Durik stares perplexed at his Cudgel. "Did book teach bad? Oh.. maybe octopi need cut not smash!" Taking out his knife Durik approaches the octopus and stabs it. (roll dice)Tentacles wrap around his forearm with powerful suckers, cutting into it. (roll dice) Durik proceeds to cut the tentacles away from the body and this time throws the head and what is left of the body back out the gun port. He then turns towards another one.

Being woken up suddenly Kyp gets his bearings. Seeing if he can use his marine life influencing abilities to befriend the octopi or at least make them natural and not a threat. If possible lets try to not hurt the octopuses since they might not want to attack and are being influenced by another source. (Brilliant, Kyp!) However he also keeps his hand on the hilt of his blade in case things get ugly. Kyp concentrates, pulling on his abilities that he has used before (roll dice Luck card) The octopi all stop as if listening. The one on Mighty releases him immediately. It almost looks like a wave as each octopus begins to range down through a series of colors on its skin, until each is a much paler color and one by one they start towards the gun ports on their own, sending Kyp a deeply felt thank you for freeing them from the foul influence they were under.

Argy takes the magical lantern and goes again to the hallway, to see if some matey needs her help. (roll dice) The spiders around her touched by the lantern's outer ring of cold fire immediately curl up and die. She begins to follow the spiders down to Refyx's cabin, where she sees them going in the door.

Bellandra followed Argy and the spiders while keeping an eye on the shadowy something down the hallway but did not directly engage them until she saw what they were aiming to do - instead she tried to observe and puzzle out what the weakness of the shadowy thing could be. Along the way, she was ready to help Argy or anyone in need.

"What the blazes is that?!" - Count Karnstein asks semi-rhetorically, not expecting to hear actual answer at this very moment. At first he instinctively reaches for his saber but quickly realizes it might be futile attempt to fight this thing in conventional way. Hearing Clíodhna's command he turns and races out to bring the witch.

Assessing the situation, Aylar reasons that his cutlass would be nae much use against this creature. Keeping his distance, he quickly checks on the Ship, issuing a directive to ensure any Crew still in their cabins has a clear path to disengage, and attempt to seal or/and hinder any attackers in rooms if any Crew disengages and escapes. (roll dice) The Ship responds, but slowly and Aylar realizes another energy drain of some type is going somewhere. They are being attacked on multiple fronts at once. That done and having received additional warning from Clíodhna, he concentrates and attempts to channel protections of his charm magicks through their link, acting as a defensive support for her, while ready to dodge if attacked himself.

Clíodhna picked up Aylar's intent. 'Understood' she sent back to him through the link. Then she releases her own natural protection from herself while reinforcing his and deliberately leaves herself open, baiting the shadow creature in, taking the blows. Each blow leaves a dark mark upon her, but each time it marks her it loses an appendage. Aylar's support and Fey Charm are working, steadily weakening it.

Gilius was asleep when he heard pounding on his door, then he hears the Count yelling for him and others to help. He gets on his feet immediately and opens the door to check what was happening with all this noise. He spots the Count who just opened the Captain's door stand there then the Count turns and races out past him. Gilius goes and sees through the doorway a shadowy creature like no other. (roll dice) Thinking quickly, Gilius throws his remaining holy water on the shadowy creature just as the Count returns with Aeshma. (roll dice) The creature shudders and roils even more as it retreats somewhat. Gilius starts to enter the room further to check Clìodhna's status.

"Good Gilius!" Aeshma cries as she runs up (roll dice) and immediately casts a Protection From Evil spell around their group. "But stay back now! Aylar, make your way to us, she'll need room!" (roll dice) She says something complicated over a charm of her own, then nods. "It's a summoned, a twisted corruptor!" the witch calls to the fighting phoenix.

Aylar feels an acknowledgement and renewed determination, along with wondering how it got on board in the first place coming through the link. (roll dice) Then she radiates an apology, right before he finds himself pushed back to the farthest reaches of the link to where he can barely feel her. (roll dice) Clíodhna changes tactics again, shimmering into a starlike hue, then grows and encompasses the already weakened monstrosity within her ethereal body. She lets the Fey Charm do its work, engaging her own protection field around it, but this time trapping it inside with her while Aeshma begins a banishment chant, drawing a rune in midair. (roll dice) It is over as Aeshma chants the last word and engages the rune with a command and the thing winks out of existence. (roll dice) Clíodhna sinks to the floor. It sounds mostly quiet below decks ...

