Searching the Hellraiser:
CHES 24th (THE CLAW OF SUNSETS)
13:40 am
While Alley and Zarek wait for the best opportunity to place SPG, the Rat Familiar that Zarek Summoned, on the Heartbreaker Ship, so it can investigate the lower decks, the Rogue and Bard discuss what they had discovered so far.
- The Sailors are on guard on the ships
- The Carnies are the only crew that move from the ships to the Sea Maidens Faire
- There are over a 12 Sailors, 3 Mates and a Captain that they have seen so far on the Hellraiser
- The Mate, or people in the Cabin Speak Low Drow or Drowic
Zarek: “There is something off about the Sailors, we should maybe keep an eye on them for a while.”
Alley: “Indeed, observing them or a location for a period of time may uncover observations that we may have otherwise missed.”
Zarek: “You mean a stake-out so to speak.”
Alley: “Exactly, that way we are in a better position to spot any unusual activity, patterns or covert actions.”
The Rogue and the Bard each take time to observe the both ships, Alley watches over the Heartbreaker while Zarek spies upon the Hellraiser.
Zarek then is able to spot that the Male, Human Sailors all speak with an Elven Accent. Then he spots a few of them using Hand Signals, like those used by Nat of the Urchins, to communicate with each other from a distance.
Zarek: “That odd that they seem to have Elven accents and what’s with the Hand Signals?”
Alley them points out to Zarek that the Captain from the Heartbreaker had left his cabin and was walking around with a Spider, a Tarantula, perched on his shoulder. The captain also has a large Set of Keys on his person.
Zarek: “These Sailor seem to speak Elven as their first language, it makes no sense. Then there are the hand signals.”
Alley: “Zarek you have all the pieces but cannot see the page for the books, think again.”
Zarek: “Of course they must be Drow, but how is that possible.”
The Rogue and Bard put their Sage heads together and they deduce that they must be hidden by a powerful Illusional Spell. Then the was the Figure Head which was an Elven Woman and the fact that the Sailors do not leave the Ships.
The Rogue and Bard then elect to further investigate the Heartbreaker, the Ship which hold the creatures of the Sea Maidens Fair, by sending SPG down to the lower decks.
Alley and Zarek agree on the initial features of the Ships that they need to remember for when they chose to infiltrate them.
Alarms: If intruders are detected the entire crew is on alert as they appear to be on guard.
Ceilings: Cabins, holds, and passageways have 8’ foot-high ceilings with 6’ foot-high doorways connecting them.
Doors: Unless otherwise noted, the doors are made of wood. A door’s lock can be picked by a Rogue using Thieves’ Tools, or a door can be forced open by the use of violence.
Elevator Platforms: Each ship is equipped with an Elevator Platform that can be lowered and raised with a lever to make loading and unloading cargo easier. When not in use, this platform stays in the lowest cargo hold of each ship.
Lighting: Areas below decks are brightly lit by hanging lanterns containing Candles instead of Oil.
Rigging: Rigging can be climbed without an ability check.
Alley and Zarek continue with their performance, with the Rogue playing the Blind while controlling SPG and Alley playing the part of the Maid explaining all the wonders of the Sea Maidens Faire, and her performance is flawless.
From the Main Deck, Zarek commands SPG to sneak down the Fore Stairs that descend to the Orlop Deck below. From the Orlop Deck, SPG them continues down the adjacent stairs down to the next deck and to the Upper Hold.
In the Upper Hold SPG could hear a couple of Animal Handlers talking to each other as they operated the Cargo Elevator.
Zarek: “Both the Carnie folk and the Animal Handlers speak without the Elven accents that the Sailors have.” The Rogue thinks to himself.
SPG is sent to the Fore section of the Upper Hold of the Hellraiser and shows the Rogue that there is another cabin at the front with a door as the reek of urine fills the cramped head.
SPG can crawl under the bottom of the door, used to ventilate the room, and discovers:
PRIVIES:
Each little more than a bench seat with a hole open to the water below-are this room’s only features.
SPG then is asked to sneak across the Orlop Deck, the 2 Animal Handlers and the Cargo Elevator area to the Aft section of the Orlop Deck.
Upper Cargo Hold:
This hold contains the following features:
Large Grilled Doors: in the ceiling open to allow goods to be moved to and from this hold using the Cargo Elevator. A 15’ foot-by 10’ foot section of floor opens to reveal the Lower Cargo Hold aboard the Hellraiser. Crates and barrels stacked to the ceiling are tied down to ensure that they don’t move. These containers hold food and water for the crew and the carnies.
