# Pirates of the Mezzovian Main -- UPDATED May 12th



## Desdichado (Feb 18, 2008)

*The Player Characters (updated):*


_Teren'Kol_ -- Hobgoblin Barbarian 4


_Caden Bar Harland_ -- Mongrelfolk Spellthief 4


_Sven Svensson_ -- Human Duskblade 3/Bard 1


_Jek_ -- Human Rogue 4


_Fairlight the Fair_ -- Human Favored Soul 4


_Eladkot_ -- Human Wizard 4

The conceit of this game was that I wanted to utilize the D&D rules to emulate "swashbuckling horror" of the kind that movies like _Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mummy_ or even _Van Helsing_ managed to do.  I made a few mechanics changes, most notably adding Action Points (with a d10 instead of a d6) and using the swashbuckly Defense bonus to AC rules from _Unearthed Arcana_.  Another notable houserule was that I removed the LA +1 penalty for hobgoblins, and made goblinoids an important component of the setting.  As you can see above, I did have one hobgoblin PC.  I didn't specifically allow mongrelfolk as a race, but the 3.5 version of the race is much less intrusive and freakish than prior editions, and the player sold me on the idea.

I whipped up a quick n dirty setting, stealing a bunch of names from Lovecraft, particularly _The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath_, although that was more of a running in-joke than an actual description of what these places are like, and borrowing a few other things from Iron Kingdoms, I sketched out a map and set them loose.







Here's a "digital sketch" I made from the page in my comp book---this is really quick and dirty Microsoft Paint sketch, so it's not terribly pretty, but it does give you the lay of the land.

I told the players that their characters would be starting out on a ship from Razina, bound for Jekara.  The game begins just a few hours from their destination when a quick squall hits the ship… right as another sail is spotted to the aft, closing fast.  They decided that as the only passengers (except for a mysterious guy who stayed locked up in his cabin the whole voyage) they had talked together and become friends while at sea and had decided to kinda "hang" together after arriving at their destination, assuming that their various goals were sufficiently compatible.  A few of the characters had some background elements and motivations to work through, such as:

Teren'Kol's city, Kushat, was once an independent hobgobber kindgom before being conquered and assimilated into the Leng empire (same fate befell Sinharat and Hu.)  He managed to escape from slavery at a young age and was subsequently protected and raised by orcs.  Revenge against Leng is a priority for him.


Caden Bar Harland looks a bit like a pale and short Ron Perlman---he's pretty certain that orcs feature in his heritage somewhere, and as he's been on an extended "roots check" trip for the last little bit, he'd like to experience their culture somewhat and see if he can find any long-lost distant cousins among them.


Sven is one of those typical "third sons" nobility---he inherited practically nothing other than a snooty attitude.  He's looking for his fortune so he can continue his practice of hanging around the rich and famous, as he is convinced that that's where he belongs.


Jek is on the run.  He fancies himself the world's greatest thief (as a 16-year old layabout) and bit off a bit more than he can chew.  He left Razina in a hurry before he found himself floating in the bay.


Fairlight considers herself a prophetess of an obscure god named Fulcrum (actually, a rather… eccentric PC from our last campaign.)  I'm still not sure how much she believes her own hype and how much she's just a shyster and con-artist, but she's out looking for money and converts… especially converts with money.  As well as some rumored holy relicts.

Sven and Fairlight are originally from Iclezza, Caden is originally from Mnar, but has spent the last few years just outside Razina, studying with a master spellthief.


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## Desdichado (Feb 18, 2008)

"What's that?"  Fairlight pointed over the railing towards a small white dot bobbing in the choppy seas.  The rest of the crew was too busy shortening the sails, tying down anything free, or in Captain Brogan's case, simply white-knuckling the wheel.  The wind was whistling through the masts, the ship was heaving up and down like a panting whale and the sky was a hard iron gray.  Lightning flashed not far away and the rumble of thunder made everyone pause and look up for a second.  The _Gilded Albatross_ bounced in the waves, barely able to keep a steady course.

"Just another ship," Jek said, unconcerned.  "No big deal.  We're nearing Jekara now; of course there's going to be more traffic."

"No, I think it's actually coming towards us."  Fairlight straightened her red fez and walked up to the rail.  Hanging in a pouch bolted to the side was a spyglass.  She lifted it out and looked some more at the ship.  

"Anyone ever heard of a black flag with the skull of a rat on it?"

The crew heard that and spat over the side.  The captain swore.  "Aye, lass, I know it.  'tis the pirate captain Ghask, and he's a mean one.  We're making hard for Jekara, but even odds are 'eel catch us before we can make port."

While the crew seemed near panicked by this news (they almost threw overboard their cargo of rare and expensive wine casks to lighten the load---greedier heads prevailed) the passengers took it in stride.  Teren'Kol sharpened the blade of his gyrspike and stretched, Sven laughed off the threat.  Caden went below decks to roust the other passenger from his cabin.  He knocked on the door.

An older gentleman with the look of a butler or valet about him answered, and he caught a quick glimpse of a finely apportioned cabin with rich furnishings and a thick haze of perfume in the air.  A thin, pale man with long oiled curls sat on a divan in the center of the room fanning himself slowly.  

"May I help you?" asked the butler.

"Aye, there's a spot of trouble.  Captain Ghask and his pirates seem to be bearing down on us.  There's poor odds that we'll make port before they catch us."

The door slammed in his face and he could hear the sound of multiple locks and latches being fastened, as well as a near panicked and hysterical cry from the butler!  "Pirates, me lord!"

No help from that quarter.  He loosed his sickle on his belt and went up above decks.

The ship was drawing up very near now.  It had started to rain fat, cold drops, and waves were crashing up over the railings, occasionally nearly causing someone to be washed overboard.  They could just make out vague shapes on the other ship, and a few dark forms were diving over the near railing as if to swim towards them.

"What the bloody 'ell…" Jek started.  Then with a motion and mumble of words a taller figure on the deck cast a spell.  A bolt of sickly greenish magical energy launched from his hands to impact Jek's chest, sizzling and burning him.  He cursed and shot his crossbow at the man---a tall figure with a golden mask and white hair.  He could just hear him curse.  A hit.  Sailors on the other ship leapt from the railing; they had tossed ropes with grappling hooks on them into the _Albatross'_ rigging and now swung easily over the gap.  At the same time, coarse furry shapes climbed up out of the sea… the furry shapes they had seen were large, dog-sized rats.  One creature was nearly ten feet tall; a ragged, anthropomorphic rat with arms the size of tree trunks and nasty yellowed claws and teeth.  Scraps of clothing and armor still clung to his bedraggled fur.  He roared a skittering cry and turned to the hobgoblin, slashing him viciously with one paw swipe.

Caden crawled up under an upside down lifeboat, seeking shelter.  Captain Brogan was there first.  "Find yer own hidin' spot, boy!"  Caden shrugged and rolled out, attempting to stab one of the pirates, but missing.  Fairlight shot off two bolts from her heavy repeating crossbow, sticking one of the pirates where the sun don't shine and causing him to yelp in pain.  He turned around with murder in his eye and crossed over to her.  Another pirate charged across the poopdeck into her as well.  With a clatter, she fell down the stairs to the main deck, but got off two more shots, dropping one of the pirates completely.

