The Vengeful Notes 2026-07-18

Summary

Voyage toward Port Mibram

• The party continued through Maiden’s Bay aboard the Illegally Bear toward Port Mibram, travelling under Marchioness Maria Rannek’s authority amid the wider emergency involving Marquess Uther Rannek, Lance, and Christian Marlion.
  • The weather cleared after departure from Port-Sera-by-Malterdale, though the upper Malter Valley remained clouded.
  • Sapphire kept watch from the bow. A ship remained astern but showed no clear sign of pursuing the Illegally Bear; seagulls following the vessel soon dispersed.
• Crewman Yannick offered Sapphire a free pouch of crushed mushrooms and herbs, described as a tea-based party substance that could last through a night. Sapphire declined while on watch and kept the unidentified, highly suspicious substance for later.
• Andrew and Sapphire remain wary of the pirate crew, while Andrew also fears that the crisis affecting Eastern Naval Command may spread to the west.
• Maria asked after Angel. Sapphire believes Angel is likely with Sir Hilis Brastok and is not presently alarmed.

Feywild discussions and personal matters

• The group discussed Fey mating bonds as sacred, rare connections rather than ordinary romance.
  • Lover’s Lake remains a possible place to seek a boon, though it is not a usual destination and its rules are unclear.
• Hag bargains were treated as literal and dangerous: apparent clarity does not prevent ruinous loopholes. Sapphire said the Hags of Hama generally take fair payment and perform the promised service, but remain hags and still warrant caution.
  • Without naming her, Sapphire referred to someone in Scarlet who had traded away painful memories. The description matches Miya, though Sapphire did not know the Deep Lore behind Miya’s bargain.
  • Sapphire speculated that Rebecca’s severe forgetfulness could have come from a similar hag bargain. She did not know this to be Rebecca’s history; John continues to care for her.
• Sapphire described her family home, Hell’s Kitchen, a brothel in Maple Bridge near a peaceful lake about a day from Pumpkin Town. Her mother raised Sapphire and her sisters to prioritize themselves, persevere, and remain kind to others. Pumpkin Town, in the Autumn Court, is especially active in autumn; its feared Pumpkin King is said to consume nightmares.
• The group discussed difficult family relationships, including divorce under Divine Masochist social pressure, but took no action.

Magical disturbance

• The sky darkened only over the party as Arcana identified an imminent magical discharge.
  • A counterspell stopped a forming lightning bolt.
  • Motes of light like pieces of St. Elmo’s fire appeared overhead. Sapphire traced the spell to the elderly court wizard casting from a submarine in the open bay.

The Malthrek submarine

• The party spotted an elderly spellcaster casting from a submarine in Maiden’s Bay.
  • His legs had been physically switched by Crispin Mallow. The resulting backward-foot appearance resembled the earlier opposite-foot sign associated with Oren Bell; visible stitching may describe the procedure, but the legs were canonically swapped.
  • Andrew recognized him as a Malthrek court wizard who had once delivered documents to John during training.
• Sapphire manifested a green-and-gold longbow and critically wounded the wizard in the neck. Unseen hands pulled him through the hatch before the submarine submerged; Andrew’s later shot struck only its hull.
• Oren Bell revealed that he had already placed a tracking spell on the fleeing submarine or its target. The vessel dove deeper, and Sapphire’s later Arcana check indicated that its occupants had dispelled Oren’s tracking effect.
• Sapphire used a summoned shark and beast sense to follow the submarine through Maiden’s Bay.
  • The submarine was limited by dredged channels and sought deeper water.
  • It directed a burst from its magical water-propulsion effect at the shark. The effect primarily moves the submarine but can be used defensively; the shark evaded it.
  • Near a reef and seaweed cover, Sapphire hid the shark among nearby sharks. The submarine initially believed it had lost its pursuer, after which Sapphire resumed following from farther away without drawing another attack.
• Sapphire also bargained with a seagull to report where the submarine later surfaced or docked, paying it with a huge tuna caught using her Feywild fishing rod.
  • The gull reported that the submarine’s occupants had harmed other seagulls with indescribable lightning-based magic that seemed to stimulate clouds and call down bolts. Its description of being “cooked” meant being cartoonishly scorched by lightning, not transformed into something.

