Is This Fair? Is It?

Sequel!

2009-05-29T12:00:00.003-04:00

Keep up with the continuing adventures of our valiant heroes (and some new faces) in our new campaign blog. It promises to be a most intriguing game filled with more twists and turns than Lombard Street. You won't be disappointed.

Sigrid's Journal 23: The Sun Will Rise Again

2008-02-03T01:03:00.000-05:00

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 5

It was too late. Monala was too powerful. She floated above us in a massive stone chamber, directing bursts of energy from a giant, glowing pillar streaked with darkness in the centre of the room. One by one she struck them down. Soern, Paerk, Mark. I charged towards her, but stopped short when I reached the edge of the platform I was on.

Monala laughed as she drew more power off of the pillar. She sent the energy spiralling outwards, killing Jocelyn, Blank, and Rellik. Gannen stood at my side, the last of my compatriots. I frantically glanced around, trying to find a way to get to her. I barely noticed the bolt of energy Monala had just thrown at me, but Gannen had. He pushed me out of the way just in time and was hit, full-force. I was thrown to the side and hit the ground hard. It barely hurt though. It was as if my senses were dulled. Gannen laid on the ground, unmoving. I pulled myself over to Gannen, looking down at him. “Wake up, Gannen. Please wake up...” I pleaded. I cradled his head in my arms and brushed his hair out of his face. It was too late. He was gone. No. No. No. It wasn't supposed to end like this. They were all dead. All dead.

I stood up and faced Monala. She was laughing hysterically. I used a dimensional door and pulled myself to her. I stood only feet away from her and lifted the Aur Xica. She lifted her hands and hit me with a blast of energy. I don't remember dropping the Aur Xica, but I vaguely remember the loud clang it made as it hit the ground. I stumbled backwards off the platform. I was dead. I just didn't realize it yet. And now I was falling. Falling through nothing. Falling towards nothing. It would be over even before I even hit the water.

I jerked, suddenly finding myself in my hammock on the Ocean's Blade. I looked around. Mark lay sleeping in his hammock. Jocelyn was close by in a bedroll. Gannen slept soundly near the trapdoor. They were alive. It was a dream.

I went above deck. It was dark and the storm raged on. Someone grabbed my shoulder. I quickly turned, drawing the Aur Xica. I nearly attacked the person before I realized it was Blank. He took a step back.

“What is this mutiny?” he asked.

“You startled me,” I said.

“Apparently. Go wake the others. We're going back to Xanadu.”

I hesitated. “Shouldn't we at least wait for daylight?”

“Do you think daylight's really going to matter in this storm, or, you know, in a CAVE?!” Blank demanded.

“I suppose not,” I sighed, “I'll go get everyone up.”

Everyone gathered on the deck.

“We should do a ceremony to the god of kicking Monala's ass,” Paerk said.

“Jubilexis?” Soern asked.

“You've been enlightened as well? The let us pray to Jubilexis,” Paerk said.

“Wait, wait, wait, who is Jubilexis?” I asked.

“The god of kicking Monala's ass. Don't you pay attention?” Paerk said.

“There isn't a god of kicking Monala's ass,” I said.

“Of course there is. We just weren't enlightened about him until now.”

Blank grinne. “That is... well... that is the most brilliant thing I've ever heard! And I always thought biter society had nothing to offer the world.”

I'm not sure if I believe in made up Faen gods, but I really couldn't say no to the possibility of divine help, so I joined the others in their ceremony. Though I did reserve most of my prayers for my patron god, Halas, whom I have long neglected. Perhaps regaining some faith wouldn't be such a bad thing for me.

And so we headed back through the storm to Xanadu. As we arrived back in the harbour, an argument broke out about which path we should take to Monala this time.

“Well, back into the water we go,” Soern said.

“Yeah, the zombie-infested underwater tunnel is definitely our best path,” I said, sarcastically.

“You just don't want to go back into the water,” Soern commented.

“Maybe,” I muttered.

“There's probably zombies everywhere. Why don't we just go down that way?” Paerk pointed to the staircase which Monala had descended.

“If we just follow her, what was the whole point of going to the underwater tunnel earlier?” Mark asked.

“To almost get eviscerated by giant undead monsters?” I suggested.

“Well, trying to be sneaky had been a good idea. But that was hours ago. I don't think we can really sneak up on her anymore,” Paerk said.

“I really don't think stealth would have even worked in the first place. What with her complete magical control of Xanadu and all,” Soern added.

“Let's just go down the stairs,” Gannen said.

I sighed, “We may as well at this point.”

“It's settled then. We're going down the stairs,” Blank said authoritatively.

I opened my mouth to call Blank's authority into question, but decided it would be a pointless argument.

And so, we descended down the staircase. My heart was racing as we walked further and further downwards into the darkness. The stairwell seemed to narrow as we spiralled downwards. Eventually the tight stairwell opened up into a large room. Taking a few steps into the room, I noticed a large pit in the centre of the room, with stairs going down into it. We would be going deeper into the spider's lair, it seemed. Along the back wall was a pit. I started going down the stairs to closer examine the door, but was stopped by Jocelyn.

“You're just going to march down into the pitch black pit?” she asked.

I looked into the pit again. It wasn't pitch black. It was shadowy, and strangely drained of all colour, but it certainly wasn't pitch black. “I can see well enough,” I announced, before continuing into the pit. I was followed by Soern's creepy glowing orb and the rest of my companions. There was something written on the door. What exactly it was, I wasn't sure, since I couldn't read it. Soern and Paerk spent a lot of time scrutinizing the inscription, scrawling notes onto parchment, and discussing. I decided not to get involved with the door. I know what I'm good at, and what I'm not good at. Diplomacy? Certainly a strength. Alternative forms of diplomacy involving weapons? Also one of my strong suits. Decoding cryptic riddles on doors? Not so much.

The inscription melted away into the door by some magical force. Soern seemed pleased with himself.

“See, that wasn't so hard,” he said.

I waited a moment, staring at the still-closed portal.“So, is the door supposed to open now or something?” I asked.

“Well, uh, actually, I think we need a key,” he said.

“A key?” Blank questioned. Soern pointed to a keyhole in the door that I had not previously seen.

“Well, where do we get this key?” Jocelyn asked.

“I think we already have it,” I said. Indeed, I suspected we might need this key at some point, ever since Gannen implied it might be important way back while he was still in prison. “It was in that box.”

“Well, where's the box?” Soern asked.

“Commodore Blank has it,” I said, “But the key's not in the box any more. The key's around my neck, where it's been since we first found it.” I pulled the leather cord the key was on off over my head and tried to hand the key to Soern.

“Oh, no, I'm not opening the door,” he said, “I don't know what's waiting for us on the other side.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, you'd probably just blast acid first and ask questions later.”

“One does not 'blast acid.' It is clear to me you lack a grasp on even the simple fundamentals of magic.”

“Haha, Sigrid can't do magic! It's like she's illiterate!” Blank interjected.

“Oh, leave her be,” Gannen said. “Magic isn't the be-all and end-all of life. There are things... more important...” his voice drifted off, as if he was lost in thought.

I looked at him, not speaking, scarcely moving. All of a sudden, Mark snatched the key from my hand. “Let's just get on with this,” he said, impatiently.

Mark opened the door into my nightmare. Well, the room was the exact same one that had been in my nightmare, complete with the black-veined energy pillar in the centre. We walked into the chamber. There was no denying it, this was the room from my dream. The setting was the same, but the outcome would not be. It could not be. I would not let them die.

Monala sat on a throne on the far end of the chamber, laughing maniacally. Seeing her there brought up a homicidal rage within me. Screw bringing her back alive. Screw what Ea-Shamar wanted. Screw the whole Diamond Throne for all I cared. I was going to kill Monala.

“How nice of you to come,” Monala said, “Gentlemen, please see to our guests.” And with that we were beset by fire elementals. They swarmed us as Monala continued to talk. “How nice when a plan finally comes together and all the loose ends are, shall we say, dealt with. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.”

“You see,” she continued, “you are my last inconveniences. Toying with you has been such fun, but I really don't have time for distractions any more. Ruling the world is going to be a full-time profession. I'll have to deal with keeping my zombie hordes in tip-top shape and controlling the weather. I simply won't have time to play with you children anymore.”

I continued fighting off the fire elementals as I responded, “We're here to unravel your plans, Monala. And even if we fail, my Lord will send troops. You will not win.”

Monala laughed. “Ah, yes, Morek. I suspect he will be sending troops soon. I'll be needing them to defend MY new empire, after all.” She stood up from her throne and magically floated up into the room.

“You intend to zombify my knight sisters and brothers?” I asked.

“Well, eventually, I suppose, but why go to the trouble of killing them when Morek will send them fresh and living for me?” she asked.

I cut through another fire elemental. “Are you suggesting Lord Morek would yield to your command?”

“Oh, no, no, no, dear Sigrid,” she said, “What I'm suggesting is that he already HAS yielded to my command.”

I froze. A fire elemental charged me, but Commodore Blank blasted it with icefire. “You're lying!” I yelled at Monala.

“Then explain to me how I discovered your truename.”

I had no answer. I ran to the edge of the platform avoiding Soern's magical walls and acid pits. I was cursing and screaming at Monala. She simply laughed, “Betrayal... Such horrific betrayal... and that is the sound of your spirit breaking. A sound almost as pleasant to my ears as this will be.”

“As what will be?” I asked suspiciously.

“The sound of your heart breaking, of course,” looking somewhere behind me, she said, “kill the mage, he's beginning to aggravate me.”

I turned around just in time to witness Gannen cutting Soern down. Gannen... I didn't understand. Why? I turned back to Monala. She shrugged. “He works for me now.” I looked back at Gannen.

“Why?” I asked, “Why?”

“She has my brother,” he said.

“But, why... why couldn't... why didn't you tell me?”

He didn't have a chance to answer. The door we entered from opened suddenly and in waltzed K'max's.

“Ah, K'max's, so nice of you to join us. I suspect Mixastomere sends her blessings?” I scowled. So the great wyrm had betrayed us as well. K'max's nodded. Monala grinned. “Anyway,” she continued, “I'm terribly sorry about leaving you all so utterly hopeless. But you didn't really expect to be able to defeat me here, in the heart of my power, did you? I mean, this is the centre of the Empire, where the Aur Xica was first forged. My power here is immense. You were doomed from the moment you came after me.” She laughed maniacally again.“Now, K'max's would you please see to our guests? It seems my fire elementals were... unsatisfactory.”

K'max's lifted a blade, but he didn't get more than a step in the room before he was completely cut down by Rellik. For a moment, I envied the Mojh. The battle raged on, but I was lost in thought. No attachments, no betrayal, after all. No caring, no pain. But no pain also means no passion. No love. Could I live like that? No. I couldn't. I'm a champion. I'm a runechild. I'm a being of passion, of emotion. It is everything I am. To turn away from that, just because it hurt... I couldn't do that. I could never do that. Not without losing my entire sense of self. That passion is the forge of my being. If I was to survive today, I would have to draw deeper from those fires, not taint them with apathy.

All these thoughts about fires and forges drew my eye to the pillar in the centre of the room. Could it really be that simple? I looked at the Aur Xica, and then back at the pillar again. This cursed blade was forged here, a symbol of the tainted empire it once defended. What if?

“Gannen!” I yelled, running to his side. “You have to help me, we have to end this. Now.”

He hesitated. “Sigrid... I...”

“For the world, for your brother, for me... this has to end. It has to. Please, Gannen.”

“She'll kill my brother,” he said.

“If you don't stop her, she'll probably kill him anyway, along with me. One last stand, Gannen. I need you,” I pleaded.

He nodded. “Okay.” I grabbed his hand and pulled us through a dimensional door to the pillar. Still holding his hand tightly, I lifted my other arm over my head, about to strike the pillar.

“Wait!” Gannen yelled, “Are you crazy? The death energy will kill you. Give me the sword.”

“Hey, uh, guys, I'm not so sure this is a good idea,” the Aur Xica interrupted.

Ignoring it, I told Gannen, “I won't be responsible for your death.”

“And you expect me to be responsible for yours? I'm a champion of death. I think I can handle it.”

I handed him the sword. He lifted it high and swung it into the pillar. There was a deafening crack and a burst of blue light. We were both thrown back to the edge of the platform. I opened my eyes and looked over at Gannen. He looked back at me. He was alive, though... shining somewhat with a mild blue light. In his hand he held the hilt of the Aur Xica, all that remained. I glanced at the pillar. It glowed with a pure blue light now; the taint had been removed.

Monala did not seem impressed. “This... could be a problem,” she said. No sooner than she said it was she struck by a blast of ice from Blank. She plummeted downwards onto the stone. Her reign was over. There was a new powerbearer. Gannen. His shining had died down some, but there was still power coming off of him. Power that Paerk realized gave him control of the weather.

Monala wasn't dead. We checked on her soon after we checked on Soern, who also wasn't dead. Jocelyn had managed to keep him alive with some magical healing roses. The only fatalities were the fire elementals and K'max's. K'max's hadn't stood a chance. Once Rellik gets your scent, you're doomed.

We bound Monala and headed back aboveground. As we emerged from the stairwell, I looked up at the sky. The stars shone brightly, finally free from the storm clouds which had hidden them only hours ago. On the eastern horizon, I could see just the faintest bit of colour, the promise of a morning sun. I watched the horizon with anticipation.

Gannen walked up close to me. “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“You nearly killed my friend. You betrayed my trust, Gannen.”

“I screwed up.”

“You could say that.”

He sighed. “I'm sorry. For the longest time, my brother was all I had. We lost our parents young. He was... like my shadow when we were younger.”

“I just wish you could have told me.”

“I do too,” he said, “I was afraid. For my brother, yes, but not just that.”

“What then?” I asked.

“I'm just not used to... this.”

I looked away and looked back at the impending sunrise. “I'm not either. Maybe... maybe we can work it out together,” I suggested.

“I'd like that,” he said.

“I would too.” I watched as the sunlight flowed over the horizon. It was the first dawn I had paid attention to in months. In some ways, the past three months have been like one solid night. The longest night of my life. Perhaps now, all the chaos and turmoil will be over. Monala's dealt with. My living nightmare of her is over. No matter how dark the night may seem, there will always be a dawn. It's time to keep living. It's time to move on. To start a new day.

Gannen leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “I told you we'd survive this and see the sun again.”

I smiled, “I love you, Gannen.”

“I love you too, Sigrid.”

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 22: Swimming with the Fishes

2008-01-29T01:29:00.000-05:00

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued again)

Arriving in Xanadu was strange. The city is a complicated web of stone platforms, blocks and pillars. Some of these stones are magically suspended. Soern seemed quite fascinated with it. I suppose I may have been too, if not for the fact that magic bothers me. We really weren't there to sightsee though. We made our way as far into the city as we could on the ship before docking at a harbour-like place. From there we continued walking towards the centre of the city. Standing on a large, central pillar was Monala. I glared at her and tried to pull myself through a dimensional door to her, but it didn't work. I suspect she was too far away. After that I tried a more direct approach. I charged towards her. Well, actually, I tried to charge towards her. I didn't get very far before Gannen and Jocelyn decided to hold me back. Monala looked at us, laughed, and then descended down into the pillar, presumably down some sort of staircase. I struggled against Gannen and Jocelyn's grasps.

“Let me go!” I yelled.

“If we let you go, are you going to take off?” Gannen asked.

Impatiently, I repeated, “Let me go.”

“Not until I know you're not going to take off.”

“Just let me go.”

Jocelyn and Gannen looked at eachother. Jocelyn shrugged and they both released me. I did take off, drawing the Aur Xica. I only got about ten feet when I stopped. I was angry at Monala, but charging off to my death wasn't going to do any good. I cursed at no one in particular and struck a stone wall with the Aur Xica.

“What the... don't do that!” it yelled at me.

“Shut up, you cursed weapon.” I took a deep breath, regaining my composure. Turning back to the group, I noticed they were all staring at me with concerned looks on their faces. Well, Jocelyn, Paerk, Soern, Mark, and Gannen had concerned looks on their faces. Rellik had his usually homicidal expression, and Blank simply looked annoyed.

“Are you done with your little tantrum now?” Blank asked, impatiently. I didn't answer him, but I glared at him and re-sheathed the Aur Xica.

“So, are we going to follow her?” Jocelyn asked. It was a good question. No one immediately answered it.

“That's just what she wants us to do,” commented Blank, “which means we should something else entirely. Catch her all unsuspecting-like.”

“I doubt we're going to catch her off-guard in her own lair,” Soern added, “I mean, she's basically taken this place over. She probably knows what's going on all throughout the city.”

“We shouldn't just march on down that staircase and knock on her front door,” Mark said, “We can at least try to be stealthy.”

“What, you think there's some back door we can sneak in through?” I asked.

Blank grinned. “Hahahah... this is just like that time we tried to sneak into Sa-Follen's house to kill him.”

I looked at him, “No it's not... it's nothing like that at all.”

“No, no, no, it is, you see? Sa-Follen was corrupting the guard; Monala's corrupting the weather. Now we're going to sneak in the back door to go kill Monala, just like we were going to kill Sa-Follen.”

“That... doesn't even make sense,” Jocelyn commented. “Besides, shouldn't we bring Monala back for trial or something?"

“Of course it makes sense. You just weren't there the first time,” Blank waved her off, “I suppose we could bring her back alive, but wouldn't it be easier to just kill her now? Or, even better, we get down there and find out that Gannen already killed her, just like Sa-Follen!”

“You do remember that Gannen isn't actually the Yellow Rose Killer?” I asked.

“Details, details. Lets go find the back door and go deal with Monala.”

“Yes, because we're just going to randomly find some back entranceway,” I said, annoyed.

“Well, there's one underwater, if that helps,” Paerk chimed in.

“What?” I asked.

“A water spirit told me,” Paerk said, “There's a passageway into the city under the water.”

“Look at that! The little biter's actually useful!” Blank exclaimed.

“There's one problem with that,” I pointed out, “We don't breathe water.”

“Well, I can,” Mark said.

“Oh, yes, that will work splendidly. Mark will go in the back way and deal with Monala all by himself. What a wonderful idea!” I replied, sarcastically.

“Well, there is a spell that will allow us to breathe water,” Soern told us.

“A spell? Perfect. Let's cast the spell, swim to the passage, sneak up on Monala and BAM! We hit her in the back of the head, drag her back to Ea-Shamar and collect our reward,” Blank enthusiastically said.

“Exactly!” Paerk responded.

“Don't you think it will be a bit more complicated than that?” I asked.

“Why would it be?” Blank replied.

It was at that moment that Blank was, indeed, completely insane. The more I think about it, the more I realize that everyone on this crew is, as well. We're all a bunch of eccentric misfits, not really belonging anywhere.

There's Soern, so preoccupied with his magics and his books the he sometimes misses out on the rest of the world. Blank is the lone pirate, doing what he wants to do all the time without caring about what is proper. Mark is one of the least personable people I have ever met, more fishlike than human. Paerk's only interest seems to be plants, at the expense of everyone else around him. I've spent my whole life searching for a purpose, only to have a purpose find me. Then there's Gannen, with his mysterious past and swirling destiny of lineage. Then we have Rellik, who I don't even need to comment on.

Yet somehow, we ended up together, and it's fit. And now, here we are. The only thing standing between Monala and the world is us. If we don't stop her now, it will only be a matter of time before her plan of necromantic world domination goes into full effect.

We decided to go forth to Paerk's hidden underwater entrance. After being enchanted with water breathing, I dove into the sea, not quite trusting the magic to work. I dipped my face underwater and took a tentative breath. It wasn't painful, but it felt strange. The water exerted more force on the inside of my chest than air did. It was quite unnatural, but I didn't feel like I was drowning, so I supposed it was probably okay. After a seemingly long swim (which honestly might have been shorter for everyone else without me; swimming isn't my strong suit), we emerged into the air-filled passageway. I sat on the ground coughing, trying to get the strange pressure feeling out of my chest. We all dried off as best we could while looking around at the room we were in. The walls were covered in intricate carvings not unlike the ones at Ozymandius's tomb. It seems so long ago, but looking back through this journal, I realized that we entered Ozymandius's tomb three months ago to the day. It's amazing how much can change in three months.

The room we were in connected to a passgeway, which we followed. Unfortunately, we didn't get far when we were ambushed by giant undead monsters. No one was seriously injured, but several of us were moderately injured enough that continuing on might have been a bad idea. This didn't deter Blank, who was eager to press onwards.

“We're not going to defeat Monala by resting,” he protested.

“We're not going to defeat Monala at all if we don't rest,” Soern pointed out as I bandaged him up.

“I agree,” I added, “There's no need to be hasty.”

“But that's what we do best!” Blank said.

“Look, why don't we just rest here and figure out what we're going to do,” Jocelyn suggested.

“Monala knows we're here. We can just fall asleep. Unless your intention is to never wake up again,” I said.

“Always the pessimist. Why don't you shut up once in awhile? We don't have any proof that Monala knows we're here anyway,” Mark argued.

“Yeah, well, why don't you shut up, Mark. No one wants to listen to you anyway,” I replied.

Mark glared at me.

“Oh blurty-blurty-blur,” Blank broke the silence, “I am your Commodore. You should both be following my lead anyway.”

“Yeah, following your lead. Right off a cliff maybe,” Jocelyn commented.

“Hey, that's unfair,” Blank said, before mumbling under his breath, “Not like there are any cliffs here anyway...”

I glanced over at Gannen, who had thus remained silent.”

“What do you think we should do, Gannen?” I asked.

He shook his head, clearly giving me a 'leave me out of this' look.

Soern finally chimed in, “Let's just go back to the Ocean's Blade to rest and regroup. We'll at least be a little safer out on the water.”

I sighed. I knew this was probably the best course of action, but I wasn't exactly thrilled to be getting back into the water again. We returned to the room at the water's edge. I looked down at the dark, foreboding seawater. I really didn't want to do this again. Gannen walked up beside me and reassuringly held my hand. It was a subtle gesture, but it made a world of difference. I slipped into the water without a care, my mind preoccupied with the short, silent connection we had made.

The ascent was seemed quicker than the descent had been. I think perhaps I was more eager to be swimming towards the surface than I had been swimming to the dark depths of the sea. We climbed aboard the Ocean's Blade and set sail, trying to get some distance between us and Monala. We met up with our crewmembers on the Fearful Lightning, and decided to call it a night. Gannen offered to take first watch and I immediately volunteered to help him, even though I was entirely ready to sleep at that point.

I wish I could write that Gannen and I spent our watch together talking about profound things like life and death and faith and love, but that wasn't the case. I suppose there's not much to say until after we get this business with Monala sorted out. I've spent much of my time this watch writing.

