Chapter 7: Vampire Weekend
The party free the Blood Wings Captain Mabel Mar, who was shacked to a large mysterious metal sphere. As thanks, the vampirate prepares the heroes a delicious meal...
Session 20: Day 41-46
2/9/2022 - 2/14/2022 Jacob begins feeling unwell and decides to rest in the crew quarters below deck while the rest of the party partake in the Captain's meal. Mabel begins inquiring about the group's sailing experience and Olati replies with the time he spent serving under The Plank King. This intrigues her, as she has not known anyone to leave his service alive or unscared, and wonders what makes him so special. Olati comments on their relationship and how his former captain considered him an adopted son, which further peaks Mabel's interest and names Olati her interim First Mate for the voyage since she will need someone to lead during the day. Zocra brings up the nagivgating skills he mystically acquired from drinking the mysterious tea given to him by a strange woman in Danrest, and so he is tasked with charting and maintaining the course which will take 20 days. The party returns to shore to make preparations for their journey while Mabel sets off to look for the corpse of her raven. They encounter the Danrest University Students who are joined by two other survivors, a High Elf Paladin Ezekiel "Zeek" Ithlori and Tabaxi Monk Botan, and huddled around a bound, snarling figure - the reanimated Quan Stonefist. It would appear that they are unsure what to do with him because Smolette is unable to accept the obvious choice of putting him out of his misery. The party's flippant comments on the matter draws criticism from Alanis Gilra - and eager delight from Murdeer Bluddoe - who is upset at their lack of empathy. Upon hearing of Jacob's incapacitated state, Smolette takes off to be at his side in hopes she does not lose another friend and the rest of the student follow. Save for Murdeer, who receives the go-ahead to end Quan's suffering and furiously carves he damned dwarf into pieces before gleefully skipping off to join her still living friends. Before the party returns to the ship, Juan makes a call to Levi Doyle and informs him of the situation. Levi is shocked, as vampirates don't normally raid Fandelian settlements, and agrees to care for the party's horses while they are away at sea. Mabel levitates herself onto the top deck with her raven and pulls the arrows from its body, she comments on the suspicious nature of her familiar's demise as she reanimates it while lamenting what will be lost in doing so as the bird was "the one living thing on this ship she felt affection towards." Zocra continues to deny his involvement and makes disrespectful comments toward the Captain. She shows restraint by not hitting any of Zocra's vital organs when she hurls the arrow pulled from her raven at him. Despite the contentious nature of this arrangement, Mabel agrees to allow the party and students to continue assisting on the mission and assures them that there are "always other options" should there be further disobedience. Zeek clarifies that the "other options" are turning them all into her undead vampirate slaves. Sensing this, the Captain makes an announcement to align expectations and establish the rules aboard her ship. "From here on out," she bellows, "you will refer to me only as your Captain and follow the code of this crew. Any violation will be disciplined accordingly." She unfurls a scroll to read them the Blood Wing Code:The Blood Wing CodeZocra continues to exhibit disrespect towards the Captain until she throws the broken pieces of his bow at his feet with a smirk, "So that there there are no more unfortunate 'accidents'..." The Captain then retires to her cabin, leaving an enraged Zocra who is able to be restrained by the group and prevent him from digging a deeper hole for himself. Olati takes up his position First Mate to address the "crew" and in a brief speech instructs them to "do boat stuff." Zeek notices the groups confusion and offers the new leader some unsolicited advice but is told to stay in his lane and get to work. Alanis approaches Zocra personally with the intent to get a better understanding of "what his deal is" and the two share a surprisingly insightful conversation about being an outsider, comparing each others experience of growing up without a father, and the social struggles that come with it. The next few days at sea pass with minimal excitement which bores Quinby as he mans his assigned post in one of the crows nests and decides to go looking for a more engaging activity. Rummaging through the ship's armory he finds a number of items perfect for constructing a makeshift fort and sets it up as his new cabin in the ship's hold. Zocra skulks around after being ousted from his own crows nest post, which has been occupied by Botan who prefers solitude, and decides to inspect the mysterious metal orb in the ship's hold further. He discovers that it is entirely made of the rare metal Mithril and the runes engraved on it are magical in nature, but he is unable to decern the magic or language. Later in the night, Quinby's Talking Doll he has setup as his fort look out is triggered, alerting him that someone is moving around outside...
