Special: Village of Braddol 4, 5

THE SEA-GHOST

Summer, 4433

Characters:

Tarr the Younger, archer 1

Xasan Karimov, barbarian 1

Lothryk Bjargson, cleric of Njord 1

Ryoga, incantor 1

Krom, fighter 1

Arkane Gnossienne, cleric of Anubis 1

Katamtaman Toxotai, archer 1

Philip, fighter 1 (NPC)

Samuel Browne, fighter 1 (NPC) R.I.P.

"Bloody" Bjorn, fighter 3 (NPC)

Zhalgas, fighter 3 (NPC)

Avast!

The group hatches a plan with Samuel Browne to ambush his former smuggler comrades, using the signal chart found in the Haunted House.

Using a rented fishing boat, the party poses as the smugglers they only recently killed, with the turncoat Samuel in front. When the ship, the Sea Ghost arrives, they sail out with half their group covered by tarps.

This ruse allows most of the group to get onboard before the smugglers realize something is wrong and a battle breaks out!

The fight quickly becomes a swirling back-and-forth struggle. The enterprising Ryoga begins barricading doors to prevent reinforcements. Half the group gets webbed while Xasan, Philip and Samuel chase down the first mate Bloody Bjorn. From the other direction, Captain Sigurd blazes a one-man trail of destruction across the deck nearly killing several people, and Tarr takes bowshots at targets everywhere.

The battle turns when Tarr kills the wizard Punketah, Samuel convinces Bjorn to join the group, and Sigurd is slain in a desperate melee with Xasan, backed up by Tarr's bowshots. The appearance of more foes from belowdecks only prolongs the inevitable.

At this point three hooded and cloaked figures break through a door Ryoga had barred. One conjures poisonous snakes from out of his eyeballs (?!) and all 3 make for the fishing boat with one of the smugglers.

Samuel is bitten by one of the poisonous snakes. Feeling the icy touch of death, he seizes the asp in one hand and dives headfirst into the fishing boat, hoping to take some of the fleeing foes with him! For a smuggler, he went out heroically.

A torrent of bowshots and some flaming oil kill a few, while a thrown rope snares the boat. One of the cloaked men flees in the water, one is dead and the third held by his own reflected spell.

Now in possession of the ship, the group gets Bjorn to show them around. They find plenty of treasure and clues.

They free the prisoner Zhalgas, a desert warrior on a pilgrimage from the Holy Cities.

They interrogate the cloaked man they captured, who turns out to be a cultist of Set. Using a clever trick they persuade him to talk, and learn of a magical relic called the Chalice of Aldren, already in possession of the Setites somewhere in Viridistan!

The group has a ship, a pirate crew, a hold full of cargo and a mystery to solve. What else could a 1st-level adventurer ask for?

Enemies Defeated (853 xp):

8 smugglers (150 xp)

captain Sigurd (260 xp)

Punketah the conjuror (100 xp)

Foul Frithof (65 xp)

2 asps (78 xp)

2 sinister robed guys (200 xp)

Treasure Found: 

various silverware, jugs etc (500 sp)

banded chest: locked

brass-bound chest: locked

500 sp inside

captain's potions: (already noted)

sea charts (nice to have)

crew's chests: pack of playing cards, 2 sets of dice, address book filled w/ladies' names

parrot: a magical talking bird from a far-off land (value unknown)

longsword (magical)

wand (magical)

ring (magical)

assorted coins, jewelry, gems (553 sp, 7 cp)

Note to Captain from *"Black Leaf"*

Crude drawing of jeweled goblet

demonic statue

box that rattles with coins (unopened)

box with a... voice inside? (unopened)

In the Cargo Hold:

90 bolts of silk

81 brandy casks

219 wine casks

3 casks of soap

1 cask of salt

[Treasure values posted when you sell it all off in Viridistan, see downtime thread!]

Experience:

Lothryk is capped at 1565 before treasure XP, and needs to train!

