Far Isles Session #74 - Treasure Loaded and Loaded with Treasure!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Chaff (Vivimancer 6), with familiar Pretty Bird and Riding Dog Puppy Whuppy

Torak (Cleric 6) and his zombie servitor
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 6), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 3)
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 6) 

Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 5)

Having defeated the treasures guardian, the party now had to decide how to deal with their new windfall. The first order of business was to get word back to the ship and start moving as much of the ships company as possible up the mountain to start hauling treasure. And butchering and flensing a dragon, as the party had visions of dragon armor and dragon’s teeth trophies. Meanwhile, the party helped the captive maidens out of their prison. The six women continued to wail and cower and chatter. Kwinsea, relying on her flair for languages, was able to grasp a basic understanding of their words, as the language was related to those already encountered in the Jungle Isles. The six were understandably in shock, but the aquamancer was able to calm them and promise them they would not be harmed. She then asked probing questions about the situation. Is there more than one dragon (no)? How many people used to live here (Many hundreds)? Any other survivors (not that they know of)? Places survivors could be hiding (many caves around the volcanic peak)? Had they seen any other ships in the days before the dragon came (no).   Kwinsea and Awg also went for a swim around the island to confirm there were no other dangers and find a fishy friend to question. From a passing flounder, they learned that large aquatic dinosaurs sometimes lurked in the area, but ships were rarely seen. 

Instant Fortress

Back on land, a half dozen sailors and a pair of musketeers arrived to help with the gold and dragon; the rest were left aboard the “Purple Haze” to guard their only way off the island. The sailors were lowered into the cistern to bag and haul up treasure, while the musketeers sat down to guard and grumble. The ships cook was walked over to the dragon carcass with his biggest cleaver and told to start butchering.  Rodrigo sat himself down to watch the proceedings and make sure the crew didn’t walk off with too much loose treasure.  Chaff meanwhile examined the magic items, in particular the scroll and cube. The scroll was written in a strange tongue, so he had to wait for Kwinsea to return and translate. It proved to be a scroll of protection from undead, which was turned over to Jaz as her reward for crawling in the lizard wizards vats some days ago. The cube likewise had a word inscribed on it in the same weird language; Kwinsea whispered the word to Chaff. He, accompanied by Torak, then walked off to a safe location and spoke the word aloud. The cube instantly grew into a 30’ tall tower, and Chaff found himself standing in front of the open front door. Torak, unfortunately, found himself standing too close for comfort and was pinned beneath one corner. Chaff quickly shrank the instant fortress to tend to his comrade, who though on death’s door managed to avoid another visit to the Drowned God.  

With enough excitement for one day, the party settled down for the night, one eye locked on the treasure. Next day, work resumed in dragon carving and treasure hauling. Having talked over the risks of bringing all this gold back to Xin for the customs officers to tax, they decided to take 5000gp in gems and hide it away in a convenient cave as a sort of offshore tax haven. So off went the bulk of the party to find an appropriate cave. Following the directions of the still skittish ex-captives, they found some hiding places without too much trouble. They also found more survivors; a cave full of old, men, women and children. With Kwinsea once more translating, they learned they had fled into the jungle when the dragon first attacked. Many others had died in the dragon’s flames, including all of the islands warriors. They were overjoyed to learn the dragon was dead, but then started to wail and worry about their fate now that most of their people and all of their town was gone. And what about their treasures? The party murmured something non-committal about the treasure, but promised to put the crew to work building shelters for the survivors. And what about other help? The people would need fresh blood or they would die out? Once more, the party made some quasi-promises to look into that.  

Witch Doctor

Work continued over the next few days, and the treasure hauling was slowed down by diversion of resources to town building. But all proceeded without incident until the 5th day. Around mid-afternoon, Pretty Bird (who had been flying air patrol over the “Purple Haze” for the last few days) returned to Chaff to report four war canoes approaching from the south-west. They appeared to be coming from an island just barely visible in that direction, and based on their paddling speed would arrive here around dusk. Questioning the island survivors, the party learned of a tribe of cannibals who lived to the southwest, and who would sometime raid this island to capture ‘long pig’ for their feasts. Oh, who will protect us now!! We are lost!!! Well, this time at least, the party was going to protect their treasure hoard (and the islanders of course).  First of all, word was sent to the “Purple Haze” to raise sail and head around to the other side of the island. As the day drew to a close, the party suspended work on the ruined town site and hustled everyone down to water. There, just out of sight of the cove, Chaff summoned his instant fortress and sent all the islanders, crew and the invalid Torak inside. He also posted the two musketeers at the top to stand guard. Jaz took up position in a nearby tree, and Chaff summoned the ebony fly and buzzed nearby. Kwinsea and Awg headed into the water with plans to intercept the canoes. They were joined by Rodrigo, who borrowed Torak’s shark spear and transformed into a mako shark. And then they waited about 200 yards off shore. Before long, the sound of muffled paddling could be heard as the canoes approached. After they passed by the party in the water, the aquatic team sprang into action. Kwinsea got behind one boat and loosed a lightning bolt, crisping everyone in that canoe.  Rodrigo the shark leapt out of the water and belly flopped on the stern of a second canoe, tipping it over and sending most of the crew splashing into the water. Awg turned on those in the water, in particular one obvious leader dressed in old plate armor. That unfortunate was stabbed and then sank to the bottom thanks to the weight of metal he was wearing. 

Things started to fall apart a bit for the party. In one of the still untouched canoes was a witchdoctor-looking figure, dressed in mask and a robe of skulls. He muttered a spell and Kwinsea found herself paralyzed and sinking to the bottom. Spears flew from both canoes, hitting Awg and Rodrigo in the water. Chaff then arrived on the fly to leech blast a canoe, but the witchdoctor screamed another incantation and the leeches disappeared. More spears struck at the two in the water, who then decided to dive out of danger. They grabbed Kwinsea and headed for the safety of shore. Chaff likewise turned the fly towards land. They all scrambled up the path to the instant fortress and crowded inside. Those still able to fight made it to the arrow slits and the top, and watched as the surviving cannibals beached their canoes and prepared to move inland. Those tribesmen were not prepared for the fortress, and came to a halt when it came in view. A flurry of spells and missile fire from the tower discouraged any further advance, and the witchdoctor led to tribe back to the canoes and off into the night. They did not return and the next day the party resumed work on the treasure hoard. After another uneventful week, the treasure and dragon parts were all loaded aboard the “Purple Haze”, 

TOTAL XP

670

GAINS
None

KILLS

Loka the War Chief
12 Cannibal Warriors

LOSSES

Torak (Temporarily)