Session 32 - No more planning - LET'S DO IT!
27th Aug 2021 - 19:45 - 00:30
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Marpenoth 18. End of session: 1489DR Marpenoth 18
Our "Heroes" are back in the Inn, discussing plans. Derrick slips away from the welcoming arms of Skull to rejoin his friends, though after going round in circles regarding a "Plan", he decides to go back to bed with Skull.
Iwee is concerned when a group of very drunk dwarves start to sing the banned "Pirate Song". She tries to tell them to keep quiet. It doesn't work. Her attempt to find out if they are keen to join "the rebellion" fails when she realises they are too drunk to have any meaningful conversation. Bryn, thinking that some confusion needs to be sown around town, steps in and offers the drunk dwarves a discount at his brothel - an offer they react enthusiastically to - but in a surprising change of attitude Bryn backtracks on his offer, steals their money and threatens them with his axe. Confusions reigns.
The drunken dwarves, realising that in their current state they would be no match for Bryn, back down, muttering under their breath that Bryn would regret his actions in the morning. Assuming they remember anything of the event. They return to the inn, grumbling and moaning to anyone who will listen. Eventually Bryn relents and makes amends with the dwarves, which results in sowing even more confusion.
After the group make a brief reconnaissance to Bree's house, which they find guarded, the party discussed the plan. Then changed it. Then discussed the changed plan. Then changed it again. More discussion ensued. Derrick got bored and frustrated that he was the only one suggesting a plan and everyone was ridiculing it. The sun started to rise.
The party reconvened later in the morning, following a few hours' sleep. Energised and determined they gathered the key members of the "Rebellion" and put their "Plan", such as it was, into action.
Derrick called upon Charlie, a "rebel" and one of Derrick's dock-hand-gang, known to Derrick (and Derrick alone) as the "Regulators", and together they went into the caverns under the pretence of visiting Brighton in the training area. After a slip up where Derrick revealed that he somehow knew the password, he managed to recover the situation and was let through the door. The Sahuagin eyed him suspiciously, especially when he tried the door of the treasure room, but Derrick, unsure which room was actually the treasure room, quickly moved on. One of the shark-heads followed them to the far end of the tunnel, though Derrick once again had to call upon his powers of deception when he was caught rummaging in the cargo storage room. Surprisingly, the Sahuagin believed his story and he managed, with Charlie, to reach the training area and find Brighton, though unfortunately without managing to get access to the treasure room.
The "Plan" seemed to be failing at the first hurdle. They had already abandoned poor Bob, and the Dragon Turtles, and the slaves, and any attempt at killing the leaders of the Radiant Sisters or getting the Eye of Kronos. If they also failed to get the lockbox then even if they managed to escape the Isle, their quest may be considered by many to be a failure. Derrick got frustrated once more.
With only a single Sahuagin at this end of the tunnel, and no other pirates around, it was a good opportunity to do something stealthily. Brighton failed to call the Sahuagin guard through the gate to help, but they did get him to open the gate, pretending to return back to the Docks area. They immediately jumped him and Derrick, using his pent-up frustration and boredom, managed to dispatch the Sahuagin guard before he got a chance to raise the alarm. They then realised that perhaps they should have waited until the guard had used the conch to give the all clear to the Sahuagin at the other end of the tunnel before killing him. If they headed down the tunnel now, they would potentially face the ballista and the guards!
They decide to try to attempt to give the all clear signal themselves, rather than risk sneaking down the corridor and trying to get into the treasure room without being seen. Brighton, an old dwarf whose years of pipe-smoking has destroyed much of his lung capacity, had no chance of blowing the conch. Derrick, and then Charlie, tried their luck. And both failed. Badly. The noise coming out of the conch was like no signal either of them had heard before. They realised that the Sahuagin at the other end would be fully on their guard now. They had to make their move quickly!
They ran down the corridor and their concern was proved justified as a large, heavy and very sharp ballista bolt shot past Derrick's shoulder, luckily missing. Derrick, in an unexpected gesture of morality, got Charlie and Brighton to wait in the alcove area, safe from more ballista bolts, as he dashed to the treasure room and ran in. He luckily found the secret door easily, and headed into the smaller chamber, filled with lockboxes and other items. Ignoring all the potential treasures, he grabbed the small, metal lockbox he was looking for and ran back out, quickly heading back to the training area, away from the ballista, calling Brighton and Charlie to follow him as he went. Charlie dashed out, his youthful legs taking him past Derrick and they made it out of sight of the ballista. Brighton was not so lucky - his arthritic joints slowing him down and, as he ran for his life, he received a ballista bolt in his back for his trouble. He survived the bolt, if only just, though Derrick's attempt to help by pulling the bolt out of his back caused him further pain and distress.
Knowing that soon the whole Isle would be on full alert, they had to act fast. With the Tunnel now a no-go area, they instead used Brighton's access to The Gauntlet area, and made their way back to the Docks that way - it took longer, but was safer, and they encountered no resistance on that journey, getting back to the Docks area just before the Sahuagin, having discovered the body of their compatriot, raised the full alarm amongst the pirates.
With a nod and a wink to an as-yet unsuspicious Skull, Derrick, Charlie and Brighton made it back to the brothel where the others were waiting and they quickly put stage 2 of their "Plan" into action.
Derrick sends Charlie off to untie as many of the rowboats as possible in the docks, and set them adrift to hamper any later pursuit. Karoshi heads to the mill with the rebel miller - Windy - with the intention of setting it alight to cause a distraction.
Bryn (retroactively!) uses his poison in the breakfast of the barracks to cause a number of the guards to have very upset stomachs. This proves to be a very useful distraction and takes a number of guards and some pirate captains out of action in the coming hours. Bryn then grabs a couple of other rebels, Phil and Darius, to assault the northern guard tower.
