Skull & Shackles #3: The Song & the Parrot

At the end of last session we left our heroes triumphant after defeating the four near-do-wells sent by Master Scourge.

The Bards emerged on deck with barely a scratch as their attackers staggered or crawled back to work. Again the Bards set to work with a will. Vilimzair was consigned to the bilges, but—of course—he made the most of his time below decks. Almost single-handedly keeping the Wormwood afloat he also found time to uncover a cache of three heavy maces and a particularly finely crafted handaxe. He also gained the distinct impression that something spiderous lived in the bilge, but decided against disturbing it.

That night, the Bards gathered on deck for rum and food. This time, Vilimzair drank his rum—it wasn’t bad—and used his food to lure Pluck the parrot from his roost atop the cage holding his former owner’s mouldering corpse. The rest of the evening, Vilimzair used his spare time to pet and stroke the beast, for he felt an inexplicable bond with his new feathered friend. He also found the time to entertain the crew with the tale of a monstrous shark that threatened the small coastal community of Amity Island before eventually being killed by Marin Bodie the island constable.

The next day, Vilimzair was again consigned to the bilges (where he found more forgotten items—a suit of leather armour and a vial of holy water!) Before he descended below decks, he gave the handaxe to Ingrid who managed to barter it for a sizeable amount of equipment from the Quartermaster. (Ingrid had also managed to get most of his possessions back the night before after sweet-talking Grok). The party were overjoyed, such was Ingrid’s success; now they were more than ready for Master Scourge’s thugs! At Ilasual’s suggestion, Ingrid also managed to retrieve Rosie Cusswell’s fiddle, which the elf returned to the muscle-bound halfling; this delighted Rosie; perhaps the party had made their first friend among the crew!

That night, the Bards decided to entertain the crew, after Vilimzair and Fered had an impromptu drinking competition, which ended in a tie. This time, Vilimzair led them in the story of the mad wizard Deep Blue and his experiments with fusing the essence of a shark and a octopus. Sadly, his backing singers were really not up to snuff and the performance fizzled. One of the crew mentioned the story was wrong in any event—the creature created was called Lusca—a three-headed shark/octopus monstrosity that yet preyed on ships. Vilimzair had a strange feeling he hadn’t heard the last of Lusca…