Latest revision as of 21:09, 2 November 2025

The Imminent Doom is a period in Arath starting in 1521. It is mainly marked by the war between the biggest realms the Democracy of Cahemelle, the Dwarven Republic, the Thanate Empire, the Orcish Diarchy and the Draconian League.

In the centre of this period of war an unlikely group finds its way together. These are the stories of this groups adventures. Though if you want to read what else unfolded during the time and what they might have kick started in other places of Arath then you might want to read the Backstory of The Imminent Doom.

The Fall of Marymar

The party meets aftermath of a contested landing between elves and dwarves. Not having many other options they band together and head out eastwards towards Marymar. There they meet the local Govenor and decide to help him out by collecting taxes in the surrounding villages. Not having the best impressions of the Govenor they stole his treasours and head out further east wards across the wide planis.

In those plains they find a cave inhabitated by a hag, that trubbled them in their dreams. After a short scuffle they then found her cursed treasoure and a ship in a magical bottle. During the following night a headless character finds them and explains that this is the Devilsfall and he would be loyal to the one who found it. In a quick pace they head towards the shore to test this new mans words.

While traversing the plains they saw that some sort of earth ball rise up into the air and then drop down causing a large dust cloud. With their new ship the party decided to investigate the event. They find nothing where Marymar was last and decided to head further west to the next fishing village, where they are told that Marymar is no more.

Wanting to figure out the extension of the damage they head out into the wilds the reach the lumberjack village at the southern forest, which they find almost abandond. After some time and arguing the party decided to head further into the dust cloud only to find a wizard in the deep crator who conjures up a Zombie Beholder.

The fight was tough and resulted in the death of Alloro.

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Rebellion in Goblin Town

Hearing of some struggles in the east the party heads out. Finding a valley controlled by goblins. A colourful band of rebells is fighting for their liberty against the repressive regiem of the Goblin King.

The party wants to help and sets out to hunt down some patrols and to pick up supplies. On their way back they decide to take a more dangerous short cut, which lead them into a runied dwarven underground city. The city is inhabited by mutated spiders and a Drider. Fighting their way through the city they then find the Drider in the throne room in which they challange her to battle. Infighting and bickering amongst the party leads to a loss of battle.

The surving members are handed over to the goblins, which parade them through the valley as openly as possible. Allowing the rebels and their crew to locate and free them. Wanting revenge the party sets out to target the King himself.

With the king dead his empire curmbles, his generals fight amongst each other allowing a new dwarven kingdom growing out of it's ashes.

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An Excursion to the Hells

Testing the skills of the party the dwarven pirate captain Greybeard asks them to pick up a package from Durnkuldir. Sneaking into the basement of the Genral Axethain they find the young dwarf Ozmock, Greybeards nephew.

Yet soon after Ozmock is kidnapped by Deviles on their way back to Greybeard, prompting them to follow them to the Nine Hells. A place full of fighting and constant struggles for power.

At first the party tries to break into the fortified camp of one of the Warlords, yet the resistance is stronger than they thought. If it wasn't for the support of their friend Captaing Teolgrag they would not have been able to return from the hells with the young Ozmock.

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The Breaking of the Council

Being a member of the Council since their first visit to Might Town the party tried to build up releations with some of the captains, mainly with Captain Teolgrag and Capatain Greybeard. Which is achieved by helping out with some tiresome tasks and other favours.

On a return trip to Might Town they find the city in turmoil, knowing their captain is in the city hall they charge in and find Ondas' and Hogans men currently trying to take over the city. In the mean time the Council is informed about a new opportunity, which results in the breaking of the Council.

Fighting to liberate the city the party makes a new friend Captain Tavia.

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Current Chapter

Strennun goes Swimming

So we're still on the way to this Elven island somewhere down south-south-east. Can't see shit tho because there's thick fog all around. Not even I can see anything and usually I don't have any problem seeing through all kinds of stuff. Weird...

Anyway, i scout out the area underwater, but can't see shit either. When I get back, somebody yells something about a whirlpool and everybody loses their minds. The ship is on the verge of falling in and the Captain doesn't seem to know if she should steer in or out of the thing. I, for myself, know what I'll be doing, I'm gonna jump in and see what's on the other side. I mean, what's the worst that can happen right??

Strennun yeets himself into the building whirlpool, just as Kylin manages to get a hold of the ship and slowly but surely steer it out of the pool. She does so by jamming her sword into a gap of the steering wheel and with some help from another crew-member and Square.

Meanwhile, Rof saw Strennun jump overboard, but thought that this act of sheer stupidity was not done voluntarily (Because who in their right minds would even THINK of doing such a thing?? What he failed to consider is that Strennun is not even remotely close to being in his right mind...) and made it his mission to go save him. He rappelled himself down the side of the ship into the whirlpool - where Strennun more less happily goes merry-round. He manages to catch him, but gets socked in the face by Strennun and lets him be before getting pulled up to the ship again by Square.

So I get pulled down and over and down and over and down and over and... you get the picture. At some point I get spit out somewhere underwater?

It's pitch-black but I can still see some stuff and can also breathe underwater, so I go and see what's up and also where's up. I swim and swim and swim... and get to the sea-floor. I turn around and swim and swim and swim... and get to some weird structure? Metal? I think? I go along it and get to some pillars that go all the way down to the sea-floor and frame a passage. I continue until I get out of the passage and am in open water.

