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.
Showing posts with label summary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summary. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Session 21: Xanadu
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.
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.
Friday, August 3, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Session 19: Smells Like Childhood
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.
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.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Session 18: Betrayal
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.
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.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Session 17: Planning Is Blank's Kryptonite
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.
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.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Session 16: GIANT SNAKE
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.
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.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Session 15: Gannen Does a Magic Trick
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Session 14: He Eats Puppies
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.
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:
Seed
Aur-Xica
Uthar Kalenil
Raviye Baron
Gannen Tazhiren
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.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Session 13: Ice Ice Baby
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Session 12: Everything Is On Fire
Fourthmonth 2nd – Fourthmonth 3rd
On the captured ship, they found a great quantity of interesting items.
Leather coat (+1 leather coat)
Light shield (+1 light shield)
Silky red veil, laced with garnets (burning veil)
Sea green crystal that feels slightly wet (crystal of aquatic action)
Redwood arrow that smells acrid and feels damp (fountainhead arrow)
A ruby, cut into a torus—beveled on top, flat below (rubicund frenzy, least)
Scroll (scroll of water breathing)
Incense, 300 gp
Silver dust, 420 gp
15 bloodstone, 20 gp each, 300 gp
5 lapis lazuli, 100 gp each, 500 gp
Large sack of lemon balm, 320 gp
Small crate of coriander, 575 gp
Barrel of almond oil, 160 gp
Chest of gold, 4600 gp
Chest of silver, 3000 sp
There was a moment of discussion about what they should do with Parrel’s ship. Soern was in favor of sinking it, but Captain Blank took it under his captaincy and delegated direct command to Soern. Then they sailed to the Order of the Axe stronghold and fought the hydras.
After their victory, Sigrid dragged Parrel up the hill, to talk to Lord Morrek. Captain Blank (after ordering Mark and his henchman to take care of the boats) and Gannen also came with her. Soern stayed on the ship, identifying those items they had determined to be magical, and Rellik stayed on or around the ship because he hates talking to people.
The conversation with Morrek went fairly well. He was pleased with the success of Sigrid’s plan to rescue Gannen from prison, and with their capture of ex-Captain Parrel. He asked her whether she knew a “man named Blank,” and when she said she did he produced a letter addressed to said individual, who he said he had been told would be arriving on the island soon. The letter, Captain Blank discovered, was from Taevin Brightfind, and said that the client who had originally sent them to the Tomb of Ozymandius had been asking Taevin if any of his freelancers had recovered “a sword.”
Lord Morrek also asked Sigrid if they had recovered a map, which the Island had recently unearthed, and contained the location of the Island of the Jeweled Trees, but had been stolen by the pirates when they attacked the stronghold.
Sigrid interrogated Parrel in regards to this map, who was initially reluctant to “betray his Captain,” but was shortly convinced to reveal that it had been removed from his ship and taken to the “secret pirate base,” which was what they had encountered when they’d followed Illiam’s ship into the fog bank. He then divulged the exact location of this base, and the fact that it is impossible to find if you don’t already know where it is.
Sigrid left Parrel to Lord Morrek and the Order dungeons, and returned with Gannen and Blank to the docks. There, Soern told them that one of the items was the burning veil, part of a set, and that the second part of the set was in a the aforementioned “secret pirate base.” He also told them what all of the other things were, and they divided the treasure amongst themselves. They also purchased a few items from the island armory, after Sigrid vouched for everyone’s character. (Sort of.)
Then they renamed the ship they had captured (from Fearful Lightning of the West to, simply, Fearful Lightning) and set sail for Ao-Manasa.
On the captured ship, they found a great quantity of interesting items.
Leather coat (+1 leather coat)
Light shield (+1 light shield)
Silky red veil, laced with garnets (burning veil)
Sea green crystal that feels slightly wet (crystal of aquatic action)
Redwood arrow that smells acrid and feels damp (fountainhead arrow)
A ruby, cut into a torus—beveled on top, flat below (rubicund frenzy, least)
Scroll (scroll of water breathing)
Incense, 300 gp
Silver dust, 420 gp
15 bloodstone, 20 gp each, 300 gp
5 lapis lazuli, 100 gp each, 500 gp
Large sack of lemon balm, 320 gp
Small crate of coriander, 575 gp
Barrel of almond oil, 160 gp
Chest of gold, 4600 gp
Chest of silver, 3000 sp
There was a moment of discussion about what they should do with Parrel’s ship. Soern was in favor of sinking it, but Captain Blank took it under his captaincy and delegated direct command to Soern. Then they sailed to the Order of the Axe stronghold and fought the hydras.
After their victory, Sigrid dragged Parrel up the hill, to talk to Lord Morrek. Captain Blank (after ordering Mark and his henchman to take care of the boats) and Gannen also came with her. Soern stayed on the ship, identifying those items they had determined to be magical, and Rellik stayed on or around the ship because he hates talking to people.
The conversation with Morrek went fairly well. He was pleased with the success of Sigrid’s plan to rescue Gannen from prison, and with their capture of ex-Captain Parrel. He asked her whether she knew a “man named Blank,” and when she said she did he produced a letter addressed to said individual, who he said he had been told would be arriving on the island soon. The letter, Captain Blank discovered, was from Taevin Brightfind, and said that the client who had originally sent them to the Tomb of Ozymandius had been asking Taevin if any of his freelancers had recovered “a sword.”
Lord Morrek also asked Sigrid if they had recovered a map, which the Island had recently unearthed, and contained the location of the Island of the Jeweled Trees, but had been stolen by the pirates when they attacked the stronghold.
Sigrid interrogated Parrel in regards to this map, who was initially reluctant to “betray his Captain,” but was shortly convinced to reveal that it had been removed from his ship and taken to the “secret pirate base,” which was what they had encountered when they’d followed Illiam’s ship into the fog bank. He then divulged the exact location of this base, and the fact that it is impossible to find if you don’t already know where it is.
