Session 105: Purple Rocks Naval Batal Report

General Summary

Session 105 – Wednesday April 6, 2022 – The Naval Battle at the Purple Rocks

  4 Hour Naval battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Party of 4 (The order of Heroes, Inc.):

It is the 11th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 3rd year of the Age of Enialis

• Annalisa (Anna) – Human L8 Monk – L8 Wizard /L4Fighter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Jaquette Mara – L20 Human Druid – Jackie Armstrong
• Lucky Lightfoot – Leprechaun – L18 Bard/L1 Sorcerer/L1 Warlock – Jacob Munson
• Rolen – Human L20 Warlock – Josh Pozsonyi (School work)
• Tyrena Rechs – Human L17 Ranger/L3 Fighter – Nathan Gioconda (Remote)
• Doc – L20 Dwarf Artificer – Spencer Armstrong
• Luigi Risotto – Wood Elf L17 Monk/L2 Wizard – Dan King (Absent – Church)

Goals:

• Gather the other parts of the god Destroyer sword (Blade, Hilt and guard)
• Destroy the Amber Sarcophagi with the god Destroyer sword
• Take the sword to the Summer Queen and have her destroy it.
• Get dragon egg for Lady Cersei.

Forming a better defense

Gauntu brought the Charon about and joined up with the Crazy Suzan. Capt. Pryor came aboard and found out that the OoH had gone ashore. Capt. Pryor complained about the 20 long boats scattered about haphazardly. Gantu allowed him to take command of the fleet. Capt. Pryor signaled a few of the Gundarlun longboats to come in and got them to setup a more defensible perimeter he also ordered the entire fleet to head into the Rocks to gain some cover. The word spread out from long boat to long boat and the ships responded appropriately and began to move towards the Purple Rocks forming a more cohesive unit.

The ships started to coalesce as a single unit. Capt. Pryor told the Gundarlun boats to spread out, “They're gathered too close.” The captains of the other boats disagreed and told him "This is the way of victory, we act one. It is the one at the edge of the heard that is easiest to kill." Capt. Pryor. said, "True but a bull is easier to hit than a swarm of bees." They went back and forth exchanging proverbs.

They made the turn around the Western side of Utherall into the 15-mile strait between the two islands but stayed closer to Utherall to the east, to avoid being seen by the port at the Ulf of Thuger in the west. Again, Capt. Pryor had Cornelius Page, in the crow’s nest, signal to the fleet to spread out a bit as the skies were unusually clear and visibility was far too good. The only clouds he saw were dark ones obscuring the peaks of the mountains on each island. Again, the Gundarlun fleet was not as responsive to his orders as he would like.

Something wicked this way comes

The ever-observant Cornelius saw a glimmer near the coast that didn't make sense to him. Slowly the crystal-clear view of the shore became obscured by clouds as a massive fog bank rapidly headed towards the ship. Calling out to Gauntu he pointed out the strangeness. Gauntu had the crew ready for battle and commanded full speed away from the fog. Cornelius signaled to the Crazy Suzan. The Crazy Suzan replied: "It's the Dark Jewel! Full speed west to the eastern Cove of Trisk, we'll have protection among the rocks!"

The crew raced around the deck, working the rigging to get every ounce of speed from the sails. The wind was working to their favor, but the fog bank was closing unnaturally fast. The Long boats rowing as fast as they could, some were maintaining speed with the Charon and the Susan, but others were not. The Charon has a slight edge over the Susan and took the lead with the Susan practically drafting behind her. All the weapons were loaded and aimed at the closing fog bank.

Dragon, Traitor, Dragon

Cornelius, using his spyglass, stared into the fog bank and couldn't make anything out, but just above the fog bank, a massive figure emerged with wings spread wide. It slowly gained altitude and speed as it headed into the sky. It let out a might roar that echoed across the strait. He yelled down to the crew. "Dragon! The crew, on their own, started to look, not sure where to aim their weapons. Guntu looked unphased, and carefully weighed the options. Captain Pryor too, saw the situation and considered what to do. Knowing that their ability to survive in the open sea against the Dark Jewel plus a Dragon was not as good as having some protection amongst the rocks.

At the bow of the deck. Stinky Pete lifted the latch that holds the chain for the sea anchor. The chain rattled and quickly dropped. The Ships spun about rapidly and 3 men went overboard. The Crazy Suzan only a few yards away careening towards the ship barely avoided a head-on collision.

A wave formed in the east, about 80 feet in front of the ship traveling unusually fast towards the fleet. Something shimmering below the surface, and then bursting forth from the water between 2 of the long boats, an ancient white Dracolich appeared swamping the 2 boats and destroying one of them.

The Battle

The dragons breathed their ice breath and severely damaged 13 of the ships and slightly damaged the Crazy Suzan. The Crazy Suzan fired all its weapons on the Dracolich as did they Charon, many of the bolts bounced off the dragon’s skin but some of them hit. The Dark Jewel fired its ballista and destroyed 2 of the ships damaged by the dragon. The Dark Jewel’s mangonel damaged one and destroyed another. It fired a massive ether maul at another boat and pulverized it. The remainder of the armada (the Gundarlun long boats) focused all its fire (32 ballista shot) at the Dracolich and half of them hit, wounding the Dracholich.

