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Def Lenard, Fen, Hollicar, John, Kelson, and Landriss were eating a late dinner at a local tavern when they met and recruited Decor. Some plans were discussed in the tavern but it was decided that the privacy of John and Lenard's near-by house would be better suited for such conversations. Since the hour was late and the night was cold, a few of the adventurers decided to stay in the warm tavern and enjoy more ale before retiring for the night.

As most of the party members made their way into the cold air outside they saw an elf sprinting through the half-frozen mud of the nearly deserted streets. As soon as he saw the group standing in the street he yelled for them to, "Get off the street!" Immediately behind him came four humanoid rats, that the elf later named as "skaven", followed by a one-handed pirate captain who they later learned was named Morgan.

Moments after the party heeded the elf's warning and rushed back into the tavern the building was rocked by a lightning bolt tearing apart the wall that fronted the street where they had just been standing. Debating the wisdom of going outside again, the party saw the elven warrior run past the now permanently open doorway. The skaven were right behind him and moving quick enough to catch a running horse! The elf knew he could not hope to outrun his pursuers and he turned to fight the ratlings in front of the tavern.

Valor being the better part of adventuring, the majority of the party decided they should not stay safe in the tavern and watch the elf be torn apart by the skaven. Leaping into the fray the party battled the four magically hasted skaven, three more skaven who had been circling around the block to cut-off the elf's escape, and Captain Morgan. The skaven fell readily enough to the blades of the companions but the ratlings got in some cuts of their own before falling. Any questions of where the lightning bolt had come from were answered when Morgan started casting spells at the party.

The party was victorious against the skaven but Capt. Morgan slipped away under cover of a Wall of Fog that Kelson had summoned to screen the party against missile fire. A few moments later, when Lenard unlocked the door to his house, he slammed the door shut after briefly opening it and declared that the captain was inside! An subsequent search of the house revealed that the house was, in fact, empty and all doors and windows securely locked. Perplexed, Lenard insisted that he had seen Morgan in the house but that he had looked shadowy and "wraith-ish".

Once the excitement died down the elf introduced himself as Ahriallen, thanked the party for saving his life, and asked if he could impose upon their generosity. His ship, the Wind's Pawn, had been captured by Captain Morgan and his pirates a week ago and had been anchored in Trazarra's harbor only five hours ago. Ahriallen had been able to hide invisibly upon the Pawn for the previous week and was following Morgan and a handful of the pirates through the city when the skaven had discovered the elf as he tried to pass them. This lead to the chase that the party witnessed and took part in.

What Ahriallen needed their further help with was freeing his officers that Morgan's pirates were holding hostage in a near-by house, then in liberating the Pawn from the pirates. A brief negotiation ensued in which Ahriallen agreed to sail them to the island of the Rift as long as they freed his crew and ship that night, before the pirates had a chance to move or kill them.

After some discussion and planning the group assaulted the house where Ahriallen's officers were being held hostage. The raid was successful despite some tense, close quarters fighting with the eight pirates and a wizard that were guarding the hostages. The party had assaulted the house simultaneously from the front and back doors, killing a few of the pirates before they even had time to react. The rest were dispatched within a few minutes.

The pirate wizard revealed himself to be a coward through and through when he not only ran from the party screaming, but hid himself behind one of his hostages, the Pawn's halfling navigator, when the party finally caught up with him. Hollicar, seeing the wizard huddled behind the bound halfling, didn't hesitate at all when he charged in and swung his halberd at the wizard. The blade came in too low to catch the crouched wizard and was instead buried deeply into the chest of the halfling. A quick magic missile spell from Ahriallen finished off the pirate wizard.

It was quickly determined that either Kelson or John was needed to save the dying halfling's life and Lenard, the third person who had chased the wizard into the attic, went to retrieve the priest. By the time John got there and was able to cure the halfling's wound Ahriallen and Hollicar were locked in a heated debate, yelling at each other in elven. Ahriallen was berating Hollicar for his lack of control and almost killing the helpless navigator. Hollicar... well, suffice it to say Hollicar was being himself. Predictably, Hollicar escalated the argument to physical violence causing John, Lenard, and Fen to break up the fight.

After tempers had calmed down and the house had been searched the party made final, hurried preparations to leave Trazarra. The party split into three groups. One group went directly to the wharfs to procure a couple of boats. The second group went to the Wild Geese Inn to gather Hollicar's possessions and then arranged for their war horses and a few of their riding horses to be stabled for four months. The last group secured their house and gathered what gear they needed from there.

Once at the wharf the group made plans for retaking the Wind's Pawn. Since the ship was anchored in the harbor 100 yards from the dock, and 200 yards from where the pirate's ship was anchored, it was decided that the party needed to stealthily dispatch any guards who were up on deck. Immediately after the deck was clear the recently freed ship's officers were to work on getting the ship ready to sail while the party simultaneously freed the crew of the Pawn from their make-shift prison in the hold and battled whatever pirates remained on board.

The party successfully took the pirates by surprise and were victorious in the bloody battle that followed. Of the thirteen pirates who were aboard the Wind's Pawn only one was known to have escaped alive by diving over board despite the arrow Lenard buried in his back as he swam away from the ship. Another pirate, knocked overboard by Ahriallen's magic missile spell, may or may not have survived once he hit the water.

For their part, very few members of the party or Ahriallen's crew are uninjured. Between John and Kelson they were able to use their divine powers of healing to ensure no one was close to death, but they are both unable to summon more divine power until they can get proper rest. Only two of the Pawn's elven marines, three officers, and ten crewmen are still alive. Many of the ship's ballista bolts were used up defending the ship against Morgan's first attack. Ahriallen has also told the party that his arcane powers have been exhausted. The ship's resources are wearing thin indeed.

The Wind's Pawn has weighed anchor and has set sail. Morgan's pirate ship, a larger and slower ship is also in the process of setting sail but the Pawn has a head start bought by the blood and determination of our heroes. Both ships were damaged during the pirate attack and were in port for repairs and to gather much needed supplies. Is the Pawn too hindered by the damage to outrun the slower ship? Will the party's head start be enough to keep the Pawn out of reach of the pirate's weapons and magic until open seas can be reached? Will Hollicar ever stop being an ass hole to everyone around him? Only time and great effort are likely to reveal the desired answers to these questions.

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