Chapter 6 - Session 12

The Illusory Beluga and the Wreck of the Fortnum

Events and Actions

The party picked up where the boarding action had left off: Knick Nab and Randolph the Chronicler stood at the top of the stairs leading to the weather deck, in full view of Captain Mason and his crew, while the main deck around them was in controlled chaos — fires being fought with grim efficiency, the enemy still unseen and unhit. Below, at the stern balcony outside the captain's cabin, Mani and Riu had already established a boat: the Fortnum's captain's jolly boat, hanging permanently from davits at the stern, loaded with the sea chest of maps and charts and Randolph's writing case. Its normal complement of six — four rowers, a coxswain, and the captain — was reduced to a safe capacity of four with the cargo aboard. Leela and Boarder, having taken a gun crew completely by surprise and driven off the survivors, were still down by that captured cannon; Noddy, invisible and airborne, was unaccounted for but expected to make his own way back to the Medallion by flying.

Mani called Boarder into the boat to lash down the chest, the writing case, and the two sabers taken earlier from Second Lieutenant Bush, then took up a watch position in the cabin doorway between the balcony and the ship's interior, arming himself with the rifle taken earlier from a downed marine. Riu levitated up past the balcony to examine the mechanism holding the boat aloft, learning that a single windlass on the stern drove both suspension ropes together through a pulley system, held from turning only by a simple loop of rope; freeing it safely would mean cranking the windlass to take the tension off that loop, not simply cutting or pulling on the rope. Riu tried to use telekinesis to lift the loop free, planning to follow up with a resistance spell to ease the rope's controlled descent, but the five pounds of force he could exert wasn't nearly enough to move it, and the plan went no further. Knick Nab, meanwhile, talked Randolph down from wanting to stay and fight, urging him toward the boat instead.

A marine called out from the port side, mistaking Mani in his stolen jacket for the missing Lieutenant Bush; Mani answered in character, ordered the man back to his post, and told him they were launching the captain's jolly boat, which sent him away satisfied. Below, Knick Nab returned to the captain's cabin and found Leela freshly out of combat, bloodied and still keyed up; he coaxed her back toward the boat as the gun deck behind them grew more aware of the commotion. A lieutenant — the same officer Riu had grenaded earlier in the boarding — gathered about four armed sailors and began charging down the deck toward the party. Mani bluffed them off with a shouted counter-order, claiming an inbound sea serpent and ordering the lieutenant to prepare the starboard guns for defense; the lieutenant, suspicious but unwilling to ignore the possibility, halted his men, sent a boy to confirm the story with the captain, and armed his sailors to wait rather than press the attack.

With the charge stalled, the party pulled everyone into the captain's cabin and barricaded the door — a set of keys taken earlier failed to fit the lock — by prying a heavy shelf off the wall and wedging it into place with Leela and Boarder's help. Before leaving, Mani took a moment to loot the captain's own sea chest (its original contents, mostly clothing and a case of pistols, had already been dumped out to make room for the salvaged maps and charts): his good, feathered captain's hat, his gold-brocaded dress coat with its epaulettes, and two small, unidentified pouches. Randolph, still stalling, insisted on staying to help hold a door that no longer needed defending; the others refused and made him get in the boat.

Pounding began on the barricaded door as Mani, Boarder, and Leela climbed into the boat, with one seat still held open for Randolph. Riu came up onto the deck to create a diversion, casting shield over himself and lighting a grenade to throw toward the ship's wheel. Before he could release it, Mason spotted him and fired his double-barreled pistol from across the deck — one shot found him for seven points of damage, the second was turned aside by a deflection spell. Riu threw the grenade anyway; the blast badly wounded both a cabin boy running a message and Captain Mason himself, cracking a finger on his hand and leaving him stunned, and left the wheel damaged though still usable. With the windlass's rope finally worked loose in the chaos, the boat began its descent, and Riu called down to Randolph that this was his last chance before jumping over the side himself, casting a resistance spell mid-fall to help slow the boat's uneven drop as it rode down the ship's side.

Randolph broke from the door at the last moment, released a message pigeon from his coat rather than another grenade, and dove cleanly into the water below, struggling once submerged under the weight of his own coat. Mason reappeared with a second pistol and fired twice more at Riu, but his wounds and the earlier stun spoiled his aim, and both shots missed. Knick Nab, climbing up past Riu as Riu dropped past him, reached the weather deck just long enough to offer Mason a mocking salute and a suggestion that he do something about the approaching sea serpent, then took a showy, well-rolled dive of his own off the stern into the water.

Once down in the water, Riu checked whether the Fortnum's rudder left any gap against the hull he could wedge his last grenade into, but the ship was already pulling away and there was no chance to make use of it. The party then gathered by the boat: Mani, Boarder, and Leela safely aboard with the cargo, Randolph hauled in after struggling with his coat, and Riu and Knick Nab electing to hang off either side of the hull rather than overload it further. Rowing back toward the Medallion, the party got their first clear look at the crippled Fortnum — her main mast and rigging from the mainsail up burned out and unusable, smoke still rising from the forward hold where the sail room fire had taken hold, and her speed badly cut.

