Help Help I'm Being Subverted!

Winter hardly touches the depths of the Dreadwood, where my team and I continue to tame the wilderness in the name of Pelor and under orders of my commanding officer Knight Captain Dawes. I have much to report and will strive for brevity and concision.

Fr. Cassian, June, Zimon, and I intended to continue expanding our reach in the region, beginning with the territory immediately surrounding our fortress. Refurbishment is well under way, to be completed by month's end, but no peasants will stay on if monsters stalk nearby. I hired a surveyor to appraise the land and assess it's capacity for lairs.

We received a message at our villa from a dwarven captain named Nemo who wanted to discuss one of our recent acquisitions. The runner was a cheeky sort who inexplicably scoffed at our offer to meet the captain at the finest restaurant in town. Regardless, that was where we chose to meet and Nemo could show or not at his leisure.

The dwarf was carried in with buckets of water on his feet, having sworn an oath to never touch dry land again. He takes his seafaring life seriously. He made a very generous offer to trade dwarven contraptions for the hammer we had recovered from the hags, but we were uncomfortable with the nature of the strange things. He offered a less generous but fair price to buy it right out, which we accepted and sent him on his way.

A faction following an unfamiliar heathen faith had reached out looking for the aid of a party much like ours, but our attention was focused on securing our domain. Fr. Cassian responded to this Patrick of Sirlios fellow, a heathen priest I suspect, with magical prayer and through similar means we were encouraged to visit a port town to the south called Bastia for more detail on the mission. This is the second mention of the place we've had in the past weeks. I am intrigued by the opportunity to thwart evil and we will pursue it when able.

Upon returning to the keep, our surveyor located a welcome surprise nearby, an old graveyard and monument to past battle. It bore a consecrated, if overgrown and filthy, altar to Pelor which protected the brave men buried nearby from reanimation or worse. Fr. Cassian intends to take over as custodian of the holy grounds.

Zimon was keen to press the red button beneath the elven temple we had visited some months back. We set off for what we expected to be a quick delve into a mostly cleared dungeon. We were mistaken.

A candlelit creature called from the darkness within birthday wishes to Zimon (Happy Birthday brother), marking this as the second time we'd been inside this dungeon on someone's birthday. I unfurled my flail and prepared to smite the thing since the last time this happened it was goblins who threw the cake in June's face and then tried to kill us.

What emerged from the shadows was none other than Boblin the goblin, who I had slain on our previous delve here. His rightfully executed sentence had apparently been commuted by strange time dilation, interdimensional travel, and interference from the heathen deity Sirlios. His journal indicated that he was a human wizard turned goblin by the Scarlet Brotherhood, which did not explain his complicity in the previous goblin battle against us and did not absolve him of behaving as a goblin during same.

I relinquished the dialogue to Fr. Cassian as the more temperate and reasoned communicator, my answer to goblins being prompt extermination. What followed was a long conversation I didn't quite understand and excuses for why the goblin was oppressed and should be forgiven. Weak foolishness, but Fr. Cassian allowed the thing to accompany us to the room containing the button, which the goblin claimed no prior knowledge of.

Before Zimon pressed the button, the deceitful creature indicated by flinching that he did in fact have some knowledge of what might happen, but it was too late to stop our bounty hunter. The room took on a strange aspect before snapping back to itself and Zimon began screaming in pain. June grabbed the goblin while I throttled Zimon to calm him.

He had seen Sirlios, or met it, or something? Many different paths and dimensions and possibilities and my head hurts just recalling it for the report. Ultimately, something strange is going on. The heathens in Bastia may know more. Fr. Cassian opted to free the goblin from the dungeon. My exasperation cannot be put to parchment.

Once we exited into the forest above, Zimon's long lost horse Springer floated down from the sun and materialized before him, clearly a blessing from Pelor to ease his troubles from his experience with the... whatever happened to him. Praise be. Apparently the creature is supernatural and can fly. This provides us with welcome tactical and logistical flexibility.

Back at the keep, Fr. Cassian attempted to remove Boblin's curse, which succeeded so well that Pelor's hand reached out, this time to bless the blighted creature. Robert the Wizard has stayed on at the keep in some unknown capacity? I don't trust him, but I cannot deny the word of Fr. Cassian that he is touched by our Lord of Light and Flame. Robert told us of the Scarlet Brotherhood cabal that cursed him and roughly where he thought they were. They've made it onto our list of problems to solve.

Our next task was to eliminate a lair of giant lizards nearby. We had a map that would lead us there and the will to get it done so we set off. We found some moss that was apparently quite valuable when used in potion brewing. Zimon retrieved a detail from the fort to help tote the material back.

A settlement of barbarians was discovered by air. Zimon spoke to their leader Crazy Wolf and left on good terms. We found the lizards fairly easily and, using a potion, Zimon was able to talk to them and bribe them with food to leave the area, at least temporarily. We found what little treasure there was and returned to the keep.

