Present Party: Aria, Claudia, Emori, and Steve.
Setting: The world is comprised of several floating islands, surrounded entirely by open sky, with no visible land below. The party finds themselves in the pirate-governed country of Parofell, in the Varovayn Skyway. They spent time in Port Aimore before departing for Abia Heliasoldo in Sezia.
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| Captain Emma Thompson Pirate Lord of Parofell, and Captain of The Poisoned Rose (Art by @WTH153) |
Captain Thompson, now willing to accept the party into her fleet, let them into a small closet, filled with glass bottles. Each glass bottle had a ship inside. She allowed them to select the ship that they wanted, and afterwards, pointed them in the direction of The Leviathan's Tale to to look for crew.
The party had been to this particular bar before; they'd met members of Captain Marcus Black's crew here before. With some guidance from the bartender, each person noticed one or two people who interested them greatly, who were looking for work.
Emori took notice of a very large warforged, carrying two cannons on his shoulders. His name was, quite fittingly, Cannon. She also took note of a young half-elven gentleman who had a very impressive sniper rifle with him. The bartender insisted that he was the best shot he'd ever seen. He introduced himself as Elliot. Both of these men were between jobs at the moment. Emori appointed Elliot as her first mate, and Cannon as her master gunner. Both seemed very pleased with this arrangement.
Claudia was drawn to a gentleman in the corner, shuffling a deck of tarot cards. He had dark skin, and his eyes were glazed over. He looked like he might have been blind. She found out that he was something of a fortune teller. Not only that, he had the ability to heal, and he was some kind of undead creature. Although, that didn't really bother her. He called her "Captain" right away, and Claudia was eager to have him aboard her ship as first mate.
Aria couldn't help being drawn to a young lady with strange eyes. What would normally be the whites of her eyes were pitch black. The iris was white, and the pupil was green. When asked about her trade and abilities, she claimed to be many things: a shapeshifter, spellcaster, alchemist, healer, and mentalist. She did seem to have some major psychic abilities. She introduced herself as Gigi, and seemed quite delighted about the idea of sailing with Aria.
Steve, rather than looking for local spooks or snipers, took a different route. He was looking for a person of tricks, of deception. There was a changeling that caught his attention as Steve watched him charm a few drunkards out of their coin. When Steve approached, all the changeling had to do to get the others to leave was ask. He seemed very intrigued about the idea joining Steve's crew, and Steve got the feeling that a trickster like him would make an excellent first mate for a bunch of other, shady pirates.
The party spent their entire afternoon and night, using their first mates as recruitment tools, and meeting new pirates that were willing to sail with them.
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| Captain Merciless Marcus Black Fannai, Pirate Lord of Parofell and notable abolitionist (Art by Wochun Choi on Art Station) |
Emori left for a short time, wondering if she could look for Captain Black. She had some questions that she wanted to ask him. As luck would have it, she found him walking in from the docks with a lizardfolk gentleman. He saw her coming and placed his axe between her and his captain, but Black told him to stand down.
Emori asked if he could still hear what he heard before: two other voices. He claimed that they were not as loud, though one of them was very distressed at the moment.
"I've tried meditating. I've talked to both of them," she told him. "How can I get better?"
"Keep going. It'd be better if you had a teacher. I'd offer, but... I'm a bit busy."
Their conversation didn't last much longer than that. Emori did tell him that she'd become a captain, to which he offered some congratulations.
~~~~~
The next morning, all of the captains Thompson gathered together came to her home to discuss their mission. The party made up four of the nine captains. Then there was Thompson herself, Captain Taylor (who insisted on being called by his first name, James, now that he was no longer their captain), and Captain Black.
Two other women arrived shortly after. One was a tiefling woman without horns, dressed in military regalia. Behind her was some kind of canine-folk, dressed in a red coat and holding a rifle. She was introduced to the party as Captain Mina Alcott, and despite her appearance, she was a pirate. The second was a half elven woman in gladiator-like armor. She had a cloak with fur accents on it. An aarakocra accompanied her, holding a bow. This was Captain Cassandra Rines.