Teren'Kol howled in goblinish rage himself and attacked the monstrous rat-thing with his gyrspike, slashing ineffectively with the blade, but crushing the thing's head nice and hard with the flail.  It spat blood, and slashed and bit at him some more.  He felt momentarily dizzy as the huge dirty teeth clamped down on his shoulder, causing blood, filth and rainwater to drip from the wound as if poured.

The sorcerous pirate captain cast another spell and the poopdeck became ensnared in a sticky spider-like web.  Jek and Caden found themselves unable to move and attacked by giant rats.  Caden took a nasty, filthy bite (_and failed his Fort save, so he'll catch a nice case of Filth Fever next session!_) while Fairlight stepped back and finished another pirate with her repeating crossbow.  Teren'Kol attacked the hideous rat-giant creature again; combined with Jek's missile fire, he managed to bring it down.  He yelled a triumphant battle-cry to the sky, but then turned and completely failed to hit any of the pirates or rats that were now mobbing him.  They poked, prodded, bit and scratched him and he yelled again, this time in pain and frustration.  He soon found himself sizzling with acidic magic and unable to keep his balance when a nasty Grease spell caused the deck to become slippery.  A cresting wave knocked most of the combatants prone; they were now stuck in waves, soaking wet and prone and unable to stand due to the slippery surface.  The sorcerer smirked and laughed… until Jek and Fairlight's combined missile fire as well as Sven's own flaming magic managed to put him down.  Between that and a flask of alchemists fire, the pirate ship was now burning pretty heavily.  Sven, Teren'Kol and Caden all struggled to fight the slippery rodents of unusual size, but finally the last of them was dispatched and tossed into the stormy deep.

"Are you all alright?" Fairlight asked, brushing her wet hair out of her eyes and wringing rain and sea water from her fez.  A few healing spells later, and they more or less were.  Caden coughed slightly, but his filth fever still had yet to manifest.  Jek pondered briefly the pirate captain's strange fascinating with rodents.  The captain and crew of the _Gilded Albatross_ came out and thanked the passengers for saving their lives and their cargo.  A quick search of the pirate ship, before the smoke and fire made it impossible to stay below decks, found a fair little stash of gold and a few magic items on Captain Ghask's corpse; his mask, and a few potions (_of Cure Moderate Wounds_, they determined.)

Sven congratulated the group for fighting fairly well, for peasants (he especially sneered at Caden's sickle as a peasant implement).  Teren'Kol chopped off the rat-things head so he could later make a trophy of it… when asked why he wanted to turn it's head into a helmet, he said, "Wouldn't you?"

Uh, no.

Jek and Caden deflated Sven a bit by lifting some healing potions off of his belt without him noticing just as the butler from below invited them all to come below decks and accept the congratulations and thanks of… none other than the King of Jekara's own brother, Prince Darlanian who had been traveling incognito.


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## Desdichado (Feb 19, 2008)

Sven was particularly interested in following the butler.  "Finally; someone of my own social standing to mingle with!" and he followed so quickly as to almost leave the rest of the group behind.  The little group of unlikely heroes filed into the cabin after Sven.  Prince Darlanian was lying on his divan, looking somewhat pale and faint and sipping brandy.  When the heroes walked in, he raised himself up on one arm.

"My good fellows! (and lady!)  I must thank you for your intervention.  Although I was traveling incognito, I am none other than Prince Darlanian, brother to King Netalathian, Lord of Jekara."  He said his brother's name with a poorly repressed sneer of contempt.  "I was traveling on state business at my brother's request and without my usual guard, so your intervention is most welcome."

"My lord," says Sven suavely, "I am most happy to serve you.  I, too, am a nobleman, as you can plainly see, from the kingdom of Iclezza.  In fact, I believe your brother has married to a dear friend of my sister, your Queen Solestris.  The rabble here is also pleased to help, as is their duty."

Teren'Kol decided that perhaps showing the Prince the head of the rat-thing was a good idea at this point.  Fairlight escorted him out, telling him that perhaps that was a task better suited for being done on deck.  Caden swiped one of Sven's potions and attempted to plant it on the Prince, perhaps in an effort to sabotage their high-brow conversation and get out of an uncomfortable situation.  Although he wasn't spotted _taking_ the potion, the Prince caught him trying to put the potion into his own belt.

"My good fellow!  What _are_ you doing?"

Caden stared at the Prince blankly, a potion in his hand, the Prince's belt in his other until the butler led him away as well.  By that point, Fairlight rejoined the Prince and the paupered nobleman from Iclezza, leaving Teren'Kol to his taxidermy and Caden to his… whatever he did with that free time.

"I'd very much like to invite you to the palace once we reach Jekara," the Prince says.  "I like you.  You're also outsiders, which means you haven't been corrupted by any power source in the city yet.  Allow me the honor of making you the first offer: no doubt there are some things I can find for you to do that will prove profitable and exciting, as well as further the interests of the Jekaran state abroad.

"If you come with me to the palace, my fool of a brother will no doubt want to congratulate you in person for saving my royal blood from being spilt by those filthy pirates."

Sven and Fairlight assured the Prince that they would be more than happy to accompany him to the palace.  He tells them that he's made special arrangements with the captain to dock at the Royal docks where a carriage will await them.  Sven's horse can be taken separately to the palace by the butler.

When they conclude their audience with the prince, the squall has completely ended and the _Gilded Albatross_ is sailing on a gentle breeze under sunny skies into the Jekara Bay.

The city of Jekara itself is a wonder of architectural engineering.  It's located in a bay at the mouth of a river, and it is built almost entirely on large rocky islands that jut out from the river's mouth into the bay (_I actually showed the players my poster map of Five Fingers, told them to ignore a few names, but that otherwise this was pretty much it_) connected by bridges and build up to several stories in rickety wooden buildings from timbers harvested from the dry, juniper forests to the south.  At all times no fewer than several dozen ships and boats were in sight; large naval craft, traders that cross the Mezzovian, local fisherfolk, and ferries and barges that cross the channels between the islands and the mainland.

The _Albatross_ pulled up to a large, steady dock, and true to his word, a large black carriage waits for them there.  They all board the fine vehicle, which seats all six of them comfortably, and head off through the clacking, cobblestone streets for the palace.

It doesn't take long for Jek and Caden to hear a suspicious _clip-clop, clip-clop_ behind them.  They turn to see four riders, cloaked and hooded, pacing the carriage.

"Oi!" calls Caden to the driver.  "What's this then?"  Then the prince notices that they're not even headed for the palace anymore...


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## LostSoul (Feb 19, 2008)

Cool.


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## Desdichado (Feb 21, 2008)

For a special reuinion tour on my desk, here's the entire pirate crew, including gold-masked sorcerer, dire rats, thugs and giant rat-thing.  Crappy image quality, but hey---I just snapped a picture on my desk my my camera phone.  That's what you get.


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## Desdichado (Feb 25, 2008)

Teren'Kol and Sven swarmed up the sides of the coach (although Sven struggled a bit to get up there) and with a growl and the application of his boot, Teren'kol sent the driver packing; he crashed heavily into the side of a tavern as they went by.  The footman threw a smokestick in through the rear window which may have hindered the attackers as much as it helped them, but everyone agreed that the image of a carriage running amok through the city streaming billows of greasy black smoke was a cool image, at least.

