17. Rocs and Hags

By way of preparation, Magnus casts Endure Elements and Waterbreathing on all of us.

Echo spots a giant wave approaching, and we tie ourselves off to corners of the boat while inside the tent. An iceberg smashes into the ship, sending Echo and Magnus flying while Alain and Xiu resist any damage. While Magnus repairs the damage and Echo keeps a lookout, Xiu and Alain enjoy delightful tea inside the warm magic tent (not a euphemism.)

Then a Roc tried to eat Echo. Then another one grabs him and drops him into the freezing water. Echo climbs his rope back onto the ship. Alain covers him with a crossbow.

Alain hits the Roc with a crossbow bolt, and it misses Echo. The other Roc flies in to attack the tent, but is unable to pull it off the boat just yet. Echo jumps down into a hole to protect himself from swooping attacks. One of the Rocs tries to bite Echo, the other one tears the roof off the tent. Echo pulls out his bow and shoots at the Roc. Magnus emerges from the tent grudgingly and attacks the Roc, pinning him to the deck.

Xiu moves into close quarters with the pinned Roc and stabs it. Alain jumps down and fires Greater Magic Weapon at the Roc and gives dancing shield to Magnus. Male Roc pinned to the deck tries to bite Xiu, drawing a crit from Magnus and missing Xiu. The female Roc swoops down and misses us. Echo drops the bow, emerges from his hole and swings his sword at the male Roc with blade of light. Magnus uses his appalling crunch and bloodies it.

Xiu stabs the Roc. Alain fires a magic weapon bolt at the male Roc, giving the bonus to Magnus. The other Roc swoops down and misses Alain. The bloodied Roc bites at Magnus and misses. Echo hits the Roc. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Roc.

Xiu stabs the Roc and misses. Alain fires another magic weapon bolt at the male Roc. The male Roc misses Magnus, the female Roc swoops down and grabs Alain, holding onto him and snapping the rope. Echo kills the male Roc with a sword through the eyeball. Magnus watches the Roc fly away, and Kasim comes around to catch up to the Roc.

Xiu moves to the front of the boat and pulls out another rope. Alain throws acidic fire at the Roc and is dropped into the water. The Roc screeches at us and flies away, and Xiu drops a rope to let Alain back onto the rope.

Magnus spends some time repairing the tent, and we rest again. Around midnight, the chaotic rocking and swaying abruptly calms. We are on calm seas, but everything else looks different... we have entered the Elemental Chaos. Echo is on watch, and sees a haze over the water, and hears a sound that seems like a lot of people screaming in the distance. The boat is plunged into the haze, which slices through everything incorporealy. Xiu and Alain begin seeing things in the haze that look unsettlingly like faces from their past.

While Xiu is on watch, she sees what looks like a de-masted ship, but appears to be a ship made out of bones. It reminds Xiu and Echo of the banner of the nation of Droaam, and standing at the head of the ship is a Hag. Xiu wakes us up and comes in the tent. Magnus suggests talking to the hag, and Alain comes with him to try and talk to her. She seems to be a Death Hag, one of the most dangerous kind. There are also numerous Abyssal Ghouls, and a Battle Guardian, as well as lesser undead throughout the ship. Xiu, standing in the crow's nest, has transformed to look like another Hag.

After negotiations that go extremely poorly, Magnus agrees to be the price for the Hag and starts swimming over. Alain tries to talk to Kasim, fails and instead talks Xiu and Echo into helping him move the sail so that they'll crash into the Hag's ship.

The Hag reaches out to Magnus and pulls some of his soul out. Using Inexorable Advance, Magnus attacks the Hag and hits twice, then uses his action point to attack again and misses. The ship crashes, and Echo jumps onto the ship and swings at the Hag. Xiu charges across the bow and hits one of the skeletons, killing it. One of the Shadows vanishes, the other one moves up to attack Xiu. Abyssal Ghouls move in and attack Magnus before shifting back out of combat. Alain fires predatory shards, destroying one skeleton and hitting a shadow and the Hag. The Hag claws Magnus and prevents him from taking healing surges, then withdraws, avoiding attacks from Magnus and Echo. Battle Guardian swings at Magnus and immobilizes him. Magnus shrugs off the immobilize by taking damage, then chases down the Hag, pushing her off the boat and bloodying her.

Echo moves to attack the Battle Guardian and crits him. Xiu shifts over and hits the Battle Guardian as well. The Shadow dies in the predatory shards, the other one melds with Alain's shadow. Abyssal Ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss him. Two skeletons hit Echo, two of them miss. The ballista fires and misses Echo. Alain runs into the predatory shards with the shadow, hits him with a repulsion strike and calls up his dancing shield to protect himself from the ballista. The Hag seems to have fallen off the boat, but Echo and Xiu take necrotic damage from a life drain within the bowels of the ship. Battle Guardian crits Echo. Magnus uses appalling crunch to smash his way into the bowels of the ship, and sees a Water Troll swimming underneath the boat, and moves over to him.

Echo adopts a stance that bumps defenses, lays hands on himself and uses trial of strength on the Battle Guardian. Xiu uses Bloodbath on Guardian, giving it ongoing damage, then adopts a defensive stance. The shadow misses Alain due to his dancing shield. The ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss. The ballista fires and misses Xiu. The skeletons attack Echo and hit twice. Alain uses Runic Resistance and kills the four skeletons. The Hag uses a necrotic aura on Xiu and Alain. Battle Guardian takes damage, attacks Echo and bloodies him, then shakes off bloodbath. Magnus chops through the bone floor to get to the Hag, activates Unyielding Avalanche to begin regenerating, and plunges them both into the water.

Echo hits the Guardian. Xiu attacks Guardian with Arterial Slice and destroys him, then uses her action point to attack the ballista. The shadow attacks Alain and bloodies him. The ghouls attack Echo. Alain fires Positive Energy Infusion at the ballista and "bloodies" it. The Hag takes damage from Avalanche, bloodying her, and she swims away from Magnus under the water. Magnus swims after her, uses come and get it to draw her back and hits her with a crit.

Echo heals himself and Alain, Xiu destroys the ballista and damages the ghoul, Alain kills the shadow, the Death Hag surrenders to Magnus and gives us her Battle Guardian.

Savage Eberron

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