Freeport Campaign

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: A few
• Treasure: Various weapons and items from the former Cloud Ant crew

Richard beseeched Harrimast to help him discern the location of the Cloud Ant, and was gratified to receive knowledge of a bearing and approximate distance. The group turned back into mist, flew to the ship’s last known location, and set up a sprial search pattern. Within a couple of hours, they discovered the ship descending to a cleared riverbank a quarter-mile past the bottom of a hundred-foot waterfall. As they approached the ship, they noted what looked to be a couple of mages waiting on the riverbank, accompanied by a trio of warriors and another trio of carpenters.

As the group moved toward the aft of the descending ship, one of the warriors seemed to spot one of the barely-visible clouds of mist moving in an unexpected way. He reported such to the female wizard, who immediately began issuing orders. With the element of surprise gone, the party rematerialized for the short battle.

The ship’s defenders were no match for the party, though Isaac was a bit banged up in the process of driving off or killing most of the half-orcs that made up the crew. In the end, all of the defenders were slain except for the male mage who teleported away with two of the surviving warriors, the half-orc wizard who evaporated into mist and disappeared through some cracks in the ship’s hull, and the three carpenters who fled into the jungle.

The only moment of relative tension was when Kumar snatched Aerdane, the half-elf captain, from the wheel, thereby releasing the captive air elemental propelling the ship. Richard quickly summoned another air elemental to fulfil that task, but the ship began an alarming descent while the new elemental got up to speed. Chow took over at the wheel, achieving control of the bound elemental and preventing it from smashing any more of the barely-flying ship.

With the Cloud Ant under nominal control, the party took the ship a couple of hours away from the riverbank and set her down in a small clearing. They formally introduced themselves to Aerdane, the Cloud Ant‘s captain, and Vergus Hote, the dwarf who had been manning the ship’s lone ballista.

In questioning Aerdane and Hote, they discovered that the dwarf had helped in the inital assault that had captured the ship. He said that he had been pressed into service by the Crimson Fleet several years ago when the Fleet had raided the ship he was on. To avoid being murdered out of hand like several of the crew, he agreed to use his knowledge of siege weaponry to benefit the Fleet. Skeptical of his story, the party discussed the dwarf’s fate with Aerdane, who advocated turning him over to the authorities in Fairhaven.

Before that could happen, though, the group needed to get the ship back in good enough shape to make the journey back to Fairhaven. To that end, Spike, Isaac, Chow, and Kumar stood watch while Balama and Richard got some sleep.

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