The Owl

Previous Session: The Hand of Sorrow

The Owl flies into Haven - despite their misgivings about Cross, Cyrus Vance can't think of any better way of finding a path to Seraphina Flint's lair. Snargle parks the ship in the usual berthing spot, and they head to their usual bar. Vance tucks a small case of whiskey under his arm, strangely enough it helps keep people on side.

Snargle, Vance and Natasha (the still incognito Lady Blackbird) all sit in Harker's booth at the back. The information broker should be able to sort them out, and after getting their drink orders - everyone's for beer, except for Natasha who orders wine, which is definitely a mistake, Vance tells her that the bottle she's getting her glass from has been open for six months!

Vance hands over the case of whiskey and tells Harker what they're after. He thinks a little, and then says that he'll be back with someone who can get them there. When he goes, the table have a energetic discussion about the difference between smugglers and pirates; Vance thinks there's a world of difference, but Snargle take a quick straw poll and everyone in the bar declares them to be corsairs of one stripe or other.

Natasha questions the wisdom of broadcasting their shady business to everyone, but Vance grins and points out a few of the other booths - maybe she's worried about Soto there, haggling over a pair of plasma cannons, or Marchwood, who is parceling up the latest shipment of opiates. He doesn't go round the whole establishment, but it's clear they're in good (by which he means bad) company.

In walks Violet. Vance and Snargle exchange glances as she sits in the space vacated by Harker. They thought they were going to get away with this, but somehow Cross' lieutenant is here to speak to them.

Her proposal is pretty simple. Leo has left Cross down one too many time, and he needs Vance to do a quick delivery job - head to Nightport to pick up some medical supplies, deliver them back here and then Violet will show them the way. Vance probes Violet's intentions, but he doesn't see anything here other than Cross' greed.

After glancing towards Natasha to make sure that this timetable suits her, Vance agrees to the deal, and they head directly to the Owl to make way.

The Owl
by John Harper

Going aboard, Violet eyes up Natasha and mentions that she seems out of place. Vance yells down to them that he's really sorry, but they seem to be all out of the '17 vintage; they'll have to pick up a few more crates next time.

In the two days out, things settle into a bit of a routine. Violet and Natasha spend a lot of time chatting, and when neither Kale nor Vance are on duty up on the bridge, they play chess.

About halfway they pass three whaling ships around a leviathan, busy harvesting and Snargle pulls a flashy barrel roll over them. Vance sees it coming (he knows his favourite Goblin can't resist!) and warns everyone over comms to hold onto their hats/breakfasts! As they pass by, Vance gets on short-range radio to talk to the captain of the Freebird, a Orlance, and asks him to give them a call if they spot anything dangerous out here.

In her room, Violet entertains Natasha (Violet does have some good wine in her case) and they press each other to uncover the little mysteries which concern them. Natasha discovers exactly what Cross desires the medicines for; while some of it will be used for its intended purpose, most will be transformed into a lucrative hallucinogen. Violet discovers that Natasha is both hiring Vance and the job - and putting two and two together she gathers that Natasha has some kind of relationship with Flint.

For the rest of the trip, Snargle and Kale go through their (unknowing) ritual, with Snargle making his particular brand of repairs/upkeep on the Owl, with Kale undoing the work as soon as the Goblin's back is turned.

***

Approaching Nightport, Snargle gives the Owl a signature waggle, and lights up in the particular sequence that lets the defences know they're friendly. They get placed in the furthest parking spot though, apparently, their last delivery here caused a bad infestation of small critters they're still trying to get rid of!

Naomi Bishop

Violet goes off to make the deal for the medicines alone, she'll be back in a few hours and while she resists any suggestion from Vance that they'd feel more secure knowing where she's going; having them know where the rescue might be needed sounds like a sensible precaution. She's meeting with Captain Wester, a pirate renowned for being good a getting into and stealing goods from Imperials.

A tipsy Natasha wants to head along (or at least out for a drink), but Vance convinces her to stay aboard with him. Taking a firm professional line with her he steers her towards the galley - he teases that he might just be able to win a game of chess against her tonight!

