Mysterious Shores

Mysterious Shores

Once more into the Void Session 4 - Mysterious Shores

I have only two more early adventures of the Once more into the Void Heroes to post. The fourth session was one that first gave me the idea of creating renders of the adventures. Our misadventures in the lifeboat had all of the players busting a gut laughing. And no one got hurt too much.

Misadventures in a Lifeboat

“Hsst!”

“Huh,” Oto muttered sleepily. He had been trying to sleep in the rocking boat for hours but it was just too cold and it was moving from side to side too much.

“Wake-up Oto!”

Oto snapped his eyes open to see the drow Thyrell shaking him awake.

“I’m awake.” Thyrell had already moved away to take a position in the center of the lifeboat. Oto, looked about and saw everyone was awake. So it was not his turn to watch.

“Something bumped the boat twice,” whispered Thyrell. “Really? Maybe it was a piece of debris or something?” said Talrek.

Just then something did hit the boat and hard. Oto had just been rising to his feet to crouch. The lifeboat tipped to the right and he realized he was not going to be able to keep his balance! Oto windmilled his arms in desperation, tried to take a step to the left and felt his foot descend into the ice-cold water. In an instant, he had been tossed entirely in the sea.

The water washed up over his head and Oto struggled desperately to pull his head clear of the water. He could feel one hand in the air above. His robes felt like they were weighted down with stones. He kicked desperately. The cold clasped his head like a vice. His head passed clear of the water out into the cold air and then dunked again. Re-doubling his efforts he kicked for the surface. His hand whacked against something hard and cold.

“Ahhhh!,” Oto screamed recoiling from the object as his head breached the surface again.

“Quit yelling and thrashing about and grab it!” Oto heard a voice say. Opening his eyes he saw the end of one of the wooden oars was the object he had struck. Thyrell was perched dangerously nearby in the lifeboat and was holding out an oar for Oto. Oto’s hand grasped at the oar.

“Don’t pull or I’ll fall in with you,” Thyrell said with a chuckle. Oto looked up and could see the drow had been trying not to laugh. Sitting nearby in the boat, Talrek had given up trying to hold in the laughter and was bent over clutching his stomach laughing out loud for all his worth.

Oto let Thyrell pull him to the edge of the lifeboat. To his left, he saw Mukah swim up to the lifeboat and drag himself onboard. Oto reached the lifeboat and clung onto the side. He tried to lift himself but all his strength was gone. He clung on weekly.

“C’mon Oto,” Thyrell said and he and Talrek each grabbed an arm and dragged the sodden wizard into the lifeboat. Oto sat shaking in the lifeboat staring up at the dark sky.

Alcor leaped lightly over him brandishing his spear.

“Here it comes again, hold on everyone!”

Misadventures in a Lifeboat

Session 4

The action opens with Alcor Fenn, Mukah, Otrivush Oto, Talrek, and Thyrell adrift in a small ship's lifeboat. They have managed to board with all of their equipment. The group has set up watches with two awake at all times.

After about four hours drifting in the lifeboat in the fog Mukah and Thyrell notice that the temperature is dropping. Then something big brushes against the bottom of the boat. Mukah stops rowing. The lifeboat is struck again and this time heels over to one side before righting itself. Thyrell wakes Talrek, Oto, and Alcor. Shortly after everyone is awake the boat is a third time. This time the boat pitches over and everyone has to hold on tight. Mukah and Oto are pitched into the sea. Mukah was just standing up and is pitched the furthest from the boat. Oto starts to be dragged under by his heavy robe but Thyrell pulls him into the boat with an oar. Mukah swims back to the boat and is hauled in by Alcor.

Everyone is quiet and watching the water. Mukah and Alcor are standing ready to fight. A sea serpent or serpent-like fish surfaces near the boat and glides toward them. Oto casts Sleep and it has no effect. Talrek casts Sacred Flame. As the creature dives under the boat, Alcor and Mukah both stab it. The creature cries out and then vanishes into the fog.

The rest of the evening passes without incident. The next day the fog is still present limiting visibility to a few hundred feet. The boat continues on moving with the current for four days. In the evening of the fourth-day ice is encountered in the water. The sea also begins to shallow. In the distance, the group can hear water washing up onto a shore. The fog clears slightly and they see land in the distance. The land is covered with snow. The lifeboat is pulled aground on a snow-covered beach. The snow is more than a foot deep.

Oto takes one of the oars to replace his broken quarterstaff. After fully equipping themselves the group begins to move inland up a slight rise. In the distance, they hear a man calling out in desperation. The heroes advance up the hill rapidly and come to a 10-foot wall. Cries for help come from the other side of the wall. Mukah boosts Alcor up to see over the wall and he reports that the wall surrounds a cemetery.

Finding a break in the wall, the heroes rush in and see a man being menaced by three skeletons. He is desperately avoiding the attacks of the skeletons. Mukah charges forward and attacks a skeleton. Thyrell moves up and swings and misses. Oto casts Magic Missile at one skeleton injuring it. Thyrell is struck soundly by a skeleton wielding a sword.

Oto casts Magic Missile again and still, the skeleton continues to try to hit the stranger. Thyrell hits one with little effect. Talrek casts Guiding Bolt and destroys a skeleton. A skeleton moves toward Oto and the mage backs up rapidly right into Thyrell. He casts Blade Ward on himself. Mukah knocks an arm off a skeleton and then smashes it to pieces. Oto strikes the last standing skeleton with his oar destroying it.

The stranger expressed thanks to the heroes who have rescued him. He introduces himself as Hans. He is a cleric tasked with looking after this cemetery. He casts Cure Light Wounds on Thyrell. Impressed by the heroes, Hans asks if they would come to meet the Mayor of the nearby village of Winterton. The undead have been rising from the grave for the last few days and they need help with the problem.

The heroes decide to follow Hans to Winterton which is a short distance away (just down the hillside in a valley).