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The approach to Shadow Haven brought about much colder weather, dropping down to the negatives (-10 Celsius or 14 Fahrenheit) with heavy snow coming down with the chilling winds that would bite at anyone on the deck without heavy clothing to protect themselves from the low temperature, the snow storms also growing closer - it would take about half a day for the Harbinger to get through the storms before the second natural defense of the island would stop the ironclad frigate. Shallow waters and reefs would require someone ahead of the ship to explore the right path to avoid running the ship aground, taking up the next twelve hours.

The Harbinger crew would also have the scavenged supplies from the Royal Navy vessel - four nine-pound guns, one nine-pound chase gun, two stove units, rigging, extra sails, lumber supplies, a dozen muskets, half a dozen wheel-lock pistols, seven barrels of black powder.
The ship was getting closer and closer to the island, which meant dangerous reefs lay ahead. Reefs that had taken down hundreds of boats in the past. With a bit of organization and a good help of many hands, Dakota would personally dive off the bow, and into the water, managing to miss an ice chunk or two as she had. Whew! Another body stationed right there, where she could shout up, and they could turn around to shout at someone positioned on the forecastle, while they in turn turned around to shout to the next individual behind them. With someone stationed in crows nest, to over-see it all. A fair bit of calls rang out that chilly afternoon, being relayed back along the ship all the way to the Captain himself as the Harbinger was brought into a safe place to let the anchors down, "Anchor here!" would be the last command to go out, the hybrid herself returned to the ship, with a steady but chilled climb up the side. "About the best we're gonna get!" would be called then, and of course, Just like all the other commands, transferred all the way back to the Captain.
The island that had been the destination of the expedition was not so much a single island but a small archipelago of islands dotting the area surrounded by the wall of perpetual storms that circled them, creating an almost literal wall of swirling snow and wind, the Harbinger having moved at a crawling pace between the islands with Dakota guiding them through the reefs but the end result was that there was little to no damage taken aside from a few unfortunate scrapes of the armored hull against tough points, rattling those inside but otherwise be fine.

The island they had reached seemed to be the largest of the group, sporting a thick forest and high mountains with steep cliff faces that looked away from where the Harbinger had dropped anchor - Nykita had been mostly at the helm during the entire time, having taken one of the fur coats that Orra had created with the pelts they had on-board because even if they were out of the snow storms, the air around the islands was below freezing still, a sheet of ice extending out from the shore to prevent boats even reaching directly to land and needing the ice to be chipped away until it was thick enough to walk across.

The situation would develop further as Nykita ordered for a small camp to be made on the beach head, allowing for foraging and fishing to be conducted while they settled in and allowed Den Fa and his followers to scout the area properly.

Activities To be Done
- harvest lumber for ship repair
- ice fishing to stock up on food
- water gathering
- installing two ovens for heating purposes in the infirmary and crew quarters
- hunting and skinning animals for meat and pelts

OOC Note: To get to the beach head, type !island in the Harbinger Dream, apologies for lack of snow there so just... use your imagination. =P
Dakota simply wanted to swim. The frigid ice waters felt good the first time she'd gone down, so a second was only surely to come. Though, she wasn't about to allow anyone to go with her! Not wanting to be responsible for someone that would lose their breath easily, or freeze to death in the cold. She wasn't completely oblivious to the chill but oblivious enough to do as she pleased.. for now. Upon stripping, leaving her things, all of her things (but her now-emptied satchel) within the Captains Cabin, the hybrid took a dive off the back balcony, missing ice caps again, and diving deep below. It wouldn't take to long while for anyone looking over board to see her skimming through the water, at least, if they could see that far. When the ice became a solid sheet, she'd duck down, turning over to kick up and attempt to break some of the not so thick ice away. Ever time she'd manage such, she'd move further in and do it again, working on a path for the smaller boat to make its way through. Though her efforts stopped once the ice was no longer so easily breakable. Someone else could handle that!

