Session 21 - Seeking Ayla aka. Sai Kyo Learns to Swim

General Summary

Over the journey we concentrate on resting and healing, Lilrie healing herself and Digby drinking from the Forever Flask. It is easy to get the young Soa’n, Dono, to talk and we agree to let him go if he tells us what we want. He tells that Ayla was taken by Captain Indrek, captain of The Kalma (beast in Elvish), and that he will likely take her to his base on Emris. The base has a wooden jetty and a few buildings, and is set back into a cliff wall. Landward access may be by ladders but he is not sure. There are 20 crew on The Kalma, but there may be more at the base. Dono can guide us to it and we can probably dock The Cinder without anyone expecting anything. Nemeryn and his crew have created a concoction to die their hair black which they will share with us to allow us to get closer before the alarm is raised. We also find arrows on The Cinder so that Tripp can resupply.
The journey is pleasant with Nemeryn and his crew complaining that the ship is not as fast as the Tanulia, but they wring as much speed as they can from it. The Sea of Suffering does not live up to its name and we manage to avoid other vessels. The sky is clear until we approach Emris when a thick fog closes in, making the crew nervous. Baka’s daily practice has paid off and she can now link with Riele at will without getting sick, but cannot do much else when she does. She has found that she can make suggestions to Riele, but the hawk has a mind of her own. With Riele flying in front of the ship, Baka urges the helmsman closer, trusting Riele’s senses. Soon she can see the landing stage, and settles on a crude gallows, waiting for the ship to catch up. There is a dog and guard on the dock and Baka passes on the information as Nemeryn guides The Cinder in.
The dock is large with groups of barrels, a large pile of crates and two ballistae. In front of the gallows are steps running down and there is an old corpse at the bottom. There are buildings with doors and barred windows from which light shines weakly onto the wooden deck. Behind the building the cliffs rise steeply into the darkness and there are two ladders leading to the upper story of the buildings.
Nemeryn will come with us as his crew holds The Cinder offshore. With more enthusiasm than due consideration, Sai Kyo jumps over the side of the ship as the others prepare their range attacks. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really know how to swim and floundering he is swept off by the current. Brovar tells Digby and Tripp to get their bows ready and they go up to the crow’s nest and he stays on deck. Soon, a wind rises and lifts the fog momentarily giving them both a clear view at 40-feet or less and they quickly let rip. Digby fires with his long bow for a 31E puncture critical, staking the dog to the landing stage, dead. Luckily, we have no real animal lovers in the party. Tripp fires his first arrow for a 24E puncture critical, striking the Soa’n thru the lower leg severing his ham string, stunning him, making him unable to parry for 3 rounds, and putting him on -75. His second arrow is not as good, but still does a 19E puncture critical, doing 2 more damage, putting him on 2 hits per round.
Next round the ship comes alongside and everyone jumps off except Brovar who fires at the poor Soa’n doing a 31E puncture critical, in the lower back as he collapses to the ground. Sai Kyo is still struggling to swim and takes 8 damage (64) from swallowing seawater. He desperately grasps for a timber but fails and Brovar runs down the dock to help him. Sai Kyo manages to slow himself as Brovar throws him a rope and Sai Kyo manages to grab it so Brovar starts pulling him in. Just when he was getting the hang of it! Meanwhile, the more thoughtful team members prepare, with Baka casting Shield and Lilrie listening at one of the doors. Nemeryn, obviously a neat freak, rolls the bodies off the jetty.
Tripp stealthily approaches one of the barred window’s, stalking so incredibly well that he almost disappears from our view. Inside he sees an apparently empty storage room with piles of barrels three high. Going to the next window he peers in again seeing another empty storeroom. Moving on again there is a lighted window and he creeps up quietly. From inside he can hear voices, but does not understand the dialect. He sees two Soa’n inside looking at maps on a table, with keys beside them. Just outside the window is a small metal cage with a captive minus ears and nose, close to death. Tripp goes to the next window and sees another empty storeroom so goes to the last two windows, which are dark. Some parts of this room are in shadow, but there is a smell of wet dog with bowls and fur on the floor so it looks like kennels.
