Sequel!

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

Sigrid's Journal 23: The Sun Will Rise Again

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 5

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

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

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

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

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

“What is this mutiny?” he asked.

“You startled me,” I said.

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

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

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

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

Everyone gathered on the deck.

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

“Jubilexis?” Soern asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Maybe,” I muttered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“See, that wasn't so hard,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

“Well, where's the box?” Soern asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“As what will be?” I asked suspiciously.

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

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

“Why?” I asked, “Why?”

“She has my brother,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

He hesitated. “Sigrid... I...”

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

“She'll kill my brother,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I screwed up.”

“You could say that.”

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

“I just wish you could have told me.”

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

“What then?” I asked.

“I'm just not used to... this.”

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

“I'd like that,” he said.

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

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

I smiled, “I love you, Gannen.”

“I love you too, Sigrid.”

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 22: Swimming with the Fishes

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued again)

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

“Let me go!” I yelled.

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

Impatiently, I repeated, “Let me go.”

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

“Just let me go.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?” I asked.

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

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

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

“Well, I can,” Mark said.

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

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

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

“Exactly!” Paerk responded.

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

“Why would it be?” Blank replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mark glared at me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~

Session Notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fought 4 anguillans

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

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

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

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

Saw the island, rising out of the mist

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

Combat Notes

Mark

Created: March 18, 2007

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

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

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

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

4300 gp total

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

Sigrid's Journal 21: Beginning of the End

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued)

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

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

“Yes, Quartermaster Halstead.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Octopus!” I cried out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We might not survive this,” I said.

“Excuse me?” Jocelyn questioned.

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

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

“We might die,” I protested.

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

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

“Maybe so,” he admitted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I know.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~