I intend to begin the construction of a road to Bonevale soon. Sanji and Fr. Cassian intend to build here locally, but we have not hammered out the details yet. Sirlios and the Scarlet Brotherhood are both looming. We will engage with them as soon as possible and report our findings. Until then, may Pelor bless you and hold you in the Dawn's warmth.

Knight Sentinel Percival
Forward Operating Base Horizon

Musings:

We had a lot going on this session, with a lot of exposition from the DM and sekrit garage time for Zimon. We failed to engage with the DM's self-insertion of dwarven automation, opting for a cash payout instead. He loves the stuff but our group of players isn't there. Yet anyway, who knows. I imagine our pirates would be more open to it, if they had the resources this group does. 

We had no choice but to engage with the "but no really the goblin's a good guy" thread which I thought we put to bed the first time. Two different timelines cross-pollinating could get messy. It's tying into the Sirlios stuff and drawing this party into that sphere a bit. Our other party has had all the interaction on that side of things so far and it's clearly an important world event. I think as players we're mostly just confused. We'll learn more as we dig deeper into it and hopefully fix it before it gets out of hand. This party is actually heroic and will care. Big world events might be wasted on the lolpirates so it's good to have the good guys involved.

I'm enjoying the potential we have in the domain building side of the game. The random encounter of the barbarian village is a prime example of how interesting opportunities emerge during play. How does the Crusader (cleric) Cassian deal with faithless heathens next door? Can he convert them and roll them into our growing domain? Do they follow some heathen offensive gods of their own? It'll be fun to play out.

We've pulled off of the Oligarchy idea, as most of our players don't really care about domain management. I'm gonna run the primary domain and Sanji may develop his own nearby. The others will pursue their own interests within that framework with divine power and syndicates and whatever else they get up to.

We're having a lot of fun with this team right now and will probably keep at it for another session or two before time jail gets us. The pirates are selling off goods and likely drinking away the profits, you know, as pirates do. They can wait a while longer.

We need a party name. Team B is just not it. Holy Rollers has been floated, which would give us the Jolly Rogers as the pirate team and the Holy Rollers as the Pelor team. Could be worse? Also need a name for the domain. Calling it FOB Horizon right now, but as it evolves it'll have to get a more permanent designation.

 

So Anyways, We Started Blasting

I am certain that this report on the efforts to bring Pelor's light to the heathen frontier West of Bonevale will find Knight Captain Dawes in good health and spirits.

I, Knight Guardian Percival, have led my team to establish a forward operating base at the ruined elven keep. Laborers toil to restore the keep to it's former glory while our principal members expand our hold in the area. There was a brief interruption in productivity due to an unsuccessful attempt by dopplegangers to infiltrate our ranks. 

June, Zimon, Sanji, and I set forth to explore the immediate surroundings. We had encountered several points of interest nearby and were confident that we could free the area from any remaining evil on this expedition. Our search quickly revealed an idyllic meadow featuring a cottage, bleating goat, and freshly baked blueberry pie wafting a tantalizing aroma in our direction. I had to snatch Sanji's collar before he ran forward to grab the pastry.

Evil stalks the land in many forms, often tempting the unwary to their dooms either spiritually or physically. In the darkest, most dangerous forest in the land, one must be suspicious of even the most innocent-seeming interactions. This was no different and we retreated to consider our options.

Suspicion was not enough to justify immediate violence. Tales of witches and faeries using illusion to lure travelers were many and varied, but if this was just some innocent farmer or forester's home we couldn't just kick the door in. I crept forward to get eyes on the scene again and prayed for Pelor's holy vision to show me any evil within. Our Lord of Light never fails to guide me and this time was no different, revealing several Chaotic auras floating within.

Armed with this knowledge, our rules of engagement were determined. Chivalry is only owed the chivalrous. No quarter to Chaos. Sanji and his henchman established an ideal line of fire for his magical staff while the rest of us positioned to engage any enemies that might show themselves. I covered our mage's firing position which would turn out to cost us dearly.

Sanji launched two fireballs in rapid succession into the cottage, the second after hearing some casting within. There was some sort of witch or sorcerer aiming to retaliate. Our first tactical error was not applying as much firepower into the situation as we had. Sanji let off to conserve ammunition which gave the occupants time to recover while the rest of us advanced on the building.

A magical column of fire erupted around the mage's position, knocking him out of the fight effectively as he retreated for cover. Zimon was first in the building to confront the enemy, a deceptively beautiful young woman. The fireballs had vaporized most of the furnishings, leaving some smoke but no massive house fire to drive her out. I entered in shortly thereafter and we battled the clearly monstrous woman, who through dark magics repelled some of our attacks and was more stout than any human had a right to be.

She cursed Zimon with black lightning that flowed from her fingers, shriveling his legs and manifesting the "rickets" disease that allegedly plagues the southern ports. She also struck him down with supernatural strength following up to cave in the skull of Sanji's henchman. June and I were able to finish her off before any further damage was done.

