GoCorral

This session was attended by Trajan, Will, and Jamie and held over Google Hangouts using Roll20 as a virtual tabletop.

The Bear’s Prophecy

We left off with the party uncertain how to treat Rararak the dragovinian bear. They decided to use Korjak and Gregor’s greatswords as stakes to keep Rararak in one place while they interrogated him. The giant that assisted them in the battle stood in the dwindling twilight above the grotto.

Gregor put on the necklace of speak with animals and threatened Rararak, “Tell us the prophecy of the druids and we’ll let you live. Refuse and we’ll cut your body into a thousand pieces.”
Rararak growled and said nothing.
Korjak got out his dagger while Gregor worked his greatsword back and forth in the bear causing it to grunt in pain. Korjak handed his blade to Gregor who held it up against Rararak’s neck.
“Don’t make me ask again.”
“Grrrr… Fine… Lean in and I shall whisper the secret to you.”
Wary of Rararak’s tricks, Gregor leaned in, but kept the dagger between his head and Rararak’s.
Rararak whispered, but loudly so that everyone could hear,
“Go to where the Best Smith fell
To where in his fiery forge he dwells
Pick up the pieces of a broken god
Stir them in first with a golden rod.”
As Rararak finished speaking each member of the party experienced a separate vision (except Reggy who felt terribly left out).

Sivirdm commented, “Did anyone else just get a vision.”
Murmurs of assent were heard.
“What was yours of Stanton?”
“Let’s not worry about it now.”
“Alright.”
Satisfied with Rararak’s honesty, Gregor prepared to set him free, but not without ensuring the bear would not attack them. He took Korjak’s dagger and placed it to sever Rararak’s lower jaw.
Wu nocked an arrow, “Don’t do that! We promised to let him go!”
Gregor said, “This is to keep us safe.”
“Don’t do it! I’ll shoot!”
Gregor grunted and severed the jawbone. Wu loosed his arrow and it bounced off Gregor’s armor.
“Are we done with this silliness?” asked Korjak, “Now isn’t the time for disagreements.”
“Fine,” said Wu.
Gregor carried the jawbone and muscled past Wu on his way out of the grotto after retrieving his greatsword. Korjak removed his greatsword and gave the wounded bear a kick into the water of the lake. The stone giant watched from above and the party decided to find a way up to meet the giant.

Big Friendly Giant

After hiking around to talk with the giant, the party discovered it had come down after they left the grotto. The giant had decapitated Rararak with an axe laying at his side and was beginning to skin the scaly hide off the bear. Gregor and Stanton climbed down to talk to the giant while the rest of the party took the longer way of walking down.

Gregor thanked the giant for his help in the fight using the Orcish tongue. The giant shrugged and said something back in a different language. Gregor tried Common in response and the giant tried a different unknown language as well. Stanton and Gregor went through all their known languages without any success. Once the others arrived they were also unable to speak to the giant. Stanton cast comprehend languages in an attempt to speak with the giant.

After remembering that he needed to touch the giant for the spell to function, he raised his hand over his head, hoping the giant would touch it. The giant raised its hand over its head before going back to skinning the bear. Stanton mimed raising his hand over his head with Gregor acting as the giant, touching the hand. The giant understood then and put his index finger down, touching Stanton’s upraised hand. Stanton said, “Great! Now say something!”
The giant kept contact for awhile before letting go and saying something undecipherable. Giving up on being polite, Stanton rushed over and hugged the giant’s leg.
“You really are a strange little man aren’t you?” said the giant.
“Yes! I understood that! Now we can talk.”
“Well if you’d like to give me an offering I’m okay with it.”
Stanton said to the others, “He says he wants an offering, we should give him something.”
Gregor said, “How about Korjak’s knife?”
“No! That’s mine! He can’t have it!”
“But it’s the weapon that cut off the jawbone of the beast!” Gregor moved forward and placed the dagger on the boulder the giant had thrown earlier. Korjak lunged forward as Gregor moved, but fell back once the dagger was put down.
“Why, thank you,” said the giant, “That’ll be a very nice needle to use for mending my pants.”
Realizing that communication would continue to be one-sided, the party waved goodbye to the giant and left the grotto.