Sigrid left Parrel to Lord Morrek and the Order dungeons, and returned with Gannen and Blank to the docks. There, Soern told them that one of the items was the burning veil, part of a set, and that the second part of the set was in a the aforementioned “secret pirate base.” He also told them what all of the other things were, and they divided the treasure amongst themselves. They also purchased a few items from the island armory, after Sigrid vouched for everyone’s character. (Sort of.)
Then they renamed the ship they had captured (from Fearful Lightning of the West to, simply, Fearful Lightning) and set sail for Ao-Manasa.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Session 11: Acquisition of a Ship
Thirdmonth 27th -- Fourthmonth 2nd
James informed Captain Blank that he had invited four of his "friends" to join the ship's crew. Captain Blank wasn't particularly happy about it, but they seemed competent enough, so he reluctantly acquiesced to their addition to the crew.
Most of the voyage was spent talking to Gannen, talking to Captain Blank's new henchpersons, and goofing off.
As they approached the Order of the Axe chapterhouse island, they discovered that it was on fire. Probably because of the pyrohydra rampaging about the docks.
They also saw a ship with familiar red and black sails fleeing the scene. Captain Blank suspected it was Illiam, so he ordered James (secretly, as to avoid arousing suspicions in Sigrid before it was too late for her to demand they continue to her organizations island) to head for the black and red sailed ship. He, naturally, jumped off the boat. So Blank gave Mark, and the rest of the crew, the same orders publicly. Which, naturally, displeased Sigrid, but there wasn't much she could do about it without starting a mutiny, and she went along with the plan after extracting a promise from Blank that they would head for the island next.
The other ship was bit faster than the Ocean's Blade, and mostly out of reach of all their weapons, but it happened to be just within range of Soern's sorcerous blast He cast the acidic variation thereof, doing minor damage to it, killing most of the crew, and leaving it dead in the water.
They boarded it and negotiated a surrender from it's Captain, who turned out not to be Illiam, but rather a human named Parrel. They learned from him that Illiam now had a fleet, though he would not reveal its size. They tied him up, dispatched the rest of his crew (a task Sigrid delegated to Gannen), and began a search of the ship.
James informed Captain Blank that he had invited four of his "friends" to join the ship's crew. Captain Blank wasn't particularly happy about it, but they seemed competent enough, so he reluctantly acquiesced to their addition to the crew.
Most of the voyage was spent talking to Gannen, talking to Captain Blank's new henchpersons, and goofing off.
As they approached the Order of the Axe chapterhouse island, they discovered that it was on fire. Probably because of the pyrohydra rampaging about the docks.
They also saw a ship with familiar red and black sails fleeing the scene. Captain Blank suspected it was Illiam, so he ordered James (secretly, as to avoid arousing suspicions in Sigrid before it was too late for her to demand they continue to her organizations island) to head for the black and red sailed ship. He, naturally, jumped off the boat. So Blank gave Mark, and the rest of the crew, the same orders publicly. Which, naturally, displeased Sigrid, but there wasn't much she could do about it without starting a mutiny, and she went along with the plan after extracting a promise from Blank that they would head for the island next.
The other ship was bit faster than the Ocean's Blade, and mostly out of reach of all their weapons, but it happened to be just within range of Soern's sorcerous blast He cast the acidic variation thereof, doing minor damage to it, killing most of the crew, and leaving it dead in the water.
They boarded it and negotiated a surrender from it's Captain, who turned out not to be Illiam, but rather a human named Parrel. They learned from him that Illiam now had a fleet, though he would not reveal its size. They tied him up, dispatched the rest of his crew (a task Sigrid delegated to Gannen), and began a search of the ship.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Session 10: The Sneakiness
Thirdmonth 26th -- Thirdmonth 27th
Sigrid got back to Ao-Manasa on the 24th. While waiting for the others to show up, she gathered information and talked to Tillienne about the two guards Lord Morek had told her about.
The others got back on the 26th. Sigrid told them what she’d learned from Lord Morek. The scholars of the Order of the Axe had uncovered a few references to the Hora Quan, including a poem.
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.
Apparently, it had something to do with “restarting the volcano.”
She also told them about the plan she had devised, to get Gannen out of prison. They would bribe a guard. Morek had suggested two: Tar-Namor, who had the keys for that part of the stronghold but also had probable Nightwalker connections, or Oa-Tenasil, who didn’t have Nightwalker connections but also didn’t have the keys. They discussed the details of the plan, and decided on bribing Tar-Namor.
Captain Blank executed most of the plan. It involved magic, sneakiness, and diplomacy. And alcohol. (And pretending to be named Illiam.) At the Wicker Goat, the main guard hang-out, he made friends with the guard and proposed that he help them get Gannen out of jail in exchange for gold. Tar-Namor agreed to help them. He told them to come by the back entrance of the stronghold, just after midnight.
They killed time, meanwhiles, by hanging out at the Black Angle for a bit. Captain Blank purchased a cape of fancy charisma +2 from Cer-Athane. (He just happened to have one on hand.) Then they decided to interrogate Ratham, but first Sigrid had to go to the market, to go buy cheese.
On the way to the market, they ran into James, who had a story, with about the usual level of coherence, about getting captured by Illiam, and then getting let go, and then losing the people trailing him via the sewers. Captain Blank then cast hygiene on him, and finally agreed to let him join on with his crew.
They found Ratham at the Mevarin mansion. Talking to him was not terribly enlightening—he trusted them even less than he had last time. His explanations for why they pirates were even more nonsensical than they’d been originally. He mutter something along the lines of “why do all the scary people have to bother old Ratham?” but wouldn’t say anything more on the subject, even when Sigrid asked him who the scary people were, and told him that she could help.
Later, at midnight, they met Tar-Namor, at the back door, with Gannen. (Who made inexplicable faces, but didn’t say anything.) Then they headed down to the docks, and the Ocean’s Blade quietly set sail.
Sigrid got back to Ao-Manasa on the 24th. While waiting for the others to show up, she gathered information and talked to Tillienne about the two guards Lord Morek had told her about.
