Lesser of 2 Evils: Plees-ur-sor-ass

Captain Allnut, here you are… boarding a new crew after the last bout ended in almost mutiny and now you have the opportunity of the highest paying job you've ever been offered, but it's definitely the riskiest as well! You don't know what the cargo is you're going to be hauling, but you do know that it needs to be delivered to Darktow Isle ... As he thinks about all this, he hears approaching footsteps on the planks of the dock. He has searched everywhere in the town of Port Damali, but it's peak season; the beginning of Summer - ripe for trade, and seas that can be quiet as a lamb; or in an instant roaring and able to strike fear in even the most seasoned adventurers’ hearts.

A veteran of life upon the waves of the Lucidian Ocean, Captain Allnut knows he could man the Harvey Gamage by himself but he figures with what the promise of delivery holds he may as well lighten the load of work along the way! However, that didn’t seem to be his luck, he's exhausted his entire network of able-bodied, reliable sailors that he knows; but they are already set with other work. As he prepares to bring the readied supplies stacked neatly alongside the boat, he looks toward the approaching footsteps on the dock planks. His new crew approaches. He doesn't know much about them and some of them he's not sure if they’ve actually been out to sea, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

He had found Bilgerat and Karl, a goblin and kobold; arguing about who the better captain be, so Captain Allnut offered to let them work that out on the Harvey Gamage. A nearby Shantae overheard them being offered positions and crept up behind them. Tapping Captain Allnut on the shoulder, he turns around and jumps with surprise; and maybe a little bit of alarm as he hears the soft voice of the hagborn ask, "I'm interested if it's a paying position." He doesn't have much choice and hires them all and tells them to meet him at the docks first thing tomorrow morning. On his way back he could see an elf woman struggling with some strange creature in a boat that was by no means seaworthy. "Come on Frankie, we're gonna go fishing!" Captain Allnut decides they can come along too as he watches their dinghy continue to take on water. Her name is Sarah Jade and Frankie is her Platypus they also agree to meet at the Harvey Gamage at first light.

Well first things first, now that they're all here; they can help you load up the ship for your 10-day journey. You've already purchased all the supplies you need for a small crew and yourself, a couple of food crates, drink barrels, and other necessities. Perhaps you can see a little bit of how they work before you give out their roles for the Harvey Gamage. Little Bilgerat and Karrl easily picked up a heavy crate while the others struggled a bit, but soon started to bicker about who was going to get on the boat first. Bilgerat not wanting to lose, drops his end of the crate with a loud thump before running up the gangplank, "See, I'm first!" Captain Allnut takes control and soon they have all their supplies on board and have had a full introduction to their vessel, the Harvey Gamage.

The crew of the Harvey Gamage

"Listen up, I need to know if any of you have any real experience on the water." Karrrl and Bilgerat pipe up that they're captains and this is their ship. Sarah steps in and corrects them on who the captain actually is and who's ship it is then distracting them with a story of a baby sea creature she helped when she first met Frankie, "... Called it Nessie, Frankie and her were good friends. Nobody believes new that it exists, they all think it's a myth, but I've seen it ..." earning her the position of First Mate. Shantae has been on the water since she was born pretty much, being a sea-hagborn and all. Captain Allnut decides with full confidence that she would be the best fit for Navigator. As for Karrrrl and Bilgerat, they were a toss-up and after a few questions which they both answered alike, he tossed them a pouch to see their reflexes earning Bilgerat the position of Bosun with a successful catch, and Karrrrrl the Carpenter.

The captain looks at Sarah and her little Frankie friend, "Hey there, what is that creature? Do you think it would be able to go under and check out the hull of the boat before we leave port?"

