Coral Sea Colony

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Coral Sea Colony
GM: Keith
Session: Winter 820
Night: Tuesdays
Location: Smiths/Online - Roll20 link - Discord link
Level: Mediumish

Party

• Rhiain - Ice mage, Female human (Wants to be known as a Lesser Noble) played by Chris R.
• Sno - Ice mage, Female, Sea Elf (Party Leader) - played by Annuskha
• Minerva - Solar Celestial Blast Mage, Human Female (Military Scientist), - played by Jacqui
• Elderan - Air mage, Male Elf, - played by IanA
• Christopher - Ice Mage Warrior - Male Human - played by MTB
• Lim - Water Mage, Male Elf (Scribe) - played by Bernard

Pets

• Octavia. A well trained music loving Warhorse, Beast Mastered by Rhiain.
• Storm. A magic warhorse, attached to Christopher
• Shadow. A dark coloured Wildcat, Beast Mastered by Sno.
• Aquila. A Large but short winged Eagle. Beast Mastered by Minerva.

Employer: Aqualina/The Merkingdom
Plane: Alusia
Pay:
10k cash + expenses up front. extra 10k on completion. Note, Further negotiation is happening on this due to the mission creep. Days on Adventure:

Aqualina's To Do List for the Party:

• Lost colony in the north west of the Coral Sea - as well as missing adventurers including Ursula.
• Escorting the Diplomats to the The Great Shallows
• Evilish undersea temple - see SGT98
• Pan-Ds in the Abyss - see SGT98

Missing NPCs

• Aquana - Bard and Princess. Daughter of King Kierl and Princess Ariel's sister.
• Ursula - Sister to King Kierl - Shriver and Necromancer (reformed)

Scribe Notes

Guild Day

We assemble in one of the meeting rooms after the guild meeting, and as one might expect for what was introduced as a seaborne job we soon discover that we don't have a wide range of colleges, with 3 Ice Mages joining us of various levels of experience. A Celestial & an Air Mage also join us as one might expect for on ship, and myself as a Potion & Water Mage to round out the list.
We are joined in the meeting room by Aqualina who seems to be acting on behalf of the Merfolk the best I can determine the story. It starts out sounding not too bad, go look what's happened to a colony and escort some diplomats places, then it just gets worse and worse and worse. They've been using Bards to shout across the Ocean at each other for communication, with waters infested by "Horrors from beyond the veil" and "Old ones from the deep" between them. There are shrivers apparently in the area somewhere, possible necromantic armies, Sahuagin invasions, oh, and where we are taking the diplomats is right on the Drow primary invasion route as they sailed their Floating Island fleet in..... I'm not sure if some of these issues are in the past or not at this stage but it's become decidedly less simple from the sounds of things, so we negotiate a significant increase in pay to cover expenses.
This increase tentatively agreed to pending further confirmation with the real employers, we get onto organising required bits & pieces for such a trip, starting with Lessers & Greaters, Greaters we end up getting from an Enchanter called Villa, though we do discuss Lucius, Aaron & Carrie also, Villa is the first of the list to be found and does excellent greaters and a fair price. Lessers people arrange themselves as needed from familiar Earth Mages. We also lay in a stock of herbs and alchemical supplies, and do an initial batch of potions.
After this we get onto planning transport. The 700 Mile as the crow flies trip to the Sea of Grass portal doesn't seem very popular overall, being as it's a pretty long flight for all it is within our Air Mages range. Discussion heads onto just using Ship Strength to summon up a boat, that's just heretical, and from there we think about hiring a boat or signing onto one going the right way, before deciding that with the wealth in the party we can just go and buy a smaller caravel instead, and the group can be the crew for it. We won't have enough to man it with siege weapons or anything like that, but honestly we probably won't fight that way anyway if we have to fight from it. So Minerva organises some viewings of available ships for the next few days. This done we then have to get the magical ritual done to teach the rest how to sail, so we go drinking that night, the party manages to make a right mess of the bar by most of them going well beyond the 'just drunk' needed for the ritual, especially one of the horses. The other horse, Storm it says it's name is when it chats, has a better grasp of when to stop drinking.

