05. The Heroes of Yeddow

With the battle won, the party stayed vigilant and killed six more sahuagin who appeared throughout the morning, stragglers of the frenzied group. They learned how the sahuagin had been attracted to Yeddow: the people of the island had recently killed a whale and, not having time to complete its butchering before sundown, opted to remove the innards and leave it all in the sea while bringing the carrion back with them. Apparently, sahuagin have never been a concern of theirs before.

As they were taken somewhere to rest, the party saw Driscoll's flag flying high above some homes in the community. Clearly, they had saved some close allies of the pirate lord. The party slept off their harrowing fight while the villagers prepared for a celebration. They'd all thought themselves dead that morning when a horde of frenzied sahuagin crept onto their shores, so some indulgence seemed in order.

Clark awoke with an owl perched on his chest. The others were rightly curious about the creature, but Clark seemed unsure of its nature himself. He informed the group that he'd had a dream of a place beyond life, the place he pulled many of them from during their fight, though it had felt like something more than just a dream. He'd met the owl there and they'd saved each other in turn, and now it was here. Clark took to experimenting with the abilities of the creature as the evening festivities began, and he named it Flekk, for the star-like spots in its eyes.

Yeddow's many plateaus were lit with bonfire light, and singing, dancing, and music went on through the night. The party ate and drank their fill. As they sat around the fire, they began to open up to each other a little. Elio mentioned that he left home on a mission from God, Wilfred said he was searching for a way to identify something, and Malak had decided to explore the surface a little - something that wasn't unheard of among his kind. Pyt enjoyed an evening with some of the locals, engaging in a *minor-illusion* heightened orgy with a man and two women. Vic spent most of the evening getting drunk and playing with some of the island's children. She shared a kiss with the boy who had initially approached her, a youth around her own age named Maliti.

As the evening wore on, the chief of Yeddow, a man named Hulop, approached those who remained around the fire. He was noticeably drunk, and the party got him talking about his relationship with Driscoll easily enough. Hulop explained the role Yeddow had played at the start of the Fifth Lord's War, when they'd saved the first three crews that had revolted against Shandy. As the years passed, Driscoll had apparently never forgotten his debt to the people of Yeddow.

The next morning, the party set sail for Longreach. They stocked up on food and alcohol for the journey, and they were warned not to stop at any of the islands along the way if they valued their lives. With a craft their size, Hulop estimated it would be about three days before they made it to their destination.

The highlight of the first day involved Wilfred spotting a huge shark off starboard. As the party readied to fight the creature, a gargantuan roc swooped down and plucked it out the water as an eagle would a salmon. The sail of *the Drunken Dragon* was torn by the force of the sky titan's wing beats, but Clark was able to repair it magically, given enough time. The party saw an island shaped somewhat like a rose bloom, and heeding Hulop's advice, much to Pyt's disdain, opted to keep sailing. They followed the example of *the Matricide's* crew in not anchoring the boat at night, instead just raising the sail and letting the vessel drift.

The next day was going fine until *the Drunken Dragon* sailed dangerously close to a Storm Giant baby. Its wailing, combined with the emotions of the adult giants it woke up, all of whom had been resting on the surface of the ocean, whipped up a fierce storm that the party were barely able to get away from without serious injury. Some of the party reasoned that the storm that let *the Matricide* escape its pursuers in Shandy's territory a week prior may have been caused by these travelling giants. Later, they saw an island about the size of Crab Claw Cove to port and once again opted to sail onward.

On the morning of the third day, the party spotted a goblin junker chugging away. Opinions were split on whether they should deal with it or not. An initial vote came up in favour of leaving it alone, but Pyt argued that they'd impress Driscoll if they managed to take care of it. This was enough to swing Vic's opinion, though she was very unhappy about agreeing with the bard. Clark too was irritated by the situation. The group turned *the Drunken Dragon* around and prepared for an assault on the junker.

As they approached, they heard raucous goblin laughter. On the ship they saw a large number of goblins laughing as two bugbears in purple hats brutalised each other. A goblin in pink with a staff stood on the upper deck, overseeing the proceedings. The party initiated combat, and most of the goblins on deck were dealt with without issue. The pink-clad goblin was slain, but not before he had half the party worshipping him somehow and had even turned Vic into a goblin for a brief period of time with a touch of his staff. The fight progressed, and the hats were removed from the bugbears, freeing them from whatever charm they were under. One of the goblins fleeing below deck suddenly stopped in his tracks, and his clothing turned pink. A smile crept on his face as a staff materialised in his hand and he produced a pink hat from his pocket. The laughing goblin wasn't done.

One of the purple hats was placed on Pyt's head by Clark via Flekk - petty revenge for the disagreement the pair had had. The magical hat caused the bard to attack one of the bugbears relentlessly. Malak headed below deck and saw a large number of goblins with blue hats on that were dancing feverishly. He snatched a hat off a head and the goblin instantly became lucid, sobbing that he couldn't dance any more.

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