Sarah Jade Keletheryl

"Oh, Frankie? He's my spicy Beaver, a Platypus! Hold on let me ask him if he can do that for you." At this point everyone is now looking at her because of the strange noises they hear coming out of her mouth and were all shocked when they heard it respond to her, she must speak Platypus! "He thinks he can do that for us!" Sarah exclaims as she helps her well-cared-for beast companion into the water. "He says Platypuses generally don't do saltwater but he's happy to try and help!" He dives down and has a bit of trouble seeing because he's not used to the high salt content and it stings his eyes a bit, but all he sees is some algae and a couple of barnacles, nothing concerning. While he's under the rest of the crew discuss whether it's Platypuses or Playtpi, ".... It's actually an Exandria-wide debate and pronunciation seems to be regional and nobody knows which one is correct." Frankie surfaces and him and Sarah speak again and she lets the Captain know, "He says some algae and barnacles."

"Thank you," Captain Allnut says, nothing too concerning; they're ready to hoist the anchor and raise the sails, putting the land at their backs. "Bilgerat, hoist the mainsail!" Bilgerat trots over to the mainsail but has some trouble with the knot, "Karrrrrrl to go help out that idiot." the little Kobold easily releases the mainsail rigging and they get to work. 'Maybe I picked the wrong Boatswain.', Captain Allnut muses as they push forward out of the harbor. The sea has and always will be Charlie Allnut's true home. He takes a deep breath of the salty sea air at the helm, "Shove off, Next stop ... Brokenbank! Navigator, set course!"

At the bow of the ship Shantae stands ominously facing the open sea, she slowly; almost eerily, lifts one arm, then slowly points her finger. "That way." she raspily and matter-of-factly advises.

The task at hand is to locate a fisherman named Gerald Kingsman to collect your cargo, whatever that may be, then to successfully deliver it to an Alyson Paij in Darktow. Sounds easy enough but the risk is that payment is on delivery and the woman that hired you was very shady but also very persuasive. She had said, 'If you do this, you'll have enough money to sail for sailing's sake for a while instead of having to go where someone else wants you to go.' A deal was struck. Hopefully, it'll pan out.

Karl

The first leg of their journey was about 4 days, the weather was fair, and the seas were calm as glass. They passed the resort town of Palma Flora on their starboard side as Bilgerat and Sarah worked on potion and poison crafting. Bilgerat getting a little distracted by Karrrrrrrrl's comments, "I can do that better than you. Why are you doing it that way?" so he wasn't able to make as many vials as he could have. Later in the day, Karrrrrrrrrl waited until Bilgerat was busy with the rigging and snuck to go find those vials but he couldn't remember who's footlocker was who's, or which one was even his for that matter. Feeling a bit defeated, he grumbled and went back to deck.

"Land Ho." Shantae's raspy whispery voice carries to everyone's ears on the breeze as she points creepily at the horizon. You make way and after a while, you enter the harbor. Good old Brokenbank, a familiar port for most if not all of you. All the trade through the Menagerie Coast gets checked here by the Clovis Concord. The Portcaller ushers the boat into one of the shipping lanes and you anchor at one of the available loading docks. You take a look around the busy dock and at the small port town, the fishermen, and other transient people. The seas aren't like villages where everyone knows everybody. The next leg of your journey is 6 days long, better go get that cargo.

Shantae

Captain Allnut assigns Sarah the difficult task of minding the ship and keeping Bilgerat and Karrrrrrrrl from stealing it or killing each other whichever came first, while he and Shantae try to find the longshoreman. After looking around for a little bit, Shantae spots him and they approach him, "Do you know an Alyson Paij?" Shantae asks. Her unsettling voice and visage visibly have the man shaken. "No, ain't heard of her, I'm sorry." Captain Allnut notices with a smile, 'she's gonna be great for any negotiations' he thinks then asks the man, "What about any cargo for the Harvey Gamage?" The man shakes his head again vigorously. "Perhaps you're just here on the wrong day, no problem; no problem if you could just move your boat ..." Shantae cuts him off.

"I'm sure you're going to take good care of her right where she sits." She says quietly and sternly, her eyes piercing his soul.