As we investigated the aftermath, we realized these were not minor fae or witches, but hags, some of the most dangerous monsters to roam the dark places of the Oerth. Our reticence to apply every bit of firepower that we could as fast as we could nearly cost us as the surviving one had time to heal and buff herself with protective magics. If all three of the present ones had done the same, I would not be writing this report, but through Pelor's grace and wisdom we were able to overcome. Such formidable monsters stash quite a bit of treasure over their years, which we liberated and retreated with back to civilization. 

A mercenary lieutenant in command of a platoon of longbowmen stopped us en route and sought employment. Due to the notoriously disloyal nature of mercenary officers, I suggested that he swear oaths to Law and the Light of Pelor before joining my service. He declined, as he did Sanji's attempt to recruit him as a more permanent henchman. LT Leon valued his independence apparently and we wished him luck and no ill will on his travels.

Fr Cassian was able to interrupt his meditations to cure Zimon's rickets and we spent some time shopping in Bonevale which is of no consequence to the honorable and busy Knight Captain Dawes.

Under the Light of Pelor and in the warmth of his embrace,

Knight Guardian Percival, Bonevale

Musings:

Well, we were nearly all killed. Hags are no joke.

It was a weird session in that mental energy wasn't there across the board. DM missed some things and so did I, which I feel is a failing on my part as the more experienced player/DM at the table. The mistakes this time went pretty much all in our favor so the very good score feels like it should have an asterisk by it.

The beginning of the encounter with the hags was TOTM, so some leniency was given with positioning and ranges of spells (Discern Evil). There was also a liberal interpretation of the Discern Evil which, while beneficial to me, I think is too generous. It's been acting as somewhat of xray vision, but I believe I should have solid line of sight to a target to see any aura about it. We weren't given descriptions of any occupants of the building so in hindsight I think my information about Chaotic entities within was too favorable. I will try to remember that going forward and police myself.

ACKS encourages initiative and surprise rolls per entity involved unless there are many of the same types of monsters. DM rolled surprise for the hags as a single unit. Due the their potency, he lamented that after the fact. They should have been individual rolls that likely would have resulted in us not getting our early fireballs off.

So what to do about it as a DM? Well, there is precedent in Uncle Gary's AD&D that treasure and xp can and should be modified by the ease in which it is acquired. A clever plan to overcome daunting odds is one thing, beating up on goblins for their lunch money at 5th level is another. It doesn't say much in the way of errors in play resulting in unlikely outcomes. ACKS also isn't AD&D, but when in doubt, you can't go far wrong by referring to AD&D for guidance.

I suppose if I was in his shoes, I could justify modifying the treasure a bit, since we began to realize some of our mistakes during the fight. Historically, though, I probably wouldn't have, so it's really just speculation about possibilities. I've made the same kinds of errors without adjustment in the past. It really depends on the situation, your mileage may vary, make a judgement call in the moment, etc etc etc. The key is don't make the same mistakes twice and treat every encounter as its own thing. You can't justify punitively adjusting a future encounter because the last one went sideways but you can speak to past experience and avoid the same pits.

We are well on our way to establishing a domain here. We intend to rule by Oligarchy, which are optional rules in the JJ to "get along gang" our domain growth. It's less efficient but should still be fun. It treats the "domain ruler" as its own entity with relevant domain management stats averaged from the Oligarchs. I've never used the rules so I'm excited to try them out. It'll let us pool resources to more quickly build something meaningful.

Beeeeees!!!11!!1

From the journal of Namor, Captain of The Trident:

Feb 2: Hired some men in Monmurg, set them to training with Bjorn as elite marines. Someday soon we're gonna go a-Viking. Need to find a river to terrorize.

Met a sailor called The Bandit on the docks, captains a black ship with strange mechanical additions. Said he bought them off of an "iron whale", which we've heard many rumors of cruising around the area. Interesting, but when pressed for pricing it sounded extravagant. Maybe another time.

Set sail for Bastia with the intent to follow up on Soto's mission to kill a Redcap. We had our three war galleys and one of the sailing ships. Admiral Captain Morgan, Usopp, Farland, Vee, Zorro, Rogar, and I made up the primary crew.

Six merchant ships lightly armed looked like a promising catch. We suggested that they halt, pay a 25% tax, and no one would get hurt. They chose violence and we obliged, easily capturing two of the vessels. They flew a flag from far off Oberholt and none of us cared at all. The ones that escaped will spread our name and likely warn others. We'll have to consider that going forward.

During the battle Usopp boldly boarded and struck at the enemy captain only to be poisoned and killed. We chalked it up to the chaos of battle at the time. Vee the venturer displayed some uncharacteristic divine healing ability and helped the assassin back to life, but when prompted for additional healing attached a price tag to it. There was some strife between the two.

