Session 11 - The Emperor of the Waves Report

General Summary

Godsday 18 Patchwall

  The party grudgingly arises with the sun and gathers in the Snapping Line's dining hall. As the party quietly breaks their fast, Karia becomes distracted as a tall lanky figure edges toward them through the dimly lit room. As the figure approaches the table, the party can tell that the person wears well-groomed attire, with a single tusk protruding from his lower jaw and warts across his sallow face. Obviously a half-orc, he confirms that the table is the Try-hard Misfits before announcing that he is Vertheg an emissary of Aubreck Drallion who wants to hire the group for a recovery mission.   Following Vertheg, the party walks through Old Saltmarsh to a large, decaying mansion. Entering the lounge the party can feel grandness of the home, but is underwhelmed by the tattered drapes and aging furniture. Shortly, a tall man primly dressed in outdated fashions enters the room and sizes up the party. "So you are the Try-hard Misfits. You've garnered quite the reputation within Saltmarsh and, more importantly, you recently saw my ship and gave me hope where there was none. I've put together an expedition for boarding the Emperor of the Waves, and want you for the boarding party."   The group studies him for hints of subterfuge as he continues, "I'm sure you've heard my story, but let me summarize for you. Roughly ten years ago, I was a council member and a prominent trader here in Saltmarsh. I had a fantastic opportunity to start importing fresh herbs and spices from the jungles of Amedio at the southwestern edge of the Azure Sea. To gather the proper funding, I turned all my assets into promissory notes which were sealed in a magically warded chest on the Emperor. Apparently, I offended Procan because a storm tore the fleet asunder and the Emperor was assumed lost. It has been ten years until your sighting, and I had lost all hope at finding her and the notes worth one hundred thousand gold. If you are able to recover the chest, then you'll receive a ten thousand gold reward as I slowly convert those promissory notes. As it is, I can offer two hundred gold upfront that will have to suffice as payment if you are not able to retrieve the chest."   "Excuse me," Leeroy interjects, "if the ship has been missing for ten years, what happens if we find the chest, but the documents are missing or destroyed within it?"   Aubreck replies, "Wards and enchantments have been placed upon the chest. If it's there, then it will be intact, unopened, and the contents will be secure. Having said this, it's entirely possible the chest no longer resides upon the ship and if that's the case then the 200gp will be your compensation for searching. I want to be very clear that if I don't get the chest in my hands, then I can't afford the ten thousand gold reward. The reward comes from the documents within the chest."   Continuing, he states, "I've already arranged for the Soul of Winter to be transport and I've also provided some very basic gear that you are welcome to use. You'll find her along the docks of Saltmarsh and Captain Wolgar Windrune will assist you with any additional details you might need, like when she's setting sail."   The party walks down to the docks, then head toward the bay reading the ship names. Nar accosts a sailor asking him where is the Soul of Winter and he grumbles back that it's near Primewater Mansion. The party walks a bit faster toward Primewater Mansion while still ensuring that they don't overlook the ship. Finally, reaching where the bay intersects the Azure Sea, they see the Soul of Winter, which swarms with sailors heading briskly on unknown tasks.   Leeroy shouts, "Ahoy on the Soul of Winter! Ahoy!".   A lone dwarf crewmember responds gruffly at the top of the gangplank, "Yes? What does the like of you want?"   Leeroy calmly responds, "We have business with Capt Windrune regarding the Emperor."   "I'll fetch the captain for you then. Stay put for now," the dwarf retorts.   After several minutes, another dwarf steps down the plank and extends his hand in greeting, "You must be the boarding party. I'm Capt Windrune and this be my ship. We've got an early tide in the morning, so best be here before sunrise. Seek out my first and he'll get you squared away before we heave to."   The party returns to The Snapping Line where they relax and enjoy the evening meal. As the meal winds down, Nar raises her glass to honor the children lost to the sea hag and the party soundly echoes the sentiments. The party spends a bit more time in the common room, but retires early to prepare for the voyage ahead of them.   The party rises early returning to the Soul of Winter just before sunrise where the First Mate greets and escorts them to a single room that has six hammocks. The dwarf quickly discusses the supplies that Aubreck made available and tells the party to stay put. Upon checking the door, Leeroy chats with a dwarf crewmember who states that he's there in case the party needs any assistance before firmly pulling the door shut again.   The following day, Earthday, the party rises to a ship swaying upon rough seas and Karia shows extreme signs of distress. Leeroy quickly heaves her up and carries her toward the open deck. At several points, crew members come to accost the two, but quickly skirt aside as Karia's condition becomes apparent. Meanwhile, Nar sneaks out of the room and quickly explores the deck without finding anything of interest.   Most of Freeday sails by without incident or interaction, but early evening the party hears an alarm on deck. Kyra converses with the guard at the door in dwarven and learns that a Sea Prince ship had been spotted, but the Soul outran it.  

