Where Waves Crash <Holyhead>

 

Operation Details

  From HALe:   We set out for Holyhead by way of Ogden. Arriving in Ogden, we spoke with Davos, the forager in Ogden. He told us of an old friend he had in Holyhead names Dorian Tidepool. He warned us of a potential threat that had psychic power. He claimed to have heard loud screaming, until he ran from the area. We left Ogden, and noted some cart tracks that seemed to be heading in the same direction we were going in. The tracks were present at the stone circle and seemed to continued to the area we were heading. We inspected the circle and noted some writing that we had not been able to interpret previously: “Let us meet and settle this in the ancient ways”. We continued west, and managed to stay on the path.   The cave we had cleared the previous day sounded like it was still empty, but we did not actually go in to inspect and search the cave. We noted that the cart tracks were still present. We continued our way to Holyhead and ended up noticing the tracks strayed off to a very narrow path. We chose to follow the cart tracks, The tracks led us to a seemingly abandoned cart in front of a damaged tower. The tower had nothing interesting on the ground level. The second floor had a case that ended up being retrieved and contained some silver tipped stakes and vial filled with liquid that seemed to be Holy water. We did not find a trace of the individual that was driving the cart. We attempted to search the cart, but accidently triggered a trap that caused the cart to explode. Many members of the team were hurt in the explosion.   We went back to the main trail and made our way to Holyhead. We managed to make our way into Holyhead with some sweet talk. Upon entering the town we heard a discordance note echoing through the town, and some odd shambling gait of the few villages we could see. We made our way to the local Inn. Inside the local Inn we noticed that the patrons were very fixated on Ayula consistently looking at her with glances of surprise and confusion.   The Innkeeper of the Drowned Crow was Dorian Tidepool. He spoke with a very odd cadence, pausing between every word or two. We spoke with him and were told the leader of the town was the leader of the church, with the title of “the Prior”. Halcyon was the name he was given by the Wavemother. We got two rooms and ordered some food. The food was not good. The pillows on the beds were enchanted, so we made note not to lay our head s on them. We ended up sitting on the floor after searching the room for holes that one could eavesdrop from, and additional spells, which we did not find.   We made our way to the church. We walked into the church, at which point the Prior, who at that point introduced himself as Halcyon, began to speak with us about the Wavemother. Just before he started speaking to us, he did dismiss the other patrons and requested they come back after we leave. He was relatively evasive at first, but once I showed the Band of the Wavemother, he showed immense interest and excitement. He mentioned the Wavemother went by two other names: Ri’dea’brella and the Umberlee. He spoke of a prophecy: When the darkness comes (or “in the time of darkness”) that which was lost will return. They believe the returning one would be a lost triton Princess. It was at this point the subtle glances towards Ayula became more pronounced. He talked about the statue that depicted the royal family and showed the lost child. The statue was very weathered so making out specific details was not possible. He further spoke of being at war with Aethelar. He talked of how even though Holyhead was favored, that they were struggling and needed help. He said the only way for there to be significant trade would be if we assisted in capturing and killing the final two elves from Aethelar. He was oddly specific and focused on those points. He also mentioned that Aethelar was perverting the Wavemother by not bringing back the dead. That lead HALe to believe they were responsible for the undead waterlogged zombies at the Drowning Pools (this suspicion was not mentioned in any conversation). We managed to talk our way through most topics and left. Upon walking out of the Church, all those that had been ordered out, sprinted into the Church.   We walked to a side room and made plans to eaves drop from the windows outside. We had a couple people disguise themselves in order to eavesdrop. With the plan being to just observe form a safe spot, HALe started towards the town market. Upon passing the church, one of the members decided to enter the church again. HALe only noticed this when he glanced back. As a result he abandoned his plans and decided to eavesdrop from the window and make sure that the Dorian, whom one of the members had disguised themselves as, would not come to the church.   HALe watched as the member disguised as Dorian was requested to grab something form a previously locked room. The other member was apparently pretending to be a devout convert that wanted to be commune. At that point the other patrons started to get antsy. ‘Dorian’ came out with a prisoner. At this point I forcefully walked in to try to get my team members out, and called out “Someone stole my band of the Wavemother!” At that point he attempted to hide the prisoner and managed to obscure the prisoner and Dorian from my view. After a couple more moments, a bonfire started under him, and we began to fight.   Unfortunately, we were over matched. Klarion fell first, but I managed to bring him back up. Galfin fell next, but he was out of my sight, I only heard him scream and go silent. At this point Ayula, Klarion and I had just got out the door, with Ayula a few steps ahead of us. I attempted to hold the door in order to allow Klarion and Ayula to get away. At that point, Halcyon stepped up with a lighting spell. Then everything went black. Sometime later, my eyes opening and I was manacled to the wall somewhere that seemed to be a crypt, but I am not certain. I had none of my possessions. Sometime after that, everything went black again. When I next woke up, I was in the Fort Vegapath medical tent.     From Klarion:   So that fucking sucked.   After we left Vegapath, HALe led us all to Ogden. Met with the only talking local, a dwarf merchant, who pointed us towards Holyhead and told us about a local named Dorian Tidewater who could help us out. He also gave us a lead on a merchant who had passed through Ogden that might be interested in working with Vegapath.   A bit of a ways out of Ogden, we arrived at a circle of elven ruins. Seemed like a place for ceremony or meeting, but otherwise was pretty normal. We went west, and found an abandoned wagon and tower. After exploring the rubble, HALe and I discovered a chest filled with stakes, holy water, and a journal detailing travels through the land. We tried to explore the wagon, but it was rigged and exploded before we could find anything interesting.   We arrived in Holyhead around mid-afternoon. Even before we got in, everyone kept looking at Ayula. We went into the local tavern for social recon, and met Dorian Tidewater. Weird guy, but gave us the rundown on Holyhead and its leader, Prior Dick Calcium (if you ever meet him, call him that. It'll piss him off real good). Ayula cast detect magic, and found out that everyone in the town had a weird aura to them.   Figuring we ought to meet the esteemed prior, we went to the church. Calcium was suspicious right away. Weird fucker spoke in a monotone voice, like frozen honey. Amazingly he wasn't the weirdest thing - they had a statue of a triton child, that looked suspiciously like Ayula even if she was her normal height. Prior revealed that Aethelar was competing for the Wave Mother's love and were attacking the town with a group of elven locals. Prior offered the possibility of an alliance if we went to Aethelar and got a pair of these elves that Aethelar was protecting. Dead or alive was the vibe of that request.   We left, but I was an idiot and encouraged us to do some eavesdropping. I disguised myself as Dorian, Ayula tagged along as a tiefling, Prior seemed to believe us, and Ayula was "converted" into the cult. Prior asked me to get the sacrifice (shocking, I know). Lo and behold, the creepy fuck had about a dozen elves in chains. I relayed this info to the others thanks to Ayula, and HALe busted into the room. I lit Prior's ass on fire right away, and we scrambled to try to flee. Needless to say, it didn't work. HALe and I went down right as we managed to get onto the street. Don't know why Prior didn't kill us then, but Ayula must've talked him down.   Next thing I know, I woke up in the medical tent with Aceso and Captain Rem.