Jammers:Plot Summary III

OOC:
For those picking up the Jammers posts late, here's a quick summary
of events to let everyone know what's gone before:)

The group is called officially the Company of the Silent Star (CoSS).

Special Thanks to Chad steinhauser for completing this summary for me!

Plot Summary:
Chapter 1:
The game begins with the party hiring on as crew with House Moune.
They are assigned to the FLOWFISH, under Captain Wilhelmina. The
FLOWFISH is journeying to the House Moune farming astroids on a
standard run. The trip to Torik's Luck is uneventful, but while
travelling from Torik's Luck to Finagle the FLOWFISH is attacked by
two pirate eelships. Captain Wilhelmina and her crew prove too much
for the pirates, one of their vessels is driven off and the other is
captured by the players who formed the boarding party.

Captain Wilhelmina places the party aboard the eelship as prize crew,
and explains she was instructed to see if they might make a decent
team together, as Lady Moune planned to sponsor an adventuring party.
The Captain stayed aboard the eelship and observed the party
throughout the rest of the uneventful voyage to Finagle then back to
Bral. On Bral the party met with Lady Moune and accepts her offer to
sponsor them as an adventuring company. She provides them with the
captured eelship as their new vessel.  The party rename the eelship
the SILENT STAR, and names themselves the Company of the Silent Star.

While on Bral the party discovers a gang war between the Halfling's
Thieves' Guild and the Red Masks. The Company is hired by the
Halflings to capture one of the Red Masks, a man named Gantius, and
destroy his small group of thugs. The group fights a pair of tavern
brawls with Gantius and his thugs, eventually capturing him and
killing most of his thugs. They turn him over to the Halflings' Guild
and accept their payment.

Chapter 2:
The Company decides remaining on Bral might not be a great idea, so
they decide to voyage to Shipwrecker and join the search for the
Chalice of Storms. The Chalice was a minor artifact commissioned by
Prince Aric Cozar as an offering to the Temple of Ptah. Before
leaving the Company accepts a gnome merchent, Seguld, as a passenger.
Seguld later becomes a member of the Company. Radick leaves the group
do to personality conflicts.

The group arrives at the town of Wrighters, a colony of Bral set up
on the planet Shipwrecker. They explore the town, pursuing leads to
the Chalice. Eventually a young man from Bral named Periander gives
them a solid lead, he explains the Chalice is aboard a pirate vessel
being repaired at a secret pirate base on Shipwrecker.

The party takes Periander along and discovers the pirate base, a
series of caves on an island further along the coast. They spend a
day scouting out the base and planning their assault. That night the
SILENT STAR slips into the cave harbor of the base, intending to
capture the FLOWGHOST (the pirate vessel with the Chalice) and
escape. Unfortunately, their scouting was observed and the pirates
were ready for them. The FLOWGHOST and the other pirate vessel in the
harbor, a war galley, were prepared for battle. The party takes a
great deal of damage and is forced to flee.  The FLOWGHOST pursues
them, but a another pirate hunter, the dragonfly RESPLENDENT comes to
the company's aid. The FLOWGHOST is captured, but Jamila and
Periander are killed in the battle.

Chapter 3:
The party returns to Bral, where they sell the FLOWGHOST, split the
proceeds with the RESPLENDENT's crew and return the Chalice to Prince
Aric for the reward. The party then spends some time repairing the
SILENT STAR and engaging in private pursuits, such as learning new
spells or competing in the Pantheon of Olympians' Olympic Festival.
They also reanimate Vais, a copper metagolem discovered in a dust
covered secret compartment of the FLOWGHOST.

With their repairs finished, the party accepts a job with the
Imperial Elven Navy, which asks them to transport a cargo of weapons
and smokepowder to the Elven guerilla fighters on Spiral. They depart
on that mission and proceed to their rendevous, but upon arrival
discover an Elven Man-o-War engaging a Scorpion ship.

After helping the Man-o-War (the SORONUME) capture the scorpion, the
group transfer the cargo to their vessel and travels on to Spiral.
There they deliver the cargo to the elven guerillas and depart the
planet. Just after leaving the atmosphere, however, they encounter
two scro viperships. The resulting battle is long, and ends with all
three vessels destroyed.

The Company of the Silent Star cobbles together a raft from the
wreckage, and using their helm they limp on to the gnome world
Ironpiece.

On Ironpiece, the party searches for a new ship with little luck,
finding vessels they either don't like, or that are of gnomish design
<shudder>. They decide the Rock of Bral would be a better location
for ship shopping, and take passage their on board HANALI'S SWORD,
the ship of the famous elven rogue Elrohir Amroth.

Chapter 4:
Enroute to Bral, however, Elrohir informs them he is making a side
trip to the Barre Sinister first, a legendary pirate port. He then
suggests they might try stealing one of the pirate vessels for
themselves. The party is convinced Elrohir has a private agenda, most
likely dealing with the scro who are meeting on the Barre with
several pirate groups and other potential allies, including the
Shipwrecker's Fellows and the Imperial Tauran Navy.

