Malcer Icedrivver

Name
He was named by his mother, who was of Illuskan/Northlander heritage.

Parents
Malcer's father was a surface drow pirate of decent fortune.  He came across a feisty human on one of their raids, and was impressed by her ballsy attitude that they ended up sharing time together when he was in the region and eventually Malcer was born.  Malcer had only small periods of time with his father, but it was during those times that he learned both some skills in fighting, but also in piracy and smuggling; something that his father was well practiced at.  It has been many years since those times, long enough that his mother has passed on from old age, and he himself has aged a bit past his prime.  He hasn't seen his father in years, although they didn't have a close relationship, only one of learning and brevity.

Employment
While Malcer made his way into the world with the skills he had been taught; hard graft and determination from his mother, and authority, fighting, and piracy from his father, the world was not kind, nor would he have expected it to be, especially looking as he did with his father's heritage very visible.  He initially joined a mercenary group that didn't mind taking on someone like him, but after a few years he grew increasingly frustrated by their lack of dicipline and the distinct lack of financial growth in his wealth.  It was during this time that he came across one small item amongst a multitude, and made a decision that changed the course of his life.

The Onyx Ring
While staying in a town between jobs, the rest of the band of mercenaries likely away drinking their spoils from the last job, Malcer found himself in a traders shop, one that didn't mind dealing in the less upstanding trades that people brought him.  It was there in the jumble of old junk, reposessed furniture, and the clutter of everyday items that he found a dusty and ill-kept ring.  It was the black gem that drew his eye, for although he was not one to flash what wealth he had, he did enjoy subtler sorts of treasure; a well crafted blade; fine armour; luxuries that made the day less onerous.  And so he saw the black gem on that ring and despite the tarnished look of the metal around it, knew enough about the underhanded to see the well-hidden hinge that would let it be used to house some poisons within.  He liked it enough that he purchased it for a modest price, the vendor likely never knowing what it was he sold.  It was only after he had settled down in some privacy in a room he did not yet have to share with others, that he found that despite his knowledge, he hadn't either.

An alien and complex mind spoke to him there, through the conduit of that ring.  It could glean his frustrations, his drive to be something more than he had ended up being in that mercenary company.  It offered him a deal.  It would grant him a measure of its power in exchange for what appeared to be a genuine wish for some entertainment.  It wished to follow along and watch what he made of himself, as others might listen to a bard's tales. 

Although the interaction was disconcerting, there seemed little detriment to it, if he didn't mind his life and thoughts to be monitored and commented upon from time to time, or nudged in one direction or another if the circumstances seemed to favour it.  He agreed, and in doing so he found himself to be tied to a Marid genie, and magic now flowed through him offering him the edge to better his life from the rut it had fallen into.

For all that many warlock patrons tended to either trade for someone's soul, or to circumvent the deal in malicious ways for the warlock, this didn't seem to be the case between Malcer an the Marid.  It was a being so powerful that it had no need for such a paltry thing as a soul, but instead seemed, especially as the years passed, to regard him as something like a favoured pet, and have no greater desire than to just be entertained by what he got up to, and from time to time help him out of the various messes that he ended up in due to where life took him.  It was an amicable agreement that Malcer, despite his pride, has never regretted.

Piracy & Smuggling
With his newfound powers, Malcer found himself in an excellent position to focus more on lucrative asset procural, and swiftly became sought after for jobs like that.  Although his hand-to-hand fighting skills were not as honed as his father had been, he more than made up for it with the ability to hide and transport goods without evidence, thanks to his ability to store and hide things in the pocket dimension granted to him in the onyx ring. 

He has been in several crews over the years of his life, extended as those years have been due to his heritage.  He tends to move on from a group or crew if he finds them unprofessional or too chaotic to be successful.  His last ship, captained by Mad Jack Goatlegs, was one such crew.  He takes pride in a successful haul, and grows swiftly impatient with those who cannot bring that.

The most obvious thing that people would come to know about Malcer is his ruthlessness if a situation calls for it.  He is old for a half-elf, and having been in either mercenary groups or dealing in piracy, theft, and smuggling for almost all of that life, he could be considered a veteran of it.  As such he has little patience for tomfoolery that would put jobs in jepoardy, as he takes pride in his work, and the luxuries that such work brings.  He will generally ignore behaviour up until a point where it puts a job, or those required for it, under threat, an at that point will not hold back from dealing with it in a way that is likely still talked of in hushed backroom conversations about dire portents and horror.  Malcer is not a good man.

