Akarna Awakens

Game Master Prosperum

Jaym'row salvages some of her pride by striking the mage with one arrow. She accepts healing humbly and soon regains her cheerful demeanor. She helps with the loading and delivery chores and mulls over the issues with the tracker and possible snitches.

"Maybe the stone was dropped hoping we'd take it up and allow them to track us from here on. They could have figured out where we were heading if they know about the special liquid and where it is produced. That stone might be best stored in Davy Jones locker."

Thanks for 'botting Jaym'row. I should be good to post regularly for a while now.

"Question." Kork raises a finger. "Ship making other stops? If yes - who knows? Crew, suppliers?"

"If not - be non-issue, perhaps?"

The captain shakes his head at Kork's question.

"This was our last stop before Thalis. Hopefully these events won't pose any issues for the expedition--we recovered the distillate successfully and haven't lost any crew or significant supplies. Our time on Thalis should be free of intrigue; at least, of the kind to which we are accustomed."

He grimaces again.

"Of course, in the meantime, if others have been able to discover the identity of our supplier, House Dandolon's military advantage might be squandered. We're merely assuming Lairus's men planted it when we were attacked at the docks, it could easily have been a Nendastan agent."

He steps over to the foc's'le and cracks open the lid of the box to which he had pointed earlier. Bending over and rooting around for several moments, he retrieves a dull brown object encrusted with dirt and sawdust.

Rubbing it with his finger reveals a glint of reflected light that could only come from a gemstone.

"As I feared. Something like this could have been concealed here for weeks without us noticing."

He points to Mirian. "Head belowdecks and see whether there were any bottles, phials, or other containers on the corpses that Klotrich could search for residue. I will send a warning to the Dandolon offices before we get too far."

He weaves his hands before him in gestures of eldritch power. The air condenses before him into a vaporous apparition. The captain speaks in a calm, clear voice:

"Distillate attacked. Still intact, approaching Thalis, but enemy agents aware of weapon, possibly identified supplier. Has mage with invisibility, tracked our ship from Eredorn. Beware."

An eerie replica of Ferrino's face emerges from the animate cloud and repeats his message in a low, unnerving susurrus.

Satisfied with the message, Ferrino raises his signet ring and points to the symbol of House Dandolon emblazoned upon it. The whispering wind darts over the gunwale and begins speeding back toward port.

The captain turns to face Jaym'row. "If what Okoteck says is true, these things—" he raises the gem, now almost completely clean at the expense of his kerchief– "come in pairs, and are useless to anyone who doesn't have one or the other. Since we have both, it might not be necessary to throw them overboard; in fact, they might come in handy on the expedition."

He pauses for a moment to replace the kerchief in his pocket.

"We should avoid going near the weapon or reviewing sensitive documents until we reach Thalis, however, on the off chance something attempts to scry on us. Once we reach Thalis, we should be safe from prying eyes--scrying and detection spells from beyond the continent return only the murkiest results regarding things in the interior, and even then the diviner must be of exceptional skill or else they fail entirely; something to do with the ley lines."

He adjusts his hat, which had begun leaning in the high wind.

"I imagine something similar must prevent long-distance translocation magic from working effectively, or else the Akarnennian Empire or Sultanate of Dar Tek would have colonized the island a long time ago. Of course, in this benighted age, spellcasters of sufficient power to travel such vast distances by magic are practically unheard of."

After a few minutes, the quartermaster reemerges from belowdecks and shakes her head at the captain.

"No trace of any potion bottles," she offers dejectedly.

The captain sighs.

"It was a long shot in the dark. I didn't even expect it to work."

He leans against the railing.

"It's the uncertainty that will bother me, though. Even if the fate of the supplier is none of our business, it remains troubling that we do not know what will become of things back home."

Mirian steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, giving him an affectionate smile.

"Cheer up, sourpuss! We took on this mission to get away from home, remember? I'm sure things will be fine. And even if they're not, the crew will be fine. We'll survive. As long as we have you, House Dandolon can burn to the ground for all I care."

The cooper laughs.

"And if they're not careful, I'll light the match myself. Right lot of pretentious bastards."

He glances at Ferrino.

"I take it you'll want me to see to our new cargo? Those barrels will need far closer care than the usual, I reckon. And we should probably load the weapon just in case."

The captain nods.

"All good points. Fetch Gunnar and Thaddrick before you do, they'll want to oversee the loading process."

