Freeport Campaign

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 1150
• Treasure: None to speak of

After forumulating a plan with the marine leader and passing a restless night, the group led a dawn attack on the Docks District. They defeated two contingents of Cutthroats and hobgoblin soldiers, effectively neutralizing Draegar Redblade’s hold on the city’s food supply. They did not encounter Draegar himself, but learned from captured thugs that the hobgoblin leader was probably holed up in a safehouse somewhere in Scurvytown.

With the two warehouses secure, the group made their way to the Last Resort to consult with Lady Elise and other sympathetic members of the Captain’s Council about what they wanted done next. The consensus was that Boss Tillinghast could wait, and that no one would lose any sleep if the party capitalized on the current turmoil to rid the Docks and Scurvytown of their respective dominant organized criminal elements. Lady Elise intimated that if the city had to have such a presence, Finn had made himself the least offensive over the years. The party agreed, bid the Council good day, and discussed how to proceed.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 500
• Treasure: various trade goods

Chow spotted a lookout in the crow’s nest of the Freeport cutter just as the lookout spotted the Starchaser. After some discussion among the party, Edo transformed himself into an inconspicuous variety of bird and flew towards Coral Bay while Will scried him with his newfound crystal ball. The party soon learned that several Freeport Sea Lord Guards and marines were stationed aboard the Sea Skate and the Blue Heron. While Edo scoped out the town, he noticed a pair of fellows depart the cutter. One headed into town, while the other alerted the Freeport personnel on the other two ships. These fellows set about arming themselves and readying the ships for departure.

The group discussed various appealing options for taking out the guards if necessary, but they decided to try talking first. Balama hoisted a flag of truce and continued sailing into Coral Bay. The party tensed as the Starchaser rounded the tip of land that marked the corner of the town, but they were allowed to dock without being fired upon. When the ship was secured, a sweaty northman, backed by a squad of marines and Sea Lord Guard, announced that Will, Spike, Chow, and Gor-bob were under arrest for the kidnapping and murder of Sea Lord Milton Drac, Captain’s Councillor Melkior Maeorgan, and Captain’s Councillor Brock Wallace. He further charged Balama, Hurm, and Terez with aiding and abetting known fugitives, and ordered some of his troops to seize the group’s weapons. The party consented without a fight, but requested that they be allowed to explain their view of the events at the Lighthouse, preferably in a neutral location and in the presence of a local priest. The Freeport investigator, Sigur Hilmarsson, agreed and ordered his personnel to escort the party to a nearby tavern for further discussion.

Thus relocated, the party and their captors waited a few minutes in relative silence until a local priest of Shalimyr showed up and explained that he was going to cast a zone of truth spell on the party. They agreed and began their tale. They explained in detail their encounters with Verlaine, Milton Drac, the rest of Captain’s Council, and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, and described the fight at the Lighthouse and the suspected ramifications to Freeport if they had failed to foil the Sea Lord’s scheme. The priest and the investigator sat dumbfounded through this testimony, and the priest verified to Hilmarsson that the zone of truth had been in place during the whole tale.

Sigur collected his thoughts and admitted that he was out of his depth. He said that as far as he was concerned, the charges could be dropped, but that he was still under orders to bring the party back to Freeport. He also suggested that a “donation” to “defray the cost of supplies” for the Guard and marines would probably help ensure the group’s secure arrival in Freeport. After some discussion, the party agreed to the “donation,” and to the suggestion that some of the guards and marines accompany the group on their various craft on the voyage back to Freeport, both to maintain appearances, and to keep the party from simply sailing away. These arrangements settled, the investigator shared a drink with the party and bid them good day.

Balama told the party that she intended, after a hot bath, to spend the remainder of the day securing cargo for the return trip to Freeport, which the group thought was a fine idea. They spent the next few hours haggling in Coral Bay’s marketplace, eventually purchasing a box of uncut emeralds, 10 barrels of local spices, and large amounts of fruit and a fine local rum. They made sure that the cargo was safely loaded on the Sea Skate and collapsed into freshly sheeted beds for the first time in weeks.

The three-day voyage back to Freeport was largely uneventful. The party chatted up the guards and marines, and Spike and Chow taught the rest of the group a bit about crewing a ship. When the small flotilla finally got close the Serpent’s Teeth, it was obvious that something was wrong in the city. Dozens of ships were anchored outside the reefs that ringed the island chain, the Docks were almost empty, and a plume of smoke was clearly visible in the Merchant’s District.

