At the helm of their
commandeered vessel, The Condor ,
Twitch breathed a sigh of relief and offer a prayer of thanks to The Traveler. Your path for me is full of adventure and
glory, Mysterious One, Twitch thought. No
sooner had my companions and I met a man that thought himself invulnerable than
you revealed his boasting to be empty! Stupid mortals to mock the supremacy of
the gods! Orlando the Not-So-Invulnerable folded quickly under an onslaught of
magical attacks from my companions and me. While You walk Your own path, I hope
your brethren of The Six do not deal kindly with him in the afterlife. Twitch
eased the rudder to steer the ship more fully into the current and catch more
of the wind. We scoured the warehouse
and found a lockbox containing both treasure and two notes that appeared to
reveal the plans of the Bilgerats bandits. But mortals plan while You laugh. We
returned to the King's Coin to collect our pay from Sondar Lockman, only to
find the bugbear we had frightened away from the warehouse nursing his wounds
in mugs of ale! I offered him silver for his troubles and instructed him to
follow Your path of freedom and enlightenment. Perhaps he will discover Your
glory; perhaps not. His path is known only to You. Twitch
breathed deeply of the salty sea air. How she had missed the open waves! She
smiled as she continued her prayer. But
Your path for me continued with unexpected turns. Sondar offered our group
another job--this time to stage a mock abduction of a Lady, Olna, of the Storm
Lord House Manatu, who wishes to escape Stormreach and journey to Sharn. I know
from my time with Captain Redtusk and The Heartbreaker that such abductions are fraught with
unexpected peril. We companions discussed the plan and shared my misgivings. We
decided to have Envy, the eloquent bard, negotiate for what we thought was an
exorbitant sum of 1000 gp each. To my surprise, however, Sondar agreed in
principle immediately and without haggling. He gave us 2000 gp as earnest money
and pledged to check with his superior in the Jade Vipers, Lady Olivera, for
the rest by midday on the morrow. With new fortune and a new job, we
companions set about the task that Yipping most wanted--to secure a ship.
Checking the harbor docks in the midnight gloom, we found one unguarded and
with only two crew aboard, both asleep. With Your blessings and the aid of
Envy's inspiration, Lukar and Legion slipped aboard stealthily, unlocked the door
to the crew cabin, and rendered the two sailors unconscious with the warforged’s
heavy blows. Your path had brought
me back to the sea! Twitch prayed. Great and mysterious are your ways. Now that
we had a means to sail Lady Olna to Sharn, we needed only to moor the ship away
from the harbor in one of the many nearby pirate coves. With my companions’
aid, I thought I had navigated the Xen’drik coastal waters successfully and
avoided the sahuagin territory, but nevertheless, several sahuagin leading
hunter sharks assailed our ship. It took all of our companions’ efforts, and all
of the cunning you had revealed to me, to prevail over the foul creatures and
to send them back to their watery abyss. As Twitch’s prayer
concluded, The Condor turned into the cove Twitch had chosen, only to
see in the early pre-dawn light the familiar silhouette of The Heartbreaker .
Twitch’s joyful laugh pealed in the morning misty air. Praise The Traveler!
More adventures for me and my companions!
