March 31, 2024

Hook

Arachnids Anonymous 8 (Sea of Fog, Ruefang/Raikougan Archielago)

Plot Synopsis

After sending a light dolphin to aid the whirlpool-trapped Beretta, Hex became comatose while the rest of the party tried to continue fighting off the giant mechanical sea serpent. NPC, who was napping below decks, eventually went on deck to investigate the situation when a hole appeared in the side of the ship, and ended up fighting with Arc and Hex over the wheel before Hex took it over. Vladisk and Bai Guo once again go overboard near Beretta, and Vladisk manages to grab a dolphin, then Bai Guo by the chest. She then chucks him and gets him stuck in the ship, and grabs him by the throat on her way back up, hanging on during another attack, before duct taping him to the deck to prevent him from falling off and healing him with the help of Ace. The party take shots at the serpent before Hex pulls a maneuver to get the ship away from the serpent and the whirlpool, and then the party manages to kill it from a distance. After a night's rest, they start sailing away before realizing their destination was the whirlpool itself. Through spirits and astral projections, they eventually discover a cave below the whirlpool and, weighing themselves down, head inside after picking up a box of breathing potions from a nearby shipwreck.
In the cave, there is a mechanical snake statue at the center, and a metal door poorly covered with moss to the side. Vladisk immediately punches the head of the snake off, which upsets the puzzle-obsessed cultist Fan Jin. They convince him to come out and fix the puzzle, and Ace uses magic to block his way back. Jin instead stays in the room to chat with Bai Guo and aid in puzzle-solving. Once solved, the room fills with water and drains them down into the next puzzle. This room has pipes on the walls and colored shapes a table in the center. They quickly put the shapes in their spot, and Jin explains more about the cult, as the last two pipes require someone to stay behind to allow passage to the next room. Jin is a part of the cult to make puzzles without a permit, which no one ever tries to solve. The leader has yellow on his cape, and the serpent sect focuses on transportation. The party let him know that they will spare him and come back for him, as they are here to disassemble the cult, and Vladisk entertains the idea of a questionably ethical puzzle prison with him before they set off to the next room. This room is filled with cultists, who had likely arrived as a result of Beretta's amplifying Vladisk's violence toward pipes.

Noteworthy Postgame Events