Hornswoggling Hobgoblins (hobgoblin PCs in Skull & Shackles) [Major Spoilers]


Campaign Journals

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When hobgoblins become adults they officially join the military as lance-privates and go through a Year of Hell in order to qualify to serve. Flunking out of the Year of Hell means a life spent serving the rest of the tribe. The Crashing Horde tribe's latest group was about a month into its Year when a strange thin man, perhaps an elf, wandered toward them and sent them scattering in terror, visions of their greatest fears pursuing them. This qualifies as instant failure.

Not all of them were willing to accept this meekly, however. Rumours of a hobgoblin named Svard persist, saying that he commands a crew of humans and is feared as a pirate captain. Thinking that accomplishing this might be enough to let them retake their Year of Hell, several of them set out for Port Peril to commandeer a ship.

They re-encountered each other at the Formidably Maid, a tavern that seemed ideal for taking over a crew of pirates. Somehow while catching up with each other there they consumed something that didn't agree with them, and everything went black.

Next thing they knew, they were aboard a ship being shaken awake by someone called Master Scourge. They declared step one of their plan to be a qualified success.

Character Creation Guidelines


It was time to determine their positions aboard the Wormwood, and the hobgoblins prepared themselves for the testing. First they needed to ascend to the top of the mainmast. Marqua took an early lead, but she soon fell back to deck, injuring herself slightly. She still nearly managed to catch up, but Zarrnok got there first, securing for himself a position as a rigger. Next, Mister Plugg declared the need for a cook's mate and asked if anyone could cook. No one was forthcoming. He dismissed Oknarok as too scrawny, and scrutinized the other three. Malikor volunteered, and was made cook's mate on the spot. He was informed that even though he technically counted as an officer he shouldn't get any ideas above his station, such as thinking he was welcome in the officer's quarters.

They worked for a day, then witnessed the death of Jakes Magpie by keelhauling. They tried to settle in and make friends, but Badger always seemed to be watching, reporting if they dumped their rum and just generally acting like an elf.

Starting the day off with calisthenics proved to be a bad idea, since all of them were late to report on deck and were sentenced to lashes. Malikor had to prepare all of the food himself that day, but he did exceptionally well and everyone was pleased with their meal. Marqua was still fairly hurt from her fall from the rigging, but she befriended Sandara, a cleric of Besmara, who helped her with some healing. That evening Leitauk and Zarrnok met a big man named Owlbear Hartshorn, who spends most of his time chained up in the hold.

Oknarok spent the next day seasick. Marqua did an excellent job ratcatching and was looking forward to some recognition for it, which was not forthcoming. She caught one extra rat and, in the dead of night, slipped it under Badger's cover. Her screams woke not only all the other swabs but also the officers. She was sentenced to whipping with the cat. Marqua was sure that Badger hadn't seen her, but she wasn't sure that nobody had.

The next day all of the "gobbos" (as Mister Plugg likes to call them) were sent down to the bilges to see if they could find the monster responsible for Badger's screams. They ended up discovering six dire rats, which proved to be a bit of a fight (particularly since most of them were armed only with belaying pins) but they triumphed in the end. They handed over the dire rat corpses, and learned that they'd become food for the pigs.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 1)


The next few days on board the Wormwood progressed much as could be expected for our seafaring hobgoblins. They (and by “they” we mean “Oknarok”) overcame their shameful weakness of seasickness, and as the winds picked up it showed no sign of returning. Marqua forgot the Captain's first rule, Leitauk and Oknarok checked a few more things off their "first offense" list, Leitauk added a second offense to "dumping rum" while Oknarok achieved third offense on that front. Marqua was baked in the sweat-box for a day, and struggled valiantly to remain conscious for the full 8 hours, succumbing to unconsciousness in the last hour of her shift. Leitauk and Oknarok were once again the centre-stage for blood-hour, and at the end of the day Oknarok and Marqua were standing only with the assistance of Sandara. The most distressing moment for the group was when Tam “Narwhal” Tate pointed Malikor’s mug out to an officer, who took the mug and threw it out a porthole. The next night, Malikor was slightly more subdued and carrying a different, suspiciously-dirt-covered, mug.

The unit’s second week on board started with a violent storm, which they weathered slightly better than the boat itself did. They were assigned to more dangerous tasks than swabbing the deck, and the storm saw all five hobgoblins in the rigging or on the crow’s nest. For the first time, Zarrnok considered that perhaps he did not want to be a rigger. Working through one night and the next day without rest left Malikor exhausted, Zarrnok fatigued, and all of them looking for a long night in their hammocks.

On the first day of calmer seas, the unit was assigned the task of securing crab for dinner, as per the captain’s orders. Sent overboard with nothing but wooden barrels and the weapons they scrounged, the unit headed for the reef. There they struggled briefly to catch the crabs, with Malikor and Zarrnok figuring out how faster than Marqua - who then showed Oknarok and Leitauk how to snag the critters. Before filling more than one barrel, they spotted two much larger (and slightly bi-pedal) crabs headed towards them. Dispatching them filled two more barrels, and they returned soon after to the Wormwood with five full barrels. Unbeknownst to the hobgoblins, the weird-looking crabs were Reefclaws – delicacies which the Captain was greatly pleased to have for dinner. As reward for leading the successful crab-acquisition mission, Malikor was given all his gear back.


As a heat wave blasted the crew of the Wormwood, the hobgoblins continued to try to befriend as many of the crew as possible. This was met with mixed success, and it seemed clear that certain members of the ship's company would never feel warmly toward them.

Oknarok had been learning a great deal about guns during the course of the voyage, and was very excited to hear that Cut-Throat Grok had a broken musket in the ship's stores. One evening while the grog was being passed out he snuck into the stores and nicked it, along with some bullets and powder.

Soon after the heat wave passed, Riaris Krine taught a class in boarding procedures. The group particularly enjoyed throwing rotting food at Badger as she was climbing toward the ship. Eventually everyone learned what they needed to know, and looked forward to putting their skills to the test.

Before that could happen though, Oknarok was ordered into the bilges. En route, the boatswain and the first mate stopped him and searched him for weapons. When he got there he found that Aretta Bansion and Fipps Chumlett were already there. It wasn't long before they jumped him, but he was able to defend himself sufficiently that they ran off. When the boatswain demanded to know what happened he said that there was a small accident and misunderstanding, but that everything was fine.

The next day (a leap day) the lookout spotted sails, and the entire ship's company dedicated themselves to the task of catching up with their prey. Their target was the Man's Promise, a Rahadoumi ship filled with cleric hunters.

Finally the Wormwood caught up, and everyone went to work. The hobgoblins excelled at their tasks, and even managed to warn the captain of an ambush without addressing him directly (since he had ordered them never to speak to him). This done, prize money and loot was distributed, and everyone started to party.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 1)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 1 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 1)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 1)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 2)


With the Man's Promise alongside, the crew of the Wormwood had a significant amount of free time. The hobgoblins discussed things among themselves, and decided that they wanted to stay aboard the Wormwood under Captain Harrigan rather than go with Mister Plugg aboard the Man's Promise. They approached Plugg and attempted to be diplomatic with him, and this ended badly. They were promptly informed that they would be going with him.

Master Scourge was very out of sorts. It was common knowledge that he was consorting frequently with Badger the half-elf, and word had leaked that she was remaining on the Wormwood (unlike him.) Everyone was careful to avoid him in his extremely sour mood, at least until Zarrnok hatched a plan. He approached Badger and challenged her to an unarmed match in a combat circle on the deck, with him wagering his spot on the Man's Promise and her wagering her quiver full of arrows (which had previously belonged to Zarrnok). She accepted, and Scourge was very excited about the match. After Zarrnok beat her soundly Scourge had to be restrained from entering the circle himself and finishing off Zarrnok. After that no one got near Scourge if they could avoid it, but he made it clear that he wanted Zarrnok dead.

Cut-Throat Grok was particularly distressed to discover that Malikor was leaving, since she'd become good friends with him. She cried, and gave him a chain shirt from ship's stores.

After the celebrations ended, the new crew of the Man's Promise set sail for Port Peril, with instructions from Captain Harrigan to sell the ship and await pick-up. Setting sail for the northwest, the ship left the Wormwood behind. This was the case for a bit over a day, after which the ship abruptly changed course and headed northeast. The crew was divided over whether Captain Plugg wanted to go to Bloodcove or to get the ship squibbed, but it was clear that he was betraying Harrigan.

Before they could reach either destination, however, a fierce storm blew in. The wind and the rain conspired to take the ship significantly off course, and in the midst of all the distractions some tentacled goblin creatures crept on board and attacked the crew. They kept trying to kidnap people, but eventually the crew fought them off. Exhausted, they weathered the rest of the storm before falling into their hammocks.

A loud, jarring crack woke everyone, and it soon transpired that the Man's Promise had hit a reef. Captain Plugg immediately had the crew begin dismantling the deck in order to facilitate repairs, and he sent the hobgoblins to a nearby island in order to refill the damaged water stores. He made it clear that he had enough water for the people remaining aboard (especially since Sandara and Tilly hadn't been seen since the storm), so if they weren't back by the time he finished repairs then he was leaving without them. Master Scourge grinned.

Taking a boat, they spent a couple hours circumnavigating the island. At one point they saw a wreck beneath the waves and a few of them dove down to look at it. Only a combination of careful planning and very good luck saved them from the eel lurking below, and they barely managed to escape with their lives (leaving the wreck completely unexplored).

They landed the boat and began climbing to the summit of the island's hills, where they could see some sort of compound.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 1)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 1 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 1)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 1)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 2)


As we begin to ascend the hill towards the compound, Malikor is suddenly beset by a particularly horrific case of dysentery. We manage to get him back to the boat (well... beside the boat) before the full onset. We leave him to his own... difficulties... and press on.

With our officer neglecting his duties, leading our group is left to me as next in the chain of command. And lead I do! As we approach the compound we can hear the buzzing of insects. Once we get within sight of the compound, we see a hut and a large tree that are overrun by a swarm of botflies. Also of note is a spyglass pointed to the southern end of the island. As none of us have a wand of fireballs to use up on the botfly threat, I make do with what resources we have and task Leitauk and Marqua with building a fire upwind of the swarm to smoke them out and a fireline to prevent it from spreading while Oknarok and I stand watch.

This tactic proves more successful than I had hoped, as not only are the botflies dispersed for the time being, but it also flushes two vine creepers out of the tree, which make for Oknarok at an alarming speed. I'm glad I took the precaution of setting a watch. While Oknarok gamely distracts the vine creepers with his screaming, Marqua and I kill a vine creeper each.

That threat dealt with, we move into the compound. Inside the hut, we find a hanged man. He's dead, but still bitey. We find out he's a ghast named Aaron. Apparently the boredom of this island coupled with disease gave him the idea to take his own life. Turns out he did not do a very good job of it. We befriend him (we think), cut him down, loot the compound, and feed the vine creepers to him. It turns out that he had been studying the Grindylows (the goblin squids that took Sandara and Tilly) below via his spyglass (which we liberate, of course).

So, Aaron in tow, we head for Grindylow Cove! As we approach their lair, we are beset by a group of stirges. It proves their undoing, as we are an elite hobgoblin fighting force and my leadership is strong and sage.

We find a back way into the Grindylow lair via a sinkhole, and proceed down. We enter into the cave system, but I aim us towards the entrance of the Grindylow cave instead of deeper into the complex. Sure enough, we take the lookouts by surprise and kill them. Aaron has a snack, then we head deeper into the cave. We quickly encounter eight more Grindylows with Sandara in tow. Being the fearless leader of our squad I kill a good number of the Grindylows, with some help from my companions to kill the rest.

Once we free Sandara, she tells us she thinks there's about forty more Grindylows and one ultra-Grindylow in the complex; daunting odds, even for us. We establish a tactical foothold and Leitauk scouts ahead. Leitauk encounters another party of Grindylows and throws what turns out to be a tanglefoot grenade. As the grenade goes off and Leitauk rejoins us, I decide to press the advantage to reduce the Grindylow numbers further and give the order to quickly move forward and skirmish with this group. If we press the advantage, we can further reduce the odds we face!


The darkness of these caves being a disadvantage for Sandara (and due to the fact that she was still shaken up from her time in captivity), I have Aaron escort her to the mouth of the cave. It proved a fortuitous decision, as Malikor, having managed to purge his disease fully, spot the pair as they exit, and is able to rejoin us. We press on deeper into the cave system until we reach a large cavern containing a deep pool of water. There is rhythmic drumming coming from within.

Not eager to venture in to the pool and what is likely waiting within, I lead a foray into a side passage. However, it merely loops around to the back side of the large cavern. Suddenly, Oknarok and I are beset by grindylows in the knee-deep water. We trade blows, and though we are able to disable one of the ambushers, I don't believe we killed it. The engagement did prove useful in another way, however. It showed that fighting the grindylows on their terms (namely in water) was a dangerous and unwise endeavour.

