As the sun rises over the distant mountains in the east, you see a great headland off to your left. This marks the southern end of the Bay of Sin. Beyond it to the south stretches a barren, rocky, arid coastline.
In the morning Brightaxe feels much better, as does Gonzo. Strangely enough, the rest of the sufferers continue to suffer, though to a lesser extent than the day before.
"Brightaxe, can ye use your Create Food and Water spells to help us build some ballast and spare provisions?" asks Niko. "With all this heat and humidity, we might especially need the water."
"As you wish Niko, I defer to your experience on this matter. If that will be all, I will retire to pray with Thoth," Salaam says, if there is nothing further, he goes to any available cabin to make his own and he settles in to pray for a successful voyage as well as new spells.
Today, Salaam can commune if he wishes.
You make slow headway battling the wind for much of the day, as you parallel the coast. Finally, early in the evening you are able to steer a course directly south, and you are able to gain some ground. You see a number of other vessels on the ocean as well, today. All appear to be merchant ships. Sincity is obviously a popular port of call. You see the flag of that city state, as well as ships from Greyport, Dorian, Samarind, the City of Time, No Infesto and Nlad. The sight of a ship in these waters from the latter nation is a rare sight.
Later that day, Niko casts Magic Mirror to look at the pirate's cove to see if there are signs of anyone returning since the MAIN party left.
The place is deserted.
By nightfall everyone who was seasick are feeling much better. Perhaps it is just as well, for as midnight approaches your rest is disturbed by cries of panic from the watch on deck above.
Brightaxe and Robert are the only two party members on watch at the moment. As the rest of you rush up from belowdecks you see them staring intently at something off of the starboard bow. Southwick, the old Master, is gripping the wheel with no intention of letting go, though the expression on his face is one of barely controlled panic.
The other crewmen on the deck are not so stoic. All are cowering on their hands and knees. Some are crying, others are praying.
You follow the gaze of the dwarf and the man, and look to the southwest.
Approaching you, perhaps a half a mile away, is an eerily glowing ship. A large warship once, perhaps, she is missing one of her three masts now, and her sails stream in ribbons. Nevertheless she is coming towards you rapidly, on a collision course. Moving about on her decks you can just make out the spectral forms of her crew.
"Ghost ship-p-p-p," stammers Southwick. "Crewed by the souls of the damned. They'll try to board us...or run us aground and take us at their leisure."
The Triton right now is about three miles off of the coast, which can be seen in the starlight. The ghost ship is coming in from the seaward side.
"Can I blast it boss?" Jesse Asks, "A couple of fireballs I am sure would cause it problems, or can Salaam turn it?"
"Yikes!" Gilstrock says. "Niko, can you steer this thing? Let's not run into the ship!"
Gilstrock looks over at Pharian. "Can you sink it from a distance? Or should we do a little boarding of our own? Send me and some others over there and we'll start whupping heads before they get to our ship."
Pharian says, "I don't know? Can you sink a ghost ship? I have no experience with them. But I do know that fireballs work as well on the dead as on the living."
Pharian casts fly on himself.
"Let's avoid them if we can, and if we can't, let's torch them."
Niko frowns. "I've read about these ships, but never encountered them before. Bad omen, if ye ask me. Lord Ramage, ye ever seen anything like this before?"
"No. I have heard stories, of course."
Looking at the party he asks "Well, ye always seem to be tryin' to save the world. Do we run and let these ghosties continue to plague these shipping lanes. " Niko draws his cutlass and ignites it. "Or do we send them poor souls to their final destinations?"
Peering out into the gloom, Gilstrock says, "How bad can they hurt us? Are they gonna go draining us or nasty stuff like that? If it ain't that bad, you know, they'll just kill us or something, I say we bash heads!"
"They're undead, Gil, they hate the living. They'll drain us and maybe make us into undead if that's within their power. What we need is light and lots of it. That always seems to work on all the other undead we face. Wish we still had that staff of illumination."
"Occa, Pharian, any ideas?"
Gilstrock grunts. "Spooky. Hate that stuff. Send me up single-handed against an army of Hill Giants, and sure, I'm gonna get squashed, but if I'm needed, I'll go. But undead... Brrr." Gilstrock shudders.
"Rather interesting, I have never seen a ghost ship before," Salaam says with interest. "Oh great Thoth, please protect your servant from evil," he intones as he casts a Protection from Evil and then a moment laser, he intones, "Oh great master, please grant your servant sight beyond sight." as he casts a True Seeing spell.
He then gazes at the ghost ship to discern its true nature.
Niko turns to his first mate. "Lord Ramage, issue orders to increase speed and to angle slightly away from the ghost ship. They're likely faster than us, but it will buy us time to make preparations."
Ramage glances at Southwick, who then turns the wheel slightly, bringing the Triton onto a more southerly course. The ghost ship changes its course immediately.