2nd Frost

With some of the party nursing their hangovers which can't be magically cured without disrupting the ritual, we head off to the docks fairly early in the morning to start inspecting possible vessels. A couple of no goers for sure, then we look at a small caravel currently out of the water having just completed repairs called The Squall Eater. The current owners claim there are other interested parties wanting to buy it, but more I see it as a probable ex smugglers vessel given it's smaller size and the nature of some of the repairs. It will however suit us as this should allow us to get away with our small crew size without problems, and so we buy it, christening it The Sand Tiger.
Now we have a ship the party puts forward the idea of hauling some cargo down with us, and after a very nearly highly expensive mistake of thinking they might need hardwood before we remember their off plane access to such, we settle on trying to acquire a cargo based more around cloth, wool and continental alcohols.

3rd Frost

We buy suitable cargo from the markets, focusing mainly on wool, cloth & alcohol, along with some valuable but light items like local herbs which always sell well. We get some locals to help load it over the day and next day.

5th Frost to 15th Frost

5th Frost We leave harbour, the Harbour Master is apparently under pressure from the Duke as they demand an accounting of our plans, so we tell them we are heading to Freetown. We head West. 8th Frost Clear the Kingdom of Flugelheim to our North and head out into the true open sea. The party have all found their sea legs, even magical help doesn't do it in a single hour. 10th Frost Sail spotted to the West, identified as a Destinian ship, moving at clearly magical speeds also, I believe we have the edge on them in pace but not significantly. Neither of us attempt to close with the other and we pass at about a miles distance. 12th Frost Measurements indicate we are at the right place to turn south, the Elven Isles are visible to the SE by the clouds above them. 14th Frost We pass through a storm. Sufficient to endanger a ship without a water or air mage, but of little consequence given we can ignore the natural wind and calm the waves. 15th Frost We enter the Pasifika region, noticeable easily by the sudden slowing of the Mage Current, thankfully the Caravel itself still has a good speed allowing us to make swift passage regardless. We travel down the East Coast of Rangiwhero spotting the clouds rising from the Cliffs of Fire far to the west and rounding the East Point somewhere near midnight, staying a good distance out to sea to avoid any shoals.

16th Frost to 18th Frost

As we travel down the SE coast of Rangiwhero it is evident that there is a lot of building going on, with the sea busy with smaller coastal vessels in the local styles hauling supplies as well as a fairly significant amount of fishing going on. We stay further out to sea as befits a larger vessel rather than plough through the middle of them all with our Mage Current on. Of the discussed Sea Dangers we see none this far North as expected, reaching what used to be the Trading Post near evening, though it appears to have exploded into a massive sprawling mess of several towns or villages mashed together.
Anchoring seems right out but there are some piers, and one appears to have been kept clear for us given the presence of Aqualina & Princess Ariel of the Merfolk on the end of it, so we dispel the Mage Current and bring Sand Tiger into the pier, tying off.
We hold a meeting on board that evening to discuss matters further, getting a rough layout of what is known of the area and the current events, and plan our travels to the area directly so we can bring the caravel, though they also offer a portal of some kind from the Merfolk town just south down past the various threats to a safe outpost we decline this. We do however get Aqualina to organise us a few local crew so we aren't as reliant on just a couple of anchors to keep our vessel safe while we do exploration.
With these important matters done we get onto unloading & selling the cargo that was brought down here, while a few of us study local information that we will need to know. This takes us a few days to organise all of this and fresh supplies.

19th Frost to 20th Frost

We leave as expected from the trading post and head on a westerly arc to avoid the worst of the deep chasm & the horror infested waters, having had a look at local charts now. We have an uneventful voyage over the deep ocean, it not being till we are getting near the edge of the coral reef on the evening of the 20th that we are attacked by 3 strange Decapods, 4 legs, 4 arms and 2 wings, that Minerva reads the aura of to identify them as Mi-Go's during the fight, seemingly some kind of animate plant creature summoned from one of those weird places that aren't the hells or heavens.
We get plenty of time as they approach, Minerva creating herself a mid-castle of light on the ship, Christopher dropping some neat Ice Magic on a few people in preparation, and several of us putting some ranged fire into them before Aquila the Eagle gets overly enthusiastic and takes off to fight all three alone. Christopher saves them from certain doom with some more neat Ice Magic though they do end up with a crippled wing. All this while we are right on top of the coral reef makes for a little bit of an interesting situation but once we discover their claws are about as deadly as untrained daggers things do improve and they are removed from this plane shortly after that.
We make passage through the reef, and find a sensible spot to anchor rather than sail the shallows at night, first watch get interrupted with what appeared to be a face briefly at the railing, which is rather odd, but we aren't equipped to try and give chase at night. In the middle of the night we discover an intruder on deck riffling through our stuff, so take them down before they can escape though oddly several members of the party seem to find this objectionable, discovering it is an apparently young Female Avanti called Neri. They claim to be from a small colony of Avanti about 50 miles east of here, and probably a similar distance in a kind of NNW direction from the missing colony, maybe 50 of them live there. She has from birth Control Person/Binding Will type magic on her from the Mind college. We don't get much more useful information from her and release her to avoid a follow up attack that might be avoidable, Christopher helping her back over the side.

