Chapter 10: The Call of The Sea
After wiping out the wererat thieves' guild and setting fire to the warehouse, the group visited the temple of the three and paid a priest to remove Olin's lycanthropic infection. They then returned to the registrar's office at city hall and let them know the deed was done, with the smell of smoke in the air as proof of the deed. After signing a contract (looked over by Thrain), the covenant of the veiled coin officially became privateers in the king's navy. They were assigned to a ship called The Draugr and told to report to the docks in 2 days' time.
In those 2 days, the group gathered supplies and prepared for their sea journey. Thrain fashioned a cloak attached to his armor that allows him to breathe underwater and swim like a fish. On the allotted day, they made their way to the docks and met with Captain Gunnar Forkbeard, a northman sea captain. He introduced them to the ship and its crew, including a surly dragonborn by the name of Tar'Kanis who was cooling off in the ship's brig. He explained that the ship's purpose was to lure pirates to attack by posing as a merchant vessel, complete with hidden cannons below deck that rise above when needed. After introductions were made, they set out to sea.
The first day proved uneventful, but they learned that Captain Gunnar was once a reaver on the northern coast who was captured near Arlenport. While awaiting execution, he was approached about signing on as a privateer in the king's navy and accepted. Since then, he's been hunting pirates in the sea of ruin. On the second day at sea, pirates attacked the ship. Thrain, Torbjorn and Tar'Kanis manned cannons and fired upon the pirates as they approached. After several exchanges between the two ships, both were badly damaged and a wizard in the crow's nest fired a fireball at the group, killing 4 crewmen. As the ship became close enough to unleash spells upon it, Torbjorn and Rasper blasted the mast of the ship with sonic spells that shattered the beam and sent it crashing down (along with the wizard in the crow's nest).
With the pirate ship disabled, they prepared for boarding. As the pirates leapt onto their ship, one of them missed a step and fell into the ocean (where he was later devoured by a shark). The wizard used his magic to grant his captain supernatural speed, and the captain leapt onto the Draugr and unleashed a flurry of rapier and dagger attacks on Thrain (none of which hit their mark). Torbjorn conjured a storm cloud above and began raining down lightning bolts upon the pirates as Tar'Kanis battled several pirates by himself and Rasper used their magic to debilitate them. As thrain battled the pirate captain, the wizard transformed into an owlbear and leapt onto the Draugr. Torbjorn then blasted him with a lightning bolt and sent him flying into the sea, which also broke his polymorph spell and his hasting enchantment on the captain. Another lightning bolt and a shark attack would claim his life.
As the pirates died at the hands of the group, the pirate captain unloaded her 3 pistols at Thrain and failed to pierce through his armor. She then threw down her sword and surrendered, along with the 2 last remaining pirates. After making sure they didn't need the captain alive, Rasper cast a spell of dissonant whispers and killed her with psionic energy (blasting her head apart across the deck). One of them was a priest of some kind, who suddenly drowned on the deck of the ship during questioning. Rasper discovered a paper marked with a black symbol showing an 8-tentacled humanoid head. The last remaining pirate begged for his life, offering his service. He revealed that he'd seen another pirate drown on dry land while talking about a new crew of pirates on the seas. He also revealed that they were headed for some underwater ruins told to be filled with treasures, and pointed out the location on a sea chart for Captain Gunnar.
With the ship badly damaged, they docked at a nearby outpost called the Dreary Refuge. While the crew repaired the ship, the group visited a tavern on the island. Tar'Kanis asked the tavern keeper about nearby ruins and if they were haunted, but learned nothing new. They ate and drank rum, and the captain hired 3 more sailors to replace some of the dead crewmen. They returned to the ship after a day of carousing in the tavern and slept for the night. The next morning, the captain awoke them with news that the surviving pirate hadn't lived through the night (suggesting that he may have murdered him in his sleep). Tar'Kanis was taken aback by this, and argued that no man should be killed in his sleep. They left the dreary refuge later that morning and sailed on towards the ruins. Several days later, they passed by an island sea fort in ruins where a bronze dragon was being attacked by a group of adventurers. The captain agreed the dragon was a force for good on the high seas, and the group ventured out in the longboat to the island. They found 6 adventurers and a nearly dead dragon, and managed to interrupt the battle enough to save him. The adventurers proved a match for the group, but in the final minutes of the battle Tar'Kanis revived the dying dragon with a potion of healing and he found a wellspring of newfound hope and energy, unleashing his lightning breath upon the remaining adventurers. Together with the covenant, they slew the last adventurer who had hoped to slay the dragon and claim his hoard. Thankful for the rescue, the dragon (named Quelsanroth) turned into a seagull and flew into his lair beneath the island and returned with a magical longsword he gifted to Tar'Kanis. The grateful dragonborn warrior named the blade after the dragon and vowed to use it for good. The dragon then turned back into a seagull and returned to his lair beneath the island to recover. The group then ventured out to the adventurers' ship, and found it crewed by merchant sailors who were promised payment after the journey from the dragon's hoard. Disappointed but glad to be alive, they left the island without a fuss. The group returned to the Draugr and went on their way.
Their journey took them through the emerald isles, home of the kenku (but not before stopping at a ruined tower in the middle of the sea with a strange bat-winged tentacle-faced gargoyle). The captain asked Rasper if they desired to visit the isles, and the group decided to stop at the largest island known simply as "kenku island" (named by outsiders, as kenku do not name places). Rasper encountered a kenku fisherman who tried to speak to them in a language made of the sounds of sea birds and marine animals. Rasper responded with their name (a hissing, rasping sound) and the kenku was taken aback and quickly left. As they visited a tavern, they encountered several more kenku who spoke in this "language" to each other and others who spoke in the common tongue the way Rasper does (by mimicking words from others). In the tavern, they found sailors, merchants and travelers enjoying meals of fish and water (no alcohol). They sat down and ordered food and drink as well, and the kenku waitress tried to speak to Rasper in the island tongue. Rasper again spoke their name, and the waitress seemed terrified by it. When asked about it, she explained that it was "the music of the deep, the sound of the inky, black tentacled ones. What outsiders call 'Kraken.'" Rasper was surprised by this revelation, explaining to the group that this sound was their name (representing the first sound they mimicked as a child). Rasper revealed having never known their parents and growing up as an orphan in Ekoros. They ate their meal of bland fish and water and returned to the ship quickly.
The next day, they would arrive at the location of the ruins and find a small rocky outcropping with stone stairs leading down into the rock guarded by 8 harpies...
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