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The party is joined by Sancho Grubb - a gnome actor, raconteur and lover of the ladies – yes, that Sancho Grubb!
Lavinia proposed an expedition to Farshore - the Vandaboren colony on the Isle of Dread. However another ship is required apart from the Blue Nixie so the party return to Kraken cove to retrieve the abandoned caravel, they'd seen - the Sea Wyvern . The Sea Wyvern was retrieved, the ship was repaired and resupplied - a captain (Amella Venkalie) and crew were hired and some passengers boarded:
Departure for the Isle of Dread was early one morning with with the Blue Nixie and the Sea Wyvern sailing in convoy
Lavinia hosted a celebratory dinner on the Blue Nixie which was a great success (Sancho was in particularity fine form) however the return to the Sea Wyvern was disrupted by a water mephit attack.
The convoy arrived at Fort Blackwell to resupply and shore leave was taken.
Father Feres was taken ill. Loreli caring for him discovered that the unfortunate cleric had somehow been implanted with a Salaadi Egg. Loreli saved the day by borrowing a magic dagger from Sancho and cutting the good father open and removing the offending object.
Whilst becalmed, the Sea Wyvern was attacked by a Flotsam Ooze – a horrendous marine organism that the party only just manages to defeat but not before the deaths of both Querain & Cebar.
Lavinia had promised Urol that they'd stop at the ruins that hosted the famous The Lost Shrine of Tamochan. The party agreed to act as bodyguards for Urol whilst he explored the much renown temple and were joined by Aramil from the Blue Nixie . The trip ashore was eventful, after killing a basilisk and a winged demon, a will-’o-the-wisp proved to be a right pain. The party also encountered Damian, last survivor of an adventuring party in the Lost Shrine, and offered him a lift out of the ruins.
Rounding the tip of the Tamochan peninsula the convoy has to run the risk of Scarlet Brotherhood pirates off the South Olman Isle and preparations were made to run the blockade. Although the Blue Nixie made it safely, the Sea Wyvern encountered the Purity's Prow captained by the notorious pirate Lars "NoNeck" Helvur! After a tense chase and sea battle the pirates were defeated and the Purity's Prow sent to the bottom.
The convoy had hoped to resupply in Fort Greenrock, however some terrible catastrophe had happened there. The palisade had been torn asunder and the fort burned to the ground. There appeared to be no survivors.
Needing fresh water, Lavinia ordered the convoy to top at the falls near the mouth of the Atikula river. While anchored there the Sea Wyvern was attacked by an aquatic hydra. Damian, taking a turn on deck at the time, was savagely rent limb from limb by the beast before it could be destroyed. After the confrontation with the seven headed aquatic hydra and the sad loss of their new friend Damian, the party gathered around Sancho as he used the wand of cure light wounds to heal them, prior to resuming their voyage.
Some four days later, Lavinia decided that a spot of shore leave was in order and the two ships anchored at the village of Renkrue, a small, somewhat isolated community of a few hundred souls. Jack and Ronica immediately repaired to the village meeting hall (pub), as did most of the crew. Sancho decided to explore a little and started to check out the general area. Back in the pub, Jack managed to buy a pint of the local home brew, with the aid of another patron of the pub, Annalesia. After some general chitchat, Annalesia expressed a strong desire to leave the village, having been marooned there for some days and become very bored of the way of life (and general lack of conversation). At this point, Lavinia arrived with the village headman in tow, who expressed an interest in hearing of the groups adventures and tales of the outside world. As Ronica attempted to satisfy his curiosity, a somewhat panicked Jack ran off to find Sancho, since story telling was not something he felt comfortable with. After some effort, he located the gnome and they returned to the pub, just in time for Sancho to enliven the atmosphere in the pub with a stirring (and very long) rendition of the groups exploits.
The following morning, Father Feres announced that he would be leaving the ship to minister to the village of Renkrue. It was a late start, as several of the crew had difficulty fulfilling there obligations on board. By 1pm, the ships were underway, spending the next four days crossing the Pearl current and passing the rocky outcrop of Ruja, before becoming separated by a ferocious storm. Amelia followed her standing instructions in this event and set course for the Isle of Dread.