Coughing and spluttering, Fairlight stuck her head and hands through the window to get a breath of fresh air, and popped off a few shots with her repeating crossbow, but the bouncing, jerking motion of the coach made aiming difficult and her shots went wild.  Two of the four horsemen behind pulled up alongside, while two others pulled up right behind the coach.  Caden reached into his backpack and found his caltrops, saved for just such a need.

He tossed them out the back window; one of the riders leapt nimbly over them, but another rode right through them and with a curse, his horse slowed and cried out in pain.  Jek followed the two burlier members of his group outside and up on top of the carriage.  Since neither Sven nor Teren'Kol looked like they were about to attempt to drive the thing, he grabbed the reins, kept his head down and tried to keep the thing under control.  And just in time, too!  Right in front of him was… an old lady crossing the street with her fruit cart!  He swerved hard to the left and managed to avoid crashing into her.  Sven and Teren'Kol just made their balance checks to retain their footing on top of the carriage, while inside Caden and the Prince found themselves rolling around on the floor in the smoke.

Sven, meanwhile was tossing off fiery spells at every chance he could at the rider on his side of the carriage, while the hobgoblin jumped on the horse to the side, and grabbed hold behind the rider.  He bashed the guy solidly on the head and threw him to the pavement, then took control of his horse.

"Stay down, your Highness!" Fairlight shouted, again sticking her head out and loosing two bolts from her heavy repeating crossbow into the footman.  He snarled in response and threw a cask of alchemist's fire into the back window.  Although it was nearly miraculous, none of the passengers managed to catch on fire, but the carriage was now streaming billows of greasy black smoke and was a blazing inferno as well.  Nice.  His Highness did not keep his head down.

Caden, hanging on to the door, let it swing open, with his head looking through the window.  Two crossbow bolts hit the door slamming it closed again.  Caden rode it back inside.  "Are you having fun, Caden?" Fairlight asked.  He nodded and smiled.

Teren'Kol pulled his horse back a bit to attack the other rider behind and they traded blows ineffectually for a few rounds.  Fairlight used the favor of her patron to create water, but it did not completely extinguish the flames, although it did remove the immediate danger of everyone on the coach burning to death.  Then she leaned out and shot two bolts at point blank range into the footman, who fell dead from the carriage.

Sven attempted to leap onto the horse beside him, but he timed his jump badly and crashed heavily to the cobblestones below.  Caden decided that this carriage was a flaming death trap best exited, so he grabbed the prince and jumped from the door.  He made a nice, graceful rolling landing, dusted off his clothes and stood up unharmed, but the Prince himself was considerably bruised by his landing.  Caden could hear the approaching hooves of the horse that was slowed by the caltrops, so rather than stand in the street waiting for them to arrive, he grabbed the Prince by the collar and ducked into the closest doorway he could find.  It was a busy tavern.

"A round for everyone, on the Prince!"  There was a shout and cheer, and even the Prince himself was starting to look on his adventure with a more positive light once some brandy was in him.

Meanwhile, Jek noticed that there was a canal ahead, and the bridge that crossed it was out of commission.  Rather than make a sudden turn, he hauled back on the reins and managed to pull off a hard stop.  Teren'Kol and the rider he was fighting didn't even pay attention to it, and still traded blows as they rode right off the edge and fell thirty feel to the water below.  The rider that Sven had tried to jump opened his eyes wide in alarm and pulled hard on the reins, but didn't stop in time; he and his horse went over the edge as well.  

Fairlight jumped out the back window to the ground just in time to nail the final, slower rider with two well-placed crossbow bolts.  He fell to the ground hard.

Teren'Kol kept fighting even in the water, the blood of his assailants darkening the filthy scum-filled brine.  When two triangular fins approached he decided he'd made his point and started climbing up to safety, with some help from one of Jek's ropes.  The screams of the two fallen riders and their horses didn't last long as the sharks moved in to feed.

The dripping and fuming hobgoblin, his weapon coated with the blood of his collegues, was a pretty intimidating figure, even if the rest of the group was somewhat less intimidating.  Even so, the one rider that Fairlight shot down right next to the carriage wasn't able to provide any significant information; he had been hired by an anonymous contractor to waylay the carriage without knowing who the passengers or his contractor were.  In a surprising fit of mercy, the group let him go, stumbling and limping off into the street.

The palace was now only a few blocks away, although they'd now have to go the longer way since the bridge was out.  They collected Caden and the Prince---after having a few drinks themselves---and headed for the royal gates.


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## Rel (Feb 26, 2008)

Subscribed!


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## Desdichado (Feb 28, 2008)

Despite a few raised eyebrows from the guards, the presence of his Highness, Prince Darlanian, vouching for the odd assortment of hangers-on, was sufficient to get them through the gate.  Without waiting to be announced, the Prince motioned for the group to follow him and walked through the hallways right into the King's audience chamber, causing all the palace servants to scurry out of the way, bowing as they did.  One poor chamber maid, trying to bow and move aside at the same time after suddenly nearly running right into the Prince actually fell on her backside on the hard stone floor.

The King was a sour-looking man; thin, with dark hair and a permanent scowl.  He was leaning forward in his chair listening to a hobgoblin in fine clothes speaking to him (picture Guy Rolfe's Prince John from the excellent 1952 movie _Ivanhoe_ with Richard Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor.  And George Sands as Guy du'Bois Gilbert.  If you haven't seen it, you should!  Anyway, I couldn't find any decent screenshots online, sadly.)  Next to him was his Queen, a younger woman with sparkling blond hair done in a braid of the style that the northerners used.  Indeed; she was distant kin to Sven Svensson, and the younger sister of the king of Iclezza, married to King Netalathien of Jekara to cement a political alliance.  She looked up interestedly as the Prince and his guests walked in; the King barely gave them a flicker of his eyes, retaining his full attention on the hobgoblin delegate.

"Your Majesty, if you do not honor our alliance, our state will be yet another vassal to the expansion of Leng within a fortnight.  And, I'll remind you, other than the little caravan stop of Sutaka, their eyes will be set next on you after they have finished with us.  Now is the time to make your stand."

The King shifted, looked with annoyance at his impatient brother who had walked up nearly to the hobgoblin delegate, the rest of the group standing uncertainly behind.  "My Lord Tokraas, we will discuss this further on the morrow.  There are indeed dire consequences whichever course of action Jekara takes, and I will not allow my troops to be committed in haste to any course of action."

The hobgoblin looked frustrated, but he bit his lip and bowed slightly, turning and walking out.  He made eye contact with Teren'Kol as he walked out, surprised to see one of his own race dressed as if he were a nomad orc from the desert.  His steps faltered momentarily, but then he continued on his way.

"Dear brother," said the Prince sarcastically.  "I have returned.  I bring with me several talented individuals who saved my life from pirate attack only a few hours outside our harbor, where _your_ Navy should have kept me safe.  So that they may receive the royal congratulations and reward due them for sparing royal blood."

"Royal blood that would not have been at risk if you had not embarked on such a foolish venture!" she King shot back.

The Prince flushed red and raised his voice even higher.  "A foolish venture that I undertook at your request, brother!

The King slammed his fist down on the armrest of his throne.  "But the manner in which you undertook it was your own choosing!  Spare me the misplaced accusation that any risk you undertook due to your own foolishness was my fault!"

