Snow

Damned snow. If it weren't for you, I would be campaigning right now. Oh how I loathe thee, snow...

However, if by chance there is a snow day tomorrow (and the roads aren't as bad as they are today), I think we should try to meet up. Otherwise I guess it will be Friday (Or is that Saturday? I think Andy was going to be busy Friday.)

Also, I wouldn't be opposed to a marathon session at some point. Marathon sessions are fun. It's up to Oddysey though (since she's the DM). With my last group, marathon sessions always turned into 'spend eight hours messing around and occasionally saying "We should play." followed by like four hours of on-and-off playing follwed by sleeping.' anyway, so I'd be interested in trying a marathon where we actually play a majority of the time. Worth a try, I think... let me know what you think.

Sigrid's Journal 4 - Failed Morals and Yellow Roses

~~~~~

Secomonth 11 (Continud)

Veyr evntful evenin. Wil l writ abut tomorow. Need slep.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 12

Sailing to Rellik's island. The combination of being hung-over and being on a moving boat is most unpleasant. I did bring this upon myself however. I should write about yesterday's events, as fuzzy as they are in my mind.

Blank and I had an interesting conversation at the Twisted Fish. He told me a little about his life. He had to go live with his uncle at a relatively young age (he didn't explain why). The island on which his uncle lived was frequented by many pirates. Blank just sort of “fell in” with them. I told Blank a little of my life in De-Shamod, including some of the more unpleasant details, such as how that Giant vendor cut my finger off. I suppose I was lucky. He could have cut my entire hand off, and no one would have really cared. It did teach me a good lesson though. Do not get caught stealing. I later amended this lesson to just “Do not steal”, but I had been 14 at the time and had a different set of morals than I have now. I didn't go into everything, and I suspect Blank didn't either. People need their secrets. Rellik told us nothing, other than the fact that he had been born at his “wonderful” guild's island and that he was 175 years old. Rellik is difficult to talk to. I've talked to Mojh before that were personable enough. Rellik is not one of them.

A few stories and glasses of ale later, I visited Ea-Shamar and offered to assist in the investigation of the murder of the human murder. I thought it may take a while to convince her to accept my help, but she surprised me when she immediately said yes. She told me that the noble's name was Kedlar Mevarin, who fancied himself a historian. She also told me that she thought there may be a connection to Sa-Follen's death, as both persons were killed with a rare substance known as crystal scorpion poison. Ea-Shamar also reminded me that Kedlar Mevarin had been found with a yellow rose. Perhaps this is some sort of calling card?

I wonder what Lord Morek would think of me assisting the Giant guards in Ao-Manasa. Oh well. I suppose I'm not really helping the Giants, per se, just wishing to stop a murderer. And not all Giants are horrible people either, I suppose. I don't dislike Giants, I dislike that they are in charge of everything. I dislike all the corruption that is the result of a stagnant government. I think we need a change, and a logical change would be to not have one race ruling all the others. Sure, there are non-giant nobles, but how much power do they really have? It makes me so angry sometimes.

Anyway, after I left Ea-Shamar's office, I met Rellik and Blank back at the Twisted Fish where they had been chatting up the locals. They had gotten a lead on the arena. They had heard about a tavern in the lower city known as the Black Angle where arena fans tended to hang around. The name was very reassuring. We wandered on down to the Black Angle and I found myself walking through streets that seemed very familiar to me. This place reminded me of where I had grown up. It was a little unnerving. I had never wanted to end up in an area like this again. But for all the bad memories I had in some of the most grungy areas of a city, the familiarity was almost comforting.

As we got to the Black Angle, Blank was accosted by a dirty young teenage boy. His name was James, and he had been on Blank's old ship before the accident. He was exceptionally annoying, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. I had been about his age when I was coinless and homeless on the streets. James and Blank talked for a bit, and James told Blank that he thought he had seen another member of the crew (named Mark) inside the tavern. James kept talking and talking. Blank seemed to be getting more and more annoyed by the second. I sent James on a pointless errand (and grossly overpaid him), just to keep the peace.

There were a few people in the tavern, but it wasn't very busy. It was still pretty early in the day. Ten years ago, I could have blended into a place like this easily. If I had wanted to be ignored, no one would have noticed me. If I had wanted to banter with people, no one would have thought twice about talking to me. I used to always know when someone out-of-place would be around. They would “smell” like guard or noble. It wasn't a real “smell”, it was just obvious. Now I was the one that stood out. Did I “smell” like a noble? Me? The kid who used to steal to live? I guess becoming a Knight had really changed me.

Blank found his old crewmate Mark and they talked for a little while. Blank invited him to join the crew, so Mark left to go the port and look at the ship. Blank chatted with the barmaid, Tillienne. He learned that she was the coordinator of the Arena. She told him about today's match. Mazquar, a Verrik sitting at a table across the tavern from us, was fighting a Human named Baern. When she mentioned Baern, Rellik and Blank exchanged a look. Blank then asked about the details of the match. Tillienne told us it was being fought at another tavern down the street at sunset.

Tillienne also told us about Gannen, who sat with Mazquar. He used to be an Arena fighter and his matches were always to the death. He was knowledgeable about poisons. While Blank talked to a man at the bar, I decided to talk to Gannen. I asked him if he knew about Crystal Scorpion Poison. He did know what it was, but he claimed to not sell it, nor know where it could be found in Ao-Manasa. When I had finished talking to him, Rellik and Blank had retreated to a table in the corner and were quietly talking.

I ordered an ale at the bar and went to sit with them, but as soon as I sat down, they stopped talking. Blank had this odd smile on his face and asked me if I had asked James to return when he was done with my errand. I told Blank that James would probably be back within the bell. Rellik left the table at that point and went to talk to Gannen. Blank just sat across from me, staring at the table, occasionally laughing and muttering “brilliant plan.” That man is completely witch-brained.

Rellik returned to our table. He nodded his head at Blank and we sat in silence for a while. When I got up to get another ale, I noticed that Gannen had left. I had been planning on asking him a few more questions, so this dissapointed me. Blank and I talked for a couple bells, when Rellik suddenly stood up, walked across the tavern, and sat down next to Gannen. I hadn't seen him come back. Oh well. Rellik came back to the table and motioned Blank to come with him. He told me to keep an eye on Mazquar. I obliged. Why would I question the motives of an assassin, after all? I'm sure he just wanted to wish her good luck in her match. I am so spell-brained sometimes.

Rellik and Blank left the tavern. I remained there for almost a bell, when Mazquar finally got up and left. I decided to finish my glass and then follow her. When I got outside, I could see her about a giant's reach away. I started to follow, but was stopped by James tugging on my shirt and saying “Nice lady! Nice lady! Can I polish your sword too?” Too? I was confused by this. A little questioning revealed that Rellik and Blank had convinced James to polish Mazquar's sword. It took a little thinking, but I finally realized the sinister truth. They'd been plotting all afternoon. Rellik must have bought poison and had James apply it to Mazquar's sword. Baern must be Rellik's next mark.

I should have run down the street and told Mazquar. I should have found Baern before the match and warned him. I could have. I really could have. But I didn't. I went to the tavern where the match was being held and promptly downed no less than ten more tankards of ale. Rellik and Blank gleefully bet all their gold on the match (predicting Mazquar as the winner of course). Not only were they using her to kill him, they were profiteering as well. Everything's a little hazy after that. I barely remember the match itself.

What I do know is that I could have stopped this. I knew about it and did nothing. My inaction caused Baern's death. I am as guilty as Rellik and Blank. Why didn't I stop them? That I do not know. Maybe it's because even though I am an antithesis to them, even though my system of morals condemns them, even though my call to Justice opposes everything they are, they are still the closest thing to friends I have had in a long time. I don't want to ruin that. If I stopped them, there is no way we would be traveling together anymore. I would kill them, or they would kill me, or we would just go our separate ways. And then what would I do? I would return to the Order and continue to feel unwelcome. Lord Morek would send me on more missions I am not qualified for, just to appease the vast number of Knights that dislike me.

When I first arrived at the Ao-Manasa Chapterhouse, Lord Morek told me I had great potential to be good with people. He told me I could be a great leader someday. Right now, I have not yet reached that potential. Lord Morek certainly isn't helping me deal with my “people issues”. Doing solo missions every moment of the past year has only dug me deeper into myself, and farther away from everyone else in the world.

Lord Morek told me to keep an eye on Rellik and Blank. Certainly I cannot do that if we end up killing eachother. By allowing them to continue on this path they are on, I am, in a way, betraying my own morals and Justice itself. But as Loghan used to tell me, “You can pick your own path, but you cannot pick the path of others. Sometimes you must walk alongside those who are different than you.” Rellik, Blank, and Sorern are becoming friends to me. I cannot betray that. Even so, I still feel absolutely terrible about the evening's events. So basically, I am betraying myself to enable personal growth. A bit of an oxymoron really.

Correction to my earlier statement. The combination of being hung-over, being on a moving boat, AND feeling extremely guilty is most unpleasant. It's also cold and snowy.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 13

I was in the crow's nest all day. I saw absolutely nothing of interest. It was still cold, and it was still snowing. Why can't we share lookout duty more? Oh right, I'm “good at spotting stuff.”

