OttD Session 39: Game of Boats Part 1 - Love, Vengeance, and Sacrifice

General Summary

we start with Tornac, who went to a local abandoned whorehouse. He spends some time drinking until Mama Bear comes in. They talk briefly. She talks a bit about Penguin, and how Tornac has done "something crazy". She then gives him a large, scaled egg. She says Penguin wants him to treat it "as if it were his son". Tornac promptly attempts multiple times to attack the egg, but fails to do any damage.
The others are outside. Pestle hears the noise and comes in to investigate. Tornac refuses to provide an explanation when interrogated about Dénouement, but openly discusses having received the egg from Mama Bear. Pestle examines the egg and finds that it is clearly some sort of supernatural, fire-aligned creature. He is not sure which one.
The party reunites and catches tornac up on some of the events that happened in his absence. Pestle muses about how to escape, but resists Dave's attempts to coerce him into making intelligence saves to find out. Zerrof also asks Vun Roade to take care of Mazu if he passes away. Vun Roade graciously accepts.
After some more small talk, the group is summoned into the Game of Boats. They find themselves on Barry the Airship, but it is not airborne; it is floating on the water. Barry's arcane engine below decks appears to be inert. While most of the party searches the boat to assess their situation, Zerrof dives underwater to search for wildlife.
Zerrof does not find any, but on his way back he is stopped by Mazu, who wants to speak with him in private. She says that the other gods are currently distracted and will probably not be paying attention to their conversation. Mazu asks Zerrof if he still wants to be a god. Zerrof says he would like to do this so that he can stand by her side. Mazu explains that the reason she sent him alone to get metal from the palace in Session 33: The Beginning of The End was because Deep Sashelas insisted on getting a chance to talk to him alone and judge his character. The box Deep Sashelas presented him with to give to Mazu was actually a pair of wedding rings formerly owned by their parents.
Mazu says that this means if Zerrof wishes to become a god he currently has permission from all living deities on the Elemental Plane of Water. This leads into an extremely awkward marriage proposal from Mazu and subsequent acceptance from Zerrof. Mazu herself is more apologetic than she is romantic, explaining that she had not wanted to push this kind of question onto him so quickly, but current events dictate that they may soon need more gods that are not subject to the Preservation Proclamation.
After this, Mazu delivers some more news. It seems Izar has stolen a powerful artifact from the Dukes of Air and is currently on the run. The artifact is apparently capable of sending a message to all sleeping persons in The multiverse, and the Dukes of Air are trying desperately to prevent him from using it. Some gods have come to aid in his defense, including Olidammara and Penguin. They have requested Mazu's support as well, and so she intends to leave for a few days. Zerrof agrees that she should make the trip, and after some awkward farewells Mazu plane shifts away.
Zerrof returns to Barry the Airship and gives the others a brief summation of his conversation with Mazu. The party spends some time discussing the food situation, and they see a storm is forming. They take some empty barrels up on deck and Zerrof forges some giant funnels to put in said barrels so they can be used to collect rainwater. During the night, as the storm starts to pick up in full force, Pestle spots a lighthouse in the distance and another vessel slowly traveling towards it. The other vessel has a single passenger: a human in a nice suit who appears to be quite poorly equipped for life at sea. The man eventually spots the party and hoists up a white flag.
The party approaches, and everyone is awoken to come participate in the encounter (except for Adoven Verdonnet, since his payer is absent this session). Pestle gets a pretty good survival check (with the help of some guidance from Zerrof) and manages to make a safe approach to the other vessel. The human in question turns out to be named Charles. He is very frazzled and confused about what is happening. Pestle offers the man some poison as a "peaceful way out", but he refuses. As the man is explaining that The Bronze Prince would not approve of his demise, Tornac interrupts and asks Charles if his a lawyer. Charles admits to being a lawyer, and immediately afterwards Tornac attacks him. The battle is swift and bloody. Both Tornac and Vun Roade kill the human before anyone else even gets a single turn.
Unlike the The Game of Orbs, only the dead man's possessions disappear. The corpse itself remains, lying naked on the deck. Tornac spends some time desecrating the corpse while the others loot the ship. They find three rations worth of food and take the sails so that the material can be used to repair their own sails later if need be.
The party resumes their travels, next making their way to the lighthouse. There is almost no land attached to this lighthouse; the lighthouse and its cottage have used up the entire available landmass. There is a small dock, which already has a sloop docked to it. They can see signs of life inside the building. The party spends considerable time debating how to handle this situation, when eventually a dwarven man emerges from the structure and starts shouting at them. Tornac does not recognize the man, but as he gets closer it is clear that the dwarf is a follower of Bhaal. He starts yelling at Tornac, calling him a traitor. As the two dwarves shout and bicker at each other it quickly becomes clear that the stranger is actually The Drunken Surgeon, the man that killed Tornac's wife.
Combat ensues. During the encounter The Drunken Surgeon uses large fire spells, causing Barry the Airship to be engulfed in flames multiple times. Pestle manages to pull him into the water using thorn whip, and Zerrof promptly dives in and drags the dwarf under the water. Zerrof and Tornac beat him senseless over the next few rounds, and he eventually reveals his true from, that of an Ultroloth, and teleports up to the surface of the water. This is not enough to save him, however, and the party eventually takes The Drunken Surgeon down, albeit after suffering some pretty serious wounds.
Tornac spends quite some time joyously dismembering the corpse while the others investigate the lighthouse. They find no food, but they do find evidence that there used to be some. It appears The Drunken Surgeon had eaten it all already. In the lighthouse itself they find an arcane light and a glowing green crystal. Arcana checks quickly reveal that the crystal is a power source of some sort, and removing it would disable the lighthouse. Pestle and Vun Roade decide to do this, but before they take the crystal Pestle spots some sort of arcane trap guarding it. He uses mage hand to trigger the trap, but is unfortunately still struck by its effects and takes significant necrotic damage from the resulting explosion.
After nursing his wounds for a moment, he and Vun Roade collect the crystal and head back to the boat. Zerrof had gone searching underwater again but failed to find anything noteworthy. Tornac, meanwhile, finds The Drunken Surgeon's holy symbol. It appears to be heavily damaged, and is bleeding. Unfortunately when Tornac attempts to retrieve it Bhaal's wrath flows through the holy symbol, causing a massive fiery explosion that knocks Tornac unconscious and sets both boats, the docks, and the cottage on fire.
Ocean waves put out the docks, and Vun Roade extinguishes Barry the Airship by using one of the magical properties of his frost brand sword. He and Zerrof then go onto The Drunken Surgeon's boat, finding some papers in an unknown language and another three rations of food. They take some damage from the flames but do not attempt to extinguish them or save the vessel.
After the party rouses Tornac, he decides to take one for the team and asks Dave to translate the papers. Surprisingly Tornac actually passes the ensuing intelligence save and learns that they are actually translations of some love letters he had written for his wife several decades prior, before her murder.
As the party is spending hit dice and discussing the possibility that The Drunken Surgeon might return after the game, Tornac crits a religion check. Penguin contacts him:

Hey, what would you pay me to stop this guy from coming back?

Everything. Literally everything.

Deal.

Tornac's skin turns red, and he grows horns. He is now part devil, having completely given himself over to The nine hells. he gains all the racial features of tielflings on top of his existing dwarven ones. He also receives a small birdcage with a small white orb floating in it. This is The Drunken Surgeon's soul.

Notes

Pre-Game:

Report Date

05 Mar 2020