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Chapter 5 - Session 8

A New Crew and a New Commission

Events and Actions

The party finalized their decision to operate as "spicy adventurers" rather than pirates — free to fight and plunder when it served them, but never bound to piracy as a trade, so a restless crew couldn't force their hand — and moved to secure their new vessel and crew. Knick Nab took charge of piloting the Father's Fury back into the sheltered harbor, directing the skeleton crew — including Master of Sail De Torres — to weigh anchor and thread her into the channel a safe distance off the cliff face, then moored her near the shipyard. They then successfully negotiated a deal with the shipwright: the "Bull" traded in exchange for the Father's Fury, fully refitted to their specifications. Deciding the ship's armament meant weighing speed against firepower — a ship laden with guns would be slower, but one with no stern-facing guns would be defenseless while fleeing. They settled on keeping the ship's four existing 12-pounder long guns, adding two salvaged 24-pounder carronades (mismatched enough between themselves to need separately-sized shot until a matching pair could be found) and a mortar for close, devastating broadsides, and mounting four swivel guns for flexibility, arranged three guns per side with none mounted fore or aft. They also agreed to stock a proper arsenal of pistols, rifles, and other small arms for the crew at large, planned for a dedicated powder room deep in the hull — lined with wet leather and ringed with water buckets against a stray spark — and confirmed the captain's cabin would double as the officers' mess. Only two small private berths stood beside it, one of them doubling as the ship's surgery, with the rest of the crew sleeping in hammocks slung between the guns on the gun deck.

Before heading to recruit, Mani presented Mistress Clara with a fine hat as thanks for her hospitality, which she accepted warmly despite it clashing with her hospital robes. Following her advice, the party then went to "The Sunken Keg" tavern, secured six private rooms and board there for a two-week stay, and made a grand entrance by buying a round for the entire house. They arranged with the tavern's quiet proprietor, Gobin, for a formal recruitment drive the next day at high noon in the tavern's back room, and settled on a standard cover story for every prospective recruit: that the ship's curse had resided in the figurehead's animated spirit, which they had destroyed, with the ship's now-empty bow and widely circulated eyewitness accounts as proof. That evening, the party settled into the tavern's hospitality — Knick Nab fiddled while Cosimo backed him on mandolin, cards ran late, and Riu enjoyed a hot bath — before turning in with their usual precautions against trouble. During a training session in the tavern's yard the next morning, Knick Nab — with no real swordsmanship to speak of — beat Mani in a sparring match through sheer, uncanny luck, leaving Mani determined to train twice as hard afterward.

Before the interviews began, the party tallied the specialist roles they already had covered — Mani as captain, De Torres as Master of Sail, Cosimo as master rigger, Riu as ship's doctor, Salter as carpenter, and Batu Batu as cook — and confirmed that roughly eight hands from their old crews, including the senior sailor Beck and the marine Stanley, were willing to stay on, a headcount that shaped how many new hires they'd need. At high noon, they interviewed dozens of applicants and hired 66 new hands, bringing their total crew complement, including returning crew and themselves, to 80 — well above the bare minimum of 60 they judged sufficient for a lean, speed-focused ship, but a buffer they wanted against future casualties. They settled on a flat share structure — three shares for the party and other senior commanders, two for officers and specialists, one for common hands — paired with a flat signing bonus of five silver per recruit, paid on reporting to the ship rather than at the moment of signing, to keep new recruits from drinking the money away before showing up. Key recruits included a retired Northern Navy Sergeant-at-Arms (Tyler), who satisfied Mani that his retirement settled any awkwardness with the party's own strained standing with that service; a former Southern merchant captain who talked his way into the Quartermaster's post once others present vouched for his grasp of ship's supplies (Leopold); a one-eyed surgeon's mate referred by Clara (Jeffrey), taken on with the understanding he'd pitch in on other shipboard duties between patients and that his credentials would be confirmed with Clara; a big, powerfully built ship's carpenter aptly named Carpenter; an Islander pilot and senior sailor (Gam); two more experienced senior sailors (Old Salter, Perkin); an Islander cook's assistant with practical shipboard cooking experience, hired despite a language barrier with Batu Batu (Edith); and a handful of able seamen and deckhands with more varied backgrounds, including a former whaler, a pressed hunter, a conscripted fisherman, a runaway blacksmith's apprentice, and a poacher pressed into naval service. Riu also insisted on casting a poison and disease relief spell over the new hires as they came aboard, quietly ensuring the crew joined the ship clean, and weighed whether Cosimo could help supply the power such a large-scale casting would demand.

