Wyvern's Wake Recap 1: How bold? Kobold.

Flamerule 13 - Flamerule 17

Bringing wine from Aglarond all the way up to Vesperin. It is cooling down, and is dry, only a few clouds in the sky, calm winds making us go a bit slow.

We find destroyed Cormyr ships, pull up some provisions floating on the surface and give them to our cook. We weigh anchor and send a boat to the rocky outcropping. Aramil uses the captain's spyglass to determine that the sailors on the outcropping are Cormyrean navy, and determines that there are pirates in the water. It looks like a pirate vs. Cormyr navy engagement.

We take a skiff out to the rocky outcropping, and a small, rust-colored ship emerges from cover manned by kobolds. We make for the island, with Breck and Abdul-Hafix rowing somewhat ineffectively. They fire a ball of pitch from their catapult, which misses us, but sends Bril into the water, where sharks nip at him. Aramil creates the ghost sound of the rowboat being hit and destroyed to try and draw the kobolds in. Abdul-Hafiz knocks the sharks away from Bril, allowing him to climb onto the shore.

Breck climbs aboard the island stealthily, keeping the 20 foot peak between herself and the kobolds. Bril brings the boat around to keep it hidden from the kobolds and draws his crossbow. Reginald runs across the island, staying behind the rocky hills. Aramil climbs up onto the 20 foot peak and stays down, trying to avoid being seen. Abdul-Hafiz climbs to the 10 foot level and draws his scimitar. The kobolds pull alongside the island, one of them may have seen Aramil.

Breck throws a dagger with a Deft Strike at one of the kobolds for 13 hp. Bril runs up to the shore to stand behind Breck and shouts out "Rock stranded sailors! Swim to us and gain passage if we live!" Reginald does a flip onto the ship. Aramil holds out his orb of imposition and creates an explosion of flame at the base of their foremast against three kobold sailors, hitting all three of them for 8 hp, bloodying the wounded one. Abdul-Hafiz summons the winds and flies over, landing in the midst of the flame.

Breck leaps onto the ship and uses Riposte Strike on another kobold for 19 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest sends a drake into the air and throws a fiery orb at Abdul-Hafiz for 6 hp. Bril uses vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, calling out "You height-cursed vermin, if you were a foot taller I'd piss in your face!" Reginald moves up next to the wyrmpriest and calls out his oath of enmity on him, and attacks him with Bond of Pursuit, but he misses. Aramil stands, and with the sea breeze wafting his hair dramatically, he uses illusory ambush on the drake, but he misses, uses his action point to try again and misses again. Abdul-Hafiz uses sword burst to kill one of the bloodied kobolds, wounding the other one. The other wounded one tries to flee and takes an AOO from Abdul-Hafiz. They both move out of the fire and attack Reginald, one of them hits and bloodies him. The kobolds try to release their dogs, but they won't come up into the flame.

Breck uses Riposte Strike on the marked kobold for 13 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest waves his staff, healing them and letting them shift away from our heroes, then breathes fire on Reginald (miss) and Breck and the bloodied kobold for 12 hp, re-bloodying him. Bril climbs up, casts majestic word on Breck and she is not bloodied anymore, then uses stirring shout on the wyrmpriest, but misses as the explosion of pitch causes his words to be lost. Reginald hits the wyrmpriest for 14 hp, gaining hit points from Bril's stirring shout and promises to follow him if he tries to escape. Aramil draws upon his sun elf heritage to teleport to the top of the wyrmpriest's cabin, summons thunderwave on wyrmpriest and marked kobold, but spends an action point to do it again, knocking the marked kobold off the ship, where he grabs onto the edge, and the fire goes out. Abdul-Hafiz draws an AOO from kobold for 9 hp, moves aegis onto wyrmpriest, then uses frostwind blade to hit the bloodied kobold who hit him, and the burst of frost from the wind bloodies the wyrmpriest. One kobold climbs back up and attacks Breck, dodging her riposte strike but missing her, the other kobold hits her for 4 hp. Dogs burst from underneath the deck, drawing AOOs from Breck, and she kills two of the four. The other two bite at Breck for 8 hp.

Breck moves to flank bloodied kobold with Abdul-Hafiz, dealing 14 hp and leaving him just barely standing. The wyrmpriest tries to jump onto the boat, and Reginald crits him with an AOO thanks to his oath of enmity, and he falls into the water, but avoids being eaten by sharks and clambers onto the small boat alongside. Bril gives another Majestic Word on Breck, healing her almost to full, then uses vicious mockery on one of the dogs, killing it. Reginald leaps onto the edge of the boat, balancing on the tip, attacks the wyrmpriest with Focused Fury. Aramil uses illusory ambush on wyrmpriest and misses. Abdul-Hafiz runs down, drawing AOO from kobold and dog, but kills both of them with a Sword Burst. Remaining kobold hits me, pushing him down the stairs, unconscious. Breck quickly avenges him, taking out the last kobold as he tries to jump, then she moves down below and sees a kobold dog keeper filling a bucket off water, she tries to heal Abdul-Hafiz but can't quite wake him up.

