Chapter Four

Merchant Ships, Oracles, and Deep Wounds

 * BANG BANG BANG came a knock upon Gyystoph’s door. Upon opening the door, the dark-dwarven shrimp-man saw none other than Bongo the Goliath Druid. “MECHANICAL EYE!” he roared, his booming voice echoing throughout the Zorendal Empire. “Mechanical what?” Gyystoph asked, utterly baffled by the massive, unimaginably handsome half-giant man towering over him, bearing a striking resemblance to the legendary Gaston. “THIS IS WHY!!!” Bongo cried before stabbing his left eye with his trusty stone hilt that the blacksmith refused to buy. Gyystoph was understandably dismayed, and with no other choice, he agreed to Bongo’s demands, like a good little boy following his father’s commands. 
 * An hour or so later, Bongo had a mechanical left eye (thus concluding the origins of the mechanical eye; an epic tale). As well as an additional Hero Point, bringing his total to two.
 * Before setting off for the Water Strider, the Bois decide to pay the tavern a visit. The party start making merry as soon as they cross the threshold, slurping down mugs of mead and listening as Aigee plays his Happy Song on his trusty lute. Everybody in the tavern starts singing along as a grand celebration ensues.  
 * Despite the fact that he’s currently slowly and painfully dying from the incurable Bubonic Plague, Kaw is having a grand ol’ time. But all his good cheer vanishes in an instant when the basement door SLAMS open and an arm rises out, beckoning a finger to the diseased crow-man. However, the foul crow ignores the arm’s beckoning, and continues to drink his bottle of mead (which he considers to be his only true friend after his beloved brain jacker was ruthlessly slain). Kaw is shocked when time seems to freeze before his eyes. His… “acquaintances” have been completely frozen, along with everyone else in the tavern. A strange tune starts to play.
 * From the basement emerges a woman of stunning beauty. Kaw, who has never loved anyone in his whole life, aside from his mead and brain jacker, immediately falls for the woman at first sight, despite the fact that from the waist down she is nothing but bloody bones. 
 * This woman reveals herself to be a goddess known as Urgathoa, and admits that she’s been watching over Kaw for quite some time. 
 * Many moons ago, Kaw was hired as a bodyguard to protect a caravan of merchants, but things took a turn for the worst when the caravan was attacked by a family of cannibalistic cultists. In order to survive, the tengu disguised himself as one of the cultists and joined them in a cannibal feast. This feast ended in disaster when Kaw’s true identity was discovered, but not before he had gorged himself on the raw human meat that lay before him. The leader of the cultists, a dreadful drow called Korvinox, nearly slew Kaw with his scythe, but the tengu’s life was saved by a pack of hyenas that viciously attacked the cultists. In all the confusion, Kawk managed to mortally wound Korvinox by stabbing him through the chest with his own scythe. The dying drow fled into the forest. This was the origin of Kaw’s cannibalistic hunger, as well as his companionship with the hyena Scazzle. This is also when Urgathoa began taking an interest in the crow man, finding his antics quite amusing.  
 * Urgathoa offers Kaw fantasmic powers, but first he must swear his fealty to her and become an oracle. Being head over heels in love with the mysterious lady, Kaw agrees without hesitation. However, as with all things in life, there was a catch. Urgathoa is not a fan of dogs. In order for this relationship to work, Kaw will have to do something about his faithful hyena Scazzle. 
 * Giving in to his cannibal urges and obeying Urgathoa, Kaw strikes down Scazzle with his quarterstaff and starts chowing down the tender hyena flesh. Once he has had his fill, Urgathoa raises her hand and the bones of Scazzle merge to form a fearsome looking scythe which she hands to Kaw. The oracle feels dark power seeping into his body. His beak grows little fangs, and his skin starts to rot. Flies buzz around him. He looks half-dead.
 * Urgathoa vanishes back into the basement, promising to keep an eye on her new oracle. And with that, time returns to its normal speed.
 * The entire party was understandably confused, seeing as how Scazzle had mysteriously disappeared and Kaw was now an oracle and had a new scythe made from bones. Bongo in particular was very curious, giving the bird man THE GLARE. Kaw ignored these questions with a creepy leer and insisted that they move on towards their next objective. 
