Campaign Stormwreck Isle; Curse of Compass Rose (1-3)

Part 3 - Curse of the Compass Rose
View attachment 357_Promontory.mp3

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MAP:

Maps - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

THE STORY SO FAR:

Stormwreck Isle: Journey to Stormwreck Isle (1-P)
Stormwreck Isle: Welcome to Dragon's Rest (1-1)
Stormwreck Isle: Spores of Seagrow Cave (1-2)​

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THE QUEST:

• The party seeks the wreck of the Compass Rose, a ship that went down decades ago and may be linked to the undead incursion.

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THE LOCATION:

​

Local Party Map​

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THE PARTY:

ITEM GLOSSARY:

Image	Name	Value (per)	Weight (per)	Description
	Wind Spore Mushrooms​	30	0.06 lbs	A rare fungus with a unique magical property. When a creature squeezes a wind spore mushroom's cap, it releases a small cloud of spores. For 1 hour, the creature doesn't need to breathe, as the spores provide it with oxygen.
	Obsidian Chunk​	10	1 lb	An uncut opaque black gemstone.
	Heart Cap Mushrooms​	30	0.2 lbs	These mushrooms bear an unsettling resemblance to human hearts.
	Potion of Healing​	50	0.5 lbs	This potion's red liquid glimmers when agitated. You regain 2d4+2 hit points when you drink this potion.
	A Fine Lute
	Boots of Elvenkind			While you wear these boots, your steps make no sound, regardless of the surface you are moving across. You also have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks that rely on moving silently.
	Spell Scroll of Command

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THE STORY CONTINUES:

Having departed from Dragon's Rest for the second time, your band of adventurers slowly make their way down the mountain paths towards the shore where you first landed. The journey is uneventful and peaceful, a welcome contrast to the carnage the party has faced since arriving on the island. Songbirds flutter across the path ahead of you as they dart back and forth between bushes, hunting the insects they harbor. Your walk down to the water does not take more than a half hour however, so the ramble through nature is fleeting.

Returning to the beach where you had fought the zombies, the party find the scene just as you left it. The battered corpses of the drowned sailors lay immobile where they were slain, the putrid grey flesh not appealing to any scavengers and having been left untouched. Your group moves cautiously past the bodies, one by one each battling the anxiety that the monsters will spring up again and attack.

The five of you convene on the short wooden dock. There is an old fishing net dangling over the edge and trailing in the water, where it appears to be tangled within a clump of seaweed. Several short lengths of aging rope are knotted here and there around the thick posts, some having been cut free in haste rather than untied. A rowboat not dissimilar to the one you arrived in is tethered to the dock, and you see a pair of oars laying across the seats. The boat appears big enough for 4 medium sized passengers.

North of your position, you can see a long spur of sharp rocks jutting from the ocean waves, extending several miles out.​

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INITIATIVE:
https://improvedinitiative.app/p/e88bk48y

 

[Dungeon Master]

@A Pineap-Alu-zer
@Jawneh
@Jon
@Nae'blis
@Smacktard

 

[Short Order]

((I added a potion of healing to my gear, just want to make sure we have all 5 accounted for before we take off.))

 

[Nac McWeeble]

((I added mine too!))

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((Same, I have one. I assume since we have 3 smaller than medium sized passengers, we're fine to fit altogether in the boat? Likely Aim's and Zesty front and back and the three smaller ones in the middle for balance.

Other than that, I am good to row and get to our next encounter/adventure!))

 

[Dungeon Master]

((Same, I have one. I assume since we have 3 smaller than medium sized passengers, we're fine to fit altogether in the boat? Likely Aim's and Zesty front and back and the three smaller ones in the middle for balance.

Other than that, I am good to row and get to our next encounter/adventure!))

((Actually, Nac is medium sized. Only Moonsprout and Short are small sized creatures.

But those 2 together would count as 1 seat, yes.))

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((Actually, Nac is medium sized. Only Moonsprout and Short are small sized creatures.

But those 2 together would count as 1 seat, yes.))

((Cool, then I'm happy to Michael row the boat ashore.))

