Session III: Rum and Silver

The Manmoga Nightlife

After the party returned to Manmoga, the moon high in the sky, they went back to Charlatan's Corner, still alive with noise, cheers, and song. There, Zephyrion anted in for a game of Liar's Dice against a dwarf and three of his other buddies. It took a couple losses, but Zephyrion walked away with an extra twenty gold pieces when it was all said and done.
Meanwhile, Vox, still upset from losing his drinking contest with Thunger earlier that day, found him lounging outside with three other ruffians and challenged him to a fist-to-cuffs match. To entice the dwarf into it, Vox wagered twenty gold pieces and slandered his family with very choice vulgar words. Thunger, thoroughly enraged, accepted and they brought up their fists out in the muddy street. Arves tried to cheat and secretly cast his magic against Thunger to help Vox; he succeeded for a little bit, but his luck ran out when Thunger's ruffian friends spotted him doing so, and the three surrounded the wizard, ready to beat him to a pulp.
In that moment, dark magic erupted from Arves, who was completely ready to kill the three for crossing him, and Zephyrion, who has just finished his game, joined the fray to help. Corellia chose to remain inside, focused on something else entirely.
The ruffians were slain and Thunger was knocked out by Vox. From the tavern windows, the witnesses, though shocked, chose to turn a blind eye and not step into that business. After looting Thunger — down to his tighty-whiteys — the three of them retired to the docks to resummon the New Management.

An Uncommon Ally

Corellia, inside the Corner, worked her words and tried to promote their ship, looking for any faces willing to be hired. At first, it seemed as if there wouldn't be any takers, until a strange man in a wide-brimmed hat sat down with her. His name was Theodore, and he told Corellia of a contact of his that is looking for a crew. He was outside of town, and he moved to lead her to him.
Suspecting a trick, Corellia was cautious until they came to a cave in the ravines outside of town where Theodore's contact was. What Corellia saw was a cloud giant lounging away in a hammock. His name was Fannik Los. Initially, his cost was too much for her at one-hundred and fifty gold pieces, but if Corellia knew one thing, it was how to haggle, and boy did she haggle.
Given to her by her parents, Corellia wore a strange necklace, the head piece containing a fire and water elemental inside. Even willing to part with that, saying it was worth more than anything, her words were enough to perplex Fannik. When he examined her necklace, he gave it back to her out of sentiment and wisdom. He told her there was Eadro's magic embedded deep into the necklace, and that the god never did things by accident. It was best left with her.
Instead, Fannik gave her a different offer. He told her of some sort of artifact kept on T'Chinit island that he'd been searching for for a long time. If Corellia and her crew helped him retrieve it, which he would accompany them for, he'd waive his initial cost entirely. Finding common ground, she agreed to those terms, saying her party would take care of a bounty to help their friend Scurvy first, and then they'd be back for him. Then, she left for the ship.

Fannik Los

The cloud giant named Fannik Los was once a rich young ruler from the plane of Attar-Une, the realm of the giants. But, in his brashness and overconfidence, he was betrayed and his crown — the thing which gave him authority — was thrust into the reaches of Materia. Having humiliated himself in such a way, he lost his right to rule and was exiled by Nydomer to wander Materia, welcome home only upon the day he returned with his crown. Now, for over a century, Fannik has walked in search of his crown that will take him home.

Nighttime Ambush

The party retired on their ship for the knight. Arves cast an alarm around the ship and the kobold crew was left to keep watch in shifts through the night. Midway through everyone's sleep, Arves was abruptly woken when his alarm was set off, and everyone else was shaken awake by the kobolds who were terrified about a group of people who had just boarded their ship.
Arming themselves, they ran to the top deck and found Thunger — along with a small host of thugs — standing there. Losing a bet was one thing, but being robbed was a totally different boat, and now Thunger had shown up, keen to take this boat from the party and give it a better captain.
A fight broke out in the middle of the night as Thunger and his thugs battled the party, their kobolds, and Scurvy who came to their assistance with his magic and transformed into a wild tiger. Thunger met his final match when he was killed, and the thugs that tried to run afterward were cut down. Just as before, the witnesses across the way on the other ships turned a blind eye to the blood shed that had just occurred, but the party's ship was safe.

The Harbor is Blockaded

The next day, the party made preparations to set sail south for Looter's Cove, but before they could, three ships angled in off the horizon around noon, laying anchor just outside the harbor as if to deter anyone else from coming or going. All three ships flew Silverking's flag.
A longboat came out from the middle one. At its head was Silverking's first mate, who the party recognized with his glowing glass eye from when they walked the Pirate Lord's plank. Another man with a missing thumb cast magic on the first mate, and his voiced boomed from the sea over the entire town.
“Listen here, landlubbers! Your town has the prestigious honor of bein’ caught in the interest of our Pirate Lord! We’ll make this real simple; ain’t no one leavin’ these docks while we are here. Silverking wants to expand his enterprise, and he’s startin’ with you, Rumkeg! We see your ship, and we be lettin’ you know you have until evenin’ to give the… right answer, if you know what’s good for this town of yours, ‘cause come sunset, we’re comin’ into town ourselves and forcing an answer out of ya. Think hard, ‘cause ain’t no game o’ Crosshair gonna get you outta this one! Silverking will be waitin!”
On the bright side, Silverking likely didn't know the party had escaped. On the bad side, the place the party was at was currently under threat. Scooping the New Management into their bottle, they made plans to walk the coast southwest for a while until they were out of town, and then leave from a secluded beach.

