Session 13: Massacre on the Moonleaf Express Report
General Summary
At the end of the Moon Trial in the Tomb of Thaya the Patrol grabbed Thirteen and headed back to the lillend’s portal. As they approached they were greeted by Lucius. Fez, Thirteen, and Oyx stepped into the portal first and as soon as they were through to Erathia the portal fell in on itself leaving the rest of the party stranded.
T-R01D, Lucius, Zernon , and D’Wat made their way to Sarch na Thaya, the elven base at the top of the moon tree, Lokorn.
They haggled with the captains trying to get on the last full Telperion Skyships to the Zone. They were granted passage on a passenger ship, the Menelost Moonleaf, set to return below and were charged 100 gp for the fare.
As they climbed aboard they were greeted by the elven Captain Goldie Darby, soulforged Navigator Searcher, and owlin Asst. Spelldriver Bingo Ashdowne. Ever vigilant the group clocked 10 additional sailors, and 10 passengers made up of a handful of soulforged, gnomes, and elves.
One of the nobles, the woman gave Zernon a weird feeling. They were explicitly told the cargo hold was off limits. Zernon and Lucy returned to a cabin to reunite and share the tale of the Moon Trial, while T and D watched the liftoff from the helm of the ship. D asked the nervous owlin spelldriver, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop” and the owl replied confidently “37”.
The four Patrolers heard a commotion on the mid deck and all of them made their way into a passenger room accompanied by the owl and some guards. There they found the disemboweled captain and navigator. Word got to the sailors and we started to hear whispers about “The Can Opener”. T-R01D explained that the Can Opener was a fictional monster who preyed on Mechani-kin.
PPAC immediately took command of the ship. D’Wat directed PPAC to challenge command at every post. T-R01D and Zernon made sure the crew knew their place and D’Wat made sure Bingo took command of the ship and kept the boat on course. PPAC investigated the cabin and they found a bill of lading for barrels in the cargo hold.
D’Wat noticed that the lettering matched that of the nobles who had appropriated the captain's stateroom. PPAC immediately unlocked the captain’s quarters and rushed in, finding the two nobles donning their robes after what seemed a lively session together.
Zernon and T-R01D brought the nobles to the mid deck while D’Wat and Lucius returned to the helm of the ship. Zernon questioned the couple and when he felt he wasn’t getting 100% of the truth he roared with conviction getting the noble woman to drop her guise. She tapped her temple and said “Do it” and a commotion was heard below deck.
The warlock blaseted T-R01d with necrotic engery and made her escape down into the lower deck, attacking Zernon as she retreated. T-R01D rushed down the stairs and as he turned the corner in the hull he could see what looked like The Can Opener in one of the cabins. T commanded the two soulforged guarding the cargo to help him. They held down the dangerous warlock.
T gave PPAC a heads up through the psychic whispers and Lucius immediately pushed his fist to the deck below him and called upon the rays of the sun. The heat of the sun ripped through the simple wooden boards and shone brightly on the beast. T-R01D pummeled the restrained noble with his lightning hammer. As Zernon made his way into the bowels of the ship he ended the noble.
D’Wat threw two psychic blades that hit their mark keenly ripping into the Can Opener. The Can Opener opens massive wounds on T and teleports onto the main deck, attacking Lucius. Lucius manages to kill the creature with Midnight’s Bane, but it seemed his sword was not satisfied as the creature dissolved from this plane.
Lucius rushed down to help heal T-R01D, but was unsuccessful. Wanting to get to investigating D’Wat managed to closed T-R01D’s wounds psychically and PPAC advanced into the cargo hold to inspect the barrels brought aboard by the noble.
As soon as they flipped the barrels over a green sludge could be seen and it repulsed Z so much he ran up the stairs to hurl his stomach’s contents over the side of the ship. PPAC also searched the noble woman finding a distinctly faded crab tattoo on her body. D’Wat cout out the tatto and also found a warlock focus on her person. The crew took the time to rest a little ensuring that the fledgling owl at the helm was okay.
T-R01D and Zernon investigated the cargo again after their rest noticing the barrels were filled with what looked like fist sized eggs. As they were inspecting the contents of the hold they heard one of the soulforged, Muncher, open the door behind them. Z lifted another barrel for inspection and a horde of small crabs poured out and onto his fur. T-R01D readied himself for a fight and heaved a barrel over his head, spilling out some of the slime-y green liquid.
The liquid sloshed on the floor and took shape as if to attack. As Muncher entered the room the boys could see him unveil a portion of his chassis adorned with a darkly inked crab shaped tattoo. Muncher pressed on the tattoo and it faded resembling the tattoo collected by D’Wat and the Can Opener appeared again. T-R01D managed to tangle Muncher up in his rope.
Lucius and D’Wat used the gaping hole in the deck to advance on the soulforged warlock. Zernon attacked the solidified jelly that spilled from the barrel and looks like he weakened it significantly he then turned his weapon on himself trying to smash the infestation of crabs in his fur. With M tied up and knocked to the ground T brought down his hammer hard cratering the warlock's face.
The Can Opener advanced on his prey and tore T-R01D’s chest open sending him the ground. D’Wat unleashed some massive psychic daggers on the Can Opener and Zernon hit him again with a killing blow. The crabs on Zernon’s fur burrowed deep into his skin and Zernon called on Apolaki’s Light, disintegrating the crabs.
The group searched Muncher's body locating another warlock focus and a note that read, “Bring the eggs of our master to the world and let them grow in the sea”. Lucius felt that bad things like witches come in threes and he told the group they need to find one more accomplice.
The group brought up all the crew again questioning them, but they noticed that the two gnomes running the engines did not surface. Zernon stuck to the helm ensuring the boat would keep on it’s course as Lucius, D’Wat, and T-R01D made their way to the engine room. D’Wat unlocked the door and T-R01D pushed it in. The three could see one of the gnomes holding the other in front of him with a blade to his throat.
The gnome Hortex cut the autognome's head clean off his metallic body. He performed a ritual that transformed Otto's head into a flaming skull and tapped a number of tattoos on his bare chest. Noticeably the crab tattoo found on the other warlocks was still partially faded. As the gnome touched the tattoos shadows appeared on his flanks and he beckoned them to surface and to take out Bingo.
T-R01D threw himself into the room activating his robe of scintillating colors. As the kaleidoscope of light entered the room, it stunned the shadows locking them in place. T-R01D advanced on the gnome, grabbing him and bringing it him closer to Lucius. As the gnome struggled he was able to tap another tattoo, sending another shadow to the upper deck. As T-R01D held the gnome in place D’Wat riddled the gnome with psychic blades. The gnome slumped lifelessly in T-R01D’s arms and his summoned monsters faded away.
The group again collected a third warlock focus from the body of the gnome and questioned the crew. Satisfied this time that there were no more threats they continued to protect Bingo as he returned to the planet’s surface. As PPAC offloaded their hoard of loot, they threw some gold to Bingo to fix the hole in the deck. The Elvish Officers at the terminal asked the group to report what happened on their three day voyage and all the Moonleaf's crew sang their praise. Zernon and D’Wat were even able to persuade the elvish officers to gift them some Wood of Telperion which they intend to use to upgrade their ship, the Vinta.
