Journal of Rollo Lavius 3

Entry #486 - Exit the Baleworths

(G486 07/05/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM10

[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard and Fangorino the Barbarian are on a mission to follow Baroness Partick and have been onboard the galleon known as the Dementor for several weeks now.
Recently the First mate, Mull-Master had gone crazy and killed one of the crew. The adventurers managed to subdue him and stashed him in the infirmary. Now read on...]

DAY 23 (12) cont ...

An hour later, Griffolk, Sparkledingle and Fangorino huddled together in one of their cabins and discussed their options.

The first idea mooted was to sink the ship. There were two boats up on the deck, the jolly boat and the captain's pinnace. All the crew and passengers would struggle to fit in them though.

So rather than that they decided to go and talk to Captain Pickles. Pickles was a half-halfling, just about five feet tall, so his cabin was built with his size in mind. He was jolly, almost manically so, and poured them all drinks and offered them food when they came to visit him.

They laid out all their worries, but each of them he poo-poo'd, saying:
'I know the sea can be a scary place if you've not sailed on it before! But don't worry, we are not cursed! The death of Surgeon Minty was a tragic accident, nothing more, and Mull-Master - well you know half-orcs! Strong fellows, but sometimes they can go a bit doo-lally! Everything else we can put down to bumps in the night and over-active imaginations! Hahahahaha!'
He laughed loudly and poured them all more drinks.

Every other attempt to get through to him failed. Fangorino even tried to scare some sense into the fellow by slamming his axe down on the table.
Pickles was not phased though and said, 'Don't be silly old chap. Now try some of this Waterdavian Whiskey, its sixteen years old!'

Pickles more or less successfully diverted any other attention by getting the men drunk on fine wines and spirits. Sparkledingle did not drink, but he was fighting a loosing battle.

He noticed, among the various curios in the cabin, a withered hand in a display case. 'Gulp! What's that captain?' he enquired.

Pickles muttered the start of a story, but lost his thread, hiccupped and poured them all another drink. Sparkledingle tried a ruse of going out, casting Detect
Thoughts, and coming back in again. He tried it twice, but both times he failed to get anything out of the Captain's mind.

Once they were indecently drunk the young men went to the galley and demanded of Cookie Cook, 'Chips and cheese please Cookie! And a kebab!'

DAY 24 (13)

The Dementor made good progress today. Murky misty weather. No sinister events happened today.

DAY 25 (14)

After lunch Griffolk decided to unfold a deck chair and sit on the main deck reading his 'Monster Manual' recently bought in Candlekeep.
Every time someone passed him he drew their attention to the chapter on vampires.

This caused a bit of a problem for him when, later in the afternoon, the body of one of the stewards was found, drained of blood, in Griffolk's cabin.

Gingols the Sane was the first on the scene and he raised a hue and cry. He was certain that Griffolk was to blame, but everyone else were not convinced, even though he had been reading about vampires all morning!

Griffolk gathered everyone together in the dining room and they all carried out some 'garlic tests'. No one, not even Baroness Partick reacted how they thought a vampire might.

They then tried mirrors, but with the same negative results. Even so, some of the passengers where getting very uneasy. Jilly Hidescore was starting to put it all together.
'I agree,' she said. 'Something awful is going on and we need to find out what it is.'