The cooper nods and turns to leave, but pauses momentarily to glance at the party.

"By the way, dinner is ready," he informs you before loping off to find the gunners.

There's a glint of anticipation in Okoteck's dark eyes as Captain Ferrino mentions the impossibility of scrying or teleporting to Thalis. Some may blame it on ley lines, but to his mind, powerful magic is the best way to block powerful magic.

"The pairstones may indeed be a boon for us," he says aloud, "But while they explain how our attacker knew we had arrived, he knew far too much about the contents of those barrels. Not only did he know they were important and flammable, he knew enough to ward himself against fire, showing he knew they would explode. Though I still think he would have been, very briefly, surprised by a piece of the barrel flying straight through his protections had he actually succeeded."

"There is scarcely aught we can do about it now, though, besides assume any ships that attack us will have some ideas about our armaments."

"Well, I'm hungry, so let's eat! Then we can all look forward to those magic words, 'Land Ho!'" At which she starts singing a song to entertain everyone as they head for the mess area.

Land Ho!

As you sidle belowdecks and crowd around the larder where Snekki stirs his pot of fish soup and ladles it into bowls, the blacksmith's apprentice turns toward you and gives an understated greeting.

"I hear you lot almost got blown up. How did that happen?" he asks casually.

"Yes, judging by the character of this young lady's wounds, the miscreants responsible wielded fairly potent magics. I'd love to hear the full details," interjects the ship's surgeon.

Jaym'row lets Syper do the story-telling honors, while she eats. If he declines, she'll tell the tale. She's a little embarrassed that she did not do much to help defeat the enemies.

Kork spends some time on the aft, sitting on the floor with his fishing pole over the railing. He whistles a joyful tune as he waits for a pull.

As dinner approaches, he packs up. His bait jar is full, and there are no fish next to him. He packs up begrudgingly and moves to the kitchen.

As he sits down, he sighs heavily. "Kork must try bow tomorrow. Not much fish on aft, it seems." he shrugs. When Hodak and Gideon ask about the attacker, Kork squints his eyes. "Questions dangerous." he whispers at the men. "Kork tell you. But trade for something. Interested?"

Hodak glances at him quizzically.

"What sort of trade did you have in mind?"

The goblin flashes a mischievous smile. He looks around to make sure nobody is listening. "Know Birdman Okoteck? Big beak, black feather, eyes of night."

He raises his hand with 4 fingers extended. "Need three feathers from Birdman." Kork looks at his hand, and extends his 5th finger. "White or gray best, but black also good."

"Hodak trade?"

The apprentice blacksmith frowns in consternation. The surgeon rubs his chin before cutting into the conversation.

"I have a few from when I treated him an hour ago. They're a bit scorched, is that all right?"

Okoteck, as usual, lets others do the talking during the meal while he watches. He's hopeful that there aren't any hostile agents aboard... but watching the crew while they learn about the attack might reveal something if they are not so fortunate.

Jade eats her dinner in silence, the idea of a traitor among the crew almost unthinkable, yet she is unable to shake the thought from her mind. After dinner, she heads abovedecks to help out the riggers, to feel the strong breath of Kassasi propel the ship forward and let the reliable chaos of the waves soothe her fears.

Jaym'row lets Syper do the story-telling honors, while she eats. If he declines, she'll tell the tale. She's a little embarrassed that she did not do much to help defeat the enemies.

Syper looks Jaym'row over, and silently rises and clears his throat.

"What, all the scorch marks? We got attacked by a scamp!"

"No, not your standard ne'er-do-well, not a mere scalawag, no, this was a burning imp, a little flying miscreant of living flame! He flew down among us, trying to torch us and our belongings. And..." pointing in Jaym'row's direction, "The little bugger decided he wanted to pet the kitty."

He pauses to let others get a word in edgewise.

Note: Jaym'row was not burned by the scamp. She was wounded by a magic missile, force damage, which I don't think would have left any burns. More likely it was bruises.

Indeed. I'm not changing the story.

The cook halts their ladling to glance upward, confused by the long pause.

"What happen then?"

"Not do." Kork looks at Gideon and shakes his head. "See, Kork here," he points to himself "is a collector. Not collect random trinkets." He opens his cloak, and starts pulling individual items, saying a few words, and storing them back.

"Willow bark filings. Kork harvest during equinox night and full moon. Once every 15 years. Very rare. Help cure were-folk."

