Swashbuckling in Freeport

[gernboken]

Tessa held a leash attached to the neck of a kobold crouching on the floor next to her.

hey, you forgot, nate slipped meepo some coins and a knife. i hope that little kobold sneak gets them snooty adventurers good.

 

[gernboken]

loose ends, nate's plans

hi morrow's readers. i play nate, dashing pirate bard. morrow asked me to give him some clue as to what we were planning and what loose ends we were gonna chase now that we've saved freeport and gone back for black dog's treasure. upon rereading the thread on enworld seems to me these are our loose ends, and nate's thoughts on what he'd like to do about them:

Falthar was clearly intrigued by the story of the Eye of the Sea Dragon and indicated he intended to perform further research into the matter.

we never got the low down on what he found out about it. peg-leg peligro has it now and that's just fine with nate, but knowing how it got cursed and so far away would be interesting and might lead to more adventure of the highly lucrative kind.

Nate became fairly friendly with the owners of the Chumhouse, a pair of dwarf brothers named Garen and Pulma Stonebrake.

nate plans on touring the rich high taverns and squeezing them for coin in return for songs about his exploits (in which nate takes on a grossly innapropriately overblown role as the hero of the tale, and in which tavari takes on the role of a buffoon and comic relief). he also plans on touring dives like the chumhouse where he wants to raise a crew with tales of his exploits. since he and sully have already agreed she's to be captain of the new vessel, the version he tells of their story in these dives is more balanced and closer to the truth.

As the trio watched the large unkempt captain with a mouthful of rotten teeth make his speech they failed to notice the cloaked woman who had made her way to the edge of the crowd until she leapt onto the stage and drove a dagger deep into Lydon's back.

we never followed up on this. i'd like to. anything we can do to get lydon on our side is good, especially if he makes it onto the captain's council.

Sully cast aside her blade to grapple the assassin, and held her for a moment before she squirmed free and dove off the pier and into the water. Sully watched carefully, but the assassin never resurfaced.

which is just weird and even more reason we ought to seek them out.

The third victim was a beautiful young woman named Lexi. By the time they freed her the group had lost interest in the spider's lair and did not question Lexi. She did not offer any information and soon she and Janis slipped away.

mysterious hot chick. need i say more?

The trio had no trouble finding the haunted pier. The unused dock represented the only empty space in an otherwise crowded marina, full of fishing boats and other small vessels.

nate and sully discussed this over lunch today. nate thinks it's a good idea to go to the temple of tinel and research who owns the dock, and how to kill brain coral. then they can buy the pier, kill the coral, and start renting it out to people. maybe we can attract some good unsavory sorts and go into smuggling.

For reasons perhaps only clear to Zhenkeef, godess of madness, Lucius' taste for root vegetables took on incredible importance. Tavarii was immediately dispatched to visit local marketplaces and investigate the importance of turnips.

wise-ass.

Nate had heard of Scarbelly, a brutal and successful orc pirate who commanded the ship Bloody Vengeance. Clearly someone like Scarbelly would be a likely confidante for a lowly librarian. That lead could wait.

ibid.

Bronson reported what he had learned to the party. Nate was particularly intrigued by the news, revealing that his father's first mate had been a wizard named Marcus Vale. However, he believed that the entire crew of his father's ship, the Coup de Grace, had been hanged for piracy. Nate chose not to seek out Vale for the time being, wanting to gather more information before confronting him.

it's time to look into this some more. which should please tavari since his elf boyfriend seems to be working for the institute. it would be something we could do that would interest tavari which i'm sure would be a nice change of pace for his player.

Sully danced with Sea Lord Drac, who assured her that after the lighthouse was lit, "Freeport would never be the same again." She also met Nifur Roberts, the lovely blonde daughter of Captain Marcus Roberts of the Captain's Council. Apparently Nifur was the de facto head of a group of young ladies of quality who were feeling somewhat stifled in their societal role. Apparently up to this point, their acts of rebellion had been restricted to disguising themselves and going to get drunk in a rough part of town. However, Nifur was clearly inspired by Sully and interested in learning some of her martial skills. On the spot Sully tried to teach a lesson in one of her other favorite skills, manipulating men. Nifur was clearly impressed, but the lesson may have lost some of its impact when Nate arrived and began flirting shamelessly with the young lady.

nifur roberts and her gang of budding young pirate sluts. these are potential crew mates. i'm sure sully would relish the idea of sailing the bounding main with a crew of faithful young, hot, lonely, slutty, young pirate chicks. nate totally agrees.

