Chapter 6 - Session 8

What the Medallion Knows

Events and Actions

Following the engagement with The Fortnum, The Medallion hove to within sight of land. Seabirds gathered around the ship as the crew assessed damage and work parties went aloft to address a cracked spar under Old Salter's direction, with the ship's carpenter overseeing repairs. Belowdecks, other hands swabbed out the gun decks and set the ship to rights; the crew, though short a few specialists such as a cooper, needed little direction and went about it smoothly.

Before anyone went over the side, Riu swept the ship with a detect presence spell out to forty feet and found nothing unusual among the crew. He was then lowered from the chains on a weighted rope, a small sack holding a cannonball tied at his waist to carry him under, while Mani took position above, harpoon in hand and watching the water, with Tyler and another Marine standing by with loaded rifles to relieve him. Equipped with water-breathing and water-vision spells, he descended in fathom increments to search for the two Divinity of Two priests — Arnim and Margot — who had gone overboard during the battle, pausing at each depth to look for movement and sweep the area methodically. He also tried, twice, to detect blood by scent using a spell that lent him an extraordinarily acute sense of smell, but both times found nothing beyond the ordinary decay and death that pervades the open sea — no trace of blood in particular. Around him drifted schools of fish, a strange half-solid, jelly-like creature that seemed to waver in and out of sight, and more than one small octopus and squid, but no sharks and no sign of the priests. He found nothing: the priests were simply gone.

While Riu searched below, Cosimo descended past the hold into the ballast, deep beneath the mast step, and performed a ritual there — pressing himself against the base of the main mast where it meets the keel — to commune with The Medallion and give the ship a voice through its bell, one ring for yes and two for no. Down among the ballast stone he noticed for the first time an odd, faintly blue-sheened rock mixed in with the ordinary ballast — a curiosity that, when raised later, turned out to be nothing more than slag, the leftover residue of iron-smelting commonly used to weigh ships down. Over an extended period of questioning, with young Tolly running messages between the command crew above and Cosimo deep in the bowels of the ship, the party methodically mapped the ship's capabilities. The Medallion could detect other ships and active magic within roughly twenty-five nautical miles and required no line of sight, being unaffected by weather or obstacles, though it could not detect sunken ships or treasure. It had water magic: the ability to raise and lower the water level beneath itself on command — the ability that had silently saved the ship from grounding on shoals in The Shatters. It could not distinguish between types of living creatures, could not detect individual items (it could not sense the Diad worn around a party member's neck), and could not steer itself or hold back water through a hull breach. It would give no answer at all to speculative or evaluative questions, only to concrete ones — it stayed silent when asked whether the crew's affection for it was returned, and again when asked whether it had approved of the party's removal of The Father, its original figurehead, months before. When asked whether it would permit a ram or metal reinforcement to be fitted to its prow at the next port, it answered yes — unsurprising, perhaps, since the prow had already been reinforced during an earlier retrofit, not for ramming but to carry the mortar it now mounts. The carved skulls projecting outward around the ship's exterior emit a constant fear effect on anyone who can see them, affecting crew and enemy alike — the same dread the party had felt when first approaching the ship in Drowned Man's Port, strong enough that their guide at the time had refused to come aboard at all. Most significantly, the ship can understand spoken orders without any spell: whoever holds the wheel need only speak aloud, and The Medallion will act, a discovery made easier to credit once Cosimo noted that the one skull mounted at the base of the mainmast faces backward, toward the wheel, as if listening for it.

Cosimo then attempted something more ambitious. Taking Noddy by the hand and placing his other hand on the mast step, he tried to channel power into the ship. The attempt miscarried badly: five of Noddy's power points were stripped away permanently and transferred into The Medallion. Noddy, feeling the life drain out of him, drew his knife. Cosimo offered to undo it if the knife were put away; Noddy refused the condition. Without waiting for the knife to be sheathed, Cosimo surrendered five of his own power points permanently to Noddy as replacement. Only after being restored did Noddy put the knife away and accept Cosimo's apology, though he called it the most frightening thing he had ever experienced and pressed, unsuccessfully, to have Cosimo confined to the brig over it. Knick Nab, summoned to investigate the commotion, accepted that it had been an accident and let the matter rest without a formal charge — noting only that no crew member had witnessed it. The net result was that The Medallion had been strengthened at Cosimo's permanent expense, and the incident left the two men at odds.

Shortly afterward, Noddy's familiar Pocket began behaving strangely at the bow railing, hopping and staring among the other seabirds. Pocket dove at one bird aggressively, but it dodged nimbly aside, and Pocket — sensing no danger from it — refused to press the attack, hopping back and signaling as much to Noddy. Only then did Noddy walk forward to look for himself, and with the aid of Mani's sailor's glass identified a pigeon on the rail — entirely the wrong bird for open ocean, and nothing like the gulls around it. He attempted a sleep spell; it failed. Mani, on the arbalest, fired and impaled the bird to the ship's railing. It was mortally wounded. Noddy, sensing that the pigeon might have been something like a familiar — someone's Pocket — chewed the healing root himself and tried to feed it to the bird, working an animal-healing skill he rarely had cause to use, but the wound was too severe and the bird died regardless. Only afterward did the strange question occur to him: homing pigeons fly only to a home they already know, and this ship had never been that pigeon's home. He could only conclude that whoever had sent it shared with it a bond much like his own with Pocket, and worried what the bird's death might mean for its owner.