Midgame Substitution

The hike back to Stevie was uneventful. Stevie took our heroes for the ride of their lives back to Gazeara. Unfortunately, upon reaching the outskirts of the farms surrounding the city they could clearly see the city under siege by a massive force of soldiers and horses.
“What do we do?” said Wu.
“We’ll have to go back into Bigby’s Forest,” said Korjak.
After some discussion as to how to get there without being followed, the party sailed off on Stevie to the Rebel base in the Forest. They hopped off Stevie a few miles from the base entrance and hobbled in, exhausted.
One of the soldiers recognized the group and hailed them outside the base, “You look awful.”
Korjak said, “We need to speak with the commanding officer right away.”
“I’ll get him for you. Come on in.” The party followed the soldier into the underground base.
Lieutenant Gaft met the party in the briefing room, “I am the commanding officer of the base for now. I understand you were on a special mission for Major Dactirian.”
Gregor said, “We figured out what we needed to in the north. We’d like to get a message to Major Dactirian in Gazeara if you can. We’re also planning a trip to the south.”

The party had a discussion as this point about which animal clan to visit next. They decided to take a ship south to the sharks around Jovy Isle and then see if they wanted to go straight to the condors of the Dominarie Mountains or report back to the Rebel base before going to the condors.

Gregor continued, “We need a ship going south to Jovy Isle. Do you have contacts in Makotako for us to arrange passage?”
“Of course. Our main contact in Makotako is Torpor. You can meet him at the Red Horse Inn just inside the eastern gate.”
“Any chance of us getting some new equipment and supplies for this trip?”
“Yes! Major Dactirian said to give you access to all our best equipment after you returned. Take your pick in the morning.”
Gaft continued, “Dactirian had a special mission for Wu though. You’re to lead an infiltration team into Gazeara so we can coordinate a joint attack on the besiegers. We have a more experienced recruit who will be replacing you on Korjak’s team. Draco Achaikos is talented sorcerer. He’ll organize your meeting with Torpor.”

Salzar has been getting bored of Wu due to him not having a defined personality. The arrow shot at Gregor earlier was an attempt to introduce a personality of some compassion towards the enemy, but it kinda flopped. Salzar has retired Wu as a PC and will be playing a different character, a halfling sorcerer/rogue planning on going into the arcane trickster prestige class. The trickster is named Draco Achaikos. Wu was assigned by Lieutenant Gaft to the infiltration team going into Gazeara.

The adventurers spent the next day recovering and the day after that picking out new equipment before heading out with Stevie. They stopped at Riverton to exchange the iron wagon for a real one, waving goodbye to their favorite magical construct. They then began to enact their plan for entering Makotako.

Makotako Machinations

An orc and a half-orc would have a difficult time getting into the city fully armed, but if they were dressed as slaves? The two orkin men stripped down to their skivvies. The halflings were prepared to make inappropriate comments, but Gregor warned them, “Any halfling tongue that wags will get taken off!”
Reggy noticed he hadn’t been included in this warning. He wolf whistled while Gregor was undressing. Gregor gave him one look and Reggy mumbled, “Sorry sir.”

They easily took the wagon into town with the two orcs tailing behind. The halflings posed as the owners while Reggy was the handler of the orcs. They waited in the wagon line of people entering the city. When they got to the front the guards assessed a tax of 20 gold on bringing the orcish slaves to sell in the city. Draco instantly attempted to bribe the guards. They asked him to step out of line while the captain was informed of the issue.

Whilst out of line Gregor and Korjak whispered admonishments at the halflings for screwing up the entry to the city. Stanton thought about charming the guards with magic, but decided against it due to the high risk/low reward.

Eventually the captain came down and called the group back into line. “Now the fee to enter is 20 gold. The fine for attempted bribery will be an additional 20 gold.”

The party grudgingly paid and entered.

Upon entry the group spotted the Red Horse Inn, but left it for later. They found an alleyway and the orcs changed back into their clothes while everyone took all their equipment out of the wagon. Reggy was sent to sell the wagon and the mule pulling it. The rest went to the docks to find a seedy place that would let orcs and half-orcs sleep indoors. They found a rickety flophouse called the Wet Floor that paid them no mind. They rented floorspace for the week. The orcs stayed there while the halflings returned to the Red Horse Inn.

