The party woke up the next morning with the intent of finding the pirate ship Man's Fate. As they began to circumnavigate the southernmost island, Josian spotted a large shape in the fog. It was so far away that not even the spyglass could resolve its features. Was it a ship, an island, or a massive sea monster? Nobody knew. The group held a vote and unanimously agreed to investigate. As they sailed closer, a tall craggy island stretched out of the fog, rocky and dotted with trees. A little above the shoreline, a dolmen was nestled into the cliff side.
As they climbed from the beach up to the ancient tomb, Vraifigi couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. The group stood at the entrance and lit their torches. The megalithic structure acted as a 'door-frame' for a narrow passage. It gave the two lawful party members the shivers, so Aedric volunteered to enter first with Amalia following him. If he triggered an ancient curse, his goddess would save him, and if there was a beast lying in wait, Amalia could fend it off. They found neither in the damp cavern at the end of the tunnel. Only an altar with a heap of leather and gore clumsily stitched into the shape of a half seal, half basket-star creature. At the back of the cave was a skeleton encrusted in barnacles and adorned with jewelry. Vraifigi carefully removed one of the rings and experimentally tried it on. She didn't feel like she'd been struck down with an ancient curse. But before the group could celebrate, the room was filled with an eerie glow. A spirit wearing ethereal copies of the grave goods floated towards them, arm outstretched.
Amalia's hound, Leviathan, was the first to act, charging at the specter and trying to rip it to shreds. It skidded across the cavern floor and through the ghost to no effect. It glided across to Vraifigi and swiped at her. Its clawed hands drew blood and the cave elf felt a profound sense of sadness, like there was no point to continuing her life. The throbbing pain of the scratches shocked her back to reality, whereupon she fled the cave. Aedric shouted at the ghost to leave them alone and instructed his retainers to strip the skeleton of all the valuables. Amalia rolled her eyes and adjusted her grip on her sword, but sure enough, the ghost seemed cowed by the grain cleric's words. Unfortunately, it regained its courage just as his retainers finished looting the skeleton. Aedric told them to run for it and the ghost ignored them. It struck out with its gnarled hand again, but Amalia interposed herself between Aedric and the ghost. She felt a sharp pain in her chest as the ghost reached through her to try and pluck out her teammate's heart. Fortunately, Aedric's heart was too full of glutenous glory and resisted its soul-draining effects. He banished it once more and the two adventurers ran out of the cave.
The rest of the party was waiting for them outside the dolmen. Once they were all together, they hustled down the rocks to the Satyrdance and set sail once more. They finished circumnavigating the southern island, discovering a strange unmoving forest on the coast. Maybe a massive casting of Hallucinatory Terrain? But no matter, the crew finally spotted the pirates, trapped in a bay-turned-lagoon that had formed when the tide went out. The sun was setting, and Aedric and Carlata had exhausted their clerical powers curing Vraifigi's undead-depression. They decided to sail back to the Iron Cup fort and return tomorrow.
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