It's unfortunate that Monala still stands as a barrier between Gannen and I, even now that we're not physically separated anymore. I hope once Monala is dealt with once and for all, we can begin a new chapter in our lives. We woke up Jocelyn and Mark before calling it a night. I will be glad to be done with this.

~~~~~

Session Notes

2007-12-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

Weather: 3 days (26th – 1st)
Moderate, fair, fog
Light winds (x1)

Weather: 4 days (2nd – 6th)
Moderate, varies, clear
Light winds (x1)

Weather: 5 days (7th – 12th)
Warm, fair, warm
Light winds (x1)

Weather: 5 days (13th – 18th)
Moderate, fair, rain
Moderate winds (x2)

Secondmonth 25th, clear, set new course, (failed?)
Secondmonth 26th, foggy, DC 25, failed, 60 miles, 60 total
Secondmonth 27th, foggy, DC 27, success, 60 miles, 120 total
Secondmonth 28th, foggy, DC 25, success, 60 miles, 180 total
Thirdmonth 1st, foggy, DC 25, success, 60 miles, 240 total
Thirdmonth 2nd, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 300 total
Thirdmonth 3rd, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 360 total
Thirdmonth 4th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 420 total

Sigrid 28 spot, 17 listen
Soern 1 spot, 13 listen
Blank 17 spot, 22 listen
Mark 12 spot, 13 listen
Rellik 12 spot, 12 listen

Fought 4 anguillans

“We’re never going to see land ever again.” – Sigrid
“At least you’re not a champion of land.” – Captain Blank
(beat)
“Champion of PANTS!” – Captain Blank

Thirdmonth 5th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 480 total
Thirdmonth 6th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 540 total
Thirdmonth 7th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 600 total
Thirdmonth 8th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 660 total
Thirdmonth 9th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 720 total
Thirdmonth 10th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 780 total
Thirdmonth 11th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 840 total
Thirdmonth 12th, clear, DC 17, success, 60 miles, 900 total
Thirdmonth 13th, rain, DC 25, fail, 60 miles, 1020 total

Magic booze – heightened ability boost, charisma +4 800 gp

“Convinced Darquain to challenge Gen Zheraf to a duel.”

Saw the island, rising out of the mist

Fought “velociraptors,” Soern nearly died
One velociraptor escaped
Went back to the ship, to rest
Found that monkeys had invaded

Combat Notes

2007-12-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

Mark

2007-12-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

Created: March 18, 2007

Mark
Human Totem Warrior 5
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice: 5d10
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 19 (+2 Dex, +2 natural, +5 armor), flat-footed 17, touch 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+9
Attack: Dire scimitar +12 melee (1d6+9, 18-20/x2)
Full Attack: Dire scimitar +12 melee (1d6+9, 18-20/x2)
Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Skin of the shark, totem animal companion, breathe water,
Saves: Fort +6, Will +3, Ref +4
Feats: Way with Animals, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Heavy), Iron Flesh, Weapon Focus (dire scimitar), Quick Draw,
Skills: Handle Animal +5, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (sailing and navigation) +9, Spot +9, Survival +9, Swim +12,

Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 5

Can apply Bluff, Diplomacy, and Gather Information skills to animals. (Not fish.)
Magical beasts also, with -4 penalty.

+1 dire scimitar 3015 gp
+1 leather coat 200 gp

4300 gp total

6th level feats – Weapon Specialization (dire scimitar), Infuse Weapon (Scimitar)

Sigrid's Journal 21: Beginning of the End

2007-12-04T20:41:00.000-05:00

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued)

A most fascinating afternoon. I was woken up by a more-hyper-than-usual James (which I hadn't previously thought was possible) yelling, “Quartermaster Halstead! Quartermaster Halstead! Land ho! Well, not really land, but stones... giant stones.... Anyway, Commodore Blank wants you on deck!”

I woke up and looked at him,“James... you know you're allowed to call me Sigrid...”

“Yes, Quartermaster Halstead.”

I started to respond, but felt it would probably be easier just to let this one go. “Go tell Blank I'll be up there in a second.”

I laid there on my hammock, looking at the deckboards above me. This was it then. This was Xanadu. I sat up in my hammock, stretching. I jumped down onto the floor when Gannen came down below deck. I froze,staring at him, not entirely sure what to say. He looked back at me for a moment, before awkwardly interrupting the silence. “Er... Blank says we're at Xanadu. I wanted to... well, you know, make sure you knew or whatever...”

“Yeah... James told me... but, thanks,” I smiled at Gannen. He gave me a small smile back before quickly looking away.

“There was something I needed to talk to you about... well, you—plural, like you, Jocy, Blank and Mark.”

“Shall we, then?” I asked, motioning towards the ladder. He nodded and we made our way up to the deck.

Once up on deck, Gannen pulled Blank, Mark, Jocelyn and I aside and warned us not to trust the Aur Xica. He told us that it “wasn't good.” He quoted Monala, claiming she said the sword was bad. Apparently she was also amused at the possibility it was manipulating us.

After Gannen talked to us, we confronted the Aur Xica about these allegations. It claimed that Monala was lying. It went on and on about how she was obviously trying to get us to mistrust it, on account of it being our only connection to the Hora Quan or whatever. Truth-be-told, I side with Gannen on this matter. I have never trusted that sword, or any intelligent item for that matter. A sword's job is to kill what I want dead, not to chit-chat with me.

Taking the cursed blade with me, I climbed up to the crow's nest and we continued sailing towards the city. As it grew closer, I had this strange feeling that someone—or something—was watching us. I would see little blips of movement that varied from the usual ebb and flow of the ocean, but when I would try to get a closer look, the movement would be gone. Just as I thought about calling down to Blank about it, a giant sea monster emerged from the water!

“Octopus!” I cried out.

“No...!” Commodore Blank yelled, “It's not an octopus... it's a Kraken!”

I leapt down from the crow's nest. Armour-less, it was much easier than it normally was, and I landed quite gracefully. Running to the starboard side of the ship, I watched as the Kraken swung its massive arms about, grazing the side of the Ocean's Blade. The boat rocked violently, knocking me backwards into Mark. Pushing me away from him, he ran up to the beast and attacked. I pulled myself back up and followed suit, leaning precariously over the railing as I hacked away at a tentacle. Gannen and Mark stood on either side of me, fending off the beast as well.

The creature violently flailed about. One of its tentacles caught me hard in the ribcage, causing me to fall into the water. Another tentacle swung down towards me. Instinctively, I raised my arms to block it. The Kraken's arm hit the Aur Xica and my summoned shield with enough force to shove me underwater. I was surprised that I had managed to hold on to the Aur Xica, and I hadn't remembered calling a shield at all, but I suppose it is as Lord Morek often tells me; I have good instincts in battle.

Though I have those “good instincts,” I was seriously thrown off-balance by the Kraken. I hovered in the water, not entirely sure which way was up, rather disoriented. The seawater stung my eyes as I opened them and looked around. There was water all around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a steadily building orb of light. It grew brighter and brighter as I swam towards it. Was this some sort of divine sign? My head hit the surface and I gasped in a mouthful of air mixed with saltwater. I glanced up at where the light had been and realized Blank had been summoning a burst of icefire, which he now released at the Kraken. I decided that Commodore Blank was probably not a sign from the gods, though I suspect he might think that he's a god.

Looking back at the side of the boat, I saw Mark continuing to beat on the Kraken. Gannen, however, had stopped attacking and only made glances at the creature when a tentacle strayed too close to him. Instead of putting his full concentration into the battle, he appeared to be scanning the water beneath the Kraken. Catching sight of me, he tossed a rope in the water. I grabbed it and swam towards the boat. Gannen pulled me aboard. I spent a moment coughing up inhaled seawater. Gannen stood there, staring at me with a concerned look on his face.

“Fight, damn it!” I yelled at him, annoyed. He returned to the side of the ship and slashed at the Kraken. I caught my breath and joined him. Before I even got a single attack in, however, a massive blast of fire emanated from Soern's hands, utterly decimating the monster. Its corpse slowly sank back into the depths from whence it came.

“Hahaha!” Blank laughed maniacally, “Take that, Kraken! Never again will you terrorize the seas!” Blank's ecstatic mood didn't last long though. Mere moments after he declared the oceans safe from the kraken, the awful beast re-emerged.

“Zombie...” Gannen muttered, “Zombie Kraken... who would do...” he paused for a moment before angrily growling, “Monala....”

“What is this foul magic? Is this some cosmic joke to punish the great Commodore Blank?” Blank asked, his voice a bit shakier than normal. I could tell that he was afraid. I was as well.

Regaining his composure, Gannen loudly announced, “It's a zombie! We have to kill it!”

The creature reared. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. A burst of warm, glowing light streamed down from high above the Kraken. It flowed over my skin, restrengthening me. The light seemed to have a profoundly different effect on the Kraken, which flailed angrily. I was confused for a moment, but then remembered the dichotomy of the Green and the Dark. I didn't have much time to ponder magical laws though. The undead monster was angry, and it was taking its anger out on our ships.

We continued our assault on the Kraken. We were chipping away at it, but the going was slow. That is, until Soern threw some sort of paralytic magic at it. Once it wasn't flailing madly at us, it was much easier to slay once and for all.

Once the Kraken sunk back into the water, everyone was still and silent, as if waiting to see if it would re-emerge. When it didn't, everyone relaxed. Gannen walked over to me, asking me, “Are you okay?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but didn't know what to say, so instead, I just kissed him. I broke away from him, and he just stared at me with a rather stunned look on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, when Blank interrupted, completely ruining the moment.

“Hahaha!!! Sigrid kissed Gannen!” He laughed. I glared at him which didn't seem to deter his laughter at all. “That's absolutely hilarious!”

Ignoring Blank, I turned back to Gannen, who looked back at me, silently. Whatever he had been about to say will remain unsaid I guess. Turning away, I looked out at Xanadu. The stone city appeared dark and forboding, and suddenly I knew.

I knew Monala was standing in that city, staring out at our ships on the horizon. I knew she knew we were coming. I knew she was waiting for us. I closed my eyes and I saw her standing a stone platform. I saw her as if she was standing right in front of me. She saw me too. She looked right at me and smiled. I opened my eyes and found that I was still on the Ocean's Blade. I had seen Monala because she had wanted me to see her. I took a deep breath and realized that I may never leave this place. Death was a distinct possibility.

“We might not survive this,” I said.

“Excuse me?” Jocelyn questioned.

I sighed, “There's a distinct possibility that we might die here. But we have to fight. We have to try. We can't just let Monala win without a fight.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that we might not die?” Gannen interrupted, “Why are you acting like we're marching off to our deaths?”

“We might die,” I protested.

“We also might live, Sigrid. Anything worth dying for is also worth living for.”

I looked at him for a moment, before responding, “What an odd thing for a Champion of Death to say.”

“Maybe so,” he admitted.

Just at that moment, Soern called over from the Fearful Lightning, “Hey! What's our plan here?”

We all convened on the Ocean's Blade and decided to leave Blank's henchmen and my squires on the Fearful Lightning, away from Xanadu, and hopefully away from danger. They have strict orders to go back to Ao-Manasa and Pental if we don't return in one week's time. If we die in Xanadu, both the Diamond Throne and the Order must be warned about Monala. After we said goodbye to our young crew members, we ventured off towards Xanadu on the Ocean's Blade.

I stood in the crow's nest, watching as the ominous city grew closer. I heard someone climbing up to join me. Without even turning to look, I knew who it was. Gannen. I continued staring off into the storm, scarcely moving.

“You can go dry off and warm off if you'd like. I can take watch,” he offered.

I shook my head. “Thank you, but no. I like being outside, even when the sun's nowhere to be seen.” I looked skyward for a moment, and then added, “I don't think I'm ever going to see the sun again.”

“Okay Sigrid, that's enough,” he said with a tone of impatience in his voice, “You're a knight. Is this mood you're in any way to go into a battle? State-of-mind is incredibly important. I'm sure you know that.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you doing this to yourself? Are you trying to make yourself less afraid of dying?”

“I'm not afraid to die,” I stated adamantly.

“Yes, you are. You're absolutely terrified. Why, though? You've seen combat before. Every time I've seen you in combat, you've been completely calm. Why is this different?”

“Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I might not be able to handle an impending battle. Monala's powerful. Last time we met,one touch from her and I became her marionette,” I paused. “I fight a lot, but I'm always confident. Now, I'm not so sure.” Looking out to to sea, I added, “I really don't want to die. I do want to see the sun again. And besides, we still need to talk about... things.”

“Things. Yeah. We will talk, Sigrid, just not now. Later, after Xana...”

“What if there is no 'after Xanadu', Gannen?” I interrupted. “What if 'now' is all we have?”

“This isn't the end. We WILL survive this,” Gannen proclaimed.

“I hope you're right. I want to be alone. You're on watch now,” I told him as I climbed down the crow's nest.

I've taken a break to decompress and to rest. I don't feel much better though. Xanadu calls to me now. I hope this isn't the end.

~~~~~

Twisted Fish

2007-12-01T21:01:00.001-05:00

Created: March 9, 2007

Twisted Fish
Bartender
Faen, Female
Impostor: wants to keep secret the fact that she is a disguised rogue, doppelganger, or other entity posing as the real NPC

Sigrid's Journal 20: How You Wanna Feel

2007-11-28T00:12:00.000-05:00

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 1

I didn't sleep much last night. Every time I began to drift away, I would startle and look over to check that Gannen was still within my sight. About the seventh or eighth time this happened, I got up, walked over to him, and laid down next to him. I decided that he would be much less likely to disappear if I was literally right with him. Slightly less anxious, I slept a bit better (though not much).

In the morning when I woke up, Gannen hadn't gone anywhere. I woke him up, and he seemed less comatose than he had yesterday. When he woke up, he looked confused and stared at me, before saying, “You...”

“Yes?” I replied.

“Sigrid.”

“Are you alright, Gannen?”

“Alright?” He appeared unsure, “I... yeah... no... I don't know.”

I took one of his hands in my own. “I need your Truename.”

He looked down at my hands. “Truename? Oh yeah... Ronnudulaes.” The name seemed to echo with a power that only a Truename possessed.

After informing Paerk of Gannen's Truename, he made short work of fulling restoring him. After he was recovered, he seemed a bit concerned that he had so easily divulged his Truename. I informed him that I would never misuse it. He still seemed a bit wary, however.

Blank asked him about Monala's “evil plan,” and he told us that we had to go to Xanadu as soon as possible. He wasn't entirely clear on what exactly Monala was going to do, but he told us that her plan involved zombies and other general evil. He also informed us that Mixastomere was involved as well, a fact that (surprisingly) didn't seem to cause Soern much grief.

We decided to return to Ao-Manasa to stock up and get ourselves properly equipped before venturing off to Xanadu. Even sailing back to port was more difficult than it should have been; the weather was getting worse by the moment. Once back in town, we went to the University and talked to Uthar again. He told us that Xanadu had, indeed, been the capital of the Hora Quan empire. After we told him that we believed the Heart of the Ocean may have been restarted and that that may be the cause of this recent foul weather, he seemed very concerned.

We also did some shopping. I got a new set of armour and purchased some things for Gannen, who seemed to be suffering from a distinct lack of equipment. We left the city before nightfall.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 2

The weather was again horrible today, but Captain Blank says we made astounding progress. Captain Blank seems convinced our above-average speed is directly linked to his above-average sailing ability. I have a different, more sinister idea. I believe these cursed winds are ushering us off to Xanadu. It is as if Monala herself is beckoning to us, summoning us to her dark lair as a spider does with flies. Either she gets some sadistic pleasure out of continuously causing us strife, or perhaps our deaths will simply be the last obstacle in her malefic plan. Either way, we're in for a world of hurt.

Gannen's been distant today. I tried on numerous occasions to pull him aside to speak with me and he brushed me off each and every time. This concerns and saddens me.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 3

We're another day closer to confronting Monala, and Gannen and I are another day further apart. I spent a good deal of my time today trying to talk to him, yet he still would barely even make eye contact with me.

Near the end of the day, Commodore Blank climbed up to the Crows' Nest while I was on duty.

“Why by Malleus' beard are you still up here?!” he exclaimed, “I've yelled at you like five times to get your ass back down on deck.”

I didn't answer him and instead looked out in the stormy sea, “Can I ask you something?”

“If you get down from here, sure.” I looked at him and he pointed towards the ladder. “Get climbing.” When we reached the bottom of the ladder, Commodore Blank lead me into his office. He pointed to a chair and tossed a drying-cloth to me. I sat down. “Now, what did you want?”

“Why does he hate me?”

“He? Who? Mark? He doesn't hate you, he's just not the most... personable. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit you in the head with that plank earlier. If you hadn't been daydreaming off in your own little worl...”

“I'm not talking about Mark,” I interrupted.

“Then who? Gannen?” Blank looked at me. I sighed and stared at the floor. “Aha... I see... Sigrid's a bit smitten, is she? This calls for a toast!” Blank reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of rum and a not-so-clean shotglass. He poured a shot and pushed the glass towards me.

“You think everything calls for a toast,” I muttered.

“Precisely. Go on now.”

“I don't want any rum.”

Blank looked a little taken aback. “Don't... want... rum? Ah,but you jest, of course you want it. Go on.” Blank held the rum bottle in one hand, waiting for me to take my glass. Sighing, I lifted the shot. Blank lifted the rum bottle up in a manner of toasting. I echoed with my glass. Blank downed three or four guzzles as I sipped about half the shot.

“I just wish I knew why he hates me...”

“I don't think he hates you. I think he hates that sword,” he motioned towards the Aur Xica with the bottle.

“How would you know that?”

“Commodore Blank is an amazingly wise man,” he smugly stated. Upon seeing that I was not impressed, he added, “Well, and Gannen told me earlier that he hates that sword.”

“So, he's been avoiding me to avoid the Aur Xica?”

“Maybe... Look, Sigrid, why don't you talk to him about it?”

Leaving the Aur Xica in Blank's care, I ventured down below deck to do just that, but found that Gannen was already fast asleep in his bedroll. I will have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4

When I woke up this morning, Gannen was already up on deck. He greeted me with slightly more enthusiasm than he had previous days. Perhaps Blank was right about the sword. I still felt that I needed to talk to him about “us”, so I stole him away below deck. Ignoring the issue of the Aur Xica completely, I asked him flat-out what he thought of me. He averted the question, telling me that he really couldn't have this conversation now. He promised me, however, that after Xanadu, after we dealt with Monala, that we could talk about everything. I begrudgingly accepted this arrangement and we talked for a little while about other things. He expressed a little self-annoyance with how easily he divulged his Truename. I then shared my Truename with him. He was silent for a moment and then commented, “You really trust me, don't you, Sigrid?” I informed him that that was, indeed, the case and he turned away and sighed. A minute or so later, he excused himself to return to work.