Despite these reservations they go ahead with the plan, and steal
another Shipwreckers' vessel, the war galley which had helped ambush
them back on Shipwrecker itself. they rescue a dwarven captive,
Dhebun, as well. He joins the group, along with Elmarelena, one of
Elrohir's crewmembers.

The company takes their new ship to Bral and reorganizes, hiring four
more members and renewing their ties with Bral's power structures.

Chapter 5:
As the Company debates their next move, the simmering gang war on
Bral between the various theives' guilds breaks into the open. Most
of the fighting seems to happen between the Red Masks and the
Halflings in the Middle city, and the Yakuza and a previously unknown
wererat group in the lower city.  The wererats, who boil up with
thousands of their more normal brethern from the tunnels and cellars
below the city, seem to be allied with the Red Masks. The Company's
ship is one of only a handful of vessels attacked during the night by
rats, but they successfully drive them off (but never see their
suspected wererat handlers).

In the morning, the Company discovers that Holland, the group's
'captain', has been kidnapped by an assasin named Herminard, one of
the lowlifes whose vessel was seen on the Barre. It seems clear
Herminard was hired by the Shipwreckers to perform this task. As the
party debate this news, their halfling contact arrives and offers aid
in finding Holland and hard coin in exchange for the company taking a
more active part in the Rat War (as this guild war will come to be
called). The party accepts, and begins plotting how to complete that
mission, and discover Holland's whereabouts.

The CoSS performs a fast raid on the Red Masks and return to the ship
with the dwarf assassin Bosil as their prisoner.  Bosil promises the
company a cache of gold for his freedom and manages to escape en
route to collecting it.  Having gained some information on Holland's
likely whereabouts (from Jax, a new recruit) the CoSS sets out to
rescue him.

Arriving at the slaver stop Iceberg the CoSS engages a small pirate
vessel, a dragonfly. Jax, proving he is a spy, attempts to kill Raken
while the druid is helming but the Celestian is prepared for this and
his scimitar quickly ends the threat.

Destroying the small vessel the company demands the surrender of the
survivors and a tense attempt at negotiating ensues under Allagan's
fearful
warnings of the power of the enemy priest-leader, Froa.  After some
minutes the situation comes to a head and the priest leader is cut
down in a hail of
bullets, arrows, and quarrels as he is still attempting to negotiate.
The rest of the pirates quickly become more agreeable and they are
put onto a large piece of flotsam which is tied to NIGHTWIND.

A team is sent down to Iceberg and Holland (mnus his hand) is rescued
from a second force of pirates.  Back at the ship the pirate leader,
Milkin, sneaks onbard and belowdecks then frees a healed Jax. The two
are engaged by Ferric until others still aboard can come to his aid
which swings the fight and ends up in the death of both Milkin and
Jax.

Book 6

As the CoSS returns to Bral Diegatt decides to leave the company
despite attempts by many of the others to persuade him to remain. The
concept of a company charter is brought up and shot down.

A previously undetected secret compartment is also searched for and
found as the company travels.  Inside is the log book of the THOR'S
HAMMER which has accounts of a large Blackjammer pirate treasure on a
planetoid in an unmarked sphere.

Several hours from Bral the NIGHTWIND drops from jamming speed and
finds the House Moune ship, FLOWFISH, engaged in a battle with a
strange ship of wolfmen.  Running off the would be pirates the two
ships returned to Bral where the REBUTTAL owned by Holland's
kidnapper Herminard was already docked.

After an uneventful night many of the party take care of persoanl
business around Bral.  That evening the CoSS joins the FLOWFISH crew
for drinks at a tavern where Holland and Italapate end up playing
several hands of cards with Herminard and one of his consorts. At the
end of the night the CoSS team accumulates a sizable sum of platinum
as well as winning back a scarab Herminard had kept when Holland was
kidnapped. Italapate returns the stake money as well as his winnings
to Ferric who in turn gives the winnings back to Herminard in
exchange for the man's promise of relating back anything he hears
about Ferric's would be assassin.

The CoSS now begins tracking down leads to the pirate treasure.
While unsure about staying on with the company Italapate is still
interested in helping Ferric with Dougal and House Cartan and begins
trying to set the young Cartan bravo up for a con.  Leera declares
Ooquid as her apprentice and begins giving arcane instruction to the
young woman.  Holland undergoes magical surgery in the Olympian
temple to attach the magical hand taken from Bosil.

And that is where we stand now... :)
--
"We sleep safely in our beds, only because rough men stand guard in
the night, ready to visit violence upon those who would do us harm."
H.G. Wells.

Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer.3@???.edu
Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State University
Instructor, Humanities, Columbus State Community College