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Chapter 5 - Session 4

The Father's Fury, Silenced

Events and Actions

The session began with the party scattered after the animated figurehead, the "Father's Fury," fell burning into the water. Moments earlier, Mani and Werner had pelted it with javelins and harpoons while it drove them back to the stern; Werner leapt off first, then Mani, and the figurehead plunged into the sea right after them. Riu and Cosimo waited in a small boat with the unconscious sailor, Johan, while Mani and Werner made for the boat as well. Knick Nab swam for the shore, and Noddy climbed onto the deck of the ship. Cosimo was carrying a severe, near-fatal wound from the earlier fight; Riu spent much of the coming battle keeping him stable with Flow Stop and Cut Repair spells, though the wound left Cosimo unable to move — or be moved — without risking the bleeding starting again.

As the party regrouped on and around the ship, a cold fog rolled out of the sea itself, swallowing visibility down to fifty feet, and the figurehead rose on a column of water to attack. A chaotic battle ensued as the party fought the creature while simultaneously working to gain control of the ship and sail it away. Partway through the fight, Johan panicked and abandoned the boat to swim for shore; the figurehead answered by churning the water around him into a vortex that nearly dragged him under. Noddy's familiar, Pocket, spotted him struggling, and Noddy teleported him safely onto the ship's deck with a Lofty Bridge spell cast through the bird.

Cosimo pressed the attack with repeated Shock Bolt spells, invoking the Mother to strike the figurehead down; one solid hit shattered its ankle and hampered its advance across the water. On a later casting attempt, the figurehead countered with a Cancel Essence spell of its own, dissipating Cosimo's incoming lightning and declaring, "It is you, creature, who falsely calls upon the mother. The mother rejects you, as do I." It answered with a bolt of water of its own, which Cosimo split harmlessly in two with a shouted "Shield me," and later turned the trick back on the figurehead, casting Cancel Essence himself to deflect a second bolt aside. Noddy tried to frighten the creature away with a Fear spell, but it seemed wholly unaffected, leading the party to suspect it was a golem or otherwise immune to mind-affecting magic; he had far more success collapsing the water column it stood on with repeated Vacuum spells, sending it crashing back down to the surface again and again, and later pinned it in place with a Staying spell, exerting 125 pounds of telekinetic counterforce that forced it to visibly strain against the resistance and bought the party several crucial rounds. When the figurehead conjured a churning wall of water across the deck to blind the party to the ship's wheel, Noddy burned it away again with an Evaporate Liquid spell. Mani, convinced the figurehead was merely an avatar of something else being controlled, repeatedly demanded to know who commanded it; the figurehead only replied that "the Father listens only to the true believers," offering no further explanation, and gave much the same non-answer when Mani pressed the question again later in the fight. He also twice searched the ship's countless skull carvings for some distinguishing mark that might explain how to control it, hoping the party might tame the figurehead rather than destroy it, but found nothing that stood out from the rest. Mani hurled chain shot and bolas at the creature — most throws going wide, though one chain-shot wrenched its already-shattered ankle and left it limping on both legs — while, with help from an illusory "Handsome Gulliver Gold" summoned by Cosimo, the rest of the party worked to raise the anchor and unfurl the sails. The forward anchor's chain couldn't be cut, so Knick Nab worked the capstan across several rounds to haul it free before climbing the rigging himself to help drop sail; the stern anchor's rope was thick enough to give even Noddy trouble, but he hacked through it in one blow that sent one end splashing into the water and the other slithering across the deck. Gulliver Gold tied off one critical line that gave the rigging effort a significant boost, but in a later round threw himself between Cosimo and an incoming water bolt meant for his summoner, losing his sense of touch and, with it, his ability to keep helping with the sails. Werner initially helped fend the ship off the nearby rocks with a pole before taking the helm and later firing one of the ship's cannons.

During the fight, Riu made an early attempt to attune to the ship and, later, to command it to sail away on its own; the command worked, but as he gave it, every skull carving on the hull seemed to turn and look at him, an omen unsettling enough to nearly cost him his composure. His attunement also confirmed the ship possessed genuine sentience of its own, distinct from the figurehead, whose presence he could not detect within it. Later, as the figurehead closed on the fleeing ship, Noddy tried to attune to it again to make sense of what they were facing; the attempt itself failed at that range, but it pulled him into a trance regardless, and he emerged moments later with a complete vision of the ship's history — that it was the Father's Fury, a vessel saturated with holy water whose figurehead animates and seeks vengeance whenever priests of the Divinity of Two are slain aboard it.

