that he’s leaving and encourages him to pull the royal card if people give him a hard time. Kilwin thinks it’d be weird to refer to Prince Reides and it’ll be fine, it’s just a weird situation for most of the people here, but thanks him.

Reides wants to track down Dhudus but decides he needs to rest. He meets up with the rest of the party, who are settling in to rest. Jorah asks how it went at the healers’ tent, and Reides tells him Kilwin managed to shut up the naysayers. He offers to escort anyone else around the camp if they’d like, although Jorah doesn’t want to start any fights. Reides says his brothers both like fights! He thinks Jorah should meet Tetra, since he thinks he’d like hippocampi, but Jorah just thinks he’d start a fight with Viglis first then. Reides reiterates that Viglis would like that! Briar admits he’s in the process of forgetting which spells he’d like to prepare for tomorrow. Ashara is journaling in her mind palace, so Reides asks if she’d like some underwater writing materials. She’s down to try it! Reides explains he wants his friends to be comfortable down here. Even if it’s technically not his home since Aquos is in bad shape, it’s still an extension of his home. Reides goes to find an ink-needle and membrane for her. At first, he flags down a random half-armored guard, who rapidly stiffens up and addresses Reides as “Your Highness,” and asks if he has an ink-needle. The guard rummages through his satchel and pulls one out. Reides asks to borrow it, and the guard readily agrees. He also asks if the guard has a journal or any paper. The guard offers his own journal, although it’s a little written in. Reides is horrified and asks the guard to please keep his journal. The guard directs Reides to the supply tent down the southern ridge for an alternate source of paper. Reides thanks the guard for his help and gives the ink-needle back, since he doesn’t want to steal his stuff when the supply tent probably has ink-needles. He apologizes and swims away.

The supply tent is far and away the largest tent in the camp, as large as the biggest room in the palace. There’s many tritons swimming around and organizing things, along with one holding a sheave of driftwood with a membrane attached. Reides asks if there’s any books and ink-needles available. The triton with the clipboard asks who he is, and he says Reides. She asks why he needs the book and ink-needle, and he cites morale. She raises her eyebrow and jots something down. She asks Reides for his last name and begins to falter when he says Laverath. She hands over the ink-needle and a blank book and nervously tells him to enjoy! She continues writing on her clipboard. Reides offers to help in here if there’s any way he can, since it’s crazy in here, if also very impressive. The triton quartermaster assures him that won’t be necessary and that there’s order in the chaos. Reides likes the sound of that! She nods more nervously and tells Reides to enjoy his day, bowing before he leaves. Reides waves back and rushes back to Ashara and the rest of the party.

Reides presents Ashara with the membrane journal and ink-needle. He explains that it’s a bit slower than writing on the surface, but he thinks the way the ink bleeds into the paper is very cool. Ashara observes that it’s like tattooing, which is something that she’s always wanted to learn how to do. She asks for any tips Reides might have. He advises her to not move the needle off the page too much, but otherwise it’ll be best for her to learn by doing. Ashara manages to write extremely well on her first try, creating a beautiful calligraphy rendering of “To Pee or Not to Pee.” Briar is pretty sure no one can tell if someone pees in the water. Reides asks if he’s been peeing in the water. Briar wordlessly swims away. Ashara does some journaling in Vrinian Elvish, which is still understandable to modern Elvish speakers but has some odd idioms. Reides tells the rest of the party about his weird social interactions, and Jorah asks what it’s like being home. He says it was rough at first, but it’s kind of nice now. It’s weird, and Reides’s not sure if all the stress is just making him crazy or something. This also isn’t really Aquos, but it’s still nice. Reides explains that, while he always wanted to go to the surface, he didn’t really want to abandon his family. He pretended he didn’t miss them for a long time and, while it’s complicated, he likes being home and he’s glad he’s getting to see Viglis. The last time was before Reides’s imprisonment. Jorah was just wondering! Reides is glad he got to bring us with him, even if Aquos is in the state it’s in right now. Reides says it’s awkward needing to navigate his royal status, since that’s something he didn’t need to worry about on the surface. Jorah cannot relate! Reides concedes this is fair, but says that now we can relate to his experience of being treated like an alien everywhere we go. Jorah doesn’t think this is all that different from the experience of being a backwater bounty hunter in the emperor’s palace, though. Briar tries not to chuckle, although Jorah tells him to go ahead and laugh. Reides does say it’s nice to be home, although he was freaked out about it at first. He expected this all to go much worse! He’s still freaked out about Lotlyn’s situation, though, and is wondering where Dhudus the Delinquent is. Jorah asks if Dhudus is the one with a more-than-is-proper enjoyment of alcohol. Reides says Dhudus really enjoys alcohol and food and fighting, but doesn’t think he’d call it improper. He admits his judgment might be skewed, though! Reides does say that Dhudus isn’t much of a tactician, and Jorah says he’s not one either. Reides vehemently disagrees. He asks for backup from the rest of the party, which Ashara tentatively supplies. Jorah thanks her for telling it like it is, although she says Jorah is a decent tactician. Reides points out several times when Jorah has drafted a good strategy for the group, including in Port Valor and accuses Jorah of being too modest. After all this, Jorah decides to mimic Viglis and turn in for the night. He asks the others to wake him up if any tentacle monsters come to attack or if Viglis wakes up, same difference. He pulls his cloak over his head and sleeps in cocoon mode. Reides recasts Water Breathing before turning in. Kilwin finishes up at the healers’ tent, having run through the rest of his magic for the day and learned a little bit about underwater medical care. The basic principles are the same, but some of the details are different. Kilwin’s a quick study, though, and learns on the fly. When he comes back, everyone is fast asleep and Kilwin joins them.

Around 8 AM, the party wakes up. Viglis begins to stir as well, groaning and rubbing his eyes as his blanket drifts away. Reides asks if he slept well, and Viglis immediately asks how long he was out. Jorah checks his timepiece and tells him it’s been about ten hours that we know of. Viglis is mortified. Reides and Kilwin try to assure him that sleep is good and he needed to catch up, but Viglis is worried he missed crucial information. We tell him our mission was successful overall, but he says he’ll hear our full report later, once he’s gotten some food. We realize none of us ate yesterday. Viglis motions over a guard and tells them something before leading us over to another tent. As we travel, Viglis flags down Dharsus, who joins our group. We head for a large tent in the middle of a large group of tents. It’s light blue with a silver conch over the entrance. Inside, there’s a large ornate table in between the two large poles holding up the tent. Pinned to the table is a large membrane with a nice map on it. There’s red and blue pins on the map. Viglis settles down on the other side of the table and says food should be here soon. Before we get started, Reides asks what’s up with Khavas and why he isn’t helping with this. He’s surprised that Viglis seems to be in charge of this whole operation. Viglis says it’s a long story, so Reides is willing to wait, although he does want to hear it eventually. Viglis is sure he will, although he’s not sure he wants to be the one to tell him. A servant enters the tent with a platter of cooked and raw fish, some aquatic plants, and some pouches. No oysters, though, since these are just basic rations. Viglis grabs some fish and a pouch, made out of a tanned hide of some aquatic beast. He squeezes the contents of the pouch into his mouth. Reides takes some fish and a pouch of water, since it’s a bit early for wine. The rest of the party takes their pouches at random, since they can’t tell the difference. Jorah and Ashara get brown pouches with some clean and tasty water. Briar chugs down the contents of a blue pouch, which turns out to be yummy fruit juice. Kilwin takes a darker brown pouch that turns out to be deepcoral wine. As he first tastes it, he grimaces but tries to hold it back to not offend anyone. Reides notices that Kilwin took the wine but doesn’t know it was a mistake. He doesn’t think Kilwin would do that, though, and looks at him worriedly. Kilwin attempts to convey that it’s all okay! This silent exchange draws Jorah’s attention, who asks if water isn’t to Kilwin’s liking. Reides asks if Viglis asked for wine, but Viglis just asked for some of whatever supplies they had. At this point, Kilwin is very red. Reides grabs a pouch of water for him. Kilwin explains that he didn’t know the pouches were different, and Viglis says that Kilwin doesn’t seem the type to drink this early in the morning. Reides says Kilwin knows how to party! Viglis gives Kilwin a disapproving look. Kilwin is shamed. Reides tells Viglis that he shouldn’t be giving his friends that look, just his little brother! Jorah grabs a pouch of deepcoral wine on purpose.

