Chapter 2 - Session 8

A Captured Ship and a New Command

Events and Actions

The session opened with a review of the party's ongoing plan to discredit the elder priest, Prelate Jacque, aboard the "Advance," whose suspicions about Cosimo's magic threatened to have him shipped off to the capital for investigation. Their efforts so far had included Cosimo conjuring illusions of foul smells and ranting voices from Jacque's cabin, coordinated through a chain of lookouts who signalled whenever the old priest left his quarters. Rumours of Cosimo's abilities continued to spread through the crew in exaggerated form — the "Handsome Gulliver Gold" illusion, a mysterious extra cannon down the coast, and a sea troll story that had grown into a small legend — and Cosimo had briefly been guarded in his bunk after a second unsanctioned appearance at chapel, though the guards had since been lifted.

Noddy, keeping watch from the mast, was first to spot a small, single-masted ship in the distance; the alarm went out and the "Advance" beat to quarters. The party scattered to their stations: Mani fell in with the other Marines at the forecastle before being sent aloft to the fighting top as a sharpshooter, Riu began preparing the sick bay for casualties, Cosimo loaded pistols and rifles, and Knick Nab stayed close to the captain to run orders. As the "Advance" closed, the strange vessel — later identified as "The Green Gull" — was seen to carry no proper cannon, only a pair of small swivel guns, marking it as no warship. Captain Barrows ordered warning fire aimed high, at the sails rather than the hull, and the bow chasers, worked by two gun crews including Werner's, opened up. Early shots went wide or skipped past the hull, but a follow-up struck true: Werner's crew put a shot through the rigging that severed the control line for the ship's mainsail, crippling its ability to maneuver. "The Green Gull" attempted a desperate turn into a side channel but couldn't make it, and as the "Advance" drew alongside with gunports open, the merchantman struck her colours.

The ships were lashed together and First Lieutenant Clugny formally crossed to accept the surrender, asking the merchant captain directly if he yielded his vessel; the captain agreed at once. Marines under Sergeant Vasquez, led across by Mani, rounded up "The Green Gull's" small crew at gunpoint, while four of the enemy sailors slipped over the far side and tried to swim for the islands rather than be taken. Mani, given permission to fire, and the other Marines shot all four dead in the water as they swam. Cosimo crossed with a party of sailors to help secure the ship itself, tracking down and repairing the severed sail control line.

Searching the hold — found to be packed with sacks of rice — Mani and Cosimo heard the sound of trickling water and traced it to the starboard side, where a swollen, waterlogged rice sack was found plugging a crack in the hull, its cause impossible to tell with the sack still lodged in place; freeing the sack to investigate nearly reopened the leak before Third Lieutenant Gunter came down personally to take charge, calling for the ship's carpenter to properly seal the crack with oakum and pitch.

Captain Radulf, master of "The Green Gull," was brought aboard the "Advance" for interrogation; Knick Nab, serving the wine, spilled some in his nervousness. While the interrogation was underway, Cosimo added another beat to the campaign against Jacque: a sound illusion of the prelate's own voice, muttering a crude, out-of-character remark about the captain from the quarterdeck, overheard by three sailors and Second Lieutenant Conrad and deepening the impression that Jacque had begun talking to himself. Radulf claimed to be a simple merchant carrying rice from the North to sell in the South, but Captain Barrows declared the ship and its cargo a prize of war regardless, promising the crew would eventually be treated fairly and released. Back aboard "The Green Gull," Mani searched the captain's low, cramped cabin and turned up logbooks and a small locked chest; the logs suggested the rice had been loaded near the Northern port of Zylos and was bound for a city on the southern coast — an oddity pointing to smuggling or collusion somewhere in Zylos. Second Lieutenant Conrad caught Mani in the cabin and confiscated the logbooks, though Mani insisted on personally carrying them, along with the chest, over to the "Advance's" Quarter Master. Knick Nab, listening at the door of Captain Barrows's cabin, overheard Barrows and his lieutenants discussing the same suspicion — that someone in Zylos was likely colluding with or being paid off by the South — and deciding to route the prize to Port Sardina instead of Zylos, both to avoid tipping off whoever was responsible and because Port Sardina offered better odds of getting dispatches back to the capital.

With time running short before Jacque could see Cosimo shipped off to the capital, the party argued over how to finish him off politically. More elaborate schemes — including planting evidence that Jacque himself intended to burn the ship rather than let it fall into Southern hands — were floated and set aside as too complicated; the party settled on a simpler combination: two forged notes, plus another sound illusion of Jacque muttering to himself. Knick Nab, coached by Cosimo on the wording, drafted two rambling, heretical notes accusing the ship's officers — with the captain named at the top — of straying from the truth of the Two and demanding "purifying fires" as the only cure. One note was slipped into the pile of papers on Jacque's own desk during a moment when his cabin was empty. Getting the second note into his pocket proved harder: Knick Nab's first attempt went into the wrong priest's robes, mistaking Nicolas's hanging robes for Jacque's, and he had to sneak back in to retrieve it before it was discovered. The second, live attempt succeeded only with help: Mani intercepted Jacque with a genuine, unburdening confession about having killed a man for the first time, holding his attention, while Noddy cast Distraction on him at the same moment. Between the two of them, Knick Nab managed to slip one page of the note into Jacque's pocket; the second page he simply left on the floor by the cabin door to be found.