In general though, he is amiable enough to the crew so long as someone doesn't piss him off, although not given to idle chatter.  He is charismatic, but not in the way that builds friends, but in the way that a few words tend to have impact on a situation.

He is likely known for someone with tactical know-how, due to his age and experience, and someone that a crew member could ask advice on a problem that needs solving, and expect to get a practical solution to that problem, although one that may lean towards his ruthlessness.  People do not come to him for a shoulder to cry on unless they want the situation dealt with in a messy an final way.

How it started
From the rumours, he is said to have an ex lover that was a pope.  Although it is not commonly known, or known at all, it wasn't a pope, but a priest of Apollo by the name of Jason who was working as an ambassador to Dragonsing from the Empire.  Much like his father would drop in to see Malcer's mother, Malcer would stop by to see the asamaar when he was in the same city or at arranged meeting places for secrecy. It was never intended to lead anywhere due to their very different social statuses and life goals, especially with the god that Jason chose to follow. 

The mutually satisfying arrangement started out as just a bit of stress relief an good fun that continued whenever they met up.  This halted, however, when Jason's Pope started cracking down on the clergy being with warlocks.  Jason called off their time together, and yet seemed dissapointed that Malcer did not take this with more emotional distress, likely hoping that he meant more to the half-elf.

The Letters
Despite the way they had parted, and the general ambivalence that Malcer had shown towards cessation of their times together, he had in the aftermath continued to write to Jason, or even send him small tokens if he came across something on his travels that he thought might be of interest.  These would continue, assuming he got at least some replies left for him from time to time.  If the port or town he was in had a temple or shrine to Apollo, he would often make a donation for a letter to be sent, giving at least some indication of where he might land next so that a reply might find him.

Malcer would never have instigated a meeting, not after they had parted that evening when Jason had unsurprisingly followed the will of his Pope rather than their sporadic yet pleasurable times together with someone his religion would not tolerate, not unless it was requested of him.  But if it was requested, then he would have made the time, as he always had in the past if he was able, even if it were merely to talk.  Few would consider Malcer to be someone you would really want to talk to, but perhaps he was a little different in private than he was dealing with crew members or the unsavoury contacts in the underbelly of a city.

The letters themselves were generally a small collection of thoughts or observations gathered together to be sent next time he was able to pass it on.  He would never have mentioned their intimate time together in those letters, or hinted at it as many might have done in the hope of changing the man's mind through yearning.  The priest had set a boundary, and on the surface at least, Malcer was respecting that, giving no one any reason, should they come across the letters, to question whether there was more to their continued contact than mere friendship.  The penmanship varied in neatness, likely due to the changeable weather, although sometimes when it was at its neatest there might be hints of scent still lingering on the paper from when Malcer had penned it while in the secure comfort of his patron's vessel.

No matter how they had parted that evening, no matter his visible ambivalence and words at the time, the letters showed an unwillingness to entirely abandon contact with the man who he had taken to bed.  They showed a record of how he still thought of him on his varied journeys, words of both frustrations and satisfactions found.  Whether this was from boredom, hidden affection, or manipulation (as many would assume), only someone close to him would know.

Flashbacks of each of the three player characters; one from their early years, and one from a more recent time.

Bagarius

Bagarius, a sea elf, was seen talking to his mentor, Mjorgri, when completing his training.  The mentor showed his pride in Bagarius, and said they might one day meet up again.

In the second flashback we saw Bagarius on a ship, where a disagreement with a paying customer - a bard of some supposed renown - complained about Bagarius's behaviour in the cabin, finding it disgusting that he would trim his beard with his axe and let the leavings fall amongst some oranges or something.  The bard refused to pay, and I think Bagarius was basically fired from the ship afterwards as although well liked, the situation cost the captain a lot of money when the bard then refused to pay.

Malcer

In the first flashback we saw Malcer, a half-drow pirate, shortly after he found the ring and made his pact.  The captain of the ship he was on at the time - Vicious Mockery - seemed pleased and supportive, liking the further efficiency and usefulness this would bring.