Cargo Elevator: To activate an elevator platform, a creature must stand on the platform and use an action to pull a lever up or down. The platform can’t be raised higher than the Main Deck or lowered deeper than a ship’s Lowest Cargo Hold of the Hellraiser.
The Trapdoor in the floor opens when the cargo elevator is raised. If the platform is raised to the Main Deck, the Trapdoor remains open until the elevator platform returns to this area.
Midway down the Orlop Deck, the Rat Familiar finds the deck split by a pair of stairs either side, one going up and one going down. In from of that and further to the Aft a wall blocks the back end of the Hellraiser and there is a single door. The door is slightly ajar and allows SPG to be able to continue further down the Ship.
Beyond the door is a corridor with 5 cabin doors either side and a shorten corridor than the one above.
Zarek: “I calculate that the shortened corridor is due to the Ships Rudder that is attached to the Tiller.”
Alley and Zarek continue to move along the Pier, as the Rogue controls the Rat Familiar, in order to keep it within the 100’ feet range of the Spell.
The Rogue then makes the choice to continue down the corridor and leave the stairs behind, for now at least.
The first 4 doors on either side looked like Cabin Doors where the last 2 door to the Aft of the Hellraiser were both different.
The Port Door was reinforced with bands of iron and the door was firmly locked.
The Starboard Door, which was not a door at all but Bars of a Cell.
Brig:
Door: A door made of criss crossing iron bars and fitted with a sturdy lock seal off this cabin, whose only feature is a chamber pot and the skeleton of a previous inmate.
Jailed Sailor: There’s a sailor is being held in the brig.
SPG move to the Port side of the Hellraiser and investigates the second door.
Zarek: “The door is reinforced with Iron Bands and must store something Important or Valuable.” The Rogue ponders.
Then the Arcane Trickster hears the sound of boots walking along the Ships planks behind SPG and on turning the Rogue see that a Carnie was making his way down the corridor. SPG was command to wait and then it made a dash as the Carnie entered, unlocking the door with a key, one of the Cabins on the starboard side of the Hellraiser.
Zarek realised, after the Carnie took out some food and drink and sat on his Hamock, that he had a time limit and needed to retrieve SPG and this time continue all the way down to the belly of the Hellraiser.
Zarek: “I need to go again Alley and make sure we check the corners as….”
Zarek’s eye tear up and anyone watching would thing that the old man was crying for the happiness he was experiencing, while his Nurse comforts the old feller.
Alley grabs Zarek’s hand and looks directly into his Disguised cloudy eyes and tell him what he needed to hear.
Alley: “Yes I know Zarek its OK, Iomhar used to say that. He will be always remembered and Tymora will show us his Murderer.”
The Rogue sends SPG, who cuts things very fine on some occasions and if it wasn’t for the ‘Invisibility’ the Rat would have been discovered.
Once SPG reached the Orlop Deck, it followed the Rogues orders and scurried down the Stair on the Port Side of the Hellraiser.
On the Upper Hold Zarek, looking through the eyes of the Rat Familiar, observed that there were Stairs next to those SPG just descended and that meant another Deck below. Zarek thinks back to his Naval History and believes that the names of the decks are as follows:
- Aft Castle +2
- Fore and Aft Decks +1
- Main Deck 0
- Orlop Deck 1
- Upper Hold -2
- Lower Hold -3
The Upper Hold was by far the largest open area that the Rogue had seen so far.
LOWER CARGO HOLD:
The fantastical floats of the Sea Maidens Faire are broken down and kept in the lower cargo hold of the Hellraiser.
Cargo Elevator: If the Cargo Elevator platform is lowered to this area while someone is below it would be a serious industrial accident.
The hold of the Hellraiser must be mostly cleared out on days when parades are scheduled, except for empty storage trunks. However, now that they are all onboard and running the Sea Maidens Fair, it contains the following paraphernalia:
Zarek sends SPG to have a good look around the items as this area is empty of Sailors and Carnies.
- Various trunks filled with musician, dancer, acrobat, and clown costumes
- Casks holding confetti, glitter, and body paint
- Bundles of wooden stilts (4’ and 8’ feet high)
- Papier-mâché beholders mounted atop 10’ foot poles
- A float topped by a life-size Mechanical Unicorn ridden by a mechanical Drow Ranger waving 2 Scimitars
- A float topped with two mechanical Goblins that repeatedly punch each other when wound up?
- A float bearing a mechanical Armoured Knight battling a mechanical Pit Fiend, the Knight cleaves with its sword while the Devil flaps its wings when wound up?
