They were as relentless as Javert

With the fears the prisoners were starting something, the group headed off north towards the shore line. Upon arrival, they found several boats beached up against the surf, the misty rain washing over them. No people where inside.

Investigating them, the party found that lying in the bottom of the boats were oars for rowing, as well as arms and armor! Someone was attempting to free the prisoners and provide them with enough weapons to start a bloodbath!

No sooner had the group found this out than a wave of humanity broke onto the beach from the south. About twenty prisoners rushed the shoreline and the three boats there. The party was all that lay between the desperate men and the weapons and transport they needed to go on a rampage back in High Castle.

Using lightning and mauls, axes and magic, the party tore into the unarmed men. Bodies were broken and thrown to the sandy ground, but still they came on. A wall of brambles was called forth from the very earth beneath them, and one of the boats was cut off by the thorny runners. Still, despite all the party’s valiant efforts, four of the driven men were able to arm themselves, and the party then battled those on a more even keel.

Still, the prisoners were unable to break the spirit of the adventurers, and the criminals were cast down. The party shattered the boats and dumped the weapons into the water. Seeing movement towards the south, the group headed that way along the beach.

Moving along the shoreline, the party came across more examples of boats washed up on Prison Island. And more prisoners that were attempting to make use of them and escape their incarceration. But the party put steel, magic, and some really hard boots to the prisoners, breaking the boats and crushing their attempts to flee.

Reaching the end of the sandy coast, the party found one final set of boats, but these were not for use by simple prisoners; no these boats carried the ones who had navigated the empty rowboats in past the rocky shoreline. These were the people responsible for undertaking the escape attempt… a detachment of mercenaries from the Opal Black Blades!

Outnumbered, but filled with furious anger (and for one, a desire to claim more distinctive daggers for himself), the party rushed the enemy force. There was much violence perpetrated there, and many fell in battle. But in the end, the Opal Black Blades were defeated, their shattered force either dead or surrendered to the forces of the party.

The question now is, why would the mercenaries do such a thing? And being mercenaries, who paid them to do it?

Prison changes a man

Using the information gained from their breaking up of the cult, the team of adventures informed the authorities of expected assaults upon noble families, preventing the attacks and demolishing many of the remaining cultists that had escaped.

However, the line, “no more rowboats,” worried the party. Could it have something to do with Prison Island? Concerned, the gang headed out there and discussed the situation with the warden.

Searching the island the team found that the main tower was under repairs due to budget limitations and wouldn’t be useful. An examination of the island suggested that landing rowboats on the island would be difficult, but possible with a considerable amount of luck. The team decided to camp out on the north shore and see what would happen that night. A summer shower blew in as the adventurers settled in.

First however, they examined an abandoned tower on a small outcropping to the north of the island. Hans stayed back, still scouting the Prison (rather taken at being in a prison and not being one of the long-term guests).

On the rocky outcropping, the gang found a decrepit tower. Upon opening the door they found the bottom floor was flooded, with water pouring down from the roof. In the waist-deep water they found two severed heads.

On the next level they discovered a headless corpse, water pouring from its neck. More water poured down from the ceiling of this room as well. The corpse rose to its feet and began to attack the party with blasts of filthy water, dark-infused whirlpools, and the ability to turn into water itself and vanish from sight. As well, it called upon four spectral headless bodies to help it slay the invaders.

The party fought long and valiantly, although they did discover that the floors of the tower were rather rotten and weak, as the dwarf, the Halfling, and the dwarf (again) crashed down through the weakened floor.

Eventually the party discovered two more severed heads and battled their way to the top floor. There they found four bodies, hanging from the rafters, missing heads and water pouring out from their severed necks. After some guess-work, the party reattached the heads to the right bodies and their spectral attackers vanished, thanking the party for releasing them.

Let by itself, the one solid headless corpse that was still there fought a bitter fight, but was finally caught and cornered by the party and beaten down into death once more. Phat lewts were recovered by the team.

Returning to the main prison island, the team settled into a duck blind and awaited to see what would happen. The answer came as a small team of prisoners stumbled right into the party from behind and were quickly subdued. From them they learned the cell blocks had been opened for some reason and the prisoners were making it towards the north shores. Was this the Chaos the raven messenger had spoken of?

Culling the Cult

The prisoner was only able to tell us that he worshiped The King that Crawls, and that we would be maimed, brutalized, burnt, cut, tortured, imprisoned, and given substandard meals. Needless to say, he was not much help.

However, the group and the local constabulary came up with a plan so cunning you could brush you teeth with it. The prisoner was allowed to escape during a fake fight between the guards and unknown assailants, but was shadowed most successfully by Hans and Aisha.

The rest of the team followed and found a gathering of cultists in High Castle’s biggest park. A depression in the ground served as the cultists’ meeting ground, and while the party watched, a raven landed and spoke to the assembled group.

“Torog speaks: more work jailers. Houses Tarakan and Aligo offend, silence them. Vren dies. No more rowboats. Chaos will midwife change. Await the coming order.”

The magically inclined members of the group realized the raven was acting under the effects of a modified animal messenger ritual. But who cast the ritual?

Leaving such answers for later, the group attacked the assembled cults with surprise. The fight was long, brutal, and bloody, but eventually the team was successful and brought many of the cults down to face justice.

Except for one mind-controlling slimy git. He got away.