As such, I sound the retreat to pull back. Leitauk, however, panics and begins firing at shapes he sees in the water. I step up beside Leitauk to provide equal parts support and to reinforce my orders to retreat. However, the grindylows strike. One after another, they all attack me. I fall and the world around me grows dark.

When I regain my senses, I find I have been captured by the grindylows. I'm in a large chamber with most of Tilly (she is missing her leg) and what I can only guess is The Whale. I'm guarded lightly, however I am restrained and my axe has been taken from me. One of the Grindylows informs me that I had been taken as dinner for The Whale, however my release had been negotiated. As such, Tilly had filled in as a snack to tide The Whale over until my companions could secure barter for me. I'm taken under heavy guard to the entrance of the cavern where the grindylows trade me back to my companions in exchange for the corpse of the large eel we fought earlier.

I'm furious that I had been captured, but I can't ignore the valuable intelligence it gained me of the grindylow caverns and of their numbers. I'm also furious about the injuries to Tilly, however if we wish to secure her rescue, any further interactions with the grindylows will need to be done with care. Either diplomatically (which rankles me to no end), or in a violent and one-sided fashion on terms that we dictate. Ideally well away from any water. While gory retribution is generally my favoured response, I can't ignore that negotiating for Tilly's release is a valid option for the time being.


We come up with a trade that will make the grindylows happy and head out to go dolphin hunting. We manage to kill two, and bring them back to the cave. We call out for Splashbasher, however another Grindylow named Kelpflower approaches us and tries to trade for the dolphins first. She misunderstands our desire to see Splashbasher and agrees to trade him to us. Before we can correct her, she goes to fetch him. Some minutes later, she returns with him in tow and promptly stabs him in the back with her spear. We respond somewhat violently, Kelpflower sinks beneath the waves, and the (understandably) distrusting Splashbasher takes off.

We do manage to coax him back, calm him down, and renegotiate for Tilly. Both Splashbasher and Kelpflower get a bit of healing, and we swap a dolphin for Tilly. We manage to recover Tilly and we notice that one of the grindylows looks a bit sick. I point this out, and am informed that he can talk to spirits now. Oooookay....

The grindylows are very much on board with this trading arrangement and would like some more humans. We discuss options among ourselves and decide to enlist their help with overthrowing Plug and Scourge on the boat in exchange for the bodies of the two men. Sendara summons a boat and we start rowing towards the ship. Along the way we come across the abandoned jollyboat and switch over to that. There is no sign of Aaron.

As we approach the ship, several folks (led by Plug and Scourge) pop up and open fire on us. We trade fire, the grindylows head into the water and towards the ship.Very quickly, we manage to drop both Plug and Scourge at range, though Sendara does have to use quite a bit of healing to keep Leitauk up. Once the two men go down, the grindylows recover the bodies, stop off at the jollyboat so we can strip them, and they head off with their prize. We approach the ship and it dawns on us that we'll need to figure out a new command structure. And what we'll do with our new vessel....


Having defended themselves against Plugg and Scourge's murderous attempt, the hobgoblins confirmed that the rest of the crew was just following orders and wasn't going to give them any trouble. In particular, they were happy that the next ranking officer, Fishguts, had been asleep and not at all a part of the attempt on their lives. Once he was sobered up, they turned command over to him.

Fishguts was unsure what to do, particularly given how afraid he was of Captain Harrigan. He consulted with the hobgoblins, and between them they determined that since Harrigan's last orders were to take the ship to Port Peril then that's what they ought to do. They recruited three of the grindylows, and slowly made their way to the capital of the Shackles.

Once there they started inquiring about selling the ship, but between the deck having been torn up to create a patch and the fact that none of the hobgoblins were actually very good at talking to people they discovered that they probably lacked the connections Plugg had to make a profit from its sale. Once they knew this they enjoyed shore leave and waited for Captain Harrigan to come pick them up.

Atil of Rahadoum, Narwhal, and Conchobhar all slipped away from the ship at their earliest opportunity, and they were waiting for the Wormwood when it arrived. They told Captain Harrigan about how the hobgoblins had murdered Plugg and Scourge, and Harrigan was furious. The hobgoblins told their side of the story, and Harrigan ordered the whole lot of them to the hold while he found out what really happened. He did this by sending First Mate Longfarthing off to question the remaining crew of the Man's Promise under the influence of magic.

While this was going on he sailed the Wormwood to Nalt's Island, where Patch Patchsalt informed the hobgoblins that they would be taking Atil and Narwhal ashore and retrieving the Throne of Nalt for the captain. Returning with either of the non-hobgoblins dead would be taken as proof of their guilt. The seven of them accepted this, and went ashore to try to enter Eel's Skull. While they managed to take down the first hill giant they met with only two of them (Narwhal and Zarrnok) falling unconscious, the other hill giants running toward them made it clear that they were far outclassed, and they returned in failure to the ship. Captain Harrigan was surprisingly understanding about this, and set sail for Port Peril.

First Mate Longfarthing had had plenty of time to interrogate the rest of the crew, and told Captain Harrigan that the hobgoblins had been ambushed by Plugg and Scourge (who were disobeying him by trying to steal the ship for themselves). She confirmed that the hobgoblins had remained loyal to him and had brought the ship back to him in spite of the temptation to keep it for themselves. In the ensuing negotiations (which Harrigan delegated to Longfarthing), the hobgoblins were ordered to squib the ship so that no one knew it was actually Harrigan's. They were then to set about making names for themselves, acquiring a letter of marque and eventually building their own fleet. Harrigan would have further instructions for them once that was accomplished.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 3)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 2 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 3)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 3)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 3)


Very interesting twist there.


After having spent several days recruiting new crew members in Port Peril, the crew of the soon-to-be-renamed Man's Promise set sail for Rickety's Squibs. The journey was largely uneventful, though the grindylows were beginning to show signs of boredom.

Rickety Hake seemed to be a kindly old man who laughed when the hobgoblins tried to bluster and seem threatening. He quoted a fair price for the squibbing and, after a thorough examination of the ship, said he could add a pair of secret compartments. He offered several payment plans, and the hobgoblins opted to try to end the drought that was plaguing the rain forest surrounding the port.

The next morning the five hobgoblins and Giffer Tibbs (who has been angling to rise in the power structure of the ship) set out upriver. Aside from a dire bat swooping in for their overnight fire, they found that the drought has gotten rid of much of the local life.

In the middle of the next day, they spotted a hundred-foot-tall toadstool rising from the jungle. A cautious approach revealed that it was being serviced by some fey, and the hobgoblins speculated that it was the source of the drought. Since there was a gap in the side they decided to creep in.

At first everything seemed fine, with five fey in there doing strange jobs that appeared to be some sort of maintenance labour. Before long, however, thick vapour rose from the soft floor and a lone figure appeared in the middle of it. The immediately recognized Royce Rue, the individual behind their initial panic that led them to run to Port Peril in the first place.

Combat ensued, but it was very one-sided. Royce Rue was clearly toying with them, using his spell-like abilities to avoid almost all of their attacks. Before long the hobgoblins fled the scene.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 3)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 3 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 3)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 3)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 4)


The group decided to put some distance between themselves and Royce Rue, so headed a random direction into the jungle for about an hour. Driven by empathy, Marqua made sure to use create water to try to help out the flora along the way.

Around about midnight, however, they noticed a pattern working its way toward them, frightening birds and getting steadily closer. Marqua set up a distraction, using her trackless step and woodland stride to make sure that she'd be able to make a clean getaway through some thorny thickets. Sure enough, Royce Rue found her and she was soon fleeing at full speed, and not altogether by choice.

The group managed to make it to the river, and they snuck away. Royce Rue continued searching for them, but by dawn he had given up and returned to the giant toadstool.

The group went and had a conversation with a couple of the fey caretakers of the toadstool, then decided that they were out of their depth and started the return voyage to Rickety's.

In the middle of the night before they reached the village it started to pour rain. Evidently, the drought ws over. Though they were unsure why this was the case, the hobgoblins accepted the free beer they were given upon their return.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 3)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 3 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 3)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 3)


Sandara's Journal.

With our hobgoblin companions off to investigate the cause of the drought, the crew has been left to their own devices at Rickety's. I'd thought the chance to get into trouble would be minimal, however even I can be wrong some time. Woo, Krooz, Rosie, and Jelga tried to rope Tilly and myself into a game of chance with some of the workers for the promise of beer. However, when one of the workers went to get more ale from a nearby warehouse, he was beset by some sort of serpent woman. Though we sprang to the man's defense, it was too late for the poor fellow. The others celebrate their victory, though I am in a less celebratory mood.

The following morning, we are forced once more to intervene in yet another strange assault. This time, several swarms of wasps attack the workers on our ship. It requires some creative tactics on our part, including the use of quite a bit of alchemist's fire and an air elemental, but we do triumph eventually. However, as the battle ends, we spy a Chelish galleon entering the mouth of the cove. They send a launch with the captain and several crew, who appear just as startled and uncertain to see us as we are to see them.

The captain introduces himself as Pegworthy, and he mentions that he has recently come into possession of the galleon and has come to Rickety's for certain services. Unfortunately, the signal flag intended to prevent one ship sailing in while another was being squibbed had not been flown by Rickety's man, and so resulted in the current predicament where we witness Pegworthy's ship and he ours.

That said, the captain and I negotiate an understanding, and Rickety offers a cash discount for the trouble caused. Rickety mentions that this should never have happened, and we offer to investigate why Pegworthy's vessel had not been waved off. We set off to the signal tower, uneventful but for the minor attack by wild boars (which we dispatch quite handily). Arriving at the tower, we find the lookout, dead. His wounds indicate that he has perhaps been stung by rather a largish wasp. This hypothesis is potentially confirmed as we do spot, off in the distance, a number of giant wasps.

Gathering the body of the lookout, his parrot, and the dead boars, we fly the signal flag, then return to Rickety to fill him in on the details of the lookout's death and the reasons why Pegworthy's ship had not been waved off.


After the nearly disastrous run-in with Royce Rue, we decided adventure elsewhere would be prudent. With the squibbing of the Quipper complete, we make preparations to set sail. During this period Sandara fills us in on what she had been up to. However, at our current strength levels, we decide assaulting the giant hornet's nest can wait. Mostly due to the logistical nightmare of building a shipboard apiary to house the young giant hornets that we can then hand-raise as flying mounts for our grindylow crew. With our crew hard at work, we set sail for one of the slaver villages Pancine had mentioned.

After several days, I can still feel the strange spores in my lungs from the encounter at the mushroom, but they don't seem to be getting any worse, so I try not to worry about it. The captain's condition seems to be worsening, however. It would seem my constitution is all the more formidable, and I stand ready to take command should she fall. We spend several days roaming the coast in an effort to spot a slaver village to no avail. Eventually, as dusk falls, Slippery Syl spots lamps coming on in a small village in the distance. Bingo.

We make a plan involving two simultaneous attacks. One, conducted by the hobgoblins, will be to the rear of the village, and designed to kill the guards and any other resistance. The second, led by Pancine, Giffer, and the barbarians Jelga and Woo... and, of course, Pancine's mount Yarrow) will hit the docks to help provide a distraction. The signal to go will be Oknarok. As usual.

We manage to sneak in, and set an ambush for the guard patrol. Marqua hits two of the guards with some sort of nauseating pollen, and we attack the third. Out of the darkness, the two guards are joined by two ferocious attack dogs! One of the guards starts to run, and I chase him down and kill him, while the others dispatch the two retching guards and the two dogs. However, my murder of the escaping guard attracts the attention of two more dogs, and five more guards. One of the dogs nearly takes Malikor's hand off, so we decide to wrap things up quickly. We kill the dogs, Marqua kills three of the guards with snowballs, Oknarok another, and the fifth runs. I, knowing my role by this point, chase him down and knock him out when he surrenders.

From the sounds of things, Pancine's group was just as successful, and we soon gain control of the village. We release the slaves, and once we finish looting our booty, we hand control of the village over to the slaves. We put out the message that the merry crew of the Quipper had saved everyone, and that we would be willing to take select volunteers with us!

The following day we set sail once more, having gathered intel as to where the next villages might be. After three days at sea, we spot our next quarry, and begin to form a plan of attack.....


To my dear heart,

The seas are rough but my memory of you is taut and pulls me forward in unwavering determination. What news have I to share with you? My brothers and sisters at sea have grown accustomed to possessing our own crew. The fungal one, Fuzzy Mela, has produced an offspring in the few days we stretched our legs on land. Faithful cousin Leitauk takes the change in stride. Sister Marqua and I search deep in thoughtful invention to create a suitable habitat on board. So far our ideas for rich soil and fertilizer has come down to carry a few mounds in the hold and relying on our new canine companion, M, and our once again dysentery cursed brother Yarrnok to provide useful by-product. I continue to hold optimism that Mela and her son Jeth can find a home with us.