We returned to Monmurg with our prizes and booty. Usopp paid locals for magical healing and rested, and Farland mastered the quarters.

Feb 5: Set sail for Bastia again. This time we arrived without further complication. Soto's man Hollander gave us directions to the Redcap lair and we planned our away party.

Usopp's ship The Red Dragon had developed an advertising problem during the recent overhaul. One side was labeled Usopp in giant red letters, while the other said Usopp SUCKS. How he didn't catch it before leaving Monmurg is beyond me, but he was pretty sour with the crew who was laughing about it and being generally disrespectful. He put forth an ultimatum that it should be cleaned and other provisions for them before we returned from faerie hunting, or there would be hell to pay.

Feb 6: Left out for the mission, most of a day's walk inland. We found it easily enough, a strange faerie cottage of overgrown thorny foliage that dripped blood. I tracked around and found fresh tracks headed away from the place. We took that to mean he'd be coming back so we set an ambush, painstakingly concealing ourselves in the nearby terrain and covering our tracks.

Stakeouts are boring, but necessary. Some wild horses trotted by and some centaurs trailing them. Otherwise idle time crouched in the woodlands. Easy for me but restless for some I'm sure.

Feb 7: Overnight we were attacked by killer bees. After a short but costly battle, Vee the venturer and Farland's dog were killed. This mission was turning out to be a right pain in the ass. Zorro and I went to work cleaning up the mess and covering our tracks, setting our ambush again.

Feb 8: Morning came and the Redcap hollered from inside the little cottage. He'd either been in there the whole time or snuck back in some secret way. In any event, he didn't want the smoke. Easy enough, neither did we at this point. He offered to leave if he could take some trinkets with him, we told him nah leave it all or die. I mean, we're pirates?

Redcaps are extremely fast, apparently. He packed up and zipped out the front door, sprinting at supernatural speed out of bow range before we could react. So much for days of ambush. We searched his little weird cottage and found a tree cultivated to drink and disperse blood in little taps around the place. Pulled some copper too which was apparently too heavy for him to take with him before burning the place down.

I dug up Vee and we headed back to Bastia, mission complete but unsatisfied to say the least. There was an amazing super awesome glowing rock on the side of the road that I picked up and it definitely isn't cursed or going to cause me problems later. No, you can't touch it, but I'll show it to anyone and everyone.

Usopp's crew had followed the letter of the ultimatum but not the spirit, still laughing at him and taking shots at him. I suspect he's going to establish order severely, but his boat his problem.

Hollander paid us for the mission and we set an appointment to talk to Soto. We think he's an experienced Crusader that might be able to help Vee. I think Vee is touched by Soto's weird god Serlios so he'll probably help him. If not, maybe my rock will. It's pretty awesome.

Musings: I like the journal format of these reports, but the value in session reports as a practice is as more than a record of events. I'll return to offering some commentary on how the game is running going forward.

Numerical advantage in naval combat is different than I'm accustomed to. If they're just going to split and run, then we need the numbers to account for each ship or they just get away. More effort could have been made to hunt them down, but not like you can track on the ocean and we were laden with slower sailing ships and loot. Naval stuff is definitely a blind spot for me so these are good opportunities to learn.

The PVP conversation came up again this session with one PC interfering with another in a funny but frustrating way. We'll see if the repercussion is as clever. I don't care one way or the other because this party is a group of shithead pirates and petty grievances seem perfectly on role. If our other party of Lawful holy rollers start merkin' each other I'll have more to say.

The Killer Bee fight was an interesting case. They only have 60' "vision" and it's mechanoreception. The PCs were sleeping and hidden in bushes. DM had some misgivings about how the fight was resolved, questioning whether the bees would execute sleeping foes or auto-hit against same. I suggested it's likely the bees couldn't have even detected the PCs, particularly since several were over 60' from each other, and they were likely not intelligent enough to coup-de-grace. They're just buzzy and angry bugs. Ultimately I felt the resolution was fine. If any mistakes were made, they were made both for and against the PCs, but it highlights a scenario with some unusual variables that can be hard to track in real time.

The Redcap encounter was icing on the frustration cake. First the ship stickup complication (quick tax turned into long battle), then the bees (RIP Vee), then the faerie just running away. In hindsight, during negotiations we should have declared held actions so when the little bastard showed himself we'd at least have a shot to respond. He wouldn't have gotten a free run which for such a fast creature is basically free evasion. Shoulda cleared the house too, but the bleeding thorns looked like a trap so we decided to wait based on the tracking.

We need a spellcaster. Glaring hole in our capability during sessions to heal or investigate weird things (cursed rock, faerie plant cultivation) or any number of other things that we just power through as thieves and murderers. Maybe it's time to lift my embargo on playing casters. We'll find out if Namor dies.

Every. Pirate. Trope.