The others got back on the 26th. Sigrid told them what she’d learned from Lord Morek. The scholars of the Order of the Axe had uncovered a few references to the Hora Quan, including a poem.
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.
Apparently, it had something to do with “restarting the volcano.”
She also told them about the plan she had devised, to get Gannen out of prison. They would bribe a guard. Morek had suggested two: Tar-Namor, who had the keys for that part of the stronghold but also had probable Nightwalker connections, or Oa-Tenasil, who didn’t have Nightwalker connections but also didn’t have the keys. They discussed the details of the plan, and decided on bribing Tar-Namor.
Captain Blank executed most of the plan. It involved magic, sneakiness, and diplomacy. And alcohol. (And pretending to be named Illiam.) At the Wicker Goat, the main guard hang-out, he made friends with the guard and proposed that he help them get Gannen out of jail in exchange for gold. Tar-Namor agreed to help them. He told them to come by the back entrance of the stronghold, just after midnight.
They killed time, meanwhiles, by hanging out at the Black Angle for a bit. Captain Blank purchased a cape of fancy charisma +2 from Cer-Athane. (He just happened to have one on hand.) Then they decided to interrogate Ratham, but first Sigrid had to go to the market, to go buy cheese.
On the way to the market, they ran into James, who had a story, with about the usual level of coherence, about getting captured by Illiam, and then getting let go, and then losing the people trailing him via the sewers. Captain Blank then cast hygiene on him, and finally agreed to let him join on with his crew.
They found Ratham at the Mevarin mansion. Talking to him was not terribly enlightening—he trusted them even less than he had last time. His explanations for why they pirates were even more nonsensical than they’d been originally. He mutter something along the lines of “why do all the scary people have to bother old Ratham?” but wouldn’t say anything more on the subject, even when Sigrid asked him who the scary people were, and told him that she could help.
Later, at midnight, they met Tar-Namor, at the back door, with Gannen. (Who made inexplicable faces, but didn’t say anything.) Then they headed down to the docks, and the Ocean’s Blade quietly set sail.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Session 9: Pirating . . . with Honor!
Thirdmonth 13th – Thirdmonth 26th
They returned to the ship, and spent the next eight days at sea. (Until Thirdmonth 21st. It rained from the 14th to the 18th, was severely cold on the 19th and the 20th, and was still cold but not as cold on the 21st.)
The Ocean’s Blade encountered a merchant ship. They easily caught up to it, boarded it, dispatched the entire crew, and captured the captain. (Captain Yaltef.) Who they interrogated. Then they took all the shiny things (gold, spices, silk, fluffy pillow, etc.) off the boat. Captain Blank knocked the Captain out, and Sigrid slit his throat before they tossed him overboard, for the shark.
Then they went on their way. And Soern sank the other ship. With magic.
They returned to Ao-Manasa on the 22nd, and found out that, while they were gone, a plague of rats had bothered the city, and a traveling circus had come and gone. The steward’s son was getting married on the 19th of Fourthmonth, and Gannen’s trial had been set for the 1st.
They went up to the castle (thing) to talk to Ea-Shamar, and found out that the guard had a witness who claimed to have seen Gannen kill Mischa Mevarin—Ratham, the Mevarin butler. They also talked to Gannen, who had asked for them, and gave them (Sigrid, mostly) the location of a key. An important key. Something about the Hora Quan, and all that.
Rellik, Captain Blank, and Soern sailed to “Rellik’s island” so he could report on his successful killing of Mischa. Sigrid teleported to the Knight of the Axe island so she could get urgent consultation with Lord Morrek.
They returned to the ship, and spent the next eight days at sea. (Until Thirdmonth 21st. It rained from the 14th to the 18th, was severely cold on the 19th and the 20th, and was still cold but not as cold on the 21st.)
The Ocean’s Blade encountered a merchant ship. They easily caught up to it, boarded it, dispatched the entire crew, and captured the captain. (Captain Yaltef.) Who they interrogated. Then they took all the shiny things (gold, spices, silk, fluffy pillow, etc.) off the boat. Captain Blank knocked the Captain out, and Sigrid slit his throat before they tossed him overboard, for the shark.
Then they went on their way. And Soern sank the other ship. With magic.
They returned to Ao-Manasa on the 22nd, and found out that, while they were gone, a plague of rats had bothered the city, and a traveling circus had come and gone. The steward’s son was getting married on the 19th of Fourthmonth, and Gannen’s trial had been set for the 1st.
They went up to the castle (thing) to talk to Ea-Shamar, and found out that the guard had a witness who claimed to have seen Gannen kill Mischa Mevarin—Ratham, the Mevarin butler. They also talked to Gannen, who had asked for them, and gave them (Sigrid, mostly) the location of a key. An important key. Something about the Hora Quan, and all that.
Rellik, Captain Blank, and Soern sailed to “Rellik’s island” so he could report on his successful killing of Mischa. Sigrid teleported to the Knight of the Axe island so she could get urgent consultation with Lord Morrek.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Session 8: The Temple of the Hora Quan
Thirdmonth 13, 1759 – Thirdmonth 14, 1759
They returned to their ship, and chased the monkeys off fairly easily. Sigrid climbed up into the rigging, and Captain Blank shouted “argh!” a lot.
They healed, rested, and the next day they made another shot at getting up the mountain. It was still raining.
This time it went a little better. They didn’t run into any more velociraptors.
About midafternoon, after many hours of hacking through the jungle, they came across the ruins of some ancient city, spread out beneath the peak of the mountain. They conducted a search of the ruins, and discovered a few items of magical quality, in the overgrown remains of an armory: a string of white beads, and a shortbow woven with black. (Well, mostly Soern found them, between his keen eye and sense for magic.) They also found various assorted nonmagical items—bones, mostly, and a slightly charred doll. (Sigrid picked up the doll.)