 * They met a ship captain at the docks and requested passage to the wreck of the Water Strider. The captain replied with a gruff, “I am the captain now.” They all looked at him for a moment and then sailed off on their next adventure. However, James Hurley was immensely displeased, for she considered herself a far more competent captain that this imposter.  James clenched her fists as she thought, One day I’ll be the TRUE captain.
 * The Water Strider was carrying a shipment of goods to the Zorendal Empire as well as a few pieces of enchanted gear. The foodstuffs had probably rotted away by now so it was the gear that the adventurers were interested in. 
 * While on their way, our heroes were confronted by a Terin Stormwall who claimed he was a secret agent of the Zorendal Empire tasked with keeping an eye on them. The group was justifiably suspicious and ask him many questions to which he did not answer and instead went to reside in his dimension pocket. After several attempts to break into the dimensional pocket, the Bois gave up and left Stormwall to his own devices. 
 * The group arrived on an island and were told that the Water Strider was a bit inland near the mouth of a river. The ship could not dock there for the same reason that the Water Strider had sank. Whatever this reason was, the world would never know.
 * James was so used to the sea breeze as well as the tossing and turning of the ocean and was so happy to be sailing again that she passed out, lulled to sleep by the calm ebb and flow of the Soresian waters and was left by the other members to rest until she had regained her strength. The rest of the aforementioned party made the long trek to the shipwreck and quickly found a way inside. The dark and rotten hull had been breached several times and the Bois swooced right in.
 * Aigee-Gorg, with the intelligence of an injured animal, once again tries to prove his bravery and strides ahead, paying no heed to Skimp’s warning that there may be traps. He only got about twenty feet in and instantly regretted not listening to Skimp’s words of wisdom. He stepped on a tripwire and was shot directly in the shoulder by a wall-mounted rifle. As he is writhing on the ground in pain, Skimp gives him a disapproving glare and quickly disables the other tripwire traps in the room.
 * Proceeding through the ship they find only a dark hole, seemingly bottomless. As this is the only way down, the group decides to take a chance and shoves Aigee down into the unknown. Unfortunately there was water at the bottom and Aigee calls back at them from below. The rest of the gang plunge in and end up waist deep in muddy water. The floor slopes up and as the gang try and step up on dry land they are attacked by a group of big ole gators. They do not stand a chance thought as they are merely animals. Gorg was nearly cut down, being mistaken for one of the beasts as he has roughly the same intelligence.
 * James wakes up and decides to join the gang, rushing to their aid.
 * After slaying the nasty swamp things and assessing the situation, (an action that will became more and more common with the group in the future, especially for the mighty James Hurley of Tibet), what do they see? Only a single doorway and a tunnel under the water leading to who knows where. They decide to go through the door but as soon as James slams into the door, the room starts filling up with water, for it was a trap!!! Egads!
 * Using his quick wits and his superior swim skill, Kaw dives right back into the water and down the tunnel after conjuring up a magical bubble of air around his head. He swims down and finds a locked strongbox (not to be confused with Strongback) and carries it back for Skimp to try and crack. Eventually Skimp unlocks the box and inside finds a key, this key fits exactly into the door and instantly the water stops filling up the room mere seconds before the water filled the room, and begins to drain.
 * Wary of the previous traps in the ship, the group advances with great care and come into a hallway with many rooms. The Bois scout the rooms and find minimal goodies. The hall turns to the right about fifty feet ahead and from around the corner, a little hooded boy-man comes skipping merrily along. The man-boo startles for a second but regains his composure moments later and draws a large cannon from his bindle and takes a pot shot at the group. The sluggy boy’s aim was true and he gave the Bois some nasty wounds.
 * Sprinting forward, the gang pursues their enemy, but he disappears in the darkness. In the hallway there is a mess hall where the previous sailors ate their rations. Most everything has spoiled except for a couple lemons and some jerky which is then shoved into the bindles. After all the mouth watering food had been safely stowed away, the company realize that the small-man ran into another room up the stairs. 
 * But before the gang pursued the small boy upstairs, they spotted a small hole in the side of the ship. Curious as ever, the gang desperately sought a way to fit through. Then, with a burst of intelligence, Bongo came up with the genius plan to send Aigee’s slave, Shelly, into the hole. So Gorg followed to orders of Bongo (as he usually does) and commanded Shelly into the hole. Upon returning Shelly came back empty handed… or so it seemed. When asked if she had found anything, she shrugged and shook her head, “no.” Bongo, having picked up on the possibility that Shelly may be hiding something, brashly intimidated the kobold, to Aigee’s dismay. 
