WSS Summary: World 11, Grinding Gears - Session 5

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 the majority of their time in Port Aimore.

Phule
Elite Member of the
Kaetorian Armada
(Art from Kingsisle's
"Pirate101")

After kidnapping Phule, a mysterious jester figure of the Kaetorian Armada, and collecting the cyclostones, the party decided to go on their way from the abbey. Two of the crew that they'd brought with them, Gigi and Scar, had already seen and spoken to the nuns of the abbey. They were, luckily, unharmed and very glad to have the Armada out of their abbey. The whole time as they went from the abbey back to town where they'd left their ships, Phule quietly cackled to himself.

They decided it would be best to split up the cyclostones, each taking two or three of the ten. Their sailing trip back to Port Aimore was uneventful, save for a short ship race between all four of them. Emori had originally shown no interest, but participated in secret, using an ability that her ship had to make itself invisible. In the end, she won the race home with Aria, Steve, and finally Claudia coming back in order.

Captain Emma Thompson
Pirate Lord of Parofell,
Witchdoctor
(Art by @WTH153
on Twitter)

At Captain Thompson's house, they were greeted by the sight of the five other captains playing cards. When they came in, the captains cheered and invited them all to play. During the game, the party bet their cyclostones, to show that they'd gotten them. The other captains laughed joyously, and Captain Taylor looked at the four of them with great pride.

Emori and Steve's first mate, Ned, were the last two remaining at the table by the end. Ultimately though, Emori won, and she distributed the cyclostones to everyone else.

Captain James Taylor
Pirate Lord of Parofell,
Swashbuckler
(Art from "Legend of the
Cryptids")

"Well, I'd say that this... calls for a party," Taylor declared, and he stood up from his seat. "I'll go book the Leviathin's Tail. Anyone else coming along, help me get things ready?"

Aria eagerly volunteered, as did Captains Alcott and Rines. The party's first mates tagged along as well.

Thompson, meanwhile, took a moment to look at Phule. He recognized her, and spoke again for the first time since the abbey, switching between masks and voices. The white mask's voice was playful, while the black one was far more rude. Nothing about the mask moved as he spoke.

"I can help you, you know!" the white mask insisted.

Thompson, for the time being, ignored him. "I have a place we can lock him up, and then we'll talk to him a bit more another time."

Phule was removed from the room, still cackling away.

Then, Thompson looked at Steve and Claudia. "Let's get your little project up and running now, yeah?"

The two of them heartily agreed, and Thompson led them through a secret door and into what looked like some kind of stone altar, surrounded by vines on the walls and herbs. Talismans hung from the ceiling, and there was a strong smell of incense. On the altar sat the inert Armada Marine that they'd taken. Beside him was the sapphire they'd bought from Confidence Milton, and the starlane they were given appeared to be in it now; the gem was sparkling.

"All you have to do is put it into his head," Thompson told them.

Claudia and Steve did it together, pushing it in, and then closing the mask. The body whirred and jerked as it came to life again, and then slowly, it sat up. The mask of the Armada Marines had no facial expression. The creature itself had no eyes. It looked around slowly, and then asked monotonously, "Where am I? Who are you?"

Kaetorian Armada Marines
(Art from Kingsisle's "Pirate101")

They called their new friend "George" and now that he was disconnected from the crystal, he seemed to be able to think apart from the other Armada, though he was very confused. The two of them explained who they were, and where they were as best as they could. Captain Thompson had some extra clothes they could use to dress him. It would be wise to disguise him as much as possible, considering that if any pirate saw an Armada Marine walking the streets, they'd likely attempt to destroy it immediately.

~~~~~

Merciless Marcus Black
Fannai, Pirate Lord
of Parofell, Gunslinger
(Art by Wochun Choi on
Art Station)

Emori stayed in the main room, with Captain Black. She wanted to take him up on meditation lessons, if he had the time.

He agreed, and the two of them went to his ship, where they were able to meditate together. In this world kalashtar like Emori were referred to as "Fannai" and she'd learned that not very many people liked them. In fact, they feared them and because of that, Fannai were often persecuted, oppressed, or even enslaved. That was why Black was such a passionate abolitionist, and why he brutally murdered enslavers of Fannai.

They were able to see the spirits that were in each other's minds. Black's was huge, strong, bright blue, and had one eye in the center of its face. Emori's was a singular eye with wings. There was also a second spirit with Emori that manifested itself as four near-flame-like specks. They were orange, but blue at the bottom, and they flickered strangely. She realized, by the voice, that this was the representation of Confidence Milton: these four little pieces. He even seemed a bit embarrassed at presenting himself in this way.

It was interesting, and Black insisted that simply, if she just kept at it, her power would grow.