Their condition worsens with each day they do not root on land, and we left our last conquered village in hopes of a quick conquer of the next. Spotted in port of this next village was a ship comparable to our own Quipper, and the crew used the veil of night to investigate. With deft stealth we went to shore. The streets were dizzy with inebriation, with sweat and noise and displays of heart-pounding joy I only recognize in myself when I am with you.

Two vagrants joined our wandering party and we welcomed them as concealment. Dave and Carol came with us to investigate a stone ziggurat in the centre of town. The entrance was as sealed as their fates. Leitauk, Marqua, Oknarok, and I attacked the six guards and used Dave and Carol to declare mutiny on the captain of the docked ship and out came Captain Ambrax, the captain of The Anglerfish.

It is not my intention to worry you, dear heart, but I have seen the face of my god. When Ambrax's cutlass came down on me, it was a fatal blow. She severed head from body, reasoning from breathing, me from you. But Moloch’s desire for me to return to you is so strong that he extracted my soul intact, fused my flesh, and brought me back to this tenuous plane. I have returned to my body and my goals are as clear as the sound of bells reverberating over water. We must combine ourselves and create offspring to further worship Moloch.

In the end my friends defeated Captain Abarax. We had sent Giffer, Jelga, and Woo to secure the Anglerfish but when I woke up Jelga gave report that Giffer hired some slaves and sailing the ship away. Leitauk sent a message to Giffer with her best wishes. Perhaps we will encounter The Anglerfish in the future and welcome Giffer back as part of our fleet.

My love, it is not a question of if but of when will be reunited. I will burn this correspondence in hopes that Moloch will once again help me and deliver it to you.

Devotedly yours,
Malikor


Excerpt from Malikor's Epic Ballad:

This is the tale of Dame Pancine
And her mental break on ship.
When Yaro, knighted faithful steed,
Was possessed and ran off Quip.

Thanmo gutted for all to see,
Black smoke had swarmed around.
Inside Dame Yaro who dived deep down
And thus could not be found.

She was spotted toward the haunted place
By Oknarok, my friend.
So ahead we went to get her back
And the mist to meet its end.

Five Halflings, small and bandaged up
Were around possessed Yaro too.
We called them Cultists for their robes,
That were tattered and black not blue.

I used my faith and Moloch’s strength
To cast a spell on smoke.
To solidify its incorporeal form
And kill the thing with pokes

From guns and hits and crocodile bites
We destroyed it with Yaro giving
The final blow, but really a chew
Dame Yaro could now be leaving.

Pancine and Yaro carried forth
To free the next slaving village.
Dame Pancine did ask if hobgoblins might
Be okay with certain pillage

Of other hobgoblins, not us five
She saw yonder sell some slaves.
Into a build with human guards
Us hobs were glad weren’t caves.

The Scarlet Tusk regiment tried to get us in
Their intimidation scheme.
But we didn’t want a part in selling
Real people even though not our team.

Those hobgoblins left through the back door
While Pancine freed all the rest
By freed I mean killed but she left one girl behind.
Malatina seemed like the best.

She has a monkey named Fee so nothing else should
Make a difference to us at all.
The Quipper will be the zoo we all want
And onward we’ll sail so tall.


The Quipper made it safely to Senghor, where the officers were able to sell some plunder and pay the crew. Shore leave was a very happy time.

The hobgoblins did some shopping, and then Oknarok (now known as "Boom-Boom") looked for someone he could pay to answer a bunch of questions. He found Onora Goldenfields, a loremaster serving Abadar, who agreed to chat with them for an hour in exchange for 100 gold coins. She answered many of their questions, and arranged for them to buy a scroll that they could use to learn more about Royce Rue. They placed a down payment on the scroll, and Zarrnok left his magic quiver with her in hopes that she would be able to determine more of its properties.

Oknarok knew that he needed to sustain damage from a poison every day for two weeks if he wanted to take full advantage of his magical belt. He arranged for Marqua to summon giant centipedes to bite him every day, then (if necessary) help his recovery.

On the way to Crown Island they saw smoke rising, which turned out to be a pirate ship being destroyed by a Chelish vessel. The Quipper sailed in and captured the latter, while sadly being too late to save the former. They put a skeleton crew aboard the prize and escorted it to Blood Cove, where they sold it and arranged for the captain to be ransomed.

That done, they set sail once again for Crown Island. Upon arrival they were permitted to speak with Captain Maxevale Janis, who promised them safe moorage in Rapier Bay, his vote for council membership if anyone ever nominates them, and 5000 gp if they recovered for him the Pirate Queen's Pearl.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 4)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 4 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 4)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 3/ranger (freebooter) 1)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 5)


After our meeting with Captain Janis, we retire to the Quipper to come up with a plan of attack. Taking a small assault party, we intend to depart the Quipper under cover of darkness and land on the far side of the island. From there, we will hide the boat and make our way inland. We'll take the hilltop tower, then (if necessary) attack the port and take or sink the ship anchored in the bay. If we're lucky, we can be in and out under cover of darkness. If not, we can hide out during the day, and finish the assault the following night, whereupon we will steal back to our boat and rendezvous with the Quipper. To supplement our forces, we will be taking along Hairy as a scout and Supreme Commander as... wait, why did he come?

Anyway, an ironclad plan.

Of course, it falls apart about a hundred feet inland when we are ambushed by a troop of vegepygmies. Wielding tower shields and lobbing fungus grenades. Wonderful. I sidestep the first grenade volley, and engage all six of them. I cut one down very quickly, and the others begin to engage the shield bearers (though they prove tough nuts to crack). Marqua's crowd control magics prove very useful, and I am Death come on swift wings among the Vegepygmies. I kill the lead grenade thrower, then two more. By this point we mop up, and none of us are seriously injured.

We manage to spot lights in the night located at the watch tower, the ship in the harbour, and on the breakwaters. We decide to engage the tower first. Due to poor equipment planning, however, we forgot our rope and (rather than scale the tower's plateau and attack from the rear), we are forced into a frontal assault. We head up to the path, and encounter a ring set into the wall part way up, followed immediately by a great deal of vegetation. Our intrepid leader sallies forth, and we discover that assassin vines make for excellent guards when you have them along a narrow cliff-face path. Captain Snuggles is immediately grappled, and I leap forward in a poorly thought out plan to rescue her. I am soon grappled as well. we manage to work ourselves free, however both the Captain and I are severely injured in the process. Forced to use a good deal of our healing magics, we decide to camp for the day, and re-attempt the assault the following night. Perhaps at range. Now, I no longer simply want the catapults the watchtower possesses for the Quipper. Now... I want vengeance.


Having rested for the night, we make our preparations and head out in the evening for our second attempt at assaulting the plateau watchtower. When we get near the assassin vine trap, Hairy runs a rope up to the rings above and we climb up, bypassing the trap... and stealing the guards' rope that they must use for the same purpose. There will be no retreat for them! Marqua shifts into an eagle to scout for us, however we soon discover than none of us can speak eagle, nor can she form words whilst in the form of a bird. We stealthily approach the plateau, not entirely sure what we'll be walking in to. We approach the tower as silently as possible, however it soon becomes apparent that we've been spotted, as a guard leans out one of the second-floor windows and spots us. Hairy ambushes him, Oknarok shoots him twice, and then Hairy yanks him out of the window. The element of surprise gone, I kick in the door, splitting it in twain! Not bothering to marvel at my quivering quads, I storm the room. Inside are eight human crossbowmen and an elf doing elf things. All of the humans shoot at me, and my blindingly fast reflexes allow me to avoid every single bolt! And then I am among the enemy, a whirlwind of death! The humans all change over to swords and I swash their buckles!

On the second story, Hairy and Marqua have their hands full with a second guard, however we can spare nobody to help, as downstairs things are even more frenzied and brutal! It is a long, bloody battle, but eventually Marqua and Hairy rejoin us, having downed their foe. They warn us that there is an invisible spellcaster. Naturally, I go to seek him out. And, of course, he is unable to resist the challenge, appears, and attacks me!

He looks a bit silly, though, so of course I engage him in battle! He is brutally fast, however, fighting with sword and dagger and poison. I certainly do my part in weakening him so my party can finish him off.

The immediate battle finished, we see lights from reinforcements aboard the ship. It would appear we are soon to have guests. However with an elevated, fortified position, I presume asking for these people's surrender will be an easy task. I don't know yet whether I will then murder them all, but I still need some more bodies to crew the Quipper weapons, so perhaps I'll split my time between recruiting and murdering these people. We shall see....


It turns out the ship below is *not* sending reinforcements or a party to negotiate their surrender, but rather are trying to escape the harbour! We'll have none of that! We manage to load and set one of the catapults with stone shot (there is some other strange, metal, mystery shot... presumably incendiary or explosive) with the intent of firing a warning shot. We take aim, fire, and... the shot misses by a fair margin. However, it has the desired effect, as the ship returns to the dock. We place some of the bodies in an upright position by the catapult (I helpfully nail those I need to into place) to act as decoys, then we head down to the ship below.

Upon arriving, we are greeted by a small party featuring Captain Deverell of the Narwhal. As the ship is headed for the blockade anyhow, we decide to send a message detailing when we expect to rendezvous with Captain Janus, and that we have some affairs to take care of on the island first. And then we let the Narwhal set sail away. I am sensing a real trend with letting our captured ships sail away....

We head back to the watchtower to dig in and rest up. In the morning, we burn the bodies of the dead, and head out to find the boat we came ashore on. However, as vegepygmies and rowboats are apparently mortal enemies, the vegepygmies had smashed our boat. Collectively shrugging, we head back to the watchtower, Marqua transforms into a swan, flies out to the Quipper, and tells them to come pick us up.

During this time, and the ensuing time it takes to load the plunder we've captured, we learn of the goings-on aboard ship while we were gone. It turns out the Quipper had suffered simultaneous attacks from at least two parties who had made off with Kelpflower. Our crew did valiantly (or so we're given to believe) defend the ship and kill a number of the interlopers, however, in the process the invaders did apparently throw multiple grenades into the captain's cabin. These things can happen.

Before leaving the island, we receive our payment from Janus for services rendered, make a treasure map from Taran's skin, and set in motion our plan to take the island as our own to use as a base of operations. We dispatch a strike team aboard the island with orders to root out and kill the vegepygmy population while they await our return. This team, consisting of Sendara, Steel Semma, Red Starling, and Malatina, are to hunker down for nearly a month doing so. We also detail a position on the map created from Taran and suggest to Sendara that she check it out if at all possible.

As we would like to recover Kelpflower if she is still alive, we decide to take the only clue we have, and go down to investigate the sunken ship infested with undead. After a brief skirmish, we kill them all and set about investigating the wreck.


As we descend into the shipwreck, (bravely led by myself, I might add!), we are attacked! Or rather, I am attacked. Several armored undead lay into me as what I can only assume is the dead dread captain in a fancy top hat utters some nonsense in what I assume is Aquan. I should really learn that damned language one of these days. Anyway, as I am beset on all sides, I defend myself as best I can, but soon am paralyzed and down. The undead then turn on the rest of the party, and I am forced to watch . I figure this is as good a time as any to develop my psychic powers, and do my best to will the undead to explode. It... does not work. As the dead soldiers wade into my compatriots, the fancy hat captain grabs hold of me!

My compatriots manage to summon a water elemental and a dolphin, and with their help kill (re-kill?) one of the undead. Marqua then pulls the mysterious coral wand and uses it on the captain! He is slowed, and my companions manage to down the second undead soldier. Marqua uses the wand on the captain again, and he... enlarges. Oh. The rest of the group do manage to eventually kill him, and I unparalyze. We loot the corpses, and I lay claim to the captain's excellent hat.

As we are looting, a voice calls to us from outside the wreck. It is a sahuagin named Biticus Maximus is seeking to hire us! To... steal back... the coral wand and free their octopoid foodstuff. Evidently, the sahuagin does not realize he's just made a deal with the command crew of the ship they just raided. We collectively shrug, accept the deal, and soon rendezvous with the rest of the sahuagin's raiding party... and their orca mount! He's super intense and awesome and we want him!

Of course, it is about this point that Kelpflower bursts from hiding to attack the sahuagin. We murder Biticus Maximus, and move on Biticus Minimus (the orca rider). However, the orca elects to abandon the fight, and takes Minimus with him. Having accomplished the goal of freeing Kelpflower, we rendezvous with the ship, and set sail back to Port Peril, and arrive safely. After selling our plunder and declaring shore leave, Marqua decides to run a small circus. Of course, it ends with swarms of monkeys terrorizing the local populace. I suppose that will help with our infamy.... Meanwhile Oknarok sets about trying to uncover more information on his belt, to no avail.

