OAWYM: Grounding The Warship He Walked On

Game Date: 2/25/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: OAWYM, Session 22
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Byzun (Gary) - Human Sorcerer
Halfbeard (Cliff) - Dwarf Fighter
Malcer (Graham) - Human Monk
Marcella (Lanessa) - Human Bard
Robb (Daniel) - Human Rogue
Val Ravensword (Matt) - Orc Paladin
Virgil (Nick) - Human Fighter
Tatio - Malcer's Companion

The Session:
I missed a couple of sessions, during which the party continued clearing out a temple occupied by Iron Circle slavers.  After several more battles, they found a large amount of money and some legal documents.  Then fled the temple and returned to our safe house in Highport.  We spent some downtime studying the documents and deciding our next course of action.

We learned of a slaver caravan that had recently left Highport headed South.  We decided to track it down and rescue the slaves.  We started out on foot, then bought some horses in the first village we passed through.  Then we spent several days traveling on horseback.  At one point we spied a large group of Orcs in the forest, who were busy looting a wagon.  We managed to sneak by their encampment without being detected, and continued on.

Then we traveled through Goblin territory.  We expected a few fights, but they just asked us to pay a small toll.  They drew marks on us so later Goblins would know we paid the toll, and we made it through their land without incident.  Next we went through Gnoll territory, and had pretty much the same experience, although their method of marking us was a bit more disgusting.

Next we reached a keep occupied by Hobgoblins.  Marcella used a disguise spell to make herself look like one of the Iron Circle officials, and we bluffed our way through the encounter.  Marcella explored the gatehouse a little bit, saw some luminescent spiders, and was intrigued by some footprints leading to a window.  We let the horses rest for a couple of hours and went on our way.

Eventually we reached the Southern port.  There were just a few buildings and a dock.  We saw three docked ships - a warship, a sailing vessel, and a galley slave ship.  We had our sneakier party members check out the buildings first, but didn't find much of interest.  Then we started looking at the ships.

Marcella decided to check out the slave ship, while Robb sabotaged the warship.  Robb stealthily made his way to the warship's armory, intending to ignite a powder keg.  Meanwhile, Marcella used another disguise spell in hopes of locating the slaves.  She found them in the belly of the galley, but some Orc guards stopped her and asked her why she was there.

Marcella tried to intimidate them, but that only initiated combat that much faster.  She started out by casting Thunderwave, which caused enough noise to alert the rest of the party back at the docks.  We made our way to the ship to see if she needed help.  Marcella quickly found herself surrounded, but managed to end the battle using a Charm spell.  The Orcs allowed her to leave in peace, but they wouldn't let her release the slaves.

Byzun, Val, Virgil, and Tatio climbed onto the upper deck of the ship, where they got into a fight with several guards and sailors.  Halfbeard stayed behind for a couple of rounds, but eventually made his way to the ship to join the fight.  Malcer kept failing his Athletics checks to climb aboard the ship, and spent a few rounds flopping about in the water.

When we were down to just a couple of enemies, several more guards and sailors arrived.  One of the newcomers was the ship's captain, a woman wielding a flaming longsword.  A few rounds later, even more enemies joined the fight.  Marcella found herself overwhelmed by guards, and was killed.  As a Revenant, though, she will come back to life in 24 hours.

While all this was going on, Robb was still on the warship.  He found a barrel of gunpowder, and used a candle as a fuse.  He lit it and ran, jumping out a window right as it ignited.  Back on the galley ship, Byzun cast a Fireball spell at the warship, killing a few sailors and damaging it further.  The warship knew it was under attack, and began firing its cannons at the slave ship.

We were down to three or four enemies on the slave ship, when we started getting bombarded by the warship's cannon fire.  It did massive damage to the slave ship, and everyone - friend and foe alike - started abandoning ship.  Halfbeard grabbed the captain's body as he jumped overboard, so he could loot it later.  Nobody was near enough to Marcella's body to grab it, so it went down with the ship.  As did the slaves, unfortunately.

The remaining enemies fled into the night once they made it ashore, and our party began to regroup.  We ended the session there. The slave ship is gone, the warship is damaged and burning (but still operative), and we haven't decided what to do next. Malcer has indicated he wants to board the sailing ship, but I think most of us would rather hide out on land somewhere.