I decided to take a break for the rest of the day. I'm scheduled for night watch tonight, so I think I'll rest up for that.

~~~~~

Notes

2007-11-24T13:27:00.000-05:00

Created: March 9, 2007

Secondmonth 19th
At Knight of the Axe island
Discussed whether to go back to Ao-Manasa or continue on to Hora Quan
Everyone wanted to go to the Hora Quan, except Rellik
Then Sigrid decide she wanted to go back to Ao-Manasa

Discussed sword, price, appraisal

“I’m the quartermaster. I keep stuff places.” – Sigrid
“And I hide things other places.” – Blank

Weather: 3 days (until Secondmonth 22nd)
Moderate temperature
Light winds (x1)
West

60 miles per day

Secondmonth 20th
40 miles away from Ao-Manasa

Secondmonth 21st
Arrive without incident

Went to the Twisted Fish
New random victim – Faen, male, Yaerl Dawnskimmer (Edited post-session: I never actually told the players this)

Midafternoon
Went to Mevarin residence (to kill Mischa)

“We all got multiples of five.” – Andy
“But only one of them was a prime number.” – AJ

“My name is Sigrid Halstead. You killed your father. Prepare to die.” – Sigrid

Killed Mischa

Searched the house
Magic booze!
Jewelry
Sigrid made Soern put it back
Left one of the vials of poison on Mischa’s body, along with one of the flowers

“Rellik! I will not tolerate insubordination.” – Captain Blank
“(I said a fancy word.)” – Captain Blank

Went out the back

Went to the Black Angle

“Why would they try to kill us? We are as innocent as little baby birdlings.” Captain Blank
“Little baby birdlings who just murdered someone.” – Sigrid
“Baby birdlings can be very vicious.” – Captain Blank

Sigrid flirting with Gannen
Gannen arrested

“It’s like everything I know about justice has been turned on it’s head. The guards just came in and arrested a man who, while certainly not innocent, was not guilty of this crime.” – Sigrid

Soern went back to the ship
Rellik “urged the bartender to call the guards” and then went back to the ship

“But it’s a ritual. You can’t bother me.” – Sigrid
“Right. I’ll be on god dirty.” – Soern

Everyone goes back to Ocean’s Blade
Sigrid got all her ritual supplies

“I’ll always be there to get hammered with you.” – Captain Blank
“Yeah, that makes me feel much – wait, yeah, it does.” – Sigrid

Secondmonth 21st
Weather: 1 day (until Secondmonth 22nd)
Moderate temperature
Light winds (x1)
West

Weather: 2 days (22nd – 23rd)
Moderate temperature, storm, rain
Windstorm (gale) (x3)
East

Weather: 2 days (24th – 25th)
Cold, clear
Light winds (x1)
West

Weather: 3 days (26th – 29th)
Moderate, fair, fog
Light winds (x1)

Secondmonth 21st (60 miles)
Secondmonth 22nd, storm/rain, driven 120 miles straight west
Secondmonth 23rd, storm/rain, driven 120 miles straight west, past the tomb
Secondmonth 24th, clear, 60 miles to tomb, arrive at the tomb
Secondmonth 25th, clear, set new course, 200 miles off
Secondmonth 26th,

Initiative & Such

2007-11-19T16:06:00.000-05:00

Created: March 9, 2007

Baern

2007-11-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

Created: March 9, 2007
Baern
Human Oathsworn 6
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d10+12 (42), dying/dead -2/-14
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 feet
AC: 17 (+4 Dex, +3 oathsworn bonus), touch 17, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
Attack: Unarmed +10 melee (1d8+5), thrown object +9 ranged (1d8+5) (increment 10 ft.)
Full Attack: Unarmed +10/+6 (1d8+5), thrown object +9/+5 (1d8+5)
Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Shattering blow, throw object, combat rites, objects as weapons
Special Qualities: Swear an oath, eschew food, evasion, fast movement, lesser adaptation, refuse fatigue, refuse fear,
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +7
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 11
Skills: Balance +13, Climb +13, Jump +13, Sense Motive +11, Tumble +13
Feats: Resistance to Magic, Intuitive Sense, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Low Blow, Hands as Weapons

Touch of fear, touch of pain, and touch of disruption, each 1/day

Shattering Strike: Full round action, one attack ignores 6 points of damage reduction.

Low Blow: As a full-attack action, Baern can make a single attack roll that inflicts normal damage. If he damages his humanoid or monstrous humanoid opponent, the foe must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 15). Should he fail the save, he is dazed for 1 full round.

Objects as weapons: Can use any random object as a weapon, attack bonus and damage as unarmed strike.

Resistance to Magic: +1 saving throw bonus to all saves against spells, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, magic items, and so forth

Intuitive Sense: aware of all incoming attacks

Combat Rites: 3 1st rank

Equipment:
+1 enhancement on hands (2,000)
Wargloves (1,600)
1 Strength boost +2 potions (300)
1 Dexterity boost +2 potions (300)
1 Constitution boost +2 potions (300)
Sturdying Elixir (10 hp) (300)
2 potions of lesser battle healing (300 each)

NPCs

2007-11-17T19:24:00.000-05:00

My(tm) Official Is This Fair? Soundtrack

2007-11-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

Since Artemis made hers, I figured I'd do my own. All the songs are songs that can be bought someplace, dunno about Ruckus or whatever, except for A pirate I was Meant to Be, which can be found on the Curse of Monkey Island official webpage.

1. Devil’s Ambition, From FF9 – Opening Credits, Sneaking into Sa-Follens House.
2. Indiana Jones Theme, From Indiana Jones – Investigating the Islands Tomb.
3. Two Hornpipes, From Pirates of the Caribbean – Black Angle's Theme
4. My Kind of Guy, By The Kaiser Cheifs – Blank and Rellik’s Theme (Poisonous Polish Scene)
5. Woke Up This Morning, By Nickelback – Mischa Theme (Mischa's Fight scene)
6. Falling For the First Time, By Barenaked Ladies – Sigrid's Theme (Touch of Justice and Witch Sight shenanigans in the black angle)
7. Theme from Jurassic Park, From Jurassic Park – Investigating Hora Quan temple
8. A Pirate I was Meant to be, From Curse of Monkey Island – Cap’n Blanks Shanty (Captain Communists High Seas Piracy)
9. Bells of Freedom, By Bon Jovi – Gannen's Theme (rescuing Gannen from prison)
10. This Fire, By Franz Ferdinand – Chapter House on Fire
11. The Black Pearl, From Pirates of the Caribbean – Boarding Parrel's ship, stealing it
12. Extreme Ways, By Moby – Soerns theme (Sorcerous Blast to the Fearful Lightning)
13. Barbossa Is Hungry, From Pirates of the Caribbean – Investigating The Pirate Cove
14. Great Destroyer, By Nine Inch Nails – Illiams Theme (Fighting him)
15. If You’re Gone, By Matchbox Twenty – Sigrid love theme #1 (Gannen Abducted)
16. Smooth Criminal, By Alien Ant Farm – Relliks Theme (killing other twin merchant)
17. Collector, By Nine Inch Nails – Taevins Theme (him talking about his employer)
18. Hunter’s Chance, From FF9 – Fighting on Jeweled Trees island, snakes, birds, golems
19. Through Glass, By Stone Sour – Sigrid Love theme #2 (Gannen Still Abducted)
20. White Wedding, By Billy Idol - Wedding? I love weddings!
21. Ghost Love score, by Nightwish – Weddings Fight Scene and ensuing madness
22. Green World, By Gorillaz – Paerks Theme (stuck somewhere in the calm)
23. All My Life, By Foo Fighters – Blanks Theme (being a traitorous bastard)
24. Vamo Alla Flamenco, From FF9 – Hallas duel
25. Welcome To The Jungle, By Guns N Roses – Gorzams Theme (hanging out in Gorzam)
26. Cold, By Matchbox Twenty – Monalas Theme (Ice Mephits)
27. One Last Shot, From Pirates of the Caribbean – Volcano rescue
28. Kraken, From Pirates of the Caribbean - Kraken Fight (going to Xanadu)
29. The Beginning of the End, By Nine Inch Nails – Descending underneath Xanadu
30. A Last Illusion, By Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Epic fight
31. Paradise City, By Guns N Roses – Xanadu's Theme (end credits)

Estimated Elapsed Time: 2 Hours, Twelve minutes

Soundtrack

2007-11-15T00:43:00.000-05:00

My (Unofficial) Soundtrack. Comments/Complaints/Suggestions are welcome! For you college kids, MOST of the tracks are available for FREE on Ruckus.

Is This Fair? Is it? – Soundtrack

Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
Live for Today – 3 Doors Down
Wanted Dead or Alive – Bon Jovi
Metal Heart – Garbage
Silent Sea – KT Tunstall
Don't Want You Back – Backstreet Boys
For the Sake of Revenge – Sonata Arctica
Bounce – Bon Jovi
Leave Out All the Rest – Linkin Park
Not Ready to Make Nice – Dixie Chicks
The Truth Behind the Rose – Within Temptation
Here by Me - 3 Doors Down
It's My Life – Bon Jovi
The Islander – Nightwish
The World Is Not Enough – Garbage
Parade – Garbage
Have You Got It in You? – Imogen Heap
Going Down in Flames – 3 Doors Down
Beautiful Day – U2 – Paerk's Theme
Crystal Ball – Keane
Make Me – Andain
The Frog Prince – Keane
Walk On – U2
How Far We've Come – Matchbox Twenty
Make This Go On Forever - Snow Patrol
Little Wonders - Rob Thomas

Mischa Mevarin

2007-11-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

Created: March 5, 2007

Mischa Mevarin
Human Akashic 6
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d6+12 (24), dying/dead 0/-10
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+6
Attack: Greatsword +6 melee (2d6+2, 19-20/x2), composite longbow +6 ranged (1d8,x3)
Full Attack: Greatsword +6 melee (2d6+2, 19-20/x2), composite longbow +6 ranged (1d8, x3)
Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Sneak attack, minor battle memory,
Special Qualities: Skill memory (+2) 3/day, Perfect recall, Delve into collective memory, creature loresight 1/day,
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +3
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 15
Skills: Bluff +11, Climb +11, Diplomacy +11, Disable Device +11, Disguise +11, Escape Artist +11, Gather Information +11, Listen +7, Open Lock +11, Search +12, Sleight of Hand +11, Sneak +11,
Feats: Night Owl, Ritual Combat, First Strike, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot

Night Owl: +1 to attacks, saves, and checks at night
First Strike: +1d6 damage against flat-footed opponents

Uses Canny Strike when she can, +1d6 sneak attack, for a total of +3d6 against flat-footed enemies.

Has note, “To Gannen: I did it.”

Aur Xica History

2007-11-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

Created: March 4, 2007

This blade was once called Aur Xica, sword of champions. Little now is known of it, its tale lost along with the empire it defended, Hora Quan.

It was forged at the beginning of the empire, and for centuries was wielded by each of the Emperor’s champions in turn, and helped to maintain its long peace, until that peace was ended by the dramojh war.

Tai Faren, the high priest, hid the sword from the dramojh—though no one has recorded where. He bound its power, and hid the secret to its unbinding at the heart of the empire, the Temple of the Hora Quan.

Session Notes

2007-11-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

Created: March 2, 2007

“Didn’t you used to be all happy and whimsical? Hmm, maybe Rellik’s had a bad influence on him. Or maybe it was you.” – Sigrid
“I’m whimsical!” – Captain Blank
“You’re a pirate.” – Sigrid

Secondmonth 15th
Mid-afternoon

Ratham Norder
Thinks Soern is a pirate
First words “you look unwashed”
He thinks everyone is a pirate, especially if they deny it, because “pirates always lie”
Has a rat problem – the rats are dirty, and need cleaning

“You look . . . unwashed.” – Ratham

“Are you a pirate? I don’t like pirates.” – Ratham
“I’m not a pirate.” – Soern
“You must be a pirate. Pirate’s always lie.” – Ratham
“I’m a pirate.” – Captain Blank
“You’re not a pirate. You’re telling the truth. You can’t be a pirate.” – Ratham

Went to talk to Mischa
Dyeza Tazhiren
Read some documents, something about Dyeza Tazhiren and his instatement as champion

go back to the Black Angle
Tillienne
Cer-Athane
Gannen

Sigrid and Soern go over to the bar
Blank goes over and talks to Cer-Athane
Got his headband of feathery wisdom
Sigrid gets ale

“Where’d you get that sword?” – Gannen
“We found it.” – Sigrid
“In a gold mine.” – Soern

“We found it, it’s very old, we don’t much about it. Except that it has feelings.” – Sigrid
“It’s the ale.” – Captain Blank

Talked to Gannen about the sword, Hora Quan

“I’m supposed to stand for justice, and truth.” – Sigrid
“Then sit down.” – Captain Blank

Went back to ship, saw James being threatened by thugs on the way
On the docks: ship with black and red, ominous sails
It set sail, they followed it

Sailed threw fog, other ship disappeared
Ghost wolves

Set sail on Secondmonth 16th night

Weather: 5 days
Moderate temperature
Light winds (x1)
West

60 miles per day
Takes three and a half days
Arrived at Knight of the Axe island on the morning of Secondmonth 19th

Tethun
Kavikaran

“So, Rellik, what do you think about going to the temple?” – Sigrid
“Rrrr, cryptic, rrr, apathy, rrr, kill Mischa.” – Captain Blank

Scenes

2007-11-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

Created: February 24, 2007

Scenes

Confrontation with Illiam’s crew
Goals: Spotlight Blank, establish that Illiam is a bad guy
Location: The Twisted Fish
Prep: Stats for basic crew member, personalities
Triggers: None (location only)

Interview with Mischa Mevarin
Goals: Shut down the “murder” subplot, hint at why the people who were murdered were, introduce background bad guy
Location: Mevarin House
Prep: Stats for Mischa, Mevarin house layout

NPCs

2007-11-06T18:39:00.000-05:00

Created: February 24, 2007

Ea-Shamar
Giant 2 / Warmain 3
Ao-Manasa
Interim captain of the guard (was second in command; won’t be official until there’s a funeral and a changing of command ceremony)
Believes in justice, wants to clean up the guard, take on the Nightwalkers
Needs to finish the Shu-Rin ceremonies—taking over the guard is going to delay that
Red hair, wears mostly red and white, even while off duty (Red and white/argent are the colors of Ao-Manasa and its guard)
High energy, dynamic, wants to know what the situation is
Mid-30s, 6’6”, 200 lbs (short . . . for a giant)

Mixastomere
Huge Dragon (Water)
On her island
Adult, about 150 years old
Blue and bronze, some green shimmering
Trades magical knowledge and Tenebrian evolution for “favors”
Broke off from the main delegation of the Squamous Horde; relations with them aren’t terribly friendly
Wanted Sa-Follen dead—sent Sorern to do it
Possibility: dealt with Sa-Follen as a favor to the Horde, to prevent open conflict
Possibility: dealt with Sa-Follen to see if she could blame the Horde

Taevin Brightfind
Quickling Faen (Expert, maybe)
Ao-Manasa
Captain Blank’s contact
Merchant, specializes in buying and selling exotic treasure, the kinds of things only adventurers can get
Able to work with rich collector types, willing to work with scruffy adventurer types
Somewhat like Badger, from Firefly, dismissive of the PCs
Late 80s (young adult, nearly middle age), 3’5”, 45 lbs

Gannen
Human Champion of Death
Ao-Manasa
Arena
Champions death in a personal way—uninterested in starting wars, because it’s the killing blow that matters to him (but don’t tell the characters this straight out)
Dark hair, dark eyes
Black and gold, the smell of metal

Lord Morek
Human (Warmain or Champion of Freedom)
Knight of the Axe (on their island)
The guy Sigrid talks to for KotA stuff

Word Construction Guidelines

2007-11-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

Created: February 21, 2007

Word construction:

Vowels
Ai
Eh (e)
Uh (u) (a)
I
O

Starred can only be in their category

Start of words:
(Combines stops (t d k g) with unvoiced approximants (w l y))
Tw (tu)
Tl
Ty
Dw (du)
Dl
Dy
Kw (qu)
Kl
Ky
Gw (gu)
Gl
Gy

(Fricatives)
F*
V*
Th
S
Z
Sh*
Zh*
H*

Middle of Words:
Combinations defined above
R*
L*
S
Z

Ends:
Vowels
R
M*
N*
Ng*

Mazquar

2007-11-04T15:09:00.000-05:00

Created: February 16, 2007

Mazquar
Verrik Mageblade
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d8+6 (36), dying/dead -1/-12
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 20 (22 w/ beastskin)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Longsword +9 melee (1d8+7), composite longbow +7 (1d8+2)
Full Attack: +9 melee (1d8+7), composite longbow +7 (1d8+2)
Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Spells
Special Qualities: Athame, shimmering shield
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 15
Skills: Climb +5, Concentration +6, Jump +4, Knowledge (runes) +5
Feats: Natural Sworsdman, Bond with Item, Weapon Focus, Improved Initiative, Weapon Specialization

Ammo: 20 arrows, 20 bodkin Arrows
Potion of transfer lesser wounds, potion of glamour, potion of heightened lesser battle healing, potion of strength boost
Ring of Resistance +1

Spell Slots 4/3/3
Spells Readied 5/4/3

Bash
Detect Magic
Saving Grace
Seeker
Touch of Weakness

Animate Weapon
Mind Stab
Tears of Pain
Touch of Fear

Beastskin (Lesser)
Destructive Grip
Spell’s Edge (Lesser)

Initiative & Such

2007-10-29T17:27:00.000-04:00

Created: February 16, 2007

Session Notes

2007-10-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

Created: February 16, 2007

Hung out in a tavern – The Twisted Fish – for a while, had happy sharing story time. Blank and Sigrid explained their pasts, how they’d got here. Rellik refused to answer their questions.

“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

Worked out a plan:
Rellik and Blank go investigate the arena
Sigrid talks to Ea-Shamar about investigating murders, wants to get a new shield

Sigrid left her armor (not her sword) on the boat

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

Sigrid got a black cloak

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

They found James standing outside the Black Angle. Had a conversation with him. That was funny.

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

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

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

Sassone leaf residue; Contact DC 16; 2d12 hp; 1d6 Con; 300 gp

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

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

Blank bet 2,000 gp on Mazquar
Rellik bet 500 gp on Mazquar
Blank and Rellik bet Sorern’s 1250 gp on Mazquar

Total: 6,250 gp

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

Went back to the ship, slept.

Next day: voyage!

Sorern’s backstory: evil stepmother

Day 1:
Cold, Fair, Snowing (3 days)
Strong wind (x3 sailing speed)
Prevailing (west)
216 miles

Day 2:
Cold, Fair, Snowing (2 days)
Strong wind (x3 sailing speed)
Prevailing (west)
90 miles

Secondmonth 13th

Return Journey

Day 1:
Cold, Fair, Snowing (2 days)
Strong wind (x3 sailing speed)
Prevailing (west)
Starts at like 3 p.m.

Eh, forget it. Takes 2 days to get back.

Secondmonth 15th

Does Sigrid know about the poisoned sword?

Mischa Mevarin
Human
Ao-Manasa

She was drunk at the time. Knows they did something she was very angry about, but she doesn’t know what it was.

Letter, yay, got all paranoid.

Stone Bear

2007-10-25T23:43:00.000-04:00

Created: February 9, 2007

Stone Bear
Large Construct
Hit Dice: (8d8) 36 hp
Initiative: +1
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), swim 30 ft.
Armor Class: 15 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+18
Attack: Claw +13 (1d8+8)
Full Attack: 2 claws +13 melee (1d8+8) and bite +8 melee (2d6+4)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, DR 5/magic
Saves: Fort --, Ref +7, Will +3
Abilities: Str 27, Dex 13, Con --, Int --, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Hide -2, Listen +5, Spot +7, Swim +16
Feats: Endurance, Run, Track
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 4
Advancement: 9-12 (Large)
Level Adjustment: --

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a stone bear must hit with a claw attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

The Disgraceful Mystery of the Lustful Death of the Damned Dreaming Madness of the Bloody Greed of the Golden Hell-born Eel of Atlantis

2007-10-24T00:27:00.001-04:00

Created: February 16, 2007

The Disgraceful Mystery of the Lustful Death of the Damned Dreaming Madness of the Bloody Greed of the Golden Hell-born Eel of Atlantis

Everyone just calls it “The Disgraceful Mystery,” sometimes “The Disgraceful Mystery of Atlantis,” except the Captain, who always uses the full name. Always.

Caravel

Crew:
Stede Bonnet, Captain
Blank, First Mate
James, Annoying Cabin Boy
Hook, the Cook
Illiam
Mark
Tevern
Melle

Captain Blank

2007-10-23T07:10:00.000-04:00

Created: February 13, 2006

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

Blank, Captain Blank, Cap'n Blank.

What is your full birth name?

Lionel Isaac Assiri

What is your greatest strength?
my wit and tack

What is your greatest weakness?

unprepared combat

What is your most distinguishing feature?

facial hair, a mustache and goatee

What kind of clothing do you wear?

pirate garb, arrr.

Where did you grow up?

larger islands to the north

Why did you leave?

came to live with Uncle Grizby

Who is your closest friend?

Mark, a previous shipmate. I don't know if he still lives.

Who is your worst enemy?

Illiam, my rival on the previous ship, who was about ready to lead a mutiny.

What is your greatest dream?

being the most feared pirate in all the land.

What is your greatest fear?

having no one working for me on my ship

What would you die for?

honor or my ship.

What would you kill for?

Gold, a friend, my ship.

probably not terribly enlightening, I'll write up a bit more character history when I have time.

Sigrid Halstead

2007-10-22T23:25:00.000-04:00

Created: February 16, 2007

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

Some of the other Order Chapterhouse members call me "Puppy" because of her (almost youthful) exuberance. Other than that, no.

What is your full birth name?

Sigrid Halstead

What is your greatest strength?

My enthusiasm for whatever the task at hand is.

What is your greatest weakness?

The fact that I feel I MUST Champion. I'm terrified my life won't matter, so I go over the top to make it matter. I don't believe in my own set of skills, and feel I must depend on my cause to give me some degree of power and control over my life. Also, I apparently annoy people a lot.

What is your most distinguishing feature?

I am missing the my smallest finger on my shield hand. It was cut off by an angry Giant merchant after I was caught stealing from him as a teenager.

What kind of clothing do you wear?

Devanian plate armor if the situation demands it. Otherwise a light-coloured tunic and breeches with riding boots.

Where did you grow up? Why did you leave?

The lower city of De-Shamod with my mother. It always struck me as odd that there weren't really any Giants living there in the slums. My mother worked in a human blacksmiths' shop. She wasn't a blacksmith herself, but as she always told me "Blacksmithing is messy and blacksmiths need someone to clean up after them." She also assisted the blacksmith with some of his work. My mother was killed by a city guard when I was 14. He claims she attacked him. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now. I couldn't afford the rent, so I lived on the streets for several months. Eventually my mother's former employer (the blacksmith Loghan) found out I was living on the streets and took me in. I worked him in exchange for room and board. I learned a little smithing, though I was by no means his apprentice. He was a masterful smith. Had he been a Giant, he could have made weapons and armor for the Guard and Military. As it was, he was still very well off.

I would run deliveries for Loghan. Every couple months or so there would be a big order from out of the city. It would never all get shipped at once however. Loghan would send a few pieces a day down to the river port, as if to avoid attention. I would make these deliveries to various non-Giants down at the river. Sometimes I would meet a fishing boat. Sometimes I would meet a small merchant ship. Again, nothing ever stood out. Nothing about the deliveries or the recipients would draw any attention.

When I was 17 asked Loghan about it, he asked me if I had ever heard of the Order of the Axe. I said I had, and we had a long conversation about the Order. Apparently the human Speaker of De-Shamod, Lady Taliena Ishor, is covertly a supporter of the Order. In public she has always been loyal the Diamond Throne, but she carefully makes sure that people who support the Order, like Loghan, get turned a blind eye, as long as they do not draw too much attention to themselves.

It was then that I decided I would like to join the Order of the Axe. It took Loghan a couple months to coordinate, but one day, when the last of the shipment to the local Order Chapterhouse was delivered to the port, I was along with it. I trained at the Chapterhouse on White Shoal Island for the required seven years as a Squire. At 24, I became a true Knight and was transferred to a Chapterhouse off the coast of Ao-Manasa. I have been there less than a year. I have never served at an inland Chapterhouse, so I have never owned a horse like most Knights. At island, water-locked Chapterhouses, we do not own horses. We learn how to ride them, but it is impractical to keep them on an island.

Who is your closest friend?

I don't really have friends. A lot of the other Knights think I'm a bit overly-zealous. Lord Morek seems to like me well enough. He does give me a lot of missions for a Knight as young and green as myself. I have heard rumours that that's just to get me out of the Chapterhouse so I don't annoy everyone. I really hope that's not the case.

Who is your worst enemy?

Giants, perhaps? No, seriously, I hold no grudge against the race as a whole. I do hold a grudge against their leadership, and I HATE corrupt Guards, like the one that killed my mother. Also, I dislike members of my Order that follow Lord Harsted. His continued guerrilla attacks upon the Diamond Throne military have put the Order and it's goal of self-rule in serious jeopardy. I, like most of my Order, follow Sir Aniton and his idea of a peaceful resolution with the Giants.

What is your greatest dream?

To find real purpose in my life. The Order has given me that, and my chose path of Justice has as well, but I still feel very empty. I feel as if what I am doing doesn't really matter anyway.

What is your greatest fear?

Losing my faith and devotion. When I started Squiring, I was a Champion of Life. I held life above all else. As I got a little older, I decided that not all life was worth valuing, and sometimes people must die for the greater cause. I became a Champion of Justice. I devoted my life to following a Just path, and I cannot continually change my mind. That would make Championing anything meaningless. I need meaning. I do not want to lose my faith and devotion to Justice.

What would you die for?

If my death would help further the cause of Self Rule for all races, or if it would further the cause of Justice in the world, then I would welcome death. I do not want my death to be meaningless. I would also hope I do not die anytime soon. 25 is far too young to die.

What would you kill for?

I would kill someone to deliver them Final Justice. I do not see very many other reasons to kill someone. Self-defense perhaps, but that is also related to Justice. You try to kill me, I kill you instead, we're all happy.

Doesn’t know who her father is. Heh heh heh.

Lost Empire Ruin 1 -- The Island Tomb

2007-10-18T11:32:00.002-04:00

Created: February 9, 2007
The Island Tomb
An ancient, ruined tomb of a minor king from the Lost Empire.

PCs sent here by Taevin, who has a collector willing to pay 1,000 gp for any “relics” they can find.

Information:
There was an ancient empire.
This empire was powerful.
This empire was obsessed with death.
This empire was destroyed somehow, mysteriously.
Hint at the floating platform thing.

1. The Beach (EL 5)
The island is small and desolate, basically just a sandbar. The most obvious features are the sound of surf and the smell of sea air. There is also a building of some kind, made of smooth stone, half buried under the sands, and a giant stone head a few yards away.

Near the entrance are three medium monstrous crabs (Stormwrack p. 142) who attack anyone who ventures near. If they don’t see the party, they will eventually wander away, into the waves. (Spot distance is 6d6x20 feet, though.)

The entrance is two large stone doors. Above these doors, on the roof of the building, are two legs, all that remains of the statue the head came from. Across the doors is an inscription that reads: “My name is Ozymandius, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”

2. Entrance Hall
The only light in this room is what comes in from outside. The walls are covered with relief carvings, likely of the exploits of the aforementioned Ozymandius. They show, variously, a robed figure being crowned, leading an army, surrounded by courtiers, dispensing wisdom from a throne, and being given various things. The figure of Ozymandius is distinguishable because he is decorated with inlaid colored stone that has in places fallen away.

A short hallway leads into a much larger room.

3. Walkway
The walls of the chamber are covered with scenes similar to the ones in the entrance, except that they mostly depict various happenings of an empire, rather than the personal exploits of a king.

A semi-circular runs around one side of the chamber. The central part of the chamber, between the walkway and the central island, is dark pit. (20’ deep, then water.) The central island is about 20’ away from the walkway. (See 6 for details.) This is a puzzle: the players will need to figure out some way to get from the walkway to the central island. One solution: use telekinesis (lesser) to loop a rope around the sarcophagus thing in the center, and then climb across.

In the center of the walkway is a detachable platform that would float back and forth between the island and the walkway if it were operable. Which it isn’t. The only clue that it is detachable, currently, is an indentation that runs around its edge on the walkway and down the side of the pit. It’s also covered with shallower lines and complex patterns, and three pits evenly spaced across its middle.

4. Right Chamber
This chamber contains three things: a statue made of black stone with gold details, murals depicting the same figure as the statue, and reliquary in the wall. This has been hidden with some care (Search DC 15) but it should be fairly obvious that something is there: the statue faces it, most of the figures on the wall are facing it, and the spot itself is marked with a crossed bar of translucent golden stone. (Like a plus sign, except the horizontal is four or five times as wide as the vertical.)

Inside the reliquary is a longsword with a hilt of black stone, decorated with gold, and a small gold box.

The long sword is completely ordinary, but it counts as a relic for the collector.

5. Left Chamber
Just rubble, basically. Part of this section of the chamber collapsed. The PCs can clear it, if they want; three or four Strength checks, DC 15, if they fail by five points or more they have to avoid falling rubble, Ref 17, 1d6 damage. If they get through, all they find is an empty version of 4.

6. Central Island, EL 6
Another statue of Ozymandius. (Actually an upright sarcophagus, if they really want to break it open.)

On its head is a crown, set in indentations at its feet are the pieces of a broken scepter. All three are just art objects, the kind of thing Taevin’s rich collector is interested in. Moving these objects causes the back wall to slide open, and 2 stone bears enter. (Not that this makes any sense.)

7. Stone Bear Chamber
The inscriptions in this room look like they were added some time after the others; they’re fresher, more distinct. The carvings are more stylized, less detailed, and unadorned by colored stone. They show warriors, mages, and demon dragons; scenes of war and death.

Every few seconds, a narrow band of light moves across the floor, from one side of the chamber to the other. It starts at the feet of the largest dragon figure, and crosses over to a detailed temple, the non-war type figure on the walls.
An inscription runs around the room and through the designs—it’s not written in any recognizable language, but it’s still understandable. (Yay, magic.)

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

The temple is on the north east side of the chamber, to the right of the opening. The light thing points in this direction; it’s intended as a sign that they should sail that way.

Search DC 25:
Inset chamber similar to the one in 4
Bastard sword (magical, but has no active properties)
5 warm, sparking blue stones (Detonations, electric loop, 150 gp each, 750 gp total )
5 warm, sparking blue stones (Detonations, shock, 75 gp each, 375 gp total)
5 warm, sparking blue stones (Detonations, electric jolt, 12 gp 5 sp each, 62 gp 5 sp total)

Initiative & Such

2007-10-17T14:11:00.000-04:00

Created: February 10, 2007

Click on the image to view it at its proper size.

Session Notes

2007-10-16T00:19:00.000-04:00

Created: February 10, 2007

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

Fought bears. Captain Blank nearly died. Andy killed one by knocking it into the acid pit, Blank killed one with icefire.

“They fight stone bears, and Captain Blank nearly dies.”

Had conversation about how Captain Blank has no hit points. And how no one else could or wanted to heal him.

Rested, Sigrid and Rellik kept watch.

“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 (“he” being Taevin)
“And giant blue bears.” – Sorern

Party pulled a bomb squad on the blue stones.

“It’s contact etiquette. You wouldn’t understand.” – Captain Blank (to Sigrid)

Found all the things I hid. Got obsessed with figuring out the riddle.

Took about four days to work everything out.

Turned out there was a storm, with strong winds and stuff.

“Interesting. This seems to be a very popular name in this ancient culture.” – Captain Blank, jokingly imitating Sorern as he analyzed ever single one of the blue stones, and discovered that they were all made by the same person (Tai Faren)

They went back to Ao-Manasa, had a storm on the way, took three days. Sorern used object loresight on all the magic items they found. Captain Blank returned to Taevin, sold the relics—crown, two scepter pieces, box with hair, longsword. (5,000 gp)

“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

Ao-Manasa

2007-10-15T23:29:00.000-04:00

Created: February 8, 2007

Ao-Manasa
Large City
Population: 17,000
GP Limit: 40,000
01-24 Human (24%)
25-48 Giant (24%)
49-72 Sibeccai (24%)
73-96 Faen (24%)
97-00 Other (4%)

Power Centers:
Gri-Taresh, steward
Mixastomere, nearby dragon, exiled from the Squamous Horde
Nightwalkers

Captain of the Guard:
Ea-Shamar

Highest Level Locals:
Akashic 8th, 9th
Aristocrat 7th, 8th
Champion 9th, 7th
Commoner 18th, 17th
Expert 15th, 13th
Greenbond 9th, 8th
Mageblade 7th, 10th
Magister 8th, 9th
Oathsworn 7th, 7th
Runethane 8th, 9th
Unfettered 9th, 14th
Warmain 11th, 13th
Warrior 12th, 8th
Witch 10th, 12th

Lost Empire

2007-10-14T10:34:00.000-04:00

Created: February 8, 2007

Lost Empire plot

Established:
There was a king named Ozymandius.
He ruled an ancient empire.
Death mattered to these people.
Floating platform thing—I’ve described it, but they don’t realize what it is.

To Establish:
This empire was powerful.
This empire was obsessed with death.
This empire was destroyed by traitors and dramojh.
It can be brought back, with a ceremony.
Around the time it was destroyed, a prince disappeared.

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

Thoughts

2007-10-11T00:28:00.001-04:00

Created: February 4, 2007

Currently, it looks like “plot” of the campaign—such as it is—may end up hinging on Rellik. Which, for some reason, strikes me as really weird.

Sorern and Blank are both interesting characters, but neither has a really compelling plot attached to them. They have hooks, but not nearly on the same level as Sigrid and Rellik. Basically, I can get them to do things. Sorern, with the dragon, and with the promise of magic, knowledge, and loot. Blank has Taevin, and again, the loot thing. (I need to see if I can convince Blank to move towards the Robin Hood kind of thing. I like the pirate bit, and I think it makes for a good character, but I’m worrying that his being a straight up buccaneer will cause problems with Sigrid. And I don’t want that happening; I want people to have reasons to stick with the group. That’s another problem. Right now, no one really has a reason to stick together. Beyond transportation, I guess.)

But Rellik and Sigrid both have some serious stories attached to them. Sigrid’s I can handle, no problem: she wants justice, and she wants to see this area returned to human self-rule. On account of justice. I can work that into the Lost Empire plot (perfect way to return to self-rule) and throw in a feud with the giants, then leverage the “plot to murder the king” thing into a reason to work together with the authorities. Because assassination isn’t just.

But Rellik? Not only is he the perfect character to stick the Lost Heir thing onto—because it creates a moment of frantic scrambling around before they realize there’s another option, and we get some good angst/regret stuff out of it—he’s also got this whole . . . back story. It’s weird, and it’s really cool, and I really like it, but I’m not sure if I can pull it off.

Session Notes

2007-10-10T00:16:00.000-04:00

Created: February 3, 2007

Temperature Moderate
Wind Fair
Precipitation Clear

Strong Winds x3
Prevailing Winds – Westerly

Lasts for 4 days

Morek – guy Sigrid talked to in the Order of the Axe

Ocean’s Blade

Baern
Human
Oathsworn
Ao-Manasa

“I call upon the power of Justice!” – Sigrid
“Yar har, Cap’n Blank, arr.” – Captain Blank

Temple slightly damaged – Sorern’s spell ripped some stone out of it to work a spell
Captain Blank nearly killed by a crab; they swarmed him.
Sigrid dragged him away from the crab.

“So you are a real pirate. Your ship is so small and rickety, I thought you were a fake pirate.” – Sigrid

Kryptonite Lyrics

2007-10-09T00:24:00.001-04:00

Created: February 1, 2007

I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind
I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time
I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
I feel there’s nothing I can do

I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be something to do with you
I really don’t mind what happens now and then
As long as you’ll be my friend at the end

If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?
If I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?
I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might
Kryptonite

You called me strong, you called me weak
But still your secrets I will keep
You took for granted all the times I never let you down
You stumbled in and bumped your head
If not for me then you’d be dead
I picked you up, and put you back on solid ground

If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?
If I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?
I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might
Kryptonite

Players Styles

2007-10-08T11:54:00.000-04:00

Created: January 30, 2007

Soern's Player
Cool Powers
Setting Exploration (? Hunch)

Xerxed/Blank's Player
Puzzle Solving – Investigative (? Hunch)
Cool Powers (Video gamer)
Story (? Again, hunch)
Psychodrama (? Maybe . . .)
Setting Exploration (? He says)

Sigrid's Player
Psychodrama
Playing a role – “Paladin”
Story
Puzzle Solving – Investigative (? She says)

Rellik's Player
Supercoolness
Playing a role – Sneaking
Brilliant Planning (? Based on discussion at the end of session 1)

Everyone’s moderately interested in fighting, but it doesn’t seem to be anyone’s main focus. Could just be my lens.

Need to figure out some more hooks for Soern's player, not just his character. Also—I have a sneaking suspicion that Rellik's player may be interested in psychodrama/story, which I need to test. Mostly this is because he’s decided to be a mojh, and I’m not entirely sure why.

Plots -- Early Concepts

2007-10-07T02:59:00.000-04:00

Created: February 1, 2007

Possible plots:
Party vs. Ao-Manasa guard
They develop a feud with the Ao-Manasa guard. Sort of a “I’ll get you next time!” kind of dynamic.

Development is easy, because I can stick it in between other things. Anytime their adventures take them towards the shady side of the law, we can advance this plot.

Sigreid gets to oppose giants, who also happen to be just themselves (conflict!)
Blank gets to play “outsmart the Alliance”
Rellik gets to be sneaky and badass, undercover type
Sorern has a vague interest in opposing the giants, on account of dragons

Assassination
Someone wants to kill the “King.”

This is why Sa-Follen was killed. The “King” is coming to visit Ao-Manasa soon, and they wanted to force a new captain of the guard, so the city is off balance, and the guard is busy doing housecleaning. (Note: by “King” I currently mean the Lady Protector, but it could be anyone important. I’ll need to decide soon, because I need to start dropping hints.)

Development will mostly be player driven. If they don’t do anything, it’s going to happen, so I can timeline it. (Also, need to make sure the players find out that the “King” is coming to visit. Maybe have Ea-Shamar mention it.) Their finding out about it will depend on whether they investigate Sa-Follen’s death, and why they were all there on the same night.

Don’t know who’s responsible. I do know that they were working through Mixastomere, whether she knows it or not, and through Rellik’s organization. (Nightwalkers? Branch of the Nightwalkers?) And possibly through the Knights of the Axe. Too tidy? Maybe. But it’s a start.

Possibility: The goal is to start a war. Preferably between the giants and the dragons. Could be Havinar Balacos. (AE p. 361)

Gannen is a red herring. If they start to investigate, other people will start dying, making it look like the work of a death cult of some kind—and they may discover that he’s a champion of death, making it look like him. Close enough to the truth to lead them astray entirely.

Heck, this is neat enough to just do. Random people will start dying, nomatter what they do. Give the mystery assassin a calling card. Sounds good.

Blank gets to talk to people, unravel the mystery
Sigreid gets to talk to people, and bring justice
Rellik gets to do some underworld stuff—if they investigate, that’s where this will go
Sorern . . . er . . . well, it’ll involve the dragons somehow

The Lost Empire
This whole area was once ruled by a long vanished empire.

This is a “plot,” and not just a neat fact, for three reasons. One, it allows me to tie together a series of site-based adventures: they’re discovering more about this empire. Two, I’m thinking it may turn out that one of the PCs is “the last heir” to this empire, and that someone’s looking for said heir. (I can drop when needed, to jump start the plot.) Three, if this is true, then it ties in with what I figure is Sigreid’s long term goal: to return the lands to local rule.

I want to make Rellik the “last heir” because it lets me drive home the “no longer human” thing, and because it’s an amusing way to set off a search for some kind of “lost prince.” I had this idea that it would be interesting to have the party have to rescue someone trapped somewhere underwater. Anyway, the idea is, there’s this legend that involves some prince of this empire disappearing, or being kidnapped by fish people. Or something. And they find out about this as they’re investigating ruins, and then this group that’s looking to bring back the empire (they have a spell, maybe) finally finds Rellik. Only he’s a mojh, so all hope is lost. Except that maybe the legend isn’t a legend, and they set off on a daring quest to find this person and save the world.

Or something. That’s my idea, anyway. The brilliant thing about this plot is that it ties together the water-based exploration adventure that Sorern and Blank are interested in with the self-rule bit that Sigreid has, and making Rellik the last heir ties him into the plot. I’m also thinking that this may be connected to the Assassination thing, somehow.

Development includes having several ruins for them to explore. I can feed this through Blank’s NPC, maybe make him a collector. Or the contact has a client who’s a collector, but can’t be bothered to talk to . . . treasure hunters. (Disdain. Heavy on the disdain. Let the PCs brag about proving him wrong, bringing home the goods.) This section will need to get a couple of key facts across, preferably by taking advantage of Rellik’s Decipher Script skill.

There was an Empire that ruled this area ages ago.
It disappeared in such-and-such a way.
There might be a way to get it back, if you could find a genuine heir.
(Magical ceremony, maybe. That’d fit the Diamond Throne vibe.)
Rumor has it that there’s an heir, today.
The legend of the lost prince.

Also throw some false information in, or some stuff that’s technically true but not related to the plot, directly. Just for color.

Sorern gets water-based exploration adventure.
Blank gets water-based exploration adventure.
Sigreid gets to help return the area to its native rulers.
Rellik gets to be the last heir of an ancient empire. This is cool.

Characters

2007-10-06T10:50:00.000-04:00

Created: January 30, 2007

Sorern K’anai, evolved faen magister
--Learned magic from dragons, focus on dragon and water spells
--Interested in dragons, magic, and water
--Probably going to become an esoteric mage

Sigreid Halstead, human champion of justice
--Injustice of giant rule vs. Justice of individual giants
--Interested in justice, angst, and being tough
--Note: “internal conflict” bit based on what I know about her player
--Probably going to become a Knight of the Axe

Rellik, mojh unfettered
--Assassin, works for “Morag Tong” type guild
--Interested in killing things, sneaking being badass
--Why did he become a mojh?
--Also: seems to be interested in writing/forgery, build on it
--May be “last heir of – Empire,” haven’t decided (“Do you mind if I go all epic on your backstory?”)

Xerxed, verrik winter witch
--Interested in acting crazy and being badass
--Need to get a handle on this character, find out if his player’s happy with him
--Out of all of them, most likely to derail campaign – head this off now

Blank, human winter witch
--Interested in seafaring, talking to people, being scary cool
--Probably going to become a legendary captain (Stormwrack)
--In Ao-Manasa to meet a contact, who can give adventures

Brainstorming (II)

2007-10-05T11:07:00.000-04:00

Created: January 27, 2007

Things that could happen next
--They get captured
--They escape

Who’s the new captain of the guard?
Who’s leading this operation?
How’d the guard get here so fast?
--Tipped off—anonymous note
Who killed the Sa-Follen?
Why’d they kill him?

Two thoughts that occur to me immediately: something related to crime, the Nightwalkers maybe, or something related to dragons

Need to talk to Rellik, work out the exact nature of his organization (or just more of it)

Currently the “plot” and its themes engage Sigreid primarily. How can I include the other characters?

Make Sa-Follen’s death related to dragons (other dragons framing his dragon, encouraging giant interference with his actions) would engage Sorern. Note: Need to get more hooks on Sorern, more idea of who he is

Give Xerxed weird dreams

Need more background on everyone but Sigreid, really

Both capture and escape can have coolness
Escape: because they get to escape (maybe some roof hopping chase scene type fun) and then they get to be fugitives from justice. Also, they get to build a relationship with the new captain of the guard, sort of an “I’ll get you next time” dynamic.

Captured: They get more information about why the captain of the guard was killed, maybe. Have to figure out who did it, to get released, which could be cool.

Actually, having them escape would be cooler.

Hang on, almost forgot. Long term plan: The King is dead! This may be part of the set up for that. In fact, it’s almost certainly part of the set up for that. Exactly how this works, not quite sure.

The city will be off balance for a while. Maybe a few months. The new captain of the guard (definitely a she, don’t know anything else; maybe make her a “mirror” of Sigrid) actually isn’t bent, but half of the guard is, so she’ll be busy for a while trying to clean house and handle crime at the same time. Things are no longer status quo. So maybe the King (or whatever) is coming here soon, and this is part of a plan to make things easier to off him when he does.

Not King. “Lady Protector.” Do I really want to kill her off?

Character Motivation

2007-10-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

Created: January 26, 2006

Sorern K’anai

Seeking knowledge
Dragon wants captain of the guard killed as payment for evolution and training

Xerxed

Seeking knowledge
Declared vengeance against the captain of the guard for imaginary slight

Rellik

Contract against the captain of the guard

Sigreid Halstead

Justice
Giant overlords
Sent by the Order to “deal with” the guard

Initiative & Such

2007-10-03T12:27:00.001-04:00

Created: January 26, 2007

There's probably a way to convert Excel documents to html tables. I haven't yet figured out how. I should probably just learn html.

These first few initiative tables are included mostly for comparison purposes.

Rolls & Such

2007-10-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

Created: January 26, 2007

Guard Listen 22 Spot 9
Rellik Sneak 26
Sorern Sneak 8 Spot 1 Listen 17 Search 16
Sigreid Spot 26

Page 348
Giant Commander, giant wrm2/giant3: CR 5 Large giant; HD

Sorern 10
Sigreid 14
Xerxed 4
Rellik 11

Killed guard by rolling him into the acid pit

Sorern 20
Rellik 35
Xerxed 6
Sigreid 19

Sorern 15
Xerxed 15
Sigreid 18
Rellik 25

Sigrid's Journal 19: Past Becomes Present

2007-10-01T16:51:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 20 (continued)

We went to the Black Angle for the evening. Oh, how I am beginning to love that place.

Unfortunately, alcohol seems to impair my judgment very badly. After a couple a few several rounds, I decided it would be a good idea to visit Ea-Shamar. You see, my intoxication had given me a brilliant plan.

I visited Ea-Shamar. First I yelled at her about Monala. Then I offered to help recover Iu-Molan in exchange for her ignoring Gannen. After an argument that is now a bit blurry in my memory, it became apparent that she was not going to agree to this situation. I almost threatened to not help in the search for Iu-Molan, but I decided that that would be taking it a bit too far. I wouldn't allow Monala to harm the girl just because I was stubborn. We decided to leave town.

We didn't exactly know where we were going, mind you. I decided our top priority should be finding Gannen. The rest of the crew actually agreed with me (maybe this Runechild thing is really working out) and Soern cast a scrying spell on him. He discovered that Gannen was in the streets of a town, killing people. Monala was standing with him, watching. This made me angry enough to scream a few curses at her, including a few choice words about her heritage. Soern “helpfully” reminded me that a scry is a one-way connection. I shot him a dirty glance and he shut up.

Soern decided that the town Gannen was in looked like the northern port town of Gorzam, where Blank originates from. So, we set course for Gorzam and sailed off.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 21

Sailing, sailing
Over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
E're you come home again
Sailing, sailing
Give me your answer do
I'm half-crazy
Over the...

You know what? I'm pathetic. Would I feel so guilty about losing him if I didn't love him? Probably not. I feel no guilt over the loss of Iu-Molan, even though that was probably also preventable on my part.

Damn you, Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 22

Gorzam. I will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Also, Blank seems to be somewhat of a local hero. Coincidence? I think not.

We went to visit the Scurvy Seadog, a tavern run by Blank's Uncle Grisby. Upon meeting Mr. Grisby, I politely introduced myself in the manner in which one should greet a person of the merchant class. This elicited a rather strange response from Grisby. He frowned, looking a bit confused. Eventually he said, “You'll be looking for the Governor? Well, we went and threw him out a couple o' years ago, so ya don't need to be bowing or “sirring” or any o' that load of shit.” He grinned. “Pardoning milady's ears o' course,” he added in a bit of a mocking tone.

Serious as stone, I corrected him, “It's Dame, not Lady.” He shook his head and sighed, as if he couldn't believe he was listening to this. A smile crept across my face and I proclaimed, “Just kidding.”

Grisby blinked, forced a laugh and quietly commented to Blank that he “really knew how to pick 'em crazy.” Blank nodded. I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being.

Blank asked him about Gannen, and Grisby basically confirmed what we had already seen through Soern's scrying spell. He added that these “two people” had appeared and killed people several times, always taking the bodies with them. Curious.

Blank and the rest of the crew remained at the Scurvy Seadog for awhile while I wandered around near the docks. I examined the boats, trying to decide if I wanted to buy one of my own or not. Deciding that another boat wouldn't really be beneficial, and seeing that there were very few available to buy anyway, I decided to not buy a boat.

I returned to the Scurvy Seadog just as the crew was leaving. I asked where they were going, and Blank told me they were going to the Black Market. I asked, confused, if that was an actual, physical place, and he informed me that it indeed was.

“It's right down the street from Lenny's Fish Market on Commerce Street. Just look for the sign.”

Just look for the sign? What kind of Black Market had a sign? Apparently “Don Marko's Illicit and Pirated Goods” did. Wow.

It was a very grody store, but it had a good selection. I didn't really touch anything (for fear of contracting Lockjaw), but I did have a look around while the crew purchased some stuff.

We returned to our ships. Soern cast another scry on Gannen and found that he was standing at the Temple of the Hor'Quan, conversing with a dracha.

Before sunset, we left Gorzam. Good riddance.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 23

We're going to go to the Temple of the Hor'Quan, but first we're stopping at Pental so I can fill Lord Morek in on what's been happening, and perhaps request assistance. We will, supposedly, arrive tomorrow.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 24

Commodore Blank's about as accurate at predicting arrival times as those witches who try to predict the weather are at guessing when a storm is coming. Blank's a witch as well... Hmm... Perhaps all witches are simply untrustworthy. Damn mages.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 25

We arrived at Pental in the middle of the night last night. Early this morning, I met with Lord Morek and told him what had been happening, and what we planned to do about it. Our conversation eventually arrived at what our main goal was. When I told him we planned to restart the Hor'Quan Empire, he was very supportive and even granted me a Knight partner, Dame Jocelyn Riet, and a small batallion of Squires to assist. Milord is most gracious.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 26

I was on watch duty today and had to deal with a flock of angry seagulls who had decided that the crow's nest was their roost and that I was an intruder. Theoretically the peck marks will heal without scarring.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 27

Per usual, our one day trip from Pental to Ao-Manasa has turned into a two-day journey. This is torturous. I suppose I'm just a bit more anxious than normal. Okay, perhaps a lot more anxious than normal.

After we arrived in Ao-Manasa late in the evening, Soern and Blank scurried off to the Black Angle to pick up some items from Cer-Athane. I stayed at the ship, fearing the wrath of Ea-Shamar. I didn't really want her to find out I was back so soon, especially since I didn't have Iu-Molan with me.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 28

We had a meeting to discuss how to best reach Gannen (well, Iu-Molan, K'Max's, and Monala too, I guess). Soern recommended scrying on Gannen once again and then teleporting to him. I agreed wholeheartedly with this plan.

We figured that was what Monala was expecting us to do, however, so we decided that we all shouldn't go and we should leave something behind so Monala couldn't get “all the pieces of the puzzle” as it were. It was decided that Paerk and Jocelyn would remain behind, mostly because they were the least likely to end up in jail. We left them with the key we retrieved from Gannen's home.

Soern then cast another scry on Gannen. He was in a dark cavern with Iu-Molan. He then teleported us in. I hate teleporting. It feels like I'm being dragged through a hole in the fabric of the world itself. A very cold, slimy, stabbing kind of hole. Magic makes my skin crawl. Almost literally, in the case of teleporting. I found myself on the floor of the dark cavern. Everyone else was on their feet. I scrambled to mine and looked around.

It was dark, but not dark in the sense that darkness used to be for me. It was as if all the colours were muted, but the shapes were as clear as always. I am still getting used to these runechild eyes. I could make out many shapes in the room. There was a giant glass-like block of ice in the center of the room. There were also quite a few ice mephits that I was concerned about, Iu-Molan, whom I was pleased to see, and Gannen, whom I was more than pleased to see. Something glittered atop the ice-block. Looking back at it, I noticed that it was one of the seeds from the Isle of the Jeweled Trees. Curious. Underneath the iceblock, there was a soft, orangish glow.

I thought it may have something to do with the riddle Lord Morek gave me back in Thirdmonth. The thing about restarting the volcano.

Free the fire,
From icy fist,
Meet seed with flame of earth,
With storm and stare,
With will of heir,
Of right blood and right worth.

Soern suddenly yelled at us not to melt the ice. I suppose he had the same idea I had. Restarting a volcano while inside of it may be hazardous to one's health.The Aur-Xica seemed rather excited all of a sudden. Perhaps it felt the impending battle with the mephits that were already beginning to charge us. As we were fighting, I tried to make my way over to Gannen, but there were too many mephits for that plan to work. Suddenly there was a big burst of fire, causing the ice-block to melt and the seed to fall straight down into what appeared to be magma.

I yelled at Soern for his carelessness as I smacked the last of my mephit attackers, but he claimed that it hadn't been him that had cast the fireball. Monala. I screamed her name but got no reply. The only sound I heard was a steadily increasing rumbling beneath my feet. Running over to Gannen, I tried to talk to him, but he was zoned out and catatonic.

The rumbling grew louder. Mark grabbed Gannen and began to run towards the daylight that we hoped was an exit. I helped Iu-Molan to follow and we all fled, just as the magma began to rise into the cave. Death-by-volcano was not in the plans for the day, so we kept running, finding a way out of the cave. Once out, we scrambled up some rocks to the top of the Temple of the Hor'Quan.

There was a horrible shaking, and on the horizon, we witnessed a giant stone structure rise out of the ocean just as the sun was rising for the day. It was a beautiful,and terrifying sight.

Poor Gannen's mind was seriously messed up by Monala. Soern said there really wasn't much he could do here and suggested we teleport back to the ships, where perhaps Paerk would be of more help. It also started to rain.

When it came time for Soern to teleport us back, he kept glancing around at everyone. When I asked him what the problem was, he explained that he wasn't sure if he could teleport everyone back, but that he would try. This revelation evoked many painful images in my head of teleportation-gone-horribly-wrong. I was so distracted, I didn't even noticed Soern cast the spell. There was that creepy feeling, and then I appeared on the Fearful Lightning, shivering. I glanced around and noticed that everyone else had made it in one piece as well, including Gannen, whose arm I grabbed onto protectively.

Paerk took a look at Gannen and everyone debated for awhile on the best way to fix his mind. At first, Paerk thought the most obvious way to fix him would be to kill him and then resurrect him again, but I (almost violently) vetoed that idea. Eventually Paerk decided he could cast a restoration spell on him to fix him, unfortunately, he needed to look over said spell first and wouldn't be able to cast it until tomorrow. Even tomorrow, he would need to know Gannen's Truename for the spell to work. Perhaps by morning, Gannen will have recovered naturally enough to tell Paerk his Truename.

Soern then messed with Iu-Molan's memory so she would think Gannen got taken away by Monala again. Clever that. Anyway, Paerk, Blank, and I escorted Iu-Molan to Ea-Shamar, who thanked us, but seemed a bit stressed. Apparently there had been a prison break earlier that day and several prisoners had escaped. Blank asked if Illiam had escaped. When Ea-Shamar informed him that Illiam had indeed gotten away, I swear, Blank nearly became a Champion of Justice right then and there. Well, a Champion of Justice-Against-Illiam anyway. That's like a Champion, but with more piracy, and more hatred of Illiam.

I then proceeded to have another little chat with Ea-Shamar about not bothering Gannen. She reacted exactly the same as she had before. There was no way she was going to pardon him. I then, rather stupidly, demanded an audience with the Steward. She was a little surprised and at first denied my request, but I eventually convinced her to allow it.

My conversation with the Steward went thusly: I told him to stop his focus on Gannen. He asked me on what grounds I was requesting this, and I basically admitted the crew was at-fault for Mischa Mevarin's death, which didn't go over well. He ordered Ea-Shamar to question me and had me dragged out of his audience chamber. Once back with Ea-Shamar, she berated me for being an idiot and bringing Gannen to the attention of the Steward once again. Apparently he had been beginning to forget about the whole ordeal. Oops. She strongly suggested that we should leave town for awhile, to let things cool off a bit. Captain Blank obliged, and we were off.

