Session 59 - Shipwrecked!
General Summary
After the meeting at the Company headquarters, Shadyford goes down to a dockside tavern named the Rusty Shrimp to see if he can solicit ship's passage down to Ar-Caras - the main trading port in the Summer Isles (and also the largest pirate haunt in that part of the world). The Shrimp is a known hangout for Sigurd Snakeyes - the captain of the Sea Ghost, and Shady's long-time associate and patron. Upstairs form the tavern is the residence of his longtime paramour - a woman named Missy, so he is almost certain to be found there when ashore in Neverwinter. Sailors from the Sea Ghost frequent the establishment as well.
Shady arrives around noontime, and finds Missy busily cleaning up. Sigurd is nowhere to be found - still asleep upstairs after a long night, by the looks of it - but a few of the Sea Ghost's sailors are already getting hair of the dog. They egg Shady to get a start on the rum, and also seek some easy entertainment from a curious creature named Glint - a humanoid crow, as well as his pet rat named Chu. It is not clear how or why Glint wandered in here. He has been seen in the Wulkgebiede - the city's harbor district - for several years, and occasionally picks days to visit various seadog establishments for reasons that are unclear. It is not clear where he is from, though rumor has it that he arrived from a distant land overseas long ago, and has been living on the streets ever since. No one knows what the creature's true voice is - he seems to mimic the sounds of his interlocutors (or acquaintances of the past), and has a love for shiny objects (and his rat). As he entertains the sailors, Shady quickly becomes inebriated - his small stature gives him little resistance against the effects of strong drink.
By the time Theobald and Adrie arrive at the Shrimp, Shady is passed out under his shipmates' table. Galen Rubyfingers is to meet them here as well, but they have been unable to locate him since leaving the Company headquarters, and hope he arrives soon. Around the same time, Sigurd finally comes down, and after greeting those assembled, has a couple of crew mates give Shady a bath (by throwing him off the docks).
After the halfling is revived, and wiped down, he finally gets down to business, and initiates negotiations with the captain about securing passage for his recent acquaintances. As Adrie is a physician, of sorts, Sigurd is willing to take her on as the ship's doctor at no charge. Theobald, however, is a merchant, and of no immediate use to the crew, so Sigurd demands what he claims is the standard price - 120 guilders. After Theobald objects, and says that he has talents that make him useful, Shady accompanies Sigurd upstairs to revisit the matter, but the captain remains firm: if somehow the passenger proves useful, the price can be renegotiated, but 120 guilders it will be for him to board the vessel. Theobald reluctantly agrees.
The Rusty Shrimp is filling up now, and an unlikely customer walks in: Adom Jul - a Reckoner for the Resplendent Sanctuary - the main Wyrmmeer religious institution. Dressed in a brown traveling habit, he is clearly out of place here: earlier in the day, he attended meeting after meeting at the Zhentarim Company Headquarters, trying to book passage to Ar-Caras to collect funds from their own Resplendent Sanctuary. Though the Company works closely with the Sanctuary (evil tongues say that they are in reality one and the same), there was no passage to be found: the Colony is at war, and few merchants risk a trip to one of the most unsettled regions of the New World. Eventually, he was told that some people working for the company were also looking to go to the same destination, and that the best he could do was to scour the seadog taverns in the Wulkgebiede, and see whether he could find a private vessel to hitch a ride on. This is the third establishment Adom has tried, and third time is the charm for him, as Captain Snakeyes will have him on board - for 140 guilders (20 is added to the price by the enterprising Shadyford, who negotiates the deal).
As it happens, the party at the Shrimp is a good-bye party, as the Sea Ghost is due to sail at night. The drunk sailors are beginning to sober up, and to make preparations. The last person they agree to take on board is Glint - the creature has won admirers tonight, especially after his transformation into a bear, and the captain would like it along as the ship's mascot. He has one condition, though - the rat stays ashore. Taking rats on board is bad luck - a fact Shadyford confirms. Glint refuses to part with his friend, but the captain convinces him to come aboard separately, and Chu never appears. After midnight, rowboats filled with sailors quietly push off from the docks, and enter Neverwinter Bay. Beyond a mainland promontory, out of sight of the main city, their ship - the Sea Ghost, is anchored. Adrie recognizes the ship - she saw it from the window of the "Haunted House" in Saltmarsh several months ago. After boarding, she asks the captain about how business has been in recent months, and without getting into the details, he indicates that things have been running smoothly.