~~~~~

Secondmonth 14

We arrived at Rellik's island this morning. He was there all morning. It was still snowing, so I couldn't lay in the sun on the dock and annoy the guards, as I had previously. When Rellik got back, I demanded he just tell me his mark's name. I won't stop him from his “duty”, but I am not going to allow Blank and Rellik to make a fool of me again. I think Rellik was surprised by my little outburst, and he told me the name of his new mark. Mischa Mevarin. Blank and I thought she might be related to Kedlar Mevarin, and we convinced Rellik to not immediately go for the kill until we investigated this a little more. I will have to pay Ea-Shamar a visit when we arrive back at Ao-Manasa.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 15

Blank made me take a break from lookout duty when he climbed up to the crow's nest and found me curled up against the railing shivering with a good layer of snow on me. He sent Sorern up as my replacement. Sorern was unhappy with this arrangement, but Blank seems pleased. He says that Sorern needed to get out from below deck anyway, and that it would do me good to be off of the crow's nest for awhile. He's probably right.

I spent the rest of the day assisting the crew on deck. Blank seemed very distant and wasn't talkative. It was rather unlike him.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 16

We went to the Twisted Fish as soon as we arrived in Ao-Manasa. We talked to some of the locals about the events of the past few days. I was dismayed to discover another human noble had been murdered by the Yellow Rose Killer. Her name was Dialle Westing. Strangely enough, Dialle had been a professional historian. First Kedlar Mevarin, an amateur historian is killed, and now Dialle Westing, a professional historian has also been killed. I doubt it's a coincidence. Someone must have a vendetta against historians, or perhaps there's some other odd motive for wanting historians dead.

I visited Ea-Shamar while Blank and Rellik went to the Black Angle (Sorern had, once again, refused to leave the ship). I told them I would meet them there. Ea-Shamar informed me that Mischa Mevarin was Kedlar's daughter, but she didn't know anything else about the girl. She didn't have much to tell me about Dialle Westing's death, other than the fact that the details were identical to Kedlar Mevarin's death.

When I met Blank and Rellik outside the Black Angle, they were trying to reseal a letter. Apparently a young girl had given it to them to deliver to Gannen. When Blank opened it and read it, he discovered that the girl was Mischa, and that it was a love letter. It also mentioned that Gannen's Arena name was the Yellow Rose. All the pieces were falling into place. Gannen was a poison expert who went by the name “Yellow Rose”. He was obviously the killer. That's what troubled me. It was too obvious.

We went into the Black Angle and delivered the letter to Gannen. He thought it was amusing but didn't seem to care about it much. When questioned, he denied everything. I wasn't expecting much else. He claimed to know nothing about the murders, the poison, even about who might want to frame him. I could see the interview was going nowhere.

Gannen did congratulate Rellik and Blank on the death of Baern. He thought it was pretty clever. The look on Mazquar's face revealed that she didn't share his opinion.