From the journal of Namor, Captain of The Trident:

Jan 23: Met with Soto's man Corey at Benchwarmers. He suggested that we contact Hollander the next time we're through Bastia. Some faerie lair or something was creeping out the soldiers and they wouldn't go near it. Pay sounded good so I told him we'd look into it.

Outfitted The Trident with new sails, war machines, and a full crew. Look good, feel good!

Jan 26: We left The Frack and our extra galley in Monmurg and departed for Bastia as a fleet of four, aiming to check in on the faerie hook and then plot our course for the adventure. We had a treasure map leading to a deserted island east of Bastia that sounded promising, the faeries, and then the dungeon to the north that we couldn't ever seem to reach.

The treasure map had a simple numbered cipher that we quickly decoded, "The smaller treasure is by the tree." That was intriguing to us since "smaller" indicated there was a "bigger" treasure somewhere.

En route to Bastia we came across a mysterious magical fog centered on a massive whirlpool. There was a clear event horizon for the edge of the pool, but it didn't have an overly strong pull otherwise. Without any nerds on the crew, we were flummoxed and just avoided it. We thought to map its location for the future but it disappeared once we passed out of the mist.

After a few hours and wildlife encounters, we arrived in Bastia and spoke to Hollander. Apparently the faeries were Redcaps, or more accurately a Redcap since they're solitary. Tales said they could only be damaged by magic weaponry and they were super fast and dangerous so we backed water on that until we could locate some more enchanted arms. Maybe there'd be some in the treasure from the map?

Jan 27: Rested and resupplied, we struck out for the island. We arrived to find two beached longships and quite a number of men at work. There were little rafts past the breakers with divers seeking... something. Unfortunately for the longships and the crews that owned them, they had no war machines and essentially had their pants around their ankles. We positioned our galleys to threaten with various large weapons and signaled that they should row out to parley with us or else.

They sent three emissaries, barbarians with a large, blusterous spokesman who seemed to be their chief. He made a lot of (stupid) assertions about his clan's ability to kill us should he choose, until finally Captain Admiral Morgan the Neat gave him the inevitable ultimatum. Work for us or you know, like, die or something, shrug.

We laughed at the nonchalant tone but the notViking didn't, so we seized him. His two partners were arguing about accepting the deal before it went tits up and after a short scuffle Ulfgar(?) the leader was subdued and Bjorn the smart notViking had killed the third, resistant partner. All under a flag of parley. We'd hang our heads in shame if we had any.

Turns out Bjorn saw the writing on the wall and was fully on board with his clan's survival and promising future as part of our operation. I had been mulling over starting a coastal raiding crew and these guys just dropped in my lap. I offered to employ Bjorn directly and he accepted. He stabbed the captive Ulfgar and we told the barbarians on shore that he was killed by our fighter Farland in honorable combat. A handful resisted the story and challenged Farland, but after he killed one with a single spear-thrust they gave it up.

We left our henchmen to oversee the continued retrieval of what was apparently a sunken ship's treasure while our main party followed the map inland. We quickly located the only tree on the island, a large banyan with many tendrils running to the sand. I tracked around and located where some of the tendrils had been placed in an unnatural X, marking the proverbial spot. Morgan and I checked for traps and determined it had some kind of noose rigged to snatch up the unwary. I stepped back while Morgan cracked her knuckles, preparing to disarm it.

After we cut her loose from hanging upside down, we started digging, revealing a chest with a small amount of treasure and a captain's log inside. The shipwreck off the coast was this captain's and this buried treasure was what he could get away with before it sank. Unfortunately he never made it back to civilization to reclaim his lost cargo, since we found his treasure map on the pirate fleet we destroyed.

Back on the beach, the boys had refused to continue working, citing some large shadows in the water that looked dangerous. Vee the Venturer downed a potion and changed shape into a giant squid. This allowed him to detect the two great white sharks prowling about. The big fish were hostile and swam at the notMerlin, but after a short bloody battle they were dead and big squid tentacles helped us unload the cargo of copper ingots from the sunken hold.

We set sail for Bastia and arrived just before dark, unfortunately not any richer in magical weapons. We had acquired some oil that we thought would do the trick, but we needed to get to Monmurg for the opening markets in Feb. We assured Hollander that we'd be back for the Redcap.

Jan 28: Arrived in Monmurg after an uneventful trip. We set to unloading cargo to our warehouse and preparing for the next adventure.

Batman and Breadcrumbs

Knight Captain Dawes will be pleased to receive this report from our reconnaissance into the Dreadwood west of Bonevale.

Our company consisted of Fr. Cassian, June the warrior, Zimon the bounty hunter, and your humble servant Knight Defender Percival. Our objective was to secure the treasure and defeat any Chaotic entities encountered at the location depicted on one of the treasure maps we had found during our adventures. This would require a strike several days into the cursed Dreadwood.