Naomi patrols outside and Snargle takes Kale and Oscar out for a few drinks. Vance suggests McGargle's (where Dutchie's golden ale is 5 for 4), but Snargle brings them to the Domain instead. The place is replete with the stranger denizens of Nightport, Goblins, sorcerers and other things. Kale and Oscar are wonderfully out of place here.

Sidling up to the Illithid barman, Snargle orders three strange concoctions with floating eyes and nervously approaching the bar, Kale and Oscar follow his lead and down them in one. Talking to the sorcerer Vladimir, Snargle wonders why a gifted sorcerer like Natasha would be giving up a high-class/rich life? But all Vladimir can add is that the Remnants are a great hiding place, as for the Pirate Queen Flint, so for his friend.


In the Owl's top turret sit Cyrus Vance and Natasha Syri. They've gone through a bottle of Violet's wine and started on a second; well, to be honest, it's mostly Natasha, as Vance is nursing his glass - feeling responsible for the ship with the rest of the crew out. Chess isn't on the agenda, Vance tells himself he wants to win fair and square, but it's something else (obviously).

They tell each other their stories, Vance leads off, this time sparing none of the details of why he was drummed out of the service. Natasha divulges her true identity and why she's going to Flint. Vance pushes her to tell him her plan for how to deal with Flint. She's not really sure though and he advise her to be sure what she wants of the situation because someone like Flint will use any sign of weakness or lack of resolution to her own advantage. She must pick an approach (either to be sorry and to regain her position as Flint's lover, or to show her power and demand her ransom back) and use all of her remarkable skills to see it through.

That line of thinking surprises Natasha and sobers her up a little. Then they hear Violet returning from the deal and they climb down from the turret. They have a quiet moment on the stairs, with Natasha teetering on the edge of falling - but Cyrus says nothing.

He starts unloading the truck, and Violet wonders where the rest of the crew is at. She's non-too impressed when she hears that they're out on the piss, but is kind of amused when she realises that Vance has left Snargle in charge of the drinking. Natasha's all up for heading out to find them, but between Vance and Naomi they steer her back inside. Vance allows him a small smile at Natasha's retreating figure, and that he and Naomi could agree on something.

Vance heads to the Domain with Violet. They arrive to find everything has reached peak drunkeness there. Vance opens the door to be hit in the face by a badly-thrown hat. Inside he spots a blindfolded Kale trying to judge his throw, it's well off target - it was supposed to hit a minor demon bound inside a summoning circle inside the door.

There's little Vance can do except join in. He takes the blindfold and a hat and tries his best (hoping no-one spots his cheating peak!) but the throw just misses the demon's horns and flies onto a table of drinks beyond - he buys a round of beer and they haul a skuttered Kale back to the Owl and take off

**

Kale Arkam

Most of the ship is hurting from a hangover when the Owl passes the site of the Leviathan-hunting. They pick up an automatic distress beacon from the trawler Freebird. After a very brief discussion with Vance, Snargle brings the Owl towards the source of the signal. The Freebird is listing, and going in a slow circle just at the upper edges of the Lower Depths. There's signs of damage, maybe from a Sky Squid...

They come alongside it, and get ready to board to take a look for survivors. Initially Vance says it's just going to be him and Oscar going across, he really doesn't want Snargle going (a pilot might be handy to have back on the Owl if things go wrong). The ship is a mess, and the strong metal door inside is so warped that it takes a considerable effort for them to slip past. With the creaking noise, they hear shouts from below.
They rush to find the Captain, Orlance trapped under a cargo box; very close to a large rift in the hull. They rescue him but don't find any of his crew - August and Claire. Despite Vance's temptation to just take whatever he can save from the Freebird, they set up a towing cable instead and limp back towards Haven.

With all this extra weight, the Owl is sluggish, and when the proximity alert goes off, the best they can do is look out to see what's there because there's nothing on the scope. Snargle starts to pull the Owl up, gaining altitude as much as the Freebird will allow, but then a large Sky Squid comes out of the depths and grabs onto the stricken trawler.

The Owl is straining, and Vance runs to the top turret to see if he can get a shot at the leviathan, but he's not hopeful. Down below, Natasha is suiting up, and goes outside. There's a huge display of violent cyclonic energy, and this incredible concentration of lightning drives the squid off.

