Session Sixteen - Recap

Session Sixteen - Recap

The crew set to sea, seeking more prizes and plunder to give them enough to make a good impression when arriving in Port Peril for their Letter of Marque. It was not long until the sea offered them a prize: on a rather rough and choppy day they spotted a large, two-triangle-sailed Mistico named The Mary Deare. The Broken Promise gave chase, closing on the smaller and fewer-masted ship quickly. The helmsman of the quarry tried to lose their pursuit by narrowly skirting a rocky reef formation lying off the shore of a small island.
As The Mary Deare drew closer a broad wave caught it and it lurched too close to the rock formation--with a sickening crunch it settled into the center of the rocks, the waves still moving it side to side even as it settled and stuck. The crew of The Mary Deare quickly launched a single boat on the far side of their ship, perilously lugging it across the rocks in an attempt to put the reef between them and their pursuers--with such haste that a member of their crew lost his footing in the rush and was dragged under to drown. The crew of The Broken Promise launched three of their boats as well to give chase. When it was clear that they were not going to get over the rocks themselves in time to stop the prey crew from making an escape into the woods, the officers decided to stop and investigate the ship first, saying "where are they going to go?" about the fled crew.

The sails tore with the strain of the wind and the crumbling masts, while the ocean began to grind the ship against the rocks

Reaching the ship, Captain Sullivan and Sadie the Goat investigated the Captain's quarters, while Scolvus and Jax led some of their boarding crew below to appraise the cargo. In the Captain's quarters, they find a strange ledger detailing the transactions the ship was making: ordinary cargo of course, such as sacks of vanilla and boxes of glass phials and beakers, but also a strange set of entries that seemed to be names. Further, they found that among the charts one seemed to be missing--the one detailing the southernmost portion of this ship's journey.

Meanwhile below, the crew did indeed find the sacks of vanilla and crates of glassware--all locked on one side of the cargo bay. Through the window to the other locked portion, they saw something far more disturbing: seventeen halfling slaves all chained to the walls. It was at that moment that a sudden shift was felt and crack sounded: the ship was breaking apart, and the hold (where the slaves and cargo were) was filling with water at an alarming rate. Jax rushed to unlock the door to the slaves' room, commanding a few of the crew to grab vanilla sacks and the rest to start freeing slaves: using their boarding axes to hack the chain hooks directly from the wall. They begin freeing them, a desperate affair trying to get them all out. Jax continued picking locks, while Scolvus used his Grease spell to try and free them. One crew member, a burly Mwangi woman named Mu-oa who had been recently recruited was particularly spectacular in freeing the halflings--tearing the chains right out of the wall with her bare hands. While it was touch-and-go, and all of the glassware cargo was lost as the ship finally cracked and broke under the beating of the waves, the crew and all seventeen of the halfling slaves escaped unharmed.

Back on the deck of The Broken Promise the officers used Ratline Rattsberger to translate with the captives, as none of them spoke Halfling. It turned out that the group of them had been born into slavery in the far south (some spot that none even know the name of). They were all barely of age and all only spoke Halfling, only a handful of words in common: Help, no, yes, quiet, sell, and all sewing-related words. The one who spoke for them was a young woman named Calwyse, who confirmed that for their whole lives they thought things were normal in their small schoolroom/bunkroom where they lived and learned their trade. When they exited for the first time ever to be brought to the now-sunken ship, they saw that there were a number of other rooms that were similar to theirs. Calwyse spoke of the times when one of their number would act up or protest only to subsequently "disappear" to the strange, tall masters. The crew then realized that they had been specially bred for  tasks suited to them and their small fingers (hard labor sewing), and would have fetched a high price in Absalom’s garment quarter.

Calwyse, the slave who spoke for them all

With renewed drive to find the crew of The Mary Deare--or at least the segment of maps that showed the spot where they picked up these Halfling slaves--the officers took a launch back to the island. Mu-oa and Crimson Cogward rowed the boat and were ready to defend it on the beach. Jax decided to nickname Mu-oa, with her impressively broad frame, "the Truck" as they rowed.

The island itself was marked on the crew's maps as "Dead Tree Island", but seemed to have ample foliage from their view. As the crew landed, they found the place to be full of both plant and animal life, including many perfectly ordinary trees. However, as they followed the tracks of the slavers inland, they found strange trees that indeed appeared to be dead scattered throughout the island. Usually found in clumps of two to four, but occasionally alone, stood hideous dead trees that bore a passing resemblance to oak trees. Yet they were stony and grey, almost petrified, and were cool to the touch. They also seemed to be strangely bent or misshapen, crooked in odd ways that gave the vague impression of  almost humanoid shape.

As the crew pushed further, they uncovered traps in the underbrush: Scolvus stepped on a crude caltrop. Jax then uncovered a small pit trap, the bottom of which covered in spikes just long enough to impale the foot of a passerby and hobble them. They then found traces of blood, and signs of frantic searching, in the tracks of the slaver crew they were following. Pursuing further, they found the trail went cold--not a single thing except for the jungle, punctuated by an odd crop of four of the strange dead trees.

While they ruminated on the trees' meaning, a dart flew out of the underbrush and struck one of them. Leaving him suddenly woozy from a dulling poison, the group searched around for the assailant but found nothing. They pressed onward, now much more wary about their progress. After a while, another dart flew out of the underbrush and struck one of them. This time they heard a mumbling, in a language none of them spoke. The rushed to the spot where it seemed to have come from, catching the sounds of a second mumble as they approached. They found a clear patch of undergrowth where someone had been laying down, but no assailant. The odd thing was that two trees, both in a line, directly blocked the view between where someone had been laying and where the dart had landed. Suspicious, Jax motioned to the casters to investigate the trees. A quick set of detect magic spells revealed that both trees had magical auras. Jax suddenly struck one with his boarding axe, and the tree ran red with blood. Shifting out of their tree shape forms came two strange goblin druids. Their eyes were both completely milky white, and they seemed to use their sense of smell and hearing to "see" their foes. The battle was quick, as the goblin druids were unable to stand against the might of the crew in a direct fight.