The ruins seemed to be of a city, and they converged on a central building, a round building, with columns and a sky light, built around a well. (The well connected to some kind of passageway, underground.) This building appeared to be in better shape than the rest of the city, mostly intact, and in it they found a (non-magical) silver ball.
From this building, a wide central lane ran up to the glittering thing they’d seen, and they followed that path up to the pick. Turned out, the mountain was actually a volcano, and the glittering thing was a platform built around the edge of the volcanic crater. And that there was an altar on the platform, and various fossilized feathers and strange items in pots around the inner edge. (It occurs to me that I didn’t do a good job of explaining why it was glittering, in the game. Let’s pretend I mentioned that it’s decorated with crystal, spaced at regular intervals around the edges. And pretend that makes some kind of sense.)
Floating around the altar was some kind of fluffy mosquito, making a horrible buzzing noise. They got closer, and it got really bad, so bad that it dazed Soern. Captain Blank managed to knock it out of the air with a bit of wind magic. Mark coup de grace’d it with his boot.
On the altar, they found a few more things: a carven skull, of terrible visage, and a egg-sized yellow gem with shifting occlusion. (Both were magical.)
The Aur Xica got “very enthusiastic,” about the skull, and then progressively more frustrated as the fiddled with the things on the altar. Finally, they touched the sword’s hilt to the skull. Apparently, that was the condition that unbound its ability to speak, which it immediately began to use to yell at the party for taking an absurdly long time to get to this point.
They talked to the sword, about its function, history, powers, and how to get those powers. It mentioned Tai Faren, and various champions, and a number of other things that only Sigrid remembered anything about. It couldn’t tell them much about what the rest of them actually cared about, unlocking its power (which it also cared about, very much), but thought it probably had something to do with “restarting the Hora Quan—the Heart of the Sea,” which had something to do with “the isle of the jeweled trees.”
They decided, based on this information, to return to Ao-Manasa, but not before completing their explorations. They went back to the still-intact building, explored the passageway a bit. (The Aur Xica informed them that it was a lava tube.)
Inside the lava tube, they fought four more of the fuzzy buzzing things. Soern dispatched them post haste, with a sorcerous blast. Then they went all the way up, found that one end led to the volcano crater, and all the way down, where they discovered that the other end brought them back to the beach, a short walk from their ship. (Which they returned to.)
They returned to their ship, and chased the monkeys off fairly easily. Sigrid climbed up into the rigging, and Captain Blank shouted “argh!” a lot.
They healed, rested, and the next day they made another shot at getting up the mountain. It was still raining.
This time it went a little better. They didn’t run into any more velociraptors.
About midafternoon, after many hours of hacking through the jungle, they came across the ruins of some ancient city, spread out beneath the peak of the mountain. They conducted a search of the ruins, and discovered a few items of magical quality, in the overgrown remains of an armory: a string of white beads, and a shortbow woven with black. (Well, mostly Soern found them, between his keen eye and sense for magic.) They also found various assorted nonmagical items—bones, mostly, and a slightly charred doll. (Sigrid picked up the doll.)
The ruins seemed to be of a city, and they converged on a central building, a round building, with columns and a sky light, built around a well. (The well connected to some kind of passageway, underground.) This building appeared to be in better shape than the rest of the city, mostly intact, and in it they found a (non-magical) silver ball.
From this building, a wide central lane ran up to the glittering thing they’d seen, and they followed that path up to the pick. Turned out, the mountain was actually a volcano, and the glittering thing was a platform built around the edge of the volcanic crater. And that there was an altar on the platform, and various fossilized feathers and strange items in pots around the inner edge. (It occurs to me that I didn’t do a good job of explaining why it was glittering, in the game. Let’s pretend I mentioned that it’s decorated with crystal, spaced at regular intervals around the edges. And pretend that makes some kind of sense.)
Floating around the altar was some kind of fluffy mosquito, making a horrible buzzing noise. They got closer, and it got really bad, so bad that it dazed Soern. Captain Blank managed to knock it out of the air with a bit of wind magic. Mark coup de grace’d it with his boot.
On the altar, they found a few more things: a carven skull, of terrible visage, and a egg-sized yellow gem with shifting occlusion. (Both were magical.)
The Aur Xica got “very enthusiastic,” about the skull, and then progressively more frustrated as the fiddled with the things on the altar. Finally, they touched the sword’s hilt to the skull. Apparently, that was the condition that unbound its ability to speak, which it immediately began to use to yell at the party for taking an absurdly long time to get to this point.
They talked to the sword, about its function, history, powers, and how to get those powers. It mentioned Tai Faren, and various champions, and a number of other things that only Sigrid remembered anything about. It couldn’t tell them much about what the rest of them actually cared about, unlocking its power (which it also cared about, very much), but thought it probably had something to do with “restarting the Hora Quan—the Heart of the Sea,” which had something to do with “the isle of the jeweled trees.”
They decided, based on this information, to return to Ao-Manasa, but not before completing their explorations. They went back to the still-intact building, explored the passageway a bit. (The Aur Xica informed them that it was a lava tube.)
Inside the lava tube, they fought four more of the fuzzy buzzing things. Soern dispatched them post haste, with a sorcerous blast. Then they went all the way up, found that one end led to the volcano crater, and all the way down, where they discovered that the other end brought them back to the beach, a short walk from their ship. (Which they returned to.)
Monday, March 19, 2007
Session 7: Velociraptors!
Secondmonth 25, 1759 – Thirdmonth 13, 1759
They spent a long while sailing. On the 25th, when they set out from the Tomb of Ozymandius, it was clear, but by the next day the weather had turned to fog. Which hung on the water for four days, until it cleared up on the 2nd of Thirdmonth. That was the most interesting thing that happened until the night of the 4th, when the ship was attacked by a gang of eel-like humanoids. The crew successfully repelled them, and the general monotony of sailing on the open ocean resumed.
It warmed up on the 7th, but cooled off again on the 13th, when it started to rain, and the wind kicked up again. That wind propelled them to a mysterious island that rose out of the sea, covered with jungles from which strange noises emanated.
