11/26/2025
With the whole group back on the Gravy Trained in what felt like forever, the Belligerents were able to reunite with Carmello and Patty, who were sad to hear of Captain Raithe's loss, as well as Phira's decision to stay behind with the girls.
The group decided Carmello should be the new captain as long as he did everything Hukbi said, to which Carmello agreed. He immediately renamed the ship to Exquisite Dish as his first act as captain.
The crew soon came upon a pirate ship harrassing a barge, and decided to intervene in the hopes of finding Vainya something to eat
As they approached, the captain of the pirate ship, an orc named Thogot, came over to treat, but when it became clear he wasn't interested in handing over everything he owned, the Belligerents attacked and killed him.
The group then boarded the pirate ship and made quick work of the crew, taking over the remaining sailors as the new leaders of the ship, while the short-lived Exquisite Dish sank to the bottom of the ocean from cannon fire.
The group searched the hold and found a bard named Breeze trapped in the brig. They released him and Breeze was eager to help them in return.
The Belligerents then went to see what was going on with the barge the pirates had been attacking, and found it was being crewed by a single man from Jawhara named Naukar.
Naukar explained he was delivering a pile of zombies somewhere, but he had taken a sacred oath of secrecy as to where. However, during the pirate attack, the staff he used to propel the barge through the water had been damaged, and now he was stranded.
The Belligerents refused to help unless he explained where he was delivering an army of zombies and why, and so after much convincing, Naukar decided to break his oath in order to keep to the spirit of it.
He explained he there was a pit in south-west Jawhara, and at the bottom of this pit was a creature that relentlessly tried to escape. The order Naukar was a part of was responsible for filling the pit with zombies in an effort to keep the creature trapped forever, and they did so by delivering zombies from Galdarion Forest every few months.
Additionally, the group discovered the way the barge traveled through the water was a massive undead giant beneath the water, walking on the bottom of the ocean, and carrying the barge above its head. Naukar commanded the zombie giant, named Big Brutus, with his artifact staff, and the giant would stay where it was until the staff was repaired.
Satisfied with his answer, and the knowledge that the creature in the pit's escape would go poorly for the world, the group decided to tow the barge behind their new ship, Exquisite Dessert and sail down to Mawrid in Jawhara to make the delivery and repair his staff.