The two stared daggers at each other, while the Queen sat quietly, observing the reticent adventurers with keen eyes.  "Still," the King said in a quieter voice, "royal blood _is_ royal blood, fool or no."  He turned to the adventurers and managed a strained smile which did not reach his eyes.  "Please, enjoy my hospitality for the evening here in the palace; in the morning I will see you suitably rewarded for your service before you go on your way."

Prince Darlanian spun on his heel and stormed away without a backwards glance, while a seneschal stepped forward to show the guests to their quarters, so they could bathe, change their clothes and be fed and pampered… at least for one evening.

While they were walking slowly through the hallway, they were stopped by the Queen.  "Pardon the interruption, my fine fellows.  I'm sure you are eager to rest after your journey, but I would like to take a moment of your time, if I could."

"We would be honored, milady!" Sven stepped up, eager as a puppy.  "Perhaps you remember me?  Sven Svensson, from your homeland.  My older sister I believe was a friend of yours in childhood."

"Ah, yes… I believe I remember your father.  He was… someone in my fathers court.  I don't recall, though… it has been many years since I have been to Iclezza, and I was a young girl when I was promised in marriage to the King here."

She ushered them into a private sitting room, dismissing the seneschal to wait outside.  "So.  You managed to save my fool brother-in-law from death.  That is quite an accomplishment.  I was certain that his hare-brained scheme of traveling incognito to the country northwards would be the last we saw of him."

"If you were capable of saving him, even from himself, then clearly you are not to be trifled with."  Although her words were serious, laughter echoed in her eyes, but it faded as she continued.

"I have been looking for just such people for some little time now.  I have an urgent errand that needs attending to, and my fool of a husband is unwilling to devote time or resources to it."

The group looked at each other uncertainly.  Clearly this was not the happiest of families.  "What would you have us do, milady?" Fairlight asked hesitantly.

The Queen sighed.  "I know you have just arrived, but I need capable agents to sail to my home country of Iclezza.  We have received word that it is under attack.  The savage druids and fey that live in the woods to the north of us have come south, for reasons that we do not yet know, and they will not be negotiated with.  Jekara has a long-standing alliance with Iclezza, but my _husband_," she stretched the word out to give it all the venom of a bitter insult, "will not budge.  You heard him speaking to allies even closer at hand.  He is an overcautious fool who would sit here planning while the world all around him comes crashing down.  Bold action is required, my friends… but I have no access to troops I could send.  A band of bold fighters, though, outsiders to Iclezza, yourself excluded, of course, might find a solution that the King, with his troops, even if he were to send them, would not."

The Queen dismissed herself after chatting a bit more and the group went back into the hallways.  To almost bump headlong into the prince.  "My saviors!" he laughed.  "I was looking for you.  Might I have a word?"  The group looked at each other uncertainly yet again as he led them back into the same sitting room they had so recently vacated.

"I would ask your help," the Prince started.  "My brother, fool that he is, does not esteem the intelligence that I gathered on my trip, but I have heard very disturbing rumors.  The dragon-king's Empire of Cryx is supposedly slumbering very restlessly.  I heard many accounts of troops massing in the islands, pointing towards the mainland here in the south.  Mnar would likely be their first target, but we would be right behind, I believe."

"However, I need confirmation of these rumors.  Although my sources are trustworthy, their information was also indirect and second-hand.  I need someone to scout out what's going on in Cryx and send me back word.  Now, I know that my fool sister-in-law just spoke to you, and I can imagine that she pled for aid for her homeland in the north.  A worthy goal, no doubt!  But, you can accomplish both without too much trouble!  While sailing to Iclezza, you must sail very near Cryxian waters anyway… by making a slight detour, you could accomplish my mission, send word back to me, and continue on your way to do what my sister-in-law asked as well."

The Prince chatted with them a bit more, and then excused himself.

"The only thing missing now," remarked Jek, "is for the King himself to come to us, call both his wife and his brother fools, and ask us to go eastwards to spy on Leng!"  That did not actually happen.  As the group discussed what to do, Fairlight remarked that their task, essentially, was to discover which of these competing interests was the least -ish and try to attempt their task.

They decided tentatively to sail soon for Cryx, and from there to Iclezza.  Teren'Kol was the only one reticent, as the plight of the ambassador of Punuwan had moved him; his own city-state had been conquered by Leng itself some ten years earlier.


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## Desdichado (Feb 29, 2008)

These are the emails I sent after the session--

That night:

_Fairlight_


> The first night in the palace of Jekara, you have a dream.  Your dream is very rosy and red-tinged, as if you were inside some building made of red glass or ruby.  You see a small figure with a fez---but indistinctly.  He calls out to you, and thanks you... but tells you that he has need of help still.
> 
> The lich-lords of Cryx, the lieutenants of the Dragon-king, don't know it, but they have hidden in seaside caves of their island a book.  This book has the rituals and incantations that will finally free him.
> 
> He asks you again for your help in finding this book, and setting him free...



This particular dream is full of esoteric in-jokes; the reference is clearly to the character in our last campaign (who had a ruby that trapped souls) that she worships as a God.  In fact, one of the things she would like to do is find some artifacts of her religion, including the big ruby that supposedly holds his soul.


_Sven Svenssion:_


> The Queen makes a special visit to your chambers right before you retire for the evening.
> 
> "As one fellow countryman to another, I thought you might find this interesting," and she leaves you a scroll.
> 
> ...



His reply was to question if she fell for his attempt to seduce her, complete with a Bluff check result of 4 or so.  Uh... no.


_Jek:_


> While in the King's palace, you run across an old acquaintance; a crime lord who's subservient to the man whom you robbed in Razina.  He is friendly to you; obviously he doesn't know that you just fled the city.  He also mentions that he is heading back home himself in a few days.  "I'll be sure and tell the whole crew that I bumped into you here, in the palace of all places!  Who would have thought you'd go so far?"



_Caden Bar Harland:_


> As you make your way to your quarters, a royal seneschal does a double take when he sees you, and follows you towards your quarters.  "If you don't mind, good sir, may I ask you something?  Do you know Caddacus Serlin?"
> 
> (I'm going to presume you don't.  There's no reason to expect you would.)
> 
> ...



_Teren'Kol:_


> The ambassador of Punuwan, Kajim Tokraas seeks your quarters later in the evening, right before you retire.
> 
> "It's so good to see one of our brothers from the East still standing firm against Leng.  Many of your countrymen were refugees to my country, you know.  We welcomed them with open arms.
> 
> ...



Teren'Kol asks some keen questions (his CHA is only 6, but his INT is fairly high) and Lord Tokraas has to admit that he knows it's a long-shot, but hey, it's something to do.  If there's any truth at all to the legend, they better find out, because they don't have many other options.  Teren'Kol's further followed up with:


> Teren'Kol indicates that he would prefer to travel north, favoring
> Iclezza as our next step. He has no interest in returning east towards Leng just yet and has only recently departed the southern lands. After gruffly voicing his preference, he also comments, "We have spilled blood together...more of theirs than ours, thank the four winds...so I now choose to cast my lot with you. Iclezza can wait if the group chooses to go elsewhere.


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## grodog (Mar 3, 2008)

Good stuff!   When's the next session and/or update?


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## Desdichado (Mar 3, 2008)

We actually just played again this last Saturday, and had (in my opinion) an even better session than last time (we had one missing player, but we also added a new player to the mix.)  So over the course of the next week or two I'll be typing up updates that catch us up.

