# Swashbuckling in Freeport Returns



## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

From Morrow

Star of Against the Elves  and creator of The Knights of Ill Fortune


In association with _Persevering Productions _ and _Total Party Kill Films_

And sponsored by Never-Say-Die Healing potions​


Comes​

Swashbuckling in Freeport

Season Three



_Crisis in Freeport_




_Starring_

Beth as Catherine “Sully” Sullivan

Sean as Nate Black

Rich as Tavaari

And Sarah as Bronson



With special thanks to Green Ronin Publishing  and Dungeon​


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## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

*Cast*

Unlucky in love, *Catherine “Sully” Sullivan* (CN human fighter 10) ran away from home to escape betrothal to a boorish suitor.  She soon became a pirate, serving happily aboard the _Red Lady_ until her lover, Captain William “Bonny Bill” Teach, was slain during a mutiny lead by his first mate, a vile dwarf named Dirty Steve.  Sully and her friend Nate Black were marooned as punishment for opposing the mutiny.  They eventually escaped their island exile and made their way to Freeport.  Now the Captain of the _Albers_, Bloody Cate is known far and wide as a ruthless and bloodthirsty pirate served by a loyal group of female warriors, the Devil’s Concubines.  Sully laments the loss of another love, Buster Wallace, a member of the Captain’s Council of Freeport.  Unable to give up her life at sea, Sully left Buster, but her feelings for him are still strong.  She was angry and hurt when he married another and fathered a child.  Sully recently acquired another nickname, One Eyed Cate, when she lost her left eye battling a vile aberration known as an Ocularon.

*Nate Black’s* (CN half-elf bard 6/ Freeport pirate 4) father, Horatio Blackthorne, was a respected captain in the Thonian navy until he was betrayed and framed for piracy by his friend Captain John Flint.  Blackthorne and his crew were hanged and young Nathaniel was sold into slavery.  Nate escaped, eventually joining the crew of the pirate ship the _Red Lady_, where he served until he and his friend Sully were marooned after taking the wrong side in a mutiny.  The pair eventually made their way to Freeport, where they acquired their own ship.  Nate now serves as the first-mate of the _Albers_.  His constant companion, Spank the monkey, is always ready to provide a little comic relief.

It was no surprise that *Bronson *(N human cleric 10), second son of a well-to-do family, chose to enter the priesthood.  His family was shocked, however, when rather than join the influential temple of Maal, god of justice and Judge of the Dead, Bronson instead chose to join the small cult dedicated to Maal’s son, Aster.  Bronson’s family was even more troubled when he became obsessed with Aster’s most radical teachings, that even the most unnatural of creatures, the undead, are deserving of protection and guidance.  Bronson left his home to found a temple of Aster in the pirate city of Freeport.  He has gathered a small but growing following among the living and the undead of Freeport.  Recently Bronson has begun to turn more and more responsibility for the running of the temple over to his assistant, Elias Scrimm.  Bronson has begin to hear the siren call of undeath and explore the path to lichdom.

*Tavaari Naaldren* (CN half-elf rogue 4/ sorcerer 6) is the illegitimate son of the former empress of Thonia and Lorrem Erendyl, the Prince-Ambassador from the elven kingdom of Alfheim.  Tavaari lived his earliest years as the son and heir of the emperor until his parentage was discovered and he and his mother were cast from the palace.  He was raised by a small elven clan on the borders of the empire until wanderlust called him, eventually leading him to the city of Freeport.  Tavaari heads a growing criminal organization involved in smuggling and the buying and selling of information and influence.  His organization recently expanded into the production of a popular new drug, White Smoke.  Tavaari’s familiar is a cat named Kitty.

*Queg *(N spell-stitched bone half-orc ranger 6) was a harpooner on a whaling vessel before his ship was destroyed and he and his fellow sailors turned into undead monsters by the vicious necromancer Remy Deadarm.  Queg served aboard Deadarm’s ship, the _Dreadnaught, _for several years.  Eventually Deadarm’s control slipped during a battle and Queg cast himself overboard.  Free of the necromancer’s control Queg traveled to Freeport.  He was taken in by the temple of Aster, and soon entered the service of the temple’s chief cleric, Bronson.  Queg’s animal companion is an eagle named Ishmael.

*Miranda Swallows* (CN wizard 8) was sold into prostitution at age 14.  Brilliant, eager to learn, and extremely persuasive, Miranda picked up various skills from her clients, from languages to cigar-rolling to magic.  Unfortunately, shortly before she as ready to use her new abilities to escape her life of servitude Miranda’s spellbook was stolen by the infamous bugbear pirate Captain Mange.  Determined to escape her cruel masters and regain her spellbook she ran away with one of her former clients, a vile and misogynist merchant captain named Touchole.  Life with Captain Touchole was nearly as insufferable and degrading as her previous career, but new hope dawned when the vessel was seized by the pirate ship the Albers and Touchole was slain.  Miranda joined the crew of the Albers and discovered respect and friendship that she had never experienced before.  Eventually she revealed her history to her new captain, who helped her acquire a new spellbook.  Now Miranda is Bloody Cate’s loyal cohort and a member of the Devil’s Concubines.  Miranda is a master of enchantment and evocation magic.  Her familiar is a sarcastic quasit named Daniel.

The mercenary Jack Naaldren is in fact *M’ord* (CN serpent folk swashbuckler 6), one of the shapeshifting serpent folk.  An accomplished swordsman, M’ord recently became the trusted cohort of Tavaari Naaldren.


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## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

*Season One Overview*

Nate, Sully, and Bronson traveled to Freeport aboard the merchant ship the _Albers_.  Their ship encountered a ghost of Edward “Ned” Fletcher, captain of the _Stingray_, which had recently been sunk by sahuagin raiders.   The ghost recruited the trio to retrieve the Stingray’s cargo, a gem called the Eye of the Sea Dragon, and return it to the Temple of Harrimast in Freeport.  With Fletcher’s guidance they retrieved the Eye from the lair of the sahuagin.

Carrying the Eye nearly spelled the _Albers_' doom, as the gem proved to be cursed, first killing the Albers’ captain and later attracting the ghost ship _Sea Maiden_.  Nate, Sully, and Bronson defeated the undead crew of the _Sea Maiden_ and saved the _Albers _from becoming the next victim of the curse.

The trio was relieved to reach Freeport and be rid of the Eye of the Sea Dragon and the ghost of Ned Fletcher.  Peg-Leg Peligro, High Priest of the temple of Harrimast took the Eye and locked it with its mate deep in the vaults beneath the temple.   (A combination of _Maiden Voyage_ from Atlas Games and “Dead Man’s Quest” from Dungeon #107)

The trio took part in the annual Freeport celebration known as Swagfest.  There they saved Captain’s Council hopeful Captain Lydon from an assassination attempt and battled a shapeshifting spider creature beneath an abandoned house.  (_Holiday in the Sun_, Green Ronin Publishing.)  Later they investigated reports of a haunted dock, only to discover that the haunting was caused by a form of psionic coral growing in the harbor.

Shortly thereafter the trio was joined by Tavaari Naaldren and recruited by Brother Egil of the temple of Tinel (god of knowledge and magic) to locate his friend Lucius, a scribe at the temple who had been missing for several days.  The party’s investigation lead them into conflict with the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, followers of the mad otherworldly entity known as the King in Yellow or the Unspeakable One.  The party saved Lucius and slew the cult’s master, a shapeshifting serpent person named Milos.  (_Death in Freeport_, Green Ronin Publishing)

The quartet discovered that the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign was larger than they first suspected when the cult sought revenge for the killing of Milos and the exposure of their hidden temple.  The Brotherhood attempted to frame the party for the murder of Verlaine, a member of the Captain’s Council, and the destruction of the temple of Tinel.  The party survived and thwarted the cult, but were unable to prevent their attack on the followers of Tinel.  Many clerics, including Brother Egil, were killed before the cultists were defeated.  

In the aftermath of the battle the head of the temple, Father Thuron, revealed that he was actually a serpent person named K’Stallo.  Millennia ago the Unspeakable One had been responsible for the destruction of Valossa, the empire of the serpent folk.  Their homeland sank into the sea and the serpent folk were maddened and scattered, never to recover their former glory.  K’Stallo was the last cleric of Yig, the ancient snake god who was patron of Valossa and a sworn enemy of the Unspeakable One.  Together the party and K’Stallo uncovered evidence that the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign was lead by none other than Milton Drac, Sea Lord of Freeport.  (_Terror in Freeport_, Green Ronin Publishing)

The quartet was invited to a grand ball at the Sea Lord’s palace and awarded the Order of Drac in recognition of their efforts to defend the city.  The party made contact with members of the Captain’s Council who opposed Drac and discovered evidence that Drac planned to use the newly constructed lighthouse in Freeport’s harbor in a scheme to infect the people of Freeport with the Unspeakable One’s madness.  

K’Stallo concocted a plan to stop Drac’s plan using an ancient Valossan artifact, the Jade Serpent.  The party retrieved the Serpent from an ancient forgotten temple of Yig.  They took the artifact to the lighthouse and used it to slay Drac and his minions.  

While waiting for their allies on the Captain’s Council to decide on a suitable reward, the party, newly joined by the undead ranger Queg, explored the caves of the legendary pirate Black Dog.   There they encountered and destroyed the specter of Black Dog and retrieved his treasure for themselves. (_Madness in Freeport_, Green Ronin Publishing)

Soon thereafter the party investigated reports of a haunting at the Freeport Opera House.  They encountered the restless spirit of Fiarella Donadrien, a famous elven playwright, and helped her find peace by ensuring the completion of her final opera.

In recognition for saving Freeport from the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, their allies on the Captain’s Council granted Bronson land in the temple district, Tavaari the abandoned house that once hid the subterranean temple of the Unspeakable One, and Nate and Sully the _Albers_, the very ship that had once brought them to Freeport.  Only days later, Sully’s brothers came to Freeport in an effort to bring her back to her betrothed.  Unwilling to face her family, she and Nate left Freeport aboard the _Albers_.


For more about the party's early adventures, see the first Swashbuckling in Freeport story hour.


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## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

*Season Two Overview*

Four years later the party found themselves working together once more when they allied with their old friend Captain Lydon to search for a fabulous treasure.  Lydon had a map that purported to show the location of the legendary island of Yarashad, where the pirate god Harrimast had hidden a mountain of treasure.  The party clashed with the followers of Yarash, a nearly forgotten ancient demon who had been Harimast’s first mate before becoming his sworn enemy.  While the party succeeded in overcoming the followers of Yarash in each encounter, the cultists did manage to steal the Eyes of the Sea Dragon from the vaults beneath the temple of Harrimast.  

The party allied themselves with Ezekiel Carthy, an ancient man who a century before had been one of Yarash’s agents, the dreaded Full Fathom Five.  Carthy had reconsidered his allegiance and lured the other members of the Five into Hell’s Triangle.  Carthy was able to use Yarash’s sextant to guide the _Albers_ through the Triangle, but only at the cost of his own life.  

The party also battled Captain Morgan Baumann and her crew, who also sought the treasures of Yarashad.  Baumann’s ship, _The Kraken’s Claw_, succeeded in following the _Albers_ through Hell’s Triangle.  Beyond Hell’s Triangle the _Albers_ found the Isles of the Damned, where they battled the remaining members of the Full Fathom Five for a series of artifacts which they hoped would allow them to access Yarashad itself.

On the first Island, the Isle of the Undead, the party discovered a vast subterranean complex.  There they met Sonsimoth, a goat headed ibixian vampire.  Sonsimoth, chafing at his enforced servitude to the morhg cleric Daen Danud, helped the party bypass Danud’s minions and battle the undead pirate in the heart of his lair.  The battle was brutal with many of the group falling to Danud’s mighty blows and his paralyzing touch before Sully finally struck him down.  Now in possession of Yarash’s bell the party returned to the _Albers_ just in time to save it from being overrun by a swarm of zombies.

Next the _Albers_ traveled to White Gorilla Island.  There they received confirmation that _The Kraken’s Claw_ had followed them to the Isles of the Damned when they met a tribe of goblins who were already in negotiations with Shantar Frosse, Baumann’s first mate.  The party allied with the goblins and sent Frosse away disappointed.  The goblins' most gifted ranger agreed to show the party a hidden entrance into the temple palace of Ahunatum, Queen of the White Gorillas.

After a daring chase through Queen Ahunatum’s mines pursued by formidable white gorilla warriors the party traveled through tunnels deep beneath the island.  There they encountered a floating monstrosity called an Ocularon, which stole Sully’s right eye before the party was able to dispatch it.  They entered Ahunatum’s temple palace and battled the beautiful vampire swashbuckler and her white gorilla minions.  Ahunatum, formerly Black Jenny Ramsey of the Full Fathom Five, fought a long and vicious battle but was eventually overcome, allowing the party to claim _Yarash’s hook_.

Sailing away from White Gorilla Island the _Albers_ witnessed _The Kraken’s Claw_ fleeing from the _Black Jenny_, the ship of the wight swashbuckler Zoltan Zaska, the next member of the Full Fathom Five.   Bronson used Yarash’s sextant to summon a mighty storm and drive off the _Jenny _ before she could turn on the _Albers_.  Later the _Albers_ caught up with Zaska. Bronson, Nate, Sully, and Queg _dimension doored_ onto the _Jenny _ to take the fight to Zaska and his half golem minions while Tavaari commanded the _Albers_ as it harried the Jenny from a distance.  Zaska fought a valiant battle amidst the rigging of the _Jenny_, but ultimately fell to the party’s combined might.  With Zaska’s death everything that he had created with _Yarash’s pistol _ was destroyed, including the _Jenny_.

Finally the _Albers_ sailed to Crystal Lake Island, where the party slipped past the tribes of cannibals to find the lair of the ghoul sorceress Mo’ab Varion in a cave system beneath the island’s sacred central lake.  There the party battled a tribe of dragon worshiping koa toa’s and their powerful guardians, including a young black dragon and a draconic erinyes called from the lower planes.  Compared to the epic battle with her followers, Mo’ab fell easily.  Bronson’s command over the undead had reached such heights that Mo’ab was forced to cower before him and was quickly struck down.

When the party reclaimed the final artifact, _Yarash’s spyglass_, from Crystal Lake Island, Yarashad reappeared.  However, before the _Albers_ could sail to the final island, they had to once more confront Morgan Baumann and _The Kraken’s Claw_.  This time Baumann proposed a truce, agreeing to never bother the party again in return for safe passage back through Hell’s Triangle.

The party traveled to the interior of the island and braved the threats of Yarash, now an impotent black iron statue surrounded by the treasures that Harrimast had dumped on his resting place.  Most prominent among the treasures was the legendary pirate ship, the _Acheron_.  Careful examination revealed that the ship was a magical _folding boat_.  Defying Yarash’s promise to escape and have his revenge, the party battled the treasure’s guardian, a massive golem constructed of treasure itself, and escaped with a king’s ransom in gold.

Using _Yarash’s spyglass _ and _sextant _ the _Albers_, _Acheron_, and _Kraken’s Claw_ sailed back through Hell’s Triangle and returned to Freeport.  (A modified version of _Black Sails Over Freeport_, Green Ronin Publishing.  The Kuo toa complex on the final island was taken from “Zenith Trajectory” from Dungeon 102)

Soon after his return to Freeport the party became enmeshed in a plot by Dutch Tellinghast, the former head of the Sea Lord’s guard, to consolidate the criminal gangs of Freeport using a new magical drug called white smoke.  Tellinghast and his partner, a gnome enchanter named Mentirre Aboir, widely distributed the mind numbing drug and then Aboir used his spells to control the gangs.  The party slew Aboir and his allies and apprentices, but Tellinghast escaped.  (_Gangs of Freeport_, Adamant Entertainment)

*Interlude*

A trio of adventures: the drunkard Cole (CG human ex-Monk 6/ Drunken Master 4), Arla Fairwind (NG half-elf Druid 10), illegitimate daughter of an elven prince, and Burne Travers (CG human Barbarian 10) the boisterous swashbuckler, hunted the mad bard Sophia Lasilaran.   Lasilaran and her companions, The King’s Players, performed the sanity shattering play _The King in Yellow _ in ever larger venues in the hope of opening a permanent portal to dread Carcosa.  The path started in Hallowfield where the madness induced by The King in Yellow had wiped out the entire village.  The trio then tracked the King’s Players to the town of Lamid where they met the Constable, Evan Sullivan (brother of Catherine) and battled the Players’ maddened, mutated victims.  Finally they defeated Lasilaran and her cohorts in Freeport itself, nearly destroying the Freeport Opera House during the epic battle.  (“And Madness Followed”, Dungeon #134)


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## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

*Session 23 – The Styes (Dungeon #121)*

Nate Black sauntered along the docks, humming one of his most popular compositions, _She’s Only Bloody Cate Once a Month_.  He’d just spent several diverting days in the company of a truly delightful young woman named Lysa, but it was time to put aside his pleasures and return to his duties as first-mate of the _Albers_.

Several weeks had passed since the battle at the Freeport lighthouse where Mentirre Aboir the gnome enchanter behind the production of the mind-numbing drug, white smoke, had been killed.  It was a shame that Dutch Tellinghast had escaped, but the death of Aboir was still a victory.  It had been the demise of Patch Carthy, leader of the Buccaneers, that had sent the Freeport underworld into turmoil.  Nate wondered idly if the former gang leader had been a descendent of Ezekiel Carthy of the Full Fathom Five.

Nate regretted that he could take so little credit for the party’s victory.  He had missed most of the battle because he had been chaperoning Tavaari to the temple of Harrimast to remove Aboir’s _feeblemind_ enchantment.  Bronson and Sully had recklessly gone ahead to confront Aboir and Tellinghast without their companions.  He’d have to expand upon his role when he composed a song to chronicle the events.

The others had been quite busy since the battle.  Tavaari was taking over the production of white smoke and negotiating with the local druglord Kedward Bone to distribute the stuff.  Bronson was crafting magic items and attending to his temple.  Even Sully had days full of jealous plotting against Buster Wallace’s wife, Margaret, and their new daughter.  With the others attending to their own concerns Nate had been at loose ends until he met Lysa.

Nate was so caught up in his musings that he didn’t notice he was being watched until two large figures slipped out of the alley and blocked his path.  His hand slipped to his cutlass, listening to footsteps approaching from behind to cut off his retreat.

“We’ll be having your purse, now.  And that fancy jewelry, too.”  Nate took a deep breath and was about to draw his blade when one of the thugs before him grabbed his companion’s arm, “Wait, that’s Black Nate.”

Nate smiled thinly as he heard nervous shuffling behind him.  He lifted his chin so that his face caught the light.  The thugs before him backed off nervously, “Sorry,” they muttered.  As he walked away Nate heard a whisper, “I thought he’d be taller.”

*	*	*	*	*​
Nate’s companions stood in the shadows watching Dory’s warehouse.  The streets of the Warehouse District were largely abandoned at this hour.  They could proceed with little fear of witnesses.

It was unthinkable that their old friend Lucius the scribe had been the Lantern Man, the murderer who had stalked Scurvytown and the Docks for months.  Lucius certainly had his problems.  There was a period of his life he couldn’t remember, several years spent wandering that he was never able to recall.  The party had first met him when his dreams of alien vistas brought him to the attention of the vile Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign.  He was a quiet soul, haunted by his memories and by the death of his friend Brother Egil.  He was not capable of violence.

The party didn’t know how Mr. Dory was involved in the Lantern Man killings, but the information they had gotten from Brother Norton and Constable Jute of the Sea Lord’s guard made it clear that the influential merchant didn’t want anyone looking to closely into the Lantern Man killings or Lucius’ hasty execution.

Miranda’s familiar, the quasit Daniel, had scouted Dory’s warehouse the night before.  The massive building offered little of interest and the trio of manticores the prowled the structure after dark dissuaded the group from exploring further.  The ships hulk which hung suspended for a great rusted crane on the roof of the warehouse was much more intriguing, made even more so by the trio of creatures, part-fish part-man, that lurked in the shadow of the crane.  What were they guarding?  

Bronson nodded decisively and cast a spell.  He reached out to Queg, Tavaari, and Jack and _dimension doored_ them to the deck of the hulk.  Born aloft by Miranda’s spells Sully and her cohort flew to join their companions, careful to keep the hulk between them and the fish-men guarding the crane.

Tavaari went to work.  With the assistance of the magic tools secreted in a hidden pocket of his newly acquired _vest of escape_ the half-elf quickly bypassed the lock protecting the single entrance into the bow of the vessel.  Quietly he opened the portal and his companions slipped inside.  They strained their eyes to see the corners of the room entered, lit by the glow from Bronson’s holy symbol.  Through the pool in the center of the room they could see that the hold of the ship was full of water, heated by several stoves scattered around the room.  The result was that the interior of the ship was full of hot billowing steam.  Before the party could even register the trio of figures rising from the pool in the center of the room they were met by a hail of arrows.  

The shafts struck home and another volley followed them as the party scrambled to strike back against the amphibious archers.  Sully stepped to the edge of the pool, her blade dancing.  With a word Bronson blinded one of the creatures.  The battle against the strange fish men quickly carried into the next room.  As the party continued to engage their amphibious opponents amidst the warm mist and dripping water the more sharp eyed among them noticed a lightly armored figure with slick translucent skin attempting to hide in the shadows.  The figure’s face, veins and muscles clearly visible working beneath its surface, hardly had time to register surprise and dismay before he fell beneath the party’s blades.  The fish men proved more resilient, but they soon fell as well.

As the last fish man fell Nate Black nonchalantly stuck his head through the door.  “Hello.  Miss me?”

“How did you get up here?” asked Queg.

Nate twitched the cloak on his shoulders, “_Cape of the Mountebank_.  Don’t leave home without it.”  He nodded to Tavaari.  “I got your note.  It took a little while to get here from the docks, but here I am.”  Then, as if it had slipped his mind, “Oh, you guys do know that there are several fishy-looking fellows climbing across from the warehouse right now?  And I mean literally fishy-looking.”

As the others readied their weapons and searched for spell components, Nate passed a sealed note to Sully.  “This was waiting for you at the _Albers_.  Careful, it’s damp in here.”

Sully tore open the letter.  It was dated twelve days ago.


*Dear Catherine,

Dirty Steve is in Selba.  The Red Lady is in port posing as the merchant vessel Scarlet Courtesan out of The City.  I don’t know how long the Lady will stay, come quickly if you wish to catch her.

Your Brother,

George*


Sully looked grimly at her companions, “We’re going to Selba.”


Supporting Cast

Mentirre Aboir - Gnome enchanter (dead)
Kedward Bone - Wizard, diabolist, and drug lord
Patch Carthy - Bo’sun (leader) of the Buccaneers (dead)
Mr. Dory - Mysterious merchant
Hamid - Ill-fated assassin (dead)
Constable Jute - Sea Lord’s guard
Lucius - Scribe (dead)
Lysa - Nate’s latest mistress
Brother Norton - Cleric of Tinel
Elias Scrimm - Cleric of Aster
Dirty Steve - Captain of the _Red Lady_
George Sullivan - Sully’s brother
Dutch “Boss” Tellinghast - Former Commissioner of the Sea Lord’s guard


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## Morrow (Nov 29, 2006)

*Session 24 – The Styes (Dungeon #121)*

“I just don’t get it,” muttered Nate.  He played a quick tune and felt the enchantment reach out from his magic fiddle to envelope the fish man.  The strange creature wavered briefly, but ultimately overcame the urge to dance a jig in the middle of the battle.  He knew this all had something to do with the Lantern Man killings and their old friend Lucius the scribe, but he was a little vague on the details.

Now he had his friends were battling a band of fish men atop a ships hulk suspended from a crane.  He wasn’t too worried about the fish men.  They were skilled, but Sully had already dispatched one and Miranda had effectively neutralized another with a _ray of enfeeblement_.  What worried him was the crashing and yelling sounds from within the hulk.  Tavaari’s man, Jack, had stayed behind when the others had rushed out to battle the fish men.  It sounded like he’d gotten himself into a little trouble.

