Session 36 -- A Race Against Time

July 24-25, 1366

The party returned to the mainland after a successful mission, arriving back at the chaotic docks of Dingle aboard the curragh. The air was thick with smoke, the shouts of fleeing villagers, and armed rebels surging toward them; the town was gripped by open revolt, with agitators shouting orders and stirring unrest. Although wary, the group was quickly drawn into a confrontation with a mob of club-wielding townsfolk fired by rebellion, leading to an immediate standoff amidst the dockside turmoil.

Cornered at the docks, the party tried to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Tiv used magic to hold several attackers in place while Ceangal explored options for putting them to sleep with non-lethal spells. Jack made a comedic attempt to shove a rebel into the water, failing but eliciting laughs. The group noted that these opponents were not true soldiers; they were simply angry townsfolk swept up in the chaos. Ceangal, always the tactician, suggested incapacitation, and the party managed their magic and attacks with restraint. Yet in the midst of this, Murchad delivered a fatal blow, decapitating a foe whose head landed with a splash, a grim contrast to Jack’s failed attempt at a gentle shove.

Vedica, after the violence, attempted to parley for peace with the remaining agitators. Some were open to negotiation, debating payment, comparing the party’s wealth, and nervously eyeing Murchad’s bloody sword. Her plea for a cup of tea instead of continued combat drew uneasy laughter and a measure of respect. Ultimately, the rebels chose to retreat, recognizing the party’s strength and threat behind the assertion that “The only payment you’ll get from us is being allowed to walk away alive.” The docks quieted, and the party moved on, throwing confiscated weapons into the water and leaving the tumult to sort itself out.

Traveling eastward, the group encountered more signs of rebellion: barricades, flaming arrows, and pike-wielding townsmen blocking the roads in Castlemaine. Quick thinking and coordinated attacks turned the tide.  Tiv’s “righteous bonk of fury” knocked out a rebel, and Vedica’s accuracy with her bow neutralized a fire-arrow-wielding archer. Jack joined the fray, dispatching assailants before they could escalate the violence, while Dwårfy worked his way through the barricades with pragmatic blows from his hammer. Ceangal unleashed a fireball in the center of the square that took out most of their assailants and one of the barricades. Their combination of powerful attacks and clever tactics routed the defenders and sent others fleeing in fear. Commentary among the group was sharp and ironic: “I say we make this town our own and definitely not turn into the next to be overthrown,” they quipped, knowing their intervention had dramatically shifted the balance of power yet again.

Passing through Cill Airne and into the countryside, the party met increasingly desperate peasants, mud-smeared and armed only with pitchforks, demanding tolls for “the people’s cause.” Their leader, Eoghan, was rebuffed by Murchad’s blunt assessment of the party’s armament and by Jack’s comedic false surrender. The group used stealth to slip by, with some members going fully invisible, and Vedica caught in the act of pickpocketing, managing only to freak out the rebels instead of stealing gold. The episode ended with the party scattering, outmaneuvering the makeshift barricade and continuing toward Corcaigh as the rebels were left confounded and empty-handed.

Before reaching Corcaigh, the party encountered a smoldering caravan raided by rebels -- faces streaked with soot, weapons brandished, and intent on finishing what they started. Another fight erupted: Tiv incapacitated foes with careful spellwork, Vedica and Dwårfy improvised non-lethal tactics like turning a torch into a club, and Jack unleashed his horn of blasting, felling a cluster of raiders in a spectacular display. Ceangal’s wit surfaced in his attempts at non-lethal archery, quipping about arrows to the knee. Their humor underscored an otherwise tense and violent encounter; the party continued onward, now burdened with the realization that their choices had escalated local unrest. They thought back over the incidents they engaged with and the ones they skirted. At the time, their single-minded pursuit of Dingle and the pommel seemed legitimately the best course of action. They wondered if earlier interventions in the situation along the way might not have averted a full blossoming of the situation. “We had agency. We made choices. This is the product of things we did and didn’t do.”

Finally reaching Corcaigh, the group refocused on logistics, connecting with their ally Vegvisir, who had located a ship, the Hibernian Star; a captain, the formidable Grace O’Malley; and a good portion of a crew. Ships and idle crewmen were hard to find as the kingdom-wide rebellion spiraled out of control.

The city itself was bustling but unsettled, its streets illuminated by lanterns, its port brimming with sailors and dockworkers. After pooling resources, selling the crown, and divvying up pearls and sapphires to pay for the vessel, the party secured twenty crew members and began outfitting the ship for naval combat with ballistae and supplies. They joked about learning seamanship lest they be stranded at sea and celebrated the fact that everyone was “equally bought into the ship.” Managing their new maritime venture with flair and practical concern. Jack lobbied for Greek fire as a weapon option, only to be told it was not yet available in the region, and instead they settled for ballistae over catapults and cannons, as they were much more expensive and the magic users in the party already wielded fireballs more reliable than gunpowder.

The party decided that the 5,000gp asked for the old ship was a bargain, and they hired on Grace as captain and all twenty seamen they could find (twice as many as required for the basic running of the ship). They outfitted it with four ballistae for defense, and then they needed to find a place to sleep for the night while the arrangements they made were implemented, as it was already 10pm by then.

That night, the party discovered a group of saboteurs stacking gunpowder kegs at the city wall near the harbor, intending to blow up part of the city’s defenses. Murchad’s sharp eyes and tactical sense caught the glint of metal and the sulfurous scent, prompting a tense standoff. In rapid succession, Jack used his horn of blasting to scatter the saboteurs, but their leader armed a magical trigger box: six runes counting down to detonation. With him were a further ten brigands.

The encounter became a chaotic melee: Tiv dispelled the rune with magic, Dwårfy took multiple hits, including a critical one, and Vedica darted through the fray, alternating between melee and sarcastic banter.  Her chuckles were silenced when one of the original six saboteurs broke away and re-armed the trigger.

As attackers closed in, the party focused on disabling the detonation device, weighing possibilities like prying it off the barrels, tossing the barrels into the sea, or using dimension door to teleport the device far from town. After several desperate attempts, Tiv and Ceangal’s combination of magic and strength not only disabled the device but secured several barrels of gunpowder for their own use.  Jack was ecstatic at that prize!

After the saboteurs were dispatched, the party spent the next morning stocking up on supplies, managing rations, and planning the next phase of their journey. The ship and crew secured, magical dangers defeated, and Corcaigh safe (for now), Tiv, Vedica, Jack, Ceangal, Dwårfy, and Murchad looked toward new horizons, reflecting on the tumult and humor of their adventures. Their camaraderie and wit had carried them through relentless fights, difficult moral choices, narrow escapes, and plenty of misadventure, leaving them ready, if not eager, for what awaited beyond the Irish coast.

They made their way from the shops and taverns to the ships, hoping to be underway before the attack that Tiv’s ability to decode the earlier messages told them was imminent.