Vance has seen this before, but it's even more impressive this time and has saved everything he holds dear. He gives her the crew fist bump as he passes her at the galley table and tells Violet to take out on of the vintage bottles of whiskey.

*

Back at Haven, Orlance leaves them half of the recovered goods from the Freebird as reward and goes off to check with the other two trawlers to see how they got on and if either of his crew made it. Waiting for Harwood to show up to pick up the merchandise, Vance and Natasha talk about her plans, and he tells her that he considers her part of the crew now.

Harwood arrives, his mechanical leg is very impressive, but it's obvious that he's holding a grudge. They spar, infuriating Natasha, but Vance cuts it short; they're going to get over their problem because Vance is dependable and Harwood needs that.

As payment for the goods, Harwood motions to Violet. The woman rolls up her sleeve and they can see a shifting map of the Remnants. She explains that Seraphina Flint only allows the trusted members of those who need access to be tattoo'ed with the map.

They're going to visit the Pirate Queen...

The Hand of Sorrow

Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe.

She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover, the pirate
queen Seraphina Flint.

The Hand of Sorrow, an Imperial Cruiser
by Radoslaw Kurczewski

However, just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser The Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag. even now Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the commander of the
cruiser, Captain Hollas, runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast Cyrus Vance.

******

Natasha Syri (as Lady Blackbird currently styles herself) is an Imperial noble in disguise, escaping an arranged marriage so she can be with her lover. She hasn't seen Flint in almost six years and since she was returned from the initial kidnapping for a ransom, she's unsure how to treat her lover who hasn't attempted another rescue since. She's dressed as a commoner, and only her bodyguard, Naomi Bishop knows her true identity.

Snargle is a goblin sky-sailor and pilot of The Owl. He came with the ship, and was living inside when Kale & Cyrus bought her a few years ago. Goblins are exceptionally rare inside the Empire, but out in the Free Worlds they're merely unusual.

Cyrus Vance, an ex-Imperial soldier turned smuggler and soldier-of-fortune, Captain of The Owl. Once a lieutenant of attached soldiers aboard an Imperial warship, Vance refused to follow orders (spacing civilian refugees from an abandoned hulk) and was thrown into the brig for his gross insubordination. He refused to let any of his people be embroiled in the affair (including his trusted sergeant Veronica Quinn, who had backed his decision) and was sent down for two years penal servitude and then dishonourably discharged for it.

*****

They're all sitting in the brig; Cyrus, Snargle and the first mate Kale Arkam in one cell and Natasha Syri and Naomi Bishop in the other.

Natasha jumps into action straight-away, eager to escape the Empire's clutches and find Flint. She takes out a sturdy hair-pin and goes to work on the lock. Snargle, having wormed his way through the bars of his cell and then hers, stands behind her shining a light to help her out. Vance shakes his head and suggests that she just hand the tool over to Snargle and it'll be much quicker - but given the look on her face, he shuts up and doesn't give any more advice that might just annoy her.

Natasha Syri (aka Lady Blackbird)

She cuttingly remarks that it's a shame that paying customers end up having to do everything themselves, but he just holds his tongue.

In walks the guard though, a short soldier called Wright. He's wondering what they're up to. But Natasha talks him around, somehow convincing him that sweet little innocent her couldn't be up to anything really.

The guard backs away and steps into Vance's reach - he quickly takes Wright's sidearm, grabbing his collar and placing the barrel of the gun against his throat. Telling him to stay calm, all he'll have to do is unlock the cells, let them out and he'll be fine. Don't cause any trouble and his can tell his officer that there was nothing he could've done.

Wright warns them that his partner, Bell will come inside in a few minutes if he doesn't go back out. Vance assures him that if she's as reasonable as he is, she'll be just fine.


In the other cells are: two drunk and disorderly soldiers, and a scruffy looking vagabond called Oscar. He used to be on the crew of Leo (a sleazy smuggler) who gave him up to avoid getting in any trouble with the Hand of Sorrow. Vance, Kale and Snargle quickly agree to bring him into the crew (hell, Snargle was already opening his cell door!) even though Natasha is dubious.