Queg fired another pair of flaming arrows at one of the fish men, but the missiles flew wide.  The undead warrior snarled in disgust.  He dropped his bow and took up his harpoon, turning toward the hulk.  Jack must be right about… there.  He struck the ship a mighty blow with his harpoon, opening a large hole in the old, damp wood.  Through the hole Nate could see a horrid flesh golem stitched together from pieces of sharks and other large fish.  Attached to its shoulders was the head of a beautiful woman.  The creature was hammering Jack with mighty blows.  The warrior’s rapier seemed to have little effect on his adversary.  The golem was not Jack’s only foe.  A bloated, waterlogged animate corpse stood near where Jack and the golem battled and pelted Jack with vials of acid.

Nate took a quick look at the fish men.  Sully had them well in hand.  He quickly moved to stand by Queg, unsheathing his new magic blade, the _Corsair’s Cutlass_.  The wood crumbled against his blows.  Soon the hole was big enough for Queg to strike the golem, distracting it from Jack.

Through the hole Nate saw Tavaari and Bronson enter the room to assist Jack.  The bloated undead turned to the pair and cast a spell.  Tavaari instantly froze, his limbs pinned by the spell.  Bronson regarded his adversary calmly and drew a great golden bell from his backpack, the _Ship’s Bell of Yarash_.  Bronson struck the bell and his own power combined with those of the artifact.  A look of consternation and fear crossed the undead spellcaster’s bloated face before the power of the artifact seized control of its mind.  

Nate noted that Sully had finished off the last of the fish men and was rushing to help her companions.  The golem roared in defiance and redoubled its attacks, but the combined might of Nate’s companions soon took it apart, piece by piece.

*	*	*	*	*​
Mr. Dory attempted to negotiate his release, but with his will firmly under Bronson’s control he  offered little resistance to the party’s interrogation.  He admitted being a member of the Cult of the Yellow Sign, allied with a mysterious figure he knew only as the Whisperer.  The Lantern Man killings were orchestrated to provide some kind of spiritual sustenance to something called the “Spawn of the Unspeakable One”.

Dory admitted that Lucius had been under the Whisperer’s control when he performed the killings.  When Lucius was captured Dory was forced to arrange for his quick execution and begin hunting a replacement.  In the meantime the Skum were continuing the killings in the hopes of keeping the fear of the Lantern Man high.

“Skum!  I knew those fish men looked familiar!” exclaimed Nate.  “If there are Skum around I guaranty there is an Aboleth involved somehow.”

“What’s an Aboleth?” inquired Bronson.

“A nasty aquatic aberration.  Big fish who can create illusions and enslave your mind.”

Bronson turned back to Dory, “Where can we find this Whisperer?”

“The cult has a temple in Scurvytown.  I can give you directions.”

Sully had been quiet for much of the interrogation, “Okay.  It is after midnight.  I’ve sent word to Pete to prepare the _Albers_, but he’ll have to collect the crew and finish restocking the supplies.  We won’t be able to leave for Selba until tomorrow evening.  I say we get some rest and deal with this Whisperer in the morning.  We’ll save Freeport – again – before lunch and still have time to hunt down Dirty Steve.”

Bronson nodded, “I’ll take Dory here and lock him up in my temple.  He can spend his time copying Aster’s holy texts.  Maybe he’ll reconsider his alliance with the King in Yellow.  We can decide what to do with him when we get back.”

Tavaari added, “I’ll send some of my men to scope out the temple.  Let’s meet at my place in the morning.”

*	*	*	*	*​
The party made short were of the Skum guarding the temple and burst inside.  There they had found a larger room, the air heavy with the stink of rotting fish.  At the far end a set of stairs descended into a pool of dark water.  Suspended above the water by a web of ropes was the rotting body of a great shark, a dozen human heads stitched to its flesh.  Standing before the pool were a trio of robbed figures.  One, a woman who wore heavy armor under her yellow robes seemed familiar.  Her voice took on a nasal whine.  “Oh no, not them again.”  

The woman quickly cast a spell and disappeared.  “Batora?” asked Bronson.  The party had encountered the cultist before.  She was making a habit of slipping through their fingers. 

The corpse of the shark began to struggle and roar.  The ropes snapped and the thrashing form leapt into the center of the room.  The party moved to attack as their robed adversaries began to cast spells.

Sully and Nate moved to engage the shark while Tavaari slipped into invisibility and Bronson began to cast spells.  Their cohorts proved largely ineffective.  Queg’s arrows continued to miss their mark.  Jack fired his bow with better aim but little effect.  Miranda seemed to have difficulty juggling her spells.  Her opponents had no such problem, striking her with a volley of _magic missiles_.  Things only got worse when a lucky spell from one of the cultists succeeded in blinding Bronson.

Sully suddenly had an epiphany, “The shark is an illusion!”  To demonstrate the fact she stepped through the thrashing creature to stand between the cultists behind it.  Nate stubbornly ignored Sully’s actions and continued to attack shark.  Queg moved to assist Sully, driving the cultists back towards the pool.

Tavaari became visible as he attacked one of the cultists, surprisingly missing his target by inches.  The cultist stepped away, spoke an incantation, and Tavaari, too, was blind.  The half-elf groaned in frustration and backed away from the melee, feeling for a wall.  

“Wait.  They’re illusions, too.  What is going on here?” exclaimed Sully, even as she swung another blow at her illusionary opponents.

The answer was quick to arrive.  The illusions disappeared as a great tentacled fish surfaced at the edge of the pool.  The creature’s tentacles lashed out, striking Sully and Queg vicious blows.  They were both covered with slime, which had little effect on the skeletal warrior but seemed to be doing something unpleasant to Sully’s flesh.  Her skin was rapidly becoming slimy and translucent.  

Nate, delayed by his battle with the illusionary shark, rushed to help his companions.  His cutlass crackled with energy as it pierced the aboleth’s flesh, but it seemed too little too late.  With Bronson and Tavaari blind and Sully undergoing some kind of transformation the battle seemed nearly lost.  Miranda’s _flaming sphere_ singed the aboleth doing some minor damage, but Queg had difficulty piercing the bony plates protecting the aboleth’s hide and Jack seemed oddly timid after yesterday’s beating at the hands of the flesh golem.

Then something unexpected happened.  His companions had nearly forgotten Bronson until they heard the blinded cleric speak an incantation in a strong, firm voice.  A white hot pillar of divine flame engulfed the aboleth, missing Sully, Queg, and Nate by inches.  The creature screamed in pain as its skin burned away.  Sully took the opportunity to dive out of the aboleth’s reach.  She snatched a small jade jar from her pouch and began slathering a thick ointment over her skin.  The transformation began to reverse immediately.

The aboleth, mad with pain, reached out with its alien mind and attempted to crush Bronson’s will with its own.  He felt his resolve crumble beneath the onslaught… and then nothing.  The _protection from evil _ abjuration he had cast before the battle shielded his mind from the creature’s commands.  Nate and Sully moved quickly to counterattack.  In moments the writhing monstrosity's struggles ended forever.


Supporting Cast

Batora - Member of the Brotherhood of the Yellow sign
Mr. Dory - Reclusive undead merchant and cultist
Lucius - Scribe (dead)
Sgothgah, The Whisperer - Aboleth savant and cult leader (dead)
Dirty Steve - Captain of the _Red Lady_


----------



## Morrow (Dec 2, 2006)

*Bronson and Queg*

*Bronson, male human cleric of Aster 10*: Medium humanoid; HD 10d8+30; hp 75; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17; Base Atk +7; Grp +7; Atk +8/+3 melee (1d6+1 and 1d6 electricity _shortspear_); SA rebuke undead, spontaneous casting inflict spells; SQ spells, Undeath and Travel domains; AL N; SV Fort +10, Ref +1, Will +13; Str 10, Dex 6, Con 16, Int 12, Wis _22_, Cha _19_.
*Skills * (ranks only): Concentration 13, Diplomacy 3, Heal 2, Knowledge (arcana) 6, Knowledge (religion) 7, Profession (sailor) 1, Spellcraft 9, Survival 1. 
*Feats: * Craft Wondrous Item, Extra Turning, Improved Initiative, Improved Turning, Quicken Turning, Undead Leadership.
*Languages:* Common, Infernal.
*Spells Prepared: * _0 – cure minor wounds (x2), detect magic (x2), guidance, read magic. _  1 – _cure light wounds, detect undead, magic weapon, protection from evil, shield of faith, _ one slot open, _and longstrider. _ 2- _cure moderate wounds, lesser restoration, shield other, silence, spiritual weapon, and desecrate. _  3 – _cure serious wounds, dispel magic, searing light, water breathing, and fly. _  4 – _cure critical wounds (x2), dismissal, summon monster iv, and dimension door. _  5 – _break enchantment, mass cure light wounds, flame strike, and circle of death. _
*Equipment: * _ +1 shock shortspear, +2 mithril chain shirt, +1 buckler, +1 ring of protection, +4 periapt of wisdom, +2 cloak of charisma, pearl of power (1st level), ship’s bell of Yarash, Heward’s handy haversack, nycoptic manuscripts, scrolls of break enchantment, resurrection, revivify, and searing light, wand of animate dead (2 charges), dust of dryness, elixir of swimming, potions of cat’s grace, spider climb, protection from arrows, and resist fire, Qualls’ feather token - bird_, Order of Drac (gold medal with pirate ship engraved on it), traveler's clothes, courtier's outfit, vestments, masterwork dagger, leather pouch, holy symbol, spell components pouch, waterskin, flint and steel, platinum ring (50 gp), diamond worth 5,000 gp, 20 onyx gems, 5 black pearls, 25 gp worth of silver dust, and ointment for _true seeing_.


*Queg, male spellstitched bone half-orc Ranger 6:* Medium undead; HD 6d12; hp 57; Init +5; Spd 30 ft.; AC 22; Base Atk +6; Grp +12; Atk +10/+10/+5 ranged (1d8+7+1d6 fire, longbow) or +12/+7 ranged (1d8+7+1d6 fire, longbow) or +12 ranged (1d10+7, harpoon) or +13/+8 melee (1d10+10, harpoon) or +12/+12 melee (1d4+6, claws); SA favored enemy (magical beast +2, human +4), spell-like abilities; SQ damage reduction 5/ bludgeoning and magic or silver, spell resistance 9, darkvision, wild empathy, immune to cold, turn resistance +4, animal companion (Ishmael, the eagle); AL N; SV Fort +7, Ref +12, Will +5; Str _22_, Dex 20, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
*Skills * (ranks only): Jump 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (geography) 9, Knowledge (nature) 5, Move Silently 3, Profession (sailor) 5, Spot 9, Survival 9, Swim 5, Use Rope 2.
*Feats: * Endurance, Exotic Weapon Proficiency – Harpoon, Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Track.
*Spell-Like Abilities:* 1- _Ray of Enfeeblement, Obscuring Mist_.  2- _False Life, Melf’s Acid Arrow_.
*Spells Prepared:* 1- _Longstrider and Entangle_.
*Languages:* Common and Orc.
*Equipment: * _+2 studded leather armor, +1 harpoon, +1 flaming mighty composite longbow _ (+6 Str),_ +2 mummy wrappings of ogre power, Quall’s Feather token - bird, golembane scarab, ring of turn resistance +2, quiver of Ehlona_, traveler’s outfit, 100 ft. of silk rope, grappling hook, sextant, 50 arrows, vestments, platinum ring (50 gp), spyglass, 22 sp, 336 gp.


----------



## Morrow (Dec 22, 2006)

*Session 25A – Black Sales Over Freeport*

The _Acheron_ left Selba sailing south with the wind at its back.  Sully stomped back and forth across the quarterdeck, cursing under her breath.  The _Albers_ and the _Acheron_ has arrived in Selba the day before, only to discover that the Red Lady had left only days after George had dispatched his letter.  Worst of all, she had been bound for Freeport.  

It seemed to be Sully’s lot to always be one step behind Dirty Steve, always cursing her luck as he slipped through her fingers.  She couldn’t afford to lose him again.  Her own hatred for the man who had murdered her lover was enough to inspire her to sail to the ends of the earth to have her revenge on Steve, but now he had thrown in his lot with the Cult of Yarash.  The lives of the people of Freeport, and everyone else who sailed the seas, might depend on catching the _Red Lady_ before the cultists could enact their last mad scheme to free their demonic patron.

So enthralled was Sully in the maze of her own hatred that she had little time to consider the other piece of information that her brother George had been able to provide.  Her companions, however, were not so single minded.  Fishermen out of Selba had spotted Thonian warships sailing south toward Freeport only days after the _Red Lady_ left port.  If they were headed for Freeport they could arrive any day now.  Bronson cast _sending_ to inform Captain Lydon.  He would warn the city.  They would mount a defense.  But could Freeport’s fractious captains overcome their personal enmities quickly enough to defend the city, or was it already do late?  Would the _Acheron_ sail into Freeport harbor to find a smoking ruin?

The party had left the _Albers_ in the care of Old Pete, to follow as it could.  The old ship was too slow for their current purpose, but the _Acheron_ flew across the water.  They had recruited additional crew in Selba, battle hardened and ready to fight.  If only they could arrive in time.

*	*	*	*	*​
Dirty Steve had prepared for this day for a long time.  Since the day he had sworn his soul to Yarash and murdered his captain, Bony Bill, he had prepared.  All the pieces were now in place.  The battle raged around the _Red Lady_.  Steve didn’t quite know how the cultists of Yarash had inspired the Thonian senate to order an attack on Freeport.  He imagined that the brutal raids that the _Red Lady_ had made under the flag of Freeport hadn’t hurt, nor had the city’s refusal to side with Thonia against the fleets of the Atlantian Empire.  It was a shame that the people of Freeport had been able to raise a fleet to meet the Thonian armada.  He would have enjoyed seeing Freeport burn.  But no matter, this would do nicely.

The battle raged around the _Red Lady_, Freeport and Thonian vessels wheeling around, firing massive broadsides, attacking and veering off once more to prepare for another pass.  Steve looked with satisfaction at vessels consumed in flames, burning men leaping into the water.  Elsewhere vessels broke up and sank, pulling their crews with them down into the deep.  The Thonian vessels clearly had the advantage of technology, weaponry, and discipline, but they were badly outnumbered.  To Steve’s trained eye a Freeport victory seemed likely.  But, oh, the casualties would be heavy.

Nara was ready.  The wild eyed cleric had been chanting interminably over the two stones she held.  Now they burned with blue fire.  She considered them briefly, then dropped them over the side.  They traveled in a long arc away from the _Lady_ before dropping into the water.  Steve watched them get smaller and smaller as they sank into the depths.  Nara turned to him, “The Sea Dragon comes.”

Indeed it did.  The Sea Dragon would be here soon and it would make its way among the battling fleets, sinking ships and swallowing men whole.  When it had consumed enough souls, gathered enough energy, Yarash’s prison would be torn asunder.  The seas would run red with blood.  Dirty Steve smiled.

Three brightly burning blue objects shot over the _Red Lady’s_ main mast.  They flared briefly and then dived after the gems.  Yarash’s artifacts were going to join the Sea Dragon’s Eyes.  Soon now, very soon.  Already a whirlpool was starting to form, a vortex leading down to the place where the Sea Dragon would emerge.  Soon.

Two more spots of blue flame streaked in low over the water from the direction of Freeport and joined their fellows.  Then a voice cried from the crows nest, “Ship off the starboard bow!  She’s coming in fast.”

Steve snapped is spyglass to his good eye.  A brig, a fast one.  He didn’t know her.  He growled in frusteration and lifted his eyepatch.  Beneath the patch, where one might expect a glass orb or an empty socket rested a dried, mummified eye– not his, but it would serve.  He felt a burning sensation as the magic of the eye took hold.  He could see the vessel perfectly, the _Acheron_.  What sorcery was this that allowed her to sail with no men in her shrouds, with her lines seemingly adjusting themselves of their own accord?  

His gaze dropped to her deck.  He could make out the faces of the figures there.  Sully!  And Nate Black!  They were persistent.  He did not know what had inspired him to maroon those two rather than keelhauling them with Bonny Bill.  Letting them starve to death on a deserted isle had seemed a fitting end, but somehow they had escaped.  Steve hadn’t even known they lived until they had killed his first mate, Artemis Bones, in Freeport.  Now was his chance to rectify his mistake of so long ago.  Today Sully and Nate would join Bill in hell.  

“Run out the guns!  Nara, Rufus, get below.  Prepare a little surprise for our guests.  Blood, lads, blood for Yarash!”

*	*	*	*	*​Rufus Rumblebelly was not a good man.  The halfling sorcerer was never happier than when he was causing pain and suffering.  Best of all he enjoyed clearing the decks of enemy ships with a series of well placed _fireballs_.  He stood below decks, braced in front of a gunport.  To his right gun crews readied a pair of cannon, waiting to for his order.  To his left stood Nara the cleric.  “Steady men… Steady…  Fire!”

The guns crashed and smoke obscured his view of the _Acheron_.  He turned to Nara.  “Whenever you’re ready.”

The cleric and sorcerer both peered through the smoke.  The wind tore it aside and the _Acheron_ was visible once more.  Nara began to cast.  A split second later Rufus began his own spell.  Nara’s _Ice Storm_ engulfed the bow of the ship followed by Rufus’ _fireball_.  Rufus cackled as ice and then fire did their work.  The ship was damaged, the sails afire, and at least half a dozen figures had been struck by both spells.  He caught his breath.  Were they all still standing?  Who are these people?  

Rufus had only a moment to recognize the glowing bead of energy streaking from the figure in the bow of the _Acheron_ toward the _Red Lady_.  Only a moment to realize that it was coming directly at him, that it was going to pass though his gun port and explode in the center of the…

“Oh no.”

Rufus Rumblebelly was consumed by fire and pain.  Rufus Rumblebelly was not a good man.  No one will miss him.

*	*	*	*	*​Dirty Steve snarled and raised his urugosh to a guard position.  The _Red Lady’s_ initial volley had hurt the _Acheron_ badly, but the return fire was devastating.  Most of his men were dead, including his first mate.  There was a large fire below decks.  If there wasn’t anyone alive down there to put it out it would reach the powder magazine in minutes.  The _Acheron_ was now right alongside.   Bill’s wretched woman, Sully, was even now charging across the deck at him.

He blocked her first blow but another slipped through his guard.  The bard, Nate Black, was _flying _toward him, moving over the waves to come at the _Lady_ from the stern and flank him.  Steve moved like lighting, a dance of death, faster on one leg than most men on two.  He landed several telling blows on Sully and spun to drive back Nate with a vicious blow to the shoulder.  He caught Sully’s eye “I killed your lover.  I’m going to sink your ship.  Now I’m going to kill you.  I’ll keep your skull on a shelf right next to Bill’s.  When I’m through the seas will run red with blood.”

Sully responded with a grim smile and a series of blows.  More than one slipped by his guard and hit home.  Steve spit blood and, smiling grimly, nodded toward the rapidly expanding whirlpool.  Sully, her falchion moving like lightning to ward off his blows, followed his gaze just as a massive creature rose from the center of the whirlpool.  A great scaled serpent, its eyes sapphires burning with blue flame.  The Sea Dragon’s head rose higher than the tallest mast.  Between its eyes was a brand, five stars above a human skull, the symbol of Yarash.  It’s huge jaws could scoop a man out of the water and swallow him whole.  It’s great coils could crush a ship.  It looked toward the _Red Lady_.  Steve could have sworn that it was gazing right at Sully, that it looked at her with recognition.  It swam toward the _Acheron_

*	*	*	*	*​Nara clambered up the ladder out of the flames consuming the decks below.  Her armor was red hot.  The smoke had blackened her face and the fire consumed half of her hair before she was able to cast a spell to protect herself.  Now she was bristling with magic and her cutlass was thirsty for blood.  These enemies of Yarash would die.  The Sea Dragon would consume the souls of the Thonian and Freeport sailors and their energy would sunder Yarash’s prison.  Nara never questioned her imminent victory, even as Bronson’s _dispel magic_ began stripping away her enchantments.  Not even as Queg and Jack moved to engage her.

Many of Nara’s spells remained and she fought like a demon, her heavy cutlass battering down the defenses of her enemies.  She laughed and her mad eyes flashed as her blade pierced flesh and bone.  Over the heads of her enemies she could see the Sea Dragon’s mighty coils wrap around the _Acheron_.  She saw a mast fall and boards in the deck spring from their places as the great serpent squeezed.  She saw the crew of the _Acheron_ fight back.  First Tavaari’s _fireball_ and then Bronson’s _flamestrike_ inflict horrid burns on the huge monster.

As she continued to trade blows with her adversaries Nara saw Dirty Steve fighting fiercely, his deadly blade never pausing as it fended off the Nate and Sully’s blows and inflicted telling wounds.  And then it was over.  One moment Steve was hammering through Sully’s defenses, and the next Nate’s blade, crackling with lightning, was slipping under Steve’s guard, through a gap in his armor, and into his heart.  Even from a distance Nara could see the surprise on Dirty Steve’s face as he fell.

Sully screamed in anguish.  For one man to be the target of her fury for so long, and to have him killed by another…  She hacked at his lifeless corpse, wailing.  Nate was already moving.  His blade still crackled with lightning as he took to the air, sailing directly at the Sea Dragon.  He dodged and weaved as his companions continued to rain down flames on the great serpent.  He danced nimbly aside as the Dragon’s jaws slammed shut mere inches from his face.  Then he darted in and drove his blade under its chin and up into its skull.  Energy crackled across its great head and its gemstone eyes went dull.  The great serpent fell.

Nara gasped in shock and disbelief.  She was so surprised that she didn’t even register the pain when Queg’s harpoon ripped open her belly and spilled her lifeblood across the deck.

*	*	*	*	*​
Nifur Roberts brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes as she yelled at her men.  The _ring of unseen sailors_ burned.  This was her first command and she wasn’t about to lose the _Acheron_.  Her sailors, both flesh and blood and those who were merely eldritch extensions of her will, were cutting the _Acheron_ away from the burning wreck of the _Red Lady_ and raising enough canvas on the remaining masts to get her away before the fire aboard the _Lady_ ignited her powder stores.

Sully, her strength still enhanced by magic, was moving a large chest across from the _Lady_ while her companions hurriedly secured a few items from their fallen foes.  Her face was twisted with grief and rage and her eyes were like those of the dead.  She had already retrieved Bonny Bill’s skull.  As soon as the last of them were across the crew pushed the _Acheron_ away from the _Red Lady’s _ side and set out all the canvas they had.  As it was when the ship went up Nifur could feel the heat on her face.  The remnants of the _Lady_ were pulled down into the already slowing whirlpool as the _Acheron_ turned toward Freeport.

In the _Acheron's_ wake the remaining Thonian and Freeport ships parted, each ship abandoning the battle at the same moment, as if by general consent.


Supporting Cast

Artemis Bones – Cultist of Yarash and first mate of the _Red Lady_ (dead)
Nara – Cultist of Yarash (dead)
Lazy Eye Larry – New first mate of the _Red Lady_ (dead)
Old Pete – Bo’sun of the _Albers_
Nifur Roberts - Crewman of the _Albers _ and member of the Devil's Concubines
Rufus Rumblebelly – Ship’s mage of the _Red Lady_ (dead)
Dirty Steve - Captain of the _Red Lady_ (dead)
George Sullivan – Brother of Sully
Jack Sullivan – Son of George and Pansy
Pansy Sullivan – Wife of George, former member of the Devil’s Concubines
William “Bonny Bill” Teach – Former Captain of the _Red Lady_ (dead)


----------



## Morrow (Jan 27, 2007)

*Session 25B and 26A – Porphyry House Horror*

As Sully’s falchion went flying from her hand she wondered how things had gone so wrong.  It was supposed to be an easy job.  After killing the gnome enchanter Mentirre Aboir and thwarting his plan to take over Freeport’s criminal gangs, Tavaari had taken over the production of white smoke, the drug that had been central to Aboir’s plan.  In order to distribute the drug Tavaari had allied with Kedward Bone, a local drug lord.  When Bone had come to Tavaari with reports of a dangerous new drug being produced in a local brothel it was an easy sell.  Porphery House was importing components from the Abyss.  Whatever they were up to had to be very, very bad.  So Nate and Sully agreed to help Tavaari kill them and take their stuff.  It would also mean a sizable pay-off from Kedward Bone, who was willing to pay handsomely to remove potential competition.  

