The Ninth Session

July 14, 2018, Campaign: Wildfire

There's no notes from the Eighth session, but in it, the fireballing drow was killed and the team picked up an escort mission. We're escortging Fulwin Fulwyn, the ambassador who didn't get poisoned at the gala. He lives a cushy life. We're taking him to the city of Tenult on the island of Tenult in the Florian Technocracy.

We start this session in Bugboldir, a dwarven port, preparing to set sail.

Embarking on a Voyage

Ambassador Fulwyn tells us to stock up on stuff. Belmac acquires a barrel of ale. Ship collects a bunch of sharpened small twigs. Marnoc waits by the ship. Fulwyn is talking to a large bronze dragonborn guy, and pays him a large coinpurse. Marnoc thinks that the dragonborn is the captain, and goes to talk. They get along: and the captain is wearing a symbol of Noidesop.

We board the ship.

The crew eyes the bear; it paces the deck and then curls up for a nap on a pile of rope.

The captain is Killsire; Marnoc calls him "Killy the Dragon." He carries scimitars.

Zoltar and Ship have one room; the other pairings are Theren and Fulwyn, Marnoc and Belmac.

On the first day, the ship's crew performs the ritual sacrifice, traditional to ships floating under Noidesop.

We travel for several days without incident.

The sailors are well-paid; they're well-stocked with provisions including booze. Belmac's plan to sell his ale for money doesn't work. He drinks from the cask like it's a mug. He even has a little straw.

Marnoc repeats the weevil joke every meal, and tells the story of how he lost his pinkie every night.

The Mysterious Rowboat

On the fourth day, the crow's nest notices a rowboat approaching, and our ship stops. Three terrified, damp people come aboard, thanking us for saving them. One says that their ship went down. Another says that the ship capsized. The third says that there was a large storm. Marnoc has flashbacks. Belmac is sitting with his Big Gulp and fishing. The survivors are three human males, who say they left Bugboldir, and then they've been on the float for two days. They're deckhands on the Mayfly.

Marnoc performs Augury and advises Killy to continue on the course.

The days cool, the nights grow colder.

After three more days of travel (on the seventh day), at dusk, visibility decreases to fog. The water is kinda choppy. A delapidated ship comes sailing out of the fog at quick speed from behind us, pulls up along side. It's ghostly skeletons trying to grapple us!

Skeleton Ship!

Captain Killy is needed at the wheel. Ship and Marnoc are on the quarter deck with him.

