Session 02: The Voyage to Aethel

After last sessions shenanigans, this session kicked off with the party waking up aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, and immediately the tone was set: this wasn’t the luxury cruise they might have hoped for. The hammocks were stacked three-high, and Oszchwald, paranoid as ever with his 21 hit points, decided trust was for people who hadn’t almost died yesterday. He rigged an ingenious little alarm on the cabin door involving a string and a hammer—a Natural 19 effort that ensured no one was sneaking in without a headache.
Briony took the early watch, sneaking out (or trying to) to commune with the ship’s wildlife. She reconnected with Scupper, the rat from the previous session, who offered a frantic warning about a “scary box” in the hold. “Bad things,” he said. “We stay away.” Naturally, that was all the invitation the party needed.
But before they could investigate, the plot dropped out of the sky. A mechanical bird, clocked immediately by Morrigan as an artificer’s construct, fluttered down to Bosun Zyla Vane. The party cornered him, and Zyla, realizing the gig was up, played the message. It was Dr. Thorne again—the frantic Drow scientist—demanding a diversion to Watchtower Cay. “I’ll triple the price!” he begged.
It was a key moment of decision. Zyla and Captain Moray were running side hustles, sure, but they were professionals. Moray made the call: “Nope. We’re sticking to the plan. Deliver it to Atlas at Whispering Deep and get paid.” She wasn’t about to turn her ship around for a panicked hologram.
The party managed to convince Zyla to let them “inspect” the cargo before arrival. Down in the dim, damp hold, they found the crate marked Atlas Provisionings. It was glowing with that sickly blue light, and a rat was gnawing at the corner.
Then the rat screamed, and the crystals bloomed.
The “Crystal Nest” fight was chaotic and tight. The party found themselves surrounded by crystal-infused rats, including two nasties perched on crates sniping with needles and a Stalker dropping from the ceiling. Briony Wild Shaped into a bear to soak up the damage, getting paralyzed in the process but serving as an excellent meat shield. Oszchwald played it cool, using “Steady Aim” to pick off targets with surgical precision.
But the MVP moment belonged to Morrigan. She unleashed a Witch Bolt that didn’t just kill the Clarion Stalker—it evaporated it. Twenty-five damage in a single strike turned the creature into “stardust,” ending the major threat in a flash of violet lightning.
With the monsters dead, the party recovered a chunk of raw, radioactive Clarion coral. Captain Moray’s response was immediate and pragmatic: “Get it off my ship.”
The voyage continued, and for a moment, it looked like smooth sailing. A Natural 20 on the travel roll meant they were making record time. But the dice gods are fickle, and a Natural 1 followed immediately after.
They woke up not to a peaceful arrival, but to a *wommp*—the sound of displaced water. On the horizon, a dredge was burning, sabotaged by the cultists. And bearing down on them was an Atlas Corp warship, hunting for trouble.
Moray didn’t hesitate. She wasn’t going to fight a warship. She ordered the party into a dinghy to make a run for the shore.
It was a rough landing. Chad, the poor crewman assigned to row them, hesitated at the surf, terrified of the reef. The boat capsized, dumping the party, their gear, and the dangerous crate onto the beach of Isla Aethel.
So they arrived at The Hallows—wet, tired, and looking like drowned rats. And because the DM is cruel, there was no rest waiting for them. The beach was crawling with local wildlife: a reef crocodile and three giant “Salt-Crust” crabs that blended perfectly with the sand.
The fight that followed was a clinic in battlefield control. Briony cast *Spike Growth*, turning the beach into a shredder. The crabs, lacking the sense to stop, literally walked themselves to death on the thorns. Oszchwald put the final arrow in a crab, and Morrigan finished the crocodile with an Eldritch Blast, casually snacking on crab meat as the dust settled.
They ended the session standing at the edge of the village, the Clarion crate buried deep in the sand behind them, the Atlas ship patrolling the waters, and the sun just starting to rise on a new island.

Follow along with Session 3: The Shadow of the Watcher