Jaxii and Derrick head to Bree's house, to try to gain entrance. Iwee comes with them. The door is unguarded - they suspect Bree is no longer inside and Jaxii tries to break down the door - after all, they don't have much time! The door proves too tough for Jaxii, but Derrick, buoyed by the fact that his "Plan" seems to be working - sort of - manages to break the door open enough for Iwee to slip inside, though not before she makes herself invisible, just in case there is someone inside. Jaxii and Derrick then join Karoshi in shouting "Fire!" as the mill opposite Bree's house starts to burn and people start to realise that a bucket of water is needed. Luckily they are on a floating island, and both buckets and water are in plentiful supply. Still, it does serve as another distraction, keeping a few more of the pirates busy whilst the rest of the "Plan" is enacted.
As the Docks area starts to descend into a level of chaos, with Sahuagin raising an alarm of murderers within, a fire at the mill and many of the guards sat on the various toilets around town with upset stomachs, stage 3 of the "Plan" is brought into play. (Note that the "Plan" was not formalised, or agreed, to the level of having particular "Stages", but the DM is using poetic licence here…)
Iwee spends a little time searching Bree's house, but finds nothing of great value - certainly no compass that they were hoping to find. She grabs some silverware, to at least come away with something from the attempt, and slips back out and makes her way to the Evening Mist as agreed.
Bryn, Phil and Darius assault the northern guard tower. There are three guards in there, and a pirate captain on the way - they need to act fast! They take down one of the guards quite quickly, but the other two hold on long enough for the captain to arrive and provide reinforcements. Darius and Phil are both looking unhealthy, and Bryn has taken a couple of knocks too. The guards are not particularly proficient with their swords - they seem to be rookies - but the captain is deadly. He takes out the injured Phil, followed quickly by Darius, and then focusses on Bryn. Luckily the other two guards have by now been brought down and it's now one-on-one with Bryn and the captain. After a couple of crippling blows from the captain, with Bryn trying his best to return the compliment, the captain slips up and misses, allowing Bryn to cleave his axe right down the captain's head, almost splitting his skull in two and causing a real mess all over the nearby bodies of Phil and Darius and the three guards. Bryn is badly hurt, but managed to complete his part of the "Plan". Iwee arrives and gives him some much needed healing, before they both head to the Evening Mist to hopefully join the others.
Jaxii, Derrick and Karoshi take on the other guard tower. They do manage to quickly and efficiently dispatch the guards, taking some, though not much, damage themselves. They even have enough time to prepare for the incoming pirate captain, and Karoshi makes good use of this time to swing his warhammer at the captain's head. As Derrick runs upstairs to disable the ballista, Jaxii and Karoshi take care of the captain, taking some damage in the process, but nothing too serious or worrying. As Karoshi lands the fatal blow on the captain, smashing the captain's head with a swinging uppercut that almost lifts his head from his shoulders, Derrick is hauling the ballista bolts to the edge of the tower to drop them below. He spots Skull running towards them, confused as to why Derrick is fighting against, and not with, his beloved Radiant Sisters gang. As Pirate Captain Skull reaches the base of the tower and looks up into the eyes of his friend, his lover, his soul-mate Derrick, the Fight-Club graduate heaves the ballista bolts over the top of the tower and drops them squarely on Skull's surprised and tearful face, knocking him to the ground - alive, but injured, shocked and demoralised. And betrayed.
As the group prepare to run over to the Evening Mist to join the others, they all spot poor Brighton who is running as fast as his old legs and injured back can carry him, from the brothel towards the Evening Mist, pursued by Radiant Sisters pirates in all directions. Bryn call out to him, giving encouraging support and uplifting shouts. Iwee does the same, urging him on to make the final dash to the docks. Karoshi, perhaps thinking he is back on the training ground rather than in the midst of battle, offers Brighton tips on how to run - "Swing your arms; Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth", that sort of thing. Surprisingly, it seemed to help. Derrick, from his vantage point at the top of the tower, was able to direct Brighton in the best route to take, avoiding the incoming pirates and Jaxii, as Brighton was about to reach the docks, but encounter a group of pirates, dashed in to grab his arm and physically pull him out of danger and over the last remaining yards to the awaiting Evening Mist.
The group converged at the ship and dived up the loading ramp. Our four "Heroes", Bryn, Brighton and 9 others managed to make it, including Charlie, but no sign of Scarrow, the rebel pirate captain who, with no thought for his own safety (well, ok, with SOME thought to his own safety!) had given his key to Derrick for the treasure room. He was at Jorell's place, reporting the theft when it all kicked off, and was unable to convince the harbourmaster of his innocence in the affair. What happened to Scarrow is currently unknown, but he didn't make it to the Evening Mist.
The 15 rebels scrambled aboard and quickly cast off the Evening Mist, drifting away from the docks. Charlie had managed to release a lot of the rowboats, so there was little pursuit, and what rowboats were available seemed to be taking pirates towards the waiting Demon's Wish rather than take on the Evening Mist directly. Derrick and Bryn's actions in disabling the ballistas on the shore prevented any direct attack on the ship from the docks.
It seemed they had escaped. For now. With a skeleton crew of 15, 4 of whom are inexperienced sailors, they *may* make it away from the Isle. Or they may not. The Demon's Wish awaits on the horizon, with a crew being bolstered by pirates rowing out to them. Our "Heroes" may just have enough of a head start to escape. Or they may choose to face down Bree and his crew of pirates. We'll see if the rebels aboard the Evening Mist will back up their decision…