While small and sneaky, they were no match for the crew in a pitched battle

While this explained what had been setting traps and harrying them, it did not explain where the crew from The Mary Deare had gone to. The crew of The Broken Promise decided to seek out the island's source of water, figuring that would be a likely spot where anyone would congregate. They advanced to a spot where a small stream emerged from an underwater cave. As they got closer to the cave entrance, there were more and more of the strange and petrified dead trees, forming a strange demarcation between the cave and the rest of the forest.

Heading down into the cave, the crew found a small village hidden there beneath the earth. A number of scurrying blind goblins ran from them as they advanced into the darkness. They could hear them skittering about just outside of the range of their torches--clearly frightened by the interlopers. At the center of the small village was a strange throne of sorts. It was seated atop a mound of dirt, with a path that wound upward at a steep angle with multiple switchbacks. There were thin wooden stakes set to discourage climbing up--instead those who approached would likely have to follow the path, which was in full sight of the throne at all times. It was also punctuated by a number of the dead trees, which seemed all the more odd because they had seemingly once grown underground without light.

As the crew approached, darts began to fire from a few Goblin druids hidden amidst the staked pathway. And a creature that was seated on the throne revealed itself. At first, the crew believed her to be the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. Clearly fey, she was almost perfect. Yet, when they saw her hair they realized that it was instead a mass of wriggling wood larva that grew directly from her head. And upon looking at her directly, they felt a sudden stiffness and crippling pain--their body began to harden and scale as if it were growing petrified bark on the outside. The crew correctly deduced the creature as some combination of Medusa and Nymph, and quickly started to close or avert their eyes when they could. The battle raged for some time, with the crew gradually triumphing but finally having to at least glimpse the Fey Medusa and suffering the ill effects of her gaze as they fought. Finally, they managed to slay the strange creature--Captain Sullivan cut off her head and threw it into a sack, to display as the finale of stories of the crew's derring-do.

The search of the underground goblin village proved to be more lucrative than one would think

The remainder of the civilians among the goblin tribe had scattered, so the crew took a moment to search their dwellings for plunder. They found a chest of jewels next to the Fey Medusa's throne, as well as large quantities of delicious mushrooms and smooth spider-silk cloth in the settlement--all of which added to their plunder. Leaving the cave, they followed their own trail back to where they lost the crew of The Mary Deare. Hacking open one of the strange dead trees that were arrayed in the pattern, they indeed found the recent corpse of a sailor inside. Using magic detection they searched a few trees for magic items, and also broke open one that seemed to contain the Captain of the prey vessel. They found on him the missing chart detailing where the settlement was far to the south where Halfling slaves were being born and bred for hard labor in the far distant lands of Absalom's garment quarter.

Fresh with more plunder, the crew returned to their ship ready to sail further. The question remained however: would they sail south to see about these slavers, or east through the Shackles to Port Peril to begin the process of claiming their Letter of Marque?

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Below are the stats that I developed for the Fey Medusa for this portion of the story. This marks the official end of book 2 of Skull and Shackles, and the crew was still a little light on Plunder--so I did this portion of the story mostly myself (inspired by a roleplaying seed about an island with occasional strange dead trees--but changing a boring angry druid and his bear companion to a more sinister foe). Anyhow, here is the info on her--stored here because I thought she was a fun creation.

FEY MEDUSA CR 7
LE Medium Fey
Init +6; Senses: all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16

DEFENSE
AC: 17, touch: 12, flat-footed: 15 (+2 Dex, +5 natural)
hp: 84 (8d10+32+8)
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +9

OFFENSE
Speed: 30 ft.
Melee: dagger +10/+5 (1d4/19–20).
Ranged: mwk longbow +11/+6 (1d8/×3)
Special Attacks: petrifying gaze

STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 24
Base Atk +8; CMB +8; CMD 20
Feats: Improved Initiative, Toughness, Iron Will  Weapon Finesse
Skills: Bluff +10, Disguise +10, Intimidate +13, Perception +16,Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
Languages: Common

SPECIAL ABILITIES
All-Around Vision (Ex): A Fey medusa's worm-hair allows her to see in all directions. Medusas gain a +4 racial bonus to Perception checks and cannot be flanked.

Petrifying Gaze (Su): Turn to petrified wood. Fortitude DC 19. Each failed save slows the target, dealing 1d8 Dexterity damage but granting it one point of Hardness (up to a maximum of 5). A target reduced to zero Dexterity or who gains 5 Hardness becomes a petrified tree. Upon examination, the tree is “grown” from their skin, so recently petrified individuals can be carefully “cut out” of the tree that formed around them. A DC 25 Craft check can free them without damage, each failure causes the person inside to be dealt 1d6 points of damage. Once free the target can then be healed of the ability damage (any ability damage healing removes all accumulated Hardness bonus). Stone to Flesh immediately frees the target and removes all ability damage. If the victim is not 10 minutes of being turned into the tree or the victim suffocates and dies unless it does not need oxygen to breathe.

Infamy and Disrepute Tracker

Infamy Score: 13
Disrepute: 13

Port Infamy list:
Rickety's Squibbs: 2
Bloodcove: 1 (favored port)
Besmara's Cradle: 2