The Wonders of Arlia

The Odd At Sea

Quick facts

Type: Ship, later airship · Owners: The FAM · Captain: Captain Teft · Crew: Crew of the Odd At Sea · Former names: Cresting Pearl Horizon; C.P.H., the Convenient Plot Hook · Status: In service as an airship (as of C2 Session 83)

The Odd At Sea is the FAM’s ship. They took it from the merchant Kellem Stormforge as the Cresting Pearl Horizon, called it the C.P.H. (the Convenient Plot Hook), renamed it The Odd At Sea to dodge the Velvet Truffle Company, and later had it rebuilt by Bulma Briefs into the first airship not powered by magic.

The boat “heist”

The ship belonged to Kellem Stormforge, the merchant who hired the party to recover a chest from the wreck of the Sapphire Tide. After the gold dragon stole the chest and the party fell out with Stormforge, Wilbur declared that the new plan was a boat heist.

It turned into paperwork. Escher tried to board posing as a town guard with an arrest warrant, but the crew knew their rights and called his bluff. Nelda tried friendliness instead, and the captain, Teft, admitted he disliked the owner. If the party could legally remove Stormforge and produce a writ of ownership, he and the crew would work for them. Nelda bought a “potion of clouded judgment” from a potion maker, a disoriented Stormforge “signed the ship over” on documents Wilbur had forged, and he was escorted off to “the hospital.”

The crew immediately presented a union contract. After some haggling over treasure shares, the party agreed to five gold a week per crew member, a 15% share of profits, and universal healthcare. Kip, who is very by-the-book, made a point of not learning how the ship was acquired, since he would be obligated to turn everyone in if he knew. Arghen slept through the whole thing.

The C.P.H.

The party sailed for Chonkerton, a trip expected to take seven to nine business days. Life aboard included Kip savaging the cook’s stew and then Rock’s “traditional dwarven” burritos and tamales, Nelda’s bagpipe mini-concert for the crew with Wilbur’s fireworks and Kip’s endless confetti, Nelda trying and failing to train her snarl fin kitten, David, and Escher asking the captain whether there was a tattoo artist aboard.

On the way, The Lopen spotted a cloud of mucus alongside the ship. An aboleth charmed Escher and dragged Ellery under before she kicked it in the eye and broke free. That night Sigzil showed Ellery that stars were disappearing from the constellations (see The Vanishing Stars).

The ship carried the party to Bellyport, Hamhock Harbor and Buttermere. On the way to Buttermere a blockade of five VTC vessels stopped it, and an official came aboard asking about Tobias Blackwood and a man named Escher. In Buttermere, Gravy Bones boarded with VTC men and left two of them behind to wait for Escher, until Ellery and Nelda ran them off.

The Odd At Sea

After fleeing Buttermere as VTC fugitives, the party decided to rebrand. As they pulled into the Saline Coast, Teft asked what they had decided to call the ship, and they renamed it The Odd At Sea. Escher found a tracking device disguised as a bar of chocolate and planted it on another vessel.

By the time of the Cell Games the ship was docked in North City’s harbor. When the party returned to it after the tournament, the one-armed Lopen greeted them and Teft reminded them they owed seventeen days of wages. Watchers trailed the party to the docks. Since the VTC clearly knew about the ship, the party sent it on to the Saline Coast as a decoy while they went through The Underdark.

The airship

Wilbur asked Bulma whether the ship could be converted into an airship. Such a ship would normally need Brumestone, but Bulma had been looking to prototype an alternative and started work while the party was away. VTC Sweet Lord Cadbury Vex was soon after the exclusive rights, reasoning that whoever owned the sky would own the movement of everything.

While the party was in Coghaven, Teft checked in by sending stone to report that the ship was airborne and heading for the Saline Coast, and that the VTC seemed to have taken the bait. He picked the party up at Udon Heights, descending out of the clouds in a ship frame lifted by helicopter propellers, and welcomed Wilbur aboard the first airship not powered by magic. The party threw the Asset Songbird tracker overboard. On the deck, Cabba and Ellery finally kissed while Kip threw endless confetti.

When VTC forces surrounded the Mercenary’s Rest, the party called Teft to meet them at the nearest exit.

Appears in

The ship at the dock in its C.P.H. days.

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