The Pirates of Panormo, Session One: Rinascimento
The bronze dragons of Staglia were planning something. Their war against Selenizia had ground into a bloody stalemate. After years of contant warfare, their resources were stretched to the point of exhaustion. And so their troops received the order to hold their positions, while the dragon generals were all recalled to Staglia for an emergency meeting. Meanwhile, surprise attacks were launched against the marble quarries of Camarma and the surreal ruins of Larisa, only to withdraw again. The quicksilver dragons of Trion, the alchemists and inventors of Staglia's war machine.
Something big was coming. And Captain Uberto meant to find out what it was. The crew of the Brazen Nudibranch were dedicated to fighting against the draconic imperialists. It was vital that someone should infiltrate Staglia and discover what the bronze dragons were planning, before it was too late.
The first step in the Captain's plan was to lay anchor at Monte Mamiliano. This small island was a haven of gamblers, smugglers, and pilgrims. The crew spend some downtime there: they annoyed the monks in the monastery, Eva went to perform in the local bars, and Avanti convinced one of the island's ubiquitous copper cats, Antonio, to join their crew as a mouser. They also cased the docks, looking for a pleasure craft that they could steal. They found a merchant's yacht from Tarchania with only a few guards on it. Eva tried to distract them with music, but her ego would not let her performance be anything less than magnificent and she accidentally drew their attention instead. It didn't matter: Captain Uberto swam to the ship and knocked the guards out one by one. Then the crew, having already bribed the harbourmaster to turn a blind eye, rushed onto the ship and sailed out of harbour before anyone could react.
A few days' sailing with a good wind took both ships west to an isolated harbour near Staglia. The Captain and her senior staff took possession of the stolen ship and sailed into Staglia in disguise. As they entered the harbour, they noticed something unusual on top of Il Fiato, the Lighthouse of the Dragon's Breath - the immense and famous lighthouse that guided ships into harbour, with a frieze of a dragon running around it so that it seems to be breathing fire into the sky.
The pirates scoped out the city. There were lots of soldiers present, and Eva became upset when she saw an ibex-headed man she knew from Medilano, now serving with his former enemies. She also learnt that there were Medilanese political prisoners in the city, and she swore to rescue them when she got the chance.
As night fell, the pirates prepared an ambush for a Staglian patrol and stole their uniforms, leaving the unconscious soldiers down the sewer. They then made their way over to the lighthouse and bluffed their way in. They narrowly avoided detection by ducking into a small room... where they discovered that they were not alone.
Shelto Salamandre was a dragon-souled astrologer from Trion who had helped determine the best day for the magical ritual that was taking place on the rooftop. However, he had recently spotted portents in the stars which foretold an unforeseen disaster. He tried to tell his quicksilver dragon masters, but they had not wanted to listen to him, especially since the stars clearly foretold success. He was now waiting downstairs in the lighthouse, trying to think what to do, when the crew of the Brazen Nudibranch entered his room. Rather than raise the alarm, they spoke and Shelto was convinced that he needed to help them stop the ritual in order to prevent disaster.
First, Shelto told them everything that he knew. The bronze dragons had once served the great gold dragons of Auromia, and they were trying to bring about the rebirth of the gold dragons. They had created an artificial body and were trying to recall the soul of a gold dragon from the afterlife to be their leader. With their leadership, the bronze dragons thought they could change their fortunes and re-establish the Auromian Empire that fell a thousand years ago.
With Shelto directing them, the group made their way to the stairs, which were guarded by Captain Galeazzo, a bronze dragon-souled soldier, and his troops. Maria prepared some drugged food for them in the galley, but when she tried to give it to them, the guards became suspicious and a fight ensued. Zeph smashed Galeazzo's face into a food bowl, stunning him, and then Shelto knocked him out by using magic to fling a second bowl into his head. The rest of the guards put up a stiff fight, but they were eventually all defeated - but not before the alarm had been raised! The group set off up the many, many stairs; guards with crossbows followed, firing up the stairwell at them.
After a long, long climb, the pirates reached the rooftop and hid in the shadows. A great marble egg was suspended in the lighthouse's torch, surrounded by four flying quicksilver dragons breathing fire, earth, air and water upon it. The Ordinarch of Staglia and his churchly entourage were present with the seven sacred relics of the gold dragons, and the assembled bronze dragon generals were also flying, intoning the prayer of allegiance to the Golden Emperor. With no time to waste, the group used magic to make one of the clerical attendants drop one of the sacred relics, which fell off the lighthouse into the harbour in the dark. Hopefully this would disrupt the ritual!
Suddenly the pursuing guards appeared on the roof! Crossbows fired, but a howling wind rose up and the bolts were drawn in towards the egg! The torch of the lighthouse was extinguished suddenly. Lightning flashed and struck the egg three times. Then the egg cracked, and a magnificent life-sized marble and gold statue of a dragon emerged, glowing with an unearthly light. "It is not enough!" the dragon cried, and gestured. The four quicksilver dragons had the breath drawn from their body and sucked into the great gold dragon. He gestured again, and the bronze dragons choked and fell from the sky, their life force drawn into his own. Dragons fell from the dark air. The pirates and the guards were both terrified and fled the tower, and in the confusion of the falling dragons, the pirates escaped into the city. Above them, a new and dreadful golden light shone from the top of the lighthouse...
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