They landed, left their boat in a cove, and made their way up the island, through the jungle, to a point near the peak that glittered, even through the rainy haze.
Then they ran into a pack of velociraptors. It was a rousing battle.
They returned to their ship, to rest and regroup, and discovered that it had been invaded by monkeys.
They spent a long while sailing. On the 25th, when they set out from the Tomb of Ozymandius, it was clear, but by the next day the weather had turned to fog. Which hung on the water for four days, until it cleared up on the 2nd of Thirdmonth. That was the most interesting thing that happened until the night of the 4th, when the ship was attacked by a gang of eel-like humanoids. The crew successfully repelled them, and the general monotony of sailing on the open ocean resumed.
It warmed up on the 7th, but cooled off again on the 13th, when it started to rain, and the wind kicked up again. That wind propelled them to a mysterious island that rose out of the sea, covered with jungles from which strange noises emanated.
They landed, left their boat in a cove, and made their way up the island, through the jungle, to a point near the peak that glittered, even through the rainy haze.
Then they ran into a pack of velociraptors. It was a rousing battle.
They returned to their ship, to rest and regroup, and discovered that it had been invaded by monkeys.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Session 6: Plot Twisting
Secondmonth 19th 1759 – Secondmonth 25th 1759
After Sigrid finished talking to Morek, they decided (in contrast to their original plan) that they should return to Ao-Manasa. Rellik wanted to complete his contract on Mischa, and while everyone else was initially in favor of continuing on to the Temple, they quickly decided that having a less-than-pleased Rellik onboard was probably a bad idea.
The Ocean’s Blade sailed, under fair weather, to Ao-Manasa. They went down to the Twisted Fish, hung out a bit, and learned that another person had been murdered, that very morning. They couldn’t find out quite who it was, and Sigrid wanted to Ea-Shamar to get more information, but the rest of the group convinced her that they should go kill Mischa first.
They went to the Mevarin house. The same strange old man greeted them, nearly refused to let them in, then showed them to the sitting room, where Mischa was. They (meaning Sigrid and Blank) asked her about the Hora Quan, and she said she didn’t know anything, that was her father’s hobby, and they should go to the University if they were really that interested. Then Sigrid used touch of justice on her, discovered that it was she who had killed her father, Kedlar Mevarin, and was trying to find out if this was true and what it meant when Rellik snuck up behind Mischa and stabbed her.
They fought. They won. She died. Rellik’s critical hit and Soern’s paralytic spelling (facilitating a subsequent coup de grace from Rellik) made it a decisive victory. The butler came in about halfway through, but was quickly immobilized—first by Sigrid’s grappling, then by Soern’s magicing. Captain Blank and Sigrid (who the butler had now decided were pirates, because they were all pirates, because only pirates would try to murder someone in their own home) got him to agree to keep quiet, by threatening to reveal his theft of cheese. (Which Sigrid discovered using touch of justice, and which he referred to as his “terrible secret.”)
Sigrid, of course, wasn’t happy with Rellik, because she’d wanted to know what was going on. She pointed out that there might have been someone else involved, and that now it would be (at least) much harder to follow that trail. No one listened, because Rellik didn’t care in the first place, and Captain Blank and Soern were too busy looting the place.
Sigrid pointed out that this was probably a bad idea, because if they tried to sell stuff they’d taken from the house it would become fairly obvious they had been involved in the murders. She made Soern put back the jewelry he’d taken, but Captain Blank still took the alcohol he’d found, because Soern reported that some of it was “magic booze.”
They also searched Mischa’s room, where they found a box with two vials of crystal scorpion poison and two yellow roses under the bed. Rellik took the vials, and one of the roses, and put one of the vials and the rose on Mischa’s body, as a sort of tip off to the guard.
Then they left. They went down to the Black Angle, because Soern wanted to buy some things from Cer-Athene, (once they got there, he decided against it) and because they wanted to talk to Gannen. He wasn’t there, so they hung around a bit, and tried to talk to Mazquar.
Gannen got there some minutes later, and Sigrid began trying to use touch of justice on him. Hilarity ensued.
Meanwhile, Captain Blank’s witch sight told him that Gannen was a champion of death, information he discreetly relayed to the others at the first convenient moment. Based on this, it seemed clear that he had been involved in the murders, somehow. Probably, he had been in secret communication with Mischa, and the letter had been some kind of code.
Except that, when Sigrid finally got her justice sense to work, she discovered that the most unjust thing he’d ever done was “illegal arena killings.”
And before she could puzzle out what that meant, Ea-Shamar entered the Blank Angle, with retinue, and arrested him for the murders.
Nobody was quite sure what to do after that. Rellik told Tillienne that he hadn’t done it, that Mischa had, and that she should tell the guards that. Sigrid went down to the castle, to talk to Ea-Shamar, but was told that she was “busy,” and wasn’t available. They decided, in the end, to just get out of town for a while, to go investigate this business of the Temple of the Hora Quan.
So they set sail, the very evening of the day they’d arrived, for the Tomb of Ozymandius, from where they would chart their course to the Temple. They made good time that first day, but on the 22nd a terrible storm kicked up, and they were driven west, which wasn’t that bad because they were heading that way anyway. On the 23rd, it still hadn’t let up, and they were driven even further west, past the tomb entirely. The weather, though cold, cleared up on the 24th, and they were able to make it to the tomb.
The weather continued on the 25th, when they set their new course and made for the fabled Temple of the Hora Quan.
After Sigrid finished talking to Morek, they decided (in contrast to their original plan) that they should return to Ao-Manasa. Rellik wanted to complete his contract on Mischa, and while everyone else was initially in favor of continuing on to the Temple, they quickly decided that having a less-than-pleased Rellik onboard was probably a bad idea.
The Ocean’s Blade sailed, under fair weather, to Ao-Manasa. They went down to the Twisted Fish, hung out a bit, and learned that another person had been murdered, that very morning. They couldn’t find out quite who it was, and Sigrid wanted to Ea-Shamar to get more information, but the rest of the group convinced her that they should go kill Mischa first.
