Session 14

Emerging from the center of the city is the mouth of a narrow river that barely accommodates the Scorpion as it makes its way inland. The remaining crew works with evident stress to haul in the ship's rigging as the on-board magical propulsion takes over in these narrow confines.

Tall buildings made of brick and stone arc and sag overhead, casting sharp shadows along the boat and throughout the city. The effect is positively unearthly, and you are reminded of the harsh gloom of the Shadowfell as you move through what feels like a skeletal forest. Whatever disaster befell this place, it left no traces of life in its wake. The stone here is scorched, and not even weeds have dared to reclaim the riverbank, as though the land had been both burned and salted.

You creep slowly, ever forward, fending off the ruined stumps of bridges and other debris in your path. At last, you feel the ship begin to stop as it approaches its destination. The ship turns and you find yourselves staring into the maw of tremendous cathedral. The wall that used to run along the river has entirely collapsed, along with much of the ground level, sliding into the river and leaving the building flooded. The water here is surprisingly deep, and with a harsh turn, the Scorpion docks itself in this makeshift harbor inside the building. You've reached the pirate's hidden base.

The air here is filled with the sounds and smells of life and activity. Jones's men have transformed the cathedral into a veritable fortress. Towers of boxes and crates filled with stolen goods are stacked precariously on what remains of the upper floors and rafters. The cathedral's main chamber must have once held hundreds of worshipers, and it's arching ceiling provides a sung fit for the medium-sized ship now resting there. Stained glass windows dot the walls, transforming the bright sunlight into a chaotic array of shapes and patterns which dance across the ship and reflect off the water in the indoor harbor, adding a truly hallucinogenic effect to an already strange room.

Teams of sailors are busily unloading the ship, hauling heavy chests down gangplanks balanced between pews. Dog, too, is being carried down, confined in an iron restraining brace that seems fitted to prevent all movement and speech. He's certainly capable of giving dirty looks, however, as the sailors trundle him off to somewhere they call the Pit, which seems to be some sort of solitary confinement cell they use to let Dog cool off.

Jones is swinging about, marshaling his men as usual. Once it appears that the sailors can handle the task of unloading the ship, he approaches you with a proposition.

"I've heard that you are interested in traveling north and I applaud your good sense in fleeing from this wretched country. You have arrived at an opportune time, and I suspect that we may be able to help each other once again. The port city of Memnon will have the services you desire, but you'll find that the citizens of that city are mired in the same cloud of fear and uncertainty that has consumed this entire nation. They rarely deal with foreigners and they certainly refuse anyone without any connections such as yourselves. I'm afraid that your band is as likely to be arrested on the spot as it is to charter a ship north.

But you are fortunate, my friends, to have met me and my men! We are well acquainted with the city and its ways and can surely arrange an appropriate transaction. We are preparing to journey there as soon as possible and could make good use of your services along the way. We are rich in gold, but gold does us no good in a wasteland such as this. We must carry it to Memnon, where we can buy up materials to repair our ship and to hire men to replace those we have lost and of course to acquire much food and entertainment for the men back at base!

But carrying gold is no small business. We must travel a considerable way across arid desert where the only thing more dangerous than the bandits waiting to pry our valuables from the fingers of our corpses are the soldiers and military men waiting to do the same. In hostile country, adventurers such as yourselves are always appreciated, just as I'm sure you will appreciate a connected businessman such as myself when we reach Memnon."

Jones smiles as he makes clear the conditions of his deal, though even as he does so, the cathedral's mighty doors swing open as a band of men limp in, bloody and wounded. In the distance the sound of thunder rolls in as the ground shakes beneath your feet.

"He's sealed up the last gate! My men are falling back, but he's got us trapped on all sides, sir! What should we do?"

"If we can no longer afford to ignore him, the I suppose we must find him. Get your men to the infirmary immediately, I've got an idea."

Jones turns back to you. "It seems that a wrinkle has emerged in our plan. I had hoped that a certain… situation… here wouldn't interfere with our business, but it seems that luck is again not with me.

Our base here is nestled in the carcass of a city whose name was consumed in the fires that raged across the land in the aftermath of the spell plague. The land here is dead beyond any hope of revival, and no legitimate men dare try and reclaim it. Even the nomadic tribes stay away, leaving us free to do our business. Occasionally we must evict bandit gangs, who set up to make trouble, but we haven't had a serious problem up until now.

A particular wizard has found his way here and is holed up somewhere in the city. This is something that we would ordinarily ignore, and indeed we have done well in paying him no mind, but he is bound and determined to make himself a thorn in our side. He specializes in stone and sees the remains of this city as a work of art, a temple to the purity of stone, and he seeks to purify it of us fleshy types. He's not strong enough to engage us directly, but he's been working to cut us off from the outside world so he can starve us out.

His golems are formidable, but his real threat is his capacity to shape stone to his wishes. He's erected great walls to block us from using the city gates. So far my men have had no luck in figuring out where he's hiding, though we are not experienced adventurers like you and your group. I need you to track this wizard down and bring back a way to lower the barriers that he's created, either in the form of a tool he may be using or in the form of his unconscious body."