Characters:
- Kylic, half-elf life domain cleric
- Marek, human battlemaster fighter
- Colonel Kaffshyth, human champion fighter
- Elaria, wood elf beastmaster ranger
- Erasmus, tiefling totem barbarian
- Wilem, human oath of enmity paladin
Objectives: Discover how Captain Oleg Sigismund came to own the Elegy, how the slaves aboard were acquired, where the Elegy departed to, who bought the Elegy’s slaves, and proof that the Elegy had a cargo of slaves.
Events: This adventure picked up right where the last one left off.
After catching their breath and patching their wounds, the party ventured further into Oleg Sigismund's cave, where they discovered several wooden cages imprisoning the remaining slave. The slaves were clearly cast-offs from the plantation; they were the maimed, sickly, and elderly. Only one of the slaves, a young woman named Octavia, spoke the common tongue. She explained that the other slaves had been drowned in the previously discovered pool, reanimated as the living dead, and taken back aboard the Elegy.
She also relayed the party's promise of rescue to the rest of the slaves. The slaves were released from confinement and told to wait by the crates of food and casks of water with Pryce while the crew took care of the two priests, the mysterious helmed man, and the cargo hold full of zombies.
Spying the two corrupt priests on the deck of the Elegy, the party decided it was time to take action. Erasmus, Kylic, Marek, and Wilem boarded the ship (some carrying barrels of lamp oil), Kaffshyth made ready to set fire to the wooden dock, and Elaria began firing flaming arrows at the ship from the beach. Barrels were thrown at priests, oil was spilled everywhere, priests summoned silver scythes that cut through the air with ferocity! Marek attempted to trip a priest and instead cut his legs out from under him. The ship was beginning to smoke from Elaria's arrows.
Heavy, armored footsteps could be heard approaching from below deck. Wilem attempted to stand on the hatch to halt the progress of the nearing villain, but the armored "man" coming up the stairs burst through and sent Wilem flying. The figure that emerged from below deck was clad in ornate, old-fashioned armor; his face was seemingly obscured by shadows inside his helmet, and he bore a halberd. The party engaged him, but their weapons seemed to do very little against him. Marek, however, managed to grab the enemy in a bear hug, drag him to the side of the ship, and toss him overboard into the sea.
The Elegy was beginning to smoke as it caught fire. A few members of the party rushed below deck to salvage any treasure they could and came away with a locked chest, a shield, and a parrot in a gold cage. Back on the beach, the party waited for what seemed inevitable: the armored fiend would simply walk out of the ocean and continue his onslaught. They were right.
The battle on the beach was long and harrowing. Wilem was sent to death's door again, but he was rallied back to consciousness by Marek. Erasmus felt blood pouring from his eyes and mouth; the blood slid through the air in strands that entered the armored man's helm. Erasmus wrenched the helmet free of the beast's shoulders, only to find a glistening shadow where a head should be.
The battle was not going well for the party; their attacks were landing true, but appeared to be doing very little damage--the thing did not bleed! Elaria broke open the looted chest, trying to find something that might help--but the brass crown she found inside didn't gain her control of the abomination.
The tides turned when Kylic cast a spell that paralyzed the knight. The rest of the party descended on their now-helpless foe like a pack of wolves. Deadly blows were landed, Marek knocked the monster off his feet, and everyone again hewed and hacked at him. At last his breastplate was rent and whatever darkness animating him was dissipated.
By now the smoke from burning Elegy had attracted the attention of Captain Redmayne's crew, who sent longboats to the island to transport the party, Pryce, and the freed slaves back to the waiting ship. During the return journey back to Piskaro, it was determined that the shield and a chain mail shirt within the pilfered chest were both magical. Also inside the chest was a painted portrait of a tall, pale man with black hair; the portrait was signed by Pietra Donna Sangino.
Bringing both Pryce (who signed articles to join Redmayne's crew) and Octavia before Vanessa Redmayne brought the pirate captain the evidence she was seeking that proved that Oleg Sigismund was involved in the slave trade. She paid the party the promised reward and was best pleased; now she had reason to move against her old foe, and none of the other pirate lords of Piskaro would stand in the way. A pirate war was coming to Piskaro!
Loot:
XP - 675 each
GP - 1501 each from coins and selling off the bloodstone ring, two tapestries, golden cage, bronze crown, plus 175 gp each from Capt. Redmayne.
Other Items - portrait of the Master, painted by Pietra Donna Sangino. (A buyer will need to be located for this one.)
Magic items - Sentinel Shield -- Grants the user advantage on initiative and perception (Wisdom). (Claimed by Kylic.)
Adamantine chain shirt -- AC 13 + Dex mod (max 2). While you're wearing it, any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit. (Unclaimed, would also need someone to find a buyer.)