06. Longreach

The fight on the goblin junker continued. Vic and Wilfred returned to *the Drunken Dragon*, dealing with some goblins who'd been thrown into the water on the way. Below deck, the goblin in pink turned all the dancing goblins' hats red, sending them into a rage. Malak and Starth came very close to dying as these feral goblins lashed out with claws and teeth. Pyt continued his duel with the bugbear he'd angered, eventually slaying the creature below deck while healing his downed allies with some recently acquired magic. Malak unleashed successive thunder waves in the tight quarters, easily dealing with many of the raging goblins. The goblin in pink continued to mess around and take over other goblins when his current body was slain, but also started casting spells himself. The fight descended into the bowels of the junker - an engine room of sorts. Goblins in white hats were working without rest. Clark was transformed into a goblin and a purple hat that was placed on his head had him attack Pyt with full force. The party slew every goblin in order to deal with the one in pink once and for all. Pyt ended things by pushing the creature into a vat of burning goblin fire. The creature screamed, "I'll remember this! I always get the last laugh!" as he burned. All the strange hats scattered around burned with him, though his staff with a stylised goblin head at its tip remained.

There was a lot of rotten food on the junker, most of the rooms were in disrepair, and the cage the goblins had been keeping the bugbears in was filthy. The whims of the creature in pink - a creature Wilfred later recalled was likely a nilbog - had been truly destructive. The party took what was useful: 20 bottles of goblin moonshine - a liquid that seemed more like rubbing alcohol than a drink - and 6 jars of goblin fire. Wilfred put together half a working set of alchemist's supplies from the trashed workshop. Wilfred also used *identify* on the goblin-headed staff, learning that it was a magical focus of some sort that also housed a faint presence deep within it. Vic pieced together a set of leather armour by taking bits here and there from the corpses of the goblins. Elio felt a curious energy from a piece of metal on the deck while he meditated. It turned out to be a powerful magic item, the Cloth of Pliable Iron. Pyt carved 'One Cock Pyt was here' in the goblin language on the junker's deck before leaving.

The party set off for Longreach once more. After several hours they saw a large rock-like island jutting out the sea to starboard and concluded that it wasn't their destination yet. Continuing onward, as evening came, an island appeared in the centre of their horizon. Two large galleons were anchored up in the shadow of the island, *the Matricide,* and King's ship. Docking at one of the jetties, the party were quickly met by Laylin. She told them to go and see Driscoll in the drinking hall, Longreach's largest building. Inside the two-storey building, the party found a thriving atmosphere. Long tables the length of the room were host to cards, dice games, and chess matches. Music was being played and people were singing shanties, getting very drunk off the alcohol that was just piled up to one side of the room in place of a bar. Driscoll was talking to a nondescript man to one side.

The party approached Driscoll and he suddenly asked, very directly, asked if they were informants for the Rumidians. He pressed the line of inquiry and all the party professing their innocence. Eventually Driscoll turned to his companion, who was revealed to be Duster, though with a wildly different appearance to before, and received some sort of conformation. Satisfied, he relaxed a little and had the party sit down. The group told him what they'd done with the sahuagin in Yeddow and then with the goblins on their way here. Driscoll was pleased with how the group had handled Yeddow. He was also happy and a little surprised to hear they dealt with a goblin junker of their own accord.

The conversation that followed was curt and uncomfortable, but Driscoll spoke plainly with the group for the first time. He knew that when he asked his squabbling crews to send some men for a joint operation they'd all send greenhorns. He had reasoned that new people in his ranks were either the Rumidian informants themselves or would be in a perfect position to uncover them. Driscoll had wanted to confirm the party's worth and had ended up in two minds about it. They'd been lazy when given the opportunity to prove themselves but had gone out of their way to do good work on their own, such as with the Wood Woad on Crab Claw Cove and then with the recent goblin junker. They'd disrespected him on more than one occasion - Pyt in their first meeting; Clark not doing his job as a representative in the captains' meeting and having Driscoll lose face by caving to Badger's demands; and then Vic harassing Duster on her first day aboard *the Matricide*, which she sheepishly denied - but the party had also recently proven themselves capable and useful.

The conversation ended with a proposal: they sail with him to Shandy's island hatchery as originally planned, and he lets them loose on the island to kill as many valuable, magical creatures as possible, including, potentially, another dragon to the one confirmed to be on the island. If they were willing and able to kill one of Shandy's dragons they'd prove their worth to Driscoll once and for all, while also confirming that they weren't in any way working for Shandy - since nobody that was would dare kill one of her dragons, apparently. If the party did this, they'd earn themselves one of his flags if they wanted it, though they still owed Quinn for the folding boat and he expected them to honour that.

The group spent the rest of the night getting very drunk. They deposited the goblin moonshine they'd procured among the massive horde of booze to the side of the room, then they helped themselves to whatever they wanted from the horde, as was the way of the island. Wick and King eventually came into the building, both of them looking like they'd been in a serious fight except for how happy they appeared. The party learned from conversation that the pair fight all the time and a lot of bets get put on the outcomes. King had won this time, though only barely.

Wilfred got Wick to teach him a little of her fire magic. She made the decision to do so on a coin toss and then spent the whole time laughing at him and being a pretty terrible teacher for the young gnome. Despite this, he managed to puzzle out the secrets of a fire-based cantrip with enough attempts. Simon said he'd stay on Longreach but would sail with the party again when they were heading somewhere that wasn't as dangerous sounding as Shandy's island hatchery. He asked the group to let him know if they see a small purple dragon with butterfly wings and then took to submerging his head in drink to avoid any further ribbing or questioning by the group. Pyt joined in the musical ensemble in the building and eventually spent the night with a dwarf woman and human man. Vic spent most of her time squeezing herself into the entourage that surrounded King and hanging on to the genasi's every drunken word. Clark, having got himself obscenely drunk, embarrassed himself in front of Driscoll a little and eventually buried the hatchet with Pyt, having been angry with the bard and his decision-making since the goblin junker. Elio's hawk mask was snatched off his face at one point, resulting in everyone getting burned by his radiant fire. The group scrambled to put the mask back on and stop whatever was happening.

Eventually the crew of *the Drunken Dragon* found themselves some rest in the surprisingly luxurious rooms on Longreach.

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