1. Round 1
   1. Ship casts Hail of Thorns, then shoots the three figures on the quarterdeck of the other end. This hits the commander figure for 5 magical piercing and them all for 4 piercing.
   2. Ship's Bear jumps over to the other ship, then doesn't succeed in attacking the ghostly Skeleton #1, but does prevent it from throwing its grapple. There are three grapple-throwers on the skeleton ship; we'll need to defeat three grapples.
   3. Zoltar sets the ship on fire and does a heckton of damage to some skeltons.
   4. Skeleton #1 throws its grapple and jumps across, and takes 11 damage from the Bear's opportunity attack. #1 attacks Zoltar for 8 physical damage and 12 necrotic.
   5. Skeleton #2 throws its grapple and jumps across, and attacks Zoltar
   6. The commander jumps across next to Marnoc and hits him. Marnoc casts Wrath of the Storm as a reaction.
   7. Crossbowman #1 shoots Ship for 7 damage.
   8. Crossbowman #2 shoots Marnoc.
   9. Belmac runs up next to Skeleton #2 and misses the first few attacks, then succeeds on a few.
   10. Theren summons his sword, Hexes Skeleton #2.
   11. Marnoc casts Thunderwave as a level 3 spell, taking out a 15-foot cube around himself, pushing the enemy captain but not pushing him off.
2. Round 2
   1. Ship shoots the captain with a normal arrow; the enemy captain's down now.
   2. Bear jumps back to this ship and claws at one grapple, doesn't do much.
   3. Zoltar disengages back to the quarter deck, fleeing the attentions of two skeletons.
   4. Skeleton #1 runs up to the quarter deck and attacks Marnoc, but misses.
   5. Skeleton #2 attacks Belmac, misses.
   6. Skeleton #3 jumps across and hits the bear.
   7. Crossbowman #1 hits Marnoc and downs him.
   8. Crossbowman #2 misses Ship.
   9. Belmac attacks Skeleton #1; it's magically shielded.
   10. Theren attacks Skeleton #1 with his hexblade and pierces its shield, and collapses it. Its bones clatter into the water. He then moves to Skeleton #3 and attacks it, but its shield raises and blocks his blow.
   11. Marnoc passes his death saving throw.
3. Round 3.
   1. Ship shoots Crossbowman #1; the bear attacks the skeleton #3 but fails to pierce the shield bubble.
   2. Bear attacks #3 but fails to pierce the bubble.
   3. Zoltar casts Shatter on the skeleton crossbowmen. They both fail their saves and take 15 thunder damage, and explode.
   4. Skeleton #3 attacks Theren, lands a hit with its necrotic scimitar.
   5. Skeleton #2 attacks Ship and misses.
   6. Belmac attacks Skeleton #3 and his attack bounces off its magical field, his bonus pierces the bubble for 7 and then his extra attack hits it for 12 damage.
   7. Theren crits the skeleton and puffs it, then moves the hex over to the remaining skeleton at the quarter deck.
   8. Marnoc passes two saving throws.
4. Round 4.
   1. Ship heals Marnoc for 16 damage. The bear breaks the fore rope.
   2. Bear moves back to the rear grappling hook, cuts the rope halfway.
   3. Zoltar Magic Missiles Skeleton #1, but it trips its own Shield for defense.
   4. Marnoc is prone still; Skeleton #1 attacks him with advantage and still misses. Then it Misty Steps over next to the railing, putting Marnoc's body between the ghostly skeleton and Ship.
   5. Belmac ascends to the quarter deck and attacks the skeleton.
   6. Theren does the same, but does even more damage.
   7. Marnoc stands up and casts Call Lightning between the ships, doing 26 damage to the skeleton. It turns into a fine brown mist. Also he damages our ship in that corner some.

The bear cuts the last grappling line. Marnoc calls more lightning down on the already-burning skeleton ship, the fire spreads. He cackles maniacally. Belmac returns to the railing, puts on his straw hat, and resumes fishing. The skeleton ship burns and vanishes.

It's night; the party takes a long rest.

In Fulwyn's Cabin

The dignitary was asleep through all this, until that finishing lightning strike. And then he went back to bed. As Theren comes back to the room, he wakes up again, and remarks at the intensity of the lightning storm. Theren explains that, no, that wasn't a storm. That was Marnoc.

Fulwyn tells Theren that there is a … movement … that's trying to shift power away from Theren's father. In the time that Theren has been gone, things have changed. Power has shifted greatly; rather than being a democratically-led town, Theren's hometown has become more rigged and tyrannical. Shifting power is not easy; the balance of power is such that Fulwyn and his allies cannot change it. Fulwyn is doing his best to keep the town part of the Florian Technocracy, since that town is the source of all that is right in the continent since the Wildfire. The Florians and others are cold towards diplomacy.

Theren tells the ambassador that he does plan to return to his hometown.

"There would be no one more poetic to do it than you," says the Ambassador.

"I can only return home in two ways, alive. One would be to beat my quest. Two would be to cast Mask of Many Faces, to return as someone else."

The Ambassador says that time is short, and that Theren has only as long as it takes for Theren's father to gain all pwoer in the realm. "We have a couple things to discuss with the royalty in Tenult, and we must make sure that you're rewarded, but we should get you to your town as much as possible." Then, they both fall asleep.

Another Drifting Ship

Two more days pass. The Party helps with the ship repairs. Marnoc's natural 20 and Belmac's 14 are of great assistance in aiding the ship. Ship says, "No, there will be no healing of this Ship," and goes to hide at the top of a mast. The crew completes repairs.

It's a bright sunny day, with 2 hours' travel visible.

"Marnoc, what languages do you know?" asks Theren. "Common and Abyssal," he replies.

There's a smaller ship drifting ahead of us. Captain Killy looks at it for a while, says he sees no crew. Its sails are destroyed, it flies no flag. Our flag is flying the symbol of the Elemental Collective.

The shipwrecked castaways we picked up seem afraid of the ship. "Is that your ship," asks Marnoc. "We thought it went down," they say. "You lied to us," says Belmac.

