March 1, 2026
2pm – 7:30pm
Story by Sam C Tillis
Transcript: Granola
Summary: Claude
Images: Gemini Nano Banana 2
The Party
Kubo — An Elf Fighter, lean and sharp-eyed, equally comfortable in the rigging of a ship as he is in a fight. Quiet until he isn’t. (Mason)
Luna — A Human Druid, young and unpredictable, with a habit of reaching for whatever plant is nearest when things go sideways. Capable of becoming a crow, which they treat as less of a magical gift and more of a useful tool. (Quinn)
Raven — A Kenku rogue — a crow-like humanoid with dark feathers, quick talons, and sharper instincts. When not below deck debating the finer points of sandwich construction, he’s perched high in the crow’s nest where nobody thinks to look, watching everything. (Tycho)
Thunck — A Dwarf Cleric, stocky and slow to wake up, but the person everyone is quietly relieved is standing behind them when things get bad. (Isaac)
The Mission
The Duke of Avaline is not a man accustomed to asking for help. But five days ago, someone took his daughter — and now the most powerful man in the floating city of Avalanche is sitting across a table from a group of adventurers, hands clasped, trying not to look desperate. He refuses to pay the ransom. Do so once and you’ll never stop paying. The reward is 1,000 gold each. The party boards the Fog Sweeper, a small battered airship captained by Brotsverk, a gruff ex-pirate who now hunts his own kind.
Act One: Fog & Fire
Kubo and Luna take the first watch on deck. Thunck is mostly asleep. Raven is up in the crow’s nest, hidden in the shadows at the top of the mast, watching the fog roll by below him like a second ocean.
It’s Raven who sees it first — or nearly. The pirate vessel materializes out of the grey without warning, close enough to hear the crew shouting across the gap. Harpoons crack through the air, three lines biting into the Fog Sweeper’s hull, the ships grinding toward each other as the winches screech. The boarding action begins.
The pirates are led by Stanisław, one of the Pirate Queen’s lieutenants — a quick, inventive fighter with a trick crossbow that fires lightning, harpoons, and curving shots that seem to defy physics. His crew is a motley mix of kobolds — small, scaly, and surprisingly vicious in numbers — and gnolls, hulking hyena-faced warriors who hit like a falling anchor. He commands from the pirate ship while they swarm the Fog Sweeper’s deck.
What follows is fast and chaotic. Raven fails to cut the lines but drives a lit torch into a pirate’s chest instead — the man goes up like kindling. Luna hurls a pot of burning eucalyptus across the gap, filling the enemy deck with acrid smoke and spreading fire. Kubo and Thunck hold the rail against the boarders while Luna transforms into a crow and flaps across to scout, eyeing a promising-looking chest before thinking better of it. By the time the smoke clears, several pirates are down and the rest are done fighting.
The pirates surrender fast — hands up, voices cracking — and trade everything they know for their lives: the location of the pirate hideout, the password (Skyfish), and fifty gold up front. They claim the girl is being held at the base. They just want to go home.
The Fog Sweeper limps on through the fog, one of the enemy ships still smoldering behind them. Somewhere ahead, through the clouds, the Duke’s daughter is waiting.
Colorful and slightly goofy: four adventurers posing on an airship dock — a cool elf fighter with a sword, a cheerful druid girl in green robes clutching a plant, a scruffy kenku crow-person in a hooded cloak holding up a coin with one talon, and a sleepy-looking stocky dwarf cleric, floating city with puffy clouds in background, bright colors, bold outlines, fun and lighthearted”
A pompous overdressed nobleman with a huge curly mustache sitting behind a comically oversized desk piled with papers, looking worried but trying to seem important, four adventurers seated across from him looking unimpressed, bright colors, bold outlines, slightly exaggerated expressions.
A cheerful floating island city drifting above fluffy white clouds, colorful towers and airship docks jutting off the rocky underside, tiny airships buzzing around like bees, bright blue sky, bold outlines, wide establishing shot, fun and adventurous
A big barrel-chested sea captain with a wild grey beard, enormous eyebrows, a battered captain’s hat slightly too small for his head, hands on his hips looking grumpy but dependable, standing on the deck of a small airship, bold outlines, expressive cartoony face, bright colors.