The wyrmpriest tries to row and throw Reginald off the boat, knocking him slightly off-balance but he stays on board. Bril runs up onto the ship to use vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, killing him, orders someone to grab the dog handler. Reginald starts rowing back to the boat, gets to the deck. Aramil uses a gangplank to make a bridge to the island, uses a light spell belowdecks to help with healing. Abdul-Hafiz makes his death save.

Breck tries to stabilize Abdul-Hafiz and gives him his second wind. Bril shouts for the dog keeper to surrender and come with us, and he does so, and Bril orders him to "take me to the captain's hoard." Abdul-Hafiz runs off the ship using Aramil's gangplank. Bril and Breck take the treasure off the ship. Reginald picks up the Cormyrean sailors with the rowboat, and we all head back to the Wyvern's Wake.

The Cormyreans are suspicious of the Drow captain. LJ asks Breck about the treasure chest in Bril's quarters. Bril offers a cask of wine to the crew if they'll get us to our destination on time, then goes to try and make diplomatic overtures to the Cormyrean sailors. The sailors resist his overtures, and he puts Reginald in charge of them for the duration when he expresses concern. LJ and Breck go into the captain's cabin to try and pick the lock on the chest, and they just barely succeed in avoiding the poison trap. LJ steals 5 gp, but Breck resists, leaving 47 gp, a magical amulet and a tome featuring dissected sea creatures.

Later on, Breck "unlocks" the chest for the captain. The amulet of protection +1 goes to Abdul-Hafiz, the tome appears to have anatomy of Sahaugin, Kuo-Toa and other sea creatures. Reginald spends time ministering to the Cormyrean sailors, who worship Torm and appreciate his help, and ask why they're sailing with a drow captain.

Reginald learns that this was a major action to trap pirates, and several of their ships left in pursuit of the pirates. It was a pitched battle and several Cormyrean vessels were lost in the attack. Abdul-Hafiz and Bril play good cop-bad cop with the kobold dog keeper, and we decide, after some debate, to set him on an island with a dagger and a week's worth of food, according to the code of the sea. We sail for three days to reach Raven's Bluff, arriving on 16 Flamerule.

We arrive at the dock, where we have a contact to meet named Kurt Longstride. Raven's Bluff is a very cosmopolitan city, with many races, and Aramil knows that there are entrances to the Underdark, causing him to warn that there is danger, but much opportunity here. LJ and Breck go to gamble, with Reginald as their chaperone. Abdul-Hafiz draws 21 GP from the ship's treasury to send back home, but first he goes with Aramil and Bril to meet Longstride.

Longstride has a dragonborn bodyguard, we meet Longstride, a human with five o'clock shadow and a happy demeanor. The "burst" barrel we gave to the crew causes him to try and dock 40 Gp from our 200 GP price, but Bril negotiates it down, trying to sell "stains" on the ship unsuccessfully but getting us 190 GP and an offer of another job.

Longstride tells us about a Daleship that intercepted the kobold ship that was notified by the bird messenger. He tells us about Darkwater Promontory, a relatively obscure landmark not far from where we were, which is a big tower of rock that was hit by Cormyrean War Wizards, opening up some sort of site. The kobold scavenger ship went there and saw something they wanted, possibly some kind of magical relic. They believe it had something to do with the Spellplague. Longstride works for Lady Nessa, a rising merchant dabbling in spellcraft. Longstride denies us a meeting with Lady Nessa. Captain Bril offers him 30% as a "Finder's Fee" for bringing him the relic. He counter-offers 40%, and Bril asks for provisions to outfit the ship so we can leave tomorrow, and we get to meet Lady Nessa when we get back with the item.

Abdul-Hafiz meets Assam with his 21 gp. He gives me sad news Shelim al-Cador, that the last two caravans of freed slaves have gone missing. Abdul-Hafiz uses history to try and help them find a safer route for future caravans. Captain Bril finds the gamblers, and LJ has gambled and cheated his way to 10 gp. They believe they are being shadowed, but don't spot them, and LJ and Breck agree to help check the streets for information on the relic during the night. They find out a little bit about the Darkwater Promontory, are warned to watch out for the strange weather. Reginald befriends the Cormyrean sailor Ensign Lormac, and then returns to the ship, where he delivers an effective sermon to motivate the crew.

Abdul-Hafiz secure ropes and pulleys, along with provisions, for the trip. Captain Bril goes looking for local theaters to do some research for his bardic trades, and he finds some naughty entertainment. We sail on the morning of Flamerule 17.