Sea of Death Campaign Thread

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

Tabby nods and goes to fetch a bottle of brandy. The Commander's eyes follow her for a moment, before he sighs.

"I... I really can't say much... don't know what her interest in Hailstorm is... just know that's what she told me I aught'a go find 'im, so I did," the Commander replies. "Maybe she made a deal with him back when that Admiral sunk 'im to the bottom o' the sea. Or maybe she even owes the Cap'ain a favor. Far be it from me to be privy to such things..."

 "Of course.  An angel, whether beautiful or not ... of course you don't ask too many questions of a being like that.," Sae responds.  "I just wish I knew where exactly this cave you met her in was.  Could use a little more beauty in my life ... a lot of things haven't been easy."  She allows the tiniest bit of her real heartbreak and pain to show in her eyes before going on.  "And if she is  on the Captain's side it would be only polite for his new associates to get her approval too ... "

Tabby looks up at Sae nervously when the possibility of visiting the Commander's patron is brought up, but she holds her tongue.

"Maybe we could... I... I wouldn't be opposed to seein' the most beautiful creature on this world once more..." the Commander says with a pained grin. "Perhaps... perhaps on our return trip... if we make good time..."

He picks up his mug and takes another sip, slowly this time. It seems that the tea is helping. But it doesn't seem likely that he has any more useful information.

"Sure ... of course the Captain's business hasta come first.," Sae nods.  "We'll let you get back to wakin' up, then, unless my commander has anything more he wants to talk to you 'bout?"  She motions towards Emrys; if he has nothing further she will conclude, 'Let us know when you're ready to leave, then.," and lead the way out.  Once the three spies are alone, though, she will turn to the other two with a raised eyebrow.  "Well, that  was interesting.  And ... sad.  That poor girl ... and I wonder what kind of man he used to be?  Enough of one that she still loves him, anyhow."

“Talking about our trip, have you already received our destination?” He remembered the fundamental question while lamenting that Richards didn’t have further information on Hailstorm’s battle. “Boy, would I like to hear about this fight. It would make to a good way to pass the time until the start of the mission, at the very least. You wouldn’t happen to know of someone on board here that would know the tale, right?”

Emrys nodded in agreement with Sae’s words and left the room with his companions. To say that his mind was spinning would be an understatement. Could it be that Hailstorm’s patron rather than the captain was his true target? Maybe even the one behind the shipwreck. That would explain why he was given the second chance – any survivor would caught the eyes of North, the one man acting to approach the pirates and their sinister magic. It all fit too conveniently but somehow such explanation seemed to make more sense than pure chance.

“I talked with her yesterday during the party. He was kind enough to take her in after her parents died from Cyrus’ Plague and at the very least she didn’t mentioned any mistreatment.” The warlock could not help but to steal a glance of Sayyida. Her hate of pirates suddenly making a lot more of sense to him. Richards was a good man turned criminal and made insane by Hailstorm. “It seems we will have to find out about the captain’s abilities on the field of battle. And make a visit to an angel, at least after finishing this business with him.”

Sayyida watched her companions carefully, things were progressing but the circumstances wore on her patience.

The party spends the next two hours (approximately) chatting amongst themselves about their upcoming mission and the conversation with Commander Richards. The Commander did not know anyone who actually witnessed Hailstorm's duel with Bart; it seems that Bart is a veteran from before Hailstorm's "death" at North's hands who was re-recruited after the Captain's return.

But eventually, the Commander is well enough to start the voyage towards Fort Darnby. If there is nothing else any of you need to do, it takes about a day to get into position, where you will be lowered into the ocean on a life raft while the Commander and his ship stay well away from the island. As you get ready to go, Tabby approaches you.

"Ummm... Xorich wanted me to give these to you," she says, handing each of you (and Yevelda) a small waterproof box. "He spent the past two hours making them to give you strength for your mission."

If you open the boxes, you'll find each one contains a pastry. If you use a bonus action to eat one of the pastries, it will give you 3 temporary HP, as per the chef feat's description. The pastries are useable for 8 hours.

"An' here we 'ave a little somethin' from me," Commander Richards adds, handing Emrys a stone. "When ye' lot are done, just call through the sending stones an' I'll send a crew to pick ye' up."

You have a map that shows you where you can dip below the surface to find the grotto, so no need to search for it. If you would like to alert North's men of the new developments, the Commander's ship is going to be out of sight and the crew will have no way of seeing that you went ashore instead of going straight to the grotto.

What do you do?

Wade is good either way

It didn’t take long for Richards to recover or at least not as long as Emrys would have expected. The travel is fast, the two hours hardly feeling a quarter of what they were. By the time ship stopped and Tabby approached, the warlock made his best to look somewhat nervous. It was far too early for any of the newcomers to feel comfortable in the crew.

