Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for May 27, 2010; present characters included Kanaka Kohola (darfellan storm druid), Palakelei (human martial warrior), and Puinsai (human warder).

Refreshed from their last encounter, Keiki Manuahis delved deeper into the sea caves in search of Auku’s spear. They soon came upon a sahuagin sea witch, a sahuagin savage, and two anguillian cutthroat goons. This was the party’s first encounter with the sahuagin’s eel-man slave race. Battle erupted as the creatures charged forward!

The sea witch’s opening gambit was a slow spell centered on the party, but fortunately only Puinsai was affected. As the monstrous humanoids and aberrations approached, Kanaka unleashed an arc of lightning, which zapped the two sahuagin, but the cutthroat anguillian evaded! The flint spears and tridents of the enemy scored several telling blows, and the sea witch shrouded himself in a cloak of darkness. As the battle wore on, one of the anguillians attached himself to Puinsai and began draining blood and a frightening rate! Kanaka and Palakelei drove the sea witch back and killed the savage and other cutthroat, while the attached anguillian continued mauling Puinsai. Soon, Puinsai lay dying on the ground while Kanaka dropped lightning down on the fleeing enemies. Puinsai was nursed back to consciousness while the sahuagin and anguillians were dispatched.

With Puinsai seriously injured and the rest of Keiki Manuahis exploring other tunnels, the party had no choice but to climb up into a niche and rest. Although sahuagin occasionally passed nearby, the group was unmolested while Puinsai was restored to full health. Kanaka used the opportunity to re-affirm his devotion to nature and gain new prayers.

Recovered, the party moved further down, finding themselves in partially flooded caverns. Eventually, they came upon a flood of sahuagin and anguillians who quickly surrounded the party and began a brutal assault. Kanaka held the enemies back somewhat by summoning a mighty water elemental! Despite being outnumbered, the Keiki Manuahis team quickly dominated the battle with the aid of their cloaks of the manta ray, which took the sahuagins’ terrain advantage from them. One of the anguillians attached to Palakelei, but it was dispatched before it could do the same damage Puinsai had suffered earlier. Within moments, torn and bloody sahuagin and anguillian bodies were floating away in the salty currents.

Bolstered by their victory, the party pushed further into the flooded caverns and discovered a massive flooded chamber littered with coral coins and the spear of Auku! However, between them and victory was a massive obstruction–a dire octopus of mammoth proportions! Crushing tentacles lashed out, driving Kanaka back from the onslaught. Palakelei circled around, taking several hits, while Puinsai climbed atop the massive beast! Screaming in primal fury, she unleashed an barrage of blows down on the octopus. The monster shook her off and brutalized Palakelei, but Kanaka hit it with a molten blast, scalding it and encrusting the octopus with a stony covering. Now slowed, the octopus was unable to resist Puinsai’s next climbing attempt, and she rode out the battle from the top of the creature, battering it with strikes! Palakelei hit the creature repeatedly as well and dodged tentacle after tentacle; however, many scored bone-crushing hits. Kanaka caused piercing stalagmites to erupt under the creature and scalded it more with steam jet. Finally, the combined might of Keiki Manuahis was too much for the beast, and it went down. Palakelei limped away, beaten within an inch of his life.

Within a few minutes, the party had recovered from their wounds and retrieved Auku’s spear! The team now must leave the sea caves, but already the spear glows in warning of the nearby presence of the shark-men!

Game summary for May 18, 2010; present characters included Kanaka Kohola (darfellan storm druid), Palakelei (human martial warrior), Palu (human ranger), Puinsai (human warder), and Vollintine (human berserker).

As the Keiki Manuahis team delved deeper, salty sea water became more prevalent. Before long, they found themselves in a side chamber occupied by a massive troll king. Palu charged into the fray, maca and dagger flailing. Although he hit the brute, it retaliated by rending parts of flesh from bone. Palakelei caught the creature in a net, and Kanaka blasted the troll with scalding water, knocking it prone. Puinsai battered the beast with her greatclub while it struggled on the ground.

Two more trolls arrived from deeper within the caves, trapping the team in the cavern. One attacked Wavy, while another advanced on Puinsai and Kanaka. Vollintine slipped in from down the corridor and began a vicious assault. Despite the trolls’ tremendous regenerative powers, they were no match to the combined power of Keiki Manuahis. After slaying all three trolls, they searched the area, recovering a couple thousand coral coins.

