Hiya,
The battle was over and you surveyed the sinking wreck of the Neliomi Lion, the dying at the cold mercy of waves, darkness and sharks, and the survivors clinging to debris. Ahappi explored the sunken trireme and retrieved some trade goods and other valuables, distributed to the surviving crew and ship supplies. Seeing the need for new crew for The Shadow, you fished out a few surviving Nolosian slave-rowers, and in the morning Amur went ashore to recruit more; finding in total 10 new crew to bring the Shadow into better operational order-but still short on people. Seeing little hope for quality crew in Coldwater soon, you weighed anchor and departed.
None of you had heard much if anything about Fraywrack before, but Ahappi had directions from the Waertagi to a known landmark to the east: the promontory called Hell's Head. The Fosnoir bay from Coldwater held plenty of treacherous currents and rocks, especially closer to your destination, but Amur's expert seamanship piloted you there in good time and safety. You spotted the wreck of the Sea Spite crushed against the side of a rocky grotto by a long beach, with caverns behind it all. A skinny dock extended from the wreck, serving as the simple harbour which could fit one vessel of your ship's size, so Amur brought The Shadow there.
You saw a feathery winged creature fly forth from the wreck as you approached; disappearing into the left caves. The once-proud ship lay broken on the rocks in front of the cavern complex's opening to the sea. Inside, much of the ship was stripped. You found that even the bones of the ship had not gone unused, pillaged to erect the shelters that keep Fraywrack's residents dry and warm. But the Sea Spite still clung together despite the battering surf, wind and rocks. Gaps in the ship led to gangways onto two parts of the beachfront, and caves beyond each of these.
Coming ashore and calling out, concerned about the status of this camp of survivors, you were soon greeted by a gaunt but fit warrior-woman named Veigga Tavlidalr; a Loskalmi who had found her way here and joined the survivors out of sympathy. She welcomed you warmly, especially as Ahappi explained his quest, and she said your help was needed to defend the camp against the regular nightttime invasions of evil things-undead and other horrors. But Ahappi was interrupted as they talked, by a cold feminine voice that forced its way into his mind and spoke in Seaspeech: ““What is this? The sea sends a hero to save the weakling humans and their allies; to confront me? Waste yourself not on them, brave warrior. You will find that my cause is greater. I await your coming. I am watching. I want you to know that there is always a place for you with me. You will see that it is where you belong.” The voice then released its powerful mental grip. Ahappi was momentarily staggered, and Veigga queried what was wrong. She had not heard of others having this problem-the evil had not spoken to the survivors, just seeking to kill them. And it was slowly succeeding, but Veigga's staunchly devoted mission was to train the survivors to keep up the fight. Captain Jorne Bitser, a handsome moustached Nolosian, also joined you soon; joined by his first mate Telina Erevrad; a wild-eyed, intense sailor-woman who followed him everywhere.
As you found out soon enough, the survivors had some very strange allies. The feathery winged being returned, revealing it was a harpy-a creature you'd heard of but knew little about, never having seen one yourselves. Her name was Shurasal, the matriarch of a flock of eight harpies who'd long laired here, with ancestry in this locale extending back centuries-indeed, the place was once called Harpies' Head. Shurasal's line was called Elder Harpies- they had a closer relation to Magra, the ancestral bird-woman of harpydom; and more power than their lesser kin as a result.
Shurasal, too, welcomed your aid. She said that her folk had also been killed, four of them lost over past seasons, and they had allied with the shipwreck survivors because of their plight. Shurasal later moved down the beach after staring intently at Ahappi, and he took the hint and came to talk with her privately. She confided that the harpies' siren-song had attracted the Sea Spite to its doom, which killed the original Captain and others. But ironically, Shurasal had heard a different “song”- the same voice Ahappi had heard, calling to her to join them in the dark deep; but as air creatures they never safely could, so she was perplexed and fearful of the foe and its malevolent intent. Everyone you spoke to agreed the force they faced was evil and relentless, even though Ahappi wondered if there was more too this tale-did the harpies have some secret double-allegiance with the evil? He did not trust them.
