Session 10

October 7th, 2019

Saltmarsh 10: Jason X

The party interrogates Sanbalet, and turns him over to the Saltmarsh authorities. Sanbalet’s ship is signed over to Vel, and the party prepares to track down the slavers.

Synopsis
The party stands on the dock outside the mine, facing Sanbalet's ship, the Shooting Star. The strong winds knock against Emmett and Kayle, knocking them to their knees. Malcolm notices that the sails of the ship stay aloft, even though there's no wind blowing. Vel sees Sanbalet focusing on the sails, realizing he can control the ship with his mind, she has Dora punch him to break his concentration, but at a point of exhaustion, she misses. Kayle pounds him against ground, and threatens to drown him if he tries that again. Emmett grabs Sanbalet by the scruff of his neck, which sends a tingle down his spine, unnoticed by the party.

Malcolm and Vel double back to collect the dwarves, leaving Dora, Emmett, and Kayle to guard Sanbalet. Emmett eyes Kayle's talking sword and quietly speaks to his maul to check if it does the same. When they return, Vel attempts to sneak onto the ship but follows banging his maul on his shield. Vel explores the deck, finding a large ballista, a loading crane, stairs to an upper deck and doors to a lower deck.

Vel lowers the gangplank to deck for the party. The exhausted Malcolm trudges up the plank, and immediately begins looking for a bed to pass out in. He briefly panics about leaving the party unsupervised, but Dora pulls the blanket over him.

Emmett and a few of the rescued dwarves step aside to use Emmett's new pipe. The smoke lingers in the air in front of them, and begins depicting in the clouds, how Sanbalet abducted the dwarves, and eventually Emmett's trip through the mine. Emmett prepares another bowl, and thinks about the night he was accused of murder, but the smoke dissipates.

Kayle goes over Sanbalet, whose propped against the mast, and threatens him for information, but he spits in Kayle's face. He stabs Sanbalet in the leg, which gets him talking; Sanbalet doesn't know the group who killed Kayle's family personally, but they do pay well. Kayle tells the sleeping Malcolm that he stabbed Sanbalet, then passes out in the next bed. Emmett falls asleep on the deck, bottle of ale in hand.

Dora sits on the floor beside Malcolm's bed, and completes writing her letter.

Vel gives Sanbalet a goodberry because they need him alive. She and a few dwarves take Sanbalet to a lockable room to serve as a holding cell. She takes the first watch, and sends a dwarf to wake Dora to take the next shift.

An unearthly scream echoes from the walls of the ship. Dora, Emmett, and Kayle come running to the brig. Vel questions Sanbalet about the screaming. Newly awakened, Malcolm goes looking for Stanni and Sterek. Dora, Emmett and Kayle, track the screaming, and find it coming from inside a wall. Together Emmett and Dora knock down the wall, They find a small parrot, who tells them his name is Billy. Emmett promptly adopts him, and Billy continues to scream for Sanbalet. Emmett flicks Billy in the head everytime he screams.

Malcolm drifts down to Vel and takes over watching Sanbalet and healing his stab wound, Vel leaves to go bed and informs the rest of the party that Malcolm's awake. Vel pets and drapes her cloak over Billy, which causes him to fall asleep. Vel finds the ship's Captain's Quarters, strips the bedding, and falls asleep.

Later, Malcolm reconvenes with the party, and they go to wake Vel to question Sanbalet. Emmett has Malcolm examine his pipe, recognizing it as a Pipe of Remembrance which projects recent memories, though can show long term memories if attuned.

Finding the Captain's Quarters, Malcolm wakes Vel. The party, minus Kayle who is still exploring the ship, heads down to interrogate Sanbalet. Kayle finds two maps of the Azure Coast, a spy glass, a coded note, and an ocarina made of a seashell.

In the brig, Malcolm stitches up Sanbalet's stabwound, purposely not well. Vel begins questioning him, fiddling with her dagger. Emmett stands over them. The party learns details of Sanbalet's trade deals. One contract was to supply weapons to a tribe to the south, another to Gellan Primewater for 3 casks of ale, the dwarves themselves were ordered by a woman named Kasha, and there will be trouble if nothing is delivered to her. Sanbalet calls out for Billy, Vel tells him that she "put Billy to sleep", which is not a lie, and Sanbalet is quite upset by this.