Grog'tial looks up from his talk with Refyx as suddenly the door opens, and spiders come swarming in. An involuntary squeal passes his lips as he jumps backwards. Was Durik once again...? No, these spiders weren't as big. Grog'tial frantically looks around for something to keep them off him, to crush them, to stop them from climbing all over himself. Then something eminently worse enters the room. A constantly roiling and shifting black shadow full of appendages with long claws appears. Grog'tial feels his breath literally sucked away as it looks directly at him and he feels its pleasure at finding the target it came for. (roll dice) It reaches out and grabs his arm and tightens its grip like a shackle. Grog'tial feels it burn and grasp like a cold hand from the grave, with an endless emptiness beneath.

Refyx's eyes widen as he sees the shadow creature reach out and take hold of Grog'tial. "Oh hells no!," he says as he stumbles back. "I don't know what you did, youngster, but this is way above my abilities! Clíodhna!"

-----
GM note - Great thinking many of you! You puzzled out some brilliant solutions. :)
Kyp, this isn't the full Mission yet, so I saved your potion for you. Drink it Turn 1. ;)

Groggily Captain Baldbeard pokes out of his cabin and follows to where all the commotion. Seeing that things seem to have stabilised from whatever had just happened, he sniffs the air. Jolted awake, he exclaims "If ye kenna help or heal Clíodhna, follow me below decks. I smell fear and evil!"

He rushes downstairs, hoping some follow, Confronted by what is happening to Grog'tial, and remembering the scent of Holy water upstairs, he takes out the holy water he has, and throws it at the shadow creature. Then he uses his cudgel on the swarm of spiders (and creature if it works). If he's getting overwhelmed, he will call his shark pack.

Argy rushes to Refyx' cabin. The gnome didn't seem to be much of a fighter, and the magical lantern seems to be very effective against the intruders. She will use the cold fire against their foes, but will also have the pan ready in case a more mundane enemy appears. If they manage to get rid of the enemies in the Warrant Quarters, she will head to the Captain's Cabin.

Despite the awkward angle, Grog'tial hacks and stabs frantically with his dirk at the appendage which is holding his other arm, his fear of the spiders momentarily forgotten in the face of this more immediate threat. He tries to remember if he ever saw where Refyx stored (the ingredients) for his flash powder, and if managing to get loose, throws a handful of that at the shadow - if he doesn't remember / doesn't manage to get loose, he'll try calling out at Refyx for the same.

Seeing he can't help with anything more here, Count follows Baldbeard below deck. He will fight or stomp on any encountered spiders or other creatures on the way. When he sees thing in Refyx's cabin, he will shout "It's a summoned, a twisted corruptor!" to those nearby, as if expecting someone must surely know what to do.

If the thing let's Grog'tial loose and starts fleeing as a result of other's actions, Count will follow it in safe distance, trying not to lose it and not allow to hide before it's taken care of for good by Clíodhna or Aeshma.

If nothing works, he will run back upstairs to inform those in captain's cabin.

Seeing the shadowy entity enter Grog'tial's room, Bellandra checked the appearance of the shadow creature in the magical Handmirror, hoping to see its true appearance and vulnerable spots hidden behind its shadowy appearance.

If the mirror reveals the creature to be vulnerable, she would use this information to make precision strikes against the creature, either at a central vulnerable mass or at least to chop off its tentacles. If the creature seemed vulnerable to weapons, she would use either her cutlass or her hand crossbow to strike the creature, depending on how far the creature is from her at the time. If, instead, the creature seemed for example vulnerable to light or drawn to it, she would grab the nearest light source such as a lantern and try to fend it off from Grog'tial with it.

