The remainder of the trip back to the Naked Isle (6/13-6/21) was uneventful and unremarkable, and it was followed by several days of rest. Tienarth kept busy by arranging for the transport of the newly-purchased items to the tower. He expected this effort to require two weeks, after which he could begin magical research.
Near the end of the week, a traveler from afar greeted Elaria at the wharf. It was Leveret, companion from St. Orlan whom Jerker hired to watch over the homestead.
“Oh, hello there, are you one of Tienarth’s Raiders?” Leveret asked, a slightly bewildered look on his face as he approached. “My name’s Leveret. I used to guard a homestead near St. Orlan for… uh… for someone.”
He shifts his weight and pulled a worn book from a sack. “Things got awful strange back in St. Orlan, you see. First, there were whispers about devils in the mountains, that way towards some place called Tosasth. Then, one night, the devils showed up right in town! And they were led by a proper spooky vampire! They even took over and made Mayor Bremlai their slave. Lots of folks ran off towards Slateholm.”
Elaria quickly fetched Jerker, after which Leveret retold the first half of this story, then continued.
“Well, I wasn’t about to stick around for that nonsense. On my way out, I sort of… well, I saw this book just lying there at the homestead. It looked important, and I think it belongs to someone named Ferris? An alchemy book, it is.” He held out the book. “I heard you lot were heading for the Southern Seas, and after a bit of searching around different islands, I finally found you here on the Naked Island. So, here it is! I was hoping… maybe there’s a bit of a reward for me for bringing it all this way? It was quite a journey, you know!”
Jerker was glad to see his old friend and handed over 100 gold pieces immediately. He then made an offer, which Leveret accepted, to join the crew of The Garlic Frog.
Some conversation was made about what the party ought to do next. Tienarth was clear about his plans to complete the outfitting of his tower and then conduct research into a teleport scroll. He said he wanted to get back to St. Orlan to obvserve the situation first hand, and if necessary rid the town of evil. He also reiterated his desire to raise Tosasth to its former glory. Jerker seemed to struggle over the idea of returning to St. Orlan versus remaining among the islands of the southern seas. Urgesh proclaimed he was happy on the Naked Isle.
Jerker and Urgesh had a plan to build a fleet of ships and establish a kingdom that encompassed several of the islands. This was in support of Aderian whom they called “His Most Exalted and Sovereign High Grand Admiral Commodore Captain-General of Tienarths Raiders, Dread Lord of the Seven Seas”. And the first step in this plan was to capture more ships. Ghevont added that this effort could include conquering Tuiria, which would free all of the dwarven slaves there.
Tienarth warned about Carrasthinan, that opaque menace that frequently arrived when least wanted. They’d stole several items from the undead mage, including the cube of force which more than one magical being has lusted after upon seeing its glowing angles. Jerker proposed that the plague killing the islanders was started by Carrasthinian. Ollie wondered if Ghevont might seek holy inspiration, and after some time of contemplation he was sure the plague was natural. In fact, he had a feeling it was a blessing in some way, though his ideas of death were unusual in many ways.
Ollie began working on weaving a new flag for Urgesh, one to be used for deception.
Rumors on the docks were about a galley that arrived several days before (6/15). It stayed for one day only. It was remarkable by its crimson sails.
At the end of the week (6/27), both The Dead Fish (formerly The Ranger) and The Garlic Frog sailed out of the harbor in search of ships to capture. Urgesh was at the helm of his caravel with its crew of elves. Jerker captained the other caravel. As previously noted, Tienarth chose to stay behind. Aderian, Ferris and Nate also declined. Aside from the small crew of 10 former rebels, there were seven other rebels, plus Elaria, Ghevont, Ollie and Hocuspo. Leveret was also present.
The weather provided optimal conditions for visibility, and four hours past dawn, white sails were seen on the horizon. The two ships caught the wind and approached. Their target steered to intercept, and before long they saw large galley bearing down upon them. It was crewed by wild elves and flew no flag. It sported four forward ballistas, which were fired into the hull of The Dead Fish. Jerker pulled The Garlic Frog around to chase behind the galley which soon rammed into the side of The Dead Fish, doing considerable damage and locking the two vessels together.
Elaria covered a third of the enemy ship in a sticky web, then put most of her crew to sleep. Finally, she covered the front of the galley in webs. Urgesh jumped into the webbing and was stuck for a moment, then he cast his salamander figurine down. But with most of the crew incapacitated, including the captain who was held by Ghevont, the crew could do nothing bug surrender. The ship was captured without any bloodshed.
Regardless, Urgesh felt it necessary to execute the captain by throwing his paralyzed form into the churning ocean. He sank out of view into the depths. They learned that the ship was called The Dragon’s Saber, and the crew were pirates. Jerker attempted to argue for their loyalty, but they seemed unimpressed by the human clad all in heavy plate armor. They seemed to feel more affinity for the barbarian. They enthusiastically agreed to follow him back to the Naked Isle where they were told there were many elf maidens.
The captain’s chest contained a modest treasure, which was acknowledged as being shared by all of the crew. Aside from food and water, the ship also held boxes of tanned animal skins and barrels of raw sugar, no doubt cargo taken from a merchant vessel.
End Notes
- Days
- 6/13-6/21 Sailing to Naked Isle
- 6/22 – 6/26 Downtime on the Naked Isle
- 6/27 At sea, captured The Dragon’s Saber, Returned to Naked Isle
- Treasure:
- 3000 gp
- Rhodonite (10 gp)
- Rhodonite (500 gp)
- Heliotrope (5 gp)
- Emerald (10 gp)
- Heliotrope (10 gp)
- Aventurine (5 gp)
- Combat: 6905 xp
- Captain 670 xp
- 11 Mates 360 xp each
- 43 Warriors 25 xp each
- 120 Sailor 10 xp each
- Characters (5.5 shares of 1255 xp)
- Elaria (hireling) 628 xp
- Ghevont (human, offers help) 1393 xp
- Hocuspo (human) 1381 xp
- Jerker (human) 1381 xp
- Ollie (fight) 1268 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, fight) 1330 xp
- The Dead Fish (ne The Ranger) (Caravel)
- HP 30/75 hardness 8
- Crew (10)/Passengers: 10/3
- 10 elven sailors
- Jonja
- Dwarf youth
- Urgesh
- Cargo: 18 of 75 tons *
- Food: 54 man/weeks
- Water: 880 gallons
- The Garlic Frog (Caravel)
- Hit Points: 75/75 hardness 8
- Crew (10)/Passengers: 10/ 13
- 10 human sailors
- 7 extra human sailors
- Jerker, Elaria, Ghevont, Hocuspo, Ollie, Leveret
- Cargo: 57.5 of 75 tons *
- Food: 44 man/weeks
- Water: 5000 gallons
- 22 tons of sugar, 5 tons of cocoa, 5 tons of cotton
- The Dragon’s Saber (Large Galley)
- Hit Points: 120/120 hardness 10
- Crew (160)/Passengers: 160/14
- 11 Level 5 Fighters (mates)
- 43 Level 1 Fighters
- 120 Level 0 Sailors
- Cargo: 122 of 375 tons
- Food: 1400 man/weeks (10 tons)
- Water: 6000 (24 tons)
- Passengers: 14 tons
- 600 oak crates containing tanned animal skins: 50 tons
- 118 60-gallon barrels of raw sugar: 24 tons
* See Ship Cargo for figuring cargo needed for goods and people