Sanbalet agrees to steer the Shooting Star back to Saltmarsh in exchange for Billy's safety. The party ties Sanbalet to the mast of the ship, and the sails inflade. Malcolm sets out to find the ship's ownership papers, finds them, along with a tome to Iuz bound in human skin, and candlesticks that smell of sulphur and iron.

The Shooting Star enters the port of Saltmarsh later that evening, civilians preparing for the Festival of Atrowa tomorrow night. At the docks, Gellan approaches the ship, expecting to receive his delivery from Sanbalet, but finds the party. They for Mannistrad, Gellan fetches her and promptly retreats to his home. Manistrand pays the party 2000 gold for the return of the 10 dwarves. Vel offers to wave her cut of payment in exchange for a transfer of ownership to the Shooting Star. Manistrad calls for a a meeting of Council.

Emmett takes a bath in the ocean, and finds a crewmembers shirt to wear. When he emerges from the water, his body crackles with electricity, Emmett thinks nothing of this, but it concerns the party.

On their way to the Council Hall, Vel explains the basics of sailing. There, Sanbalet is placed on trial. The Council consists of Manistrad, Gellan, Eda, a large human man who walks with a limp (Eliander), and younger human man in black robes with a bodyguard (Anders), a thin man with slicked back hair and two daggers on his belt (Skerrin). Mannistad leads the meeting, calling for a statement from the party. Malcolm and Vel rise, and addresses the Council, explaining their last few days, and they need the Shooting Star to continue their pursuit of the slavers. Vel also presents evidence to the Council that implicates Gellan in dealing with Sanbalet. The Council votes on the issues to sign the ship over to Vel, with all but Gellan in support. Manistrad notarizes the transfer.

Kayle address the Council and push for Sanbalet's execution, bringing up Sanbalet's interest in Iuz. The councilman with daggers on his belt twitches at the name Iuz. Discussions begin for finding the party a permanent residence in Saltmarsh. Manistrad distributes the 200 gold bounty to Kayle, and gives Vel money to fire a crew for the ship.

Xandri is in the audience of the meeting, and the party leaves with him when Kayle is stopped by a hand on his shoulder, Eda tells him to take the books to the local gravedigger for more information. The party goes to hire crew members for the trip, and run into Garth, the tabaxi from the caravan to Saltmarsh. He shows interest in joining the crew, but his lack of experience and fear of water are concerns. Vel sends him for sailing lessons with her dad instead.

Later, Emmett shows the party how the Pipe of Remembrance works, it doesn't produce the image he wanted, instead showing Emmett punching Billy. Kayle tries the Pipe, but it doesn't work for him.

Featured Characters
Emmett

Velaeria

Malcolm

Theadora

Kayle

NPCs
Sanbalet

Stanni

Starek

McKoye

Billy

Gellan Primewater

Mannistrad Copperlocks'

Eda

Anders (unnamed)

Eliander (unnamed)

Skerrin (unnamed)

Garth

Quotations
“Hello?” -Emmett, to his maul when he learns Kayle’s sword talks

"Dora, don't let Sanbalet do anything stupid, or Emmett, or Vel, or Kayle...oh god, I can't go to sleep." -Malcolm, with two points of exhaustion and the party's one brain cell.

"Your friend needs you to take over watch."- Dwarf, "Which one?"-Dora, Dwarf makes a floating hair gesture, "Gotcha." -Dora

Trivia

 * Session Length: 3:10:11
 * This session covers 1 days in universe, the party has now known each other for 17 days


 * Continue Count: 1
 * This session is named after Jason X, the 10th film in the Friday the 13th franchise


 * Chat Names:
 * Duncan: Continue (x37)
 * Alie: O Captain, My Captain
 * Marcus: Rip Van Winkle
 * Erynn: Scarlet Letter
 * Zach: Up in Smoke