The party consulted with the investigator and the commander of the Sea Lord’s cutter that had been sent to Coral Bay about how to proceed. The marine leader said that he’d try to get in touch with his fellow officers to see what had happened, and suggested that Hilmarsson do the same. For their part, Edo and William volunteered to try to get into the city and get a report from Egil at the Scriptorium of Tinel, and the rest of the group volunteered to talk to the captains of the nearby ships. Everyone agreed to meet back up at the Sea Lord cutter before nightfall to compare notes.

William and Edo used a combination of shapechanging and magic to get to the Scriptorium, and used a dimension door to get into the temple itself after finding the doors locked and barred. The startled librarians within were quick to summon Brother (now High Priest) Egil, who gave a quick rundown of the current situation:

• Sea Lord’s Guard Commissioner “Boss” Tillinghast was holed up in the Fortress of Justice with most of the guards after a couple of confrontations with the Captain’s Council, who had tried to remove him from office following his series of questionable actions in the days after the Lighthouse unveiling.
• The Docks District was under the control of the Cutthroats, who had driven the Buccaneers into hiding after a few bloody skirmishes. The Cutthroats were reported to be under new management: a hobgoblin named Draegar Redblade had staged a bloody coup in Scurvytown and emerged as the gang’s uncontested leader. In addition to the usual ruffians, Draegar also employed several hobgoblin soldiers in the gang, which explained why the battles for the Docks had also cost the city numerous Sea Lord’s guards and marines. Draegar and his thugs had set up a couple of warehouses to distribute the meager food supplies that were coming in to the city after the Longshoremen’s Union had gone on strike.
• The various priesthoods in the Temple District had tried to create and distribute food after the docks closed down, but were simply overwhelmed by the demand, and were forced to lock their doors when the mobs outside became unruly and then aggressive. The mobs had then turned to the few ships that attempted to dock in the Merchant District, but the private guards of the merchant families were a bit more brutal in repelling the attacks than the priests had been.
• The Captain’s Council was meeting at the Last Resort, but had been gridlocked for days.

Thus informed, the two returned to the ship to talk with the rest of the party and the Freeport personnel.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 2500
• Treasure: ebony scepter with silver head (900 gp); copper mask with emerald eyes (1,600 gp); jade ring (500 gp); pair of copper bracers with emeralds (2,300 gp each); silver crown with diamonds (4,000 gp); cloth of gold funeral vestments (800 gp); sapphire ring (2,000 gp); golden circlet set with fire opals (3,000 gp); gold anklet inlaid with amber (1,200 gp); gold comb set with garnets (800 gp); ebony crook inlaid with silver (300 gp); dragon leather belt studded with onyx (1,200 gp); empty mahogany scroll case wrapped in gold (800 gp); copper censer crusted with topaz (2,200 gp); mahogany casket (100 gp) containing a set of five black pearls (400 gp each, 2,500 gp for set); signet ring (400 gp); silver pendant set with moonstones (800 gp); silver mask with emerald eyes (2,400 gp); gold amphora filled with incense (600 gp, incense turned to dust); 80 pp; fire opal (120 gp); ruby (400 gp)
• Magic items (including items from Session 27 identified during this session): +1 half-plate armor; +1 heavy mace of frost; divine scrolls: divine power; divine scroll: wind wall; +2 lawful scimitar; ring of mind shielding; ring of the ram; +2 amulet of natural armor; major ring of elemental resistance (electricity); crystal ball; mace of terror; rhino hide armor; breastplate of command; wand of cure serious wounds (25 charges); Rain Tiger (gem of spell storing – resurrection); wand of levitate (12 charges); +2 headband of intellect; +2 glamered breastplate; +1 spiked chain; potion of haste; potion of cat’s grace; scroll of levitate; +1 banded mail

Recovered the Rain Tiger and numerous other treasures from the crypts of the Rangka kings over the course of a few days, after triggering a water trap that flooded the crypt chamber. Used the Rain Tiger to bring Gor-bob back from the dead. Ambushed the Banda high priestess, a lesser priest, and a trio of initiates. Returned to the Starchaser to find Hurm and Terez playing cards on the foredeck. Sailed back down the Ran Pe for the next couple of days, and caught sight of Coral Bay on the third morning out. Chow also spotted the pennant of Freeport atop a Sea Lord cutter in the trading town’s harbor.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 3300
• Treasure: 4 everburning torches; altar trappings – chalice (50 gp), knife (20 gp), bookstand (60 gp); wand of cure light wounds (15 charges); 6 smokesticks; masterwork scimitar; large shield; golden circlet (600 gp); 4 onyx rings (80 gp each)
• Unidentified magic items: half-plate armor; heavy mace; 2 divine scrolls

The party infiltrated the inner Temple and defeated its traps and guardians, including the Priest-Lord Sangket. (More flavor text to come.)

