Session 26 - The One With The Betrayal!
14th Nov 2021 19:15 - 22:30
In-game timeline: DR1489 Elesias 29 - Eleint 4
Our "Heroes" are fleeing from the Emperor of the Waves wreck. Some of them are under the illusion that it is a "Tactical Withdrawal" but deep down, they all know the truth.
They manage to get back to the Evening Mist with no further incident, and Captain Ironfist asks them about what happened on board the wreck. They are forthcoming to the Captain - Carro especially so - and tell the captain everything, even sharing with him the Emperor captain's logbook and the means to decode the last entry. In return, Captain Ironfist treats them to a tot of decent rum before they retire tp their hammocks for a well-earned rest.
That night Mahtis and Carro are woken by some noises on deck and head up to investigate, but are discouraged from approaching the sides of the ship in the darkness of night in case they would fall overboard - especially as they are (pretending to be?) a bit drunk! Mahtis ignores the advice and heads to the side of the ship anyway, under the pretence of throwing up. She looks towards the wreck of the Emperor, but in the darkness of night, fails to see anything untoward, though there does seem to be a light on deck still.
Under the continued advice of the sailors, who seem very concerned that they may lose someone overboard in the dark, Mahtis and Carro return belowdecks to their hammocks.
After a good night's sleep, the party awake to find the ship is moving again, and the day is a fine one. They spend the day helping out where they can - Kandi is still a little exhausted and is still not accustomed to the sailor's life.
They bed down for another night's rest, but this time are rudely awakened by a commotion during the night. The sailors are rushing about, jumping from their bunks and heading to the upper decks. The group are told that it's probably best they stay out of the way - there's been an alarm and they may be under attack!
The group once again ignore the advice they have been given and head on deck to see the captain telling the crew to man the ballistae on the port side, where there seems to be rowboats approaching and a large ship silhouetted on the horizon.
The group get suspicious that all attention is being focussed on the port side, and Mahtis eventually looks over to the starboard side and sees more boats rapidly approaching. The sailors seem unaware of this ambush and Mahtis and Carro try to warn the captain, but he seems to not only ignore them, but also to shout out, seemingly drowning out the group's warnings.
By the time the sailors are made aware, there are already grappling hooks being thrown up on the starboard side, and pirates are beginning to board! TC and Mahtis try to lean over to fire on the pirates, but are met by crossbow bolts fired from more pirates that are in the quite numerous rowboats that seem to be pulled alongside the Evening Mist. Our "Heroes" sensibly decide to pull their heads back from the edge.
As the sailors start to realise their mistake, and begin to swap their ranged weapons for cutlasses and move over to the port side, there are already about 15 pirates on board, and more climbing up the ropes. After over 20 pirates have boarded, a ball of light, followed by a grey-skinned, white-haired elf appears at the top of a grappling hook. The elf, who the party assumes to be Bree, tells the sailors to drop their weapons and give themselves up.
Turning to captain Ironfist, the captain tells his crew that this is a battle they cannot win, and they should drop their weapons. Most comply, many reluctantly - especially first mate Hawkeye. One sailor who is slow to lower his weapon is hit by three crossbow bolts from the pirates, which is an effective move to persuade the rest to drop their weapons and give up.
Now outnumbered and out-gunned, the sailors, and the party all surrender and are all tied up.
Except, that is, for captain Ironfist who, as everyone else is being tied up, picks up his weapon and goes over to talk to Bree - they seem to not only know each other, but are even friends! Our "Heroes" are somewhat surprised when Ironfist produces a small, metal lockbox from his cabin and hands it to Bree, relating the story of your trip to the Emperor of the Waves. He also points at Carro and tells Bree that he'd get a tidy sum as a reward for Carro. Ironfist seems to get a big bag of coins for his trouble.
Tied up and shut below decks, the whole crew, including our "Heroes", are treated poorly but kept alive for the next couple of days. Carro tries to get some information about where they are going from the pirates, but Wilhelm from the Western Lands does not seem to be particularly forthcoming, though they do gather that they are being taken to Shadow Isle and are likely to be sold as slaves. All their weapons and valuables are taken from them.
After a couple of days, the ship seems to come to a stop and the captives are taken on deck and onto Shadow Isle, where they seem to have be docked. The isle seems to be made of some volcanic rock, and appears to be floating on the water. It is also surrounded by a cloak of mist. They are led off the boat and into a docks area which seems to have a number of stone buildings built on a flat area of the island. They are then taken through a door into a cavern system cut into the rock itself, and taken to a cell. Our "Heroes" are thrown into a cell which contains a single other captive - a young boy who introduces himself as Bob, a cabin boy who was captured about a week ago and doesn't know what has happened to the rest of the crew he was with.
As the party settle into their new environment, they discuss potential plans. After some hours of being locked up, they hear someone come into the cells area, and eventually their door is opened and a human stands before them, looking at them intently. Carro spots that he has a particular earring in his ear, and Mahtis, after a little prompting, says the key phrase that Devon told him to say. This seems to have the desired effect.
The new entrant is Bryn - previously known as Cranfall Beaumont, the previous captain of the Emperor of the Waves. He is a member of the Little Fingers, and is hoping that the group are here to get him off the Isle. Bryn managed to convince the pirates that he wanted to join them, and he now runs the brothel in the docks. After much discussion Bryn reveals that Ruhin was with them, and in fact Ruhin also became a member of the Radiant Sisters pirate group, but unfortunately she sailed with a group of pirates some months ago to Abbey Isle, where the pirates were mounting an invasion, and she did not return.
Bryn explains that the group will be sold as slaves, but there is a way in which they can avoid this - to do as he (and Ruhin) did, and convince the pirates that they want to join them. They will need to be sponsored by an existing member of the pirates, and to undertake The Gauntlet - a series of challenges where the entrants will cast off their previous lives and, should they survive, become pirates. Bryn agrees to sponsor them - somewhat reluctantly, since if they fail The Gauntlet - either by dying, or by not being entertaining enough to the watching crowds, or by not convincing the pirates that they want to be pirates, then Bryn's life will be forfeit.
And so we leave our "Heroes", once again locked up in a cell, with their future uncertain. Bob the cabin boy seems to be forgotten for now, and the group are preparing to undertake The Gauntlet, and to work out how they can convince the pirates that they really want to be pirates themselves and to join the Radiant Sisters!