Summoned to the captain's cabin, Knick Nab was pressed by Captain Barrows himself about his friendship with Cosimo and Cosimo's "overly zealous" talk of the Two. Under the weight of the captain's questions, Knick Nab chose to remove his headwear and reveal his elven ears, hoping the gesture would help Cosimo's case. Barrows, badly shaken, called him a monster; Knick Nab countered that the Two's insistence there were only two gods was itself suspicious — the more loudly that claim had to be made, he argued, the more likely it was that others existed. Barrows offered to let the moment simply not have happened, but chose instead to keep the secret, telling Knick Nab that a monster who had saved his life was no monster at all, and that the revelation had only deepened his trust in him. Citing his need to keep his lieutenants aboard the "Advance," and a wish to put some distance between Cosimo and Jacque's scrutiny, Barrows gave temporary command of "The Green Gull" to midshipman Werner — over First Lieutenant Clugny's open skepticism about Werner's inexperience — ordering him to complete repairs, sail her to Port Sardina, and turn her over to the authorities there. To Knick Nab specifically, "because I feel I can trust you," Barrows entrusted two charts of the Channel Islands and a set of sealed dispatches for the capital, to be forwarded on personally or through trusted means once the opportunity arose. Werner requested the same group that had gone ashore with him earlier, plus the most experienced sailor from his gun crew, Salter. In the scramble to get underway, Cosimo pilfered a few basic carpentry tools from a reluctant carpenter's mate, Riu drew extra medical herbs from the ship's surgeon, and Mani, denied a whip by the bosun (who kept sole custody of the ship's whip and cat o'nine tails), settled for taking his pistol instead. As he crossed over, Cosimo told Sergeant Vasquez in passing that Jacque had asked him to fetch a supply of oil and oakum for his cabin — one more invented detail planted to feed the ship's suspicion that the prelate meant to burn the vessel rather than let it fall into enemy hands.

As "The Green Gull" cast off, Jacque burst from his cabin demanding to know what was happening, and ordered the younger priest Nicolas to go with the departing ship to "keep the faith." Still in his heavy robes and carrying his sword, Nicolas leapt for the departing vessel without waiting; Cosimo's telekinesis, Noddy's distraction spell, and Werner's feigned "assistance" combined to throw off his jump, and he slammed into the ship's side and fell into the gap between the two hulls. Noddy called the alarm, and Werner dove in after him, wrestling him up from underwater and swimming him back while others pulled them both aboard with ropes. As the ships drew apart, Cosimo shouted back at Jacque that his blind adherence to dogma had blinded him to the work of the Mother and Father, and Noddy attempted to magically whisper "let him go" in Jacque's ear, to little apparent effect. Jacque, for his part, called across the water for Cosimo to turn himself in at the capital's temple to be judged, and told the shaken, soaked Nicolas to keep faith but not to trust Cosimo.

Aboard their new command, Werner gathered the group privately and admitted that, rank aside, he had never captained a ship before and would need them as partners rather than subordinates; with that settled, the party set up the ship's low aft cabin — formerly Radulf's — as a locked armory and safe room for their weapons, using one of their own padlocks along with the cabin's existing key, surrendered by Radulf, and agreed it would be strictly off-limits to the four southern sailors. Those sailors were paired off with the PCs and Salter rather than left to work as a group, their knives and one pistol confiscated but their personal effects and dignity otherwise respected, while Radulf himself was kept apart from his crew, stationed at the stern near the wheel with Werner. Briefly, the party weighed the temptation of simply keeping the prize for themselves — selling the rice in the South and becoming "rice pirates" — before Werner refused outright, arguing that completing the mission honestly would do more for his family's fortunes than turning outlaw. Salter, as the most experienced sailor aboard, was made boatswain to directly oversee the four southern sailors, who were split into pairs and worked alongside rotating PCs rather than as a single group. The first two days of sailing went badly: with only Werner, Salter, and Noddy possessing any real sailing skill, and neither Werner's navigation nor his leadership up to the task, the ship nearly ran aground more than once and made almost no real progress, while Nicolas spent the time praying uselessly for their safety. Knick Nab tried and failed to charm Radulf into cooperating with vague promises of smuggling contacts. Nicolas separately sought out Cosimo for a serious conversation about his powers, saying that despite witnessing genuine miracles at the highest levels of the church, he had never seen anything like what Cosimo described; Cosimo insisted his abilities came from prayer to the Mother and Father, citing as evidence how the Mother had supposedly hidden the party from the enemy ship's sight during the earlier beach battle. Nicolas remained unconvinced but let the matter rest to "pray on it." By the third day, with progress still hopeless, Werner appealed directly to Radulf, at first offering freedom only to the four crew. Radulf pushed back, arguing that the North's treatment of Southern captives meant servitude for master and crew alike, and held out for his own freedom too — not a recommendation or a share of the profits, but outright release for everyone. Werner ultimately agreed: Radulf's people would sail the ship properly in earnest, and in exchange be given the jolly boat and set free one day's sail short of Port Sardina, on Radulf's word as a gentleman not to cause trouble in the meantime — a promise the party privately debated but chose to honour once given, judging the ship and its cargo more important than the small risk that Radulf was lying. With Radulf now directing the sailing in earnest — relaying his orders through Salter as bosun — the ship's progress improved markedly, though still short of what a full, competent crew could manage, as the session ended.