"Mane of albino zebra. Hard to find. Help reveal hidden truth."

"Coin minted with same symbol on both sides by accident. Quite rare. Ward owner against uncertainty."

He stores all presented items back into his cloak and points to both Gideon and Hodan. "Both use tools when work, yes? Tools must be good condition, yes? These Kork tools. No damage."

"No way we'd let a scamp close to Jaymie!" Syper replied to Snekki. "Okoteck took the brunt of the scamp's flames while we pulled Jaymie away. The horse was spooked with all the fire everywhere, and she took the brunt of that!"

He sips his drink and finishes, "All in all, we had to strip the cart, douse the flames, calm the horse, and banish the scamp all while protecting the shipment! Those little buggers can blow up when things don't go their way, so getting the critter doused and banished was key to keeping things from exploding."

Syper leans back. "Excellent stew, Snekki! You familiar with the fish in these waters?"

Snekki beams with pride.

"Sunfish were caught fresh by Luwana. Not as stringy and lean as other fish, so taste good even with bad cook. Snekki good cook, at least methinks so."

The surgeon shrugs at Kork.

"If you say so." He takes a sip of cider and adds, "One of these days, though, I'd like to examine your collection."

He then takes another long draught from his mug before turning to face Syper and offering an observation.

"Scamps aren't native to the material plane. I wonder where it came from?"

"Someone must have summoned it, of course," Syper waves off. "But, since we're talking house business, you could just buy a scroll that does it for you. Doesn't take too much skill. Potent or not, there's no evidence of experience. A child with a crossbow can be more dangerous than a seasoned marksman."

Pausing to take a drink, he finishes, "In any case, we are away from port, now. Our best strategy is to keep ourselves and the ship hale and hearty."

.

Jaym'row knows enough about telling tales that they work best when one person fabricates the story. So she keeps her mouth shut except to feed fish soup into it.

"True enough. Though we should keep a careful lookout," Okoteck replies to Syper's words. "It would not be at all surprising, after we've been attacked twice already, to be attacked at sea."

Hearing Kork discussing feathers with Gideon, the tengu turns his head to him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "So you need whole feathers, do you? I'm afraid molted ones won't do, then, so they'd need to be fresh-plucked. But such would cost you, for certain. What might you offer for them?"

Kork nods at Gideon's follow-up. "There be time on boat, yes? Come visit Kork in off-hours?" the goblin leans back against the chair and take and sips from his own mug.

When Okoteck joins the discussion, Kork's expression changes into a grin. He thinks for a few seconds, laughing quietly.

"Birdman have mind for business? Good. Kork will trade." and he starts gnawing on his finger aggressively. A few seconds later, Kork stops, pulls out his finger from his mouth, and slides his hands under the table to wipe something into his coat.

He puts his hands back on the table neark Okoteck, one of his fingers covered in minor cuts.

"Only fair if Birdman and Kork swap bodyparts." he smiles, and separates his hands, revealing a large, bitten-off nail on the table.

He dips his injured finger into his mug with a sigh of relief.

"Gobbo nail. Not scared of dirt or blood. If boiled and crushed to powder, good for lockjaw."

Jaym'row thinks to herself, If eating goblin nails is the cure, I think I might prefer lockjaw.

Klotrich, taken aback, mutters to Jaym'row, "I'm sure an antiplague elixir would have an equal or greater salutary effect in such an eventuality."

You're the only one sitting next to him, and your expression of disgust was pretty obvious.

Okoteck considers the fingernail. "You should, perhaps, have inquired if I would accept it before removing your nail," he states, "As I was not particularly looking for a lockjaw cure. I was, however, looking for knowledge, which you've included a scrap of with it, so I will accept it in that spirit, with, perhaps, a promise of some of your time to speak of your homeland later...?"

He takes the fingernail and places it in his belt pouch, with a mental note to clean it and its current contents when he can. "Now then, if I am to be plucking feathers, have you a preference as to where they are from? My throat, perhaps? We tengu are known to have a talent for vocal mimicry... though that reputation is earned only by few of us."

"Like teeth, nail grow back." Kork shrugs with his finger in the mug. "Not -ONLY- lockjaw!" the goblin raises a finger on his other hand to emphasise, then points it to his head "Must find token meaning to use."

"Feathers... Where from?" Kork squints and scratches his beard. "Kork want feathers from wing of bird that not fly. To show and expose natural limits. Elbow, maybe?"

