Atoll of the Shark God: Session One

The Satyrdance still had a month's left of contracting for the crew, and Aedric had received word of a new treasure site from the church of the Grain Goddess. So they sailed south to the titular atoll. With the better weather, they were able to fully survey the islands with Josian's spyglass. They could see a small orange dragon lounging on the beach next to a longship and decided to make landfall further south. The southernmost island proved to be full of nothing but seals. The Satyrdance continued clockwise around the atoll until they spotted a large ram atop a hill.

Aedric recognized it as a Shofar Ram, a creature revered by a few lawful religions. He took some dried fruit from the ship's hold and went ashore with the rest of the party to make contact. One cautious hand-feeding session later and the two were best friends. He seemed lonely, and Aedric didn't want the dragon to eat him, so the group relocated him to the ship. Meanwhile, Vraifigi stood atop the ram's hill, peering at the longship through her spyglass. She could see two men climbing for coconuts and roasting seals for the dragon. The group was nervous about approaching the dragon. As a compromise, Amalia sent her hawk, Mr. Feathers, with a message tied to his leg to make contact with the two men. The slaves spotted the party hiding behind a sand dune and waved them over. They introduced themselves as Baldwin and Jadot, and the dragon as Portygul. 

Thanks to Vraifigi's familiarity with dragon psychology, introductions went smoothly. The party learned that Portygul had sent his barbarians into the whirlpool to loot the temple below. He tried to put on a brave face like everything was fine, but it was obvious he was worried about them. It was also obvious that he considered the temple's treasure as his property. It was only a logistical matter of transferring it to his hoard in the partially disassembled longship. Out of earshot of Portygul, Amalia suggested currying favor with a tribute before broaching the matter of exploring the dungeon themselves. Aedric was skeptical. Vraifigi cautioned that they shouldn't offer the dragon any of their treasure, as that might put the Satyrdance in danger if he ever suspected them of holding back.

Instead, the party opted to find, kill, and serve Portygul a sea-monster they'd spotted in the eastern shoals. It turned out to be a giant crab. The plan was for Vraifigi to zoom past it in the pyromancy-powered speedboat while Amalia impaled it with a harpoon. The additive momentum turned out to be enough to crack the crustacean's spell open, allowing Vraifigi to finish it off with her rapier after pulling the boat back around. Portygul was satisfied with the offering and deigned to allow the party to enter the dungeon and retrieve "his" treasure for him.

Shortly after entering the dungeon, the party found the barbarian's escape plan: a large raft made out of fogwood, likely intended to buoy them to the ocean's surface if the temple was to flood. They carefully mapped out the dungeon, finding little treasure and many ominous portents of danger. The sense of unease came to a climax when a massive baby-faced fish floated around a corner, drooling teeth all over the floor. Vraifigi shattered all of its teeth with a slung rock to the mouth while Amalia and Aedric laid into its sides with their blades. After fumbling with his longbow, Mateo landed a solid shot directly into the beast's eye, finishing it off. It then dissolved into nothingness, greatly confusing Behemoth and Leviathan, who had been snarling and snapping at it from below. 

The adventurers took this as their cue to leave and reassess the situation. There was a discussion of what to do with the gems and handful of coins they'd found, but no one could agree on anything. So the party opted to leave it at the entrance to the temple and return to Portygul empty-handed. Amalia tossed Mr. Feathers into the air, setting him loose to tell Baldwin and Jadot to tell the dragon that they were ready to be winched up. Portygul sniffed the party to make sure they weren't hiding any treasure from him. Aedric felt a brief rush of panic as the dragon's gaze passed across him. Could he sense the blue shark-tooth-shaped amulet he'd tucked under his gambeson? Apparently not. And so the party made their way to their ship on the beach.