Sea Princes #25: Meanwhile...

I'm gonna try and get caught up on some more of the Sea Princes campaign today. The subplots are beginning to entangle nicely. Last time I revealed what gambit Cpt. Rennaud and the Bird of Prey were up to in Sasserine, this week the point of view switches back to the original player characters who are currently onboard Osprem's Kiss, bound for a rendezvous at the Olman Isles port of Narisban. Would their trip be uneventful? Hardly. They are:

Victor Emmitt Hammond (rogue, rope swinger)
Araxo Tydan (rogue, serpent stabber)
Cuahtehmoc aka "Cuahto" (ranger, tattooed attacker)
Brother Pickles "of the Jar" (cleric, fish filleter)

and Henri Morgan (rogue, cannon caller)

Captain "Jet" Cassidy had more passengers on her carrack than she was used to, so she and the woman of the Kiss put them all to work, including the whining noble Lord Key. Araxo took shifts at the wheel and aided his counterpart first mate Sasha Dirk in duties while Victor was put to work with Half-Pint Moira on the rigging and in his spare time he instructed the eunuch crew in swordplay. Pickles, Henri, Olfon Trebus, Scar and Ronaldo Key were given the most menial chores like swabbing the deck, mending sails and Pickle's favorite, shining the ceremonial breastplates of the Ospremites. Cuahto for his worth also spent time up in the rigging with Hammond but also was lowered off the side of the prow to repaint the captain's figurehead, a likeness of the goddess Osprem blowing a kiss.

 

At night Lord Key met alone with his cousin Araxo to play some chess and to talk of their venture should the captain not be able to return from Sasserine. Obviously Count Tydan had put alot of money and faith in Rennaud only to find out it was a personal quest. Lord Key was torn between cutting their losses and turning back for Port Torvin or dealing with the Crimson Fleet for the sage themselves. Araxo mulled this over and other ways to be rid of his meddling cousin, but knew they were at the mercy of Captain Cassidy until then. The peaceful interlude was interrupted however as the ship shook violently and the crew cried alarm. Rushing to the deck they all saw the massively thick coils drawing around the vessel. Off the port side a serpentine head crested in black, rose from the depths to bare its fangs at the hapless defenders. Cuahto had heard of this beast only in tales, the dread sea serpent of the Amedio coast: Black Fin. 

 

The sailors of Osprem's Kiss rallied swiftly at the command of their captains and first among them was Cuahto who drew his strange magical maca, creating illusory tattoos on his face when he charged into battle. The sharp obsidian blades hit the coils of the monster but it obliviously went on grappling the vessel and nabbing a panicked eunuch with its maw. Morgan rushed to assemble the cannon crew below deck on the port side. It would be a hard angle to shoot from as he had to wait for a coil to come into line even as the timbers of the ship creaked around him. Araxo and Scar took to the main deck covered by arrows and stabbing spears of Ospremites, and hacked at any weak spot they could find while Victor climbed the rigging to get a closer shot at its head. Pickles meanwhile harpooned the upper length of Black Fin to hang on and get an up-close attack at the beast with his silvered meat cleaver. The fearlessly muscled cleric hacked at the serpent and took chunks out of it's scaled side.

 

Swinging from a rope, Victor slashed at the creature's eye and continued to make a pass as arrows flew all around. The frenzied battle raged on as another eunuch or two were swallowed whole, with the last put out of his misery with a crack shot while still trapped within the monster's jaws. Morgan's cannons roared and skimmed the coiled lengths of Black Fin and blackpowder pistols thundered creating more smoke and confusion. Still hungry but injured, Black Fin could take no more of the loud and painful ship, so he uncoiled and returned the lightless depths to lick his wounds. Osprem's Kiss hobbled onward lest Black Fin change his mind and a day later the ship took repairs near the coast of the Olman Isles.

 

The next morning the Ospremites conducted a ritual to protect their ship from a further attack. The priestesses lined up on deck in gauze-like robes while Sister Merci led their prayers to the Lady of the Waves. During this ceremony, Pickles was enlisted to ladle seawater over the heads of the praying women much to the envy of his onlooking compatriots, but not the eunuchs. That night after a hard day's work, the crew was unwinding with extra rum rations and Pickle's special Black Fin steaks. A slightly drunk Lord Key maliciously instigated another scuffle between rivals, Scar and Half Pint then leaving the scene, made to hit on the aloof Sasha Dirk on deck. She was enraged by his pawing hands but Key wouldn't relent. Seeing this, Victor Hammond interposed between the two and provoked Lord Key into throwing the first punch, but inadvertently he was shoved aside by Sasha who then ended up taking the punch. Having had enough of the pompous landlubber, Victor thrashed the man till Araxo had to order him to stand down. At that Vic held his hands out and happily let them put him in irons, because it was worth it to see Key beaten to a pulp. The next day Key was still out cold in a hammock while in the brig, Vic got a rare personal visit and thanks from the brooding first mate...