The second flashback was in a well appointed chamber of a priest of Apollo, an assamar with whom Malcer was previously spending intimidate time with called Jason (of the High Humility).  We saw the priest calling off the relationship because the pope had been cracking down on those spending time with warlocks and feared for his position.  Malcer, not having been emotionally invested in the relationship, having had no illusions that it would ever amount to anything more than the fun times together when he was in the area, merely shrugged.  The priest, however, seemed to have been looking for more of a reaction than that, and hoping too that their relationship meant more to Malcer than he showed at the time, despite being the one calling it off.  Malcer merely told him that if he changed his mind, that Jason knew where he could find him.

Maladie

We first saw Maladie, a faerie with red tapered wings, on the evening when he decided to leave the fae court in the shadowfell.  He is stopped at the exit by his father, a human named Agrick.  Although the father wished for Maladie to stay, citing that he could make his mark on the world by staying, since the court was still young in years for a fae court, Maladie declined.  He couldn't stand being around the evil and wickedness of his mother.  His father didn't stop him, and merely told him he would be there when he returned.

In the second flashback we saw Maladie when he was working with the Myconids in the underdark city of Dakkalor.  The Myconid sovereign that he'd been working for, Vic, offered him some of the product he had been shipping.  During this, Maladie found that he could see into the life of a dwarf, but further delving into that life showed that the Myconid sovereign was actually acting like a mafia boss, buying the poorest people's lives, giving them a good time for a while before harvesting them for their mind-altering product that others could hallucinate and feel good with.  When confronted, the sovereign showed disappointment in the rejection of this, and attacked Maladie, who flew swiftly away to safety.

—

Present day

Meanwhile the group are on their current ship, on a task for the Earl of New Penitence, when a storm tempest hits, swiftly followed by elemental creatures and Merrows.  The fight was overwhelming, having come out of nowhere.  Bagarius held his own against several lightning mephits and a water elemental, Malcer held and pushed back the Merrows, accidentally damaging the ballista on the front of the ship, while Maladie changed into a giant wasp before being brought low by a merrow.  Malaise attempted to befuddle the creature by kissing it, but it did not go well, and got cast over the side of the ship several times until he was dragged under by a harpoon.  

Although waves had been crashing over the side of the ship at fairly regular intervals, one huge wave washed over the ship sending Malcer over the side, despite being far from it, as well as all the elementals onboard.  Immediately the storm and attacks were gone, the ship was in visible distance to the harbour.  Malcer was washed up on the beach, but of Maladie there was no sign.

On the beach outside the town of New Penitence, Bagarius helps Malcer up from the beach, and they are soon joined by their captain.  They need trade goods to resupply: hard tack and lemons - not the tastiest of rations by any means, but their recent voyages haven't been the most successful to buy anything better.  They need to find their crewmate, Maladie, and the captain also tells them about the job in the city, to find and dig up rum that is hidden in the city, and then safely take it to a seller elsewhere, covert means being imperative.

So, having left their blades in the ship for safekeeping due to the rules of the town, the pair head to the gates where they are stopped by the guards there.  Their presence brings with it the attention of the town's reeve, Sir Rowley, who grants them entry, then leaves them to their shopping. 

It is while looking for the Naval Supply store that Malcer comes across something rather odd, and concerning.  There is a large statue there in pride of place, and it is of him!  'Here commemorates the folk hero, Malcer Icedrivver'.  Malcer's previous visitation to the town, many years ago, was one of calamity and frustrations of a job gone wrong, nothing that would explain this!  The blacksmith, who had made the statue, recognises him, and relates the tale, one that a drow by the name of Old Mulfric - not a Lolth-sworn name - tells often in the tavern.  But afterwards quick words by Malcer make the man doubt the resemblance, and he quickly makes his way to the supply store, hoping to avoid notice as much as possible.

However it isn't long before the reeve finds them again while Malcer is organising the rations for the ship, having been told by his lieutenant that the folk hero has returned, the one who killed the reave all that time ago - a tyrant by public opinion - left the wealth of the then bishop in the water where the town had salvage rights, and disappeared, but not before a curse had been placed that seemed to stop any reeve from staying in position for very long, usually by means of death.  The current reeve, Sir Rowley, went to investigate.

