D&D 5E Spell & Crossbones

[Unsung]

"We ought kill the ungodly horror. Put it out of all our misery," Gunner Teague declares. The kobold, Magnussen, looks expectantly from the old salt to the young gypsy woman. Lorelei opens her mouth as if to argue out of habit, then closes it again, shrugging.

Meanwhile, Caillou rifles the fallen pirate's pockets, glances over D'avard with some added caution, and casts a small cantrip which seems to tighten the knots of his bonds.

Then the bird moves through the wrecked house, inspecting it. He's unsentimental about the damage. The losses could have been a lot worse. Even so, he does want to make sure he takes anything that might be of use should they need to recreate a vodoun elsewhere, on another island or a ship, perhaps, so he glides through the floor, picking up whatever trimmings and knickknacks might come in useful. Down they go, into the apparently bottomless pockets of his coat: maps, shells, smooth stones, tiny bones, an old spoon with a strange whorled pattern, the map of Hispaniola labeled in Spanish, the ship in its bottle-- the latter of which he secures at the bottom of an ordinary pack, cushioned by layers of slightly greasy rags.

OOC: Searching the fallen pirate for anything noteworthy. Casting ghost rigging on D'avard.

 

[Fenris]

Old Zef pats the bomb in his pocket and whistles a little shanty as he stumps outside. There he inspects the other dead bodies, not just for trinkets and coins, but any brands or tattoos that would tell of these men's affiliations or history.

OOC: Oh and yes the semester is thankfully about done for me.

 

[Quickleaf]

The sole casualty of the shoot out is a particularly ugly pirate shot down by Katerina. Caillou scavenges 9 livres tournois (electrum pieces), a pistol, 6 shot and powder, a handaxe, and a mummified goblin hand from the corpse.

Fenris is well acquainted with a variety of incendiary devices, and recognizes the metal sphere as a smoke bomb after a bit of examination. The unconscious D'avard has a sizable tattoo on his back of a wolf's head emerging from the depths to swallow a ship; the beginning of such a tattoo are also on the dead pirate's back but were not finished.

OOC: A DC 15 Intelligence (History) check is possible by anyone who has spent time among unsavory pirates to recall the tattoo's significance. The smoke bomb works like this (as per smoke grenade DMG pg 268): one round after it lands, it emits a cloud of heavily obscured smoke in a 20 foot radius, which lasts for 4 rounds or longer in most conditions.

 

[Fenris]

Old Zef looks at the tattoo. "I think I have seen this tattoo before. Yeah, I think it is some French secret pirate organization. Mer loup-garou. They were the remnants of the cursed Templars who fled Paris. They turned to piracy to get the money to rebuild their temple here in the new world."

[sblock=OOC]
Kn History
Roll(1d20)+3:
1,+3
Total:4
Yeap rolled a 1, so not only would old Zef NOT know the reality, he obviously mis-remembers. Or is going through dwarf senility.
[/sblock]

 

[Unsung]

The Tengu King immediately distributes his booty between his assistants: the spare pistol and shot to Lorelei, the handaxe to Gunner Teague, the livres into the safekeeping of the utterly trustworthy Mr Magnussen. The mummified hand he keeps for himself, inspecting it. Slaver trophy, or tribal talisman? he wonders to himself.

He inspects D'avard's back distastefully, and from a distance. If it's some brag about what ships he's served on, Caillou might know it from Teague's own sizable collection of tattoos, or rather its conspicuous absence and the related stories. He beckons to the old salt to have a look.

"Oh, aye, as ye will, O silent taskmaster," Teague grumbles.

 

[Unsung]

OOC: ...Oops. Here we go: DC 15 Intelligence (History) check to identify the sea wolf tattoo - [roll0]. I'd also like to know if I recognize anything of the goblin hand's origins. I'll roll another Intelligence check, although I'm not sure if that would be History again, Arcana, or Religion, under the circumstances - [roll1].

 

[Quickleaf]

Teague takes one look at the tattoo on the unconscious D'avard's back and superstitiously spits over his shoulder. "Aye, I know it. The Seawolf, captained by L'Ollonais. Ate the hearts of Spaniards he did. A real son of a bitch. Was eaten by cannibals in Durién in a bit of irony; I remember the tales back when I was a wee swab. That's his mark though." After a pause, Teague glances at Old Zef. "Can't speak to the Templar bit, but aye mer loup garou, that's The Seawolf right?" Either Teague is offering a way for the much older Old Zef to save face from misremembering, or he himself is foggy on the details.

Examining the mummified goblin hand, Caillou notices it smells of pickled preservatives and that it is a left hand. Most likely it is a Hand of Glory; these would be cut from the left hand of a criminal sentenced to hang, and a candle would also be crafted from the same criminal's rendered fat. Place the candle in the hand, light it, and the magic would take effect - either a mass hold person or an exceptionally powerful locate person depending on which arcanist's journal you believe. Some Voodoo traditions even maintain the hand can point the way to the Underworld.

 

[Shayuri]

Nia, eyes hard, nods a little at the translation of the French.

"He may not be de only one comin' for us. Caillou, what do you need for de cleansing of de ship? De sooner de better. Time is short, and gettin' shorter."

She looks at Katerina. "Did de man, Tourbillion, say anyting else to you about what might be comin'?"

 

[Quickleaf]

[SBLOCK=Caillou & Nia]So [MENTION=6781406]Unsung[/MENTION] and [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] I'm thinking since Caillou and Nia had already been scoping out The Coral Curse he probably would know this information. You guys can decide how much he has shared with Nia already.

The djab haunting The Coral Curse is called "Yellow Jack" (or Xekik is its more traditional Aztec name), and it's a spirit of yellow fever that has been invoked by bokors in the past to plague the masters of slave ships.

Normally summoning would involve a 6th-level conjuration spell, but a Voodoo Ritual (which Nia can do) can also be used to summon the djab by name. However this will require one of the following sacrifices:

• Poisoning an entire supply of healing potions or anti-venom solutions.
• Burning the legacy of a great healer (e.g. bones of a cleric or a medical text).
• Deliberately inflicting yellow fever on a sentient creature.
• Contacting Yellow Jack / Xekik thru a spell and learning what his favored sacrifice is, or speaking with another voodounista who has this knowledge.

FYI, you both know that facing a djab on equal footing is more or less a deadly prospect. Also, the ritual has to take place at night. This means that (assuming you all don't charge into do it right away) that you'll have the entire day to prepare since its 3:00am now.[/SBLOCK]

OOC: By the way, you are getting 2 new party members soon: Kid and Etienne. If you see the opportunity to check out The Coral Curse in daylight hours or check Blackreef's Tavern for anyone who might have something useful against the djab haunting the ship, go for it!

 

[Unsung]

[sblock=Nia & GM]Caillou, with a certain amount of interpretation from his retainers, would have shared all he knows about Yellow Jack and the djab's presence on the Coral Curse. This includes a heavy dose of ambiguity and speculation, but probably no more than Nia might assume herself as regards dark spirits.

I'm thinking Caillou's strange mix of Enlightenment, empiricist sensibilities and Caribbean tribal folkways probably makes dealing with him confusing for more traditional practitioners. [/sblock]