The crew of the Sea Ghost formed up behind Captain Alot on the plank. Alot threw open the door to the aft cabin and rushed into the cabin.
The cabin contained a large tun-sized barrel with no lid and a desk. Exotic yellow plants hung from pots in every corner of the room. There was a wicker platter on the desk containing alien-looking fish that had burst as if they had exploded from within. A translucent green lantern sat on the otherwise bare desk. The cabin was slick with slime and algae.
Alot held his sword read and moved around the desk, exploring the room, searching for any invisible occupant. Patriarch Craig entered the cabin behind him. Craig moved to the desk and began opening drawers.
Patriarch Craig felt an invisible presence close to his face. Craig stood up and a man appeared.
The man was bald and overweight. He was naked save for a dirty cape tied around his neck. He was bald, completely hairless. His skin was thick like blubber and slightly translucent. You could see his veins under the jelly-fish like flesh. His eyes bulged. He gave Craig a strange smile and little maggots crawled out of his lip like spittle.
The disgusting jellyfish man pointed at his eyes and for a split second Patriarch Craig felt compelled to look.
CHAPTER 74
"THE STYES"
The Crew of the Sea Ghost:
We pick up where we left off last week with the aft cabin, Mister Dory, and the Flesh Golem. I got some great reactions from my players this week with my descriptions of squicky events and characters.
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Captain of the Sea Ghost.
- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, deck sorceress and first mate of the Sea Ghost.
- Patriarch Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxworth - Lawful Good Dwarven Priest of St. Ogden (Cleric), sailor and shipwright, bosun of the Sea Ghost.
- Cai'luin Manaan - Chaotic Good Sea-Elf Bard, member of the royal family of the tribe of Manaan. Cook of the Sea Ghost.
- Corvid Ravenson - Neutral Good Fallen Aasimar Paladin of Vengeance and Divine Soul Sorcerer, sent to Oerth to avenge those who wronged his angelic "brother", Auric Ravenson. Second mate of the Sea Ghost.
We pick up where we left off last week with the aft cabin, Mister Dory, and the Flesh Golem. I got some great reactions from my players this week with my descriptions of squicky events and characters.
So Alot moved into the room and tried to move into every square trying to run into the invisible Mister Dory. I rolled really high on Mister Dory's Stealth check thanks to Advantage. I told Alot's player that Dory could use his reaction to simply keep out of his way so his strategy wouldn't work - but if he wanted to use his action to actively search - which is what is another way to describe what he was doing - he could make his Perception check versus Mister Dory's Stealth check. He failed.
Mister Dory
A massive humanoid form burst out of the dark water of the large tun. It was the body of an overweight human woman. Her body looked like her limbs had been removed and stitched back together. Her naked torso looked bloated and lumpy as if it were haphazardly crammed full of meat and parts. She had a vacant glassy stare as she mindlessly attacked Alot with her massive ham-hock fists.
Cai'luin immediately strummed on his lute and created a magical aura of tiny glowing notes that whirled through the air, slashing at the fleshy construct.
Alot stabbed the gruesome humanoid monster with his magical sword. Instead of blood, out of the wound poured dozens of small wriggling eels that poured onto the slippery floor of the cabin and wriggled disgustingly. Alot recoiled in horror.
Corvid entered the room and slashed at the construct with Faithkeeper. Patriarch Craig said a prayer of healing for the crew and summoned a holy hammer to attack Mister Dory.
Mister Dory opened his mouth and a noxious yellow cloud poured out. Corvid immediately waved his hands in a dismissive gesture and Mister Dory began to cough as the cloud became vomit that poured harmlessly onto the floor.
Corvid wagged his finger at Mister Dory, "None of that!"
Mister Dory then inhaled a deep breath. A small spark of flame formed inside his mouth and he prepared to hurl the gaseous fireball at his opponents.
Once again Corvid dismissed the manifestation, leaving Mister Dory choking and sputting, and said, "Stop it!"
Having slain the fleshy monster, leaving a pool of wriggling eels and other small fish in the open barrel, Alot and Corvid turned their ire against Mister Dory. Mister Dory tried to shield his face and body with his arms but it soon became clear - he was going to lose.
Mister Dory threw up his hands in surrender, begging for mercy and promising to cooperate with the crew in their investigation if they promised to let him go.
Patriarch Craig pointed at the green lantern on the desk, "Nobody touch that!"
Guardians of the Warehouse
After having bound the hands of their prisoner and replacing the plank so that they could cross from the suspended boat to the crane platform, the team led Mister Dory to the warehouse.