I returned to Ea-Shamar to inform her of Gannen. Even though he is probably not the killer, he certainly has some connection to all of this. She should know to at least look into it. It's the only lead we've got. After meeting with the Guard Captain, I stopped by the market to restock the Ocean's Blade's foodstores. After that I returned to the ship. I think I will ask Captain Blank if we can return to my Chapterhouse sometime soon. Lord Morek will want to be informed of the murders.

~~~~~

Captains Log III

Secondmonth 11th (cont.)

Today was rather interesting… and enlightening…

After cashing our relics, we a lovely chat about our pasts at the Twisted Fish tavern. Well, just me and Sigrid. Sorern has kept himself quite busy in the hull with the sword and stones…. A little too busy. I worry about that little biter and what he does in his spare time…

In any event, turns out Sigrid lost her left pinky when she was dealing with “Capitalist Fascism”. Form what I gather, this seems to be her punishment for having stolen some desperately needed food. She also tried to champion life, but then she decided not all life was worth keeping around. I just mentioned some about Uncle Grizby and Captain Bonnet.

Sigrid went to the new captain of the guard, and learned more about a certain murder. A calling card was left; a yellow rose. Also, they suspect Rellik and I because we were the suspects for the murder of Sa-Follen, and the same poison was used on that damned guard as this amateur historian noblemen… Kedlar Mevarin.

So then we go to this tavern, the Black Angle. Some local hangout for the underground arena which apparently even the guard knows somethings about. Outside of course, we ran into that damned kid, James. Annoying little bugger said he’d seen someone who might’ve been Mark go into the tavern. So we told him to deliver some bogus message to get rid of him, and we went in the tavern.

We did in fact run into Mark, who knew just as much as I did about who survived the wreck and who didn’t. He had heard some rumors of an Illiam with a pirating ship… It should be interesting to see if our paths cross… he was close to starting a munity. Mark decided to sign on with our ship, and has gone back to the Ocean’s Blade

There we learned the bartendress, Tillienne, coordinated the arena, and that a certain Baern (coincidentally Relliks mark) was fighting against a Verrik named Mazquar. There was also an interesting figure, Gannen. Some old fighter for the arena whose matches are always to the death. He also dabbles poison, but he knew nothing about the poison used for the murder of Sa-Follen and Kedlar, Cryztal Scorpion Poison.

I was also able to order a special wisdom enhancing item from Cer-Athane, a gaintish magic user.

So, Rellik and I thought up a brilliant plan. Rellik bought some lethal poison from Gannen, and then we told James (who had returned from his frivolous mission) that it was sword polish, and to polish Mazquars sword. He did this quite ecstatically, and Mazquar was none the wiser.

We attended the match and bet a good few coins on Mazquar, who did in fact win, indirectly killing Baern. At least, Rellik and I made some good money. Sigrid would have none of it, naturally. She did get drunk though…

Rellik wants to return to his superiors island, so we shall set sail in the morning.. It should be a good chance to let the whole poisoning Mazquars sword blow over, if anyone did take note of it…

Secondmonth 12th

Sailing conditions have been… less than favourable, but not entirely rotten. It’s been cold, and snowing, but the only real problem has been the substantial winds. It may take us longer to reach Rellik’s Island.

Secondmonth 13th

Conditions have neither improved nor worsened. We should reach our destination tomorrow

Secondmonth 14th

We arrived at Rellik’s Island, and he took the better half of the morning talking with his handler. He has a new mark, Mischa Mevarin. I’ve asked Rellik to refrain from killing this Mischa until we know more, because she may be related to the murdered nobleman.

Secondmonth 15th

I’m quite enjoying the snow now that the winds have died down. Sigrid isn’t happy about it. She’s been complaining about her plate armor, and the crows nest has a nice layer of snow in it. It’ll do her good to be down on the deck more…

I am glad for the distraction though… I often am worried as we set sail, that this ship will face the same fate as Captain Bonnets…. I’m trying to forget the horros I saw, and the body… but at the same time, I cannot forget what that demon looked like… and I cannot allow the same thing to happen… I must hone my witch powers... I cannot allow a such a mistake to be made again…

Secondmonth 16th

After returning to Ao-Manasa, we’ve made some more developments in the murderous mystery…. Or are they mysterious murders? Or… murderously mysterious murders of mystery? I should stop trying…

Anyway, another historian has been murdered... but an actual historian, not just some amateur. Dialle Westing… also, Sigrid has confirmed with Ea-Shamar that Mishca Mevrin is, or was, Kedlar Mevarins daughter. We should ask her what he was researching at the time…

Ironically enough, while Sigrid was checking in with Ea-Shamar, Rellik and I ran into a girl who alter turned out to be Mischa. She wanted us to deliver a letter to Gannen, as she had seen us talking with him. After she was out of sight, I dutifully opened the letter and read it. I almost wished I hadn’t. it was some sickening love letter to Gannen, whose got to be close to ten years older than her… there was one useful item in it.. it turns out Gannens Arena name is “Gannen of the Yellow Rose”. Perhaps he did the murders (he is rather knowledgeable about poisons), or someone is attempting to frame him.

Rellik was able to reseal the letter and we delivered it to Gannen, who, based on his bored reaction, probably wouldn’t have cared much if he knew we had read it. While we were with him, we probed him about the murders, the yellow rose, and who he’s sold poisons to recently. He was aggravatingly apathetic towards everything, saying that he didn’t commit the murders, knew nothing of the framers or where they go the poisons. What worried me though was that he did not keep track of who he sold his poinson to. Even I cannot afford to be so careless with whom I deal…

Thinking of which, I should stop by and see if Taevin has any information or jobs….

Sigrid has gone to report the yellow rose findings with Ea-Shamar, while Rellik and I have returned to the ship. With some down-time, I’ve written this entry. I still haven’t seen Sorern in a while… I’ll check on him in a minute. We’ll want to re-organize and plan our next move.

More Notes For Posterity

Sorern's player wasn't here for Session 4, which is why Sorern stayed on the ship the whole time.

Also, I'm sorry if the latest summary isn't all that coherent. I'd like to say it made sense at the time, but thinking back on it, well, there were some temporal incidents.

Session 4 Quotes

“We’re a crew. We’ve got to have . . . cohesion.” – Captain Blank

“So what’s capitalist fascism, exactly? Do divulge. Enlighten me. Add to the cohesion.” – Captain Blank

“Ah. So this is where your . . . charming sense of Justice comes from.” – Captain Blank

“But how well would the cohesion be, if you had humans rule humans, and . . .” – Captain Blank
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Sigrid

“We’ll go look for the underground. Rellik, start digging.” Captain Blank

“That’s how I found Captain Bonnet in the first place, he was in a tavern.” – James
“Then stay. Away. From taverns.” – Captain Blank

“Is there a place where I could buy a deadly poison?” – Rellik
“He’s a collector.” – Captain Blank

“Why don’t you go ask what’s-his-name about the stuff?” – Captain Blank

“I’ll give you 600 gp.” – Rellik
“You’re giving him more money than he asked for?” – Sigrid
“It’s contact etiquette. You wouldn’t understand.” – Captain Blank

“Kraken! *cough* *cough* Repressed memory! Need rum!” – Captain Blank

“It’s all good clean fun until someone gets their sword polished with poison.” – Captain Blank

“That’s generosity, not justice!” – Captain Blank
“I’m just giving him a few coins! I’m a nice person.” – Sigrid