The party finally managed to get the ship under sail and began to pull away, but the figurehead refused to give up the chase, wading doggedly after them across the water even as it took hit after hit. Once they broke clear of the fog with it still several hundred feet behind, an argument broke out over what to do next: Cosimo argued strongly against firing the ship's cannons, warning that the shore battery overlooking the harbor might mistake it for an attack and sink them for it, while Mani and others countered that no one watching from the fort would think twice about cannon fire aimed at a walking, animated tree. Part of the party pushed instead to find a way to tame the figurehead rather than destroy it outright, while others balked at giving any outside priest that kind of leverage over their new ship, but the debate went unresolved. Riu, still puzzling over why the figurehead had singled them out when none of them had killed a priest aboard, tried to commune with it directly as it closed the distance, but got no answer. The party kept the guns loading while they argued; when the figurehead finally came within range, Werner fired one of the ship's cannons and scored a direct hit, destroying the creature completely in a spray of splinters and water.

With the figurehead destroyed, the party dropped anchor, and Riu made one more attempt to attune to the ship; he concluded it hadn't been formally enchanted so much as simply saturated through and through with whatever power the holy water carried, and resolved to try again after a night's rest. Mani, holding one of Riu's Diads in one hand and his own Medallion in the other while touching the ship, attempted his own attunement and felt a personal connection to both the ship and his Medallion, though notably not to the borrowed Diad. Rowing back toward shore, the party debated what to do about Johan, who had no memory of anything past hitting his head; Cosimo initially tried to convince him the whole ordeal was a bump and a bad dream, but the others opted to tell him the truth instead, and a jubilant Mani began rehearsing how the party — freshly settled on the name "The Faded" after briefly considering and rejecting "the Heretic Six" — would be remembered as legends. Back at the Shipwright's Yard, Master Borin met them with visible unease; Mani, backed by Johan's account of the fight, offered 1,000 gold for the ship and invoked the party's reputation, including their past defense of the Port of Zylos and their standing as declared heretics, while Borin — noting this would be the third time he had sold this particular ship, and that its true value might run closer to 3,000 gold, if anyone actually wanted it — said the situation was too strange for him to decide alone and that he needed to consult his council.

NPCs & Creatures

  • The Father's Fury: The animated figurehead of the ship. It demonstrated powerful water-based magic, including walking on water, creating a water wall, firing bolts of water, and countering one of Cosimo's spells with its own Cancel Essence. It proved unaffected by Noddy's Fear spell and spoke twice during the fight, declaring itself loyal only to "true believers" and rejecting the party's invocations of the Mother. It was ultimately destroyed by a cannonball.
  • Johan: The sailor who rowed the party to the ship. He was knocked unconscious, thrown in the boat, and later panicked and jumped overboard during the fight, nearly drowning in the figurehead's churning water before Noddy teleported him to safety. Afterward, Cosimo tried to convince him he had simply struck his head and imagined everything, though the party ultimately told him the truth instead; a delighted Mani recruited him to back up their story with Master Borin and to help spread word of the party's exploits.
  • Master Borin: The master shipwright at the port. The party began negotiations with him to purchase the ship, offering 1,000 gold; he noted its estimated value might run closer to 3,000 gold if there were any real demand for a cursed vessel, remarked that this would be the third time he had sold this particular ship, and said the situation was too strange for him to decide alone, needing to consult his council before naming a price.
  • Handsome Gulliver Gold: An illusion with physical form summoned by Cosimo to assist with sailing the ship. He helped haul rigging and later took a water bolt meant for Cosimo, losing his sense of touch in the process.
  • Pocket: Noddy's familiar, who located Johan struggling in the water and helped guide Noddy's rescue spell to him.
  • The Skull: The pirate captain who first purchased the Father's Fury after it was saturated with holy water, refitted it with cannons, and commissioned Old Man Rayhar's skull carvings; his own crew was later wiped out by the figurehead's first vengeful massacre after they killed two captive priests, learned from Noddy's vision of the ship's history.
  • Wolf: A Southern pirate captain who later acquired the Father's Fury; his crew forced two captive priests to walk the plank, triggering the figurehead's second massacre, learned from Noddy's vision of the ship's history.