The meeting commences in earnest. Viglis has already received reports from the other two missions. The refugee-recovering group managed to locate three groups at the Hydrothermal Vents, two of which agreed to return to the camp. They bring the camp’s numbers to 6500, just shy of Viglis’s estimate of 7000 needed to retake the city. The third group was led by a “common thug” named Keldig, who was killed in an altercation with the soldiers who came to retrieve his group. That group was apparently held together by fear and scattered after Keldig’s death. The recon group learned valuable information, although Viglis is distressed by the casualties they sustained. Apparently, the kraken was at the castle, although they saw the aboleth leave it. Reides asks for a description, and the one Viglis heard from the report matches the creature that pursued us from the Crystalline Trench. The recon group observed it swimming toward the Trench to go find us. The recon squad witnessed tritons being fed to the kraken, as well as a meeting between the kraken and its lieutenants. Apparently, it plans to turn many more tritons into sea spawn and to take a treasure for itself. It also said they’d break the emperor eventually and he’d tell them the location. The full group didn’t make it back to camp though: Two of the three members perished in an attempt to rescue Lotlyn, and the last returned badly beaten. Reides is saddened, but says we can’t let their sacrifice be in vain. Viglis fully agrees.

Viglis asks for our full report, even though he knows we succeeded from Dharsus. Viglis eventually gets the full story, including our encounter with the sahuagin scouting party. We’re unable to tell him if they knew they were close to the lost armory or if the priestess with them was somehow contacting the aboleth. Jorah asks what an aboleth actually is. Viglis explains that surfacer legends describe Caugus stealing the Lifegiver’s clay of creation to create his monsters, as well as an ancient war between the good and evil deities. In this war, the aboleth was one of the evil gods’ greatest lieutenants, created by Caugus himself. It was set into the waters and had the power to speak into people’s minds and find their greatest desires to take advantage of them. If that failed, it could also enslave people through their minds, binding them to its will. If one can’t resist its call, there’s no hope for them. Kilwin says that the aboleth only got to that first step with us, although Jorah cuts him off to finish the part of our report concerning the encounter with the aboleth. Kilwin expresses his belief that we weren’t followed back to the camp. Reides calls the aboleth terrifying. We also tell Viglis that the armory was resealed so that the dead within could be properly seen to. Viglis thanks us and says that will be a high priority once the current situation is resolved. We also tell him that a quarter of the gear is still in the armory, but Viglis thinks what we got should be sufficient. Reides wonders if the aboleth’s powers are related to Khavas’s current condition. Viglis assures him that Khavas hasn’t been taken by the aboleth, but can’t be sure that it hasn’t talked to him and doubts Khavas would ever tell him if it had. Reides also wonders if the treasure the kraken mentioned could be the Crest. Viglis admits he hasn’t spoken with Khavas much since this whole thing started. At first, they were working together closely and Khavas was generally running everything, as he does. However, one day before we arrived, a messenger arrived for Khavas. Khavas met with this messenger at a remote location far from camp. Viglis wasn’t told what happened, but after that meeting, command was ceded to him. Reides mentions that Khavas looked sick when he went to see Arlyn, and also tells Viglis what the aboleth said to him about siding with Khavas who betrayed him and Lotlyn being a bargaining chip. Viglis says that Reides’s guess about what’s going on in Khavas’s head is as good as his. Reides suggests that the two of them need to talk to Khavas and find out, even if Reides would prefer not to. He thinks his father is awful, but also incredibly determined and stubborn, so him not running everything is baffling to him. Viglis mentions that Khavas wouldn’t tell him anything, but the two of them teamed up might get something. Reides thinks whatever they could get from him would be valuable, even if it’s just anger. He asks the rest of the party to wait nearby, though, just in case Khavas tries to imprison him again. The party readily agrees. Viglis gets Reides’s attention and, as he rises from the table, tells him that will never happen again.

The party and Viglis make their way to Khavas and Arlyn’s cabin. Ashara advises Reides to focus on not being imprisoned again. We also decide that it’s best to discuss the Crests openly, since Khavas is the only person involved who might not know their deal, so it’s not like there’s anything for him to leak beyond the fact that everyone knows. Jorah proposes Hommlin as the new watchword for underwater, which Reides really likes. Reides and Viglis approach the door while the rest of the group hangs back. Reides lets Viglis go first and hides behind him. Viglis sighs, but lets him hide as he opens the door. Viglis tells Khavas that they’ve come to speak to him. Khavas is floating in the middle of the room with his arms crossed, while Arlyn is off to the side, apparently weaving things onto a string. She puts her project down and begins to observe. Khavas sternly asks what this is about, tilting his head at Reides. Reides says it’s about Aquos. Khavas asks what about it. Reides asks if he can come inside first, which Khavas curtly allows. Reides goes in but gives Viglis a pleading look. Viglis’s look in return is sympathetic, but they gotta. Reides asks if Khavas has heard of the Abyssal Crests. Khavas asks why. Reides is frustrated that Khavas won’t just answer the question, but gives him the full explanation. Khavas denies having any Crests in Aquos, dismissing whatever Reides learned on the surface because it was on the surface. Reides manages to keep his cool and explains about what happened to Port Valor and finding Thorak’s list in the aftermath. Khavas flies into a rage, blaming that damned Karseidon and slamming his hands on a table. Reides observes that Khavas did know about the Crests then. He doesn’t think the fault is important right now, considering everything else that needs to be dealt with, but Khavas says the fault is the most important thing. Reides says not yet. Khavas continues, though, saying Karseidon sent the Wreath back to them and now this is happening as a direct result. He wishes he had never dealt with the surfacers at all. Reides asks where the Crest is. Khavas leans on the table and doesn’t respond. He’s fuming, and his anger reminds Reides of what he was like right before he was locked away. Arlyn tosses her needlework to the side and quickly ushers Reides and Viglis outside. Reides says that they all need to talk about this, but Arlyn says not right now! She closes the cabin door behind her.