“You’re encouraging him!” – Captain Blank
“Encouraging him not to freeze to death?” – Sigrid

“Wake up! We need to leave before the black market closes.” – Captain Blank

Session 4: Cohesion!

Secondmonth 11, 1579 -- Secondmonth 16, 1759

Sorern went back to the ship, to do some more investigations into the nature of the items they’d found. The others went down to the Twisted Fish, a dockside tavern they’d found, to do a bit of rumor gathering and figure out where to go next. They hung out there for a while, for a while, trading stories of their pasts. (Well, Sigrid and Captain Blank did, anyway. Rellik mostly just refused to answer their questions.)

Then they got to work. Sigrid went to Ea-Shamar, and got her to agree to let them help with the investigation into the murder of the human noble they’d heard about at the Twisted Fish. She learned that he was Kedlar Mevarin, apparently a sort of amateur historian, and that the guard suspected a connection between his murder and that of Sa-Follen, because both had involved crystal scorpion poison, a powerful paralytic agent.

Then they looked into the matter of the underground arena. They went to the Black Angle, where they’d heard that most of the people involved with the business hung out. Outside, they met James, the cabin boy from Captain Blank’s old ship, and learned from him that one of Blank’s shipmates, Mark, was possibly inside. They went in, met Mark, and he signed on with their crew.

Then they talked to the bartender, Tillienne, turned out to be the person who coordinated the arena, and from whom they learned that Rellik’s current mark, Baern, would be fighting in a match that very evening. (I’d clean up the syntax, but it, er, took me six hours to write that sentence.) Cer-Athane, a giant who Tillienne had been talking to, and who Tilliene said was the arena’s main go-to guy for magic, agreed to make a wisdom increasing gadget for Captain Blank.

Rellik asked Tillienne about poisons, and where to buy them, and after some thought she referred him to Gannen, an arena combatant, sitting at a table with another combatant, a verrik named Mazquar. Apparently, he used to use poison, or something. They talked to him for a bit (Mazquar didn’t really say much) and Rellik bought “something deadly.” (Also: Mazquar was also fighting that evening, against Baern.)

Rellik and Blank then devised an executed a plan whereby they tricked James into applying the poison to Mazquar’s sword by telling him that it was “sword polish” and getting him to pull the “annoying but not worth telling off” fan bit. Then Rellik and Captain Blank bet some money on the match, since they figured it was fairly certain that Mazquar was going to win. They hung out for a while, Sigrid got drunk (moral angst!), and then they all went down and watched the match. Mazquar won, Baern died.

They then sailed back to Rellik’s guild/thing’s mysterious island, where he reported his mission’s success and got a new mark: Mischa Mevarin. When they returned to Ao-Manasa, they learned (at the Twisted Fish) that another person had been murdered.

So Sigrid went back to Ea-Shamar, reported what she’d found out so far (not much), and learned that the person who’d been murdered, Dialle Westing, was also some kind of historian, and that Mischa Mevarin was Kedlar Mevarin’s daughter.

Meanwhile, Rellik and Captain Blank actually ran into Mischa (although they didn’t realize it at the time) who came up to Blank and handed him a note, apparently because she’d seen him talking to Gannen the other day. Blank, being a pirate, immediately read the note, discovered that it was a love letter of some sort, and that Gannen was referred to as “Gannen of the Yellow Rose” in the arena. (This being relevant because the two people murdered were found with a yellow rose.)

Sigrid met back up with them, and they delivered the letter to Gannen. They also interrogated him, sort of, and he denied having any particular involvement in the murders.

Sigrid then returned to Ea-Shamar, to tell her what they had learned about Gannen.

Captains Log II

Secondmonth 9th

When we entered the Tomb on the Fourth, I had no inclination to stay more than a few hours. I suspect there is some form of curse on that Tomb… a curse of madness and persistence.
The first thing we saw in the Tomb was a sarcophagus with some relics on it. There was something of a moat between us and it, so Rellik tied a rope from some rubble nearby to it. We crossed with… moderate success.. Sigrid and I fell in, but Rellik was able to levitate us up. When Sorern picked up the relics, it opened a door behind us, revealing two, over-sized blue stone bears. One of the bloody animals grabbed a hold of me, but I blasted ice in its face, and killed it, stopping it cold in its tracks.

The door also led to a room in which strange depictions of a battle between humans and dragons... and a strange light moving across the floor. We found a secret compartment with some strange blue stones and a sword we are in the process of identifying. So far it seems to be necromantic in nature and very powerful. We were also able to understand an inscription on the wall that said:

Keep these words
Who finds them here
Beneath a bitter moon
Your path is found
By dragon bound
By ritual and rune.

After searching the rest of the tomb, we found a box with a lock of hair in it, and another sword, which I can detect no magic in.

This is where the madness set in…. we scoured the tomb for more relics and treasures, but found none. We rested periodically, when we assumed it was night, but we never just looked out the main entrance, which was only a giant’s reach from where we usually were. Even I cannot explain why I continued searching. We destroyed certain parts of the tomb, searching for more passageways, but found none. Sigrid took it harder than the rest of us. She complained and threatened to leave the tomb, which she could have done at any time, even to just breathe in the fresh air, as we all could and probably should have, but none of us did.

When we finally broke free from the madness and emerged from the Tomb, the sun was rising. Yet only a few bells later, dark storm clouds massed in our path. I knew the Ocean’s Blade could not take what this storm could become head on, so I diverted the course in an attempt to avoid the worst of it. The storm was unpredictable and ever-changing, and I was (and still am) not in the best condition for any form of thought, so I had to continually check the sky and my charts. Sigrid asked if we were lost. I told her I was taking a different course, and hoped that would assure her. I doubt she has faith in my abilities as a captain though. I’ll need to prove to her that I am capable… even if mutiny would clash with her morals; I know any unrest in the crew can be dangerous…

I need some rum…



Secondmonth 10th

The storm cleared up early in the morning, and Sorern and I were awake, so we plotted a direct course to Ao-manasa. Sigrid dosen’t seem to understand much of navigation on the sea. She finds it hard to comprehend a correlation between the stars and navigation! Perhaps if I taught her some basics she would respect my position more… she has retreated to the Crows nest, and I doubt she’ll return anytime later.

Secondmonth 11th

We’ve returned to the ship for an evening planning session. When we arrived in Ao-manasa earlier today, we went into a local tavern for an early meal. After some gossiping, we learned of a few interesting events…. Namely, the murder of some nobleman involving a yellow rose being left behind, and some wanted posters for the murderers of Sa-Follen. The posters have what could be a humanoid shadow and a dashing pirate with roguishly good looks. They didn’t get the chin quite right, but you can see they were inspired.

Apparently the underground gladiator arena is having a series of matches in honour of Sa-Follen. Should be the criminal social event of the season. Rellik and myself will most likely stop by to look for more information.

I saw Taevin Brightfind. I received 5,000 queens (1,250 for each member of the crew) for the two scepter heads, the crown, the sword, and the box with the lock of hair.

Sigrid's Journal 3 - Entombed