Bronson was busy with his own interests.  Apparently the cracked clay jar that the party had retrieved from the _Red Lady _was actually the remains of the phylactery of a destroyed lich.  The egomaniac had carved his life's story on the outside of the phylactery.  It might keep Bronson distracted for weeks.

Things first started to go wrong after Nate used his _lyre of building_ to dig a tunnel into Porphyry House in the middle of the day.  A daring, daylight raid- they wouldn’t expect it.  The party entered a large, lavishly decorated hall containing several heated baths and scattered with comfortable cushions and rugs.  Tavaari quickly discovered that the doors out of the room were fitted with truly amazing locks, beyond his ability to bypass.  

As the partied argued how to proceed.  The heard the sound of approaching guards.  Soon they were involved in a heated battle with human and elven guards.  Tavaari had used a _grease_ spell to delay some guards and an approaching stone golem and had locked the door against them, but more guards had entered through another door.

The lightly armored guards proved little challenge.  However, they were accompanied by skilled warriors wearing elaborate ceremonial full plate that revealed as much skin as it covered and alabaster masks with the faces of beautiful men and women.  They wielded their gleaming halberds with considerable skill.  They swarmed over Sully and one even succeeded in knocking her sword from her hand.  Perhaps worse still, they were supported by a female spellcaster whose undulating serpentine dancing inspired the warriors to greater feats of prowess, and who harried the party with spells.  Her enchantments held Jack paralyzed and had deafened Tavaari.

As Sully attempted to avoid a rain of blows and retrieve her weapon, Bronson arrived.  He and Queg climbed up through Nate’s tunnel and joined the battle.  Queg unleashed a rain of arrows.  Bronson cast a spell, causing the water in all of the pools to raise into the air, and then rush across the floor.  Many people, both friend and foe were knocked to the ground by the rush of water.  Jack, still paralyzed and unable to stop himself, was knocked face first to the floor.  Sully stepped on her blade before it could be washed away and held her footing even as several of her opponents fell.

"I started to feel guilty for leaving you to do this without me," explained the cleric.  "I'll help you get rid of this new drug and shut down the brothel, but Kedward Bone is a really bad guy.  I'm not comfortable helping him."  In the midst of battle, the party was in no position to argue Bronson's point.

Bronson raised his holy symbol and called forth divine power against any undead in the area.  To his surprise there was a shriek from the balcony overlooking the hall.  His eyes caught a scantily clad figure hiding watching the battle.  She must have been an inhuman beauty once, but now her flawless skin and batlike wings were rotted an decayed.  Her once lustrous hair was dull and brittle and her eye sockets swarmed with beetles and maggots.  She stood frozen, fully under Bronson’s control.

The tide seemed to turn.  Jack shook off the enchantment pining his limbs and regained his feet.  Sully retrieved her blade.  Nate struck down a warrior and Tavaari called forth a _fireball_.

More opponents joined the fray.  Four lightly armored archers entered the balcony followed by a creature that looked like a large serpent with two burly, humanoid arms.  Its eyes betrayed fiendish intelligence and it wore spiked armor and bore a large, wicked looking falchion.  The archers fired a volley of arrows.  Tavaari responded by conjuring a pool of grease at their feet, sending several stumbling to the floor.  Sully struck down a pair of her opponents as her companions moved to aid her.  Queg fired another volley of arrows.  The normally taciturn ranger cried, “Beware, they’re Yuan-ti!”

Most of the party knew little of the Yuan-ti, an unholy amalgamation of human and serpent, but Nate had heard of them.  Some said that they were the result of interbreeding between humans and serpent folk, the Valossans, in the ages past.  In any event they were vile creatures, many of whom looked enough like humans and elves to disguise themselves and move about undetected.  As Nate mused an immense viper joined the Yuan-ti on the balcony.  It possessed a dragon-like head with a narrow snout and great wings tipped with small clawed hands.  Its long fangs dripped with poison.

Bronson called down a column of holy flame on the balcony, killing several of the archers and severely burning their leader and the great viper.  The others continued to battle the heavily armored warriors, killing several of them.

The great viper glided from balcony to floor and breathed, unleashing a great acidic cloud which filled a large portion of the room, burning friend and foe alike.  The Yuan-ti abomination cast a spell and climbed from the balcony to floor, drawing his massive blade.  Miranda responded by calling down an _ice storm_.  The cold and crushing hail struck down several Yuan-ti warriors and the great viper.  

The party let out a cheer.  In short order they struck down the female spellcaster and the last of the warriors.  They turned their full attention to the snakelike Yuan-ti abomination.  It succeeded in doing considerable damage to Sully with its falchion.  She gave as good as she got, ably assisted by Tavaari, who reappeared from _invisibility_ at an opportune moment to fire a trio of _scorching rays_, catching the unprepared Yuan-ti in a vulnerable spot.  The abomination soon fell.

The companions stopped to catch their breath, standing in ankle deep water clouded with their own blood and the black blood of their foes.  They listed to the stone golem outside the room as it pounded rhythmically on the stone door that separated them.  Wordlessly they collected the equipment of their fallen foes and exited through the tunnel.

Supporting Cast

Mentirre Aboir - Gnome enchanter (dead)
Kedward Bone - Wizard, diabolist, and drug lord
Wilarue - Undead succubus


----------



## Morrow (Feb 10, 2007)

*Session 26B and 27A – Porphyry House Horror*

Wilarue the undead succubus proved a valuable, if reluctant, informant.  The Yuan-ti of Porphyry House were lead by a halfblood named Wulvera.  She had developed demon’s breath, a drug which temporarily turned those who took it into murderous half-fiends.  Porphyry House was scheduled to hold an invitation only orgy in a few days.  Wulvera intended to sacrifice her guests to her demonic patron and use the resulting energy, combined with the drug, to turn everyone in Freeport permanently into fiendish creatures.

Bronson argued not only that the Yuan-ti of Porphyry House must be destroyed, but that no information or samples of the drug should be turned over to Kedward Bone.  Such was Bronson’s antipathy for the drug lord that he managed to sway the party toward turning on the wizard and eliminating him once the Yuan-ti have been dealt with.

Wilarue revealed that in addition to the Yuan-ti guards, most of whom the party had killed, Porphyry House was guarded by stone golems and several demons, including ape-like Bar-Lgura, a demonic construct called a Retriever, and an Orlath demon named Arathanthus.  The forces of Porphyry House were lead by Wulvera and three Yuan-ti abomination clerics, one of which the party had already killed.  

Wilarue did not rate the party’s chances of success very highly, assuring them repeatedly that they would die horribly.  She admitted that Arathantus was probably even now _scrying_ on the group.  If the party did not strike soon the Yuan-ti and demon’s would undoubtedly bring the fight to them.

Under close examination the succubus revealed that there was a back door to Porphyry House, a tunnel that lead out in a small cove north of Freeport.  The party rested, prepared, and the next morning set out in search of the tunnel.  With Wilarue’s help they found it, carefully disguised by an _illusionary wall_.  Little was said as the party grimly stepped through the wall and into the dark tunnel beyond.

The tunnel ran for nearly a mile before Wilarue motioned Tavaari, in the lead, to stop.  “Go no further,” she explained, “The secret door is here.  Further down the tunnel are a series of deadly traps.”

Wilarue lead them to a huge dark chamber, its opposite end obscured in shadow.  Close at hand an iron spiral staircase climbed up beyond their light.  “Here it begins,” said Wilarue, pleasure evident in her voice.  

Out of the darkness stepped an enormous metal spider, twice as tall as a human, its forelegs ending in massive cleavers.  Four bulbous eyes, malevolent gleam in each one, rose out of its carapace.  Flanking it were a pair of ape-like demons with blood red fir and gleaming fangs.

Tavaari called forth a _fireball_.  The retriever stood unmoving, letting the flames wash over its metallic hide.  The Bar-Lgura dodged nimbly aside.  They appeared quite agile and somewhat resistant to flame.  They blinked out, one reappearing right next to Tavaari and quickly tearing into him with its wicked claws.  The other did not reappear.  Bronson spoke a few words of power and made a decisive gesture and the Retriver disappeared, _dismissed_ back to its native plane.  The party let out a sigh of relief.  Left alone, the remaining Bar-Lgura did not last long.

The party soon found a stairway leading deep into the bowels of the earth.  The walls and stairs were slick with slime.  Nate, Bronson, Tavaari, and Miranda drank potions of _spider climb_ while Sully and Queg were enchanted with the ability to _fly_.  Only Jack was left to make his way down the treacherous steps unaided.  His superb balance served him well as he made the treacherous journey down, down, down.

*	*	*	*	*​
At the bottom of the stairs the party found an immense cavern carved to mimic a cathedral.  The walls and ceiling were inlaid with porphyry tiles and festooned with crude fetishes.  The floor was hidden by tick algae-choked water.  A low island dominated the center of the chamber.  A trio of Yuan-ti abominations stood before a gore splattered altar in the shadow of an immense statue of a two headed tentacled monster.  Two of the abominations were armed and armored like the one the party had battled the day before.  The final abomination wore no armor and carried only a longbow.  His head, arms, and chest were covered with a network of fresh scars and his coloration and features were disturbingly similar to the cleric who had fallen to Sully’s blade the day before.

Lurking behind the statue were a trio of apelike Bar-Lgura.  Floating nearby wise a heavily scaled female half-blood Yuan-ti, wearing a diaphanous gown and clearly armed with powerful magic.  Three gemstones floated lazily in the air around her head and she bore a wiked looking scimitar in one hand.  This was Wulvera.

The party moved to attack, but they had hardly advanced into the room when Arathanthus rose from the his hiding place beneath the water.  The Orlath demon was a great slug-like creature with eight arms grasping deadly blades and two undulating necks topped with the heads of apes.  As he rose into view, dripping slime and foul water he spoke a single word.  It was not in any language any of them understood, but the _blasphemous_ utterance shook them to the core, leaving them dazed and weak.  Jack found himself completely unable to move.

Nate, who clung to the ceiling outside the range of Arathanthus’ magic, moved to draw fire away from his allies.  He succeeded, perhaps too well, weathering a withering series of spells and arrows from the abomination clerics.  Only his keen reflexes and the forethought that had inspired him to imbibe a potion of _protection from arrows_ before the battle protected him from grievous wounds.

Sully, dazed but still able to defend herself, attempted to ward off a series of blows from Arathanthus.  Wulvera moved to touch Bronson, draining his health and vitality.

The party came to their senses and sprang into action.  Sully went head to head with Arathanthus, striking mighty blows against the demon while dodging a rain of steel from his many blades.  The orlath demon was further bolstered by one of the abomination clerics who stayed nearby healing his wounds.

Tavaari was momentarily _held_, but overcame the Yuan-ti’s enchantment and responded by blanketing the field with _fireballs_ and _scorching rays_.  Nate provided support, skittering along the ceiling and harrying his opponents.

Bronson survived a brutal attack from the Yuan-ti’s halfblood leader, Wulvera, and responded with an effective series of attacks of his own, battering Wulvera and Arathanthus with a _flame strike_.

Queg ably assisted Sully against Arathanthus, skewering the orlath demon with his harpoon.  Thereafter he turned his attention to the abomination clerics, raining arrows down upon the field of battle, but had difficulty piercing their thick hide and armor.

Wilarue proved a potent ally, _charming_ two of the Bar-Lguras, effectively removing them from the battle, and even making a devastating series of attacks against one of the abomination clerics with her claws.  Miranda, too, truly proved her worth.  Her _haste_ spell proved decisive, and a well timed _ice storm_ successfully drove off the last Bar-Lgura and scattered the abomination clerics.

Soon Sully shook off the weakness caused by Arathanthus’ _blasphemy_ spell and struck him down.  Wulvera chose Sully’s moment of distraction to strike her from behind.  When her desperate ploy failed Wulvera herself fell beneath Sully’s blade.

One of the abomination clerics, separated from his fellows by Miranda’s _ice storm_ and harried by Tavaari’s _scorching rays_attempted to _dispel_ the rogue’s _spider climb_ and bring him within reach.  Ironically, the _dispelling_ removed Tavaari’s _protection from evil_ abjuration, but had no effect on the magic allowing the half-elf to cling to the ceiling.  With Tavaari firmly out of reach and most of his ranged attacks expended the abomination cleric ultimately fell to the rogue’s attacks.

The abomination cleric which had supported Arathanthus decided to neutralize the threat posed by Sully’s brutal attack.  He used his psionic power on the warrior to create in her mind a potent aversion to serpents in general and Yuan-ti in particular.  Sully found herself unable to approach her foes.  The cleric may have underestimated Sully’s companions, however.  Immediately after removing her from the battle field he was nearly felled by Bronson’s _slay living_ spell.  While the abomination survived the potent magical attack he was considerably weakened, and soon fell to the concerted attacks of the rest of the party.

Bronson and Tavaari lead the charge against the final Yuan-ti.  Tavaari imbibed a _potion of fly_ and moved to attack.  Unfortunately his tactic brought him close enough for the Yuan-ti to use his natural _baleful polymorph_ ability.  Tavaari was unable to resist the potent ability and was instantly turned into a serpent.  Determined to end the battle Bronson cast one of the most potent spells in his arsenal, _harm_.  The cleric leapt from the ceiling overhead and landed squarely on the Yuan-ti cleric.  Upon contact the spell snuffed out the abomination's life.

The party paused, silently peering through the shadows of the unholy cavern, not quite believing that all of their foes had been defeated.  What god had smiled upon them this day, to lead them to victory in such an awful place?

Bronson quickly retrieved serpent-Tavaari and used a _break enchantment_ spell to return him to his natural form.  When they pulled Jack from the water his legs were covered with tiny snake bites and he had begun to swell from the venom.  He would live, but he would be very sick.  The party gathered the treasures of their fallen foes, picked up their fallen companion, and began the long trek back to the surface. 


Supporting Cast

Arathanthus – Orlath demon (dead)
Wilarue - Undead succubus
Wulvera – Halfblood yuan-ti bard, Thrall of Demogorgon (dead)


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## Morrow (Apr 11, 2007)

*Crisis in Freeport and the Ball*

_I've fallen behind on the Story Hour, and in the interest of catching up and being able to provide some kind of recap for Tavaari's player, who has missed two sessions in a row, this edition of Swashbuckling in Freeport Returns will be provided in bullet point format._


The Captain’s Council announced that they were repealing the law of succession which required the Sea Lord to be of the Drac bloodline.  Many people perceived this as a blatant power grab, particularly supporters of Drak Sockit, the illegitimate half-orc son of the last Sea Lord.

The resulting riots lead to considerable death and destruction, including the death of Xander Williams, the head of the Sea Lord’s Guard.  The Cutthroats criminal gang took over the Temple of Shalimyr, God of the Sea.  Many clerics were killed before the high priestess,  Lorilee, killed or drove off all the gang members.  She then predicted that Shalimyr would send a storm to punish Freeport for the death of his chosen followers.

The PCs sat out the riot.

After the riot the PCs were approached by Marcus Roberts, member of the Captain’s Council and father of Nifur Roberts, a crewmember of the _Albers_.  He explained that Elise Grossette, another member of the Council and a major force behind the repeal of the law of succession, had been kidnapped during the riots.  He suspected Drak Sockit (angry about the repeal of the law) and Arias Soderheim (another member of the Council and Grossette’s biggest competition for the position of Sea Lord).

The PCs soon determined that the kidnapping had been carried out by Captain Althea Sharpe and the crew of _The Knife_.

Bronson, having met Lady Grossette before, _scryed _ on her.  He and Miranda used _teleport _ spells to retrieve Lady Grossette without confronting the crew of _The Knife_.

With evidence that Arias Soderheim had planned the kidnapping in hand, Marcus Robert called a public meeting of the Captain’s Council.  Soderheim did not attend.  While Marcus Roberts presented the case against Soderheim, it was Marilese Maeorgan who truly took charge and convinced her fellow councilors to order Soderheim’s arrest and trial for his crimes.

The PCs saved the council from an attempted assassination carried out by a group of Bodaks, extremely dangerous undead whose gaze means death.  While the Council was saved, nearly a hundred people were killed as the Bodaks rampaged through the crowd.  Bronson determined that it would take someone very powerful to force the Bodaks to attack during the day since sunlight burns their unholy flesh.  The bodies of the fallen were quickly collected and burned by clerics of Mormekar, God of the Dead, to prevent them from rising as Bodaks themselves.

The next day the PCs attended a Ball held by the Captain’s Council to honor the Heroes of the Battle of Pramas Deep, those who had served with distinction against the Thonian Navy.

On the way to the Ball, Nate and Sully were ambushed by a trio of Chain Devils.  While the heroes dispatched the devils fairly easily, they were disturbed when the devils took on the faces of Sully’s lost love, Bonny Bill, who lamented that she had not attempted to return him to life, and Nate’s father, Horatio Blackthorne, who castigated Nate for failing to avenge his death.

At the Ball Bronson danced with a young woman named Tora Irontooth.  She was interested in his arguments that as oppressed peoples the undead and orcs of Freeport were natural allies.  She was so enamored of the cleric that she didn’t even notice when he clumsily stepped on her feet.

Nate flirted shamelessly with the young women.  In a moment of rare insight he recognized that all of Nifur Robert’s peers had married and had children since she joined the crew of the _Albers_.  Furthermore, while the young women were fascinated by Nifur’s stories of piracy and adventure, they were also afraid of her.

Sully danced with Drak Sockit, taking particular care to be seen by her former paramour, Buster Wallace and his young wife, Margaret Roth.

Tavaari met Arla Fairwind, another child of Lorrem Erendyl.  Arla revealed that Lorrem had illegitimate children scattered across the known world.  Tavaari was, in fact, the third half-sibling she had met.  Arla further revealed that she and her companions had come to Freeport hunting a group of followers of the Unspeakable One, whom they defeated in a battle at the Freeport Opera House.

Buster Wallace announced that the Captain’s Council had chosen a new Sea Lord, Marilese Maeorgan.  Further, Lady Marilese announced that the Council had chosen another member to fill the seat vacated by the death of Captain Hector Torian.  Henceforth, Drak Sockit would represent the interests of the orcish citizens of Freeport.

Marcus Roberts offered Sully the Privateer Seat on the Council, which was due to become vacant in three months when Xavier Gordon stepped down.

Roberts also revealed that neither the Sea Lord’s guard, nor the diviners in the Council’s employ could find any sign of Soderheim and he was believed to have fled the city.  Divinations had been able to confirm that _The Knife_ was on its way to the island of Haven.  He stated that the Council would be very grateful if the PCs should choose to bring Captain Sharpe and her crew to justice.

The PCs were honored as Heroes of the Battle of Pramas Deep.  Many others were recognized, including: Captan Scarbelly, Drak Sockit, Alra Fairwind, Morgan Baumann, Elina Mere, Tessa Corwyn, and Morgan Erendyl.  In addition, the four PCs were singled out for their repeated efforts on behalf of the city of Freeport and named Defenders of Freeport.

Following the Ball the PCs joined the public celebration of Swagfest, which happened to be on the same day.  There they discovered that their deeds had become public knowledge, raising the profile in the city considerably.

The next morning a great storm struck Freeport.  For three days the city endured the wrath of the Sea God.  The Temple of Aster provided shelter for many people with nowhere else to go.  


And when the storm was over…


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## Morrow (Apr 11, 2007)

*The Weavers prelude*

Sully and Nate had never seen the Temple of Aster so busy.  As he lead them to his study Bronson explained that the temple had provided shelter for dozens of people during the storm.  That act of charity coupled with temple’s higher profile since the Ball had caused a new wave of interest in Aster’s teachings among the citizens of Freeport.  Upon reaching the study the trio began to discuss whether they should follow _The Knife_ to Haven.  In addition to the possibility of catching Soderheim, Nate suggested that the trip would provide an opportunity for Bronson to visit his family in Cauldron.

Bronson’s assistant, Elias, entered the room and explained that there was a man at the temple asking for Nate.  At first the trio didn’t recognize the man that Elias ushered into the room.  His hair and beard were greasy and lifeless and his skin was ashen and pulled tight across the bones of his face.  He looked like he hadn’t eaten in a month.  “Cobb?” asked Nate, “What happened to you?”

Horatio Blackthorne was a captain in the Thonian Navy before he was framed for piracy and treason.  Captain Blackthorne and his crew were hanged and his son, Nate, was sold into slavery.  Galen Cobb was one of only two members of Horatio Blackthorne’s crew to escape.  Cobb had helped the group before, even helping to rescue them when they were captured by the pirate captain Morgan Bauman, but Nate hadn’t seen him in over a year.

Bronson had Elias bring food and drink for Cobb, but he just pushed it away.  “It will only make me sick.  Everything tastes like ashes.”

“What do you need, Cobb?” asked Nate.

“For a while now I’ve been working for a man named Antobury.  He’s an odd fellow, collects spiders.  He has turned his house into a museum.  I help him find and purchase specimens.  This morning I brought him something that he didn’t like at all, a big red and black spider.  A while back I mentioned that I knew you, bragged about it really.  He said that we needed your kind of help, that I should find you as fast as I could.”

The trio questioned Cobb, but he didn’t know anything more.  They quickly decided to speak to Antobury and, after collecting Miranda and Queg, made their way to the Eastern District.


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## Morrow (Apr 11, 2007)

*Nate Black*

*Nate Black*
Male half-elf bard 7/ Freeport Pirate 5
CN medium humanoid
*Init* +3; *Senses * Listen -1, Spot -1
*Languages * Common, Elven, Orc
*AC * 26, touch 19, flat-footed 17; Dodge
*hp * 66
*Fort * +4, *Ref * +13, *Will * +4
*Speed * 30 ft.
*Melee * “Corsair’s Cutlass” +17/+12 (1d6+2/17-20 +1d6 shock)
*Ranged * pistols +15/+10 (1d10/x3)
*Atk Options * Press Gang Thwack, Life is Cheap
*Base Atk* +10; *Grp * +11
*Combat Gear * _three potions of cure light wounds, potion of cat’s grace, potion of spider climb, potion of water breathing, wand of cure moderate wounds_ (27 charges)
*Spells Known * (CL 7th)
3rd- _glibness, major image_
2nd- _alter self, cat’s grace, detect thoughts_
1st- _cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, inspirational boost, Tasha’s hideous laughter_
0- _daze, detect magic, know direction, lullaby, message, read magic_
*Abilities * Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 7, Cha 20
*SQ * bardic knowledge (+10), bardic music (countersong, _fascinate_, inspire competence, inspire courage, _suggestion_), sea legs, reckless abandon, rope monkey, animal companion, half-elf racial traits.
*SA * spells, press gang thwack, life is cheap.
*Feats * Dodge, Greater Weapon Focus (cutlass)B, Leadership, Martial Weapon Proficiency (cutlass), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (cutlass)
*Skills* Bluff +10, Climb +6, Concentration +3, Decipher Script +2, Diplomacy +12, Handle Animal +6, Jump +8, Knowledge (nature) +3, Knowledge (history) +6, Perform (stringed instruments) +16, Perform (vocal) +19, Profession (sailor) +12, Sleight of Hand +6, Spellcraft +2, Swim +5, Tumble +16, Use Magic Device +12, Use Rope +11.
*Possessions * combat gear, _bracers of armor +5, amulet of natural armor +2, cape of the mountebank_, “Sea Dog’s Fiddle” (+2 circumstance bonus to Perform (stringed instruments), +2 competence bonus on countersong, _fascinate_, and _suggestion_, cast _animate rope, whispering wind_, and _jig of the waves _ each 1/day), “Corsair’s Cutlass” (_keen shock cutlass +1_, ignores half hardness of objects), "Slave Driver" (_whip +1_, _daze _ 5/day, +2 circumstance bonus to climb and tumble), _earring of the sirens _ (as _pearl of the sirens_), _lyre of building, deep red sphere ioun stone _ (+2 Dex), _pink and green sphere ioun stone _ (+2 Cha), two masterwork pistols, powder and shot, traveler’s outfit, dagger, medals (“Order of Drac,” “Hero of the Battle of Pramas Deep,” and “Defender of Freeport”).