- Deflated Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White Dragon balloons
- An enormous Tarrasque puppet for five puppeteers
- Wagon covers decorated with tassels and painted with colourful patterns and creatures
- Horse and Ox harnesses, all brightly decorated
To the Aft of the Upper Hold SPG show the Rogue that there are 2 small storage areas, both with closed door which are tight fitting due to being below the waterline, and a pair of stairs. One leading down to the Lower Hols and the other set leading up and into the locked area above.
Zarek: “Hold on that means these stairs lead into the locked room, SPG head up the stairs first before we go any farther.”
The obedient Familiar scuttles up the Stairs and finds himself behind the locked door on the Orlop Deck of the Hellraiser.
Zarek quickly makes out the following:
ARMOURY:
The Sailors store their weapons and armour here while the ship is at sea. The cabin has the following features:
- Empty Weapon racks and Armour hooks line the walls.
- Stairs lead down into the ship’s Lower Cargo Hold.
Stairs: There are stairs that lead down to the Upper Hold of the Hellraiser.
The Rogue quickly send SPG back down the Stairs knowing that his Spell time is running down. The ‘Disguise Self’ and ‘Invisibility’ Spells lasting only 1 hour.
In the Lower Hold the first thing Zarek notices is that there are no more Stairs leading down and he must be well under the Waterline.
Zarek: “No I’m not at all nervous of the Deep Dark Waters where all types of creatures, deer I say Monsters lurk and hunt and feed and devour their prey?” Zarek realises that he read too much and the Deep Dark Waters of Waterdeep Harbour must hold Monster upon Monsters.
2 doors at the Aft of the Upper Hold appear to store Craft supplies and when SPG takes a closer look also see the feet of a least 2 Nimblewrights in one of the Cabins.
CRAFT SUPPLIES:
Each of these cabins appear to contain materials used to decorate floats:
- Glitter, feathers, fabric, paper, scissors, sewing needles, spools of coloured thread, and the strong smell of glue.
- At least 2 Nimblewrights
In the Lower Decks the Lanterns appear to be fewer and the light dimer as a result.
LOCKERS:
Lining this hall are 8 Doors, which after some sniffing and investigating, SPG discovers it to be Closets used as storage lockers by the workers and performers of the Sea Maidens Faire. SPG finds one that has not been closed correctly and finds they contain travelling clothes and outerwear hanging on hooks, as well as boots and shoes.
At the end of the corridor Zarek can see that there are a further 2 Doors to what he thinks are Sleeping Cabins due to their size and the Door design.
SPG continues up to the Fore of the Hellraiser’s Lower Hold and discovers a pair of Stairs, Port and Starboard, that both lead up and a door either side to what he thinks are Storage due to their size.
Beyond that and the Mast, the area is empty of equipment or stores but SPG does see that there are 2 Sailor Guards Standing Guard to an area behind them. Behind them Zarek is able to perceive another area and a Locked and Iron Banded Door with a sign on the Door.
SPG is moved forward to be able to see the sign as this area is in the Dark. SPG makes a sound and then the Rogue hears movement and Strange Eleven dialect of the Drow. SPG is able to Hide and the Male, Human Sailor fails to spot the ‘Invisible’ Rat.
Zarek: “There are 2 Sailors in the Lower Hold speaking Drowic, standing guard and I don’t understand a word they are saying.”
Alley: “Quick, recite everything you can hear word for word Zarek and I will translate.”
Between the 2 Heroes of the Field Ward, they are able to translate the words of the 2 Sailor Guards and gather more information of the crew and circumstances of the Hellraiser.
Sailor One (Drowic): “Did you hear that?”
Sailor Two (Drowic): “I didn’t hear a thing so don’t make our shift worse than it already is.”
Sailor One (Drowic): “This could be Jarlaxle testing us, I am going to check.”
At the Sea Maidens Fair, Alley and Zarek continue to follow SPG to stay within the range of the Spells control of the Rat Familiar.
The Sailor begins to search the area of the Lower Hold looking for the origin of the noise. Zarek take the opportunity given to him and moves the Rat Familiar closer to the guarded door and can now see the sign clearly.
Sailor One (Drowic): “We have our orders to shoot on sight and kill any intruders.”
Sailor Two (Drowic): “That’s what we need, some entertainment”
Guarded Storeroom:
The locked door to this forward cabin has a wooden sign nailed to the outside that reads, in Common and Elvish, “RESTRICTED AREA. DO NOT ENTER.”
Zarek then choses to move SPG back up the decks to continue searching the Hellraiser but his options changed when yet again SPG made a scrabble noise that alerted both Sailors. They both now being to search the Lower Hold which gives the Rogue the chance to approach the Guarded Storeroom. The Door is locked and reinforced with banded Iron and the Rat Familiar cannot spot an easy way in via the door.
