Expedition 141: Aberration Stole My Money

The group drops off a magical knife to a weird construct while asking no questions, then finds the aberration and kills the dragon that has been threatening him. And most importantly, recovering our stuff.

### Details:

The group gets Water Breathing from Ark'fayed before heading out towards the Emerald Reef, with a brief detour to Nerulla's Triangle to drop the dagger into the sea, as requested by the denizens of Mechanus. Ellie, Finnjamin, and Bea decide to head down to the sea floor to drop off the dagger. They find the requested location, and promptly realized that nobody investigated the dagger to identify its properties, and question whether perhaps someone intends to pick up the dagger rather than leave it buried here. Nevertheless, Ellie buries the dagger as requested. Once that was done, the underwater group *felt* something coming, and decided to swim back towards the boat. As they retreat, they get a brief glimpse of a large circle-shaped entity approaching the dropoff point. The swimmers return to the boat, and the group leaves.

The boat reaches the Emerald Reef, and the group is treated with murky green waters and the scent of rot in the air. The group begins by trying to find some fish for Finnjamin to talk to. Ellie is able to find some fish, and Finnjamin talks to a very stupid parrotfish and attempts to describe the aberration, but the fish keeps confusing it with an octopus. The group decides to try and find an octopus, which will hopefully more intelligent, and more helpful. We managed to find one, who was far more intelligent than we expected, who asked us why we wanted to talk to "Grandpa". Finnjamin said we had stuff to trade, and the octopus agreed to guide us to him. He led us to a rocky structure, at which point Bea noticed some kind of effect warn off the octopus, who ran away as a massive coral golem rose from the sea floor, seen by everyone except Valorie. Valorie pronounced it an illusion, at which point it promptly dissipated. Bea decide to use Locate Creature, and was struck by magic to see Confidence as a threat to her. Valorie removed the Fear using Heroism, and attracted our quarry's attention using the Speaker's Staff, asking it to stop attacking us and talk, or face the consequences.

The octopus surfaced nearby, a massive pink octopus, and spoke to the party through telepathy. Valorie asked for it's name, and it said we should call it Fso. It told us the reason it was stealing from people was as tribute to the local green dragon, Vodak the Hungering. If we kill him, the thefts would stop. The group searches Fso's home to confirm, and agree to kill Vodak for him.

Fso attracts Vodak from his home, and the Compact sneaks into his lair while he is out. The group takes note of a pair of undead sharks, and a few swarms of quippers as the group sets up an ambush. Soon, Vodak returns and immediately smells intruders, and thanks them for bringing breakfast. Valorie casts Heroism and the group attacks, and the sharks and quippers close in. The sharks singlemindedly pick out targets to grab and return to Vodak, intent on feeding him this bounty as the quippers swarm the rest, taking bites out of the injured. Vodak's acid breath scorches the group, ripping Ellie out of her polar bear form as the group focuses down the sharks. When they fall, the group turns on Vodak himself, and another desperate breath rips through the party, while Valorie uses a spell to cull most of the quippers. Confidence scores first blood, and in response Vodak gathers the algae in a murky shroud around himself as the water itself begins to burn with acid. The party desperately attempts to finish off Vodak, and both Valorie and Ellie score killing blows, but his regenerative abilities never keep him down. With Finn burned down by the acid, and Valorie and Confidence frantically fleeing the water, It isn't until Vodak flees the fight above water that Confidence is able to finish him off with his fire bow.

With Fso's help to recover Vodak's hoard, the group finds all of the items Fso conned the Compact out off, as well as plenty of ordinary trade goods. the group collects the valuables in the hoard as well as parts of Vodak, while ignoring the trade goods. Valorie has Fso inform the Vrallan merchants about the situation and the thefts stopping now, and Arbock now posts a bounty on Fso's head. After the group completes collecting these valuables, they return to Port Vrall.