Background (SECRET)

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

Sigrid's Journal 1 - Peculiar Mishaps

~~~~~

Firstmonth 22

The Order has given me a new mission.

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

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

~~~~~

Firstmonth 23

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

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

~~~~~

Firstmonth 24

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

~~~~~

Firstmonth 25

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

I will pay Sa-Follen a visit tonight.

~~~~~

Firstmonth 26

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~

Captains Log I

Firstmonth 23^rd

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

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

Firstmonth 24^th

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

Firstmonth 25^th

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

Firstmonth 26^th

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

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

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

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

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

Firstmonth 27^th

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

Firstmonth 28^th

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

Secondmonth 1^st

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

Secondmonth 2^nd

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

Secondmonth 3^rd

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

Session 1: Things Go Wrong

Firstmonth 26, 1759

The party met while hanging around in front of the Sa-Follen’s (the corrupt captain of the guard) house in the middle of the night. They sort of wandered around for a little while, then “snuck” around the back. They found a door to a tool shed, searched it thoroughly, and were spotted by a guard. The guard approached, Rellik stabbed him, Blank tried to stab him and hit a bunch of rakes instead. The guard tried to run away, Sorern summoned a pit of acid in front of him, and Sigrid chased him. (With only the intention of stopping him, she says.) She knocked him into unconsciousness, then Sorern searched him and Rellik rolled him into the pit of acid.

They hid under the stairs. Another guard came down, failed his Spot check horribly, and went over to investigate the missing rug and acid scoring in the great hall. They snuck upstairs, went into the Sa-Follen’s room, and found that he was already dead. Shortly thereafter, the town guard had them surrounded.