Thanks I thought this was the start of the full mission :)

No - just some pre-Mission excitement leading to a new discovery. :P

Compliments again to Kyp, Argy, Gilius, Bellandra, Baldbeard and others for thinking of ways to use what you have! :)

Since the octopi suddenly started retreating, Durik left them alone.
"Ha! Yu no be knowin' I also had a knife. Shoo!"
(ignoring that's was all Kyp's doing)

He then went above to fight the spiders with the cudgel.
But he stayed away from the shadow creature, since other more capable crew members were dealing with it.

Since the octopi suddenly started retreating, Durik left them alone. "Ha! Yu no be knowin' I also had a knife. Shoo!" He takes his cudgel again and goes to fight spiders, but notices they were coming from downstairs, not up. So he goes below to start crushing them before they reach the rest of the crew.

Argy rushes to Refyx's cabin. The gnome didn't seem to be much of a fighter, and the magical lantern seems to be very effective against the intruders. The spiders die as before, but Argy is now confronted with something she hadn't noticed before - a black shadow with many long clawed appendages that appear to roil and bubble like a bad broth left too long, and it has a hold of Grog'tial.

Seeing the shadowy entity enter Refyx's cabin, Bellandra checks the appearance of the shadow creature in the magical Handmirror, hoping to see its true appearance and vulnerable spots hidden behind its shadowy appearance. (roll dice) It looks like a black void, shot through with blood red streaks and a powerful black aura around it, then the mirror completely blanks and refuses to work. She grabs the nearest bright light source, Argy's magical lantern, and keeping the halfling behind her, tries to fend the shadow off Grog'tial with it. (roll dice) The shadow creature eyes the lantern and makes a grab for it, but doesn't let go of Grog'tial, (roll dice) in fact it tightens it's grip, causing Grog'tial to wince as it cuts into his arm and he begins to bleed. (roll dice) Bellandra snatches the lantern back, dodging the shadow's grab.

Groggily Captain Baldbeard pokes out of his cabin and follows to where all the commotion has been happening. Seeing that things seem to have stabilized from whatever had just happened, he sniffs the air. Jolted awake, he exclaims "If ye kenna help or heal Clíodhna, follow me below decks. I smell fear and evil!" He rushes downstairs, following the scent and comes to Refyx's door just as Bellandra snatches the lantern back. Confronted by what is happening to Grog'tial, and remembering the scent of Holy water upstairs, he takes out the holy water he has, and throws it at the shadow creature. (roll dice) The creature reacts, roiling and writhing in pain, but tightens it grip on Grog'tial again and drags him back further, trapping Refyx up on his own bed. (roll dice) Captain Baldbeard whistles up the shark pack. (roll dice-Luck card) They immediately circle, take one look at the creature and then turn and head down the hallway at top speed.

Seeing he can't help with anything more here, Count Karnstein follows Captain Baldbeard below deck. He notices the spiders have either been frozen or squashed. At Refyx's door he uses his height advantage to see over the others gathered there. Seeing the thing in Refyx's cabin, he shouts "It's a summoned, a twisted corruptor!" to those nearby, as if expecting someone must surely know what to do.

The Ship alerted both Clíodhna and Aylar of Refyx's call and the problem at the same time. One moment Clíodhna was there, the next she wasn't. Aylar was reminded of his locket's ability, and right at that moment he got a picture sent to him in case he chose to use it. "It's called a Blink," Aeshma informed him. "Where?"

Despite the awkward angle, Grog'tial hacks and stabs frantically with his dirk at the appendage which is holding his other arm, his fear of the spiders momentarily forgotten in the face of this more immediate threat. (roll dice) He only succeeds in cutting himself as the dirk goes right through the appendage even though he feels it gripping him. (roll dice) It tightens its grip. He tries to remember if he ever saw where Refyx stored his flash powder, but he can't reach anything. He sees Argy in the doorway with her lantern. Bellandra takes it from her and shielding Argy, tries to bait the shadow creature off him, but the creature only tightens its grip while grabbing for the lantern, causing Grog'tial to wince. Captain Baldbeard arrives and throws holy water on it, which gets a suitable reaction, but while the shadow thing is obviously hurt it only tightens its grip again and drags him back deeper into the cabin away from the door.