~~~~~

Secondmonth 6?

Being in a tomb for such a long time has distorted my perception of time. I believe that we woke up in the morning and it was Secondmonth 6, however, it may have been nightime or another day all-together.

We managed to go back across the rope without any major incidents. The Captain did nearly fall from the rope, and it was mildly amusing to watch him flail around and pull himself back up.

We explored the right passageway and found ourselves in a room with a statue, presumably of King Ozymandius' Champion. We also found a non-magical box with a lock of hair in it, and a very nice non-magical sword. This brings our relic total to five. We thoroughly searched this room for many more bells, finding nothing else. After that we went back into the main chamber and started clearing this huge pile of rubble. We made a big dent in the pile and decided that it was probably nighttime by now and so we decided to sleep.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 7?

We woke up and continued clearing the rubble. It took forever. Finally we managed to clear a passageway through the rubble and found ourselves in a round tomb that was identical to the one we investigated yesterday. Except that it was completely empty. I was so exhausted and frustrated that I sat down and cried and refused to move for awhile. Everyone else searched the room and tried to detect magic and secret doors. They found nothing. You know why? Because there is nothing else in this blasted tomb. Nothing I say! Naught!

~~~~~

Secondmonth 8?

Where has the sun gone? There is no sun anymore. I am to be in this place forever. This must be my punishment for killing that Giant. I keep looking towards the path that leads to the entranceway. I should just leave. I could do it. I could bolt to the door. But the others might object, and I am exhausted anyway. We have not had any food since we entered this place, and our waterskins ran out about two days ago. Everyone else has gone back across the rope to look at the room with the dragon and temple again. I refused to go. If they do not return by the time I wish to sleep, I swear I will get up and leave this place and go back to the boat. But wait, I think that is them right now.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 9?

Freedom! Glorious, glorious Freedom! Justice is all well and good, but right now I understand why many of the Knights of the Axe choose to champion Freedom.

We left the tomb with our five treasures just as the sun was coming up. The sun. It is so bright and wonderful. I understand Champions of Light better now as well.

We set sail and it was probably only two bells later when the sun disappeared behind dark storm clouds. It became windy and proceeded to rain for the rest of the day. Blank kept looking at his charts and then looking at the sky. I asked him if we were lost, and he told me “Arrr, a pirate is never lost, they just sometimes choose a different course.”

We're lost.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 10?

Fortunately the storm cleared up overnight, and Sorern and Blank managed to chart a correct course using the stars. I asked them a few times what the stars had to do with the ocean, but they said I wouldn't understand. I eventually got fed up with them and retreated back to the crow's nest. I think I shall sleep here tonight. The air is fresh after yesterday's storm.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 11

We arrived at Ao-Manasa a little after midday bell.. I managed to confirm with the port guard that today was indeed Secondmonth 11. We went to a tavern for an early supper and talked to some of the locals about what had been going on around Ao-Manasa for the last couple of weeks.

There had been a city funeral for Sa-Follen, and they were still looking for his killers. The barmaid pointed out a wanted poster the watch had posted. On the poster were two pictures. One was a dashing pirate, the other was a humanoid-shaped shadow. The pictures looked nothing like Blank and Rellik.

The underground gladiatorial arena (which is exceptionally illegal) was holding a tournament in “honor” of Sa-Follen. Rellik and Blank said they might check it out, but informed me I would probably not want to join them, as I didn't look like the type of person who frequents such things. I suppose that is a compliment.

Also, Ea-Shamar has become the new Guard Captain. This is good. She seems like a nice enough woman, at least as nice as Giants come. Hopefully she will be more sympathetic to the human community in Ao-Manasa. Perhaps if the Giants learn to be compassionate and respectful of humans, they will eventually allow us self-rule. That would be an ideal situation. I do not fancy a revolution for independence, as revolutions cause many deaths on both sides. Then again, sometimes revolutions cannot be avoided. Revolution may be a real possibility in the future. Not anytime soon though. Also, a human noble has been murdered. His body was found with a yellow rose. I suspect Giant involvement. Then again, I always suspect Giant involvement.

After supper, Blank visited his contact Taevin and collected 5,000 Queens for the relics. My cut is 1,250. I have no idea how to spend this small windfall. Perhaps I can donate this to an orphanage or something. I still feel I must do something to redeem myself. Sorern decided to head back to the ship to study the magical rocks. The other two aren't particularly talkative, so I have taken the opportunity to write in this journal. I thought I should write down the townsfolk's information before I completely forgot about it.

~~~~~

Character Questionnaire

I've added a couple of links -- the Burning Void player section, and the Mother of All Character Questionnaires.

I also put together a short list of questions that interest me. I've been meaning to do this for a while. If you do it, e-mail me or post it here.

Do you have any nicknames, street names, titles, or nom de plumes?

What is your full birth name?

What is your greatest strength?

What is your greatest weakness?

What is your most distinguishing feature?

What kind of clothing do you wear?

Where did you grow up?

Why did you leave?

Who is your closest friend?

Who is your worst enemy?

What is your greatest dream?

What is your greatest fear?

What would you die for?

What would you kill for?

Sigrid's Journal 2 - Dragons, Assassins, Crabs and Bears

~~~~~

Firstmonth 27

The dragon was considerably less exciting than I thought it would be. Sorern met with her and told her of Sa-Follen's death. The dragon said she may call upon Sorern in the future. That was pretty much the extent of the visit. I have decided to spend as much of my time as possible on the ship's crow's nest. I seem to be the best in this group at noticing things, so I'll keep watch. Also, it gives me an excuse to stay away from the rest of the group. This suits me well.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 28

I was exceptionally happy to return to the Order today. Morek didn't seem to care that it was not me that delivered Sa-Follen to Final Justice. He did say it was an interesting turn of events, however. He didn't give me another actual mission, but he did give me a small task. He wants me to keep an eye on the rest of the group. Well, he did not care about Sorern as much, mostly just Rellik and Blank. He would like to know who Rellik is working for. I will keep an eye on them.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 1

Captain Blank seems happy with the winds. He says we are well on our way to the island Rellik wanted to visit. Hopefully we will arrive tomorrow.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 2

Apparently we will not be arriving today. We have gotten off course, which has again alerted me to Captain Blank's incompetence .

I found myself thinking about that Giant I murdered again today. It was a terrible thing to do. I can't stop thinking about how awful of a person I am. It does no good to dwell upon such things though. Thinking about it will not redeem myself. I must do something to make this right.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 3

We arrived at the Rellik's island midmorning. He left the boat and warned the rest of us that we would most likely be killed if we ventured beyond the dock we were at. I spent most of the midday lying in the sun on said dock, occasionally glancing up at the port guards, standing on land at the end of the dock. Lets just say they were not the type of people that you would want on your bad side. I stayed far away from them. There was no point in picking a fight. Particularly when my weapons and armor were on the boat. Rellik returned midafternoon, but did not divulge anything to us, other than the fact that he had another “mark”. Damned assassins. I suppose I should not judge though. I would have been an assassin if I had killed Sa-Follen. As it stands, I am an unpunished murderer. We set sail tonight for an island with a tomb on it. It contains some of the relics that Captain Blank's contact had offered him Queens for.

~~~~~

Secondmonth 4

The island we arrived at this morning was more like a sandbar in the middle of the sea than an island. When we came ashore, we were greeted by an angry welcoming party of three giant crabs. They nearly killed Blank. I had to drag him away from the fight before running back and dispatching two of them with Rellik (the other was crushed by a giant chunk of stone courtesy of Sorern. Sorern revived the Captain and we entered the tomb (which, according to the inscription outside, belongs to Ozymandius). The entranceway opened up into a large, circular tomb. In the center stood a sarcophagus. The only problem was the very deep moat that ran around the platform that the sarcophagus sat on, effectively cutting us off from it. Rellik solved this problem with a rope. He grappled the sarcophagus and tied the other end of the rope to some rubble on the side of the moat we were on. He and Sorern climbed across the rope to investigate the sarcophagus. I thought perhaps we should have started down a passageway that lead off to the right, but I decided to follow. Unfortunately, getting across a rope wearing plate armour is harder than one may think, and I ended up falling into the moat. I sunk a bit but pulled myself back to the surface, only to be landed on by Blank. Evidently he is not the best climber in the world (or perhaps he was drunk on rum, as pirates often are). The water was brackish and cold, and staying above the surface in full armor was difficult, but fortunately, Rellik quickly levitated the Captain and I out of the water.