He also considers something else, and laughs. "Maybe later Kork ask for vocal folds." as he chuckles, his finger touches the wall of the mug. He hissses. "Karmic retribution, maybe. Yes, Kork tell you about Kork's wandering tent. How much time does Birdman have?"

"Interesting..." Okoteck picks out three feathers around his left elbow, and, with a wince of pain, plucks them out.

He hands them over to Kork. The goblin is certainly quite the interesting enigma--he seems something of a madman, but after seeing him in combat twice, Okoteck can't deny the effectiveness of his methods.

"Well, we have many days at sea. I suspect time will be something we have plenty of... right until we have too little."

After dinner, Syper heads out onto deck. He looks over the rigging, ensures everything is where it's supposed to be, seemingly offering an encouraging word to the ropes themselves.

As waves lap against the vessel in its ongoing voyage, he takes a moment to reminisce, looking out across the ocean, next to Jade.

"What really bothers me," he says, out of the blue, quietly, "Is that he wanted it destroyed. It would be more valuable stolen, wouldn't it?"

Jade breaks out of her reverie when Syper speaks. She turns to him, her face still furrowed in thought.

"Hmm? Oh, that would only matter if they were just thieves looking to turn a profit. The captain said our employers are not the only House who know about the disappearance of the virloga. He said Nendasta would be mounting an expedition too. That naphtha is worth peanuts compared to what's up there, if the rumors are even half true. I bet they wanted to starve the Dragonsbite and kill us off in the same explosion. This whole expedition is hopeless without us, right?" she chuckles, in spite of herself.

"That's my read on it, too."

The cooper emerges from belowdecks, using a cloth to wipe grease off a small handtool.

"House Kleretori would obviously want to know where the snappod distillate originates, as breaking Dandolon's monopoly on the weapon would improve their long-term standing, but only a rogue scion would actually take hostile action against House Dandolon with the Nendastan situation so tense."

He glances out over the aquamarine expanse of the Norennian for a moment before continuing his thoughts.

"Nendasta is a strange place. They were settled over a hundred years before the pirate lords came to the Isles, by Cornyrian exiles fleeing Akarnennian control of Dendar. They don't speak Common there, and have always tended toward the macabre, since their graveyards so rarely stay quiet. Something's wrong with the ground there, or so the stories say."

He finishes wiping grease off the wrench and places it into his belt.

"For the longest time, relations were cool but cordial; they needed our silver for their smiths so they could keep the werewolves, ghouls, and assorted monsters at bay. But they've somehow secured an alliance with the gargoyles that dwell in the hill country and preyed on settlers, and can now mine silver themselves."

He leans against the railing and continues.

"This explains their lessened dependency on trade with the cities on Keliak. But as to why Lord Regent Pharsipal seems intent on raiding Eredori ships and dragging the entire island of Tholiar into a war they are unlikely to win, either he knows something we don't, or the superstitious psychics and harrow-readers that pass for advisors in his court have finally leapt free of their gourds."

He turns to you both and smiles.

"The Dragonsbite is loaded and ready to fire on a moment's notice," he informs you proudly. "Of course, the gunners are in charge of all the fun parts; I just maintain the barrels."

The blacksmith shouts the cooper's name, and he rolls his eyes.

"Duty calls," he offers with a theatrical, long-suffering air, as he returns belowdecks.

A following wind sees you out of Jurgen’s Fist and headed north faster than a man could jog. The thump of the ship slicing the crowning waves stirs your souls as you gain speed. The extradimensional larder proves its weight in gold as fresh fruit and dairy supplement the hardtack and grog. You quickly learn the sea shanties of the crew, their songs of belonging driving away the tedium of the endless blue sea. Night after night, the southern stars dip further down the sky, their places taken by the denizens of more northerly spheres.

Date: 4-2-870

It is the night of the new moon, seventeen days after leaving Cornyria, and the party is standing watch while the remainder of the crew rests below, save the cox’n, who mans the helm. The only lights are the stars above. The ship is making a leisurely pace, the sails only half-full. You are in the waters of the sahuagin. Of the Deep Empire. Of the sea devils.

Initiative order:
Jaym'row, 23
Okoteck, 19
Jade, 18
Sea devils, 17
Syper, 11
Cyranno, 9
Kork, 8

You spot a finned and scaled humanoid clutching a spear and riding a large shark just beneath the surface of the inky black water. Having seen one, you quickly spot three others making a beeline for the ship, springing from the backs of breaching sharks to sink their sharp claws into the hull.

