The Departure of the Congenial Bastard

The party finally having a night's rest at Hammer, Inc arose in the morning and made their way to the docks in search of their transport. Upon arriving at the proper dock, they were greeted by the hook-handed Long Sean Shivers, captain of the Congenial Bastard. After introductions were completed, the captain showed the party their quarters on board and had the crew prepare for departure. The ship was manned by a crew of 15 sailors and had several canons on board to defend herself against any potential pirate attacks. Captain Shivers expected relatively fair weather and an approximate week long voyage to reach the Dwarven Isles.
 
The twin sisters, Ruby and Jade were not accustomed to sea fairing voyages and the constant swaying of the ship upon the waves left them both a bit queasy. This was an unfortunate situation, as several hours into the voyage, canons could be heard in the distance where it appeared pirates were attacking an unarmed merchant ship. Thomas, always eager to help those that are helpless, attempted to convince his companions and the ship captain that this was an opportune time to turn the tables on some pirates. Even the allure of a potential reward and all the spoils of the pirate ship were not enough to convince the captain, nor the rest of his party that this was a good idea, so the Congenial Bastard just sailed along its charted course.
 
As Ruby and Jade suffered throughout the day, it seamed that every sailor had a different idea for a cure to their seasickness. None of them worked however and it actually appeared that most of these recommendations were in jest to have a laugh at the expense of the suffering twins. Knowing that going below deck would only make her queasiness worse, Jade took the advice of one sailor to try and appease her stomach up in the crows nest. Ruby, Morprax and Thomas went below to get a night's sleep in their hammocks. It may not have been the best idea to have an inexperienced sailor in the crows nest, as it took some time for Jade to realize that the sudden, heavy fog that rolled over the ship was accompanied by another ship, illuminated by some ghostly lights. Once she realized the potential gravity of the situation, she rang the bell alerting the crew and her companions to the approaching danger.
 
It took a moment for our below deck adventurers to make their way topside. In the meantime, Jade had made her way down to the deck from the crow's nest as crew members and Captain Shivers prepared to defend their vessel. Just as the sleeping trio made their way up to the deck, a darkness spell covered most of the deck in impenetrable darkness while some bipedal fish creatures climbed their way onto the Congenial Bastard from the waters. Unbeknownst to the trio, Jade was battling a vampiric mist in the middle of the darkness. The fearsome and gruesome, ghost-like captain of the other ship caught the attention of Ruby and Morprax, causing them to become stricken with fear. This provided the fishmen attacking the trio an edge in combat and much to Thomas' dismay, he was only able to launch a single arrow before he was engaged in a melee combat. Cannon blasts roared from each ship against the other. One of the cannonballs struck near our trio, raining splinters upon them as if a trio of fishmen weren't already enough for them to deal with. The battle raged on as the fishmen went into a frenzy once their foes were injured. The ferocity of their attacks was almost more than the party could handle, but eventually, the fishmen were all struck down. There was no time to celebrate, however. As soon as the last fishman fell, the vampiric mist emerged from the darkness and made its way towards Ruby. It believed it had drained all the life it could from Jade and now searched for a stronger life force. The creature was resistant to most physical damage and to make matters worse, each time it injured Ruby, it gained an equivalent amount of life force it drained. Fortunately, Morprax was able to utilize divine some divine magic against the creature while Thomas struck at it with his two swords. Just as things looked at their most grim, Ruby laid unconscious on the deck with the creature attempting to drain the last of her life force, the remaining duo of heroes managed to land enough blows to dispatch the vampiric mist. At the creature's destruction, the darkness upon the deck was lifted and our two heroes saw Jade lying at the feet of Captain Shivers. The captain of the enemy's ship, losing his fiercest ally made the decision to push away from the Congenial Bastard in search of easier prey. Prior to vanishing into the darkness, he pointed towards Thomas and Morprax and made a throat slitting gestured while staring at them. Is it possible that our party is being hunted by someone? Was our tail in Arcadia more nefarious than the city guard ensuring we didn't try to leave the city?
 
Morprax applied some magical first aid to stabilize the twin sisters. It appears the battle knocked the seasickness out of them as all were able to go below deck to get some rest for the evening. Several days asea passed without further conflicts. There was even a school of dolphins that helped the navigator sail the ship into a stronger sea current to help expedite their journey.