| A couple days after the wererat battle, a young elven warrioress walked up to Ignatius and introduced herself. Her name was Druscila of the elven house Alanadel, which serves Nainodel as personal protectors. Word has been sent from her family that she was to protect him on his voyage to Velen. After two days the party (Dominic, Druscila, Ignatius, and Jake) left Lochlan on the elven ship, the Leaf of Velen, seemingly formed of one piece of wood, with decorative banisters that look live crumpled leaves. Nemo decided that the elven isle was not where he wanted to go and parted ways. As the party is moving through the treacherous fog of the Mist Sea, strange things start happening. First the night crew started acting weird and one of them complained of seeing things in the water. The next day one of the day crew said he saw a figure on board the boat at night. That the party set up watch on deck and in the hold of the ship. Jack�s vigilance was rewarded when two zombie-like figures attacked him. Unfortunately they escaped the ensuing fight. The next day, the party decided to investigate the underside of the boat. Tying a rope around Ignatius, they sent him down under the boat. Down below he saw a figure clinging to the boat as he approached the figure swam to attack him. It appeared to be Nemo. Hastily fleeing the scene, the party then tried to use clairvoyance to investigate the area but the apparition was gone. In the meantime, the crew continued to act strangely, seeming slower, clumsier, and more tired. The captain began worrying about illness, and asked Dominic for magical aid. The party itself was convinced that an illness was being caused by ghosts, confirmed by a torn out journal entry from a sunken submersible, the Tortoise, found on the ship. That night Jack noticed that the crew was steering the ship towards this coordinates of the sunken vessel! Soon after the party was forced to fight off creepy looking doppelgangers and the affected crew who had been replaced. In the end only the captain and one crewman (badly hurt by friendly fire) were left, and the weakened doppelgangers fled. Beside the ship in the morning light could be seen an armored vessel at the bottom of the sea. Using water breathing the party investigated the sunken vessel still holding air after all this time. They proceeded cautiously knowing the surviving foes were nearby. They found the ship well equipped but greatly damaged. They found the most of the long dead crew and Ignatius in the interest of safety stabbed all the corpses uncovering the doppelganger amongst them. On the bridge they found the rest of the journal, an enchanted pistol, and a pearl from the elemental plane of water. As they looted the ship, Ignatius was attacked by a doppelganger in a diving suit. Thinking quickly he tossed a flask of alchemist fire into the suit immolating it. Jack attempting to save the suit tossed it down the hatch into the sea accidentally crushing the last monster. Eventually the party reached a port city of Velen. There they encountered Zelmara, Ignatius�s roguish cousin. She talked to Ignatius about his life and the outside world. She also told him he was been expected and that he missed his brother Reil�lanon in Tethyr by only a week. After staying a day the party went to Kerry Valley, to pay their respects to a shrine for Ignatius�s parents on the way to the capitol. After burning their way through some tree trolls the party made it to the capital. There they met a group of Ignatius�s relatives, the prestigious house Nainodel. They met Branwyn (great-grandfather and former adventurer), Olwain (uncle), Riel�lanon (older brother) and briefly Edana (grandaunt of Ignatius and a powerful wizard). Ignatius was then led to their main mansion, nestled at the �foot� of the Great Tree (perched on a root fifty feet up). The rest of the party was left to wander the capital. Dominic took the opportunity to research his family, which was based in Rauthymar. Jack got some religious advice. Two nights later, there was a ball in Ignatius�s honor. The party was allowed to attend but not participate (since they are lower class). Toward the end of the ball, Jack and Dominic heard a scream from the kitchen. As they investigated, a hidden figure on a balcony began shooting at Ignatius�s brother. The ensuing melee was mainly left to the party as the more powerful members of House Nainodel had already retired. In the kitchen, Jack found some dark human warriors who as they approached began shifting into new horrible shapes. He began a slow fighting retreat after torching one. In the ballroom, the party cluster around Reil�lanon, but the assassin pulled himself free of the web and leapt off the balcony into the midst of them. He quickly incapacitated Dominic with some paralysis poison and continued with his assault, aided by several new creatures who seemed to pop out of the shadows. At this point Branwyn entered the fray. Despite his advanced years, the elven bladesinger was easily as capable as the other PCs. Finally the shadow beasts began to fall, dissolving into evaporating pools of shadow. Then overcome by Ignatius�s magic, the shadow assassin�s threatened vengeance as his eyes collapse inward into darkness. Deep cracks cross his entire body until he collapsed into disintegrating shards of shadow. The party picked itself up and at the last moment saved Reil�lanon from the effects of the assassin�s poison. |
| Voyage of Discovery |