~~~~~

Background (SECRET)

2007-10-01T11:06:00.000-04:00

Created: January 26, 2007

Location: Ao-Manasa
Giantish island port city
Fairly remote, only real city in the surrounding archipelago

Characters:
Steward of Ao-Manasa, Gri-Taresh
Corrupt captain of the guard – Giant Sa-Follen
Dragon – nearby, perhaps on an island a few days travel away, teaches magic and evolves creatures for a price
Champion of Death gladiator
“Morag Tong”

Things to do:
Fight creatures for bounty
Other dragons don’t like the local dragon’s mercenary attitude towards “their” knowledge
Check out the arena
Dragon will want some kind of service from Andy’s character

Future:
Someone’s going to kill the King (Queen, Lady Protector, whatever) so drop hints

Commentary?

2007-09-30T16:53:00.000-04:00

The last two posts are almost not related to the campaign; included them mostly as a demonstration of how much my plans for the campaign changed as I started talking to the players. I ended up scrapping all that to go with a Diamond Throne/island-hopping structure, a decision I mention only because nowhere is it explicitly reflected in my notes, and because I never fully implemented it, either.

On a related note: does anyone want me to do commentary on these notes? Or just post them? Because the notes do mostly speak for themselves. I could mention things that I never actually bothered to write down, or explanations for various decisions, but I don't know that it's really necessary.

Elemental Themes

2007-09-30T16:31:00.000-04:00

Created: December 26, 2006

Air
Autonomy, movement
Air Template—long distance

Earth
Stability, defense
Earth Template—object strength

Water
Words, magic, runes
Water Template—heightened on water

Fire
Courage, honor
Fire Template—more damage

Acid
Tactics, prudence, retreat
Acid Template—ignore hardness

Cold
Consequence, revenge
Cold Template—target slowed

Electricity
Danger, spontaneity
Electricity Template—target stunned

Sonic
Caution, speech
Sonic Template—target deafened

Negative energy
Introversion, hiding, emotion
Corrupted Template—Wisdom damage

Positive energy
Openness, extroversion, judgment
Blessed Template—beneficial long distance

Psionic
Psionic Template—no spell components

Change
Unraveling Template—dispel

Brainstorming

2007-09-29T14:44:00.000-04:00

Created: December 26, 2006

Capture rather than death
Maps as handouts

To do this: recon stage, plan missions beforehand
They have a map (at least general layout) starting out
Allows strategy planning, reduces tedium

Home base

Something else for players to do, during downtime

Campaign blog – possibly an “in-character” thing
Mission system?
Themed character concepts
Arcana Evolved rules
Themed characters (echoing world themes)
Epic—something big, world-shattering going on (maybe)
Talking/investigation
Primarily human enemies (more work)
PCs are different; special

That’s what makes it epic
Character themes make them special—one of them is the Fire of the West, Soul of Courage (or whatever); they aren’t just “adventurers)

Magic is common or uncommon? Either way could work
Arcana Evolved setting?

Dragons could be part of the theme/element system
Less work
Appearance of PCs makes them potential harbingers of doom

Return of the dragons
Dramojh

When was the last time “they” (whatever they are) were around?

Have the giants ever been involved?
Were they all human last time?

All other times?

Restricted to this continent?
Last time—they fought the dramojh? (Lost!)
How connected are they to the dragons?

Bring in “Superhero” themes

That’s what adventurers are!

(Secret identities? Ooh . . . like that idea)
PCs are . . . the Justice League! With magic!

Does this work with element theming?

Replacement concept?
Ditch themes in favor of “superheroes”?
Use it to open up campaign?

Cool costumes, cool names
Ordinary/fantastic dichotomy? (Inherent in superhero genre)

Secret identities might be . . . unfun

Would they really want to be peasants sometimes?
Maybe they’re (or one of them is) royalty

Can’t be known they’re adventuring
Make secret identity interesting in some other way

Bring in Ye Olde Theme: What is people?
Are robots people? (Okay . . . not really relevant)
Are humans people?

Some giants might not think so
Some dragons might not think so

Are mojh people?
Rather—are all the core races people?

Equally?

Are “supers” people?

Magic types are supers, maybe
Akashics are very super-y, though
None of the classes are really “normal”
How do their abilities divide them from “normal people”?

Are there normal people?

Is there any group better than “normal”?

Dragons
Giants
Humans
Supers

Note: don’t use term “supers” in game material

How can I fit Supers together with the Epic concept?

Do I want to?

Is the Supers concept worth scrapping the Epic-ness for?

Do I need to?

“Saving the world”: Super and Epic (Super Epic!)

Original Epic concept (character themes . . .) involved artifacts

Not terribly super
Makes it more about equipment
Get their super-powers from equipment?

Supers: tapping into the way the world works
Going back: capture rather than death makes it more super-heroic

Maybe just heroic . . .

Other Super things:

Colorful, dramatic bad guys

Joker, Syndrome, etc.
Personal conflicts with the players (characters)
Distinct style

Rules based? Gimmick?

Costumes – this would actually be really cool

“Batcave” – cool place to go between missions, during missions
See above: home base
Relationship with “legitimate authority”
Side-kicks

Competent NPCs who really aren’t in the same league as PCs
Do useful things, speed up play

“Take care of the hostages—I’ll go after General Doom!”

Plot hooks “Oh noes! Captured!”

Wildly varied character powers working together

Fits perfectly with D&D assumptions

Deathtraps

Another good fit
Very elaborate, wacky traps

X Epic tasks

Must be completed to “fulfill prophecy”
Overthrow Empire (Skaraven)

Gimmes—for rolls that failure isn’t interesting, auto success

Interested?

2007-09-28T16:50:00.000-04:00

Does anyone still want me to post the notes for this campaign? I'm perfectly happy to do so, but I don't want it to be just a self-congratulatory exercise that no one else is interested in.

I don't have much in the way of "adventure notes," exactly, but I have all my notes taken during the sessions, NPC information, and various plans and brainstorming that didn't necessarily pan out.

So . . . just comment here if you want to read that stuff, or if there's anything particular that you want to see/not see.

Session 22 Notes

2007-09-23T15:44:00.003-04:00

It's horribly late and perhaps not technically complete, but it is, in some fashion, finished. Everyone was there, we had a good time. If you think of something that I missed, just jot it down and I'll make an edit or two.