NPCs & Creatures

• Aboard the "Advance":
  • Captain Barrows
  • Prelate Jacque (older priest)
  • First Lieutenant Clugny
  • Second Lieutenant Conrad
  • Third Lieutenant Gunter
  • Sergeant of the Marines Vasquez
• Aboard "The Green Gull" (initially as captives, then assisting):
  • Captain Radulf (Southern merchant captain)
  • Four unnamed Southern sailors
• Joined the PCs' crew on "The Green Gull":
  • Sailor Salter (from the "Advance")
  • Priest Nicolas (younger priest, from the "Advance")
• Mentioned:
  • Handsome Gulliver Gold (Cosimo's illusion)

Locations

• Aboard the King's Navy frigate "Advance," sailing in the Channel Islands.
• Aboard the captured Southern merchant ship "The Green Gull," sailing in the Channel Islands.
• Port Sardina (the new destination for "The Green Gull").
• Zylos (port, mentioned as the origin of "The Green Gull's" rice cargo).

Conflicts

• Naval action: The "Advance" vs. "The Green Gull," resulting in the latter's surrender.
• Lethal force: Mani and other marines engaged and killed four escaping Southern sailors.
• Intrigue: Ongoing efforts by the PCs to discredit Prelate Jacque through illusions and planted evidence.
• Interpersonal tension: Between the PCs and Priest Nicolas following his "rescue" onto "The Green Gull," including his pointed questioning of Cosimo about the true source of his powers.
• Operational struggle: The PCs' initial difficulty in sailing "The Green Gull" effectively.
• Negotiation: Werner's deal with Captain Radulf, extending freedom to Radulf himself as well as his crew in exchange for genuine assistance sailing the prize ship.
• Moral temptation: An internal party debate over abandoning their orders to sell "The Green Gull's" rice cargo in the South and become "rice pirates," ultimately rejected by Werner.

Learnings and Discussions

• Knick Nab spent a day being personally coached by Captain Barrows on navigation, studying detailed charts of the Channel Islands: the heavily travelled main channel used by the northern fleet, the ports of Zylos and Port Sardina, and a web of smaller, less-travelled side channels — terrain the captain noted would suit a corsair looking to operate unseen.
• Knick Nab's elven heritage was revealed to Captain Barrows, fostering a deeper trust between them; Barrows chose to keep the secret rather than act on it.
• The party experienced firsthand the complexities of commanding and operating a captured vessel with a small, largely inexperienced crew, discovering that sailing a ship properly takes a full, competent crew, not just one person who knows how.
• Werner grappled with leadership decisions, including how to manage prisoners and motivate his crew.
• The logbooks from "The Green Gull" suggested potential smuggling or illicit trade involving the Northern port of Zylos.
• Priest Nicolas questioned Cosimo directly about the source of his powers, noting that nothing he had witnessed at the highest levels of the church resembled what Cosimo described; Cosimo maintained his abilities came from the Mother and Father, but Nicolas remained unconvinced.
• Werner refused the party's half-serious suggestion of selling "The Green Gull's" cargo in the South and becoming "rice pirates," arguing that completing their orders honestly would serve his family's fortunes better than turning outlaw.
• The PCs (Werner, Knick Nab, Cosimo, Mani, Riu, Noddy, and Salter) are now an independent command, separated from the "Advance."

Items Gained

• Temporary command and control of the prize ship "The Green Gull" and its cargo of rice.
• Charts of the Channel Islands (given to Knick Nab by Captain Barrows).
• Sealed dispatches for the capital (given to Knick Nab by Captain Barrows, to be forwarded on personally or through trusted means once possible).
• Logbooks and a small locked chest recovered from Captain Radulf's cabin (confiscated by Second Lieutenant Conrad and turned over to the "Advance's" Quarter Master).
• Supplies taken for the voyage: rifles, pistols, powder, and shot from the "Advance's" Armory; carpentry tools pilfered from a carpenter's mate; medical herbs drawn from the ship's surgeon.
• Weapons confiscated from "The Green Gull's" southern sailors (knives and a pistol), stored in the ship's locked cabin.

Items Lost

• Ammunition used during the naval encounter and against the escaping sailors.
• A selection of ciphered documents taken from the earlier southern camp, shown to Captain Barrows and confiscated by him permanently, with no chance to copy them first.
• The "Advance" lost the direct service of the six PCs and sailor Salter.