Sully collected a number of admirers during the evening. Perhaps most prominent among them is Buster Wallace, eldest son and heir to Captain Brock Wallace. Brock Wallace is a member of the Captain's Council and a strong supporter of Sea Lord Drac. His son, however, seems like a very nice young man, and seemed quite taken with Sully. Besides, he's rich, handsome, and has all his teeth.

rich, handsome, well-connected, fully toothed. nate thinks sully ought to go after this guy. we can use him as a financial backer when we get down to the real pirating.

As they were leaving, the party spotted Tavaari, who they had lost track of for most of the evening. He was having a wonderful time with Morgan Erendyl, the elven member of the rival adventuring party that the group met the same day that Tavaari joined them. While there had been some friction between the two groups, Tavaari and Morgan hit it off immediately. Morgan's group, following their encounter with the party had been hired by a wizard from the Freeport Institute. They traveled to Windward, the island to the west of Freeport and journeyed to the interior in search of an ancient settlement there. They found the settlement and, after battling trolls and other creatures, returned to Freeport with the enchanted cloak that they had been sent to find.

see above, RE: marcus vale.

Although the water was reddened with the monster's blood, the beast escaped into the morky depths.

we need to remember this thing is still in there when we leave black dog's hidden treasure. nate and sully are sorely wounded and not up to the challenge of head to head contact with this nasty thing.

It read, "DANGER! KEEP OUT!" Bronson and Sully took a moment to consider the warning, but Nate and Tavaari blatantly ignored it, and broke right through the boards.

sheesh. every pirate worth his salt knows "danger! keep out!" is pirate code for "get your butt in here and help yourself to treasure!"

The final level revealed two doors. One door was warped and magically sealed. It was beyond the skill of even Tavaari, so the party opted for the other door. Inside was a huge room, recessed in the center, and there, in the pit, was a HUGE serpent. After a hard-fought battle, the serpent was dispatched, and Sully cut the fangs from its jaw.

hey, we never went in that door. if no one else wants to go back and check it out nate does. he'll hire some big strong guys and go back on his own.

also:
scarbelly. his crew stuck on their ship. nate thinks it would be a fine idea to infiltrate the ship and steal scarbelly's crew. he's against stealing money or treasure from another pirate, he thinks that would break the pirate code, and just piss off the other captains in port. we seem to be doing pretty well at garnering a lot of positive attention all over the city and he doesn't want to mess that up. but talking a disgruntled crew into working for him, he thinks that's funny, and he thinks it would make a good song. so he's all about it.

the operah:
we decided to wait till opening night since nothing was going on. i'm still into that.

 

[Morrow]

Reading these quotes reveals the absurd number of typos that I allow to slip into this story hour. I must offer my sincere apologies to my readers (all three of you).

Morrow

 

[gernboken]

there's three of us?

 

[Fulcan]

You'd probably be surprised by how many of us lurkers there are.

You can make it up to us with another post *grin*.

 

[Morrow]

I'm going to be pretty busy for a while, so I won't have a chance to write another update for a couple weeks. Maybe if you ask gernboken really nicely he'll describe the culmination of the party's efforts to defend Freeport from the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. I hear he will work for rum and bonus xp.

Morrow

 

[gernboken]

i can write a recap for last week's session and for sunday. or i can get beth to do it and post it for you. i'm not sure when i'll be there sunday. i have friends coming from jersey who are leaving sunday afternoon. its a 6 hour drive and i should be able to convince them to leave by 2:30 which is when i would need to leave to get to your place by 3. but its possible there will be a delay. just giving you a heads up now, just in case.