With their crew largely secured, the party turned to the ship's identity, weighing names like "Sister Seeker" and "the Audacity" before settling on "The Medallion" — fitting, they agreed, since every one of them already wore one. They then visited the workshop of the master carver, Old Man Rayhar, to commission a new figurehead. Rayhar was initially indignant that they had destroyed his previous "masterwork," but grew intrigued once he understood the figurehead itself had come to life and attacked the crew, and agreed to take the commission — though he turned down an invitation to join the crew outright, insisting his craft needed the stability of his own workshop rather than a ship underway. His crowded workshop was full of gleaming tools, a single spectacular central workbench, and dozens of small clay figures of his own making — some lifelike, some fantastical creatures. The party proposed carving the new figurehead in Mistress Clara's likeness, but Rayhar, a self-described purist, refused to combine a real person's face with a fantastical body, insisting a subject must be either wholly real or wholly imagined. During their conversation, he revealed that he had not carved the ship's original figurehead but had merely "corrected" its crude design, and that all 156 of the skulls carved across the ship had been made from oak staves the former captain supplied him — with only 27 boards of that oak left over in his yard, strongly implying the rest came from the barrels of holy water. He also mentioned he had never seen the rare "finger fruit" wood the party had heard of, and grew visibly interested on learning they owned four boards of it.

While at the workshop, Cosimo detected a magical aura, at first suspecting it came from Rayhar's carved figures before tracing it instead to a stack of leftover oak planks stored in a lean-to out in the yard — the last of the wood used for the ship's skull carvings. Rayhar, prizing the rare material, refused to sell the planks at any price, insisting he would only use them if they proved to be the right material for the right work. The party agreed to return with a final figurehead design. Rayhar also recounted a story of a pair of Islander hempti and hempto pulling earth from a stone the size of a table to raise an entire wall — a feat he could not otherwise explain, though he wondered aloud whether "hempti" and "hempto" simply meant "mother" and "father" in the Islander tongue. Knick Nab recognized the story as connected to the magic-users who operate the totems. During the day's events, he also received a telepathic message from the Elves, reminding him of their agreement to exchange information; the party chose to hold to their original timeline of about a week rather than rush to meet sooner.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Gobin: Quiet proprietor of "The Sunken Keg" tavern, who arranged the recruitment drive.
  • Old Man Rayhar: The master carver who worked on the Father's Fury, commissioned to make a new figurehead.
  • Mistress Clara: Healer and friend of the party.
  • Beck: A senior sailor from the party's original crew of "The Bull," who confirmed he'd stay aboard the new ship.
  • Stanley: A Marine from the party's original crew of "The Advance," who confirmed he'd stay aboard the new ship.
  • De Torres: Werner's cousin and the crew's Master of Sail, who helped bring the Father's Fury back into harbor and weighed in on the ship's gun arrangement.
  • Newly Recruited Crew (Key Personnel):
    • Tyler: Sergeant-at-Arms (Retired Northern Navy).
    • Leopold: Quartermaster (former Southern merchant captain).
    • Jeffrey: Surgeon's Mate (one-eyed, referred by Clara).
    • Carpenter: Ship's Carpenter.
    • Gam: Islander Pilot / Senior Sailor.
    • Old Salter: Bosun's Mate / Senior Sailor.
    • Perkin: Senior Sailor / Trimmer.
    • Edith: Cook's Assistant (an Islander with practical shipboard cooking experience).
    • Wat: Able Seaman (former whaler from the North).
    • Mathias: Able Seaman (former hunter, pressed into Southern service).
    • Radult: Able Seaman (Southern fisherman who lost his boat).
    • Naymes: Able Seaman (large, physically imposing Southerner).
    • Wulf: Deckhand (young blacksmith's apprentice who served briefly in the Northern Navy).
    • Robin: Deckhand / Lookout (former poacher pressed into naval service).
    • Jean: Deckhand (Islander from Drowned Man's Port).