It is unfortunate for Malcer's wish to remain in the background unnoticed that the attention of the reeve asking him questions brings the attention of the shopkeeper to him, and recognition sparks delight.  Sir Rowley attempts to stop the excitement and news from spreading, but fails, as he does not seem to hold the same level of respect from the people that reeves in other towns do.  

Malcer, much to his inner dismay, is soon surrounded by excited masses trying to convey him on their shoulders through town.  Wary by nature, he avoids it with a dexterous move, and then, seeing that they are only gathering more of the public in this exuberant display he has no wish for, decides that exiting sooner rather than later is the best course of action.  His familiar, invisible, grips small hands around his ring, and he disappears into it, vanishing from the midst of the throng of people.  It creates startled gasps, and exclamations, but the happy crowd soon make their way to the tavern without him, much to his relief.  So much for keeping on the down-low in the city!

Meanwhile Maladie wakes to find himself in a cave, being watched over by a young dragonborn who, when seeing he has regained consciousness, heals him, telling Maladie that he has been training to be a cleric of Poseidon.

Any questions that Maladie might have for the youth are curtailed when in the middle of a discussion about the interests inherent in the underdark, an older man appeared at the end of the cave.

"What are you doing with my son!"

It did not appear to be a congenial introduction to who he swiftly found out was the bishop of New Penitence, for he was soon led out of the place by the strong arms of the bishop's guards.  It swiftly becomes clear, not only that the bishop does not believe Maladie when he tells him about how he ended up in the basement cave of their building, but that he very much suspects that Maladie is a spy, and possibly an assassin.  The bishop is not a trusting man, but he is seemingly a powerful one, if the state of his armour gives hint.  It is greatly rusted, and in the church of Poseidon, this means that he has gathered both power and prestige.

The bishop's attitude changes, however, when Maladie tells him that he is a royal from the faewild, and while he may not trust Maladie, he is knowledgeable enough to understand that there are very clear protocols around guesting rights when dealing with the fae.  Maladie is then told he is a guest, in order to try and take advantage of this, and shown to a bedroom, one that had the door locked behind him.

Usually guesting rights and protocols are binding to a fae in a way they would not be to a regular person, but Maladie is only half fae, and he soon finds that he can ignore them, as he becomes curious about music nearby.  The locked door means little to him, as he merely flutters out of the nearby window and along to the one nearby, where he sees the young dragonborn, Sarastro, playing a glockenspiel. 

The son of the bishop is far more willing to talk than his father was, showing a curious mind and an isolation brought on by his father's position and general disinterest in anything his son had to say.  It wasn't difficult for Maladie to win the young dragonborn's trust, and in a turn of youthful rebellion, Sarastro transported them both into the town in order to see what all the fuss was about with the folk hero, which Maladie had found out was none other than his crewmate.

In the tavern, the captain had made it into the town and found Bagarius, questioning him about what was going on, and where the other crewmates were.  Malcer's sprite, having landed on Bagarius's shoulder, invisible, had been riding along with him, with Malcer listening in from the comfort of his ring-vessel.  The drow bard soon starts up tales of Malcer's supposed exploits, and Bagarius fills in more tall tales for the amusement of the tavern, some more far-fetched than others.  The drinks are plentiful, if on the fiery side, something that neither Maladie nor Sarastro find particularly enjoyable. 

Meanwhile the reeve had ventured into the joyful tavern in search of Malcer himself, but soon finds himself the target of a rather unscrupulous fellow trying to get him to buy into a pyramid scheme around essential owls.  Perhaps thankfully for the man, he didn't have enough money to buy into it, and the salesman soon scurried off when a murmured word or two clued him into the fact that he'd just tried to fleece the new reeve.  Still, it was that very same salesman that had the job for the captain and crew of the Chimera.  Smuggling 10 crates of stolen rum was precarious, but it would be worth their time.  After some haggling was done, a deal was struck.

20% and one bottle or rum for the map.

Maladie though, had seen the man try to fleece others with his pyramid scheme, and moved through the crowd, coming up behind the gnome and murmuring to him in a light but intimidating way, that he shouldn't be doing it there, and should skip town and leave.  The weird lack of personal space and the general vibe seemed to be enough after he'd already made a mistake trying to fleece the reeve, and the gnome scarpered.  Pleased, the half-fae made their way back to the starry eyed dragonborn, and melded back into the crowd, his arm around him.