Mister Dory said that the only way down to the ground level was an mechanical platform that can be raised and lowered form the second floor.
Patriarch Craig reminded the others that, in his clairvoyant vision of second floor, he saw three winged lions and a large red toad-like creature. When confronted about this potential treachery, Dory said that he would command his guardians to allow safe passage.
The team entered the warehouse and traversed the iron walk-way that ran around the perimeter of the warehouse near the ceiling, twenty feet above the second floor. Down below they could see piles of freight and wooden crates. Among them were the three winged lions and the toad-like creature. They were resting sleepily. The toad-like creature opened its eyes just a bit and glanced up at the walkway. He saw that Dory was being led about by strangers with his hands bound. The toad-creature grimaced and slowly stood up. With a motion and a hiss from the toad-creature the three bat-winged lions slowly roused from their slumber and looked around.
Patriarch Craig said confidently, "I'll take care of it!" and marched round the opening to the winch. As he did so, the red toad-thing leaped over the crates to confront the dwarven priest. The three bat-winged lions likewise pounced onto nearby crates revealing round fat human faces with strangely translucent skin. The faces looked eerily like that of Mister Dory.
Craig curled his lip in disgust under his skull-mask and turned to Dory, "THAT is disgusting!"
Alot told Mister Dory to call off the guardians. Mister Dory in turn ordered the red toad-thing to withdraw.
The red toad-thing considered the scene, noting Mister Dory's current incarceration. The toad-thing sneered with vile derision, "Well, I would, except that it certainly appears like I don't work for you any more, do I? Get 'em, boys!"
With a gesture from the toad-thing, one of the manticores hurled spikes from its porcupine-like tail at Patriarch Craig while the other leaped onto the dwarf. The third snarled menacingly at the others still standing on or near the spiral staircase.
The red toad-thing hurled himself at Patriarch Craig, stabbing him with long spike-like claws that extended from its obscenely long forearms.
Holy Vengeance
Cai'luin played a chord on his lute and sang a song that created a burst of psychic static among the toad-thing and the manticores. Unfortunately, it also affected Patriarch Craig.
Corvid flew into battle to assist the dwarven priest. Alot hesitated, unsure whether he should release his grip on Dory. However, as the battle intensified he jammed a short sword through a gap in Dory's manacles and pinned them to the floor. He looked at Cai'luin and said, "Watch him!"
Cai'luin replied, "Got him!" Alot left his prisoner to the sea elf and joined the fray.
No sooner had Alot let go than Dory tore pulled the short sword free from the floor. Cai'luin quickly kicked at Dory, hoping to knock him over but missed. The bald man hurled himself into the opening and fell twenty feet to the main warehouse floor below. He landed with a wet thud.
Alot sighed and flew down to the main floor. He was surrounded by workers who had gathered to stare in surprise at the battle happening in the opening above them. Alot smashed their employer on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. He then picked him up and flew back to the second floor. He deposited the unconscious Dory next to Cai'luin, "try harder this time!"
The toad-thing and the manticores fought with difficulty until they were able to shake off their psychic impairment. By this point the crew had managed only to kill one of the manticores. As it died it began to melt into noxious jelly.
The red toad-thing mocked Corvid for his failure and demanded he take good care of the little one for he would one day bear his offspring!
Corvid became enraged. He thrust Faithkeeper into the toad-thing's heart, impaling the beast. The toad-thing looked shocked as Corvid's body began to radiate righteous vengeance.
DM Note-
Corvid rolled a natural 20 and amped up his damage with Hunter's Mark and Smite for a total of 30 points of damage. The slaad was already bloodied and I was pretty sure he was going to die from this attack. But after the math, he had three hit points left.
The toad-thing looked down at his wound and saw that he wasn't dead. He began to laugh. He would begin to heal this wound and soon he would be able to continue the fi-
A second magic sword impaled the toad-thing from behind as Alot added his own sword to Corvid's.
The look on the toad-thing's face changed from relief to resignation, "Well, shit!"
He began to melt into a noxious puddle on the floor.
The second manticore tried to flee into the dark corner of the warehouse but Alot chased it down and killed it. The third manticore flew up to a perch on the walkway overlooking the warehouse. It turned and hissed like a frightened cat.
Patriarch Craig told the others to let it go. Craig then got up, said a prayer of healing, and began turning the winch to raise the lift platform to the second floor.
Birsk Chumwell
Cai'luin heard shouting from the floor below. Someone had taken charge and had begun issuing orders, telling people to go summon the city constables. Cai'luin then noticed that the spiral staircase on which he stood continued down to the first floor.
