DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 2)
Chaff (Vivimancer 4), with henchman "No. 7" (Halfling 1), familiar Pretty Bird, and riding hound Stinky Dog
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 4)
Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 1)
The barge was about 360 feet long and 180 feet wide, topped by a massive golden dome and pieced by five towers. The dome, they could now see, shone with a faint blue glow. At the bow was a long ramp, so the party formed up and headed that way. As they crossed the darkened deck, they encountered a number of rows of human bones, piled in neat pyramids. As they approached the fourth row of bones, Chaffs light coin revealed three humanoid figures at work, arranging the bones. They were androgynous and nearly invisible, with translucent pink bodies, under which was a darker pink skeleton and not much else. The three had sensed the party's approach, and loped over towards them, each waving a femur overhead and chanting something about "more converts to free from their flesh prisons". No flesh was freed however (except for a bonk to the head for Abdul el Abdul), and the three where quickly dispatched. A search of them and the bone piles revealed nothing of interest, so the party moved on across the deck until they reached the main dome. At a point where one of the towers pierced the dome, they found an usual door. It was made of a bronzed metal, and in the center was a large valve. Xavier was convinced to go and try it out, and after a few turns, the door opened with faint 'whoosh'. Everyone filed inside, and found a round room with stairs going up, a scorch mark on the floor, and another valve door on the opposite wall. After some discussion, the party decided to focus on getting deeper towards the center of the barge to, so Xavier was send ahead to open the next door.
They were first greeted with a odd smell of flesh and microbial growth. Looking in, Xavier could see a long chamber, with a red rug on the floor and piles of sorted clothing. Sorting the clothing were three more of the pink translucent creatures, who turned on Xavier, screaming paeans of the corruptibly of the flesh as they rushed over to hack at the henchman with their battle axes. Xavier pulled back, Kwinsea cast
tidal force to push two of the three away, and then the party unloaded a round of pistol fire before rushing into the room and wiping out the creatures. They checked one pile of clothes, as well as under the rug, but found nothing of interest. So they pushed on deeper into the dome, passing through a normal set of ebony double doors and into a long corridor. A number of doors led off the passageway, so they chose one, and headed through. On the other side was a room, burned from top to bottom. Nothing could be seen except four melted lumps of metal, round and about 2 feet across. Xavier and Kwinsea went over to poke at the piles a little, but again found nothing great interest so the party moved on.
Behind the next door they found the base of another tower, with a door leading further into the barge and a staircase leading up. This time they decided to head up, but as they started to climb, Abdul el Abdul was skewered from below the open metal lattice by a previously unseen translucent man. Abdul el Abdul and Xavier jumped down off the stairs to fight the creature, while Kwinsea and No.7 slashed at it from above (the rest of the party being stuck too high on the stairs to help). That hazard eliminated, they continued up the stairs, which ended at a trap door. No. 7, being at the front of the column, opened the door. Beyond it was the top of the tower, exposed to the night sky thanks to a broken dome. The halfling stuck her head higher, to be greeted by a loud screech and a most unusual sight; a giant two head vulture with a tentacle growing out of it's chest. It perched, at the other side of the tower from the trapdoor, on a nest of sticks and flotsam. No. 7 cautious emerged onto the top of the tower, and waited for the rest of the party to follow as the vulture flapped it's wings and glared. But no one else was forthcoming, as Beuford refused to move and was blocking the line. Hoping to save his hench-halfling, Chaff tired to
bonewarp the bird, but to no avail. No. 7 unloaded a pistol at it and rushed over to fight, at which point the logjam was cleared when Beuford decided to join her in combat. It wasn't much of a fight though, as the vulture fled after taking a few hits, leaving the party and nest behind. Buried in the nest was a humanoid skeleton with a weirdly elongated, egg shaped skull, as well as an intricately carved ring of copper about a foot in diameter.
The party headed back down the stairs before the vulture returned, and continued deeper into the barge. Through the next door they found the galley, with three of the translucent pink men in aprons and chefs hats grilling what appeared to be 'long pig' over a charcoal fire. These did not attack at once, but instead exhorted the party to 'consume the flesh to shed their own corrupting flesh' and to 'throw off the bonds of the meat demon that hold them in thrall' and other such nonsense. Chaff tried to question them and get more information, but all he was able to find out was the weird space elves they'd met earlier had been expelled from the barge and, like ever other 'unsaved' humanoid, were now unwelcome corrupted flesh-creatures. All this time, the three chefs tried to force the cooking meet on the party (except, oddly enough, Kwinsea and the two halflings). Eventually, they decided instead to add the party to their BBQ and jumped over the charcoal pit swinging meat cleavers. The ensuring battle attracted more of the creatures, who burst through the door behind the party and laid into them with battle axes. No-one ended up on the grill, however, and the chefs and serving staff were left dead on the floor ...
TOTAL XP
845
GAINS
Carved copper ring, 1 foot in diameter
KILLS
13 translucent, pink fleshed humanoids
LOSSES
None
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