Tilly return to the ship looking a bit different. Namely, she's had a facelift and is sporting a new leg (it appears to have grown naturally, not plundered from a now-legless donor). Oknarok take her out on the town to get a bit of information from her. Turns out she used her stash of loot to buy the cosmetic work. Also, whs had a friend who betrayed Alkenstar, got a letter of marque, and then was assassinated. Tilly, therefore, now has plans to assassinate the assassin. This information could be interesting to follow up on, so we file it away under our to-do list.

Meanwhile a strange woman comes aboard the ship looking for Urthank. She's his mother. Though she's blown away by the amount of money he's earned, she wants (very strongly) for him to return home to become a washer-woman (it's as confusing as it sounds). Long story short, I try to hire her, she thinks I intend to kill her, and so she challenges Captain Snuggles to a drinking contest for the hiring rights to her son.

Of course, the day being jam-packed full of action, you'd think that was the end of it! Oh no, Honest approaches me for leave to accomplish some sort of honor obligation (I grant it), and we go to spy on the gentleman that has incurred the ire of random investigators. He's buying large-ish fish, so we follow him home, accost him at home, present him with fish, he's doing some ritual, we don't really get anywhere with our questioning, and so we leave. Truth be told, I wasn't really paying attention, because I was still a bit grumpy I wasn't allowed to kill him.


Oknarok continued to pursue knowledge associated with his belt, and since the last thing that he learned was that he needed to make a sacrifice to a demon he decided to seek out Port Peril's expert on demon worship: the man they call Goat Tongue. There was some confusion at first as he addressed his petition to one serving Goat Tongue, but eventually he spoke to the right man. Goat Tongue explained that every demon lord was different—that being the nature of Chaos—and they made an arrangement whereby Goat Tongue would have some research ready for Oknarok the next time he came to Port Peril.

Meanwhile, Captain Leitauk returned to the ship in preparation for further interactions with Giovanni Jeggare. As she approached the pier, she saw that a crowd had gathered. Zamna Kwol (Urthank's mother) had returned in spite of Zarrnok's death threats and was prepared for the drinking contest. Not one to back down in front of her crew, Leitauk sat across the table and eventually emerged victorious, much to Zamna's (and the crowd's) astonishment. Leitauk declined to leave the ship any more that day, however, and retired to her cabin.

The Quipper set out for Ilizmagorti the next day. Not long after leaving the Shackles they spotted a Chelish merchant vessel, and gave chase. Eventually they captured the Dowager Queen, and Oknarok took command of the other ship. (They kept the Dowager Queen's two surviving officers prisoner aboard the Quipper.) They decided to skirt the Eye of Abendago instead of going the long way around, and even though Malikor came very close to being swept overboard they made it to Mediogalti Island. They sold the spare ship and other plunder, and told tales of their exploits, gaining enough infamy to be considered disgraceful.


After docking and leaving the ship, we soon hear of the day's fights in the Blood Circus. It sounds interesting, but what really gets our attention is the highlight fight of the day: a t-rex against a pack of velociraptors! As we make our way to the Circus (no way we were going to miss *this*), we discuss the finer merits of taking on the winner to our ship crew to aid in ship boarding. While a strong case is made for the t-rex, the simple fact of its size makes that proposition a bit of a logistical headache. The velociraptors, on the other hand, can simply leap ship to ship, and their pack hunting tactics might prove more valuable in a shipboard melee. As we take or places (after paying an extortionate ticket fee), we see a dozen caged raptors at one end of the arena, and the caged t-rex at the other. In the middle of the arena is a group of pimply young humans (uncaged) with instruments, and they begin to play. I quietly ask around if anyone has a casting of knock available, and when it appears no one does, I start a chant for a "three-way fight!" The crowd picks it up, but alas, the human children do not wind up the third side in a glorious battle to the death.

The fight begins, and the raptors swarm in! The t-rex kills one immediately, but the raptors then get in under it. They surround the t-rex, and one leaps up and grapples. It promptly dies too. However, this all takes time, and the rest of the raptors are making fast, bloody work of the t-rex. It's a war of attrition, as the t-rex is turning any raptor it hits (and it hits them frequently) into bloody mist. But the sheer number of raptors finally overwhelm and drop the t-rex, with five raptors left on the field.They begin to feast! At this point, a wizard and his seven-legged slugs try to clear the raptors from the field. The audience is not at all keen on this and, being largely made up of assassins, the wizard dies. The raptors take care of the rest of the slugs.

During this, Marqua has started chatting with a fellow named Amzed. He seems nice. Also, he sets up a meeting with a possible Red Mantis assassin rep. What a helpful fellow. We meet Amzed and the representative at a nearby bar, and Amzed very pointedly does not introduce his companion. I feel as though that is a bit rude. The companion recognizes Harrigan's name, and comes back with a quote to have him killed. The long and the short of it is it will be 50 grand or a magical item named the "Three Reasons To Live".We all go our separate ways for a while in order to gather a bit of information, and I decide to go knock at the door of the temple to the Red Mantis god (figuratively, they don't actually have a door). I ask for any pamphelets or an information desk or someone who can help me. A very UN-helpful elf suggest I try to kill and torture that information out of Mantis members and/or the mayor. I thank him for his suggestion (ass) and mentally promise to take him up on part of that offer one day.

We decide to begin our trip back to Crown Island to check on our assault team. We sail around the Eye of Abendego rather uneventfully, though as we enter the Shackles we are spotted by a ship of a free captain. It briefly tries to chase us down, but we manage to outrun it. Eventually we arrive at Crown Island and a jolly boat immediately starts rowing out to meet us. It is most of our assault team minus Hairy and Orangutan. The remaining members make it to the ship and advise us to set sail immediately. We do so, and Sendara fills us in on how the mission went. Essentially they lost Orangutans early on, and Hairy when they fled to a small island to fortify. They managed to get ahold of a Lyre of Building and that greatly helped the survivors hunker down and hold out for our return. I resolve to come back one day with a flock of mercenary wizards and raze the entire island to bedrock. I hate vegepygmies. We do find out about Steel Semma, though. Apparently she's immune to vegepygmies because she's just an empty suit of armor. Neat!

We sail to Blood Cove to drop off our prisoners and pick up our ransom from the first batch, then it's on to pick up my quiver. Apparently the person responsible for it is... Philotoctepteris. Of Dis (a city in hell). *shrug*. I've never heard of this person, but I like their work. I should probably figure out a way to contact them, because it also sounds like my quiver was a five-year loaner to its... predecessor, and I should just find out when I need to renew. Also, I should probably feed more gifts into it. Soul gems are pretty small. And folks down in hell like souls, I think. I'll bet I can get those through the quiver. No idea how to use them, or where to get them, but that seems like an appropriate gift. Ooh, I should ask the others what kind of soul I should get Philotoctepteris! Or should I go with a variety...?


We decide to find some action, so we head for a bar. Things there are a little too quiet, though, so we engineer the beginnings of a bar brawl (at least, I think it was us that started it... I mean, that sounds like something we'd do) and absolutely don't kill some mage woman (it probably wasn't us) and abscond with her corpse (we're strange like that). We find a dark alley to skulk down with our prize, and set about carving off her back tattoo of a treasure map (I just want to note that this was *not* my idea... especially as things get a bit worse going forward). Marqua (who I'm beginning to think may be a bit off) then takes a swath of skin from the mage to make a magical treasure map out of, in order to verify the validity of the tattoo map. I realize this was a wizard and a human, and I've been known to murder humans, helpless or otherwise, but even I feel a bit bad about the whole situation. More so since we just leave the peeled body there. I wonder if she had a family....

That messy business over with, we do have some treasure maps! They appear to be indicating a treasure at a small island, and we find that the entrance to the cave we're supposed to be aiming for is deep underwater. We set sail, soon arrive without incident, and enter a lagoon. We set up our spells, and set out: our target, a cave entrance nearly 150 feet below us. We soon spot the cave entrance and an artificial niche. In the niche is a conch shell. Of course we take the shell and blow it. This proves to be an excellent idea, as a turtle-crab thing appears and attacks! It looks delicious! It comes with a side of jellyfish swarm. I'm less enthused about that. But we quickly make plans to eat the turtle-crab (with one vote for making it a pet in our pit fighting menagerie of horrors... run by the druid... I mean, that's not normal, right?). It says some nonsense to us in another language, and then we dance the dance of death! Our casters are having some trouble, but we manage to get a water elemental summoned to disperse the jellyfish swarm, and I lay in to the turtle crab. It promptly inks itself and escapes (turtle-crab-squid?). The turtle crab retreats to the cave entrance and fights there along with two sahuagin friends. We manage to kill dinner and one of the sahuagin, but the other flees into the cave. Then a moment later promptly flees out of the cave. We collectively shrug and murder him.

We cautiously enter the cave, and after a while we find out why the sahuagin had gone in and then back out. He was chumming the water for the four sharks we come upon. Ah. We manage to fight in a bottleneck, kill two, and advance. With the aid of a set of water elementals, we dispatch the other two sharks and send the elementals on to scout. They quickly report back that the sahuagin they just encountered are just behind them. We set up a defensive line and ready to volley the saguagin with our underwater crossbows. They come into sight, we kill and injure some of them, then drop the bows, pull weapons suited for more close-in work, and the water quickly goes pink with blood (okay, since we're 150 feet underwater, and it's pretty dark, the water just went... darker. I'm claiming artistic license). After mopping up, we mull over whether to press on or return to the ship.


Captain Snuggles comes down with a mild case of dysentery, but gets better by the time we're ready to depart the ship. Having done our preparations, we leave the ship and head back down. On the way we spot a hammerhead shark, but it flees. Our reputation precedes us! We arrive at the entrance to the cave and, of course, I blow the conch shell again. Nothing much happens, so we prep and roll in. This time around, Marqua is, herself, in the guise of a shark, and I have a spell on me that allows me to swim far faster, so I swim ahead to the kelp door to scout. The hammerhead we`d chased off earlier is in the room of violence! It attacks, and we dance the intimate dance of death!

Only... it then flees. I hate this. Sharqua swims ahead to infiltrate, and I get bored. But, I decide I should probably wait for reinforcements. Once they arrive, we head into the room... and are promptly attacked by the shark and a dozen sahuagin. Shrugging happily, I kill the shark and engage the sahuagin. Oh violent glory! I`m holding them at bay! Then... one of the sahuagin leaders threatens to kill her captive sea elf. My attack falters. Though I can`t understand the words being spoken, I... is this a peace overture? No, the many sahuagin in front of me are still trying to kill me. The leader then does kill the sea elf. But the six sahuagin I'm fighting are still trying to kill me. I'm really getting some mixed messages here....

A second leader-y sahuagin emerges and engages me. He seems competent so, in concert with his lackeys, he actually hurts me a fair bit. However, Sharqua helps out with some underwater pollen to nauseate a number of the lackeys, and I try to rally as best I can. Then, yet another sahuagin enters the fray! He is, apparently, called Gub Gub the Innocent! He is bad at fighting, should feel bad, and has a bad time as we injure him severely. He surrenders to us whilst making some gesture to Malikor that she seems to recognize, but that I (being an unwilling participant roped into many of her impulsive shenanigans) don't catch (also, so much blood in the water).

Eventually, the stacked odds prove too much even for me, and I go down. But the rest of the party mops up, and they heal me back up quickly. I grab the competent one's body, and we try to retreat to the choke point, however a massive shark, the sahuagin matriarch, and a fresh wave of sahuagin come in and we square off. Gub Gub decides to head for the exit, but we very quickly kill the shark and Oknarok kills the matriarch, and we clean up the remaining sahuagin. Gub Gub returns, I refrain from killing him, and we find a secret door. Catching our breaths, and looting the corpses we made, we ready to storm the door....


Beyond the secret door was a mummy of some sort wearing an amulet of deep platinum carved with the symbol of the drow house Razivrein (thus matching the symbol on Oknarok's belt). The hobgoblins slew the undead, took his necklace, and then began the process of looting the sahuagin caves. This was a lengthy process, but ultimately proved quite profitable.

The only real danger came when they discovered a throne. There was some talk about having each of them sit on it, but some magical investigation led them to believe that this could be a bad idea. Ultimately they left the throne where they found it.

Gubgub had a chat with each of them, and concluded by giving them the location of an underwater elf settlement. He promised that he could provide a number of other squads to attack them at the same time, if only the hobgoblins could give the signal. They didn't believe him, but took his information and left.

