Game summary for May 27, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.
The team sailed The Shooting Star into the docks at Turashar, a large town of a few thousand inhabitants on the northern coast of Hepmonaland. The town, under control of the despicable Scarlet Brotherhood, was appalling to the team. They could see thralls laboring under the relentless sun. All around were robed Scarlet Brotherhood monks, and huge banners flapped in the wind displaying the crimson standard and wavy black cross. Adeline told them they needed to find Aratheas, a powerful elf who owed her father his life. She would know how to bypass the warding that protects the Forbidden City, Xuxulieto.
The group paid their docking fees and went to the tavern, the Broken Fetish run by Zarutka Nalembe, a Touv woman with broken teeth and thick accent. The party noticed the Brotherhood was not present in the tavern, but many sailors and native inhabitants were. The place was in an old crumbling adobe dome with broad-leaf canopies tied to stone columns. Colorful fetishes — broken masks, cracked bone charms, melted wax seals — hang from strings overhead, rattling in the wind like warning bells. Something was carved in the lintel in a language the party did not understand.
Patrons inside were in a haze of spice-scented smoke. Drummers played exciting music from one corner. The low tables were arranged in alcoves with reed mats for seating. Nets hung down to block the eyes and sound. Zarutka served the team gold-palm spirits, a fruity drink served in gourds. For a meal, they consumed snake jerky on black-bean flatbread and fried piranha skewers.
Callum cast comprehend languages and overheard all kinds of tidbits. The group tried to get friendly and buy the locals some drinks but scared them off with the assumption they work for the Brotherhood. Hwrulf asked about where to buy a quality knife and was directed to find Molok Ka’taz at the Stone Fang Forge. Snagy sought out an old contact, Ekka Bonebrace. She was able to provide a map into the Pelisso Swamp to find Aratheas’ home. She also warned them of the presence of boggards, also called bullywugs, in the swamp. When asked, she confirmed at least one black dragon, the Mirelord, called the swamp home. Meanwhile, Hwrulf bought a masterwork scramaseax from weaponsmith Molok.
The group bought robes to wear to protect them from the oppressive sun and took off their armor to avoid heat strokes. The team debated a long time and decided to use the furnace helm on their cargo barge to fly it into the swamp to find the elf’s hut. They sailed The Shooting Star out to sea and dropped anchor instruction Sailmaster Tuk and the giff marines to await their return. None of the team had experience piloting a spelljamming vessel, so Adeline took her best shot. She maneuvered the ship under the cover of darkness out into the swamp. She could not see in the dark, so Helg and Finch clung to the front of the ship and called out directions. They kept the barge about 60 ft. in the air so the two with darkvision could scan the ground. The group flew for a couple hours deep into the swamp.
Helg and Finch spotted some bullywugs in the water. Soon thereafter they heard great croaks calling out, and being answered, all across the swamp. Eventually, Callum cast comprehend languages and learned the frog men were alerting each other to the presence of the strange flying boat and were off to alert the Mirelord! The team came to the hut described by Ekka. A battle had played out here in the last few days. After casting several wardings and landing the ship, the team found frog-like footprints, evidence of many area of effect spells being unleashed, and signs that many boggards had died here. From the tracks, it appeared crocodiles and dragged off the corpses. The hut was damaged by acid, arrows, and physical bashing. Inside parts of it had burned. Everything of value had been carried off. Hwrulf determined Aratheas had been marched off in chains deeper into the swamp. He was confident on the ground he could track the monsters, but with it being a couple days already, the trail would be getting hard and harder to follow. The team decided to put Adeline and Helg in the barge and let it trail along behind them.