"We can't go any faster, captain," says Ramage. "All sail is set already."
Jesse looks up. "I wonder if they are using the same wind as we are?" she asks out loud.
"Occa, Pharian, how about throwing a fireball at them? I don't have any memorized or I would've done that already. We definitely want to keep them at a distance."
Pharian will do so as soon as the ghost ship is within range.
"I still say we avoid it if possible," he says.
Darian looks dubiously at the ghost ship. "Okay, I'll toss what I got, but maybe you should start casting your spell anyway. If we don't take it out, we may need your spell."
Niko nods. "Yes, we don't know how long this battle will last. At least we'll have it at your disposal should we run into problems later. Also, try Part Water on the ghost ship as it gets closer. Put it right in front of it so they're ship drops right down into it. Of course, it may just ignore it..."
Niko looks at the others. "Anyone have any spells that might give us some wind?"
Niko ponders a moment. "Salaam, perhaps ye should cast your Control Weather spell now. Some wind to increase our speed or to slow them down would be useful until we decide what to do about dem ghosties."
Niko looks at the party members ."So, are we decided upon a course of action? Shall we send dem accursed souls back to the Abyss?"
"Unfortunately, in the time it would take to cast the spell and for it to go into effect, the ghost ship will be upon us. I suggest we unleash our magical might against the ship using fireballs and lightning bolts," Salaam suggests, his dislike for the undead clearly heard in his voice.
Niko regards Salaam. "See anything different?" And then adds, "You may get to use your Part Water spell...not that it may have any effect upon a ghost ship, though."
Salaam speaks, "The ship does not appear to be entirely located on this plane of existence. It is ethereal as well."
He turns to Occa and Pharian, "do you have any spells that can affect multi planar constructs??"
He then reconsiders and says, "Pharian, cast fly on me and I can then approach the ship and cast a Holy Word."
The ship is just over 1/4 mile away, now, and shows no sign of slowing down. It is still aiming to intercept you. It seems to be moving faster than the wind would allow it to...even if its shredded sails were able to catch the wind. The forms moving about on the deck appear to be distinctly ghostly in the faint starlight.
Pharian stands ready to release his fireball.
Occa will also release a fireball upon the ship when within range.
Before that he will cast fly and invisibility on himself.
Pharian shakes his head. "Sorry, Salaam, ask Occa. I'm out."
Pharian then flies towards the ghost ship so that he can launch his fireball sooner.
Occa will cast another fly on Salaam.
"Once I part the water, attack the ship," Salaam instructs as he holds his holy symbol in both hands and points it towards the water in front of the ghost ship, "Oh great Thoth, lower the water in front of the craft coming towards us," he intones as he casts lower water at the ghost ship.
"I'm have no experience fighting such creatures," declares Emm. "I have some skill with a bow, and a few magic arrows. I will try to find some high ground from which I can watch your backs. Certainly, I would appreciate any additional arrows that might harm these specters," adds Emm.
"I've got sixteen magical arrows. Take a half dozen, if you need them."
"Emm, you might wish to wait to see what our mages can do before using those arrows," says Jesse. The bard then speaks to the captain, "Niko, do you wish me to cast fire balls on the ship, or try to encourage the crew?"
Emm collects any arrows offered and moves to the most elevated deck.
"Lass, ye might as well hold off on those fireballs. Pharian and Occa are casting the same and Darian and I casting lightning bolts. Best to hold off to see what happens. More den likely, rallying the crew will be more important."
Jesse begins to chant and sing songs filled with glory, honor, and valor, in an effort to rally the crew to work harder and faster.
Niko will cast a lightning bolt at the same time Darian casts his.
Darian fires a lightning bolt at the ship as soon as Pharian's fireball hits.
Salaam rises up into the air along with Pharian and Occa, chanting his lower water spell. The mages begin their spells as well.
The water abruptly drops away under the bows of the ghost ship...but it sails on through the air unhindered until it reaches the water again outside of the area of spell effect. Fireballs detonate up and down its length, as lightning bolts blast into it.
It sails out of the smoke and flames unscathed, and is upon you.
You feel a terrible chill run up and down your spines as the ship passes straight through the Triton. Jesse and Emm are aged by 10 years, as are Ramage and Southwick. The latter utters a terrible cry, which is echoed throughout the ship by the cries of the crewmen...then he is swept away with the ghost ship.
Then, the ghost ship has passed through you and is to landward of you.
Abruptly it vanishes, and the cries of the crew are extinguished. You note that the cowering crewmen on the deck of your ship have vanished as well.
The wheel, without anyone to steer, begins to spin, and the Triton begins to veer off course towards the rocky shore, only a mile away. The sails overhead begin to flap in the breeze.
It is midnight.