In true Fontian fashion, Potina, whose aunt had the same penchant for pushing people down stairs (it probably runs in the family), did so to Afro Apollo, sending the poor ardent tumbling down several flights, into the dank, mildewed depths below. It was certainly a dark and dirty place, dripping with gunk and all sorts of seepage as our villains found out once they had congregated at the bottom.
Led by Maxi's unseen servant bearing the continual torch, the party proceeded to investigate the area. Coming to a fork in the passage, they decided to follow some tracks to the right, coming up against a locked and sealed door. It soon became apparent that the door was magically warded with a glyph, and true enough, no sooner had the party sprung the door that a massive centipede attempted to take a chunk out of Maxi. It didn't take long for the group of villains to butcher the magically summoned guardian, however, giving them access to the rest of Gustaf's sizeable trove of magical supplies. In one of the crates, they also found several potions, a wand, and a small helmet made of bronze.
Turning left now, they proceeded towards a series of three splits in the path. Behind the first, they discovered a food store, and a sleeping dwarf, whom they proceeded to surprise, beat up, and otherwise steal the pants off. The dwarf, as it turned out, was a food thief called Mystery Gourmet, and said dwarf was quickly coerced into joining the group. The other door, locked but not warded, turned out to be another room full of supplies. This left, naturally, the north fork, which led to a massive pair of double doors carved with dwarven symbols.
Reading the symbols, Gourmet explained that they had to turn left thrice, then right twice, then kick the door. Potina spun Gourmet around, and insisted that Gourmet kick the door - to no avail. Instead, Gourmet was rewarded with an electrical shock that jolted him and caused his beard to stand on end. Searching the area, Maxi and Callahan discovered two statuettes radiating with magic, and proceeded to meddle with them. Maxi put the helmet they had found on the statue, causing it to tilt slightly. Again, Gourmet was ordered to kick the door, and again he was shocked. Finally, after studying the warning, Maxi decided to twist the statues around, and this time, Gourmet managed to open the door.
What greeted our group was a long, winding passage that led to what seemed like a pinprick of light in the distance. Silhouetted against the light were faint figures, and the smell of the seabreeze touched their noses. Scouting ahead, Gourmet discovered that there were pirates about, unloading cargo from a ship docked at the entrance of the tunnel. Unfortunately, his dwarvish feet scuffed against the stone on his way back, and this alerted the pirates, who sent one of their number ahead to investigate with torch and cutlass in hand.
As the pirate closed, Gourmet feathered him with a pair of arrows. The torch guttered out as it landed on the ground, and Callahan threw a Ghost Sound spell into the area to mimic the pirate's whistling, to buy the group some time. Of course, this did not stop the other pirates from growing suspicious, and they proceeded to cautiously investigate.
Knowing that it was only a matter of time until they were spotted, Callahan fired a crossbow bolt in the direction of the leading pirate. This was all the indication the pirates needed. As the pirate staggered back, their leader, a better dressed individual with a full, brown beard, began yelling for people to man the ballistas, and proceeded to rattle off an incantation.
A ball of water, chilling and scalding at the same time, exploded in the middle of the party, drenching them. This was followed by a wave of pirates, who rushed forth even as Sir Crayon and Maxi rushed to engage. Afro charged up a blast of electricity and returned fire, searing one of the pirates, but the others, being savvy against these landlubbers, managed to avoid the burst, and proceeded to swarm Sir Crayon, pulling him off his high horse. Gourmet dropped another pirate with two arrows, while Potina sneaked forward to find a better position. Callahan felled several pirates instantly by forcing them into a Deep Slumber, only to be dropped by a bolt of lightning as the pirate captain returned fire. The spell assault had weakened the party severely, and now, disadvantaged as they were, they fought desperately to clear a path to the deck.
A ballista bolt fired from the interior of the ship, barely missing Sir Crayon and slamming into the pirate in front of him. Afro launched another psychic explosion, of frost this time, into the pirates, wiping them out and clearing a path. Taking this opportunity, Sir Crayon mounted his horse and charged, up the gangplank of the ship, to challenge the pirate leader as Gourmet and Potina laid down cover fire. Maxi, taking the opportunity to reposition himself, took this time to tend to the unconscious Callahan with a healing potion.
Unsurprisingly, the pirate leader reached out and groped Sir Crayon, dropping him with a jolt of electricity. Several other pirates, who had rallied around the deck this time, also began to pelt the group with ranged attacks. Maxi was struck by several crossbow bolts, and sank to the ground. Callahan cast another pall of Sleep on several pirates, while Gourmet shot a couple of pirates from the rigging. Charging up the gangplank, Afro blasted a wave of frost at the pirate captain and the other pirates arrayed against them, knocking several out cold. He was greeted with a return volley of magic missiles, which veered towards him, as well as Callahan, knocking the poor mage out again.
It looked like the battle was going to go badly, until Gourmet once again fired an arrow, this time accurately, hitting the captain and knocking him unconscious. And thus, the battle was won.
As it turned out, the pirates were under the hire of Don Cordon, and had been smuggling goods and materials the Don didn't want taxed directly to Thunderthighs Apothecary via this secret route. After forcing the pirate captain, Paddy Brownbeard's cooperation, the party decided that this was to be a lucrative source of income, and a new development they could report to curry favor from Boss Cromag. Needless to say, they also commandeered the ship, called The Saucy Lass.
With our Wicked! villains gaining ownership of the ship, where will it take them? Stay tuned for next week's episode of Wicked! to find out!
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Experience, Loot and so Forth:
Everyone gains 1,250 xp for Session 3.
1. Spell components and Materials - Worth 1,500 gold collectively. Profits at 125 gold per player when sold.
2. Potions - Taken from the store house. Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (x2, Maxi, Callahan, both used), Potion of Flying (x1, Potina), Potion of Mage Armor (x1, Callahan), Potion of Fire Resistance (x1, Callahan), Potion of Shadeform (x1, Maxi)
3. Wand of Magic Missile - 50 charges, 1st level. Equipped by Maxi.
4. Cloak of Resistance +1 - Looted from Paddy Brownbeard. Equipped by Callahan.
5. Wand of Lightning Bolt - 3 charges, 5th level. Equipped by Maxi.
6. Bag of Holding - Taken from the ship. Contains Pirate Captain's Outfit and 200 gold. Looted by Potina.
7. Paddy Brownbeard's Spellbook - Contains the following spells - 1st - Alarm, Animate Rope, Cause Fear, Comprehend Languages, Endure Elements, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Shocking Grasp; 2nd - Glitterdust, False Life, Fog Cloud, Scorching Ray; 3rd - Fireball, Lightning Bolt
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