Campaign Diary: Session 9

Previously, on The Broken World Campaign...

Our heroes decide to leave the vault of the dwarf lord on the island of the Micronians and instruct the dragonking Ravel to hide the vault.  The heroes then depart and begin making their way back to Tradeport to determine the best way to go about finding the mysterious Life Equation that the spirit of Rann told them was needed in order to save the dying islands.  On the way back they encounter a Catgory 2 aetherstorm which rages on for 15 hours and which damages the ship (but which Norro repairs with his divine magic - well, MOSTLY repairs) takes them severely off course, requiring another 6 days travel to get back to Tradeport.  A few days into the trip they spot a ship that has apparently been attacked and boarded by a spider-like ship resembling the one they saw back at the cultist temple to Mortalas that orcs were using.  The group decide to see if they can help the other ship and bring in Kern's Folly close enough to see that several neogi slavers have boarded the ship and there are many bodies laying about, but one still standing; a female with red skin and horns and casting spells.  The heroes bring their ship in closer and discover that aethermines have been scattered about the area.  One slams into the Aft of the ship and blows a hole in the hull.  They decide to bring the ship to a full stop before any other mines are attracted to them and they then take to the aether and swim over to the other ship to surprise the neogi.  Once one or near the ship, they attack the spider-like creatures and seem to have surprised them.  Solomon and Leikner take the lead, assaulting the neogi with their weapons while Norro sees to the now-fallen mage and Bantu stays back in the aether to cast spells.  It seems that the fight goes well for the heroes until one of the neogi uses magic to enslave Solomon's mind and turns him against Norro.  The neogi attempts to escape back to its ship but Leikner follows and attacks.  The neogi that have already retreated decouple the spider ship from the other ship and begin backing away from it, apparently attempting to depart.  Bantu casts a spell that causes Leikner's neogi to run away from him, and Leikner takes that opportunity to save the human that it had taken and return back to the other ship.  Then from below decks, a monstrous umber hulk emerges and takes Solomon from behind, hurting him enough to allow him to snap out of the neogi's enchantment. Bantu casts a spell to cause the umber hulk to flee in fear momentarily, and the creature goes back down below deck.  Bantu notices a strange plume of energy erupting out of a hole in the deck and surmises that this is an ominous portent and urges everyone to collect the unconscious and swim back to Kern's Folly.  And none too soon, for when they gain some distance from the mage's ship, it explodes, releasing a powerful shockwave through the aether, causing Kern's Folly to rock violently for a few moments, but escaping the brunt of the blast.   The session ends with the heroes caring for the wounded.