~~~~~

The Leviathin's Tail, as it turns out, is an excellent place for pirate party. Aria helped the other captains and pirates get everything ready, and joined them in some pre-party drinking. The rest of the group arrived shortly after. Captain Thompson was the last of the nine captains to arrive, and she brought Confidence Milton with her. He and two other Griffon Riders would be guiding the fleet through the treacherous skyway of Avernus and through to the other side to get them to Obrira.

Claudia noticed a very odd creature on the wall of the bar. It was fully black, and had a green light in the middle of it. It was similar in size and shape to a softball. The light was focused on something. She followed the "gaze" and noticed... it led right to where Confidence was sitting, beside Emori. Claudia snuck up on it, and managed to take it down from the wall. She messaged for Steve to come over to her, and showed it to him, as ice cold energy emitted from it, damaging Claudia slightly. Despite being held, it didn't stop looking at Confidence except upon the initial grab.

They brought it to Emori, and when the bartender saw it, and Claudia asked him for a bucket to hold it, he refused. The bartender claimed that it was a bat, and wanted it out of his bar. With the power of Suggestion, Claudia convinced him to get a bucket instead. Emori took the creature and attempted to set it free and talk with it by using Speak With Animals. There was no response, and Claudia and Steve were determined not to let it leave. They worked together to take it from her again.

Aria had caught sight of this scene now, and to add to the mix, she created a Major Image of several of these creatures, raining down from the ceiling. The action frightened many of the drunken pirates and sailors in the bar, who couldn't tell if they were real or not. The party ended very quickly as the bar near completely cleared out.

The requested bucket was delivered, and Claudia tied the creature up in her shirt before throwing it into the bucket and sitting on it. After that, they smelt fabric burning, and watched as the creature lasered its way out of the bucket and zipped away. Claudia chased after it, but lost it after some time.

They all went to Claudia's ship to discuss what that thing was. It wasn't anything like they'd seen in this world so far, but that didn't mean it didn't belong there. It shared similar colors with the System Hacker - black and green - but Hacker wasn't offering any explanations to the party when they called to ask.

Captain Mina Alcott
Tiefling, Pirate Lord of
Parofell, Privateer
(Art by Kiikiibee on
Tumblr) 

Captain Alcott found the party afterwards, to check on them. Claudia desperately wanted to find that thing, whatever it was, and Alcott offered them some clarity on a few things:

- According to Alcott, the creature she saw the party fighting over was a bat. And by that, she meant a literal bat: a rodent with large ears and wings.

- She saw the image produced by the illusion for what it was: black balls with green lights, raining down from the ceiling.

- She had never seen a creature like the one produced in that image.

- Then, apparently, nobody else had noticed the fact that a bat was just... sitting on the wall of the tavern, not even that high up. Despite the fact that many pirates were drunk, surely one of them would have noticed.

It seemed that there was a new mystery afoot, leaving the party wondering: what was that, and was Hacker lying when it said that it couldn't lie?

~~~~~

ART LINKS:

https://www.pirate101.com/free_game/newsletter/june2015

https://twitter.com/WTH153/status/975388174955376640

https://legendofthecryptids.fandom.com/wiki/(Steady_On)_Flying_Prince_Brasse

https://www.pirate101.com/free_game/general_concept_art

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/QWEd

https://kiikiibee.tumblr.com/post/175200008557/commission-of-marquiskilljoy-s-tiefling-dragon

~~~~~

Credit to @ijaymendell inspiring this awesome campaign!