Locations

  • The Father's Fury: The primary location of the session. A ship of Northern Navy origin, commandeered by the Divinity of Two, and later used by pirates. It is covered in skull carvings and its figurehead is prone to animating.
  • The waters outside the harbor: The battle took place here, near a rocky shoreline.
  • The Fort: The harbor's shore battery, visible above the water where the battle took place; the party held their fire until clear of its line of sight for fear of provoking it.
  • The Shipwright's Yard: The party returned here at the end of the session to speak with Master Borin.

Conflicts

  • The party engaged in a prolonged battle against the animated figurehead, the Father's Fury, while Cosimo fought the entire encounter with a severe, near-fatal wound from the earlier fight, requiring ongoing field treatment from Riu.
  • The figurehead attacked with powerful water magic and demonstrated notable magical resistance, shrugging off a Fear spell and countering one of Cosimo's attacks with its own Cancel Essence spell.
  • No significant new injuries were sustained by the PCs during this session's combat.
  • The figurehead was hit with numerous spells and projectiles before being destroyed by a cannon shot from Werner.
  • Once the ship broke clear of the fog with the figurehead still in pursuit, Cosimo and Mani clashed over whether to fire the ship's cannons at it, Cosimo fearing it would draw retaliatory fire from the fort guarding the harbor; the party loaded the guns anyway and fired once the figurehead came within range.
  • Mani repeatedly demanded to know who commanded the figurehead, but got only the same non-answer about "true believers" each time; Riu's separate attempt to commune with it and learn why it had singled out the party went unanswered.

Learnings and Discussions

  • As the figurehead closed on the ship, Noddy's attunement attempt failed outright at that range, but it pulled him into a trance regardless, and he emerged with the ship's complete history:
    • It is the Father's Fury, sister ship to the Mother's Sorrow. Both were originally standard Northern Navy vessels, blessed in the name of the Father, before the church commandeered them near the end of the war.
    • The two ships were purpose-built to carry casks of holy water to the New World to bless it, and were hauled across the ice bridge by slave labor before sailing south to their separate destinations.
    • It was commandeered by the Divinity of Two and filled with barrels of holy water.
    • A priest broke the barrels, saturating the ship's wood with holy water.
    • The figurehead animates to seek vengeance whenever priests of the Divinity of Two are killed aboard the ship. This has happened at least twice, leading to the death or disappearance of two separate pirate crews.
    • The ship was bought and refit by a pirate captain known as "The Skull," who commissioned the extensive skull carvings from an islander named "Old Man Rayhar." The first massacre occurred under his command, after his crew killed two captive priests taken from a prize ship.
    • The second massacre occurred years later under a pirate captain named "Wolf," who bought the ship after it was found abandoned following the first massacre, after his crew forced two captive priests to walk the plank.
  • Riu's early attempt to attune to and command the ship confirmed it possesses genuine sentience of its own, separate from the figurehead — his attunement detected no trace of the father's presence within the ship itself.
  • Mani theorized aloud that three distinct magics were at play: whatever power the ship itself was imbued with, the ship's sentience, and the figurehead's connection to "the father" — a connection Riu's attunement suggested had been severed, which Mani took as a sign the figurehead itself might one day be tamed or controlled rather than simply destroyed.
  • Amid the debate over what to do with the pursuing figurehead, someone raised the idea of consulting Nicolas — the mad hermit-preacher of the hills above Drowned Man's Port, who preaches of "brothers and sisters" — to see if he could help control it, though others were wary of giving any priest that kind of leverage over their new ship.
  • Riu's attunement attempt after the battle suggested the ship had not been formally enchanted, but was simply saturated through and through with whatever power the holy water carried; he could not say more without trying again after a night's rest.
  • Mani, holding a borrowed Diad and his own Medallion while touching the ship, felt a personal, magical connection to both the ship and his Medallion, but not to the Diad.
  • The party settled on a group name — "The Faded" — after briefly floating and rejecting "the Heretic Six."
  • The party began negotiations to buy the ship, offering Master Borin 1,000 gold. Mani invoked the party's reputation — including their past defense of the Port of Zylos and their standing as declared heretics — to press for a sale, though Borin said he needed to consult his council first.

Items Gained

  • The party has taken effective control of the ship, the Father's Fury.
  • Mani collected a finger bone from the destroyed figurehead.

Items Lost

  • One of the ship's anchors was lost when Noddy cut its rope.
  • Mani used all three rounds of chain shot he had found.