 * And as it turned out, Shelly was indeed hiding something! 3000 gold to be exact! Upon discovering this, the gang furiously demanded that everyone get equal share of the wealth. Shelly meekly gave in to the demands and Aigee was shamed for having such an unfaithful slave. 
 * The Bois then proceeded upstairs. Within the final room of the Water Strider, the party dueled with a group of baddies with guns. Aigee was shot numerous times, yet all the bullets simply sank into the Goo Fellow’s slimy body. With the ship finally cleared, the Bois began looting, and Aigee discovered a mysterious sword that appeared to be very powerful. After trying out the sword, Aigee’s health was suddenly drained completely away, and he collapsed to floor like a foolish child that has partaken in too much of Jub Jub’s “special juice”. Seeing that his comrade is helpless and bleeding out, Skimp quickly swipes a health potion out of the Greedy Goo Fellow’s bindle and the party all have a good chuckle at Aigee’s expense, for he was a stingy man and could not escape the inevitable repercussions.. Then Kaw snatches the strange sword off the ground, kneels before the half-giant Bongo, and offers it to him, like a good little boy. 
 * While inspecting his impressive new blade, a voice suddenly speaks up in Bongo’s mind. It is the voice of the sword, and identifies itself as Wound. The sword is inhabited by an immensely powerful, malevolent spirit, and if the wielder shouts DESECRATE before he swings, the sword delivers a devastating attack upon the enemy. However, there’s a catch. The sword also inflicts damage back upon its wielder. But this does not concern Bongo, for he is a big boy, and has a vast quantity of health, unlike the tiny goo Gorg.     
 * Bongo wished to test his new blade. So naturally he retrieved his slave, Lethan, from his bindle and took aim. “DESECRATE” he bellowed as he swung Wound down upon the whimpering Lethan, decapitating and killing her instantly, finally putting the poor creature out of her misery.
 * Aigee awakened and (being the grubby, greedy cretin that he is) immediately noticed that a potion was missing from his bindle. Since Skimp is a rogue, he is understandably Aigee’s first suspect. But Skimp denies the enraged Goo’s accusations completely dispelling Gorg’s suspicions. Aigee is also not very pleased to find that his magical sword had been taken from him while helpless. Aigee pouts, but the heroic Bois swiftly ignore him and set off back towards Rockwater after a quick meal of jerky and lemons, their task completed and their bindles full of precious loot. 
 * The developments do not end here however. When the gang gets back on the ship, James was horrified to find that her precious kobold slave, ReviewBrah, had starved (ironic considering his name) while locked in the cargo hold. In her grief, James cannot bear to look as Skimp commands his disgusting slave to quit playing with his dinghy and then to cast ReviewBrah’s starved, emaciated body overboard. All the while Reviewbrah, who was very much alive and screaming the entire way down, was ignored and left to rot in Davy Jones’s Locker. 
 * After ReviewBrah’s untimely death, Bongo asked the captain for some sailing lessons. He didn't learn much. The captain was too busy rambling about a website called SeaCaptainsDate.com. “When you’re on a boat full of men all day,” the captain began, speaking wistfully as he stared off into the vivid sunset. “...let’s just say you don’t meet that many women.” 
 * Bongo didn’t know what a “website” was, so he mostly ignored the captain’s nonsense.
 * The return-journey back to Rockwater was relatively peaceful, aside from Aigee’s unending whining about his stolen potion, and as soon as the Bois had returned to land they marched straight to Terrick to DEMAND their pay for a job well done. Terrick, paralyzed with fear, forks over the his entire life savings. “MORE!” Bongo howled, SLAMMING Terrick  against the wall. “That’s all the money I’ve got! Please, spare me!” Terrick sobbed, pleading to be let go. Bongo releases the frail, weeping human. “We’ll be back soon,” the goliath growled down at the weakling. “You’d better have the money by then.”
 * The Bois strode back out into the sunshine, their pockets jingling with gold, smiles on their faces. Truly, they are the heroes that Soresia deserves.
 * SESSION END!