Save My Family
URGENT
A threat has been put upon my family on shore as my enemies bear down upon me at sea! In the name of all that matters, I bid any brave-hearted adventurer available come posthaste to prevent harm from befalling my family back home. May your gods grant you speed.
Captain W. Coburn
Recap
Responding to a salty, waterlogged quest notice begging anyone to save his family, Pippin, Erik, Chandra and Nuith find themselves aboard a ship in a dark storm. After meeting the triton pirate Captain Wade Coburn, Pippin wants to have words about the deal Wade tricked Finnick into, but there isn’t much time. Chandra is unimpressed with Wade’s security protocols, but is torn between chiding him properly and getting going to handle the assassins.
Using some kind of teleportation scroll provided by the Captain, they find themselves inside a small panic room where a half-elf man and a small child about 6 years old cower in fear. They eventually open up and we learn that Hunter and Natasha have an underwater safe house off the coast but haven’t felt safe enough to leave the house to reach it.
After some sleuthing outside the panic room, Nuith spots an armed dwarf loitering around the house, as if keeping some kind of suspicious watch on it. They come up with a plan: Erik and Pippin will distract him, while the rest sneak out the back of the house. This goes… somehow better and worse than expected. The dwarf makes an excuse about wanting to join the family for Afternoon Supper, which both Erik and Pippin are upset about. Erik keeps threatening to bite the man’s fingers. Pippin continues luring him to play a betting game by putting his manor on the line in exchange for learning about Afternoon Supper. An argument ensues over which dice to use, when Erik eats the dwarf’s dice to “inspect” them. Chandra breaks the rules of magic in an attempt to protect Natasha with a special spell, which works with Pippin’s ability to shift the future through the window as this attempt nearly fails at first.
The distraction only works for a few minutes, long enough for the team inside to gather up special cloaks for the journey underwater and begin escaping out the back door. Just as the dwarf seems to be reaching the limit of his patience, Pippin throws his keys at him and runs off, Erik attempts to bite and shove him, successfully chomping a few fingers as he runs away. The dwarf ignores them and starts running into the house, loudly frustrated that he can’t find anyone inside.
With Nuith carefully guiding them through the city, the party makes their way safely to the beach. After everyone is regrouped they huddle in a rocky outcrop trying to make a game plan, but after only a few minutes in hiding a random arrow comes flying overhead. A quick look shows the dwarf hadn’t found them, but seemed to be trying to intimidate them out, if they were there at all. Instead of making a break for it into the water, Nuith escorts their wards to hide just at the surface of the water as the rest of the team faces the dwarf. Despite being able to become quite large, the dwarf does not last long against the fury of the team, Chandra dealing the final blow cutting him in twain as he started charging towards those they were protecting.
Thankfully Erik is able to store important water-sensitive items in his genie ball to protect them, to the great relief of Chandra and Pippin. After sorting out these details, the party heads down to an undersea cliff. On their way to the safehouse, two territorial Merrows ambush them, starting with little Erik, but after the party takes one down Chandra is able to call a cease-fire to negotiate, and through the clever use of Message and Pippin’s elective language Abyssal, they are able to communicate that they are not here to impose and Chandra will heal the downed creature in exchange for a kind of peace treaty between them. Pippin encourages them to attack anyone else who passes through, however.
Finally, they arrive to the safe house. Though paranoid about its actual degree of safety, Nuith is convinced it is safe enough, and everyone takes a long rest while waiting for 12 hours to make sure no one followed them. During this time Chandra teaches Natasha how to make royal tea and starts teaching her magic spells, Firebolt and Shape Water. The party engages in philosophical discussions and debates about consent and pact-magic.
They head off in the morning to find Wade’s associate, who will be able to communicate that the job is done and give them their rewards for a job well done. The party splits as Nuith seeks out his office while the rest go to deposit fake evidence to implicate that Hunter and Natasha were successfully already assassinated to anyone who comes snooping around, hopefully throwing anyone off their trail by faking their deaths. Good for Nuith, she has a moment of near clairvoyance and realizes that someone seams to be beating and interrogating someone inside the office and sprints off to meet the party instead of rushing in alone. Meanwhile, Pippin gets a glimpse of the future and makes everyone turn around to go find her, as well.
Someone seems to have heard Nuith sneaking around, though, as when they return there are some guards posted at the door of the building. It doesn’t take much for Nuith to take one down and throw Erik-in-a-bottle at the other to take out the other. Inside, another two guards are also easily discarded. However, this gives whoever was inside time to hide because when they get into the office, it appears empty.
In an epic last fight with an assassin who can appear and disappear at will, Nuith goes down, Chandra revives and chides her mid-battle while sending missiles into the face of their opponent, Pippin blocks the door so the assassin can’t leave, and Erik puts in his fair share of work attacking empty corners with Thunderwave. It’s a bit disorienting as this figure seems to have unusual powers, but ultimately, Nuith delivers the final blow, pummeling his corpse into the ground to ensure he stays there.
Mr. Jayden Hax, Accountant, is grateful to be cared for and revived as the group gets him up to speed. He rushes them home so he can get to following protocols and clean up the mess – authorities will be by soon no doubt, after multiple booms and crashes coming from the building with dead bodies littering the streets and office hallways, and get to work finishing the job of faking Hunter and Natasha’s deaths to prevent further attempts on their life until the issue can be settled.