3rdMar2020
Demon Island
"Misty Sea?" The voice came out of nowhere and made us all jump.
We were back at the Sleeping Lion discussing our recent exploits and trying to decide where to go next. We had three options. Follow Jekserah's orders and go and beat up the Inox who had been raiding her caravans, follow up on the papers we discovered regarding this "Gloom" thing, or travel over the sea to this island that was in the journal that we found in a chest. It was when we mentioned how hard it might be to find us a Captain to take us off to this island that the voice suddenly appeared.
Turns out the voice belonged to a Cragheart who seemed eager to go to the sea. Not only that be he had it in his head that he really wanted to travel all over, not just the sea. The fact that many people don't travel a lot had kept him here trying to find somebody who could take him places. He had heard us talking and eavesdropped on us and when we mentioned the sea he couldn't contain himself any longer.
The Chained Isle is well-known to any sailor, and they all avoid it like death. It is said that any ship that gets too close to the island is attacked by angry spirits, pulled onto the sharp rocks off its coast and never heard from again.
Miraculously enough, you believe you’ve found an account of the origin of the spirits. It is the journal of a man from a long-dead civilization that experienced some sort of calamity. A group of these people fled to the sea, but were chased by the demons they were running from. Their ship ran aground on the Chained Isle, the people were slaughtered, and their souls were eternally tortured by their pursuers.
The writer of the journal apparently hid in the boat and then escaped the island on a makeshift raft, but not before witnessing firsthand the horrors that had driven these spirits to madness.
The journal even details the location of a cave on the island where the demons gather. If you could find the cave and destroy the demons, you might be able to put these souls to rest.
It is incredibly difficult finding a ship that will go near the Chained Isle, but after explaining your intention to rid the island of its spirits, one captain finally agrees. He anchors a safe distance away from the shore and sends you off in a rowboat. You land on the beach without incident and then carefully make your way toward the cave. As you get close, you see that the entrance is teeming with demons, and your only option is to fight.
Things started reasonably well. Our new comrade waded in to do battle with a Night Demon, whilst I went after another of them. I managed to kill my target and then, with the help of my nice new shoes, managed to do a leap over a thorny trap, ran around the back of a tree and stabbed the demon that was harassing the Cragheart, in the back, despatching the second one. Meanwhile the Wind Demons where swirling around us. Those things are hard to damage due to the wind. They were not easy but I fought my way to the back of the small forest area.
But there were Spirits pouring in from all sides. One of them drifted right through a tree and screamed a curse at me. It made me feel very uneasy to say the least. There seemed no end to them. Whilst occasionally one would vanish, there were more to take their place.
All four of us started to converge on the cave at the rear of the clearing. I raced through the fog cloud that shrouded the entrance only to find yet more demons. The Night's are easier to deal with, despite them being really hard to get any decent damage on them. The Wind's are just plain hard to damage altogether.
I couldn't really see what was happening behind me, but my friends were putting up a brave fight.
Into the next cavern and there had been some kind of rock fall that was blocking the way. Fortunately I could get a good grip on the boulders and managed to leap over them only to find... more demons. I could hear my fellows back at the entranceway to this cave in a big battle. Obviously they were blocking the way so another Night Demon came around the rear of the rockfall towards me. They stepped into some spiked pits and vanished in a swirl of darkness.
But by this time, I was really exhausted. I hadn't stopped for treasure, it was one constant fight after another. The only thing I could do was try and open up the rest of the cave to help my friends. Dashing into the third cave I was relieved to see that there were no more demons, but instead two traps blocked the way. With my last gasp I managed to de-activate one of them. At least my friends could get through unhindered.
You reach the back of the cave, desperately trying to stay ahead of the converging swarm of spirits behind you. Ahead of you, more powerful demons await your approach.
“There is no hope for you, fools!” The monstrous demon of violent currents speaks through a howling wind. “Our army of slaves is innumerable. They will consume your flesh and add you to their ranks.”
Whilst the Spellweaver seemed renewed with vigour, and the Cragheart looked pretty solid, but they didn't manage to put much of a dent in the demons that were there. They were too much.
We had no choice. We turned and ran.