Arlyn assures Reides that Khavas isn’t being influenced by the aboleth. She asks if Viglis told him about the messenger. Arlyn explains that the messenger laid out some stipulations for Khavas. First, if Khavas took any part in planning against the kraken, Lotlyn’s life would be forfeit. This is how they learned Lotlyn had even been captured in the first place. Understandably, Khavas was angry. Secondly, in exchange for Lotlyn’s safe return, Khavas would have to give up the location of the Wreath of Persana, a headband of pelagic ore that enhances the magical power of its wielder. Khavas had no use for it, so he stored it in a far-flung corner of the palace. It was considered a blessing when it was received years ago, and Arlyn had hoped that it would open Khavas’s mind to bargaining with the surface again. That never happened, though. Arlyn says she’s digressing, though, and explains that wasn’t the whole second condition. Khavas would also have to forgo retaking Aquos in exchange for Lotlyn. While he’s grappling with the Wreath, Khavas loves Aquos and Lotlyn too much to choose between them. Reides admits he wouldn’t be able to choose either. Now, Khavas has to sit and wait in this spot he loathes. He knows there must be spies ensuring he keeps his end of the bargain, and he also has to trust Viglis to a greater extent than he ever has before. Khavas feels helpless, and his past with Reides has set him off even more. Reides is sorry to set him off, but also thinks he’s exactly where he needs to be. Arlyn agrees and says that Viglis is also glad Reides is here, even if he won’t say it. Reides says they’ll need to secure the Wreath on their own, although he now understands Khavas’s carefulness much more, even if his temper is making everything much worse. He notes that this can’t be good for morale, which Arlyn suspects was the point of the condition. There’s already gossip that the king isn’t helping with anything. Reides thought Khavas was sick, although he admits that Khavas could never be sick. Reides assures Arlyn that his friends have secured Crests before, showing her the Bands of the Archmagi as proof. Reides says that Khavas can be as against the surface as he wants, but this time, the surface is going to make Laverathia stronger. Arlyn says she knows Reides and Viglis will prove their father wrong, smiling sadly but hopefully. Reides asks her to warn Khavas about the aboleth’s manipulation, although Arlyn says the reason he’s angry is because he already knows he’s being manipulated. Reides also doubts the kraken’s plans to break Khavas are over. Arlyn promises to talk to him, but says he’ll need time. Reides says none of this is any triton’s fault, it’s the fault of the monsters. Arlyn agrees. Viglis says this may be true, but many feel responsibility in their own ways. Reides admits he feels some responsibility too! While terrible things may happen, they still need to do something about it, not run or wallow in self-pity. This is especially because their name means something around here, even if Reides doesn’t care for that. Arlyn says they must be strong, then. Reides says they have a city to retake and a sister to save! Before the party departs, Reides and Arlyn share a warm hug.

The party returns to the planning tent, where they meet up with Dharsus. Ashara says that retaking the city must seem like small beans now that Reides has faced Khavas. Reides will drink to that! Kilwin wonders what happened here, historically speaking, prompting a discussion about Karseidon’s motives in scattering the Crests. We’re unsure if Karseidon knew the full truth about the Crests, although we think he did. We suspect he returned them for a reason, likely to protect them, but we’re unsure if he was attempting to protect them because he foresaw his own assassination or if he was assassinated for attempting to protect the Crests. Jorah brings us back to the situation at hand. The strike team and frontal attack distraction still seems like the best option. Since the thing at the top is so much more powerful than its underlings, cutting off the head might make the whole operation fall apart. Jorah kind of assumes we’ll end up being involved in the strike team, although he won’t insist. Kilwin says we’ve fought dragons before, which is kind of like the surface equivalent of a kraken, as far as he understands. Viglis says that for better or for worse, we’re probably the best-equipped people in this camp. Ashara thinks that’s normally a compliment, but feels a bit like conscription now. She also asks what we should do if we have to make a choice between our objectives. Viglis thinks we should be able to isolate the aboleth and kraken from each other, so no one will have to fight them at the same time. We won’t know in advance exactly what gaps we have in our knowledge though. Everyone generally agrees that saving Lotlyn is our first priority, although Viglis says we may have to save her later in the operation so that she doesn’t get caught in battle. Reides thinks the kraken sounds like the rougher of the two leaders, although none of us are really excited to fight either of them after fighting the other. We probably have to, though! The aboleth seems to be fairly mobile, while the kraken seems to stay put in the throne room, which opens it up to a possible surprise attack from the secret tunnel behind the throne. It may not have backup from the aboleth or its lieutenants if they’re busy dealing with an attack on the front gates, although the kraken also might be in the middle of a meeting with its lieutenants when we strike. We just don’t know! Jorah notes that Julia always said there was no such thing as a perfect plan. Viglis offers to mark us a map with different entrances to the castle that’ll bring us close to an objective, although he admits he’ll need to finagle the Wreath’s location out of Khavas first. Kilwin points out that since we have two Crests, the world won’t literally end if we don’t secure it, although ideally we’ll accomplish everything. Viglis also notes that the kraken won’t leave its room unless it has to. As a discarded warrior of the gods, it has no wish to be bound by another being and will only join the fight if it feels it has to. Briar suggests that we could take advantage of this by leaving the kraken for last. By the time it joins the fray, its allies will be dead or close to it, so we won’t have to worry about significant reinforcements. Still, the kraken might have its lieutenants, who we won’t want to fight after dealing with the aboleth. Ashara suggests negotiating with the kraken, but Viglis says it already opened negotiations and its terms were unacceptable. She also suggests contacting it pretending to be the aboleth, although we don’t really know enough about their relationship for that to be a sure bet. Ashara’s impression of the aboleth is also not very good. Viglis remarks that her second attempt is worse than her first. While Reides would love for everything to be solvable through diplomacy, but this time, he’d much rather just fight. That way, if he’s asked to turn over the Crest in exchange for Lotlyn, adrenaline will be on his side.

Viglis asks us to remember that he doesn’t have the forces for a drawn-out battle. We have about an hour to accomplish our goals before the tritons are overwhelmed. The party is distressed! He says that if we hadn’t obtained that extra gear, it would’ve been more like twenty minutes. This does not reassure Ashara at all. Viglis can’t say with certainty if that’s until the last triton is down or until a retreat, but is sure they’ll be routed within that time. We’ll have to work a miracle, but Briar says we do that all the time! Ashara doesn’t believe in miracles, just blind luck and science. Reides says blind luck is what miracles are! At this point, the kraken seems like a more appealing first target since we actually know where it is. The aboleth might be a better option if we knew exactly where to find it. Ashara offers to try to contact it, since she didn’t outright reject its deal, but the party discourages her from talking to it. Jorah says he wouldn’t wish that thing on anyone, much less a friend, and Ashara is touched. Viglis says there’s only locations in the palace big enough for the aboleth to fit. There’s the two ballrooms, which bring back bad memories for Reides while the rest of the party is baffled by there being Two Of Them. Viglis is unsure of what kind of renovations have happened inside the palace in the past few weeks, but thinks the aboleth might uncomfortably be able to fit into the library and sate its desire for knowledge, or it may have wrangled itself into Khavas’s bedroom. We’re also not sure if the aboleth even would want to help the kraken in case of an attack or if it would be able to reach the throne room easily. Reides is frustrated with the amount of conjecture we have to work with. Viglis says it would take at least five minutes for it to get from any of these locations to the throne room, so it at least couldn’t provide prompt reinforcement for the kraken. Briar changes his vote, so we decide to attack the kraken through the secret tunnel first. Viglis says we’ll attack tomorrow morning.