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

((I got my pot. Aims is definitely one to use rowing the boat as exercise. ))

As the lads get to the pier with the rowboat, Aims spares no time before climbing into it and planting his hind quarters in the middle seat with the oars. In stoic silence, he doing light stretches before grabbing the oars to get ready to move along.
Once everyone is in and the boat released, hes ready to pushaway from the pier and start rowing towards north where Runara had instructed to go for the Rose.

Oi you landlubbers! Git yer meatsacks in make yer way directly into the poop deck. And i mean directly without passing the cantina.

He says all that with a scowl and covering his left eye with his hand... probably thinking he has an eye patch.

 

[Short Order]

Short Order searches the area and the net for anything that could be useful before boarding the boat.

((Maybe I'll find that string Moonsprout wanted))

 

[Nac McWeeble]

((

Us riding in our half-orc powered boat))

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((Have Moonsprout get him high first and I won't need to do work either.))

 

[Short Order]

((Bardic inspiration. Moonsprout sings a rowing song))

 

[Dungeon Master]

---

Short Order
(Alu)​

|As everyone else begins to climb into the boat, you lag behind and poke around the area. The nets are beyond use, with several large holes visible where it hangs down to intertwine with the seaweed climbing up the dock supports. There is a length of sun-bleached rope roughly 4 feet long, where it ends with a ragged cut. You assume the net had been tangled somewhere and was cut free.

Your curiosity gets the better of you and you prod at the netting with your quarterstaff, pushing the bulk of it so it falls off the dock into the water below. The slimy net parts and births something reflective and transparent, the object spilling out onto the wooden planks with a clink. You reach down and pick it up.



You find a map in a bottle.

You pry out the cork, which smells like mold and appears to be decades old. This map seems to conveniently show the rocky outcroppings that lays ahead of you. Someone has marked several areas with not-at-all stereotypical large red Xs. You recognize the shape at the bottom of the map to be the peninsula just North of Dragon's Rest, and this is the bay you're currently at.

|

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Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|You brotherly seamen pile into the rowboat and play musical chairs around Aims who sits squarely in the middle, seeming to pet an imaginary parrot (or mycockmush) on his shoulder. With Moonsprout and Short sitting side-by-side in one space, the half-orc pushes away from the dock with an oar and the voyage is underway.

The boat speeds through the water under the furious might of Aims, who plunges the oars into the water and heaves them backwards, like an blunt axe gouging into wet flesh. Within about 10 minutes, the dock is far behind you and the boat floats at the end of the Northernmost peninsula of the main island.|

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((Where do you want to investigate first?))

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((I say we make for the first red X directly in front of us.))

 

[Nac McWeeble]

((Cool by me!))

 

[Short Order]

This map tells us something might be going on here, let's investigate.

short order points out the first X on the map.


((This could also point out places that have been checked so far, so after the first, if we find nothing, it might be good to investigate one without an x))

 

[Dungeon Master]

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Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|You careen through the waves, Aims not caring about anyone's nausea as he bicep pumps in a competition against Poseidon. It takes about 20 minutes to cross the breadth of the distance to the nearest X mark. The map does accurately depict the major rock formations ahead of you, so locating the position is relatively easy.



At this spot, as you approach from the South, you find the bleached ribs of a vessel mostly buried within a small sandy beach. The ship appears to have been here for a very long time. Behind the ship, an enormous curved peak of basalt provides a basin for sand to build up against.



You can see some barrels and crates on the shore closest to you, with a number more tossed across the sand.|

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((The scale of this shit might not seem entirely right and look a little off, for me to make it work and read well, but... Deal with it.

))

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((Looks more than fine to me, man.))

As the group comes to the shore and disembarks, Zesty begins eying the surroundings. He's looking for information about what this ship is, its age, what happened to it... anything of value the team can use. The main thought that's eating at him and slightly making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, is... this can't be the Crimson Rose. It can't be this easy. So Zesty, ever fearful, keeps a hand on his newly upgraded crossbow... just in case.

Zesty investigates the area for any information of import.

 

[Dungeon Master]

((Looks more than fine to me, man.))

As the group comes to the shore and disembarks, Zesty begins eying the surroundings. He's looking for information about what this ship is, its age, what happened to it... anything of value the team can use. The main thought that's eating at him and slightly making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, is... this can't be the Crimson Rose. It can't be this easy. So Zesty, ever fearful, keeps a hand on his newly upgraded crossbow... just in case.