As the tavern gets more rowdy with the drinking, Selastro takes Maladie away, teleporting him again with the use of the cloak to a cliffside, a special place he comes to when he needs space from his father to just think.  The young dragonborn's eyes fill with the place that he is sharing, and it becomes clear that it is more than merely friendship the cleric is hoping for.  Maladie indulges him, the kisses sweet in the sea air, before they go back to the bishop's house.  They part there, the young cleric seeming disappointed that Maladie did not take it further, but acknowledged the precariousness of their position.

Back at the tavern, the drinking had continued, even after Malcer let the captain know he was heading back to the ship before his respite in the ring-vessel ran out.  Bagarious was deep in his cup, but not so deep that he couldn't deal with a troublemaker that came in trying to pick a fight.  The half-orc, Treetrunk Tony, was no match for the inspiring bulk of the sea elf, and left as swiftly as he came.

The next morning saw many with a grievous hangover, and on the bishop's orders, the reeve is sent to round up and bring in the crew of the Chimera to an interview with him.  Bagarious is found on the street, his head in a barrel with some crabs, while Malcer is still aboard the ship.  Disguise in place, and early enough to avoid detection, they are escorted to meet the bishop, to try and ascertain just how much of a threat they are, considering the bishop's paranoia, especially when he finds out about Malcer's history in the town.

The meeting, mostly consisting of the bishop lobbing accusations at the largely silent crew, decides that the current reeve, Sir Rowley, will accompany them in order to prove themselves allies of the [empire?], and tasks them with finding the 'misplaced' rum and return it.  The crew leave to return back to their ship, Sir Rowley in tow.

The session started with the group still in the audience with the bishop of New Penitence, under suspicion for being spies.  The bishop sent them on their way with a task to prove themselves loyal, to find out the truth behind a case of 'vandalism in the distillery' and rectify the situation, ordering the reeve to accompany them.

After a brief stop just outside of town where they found their captain selling mundane items belonging to Malcer (genuine artifacts from the hero of New Penitence!) while talking with the bard, the group headed onwards with further tasks from their captain to pick up some loot he had left hidden in a nearby dwarven ruin, as well as telling them privately about the location for the task for Mr Owens elsewhere in the ruins, and tasked them with converting the reeve to their cause.  Thus armed with a map and warnings about dwarven traps, the group left the bard and captain there (along with Malcer's sprite, whose job was to follow the bard), and headed away from the town to investigate the distillery.  The captain, meanwhile, seemed intent on selling more of Malcer's belongings to the gullable of New Penitence, and to secure a cart for moving 'archaeological finds'.

At the distillery, they spoke to Foreman Norman, a dwarf who was in charge.  The distillery walls were made up of massive barrels roughly 10fx10ft in size.  One of them is missing, clear tracks of it having been moved and then rolled away from town towards the forest.  When questioned about his involvement, the reeve stated that it wasn't his job to investigate the theft, he was just there to watch the group.  The foreman was not impressed.

When questioned about what he suspected was the cause of the theft, the foreman said that people have been thinking it was a creature named 'Krelbrean' that was the cause, (a giant or elemental creature said to haunt the forests in the area) although also noted that they tended to always blame that creature, mythical or otherwise, for any ills that befell them.  Either way, something with very large hands and a great strength moved that huge barrel.  As they journeyed onwards along the huge furrow made by the theft, Maladie realised that this was a huge creature of at least 15ft tall, humanoid and bipedal, with intelligence enough to know to roll the barrel rather than push it.  Giants, Cyclops, or even big devils fit the bill, but more than that he didn't know.  None of those were native.

Traveling onwards into the forest towards along that furrow, the dwarven ruins were closeby when the trail ended at a sheer rockface.  A path would have led onwards into a cave, but the entrance had been blocked by a massive stone.  Maladie, thinking that perhaps the local wildlife could shift it aside enough to get past, called up their druidic powers and had a chat.  This was very disconcerting and uncomfortable for Sir Rowley, who asserted that a shrub should not move and talk like that.

The plants seemed to think it would take too long to grow and move the rock, but did mention a tree elsewhere in the area that was more [knowledgeable?].  It also mentioned a creature of magic that came and went from the forest, sometimes flying.  It had been noted leaving when the shrub was only a sapling, and it hadn't flown back yet.