 

[Morrow]

Session 11 - Madness in Freeport - 10/28/2005

It was well after dark when the Albatross put the party ashore near the lighthouse. A severe storm had lashed the island all day, delaying their return to Freeport. The quartet and their undead minions crept toward the great doors of the tower. Tavaari soon bypassed the locks and slipped inside. Their stealthy entrance surprised a group of serpent folk warriors and a single human cultist who guarded the first floor of the tower.

The party sprang into action, and their foes proved no match for their spells and flashing blades. Tavaari took the lead as the heroes advanced toward the top of the tower. They encountered no more opposition until they reached the stairs climbing the final 100 feet to the top of the tower. The stairs were brightly lit by hundreds of ritual candles lining the railing. The Yellow Sign within each brick of the tower throbbed with magical energy.

From the top of the staircase six figures watched the heroes approach. Milton Drac stood beside five serpent folk. He mocked the party, assuring them that the ritual would soon be complete and that they could do nothing to prevent Freeport’s decent into madness. He turned away, “I leave them to you N’tal. They should provide some amusement. Don’t take too long though. I wouldn’t want you to miss the glorious arrival of our master, the Unspeakable One.”

The party sent a volley of arrows up toward their foes and charged up the stairs. The four serpent folk warriors took up positions on opposite sides of the tower to maximize their field of fire. N’Tal cast a spell and stepped off the balcony to float in mid-air, his spells protecting him from the arrows of Bronson’s skeletal warriors.

N’Tal cast another spell, causing a ball of fire to engulf Bronson and incinerate many of his undead minions. As Sully, Tavaari, Nate, and the remaining skeletal warriors raced up the stairs, Bronson cast a spell of his own and took to the air to engage N’tal.

Bronson’s efforts to harm N’tal were thwarted repeatedly as the serpent man wizard rained magic missiles and waves of flame down on the cleric. The serpent man wizard soon deafened Bronson, making it even more difficult for the cleric to mount an effective offence. N’tal caused a wall of fire to spring up before Sully, forcing her to brave the flames to continue her advance toward the top of the lighthouse.

Tavaari, soon followed by Nate, used a grappling hook and rope to climb to the stairs above, bypassing the flaming wall. All the while, the serpent folk rained volleys of arrows down on their enemies.

Sully finally neared the top and moved to engage the warriors blocking her path. Seeing that she had things well in hand, Tavaari tumbled past the warriors and moved toward the trapdoor leading to the top level of the tower. N’tal responded by throwing a bolt of lightning at the half-elf. Unable to dodge, he fell smoking to the floor. N’tal, distracted by his attack on Tavaari, was unprepared when Bronson finally succeeded in landing a telling blow. Gravely injured, the wizard flew toward the trapdoor, but as he turned to open it Nate ran to his side and ended the vile creature’s life.

Sully soon eliminated the remaining warriors and Bronson healed Tavaari. Bronson then used his wand to animate the fallen serpent folk as skeletal warriors to assist in the final assault. They advanced to the top of the lighthouse.

Milton Drac stood with an armored warrior they recognized as Councilor Melkior Maeorgan. The room was dominated by a pedestal on which rested a glowing yellow gem. Battle was joined. Tavaari stepped through a nearby doorway to race around the balcony circling the outside of the lighthouse and attack from another direction. Bronson attempted to cast another spell, in spite of his deafness. Nate and Sully rushed to the attack. Nate was nearly brought low as a serpent man appeared in thin air and struck at him with a deadly looking falchion. Two skeletal warriors quickly moved to flank the newcomer, while the others swarmed Maeorgan and Drac.

The battle was hard fought. Drac rained down devastating spells, weaving enchantments to confuse his enemies and sending negative energy coursing through their bodies with a touch. Maeorgan and the serpent man fought hard, displaying considerable skill with their blades. However, the wounded and exhausted heroes persevered, giving as good as they got and taking full advantage of Bronson’s undead minions who harried Drac and his cronies, distracting them when they might have otherwise pushed an advantage. Finally Drac and the others lay dead at their feet.

