TFL 17.12.28

Re-cap -The Birthday Edition:
The gang awoke to some holiday cheer, compliments of Getch. After imbibing, they made their way to the docks, looking for the Electric Eel. They found the vessel, a long, sleek merchant ship, being loaded by sailors. The crew were notably all either human, elvish, or even dwarven. Some appeared to be lacking in sailor skills, and others seemed to dislike the half orc and gnome in your group, though they tried to conceal it.

A half-elf named Trips led you to the captain, whilst stealing glances at Bubbles. Captain Rua met the team, he stood taller than most men, and his shaved flesh was more or less covered in bizarre and foreign markings. He was curt, and down to business, but not particularly hostile. He instructed the group to stick to their quarters or the galley, and to never wander the ship without escort.

You guys proceeded to your quarters, hung out most of the day while the ship made it's way out into open waters, and eventually wanted to have a look around. Trips begrudgingly took Adokal, Bubbles, and Vantis on a brief tour, whereupon they noticed a strange lack of crew. Trips was eager to see them back into their quarters, especially once he realized that Bubbles had suddenly gone missing (she turned into a lizard and staked out a hatch).

With everybody but Bubbles passing time in the galley, Adokal got restless and began investigating, eventually finding a false wall. From the other side they heard a woman scream, at which point they ran onto the main deck, triggered a trap which really exemplified how serious the Captain was about not wanting them to wander, and rushed to the hatch which led to the storage area.
They hurried down into the hold to find the crew preparing barrels and crates. It appears as though they were getting ready to throw them overboard. From one of the crates came another scream, the crew shared an awkward silence, then drew weapons on you guys.
A fight ensued in which most of the crew were killed, but not before one got away, and one charged in to his death, his final battle cry being "Cutter's Keepers Forever!"
During the skirmish, the crate broke open to reveal a gnomish woman, who was a bit shocked, but decided to attack her abductors. She seemed handy in a fight, casting strange magics, but literally vanished before the fight was over, and has not been seen since.
After the dust settled, you guys opened the other crates and found some mundane supplies, but also what appeared to be a crew of sailors, of mixed races and genders. Most of them were dead, though the gnomish lady was alive, it's possible that their are other survivors as well. They all shared a curious symbol tattooed on them.
Now the gang, down in the belly of the ship, must decide what to do next, knowing that Rua, Trips, and at least two other sailors are above-decks.

I'll be sending you all XP soon. Also, we'd discussed rolling Monday at my house. Pros- it's a holiday, we could have a long session. Cons- it's new years day, people might have plans, and many of us will have been partying the night before. Feel free to cast your vote.

Lastly, it was awesome rolling with Kaiya & Jeff's Mom! Good times!