Savage Hyboria Forgotten Islands: Episode 3 "Forgotten Pirates"

 The former slaves had been marooned on their island for about 6 days.  They had plenty of provisions for their small party and had captured a raft from the slavers who had attacked them a few days before.  In the early morning Heimdall sat atop the lighthouse looking for potential threats.  To the east he saw a man walking through the jungle towards his location.
The Aesir climbed down from his post and woke his companions.  "Someone is coming" he said.  As they hid in wait a man came into the clearing near their encampment.  He was strange looking with golden skin, dark hair, and almond shaped eyes although he was dressed as a pirate.  The man was armed with a cutlass but had no other weapons or equipment.  Heimdall stepped from his hiding spot "Hold there man!  State your business here!".  The man stepped back surprised but quickly regained his composure.  He spoke "Northman I do not speak your language but I intend you no harm".  The stranger spoke in broken Aqualonian as he set his cutlass on the ground and held his hands above his head.  Heimdall looked over his shoulder and gestured to his companions to come forward.  Alenna spoke in her native tong "Good sir tell us who you are and from where you came.  We may have a common purpose."  "I am Mon Tau and I am Hyrkanian although I was most recently in the employ of Captain Lycurgus an Argosian pirate who sails these waters.  Last night I led and ill fated mutiny against Lycurgus and was forced to jump overboard near this island with several of my fellow mutineers.  I seek only to find any of my companions who may have survived and find a way off these cursed islands" the stranger explained.
The former slaves conferred with each other for a few moments.  Alenna again spoke for the party "We shall help you find your friends stranger for we are also seeking a way off these islands and we are sorely in need a allies".  Mon Tau bowed and spoke "I would forever be in your debt".
Heimdall, Alenna, Rozlynn and Mon Tau set out to search the island for the Hyrkanian's shipmates.  The Vendhyan woman Raka stayed behind to guard their supplies and their captive slaver.  The party headed south down the eastern bank of the island.  After a short time they came across a trail that headed west into the jungle.  Following the trail they came across a makeshift encampment and decided to investigate.
      

 Heimdall carefully looked into the tent but quickly jumped back and drew his weapon as a massive green snake surged from the tent opening.  The creature lashed out viciously at the northerner attempting to catch him in his jaws.  The Hyrkanian had to duck as a massive tail lashed out in his direction.  The snake thrashed about and snapped at the humans with it's powerful jaws as they fought against it.  Rozlynn attempted to shoot at the snake with her bow but decided it was too dangerous.  Wielding her two handed scimitar she charged into the fight and with a massive swing cut the creatures head completely off.
With the snake dead the again resumed the search of the camp.  Heimdall and Rozlynn examined the ground around the tent.  Although the two Aesir did find human tracks the surmised that they were all at least a few weeks if not a few months old.  Inside the tent they discovered an Argosian short sword as well as a bow and arrows.  Mon Tau claimed the bow and arrows and none of the others objected.  They also found a scroll case that contained a piece of parchment with maps on both sides.  There were several notes jotted on each side of the parchment.  "This is in Argosian!" Mon Tau explained.  "It is difficult for me to read but it appears to be a treasure map.  Look here on this side.  This is a map of the Islands we are currently residing in.  That small island that is marked is not far from this one.  This other side then must be a map to some kind of treasure.  Ah I can make out something about the "Tomb of Voltannox".  Perhaps this is something we could investigate later".  The others nodded in agreement.  "For now we should keep searching.  Rozlynn and I found a trail that heads further west" Heimdall pointed to the path.

 Not far down the trail the castaways spotted a bloody body lying on the ground.  "That looks to be old Deon who fought with me against Lycurgus" Mon Tau said.  As they approached the badly mauled body it was clear the old man was dead.  Suddenly four large black panthers pounced from the bushes.  Alenna screamed as one of the big cats tore into her shoulder.  The priestess fell to the ground bleeding.  

 The rest of the party fought against the deadly cats.  Rozlynn dispatched the one that had attacked Alenna while Heimdall killed another but the two remaining cats did not retreat.  The party was hard pressed to defend itself when without warning two more combatants entered the fray.  A man and a woman charged from the jungle and helped to kill the last two panthers.  For a few moments everyone was tense as they scanned the jungle for further threats.  Mon Tau broke the silence "Ah Ahemed and Dalla Oledatter I see you survived!" he spoke in Argosian to the two strangers.  "These are some of my fellow mutineers and friends" he explained.
Everyone exchanged greetings except Alenna who was still unconscious.  Heimdall and Rozlynn carefully attempted to revive the priestess.  Fortunately Alenna came around within a few minutes.  Alenna bound her own wounds and prayed to Mitra to heal herself.  While Alenna was resting the rest of the party ate some provisions that they had brought along and decided to head to the western beach then continue south to look for other survivors.

 No sooner had they reached the western beach when they noticed a boat sitting just off shore.  Another group of the same pirates who had allied themselves with the slavers had landed and was heading up the beach towards them.  There were seven pirates on the shore while another stayed behind with the boat.

 The pirates charged at them swinging deadly looking flails.  Heimdall, Alenna, and Dalla charged straight in them while Ahemed moved stealthy through through the edge of the jungle and then pounced on one of the pirates in a surprise attack.  Mon Tau and Rozlynn stood at the back and shot at the pirates with their bows killing two of the brigands before they even reached the others.
The fighting was brief and brutal.  The pirates quickly realized they were outmatched.  Some of them tried to flee but were either cut or shot down as they tried to reach their boat.  The final pirate, deciding there was little he could do to help his friend sailed away to the northwest.

 At the southern tip of the island they discovered another small ruin.  These appeared to be different in construction and even older than the lighthouse where they had made camp.  After pushing away some of the moss they discovered carving with strange writings and depictions of odd beings that appeared to be fish like but with arms and legs.  None of them could understand the writing and Alenna said that none of the strange symbols were of any religion she was aware of.
Suddenly they all heard strange gurgling cries that came from the beach.  Erupting from the waves they saw a party of bizarre fish people charging up the bank towards them.  Two of them wielded rusted cutlasses while another possessed a strange book.

 The fish men attacked with reckless fury.  Four of them set on the party while the one with the book stood at a distance and began chanting.  Three powerful bolts of green light sprung from his outstretched hand hitting Heimdal, Mon Tau, and Dalla sending them reeling in pain.  As the fight continued the fish man struck out again with his sorcery injuring others.  Moments later an even fouler monster sprang from the waves wielding a massive club.  The thing was horrifying and strange.  Clearly similar to the fish men but mutated to a much more massive and horrid proportions.
    

Shouting a war cry Dalla Oldatter charged the hideous beast.  The Vanir warrior woman ducked a massive blow from the monster and then ran her longsword deep into it's chest.  A look of shock crossed the face of the twisted beast and it sank back into the surf with a weak yelp.
In short order the rest of the fish men were dispatched.  With many injuries from the fighting the party decided to return to their camp at the lighthouse where they could eat, rest, and examine the map they discovered.

Notes:  This adventure actually happened about a week ago but some of the players took their character sheets and I didn't have the names of all the characters involved so I held off publishing it until I did.  There are now seven characters in the party which will make it a challenge to come up with suitable encounters for especially since I use painted miniatures for everything.  In fact in this adventure many of the encounters were a bit too weak although the party made several good rolls.  The mutated fish man was suppose to be a greater challenge but Dalla took it out with one massive critical hit.  These things happen in games sometimes and fortunately the monster was not some important NPC I wanted to survived.