Session 22 Quotes

2007-09-23T15:44:00.001-04:00

“Oh, god, please don’t kill my cohort.” – Sigrid

“Ah ha ha, I have more hps than Blank, a blurdy blurdy blur.” – Blank

“Mojh are like race traitors. Dracha were born that way.” – Sigrid

“I was going to betray the party, but then I fell in love with Mark and couldn’t do it.” – Jocelyn

“Soern fights Gannen, and nearly dies. No wait, he does die! Hahahaha! Stupid biter!” – Blank

“Gannen, really confused. Monala, giant flaming hydra. Jocelyn, urgh. . . . K’max’s! You are definitely an enemy!” – Sigrid

“All these flame-based monsters are really cramping my style.” – Paerk

“I’m not lying! I’M A PIRATE!” – Blank

“It was put there by wizards. Wizards cast spells. (Therefore, it’s a spell.)” – Paerk (more or less)

“Gannen, do it or I’ll give you the cold shoulder. And I give a mean cold shoulder.” – Blank

“Let’s do this! Hoo-RA! (beat) It’s pirate jargon.” – Blank

“Gannen! Think about sunshine!” – Paerk

“I need to get this power. Then I can be gardener of the world.” – Paerk

“Basically nobody likes zombies.” – Paerk
“Except champions of zombies.” – Blank

“I don’t think it’s treason.” – Paerk
“Not treason? Trying to take over the world.” – Sigrid
“Yeah, but it was in international waters.” – Paerk

Session 22: The Ultimate Showdown

2007-09-23T14:29:00.000-04:00

On that door was an inscription. They translated, and it resolved into another, which they also translated. Then someone noticed that there was a place for a key—and Sigrid happened to have the key that Gannen had told them they should take. It fit, and they opened the door.

On the other side of the door was a large room, open room, with several floating platforms spinning around a central pillar of black-veined light. And Monala, sitting in a throne on the other side of the room, cackling. They were immediately set upon by fire elementals, which they fought off while Monala monologued at them. Something about taking over the world, and bringing back the Hora Quan empire, and how they had no hope to survive. And that Lord Morek was working for her. Mostly, they were too angry to care.

Paerk, meanwhile, took advantage of her relative distraction to start sneaking invisibly over to her area.

They defeated the fire elementals, (Soern pulled off some choice moves, combining acid pits and iron walls) but were thereafter joined in combat by K’max’s, the dracha working with Monala—and there were some revelations about Mixastomere’s apparent involvement in the schemes. They were able to take him down fairly quickly—Rellik dispatched him with grace and efficiency—but they were caused rather more trouble when Gannen attacked Soern, who survived only through great heroic fortitude and quick thinking by Jocelyn.

This resulted in some rapid-fire conversation, while Paerk blasted Monala and she started flying around, causing trouble. Apparently, Monala had captured Gannen’s brother (who had indeed been mentioned, once, many months ago) and now he was sort of working for her. Sigrid frantically tried to talk him out of it, while battling K’max’s, and Monala started going on about the how the pillar of light in the center was the source of her power and the Aur Xica had been forged here and how they were all doomed.

Finally, Sigrid got through to Gannen, and the two of them gated to the pillar and cast the Aur Xica into it. (I don’t remember exactly why, it seemed like a good idea at the time. There was something about removing the corruption, but I don’t remember exactly what it was.) Captain Blank iced Monala, Gannen got some weird weather power, and they all went back up to the city to watch the sun come out.

I Got Posted

2007-09-17T23:20:00.000-04:00

The Champion of Loyalty got posted on DiamondThrone.com

Just thought that was cool.

Here's a link

Yay!

Session 21 Quotes

2007-08-18T01:44:00.000-04:00

“Sweet! I can get rocks to lie to me!” – Paerk

“I command you to embrace the darkness.” – Blank (as a sergeant, like in Cranium Command)

“I command you to beat the living daylights, and the dead daylights, and the living nightlights, and the dead nightlights.” – Blank

“Hey, and they’re two faen, so together they’re kind of like a person.” – Sigrid

“No! That was, um, what was it? Capitalist fascism?” – Blank

“They won’t respawn, Blank.” – Sigrid
“They already respawned. They only respawn once. That’s the point.” – Paerk

“Zombies don’t swim.” – Sigrid

“Zombies can’t jump very well.” – Blank

“We should do a ceremony to the god of kicking Monala’s ass.” – Paerk
“Jubilexis?” – Soern

“Of course we have cheese. We’re a goddamn pirate ship.” – Blank

“Now children, wait an hour before you go thwimming.” – Blank

Session 21: Xanadu

2007-08-18T01:42:00.000-04:00

They defeated the kraken—Soern slowed it down so far it couldn't move, and then they all hacked at it. Just as everyone had decided this was thoroughly anti-climactic, Soern killed it with a blast.

And it came back as a zombie.

They defeated it again, and then started arguing about who should sleep, and whether they should sleep. They decided against it, on account of time being of the essence, and started arguing about who should go into the city.

Eventually, they decided to leave all the minions on the Fearful Lightning, and Sigrid told them that if she and the others weren’t back within a week, that they should return to Pental or Ao-Manasa. (Rellik told them, secretly, that they should return to his island.) Then Sigrid, Rellik, Soern, Blank, Paerk, Mark, Jocelyn, and Gannen sailed the Ocean’s Blade into the city, Xanadu.

The city was a maze of floating stone platforms, to which sea-life clung, and on which zombies shambled. Some of the platforms were stationary, some rotated around a central pillar. On that pillar stood Monala, who cackled, and disappeared down the stairs as they approached. This caused the crew to become a bit miffed, but they were pretty sure they shouldn’t follow her straight down, because she was probably counting on them doing just that. So Paerk asked a water spirit if there was an underwater passage (there was) and Soern cast underwater breathing on everyone but mark, and they dove down to a hole from which bubbles were rising.

The hole led to a room, which was filled with carvings like in the tomb of Ozymandius. There was a passageway, which they followed, and fought a few bloodhulks they encountered there. This was followed by some discussion of whether they should rest, whether Monala knew where they were, and the sudden realization that no one was on the Ocean’s Blade. Blank was in favor of going after Monala as quickly as possible, but he was over-ruled, and they returned to the ship, which they sailed back to the Fearful Lightning, underneath one of the stationary stones. (As the storm was still quite bad.)

Then they rested for twelve hours, with three four-hour watches—Sigrid and Gannen first, then Mark and Jocelyn, and finally Blank, Paerk, Soern, and Rellik. (Who slept through his watch anyway.) Before continuing on their quest, the two faen held a ceremony asking for the help of Jubilexis, the god of defeating Monala. (The others joined in, with the appropriate degrees of enthusiasm.)

They returned to the underwater complex, this time going down the staircase. They found their way to a pit, into which they descended, and where they found a door.

Session 21 Notes

2007-08-18T01:22:00.000-04:00

Really sorry this is so late. Nothing much else to say, since everyone was here. (I know, because everyone is mentioned in my notes. For once.)

Sigrid's Journal 18: A Day on the Town

2007-08-04T20:18:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 20

I woke up this morning and climbed down from my sleeping loft. Ulray and I had breakfast and then I bid him adieu and returned to the Ocean's Blade. Captain Blank was fishing off the docks. Next to him was an old boot, and a bucket of water containing some sort of ugly fish (which Blank told me was a bootfish). He tried to teach me how to fish too, but I accidentally dropped his rod in the water. The water in the harbour isn't terribly deep, so I dove down and retrieved it, but he still told me I'm not allowed to fish anymore, as this was the second fishing mishap I've had. By the time I got dried off, it was nearly noon, so I wandered off towards the castle and left Blank to his fishing.

As I approached the castle, I ran into Paerk (well, actually, he flew into me). He giddily told me that he had been given one of the hot air balloons from the faen air armada. Then he flew off to make arrangements to have it brought to the Fearful Lightning. Such an excitable one that one is.

Right on cue, Soern and Rellik (along with a few other prisoners) were released at noon. As soon as we were out of the castle, they asked me about their money. I told them that they were going to have to talk to their mastermind of a Commodore, so I brought them to him. We arrived back at the docks around the same time Paerk did. Soern put a magical shield up around Blank, and the three of them demanded their cut. Blank laughed and told them not to worry about it. I then chimed in that Blank had already spent the entire bounty with Cer-Athane. This displeased the rest of the crew greatly. An argument broke out, and eventually, under duress, Blank was brought back to Cer-Athane and was forced to cancel part of his order to pay the crew their share. I wouldn't touch that unclean money from a ten-foot pole, so my cut was divided amongst the others as well.

After all the unpleasantries were dispensed, Rellik went off into town on his own, telling us he had business. The rest of us went to the university to see Uthar and ask him about the seeds. He informed us that he did believe that the shiny gems we had found were seeds. He picked out three that were “excellent specimens” and we sold the rest to Cer-Athane and Taevin Brightfind.

Whilst selling some of the seeds to Taevin, Blank asked him if we could arrange a meeting with his contact (who seemed particularly interested in the Aur Xica). Taevin said he would contact his client and let us know.

We also asked around the Black Angle about Hellas (who was one of the crossed-off names on Illiam/Monala's list. No one would really talk to me about it, but Commodore Blank discovered that he was once a fierce pirate in this region, but recently he had been much less active. We were told we could probably find him at the Rusty Scupper, the local pirate hang-out. Rellik caught up to us at the Black Angle and told us he had a new mark: K'max's, who was likely at the Temple of the Hor Quan. Interesting...

The Rusty Scupper was as clean and pleasant as the name would indicate. Note to self: Ask Paerk for some magical disease curing potions. We stormed in and I demanded to see Hellas.

“What man among you is called Hellas? I must INSIST on speaking to him at once!”

I was met by a couple chuckles. Additional note to self: Pirates (unlike a lot of people) are not impressed by runechildren or knights. Blank then pushed past me and told me my language was all wrong.

“Show yourself, Hellas, you scurvy seadog! Unless you're too much of a land-lubbing coward to face Commodore Blank.”

A dark-haired man with a long beard came out of the crowd.

“I be Captain Hellas to the likes of you. Yeh call yourself a Commodore. Commodore of what? A rowboat and a raft?”

“Enough!” Blank turned to me, “Sigrid, your gauntlet, please?” I obliged, and he walked up to Hellas and hit him in the face with it (which had to have hurt). “I challenge you to a duel!” I can't imagine that pirate duels are really that much different than knightly duels. I doubt you're supposed to hit your opponent in the face with a platemail gauntlet.

Hellas seemed a little phased. “Choose your weapon.”

“I choose... the banjo!” proclaimed Blank.

“I accept.”

“You do?” Blank seemed a little taken aback.

The duel commenced. Blank seemed to be doing okay for awhile, but then Hellas started playing immensely well. It looked as if Blank was going to lose, but then he shot a bolt of ice at Hellas' banjo.

“You shot my banjo! I completely misjudged you! You are a pirate after all!”

After that we all sat down and had a lovely talk. It turns out Hellas once worked for Illiam, but he never wanted to and he hates the man. This satisfied our curiosity, so we left. On the way back to the ships, Paerk kept talking about how we should have arrested Hellas and brought him to Ea-Shamar. Blank seemed onboard with this plan, as there was probably a ransom for him. I turned and glared at them angrily, reminding them that we were already on a very short leash with Ea-Shamar, what with the “accidental release” of Blank and Soern and Paerk's involvement with that. They agreeed that we should probably just let him go and wait for things to calm down with Ea-Shamar before we go stirring up the hornets' nest again.

Finally, someone actually listened to me!

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 17: Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

2007-08-04T16:38:00.001-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 18 (continued)

We arrived in Ao-Manasa early in the evening and went to the Black Angle for food, fun, and fellowship. The place was a little barren, other than shadowy corner man (who I have now decided to call Chuck). I talked to Tillienne about Iu-Malan's (a Diamond Throne noble) wedding to Li-Karen (Steward Gri-Taresh's son), which seemed to pique Blank's interest. He said he had forgotten about the wedding, but since we were back in town, we simply had to attend. I asked him if our needing to attend ahd anything to do with Iu-Malan's name being on the list in Illiam's cave. He looked momentarily confused, but then assured me that that was indeed the reason.

We then went to see Ea-Shamar to procure last minute invitations to the wedding. Not surprisingly, she was still in her office, even though it was after sundown at this point. After speaking to her for a little while and explaining our concern for Iu-Malan's safety, she agreed to assign us as extra last-minute plain-clothes security officers. We were reintroduced to Dar-Shada, who had been assigned to head security for the wedding (hmmmm... curious that...).

Everyone else then returned to the ship, but Captain Blank insisted that I spend the night in the city as a treat to myself, since I'm a... “land-lubber” or something like that. I almost feel like I've been excluded from something, but I put my mind past that and went to spend the rest of the evening and the night with my friend Ulray.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 19

Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely hate Monala?

Today was the wedding. It didn't go off without a hitch. There was a hitch. Well, there were two hitches actually. There was the whole marriage “hitch” thing, and then there was a metaphorical “hitch” as well.

About midway through the ceremony, I noticed Monala sitting in the front row of the audience. The nerve of her. I tried to quietly slip up to her, but the rest of the party would have none of that and attempted to follow me. I tried to shoo them away, but they were quite insistent on following me. Eventually a plant-covered spryte sternly hushed us. I stopped trying to get to Monala and spent the rest of the proceedings staring at her, waiting for the right moment to confront her. There was some applause, and I glanced at the dais and noticed Li-Karen kissing Iu-Malan. The mariage hitch. The end of the ceremony. I had to act then.

Cue the metaphorical hitch. Before I had a chance to do anything, a flower arrangement caught fire. Then a tree caught fire. Then some people caught fire. I looked to the sky and witnessed one of the most peculiar sights I've ever seen. There were airships and hot air balloons. Filled with Faen. Ninja-Like Faen. Throwing fire. I blinked and looked back at Monala, who at this point had stood up. This had to be her fault, just like everything else bad that seemed to be happening around here. If only I could get to her. I had to get to her. I tried to cut through the crowd, but people were running around screaming and I was having no luck pushing past the mostly-giant audience. But I had to get to her. I had to. I could see her. I just couldn't reach her. But I reached and stretched anyway, and poof! I was there. Not through any physical movement, but through will alone. Thank you, Alastor.

I stared at my quarry. She stared right back and smiled, saying, “Sigrid, you have excellent timing.” She then reached a hand forward and placed it on my face, covering my newly granted rune. Just like that, she was in my head, controlling my moves. There was suddenly a commotion up on the dais. Monala turned to look, as did I. Blank stood over a collapsed Iu-Malan, his fist in the air. Dar-Shada tackled him. Mark then jumped on top of both of them in an attempt to pull Dar-Shada off of Blank. Monala looked back at me. In my head, I heard her voice, but it wasn't just a voice. It was a command I could not disobey. I had to listen to her. 'Stop Blank from kidnapping Iu-Malan.'

“Stop Blank from kidnapping Iu-Malan.” I ran up to the dais and grabbed ahold of Blank (who was still trying, in vain, to slip away from Dar-Shada. Blank protested greatly, ordering me to let go of him. I wished I could have. I had to get to Monala. I had to stop her. I wanted to stop her. I watched helplessly as she calmly strolled up onto the dais and leaned down over Iu-Malan. She glanced over at me and smiled as she and Iu-Malan both disappeared. Dar Shada cursed and asked me if I could keep holding onto Blank. I felt compelled to “Tell him yes,” so he let go of him and started struggling with Mark. Meanwhile, Blank was still screaming at me to let go of him. I happily obliged, as I no longer had to “Stop Blank from kidnapping Iu-Malan.” Blank then ran over to Li-Karen and promptly punched HIM in the face. Li-Karen went down. Such a soft-blooded noble. He should be more like Lord Morek.

Just then, one of the Faen airships crashed onto the dais, about twenty feet from our scuffle. I looked around and noticed Soern throwing magic at the airships. I yelled at him to watch where he shot them down, but he just shrugged at me and went back to blasting. There was another mage nearby (the spryte who had hushed us earlier) blasting the airships too. He was yelling such nonsensical things as “Lighting that tree on fire is the last thing you'll ever do,” and “Hurt that plant and I'll hurt you.” A greenbond. Brilliant. A “tree-hugging mage.” I like their kind even more than the standard “bloody annoying book-smart mages” or the “Hahaha... explosion of ice or wind or iron mages.” He was making himself useful though by throwing healing bursts at the crowd. One of the healing bursts revived Li-Karen, so Blank punched him in the face. Again.

Monala then ordered me to “Attack Dar-Shada.” I was highly opposed to this course of action, but had to obey anyway, so I walked over to him. I told him I was really sorry, and then I was going to punch him in the face, but the drastic height difference made that impossible, so I punched him in the gut instead. He glanced down at me with a confused look on his face. Monala seemed annoyed with me. “Try the sword, it'll work better,” she said. I drew the Aur-Xica and hit him with the side of the blade. He took a step away from me and asked me, “What are you doing, Halstead?” I told him I didn't know and I was really sorry. Monala then told me to “Stop being an idiot and actually try to kill him with the sword. Don't stop until he's down.” So, I began violently attacking him. Just then, an arrow came whizzing past me and planted itself in Dar-Shada's shoulder, followed by a second one. I turned to find Rellik standing a good fifty feet away with another arrow already cocked. I turned back to continue my assault on Dar-Shada, but I realized I was standing at the edge of an acid pit. An acid pit containing Dar-Shada. Soern. Mages. Grah! Dar-Shada was “down.” I no longer had to try to kill him. I reached into the acid pit and helped pull him out, burning both my arms. He lay on the ground, looking up at me, “You... you... what is your PROBLEM??” Then he passed out.

Monala's annoying voice returned to my mind. “Rellik and Soern are gone. Chase them. Focus on Soern.” I looked around and noticed they were indeed gone, so off I ran, not knowing if I was even going in the correct direction. I ran for a few minutes. My legs just kept moving, even though I tried to will them to stop with everything I had in me. Eventually Monala chimed in again. “Return to the courtyard.” I started wandering back, but then she added, “And be quick about it, you lazy lummox.” So, I ran.

I got back to the courtyard and found Ea-Shamar and a small contingency of guards in a semi-circle around the dais. She was talking to someone on stage. I got a little closer and noticed Blank in the corner of the stage, kneeling next to Li-Karen with his iceblade out, demanding ransom.

“By Malleus' Beard, Blank, what are you doing?” I asked him.

“So, you didn't know he was going to do this?” Ea-Shamar questioned.

Blank laughed.“Why would I share my brilliant idea with her? She would just ruin it with her bloody sense of 'honour' and 'righteousness'.”

“Or, you know, SANITY?”

“You're just jealous you didn't think of it yourself, Sigrid. Don't be envious. Not everyone can have such... intuitively deep plans as Commodore Blank.”

“Intuitive plans? If your plan is so deep, how did you intend to get yourself out of this one?”

“Commodore Blank had an amazing escape plan!”

“You didn't even have an escape plan, did you?”

“Of course I did. It involved the others helping. And you not finding out about it.”

“Well, I know, and they're nowhere in sight. Methinks this plan failed.”

Blank scowled .“If it weren't for those, those... maggot turncoats, we would have already made our daring escape out to sea.”

Ea-Shamar and I then started fruitlessly arguing with Blank. She offered him his freedom in exchange for Li-Karen, but that didn't fly. He wanted money. Eventually, she had an idea.

“Your friends. The ones that ran off. The magister and archer that almost killed my Sergeant. I want them,” Ea-Shamar said, “Perhaps we can reach an agreement?”

“Hmmm...” Blank looked lost in thought, “20,000 for the race-traitor, and lets say... 30,000 for the biter?”

“Wait... what the... Blank... what the he...” Monala cut me off in my head.

“Let them speak, Sigrid,” she ordered.

Ea-Shamar raised an eyebrow at me and my sudden silence and then looked back at Blank.

“7,500 for the faen and 5,000 for the mojh.”

They haggled back and forth for a bit while I was force to watch in silence. Eventually they agreed upon a bounty and Blank and Mark were allowed to walk free. Blank then asked me to accompany him, but as we were leaving, Ea-Shamar stopped us.

“Blank. Mark. Sigrid. I have decided to assign one of my men to watch you as you handle this... agreement. Paerk, go with them.” The spryte greenbond flew over to us.

“Great. Another biter,” Captain Blank mumbled, and off we went.

A few blocks from the courtyard, we ran into Soern. He asked us what had taken us so long. I tried to warn him about Blank's plan, but Monala again interfered. “Say nothing to him about the plan and help Blank capture him.” I then grappled him, much to the annoyance of Monala. “I meant HELP... HELP, not start the capture... oh well.” Soern protested and I offered him a very generic apology as Blank informed him that we were taking him off to jail. For money. Soern stopped strugging with me at the prospect of money, and he, for some crazy reason, decided to go along with the plan provided we promised to break him out later. I still thought this was a terrible idea, but there really wasn't anything I could do about it, as Monala kept making me go along with it.

After turning Soern in at the castle, we went to the docks looking for Rellik. On the way to the docks, we stopped at the Black Angle to “celebrate our brilliant plan.” While there, we met up with a couple of teenagers who practically begged to join “The Great Commodore Blank.” Blank thought this was a splendid idea and they joined up with us.

When we got to the docks, Rellik was on the Fearful Lightning. As we were boarding, Monala would not shut up. She repeatedly told me, “Don't tell Rellik about the plan,” “Help Blank capture Rellik,” and, just to aggravate me I suppose, “Gannen's doing just fine. He's being most useful.” I finally hit myself in the head, telling her to, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” This caused a confused stare from Commodore Blank, who shook his head and muttered, “Freaky, freaky Sigrid.”

Blank gathered the crew for a “meeting”. Once everyone was present, he ordered them to arms against Rellik, who, almost instantaneously, had his bow up. I didn't want to get involved, but that damn compulsion spell didn't care. I felt myself move and grab Rellik, even though I fought as hard as I could not to. He slipped away from me and pointed an arrow at my head. Everyone froze, including myself. There are certain things even a compulsion spell cannot make you do, and charging someone with a bow cocked at you is not one of them.

Blank then told Rellik that he had to come with us to Ea-Shamar. Rellik, naturally, refused. It appeared that we were at a stalemate, but Rellik finally agreed to go along with us at the prospect of money (and with the promise that we would not tell the guards his real name).

We delivered Rellik to the castle on an assumed name, collected both bounties and took a walk to the Black Angle. All the way there, Blank praised me for my loyalty in helping him. He even informed me that he might have told me about his brilliant plan if he had known I would be so cooperative. I spent the entire walk cursing him out in my head. Loyalty goes both ways. If a superior wants loyalty, he must be loyal to those beneath him as well. Blank betrayed Soern and Rellik's loyalty, even though their own greed betrayed themselves as well.

When we arrived at the Black Angle, Blank proceeded to spend the entire bounty purchasing items from Cer-Athane. I tried to warn him that this might be a bad idea, but he told me, “It's crewmen etiquette, you wouldn't understand.” I then decided that if he wanted to dig his own grave, I would let him. After he finished spending all of his disloyal blood money, we turned our attention to how we were going to break them out of prison. Blank had this elaborate plan involving a cake (and the honour and altruism of the prison guards not to eat said cake and to give it to Rellik and Soern). I don't believe that the Ao-Manasa prison guards have much honour. I've been in their prison a few times, and while they're not overly cruel, they're certainly not very nice either.

Blank and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Black Angle. Monala seemed to have quieted down some now that chaos had finished ensuing. She was still in the back of my mind though. I could feel her there, the gob-friended scum. Monala's presence was distracting, so I didn't contribute much to the plan to break Rellik and Soern out of prison. Though Blank didn't have much to say on that matter either. He had already made his decision to make a cake and was now chatting up some woman at the bar, with surprisingly high success. What do people see in pirates anyway?

Monala's spell didn't wear off. It just kind of went “poof”. It happened quite suddenly. One moment, I could feel Monala in the back of my mind. The next moment, I had this amazing feeling of freedom. I was incredibly happy that the damn mage was out of my head. Extremely happy. I was at the “wanting to kiss someone” level of happiness. A quick survey of the room found no one acceptable to act this wish on though. My thoughts wandered to Gannen momentarily, which sufficiently saddened me out of my giddy mood.

I stood up and walked over to the bar. I reminded Blank that we really ought to work on getting our friends out of jail. He told me he had sent a few of his followers to make a cake just a few minutes ago. I decided that it wasn't worth it to argue with Blank about his cake idea, so I just let it go and walked out of the bar. I returned to the boat in a defeated mood. I laid down to sleep, trying to convince myself that this wasn't my problem anymore. Blank had dug this grave, and Soern and Rellik had willingly jumped in. I had nothing to do with this.

No, I really didn't have much to do with this. This was not my fault. But that didn't give me an excuse to do nothing. Soern and Rellik were my crewmates, and in some ways, my friends. I couldn't fail them like I've been failing Gannen.

It was that thought that gave me a bit of déjà vu, and a plan. Perhaps a repeat of Gannen's prison break was in order. I had some of Blank's followers quickly disguise me. I made sure they painted over the rune on my face, which seems to attract a lot of attention. I was getting a little too recognizable around this town for my liking. The kids also put my hair in some ratty-looking up-do, telling me that people would notice my hair and forget the face beneath it. I then headed to the Wicker Goat, the tavern that Blank had met Tar-Namor at. I wasn't looking for Tar-Namor though. Ea-Shamar had discovered his corruption and I doubted he would be able to help me. Instead I looked for Oa-Tesanil, another member of the Guard who may have a way into the prison. Or out of it, as the case may be.

Oa-Tesanil was sitting at a table alone. I joined her and we had a little chat. She said that it was possible that a careless guard may have filed the prisoner's paperwork wrong and had put them in for an overnight hold instead of a hold-until-trial. It was a possibility. She also informed me that she could go “check on that” for me, but that she was just too tired. I then “accidentally dropped” a bag of 100 Royals on the table. She, being a responsible guard, confiscated the carelessly discarded money before someone could steal it. After than, she decided she wasn't so tired after all and went back to the castle to “check” my crewmen's paperwork, informing me that overnight holds are released at noon.

