DF Session 3: A ship?

PCs:

Alvin (Dave) -- Human bard, equipped with wit, song, and rapier.

Bjorn (Craig) -- Northman barbarian, armed and armored with anything he can get his hands on.  (Built “freehand” and including the “Northman” racial template that exists in another campaign, he’s still a classic barbarian -- big, strong, good in the outdoors, etc.)

Enneric (Rich) -- Human wizard, of the Coma Bat school of wizardry.  (Coma Bat started as a typo for “combat”, but it has become something of a running gag; this warrants a Magical Style® of its own.)

“Hustaba” (Alaric) -- Human thi--er…  Human “acquisition” specialist. (“Ivan” is the assumed name of the week for this character -- this may become a running gag as well.)

Session:

The adventure resumed with the bedraggled party returning to Swallowfeld.  The greatful townsfolk couldn’t offer much in the form of reward, but expressed eternal gratitude.  After some rest and healing, the party decided to go slaver hunting.  After all, these “degenerate” goblins were trading the girls for something, and that something must be valuable enough to make it worth the effort -- and corresponding risk.

    Sammeth was forthcoming after some negotiation -- he was willing to turn on his former comrades provided that there would be a space for him on the new ship, and provided that he could pretend to not be helping them.  In other words, he wanted to play both sides.  After some debate, Alvin agreed.  The general reasoning went that if they failed, they’d likely be dead anyway, and if they succeeded they would do so with his aid.

    A small group of mercenaries from the slaver ship were to meet the goblins and exchange the girls for weapons.  Sammeth agreed to take them there so that they could set an ambush for the mercenaries in hopes of taking the ship.  The weapons, Sammeth informed them, were already stashed for future exchange.

    After a few hours of walking, they found the clearing -- and the weapons (see treasure and xp for this session!).  They prepared an ambush, but it wasn’t fully ready when the mercenaries arrived.  Sammeth was bound and “threatened” at swordpoint to beckon the mercenaries onward.  Once again, Hustaba ran amok, using stealth and deadly accuracy with his knife to slit throats down the line.  By the time the mercenaries realized it was a trap, there were few enough left to do much about it -- Bjorn and Alvin made quick work of the remaining men.

    Two were captured alive, “aggressively” questioned (their account was more or less in line with Sammeth’s, only they apparently knew him by a different name).  It seems that their captain had a witch consort, and either together or separately they had as an ally (or minion?) a terrible beast that had done great damage to enemies in the past.  

With the mercenaries dealt with, the party worked its way through a network of caves connecting to a smuggler’s cove beneath the clearing.  There they found a boat to carry them to the slavers’ vessel, which was mostly concealed by the fog.

    They rowed the boat carefully to come alongside the ship, then Hustaba crept aboard, followed closely by Alvin and Bjorn.  Hustaba killed a man quickly, then moved quietly through the hold (which is exposed to the elements).  Alvin and Bjorn, and shortly Enneric, Jory, and Alysa, then came aboard.  

    Hustaba went straight for the captain’s cabin (really a permanent tent below the steering “deck”).  A strange perfume hung on the air, and before too long Hustaba found himself entranced by dark hallucinations.  He nonetheless entered.  The witch lay supine upon a soft bed in a state of near undress with a silk garment hanging loosely about her.  The censor which put out the intoxicating smoke hung from the ceiling.

    Hustaba tried to stab her, and a fight began in which her garments sprung to life, strangling him and grappling his arms as he stabbed her repeatedly.  At the same time, he slipped deeper into a trance-like state of calm hallucinatory detachment.

    Meanwhile, Bjorn and Jory faced opponents along the rails, making quick work of them.  Alvin followed Hustaba toward the cabin and was faced by a sailor, who he likewise dispatched quickly.  Jory fell to the captain, taking his bosun with him.  Soon Bjorn faced a terrifying monster which somewhat resembled a giant potato bug with mandibles and striking arms in the middle of his body.

    Enneric found himself facing the captain, who struck him as rather a good match for Autumn.  A massive Air Jet spell knocked him back, and a second blast knocked him over the rails and into the dark water into which he disappeared.  Enneric turned his attention to the difficult fight Bjorn was having with the monster on the oar deck.  

    Meanwhile, Hustaba was aided by Alvin, who was not nearly so affected by the smoke.  The witch dispatched, Hustaba curled up and slipped into a deep and contented sleep.  Enneric returned to the deck and joined Enneric and Bjorn in dispatching the potato-bug monster.  Both Bjorn and Enneric were badly wounded before the beast fell into the black water.

    The ship suddenly clear, Alysa came and provided medical aid.  The day was won, and the party had sole possession of a cog!  Freedom of the open seas awaits...