"Why are you afraid of it?" asks Ship.

"We thought it went down…"

"What was it carrying?"

"It was carrying people…"

"what sort of people?"

"Just carrying them from place to place…"

Marnoc casts Zone of Truth on them. One fails, and is compelled to speak the truth. Two succeed, and are not compelled to speak, but can't speak falsehoods.

"Are any of you not what you appear to be," asks Marnoc. They all appear to be humans.

Through questioning, it is revealed that the boat is a ship of the Elemental Collective, carrying people. There might be food on the ship. Theren uses Mask of Shadows to read the surface thoughts of one of the ones that isn't talking, but isn't successful.

"Do any of you mean us harm?" Two say no, but the one compelled to speak the truth says "yes?" Belmac tackles him, and the truth-speaker says that one of the people on the ship might be a threat. Ship asks questions. There were 45 people on the ship, which was a dense-packed coastal transport. "One day, something wans't right. The crew found a dead body. They thought maybe it was a disease of some kind; they buried the body at sea."

"So that's why you said you don't know, because you don't know what the cause of the deaths is," says Belmac.

Marnoc accuses them of being diseased. "Killy, ready the plank!"

"We're not sick!" claims the truthteller. "I'm not sick, at least."

"Have you kiled anyone?" asks Theren, and the answer is no.

It's not a transmissable sickness; it's a sickness of the mind perhaps. Belmac asks whether the black-haired one or the brown-haird one is more suspicious, with a nat 20 Intimidation. The blond-haired truthteller closes his eyes and points at the brown-haired one. Belmac tackles the brown-haired one, and does the same sort of intimidation, but this time with a little bit more bloodletting. "I'm just a traveler; I was going up the coast with him and him. It was for work." "What's your work?" "Merchants." Belmac's insight lets him know that something ain't right. Through asking pointed questions of woodworking and lumber, from his knowledge, the guy isn't a wood merchant.

The others say, "That's right, we're not wood merchants, we're fur merchants."

"What sort of furs?" asks Belmac.

"Beavers, raccoons," the other two say.

"Why would you lie to me!" Belmac punches his grappled brown-haired captive, and the captive starts crying. The truth-teller doesn't know why the liar is lying. Marnoc wants to keelhaul someone. The beat-up guy doesn't know why he was lying, either. "If you want to live, you're going to tell me everything about that ship," says Belmac.

Marnoc decides to good-cop, bad-cop routine. He Cure Wounds the perp for 5 HP, delivers the spiel about how doesn't want to hurt the captive, wants to keep him alive, is somewhat mercenary, is available for pay.

Brown-haired captive says that he and his guys had no real bosses, were a startup.

Belmac uses his medicine check to fix the guy's jaw (well, he doesn't fail) and gets a scoop of ale from the barrel (it's warm and flat and full of saltspray and spit) and makes him drink it. "You ever want to start your own company and need some mercenaries, let us know." And then he goes back to fishing.

Ship and Theren go talk to the black-haired guy. Theren casts the Friend cantrip to befriend him and gain advantage on charisma checks, and then draws his bow and intimidates him. The merchant says that the full truth is that there's a vampire on the ship, and the vampire eats people. Vampirism is the sickness.

The Bear thinks that none of them smell differently. None of them have bite marks, it's sunny and none of them are on fire. Things transpire that these three were not the only living ones left on the ship when they left.

Theren dismisses his bow, summons it as a sword, says, "I've never tried this before", and dismisses it. He puts his fist up to the merchant's temple, asks Ship what would happen if he summoned the blade. "I don't know, I suspect it would interpolate with his brain and the sword would gain a skull attachment."

Belmac and Marnoc decide to convince the captain to go to the ship.

Theren, with more intimidataion, says, "There are no vampires. Tell the truth. Did you kill them?" "No!"

The captain steers toward the drifting ship.

We eventually decide to explore the ship and throw the merchants in the brig, but instead we put them in barrels in the hold. Ship notices nothing super out of the ordinary about the captives as they pack the captives into the barrels. Ship and Belmac stack other barrels atop the captives' barrels. We hear quiet weeping from two, and from the third, the voice of the black-haired guy, "I not crying" with the Romanian accent that Tod's been using for the character.

After an hour and a half passes, we reach the ship, lightly grapple it, and jump across. We tell the crew to be ready to cut free.