"Yes, of course." He stutters and nods his head to the both of them, "she'll be taken care of for sure! Sorry I can't help you any further." The Captain and Shantae return to the ship where he tells Sarah to take Bilgerat, Shantae to go with Karrrrrrrrrrl, and try to find their contact Alyson Paij. Sarah pipes up and reminds them it's Gerald Kingsman that has the cargo, the fisherman guy. They divide to conquer; Karl and Shantae go towards the market; Karl wants to get some fish. Hearing this Shantae jumps into the water and seconds later returns with a full fish flapping in her mouth. She then offers it to Karrrl who declines. "I want fresh fish he says" as Sai returns his comment with a confused look before following him up towards the open-air market.

Karrrrrrrrrrrl follows his nose and finds the freshest smelling fish to his liking and starts eating it. He pauses when he hears, "Hey you there, what do ya think you're doing!?! You gotta pay for that!"

"Sorry about that, we're actually looking for someone. Do you know of a Gerald Kingsman? He's said to be a fisherman." Shantae interrupts, surprising the woman when she gets a gander at the hagborn.

"No, I don't and I think the lot of you better get going, there's some fisherman over there. Off with you now." and she tosses the fish that Karrrl had munched on and throws it at them before wiping her hands on her apron, shaking her head, and getting back to work.

Bilgerat

Meanwhile, Sarah and Bilgerat were actually heading towards those same fishermen. Sarah, concerned for the chaotic nature of Bilgerat decides it's probably a better idea to carry him. He excitedly agrees and lays down belly up for her to pick him up. She picks him up with ease and a sigh of relief under one arm and they continue down the dock. As they're passing a father and son that look like they're about to go fishing themselves, Bilgerat seizes the opportunity and pickpockets the man as they walk by. Reaching into the man's back pocket he pulls out a gold wedding ring. As they overtake the boy and his father, from his carried position, Bilgerat looks at the man disgustedly and throws the ring at him with all of his might yelling, "Dirty man, pfft pfft; Bad man." The man surprised, manages to catch the ring, realize what it was and look at the angry goblin under the elf woman's arms before hastily putting his ring back on his hand.

Eventurally, they make it to where they see some fisherman. As they approach it seems like you could cut the tension with a knife as they look at Sarah and Bilgerat sternly. Sarah brightly asks, "Do you guys know where we can find Gerald Kingsman?"

"Yeah, Gary." Bilgerat adds. "She loves me, she picked me up."

They look you both over thoroughly, don't say a word and point. Following the line of their finger, you see they're pointing to the end of the boardwalk as it follows out of sight with the curve of the island. They head back to the boat to gather the others. The Harvey Gamage crew pass the now gawking fishermen and continue toward the location of where they hope to find Gerald Kingsman the fisherman.

As they progress around the island hearing the boards creak under their feet it's easy to see nobody travels out this way anymore. A mist starts to creep in from the water as they come upon a tricky section where some boards are broken, some completely gone altogether. Shantae basically floats over them looking over her shoulder at the others with an air of, 'beat that'. Sarah's graceful elven footsteps follow as she jumps easily from post to post. Bilgerat makes a show of it, also crossing with ease and doing a little flip at the end, "Ta-daaaaa!". Karrrrrl nervously makes his way across successfully while Captain Allnut misjudged a jump, slipped on some algae, and plunged into the water catching himself with his elbows on the other side. The crew helps him up and they carry forward, Captain Allnut now leaving soggy footprints. The mist thickens as they reach the end of the boards marked by a wrought iron gate with decorative scrolling at the top. It isn't locked or anything, just looks like a regular property gate.

As soon as Bilgerat touches the gate, the scrolling at the top morphs in front of their eyes forming lips, with which this magic mouth then speaks in a gruff old voice, "Uh oh, now you've done it; you've alerted him. Why can't you people come to the front door, always the back, sigh. AND NO SOLICITING!" As it finishes in a huff, A huge mastiff comes bounding full speed through the mist making a ruckus of barking and oozing slobber from his jowls as he runs.

Bilgerat being frightened, in one swift movement; yells and pulls his hand crossbow out; throws bits of cheese from his pocket at the dog; and then jumps behind Karrl for cover. Sarah bravely steps forward, "I'll talk with him." She moves her hand and whispers something before the others hear her barking. "Hi there good boy, do you know where we can find Gerald Kingsman?"

