The Story so far...

[Mr_Praetorian]

The week after the battle at Sasserine seemingly went buy in a flash. In no time at all, it was Saturday evening, and Sea Wyvern's repairs were finished. The Sun was low in the sky, and a brilliant glow of red, orange, and punk could be see shining into the port. Faerlan was barking orders at the dock workers to get them to move faster, while Caelian and Niles eyed the map that would take you to your destination, The Isle of Dread. Needless to say, the name wasn't raising everyone's hopes, nor was the fact that the trip was going to take almost 3 months...

As the last few crates were loaded onto the deck of the 'Wyvern, three figures were spotted walking towards the ship; two elves, each sporting two scimitars, and a very tall figure wearing a cloak that hid its features...

[Mr_Praetorian]

Week 2, Day 3
For the last 3 days the 'Wyvern and her crew had withered through one of the most harrowing storms in all of her years at sea. Blasts of lightning were thrown from the sky as colossal waves slammed into her frame. Faerlan was called upon many times to repair a weakened hull section. But through the old gal's determination, the skill of her crew, and healthy dose of luck, she held out past the storm. There only fear, was that based on the weather pattern, the storm seemed to be heading for Sasserine. A few warning messages were sent, and you could only hope that the city could prepare in time.

As the waves calmed, and darkened skies passed, a great fog settled over the ocean in the early morn of the 3rd day. Yet, those of your who had sailed through the waters of the Elspire Sea knew that such was a mixed blessing, for these waters were some the most dangerous ones known (Know: History to learn more about its history). More pirates worked in the waters than most, and merchant ships were forced into the narrow sea to avoid the low shoals and coral reefs of nearby waters.

So, the site of a ruined and ravaged vessel wasn't a surprise to most...

Sailor: Sails ahoy! Merchant Caravel! Looks damaged!
Farelan: Figures. We've moved from one hell to another sailing threw the Elspire Sea.
Niles: Would you have preferred another two days of that storm?
Faerlan: I'll tell you after we've made it through here. Captain? Our course of action.

[Zanaikin]

(Drew: remember that I'm maintaining constantly duration of Stormrunner's Ward, which gives +6 on ship saves against rough seas / storms, not to mention my Control Current spells should help when it lasts (200min total) [I'm going to reserve that for times when storm is at its worst or we need to navigate through a particularly dangerous section]. Also maintaining two Repair Light Damage to help Faerlan with in regards to emergency repairs)

Faina finds the circumstances rather suspicious, not to mention it brings back a particularly bad memory and gives off a distinctly similar feeling... she goes to find Tannhauser to discuss the issue:
"Tann, I'm really not convinced that's an actual merchant ship. It could just be pirates laying down another trap for the unwary, this hardly being a new tactic to them. I'm going in to scout them out a bit. In the meantime close the ship to within 800ft of them, that'll give Alexius the range to bombard their deck if anything goes wrong."
"...I will not have this crew meet the same fate as that of my father's."

( unless Marty/someone-else feels like firing up a debate on doing something else )

Faina goes to get Strelka and takes off into the air, casting See Invisibility upon herself to make certainly no mages try to ambush her from the ship. She flies to a distance of 300ft away from ship (including 250ft up), creates an invisible magic sensor via Arcane Eye, and sends it down to scout the crippled vessel (deck first, then head into the cabins if possible).
( maintaining take-10 spot on vessel: 41 )
( once the eye gets down there, sense motive to see if any of them show signs of hostility towards the Wyvern: 20 )

[Mr_Praetorian]

As Faina approaches the ship, she happens upon a truly chilling sight. The entire crew of the vessel seems to have been skinned, and hung in the rigging, their agonized faces preserved... The ship itself appears to have taken relatively little structural damage, aside from a fallen forward mast, and few piles of debris.

The arcane eye detected not but silence on the deck, but it began to sense something terrible in the decks below. Soon, Faina was being relayed feelings of pain, suffering, and hatred. Something truly spiteful was waiting in the hold...

[Zanaikin]

Faina dismisses the Arcane Eye, takes a few moments and deep breaths to recompose herself from the torrent of intense emotions that flowed through.
"that... wasn't suppose to happen at all." she said to nobody in particular.

After a minute or so, she finally turns Strelka around and heads back to the Wyvern with the news.
"Alright everyone, we seem to have the closest thing to a ghost ship at hand. Actually it may just be one. Doesn't seem to have been a fight onboard as the ship took little structural damage. But... the entire crew seems to have been skinned alive and now hangs from the rigging... and it feels like something truly hideous settled in below decks in the hold. I don't know what it is, but the feelings that somehow flowed through my divination were... far from pleasant."