Theren, Belmac, and Marnoc explore. They don't find a rutter. They find a list of passengers, about 35. The captain's quarters contain a decent stash of rum. There's signs of a struggle of the inside of the dor, and clawmarks. And a couple of mundane scimitars, and 3 days of rations that go to the party list.

The next deck under contains quarters (the deck below the surface deck). Marnoc and Belmac find some more rum, no more rations, and among the 16 rooms, there's no bodies but there are more scratch-marks on the inside of the doors, leading out. There are scrathcmarks around the pillows. Theren hears weeping and crying below in the hold. He pulls up Armor of Agathys and summons his blade. Marnoc thinks it's a vampire feeding ground. Theren thinks it isn't; vampires need soil to respawn.

Marnoc trusts in Noidesop and enters the hold. Zoltar prepares to cast Scorching Ray; Marnoc casts Thaumaturgy to make his voice boom. There are barrels of water and food, and in the far corner there is a guy curled up, crying. He gibbers. Marnoc casts Light on his shield, strobing. The guy is babbling, backs up. Belmac grabs this scrawny guy and offers him rations, but the man gibbers.

Theren calls off the food, because vampires don't eat human food and there's a lot of ration-days in the hold that are untouched. Belmac breaks open the ration and feeds some to the guy. The guy shows that his neck doesn't have any piercings there, as far as anyone in the room can perceive. He eats the food slowy.

Marnoc goes back up to the top. This ship is kinda low-quality, marginally better than a slaver. He asks Killy if we could take it as a prize, but Killy is down on it because it would slow us down too much. Marnoc decides to fire the ship.

Belmac grabs Gibbering Jake and takes him up to the top deck, in the sunlight. He acts like he hasn't seen the sun in days, but he doesn't catch fire.

"I think these people were meant to be a sacrifice for a vampire somewhere," says Marnoc.

Belmoc goes below and pulls brown-haired man out of his barrel, checks his name against the ship's roster. All three barrelled people's names are on the roster of that ship. Brown-hair recognizes Gibbering Jim as the first mate.

Marnoc cuts the other ship free and fires it.

Belmac brings the other two captives up and tells them to make Gibbering Jim make some sense. Jibbering Jim points at the black-haired Romanian guy, and blibbers more. Theren reads Jibbering Jim's surface thoughts, but they're clouded and confusing and jumbled. The first mate has had intimate relations with the captain, then there's a dead body of the captain, and back and forth and back and forth between the living person and the dead person. The first mate saw the captain claw the door out, from within the captain's cabin. Theren tells us all this.

This doesn't sound like a vampire. There's this other figure that broke out of the captain's quarters, that doesn't match the descriptions. But none of them are illusions. The bear doesn't think the mate smells unusual.

Ship orders them to take off their clothes; they do. Ship finds no bite marks on any; on the three that escaped, there's not much scarring of any kind. On the mate, well, he's got some fairly heavy scarring around his chest, scratches. Ship casts Cure Wounds on the mate, and he fills out a little, but he's not improved. Marnoc blesses each and then goes off.

Everyone walks away; Marnoc locks them into their room, tries to figure out room assignments. Ren, the black-haired guy, says that he would like to be roomed with Gibbering Jim. Gibbering Jim points at Ren and gibbers. Ren says that he knew the captain and the mate were mating.

Marnoc says, "I don't like you, Ren," and throws him overboard.

Ren is gone; the boat is fast. Belmac shoots and kills him, to be sure.

Marnoc locks the two in one room and Jim in his own room.

"That was pretty brutal," says Captain Killy.

"Rule 1, stay alive, rule 2, complete the mission, rule 3 the shady guy dies first," says Marnoc.

"True that," says Killy.

Ship and the Bear spend the night in the crow's nest.

The day is overcast, the winds not as strong, the wind is chilly. Some of the crew are missing. Three of the crew are missing: the crow's nest guy and two others. The doors to the prisoners are still barred in their rooms.

Belmac lets them out, tells them that some of the crew are missing. "We don't know?" says one of the other. "Okay," says Belmac, and cuts off Gibbering Jim's head and throws him overboard. "If anyone else disappears, you die next," he says, and points to brown-haired guy. Ship shoots the corpse of Headless Jim.

