Pirate Borg - Session 4

Following the descending steps, the party arrived in a vast cavernous room. At its center lay a massive golden disc, surrounded by 12 obsidian pillars near the walls. Grooves in the floor ran from each pillar to beneath the disc. Bound to the pillars were prisoners, each with a hooded cultist hovering above them, bleeding them as part of a dark ritual. Their blood flowed through the grooves toward the disc. At the far end of the room, another cultist was in hushed conversation with a four-armed, elk-horned, stone-skinned demon.

The party launched a surprise attack, swiftly killing the cultist near the demon and throwing the room into chaos. A prolonged battle ensued, with bullets, spells, swords, and daggers flying. By the end, only the demon and the party were left standing. Seeing the demon as an overwhelming threat, Jéan, the cabin boy, managed to pacify it by tossing it body parts to eat after it awoke from a sleep spell.

However, Jean Morél opposed the idea of leaving a demon alive and attacked it. Enraged, the demon turned on her and devoured her whole.

Afterward, the party inspected the golden disc, moving it aside to reveal a hole beneath where the grooves converged. Below, they saw an underground lake, its surface littered with a massive pile of bones so large it began to rise above the waterline.

Choosing not to explore the hole beneath the golden disc yet, the party ascended the stairs to search for an exit. Elizabeth White, a buccaneer and one of the freed captives, joined them. Along the way, they uncovered an upper level of the dungeon by moving a stone disc that concealed a passage in the wall.

In a room covered with tree roots, they encountered three pirates. Initially friendly, the pirates grew suspicious of the gore-covered party and tried to escape. They climbed through an opening in the ceiling revealed by the roots, but the party gave chase, killing two of the pirates.

Continuing north, they found a storage room filled with crates. Inside one, they disturbed a viper nest, which they attempted to avoid but eventually had to kill. Elizabeth collected the viper skins, some supplies, and a psychedelic macaw found in another crate. The macaw flew away, emitting cosmic fractals that blinded the party. When they regained their sight, Isabel and Elizabeth were left stunned by the encounter, forcing the rest of the party to look after them.

Further exploration led them to a trapped door, beyond which was a muddy room containing six golden idols. Esther Lopez volunteered to retrieve them. Beyond the muddy room, she found living quarters resembling a cave, where she discovered a man named Hans sleeping on the floor. Hans was a madman, speaking incoherent ramblings about fighting with his wife, killing a swine, and eating it. Whether his wife had been a pig, or he had deluded himself into believing she was, remained unclear. Leaving Hans to his ravings, Esther rejoined the party.

In the final unexplored room, they saw a cyan glow beneath the door. Upon opening it, they were attacked by a necro-swine, a grotesque creature exhaling a cyan, steaming breath. After a fierce battle, they killed it, taking its pelt and capturing some of the cyan steam in a jar.

Isabel and Elizabeth recovered from their stunned state, leveling up from the ordeal. Returning to the golden disc, they found chaos among the freed captives as the demon began killing and consuming them, adding their remains to its growing bone hive. Elizabeth took decisive action, beheading the demon and taking its head as a trophy.

The party descended into the hole beneath the golden disc, arriving at a landing beside the underground lake. From the landing, they observed the massive pile of bones and stepping stones leading into the darkness across the water. At this point, the group split: Isabel, Jean the cabin boy, and Esther Lopez ventured across the stepping stones, while Elizabeth and François chose to stay on the landing.

The trio on the stepping stones disturbed the water, attracting the attention of something lurking below. Green lights surfaced, revealing a massive black entity with glowing eyes, tentacles, and mouths. The eldritch horror attacked the group. Elizabeth and François opened fire from the landing, but their attacks had little effect.

Esther attempted multiple arcane rituals, failing the last and causing disastrous consequences: Isabel and Jean began vomiting seawater and sea urchins, while Esther herself dissolved into seawater. Her mind glimpsed a black-robed ferryman approaching, coming to take her soul to the afterlife. Isabel fell into the water, weighed down by her armor, but Jean managed to pull her out. She discarded her armor, and the two continued to a small island in the lake, pursued by the horror.

Realizing the situation was untenable and their gunfire ineffective, Elizabeth and François abandoned the cavern, leaving for Coral Town with the demon’s head. Meanwhile, Jean and Isabel, trapped on the island, noticed ancient runes on the stones. They deciphered that the temple's inhabitants had once made sacrifices to this monstrosity in an attempt to control it.

Desperate, they dove into the water. The horror attacked Isabel, but Jean intervened, calling upon his god to shield her. The horror turned on Jean, killing and consuming him. Isabel swam deeper and found a hole in the underwater wall. Following it, she navigated a series of cenotes, eventually surfacing at the bottom of Coral Town’s bay after hours of swimming. Exhausted but alive, she emerged to find it was already daylight.