Baru set out toward the large shipwreck to the party's left. Drovic
headed a little toward the north from there. All the wrecked ships were
shattered and broken in pieces. Suddenly a school of small fish swam
out toward Baru. He hefted his sword but relaxed as the school was
harmless and ignored him. Baru heard Sylus call out again for Aylor, It
seemed closer now but it was hard to tell.
As
Baru tried to collect the party around him a group of six barracuda
emerged from the dark waters and attacked the party as previously. A
short battle ensued but the barracuda were no match for the heroes, who
were intent on finding Sylus.The party moved further to the north(?) and stumbled upon Wayfarer.
It sat on the sea bottom, looking like it was ready to sail on the next
strong breeze. Ahead Sylus stood at the wheel in the aft section of
the ship. The part reached the deck without incident. Except for a few
cracks in the planking, the deck looked solid and sound. It was the
bodies that looked disturbing. The crew of Wayfarer littered the
deck, 12 men broken and discarded like flotsam on a wave. Their faces
held expressions of pain and fear. Each man seemed to have died near
his station, hand locked in rigging or grasped tight to the side rail.
Sylus
stood at the great wheel, steering the ship through a course and storm
that only he appeared to see. He shouted orders to dead crew members,
cursed the nonexistent wind and rain, called out warnings about rising
chunks of jagged rock, and continued to yell "Aylor, where are you lad?"
As
Seglun moved toward Sylus she was a thick chain bound Sylus to the
wheel. The chain had a supernatural look to it, for it glowed with and
evil light and she could see through it. The chain connected to a
similar collar around Sylus's neck.
Seglun swung her blade to
try and cleave the chain but the blade merely bounced off the glowing,
clear metal. Varrid moved up to see if there was a lock of some sort
that could be picked or opened. Drovic moved toward Sylus, talking with
a soothing voice trying to snap him out of his nightmare. Sylus
ignored all the commotion around him and continued to experience the
wreck of the Wayfarer. As Baru climbed onto the deck he heard
the planks creak. Looking forward he saw the crew members rising and
shuffling slowly toward the heroes -- though they still looked as dead
as they did before!
Arvien cast a web across the main deck of the
ship, effectively blocking the stairs up to the aft deck. Some of the
sea zombies made their way up to the rear deck slowly attacking the
heroes. A few members of the party surrounded the Captain while other
made to block the stair leading up or flank the slowly shuffling
zombies. The zombies did not put up a significant defense but there
were several of them. In the midst of the battle Varrid heard a
different voice behind her, "You killed me, father. You failed me and
the crew." Looking around she saw a zombie Aylor speaking to Sylus.
"You're
a sorry excuse for a captain, and your incompetence cost us all our
lives. Look what happened to your beloved ship. Look what happened to
me!"
Sylus wailed in sorrow and fear at the word reaching his
mind. Baru immediately turned on the creature, Aylor's body was still
laying on the ship's deck. Ralom rallied the troops and the battle
continued to rage. As Baru landed a harsh blow to the Aylor zombie a
sudden shift occurred. The creature morphed into a vaguely humanoid
winged creature, with four arms and a long tail. Its form was sleek and
fluid, with no clearly defined features. The Wayfarer disappeared,
leaving only the sea floor and the wrecks of unnamed ships, along with
Sylus who's now chained to the sea floor and weeping for the men he
lost.
"This dreamer is mine!" the creature screams in a horrible
voice. "This is no concern of yours. Depart and I won't enter your
nightmares next." The party ignored the warnings of the horrendous
monster in their midst and redoubled their attacks. Slowly as the
monstrosity is injured, several of the zombies morph into creatures of
blank humanoids with gangly limbs with dark flesh that are malleable.
These monsters start to slip away from the battle into the dark waters.
As
the large winged creature fell, the party saw the chain binding Sylus
begin to break apart. An image shimmered into view in front of the sea
captain. It was Aylor. "It wasn't your fault, father," Aylor said with
love and respect in his voice. "You saved the ship and the rest of the
crew. You got them back home safely. Grieve for me, father, and
remember me. But don't blame yourself for something over which you had
not control."
Father and son hugged as the chain finally fell away
and the winged creature died. There appeared a blazing comforting
light, and everyone traveled back toward wakefulness with glad hearts
and a sense of profound accomplishment.
The heroes awoke in the
therapy room. Sylus had also awakened, and he looked much better than
he did earlier. "Thank you, Gregorian," Sylus said. "And thank you,
too, my new friends." Dr. Illhousen, clearly pleased with the outcome
serenely led the whole group back up to the second floor. The storm had
ended, birds could be heard singing in the nearby trees. Illhousen
took Sylus to an empty apartment across from his office to rest, then
led the heroes back into his office.
"You did well, my friends,"
Illhousen said as he motioned for them to sit. "If you still want to
help destroy the ghost of Mandalain, I would be willing to accept your
assistance."
Varrid immediately agreed to help, seconded by Baru.
The rest of the party was a little less enthusiastic but agreed that
the Doctor was in need of help and if it would get rid of their curse,
all the better.
"Great!" replied Illhousen. "To destroy this
creature which I call a night terror, you need to recover an item called
the rose of midnight. The rose is a special flower that blooms in the
middle of the night in only one location -- a lot in the Ghettos of the
Nightmare Lands. Please, save your questions. Right now you should get
some rest, wash up, and have something to eat. We'll talk more about
this tomorrow."
DM's Notes: The party earned 1,371 XP for the night(mare)s work and now have 65,497 XP. They require 11,503 to reach 8th level.
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