The Lonely Coin

## Synopsis:

The Guilds of Sunward has hired the Whispering Cutlass Mercenary Company. The Whispering Cutlass have been tasked with venturing to a place where the Summer Sea meets the Biting Sea under the constellation known as the Farmer's Scythe. This is where the floating pirate city, the Lonely Coin is currently anchored. The Guilds of Sunward are seeking the return of the stolen great sail, the Coral Breaker, which is believed to be at this location. The Whispering Cutlass must search out the ship and return it back to the Guilds of Sunward.

## Mercenaries:

Lucky Shadow - Tabaxi Rogue (Sponsor LockeMeUp)

Nwalme - Shadhar-Kai Rogue (Sponsor: Xekral)

Morloc - Human Paladin (Sponsor: Monty)

Sims - Half-Orc Barbarian (Sponsor: Ducamis)

Tarmak - Goliath Fighter (Sponsor: Celticboar)

## Adventure:

The Adventurers set out on a ship lent to them by the city of Sunward. They were requested to return the ship, and immediately set about preparing the ship for it's journey to the Lonely Coin. Knowing the ship did not look like a pirate ship, the adventurers 'roughed up' the ship a bit, adding several new features such as bones spikes. The flag was switched, and a the ship given a new name. "The Fithly Merwhore".

The Journey was relatively uneventful until the rogue lookout Nwalme noticed the sound of something splashing up out of the water. Before long the crew was assaulted by bird like creatures swooping down and attacking from above. Tarmak was on several occasionas hoisted up into the air. The crew used their quick reflexes to attack the birds as they attempted to retreat after their swooping attacks, and managed to whittle down the birds. Fortunately for Tarmak, Lucky had the forsight to climb a crows nest, and in a daring display of acrobatics, dove off the nest to impale a bird holding Tarmak, before deftly leaping back to the nest. Tarmak just couldnt keep his feet planted however, and was lifted again and dragged over the ocean before cutting himself free. He swam back to the boat, and was nearly dragged under before the burly Sim's halted the tug-o-war. The battle was over in short order, and the crew took a moment to recover from their light wounds.

It was at this point that the adventurers noticed the ocean water changing, as they met the edge of the Biting Sea, and the Lonely coin appeared along the horizon. The city was truly a sight to see. It is hard to tell if the Lonely Coin is some sort of gigantic barge, or hundreds of smaller ships lashed together in a semi-permanent state. It took somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 minutes to fully walk the perimeter. Docks ringed the outer edge, and a large keep like fortress sat in the center. Several buildings were multiple stories high, and the Coin even had it's own lighthouse. Strangely the lighthouse had no light shining from the peek.

After docking and paying a gold piece to the harbormaster, the adventures began to scope out the place. They discovered the Coral Breaker docked on the far side of the flotilla, caught up in a flurry of activity. Several guards watched the ship, and dock hands were quickly offloading cargo from the ship. The Adventurers decided to get a drink at a nearby bar, which was filled with pirates in quiet games of dice and cards.

The Rogues went to work listening to the quiet chatter, while the less stealthy members headed up to the bar for a drink. Lucky noticed that one group of pirates in perticular were speaking an odd ancient form of thieves cant, used thousands of years ago by a group called The Echo. He struck up a conversation with one of the men, and managed to speak in some sort of code. True to his name, he won a game of dice easily, was not discovered as a spy, and even managed to get a job to... probably assassinate something named "Sterling No-tongue Omar". Tarmal and Sim's managed to overhear that a woman named Lucia Bonebeard had recently purchased the Coral Breaker from the Pirate Queen. After a bit more sluething, it turned out that this Pirate Queen was a "woman" named Ysser(sp), and that she was rumored to be one of the 9 Witches of Embrel.

It came to light at this point that Nwalme and Tarmak had a special side quest to kill this Pirate Queen. A conversation ensued where the group attempted to formulate a plan to meet with and kill the queen, however it was eventually decided that the Queen/Witch was far too powerful and dangerous a target to attempt to take on at this time. During their coversation, a man named Leedwood Toothless approached the group. He recognised that they were not pirate or from the lonely coin. He offered to help the group find their way around for a bit of coin. The group used him to gain a bit of information on the different clans of pirate found on the island.

Before the group was able to finalize a plan, A barrel flew through the window, and a crowd was gathering outside for a fight. It seemed that the new owner of the Coral Breaker, Bonebeard, was in a conflict with another pirate crew of the Wicket Tide, who are known for their ballista. The party saw this as an opportunity to get on Bonebeards good side, and jumped into action. The group made quick work of the sailors. despite a few early missteps in the melee. After the dust had settled it was revealed that the Wicked Tides Captain was No-Tongue, who left to get patched up after losing a hand to Bonebeard as payment for starting the fight. Bonebeard asked the adventures what payment they wanted and the crew asked for the ship. Not willing to make such a trade, negotiations went back and forth. Knowing that the group would be unable to wrestle control of the ship, and not wanting to damage the ship in a fight on the ocean the group made a deal.

Bonebeard agreed to give the adventurers the ship in exchange for a Map currently in the possession of a man named Uloreen. She would sail the ship across the ocean to Sunward, and wait their one month for the group to return. The group had no intention of agreeing to the deal, however they saw this as an opportunity to get the ship closer to it's required destination.

Not wanting to leave loose ends, the group tracked down No-Tongue and stabbed him, before retreating back to their ship and sailing after the Coral Breaker. The righteous(???) Paladin Morloc decided to rob the corpse of No-Tongue, retrieving a magical ring of Luck. During their escape, one member, Tarmak learned that the Merchant-Lord Amara, thought dead, was in fact alive and being held by the pirates, forced to fight in an arena.

When the adventurers arrived back at Sunward, Bonebeard called them to her ship. There, she told the group that she would go no further into the harbor, and would wait here. The group, unable to change her mind, returned to Sunward.

## Outcome

While the Adventurers managed to find the Coral Breaker and get it to within sight of Sunward, it was not returned to the city. Because of this, the adventurers were told that they failed to meet their objective. Because of this, the adventurers were only paid a small fraction of the expected reward. The client would decide what the next steps toward reclaiming the ship would be.