With the ruins very closeby, the group found that they were clearly of duegar origin.  Heading inside and following the map that the captain gave them, they soon found the treasure he'd left behind there before they moved onwards being careful to be on the lookout for traps.

They came to a large chamber with obelisks and various writings on the floor, as well as a sealed and locked door.  As they looked around, Malcer tried to engage the reeve in some chat, to try and find out more about him; what made him tick, what might be leveraged to getting him on-side rather than a problem.  Sir Rowley was as taciturn as ever, and gave little away.  He seemed to take jobs for money alone, and then moved on to go back to travelling until that money ran out.  Money, at least, was something that they could work with, but the crew of the Chimera had been a little unlucky on that count lately…

The puzzle of the room eluded the group for a while, getting distracted by a magical tree that had been left on one of the pillars, and the remnants of magic that still lingered in the air from a recent visitor.  But with little else to occupy themselves, they persevered until the use of elemental magic and some ingenuity both started and ended a fight with several mephits and a golem.  And yet the door did not open, and only time would tell if they managed to figure out how to progress.

The group made quick work of killing the golem, and Maladie found within its chest a key made of grounding iron, also called summoner's silver, a substance used to control extraplanar beings.  It would have been bad news for his mother to touch, but his mixed heritage left Maladie unbothered by it.  

Checking the door to the east, the group found it open, and evidence of a trap sprung and gone wrong within, something that left a huge chasm and a waterfall in its wake.  Beyond it though Malcer was able to make out the bounty of rum that the captain had been looking for.  The presence of the reeve with them made him hesitant to touch it, and instead the group headed to the north door instead after Maladie spoke again to the unusual tree in the main chamber (something that mostly consisted of misunderstandings and insults). Through that conversation they soon became aware of the presence of a huge creature in the cavern beyond.

After a lengthy argument in which Sir Rowley refused to take the lead along the corridor, the group made their way through the north door, with Maladie bringing both the snake person and the roomba, they came across what had undoubtedly been the instigator of the theft of the barrel, for there lay a cyclops, drunk and unconscious on the floor with the barrel nearby, three-quarters empty.

Thankfully Sir Rowley did know something of such a creature, and offered snippets of information to those he travelled with.  The fact that cyclops were fairly easy to be impressed by magic was the route that the group decided to use, and soon thereafter Maladie woke the cyclops from its drunken slumber.

Despite the group's plans to try and impress the cyclops, it was actually Maladie's conversational skills that found the creature willing to talk with them, offering a kind ear to the cyclops' plight.  They learned a lot about what was going on, when the cyclops thought that the group were with someone called Aviel.  It turned out that the cyclops was indigenous, and that the bishop himself was the one who had been using the cyclops.  The group were not pleased to find out that the very man who had sent them here to investigate the crime, was also the one who had instigated it.  Maladie took very little time before talking the cyclops, Kilbrean, into becoming annoyed with the bishop when it became clear that the bishop had set him up to fall (or sent the group to get killed by the cyclops).  It seemed that Kilbrean had showed the bishop the magic of the place, and other secrets of the island too, and was displeased that the man was betraying him in this way.

Still, there was the problem of getting the barrel and its remaining contents back to town, for it was large enough to be a problem, (for the reeve was still with them).

The group decided to take Kilbrean out to get some water from a nearby stream to help sober him up more before deciding what to do, but when they left the cave after the cyclops easily rolled the rock out the way, instantly two of them got magical messages sent to them.

To Maladie from the bishop's son, Celastro:

"Father knows about us. Plans on crossbow wedding.  Has plan to deal with hero.  Someone from Dungeons.  Father thnks you are son of someone powerful.  Like you, but no."

Maladie replies, heard by the group:

"Cyclops in hill, coming, village.  Mother strong fae ruler.  Your father wants me dead? You want to come with us? We leave asap.  Sending big kisses."

There was no reply.

Sir Rowley also got a message, this time from the bishop:

"Sir Rowley you are discharged from the station of reeve. You are to be replaced by Sir Reece of Albia.  No reply is necessary."

Sir Rowley replied:
"We're not done yet."

Sir Rowley told the group that they could stop calling him reeve, and yet it was not the group who replied, but their captain who had stepped out from nearby and let them know that he'd seen some concerning things, including the fact that there had been an Imperial Man-of-war ship on the horizon, and he had left town before they arrived.  He had the cart nearby in order to transport the rum.