Four days later, those on the Sea Wyvern awoke to an awful stillness. Investigation showed that the ship had become entangled in a huge Sargasso, which Urol was able to tell them was not natural. Seeing a wreck to port, the party set off to investigate as the crew tried to dig the ship free. Reaching the wreck, they identified it as the Rage and went aboard to search for any salvageable material. Ronica spied a journal on a table below decks, close to a large hole in the hull. As she approached the table, a vine snaked out of the surrounding Sargasso and hit her, grabbing her tightly. As Ronica fought to free herself, Jack, Annalesia and Aramil sought to damage the vine. Sancho headed up to the deck to see if he could look down upon the Assassin Vine, but could see nothing through the thick seaweed mat of the Sargasso. As a second Assassin Vine joined the combat, things looked bleak for the monk but with the aid of her comrades, she finally broke free and the vines were swiftly dealt with. Retrieving the journal, the party learned that the master of the Rage had discovered a large raised kelp forest towards the centre of the Sargasso. After checking from the Sea Wyvern crows nest to locate the raised area, they immediately set off, hoping to reach it before nightfall.
Unfortunately, the distance was greater than it seemed, and, just as they thought they could see the centre of the Sargasso through the mirk, they were beset on three sides by yet more Assassin Vines. A desperate fight ensued and as the parties resources dwindled under a relentless assault by innumerable vines, one of the vines fell and Jack thought he saw a figure, at the range of his vision. Before he could set off to investigate, the vine he had just toppled reappeared in front of him. Ignoring it, he ran past the flailing assault and bore down on the smaller figure, having correctly guessed that it was the enemy, rather than the vine. Following his lead, the party, now in a parlous state, moved to assault the controlling Vine Horrors and swiftly won the day
As the party moved forward, the kelp forest looming before them in the gathering dark, Annalesia thought she heard a whisper at the edge of hearing...outsiders. Moving further into the kelp, the whisper grew in volume until all could hear it, sussurating across the whole of the sargasso. In the centre of the kelp, the party came across an ancient, damaged wreck, the Thunderer and swiftly moved aboard. Finding little of interest above decks, they move below and began a systematic search of the ship. Annalesia opened the door to what had once been the galley and discovered three Vine Horrors lurking within. Moving to attack them, she was briefly beset until the others, hearing her cries (and the sound of combat) moved to aid her, with Sanco and Lorelei arriving from the poop deck where they were trying to see just how bad the situation was, just in time to miss the combat.
Quickly healing up, they continued to search the rotting hulk, with the cries of outsider and scrabbling on the hull all around them, until, venturing into the hold, they spotted a shaft dropping away into the sargasso. Sancho leapt to the front and peered down the hole, just in time to be attacked by an Assassin Vine, much to his surpruise. As the rest of the group joined in attacking the vine and freeing Sancho, Aramil, remembering the past encounter with these plants, shot an arrow with light cast on it into the wall to provide light for a search. As each member of the party was attacked in turn by the vine, one of the party spotted a figure in the wall of the shaft and a rather brutal assault by steel, wood and magic was launched into it - to the detriment of the plants health.
Ronica started to descend the shaft, only to be met by a monstrosity as it came up - they had found the source of the sargasso, The Mother Of All. A dislocated sack of foul smelling vegetation wreathed in screaming writhing humanoid forms attempted to grab hold of her and pull her to her doom. By the miracles of my d20, something with a +15 to hit managed to miss and very nearly fell back down the shaft. Ronica climbed swiftly out before anything else happened and the mother of all battles began. As the monstrosity climbed the pit, attacking all and sundry as she did so, the party poured all the might of their weaponry and magic in to her, stopping her finally, just before she emerged from the top.
As the horror fell, the sargasso made a great heave and began to break up. The heroes legged it across the sargasso as fast as they could, but it broke up too quickly for them to reach true safety and, as the sargasso eventually rotted to mothing, they were left clutching driftwood and floating in the sea currents. Fortunately, Amelia had set out in the Sea Wyvern to find them as soon as the sargasso released her and rescued them from Davy Jones.
The journey and tedium (except around Sancho) of the voyage continued, until, during a fierce gale and in horrendous sea conditions, the Sea Wyvern was driven side on into the reefs aroung the Isle of Dread. As the ship floundered against the reef, a huge fish known as a Masher attacked, nearly killing Jack and several others as they bravely fought it off (the crew having decided enough was enough and gone to bed in a foul mood). A short and very brutal combat later and they were deprived of one of the regions delicacies through having no trained Masher chef on board.
The crippled and badly holed Sea Wyvern continued to limp toward the isle, but Amelia informed the party that she was not going to make it. The storm continued through the night, driving the helpless Sea Wyvern before it. As the primeval vista of the Dread isle loomed before them, the ship gave one last lurch, and rolled. In a cacophonous roar of wave and ruin, the cold darkness washed over all