One of the gifts for the Mad Poet, discovered written in the margins of Men and Vultures: Denizens of the Darkened Depths and Dead Skies.
In Chapter 100, the party was able to determine that three of the books from Lowls' footlocker were of particular use in researching this gift: Emotions of the Past, The Shadow’s Ship, and Voyage of the Rainbow Servant.
In Chapter 101, at the Forsaken Caravanserai, the party (aided by the Yellow King) completed the research into this gift and uncovered the following:
- Lowls discovered that the Mad Poet bore Denizens of Leng some specific, unknown ill will and took delight in learning of their suffering and humiliation. He knew one in particular he wanted to see brought low and asked Thema to research the pirate captain Vadrack. She learned that Vadrack’s longship, the Bloodwind, is a living vessel of dark wood and distinctive blood-red sails.
- Reports from multiple sources confirm that the Bloodwind can cross at will between the Dreamlands and the Material Plane. Captain Vadrack is known to be relentless in pursuit of his victims, chasing them across the planar boundaries if necessary.
- Thema’s notes indicate that Lowls instructed her to seduce Vadrack, and then use her magic to restrain and humiliate him, and steal his prized black tricorne hat. She was hesitant to do so at first, but when she learned from Lowls that Vadrack worked for Weiralai—that he was essentially her right hand in the Dreamlands—she agreed to do so willingly. And she succeeded.
- The pass phrase that would allow Dora to use the Dreamlands Excursion occult ritual to arrive near the Bloodwind.
In Chapter 116, the party began their quest for this gift. The Dreamlands Excursion ritual seemed, at first, as though it had failed—leaving the party with a false(?) experience of having a night evening of sleep—but it eventually became clear that they had been taken to a Dreamlands echo of the Sellen Starling beached on a river that resembled the Glass, but likely wasn’t.
In Chapter 117, the party battled a Feargaunt that had hidden inside a dream reflection of Skywin and then prepared themselves for the oncoming arrival of the Bloodwind. When Captain Vadrack and his crew (Ellish and a crew of seven identical blue-skinned human mercenaries from Dylath-Leen) closed with the dream echo of the Starling, the two sides briefly parleyed before combat broke out.
In Chapter 118, combat against Vadrack and his crew began. Within seconds, Vadrack nearly killed Grip and Ellish drained most of Dora’s life away. Grip, Dora and Dabwick exited the Dreamlands, but not before Vadrack promised to see them when they woke. Vik remained behind and secured Vadrack’s hat by invisibly plucking it off his head just before the Bloodwind vanished (presumably heading to the Material Plane).
In Chapter 119, the Bloodwind did indeed appear on the Material Plane, adjacent to the Sellen Starling on the Glass River. Combat immediately broke out again between the two crews. Ellish and the mercenaries were dropped by the Starling crew, but at the cost of severe Constitution drain to Skywin.
In Chapter 120, combat between the two crews concluded. Vadrack and Deggorhbaatha were slain, but at the cost of severe Dexterity drain to Vik and a loss of sanity for Skywin, Barnabus, and Nixon.
First Reference: Chapter 99
Other Notable References: Chapter 100, Chapter 101, Chapter 115, Chapter 116, Chapter 117, Chapter 118, Chapter 119, Chapter 120