"I suggest we keep our distance from that ship and sink it at maximum range."

[Mr_Praetorian]

Upon hearing Faina's report, Caelian's eyes grew wide with shock. "No, its not possible. How could she still be alive after all this time!"

Faerlan: What this now?
Niles: He's talking about Sargera.
Faerlan: Sar-? ...Oh Gods no...
Caelian: Wait! Didn't we sink her ship... long ago? We... we sunk it! Right?!
Faerlan: We did, but, knowing Sargera, I wouldn't be surprised if she figured out a way to raise her ship too.

[littleangryman]

Francis, listening to all this is very puzzled. "Uh... Sargera? Who, exactly is this Sargera? Or should I be asking what?"

[Laharl]

Anton shrugs. "I'm as confused as you are."

[Mr_Praetorian]

Most of the crew looked towards the ground, as though in shame of the story that was about to come. Caelian who looked overwhelmed, began to shake, and excused himself below deck. It was Faerlan who decided to bear the burden.
"Sargera was a captain in the service of the Golden Dolphins many, many years ago. Official documents state that she went on a mission and never returned. The truth is that she did return, well, something returned. We sent her on a mission to wipe out some cultists around this area. The Elspire Sea was just as bad all those years ago as it is today. But she was bright, young lass, with a quick wit and grasp for sailing. We thought she was the right one for the job, perhaps we were wrong.

We sent her off with some of our best pirate hunters on mission that shouldn't have taken more than a few weeks. But weeks turned to months, and then to a full year. We sent dozens of scouting parties to search for her, but she never turned up. We found the remains of the cultists, so we can only assume that she took them down before something got her.

After a year had gone by we gave up. We always sent a small party down through here every once and awhile, hoping that they found something, but, eventually we gave that up too. She just disappeared. Or, so we thought.
Five years later, and, out of nowhere, we same across her ship on the open waters. At the time, I was serving on the Daystar, when Captain Demetrius was in control of it.

God's, her ship, the Ghost Talon, literally came out of nowhere. One minute the horizon was clear, the next, there she was. Even before we closed, we could tell something was up. The ship, it looked different, almost as though a permanent shadow had descended over the vessel. The waves around her were dead to, as though the ship sucked the life from even the sea as it passed.

We should have known better, but we were so damned happy to have finally found her. So, we struck our colors, and moved in. Only when we were within fighting range did we realize something truly terrible had happened. The sails... Gods... the sails were made from the flesh of her crew, who had taken skeletal form. She was no better. A wretched smile had been permanently cut into her face. We could see the agony of it all as we moved in.

Sargera, the lass we had looked so long for, was dead, and some hideous creature had taken her place. A creature that spared us no reprieve from shock, and fired on us immediately when we were in range. We took a lot of casualties in that fight, including the ship we were on. It was only by luck that Faina's father arrived in time with his scouting party to our aid, lest we would have all died that day.

I watched that ship sink. We all lost hope of ever finding our friend and ally as the Ghost Talon slipped beneath the waves. We had thought that to be the end of her. Yet, I, for one can't really believe that. Sargera was a mage before she went on that mission, and I believe a "Palemaster" is what we fought when her ship returned." By now, most of the crew has bowed their heads and removed their hats and bandanas.

[Laharl]

"And you believe that she, no, it, has done this foul thing to these people." Anton says it as a statement, not a question.

[Mr_Praetorian]

Faerlan: I've never met nor heard of a anyone else who did this to its victims.

[Zanaikin]

( Eh, wow... you said they hung in the rigging, not as the rigging... I think I'd be vomiting after looking at that @_@ )

"Not likely for something else to have done it short of maybe the vilest of creatures directly from the abyss, that was certainly the worst thing I've ever seen... or could even have imagined. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick. But the issue here is what we can do about it. I have no desire to get anywhere near that thing again but it certainly isn't right to just leave it around here like this to prey on others. Should we just bombard it until the vessel is so thoroughly trashed not even sheer magic could resurface it in significantly large enough pieces to matter?"

"Ugh, I think I'm going to look for a memory modification spell when we get back to Sasserine."

[Mr_Praetorian]

Faerlan: Are there no survivors? Otherwise, sinking it from a far distance is probably our best bet.

[Zanaikin]

[Squall255]

"Sink it then. Ready for the fireworks my friends? Cause if what you said is true, I'm not going to hold back in the slightest, and that ship will go DOWN." Alexius stated, more serious than he had been this entire trip.