We decide to attack the two Soa’n with Brovar, Sai Kyo and Digby attacking first. Sai Kyo prepares Adrenal Speed and we burst in, Sai Kyo’s first attack a leaping kick for a 2A strike critical, knocking him down and stunning him for 3 rounds. His second attack does a 9B strike critical for 5 more hits. Brovar hits the other Soa’n for a 15C crush critical, for 5 more hits, but misses with his mace. The Soa’n in front of Brovar fumbles as he draws his falchion, his classless display leaving him stunned for three rounds. Digby swings his battleaxe at the prone Soa’n for a 43E slash critical, hitting him directly in the chest, splitting his sternum open, killing him.
Next round Brovar attacks the stunned Soa’n with his long sword for a 17C slash critical, for 9 more hits, stunning him for 4 rounds, breaking his back. His mace does a 19D crush critical, breaking his weapon arm and taking him out. Combat finished, Digby picks up the map and Brovar takes the keys that Tripp saw from the window. Then Sai Kyo listens at the door on the left and thinks he thinks he hears someone chopping and he smells food. Brovar listens at the door on the right and hears nothing so cracks it open seeing a rack, an iron maiden, a chair with straps with a large pool of congealed blood, and two ears and a nose. Well, he thinks, I know who those belong to.
Sai Kyo prepares Adrenal Speed and pushes the door on the left open showing a kitchen with a single Soa’n who is pulling on a rope, raising a bucket of water. The Soa’n has not noticed Sai Kyo’s entry so he approaches him from behind, waiting for him to put the bucket down. Going for Silent Kill he doesn’t make it and the Soa’n cries out, so he attacks quickly with a 21E strike critical for 7 more hits, followed by 17B strike critical, stunning his foe and doing 2 more damage. Sai Kyo follows up with a 22E strike critical, a roundhouse kick to the kidneys, downing his foe, then a knife-hand strike snaps his neck, killing him. After making sure he is dead, Sai Kyo looks around the room, seeing a stone door with a keyhole.
Back out on the dock, Lilrie thinks she can hear snoring at her door as Brovar, Digby and Tripp approach the room which seems to be a kennel. Tripp lights his lantern and sees two dogs asleep on some furs. Tripp and Digby rush in to attack them killing them swiftly. Lilrie moves to the other door and can hear someone moving around inside, maybe they are sharpening a sword. She signals to Nemeryn and Baka who move to join her. Nemeryn produces a long blade and tells Lilrie, I will deal with this. He slips in thru the door and we hear a brief gurgle and then a body falling to the floor. Sai Kyo makes his way back to the others.
Brovar listens at another door and hearing heavy breathing, he moves in. There is a Soa’n slumped against the wall with an upset flagon of wine beside him which has spilled wine onto the floor. Brovar slits his throat and picks up a second pair of keys. Brovar tries the keys on the stone door in his room and it opens into a corridor which appears to have a number of cells. He opens them in order and as he starts to open the last door it bursts open, a Soa’n jumping out and attacking him with a falchion doing a 9A slash critical, 8 more damage, putting him on 2 hits per round and stunning him. He is not able to get a shout out and is hit again for a 14C critical and a broken rib. Amazingly, next round Brovar gains the initiative and is able to attack, first with his long sword for an 9A slash critical, for 8 more hits, putting the Soa’n on 2 hits per round and stunning him next round, while his mace does 6 damage. The Soa’n attacks again doing a 14C slash critical to Brovar, for 3 more damage, breaking one of his ribs. We hear the fighting, and rush to help, Tripp leading the charge. Brovar has the initiative next round as the Soa’n is stunned and he does an 8A crush critical with his long sword for 2 more hits and his mace does a 18D crush critical, blow to foes neck, breaks backbone and destroys spine, 25 more hits, foe falls and dies in 2 rounds. Awesome, even surprised and sucker-punched, Brovar is still extremely dangerous.