Everyone sees immediately that the mastiff relaxes and starts happily wagging his tail. "Oh yes, I am Brutus and I am a good boy, yes I know Gerald! See how good I am? I can show you the way. Follow come on." The mastiff then escorts the party to a rundown soggy looking shack. The perceptive party approaches their sharp eyes see an old man's face peeking from behind a curtain. They walk up to the door and it opens before they can even reach up to knock. "Didn't you just? No SOLICITING! I don't want any! Come on Brutus." The dog trots in and Gerald slams the door in their faces.

Captain Allnut raises his voice to carry through the door. You know what we're here for, we're not selling anything. We're here to pick up that 'cargo' you have for Darktow." Gerald opens the door again to listen and look them up and down. They in turn get a good look at Gerald and behind him into the deplorable-looking shack that matches both the demeanor and dress of the old human man before them.

After he hears it's a pickup for Darktow, he grumbles; "Fine then, hold on a minute." He closes the door, and outside they hear some scuffle noises and then some clicks before he opens the door again and leads them all inside. There is no more deplorable shack, but almost a museum of rich and interesting items. "Watch out, Brutus is friendly until someone tries to touch my stuff." Musical instruments, fine wines, statues, tapestries, pretty much you name it, this guy probably has it. Fishermen eh ... suuuuure. Bilgerat starts drooling but Brutus is a big boy so he stays on his best behavior.

He leads you through the entry and opens a door on the left, you all enter a comfortable sitting room, where he points and nods, "Here we are, be right back, Brutus, stay!" He will flip over the corner of the ornate Marquesian carpet in the center of the room revealing a trapdoor that he opens with a creak. Brutus sits between Gerald and the party while he walks down some steps into the darkness. You hear keys jingle, a creaky metal gate, some chains, and murmuring before two sets of footsteps can be heard returning.

Brutus moves aside as up comes Gerald with a human woman in tow. She is gaunt with red stringy hair hanging out of the hooded cloak she wears that looks about three times too large on her. She looks up and you see her mouth has been sewn shut! Her green eyes were sunken, dull, and clouded over. She was possibly attractive once upon a time, but it's hard to see that now. Both Shantae and Sarah also see she's missing her left hand. "Good luck to you, demon witch." Gerald chuckles as he feigns to spit on the ground at her feet. He then addresses everyone, "There you go, they've already paid me in full when I provided proof," he holds up his left hand and wiggles his fingers with a grin, "go on then delivery people. Deliver! The Plank King doesn't like to be kept waiting." He shoves the woman forward and she loses her balance, Sarah quickly jumps forward and catches her by the elbows, in shock at the look of the woman and her harsh treatment.

They all take a moment before being ushered out by Gerald, Bilgerat doesn't like slavery the others are a little unsure, but payment on delivery overcomes their fears and they attempt to guide her quietly to the boat so as not to draw any eyes. Thank goodness the mist hung around, although it made them trip causing some to fall with a splash into the water, it also allowed for extra cover from the racket they were making. They safely make it back on board the Harvey Gamage which was indeed left alone and taken care of. Once on board, Captain Allnut growls, "I'm putting her in the brig. Apparently, we're doing the bidding of a King." They all follow and try to question her but it is uneventful and met with silence or barely audible incoherent mumbles. Frustrated he addresses his crew, "It's now also part of your jobs to somehow find out her story." He sets watches and tells them to prepare to head out to Darktow after the mist clears as he exits to go to the helm.

Some of the crew on the Harvey Gamage know about the Plank King and Darktow, Captain Allnut, Shantae and Bilgerat know there is a strict law on this island: If anyone double-crosses anyone else within the bounds of the city, they will have the hammer of the Plank King down upon them. They also know of a dragon turtle named Idok who inhabits the Dragshallow reefs off the isle's coast and protects the area, preying on trespassing ships not aligned to the inhabitants of Darktow. Sarah and Karrrrl have only heard of it and know it's an island located in the Swavain Islands off the southwestern coast of Wildemount. It is the home of The Revelry, and under the rule of Plank King Wyatt Maranoss. You don't go there unless you're looking for trouble, or unless you are the trouble.

