Episode 11: Come Sail Away!

<-- Back to A List of Episodes

**July 29, 2020**

We began this session waking up from a night of drinking in the town of Goldcrest. Rhistel, Koko Dotharl, Muud, and Dienaar Josephine all woke up on time to meet Nadya, the dockmaster, at the docks to procure workers for repairing the ship. Luberos and Ridgely were both hungover and took some convincing to wake up. Eventually, they all made their way downstairs where they ate some basic breakfast. Rhistel took pity on his hungover companions and cured their condition so that everyone could be feeling ok for their important meeting. After a quick stop at the bakery, they arrived at the docks where they met Nadya and a mystery fellow. This person turned out to be Intercessor Malon, a lawyer who was there to evaluate the legitimacy of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's (Muud) bill of sale. After some discussion and a close check of the document everyone was reassured that this was a legitimate deal, though of course it was not. The dock workers joined the group and they all made their way west back to the location of the boat. It took 1.5 days, but upon arrival the group made camp on the beach and began working on the boat. With the correct tools and know-how, the workers were able to fix the boat in 4 days. It required a full group effort to try to move the boulder off the boat, an attempt that failed. Koko, however, had the idea to break the boulder into pieces. She performed an intricate leap up to the mast, push down, and smash landing onto a wedge she'd placed in the top of the boulder. This flawlessly smashed the boulder into pieces allowing the group to remove most of it, but leave some ballast in place as well.

Finally, on the morning of the 7th day since they left Goldcrest they were able to set sail on their ship, newly christened as The Flying Boulder. With 9 people and 6 horses, the boat was pretty packed, but they made their way back to Goldcrest in roughly 17 hours, arriving around midnight. They bid farewell to the dockworkers who had helped them, and some of the group went back to the inn for the night while Ridgely and Luberos remained on the boat. Everyone had a nice night of sleep, and in the morning the Archduke made his way to find Nadya and finalize the deal by indicating the total cost of the project. However, upon looking for her he found that she had left town the same day they made the deal for a family emergency. The new, temporary dockmaster, Charley, had not heard of the deal they had made, nor did she know of Intercessor Malon. The Archduke played it off, refusing a request to stick around, and quickly the group set sail for Kirogate, leaving the town of Goldcrest behind. On the way to Kirogate, the group passed Ridgely's hometown, though they did not stop since they were making haste back to the Towenaar. Koko and Josephine had a heart-to-heart one night while Koko was sailing the ship, and finally Josephine was able to look her in the eye. She thanked Koko for her kindness, and let her know that she was on her side no matter what happened.

It took 11 days to get to Kirogate, but once they did, Josephine was able to fast-track their return to the palace. They went straight to the quarters of Towenaar Nevarre. Josephine and Nevarre spoke in the back room, leaving the rest of the group to wait in the sitting room. Finally, Nevarre came rushing out of the back room and asked Muud to see the amulet, which he obliged. She investigated it, performing some magic, and then brought out a book where she had seen a drawing of a similar/identical amulet, though in the picture it had a large ruby-red gemstone in its center. The Towneaar perfromed some more magic on the amulet, and eventually stood up, handed it back to Muud telling him to keep it safe, and then they all made their way to the throne room where the king was meeting with various of his subjects. The Towenaar demanded a private audience, and everyone left but the guards and the king. She told them they had found an amulet related to the Gale, and the king wanted to see it. Muud showed it to him, but he asked to hold it. When Muud attempted to give it to him, the Towneaar stopped Muud and confronted the king. With another bit of magic, something behind the king's breastplate began to glow red. The king roared, eyes turning black with a large shadow erupting from his back. The party was thrown backwards, and the session ended.