Sailing into Port Peril, they spread tales of their exploits and bragged extensively about discovering the secret stash in Mancatcher Cove. They ended by making an appointment to apply for a letter of marque.

PCs:

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 6)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 6 of General Moloch)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 6)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 5/ranger (freebooter) 1)
Zarrnok (hobgoblin fighter 7)


A courier comes by to say someone named Tsedok Goldtooth, otherwise known as the first mate of the Hurricane King's ship the Filthy Lucre, will be coming by for our letter of marque evaluation. This could prove awkward, as Leitauk comes down with a case of dysentery and will be unable to participate. Midmorning, Tsedok and his entourage arrive to much fanfare. After some... disappointment... on his part that we won't be fielding a full team, as it were, we head to a nearby ship, the Stingray, for a sail unfurling challenge. Marqua will take this test. With a few key magic items on her person, she gains a distinct advantage as the competition begins. She speeds up the mast, unnaturally quick, and begins work in the rigging. Aside from her spar coming loose, she very quickly finishes, and we take the first competition.

Next up is a combination card and drinking game. Oknarok takes this challenge. After taking the first five hands, both parties go all-in on the sixth and... Oknarok wins it as well!

The third trial is the decisive one, and will take place aboard our ship. We are to stave off an assault by a giant! He sets up with a cart of boulders as we ready ourselves aboard ship. I can see where this is going, so as soon as the fight begins I charge over the side of the boat and engage the giant, intending to drive him away from the cart of boulders. He backs away, and drops a fog cloud on my party. He and I trade blows as my party gets clear of the cloud and lay in to him. Finally, after he mauls me a great deal, I eventually down him! We are victorious!

We are invited to a post-victory dinner with the Hurricane King. We prepare a lovely bouquet in a human skull and a jam basket and head out to Fort Hazard. The Hurricane King and his guests have already begun partying. One notable guest is a bald, dark-skinned lady (Olmarra, the Alkenstar gun rep). The Hurricane King asks us to regale him with tales of our deeds, and... it does not go well. He is not remotely impressed. We do still get our letter, albeit grudgingly. During the party, Wide Olga (one of the council members) asks for a meet, and I agree. No harm in trying to curry favour from members of the council.

Among other notable party events, we learn that Harrigan's ship is coming in, and I agree to enter us in the Free Captain's regatta in a few months' time (especially since winning it could get us considered for a spot on the council). The following day, Peppery Longfarthing comes to meet us aboard our ship, and reiterates the terms of our agreement with Harrigan. We give an update as to our status, and Peppery leaves somewhat satisfied. Malikor receives a stalkery sending from his creepy fey abuser/lover, and we try to stage some sort of intervention. Unfortunately Malikor seems unable to see reason or the realities of his "relationship" with this fey, and so I resolve to learn as much about this creature as I can... in order to have her killed for Malikor's wellbeing.

My meeting with Wide Olga proves interesting. Apparently, the Hurricane King's grasp of the council leadership is a bit tenuous, and he is growing soft. Tessa, the number two in line (albeit a half elf, ugh), is based out of Quent and has a much stronger base of political power. Olga and I also discuss ferreting out any Chelaxian spies; to that end she points us to the Temple of Calistria on Quent, the House of Stolen Kisses. As recompense for these tasks, Olga provides me with a magical chart, the Chart of the North Winds, and points out Oyster Key (her port) and Bag Island (with its secret temple to Norgorbur, another possible point of interest). Wide Olga also asks us to sail under her flag, but I politely put off agreeing to do so at the moment.

Upon arriving back at the ship, we find out there is a strong possibility (well, a certainty, really), that Marqua is probably Royce Rue's daughter. We bicker a bit, as she comes to grips with this reality, and we set sail to Quent. On the way, Marqua has a bad dream... of her mother... with Royce Rue's face! Obviously this is Marqua's subconscious trying to tell her something.

We soon arrive in Quent, and in an effort to curry favour with Dindrianne (the Calistrian head priestesse), we decide to play a practical joke on an unwanted suitor of hers. I just want to state here in writing that I don't believe magically causing horrific groin injuries to a fellow man is funny, Malikor. Yes, he was human. And yes, killing people is funny. I can even deal with our party skinning people for profit. But there are some lines we do not cross. I am surrounded by psychopaths...


So, it turns out debilitating groin injuries to... men... is hilarious to Dindrianne, the priestess of Calistria. That should say something of her tastes...

Anyway, she *does* agree to meet us later, and we kill time by getting drinks from a confusing elf bartender. On the one hand, elf. On the other hand... I'm not saying I go that way, but with a bag over his head, and in dim enough lighting, and in a purely platonic way... eh, not bad. We kill some time, and head to our meeting with Dindrianne. We do ask about any Chelish spies in the region, and she agrees to trade the information if we can retrieve a golden statue of a wasp from some sea wreckers that took it from an elven cargo ship. It will require us to track the Lady's Sting (the elven ship), find these wreckers, kill them all, and retrieve the statue. That sounds like a lot of work.

We decide to try to garner information from some of the local watering holes with the aid of our resident washer-woman and bard. While we don't find out about the Lady's Sting, we do find out about the Gorgorath Amada, a ship being built for pure speed. Say, for an upcoming race, perhaps? And whose name translates roughly to Terror Clown? Obviously Royce Rue is looking for a reunion with his daughter. From there, we decide to set out for Beachcomber, Bag Island to chat with the halflings there and see what the folks at the Temple of Norgorbur know about Chelish spies in the region. Along the way, I am given a pet rat named Gooseberry. I have no idea what to do with live provisions....

We search out the Temple of the Hidden name in the Lurker district, and meet Slip, an attendant or something (he's wearing black, and seems to know what's going on). He seems to deal in the trade of secrets, and in exchange for information about spies, he wants to know what happened to the Brine Banshee, and what gave it such unprecedented speed. He does know about the wrecker crew that took the Lady's Sting. We exchange information about Mancatcher Cove's secret entrance, and learn that the wreckers are led by Vancarla, a half-orc wizard, out of the Rampoor isles (where a Rakshasa named Bedou Hani rules-- and is a member of the Council). We agree to apprentice out Urthank (and, unknowingly, Zamna) to Slip in exchange for future secrets, and set sail to hunt the wreckers.

Along the way, we spy a Rahadoumi ship and I give the order to attack! We make chase, and seem to catch up... but sail into a strange area of water... it's illusory water! Sensing a likely trap, we turn hard a-port... right under a rope trick above us! The clever bastards drop down onto our ship, and four of the wreckers ambush us. Marqua manages to disable all of them with a cloud of pollen, and so Vancarla herself appears! I busily maul the orcs near me, Vancarla's familiar appears, and Marqua, Malikor, and Oknarok lay into Vancarla. She quickly goes down, and the four ambushers bail overboard. I switch over to a bow and shoot at them. Malikor manages to capture the monkey familiar and crams it in a bag. We bind and stabilize Vancarla, and lay in wait for their ship. While waiting, we discover that the illusory water was, in fact, hiding a small reef which we would have run aground on, had we not sensed the trap!. The wrecker ship appears (it was apparently invisible), and attack! Killing their weapon crews, we manage to take the ship! We transfer over their ballistae and plunder over to the Quipper, and I task Sendara with getting a crew together to pilot the ship back to Quent with us.

Of course, Oknarok decides that now is when he should try sacrificing someone to his dark drow god (I was just as surprised), so he sacrifices Vancarla. While his belt does not power up, a Marilith appears out of thin air and asks his bidding. Oknarok gleefully asks it to search out and assassinate Harrigan. I am so surprised by this turn of events that before I can ask Oknarok to have the Marilith also retrieve Harrigan's body, the creature teleports away. Marqua happily carves a map out of Vancarla, and we stop off to retrieve the treasure it indicates before heading back to Quent to give over the statue and sell the captured ship.

I now know that I am certainly the least psychopathic member of our hobgoblin group. I can only hope that I survive our descent into madness and insanity.


OOC: Pathfinder RPG doesn't have any rules for making sacrifices to demons, so we used the appropriate section of the Book of Vile Darkness (3.5). The appearance of the marilith was the result of the gunslinger rolling a 37 on Knowledge (religion).


We start sailing back, and a couple of hours later, we receive a sending from Peppery Longfarthing... promising a bounty on Oknarok's head. I have a bad feeling about this, and start wishing some of us had spent a lot longer on drafting the wording of the contract made with a demon. Some time later, a parrot appears and chats with Marqua, giving orders directly from General Moloch to sail for Pex, and pick up an inquisitor to deal with some issues aboard our ship. Also, apparently we're supposed to give over five crew to Moloch's service for awhile.

I sense this is going to be a long day.

Malikor attempts to send a sending to the marilith, but we receive no feedback. We arrive in Quent to sell the captured ship and talk to Dindrianne. It soon becomes apparent that everyone is looking and pointing at us. My bad feeling intensifies. One of the town folk asks me if I'm Boom Boom. I say no, and press for information. It turns out the marilith had teleported to Quent, trumpeted Oknarok's involvement in the arrangement, asked where Harrigan was, and then teleported away. I can only assume the marilith has repeated these actions everywhere it went on its way to find Harrigan. So the secret assassination... that was supposed to be secret... has literally been shouted about at every port of call this marilith has managed to travel to in the several hours between it leaving and Peppery sending the sending. Upon meeting with Dindrianne to return the idol, she mentions that the council might be annoyed with free captains bumping each other off. We leave and do a bit more investigating for Chelish spies, learning that Jaymiss in Drenchport might know something, and trading the secret of the secret entrance to Mancatcher Cove (yet again) for information that Hannaleus Filch (a retired ship's doctor) might know something about the Brine Banshee.

Oknarok decides that a disguise might not be a terrible idea, and so disguises himself as Toby Buttercakes, Halfing Sailor. We sell the captured ship, and set off for Pex. We dock during a heavy downpour and learn that a fellow named Ivar *had* been waiting for us. We head to the inn named Damned If It Isn't Raining to try to follow up. When we arrive, we meet Chemly, a follower of Mammon, who says she has something for me. It's a chest of gold to pay for passage aboard ship! Chests of gold are, in fact, one of my favourite things. She also has a message for Oknarok: she knows where the inquisitor we're here to find is (because he so happens to be her ex). We drop her off at the ship with her gold, and head to the basement dwelling where the inquisitor is stationed. When we meet Ivar, he indicates that he wishes to head out immediately. We take him back to the ship, he and Chemly see each other, realize they have missed one another's love, and run into each other's arms.

Actually, they see each other and it is super awkward and a little bit cranky. Chemly begins to pitch Mammon to Oknarok, and I get a bit of a weird feeling. I return the gold to Chemly, Chemly and Ivar begin to proselytize for a bit, and I begin to strongly consider atheism. We get the two of them situated, then set out for Drenchport. We arrive to find it is aptly named (more rain), and begin hunting for Jaymiss Keft. Apparently he's an old half-elf carver who spends his time in the carvers' hall. He points us in the direction of Haddon Pike (beachcomber, fisherman, and smuggler) and indicates that he might be who we're after. We fire off a quick sending to Wide Olga to get instructions, and she says to bring him to Oyster Quay.

After dark, we head to his house and scope the place out, managing to spot a secret compartment in his fishtank. I climb in a window and let the others in. The place has been ransacked. In the fishtank is a quipper (neat!), which a scoop out with a pot. At the bottom of the fishtank is... what looks like Haddon's remains. Clutching a waterproof bag. That contains... some cash, and sheet music for a Chelish opera. We contact Olga again, she seems pleased but doesn't give much in the way of instructions beyond bring it to her. We do have Smiling Seth look at the opera once aboard ship, and he mentions that there appears to be something odd about the music. Encoded in the music itself are ship movements of the Master of Gales, as well as the name of Haddon's contact. We set sail to Oyster Quay and arrange to meet Olga. We dine (bringing along Syl and Sandara). After presenting the sheet music and our deductions, Olga instructs us to follow the lead and find a connection to Cheliax.

We head out to Hell Harbour with the intent to track down the contact, Rowena Kellet. Quartermaster Kellet worked for the Harbourmaster, has gone missing, and (we presume) has absconded or been killed by the same folks that killed Haddon. We head to her house, ransack it, and find a list of pirate lords, respective bribe levels, and a note saying "send with Corlan".

We have little time here, however, as the regatta is coming up soon, and we will need time to prepare!


We head off to track down this Corlan fellow (apparently located in an area of town called "the Rookery"). Arriving at his house, we split up with Marqua and myself covering the rear entrance, and the others covering the front. The others knock, get him to open the door... and he's shot by a sniper. Hearing the commotion, I kick the back door in twain and rush through the house. The sniper is on the roof of a warehouse across the way, and we rush to catch him while Oknarok returns fire. Marqua changes into an air elemental to keep eyes on the sniper. Leitauk grabs Corlan's body and raises him from the dead, while over at our end, Marqua hits the assassin with a hydraulic push, dropping him from the roof. Oknarok and I catch up to the assassin, and Oknarok blows his head off.

