Diary of Captain Nomed Oppenheimer - Entry Number 27
Wednesday, December 11th, 907 TA
Chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos. The joy I have at seeing a city of pious hypocrites get what they deserve is only matched by my anticipation of the joy I will feel as we end Jana Blackfire’s life. She wanted to burn the impurities out of us with her brands, it is only fair that we return the favor. War, destruction, and fear. It’s going to be a good day.
We had just killed the great cat and had made it into the library when multiple visitors came to meet with various members of the party. One was another druid who wished to speak with Scylla, while the other was Chironomous’s mentor. They both had private conversations while we made stock of what lay inside the library. We found a huge collection of magic items, including the items that Elias wanted us to return from the Family. We also found the Impossible Bottle, surrounded by a casing of force. Finn and I worked together on solving the casing, and were able to open it without much trouble, allowing us to grab the delicate bottle by itself.
With the bottle in hand, and with the private conversations finished, we endeavored to leave town and get back to the Wanton Wench in order to do battle with the Siren’s Song. The Siren’s Song had other ideas. As soon as we left the confines of the darkness surrounding the Family compound, we were beset by the magical ship. She had been waiting for us to leave, and as soon as they saw us, they began turning their ship to give chase. With us short on time, I looked quickly at the cork on the Impossible Bottle and had an epiphany on how to use it. Before the Siren’s Song had even had a chance to fire a volley, I had opened the bottle and released the Golden Galleon high above the city. Their crew was quite surprised to find themselves so high up, and they only had a few moments of freedom before they came crashing down to earth. The crash was soon followed by the cries of the Siren’s Song, as she was swallowed up by the bottle, unable to escape the pull of the great magic. Within a few seconds, I held in my hands the resealed bottle, with our nemesis ship trapped inside.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief as our greatest threat had seemingly been neutralized quite easily. We quickly made our way back towards the Wench, to prepare the assault on Portsmith, but the Siren’s Song was not quite done with us. As we flew on the back of the dragon, several of the crew suddenly felt the urge to destroy the bottle. Only, Scylla, Wrane, and I were unaffected. We fought to keep the bottle away from the others, culminating with us jumping off the back of the dragon to keep it safe. We made it to the ground, and the few of us with our senses intact attempted to create a trap for the Siren’s Song so that we could release her straight into a wall of force, but before our plan could be completed, the always-eager-to-help Finn got close enough to the bottle to unleash a barrage of magic missiles to destroy it and free the Siren’s Song.
The ship came streaming out of the bottle and went streaming straight into the ground. Her grinding along the earth caused a lot of harm to the ship, and the crew of the Siren’s Song was shaken up by the ordeal. With them off balance, we decided to press the attack. We put forth a huge amount of firepower, and the crew of the Siren’s Song, already a skeleton crew, quickly surrendered when they saw what they were up against. With the captain killed immediately, and the crew battered, several us went into the ship in order to deal with the ghost of the Siren’s Song directly. Although the ship was bigger than the Wench, it was familiar enough to make our way around the bowels of the ship towards the magical compartment. Unfortunately, CJ, whose mind is just a little bit easier to manipulate than the rest of us, was suddenly under the influence of the ghost. While Finn distracted him, Wrane and I made our way to the magic chamber of the ship, where all of the inner workings originated. We ran into the ghost herself, and I quickly used the Ghost Powder we had from previous loot to trap her in place while we went to work on the machines. She cried in pain until she could bear no more, and then dissolved back into the ship. With the ghost subdued, I laid down every bomb that I had made for the day beside the machines of the ship, and we left, leaving a smoking husk as all that remained of the First Age vessel.
With the Siren’s Song neutralized, we went back to the Wanton Wench to make plans for our assault on the town of Portsmith. We settled on a plan of destruction. I would call in my father’s army to create a distraction and to help us kill as many of the paladins of Jana’s and the Old Kingdom, while we would take the fight to Jana Blackfire directly. We began making preparations and since we knew that the fight ahead would be tough, I looked for any advantage we could find. I turned to a magical chalice that we had procured from the library in the hopes that the magical properties would give us an advantage. Don’t try the blue liquid.
I awoke from the mirror a couple of days later, rather refreshed. Apparently, the chalice was a little bit outside of my constitution, and it brought me into a dream-walking state before it tore my mind apart. It was quite the experience, and if we had more time, I would try the other versions of the liquid, but as it stood, the crew scolded me for wasting time, and we made our way to Portsmith.
When we arrived, it was clear that the townsfolk were ready for a siege. There was nobody in the streets, and the soldiers had created two defensive strongholds: one at Jana Blackfire’s estate and one at the barracks/POW camp. Once in sight of the town, I called upon my father’s army to bring destruction upon the holier than thou forces. My father heard me, and a great portal opened up in the central square. Demons started spewing forth, going after the townsfolk and the soldiers, dragging them out into the open and slaughtering them. A few moments later, another portal opened and a group of knights, led by a gnome came forth to do battle with the demon host, trying to stem the tide. With chaos in full swing, we flew the Wench up towards the Blackfire estate. We unleashed several volleys into the mansion and had Scylla lock onto the locket that we knew she wore. With the mansion now in tatters, our group dropped from the Wench onto the roof of the building and created a hole where we could enter. We landed inside a dressing room, with three identical outfits and three of the same locket.
Thoroughly confused and extremely angry, we are now going to burn this town looking for that damned Paladin. She will know her mistake in not killing us when she had the chance. Even if all of Portsmith must burn.