_Nate Black is an unusually small young man (4’9”, 112 lbs., 24 years old).  His slight stature can cause his opponents to underestimate him.  He has black hair and brown eyes.  He wears no armor and a flamboyant blue cape.  A pair of magical gemstones orbit his head, and the small monkey that is often perched on his shoulder bats at them playfully.  He is never without his cutlass and a pair of pistols._


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## Morrow (Apr 11, 2007)

*Catherine Sullivan*

*One Eyed Cate Sullivan*
Female human fighter 12
CN medium humanoid
*Init * +3; *Senses * Listen +0, Spot +0
*Languages * Common, Halfling
*AC * 22, touch 14, flat-footed 19; Dodge, Mobility
*hp * 125
*Fort * +11, *Ref * +8, *Will * +7
*Speed * 40 ft.; Spring Attack
*Melee * "Snow on the Mountain" +20/+15/+10 (2d4+9/15-20 +1d6 frost)
*Atk Options * Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Whirlwind Attack
*Base * Atk +12; Grp +17
*Combat Gear * _two potions of bull’s strength, three potions of cure light wounds, two potions of cure moderate wounds, potion of enlarge person, potion of hide from undead, potion of protection from evil, potion of spider climb_, three vials of acid.
*Abilities * Str 20, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 14
*Feats * Combat Expertise, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (falchion), Iron Will, Leadership, Mobility, Power Attack, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus (falchion), Whirlwind Attack.
*Skills * Climb +9, Diplomacy +8, Intimidate +6, Jump +17, Profession (sailor) +6, Swim +8, Tumble +10, Use Rope +4.
*Possessions * combat gear, _glamered mithril chain shirt +2, dusty rose prism ioun stone_ (+1 AC), _vest of resistance +1, demontainted ring of protection +2, gauntlets of ogre power, heward’s handy haversack_, “Snow on the Mountain” (_holy surge frost falchion +2_), _boots of striding and springing_, “Acheron” (_folding boat_), _jade parrot_ (as _figurine of wondrous power – silver raven_), _amulet of health +2_, belt pouch, shark bracelet, extensive wardrobe, medals (“Order of Drac,” “Hero of the Battle of Pramas Deep,” and “Defender of Freeport”).

_Catherine Sullivan is a beautiful young woman with blue eyes and brown hair.  While only 23, in the six years of her adventuring career she has seen more battles than most veterans ever dream.  While not unusually tall (5’5”, 130 lbs.), she towers over her constant companion, Nate Black.  She appears to wear no armor, her glamered chain shirt taking on the form of an ever changing array of brightly colored, and often daring, blouses.  A single magical gemstone orbits her head, and she is never without her beautifully crafted falchion.  Her empty left eye socket is covered by a garishly bejeweled eye patch.  Her light hearted and flirtatious manner hides an affinity for command and a thirst for vengeance._


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## Morrow (Apr 12, 2007)

*Miranda Swallows*

*Miranda Swallows*
Female human wizard 9
CN medium humanoid
*Init * +2; *Senses * Listen +1, Spot +1
*Languages * Common, Draconic, Abyssal, Elvish, Infernal
*AC * 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16
*hp * 38
*Fort * +6, *Ref * +7, *Will * +9
*Speed * 30 ft.
*Melee * quarterstaff +5 (1d6+1)
*Ranged * sling +7 (1d4)
*Base * Atk +4; Grp +4
*Combat Gear * _three potions of cure light wounds, potion of cat's grace, potion of protection from evil, potion of remove disease, scroll of charm person, scroll of flaming sphere, scroll of rope trick, ring of ram_ (50 charges), _wand of magic missile_ (12 charges), _wand of ray of enfeeblement _(20 charges), _wand of shield _(22 charges), four vials of acid.
*Spells Prepared*  (CL 9th; spell failure 10%)
5th- _cone of cold, dominate person_
4th- _bestow curse, ice storm, shout_
3rd- _fireball, fly, haste_ (x2)
2nd- _black karma curse, bull's strength, scorching ray_ (x2), _touch of idocy_
1st- _animate rope, feather fall, magic missile_ (x2), _ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp_
0- _detect magic, flare, resistance_ (x2)
*Abilities * Str 11, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 12
*Feats * Improved Familiar, Ship's Mage, Scribe ScrollB, Silent SpellB, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Focus (Evocation).
*Skills * Concentration +13, Decipher Script +14, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (history) +10, Profession (prostitute) +4, Profession (sailor) +6, Spellcraft +19, Swim +6, Tumble +6.
*Possessions * combat gear, mithral chain shirt, _quarterstaff +1, sling +1, headband of intellect +2, ring of protection +1, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +2, blessed spellbook_ (as _Boccob's Blessed Book_), spell component pouch, waterproof scroll case.

_Miranda is slight young woman (5'3", 120 lbs, 24 years old).  She has dark skin, black hair, and brown haunted eyes.  She tends to fade into the background around her more flamboyant companions, at least until she lets loose with a fireball.  Miranda never speaks about her past._


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## Morrow (Apr 22, 2007)

*Queg*

*Queg*
Male spell stitched bone half-orc ranger 8
N medium undead
*Init* +5; *Senses * Listen +1, Spot +12
*Languages * Abyssal, Common, Orc
*AC * 22, touch 15, flat-footed 17
*hp * 73; damage reduction 5/ bludgeoning and magic or silver
*Fort * +8, *Ref * +13, *Will * +5; spell resistance 9, immune to cold
*Speed * 30 ft.; swift tracker
*Melee * “Demogorgon's Tooth” +16/+11 (1d6+8/19-20 +1 vile)
or harpoon +15/+10 (1d10+10)
*Ranged * composite longbow +14/+9 (1d8+7/x3 + 1d6 fire); Rapid Shot
or harpoon +14 (1d10+7)
*Atk Options * Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
*Base Atk* +8; *Grp * +14
*Combat Gear * _oil of keen edge_ (x2)
*Spells Known * (CL 4th)
1st- _longstrider_
*Abilities * Str 22, Dex 21, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
*SQ * darkvision, wild empathy, +4 turn resistance, animal companion, woodland stride, swift tracker, spell-like abilities.
*SA * favored enemy (human +4, magical beast +2).
*Spell-like abilities * (CL 8th)
2nd- (4/day) _false life, melf's acid arrow_
1st- (4/day) _ray of enfeeblement, obscuring mist_
*Feats * enduranceB, exotic weapon proficiency (harpoon), manyshotB, point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shotB, trackB.
*Skills* Jump +11, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (geography) +11, Knowledge (nature) +10, Move Silently +8, Profession (sailor) +6, Spot +12, Survival +14, Swim +11, Use Rope +7.
*Possessions * combat gear, _studded leather armor +2, harpoon +1, flaming composite longbow +1_ (+6 Str), "Demogorgon's Tooth" (_vile scimitar +2_; weilder can speak Abyssal, casts _contagion _(Fort DC 14) when striking good creature), _golembane scarab, ring of turn resistance +2, mummy wrappings of ogre power, Quall's feather token (bird), quiver of Ehlonna_, traveler's clothes, silk rope (100 ft.), grappling hook, sextant, 275 arrows, vestments, platinum ring, spyglass.

_Queg is an imposing (6'7") half-orc skeleton.  His bones are carved with sailing scenes and arcane glyphs.  He often wears cloaks or robes to hide his form from casual observers.  He is taciturn  and rarely enters conversation.  While clever by orc standards, he is no great thinker.  He fights who he is told to fight and is content to let Bronson worry about the details._


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## Morrow (Apr 22, 2007)

*Bronson*

*Bronson*
male human cleric 11/ lich template class  1
N medium humanoid
*Init * +2; *Senses * Listen +8, Spot +8
*Languages * Common, Infernal, +1 more
*AC * 22, touch 8, flat-footed 17
*hp * 82
*Fort * +10, *Ref * +1, *Will * +13; resist cold 5, electricity 5
*Speed * 30 ft.
*Melee * damaging touch +9/+4 (1d6+5, DC 19 Will save for half; paralysis 1d4 rounds, DC 19 Fort save)
*Base Atk* +8; *Grp *+9
*Combat Gear * _two potions of cure moderate wounds, potion of protection from arrows, two potions of remove blindness/ deafness, potion of remove disease, potion of remove paralysis, wand of restoration_ (6 charges), _scroll of resurrection, scroll of revivify, scroll of searing light, dust of dryness_.
*Spells Prepared*  (CL 11th; travel and undeath domains)
6th- _mass cure moderate wounds, harm, find the path_
5th- _mass cure light wounds, flame strike, slay living, circle of death_
4th- _cure critical wounds, dismissal, restoration, summon monster iv, dimension door_
3rd- _cure serious wounds, prayer, searing light, water breathing, fly_
2nd- _cure moderate wounds, eagle's splendor, hold person, lesser restoration, shield other, silence, locate object_
1st- _bless, cure light wounds_ (x2), _divine favor, protection from evil_ (x2), _longstrider_
0- _cure minor wounds_ (x2), _detect magic_ (x2), _detect poison, read magic_
*Abilities * Str 12, Dex 6, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 19
*SQ* Freedom of movement (1 rnd/ level), lich skill bonuses
*SA* turn undead, spells, spontaneously cast _inflict_ spells, damaging touch, paralyzing touch
*Feats * craft wonderous item, extra turningB, improved initiative, improved turning, quicken turning, undead leadership.
*Skills * Concentration +17, Diplomacy +7, Heal +8, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (religion) +9, Profession (sailing) +7, Spellcraft +16, Survival +7.
*Possessions * combat gear, _mithral chain shirt +2, _"Lilith" (_mithral heavy shield +2_, grants use of Divine Shield feat), _ring of protection +2, gauntlets of ogre power, cloak of charisma +2, periapt of wisdom +4, phylactery of undead rebuking,  pearl of power_ (1st level), _Heward's handy haversack, nycoptic manuscripts, Quall's feather token (bird)_, spell component pouch, holy symbol, traveler's clothes, belt pouch, waterskin, flint and steel, vestments, platinum ring, courtier's outfit, 8 blocks of incense (for _divination_), diamond dust (for _restoration_), diamond (for _raise dead_), five black pearls (for _circle of death_), ointment (for _true seeing_), medals (“Order of Drac,” “Hero of the Battle of Pramas Deep,” and “Defender of Freeport”).

_Bronson is a young black man (28 years old, 6', 165 lbs.).  His hair and eyes are brown.  A pair of scales, Aster's holy symbol, is tatooed on his forehead._


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## Morrow (Jun 6, 2007)

*The Weavers*

Antobury proved to be quite the eccentric.  His mansion, on the border between Drac’s End and the Eastern District was decorated in a spider motif, from the wrought iron gates to the elaborate stained glass windows.  Nearly the entire interior was filled with a combination zoo and museum dedicated to all things arachnid.  The party took particular note of the display where a swarm of spiders crawled about a terrarium containing a scale model of Freeport.  They were disturbed by the Chwidencha, a large creature which appeared to consist of a multitude of spider legs coming together at a central point, with no discernable body where they met.  They were merely bemused by the massive camel-eating spider.  The desiccated carcasses of several horses and camels lay strewn about the huge arachnid’s cage.  “How did you get that in here?” Sully asked.

“When I purchased that specimen it was the size of a large dog, I merely kept feeding it,” Antobury explained cheerfully.

When the party reached Antobury’s study, he became grim.  He showed them the body of a red and black spider the size of a dinner plate, its abdomen cut open to reveal curious hollow within.  Antobury quickly explained that the hastendeath spider represented a particularly dangerous underdark menace.  The creatures were born pregnant, prepared to reproduce almost immediately after birth.  They poisoned their victim, and while the poor soul was unconscious crawled down his throat and laid their eggs in his stomach.  

Antobury explained that hastendeaths lived deep underground, sometimes cultivated by spider-like humanoids known as chitins.  The were completely unheard of on the surface.  However, this one had turned up somehow, and Antobury’s examination revealed that it had died only hours before, but only after laying its eggs.  “My friends,” Antobury exclaimed,” Freeport will soon face a terrible scourge.  Generations of hastendeaths will be born and lay their eggs within the plentiful and unsuspecting hosts available to them with days. The city would be overrun within weeks.”

The party accepted the task of tracking down the hastendeath’s victim.  They would begin their search with Bleary Grimlet, the fence who sold Cobb the dead Hastendeath.  Cobb agreed to  lead them to Grimlet’s home in the section of Scurvytown known as the Merry Tangle.

*	*	*	*	*​

When no one responded to Sully’s knocks, she merely knocked down the door.  Grimlet’s home was a stinking hole, the dim light from the smoking fireplace revealing broken furniture, plaster peeling from the walls, and two large quadrapeds with lupine builds, large draconic jaws, stunted wings, and long, thin tails.  The pair of drakes moved to attack the intruders, breathing a cloud of gas, the effects of which all combatants were able to resist.

Sully charged to the attack, her heavy blows met with vicious bites.  She was dismayed to discover that the drakes’ fangs were poisoned, slowing her reflexes and making her more vulnerable to their attacks.  Nate tumbled to her side and Queg skewered the closest drake with his harpoon.  The drakes gave as good as they got, and the battle may have proved a stalemate if not for Bronson and Miranda, whose magic drove the drakes back under a barrage of fireballs, magic missiles, and flame strikes.

The battle seemed nearly won when a figure appeared on the stairs leading to the second floor and began peppering the combatants with a hail of crossbow fire.  Bleary Grimlet was a shockingly ugly man, hairy, stoop shouldered and club footed.  As Nate ran after him, cutlass held high, Grimlet retreated up the stairs.  Nate reached the landing at a run, and barely felt the tripwire brush his ankles, but he definitely felt it when a cauldron of acid dumped out of a hidden hollow in the ceiling above, burning away clothes and skin and leaving his body horribly burned.  As the rest of the party finished off the drakes Bronson rushed to Nate’s side.  After the cleric healed the worst of Nate’s wounds, they to the second floor.

The pair found a cluttered workshop.  There was no sign of Grimlet, but no obvious route of escape.  They paused and Bronson explained to the empty room their quest to find where the source of the spider.  Grimlet, invisible and furious, pressed a knife into the cleric’s back, threatening to kill him in revenge for the death of his pets.  The pair, exasperated that Grimlet had chosen to fight rather than talk in the first place explained their situation and inquired if Grimlet felt sick.  After much negotiation Grimlet offered that he felt fine, he was fencing the spider for a local crimelord named Hamfist.  The spider had died in his care, leaving Grimlet unable to acquire the price Hamfist expected.  Grimlet was terrified for his life, seeing assassins sent by his employer in every shadow and whispering that Hamfist was a cannibal.

Hamfist was a chirurgerist and physician operating in the Tangle, and the party had little trouble finding his small shop.  They were mistrustful of the somewhat frail, wild eyed old man with the air of power and authority.  They respectfully explained their quest and requested the old man’s assistance.  Once it became clear that they were not seeking a refund, Hamfist relaxed and, expertly sizing them up, admitted that he had acquired the spider from K’Karsh, the sorcerous leader of the band of kenku bird-men known as the Collectors.  When questioned whether the spider might have bitten him, Hamfist replied disdainfully that he had little to fear from such threats.

Unable to fully explain the source of their disquiet, but seeing no reason to disbelieve the old man, the party followed his directions to The Rigg, an old tower at the far eastern end of Scurvytown that housed the Kenku Collectors.  The Rigg, once a lighthouse, but now an abandoned tower slowly sinking into the mud of the shoreline had no windows and thick wooden walls.  The party climbed the stairs circling the tower, entered the cupola at its head, and examined the trapdoor leading into the interior of the tower.  The interior of the cupola was filthy with bird droppings and foul graffiti warning away intruders.

Sully pounded on the trapdoor and was met with birdlike squawking and harsh voices instructing them to go away.  She threw open the door and peered down into the tower by the light from Bronson’s holy symbol.  The tower was entirely hollow, with only a series of platforms, bridges, to stop a fall from the trapdoor all the way to the water filled base eighty feet below.  She could make out several bird faced feathered humanoids, kenku, within.  The kenku responded to her intrusion with a hail of crossbow fire.  

The party advanced, Sully and Nate swinging and balancing from bridge to platform to draw closer to their attackers, Miranda and Bronson _flying_, and Queg remaining at the trapdoor, firing flaming arrows down into the darkness.  The kenku defended their home fiercely, scampering along ropes strung from one platform to the next, even leaping out over open air to gain better position to fire volley after volley of crossbow bolts against the intruders.  However, the outcome was never in doubt.  The party had to kill a few of the kenku before the others grudgingly surrendered.

One of the kenku grudgingly answered their question.  Yes, their leader, K’Karsh had recently acquired a strange spider in the underdark.  Yes, he had subsequently sold it to a fence.  Soon thereafter K’Karsh had began to feel ill and had _teleported_ back to where he had found the spider in the hopes of discovering the cause.  The kenku further explained that the tunnels K’Karsh had been exploring were beneath the Standing Tombs.

The party quickly left The Rigg and made their way to the docks.  Nate had heard of The Standing Tombs.  Early in Freeport’s history, before they began cremating their dead, they had buried them in a long tunnel dug into a cliff face a few miles up the coast from the city.  In order to save space the bodies had been placed standing up in shallow alcoves.  The tombs had been the responsibility of the temple of Mormekar, until a great earthquake had collapsed part of the tunnel and forced the site to be abandoned.  After that the clerics of Mormekar had relocated, building a crematorium on an atoll in Freeport harbor.

It was quite late by the time the _Albers_ reached The Standing Tombs.  The party slept until morning then took the ship’s boat ashore, landing at an old but still sturdy dock.  Cobb only accompanied the party as far as the entrance to the Tombs, a great stone door in the cliff face.  They found the door slightly ajar, and Queg found tracks, both leading into the tombs and back out again.  Those leading out again headed back toward Freeport.

The party advanced down the long tunnel, in the light from Bronson’s holy symbol they saw cracked walls and floors, and bodies thrown from their alcoves by that long ago earthquake.  Bronson pragmatically animated several of the fallen bodies, gathering a force of skeletal minions to accompany the party deeper into the tombs.

They had not advanced far before they came to a great natural cavern formed when a great rift had opened in the earth, completely severing one side of the tunnel from the other.  The walls and floors of the chamber were covered in great ropy webs and a funnel shaped web spiraled down into the rift beyond the edge of the light.  On the floor of the tunnel on the other side of the rift they saw several human sized web bundles.  

The had no time to examine the chamber further a dreadful buzzing began to echo off the chamber walls.  It came from all about them, as much the babbling of tongueless madmen as the product of any terrestrial insect.  Previously unseen shapes began to move amongst the webs hidely the cavern walls.  Queg spotted one of the demons first, a vaguely ant shaped creature the size of a small wolf, yet its numerous spindly legs spread nearly six feet across.  Its head is a horrible mash of skull-like shapes melted together in one shapeless blob and studded with more than a dozen black eyes.  Vertical mandibles gnash in this face and three pairs of membranous wings sprout from its thorax.  Its body trails off into a mass of writhing tails, each tipped with an upward-curving stinger protruding from a distended bulge.  The undead ranger barely had time to yell a warning before they leapt into the air, nine insectile demons hovering and lunging, plunging their stingers into their victims and then darting away before returning again from another direction.  

Miranda began to shriek, batting at bugs in her hair and clothes that only she could see.  Queg fired his bow at one of the darting creatures while the others drew their blades and attempted to defend themselves against their unnatural foes.  Each time a stinger struck, moments later the demons victim was retching in nausea and pain as implanted eggs hatched under their skin and ravenous grubs gnawed their way out of their victims flesh, squirming free to land on the stone floor of the cavern.

Queg proved largely immune to the creature’s attacks, but his blows and the blows of his companions had little effect.  The warped demon insects proved largely resistant to blade and flame, and any wounds they did sustain quickly healed.  One of Bronson’s new skeletal followers did manage to grapple one of the demons, and while still clutching its wildly squirming captive stepped off the ledge and fell down out of sight.  And as if the falling figures had been a signal something huge shifted in the darkness of the crevice just beyond the light of Bronson’s holy symbol.  It was a great demonic spider, its legs clattering against the stone as it crawled out of the crevice and into the light, its mandibles dripping poison.

“Bebilith!  A big one!” called Miranda still trying to cast spells while slapping at unseen insects.

Sully sprang into action, lifting her blade high as she charged the spider even as it climbed over the edge and into the chamber.  Her blade bit deep, but she received a vicious bight in return, the Bebilith’s poison pumping into her veins.  She felt her muscles weaken, and dodged aside as the demon’s claws attempted to gain purchase on her armor to rip it asunder.

The smaller demons continued their attack, buzzing in amongst the combatants and away again, always staying out of the Bebilith’s reach.  Sully and the spider continued to trade blows.  Bronson yelled prayers in a strong confident voice calling down columns of divine flame to char his enemies.  Nate’s cutlass flashed, and burning arrows streaked from Queg’s bow.  Miranda called forth _scorching rays_ and _magic missiles_.  Soon the Bebilith fell, cracking the stones beneath its immense bulk.  At that moment, as one, the remaining insect demons came together in a swarm in the center of the cavern and streaked down into the darkness from which the Bebilith had come.


----------



## Morrow (Jun 10, 2007)

*Tavaari Knaldren*

*Tavaari Knaldren*
Male half-elf rogue 6/ sorcerer 6
CN medium humanoid
*Init* +9; *Senses * Listen +3, Spot +3; low-light vision
*Languages * Common, Elven, Sylvan
*AC * 24, touch 16, flat-footed 23
*hp * 60
*Fort * +6, *Ref * +12, *Will * +8
*Speed * 30 ft.
*Melee * “Jenny’s Hatpin” +15/+10 (1d6+4/15-20) or
   “Jenny’s Hatpin” +13/+8 (1d6+4/15-20) and
   adamantine dagger +11 (1d4+2/ 19-20 x2)
*Ranged * hand crossbow +13 (1d4+1/19-20 x2)
*Atk Options * sneak attack +3d6
*Base Atk* +7; *Grp * +8
*Combat Gear * _two potions of protection from evil, potion of spider climb, nine potions of cure moderate wounds, three potions of cure light wounds, potion of haste, scroll of Mordenkainen’s private sanctum, scroll of charm person, wand of enlarge person_ (14 charges), bone _wand of shield_ (10 charges), two pouches _dust of tracelessness, ring of ram_ (23 charges), two vials of oil, two vials of acid
*Spells Known * (CL 10th)
3rd- _fireball _
2nd- _invisibility, scorching ray_
1st- _chill touch, grease, mage armor, magic missile, truestrike _
0- _ detect magic, disrupt undead, mage hand, message, open/close, read magic, touch of fatigue_
*Abilities * Str 12, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 17
*SQ * trapfinding, evasion, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge, familiar (cat), half-elf racial traits.
*SA * spells, sneak attack +3d6
*Feats * Improved Initiative, Leadership, Practiced Spellcaster, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse.
*Skills* Appraise +3, Balance +8, Bluff +10, Climb +9, Concentration +5, Craft (weaponsmith) +3, Decipher Script +3, Diplomacy +8, Disable Device +12, Disguise +8, Escape Artist +16, Forgery +3, Gather Information +10, Hide +14, Intimidate +11, Jump +7, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Listen +3, Move Silently +17, Open Lock +23, Perform (act) +4, Profession (sailor) +2, Search +17, Sense Motive +2, Sleight of Hand +9, Spellcraft +10, Spot +3, Swim +2, Tumble +10, Use Magical Device +4 (+6 with scrolls), Use Rope +6 (+8 to bind someone). 
*Possessions * combat gear, “Jenny’s Hatpin” _(keen rapier +3), adamantine dagger +1, hand crossbow +1, shadow silent moves mithral chain shirt +2, gloves of dexterity +2, cloak of charisma +2, ring of the monkey, earring of benign transposition, ring of protection +1, vest of escape, stone of alarm, fang of Ashardalon_ (grants use of draconic breath feat, +1 natural armor), _key to the heavenly library_ (after a minute of meditation grants +5 bonus to knowledge and bardic knowledge checks), masterwork dagger, backpack, trail rations, caltrops, grappling hook, mirror, whetstone, bedroll, waterskin, medals (“Order of Drac,” “Hero of the Battle of Pramas Deep,” and “Defender of Freeport”).

