Ice Pirate Journey Darvin Challenge 1

Darvin Challenge 1:
A week into the journey the crow's nest gives alert that they have spotted dark, damaged, looking ships on the horizon - reminiscent of those that attacked Baldur's Gate. They aren't sure that the Lady Narath has been spotted yet. The crew turns to you, Darvin, for command.

In narrative form:

"Captain!" Called Yeshanks, an oddly stylish gnome, from the crow's nest. "I see an undead ship on ze horizon!"
"Have they spotted us?" Glibpo, the cities recommendation to serve as first mate, said stepping forward, "Are they making way for us?"
"Zey have ze wind at zer backs, but I am not sure zey have seen us - we are quite a distance now. It is only zanks to my vision that we can see them at all!"

Violet's Past, Part 1

As the Lady Narath Company left for the ruins of Waterdeep, their trials and struggles slipped from Violet’s mind like the last ray of sunlight on a winter’s day, leaving her alone with her thoughts once more. She would not think of Darvin, Talathel, Beranhond, Tigrisclawu, or Johan again except for the occasional fond memory that graced her face with the quirk of a smile or flickered on her voice like the ghost of a laugh at a joke told at the end of a day long past.

Nym, however, loomed over her thoughts as a dark storm threatening to blot out the sun.

That damned slip of an elf had destroyed her utterly, and left her with the bitter taste of regret and lost dreams where once she had relished the prospect of riches and renown over the course of thrilling years at the pinnacle of her craft. To have that future incinerated by such a pathetic little elf seemed fitting for her now, with her days spent helping Odin and searching for some sense of purpose and meaning. Whenever she ate, the food tasted like ash, regardless of whether she managed to care enough not to burn the meal to a crisp.

The life of an assassin is by nature both dangerous and uncertain.

Thinking about Nym caused her to genuflect, as it so often did now. When she had first joined the Lady Narath Company, she had been at the peak of her abilities. She was a finely honed killing machine, drunk on her own abilities and her knowledge that she held the power of death in every fiber of her being. She was a mage killer. Mages, the most dangerous of prey. Not only were they fully capable of rational thought, but they were also the most eccentric and usually the most intelligent of the sentient beings.

Accepting assassination contracts for mages was what she did for thrills, knowing that it would be dangerous, but that it would be a hell of a ride. She had some misbegotten notion that if she was going to go, she would go out in flame and glory. It would be a hell of a show for whoever was around to see.

She had made quite a name for herself when she took on the contract that ended her career. She had put down a revolt by literally beheading its leader, stopped a notorious sex trafficker, and "convinced" a politician to pursue a life of animal husbandry by brutally dismantling her best friend while she watched. She was proud of her efficiency and her body of work had spoken for itself, leading to increasingly lucrative and complicated contracts.

Then she had taken on a very unique and intriguing contract. She was to sever the connection between the Dark God and his forces on this plane. Her sources informed her that if she was able to strike during the transformation, when the high priest transformed into a terrible avatar of the Dark God's power, that he would be severely weakened, and would take decades to recover, if that was even possible. Of course, this might kill the priest, but her contract didn't have any stipulations about her fate.

There was a certain beauty in the irony that the moment when the awesome power was released from Nym as she transformed into the avatar of the Dark God was also her moment of greatest weakness, and could be her undoing. Violet found herself smiling in the midst of remembering all of this, the power of the memory bringing back the emotion of eager anticipation for the challenge ahead of her. She was to strike as the transformation began, first with a blade she had been given, to freeze the transformation in place, and then with a spell scroll she could read to destroy the Dark God and send him back to another plane.

Such a convenient contract. Take this knife. Take this spell. Go kill a god. In fact, the priest is only a few miles away from where she had accepted it, and she was told she would have her first chance to accomplish the task within a day or two. The contract was not detailed in its description of the Dark God, not even giving a name or a gender, but she had considered that mystery part of the excitement of the contract. She had practically drooled over the prospect of killing a god, and had fantasized about the act, picturing the god as a large, imposing man with an oiled beard, a ravishing come-hither smile, and an aura that pulsed of dark promises, desires unfulfilled. She had spent most of the day she took the contract absently stroking the dagger and picturing herself using it to slice this vulgar deity from groin to throat.

The evening of the day she'd received the contract, the dark god had erupted within the Orc Camp in the Shaar. Violet witnessed much of the devastation, but had not been in place to be able to accomplish her task and save the encampment. She learned what she could about her target, and realized that she would have to find a way to join the Lady Narath Company if she was to remain close to Nym.

For reference:

• Here's the post where Nym transforms
• Here's the post where everyone else notices that the Dark God has appeared
• Here's the post where Violet leaves a note for Nym and Darvin while they're having sex

I think that will be it for this post. Next time: What happened at the Druid Temple!

Sea of Shining Stars

It'll take between two to three months over overland travel to get to the western most portion of the sea of shining stars. Travel through the astral sea could shorten the path.

I'm open to other paths that you can justify of course!

Ice Pirates

The Lady Narath set sail two days later sailing north to the city of Luskan. The route will take the Lady Narath far to the west of Waterdeep. If you're going on this adventure please give me three checks, of your choice, that you would use for sailing. This could be a mixture of perception, dexterity, constitution, or whatever you'd like.