20 Tarsakh, 1502 D.R.

Captain Aurora of the Cutlass has called upon us again. It was such fun the first time.

This time around, we were not obliged to do battle at sea. Instead, we were asked to infiltrate what is apparently a pirates-only establishment in the Trackless Sea. Our specific task was to learn what we could about a pirate crew called the Dark Tide; we were told that they had once been "code-following" pirates, whatever that means, but had turned to a terrifying cult.

Arriving at Waterdeep, we set sail for the island and... well, we were given the tools we would require to serve our purported parts as pirates. The others -- Shev, Surx, Bri, and especially Na'ima -- seemed to take great joy in their roles, whether for the sake of performance or wish-fulfillment. I... well, I did my best, but it is against my nature. I resolved to let them do the talking.

And talk they did, once we landed. First, they talked their way past a (physically) piggish man named Rummy Goldsnout, and then they talked their way through The Salty Mast, the bar where we were meant to find information about the Dark Tide. How we were to find such information was beyond me at the time, as a sign out front forbade their entry, but in we went anyway, with the assumption that the locals would at least know something about our quarry.

They did, as it turned out, but most were not willing to talk about them. Bad omens, I understand. But the group, minus myself, continued to talk, and learned what they required. A whole crowd of the Dark Tide pirates had taken a large room at the top level of the inn, and there their captain settled disputes amongst the crew from a literal throne. They became increasingly rough and unpleasant, and then one day, they simply vanished, leaving the room a mess.

At the bidding of one Captain Blakemore and the bartender, we went up to investigate the room. After prying off the boards the bartender had had put up and unlocking it, we passed through and looked around. The room was indeed an opulent mess, but Surx gathered enough papers to find references to Jotur -- an old world-sinking sea serpent god who was purportedly trapped beneath an island -- and that island, and a horn. We had been given to understand that the pirates had been talking about freeing Jotur from his prison, after having made a pilgrimage into an eternal storm that rages where that island was supposed to have been prior to its sinking, and being the only ones to return from such a mission.

Searching the throne, we found the horn. The moment I picked it up, we were dragged into a sort of living memory. In this vision, if vision it was, we witnessed the sinking of the island and the rage of Jotur, and participated in the defense of a priest of Valkur and a priestess of Umberlee as they worked their magic upon the horn, trying to break the curse that trapped us and several other pirates within. The captain of these pirates had already succeeded, apparently, but had left them behind. Needless to say, we also succeeded, and were immediately returned -- with these pirates -- to the room at the Salty Mast.

Questions yet abound, of course. Where did the captain go? Why did he leave behind the horn that was apparently key to loosing the god he seems to serve? It may be that my understanding of matters is deeply incomplete. What I do know is that a band of violent pirates is hells-bent on sinking the whole world beneath the ocean and letting a dark god rule over all. Whether they are capable of such or not, their effort alone will make them dangerous indeed, for who knows to what lengths they will go?

I suspect this will not be the last time we hear from Captain Aurora, or of the Dark Tide.

-- Yashir adh Rumahr

TIME TRAVEL EXTRAVAGANZA?

Hey, whoever might be reading this :)

Oh man, this one was a fun one.

So, I don’t know much, but everyone except Na’ima had some history with this pirate crew that contracted us. I think it was a good history? Either way, they knew each other. Our mission was to infiltrate a pirate-only tavern.

After talking a bit with Aurora, the captain, and listening to some of the crew, I noticed they were going on about some end-of-the-world nonsense, something about a giant serpent destroying everything, and then the gods dropping an entire island on it. You know, classic religious cult talk to scare people into following them. Don’t fall for that, kids.

Anyway, the mission required disguises… and PIRATES! Aurora got us a bunch of pirate clothes. Oh yeah, the gang: me, Na’ima, Shev, Bri, and Yashir.

After some thinking, we all came up with pirate personas: Me: the Crimson Corsair, a hot redhead man (man, because there was already a hot redhead woman among us), Na’ima: the Boar, Shev: Shiv, Bri: Red Blade, and Yashir… honestly, I forgot his :(

Welp.

We got to the tavern, where there was this pig-looking bouncer. We had to convince him we were pirates—surprisingly easy.

Inside, there were… a lot of pirates. Shocking, I know. We split up to gather information. Everyone picked up bits and pieces, but Na’ima ended up talking to the right people and got us the full story.

So, there’s this pirate crew called The Dark Tide. Long story short: they were researching something related to that giant serpent I mentioned earlier. They had a room in the tavern and caused quite a bit of trouble before one day just disappearing. Only the captain ever left. Spooky.

We got ourselves the key, and a crowbar, and broke into their room. Pirates are very superstitious, so it was locked up tight.

