Session XII: Rewards in Kind

Smuggling Job

Going down to the crime ring, the party met with Carrow while he was talking to his three ring officers, Fessil the tiefling, Miranda the human, and Spriggit the halfling. They mentioned they were here to deliver a special bit of cargo, but Carrow was cautious it could all be trap. They convinced him otherwise and set up a plan for Spriggit to meet the party back on their ship to retrieve the cargo. In the meantime, Vox and one-thousand coin would stay with Carrow as collateral.
Arves bought more smuggled scrolls, but otherwise the party left after that. Later on, the party returned with Hex's old crew and sold them to Fessil into his slave trade. Arves looked to their priest, Klaymin, one last time and simply told him to cause chaos.

Business at the Docks

As they exited back into the streets, the bells from across the town at the docks were ringing out. Corellia understood it was to signify the city of ships coming into dock. When they returned to the harbor, they found the Ja'alath Hellflower and its two escort galiots, the Featherweight and the Gatpowder Express, tied down at the piers.
At the Ravager, they saw an armed githyanki fellow alongside a human woman who wore dark brown leather armor, and had a cutlass sheathed on one hip, and a coiled whip on the other. When the gith saw them approaching, he introduced himself as Reed "Bo'oros" Britton, the quartermaster of the Hellflower. Beside him was his wife, Electa "Veka'an" Glacier, the bosun.
He was very to the point, and told the party Weaver was preparing an assault on Captain Two-Heart at Puris' Anchorage in the south. He'd seen their ship on his way in and sent Reed to negotiate the party joining them in the fight. Tempted by the proposal, the party agreed to think on it and get back with an answer soon, and Reed and Electa left.
On the Ravager, Corellia gathered the slaves Zephyrion had purchased and reassured them that they would be well supplied and fed for while they worked on their ship, and would not be treated nearly as harshly as some were fearing. Their hearts rising, she gave Scurvy a sum of coin to take them all to the bathhouse in the city and get them a wash. The crowd left cheering and singing sea shanties, joyous over their new employers.
After the crowd dispersed, two armed Vasa'im guards marched onto the ship. Vox faced them and was cautious, but their faces faded away and revealed both Spriggit and Miranda, who'd come to collect the shipment. He took them to the captain's quarters where the chest was; Spriggit examined its interior, and when seeing the locks were in place and it was as it should be, turned the chest invisible, and Miranda picked it up.
Then, Spriggit summoned a large locked chest out of thin air. Inside was a collection of thirty-thousand coin. It was Aaron's payment, to be delivered to him immediately. The two of them left without another word. When Spriggit and Miranda returned with the goods, Vox was let off the hook and allowed to leave. He joined with Scurvy and the new batch as they were heading to the bathhouse.

Bounties and Deals to Collect

A little later, after Scurvy and everyone had returned, Corellia sent Scurvy on his way to hand in the bounty for Hex at the Silver Rounds Guild in Darkwater. He took the bounty poster and Hex's head itself, wrapped in layers of cloth. The party preferred not to go to Darkwater themselves, as Silverking ran the place.
Arves had spent the afternoon in the captain's quarters scribing his scrolls. He finished just when Spriggit and Miranda had come in. When they left, it was him and Vox, and behind them they heard the chair move and something sit in it. When they looked, they saw Shade, Rumkeg's tiefling spy sitting with his arms draped over the back, appreciating the new ship.
He had been sent by Rumkeg to tell the party their promised unit and first mate were ready to collect from Manmoga and were urged not to keep them waiting, then Shade vanished into the shadows and was gone.

The Attack on Puris' Anchorage

The party agreed to meet with Weaver and discuss aiding in the attack. They met him in his quarters while he, Danuthi, Osaidus, and another githyanki captain were looking over a map of the anchorage. This was the plan: Weaver's ships would sail in force to the stronghold, and the Pirate Lord would parley with Two-Heart to obtain the settlement peacefully. In Weaver's words, "the best victories are the ones won without weapons." The party would escort the Hellflower and blockade the harbor while the parley occurred.
If Two-Heart did not agree, then the settlement would be raided, sacked, and taken by force, and Two-Heart killed; the party would simply help to make sure that happened.
As part of the deal, the party requested Weaver help build the party a stronghold of their own on the coast west of the anchorage. They reasoned they could help keep an eye on things west so Weaver could focus north. He agreed to supply the workforce for the party from the anchorage when the victory was won, but he was not willing to pay for something so costly. The coin would have to be procured by the party. The deal was struck.
The fleet was to sail at sunrise on Eadriscus 20th.