Shantae throws the 'cargo' the rest of the fish she had caught earlier, which the witch as Gerald had called her scraped at it with her fingernails and tried to shove the little pieces hungrily between the stitching. Sarah and Bilgerat stay behind and while Sarah heals the ailing woman who slightly improves from the interaction, her hand now has more skin than cauterized burnt flesh and one of her eyes started to clear and she was now able to track some light. Bilgerat watches and brushes his teeth ... with cheese; which gives him an idea. He takes a bite and chews it up then reaches through the bars and puts the mush in the woman's hands. She was hesitant, but she ate it anyway.

Over the next couple of days, they all (in their own way) tried to communicate with the woman. Bilgerat fed her a couple of times, "I think she's starting to like me." The captain checked in on her as well and noticed that she was improving, some color was returning to her pallid skin and one of her eyes was clearing up and she was now able to at least track their shadows if not more.

About two days from Darktow, Shantae noticed a storm brewing off the aft of the vessel. Captain Allnut appears suspicious and wonders aloud, "They said she's a witch, I wonder if this is a magical storm."

At that moment Sarah feels the wind shift, "Captain, there's a headwind picking up, it's going to try to pull us into the storm!"

He goes into preparation mode, "Take down the mainsill, batten the hatches, pull up the oars, make ready to row! Sarah, go check on our cargo, see if she has anything to do with this." The early alert gave them a head start as the storm moved in fast starting to toss them harder and faster in the waves.

Sarah makes her way down the heaving stairs to check on the woman and finds that she seems to be bracing herself against the storm, but nothing more. Hearing a commotion above she looks at her platypus friend, "Frankie, you think you could stay down here and keep an eye on her, let me know if there's any funny business." Knowing Frankie understood and accepted the assignment, she heads back up on deck.

It was an impressive storm. They were fighting against the waves when all of a sudden Karrrl was fighting against more than waves. Off the starboard side, one hand on Karl's oar and the other on the side of the boat, an aquatic creature was trying to get on board. It had four arms, green scales, and gills... "Captain!" Karl yells frantically, "Help!"

Captain Allnut leaps across the deck unfortunately slipping on the slick rain and sea-soaked deck of the ship. Missing the lunge strike with his rapier that he had hoped to land. Gathering himself he jumps back up and gets behind Karl, "Stand down creature!" He shouts.

Chaos erupts as more try to board and others get taken down. Bilgerat seems to be in his glory as he pulls out a rusted piece of metal from his sunken ship, wielding it like a sword he slices down a threat then turns with his hand crossbow, takes aim, and shoots the poison dart ringing true through the armor into his targets chest, sending it back into the frigid depths.

A penetrating echoing Song is carried by the storm as Shantae's long flowing hair whips around wildly in the wind.

A curse upon your mother, for us seeing your face. You are a true embarrassment to your entire race.

The haunting sound finds its target, grasping at its ears it loses its grip and falls over the railing.

Sarah comes up from below and starts loosing arrows, her aim is good and the enemies are intaken by surprise at her appearance into the fray. She yells over to the captain, "I don't think it's her that's doing this." As she finishes her sentence another one starts climbing aboard, trying to break through into the hull of the ship itself.

Another one boards from the stern of the boat, Karl runs up and painfully pierces him in the thigh hitting the femoral artery, blood starts pulsing out and the being smiles down at him. "Eep, I can't believe he took that with barely a flinch!" Realizing his own mortality, Karrrrl scrambles away and points at the big fellow who now seems to be the biggest threat. He soon proves it too. Moments later as arrows and bolts fly by, rapiers slicing and dicing the minions, the big fellow grins and laughs with a hiss as he raises one hand out to the sea steadying himself with the rigging. Palm up to the sky, fingers curled up, he raises his hand and in the distance, a monstrous head and long neck also raise from the tumultuous waves; advancing on the Harvey Gamage. Captain Allnut sees it and loads the Ballista.

