Adventure Three, Session Five

Coming soon!
Preview (expected): The party charters a voyage on the brig named "The Doubtful." They arrive in Varuumae Corona and seek an audience with the Grand Hassir and his Inheritrix. Here they learn the full scope of their mission. Afterwards, in the bustling city, the party makes additional preparations.

Will the party make it to Varuum without further complication?

What of Temerity and her mental state?

Will the mission turn out to be as simple as Krimko outlined?

What mysteries of the great Varuumae Corona will be unveiled?

Stay tuned to find out...1

UPDATED 5/10/19...
INT. LEWELLYN'S ESTATE HOUSE, ANGLEPORT - DAY
The party reconvened the following morning to have breakfast at the home of Lewellyn Figoras. Lewelynn offered to take the party to the docks at Ponta Delestra in Angleport.
Once they arrived at the docks, the carriage let the party out in front of the offices of the harbormaster. The PCs went inside the office and spoke to Renton Devale, harbormaster of the Ponta Delestra. A curt and suspicious man, Renton quickly determined that the party was seeking out "The Doubtful," which was moored at "Dock Twelve."
It also seemed that this reminded Renton about some unfinished business he had with the captain of the vessel. He asked the party to warn captain Dreeva Vaeless that he'd be coming soon for a word, but the party declined. They left immediately after.
As they made their way up the docks, the boats seemed to get seedier and seedier, until they finally reached Dock 12. The Doubtful seemed a bit ramshackle from the outside, and it didn't seem to even carry that much crew. A young looking "swabbie" named "Urcho" greeted the party and offered to bring them to see Captain Dreeva. At this point Teffa and several others noticed Renton and two other men (one of whom looked to be a member of the city watch) approaching.
Once they finished climbing the gang plank, they warned Urcho of the approaching men. Urcho sort of freaked out and quickly asked the party to impersonate his crew (though he didn't have time to explain why). One of his other passengers, a professor named Warren Lockless, was asked to impersonate Dreeva, while Temerity was asked to become the first mate, Altious. They didn't really have time to argue the point, as Renton announced he was boarding, along with the harbor tax collector (Harvis Harrod) and an officer of the watch.
Once aboard, Harvis began to inventory items to be taxed aboard the ship. What initially appeared to be a little girl (but who was in actuality an adult female halfling) rushed over to Urcho and addressed him as Captain Dreeva. Thankfully, only the party heard this and Dreeva/Urcho quickly shut her up. This halfling was named Adi Longhollow.
The tax collector and crew rummaged through the ship, looking at all the decks. Upon the lower decks (right around the area the party would be occupying for the journey to Varuumae Corona) they came across the "stuffed remains" of an Umber Hulk. This turned out to be the boatswain Bloregothe, simply pretending to be dead. Harvis Harrod quickly assessed an "exotic animals" tax.
The next floor down they found the Fortreal first mate... the real Altious Khaza Eeris, pretending to be nothing more than an un-potted plant. The party was quick to realize that both Bloregothe and Altious were very much alive and ambulatory. Thankfully the interlopers from the city did not.
On the orlop deck (lowest), three bulls were kept in pens. These bulls were actually Minotaurs that comprised a good chunk of the remaining crew. These were assessed a "non-exotic animal" tax. Finally the situation came to a head when Renton demanded Harvis to wrap up, and the party to hand over roughly 300 gold crowns in taxes.
Temerity and Warren both telepathically communicated with Dreeva who insisted he didn't have the cash. He begged them to help him think of a plan. Dreeva eventually went to his quarters to assemble a bag of "coins," which were actually just lead nubs and other worthless trinkets from his desk. But at least the bag had heft.
Warren cast Suggestion on Renton, and when Dreeva handed over the bag of junk to Harvis, Warren "suggested" to Renton that they leave now and count coins later.
Renton and his men quickly departed, fully thinking this was by their own design.
Once off the gang way, the crew rushed to action, preparing the ship for departure, hopefully before Harvis had a look in the bag. The party noticed Harvis, standing on the edge of the dock, beginning to open the bag! And the crew still needed a few minutes to cast off.
