Savage Tide flashback

I decided to throw some memories up on here from our previous adventure, Savage Tide.
Hope you enjoy the visual highlights below from a few key encounters.  The game lasted from 5/21/09 to 1/8/15 with 69 sessions and ended at 14th level.

Mark

In the spirit of the new show Stranger Things, here's the culmination of the assault on the lair of the Aspect of Demogorgon.

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After finding the town of Farshore and getting settled in they soon learned of an imminent attach coming from the pirates...here's some highlights from that session:

After seeing their leader Vanthus fall to the sword of the islanders (you), the remaining pirates flee the area quickly...scuttling a few of the ships as they leave...but they are unsuccessful at sinking all the ships they leave behind.

Two of the pirate ships were unscuttled and captured, and there was loot on these ships to help with the rebuilding of Farshore.  

The next few days in Farshore are filled with celebration marred only by funerals for those who fell during the assault.  The PCs have attained an almost "hero" status among many.

Lavinia puts on a brave face, but the revelation of her brother's fate has given her much to ponder.

After days of sorting through the loot and paperwork, some of the papers recovered from the Brine Harlot (Vanthus' ship) reveals that the Crimson fleet has been to the Isle before to meet in a cove on the northern coast with a group referred to as the "Lords of Dread".  Further investigation reveals something chilling: it would seem there are more of the Shadow Pearls out there, and their source is somewhere in the lightless depths below the Isle of Dread.  Lavinia expresses a deep concern that this new information needs to be investigated, and that just 1 pearl can bring devastation to this island, and a handful could give the Crimson fleet unimaginable power worldwide.  Investigating the Cove is a priority once the town has recovered and the party feels it is ready to take on the task.  She feels the town should rebuild it's defenses prior to "stirring up another hornet's nest", but time is of the essence.

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Puddings, ropers, hook horrors, ancient wars, primitive towns, ugly people and history lessons

What happened:

The fearless adventurers pushed forward after defeating the trog stronghold in the previous installment.  Their new trog scout led them to the cave of acidic pools where a black pudding had taken up residence recently.  Underestimating how quickly a black blob can slither, Bram-ka got "got" and looked death in the eye for a brief moment.

After the pudding mishap, the party ventured forth to confront the roper checkpoint.  While a few of the adventurers managed to get wrapped up in it's "ropes", they rallied and killed the creature quite quickly. Imasu plans on mounting the Roper (with his "death-blow" shuriken still embedded in it's head) above his mantle when he settles down some day (imagine the effect of the arms all curling down over the fireplace and up into the ceiling area).

A fork in the road left 3 choices at this point:  push deeper into the depths towards the Lords of Dread (who appear to be responsible for the making of these "shadow pearls" that bring death and destruction upon the land when detonated), take a side route to the east which Irgzid said he had no information on, or take the western route which was a rumored path towards a long forgotten underground city....but it was really nothing more than a rumor that anything even existed down that route.

Along the first path (unknown) to the east the party came to a dead end with another of these glowing cerulean curtains running through the room.  In this case, it didn't simply bisect the room, but rather appeared to be holding back the entire ocean from flooding the room.  The curtain was woven with the spirits of the Olman as before... with whispers, screams, cryptic messages and unrecognizable babbling coming from these spirits.  In the middle of the floor was a statue of a huge fish-like creature (see attached image).  Later, in Barbas, their authority figure Vetram explained that if you listen to the chest of the "statue" you can hear the heartbeat.  He surmised that the creature was in a deep hibernation and not dead as the party believed before.  The party had no idea what this fish creature could be.

Barabas: the underground hamlet:  after stumbling through the "minefield" of spores, molds and fungus, and then negotiating past the hook horrors that guarded the entrance to the town, the party was welcomed to the fabled city of mongrelfolk.  The town's people all seemed to be a mish-mash of humanoid forms, some more revolting than others- all pale from the lifetime spent out of the sunlight.  Bramka teleported a few party members back to Farshore, updated Lavinia, and brought back valuable food and firewood for the Barbasians.  They were all dumbfounded as to how these supplies were all left on their doorsteps, and surmised that it must have been a reward from Mictiantecuhtli for taking care of the newcomers who have come from the light.

After a meal and conversation with Vetram, the party was escorted back through the "mold field" and continued on into the depths towards the lords of dread.....

What you learned:

•  These lord of dread seem to be using the trogs as their "middle men" when dealing with the pearls and the Crimson fleet exchanges.  They seem to have convinced the trogs to work with them and have also had some influence on the diety they worship  (as evidenced in the last session by the new addition of the head of the toad coming out of the midsection of their god's statue.)