Reides asks where Viglis plans to go during the attack, and he says he wants to attack with the main force and try to keep as many people alive there as possible. Reides tells him to be careful too, but Viglis is somewhat dismissive. He asks what the point is of being called the Shield of the Reef if he can’t protect anyone. However, Reides interrupts Viglis’s cool guy moment when he realizes that it’s now officially Kilwin’s birthday. He admits this is true and that he’s a little relieved to hear we’re not fighting a kraken and aboleth today, although he would have if he had to. Reides tell Viglis that it’s Kilwin’s birthday, although they already had the party on the surface. Ashara tells Viglis he should give Kilwin a birthday blessing, shoving Kilwin forward to receive it. Viglis is baffled as Reides nudges him forward as well. Kilwin says he’d appreciate it, but Viglis doesn’t have to! Viglis asks what “Happy Birthday” means. Reides begins to whisper to him in Primordial, telling him not to play dumb because he has a birthday too. After some back and forth, Viglis realizes that a birthday and a hatching-day are the same thing, although Reides passes on delivering the surfacer biology lesson for now. With the cultural misunderstanding sorted, Viglis wishes Kilwin a happy birthday. Ashara, learning that Reides was hatched, asks if tritons keep their eggshells. Jorah is horrified, but Ashara tells him not to pretend he wasn’t curious. He says he doesn’t have to pretend. Reides explains that triton eggs tend to dissolve soon after they hatch. He also thanks the party for doing all this, but they tell him that’s what friends are for! Ashara says the worst-case scenario is that we all die together and then haunt each other in the afterlife, which could be fun! She wonders if any of us have wills in order, although it’s a bit late for that now. Viglis excuses himself. Reides warns him not to overwork himself. Jorah also asks if he can help Viglis with anything, since he’s got a lot of time and a decent hand with a blade. Viglis says overworking himself is what he’s best at, so he will if he needs to. Besides, he got ten hours of sleep, so he should be fine. Kilwin reminds him that he should get another eight at least before the fight. Viglis says he makes sure to get ten hours of rest before every battle. He’s lectured Reides about this before so he should know, apparently! Reides once more doesn’t wanna talk about it. Jorah reiterates that, one paladin to another, he can do something more useful than sit around and worry for the day. Viglis suggests training, since he doubts Jorah has fully adjusted to underwater fighting. He then leaves to make the necessary preparations for tomorrow.

Ashara sends Kain a series of incredibly ominous messages, informing him of the kraken and aboleth (which she mistakenly calls an abalor), as well as the aboleth’s warning that she had abandoned him. She wills all of her possessions to him in case of her death and asks why Karseidon scattered the Crests. Kain is extremely concerned and begs Ashara to not fight a kraken. He also notes that all of her possessions are underwater with her and that Karseidon scattered the Crests for safety. Kilwin also sends a message to Glasny, checking in since he was supposed to return to Cowersby today but telling him that he’s on the Eadrenan Sea. Glasny says everything is okay in Cowersby but notes that Kilwin has always been a bad liar. Ashara offers Sending services to anyone else who needs them. Reides thinks it’s best to just talk to Aske after this is all over. After all, he’s still at sea and he doesn’t want to distract him and possibly bring down the other Kraken on him. Jorah hems and haws for a bit but decides against asking Ashara to send anything on his behalf. He asks Briar to come train with him and asks Dharsus for directions for a place where two guys can train. Dharsus directs them to a training field. Reides leaves to try to find Dhudus.

Ashara stays behind in the tent, trying to practice drawing in her membrane notebook. Kilwin stays with her. She asks what he thinks of a drawing and he says it’s very good, asking if it’s a cat. She says it’s an abalor! It looks like a cat with eight legs with suckers, a little hat, and a frowny face. Kilwin sees it now! He says it’s very cute. Ashara asks if he’d like it as a tattoo, although she doesn’t mean right now because she’s not experienced enough. Kilwin says he’s not sure, but doesn’t elaborate. He also admits he wanted to talk about the party’s discussion the previous night and tells Ashara that, while she was probably just responding to the stress of everything, he thinks she should apologize to Jorah and Reides. Ashara is a bit taken aback. Kilwin tells Ashara that her response to Jorah mistakenly thinking that the aboleth was her for half a second came across as a bit disproportionate to him as a semi-outside observer. Ashara explains that it felt like things did right before the fall of the Vrinian Empire, when tensions grew and fingers started getting pointed at her. Kilwin thinks that’s an understandable feeling, but seriously doubts Jorah intended anything like that. He also points out that Ashara segued from that into saying she wished she had betrayed the rest of the party and wanted to help depose Reides’s family, which is why he thinks she should apologize to Reides too. He also says that he’s had his own conflict with Jorah and that Jorah is fairly forgiving actually. Ashara is reluctant to apologize right now since it might not seem sincere right now, and Kilwin agrees that we’re all very stressed out and it might not be the best time for a big feelings talk. Ashara also says she tends to apologize with gifts, which would be hard to obtain right now. She does agree to apologize to them eventually, though, which relieves Kilwin. He says he didn’t want to have this fester. Ashara thanks him for not bringing it up in front of everyone, and he admits he was looking for an opportunity to get her alone for this. He’s not trying to embarrass her! Ashara confides in him that she worries she doesn’t fit in with the rest of the party and that they miss Slumberjack. Kilwin tries to reassure her and says that, with what the aboleth said to him, his choices about his life path wouldn’t be such a dilemma if he didn’t sincerely like their little group, including Ashara. Ashara thanks him and says he’s kind of the therapist of the party. She says he might be a good diplomat. Kilwin disagrees, reminding Ashara that diplomats have to talk good. The two of them agree that diplomacy might be an ideal career choice for Reides, though. Ashara asks what Kilwin thinks of all this, and he says some combination of Alethus and Persana is going to get us through this. Ashara agrees that, for what it’s worth, she thinks that if anyone can handle this, it’s the four of us. Kilwin corrects her to five, although Ashara wasn’t counting Briar since she thinks he has other business he’ll need to attend to soon. Kilwin thinks they might be able to convince him to stick around though! They discuss some of their close calls too, and Ashara mentions she had a nightmare the previous night about Kilwin being petrified, although the rest of the party carried him around until they could free him. Kilwin asks if Ashara wants him to stay for a while or if he should go around the camp. She says it’s his call! Kilwin decides to see if he can help at the healers’ tent again, although Ashara asks him to consider how he and the others have been telling Viglis not to overwork himself. Kilwin asks if she thinks he’s doing that too. She does! Ashara has observed the pattern since Kilwin’s Gentle Repose project in Port Valor and warns him to avoid overworking too. Kilwin thanks her and considers not going directly there. Ashara says if she can encourage him to engage in some truancy, she considers that a job well done!

Session 78

 * Google Document (12-23-22)

