S01 - Chaos in the Cargo Hold

In the prior session, the party had awakened with shattered memories aboard a damaged vessel. As that session concluded, the party had just discovered that they weren't alone. Someone on a lower deck was using patterned light flashes to communicate with another vessel in the distant darkness.

As the new session begins, the party members realize that a fire in the rear area of the main deck has begun to spread, so they split up to tackle potentially twin threats.

Finn and Donny head toward the fire, which by then has engulfed the hallway leading to the Captain's quarters. They race down to the galley to gather some water, dumping into a Bag of Holding that Finn had previously crafted. Finn uses his artificer abilities to form a metal pipe to serve as a nozzle, then heads back to the main deck equipped his new invention -- a "fire extinguisher."

Tsuki tries to better assess the arcane damage. [GM note: I can't quite recall what Tsuki was up to at this point.]

Meanwhile, Rynerm and Prim head toward the cargo hold to find out who's been signaling the other ship. Upon entering, they see Amarra Kinto, apprentice pilot and crewmate. She's holding a lantern up to a small hole blasted into the side of the hull, flashing the light into space. Convinced she's a possible mutineer, Rynerm begins to sneak towards her, but Prim speaks up, spoiling the surprise.

As Amarra turns and sees them, she's initially relieved -- then notices that Rynerm has his weapons drawn. Her face becomes fearful, but Rynerm senses that something is off. As she explains that she was just trying to summon assistance from a nearby ship, her face shows fear and concern -- but her eyes do not. They are calm. Cold. Calculating.

A tense confrontation ensues: Rynerm challenges Amarra, probing for answers and inconsistencies, while Prim -- seeing fellow crewmate Amarra being threatened  -- insists that everyone should just stand down. Rynerm tries to convince Prim that Amarra is being deceptive, or perhaps controlled. He offers a solution to Amarra.

"Let me cast a protection spell on you, to break any outside influence."

She repeatedly ignores his offer - so Rynerm attacks with the flat of his blades, dealing a blow that should easily incapacitate the slim apprentice. Amarra is unphased, and responds with a bolt of frost that misses them by inches. Prim, seeing the conflict escalate but not understanding why, tries to stop blade-wielding Rynerm rather than crewmate Amarra, who is holding only a lantern.

At about that moment, Donny arrives to the confusing scene. Seeing the large, muscled Firbolg, Amarra pleads to Donny, silent and telepathic,

"Help me!"

He hesitates, unsure who to trust, as Rynerm pauses his attacks to cast Protection from Evil and Good on the willing Donny instead of Amarra. The spell takes hold, giving Donny clarity that Amarra is not as she seems. He tries to restrain her, but she breaks free with uncanny strength, stating in an unnatural tone and cadence, 

“Let me go. Let it steer.”

She quickly strikes both Donny and Rynerm with the lantern, and the fight is back on. As blows are exchanged and Amarra shrugs off the heavy hits, it's clear that she's much tougher than she has any right to be. The threat escalates as she strikes back with spells and a psychic assault.

Prim at this point feels mostly helpless, as he's without his arcane focus or spell components.

Finally, Donny manages to strike a fatal blow, but Rynerm isn't pleased.

"She was being controlled. We needed to stop her, but she didn't have to die."

He kneels down to see if there's still a way to save her... as a fist-sized parasite emerges from beneath the body and latches onto his exposed arm.

Tsuki now arrives on scene, hurling knives of psychic force at the creature, but missing. Donny grabs hold and pries it off with great difficulty, clutching onto it while the rest slice and stab. Rynerm empowers one of his strikes with divine force, and the creature shrieks in pain. Eventually, they finish it off.

Back on the main deck, Finn has managed to put out the fire, but uncovers a grisly truth. Charred remains are all that is left of both Captain Marris and the vessel's lead pilot. He joins his companions below to share the grim news.

In the aftermath of the dramatic fight, Finn and Tsuki manage to stabilize the damaged arcane core of the vessel, restoring basic functions. Rynerm tries to communicate via light flashes with the unknown vessel, but the effort stalls when they demand that he re-verify his identity via a coded signal. Realizing that things have gone awry, the vessel departs.

Over time, the group pieces together clues, trying to discern what caused this whole mess:

• A massive hole between decks, also piercing the hull from within, up near the captain's quarters.
• The open doors of the high-security portion of the vault, where another body is found - that of crewmate Tull Warrock, a cargo handler.
• Tull's body bears marks similar to those on Amarra and on Rynerm's arm, but the exact cause of death isn't apparent.
• Next to Tull's body is a plain-looking crate, clearly broken into, with an inner, warded compartment that has been opened.
• Also clear -- at least to Tsuki -- is the Scrawled Note she find's hidden on Tull's body. Written in thieves cant, it contains instructions for a heist job: how to identify the right crate, how to signal "the pick up boys" via lantern, notice that payment "sleeps with the ghost at Sunreach Hold", and the clear instructions not to open the crate. It seems apparent this last part was ignored.
• On Captain Marris' body, they find a partial Burned Contract describing the same suspect package. It is to be transported discreetly, off-books, neither inspected nor magically scanned. The document is written in formal phrasing, but large sections have been burned away. Enough remains for Prim to suspect a connection to the Veilwatch Concord.
• On the nearby remains of the ship's leaded pilot, they find the charred remains of another parasite.
• Further inspection of the blast area leads to a theory: that the Necklace of Fireballs Marris had carried as a deterrent against hostile boarding actions had somehow been set off all at once. No wonder the ship was so hurt.

Exhausted, mourning multiple losses, and still requiring substantial repairs, the party set a course for Solace Station, the nearest outpost at just less than a day's journey.

As the remaining available pilots trade shifts, Donny sleeps. And dreams...

You dream of cold air and stone walls. Everything smells like turned earth and wet cloth. A woman is standing in front of a door that won’t open — she pulls, she pushes, she pounds. Nothing moves.

She turns and sees you — like she’s shocked anyone can see her at all.

“Hey! Wait— Please. I don’t know where I am. This… this isn’t right.”

She holds her hands to her chest, then lifts them toward you like she’s trying to remember something.

“My name is... Avae... Corenthia Avae. Tell someone. Tell anyone!"

"Please. I was never supposed to end up like this.”