Session 04.1: The Spice of Life Report

General Summary

The session started with tea and breakfast, with Mandragora chatting briefly with Pliff before meeting Turk at breakfast. Jerish checked in and asked to meet them both for drinks later at The Captain's Quarters.

After eating, Turk made his way to Belladonna's Boutique for tea and a chat with Wilhelmina, while Mandragora went for a walk along the beach, finding his way to The Blessed Chapel. He snuck inside, overhearing a Star Scion talking with the local priest and asking him to keep an ear out for news of a pirate crew that may have hit an Order caravel near Cryophis Islet.

They both met outside The Captain's Quarters and went inside the tavern, greeting Kelluride Vys (the owner) and ordering some drinks before sitting down with Jerish. He asked them about their aspirations as pirates, and Turk revealed a desire to become a first mate someday, and Mandragora expressing a desire for vengeance against the Order. The talk turned to "lighter" things, and Jerish regaled the two with stories of hazars of the Deep, before the Tasslewaff twins made an appearance. Frederick tried to get in a fight with Turk, but Turk went rogue and did a poo cannon attack, missing Frederick but traumatizing everyone in the bar. The twins fled, and Turk made a token effort to help Kelluride clean the place a little bit.

While leaving the bar, Yugg'l ran up and let the group know Siphren was doing a muster of the crew in preparation for a new mission. They made their way back to the Lion's Den, where Siphren introduced them all to Gamlyn (their new crew member) and outlined the details of their mission. She'd received a tip that a large spice shipment would be making its way from Bry'kalis on the island of Talos to the Unified Empire. Instead of hitting the convoy and contending with its military escort from the Unified Empire, Siphren expressed a desire to boost the cargo while it was still being prepped in port.

She outlined a plan to drop off a shore party to do some recon in the days before the raid, identifying storage points for the spices, weak points to exploit in the raid, and determine the size and strength of the local garrison. Turk, Mandragora, Yugg'l, and Gamlyn all volunteered for the shore party, and Turk expressed an idea to pose as a tea merchant so as not to alert the local populace to his pirate identity.

After visiting a local tea merchant to brew up the perfect batch of tea, Turk and Mandragora had a chill rest of the day before sailing for Talos the next morning.

During the course of the journey, they encountered a marid -- a powerful water elemental who demanded tribute in exchange for passage -- and some giant crabs, which tried to but couldn't catch the swift Lion's Rage.

After three days, they set anchor off the shore of Talos, and met up with a local contact named Savario Fisk, who led them through the jungle towards an overlook over Bry'kalis. Along the way, he told them about the island and its volcano (home to a dragon's lair), as well as some of the dynamics of the town (the townspeople resent the Order occupation, but are resigned to its inevitability. There is also a local union of farmers and spice merchants who are chafing under the Unified Empire's taxes and trade regulations).

As the session ended, Turk was brewing tea as the group picknicked overlooking the town below them.