A brief session recap of last week’s D&D adventure! This was my first time playing in years, and first time ever playing 5e, and it was a blast!
The party’s journey begins at sunset aboard The Voyage, a ship anchored in the Neverwinter harbor. Six mercenaries have been tasked by the Iron Fist with traveling to the Kingdom of Gundarlun to investigate reports of increased piracy in the region and recover a shipwreck. The Voyage will depart in the morning, led by Captain Graysail, but for now the adventurers are free to do as they will with the remainder of the evening.
Two members of the party, Dobon the Bard and Iforgotalready the Fighter, remain on the ship doing boring things like inspecting the rigging and reading. A couple others visit the markets in search of exotic tobaccos and companionship. While Errol the Tortle Monk is unsuccessful in his search for tobacco, the search for companionship is more fruitful as Kazz the Tabaxi Ranger procures an aged and decrepit hamster named Chewie. The cool kids, Eldrin the Human Warlock, and Kurd the Goblin Fighter, proceed with the ship’s first mate and many crew members to a party at a tavern, where the popular Faerûnian musical act Imagine Dragons is performing. They bet on an arm wrestling competition between the first mate and a large sailor, and after unsuccessfully attempting to influence the competition by making it appear as though the sailor has soiled himself, lose their bet and part with the gold they’d just received for taking the mission.
The next day dawns beautifully with only a slight hangover on Eldrin’s part. The ship sails forth, but not half a day has passed before red sails are spotted on the horizon. The dread ship I Forget And Didn’t Write This Down closes rapidly on The Voyage, attempting to ram the ship. The crew and adventurers scramble to action and narrowly avoid the collision by performing a totally sweet Tokyo Drift style turn at the last second. Unfortunately the pirates are able to draw alongside The Voyage and several unsavory but also incredibly sexy pirates are able to board, along with the fearsome Tiefling, Captain Callus! An intense battle commences, with pirates and crew being shoved overboard, and several adventurers nearly losing their lives. Eldrin makes the mistake of revealing his magical abilities early in the fight, and gets stabbed in the chest by Callus for his hubris. The battle continues and Eldrin gets cocky, launching a powerful eldritch blast at Callus, only to be hellishly rebuked and fall in battle. As the battle continues, the rest of the pirates fall and Callus prepares his escape, only to have Iforgotalready charge in and decapitate Callus with a single mighty blow of his greatsword. The pirates flee, their first mate promising vengeance, and the crew of The Voyage tends to their wounds. The adventurers keep the head of Callus, planning to cash in on a bounty after ruining our DMs plans to have Callus be a recurring pirate nemesis.
A day passes uneventfully, then on the next evening a mighty storm looms on the horizon, the will of Talos made manifest. A flock of seabirds swarms around the ship, and the sailors grew apprehensive at the powerful omen. As the birds circled around Kurd, the sailors recognized that this was a call to perform a storm dance atop the highest mast of the ship! Reluctantly coaxed into making the climb, Kurd clambers into the crow’s nest as the voice of Talos booms out, “SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!” Kurd feels the rhythm of the storm and busts out some sick moves, earning the blessing of Talos and ensuring safe passage around the storm.
The next night, the ship passes through a swarm of beautiful glowing fish flying through the air and radiating strong magic. Dobon and Kurd are able to catch a number of them before the swarm dissipates, and recognize that they could be used to craft some flashbombs.
As the ship draws nearer to Gundarlun, making excellent time with the favorable winds of Talos blowing them on their way, Kazz catches sight of a mass of flotsam and debris floating in the waves. Captain Graysail agrees to investigate, and as The Voyage draws near a band of goblins throws off the tarps they’d hidden under and launches an attack! Two catapults on the floating platforms launch goblin attackers onto the deck, while others scramble up the rigging on the side. A fierce battle ensures, Errol almost dies again, and many jaws are severed from goblin heads. The human fighter jumps off the ship onto the platforms, kills a goblin that was about to launch himself into the crow’s nest to kill Kazz, and then uses the catapult to launch himself back onto the ship where he proceeds to murder even more goblins. Eldrin finally manages to land a couple hits, and then uses Dissonant Whispers to perform a Nine Inch Nails styled version of Wonderwall that only the goblin captain can hear. Unable to bear this, he tears his own jaw off and dies, leaving the adventurers safe once again and able to loot the platforms for supplies.
As the journey continues, the ship suddenly comes under attack by a vicious band of Sahaugin. To be continued, as the adventurers scramble to battle for their lives once more in EPISODE 2!