Locations

  • Drowned Man's Port:
    • The Father's Fury (to be renamed "The Medallion").
    • The Hospital.
    • "The Sunken Keg" tavern.
    • Old Man Rayhar's workshop in the shipyard.

Conflicts

  • The session's conflicts were primarily social and logistical, involving the negotiation for the ship, the debate over balancing speed against firepower in the refit, determining crew compensation, and the recruitment process itself.
  • Old Man Rayhar refused to sell the party the magically-charged leftover oak planks even for a generous price, insisting he would only part with them for the right work — an unresolved point of negotiation.
  • Knick Nab received a telepathic message from the Elves, reminding him of his promise to meet and creating a sense of urgency; the party chose to hold to their original one-week timeline rather than meet sooner.
  • Alongside that reminder, Knick Nab picked up a second, unidentified telepathic warning not to meet anyone at noon — that whoever sent it meant to kill him — with no way to trace its source or answer it before the scheduled noon recruitment went ahead regardless.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party formalized a deal to trade the "Bull" for a fully refitted "Father's Fury."
  • They decided on a new name for their ship: "The Medallion," after considering "Sister Seeker" and "the Audacity."
  • A crew of 80 has been recruited — 66 new hires plus roughly 8 returning hands (including Beck and Stanley) and the party themselves — with a share structure of 3 for commanders, 2 for officers/specialists, and 1 for common hands, along with a flat signing bonus of five silver per recruit, paid only once a recruit reports to the ship.
  • The party discussed but declined a formal Marine detachment, agreeing the ship isn't suited to one, though some hands will need to hold camp during away missions.
  • The party again decided not to bring Brother Nicholas onto the crew, judging him too much of a loose cannon, though they noted his religious backing could still help reassure recruits wary of a once-cursed ship.
  • Old Man Rayhar confirmed the skulls on the "Father's Fury" were carved from oak staves that came from the ship itself, strongly implying they were the remnants of the holy water barrels; he carved all 156 of them, with only 27 boards of that oak left over.
  • Rayhar did not carve the original cursed figurehead but "corrected" it.
  • The leftover oak planks from the ship possess a magical aura.
  • Rayhar turned down an offer to join the crew permanently, saying his craft needs the stability of his own workshop rather than a ship underway, though he will always take a commission.
  • Rayhar is a self-described purist who will not combine a real person's likeness with a fantastical form, and expressed keen interest in the party's four boards of the rare "finger fruit" wood, which he had heard of but never seen.
  • Rayhar recounted a story of a pair of Islander hempti and hempto pulling earth from a stone to raise a wall, a possible new lead on the Islander magic-users linked to the totems, and wondered if the names simply meant "mother" and "father" in the Islander tongue.
  • The Elves are waiting for Knick Nab to return with information as previously agreed.

Items Gained

  • Effective ownership of the Father's Fury and an agreement for its complete refit.
  • A full crew of 80 sailors and specialists.
  • Mani: A fancy hat, which he gifted to Mistress Clara.
  • Party: Various new items of flamboyant clothing and accessories, including a plumed hat, a black silk sash, and a Northern Navy uniform cleaned, repaired, and duplicated. An agreement to commission a large, harpoon-firing arbalest for the ship. An arsenal of pistols, rifles, and other small arms for the wider crew. Fine provisions for the ship — spices and good rum — commissioned through Batu Batu.

Items Lost

  • The "Bull": Traded as part of the deal for the new ship and its refit.
  • Gold & Silver: Spent on gifts, buying rounds and tips for Gobin at the tavern, six rooms and board at "The Sunken Keg," fine provisions for the ship, and committed for signing bonuses for the new crew.
  • Knick Nab: 1 gold piece (lost in a card game).