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Chapter 3 - Session 4

Deserters, Diplomacy, and Discovery at the Ruined Church

Events and Actions

The party investigated a ruined church on Zylos, seeking information related to Captain Barrows' past visit and the activities of a cleric and censure from two decades prior. Noddy scaled a tree outside the church and launched himself twenty feet into the air to land on its balcony — a feat as spectacular as the time he'd leapt from one ship's crow's nest to another — while Riu, more subtly, levitated up beside him, giving the party eyes on the interior. From ground level, Knick Nab called into the darkness, pointing out that the deserters had opened fire on the party first, declaring the party blessed by the Powers, and demanding the occupants come out with their hands up or be killed, backing the ultimatum with a mix of charm and intimidation. His charm proved unexpectedly potent: several of the men inside became his instant, devoted fans, while one took such an irrational dislike to him that he counted the rogue as an enemy, complicating the negotiation that followed. Asked afterward whether he'd called on the power of the Two to aid the performance, Cosimo could only admit, still faintly astonished, that he hadn't — whatever had swayed them so completely wasn't his doing.

Three deserters—Big Red, Tibalt, and Perkin—emerged, claiming their ship was wrecked about a month ago. During the initial encounter, one of their companions, Smith, had his kneecap shattered by the party, and another unnamed deserter suffered a broken arm. The party split the three apart to question them individually while Cosimo took charge of Smith, disarming him and assessing the wound; Riu later attended to the man with the broken arm, spending roughly an hour splinting and setting the bone. Cosimo also cast Shadow to slip along the shattered upper wall and peer down into the ruin unseen, spotting the deserters' lean-to camp with its fire pit and goat carcass and the rope-strung chasm beyond, confirming no one else was hiding among the wreckage before reporting back to Noddy. Riu determined Smith's leg injury was too severe to treat effectively in the field — amputation was possible, but his survival afterward would depend on facilities the party could not provide. Mani, troubled by the outcome, raised the grim possibility of easing Smith's suffering rather than leaving him to a slow death, though the party ultimately left the matter unresolved. Big Red, uneasy about what might happen to him and his companions, asked whether cooperating would earn them leniency from the Navy; the others scoffed, reminding him there was no hope of that, but Mani told him not to worry about it, and instead advised the group to present themselves at Old Port later claiming their ship had simply been lost at sea, promising to leave behind some rum and their weapons when the party departed.

Guided by Cosimo's knowledge of church layouts — the customary division between public worship space and private clergy quarters, with twin altars dedicated to the Mother and the Father — the party searched the ruins for a hidden passage. The deserters' camp, a lean-to made from a propped sailcloth alongside a campfire and a part-eaten goat carcass, stood against a section of wall that turned out to be nothing more than ordinary rubble from the church's collapsed towers, ruling out one hypothesis. A thorough search of the public area found no hidden markings; Mani, hoping to sense something of what lay ahead, held out his Medallion — once felt drawn to the great black stone atop Blackstone Peak — but felt nothing from it. The search did reveal that the two altars could be moved. Pushing them in unison exposed two levers beneath, one of which had been smashed and was unusable. Activating the working lever triggered a mechanism that collapsed a roughly sixty-foot section of wall in a cloud of dust and stone shards, unveiling a previously hidden, dark passage. The collapse also swept away the old rope bridge spanning a deep chasm in the church floor — a chasm that, judging by the delayed splash of falling debris, descends hundreds of feet to the sea below. Batu Batu, hearing the crash from outside, rushed up anxiously to check on the party before being reassured that all was well.

To access the new passage, Noddy leapt across the roughly ten-to-fifteen-foot gap, carrying a rope and anchoring its far end. Riu cast night vision on himself, then tied the same rope to his own waist and levitated down into the chasm, descending about thirty-five feet — the full length of rope available — to check the rock face for any passage that might have been split open when the chasm formed, finding none, before levitating across to join Noddy. With not enough rope left to safely harness everyone, and the passage beyond clearly dark, the rest of the party readied a half-empty lantern and improvised torches from tarp and cord. Drawing on rope-work he called literally his profession, Cosimo rigged the crossing by looping their remaining line back and forth around an anchor point to weave a rough platform, laying one scavenged ladder across it as a deck and lashing the second up as a handrail, with Noddy's eighteen-foot whip serving as an improvised lifeline for whoever crossed. Mani went first and crossed cleanly; Knick Nab followed, slipped, and fell some ten feet before smacking into the wall, left dangling above the void until the whip fastened to him let the party haul him up and across, battered but unhurt. Cosimo crossed last with ease. Batu Batu and Salter, left in charge of the deserters, remained on the near side throughout.