“Please do relay our thanks to Xorich.” The warlock asked Tabby with a genuinely gentle smile. She had endured so much that he could not help but be as kind to her as he could. “Thank you, commander. Before entering the grotto we are going to scout the surrounding area. When we call you we will relay the position of any eyes to avoid.” Goldenleaf then turned to his soon to be literal partners in crime. “To make things easier we are going to split in two groups. Yevelda and Wade, you’re with me.” This way the other three would be free to act as per the true mission. If word of he calling the half-orc beautiful got out then no one would think it strange that he choose to stay with her and the cleric. Maybe they would say his choice bet on the tabaxi upholding a vow of celibacy. Either way, it would look natural enough. “Sayyida, I’m trusting you to not fight Just scout.” Words that in trust meant he believed she was the best one to talk with the soldiers.  “After looking around the area we are going to meet at our landing point. No one enters before the six of us are back together. Let’s go.”

"Let's.," Sae agrees.  "' 'Lead on, MacDuff; and damned be he that cries, `Enough!` ' "

Once the group is alone on shore and split up into teams, she turns to Sayyida.  "How do you think we should do this?  Sneak around to the back where they can't see us from Richards' ship, and then just knock and say we have a message for North?  I'd hope the 'dark angel' doesn't have enough power ...or reason ... to monitor what we're doing all the time; and if it does we're screwed no matter what we do, so no point worrying about it anyway."

" I'd honestly welcome a straight up fight over this anyway....but yeah, getting out of sight then knocking on Norths door is the easiest.  Theres nothing to say that Norths folks aren't compromised anyway."

" Lets go."

Areleo will go with two warriors, "Areleo is not good at speaking to surface dwellers but is mighty warrior if need." 

(OOC: Don't worry, Sayyida, you'll get that straight-up fight soon...)

So the two groups separate... Emrys and Wade wait anchored off the coast near a hidden grotto with Yevelda, while Sayyida, Sae, and Areleo head towards the fort.

It doesn't take long for the shore team to reach the walls of the mighty fortress, even after making their way through the dense woods that cover the other portion of the island (and which were useful in hiding the little raft from view). It's late evening, a time chosen to make it even more difficult to detect your arrival.

"HALT!" yells a guard from the top of the wall. "Who goes there? It's a bit late to be conducting legitimate business, so you had three had better have a good explanation for your presence on this island!"

Sayyida nudges Sae, she was much better at saying the right thing.  But she did keep her hands away from her weapon and brushed her hair away from her scar to keep him focused on the two women and not the hulking sea-monster behind them.

(HELP)

"Our business isn't legitimate at all!," Sae calls back in a voice pitched to be audible to the guards on the walls but not too far beyond.  "But the Admiral knows about it already; and he knows us.  We need to talk to him if he's here; or a trustworthy representative if not.  This fort may be in danger; and there might be ears on the inside, so we need whoever's in command notified as quickly and discreetly as possible."

==========

Persuasion 20

(still grateful for the Help; the other roll was a 2.  Probly would've ended up in the brig or something LOL)

The guard looks at Sae utterly confused...

"That... made absolutely no sense," he says after he regains his composure. "Who in the Nine Hells are you people? I'm coming down there with a squad to figure out what to do with you..."

It doesn't seem like he believes you're lying, per se, more than anything it just seems like he has no idea what to make of you. If you wait around, four soldiers come out after a few minutes. The guard from the wall is with them.

"Okay, now, you say that the Admiral knows of you. Show me some proof of this claim. If you have satisfactory credentials, I'll bring you to him myself."

Sae shows the guard the token Admiral North gave all the group members.  "We are with the team Admiral North sent out to investigate the recent renewal in raiding activity.  The evil goes far deeper than he feared and involves at least one extraplanar pow (abt to lose net, will edit in rest l8r tonight)

Sayyida nods supportively flashing her own token.

Areleo is unphased but eager for a fight.

The guard takes Sae's coin and studies it for a few moments. Then, he brings it close to his mouth and mutters a short incantation. As soon as he does, the coin glows briefly. He glances at you lot, still uncertain, but he nods and hands the coin back.

"Come with me," he says. "The Admiral may well be asleep already, but if this is as important as you say, then he will probably forgive us for disturbing his rest."

The officer leads you through the (extremely large) fortress, then bids you wait in an office while he rouses the Admiral. A few minutes later, he re-emerges with Admiral North, who looks like he was most likely getting ready for bed before he got the knock on his door. The Admiral sends the man out of the room with a curt nod nod, then he takes a seat behind a desk.

"Ah, hello there my friends," the Admiral says with a tired smile. "While it is a pleasure as always, the hour is rather late... and it seems rather strange that you have found yourselves here. So tell me quickly, what has come to light that needs to be relayed to me with this level of urgency? I suspect that it is not to say you have captured Blackstone..."