Making Contact

Inside the halflings befriended the bartender. He told them Torpor sat in one of the corner tables usually. (In a strange twist, Trajan played the bartender while I played Sivirdm for this encounter.) The bartender questioned Sivirdm’s ability to drink a full pint of ale. Sivirdm then insisted on having a whiskey sour. The group came up with a cover story of being bounty hunters who turned in captured Rebels from Bigby’s Forest. After chatting with the bartender the shortfolk went to Torpor’s table with their drinks to wait.

Torpor arrived in the evening. He got a drink from the bartender and then went over to his table. “What are you folks doing in my table?”
“We’re your friends Torpor!” said Stanton, “I’m Stanton.”
“Friends? I ain’t-“
“And this is Draco.”
Torpor’s scowl turned into wide eyes as he realized this group of halflings were contacts in the rebellion. “Yes of course! So you must be…”
“Sivirdm.”
“Right! Sivirdm! Of course! Good to see you all again. Hang on just a moment while I go find us a quieter place to talk.”
Torpor went to the bar and got a key from the bartender. He returned and said, “Come with me. We’ve got the backroom for awhile.”
The group went down a hallway to a locked door. Inside was a small room with its own fireplace and some tables and chairs set up for gambling.
Draco handed Torpor an unopened letter, “Lieutenant Gaft gave this to us for you.”
Torpor took it and read the contents before throwing it into the fireplace. “What can I do for you?”
“We need passage to Jovy Isle,” said Stanton.
“I see. There are a few options. We could charter you a ship to go there or you could hire passage on a ship going near there and find some way to get to the island from the ship or we could buy you a small ship to get there.”
The party discussed the options and decided that chartering a ship solely to go to Jovy Isle and back was best. Torpor told them it would take him three days to arrange a deal. In the meantime they could stay with two other Rebels in town. The orcs and Reggy could stay with Jorgen, a cartographer, while the halflings could stay with Deegan, a carpenter. The group spent their time helping out with the two businesses as best they could and learning a little from Jorgan and Deegan as well.

Aboard the Maroon Mastiff

After three days the halflings went to meet Torpor once again in the back room of the Red Horse.
Torpor spoke, “I’ve found two different ships that could take you to Jovy Isle. One of them looks a little shifty, but they aren’t asking much. Lieutenant Gaft told me to give you any assistance we could afford. Paying for that ship won’t be a problem.
“The other ship I found costs a great deal more, but has a better reputation in port. Unfortunately, I can’t shoulder the expense on my own. I’d need about 1000 more gold pieces from you fellas to charter that ship.”
The three halflings exchanged a look before replying in unison, “We’ll go with the cheaper one.”

Three days later the party boarded the Maroon Mastiff under Captain Lucky Two-Shits headed towards Jovy Isle. Lucky got his name when he was just starting as a sailor in the navy. He asked the captain before a naval engagement, “Do I have time to shit before the battle, sir?”
The captain replied, “If you’re lucky, you’ll get two in.” Lucky deserted soon afterwards to become a pirate, but the name stuck.

The crew looked dirty, had tattoos, but generally ignored the party as they set up their stuff in the hold for the voyage. The ship set sail from Makotako and the first day was uneventful. The layout of the ship was simple. A main deck existed with a bow deck and a poop deck above it in the forward and aft sections of the ship respectively. The below deck section was reserved for the sailors and the meal times. Even lower was the hold which was reserved for the party and food stores. Two hatches in the top deck and the below deck allowed access to the hold for larger cargo items. The entrance to the lower deck was under the poop deck while the captain’s quarters occupied the space below the bow deck.

The men sat down for their evening meal. The party was given their own table to eat at while the sailors and Lucky spread out around the lower deck. Stanton got a little nervous so he elected to go down to the hold and cast detect thoughts. Unfortunately, when he went down the stairs, a crew member followed him.
Stanton said, “Could you give me some privacy?”
The sailor said, “Nope. Captain’s orders. No unsupervised passengers.”
“Well I’ve got some wizard casting stuff to do. I’ll be chanting and doing weird stuff. I wouldn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Humph.”

Stanton cast his spell and scanned the sailors and Captain Lucky. The sailors thoughts were uninteresting, but Lucky thought some bad stuff. He thought about murdering the party, looting their bodies and baggage, throwing their bodies overboard, or selling them into slavery. Stanton feared the worst and moved to inform the party members.