I guess we're not questioning him.

I grab the corpse and we head back to Corlan's house to question him. Apparently he works for Zarskia Galembar at the Jasper Leaf Apothecary in Port Peril, and his contacts are Elise Farhaven, Rowena Kellet, and Haddon Pike. I'd say it's safe to say that with two of the three dead or missing, and the recent murder of Corlan, that Zarskia is probably cleaning house. We point this out to Corlan, and after a bit of convincing, he seems to get the picture. We indicate that it would probably be best for Corlan to leave town, grab the assassin's body, and scarper off back to the ship, and book it out of Hell's Harbour. On our way to Port Peril, we spend the trip doing what we can to drill the crew for the upcoming regatta.

Arriving in Port Peril, we investigate the location indicated by the map we made from the assassin (I know, it's gross, but profitable). We arrive at a rental house, search around, and find some information about the assassin. His name was Giles Helmus, Freelance Assassin and was tasked with offing Corlan... and Tilly's ex from Alkenstar, as it turns out! Taking Giles' cash and ledger, we head for the front door... when we hear voices! Chemly and Ivar have followed us! Not wanting to stay and talk with them, we sneak out the back door and head to the apothecary.

Deciding surprise is always a good tactic, Leitauk knocks open the front door, and I stride in! Immediately, I am beset by several thugs, and I quickly murder one. Air elementals and weasels soon join the fray courtesy of Marqua, and one of the thugs shouts for reinforcements. I chase him down and injure him severely. He surrenders, and it's music to my ears. I kill him. Because there's still fighting to be done. And it makes tactical sense.

Reinforcements appear, and I advance and assault them with Marqua while the others dispatch the remaining thugs behind us. We manage to blind and nauseate one thug, and as he lay on the ground weeping and barfing and begging to surrender, I pass him by. I'm feeling generous today. As we advance, Marqua gets hit by multiple bombs and is forced to pull back, severely injured. I storm upstairs to kill the bomb thrower. However, I'd not banked on the alchemist being invisible, and take a number of bomb hits myself. Critically injured, I go down and am kicked off the landing by one of the thugs upstairs. When I land, I am beset by the fellow who had "surrendered". So I stab him to death. Honestly, great job at ruining my charitable gesture. See if I ever accept a surrender again.

Most of us are injured by this point, but the alchemist has to be low on bombs, so we press on to try to kill him.


Stopping briefly to heal, we continue to storm upstairs. Malikor, upon trying one of the doors upstairs is attacked by a kamadan, which then promptly pops out three copies of itself. Oknarok picks this moment for his gun to jam, and Malikor goes down to some sort of breath weapon. I engage in the doorway to create something of a choke point, and it... it gets really bad. They are grievously injuring me despite my skilled defensive fighting, but I stay up.

Marqua drops a swarm of monkeys inside the room, and Oknarok finally unjams his gun and kills one of the copies. I manage to kill another, and then push into the room, really feeling the wounds and the blood loss. The original kamadan and the last copy stare deeply into each other's eyes and... do nothing. Which is utterly terrifying. The monkeys, now joined by a deinonychus, mob the kamadan and copy which start to vomit. Oknarok then kills the primary kamadan, and the copy winks out of existence.

I go back to check on Malikor, and we manage to get him back up via standard navy resuscitation techniques (a vigorous smack on his bottom). And we press on to the next floor to hunt the alchemist. From the volume of noise we hear on the floor below, the monkeys have, apparently, found the alchemist's lab. Malikor and I sneak up a set of stairs, and the others go up through a trap door at the other end of the building with the intent of trapping and flanking the alchemist. As I sneak along, one of the floorboards makes a very un-floorboard-y click... and the scythe trap goes off and strikes me. More of my insides see the light of day, I extricate myself from the scythe, and we press on. Malikor decides to knock at one of the doors, and the most horrifying shriek emanates from within, causing me to vomit. A lot.

I hear Leitauk shout something about going down the fireplace, then some time later, comes back with a singed scrollcase in hand. The alchemist has managed to escape. Frustrated, severely injured, and nearly tapped out of resources, we return to the screaming room, kick in the door, and murder the mandrakes inside. We toss the place, and head back to the Quipper. Whern we get back, we find inside is indication that the alchemist's contact is someone named Nisroch. Fine. Great. We'll kill this person and everyone they've ever loved.

Backstabber asks me if I have a moment. I say I do, and he regales me with what he and several of the crew had gotten into while the officers were away. On the downside, they'd murdered a number of the constabulary and absconded with a number of stolen guns. On the upside, they attacked Giffer's ship with a catapult. While I appreciate the thought, I'm not so keen on the execution, and I stick them down below decks and out of sight. I put them in a room with one another and close the door, hoping that nobody has tried scrying on them yet.

What a long day.


Back on the ship, I am beset by captain-y duties. One of the crew, Marra, have offered a magical ship's bell that she and some of the other crew have "acquired". I don't want to know....

Next, an elven ship's captain named Alnimyin meets with me and tells me she'd rather not kill me. It's an odd elf greeting, but I try to respond in kind. She then proceeds to warn me off from her and two competitors in the race, though she won't mention who. I try to pump her for information as to why, whereupon she states that she no longer see us as a threat and leaves. I mentally pat myself on the back for my diplomatic acumen, and return aboard.

Next, guards come to question my crew and accuse them of burning down the Formidably Made tavern. I honestly have no idea what they're on about, honestly have no idea about any tavern burnings, and honestly have no idea about my crew's involvement. I do glean that the accusation has been leveled by a member of Giffer's crew. I submit to an Abadar's Truth Telling which verifies what I am saying, and then order the guards off the ship when they indicate they'd like to question the rest of the crew. While I honestly have no idea if my crew were responsible, I do have my suspicions. I pull Marra aside and plainly state to her that I do not want to know, or suspect that she and her merry band had burned anything down ever. It's all about plausible deniability. And passing Abadar's Truth Telling.

To cap off my... wonderful morning, Tsedock comes aboard asking for Oknarok. I honestly have not seen Oknarok today. Tsedock strikes Oknarok's name from our letter of marque for having killed Harrigan. I resolve to enroll Oknarok in some sort of contract writing class when we get back from the race. If he's going to be summoning mariliths to assassinate people, it seems only prudent to ensure that everyone, the horse they rode in on, and their little dog too, not know that we're up to those sorts of things.

Oh, and of course I learn other things. For instance, the Gorgorath Amada has sailed in. The "Terror Clown". Gee, I wonder who that ship is named after. Marqua's dad is probably aboard, watching us right now. Apparently it's captained by Alnimyin... and it is super fast. And Alnimyin has come out of a 100-year retirement for just this race. And the ship has Royce Rue's face as its emblem. Yep, gonna be a good day.

To help compensate for our own... shortcomings, we spring for silk sails for the Quipper, which we cover with a patchwork of emblems including Malikor's... special friend.

I set out to go find the Wormwood and question a few of her crew. Apparently the Gorgorath has found the Brine Banshee, taken it's wheel, and that's why both ships are known to be so quick. Great. We move on to the burned out husk of the tavern to track down Peppery, but she's moved on to the Licking Doppelganger. We arrive and find her with Captain Kitten Whisker of the Red Cap. Yes, Captain Kitten Whisker. I figure there are two sorts of person in the world: the certifiably insane, and those who fear nothing and call themselves Kitten Whisker. We try to pump Peppery for information, but she's concentrating on the race. We do glean that the Quipper, Anglerfish, and the Gorgorath are the favoured ships to win with the Wormwood in fourth. So that's nice.

We get back to the ship and set out for the starting line location. It's nearly a week's journey from here and we spend the time preparing. We task the grindylows as picket guards below the ship, keeping an eye out for threats. And, indeed, early into the voyage they dispatch and kill several druids with drills sent to sink us. We finally arrive at Cauldron Rock, and the Master of Gales invites the ship captains over to go over the race route. Essentially the race entails tagging several island groups and atolls within the Eye of Abendego.

I get back aboard the Quipper, and it's pointed out that apparently Royce Rue is actually here, at the race. Aboard the Master of Gales' ship. Oh dear. The Master of Gales turns into an albatross and sets out to observe the race, and the ships are off! The Gorgorath pulls out to an early lead, however the spirit of the Shackles is with us and we keep pace. We and the Gorgorath soon outdistance the other competitors and make it through the first set of reefs. We then blow through a current called Gozreh's flow. As this happens the weather gets progressively worse the deeper into the Eye we get. We approach the Two Spires... and are beset by a dragon turtle! It tries to capsize us, then breathes steam at us. I oversee the gunnery crew and we pelt it with a salvo from our ballistae, and Malikor fires off a fireball. This combined fire is enough to drive the turtle off. We head deeper into the hurricane, being savaged by waves and lightning. We reach the set of atolls, thread through them, and manage to make it through the rest. As we exit, a lightning elemental appears in the upper rigging. I tie my weapon cord and put on the boots of Spider Climb and start heading up to engage it high above our pitching, wind- and wave-swept deck. This... is going to be rough.


The lightning elemental is in Malatina's face, but (understandably) she refrains from engaging. I start racing up the mast to get in there, as a spiritual weapon courtesy of Malikor appears. However the elemental seems focused on someone on deck. It's... oh no. The lightning elemental charges Steel Semma and attacks it. Marqua summons air elementals, Oknarok shoots the elemental, and I stab at it from my position on the mast in an effort do distract it from the severely damaged Steel Semma. Though we hurt the elemental and distract it somewhat, it kills Semma. The elemental then focuses on me, and knocks me from the mast. I briefly go unconscious, during which the others manage to finish killing the elemental. Alas, there's no helping Steel Semma.

I go below decks to do a bit of alchemy. I make a flask for personal use, and start heading back. However, I hear voices. The voices stop, the ship shudders, and we start to slow and sink. Judging from the effects and the research I'd done at the beginning of the race, someone has just cast passwall on our ship! Steadfast flies up from the bilges and zips past me, and I stab her on the way by. She heads towards the slowly opening cargo doors above. No time like the present to determine if this flask works. I drink it, growing stronger and more nimble... and sprouting wings. I set after her. She and I have a chat, she makes some very good points about the hellknight that's now on board, and I head back towards the bilges.

As I learn later, on deck Treason had started ripping up the cargo doors and Hummingbird had engaged the pilots and navigator. We disabled Treason (obviously he was under some compulsion, as the Treason name is a proud one, with a long and honorable lineage), and Nude Pid durned into some sort of large goblin hound thing and ate Hummingbird after Dolgrin cut her in half. Sandara heads down to make repairs, Oknarok helpfully asks if there is a latch on the hatch we can attach.Nude Pid then proceeds to also eat Steadfast.

Repairs made, we begin to accelerate again and manage to end the race in first place! Alnimyin promptly heads over to the Kraken to whine elvishly about her loss. We head over to bask in our victory. When we arrive, there is a portal opening behind Marqua's dad and the two fey women. We also find out that Malikor's love interest does, in fact, exist. And reciprocates some... sort... of feelings. After the Master of the Gales reams out Royce Rue and the fey for interfering with the three race leaders (apparently Alnimyin and Giffer's ships were also similarly attacked), they depart. Our prize is some cash, our own island (the Island of the Empty Eyes, north of Rampoor). We are to clear the island, build a base, then in a few months three council members will check on us, report back, and our vote for admission to the council will go up. We head back to the ship and depart, dropping a cast of mad monkeys on Giffer's ship as we leave.


Oknarok has a meeting with Omarra (the Alkenstar delegate) to settle things regarding his use of a firearm, and somehow they come to an agreement that nets him a free captaincy once more. All it costs us is a yet-to-be-determined favour to Omarra. Luckily this is nothing at all like the time he summoned a marilith and had a free captain assassinated using only the broadest of instructions. I make a note to enroll Oknarok in some sort of class on contract law. Forcibly, if need be.

Actually, I've just about had my fill of captaining. I hand the reins over to Oknarok, and take over gunnery. Far less stress. Before we leave Port Peril, I buy a monkey and sexy monkey outfit, and have it sent to Giffer Tibbs. We leave Port Peril, setting sail to Bag Island and the temple to Norgorbur to pick up our washer women. Urthank very nearly meets us at the dock with his luggage ready to go, and urges us to leave immediately. However, we have a deal and so proceed to the temple. Upon fulfilling our obligation, we learn that they tried t mold Urthank's mind in some way, to no avail. Zamna, however, "did not require molding". That is a vaguely terrifying thing to say, but I'm no longer the captain, so not my problem. Zamna meets us back at the ship, and we set sail to hunt for a ship to hit.