A few previews: a nasty little fey that scoops out eyes with a spoon, lots of really bad Star Wars quotes (I should have known better than to say "What a piece of junk!" when they saw the ship they were trying to hire passage on) some really great tactics on the PC's part making one combat an unexpected cakewalk; some really bad tactics on the PC's part nearly causing two character deaths, and a character that is seriously considering buying a slave so he can sacrifice him to a diviner that will read the future in his entrails.


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## LostSoul (Mar 11, 2008)

That preview sounds cool.

If I were playing, I would try to kill the King and the Prince and marry the Queen.


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## Desdichado (Mar 27, 2008)

Sorry; I've got a lot of stuff to add and I've just been really busy and haven't done it.  Two sessions equals somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 updates pending.


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## Stockdale (Apr 6, 2008)

*Update already*

Hobo, you're on the second page already. Time to update and tell us all about that eye scooping and slave sacrifice. Alright -- I just want to read about what my character did.

Stockdale


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## Desdichado (Apr 17, 2008)

The next morning, the palace staff thanked the group and did their best to hustle them out a small, out of the way backdoor before they had to come within sight of any of the royals this early in the morning.  They were bustled off with a cold breakfast wrapped up in cloth that they could take with them, and with a sigh of relief, the palace doors were slammed in their face.

Someone new was with them; Eladcot, a student of arcane lore who was a minor member of the Queen's staff, and a native of her homeland.  He smiled and said hello, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

The band of "heroes" stood around rather bleary eyed; some of them went for a spot of breakfast while Jek, the hobgoblin and Eladkot all went to visit the local magic-user to get some of their loot from the pirate captain identified.  They were particularly impressed with some of them, including a ring the Teren'Kol had that granted fast healing 5.  _For those of you keeping track at home, yes, that is too good an item for the PC's level.  I knew that at the time; although I let him enjoy it for a sesson or two before the drawbacks started showing themselves.   )_

They all met again near the docks; determined that they would do their best to follow both the Prince's and the Queen's requests; swinging by Cryx for a scouting expedition before moving northward up to Iclezza and helping them with their druid problem.  It proved more difficult than they thought to find passage to Cryx; although if they'd considered it, that isn't terribly surprising.  No reputable ship would go anywhere near the pirate haven ruled by a harsh and unforgiving necromancer Dragon-king, so they had to look through the more *dis*reputable captains and ships.  The area of the docks that they scoured was increasingly seedy.

Eladkot spotted a face that looked very curious and malicious; Teren'Kol also spotted it and recognized the face of the man they had bested in combat with the carriages.  He did not look like he was in the mood to laugh about last night's activities.  The rest of the group noticed nothing.

Teren'Kol looked around again and saw a group of orc stevedores unloading mysteriously unmarked (rather; the original marks had been scratched off, burned or painted over) crates onto the dock and walked towards them as the shady man and some of his croneys crept quietly through the alleys towards them.  As he passed through the orcs, he muttered under his breath.  "Hail, brother!  I seem to be in a spot of trouble—follow my lead and I will share the proceeds that we find on the bodies of those skulks behind me."

"Who are you—a hobgoblin!—who wears the clothing of my desert kin and calls me brother?" one of the orcs asked skeptically.

"I am a hobgoblin, but my people were killed or enslaved when I was young and I was raised by orcs.  Follow my lead and see if I don't prove myself your brother!"

The orcs still looked skeptical, but grudgingly accepted this explanation.  As the men came very close behind, and began drawing weapons, Teren'Kol "accidentally" knocked a crate over in their path and the orcs drew weapons as well.  Teren'Kol wheeled around quickly and waved his exotic, dangerous weapon, smashing and slashing through the ambushers.

At this point, everybody finally noticed them.    Eladkot showed his nature; casting _fear_ in the area, and then hightailing it back behind the rest of the group.  Several of the assailants fled in terror, but unfortunately, so did some of the orcs.  Those that remained, including the one who spoke to Teren'Kol, and the hobgoblin himself continued to mow through the thugs who remained.  Fairlight the Fair plugged crossbow bolts into those that remained, while Jek manuevered himself for a fatal attack by surprise, catching an unprepared bandit in the back.

Eladkot cast another spell, which slowed those who tried to run at him and Fairlight, which made it even easier for her to continue to pepper him with bolts.  He died before reaching them.

Within moments, the fight was over and all of the attackers were dead.  The defenders were relatively unscathed.  It had proven to be little more than an early morning workout for them.  They divided the coins and weapons found on the bodies (the latter didn't interest our group; a handful of low level warriors compared to 3rd level PCs?  Not surprising.)  Teren'Kol gave his share of the former to the orcs, with his thanks.

Shortly afterward, they found a ship that made a milk run between Jekara and Blackwater in Cryx.  The guards stationed at the gangplank had seen the fight and were impressed.  The ship itself was a bit less impressive (I do believe the phrase "What a piece of junk!" was uttered by someone.  The guards also claimed to have made a few "special" modifications… anyway  .)  The captain was in the cantina across the street, though—if they wanted passage, they'd have to arrange it with him.

And yes, when they walked in, I did sing the Star Wars cantina number.  The bartender did not tell anyone that he didn't serve their kind here, though.  They found the captain, and gave him an "offer he couldn't refuse."  (Actually, lame movie quotes aside, they did offer him a lot of money—he had just arrived the night before and wasn't anxious to leave so soon, so they had to.)  He said that he did have to do some reprovisioning, and despite their best efforts, they couldn't talk him into leaving any sooner than the next morning.  The captain sighed, gave the girls on his lap one more peck on the cheek and pinch on the bum, and went off to do all the things he needed to do to go out of town.

The group ate lunch, chatted for a while, drank a lot, and eventually made ready to turn in for the night.  Teren'Kol decided to hire a room right here in the very cantina they had found the captain; Caden Bar Harland decided to sneak aboard the ship, check it out, and then crash in a quiet corner, and the rest of them went back into a somewhat safer part of town to find a nicer, cleaner place to stay.

Of course, _that's_ the group that ran into trouble during the night...


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## Desdichado (Apr 18, 2008)

Teren'Kol heard a lot of screaming, fighting and dying in the streets that night… or he would have if he hadn't slept soundly through it all.  Caden had a more interesting experience.  He managed to board the ship unseen and poke around.  It wasn't very large, and most of the crew had a large, communal barracks style sleeping arrangement, hanging in hammocks.  Most of them were enjoying their remaining money and night on the town before having to leave again in the morning.  The cargo hold had a rank smell, and he found it was full of distended and swollen bodies of drowned sailors, stacked up like soggy firewood.  The trade in bodies to Cryx's necromancers was one of the most lucrative import items into the island nation.  Caden thought it best not to wonder if this ship found these bodies, or actually sank the ship and killed the sailors first, and then scooped them out of the water.

At the nicer establishment where Fairlight, Jek and Eladkot were billetted (Sven's player couldn't make it this session; his character was just notoriously invisible the whole time) there was a loud scream and continued sobbing and crying in the middle of the night.  Eladcot got out of bed… and crawled under it.  Jek stayed in his room too, sitting up straight in bed, his eyes wide and scanning the room.  Only Fairlight actually went out in the hallway to investigate.  A small crowd of guests in their nightclothes was gathered in the doorway to a room nearby.  Fairlight covered up as best she could (I like to imagine her in a very small, filmy bit of lace—but I do have to admit that the player didn't exactly describe her dressed in that way.  Jek's player did mention that his character was sleeping without any clothes at all, which was kinda funny when he later came out of the room.)