I went back to the docks, pulled a bucket of water from the harbor and scrubbed the annoyingly itchy face paint off. I also fixed my hair, letting it down and untied, the way it's meant to be. I then decided to go pay a visit to the Black Angle to find Blank (who was not at the docks). I headed inside and saw Blank sitting at the bar. In front of him sat a big, hideous cake (that looked suspiciously familiar to the cake from the noble wedding this morning that had not gotten a chance to be eaten due to... well, you know). I told Blank we wouldn't be needing the cake because Rellik and Soern were going to be released from jail at noon tomorrow. He looked at me and then pointed at the cake, insisting that his plan would have worked and I was just being a sore loser for not thinking of it first. An argument ensued where I insulted his intelligence, he insulted my creativity, I insulted his honour, he insulted my lineage, you know how these things go. We were both getting really riled up. He decided to leave, but first tried to sell the cake to Cer-Athane, who looked at him like he was crazy and refused. I muttered a few choice words about idiotic pirate witches as he turned to leave.

He spun back around, grabbed the cake (which froze in his hands) and threw it at me. If you've never gotten frozen cake thrown at you, my suggestion is: don't. It's hard and sticky and unpleasant. I resisted the urge to attack him and let him storm out. I left too, heading to a bathhouse to get the melting frosting off of me. After that I went to go spend the night with Ulray again. I didn't want to be anywhere near Blank until the morning when I calmed down (and maybe he calmed down too). Ulray, as always, was happy enough to have me.

~~~~~

Session 20 Quotes

2007-08-03T16:24:00.000-04:00

“Why is there no such thing as magic pants in D&D?” – GM
“I think this question answers itself.” – Blank

“I bet if I tried really hard I could knock him over. If he were paralyzed.” – Paerk

“The ends justify the means. It’s for the greater good. Of Gannen.” – Sigrid

“It was very hard.” – Blank
“I don’t believe you.” – Ea-Shamar
“Are you kidding? We had to fight a volcano!” – Blank

“For the record, I was responsible for the excellent floral arrangements.” – Paerk

“See, when I’m not bluffing, he thinks I’m drunk.” – Blank

“Come on, let’s board up and sail out.” – Sigrid

“We could kill him. Just to be sure.” – Blank

“Dude. Random homeless people are always spying on people.” – Blank

“Any plan that can be summed up with the word ‘zombies . . .’” – Paerk

“Like dispel dragon?” – Blank

“So the pope does not have power over time.” – Blank

“We’re off to see the . . . something . . .” – Sigrid? Maybe?
“The magister! The wonderful magister of Xanadu? No, I don’t think so. . . . Unless we have some kind of . . . technicolor horse.” – Blank

“You know the Faen air brigade killed a bunch of plants? That means Monala killed a bunch of plants.” – Sigrid

“Do I recognize these particularrr tentaclarrrs?” – Blank

Session 20: Serious Wisdom Damage

2007-08-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 28th -- Fifthmonth 4th (probably)

The weather started to go bad, and they figured out that Gannen was suffering from serious wisdom damage. The adventurers discussed various methods for repairing him. Paerk was in favor of killing and then resurrecting him. Unfortunately, they didn’t know his true name, so that plan and the slightly more obvious tactic of restoration were off the table.

So (I believe) they teleported back to the ships. Soern then modified Iu-Molan’s memory, so she thought that Gannen had been kidnapped by Monala. (Again.) Then they returned to Ao-Manasa.

Once there, Sigrid, Paerk and Blank took Iu-Molan back to Ea-Shamar—who’s day had not been going so well, as there had been some kind of explosion and a number of people had escaped from prison, Illiam among them. (Blank, predictable, was not happy about this.) They tried to negotiate on the matter of money, and Sigrid demanded the audience with Gri-Taresh that had been discussed a few weeks previous.

The meeting did not go terribly well. Sigrid tried to get Gri-Taresh to let Gannen off, and in the process of doing so revealed that it had been they who were responsible for Mischa Mevarin’s death. He responded by saying that he would have to “temporarily” detain them.

At this point, Ea-Shamar stepped in, distracted Gri-Taresh a bit, and asked them what, exactly, they thought they were doing. She told them that she had been trying to keep Gri-Taresh’s attention elsewhere, that she didn’t want to see them get stuck in jail because they were much more useful to everyone involved outside of it, and hadn’t they noticed that there hadn’t been much of a search effort going on for Gannen? She couldn’t let him off, officially, but she could avoid taking him in, as long as they didn’t do something stupid, like this.

Meanwhile, Rellik and Soern had left, along with Jocelyn and Gannen and the crew, because they didn’t want to be around when Gri-Taresh decided to arrest everyone. Paerk used telepathy, convinced them that wasn’t going to happen.

The next day, through the use of Paerk’s healing skills, Gannen recovered a bit. He gave them his true name, and then realized that he really shouldn’t have done that, once Paerk (I think, may have been Soern—at any rate, both of them had his truename) had used restoration, and his wisdom was back to its usual levels. He told them most of what he remembered: Monala’s plan involved zombies, Mixastomere (Soern’s dragon patron) was in on it, and they had to go to Xanadu.

By this point, the weather had gotten really awful. Probably some kind of magical storm. They went back to the university, and talked to Uthar, who told them that Xanadu was the capital of the Hora Quan empire.

Captain Blank did a bit of looking around, gathering information on the people who had escaped from prison, Sigrid got some new armor, and they all headed back to the boats to sail to Xanadu. The weather was very bad, but they made through on the sheer might and awesome of Blank and Soern’s sailing abilities. Close to the end of the journey, with the city itself in sight, Gannen said something about the Aur Xica not being “good,” according to Monala, which triggered a short conversation about it. The sword itself mentioned that Monala was probably just trying to make them distrust it, since it was their only other source of information about the ancient history part of the situation.

And then they were attacked by a kraken.

Session 20 Notes

2007-08-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

See? Haven't forgotten!

I think everyone was here this time, but I can't be totally sure. If someone was missing, it was Rellik, but it's hard to tell because he never really says much anyway.

Session 19 Quotes

2007-07-19T22:23:00.003-04:00

“I am as wise as Sigrid is structurally sound.” – Blank
“Well it’s good that I’m structurally sound, because then I don’t get poisoned by, y’know, air.” – Sigrid

“Do I smell death in the arr?” – Blank

“No one could beat his backhair soufflé” – Blank
“So he’s a better cook than I am?” – Sigrid
“Probably.” – Blank
“But I actually cook food.” – Sigrid

“Wait, your cook had no hands?” – Sigrids

Session 19: Smells Like Childhood

2007-07-19T22:23:00.002-04:00

Fourthmonth 20th – Fourthmonth 28th

That thing I said last week about talking to Taevin’s contact? That conversation also involved Taevin giving Blank a package to deliver to his Uncle Grizby, who lives in Gorzam, his old hometown.

They went back to the Black Angle; Soern asked Cer-Athene for a staff of water and waves, which would arrive in 14 days. Then Sigrid went to talk to Ea-Shamar, and (unsuccessfully) tried to negotiate giving Gannen “prosecutorial immunity” if they could retrieve Iu-Malan.

Then everyone went back to the boat, Soern cast scry on Gannen, and discovered him killing people in the streets of an unfamiliar town. Based on Soern’s extensive knowledge of architecture, he deduced that this was most likely Gorzam, a northern, unsavory sort of place from which Blank turned out to hail.

They did a bit of checking up on K’max’s, and discovered that he was some kind of fighter-type, worked for Mixastomere, and had been seen in town only a few times in the past six months. Soern cast a few protective spells on the ships, and they set sail for Gorzam.

They went down to Blank’s Uncle Grizby’s tavern, the Scurvy Seadog, and hung out there for a while. Blank delivered his package, and Grizby gave them the latest rumors—filled them in on the murders, mostly. There were several separate incidents, involving two people who were probably Gannen and Monala by description, where they killed a lot of people (or, rather, Gannen killed a lot of people, and Monala happened to be there) and then teleported away, taking the bodies.

Then they headed down to the black market, run by Blank’s childhood friend, Don Marko. He and Blank reminisced while Soern sold some things, and bought some things. (Most notably, the oils necessary for animate the dead, lesser.) He also checked up on Gannen (at the Temple of the Hora Quan, talking to a dracha), and Sigrid tried (momentarily) to buy a boat.

Then they visited to Pental and talked to Morek, who assigned Sigrid a henchman/assistant, a greataxe-wielding warmain named Jocelyn, after she (and the rest of the crew) explained their plans—bringing back the Hora Quan.

They sailed back to Ao-Manasa, picked up the items they’d ordered from Cer-Athene, and scried Gannen again. He was somewhere dark, probably underground, and they then made plans to teleport in and rescue him. They decided they would leave Paerk and Jocelyn behind, and the key with Paerk. (Because they didn’t want to have all the items on the list they’d found in the pirate hideout in one place.)

Soern teleported the rest of them, and they found themselves in a dark room with Gannen and Iu-Molan. Iu-Molan was somewhat confused, and Gannen was completely unresponsive. The room was filled with ice mephits, and a giant block of ice. The observant among them spotted a glittering jewel along the lines of what they had recovered from the Island of the Jeweled Trees in the ice. The quickly deduced that this had something to do with the second poem they’d found—and that it was very important not to melt the ice, because that would probably fulfill the requirements for reactivating the Hora Quan, which was exactly what Monala wanted.

Unfortunately, despite their care in battling the mephits, someone still let off a blast of fire. Someone invisible, probably Monala. The aftermath involved everyone fleeing (very dramatically) just inches ahead of the lava.

Session 19 Notes

2007-07-19T22:23:00.001-04:00

Paerk's player wasn't here.

These are getting later and later, aren't they?

Session 18 Quotes

2007-07-09T00:10:00.001-04:00

“You can think of me as the long arm of Ea-Shamar. Even though my arm isn’t very long.” – Paerk

“Quick! Everyone on the ship! Jump him!” – Blank

“That’s okay, we don’t have to attack him anymore. Freaky, freaky Sigrid.” – Blank

“I have the other member of the crew.” -- Blank
“Oh?” – Ea-Shamar
“Yeah. Backstab McBackstab of the clan McBackstab.” – Blank

“I believe you owe me a good chunk of money. You know, there’s a little known fact about healing spells that they sometimes misfire.” – Paerk

“My genius plan is we bake a cake, and then we put all their stuff inside the cake.” – Blank

“I know everything’s so chaotic now, that sometimes people slip through the cracks. I know two people who need to.” – Sigrid

“Hot-air ships are full of win. That’s how they fly.” – Paerk

“I choose the banjo!” – Blank
“I accept.” – Hellas
“You do?” – Blank

“You’re not a guard! You’re a gardener.” – Sigrid
“He is a guard! And I’m a pirate! And together we’re like Chuck Norris and that one guy from Mars.” – Blank

Session 18 Notes

2007-07-09T00:06:00.001-04:00

Everyone was here this session.

Another very late summary.

Session 18: Betrayal

2007-07-09T00:06:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 19th – Fourthmonth 20th

Soern and Rellik had escaped to the ship, but Soern returned to the place where the wedding had been because he figured that the situation had probably been resolved. When he got there, Sigrid, under instructions from Monala to assist Blank with his plan, grappled him. She and Blank gave Soern a rough explanation of Blank’s agreement with Ea-Shamar, and Soern agreed to mostly go along with it if they would break him out of prison and share the money with him. (Sigrid refused to take any of the “blood money.”)

They went back to the ships, and Blank picked up a couple more followers in a bar somewhere on the way. On the ship, nearly got into a fight with Rellik, but Blank convinced him to come along quietly if he would break him out, share the money with him, and not tell Ea-Shamar his actual name. (Rellik didn’t think his organization would appreciate hearing of any involvement with the law.)

As it turned out, though, Captain Blank had no plans to share the money with the rest of the crew. He went to the Black Angle, bought some things from Cer-Athene. His plan to rescue Soern and Rellik involved cake. (Which he directed his minions to bake.)

Sigrid, meanwhile, recovered from the dominate spell, and decided to get Soern and Rellik out of jail the same way she had gotten Gannen out of jail: bribery. She had one of Blank’s minions put together a basic disguise, then went down to the Wicker Goat to talk to Oa-Tenasil, the other guard whose name Morek had suggested when she went to talk to him about rescuing Gannen. Oa-Tenasil agreed that it was very possible that these two individuals might get released, through some kind of clerical error, if Sigrid could provide a certain sum of money. (One thousand? Two thousand?)

Sigrid went back to the Black Angle and told Blank about her plan, and that they would be able to pick up Rellik and Soern tomorrow, at noon. He was very upset that she hadn’t even tried to let his plan work, and tried to sell the cake his minions had baked to Cer-Athene. When he wouldn’t buy it, Blank threw the cake at Sigrid, and stormed out of the bar in a drunken rage.

He went fishing. He caught a boot. And a bootfish.

Meanwhile, Paerk tried to commandeer one of the hot air balloons; Ea-Shamar gave him one, because, being faen sized, they weren’t particularly useful to her.

When Rellik and Soern got out, they were not happy about Blank’s plan. They apprehended him, and many angry words were exchanged. Eventually, they worked it out so that everyone got an even share, except Sigrid, who still didn’t want anything to do with it. (This meant canceling one of the orders Blank had placed with Cer-Athene.)

Rellik got his new mark, from under a rock—K’max’s, a dracha, in the Temple of the Hora Quan.

Then they went to see Uthar, and showed him the seeds. He told them that these were what they probably needed, and picked out one that he thought would work the best. They sold the rest.

Something about talking to Taevin’s contact.

Then they decided they should go talk to Hellas; apparently, he had been something of a terror until very recently, and was an associate of Illiam’s. They went to the bar he was at (The Rusty Bucket? The Rusty Scupper) and Blank challenged him to a duel. With a banjo.

He lost. Turned out, Hellas was very good with the banjo.

It also turned out that he hated Illiam, and probably had been working for him against his will, so they decided to let him alone for a while. Even though Blank wanted to turn him in for money, and Paerk wanted to arrest him.

Sigrid's Journal 16 - Snakes and Stones

2007-07-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 8 (Continued)

A mostly boring afternoon. We visited the Mevarin household in the hopes of speaking with Ratham about why he was telling lies to the guards. Someone must have intimidated him. Oh, wait, that was us. Someone must have intimidated him better. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Mevarin household, no one was home. I decided that Ea-Shamar might know where Ratham might be, so we decided to go see her. It turned out that she indeed did know where Ratham was. He was in protective custody. I asked if we could talk to him and she (very politely) refused our request. Typical.

We decided to go speak with Uthar Kalenil (from the list we found in the pirate's lair). We asked around the city and were directed to the University. It turns out he's a historian, as we had suspected. We arrived at the University library and I started talking to him. He asked me if I was new here, so I told him I came from the University in De-Shamod (not entirely a lie, as I did visit the University in De-Shamod once or twice). I asked a few questions about the Hor Quan, to which he gave vague, uninteresting answers. He directed us to some books and went back to his work. Soern read for a little while, not really learning much. I eventually decided I was bored and we left.

It was nearly sundown when we got underway for the Island of the Jeweled Trees. I'm already tired and I'm taking night watch duty tonight, so I suspect I will be really exhausted by tomorrow.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 9

Night watch was boring (though significantly easier now that I can see in the dark; thank you Alastor) At dawn, I climbed down onto the deck and was greeted by Commodore Blank. He asked me if I has seen anything overnight, particularly anything that appeared to be a tentacley monster full of hatred and evil. I told him I had seen one of those, but it turned out it was just looking for directions for another pirate ship and had gone on it's merry way after enjoying a quick game of dancing bones with me. Commodore Blank didn't see the humour of my story and requested that I stay out of his sight for the rest of the day, lest I feel his icy wrath. I reminded him that wrath is metaphorically thought of as firey, not icy, but this just made him glare at me with a very cold stare until I went below deck. Note to self: Commodore Blank has a great sense of humour, except when it comes to krakens and ice.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 10

Half of the crew was ill today. Blank suspects spoiled food. I suppose that's probably the case, though I feel fine. I spent the rest of the day tending to the sick. I also enlisted the help of a couple crewmen to look through the Ocean Blade's stores, tossing overboard a few things that appeared rotten or contaminated. I sent a message to Soern informing him that he should have some crewmen do the same.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 11

Most everyone is recovered from yesterday's sudden illness. I haven't been sleeping much lately. Between watch duty, quartermaster duty, and nursing the sick, I've had precious little time to fit sleep into my schedule. Today was more of the same, really. I took daywatch and took the rest of the night off.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 12

Mark and I made another wager again. He says we'll arrive at the Island of the Jeweled Trees tomorrow. After consulting with Blank (who, looking at his map, assured me were at least two days away still), I decided to take him up on his little bet. I figure I have got to win sometime.

Also, it was Moon's Eve today, which Commodore Blank reminded me of once or twice... a minute... all day. Silly witches.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 13

First off, we did arrive at the Island of the Jeweled Trees today, so Mark won our bet.

It was a very busy and tiring day. We disembarked, leaving the young crewmen in charge of the boats (with orders to set sail if anything from shore threatened them). We then began heading up a cliff and were waylaid by no less than twenty crabs. We almost met our doom, but I managed to heroically hold them off until Soern could cast a massive acid explosion thing (which destroyed my idea of having a crab bake after we were done with our business here).

We continued up the cliff and into the jungle (which was indeed full of crystal trees). We then found the most peculiar red birds. They were quite pretty. Unfortunately, they were crazy-magical-annoying and were accompanied by two giant snakes. The battle was intense. Mark got grappled by one of the snakes, which then proceed to almost squeeze the life out of him. By angels' wings I managed to hit the snake with a massive, massive strike, cleaving it's head clean off and nearly dropping the Aur Xica due to the force of the blow. The Aur Xica seemed quite pleased with me (for once).

After the battle, Soern cast a detection spell to look for Gannen. He said that Gannen was farther up the path, so we continued on our way. We finally reached a clearing, surrounded by a curved glass wall with an opening. We stepped through the glass wall and noticed Gannen and Monala standing in the centre of six crystalline trees. I drew the Aur Xica and tried to charge Monala, but I hit an invisible wall of magic before I even got within 30 feet of her. She then (snidely) asked us what had taken us so long to get here and laughed at us. Then she kissed Gannen. Yes, she kissed him. I really hate Monala. I think I might have said something along the lines of “Bitter suns to you, you gob-friended maggot!” as she teleported away, though I can't be entirely sure. I was rather angry at the time. Fortunately for me, Blank didn't have time to tease my about my lovely vernacular, as the glass wall we had just walked through morphed into four glass golems. I put the energy of my anger towards Monala into the battle and we were triumphant (though I will admit that Soern's acid pits were far more useful than my fighting abilities in this particular battle).

After the battle, we went to inspect the circle of trees (the magical barrier had magically disappeared... I hate magic). We collected about 40 jewels from the trees, noting that they looked similar to the egg-sized gem we'd found at the Temple of the Hor Quan. We then returned to the ships, finding the crew safe and sound, much to my relief.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 14

I feigned illness this morning to get out of crew duties. I'm really too depressed to be of much use today anyway, so I just laid around in my hammock most of the day.

I'm sorry I lost you, Gannen. I will find you. I hope you don't doubt me. I care more than you even know, perhaps more than I even should.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 15

I felt bad about being lazy all day yesterday, so I ended up getting up at dusk last night and taking night watch. As usual, nothing to report.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 16

I talked with the Aur Xica for a while today. I asked him if I was doing the right thing with all of this. His answer was, “Well, you've been killing things, so yes, you are definitely taking the correct course of action.” Typical answer for a sword, I suppose.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 17

One of the kids fell overboard today in a patch of bad weather. I jumped into the water to save her, but all her flailing and grabbing at me nearly drowned us both. Fortunalely, Blank tossed us a rope and I managed to get both of us back onto the boat. Thankfully, she was perfectly okay once she calmed down and dried off.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 18

The girl I pulled out of the water yesterday braided me a bracelet. I told her that she really didn't have to give me anything, but she was quite insistent. She even told me that I was “Almost as amazing as Commodore Blank,” which, I suppose, is her idea of a great compliment.

I hate Monala.

~~~~~

Session 17 Quotes

2007-06-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

“That was back when Rellik and me were all like, ‘Heh heh heh. Sigrid’s not looking. Quick, let’s go poison someone.’” – Blank

“Gerard Butler get out of my head!” – Blank*

“Plant spy: if Richard Nixon were a gardener.” – Paerk*

“It’s like Disneyworld. If you can get in, you can watch the parade.” – Blank

“I can get one of those frilly shirts!” – Blank

“Just make up a good in-character reason. Just, like, don’t tell him.” – Paerk*

“So I can knock her out by punching her in the back of the face with Mark.” – Blank

“Not people. Giants.” – Blank
“Yes people! There’s humans and faen too!” – Sigrid

“If Dar-Shada is killed, I don’t have to attack him anymore.” – Sigrid

*This never happened

Session 17: Planning Is Blank's Kryptonite

2007-06-30T21:46:00.001-04:00

Fourthmonth 13th – Fourthmonth 19th

Having handily defeated the golems, the intrepid crew proceeded to loot the trees, acquiring forty gems somewhat resembling the yellow orb they had found at the Temple. They wondered, momentarily, why Monala hadn’t taken all the gems, then returned to the ships and made sail for Ao-Manasa.

That trip took about five days. When they had arrived in Ao-Manasa, on the 18th, they first dropped by the Black Angle, then Ea-Shamar. (Does anyone remember what they did at the Black Angle? My notes are remarkable fuzzy on this point, as is my memory.) Their conversation (by which I mean Sigrid’s conversation) with Ea-Shamar involved getting invited, as additional security, to the upcoming wedding of Li-Karen, the steward’s son, to Iu-Malan. (Which got them introduced to Dar-Shada, in charge of security.)

Sigrid, of course, wanted to go to the wedding for perfectly legitimate reasons, but Commodore Blank had other ideas. Blank had a plan—he wanted to kidnap one or the other of the people involved, and ransom them back to the city. His plan consisted of “waiting for something weird to happen” and then taking advantage of the resulting confusion. Sigrid didn’t know, but the rest of the party was mostly going along with it.

The next day was, naturally enough, occupied mostly by the wedding. Turned out Monala was there, which made Sigrid quite angry, but before they could fully react to this turn of events the proceedings were attacked by a horde of Faen ninjas, in airship/hot air balloons. Lighting things on fire and stabbing people with long spears. Captain Blank began to put his plan into action by punching Iu-Malan in the face. Dar-Shada objected to this, and attempted to grapple him; which was, naturally, when Mark grappled him.

Meanwhile, Sigrid used her newly acquired runechild dimension door ability to teleport over by Monala, but Monala gained the upper hand by (unbeknownst to the rest of the party) casting dominate on her. Monala instructed her to prevent Blank from capturing Iu-Monala (so Sigrid grappled him, too). Then she grabbed Iu-Malan and teleported away herself.

Soern made himself useful by blowing the faen ninja balloons out of the sky. He was assisted in this project by Paerk, a sprite gardener (employed by the city) who joined the fray as soon as it looked like plants might be in danger. (And who, in between basket-blastings, healed random citizens.)

Rellik helped by shooting at Dar-Shada.

With his initial target snatched, Blank escaped from Dar-Shada, and ran over to where Li-Karen was. (Sigrid had stopped grappling him as soon as Monala left, and turned to attacking Dar-Shada, non-lethally at first and then with progressive deadliness as Monala refined her instructions.) Mark, thinking along the same lines, had already punched him in the face.

Then Dar-Shada showed up again, and nearly killed Mark before nearly dying himself from the combined efforts of Sigrid, Rellik, and a well-placed acid pit. He didn’t die because Sigrid quit attacking him at that point, and helped him out of the pit.

At this point, various other guards had gone for help, so Soern and Rellik took the opportunity to escape, Soern with invisibility and Rellik with his trusty rooftop jumping technique. Sigrid chased after them.

Blank, never one to give up a plan, punched Li-Karen in the face again because Paerk had revived him when he healed a bunch of people, then dragged him into the corner and sort of camped out, with Mark defending him.

Ea-Shamar showed up, with a phalanx of more or less competent guards, and Blank demanded ransom. She refused, and they engaged in a standoff for a few tense minutes. Sigrid returned, and the standoff continued, despite her efforts to convince Blank to drop the ransom idea, with his being surrounded. Then, at some point, Ea-Shamar suggested that instead of ransom, she could pay him to track down his two compatriots who had escaped, and then to capture Monala. They haggled a bit on the specifics, but Blank eventually agreed, and Ea-Shamar deputized Paerk and told him to watch the pirate for her.

Notes Session 17

2007-06-30T21:46:00.000-04:00

Another horribly late summary. At least it's here! Oh, yeah. Success.

On a more update note: ~~Everyone was here! Eventually, at least. People might have been late.~~ (07/01/07: Actually, Rellik's player wasn't. Yet another reason to get these done in a timely manner.)

Paerk joined the group, a spryte (quickling) greenbond who worked for the city of Ao-Manasa as a gardener.

I can taste the cohesion already.

Session 16: GIANT SNAKE

2007-06-22T00:51:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 8th – Fourthmonth 13th

The crew went back to the Mevarin estate, but the door was locked and Ratham didn’t seem to be there. So they went to talk to Ea-Shamar, and then to the University to talk to Uthar. Ea-Shamar told them that Ratham was being held for questioning, and for his own safety. Uthar directed them to a couple of books, mostly out of an attempt to be rid of them.

Soern read the books, until Sigrid dragged him out of the library and back to the boats, because she wanted to set sail for the Island of the Jeweled trees, and didn’t think that he was achieving anything meaningful.

So they sailed to the Island of the Jeweled trees. (Which took about five days.) They came upon the island, covered by glassy, glittering green trees, with a bit of a gate on one end, weighed anchor, and then set to exploring the beach. (They took Mark, and left “the kids” in charge of the boats. They briefly considered leaving Rellik as a supervisor, but immediately discarded this plan as much too likely to end in stabby death.) Whereupon they discovered a truly prodigious number of crabs, which Soern proceeded to melt with his acids.

They walked through the gate and made their way up the island, along the cliff that made up one of its sides, through the glass jungle. Within this jungle, they discovered a number of flocking red birds, which spit many colors when disturbed by the giant snakes that came crashing out of the jungle to attack everyone. The colors caused much confusion, and the snakes caused much being crushed and bitten (Mark nearly met his doom) but they eventually prevailed, particularly on account of much ice blasting by Blank and a truly impressive death blow from Sigrid.

