05 & 06 - 04/17/23 & 04/24/23 : Justice and Vengeance

 

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  The party of Cygnus, Frel, & Eleanor reported for duty, catching the tail end of an argument between the King and the Queen relating to Princess Cordelia. The Queen stormed out, accompanied by Baron Victory and a pair of royal knights. Cygnus tried to secretly inform the queen via telepathy that he was willing to support her idea of protecting the princess, which she was suspicious of and ultimately dismissed before departing.   Within the war room, they also saw the King giving directions to Renaer, Bonziel, and Flint Farlocke the mercenary to defend the bridge leading from the High Market to the Temple of Dame Torren, where a force of Paladins were protecting a magical device critical to defending the palace.   On the way out, Renaer pulled Frel's Unit aside and admitted her felt the war effort was a dire cause. He also delivered the news of the assassination of the Open Lord of Revelmoore, and confessed that he suspected his father of complicity in the murder; as for why besides lingering resentment, he was unsure.   Renaer asked the members of Frel's Unit a favor in the event that he and Bonziel did not survive the war; for them to travel to Revelmoore and inform Arathir Starsong, keeper of the Balladeer's Eclipse, of his suspicions on Dagult's involvement in the assassination.   Frel's Unit each agreed to do their best, and then reported to the King for their own assignment. A visibly distressed King Roderigo informed them that a delegation from the Akadian Pact, led by Lord-Councilor Gellan Primewater of Saltmarsh, was due to arrive soon and needed to be convinced to lend aid to the Crown's cause in their desperate hour. He advised them to be wary of Dagult's interference, and also tasked them with a grim final command; if the delegation were not to be swayed, Frel's unit was to kill everyone aboard so that the Crown could still turn the situation politically against Ambermantle.   The party broke through the Ambermantle perimeter after a few light skirmishes and arrived in a small fishing village where the enchanted mostly-crewless vessel, the Primwater Pleasure, was docked. Coming aboard, they introduced themselves to Gellan Primewater, who in turn introduced them to some of the delegation's members; Landon Solmor, his fiancee Carmilla Fireborn, and their elven butler Skerrin Wavechaser.   Gellan took the party below deck and showed them to their rooms and gave them their space to unpack. The party investigated the lower deck, finding a locked door that led to both the kitchen and the engine room, but little else of interest.   After settling in, the party went to the middle deck to meet the rest of the delegation. They were introduced to Mormac Seymour, Father Wyndham, Commodore Warrington, Captain Misty Swail, and the half-orc cook Urghaub Gnasher.   The talks began with introductions and small-talk about the origins and occupations of the attendees, with some sour reactions at the presence of Frel, a goblin, at the table. Food was eventually served, as was a bottle of Waymarch 2999, a fine vintage wine, and Eleanor encouraged Gellan to toast the attendees and the abundance before them; an Oceander tradition.   Diplomacy ramped up soon after, with Eleanor and Cygnus extolling the benefits of supporting the Crown over ignoring Dagult Ambermantle's transgressions. The attendees were reluctant, but through strong arguments, sentiments seemed to take a positive turn. However, in the middle of these discussions, the room was suddenly plunged into magical darkness, and a commotion was heard. When the darkness cleared, the attendees of the dinner were shocked to discover the body of Skerrin Wavechaser, slumped over the dinner table with his throat cut open.   Father Wyndham immediately sprung to action and snapped a necklace off of Carmilla's neck, which had been inset with a rare diamond. He used this to cast Revivify on Skerrin, who was revived. After a moment of shock, the butler made his way to a corner of the room and vomited a combination of blood, viscera, and undigested food.   Bedlam ensued with each attendee fearing for their lives. Cygnus urged calmness and decided to lead an investigation into the murder. Commodore Warrington opposed this, suspecting the Crown's delegation of committing the act, but Cygnus' logic convinced him to stand down. Gellan encouraged the party to handle the situation, and so they began investigating the scene.   After about 30 minutes of investigating, Father Wyndham began clutching at his chest and coughing up blood. After mere moments, he slumped over, dead on the spot. The ship was left with no one capable of reviving any further victims.   Following some serious pushback from the aristocratic attendees, the party was finally permitted to search the rooms of the attendees (with each attendee in tow). Carmilla notably went with the party alone, asking Landon to remain.   Through investigating the scene of the murders, scoping out each room, questioning each attendee, and consulting records, the party was able to come up with the following clues.  

• Skerrin was murdered first, stabbed from the front with a bone dagger stolen from Captain Misty Swail.
• Father Wyndham, who usually carried a diamond on him, ripped off Carmilla's diamond necklace to cast revivify on Skerrin.
• About 30-45 minutes after Skerrin was murdered, Father Wyndham collapsed from slow-acting poison that was found on his wine goblet and in his blood.
• The spell darkness was cast by someone before the murder occurred. Charcoal, a component of the spell, was found rubbed on Father Wyndham's sleeve on the side Skerrin was sitting on.
• Father Wyndham was knocked over during the scuffle under the cover of darkness.
• Anyone could have feasibly had access to the wine goblets to poison them before the murder; however, those onboard the ship before the party were Carmilla, Landon, Skerrin, Gellan, Captain Misty, and Cook Urghaub.
• Carmilla was having an affair with Gellan Primewater, presumably unknown to her arranged betrothed, Landon. The only other person who knew about the affair is Skerrin.
• A false letter was planted in Carmilla's jewelry box, forged to be from Gellan, promising to 'deal with' Skerrin for his knowledge of the affair.
• Gellan's quarters contained, in addition to his other contraband, another of Captain Misty's daggers, as well as a diamond stolen from Father Wyndham. Seeing his surprise at the discovery of these objects, Cygnus determined that the placement of these objects was done to frame Gellan for the murder.
• Gellan, Carmilla, Landon, and Skerrin knew where the Captain lives. Landon and Skerrin had been to the Captain's House, and could have possibly stolen the daggers.
• 3 of Misty's 6 daggers were stolen. 1 had yet to be uncovered.
• Skerrin was the one who suggested to Landon to buy the diamond necklace as a gift for Carmilla.
• Nobody claimed to be able to cast darkness. It was not a spell conferred by Cygnus' or Father Wyndham's spellcasting domains, Captain Misty was not a tiefling innately able to cast it, Mormac was proven to not be powerful enough, and Skerrin claimed his high elven magic only extended to cantrips.
• Any active spell effects cast upon themselves by themselves, or magic item attunements would have ended on Skerrin or Father Wyndham upon their deaths.
• Darkness faded soon after Skerrin slumped dead on the table, notable given that Darkness is a concentration spell.