In the nearby room was another young girl, sitting on the floor surrounded by a growing pool of blood.  Her eye sockets were empty and her face was covered in blood.  Fairlight kept knocking on Jek and and Eladcot's door until they came out.  "Did you see this?  Isn't that terrible?"

"Yeah, bummer," said Jek.  "Be sure and lock your door tonight."

They went back to their rooms.  While getting ready to climb back under the covers, Fairlight happened to glance at the dingy mirror in her room and she saw, briefly, a small, ugly little man no more than two or three feet high wearing a coat much too large for him and a tricorner hat.  He was sitting on her dresser with a bloody spoon in one hand and popping bloody, red-rimmed beautiful green eyes into his empty sockets.  She saw his reflection turn and look at her with a smile full of steelgray, needle-like teeth.  When she looked directly at the spot where he should be, she saw nothing; there was only his reflection in the mirror.

She stumbled backwards with a strangled cry and ran out into the hallway, slamming the door behind her, and began pounding on Jek and Eladkot's doors again.  "You've got to come to my room with me," she said.

Jek slowly smiled and looked at her appraisingly.  "OK" he nodded.

"And bring your sword," she added.

"I never leave home without it," he laughed, hitching up his boxers a little.  

"No, your REAL sword!" she punched him in the arm.  "That eye thief thing is in my room."

Eladkot's door slammed again and it took a lot of knocking to get him back out.  When he came back out, he had a robe thrown over his nightcloths and had his pouch of spell components with him.

They crept quietly into Fairlight's room.  The lamp was still swinging slightly on the wall from the force of the door slam earlier, making eery shadows leap across the room.  "Look in the mirror," Fairlight whispered.

They gasped; although they couldn't see anything on Fairlight's bed other than a small indentation in the covers, in the mirror, they could clearly see the small, ugly little man polishing an eye on his sleeve and popping it into his last socket.

(_Sadly for me as DM; at this point the encounter, which had built very well into this creepy thing, just went downhill fast.  Jek and Eladkot both beat me on Initiative, so Jek also had sneak attack damage, and before the poor little eye thief could even move, he was on Fairlight's floor dead.  *sigh*  I guess that's the way they roll sometimes.  Still; no regrets; the encounter was tons of fun even if the combat itself was anticlimatic._)

Eladkot looked thoughtful for a moment.  "I've heard of these things.  If we recover that girl's beautiful green eyes and take her to any competent local priest, he can pop them back in and cast _remove blindness_ and she'll be as good as new.  Better than new, even; she'll have an advantage for having had her eyes in the skull of this eye thief."  He looked even more thoughtful for a moment.  "Anyway, I'm wide awake now," he laughed, rubbing his own muddy brown eyes with his hands to remove the sleepiness.  "I'll get dressed and take her myself."

When he returned he was smiling, and this time the smile did reach his beautiful green eyes.

_When I type the next update, the group will head out of Jekara, interesting though it's been as a place for adventure, and head for the even wilder Blackwater, pirate haven of Cryx.

If you think Eladkot stealing that poor young girls eyes was bad, you ain't seen nuthin' yet._


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## Desdichado (Apr 18, 2008)

The group boarded the ship the next morning, perhaps even more bleary eyed than they had been the morning before (except Eladkot, who's eyes looked suspiciously different.)  Then rousing John Williams theme music started while the picture faded and a red line moved silently across the map.

However, unlike in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ this redline trip made a slight detour; it stopped in the middle of the ocean as the ship became befouled in thick, tangled sargasso weeds.  Quite conveniently, the Queen had given them each some parting gifts to help with the mission, including a potion of water-breathing for each of them.  _Unfortunately_, the group's union rules specifically forbade them from dealing with transportation issues, so only Teren'Kol and Caden doffed a potion and jumped overboard to free the ship, while the rest of them sat on the deck eating donuts and saying, "Ain't my job."

That proved to be a mistake, because no sooner had they chopped a few weeds with their hatchets, when two very ugly critters came out from a nearby shallow cave, one of these, and one of those.











To be honest with you, it's been long enough now that I don’t even remember the blow by blows of this fight very well, or even what the monster's capabilities were.  I do remember that Caden got fairly quickly reduced to negative hit points and floated paralyzed in the water for several rounds, while Teren'Kol got grappled and squeezed very nearly to death (even with his ring of fast healing; it certainly saved his life, and just barely even then) by the khopru.  Finally the rest of the group took their potions and jumped overboard too, and with their efforts they were able to turn the tide of the battle, finishing off the two fishy menaces and hauling their wounded comrades back on board to be revived.

After this interruption, their redline made it's way to Cryx without any further problems.

Blackwater itself is an odd town, nestled deep within a cool and shadow-filled fjord.  The water is extremely deep and dark and the sun only shines overhead for a few hours a day because of the steep, high walls.  The city nestles on the narrow shore and floats out deep into the water on pontoons, rafts, barges and rotting piers, all roped together and attached by rotting bridges and gangplanks.

Blackwater is notorious for having—literally—no laws.  The only constant is death and taxes; every boat that approaches pays the taxes, and people die in droves every day.  Powerful gangs and pirate captains marshal small armies to protect their interests, and frequently go to war in the streets.  The large market downtown is famous as the best place in the entire Mezzovian to buy slaves, but even that brisk trade is dwarfed by the corpse trade.  The only thing that rouses the ire of everyone is arson—intentional or not.

For now, the group stayed away from the markets, but they did march straight for a gigantic basalt cathedral, encrusted with the actual skeletons and corpses of sacrificial victims and enemies of the Dragon-god.  Fairlight banged open the door and strolled through the vast, dark interior to see the high priest.

"Where are the sea caves?" she demanded (qv Post #9).  The high priest turned to her; his face was a mess of rotting flesh, pulled tightly against his skull.  His robes were open, and his rib cage showed clearly, a sickly green light thrumming like a heartbeat faintly behind the bones.

Despite his fearsome appearance, he was rather friendly though; or they caught him a good mood, at least.  He said that seaside caves riddled the entire coastline of Cryx; was there something more specific they wanted?  Before long, they got him rolling on an impromptu sermon on the glories of the dragon-god, which they tried politely to interrupt, but not very well.

After listening to his tirade, he remembered that they were there, and suggested that they visit a local diviner to get their questions answered, and they agreed, since clearly the only thing this guy knew much about was the dogma of his sick, dark religion.  He recommends Diellza Batukhan, an old witch who lives on the outskirts of town and has been divining for over a hundred years, and has a reputation as the most accurate and complete of the bunch.  Although the high priest also admits that she seems to be crazy.  He also says he privately suspects that's why she's so good.

This sounds good to the group until they hear that she also needs someone to kill so she can read her divinations in his intestines.  Eladkot thinks this sounds like a cheap and efficient way to get the information they need, pointing out the relative ease with which they can buy a slave here in town.  Fairlight (the con artist, remember) takes a stand as the moral compass of the group and says no.  Teren'Kol also doesn't like the idea, since his people were enslaved by the hobgoblins of the Leng Empire and he has a funny thing about slavery ever since.  Eladkot relents.

Later that night, though, when they're all asleep, he slips out of the inn alone...