Ahappi was eager to seek out this menace in the depths. He led you out into the rough waters and you spent some time exploring but the undersea landscape was far too complex of a maze; you found little but scattered skeletal fish. Later, the harpy leader Shurasal told Ahappi that she'd seen visions of the enemy's lair in her dreams when it called to her- a great unblinking eye in the depths; rune-carved stone tablets; and an endless black abyss around it. She had seen the undead/other things coming, in flights from above, but the harpies had never been able to trace where they came from, except that it must be some distance offshore.
Veigga kindly gave you a tour of the complex, which was small enough and simple, although the people had done a lot with what driftwood and wreckage and wood hewn from inland that they could. There was an exit barred by great wooden gates made in part from the ship's mast. Behind the gates, Veigga used a wide space as “The Battleground”, where she taught martial skills with deadly seriousness. The harpies had a stinking clifftop nest overlooking that space, near a narrow tunnel onto the left beach. Then not far off, in the main area of buildings, the Captain had his simple hut of flotsam and jetsam; there were also huts for a Quartermaster (named Bolol Hammerstone; a Heortlander barbarian, you were told) and “The Got and Give”, the settlement's excuse for a pub/shop, led by a short, ginger-haired Nolosian woman sailor named Herstil Toriklif (lamed by an injury and unable to fight; indeed, unarmed and unarmoured, unlike all others); then a home for another non-crewmember named Wulhem Senis.
At the back of the cave, the place that interested you most at first was the Carpenter's Shop, run by the dark troll mistress “One-Hit Lukil”, who wore her long dark hair braided in with seaweed. She was very gruff and grumpy, serving the camp to make their wooden structures and arms and saying that she earned her honour-name of One-Hit from being able to pound a nail through anything in one blow with her huge lead-headed hammer. Lukil didn't have much to say, except that she was suspicious of the local Zzaburi (of the Ship of Life Church; at the back right of the complex), Skettri, for consorting far too unpriestly-like with the harpies; and then that Lukil suspected the shipwreck to be haunted by the old Captain's ghost at night, wandering there in eternal search for a way out of Fraywrack. Like the others, Lukil spoke highly of her skills at fighting the undead/other things that came ashore. She did not speak highly of Arkat when mentioned.
Exploring the Sea Spite again, you found nothing but came across a younger harpy named Andumil; Shurasal's daughter; and she was most rude. She spoke contemptuously of the harpies' allegiance, muttering something about “not playing with your food”, and claimed it was all better before the Sea Spite came, that the harpies could have won on their own against the evil presence. She soon tired of you and it was mutual; she flew off. Amur took the Shadow safely away offshore some miles to await you, as night approached. And night brought the expected attack! Miguel cunningly prepared a rockfall at the tunnel choke-point on the left beach, and it worked to block the tunnel once triggered (taking some foes with it). The first wave was a couple dozen water-logged zombies dragging makeshift clubs of driftwood. They were slow and inept and you made short work of the seven that lumbered at you. The survivors of Fraywrack fought well, coordinating a brave defense; and the harpies aided with scouting, magics, occasional claws in melee, and dropped rocks that had great crushing effects on the squishy undead.
The second wave came some time later, and Ahappi swam out to see it-it extended as a line of creatures that he might be able to track backward. They swam, and carried glowing bronze sabres, and again were undead zombie-like things but drooled a hideous black bile and were far quicker than the first group; and more armoured, dressed as sailors. They still were not even a match for the Fraywrackians, let alone you, but of the eight you confronted one did manage to get in a very lucky bite on Miguel, slipping past his armour and barely scratching him enough to leave a coldness that began seeping in… What would happen to Miguel, and would more foes come or could you find the enemy's lair first?
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