•  There appears to be a curtain of light that contains the spirits of Olman warriors that encircles a large area (that the party is now within) and appears to be (in certain places) holding back the seawater from flooding all the caves.  The curtain's spirits whisper (and sometimes scream) messages, but also mindless babbling to those that come near or pass through the curtain.

•  You found out that certain mold and fungus is hard to recognize and can kill you if you come near it :-)

•  You learned from Vertram in Barbas that centuries ago there was a huge war between the Olmans and the demon fish creatures.  Their ancestors of the surface waged this war with the fish creatures below and drew the war to a close by casting down the tear of the god of rain and storms into the cavern depths.  This tear burst and drove the waters of the flooded caverns away, and the spirits of the fallen ancients now guard this region.  Their presence (the curtain) holds the waters at bay (pun intended) and keep the demon fish from returning.

•  Vertram also senses that the void that was left when the fish vacated has since (and recently) been filled by another presence.  He fears that something has moved into the ancient fish-demon ruins may be seeking the vile secrets of the demon fish.

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Abolith tricks (and guidance perhaps), and the city below: did you eat some mushrooms in Barbas or is this shit real?

What happened:

•  You came to the room where the exchange of prisoners (from the Crimson Fleet) for pearls was facilitated by way of the trogs swimming halfway through a flooded room to meet a "lord of dread" (aka Kopru) and perform the exchange.

•  When you arrived, Eck was exploring the area solo when he jumped a little too far and splashed into the room.  Before anyone could react, Irgzid ran into the room yelling "I have brought the heroes you asked for father!".  A Trog high priest spirit appeared and was telling his tale, but the party saw through the illusion.  A gargantuan aboleth appeared after his bluff had been discovered and he discussed tactics with the party as to how they can rid the world of the lords of dread (their common enemy) and the shadow pearls of destruction.  The nimble ninja climbed up to the ceiling and destroyed a glyph that was keeping the water in the room, but alas (dismal sound effect here), this was a ruse as well, and the destruction of the glyph simply lowered the suppression that was upon the captured aboleth and freed him of the restraint on his mental powers.

•  The party crossed the flooded room and continued downward until the passage opened up in to an enormous cavern of aboleth construction:  See attached jpgs for the description

What you know:

•  You're at the mouth of a city of unbelievable strangeness.  It appears to be alive...literally, but in decay as well.  The purple light that bathes the city really isn't needed to make this the strangest place you've ever heard of or seen, and simply drives the point home further.

•  The Lords of Dread are supposedly creating the pearls in the depths of this decaying aboleth city...somewhere.  

•  hundreds of years ago the Olman empire drove out the aboleth in one final blow by delivering a relic called "Tlaloc's Tear" into the heart of the city.  This "tear" pushed the water out of the entire area and set up a curtain of light that was infused with the spirits of the fallen Olman warriors.  This curtain keeps the water at bay (pun intended) and also seems to have some other magical powers as well.

•  The aboleth in the "pearl exchange room" said that if you could find and destroy this relic that you'd flood the area, drive the Lords of Dread out, and destroy the pearl production.  This would allow the aboleth to re-populate the area, but this is a small price to pay to stop the production of these immensely evil and powerful pearls.

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Golismorga!  Big worms, creepy undead and liquid golems

What happened:

•  You entered Golismorga

•  Your geeky DM set up purple lights and stuff.

•  Eck started heavy retching after getting too close to one of the giant columns of violet light.

•  The buildings themselves are all random and alive.  The buildings seem to sense your presence in certain ways.

•  The party found a trapped purple worm under a collapsed building...you killed it but not before taking a bit of a lesson in sedentary opponents with big mouths and reach.

•  You were approached by a type of undead that's not normally found on this plane of existence (devourer).  He seemed curious as to what you knew about Golismorga, but mostly wanted to brag about his knowledge of the Aboleth and their worship of the Elder Evils.  He answered a few questions you had as far as the features of the place, and then he rattled on about how the buildings are all dedicated in their types of architecture to different Elder Evils.  The columns of light are dedicated to the Y'chak (The Violet Flame), the "Destroyer of Life", and the open construction of other buildings in their dedication to Bolothamogg (Him who watches from beyond the Stars).  He soon became bored with the party's lack of knowledge on the subject and abruptly left.

•  Eck explored some pools surrounded by strange sculptures, but was so stealthy (and finally wasn't foiled by tremor sense) that it appeared to be safe....well, that turned out to be far from the truth as two liquid creatures attacked the party and after examination later appeared to be constructs of some type.

Holy Skinwalker madness Batman!!  The Lair!