S11E15 - Pirate Meth Lab on Fire

The session opens in the caves, with Ike promising Brine a barrel of fish oil and a human head by evening as proof of his allegiance to Brine’s crew. The rest of the party is discovered outside the cave, but Ike defuses the tension, and the warforged still give him a chance to prove himself. Soto decides to stay, hidden, at the natural arch at the cave entrance while the rest of the group goes back to Skeldharbor.

Once back, they meet one of the fishermen who hired them. They tell him about the situation and their plan. The fisherman gives Ike an empty barrel and reveals that mail has arrived from Ironwound one day earlier. The party, fearing Sister Gloria might be in town, rushes to talk to Paco to tell him they have to leave that day. While they’re talking with him, a group led by Mon arrives and a fight erupts.

Mon, his mastiff, and two guards rush to the boat while the party scrambles to loose the ropes and haul up the gangplank. Then the last enemy, a cleric chanting “Hare Pelor, Hare, Hare,” summons a battleforce angel.

The boat pulls away, but not before several enemies leap aboard.

The heroes repel them while Paco steers the ship away. At one point, the angel seizes Lyra and flies sixty feet into the air. Lyra turns into a tiny spider and drifts down into one of the rowboats tied to their ship. The angel then tries to grab Nemo but fails. Paquito becomes the hero of the escape. He kills one guard, dodges a guiding bolt from the shore, climbs onto the sailing ship, and hurls himself at the angel, dragging her underwater. Lyra goes after him, transforms into a giant octopus, frees the courageous young man from the heavily armored celestial, and returns to the boat.

After recovering from the battle, the heroes return to the caves, eager to secure a faster boat. On the way there, Ike cuts off the dead guard’s head. Then he enters the cave with a barrel full of water, a slick of oil floating on top, and the promised trophy. He gives them the items, takes more drugs, and parties with the warforged waiting for Brine-9 to wake up. Meanwhile, beneath the pirates’ crystal-covered boat, Nemo and Lyra quietly unmoor the ship and steal it while Ike keeps the stoned warforged distracted. Brine-9, aboard near the helm, is bound and gagged before he can raise the alarm, and Soto levitates away from the arch onto the boat as they escape.

One of the stronger warforged spots them fleeing and fires a cannonball, missing wide. Soto answers with a shot of his own. He does not miss. The shot nearly instakills the warforged and destroys his cannon. The rest of the warforged, leaderless and stoned, are too confused to respond. They consider chasing the thieves, then realize a rowboat would make them sitting ducks against the larger ship. Instead, they go back to the cave with Ike, take more drugs, keep singing, and leave the question of what to do with the rest of their lives to their future selves.

Once they are distracted again, Ike turns invisible and loots the place, taking gold, gems, and an expensive-looking bottle. Then he sets the meth-lab on fire. He runs to the opposite cave exit and jumps into the water, still invisible. When Lyra says she cannot find him, he drops the spell and reappears.

With everyone back aboard and the pirate side quest complete, the heroes take a long rest and turn back to their unfinished problems: rescuing Jinu, Klik and Klak, and Little Sebastian, and recovering their side quest gold. In the end, they decide to move stealthily by night, find new sails for their stolen ship, and head south. They also strike a deal with Paco: he gets the ship, and in return he and his crew take them to Zoqoi and forgive the debt.