Soern made note of Gannen’s approximate whereabouts, through his magics, and they continued along the path in the appropriate direction, until they discovered a curved glass wall, with an opening. Through the opening, and they discovered a second wall, of invisible magics, round six glittering, jeweled trees—and Gannen and Monala. She delivered a short villain monologue of the “Fools! You are too late!” variety, kissed Gannen, and they both disappeared.

At which point the wall attacked them. Being unfortunately composed of glass golems, in some measure. That battle was won handily through the timely deployment of acid pits.

Notes for Session 16

2007-06-22T00:47:00.000-04:00

Yes, this is very, very late. Actual session took place on Friday of May the 25th, year 2007.

Rellik's player, again, wasn't here. I think. It's, um, been a while. I know he was at least late.

Session 16 Quotes

2007-06-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

“Slightly more dead than most people.” – Blank

“Hey look, it’s pie!” – Blank

“Let’s leave Rellik here then. He could take care of the children.” – Sigrid

“We meet again, crabs!” – Blank

“Shoot, shoot, shoot the giant menacing snake. Try, try, try, to not get your face eaten.” – Blank

“Twenty crab flambé! New, at Long John Silver’s!” – Blank

“My one weakness! Snakes. I hate snakes.” – Mark

“Man, I gotta lay off the shark man, man.” – Giant Snake (Blank)

“Okay, I killed a snake.” – Blank
“She killed a snake better.” – Soern

“I bet one of the snakes was really Gannen.” – Blank
“Nooooo!” – Sigrid

“Now thtep carefully children.” – Blank

“Detect Gannen!” – Sigrid

“I am tired of these motherfucking snakes, on this motherfucking island.” – Blank

“I’m on to you, motherfucking snake.” – Blank

“He doesn’t seem to be moving that much.” – Soern (probably)
“Oh, that’s a good sign.” – Blank

“She’s good. She is controlling him magically, but the kiss makes it look like they be in more than ‘cahoots.’” – Blank

“Why are you so racist?” – Sigrid

Updated Champion

2007-06-04T21:46:00.000-04:00

I updated and completed the Champion of Loyalty template. I also submitted it to DiamondThrone.com.

Sigrid's Journal 15 - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

2007-05-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 8

I had the strangest dream of my life last night, as clear as anything I've experienced in real life. Perhaps even clearer.

***

I found myself standing in a courtyard at the Pental chapterhouse. It was obviously springtime; there were flowers everywhere. There were more flowers than I remembered, actually, and they seemed much more colourful than they should. They possessed an oversaturated hue that seemed unnatural. It was both beautiful and very strange. Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me.

“Sigrid?”

I turned around to face the speaker and found Lord Morek. I sighed, “You need to get out of my dreams. It's starting to creep me out.”

Lord Morek laughed. “Last time I was in one of your dreams, you were in an existential quandary and required my help.”

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes, “You're not actually Lord Morek.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“Lord Morek doesn't say stuff like 'existential quandary.'”

He looked at me and smiled. “Well, I knew the guise wouldn't work forever,” he said. The next thing I knew, I wasn't looking at Lord Morek anymore, but instead a much younger and taller man. “I do apologize for the trickery, Sigrid.”

“Who are you, and why have you been disguising yourself as Lord Morek?” I reached to my hip for my blade, but found nothing.

“If a weapon would make you feel more comfortable, then by all means...” the man waved his hand towards me and the Aur Xica appeared in my hand. “I have no intention of hurting you however. I only tricked you into thinking I was Lord Morek so I wouldn't have to spend time building up a rapport with you, seeing as I know almost everything about you, I didn't feel that would be an entirely necessary use of my time.”

I gripped the hilt of the Aur Xica. “You know me? Prove it.”

“You were born in De-Shamod on the 1^st of Firstmonth 1734. Your mother's name is Elysa Korriban. You have no idea where your surname comes from. Your mother had no other children and was killed by a guard in 1748. You then lived with a blacksmith named Loghan Gorrison for three years, before joining the Order of the Axe and training on White Shoal Island. You were told numerous times that you were one of the best Squires in your year, but you refused to believe it. In your third year of Squiring, your horse frightened your friend Rolan's horse while you were out riding together. Rolan was thrown from the saddle and killed. You blamed yourself, even though it was a tragic accident and not your fault. It was at that moment that you decided that you valued life greatly and chose to Champion it,” he paused.

“Go on.”

“For your last two years of Squiring, you traveled with Dame Leram, a Litorian Champion of Justice. You admired her honour and tireless devotion to Justice, so you decided to become a Champion of Justice as well. Your Knighting happened to be on your 24^th birthday, which was the 1^st of Firstmonth 1758. After you were Knighted, you were sent to Pental. For about a year, you were mainly on field duty, running errands and doing simple missions for Lord Morek. Over the past few months, however, your life has gotten very complicated,” he looked at me, “Is that good enough proof that I know you, Kesaarane?”

I shivered as he spoke my Truename. “We're inside my dream. How do I know you didn't just, I don't know, pry into my mind and find all that?”

“You don't.” the man said, looking a little forlorn. “You see, this is why I disguised myself. You're so distrusting of strangers.”

“With good reason,” I looked up and him and he grinned at me. “You didn't really answer my questions, you know.”

“Which questions?”

“Who are you and why were you pretending to be Lord Morek?” I was growing more annoyed with this man by the moment.

“You're too concerned with names and titles, sweetheart.”

“Don't call me that.”

“Sorry. If you must have a name by which to label me, then you may call me Alastor,” the man said while reaching out to touch a rosebud. The rosebud bloomed as he cupped it in his hand, and he leaned in to smell it, “I chose Lord Morek's form because it seemed appropriate to your vision quest. He is a man you greatly respect.”

“Why are your here? Are you even real?”

“I believe I'm real. I can't prove to you that I'm real though, so whether you believe I'm real is your call.”

“So, you could just be a manifestation of some odd psychosis?”

“I suppose I could be. What is it you're really trying to ask me, Sigrid? You're avoiding the question that's really on your mind.”

I frowned. “I'm not avoiding anything. I just want to know whether you're real or not before I worry too much about your significance.”

“I already told you, I cannot prove my existence to you. You'll just have to trust yourself and your own judgment. I must ask, is it really my significance that concerns you, or is it your own?” Alastor looked me straight in the eye. “Just ask me what you really want to.”

“Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

“I'm here to give you a gift. That is all.”

“A gift? You're going to give me something?” I asked, wondering what sort of gift a crazy man in my head might give me. “Let me guess, you're going to tell me I'm the Chosen One or something and that I have to save the world or some clichéd thing like that,” I said, rather sarcastically.

“Would you like me to tell you that you're the Chosen One and are going to save the world?”

“Not really.”

“Good, because that would be a lie, and I don't really want to lie to you, little guardian.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Guardian. It's one of your purposes in life.”

I sighed and sat down on a stone bench. “You've got the wrong person. I'm terrible at guarding anything. I failed my mother, I failed Rolan, and now I've failed Gannen not just once, but twice. Twice. Damnit.” I hit my fist on the bench. “If I didn't care so damn much, I wouldn't be hurting this badly.”

“It's good that you're passionate and you care. Your passion gives you strength, Sigrid.”

“Strength to what? Strength to fail? Strength to hurt so much because of that failure that I go crazy and become a horrible person?” I blinked away the tears that were welling up in my eyes. I wasn't going to cry. I didn't want to cry.

Alastor sat down next to me. “I helped you avoid that path. You can find constructive ways to use your passion, and besides, you haven't failed Gannen.”

I looked up at him. “He's gone. He's been taken by someone I should have known was a threat. If I had been more vigilant, this would have never happened. Now he's gone.”

“Gone. You make it sound so permanent. You can find him again. You will find him again. Monala has plans for him. She hasn't killed him. He's alive.”

I couldn't help myself. I started crying. “I'm so sorry, Gannen. I'm so sorry.” Alastor plucked a rose off of the bush and sat down me, rolling the stem between his fingers.

“Channel that passion into something positive. Use your passion to find him, my Runechild.”

I blinked and looked over at him, still crying “Runechild?”

Alastor reached his empty hand towards my face. I thought to move away from him, but his voice filled my mind. “Be still, Kesaarane, I will not hurt you.” I sat there a little dazed as he ran his finger across my left cheek in some sort of pattern. “A guardian rune. It is certainly not the most conventional, but it will suit you and your path. Take care of yourself, Sigrid Halstead. I don't know when I will see you again.”

And with that, Alastor kissed me on the forehead and tucked the rose he was holding behind my ear.

***

I woke up then. I immediately brought my hand to my face but couldn't feel anything unusual. My left cheek felt hot though, though not painfully. I ran my hand back behind my ear and found a rose. Was the dream real? I tucked the rose into my pack and looked around below deck for a mirror. I didn't find one, so I climbed up above deck and went into Commodore Blank's cabin. He followed me in from the deck and seemed none-too-pleased about my intrusion of his personal space. I turned to speak with him and he stopped talking. All he said was, “Woah. What happened to you?” I asked him for a mirror and he pulled one of out his desk. I looked at my face and indeed found a rune. I suppose I'm a Runechild now. Soern seemed pretty impressed with the whole situation. I do hope this helps me help others, espeically Gannen.

We're going back into Ao-Manasa for a while today. We have a few orders of business we must attend to before we venture off to find Gannen. I would rather just go find Gannen now and worry about the city later, but I suppose (and hope) that a few more hours won't hurt anything.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 14 - Failure Felt

2007-05-30T23:17:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 7

I feel completely devastated tonight, but I will write anyway.

When I woke up this morning, I looked over at Gannen's hammock and noticed he was gone. This was not entirely unusual; there are some days when he is awake before me. I was about to close my eyes and go back to sleep for a little while when I noticed his gear was also missing. This concerned me, as he doesn't generally walk around the ship in his armour.

I got up and went above deck. Commodore Blank was at the helm. When I asked him if he had seen Gannen, he told me that he hadn't. We both searched the ship but could find no sign of him. Illiam was still safely tucked away in the bow storeroom and the rest of the crew was accounted for, but we could find no sign of Gannen. We went back above ship and signaled to Captain Soern that there was a problem. He steered the Fearful Lightning up close to the Ocean's Blade and both ships dropped anchor. When we told Soern about Gannen's disappearance, he seemed concerned and went to check on our Magister prisoner. When he returned, he informed us that she too had vanished.

This was just great. It appeared that she had escaped, somehow kidnapped Gannen off of the other boat, and vanished. I hate mages. I did a quick check of both ship's storerooms and noted that we were missing some silver dust (as well as some rum, but that was normal) I told Soern about the missing silver dust and he went off to his cabin. I suppose he wanted to research its magical properties or something.

Captain Blank and I decided to interrogate Illiam. We talked to Illiam for a little while, but he seemed to know little else than the magister's name and a theory of how she escaped (which involved Dar-Shada freeing her). By this point, I was extremely stressed, panicky, and angry. I took out my frustration on Illiam and punched him in the face. Captain Blank then said, “That was most satisfying to witness, however, I think perhaps you should back off a little.” Which I did. I went out to the deck to cool off a bit and then reboarded the Fearful Lightning to talk to Dar-Shada. He admitted to freeing Monala, but claimed he was not sure of what he was doing at the time. I suspect she magicked him, but I do not fully trust him. I wanted to hit him too, but I know better than to directly attack a Diamond Throne guard without a good reason.

I stormed off and ran into Soern as he was exiting his cabin. He informed me that silver dust was used in Faen magics and that it was used to make enchantments harder to resist. Enchantment magic is used to charm and compel. I suppose it would be easier to kidnap a Champion of Death if he was under a charm spell. I hate magic.

I reboarded the Ocean's Blade and spent the rest of the journey standing at the bow of the ship, watching the front of the boat cut through the water.

We arrived in Ao-Manasa before noon. Blank, Soern, Dar-Shada and I walked up to the castle. I started off dragging Illiam, being rougher with him than I really needed to be. Eventually Dar-Shada just picked him up and carried him over his shoulder. When we arrived, we visited with Ea-Shamar. We turned Illiam over to her. Blank made up a story about also finding Gannen at the pirate cave and then told her about Monala and Gannen's escape and Dar-Shada's magicked involvement in it. I didn't say much. She informed us that there was a bounty on Illiam, as he was wanted for breaking Gannen out of jail. She also expressed regret that Gannen had “escaped” and asked us to help apprehend him and bring him back for trial. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

We went back to the ship and talked to Rellik. He expressed interest in returning to the Nightingale's Mane, so we went down there in the early evening. When we walked in, I noticed this amazing amulet. It was a Torque of Heroic Sacrifice. I had seen one once before. A former Knight Mistress of mine owned one. They were one of the ultimate protection items. I had to have it. I traded in my Periapt of Natural Armour and purchased the Torque. Soern, Blank and I then returned to the ship. Rellik said he had some business to attend to tonight and he would meet us back at the ship sometime later.

When Rellik returned to the ship, it was nearly midnight. He had that smug, 'I just killed someone' look on his face, so I didn't ask any questions. I really didn't want to know. I'd had a hard enough day as it was without my crewmates murdering people.

My biggest fear is that Monala has taken Gannen against his will and is going to do something terrible to him, but I'm also a little scared that he may have left of his own free will. I mean, we knew him for a while before his arrest, and now he's been with us for more than a week. I just thought there might have been something there. Well, between him and the crew. A rapport. Cohesion. With the crew. He wouldn't just leave... us. Would he?

I failed Gannen. I didn't mean to, but I did. I'm taking this failure a lot more than is prudent to. I wish I could claim that it's just a matter of honour and destiny, but I know it's not. It's personal too. I care about him more than I really should. Damn it. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight.

~~~~~

Session 15 Quotes

2007-05-24T23:25:00.000-04:00

“Let’s just put the kids in charge. If something bad happens we’ll probably wake up, because it’ll involve fire.” – Rellik
“Or a kraken.” – Sigrid

“I threw James and the two people into the brig.” – Soern
“Why?” – GM
“Because they might be illusions.” – Soern

“Don’t we need someone who’s not completely on the wrong side of the law?” – Sigrid
“No!” – Blank

“Hey, Ea-Shamar! Look what I caught! A pirate! Ha ha ha ha ha!” – Blank

“Hey, look what I caught you! A male prostitute! Ha ha ha ha ha!” – Blank

“I would very much like to collect any bounty available, instead of killing him and turning his flesh into gold.” – Blank

“Gannen! I knew him. He was that weird guy my daughter was hitting on until she killed me.” – Blank, doing a Kedlar Mevarin impression

Session 15: Gannen Does a Magic Trick

2007-05-24T23:24:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 6th -- Fourthmonth 8th

Commodore Blank's fleet set sail that night. They'd decided to get help from Ea-Shamar in interrogating their prisoners, and wanted to get back to the city as soon as possible. The senior crew went to sleep, having had a long day, filled with much pirating, and they left Blank's henchman to run the ships.

When they awoke, both the magister and Gannen were gone. They searched the ship, up and down, and found neither of them. They did discover, however, that 30 gp worth of silver dust was missing from the hold. Soern immediately began to study the spells and methods he knew of, to try to discover if there was any magical significance to that fact.

Meanwhile, Sigrid and Blank tried to interrogate Illiam. They tried to play good cop/bad cop, which didn't work too well. (Blank ended up playing both good cop and bad cop, exiting and coming back in again to switch roles.) Finally, Blank remembered that he could use magic, and compelled Illiam to tell him how Monala (the magister, whose name Illiam had revealed) would have escaped. He told them that she would, "get Dar-Shada to untie her, then teleport away."

So they moved over to the Fearful Lightning to talk to Dar-Shada. Soern reported that the silver dust was a component in Faen spells -- it allows the caster to make an enchantment harder to resist. Dar-Shada said that he had, indeed, let Monala go, but didn't know quite why. They decided to keep an eye on him.

They docked the boats, and Sigrid, Blank, and Soern took Illiam up to Ea-Shamar. She thanked them for apprehending the criminal--who she said the guard suspected had been involved in Gannen's escape--and gave them a reward. She also asked them if they would consider offering assistance in apprehending Gannen.

Rellik decided that he ought to also kill Kindli, just to make sure he had gotten the right person. They all went back down to the Nightingale's Mane, to check the place out, and Sigrid sold the periapt of natural armor she had bought on her last trip there and purchased a torque of heroic sacrifice in its stead.

That night, Rellik followed her back to her house. (She locked up the store with some kind of magical ward.) Then he dropped a dire moose head on her, and went back to the ship.

They decided they should go to the Island of the Jeweled trees, because they needed something from there, and Monala probably did too, so it was the place she was most likely to be.

Sigrid's Journal 13 - Fire and Fears

2007-05-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 3

I spent most of the day stitching up the Ocean Blade's spare sails, a task I had been long neglecting. I don't like sewing. If I had wanted to sew, I would have become a seamstress. I became a Knight. Obviously, this should imply that I do not want to sew. I did some stitch work as a child, and had to do some sewing as a Squire as well. A Knight is expected to maintain and repair her own gear, including linens. I asked Blank why he didn't sew his own sails. He simply reminded me that I was the Quartermaster. He also mentioned that if he needed to repair his sails, he would simply steal new ones. Not buy, mind you, but steal. What an interesting life I have nowadays.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 4

One of the kids accidentally dropped a crate of rum bottles she was carrying up to the deck. The bottles, of course, shattered and the rum spilled all over the deck. Commodore Blank rushed to the scene of the accident, but there was nothing he could do. The rum was gone. He kneeled and looked over the remains, sputtering, “My precious...,” and “I never even got to drink you.” I pulled him away and berated him for being an idiot, but it didn't seem to help. He went back to work, but he was very subdued for the rest of the day. At one point, I could swear I saw a tear run down his cheek.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 5

There was quite a lot of blood in the water this morning. While I was looking at it, Mark joined me. He looked at the water and grinned. “Mmmmh... fish blood,” he muttered, “Must have been some very hungry sharks this morning.” Then he looked at me and grinned. I don't think he meant any threat, but he really creeped me out.

I spent the rest of the day in the crow's nest.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 6

We got into Ao-Manasa very early this morning. When we docked, I went over to the Fearful Lightning to see what had been done with Gannen. I was greeted by a rather gruff-looking sailor. It took me a second, but I eventually realized that he was indeed Gannen. Those kids really did a good job on him. He decided to stay at the boat, to minimize any contact he may have with the Ao-Manasa guards.

Blank went off to visit with Taevin Brightfind while Soern, Rellik,and I hung out at the docks. Rellik revealed to us the name of his next mark, which was Kandla. I knew I had heard the name before, but I couldn't put my finger on where. Blank soon returned and told us that Taevin's client had become very interested in swords. Blank had informed Taevin that we had a possible lead pertaining to a sword. Taevin told him he would try to set up a meeting directly between Blank and the client.

We then headed down to the Black Angle. We socialized for a while. I asked Tilienne if she knew anyone by the name of Kandla. She said that Kandla co-owned The Nightingale's Mane with her twin sister Kindli. Of course. I had walked passed there several times while in the market district. It was a mgical items shop.

We decided to pay a visit to The Nightingale's Mane. One of the twins was there, but we didn't know which one. We did a little shopping while we were there. I acquired a minor amulet of natural armour. I spoke with the shopkeeper and discovered that she was Kindli. Kandla was apparently at sea and would return within several days.

The day was still young, so we decided to pay a visit to Illiam's alleged pirate base. We sailed up the coast and entered the magical fog that had so ungraciously trapped us before. This time, however, we emerged into a cove. There wasn't much in the cove except one cave. There were some orangish flickering lights coming from inside the cave. We decided to investigate and left the kids with the boats.

As we entered the cave, we were beset by a group of fire elementals, which promptly lit me and Gannen on fire. With some liberal use of Blank's ice power, as well as some pretty exceptional fighting on Gannen's part, we managed to kill them.

We continued on into the cave, a little singed, but all in all, not in bad shape. I noticed this very acrid smell that made me cough a couple times. Mark, Rellik, and Gannen also seemed mildly bothered, but Soern and Blank went into absolute coughing fits. When they finally stopped, they did not look very well. They both said they didn't feel very well either. We kept going and ended up in a small antechamber, which was adorned by tables. The tables were covered in papers, which I immediately began rummaging through. Most of it was pretty useless. Some of the papers appeared to be the rantings of a madman. Here are a couple of my favourites:

Reasons why the great Commodore Illiam is better than the puny Blank:

Commodore Illiam is a great and mighty Commodore. Blank is a foolish man.
Commodore Illiam has a great fleet and wonderful crew. Blank has one little rowboat and is followed by incompetent fools.
Commodore Illiam has a great and mighty plan. Blank is so foolish, he is incapable of great and mighty plans.

Note to self: You can never add too much fire. If a plan is failing, add more fire. If something is boring, add more fire.

Of actual note, there were two papers. One was a map of the region, which had the Island of the Jeweled Trees, as well as another unbeknownst location, which the Aur Xica identified as the capital of the Hor Quan Empire. The second paper was a list of names and things. Some items were crossed out. I will transcribe this into my journal so I do not forget it.

~~Heir~~
~~Key~~
Seed
~~Temple~~
Aur-Xica

~~Sa-Follen~~
~~Kedlar Mevarin~~
~~Dialle Westing~~
Uthar Kalenil
Raviye Baron

~~Dar-Shada~~
~~Mischa Mevarin~~
Gannen Tazhiren
~~Parrel~~
~~Hellas~~
~~Ratham~~
Iu-Malan

I saw the name Tazhiren and just about freaked out. I had suspected that Gannen was a descendant of Dyeza Tazhiren, but he had never told me his surname before. I was also concerned about the particular names that were crossed out. They were all dead (or at least taken care of in one way or another). Gannen didn't seemed too pleased either.

We heard some voices, so Rellik decided to sneak up the stairway at the other end of the room, and within moments, I heard a scream as a battle commenced. I raced up the stairs and charged into the fray. There were two human women, who appeared to be magisters, and a man who was more over-the-top piratey than even Blank. I assumed he was Illiam. I also recognized one of the women as Kindli, who I had just seen earlier this day. Then I realized this was probably Kandla. The battle was relatively short. Blank and Illiam yelled at eachother the whole time. Illiam's more of a crazy egomaniac than Blank, that's for sure. At one point, Gannen and I had flanked Illiam. I hit him with the Aur Xica, and he drew his attention to me. He laughed and said I was foolish to bring the Aur Xica and Gannen Tazhiren to him. He even insinuated that I was more foolish than even Blank. Gannen then knocked him out.

I turned my attention back to the rest of the battle. Kandla lay on the floor dead. The other magister woman was on the floor as well, but she was breathing. We tied up Illiam and the Magister woman. Gannen and Mark decided to stay and watch them, to make sure they didn't wake up and escape. The rest of us went exploring. We found a few storerooms with various goods. We dragged it out to the main room to be loaded onto the ships. We then found a ladder which lead up to another room. In the room, we found a Giant tied to a chair, gagged. I removed the gag and he told us his name was Dar-Shada, and that he was a guard from Ao-Manasa. On the other side of the room, I noticed Ao-Manasa guard equipment, so his story checked out. He said he had been captured by the pirates here. I asked Blank, Rellik, and Soern to untie Dar-Shada and help him gather his gear while I slipped down the ladder and back into the main room. I warned Gannen that there was a guard upstairs and he would do well to go hide on the Ocean's Blade, which he did.

A few minutes later, Rellik, Blank, Dar-Shada, and Soern emerged. We gathered up our ill-begotten goods and loaded the ships. By this time, the sun was setting and we decided to head back to Ao-Manasa right away. Ea-Shamar will want her lost Guard back.

We're near the coast, so the kids can handle the boat for the night.

The list concerns me. I don't want to have to worry about something happening to Gannen again. I've been trying to keep him in my sight as much as possible since we got him from the prison, but I can't protect him all the time. He doesn't necessarily even need my protection. He's just as strong as I am, if not stronger. Why do I worry about other people all the time? Why do I worry that I just won't be good enough to protect people? Why do I even feel I must protect people all the time? I just don't want anything bad to happen to people.

I always want a cause. I'm never just content doing something for myself, or doing something for no reason. I need a reason. I need a cause. I like to look at the big picture. I am but one person. One person, alone, rarely changes the world. Sure, one person's ideas can change the world, but not usually one person by action alone. They need helpers. They need followers. They need people behind them in their grand quest. History may not always remember the army, but they were always there.

I don't want to be important myself. I want to be a part of something important. I want to be involved with something larger than myself. I don't want history to remember me as a leader of some great cause. But perhaps I will follow such a leader. Perhaps I will be some leader's right-hand-man. Perhaps I will protect such a leader with my life. That's what I really want, I think.

Maybe it's my destiny to help others achieve their destinies.

Sigrid's Journal 12 - Ships, Hydras, and Letters

2007-05-24T10:16:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Thirdmonth 27

A most pleasant day at sea. Gannen and I talked about Ao-Manasa for awhile. We also talked about my Order. He seems to believe we're some sort of terrorist organization. I told him that his perception of us is wrong, for the most part. I mean, there are some who choose to follow “Lord” Harsted on his barbaric guerrilla ambushing of any Diamond Throne agents he happens to come across. Most of us would much prefer solutions that involve less bloodshed. Sure, sometimes drastic measures are needed, but I would like to believe that we're a civilized Order.

Eventually, Captain Blank came below deck, followed by two of his child crewmen. He told me to find something for them to do, and then went back above deck. Methinks these children are wearing on Captain Blank's nerves a little. I had them inventory our supplies, even though I had just done so a week or so ago. That took quite a few hours, and when they had finished, I had to go over their work with them. I was a little annoyed to find we were two entire crates short of rum. When I confronted Captain Blank about the missing rum, he said that “sometimes these things happen,” and “perhaps my counting skills are lacking.” Twenty-four bottles of rum don't just disappear though. I suppose I will have to raise the estimated rate of consumption of rum for purposes of inventorying. I've always been accurate at predicting how quickly we'll go through our other stores, but the rum always seems to disappear faster than I expect.

All in all, it was a pretty typical day at sea.

