Thennek, entry #3
- KL Forslund
- Jun 8
- 4 min read
The Salt Marsh city council summoned us at the end of our week in town and demanded a name. Apparently, we are considered an adventuring company. So, I came up with “The Salted Blades” as a bit of nod toward the down. They enlisted us to sneak aboard the pirate ship when it returned to port. We had their secret signaling codes from the documents the party acquired at the haunted house.
We needed to concoct a plan for approaching and getting aboard. I tried to float the idea of using the mariner’s armor on one of us to enable them to swim around and approach from the other side, but that idea sunk. I don’t know why my plans are so needlessly complex. Instead, we settled on bundling most of the part in the dirty parts of the silk bolts we collected in the caves. The paladin and I, Crixos is his name I think, acted as bandits. It took some convincing them that he was Brandon, one of the lovelorn bandits. That ruse ended the moment he climbed on deck, and they could see him closely.
Crixos tossed one man overboard with ease using his might and trident. I managed to blast mine to near senselessness, but had one of the elves not fired an arrow, he might have called out and foiled our clandestine arrival.
The ship swayed in the moonlight as the rest of party climbed aboard. We spent a few whispered moments hashing out our options while the rogue, Penelope, scouted the top decks. Vantiss really wanted to set the sails on fire, but I remembered the lesson from the house and Ned. We didn’t know if everyone on board was hostile. We settled on spiking most of the doors to this deck with pitons I carried, and the paladin called them out to surrender.
Initially, my plan worked, as all the doors were tried and the bandits settled for the one that opened. The paladin and rogue made quick work of the bosun, before things took a turn. The grated loading hatch flung open from the center of the deck, and sailors poured out from that, followed by a door next to Penelope blasting apart, flinging her back past the bard Gnossienne. A tall glowering man in robe stood within the doorway, vectors of power swirling in his hands. The druid and I attacked to some effect before Vemaya the eleven artificer, took a step to the side, lined up her shot and sent a stream of burning acid out that killed the wizard and sailors caught in between.
I moved to take a higher position on the foredeck as pounding on the aft side doors continued. Not a brave move, but given my non-combatant physicality, a sound one. A door next to the paladin tore apart, revealing a brute of a man, one we would later learn was called Bloody Bjorn, the first officer. Crixos plunged his trident into the man’s chest, piercing the chainmail and sticking. I swear the man flexed his pec muscles and popped the trident out. As I said, my relocation looked a smart idea.
Just as quickly, the last door next to the paladin burst open and the captain appeared. Captain Cigar Somethingdumb. He slashed Crixos from behind and nailed me with a bolt from his crossbow. I fixed him with my hex, and sent waves of eldritch power at him, barely injuring him when I hit.
Things took a turn for the worse as the bard fell, taken down by multiple wounds. The party rallied to pull her from the fray and stabilize her wounds, but it did not look good for her. Then the beleaguered paladin fell, and the captain turned his focus on me. Their deaths were all my fault. I pushed for setting up a chokepoint as if I were a battlemaster and not a scholar out of his league. As the captain reached the stairs to the foredeck, I computed where I could run on the crowded deck. Not far enough. And he barely showed any sign of injury from my previous blast. I had no moves left. So, I ran toward him and leapt over the part of the railing between us, planting my feet into his chest. The effect of the hex slowed his reflexes, and he tumbled over the rail as I landed on my posterior and rolled down the stairs.
The pirate captain screamed and swam for the rope ladder, so I ran to pull it up, but since he’d latched onto it, opted to blast the railing holding the rope. It mostly worked as one rope broke and he swung out and off into the water. A shark bit him. Vatniss named him. The shark had friends. The captain died.
During all of this, the rest of the party dealt with Bjorn, and managed to stabilize and heal the paladin and bard. We were victorious. If you don’t count my plan nearly getting everyone killed. The one smart thing to come out after exploring the ship was the hold held forty casks of flammable brandy, and we found stores of pitch. Had the ship caught fire, the sea elf we found locked up in a secret chamber in Bjorn’s quarters, or the lizardmen who’d been duped into believing this crew intended to deliver a shipment of weapons for the defense of their land against sahauguin invasion.
In the end, I rested against the capstan as I pulled out the crossbow bolt and bandaged it. I gazed for a long time at the secret hole in the sky, whisperings of ideas and new spells. It was clear that I was not qualified to suggest tactics. These are experienced adventurers, and I am just a scholar. I do not yet have the power to truly hold my own amongst them. Nor to resolve the true matter of the eye. But tonight, with new magics unlocking in my mind, I might be a step closer to that goal.
Tomorrow we will decide what to do with the ship and the lizardfolk’s request to complete delivery. I will see what trouble that ensnares us. Also, Ned lied.
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