 Anonymous Quote.  She's too small, toss her back

21st Frost

We spend some time while we wait in case of further incident discussing the previous fights and how to improve tactics before settling back to watches, I still struggle to understand how an expert stealther who has crept on deck and is going through stuff isn't an imminent threat, but apparently half the party believe that is the case. In any case, a number of improvements to tactics are discussed, most of them quite smart, and we make it through to dawn without further incident.
We weigh anchor and head SSEish along the reef line mostly for the day, reaching where we want to anchor the ship long term by dusk, perhaps 40 or 50 miles east of the Merfolk colony. We call a merfolk to see if any actually survived the colony disappearance, discovering that they are still living in the colony and happy, and they are about to have a festival, oddly timed exactly whenever we arrive at the colony. The Merfolk has a very hesitant speech pattern much like someone being controlled and DA's confirm that this is the case.
Minerva then spends time chatting to Dolphins whom we discover are also under a controlling type magic, and they are not very helpful, demanding fish before they even bother to chat, let alone do anything. They do however accidentally give away Neri hanging out on our ship by the rudder in order to continue to Spy on us. Christopher smartly sends her to gather more fish so we can have a brief private conversation about what to do next.
As part of this Minerva consults with a Dragon Spirit who's statuette she has, and discovered a number of pieces of information.

• The control is likely an Aboleth given we are at sea, though there are other creatures who have similar control magics also.
• There is a magic Giant Clam in the area that may have something of use inside it.
• The Clam is guarded by Giant Crustations.

 Minerva:  "Crabs are fun"

This Clam appears to be located somewhere near the merfolk colony, less than a mile away from it.
After this we discuss our best course of action and decide we need to leave on a cloud to warn the other Merfolk about the Aboleth before we go charging in and become charmed by it. We organise a fog and fly off from the middle of it in a rough SE direction to the other colony.

22nd Frost

With dawn having just broken we arrive in the area of the colony, discovering Aqualina on a baby island on the outskirts of the colony, getting some actual air.

 Minerva:  "I lash her with my DA".

The colony itself appears very.... sparse at this stage with no semblance of order or defences, being based around some buildings and a large ruined ship, somewhat suggestive of a Great Galleon in size and hull shape. There can also be seen a square sided & stepped Pyramid who's top forms the island. After some suggesting to her that things are urgent, we get her to take us to Princess Ariel's presence.
Here our party leader Sno does a briefing, with some of the 'upper' class in the party cutting in repeatedly while she does this, & we let her know about the Aboleth threat, at which point we get a very terrifying briefing in return about how the temple they live right by (and Aqualina was using to sunbathe on) happens to be dedicated to the Aboleth also, and as you go into it's depths things become truly horrific, directions twist, and the explorers lost parts of their memory of searching.... but they are sure that there are no Aboleths or other things living there..... The party are unconvinced about this.
After this we decide that we should go somewhere safer like the Village being controlled by an Aboleth to find a Giant Clam, the Princess turns a couple of animals into sea animals,

 Christopher:  "We should go before it Clams up"

And we then get back onto our cloud flying NWish to where the Clam is following Elderan's directions, imprinted on him by the Dragon Spirit. We arrive over the location near dusk and prepare properly as we descend ready to dive into the water and be in & out as fast as we can manage.

Maps

Sketch map of area

Disclaimer, this is a player made map, it may not be entirely accurate.