A kenku — a humanoid crow with ruffled black feathers and a tattered cloak — perched at the very top of a ship’s crow’s nest, peering suspiciously into thick white fog, comically wide eyes, talons gripping the rim of the nest, moody foggy atmosphere with cartoon flair, bold outlines
A pirate airship with a skull flag bursting dramatically through white fog right next to a smaller ship, pirates hanging off the rigging making silly threatening faces, harpoons flying, both crews reacting with exaggerated surprise, bright colors, bold outlines, action scene energy
A kenku rogue with dark feathers winding up to hurl a lit torch at a pirate, the pirate already reacting with a comically alarmed expression, fire and chaos on the airship deck, clouds far below, dynamic and funny action pose, bold outlines, bright warm colors
A young druid girl with a huge grin launching a flaming clay pot across the gap between two airships, thick green cartoon smoke billowing out, pirates on the other ship dramatically gagging and fanning the air with their hats, bright colors, exaggerated reactions, bold outlines
A wiry pirate lieutenant on the deck of a pirate airship firing a crossbow shooting a bolt with cartoon lightning crackling around it, the bolt curving impossibly around a corner toward surprised adventurers, the shooter looking very pleased with himself, bold outlines, bright electric colors”
A stocky dwarf cleric pointing one stubby finger at a wiry pirate lieutenant, the word DIE in big cartoon letters, the pirate not dying but looking briefly wobbly and uncertain, the dwarf looking annoyed that it only partially worked, other adventurers watching with mixed expressions, bold outlines, bright colors”
Luna the Crow
A small determined-looking crow standing on the railing of a smoking pirate ship, eyeing a treasure chest that is clearly way too big for her to carry, thinking bubble visible, fire and chaos in the background, cute and slightly comedic, bold outlines, bright colors
Three bedraggled cartoonish pirates — a mix of small scaly kobolds and a hulking hyena-faced gnoll — with hands raised high, knees shaking, the gnoll holding out a tiny coin purse that looks comically small in its massive hand, facing a group of adventurers who look thoroughly unimpressed — the kenku has already snatched the coin purse and is examining it, smoke and wreckage around them, cloudy sky background, exaggerated fearful expressions, bold outlines, bright colors”
Act Two: Skyfish
The ship continues forward and eventually a fortress emerges from the mist like something that shouldn’t exist — a pirate stronghold suspended between rocky floating islands, connected by rope bridges and rickety scaffolding, watchtowers jutting out at every angle, harpoon launchers trained on anything that gets too close. A single docking point. No obvious back door.
The party considers their options. Direct assault means flying straight into the harpoons. Sneaking through the fog is possible but the place is crawling with guards. Then someone remembers the password.
They dock, walk straight up to the gate, and tell the guard they’re new pirates with treasure and they’d very much like to speak to someone in charge. It works. The guard mentions that the pirate queen — Mercedes Morain — will be pleased, and waves them through.
Inside, the fortress is warm and lived-in: carpeted common rooms, armor hung on the walls, the smell of something cooking. A gnoll is shooting arrows at a practice dummy in the corner. Two kobolds are playing cards at a table and look up with immediate suspicion. The party attempts several creative explanations. The kobolds are unconvinced. Someone says good evening in a way that sounds nothing like a pirate. Swords come out.
What follows is a room-by-room crawl through the fortress — guards caught mid-sandwich, doors slammed and blocked and broken down, a thunder-item deployed as a distraction that sends hats spinning down the corridor. Luna cycles through animal forms to scout ahead and deliver surprise attacks from unexpected angles, while Raven moves through every room with one eye on the enemy and one eye on anything pocketable. Thunck keeps the party on their feet with steady healing throughout.
In the armory, Luna discovers a large conch shell sitting on a crate. They pick it up and holds it to her ear. A voice comes out. It’s a shell phone — a magical communication device that lets her stay in contact with the rest of the party as they split up to clear the fortress. It immediately becomes essential.
Then, in one of the back rooms, a landsquid pokes its tentacled head out and regards the party with large, anxious eyes. It announces that it did not expect anyone to appear. Luna — being Luna — speaks to it directly. The landsquid, it turns out, is thoroughly sick of living in a pirate fortress and has been looking for an exit for some time. It switches sides on the spot, offering up what it knows about the layout and what lies ahead, and attaches itself to the party with the relieved energy of someone who has just been rescued from a very bad job.
With their new cephalopod ally in tow, the party descends to the dungeon.
Guarding a cell below the fortress is Little Soo — the Pirate Queen’s other lieutenant. He is massive, wild, and deeply unimpressed by the adventurers. Thunck pours healing into the party in waves, keeping everyone standing through sheer stubborn devotion.
Luna calls down Moonbeam — a searing column of silver light that fills the dungeon and doesn’t move. Little Soo roars. The light holds. Eventually, Little Soo falls.
Her greataxe hits the floor with a sound like a small earthquake. Raven immediately checks the dungeon floor for loose coins. Luna picks up the axe.
Pirate Queen Mercedes Morain is waiting in the throne room — tall, cloaked, standing before a pile of gold with the relaxed confidence of someone who has never lost a fight. She looks the party over and remarks that she thought the Duke might be foolish enough to send adventurers. Raven’s eyes are already on the gold pile.
The battle is brutal and precise. Mercedes hurls acid spells and crackling arcane bursts, retaliating against every hit with a magical rebuke that punishes anyone who dares touch her. Thunck looks her dead in the eyes at the first opportunity and says Die. Mercedes raises an eyebrow. She does not die. She seems, if anything, mildly entertained. The healing never stops.
