Sapphire Sea

Start-class article · First seen: pre-campaign brief · Last seen: s18
Sapphire Sea
the sapphire sea · the coastal sea · the Eldwythe-Aurelia sea
Portrait of Sapphire Sea.
Location
StatusActive
First seenpre-campaign brief
Last seens18
FactionAurelian forces, Velkris

The Sapphire Sea is the sea the party sailed in sessions 16 to 18, on a skiff from the Eldwythe sewer outflow to the Aurelian coast. The DM never spoke its name, but the wiki identifies it with the world brief’s sea because Velkris holds the only way between it and the ocean [18]. Aurelian patrols work its waters, and a cold reef line in the south held a wyrm, a reef stalker and other monsters [5].

Overview

The Sapphire Sea is the sea the party sailed in sessions 16 to 18, between Eldwythe in the north and Aurelia in the south. In the world brief the Sapphire Sea narrows at Velkris into the Greywater River (world brief). The DM never spoke the sea’s name at the table. The wiki identifies the party’s sea with the brief’s because Terry observed that “the only way in and out to this from the ocean is through Velkris” [8], and the DM replied that this is why the city is among the richest nations [9].

Geography and appearance

Open, flat, grey water that the party first took for a river. The DM first said they were on an ocean, then that the waters were “deceptively big compared to the map” and “aren’t rivers per se”, and Hugo settled on calling it a sea [10]. Hugo placed the party about a tile east and a tile south of Eldwythe, north of Aurelia [11][12]. Travel is slow: a skiff makes half a hex a day, so two days of sailing took the party one hex from Eldwythe [13], and the DM put the White Lantern Shrine roughly three days’ sailing from the sewer outflow [14].

Inhabitants

The southern stretch holds a reef line where thin plates of frost drift on the water [15]. The party met the Brinemaw Wyrm, the Reef Stalker, the Rimeclaw Skulkers and a pack of water wolves there [5]. Nearer the Aurelian coast a winged catfish with acid breath stalked the skiff [16], and a huge red dragon flew overhead [17].

Government / control

Velkris controls the way between the sea and the ocean [18]. Aurelian forces work its waters: they chased down and sank the ship on which Mike and Steven had tried to escape [19], and a coastal patrol boat was seen moving along a search route at night [3].

Notable features

The cold-water reef line in the southern stretch is the one place where the sea turned cold: the second day of sailing south “turns colder not winter cold” [20]. The DM has not said whether the cold is natural.

History in the campaign

Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

Main article: Session 16

The party slipped past the Aurelians holding the end of the sewer and found a small skiff “slowly bobbing against the current”, the stink of the tunnels giving way to seawater [21]. Once it was afloat the DM told them the waterways opened wide and the choice was theirs [22]. Hugo took the water for a river that led anywhere from Eldwythe, with Aurelia the nearest destination [23], and the DM placed the shrine a little north of Aurelia towards the coast, roughly three days’ sailing away [14]. The party agreed to go there, and the session closed with them setting sail “towards the pale city of Aurelia” [24].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

A few hours out of Eldwythe the shoreline bent away and the sea opened around the skiff, “grey flat and quiet” [2]. The party passed the wreck of the ship the Aurelians had sunk and pulled Mike and Steven from it [2][25], and on the first night Steven saw lanterns moving with purpose to the west, probably a coastal patrol boat on a search route too far off to matter [26]. The table argued over whether this was a river or an ocean until the DM called it deceptively big [27]. On the second morning the water grew cold and a reef line ahead brought the attack of the wyrm and its fellows [15].

Session 18: The Wyrm Falls, the Catfish Escapes, and Mike Dies on the Road

Main article: Session 18

Steven’s critical hit finished off the serpent as the reef-line fight resumed [28], and the skiff sailed on towards the coast [29]. As the party edged closer to land a huge red dragon passed overhead and went on to the north [30]. Later a winged catfish ambushed the boat a couple of hours from shore, its acid breath began to dissolve the hull [16][31], and the boat ended cut in two as the fish dived away [32]. The party swam through open water to a beach and made landfall, exhausted, in the middle of the night [33][34].

Session 19: A Penitent Priest, an Unmade Leash, and the Pixie in the Dark

Main article: Session 19

Planning the way to Velkris, Hugo asked whether the quickest route was round the outskirts of Aurelia or back through Umbrafall [35]. The DM said that, being closer to Eldwythe, the party’s quickest path ran through Eldwythe, Umbrafall and Mirestrand, or else by skiff or barge [36]. Hugo objected that two days by boat should already have covered most of the way to Aurelia; the DM checked the world map and said a skiff makes half a hex a day, so the party had come one hex from Eldwythe [37].

Status

As of session 23. The party came ashore on the Aurelian coast at the end of the sea voyage in session 18 and has not been back on the water. The winged catfish that sank its skiff escaped alive [38].

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 16, line 1603-1633: The skiff at the sewer mouth; the waterways open wide; the White Lantern Shrine placed roughly three days' sailing away (s16 L1717).
  2. ^ Session 17, line 140: Sailing south from Eldwythe; the Aurelian-sunk shipwreck with a half-scorched golden-sunburst sail (white-hulled).
  3. ^ Session 17, line 1187: Coastal patrol-boat lanterns to the west during Steven's first watch.
  4. ^ Session 17, line 1243-1258: Ocean, river or sea; "the only way in and out to this from the ocean is through Velkris" (Terry), and the DM's reply that this is why Velkris is among the richest nations.
  5. ^ Session 17, line 1568-1604: Cold-water reef line in the southern stretch; Brinemaw Wyrm, Reef Stalker, Rimeclaw Skulkers and water wolves.
  6. ^ Session 18, line 441-1164: Red dragon overhead, the winged catfish destroys the skiff a couple of hours from land, the swim to landfall.
  7. ^ Session 19, line 289-296: The DM's route to Velkris and skiff speed of half a hex a day.
  8. ^ Session 17, line 1251: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 17, line 1252-1258: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 17, line 1243-1250: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 17, line 1245: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 17, line 1262: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 19, line 296: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 16, line 1717: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 17, line 1568-1570: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 18, line 574: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 18, line 469-493: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 17, line 1251-1258: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 17, line 200: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 17, line 1568: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 16, line 1603: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 16, line 1633: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 16, line 1735-1753: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 17, line 186-200: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 17, line 1176-1187: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 17, line 1232-1250: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 18, line 162-167: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 18, line 213: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 18, line 441-493: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 18, line 744-747: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 18, line 975-981: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 18, line 1022-1025: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 18, line 1155-1164: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 19, line 289: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 19, line 290: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 19, line 295-296: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 18, line 975-977: Inline citation.