Serpents of
Scuttlecove
Snakes and Ladders
Returning to Farshore, the party swiftly discovered
that Vanthus had risen from the grave and, with demonic help, kidnapped Lavinia.
Dismayed by this, they paused a scant few days before sailing for Scuttlecove,
to confront the pirates in their lair, since this appeared to be where Vanthus
had gone. Arriving at Scuttlecove, they teleported in to an abandoned whaling
station, only to discover it was full of Yuan-Ti. These were swiftly disposed
of, just in time for their leader, a large abomination, to arrive and cause some
minor inconvenience. Once the threats were dealt with, they searched the place,
finding a large amount of gear. Disguised as pirates, they promptly sold
everything that was not nailed down and set up their HQ in the whaling station.
The next two weeks were spent scouting the town out - what fun they had, walking
the streets of a pirate support town by day, sleeping in a sodden whaling
station by night.
Scouting complete, they decided to hit the Minting
House, a mysterious building in town which few would speak openly of. Breaking
in at night, the party sneaked around, with Sancho levitating outside and
spotting several sleeping people on the first floor. As Mr. P set up an illusory
tea party downstairs, Sancho burst in through the window and combat started. The
sleepers had little chance and were dead in short order. Upstairs were several
Yuan-Ti sorcerers, who proved something of an irritant before finally
succumbing. On one of the bodies was a note, indicating that the Birdcage, a
former brothel come interrogation centre in town, was the next place to
hit.
The next night, it was the turn of the Birdcage.
Sneaking in by using the backdoor (or pass wall as we know it) the party were
dismayed to discover three harpies, leading to Keth going on a killing spree
around town under the effects of a confusion spell. Luckily, at three o'clock in
the morning, even Scuttlecove sleeps. Once Sancho remembered that he could
counter song, things got rather bad for the harpies and they were easily
defeated. Sancho went to the top of the building and across a bridge to a large
cage, in which he could see a sleeping human female. As he went to open the
cage, a creature resembling a badly made doll fell to the bridge behind him. He
promptly hit it with a gust of wind, pushing it off the bridge to the floor
below, where it was handled easily by Mr. P and several magical
effects.
The team retired to the HQ to talk to their
captive/rescued prisoner. Sancho showed a whole new side of himself when he
discovered she was a corsair and wanted her to be put to death immediately.
After an incredibly boring discussion, they eventually decided to clothe her,
arm her and take her with them to find the pirates hidden lair. Laureli cast a
divination to help them find it, together with the information that Harliss (the
prisoner) could give them. This told them the lair was hidden by an illusion and
a spell which made it impossible to see in to.
They sailed down the coast, with Mr. P summoning an
avoral to scan out the coastline until they found a bit of salt marsh that
wasn't. Mr. P then did the bravest thing he had ever done in his life (whilst
invisible, stone skinned, bark skinned, and every other defensive hidey spell
known to man) - he went in alone! There was an unnatural fog - within it was a
harbour, with a tree holding several ships up to its height of 100ft. Having
found a spot to teleport in to, the group went in.
Team teleport found themselves in a hut full of
Yuan-Ti and set about the combat with gusto. As the last of the Yuan'Ti fell, a
four man suicide squad arrived, to little effect. Sancho and the others searched
the other buildings this side of the cove, but found them empty, with one of
them having an illusory floor. They promptly teleported to the far side of the
entrance to the harbour and entered the guard hut, in which lived a death slaad,
which Laureli mullered with a bolt of glory.