Another hilarious and adventurous session took place in Gonadan’s house in the weekend of May 8 and 9, 2010. You can expect alcohol fumes and frustrating fights. Ranged attacks… detestable! 

Saturday, May 8th

Wind in her sails, the Waterspirit cuts through the waves. Captain Nalas guides her still due East on our way to Skuld. After the tiresome island adventure, the companions’ only coherent thoughts are about hammocks and sleep, except for Tonks. Lost in prayers to her deity, she sits quietly on deck and sneaks into her dangling bed an hour later. The night passes without further incidents. In the morning Magnys says her prayers to Lathander, the Morninglord.

After a healthy breakfast of bread and fish, the friends spread out on the deck to investigate the vessel in more detail. Darryl asks the captain’s permission to climb up to the crow’s nest. When he looks around he sees… *drum roll* … water!! All around there’s water. Seems Skuld is still a long way off. To help out the crew, Tonks scrubs the deck. Larryl strolls closer and kindly points out to Tonks she’s missed a spot. The little gnome jumps up and surprises the halfling by showering him with a bucket of soapy water. Dripping wet Larryl bows mockingly and then takes off before even wetter things happen. Magnys shakes her head, grinning, and approaches Nalas. ‘Captain, have you ever seen whales in these waters? Is there any chance we might spot them on our journey to Skuld?’ To her great joy, Nalas tells her this indeed is the case. But more often there are dolphins keeping the ship company. In reply to her question about aiding in the ship’s business, the captain suggests Magnys helps repairing the sails and she happily obliges. Since all of his companions are busy, Larryl inquires where his help might be needed. The captain has noticed his skills with the kukri and asks him if he would be willing to help in the galley. There the nimble halfling impresses the cook with his knife skills. The large piece of salted porc is cut in manageable portions in no time. Nobody is surprised when Larryl gets an extra ration that evening.

The paladin groans when a sailor approaches the company, asking them to join him in a game. Tonks jumps up and claps her hands, exclaiming ‘YES a game, big fun!’. The brothers also get up with beaming faces. Magnys follows to keep an eye on things. She vividly remembers the last time her companions jumped head first into a gambling session where liquor was involved. But this specific game proves too much of a challenge and soon she decides to join in, strips off her armor and stands ready.

Darryl is the first to balance on the railing, jump to a dangling rope and make a mighty swing to the lower deck, only to land on his feet in perfect balance. He has earned his first mug of strong ale. Contestants have to drink after each round as part of the game. Of course Larryl can’t wait to give it a try. Alas the Waterspirit decides to join the fun by rocking all she’s got. Larryl barely manages to grab the rope, swings clumsily and then sweeps the deck with his butt. He’s out! With a delighted squeeeee Tonks jumps in the rope and swings so hard that she flies through the air and lands horizontal, followed by a sailor: both are out! Magnys spits in her hands, swings and lands on both her feet. A mug of ale is pushed into her hands.

That leads straight into round two. Darryl is totally in control, not even bothered by the ghost sounds Tonks makes. Magnys meanwhile lands on one leg and has to grab the mast to hold on to. Out! Only one sailor and Darryl left, rum gushing down their thirsty throats. Again Darryl climbs onto the railing and makes a really excellent jump, where the sailor misses the rope all together. With grace and strength the halfling showed the crowd his amazing abilities. Time to party!

Sunday, May 9th

A new day dawns on the Waterspirit. The light stabs long needles straight into the fuzzy brains of our brave companions. To get rid of the alcohol fumes a bit of hard labor is welcome: Tonks is eager to learn about the art of sailing and its technical terms, Darryl climbs up the canvas and Magnys focuses on the construction of the ship. Everything goes smoothly until a cry from the crow’s nest alarms the rest of the ship: they’ve spotted a column of smoke on open sea. While the captain changes course towards the smoke, Tonks and Magnys don their armor. You never know when pirates are going to show up.  A little later they see a ship in distress: the top of the mast and part of the sails are burning! Magnys starts to get out buckets… but stows them back when Darryl spots a pirate ship behind the burning one. Everybody grabs their weapons. The burning ship tries to get rid of the sails. Its sailors fire arrows at the pirates, only to be greeted by a wave of arrows themselves. The wind carries the Waterspirit closer and closer.

The pirates look like experienced fighters. Two of them start turning a ballista so it’s facing the Waterspirit. Larryl tries to take them out but only injures one. Tonks casts a mass aid spell, while Magnys, unable to attack the villains face-to-face, fires some arrows. As a thank-you gift she gets hit by a ballista arrow. A big fight develops as a second hostile ship appears. Darryl reaches the first pirate ship by means of Tonks’ conjured Way of Force, and Larryl ghost steps to his brother’s side on the now fiercely burning ship – seems the defenders on the attacked ship have gotten some revenge. Meanwhile Magnys is engaged in an arrow fight with the newly arrived and Tonks manages to confuse a couple of pirates with strong spell casting. As the burning pirate ship almost goes down, the brother halflings dash back towards safety, but now their own ship is burning too near the mast. Sailors rush in to douse the fire.  The second ship prepares to board the ship of our friends and on that ship a spell caster hurls a ball of fire towards Magnys. Not again, she growls. Tonks reacts to this new threat by countering the spell with one of her own: a flame strike that kills the hostile mage! Magnys swings her mace, she’s in her element now in melee. Together with the brothers and the crew, they manage to defeat the pirates. The loot is interesting: magical bracers, a ring of deflection, shark skin armor, a really good cutlass, gold and a sextant, which makes captain Nalas very happy.