Game summary for August 25, 2026, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game 1st Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Polaris Helmsmeade (Dwarf Templar played by Peyton Harmon), Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter), and Vulkanthos (Nephilim Paladin/Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple/Eldritch Knight played by John Osborne). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.
The last of them barely hit the floor before the party heard boots on the catwalks above.
More of them—a lot more. Word traveled fast in a building this size.
Heavy shapes swung down from the rafters on mooring lines, landing hard on the workshop floor. Gaff hooks caught the lamplight. These were not the quick, knife-work fighters they had just handled—these were the ones built for damage, the longshoremen and wharf muscle the Brine Knives kept for when subtlety had already failed. Behind them, the dock lurkers the party recognized from before were already circling wide to cut off their angles. One of them looked twice at Ursay and muttered, “Isn’t that the guy from the card game the other night?”
Then something cracked overhead. Not a weapon—rigging. A frayed support line snapped with a sound like a gunshot, and a massive bundle of sailcloth dropped and swung in a wild arc, scattering everyone beneath it. The whole loft shifted. Half the cargo suspended overhead began to move. Nobody had stopped to check the rigging before the fighting started. Was that an oversight or design?
Ursay shot down one of the tar knuckles immediately. Vulkanthos (Khan) cast long arms and moved to protect the casters. A Brine Knife attacked him, but his combination of mirror image and displacement easily protected him. The Brine Knives swarmed in punching and stabbing. Hekera fought back, cutting down several. Helg caught one with hold person, and Callum blasted him out of existence. Polaris got hit by a falling barrel and dropped his axe. The team cut down the Brine Knives pretty easily.
The loft went quiet for exactly one breath. Then the chains moved. Not the rigging—the cargo chains, the heavy industrial ones strung through the pulley systems overhead. Someone yanked a release cord somewhere in the darkness above them, and a length of iron chain whipped across the loft with a sound like a thunderclap, scattering anyone in its path.
Then another. Hands moved in the shadows, working the pulleys deliberately. Someone had set this up.
He stepped out of the darkness at the far end of the loft as though he had been waiting specifically for them. Tall and unhurried, he had fifty feet of heavy chain coiled across his shoulders and forearms the size of dock pilings. He did not reach for a weapon. He was already holding it. The chain uncoiled slowly as he rolled his neck once, twice, and fixed the party with the particular look of a man who had ended a great many arguments with his hands and found the next one about as interesting as the last.
Around him, more gang members poured in. The Brine Knives were not broken yet. They were just angry now.
The whipping chains caught and entangled Helg. The Brine Knife chainmaster ripped Polaris’ feet out from under him and battered him with a flurry of blows. The dwarf drew his warhammer and fought valiantly from the ground. Callum cast numerous spells including lightning bolt, cold ice strike, and empowered scorching ray. Helg hit a Brine Knife with his sword several times before moving up and casting heal on Polaris.
Ursay’s arrows found fleshly homes all through the building, and Hekera’s sword (stilled baned against humans by Helg’s magic) cut a swathe through the resistance. Khan squared up against, and cut down, foe after foe.
After the last enemy fell, the team took a moment to recoup before more enemies swarmed in!
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