Because Jade and Cyranno don't have low-light vision or darkvision, the monsters are concealed to them, requiring a DC 5 flat check to hit, unless light is provided.

The map link in my profile has been updated.

After a rousing performance of the Wellerman, Jaym'row says, "That's a great song. I've sung it many times in bars and locals always seem to know it if they're near the sea. One question. What the hell is a wellerman?"

During the voyage, Jaym'row spends time on deck in fair weather, studying the stars, observing sea life, watching heat lightning play on a distant line of thunderstorms, thinking occasionally of her mother. She encouraged Jaym'row to leave the predictable life of the catfolk caravans to seek adventure. I bet mom would enjoy this adventure.

When the sahuagin attack, Jaym'row is first to respond, for once instead of last. "Fishmen attacking!" she yells.

Then she draws her rapier and moves to the lower deck and around behind the steps to hide in hopes of getting a sneak attack on the one closest to her.

Actions: Interact to draw rapier; stride to move; hide
Stealth +7 roll to hide.

"What the hell is a wellerman?"

Chewing on a short bit of jute, Syper flashes a grin to Jaym'row before turning to look out to sea, mumbling, "We'll take our leave and go..."

Okoteck spends a fair amount of time speaking with each member of the crew in turn, notebook in hand. He produces fair sketches of each of them with some notes on their history and personality. If anyone refuses to speak with him, he won't include them in his notes... while they're watching.

*******************

When he notices the sahuagin approaching, he draws his blade while tracing a circle in the air with his left hand and cawing a sharp command. Then he falls into a low guard as a faint circle of force shimmers into view by his free hand.

◆ Draw weapon ◆ Cast shield ◆ Enter Arcane Cascade stance

Seeing the sahuagin climbing up the hull, Jade opens the gates within her to activate her kinetic aura◆, bringing the swirling storm into life around her. She directs a blast◇ of hailstones to the enemy closest to her on the port side (red border).

Elemental Blast: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
DC 5 Flat Check: 1d20 ⇒ 14
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Then for good measure she throws another shower of hailstones◆, this time towards the sahuagin closest to her on the starboard side (green border).

Elemental Blast -5: 1d20 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 7 - 5 = 3
DC 5 Flat Check: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Then she raises her steel shield◆ and awaits the enemies' move.

Jaym'row slinks across the dark timber of the deck and crouches down in the shadows behind a small pile of boxes and rope, preparing to make her move.

Okoteck likewise readies himself for battle by drawing his weapon, conjuring an ephemeral shield of force, and dropping into a battle stance.

Jade raises her arm and sends a blast of hail towards one of the creatures. The assault strikes true, as she hears the thud of the stones connecting. However, it is too dark for her to evaluate the damage.

She turns and fires another blast of hail at the opposing flank of attackers, but in the dark the shards of ice fail to connect and go sailing out into the dark sea.

The sea devils clamber over the railing and split up. One heads up the fo'c'sle stairs on the starboard side and sends a probing strike with its spear at Okoteck, who dodges easily. One heads up the fo'c'sle on the port-side stairs and rams his spear into Kork, drawing blood.

Kork takes 5 damage.

A third heads up the aft on the starboard side and thrusts his spear at Syper, a heavy blow that misses by a mile.

The final sea devil crawls over the railing, withdraws a small clay pot from his bandolier, and tosses it at the base of the mast, where it shatters.

Syper tries not to think about the shattered pot for a second as he draws his sword. Humming a bit of The Wellerman, he adds a pointed, "We'll take their leave and... Go!"

Draw Longsword, cast courageous anthem, attack

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

The bard's blade slices into the sahuagin, who was just a tad bit too slow to avoid the blow.

The cox'n, in between manning the wheel and scanning the horizon for additional threats, shouts a battlefield command at Syper, giving him insight into the rhythm of the fight.

Bosun's Command (auditory, concentrate, emotion, linguistic, mental) Frequency once per round; Effect The bosun orders an ally to attack or to get in position. Until the end of the ally's next turn, they gain the bosun's choice of a +2 status bonus to attack rolls or a +10-foot status bonus to their Speeds.

Syper receives a +2 status bonus to attack rolls. (Doesn't stack with anthem's attack bonus, but does with damage bonus and fear save bonus.)