This is not good. This is not good. This is not good and I knew it. Thibor murmurs to himself while holding the ship's mast with all his strength. He was making a night stroll to challenge his dwindling fear when the ship was hit. At his side, there is an empty barrel that he had specially prepared as his life insurance in case something happened.

Graydon joins Thibor on the deck, and nods to his dwarven companion. "I got strength aplenty to float us and swim if it comes to that," he says. He steps out of the way of the bustling crew, joining the line of sailors dumping water overboard to keep the ship afloat. "C'mon lads!"

Below deck Jiardem, after being thrown to the floor face first from his bunk while meditating, had joined the men below deck, his gear strapped to the pack on his back should the worst happen.

Yelling up to Graydon the Eladrin said, "You maybe a powerful enough swimmer to do the job, but I'd rather not know what sea beasts lurk in these waters. I haven't seen Quinn or Agamennon since this ruckus started. Are they up there with you?"

Despite constantly taking on water, the next leg of their journey is smoothe sailing. The water is calm and the wind is light. The ship arrives at the Isle of Serpents after a couple hours without incident. The island is a forboding sight - surrounded on all sides by a natural contour of onyx walls that seem to whisper keep out with every passing woosh of wind. The crew counts their blessings that this is not their destination as the ship makes it's first pass. The instructions are followed to the letter. Three times clockwise, five counter-clockwise, and one more clockwise. Then the ship heads out to see. At some point, after a few hours, onecrewman asked what time it was, because the ship has been sailing all night long and the sun should have realistically come up a while ago... Something is amiss. But still they sail out into the blue. Then the fog comes, and the rain. In minutes the scene changes from clear skies and calm waters to thundering black clouds, pouring rain, massive waves and fog so thick you can't see from one end of the ship to the other. Kilina glances at her compass only to see it is spinning out of control. "All hands on deck!" She yells, as a deck hand starts to ring the alarm bell. As everyone comes up to see what is going on their attention is drawn to the port side to see a massive whirlpool drawing the ship in towards the center.

This time when Kilina starts to yell, Thibor is asleep in his bunk hugged with his life insurance, his specially crafted barrel. Since the start of the trip, he carries the barrel around to everywhere he goes. He even started to call the barrel Goldenhammer.

Graydon grabs onto Thibor's barrel, and partially lifts it and the dwarf out of bed "Looks like you might need this!" he shouts. He belts a length of rope around his torso, and hands Thibor the slack. "Worse comes to worse, just hold onto this. I'll swim us out of there. Now let's get on deck! We don't want to be trapped in this boat's bowels if it goes under." Without waiting, he hustles out the door and up the stairs.

Agamennon yawns and stretches in the bunk provided by Kilina before sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looks on quizzically as Graydon ties himself up and hands the remains of the rope to Thibor who... appears to be hugging a barrel. Giving a quick shrug he hops out of his bunk, pulls on his pack and lifts his maul. Turning to the dwarf he says "Hmm. I think I may have overslept. I assume the bell means we have arrived at our destination? It's about time! I was beginning to tire of this room. Well then are you coming? Seems to be quite the commotion out there. The sailors must be excited to have found land so soon."

After being jarred from a trance Jiardem had remained active. When not helping bail water out he was in the galley going over the number of alchemy reagents in his pack, the knots he had tied to secure it shut, and making sure the straps on his armor, enchanted leather patterned to look similar to an autumn silver poplar, were secure. He even made a few more attempts at discerning Chef Brian's true race, or mix of, as the chef made his rounds.

By the time the warning bell rang he had gone over each several times. Jiardem Maldranthe climbed the steps to the main deck and saw the abyss the ship was being drawn into. "That's not going to help Thibor become any less attached to Goldhammer..." he whispered to himself before turning his attention back to captain Kilina's orders.

The scene on deck is utter chaos; half the crew is running around in a panic without a clue what to do. Six people have already fallen overboard and now are fighting for their lives among the waves. The ship is taking on way too much water to compensate and is starting to sink, not to mention it is spiraling out of control towards the center of the sea vortex. The Captain is barking orders but nobody can hear her over the commotion and the storm is threatening to tear the ship apart.

Quinn somehow manages to regroup with his allies, and despite the imminent danger part of him is thrilled from the adrenaline rush and excitement of adventure. "Well gang, it looks like our quest is about to end before it even begins! I dunno about you, but I'm not about to go down without a fight. What should we do?"



Skill Challenge: Save the Karaboudjan
The Karaboudjan is in danger and needs your heroic help! Plus, being that you're on board, if the ship goes down with all hands that includes you. Save the ship and save your lives! You guys can either work together on one task or individually on different tasks.

You could:

a) Worry about the six crew members that are in the water.
b) Help Captain Kilina try to regain control of her ship and avoid being pulled further into the vortex.
c) Attempt to prevent the ship from sinking or being torn apart by the storm.
d) Boost crew morale and inspire them to work together instead of running amok and praying for their lives.
e) Pray to the gods (hint: Melora, god of the Sea, is not a bad choice here) in hopes that they deliver you from this mess.
f) Start working on casting that True Portal ritual and get the heck off of this ship while you still can.
g) Scream "All hands abandon ship!" and jump in the lifeboats.
h) Run and hide in the cargo hold somewhere.
i) Come up with a brilliant idea not listed here and follow through with it.
j) Do nothing. You'll probably just get in the way if you try to help anyway, right?

Good Luck.

