Our adventurer’s began when they were contacted by an individual named Caldwell. He was secretive about the specifics, but he was paying well for the retrieval of a man named Sebastian Cornfallow, who was last seen on an island named ‘Slaver’s Respite’. Caldwell chartered a ship named ‘the flying sparrow’, captained by Bernard Boucard. The Flying Sparrow went from port to port, picking up each of the adventurers;
Phobos Darkwater
Typhon Strongtide
Hubert Thistledown
Lebianne Caskale
Fladuk Redarm
Lapu Lapu
After introductions (and Lebianne pick-pocketing a letter from Bernard), they arrived at Slaver’s Respite. True to it’s name, the island was a hive of scum and villainy; pirates and degenerates were drinking, fighting, whoring and passed out on every part of town. The team went to the harbormaster, who after a stunning rap by Hubert was so charmed he spilled the secrets about Sebastian Cornfallow. Sebastian was a pirate who was locked up on charges of suspected mutiny of his crewmates after they had completed a successful raid, stashing the treasure for himself. The ‘Governor’ of the island was a man named Esteban Flores, who had captured Sebastian and was threatening him with hanging unless he led him to the loot. The crew scoped out the jail, but a catcall from the balcony of the whorehouse‘The Gleaming Rose.’
Phobos made a beeline for the front door, and was greeted by the owner, ‘Big Helga’. Big Helga was a tall female dwarf (2/10, even without a beard) and built like any pirate on the island. She immediately ushered Phobos into the noble suite with not one, but two tieflings. Lebianne saddled up to a kindred spirit in Big Helga, and began asking her about the state of affairs on the island. While they were talking, Hubert played a song for the whorehosue “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Even though it was a strong performance, the song was met with scattered applause, as well as a few awkward glances. Phobos returned, paying 50g for the services, and the group met in a corner booth of the house. After conferring on the matter, Hubert cornered a whore named ‘Jeanine’, and bluffed by telling her he knew what they were up to in the house. He pressed her for her real name, which turned out to be Diamond, and she spilled that she was being paid by Big Helga for any information on the Esteban Flores.
The group decided the best course of action was to rat out The Gleaming Rose for an opportunity to get close to Sebastian. They met Esteban at his villa, and after a few tense moments he agreed to let the adventurers speak to Sebastian for 5 minutes in exchange for the information on Diamond. He sent two of his guards to pick up Diamond, and two guards to escort the group to the jail.
The group passed the two guards station outside the jail, and once inside Phobos and Hubert casted sleep spells on the guards, leaving only one awake. Typhon and Fladik made quick work of the last guard, and the group slit the throats of the sleeping guards. They called in the guards from outside, and blasted them out into the streets with fireballs and arrows. Lebianne unlocked a grateful Sebastian, and they spent 5 minutes disguising him in a guard outfit to sneak him out. While he was dressing, the group heard commotion out in the street, and saw a brawl was spilling out into the streets from The Gleaming Rose. The group ran back to the ship, but not before Big Helga saw them escaping to the boat.
Once aboard, they questioned Sebastian, who revealed that he didn’t mutineer against his crew. A few weeks ago his best mate fell ill, and something terrible happened to the rest of the crew on his ship that he refused to speak about. The ship crashed on the shore of an island, and he used one of the skiffs to make it back to Slaver’s Respite. Upon refusal to return to the island, he was imprisoned by Esteban Flores until the group rescued him. Hubert made him mark where the island was on the map, and the group went to sleep in their private cabin.
In the middle of the night Phobos was awoken by a man draped in ornate leather armor with symbols carved into it. He held a struggling Sebastian tight with a knife close to Sebastian’s neck when Phobos used a spell to pull the rug out from underneath them. Fladik was standing guard outside, rushed in, and threw a spear at the cultist but hit Sebastian square in the stomach instead. The cultist spoke the cryptic words “I tear at a thread, that the veil may drop” before plunging his knife into Sebastian’s neck, bringing him close to the brink of death. The group finished off the cultist, but heard the sounds of the alarm bell ringing and the crew screaming outside their quarters. Typhon, upon hearing the screams, locked their door and healed Sebastian while waiting for the screams to subside.
The group eventually ventured out, and saw blood streaks sprayed across the wooden walls of the hull, but no bodies. They moved above deck, and saw that the ship was surrounded by green fog sitting atop a sea of glass on all sides. On the bow of the ship sat a strikingly beautiful woman with long black hair and pale sin, who gave them a devilish smile before diving into the waters below. From where she jumped off the ship erupted an enormous monstrosity of flesh and bones, swirling unnaturally together to form a humanoid shape. Upon closer inspection, the monster was composed of the corpses of the dead crew, and began attacking the ship by ripping off pieces of itself and throwing it at the deck. The hunks of flesh animated into zombies that attacked the group, before battling them back and eventually felling the beast with the spear soaked in Sebastians blood.
The group made their way back to Caldwell’s mansion, who thanked them for bringing Sebastian back, and paid them the agreed upon amount. After hearing their tale, he laid the situation out bluntly for them; Bernard was cousin to Vincent Boucard, the head of one of the most powerful families in Lothaire. The fact that they returned would not have gone unnoticed, and while Caldwell seemed quick to believe the group about the attack on the ship most others would doubt their tale and assumed they killed Bernard in a mutiny. Caldwell could help clear their name, but it would take time. Meanwhile, he had use of adventurers with their particular set of skills who could operate outside of the law. Caldwell motivated them with money, power, and in time, knowledge about the secret turnings of the world they had just captured a glimpse of.
Their adventure ended with Lebianne pick-pocketing Caldwell for some extra cash. What a bitch.
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