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## grodog (Apr 25, 2008)

Sounds good, Hobo.  What next?


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## Quickbeam (May 5, 2008)

Hey Hobo, thanks for posting our group's exploits here.  I began a Story Hour for one of the campaigns I ran long ago...but didn't stick with it.  And trying to post one for Age of Worms would have been nearly impossible given the sheer length of time it took us to play through that adventure path 

As a player in the game I'd like to add a few observations:
1. You've come up with some genuinely clever and unique twists for the game, which all those reading this SH will enjoy!!
2. Our group's players never let the character exploits drift into the realm of dull.  We all spent a fair amount of time on back story, personality and motivations which you've managed to employ quite effectively.  That keeps the sessions lively and our collective attention focused on the game.
3. You're mean (inside joke, apologies to non-group readers)

Teren'Kol has been a blast to play and rather effective when it counted most.  He doesn't seem to crush large rats or destroy nameless lackeys with the ease one would expect, but he has been hell on many of our primary foes.  Keep up the posts!


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## Desdichado (May 12, 2008)

Eladkot crept down to the common room of the inn, where he found some guards for hire—trustworthy enough, at least by Blackwater standards, and vouched for by many.  Then he slipped out into the evening.

His first stop was by what passed for a local library.  He was looking for spells he could transcribe into his spellbook, and found a few minor ones, but not the ones he was specifically looking for.  He did however, find references to a where a spellbook should exist that has what he is looking for, located in some sea caves away from town.  The book includes a fairly detailed map.  With a small bribe he manages to convince the librarian to let him have the book permanently.

One errand successfully accomplished, he rounded up his hired escort and headed downtown towards the "meat markets."  The stench was nearly unbearable; although Blackwater is notorious as the biggest slave market in the Mezzovian area, the slave trade pales in comparison to the corpse trade.  Ritually scarified and grafted tiefling necromancers buy corpses to experiment with differing animating techniques; and the newest Cryxian fad was creating undead creatures that have some of the qualities of constructs as well.  He keeps a wary eye and his distance from some of these shoppers.




Once he's bought the cheapest, oldest, sickest little old halfling he can find, he makes his way to the outskirts of town where the diviner's hut is.  The diviner—Diellza Batukhan—is sitting outside waiting for him and jumping rope.  She's a little girl with her blonde hair in ringlets, wearing a pink, lacy dress.  She smiles, but her eyes are solid black and dead like those of a shark. 

_The divination works mechanically like such—this slave is a 1st level commoner with rolled, not max, hit points, and Diellza will tie him down and disembowel him with a dagger, bringing him to zero or less hit points depending on her damage roll.  The slave will then be "Dying" as per the rules until he hits -10; for each round that he lives, she will be able to make one prediction in his entrails.  So low damage (although still sufficient to bring him to -1 at least) is good, as it gives you more to work on.  She brought him to -4, so Eladkot got 6 predictions._

"I see you have a plaything for me," she says to him, smiling cutely.  "So there's no need to ask why you're here.  There's also the matter of payment; the little fella here is necessary, but of no use once he's done."

Eladkot looked anxiously at his waning coin reserve, but as it turns out, she thought his ears were pretty and wanted one of them.  Eladkot shrugs and cuts his left ear off, then quickly bandages it up.  Deillza is absurdly pleased with it; without even cleaning the blood off of it, she pierces it through the middle and ties a leather cord through the ear, then wears it like a grisly necklace.

I won't describe the actual anthropomancy (I didn't to my player either) but his six predictions were as follows, based on a few specific questions he gave me:
[sblock]
Beware your warrior's ring.  When it finished claiming his soul, great evil will be unleashed on the world.


The book you seek is the same book the girl seeks.  Be careful with it; it is much more than simply a book of spells.


The boy will bring trouble down upon you all.


The expatriate Queen is still well loved by her people at home.  Please her and your own worth will rise.


Beware the plotting of the brothers.


Torvald Stanislavson is the power behind the druids.
[/sblock]


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## Desdichado (May 12, 2008)

The next morning, the whole group was surprised by Eladkot's appearance; wearing a bandage wrapped around his head that still had a bloody red mark where his ear should be, and with dark circles under his eyes as if he'd slept very little.  After he gave them a few warnings about plans they were making, they put two and two together and realized that he'd been out to see the oracle.  (_A brilliant moment for me as DM, I must add._)  Their shock and horror (and curiosity) were all equally piqued, but for the moment, they put that aside.  Eladkot also shows them the book he got at the library, and they decide that going there is a good idea.

Unfortunately, they won't be able to hire on with the captain they've been sailing with; not only does he need a few days to unload his cargo and make up for leaving Jekara with only a single night in port to his crew, but to reach the caves in question, they'll need to travel up a swampy bayou and the ocean-going vessel wouldn't make it.  They decide that these sea-caves are what they're looking for, and that they need to head to the docks to hire, buy or steal a ship that can hug the coast and make its way up the bayou.

Sadly, it was not meant to be as easy as this.  As they approached the waterfront, they started seeing folks running away; before long a press-gang stumbles into view.  They see the small group and think they look like an easy way to finish their quota in one go.  After trading a few insults, glares and other macho stuff, they charge into combat.

Sven, manly fellow that he is, charges up to the front of the combat and stalls the advance of four or five of the press gang.  He finds that he's not quite heroic enough to handle that many combatants all by himself, so he takes a ton of damage from all of their attacks.  However, his noble sacrifice means that the rest of the group is easily able to mop up those who didn't converge on Sven, and when they turn their attention to rescuing him, they find that a relatively easy task too.

At the end of the fight, the only one seriously injured is Sven.  Fairlight—who's relatively stingy with healing (a factor of her being a Favored Soul instead of a Cleric; can't swap out prepared spells for healing)—brings him back.  Teren'Kol took a few hits, but he's OK—he's got his ring of fast healing 5 after all—except that suddenly a sharp pain rips through is hand and he stumbles to the ground, pale and weak.  He pulls the ring off, down 3 points of CON and looks at it—where before it was plain gold, it now features a small red gem—perhaps a ruby—that looks bizarrely like an eye, looking at him.  He can almost sense a malevolent being inside the ruby, willing him to put it back on.  He doesn't.

Instead, he rummages through the press-gang's stuff, and finds two of them that are not fully dead.  He stabilizes them and chains them up.  "Eladkot!  Where was that oracle?"

Although Sven and Fairlight decline (and go to see about hiring the boat) the rest of the crew drags their two captives with them to Diellza's house and offers them to her for more divinations.  For payment, she notices Teren'Kol's lovely elf-skin belt.  "Oh, that is _darling_!  Give me that belt for payment, and I'll divine for you."

Teren'Kol has  a very special, sentimental value associated with that belt, but he figures that at least where they're (eventually) headed, he'll probably get plenty of opportunities to make another one.