_At 27, Tavaari Knaldren is a young half-elf.  He stands 5’2” and weighs 130 pounds.  His hair is blonde and his eyes have a golden sheen.  His skin has a bronzed sheen that is slowly being overtaken by patches of small crimson scales spreading from his arms, legs, neck, and back.  His familiar, a small gray cat named Kitty, is never far from his side._


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## Morrow (Jun 10, 2007)

*M'ord Sith*

M'ord Sith ("Jack Knaldren")
Male serpent folk swashbuckler 7
CN medium monstrous humanoid
*Init* +2; *Senses * Listen +2, Spot +4; darkvision
*Languages * Common, Valossan
*AC * 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18
*hp * 63
*Fort * +7, *Ref * +5, *Will * +4
*Speed * 30 ft.; swim 15 ft.; Spring Attack
*Melee * rapier +12/+5 (1d6+8/15-20)
*Ranged * pistol +9 (1d10/x3) or
   composite longbow +9/+4 (1d8+3/ x3)
*Atk Options * acrobatic charge, improved flanking
*Base Atk* +7; *Grp * +11
*Combat Gear * _four potions cure moderate wounds, potion of remove disease, potion of cat’s grace_
*Abilities * Str 18, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 14
*SQ * natural armor +1, minor shape change, grace, dodge bonus +1
*SA * acrobatic charge, improved flanking
*Feats * Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon FinesseB
*Skills* Balance +10, Bluff +7, Climb, +9 (+11 with rope), Diplomacy +12, Disguise +14, Escape Artist +8 (+10 escaping rope bonds), Jump +17, Knowledge (nature) +5, Profession (sailor) +7, Sense Motive +7, Spot +4, Swim +10, Tumble +10, Use Rope +8 (+10 to bind someone). 
*Possessions * combat gear, _ keen rapier +1, mithral chain shirt +1, ring of protection +1, amulet of natural armor +1, ring of jumping, gauntlets of ogre power_, two pistols, powder and shot, composite longbow (+3 str). 

_In his natural form M’ord Sith is a hulking reptilian figure, 5’10” and 275 lbs.  He has a snake-like head and a heavy tail.  His entire body is covered with scales.  In his persona of Jack Knaldren he appears as a slight human or half-elf._


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## Morrow (Jun 14, 2007)

*The Weavers*

The group stood before Antobury’s Mansion.  The iron gate stood open, as did the front door, which was blocked by a great mass of webbing.  The windows, too, were completely obscured by webs.  Queg waited stoically as Bronson, Nate, and Miranda cast preparatory spells and Sully muttered curses and drew her blade.

After killing the huge spider-demon and chasing off its smaller fellows the party had little trouble climbing down the steep crevice that the abyssal guardian had protected so ferociously.  The party reached the bottom and crept along a tunnel which soon lead them to what was clearly a Chitine community.  Some quick reconnaissance had resulted in a chitine prisoner.  Soon the party had the information they needed.  The spiritual leader of the chitines, angry at the original theft of the hastendeath spider, had become enraged when his interrogation of K’Karsh had revealed the existence of Antobury’s museum.  K’Karsh and the other surviving kenku were quickly bundled up and hauled back to Freeport by the strongest warriors and priests of the chitine tribe.  The next generation of hastendeaths would be born in Antobury’s blasphemous spider-prison and Freeport would be destroyed.


*	*	*	*	*​
The party snuck into Antobury’s mansion, past shattered displays and broken cages.  There was webbing everywhere, covering walls, ceilings, windows, and doors.  They soon found themselves entering the large central hall.  There they found dozens of human sized bundles wrapped in webbing suspended from the ceiling.  The moans and cries for help issuing from the bundles left little doubt that the chitines had collected a first generation of victims for the soon to be born hastendeath spiders.  One bundle drew their attention, unlike the others it hung suspended by a long thread which reached nearly to the floor.  The black feathers and beaked face visible through the webbing left little down that this was K’Karsh.  His muted cries of pain left little doubt that his end was near.

A single chitine wearing a prominent gold holy symbol stood near K’Karsh.  Between him and the party stood the immense camel-eating spider and the many legged Chwidencha.  As the party moved to attack the chitine held his holy symbol high and called down a column of unholy flame which stared near the ceiling, immediately incinerating several bundles that hung there, and crashing down onto Bronson, Queg, and Sully.

The party sprang into action.  Bronson’s _repel vermin_ abjuration sent a carpet of tiny spiders that had been hidden under furniture and amid webs flowing away from him.  The spell also drove back the huge camel-eating spider.  Miranda cast _haste_ as Queg and Sully moved to attack the C- and Nate _dimension doored_ past the camel-eating spider to threaten the chitine spellcaster.

The C- counter attacked, wounding Sully, but proving unable to pin her amongst its clutching legs.  She responded with another series of mighty blows, killing the aberration.  The chitine stepped away from Nate and called forth another _flame strike_, once more striking Bronson, Queg, and Sully with unholy flame.

Bronson, gravely wounded, moved away from the battle to cast _cure critical wounds_.  Queg and Miranda attempted to destroy the kenku’s body with flaming arrows and _scorching rays_.  Nate moved to attack the chitine, landing a pair of strong blows.  The chitine responded with a _hold person_ spell, attempting to immobilize the bard.   To everyone’s surprise, Nate gathered his will and resisted the enchantment.

With Bronson’s _repel vermin_ spell no longer blocking its way, the camel-eating spider stepped right over Nate and the chitine to move toward Sully.  She responded by charging the huge beast and landing a vicious blow, leaving it staggering.

Nate attacked the chitine once more, but the spellcaster dodged aside.  The spider-like humanoid turned away, ignoring Nate to call another _flame strike_ down into the center of the party.  With a cry of pain Sully fell, her body badly burned by unholy flame.

With a wet tearing sound, hundreds of hastendeath spiders began to tear out of K’Karsh’s burning body.  Hedged in on one side by Bronson’s _repel vermin_, the swarm of spiders turned and flowed over Queg, climbing up and over him, in and out of his clothes, among his bones.  

Bronson moved forward to flank the chitine with Nate and, casting _harm_, reached out to touch the spellcaster.  With a single surprised gasp the chitine fell, dead.

Queg, ignoring the ineffectual bites of the hastendeath spiders, and the webs they had begun to wrap around him turned and struck down the camel eating spider with one mighty blow.

The hastendeath spiders, unable to harm the undead ranger, moved on in search of other victims.  Their other foes destroyed, the party turned their full might on the lethal arachnids.  Miranda, _flying_ struck the swarm with a _fireball_ and harrying it with a _flaming sphere_.  Bronson _summoned_ a pair of fire elementals to assist and soon the hastendeath spiders, not intelligent enough to flee, were all burned away.

The party found Antobury among the men and women in the web bundles.  The traumatized scholar had little to say.  Over half of the chitine’s hostages had been killed by _flame strikes_.  For the most part, those who remained quietly dispersed.

Nate noticed a kenku despondently looking at K’Karsh’s burnt body.  When he encouraged the creature to return to the Rigg he shook his head despondently, “Brother dead, friends dead, why go back?  Chuko alone.”

Remembering the kenkus’ acrobatic abilities Nate asked Chuko if he was interested in joining their crew.  The bird man considered it, turning his head this way and that to peer at them with his black inscrutable eyes.

“Chucko the pirate. Wark.  Wark.  Wark.  Chuko likes the sound of that! Wark!  Chucko the pirate!”

Nate sent their newest crewmember to the docks with a note to Old Pete and gave a bemused smile as he watched the kenku hop and skip his way out of the hall.  “Chuko the pirate!  Wark!  Wark!  Wark!”

Galen Cobb entered the hall, watched for a while as the party cut down the last of the web bundles.  He walked over to Nate, taking a long pull on a flask as he approached.  “My job here is probably over,” he observed, gesturing around the destroyed hall, “Got any room on the Albers?”  He took another long pull.  “I was a good sailor once.”

Nate sighed, “Sure.  Welcome aboard.”

*	*	*	*	*​
The next morning the temple of Aster saw not one, but two miracles.  At the height of the day’s services Sully’s body was laid on the altar.  Bronson spoke a prayer in a strong, confident voice.  The onlookers were momentarily deafened by the sound of angels, echoing celestial voices singing what sounded strikingly like a dirge.  Just as it seemed that mortal ears could take no more, Sully’s eyes open and the sound of her first breath echoed through the completely silent chamber.

Sully had mere minutes to reacquaint herself with mortality when Bronson repeated his miracle, this time placing the skull of Bonny Bill on the altar and producing a scroll that he had carefully safeguarded since finding it during the party’s journey beyond Hell’s Triangle.  Again the angels sang, but this time their mournful melody accompanied the recreation of a mortal’s physical form.  First bones appeared out of thin air, a whole skeleton growing away from the skull.  Then muscles appeared, and organs, a heart already beginning to beat, lungs already filling, ropey veins spreading out like a rapidly expanding web, and skin – unscarred - without blemish or wound.  Hair grew, color spread, and William Teach, dead nearly seven years, opened his eyes.

The first face he saw was beaming with joy, “Sully?  What happened?”  He reached out, touched her face.  “Steve.  He killed me.”

Sully’s eyes were full of tears.  She could not speak.

*	*	*	*	*​
A day later the _Albers_ sailed.  She had lost a crewman.  Miranda, still swatting at unseen bugs, had chosen to retire from adventuring, to join the service of Aster instead.  She would be missed, but the _Albers _was not short handed.  Chuko took to work in the rigging with enthusiasm and skill.  Cobb was competent, but perpetually drunk.  No one could figure out where he was hiding alcohol aboard.  The crew largely avoided their sickly new crewmate.

As Freeport slipped out of sight Sully stood in the bow, one arm around Bonny Bill, silently watching the waves with a contented smile on her face.  Nate stood near the stern, giving instructions to young Dirt at the wheel.  At his side stood Marcus Vale.  The wizard had appeared amongst the crew no ceremony and little explanation.  Nate, eager to have his father’s old friend aboard and glad to have a new ship’s mage so soon, did not press him.

The sun shone bright the day the _Albers _left Freeport for the last time, but there were storm clouds on the horizon.


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## Morrow (Jun 14, 2007)

*William Teech*

*William “Bonny Bill” Teech*
Male human rogue 10
CN medium humanoid
*Init* +3; *Senses * Listen +10, Spot +13
*Languages * Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Orc
*AC * 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16; Dodge, Mobility
*hp * 58
*Fort * +6, *Ref * +12, *Will * +5
*Speed * 30 ft.; Spring Attack
*Melee * “Eye Plucker” +12/+7 (1d6+3/18-20)
*Ranged * shortbow +11/+6 (1d6/x3)
*Atk Options * Sneak Attack (+5d6)
*Base Atk* +7; *Grp * +8
*Combat Gear * _three potions of cure light wounds, potion of cat’s grace, potion of remove disease, potion of spider climb_, four vials of acid
*Abilities * Str 13, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 11, Cha 13
*SQ * trap sense, evasion, improved uncanny dodge, opportunist
*SA * sneak attack (+5d6)
*Feats * Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse.
*Skills* Balance +10, Bluff +6, Climb +10, Disable Device +13, Escape Artist +10, Gather Information +12, Hide +10, Intimidate +7, Jump +10, Knowledge (local) +9, Listen +10, Move Silently +8, Open Lock +13, Profession (sailor) +10, Search +14, Sense Motive +5, Spot +13, Tumble +15, Use Rope +10.
*Possessions * combat gear, _mithril shirt +1, cloak of resistance +2, headband of intellect +2, _, “Eye Plucker” (_deadly striking rapier +2_; does +1d6 damage on successful sneak attack).

_William Teach is 5’11” and 180 lbs.  He has brown hair, blue eyes, and an easy smile that puts people at ease.  He is 30 years old.  Having only recently returned to the mortal plane after seven years in the afterlife he takes his time to savor his new life, a savoring that sometimes seems to hide a feeling of alienation and displacement._


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## Morrow (Jun 14, 2007)

*Marcus Vale*

*Marcus Vale*
Male human wizard 10
LE medium humanoid
*Init* +3; *Senses * Listen +4, Spot +4
*Languages * Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Eleven, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnomish, Halfling, Infernal, Orcish, Undercommon
*AC * 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12
*hp * 44
*Fort * +4, *Ref * +6, *Will * +11
*Speed * 30 ft.
*Melee * dagger +5 (1d4/ 19-20)
*Ranged * dagger +9 (1d4/19-20)
*Base Atk* +5; *Grp * +4
*Combat Gear * _scroll of rope trick, wand of prestidigitation_ (50 charges), _wand of displacement_ (35 charges), _wand of magic missile_ (12 charges)
*Spells Prepared * (CL 10th)
5th- _dominate person, feeblemind, teleport_
4th- _Evard’s black tentacles, greater invisibility, ice storm, scrying_
3rd- _blink, dispel magic, lightning bolt_
2nd- _bear’s endurance, blindness/deafness, bull’s strength, false life, scorching ray_
1st- _charm person, mage armor, magic missile_ (x2), _ray of enfeeblement, shield, true strike_
0- _detect magic, detect poison, light, read magic_
*Abilities * Str 8, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 14
*SQ * find familiar
*SA * spells.
*Feats * Brew Potion, Craft Wand, Eschew Materials, Extend Spell, Maximize SpellB, Scribe Scroll, Spell Mastery (_magic missile, mage armor, invisibility, teleport, dominate person_), Still SpellB
*Skills* Concentration +14, Decipher Script +18, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (architecture) +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (history) +9, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +9, Knowledge (the planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +9, Profession (sailor) +5, Spellcraft +18, Speak Languages (Draconic, Undercommon, Abyssal, Infernal, Celestial).
*Possessions * combat gear, _ring of protection +1, amulet of natural armor +1, pearl of power_ (1st level), scrying mirror, courtier’s outfit, jewelry (worth 50 gp), spellbook, spell component pouch.

_Marcus Vale is 6’2” tall, weighing 180 lbs.  His eyes are blue and his hair is gray.  His skin is tan and leathery from years on the open ocean.  He is 42 years old.  _

Spellbook: 0- All, 1st- s_hield, mage armor, obscuring mist, comprehend languages, identify, true strike, charm person, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, reduce person.  _2nd- _resist energy, scorching ray, blindness/deafness, false life, bear’s endurance, bulls strength. _ 3rd- _dispel magic, lightning bolt, blink, fly, haste, water breathing. _ 4th- _Evard’s black tentacles, scrying, ice storm, greater invisibility, bestow curse, fear_.  5th- _break enchantment, dismissal, teleport, dominate person, feeblemind, baleful polymorph._


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## Morrow (Jun 14, 2007)

*How'd he do that? - The Weavers*

This is a new feature here at Swashbuckling in Freeport, where I give a shout out to my source material.  "The Weavers" is an adventure by Richard Pett from Dungeon issue #138.  "The Weavers" was written for a 10th level party, and mine was around 12th, so I did advance a few things.  Notably I added a second ambush drake to Bleary Grimlet's lodgings, added more kenku to the Rigg, and increased the hit dice of the Bebilith in the standing tombs.  Most of the other changes I made were in the encounter with Hamfist and were rendered unnecessary when the party uncharacteristically decided to talk rather than fight.  In a moment of mercy I ran the climactic encounter in Antobury's manse as written, and still managed to wrack up my first PC kill of the campaign.

Chuko is named for for James Jacob's kenku scout, whose adventures are chronicled here: Jason Buhlman DMs Eberron.  He, of course, talks like Burgess Meredith as the Penguin.  (Or, to be honest, my really bad reinterpretation of the same.)


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## Morrow (Jul 16, 2007)

*Interlude*

A few days after leaving Freeport, the _Albers _spotted a merchant caravel flying a Thonian flag.  The _Albers_ was flying Thonian colors herself, but the other captain soon recognized something was wrong, and the caravel turned to run before the wind.  The _Albers_ hoisted the jolly roger and began the pursuit.  

The merchant vessel, the _Darkmaiden’s Dance_ was fast ship with a good crew, but the crew of the _Albers_ rose to the occasion and the two vessels were soon exchanging broadsides.  The _Darkmaiden’s Dance_ was getting the better of the exchange until Tavaari cast a _fireball_, expertly threading it through an open gunport and killing the gun crew.

Tavaari quickly sent another _fireball_ washing across the _Darkmaiden’s_ deck and Marcus joined the action by engulfing the stern in a field of _Evard’s black tentacles_.  Bronson _dimension doored_ to the other ship, protected by his magic from the grasping tentacles.  He quickly convinced the entangled captain to surrender.

The _Albers_ pulled along side and began offloading the _Darkmaiden’s_ cargo of coffee, sugar, and rum.  With all their attention on the _Darkmaiden_ no one aboard the _Albers_ noticed as a figure climbed out of the water onto the _Albers’_ deck.  Cobb turned to see a dreadfully thin waterlogged male elf with crazed eyes and long stringy hair matted with seaweed pull himself onto the deck.  The elf struck Cobb with one empty hand, and he gave a low cry and collapsed to the deck, unconscious.

Both Sully and Jack were nearby and heard Cobb’s cry.  They immediately drew their weapons and charged the elf, Jack swinging from a rope over the heads of his crewmates to reach the new opponent.  The elf dodged their blows, his body in a blur of motion.  Even though he appeared unarmed he struck Jack and Sully several telling blows with his fists and feet.  As the battle continued other members of the crew rushed to help.  Marcus Vale cast a spell, attempting to _polymorph_ the intruder into a harmless form, but his spell had no effect.

Suddenly the elven monk broke away from Jack and Sully and pausing for only a moment to strike Tavaari, who was coming to their aid, a solid blow in the middle of the chest, ran across the deck of the _Albers_, leapt to the _Darkmaiden’s Dance_, ran across her deck and leapt back into the sea.

The crew looked over the side, but could not see the elf in the dark water.  Tavaari, massaging his aching chest, cast an _invisibility _spell. 

For several minutes everyone was quiet.  Tavaari, still invisible, felt a sudden blinding pain.  His life was snuffed out in an instant as his heart exploded.  He spoke not a word, although his fellows heard his body, still _invisible_ collapse heavily to the deck.

At the same moment, in the blink of an eye, the elven monk clambered from the sea into the bow of the _Darkmaiden_.  Coincidentally, it was Jack who was once more the closest opponent and took the brunt of the elf’s attacks.  As the pair traded blows the rest of the party moved to surround the monk.  After dodging yet another flurry of blows from the crew of the _Albers_ the monk paused, and looked across the field of foes arrayed against him, he then peered at the name on the Albers side and said, “I’ll remember you,” and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

The elf did not return.  The crew of the _Albers_ finished claiming the _Darkmaiden’s_ cargo, collected Tavaari’s body, and left.  With a sigh Bronson offered that he could raise Tavaari the next day, but acknowledged that the diamonds required were probably worth more than the booty they had collected from the _Darkmaiden_.

That night over dinner Nate told a story he had heard shortly before leaving port of a monastery on a small island several days sail north of Freeport.  Apparently a year ago the monastery had been burned and the monks slaughtered by pirates searching for treasure the monks were rumored to guard.  The story went that one monk survived and using his order’s strange mysticism turned himself into a sea monster to roam the oceans slaughtering the crew of any ship he came across, forever seeking to avenge his murdered brethren.


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## Morrow (Jul 16, 2007)

*How'd They Do That?*


The _Darkmaiden's Dance_ is the Map of Mystery from _Dungeon #139.
_
The captain of the _Darkmaiden's Dance_ was Valanthe, the sample legendary captain from _Stormwrack_ pg. 60.
The elf monk is Thamiel Deepkiller from _Denizens of Freeport_.  I advanced him to 15th level, which made him a solid challenge for the party.  His high move and spring attack feat were hard on the melee types.  The deflect arrows feat provided some level of protection against Queg.  His spell resistance and high saves made life difficult for the spellcasters.  When he was injured he just withdrew and hid to use his Wholeness of Body ability to heal.  Abundant Step allowed him to make his final getaway.  Finally, Quivering Palm took out Tavaari and provided my second PC kill of the campaign.  You know this guy is coming back!


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## Morrow (Aug 16, 2007)

The island of Haven is a largely independent protectorate of the Empire of Thonia.  While the imperial senate appoints the Lord Mayor, he rules with the cooperation of a group of local lords and influencial families.

The Lord Mayor rules from Cauldron, the island's one city and only port.  Cauldron is built inside the bowl of a dormant volcano which rises out of the sea at Haven's southern tip.  Before the volcano became dormant, sometime long before humans came to the island, a massive eruption opened up a hole in the side of the mountain, opening the central bowl to the sea.  The bowl is now something of a large bay, enclosed on all sides except for a single deep channel that leads to the sea.  The city of Cauldron is built on the inside of the volcanic cone, growing away from the docks on the bays edge all the way to the richest estates along the rim of the bowl.

*  *  *  *  *​
When the _Albers_ arrived in port several days ago Bronson went to visit his family and report to Cauldron’s temple of Aster.  The rest of the party set about locating Arias Soderheim.  By the time Bronson had returned, having secured accommodations for himself (at the family home) and the party (at the best inn in Cauldron, courtesy of his father), and bearing an invitation to dinner the following night, his companions had much news to share:

Lord Mayor Antonius negotiated an agreement with several pirates operating near Haven.  The island government ignores the pirate’s presence in port and in return the pirates leave Haven shipping unmolested.
Soderheim presented himself as a special envoy sent by Freeport.  He has met on several occasions with Lord Mayor Antonius.
Soderheim is staying at the estate of Lady Thifirane Rhiavadi
Rhiavadi is rumored to have made her fortune funding pirates.
Rhiavadi is a close ally of Lord Mayor Antionius.
The _Kraken’s Claw_, Morgan Bauman’s ship, is in port.

The party enjoyed dinner with Bronson’s family.  They were clearly delighted to have their wayward son home.  Nate and Sully managed to arrange to sell the booty from the _Darkmaiden’s Dance_ to Bronson’s brother.

The next day Bronson _scryed_ on Arias Soderheim.  He saw Soderheim speaking with a woman, who he presumed to be Lady Rhiavadi, and a large man dressed in pirate garb named Wyther.  The trio were discussing an upcoming meeting.  They expected good attendance, although one pirate, a slaver named Cuttleblack, had returned their envoy’s head in a box.  Wyther assured the nervous Soderheim that his information would ensure the cooperation of the other pirates and he would have his revenge.  Before the _scrying_ ended Soderheim left for a secure location where he would wait for the conclusion of the meeting.

Nate had heard of Captain Wyther.  A formidable pirate in his own right, he was also a high ranking member of the Crimson Fleet, a powerful pirating organization which operates in the waters surrounding Atlantis and the contested seas between Thonia and Atlantis.  Their territory has steadily moved west, and some in Freeport fear an eventual confrontation.

Nate, Tavaari, and Jack located a trio of sailors from the _Kraken’s Claw_.  They captured the crewmen and snuck aboard the claw disguised as members of her crew.  They managed to evesdrop on a conversation in the Captain’s cabin, hearing Baumann instruct her first mate, Shantar Froese, about a meeting he was to attend with Captain Wyther.  The trio followed Froese and his bodyguard Rebecca, who had last encountered when they broke up Baumann’s hideout at the Smoking Dragon Club in Freeport.  Jack went to warn the rest of the party while Nate and Jack followed Froese to his destination, all the way across the city to the estate of Thifirane Rhiavadi.

