2024-08-15 # 09: Marley and Speagol and the Chalice of Blessings
We broke fast in a fruity fishing village on the Iron Sea. Then we boarded Marley's ship, flying a green flag with a sea serpent on it. Marley: an old enemy of Doku, who is trying to kill Raxus because Raxus withheld the Lightning Greaves from him.
After setting sail, we discovered the reclusive fellow traveler was none other than Speagol, the former item curser. Endra's shillelagh overwhelmed her with rage and tried to murder him to break the curse. We intervened to subdue her. Seeking an alternative way to lift the curse, Artemis spoke to the shillelagh with his wand. Then we dared Endra to juggle the shillelagh. She did. She dropped it and tripped over it, and the curse was lifted! Temporarily. Only for Endra.
On the way to Drakkenhall, we got to know Speagol, despite his and our guardedness. Having repented of his work for the Priestess cursing magic items, Speagol is now devoted to the Gods of Light but wary of the Priestess. She's power hungry in his eyes. So he and members of his congregation, Drake's Chapel, want to keep the Priestess's iconic Chalice of Blessings out of her hands. Speagol seeks a power balance among icons. When he disembarked at Drakkenhall, his home, he told us how to find him at the chapel.
We stayed the night in Drakkenhall with another enemy of Doku. The innkeeper gave Raxus Dream Cleaver (the Archmage's magic crown), stolen from Doku. (Double Prince of Shadows benefits.) In the morning, Endra learned from a Drakkenhall draco-druid that the Ramblers were two days ahead of us and that the Wake Islands were rumored to be a Koru Behemoth. (High Druid benefit.)
We continued on Marley's ship to the Wake Islands. On a larger island, we snuck ashore to find Richard Scrotes, the dragon, and 20 thugs unearthing a crown. Dick put the crown on the head of a thug, who turned to a corpse before being dragged into the ground by skeletal hands. This confirmed something for them, likely that this was a Lich King iconic item.
Level up to 3.