Pirates are not friendly

General Summary

After gathering a few crates of oranges, and refitting our ship we headed off to the Western Isles. After sailing for a few days towards the current home of the pirates, we were intercepted by two ships. “What’s your destination and who is your captain?” “Cap’n O’Leary of the Norfin, we sail to Antwerp?” Cap answered. “Who speaks for you?” came the answering shout. “Cap’n Tilly.” “Cap’n Tilly is no more, think of your next answer carefully.” “Captain Bloodmoon can speak for me,” Cap said enunciating the clearest I’d ever heard him speak. “You may dock by Admiral Bloodmoon’s ship,” subtle emphasis was on the rank. “While there you will post the Bloodmoon colors above your own. The cost for mooring is 120 gold.” “We’ll just stay out in the bay, and send a dinghy in,” Cap tried to negotiate. “The cost for mooring is 120 gold, regardless of where you might put your ship.” “Very well,” Cap responded and follows the ships into Antwerp.

ANOTHER NIGHT SPENT DRINKING

I have lost all ability to hold my drink, that’s all I can say. I managed to get rip-roaring drunk, threw up all over Milli, and then fell asleep. Cap, however, was able to find out what we wanted to know, or some of what we wanted to know. I’m not quite sure if this will stop the crazy “fairy” pirate (I guess we now know he isn’t fae, but I don’t know what else to call him, super evil pirate?), and get us to him, but it does get us some other information we needed. Over on the island that might be a volcano, there’s a guy called, “The Old Man on the Mountain,” and he’s been there for ages, and is supposed to have more information abou the crystal ships, and the Cassiomani.

THE OLD MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN

When they said Old Man on the Mountain, what they really meant was Old Man at the top of a cliff after you’ve climbed over a mile to get to the top. Either way, we got up to the top and heard from inside the cave, “Speak the Mountain hears.” “We seek information on the Cassiomani and the crystal ships,” Lili answered “Many seek treasures of the Cassiomani, why should I talk to you?” “We are friends with the Coromani,” Lili replied. The voice spoke something in Coromani, but none of us speak the language, “We don’t speak it, we have visited their cities.” “The Prince’s ship has been recovered. Why don’t you take that one?” “The person manning that is bent on conquest and destruction.” “It is not really a concern, he can’t find the fleet without the golden ball,” boomed the voice. “They had it,” I said and pulled out the drawing. A gust of wind pulled the paper into the cave, I let it go just in time. “It does not matter until it is used at the lighthouse,” the voice answered thoughtfully after a moment. “We recovered the golden ball and recorded the positions it was in,” I replied. “I could help you if you swear to restore the Mani to their former glory,” the voice mused. I looked nervously to the side and thought about some of the illustrations in their homes we’d seen. “They could even cure you of your malady, little elf.” “I do not wish to be cured,” Lily responded, “I am who I am, and I serve the Creator.” “Perhaps then you would wish a seat at the table for your people, the Mani did stand in the gap protecting humans from those who would change or destroy them.” Lily paused, thinking, and slowly answered, “I swear to restore the Mani to their former glory for the good of my kind.” As her voice rang back through the cave, a boom echoed and a door swung open revealing a nice, big, rather homey area. “Come in, come in,” welcomed the Old Man, he walked about the chamber pouring glasses for all of us, “Tell me your story.” We slowly told all that had happened as he poured us glass after glass of wine. I swear I can hold my liquor, but again, I fell asleep in my cups. I woke up the next morning near the ledge and saw the Old Man sitting on the worn spot next to me. “I came with Prince Vaselli, the people sought refuge. I gladly stayed behind as a barrier shielding the rest from the King’s Isle. King Agora sent Prince Vaselli to find new land and return with news, but when he returned the King had gone. Princess Valika left, Prince Vaselli was suspicious and left the orb in trust to me, to guard it against its need. Someone snuck in and took it from me. I won’t go near them, for the creatures of the deep seek me. If I leave this mountain, they will rend me. To make the golden ball work you must know where you were and where the Great Ship was in its voyage through the great darkness.” We take out the Golden Ball and look for where the sun and stars were. After a bit of fiddling with it, Cap is able to align it with an island on the edge of what we can see. “Ah yes,” Cap muttered, “I know a little of it. It’s bluff and stone where the lighthouse is, but there’s a spot on the other side of the island where we could dock. We’ll have to march through the jungle though.” “The Orb can make a great song that will protect the vessel it is on,” the Old Man volunteered. “You will have to experiment to see just how it does, the Prince had the trick of it.” “Guys,” Milli called, “It looks like there are dinghies setting fire to other ships, or maybe they’re fighting a fire. Either way, it’s not that far from our ship.” “I guess, it’s time to go,” I replied. We scrambled down the mountain, trying not to trip over the tricky ground.