They went to the Mevarin house. The same strange old man greeted them, nearly refused to let them in, then showed them to the sitting room, where Mischa was. They (meaning Sigrid and Blank) asked her about the Hora Quan, and she said she didn’t know anything, that was her father’s hobby, and they should go to the University if they were really that interested. Then Sigrid used touch of justice on her, discovered that it was she who had killed her father, Kedlar Mevarin, and was trying to find out if this was true and what it meant when Rellik snuck up behind Mischa and stabbed her.
They fought. They won. She died. Rellik’s critical hit and Soern’s paralytic spelling (facilitating a subsequent coup de grace from Rellik) made it a decisive victory. The butler came in about halfway through, but was quickly immobilized—first by Sigrid’s grappling, then by Soern’s magicing. Captain Blank and Sigrid (who the butler had now decided were pirates, because they were all pirates, because only pirates would try to murder someone in their own home) got him to agree to keep quiet, by threatening to reveal his theft of cheese. (Which Sigrid discovered using touch of justice, and which he referred to as his “terrible secret.”)
Sigrid, of course, wasn’t happy with Rellik, because she’d wanted to know what was going on. She pointed out that there might have been someone else involved, and that now it would be (at least) much harder to follow that trail. No one listened, because Rellik didn’t care in the first place, and Captain Blank and Soern were too busy looting the place.
Sigrid pointed out that this was probably a bad idea, because if they tried to sell stuff they’d taken from the house it would become fairly obvious they had been involved in the murders. She made Soern put back the jewelry he’d taken, but Captain Blank still took the alcohol he’d found, because Soern reported that some of it was “magic booze.”
They also searched Mischa’s room, where they found a box with two vials of crystal scorpion poison and two yellow roses under the bed. Rellik took the vials, and one of the roses, and put one of the vials and the rose on Mischa’s body, as a sort of tip off to the guard.
Then they left. They went down to the Black Angle, because Soern wanted to buy some things from Cer-Athene, (once they got there, he decided against it) and because they wanted to talk to Gannen. He wasn’t there, so they hung around a bit, and tried to talk to Mazquar.
Gannen got there some minutes later, and Sigrid began trying to use touch of justice on him. Hilarity ensued.
Meanwhile, Captain Blank’s witch sight told him that Gannen was a champion of death, information he discreetly relayed to the others at the first convenient moment. Based on this, it seemed clear that he had been involved in the murders, somehow. Probably, he had been in secret communication with Mischa, and the letter had been some kind of code.
Except that, when Sigrid finally got her justice sense to work, she discovered that the most unjust thing he’d ever done was “illegal arena killings.”
And before she could puzzle out what that meant, Ea-Shamar entered the Blank Angle, with retinue, and arrested him for the murders.
Nobody was quite sure what to do after that. Rellik told Tillienne that he hadn’t done it, that Mischa had, and that she should tell the guards that. Sigrid went down to the castle, to talk to Ea-Shamar, but was told that she was “busy,” and wasn’t available. They decided, in the end, to just get out of town for a while, to go investigate this business of the Temple of the Hora Quan.
So they set sail, the very evening of the day they’d arrived, for the Tomb of Ozymandius, from where they would chart their course to the Temple. They made good time that first day, but on the 22nd a terrible storm kicked up, and they were driven west, which wasn’t that bad because they were heading that way anyway. On the 23rd, it still hadn’t let up, and they were driven even further west, past the tomb entirely. The weather, though cold, cleared up on the 24th, and they were able to make it to the tomb.
The weather continued on the 25th, when they set their new course and made for the fabled Temple of the Hora Quan.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Session 5: Investigation
Secondmonth 16, 1759 – Secondmonth 19, 1759
They went back to the ship, then went to Mischa Mevarin’s house to investigate. Sorern came with them, but Rellik stayed at the ship, because they didn’t trust him around Mischa.
Sorern reported the results of his investigations: the sword was intelligent, empathic, and possessed some kind of bound powers, in addition to having a necromantic aura. He had also discovered a historical reference to a sword called Aur Xica, with all of these properties. These researches indicated that the way to unbind the sword’s power involved going to the Temple of the Hora Quan. This interested the rest of the party, and they decided to pursue it further, once they’d investigated the murder business.
So they went to the Mevarin mansion, where they were greeted by an unpleasant old man, probably a butler. He accused them of being “unwashed” and “pirates,” except for Captain Blank, who – since he appeared and claimed to be a pirate – was clearly not a pirate, and who was clean because he’d just used a hygiene spell.
He took them upstairs, where they met Mischa and interrogated her for a bit. She suggested that they look through her father’s papers, which they did, and found a document decorated in black and gold. They translated enough of it to figure out that it involved “Ozymandius” and the instatement as some kind of champion someone named “Dyeza Tazhiren.” They decided that this was the person whose statue they’d seen in the tomb.
Then they went to the Black Angle, where Captain Blank got his headband of (feathery) wisdom +2 from Cer-Athane. They also talked to Gannen, for a bit, because he recognized the Aur Xica, though he wouldn’t say just why.
On the way back to the docks, they ran into James again; he was being threatened by thugs. The thugs took off when approached, saying something about “the guy Illiam warned them about.” They talked to James, and Sigrid particularly tried to encourage him to keep out of trouble.
When they actually got to the docks, they saw a ship with black and red sails setting sail, its sailors singing unpleasant and rude songs. They decided to follow it, because it was probably Illiam’s ship. So they got to the Ocean’s Blade, and set sail.
They followed it, for a few hours, more or less along the coast of the island. Then some fog showed up, and they lost sight of the other ship as they sailed into it. When the fog disappeared, the other ship was nowhere to be found. They searched for it, and up and down the coast for any place where it could have hidden, but could find no sign of it.
So they continued on their voyage as planned, to the Order of the Axe stronghold, where Sigrid had a private conversation with Lord Morrek.
