Avast ye scurvy dogs, we’ll soon be enterin’ the waters of the Windfall Archipelago! Ye best harden yer hearts and ready yer weapons, cause there be no tellin’ what wretched, no good, yellow-bellied bilge rats’ll be lookin’ to plunder our ship and send us to the sirens! If ye know what’s best for ye, you’ll- wait, what’s that Captain Landsend? You’ve spotted some sorry picaroon hailing us on the horizon? I say let’s blow em’ outta the water! What do you mean no!? You want us to pick em’ up and see what they have to say for themself? I guess we can bring him aboard, but I’ve been itchin’ to make someone walk the plank, so don’t try and take that from me!
-Ivy Hades, First Mate of The Squalor's Splendor
Session Summary:
The party, having arrived in the Windfall Archipelago in order to investigate the mysterious increase in aggression from the pirates in the region, encountered a disheveled pirate captain on the run who introduced himself as Julian Strangford. Julian requested their aid in finding his best friend, a bird named Xolo, who had been stolen from him after his prior crew mutinied and joined up with the Pirate Queen’s 2nd Lieutenant, Riela.
After some deliberation and a quick and brutal interrogation of one of Julian’s assailants by Lorsan that revealed Xolo was being used as a ritual sacrifice, the party agreed to help the sorry sea dog reunite with Xolo, and set off for Riela’s stronghold, Fort Andros on Candoros Island. Arriving at the fort, the party besieged it by casting the fly spell on four of the party members and then using a net to carry the adorable Agga to successfully sneaking onto its parapets. From here, they assaulted the fort’s guardians, one of which was a terrible and ferocious canine capable of bellowing out fire, and upon finding themselves victorious, descended into the fort’s depths to stop the dark ritual happening within.
They came face to face with Riela, a tall Tiefling woman, who had Xolo, a Quetzal, locked in a cage that was bound to a summoning circle with six arcane chains. Being quick on his feet, Quincy used a fire wall to shatter three of the chains as the rest of the party dispatched Riela’s henchmen and shattered the three remaining chains, freeing Xolo. Battered, bloody, and unable to complete her ritual, Riela bellowed to the party that the, “Pirate Queen would have their heads”, before summoning two spined devils and teleporting away in a flash of red and shadowy energy just before Alluremaleth could land the killing blow. Quickly dispatching the devils, the party escaped with Xolo, whom Therin noted had a distinctly bright shimmering aura about them, who they then united with the tearfully joyful Julian.