Zesty investigates the area for any information of import.

---

Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|Your investigation of this side of the wreck does nothing to confirm the ship's identity. The outer hull is gone, as is any hope of markings denoting the vessel's name. It does seem as though the ship has been here for much longer than the sandy build up, as the barrels and crates do not match the age of the ship's wood. They must have washed up here in the years since this ship ran afoul of this rocky outcrop. Each of the crates and barrels you check provides nothing of use, most being cracked in some way and the contents having spoiled or fallen out.

|

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[Nac McWeeble]

((This one looks like a dud, should we head on to the small island just behind this one?))

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Aims is unimpressed. But is hatching a plan.

I was just getting a good pump from all the rowing. And we had to stop for just a skeleton of a boat? Hmmm... Maybe I can do something here.

Aims walks on over to the barrels and crates laying in the sand one by one and starts chucking them against the hull of the boat to bust them all open.

This should do just fine to keep my muscles warm until we leave! Hahaha!

 

[Dungeon Master]

Aims is unimpressed. But is hatching a plan.

I was just getting a good pump from all the rowing. And we had to stop for just a skeleton of a boat? Hmmm... Maybe I can do something here.

Aims walks on over to the barrels and crates laying in the sand one by one and starts chucking them against the hull of the boat to bust them all open.

This should do just fine to keep my muscles warm until we leave! Hahaha!

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Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|Make a Strength (Athletics) check.|

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[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Muuuussssscleeeeeee!

 

[Dungeon Master]

Muuuussssscleeeeeee!

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Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|

You attempt to smash several crates against the side of the ship, but they're all slick with scum and you can't get good purchase. Most of the barrels do not even make it far enough to reach the ribs, with those few that do more crumpling than exploding. None of them contain anything useful.|

---

Spoiler

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Bah! Baaaaaaah!

Aims spits on the ground.

I'm leaving! I'll be on the boat!

Before completely off the beach, he looks at the rocky basin itself for anything eye catching.

 

[Dungeon Master]

Bah! Baaaaaaah!

Aims spits on the ground.

I'm leaving! I'll be on the boat!

Before completely off the beach, he looks at the rocky basin itself for anything eye catching.

---

Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd
(Jawneh)​

|

As you are about to angrily board the rowboat, you look over the rocky crag curving to your left. At the rear of the wreckage, you spot a difference in the ground, where the sand gives way to more of a fine gravel. The darker terrain leads back up against the rock face, where you notice a large crack in the basalt about ten feet wide.|

---

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Aims cocks his eye brow and points towards the area.

Oi lads. Take a look over there. I think I found something.

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Aims walks to the crack to gave a better view of what's there.

 

[Dungeon Master]

Aims walks to the crack to gave a better view of what's there.

---

Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd
(Jawneh)​

|

The opening leads to a cave system. |

---

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

ECHO!

ECHO
Echo
echo
echo
echo....

There's a cave here! I wonder if there's something to murder in there. Say aye if you wanna go in!

AYE!

Lets go!

And he gon.

 

[Dungeon Master]

ECHO!

ECHO
Echo
echo
echo
echo....

There's a cave here! I wonder if there's something to murder in there. Say aye if you wanna go in!

AYE!

Lets go!

And he gon.

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Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd
(Jawneh)​

|

The inside of the cave is much smaller than the Myconid one you visited yesterday, although it does have some similar fungal growths. None of them appear to be cultivated in tended beds though, and these mushrooms have just grown here naturally.

On the other side of the cave chamber, two tunnels lead off into darkness.

It is dimly lit in this entrance area, with light from the crack providing minimal visibility.|

---

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Aims gets a little teary eyed.

I bet... I bet Mai'Cokk would've loved to visit this place.

Hey, the lot of ya! Are ya coming or not?! There's mushrooms to lick here! Come lick your mushrooms! Or something.

Looking further into the cave, Aims believes it would be prudent to light a torch. Once again he puts away his large ax, lights a torch with his tinderkit and grabs one of his hand axes to hold.

 

[Zesty Zapcrackle]

((My nature che4ck wouldn't help us, but perhaps Moonsprout or Short want to make a check? The X's have to mean something.

