Session Nine - Recap
Making haste to put the Chelish Pirate Hunter The Dominator in their wake, the crew of The Broken Promise cut up into the southern portion of the Shackles, spending a week cutting near island shores outside of general shipping paths that Chelish might patrol. This enabled them to continue their search for signs of Mancatcher Cove. After that week, they spied sails and closed on the ship. Recognizing the sign of the Three Birds on the mainsail, the crew relaxed slightly--it was a ship in Captain Merrill Pegsworthy's fleet. Hailing at distance, they met the ship on friendly terms. The Captain, a lanky elf man named Hibiscus Drue, was cordial and friendly, saying his crew had received word that the symbol of the broken pierced heart was that of Captain Gilbert Sullivan, a friend of their Fleet Lord. They retired to a nearby shore, and shared a sumptuous meal of roast pig and fine alcohol from Captain Drue's personal stock. Drue told them more about Isabella "Inkskin" Locke's history, but little proved to give any more lead on where Mancatcher Cove or her allied sahuagin might be. Jax and Scoluvus shared their tale of disabling The Dominator, and much laughter was had at the expense of the Chelish. The evening ended as the fire dwindled with tales of shipping lanes and how best to dodge the pirate hunting fleets.
Two days later, the crew spied a trawler askew and riding low in the water. Shivikah--the ship's carpenter--said that it could potentially be repaired but he would need a closer look. The officers rowed over to the listing ship, and see that it is indeed partially submerged. There was no sign of lifeboat, but there was a clear hold in the hold which water continues to seep into with each wave. Just as a few of them clamored onto the deck, without warning a number of sahuagin rose from the cluttered underwater portion of the ship's deck, menacing them with their bone-carved tridents. To make matters worse, two others riding sharks and brandishing crude crossbows surfaced between the crew and The Broken Promise.
Evil creatures of the sea that walk as man
Scolvus' mirror image spell managed to confound the attackers enough to let the crew get the upper hand in the battle quickly. It was soon clear that the shark-riders were the greater threat than those battling on the deck of the ship itself. Galfire, incensed by the sharks (his leg was bitten off by a shark after all), attempted to leap at them and attack in a single jump off the bow of the dinghy. Unfortunately his balance was off, landing him in the drink far from his target. Druna followed suit with the plan, except she was able to reach the foes and knock one off his shark mount. As the crew killed the dismounted rider and the remainder on the ship, the final shark rider fled into the deep ocean. Watching him go, the crew noticed a sunken life boat in the water below--belying the fact that this was a trap baited by the promise of recovering a ship.
They searched their foes and the ship, and found one of the sahuagin wore a strange necklace. It seemed to be thick platinum, but with deep darkened whorls in the metal that were somehow mesmerizing and off-putting at the same time in their suggestion of cosmic nothingness. The bait craft proved to be unsalvageable as a sailing vessel, but Shivikah suggested they tow it to shore and take what good wood remained as stores to repair their own ship. Agreeing to this, the crew towed the boat to a nearby island's shore. Hauled with a great deal of sweat and hard work, they manage to heave the ruined vessel up onto land, and prepared to cannibalize the timbers. As the crew began their work, Druna assumed the form of an eagle and scouted the island. She spied a small cove on the northern side of the island, about an hour away if the crew took the pilot cutter.
As night fell, Galfire prepared a sumptuous bonfire cookout of fish and shark over pork-fat seasoned rice, with a hearty helping of the numerous crabs which crawled the shore. He finished the dishes with blackened starfish, which the crew raved about. During the evening revelry, Jax took the opportunity to speak with Portia D'Angelique, starting with a discussion of the sahuagin and the strange platinum necklace. She identified it as deep platinum, and told that the creatures of the sea depths revered it for its supposed magical connection to the great sea God Leviathan. Portia explained that a jeweler she worked with had a small piece once, and was told when he bought it from a sailor that supposedly the metal is mined from poisonous vents on the very bottom of the ocean floor by strange beings known as Aboleths--strange intelligent icthyoids that were the only creatures that might swim so deep as to retrieve it.
Dark dreams of the rising Aboleths surfaced as they stared into the night fire
Jax turned the conversation to Portia's prisoner status, and whether she would consider working on the ship to reduce her ransom amount (though unknown to her the letter of ransom had not even been sent yet). She agreed to speak to Captain Sullivan about the matter. They came to an agreement, that she would provide her considerable skill at appraising and antiquities as an assistant to the Quartermaster. In exchange, she would work until her pay reached the value of two magic swords (4630 gold pieces, or present for 20 plunder points distributed to crew)--once she earned half the amount she'd be free to decide to work the rest off or go free on her promise to provide the rest. Captain Sullivan and Jax take her to Scolvus and instruct her to start her work in the morning.
In the morning, Portia and Scolvus went about the ship, having her appraise everything from the ship to its contents and crew. While her appraisal of Druna--"akin to a wire rake for a fireplace"--earns her a rope bash, she proves to do good work. Concerned a bit about Portia walking the ship free, and in contact with her former crew who are impressed, the officers of The Broken Promise decided to recruit a few trusted crew to keep their eyes out for any insurrection. Druna recruited Ratline Rattsberger, while Captain Sullivan enlisted Crimson Cogward. Jax approached Jaundiced Jape, suggesting to him that as a mute he might often be overlooked. A knowing nod later Jape too agreed to keep an eye out on the crew.