"Flash powder," Grog'tial gets out to Refyx between gritted teeth as the grip has cut into his forearm, causing more bleeding.

"Are you nuts?" Refyx whispers back. At this range we could fry our eyes!"

Barely a moment later there is a bright flash and the room is blindingly lit. The shadow creature squirms and writhes again, and this time the grip lessens somewhat but doesn't let go. Grog'tial thinks that maybe Refyx has used the flash powder after all and is about to say use it again when he hears Refyx gleefully tell him, "Heh. You want to know what a phoenix is. Watch and learn, youngster! Watch and learn!" Grog'tial looks up as the light dims to a more comfortable level and sees her.

"We be not letting ye take him," Clíodhna tells the corrupter. "The Crew be not letting ye. The Captain be not letting ye. I be not letting ye."

Grog'tial feels a strange warmth and the knife edge of fear dissipates. Then he realizes the calm powerful presence that he can feel and hear inside his head is her. 'Calmly, Grog'tial. We be not letting it have ye, but we need ye calm. It feeds off fear and we be wanting it to be weak. Don't struggle, it be over soon.'

Grog'tial sees her first as a dancing flame almost too swift to watch as she slyly baits the corrupter into striking her as she had the first, trying to get it to release him and come for her. He feels the split second adjustment of tactics, the trickery (so she does know trickery!) of the enemy into a false sense of its own power while she reads its own intent to use against it. He senses a wink sent his way. 'To protect you, it seems I must learn'. (roll dice) But she is not its target. 'So be it,' he hears inside and his mind reels as she brings some part of him in and he suddenly feels the full force of her power and protectiveness slam down around him, shielding him. Somehow Aylar is there with her too, also fighting with some form of power he doesn't understand but knows is there. His eyes see her grow as she envelopes the shadow creature, taking the blows as it strikes at her in desperation again and again, the dark marks scarring her brightness as she refuses to relent. Then he notices each time it strikes her it loses an appendage and is weakened, that Aylar is doing it somehow, wielding some different form of cutlass?

"Aeshma?"

Grog'tial realizes the witch is chanting in the background. There is a type of wrenching and a lurch as if something is being torn from him. The world goes completely inside out wrong for a moment and he almost faints. Then it stabilizes slowly and he feels himself sitting on the floor by Refyx's bed. Alone in his own head again. There is the slightest touch of a spectral wing passing over his forearm and his eyes notice where it passes his wounds are healed. Grog'tial looks up and finds his eyes captured by twin sapphire flames as she looks deep into him and something Refyx told him comes back to him.

"Aeshma," Clíodhna says. "He's been marked. How has he been marked?"

Aeshma comes over and draws another rune into the air, then gasps. "It's a Corruption spell. It tests and tempts the spirit every day for seven days with moral dilemmas. He passed one of the tests when he helped Count Karnstein, but since then he started failing again by the temptation of that vial. My guess is he picked it up in the Necromancer's lab somehow, or that statue of Lolth they described since you said everything seemed to start after that," Aeshma says. "Now we just have to figure out if the banishment worked on it too, or they'll come for him again."

----
Down in the hold the Lwa cowered and knew it had failed. Cornered now, chased back to its temporary lair by the hunting skills of Cap'n Rummyfangs, like the rat it had begun life as before a dark magic entity possessed it, it trembled. Cap'n Rummyfangs had been joined by Captain Baldbeard's sharks, who had realized very well where the true source of the scent of dark spirit had come from. It closed it's eyes and Cap'n Rummyfangs sheathed his rapier, bared his fangs and spat a rumball of light to the deck as the shark pack tore the dark spirit apart.

(New discoveries and planning to come in a few hours ...)

Pugwash's sleep is briefly disturbed. He thought he heard someone shout "Octopus" but this clearly made no sense. The ships cat can't possibly have grown an extra four legs.

Resolving to use his music box before bed to ward off future hallucinations, Pugwash rolls over and starts snoring.

