Far Isles Session #62 - Going Home

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 4)

Chaff (Vivimancer 5), with familiar Pretty Bird
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 4)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 5), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 2)

Pahu-Mahu (Thief 3)

Back at the village, the party settled in for a much needed sleep before making further plans. First order of business in the morning was to check a few recovered items for magical properties. Chaff used Kalandrian Sight to determine the Shark Tooth Spear was a combination of enchantment/alteration magic, while the Stole of the Sacred  was, as expected, alteration magic. A quick scan of the bagged kopru idol proved that it was an object of enchantment/charming. Which immediately made everyone think; what the heck should they do with such an obviously cursed yet monetarily valuable item? They decided to bring it to the attention of Fano the Talking Chief and Umlat the witch doctor. Maybe the locals could help them decide. Fano, of course, led them to the 'real' Chief. Both he and Umlat prostrated themselves before the statuette and asked for it's guidance [Incidentally, Chaff's Kalandrian Sight was still active, and revealed that the statuette was in no way magical]. The the two stood up again, and Fano loudly proclaimed that the Chief had ordered the party and the kopru idol banished at once; they had brought bad taboo onto the village!! There was some inclination to argue, but in the end the party decided to simply leave, paddling back to the temple to rest for the night.

Once settled, the party now had to decide what to do with Abdul el Abdul. Given the length of time since his demise, and the sheer difficulty of getting his festering body out of the volcanic cone, the party reluctantly made the decision to say their last goodbyes.  Abdul el Abdul was sent off to his final rest on a burning pyre, accompanied by his treasured crystal grappling hook. The rest of his stuff the party confiscated. Next order of business was the idol. In memory of Abdul, Awg took up the Terminaxe and used the magical weapon to smash the cursed kopru to a pile of shattered coral and mangled gold. 

After an uneventful night, Chaff summoned the ebony fly and the party proceeded with the airlift out of the crater and back onto the high plateau. By mid afternoon, they'd all made it back to their base camp. There, they found a single crossbowman and Puppy Whuppy. Chit reported that his two companions had fallen in combat to dire wolves while out foraging; he himself survived by slaying one of the beasts and driving the rest off. And then made dire wolf jerky, which was good since the party had not been able to restock on supplies before the villagers kicked then out. Taking up the load of food, the party started the journey back to the "Purple Haze" and the "Loreman's Passage".  That journey was uneventful, the only real encounter happening the next morning when a column of zombies marched off the mountainside, bypassed and completely ignored the party camp, before tumbling over the side of the gorge into the raging river below.  Definitely weird, but that seemed to be the norm on this island. 

Mutiny!

The party picked up their raft along the way to make it a quicker/easier journey back to the ship. As they entered the swampy delta where the river met the sea, the sound of a gunshot was heard from far ahead. From out at sea in fact, and immediately all were concerned there was a problem on their ships. As the rest of the party poled the raft at high speed, Chaff sent Pretty Bird on ahead to see what was going on. Upon it's return, the vivimancer's familiar reported there was just one ship at anchor, and there was some kind of commotion among the humans on deck. By this point the raft had emerged from the swamps, and Awg and Kwinsea dove in to swim to the ship and investigate. It was the "Purple Haze", and the two climbed up the stern to the deck. There, they found Lynessa facing down an agitated crew over a pair of loaded pistols, with one bleeding body already on the deck. As Chaff appeared overhead on the fly, the two tried talking with the crew to see what was wrong. A spokesman was shoved forward, and he told a tale of woes; food rotten and running out, everyone bored and baking under the tropical sun, tired of being at sea for two months, afraid the party was dead and they'd all die in this hellhole too, etc etc etc. The trio also learned that the "Loreman's Passage" crew had mutinied some days before, killed their newly appointed captain, and sailed off. That seems to have given the crew of the "Purple Haze" the idea to do the same. The calmonari, vivimancer and aquamancer reasoned with the surly crew, showing them the treasures they'd recovered, and promising them a bonus if they returned to their duties. Awg also went out to charm a tuna to serve at a feast for the crew.  The party then informed the crew that the "Purple Haze" would soon head back to Xin, making a brief stop back at the native village of Tanaroa to resupply and rest for a few days.

The and crew turned to go about the business of preparing the ship for sea, and the "Purple Haze" was soon underway, heading south. As the end of day approached, the ship passed through a channel between an offshore island and the main Isle of Dread. Rodrigo, standing watch on the forecastle, spied something large and tentacled in the water ahead. The party rushed on deck in response to his cries, and Jaz loosed a magic missile into the monsters flesh. That forced it to dive, leaving everyone unsure of what to do next. That indecision was solved when the beast (now obviously a giant squid), appeared below the ship and proceeded to climb partway up the stern and use it's tentacles and beck to hack at the ship. Jaz cast another magic missile and Chaff tried to calm it's attack with a polyvorousness spell (no luck). Rodrigo and Pahu Mahu slashed at the beast, but that proved difficult as it was some distance below the level of the deck.  As the vicious beast continued to rip at the woodwork, Chaff, Kwinsea and Rodrigo ran below to attack it through the stern windows. Pahu Mahu, gripping his mighty Shark Tooth Spear, jumped off the stern and drove the spear tip into the squids head. Awg choose an easier route, using his sword to levitate close to the beast and then blast it with a laser pistol. The squid's body exploded in a gout of ink and gore, and it's remains slid down into the sea.

Squid Attack

Thinking the monsters lair must be nearby, half the party prepared to dive below and investigate. Awg and Kwinsea had no trouble in the water, and the impetuous Pahu Mahu dove in after them. At which point he (and everyone else) was surprised to find he'd turned into an albino mako shark. Sensing an opportunity, Rodrigo quaffed a potion of water breathing, and climbed on top of the shark to accompany the search in style. The four swam down, and Kwinsea used her speak with aquatic animals to get directions to the giant squids lair, in an old lava tube nearby. There, the party searched through a garbage dump of old planks, sails, and rusty iron, finding just a single potion bottle for their troubles. 

When the four climbed back on board, the "Purple Haze" continued on it's way, reaching the village of Tanaroa the next day. There they bartered for supplies, allowed the crew a few days to rest ashore, and learned that this place was just as full of zombies as the rest of the island. Soon, however, the "Purple Haze" was ready and they set sail for home. The Jungle Isles were left behind, and the ship passed into cooler waters. They encountered no storms and, with a fair south wind, made good time over the next few days. The easy travel continued under clear skies until the fifth day, when the dawn came grey, rainy and foggy.  Which meant when Rodrigo spied a ship on their larboard side, the vessel was already quite close. The two masted ship flew no colours, and as soon as she spied the "Purple Haze", changed course to pursue. Chaff sent Pretty Bird aloft, and through the fog and drizzle the bird spied it's decks packed with armed men. It looked like there was another fight at hand ...

TOTAL XP

1070

GAINS
Potion of Heroism

KILLS

1 Giant Squid

LOSSES

A few crewmen