A Promise Kept

On the same day (the 18th), Aria and Fannik stayed behind on the New Management — still being repaired — while everyone else went on the Ravager back to Manmoga. They met with Rumkeg in the morning, who told them their units were waiting in the Charlatan's Corner.
What awaited them was a large and grizzled group of dwarven musketeers led by Rupprecht Ironblade. They all wore different sorts of medium armor, from breastplates to chain shirts, and large muskets were holstered on their backs. They drank with fierce merriment. They were the Ore Musketeers, the hired crew for the party.

The Ore Musketeers

The Ore Musketeers is a band of dwarven mercenaries famed for their expert use with gatpowder and muskets. They held a longstanding history upon their own ship, the Last Mast, taking up mercenary contracts to attacks, pillage, and raid whoever their targets were.
They are the very same dwarves that once carried Vox as part of their crew before they dumped him off.
Their ship was destroyed in Darkwater on the day of the Darkwater Massacre. They migrated to the Gat Docks to keep a close supply of gat powder, where they handled some smaller jobs for Flintround until the day Rumkeg arrived to discuss their purchase.

With them was another dwarf, who wore more than a dozen eyepatches around his neck like trophy necklaces. A greataxe was sheathed on his back and hair covered his body. He was called Caboose, the promised talent. Whether they wanted him as a first mate or not was still up for debate.

Dietrich "Caboose" Starstone

Dietrich lived much of his life as a bounty hunter for the Silver Rounds Guild — one of the few who did not use gatpowder. He wears an eyepatch around his neck for every bounty he's collected.
Caboose left the guild the day Gavvard "List" Tallhound was chosen to become the guild's newest Deadeye, a man he despised and a rank he'd long worked to earn. He wandered the islands as an independent hunter for a while until he came to work for Flintround at the Gat Docks. When Rumkeg arrived later on, Caboose was bought out of Flintround's crew.

Daggon Strongwillow

While they were in town, the party also visited Daggon at the Fireball Forge to ask him about his fame at the Helldiner and tips for diving. It did not seem like good memories for him to walk down, however. As it turned out, the record he broke was the last one he ever did. He'd gone down with Valdi Heavywood, a human wizard, and Jyrus Coopel, an elf cleric to the tenth level back in his adventuring days. They were his dearest friends. But, they had died before they could get out. Daggon was forced to leave their bodies behind and make it out with enough treasure that earned their names on the Helldiner's wall.
Daggon had given up adventuring after that and settled down in his smithy here. He wished he could give them a proper burial; if the party was so sure to dive down, he would have great gratitude if they recovered their bodies so Valdi and Jyrus could have a Seaworthy's burial.

Seaworthy Burial

A Seaworthy Burial is a ceremony among followers of Eadro where the corpse is ceremoniously wrapped in a special watery material called Aquacloth, tied at the feet to a crab-carved stone, sailed out to the open sea, and submerged to sink with the ocean floor. The belief is that the spirit descends into the arms of the Seaworthy.
Official ceremonies use Aquacloth and specially carved stone. Others have used common fabrics and basic rocks for the same purpose.

Return to Keelhaul

The party returned to Manmoga a day later. The repairs on the New Management were finished, and the sun had just started to rise as the party delegated what to do next.
To be continued...

Report Date
April 27th, 2024
In-Game Start Date
Eadriscus 18th, 1301 AC
In-Game End Date
Eadriscus 19th, 1301 AC

Player Characters

Zephyrion Skyblade - An owlin fighter.
Vox - A hill dwarf, emerald kobold, ancestral guardian barbarian.
Corellia Emberfin - A tiefling-triton fighter.
Arves - A vedalkin scribe wizard.
Asterid - A female human life cleric of Hwesta.

Non-Player Characters

Aria Swiftblade - A fairy champion fighter wielding duel battleaxes.
Ferris "Scurvy" Bort - A human spores druid retainer.
Fannik Los - An exiled cloud giant.
Carrow - The cutthroat human ring leader of the Blood Fingers.
Spriggit - The gaunt, right-hand halfling man of Carrow.
Fessil - The tiefling Blood Finger in charge of the crime ring's slave trade.
Miranda - The human Blood Finger in charge of the crime ring's smuggling trade.
Reed "Bo'oros" Britton - The githyanki quartermaster of the Ja'alath Hellflower, husband of Electa Glacier.
Electa "Veka'an" Glacier - The female human bosun of the Ja'alath Hellflower, wife of Reed Britton.
Rupprecht Ironblade - The dwarven leader of the Ore Musketeers.
Deitrich "Caboose" Starstone - A dwarf ancestral guardian barbarian retainer.