Upon entering the revealed private chambers of the clergy, the party found badly deteriorated papers and book remnants — moldy, waterlogged, and largely disintegrated — which they carefully collected in hopes they held the information they'd come for. They gathered everything else of note in the room too, reasoning that nothing there had been touched in decades.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Big Red: A deserter with red hair, encountered at the ruined church. Became an instant, devoted "fan" of Knick Nab after a remarkably successful charm attempt, and was the one who asked about leniency from the Navy — his companions warned him not to get his hopes up.
  • Tibalt: A deserter encountered at the ruined church.
  • Perkin: A deserter encountered at the ruined church. Separated from the others for questioning after showing visible unease at the mention of southern wind witches, which he called "the enemy" and "the mystery" — though he denied any personal encounter with one.
  • Smith: A deserter stationed on the balcony who fired the shot that triggered the initial confrontation; his kneecap was shattered in the fighting that followed.
  • Unnamed Deserter: A companion of Big Red, Tibalt, and Perkin, whose arm was broken.
  • Batu Batu: Islander cook from the "Amada," accompanying the party. Given a musket to help guard the prisoners, and rushed up in alarm when the secret door's collapse echoed through the ruins.
  • Salter: Sailor formerly of the "Advance," accompanying the party.
  • Pocket: Noddy's seagull familiar.

Locations

  • Ruined Church on Zylos: The primary setting of the session, located within Old Port. Features a public worship area with movable altars dedicated to the Mother and the Father, a deep chasm plunging to the sea, and newly revealed private clergy chambers beyond it.
  • Zylos: The island where the ruined church is situated.
  • Old Port, Zylos: The general area of the ruined church.

Conflicts

  • An armed confrontation at the church entrance — begun when Smith, stationed on the balcony, opened fire on the party first — left two deserters seriously wounded: Smith's kneecap shattered by gunfire, another's arm broken.
  • Tense, drawn-out negotiations with the three surviving, conscious deserters (Big Red, Tibalt, and Perkin), complicated by Knick Nab's charm-induced reputation among them and by open distrust among the deserters themselves over whether the Navy would show any of them leniency.
  • Knick Nab slipped and fell while crossing the makeshift bridge over the chasm, left dangling above the void until Noddy's whip — fastened to him as a safety line — allowed the party to haul him back up.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The group of five deserters (Big Red, Tibalt, Perkin, Smith, and one unnamed) have been at the ruined church for approximately one month following a shipwreck. They are not aligned with the South.
  • The deserters possessed no information regarding Captain Barrows' visit two years prior or the cleric and censure from twenty years ago.
  • The deserters confirmed the collapsed crack was the only known way in or out of the ruin; none of them had crossed the chasm or explored beyond it, though Big Red admitted to having looked down without investigating further.
  • Cosimo shared insights on typical church architecture, specifically the distinction between public and private areas, which aided the party's search.
  • The chasm within the church descends hundreds of feet to the sea. Cosimo reasoned that a natural chasm would have wrecked the surrounding structure, while a deliberately built one would have had the structure built around it — since neither quite fit what they saw, its true origin remains unknown.
  • The party discussed the ethics of their actions towards the deserters and the feasibility of providing medical aid. Riu concluded that Smith's leg injury was likely fatal without advanced medical intervention, and Mani raised the possibility of easing his suffering rather than leaving him to die slowly.
  • The party discovered that mechanisms within the church (e.g., a secret door) could be activated by levers concealed in the altars.
  • Mani informed one of the deserters that the party had previously killed a "southern wind witch." Perkin's reaction suggested the wind witches are viewed as a real, if rarely discussed, threat among common sailors.
  • The party confirmed that slaves are permitted to handle weapons in at least some circumstances, informing their decision to arm Batu Batu with a musket to help guard the prisoners.

Items Gained

  • Deteriorated Papers/Books: Found within the private clergy chambers of the ruined church. Their content is yet to be determined.
  • A lantern with a small amount of oil remaining, found in the ruins and used alongside improvised torches (tarp and cord) to light the darker areas.
  • The party temporarily secured weapons from the deserters:
    • Three muskets (one of which was on the balcony).
    • At least two pistols.
    • A cutlass.
    • Several knives.
    • Small quantities of gunpowder and shot from each deserter.

Items Lost

  • The party expended spell points for various magical feats (Noddy's jump, Riu's levitation, Cosimo's Shadow spell).
  • Riu spent roughly an hour providing medical attention to the deserter with the broken arm.
  • The original makeshift rope bridge across the chasm was destroyed.
  • The party agreed to leave behind several bottles of rum and most of the deserters' weapons and gunpowder when they eventually departed.