The noise has probably woken others and Lilrie thinks she hears noises from behind her door. She opens it and sees two Soa’n who have just got of bed and put on their trousers. Baka joins her as Lilrie wades into one of the Soa’n, but fumbles, losing her grip, luckily recovering quickly. This fumble gives the Soa’n a chance and he does a 28D critical, plus 10 hits, so she is now fighting at -30. Baka attacks next, but fails to hit. The Soa’n hits her doing 12 damage (42). Digby and Sai Kyo have heard the combat and move to help, but it will take them time to get there.
Next round the Soa’ns attack first, Lilrie taking 13 damage, putting her on 3 hits remaining. This is looking dangerous. The other Soa’n misses Baka who misses him in turn. Lilrie looks to get out of the room, moving past Baka, collapsing on to the landing stage. Nemeryn hauls her out and leaps into the gap.
Nemeryn, his eyes filled with feverish violence, wastes no time in attacking, damaging the Soa’n badly. Baka also steps up her game, doing a 16E slash critical, opening up her foe’s side like a ripe melon, so that he dies in 5 rounds due to organ damage. Outside Lilrie takes one of her herbs recovering 30 hits, so she is on -20. Nemeryn dispatches the last Soa’n quickly and comes out of the room with Baka.
Brovar searches the last cell and, finding the body of a dead Elven woman, fears the worst. He calls Nemeryn over and he enters the cell terrified for his daughter, but then he looks relieved. While he is angry that the young elf was killed, he is thankful that it is not his daughter. Going over to help Brovar, Lilrie checks the Forever Flask, but it is still almost empty so she uses her spells to heal him for a gain of 9 hits.
Digby approaches one of the two remaining stone doors, with the rest of us in support. It opens onto a stone pathway to a T-junction which faces the cliff-face. To the left there are ladders which seem to go up the cliff. Going back, we open the last stone door which again shows a line of cell doors with another stone door to the right at the end. Brovar warns the others what happened to him, and we surround each door before opening it. There is nothing in it, so we move on down the corridor doing the same, but they are all empty. We find three more cells and Digby and Tripp use the same process to check them, but they are again empty.
Tripp detects traps on the stone door, finding none, so he picks the lock with little problem. As Tripp goes to swap places with Digby, a Soa’n bursts out of the cell where he was hiding under the bed, and attacks Digby with a falchion doing a 22E crush critical on him, for 6 more hits, putting him on -10. Gaining initiative, Digby fights back doing a 17C slash critical doing 3 more damage. The Soa’n fights back doing an 11B crush critical, for 2 more damage.
Next round Digby wallops the stunned Soa’n, doing a 44E crush critical smashing his skull, +30 hits, +20 to his next attack. Digby demands that Tripp goes back and search under the bed in all the cells, but Tripp finds nothing. He then tells Tripp to open the door and get on with it, and Tripp finds steps going down.
Still made to lead by a pissed off Digby, Tripp starts going down the steps, lantern aloft. Lilrie quickly heals herself again as the rest of us follow him. At the bottom of the stairs there is another stone door which is open, leading to a corridor with another stone door at the end, the corridor lined with wooden doors, and another stone door on the opposite side. As Digby reaches the bottom of the stairs another Soa’n bursts out of one of the doors and attacks Tripp. Wasting the element of surprise, the Soa’n manages to fumble, swallowing his tongue, stunning himself and is unable to parry for 3 rounds. Tripp hits him with his long sword for an 18D slash critical, slashing muscle and tendons in his weapon arm, stunning him for 4 more rounds and doing 10 more hits. Digby goes superhero again, with 78 damage and 2E criticals, shatters his elbow and his ribs, for 15 more damage. The Soa’n drops like a stone.
