RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

It didn't go well for the Dripping Beards gang, not well at all.

The tide of battle quickly shifted as Ahappi struck down foe after foe, Fraud Shaven unleashed a strange dark power that blasted the ship's first mate to shattering icy shards after he descended the ladder, and Bobard figured out where the battle was and joined it with merciless fury. Even after the first mate and some of his tougher crewmates came down as you dispensed with their lesser minions, events kept heading in your favour. Ahappi did take an impaling wound but withdrew the spear without losing consciousness.

Then, as you finished off the last of the crew that had dared descend into the hold with you, Fraud Shaven went into the brig and discovered that the hole in the hull which you had bashed open was now sealed with ice. He then felt that cold power well up within him again and let it go, becoming a shadow that blended in with the darkness of the hold, making him not only invisible but soundless and almost insensible. The Captain traded insults and challenges with the Captains above, then Shaven slipped up onto the deck and slunk around in the deepening twilight, making his way to a window that led into the captains' cabin. After he broke in, one of the twin captains came to the window to inspect, but still could not see him. Shaven, however, found Ahappi's saintly harpoon and took that with him. As the captains grew suspicious, the second twin opened the door from the main deck into the cabin, trapping Shaven between the two twin captains. An attempt to distract them only made them more inquisitive about what was transpiring in their cabin or nearby on deck.

But then Shaven's blessing of the Ebon Sanctuary revealed its third power: he let go a nightmarish roar that shook the vessel and left the entire crew terrified– even the stalwart captains were unnerved by it. Taking the opportunity, he dashed at the captain between him, the doorway and the entry to the hold, and they fell together down to the bottom of the ladder there. Ineffectually wielding his two divinely sanctified Fang of Wachaza tridents, the runelord-captain was pinned beneath Shaven and quickly fell victim to Ahappi's harpoon, which Fraud handed over to his grinning friend. Bobard threw a Darkness spell to cover the hold-entryway and the second captain leapt down with a battle-cry to join his brother in battle, even if it be death. Which it was, very quickly!

The rest of the crew was too terrified to act- two of them had even opted to give themselves to the ocean rather than be taken by whatever demonic force faced them! You climbed up on deck and the crew immediately surrendered to your superior might. They explained that the Shadow's crew had been sacrificed by their captains to their demon-god Wachaza, blessing them with divine magics in return for the bloody donation to the waters. As for the Shadow, they were unsure of its exact fate but said it had been sold on to someone…

You ordered the crew to patch the ship, which is called the All-Swallower; a small galley fitted with a ram and two ballistae (!). While they did this, you searched the ship, recovering all of your gear plus a small sum of silver coins and some (presumably stolen) trade goods and other valuables. The two captains each had very fine suits of floating, enchanted aluminium chainmail (5pt armour, 5pt strikerank penalty) that fit Shaven and Bobard (barely). Their tridents gleamed with an unholy pale energy and the crew said that Wachaza had blessed all four of them, and that sea beings would know them to belong to heroes of Wachaza, but you cared not; they made fine trophies!

Eventually, Jim and Curly hazily regained consciousness as the Captain blessed you with his Regeneration spell. They would need weeks to recover usage of their limbs but at least they could talk. Talk, indeed, soon turned to what would happen next. Fraud Shaven seemed unusually calm and pensive, but Captain Ahappi's eyes blazed with a fearful gleam as he decided on your next course. You would not seek the Shadow or your home port. You would continue on his (clearly mad) quest to take you into Magasta's Pool. And so you turned the All-Swallower eastward (it had been going south) as you got the ship in order. The ice on its stern soon melted and night fell, and many of you collapsed in exhaustion from the battle, wounds, and work.

As dawn came and with it new clarity, some of you realized a few basic facts. You only had seven of the ship's crew, plus the five of you (mostly crippled). It was not enough of a crew- a galley like this needed 15 good sailors at least, better yet 20-30, to properly sail or row it.

You did have some idea where you were, a long ways south of Giraine or Pithdaros, out in the eastern stretches of the Banthe Sea within the Homeward Ocean, between Genertela and Jrustela. It was still Earth Season; about 4 days had passed since you were at Serpent Harbour. An added problem was that it was now late enough in the season that the trade currents had faded and there was no easy route eastward to Magasta's Pool. You were in the doldrums, and you had slain the undine that had been pushing the All-Swallower along its course. Oops.

As you collected and puzzled over this information, and gained news of how the sea-waters in the hold had spoiled much of your food and fresh water stores, some of you felt concern growing. The crew did, too, and they voiced these concerns to those of you who seemed to have a friendly ear to spare (Ahappi terrifies them still). One of the crewmen said that he remembered some talk about selling you onwards to “the prophets” in Gothalos, a port on the northern edge of Jrustela that was an ill-reputed haunt of pirates and other scum. That port must not be far off, but in the current state of the ship, stores and crew it seemed even too far for this season's infamously static ocean currents. While you could row rather than hope for a change in the currents and winds that would allow sailing, your stores wouldn't last more than a good day or two of hard rowing, and even then you'd be rowing at sluggish speed. Any land you knew of was more than two days away– dying of thirst in the sweltering, stagnant heat of the seas was a real threat now.

Had the sea won after all? Would you die here in the doldrums while the Captain kept his gaze locked on the east, fervently hoping to see the edge of the great whirlpool to hell? Your faith was being tested again- you were free, but trapped in the Captain's madness and the ocean's indifference.

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