Our hired scout still refused to provide a name but represented his trade well, navigating the dark forest efficiently and guiding us safely through. Around the end of the first day's travel we discovered a large camp of bandits involved in the production and distribution of the illicit elven vice "nutbutter". Now, to me, this substance tasted creamy and savory, like it would pair well with a jam or marmalade. But to the elven youth it was a gateway to harder, fattier temptations leading invariably to heart disease and death.

It was our duty to intervene, mostly because among their vats and grinding wheels, Zimon observed that they possessed goods stolen from innocent travelers. My task is not the dietary health of heathen demon-folk.

Outnumbered several times over, we decided a shock assault to awe them then an attempt to force their surrender was our best tactic. I led the charge astride my barded warhorse Dawnbringer and we quickly reduced their ranks. We called for their surrender but they fought on, forcing us to strike them down except for those that Zimon was able to apprehend with his peculiarly shaped leather sap. When the dust settled, we had five prisoners including their two ringleaders along with their recovered treasure. We camped there for the night but were disturbed by an elven patrol out of Bonevale. We recognized some of the patrolmen and they offered to escort us back to town.

The next morning June the warrior started meowing like a lunatic into the woods. Despite my suggestion that she get a grip, she continued, eventually welcoming a massive lion that she called "Sprinkles". I mouthed a silent prayer to Pelor that the creature was under control and to my sight it did not intend us harm so I let it slide.

En route back to "civilization" or what passes for it on the frontier, a large stone structure loomed suddenly out of the forest ahead. It was an uninhabited keep, clearly in need of some repair but serviceable. The construction was human influenced with elven touches, but that will buff out. We scrawled various versions of "dibs" on the stone near the gate and continued on.

Some brigands tried to hide from justice within the trees above but Sprinkles and I both discovered them as we passed beneath. I offered them their lives in exchange for surrender and these boys were smarter than the last group. We added them to the prisoner line and proceeded to Bonevale.

Sheriff Kai Lan offered a bounty for the captives, particularly the leveled ones, which we accepted. We spoke on behalf of those who came peacefully and left them to the elf's mercy. He mentioned the keep was an old outpost that had fallen to disrepair and been abandoned. We informed him of our intent to recover it and claim it as our own. He excitedly started talking treaties and alliances and whoa buddy let us get it operational first.

Zimon continued his search for the elusive Methany, who I am beginning to suspect is a toothless harlot of poor social value, but he is dogged in his hunt. He posted fliers and hired criers and even offered a large reward, a life-changing amount for any commoner. For his sake I hope she shows up soon. The desperation of his search is unseemly.

We stowed our treasure at our villa within town and rested, set to depart the next morning. The Dreadwood is unwelcoming and rife with danger, this time in the form of an ambush of ghouls. The undead closed with us before we could react, striking June several times and inflicting her with a horrible disease. Fr. Cassian rebuked many of them and the rest were struck down by our blades. Pelor's miracles cured June of her ailment and Zimon tracked the ghouls back to their lair. We were intent on destroying the source of the evil and definitely not motivated solely by potential lair loot.

A cavern loomed before us, which Zimon assured us he could scout safely. We prepared our magics and prayers just in time for him to run screaming from within, "Ghouls! There's ghouls chasing me! Tons of 'em!" It is often the case with adventurers that they hoard resources like scrolls and potions, never to be used lest they be wasted. Not so with our party because we are wise and smart and crafty (and lucky). I had a potion blessed by our Lord of Light that would destroy undead in bursts of radiance. Surely there was no better scenario to use such a thing, so I quaffed it and stepped forward to meet the tide of slavering ghouls.

The ensuing battle could hardly be called such, with effective support from our skirmishers, rebuking in the name of Pelor, and the power of the divine potion destroying the undead in waves. Fr. Cassian and I both sought the source of this horrible corruption, certain there would be a sinkhole of evil within, but we could find no such thing. The ghouls were the marsh variety, no where near a marsh, and appeared to simply be loitering here, like a storehouse of evil. Zimon pulled a curiously bat-shaped metal piece from one, another clue that there might be more going on here. We were determined to investigate in depth once we could get to safety.

The ghouls had treasure that we repossessed and we retreated to the ruins of our keep. We spent some time poking about, familiarizing ourselves with the site, before settling down to camp. Some pilgrims happened by, Pelor devotees, and although we shared our fire with them they were reluctant to join our holy mission. I must practice my wordcraft as often as I practice my warcraft.

Laden with loot and a mystery to investigate, we returned once again to Bonevale. A suspicious band of "mercenaries" flying the banner of the Order of Reese passed by. A short conversation led us to suggest that they camp at the site of the previous battle with nutbutter bandits. Perhaps the scene would impress upon them the error of their ways, since they had already been run out of town by Kai Lan. If not, we would know where to find them to apprehend them when we could.

