Session 19 Recap

Previously on DnD,
you awoke aboard your new ship "The Sea Under The Stars" to the crew
making ready to depart from the Smugglers Cove. Fluff and Dapi had terrible
nightmares about being burned by forges and put into a cage respectively. Dapi
tried to read her letter from her family, but the handwriting was too
illegible. While speaking to Vorsah (and constantly calling him Voorhees, much
to his chagrin) Pelios noticed that two pirates appeared to be trying to sneak
away with a painting of the ship. He shouted at them to stop, and they took off
at a sprint. Pelios then cast levitate and the picture rose out of their hands
and the two would-be thieves escaped into a pool of water. You brought the
painting aboard and saw it depicted the Sea Under The Stars in a foreign port
at night. It depicted the captain talking with the figurehead, but the ship
currently has no figurehead. On investigating the painting further, you found a
small catch that released the canvas from the frame. One the canvas was out of
the frame the painting disappeared, and when it was reinserted the painting
reappeared. You then put some normal parchment into the frame, and the frame
locked tight on the blank frame. Duala decided it would be best if she carried
the painting with her.

You then set sail
from the Smugglers Cove to Rangan Docks. On the way, you instructed with
Acting-Captain Vorsah to have his men carve small decorative items to sell
between ports - at one point legitimately considering turning The Sea Under The
Stars into nothing more than a dildo making sweat shop. Dapi said something he
didn't mean - potentially as a result of him recently kicking R-Cane and became a bit depressed. Eventually, Vorsah convinced you a better use for the ship would be to trade cargo along the Ibloa Coast and share a cut of the profits with you. You gave him 500GP to start the
trades and asked him to go for a high risk, high reward strategy. You agreed to
meet Vorsah in The Squatting Cat on the 17th September to see how his trading
has been going. As you neared Rangan, you came across a seemingly empty rowing
boat. You couldn't quite see into the boat, but as you got closer it
disappeared into the mist.

Once you reached
Rangan you disembarked and paid the halfling harbour master the 50GP docking
fee before heading to Skeelvich Rhaghoul's tower. Once there, Pelios attempted
to catch a crow using his mage hand but it turned to black smoke as the hand
closed around it. Qelgar was able to gain entry to the tower using Skeelvich
Raghoul's name and you headed up the stairs. On entering the top of the tower
Skeelvich was very interested in Duala as a self taught beginner necromancer -
and quizzed her on her motivations. He then gave her some black glasses made of
tiny bones, that she could use to either look into the Ethereal Plane, or to
give herself true sight. When looking into the Ethereal Plane she could see
Binky sat beside her and on realising she could be seen, Binky jumped up and
started licking her face. Duala also saw a small ghostly figure, perhaps a
badger, a hare or..a rabbit? Her amulet was attracted to this figure. When
seeing into the Ethereal Realm Duala perceived Skeelvich Raghoul as a great
skeletal figure - ten feet tall and rippling with power. Qelgar appeared to be
ever so slightly golden, Pelios' blood vessels all shone red (proving he wasn't
a crab), Fluff had leaves falling all around her, Stuff appeared about a foot
closer to Fluff than they were, Dapi appeared about a foot shorter. Then, Fluff
realised that Duala should look at the painting of "MediaWiki:Badtitletext", and on doing so Duala saw the previously blank canvas now
contained a map leading to a location in the Stoneshaw Hills, and a poem.

"To disturb the rest of those who sleep, betrays a need to hold and keep, but if you are to draw today, beware the Death of Baldanay"

Pelios then asked
Skeelvich about the Decks of Many Things and Mogoloth's plans. Skeelvich
revealed that The Four had four of the Decks, (Orc, Human, Halfling and Orc).
The Dwarven deck is rumoured to be beneath the City of Ironwin and that the
Gnomish deck is a thirteenth of the size of the others. He didn't know how
many of the Decks Mogoloth has. Skeelvich also saw within Pelios a great,
dangerous entity in the form of a purple dagger - and advised Pelios not to use
any other weapon until he has that dagger.

The Defenders then
bid Skeelvich Raghoul farewell, and headed into town where they went to The
Dapper Cauldron Apothecary and bought some potions (Qelgar got an absolute
bargain on some Mammoth Fur, Fluff got rid of her beard, and Dapi bought some
body grease). You then headed to the stables where you retrieved your Ford Fliesta Cart and set off for Eyjara. You had an uneventful journey and you
arrived in Eyjara on CE964, 18th August to a hero's welcome. You checked in
with Housemaster Edmund, who told you the work on the foundations and ground
floor of your Defender of Eyjara House is going to cost 2000GP. You paid him
and headed to the Badger's Pint Inn. You each had a drink and then reflected on
what you'd learned during the last five days. Duala remembered a lovely evening
she had with Nahala, Qelgar had a vision of his Elven companion MediaWiki:Badtitletext, but Pelios had a hideous vision of being in a cave, a voice whispering
"Nothing", a hideous snapping beast spitting "Is", and finally
having the word "Free" sliced into his left forearm.