~~~~~

Thirdmonth 28

I slept most of the morning. When I awoke, I found one of the children sitting on the floor next to my hammock, playing with the Aur Xica. I grabbed the sword away from the kid and informed her she was never to touch my things again. Is that so much to ask? It's not as though I have that much stuff. Especially compared to Soern. He has books and paper everywhere down here, as well as various magical trinkets. Captain Blank's pretty bad too. His quarters are filled with random, pointless junk (including quite a few empty rum bottles). Rellik's a bit more... efficient with his belongings. Then again, Rellik's efficient with pretty much everything he does.

I had evening watch duty, which was uneventful.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 1

Today should have been Gannen's trial date. Unfortunately for the Ao-Manasa Guards and Magistrates, he will regretfully be unable to attend. I do apologize for that, Ea-Shamar, I really do. It could not be helped though.

Gannen and I sparred today, hand to hand. It was rather fun, even though I got bruised up pretty badly. I admit it, he is better than I am.

Other than that, it was a boring day. Captain Blank says we will arrive at Pental tomorrow.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 2

I am NOT happy with this “Commodore Illiam.” NOT AT ALL. As we were approaching Pental, I noticed that the docks were on fire, which was probably because of the two hydra rampaging around. Probably. There was a ship fleeing the scene, flying black and red sails. It was the boat we had seen leaving Ao-Manasa some weeks ago (the ship Blank believed to be Illiam's).

I wanted to continue on immediately to Pental to help my Order kinsmen and the villagers I had sworn to protect, but Captain Blank had another plan. A plan which, for some reason, involved James jumping off the boat. After much protesting from me, we turned to chase the pirate boat. We were at full speed, but they were still getting farther away from us. They seemed to be getting away, when all of a sudden, there was this loud fwooshing sound, and Soern threw green magic at the other ship. It hit and exploded. Several figures on the deck collapsed, and the boat stopped moving. Now that it was dead in the water, the ship was quite easy to approach.

As we boarded the ship, we encountered no resistance. All the crewmen on deck were dead, except for the Captain. I approached him and asked, “Are you Illiam?”, to which he responded, “Are you an idiot?” Captain Blank confirmed that this man was not Illiam. After a little questioning, we found out his name was Captain Parrel, and that he worked for Commodore Illiam. I honestly didn't care who he was. He was now an enemy of my Order. I could have killed him then, but I decided to bring him back to Lord Morek for... questioning. I had Rellik tie him up, and then I dragged him over to the Ocean's Blade. Blank and Soern searched the ship and Gannen “took care” of the surving crewmen below deck (with the Aur Xica).

Blank decided we should take this ship to create a fleet. I argued that two ships isn't really a fleet, but he assured me that “Two is more than one, so that means it is a fleet.” He now insists on being called Commodore Blank, and has delegated the role of Captain on the new ship (The Fearful Lightning) to Soern. I am to remain Quartermaster of both vessels because I'm “the only one who gives a damn about supplies.” I'm sure the others would start “giving a damn” if we ran out of stuff.

We got a pretty good haul off of the Fearful Lightning and decided it would be a good time to go to Pental. As we approached Pental, the fires seemed to be staying contained to the dock buildings. Several knights were keeping the hydras from charging up the hill to the village, but they didn't seem to be making much progress in killing them. We docked (a difficult task as everything was on fire) and stormed the hydras. Gannen's lack of equipment wasn't a problem (he IS a Champion after all). He called quite an... interesting shield (which seemed to be made of of skulls), and a sword. It was a pretty scary battle. I nearly got lit on fire a couple times. We eventually took the hydras down and then Blank, Gannen, and I (dragging Parrel) made our way up the hill. About halfway to town, we ran into Lord Morek, who seemed pleased to see us, particularly after I introduced Gannen and turned over Parrel to him. We talked for a little while, when he asked me if I knew a man named Blank. I was about to introduce Blank to Morek, when Blank interrupted me and gave a short speech about how amazing, dashing, and incredible this Captain Blank fellow was. Honestly, his ego is borderline idiotic at time. Lord Morek took the hint that this man was Blank and handed over the letter. It was from Taevin Brightfind. Apparently his client wanted to know if any of the freelancers sent to the Tomb of Ozymandius had recovered a sword. We shall have to discover who this client is.

We were about to leave when Lord Morek asked me if we had recovered a map on Parrel's ship. When I told him he had not, he explained that it was a map to the “Island of the Jeweled Trees,” and that the pirates had stolen it. I turned my attention to Parrel and asked him about the map. He initially refused to betray Illiam, but I found with a little... gentle persuasion he was more than willing to be helpful. He told us about Illiam's secret pirate base. It's apparently magical and can only be found if one already knows its exact location, which he so kindly divulged to us. We then bid adieu to Lord Morek, leaving Parrel with him, and went back to the docks. Soern had identified the magical items we had taken from the Fearful Lightning. Of particular note was a veil. It was part of a set, and the next piece was in a secret pirate base on the Ao-Manasa island. I do believe in Gods, I just generally ignore them, as they do not personally affect me. However, I can't help but think some greater power, whether a God, the Green itself, or perhaps just some ancestral spirit is leading us to this pirate base. We should be careful.

I took the crew up to town to sell some of the items we had commandeered from the Fearful Lightning. I got a cut, as always, though I really don't have much need for gold. Soern, Blank, and Rellik spent a while in the village shopping while I took Gannen up to the Chapterhouse armory and got him equipped with a set of plate armour and a sword.

We left Pental midafternoon and set sail for Ao-Manasa. Commodore Blank wanted to talk to Taevin Brightfind, and Rellik was getting impatient about finding his mark. I suppose we'll have to figure out what to do with Gannen as we get closer to the city.

~~~~~

Session 14 Quotes

2007-05-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

“Well I wouldn’t, but I’m not a pompous bastard who eats puppies.” – Captain Blank

“So I’m just sitting here, chatting with Mark.” – Sigrid
[Laughter. Hilarious laughter.]

“You seem really bitter about this.” – Sigrid
“He eats puppies. He ate my puppy.” – Blank

“Hey Cer-Athene, look at these birth certificates I definitely did not forge.” – Blank

“Science: Leave it in a box and see what happens.” – Blank

Session 14: He Eats Puppies

2007-05-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 16th

They ventured further into the cave, and Captain Blank and Soern got poisoned by a mysterious mist. In the room beyond that, they found a table covered with papers. The papers included three lists:

~~Heir~~
~~Key~~
Seed
~~Temple~~
Aur-Xica

~~Sa-Follen~~
~~Kedlar Mevarin~~
~~Dialle Westing~~
Uthar Kalenil
Raviye Baron

~~Dar-Shada~~
~~Mischa Mevarin~~
Gannen Tazhiren
~~Parrel~~
~~Hellas~~
~~Ratham~~
Iu-Malan

Which was very mysterious, and they worried about it. Gannen, particularly, didn't seem to think it was a good thing that his name was crossed off a list.

Then they heard some voices coming from the next room, and Rellik snuck over to investigate. He saw a pirate-y guy with fancy hair, and two magister-y women, one tall with long black hair, and one carrying a number of magic items who looked just like the Kindli, the proprieter of The Nightingale's Mane. The fancy-hair guy said something about being ready to leave, so, naturally, Rellik attacked them, by firing his an acidic arrow.

The rest of the group joined the melee shortly. Blank promptly recognized the pirate guy as Illiam, the scourge of his existence, who responded by peppering them with snappy patter and general arrogance. Then Blank blinded him with mud, Soern trapped him in chains of fire, and Sigrid knocked him out.

Meanwhile, Mark and Gannen (mostly Gannen) basically obliterated the woman whom they assumed was Kandla, and then the two teamed up with Rellik to knock out the other magister, because Blank wanted to take her alive. He thought she might prove useful in extracting intelligence from Illiam.

They tied up their two prisoners, then left Gannen and Rellik to guard them while everyone else explored the rest of the complex. They found a number of storage rooms, with spices and magic items, and Dar-Shada, a giant guard from Ao-Manasa, who said he had been captured by the pirates. They freed him, and offered to give him a ride back to the city.

At some point during all this, Captain Blank decided that he was now "Commodore Blank," and Soern was now "Captain Soern," on account of the new ship they had semi-jointly acquired.

Notes on Session 14

2007-05-23T21:31:00.001-04:00

This is, I know, incredibly late. I was procrastinating, and then I lost my laptop cord. (Hooray for science!) Actual session happened on the 12th.

I think Rellik's player was missing, but I can't quite confirm it, because I suspect the memory may be out of habit. Anyone care to confirm this way or that?

Pental

2007-05-13T14:02:00.001-04:00

The Order of the Axe Chapterhouse located near Ao-Manasa is known as Pental, which was the former, pre-Diamond Throne name for Ao-Manasa. Pental is not just a Chapterhouse, but a small, self-sufficient town of about 650, including the inhabitants of the Chapterhouse itself. Though the town is literally focused around the Chapterhouse, there are quite a few residents in town that are not Order members. There is also a small minority of Order-sympathetic giants who call Pental home.

The Chapterhouse itself is a castle. It houses about 100 Squires at any given time, at various stages of training. Only about 3-4 of every ten Squires will become Knights; the rest will either remain Squires until their deaths, or will choose to leave the Order. It takes a minimum of seven years as a Squire before a Lord or Lady can bestow Knighthood. Most Knights spend an average of nine years as a Squire. Some spend many more. Squires who have had at least five years of training at the Chapterhouse are often assigned to individual Knights for more specific, in depth training.

At the current time, there are 27 Knights based on Pental, though up to half of them are away on field work all or most of the time. The number of Knights fluctuates from year to year, but it has remained between 15 and 30 for the past decade. There are also 5 Knight Masters living at the Pental Chapterhouse. One of them, Knight Master Sylsevyn, is Lord Morek's right hand man, the other four are primarily responsible for the training of the Squires. They enlist the help of the other Knights in the Chapterhouse to accomplish this.

The Pental Chapterhouse is currently run Lord Morek Gorran. He has been the Lord of Pental for nearly ten years and is very well liked and respected, by both Order members and civilian citzens of Pental. He once served under Lord Aniton Golhia and is a follower of his ideas for a peaceful resolution with the Diamond Throne. Though his ultimate goal is self-rule for all races, as it is for all Order members, his main focus has been at improving the life of non-giants (and giants for that matter) in the Ao-Manasa area. There have even been rumours of he and Gri-Taresh occasionally working together to solve local problems for the common good, but they are simply rumours. One thing is known: Gri-Taresh tolerates Pental and the Order's presence, so long as they do not directly interfere with his affairs in Ao-Manasa.

Pental itself is very well fortified. Approach by boat is difficult in most places; the waters around the island are shallow and filled with rocks, and most of the shores are high cliffs. This made it an ideal place to build a Chapterhouse and a town, as the seas in these parts are filled with pirates. The docks are at the south point of the island, where the land slopes down to meet the sea. The water around the docks has been deepened, and the rocks have been cleared. There are several buildings around the docks, but the town itself and the Chapterhouse are uphill.

The island is small; it has an area of about three and a half square miles and a circumference of about eight miles. The town itself takes up about one quarter of the island's land, though there are some homes and other buildings scattered across the island outside of the town. The island is mostly flat, with grasses, flowers and scattered trees. The soil itself was pretty rocky at one point, but through Greenbond attention, it has become fertile enough to support agriculture.

Session 13 Quotes

2007-05-10T23:27:00.000-04:00

“Oh no! It’s the dreaded pie thief! The only man in the world, known to have green hair!” – Blank

“She might not search the ship at all. She might . . . trust us.” – Sigrid
[Laughter. Hilarious laughter.]

“If Gannen was a girl we could call him Lava Girl, because of the volcano. Why does Gannen have to be a man?” – Sigrid

“Why would he take levels in human? He’s a shark.” – Commodore Blank

“Well if she’s been asking questions recently I can guarantee she’s not Mischa.” – Sigrid

“Blank, tell your Akashics to start digging around.” – Captain Soern
“Yo Akashic. Start digging around. Ja.” – Commodore Blank (as Arnold Schwarzenegger)

Session 13: Ice Ice Baby

2007-05-10T23:26:00.000-04:00

Fourthmonth 3rd – Fourthmonth 6th

On the way to Ao-Manasa, there was some discussion of what they should do with Gannen. Particularly, whose ship he should be on, because while Blank had told Tar-Namor that his name was Illiam, no one was sure that he had passed this information on to the rest of the guard, or even that he would consider it credible once the various magics (and alcohol) involved wore off. If the guard did think that Illiam had been involved in Gannen’s escape, they would be more likely to search the Fearful Lightning, seeing as it had been until very recently one of Illiam’s ships. On the other hand, the Ocean’s Blade had left mysteriously in the middle of the night Gannen escape.

Eventually, they decided that he should stay on the Fearful Lightning, disguised as a “generic sailor dude.”

On the 5th, they saw blood in the water, which Mark said was from a recent mass feed. Of some kind.

When they got to Ao-Manasa, Captain Blank went to talk to Taevin Brightfind about the letter, at the House of Glass tavern. When he returned, he reported that Taevin’s client had suddenly become interested in any sword’s Taevin’s freelancers had found. He had told Taevin that they had some kind of lead, and Taevin was going to talk to the client about possibly setting up a meeting.

Meanwhile, Rellik had reported what he knew of his mark—that she was a human magister named Kandla. Sigrid remembered that name as belonging to a local merchant. They asked around at the Black Angle, and found out the merchant in question ran a magical oddities shop called The Nightingale’s Mane, with her twin Kindli. They visited the store, and discovered that Kandla was out “at sea,” and would be back in about a week.

Also, Captain Blank acquired gauntlets of frozen magnificence, Soern a set of bracers of armor, and Sigrid an amulet of natural armor.

So, while they were waiting, they decided to check out the secret pirate base that Parrel had spoken of. Of which Parrel had spoken. That Parrel had mentioned.

They approached it, all mysterious-like, and entered the hidden coven with great stealth. Therein, they discovered it to be oddly abandoned, and a cave with flickering lights. They entered the cave, and discovered it to be infested in fire elemental. Which they dispatched. With righteous thacking. And ice.

Lots of ice.

Session 13 Notes

2007-05-10T23:25:00.001-04:00

Rellik's player wasn't here.

Sigrid's Journal 11 - Jailbreak!

2007-05-10T21:09:00.000-04:00

~~~~~

Thirdmonth 24

This morning, I remembered why I dislike barrack life. The Knight-Masters get their own quarters. All us plain, ordinary knights have to all sleep together. I'm not a very heavy sleeper, so I got woken up a couple times in the night by clumsy idiots stomping around and dropping stuff. Then there's the snoring. At least the Knight barracks are better than the Squire barracks. Talk about stupid clumsy idiots...

Getting woken up before dawn by a screaming Knight-Master is not among my favourite activities either. Maybe one day, I'll get to be a Knight-Mistress. Or maybe I'll even get to be in charge of a chapterhouse. Lady Sigrid... it does have a nice ring to it. Usually Lordship and Ladyship is reserved for those with a more... prominent lineage than I have, but there have been many cases of lowborns becoming nobles within the Order. I'm certainly stronger than most of those incompetent fools Lord Morek has to deal with. I suppose such a contempt for my peers isn't a very good quality for a leader to have. Maybe Lord Morek is right: I have the potential for greatness, but I squander it with my own negativity. I'll try to work on that.

Lord Morek found me at breakfast and brought me to his office. He gave me a scribed copy of all the documentation he had received from the Eye of the Axe. Of note was a riddle, which went as follows:

Free the fire,
From icy fist,
Meet seed with flame of earth,
With storm and stare,
With will of heir,
Of right blood and right worth.

It seems to be a set of instructions. I'll keep them in mind.

Lord Morek also gave me the names of a couple guards whom I may be able to... influence to get Gannen out of jail. One is Tar-Namor, who guards the jail. Morek warned me that he has Nightwalker connections. I don't really want to cross paths with the Nightwalkers. The other guard he told me about is Oa-Tesanil. She doesn't seem to be connected to the Nightwalkers, or any other organized crime ring. She just takes bribes from random thugs mostly.

After our business was finished, my Lord informed me that since I was here, I would be assisting Knight-Master Dontann with squire blade training. This displeased me. I don't like the squires. I think they are a flock of uncouth morons. I never liked Master Dontann much either. He always seemed a bit self-righteous and holier-than-thou. Despite my differences with Knight-Master Dontann, training started off very well. Master Dontann and I demonstrated some sword techniques. I hadn't done any mock-combat in awhile, and it was a nice change from being mauled by velociraptors or eels. Everything was going great until I misinterpreted a feint by Dontann and stepped into a rather powerful swing. His training blade, while dull, was still quite hard and heavy, and as it hit my shoulder, I felt my collarbone snap with an audible crack. My left arm went numb and I was suddenly barely able to hold my shield, let alone properly use it. Master Dontann stopped and asked if I was okay,and when I insisted I was, we continued. Every blow I took to my shield for the rest of the session was agonizing, and I was relieved when Master Dontann decided it was time for the squires to practice while we supervised.

I walked around the field, correcting the Squires' technique and form, changing their stance, and giving them advice. All the while my shoulder is throbbing like mad. By the time training was over for the afternoon, I couldn't move my left arm at all. The Squires wandered off to their other lessons while Dontann and I headed back up to the chapterhouse. We had a relatively pleasant conversation about Lord Harsted's latest escapades and the backlash from the Diamond Throne that our order was receiving because of him. I didn't mention my collarbone to him at all, and tried to keep my arm moving naturally as we walked. Once we parted ways at the chapterhouse, I began clutching my arm protectively to my chest to try to keep my shoulder from moving. It hurt very badly by this time, so I went to see an Order healer. When asked what had happened, I just told her I didn't want to talk about it. She healed me up and I could finally use my arm again properly. I was still a little sore and stiff, but that was nothing a day or two wouldn't fix. I guess the whole ordeal showcases how proud and stubborn I am.

After supper, Ulray became quite insistent that we return to Ao-Manasa, “as we had been here too long already.” We teleported back to Ulray's house. The combination of healing magic and a teleport has taken it's toll on me, and I have scarce energy to do much else than write. Seeing how shaky and exhausted I was when we got back, Ulray gave me quarter for the night. I think I shall sleep now.

~~~~~

Thirdmonth 25

Woke up feeling much improved this morning. I left Ulray's relatively early and enjoyed a nice, downhill walk to the market where I spent the morning browsing various wares. During the afternoon, I paid a visit to a bathhouse for a long overdue wash. Afterwards, I headed off to the Black Angle and socialized for a while with Tillienne. I asked her about Tar-Namor and Oa-Tesanil. She didn't know much about Tar-Namor, but she had heard of Oa-Tesanil, as she had accepted arena bribes in the past. As it was getting late, I headed up to the Twisted Fish. I rented a room, but didn't go up to bed immediately. I stayed down in the tavern for awhile, socializing, drinking, and even dancing a bit. It was nearly dawn when I finally went upstairs to relax and sleep.

~~~~~

Thirdmonth 26

I was most unpleasantly woken up midmorning by the crew. They had gotten into port this morning and had come to the Twisted Fish to find me. The innkeeper told them I had rented a room, so they decided to let themselves in and wake me up. Some people have no manners. I got out of bed and rather groggily joined them downstairs for breakfast. I wasn't terribly hungry, but Captain Blank insisted I “at least have some rum.”

I told them about my plan. Soern seemed indifferent about the whole thing, Rellik didn't really want to get involved, but Blank thought it would be an excellent use of “his charm.” As a group, we decided that we should bribe Tar-Namor. I suppose it could be interesting if we piss off the Nightwalkers. We asked around in the Twisted Fish about the guards, and heard that most of them hang out in a tavern called the Wicker Goat. Captain Blank went off to the Wicker Goat to find Tar-Namor, while the rest of us wandered down to the Black Angle.

Blank returned a couple hours later. He informed us that he had been successful. Tar-Namor was to meet Blank at a back entrance to the castle at midnight. Blank also seemed quite pleased with himself. When asked why, he smugly told us he had told Tar-Namor that his name was Illiam. How very, very clever. Blank then went to talk to Cer-Athane. When he came back to the table, he wore a rather over-the-top looking cape. It suited him, as Captain Blank's entire look and personality is quite over-the-top. He seemed to be a bit more personable as well. I suppose the cape is magic.

We dedided that the early evening would be a good time to pay a visit to the Mevarin butler, Ratham. On the way, I decided to make a quick stop at the market to purchase some cheese as a gift for Ratham. I paid for my cheese, and twenty seconds later, I heard a familiar voice. And you know what it said? I'll tell you what it said. It said, “Captain Blank! Captain Blank! Captain Blank!”

I turned around and saw a very excited James running towards us. Blank turned and tried to disappear behind a market stall, but it was too late. James had already seen him. His fate was sealed. James approached us, smelling worse than normal. He rambled on for awhile about how he had been captured by Illiam, but then for some reason, he had been released (I have no idea why... no idea at all...). Then there was something about some people following him trying to kill him. He also told us how he had lost said attackers in the sewers. That would explain the smell. Captain Blank cast a hygiene spell on him, and for some masochistic reason, invited him to join the crew. James commented that he had some friends that would love to serve such a prestigious Captain as Blank. I seem to recall Blank's reply was something along the lines of ,“Well, I wouldn't want to deny them the honor of working for me.” That's not his exact wording. I believe he sounded more pirate-like. And more arrogant. It is difficult to transcribe Captain Blank's extreme arrogance onto paper. James ran off, either to find his friends or go to the ship. The rest of us continued on our way to the Mevarin house.

We walked up to the Mevarin house and knocked on the door. A few moments later, Ratham opened the door. He glared at us and announced that we were “lousy pirates.” I tried to offer him the cheese as a peace offering, but he would have none of it and tried to close the door in our faces. I decided to invite myself in and pushed the door open and strolled inside. The others followed. Ratham said something about “lousy pirates having no manners,” but I didn't particularly care.

After we were inside and the door was closed, I asked Ratham why he had told Ea-Shamar that he had seen Gannen kill Mischa. I offered him the cheese again, but he refused to take it, as it was "poisoned with lousy pirate poison." Soern and Blank slipped away while I was talking to him, presumably to try and pillage and steal whatever we hadn't taken last time. Rellik still stood in the foyer with me. As soon as I realized that being nice was going to get me nowhere, I started being a little harsher with Ratham. Rellik seemed to take this as a hint and got a dagger out and began sharpening it. I didn't stop him from being threatening. If he had actually tried to kill the old man, I may have stopped him. Then again, I might not have either. I don't really know.

I reminded Ratham that our agreement was that he was to tell the guards he had seen nothing. The only thing he would say is that Gannen was a "lousy pirate." He wouldn't say anything else. I even stooped so low as to threaten his beloved rats. He told me I was a cruel, heartless pirate, to threaten to take away "the last thing in this world that a man cares about." I sighed and let it go. I wasn't a mean person. Rellik seemed a bit disappointed, as did Blank (who had found no rum), and Soern (who had found no magical trinkets). I encouraged the rest of the group that we should leave, before someone in this house ended up dead. (Again. Again.) We told Ratham that "we had never been here," and left.

We spent the evening in the Black Angle, enjoying ourselves while not getting entirely smashed. At about an hour or so to midnight, we inconspicuously slipped outside and headed towards the castle. Captain Blank lead us to a back entrance near the dungeon and directed us to hide. Blank stood in a shadow near the door, while the rest of us sought refuge kneeling in a nearby bush. Well, actually, I was the only one kneeling. Soern's small enough he didn't have to duck at all, and Rellik was in this squatting position, as if he was ready to jump up and pounce someone at a moment's notice. He really creeps me out. We had to wait for a while. My calves and feet were getting to be all numb and tingly. Note to self: Do not kneel for long periods of time in full plate mail. Also, Soern kept whispering to me and complaining that he couldn't see anything. I finally asked him if he would like me to describe the scene to him, or if it would just be easier to find him a box to stand on. He was not amused, though he did finally shut up, which had been my intention all along.

Finally, the back door opened, and out walked a giant, followed closely by Gannen. The giant (who I assume was Tar-Namor) spoke very briefly to Captain Blank and then disappeared back through the door, leaving Gannen. As soon as he was gone, the rest of us emerged from behind the bush, with me on wobbly legs. Gannen stared at me and simply said “You...” His tone was not entirely appreciative, but he was probably under a lot of stress.

Captain Blank lead us all to an entrance to the city sewers, making me regret my bath I had paid for two days ago. We spent a while wandering around under the streets. I think we were lost and going in circles, but Blank insisted he knew the way. We should have brought James. Eventually, we emerged at the docks and snuck back onto our ship. Mark, along with James and some very young looking new crewmen, had prepared the ship to set sail while we were gone, and we set sail immediately. Captain Blank cast hygiene on everyone as well, much to my happiness.

After we were safely at sea, Gannen beset me. He seemed a little aggravated. He questioned what my thought process had been, though his language was a little harsher than that. He also reminded me that I was going to be between midnight and death with the guards, if they ever found out I had done this. To that, I reminded him that he would have been between midnight and death himself if I had not done this. Captain Blank then decided to correct our argument, making sure that we both remembered that it had not been I, Sigrid, that had done anything, it had been him, Blank, Pirate Captain Extraor... ah, who cares what he calls himself anyway. Anyway, Gannen then declared that we were all witch-brained. This statement seemed to displease Blank, who announced that he, himself, was the only one on this boat who was witch-brained. I whole-heartedly agreed with him, under both meanings of the term. The three of us kept up with our “heated discussion” for a little while longer, before Soern came above deck and yelled at us for making too much noise.

Gannen and I retreated below deck to sleep, and Captain Blank went to his quarters. I've spent a while writing tonight and think that it may be time to actually sleep now.

~~~~~

Session 12 Quotes

2007-05-02T14:13:00.000-04:00

“Do you happen to know a man named Blank?” – Lord Morrek
“Don’t you mean Captain Blank, dashing pirate extraordinaire? I believe I may have heard of him.” – Blank

“Mah leather coat, mah bloodshot eyes.” – Sigrid

“Why don’t you like this Illiam person? He seems much more competent than you.” – Sigrid
“He eats puppies.” – Captain Blank