"The men need to quit panicking and follow their captains orders! But in this tumult I can barely hear my own voice!" the wizard bellows his hands fingering through his ritual book wondering if he can alter one he has performed before to fit the situation.

"And we need to figure out whatever ungodly thing is causing this whirlpool. It is fair from any natural occurrence..." he said mostly to himself. He paused as the ritual alterations he needed to make came to mind and he set about making sure the captains words reached at least part of the crew.

Thibor arrived on the deck carrying Goldenhammer under his armpit. Oh, god! This is not good. Then he starts to pray. Oh, Moradin. Crafter of wonders, protector of family, sire of benevolence, please this servant humbly requests your holiness to maintain the integrity of this vessel and help everybody here to return to their loved families. Allow this crew to remember that failing here will not affect only their mortal lives, but those of their beloved ones.

Graydon snatches a hollow barrel off the deck and quickly fashions a life preserver similar to Thibor's. He throws it overboard, towards the nearest sailor, and begins trying to haul them up. The effort is surprisingly difficult. "Whomever's not helping keep the ship in one piece--get yer arse over here and help me!" he bellows.

Jiardem's words reach at least one deckhand who was running around without a clue what to do. The human boy, no older than 16, stops his tumult and sits down with Jiardem. "How can I help then?" And he sets to work helping with the ritual preparations.

Reduce the time needed for your ritual by 2 minutes.

Thibor prayed to his god for protection, and, as if in response, a massive wave strikes the ship. The ship creaks under the strain as a massive crack stretches its way across the main deck. Several crew are swallowed by this crack, falling through the deck to the floor below, but one unlucky crewmember was instead carried off by the wave and flying out into the sea. Several more crew witness the praying and think it is a great idea, and they drop what they're doing to pray themselves, while others are only further crazed by it. "The gods can't see us here! We're doomed!"

+1 crew member overboard. -4 crew members being useful on board.

Graydon throws the barrel like he's never chucked anything before. The improvised lifeboat flies out and perfectly lands next to a lost sailor. As soon as the sailor grabs hold Graydon yanks with all his might. As the sailor is being pulled to safety, another nearby sailor in the water manages to swim over and grab the barrel also. The extra weight is more than Graydon can handle and he almost gets pulled overboard himself, but just then two sailors who are on board grab him and pull with him and eventually they are able to bring the lost souls back aboard.

-2 crew members overboard. There are now 5 left in the water.

Quinn positions himself at the center of all his compatriots. "Just in case one of us falls overboard and should have to swim for their lives..." he summons up the arcane energy around him and gives a rousing speech about how we're all very capable swimmers.

Quinn casts Inspire Competence. You all get a +2 power bonus to your next Athletic checks in this encounter.

"Either way keeping this ship afloat is much more preferable!" Jiardem said as he continued to etch out the rituals symbols on the deck, the vial of powdered metals beginning to glow with a blue light.

As he did this he whispered a prayer, "Ioun, in our hour of need, do not abandon us. I beg of you impart on us just a taste of your knowledge..."

Agamemnon rushes over to Graydon's side as the Goliath pulls one of the fallen sailors back onto the ship. Scanning the waters below he makes out the forms of the five sailors fighting for their lives in the water. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he backs away from the side of the ship before running as fast as he is able and hurling himself into the waters below. Trying to ignore the cold that envelops him as he enters the ocean he begins swimming towards the sailors and the best spot to enact his rescue.

Graydon hands the rope to the sailors he saved, and order them to continue saving their shipmates, pointing to Agamemnon below and saying he'll help the sailors to the barrel, or bring the barrel to the sailors.

Then he runs below deck, barely ducking his head in time to avoid the hold's frame. He locates the source of the hull's breech, and stands before it, summoning up his warden powers. Plants from abandoned grain seeds and such spring to life, and the warden directs them toward the hole in the ship, weaving them to form a patch.

Struggling to keep afloat in the raging waters Agamemnon pushes himself into the idea position for his plan to work. Glancing from sailor to sailor tears begin to form in his eyes when he realizes he can not save them all. "Forgive me..." he whispers as he invokes his powers and shifts himself and the three nearest sailors through the astral sea and back onto the Karaboudjan's deck.

"Sometimes I wish these rituals were more expedient for tense situations..." Jiardem said as he continued to point out the necessary intricacies of the ritual to the young deckhand from the diagrams in his book. He quietly made note to himself that he was thankful for water warding ink as the whirlpool raged on.

"The sea will claim us if we- Gah! Must I be a blind Fey to not read the tome before me? There are more Devine beings among the planes that I can call on the aid of!" he exclaimed remembering that the Astral Sea was not home to Ioun alone.

He words went out to three more of the pantheon that had long watched this world, "Melora, mistress of the wilds, grant us a reprieve from the ocean's fury. There are still abominations of nature to be hunted and should I live through this day I will pledge myself to continue to rid them of this world,"

"Corellon, patron deity of my people and the one who sowed the seeds of the arcane within this world grant me some insight into the knowledge of these arts you have gifted us with. My blood maybe seen by others, possibly even you as tainted by those that had been turned astray by the Demon Queen of Spiders, but do not hold my bloodline against me. I am still one of the Eladrin,"

"Bahamut, grant us your protection. Let your courage strengthen us. There are still many that are evil, many that seek to oppress in this world. Let us live to bring peace to those who live under the tyrants chains, bringing hope to those that they too might someday learn to be champions of justice,"

Jiardem could only hope that the Devines would hear his prayer.