Lift Off
The wind begins blowing even wilder and louder as Hanu begins his descent. Brin, still hiding outside the Nova mill, overhears the pirates talking about leaving via a ship at the rear of Hanu. They are interrupted by the Kalika and the Daughters of Zara, and she confronts the pirate in charge, CARVER. He is apparently a former “driftwood” resident of the island who was allowed to leave, and has returned to steal Nova.
ENCOUNTER: The Daughters line up to face the group pirates, and at that moment, the rest of the party emerges from the jungle, directly in the middle. Rather than stick around, the party attempts to just make enough room to run between them and continue. They use Thunderwave and throw daggers, and manage to create an opening. Carver stabs Kalika, who vows revenge, but Nim casts a healing spell as they pass.
The party plunges into the dark jungle, running without a clear path or light. They get slightly turned around; they ask Brin, who ran first and is the farthest ahead, to cry out and guide them, but he sets trees on fire as beacons instead. Overhead, the party can see a barrier of protection beginning to descend over the village area.
Eventually, they exit the jungle onto a portion of empty shell. The wind is strong, and most of the party loses their footing on the slippery surface. About 60 feet ahead, they can see Ikki in combat with the three pirates guarding the pirates’ airship. The ship appears to be a Valon’dai warship, though it’s definitely seen better days. There is a slight tingle of Ickarium coming from it.
The ship is beginning to lift off, and the party storms the gangplank (injuring one of the pirates in the process) and they all manage to get onboard. As they float away, they can see the barrier falling into place, and Hanu submerging below the waves. Nim is very upset that they broke their promise to Nadine and she was left behind.
The remaining pirates are LORRAINE (aka Stitch), a tiefling helmswoman, GRIMM, and KIRBY, the cowardly one who was injured as we boarded. Kor originally attempts to intimidate her with threats, but Stitch points out the party can’t fly the ship without her.
Despite being unsuccessful in their mission, Stitch is flying the ship, THE GRUDGE, back to the pirate stronghold of SCUTTLEBUTT ISLAND in the east, a place Dango has been before. Ikki privately checks their compass, and this is taking them in the wrong direction.
The pirates were originally on Hanu to steal a supply of Nova on behalf of THE KINGFISH to settle other debts. Dango has heard of The Kingfish before, and knows that he’s a bad dude who serves UMBERLEE, aka Queen of the Depths, aka the Bitch Queen, a terrifying, chaotic evil goddess. Because The Kingfish is dangerous, Stitch is reluctant to go back with nothing. She proposes a job with the party: she knows of a shipwreck with a ickarium still on board. If we help her get that for the Kingfish, she agrees to share the profits with us.
Nim, still feeling the effects of leaving Nadine, is emphatically opposed to this plan. They are not actually pirates, and ickarium is very illegal, and she wants no part of it. The others eventually agree, and they decide to continue towards Scuttlebutt for now, but look for an opening to slip away as soon as possible. The party takes a LONG REST.
Over the next few days:
- They learn this group of pirates was called the “BORE-DRY BANDITS” because they never touch water, and Carver Renshaw was the captain of another ship called THE VULTURE.
- Brin and Dango both attempt to observe Stitch to get a better idea how the airship is flown.
- Brin also investigates/loots the ship. He finds a dice game and new tricorn hat for Dango.
- Nim makes a dragon toy for the recovering Kirby.
- Kor places the necklace and the ring together in a hidden pocket to keep them safe from Stitch, and he notices a strange feeling with them in close proximity.
- Dango checks the ships registry to see if there is any listing for Erlar; there is not.
As the airship approaches Scuttlebutt, the party makes a quick plan to escape. They all jump overboard (with the exception of Toulouse, who is flown away by Ikki), and Featherfall into the water below. They agree to all meet up at one of the three pubs in town, CHARMING CHARLIE’S.
The party dries themselves as they move through the streets of Scuttlebutt, and arrive to find a very sparkly bar run by CHARMING CHARLIE himself. He is a half-orc with capped gold teeth and piercings and rings, anything shiny or sparkly. He rents them two rooms for the night, and even sells Grig a gold necklace at a reasonable price!?
~ end of session ~
random notes
- Schrödinger’s Pirate: we have no way of knowing whether Carver & the rest survived inside the bubble or not, so they exist in a storytelling flux for now. ARRRRRRGH?
- The party levels up: 5