The captain took the chest that Maladie had carried for him from the ruins, and let the group take an object from within it, along with the gold.

• 500gp

• Scroll of pirate sending

• Scroll of water walking

• [Maladie] - gloves of bullying (it will punch yourself in your face unless draconic words were spoken to stop it)

• [Malcer] - Rod of intransigence - when the button is pressed the holders opinions solidify and they are impossible to convince. 

• [Rowley] - A helm with an exclamation mark on the forehead that he gives back to the captain, who puts it on.

• [Captain] - cloak of billowing "Dashing, no?"

With the chest dealt with, Maladie and Sir Rowley went to take Kilbrean to get some water, while Malcer and the Captain went inside to gather the crates.  After a couple of close calls, they managed to get them all back outside unharmed, with Malcer having collected the smoke demon at the same time.

They found out from Kilbrean, when they met back up again, that the bishop had been working with this Aviel (a sort of spirit person), who was likely the head of a mercenary group from below the waves, and had called up the storm that had caught their ship.

Not sure what to do, but knowing they should be better rested before anything, they found a hidden spot that Kilbrean had not told the bishop about, and rested through the night. [long rest].

Heading back to town with Kilbrean moving the barrel, Maladie and Malcer with the elementals, a couple of people see them and run in the other direction.  On the door to the distillery there are posters of the Captain and Bagarius, wanted on charges of Piracy and theft, and another with Sir Rowley, on charges of lycanthrope.

Making their way cautiously into town, Sir Rowley, the previous reeve, slipped away, leaving the group to pursue his own bid for freedom.  The captain was keen to get the ill-gotten cargo back to the ship unseen, and tasked the group to make a distraction so he could do so.  This proved easier than expected, for in short order the group could hear shouting from the direction of where Malcer's statue was, the voice angry and calling out his name.

Malcer sent his sprite to scout ahead, and soon found that it was his former captain, the one he had assumed was dead, holding a youth hostage and demanding that Malcer show himself and answer for his crimes against him.  All around the statue where the crowd gathered, he was able to pick out privateers interspersed, as well as a leader, one likely to be the bishop's new reeve; a paladin of zeus, Captain Brightspear.

After a brief discussion relating the information to the group, they decided that this would be a good enough way to cause the distraction their current captain wished, and so the group, along with Kilbrean and the three elementals, made their way to where the commotion was happening, bringing more with them.  It became clear quite quickly that the captain had been fed a narrative from the bishop to turn him against his former crewmate, but it was not Malcer's words that made the difference in turning his opinion, but that of Bagarius.  Malcer's former captain, Mjorgri, turned out to be the very man who mentored and taught Bagarius, and it was his words, citing Mjorgri's current behaviour as being something he did not recognise in the man who taught him, that finally brought the man on-side. 

Nothing was easy, however, for the elementals that they had brought with them from the locked chamber seemed only to be bound for one full day, and it was during that fight that such a time ran out, with the elementals turning on anyone in the vicinity.  While Bagarius held them off, Maladie utilised their druid craft to lure his favourite one, Roomba, to attacking the guards, as well as reviving one of the townsfolk that had gotten trampled to death.

Meanwhile Kilbrean had been directed to attacking the leader of the privateers, but the paladin stood strong against him, and he used his formidable command to force the cyclops onto his knees, and then ordered the privateer guards to attack en-masse.  Malcer, used the action to turn the crowd against the reeve, for that was not an action of an upstanding man, and the townsfolk started pelting the privateers with fruit and rocks, one even managing to hit the reeve himself.  As the group started decimating both the elementals and the guards, and Malcer summoned a creature of shadow that incited such fear in the guards that they all turned tail and started running away, Captain Brightspear decided that enough was enough.  "I say!  This isn't what I bloody sign up for!" and he turned and walked away, swiftly disappearing ith magic, and leaving his troops to it.

Malcer, still hovering above his own statue was left with the memory of a floating invisible creature he'd found there, one that had been hovering there watching before leaving the area when it had been found out, but it was the flash and decimation of the last of Roomba that heralded the more interesting of people.  [Celastro], the bishop's son stood there, book held in his hand as he looked to Maladie with a nod.  Perhaps the young cleric was choosing to join them, after all.