Saltwater Tears Session 3

Leaving a party behind to bring the pirate ship and its prisoners to port, the HMS Unicorn continued its journey across the Mediterranean Sea. Aboard the Unicorn, halfling thief/child impersonator Terry Grey, otterman thief Edward/Steven, and porcupine man sailor Zydeco, recover from the thrill of battle. Terry noticed his newly looted coffee pot was missing. Upon a further search of his person, he discovered all his shiny silver shillings were gone. 

 Remembering the purser told them of other thefts, Zydeco and Terry visited fellow crewman Horatio Bladderworth III. Bladderworth lost a family heirloom, his fathers’ war medal. The thief also stole all his Shillings, but left all the pounds and pennies behind. Seeing the connection, Terry set a trap, but found both he and Zydeco lacked shillings, he enlisted the help of Edward and his purse. 

Joining the majority of the crew on the main deck waxing the sails, Terry tried to draw out the thief by performing coin tricks with a shilling he borrowed from Edward, with no noticeable results.

Working out a new strategy below decks, Edward noticed several of his shillings missing as well. A small stain of wet slime marked the pocket  previously containing the shilling. While searching the bulkheads for slime trails, the adventures hit upon a cunning plan: Edward grabbed a handful of wax from the sailors working above, and stuck the shilling to the floor of the cargo hold. The three sailors hid among the crates and barrels and waited in the humid compartment.

 After a leg cramp inducing wait, a short scuttling form crept toward the shilling. Terry threw a potato and the creature ran. The vermin escaped, but not before Terry recognized it as a Fribbon: an apelike amphibian that often snuck aboard ships in port and liked to steal shiny trinkets. 

Remembering that fribbons live in moist environments, the party tracked it to the bilge. Sighting the nest, Edward pulled out a shilling and lured the creature closer. When the Fribbon grabbed the coin, the otterman grabbed the Fribbon.  The Fribbon bit Edward on the wrist and Terry knocked it out with a healthy dose of chloroform.

The halfling decided to keep the Fribbon to use as bait on his next fishing trip. The purser and Bladderworth were very happy to get their stolen items back. Shillings were return to their rightful owners (some more than others), and the remaining few unclaimed items were given to the Boatswain.

Among the items was a silver plated humidor. The Boatswain helped himself to a cigar, but found that it was actually a letter wrapped up in cigar papers. Edward and the Boatswain examined all of the cigars finding four letters: two in Russian and two in Arabic. Suspicious of foreign agents, the Boatswain tasked Edward with taking the letters to the English Consulate on Malta during his shore leave.