Turning, and diving down, swimming through the tides pull and sway, the reefs closer to the islands, the hybrid hunted. Collecting more shell fish, then anything. Prying them off rocks and stuffing them into her once-empty satchel. Never once, did she peak her head up, for air.
A few hours had passed since the hybrid had gone swimming and fishing. Though she'd come back with a fair bounty of sea-nummies. Clams, scallops, mussels, plenty of seaweed of assorted types, sea urchins, fish a bounty of crabs, and a few lobster. Would round off that fishing trip fairly well. All of it deposited into the cold storage for future meals, and use. Shortly after the seafood was deposited and the hybrid took some time talking to a few, and finding out what she could, she'd set off once again. Breaking as much more ice as she could, only to come to a point where that just wasn't possible anymore. Heavy stake was pounded into the ice after a hole was made, assuring it was firm.. a hold for the rowboat to be tied too when that party came off the ship to began their exhibition.
Den Fa’s expedition members prepared to disembark from the ship and establish the first camp on shore as a jumping off point for the expedition, and for the crew’s trips inland. Anyone willing to help was welcome. Volunteers were requested, and could join at that point, or later on when they were available.

Kelin, Amena, Key Sorel, and General Mocha were on deck while Kirkis and Jamison were working their magic to bring wood on board. To do so, they created an ice bridge, which obscured the path to the island. Though it melted soon after, a furious Amena demanded they finish and get out of the way, and make sure that the waterway was clear! This caused Kirkis and Amena to yell back and forth at each other until Kelin stepped in, at which point Amena helped Dawson and Key load up boats.

Jasper and Raykit soon came out to see what was going on, Jasper electing to help row one of the boats while Raykit was being Raykit. Soon enough, everything was moving fairly smoothly and the group readied to leave for the island. After a mighty sneeze knocked Key on his ass, the sickly bard was sent to bed, and the rest disembarked.

Kelin’s werelight lit the way at the prow of the first boat, the second boat illuminated thanks to the lantern Jasper had taken from the Harbinger. The trip across the water was eerie, hardly a sound made save the splash of oars and gentle waves of the water around them. They watched for ice and eventually found their way through the path cut into the ice, until they could go no more. Boats were tied off and everyone grabbed supplies and headed inland.

Amena and Dawson scouted the area in one direction, while Jasper and Raykit spread out in different directions. Reman joined the others on land and helped haul supplies to the designated camp site.

Camp was set up just beyond the beach, about a minute or so inland, so they’d be pretty easy to spot for anyone who wished to join them.

Kirkis grew a hut out of an acorn, the structure appearing to be a tree with a large, hollow base, there was an opening to get inside, but no door. Jamison was tasked with building a temporary door, Kirkis so worn out from his magic that he couldn’t do much more. Kelin and Jamison helped Kirkis back to a boat, where Jamison and Kirkis headed back to the Harbinger.

Meanwhile, back at the tree hut, watch duty was set, and everyone settled in for the night, save Amena, who took the first watch, tasked to go out in the cold for a few hours and make sure they didn’t get jumped and murdered in their sleep!

The next morning:
Kelin set everyone in the camp to digging trenches around the clearing and piling the dirt up as fortifications. The trees along the outer perimeter of the clearing were to be cut down and used to further build up the fortifications.
Den Fa was wating patiently on board of the Harbinger for an update of the current situation on land. Seeing no one return from the shore. He wrongly assume that everything was going fine. No lighting strikes had hit the ground of the base camp which was good. Den Fa weakly returned to his bed.

Music

Activity took place in the depths of the forest. Further off in abyss of the forest resided a tribe, they left no traces of their life in the area where the expedition had set up camp. They avoided all communication or any interaction.
If anyone did ever see one, it would only be a mere shadow disapearing between the snow and forest.
They clearly did not want to get close to anyone of the expedition for the time being.

Every night, little strange spirit made out of moon-light (Kodama-ish) would appear and shower the nightlife with cracking and clicking sounds untill dawn. All the spirit would fade away as the sun rose in the morning, leaving a calm and peaceful morning for those on land. They were helping the trees grow.

tiki3.jpg
Wooden totems that go by the name of "Tiki" were set all around the island, in no real arranged formation. They seemed to be set up randomly, ages ago. Because most of them were covered in snow or vegetation.

No assaults were made on the party on shore that first night.
Every night they were on the island, Amena set up a watch, always taking the first watch herself and spending more time out there than she delegated to others. Volunteers were asked to report anything that seemed unusual to her, and she in turn reported back to Kelin.