Sully climbed the pedestal and replaced the pulsing crystal with the Jade Serpent. For a moment the whole world seemed to turn green. The bodies of Drac and his followers melted into piles bones and ooze under the calming green glow of the Jade Serpent. The party looted the bodies of their fallen foes and left the lighthouse.

 

[Morrow]

Session 12 - The Aftermath - 11/6/2005

Nate groaned as the Specter’s blade sank into his chest, draining his life essence. He leapt aside, feeling exhausted and weak. The party had hired Captain Lydon and his ship, the Gambit to carry them back to Black Dog’s caves. They bypassed a number of booby traps before finding Black Dog’s treasure cache. Unfortunately, the treasure was guarded by Black Dog himself, returned as a murderous undead creature.

Bronson was unable to rebuke the enraged undead pirate, so the party advanced, using their blades as best they could against their incorporeal foe. The specter of Black Dog soon struck Sully as well, draining her energy to feed itself. Bronson, long since healed of his deafness, rained spells down upon the undead monstrosity. Tavaari displayed as yet unsuspected sorcerous abilities, casting magic missiles at Black Dog and making repeated effective use of the disrupt undead cantrip. Black Dog soon succumbed under this withering attack.

The party gathered the chests containing the pirate’s treasure and began transporting it back to the Gambit. They had much to do. The Freeport Opera season opens tomorrow, and they had ghosts to hunt.

* * * * *​

The quartet returned to Freeport and spent much of the next day dividing loot and preparing for the Opera. Bronson introduced the group to his new cohort, Queg. Once a half-orc harpooner, Queg was now a skeletal undead creature whose bones were carved in an elaborate combination of sea-faring scenes and arcane glyphs.

Sully, unwilling to appear in public in the same dress she had worn to the recent Ball, sought out Nifur Roberts. Miss Roberts gladly agreed to loan her new friend a dress, and listened with rapt attention as Sully regaled her with tales of daring exploits upon the seas.

The first half of the Opera passed without incident. Bronson, Nate, and Queg (swathed in concealing clerical robes) watched from a box set aside for their use. Sully sought out Buster Wallace, who she had met at the recent Ball. The young man was very concerned about the disappearance of is father, Councilor Brock Wallace. The older man had been acting very strangely lately and the younger Wallace could not imagine what might have happened to him. Sully personally suspected that he would never be found. He may in fact have been replaced by one of the shapeshifting serpent folk that she had slain at the lighthouse. Of course, she could not tell the young, handsome, eligible, and very rich, Buster Wallace that she may have slain his father’s doppelganger. Instead she was all sympathy and batting eyelashes. By the time intermission rolled around the already smitten Mr. Wallace was quite enchanted with ‘Miss Sullivan.’

Tavaari patrolled backstage looking for anything out of the ordinary. During intermission he sought out Nate and Bronson to explain that he had begun to see strange things. Props and backdrops appeared and disappeared when he wasn’t looking at them. Cobwebs appeared in the rafters then disappeared. The very floors and walls began to look old an in ill repair, then bright and well cared for again. The trio, joined by Queg, decided to spend the second half of the performance backstage.

 

[Morrow]

Session 12 - The Aftermath - 11/6/2005

As the second act began, the group began to notice the odd visual effects that Tavaari had described. Only minutes later Tavaari observed the ghostly figure of an elf woman appear at the opposite end of the backstage area, watching the opera from the wings. They quickly surmised that the opera was indeed haunted by the ghost of Fiarella Donadrien, the elven composer who had written this very opera for the opening of the Freeport Opera House a hundred years ago.

Bronson took the lead as the party approached the ghost. As he approached, she heard him and turned, giving him a withering look. That one look chilled Bronson to his very soul, but he struck back, attempting to turn the undead creature. His efforts were ineffectual. Queg, was concerned that the ghost had so affected his master with a single glance called up an obscuring mist to hide the party from its gaze.

Nate, surmising that they would need Sully’s help, attempted to peer surreptitiously through the curtains and send a message to his ally. Unfortunately, his attempts at stealth were somewhat lacking and titters of laughter filled the opera house as the audience caught sight of him peeking onto the stage.