Article 1: Don’t Eat Each Other. No crew member shall partake of another crew member’s flesh or drink their blood.
Article 2: No Hymns. Many crew members’ ears are sensitive to holy praise. While aboard the ship, bards and other musicians are allowed to play only secular tunes.
Article 3: Coward’s Consequence. Those who abandon their post or shirk their duty will be marooned.
Article 4: No Shipboard Conflicts. All disputes shall be settled on land.
Session 21: Day 46-51
2/14/2022 - 2/19/2022 Quinby checks outside to see what set off the Doll to find Zeek skulking around in the darkness and confronts him. Zeek asks him if he can keep a secret and offers up a shiny coin if Quinby promises not to tell anyone that he saw him tonight. Quinby agrees with one more condition: Zeek must play games with him every day. Juan spends his time attempting to attune to the Clovehoof Amulet, but his affinity to Nature is not strong enough. Jacob's fox familiar - who is in fact a Fey, beings inextricably tied to Nature and The Tangle - attempts to help the Minotaur by placing his paw on the amulet causing it to faintly glow. After a few miscommunications, Juan places his hand atop the familiar's and the amulet grows even brighter until he finally feels his attunement to the artifact. The following morning, Jacob makes his full recovery and joins the rest of the adventures in taking up duties on the ship. He gets brought up to speed on what has transpired while he rested and makes a visit to the Captain to begin building a rapport, his natural charm yields some valuable insight. He learns more about the Captain, that she is a Superbia Vampire - a powerful sub-species that embodies the carnal indulgence of Pride - and about her transformation hundreds of years ago and the ravenous feeding frenzies she overcame in her undeath infancy. This opens her up to sharing more with other members of the party, so when Olati finally makes a visit as well she entrusts him with information on the nature of the mission. Apparently the Council Pirates have been backed into a corner by the Yonzu Empire who has expanded their ambitions to the seas and begun raiding Council vessels and trade routes, resulting in the Plank King to seek out methods to fortify their hold on their territory. Mabel claims the mysterious orb they are ferrying will do just that and that it is a weapon - or rather a "map to a weapon" - which the Plank King believes the Empire is searching for and can possibly be used against them if the pirates can get to it first. Meanwhile, during one of their newly scheduled games, Quinby and Zeek are casually approached by Zocra and mid-conversation Quinby flippantly reveals Zeek's midnight sneaking. This poorly kept secret spreads immediately and once it reaches Jacob, he confronts the Paladin to inquire about his intent. Zeek apologies for his secrecy, saying he was unsure who he could trust with his suspicions and was worried about what the Captain would do if she found out he had taken an interest in the orb. He is chiefly concerned about the object's nature, as the runes engraved on it are Infernal which is troubling to a follower of the Light, however he is unable to decern its purpose and so does not want to cause undue alarm. Jacob performs a ritual to comprehend the Infernal runes and translates them: "Burial. Chaining. Prison. Containment. Slumber." With this new information, Zeek believes this to be an artifact from ancient texts he read during his Paladin training about devils that created magical objects long ago to imprison powerful beings they could not otherwise defeat. It is likely that this particular one could be containing something - or someone - right now. Without knowing what exactly is inside or the Plank King's intention with it, Zeek requests someone "obviously more stealthy" to look for the mechanism that controls the containment orb and use it to peek inside to get a better understand of what to do next. An item of such importance would most likely be kept close to the Captain...Session 22: Day 51-53
