Game summary for May 14, 2024, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Claude Dill Budshire (Sokari Sorcerer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.
The team sailed the last few days through Realmspace uneventfully and passed through the Crystal Sphere into the Phlogiston. Two days into the Flow, they came across a Flow Survivor who had been petrified by the bizarre properties of the Phlogiston’s atmosphere. When revived, he introduced himself as Snagyndar “Snaggy” Blackthorn, a huldran (half-orc / half-elf) war master. Approximately a month ago, he had escaped from a group of orcish raiders unlike any he had ever encountered aboard some kind of scorpion-shaped ship. They were disciplined, organized, and coordinated in their tactics. He had never seen orcs like this. He only escaped by catapulting himself into the Phlogiston.
The team welcomed Snaggy aboard, and he began settling in. The next day, the group discovered a large ship drifting out of the Phlogiston, some kind of groundling vessel designed for ocean voyages. It was riddled with siege weapons and crew packed the gunwales. They were thin, gaunt, pale-skinned humanoids wearing a variety of clothing styles and carrying sharp sweeping scimitars. Canine fangs protruded slightly, and their sunken eyes gazed at the team hungrily. One of the crew cheerfully hoisted a black jolly roger high upon the mast!
As they approached, the party was awash with dread: vampirates! These horrific undead hordes plunder ships and consume the crew. Dozens were visible, and who knew how many hid below? With their very touch draining life, the party could not expect to get through a fight unscathed. They opted to try and out-maneuver the creatures!
The team rallied and tried to do everything they could to help the crew of The Perry outpace the vampirates. Helg used his knowledge of undead to understand their foes and educate the team. Claude helped fool them with zigzag flight patterns. Khesen used his spacehand expertise to directly assist the crew. Snagy displayed an astounding connection with animals and motivated the giant space hamsters to new levels of performance. Hekera’s engineering acumen cemented their ability to keep putting distance on their foes.
The party encountered several complications in their retreat, however. First, they crashed through a dense cluster of Phlogiston crystals that threatened to damage the ship. Fortunately, they were able to avoid any serious damage. Next, they came across an unstable rift creating a dangerous gravitational field. This was quite the problem and whipped the ship around and hurled it closer to the vampirates! Eventually, they navigated past it, but it was quite the effort. Finally, the vampirates unleashed swarms of bats to accost the group and try and slow them down! The biting pests hurt the group quite a bit, but they eventually were able to break free of the swarms and disappear into the Phlogiston, losing their pursuers!