Marnoc casts Detect Magic as a ritual on himself. Ship interviews the prisoners. Theren and Zoltar and Belmac are below. Marnoc detects a massive wave of unease and very evil and Undead from the captain. Marnoc panics and rushes down to their room and tells them. Ship is upstairs and unaware, except that Marnoc freaked out. Ship goes up the mast. The bear stays on the ground. Marnoc's plan is to cast Turn Undead. Zoltar casts Mage Armor.

Belmac comes up the hatch, and then Marnoc. The captain has meandered away from the wheel, under the mast to behind the hatch. There are three other crew around, and two prisoners.

Fighting Captain Killy

1. Round 1
   1. Theren is still downstairs. He sees the captain with fangs bared and hood up, and Hexblade Curses the captain, pushes past Marnoc on the ladder, and blasts the captain with Eldritch Blast on a miss.
   2. Belmac nat 1's the first attack, rips open Primal Rage, does more attack, then Action Surges to do more attack. He missed his first attack; fur coalesces around his arms from his Bearclaw Gauntlets, so that it looks like he has some bear arms, and he begins beating the shit out of the captain.
   3. The captain hits Marnoc with grapple and then bites him, permanently reducing his HP max by 9. The dragonborne captain's head whips around and he starts to climb the mast. Marnoc's opportunity attack hits hiim. The bleeding holes from Marnoc's attacks knit together and heal.
   4. Ship shoots the captain, then slides down the rigging, taking 6 fall damage. The captain's opportunity attack misses.
   5. The bear growls at all the crew, from the deck.
   6. Zoltar casts Fireball on the captain and the mast, and the captain's Legendary Resistance takes means he takes only half of the 8d6 damage dealt.
   7. Marnoc casts Sleetstorm on the flaming area; this extinguishes it. The captain is cold, but maintains his grip. The 40-foot radius, 20-foot-tall cylinder is now heavily obscured; the captain's sight probably can't see us and we're at a disadvantage to seeing him.
2. Round 2
   1. Theren Hexes the captain and Eldritch Blasts him. The captain now has a disadvantage at all strength checks.
   2. Belmac holds his attack in the case the captain comes down the mast.
   3. The captain's wounds and cuts heal. The captain slides down the same rigging that Ship slid down, and takes some fall damage. He attacks Ship, doing 10 points slashing followed by 10 points damage.
   4. Ship disengages and moves up onto the quarter deck.
   5. The bear moves up and attacks and misses.:w
   6. Zoltar moves away and casts Scorching Ray to hit the captain, for 13 fire damage total.
   7. Marnoc casts Gust of Wind to try to push the captain off the ship. And he succeeds. Then he points the gust of wind into the singed sail, to try to give the ship some more move.
3. Round 3: the captain's in the water, and the ship moves 30 feet forward.
   1. Theren Eldritch Blasts the captain.
   2. Belmac pulls out his hallucinogenic arrow and shoots at the captain, but misses.
   3. The captain swims close enough to the ship to grab on, and fails.
   4. Ship casts Ensnaring Strike and misses.
   5. The Bear moves u onto the quarterdeck.
   6. Zoltar moves to the rail and Fireballs the captain, who Legendary Action passes the saving throw and receives 19 fire damage.
   7. Marnoc stops Gust of Wind and casts Sleetstorm again on the side of the ship, so the entire side of the ship is no longer on fire, and the captain is kind of chilled and blinded. The side of the ship is now a wall of ice.
   8. The ship continues foward 20 feet.
4. Round 4: The captain is now 15 feet off the port stern.
   1. Theren Eldritch Blasts the captain again for 12 points force and 1 point necrotic damage.
   2. Belmac loses his Primal Rage and shoots the captain with a bow, killing him.

The vampire's form shifts and changes, becoming grey and amorphous. It has reverted to its natural form. Theren's Hex returns; the vampire is dead-dead.

Marnoc goes to the sea chair and sits at the wheel, and says, "look who's in charge now." Belmac has proficiency in warships, but Marnoc has proficiency in all watercraft.

Belmac decides that the two saved people are impressed into the service of the Fish n' Ship.

Conclusion

Marnoc wants to get his 9 points of health back.

Theren has gained a quest in the Florian Technocracy.

We've traveled for 10 days.