Mission 4 Interim, An Enemy Revealed
*Planning session based on new intel. Turn 1 begins* 4AM UTC, 15 November

It prowled the temple angrily, but yet still patient. The attack had failed, and it knew not who had interfered with it. The reports had stopped coming from its minion and it must now wonder if it had been discovered. Ah, but the prize still approached and would soon be in its grasp. It summoned another servant ...

-----
"How did he be getting onboard with that is what I be wanting to know," said Clíodhna, referring to Grog'tial and the Corruption spell.

"Because he isn't really evil or you would have picked up on it immediately. And you were a little busy at the time saving Cap'n Rummyfangs' spirit. He hasn't turned evil yet either, which means we still have a little time before the spell takes him ... which it won't if he fights for and with Crew," she said quickly seeing the flash in Clíodhna's eyes, "but that does explain the aura and what set me off so badly against him," says Aeshma.

"Could he be right?" Clíodhna asked. "Do ye See anything? I thought we had covered him, but could this shadowy one be knowing he be here?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to ask Gilius to help me prepare ... just in case we get another visit," Aeshma told her.

The ship had been gone over completely, both by living and phantom eyes. Argy had given them the clue that it wasn't in the pantry, but coming from the animal hold. There Captain Baldbeard and his pack had literally scented out the spider eggs and a charm hidden in the animal feed. The charm had influenced the chicken eggs to produce a few rotten vessels for the charm to react to and they must have been within the range of some dark magic wielder at some point to activate it all. Such was reported to the Captain and the Admiral. Piece by piece it had been smuggled in innocent supplies and waiting to be triggered. It had necessitated them to pull in at another island to cut fresh feed for half a day, but it was worth it.

Aeshma had used a celestial purification spell to purify several vials of water and asked Gilius to do a Druidic ritual to bless them into holy water. One was given to each member of the Crew to keep handy in case of any more 'visits'. The witch had also made up some Resist Evil charms (+10 vs Evil), giving them to the Crew to give them a better chance against evil entities. For Bellandra, Aeshma enchanted her rabbit's foot, for Mighty it was added to his monkey charm so in a way Monkey could still help protect him. Kyp's turtle charm was likewise enhanced ... and for Captain Baldbeard, Aeshma smiled as she added it to the bell she had given him. After all, it was part of her own bells dangling from her belt, so she knew the tiny bell she had gifted him would take the enchantment easily. The others got a small carved feather charm, and if the Captain didn't need one, well they didn't need to know why that symbol had been chosen.

-----
The storm was still off the horizon, and he still felt it gathering strength. Otherwise things seemed to be shipshape, the underlying current of unease had passed. Over the past days since the breaking of his curse and hers, Aylar had found himself getting more used to being able to feel Clíodhna and instinctively know where she was at. He also found he no longer had to worry so much about the banshee raging within, he was free of the bindings that had consistently irritated it, and the phoenix magick balanced it naturally, while still allowing both their natural wildness. It gave him a finer control, without restricting him in the least. He also had a finer hand on the wheel so to speak. Being able to take the statis of the Ship anytime he wished, from anywhere. He had grown used to the calmer influence, which was why it surprised him when a sudden alarm and horror came at him through the link, to be swiftly replaced with a slow building flame of raging fury. Clíodhna!

She came to him with the fury contained deep within her eyes, and he knew she had discovered the enemy at last. "An Aboleth. It be an Aboleth, Aylar. And we be being baited. Ye'll be needing practice with that sword for this one. An Aboleth will keep coming back, unless ye trap it and destroy the sword with it within."

-----
Later that day another briefing was called. At least the storm had broken for just long enough for the birds to have gotten a look at the Dragon Turtle's Island. The rest of it came from old sources she and Bhrigu had finally run down among all the scrolls and books and legends he had collected, as well as some pieces of ancient knowledge he had found on his wanderings.

"Here is a map of what we know of Dragon Turtle Island," Clíodhna nodded to the map now drawn out and laid on the table. "There is a broken pier, and the single path leading upwards from it to some old wooden housing or barns that we do not know what they now contain. There are some bluegreen structures that look like they might be crafted of seaglass, but again we do not know the purpose. There is also what looks like it used to be a farmhouse, shed and silos. To the West is marked the Grove and the Spring at its center. There seems to be a stone circle around the Spring at the edge of the Grove. Gilius, we may be needing ye to check on that, given your natural affinity to such stones. Please make sure the corruption is not coming from them or spreading through them if ye can."

