Boatloads of Mystery

"Greetings, I am Farah Hardtooth, half-orc and scholar in our lovely civilization.

I am here to share my knowledge and my story, so that others may learn from it and use it in the future.

**Farah’s Tome: Entry #72: Boatloads of Mystery**

I was sent along with Malmury, Feylla, Jack, and Jayvan to investigate a growing ship graveyard.. Barrack, one of the librarians, met us and answered basic questions, from which we devised a basic plan. We decided to travel by land in order to avoid the dangerous waters, and I suggested that we take along a small boat, so that we may set it adrift to lure out whatever phenomena was sinking the ships. After a quick trip to Fox’s Quill and renting some mounts, we began our journey to the mysterious site.  Malmury seemed to not understand her connection with the beasts, and despite my efforts to explain, she was no more informed. As we neared our destination, we were ambushed in the night by shadows. Perhaps related to the shadow demon I encountered before? Jayvan quickly communicated the need for magical means to defeat the creatures. The best I could manage was setting one ablaze, but nevertheless we were victorious. One shadow escaped and I tried to pursue, in order to get a sense of where its master might be, but Feylla objected so strongly that I fell back. After some argument and determining that the shadow was indeed heading to the shipwrecks, we carried on. When approaching our destination, I recognized will-o-wisps floating about- a dark omen indeed...We entered one of the ships to investigate, and discovered two dead bodies, human and tiefling. The human body began to glow blue, then a ghostly apparition came forth. I attempted to communicate with it, and seemed to have some basic understanding, though it did not speak. It was trying to convey something about the nature of its wound and the weapon of its dead friend. Perhaps that his companion attacked him? Malmury insisted we leave the dead be and simply leave, whilst I was attempting to obtain information. After further investigation, Feylla concluded that the same thing attacked both the corpses, and we decided to check out the next boat. We approached a pristine ship that seemed untouched by weather and time. Malmury and Feylla worked together to break down a door. A skeletal woman and two crew members were strewn out before us. After further investigation, Feylla concluded, "Alright from what I have learned from this ladies diary, the crew seemed to have suddenly gotten ill after sightings of things in the water. They started fighting and the sighting of things in water continued . I am lead to believe that is crew perished from a sickness induced paranoia  that lead to fighting and deaths on the ship. Something was following them in the water and may have been the cause. Its seems once most of the crew perished whatever was following them in the water attacked." which was quite disconcerting. After further explanation, we discovered a female elven voice singing up a staircase. Jayvan said that it seemed someone else had come looking for lost sailors after hearing her song. Jayvan and Malmury investigated further, finding a spectral elven woman in white. Malmury attacked and the woman transformed into a grayed, monstrous figure. Feylla managed to calm things down, talking of the elf’s lover, and returned her engagement ring, found on the ship. We continued our investigations, coming upon a goliath undead infused with bits of coral, an intriguing sight. More undead followed, and battle ensued, us remaining victorious. Afterwards, we identified them as the ship’s crew. Another ship contained treasure and aquatic creatures that Jayvan identified as Merrow, and a shadow elemental.. By the skin of our teeth we survived, though one Merrow managed to escape. Then, we discovered two more corpses, and concluded our investigations, exhausted. Upon our return, the library was abandoned, save for 5 pouches of coin, marked with the same note, "Good work out there. It must of been hard and thus take these as thanks, I'll be watching and the gods will as well. Only you can get stronger and as such if you can the city can as well.

J”.

Thus came an unceremonious end to an intriguing mystery. I look forward to seeing how this develops...

May your quest for knowledge and enlightenment never end,

Farah Hardtooth."