Week 11: Pigs Don’t Fly, They Chase Shipbirds!

Errol Flynn awoke in the street, finding himself in a wrestling match with a giant octopus as he attempted to remember the events of the previous night. Captain Stryker — Errol’s captain — had taken him to the Sea Shanty, where Errol had witnessed the captain in conversation with Captain Suco (one of two captains Grey Annie had warned Errol to be on the lookout for).

Following the night of revelry, Errol had tailed Stryker down to the docks where he’d witnessed a probable drug deal between a scarred man — later identified as Pyko — and Captain Stryker. Pyko had said “this is the last time” as he handed over some sort of package, and then turned as he heard Errol and knocked him to the ground. As Errol’s vision faded, he saw Pyko hit the Captain, jarring loose some sort of journal, before fleeing.

After defeating the octopus, Errol retrieved the journal: an accounting ledger of some sort, he began investigating around town. Over the next couple of weeks, he got a lead on a fellow named Kyamu who might be able to help decipher it. He tracked Kyamu to a small shack outside of town, but upon treking out there he found only moulding beans and a mess worthy of the most depressed bachelor in the Empire. Exhausted, he set up his hammock as he and his shipbird Oolang settled in for the night.

Meanwhile, in the Seta village of Maringa the party awoke and had breakfast with Tobias’ family, learning that Raymon had been gathering so many spiders from the local area that they were no longer keeping aphid populations down: as a consequence, there would be no brambleberry pie. But Tobias’ mom laded them with all sorts of other food, and they headed back toward town. Passing by Kyamu’s home, they saw someone sacked out on his front lawn: as they approached, a gangly shipbird squawked and flapped its way out of the shack, pursued closely by a kernu. The group and the sleeping fellow banded together to defeat the beast, and then made their introductions: Errol being a corsair from Tarsha who’d been abandoned by his ship in Moru Kel. He was on the lookout for some sort of contraband smuggling so sinister that even an old former pirate like Grey Annie wouldn’t overlook it — slavery or something of that ilk, most likely. He offered the group a couple of gold each per day to help him investigate.

The group headed back to town, where they witnessed a puppet show just wrapping up: the Marghoz was offering to match the 50 gold crown reward for the recovery of two teens abducted from the Oppa whaling vessel Hok Zagal, bringing the total to 100 crowns! There was also word of fish kills on the seas, with harvests at a very low level.

The group talked to the Oppa whaling captain and found that the two kids had last been seen at the Union Hall; heading over, they talked to a drunk named Old Jo who claimed to have seen the kids taken by some sort of shadowy figure in the alley where he was passed out. Kyamu, meanwhile, decoded part of the ledger and found many transactions between the Blue House — a warehouse used by both of the suspect ships — and Draymond’s Dry Goods, a textile wholesaler on the Slow Road.

The group waited until evening and approached Draymond’s, picking the rear lock and finding a key claim ticket from the Blue House along with a couple of bolts of silk and spider silk which they absconded with. The following morning, they entered the Blue House, but tipped off Vareem with their suspicious behavior and he sent a Runner to Perry at Draymond’s. The party followed, and managed to intercept the runner after Perry had given him another message to deliver and stole that message. They then engaged with Perry, subdued him, and dragged him back into his apartment to interrogate him . . . .