  Believing there was more to be found, Cygnus decided to check for hidden compartments in Landon and Skerrin's rooms, this time unaccompanied by their residents. The most interesting find was in Skerrin's room, in which was contained an empty vial of purple worm poison, the spell components for Darkness, and yet another forged letter. This letter was falsely penned to be from Carmilla, in which she admonished Gellan for his supposed part in murdering Skerrin, and informing him that Carmilla was breaking up with him for the fact. This would likely be used to frame Gellan for the next murder; that of Carmilla.   As one final check, Cygnus subtly patted down Skerrin with mage hand while Frel distracted the attendees with her baseless accusations, and he found that Skerrin's fine clothing was magical and was disguising its true nature; that of boiled leather armor with several daggers strapped onto it.   Cygnus gathered everyone and delivered his supposition of the scope of the murder as he saw it.   An unknown amount of time before the dinner, Skerrin stole some of Misty Swail's daggers for usage in the murders. Before the dinner began, Skerrin underwent significant preparation to keep suspicion off of him. He slipped diluted purple worm venom into Father Wyndham's glass. This extremely potent poison would act slowly but potently even in a small dosage, killing the imbiber roughly an hour after ingesting it. He also planted a false letter from Gellan to Carmilla, establishing a motive in order to frame Gellan for the ensuing murder. Lastly, he stole Father Wyndham's lucky diamond and planted it and another of the Captain's daggers in Gellan's room, falsely depicting Gellan as planning to murder again and also wishing to keep anyone from resurrecting another victim with the stolen diamond.   During the talks, Skerrin casted the spell Darkness and stood up, accidentally pushing Father Wyndham while doing so and thus dusting the father's sleeve with charcoal. Once up, Skerrin stabbed himself him the throat, confident that Father Wyndham would use Carmilla's diamond necklace to revive him. This would have thrown suspicion off of Skerrin for the true murder later in the night, for few would believe Skerrin willing to kill himself just for the sake of the murder.   Once Skerrin was revived, he remained quiet during the ensuing chaos, allowing his purple worm poison to do its work on Father Wyndham. The proficiency of the Crown party's investigation complicated his next few goals, however; he intended to plant the second letter in Gellan's room, establishing another false motive for Gellan to murder his illicit lover Carmilla for spurning him following Skerrin's death. Skerrin, tied up by the party's insistence that everyone remain in plain view in the dining room, was unable to murder Carmilla.   To put the final nail in the coffin, Cygnus dispelled the illusion on Skerrin's clothing, revealing the armor and daggers beneath. Skerrin, finally caught, laughed maniacally and congratulated Cygnus on his deduction before throwing a poisoned dagger directly at Gellan. Frel tried and failed to block the dagger with her blade, but Commodore Warrington leapt in front of Gellan and took the blow instead, quickly succumbing to the deadly poison as he pleaded with Cygnus to kill Skerrin for his misdeeds.   Skerrin absconded to the upper deck with the Spider Climb spell, where a storm was raging. Eleanor remained below deck to guard the remaining passengers and to try and save the Commodore, while Cygnus and Frel made their way up to fight Skerrin in the ensuing stormy weather.   Skerrin was a deadly combatant, and Cygnus was nearly killed by the powerful purple worm poison, but in a feat of unnatural resilience bolstered by his attunement to Mechanus, Cygnus powered through and kept breathing. Skerrin confessed during the fight that he was an agent of Dagult Ambermantle, and intended to kill Carmilla and frame Gellan to sow discord in Saltmarsh and doubt in Gellan's leadership.   Together, Cygnus and Frel slew Skerrin, putting an end to the Murder on the Primewater Pleasure.   With the danger passed, Gellan Primewater thanked the party for their intervention, and promised that the Akadian Pact would provide their utmost to assist the Crown against Ambermantle's aggression. Cygnus suggested that the stolen diamond be reserved to resurrect the Commodore, to which Gellan agreed.   With knowledge of the affair kept hidden by Cygnus' discretion, relations between Gellan and Landon remained cordial, thus preventing Dagult's aim to cause dissent in Saltmarsh's leadership.   After resting, the Primewater Pleasure returned to port, where the Crown party disembarked in peace.   En route back to Saltmarsh, Chef Urghaub met a copy of himself in his room on the Pleasure, dispelling his own disguise and revealing himself to be Zelem Corvo, who disguised himself to keep an eye on the proceedings. Pleased that Primewater was acting according to Zelem's best interests, the thief lord paid Urghaub his fee and departed.   In Ambermantle Manor, Dagult ordered his people to fetch Uriel's unit, for the assault on the High Market bridge was critical to securing the rebellion a route to the Palace and their ultimate victory.