Chapter 4: The Waters of Menehune

Cordey feels warm energy flow through him from the amulet that Lelay gave him as he glances at the symbols on the cover again and opens the dusty tome. Amazingly, he understands some of the archaic script:

The Eternal Barrier and
Demons' Bane

Cordey flips through the brittle pages and the meaning of some symbols jump into his mind. There's mention of the peoples of the island being taken by demons to a fire realm. Pages speak of Makai shamans that summon the power of the sea, the Old Ones, and they Fey to craft a powerful ward that prevents demons from opening instant portals to this world at will.

There are some drawing on the pages with captions:


Shamans call on the power of The Sea, The Old Ones, and the Fey

The Great Ward, a barrier that angers the vengeful Demons.

The pages go on to mention that the demons were able to force open only one portal into this world. The location of the portal is either not mentioned or it is mentioned in a section of symbols Cordey cannot understand.

One portal remains

Admiral is sure he noticed a subtle change in the creature's appearance during its last outburst. Its pupils narrowed from wide round dark pupils of its fey visage to more sharp slits. There was an ever-so-slight red glow to them when it said the Infernal word that caught Tasya's attention.

Since his own foray into the world of magic use, Admiral has payed enough attention to talk of sorcery and warlocks to know that devious imps may be employed by those delving into dark arts. And he knows many have the ability to change their own form. This creature is an imp in disguise; Admiral is sure of it. This one, though, legitimately seems to be imprisoned and pleading to be released. True to imp form, it has donned a manipulative disguise. But its intentions and relationship to the hag are still unclear to Admiral.

Similarly, Regan sees through the demanding pleas of the little creature and does not trust the creature's assertion that it can help the party. it is hiding something.

Huge Cordey say, "With some aid, this book tells of a gruesome story. There is powers of the sea, Demons, and Fey. It speaks of the coming of Demons. And it will take much more time study it.

He looks up as both Regan and Admiral are take much more interest in the Fey. And a fast glance around the room to make sure all is good. Cordey is feeling nervous here.

"I think you can stay right where you are for the moment," Regan says offhandedly, shooting the "pixie" trapped in glass a sidelong glance as he pokes around the table some more.

I think you can stay right where you are for the moment

Huge Cordey asks Regan and replying to his statement, "Would not freeing the fey aid us?"

"If it were fey, probably. But I'm not sure that's the case," Regan replies as he pokes through the Hag's stuff. "And I don't think Tasya does, either. That book sounds important though, good find. You should probably hold onto it until we're out of here. It might answer some questions."

"Aye, it’s definitely no fey, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be helpful," says Admiral. He taps the glass sphere containing the creature with one of his claws "What do you say, imp? What can you offer us in exchange for your freedom?"

Before Cordey closes the Makai tome he notices a page with a dried blood spot on it. The page is titled:
Demons Bane
It seems to detail some magic incantations and rituals to bind demons involving demon blood. Cordey doesn't understand the spell craft but he realizes what the page describes. The spell that has the dried blood next to it is called...
Hellglass Prison

...

Tasya studies the books written in Infernal a bit while Admiral addresses the imp. She opens one book to a place where it is marked using a narrow human finger bone as a bookmark. She gasps. "We should take this too, and bring it to Mischa to study more." she says with urgency to Jin "I think this hag is trying to learn how the demons gain power from the wills of their human victims."

Jin replies, "Tasya, in the pool I saw the same type of ship you came to us on. It had human prisoners...slaves aboard. The hag can watch that from her pool. What does she have to do with it?"
...

Meanwhile...

"PFTT!" releases the imp in a huff of exasperation. The illusion of the fey dissapates and it shows its true form.



Addressing Admiral it replies, "I know the hag's secrets! I know how she charms the Sahuagin and the Fossergrim. And..." accompanied by a dramatic pause the imp's thin lips curl into a twisted mischievous smile. "...I know where she hordes the treasures she's kept from all her human victims...or should I say, her dinners. Blah!!" It spits in disgust.

...

Poking around the room Regan finds:
> A delicately carved comb from iridescent mother of pearl that's inlaid with tiny shimmering pearls.
> In a messy heap under a table is a net woven from frayed, seaweed-green threads and dotted with faintly glowing runes. It looks weathered and ragged, but somehow still sturdy.
> On a table workbench in a seashell being used as a bowl-like container, are two large shimmering pearls.

Admiral’s ears prick up at the word ‘treasure’, but he feigns disinterest. "Hmm… I don’t know. What’s to stop you flying away or helping the hag once we release you? How about this: we’ll bring you with us and, if you make yourself useful and help us navigate these tunnels and find that treasure you were talking about, we’ll free you once we’ve killed the hag."

Huge Cordey says, "Now that is a plan." as he fully agrees with Admiral's thoughts. He packs away the book he had for later reading. He looks over to Tasya, "Are you good to go?"

Regan will pick up the pearls, then point out the comb and the net. "Thoughts on these?"

Stats
Admiral--Current HP: 16, Temp HP: 0, Spell Slots: 1/2, PP: 0/4, Pact Tally: 53/400.
Regan--Current HP: 31, Temp HP: 6, Warlock Spell Slots: 1/2, Pact Tally: 0/150.
Cordey--Current HP: 24, Temp HP: 0, SD: 0/4
Jin--HP: 7, Spell Slots:0/2
Tasya--HP: 3

The imp scoffs and looks around its prison. "I have no reason to help that witch who broke our pact and instead imprisoned me and used me to study the secrets of my kind. You can trust me not to help her...But..." At a loss for any other tricks the imp concedes, "I have no reason to help you if you let me out either. Do what you will! Take me in this cage. But release me after I give you what you want!"

Tasya replies to Cordey. "I am okay," she says stubbornly nearly loosing her balance as she speaks. She is clearly not okay.

"I think we could all benefit from a quick break before we press on," Admiral says. He stows the imp in his bag and crosses the room to admire the shiny knick-knacks Regan found. He's not much of an expert in magic items, but they sure are pretty!