I write and send this update ahead of our arrival in Gradsul, where I will report in person. Until then,

Knight Guardian Percival
Bonevale

The Bloody Coast

From the journal of Namor, Captain of The Trident: 

Jan 11: We were able to make contact with BalaSoto and Bacon both, arranging the freedom of up to 600 ex-slaves through the Patriarch's good will (and purse). Some critics might argue that we're just selling slaves to Soto instead of Monmurg, but I'd ignore those critics as irrelevant, poor, and uncomely. 

We also learned a little about the leader of Monmurg, Dread Pirate Hogg. He was offering to pay for information about the revolt on Jetsom but we were already under contract with Soto. We didn't want to complicate things with a new, unknown variable. He had also decreed that anyone caught in Monmurg with cursed magic items would be flayed alive. Yikes, dude's serious.

Our fleet departed for Jetsom with a northerly wind. The Master Mariners were able to maximize our speed and we made it around midnight. Our away party consisted of Captain Morgan, Usopp the assassin, Lazlo the archer, Farland the Quartermaster, V the venturer, myself as pathfinder, and various henchmen. We hoped to find Bacon's boys massed on the beach and ready to go but we weren't that lucky, so we set off for the interior.

It was a clear night with a waxing but nearly full moon. A trio of adventurers hired to guard one of the nearby plantations attempted to impede our progress, so we killed them, took their equipment, and hid their bodies. I mean, they insisted on violence, so we delivered.

We located Bacon's people massed near the wood line and ready to travel. There were nearly 500 of them so we got them moving as quickly as possible after securing oaths of service in Soto's name. As we ferried them onto our sailing ships The Frick and The Frack, a local plantation owner happened by with a wagon full of apples and seed. His name was Johnny and he lamented the loss of his slaves and livelihood, the latter consisting solely of what was on the cart. We snatched him up so he couldn't run off and raise the alarm. Farland assured us he had a plan for him and I promptly forgot he existed.

Jan 12: By midday, we were underway and bound for Bastia. We spotted a lone galley, clearly a pirate, who sped off rather than tangle with us. We also suffered a broken rudder which Captain Morgan and the Rogue, Lazlo's hench, were able to repair.

Jan 13: We anchored in the bay outside Bastia to see how Soto wanted to play things. After a brief meeting, he paid us for our work and instructed us to dump the cargo on the docks, and we were happy to comply. I gave him back his bronze token which he snatched and tucked away in a desk drawer. Weirdo.

As long as he's got coin and business, we love us some Soto. He still wanted that meet with the teamster boss Hoffa and we had a little time, so we agreed to revisit the not-Italian restaurateur now that we had some experience under our belts. I agreed to keep quiet given my temper and likelihood of cutting the greasy fuck.

Jan 14: Hoffa received us and took the bait, the hook, and nearly the pole that Morgan laid out for the meeting. It occurred to me as I declined to eat the 14 different kinds of oiled up bread he was offering that the tone of Soto's meeting might change a bit from the original intent. Hoffa had as much as admitted to having Bacon shipped to Jetsom in the first place. Ended up costing Soto big to get him back. I laughed to myself, earning some glances, before we delivered Hoffa, gift basket of bread in hand, to Soto's spot and split. Whatever they were gonna get up to was none of our business.

Sitting pretty on a good payout, we debated our next step. We *still* had that damned dungeon to explore, the one V came out of, so we set off with The Phoenix and The Frick to do a little honest plundering of the mythic underworld.

If I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it either, but that same pirate galley from a few days ago showed back up in a fleet of six. Ah shit. We had the wind but they had the position so evasion was off the table. Unfortunately for them, they had no war machines while we sported three ballistae. If they wanted to tangle, we could tangle.

The party aboard The Frick attempted to threaten the enemy by signaling "We're gonna pick more than your pockets", whatever that means, to which the enemy replied, "Don't threaten us with a good time." Looked like battle was inevitable so we positioned accordingly. I had command of our galley while the party remained on our slower, more vulnerable sailing ship. If the enemy wanted us they'd have to board, which would be to our group of adventurers' strength. I had speed, two ballistae, and a clutch of marines at my disposal so I felt comfortable on my own.

The pirates tried to spread out and flank us, but without war machines of their own they suffered heavy fire prior to being able to close to boarding distance. We disabled several of them, with Captain Morgan even calling the shot that pinned the enemy Captain to his own mast with a ballista bolt. Once boarding began, some quick and bloody fighting ended with us in possession of three new ships, a captive pirate captain that might work for us, and a slew of booty. We set to repairing the damage from the battle and limping for Bastia.

Jan 16: Bastia. We docked to repair. I took command of the 2.5 rower galley *The Trident* and we laid up for some much needed R&R. Next up? Hell I don't know, but we won't make it there anyway. The seas are dangerous along the Bloody Coast. 

Opportunity Knocks. And Knocks. And Knocks.

From the journal of Namor, First Mate of The Phoenix: 

Dec 29: Our prize was rebranded The Phoenix and is an upgrade over The Bill. We are all excited with our fiery colored sails and new paint job.

