September 13, 2025

Hook

A Simple Cargo Run II

Plot Synopsis

With the start of the session, the party makes their way out of the cave and looks around, finding a large pirate camp to their left and the missing cargo ship to their right, which is mostly undefended. They attempt to sneak past the camp to reach the ship, and are almost caught if not for some illusion magic from Jamie. As they close in on the cargo ship, Jamie summons a storm to kill the two pirates on the cargo ship, who are poking at a damaged mining automaton, and simultaneously drive the rest of the pirates to shelter. Now having taken the ship, the party finds one of Charles' napalm grenades that the ship was transporting, and after much discussion they strap jinghua to it and have Bard use a spectral hand to drop it on the biggest cluster of pirates in the camp before sailing away.

At first everything goes well, but eventually the party sees that the pirates are pursuing, albeit battered by a combination of burns and jinghua poisoning. In their faster ship, the pirates catch up and begin to board the cargo ship as Charles and Sandro, the scientist, work to repair the automaton. While the party is in the process of fighting the pirates, the ocean erupts with strange sealife, which begin attacking both sides indiscriminately and seem far more powerful than the party can handle. The group decides to abandon the cargo ship for the faster pirate ship, taking the crew and Sandro but being unable to rescue any of the cargo as the automaton holds off the monsters. As they get away, they see the automaton and the pirates eventually overwhelmed, with the later seemingly becoming infected with something. They return to the Seabright Company to tell them what happened, with Michael explaining that the creatures are called Abysslings, an aquatic hivemind that seeks to assimilate other life. The party receives their payment, and the session closes with Vincent and Sandro deciding to look more into the threat in the future.

Noteworthy Postgame Events