Diary of Captain Nomed Oppenheimer - Entry Number 24
Wednesday, November 26th, 907 TA
How could a bunch of pirates miss a nautical riddle that badly? Because of it, we now have almost died to a horde of invincible frog demons who like to lick people to sleep. Hopefully from here we can at least find the missing arbalests and maybe get them out along with our lives.
After our excursion to the old hunting lodge on Hidden Skerry, and with the younger Winters and his love in tow, we made our way back towards the fortress of Baron Winters. When we floated over the fortress, we saw that the ships belonging to both Stormcrow and the Old Kingdom had left, and all that remained were the few ships of the baron. We dropped onto the roof and made our way to the dying Winters’ chambers. Just outside was a priest who introduced himself as Father Evan Black. He told us that he had been sent by the town to try and heal Winters and that he had had some success. He told us that the Baron was resting and that he would only see his son and the young woman. We obliged and they went in, (who could have seen Java slip in above them anyways).
A few minutes later, and a few screams later, the two young lovers emerged, with the young woman blinded and sobbing. We quickly entered to speak with the Baron and he explained that the girl was now forever tied to his son. He thanked us for bringing his son back to him, and he seemed to have a renewed sense of life. He showed us the chest where our sails had been kept, and told us we had an ally against Stormcrow and the other barons, although it would take time to inform his fleet out at sea. The one piece of information he could tell us about the Stormcrow was that she was addicted to elderberry wine and that we could use that information to poison her.
While this was going on, Father Black took young CJ aside for a discrete conversation. Apparently he tried to gain information from CJ, only to be thwarted by CJ’s massive intelligence. Failing that, Black informed CJ that he knew the location of our magical arbalests. He stated that they had been taken by the Blue Baron, a ghost who commanded a massive ship, and had moved them to a small atoll to the southeast of Hidden Skerry. Thankfully, CJ remembered most of this knowledge and relayed it to us as we left the Baron’s room.
With the whereabouts of the arbalests known, we made great haste towards the location CJ had been given. The area where the Blue Baron supposedly was located was surrounded by a dense fog and with our special goggles, we could see a ship at the center. We approached with caution, and as we came up to the ship, we saw it was the Cecelia, the ship of the Blue Baron. Onboard were several apparitions who were all armed and ready to fight. The most prominent ghost was the Blue Baron himself and although we tried to talk to him, he didn’t seem interested in what we had to say and tried to attack us. We fought back and destroyed the ghosts and their ship extremely easily, more easily than attacking true spirits. They were illusions: images conjured up from somewhere below us to trick us into leaving. With the fake Cecilia gone, the fog dissipated, leaving us a view of what looked like a volcano just underneath the water, with a strange statue atop it. Surrounding this statue was a swarm of sharks, seemingly drawn to this place and protecting it. Here Chironomous had an idea to lower a symbol of sleep into the water and with that in place, the sharks all flipped over and floated towards the surface.
After the threat of the sharks was neutralized, We swam down to the statue, in the hopes that it could lead us to the arbalests. The statue was that of a giant frog creature. Underneath his image was a riddle. Knowing that some in our party couldn’t stay under water indefinitely, we tried to use the dragon to pry the statue to the surface. When the dragon touched it however, it just disappeared. Chironomous, distraught, urged us to solve the riddle and follow. We came up with what might have been the answer we each touched the statue in turn, starting with me.
I was suddenly in a dark cave. Surrounding me were several frog-like obsidian creatures and they immediately started to attack. Some used their claws, while others used their tongues, and when their tongues touched me, I became extremely woozy. The last thing I remember is the creatures starting to drag me away. I awoke to the sounds of battle. In this room and in a couple of others, the rest of the party had arrived and had started to combat the creatures. The demons were incredibly resilient to all but silver weaponry. We took down the creatures in the immediate area and once we had a moment of respite, we took in our surroundings. These creatures lived in pockets of air inside the volcano. They were demons and followers of the Frog God Heh, a creature from another plane of existence. We found another statue of Heh, only to realize that this was the real god, and he was currently sleeping. We made sure to go the far way around him for the moment.
We searched, and we found holes in the floor, and below us was the real Cecilia. On her deck were glass cocoons and the arbalests we had been searching for. Looking for a way down, we discovered a large box magically sealed. Chironomous solved the puzzle of the box and when opened, revealed it was a teleporter. It led to various rooms in the dome complex and led down to the ship below.
With knowledge of where the arbalest are, how to retrieve them, and where we are in relation to our own ship, the only thing we have left is to somehow find a way out of here. Can’t be too hard now, can it?