During the day, she scouted the area, typically by herself unless someone saw what she was up to and joined her. Overall, she didn't seem to spend too much time at camp, but when she was there, it was primarily to warm herself. She would not join in on meals, but there were times someone might see her looking a little bloodstained when she came back from wooded areas. She did, however, bring what game she found when scouting, so those at camp had fresh meat.
Anxiety was high, an expected attack from the locals had everyone nervous. Several crew members had been sent over to help. Several-man/woman watches were set up so at least a third of the camp was ready to mount a defense and rouse comrades.

No attack came that night, and there were still a lot of anxious, tired bodies hustling to and fro. It was late in the evening when a nearby tiki started making odd sounds, eyes glowing yellow, it bounded around, seeming to want those in the camp to follow it.

Reman and Kelin investigated the tiki, Kirkis not far behind. A second tiki came to life, same yellow eyes and boisterous dancing. Tiki’s danced around each other, back and forth into the forest, inviting those investigating closer. But no one went in after them.

A third tiki launched over the walls built around the camp, which Reman attempted to bring to Kelin, but soon dropped when the assault finally came.

Darts were shot out of the woods towards those at the gate of the camp, a few sticking in cloaks and palisade walls, none actually hitting their intended targets. Kelin alerted those inside the walls, causing those inside to rush to the gate and prepare to fight.

Mocha and Kauru were on the outside, unnoticed as of yet by the attackers. Musa flew in from overhead, joining those behind the walls as they prepared to fight.

Seven tiki were grouping at the gate of the camp, a masked lizard-like creature covered in skins and holding a torch in one hand, and a magic staff in the other appeared. When he gave the signal, the tiki bounced forward, meanwhile a group of seven warriors hidden in the forest were preparing to charge. Two more shamans appeared behind the first, holding fire torches which they threw in the air, casting a spell that caused the fire to be thrown into the walls of the camp.

The tiki within the camp started to come to life again. Noticing this, Elm hustled to toss it over the wall, it exploded and rained down wooden shards. Elm shot down three more tikis, which broke into pieces and hopped into camp, batting at those nearby. One of the warriors in the woods was taken down by Mocha. The fire at the wall burned away ice and protective barriers, but Kauru was doing his best to put it out after shoving over one of the tikis to get to it.

The shamans readied for another spell. Amena shared her power with Kelin so he could cast a counter spell to dispel the shaman’s shield and called for someone to take down the lead shaman. Elm took the main shaman out, shooting him in the head. Between Elm and Mocha, all but two warriors were dispatched. The remaining shaman followed the surviving warriors and they disappeared into the forest.

The camp bustled to put out the fire and regroup, expecting more to come later.
There was a day of preparation for Nykita as he gathered the appropriate gear together - using his old suit from Harwell and the Green Grotto, padded up with patches of fur and leather over the arms, legs and waist to add insulation and give it a more bulky appearance than usual. Sporting the weapon harness he usually around and his heavy boots, the squirrel had kitted himself out for functioning in an extremely cold environment.

Before actually leaving for the island, he would make sure to leave orders - Jasper was in charge of the crew with Sofey as his right-hand serval, the rest of the crew that remained was to stay on the ship and be on guard for anything suspicious with daily watch shifts with at least three people on the deck and with two stoves installed near the Infirmary and one other at the crew quarters, they too can be heated and protected better against the cold so the galley was not the only place with a heat source.
It started just after the expedition party - Nykita, Dakota, Kelin, Amena, Elm and Den Fa - ventured away from the camp on the beach towards the distant cave where the wreck of the airship lay... those on the Harbinger that were currently on watch duty were doing just as ordered, keeping watch on the surrounding area; the distant shores, the air around the ship, the storm veil around the island, even the ship itself but there was little attention focused specifically on the ice around the very hull of the ship itself to notice what was stirring beneath...

The beast swam beneath the ice that covered the waters around the island, moving beneath the ship that had been made out to be prey for it's hunger, casting an uneasy feeling upon those on the ship when it gripped the underside of the armored vessel and send a shudder through the structure, tentacles as thicker as the legs of a regular fur began to slither up the sides and probing for an opening, sensing the heat of others inside. The first to notice, and fall victim to the appendages of the monster was Raykit, moving around inside of the ship and having his limbs caught to be yanked aside before the great dragon turned his attention to the tentacle and rendered it apart with his bare claws, otheres around him - Frosty, Nivek, Dawson and Angelo - soon found themselves battle against the invasive limbs of the oceanic monster that attached itself to the underside of the Harbinger, springing them up onto the main deck and attacking those on the watch!