2/19/2022 - 2/21/2022 The next morning, the adventures huddle up to discuss their options and decide to search the Captain's quarters for the item to unlock the containment orb. Zocra is delegated this task and easily plunders a tiny metal orb from the Captain's desk drawer. He then hands it off to Jacob who, with the help of Juan, creates a convincing forgery of the object and hands back to Zocra to smuggle back into the Captain's desk drawer. The wizard then uses the original to perform a ritual to open the orb without releasing what might be held inside. The mithril slides and reconfigures itself to reveal what is being imprisoned inside: a water-Genasi woman with blue hair, being held behind a force field and kept in statis by magical chains. Jacob recalls the portraits he saw in the Danrest castle library and is shocked at the revelation to the identity of the woman: Scylla Undinia - the Speaker of Water. It would seem that Mabel has some how captured one of the most powerful beings in Encopia - with abilities on par with a god - and is delivering her to the Plank King to either used as a weapon or to find one. He quickly seals the orb again and frantically relays this information to his companions, desperately trying to help them understand the gravity of the situation. Olati is the only one who is unphased by this, as he implicitly trust's his adoptive father's intentions even if they imply forced imprisonment. They go back and forth debating the morality of the situation when suddenly they are alerted to an approaching Yonzu Empire vessel. Botan provides insight into the Empire's technology and intentions, specifically how they will immediately take hostile actions against a pirate vessel and use their magically imbued machines to easily out-speed and out-gun them. The group quickly formulates a plan to impersonate a merchant ship sailing to Bothia to recruit mercenaries and ferry them back to the Kingdom of Fandaniel. Their ruse proves conversing and the Empire ship approaches and prepares to board them. Two elven guards clad in gleaming golden armor escort a well-dressed, silver-haired elf Captain on to the top deck. The Yonzu captain demands to see their transport papers and inquires about their business. Jacob is able to use some of the documents from Captain Mabel's desk to forge convincing transition papers, however the Yonzu Captain insists on further inspection of the Blood Wing ship and sends one of the guards below deck and the other with Jacob to the Captain's quarters above. Unbeknownst to the Yonzu Guard, Quinby has spread disappearing dust on himself and the containment orb to avoid detection and when the Guard reaches the bottom of the stairs spills the contents of all the ship's chamber pots to create a uniquely fowl smells below deck. The guard is instantly revolted and asks the others in the below-deck hold how they live in such conditions. Juan simply replies, "You get used to poop town," and the guard retreats back upstairs not wanting to further subject himself to the rancor. Jacob is able to sufficiently distract the other guard from his inspection and makes casual conversation about the Empire's ambitions to unite the world under their rule and how their "superior Astral Elf bloodline" makes it only a matter of time. The guards then reconvene with the Captain and report their lack of any further suspicions. Suddenly, the Blood Wing ship is rocked by something massive below. Juan, now wielding a higher affinity to Nature thanks to attuning to the Clovehoof amulet, is able to identify that whatever scrapped against the hull has scales and is very, very large - and hostile. The minotaur rushes up stairs to warn his friends when a humongous tentacle thrusts out from the waters below and towers over the ship. The tentacle swiftly descends and Juan acts quickly to pull his friends away from danger while the Yonzu Captain and his guards are crushed beneath it and dragged into the ocean. Now more tentacles emerge from the ocean, a sea monster has come to devour them all...Session 23 & 24: Day 53-55
2/21/2022 - 2/23/2022 The party is able to chase away the sea monster. However, Alanis, Zocra, Zeek, and the orb are swallowed by the beast and Murdeer and Botan are thrown far into the ocean. While Zocra is able to save himself and Alanis by using his Rope Trick spell to protect them in a pocket dimension, Zeek and the orb remain inside the retreating monster. The problem now is that the ship is sinking, but luckily Captain Mabel is able to provide a backup vessel. Still recovering from the ordeal they are presented a choice: either come up with a plan to retrieve the orb from inside the Kraken or track down the rest of their missing friends. The party chooses the latter. Olati is able to pick up Murdeer's trail, which leads directly to the Yonzu mainland. As they approach they are stopped by a ship patrolling the port's suspiciously vacant docks. The party attempts to bluff their way out of the situation, but is unable to reach an agreement with the Yonzu soldiers to allow them to dock without issue. It seems hostilities will ensue.Continuing from Chapter 6: Sunspringa Sensations
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