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 560
• Treasure: 1300 gp, two gold trade bars (100gp each), Rangka bowl (150 gp), Quaal’s feather token (tree)

Edo awoke the next morning to the feeling of something watching him. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he noticed a tiger lounging a few dozen yards away from camp. He warned the rest of the group and approached the tiger in a non-threatening manner, to which the cat responded with a toothy yawn. The druid finally got close enough to notice a grizzled older human near the tiger. The man introduced himself as “Colonel” and soon joined the party at their camp. After some discussion about the Colonel’s history and activities in the area, he and the group agreed to join forces to investigate the temple of Rana Mor.

Will and Edo used their various means to fly up and gather the layout of the temple from overhead. The rest of the party followed the road through a massive arch supported by two carved elephants, and approached the temple’s front door quietly. They were relatively unsurprised when a crossbow bolt whizzed from a narrow window and smacked the wall close to the Colonel’s head. Will dispatched the hidden humanoid sentry with a few arcane bolts aimed through a magical sensor, and proceeded to use the eye to investigate the rooms adjacent to the lookout’s post. Finding no immediate threats, the mage joined the rest of the party and turned his attention to the gigantic double doors below.

Carvings on the door depicted a mighty king surrounded by prostrate subjects, and Rangka lettering formed a border around the doors. Balama consulted Darrezan’s notes on the Rangka language, but quickly confessed that she had no talent in that area and handed the notes off to Will. He spent a few minutes and a comprehend languages spell to decipher the text on the door: “Proclaim the glory of Nhar Phull. Hail the works of his hand. Walk under his eye all of thy days. All fall before the Lord of the Dead.” After a bit of discussion, Chow asked Will how to pronounce “Hail, Nhar Phull” in the Rangka language, then prostrated himself before the door and spoke the phrase. The doors opened, allowing the group access to the temple’s inner moat and central tower.

After making sure there were no threats in the immedate area, the Colonel leapt across the moat and worked with Spike to secure a rope bridge for the rest of the party. Once across, the group examined the carvings on the great stone door in the south wall, which depicted dozens of warrior maidens with curved swords. Still under the effects of his language comprehension spell, Will translated the Rangka script on the door: “The works of the gods are everlasting. A circle without end. Find wisdom in the eyes of the gods, and Paradise shall be opened to thee.”

Looking more closely at the walls of the tower, the party noticed that the eyes of the gods carved into the walls all seemed to be peering at a scroll or tablet elsewhere on the wall, and that each scroll and tablet contained several Rangka letters. Following the letters, the party pieced together a short phrase: “Man is empty: a vessel filled by the gods to hold their will.” They discussed various interpretations of this clue, and eventually decided to investigate the rest of the temple in order to find a vessel of some sort. During this conversation, the doors to the south boomed shut.

Rather than heading back outside, the group crossed back over to the inner gallery and started toward a broken door leading into the southeastern corner of the main temple. Their investigation was interrupted by a burst of low-frequency noise emanating from a narrow window at the east end of the gallery. The Colonel used a bit of magic to enlarge the window enough to charge through and confronted a bizarre dog-like creature in the room beyond. A combination of magic and force of arms soon dispatched the destrachan, with a little collateral damage to the massive ceramic tub at the east end of the creature’s lair. Once that small hole was patched, Chow fished around in the tub, looking for anything that could be construed as a “vessel to be filled by the gods.” He came up empty-handed, but the group did find a trio of chests in a small room north of the lair, containing a bit of treasure and a small poisonous snake. The group grabbed the loot, slammed the lid on the snake, and moved on to the next room, where they found the body of a Banda woman slumped in the corner near a carved altar. Disturbed at discovering the destrachan’s larder, they closed the door and headed for the next series of rooms.

At the end of a hall, they discovered a strange curtain that seemed to be made of semi-tangible darkness. Checking for traps, Chow stepped through the curtain into the room beyond, a black tiled chamber with a door to the north emblazoned with a blood-smeared grinning skull. Finding nothing further of interest, Chow called the rest of the party into the chamber and continued through the door into a dark shrine.

The image of a winged skeleton archer overlooked an altar at the south end of the room, and a pair of sickly yellow candles polluted the air with a foul stench. Interested in the dozens of filthy, carrion-filled bowls lying atop the altar, Chow crossed the room, triggering a magical trap in the process. While one of his compatriots provided Chow a bit of magic to help stave off any further effects from the poison inflicted by the trap, the rogue finished appraising the bowls on the altar, picking out a relatively unfouled example of Rangka craftsmanship. With this corner of the complex cleared, the group returned to the central tower.

Chow tried to use the Rangka bowl somehow to open the door, but to no avail. Several more suggestions followed, but what eventually opened the door was reciting the phrase, “Man is empty: a vessel filled by the gods to hold their will” in Rangka.