Sendry moved quickly. He grabbed a rope line hanging from the gunwhale of the quarterdeck and swung down and over to Harvis, attempting to sweep him off the dock and into the water. He missed on his first pass, but managed to knock the man into the harbor on the return swing. As Harvis crashed to the waters below, Sendry crashed back into the hull of The Doubtful. Thankfully, he didn't lose his grip, and a minotaur crewman pulled him to safety.
At this time Renton began screaming at the party, and the city watchman began blowing his whistle. Teffa rushed to the gunwhale facing the dockside men and cast a spell that Entangled them with vines, stopping them from further action.
And with that, The Doubtful was free of the harbor. Dreeva apologized for the deception, explaining that he has "creditors" beyond just the tax collector, and feared the party may be their agents. Now that he knew for certain that they were Krimko's promised employees, he welcomed them with open arms.
He formally introduced the rest of the crew, including the aforementioned members and also the Vess'ka weapons master, Kreet Viquik, the master gunner - a female half orc named Kellis Ranlin, and the drunken female gnome - Ellia - who served as the ship's surgeon. The halfling Adi was reintroduced as the ships Galley Master (chef).
The party then looked forward to some much needed relaxation over the course of the one week voyage to the south. Teffa even began to smoke her "leaf" and invited Adi to join her.
Dreeva explained his past as one of Krimko's "Trinkets," and further mentioned that he had a tiny "gift" for them. He'd been told the party had yet to decide upon a "company name," so Dreeva took the liberty to list off some suggestions. Of the ones provided, the party seemed to glom hardest onto "The Curio Company." Perhaps this would become their collective name?
Unfortunately, their respite was short lived, as another vessel was soon spotted matching their course. It was a much smaller "Cog" (single masted ship), but it was somehow gaining on them. It was clearly set to intercept them, and at its current rate, would reach them in ten minutes!
Using spyglasses, the party determined that the extra "push" the pursuing ship was benefitting from had to do with two Air Elementals pushing directly into the sail. They also noticed the forward-facing ballista trained upon their aft. Finally, it seemed approaching ship had a compliment of several human pirates, a red "glowing" wizard-type, two Chimeras... and a drow priestess that looked rather familiar to Teffa. It was her cousin, Shirestra. And not a very nice cousin at that.
The party set about making a plan. They soon decided to make an attempt to take out the main sail, thus removing the other ship's speed advantage. Sendry volunteered for the assignment. Warren cast Fly upon him and Sendry lit a torch. Then he shot upward, into the sky. Unfortunately the torch almost immediately went out, so he abandoned it in favor of his rapier. He would now slash the sail itself.
As he dove towards the sail, he was met in the sky by one of the Chimeras, forcing him to miss the sail on his first pass. He circled around for another pass, but by now the two ships were within striking range. Teffa cast a Lightning Bolt directly into the main mast of the enemy vessel, splintering it and crashing it down to the deck below. The vessel, now crippled, began to recede from The Doubtful, and the PCs finally had the speed advantage.
This didn't stop the Chimeras, however. They both rerouted to The Doubtful, attacking the crew and party on the top deck. Sendry, however, landed on the enemy vessel and (after the gunner was put to sleep by Temerity), used its own ballista against the glowing wizard, felling him on the spot.
Teffa managed to use her magic to drop her cousin to the deck, not killing her - more just wounding her pride.
After a massive battle on the deck, one that featured both Bloregothe and Oltorf working as a fearsome duo, both Chimeras were eventually bested. But not before the assembled crew (and party) took heavy damage. Oltorf, Bloregothe and Altious were all critically wounded. Thankfully, they had enough healing magic to take the edge off the worst of the wounds.
As the group (possibly now known as The Curio Company) recovered, they watched the enemy boat recede to a mere dot on the horizon. And they set about preparing for the remaining voyage...
VARUUMAE CORONA AWAITS!!!