Session 18: Find a crew, find a job, keep flying

General Summary

After reviewing the ships outside, Indigo Team head into The Battered Blunderbuss. Madrox identifies two groups as belonging to Bloth one of the wasp crews, and the crew of a Hammerhead Ship called The Dark Mantle. The Dark Mantle, however, is currently stacked with slaves, and becomes Indigo Team's target.

In order to take the ship, though, first the party needs to defeat the crew. Madrox explains that in the Battered Blunderbuss they cannot afford to anger the owner, a large giff named Carmelo the Brigadier. To keep him happy, the party must 1) not start the fight and 2) make sure they clean up.

Zeke Abd Al Rashid, Ulfgar Shadowhammer, and Madrox approach the pirates and successfully goad them into fighting almost immediately... well, all except T'larn Kiirlaran, who offers to stay out of the fight for a small amount of gold. Madrox agrees.

Ulfgar casts fireball, and the party quickly destroys the pirates while Madrox begins cleaning and assuring Carmelo that everything is fine. Graham White goes to the bar and assists with Carmelo, who seems okay as long as they keep cleaning. The rest of the party joins in, and soon the bar is as good as new.

Afterward, the party goes to their new ship where T'larn collects the money owed and departs. The party finds the slaves, and the situation is grim. Extremely grim. There are 15 slaves in total, 6 were crew on other ships, 8 were passengers or other captives they picked up along the way, and then there's Jubithrex. The party frees them, but asks them to stay and help. Many are willing, but a few of the passengers would prefer to return to their normal lives. 

In an effort to escape before Bloth catches up with them, Nora Pandost manages to attune the spelljamming helm in 30 minutes, rather than the normal hour. This costs her, severely, but she has still managed to accomplish something truly remarkable. After a rough start, the ship manages to leave the Battered Blunderbuss and go out into the Astral Sea. Vola Dravell, Lethan Cinderist, and Pria Yelloweed, all former crew, offer some help to Nora. Lethan, in particular, is also a spelljammer. While he's not as fast as Nora, he is more experienced. He offers to switch off with her as needed.