The party was summoned to a village council emergency session to hear the news of a potential shipwreck somewhere to the south of the bay. The group volunteered to search for survivors and one of the local fishing vessels was chartered to make the trip. They set out as quickly as possible, as nearly 12 hours had passed since Hattie Crayne (the only known survivor) had washed ashore.
Upon finding the wreck broken upon a rocky shoal and mostly submerged, the group encountered a family of giant crabs that had been drawn to the spot. The two horse sized parent animals, and a large swarm of their tiny spawn, had made fast work of any bodies that might have remained. The adventurers were able to overcome the sea creatures, and also to rescue several barrels and kegs of ale, wine and spirits. They found no other survivors.
Professor Malort sent his mephit on a scouting trip around the bay, and within an hour, the elemental creature had located a tiny islet just around the small cape that jutted out into the bay to the south. After a quick reconnoiter, it appeared that the spot might be inhabited. With this possibility, the party loaded the salvaged barrels onto the vessel, and made their way to the islet.
When they made the shore, they noted a ramshackle hut perched on a slight rise in the distance, as well as what appeared to be a well-tended herb and vegetable garden not far from the shore. Preferring this to exploring the marshy area to the north, the party headed up to the shack.
When the party opened the door, two large humanoid creatures leapt to attack them! The creatures appeared roughly as men, but were covered in coral protrusions and sported gaping maws that no natural born human could possess! Undead!
The Risen Crew
In time, they began exploring the rest of the small island, and soon located a cave entrance under the rocky outcropping on the north of the island. By the look of it, it would have been completely submerged at high tide.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the hardy band entered the dark cave. As they wound their way through alternating dry and submerged areas, they happened upon what appeared to be a human body pinned under some rocks in one of the submerged areas. They tied off Calgrot with rope, and the curious gnome swum down to investigate. As he approached, the body was clearly much larger now than they had thought, and when it suddenly rolled over to face the diminutive rogue, he was confronted by a tentacled monstrosity armed with a deadly harpoon!
Captain Thorsh
After receiving a grievous wound, the rogue bolted for safety, with the creature in hot pursuit. Battle was soon joined in one of the dry tunnels, and the party was ultimately successful! The terrifying creature had no gold, but its belt and harpoon were clearly enchanted. Not a total loss!
Moving on, the band of adventurers at last came upon the mistress of the isle- a robed and hooded figure who stood upon a dry stone ledge looking out over a large, partially submerged cavern. The figure stood before a roughly hewn pedestal upon which sat a nefarious looking golden idol. The idol’s eyes glowed with a hateful red light, and as the hooded figure turned to confront the party, another set of glowing red eyes peered out at them from the depths.
The figure cursed them in a grating, female voice, cursing them for trespassing in her home and defiling so sacred a place dedicated to He Who Dreams in Darkness.
The party was up for one more fight, and the robed figure did not disappoint. She threw back her hood to reveal a horrifying visage- and the party had to fight back hard on the revulsion threatening to overwhelm them. Battle was then joined with the Witch-Hag of Bracken Island!
The Witch-Hag of Bracken Island
Very early on in the fight, the paladin was cursed with blindness, taking him out of the conflict. The Witch-Hag and the adventures exchanged mighty attacks against each other. As both sides were near defeat, the Witch-Hag flew to the high ceiling of the cavern, and began casting her most deadly spell. The celestial hound archon that Professor Malort had magically summoned to the fight grabbed the enchanted harpoon from the paladin and cast it at the hovering fiend. The weapon exploded into the foul creature, who exploded in a blast of angry red light.
A thin echoing cackle erupted in the cavern, and the party heard the voice of the Hag one last time- “You think I am defeated, fools! You have merely freed me from my earthly constraints!”
Without anything more, the party began searching for treasure. And tending to the blind paladin. In a hidden alcove, they found a large fortune in gold and gems, and a magical cloak and several potion bottles. It appeared that the Witch-Hag had been collecting the treasure over many years. The final item they located was a tarnished locket that contained the picture of a very young girl appearing vaguely like the Witch-Hag, and an inscription- “To Maehlani, Dearest Daughter and Beloved Child.”
They also noticed that the idol’s eyes were no longer glowing. When Brother Yorik tried to pick it up, he was scorched with unholy energy. The item was wicked indeed! The party carefully stowed the idol away and made once more for the surface.
Well pleased with themselves and the riddance of so foul a creature from their home region, the party sailed for home.
When they reached the docks, they were greeted by a young lad with a message- Brother Markus and Magda Vyrlich had asked for them as soon as they returned.
Making way quickly to the Church of the Whispering Wind, they were met in the Great Nave by Josie Nightingale, who told them that several hours ago Hattie Crayne had taken a turn for the worse. The girl had suddenly manifested a fiendish vestige, and seemed as if violently possessed. Brother Markus had barely been able to restrain her with the help of several of his students. He and Magda and Josie had been trying to find some means of freeing the girl’s spirit ever since.
The Bard led them down to the laboratory, where they confirmed their worst fear- the young half-orc sailor sported the same vestigial horns, glowing red eyes and shiny black talons as the Witch-Hag!
After Markus, Yorik and Professor Malort conferred with each other (and after Markus quickly cured Sir Donaghast of his blindness), they concluded the only way to save the girl was to enact a very dangerous holy rite- the Ritual of Cleansing. The party would have to enter the spirit aether, leaving their bodies behind, and confront the foul spirit that had taken hold of the defenseless boatswain.
They prepared themselves, the incense was lit, and they slipped into a deep sleep, and thence into the spirit realm!
They awoke in a hollow and washed out mockery of the real world. They were forced to face several trials of spirit and will as they made their way through the corridors of false Church, following the ectoplasmic trail of the witch-Hag. The final confrontation occurred before a twisted altar in the Great Nave.
Before the enemies engaged, the translucent form of the Witch-Hag wavered momentarily, and in her place stood a young woman, fair of form and countenance, who begged the party to end her nightmare and free her spirit, as well. The image of a mature Maehlani Tanner soon vanished, and the Witch-Hag attacked.
Having already overcome their foe physically, and having now overcome her further trials spiritually, the party was able to easily defeat what remained of the fiend.
Upon her defeat, the adventurers awoke on their cots, back in the real world!
As they looked around, they saw that Hattie Crayne had drifted back into a restful sleep, freed from her fiendish tormentor.
In the hours that passed afterward, the group assembled in Markus’ study and discussed the last few days’ events with the priest and Magda Vyrlich. They examined the idol, and realized that inscriptions under its base were a perfect match with the inscriptions on the great disc they previously discovered in the Black Edifice. While they discussed the significance of this finding, Josie came back upstairs from where she had been researching the village’s collected records.
She had learned that Hannsport had once been home to a woman named Maehlani Tanner, who had been born there nearly one hundred years ago. The records also indicated that a woman by the same name had been expelled by the village some years later on the accusation of being a witch.
Josie shook her head regretfully as she explained that Hannsport would have been a very small, superstitious fishing village then, and its people unlikely to understand what a gift someone so connected to the spirit world would have been to them, rather than a curse.
How the idol fit into this narrative, and how it came to be in the young witch’s possession, no one there knew. All agreed, however, that its spiteful influence would certainly have corrupted someone so sensitive to its spirit aura.
Magda suggested she might return the locket to Eli Tanner-- without mentioning the owner’s special gifts-- as old Eli was the last Tanner remaining in Hannsport. Markus secured the idol away in a sealed relic box, over which he cast several holy spells of protection.
And with that the assembled residents of Hannsport toasted the defeat of a menace to their community, and the freeing of two souls from the corruption of the damned!
