Session 74

As the party waits for Evaryan to show up, they notice a scruffy, unkept, dirty Human man pondering a board in the corner of the Reckless Rudder which resembles the job board that Reginard kept in the Messy Cushion. The man speaks to the innkeep, Travaran, and asks for a bath and a shave, and disappears into the back room. Meanwhile, Merrick goes up to his room to try to commune with Orick for the first time in over a year, and he materializes as Merrick begins a barrage of questions about the entity known as "The Deep One" whose minion manifested in his room at the inn in Esharreth. Orick uncomfortably explains that due to his absence and Estrea's pact of non-interference, Merrick was susceptible to the Deep One's influence, and it was able to form a bond with him that Orick can do nothing to sever. He also reveals that the entity took an interest in Merrick because he is one of the only creatures to ever be subjected to the whispers of the Whispering Abyss and not go mad. He then shocks Merrick to his core when he reveals that he is not Orick's real patron, and that his power comes from The Deep One -- that Orick has simply prevented his powers from manifesting in a harmful way, and he took an interest in Merrick for the same reason The Deep One did and wanted to know why Merrick is able to withstand the abyss' effects -- though as of yet, he has not been able to come up with an answer. Frustrated, Merrick summons the party to his room and explains what he has learned, and reveals the strange entity that Merrick now knows is known as a "Deep Spawn", unnerving the party, as Prenna launches into a paranoid rant about the creature and Dain reaches for his hammer. The creature seems hostile to the party, but makes no moves beyond idle threats to bite them if they attempt to harm him. The party remembers their last experience with a supposed ally with dark secrets, recalling Eskall's actions the previous year. Orick assures the party that the creature is far too weak to pose a threat to them, but that it may eventually grow in power and Merrick may struggle to keep it in line.

The party doesn't like it, but chooses to give Merrick a chance and Dain decides to go for a walk through the city with Summer to do some shopping to take his mind off of it. Meanwhile, Merrick and Prenna chat up the now cleaned up Human who introduces himself as Dorin. They sing sea shanties (badly) while getting to know each other, and several patrons beg the man to please stop singing. Dain and Summer visit several shops, two of which have various curios and knick-knacks that ultimately, Dain decides are useless, but he does happen across a fellow Dwarf at the blacksmithy who happens to be a former pirate named Bronn Dainanvil. Dain explains the findings at the Catacombs of Blackfrost and asks the man about his life, but bids the man farewell before heading back to the Reckless Rudder, hoping Evaryan will have returned by now. It so happens that he is entering the inn as Dain approaches it. Dain enters and sees Evaryan order a drink and walk over to the job board and ponder it before walking up and greeting Evaryan.

Evaryan catches up with him before telling him of the wreckage along the shoreline and how it appeared out of nowhere, and how the Antiquarians' Guild wants him to find the city once and for all, and that while he has been unable to find any clues in the wreckage, he is hoping the players, being more perceptive, will find something. Afterwards, the party gets some rest before heading back to the knick-knacks shop at Evaryan's suggestion to buy some Coralweave Cloth to make water-resistant clothing. Dain brings the cloth over to Talavir Tailoring, asking Shanna, the Elven owner, to produce some suits out of the cloth. She tells him it will take 2 - 3 days and takes her payment. The group then gathers to meet Evaryan at the ship wreckage.

Arriving at the wreckage, Evaryan shoos away some onlookers before ushering the party inside and showing them around, where they see various overturned boxes and crates filled with kelp, along with some bodies. Evaryan goes upstairs to search while the party searches downstairs. They investigate a door leading to a small room at the front of the ship, but the door doesn't budge, and Dorin and Dain use their crowbars to pry it open, revealing that the door was pressed closed by two heavy barrels filled with water. They find a small sleeping area with decrepit bedding, but see nothing of note. They decide to have Dorin cast Speak with Dead to ask the corpses in the cabin what they may know. They learn that the city was destroyed by some sort of mansion-sized "shadowy creature" who was featureless despite it being the middle of the day, and their ship was caught in the destruction as they attempted to escape the city. They bring this information to Evaryan, who says that this story is known to the group of storytellers known as The Orators and asks if they were able to investigate the barricaded room downstairs. The group doesn't think there is anything there, but decide to return a second time, and after Summer takes a close look around the room, she finds a secret board in the wall planks she is able to pry off, revealing a small glass sphere with some sort of metallic multi-pointed star shaped object floating inside. Dain uses Mage Hand to retrieve the object and upon touching his hand, it begins softly glowing.

He casts Identify on the object, revealing it to be a Wayfinder's Sphere, an object capable of acting as a compass and pointing you to your desired destination by speaking the name of a major city -- though it only seems to be capable of pointing to a small list of known major cities. They show the object to Evaryan who is intrigued. The party decides it's a good time to charter a ship, but is frustrated when Evaryan says that he will not pay for it. Instead, he mentions a request he saw on the job board for someone to kill the creature in the Gulf that has been sinking trade vessels for the last two months, and that they should pay a visit to the magistrate, Solomon Bersk. They agree, and make their way to the statehouse.

Arriving at the breezy, open-plan statehouse of Solomon Bersk, the party speaks with him about the job, and he seems surprised anyone would offer, as even the toughest sailors in port keep making excuses as to why they can't help. He says that one captain, a Human man by the name of Darvan, has offered his vessel on the condition that the magistrate hire a group of skilled fighters to protect his crew. He says that he doesn't know how to judge a suitable reward when he doesn't know what the party will be facing, and the party asks if they can have the ship for their expedition. He says that it's not up to him, and to speak to Darvan about that. So the party heads to the docks and asks the dockmaster about the man, and are told that he's "the asshole at the end of the pier". They continue to the end of the pier and find a man lazily leaning against the railing of a ship while his deckhands scrub the deck. Dain calls out to the man, who is agitated by their presence. Dain explains the situation, and Darvan seems equally as surprised as the magistrate was about their willingness to try, but explains that he has been stuck in port for three months and is eager to get out. He agrees to bring them, but seems reluctant when they request usage of his ship for their expedition afterwards. Seeing no other option to get out of port any time soon, Darvan agrees, but says that if he begins to get low on supplies while waiting for them above the waves, he will leave without them. The group charters the ship and to give them some time to prepare, Darvan says the ship will leave on the 42nd of Asten.

Dain heads back to Talavir Tailoring and orders 2 more suits, one for Evaryan, and a spare. Prenna meanwhile, pays a visit to Gilly's Gems, a gem shop, and asks the Vesperkin woman about the attacks in the Gulf. She explains that the Lynoxi owner of the knick-knack shop has a special spyglass that can see much further than normal and was observing a ship attempting to leave port and couldn't make out much detail from so far away, but saw a long, slender object rise out of the waves and smash through the center of the ship. She thanks the woman and commissions a man-sized gold ring with a garnet inset with tentacle decorations.

While waiting the week for the Windrunner's departure, Dain collects the Coralweave suits and enchants several of them to be capable of granting the wearers the ability to swim quickly through the water.