CREATURES FROM THE DEEP

As we rowed back, I pulled the oars as fast as I could, hoping to keep our ship from catching fire, when the oar caught. I looked down and saw nothing but churning waves. The boat rocked and Cap and Lily landed in the water. I saw a brief flash of a naga tail and swung my sword down on it. A startled hiss came from the water, and a cloud of ink spewed out. “Blast you! Cursed beast!” Cap bellowed and he burst from the water bouncing up and down as he struggled to control the spell. “I mark you for the beast. My queen’s pet will hunt you wherever you go. All of you,” the naga lisped and disappeared into the inky waters. We finished our trip to the ship and prepared to leave the next morning. However, the next morning a storm raged over us. “It’s not natural,” Lily screamed over the storm, “I can calm it, but it’s fighting me.” “The Prism is gone!” Milli shouted pointing to where it had been docked. The strain of calming the storm showed on Lily’s face, and gradually the storm calmed. We sailed forth into a fog. “The fog is sent by the same weather mage we encountered before,” Lily gasped as the fog pushed back against her. Cap steered carefully through the fog listening as Lily advised him. “I see it,” I shouted back as a fog bank cleared long after lunch. “There’s the cliff and the island, steer to the right.”

MOSQUITOES OF DOOM

You know how in every group, there’s that one person who gets eaten alive by mosquitoes? Cap was eaten alive by them, and they got into his armor, so he’d attempt to slap it, and his armor would reverberate and he would grumble. “Ow,” Lili cried out, she pulled her hand away from her neck and held up a dart. “Lili,” I sniffed. “You reek.” Lili sniffed, “I do not, but I feel a little tired.” We hiked some more and passed by a bend in the river with a waterfall. Lili tried to wash off the smell, but it would not come off. As we continued down the path, two more figures popped up and shot us with blow darts. I blocked the dart sailing towards me with the Unmade Blade, and Cap’s dart bounced off his armor. “Enough,” I grumbled and sent a tidal wave at the forest. I heard cries of dismay as the smaller foes tumbled backward. “They’re going to keep coming,” Lili said and flourished her hands and the area behind us glowed briefly. I plucked a leaf from the ground and whispered and there were more shouts of pain as thorns burst from the ground stabbing the small foes. Their voices changed from cries of pain to excitement as we heard howls in the distance behind us. Suddenly Cap changed. I don’t know if he was hit by a spell by them, but he looked just like the pygmies attacking us and was muttering the same as them, “Tik tok tik tok.” “Rikki Tikki Tavi!” screamed the pygmy behind me. Another howl closer behind us. I glanced back as we ran up the hill and saw trees shaking. I threw a thorn whip at the pygmy in front of me, pulling him off his feet and running past him. Lili threw an eldritch blast at the pygmy that was once Cap. Then it showed up. This thing was monstrous, it looked half human and half wolf. It sniffed the air and its twisted face sported a grin as it turned towards Lili and me. “Back,” I screamed thrusting my arm up with the palm facing the air like a claw. The earth under the creature jumped up in the air. Lili shot another eldritch blast at the creature. That’s it, I thought, I snapped a pinch of ashes, and flames covered my body. I shot the werewolf, I feel like this was a werewolf, and it yelped painfully. Cap pushed it away with a roar of thunder. The werewolf jumped back on Cap and drooled, clawing at him. Lili fired on the creature again and it turned on her snarling. “Get out of the way,” I snarled as Cap moved into my firing range. Cap glanced back and slid to the side muttering something, and spectral dogs popped up. The werewolf swiped at Cap and Lili again. Lili panicked and floated into the air shooting wildly at the beast, but nearly hit me. I dance aside and threw another burst of fire at the beast. It yelped and leaped away into the surrounding forest. “That creature is not sneaking up on me again,” and I channeled fire on all the surrounding brush it hid in until my spell wore down. I collapsed panting. “Cap, can you make us not smell?”

Report Date

23 Dec 2021