Captain Blank and I dried ourselves off as best we could, and we all started looking at the sarcophagus a little closer. We found three relics. One was a crown, and the other two were scepter heads. As soon as we removed them from the sarcophagus, some sort of trap was triggered, and a wall opened up, revealing two large, blue, stone bears. Have I mention how much I detest bears? Anyway, we fought a valiant battle and managed to slay both bears. Captain Blank nearly died again. The rest of us weren't fairing much better. We decided to rest for the night and get fully healed up. I decided to write in my journal before I slept and was surprised to find that it was mostly dry. Don't you just love magic?

~~~~~

Secondmonth 5

We awoke today feeling much better than we had the previous night. A good night's sleep and a bunch of healing spells will do wonders for one's stamina. We explored the room from which the bears had emerged. There were carvings on the walls of a dragon and a temple, and there was also a seemingly-magical light going across the floor. The temple carving hid a secret compartment. Inside we found 15 magical stones, and a black-metal bastard sword. The sword is very well crafted, by the way. We were concerned the stones may be rigged, so the Captain graciously volunteered himself to pick them up first, to test their effect. Nothing happened. We had a bit of an argument about the sword. It was possibly cursed and mind-affecting, so I thought I should be the one to hold onto it, as I trusted myself not to fall victim to it's effects. The others were concerned that with my skill at wielding a bastard sword, I could do major damage if I for some reason did fall victim to a curse. Their logic did make sense. After the sword was safely strapped to Sorern's back (since he is too small to wield it anyway), we looked in the hidden compartment again. We found writing etched in the stone, which I will write down so I do not forget it.

Keep these words
Who finds them here
Beneath a bitter moon
Your path is bound
By dragon bound
By ritual and rune

It is odd because no one recognized the language it was written in. The characters were all foreign, but still we understood the writing.

It was obviously a riddle, and we spent the rest of the afternoon debating how to solve it. We searched the room for hours, focusing on the dragon carving. Eventually we became tired and decided to sleep.

~~~~~

Session 3 Quotes

“I call upon the power of all that is true and just in the world!” – Sigrid
“I’ll be going now.” – Captain Blank

“Okay, I killed a bear.” – Captain Blank
“I killed a bear better.” – Sorern

“He said specifically that they were ‘catacombs,’ as in, involving dead people.” – Captain Blank
“And giant blue bears.” – Sorern

“It’s contact etiquette. You wouldn’t understand.” – Captain Blank

“Interesting. This seems to be a very popular name in this ancient culture.” – Captain Blank

“It’s a bunch of criminal lowlifes, there’s plenty of information to be had there.” – Sigrid

“Captain Blank gets into a gladiator death match, and almost dies.” – Sigrid

Session 3: Stone Bears and Empires

Secondmonth 4, 1759 -- Secondmonth 11, 1759

They fought the stone bears, and Captain Blank nearly died. He only survived because he managed to dispatch the bear that grappled him with a well-placed blast of icefire, and then Sorern knocked the other into an acid pit with stone blast.

They rested, then explored the room from which the bears had come. It also had carvings on the walls, but they were newer and more stylized than the carvings in the earlier rooms; they showed scenes of war. The other major feature in the room was a light that ran, every few seconds, from beneath the largest dragon-thing carving to a temple of some sort, from the south-west to the north-east.

The temple turned out to hide a secret chamber, within which were a bastard sword and fifteen warm, sparking blue stones, that came in three different sizes, five of each size. All the objects were magical, and everyone was convinced they were somehow dangerous; they spent a long time deciding whether and how to handle them, and decided that Captain Blank should be the one to remove the stones.

Detect magic revealed that the stones were fairly minor objects, of the evocation school, and that the sword was some kind of artifact of the necromancy school. This sparked a long discussion of who should have the sword--Sigrid was the only one who could use it, but no one trusted her with it, because they were all convinced that it was probably evil and possibly mind-affecting.

Intertwined in the carvings were words, from a language no one recognized but that everyone still understood:

Keep these words,
Who finds them here,
Beneath a bitter moon,
Your path is found,
By dragon bound,
By ritual and rune.

They spent a long time trying to figure out what this meant. (Particularly the "bitter moon" part.) Eventually, Sigrid got fed up with it, and they decided to finish searching the rest of the place and come back to it later.

They went back to the main chamber and checked out the passage off to the right. They found a statue of some hero-type person, likely the right-hand man of Ozymandius, and a bunch of carvings depicting the same person. They also found a reliquary in the wall, with a longsword and a box with a lock of hair in it.

They then spent three days searching the place from top to bottom, because they still weren't satisfied. They moved the rubble off to the left of the chamber, found another room like the one to the right, except without anything in it. Sorern remembered something about the “Hora Quan,” and recognized the tomb as done in that style. He also destroyed part of the carvings in the room in the back, looking for secret passages, and dove down into the moat to investigate.

Eventually they decided that--combined with the carvings on the wall, and the light on the floor--it was directions to another ruin, that might have more neat stuff in it.

They sailed through a storm back to Ao-Manasa. On the way, Sorern used object loresight on the bastard sword and the fifteen stones. Thus they discovered that the bastard sword didn’t seem to have any particular powers, which was puzzling.

Back at Ao-Manasa, Captain Blank went back to Taevin, and traded the two scepter pieces, (which turned out to be from two different scepters) the crown, the box, and the sword for 1,000 queens each.

They did a bit of asking around, and discovered that, in their absence, the city had held a funeral for Sa-Follen, a new Captain of the Guard, Ea-Shamar, had been inaugurated, some vaguely important human rich-type person had been found dead with a yellow rose, and the illegal underground arena had announced they were holding a series of fights in Sa-Follen’s honor.

Object Loresight

1. Age of object.
   
2. Name of last creature to touch the object, if any (other than you).
3. Race of last creature to touch the object, if any (other than you).
4. Name of the object’s creator (a natural object, like a rock, was created by nature).
5. Race of the object’s creator, if any.
6. Object’s purpose.
7. Material(s) that makes up the object.
8. Location of the object’s creation.
9. Name of the most recent owner of the object, if any.
10. Magical ability of the object, if any (random if more than one)

The bastard sword:

1. About 2500 years old
2. Captain Blank
3. Human
4. Tai Requar
5. Human
6. Kill the enemies of the Empire
7. Steel, obsidian, gold
8. Tai-Hora Jaen
9. Tai Faren
10. +1 enhancement

The blue stones:

1. About 1600 years old
2. Party member
3. Party member
4. Tai Faren
5. Human
6. Bait
7. Azurine
8. Ozymandius’s tomb
9. Tai Faren
10. Detonations; large electricity loop, medium shock, small electric jolt
    