After regrouping, Keiki Manuahis moved further into the sea caves, crossing an area of salt water. They stumbled upon four sahuagin in a small cave, and a violent battle erupted. Fast-thinking Kanaka unleashed a daylight spell, temporarily blinding the shark-men. The sahuagin revealed their own caster, a sea priest who immediately began a prayer. Palakelei moved into the corner and was pinned in by a pair of sahuagin savages. A third took up a stance in the narrow corridor and did an amazing job of holding the party back. Wavy was slaughtered by their flint tridents, and the Keiki Manuahis team was driven back. The sea priest harrowed the party with curses and malaise including smite foe, curse of ill fortune, and curse of petty failing. It also succeeded in blessing the savages.

Kanaka used sudden stalagmite and call lightning to try and bolster his team but with limited success. Palakelei kept some of the sahuagin occupied for a while, allowing Palu and Puinsai to whittle away at the third. Vollintine finally slipped through the ranks and pressured the caster, but he suffered a number of the sea priest’s curses firsthand.

The battle tide turned when the first sahuagin fell. Riding on that success, the party surged forward and killed another savage. Puinsai charged into the backfield and attacked the sea priest, crushing his skull with her club. Finally, the last savage fled the chamber and dived into the sea water, swimming away into the darkness.

After nursing their wounds, Keiki Manuahis, prepared to delve even deeper into the caves in search of Auku’s spear.

Game summary for May 13, 2010; present characters included Kanaka Kohola (darfellan storm druid), Palakelei (human martial warrior), Palu (human ranger), and Vollintine (human berserker).

Long ago, a mighty hero named Auku set out to defile the temple of Mano, the vicious god of the shark-men, deep within the sea caves. Auku was the wielder of a powerful obsidian spear enchanted as a bane to the sahuagin. He never returned from his endeavor. Three days ago, a captured sahuagin admitted to knowing the location of the spear. After a ruthless questioning, a general idea of the spear’s location is determined. According to the shark-man, the spear is well protected, and no one has stepped forward willing to claim it. However, acquiring the spear would result in tremendous renown and accolades.

Determined to recover the spear, motivated greatly by Kanaka’s intense hatred of the sahuagin, the Keiki Manuahis party set out. They boarded a sturdy outrigger and voyaged to the island described by the captured shark-man. Once upon the beach, the team found themselves facing a dense jungle filled with chirping insects and clattering birds. They picked carefully across the rocks and surf, following the outskirts of the jungle.

Before long, a mighty chuul burst from the shallows and attempted to consume the team. Its deadly pincer perforated Kanaka, and it grappled Vollintine. Palakelei slipped behind the behemoth and unleashed his unarmed assault upon it, but many blows were deflected by its chitinous frame. Meanwhile, Palu advanced on the other side, flanking the monster. The crafty ranger slashed away with his obsidian-studded maca and stone knife. Soon, Vollintine wrestled free and delivered a telling blow with his own great maca, sending shattered obsidian shards into the air and embedded others in the monster’s hide. After catching his breath, Kanaka launched into a spell, calling upon the power of the volcano. Molten lava spewed from his hands, burning the beast and coating it in hardening lava. The chuul, now surrounded and weighed down by the rocky coating, fought vainly. It succeeded in drawing blood several times, but ultimately was defeated by Palu’s deadly obsidian dagger.

Leaving the carnage on the beach, the Keiki Manuahis ventured into the cave they sought. Within, Vollintine’s maca was illuminated with magical light. Palu, trailing his longtime crocodile companion Wavy, examined the sea caves finding fecal matter and tracks. He suspected the signs indicated the presence of cave trolls. After a bit more searching, the group discovered the skeletal remains of fish and darfellan. As they emerged from a side chamber, a trio of bloated, gray-skinned cave trolls attacked.

Valiant Vollintine advanced to the front line and laid open one of the monstrosities. Unfortunately, the filthy giant shrugged off the blow and dazed the raging berserker with a series of devastating hits. The troll then sunk the claws from both hands deeper into the wounds and ripped the injury wide open. Another troll slipped up beside the first in time to meet Palu’s powerful charge. Blood and gore flew as the group exchanged blows. Palakelei cleverly unfurled a large net and entangled one of the slavering beasts. The first died under the chopping blows of the team, and the third was able to position itself into the fray. Kanaka arced lightning between the two giants, with devastating effect. While one troll tried vainly to burst the net, the other had to fend off the entire combined focus of the Keiki Manuahis. The battle become substantially one-sided when Kanana caused the cave floor to hurl forth a stalagmite, impaling the third troll. Palu called Wavy into the fight, and the hungry croc mauled the netted troll. Soon, the group had cut down all three trolls and scattered their remains.

A search of the troll lair revealed a couple thousand pink coral “coins” or beads as well as a handful of precious gems. They also recovered a balm of lesser vigor, a sealed scroll with magical healing prayers, and a nearly drained wand of bear’s endurance. After several moments to catch breath and tend wounds, the team prepared to delve deeper.