The bell was rung violently by the serval before she was snagged by a tentacle, yanked back into the air and slammed to the deck, only to come back swinging and starting to punch the tentacle into submission, the quirky second-in-command lemur finding himself the target of another rubbery limb, slithering across the deck after him but not quite being able to catch up to the ringtail that always seemed to luckily dodge aside or climb a rope that swung his way, escaping another tentacle that tried to snag him from mid air, Reman dueling two of the Kraken's limbs on the helm.

Below deck the chaos was growing with Frosty finding that her ice powers were of no use against the Kraken, who had been given an immunity to the element of cold so that it could function in the icy environment, catching the bunny in it's deathly grip until she cleverly cloaked herself in ice to fool the beast into releasing her before she was crushed to death. Attempting to take the battle to the beast itself, Nivek sprung out of the ship and took flight, only to be smacked down hard by a swinging tentacle that would send him crashing through the deck and into unconsciousness.

The Infirmary was a place of vicious fighting with Tykari acting as a shield for BloodTide, though as the trys'tet used her new abilities to rip apart the mass of limbs that squirmed towards them until they flanked her and send her crashing through a wall, leaving the titanoboa alone but not vulnerable as she released her fearsome necro-magic, sending two spinning bone blades to make mince-meat of the fleshy appendages to cover the deck in blood, with Akai sneaking through the lower decks to help Tykari before she was snapped up and attempted to be yanked through a cannon window before her power severed the tentacle.

A mid-deck the fight had been taken a more gruesome twist with Frosty tending to the downed Nivek, throwing up a wall of ice to slow the invasion, Angelo finding himself snagged between tentacles from the port and starboard sides that literally attempted to rip him apart, Dawson being caught and constricted with Raykit desperately releasing a torrent of hot flames from his maw to sear away a pair of tentacles, staggering to a porthole and aiming to release another blast of dragon fire towards an encroaching pair of tentacles rising up from the oceans just as the ship tilted suddenly to the port side, throwing everyone off balance!

Cries of annoyance and alarm were heard from the top deck as cannons slid away, figures tumbled with a particularly colorful curse coming from the serval commander as she rolled right into a crate and smashed through it, using the broken pieces of wood to make a nice pincushion from an unlucky tentacle while the lemur was left dangling from the rigging before it came loose, dropping him down just as a Kraken limb swung in to snag him! The ship around them creaked and groaned as the ship was moved by the massive beast.

The infirmary become a scene from a nightmare with chunks of meat twitching across the deck, blood coating the ceiling and floors, dripping from support beams as tentacles squirmed through it towards the lamia and her contraptions of gore with Tykari bursting out of the rubble of the wall she was flung through, roaring and releasing another blast of energies to rip and render the squirming mass in order to get to Akai, who had managed to free herself of the appendage that had her around the waist, joining the defense of the medical area of the ship to make it safe for the casualties that were to come.

It was then that the call was made, "Fall back! Get us to the veil!" - Jasper had made the decision that trying to stay and fight when they were caught like that was going to end up with there being more injured than healthy even with the shore party still being away, climbing up the rigging past the whipping tentacles and wailing wings to let loose the sails as Sofey commandeered the wheel, swinging the ship around as the blasts below deck caused the massive beast to shudder and release the ship, letting it fall back to the proper balance and shaking up those inside before the winds caught the sails, snapping them to full, the Harbinger slowly pulling away from the grip of the monster and towards the veil of storm winds and the shallows of the reefs where the great beast could not follow lest it beach itself.

Summary: The Harbinger has been forced to retreated from the shores of the island by the Kraken beast and has moved back into the veil of the storm, where the reefs prevent freedom of movement and keep the beast from following due to the much shallower waters. The conditions on the ship have become much worse with temperature falling to -20 Celsius, -4 Fahrenheit where event resistances to cold and protection spells start to fail due to the supernatural properties of the storm. Visibility is minimal at about twenty feet being the maximum someone can see around them and high winds made for additional hardships for those above the deck, though below deck would provide only slight respite from the cold, the Infirmary, Galley and crew quarters all having stoves that would need to be regularly stoked to provide small islands of heat for the crew while regular de-icing would be needed for the main deck.
The expedition.