The first day on shipboard goes by uneventfully, and all the newcomers but Adrie manage to escape seasickness (she successfully cures herself with a spell, however). The newcomers share a cabin (next to the one occupied by the captain) with Malatesta - the crew's warmage. While the passengers cycle around to move back to a diurnal schedule, Glint searches Snakeyes's cabin for shineys, but also for Chu and other rats - but comes up empty-handed. At the end of the day, however, while Shady is at the wheel, and trying to negotiate some reefs, Malatesta yells out from the crows' nest that there is a warship hiding behind another reef up ahead. A closer look reveals sails flying the cockerel on its sails - this ship is in the service of the King of the Galli - proprietor of Pelletierre Colony, where Yartar is located. Shady calls for the captain, who runs up on deck, and begins cursing. Pelletierre is likely involved in weapons smuggling itself, but they are unlikely to look kindly upon small-time competitors like the Sea Ghost. When Shady asks him what they have on board, Sigurd replies that it is better that he not know. Ultimately, with the aid of the winds summoned by Glint and Shady's masterful steering, the Sea Ghost is able to turn, and to outrun the warship before it comes into range of its own warmage.
For the next five days, the southward journey is relatively uneventful. On the third day, the ship encounters a school of dolphins. To the horror of the crew, Glint jumps off the ship, but then turns himself into a dolphin, and frolics with the creatures for a while. Snakeyes feels quite pleased with himself, as he found a useful mascot. Late the following night, with Shady again at the wheel, the Sea Ghost encounters a group of mermaids. The playful creatures try to entice the crew and the passengers into the water, but the crew and the passengers worry in vain: the playful creatures merely sing and laugh, but use no magic. In fact, they warn the crew about another group of mermaids further to the south. The ship passes them the following day, and although Theobald makes sure to stuff wax into his ears, the warning turns out to be mistaken: the second group of mermaids turns out to be just as friendly as the first. The crew relaxes, and the sailors share their best mermaid stories. Adrie discusses the approach to the worship of Pelor within the Resplendent Sanctuary, and Adom Jul happily obliges her by going over some of his literature.
That evening, however, things take a turn for the worse. The temperature drops, and while the passengers wonder aloud why it's getting colder while the ship is moving further south, Shady explains that on route to the Isles, there is an anomalous area called Avernus Alley - a naval corridor which, in sailor's lore, is famous for disasters and unexplained disappearances. In the days before the discovery of Gethen, all of the Sashelas Ocean (or the Sea of Ash) had this reputation, which is why ships in Erya never sailed westward into the open waters. After the discovery, this area of the sea still maintains this dreadful reputation (despite the fact that traffic through it is quite heavy).
The following day remains quite cold, and the wind picks up. It is nowhere near heavy enough for a storm, but this proves deceptive. That night, with the crew relaxed and complacent, it blows the Sea Ghost directly into a whirlpool. Before Shady can use the rudder to change course, the Sea Ghost flips on its side. Calls for the captain are in vain - the port side, where his cabin is located, is already under water, and he either cannot or will not open the door (probably for fear of having it immediately flood). Meanwhile, after the ship flips on its side, one sailor - Moro Velis - is thrown overboard. The horrified crew watches as a large creature with a mermaid-like tail and a monstrous head snatches him up, and drags him into the funnel.
Shadyford hangs on to the wheel for dear life, trying to avoid being thrown off board as he tries to rally the crew. Glint calls forth a small school of sharks to chase the creature, but it outpaces them, dragging off the sailor. Adom, who emerges from his cabin, grabs the railing, prays as hard as he might, and does the same. Once the creature returns, presumably having devoured the hapless Velis, he beams the creature with divine flames, but as it is in water, it is largely unharmed. Adrie reaches forth a spectral appendage, and grips the creature with life-draining energy, with somewhat greater effect. Both she and Glint are soon in the water, turned into sharks themselves, and they successfully drive the creature off for good. By this time, the capsized ship has been totally covered with water, and the bedraggled crewmembers who were hanging on are being sucked into the whirlpool.
The two sharks are desperately trying to save as many drowning people as possible. Shady has managed to cut through the ropes of the sloop, and Adrie, as a giant seahorse, drags it out of the whirlpool, giving any rescued people a chance to survive in the longer run. Meanwhile, some dolphins summoned by Glint are dragging drowning people out of the funnel toward the boat. Theobald, who was trying to cling to the deck with the rest, changes into a marine humanoid when he is tossed overboard, and in this form, he also helps retrieve survivors. Adom, nearly drowning, finds an ingenious method of survival: he takes a special bag, and puts it on over his head, giving himself breathing space.
After the boat has been secured, and Shadyford and Adom dragged over to it by two of the dolphins. Theobald decides to take a chance, and while the rest of the dolphins look for other survivors, he swims over to the now sinking ship. His first mission is to see if he can find the captain (if only to ask for 120 guilders to rescue him). But Snakeyes is not in his cabin. The second, and more important task, is to recover the crate with the funds entrusted to him by the Company. Luckily, he locates this, and swims it back toward the sloop.
Report Date
12 Jan 2019
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