Scroll Mates

Thumbnail for Season 2 Chapter 27 featuring Riley & John

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 27: Scroll Mates, we arrived in Kukati Cove without the company of our cleric, who in an effort to clear his head sought solitude once we left the dangers of the Rapra Mountains behind us. Graven promised his absence would be a brief one – and in the meantime, the rest of us could relax and resupply in the last real settlement before taking our talents to the Isthmus of Ricra for a rendezvous with Pockets.

The ocean breeze was a nice change of pace from the frigid winds of the Skybowl, but the citizens of Kukati weren't as warm as the weather – and it quickly became apparent that most services were off-limits until we could be vetted by the town's de facto leader, someone that they all just referred to as "Manager".

Heading down to the docks, we entered an office that looked more like a workshop and had to curb our collective surprise when we found ourselves face to face with a *warforged* – an incredibly rare hybrid of organic and inorganic elements that comprised a fully sentient and independent being.

Not looking to waste any time, Manager explained that he'd come into possession of the *mirrored inscription* page we were here to claim from Phaedra Spooner.  Before handing it over, however, he wanted our help – and despite our bristling at the thought of jumping through yet another hoop for this item that had already caused us considerable trouble, he made the decision easier by sweetening the deal.

A ship bound for Dylosuun had made an emergency stop in the nearby Hylata Harbor – a grave mistake borne of the ignorance that the port was overrun by dangerous creatures of the sea.  Manager desired a particular scroll that was being transported on this ship, and if we helped him get aboard we could help *ourselves* to any other valuables left behind.

After exhausting our supplies in the fight with the Coldlight Walker, this seemed like a good opportunity to replenish our coffers – so we set off east along the shore with the hopes that not everything worth taking had already been scavenged.

About halfway to the harbor, we came across a malnourished man in sailor's attire along the beach – perhaps a castaway from the very ship we were looking to investigate. We failed to convince him we meant no harm and he responded by disturbing some nearby merrows to distract us – but while the party dealt with the aquatic threats, Manager chased the man down and struck a killing blow.

Relatively unscathed thanks to good prioritization and Manager's army of summoned crocodiles, we continued on to Hylata, which even from a distance had an eerie stillness about it – the calm occasionally broken up by scion sightings that promised to be an ever tougher test if we couldn't find a way around them.

Luckily, Manager came prepared with the *water walk* spell that allowed us to take a direct route to the ship rather than pass through the deserted remains of the town – and as quietly as possible we climbed up the hull to begin our search.  Splitting up between the captain's quarters and below deck, we found a grim scene of slaughter – but no sign of the scroll we'd come to collect… until we opened the door to one of the ship's storerooms.

Inside, a gravely injured crew member was clutching the scroll in one hand and a tinderbox in the other – a worrisome sight given that he was crouched behind barrels of black powder meant for use with the ship's cannons.  By offering up a couple of healing potions, we lured him out of hiding and pounced when he was safely away from the explosives – knocking him out and providing Manager with his prized possession.

Having avoided blowing the ship to smithereens, we had time to search the vessel for loot without pressing our luck too much – and afterwards we dashed back to safety across the bay without alerting the creatures along the shore. On the way back to Kukati, Manager divulged to us that the scroll was a list of war criminals from decades prior – a list he was included on because of a contentious relationship he'd had with his former master.

All in all we felt we'd made out pretty well for what amounted to a half day's work, and we returned to town (now with Manager's approval to conduct business there).

## Trivia

* Natural one count: seven natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 2 each by Jordan and Tim, and 3 by Riley.