> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # The Albatross > [![[The_Albatross_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](The_Albatross.webp) > ###### Location Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Point of Interest | > Location | [[Camaar]] | > Defining Feature | Flagship of the [[Mawbreakers]], captained by [[Barak Stormrider]] | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Active | The **Albatross** is a heavy galleon and the flagship of the [[Mawbreakers]], home-ported on the docklands of [[Camaar]]. Built to carry heavy cargo through [[The Maw]] and fight her way clear of anything that tries to stop her, she is the ship that [[Barak Stormrider]] has sailed for decades — and, in the eyes of the rebel crews who follow him, the physical embodiment of everything the [[Mawbreakers|Mawbreakers']] name means. ## Location & Geography The Albatross berths in the [[Camaar]] docklands, at the stone moorings closest to the [[Mawbreakers|Mawbreakers']] guildhall — close enough to be reached quickly and far enough along the quay to manoeuvre clear of the harbour mouth without delay. She is a fixture of the waterfront, her blue sails and guild flag known to every sailor and dockworker on the southern shore of the [[Gulf of Miriel]]. As a heavy galleon she is a large and imposing vessel: broad in the beam, high-sided, riding deep when her hold is full. Two gun decks run along her hull, their ports closed in port and opened in battle, and her masts stand tall enough that the river gate at [[Val Noren]] could not accommodate her passage when Barak considered using her to cross the river during the siege. Below the upper deck, the ship is a compact world of its own: the captain's private cabin runs across the full width of the stern, fitted with Barak's charts, his table, and the privacy he uses for the conversations that matter. The surgeon's berth sits amidships, Illaris's domain of clean linen and instrument cases. The armoury is hidden, its entrance unremarkable to the uninitiated. Mawbreaker blue covers her sails — the same colour Barak wears to battle. The guild's flag, a spiral with a slash driven through it, flies from her masthead: the [[The Maw|Maw]], crossed. ## History The Albatross has been Barak's ship for long enough that crew who joined as young sailors have grown grey aboard her. She was built for the work the [[Mawbreakers]] do — deep-hulled for cargo, armed for a fight — and Barak has sailed her through [[The Maw]] more times than most captains would attempt in a lifetime. The whirlpool's mechanics are second nature to him: he runs the crossing at full sail, using the outer edge of the current to slingshot the galleon clear before the pull deepens. Other ships attempt it; none manage the weight of cargo she carries through. Her first major engagement with Imperial forces came on the voyage to [[Skyreach]], when the Imperial frigate *The Devil's Wish* — captained by [[Yarna Coldfist]] — intercepted her on the open water south of the [[Gulf of Miriel]]. Barak attempted to pass as a merchant transport; the ruse eventually failed and Coldfist ordered the Albatross to surrender and follow her to [[Darmouth]]. Barak refused. The sea battle that followed was decisive in the Mawbreakers' favour, though eight sailors were lost and given burial rites by their captain at sea. ## Significance The Albatross is the Mawbreakers' command vessel in more than name. When Barak needs to speak to the ring of senior captains, he gathers them in his cabin. When the guild commits to an operation, the Albatross leads the fleet. Her presence at the head of the formation is a statement as much as a tactical position. She is also what the guild's practical power looks like in a single hull: she can carry the cargo that makes the [[The Maw|Maw]] crossing profitable, and she can fight any Imperial vessel sent to stop her from doing it. Those two things, combined in one ship, are the foundation of the Mawbreakers' leverage over the [[Gulf of Miriel]]. ## Crew The Albatross carries roughly two dozen sailors under eight named officers. | Role | Name | Species | Notes | | ------------- | -------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Captain | [[Barak Stormrider]] | Human | Leader of the [[Mawbreakers]]' Camaar chapter; has piloted the Albatross through [[The Maw]] more times than any other captain in the guild. | | First Mate | [[Ari]] | Half-Orc | Barak's most trusted officer; served alongside him since the death of his son Baran and is the one the crew would turn to in his absence. | | Bosun | [[Gromdal]] | Dwarf | Veteran of the Dwarven rebellions, lost a foot at Glimmerforge; the ship's engineer and the mind behind the demolition plan at [[Skyreach]]. | | Quartermaster | [[Erun Billo]] | Halfling | Manages supplies, navigation, and the ship's accounts with a quiet precision the rest of the crew relies on more than they admit. | | Topman | [[Prax Shea]] | Half-Elf | Former [[Veiled Cubs\|Veiled Cub]] from [[Camaar]]; took to the sea at sixteen and has worked the rigging ever since. | | Surgeon | [[Illaris Sharin]] | Drow | A surface-dwelling drow from the Underdark beneath the Silver Mountains; as likely to be found playing her lute as tending a wound. | | Cook | [[Gorath Harbur]] | Half-Orc | Walked away from tribal wars in Aetheris in his middle years and never looked back; a steady presence in the ship's lower deck. | | Master Gunner | [[Jorund Ironsight]] | Human | Came aboard with [[Gromdal]] after a disagreement with the law in the Silver Mountains; lost an eye to an experimental explosive — and has not become more cautious since. | ## [[The Bloody Nails|Campaign: The Bloody Nails]] #### [[Session 13 - Waves, Wings and Sails]] The fleet sailed from [[Camaar]] with the Albatross at its head. The other captains — Thaddeus, Lysandra, Brom, Marcellus, and Fiona — assembled in Barak's cabin for the final mission briefing. On the second day of the voyage, Barak steered the galleon through [[The Maw]] at full speed, slingshotting through the whirlpool's edge; [[Ryo]] came close to going overboard and was saved by a *Misty Step* from [[Dondar]]. The fleet pressed on through a harpy ambush in the fog and a violent storm before Imperial red sails appeared on the horizon. #### [[Session 14 - The Devil's Wish]] The red-sailed vessel proved to be *The Devil's Wish*. Imperial guards Gael and Lorath boarded the Albatross for inspection; [[Kai]] improvised a magical "leak" to draw their attention while [[Ryo]] disguised himself to hide the armoury. The ruse held until it didn't. [[Yarna Coldfist]] ordered the Albatross to surrender. Barak refused, and the Albatross's guns answered. #### [[Session 15 - Operation Skyreach]] The night before the assault, Barak gathered the party in his stern cabin. He told them about his son Baran — how the Empire took him, how there was no body and no word. He asked each of them why they were fighting, and listened to the answers. It was the last time the Albatross felt quiet for a long while. #### [[Session 16 - The Fall of Skyreach]] With the assault done and [[Skyreach]] rigged to blow, the party carried a near-dead [[Barak Stormrider|Barak]] back to the extraction point. They exhausted every resource to keep him alive on the riverbank before getting him aboard. As the Albatross pulled clear, the charges detonated — the bridge collapsing in a thunderous cataclysm behind them. Thirty Mawbreaker sailors had died holding the line. #### [[Session 37 - March of the Dead]] Months later, with the Mawbreakers deployed in [[Val Noren]], [[Illaris Sharin]] was identified by the party as "the grey-skinned drow healer from the Mawbreakers' ship" — tirelessly treating casualties from the siege. #### [[Session 41 - Reclaim the Reclaimer]] At the war council following the rescue of [[King Marius Noren]], Barak proposed using the Albatross to cross the river and flank the Imperial position. The plan was ruled out: the river gate's clearance was too low for the galleon's masts. ## Trivia - The Albatross has been run through [[The Maw]] more times than any other single vessel in the [[Gulf of Miriel]] — a fact Barak does not bother to state, but that the other captains quietly acknowledge. - The hidden armoury survived an Imperial inspection during the voyage to Skyreach, concealed well enough that two guards searching specifically for contraband walked past it.