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| Captain Mina Alcott Pirate Lord of Parofell, Runian Privateer (Art by Kiikiibee on Tumblr) |
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| Captain Cassandra Rines Pirate Lord of Parofell, Captain of Warriors' Woes (Art by Rachel Denton on Art Station) |
With everyone here, Captain Thompson finally explained what it was she wanted a fleet for: "Obviously, we're here to fight the Kaetorian Armada. They're growing stronger and stronger every day, the Commodore doesn't believe they've gotten this far, but I know that they have." She looked at Captain Taylor. "James, you had every right to be worried about that abbey in Sezia. I've seen it now, it's overrun."
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| Captain James Taylor Pirate Lord of Parofell, Captain of The Avon Vale (Art from "Legend of the Cryptids") |
"It might have been then," Thompson said, "and they might have only caught glimpses of the Kaetorian Armada, not knowing if they were coming to them or going elsewhere, but now they're there."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure, and it troubles me." She looked to the party. "But I have it on good scrying that the Armada that's there has cyclostones - potentially enough for us to get through the Avernus stormgate, and out the other side, into Obrira, where Kaetor is. Considering that you all are the... new recruits, I think this might be a good test of your skills. Go, free the abbey, get the stones, and come back." Her gaze shifted to Steve and Claudia specifically. "James told me about your little... project. I can have him ready to go by the time that you get back, and if he can provide us any insight, then I'll consider him useful."
"Avernus is a dangerous place," Captain Rines piped up. "Once we get there, how will we know where to go?"
"I've handled that too," Thompson assured her. "I've spoken to some mutual friends of mine that all of you should be familiar with: the Gryphon Riders. One of them, Mr. Milton, and two others, they know the way through. They're guiding us as long as we can provide the cyclostones for our ships."
The party was more than willing to make the trip to the abbey. Claudia and Steve just wanted to be present when Thompson fully woke up their captured Armada marine.
~~~~~
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| Map of the Varovayn Skyway (Map made by me, using Inkarnate) |
The trip from Parofell to Sezia aboard their ships with their new crews was not particularly difficult. They landed in the town of Commento, and walked south to Abia Heliasoldo - the abbey in question. Aria, Claudia, and Steve had all opted to bring their first mates: Gigi, Scar, and Ned. They arrived at the abbey and Emori scouted ahead to find Armada patrolling around the edges. Ned, being a changeling, could look like them and cause a bit of a distraction. Scar and Gigi ended up doing the same on the inside, by shifting into animals and turning invisible. That made sure the party could infiltrate without being seen. They still took precautions with Invisibility and Pass Without a Trace as well.
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| Phule The Kaetorian Jester (Art is from KingsIsle's "Pirate101") |
The party fought with him, where they discovered that at the start of every turn, he changed which side of his mask was presenting, which changed the abilities that he had at his disposal. The ivory mask was very playful and joking, while the ebony mask was rude and disgusted by the situation. Ivory granted them buffs that Ebony used against them in the next turn. The party killed all of the soldiers he had with him, and when that happened, Phule attempted to make an escape. The fight had been very difficult, and they'd called their first mates to come help. Steve chased Phule down as he ran, and on the way, they ran into the first mates, who assisted in restraining the jester.
Meanwhile, inside, the girls had found what they came here for: the cyclostones. And now, it also appeared that they had an important Armada captive.
~~~~~
ART LINKS:
https://twitter.com/WTH153/status/975388174955376640
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/QWEd
https://kiikiibee.tumblr.com/post/175200008557/commission-of-marquiskilljoy-s-tiefling-dragon
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3dagPE
https://legendofthecryptids.fandom.com/wiki/(Steady_On)_Flying_Prince_Brasse
https://www.pirate101.com/free_game/newsletter/june2015
~~~~~
Credit to @ijaymendell inspiring this awesome campaign!
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