They find out—most importantly—that the ring is a conduit for Fulcrum, the god Fairlight worships, to come back into the world.  It will slowly drain CON from Teren'Kol until it's "full" at which point a special unbinding ritual could free him.  The ring will still function normally, also, although he needs to use it quick and take it off before it's "aware" of him and attempts to drain some more CON (_Every time he wears it for more than one round, I roll a percentile roll to see if it notices that it's been put on yet.  If it does, 1d2 CON damage (not drain, luckily).  Every round that he successfully wears the ring without getting its attention increases the probability that it will notice by 20% (it starts at 40%.)_)

After a bit more mucking around in the intestines of their prisoners, they head back to report their findings to their collegues.  When they tell Fairlight that Fulcrum himself is reforming in the hobgoblin's ring, she looks like she's been punched in the face.  "Holy , it's all _true!?_"

But she quickly decides that that only increases the value of the artifacts she's looking for, after all, and Fulcrum will no doubt be generous to the only one of his followers who went looking to restore him, so she carries on.  The group boards a small, flat-bottomed boat and leave the dark fjord of Blackwater behind, hugging the coast and consulting Eladkot's map for the bayou their searching for...


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## Majicthise (May 12, 2008)

*Keep it up, Hobo*

Nice work, Hobo.  I am glad to see that you used the "spoiler" button pertaining to the prophesies received by Eladkot.  It made me feel less guilty about reading the story hour as a player in this campaign.

I notice that Caden is staying relatively low-key, and it makes me wonder if I need to work on that.  Honestly, I am happy to be playing a mellow character. . . Fulcrum really forced me to do my homework (sadly, I have notebooks full of notes pertaining to Fulcrum's core followers, including the high-level cohorts that were doing his bidding behind the scenes. . . most of this info likely will never see the light of day. . . unless, of course, Mr. Quickbeam and I ever resolve the post Age of Worms antics that would have been a precursor to Fulcrum's bid for divinity).  

I encourage Mr. Quickbeam to ignore your post pertaining to the chance of CON damage from wearing the ring that the hobgoblin found.  It is such a pretty bauble.  It deserves to be proudly displayed.

Ciao,
Majicthise


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## Stockdale (May 13, 2008)

*This is great*

Reading this almost better than playing the game. <not quite>  That Eladkot is a sick fellow.  And the whole Fulcrum thing with Amber is a great tie back to our previous game. Keep up the good work, Hobo.

P.S.

The teenager got home alright, if late, and I had to play the Parent.


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## Desdichado (May 13, 2008)

Well, that's a part you play well, so there ya go.

Majicthise—you're right; I hadn't really thought about it but Caden is fairly low profile in my retelling of the game, isn't he?  Jek too.

Looks like I need to put some effort into facilitating some side-quests or events that tie more to your characters.

It's easier to remember the exploits of Sven, Eladkot, Teren'Kol and Fairlight to a certain extent as well, because they've provided (to date) most of the funny, shocking, or campaign-moving  bits so far, for whatever reason.  Of course, you had your "old man" scene which'll be coming up soon, and I had a big thing scheduled for Jek (except that Matt wasn't there, so I had to defer it) so maybe it'll shake out OK.

Hmm... this bears a little bit of thought.


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## grodog (May 14, 2008)

Good updates, Hobo!  How far behind "current" are you now?


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## Desdichado (May 14, 2008)

Several sessions still, sadly.  I'll keep trying diligently to get more up to date.


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## Majicthise (May 20, 2008)

*It's not you.  It's me.*

Hobo, my good man, 

I did not mean to imply that you are in any way minimizing Caden's role.  What I was considering is breathing some more life into the character from my end.  I like his backstory, but it does leave him as a bit of a wide-eyed wanderer, which by design seems more reactive than proactive.  I am certainly not asking that you throw specifically designed encounters my way, so that I feel that Caden is interesting.

I think that Caden has yet to decide who he really trusts.  He is both repulsed and intrigued by Eladkot.  He thinks that the hob-goblin is too hasty.  He was terribly confused by Fairlight's professions of faith and her extreme surprise as to the confirmation of her religion's prophesies.  He feels that he understands Jek, but Jek is plainly a wanted man. . . which does not breed a strong sense of camaraderie.  As for Sven (or Olaf or whatever that fop's name is), he just makes Caden's head hurt. 

Could it be that Caden is the one well intentioned adventurer in a sea of scoundrels?  Will this force him to begin to challenge his companions' actions and question their motives?  Can a support character (by design...come on - he's a spellthief) really think to hold back the baser instincts of those who stand between him and peril?  I guess this quandary does seem to explain why Caden appears to be kind of along for the ride at the moment.

I look forward to seeing more of the story, and apologize for rambling.

Ciao,
Majicthise


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## Quickbeam (May 20, 2008)

*Keep it coming!*

Keep the posts coming Hobo.  As Stockdale indicates, reading about the exploits of our group is almost as much fun as playing through the actual sessions.  And like Majicthise notes the spoiler text was great -- it allows the players to read the SH updates without gathering information not intended for our PC's.  I've been away from EN World for a while (too long probably) and don't remember this tool being employed quite so effectively in years past.

I love the massively over-powered ring having a rather serious downside, and even better the seemingly trapped soul/essence/being is that of a purported deity.  Teren'Kol (hereafter TK) isn't really worried about releasing such a being into the world.  The way he sees things, such an entity would more than likely be thankful for its release and have no quarrel with him.  The problem lies in having his CON drained at inopportune times.  TK has a purpose to fulfill and he doesn't intend to let anything stand in his way.

As to group dynamics and why this motley assortment travels together, I really don't know.  Each character has a rather perplexed viewpoint on his/her companions.  The way I see things, trust isn't at the core of this fellowship.  They travel together because the others represent a support network for each character to use in attempting to achieve their own individual objectives.  Not a pretty picture, but effective to date.

For my part, I feel that one explanation regarding TK's actions is critical.  Having himself been enslaved as a youth, TK loathes slavers with every fiber of his being.  He would normally stand in opposition to using people as sacrificial vessels for the oracle's prophecies.  But in his mind, the captured press gang thugs forfeit their rights as living beings when they began working for fleshtraders.  Simply put, the freedom they so readily took from others by force, justified him ending their lives in whatever manner he saw fit.  I'm not looking to open a discussion on TK's morals, ethics, or values...just trying to explain why he elected to use the captured goons to obtain information from the oracle.

Hopefully we get together again this weekend as planned.


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## Desdichado (May 20, 2008)

I'm shooting for Saturday.

And hopefully a nice big Story Hour update (or two) before then so I don't end up simply falling further behind.


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## grodog (Jun 17, 2008)

Le bump?


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## Quickbeam (Jul 7, 2008)

Get with the updates, Hobo my boy...


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## Desdichado (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, for various reasons I haven't been in a position to update this for about six weeks.

Some things have changed, so I'm hoping to get some more updates soon.

The "good" news, if you want to call it that, is that due to some scheduling difficulties, we actually haven't advanced that much farther than we were when I last made the udpates, so I'm not really all that much further behind that I already was.


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## grodog (Sep 1, 2008)

Holiday-weekend-and-there-still-time-left-to-update bump!


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## Desdichado (Sep 8, 2008)

Busy holiday weekend for me... still, I'd like to finish this up.  It was never meant to be a long-running campaign, and we're actually probably going to finish it this weekend.  Certainly that's my plan.

Then another guy in the group will run a 1920's BRP Cthulhu game.


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## grodog (Sep 9, 2008)

So, you'll start the updates again after the game ends, or once it's over has the fat lady (and her entrails?) sung for this SH?


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## Desdichado (Sep 9, 2008)

I dunno; I'll keep making updates whenever my daytime schedule calms down enough that I can spend an hour or two at a time doing it.  That's been my main constraint the last couple of months or so.


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