Write up follows:
The group stood the line as gnoll and smuggler slammed into them. Scythes slashed, arrows flew, shields were raised and curses sailed about the room. The lead gnoll eventually fell but three more smugglers charged from down the hall. Valerie shot a globe of light at one of the smugglers who dodged in time, but the second one ran into it and fell to the ground screaming about his blindness.
The combat rolled back and forth, Magnus was the front of the line as the spear wielding smuggler pressed hard on the limping paladin, knocking him to the ground and then jamming the spear through his chest and out his back! Deja took a blow and collapsed to the ground next while Valerie was struggling to shrug off the blows on her and lay a healing on the bleeding paladin. The power of Frey staunched the worst of the bleeding and allowed him to stand up in time to block another smuggler’s blow.
Sanbalet, unable to get away from the melee, hurled a poison coated Kris bladed dagger into the fight, just missing the party by inches. Talion was having a rough time with the guy he was fighting and Deja was helped to her feet just in time for the Halfling to let her daggers fly – knocking the fleeing spear wielding smuggler to the ground and killing her with a knife to the back of her neck. Sanbalet then made an attempt to raise a cloud of fog but was interrupted by a furious Veldryn and her whirling scythe.
The group was still standing, beaten and bleeding, but holding their own when one of the smugglers made a run for it back down the long passage and in the direction Ned Shakeshaft had gone. Talion and Veldryn gave chase while Magnus had Sanbalet trussed up and the sobbing smuggler who had been hit with a light spell was given his sight back and spoken to softly.
Talion put on a burst of speed as the smuggler hit the end of the cave and the Mastelic Ocean beyond. The cavern ended at the mouth of a cave, water running into it, and 20’ away and rapidly distancing himself was Ned Shakeshaft on a single mast jolly boat rowing for all he was worth.
The Ranger struggled with the smuggler, knives flashing and the two men fighting in the surf while Veldryn whipped out her scroll case and shouted out the words on the paper. They turned into black fire and she hurled it across the water at the now 30’ away Ned…freezing him in place! He was stuck in a rowing position, held in place. The death priest stripped off her armor and waded into the water in just her underwear, hands waving into another spell.
The power of Hel raced through her and her hands and feet grew webbed and her skin took on a shimmering look – and she then down into the Ocean and swam VERY fast to the receding jolly boat to clamber aboard and wrench the oars from the held Ned. While she was struggling to turn the boat around and paddle back, Talion managed to subdue his assailant and drag the tired smuggler back to shore. Once there he whacked him on the temple and knocked him out, dropping him onto the sandy cave floor.
While all this was going on the other three party members were having a mixed bag with the two smugglers they had. One was Sanbalet who was crude, rude, insulting, and joking to the paladin and his questioning. The other was the once blinded younger smuggler who admitted he was doing this for the money and that his mother was very ill. The physickers, healers of Tyr, wanted to help the young man’s mother but needed more money than the family had so he was working any job that paid a lot and quick – even if in his heart he knew it was a bad choice. After being blinded he realizes that nothing is worth it and praises Tyr for helping him see the error of his ways.
While Magnus, Deja, and Valerie talk to the now open smuggler about the situation and ignore Sanbalet’s jibes, they do realize that there is a ship that comes here and off loads these goods (which also have the squid design on them) and it can’t be the small jolly boat at the end of the cave. These smugglers are only part of the problem, and we’re going to have to take everyone back to Saltmarsh to figure this out.
Talion helped the furious Veldryn drag Ned out of the now beached jolly boat and bound up his frozen form as best they could with what ropes they had. Our elf was furious at Ned for his departure from our midst, his actually being a smuggler, and for hurting Valerie with his leaving. She called on Hel to create a spring of water which burst from the ground…and then proceeded to torture the frozen Ned by jamming his face and mouth over the spring. She did this repeatedly while Talion watched, but the yelling and choking was echoing down the cave and Deja and Valerie came to investigate while Magnus stayed with the young smuggler to guard Sanbalet.
When the Halfling saw what was going on she stood over and in front of Ned, blocking Veldryn from further assaulting him – as the death priest at this point had out her scythe and was cutting at Ned’s face. The two of them got into a heated yell fest and then Veldryn shoved Deja – who fell back over Ned and bounced up with murder in her eyes.
Valerie was talking to Ned who admitted that yes he was a smuggler and a scoundrel, but when he grew to like the group and their camaraderie, especially Val, he couldn’t go through with his original plan which was to assault the group at a weak moment and instead took his leave and tried to convince Sanbalet that they should end their operations here for now and move on.
There was lots of contraband around the cave and we could not bring it all back AND Ned, Sanbalet, and the other smuggler through 3 miles of swampland – it was too much. Ned offered, for some leniency with the town council, to pilot the jolly boat back after we load it up with everything if we wanted to.
Deja and Veldryn were barely able to look one another in the eye, the thief promising the death priest that this cruelty and her assault would not be long forgotten. So we gathered everyone together and discussed the plan of taking the boat back.
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