Sunday, 23 Patchwall

  Around midday, the part answers a summons from the Captain and find themselves on the poop deck. The Captain points toward the south and the party sees a ship visibly listing among the choppy waves of the Azure Sea.   "There's your mission," Captain Windrune starts, "Looking at her, I'm a might bit surprised she's still floating. And honestly it's only a matter of time before she slips beneath and is lost forever. I'll not be tying up against her, but two of me crew will ferry you over in a jolly boat. They'll then back away and await your return, hopefully, with master Drallion's chest."   The party quickly climbs over the railings and into a jolly boat where two dwarves row toward the Emperor. The distance quickly diminishes through the skilled rowing.   Kyra highlights, "Look at the damage to the masts. It makes me wonder why she's still moving against the current."   "Indeed and look at the waterline," responds Karia, "those holes must be why the ship is listing."   The dwarves nod in agreement, but stay focused on approaching the vessel. Once the jollyboat lightly touches the hull, they quickly toss grappling hooks over the deck and offer assistance to the party's ascent. "We'll be backing way off once you're aboard. Just signal us whenever you're ready."   As the party gathers on the main deck, they quickly scout that the Forecastle and Quarter Deck are empty and perhaps has been empty for weeks at least. The party approaches the door beneath the forecastle deck. Karia twists the handle, but the door doesn't open. It's not locked, but it does seem stuck in place even though there doesn't seem to be any swelling or frame issues.   Leeroy forces the door pulling it from a thick mass of webbing behind it. Sheets of webbing obscure the room, preventing the party of seeing the contents of the room. Mina pushes through the cobwebs until reaching a table with four chairs near the bow. Sensing danger, she reacts as a giant spider and ettercap drop from the ceiling above. Hearing her alarm, Leeroy charges forward attacking the spider while it attacks Mina. As blows land, Mina reacts with lightning emanating from her holy symbol of Istus blasting the spider against the bow. Quickly the party dispatches the ettercap with only minimal wounds amongst themselves.   Searching the room, the party doesn't find anything of value. The furniture is aged, weathered, and barely holding together. The table is covered in charts and maps that tear as the party peruses them. However, they can make out a staircase heading downward along the port side of the chamber. After a quick discussion, the party decides to head back to main deck and explore the aft cabin before leaving this level of the ship.   The aft door opens without incident as an acrid odor fills the air. Looking into the room, a rough stone altar dominates this cabin. Mounted on wooden spikes, humanoid skulls ring the wall above it while strange markings cover its surface. Smashed furniture, torn sacks, shattered crates along with palm fronds are piled into corners of this room. In addition, a staircase descending below can be seen in the starboard aft corner.   Karia steps toward the strange altar recognizing the spider markings as signs of the Lolth - the Queen of Spiders. As she does, a giant spider bursts from webs on the port side, while an ettercap emerges from the starboard side, and swarms of spiders begin to swarm her. The party quickly engages in battle as Karia becomes covered by the swarming spiders even as Kyra brings a fiery hellish rebuke upon them. Karia struggles as the battle wages around her nearly falling as Mina provides some extra health. Finally, the giant spider and swarms are beaten back, leaving only the ettercap a threat. In a fury, Nar snipes the ettercap while expressing her outrage, "You ruined exploring!"   Searching this room, the party finds the ship's ledger and captain's log. The log details that a terrible storm threw the Emperor of the Wavesoff course leaving it alone on the open sea. After several weeks, with the ship running low on food and drinkable water, it was forced to drop anchor of an unknown island. The last entry tells of an attack by orcs fighting alongside goblins and monstrous vermin. Though the crew successfully defended against that attack, they suffered heavy casualties and the captain wrote that this might have been a precursor to an even larger assault.   The party also finds a small sack of rubies within the mud and litter of the deck as well as a set of slippers decorated with small gems in a web shape. Leeroy picks up the slippers and calls them cute before passing them along to other members of the party.

Rewards Granted

Small sack of 10 rubies (100 gp ea)
Slippers of Spider Climbing

Experience points:
4 swarm of Insects (Spiders) -- 100 ea
2 Giant Spiders -- 200 ea
2 Ettercaps -- 450 ea

Total:
1700 exp / 5 players = =340 exp/per person

Missions/Quests Completed

Contract with Aubreck
Board the Soul of Winter
Board the Emperor of the Waves

Character(s) interacted with

Aubreck Drallion 
Capt. Wolgar Windrune (captain of the Soul of Winter)

Related Reports

Session 10 - The Corrupted Cove Report
Session 12 - Aboard the Emperor Report