Sigrid's Journal 1 - Peculiar Mishaps

~~~~~

Firstmonth 22

The Order has given me a new mission.

It has been long known that Guard Captain Sa-Follen of Ao-Manasa is a corrupt man. Recently though, the problem has become much worse. Sa-Follen has been ordering his Guardsmen to take Non-Giants into custody on made-up charges such as “Failure to pay 'safety' tax”. Those taken are never seen again. People who have taken grievances to Steward Gri-Taresh about Sa-Follen have not received Justice. Often, they become the next victims of this corrupt Guard Captain.

There is no legal recourse against Sa-Follen. The Order has decided that the only way to protect the Non-Giant citizens of Ao-Manasa is to kill Sa-Follen. They have chosen me to deliver him Final Justice, because Justice is my calling. I will prepare to leave at once.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 23

The Order has granted me a one-man sailing vessel to deliver myself to Ao-Manasa. It is not very large, and I would not trust it on a long trip, but for the day or so it will take to arrive at Ao-Manasa, it will do me just fine.

Wind conditions are perfect, as if the air itself wishes me a fast journey to deliver Final Justice to Sa-Follen. I will not fail.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 24

Perhaps my one-day journey will be two. I think I may have miscalculated my route yesterday. Justice is patient. I will have my time.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 25

I saw the Guard Captain as soon as I got into port. He was arguing with a very peculiar man over the right to search his ship. A Guardsman did a cursory search of me and my boat, glancing momentarily at the Order crest on my shield. He jokingly told me to uproot the Steward while I was in town. I told him I would certainly try not to start a revolution, but that sometimes these things cannot be helped. Perhaps I should not have brought an Order shield with me on this mission. Thankfully, Sa-Follen did not take any notice to me at all, as he was still arguing with the strange man when the Guardsman let me leave. I wandered around near the port for much of the afternoon, scouting out Sa-Follen's manor. When I returned to my boat in the early evening to procure my ropes and other gear, it was gone. I will have to find some other way back to my Order after my mission is complete. I will also have to complete my mission with only the gear on my back.

I will pay Sa-Follen a visit tonight.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 26

My mission did not go as planned. There were no less than three other would-be Final Justice deliverers present when I arrived at the manor (though I question whether they were really motivated by Justice. It is no matter, motives are naught, actions are what matters.) I found myself standing with a shady-looking Mojh dressed in all black, a Faen Mage, and the peculiar man from the port. We were a most motley crew. We formed an impromptu group and entered Sa-Follen's manor through the back entrance. We were spotted by a guard, who attempted to flee, and then I, yes I, cut him down. He had raised no blade against me and was running for his life. I callously murdered him. Where is the Justice in that? There is none. I must not forget this. There must be Justice for what I have done.

We managed to sneak to Sa-Follen's quarters without alerting anymore guards to our presence (or so we thought), but when we arrived there, he was already dead. Apparently there were more with motive to kill the Guard Captain. I am really not surprised. This is when it gets odd. We had just noticed that Sa-Follen was dead, when we were suddenly surrounded by the town Guardsmen. They were in the hallway, outside the windows. It looked as though we had been caught. Running away would certainly make us look guilty, so I chose to stay. The other three fled up the chimney, as I was lead away to the Guard Station. They dragged the Faen in not a quarter-bell later, looking badly injured. We were questioned and released. At no point during the questioning did I confess to the murder of the Guard. Perhaps I should have. Justice will have to be served in one way or another, and no matter what, it will not be pleasant for me. I will deal with that when it comes.

The Faen, named Sorern, and I stayed together and went to the port in search of a boat. I only had a few hundred Queens, so I doubted we could purchase a boat, but perhaps we could purchase passage.

As it turned out, we would not be needing any coin at all. We ran into Peculiar Man (who asked only to be called “Cap'n Blank, Arrr” and Dark Mojh (who goes by Rellik, which I am sure is not his actual name) at the port. Cap'n Blank seems to believe himself some sort of pirate, though with such a small and rickety boat, coupled with the fact he has no crew or treasure, leads me to believe he may simply be mindsick and not a pirate at all. He offered us passage in exchange for help sailing. This seems like a fair trade. He also offered us shares in a job. We are going to collect relics at an ancient ruin and exchange them to Cap'n Blank's contact for 1000 gold a piece. Extra coin can't hurt.

I also convinced Cap'n Blank to allow me to be the First Mate on this ship, the Ocean's Blade. We will set sail tonight. Our first destination is an island that Sorern wishes to visit. Apparently he has a dragon friend there. Dragons are interesting creatures. I would much like to meet this dragon.

~~~~~

Colloquialisms

The following slang words are from Arcana Evolved, page 329. I recommend using them in normal conversation, because you aren't living if you don't get bizarre looks from random strangers on a regular basis.

A Giant's Reach: Something about 10 feet long (technically). More generally, something that is distant, but still visible. "The other side of the cave's only about a giant's reach from here. "

Ale-Addled: Drunk.

Angel's Wings: Extreme luck. "He was saved by angel's wings."

Between Midnight and Death: A phrase used by many to mean "in deep trouble." As in, "We're between midnight and death down here!"

Biter: Someone week, attempting to be strong. "Little biter" is the most common use. Often used by crude members other races to describe a faen, particularly a faen warrior.

Bitter Suns: A curse. When directed to another, it means, "May the rest of your days be painful and sad."

Bobber: A copper piece.

By Malleus' Beard: An exclamation. The phrase refers to the great human hero Malleus, whose point of pride was his beard.

Cack: Nonsense.

Deuce: A silver piece.

Far From Home: Originally a litorian saying ("Araansha," in the native tongue), this means anything strange or alien.

Farther West: A term that means "keep looking" or "keep trying." Referring to the fact that for so long no one really knew what lay to the distant west, people use this phrase when someone makes an incorrect guess or can't find something that's lost. "Farther west, friend," one might say to such a person.

Feykin: What giants often affectionately call faen.

Gob-Friend: A shortened form of "goblin friend," this term is a pejorative descriptor for someone, implying that the person likes disgusting, low-class, or otherwise nasty things.

Little Brother: What giants call a well-liked human.

Logsleeper: A stupid person.

Maggot: A devious person.

Meadfoot: Someone able to hold his liquor.

Niashra's Gift: A blessing, or something truly excellent. A greater battle healing spell, a sack of 1,000 gp, or a masterwork sword, given from one individual to another, can be referred to as Niashra's gift.

Quen's Coin, or a Queen: A gold piece.

Race-Traitor: What some humans call mojh. This is a particularly offensive term.

Rarer Than a Dragon's Scale: Something very uncommon or something precious.

Royal: A platinum piece.

Spell-Brained: Stupid

Strong as a Magister's Staff: Something that is nearly unbreakable.

Witch-Headed: Crazy. Witches do not care for its use.

Captains Log I

Firstmonth 23^rd

After swimming through the ocean to reach civilization, I have been able to purchase a fine ship, a Pinnace, to carry on my piratey ways. I will not forget the horrors that claimed my old captain and the rest of the crew… I wonder, did any of the others survive? The attack was so sudden and chaotic… the water was roiling, and I dared not try to see if any survived. I’m lucky the monster didn’t see me… perhaps another died distracting it, intentionally or not, from me…

In any event, I shall need a crew. The Pinnace is a four man ship, and I only count for one… I’ll head to Ao-Manasa… Captain was going to meet some Quickling named Taevin but… I know he didn’t make it. I’ll see if he can get me a job.

Firstmonth 24^th

Note to self: never man this ship alone again. EVER.

