Session 12

October 28, 2019

Saltmarsh 12: Muppets Most Wanted

Fraternus tells Dora that he’s leaving Saltmarsh. Kayle and Malcolm meet with the grave keeper, and Vel catches up with her mother. Dora mails her letter, Vel fixes the ship, and Malcolm has a vision of an Abbey.

Synopsis
As the slavers' ship burns, Xandri urges Vel to pull the Shooting Star out to sea. They set sail for Saltmarsh.

Malcolm investigates the bodies of the defeated slavers, and finding them to be patchworks of yellow-green human skin, much like the Doctor. Kayle finds the Sea Monkeys have been defiled by magic. Velaeria names the Sea Monkeys; the eyeball "looks like a" Steve, and the fishy ones become Sharkbait, Piranha, and Angler. The Sea Monkeys set up a makeshift quarters below deck, and begin feasting on the dead bodies. Malcolm and Kayle head to their rooms.

Vel and Dora climb to the upper deck to watch the fireworks over Saltmarsh. The fireworks reflect off the seawater, some are shipped like tiny F's, and one that resembles Geoffrey. Dora feels her Sending Scroll warm up and begin to glow, she opens it. An ink painting of Geoffrey, then Fraternus appears. Dora and Vel tell him how beautiful the fireworks are, and Fraternus creates a large image of the crest of Aldmarsh, which Dora bears. Fraternus ends the spell, and Dora returns the scroll to her side.

Dora reveals to Vel that she was supposed to learn magic from her mother, but instead was sent to a military school called the Radiant Order in Aldmarsh, and later enlisted in the then-ongoing war with Bywald. Vel asks if Malcolm was why she enlists, but they hadn't met yet. Dora compliments Vel's first days as Captain, on completing her first mission with no fatal losses.

In his room, Kayle reminisces with Randall that the next day will be the four year anniversary of when they met following his fiancé’s murder on their wedding day. Randall's voice has changed, as he "felt like switching it up". Kayle asks about Billy, and Randall reveals that Billy is an evil concept who will wreak havoc on the world, in the guise of a parrot. He has beef with Billy, and wants him dead. Kayle and Malcolm individually make their way back up to the deck.

Though the night, Vel and Dora watch the fireworks fade, and the general merriment of the festival die down. Vel and Dora briefly express their disappointment at missing the festivities. The party is concerned about Vitaelius abandoning Vel again, but she doesn't believe that Vitaelius would actively try put them in harm's way, just that he's favouring his new boyfriend.

The conversation veers towards the intricacies of Vitaelius' relationship, to Vel and Kayle's discomfort. Malcolm makes a quip about Kayle not wanting to talk about the "exotic pleasures" and promptly leaves, leaving a confused and suspicious Vel and Dora with Kayle. Panicked, Kayle says he doesn't know what Malcolm means, he's convincing enough that they believe him, and he scurries off to bed. Vel wonders if Kayle made a pass at Malcolm, which Dora doubts as she believes that Malcolm is way out of his league. Xandri, having suffered through listening to this conversation, announces that they've arrived at port.

Xandri and the dwarven crew depart for the night. Vel has a conversation with the ship, and determines that it needs a new name.

In the morning, a cleaning crew has begun picking up after the festival. Vel and Emmett do some early morning fishing to feed the Sea Monkeys.

When Malcolm leaves his room in the morning, Kayle enters the hall at exactly the same time, forcing a conversation. Kayle asks to join him for morning prayers. He's concerned that Randall's accent has changed and has begun causing radiant damage. He shares that he should have been married four years ago today, and he's from a small village near Tusmit. He apologizes for his lack of tact in their previous conversation, but does encourage Malcolm to tell Vel and Dora how he feels about them because life is fleeting. They head to the graveyard to speak to the gravekeeper.

Dora heads to the Snapping Line to find Fraternus. She finds one man wearing a sombrero-like hat, with pieces of bread in it. Heading upstairs, she finds Fraternus magically packing his small suitcase with piles of books. Fraternus is leaving town to continue on "Fraternus' Azure Tour: 5293", and gives Dora a poster with a list of town he plans to visit. He invites Dora to come with him as his apprentice, but she declines, as she's needed in Saltmarsh. He tells her took look him should she find herself nearby. They shake hands, and Fraternus displays his party trick of popping his hand off. On the way out, Fraternus buys a bottle of wine from Hanna for the road and thanks her for her hospitality. Dora escorts him back to the dock, where he departs on a merchant ship. She watches the ship sail off.

Emmett and Vel return from fishing with two days worth of fish and feeds the Sea Monkeys breakfast. She creates a chilled barrell to store the fish in. Vel tells Emmett that she's heading home, and will be back later in the day.

