Sigrid's Journal 21: Beginning of the End

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 20: How You Wanna Feel

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 19: Past Becomes Present

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

Session 20 Quotes

“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

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

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.