Faroth: Introducing the Ukulele Sword Band

barrel-headJesse Pickard GM’ed three new players on Feb 25. New players Zoe, Henry and Charlie created their characters:

  • Zoe – Olivia the Half-elf/elf? Rogue
  • Henry – Leo the Human Monk
  • Charlie – Ominatia the Tiefling Bard

The wide-eyed and inexperienced adventurers had met on the mainland before the orcs sacked Sing’jar and after a night of carousing in the local taverns came to the impulsive decision to head to the mysterious island of Faroth and its neighboring islands in the search for adventure, treasure and employment (in that order).

As they filed up the plank of the frigate Cammatta, the quartermaster inspected them, “And you…are adventurers? Going to be seasick the whole way, are ye? What’s your party called?” After some muttering, they came up with the name “Ukulele Sword Band.” The quatermaster was not impressed. “I’ve seen some fresh fruit come off the pier onto this deck before, but nay has it been dressed in diapers! Ha! Don’t go asking the crew for any help, yeh newborns.”

Upon arriving in Faroth they have quickly realized their naivete and that securing any of those three goals would be more difficult than they had envisioned. Three days after they arrived, refugees started arriving from the mainland. After spending a week and the rest of their funds getting the lay of the land, realizing their perilous situation and sleeping in the Sparrow and Axe the three adventurers are spending their last night under a roof and in the warm confines of the tavern.

Olivia and Ominatia come up the stairs to the common sleeping area they were sharing and notice Leo lying in his bed quietly crying. When they cautiously enquire as to what is wrong with their new friend he relates a tale of watching ships come and go down at the wharfs hoping to find them work on one of the ships when he heard his half wolf/dog Barney (that he had had since it was a puppy) barking furiously and some loud shouting followed by a yelp and some more cursing. He raced down the dock and found that some sailors had muzzled and leashed Barney. After a heated argument he found that they were traders who among other things specialized in collecting and selling exotic animals, Barney was bound for the fighting pits…nothing he did or said convinced them to release Barney, after much threats and some fisticuffs he had wandered back to town to report the theft. The city guard had laughed at his plight and offered no help. Now bruised and heart-broken he lay in his bunk quietly sobbing. After hearing this woeful tale the three friends decided then and there that this could not stand and they would rescue Barney from captivity consequences be damned!!

The three returned to the docks at dusk and quietly observed the ship, their was still some activity on board as they loaded and stowed cargo of different sorts an assortment of barrels and a large crate were still dockside when the sailors appeared to finish for the day. One sailor stayed on the dock as a sentry at the end of the gangplank, the others gathered midship to drink and play some dice a lone figure at the bow of the ship seemed to watch the proceedings with disinterest.

As darkness settled and seeing this as their opportunity to act, Olivia walked up to the sentry and started a conversation distracting him as the other two opened a few barrels on the dock, inspecting their contents (some salted meat, spoiled ale and grain) and determining a course of action. Leo grew tired of the lack of progress and crept up on the sentry and with a mighty two handed swing attempted to knock the sentry out with his quarter-staff, just as his staff rushed down the unsuspecting sentry leaned forward and laughed at the quick witted Olivia. The staff missed his head and skipped off his back and onto the dock, the sentry let out a surprised grunt and began pulling his cutlass out. Olivia and Leo made quick work of the sentry leaving him unconscious, they pulled him over beside the large crate and heard a curious clicking sound from inside the crate…

Olivia pried open the crate and peering back at them was glowing multifaceted eyes. With a gasp of surprise Olivia slammed shut the crate and ran to get some of the salted meat, back to the crate and she carefully opened it up again. Murmuring softly she dropped some meat in the crate, hungrily the dog sized beetle like creature devoured the meat and then cocked it’s head and chirped expectantly, Olivia grinned, a new friend perhaps?

The three decided to confuse the remaining sailors and quickly picked a tune and walked up the gangplank with Ominatia leading them with her Ukulele and the others playing improvised instruments and singing. The Sailors jumped up in confusion, the music was entrancing though…the adventurers maneuvered themselves close to the cargo hold and in a mad dash they ran into the bowels of the ship freed Barney and after some fisticuffs that left the sailors with bruised egos and chasing them over the rails of the ship and onto the docks they escaped!