Things seem to be going uneventfully until Galathir feels cold steel at his throat, and a gruff voice sounds from behind him, “I have men in the woods with your she-devil, say a word and they’ll slit her throat!”
Galathir remains silent, realizing that the man, Romelius, is behind him and is apparently invisible! But the tiefling looks to Kilskan and taps his Pact Magic once more, reaching out to touch the rogue’s mind, relaying everything that is going on to him. Unfortunately Kilskan can’t get a bead on the man either. The tiefling lets the magic of his lower-planar heritage bubble to the surface, and he conjures the sound of heavy booted feet behind the Romelius. All the man does, however, is call out for his own men to step from the wood. He allows Galathir to get an eyeful of his men holding Sinjun, bound and gagged, sure he can quell the Warlock and whatever that sound was. Unfortunately for Romelius, all it manages to do is enrage the male tiefling to see his mate so treated, as well as encourage him that Sinjun was not only alive, but within eyeshot. Galathir summons his magic and once more summons nightmare images and thoughts with a Dissonant Whisper, inflicting them upon Romelius, who cries out in pain and lurches back, removing the blade from Galathir’s throat. Romelius shouts, “Kill them! Kill them all!” but as Galathir turns, he homes in on the sound of the man’s voice and casts Burning Hands, the sheet of flame swirling around the body of the First Mate as he screams in pain and agony, then crumples to the beach.
Taking advantage of the moment, Galathir summons his blood-driven Thaumaturgy once more, causing his voice to boom out as he speaks, “That’s how the last Captain died as well, anyone else want the job?!” The corsairs decide that they have had enough, and soon enough they are releasing Sinjun and moving into the camp to join the other prisoners. Galathir presses home the point that he’s in charge now, but he and Kilskan begin talking to the pirates, seeking to create a rapport and cement some measure of common ground in hopes of moving things forward to everyone’s mutual benefit.
By morning, the crew has agreed to take the party to the ship so they can all plan to finish the repairs and, eventually, leave the island. Jeurn wakes as well, seemingly miraculously healed overnight. Soon enough, everyone is aboard the Cymbrian ship, and the party searches the Officers’ rooms, revealing 3 chests. They then meet behind closed doors to make plans, eventually deciding to pay the corsairs 5gp per crew to get them onboard for exploring the coastline. (Spent 85gp) The corsairs redouble their repair efforts, hoping to put being trapped on this cursed island behind them as soon as possible, but they seem to agree when Jeurn asks them about circumnavigating the isle and looking for what could be more treasure within its interior.
Additionally, the party learns that Sinjun had come aboard the Argos with Galathir, and is, in fact, his Mate (wife). The two tieflings explained that when they came aboard, the crew of the Argos was almost violently opposed to it, not only because they are tieflings, but also because Sinjun is (obviously) a woman. Since the Captain of the Argos immediately took a shine to her, sexy succubus-kin that she is, the pair decided to let that work to their benefit. So the Captain pulled rank and made arrangements to keep her in his quarters, away from Galathir. Whether the man believed they were kin or whatever, the two needed to make passage, and didn’t want to have to fight the superstitious nature of sailors.
Sinjun reveals that later she came to suspect that the Argos’ captain was up to foul play, having seen a few things that lead her to believe the scum had every intention of selling the party members as slaves, if not just killing them and stealing whatever belongings they might have on them. She never got a chance to investigate further, however, as the storm came up during the pursuit buy the pirates, and set the sailors afire with their belief that she was a curse on their ship. The crew had actually come to seize her and throw her overboard, and had her out on the deck with the ship ran afoul of a massive rock, sending the tiefling woman and a crewman overboard. She managed to scramble atop a large outcropping, which was likely the one the ship had collided with, and was eventually picked up by the corsairs.
Apparently her irresistible charms once more served her well, as Khalim, the corsair’s navigator and a spell caster, insisted that the crew take her aboard, apparently sure that she would have some dark secrets to unveil to him. Apparently the crew later learned, from the sailors Galathir spoke with in the camp, that she belonged with the party, and they took her ashore to use her as leverage against the warlock and his companions. Clearly that strategy didn’t go well for Romelius, who they learned was the First Officer.
Once the repairs are finally complete, they weigh anchor to set sail, only to see a large figure emerge from the brush on shore! The burned visage of the man, if not the way he roars in anger and waves his sword about, makes it clear that perhaps that Volo is not as dead as the party thought he was...
What does the future hold for our brave adventurers?
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