DM Note-
The players all said, "Wait, the stairs keep going down? We didn't have to use the elevator? Was Dory just leading us into a trap so we'd have to fight the manticore?"
I said, "Yup!"
That was my intention but, honestly, I did forget to mention that the stairs kept going down.
Cai'luin ran downstairs and saw a woman in her forties with a tough leathery face shouting orders to the others.
The woman told the other workers to stand back and said to Cai'luin, "Who are you? What do you want?"
Cai'luin put on all his charm and introduced himself - sort of, "We are merchants from another town. We're the new owners of this building. What's your name?"
"I am Birsk Chumwell, I am the manager of this warehouse. I work for Mister Dory. I just saw you kick Mister Dory off the second floor, then your - whatever that is - flew down, attacked him, KILLED him for all I know, grab him, and fly back up! I demand you tell me what's happening!"
Cai'luin grimaced as he watched a handful of workers flee out the freight entrance. He knew they'd be running to get the constables.
Cai'luin started inching his way from the spiral stairs to the center of the room. He was surrounded by warehouse workers but they kept their distance. He slowly prepared his lute. "I ASSURE you that we are here on official business and that we mean none of you any harm. In fact, if I could just get your attention for just a moment, I'll be able to FULLY explain our actions and our intentions. Everyone, your attention please!"
He began playing a hypnotic tune on his lute and a wave of confusion and euphoria washed over all of the warehouse workers, including Birsk. They stood swaying in an ecstatic fugue.
"Thank you," said Cai'luin as he hurried past them and into what appeared to be the main office. He quickly looked around and saw an open safe. Inside the safe was a mahogany box containing what appeared to be damp parchments, a book, and a pouch. He grabbed the box and ran back upstairs.
"I think I got it. But we should get out of here. They'll be like that for less than a minute and some of them ran away to get the constables."
Alot nodded, "Right. Okay, I'll carry Dory and Cai'luin. Corvid, you carry Craig. Let's take this guy to Master Refrum's laboratory."
Cai'luin looked around, "What about Aella?"
Alot gestured behind him, "Oh, she left a while ago. She said she had to go set up for the party or something."
DM Note-
In case you hadn't noticed, Aella's player missed this week.
The Interrogation
The party flew through the yellow foggy air over Poniard. It was only a few hundred feet from Dory's Warehouse to Master Refrum's shop. It was clear from the looks of the people below that they were unused to seeing people flying overhead.
They landed on the roof and broke open a locked door into the attic. There they found a workshop filled with fabulous half-finished inventions in various states of design and construction. They took Dory down to a small room on the first floor where Refrum's apprentice Jarme once lived.
Alot and Craig looked through the box they removed from the warehouse office. The pouch contained six rubies. The book was old with tattered pages. The cover of the book was decorated with a strange spiral design - a symbol associated with the dark god Tharizdun. The manuscript was written in various dark and evil languages. Corvid could recognize some of the writings as prayers and curses.
Corvid left to retrieve the green lantern from Dory's office, wrapping it in a burlap sack and careful not to touch it.
Cai'luin left to get Constable Jute - the only constable - the only PERSON - they trusted in this city.
Within the book was a note - the same note that Craig had seen in his vision.
This book contains all the invocations and prayers you'll need to learn the truth, Mr. Dory. The dark god's faithful are wary of new converts. But learn the words, and they should accept you soon enough. Seek their pulpit in the evening shadow of Frother's Lamp. Praise Tharizdun!
The other loose sheets were crudely drawn pornographic images depicting indescribable acts between man and beast.
Dory regained consciousness. Once he realized he had been captured he became silent and sullen. Alot demanded Dory tell them everything he knew about the cult and the murders.
Dory said, "Promise to release me and I will tell you everything. I have no love for this city or what happens to it. Allow me to leave and I'll tell you what you want to know. Otherwise, I will tell you nothing."
Alot said, "That's not going to happen. We're bringing the constables. You're going to pay for your crimes."
Dory smiled confidently, "Yes! Perfect! Summon the constabulary! They work for me, you know. I'll explain to them how a group of pirates stormed my warehouse and took me hostage. We'll see how well that works for you. Or, alternatively, you can set me free and you can get what you want."
Patriarch Craig said a prayer of silence and the area around Mister Dory was cut off from all sound.
Constable Jute
It took over an hour for Cai'luin to secure a gondola, cross the lagoon, and find Constable Jute at the garrison. She was off-duty but agreed to accompany Cai'luin.
On their return to Refrum's workshop, Cai'luin explained why they summoned her. They had captured Council Member Dory and wanted to implicate him in the Ghost Lantern murders - as well as expose a secret cult operating in the Styes.