They went back to the ship, then went to Mischa Mevarin’s house to investigate. Sorern came with them, but Rellik stayed at the ship, because they didn’t trust him around Mischa.
Sorern reported the results of his investigations: the sword was intelligent, empathic, and possessed some kind of bound powers, in addition to having a necromantic aura. He had also discovered a historical reference to a sword called Aur Xica, with all of these properties. These researches indicated that the way to unbind the sword’s power involved going to the Temple of the Hora Quan. This interested the rest of the party, and they decided to pursue it further, once they’d investigated the murder business.
So they went to the Mevarin mansion, where they were greeted by an unpleasant old man, probably a butler. He accused them of being “unwashed” and “pirates,” except for Captain Blank, who – since he appeared and claimed to be a pirate – was clearly not a pirate, and who was clean because he’d just used a hygiene spell.
He took them upstairs, where they met Mischa and interrogated her for a bit. She suggested that they look through her father’s papers, which they did, and found a document decorated in black and gold. They translated enough of it to figure out that it involved “Ozymandius” and the instatement as some kind of champion someone named “Dyeza Tazhiren.” They decided that this was the person whose statue they’d seen in the tomb.
Then they went to the Black Angle, where Captain Blank got his headband of (feathery) wisdom +2 from Cer-Athane. They also talked to Gannen, for a bit, because he recognized the Aur Xica, though he wouldn’t say just why.
On the way back to the docks, they ran into James again; he was being threatened by thugs. The thugs took off when approached, saying something about “the guy Illiam warned them about.” They talked to James, and Sigrid particularly tried to encourage him to keep out of trouble.
When they actually got to the docks, they saw a ship with black and red sails setting sail, its sailors singing unpleasant and rude songs. They decided to follow it, because it was probably Illiam’s ship. So they got to the Ocean’s Blade, and set sail.
They followed it, for a few hours, more or less along the coast of the island. Then some fog showed up, and they lost sight of the other ship as they sailed into it. When the fog disappeared, the other ship was nowhere to be found. They searched for it, and up and down the coast for any place where it could have hidden, but could find no sign of it.
So they continued on their voyage as planned, to the Order of the Axe stronghold, where Sigrid had a private conversation with Lord Morrek.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Session 4: Cohesion!
Secondmonth 11, 1579 -- Secondmonth 16, 1759
Sorern went back to the ship, to do some more investigations into the nature of the items they’d found. The others went down to the Twisted Fish, a dockside tavern they’d found, to do a bit of rumor gathering and figure out where to go next. They hung out there for a while, for a while, trading stories of their pasts. (Well, Sigrid and Captain Blank did, anyway. Rellik mostly just refused to answer their questions.)
Then they got to work. Sigrid went to Ea-Shamar, and got her to agree to let them help with the investigation into the murder of the human noble they’d heard about at the Twisted Fish. She learned that he was Kedlar Mevarin, apparently a sort of amateur historian, and that the guard suspected a connection between his murder and that of Sa-Follen, because both had involved crystal scorpion poison, a powerful paralytic agent.
Then they looked into the matter of the underground arena. They went to the Black Angle, where they’d heard that most of the people involved with the business hung out. Outside, they met James, the cabin boy from Captain Blank’s old ship, and learned from him that one of Blank’s shipmates, Mark, was possibly inside. They went in, met Mark, and he signed on with their crew.
Then they talked to the bartender, Tillienne, turned out to be the person who coordinated the arena, and from whom they learned that Rellik’s current mark, Baern, would be fighting in a match that very evening. (I’d clean up the syntax, but it, er, took me six hours to write that sentence.) Cer-Athane, a giant who Tillienne had been talking to, and who Tilliene said was the arena’s main go-to guy for magic, agreed to make a wisdom increasing gadget for Captain Blank.
Rellik asked Tillienne about poisons, and where to buy them, and after some thought she referred him to Gannen, an arena combatant, sitting at a table with another combatant, a verrik named Mazquar. Apparently, he used to use poison, or something. They talked to him for a bit (Mazquar didn’t really say much) and Rellik bought “something deadly.” (Also: Mazquar was also fighting that evening, against Baern.)
Rellik and Blank then devised an executed a plan whereby they tricked James into applying the poison to Mazquar’s sword by telling him that it was “sword polish” and getting him to pull the “annoying but not worth telling off” fan bit. Then Rellik and Captain Blank bet some money on the match, since they figured it was fairly certain that Mazquar was going to win. They hung out for a while, Sigrid got drunk (moral angst!), and then they all went down and watched the match. Mazquar won, Baern died.
They then sailed back to Rellik’s guild/thing’s mysterious island, where he reported his mission’s success and got a new mark: Mischa Mevarin. When they returned to Ao-Manasa, they learned (at the Twisted Fish) that another person had been murdered.
So Sigrid went back to Ea-Shamar, reported what she’d found out so far (not much), and learned that the person who’d been murdered, Dialle Westing, was also some kind of historian, and that Mischa Mevarin was Kedlar Mevarin’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Rellik and Captain Blank actually ran into Mischa (although they didn’t realize it at the time) who came up to Blank and handed him a note, apparently because she’d seen him talking to Gannen the other day. Blank, being a pirate, immediately read the note, discovered that it was a love letter of some sort, and that Gannen was referred to as “Gannen of the Yellow Rose” in the arena. (This being relevant because the two people murdered were found with a yellow rose.)
Sigrid met back up with them, and they delivered the letter to Gannen. They also interrogated him, sort of, and he denied having any particular involvement in the murders.
Sigrid then returned to Ea-Shamar, to tell her what they had learned about Gannen.
Sorern went back to the ship, to do some more investigations into the nature of the items they’d found. The others went down to the Twisted Fish, a dockside tavern they’d found, to do a bit of rumor gathering and figure out where to go next. They hung out there for a while, for a while, trading stories of their pasts. (Well, Sigrid and Captain Blank did, anyway. Rellik mostly just refused to answer their questions.)