One day, after waiting long enough in such harsh conditions.
It was time to move towards the cliff containing the shipwreck of the ancient flying shipwreck.

Kelin, Amena, Musa, Key, Elm, Nykita, Dakota & Den.

The two groups were seperated very quickly as they made their way to the ship.
Elm, Nykita and Dakota were delayed for undisclosed reasons.
Den was kidnapped by a group of Frost Giants.
Den ordered the remaining of the expedition to continue onwards. "Fools!"
Kelin, Amena, Musa and Key Sorel sorted themselves out to reach the cliff-side in order to enter the hull of the abandoned flying ship. Each group having to go through different type of misadventures.

In the end Elm, Nykita and Dakota managed to catch up inside the shipwreck, fighting their way through to the main hall where they would meet up with the rest. Excluding Den Fa.
At the end of the galley, the ship was haunted by an undead pirate lord, that had collected a fair amount of treasure.

The group had to fight against an important number of armored skeleton soldiers, acid slugs, octopi archers and so forth.

Various elements were looted throughout the whole expedition.

Many enemies were fought and destroyed.

Here is a short resume of what was found during the expedition.

Ornate Dagger (Slowness) - claimed
Ornate Silver Mirror set with Moss Agate
4 cannons for a boat
1 extra sail
Giant spy glass x 2
Spyglass for boat
Dragonscale Corset inlaid with Adamantine claimed
Chain Shirt
Gold Dice (pair) set with Onyx - claimed
7 Bottles of Exotic Wine
3 Bottles of Exotic Rhum
Marble Scroll Case claimed
Glass Eye (Belongs to the undead captain.) claimed
2 Giant White Pearls claimed
Iron Miniature (of a Tree)
Marble Comb set with Peridot - Claimed
An untouched fine Lute & its protective case - claimed
Crystal Mask of Detection (Command thought is psionically imprinted. Rare and expensive.) - Claimed
Tourmaline Ring of Life Regeneration. (Must be magic detected)
Carpet of Flying (10 ft. by 10 ft.) (inscription provides clue to function)
Wand of Levitate (45 of 50 charges) (design provides clue to function)
Brass Dagger set with Smoky Quartz claimed
Leather Belt with Silver Buckle
Smoky Quartz Dice (pair)
Small Bag of Incense(7) + Small Bag of Incense (13)
Arcane Scroll (Animate Rope, Disguise Self, Invisibility) - claimed
Light Mace(sheds light)
Bag of Meditation incense (5)
Magical Ring of healing. (Can be used on oneself, once a day. Can cure minor wounds.)
Electrum Cloth set with Amber
Large Tapestry threaded with Silver (Expensive)
Old Totem
Carved Ivory Drinking Horn inlaid with Gold claimed
Ebony Statue (of a rat)
Spell Scroll (Reverse Gravity)
Sword of Life Stealing (shortsword)(Need to be identified) Claimed.
Adamantine Armor (breastplate) Claimed
Ermine Mask
Dragonscale Talisman set with Bloodstone (250 gp), helps vampires during daylight
Small Carpet.
Feathered bound Book (blank)
2 x Small Vial of Perfume (contains rhum)
Ornate Silver Mirror set with Black Pearls
Ceramic Dice (pair)
Small Bag of Spices
Wood Framed Painting
Ebony Box with 1000 copper coins
Wood Framed Painting of a wrymme airship
Those damn crystals.
Over 5 000 gold coins.

1600 gold would go to The Harbinger crew
1600 gold would go to the Expedition crew
1600 gold would go to Den Fa.
200 gold would go to Captain Nykita.



Those wishing to collect some of the loot will come see Den Fa once they've reached the port of Eileadora.

The sharing of the loot will soon come.

rolled 1d20 and got 13
For success.

.

Moderators: Nocturnal Aymen (played by PaganSpirit) Sofey Eristis (played by Lionheart) Nykita Aymen (played by Nykita)