Once they arrived at Refrum's workshop, Cai'luin and Alot showed Jute the collected evidence. Jute was horrified! Not only had they invaded Dory's warehouse without cause or provocation, they had kidnapped a sitting member of the city council!
Jute explained to the others that she was bound by her code to report what she had seen just now to her commander. Although she believed them, she wasn't sure what she could do to help them. She lacked the clout to make an accusation against a member of the city council, especially one so involved in the funding and operation of the garrison. What they really needed was the involvement and backing of another member of the town council.
Madame Thornwell
As if on cue, the front door to Refrum's workshop burst open. Constables poured in. Mister Dory smiled smugly to his captors.
Behind the constables strode Madame Thornwell, member of the city council of Poniard. She wore a long red leather cape over her red and black leather dress. She commanded the constables to arrest Council Member Dory on suspicion of conspiracy.
The smile on Mister Dory's face vanished. He looked around desperately.
Madame Thornwell's constables collected the gathered evidence. Thornwell thanked Alot and his crew for their assistance in this matter. She assured them that Mister Dory would be punished. For his conspiracy he would lose his seat on the city council and would likely face banishment from the city.
As the constables picked up Dory to drag him away, he began to struggle, shouting insults and hurling curses at Thornwell for this political maneuver. Thornwell smiled politely.
Thornwell and her constables left the workshop in as big a hurry as they arrived.
In all the whirlwind of activity, Patriarch Craig stopped to think, "How did Thornwell know where we were?"
He felt something heavy tied to his belt. He looked down to find a pouch that had not been there before. It was a pouch that fit in the palm of the hand. When he poured out the contents he was surprised to find that the punch contained 500 platinum coins - far more than one would expect a small pouch to contain! In it was a note written in red ink, "For your trouble."
More Thornwell
Cai'luin watched Thornwell and her entourage go. He suddenly thought of something and ran off after them. Guards moved to intercept his approach. Thornwell waved them aside to speak with the sea elf.
"Madame Thornwell, if I could have a moment of your time."
"Yes, but please hurry."
"Madame Thornwell, in addition to Mister Dory's conspiracy mind-control Jarme to commit the Ghost Lantern murders, we have become aware of a secret cult in the Styes. The cult worships the dark god Tharizdun and are planning some great catastrophe to the city."
Thornwell looked annoyed, "Yes, so? What do you want me to do about it?"
"Well, um, I guess we figured you'd kind of want to take care of that."
She sighed, "Look. I have only a handful of loyal constables to work with, and I'm going to need them if I'm going to get Dory removed from the council. I appreciate your assistance in that regard. Frankly, I don't care what happens in the Styes. They can worship- whatever. I'm very busy and I have a lot of work to do. What exactly are you asking me to do?"
"I don't know Can we have some kind of official sanction or something to take care of this ourselves?"
"A- what? I have no idea what you are asking for. How about I just not send any constables into the Low Quarter for a day. Would that suffice?"
"Yes. Perfect. Understood. We'll take care of it. "
She was already walking away. She waved her hand dismissively over her shoulder, "Sure. Whatever. Its the Styes. I don't care!"
The Rest
The crew spent the night resting in Refrum's workshop. Cai'luin lamented that Madame Thornwell wasn't the ally he hoped she would be. Craig distributed her reward and said, "No. Her help was just a part of a political maneuver. She had no interest in Jarme or the murders. She just saw the murders as a way to get rid of her political opponent."
Corvid grit his teeth, "Do we really have to save this city? Can't we just let the- whatever- destroy the town?"
Craig looked at him sternly.
Corvid relinquished the idea with a heavy sigh, "No. No. I didn't really mean that."
The Raid
The next morning, the crew prepared themselves to return to the rotting hulk beneath Frother's Lamp. They took a gondola to the ramshackle city built of layer upon layer of shacks and shanties atop pilings and piers.
It was soon after dawn. The wooden walkways were covered in trash and sleeping drunks. Many inhabitants were starting their daily chores - tossing out trash and night soil, preparing merchant carts, and scurrying around trying to catch dogs and rats for food.
As the crew made their way through the twisting labyrinthine canyons of the Low Quarter, a thrown bottle crashed near them. Then a crossbow bolt struck a building's wall, narrowly missing them. Suddenly they were under assault from attackers in every nook, cranny, window, and door.
Cai'luin shielded his face, "Why are these people attacking us?"
Patriarch Craig replied glumly, "Who do you think is in the cult?"
To Be Continued...
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