"The next map be showing a partially underwater temple, and here be the most likely true cause of the Triangle's reputation. Somewhere within the temple lies an ancient magical mechanism that was meant to assure a protective influence on the magical node beneath it. It was most likely a Sea Hag lair at one time, but an Aboleth has taken it over, and is using it to corrupt and draw even more magick to itself, and may very well be tapping it into other planes in doing so, which could be used to call more of those creatures into this world. We know not all of the temple is underwater, but parts will be, and the Aboleth and servants may be anywhere within it."

"An Aboleth is a completely malevolent, eel-like aberration with potent psionic abilities. An old one can be 20' (6.1m) long and approximately 6,500 lbs (2,900 kilograms). They are natural psions like mind flayers. They are both extremely cruel and highly intelligent. They do not hesitate at any point to kill or use any unfortunate mortals who cross their path, and hate land dwellers. They see in the dark depths and if they see you and are within 60' (18.28m) they can use a Probing Telepathy to learn your deepest desire and use these as illusions to try to control you. If they get within 30' (9.14m) of you and see you they can try to enslave your mind by first Charming you. If they Charm you they can then attempt a Psychic Drain of your mind to strengthen and heal themselves. Perhaps their most fearsome weapon, if it is indeed a very old Aboleth, is the secretion of a viscous gray fluid, much like mucus, into the water surrounding them, which causes a terrible transformation in air-breathing creatures caught in it. The skin is transformed into a membrane that allows the victim to breathe in water, but changes the consciousness to that of a mindless servant. However it must perform a ritual to complete this, so if any Crew are affected we will have time to cure you if the Aboleth is slain first. Physical weapons of the Aboleth are their four tentacles which can cause Disease, and a tail attack that hits hard."

"Luckily a Cure Disease potion can cure both the tentacle attack Disease and the transformation disease. Gilius can also now Purifying Heal the transformation disease with his new pendant. The Aboleth is truly Evil, so your charms give you added resistance and protection. Aeshma will also be able to purify the waters around you and heal, so please make sure to defend her while she does so for you. Before that part of this mission, She will be making a large batch of Cure Disease potions at half price, just the cost of her ingredients, for all Crew on that mission. If we can free the Dragon Turtle, it will most likely know where we can get more Gillyweed and Aeshma can make Water Breathing potions from it."

"Now, the weakness of the Aboleth is the lack of Dexterity, so it cannot evade an area effect like a stun. They are Strong, but their true strength is in their mental abilities and Charisma, they're schemers and manipulators par excellence. Be aware that going in you may also encounter enslaved races, from humanoid to marine life. Be prepared."

"So this now becomes a two-step attack. Free the Dragon Turtle before the Aboleth can complete her corruption and turn her against us. Then rid the temple of the Aboleth and its minions and restore the ancient mechanism to once again clear the corruption of this place and restore the seas to balance."

"Due to this, all Cursed Weapons and spell restrictions will be considered renewed as Crew will return to Ship briefly between the two parts. Aeshma and Refyx will also be increasing orders to 4 per day; those who ordered previous to Night Attack and were fulfilled may order again - 8 orders per merchant will be available."

=====
Note - All Crew now have 1 holy water and 1 Charm of Resist Evil (+10 vs Evil). Cure Disease Potions will be half price.

I think I ROFL for a full five minutes at this!! XD

Same! I loved that character's reaction due to the late posting XD

"Ablet? That ting makes Durik want to become a land orc again.."
"Me can't smash it with cudgel. Me will protec Esma, then?"

He ordered:
1 Potion of Mental Resistance (-2s) to resist the Aboleth's psychic powers.
1 Weapon Oils, fire (-4p) since he imagined that both sea creatures and undead were weak to it.

He also prepared and drank the Earl Grey Tea (in his happy mug) for some poison resistance for the mission.
And he continued to read the Mighty Monkeys book.