Then they got to work. Sigrid went to Ea-Shamar, and got her to agree to let them help with the investigation into the murder of the human noble they’d heard about at the Twisted Fish. She learned that he was Kedlar Mevarin, apparently a sort of amateur historian, and that the guard suspected a connection between his murder and that of Sa-Follen, because both had involved crystal scorpion poison, a powerful paralytic agent.
Then they looked into the matter of the underground arena. They went to the Black Angle, where they’d heard that most of the people involved with the business hung out. Outside, they met James, the cabin boy from Captain Blank’s old ship, and learned from him that one of Blank’s shipmates, Mark, was possibly inside. They went in, met Mark, and he signed on with their crew.
Then they talked to the bartender, Tillienne, turned out to be the person who coordinated the arena, and from whom they learned that Rellik’s current mark, Baern, would be fighting in a match that very evening. (I’d clean up the syntax, but it, er, took me six hours to write that sentence.) Cer-Athane, a giant who Tillienne had been talking to, and who Tilliene said was the arena’s main go-to guy for magic, agreed to make a wisdom increasing gadget for Captain Blank.
Rellik asked Tillienne about poisons, and where to buy them, and after some thought she referred him to Gannen, an arena combatant, sitting at a table with another combatant, a verrik named Mazquar. Apparently, he used to use poison, or something. They talked to him for a bit (Mazquar didn’t really say much) and Rellik bought “something deadly.” (Also: Mazquar was also fighting that evening, against Baern.)
Rellik and Blank then devised an executed a plan whereby they tricked James into applying the poison to Mazquar’s sword by telling him that it was “sword polish” and getting him to pull the “annoying but not worth telling off” fan bit. Then Rellik and Captain Blank bet some money on the match, since they figured it was fairly certain that Mazquar was going to win. They hung out for a while, Sigrid got drunk (moral angst!), and then they all went down and watched the match. Mazquar won, Baern died.
They then sailed back to Rellik’s guild/thing’s mysterious island, where he reported his mission’s success and got a new mark: Mischa Mevarin. When they returned to Ao-Manasa, they learned (at the Twisted Fish) that another person had been murdered.
So Sigrid went back to Ea-Shamar, reported what she’d found out so far (not much), and learned that the person who’d been murdered, Dialle Westing, was also some kind of historian, and that Mischa Mevarin was Kedlar Mevarin’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Rellik and Captain Blank actually ran into Mischa (although they didn’t realize it at the time) who came up to Blank and handed him a note, apparently because she’d seen him talking to Gannen the other day. Blank, being a pirate, immediately read the note, discovered that it was a love letter of some sort, and that Gannen was referred to as “Gannen of the Yellow Rose” in the arena. (This being relevant because the two people murdered were found with a yellow rose.)
Sigrid met back up with them, and they delivered the letter to Gannen. They also interrogated him, sort of, and he denied having any particular involvement in the murders.
Sigrid then returned to Ea-Shamar, to tell her what they had learned about Gannen.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Session 3: Stone Bears and Empires
Secondmonth 4, 1759 -- Secondmonth 11, 1759
They fought the stone bears, and Captain Blank nearly died. He only survived because he managed to dispatch the bear that grappled him with a well-placed blast of icefire, and then Sorern knocked the other into an acid pit with stone blast.
They rested, then explored the room from which the bears had come. It also had carvings on the walls, but they were newer and more stylized than the carvings in the earlier rooms; they showed scenes of war. The other major feature in the room was a light that ran, every few seconds, from beneath the largest dragon-thing carving to a temple of some sort, from the south-west to the north-east.
The temple turned out to hide a secret chamber, within which were a bastard sword and fifteen warm, sparking blue stones, that came in three different sizes, five of each size. All the objects were magical, and everyone was convinced they were somehow dangerous; they spent a long time deciding whether and how to handle them, and decided that Captain Blank should be the one to remove the stones.
Detect magic revealed that the stones were fairly minor objects, of the evocation school, and that the sword was some kind of artifact of the necromancy school. This sparked a long discussion of who should have the sword--Sigrid was the only one who could use it, but no one trusted her with it, because they were all convinced that it was probably evil and possibly mind-affecting.
Intertwined in the carvings were words, from a language no one recognized but that everyone still understood:
Keep these words,
Who finds them here,
Beneath a bitter moon,
Your path is found,
By dragon bound,
By ritual and rune.
They spent a long time trying to figure out what this meant. (Particularly the "bitter moon" part.) Eventually, Sigrid got fed up with it, and they decided to finish searching the rest of the place and come back to it later.
They went back to the main chamber and checked out the passage off to the right. They found a statue of some hero-type person, likely the right-hand man of Ozymandius, and a bunch of carvings depicting the same person. They also found a reliquary in the wall, with a longsword and a box with a lock of hair in it.
They then spent three days searching the place from top to bottom, because they still weren't satisfied. They moved the rubble off to the left of the chamber, found another room like the one to the right, except without anything in it. Sorern remembered something about the “Hora Quan,” and recognized the tomb as done in that style. He also destroyed part of the carvings in the room in the back, looking for secret passages, and dove down into the moat to investigate.
Eventually they decided that--combined with the carvings on the wall, and the light on the floor--it was directions to another ruin, that might have more neat stuff in it.
They sailed through a storm back to Ao-Manasa. On the way, Sorern used object loresight on the bastard sword and the fifteen stones. Thus they discovered that the bastard sword didn’t seem to have any particular powers, which was puzzling.
Back at Ao-Manasa, Captain Blank went back to Taevin, and traded the two scepter pieces, (which turned out to be from two different scepters) the crown, the box, and the sword for 1,000 queens each.
They did a bit of asking around, and discovered that, in their absence, the city had held a funeral for Sa-Follen, a new Captain of the Guard, Ea-Shamar, had been inaugurated, some vaguely important human rich-type person had been found dead with a yellow rose, and the illegal underground arena had announced they were holding a series of fights in Sa-Follen’s honor.
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