Bilgerat, feeling brave and daring wants to show off in front of Karl and sees his opportunity. He climbs on the railing, cuts 1 of the four Mast lines, and attempts to swing from port aft to starboard bow where the man was summoning the creature. "Hey you guys!", but he lost his footing on take-off and the misjudgment caused him to slam into and bounce off of the mast and into an out-of-control spin before dropping to the bow of the deck. He woozily stands and charges at the creature but misses abysmally on account of the dizziness.

Shantae's voice can be heard mocking the aquatic humanoid, "Your face looks like nightmares, I could almost cry. Your stench is quite appalling, please why won't you die." The ship lurches again and they all grab onto the nearest line to steady themselves. Bilgerat and Captain Allnut fall to the ground. Bilgerat shoots another crossbow bolt killing the leader who falls face-first on the ground and the storm immediately starts to die down.

Sarah shouts above the din, "You see, I told you they were real, that's like my Nessie I had when I first found Frankie here! I don't think it's the same one though." as she looses two more arrows, one biting into flesh the other sailing over its shoulder into the sea. Shantae, hands stretched out towards the sea beast, weaves her words into daggers and sends them over the beast, "Slash and stab, bleed like leeches, prick and last, fall to pieces!" She then sneaks up behind Karl and whispers, "That was a nice hit you landed." as the cloud of daggers dig into the creature's flesh along its back. Karl jumps but then sees the attempt at an encouraging smile on Shantae's face.

The searing pain inflicted by the daggers causes the beast to rear out of the water, setting the ballista up for a perfect shot to the chest. Karl seizes the opportunity and runs to the ballista and fires the readied weapon feeling his confidence bolstered by Shantae's acknowledgment of his superior capabilities.

The sea monster disappears under the water and they look around at each other bewildered, "Is it over?" They don't know yet. Chests pounding, they debate whether it's gone or not and stay at the ready for when it breaches the surface when BAM! The Harvey Gamage takes significant impact from beneath against its hull. They get knocked about but get up in time to see the creature emerge as it recedes to charge for another blow. As if in one synchronized motion, Captain Allnut loaded, Bilgerat locked, and confident kobold Karrrl fired the killing blow.

They stand for a moment quietly watching the creature start to sink in the bloodstained water when Captain Allnut says to Sarah, "You know, if it's as rare as you say, it's probably worth a lot of money."

"Yeah well, there's always a market for rare creatures' teeth and stuff..." Sarah starts to say, that's all Bilgerat hears before he jumps into the now calmer waters and starts swimming out to see about those teeth. Unphased and pretty much used to Bilgerat's antics at this point, Shantae, Sarah, and the captain discuss that it would be hard to prove that a piece of something was really what it was. They all decide to tow the entire carcass with them. Bilgerat manages to remove a tooth with quite a bit of struggle and was working on another as Shantae wraps the creature with a rope harness that she created. Together they haul in the beast, and Bilgerat, and tie it up along the side of the boat with a quick release just in case that encounter was because of what they had aboard, a quick getaway may be good to prepare for. "Yep, it's a plesiosaurus Sarah confirms upon closer inspection."

"You mean please your sore ass when you sell it for all the trouble it's caused." Captain Allnut chuckles. "Karl, go check on that hull, assess the damage, and do what you can. Sarah, take the helm I'm going to check on our witch below." Sarah nods and he walks away.

Karl, feeling a little less confident than before, is handed the carpenter's kit and heads down below. He takes a moment and looks at the damage, then looks around at the rest of the ship, "Oh ok, make this look like that. I can do that, I can do that so good." And he does just that, like a natural. The Harvey Gamage is back in tip-top shape. He puts his hands on his hips and looks upon his work with a contented sigh. "It's good to be a captain."

They finally are able to continue on their way to Darktow and eventually see it silhouetted against the horizon in the distance. Unlike most of the tropical islands of the area, the main island of Darktow Isle resembles little more than huge jagged cliff faces raised multiple hundreds of feet from the waters of its coast. Around the base of these cliffs is a string of tangled docks used by the many ships of The Revelry. Torch lights mark the interconnecting routes through the docks to the streets and buildings of the city that are built into the very cliff face itself. Captain Allnut and his crew navigate through the channel entry with expertise. As they dock, it seems like all eyes are looking down at them from the cliff face as they tie up the vessel. People start coming forward to get a closer look at the creature they have tied to the boat. "It's for sale the captain states."