Eventually we spot a sail to a ship from Absalom. It runs, and we givee chase. We soon catch it, and manage to injure or kill their officers and weapon crews quickly. Boarding and taking the ship go smoothly thereafter. We put Sandara in charge, task her enough crew to sail the ship (with us operating on a skeleton crew), give her enough money to get the ship squibbed, then we part ways. Her to squib the ship, us on to our new island lair!

We get to the island and spend some time scouting from the sea. There is a large stone dock, battlements, giant boats, and... a horn blowing (presumably to announce our intrusion). Marqua turns into a seagull and flies a brief scouting sortie, however is forced to turn back upon noticing and disturbing a pteranodon lair. She does spot a triceratops, various ruins, and a guard tower. She returns to the ship, we launch the jollyboat, and make our landing. We swiftly scuttle the giant boats, and make our way inland. We are swiftly attacked by a spinosaurus, however, and I am possessed the unenviable task of engaging the monstrous animal while the others kill it. We engage, and he grabs me. I escape, and we dance the dance of death! He grabs me again, and I stab him furiously! Malikor finally deigns to fireball it to death, so, that's nice. I staunch my bleeding, and we rest until nightfall.

We head further up during the night, and scout a settlement of giants at the peak. We prepare ourselves to engage and clear out the infestation.


We ready ourselves and head in stealthily. Except for Malikor. Malikor is not stealthy. At all. Net result is an alarm goes off and we wind up caught in a... net... trap.Get it? Get it? Incidentally, I think I may have suffered some brain damage during the ensuing fight.

So, caught up in the net rope, most of us reach for bladed weapons to cut free. Leitauk lights the net on fire. With us inside. We fall to the ground in flames, and the fight is on. 2 cyclopes appear, drawn to the clanging of the alarm, and we engage them as they come in. Malikor fireballs them, and Marqua calls lightning down upon them. One of the cyclopes narrows its eye and strikes Malikor with a most horrific hit. We manage to down him, and his friend takes off. However, two more cyclopes appear. I storm them in order to keep them off my friends, and here's where things get messy. They both narrow their eyes at me, and take swings. One of those swings hurts. A lot. The other... hurt more. I think. I don't remember.

At this stage, Malikor drops a wall of fire, and we're able to pull back, regroup, and heal up. We dispatch the injured cyclopes so that they can't rejoin the ranks of the massing group off in the distance, and decide a tactical retreat is in order because, if you'll pardon my elven, we got our asses kicked. We decide to fight a war of attrition from here on it, and remove ourselves from the battlefield. Posthaste. As we leave, we see a pillar of smoke out at sea, and send a very worried Sending to Dolgrin. He's been kidnapped by bird lady cyclopes. Great. We scry on him, but it's not much useful information; we think Dolgrin might be invisible.

Rescue time!. We head down to the coast, and circle around the island. We pass the Chelish fort, and it does appear to be partially restored. Possibly from the previous winners of the regatta? We come across a group of flying cyclopes, so we shout for Dolgrin. We hear him shout back. Good, it's the right group of cyclopes. Malikor opens with a fireball, they close, and we all get charmed. Splendid. They hack us up for a bit, Dolgrin isolates one, shoots it in the head, and then stabs it the rest of the way to death, and then the charm wears off. The following few seconds do not go well for the remaining cyclopes.

We lick our wounds, and prepare to get the update from Dolgrin.


It turns out that Red Starling was also taken at the same time as Dolgrin from the Quipper. She is still missing, likely in the flying cyclopes ladies' lair. We gather stock of our situation and begin the rescue process. Marqua flies up as an air elemental, I sprout wings and carry Leitauk up, Malikor spiderclimbs, and Oknarok just... climbs. We get to the cave, and it stinks. We storm in, but the cave is empty of any enemies. Stuck to the ceiling are a bunch of ropes and Red Starling. With nobody else in the cave, we free Red Starling, who is unconscious. From our vantage point, we can see that the Quipper is sailing under power (which is concerning, given that there should not be enough peope on board) three miles out, Marqua flies out to scout. We fly back down to the ground and await Marqua's return.

Marqua gets to the Quipper, and she finds our remaining crew is frantically sailing the ship and how it is, in fact, sailing at all. Apparently, the grindylows attached themselves to the hull of the wrong ship, and we are thankful for the happy accident. Also, Marqua receives a report that there is a ship hunting the Quipper, and the crew is trying to keep her out of range. Thee gist of this is communicated via semaphore, and those of us still on shore begin to head down to the shore. Marqua turns the ship in to shore to try to rendezvous with us, with the enemy ship making ground. As it nears, I fly out to the ship to get another body aboard for sailing and defense purposes. We drive the ship into shore, and prepare to use the Quipper as a stationary emplacement.

The enemy ship arrives, and a number of flying crew take off, we start shooting as they come in. Marqua disarms a number of them, and that group heads back to the ship. Oknarok drops one into the water. Malikor fireballs the second group and drops all four. Marqua drops a nauseating pollen onto the first group and the ship. Leitauk kills the navigator and the last non-barfing winged person. The enemy ship coasts in, and we storm and take the ship! It is a pirate hunter ship called the Damned Jewel. They're starved and dehydrated, as it turns out their captain was a bit tyrannical with his hunting tactics, forcing his crew on nearly to the breaking point. We feed them and throw a party to sway them to our side. We sail the two ships around to the harbour by the Chelish fort. As we do, giant tentacles come out of the water and attack the Damned Jewel. We head in to engage, I gear for a bad time. Malikor fireballs the octopus repeatedly after wondering if octopi have groins. The Quipper races in, I sprout wings and race in faster.

I engage! I open a great rend in it, it sags in exhaustion. Leitauk administers the killshot, and the octopus floats at the surface, dead. We make up the new turducken, the octo-tricera-clops (cyclops in a triceratops inside an octopus). The Quipper is in bad shape from the beaching and the speed push. We beach the ship and set about making repairs and partying whilst setting up camp. After a short discussion, we look to try to take the fort in the morning to establish a base against the cyclops.


As we prepare to engage the fort, Supreme Commander and the grindylows finish dredging lost lockers and debris from the Quipper. I scout the fort from the air, and I see about a half dozen buildings inside the fort. There does not seem to be any activity to be seen from the air. We absail up to the top of the tower, and prepare to storm the fort from the roof of the tower. We go through the trap door and see stairs down. There is a big crystal inside, and another smaller one on the landing below. The crystal is magical, but we can't tell how. We descend, spot two statues of cyclopes. We think this is probably a bad situation to come. We ease down some more with an invisibility purge up, however something appears in front of Leitauk. It's a giant spider! It attacks, hits, then disappears! It's a plane-shifting spider! It appears again, I stab it, it disappears. A ghostly apparition appears from the basement! The spider pops in again, Malikor nails it with a dimensional anchor, we unload on it a bit, and it ddies a horrible death. Yay! We hunt for the ghost, he pops out of a column. Captain Obendi introduces himself as also having won the regatta and the island. He offers his worldly possessions and treasure if we get a thing from the cyclopes up in the ruins that his helper Etterly has set off to get. An immortal dreamstone. He also mentions that there are other spider ladies other than Paita.

There are double doors heading out into the courtyard, and doors heading out onto the walls. We head to one of the smaller buildings. It is a very uncomfortable-looking dorm. We try a second building, and there is a weird pony-kitten-spider! It licks Marqua. Painfully. We wade in, it casts phantasmal killer at Oknarok, then sinks into the ground. Downstairs there are a few empty prison cells, and no kitten-ponies. We explore the other doors and rooms. A general store that has been emptied. I set off an eletrical trap, it doesn't hit me, I step back off it. We make our way upstairs. Marqua is in tiger form to counteract the effects of pony-kitten. She smells a monkey behind a closed door. Lots of magical sources. I open the door, there's a mattress in the way. I kick it down, something happens and a guy shoot a scorching ray at me. I dodge it, charge him, and two electrical traps go off. I beat him unconscious.


Malikor gets dysentery! We strip the fellow I've beaten unconscious, steal his stuff, and check the door to the north. It is unlocked. Oknarok opens the door and two scythes swing into his torso. Leitauk then sees about disabling the trap. It's not the best procedure for trapfinding, but we find it works. The new room has yet another door leading out of it. We set up a travois to cart Malikor and the unconscious fellow to the front of the fort. En rout we are attacked by phase chifting spiders! I drop the angry monkey I'd been holding (for no reason, I might add) and ready to stab! The spiders do not reappear initially. We summon a cyclops and begin our retreat! We conduct a very orderly retreat while getting picked apart by the phase shifting spiders. As we retreat, one of the spiders grabs the naked unconscious fellow and disappears. We create a chokepoint on the retreat between the front gate walls. The phase spiders do not reappear, and we pull back further. We heal up a bit before trying to cross the beach.

As we go, some of the Damned Jewel crew come racing towards us in fear. Apparently the Quipper came alive and attacked the crew. We get back and put out the smouldering Quipper with Dolgrin's help. We're not sure that the ship itself came alive, but rather bits of the ship were pulled free and hurled at the crew by someone or something. Apparently Red Starling saw a strange woman flying around, likely causing this. Apparently she'd been hiding in the jungle staring at the crew just before things went crazy. Dark skin, very short hair, human, sat with arms and legs crossed, crazy stuff happened, she grinned and left. We track her, the human tracks turn into claws and take off.

We gather the crew back together. We fire up a druid grove and recoup. We plan a temporary battlement using the Lyre of Building. Given our haggardness, we decide to take a rest day to recoup. Malikor, having recovered, attempts to decurse Marqua and... our druid is back in action! Following day, we're ready to go! We head back to re-establish our choke point and kill things. We scurry in and head for the nearest building. We clear the lower floor, move to the upper floor. Clear an empty storeroom. See a fortified door. The key we took from the fellow I knocked out works on this door. It's an armory. We finish clearing the building! We set out for the next building. It smells of decay, and there are broken animal cages. Also, some critters under the rubble appproaching! A big hand reaches out of the ground for my face, it's the size of me! I am grappled, and four more attack me to varying degrees of success. Oknarok opens fire, murders two of them. Leitauk kills one, I stab another. Malikor kills the last one! We pause and catch our breath, and ready to press on.


A half-elf flickers into being! Tells us to jump on him. He's obviously under the effects of a blink spell, and does exactly that... blinks back out. He pops back in! We dogpile him and pop into the ethereal plane. There is a hobgoblin there! The half elf is a giant ass (as all elven-kind are) but tells us the spiders are coming back. We wade in, Oknarok murders one, another attacks Oknarok, and the third attacks Marlin the half-elf. Leitauk kills number two. We pick apart number three. Bloody glory is had!

We have to wait for Marlin to get his spells back. Apparently Grimka (the afore-mentioned hobgoblin) is here looking for a friend named Gub Gub. Marlin is here to watch over Grimka, ostensibly (but, really, who knows his motivations). We find Eddersley wrapped in spiders' webs, and cut him free. While we're trapped on the ethereal plane, we decide to spy on the cyclopes. But carefully, as we don't know all the abilities of the cyclopes. We manage to get the lay of the land, scout the buildings, and try doing a head count. We scout for cyclopes, other enemies, and loot. We do spot some gargoyles, and evidence of a gargantuan critter somewhere. Continue scouting the cyclopes compound. We do find a treasure room. Also a weird constellation room, with projected constellations that appear to be the current constellations. There is a tablet that says something about blinding oneself would show one the way to actually seeing (neat!). We spot a couple passages that might be a back entrance, however it just looks like one is a defensible and dug in barracks. The other is a strange infirmary. More exploring, and we find a strange runic circle. We find another corridor that is heavily defensible including killholes, and a giant barred and chained door... but the way it's set up, it's keeping something from deeper in the mountain from getting up. We do find the huge cyclops, he's reading a parchment. We try to stay out of the cyclops' field of view and manage to read over his shoulder that the parchment details food shortages for the cyclopes. We continue on. We find a bloodstained circle, archery targets, and a weapons rack, as well as a half dozen cyclopes doing weapons practice. We head back to the starchart egg. Marqua pokes her head in. Might this be the Immortal Dreamstone? We head to the stairs leading down. We head down ~10 stories, no evidence of change. Another 10, nothing, and the stairs keep going. We head below sea level, the stairs keep going. Marqua and I scout ahead via flight. We go down another 1000 ft, hit another guard station and barred door. We peek through and see graffiti in undercommon. We are peeking out in the upper reaches of the Darklands. We zoom in, hear chanting. See a horde of orcs. We don't understand them, this seems like a bad idea waiting to happen, so we turn around and head back.