They're ready for Bell when she comes in. Vance is pointing his gun at her when she opens the door and Natasha slips in behind her to take her weapon. Four of them get into the soldier's uniforms and they'll escort Oscar, as a prisoner for interrogation all the way to the port docking bay.

Dressed in the uniforms, they all look terrible. Vance goes down the line trying to make sure they are more likely to pass muster. Naomi brushes him off, she just wants to be told what to fix. Kale submits to his corrections with ease. Natasha hold her arms out and studies him as he fixes her appearance. He makes a few adjustments which give Kale pause.

Snargle will go below to engineering to cause a bit of havoc in the engine room, to make sure The Hand of Sorrow can't follow them quickly.

****

The others make their way to the elevator, and Natasha takes charge of the conversation - the guards there wonder where they're taking the prisoner, and are told he's being brought for interrogation. She tells them level 7 when they wonder if it's to level 7 or 8, and she assures them that they can stay here, no need for any extra help. Inside the elevator, she presses to go down to sub-level 1 instead.

Down below, they find the dregs of The Hand of Sorrow, off-duty soldiers and down-beat civilians. Their uniforms are far too nice here and it's clear no prisoners would be escorted around down here, so they dress down, a bit more casually, and break up their formation.

Snargle scurries down the tight tubing all the way to engineering where he eyes up the best way to sabotage the Hand of Sorrow. He spots a few dozen prisoners being kept in horrible conditions, and he quickly sets about freeing them and leading them to a weapons locker. Before leaving them to get back to his task, he tells them where they can find The Owl and offers them a way to escape!

Picking their way through the crowd, they pass a bar which is a little bit rowdy with rival squads. Two of them spill out into the concourse, and square up for round two. There's every sign that this could spill out of control, and if the MPs show up they'll all end up in the brig (which'll rumble the escape!) so Vance steps in, channeling his inner sergeant to bawl them out and suggest that they don't want to get into any more trouble - next time they'll end up outside the ship scraping the hull! It kind of works, but Vance ends up getting his head cracked by a bottle as he pulls them apart. His scalp is bleeding badly.

Cyrus Vance, captain of the Owl

The fight doesn't escalate and the MPs are never called. They make their way to the hangar where the Owl is moored. They are walking confidently across the deck and a local security team stops them to check their credentials - Natasha tells them that they're bringing the prisoner to the ship to check on some of the details of his story from interrogation, but when they ask for orders, she's taken aback.

Vance steps in to explain that the Chief of Operations is after this information as soon as possible, and when the soldier wonders if he should really be here, with that head wound, Vance doubles down; saying that when the Chief gives you a direct order, you see it through, no excuses. They back down and let the group through. They're almost at The Owl when the klaxons blare. Security teams start to evacuate the hangar and they're caught in the drag-net, neither Natasha's moxie nor Vance's caution get them through - there's really no chance of boarding their ship without starting something.

Getting Natasha to back down from this, Vance calls her 'Nat', which elicits a fierce reaction - her name is 'Natasha'!

They're ushered back into a concourse area, where they hear various personnel complaining that this'll take a couple of hours to clear up, if it's like last time. But there are a few who heard rumours of a riot down in the holding cells.

***

They grab a table in a nearby cafe to catch their breath for a while. They enjoy a coffee (well, Natasha makes a point of having tea) and when Vance starts to apologise for calling her 'Nat' earlier, nicknames are ubiquitous in the service, Kale draws Naomi and Oscar away to another table to give them some room.

Vance gives Kale a look, but they accept what passes for privacy aboard a ship in a busy cafe. She accepts his apology casually, and when he wonders if the people she's running from know where she's running to, or if they have enough pull to put an Imperial cruiser in their path, she brushes off any suggestion that she might be to blame for his incompetence at getting captured.

She then asks him how he managed to get thrown out of the navy. He explains in the barest of details that he was discharged for not following orders, but then he notices a familiar figure sitting nearby - it's Sergeant Veronica Quinn. Vance is obviously deeply affected by seeing her, and still looking at her, lists the full charges brought against him by the Admiralty which lead to his dishonourable discharge.