*	*	*	*	*​
The party made a multi-pronged assault on the Rhiavadi estate.  Nate, Jack, and Bill bluffed their way inside claiming to have been invited to the meeting.  They waited in the front hall and a guard went to check with Lady Rhiavadi.  At the same time Tavaari scaled the mansion wall to enter through a second story window.  Things began to go wrong when Nate, Jack, and Bill attempted to quickly kill the remaining guards.  The guards, though surprised, proved to be much more able than expected, and one managed to sound an alarm.

Bronson, hearing the disturbance inside, _dimension _ doored himself, Queg, Sully, and Marcus blindly into the mansion, arriving in the kitchens.  They quickly intimidated the kitchen staff.  Bronson headed for the front of the mansion to assist there, while the others made their way to the second floor via a servants staircase.  Luckily, the servants staircase put them right across the hall from an entrance to the main ballroom where the meeting was taking place.  They could easily hear the commotion inside as the guards warned Lady Rhiavadi and her guests of the intruders.

Sully immediately drew her falchion, kicked open the doors to the ballroom, and looked inside.  She saw:

A pair of cadaverously thin babau demons barring their way into the hall.
A woman in an elaborate gown who could only be Lady Rhiavadi standing at the back of the hall and casting a spell.
Beside Lady Rhiavadi stood a large stone and wood construct that Marcus identified as a shield guardian.
Captain Wyther, wielding a bastard sword and dagger, both rimmed with frost.
Shantar Froese, drawing his bow as he turned to face the intruders, with Rebecca at his side.
A rotund half-elf wearing a breastplate and bearing a bastard sword.
A lightly armored halfling carrying a rapier.
A fat ugly tiefling in ruby studded robes, casting a spell
A hag, her claws clattering as she cast her own spell, with a large lion at her side.
A pale woman in a tattered black cloak lurking in the corner.
And a hill giant, guarding the open doors at the other end of the hall, through which a trio of guards were visible guarding the front stairs.
Sully and Bill entered the hall, and immediately engaged the babau demons guarding the door.  Bill’s attention was quickly drawn away as he was attacked by a large man in pirate garb that he recognized as Captain Wyther.  The formidable pirate attacked, his bastard sword and dagger a whirlwind of steel.  Bill’s rapier danced, forming a veritable wall of steel as he attempted to shield himself from the heavy blows, but his resistance was fading fast as Wyther’s heavy blows crashed through his defenses to rend flesh and shatter bone.

Marcus took in the foes arrayed before him.  The shield guardian moved to block Rhiavadi from view, but Marcus was faster.  He cast, and watched his _baleful polymorph_ take hold.  The Rhiavadi’s body twisted and shrank, leaving only a small newt where she had stood a moment before.  

Marcus had little time to savor his victory.  The hag cast a spell and a ray of gray energy sprung from her clawed hands to strike him full in the chest.  He felt his movements slow as his body was slowly petrified, heeding the _call of stone._

Queg stepped into view, firing a volley of flaming arrows at the hag.  A moment later the massive lion at her side leapt at the skeletal half-orc, knocking him to the ground under a whirlwind of fangs, claws, and fur.

The halfling and the tiefling cast spells, and quickly faded into _invisibility_.  From where the halfling had stood a voice was raised in song, bolstering her fellow combatants will to fight.

The guards moved to engage Bronson, Nate, and Jack as they advanced up the main staircase.  Bronson cast _giant vermin_ to send several giant spiders into the fray and then activated his magical cloak to allow him to _spider climb_ up the wall and over the heads of the guards.  Nate fired his pistols while Jack joined the spiders, his blade weaving and dancing before him.

Tavaari, _invisible_ crept onto the landing behind the guards.  He regarded them silently for a moment and then slipped past toward the open doorway into the ballroom.  He cast a spell and became visible as a _fireball_ bloomed amidst the combatants.  The halfling’s song abruptly ended in a cry of agony.  Frosse collapsed, his form a scorched ruin.  The guards, nearly within arms reach, did not even notice as Tavaari faded once more into _invisibility_, Bronson’s spiders occupied their attention.

Sully, supported by Marcus’ spells, soon dispatched the pair of demons.  In her eagerness to dispatch them and come to Bill’s defense she hardly noticed that the stick slime coating the babau’s bodies ate away at her enchanted sword like acid, rendering the once beautiful blade pitted and scarred.  She spun to plant her self between her lover and Captain Wyther.

Bronson entered the room, creeping along the wall like a spider.  He climbed out of the reach of the hill giant guarding the door and cast a spell, calling down a column of divine flame into the center of the melee.

Rebecca, the large woman warrior the party remembered from their first battle with Morgan Bauman, rushed out the door to bolster the guards facing Nate and Jack.

The hag cast a spell, and proceeded to _call lightning_ down on Bill (who easily dodged), and then Sully and Marcus.  Marcus responded with spells of his own, calling up an _ice storm_ which encompassed much of the battlefield.  

The cloaked woman in the corner watched the melee grimly, she nodded once, seeming to come to a decision.  A moment later the woman’s form was shifting and shrinking, and was rapidly replaced by a squeaking swarm of rats.  Her cloak floated away and took on a large incorporeal form.  Bronson, watching the melee, recognized the creature as a dread wraith, a highly dangerous form of undead.  Before Bronson, or anyone else could act, the dread wraith passed through a wall and disappeared.  At the same time the rats, as if of one mind, streamed for the exit, around the giant’s massive feet, in between the guards and Bronson’s large spiders, past Nate and Jack, out of sight.

Bronson turned his attention to the hill giant, casting an _inflict critical wounds_ spell, and reaching out wrack its immense form with negative energy.

Sully’s battle with Captain Wyther initially seemed a stalemate, but unexpectedly she landed a stunning sequence of telling blows which sent the pirate crashing to the floor.  As his lifesblood flowed freely out the great rents in his armor Wyther looked up at Sully.  He grinned, showing teeth stained with blood.  "Cloned," he said, before the light went out of his eyes.

Sully cursed and turned to meet the raging half-elf who had been struggling to pick his way across the crowded battlefield to reach her, the shield guardian falling in step behind him.  Bill, seeing Sully hard pressed, ignored his own injuries and stepped to her side.  Marcus, his own movements sluggish as his body slowly transmuted to stone, continued raining down magic on his opponents.

However, with Captain Wyther’s death the tide had turned.  The guards who had barred Nate and Jack’s passage for so long finally broke and ran, slipping passed the duo and their giant insect cohorts to run down the stairs and out of the mansion.  The half-elf quickly fell beneath Sully’s blade, and Queg finally throttled the life out of the great cat with which he had wrestled the whole battle.

The woman warrior Rebecca, seeing the way the wind was blowing, laid down her sword and surrendered.  The hag, perhaps coming to a similar conclusion, suddenly shifted to take on the form of the great bat.  She flew toward the skylight.  However, before she could crash through to safety Tavaari reappeared from _invisibility_, his volley of scorching rays reducing the great bat to a flaming husk which crashed back to the floor.  Finally, the shield guardian and the hill giant fell, leaving the battlefield clear.

A couple _detect magics_ and five minutes later the party rushed out the front door, stuffing the magic paraphernalia of their fallen foes and any valuable looking furnishings they saw on their way out into various backpacks, bags, and haversacks.  Marcus, who apparently had avoided the worst of the hag’s petrifying magic, had returned to normal.  He had to rush back inside to collect the newt-wizard, but soon enough the party was making their way through the silent midnight streets and back to the docks.


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## Morrow (Aug 16, 2007)

*How'd They Do That?*

This adventure was inspired by, "Lords of Oblivion," from _Dungeon #111_.  There's more LOD related material coming next session, so stay tuned.  This isn't the first time I've lifted elements from the Shackled City Adventure Path.  I used the kuo toa stronghold from "Zenith Trajectory" (_Dungeon #102_), to replace one of the dungeon complexes in _Black Sails Over Freeport_.  Perhaps more significantly I lifted Cauldron from the adventure path, turning it into a port city.

Captain Wyther appears in, "Serpents of Scuttlecove," (_Dungeon #146_).  My grand plan is to run the Savage Tide Adventure path some time after wrapping up Swashbuckling in Freeport.  The Savage Tide will be something of a sequel, taking place twenty years after the events of SiF.  As for how he gets from his situation in the current campaign to his status quo in, "Serpents of Scuttlecove", that is a story for another day.  The important thing now is that he's in Cauldron recruiting for the Crimson Fleet, and using Arias Soderheim's information about Freeport's defenses as part of his recruiting pitch, "Join now and not only do you get this hair dryer absolutely free, but you get to loot a pirate city!"  It should come as no surprise that none of his potential recruits have any particular affection for Freeport.

Speaking of recruits, let's take a moment to see who is at the meeting, shall we?  Just because the PCs didn't care who they were killing or why doesn't mean we have to wallow in ignorance!


Captain Wyther, here recruiting for the Crimson Fleet.
Lady Thifirane Rhiavadi, a valued ally of the fleet whose financial support and magical backing helped turn it into the feared organization it is today.  Lady Rhiavadi was lifted almost directly from, "Lords of Oblivion."  I did drop her by one level to leave the top spot to Captain Wyther.  Lady Rhiavadi is now has the form (and mind) of a newt.  Presumably the PCs will return her to her human form and extract the information they didn't bother to gather before breaking up her little party.
Shantar Froese, representing Captain Morgan Bauman of the _Kraken's Claw_.  The party knows her from _Black Sails Over Freeport_, where they reached something of a truce.  I suppose killing her first mate puts an end to that.  Froese never could catch a break, the last time he met our heroes they left him humiliated and cursed with an unhealthy facination for orcish pornography.  He attended the meeting accompanied by Rebecca, a warrior woman the party first met during their raid on Bauman's hideout in Freeport.
Barda Windsinger, the halfling bard, representing Captain Fargus Ironfoot of the _Widowmaker_.  Fargus appears in _Denizens of Freeport_.
Fat Jim, the half-elf rogue/ fighter/ barbarian, representing Captain Althea Sharpe of the _Knife_.  Sharpe appears in, _Crisis in Freeport_, although in that instance she's a man.  Fat Jim also appears in, _Crisis_.  When we played Crisis the PCs avoided facing Sharpe and her crew and allowed Arias Soderheim to escape, which set up this whole adventure.
Vervil Ashmantle, the tiefling sorcerer, representing Captain Zaliax Carvanxi.  Vervil and his babau companions were lifted directly from, "Lords of Oblivion".  Those who have read, "Serpents of Scuttlecove," will know that Carvanxi goes on to become a high ranking member of the Crimson Fleet, although he never actually appears in the adventure path.
Mhad, the vampire monk/ shadowdancer and her companion Hate, the dread wraith, representing Captain Remy Deadarm of the _Dreadnaught_.  Mhad and Hate were lifted directly from, "Lords of Oblivion."  The necromancer pirate Remy Deadarm receives passing mention in, _Denizens of Freeport_.
Grim Alice, the green hag druid, representing Captain Black Molly of the _Revenge_.  Grim Alice brought her lion, Fang, and a hill giant bodyguard to the party.  Black Molly will not be happy that a member of her circle has been killed.  Expect her to express her displeasure very soon.

The obvious question remaining is how can the Crimson Fleet gather this group of luminaries in the center of Cauldron with no one (except our intrepid PCs) the wiser?  And where is Soderheim?  Tune in next time for more about Rhiavadi and Wyther's silent partner!  See Black Molly's revenge!  And don't miss our special guest star The Sculptor!


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## Morrow (Oct 12, 2007)

*Session 32*

What?  It has been a month and a half since I updated this thing?  No way, look at the date right… Damn.  In my defense, that intro to Mutants and Masterminds game I’m running is taking a lot more preparation than I expected.  Kind of a thin excuse?  You’re right, but the fact of the matter is I’m two sessions behind and I’m never going to catch up if I don’t cheat.  I’ve got a reminder email I sent out about our most recent session that will serve in a pinch, but I think the one before that is going to require another one of my patented bullet-point story hours.  (Cue the theme music)

Here’s how it went:

Tavaari and Jack went to do their skulk- about and make gather information checks routine while the rest of the party went back to the _Albers_ for some hard earned rest. 
Bright and early T&J came back to report that the city watch had their descriptions from the escaped guards.  It was only a matter of time before they came knocking.  Sully ordered the _Albers_ to leave port immediately.
As soon as they were out of sight of land Nate unfolded the _Acheron_.  They pulled a handful crewmen off of the _Albers_  to crew the _Acheron_.  The party hid below decks with their prisoners while Jack, disguised as a dwarven merchant captain ordered the _Acheron_ back to Cauldron.  The _Albers_ was sent back to Freeport under Old Pete’s command.
As soon as they got back to port Bronson dispelled the _baleful polymorph_ spell on Lady Rhiavadi.  She was quite pleasant and not at all frightened to be captured by the group of viscous cutthroats who broke into her home, turned her into a newt, and killed all her guests.  She was quite understanding about the whole thing.  Now that her attempt to recruit new members for the Crimson Fleet was a bust she really had no further use for Soderheim, and seemed to think it was an excellent opportunity to make friends with the party.  She agreed that at this point the proposed raid on Freeport seemed like a bad business decision and revealed that Soderheim was a guest of the Lord-Mayor.
The party was surprised that the Lord-Mayor of Cauldron would be involved with a group of pirates.  Lady Rhiavadi positively reveled in revealing the punchline to the whole joke – the Lord-Mayor had helped found the Crimson Fleet.  Apparently the entity currently masquerading as Lord-Mayor Antonius was a Dybbuk, a demon capable of possessing the dead.  In the past the entity had controlled such infamous pirates as Boris Redbeard, Adia Ironheard, and John Flint, Lord-Mayor Antonius represented something of a temporary break from active pirating.  
This revelation elicited a particularly strong reaction from Nate, who’s father had been hanged for piracy after being framed by his colleague John Flint.  Nate initially insisted on going after his newly discovered adversary immediately, but the rest of the party convinced him that they had enough trouble without going after a powerful demon.  Lady Rhiavadi offered that as far as she knew the Dybbuk was effectively unkillable.
The party left Rhiavadi and their other prisoner, Rebecca, on board the Acheron in the care of Nifur Roberts and headed (in disguise) for the Lord-Mayor’s mansion.
Upon arriving the party found the doors unlocked and a _magic-mouth_ informing them that the Lord-Mayor had left the property and requesting that the take care not to break anything during their visit.
Upon entering the entire party was ambushed a dark naga sorcerer.  The naga, hidden by _greater invisibility_ and warded by a series of abjurations caught the entire party in a field of _Evard’s black tentacles_ and then blanketed the area in _acid fog_.  Sully’s player whined as the fighter- grappled, slowed by the fog, nowhere near her foe, and taking damage every round- was completely neutralized.  The other players took it a little better as their characters struggled to formulate a counterattack as the naga harried them.  Of course to add insult to injury, as soon as they did hurt it, the creature _dimension doored_ away.
The party, by now in a foul mood, systematically wrecked the mansion as they searched it for clues.  They were suspicious of the statuary throughout the house, but it all appeared to be normal and harmless.  Eventually they found a hidden room filled with adventurers who had been turned to stone.  Hidden under an illusionary floor they also found a vertical shaft leading deep beneath the mansion.
The party explored the complex beneath the mansion.  They were irritated by the vertical tunnels that connected one level with another, requiring them to _spider climb_, _fly_, and in one notable instance use Nate’s _lyre of building_ to construct stairs.  They encountered dozens of petrified adventurers and faced several guardians, including a cadaver collector, a large golem with the unfriendly habit of picking up its victims and impaling them on the spikes that dot its back.  
They eventually encountered the complex’s master, a beholder who called himself the Sculptor.  They battled him on a bridge over a chasm, amidst a menagerie of petrified Underdark monsters.  The Sculptor turned several of his works of art, including a hook horror, a minotaur, and a huge displacer beast back into flesh to fight the party.  He also _telekinetically_ threw Nate and Queg into the chasm.  They landed in a subterranean lake.  Queg, after finding his footing, took the opportunity to pepper the beholder with arrows from a safe distance.  Nate, making full use of his single-digit wisdom score swam down to investigate some glowing treasure at the bottom of the lake and promptly ran afoul of an aquatic roper who made the lake its home.
Sully made short work of the Beholders pets and Bronson’s spells and negative-energy touch that pushed things in the parties favor, but it was Tavaari he saved the day.  The half-elf had only recently unlocked the most potent ability of the magical _ fang of Ashardalon_, which allowed him to polymorph into a young red dragon.  He harried the beholder with his fiery breath and dived into the lake to save Nate from the roper.  In the end the party overcame their foe and after a night’s rest teleported back to the _Acheron_ with their prize, Arias Soderheim, who the had found as a statue in the Sculptor’s collection.
Upon arriving back at the _Acheron_ they discovered that Lady Rhiavadi, who everyone had forgotten was a spellcaster, had escaped.  Sully immediately ordered the _Acheron_ to depart.
The _Acheron_ had barely cleared the harbor when she was attacked by a great black ship.  Nate recognized it as the _Revenge_, captained by the hag pirate Black Molly.  He pointed out that the hag the party killed at Lady Rhiavadi’s was probably a member of Black Molly’s crew.
The _Revenge’s_ attack was brutal.  Propelled by a magical wind, she closed rapidly with the _Acheron_, firing her cannons.  Dwarven snipers and a hag archer in the rigging peppered Tavaari with exploding bolts and _frost_ arrows as he flew, in dragon form, to burn the _Revenge’s sails_.  A hill giant with startlingly good aim stood in the _Revenge’s_ bow throwing boulders at the party.  Most devastating was the dusk hag wizard Mad Zelda, the last member of Black Molly’s covey.  She _disintegrated_ a massive hole in the side of the _Acheron_ and tried to bring Tavaari down with repeated _phantasmal killers_.
Even as the _Acheron_ began to sink the party struck back.  They closed with the _Revenge_ and began to decimate her crew.  The hill giant and even Black Molly herself did little to slow Sully down.  Mad Zelda was ultimately unable to withstand the combined assault of the party.  Soon they were able to eliminate the archer’s in the _Revenge’s_ rigging and kill enough of her orcish crew to convince the rest to surrender.  Some of the orcs agreed to work for the party.  The rest swam back to Cauldron.
Nate returned the _Acheron_ to box form before she sank and Bronson predicted that after a few applications of _Make Whole_ she would be as good as new.  Sully, keeping her one good eye on her new orcish crew at all times, ordered the _Revenge_ to sail for Freeport.


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## Morrow (Oct 12, 2007)

*Session 33*

*Here's the quick recap that I sent to my players.  It covers the events of last session.*

You made your victorious return to Freeport aboard your newest acquisition, the _Big Booty_.  Until very recently she was known as the _Revenge_. However, after you killed her captain, the hag pirate Black Molly, Sully decided she deserved a new name.  

In the _Booty_’s hold was the reason for your journey, Arias Soderheim, former member of the Captain’s Council of Freeport.  When you foiled Soderheim’s plot to murder his fellow Councilors and make himself Sea Lord, he fled in the hopes of avoiding the wrath of his former peers.  You tracked him to the city-state of Cauldron, Bronson’s old home town.  You enjoyed meeting Bronson’s family and the trip gave Bronson an opportunity to check in with his superiors at the Temple of Aster.  You also captured Soderheim and killed nearly everyone with whom he had come into contact.  The recapturing part was made considerably easier because by the time you found Soderheim his new friends had realized he was much more trouble than he was worth and turned him over to a rather eccentric beholder called The Sculptor, who promptly turned him to stone.  

One could argue that killing all those people was justified.  Soderheim, seeking revenge or perhaps to reclaim a position of power, was passing information to a group of pirates known as the Crimson Fleet.  The Fleet intended to use the promise of invading Freeport to expand its ranks.  On the other hand, running around Cauldron killing people might be the way to cause a major diplomatic incident if Freeport was the kind of place that cared about such niceties.  Let’s just say none of you will be vacationing in Cauldron any time soon.

After delivering Soderheim to the Captain’s Council you went your separate ways.  You soon learned that all had not been well in Freeport while you were away.  Shortly after your departure a group of vampires came to Freeport and started making trouble.  Not long thereafter a group of vampire hunters arrived and began making even more trouble.  Sea Lady Marilese Maeorgan and the Captain’s Council seem content to let the vampire hunters do their job.  They aren’t going to quibble if a few people get hurt in the process, and certainly no one is going to speak up if any of Bronson’s acquaintances in the local undead community are destroyed along with the troublesome foreign vampires.

You also discovered that your ship the _Albers_, which you had sent back to Freeport ahead of you, never arrived.  You had come through some rough weather on your way back from Cauldron, so perhaps the Albers was merely blown off course or otherwise delayed.

The party managed to gather a fair amount of information in a short amount of time and soon reconvened back at Bronson’s temple.  Bronson was upset that these foreign vampires had come into town and started disrupting the delicate balance of living – undead relations he had been cultivating for years.  He was perhaps even more angry that outsiders had come in to hunt ‘his undead.’  The rest of the party, while sympathetic toward Bronson’s concerns, were mostly irritated that someone else was making waves in what they had come to consider their city.

Tavaari was able to discover that the vampire hunters are clerics of Mormekar (god of the dead) and Maal (god of law and judge of the dead).  Their ship is anchored near the atoll which houses Freeport’s crematorium and only temple of Mormekar.  He was unable to determine the location of the vampire lair.  However, there are rumors that the vampires are looking for something or someone.  Unfortunately he was unable to find anyone who had spoken to a vampire and lived to tell about it, so he was unable to substantiate the rumor.

Bronson wanted to contact Freeport’s local vampire population.  In the past they have always ignored his advances, but he thought this might be a special case.  Tavaari was fairly certain that Freeport’s native vampires lair in the Merchant’s District, somewhere near the water.  Bronson sent Sonsimoth, the vampire living the temple of Aster, to try to make contact.

It was late when you decided to get a closer look at the vampire hunters’ ship.  On your way to the docks you were ambushed by a heavily armored horseman and his allies, a group of wolves and vampire spawn.  The horseman removed his helmet to reveal an uncanny resemblance to Tavaari and demanded that you turn over, “the son of Lorrim Erendyl.”

The vampire proved unwilling to negotiate and instead _dominated_ Tavaari.  While the other’s restrained Tavaari, Bronson rebuked the mounted vampire and controlled his vampire spawn lackeys.  Sully and Nate made short work of the wolves and the vampire’s fiendish warhorse.  Before you could turn your attention to the incapacitated rider another vampire appeared in the midst of the party.  This new vampire also looked startlingly like Tavaari.  The new vampire took Bronson by surprise, inflicting grievous wounds (and negative levels) with his rapier.  Bronson proved unable to rebuke his new foe, and Sully was unable to strike him.  The vampire then tumbled through the party, snatched up his heavily armored companion, and both of them disappeared.

The party, disturbed by the ease with which your potent new foe had avoided your attacks and escaped, retreated to the Temple.  Tavaari, having regained his wits, acknowledged that Lorrim Erendyl was his father.  Furthermore, he pointed out that there is a second child of Lorrim Erendyl in Freeport, the druid Arla Fairwind, who he met at the grand ball where you were recognized for your efforts during the Battle of Pramas Deep.


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## Morrow (Oct 29, 2007)

*How'd They Do That?*

All right, fun facts that are only fun for me.  Rewind a bit to the confrontation with the Sculptor in the lair beneath the Lord Mayor's mansion.  As I mentioned in passing the place was full of statues, people turned to stone by the beholder.  It didn't get much attention in the recap because it didn't make much impression on my players.  They briefly considered returning some of the petrified adventures to life solely for the purpose of killing them and taking their stuff.  Since it truly is a neutrally aligned party, and not an evilly aligned one they didn't go through with it, but without a good character in the bunch no one suggested saving all those poor saps for purely altruistic reasons.  