On the way to the graveyard, Malcolm and Kayle cross the very hungover man wearing the Bread Hat. The man implies he lost something and departs. On arrival at the graveyard, they meet the gravekeeper Krag. He reads through Sanbalet's Iuz tome, and explains that the tome is a celebration of Iuz, simply written, almost for children. He knows about a gang in the south that is loyal to Iuz, and Iuz rules supreme in a country named after him in the north, separated from Keoland by a mountain range. Malcolm reveals that he has travelled through the country. Krag offers to let Kayle dig through his library of books, in exchange for doing some work for him. Kayle spends the day reading, and learns about a symbol of the cross he is tracking dotted over an “I.” Malcolm departs.

Vel returns to her parents' home and reunites with her mother, Siera, who gifts Vel with souvenirs from her trips; sand art, and a ship in a bottle. Vel tells Siera that Vitaelius has ditched her again, and that she's acquired a ship and some new friends, but hasn't been smuggling as much.

Dora inquires to Hanna if she knows of any letter carriers willing to take a letter to Roussen for her.

Malcolm heads to the Wicker Goat and updates Mannistrad on the slaving job, and learns of the tradition of the Saltmarsh Bread Hat; the wearer of the Hat has had something stolen from them, and the number of slices of bread in it represents how many people have come to possess the stolen item, the wearer must wear the Hat until the stolen item is recovered. Malcolm learns that Skerrin, the councilman believed to worship Iuz, is not trusted by Mannistrad, though is reasonable politically.

Vel brings her mother to the docks to show off her new ship. She tries to get the Shooting Star to talk to Siera, but it can only be heard by the Captain, and introduces her to the Sea Monkeys as her pets. Malcolm, Kayle, and Dora return to the Shooting Star, and Vel introduces them to her mother. Everyone heads to dinner at the Snapping Line, though sitting apart from Vel and Siera, to give them time to catch up.

Over dinner, Malcolm and Dora clarify to Kayle that they are not "a thing", followed by Malcolm giving Kayle a haircut so bad, that Kayle uses Disguise Self until he can go to an actual barber the next morning.

Vel and Siera, return home to John and baby brother Julian. Vel informs her parents that Vitaelius has ditched her again, and has a boyfriend now.

Later, Vel sits on the deck of the Shooting Star, contemplating what to name it. Malcolm joins her. They chat about their days, Vel's mom, and the war. Malcolm tells Vel about the dream he had in the citadel, where Lathander's light appeared around Vel, he takes this to be mean she's special, both to Lathander and himself. Vel asks Malcolm if he's happy, he doesn't know how to answer.

One week time jump:

Hanna finds a letter carrier, a gnomish man named Greog, to take Dora's letter up north. She asks if he knows of town called Roussen in the VonTrapp Mountains, about 6 months travel. He gives her the price of 500 gold, plus 300 gold for tracking updates. She tells him how to access the mountains through Aldmarsh, and asks him to check in on the town's welfare while traveling through. The letter is addressed to Hamon Mendeliir, her father.

Kayle spends the week working and researching at Krag's graveyard.

Emmett goes to see Xendros.

Vel completes cleaning and stocking the ship with proper bedding, including cots for the Sea Monkey, and ballista artillery. She renames the ship, The Siren's Call. The carvings in the front of the ship morph into various stars, deep waves, one side an image of woman with long hair, on the other side a man with a ponytail.

Malcolm has a dream, in which he flies Southwest over the Saltmarsh to an island. He flies through a shrine of some kind, past statues of a muscular man holding a battleaxe, to a fountain studded with rubies. A skeletal hand swipes at him, causing him to wake.

Featured Characters
Emmett

Velaeria

Malcolm

Theadora

Kayle

NPCs
Steve

Sharkbait

Piranha

Angler

Fraternus

Geoffrey

Hanna Rist

Krag

Mannistrad Copperlocks

Siera

John

Greog

Quotations
"We all have our demons..."-Randall, "You are my demons."-Kayle

Kayle rolls down a hill

"Vitae's a power bottom!" -Julian's first words

Trivia

 * Session Length: 3:35:22
 * This session covers 2 days in universe, the party has now known each other for 21 days


 * Continue Count: 1
 * This session is named after Muppets Most Wanted, the 12th film in the Muppets franchise
 * It is revealed that Kayle is 26 years old
 * Fraternus' Azure Tour 5293 Stops:
 * Loftwick
 * West Keep
 * Saltmarsh
 * Gradsoll
 * Grygax
 * Stoneheim
 * Seaton
 * Skant
 * Nary City
 * Hex Pools