The night of the ball. A carriage arrived to take us to Drac�s palace, and the driver wished us well at the door.
Most of the group was extremely well dressed. Even Hodash the orc had been stuffed into a suit and strategically shaved. For some reason, he smelled faintly of rose petals. The group was worried.
The palace was huge, heavily fortified, and deeply imposing. Handing across our invitation, we entered the palace, being directed to a large antechamber to the right of the well-mosaic�d hall.
The sitting room was plush, and well decorated. Portraits of former sealords peered down at us as drinks were served.
A halfling, breathing heavily, entered and smoothed down his jacket. He welcomed us. He was Tomas Fleetfoot, the Master of Ceremonies. We were to be presented with the Order of Drac in a special ceremony.
We were taken aghast by the sheer size of the grand ballroom. At one end there was a dais, with 13 large chairs for the sealord and his council. Tapestries, minstrels, servants and guests were all over the room.
Drac addressed the guests, thanking them for coming to celebrate the completion of the lighthouse. However, that night, we were there to congratulate us. The party. We were the recipients of a standing ovation, which was deafeningly loud.
As we ascended the dais in turn, we were given a golden medal featuring a pirate ship attached to a brilliant blue ribbon, before being shown to our own table.
According to one guest at the dinner, ships from navies around the world were arriving to witness the ceremonial activation of the lighthouse. The lighthouse had been finished just the previous day, ahead of its 10-year schedule.
The halfling headed straight for the buffet, whilst others amongst us sat and ate, or drank, or danced, or mingled.
Flicker approached Veit, telling him of a crystal which was commissioned from the mainland. Apparently, the purpose of the gem was to channel and boost magical energy, rather than light. This had him concerned.
I ended up dancing with Lady Elizabeth Vocette (Drac�s archenemy). She asked several questions about our investigations into Vallane and the lighthouse. Saying that she was not the one to take overt action herself, she informed me that she was already investigating the lighthouse herself. She did not think that it was supposed to be a benign wonder of the world. The upper levels had been sealed, and the workers had not been seen since. I was careful to ask if she could see fit to help us get passage across to the lighthouse.
From passing conversation (as the ball dragon on until the small hours), we also learned that a number of magical candles had been bought from the mainland, and a mysterious ship had been sighted offloading at the lighthouse, including a strange serpentine figure.
No locally hired artisans had been commissioned to work on the upper levels of the lighthouse.
We were then gathered by a chap called Captain Brock Wallace in the library. He claimed that Drac was building the lighthouse to help him summon an army of monsters to help him besiege the mainland. Brock was concerned that the monsters would also smash through Freeport. The crystal could also be used to summon a major demonic creature.
Drac threatened to kill Brock�s whole family. Brock�s cunning plan was for us to butcher the man in his own home. There were 4 ships now guarding the lighthouse, and that it was Milton Drac who was going to activate the lighthouse in person. We refused, some of us on principle, although others merely believed that it was a trap.
The music halted, as a man wearing a long brown robe shuffled into the room. People moved aside to let him in. He said in a raspy voice,
�Heed me well. The words of an old man should not be ignored. In the ancient scriptures is it written, as the Yellow sign grows � or something. Serpent of Jade found beneath the waves, contains the counter to a creature �from outside�.� The old man turned into a small snake, which was then smashed.
He was referring to the Jade Serpent of Yig, said to be the manifestation of the God.
At the end of the night, I bade my farewells to the charming Sister Gwendolyn, and left for the inn for the night.
Late the next morning, we decided to go and visit the temple, to speak to the snakeman high priest. He told us we had to find the Jade Serpent of Yig, an ancient Velossan artifact. There was, however, one small snag. It was in the grand temple of Yig in ancient Velossa, and was therefore now underwater.
The priest had found a page from the journal of �Black Dog�, a pirate. It described a doorway, which might lead to the temple. We read it.
"� many a man can find the caves but they�ll never find my�
�and the lads and I were carried away by the rapids. Old Sven lost his balance and fell clear out of the boat, We never saw him again.
At last � on the beach. There was a huge stone doorway at least half a mast tall and 20 planks wide. All kinds of drawings of snakes were on the surface � big carvings of snakes were on the surface � big carvings of a snake and weird writing were on its front.
The head was the worst part of it. I told Tom not to touch the damn thing but he wouldn�t listen� he will never be the same.
Finally, we all gave up, and rowed our way back I told the men to forget about that passage, and we boarded it up so as none of us would go down it in a drunken fit."
The yellow sign can cause insanity when charged. Which matched up nicely when compared to the old madman � snake�s mention of �when the madness lies upon the land�.
We then moved on to Peg-Leg Pellegro. He told us that Black Dog�s treasure horde, was still in a heavily trapped cave. The ghost of Black Dog haunted the cave. An old pirate named Gareth could tell us. His address was 45 Masthead Lane.
Cue sob story.
We handed him 50gp. The trick was to go up the West coast a few miles and then wait until low tide. 2 Stones were the key, and then we had to get the boat into the cave, but from that point on, it was supposedly dangerous.
We bought a rowing boat, and set off. A few hours later, we found the cave, and hurtled down the rapids. Which was a shame, as we almost all fell out of the boat. Which was very unfortunate. It hurt a lot.
And then the pilot (Veit) drove the boat into a wall, doing it no good. The current carried us into a large chamber, with an underground lake. With beaches, which we headed to. Swimming. Badly.
With a tojanida swimming around after us. Which was nice.
It tried to eat most of us, which was some comfort for its mother. Bloody thing hurt, though.
On the beach, a sabre surrounded by skeletons glinted in the torchlight. The halfling moved to pick it up, and some horrific undead creature flew through the walls and nearly killed the halfling, before Veit and I tore it up with our newly enchanted weapons. The magical globes of force from Roscoe helped a bit, but then he started drooling.
Roscoe the decided to help a little by summoning a demonic shark onto the very small beach we were all trying to balance on. He then suggested we tie a rope to its tail. I managed to push it into the water before the tojanida attacked it.
Roscoe then cast a second spell, which blinded the sea monster, to our utter delight. And the summoned shark killed it.
We then moved on (having recovered the boat), to another beach, which had a large stalacmite which had been formed into the shape of a serpent, but with a basin on the top of it. A touch of the liquid healed Roscoe�s damage, and stopped him drooling. A second drink similarly helped heal the elven lass.
We moved onwards to another exit, which revealed� another beach! This one contained stakes, impaling skeletons on them. Which was nice. So we carried on down to a boarded up part of the tunnels. The boards were rotted, but marked �danger, keep out�. We broke the boards, and moved on to find a 30 foot jade mural. An enormous stone doorway was in the centre of the wall. None of us could decipher the text beneath the mural.
Veit�s close inspection found nothing, so we backed off.
Going back to the beach with the skeletons on it, there was a lot of strategic trap triggering, then the elf finally found a secret door, which after a minute�s work Veit managed to open up. He then nominated Hodash to go through the door first.
The door had a sign on it, but I didn�t write it down.
9 chests lined the walls, and the room was filled with moaning. Then a greenish figure rose through the floor, wielding a sabre. He made a short threatening speech. And then I killed him.
Then we descended on the 9 chests in the room. We searched them a lot and took an enormous amount of money and goods from them. Which was nice.
Then we camped down for the �night�.