Queg continued to hold back to stay beyond his master’s attempts to rebuke the undead, but the others circled the mist looking for any sign of the ghost.

Sully, receiving Nate’s call for help, cast aside all subtlety. She reached down and tore her dress, exposing a considerable amount of leg and the falchion she wore hidden under the voluminous skirts. Tearing the skirts away entirely, she handed the useless cloth to a stammering Buster Wallace and leapt from his box, catching hold of one of the dozens of chandeliers that lit the opera house. As her companions searched for the ghost backstage Sully swung from chandelier to chandelier, traveling toward the stage over the heads of the shocked audience. Some gasped in surprise, others clapped with delight. All were sure that this was one performance they would not soon forget.

Nate felt a cold presence settle into his mind. His head turned toward Bronson, “What are you doing? Stop disrupting the performance. Stop this instant!”

Bronson responded by holding up his holy symbol and releasing a burst of energy. The ghost separated from Nate and sank, cringing to the floor. Nate, seized the opportunity, “What do you want? Why are you haunting this place?”

Sully arrived moments later, swinging to the curtains at one side of the stage and sliding down them. She slipped backstage, ignoring the stares of the flabbergasted singers. As she charged through the backstage area looking for her friends, the performance was disrupted yet again, as a scream pierced the air.

Sully passed Tavaari, she running to Nate, he running toward the source of the scream. He quickly found three figures, a pair of actors and a stage hand exiting a large storage room. The young actress, tearfully explained that she had found the body of one of the other singers with a knife in his chest. Tavaari cut short his questioning as he saw the stage hand slipping away. His blade leapt to his hand, “Stop!”

Nate was deep in conversation with the ghost. It was indeed Fiarella Donadrien. She did not entirely understand that she was dead. She apparently returned because of an unshakable feeling that her opera was not finished. Every time it was performed she came back, trying to explain changes that should be made, but her presence only lead to deaths and terror. From her perspective she had attended a series of rehearsals, confused by the rapid changes of casting, costumes, and sets. Nate applied himself to the Herculean task of convincing her of her own death.

Sully, finding that she could do little, collected Queg and followed Tavaari. As they approached they saw the stagehand produce a blade seemingly out of nowhere and slip under their friend’s guard to stab him. The stagehand then tumbled away toward a set of ropes used to raise and lower curtains and sets. He grasped a rope and cut it with a quick slash of his blade. He went sailing up into the air, and Queg dodged aside as a curtain crashed to the floor. They watched the stagehand deftly step onto a catwalk and move away.

Queg, unslung his great bow and fired two shots at the fleeing man, hitting him squarely. Unwilling to let their prey escape, Tavaari and Sully followed him into the rafters. They did not even notice as one of the curtains loosed by their ascent crashed down over the opera director, Gorsky Glitterlights as he ran up, spluttering at the chaos they had caused.

Tavaari attempted to cut off his opponent, but the stagehand tumbled past. Sully, thinking quickly, grasped a rope and swung up to her foe. She landed deftly and struck a mighty blow with her falchion. “Surrender!” she hissed.

Demoralized, with his life’s blood seeping between his fingers, the stagehand lowered his blade. Then he leapt aside, off the catwalk, falling far down to the floor below.

* * * * *​

Sometime later the crowd that gathered around the body identified him as Ruphus the stagehand. Everyone was mystified until one of the older members of the cast removed his fake beard and makeup and recognized Hodge, a one-time member of the company who had been fired after a truly terrible performance several years ago. Apparently he had returned to slay those who had criticized his abilities.

After much negotiation on Nate’s part Glitterlights, the director, agreed to accept some advice from the ghostly artist. When the party last saw him, he was wandering off, mutering, “We can do that. Yes, excellent idea… Oh, she won’t do at all, we’ll have to find another performer altogether…”

Nate, Tavaari, Bronson, and Queg, having been paid wandered off to find a drink. Sully, exhausted by the events of the day, returned to the Scholar’s Quill. When her companions staggered home some time later they discovered their friend missing, and the proprietor Dezi concerned that she had not stayed to see her brothers who had come to visit.