Jorah continues his underwater sword training, although Briar wanders off to learn about writing with an ink-needle. Reides asks if anyone wants to come with him to see Dhudus. Briar wants to continue working with the ink-needle, but Ashara (lovingly) abandons helping him to go with Reides. Kilwin, taking Ashara's words to heart, decides to tag along too before heading to the healers' tent. Reides knows that if Dhudus isn't on patrol, he'll be drinking, so he looks for the drinks! He finds a larger open tent with several pressure-treated tables with drinks and food. People, mostly soldiers but also peasants who seem to have joined the defense effort, seem to be making merry, although there's still an air of tension. Occasionally, someone's eye will catch as if they're thinking of something else. Reides spots Dhudus in the middle of the tent, drinking and watching some other soldiers talk. Reides points him out to Kilwin and Ashara, saying he's surrounded by his meathead friends. Reides taps on Dhudus's shoulder, his finger gently clinking on plate armor. Dhudus turns around and there's a flash of recognition, but otherwise he doesn't react. The brothers acknowledge each other, and Reides pulls Dhudus into a big hug. Dhudus seems confused! Reides tells him that he's been here for a whole day and asks why he hasn't seen Dhudus at all. Dhudus explains that he didn't know Reides was here. Reides asks if Dhudus is okay. Dhudus nods, saying that he gets to fight a lot so he can't complain. Reides is slightly exasperated. Dhudus grabs some fish and keeps eating, staring at Reides. Ashara comments that he's going to town on that fish. Dhudus grunts affirmatively. His mouth is open, so Ashara says it's kind of gross. He says sorry. He also burps. Reides asks him to contain himself. He introduces his friends to Dhudus, to limited reaction. Ashara is grossed out, while Kilwin is merely baffled by how someone can look so much like Reides but seem so different. Reides says it's good to see Dhudus in one piece. Dhudus seems unconcerned with the battle tomorrow, saying that he'll be on the frontlines with "Vig" and that it'll be fun. He asks what Reides will be doing. Reides says we'll be on the strike team, attacking the kraken. Dhudus thinks that sounds fun. Reides begs him to just be careful. Dhudus asks if he should not be having fun? Reides says he can't do it, he can't give a Viglis-style talk, but admits that he's worried about Dhudus's safety and that's on top of being worried about Lotlyn. After a long pause, Dhudus admits he's worried about her too. Reides lets him know about his Sending check-ins with Lotlyn. Dhudus crosses his arm and seems to think for a while before grabbing some more food, saying "That's good." Reides assures Dhudus that the family will be back home before they know it. He suggests counting the sea spawn for fun, which Dhudus says he'll try. Reides nods, and they talk about the battle plans some more. Reides discusses some more details about the attack on the kraken, mentioning the secret passage to the throne room. When Dhudus asks where we're going after that, though, no one can tell him. Kilwin says they won't see us coming if they don't know where we're going, quickly correcting himself that we're the ones who don't know where we're going. Dhudus pauses for a while before saying he thinks we could've taken them. Reides wishes him luck and ruffles Dhudus's hair before stealing some fish off his plate. Dhudus indignantly says that's his. Reides says it's actually his now, as he takes a bite. Dhudus seems frustrated but sighs and returns to his remaining food. Ashara offers him five silver to chew with his mouth shut. Reides points out that Dhudus is a prince so he will absolutely not take that. Ashara then threatens to steal Dhudus's chair if he doesn't stop. He continues not to respond. Ashara says he has one brain cell, which is for eating. Kilwin quietly says Ashara's name in a scolding tone. Reides corrects her, saying that he does have a second brain cell for fighting. Dhudus remarks that Reides has mean friends. Ashara doesn't object. Reides explains that with Ashara, it comes from a place of love. Dhudus says that explains Khavas's behavior. At any rate, Reides tells him to go easy on the booze so he's not hungover for the big battle. As he concedes that Dhudus has a high tolerance, Ashara perks up. She wants to try another drinking contest. Reides grabs a pouch of something alcoholic, but sweet for her. He also takes one for Briar. Ashara enjoys the drink, although Dhudus doesn't seem to notice there's a competition. Ashara asks about deepcoral wine, so Reides finds a pouch of that next. It's more to her taste than it was to Kilwin or Jorah's, but she feels herself getting warm so she cuts herself off. She doesn't want Kilwin to spend his birthday playing chaperone for drunk people. Reides offers Kilwin some of the sweeter alcohol, which he accepts as he has decided to be a little birthday boy for a bit. Reides also grabs a pouch for himself. Dhudus seems to have forgotten about us by now, but Reides ruffles his hair one last time on his way out. Kilwin says it was nice meeting Dhudus! Dhudus says "Oh… yeah."

As the group leaves the tent, Reides points out that Dhudus didn't care about us being surfacers at all! Ashara's not sure he even noticed, but Reides knows he did, he just doesn't care. Kilwin calls it a nice change of pace. Returning to the rest of the party, they discover Briar still etching away, while Jorah is training in the distance. Briar puts his ink-needle down and asks how it went! Reides confirms it was the same ol' Dhudus! Kilwin leaves for the healers' tent, and Ashara asks if she can have a private conversation with Reides. He's down. Ashara tells him that she wanted to wait until this was over, but that Kilwin told her that she was rude during the party's conversation about the abalor. She apologizes, saying that emotions were high but that doesn't excuse her, especially when he's been so welcoming to her. She also wants to apologize again on the surface and worries that it'll seem disingenuous to apologize right before a big battle like this. Reides assures her he doesn't think that at all and is glad they're clearing the air before we go in. He appreciates the apology but doesn't think heated comments made in the moment really matter all that much when she's physically here, doing this. He also knows that she's lost her home, so all of this is probably reminding her of that. Ashara agrees that she wouldn't run from this, even if she weren't Reides's friend. Reides isn't running either, which is quite the change for him! He appreciates the apology but reminds Ashara that they're good friends and the kraken and abalor have another thing coming. Ashara is looking forward to turning the abalor inside out and never letting this happen again! Reides reminds her that the only people he wants in his head are people he's talking to with Sending and Ashara. Ashara suspects that something else psychically touching her is how she got her powers and admits she's a little disappointed that the abalor didn't dig deeper than that. She thinks the underwater kingdom is lovely, but it's not for her. Reides is glad to hear that, and the two agree to make that aboleth afraid. Ashara also casts Faerie Fire on another rock, creating Rocky 3. She suggests throwing it as a distraction, although Reides doesn't want to do that to Rocky 3. No friend left behind! Ashara tells Reides she wants to apologize to Jorah, but she's a little afraid because he has a sword out. Reides encourages her, saying it'll be fine, although he agrees Ashara should approach from the front.

Ashara nervously approaches Jorah, who stops practicing and asks if something is wrong. When she asks to talk, he sheathes Quickbrand. Ashara apologizes, hitting a lot of the same points as her apology to Reides because she wrote it down in advance so she'd remember what to say. She eyes Quickbrand nervously. Jorah immediately asks if Kilwin told her to say all that. Ashara swears he didn't and she's apologizing because he was right about her being a meanie and she doesn't like that. Jorah tells her it was fine. Tempers were up, so he really can't blame her. Ashara says that Kilwin and her mother would both say that intent doesn't matter as much as impact, and she doesn't want to do anything that could hurt their friendship. She wanted to get it out there, and also says she wants to apologize again on the surface. If we're all going to be ghosts haunting each other, she wants us to be friend ghosts who are hanging out instead of mean ghosts. Jorah reassures her it's all good and that we're all just worried about what's coming up, including him. Ashara does think that we're the five people she'd most like to go into a big fight with, though. She points out that Jorah is still training, even though he's already great with his weapons of choice. She admits she's also worried, but has complete faith in our party. After all, we managed to kill the Dream Eater. Jorah acknowledges that this is true, but we all need rest. He's going to keep practicing for a while, but he admits that he can only do so much. Fighting underwater is weird! Ashara asks how the whole paladin thing is going. Jorah is open to talking about it, but there's really not much to say right now. He's hoping to visit the temple of the Nameless God in Falas to find out more. He was hoping to learn more than he did in Atemcester, but our timeline there was a little crazy! He has picked up some paladin spells, though, and they feel really different from the tricks he picked up as a ranger. Ashara asks if the Nameless God talks to him. Jorah suspects that those dreams from a while ago were the Nameless God's work, but hasn't had those in a while and doesn't have any proof. He doesn't get direct instructions from them, unless they're too vague for him to understand. It's all very weird and unexplainable, kind of like waking up from a stasis pod and learning you're thousands of years in the future, but not as bad. Jorah immediately apologizes for the comparison, but Ashara says it tracks because that is very weird and unexplainable. Jorah's just not sure why it's him. Ashara assures Jorah that he's special and he was chosen for a reason. The gods must see something in him, since they're fickle and only choose the cream of the crop. At any rate, Jorah doesn't like things going into his head (although Ashara doesn't poke around in there, so she's fine) and he's planning to turn that aboleth inside out. He advises Ashara to rest up, although he's admittedly too nervous to really do the same, so she should do what she needs. Ashara wishes him luck and swims away to leave him to his training.