We head back to rendezvous with Marlin and Ettersley. Clean out the loot from the piles of bodies and we prepare to head back. We pump Marlin for information, but he's not very. Pop back to the material plane. Head back into the fort to mess with a kitten pony. It yells at us telepathically then attacks Oknarok with a phantasmal killer. I storm in and stab it! The others help. It messes me up with a tongue lick, then takes off. Two more kitten ponies attack from the group's flanks. I fly up and engage! We kill one of them, and we swing around to engage the other flanker. We head back to the Damned Jewel, and I am assigned to take the Jewel and sail off into the sunset.


With Zarrnok safely off in the Damned Jewel, the other hobgoblins set their sights on killing more cyclopes. Commodore Oknarok decreed that the best solution was to head back to the watch tower in order to winnow down their numbers.

The trip there led through an area they determined was a triceratops pen, which had been broken but which still seemed to draw some of the dinosaurs. The hobgoblins made note of the location, then headed onward.

Once they got to the tower they found themselves in an ongoing fight against several opponents (all monocular). It seemed that no sooner would they cut one down when another would appear. Malikor created a wall of fire to separate his teammates from the staircase, which bought them a little bit of time. Grimka was able to keep them off-guard while Leitauk and Oknarok shot them full of holes. Marqua summoned a cyclops on the far side of the fire wall, and sent him upstairs to deal with stragglers. On the whole, this was a success. They considered staying in the tower, but twice as many reinforcements were heading their way and they decided to head back to the ship.

On their way there, they heard some crashing in the forest. They stayed very still, and the titan centipede left them alone.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 5)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 9)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 10)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 10)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 10)


Marqua, in the form of a pteranodon, scouted the island for small pockets of cyclopes. She saw some at the watchtower and some more working on the boats. The hobgoblins decided to attack those at the boats. The attack was swift, and brutal for both sides. Among those slain were Grimka, Malikor, and Leitauk (twice). Fortunately they had powerful magic available, and the fight ended in favour of the hobgoblins. They destroyed any trace of the boats, then took the corpses of the cyclopes to a stream and had some quippers strip them of flesh.

A trip back to Port Peril allowed for some shopping and the recruitment of new personnel, and then the hobgoblins were back to the Island of Empty Eyes.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 6)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 10)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 10)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 10)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 10)


Readying themselves for battle, the hobgoblins drank their potions of fly and invisibility then flew into the caldera above the cyclopes' base. Marqua immediately started summoning giant dire boars, which were extremely attractive targets for the starving giants' flashes of insight. There were surprise gargoyles, and one huge cyclops. It was a great battle, with heroism on the part of all.

At the end of the day an elder earth elemental (summoned via scroll) wiped the floor with the final attackers, and the hobgoblins were the only living beings in the base.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 6)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 10)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 10)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 10)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 10)


Breathing heavily in the aftermath of the fight, the hobgoblins decided to poke around the rest of the caldera settlement. They killed a couple of undead cyclopes, studied a giant stone egg before deciding to ignore it, and pressed on to what turned out to be the treasury. They were very happy to have the new resources.

When they got back to their camp, they discovered that several humans were there. They were led by a woman named Audessa Reyquio, and they were looking to start a new life. The hobgoblins decided to tentatively hire them.

Also in the camp was a fey named Velvet Truewing. She claimed to have been sent by the Baroness as their party planner, as requested. She met with Dolgrin, and between them they got to work.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 7)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 10)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 11)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 11)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 11)


First entry in Grimka's journal:

Velvet Truewing suggested I keep a journal! She's really amazing, so in hopes of being as amazing as her I'm taking her advice on that front. Apparently, if I can sort through my emotions and "manage" them, the "right sort" of people will want to be around me. Personally, I think the officers of the Quipper are the right sort, but perhaps there are more right sorts out there.
Supposedly I need to focus on the positive. Things I'm thankful for.

This week, I'm thankful for... Not being Marqua. It's been a rough week for us, but Marqua really bore the brunt of it.
First, we decided to try using this huge dreamstone thing we found. According to Leitauk and Oknarok, we needed to get high (and blind?) to make it work. I'd have been dubious if Malikor was suggesting it, but Captain's orders are to be followed! I offered to go first in our little experiment, since I knew the others would have my back. It's a good thing they did, since as soon as I got into place, a couple of cyclopes statues animated and attacked. Animated cyclopes statues not only serve as guardians, they also serve as an excellent warning about oral hygiene. We caught some of their breath. Bad, very bad. (I understand what Velvet was saying about mint leaves now...) As if that weren't enough for one afternoon, Marqua ended up in rough shape thanks to grabbing the stone. She had to deal with some serious regression and spell loss. It must have been traumatic.

Then the very next day Marqua and I got gnawed on by a shark. Awful. Absolutely awful, I don't recommend it. Luckily Malikor, Oknarok, and Leitauk managed to kill both sharks, before we turned into shark canapes (fancy word for party snacks... thanks Velvet!). In the end we got some shiny stuff (and got rid of those kitten-pony-snake things!). I think it was worth it and now I'm getting excited about this party!!


An excerpt from Grimka's journal:

[... notes about Velvet's opinions on the party decor and guests' clothing and gifts, as well as some speculation about getting wings and being more like Velvet... ]

wrote:

Now that I've described how everything looked, and all the big names (such fascinating people!) that were there, I can get on with recording all the thrilling adventures we had at the soiree (a fancy word for party, Thanks Velvet!). First of all, while we were receiving gifts (and what wonderful gifts; the only dud was the Elf wine, gross not to our taste), there was a commotion in the kitchens. Some of the officers went over to have a look, while others continued to attend to our guests. It turns out there was a sudden, mysterious rat infestation! Marqua and Malikor eventually dealt with that, so we went in to dinner.

We weren't quite finished when a woman naiad? showed up and promptly squirted some nasty kind of fluid all over the head table. Disgusting! We tried tying her up, and interrogating her, but still had difficulty figuring out what she wanted. Once we realized, we were horrified! Some cad had stolen her shape changing shawl! Obviously it was up to us to right this wrong, especially as we're the hosts of this entertaining event.

[part 2 to follow]


While the officers had been hosting the captains and senior officers of the inspecting council members (as well as the other honoured guests), the swabs and riggers were having a separate, more boisterous party elsewhere. In the course of this, some of them discovered a hidden cave that was guarded by demons but contained plunder from the Abyss. This seemed above their pay grade, so they handed it over to the hobgoblins.

At first the thought was to sail to Azir and try to sell it in Port Godless, since the locals there were unlikely to be able to detect its origins. They remembered, though, that their crew included five recently-recovered fanatics of Moloch who had just completed intensive inquisitor training, not to mention one actual (albeit somewhat lost) angel; they thought better of Azir.

They decided that they didn’t like Magnimar all that much, and that made it an ideal spot to dispose of plunder from the Abyss. They made the long journey, and along the way captured a sailing ship from Korvosa. They didn’t want to detach a prize crew, so they took all the cargo and sent the ship on its way. Once they made it to Magnimar they sold their plunder in the Bazaar of Sails and had a few days of liberty. The assistant quartermaster had a tough time letting the plunder go, but a trip to a temple for a remove curse helped with that.

On the way back to the Island of Empty Eyes they captured another sailing ship, this time one carrying a manticore. The fight was short, and they decided they could afford a prize crew since they were nearly home.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 9)

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 11)

Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 11)

Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 11)


The day of the Pirate Council's meeting finally arrived. The Hurricane King was chairing the meeting, and also present were Arronax Endymion, Avimar Sorrinash, Cerise Bloodmourn, Delemona Burie, Hardluck Massey, Havalas Grudd, Jolis Raffles, the Master of the Gales, Maxevale Janis, Tessa Fairwind, and Wide Olga. The hobgoblins were present at a side table, permitted to discuss issues but not to vote.

This first matter involved Mase Darimar and his apparent treason to the Shackles. Avimar Sorrinash testified concerning his spying on behalf of the underwater elves and put forward a motion that Darimar be removed from the Council. After discussion, it was determined that he was no longer deemed worthy of a seat at the table, though his letter of marque was not revoked.

This meant that the Council now had five empty seats, and the Master of the Gales put forward that the five hobgoblins present should fill those seats. For four of the candidates this was an easy sell, but there was concern over the fact that Oknarok had engaged the services of a demon to assassinate Captain Harrigan, a fellow free captain. There was spirited discussion for a lengthy period, then finally they were all voted in (even Oknarok). The Hurricane King seemed disgruntled.

This was immediately followed by a proposal to allow the hobgoblins full shares of the Sargavan tribute instead of waiting the usual trial period. This vote also went in favour of the hobgoblins. Bonefist was even more disgruntled.

The next vote was to take the remaining tribute money and spend on it fortifying Port Peril instead of the usual upgrades to Shackles-wide security. The hobgoblins split their vote in this instance, and the protection of Port Peril instead of the Archipelago won the day.

The next vote was to make an alliance with Gale, an elder air elemental with ties to the First World who had taken up residence in the Eye of Abendego. Only the Hurricane King and the Master of the Gales wanted this issue to pass. When it failed, the Hurricane King struck the remaining issues from the agenda and declared the meeting adjourned.

Once everyone dispersed there were a couple of days for the hobgoblins in Port Peril. In particular, they wanted to learn the location of Harrigan’s old base, since apparently there was something there that was desired by Malikor’s lady friend. They also needed to do some shopping and let their crew have some liberty.

Eventually they discovered where they needed to go, and they sailed off for Gannet Island. They stopped out of sight of the island and decided to ride Marqua (wild-shaped into an orca) the rest of the way. This worked well until they were attacked by a sea serpent. There was a big fight, and eventually they slew it.

PCs:
Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 9)

Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 11)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 11)

Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 12)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 12)


As the group approached Gannet/Garnet Island on whaleback they saw a boy fishing on a remote peninsula. Marqua mused about leaping up and biting him, but that may have been the orca form talking. Once they got close some of them recognized him as Jack Scrimshaw, who had worked with them aboard the Wormwood. He smiled when he saw them, and welcomed them to the island.

Jack told them about how Captain Harrigan had reappeared as a ghost after the demon had killed him, and about how Peppery Longfarthing was desperate to put him to rest. Jack wasn't sure exactly where in the fortress the captain's spirit was, except that it was somewhere upstairs (which he avoided).

Marqua changed into a seagull and scouted the fortress, and once she was there Malikor sent Peppery a sending asking about the reward for turning in Oknarok. Peppery told him to bring him in, and almost immediately afterward Marqua witnessed Peppery telling her guards that hobgoblins might be approaching and they were all to be killed on sight.

The hobgoblins all went invisible and flew in, killing the guards very quickly. They swept into the second floor of the fortress and fought a derghodaemon. It went down surprisingly quickly, but the three nabasu demons from upstairs proved to be a much more difficult fight. Finally the hobgoblins finished them off, but not before a couple of them had acquired negative levels.

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 10)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 12)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 12)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 12)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 12)


Advancing cautiously up the stairs, Oknarok opened the door and was immediately attacked by another of the demons. The ray that struck him made him feel even more drained than he already did.

The other hobgoblins came up the stairs slowly but surely, and the demon kept them at bay and tried to weaken them. He backed away at one point, luring them further into the upstairs room. It was at this point that Harrigan's ghost stepped through the wall.

Oknarok was terrified, and immediately ran away from the ghost. To his misfortune, this meant he went toward the demon. Not about to let his prey escape, the demon froze Oknarok in place.

Harrigan made his claim on Oknarok very clear to the demon, who gave him space. The other hobgoblins were trying to hurt either the demon or Harrigan, but it wasn't looking good for them.

The tide turned after Harrigan killed Oknarok. Shouting in victory, Harrigan faded from view. Seeing this the demon shrugged and prepared to leave, but the hobgoblins focussed their fire on him and hurt him badly. Ultimately it was blood loss from the late Oknarok's musket that did him in.

Some investigation found Harrigan's corpse in his room, along with evidence of his slaughter at the hands of the marilith that Oknarok had called and ordered to assassinate him. They looted the place and began to leave. (Oknarok had by this time been revived.)

Peppery Longfarthing had assembled the bulk of her personnel and was waiting for them below. Both sides eyed each other warily, and decided to parlay. The hobgoblins, secure in the knowledge that they had already emptied Peppery's treasury, agreed to leave with only Giffer Tibbs as a reward. Once she (and her special scrimshaw knife) were secured they left in a hurry.

Once back on the Island of Empty Eyes they tried to use magic to tell the baroness that their task was done. She told them to take the breathing terracotta pot to the queen's palace in the First World. When asked how, her only response was "Use magic."

PCs:

Grimka (hobgoblin fighter 1/mesmerist 10)
Leitauk (hobgoblin fighter 1/inquisitor 12)
Malikor (hobgoblin fighter 1/cleric 12)
Marqua (hobgoblin fighter 1/druid 12)
Oknarok (hobgoblin fighter 1/gunslinger 12)

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