I was pretty confident that the party wasn't going to go crazy with the _stone to flesh_ spells, but I couldn't be absolutely sure.  So I felt the need to have some idea of who all those people were, but didn't want to spend a lot of time on it.  So I decided that they would all be versions of characters from games I had played or DMed.  I jotted down a list of names and a few details so I'd have someplace to start if I needed honest to goodness D&D 3.5 stats for anyone.  Just for kicks, here is the list:

From the very first campaign I ran, back in my 'red box' D&D days:

Hawk Falconside (CG human Ftr 7/ Holy Liberator 5) - My brother's first character.
Sparrow Falconside (CG human Sor 10) - Hawk's sister and cohort, in 3.5 terms.
Kira (N halfling Rog 3/ Ftr 2/ Drd 7) - My sister's first character.
Flynn (N human Rog 12)
Garth (CN human Wiz 12)

From a one-on-one campaign I ran for a friend of mine in junior high.  The most memorable event of a the campaign was a romp through X2: Castle Amber.

Rax (NG half-elf Wiz 5)
Subatai (N human Rog 3/ Rgr 2)

Yet another short lived campaign set in the Known World's (or should I say Mystara's) Serraine, the Flying City.  I'm afraid I don't remember the names and would have had to scramble if the PCs actually ended up talking to these folks.

(NG tauric elf pegasus Ftr 1/ Wiz 1) - A pegataur, an elf/ pegasus centaur-like creature.
(CG halfling Rog 2) - Originally a wood drake, a faerie creature who transformed between halfling, elf, and dragonlike forms.

A campaign I ran in college using the Rules Cyclopedia, this one also spent most of the campaign in Castle Amber.

Tsien (LN human Mnk 5)
Tristan (NG elf Ftr 5) - Poor Tristan started his life as a human, but was killed by the Beast of Averoigne and reincarnated as an elf toward the end of the campaign.  Comically under those rules it meant he came back to life with potent spellcasting abilities.
(CN elf rogue 5) - Another wood drake with a forgotten name, she was a compromise with a player whose original position was that she would only join the group if allowed to play a demon.

From a D&D 3.0 Forgotten Realms campaign that ended too soon, "The Beacon Covenant."

Hern (N human Rgr 1/ Drd 4) My first 3.0 character.  Yahoo!  I'm too lazy to dig up my campaign notes, so he's the only one that gets a name.
elf Ftr 4/ Wiz 1
half-elf Brd 5
half-hobgoblin (don't ask) Clr 5

From the much loved Against the Elves campaign.

Thar (NE goblin Clr 9 of Aster) - Originally a cleric of Maglibyuet, but different game, different pantheon.  What are you going to do?
Rhuun (NE goblin Rog 3/ Ftr 4)
Moroku (CE orc Sor 9)
Atarax (CE goblin Brd 9)
Kriggle (LE kobold Pal 7) It made sense in Against the Elves, but I'm glad I never had to explain Kriggle in the context of Swashbuckling in Freeport.
Kriggle's loyal riding lizard.

And finally, gone but not forgotten characters from The Knights of Ill Fortune.  It looks like by the time I got this far down the list I stopped trying to come up with classes and levels.

Shinobi Killfist (CN half-orc Rog 1)
Thror Greedybastard (LN dwarf Clr 1 of Maal)  Knights of Ill Fortune used the same pantheon as Swashbuckling in Freeport!  I'm saved!
Throgdizar Thickskin(CN half-orc Brb 1)
Gwa~ yah, whatever (LG elf Pal 1)
Kid Presentable
Geese Fly South In Winter
Aeieielieilo
Throgdigar the half-orc cleric
Stumpy the dwarf wizard
Featherkill
Cedric
Duh, the gnome farmer (gnome commoner 5)
Kale, Agent of the Empire
Throgdazurg, Brain Splasher of Clan Throg (CN half-orc Brb 2/ psychic warrior 3)
Amid
Kale, Agent of the Empire
Evand Stoneheart

And finally, the last of the adventurers turned statues.

Plumbob, the garden gnome (NG gnome Wiz 2) - Poor Plumbob isn't a re purposed character, I just thought that the idea of a gnome wizard in a pointy hat who was turned to stone while under the effects of a _reduce person_ spell was funny.  Apparently I was right.  Sully put him in her _handy haversack_ and plans to use him as a doorstop or something.  Why is he named Plumbob, you ask?  Some time ago my wife and I decided that all gnomes should be named after objects.  I don't know why.


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## Morrow (Dec 10, 2007)

*Session 34*

The party returned to Aster’s temple battered and demoralized.  Elias reported that Bronson had a visitor, a loremaster named Arakel.  Suspicious of her late arrival the party used a battery of divinations to determine that the diviner meant no harm.  Arakel apologized, explaining that she had approached at such a late hour assuming that Aster’s followers kept a nocturnal schedule.  She explained that she had only recently come to the city.  She was curious about the teachings of Aster and had heard good things about the party’s work defending Freeport.  Brother Norton, from the Temple of Tinel, had recommended seeking them out.

Tavaari remained suspicious but the rest of the party recognized the trustworthy glow that only comes from a new player character and quickly accepted Arakel’s presence and turned their attention to the vampire spawn.  The spawn, who had only recently been turned could offer little information.  They knew that the vampires were lead by someone they had never seen and knew only as The Lady.  However, they were able to confirm the location of the vampires' lair, an abandoned smuggler's cave beneath the docks near the tavern known as the Black Gull.  Protected by a maze of flooded tunnels, the vampires felt reasonably safe.  They accessed the caves in gaseous form through a narrow crack connecting to the sewers.

After a quick consultation the party agreed that they were unprepared to enter a nest of vampires after dark.  Bronson and Queg stayed at the temple while Nate, Sully, Tavaari, and Arakel went to seek out Tavaari’s sister, Arla Fairwind, at the Scholar’s Quill.  In spite of the late hour the party was concerned that delaying would leave Arla vulnerable to the vampires.  Bill returned to the _Big Booty_, Jack left to attend to Tavaari’s criminal enterprise, and Marcus went his own way.

Nate, Sully, Tavaari, and Arakel soon reached the Scholar’s Quill, a small inn in Drac’s End where Bronson, Nate, and Sully had lived when they first arrived in Freeport.  Tavaari had recommended it to Arla as a quiet out of the way place to stay.  Upon arrival they found the front door standing open, and Dezi the proprietor dead on the threshold, her throat torn out.  A search of the house found Arla’s room abandoned, with tell tale signs of a struggle including a scorched mark on the floor that Arakel identified as the result of a _call lightning_ spell.  They found another room whose occupant had been killed before even leaving bed.  A third room bore signs of a struggle and the window was shattered from the inside.

Finding no further clues the party left the Quill, only to have Tavaari’s familiar, Kitty, discover another body in a nearby alley.  The body was that of a warrior, his blade shattered at his side and his body showing the signs of having been killed by repeated energy drain attacks.  His clothes and gear identified him as Dezi’s border who had tried to escape by throwing himself out the window.

While the rest of the party was investigating Arla’s disappearance Bronson received another visitor.  Sonsimoth returned with a tall dark woman in expensive clothes.  She identified herself as Lady Lydia Ducanes, the leader of Freeport’s native vampires.  Lady Ducanes responded coolly to Bronson’s enthusiastic greeting, admitting to avoiding his prior attempts at contact.  However, she the current situation was a special case.  The vampire hunters had already killed one of her children and represented a considerable threat to Freeport’s undead population.  She observed that it was only a matter of time before the Temple of Aster became a target.  She encouraged Bronson to eliminate the foreign vampires and their hunters and explained that she had instructed her children to lie low until the situation was resolved.  At Bronson’s insistence she agreed to meet with him again should he successfully resolve the current difficulties.

Arakel, Nate, Sully, and Tavaari returned to the temple of Aster just in time to see a tall woman pass through the gates, pause, and transform into a cloud of bats who flew off into the darkness.

Much of the next day was spent preparing for the party’s coming confrontation with the vampires.  Nate informed the authorities of the slaughter at the Scholar’s Quill and arranged a funeral for Dezi.  Sully purchased a new set of armor.  The others prepared in their own ways, and by late afternoon were ready.  They rendezvoused at the Black Gull but quickly realized that there was no easy access to the sewers.  While Nate used his _lyre of building_ to construct a suitable access Arakel sent an _arcane eye_ on ahead.  She soon discovered the crack that allowed access from the sewers to the smuggler’s caves the vampire spawn had described.  Unfortunately the fissure was barely an inch wide, sufficient for a vampire in mist form, or even an _arcane eye_, but hardly suitable for a party of adventurers.  Beyond the fissure the _eye_ found a small cave system filled with several mounds of earth.  Protruding from several of the mounds were coffins.

Growing impatient with Nate’s approach, and realizing that surprise offered the best likelihood of success, Arakel cast _greater teleport_ to move the entire party directly into the vampires’ lair.

The dual advantages of surprise and proper preparation proved decisive.  Arakel’s _maximized fireball_ started the festivities off with a bang.  Nate and Tavaari made short work of the Guardsmen, a pair of spike chain wielding vampire fighters.  Pyotar Umarov, the blackguard, hardly emerged from his coffin before falling before a withering series of blows from Sully.  Even the formidable rogue Tarn Edis was on the defensive.  One of the mounds of earth proved to be a gravedirt golem, but Queg was well prepared to battle another golem, and held the formidable necromantic creation at bay.  Then the Lady appeared.  Having hidden her own coffin in a _rope trick_ she had time to prepare before engaging the party.  She cut the battlefield in half by conjuring a wall of moaning souls.  Sully and Tavaari were left to face the lady while the rest of the party faced the golem and the remaining vampires.  Tavaari stopped dead in his tracks, “Mom?”

Sully found herself flanked by a pair of undead shadows.  She nimbly dodged their grasping hands and retaliated with two quick slashes of her enchanted blade, dispersing the undead creatures before they could attack again.

The undead creature who was once Gabriella, empress of Thonia stood before her son.  "I have found you at last."

"What happened to you mother?  Why are you doing this?"  Tavaari asked, his face twisted by sorrow."

"What did you think happened to me when I was thrown defenseless from the palace?" Gabriella asked.  "Lorrem Erendyl is responsible for my fall.  When I finally destroy him he will know that his line has been wiped out.  His children have become my children.  They will stand beside me when I destroy him."

"How many siblings do I have?  How many of them have you killed?"

Gabriella smiled, her feral countenance seeming almost alive again.  "Stand with me, my son.  You have suffered as well.  Together we will have our revenge."

"No," said Tavaari, sadly.  "This cannot be allowed to continue.  "Goodbye mother."

In the blink of an eye Tavaari's form shifted and grew.  In his place was a great red dragon.  Gabriella's eyes opened wide as her son's fangs and teeth tore into her undead flesh.  She fought back fiercely, but her son's strength was to great.  By the time Arakel dispelled the wall dividing the battlefield Empress Gabriella was no more.

The battle was over.  As Arakel and Sully picked over the bodies retrieving magical baubles and gold Tavaari located Arla's coffin beneath one of the mounds of dirt.  "She'll wake up in a few days."  offered Bronson.

"I'll leave her a message to come find me when she wakes up." replied Tavaari.  "And send a couple men down to wait for her.  She'll be hungry."

Bronson openned his mouth to reply, but then stopped as he received a _sending_ from Brother Norton at the temple of Tinel.  After a pause he spoke to empty air, "Yes.  Bring everyone you can."

The cleric turned to his friends.  "The vampire hunters are attacking my temple.  We have get back there."

After some hurried preparations the party gathered around Arakel.  In a flash of light the party _teleported_ to the temple of Aster.  Except the office they found themselves in was not Bronson’s.  They were in the temple of Tinel!  A short middle aged human woman sat behind a large desk piled high with books.  She looked up in surprise and Bronson recognized Mother Isabella, who had come from the mainland to take over the temple after the 'retirement' of Father Thuron.  “I’m very sorry!”  Exclaimed Arakel, flushing with embarrassment.  “Wrong temple.  My name is Arakel.”

“Oh, yes,” replied mother Isabella.  “Brother Norton mentioned you.  And I recognize the rest of you as well.  You did give me a start.”

Bronson apologized effusively, but Mother Isabella waved away his explanations.  “I can see you are in a hurry.  You all know the way out.”

As the party hurried to leave Mother Isabella regarded Arakel above her glasses.  “Perhaps you’d better practice that _teleport_ a little more, hmm?”  She held Arakel’s gaze for a  moment before returning to her work.  As the door clicked shut she jotted a note.  “_Dimension Lock_ my office.”


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## Morrow (Feb 7, 2008)

*Arakel Rossimun*

Arakel Rossimun is the daughter and apprentice to the late Bannek Rossimun, wizard and former Lord of a small province named Techan.  When she was three her uncle Asremac usurped the lordship from her father. Asremac was general of Techan's small army and had the support of the Lord of the neighboring province of Octenbrook.  She has dim memories of her escape from Techan during the uprising. Fire, screams, her nurse being cut down just after getting the young girl to Bannek.

Father and daughter eventually took refuge in the Murmur Wood. A place where the barrier between this world and that of the supernatural was far weaker than it should be. Outsiders to the woods have trouble sleeping there as they can hear voices just beyond earshot. Making promises. The people who live there don't seem to notice the voices.

They found themselves in a community of outcasts and pariahs. Not bad people per se, but those who, for whatever reason, choose to make this place their home.  Inside of a year they had made a home for themselves and Arakel was helping her father in his laboratory. When she was twelve he formally declared her his apprentice.

When she turned 17 her father told her the whole story of his brother's betrayal. Arakel soon left the Murmur Woods and adventured in the provinces bordering Techan and Octenbrook. She didn't know what she wanted to do about her uncle. She hated what he had done to her father, but hating the actions of a man is entirely different from hating the man himself. Especially when that man is blood kin.  There was nothing she could do at that stage anyway. She was young, inexperienced and had no allies beyond the haunted woods.

She did make strong friends of her fellow adventurers. Most notably a warrior-smith named Kushervrick who could, through family secrets, forge magical items. This despite the fact that he was not a spellcaster himself. They loved each other deeply.

When she was 22 she sent a message to a ranger friend of hers in the Murmur Wood asking for his assistance and whatever other persons he could gather in helping her group stop the invasion of a border town. Tragically her father joined the ranger and was killed in an ambush en route to the town.

The death of her father effected her profoundly. Her uncle was no longer some distant problem, a thought from the back of your head that only comes out in the quiet, dull times. He now was the man keeping Arakel from burying her father in the family tombs.
It took her another year to gather the allies that she needed and then she moved on her uncle. In the end her uncle was slain in battle and her father buried in his rightful place. There was, of course, a high price for the victory; Kushervrick was one of many friends that died.

She remained in Techan long enough to bury her father and Kushervrick. A cousin, blameless in Bannek's exile, assumed the Lordship.  She has spent some time grieving and has decided to explore again.


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## Morrow (Mar 5, 2008)

The walls surrounding the temple of Aster were pierced by a large hole, a ten foot stretch of wall had been reduced to dust.  Inside a great battle raged.  Bronson’s undead followers, lead by Elias Scrimm, battled dozens of warriors and clerics wearing the symbols of Mormekar and Maal.  Over the raging battle the party could see that the doors to the temple had been torn asunder, and a group, clearly experienced adventurers from their equipment and demeanor moving inside.

The party _dimension doored_ across the battlefield, taking their opponents by surprise.  They struck hard and fast against those who would violate the temple of Aster.  A female cleric of Maal, walking through the air surrounded by a blinding white glow, was neutralized in seconds by spell and arrow.  The leader of the band, an older cleric of Maal whose arms and equipment revealed his rank and power spoke a single word, and the _dictum_ spell blunted the party’s charge.  However, chaotic though they are, the party proved resilient, able to resist the worst effects of the spell.

The interlopers responded with blade, spell, and arrow, but they were unprepared for the savagery of the party’s response.  They were slammed repeatedly with magical fire and lightning and Tavaari tumbled through the melee, his blade unerringly finding a vital spot.

As the battle raged on allies arrived to reinforce Bronson’s minions outside the temple.  Brother Norton, Peg-Leg Pilegro, Morgan Erendyl, Miranda Swallows - all came to support the party in their hour of need.  The common soldiers and clerics who battled outside the temple were brushed aside with ease.

The followers of Maal and Mormekar proved formidable foes, skilled with blade and spell, but they were no match for the power and fury that Bronson and his friends brought to bear to defend Aster’s temple.  Soon most of the intruders had fallen.  After the old cleric fell his lieutainent offered a truce.  He and Bronson entered into a tense negotiation.  Ultimately Bronson allowed him to withdraw with his fallen friends.  In return he agreed to leave Freeport immediately, never to return.

As soon as the clerics and their troops had withdrawn Tavaari sent word to his followers to observe their progress and insure they left Freeport immediately.  Bronson moved through the crowd, healing living and undead alike.  He thanked those who had joined the battle in the temple’s hour of need.

Sully found herself chatting with Miranda, who stood nearby slapping at biting insects only she could see.  Miranda explained that she had secured a new position, as lighthouse keeper at Milton’s Folly.  Her magic allowed her to perform the work of maintaining the lighthouse easily and quickly and left her plenty of time in isolation to continue her studies.

The party was exuberant but exhausted, and soon they soon went their separate ways.

Over the following weeks the party rested and pursued their own interests.  The temple was soon repaired.  Bronson spent his time continuing to explore the path to lichdom.  He had already advanced far enough that his features had taken on a deathlike pallor and the necromantic energies which he contained rendered his visage fearsome to the weak minded.  To address this difficulty Bronson crafted a mask, a death mask of his own features which he took to wearing at all times.  The mask, which had no holes for eyes or mouth was almost as disconcerting as his own face, although not as supernaturally disturbing.  Bronson enchanted the mask so that he could see through its surface, and so that he could immediately recognize if nearby creatures were living, dead, or undead.

A ship soon arrived in Freeport, sailing through a dreadful storm.  It bore a cleric, Alhandra, and several acolytes from the Temple of Aster in Cauldron.  Bronson began the process of turning over running of the temple to Elias and Alhandra.  His temple was well established, it did not need his management any longer, and wanderlust was calling.

Sully took up the Privateers seat on the Captain’s Council.  She found the work dull, and livened her time on the Council by opposing any proposal brought forth by Buster Wallace.  His attitude soon advanced from simmering resentment to ill concealed rage as Sully worked diligently to crush his plans to reestablish the sister community of Libertyville on a nearby island.  Libertyville had been founded shortly after Captain Drac became the first Sea Lord of Freeport by... Francisco, the son of his late rival.  For several years the small village had fancied itself an up and coming rival to Freeport, until one day when every man, woman, and child in the settlement had disappeared.  Attempts had been made several times over the years to reestablish Libertyville, and each effort had ended in tragedy.  Buster Wallace had allied himself with a group of merchants and free thinkers seeking to give Libertyville another try, but Sully’s efforts ensured that they would receive no support from Freeport.

Soon the party turned their attention to they mystery of the missing _Albers_.  Of course, with experienced spellcasters such as Bronson and Arakel in your midst mysteries do not remain mysterious for long.  Bronson cast a _scrying_ divination to locate Old Pete and received an image of the old man chained in a ships hold, surrounded by other prisoners.  Together Bronson and Arakel soon had a clear enough picture for Arakel to target a _greater teleport_ spell.  They gathered their companions, prepared for battle, and with a word crossed the hundreds of miles to Pete’s side.

Or so they expected.  They arrived in the hold of the ship they had seen, but many of the prisoners, including Old Pete, were gone.  Through the portholes they could see that the ship was at anchor near a jungle shrouded island.  Tavaari quickly freed the handful of remaining prisoners.  One of the prisoners, a foul mouthed young women, explained that they had all been captured by the slaver, Cuttleblack.  The crew of the _Albers_ had been taken off the boat only an hour before.

Sully climbed out of a large hatch and climbed up the side of the ship while the party quietly made their way up the ladder to the deck.  Clearly they had not been as stealthy as they believed as the entire crew, consisting of humans and kuo-toa, was waiting for them.  A piercing _cone of cold_ washed over the party as they advanced across the deck, the work of a kuo-toa cleric.  Most of the pirates proved little challenge, although the cleric continued to harry the party with potent spells.

The party was making short work of their foes, when one of the human pirates cast aside his broad brimmed _hat of disguise_ revealing not a human or even a fish man, but a black garbed illithid, his tentacled face split into an inhuman grin.  The mind flayer, Cuttleblack in his horrifying true form, hammered the party with mental energy.  However, the group resisted his repeated attempts to crush their will and bring them to their knees.  His most potent attack neutralized Cuttleblack soon fell to Sully’s blade, and his clerical lieutenant soon followed him into oblivion.

With all their foes slain, the party turned Cuttleblack’s nameless ship over to his former prisoners.  They commandeered a pair of launches, and made their way ashore.

Queg spent some time examining the jumble of tracks on the beach, but soon nodded and wordlessly lead the group into the jungle.


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## Morrow (Mar 7, 2008)

This space is being held for an account of the party's adventures rescuing the surviving crew of the _Albers _from Yuan-ti cultists in the _Lost Temple of Demogorgon_.


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## Morrow (Mar 7, 2008)

*Session 37 (Bronson)*

Dear Nate,

So, I tried my hand at some poetry, and I'm sending you my first efforts to see what you think.  I doubt that Aster is calling me to a vocation as a bard, but I always try to be open to new experiences.  I'll see you on board!

Yours in faith,

Bronson

Bronson A. March
Temple of Aster
Freeport

Our cups flowed full of ale--Tavaari's rise
to Captain's Council table was our toast.
Miranda's sending came as a surprise:
the lighthouse was where we were needed most.

So, spirits warmed by drink, we made our way
to lighthouse door.  Miranda was aligned
between wasps' devilish power and hell-hounds' bay.
The creatures of the pit o'erwhelmed her mind.

Nate scaled the lighthouse, lashed by wind and hail.
Tavaari flew nearby in dragon form.
Bear topped the tow'r--she fought to no avail,
as bard and dragon triumphed in the storm.

Foul weather brought invaders from hell's plane--
and what pow'r forced a bear out in the rain?


Queg, Sully, Arakel and I prevailed
and sent the devils back to hellish bower.
Outside, amidst the storm, the bear had failed
to stop our friends, who joined us in the tower.

In tower's heart we met a greater foe:
a druid, devil barbed, and hateful mare.
A second devil--on mare's back he rode!
They thought to catch us in their hellish snare.

But they could not withstand my banishment,
nor Sully's sword, though she's a level short,
nor Nate's brave song; and Ar'kel's magic sent
us vict'ry, with Naaldren and my cohort.

Our devilish foes lay vanquished 'neath our might--
but what else was to come this fiendish night?


Soon, from Miranda, we learned more bad news--
two sailors had arrived amidst the gale.
They'd left their fog-bound ship, for many clues
told them their captain's plans made good men pale.

Alas, the sailors brave had met their end
at devils' hands.  But we felt we must learn
more of their ship.  "Let Arakel contend
with storm!"  She cleared it--then we saw their stern

entrenched and hidden in some ruinous fog.
We leaped aboard with help from teleport.
"Sieze them!" the captain shouted like a dog.
Spells, sneak attacks and sword are our retort!

We'll win against these trolls, I have no doubt.
What evil has their folly now let out?


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## Morrow (Mar 7, 2008)

*Session 38*

The following is from an email I sent to Tavaari's player to bring him up to speed on the game he missed:

February’s game began with Tavaari leaving the group to seek out reinforcements in the city. The rest of the party cast preparatory spells and _dimension doored_ to the ship. They appeared aboard a large warship, clustered around the mainmast. The crew was clearly prepared for their arrival. The name on the side was _St. Asmod’s Hope_, but Arakel and Nate recognized the ship’s captain, the bugbear pirate Mange, which meant the ship was actually the dreaded _Rabid Dawn_.

The deck was scattered with human pirates and trolls. Trolls manned ballista in the the bow and stern, pointing them at the party. Arakel’s true seeing allowed her to spot a pair of invisible ogre mage archers flying over the deck. A large monster, a tentacled mix of fish and crab stood in the bow. Captain Mange pointed at the party with one of his cutlasses, “Kill them.”