An hour or two later, Briar is good on needle practice and Kilwin returns from the healers' tent, tapped out for the day. The party (minus Jorah for now) discusses strategy. We know we're planning to take the kraken first and the aboleth second, although Viglis also mentioned the kraken's lieutenants. We have no idea what they're like or if they'll be with the kraken or what. When we fought Nakros, we were able to kill him pretty easily once we focused on him, so if we see someone like him, we might want to focus on them quickly. Jorah finishes his training session, still not satisfied but it'll have to do. He joins the strategy meeting, adding that we're not sure how willing the lieutenants are, and that it might be worth sparing them or the sea spawn if we can. Still, we might not be able to, as it's a matter of survival for us. Kilwin also notes, and Reides confirms, that the sahuagin are just Like That. If we find anyone who seems to be mind controlled, Ashara offers to suppress it with Calm Emotions, although she's not sure if that will actually work. When it comes to the lieutenants, Jorah mentions that he had an old bounty hunting buddy who once said "Mages first." He recognizes it's a bit grim for some of his present company. Reides says he'll just be behind Jorah. He does suggest targeting any sahuagin clerics we see, since counterspelling healing spells is obnoxious. Jorah asks Reides how big the tunnel is, and Reides says it's only wide enough for one person at a time and a little difficult to move through. Jorah suggests using it as a hiding spot for anyone who's too injured to continue if it comes to that. He also asks Kilwin if he can have some holy water and a parchment with some holy scripture written on it. Kilwin doesn't have either of those things on hand and knows how to sanctify water, but it involves some magic that he's not prepared to cast today. Reides offers to get him some water blessed by a priest of Persana, and Kilwin says he can work on that scripture in the meantime. Ashara helps him with the writing! Reides easily finds a sorcerer of Persana who can bless some water really quick. Having exhausted what they can do to prepare, the party goes to bed.

The next morning, the party goes about their preparations. Reides casts Water Breathing on everyone and Mage Armor on himself, while Ashara recasts Faerie Fire on Rocky 3, which lasts for a minute. A lot of people are milling around, stuffing packs and putting on armor, including some of what we recovered from the armory. There's a noticeable difference between the pelagic armor we got and what the triton forces already had. Viglis stops by to check in, asking if we're ready. The general consensus is that we're as ready as we'll ever be. Reides calls him Viglis Biglis. Jorah says "What." Reides explains that it was a childhood nickname, apparently resurfacing because he's really fucking nervous. Viglis recommends that we all forget it immediately. He confirms that we're taking the tunnels, while he'll be in the larger group storming the gates. He tells Reides to be careful, but Reides says he'll be careful if Viglis is careful. Kilwin offers to cast a spell to help protect Viglis, since Viglis is clearly important to Aquos and also Reides clearly cares about him a lot, although Viglis seems a bit wary and asks for an explanation. Kilwin tells him it's Death Ward, which will protect him one time when things are dire and might give him a good indicator of when to shift his focus to organizing a retreat. Viglis accepts the help, so Kilwin casts Death Ward on him. Reides tells Viglis to give em hell, although Viglis thinks his job will be a lot easier than ours. He tells Reides not to take any risks, and Reides says he'll try his best. Viglis swims off, leaving the party alone. Reides says this will at least make a good story when it's over! Jorah starts laughing nervously, and the rest of the party joins in.

Reides leads the rest of the party to the tunnel entrance. He used to use it to sneak out and play all the time when he was younger. Now he's sneaking in! There's a moss-covered rock bearing the royal seal, which Reides moves aside to reveal the tunnel. He does squish into the moss while he's moving it. He tells the party it's a straight shot to the throne room. We decide on a marching order. Since we don't need directions, Jorah and Briar think one of them should lead, while Kilwin thinks he should go last because he is not very stealthy. In the middle, Ashara offers to go ahead of Reides, since the kraken will almost certainly be super mad at him. We decide on Jorah, Briar, Ashara, Reides, Kilwin as our marching order. Reides comments on Jorah and Briar's armor and asks if they're his knights now. Briar kneels to swear fealty as Jorah says no. That man is not swearing any other oaths. Reides promises that he has no authority, so it would be non-binding. If he made them knights and told Khavas, Khavas would at best simply say no. We set off. The tunnel is cramped, forcing us to travel single file and crawl, pulling ourselves along by grabbing the walls. The stone walls are cold to the touch and it's difficult to see, even with darkvision. We travel for a long time, but Reides can tell we're getting close. After about twenty minutes of crawling along, Jorah sees a stone wall in front of him, also marked with the royal crest. Jorah looks back at the rest of the party and gives a thumbs up. He also takes his new holy water and uses it to cast Bless on himself, Reides, and Briar. Then, Jorah turns ahead and pushes the stone out of the space in front of him.

The stone sinks down as the party emerges on a stone outcropping. Below, there's an extremely deep chasm. Around the throne room, there are pillars covered with coral and algae. There's fish swimming around the outcrop, including sharks, rays, and sunfish. A large shadow also begins to descend above us. We swim up a little bit and look down, seeing a great blue throne that seems to have been grown from coral. The platform we're on seems to have once had stairs to the throne, but has become interlinked with the sea life. On a less fun note, there is a beast above us. It has two yellow eyes with slit pupils above a mouth lined with many rows of sharp teeth. It seems to be grinning. In our heads, we hear a voice that we haven't heard in a bit. Kal'dazzum observes that we came, just as "he" said we would. It's apparently been waiting for us. A large group of sea spawn accompany Kal'dazzum. Ashara suspects that Kal'dazzum isn't open to talking. Kal'dazzum grins wider at that and taunts us for being foolish enough to challenge the "rightful heir of the seas." Reides doesn't like that!

Ashara casts Mind Whip on Kal'dazzum, but it doesn't work. For a moment, we all feel our hair rise up, although we're not sure why. Jorah swims toward Kal'dazzum and tries to shoot it, but his first shot doesn't seem to do much and the second misses. Kal'dazzum tells him he'll need to try harder. One of its tentacles fling towards Jorah and grabs him. Briar casts Plant Growth to thicken the algae on the west side of the throne room, slowing the sea spawn there. He also swims up to around where Jorah is. Reides summons Bigby's Hand by the kraken and punches it. It's momentarily jarred and Reides yells at it to get the hell out of his throne. He also steps back a bit. Kal'dazzum raises the tentacle holding Jorah and flings him at Reides. Reides manages to dodge out of the way, but Jorah slams into the wall next to Reides, knocking him sideways. The sea spawn begin to surround the party on the stone platform from the east, while the sea spawn on the west side begin to make their way around Briar's algae field. Unable to really move, Kilwin casts Toll the Dead on Kal'dazzum, who wrenches its face in pain. Its tentacles begin to coalesce a bolt of lightning, which shoots upward and down toward Reides, badly hurting him. He's beginning to realize the hair-raising effect from earlier is making us more susceptible to lightning damage. Kal'dazzum also grabs Briar with a tentacle and sends another pulse of electricity through the room, zapping the party. Jorah, recognizing the need to break through the sea spawn barrier, cleaves through one and then another before shooting a third one in the neck. Briar casts Maelstrom, creating a large vortex around the sea spawn making their way around the algae. Reides kills another sea spawn with Chill Touch, while Bigby's Hand hits the kraken again. Kal'dazzum coughs up some blood. Briar's maelstrom kills most of the sea spawn caught within it, although two escape and one begins laying into Jorah (as much as it can), grabbing him with a tentacle. Kal'dazzum holds Briar up and pops him in its mouth, chomping down as he goes in. He's swallowed! The rest of the party is absolutely horrified. It begins to swim toward them, and they're even more horrified. It attacks Reides with a tentacle, grabbing him. Waves surge away from the kraken. Reides and Jorah are held in place, and Kilwin's armor holds him in place, but Ashara is swept all the way into the maelstrom. Jorah kills the sea spawn grappling him and turns toward the kraken. He shoots it in the eye with his crossbow and manages to cut off a few of its tentacles, yelling something in Abyssal. Reides tries to shield himself by moving Bigby's Hand in between himself and the kraken. Inside Kal'dazzum, Briar can't see anything but feels his legs sinking into its stomach acid. He casts Blight on it from the inside before turning into a giant octopus and trying to lodge himself in its throat. As he expands into his octopus form, Kal'dazzum spits him up. Seeing who's in the maelstrom and who's not, Briar drops the spell. Reides casts Ice Storm, pummeling Kal'dazzum and killing the remaining sea spawn. Kilwin heals Reides, who is looking real bad, and casts Toll the Dead again. Kal'dazzum roars in pain and slams tentacles at Reides, who manages to shield off the first one but isn't so lucky with the second. Kal'dazzum electrocutes the party again, knocking Reides unconscious. Consumed by blind rage, Kal'dazzum lashes out at his body, bringing him close to death. Jorah gets in close with Kal'dazzum and slashes at it with Quickbrand, severing its tentacles one by one. He looks back at Reides and thinks about how this is home, and he's here to protect it with him. White-knuckled, Jorah plunges Quickbrand into Kal'dazzum's other eye with a blaze of divine energy. The kraken's eyes close forever.