The little halfling went to the lower deck and cast message on Korjak, Gregor, and Sivirdm, but forgot to include Reggy and Draco, because Stanton is a forgetful mage. The four people in on the message quickly came up with a plan to go to the hold, grab their weapons and take control of the ship. Essentially the “strike first, before they kill us in our sleep” plan.

Time for Action

Stanton returned to the hold. A sailor followed him. Soon after Gregor, Sivirdm, and Korjak moved for the hold as well motioning for the others to follow. Reggy went along, but Draco didn’t understand what they wanted him to do. As they all went into the hold Captain Lucky shouted, “What are they doing down there? Stop them!”

Weapons were drawn and the fight ensued! Draco remained passive for the first bit. Two sailors drew their sabers and pointed them at Draco, ready to stab him if he moved from the table. Gregor found his sword in the hold and began cutting through sailors coming down the steps. Sivirdm and Stanton supported the giant orc with crossbow shots or spell casts up the stairs. Korjak and Reggy waited for their turn to get up the stairs behind Gregor.

As Gregor reached the lower deck, Draco realized exactly what was going on. He slipped away from his two guards and cast an obscuring mist covering most of the deck.
Lucky shouted out, “Damn wizards!” before moving to engage Gregor. He backed off after Gregor delivered a vicious hit to Lucky’s leg. The other sailors did their best to contain the raging beast, but they dropped in piles around the stairs. The men showed signs of cowardice, but Lucky “motivated” them. He growled, “Kill the blasted orc or his blade won’t be the only one you have to worry about!”

Draco took his guards on a chase through the fog. Reinforcements arrived from above decks. Lucky ordered the men to begin opening the hatch between the lower deck and the hold so they could flank the party. Korjak moved to intervene if the hatch opened, while Reggy went up the stairs to join Gregor’s melee. Stanton and Sivirdm continued to do what they could from below.

Gregor began to show signs of serious wounds. Stanton prepared to blast the remaining sailors around Gregor, but Korjak rushed over first and applied some healing with his wand. Seeing the hatch being opened, Draco hit the hatch mechanism with a grease spell.

“GODDAMNED WIZARDS!” shouted Lucky, “Find him and cut his little magic tongue out!”

The sailors searched through the fog to find Draco. He tried to hide under a table, but unfortunately he made too much noise. The sailors stabbed him and Draco went unconscious. Meanwhile, Reggy, Korjak, and Gregor cut through the remaining sailors that felt like fighting. Stanton threw a temporary blinding spell on Lucky. Lucky shouted, “I HATE YOU ALL!” before fleeing up the stairs. Gregor caught up to him and smashed one of Lucky’s swords into pieces. With certain death looming over him, Lucky threw down his remaining sword, “I give up.”

The Ship is Ours

After securing the ship, Lucky was fitted with manacles and locked in his cabin. Korjak checked on Draco and the men and treated those who were still breathing. Draco was brought around with the wand of cure light wounds. The party set up watches to prevent any attacks in the night and slept.

The next day Gregor took Lucky out of his cabin and to the side of the ship. All the crew members were assembled on the main deck.
Gregor shouted, “We are taking control of the ship and I will be your new captain! Anybody have a problem with that?”
A murmur of no’s went through the crowd.
“Now who was second in command here?”
One of the sailors stepped forward, “Uh, I was sir.”
“Good to hear it! After we’ve finished our business we’ll be turning the ship over to you and your mates.” Gregor turned to Lucky, “Now you aren’t going to cause any trouble on board are you?”
Lucky spat in Gregor’s face, “I’ll die before I serve an orc on my own ship.”
Gregor punched Lucky in the face.
“Do your worst, you animal. You’re nothing better than a pig’s ass.”
“So be it.” Gregor hefted Lucky up and over the side of the ship. He sputtered and tried to swim, but the manacles dragged him down to the bottom to drown.
Gregor caught the eyes of each of the sailors, “Company dismissed.”

The next few days of sailing were uneventful as the crew adjusted to their new captains. Stanton scanned their minds and found a few individual plans of mutiny or desertion, but nothing concrete or coordinated. Soon the Maroon Mastiff docked in Crafterton.

Some of the party members went ashore to sell some loot from Lucky’s cabin in exchange for a few potions, specifically potions of water breathing. After making the exchange and also getting a nice feast to placate their new crew they went back aboard and threw a small party with food and wine. With the men on their side the ship sailed on for Jovy Isle.