Dec 30: Met with Soto's man Corey. Shared some tales, set him on digging up some rowers that have seen the ghost ship, and bought a comically fancy saber from him. He was adamant that Bala Soto, leader of Bastia, had a job worth our time. I told him we'd look into it.

Jan 4: Bastia. Slipped the steward a few coins at the stronghold to jump the line and get in to see the big man. First meeting with someone that's not Hollander. He seemed like kind of a dope, little disorganized, maybe even a little dull. But his people like him so that's something.

Meeting went ok. He wanted us to investigate the slave revolt on Jetsom Island, off the coast east of Monmurg. He thought his man Bacon was involved. He was paying well for information and doubly well for rescue. I accepted and told him we'd depart within a few days.

We checked in on our project out at the Skull and to our delight found three of the captives broken and ready to move. We packed them up and shipped out en route to Pearlshire, the port town on Jetsom.

Jan 5: Two merchant vessels spotted from the crow's nest by Lazlo. No escort and only one ballista between them. Captain Morgan gave the order to intercept. The prey split, we boarded and captured the unarmed one while we assumed the other was running for safety but the brave bastard turned back on us and engaged. We offered a flag of quarter if he'd just let us rob him, but his flaming ballista shots showed his intentions. We closed with him, boarded, and killed him for his audacity.

Turns out they were slavers of no known allegiance. There were a mess of pilgrims on board one as passengers and a hold of slaves on the other. The pilgrims joined the slaves in the hold and their crews were addressed by Captain Morgan. The options were simple and they saw reason, having only lost one helmsman in the fighting to Lazlo's sniping. Meet the new boss.

The surviving captain of the first vessel couldn't really be trusted or ransomed, so he walked the plank. He pissed himself and wouldn't jump so I had to prod him into the waves with my blade. Coward. We collected our new ships and diverted from our original course towards Monmurg. We had merchandise to move.

Shit winds kept us at sea for a few days. I captained The Frick while Usopp captained The Frack. Some of the others claimed interaction with spiritual or elemental beings and ended up with weird items to show for it. A gemstone ring, a glowing trucker hat, and a winged cat. Whatever, man, I just work here. I shudder to think of the madness that could beset us on an extended voyage.

We fished a fighting man out of the drink just outside of the city. He thanked us with a gem. Said his ship was destroyed by The Shadow. That thing is always around.

Jan 7: Monmurg. V the Venturer was delighted to receive our good news and profitable wares. He and the Quartermaster took care of warehousing and such. The rest of us drank.

Jan 8: Sail The Phoenix for Pearlshire on the NE side of Jetsom. Procan be praised we arrived without incident to a town with a good harbor, small fort, and decent sized market. Rumor had it adventurers were wanted to put down the revolt. If we could get paid twice for a single job? Yeah, we're doin' that.

Sgt Pepper at the garrison offered a bounty on "Toby", the revolt leader, along with a bounty on each slave returned to their master. I could see the path to profit here but we needed more info. Others of the crew dug up some rumors, mostly that Toby was from off the island and a general location. It seemed foolish to just march off directly at him, especially since we suspected that Toby was actually Bacon, but we left vague impressions of interest with Pepper before sailing to scout the northern and western coastline of the island.

We made landfall and our away party of adventurers quickly learned we were on the right path. We found plantations turtled up in fear of the insurgents. We also found a former slave owner with the vapors who gave us excellent information including a solid description of Toby. Yep, it's Bacon.

We pushed inland and found a patrol of insurgents, worn out ex-slaves with spears, a little jumpy but surprisingly disciplined considering. I showed them the token Soto gave me to identify us as his agents and they sent a runner to fetch Toby/Bacon. He returned and was distraught to see me there, as we have some history. I laughed in his face and it was just beautiful that his fate rested in my hands.

Turns out Bacon had ~100 fighters and ~200 civilians that he wanted to extract. That certainly complicated matters as our mission was only for him. But a good pirate knows how to adapt the situation to his advantage. We declined, repeatedly, his stupid insistence that we could just take Pearlshire and cause a full blown revolution on the island. Dipshit tryin' to get us at odds with Monmurg and also risk getting himself killed. We had no idea what the political situation was and his appeals to "making the world a better place" had us laughing, full belly laughs, wheezing and everything.

Eventually we told him we could move ~1000 people, but he'd have to hold out for us to get our other ships. Off we went back to Monmurg.

Jan 9: The Shadow was spotted on the horizon as we approached the coast. Morgan squinted real hard and wiggled that ring she got from thin air at it. It turned as though to approach and she looked surprised and a little panicked. More squinting and it went away. What the hell was that?

We're gonna pay for a message to Soto with an offer to sell him the slaves as freed men who I'm sure would love to settle in his idyllic little domain. If he can't pay for 'em, well, there's other markets. Things are looking great for our crew and I'm that much closer to captaining my own galley.