And as a side note, when we reach the X in the water, we do have the mushrooms that will allow us to essentially breathe underwater should we want to check that.))

Zesty makes his way to the cave to ensure he's available to assist Aims' should something happen.

 

[Dungeon Master]

((My nature che4ck wouldn't help us, but perhaps Moonsprout or Short want to make a check? The X's have to mean something.

And as a side note, when we reach the X in the water, we do have the mushrooms that will allow us to essentially breathe underwater should we want to check that.))

Zesty makes his way to the cave to ensure he's available to assist Aims' should something happen.

---

Zesty Zapcrackle
(Jon)​

||

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[Dungeon Master]

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Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd
(Jawneh)​

|It is about 20 feet from where you're standing to the far wall of the chamber, so your torch flaring to life fully illuminates the space with bright orange light. You can make out the floor descending slightly into the tunnels beyond, but not much more from here.


You can more clearly make out the mushrooms in the area. The larger ones near you have some glowing green pustules on them which look fairly toxic.|

---

((This of course mainly applies to Moonsprout, who can't see shit that isn't 20 ft away from Aims.))

 

[Moonsprout Beandirt]

Moonsprout, who had been making castles in the sand, joins the rest of the gang in the cave.

Oooh, mushies! But... These ones look a little bit off.

Moonsprout rubs his chin and scratches his nethers while trying to recall any info he might have about these mushrooms. He also scans the room for any signs of... Well, anything.

 

[Short Order]

Short joins the group in the cave

This certainly is interesting. Let me think on this.

Does the same checks Moonsprout just did... But better?

 

[Dungeon Master]

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Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

|The mushrooms all appear as though they'd likely be poisonous, almost as if nature was learning not to trust halflings. The cave appears like a fairly run-of-the-mill rock hole, but you do notice some scuff marks at the entrance of both tunnels.|

---

 

[Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd]

Aims scratches his noggin.

Erm... Err... I can go, but... Do we go left? Or second left? I've never been good at deciding which way to go in tunnels. Outdoors? 100% go that way. Inside thing? The hells do I know how things work here. If this place loops I'd keep walking left forever.

 

[Moonsprout Beandirt]

Moonsprout checks the scuff marks to see if he can figure out what made them.

 

[Nac McWeeble]

My Sensei Ti'vareas told me a couple of times in instances like this: Would ye stop botherin' me, I'm busy!! So I don' really know which way, mebbe flip a coin?

Nac shrugs.

Edit: I forgot to write it, but Nac joins the party in the cave.

 

[Dungeon Master]

Moonsprout checks the scuff marks to see if he can figure out what made them.

---

Moonsprout Beandirt
(Smacktard)​

|You check the markings on the ground. They're definitely markings. You think the one on the left is maybe wider than the one on the right, with some different thinner trails. |

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((Do you guys get tagged when just doing it like this mother fucker?))

 

[Dungeon Master]

---

Dungeon Master
(Ben)​

||

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[Moonsprout Beandirt]

((I didn't get tagged, but maybe because you quoted my post so I got that message instead))

 

[Nac McWeeble]

((The only tag i got was the first one when the new thread was made, but then again maybe you didn't ask me ))

Nac takes out a coin and starts flipping it and rolling it over his fingers.

Well?

 

[Moonsprout Beandirt]

Moonsprout observes the rest of the adventurers hesitant to plunge deeper into the cave.

Ah, you wimps. Afraid of caves all of a sudden? Let me show you how we halflings do it.

Moonsprout leaps up, snatches the torch from Aims, and marches boldly deeper into the cave.

 

[Dungeon Master]

Moonsprout observes the rest of the adventurers hesitant to plunge deeper into the cave.

Ah, you wimps. Afraid of caves all of a sudden? Let me show you how we halflings do it.

Moonsprout leaps up, snatches the torch from Aims, and marches boldly deeper into the cave.

((But which way?))

 

[Moonsprout Beandirt]

((But which way?))

((The west way))

 

[Nac McWeeble]

Nac starts humming Go West as he follows the eager halfling.

 

[Short Order]

Short Order laughs at Moonsprout for needing a torch to see, but follows along through the caves.