xp for a Valdis recap.
After defeating the remaining pirates on the boat and on shore, we gathered up their belongings, interrogated some, assigned some to man the ship back to port, and put the rest in the brig. It was determined that the captain, a sorcerer, and an elite marksman were among the 20 crew at the fort.
Nathan used the crown to fly over to the fort and speak to one of the giant guards. He had one of the crew cast Tongues on him first. The giant didn't attack on sight after hearing Nathan speaking perfect giantish. He convinced the guard to get his leader in order to parlay. The leader met with him and Nathan offered to help them get rid of the Horarians who were trying to sway them to a cult. Seeing Nathan's resolve and hearing his perfect giantish went over well as a sign of respect. Seeing they were hungry, Nathan promised food for payment for the privilege of speaking with the leader and valuables as payment for meeting again to discuss Lakius and the removal of the Horarians. The leader accepted the terms and Nathan returned to the boat. They decided a sneak attack at night while the Horarians slept would be best. The leader said we would only need to take out the guards and he would drug the rest while they slept.
With the plan a go, Nathan met with the officers to discuss the details of our away teams. We sent the Fey and Ritvali to dispatch the guards and the rest of us went to meet up with them afterwards. We took a warrior from our crew who spoke barbarian and Thermon as his protector. Veronika was nice enough to sew him a red shirt for the occasion. We buffed everyone once we reached the top of the cliff and proceeded to the fort.
Once we received the agreed upon signal from the giants (a lit torch), we made our way over. Ritvali and the Fey made short work of the guards and everyone else surrendered after groggily waking to their leaders being knocked out. Only the captain was killed.
We gathered their items, gave metal and coin to the giants, and successfully convinced the giants to look into the blessings of Lakius. They were impressed by our might and agreed to have us back to the island whenever we want.
We then headed back to our ship and talked to the prisoners about their fate. They could peacefully man the captive ship back to the Destroytian Republic under our supervision and we would spare them being reported to the authorities, or they could remain in the brig and be released to their custody as prisoners of war. To no one's surprise, we suddenly had dozens of volunteers to man the ship. Our crew interrogated them and tested their allegiance before determining who was safe and who remained locked up.
We plan on sailing back to the Destroytian Republic since we're allied with them. There we'll sell the ship. It should fetch 60k or more. Between that and the magic items we confiscated, we'll make payroll for our crew and officers for years.
After that, we plan on tackling the eel folk and the dragon in no particular order.
On a side note, Camile is utterly disgusted with Chase and his Bardic style. She's none too pleased with Veronika's shenanigans either. She laid out an ultimatum to Nathan that consists of her or Chase. She refuses to go any further with me on board. Nathan is soul searching for the right answer in this dilemma. That's where we left off.