The next morning the crew took the pilot cutter to explore the cove on the northern side of the island. They found it to be quite hidden from the sea view, but inside it was a thin tidal cove with crystal clear water. More worrisome, they saw a great stone head near interior of the cove, as if an enormous stone giant had been buried up to his shoulders. Scolvus identified it as potentially one of the Tiberoliths: enormous stone constructs the giants who once lived on the islands created to defend their structures. He shared tales of whole islands full of them, ancient guardians left purposeless violently turning on crews who dare land on the shore. Giving the massive head a wide berth, the crew pushed into the jungle beyond the cove.
They came upon a set of massively huge cyclopean stairs, left from the same ancient civilization of giants that must have placed the stone head. Climbing the stairs was an endeavor, both because they were built for a creature vastly larger than them, but also because they were overgrown with roots and vines. Reaching the top, they found a stone plaza with more massive ruins choked with overgrowth. To cover the area, they split into groups to search for any treasure.
It may not be Mancatcher Cove, but there is sure to be some treasure under all these plants and vines
Eventually, the crew found a single entrance amid the ruins to space beneath the huge flagstones. Lighting torches, they proceeded cautiously into the dark. Jax led the way, searching for traps. Soon he shouted for the group to stop, as he realized that he was standing on a floor tile that was indeed a trap trigger. Yet made for giants, his weight wasn't enough to even trigger the mechanism. Showing the group what to avoid, they pushed onward where they found another oversized trap. This time it was a thick rope that would have been correctly placed to trigger for a giant, but was utterly obvious for a human. Looking about, Jax saw the holes lining the walls in which hidden spears were set to emerge on the victim--the lowest still being too high up to even give one of their group a haircut.
Eventually they reached a large, locked door. Propped on Druna's shoulders, Jax was able to reach his arm right into the lock and manipulate the tumblers with his fingers. Swinging the door open, they found a large chamber inside, which would have been a small store room to giant sensibility. In the room was an enormous decaying treasure chest. The chest stood as tall as Galfire, and while the wood was decayed the metal bindings and lock were intact. Opening the lock, the group found a pile of Gohl-gan gold coins: huge dinner-plate sized currency used by the long lost giant race of Golarion. They couldn't be directly spent, but they made an impressive plunder! They also found a strange greatclub, which would have been a smallish club for the ancient race but was nearly unweildable by Galfire. The club seemed to be composed of the same strange sandstone as the Tiberolith head, and had a strange heft--there seemed to be liquid inside the club. It appeared to have some sort of acid inside, that once swung enough would start to weep out and provide a corrosive weapon effect for a while (until the acid finally ate through the item and ruined it).
Deciding they wanted to take the chest fittings and re-build the massive chest with new lumber for their ship, Druna used a warp wood spell to remove them simply. The crew then drug the fittings out of the chamber and up to the surface, content with their exploration and plunder.
The full crew in front of their massive chest (L-R): Jax, Druna (with Pluck above), Sadie the Goat, Captain Gilbert Sullivan, Scolvus, and Galfire
Outside the dungeon, the crew was laughing and congratulating themselves on the ease of this exploration when the reached the hidden cove. Unfortunately, the found a bloody scene. A massive crab, no doubt hidden in the sand when they had arrived, had apparently emerged. It snipped one of the sailors left the guard the pilot cutter clean in half. As they watched, it was menacing Sandara Quinn, who had climbed a tree to safety. Seeing the tree was coated in blood, they spied that her hand had been cut clean off by the crab's massive pincers. As they watched it take another hunk of the tree out with its pincer, and Sandara drop even closer to certain death, the crew rushed the beast. Galfire got caught in its pincers first, with his ribs shattering and leaving a horrible scar across his chest (minor scar). Struggling free and leaving the crab's massive pincers free, Galfire crawled to safety while the pincers found Pluck the Parrot in their grip. Druna, screaming Dwarven obscenities plus "my bird" hit it squarely and shattered its shell with a single thud of her club.
"Are you okay?" Scolvus asked Sandara, to which she quickly replied "I know I'll have to bear a worse pain yet this year. Burn it." Tending to her wound, the crew burned the stump of Sandara's arm while taking the big pieces of the crab's shell for components for druid armor. A quick service for the slain sailor later, the crew made their way back to the ship, and headed off along the island chain once more.
A few days later, Scolvus happened to catch Sandara away from Jax and inquired about how she was feeling and what she meant by her cryptic comment. She revealed to him that she was pregnant with Jax's child. She said that she presumed that he knew that she was pregnant, as she performed all the proper rites to Besmara both before, during, and a fortnight after their copulation. Scolvus said that maybe she should check with Jax, as he might be less familiar with the practices of the faith than she was.
After about a week of hunting, the ship came upon a small village on the big island of Motaku Isle's southern shore. Seeing potential prey for their attacks, the crew landed in force up the shore and then attacked the village at dusk. The villagers fled except for a few defenders, who beset the crew with vicious trained dogs and poisoned darts, led by a strange witch doctor whose curse magic proved to be hard for the crew to overcome. The witch doctor was finally killed by Jax, who had snuck around the side of the brawl to strike from the shadows. Once the witch was slain, the others' resolve to fight crumbled and they mostly perished or fled. One remained lying comatose, having accidentally poisoned his own foot, and the crew pressed him into service. Back on the ship they found out from Shivikah, that their new sailor's name was N'dahno. With a hold now full of agricultural goods, and a new sailor, the crew set off yet again to find their fortune in the seas of the Shackles.
Infamy and Disrepute Tracker
Infamy Score: 5
Disrepute: 5
Port Infamy list:
Rickety's Squibbs: 2
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