[OOC notes for the session]
I was inspired by the Dwarven Forge discussion of this week and decided to go out and scratch build some scenery like I used to. My skills are rusty, but I built a foam-core form for the party airship with all the interior laid out and colored. I'll try and post a picture later. My plan is to build an overlay that will show the upper decks and somehow have them stackable so that characters can show what deck they are on, and in what position. I also started work on some parallax cliffs, which I'll get into later.
Vork had returned after missing last week. Vork's player had had a rough week, and had some job stuff he had to take care of. Anyhow, we had a little sheet cake decorated with "Welcome back Vork" on it and one of the other players donated a D&D miniature and we stuck that on the cake.
[/OOC]
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When last we left our PCs, they had remounted their airship and were leaving their old hideout. The angel Asrafel was gone. They had a civilian with them. They were flying towards the regional capitol of Evander.
Vork however, was left way back in session #39. At the end of that game, the main villian (Vincent Defabro) was getting away on an orcish slave galley, with Vork's girlfriend Guinevere Vartagnan captured and on board. We had left it at saying "Vork dives into the water and tries to sneak aboard the escaping ship" at the beginning of session #40, but I was prepared to let Vork say whether that's what he really wanted to try or not. He said "Can I do that? Because that's what I'd like to do. Solo adventure!"
(so part of this is another party split up. We handle this by alternating between groups, and part of the reason the party went to Evander was to do sell & re-equip, which gives me a chance to conentrate on the solo guy-- but for clarity I'm going to clump Vork's little adventure all together).
Ok, so starting with Vork:
He makes some skill checks: swimming out to he escaping galley is no problem, even with his gear. He wears a ring of swimming and has a few other helpful items. He also has high skills in swimming, moving silently, hiding and can hold his breath for a long time.
So I ran some spot checks for the Drowned (super-zombies who act as Vincent's bodyguards), for the orcish sea-captain, for the lookout, and for Vincent himself, and Vork beat them all. He catches up with the boat, makes his climb check, and manages to climb onto the galley.
Note: Had Vork failed his swim or got caught in the water, he could have called his animal companion (a dolphin named Echo) and easily caught up. He didn't mention this to me until later, though. I guess it's good to have a contingency plan.
Ok, so Vork reaches the Slave Galley, and (making climb check) climbs aboard. He searches for some hiding spots and manages to find a porthole near where the rowers are located. He slips in, and hides.
So now he's in the dank slave-hold of the galley, with gnome rowers chained to the oars. The gnomish rowers were all enslaved from Owyn's hometown of Jemro- this was part of Vincent's big revenge plan from around the time of the Christmas session. There are two orcish slavers- each armed with a whip and a falchion. One guy is beating that drum thing like you see in Roman movies, and the other orc is stalking up and down the aisle, bellowing at the gnomes.
Vork slips in, beat the orc's listen checks, but is noticed by a few slaves. He tries giving them a signal not to reveal him, and they do so. He hides behind some barrels.
After thinking it over, he whispers to one of the gnomish slaves "hey, can you create a distraction for me?". Gnomes can use prestidigitate and ghost sound 1/day, and there was a mid-level illusionist NPC (the mayor of Jemro) included amongst the slaves. So I figure, sure. Gnomes can create a distraction.
I had the gnome presto an ephemeral musical jack in the box surrounded by tweety birds in the middle of the aisle. One of the other gnomes
ghost sounded some tinkly music.
The cruel orcish slaver stalked up to investigate, growling and bellowing and getting out his whip.
At that point, Vork jumped out of his hiding place, surprised the slaver, and cut him down. One chop! The other slaver suddenly drops his drum beater and runs down the aisle to attack Vork, but Vork kills him as well.
He grabs the keys from the dead slaver and starts unlocking gnomes. I figured it was one of those pull-chain deals
"I'm not sure where we're going to go from here... the Drowned are still onboard. Not to mention Vincent himself. I doubt I can take them."
[OOC interlude]
The other three players are like "Wow. Your'e screwed now." Ganex, who has been buying stuff during this time says "I might be able to help Vork out and reunite the party, whenever your'e ready..."
Vork "I'm all ears.."
[/ooc]
Vork unlocks the gnome illusionist. This is an NPC he knows from a previous adventure. "Hey it's you, the mayor of Jemro. Your'e an illusionist!" (yes, I am.. )
"Can you change me into an orc?" (technically, no).
"Can you disguise-self into an orc?" (nope. I'm far too short).
"Can you make an illusion of an orc?" (yes!)
So Vork convinces the illusionist to keep a watch and if more orcs show up, to create a fake orc illusion, while the other other gnomes continue rowing so as not to arouse suspicion. He breaks a spare oar into clubs to arm the gnomes (in case the plan falls to pieces), and hands out some spare weaponry he had on his character sheet.
There are 8 other orcs onboard (along with the sea-captain), along with 4 drowned, and Vincent himself. The orc slavers are 5th-level warriors (thats an NPC class, kids), and the captain is a 10th level expert (another NPC class). The orcs & drowned are all concentrated on the top deck. Vincent has his personal cabin on the mid-level deck, and that's where Guinevere is.
Next up: Ganex's plan?