Zarek then remembers that Rats can climb extremely well and he sent SPG to look for other ways to enter the locked Cabin. Tymora is watching over the Rogue as he spots a small gap at the top of the wall that allowed it to squeeze through.
SMOKEPOWERDER STORAGE:
The room contains the following features:
- 20 wooden kegs are secured to the walls with ropes. Each keg has a paper label, written on which are the words “SMOKEPOWDER! EXPLOSIVE!” in Common and Elvish.
- A shelf above the kegs is lined with 10 wooden boxes.
Zarek: “What on Faerûn is Smokepowder?” The Rogue makes a mental note to investigate this further.
One of the Sailors knocks on the Port Side door in the Lower Deck and receives a reply to not disturb them in Drowic.
The Rogue then believes that the time was right to leave and, this time, makes his way past the 2 Sailors and back up to the Main Deck.
SPG is once again called back to the Pocket Dimension and Alley and Zarek head back to the gangplank leading to the Heartbreaker and they intended to send SPG to search the Heartbreaker and compare and contrast with each other.
Alley: “The more information we have regarding the layout, security and foot traffic the better we can prepare for the real heist on the Eyecatcher.”
SPG is sent down through the Heartbreaker and the general layout was the same, the only difference being the Upper Hold, which had been converted to be Cells or pens containing the Animals and Creatures use in the Parades and the Sea Maidens Faire.
SPG managed to sneak by the 2 Male Human Animal Handlers, but the Animals and Creatures within the cages were different and they sensed the presence of the Rat Familiar as it scurried pass their cages and the Animal Handlers need to calm them down.
SPG is commanded to return to the Main Deck and Zarek retrieves his Rat Familiar.
SPG dashes down to the lower Hold and there he finds the same layout and a further 2 Sailors guarding another Smokepowder Store Room.
The Rogue instructs SPG to return and then he called him back into the Pocket Dimension so they can send him into the Hellraisers Captains’ Cabin to investigate the Nimblewright that was there. SPG is sent back in and there the Rogue can confirm that the Nimblewright in the Captains’ Cabin is not the same one as killed Iomhar. The captain is called outside as SPG is in the Cabin.
Sailor: “Captain Fergus Crabwater there is a matter you need to deal with.”
Somehow the Rogue thinks that Fergus Crabwater is not a Drow name.
The Rogue calls back the Rat Familiar and he and Alley then move to the Heartbreaker with the intension of sending SPG into the Captain’s Cabin on the Heartbreaker.
CAPTAIN’S CABIN:
This opulent Captains’ Cabin contains the following features:
- Stylish lavender drapes cover the large windows that look out over the harbour.
- To one side of a central pillar rests a comfortable bed, its oak headboard carved to resemble a Giant Shark. An oak dining table surrounded by six high-backed chairs rests on the opposite side of the central pillar.
- Other furnishings include a glass-doored cabinet containing shelves of books, a wooden trunk sealed with a padlock, and a small writing desk.
Zarek takes a look at the books in the Book Cabinet are hard to make out and the Rogue believe that they were mainly Navigation Tomes and Maps.
There was a second Nimblewright and this also did not have the appearance of the Nimblewright seen in Trollskull Alley. The Captains’ Cabins look virtually identical and SPG spots that this room had the Wooden Truck but its lid was left open.
Zarek: “The Captain of the Heartbreaker has left his Trunk open?”
Alley; “Quick, look inside it might be our only chance.”
SPG moves over to the Trunk and climbs in and begins to search within it and inside the Rogue spots:
On top there are folded clothes, Coins in a sack, small hard orbs, the size of a grape, in a silk pouch, a ‘Potion of Water Breathing’ of which Zarek had in his possession himself, and a bottle of excellent Wine, bearing a label in the shape of an eye patch and the name “One-Eyed Jax” in Common.
Suddenly, the Captain re-enters the Cabin, SPG dashes out and hides under the bed, the captain closes the Wooden Trunk and sits back down at his desk.
The Rogue hears one of the Sailors addressing the captain as he accepts his orders and shuts the Cabin Door.
Mate (Drowic): “Aye, Aye Captain Tylan, right away.”
Zarek thinks to himself that Tylan might be his real Drow name?
Things that need looking into:
- Research the Arcana Lore regarding ‘The Stone of Golorr’.
- The location of Dalakhar’s rooms and items.
- Question Renaer Neverember (Reh-NAIR) regarding Dalakhar.
- Follow-up regarding Urstul Floxin (UR-stool FLOX-in) with Vincent Trench.
- Find the location of Yellow Spire.
- Keep the Eyecatcher and Sea Maidens Fair under surveillance.
- Watch our backs.