"Oh is it now, that's interesting." A woman approaches with a couple of hardened looking men following behind.

"Are you interested?" the captain asks hopefully.

"No, I'm not interested in buying that thing," She laughs, "I'm waiting for a delivery and that's definitely not it. That's a good haul you got there."

"Who are you?" Captain Allnut questions considering her comment about delivery.

"I'm Alyson Paij." She says as she stands up tall and proud. "Who wants to know?"

"Well, I think we also have your delivery for the Plank King." He notices her eyes light up and continues, "we gotta unload this beast first, then we'll take care of that." They see a cloaked man trying to take some kind of sample from the creature and try to have him buy it but he just scurries away. The captain eventually finds 2 buyers, one is offering half of what they're looking for, and then there's a really shady strange fellow that offers full price no questions asked. They decide to sell it to him making themselves 500GP. His attention turns back to Alyson who was waiting patiently. "Alright, come on then, she's below deck."

She follows him down below and claps her eyes on the sorry state of the woman before her. "Well look what the cat dragged in!" She laughs when she gets close enough, “well they sure took care of the likes of you! Come on then." She grabs her roughly by the arm and starts pushing her up out of the boat and towards the main path.

"Ahem, we were told payment is on delivery. We have delivered and it was no easy feat." Captain Allnut points out, standing tall and stern.

"Ahh, yes, of course, follow me." She says to the captain before calling out loudly, "To the ROOST!" A resounding cheer erupts from all around and you see that it's as if everyone is now lining the main pathway looking out windows and craning their necks to get a look as Alyson pushes the prisoner ahead of her very roughly, her henchmen follow; then the crew of the Harvey Gamage brings up the rear.

Set high in the cliffs of Darktow. The Throne Roost is placed in a cave mouth that is warm with firelight. It was a 300-foot climb up the cliff face, occasionally lit by torches, some of which have been replaced with a wooden pike holding a skull or a head in varying stages of decay. The stone stairs vary from two feet wide to maybe a foot at times. The stairs stop at a wide stone shelf that overlooks the town, just above the rocky waters of the inlet. The throne is carved from the surrounding rock and the firepit is surrounded by stools. Sitting atop that throne has to be the Plank King himself, goblet in hand and surrounded by a rough-looking bunch of cronies. You're instructed, with a wave of his goblet hand, to sit down and each take a stool. He looks directly at the 'cargo', "One moment while I handle these folks and let them on their way darling" his face then turns to all of you. "How can I help you?"

Captain Allnut clears his throat, this guy is no joke judging by his hulking mass and scars from battle. "We were told payment would be on delivery, we managed to get her here."

He chuckles, "Of course" he then snaps his fingers and two men go further into the cave and come back struggling with a large treasure chest. "For your travels and troubles. May the wind be always at your back." He then turns to address the woman.

They think of the long walk down the steep stone steps as Bilgerat checks the chest to make sure it wasn't filled with rocks. He lifts the lid and glistening gold, gems, pearls, and riches of all kinds shine in his eyes. Once captain Allnut sees that, he decides that they could afford to hire someone to bring that chest back to the boat and offers that task to the two that brought it out from the cave. Offering them 50GP for the job. They check with the King who nods approval and the group makes their way back to the Harvey Gamage 30,000GP richer.

As soon as you’re down a couple of steps below the sightline of the roost you hear, "those fishermen sure can catch anything can't they Avantika…" then a loud smack and a feminine grunt. "Not even Uk'otoa can unseat the plank king." The crew carries on content that they seem to have aided the lesser of two evils.

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This experience was by far one of the best in my life. It truly embodied everything that D&D is about - Adventure, friendship and fun! All in one day we were able to have that in real life, as well as in game. Thank you Matt & Roberta Wellby for this unforgettable experience!