Jovy Isle

Knowing that the sharks inhabited the western and southern edges of the island, the ship approached from that side, skirting far around the whirlpool. Upon rounding the northwestern peninsula the party spied a ship with green sails at the corner of the bay.
Stanton asked one of the crew members, “What ship could that be?”
“Could be the Green Dish, Captain Peahammer’s ship. He’s a pirate like us, but always leaves survivors to increase his reputation. Not sure why he’d be here though.”

Jovy Isle has a small lake in the middle of it with a lighthouse at each corner (northwest, northeast, southeast, and west). The party decided to sail for the western lighthouse and investigate there. As they did they saw a fiery shot go up from the Green Dish. Soon afterward a group of men went down from the center hill of the island to the Green Dish. Not sure what to think of it for now, the party ignored it.

They found the place abandoned, perhaps for a few years. No significant possessions were left behind either. The firewood that was there had thoroughly rotted. A winch mechanism existed for hoisting wood up to the top of the lighthouse. The living quarters for one person filled the bottom floor. A staircase led to the roof with a large pit for the fire in the center. There was talk of ghosts inhabiting the lighthouse, so the party decided to stay the night to see whether their suspicions were true or not.

The party hoisted some wood up to the roof and lit the fire. Watches were set up, but the night passed peacefully. In the morning the party went back down to the Mastiff. They sailed to investigate the northwestern lighthouse.

Upon arrival they found the lighthouse with no one home, but clearly inhabited. It looked as if someone had just left that morning leaving their white cat behind to meow at the adventuring group when they came in. Investigation revealed that a man lived here by himself, but little else was discovered. While looking at the roof the party saw another fiery shot go up from the Green Dish. As they left they saw men coming down from the central hill of the island once again.

Captain Peahammer

The party decided it was time to talk with Captain Peahammer of the Green Dish. They ordered the ship to sail a few hundred feet off from the Green Dish and then to head out in a rowboat. Gregor, Stanton, and Draco took the rowboat with two sailors to row while Korjak and Sivirdm stayed on board the Mastiff to prevent the sailors from skipping and leaving.

As they pulled closer to the Green Dish they saw the pirates on board with crossbows leveled at the rowboat. Wanting to make it clear that they only wished to talk, Stanton began casting a silent image to project a white flag above the boat. Unfortunately, the actual casting of the spell was not seen as a peaceful action, the pirates fired upon Stanton, disrupting the spell.
“Hey! We’re just here to talk!”
“Get lost! We’ll shoot ya again!”
“We come in peace! Tell your captain we come in peace!”
“Tell your captain to shove it!”
Stanton started casting a message spell on a few of the pirates to avoid the shouted conversation. They let loose another volley of crossbow bolts, but missed with them due to the boat bobbing in the sea. Stanton whispered to them, “We really just want to talk. There’s no need to fight.”
“He’s in our minds! He’s trying to turn us against each other! Careful men!”
“Just tell your captain that we want to talk. We’ll stay here til he arrives.”
The pirates talked amongst each other for a few minutes then said, “We’ll wait for Captain Peahammer’s orders.”
Soon Captain Peahammer arrived from the shore to the Green Dish. “Who are you?” he shouted from the ship to the rowboat.
The party introduced themselves by their real names, then Stanton asked, “Could we meet with you in person?”
“Why not! Row to land. My men and I will meet you there.”
The party shrugged and rowed for shore. Peahammer did as well. They came on land face to face with more than a dozen men and Captain Peahammer. He wore a green cape with dashing clothes and two swords at his waist, one with a white pommel and the other black.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing on my island?”
“That’s none of your business. What are you doing here?”
“I ask the questions on my island. No one else! Now tell me why you’re here.”
“We’re shark hunting.”
“Shark hunting? No one shark hunts.”
“We do. It’s to fight the Xorians you see. They-”
“You’re hunting sharks to fight Xorians. Fine. MEN!” The pirates all aimed their crossbows at the party.
“No! It’s true! We really are here to hunt sharks! The Xorians made a dragovinian shark and we came here to kill it to stop the Xorians from taking over!”
Captain Peahammer thought for a good minute on what the party said.
“Alright. I believe you. You came here to shark hunt. So go shark hunt. But the sharks are in the water and I’m on the land. I don’t want to see you on my island again.”
“Sounds fine with us.”
With the negotiations concluded, the party rowed back to the Maroon Mastiff.