Bronson sprang into action, casting circle of death. A pulse of necromantic energy washed over the deck, killing a pair of trolls and many of the human pirates. Arakel _polymorphed _Sully into a stone giant. This drew the attention from the trolls manning the ballistas. One of them managed to pierce Sully’s magically enhanced hide with a massive bolt that crackled with lightning.

The ogre magi peppered the party with arrows. The party engaged the remaining monsters. Sully quickly dispatched the crab monster. One of the ogre magi fell quickly to Arakel’s _lightning bolt_. The other tried to flee, but could not escape the diviner’s scorching ray. Bronson eliminated Captain Mange with a well placed _slay living_ and removed his mask, causing many of the remaining pirates to leap into the water in an attempt to escape.

The party soon mopped up the few remaining opponents and made their way below decks. Queg heard voices from a cabin but could not understand the language. Nate used his _gold tooth of lies_ to take on the appearance of Captain Mange and entered the cabin. The cabin was well appointed, full of hanging silks, fine pillows, and lit by continual flame candles. A pair of scantily clad winged women lounged within, erinyes. Nate explained that the intruders had been killed, and soon withdrew. The party made a quick plan to take the devils’ by surprise, but when they burst back into the cabin found it abandoned. The erinyes had apparently seen through Nate’s disguise and _teleported _to safety.

The party realized that their opponents must be somewhere below and, low on resources, withdrew to the main deck to prepare and plan. The spellcasters were short on spells, although they still had a trick or two up their sleeves. They soon made their way to the lowest deck of the ship. There the air was thick with smoke and a dozen bodies dressed in robes, their throats slick lay around a pentagram containing a tall robed figure whose voluminous hood did little to hide his glowing red eyes, prominent horns, and pointed beard. Next to the pentagram stood a man in crimson robes, holding an unstoppered iron flask covered in arcane runes. Between him and the party stood several pirates in cultist robes, the pair of erinyes, and a trio of women, clearly sorcerers.

The man introduced himself as Markosian and offered to negotiate, saying that he had no desire to fight and no designs on Freeport. Nate advanced to parley, noticing as he did so that the silent figure in the pentagram was not being contained by the arcane symbol. Markosian exclaimed that he had come to Freeport in search of the iron flask which housed the figure in the pentagram, Nyxthseht an aspect of Asmodeus. Nyxthseht personifies the Adversary’s persuasive voice and fearful countenance. The party did not believe that Markosian had no plans for Freeport. He explained that with Nyxthseht’s help he intended to crush the Thonian Empire. He seemed to know who the party member are, offering that he doubted that Nate, Arakel, or Tavaari would have any objection to the destruction of the Empire. When pressed, he admitted that he wouldn’t mind taking over if there was anything left worth ruling when he was finished.

The party agreed to withdraw and discuss the matter. Opinions were sharply divided, but eventually voices who couldn’t stomach just letting Markosian and his allies go won out.

When the party returned the cultists had taken up defensive positions - for all the good it did them. Bronson’s reply was resounding - a _holy word_. The spell immediately banished the erinyes back to their home plane and rendered the pirates and sorcerers deaf and blind. Nyxthseht responded with blasphemy, which blunted the party’s attack but couldn’t protect Markosian from Arakel’s _feeblemind_. Nyxthseht seized Markosian and the iron flask and disappeared.

The party killed the helpless pirates and sorcerers and searched the ship. They discovered a locked room and Nate attempted to break it down with his _corsair’s cutlass_, only to fall victim to a prismatic spray trap. To the party’s shock he disappeared.

Nate found himself in an alien landscape. The earth had the texture of skin and mountains ringed the horizon. The sky was afire. A forest with the appearance ribs sticking up from the ground was visible several miles away, and even further away a white mountain in the shape of a skull half buried in the earth was visible. Nate saw a pair of hulking green humanoids approaching, but he quickly fascinated them with his fiddle. Unwilling to fight unknown opponents alone he drank a potion of fly and fled in the direction of the strange forest. When the potion ran out we walked.

Some time later he received a sending from Arakel. He had been shifted to another plane by the trap. Arakel was scrying on him and with the help of Falthar the sage intended to find retrieve him. Several hours later Nate stopped, and using his_ lyre of building_, constructed a great amphitheater with a hidden bunker beneath the stage. There he slept. The next day, if you could call it so beneath the never changing flaming sky, the rest of the party arrived. They explained that this was Occipitus, the 507th layer of the Abyss, and that Nate was unusually lucky to have avoided any further encounters with the natives. Queg had noticed a dragonlike creature watching them when they arrived, but they had teleported to Nate’s location without engaging the creature.

Bronson promptly _plane shifted_ the party home. Of course home meant, ‘the middle of the ocean several hundred miles from Freeport,’ but after a little swimming another _greater teleport_ soon rectified the situation.

The group parted ways. Nate campaigned for the last open slot on the Captain’s Council, but ran afoul of Sully, who was campaigning (with considerably less diplomacy) for the same seat. In the end they squandered their influence arguing with each other and an elven privateer named Arel Syrtis got the seat. Sully promptly went to see Jack to try to arrange to have Syrtis assassinated.

Months past. Bronson continued to wrap up his affairs in Freeport, turning control of the temple over to Elias and Alhandra. He cautiously inquired with Nate and Sully about taking over one of their ships. They are still arguing so he didn’t get a proper answer.

Sully continues working with the Council. The biggest problem lately is that the Thonian navy has started specifically hunting Freeport pirates, with some success. They’ve also pressured their allies to stop trading with Freeport. This is particularly harmful as Freeport imports the majority of its food. Bronson began working with the other temples to create as much food as they can to alleviate the crisis.

The rest of the party addresses the problem in their own way. Nate began organizing Freeport pirates to raid unprotected Thonian coastal settlements for food and bring it back to Freeport. With the help of Nate’s pirates and her magic Arakel began locating the sites of naval battles and raising sunk ships from the bottom. The ships are then repaired and added to Freeport’s growing fleet. Arakel also begins gathering information about Thonian leadership and troop movements.

Bronson began working with Brother Norton to find out more about Thonian history and the background of the Thonian-Atlantian conflict in the hopes of finding a solution.

Several months pass.


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## Morrow (Mar 7, 2008)

*DM's Note*

Nate and Sully are awful politicians.  Nate's diplomacy check is pretty good, around +20, which is respectable if nowhere near the top end for a 15th level half-elf bard.  The party has saved Freeport from countless unspeakable fates over the years, you'd think getting onto the Captain's Council would be easy.  Unfortunately, Sully, who already has a temporary (3-year) seat on the Council and hates it, decided that she should get the open permanent seat.  So they bickered and both competed for the seat, and consequently both lost.  Which probably demonstrates why they're the kind of people you want defending the city, but are absolutely not the people you want to be in the government.

The one thing they are good at (besides murder and mayhem) is making trouble.  Nate has written a song about the man who actually got the seat, "Arel Syrtis is a Prancing Fairy," and has set about ensuring that it will become one of the most popular tunes in Freeport.  I'd post the lyrics here but I don't want Eric's Grandma to show up at my house.


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## Morrow (Apr 7, 2008)

*Session 39 (A Message in a Bottle)*

I hope you find this message soon.  I fear we will perish here after a battle which has killed our leaders and disabled our vessel.  All hands are at work repairing our ship, the Big Booty, but a strong storm would kill us all.

My name is Jennifer Twill.  I left a promising, if dull, career as a library assistant in the Temple of Tinel to join Captain Catherine “Sully” Sullivan and her merry band of lady pirates.  She sails with her constant companion, a half-elf bard named Nate Black, as well as a human cleric of Aster named Bronson March, a living skeleton named Queg who steers the ship, a half-elf jack-of-all-trades named Tavaari Naldren, and a young human wizard named Arakel.  Their combined might was not enough to save themselves from the onslaught of the undead pirates who attacked us.  Thanks to Naldren, the ship remains seaworthy--if just barely.

Captain Sullivan gathered us girls together in a hurry a few weeks ago in Freeport.  She told us that Brother Bronson had tracked down a powerful artifact which could bring an end to this war between Cthonia and Atlantis.  I have my doubts, as the two nations have been at war since before I was born.  Captain Sullivan didn’t seem too keen on ending the war--it’s been good for us pirates--but she is fiercely loyal to Freeport and had been convinced that the new Atlantian blockade on Freeport might do damage to her adopted home.  She said we sailed for Edairo, the place where legend last recorded the artifact’s presence.  For two weeks, the sailing was fast and the winds steady.  The girls worked hard during the day and enjoyed their rum rations at night.

On the seventeenth day at sea, we were attacked by a creature of darkness and evil, which was trying to eat us, I believe.  It flew over the ship, invisible at first, seeking to pick us off one by one.  Our leaders seemed sanguine at first, almost cocky, but they were hard pressed to kill it.  It nearly got away.

After months of sailing, still two weeks or more from our destination, a pirate ship unlike any I had ever seen breached the waves from below.  Black water dripped off of it and off of its undead crew.  We exchanged cannon fire as it came alongside us, and skeletons made ready to board.  I was in the rigging, trying to bring us around to bring our cannon to bear for a second barrage.  I could make out its name, painted in white on its black hull: the Dreadnought.  

I saw their wizard and a vampire woman appear on our deck, and soon after that Brother Bronson and Nate Black disappeared onto the attacking ship.  The skeletons began to turn back on themselves, some trying to board while others beat them back, presumably under the control of the cleric.  He has become terrifying of late, always wearing a faceless mask with no holes for eyes, nose or mouth.  Nonetheless, he seems to see and breathe, if indeed he still lives.  I try to keep my distance from him and his skeletal navigator at all times.

On our ship, the vampire cowered in place while a wight floated through the decks, attacking our leaders and disappearing before they could respond in kind.  The wizard beat us back again and again.  Queg began firing ineffectively at Captain Sully and Tavaari.  Captain Sully suddenly disappeared.  The wizard made some kind of brightly colored lights shoot out of his fingertips.  When it cleared, Brother Bronson was nowhere to be seen and Nate Black lay dead on the deck.  Tavaari became a red dragon and finally destroyed the wizard, but now I fear we are lost.

If you find this message, please convey it to my family in Freeport.  I fear there will be nothing you can do to help us.  Either we will have gone on to glory and an end to this endless war, or we will have met our end in the watery deep.


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## Morrow (May 23, 2008)

*Sessions 40 and 41*

This space held for a recap of the next two installments of our heroes' latest adventure, "Talons of Night."


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## Morrow (May 23, 2008)

*And Now For Something a Little Different*

Arakel's player provided some reminiscences on her recent adventures.


Part 1

*Nate* (sung to the Shaft theme by Isaac Hayes)

Who's the Black privateer
That's a death machine to all the hicks?
NATE!
Ya damn right!

Who is the man that would risk his neck
If the price is right?
NATE!
Can you dig it?

Who's the cat that won't shut up
When there's singing to be done?
NATE!
Right On!

They say this cat Nate is a bard mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
Jus' talkin' 'bout Nate.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!

He's got a convoluted plot
So no one understands him but his Sully
NATE BLACK!


Part 2

_Arakel's thoughts on death._

I died recently.

I found myself in the great library of Tinel. My father was there.

We spoke for a day and a night and another day. I remember much of what we discussed; life on the other planes of existence, the secrets of eighth circle spells and how to fuel divinations with other spells. He also told me the real purpose of the Celestial Library, but I only remember that when I'm on the verge of sleep.

I know enough to know that this amnesia is a blessing.

As we spoke I could hear a sound coming from the outer court. The sound of a hammer striking an anvil. I didn't ask Father who it was; I knew . I remembered the smell of hot sweat and steel. I remembered a fair face in a dark place. I remembered a first kiss. I remembered weeping on his grave.

Kushervrick.

But I knew my friends would be calling me back and if I saw him I couldn't return.


Part 3

_A Recap as done by Vanthus Vanderboren (yes I know he's an NPC in Savage Tide , but Arakel isn't the journalist that Garnham is so ...... why not?)
_
I don't know how I got here. I was spending some time away from Sasserine. Those fools my sister has hired have stirred things up and I'm planning my revenge. I think I'll wait until they board a ship and burn it to the waterline. That would show those low-bred fools.

Anyway I found myself in some sort of tomb. There was a group of people fighting their way through to a central chamber. Once there they were met by a vampire in strange dress with an odd accent. None of the fools could see or hear me.  The group that was raiding the tomb agreed to play a board game with the vampire.

THE FOOLS!

If it were me I would have killed him myself and taken all that I desired, but they elected to play his game by his rules.  They had a slip of a girl actually play the game. Naturally she lost the first play and one of her companions was sent to deal with an ancient mummy.
The fool actually spoke to the creature instead of luring it into a hole in the ground and trapping it under a rock.  He managed to talk the monstrosity into giving him some trinket that I'm sure has no value. Of course I'll have it appraised when I pry it from his corpse.

Then the girl made another blunder and her pirate-sister friend was sent to a place where a giant walking tree was killing some puny squirrel/ men sub-creatures. For no apparent reason she destroyed the walking tree and then made friends with the squirrel-men. Obviously she can't handle a real man such as myself and takes comfort in the friendships of beasts.  The things gave her a talisman that let her speak their heathen tongue. She seemed happy. I think I will gain the confidence of this high spirited vixen and use her for my own goals.

Then the vampire must have felt sorry for the girl and let her win. He told them some bad poetry to get rid of them. When the fools didn't get the point he summoned guardian mummies and some sort of nightmare beast. Somehow the fools managed to survive. The vampire must have felt pity on them and not used his best guardian mummies and nightmare beasts.

The fools left and wandered around for a while. I think they were lost. Clearly they are deficient.  Eventually they came across some more of those squirrel-things. The abominations were fighting a group of giant spiders. The girl drove them off with fire.
A plan comes to mind. I will seduce the wizard girl and the pirate woman. I will use them both to advance my plans and then, when they are of no further use to me I'll let them know the truth. Their jealousy of each other will drive them to fight over me and the wizard girl will burn down the pirate woman's ship with both on board.

It is to laugh.

Anyway the squirrel creatures were overjoyed to see a person who would actually pay attention to them and not just kick them in the mud. A feast was thrown.  The next day the squirrel-thing's king felt pity on the pathetic party and sent one of his people to show them the way out.  The squirrel-thing guide made a worse wayfarer than the fools. Soon they were in the heart of the giant spider's place of power. They tried to leave, but just ended up getting to the center and meeting the head spider.

They fought the spider and somehow won.


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## Morrow (Aug 11, 2008)

*Session 43 Recap (Queg)*

Queg grunted in surprise as one of the elves approached him.  “Um, hello,” the stranger said.  “I, uh--well, I gather you’re a ranger, and so am I, and I bet my friends over there”--he gestured vaguely with his drink-- “that I’d come talk to you.”  He let out a nervous giggle.

“Hey.  I’m Queg.”  Queg held out his bony hand.  After another moment of staring, the elf giggled again and shook it.  He finished his drink.

“I’m Alendawel Gaelfhande.  Pleased to meet you.  Most people--most people who aren’t my parents--call me Alen.”

“Hey Alen.”  Queg paused a moment.  “You’re the first living person who’s ever talked to me at a party.  Mostly at home, it’s just this vampire and me playing cards in the corner, you know what I mean?  Parties aren’t my thing.”

“Well--uh--I have to go to parties all the time.  Trained as a ranger, you know, but I’m half-elf, actually, and good at the whole talking thing.  I’ve been in Alfheim’s foreign service for five years now.”

“Get to loose your bow much?  Shoot any flaming arrows lately?  Ever get to sink your weapon into tainted flesh?”

“Not the way you mean.  Can I get you a drink?”  Alen pulled one for himself from the tray of a passing waiter.

“Nah, it just pours through.  A pipe’s good for me.”  Queg fished an ornately carved pipe out of his ribcage.  “Look at my boss over there.”

“Over wh--ooooh.”  Alen stumbled backward as he saw the terrifying dark-skinned human wearing cleric’s robes.  A buxom girl was sitting on his lap, looking alternately flirtatious and ill.  Around them were spread the cowering forms of several other young women.  Most of them were crying; Alen thought one might have wet her pants.  It looked like a few waiters were down there too, suffering from the same ailment.  After a moment Alen recovered himself.  “He’s your boss?” he asked Queg.

“Yeah.  Good guy.  Lately he does that to people.  I don’t see much change.  He looks better, if you ask me.  Less fleshy.

“But look at him.  He’s got that girl on his lap, she’s not cowering in fear, and you can tell she’s ready to look into the church of Aster, if you know what I mean, but what’s he talking to her about?  Conversion.  His missionary plans, instead of the missionary position.  I can’t even enjoy the ladies anymore, but it kills me to watch him mess it up so much.”

“What brought you all to Alfheim?  I don’t think I’d seen you before today.  And we’ve certainly never had a party like this before.”

“Yeah, you can thank Nate Black for that.  He’s that half-elf over there doing the keg stand with six girls waiting for him when he’s done.  He knows how to treat a lady.

“I don’t exactly know why we’re here either.  We were doing what we always do, protecting Freeport from interference by outsiders, and this time that meant stopping the war between Atlantis and Cthonia.  So we, whatever, followed the prophecy, found the Periapt thing we needed, and Bronson, Sully and I--Sully’s the pirate broad over there in the eyepatch making those three guys bring her everything she wants--were ready to go home when Arakel, Nate and Tavaari decided to fly all the way down the big hole in the ground where we found the Periapt.  Arakel’s that cute young woman over there--don’t let her fool you, she’s one powerful wizard, and I think Tavaari left a while ago with one of your Alfheim friends.

“Nate, Arakel and Tavaari found treasure, of course, and a giant undead nightcrawler, of course.  I heard them screaming--living people do a lot of that--and the rest of us went down to help.  They didn’t need us, though--Arakel had made the whole undead mess disappear.  Turns out it was guarding the magic door to this place.  Do you always make it so hard for people to come in?”

Alen blushed.  “Um, it seems that doorway was created some time ago and then forgotten.  Glad it’s not my department.  Those guys are in so much trouble.”

“So once we get here, we have to fight this mummy pharaoh and his demon bride--again!  They were much tougher than the worm.  Levels over hit dice, I always say.  Then we met Lorem Arendel and here we are.  I hope that periapt thing helps.  I want to get back to pirating.”

“Well, don’t leave too soon.  This place was never this much fun before you came.  I can’t believe I’m even talking to you.  What will you do when you get home?”

“Oh, you know, drink and smoke.  Same thing we’re doing here.  But less girls and more fighting giant squids, probably.  We’ve got some unfinished business with an insane alien god.”

“Your island sounds so lovely.”

“Word.  No one else gets to have Freeport for themselves.  It’s ours.”


_
The honour of your presence is requested
at the
Enlichening
of
 Bronson Alcott March
on
Swagfest Eve
at midnight
at the Temple of Aster

The favour of a reply is requested

NB: Curing will be available to those damaged by negative energy.​_


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## Morrow (Feb 7, 2010)

We've gotten to the point in our Savage Tide Campaign where the PCs, several of whom are the grandchildren of the Swashbuckling in Freeport PCs, have arrived in Freeport for the first time.  So I headed over here to refresh my memory on some things from the Freeport campaign.  Sadly I discovered that the story hour kind of fell apart before the end of the campaign.  All I can say in my defense is that toward the end there I was pretty exhausted, overworked, and ready to be done with Swashbuckling in Freeport.  Happily for the Savage Tide campaign I've succeeded in bribing the players to write the recaps, so that story hour is more or less complete over here.

So, anyway.  How did Swashbuckling in Freeport end?  I'm not going to finish the story hour a year and a half later, but I will give you the basics of how everything wrapped up.  This is really for my own satisfaction.  Probably I'm the only one that cares at this point.
*
Talons of Night*

Our heroes decided that enough was enough and it was time to put an end to the long standing war between Atlantis and Cthonia.  Recognizing their limitations as diplomats and what little leverage Freeport had in this situation the party decided to solve the problem like the adventurers they are.  They chose to hunt down the Peaceful Periapt of Pax, a powerful artifact last carried by a cleric of Morwyn, goddess of peace.  The presence of the Periapt was said to bring peace and put an end to conflict.  The party tracked the artifact to the desert land of Nithia.  There they soon ran afoul of cultists of the Night Spider, a heretofore unknown feminine aspect of Obox-Ob, the former Prince of Demons.  The party battled nightshades, vampires, mummies, werespider monks, and various other monstrosities while they explored an ancient library, journeyed into the Nithian interior, and explored a Pharaoh's tomb.  Subsequently they they allied with a tribe of Phanaton and made a daring raid deep into Aranea territory to discover the lost city of Aran.  There in a pit beneath the city they faced the Night Spider herself and retrieved the Periapt.

The party then discovered a portal that allowed them to travel directly to the heart of the elven kingdom of Alfheim where the remaining cultists of the Night Spider were seeking revenge by slaying all participants in a secret peace conference between Atlantis and Cthonia.  The party slew the cultists and, with the assistance of the Periapt, secured a lasting peace between the two great empires.


*Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?*

Prior to the final adventure of the campaign Bronson finally reached his goal of becoming a lich.  He had little time to celebrate, though, as the party  faced their oldest enemies, the Cult of the Unspeakable One, for the last time.  The adventure began when their old ally Drak Sockit committed a grisly murder.  Investigating Sockit's madness and subsequent disappearance lead the party to a plot by the bard/ alienist Sophia Lasilaran and her companion, the enchanter Enoch Sloan, to bring the dread city of Carcossa to the material plane.  Lasilaran and Sloan succeeded in transforming or replacing Freeport with Carcossa.  The party, protected by powerful wards on the temple of Aster, were able to journey through Carcossa to stop their foes before they could draw the King in Yellow's attention to Carcossa, thus freeing him to enter the material plane.  The party faced Lasilaran and Sloan, their hordes of Byakhee servitors, and Mister Dory, the corrupt merchant turned undead cultist who they had exiled from Freeport several years before.  After defeating Lasilaran and her cohorts the party was able to repel Carcossa from the material plane and return Freeport to its rightful place.  

The party has little time to celebrate their victory, for they discovered the Cult of the Unspeakable One's final gambit.  Batora, the King in Yellow's most powerful remaining follower on the material plane sought to travel to the Plateau of Leng to confront the King in Yellow directly and lead him to the material plane herself.  The party chased Batora across the world, followed her through the gate to the Plateau of Leng and tracked her to the insane maze like Upper House.  There they confronted and killed Batora, but not before she could summon the King in Yellow himself.  Powerless to stop the King in Yellow directly and unable to escape the Plateau the party tried one last desperate gamble.  Arakel volunteered to lead the King in Yellow to the material plane.  However, she betrayed him and led him to Carcossa instead.  The party had succeeded, but at the cost of their friend, who would remain trapped forever.

And that's where the campaign ended.

*Next: What did our heroes do in retirement?*


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## Morrow (Feb 7, 2010)

*Retirement?*



> *The Life of Nate Black After His Adventures in Freeport*
> 
> Nate Black retires from pirating, and gives up his political aspirations. He disassociates with the Captain's council and steps down as head of the fledgling Black Fleet. Rather than naming a successor he tells the members they ought to pick new leader themselves.
> 
> ...




Tavaari, well Tavaari never really changes.  He went back to playing both sides against the middle.  He kept things more or less under control heading up both the Freeport Watch while, through proxies, expanding his criminal empire.

Sully dedicated all of her energy to her political ambitions.  The public loved her and those that actually knew her were terrified of what she would do next.  So she proved them right by leading a coup.  She made herself the new Sea Lord and exiled her predecessor as well as all members of the Captain's Council that wouldn't support the new order.  In no time at all the Captain's Council had become an actual captain's council, made up of pirate captains.  They were no better at running things then former council, but Sully didn't care, they were her people.

Bronson was devastated by the loss of Arakel.  He officially abdicated leadership of the Temple of Aster in Freeport, turning it over to Elias Scrimm and his new wife Alhandra.  He carefully hid his phylactery and left Freeport aboard the _Dreadnaught_.  He sought to find a way to rescue Arakel from Carcossa, and he had all the time in the world to do it.
*
Next: What happened next?*


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