D&D 5E Spell & Crossbones

Between hempen rope reinforced by magic, tailor wiring, and strong hands, D'avard is bound fast and forced to his feet, still dazed from the solid blow delivered by Katerina to the back of his bald head. The charade of transporting a drunken man is not difficult to sell in Nassau, where pirates outnumber colonists. Again ascending the hill to the Colonial Hotel, with the sunset casting long shadows, Old Zef, Katerina, Nia, and Etienne are met by Badouin who bows perfunctorily, leading you around to a more discrete side entrance to the Hotel.

Claude du Tourbillon meets you in the antechamber to his room, a solid oak chair at the ready for D'avard. Those of you familiar with magic notice his table is adorned with several ritual candles, bloodhound fur, a forked twig, and scrolls bearing mystic diagrams written in Latin.

"Ah, so this is the brute who assaulted you. Bind him fast to the chair. It seems he is stirring to consciousness," du Tourbillon motions as his man Badouin prepares to shutter the door. "This will not take but a few minutes, but it is not always a pleasant sight to see a villain such as this stripped bare of his mind's defenses. If you wish to wait in the courtyard, I shall send Badouin down once it is complete. Though I do think one of you could serve what I'm planning well, to offer D'avard here a bit of ...direction."

With a groan, the seawolf comes to, immediately testing the strength of his bonds. He glares at you and du Tourbillon with a snarl.

"I will wait here," Nia says blandly. "Leave him alive if possible."

Katerina leans up against the wall and waits. She is not sure herself if she's more curious of the magic or just wants to see the man get his just rewards for the fight the previous night. She watches the ritual with keen eyes, hoping they can get a lead on the Seawolf.

Wisdom Check (1d20-1=12)

(agh, forgot to roll! Insight! [roll0]

Étienne is clueless...

Got a 8 and a 4+3=7

Whatever du Tourbillon's innuendo, he is a bit too cryptic, leaving those remaining in the room of the Colonial Hotel guessing at his meaning. D'avard snarls and utters profanities as du Tourbillon prepares the spell with great drama, "Cap'n will find you, Frenchman, just like he did those times before. You'll be left in ruins..."

Ignoring D'avard's taunts, du Tourbillon persists, keeping one hand in his vest coat pocket as he performs the spell, raising the forked twig and bloodhound fur and intoning in Latin. "Existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc velamen Levare cogitata."

D'avard sneers, "You'll never find him. The Seawolf is too far for your paltry magicks..."

Nodding, D'avard casts a smug smile at Katerina, going thru more ritual motions, all the while fiddling with something in his vest coat, his eyes closing as if in deep concentration.

D'avard Wisdom save DC 15: 1d20+0 7

D'avard Intelligence check, opposed: 1d20+0 7

Intelligence check, opposed: 1d20+4 16

After a series of words exchanged between du Tourbillon and D'avard, it ends up that du Tourbillon was stringing the seawolf along the whole time with the arcane rituals apparently designed to locate The Seawolf, when in fact du Tourbillon was probing his mind all along. At last, D'avard collapses in the chair and du Tourbillon leans heavily on his cane. He turns to Katerina, "I have a name. François L'Ollonais."

A nod to Badouin, and the man goes out to the courtyard to call the rest of the party in.

"Let's get some swabs in here to take care of this one," Kat nods towards Davard, "Then you can tell us how we can help you with this François L'Ollonais."


Intelligence (History) (1d20+1=18)

Etienne starts to chant to grant the celebrant Bardic Inspiration.

Nia looks questioningly at Katerina. The name means nothing to her.

Badouin bows summarily, unfazed by the magic conducted before his eyes, clearly inured to it from working in close concert with Claude du Tourbillon. "I shall attend to the swab getting, nanpari, never fear."

That name sends a shiver of recognition thru Katerina. François L'Ollonais. The Bane of the Spanish. Ghost stories were told of the cruelest of pirates who raided, slaughtered, and raped his way from Maracibo to San Antonio de Gibraltar. A French indentured servant who turned buccaneer, and rose to become one of the most notorious pirates of 17th century. Tales of his gruesome torture of captives reached ports far and wide. A brutal man who met a brutal end, torn apart and devoured by cannibals of Panama. Even some forty years after L'Ollonais' death, however, ghost stories about the pirate still persist.

du Tourbillon leans hard on his black cane, thinking to himself for a moment. "I believe François L'Ollonais is his captain. The captain of The Seawolf. There was another thing I heard in the echoes of his benighted mind...The Narrows? Is this a place familiar to you?"

Those of you familiar with Nassau know of The Narrows, a stretch of thin gaps between Hog Island to the northeast and the various smaller islands kissing New Providence Island. Dangerous waters full of sharp rocks and hidden reef, a labyrinth of cliffs. No captain in his or her right mind would make berth there, though a ship with a shallow draft or a rowboat might be able to navigate and hide within The Narrows with a favorable tide.

[SBLOCK=Map Reference (north is down)] [/SBLOCK]