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

Travel Magics

• Caravel + Mage Current / Mage Wind. 29 Miles / Hour. 696 Miles / Day.
• Flying Cloud + Mage Wind. 39 Miles / Hour. 936 Miles / Day.
• Celestial Wings. 40 Miles / Hour. 5 hour Duration. 960 Miles / Day.

Watch Order

Day Watch
First - Minerva / Christopher.
Second - Lim / Rhiain.
Third - Sno / Elderan.

Night watch
First - Minerva / Christopher.
Second - Lim / Rhiain.
Third - Sno / Elderan.

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File	Single File

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

• Waterproofing can be cast on all packs, bows, cloaks & other items desired by people, duration 55 days. All items get effect when a possession anyway.

FT Usage & Recovery

• Rhiain.
• Sno. Recovers 3 Ft per hour of Sleep.
• Minerva.
• Elderan.
• Christopher.
• Lim. -6 Ft in morning, -3 Ft in evening. Recovers 5Ft per hour of Rest.

Restoratives are available as required. Minimum restorative is 8/16.
Herbalist Meals / Tea made by Rhiain give 3 Ft back Morning, Lunch & Dinner.
Healing Sleep potions Made by Rhiain, 4FT per Hour sleep, minimum 4 Hours Sleep
Waters of Healing [D-5]+20 as needed.

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Christopher	Rhiain	Sno	Elderan	Minerva	Lim	Octavia	Storm	Shadow	Eagle	Space
Enhance Animal (Lim)	10	+3 Ft NA, +3 En NA, +15% SC, +2 DM, Magical attacks. Non sentient animals only.	11 Day	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	?
Resist Cold (Ice) / Cold Resistance (Water)	C / 9, R / 6, S / 10, L	Resist Cold, effect based on Rank / College.	10 / ? / ? / 11 Hours	Rk 13	Rk 10	Rk 8	Y - Li	Y - Li	Y - Li	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?
Water Breathing (Lim)	15	Breath water, see through Water mage fog.	16 Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?
Buoyancy	10	Control depth, 25' up/down / pulse.	5.5 Hours	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?
Water Proofing	10	Immune to negative effects of water.	33 Hours / 55 days	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?
Coruscade (Min)	14	+30 defence ranged/melee, +15 defence in close.	7.5 Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?	?	?	?	?
Heroism (Lim)	14	+15% vs fear for anyone in LOS of Lim	Always	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Christopher	Rhiain	Sno	Elderan	Minerva	Lim	Octavia	Storm	Shadow	Eagle	Space
Waters of Strength	20	[D-2]+20 PS	105 Mins	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?	?	?	?	?
Weapon of Cold (Chr)	21	+22 Hit +8 Dam	27 Mins	As required	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Arrow Flight (Eld)	6	+2 Dmg +7% s.c. thrown weapons return.	11 Mins	?	?	X-Bow/Spe	Bow	?	Bow/Tri	?	?	?	?	?
Armour of Ice	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Ice Shield (Chr)	10	60 points of Ablative Damage	6 Hrs	As required	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Loot and Expenses

SP & other cash value loot

• Pay. 10k cash + expenses up front. extra 10k on completion

Purchases

• 8 * Heal over time potions (18 damage initial healed, + 9 damage healed the next 4 pulses) 1 Each, 2 extra are +1 Christopher, Rhiain. (Covered by Employer as expenses)
• Greaters (Villa, 13k each covered by Employer.).
• 2 * Rank 10 Composite Bow, +2 DM above normal each. 1250sp each Lim & Elderan

Winter

Winter
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Samhain
Frost (7)
			1	Guild Meeting	2	Bought Caraval	3	Bought Cargo	4	Loaded Cargo	5	Left Seagate	6
	7		8		9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16	Arrived Pasifika	17	Unloading Cargo	18	" "	19	Departing for Coral Sea.	20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30
Snow (8)
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8		9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Solstice	16		17	The Duke of Carzala's Winter Ball	18	Yuletide
	19	Days of Chaos	20	DoC 2	21	DoC 3	22	DoC 4	23	DoC 5	24	DoC 6	25	DoC 7
	26	DoC 8	27	DoC 9	28	DoC 10	29	DoC 11	30	Twelfth Night
Ice (9)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6	First Plough	7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21		22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30