Cover aboard the Illegally Bear

• The group continued posing as guards transporting captive “merchandise” aboard the Illegally Bear. Sapphire identified herself as a guard when Yannick initially mistook her for merchandise.
  • Yannick said that he had seen Angel and Sir Hilis Brastok having sex. Given their apparent roles as guard and “merchandise,” he may have understood the encounter as exploitation or abuse, but those roles were only a cover and the encounter was not actually abuse.
  • Hellion later told Captain Illegal E. Bear that the supposed merchandise were actually nobles rescued from the Reformist Church. Until then, Bear had understood that he was carrying ordinary contraband or “merchandise,” consistent with his work as a pirate and smuggler.
• Andrew brought Trajan into the conversation; Trajan’s altered eye and hair colours served as a disguise.
• Captain Illegal E. Bear explained that submarines have been striking ships with lightning-like attacks that damage or slow their masts while allowing them to continue to port.
• Once Hellion revealed what the supposed merchandise really was, the rescued nobles became a possible motive for the submarines to pursue the Illegally Bear.
  • Hellion warned Bear that Reformists target yellow-eyed people, including children, and transplant their livers into Reformists as part of a ritual. Hellion knows of the practice through Hedwig and Minfilia’s experiences and actual events in Raibon. Bear wanted no involvement with the church.
• The party agreed to protect the Illegally Bear in exchange for an additional 100 gp upon docking and cooperation with navigation.
  • They insisted on using the official docks at Port Mibram rather than a secluded cove.
  • Bear agreed not to direct cruel or bigoted remarks at the party.
• Bear demonstrated a concealed clockwork mechanism, likely powered by an enormous spring, that switched the vessel’s figurehead and banners from those of the Illegally Bear to those of the Nightshade. Bear attributed the innovation to Racos Palma; his claim that this was “how we fly” was figurative, not literal flight.
• Bear also circulated a forbidden copy of Legally Bare.

Open Hooks

• Determine why the elderly Malthrek court wizard attacked the party from the submarine and whom he intended to target.
• Find the submarine, identify its crew and destination, and learn how its occupants detected and dispelled Oren’s tracking magic.
• Learn what spell the elderly court wizard attempted, why Mallow switched his legs, and whether he survived Sapphire’s shot.
• Understand the submarine’s magical water-propulsion system, its possible defensive uses, and whether its occupants realized that Sapphire’s shark resumed following them.
• Determine whether the submarine attacks target commerce generally, the Reformist escapees aboard the Illegally Bear, or the party and Ranneks specifically.
• Find Stacy Cartwright and the missing Malthrek court wizards, determine whether they have been compromised or repurposed, and establish their individual assignments. The party recalls that Stacy may have been sent to meet Count Ranlis, but does not know that pairing for certain.
• Determine how Mallow’s alteration of the elderly court wizard connects to the submarine operation and the other missing court wizards.
• Identify Yannick’s mushroom-and-herb pouch and determine its actual effects and safety; his claim that it was a tea-based party substance remains unverified and highly suspicious.

Boundaries

• Treat Fey bargains as literal magical agreements whose apparent plain meaning may conceal consequential loopholes.
• Sapphire only speculated that Rebecca’s forgetfulness came from a hag bargain; do not treat that origin as established.
• Treat Fey mating bonds as rare and sacred connections; their mechanics, permanence, and the consequences of a broken bond remain unsettled.
• The visible ship astern did not show clear signs of pursuit during Sapphire’s watch; do not treat it as confirmed hostile.
• The vessel is the Illegally Bear even when its clockwork disguise presents it as the Nightshade;
• Bear agreed only to refrain from cruel or bigoted remarks toward the party, not to renounce such behaviour generally.