Kilwin rushes to Reides and heals him back to consciousness, immediately pulling him into a hug. Reides is distressed and confused, still ready to fight Kal'dazzum. Kilwin assures him that it's gone and Jorah killed it. Kal'dazzum's blood is tainting the water as Reides stares at its body in shock. Reides hugs Kilwin back with one arm and beckons Jorah, who's wiping kraken blood off Quickbrand and onto Tyrian's old cloak, closer before hugging the shit out of him. Kilwin calls Ashara over to join in on the group hug that Briar can complete by wrapping everyone in his tentacles. Jorah recognizes that we need a breather, but we don't have the time to stop here. He heals himself. Briar also reverts to his elf form to heal himself, which Kilwin helps out with. We don't know where Lotlyn is, but Reides has a sneaking suspicion that she might be in the tower where he was kept. Still, we want to take out the aboleth first, so we should be able to take our time looking for Lotlyn. The prime aboleth locations, the ballroom and the library, are about equidistant from the throne room. We decide to head for the library first on a hunch.

It takes about five minutes to reach the library. On the way, we see signs of battle, including a number of dead tritons. It seems like the front assault team has managed to breach the palace, though! The library itself is in a state of ruin, with many books strewn around. There's also a central room with a closed pair of doors. As Jorah approaches its walls, he senses a person inside with his blindsight. As he starts to warn the rest of the party, Ashara opens the doors, revealing the aboleth within. We hear a voice in our minds welcoming us and inviting us inside. Ashara tells it that we have unfinished business and that she would never marry it and that it looks like an ugly thread or a tapeworm parasite. Jorah gestures to Ashara, requesting a private telepathic conversation. He tells her that there's people hidden to the sides of the room, behind the bookcases. Ashara passes on this warning to the rest of the party. The aboleth chuckles, although whether it's at Ashara's insults or the attempt at private warnings is unclear. Ashara asks it its plan now that its big friend is dead. Jorah comments that the Burning Knight must be awfully unhappy with how this is turning out. The aboleth asks if it's actually failed, and it's hard to tell, but it seems to be grinning. Reides asks it to get to the point. The aboleth says we were awfully talkative in camp and basically told Reides's brother everything. At first, Reides says Viglis would never betray Aquos, but Kilwin remembers that we told Dhudus a lot of details of the plan. Furious, Reides asks the aboleth what it did to Dhudus. It says it didn't do anything to him, beyond convincing him that the tritons were the losing side. It says it's now working on those we hold dear. Reides immediately casts Sending to tell Viglis that Dhudus is working with the aboleth. To try to distract the aboleth, Jorah asks what the Burning Knight offered it. It says it was obviously a kingdom. Jorah says it won't be able to collect on that, but the aboleth seems to think it already has. It says it already has weaklings to do its bidding and, glancing over at Reides, it says it already seems to be working. Reides receives a response from Viglis, telling him that Viglis already knows and that Dhudus has already stabbed Dharsus and tried to slit Viglis's throat. Jorah tells the aboleth to tell us where it put Lotlyn or he'll pry that out of it. The aboleth says he won't have the chance. Regret begins to gnaw at Reides, who wishes he had reached out to Dhudus more. We prepare to face our next foe: Ryl'dhagt of the Abyss.

Ashara decides to fight tentacles with tentacles and casts Black Tentacles around Rhy'dhagt. Jorah swims forward and sees the group of sea spawn hiding on the left side of the room. He assumes there's another group on the right. He circles back a little bit to cast Bless on himself, Briar, and Kilwin. Reides strikes the aboleth with Acid Arrow. The tentacles that Ashara summoned writhe and attempt to grab Rhy'dhagt, but he uses a legendary resistance to drift out of them. Its three eyes each look in a different direction as it scans over the party before deciding to attack Jorah. He's struck twice by its tentacles. The party feels as the water becomes charged with arcane energy. Suddenly, a rage that hasn't been unleashed in centuries pounds directly into Briar, not doing much damage considering. Briar enters his Great Tree Forme and seaweed begins to sprout around his feet. He casts Toll the Dead, which Ryl'dhagt manages to resist. Kilwin casts Sacred Flame on it, which it doesn't bother to burn a legendary resistance to avoid. The aboleth swipes at Jorah with its tail again. The sea spawn emerge from both sides of the room. Most of them are too far away to reach anyone, but two of them manage to attack Jorah. The aboleth swipes at Jorah once more, knocking him unconscious. It also lashes out at Briar, badly injuring him. Kilwin and Ashara then see a wall rising up from the floor. It slams into the ceiling, completely blocking them from Ryl'dhagt. Ashara starts screaming, but no one other than Kilwin is sure why, since they resisted the effect of the aboleth's illusion. Kilwin is able to heal Jorah and Briar without seeing Jorah though. Reides casts Ice Storm again, killing all of the sea spawn and hitting the aboleth as well. The aboleth swims forward, and Ashara and Kilwin see the wall form a perfectly aboleth-shaped hole before closing up around it again. It lashes out at Briar, knocking him out again before retreating behind the wall. Ashara reaches out to touch the wall and finds that it's corporeal to her. The rest of the party (minus Kilwin) sees her miming. Jorah casts Shield of Faith on himself and lays into the aboleth before swimming away, though the nonexistent wall he can't see. However, it manages to strike him, making him lose the spell immediately. The aboleth strikes at Briar as well, knocking him unconscious again. Ashara sees a tentacle stab out of the wall at her, and she screams again. She's badly hurt and decides to just let her tentacles go. We all hear a grating chuckle from Ryl'dhagt. Kilwin casts Mass Cure Wounds on the party, bringing Briar back to consciousness. He immediately gets whipped by the aboleth's tail again, but he's still standing. The psychic rage erupts again, hurting Jorah and Ashara, but again, not by all that much. Jorah goes in with Quickbrand and tries to interpose himself between Ryl'dhagt and his injured friends. As divine energy coats his blade, he spots a glint behind him. A lightning spell that Reides was preparing to cast surges forward into Quickbrand, which digs into the slimy flesh of the aboleth. Jorah digs Quickbrand into the aboleth's neck, cleaving its head from its body. Ryl'dhagt's eyes move around to each of us and it attempts to let out one last psychic scream, but it's cut short.

