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Monday Night Pathfinder Pirates: The Demise of Captain Jacen

This week I had the sad duty of eliminating the PC captain that was played by a player who left.

Captain Jacen approached Durgen aboard the Zelbinion, asking him to load the three kegs of black powder into the longboat along with all the riches gathered since the last trip over.  Giffen appeared aboard a longboat headed to the Zelbinion.  Climbing aboard, the crocodile man handed a note to the Captain.  The Captain grimaced and even Sheen picked up on the problem.  The crew of the Kyte was becoming unhinged.  Durgen planned his solution -- a ritual to 'remove the curse'.

The Captain took the longboat back to the Kyte.

Cranax below convinced the Druid and Kyte to assist him.  They were going to be coming into a segment of the sea within the next few minutes that would greatly accelerate growth of the plants, and Cranax wanted to get his specimens into the sides nets so they could grow.

Meanwhile Kroop below and Sheena above worked searching and opening rooms of the ship.

The shipped drifted into the area of growth and the plats spread quickly, covering the net in a fabric-like twist of stems, leaves, and roots.  The Druid had an insight... living sails.  If they had enough nets, it just might work.

Unfortunately, the crew had forgotten the four Wyvern eggs aboard the Kyte.  There was much ruckus aboard the Kyte, screaming, yelling, crashing.  A Wyvern flew into the air with only two places to land.  She dropped back down onto the main deck of the Zelbinion.  All the crew aboard raced to attack it.  Meanwhile a vicious fight could be heard aboard the Kyte.

Blades and spells glimmered through the air aboard the Zelbinion.  A wyvern flew out of the Kyte only to be taken down by gnomish gunners wielding crossbows.  Durgen picked up Quip the halfling and flung him onto the wyvern.  Quip managed to plunge both his blades into the wyvern before he was grabbed up by its huge mouth of teeth.  The jaws of a wyvern plunged out the side of the Kyte.  One last blow from Giffen (?) and the wyvern went down on the Zelbinion.

At last there was a creat explosion aboard the Kyte.  Sheena watched, seeing a third of the main deck destroyed, launching the main mast across the Zelbinion's main deck.  Two-thirds of the gun deck was gone, and a third of the starboard ship side was destroyed.  Sheena watched the Captain get blown into the sea along with Slippery Sly Longean and several other marines and gnome gunners.  Several aboard jumped into the water to search for survivors, but none were found.

Sandara brought the Kyte to sail with the front sail and docked her along side the Zelbinion.  Jumping aboard, Sandara met directly with Durgen, both on the same page.  They made a huge ritualistic gesture with magical lights and then declared the Zelbinion free of curse.  With Sandara, Durgen, and Kyte huddled to discuss, the decisions were made quickly.  Durgen took his gunnery crew aboard the Kyte to assess the damage.  Sandara would assist the wounded aboard the Kyte.  Kyte would take care of things aboard the Zelbinion.  Kroop passed the news along to the crew.

Kyte talked to Sandara about becoming the new first mate.  Sandara refused, indicated she wanted to remain the healer aboard the ship.  Sandara indicated it was better to focus on the tasks at hand and worry about captain when there was a ship to captain.  Kyte persisted but Sandara cut her off -- there was only one man experienced and trusted enough aboard to be captain.  Kyte muttered the name... 'Kroop'.

Durgen worked his way through the old ship.  Rations were ok -- rum and food.  The cannons aboard were OK  but the ballistas were mostly destroyed by shrapnel from the explosion.  The main sail was mostly lost, but with a needle and thread, the Kyte's sails could reworked to fit the Zelbinion.  Durgen got his group working the sails, both sewing the Kyte's sails and placing plant nets into place while Cranax worked on planting the new sail material.

There was a brief discussion about moving things to the Zelbinion when there was no idea what was below.  Durgen agreed to prep the longboats with rations in case they had to make a run for the mysterious island.

Vic, the Druid, and Kroop cleared the lower deck, finding miscellaneous belongings in chests, cannonballs, and 6 working cannons including 2 that were long range.

Sheena cleared the cabins of the main deck, requiring several trips to see the ship healer due to unseen traps.  A dead body was found with Xill offspring feeding on it.  Sheena became suspicious of Cranax.

Deck 3 awaits the crew for next time.  Experience points were awarded with the party now reaching level 6 for next weeks excursion.


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