Aboard the Medallion, Cosimo tracked the action through a spyglass borrowed from Werner, the acting captain, catching earlier glimpses of Knick Nab and the chronicler on the Fortnum's quarterdeck before they vanished belowdecks. Noddy arrived by air shortly after, reporting that he hadn't managed to breach the enemy hull as intended before he'd run low on range. As the Medallion closed to retrieve the rowboat, lookouts spotted the sea serpent — vastly larger than any encountered before, sinuous and impossibly fast, cresting the water as it overtook the ship — bearing down on a line that could carry it toward either the small boat or the Fortnum beyond. Werner, alerted, handed the wheel to De Torres, the Master of Sail, and ran forward to man the bow arbalest himself, watching the serpent's approach without firing.

Cosimo considered luring the serpent off with an illusion, but held off casting until the creature's presence was confirmed. Once it was, he cast Fantasm, conjuring a giant illusory beluga a hundred feet off, adding a scent effect to make it smell of fresh whale meat, and sent it swimming off at speed in the hope of pulling the serpent's attention toward the enemy ship. The serpent ignored it entirely and kept coming, passing directly beneath the rowboat without attacking — close enough that Knick Nab reached down and ran his hand along its scales in open awe as it slid past. Randolph, questioned about it, admitted he was fairly certain he had called the creature himself, using a rare Academy talent for communicating with birds and beasts that he'd never before tested on anything so large, and that it was meant to attack the Fortnum rather than the party — though he confessed some worry it might be confused given how close the boat now sat to the ship it was hunting. Pressed further as they rowed, he admitted this wasn't his first attempt: smaller serpents had gone after the Fortnum earlier in the voyage and been beaten off, on one occasion alongside a burst of mortar fire from an unexplained source that no one aboard had claimed responsibility for. In the midst of it, he also made a halting, largely unsuccessful attempt at introducing himself to Leela in broken Islander, admitting he'd been practising the language but had little skill in it yet.

The party chose not to interfere further and let the serpent continue on its way. It surfaced against the Fortnum in full view of both crews, weathering musket fire, cannon shot, and thrown weapons before crashing down across the ship's length hard enough to break her in two; ship and serpent both vanished beneath the waves shortly after. With the fight over, the party rowed the rest of the way to the Medallion, keeping the captured jolly boat rather than casting it off, to serve as an extra ship's launch.

Once safely aboard, the party debated their next move. They agreed to sail for the pirate enclave near Drowned Man's Port to retrieve Brother Nicolas, reasoning that the Diad they'd recovered earlier — believed to be the one binding Grantos — was too bound up in the power of the Divinity of Two for any of them to use safely, and that Nicolas was needed to command it. Concerned that the Divinity might be able to track the Diad if it lingered too long in one place, they agreed to make the stop brief and keep moving afterward rather than making camp at the pirate cove. They also voted, three to one, to keep Randolph confined below decks during the stop, both to keep the location of the pirate enclave out of his writings and to avoid drawing any attention to the Diad's whereabouts — Randolph, for his part, insisted he knew nothing of any hidden pirate base in these waters beyond the general rumor that local piracy had to come from somewhere, and noted that his recent months as a captive had left him further out of touch with naval gossip than usual. Along the way, they planned a side trip near Grantos's wreck to retrieve a magic item known to be resting in a shallow underwater cavern beneath a giant sea turtle, and intended to spend the sailing time questioning Randolph about the last three years: the fate of the war, why the party had been declared heretics, what became of their old ship and captain, what is known of the Shatters and the two priests who had served aboard the Fortnum, the Fortnum's original mission, and the nature of Randolph's own facility for calling beasts. Asked separately why his surrender to Captain Mason had seemed so formal, Randolph explained it as a simple matter of honor rather than anything magical: he had given Mason his word not to attempt escape, in exchange for a promise that his writings would be delivered safely to the Academy rather than confiscated, and considered that word void the moment the party carried the writing case off the ship themselves.

NPCs & Creatures

Randolph the Chronicler — escaped the Fortnum with the party, struggling to swim in his heavy coat; revealed he had likely called the giant sea serpent himself using a rare Academy talent for communicating with birds and beasts, intending it to attack the Fortnum, and admitted surprise at its scale. Explained his oddly formal surrender to Captain Mason as an honor-bound bargain — his word not to escape in exchange for his writings being spared and delivered to the Academy — voided the moment the party took the writing case; also professed no knowledge of the hidden pirate enclave the party means to visit.
Captain Mason — wounded by Riu's grenade near the wheel (a broken finger, stunned) but kept fighting, firing a double-barreled pistol at Riu twice more before his ship was destroyed by the sea serpent; had earlier held Randolph captive under an honor-bound promise not to confiscate his writings, a bargain the party's escape with the writing case rendered moot; his fate after the serpent's attack is unknown.
Second Lieutenant Bush — not seen this session; his two sabers, taken after his defeat the session before, were recovered and stowed aboard the escape boat.
First Lieutenant Montoya — led a group of about four armed sailors in a charge toward the party's escape route; halted and held back after Mani bluffed him with a false order about an inbound sea serpent.
An unnamed cabin boy — critically wounded by the blast of Riu's diversionary grenade near the ship's wheel while relaying a message.
Leela — found freshly out of combat with a gun crew, bloodied and keyed up; coaxed back to the boat and rowed for the Medallion.
Boarder — helped secure the sea chest, writing case, and sabers in the jolly boat before the escape.
De Torres — took the wheel of the Medallion as Master of Sail when Werner ran forward to man the bow arbalest as the sea serpent approached.
The giant sea serpent — far larger than any previously encountered, fast and serpentine with no visible fins or limbs; passed directly beneath the party's boat without attacking before crashing down on and destroying the Fortnum.

