2024-04-16 The Dawnwink Blockade
Player Characters
- Igneous
- Arkenciel
- Ferravax
- Derulo
- Laucian
Allies
Summary
The yuan-ti had about 10 ships surrounding Port Dawnwink, preventing trade between the Spiritwood and the rest of the world.
The party begain in Port Saru, and considered vessels they could ride on to deal with the blockade.
They met Captain Harriet, captain of the Drowned Kraken, who promised that she had a plan for dealing with the blockade. She told them she would explain only if they boarded the ship and agreed to come.
Harriet revealed two secret weapons to the party and crew: first, a cannon that could launch huge iron spheres using recently-developed smokepowder; second, a pile of special archestrylene-containing cannonballs. She explained that the ArcL cannonballs would cause the yuan-ti to turn against each other in a mindless rage.
Arkenciel suggested inspecting the crew to root out any yuan-ti spies that might be onboard. Igneous suggested using cold, as snakes might dislike it. They lined everyone up and checked them one by one. One "human" man reacted to the cold and failed to hide it. Arkenciel discovered that he was wearing contact lenses that concealed his snake eyes. The man claimed she was framing him for credibility, but the evidence showed otherwise
Seventeen, the bosun, picked up the two brown-eye contacts and tried them on.
Igneous executed the yuan-ti while Ferravax restrained him. Harriet appraised the group for their work.
The PCs explained their concerns with the ArcL cannon balls to Captain Harriet. She said she would consider alternatives after Ferravax pointed out that the ArcL could spill into the sea.
Arkenciel purified the ship's food storage and gave the crew waterbreathing just in case.
Derulo entertained the crew by hanging on a rope on the side of the ship, summoning fish with his pan flute, and skewering some out of the waves.
Igneous approached Bertha, the quartermaster, who was busy measuring maps and charting their course. He had memorized the sea maps very well before the journey, and ensured that her path calculations were accurate.
Derulo and Laucian played drums and lute together while Laucian sang. The crew got jolly and drunk that evening.
Ferravax visited Seventeen and asked about the ArcL cannonballs. He didn't seem to know much about where they came from or how they worked, beyond what the Captain had said. Ferravax identified the insignia of House Vlommengar on the reinforced padlocked barrels.
Pipes, the first mate, approached Arkenciel, complaining that he kept waking up hearing laughter. Arkenciel looked him over, but only found that his moustache was actually made of nose hairs. She searched his bed area to find some crew members moving their bunks away. She asked them what happened at night, but didn't get a useful response other than noticing that they were holding back laughter.
She spied on the first mate that night, and discovered that he had a major nose whistle that sounded like bagpipes. The next day, she gave him a wax to help him make less noise at night, and provided no further details to the confused first mate.
The sky darkened and rain began to fall; a rainstorm was picking up. Laucian and Derulo inspired the crew to work hard while Ferravax and Igneous bailed out water. Arkenciel gave waterwalking to the crew members, which helped an overboard crewman return after being thrown off the deck. They all did their job extremely well, and made it through the rain without trouble.
They fought eight merrow on the surface of water. After their victory, Igneous raised an inspiring cheer.
A day passed after the fight.
Seventeen rushed up to the party, asking them to help with a problem below deck. Yellow mold had begun to spread on some of the cargo. Ferravax burned it away, and Arkenciel put out the resulting fire with a blanket.
A few more days passed. One misty night, Bertha came down from the crow's nest to report a strange sight: a ghost ship was approaching! Captain Harriet asked what the crew might be able to do about it. Arkenciel boosted the sails with wind from wind wall, which helped their ship get away for one minute.
The ghost ship began to catch up again, and the PCs got a good look at its spectral crew. Just as the ghost captain raised his scimitar and unhinged his jaw in a silent howl, the phantasmal vessel vanished. The crew stood by, waiting for something to happen. Laucian skimmed the area with see invisibility and Igneous scanned with his eagle eyes, but there was no sign of the apparitions.
Laucian asked the crew what they knew about the ghost ship. Some of the sailors had heard rumors about it, but didn't believe it was real.
They docked at Pearl Cove the next day. The PCs explored the city and rested at the inn. Igneous purchased some sea charts and maps of rumored islands for 10gp. The shopkeepe, a sea elf, mentioned rumors about an oceanic dungeon called Mirage Tower, then invited him to visit the sea elves. The man was pleased when he learned that Igneous already knew about his people.
Derulo sold magically created musical wine at a stand, making 26gp.
Laucian told taverngoers about the ghost ship. Most thought he was making it up, but a sailor stood up and agreed with him, claiming that he too had witnessed the ghost ship only a couple of weeks prior. The sailor's ship had escaped using a feather token - fan.
Ferravax looked around for information about the symbol she had seen before at the Frozen Watchtower. She found a junk vendor selling a stone triangle in the same shape. The hooded drow woman tried to peddle lucky trinkets. When Ferravax asked about the stone triangle, she said bought it from a traveling sailor, and promised that it would help her locate a powerful weapon smithed by fire giants. Ferravax purchased it.
Igneous found a Wishkin Works employee and tried to trade in his gold voucher. The worker pointed out that it was expired and couldn't be accepted. Igneous intimidatingly insisted, and the worker rushed to grab gold from their ship to reimburse him.
They spent the night in the inn and the next full day in Pearl Cove, then set out the day after.
They sailed north for a week before finally spotting the ten yuan-ti ships that surrounded the bay of Port Dawnwink.
Captain Harriet told the crew to prepare the ArcL cannonballs, but the PCs stopped them. They debated how best to approach. The PCs wanted to sneak to the ships to try to assassinate the crew and sow chaos, possibly carrying the ArcL cannonballs with them to be broken more carefully. Harriet believed this would be too difficult with the yuan-ti watching the waves. A deep gnome from Smurkleton spoke up, cautioning that ArcL and spirit branches, which might be found aboard the yuan-ti ships after being stolen from traveling ships, were explosive together.
The party plotted how to deal with the problem themselves.
They anchored the ship south of the blockade and led half the crew ashore in rowboats. They climbed the cliffside and walked along it for about an hour, heading toward the city. Just then, they noticed three yuan-ti ships turning to chase the Drowned Kraken. The ship retreated southward.
They continued until they found Port Dawnwink's palisade. They traveled around to find the main gate and its guards, and demanded help with the assault on the blockade. The guards couldn't supply them with allies, but allowed them inside the city to search.
Derulo and Laucian inspired some sailors to join them for the assault. The group gathered outside of the city that night, ready to walk on water.
They approached a ship in the night, left their 18 allies a safe distance away, and stormed the ship. Arkenciel's fireball ignited the top deck and sails. Ferravax faced the yuan-ti captain while they stood surrounded by a ring of fire. Laucian's silence disrupted the enemy crew's spellcasters.
As they destroyed the ship, three more turned to sail toward them.
The PCs' allies unleashed crossbow shots on the approaching ships, which rained eldritch blasts down in return. Laucian swam under one ship and cast passwall, flooding the hold and sinking it. Arkenciel ignited another ship with another fireball. In the end, they were able to sink the three ships and escape, leaving the remaining yuan-ti to contend with the water.
The last three ships in the blockade retreated to the East Ocean. The Drowned Kraken and its crew was nowhere to be seen, having turned and fled the day before. The party hoped that Harriet would obey their orders to not fire the risky ArcL cannonballs in self defense.
They collected their reward: 5000gp and a volcanic goblet. Derulo enchanted the city's delighted citizens with wine, and earned an extra gloves of missile snaring for it.
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