Kilwin casts Mass Healing Word on the party, while Reides casts Sending to tell Viglis that both creatures are dead, frantically asking if Viglis is okay and what happened with Dhudus. Briar and Jorah look for a place to sit while Kilwin relieves them of "going into rooms first" duty. Jorah tells him to have at it. Reides receives a response, telling him that there were heavy losses and Dhudus is unconscious, but the enemies have been routed. Viglis is injured but okay, and no one has found Lotlyn yet. Viglis asks Reides to meet him in the entrance hall. Reides takes off, leaving the rest of the party to try to keep up. Jorah and Briar try to prop each other up as they move. In the entrance hall, we see platoons of tritons, nursing a variety of injuries. There's also a cloud of blood that's drifted toward the ceiling. Reides spots Viglis on the other side of the hall. Viglis also spots Reides and begins to swim over to us. He's in one piece, but does seem to be favoring an arm as he swims. Reides announces that the creatures are dead and we did it. Viglis asks how we are, and Reides says we're great but asks how Viglis is. Viglis looks down at his arm, which is covered with a cloth that seems to have been ripped from his shirt. He admits that he didn't expect Dhudus to turn like that. Kilwin asks to examine Viglis's wound. Viglis begrudgingly consents, and Kilwin finds no telltale signs of poisoning but pumps some low-level healing magic into it anyway. Reides asks about Dharsus, and Viglis tells him that he's with the healers, but it was bad and it's in Persana's hands now. Reides and Viglis begin discussing the search plans for Lotlyn. Reides suggests the towers around the palace as a good place to start. Viglis suggests splitting up and begins gathering as many able-bodied people as he can to search. Reides casts Sending to tell Lotlyn to stay strong because we've killed the beasts. He asks if she knows where she is. She says she's not sure but it's familiar somehow and there's chains on the walls. Reides begins to head toward the tower he was imprisoned in.

Reides leads the party to the most isolated of the towers around the palace. There's a single door with a small bridge leading to the main palace. The rest of the tower is exposed to the elements. It really does look lonely. Reides tries to swing the door open, but it's locked and he screams. In return, he hears a muffled "Hello?" through the door. Reides recognizes his baby sister's voice! He doesn't have Knock prepared though. With limited other options, Kilwin tells Lotlyn that he's one of her brother's friends and to stand away from the door if she can and, with Jorah's help, attempts to ram it down. He hurts his shoulder more than the door. Briar suggests using acid on the lock, so Reides casts Acid Arrow on it. It's very cathartic, but doesn't have an immediate effect. While Reides is waiting for the acid to eat away at the lock, Jorah attempts to pull it off. The acid burns his hand, but he manages to break the lock off. As the door opens, Reides sees Lotlyn huddled near the back of the cell, knees pulled up to her chest. Her face lights up as soon as she sees Reides, and he scoops her into the tightest hug. She hugs him back just as tightly. She's crying but has a wide smile. In Primordial, he admits he's not thrilled to be back here and that he never wanted to see this room again. Lotlyn thinks she has a better idea of how he felt back then, and the siblings tighten their hug. Reides introduces Lotlyn to his friends, and vice versa! By now, the door's lock and handle have mostly melted away. As he and Lotlyn leave the cell, Reides mutters "Fuck that lock."

As the party returns to the entrance hall with Lotlyn, Reides fills Lotlyn in on recent happenings. He tells her that everyone's okay, although some people are hurt and Dhudus is unconscious. He explains that the aboleth got into Dhudus's head, but the whole family is okay now. Lotlyn doesn't respond and gulps. Reides admits it's horrifying, but assures her it's all going to be okay and, by Persana, it better be fucking okay. Back in the entrance hall, the search parties are starting to reconvene. Viglis swims into the hall, looks down, and spots Lotlyn. He immediately starts to swim over, still wincing but powering through. He grabs Lotlyn for a big hug, and they spin and drift away a bit from the force. Viglis is extremely glad she's okay. Reides confirms that she was in the same tower where he was kept, and Viglis curses the tower. He looks down at Lotlyn and pats her head. Reides explains that we had to attack the door. Viglis approves. Reides says the door will need a new lock and handle, although he'd prefer if they just tore the whole tower down. Jorah asks about the casualties in the battle, and Viglis says that they're still counting, but right now it's looking like roughly half of the triton forces. We ask about the sea spawn as well. Viglis isn't sure what happened there, especially as he's not completely sure of our timeline. About fifteen minutes into the battle, most of the sea spawn seemed to have lost their purpose. They stopped fighting and began drifting and swimming away. The tritons began to ignore those sea spawn in favor of those who were still fighting. After about twenty minutes, the rest also gave up the fight. None turned back to their original forms, though. Jorah is reluctant to interfere in Reides's family affairs, but suggests checking in on Khavas and Dhudus, just in case. Ashara asks about the Abyssal Crest, but Jorah points out that the threats are gone now and really wants to rest. Reides squeezes Lotlyn's shoulder before Viglis leads the party to a room with lots of cots, where people are convalescing. He wishes Jorah luck in finding a spot, but Jorah manages. He goes the fuck to bed. Reides wants to check in with Arlyn. Kilwin and Briar want to go with him and formally meet her, but Ashara chooses to stay behind with Jorah and practice drawing her teleportation runes.

Reides leads Kilwin and Briar back to the refugee camp, where the guards who were left behind nod as we pass. Reides breaks the news that we retook Aquos. The guards slump back in relief, and we leave them behind to fully process the victory. At the cabin, Reides opens the door and enters. Inside, Khavas seems to be sleeping peacefully, while Arlyn is sitting next to him. She turns toward Reides as he enters and tells him that Khavas is getting some good sleep for the first time in a while. Reides lets her know that Aquos is back and Lotlyn is back. We won! He also tells her that Dhudus is unconscious. She clasps her hands and seems worried and confused by the second part. He explains that, while he was worried that the aboleth had gotten to Khavas, it had actually gotten to Dhudus. Reides's not sure what that means for Dhudus, but is pretty sure the healers are working on him. Arlyn thinks that maybe, if everyone is there for Dhudus, they can talk to him and help him. Reides points out that he and his friends all heard the aboleth's promises, and it's really not Dhudus's fault that he fell for it. Arlyn hopes that Khavas sees it that way. It's a problem for another time, though, since Khavas needs his rest now. Arlyn says they have hope for the first time in a long time. Reides smiles as she says he brought them hope, but others were just too blind to see it. Reides starts to get embarrassed as Arlyn pulls his cheek and gives him a hug. Reides introduces Briar and Kilwin to his mother. Arlyn tells them that they're the saviors of Aquos, and they should never forget that. Reides tells her that Jorah was the MVP today, and Arlyn says she'll make sure Khavas finds out about all of this. She smiles at Reides with pride. She also suggests that we take a rest, possibly some food and drink. Kilwin admits he would like some more of the sweet alcohol he had yesterday. Before leaving, Reides tells Arlyn that Lotlyn was in the same tower where he was imprisoned and suggests destroying it. Arlyn will consider it. Reides thanks her and nods at his father. Leaving the cabin behind, Briar wants sleep more than juice, but Reides and Kilwin go on to the food tent, where Reides collects alcohol pouches for the rest of the party and Kilwin starts to get a little sloshed.