Locations

The Fortnum — the boarding action's final stage: the weather deck in disarray from firefighting, the captain's cabin (looted and barricaded), and the stern balcony where the captain's jolly boat hung from its davits.
The open sea between the Fortnum and the Medallion — where the party swam and rowed to safety, and where the sea serpent passed beneath their boat.
The Medallion — the party's own ship, which closed in to recover the escaping party while directing its own response to the approaching serpent.

Conflicts

Riu's attempt to free the jolly boat's winch by force failed outright — five pounds of telekinetic force was nowhere near enough to overcome the mechanism. Riu's diversionary grenade near the ship's wheel fared better as a weapon than a distraction: before he could throw it, Mason spotted him and hit him once with a double-barreled pistol for seven points of damage, the second shot deflected; Riu threw the grenade anyway, and its blast critically wounded both a passing cabin boy and Captain Mason (a broken finger, stunned) and dented the wheel itself. Mason then fired twice more with a second pistol as Riu made his escape, both shots spoiled by his wounds and stun. No one else in the party was harmed reaching the boat. The session's decisive conflict was the sea serpent's assault on the Fortnum itself: after ignoring Cosimo's illusory beluga and passing peacefully beneath the party's boat, it surfaced against the enemy ship under a hail of musket fire, cannon shot, and thrown weapons, then crashed down across her length, breaking the ship in two before both vanished beneath the waves.

Learnings and Discussions

The jolly boat's suspension mechanism was a single windlass driving both ropes together through a pulley, held from spinning only by a rope loop that had to be cranked loose rather than cut or pulled free by hand — a detail that cost the party valuable time under fire. Randolph confirmed, when asked, that he was very likely responsible for summoning the sea serpent using a facility with birds and beasts taught at the Academy — a broader skill than the one he and his fellow Chroniclers most often put to use for message-bird work — and admitted he'd had no expectation the talent could produce a beast of this size; he was visibly startled by the result and remarked that even after three years in the west he was still continually amazed by its wonders. The mortar fire that had inexplicably supported one of his earlier, smaller summonings against the Fortnum remains unaccounted for.

Pressed on why his surrender aboard the Fortnum had seemed so oddly formal, Randolph explained there had been nothing magical to it: he had simply given Captain Mason his word, as a matter of honor, not to attempt escape, and in exchange Mason had agreed not to confiscate his writings but to see them delivered safely to the Academy. Once the party took possession of the writing case, Mason no longer held anything to hold him to that bargain, and Randolph considered himself free to break his word without loss of honor. He also professed to know nothing of any hidden pirate enclave in these waters — only the general rumor that piracy in the region must have some base — noting that his recent months as a captive had left him less privy to naval gossip than before.

The party confirmed their belief that the Diad recovered earlier is the one binding Grantos, but that its power, being tied to the Divinity of Two, is incompatible with any of them — Brother Nicolas will be needed to command it and free Grantos. They resolved to sail for the pirate enclave near Drowned Man's Port to collect Nicolas, keep the visit brief to avoid the Divinity tracking the Diad, and keep Randolph confined below decks during the stop by a three-to-one vote, both to protect the pirates' location and to keep the Diad's whereabouts out of his writings. Riu, who now wears the Diad, recalled a past incident with a submerged clam that had seemed to resist his sensing it, and hoped that keeping the Diad on his own person might create similar interference against anyone trying to track it — though the party admitted they had no real certainty how, or whether, such tracking would actually work. They also planned a side trip to recover a magic item resting in a shallow cavern beneath a giant sea turtle near Grantos's wreck, and agreed to spend the voyage debriefing Randolph on developments of the last three years: the state of the war, the party's heretic status, the fate of their old ship and captain, the nature of the Shatters, the two priests who served aboard the Fortnum, the Fortnum's original mission, and what Randolph might know of magic beyond what the Divinity of Two itself teaches.

Items Gained

The captain's gold-brocaded dress coat with epaulettes, and his good, feathered captain's hat.
Two small, unidentified pouches taken from the captain's cabin.
Second Lieutenant Bush's two sabers, recovered and stowed in the escape boat.
The Fortnum's captain's jolly boat, kept as an additional launch for the Medallion.

Items Lost

None.