Eventually, inevitably, Luna picks up Little Soo’s greataxe — still warm from the dungeon — and swings it. The swing goes wide. It shouldn’t have worked. But something stirs inside the axe, some wild magic left behind by its previous owner, and the blow lands anyway — harder than it had any right to.
The Pirate Queen goes down.
The throne room goes quiet. The gold pile glitters. Raven is already wrist-deep in it.
Somewhere below, behind a locked door, a small girl with unkempt blonde hair has been waiting five days for someone to come. When the door finally swings open, Lenore bursts out and throws her arms around the nearest adventurer. She is extremely ready to go home.
A dramatic wide shot of a rickety sky fortress suspended between floating rocky islands, rope bridges and scaffolding everywhere, watchtowers sticking out at odd angles, harpoon launchers on the walls, mist swirling around it, a tiny airship approaching cautiously, bold outlines, slightly ominous but fun
A kenku, an elf, a dwarf, and a druid standing at a fortress gate trying to look casual and pirate-like, a suspicious scaly kobold guard squinting down at them from above, one character holding up a small bag of coins and smiling too wide, the kenku eyeing the guard’s gold belt buckle, bold outlines, bright colors, comedic tension
Two small scaly kobold pirates caught playing cards at a table, a large hyena-faced gnoll shooting arrows at a dummy in the background, all looking up with extremely suspicious expressions at four adventurers in the doorway wearing unconvincing smiles, the kenku has already pocketed several gold coins from the table, bold outlines, bright colors
A chaotic split-panel scene inside a pirate fortress — in one corner a kenku rogue and elf fighter bursting through a door onto two very surprised kobolds, in another corner a dwarf cleric glowing with healing light patching up an injured ally, in the kitchen two miserable gnoll cooks dropping their ladles and reaching for weapons as a druid girl with a landsquid on her shoulders crashes through the door, multiple doors shown simultaneously in various states of being slammed, blocked, and broken down, cartoon action lines everywhere, torchlight on stone walls, skull banners overhead, bold outlines, bright colors, maximum chaos energy
A young druid holding a large magical conch shell up to her ear with wide delighted eyes, a soft glow coming from the shell, the rest of the party visible in small cartoon portraits along the shell like a phone screen, armory setting with weapons on the walls, bold outlines, warm colors
A young druid crouching down to speak eye-to-eye with a large anxious-looking cartoon squid, the squid’s tentacles raised hopefully, a speech bubble showing the squid explaining the fortress layout with a tiny hand-drawn map.
A cartoon landsquid sitting triumphantly on a young druid’s shoulders, tentacles draped contentedly around them, the druid looking amused and slightly weighed down, the rest of the party walking ahead through a pirate corridor, the kenku glancing back at the squid wondering if any of its suckers are made of gold, bold outlines, bright colors, fun and charming
A massive imposing berserker waiting outside a dungeon cell, arms crossed, looking extremely unimpressed and unintimidated. Our four adventurers on the other side of the room reconsidering their life choices, the kenku in the back picking up coins off the dungeon floor, bold outlines, dramatic torchlight
Saturday morning cartoon style: a brilliant column of silver-white moonlight crashing down from the dungeon ceiling directly onto a massive raging warrior, the warrior roaring and straining against it, the druid girl outside the cell with arms raised concentrating hard, other party members watching from a safe distance, bold outlines, cool silver light against dark dungeon shadows
A stocky dwarf cleric pointing his finger and saying DIE at a tall elegant pirate queen, the word DIE bouncing off her dramatically like a rubber ball, the queen raising one eyebrow and looking mildly amused, the dwarf looking deeply offended that it didn’t work, bold outlines, bright colors
“A young druid girl mid-swing with a comically oversized greataxe clearly borrowed from a much larger person, bringing it down on a dramatically staggering pirate queen, the druid looking both determined and slightly surprised at herself, gold coins flying everywhere, the kenku diving after the coins in the background, bold outlines, bright colors, epic action energy
A young girl with wild blonde hair bursting out of an open cell door with a huge relieved grin, throwing her arms around a surprised adventurer, the whole party looking delighted, a landsquid celebrating enthusiastically in the background with waving tentacles, the kenku holding up a gold coin found on the dungeon floor with an expression of triumph, bold outlines, warm glowing light, heartwarming and fun
DM Notes:
- What do you do when your cleric uses Command and says “DIE”
- Why are my players only using improvised weapons and throwing torches?!
- The enemies retreated and the players are chasing them down to rob them?
- When the druid needs a friend and you have a landsquid ready, the druid can definitely now speak squid.
- Only 1 spell slot per long rest is tough, kids could more fun with 2 or 3. Especially wildshape, the druid felt limited in what they could do.