Snargle has made his way through pipes and vents (impossible for a human to pass through) and comes out high above the concourse. He opens his ears and glides down spectacularly! Well, it would be if anyone except for a five-year old child was paying attention - he grabs his mother's leg to draw her attention to the goblin, just like on his favourite holo-show, but to no avail.

As he lands, the concourse erupts into chaos, as the piratical prisoner he previously freed spill out into the open, and Quinn rushes past Vance and Natasha to start organising the nearby soldiers (whether on duty or off) run to fight them off.

Vance hunkers down behind the table to prevent her from spotting him; Natasha is crouching in close, and she needles him about Quinn and Vance dismisses her conclusion about their relationship with an angry chuckle.

Snargle

Snargle directs the pirates towards the main hangar door, but quick thinking security have closed and locked it to bottle them up. Naomi and Natasha are all for piling in to help the pirates, as fierce as they are the professional soldiers will wipe them out soon. Vance tries to convince them that his obligation is to see the group to The Owl and off The Hand of Sorrow, but Natasha cuts through the argument with a gunshot into the back of a nearby soldier.

Naomi grins approvingly and joins in the fight. Vance shakes his head and looks at the situation. He can hear Quinn coordinating the defence, and knows that she'll be calling for reinforcements to catch the pirates in a pincer move. He identifies the best approach route and starts evacuating civilians from the area along those corridors to make the reinforcements job getting through in time almost impossible.

Snargle squeezes through an ventilation shaft and into the hangar, the rest of them will have to use the main door, but there's work to be done to get The Owl ready for flight.

Natasha begins to gather her power, and an amazing lightening storm erupts over the area occupied by the soldiers. To a woman, they're bowled over and that section of the concourse is wrecked, with fixtures and torn metal strewn across the area. Vance and Kale exchange awestruck glances, they'd sensed something when aboard The Owl, and gotten the odd hint, but suspected nothing like this raw power.

**

Natasha leads them away from the carnage over to the locked door, but Vance isn't following. He picked through the wreckage to find Quinn. She's badly injured, and won't survive without medical intervention. He rolls up his sleeves and scrounge up some medical equipment to give him life-saving first aid. He talks to her, trying to keep her awake and at first she doesn't know how it's possible that he's there with her.

Snargle breaks into a random freighter near The Owl on the hangar deck, which he knows shares the his ship's ether fuel cells. Ripping them out, and hauling them across to the Owl takes the small goblin a while, but he gets on with the job, wondering how long it'll take them to bypass the locks.

The others are stymied by the hangar door's security. Natasha yells at Vance to leave Quinn and help them out, and Naomi can't believe he's wasting time and resources on Imperial scum. Vance holds up a finger and tells them that Snargle's not ready with The Owl yet and they can't leave.

He does get the security code from Quinn (it's Captain Holles' birthday - they both served with him aboard The Silent Song). But before he can punch it into the keypad, Natasha wields her terrible power again, this time to punch a hole through the hangar door. She flashes an impatient look at Vance. And when he still doesn't move from Quinn's side, she walks over with Naomi to haul the wounded soldier to The Owl - he's not impressed with them. If they move her, she'll die and he points at The Owl where it sits on the deck. The pilot light is still red, so Snargle hasn't gotten her up and running yet. He'll move when she's ready and not before. He tells Natasha that they should get back to The Owl right now.

He waits until the reinforcements finally arrive, Standing up and yelling at them that Quinn needs urgent help he smiles at her, and then blinks out.

Appearing on his couch in the cockpit, he glances back at Kale, standing on the ramp in disbelief as Snargle takes off (he forgot Vance could do that, again!), and at Natasha's amazement. They take off, with the pirates crammed into the cargo hold and blasting a hole in the main hangar doors, Snargle deftly manoeuvres The Owl out into the Blue.

*

Out of harms way, they press Natasha for more details on where exactly she's heading; they can't cast around aimlessly out here with people on their tail. So she tells them that she needs to get to Seraphina Flint, the Pirate Queen! The crew of The Owl moan, they're not sure they like this.

And when Snargle wonders if Cross will have forgiven or forgotten about Vance yet, he puts on a brave face, maybe he'll won't hold it against them, after all loads of people have tried to kill Cross before. Maybe they shouldn't go into Haven though...

Next Session: The Owl