Firstmonth 25^th

After… moderate success, I have docked the ship at Ao-Manasa, paying 5 Queens… the Captain of the Guard still wanted to inspect my ship though. My ship! The nerve of these Giants... I may have to pay him a visit tonight…

Firstmonth 26^th

I have a crew. Only four people including me, but it’s enough to man the ship. And these aren’t the regular dredge of pirates. In fact, it’s a Faen Magister, some shady Mojh assassin and, get this, a Champion of Justice working for the Knights of the Axe. Funny story really, when I went to visit our good friend the Guard Captain, turned out these three others were there too, to kill him. We sort of banded together, but when we got to the guys room… he was already dead. Since two of them were taking orders from organizations, I suspect they might’ve been set up… then again, 4 people did want him dead. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a 5^th… or even a seventh for that matter.

In any event, as soon as we find the guy dead, some other guardsmen start banging on the door. Rellik, the Mojh, throws a rope up a chimney, and I follow him up that way. The Champion of Justice, Sigrid, decides since she’s innocent, she should just surrender and she’ll be let off the hook. The Faen also followed us… for a time. You see, we decided to do some roof-top to roof-top jumping to get to my beauteous Pinnace, Ocean’s Blade, but this Faen fails horribly, and got captured by the guards.

Now, I had already decided these three might be just the people for my crew, so we sailed out for a couple of hours, but came back for them. They were looking for a ship anyway, so I made them an offer to crew my ship. They agreed, except Sigrid demanded to be first mate…. Whatever.

I went to see Taevin. Rellik tried to follow me, but I sent him back to the ship. Taevin says theres this big fancy noble collector what wants us to explore some long abandoned tomb for relics. The collector is offering 2000 queens a pop for ‘em. Taevin’ll split that with me. Of course, when I tell my crew this, they demand 250 a piece as well… which I assume is fine, so long as we find at least 4 of these vague relics.

We set sail to Sorern’s (the Loresong Faen) island he wanted to go to. See some Dragon what told him to kill the guard. I plan to let everyone check up with their respective employers, then we go to the tomb.

Firstmonth 27^th

We arrived at this dragons island, Sorern talked to it, and apparently did a job well done. The dragon might call on him again for services, but I don’t have a problem with that.

Firstmonth 28^th

We arrived at the island of the Kinghts of the Axe. Sigrid talked to her higher-ups, and had some new mission. She won’t talk about it. Every time I ask she just shrugs it off. Damn Knights. She says she just needs to get to someplace at a certain time in the future.

Secondmonth 1^st

Sailing conditions favourable. We’ll likely get to Relliks island in shorter time than it would take.

Secondmonth 2^nd

Winds have pushed us slightly off course, nothing damaging at all though. Sigrid has er, banished herself to the crows nest, normally Relliks sleeping place, and has started writing really bad poetry.

Secondmonth 3^rd

We arrived at Rellik's destination. He took no extra time in getting in and out, saying nothing but that he had a new mark. We were able to depart early. The Tombs isle is nearby.

Time

From page 322 of Arcana Evolved:
The year lasts 364 days. There are 13 months of 28 days each. Most often, the months are simply called "Firstmonth," "Secondmonth," and so on, all the way to "Lastmonth." The giants have their own names for the months, however, as do the faen and others. The giant month names are "official," and many people adopt the evocative, flavorful names the faen use.

Months of the Year
Common	Giant	Faen	Litorian*	Dragon
Firstmonth	Iu-Tarthes	Sunshadow	Snow	Wisdom
Secondmonth	Ae-Noman	Frostglint	Mist	Goldspel
Thirdmonth	Ai-Gebbon	Windlion	Birth	Silverscale
Fourthmonth	Ko-Fenas	Fathereye	Rain	Coppertail
Fifthmonth	Ji-Naras	Bloomkiss	Sun	Bronzewing
Sixthmonth	Rin-Taras	Neverstar	Leaves	Brasseye
Seventhmonth	Pal-Henach	Brightsong	Sky	Whitegreed
Eigthmonth	Yun-Feerna	Skyhome	Reeds	Blackbreath
Ninthmonth	Te-Carob	Mothereye	Gift	Greenclutch
Tenthmonth	Na-Vesto	Flameleaf	Twighlight	Bluetooth
Eleventhmonth	Al-Gerran	Kinspeak	Stars	Redclaw
Twelfthmonth	On-Heccan	Chillmoon	Sleep	Slumber
Lastmonth	In-Dearam	Wolfhowl	Moon	Platinumshine
*The litorian calendar considers Birth the first month of the year.

The days of the week also have a variety of names, but the common names are used so widely, they are the only ones worth noting. There are seven days in each week, each with a shortened or slang form used often as well.

• Dawnday/Dawday
• Waterday/Waday
• Earthday/Erday
• Halfweekday/Hawday
• Skyday/Skiday
• Firesday/Firday
• Restingday/Resterday

Calendar Thing

Skyday, 26th of Firstmonth – Ocean’s Blade sets sail from Ao-Manasa

Firesday, 27th of Firstmonth – Ocean’s Blade arrives at Mixastomere’s island

Restingday, 28th of Firstmonth – Ocean’s Blade arrives at Knight of the Axe island

Earthday, 3rd of Secondmonth – Ocean’s Blade arrives at Rellik’s organization’s island

Halfweekday, 4th of Secondmonth – Ocean’s Blade arrives at the Tomb of Ozymandius

Dawnday, 8th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade sets sail from the Tomb of Ozymandius

Halfweekday, 11th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade returns to Ao-Manasa

Skyday, 12th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade sets sail from Ao-Manasa

Restingday, 14th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade arrives at Rellik's organization's island

Waterday, 16th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade returns to Ao-Manasa in the morning, sets sail again that evening

Skyday, 19th of Secondmonth -- Ocean's Blade arrives at Knight of the Axe Island

It's incomplete, because most of the other dates ought to be obvious from the summaries. If anyone feels the need to prepare a more complete time line, feel free to keep track of it.

Why This Blog Exits, and Other Questions You Don't Need Answered

I started this blog because I wanted to keep a record of this campaign. I don't have very good notes from my other two campaigns, for various lousy reasons, and I wanted to see if I could do something different for this one. Making it a blog makes it easier for the players to see it, and will (hopefully) make me more likely to update it.

It's also intended as a general place to put things related to the campaign. Depending on how interested people are in visiting here, this function may get more or less use. But if people have character journals, or pictures, or character histories, then they can go here. (Character summaries will also be coming soon. Probably. It'd be useful to have stats somewhere, in case a character sheet gets lost.) If I can I get my act together, there may even be campaign info here--rumors, happenings, NPCs highlights, obscure customs, and other items of varying uselessness.

One last note, on the links list. The things under "Roleplaying Resources" are intended to actually be useful. Roleplaying Tips, particularly, is worth a visit. It's where I learned half of what I know about GMing. (The other half was learned through painful, painful mistakes.) Though it is mostly a GM resource, there are some good player tips, too. (At the risk of being obvious . . .)

The stuff in the "Random Links" section mostly falls under the category of "because I can." The song amuses me, and the blogs are listed because I figure that someone might occasional wander through here.