We search the remaining cells and they are all empty. From the closer door there are chinks of light and we open it to find another torture room with a rack. The other stone door opens into a 15-foot square room, the floor sloping down away from the door. The sea seems to enter this room on high-tide and there is a sloping corridor off to the left. There is another stone door off to the right with three bodies on the floor, perhaps human or elven, but certainly not dwarves. The bodies have been torn asunder, only the bones in the shackles are remaining.
Tripp approaches the stone door and the rest of us back him up. He detects traps, not finding any, and picks the lock, unlocking it with a satisfying click. Inside there is a small cell with a young elven girl and Nemeryn pushes past us all as it is obviously his daughter. Digby shouts “we have company” and we see two sea trolls coming up the corridor. We prepare for them Baka going for Shock A as the others make space to fight them. Digby casts Shield on himself and it begins.
Tripp attacks first with his long sword, doing a 17C crush critical, his blow shattering the sea troll’s thigh, severing the femoral artery, doing 9 more damage, and it dies after 12 rounds of inactivity. What a hero – killing a sea troll in one strike! Brovar attacks with his long sword doing 2 damage, his mace missing. Digby strikes with his battle axe doing a 41C slash critical, severing its leg, so that it dies in 6 rounds due to blood loss. Digby wants a new patch “sea troll specialist”. Unbelievable! We will never hear the end of this from those two.
Having rescued Ayla, we go quickly go back up the stairs, out the door and the deck. We clamber aboard The Cinder, where Sai Kyo pauses, looking down at the sea thoughtfully. Standing there a few seconds, he thinks to himself, I reckon I’ve got the hang of that swimming lark.
After a minute or so, we are underway again, next stop Dragon Rock, but we do not yet know how we can onto it. To no-one’s surprise Dono is nowhere to be seen and Lilrie feels a little guilty about not going back to release him, but that doesn’t last long.

Post-Script The Cinder slips away from the dock into the darkness. The fog is finally lifting but it's completely dark now, no Galen's moon to light your way so you won't be easily seen from the shore. Lilrie goes straight to the hold to look for Dono, a couple of Nemeryn's crew watch her, it's no surprise to find that he is gone, she doesn't ask, she doesn't need to. Returning to the deck she slumps down against the mast to nurse her wounds alongside Digby and Brovar who bore the brunt of the attacks. By all accounts some of Indrek's crew were unaccounted for, and the captain himself. She wonders when those loose ends will come back to haunt them. A cry of alarm comes from the foredeck and you all rush forward to find Nemeryn collapsed on the deck in some sort of fit. His daughter Ayla at his side, a fire in her eyes just like you saw in her father’s when he went ashore. She shouts out something in Elvish and then looks at you. "He's been poisoned, one of those filth must have been using a poisoned blade." Nemeryn's back arches in another spasm, you hear vertebrae cracking, he cries out in pain and clutches at Ayla's arm and through gritted teeth gasps out a few words that you don't understand. She seems to disagree with him glancing at the six of you, then looking back at him. Again, he struggles to speak, the same phrase but fiercer, this time she nods and replies 'Vanda' and then the poison takes him. His jaw breaks as he spasms again, blood and foam seep from his eyes, ears and mouth and then at last he is still. Ayla pauses for but a moment, then pushing past you she calls out her orders to the crew. Sheets are tightened, sails are trimmed, the helmsman turns the wheel and The Cinder bends to the wind and plunges into the night. 'What was that all about?' asks Digby as Ayla goes from crew to crew. None of you are any the wiser of the exchange between her and Nemeryn. "We're bound to you." the nearest member of the crew explains. "A life pledge, that's what he made her swear. We'll take you to Dragon Rock, and then if you live, we'll follow you to your journey's end."

• Kitty
• Session start – minus 80 gold!
• Income – none
• Expenses – none
• Session end – minus 80 gold!

Report Date

29 May 2021