Fear shook the crew as the claws raked the deck,
But Rootsmasher plunged his sword in its neck.
The gryphon was dead, but no hope of plunder
Afloat in our boat with the sail torn asunder
Death from Above
Six strangers boarded the Chameleon at the port of Drake Guard. Six companions alighted in Port Farrador. This is the tale of how the legend began.
The Chameleon was an aging coastal trader that plied the sealanes between the Xadour and Dwindalion Empires. Making landfall at the more affluent ports along the way, the boat rarely strayed beyond the horizon out of sight of land. Its captain, Darton Morrow, was a tall, thin man who was unwilling to take risks with his vessel.
As a citizen of Asteria he was used to seeing exotic races, but even he was amazed at the unusual mix of passengers he had on this trip. A well-dressed Dragonborn, a Goliath, a shifty-looking Elf, a Tielfling druid, a harp-plucking Kenku and … a well-spoken dog-lady that had a martial bearing about her.
The journey was expected to take three weeks with stops at Drakon Port, Umbracove, and Illa Unarith before cutting across Emerald Bay and rounding the headland into Asteria.
The Kenku took a liking to the first mate, a Halfling lady called Brie Seaview, listening to her stories and repeating them word for word with uncanny accuracy. Garrie the Dragonborn sorcerer diced with the crew, but his uncanny luck caused mutterings and sideways looks yet none amongst the crew would accuse him of cheating.
Three days before the ship was expected to arrive in the City of Lights, the captain called his passengers into his cabin. He was about to do his usual speech of “no stolen goods are to be offloaded at the port – anything you are caught with is your own problem.” It rarely works, but once in a while a passenger would approach him with an offer to cut the captain into a deal if he would help to smuggle something into the city. But not this time. He’d barely started to get the opening sentence out when a commotion rose out on deck. Something heavy hit the boat with force enough to rock it suddenly to one side.
The adventurers whipped out their weapons immediately and pushed their way out into the sunlight. An adult griffon had plunged down suddenly from the skies and grappled one of the crew. Tearing through the rigging and rending a massive gash through the main sail as it swooped, the monster was starting to rise again with its prey.
Kayla the Ranger knocked an arrow as she burst through the doorway, the griffon towering over her. Loosing it at point blank range, the arrow struck home causing the beast to momentarily lose its grip on the hapless crewman. Acacia the Elven rogue snatched one of her matching daggers and threw it, hitting the monster in the thigh.
The rest of the party came on deck and one by one they struck at the creature, trying to drive it away from the injured man. It turned and, with a vicious snap of its beak, opened a serious wound on Acacia. She slumped to the floor in agony.
Rootsmasher stood to the rear, concentrating on casting a spell. A tangle of roots and vines sprang up from the deck below the griffon, the timbers twisting and wrapping around its hind legs as it tried to rise. Breaking free of its bonds, beast launched from the deck and headed out to sea, causing rope and debris to splash into the water. Wolf cast a healing spell on Acacia just as the griffon turned and, bleeding from its many wounds, swooped down on the deck once more. Snatching its original victim in its talons, the monster rose again and sped away. But the druids worked their magic and lashed it again and again with thorny whips. Kayla took a deep breath and knocked an arrow, a glint of determination in her eye. She drew the bowstring to her cheek and, relaxing her arm slightly, loosed her shot striking the creature in the rib cage. It plunged into the sea, dragging the struggling crewman with it. A rope was thrown out to the crewman, who clutched it with a death grip as the party pulled him into the boat.
Quickly launching the ship’s tender, Rootsmasher rowed out to the floating carcass with the intent of retrieving Acacia’s dagger and also taking a trophy. Not one for subtlety, he drew his scimitar and, with a mighty swing, severed its head. Grinning widely and covered in gore, he rowed back to the Chameleon as sharks began to circle the dead monster.
A wail came from the captain as he looked over the damage done to his ship; the mainsail beyond repair, rigging and spars smashed, and a bizarre twisting of the timbers of the main deck. This was going to cost a fortune and needed to be fixed immediately, meaning a two-day layover in Port Farrador.
This was the party’s first real encounter – an adult griffon intent on taking one of the crewmen away as food for its hatchlings. The adventurers discovered a major gap in their capabilities – ranged weapons. The two druids – Wolf the Tiefling and Rootsmasher the Goliath – overcame this by using Entangle and Thornwhip in creative ways. Acacia went down in a heap on her first attack – a little unfortunate as this was the player’s first game. But she was healed quickly and able to get back into the action again. Rossglum the Kenku bard (me) was pretty ineffectual in this combat. His Thunderwave spell would have been catastrophic in the close quarters of a ship’s deck. He was forced to take a back seat and try to inspire others instead.
The ship was damaged and we needed to make a stop. The party was ‘blooded’ and has started learning how to work together. Rootsmasher got a trophy and the captain has agreed not to charge us for the passage to Asteria.
As a starting encounter, this was pretty dramatic! It was also Sam’s first proper run as a DM and he did a wonderful job.
Some credits in the photos.
The excellent ship map is from 2-Minute Tabletop (www.2minutetabletop.com) – a superb website that sells a huge range of mapping resources for download. I tried them out with this map and then immediately bought their Dungeon Map Assets pack to start making my own custom maps.
The models are a mixture of:
- Wizkids: Rossglum the Kenku, Rootsmasher the Goliath (although this was a conversion), and Wolf the Tiefling)
- Dark Sword Miniatures: Garrie the Dragonborn, Acacia the Elven Rogue, and Kayla the Dog/Elf Ranger
- GW Lord of the Rings: The ship’s crew
- Red Box Games: Brie Seaview
- Reaper: The (half painted) Griffin
The second part of the evening’s adventure is coming up in Episode 2 – Any Port in a Storm.