Journal of Rollo Lavius 3

Entry #501 - Against the Vampires

(G501 26/11/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM14

[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Corhim 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.
Now they are holed up in the dining room being attacked by Vampires!]

DAY 39 (day 28 of the voyage) ....

As the mists under the table started to form into ancient vampires, Griff started throwing garlic everywhere. Redthorn strummed his lute and started to sing an inspiring ballad to give them strength against the evil attacking them.

A dusty old vampire male dressed in full plate armour was now in the room and the first thing he did was dominate Midshipman Alise who then went on a rampage. Griffolk threw more garlic, making the old vampire recoil. Another vampire was in the room, an ancient old hag, but as the handfuls of garlic fell everywhere they could do nothing other than turn into bats and fly out of the window.

Mr Nice had been hit by a spell cast by Sparkledingle that had immobilised him, so Griff and Fang stabbed at the flesh golem until it stopped moving.

After that it seemed as if the attack was over. Alise was still dominated, but he was subdued easily enough and tied up. He was dumped next to Mullmaster.

With the excitement all over for now, Sparkledingle returned to his bedroll and gingerly shook out the spiky thing within. It was none other than Kenneth! His faithful ... spiked stick.
How in the name of the Gods had it been returned to him when he had seen it fall into the sea with his own eyes?

While he marvelled at this, Griff and Fan chopped Mr Nice up into manageable chunks and chucked them out of the window.

At nine in the morning they tried to get the ship moving again. Fang told off the marines, telling them to buck up and help sail the ship. The Captain was already drunk though and of no use to anyone.
Even with the marines helping then they were short for hands and had no one with any real experience. Up on deck they looked at the pinnace. It was just about big enough to hold the 13 remaining crew and passengers, two of which were gnomes and could make do with half rations.

With everyone on deck - no one wanted to go into the shadowy parts of the ship - and enjoying the weak morning sunshine, they had time to plan.

Sparkledingle came up with the idea of chopping up the deck to expose the vampires to sunlight. There was a mist today, as there had been all the way since Candlekeep, but the sun was bright and warm. They decided to start loading the pinnace with provisions, just in case.

Cookie went down to the galley to gather food, but was scared away by vampires lurking in the shadows.

At ten o'clock the chopping began. Fang, infused with magical help from Sparkledingle started hacking away at the deck above the galley.

Sparkledingle tried to persuade the Captain to give up all his possessions - for the greater good he said - but I think everyone now realised how greedy the gnome was and the Captain was having none of it.

Fang continued to chop gleefully away and it did not take him long to strip back the top of the galley. He jumped down and started hacking into its floor. The galley was above the forward hold. He made the galley unstable and he had perhaps not realised that the stove brickwork was held upright by the wooden frames and one last massive chop made the whole lot crash down into the hold.

The Supercargo was hiding down here, and once he saw daylight he scampered off up out of the hold via the central access point. Fang, for no sensible reason I can think of, decided to simply keep chopping. Surely he realised that he would soon be through to the sea and effectively sinking the ship?

As he chopped Baroness Partick popped her head out of the door of the aft hold. Less than a minute later the ancient male vampire was in the shadows of the forward hold. He approached Fangornio and dominated him!

'Go up to your friends,' cackled the vampire. 'And apply that useful axe of yours to their necks!'

Fang could do nothing else but obey. He emerged from the hold and charged out onto the deck. Redthorn tried to use a spell to Daze him, but it didn't stick. Griff tried a Fear spell, but it had no effect either.

Sparkledingle cast Glitterdust. Daze and Fear were tried again. Fang just kept coming. Griff breathed fire, and that had some effect, but the barbarian still managed to slice one of the marines into two pieces.

Sparkledingle tried Charm Person. It failed. Redthorn tried Daze again. It failed again. Griff ran around to the other side of the hatch and goaded the powerful barbarian. Fang tried to leap the hatch, but slipped and fell all the way down to the hold - where the vampires were waiting.

What they were going to do with Fang they did not know, but they had bought themselves a few seconds of reprieve.