A Reason Not To Leave

Before they left, they paid Daggon at his forge one last visit to see if Corellia's commissioned rope was done. No one was home at the time, except for a cloaked tiefling standing off in one of the darker corners who confirmed Daggon was elsewhere.
The tiefling was a spy for the captain of the town, Rumkeg. As it turned out, the party's ship and their skill had been a spectacle for the past couple days; the tiefling had been sent to talk to the party on Rumkeg's behalf. As it was, Rumkeg was intent to fight for the town, and every other crew in port was trapped and would be forced to fight too. To appease their spirit, Rumkeg was offering an eight-thousand gold piece reward to each captain if the defense succeeded.
But, Rumkeg knew the party was the only crew who could actually come and go as they pleased and had no incentive to actually stay. To them Rumkeg was offering a nine-thousand gold piece reward and a personal favor within reason in the future. Corellia managed to haggle for one-thousand gold up front and free repairs on their ship after the battle was over, but thoroughly enticed, the party agreed to help. Before the tiefling disappeared into the darkness, he asked the party to call him Shade, saying Rumkeg would expect an audience with them, and that he'd have their up-front reward.

Defensive Preparations

The party split off. Vox and Zephyrion went to Rumkeg's vessel, the Dragon's Hoard to meet the captain and get the reward, Corellia took some of the party's money to pay off Fannik — deciding just paying his up front cost would be more useful to get his immediate help. Meanwhile, Arves remained at the forge, ready to look around.

Corellia

Corellia returned to Fannik and gave him his requested cost, saying his help would be needed quickly in the defense of the town. Corellia was trying to appease him, but once he was paid, he made it very clear he was part of the crew and couldn't say no even if he wanted to. She left for the time, saying she would be back when everyone was ready to grab Fannik.

Arves

Arves went into the back room of the forge where he found a good assortment of nonmagical tools, armor and equipment. But, among them was the unfinished rope Daggon was working on for Corellia, complete with tinker's tools and the components needed for it. Wanting to see what he could do, he put his magic skill to the test, hoping to finish the rope himself. It took time figuring out the process Daggon was using to enchant the rope, but Arves managed to realize it and pulled through!
However, there was a locked chest in the room. If there were any other magic items Daggon had ready on hand, it would all be in the chest. Arves tried to burn the lock away with magic acid, but it burned bright white with magic, sealing it. Finding no key, Arves only stole off with the rope. Once Corellia received her rope, she quickly paid Daggon in coin and the berries they'd collected to fix and settle that account.

Vox and Zephyrion

The kobold and owlin made their way to the Dragon's Hoard, where the hobgoblin first mate showed them onto the deck and into the captain's quarters. When they found rumkeg, they found a tall muscular man with a peg leg and a hooked hand, a massive anchor sheathed on his waist. More intimidating, he had the head, skin, fin, and tail of a shark!
Rumkeg was pleased to meet at least a few of the crew of the New Management and handed them their up-front reward. The two also told the captain they planned to walk the coasts and

then sail their ship from the south to help pincer the pirates. Rumkeg liked the idea, but made it very clear that walking out of town and sailing from the south better not mean walking out of town and never being seen again after being given part of their prize.
Rumkeg liked to settle disputes with some gambling, but no one would ever like him when blood hit the water.
When Vox and Zephyrion left the ship, they found Daggon and his apprentice Luke just after he had finished delivering magic cannonballs for the captain. They took him out for a final round of drinks to distract him, which gave Arves the time he needed to do what he did. As they left, the also saw Rumkeg's infamous Harpy Tamers preparing for a fight.

Harpy Tamers

The Harpy Tamers are a notorious bunch of hunters and bards best known for capturing, caging, and domesticating the carnivorous harpies that inhabit T'Chinit and the islands around it. Playing their magical tunes, they ride upon the enchanted harpies who rip and tear everything in their path. They work for Captain Rumkeg.

Hours passed and the time drew near when Rumkeg's ships (his and two others) would sail out against Silverking's lackies. The party prepared to set out for the defense of Manmoga.
To be continued...

Report Date
February 24th, 2024
In-Game Start Date
Eadriscus 12th, 1301 AC
In-Game End Date
Eadriscus 13th, 1301 AC

Player Characters

Zephyrion Skyblade - An owlin fighter.
Vox - A hill dwarf emerald kobold barbarian.
Corellia Emberfin - A tiefling-triton fighter.
Arves - A vedalkin scribe wizard.

Non-Player Characters

Ferris "Scurvy" Bort - A human spores druid retainer.
Fannik Los - An exiled cloud giant.
Shade - A tiefling spy artisan who works for Rumkeg.
Duke "Rumkeg" Greenwood - The hobgoblin-turned-shark pirate captain who controls Manmoga.

Magic Items

Rope of Climbing

Wondrous item, uncommon, 700gp (requires attunement)
This 60-foot length of silk rope weighs 3 pounds and can hold up to 3,000 pounds. Transmutation glyphs are etched into the surface all across the rope.
Command Word (A). Upon attuning to this item, choose a command word for the rope. This command word lasts until you are no longer attuned to this, or you spend 10 minutes to change it.
Command Word (A). As a bonus action, you can command the other end to move toward a destination you choose. That end moves 10 feet on your turn when you first command it and 10 feet on each of your turns until reaching its destination, up to its maximum length away, or until you tell it to stop. You can also tell the rope to fasten itself securely to an object or to unfasten itself, to knot or unknot itself, or to coil itself for carrying. If you tell the rope to knot, large knots appear at 1-foot intervals along the rope. While knotted, the rope shortens to a 50-foot length; creatures have a climb speed equal to their walking speed while climbing it this way.
Ascended. Attuning to this item does not count against the total number of items you can be attuned to at one time.
“Be sure knot to get wrapped up in a bind with this one!”

~ Daggon