The dragons both failed to regain their breath weapons, so they swooped down, and each ripped one of the Gundarlun long boats to shreds. The Crazy Suzan continued the focus fire on the Dracolich. It closed the distance right up to the Dracolich and while it missed with the Ballista, it was able to fire a cabled harpoon into the Dracolich blooding and grappling it. Gauntu ordered a report on why the ship stopped, and Cornelius told him that Stinky Pete had released the sea anchor. Gauntu ordered all the weapons to focus on the Dracolich as he walked over to Stinky Pete, picked him up over his head and slammed him down on his knee breaking Stinky Pete’s back. Gauntu then threw the limp body of Stinky Pete overboard and yelled out, “Raise the anchor.”

One Dragon goes down

The Dark Jewel fired its weapons and destroyed 5 of the long boats and then moved in closer to the remaining ships. With their legendary actions, the dragons used their tails to each destroy another long boat. Three of the longboats focused on the Dracolich and he became critically wounded. 2 of the longboats headed towards the Dark Jewel to ram it. The last 5 longboats focused their fire on the Dracolich, ½ of their shots missed but the remaining 5 shots hit the Dracolich’s neck killing it.

The remaining white dragon was enraged with the killing of her Dracolich mate. So upset she couldn’t get her dragon breath back. She dived down on one of the longboats and devastated it with her claws. The Crazy Suzan turned all its weapons to the White Dragon and opened fire wounding her. The Charon did the same while raising the anchor. The White Dragon destroyed another ship with her legendary tail. The dark Jewel closed in on one of the long boats. The skeletal face on the front of the ship came to life and tried to chomp down on the boat but just missed. The Dark Jewel used its weapons to destroy 2 more of the long boats. One of the remaining longboats fired two ballista shots at the White dragon hitting it and then rammed the Dark Jewel. The remaining barbarians left their damaged longboat and started boarding and attacking the undead on the Dark Jewel. The other 2 remaining longboats fired at the dragon and missed.

The white dragon got her breath back and hit the remaining ships. The Crazy Suzan focused on the Dragon and missed 5 out of its 6 shots and then it tried to separate from the dragon. The Dragon swiped its tail at one of the Gundarlun boats and destroyed it. The Charon fired its ballista at the Dark Jewel, it hit but couldn’t penetrate the hull. It fired the mangonel and that did cause some damage and then the Charon dove underwater. The Dark Jewel opened fire on the Crazy Suzan and massively damaged it. The Dark Jewel then chomped down on one of the remaining 2 longboats, destroying it. The last longboat fired at the dragon, wounding it a little and then rammed the Dark Jewel.

The Armada is gone

The White Dragon destroyed the last boat that had rammed the Dark Jewel. The Crazy Suzan opened fire on the White Dragon and wounded it some more. The Charon finished reeling in the anchor and fired the harpoon from underwater, but it failed to pierce the hull. The dragon took a swipe at the Crazy Suzan. The mouth of the Dark Jewel bit into the Crazy Suzan and it started to sink. The dragon flew away. Capt. Pryor pulled out one of his T-Rechs cigars, lit it and yelled out “Prepare for boarding!” The crew took out the ropes and started boarding.

Boarding

The crews from the 2 longboats and the Charon boarded the Dark Jewel and engaged in hand-to-hand combat against the larger undead crew. The barbarians and pirates fought with an intense ferocity unmatched by the undead. The undead were unorganized. The Charon rose from the water behind the Dark Jewel fired its weapons at the undead creatures and most of the crew boarded the ship Dark Jewel.

The battle raged on, and the number of undead vastly outnumbered the crews from the Crazy Suzan, the Charon, and the 2 longboats. However, the humans outfought the undead and carved through them. When there were only a dozen or so undead fighting, they all suddenly fell limp to the ground as if the magical force animating them stopped. There were 75 humans remaining, all shouting out in victory.

The OoH arrives.

The party arrived an hour after the battle, they saw the devastated fleet in the water, a listing Crazy Suzan and orcs and barbarians abord the Dark Jewel with scattered undead bodies all about. The party searched the ship for Hitch and Ducia but could not find them. Tyrena met up with Capt. Pryor who was proud to show off the dead Dracolich which was tied to the side of the boat. Capt. Pryor wanted to take what they could from the Dark Jewel, tow it towards the rocks and scuttle it.

Lucky looked all over the Charon frantically for Cornelius and was happy to see him. Cornelius explained what happened. Cornelius was busily trying to get supplies to help repair the Crazy Suzan. Lucky helped. Lucky cast skywrite in the sky and made a large middle finger for all to see. Jaquette landed on the Crazy Suzan and tried to help with the wounded and then used her sewing skill to help fix the sails. She started to embroider a dolphin on the Sail and Capt. Pryor asked for something more manly, like a dragon.

Anna fell from the sky and landed hard on the ship. She searched the ship for her sister and Ducia. She saw evidence of various necrotic spells controlling the dead. Finding the mage’s quarters, Anna deduced that Ducia was on the ship at one point. The party all met together with Capt. Pryor. Capt. Pryor encouraged the OoH to finish off the Dragon but asked for his share of the Kraken treasure before they left. Lucky told him that the treasure was secure in a private demi-plane, and they’ll get it for him tomorrow. In the meantime, Lucky offered the Charon as collateral in case they don’t return. Capt. Pryor reluctantly agreed.