Special: Village of Braddol 1, 2, 3

THE HAUNTED MANSION

Summer, 4433

Characters:

Tarr the Younger, archer 1

Xasan Karimov, barbarian 1

Lothryk Bjargson, cleric of Njord 1

Ryoga, incantor 1

Krom, fighter 1

Kareem, fighter 1 (NPC)

Nuru, fighter 1 (NPC)

Philip, fighter 1 (NPC)

Samuel Browne, fighter 1 (NPC)

A group of beginning adventurers on their way to Viridistan had their passage cancelled. Stranded in the small fishing village/trading post of Braddol, they followed tales of treasure & mystery to a mansion on the cliffs rumoured to be haunted - where spectral lights were seen at night, and no locals dared to go.

They uncovered strange illusions, traps, collapsing floors, vicious wildlife and near-death escapes. Giant weasels are no joke - one almost killed Kareem and Nuru, and the battle in the attic, well... 'tis better not to speak of the bloodsucking beasts found there.

Some loot was uncovered, including a few magical items, a dead body with enchanted gear (and rot grubs!) and a wizard's sanctum guarded by skeletons [1 fear point] with golden treasures and magical tomes.

There was clearly something going on in the basement, with clues about shipments and a skulking figure who was quickly killed. Passing through a secret door, the group discovered a cave system below. 

They stalked through and came upon a group of ne'er-do-well smugglers based beneath the mansion! They fought assassins, fighters & a hideous mutated man with one eye bigger than the other and bulging bicep-veins. One of the smugglers was a spell caster who baffled the group with clouds of fog and blasts of rainbow lights. [This nearly led to a TPK, but] Lothryk heroically held the passageway against a wave of assassins while the rest of the party recovered their senses [good job, take a Hero Point for this if I didn't already give you one. Remember you can have maximum of 1 right now].

The surviving smugglers fled on a small boat while Tarr peppered them with arrows, nearly killing all of them - only two escaped! Still, the group made out well with some nice trade goods like rum and silks, as well as a some rare contraband: a case of cigars made out of rare, multicoloured butterfly wings.

They also captured one of the smugglers and turned him to their cause. The young Samuel Browne is a bit shifty, but willing to join up for a fair share. He gave information about his former comrades, including details about a larger shipment coming soon aboard ship, and the lantern signals needed to communicate with it. 

Ready to sail their own course, the group plots to surprise the smugglers and take this boat for themselves...

Monsters Defeated Total:

4 road bandits

2 giant centipedes

3 giant spiders

2 giant rats

1 giant weasel

4 stirges

6 skeletons

8 smugglers

1 mutant

Stenabal the illusionist (escaped)

Treasure:

(First session treasure accounted for, Lothryk and Tarr sold it already)

coinage picked up (divided during adventure)

amethyst (120 sp) SOLD

pearl (200 sp) SOLD

emerald (250 sp) SOLD
assorted gold jewelry: earrings, bracelets, rings, etc (365 sp) SOLD

gold items: skull, apple, rose, discs (2100 sp) SOLD

10 casks of nice brandy (500 sp) SOLD

3 bolts Ghinoran silk (300 sp) SOLD

Ring of Protection +1

potion (unknown)

"book of the philosopher's stone" (unknown value)

strange glowing stone (magical, unknown)

tin of 3 strange seeds (unknown)

crate of butterfly-wing cigarettes (contraband, unknown value)

scroll in bone tube (unidentified)

holy symbol of Mitra

deep black cloak of strange aspect (magical)

severed hand with candle (magical)

lightweight plate mail (magical)

fine longsword (magical)

[The function of all these magic items is unknown, but I assume you guys just cast detect magic on them during your days of waiting for the Sea Ghost. My note-taking wasn't the best during this session, so if you guys picked up other stuff not mentioned here, please chime in. Thanks to DF for a few corrections. -DM]

Payouts and XP:

Lothryk, Tarr, Xasan: 959 sp each

Ryoga, Krom: 480 sp each

Clues

In Stenabal's bedroom, they found a few notes in a box. What might they mean?

1 - "Delivery from the Skinpath arrived today. Strong, will be useful." 

2 - "Pay Guocaun after next shipment."