Inspection of the body revealed a small message capsule attached to its leg — a court-martial offence under wartime naval regulations. The note was tiny and nearly illegible, but eventually read aloud as: "Were. C. Mason capable, honorable. Two gone. Orders stand. Held below, cannot help direct. Starboard quarter planking and midship rail weak. Serpent. R. [three slashes]."

The party worked through the message carefully. C. Mason was Captain Mason of The Fortnum — the note marking him as capable and honorable. "Two gone" referred to the two priests who had gone overboard. "Orders stand" meant The Fortnum was still operating under its original directive. "Held below" pointed to the writer being a prisoner, not merely a guest. The three slashes were recognized as the Mark of the Three, the Triad's secret signal. The initial R, combined with a man held prisoner aboard a naval vessel with a collection of carrier pigeons, led the party to conclude this was almost certainly Randolph the Chronicler, the Triad-connected Academy man who had kept cages of birds in his private room at The Crow's Nest in the Capitol. The tactical details were specific and deliberate: the Fortnum's starboard quarter planking and midship rail had been weakened by the sea serpent attack in The Shatters, and whoever wrote the note knew it.

Keyes was summoned and questioned. He confirmed that there had been a male passenger aboard The Fortnum: initially given the run of the ship and invited to dine with the captain, later confined under guard to a sail storeroom midship. The man had brought crates of pigeons aboard. Keyes's description of the captive matched Randolph. Keyes also confirmed the names of the two priests — Arnim and Margot — which the party already knew from questioning him after the previous engagement.

Jacopa, aloft, then called down to the deck: sails on the horizon, to windward. Noddy went aloft with his enchanted spyglass and confirmed it — the sail pattern was unmistakable. The Fortnum was back in sight.

The party debated their options. Running was possible given their speed advantage in the right conditions, but the Chronicler was aboard and The Fortnum's orders still stood — this was not a problem that would go away on its own. Knick Nab laid out the tactical parameters bluntly: at range, The Fortnum's greater firepower would win; up close, where the party's own abilities came into play, the odds evened out, as had already been proven once; and if the two ships came alongside long enough for The Fortnum's crew — outnumbering The Medallion's roughly ten to one, before counting muskets — to board, The Medallion would lose. It was pointed out that the one thing that had actually kept the crew alive in that earlier engagement wasn't any single spell so much as simply denying The Fortnum's gunners anything to aim at. The decision was made unanimously to engage and attempt a rescue, with two objectives agreed: free the captive, and slow The Fortnum enough that it could no longer give chase, without necessarily needing to sink it outright.

Several approaches were sketched. Cosimo's Earth Wall could seal The Fortnum's gun ports, buying perhaps twenty rounds before the crew could dig through. Noddy, invisible, could open a door directly into the ship's hull to slip a small party in and out, though he refused to risk Pocket doing the same and was wary of going in alone against so many. A stealthier option was raised — approaching under cover of darkness in the ship's dinghy, cloaked by one of Cosimo's illusions, while a decoy carrying lights sailed off in another direction. Knick Nab, who had once sailed under the boarding-minded Captain De Guzman, judged that closing to board was workable if the party's abilities could clear the way first. Severing the wheel's steering lines was raised as a way to cripple the ship for a couple of hours until repaired — a stopgap rather than a lasting fix, unlike knocking down a mast or holing the hull outright, either of which would put the ship out of the fight for good. Hot shot — cannonballs heated red-hot before loading, meant to set the target's timbers ablaze — and ordinary cannon fire aimed at the rudder and rigging were discussed as ways to cripple the ship without needing to sink it outright, exploiting the weakened starboard section under cover of darkness or illusion, though The Medallion carries only three guns a side, meaning a choice would have to be made between hot shot and dismasting fire rather than both. A simpler option was also floated — sending a small party aboard to hack through the shrouds and rigging with axes and swords, which would cripple the ship for hours with little risk — and Noddy suggested he could conjure a handful of illusory fires below decks to draw the crew away from the fight, though Cosimo could sustain at most two such illusions at once. Simply running was weighed too: The Medallion holds a speed advantage over The Fortnum in the right wind and could outdistance her for as long as the wind favored them. Noddy noted that his door-opening ability, used below the waterline, could probably flood and sink The Fortnum outright, but the party agreed to hold that in reserve rather than lean on it. Whether crippling the ship might be enough to make Captain Mason strike his colors was raised and set aside; Keyes, questioned again, described him as a professional who would fight hard to protect his crew but was no coward — he would yield only once convinced his duty was discharged. The party also concluded that whatever The Fortnum's standing orders were, they almost certainly concerned recovering the Diad, and agreed unanimously they would not surrender it under any circumstance. No final plan was settled; as the session ended, The Medallion was still hove to, The Fortnum's sails visible on the horizon, and the party had not yet begun to move.

