Diary of Captain Nomed Oppenheimer - Entry Number 20
Friday, November 21st, 907 TA
These have got to be some of the softest pirates I have ever met. Say the word orphans and they melt to blubbering wrecks who risk our lives and for what? I was an orphan and I know just how evil those little cretins really are. But as long as they feel good about themselves, I’ll guess they won’t mind if their purses are a little lighter next time.
Back on the floating citadel, our odds of survival were bleak. The two storm giants were wreaking havoc and our options to fight back were non-existent. Finnegan, searching for an escape found a set of parachutes made by the human priests on board and we fought our way to a window to make our escape. I held the giants up and led them on a merry chase while the rest of the party leapt off and when they were safely out of reach, I joined them on the way down. We were picked up by the Wanton Wench and quickly made our way to Dragonsford to update Morgan on the events of the castle.
We told him of how to stop the castle and for that information, plus the two metallic rods that controlled the floating cities, he gave us a huge diamond worth 50,000 gp. After the exchange we moved to the North, out of the path of the castle, and watched as it passed harmlessly over Dragonsford, unable to use the magic of the storm to rain destruction down, and then headed up North into the open sea. We followed it a short way, and Java and Finn even attempted to go on board to retrieve the bodies of the giants and of the dragon for Chironomous’s experiments, but the Storm Giants were apparently extremely tidy, and the bodies were nowhere to be found. With no further use of the castle we left and planned our next moves.
We knew that our sails were somewhere in Hidden Skerry. We knew that the Sea Barons had a trap in Hidden Skerry. I hoped that we could find help at Tegel Manor, which I have been drawn to for some time now, so I convinced the crew that heading there was our best hope for aid at breaking the Sea Baron’s trap, and we made our way North. Unfortunately, our path led us past Havelock’s Keep on the 17th.
That stupid keep. We should have just kept sailing. As we were sailing by, we saw a huge copper dragon overlooking the keep, and realized it was the mother of the one we had slayed. That should have been our first clue to leave, but we also spotted a half-orc nearby who was beckoning towards us to come and talk. Finn and Wrane obliged, and were greeted by some sob story about how the dragon was out for revenge and was looking for us. She had Taken over the keep, which had been converted into an orphanage by some do-gooders. She threatened to eat the children unless the people who ran the place could find us and bring us to her. The half-orc pleaded with us to rescue them, and the rest of the crew were more than happy to oblige.
The orc told us that the head of the place was being held captive personally by the dragon, but that all of the children were held inside the lone building of the keep, a three story tall longhouse. We used the keep to hide our movements as we got the Wench as close as we could, and then rowed to shore in the dinghies. We made our way inside the walls, and tried to create a passage through the back of the longhouse, but the building was too sturdy for that, and so we would need to go through the front door. As we approached the door to the longhouse, a message slipped through the front that the only way we could get the kids out was if we could grab a magic item in the room of the headmaster. The room held a simple puzzle, and once I and Scylla solved it, we were rewarded with a wand of teleportation.
We must have made enough noise, as the dragon left her perch on top of a nearby hill and made her way towards us. We ran to the longhouse doors and got inside just before the dragon arrived. She was furious and immediately started tearing the building apart. Java started teleporting children out while the casters rained down fire and lightning outside to bring down the beast. I closed off the fireplaces to keep any of her breath attacks or her friend Jadeling inside, and Finn, CJ, and Wrane found a small hole in the room that went down into an old dungeon which this building was placed on top of. The dungeon held an ooze that came at us, but a few bombs put it in its place. With the building crumbling, and only half the children out, we moved everyone into the dungeon and hid there, to give time for Java to finish our escape. With the wand almost exhausted we all arrived safely on the boat, and a quick trip to the hilltop with the dragon distracted allowed us to rescue the headmistress as well. We set sail quickly and put the raging dragon behind us with haste. Our reward for saving these do-gooders and their “pets”? A hearty thanks. Didn’t even stay to slay the crippled dragon, for fear of it hurting the children. Waste of time if you ask me, unless Chironomous wants to use them for “other” purposes.
One detour down, most likely a lot more to go. At least we are heading to Tegel, and I know that there is a chance that can be a lot more useful than some wretched orphans. If nothing else, we can use them as ammunition for the ballistae if supplies get low.