Inside, there wasn’t much, just a mess and more of that serpent-and-gods mumbo jumbo.

Then Yashir, like an amateur, decided to touch a horn he found.

And we all got teleported.

To the past.

Yeah. Time travel. Because things weren’t weird enough already

We ended up on a beach, and it was chaos. Remember the serpent? Yeah, she was there—VERY far away, but also VERY big. So big we could barely even see it. People were running everywhere.

So we ran too.

We ran into the missing crew, and they told us they were stuck in a time loop. You remember the part about the gods dropping an island on the serpent? Yeah. That. well I think it was that island.

They said we had to protect some priests during a ritual involving the horn. If we succeeded, we could use it to get back.

So that’s what we did.

We fought off a multi-headed dragon thing, two fish-like creatures, and two water elementals. We held them off long enough for the ritual to finish. Then, when the priest came over—probably to thank us—Yashir just grabbed the horn from her and… blew it.

And that got us back.

So yeah. Apparently, someone is trying to free a giant serpent god that wants to destroy the world.

Which raises a question: how do people even join these cults?

Like seriously—who wakes up and thinks,
“Hmm, I want to free a god that hates me and will definitely kill me. Yeah, that sounds great. Can’t wait to destroy the entire world for someone who despises my existence.”

What the fuck?

- Surx XoXo

The open sea; a place of salty dogs and piracy. We, that being Yashir, Surx, Bri, Shev, and myself, all boarded the ship known lovingly as the Cutlass in Waterdeep, where Surx and I were introduced to the Captain Aurora, her first mate Cirrus and Bartholomew. Apparently, the others had previously worked with the Mistborne before??

They informed us of a strange cult, The Dark Tide, that wanted to bring back a giant sea snake god like figure that would devour the world I think? It was trapped beneath the long gone city, and also might have a never ending storm somewhere near here?? The rumors were countless, mostly hearsay I think. But, the truth of the Dark Tide was that they were spotted near the Salty Mast, a pirate tavern that was exclusively for pirates. The Captain wanted us to gather any information we could, so, this meant we got TO DRESS UP AS PIRATES AND PLAY PRETEND!!

I was thrilled by this.

The rest of the party was less.. enthusiastic, Yashir especially. Apparently, he doesn't like lying, but I told him performance wasn't a lie, it was pretend. There are differences. We all had pirate personas we had to undertake; mine was The Boar, Bri was Redblade, Shev was Shiv, Yashir had one but quickly abandoned it, and Surx was Crimson Cuck or something. The party approached the tavern, where we saw a new sign that stated, NO DARK TIDE. Their message was clear, and we tried to enter.

But, were stopped by a quite handsome boar man with a lovely septum piercing named Rommy Goldsnout, who wanted us to prove that we were pirates. Oh, I proved something alright. He tasted like cheap ale and hardtack. I never felt more alive.

Inside, there were plenty of pirates, all with very tight lips when it came to the Dark Tide. Except for one group, that were... incredibly dangerous, by the looks of them. Not that I consider myself particularly soft, but when compared to them? Well... There really isn't a comparison. They were tasked with 'taking care' of a room upstairs by the proprietor of the establishment, Red Mags, and they wanted to bum the job off on us. I gladly took them up on that, and informed the others as we took a trip up the stairs....

We needed a crowbar to pry the boards from it. It was nailed shut, because apparently they viewed it as cursed. The Dark Tide, a week or so ago, entered the room with 4 men. A Captain leader and three others. But, after their time in the space, only he emerged.... We entered a room in disarray. There were papers scattered around, all with runes of conjuration to travel to other planes of existence? There was a coral throne, and a horn atop it. As soon as Yashir touched it, though, we were teleported to the beach, where people were running screaming.

When we turned to look at what they were fleeing from, we couldn't quite comprehend. A massive snake, this Jottaur, miles away and extending up into the sky. The rest of the party wanted to go and fight it; I brought them back into reality and we followed everyone towards the city. We came across three members that seemed to be calm amongst the panic, and quickly reasoned they were the Dark Tide that didn't leave the room. Apparently, this was time travel, and we were stuck in a loop unless we could ensure that a horn was made, the very same horn that brought us here. It was being crafted in a tower near the beach, and we had to defend it from monsters that they had failed to kill... multiple times, apparently. They knew this was the way out because their captain did the same, but abandoned them to this fate.

We went to the beach, and held off water elementals and a hydra. When the horn was constructed, with one mighty blow, warriors swept in, fighting back the hordes of beasts that remained, and carried us back to the future with the three missing members. They were ever thankful, and when we gave them over to Captain Aurora, I think she took them into her crew? Unsure.

Either way, I am officially a pirate, and can't wait for the next mission on the open sea!