NPCs & Creatures

Randolph the Chronicler — almost certainly the prisoner held aboard The Fortnum, identified from the carrier pigeon message signed "R" with the Mark of the Three and confirmed by Keyes's description of the captive.
Captain Mason — captain of The Fortnum. Described in the message as capable and honorable. Keyes adds that he is a professional who follows his orders and has little personal regard for the Divinity of Two; he would yield to preserve his crew if he believed his duty had been discharged.
Keyes — crew member of The Medallion, formerly of The Fortnum. Provided intelligence about the prisoner and named the priests.
Arnim — one of the two Divinity of Two priests aboard The Fortnum, named by Keyes. Went overboard during the previous battle. Not found by Riu's underwater search.
Margot — the other priest, a woman, gravely injured during the battle before going overboard. Not found by Riu's underwater search.
Jacopa — crew member of The Medallion, stationed aloft. Spotted The Fortnum's sails on the horizon.
Tolly — the ship's messenger boy, used as runner between Cosimo below and the command crew above during the communing session.

Locations

The Medallion — the party's ship, hove to within sight of land after the battle. Its capabilities were comprehensively mapped for the first time during this session.
At sea, close to shore — the engagement with The Fortnum took place within sight of land; The Medallion hove to in those same waters while the party took stock.

Conflicts

Riu's underwater search — Riu dived to locate the two priests who had gone overboard. Neither could be found by sight or scent.
The pigeon incident — Pocket drew attention to a pigeon on the bow railing. Noddy's sleep spell failed; Mani's arbalest shot mortally wounded the bird; Noddy's healing root could not save it. The pigeon died before it could be captured or questioned. A message capsule was recovered from the body.
The power transfer gone wrong — Cosimo's attempt to channel power into The Medallion accidentally stripped five power points permanently from Noddy. After a tense standoff — knife drawn, briefly — the matter was resolved when Cosimo surrendered five of his own power points to Noddy in compensation. Noddy pressed to have Cosimo confined to the brig over it, but with no crew witnesses and no formal charge laid, Knick Nab let the matter drop as an accident. Cosimo permanently lost five power points.

Learnings and Discussions

The Medallion's capabilities are now mapped: detects ships and active magic within roughly twenty-five nautical miles; no line of sight required; unaffected by weather; cannot detect sunken ships or treasure; water magic allowing the ship to raise or lower the water level beneath itself on command; a constant fear effect projected by the skulls, requiring line of sight and bounded by some limited range, affecting all; cannot distinguish types of life; cannot detect individual items, including the Diad; cannot steer itself, pump out water, or seal hull breaches; will not answer speculative or evaluative questions; understands spoken orders from whoever holds the wheel without any ritual; and is amenable, in principle, to having a ram or metal reinforcement fitted to its prow at the next port.
The ship's ballast includes an odd, faintly blue-sheened stone noticed by Cosimo while communing with The Medallion, later identified as ordinary slag from iron-smelting, commonly used to weigh ships down.
The priests Arnim and Margot are not near the ship. Riu's search and The Medallion's own detection both confirm this. Their fate is unknown.
The Medallion has articles of agreement — the charter every hand aboard, the party included, signed upon joining — which are traditionally read aloud to all hands, by custom every Sunday.
Randolph the Chronicler is almost certainly a prisoner aboard The Fortnum. The carrier pigeon, the Mark of the Three, the initial R, and Keyes's description of a man with pigeons who was confined after initially being a guest of the captain all point to Randolph.
How the pigeon reached the ship at all is a mystery. Homing pigeons fly only to a home they already know, and this ship was never that pigeon's home. Noddy suspects its owner shares a bond with it much like his own with Pocket, and worries what the bird's death might mean for him.
The Fortnum's orders still stand. "Two gone. Orders stand." — the loss of both priests has not ended the ship's mission. Captain Mason will continue to pursue the party.
The Fortnum's starboard side has structural weaknesses from sea serpent damage: the quarter planking and the midship rail. The weakened midship rail would be an advantage in any boarding action.
Captain Mason is a professional who would yield to preserve his crew if he believed his duty was fulfilled, per Keyes. He is not a fanatic.
The party believes The Fortnum's orders concern recovering the Diad and agreed unanimously they will not surrender it under any circumstance.
The party voted unanimously to engage The Fortnum and attempt to rescue the prisoner. No final plan was settled; the session ended with options still being debated.
Not all ways of crippling a ship are equal. Cutting steering lines or rigging can be repaired within hours; knocking down a mast or holing the hull cannot be fixed at sea at all. Hot shot — cannonballs heated red-hot before loading — is meant to set an enemy ship ablaze, at the risk of the gun itself if mishandled.

Items Gained

A message capsule and its note, recovered from the dead pigeon's leg — signed with the Mark of the Three and believed to have been sent by Randolph the Chronicler, held captive aboard The Fortnum.

Items Lost

Cosimo permanently transferred five power points to The Medallion as a result of the channeling accident, compensating Noddy from his own reserves.