Meanwhile, Strennun's absence has been noticed on the Devil's Fall and Square is up and ready to replace him with a (more less) trained dolphin - The idea is not met with a lot of enthusiasm. Kylin excuses herself to the Captain's Quarter and lights a candle for Strennun.

So I'm in the water, I don't know where, I don't know why and I don't really know how. I reach out to the dragon-turtle but get ignored for some reason. Maybe I offended it somehow?? But wait! There's a faint light in the distance! I swim towards it and when I reach it, a huge mouth opens with teeth as big as my forearm! I get the fuck out of there and swim up and up and up and up.... for more than an hour. Gotta dodge some big sharks on the way up but I make it. It's open water and I have no idea where I am. Probably not too far off where I jumped into that whirlpool. So if my kalkulatins are correct, this Elven island should be somewhere South-South-East. Gotta reach it at some point I suppose, and I'm faster than the ship anyway, so let's go. I reach out to the dragon-turtle again, but only silence. Welp, swimming in silence it is then.

On the Devli's Fall, Darfin adds the newly 'discovered' whirlpool to the map while Square is trying to teach Ballast how to swim. This is accomplished by rappelling her down the side of the ship (that's moving at 50 knots at the time) and waterboarding her until she starts paddling, before pulling her up shortly before she drowns.

To let off some steam, Ballast goes off to slap Rof, who's had enough and escalates this issue to the Captain. A stern discussion is had and Ballast is sent off to scrub the deck with Rof and will not be allowed to slap any more people. Furthermore, she will be spending half-days with other members of the crew to learn useful skills:

Rashesh: Cooking
Darfin: Reading / Writing / Speaking
Jack: Carpenting / Handiwork
Brovara: Religion / Morality
Rof: Humility / Survival
Kylin: Leadership
Kurwash: Music and Arts

While Kylin and Square are having this discussion, Rof is under deck and gets jumped by crew-members that are planning a mutiny, because he doesn't want to be part of this mutiny. A tussle ensues and Kylin, Darfin and Square are on scene. The mutineers attempt to frame Rof of starting the mutiny and the Captain is inclined to believe them. The leadership retreats to the Captain's quarters and Square manages to persuade her that this mutiny couldn't have been started by Rof because why would he? He promptly gets promoted to First Mate (Square's role so far) and Square gets delegated to 'Chief Slappening Officer', meaning she'll be responsible for training and security of the crew.

The crew-members who instigated the mutiny are being thrown onto the skiff with rations for three days (not enough to reach the shore) and sent out to sea. One of the mutineers - Rushk'all - hides and grovels in front of the captain and gets sent to the brig instead, where he will be overturned to the authorities in the next port.

Meanwhile, Darfin finally gets to talk with Sulla. He can convince them to agree to a talk with the rest of the leadership - but Sulla only agrees under the condition that they're tied together, so Sulla can't be thrown overboard. They also know that Death itself sent Kylin that strange vision of the Gods fighting against other Gods that she had some nights ago.

Strennun Almost Drowns

Today is Roftag's first day as an officer. Angrily he wakes up Steve and starts scrubbing the deck with him as a habit. I tell someone to fetch me all the officers to have a chat with Sulla in my room. As promised, I tie them in chair form to my buttocks, sitting on them for further safety. Sulla knows that they have to convince the crew with insider knowledge that only an elder god might know.

As soon as everyone is here Sulla introduces themselves as the god of fighting. They also talk about Mortius, the god of death and one of the old ones, who gave the vision to Kylin. She asks about the new gods, and Sulla explains that they were commoners who got more and more powerful, until they challenged the old gods themselves. After they won, they limited the powers of the peasants, which coincidentally was the same thing the old gods wanted to do. Some of the new gods are the Ghostly Lady, who has a brother with a gun, and Milil, a narcissist who cannot take criticism and mocks people to death. The new gods are on Sullas list of enemies.

Lyn asks Sulla about the Dragon Turtle. It seems to predate Sulla and is also more powerful. Lyn then asks if the Dragon Turtle is on Sullas list. Sulla tried to hunt it in the past, but never succeeded. Inspired by this Lyn asks what might happen if you kill a god. Sulla tells us that if you are able to kill a god, you might as well become one yourself.

Square then tells Sulla that she wants to be thought by Sulla and offers them the head of a new god. They tell her that she has to kill to get stronger anyways. Square then agrees and says that she will inform Sulla when she killed people. It was a very strange but fitting conversation all the way.

Sulla then explains that they need crystals filled with souls of those who fell in battle to be able to break the curse that is upon them. This can only be done in a temple that is devoted to Sulla like a big arena, and there seems to be one of those on Conder Isle.

Brovara chimes in by asking why we should help Sulla. They tell us that the can help us and give us power. "This seems kind of contradictory", I think to myself, "they tried to limit commoners powers back in the day, why should they just give it away?" It seems like this needs to be talked about further with the crew only.

After all the questions are asked and all the answers are given Square asks if Sulla wants to stay in her room. Sulla is in favour of this idea, because there is more blood in her room. I'm okay with this, as long as people trust Sulla and get along with them.

The first lesson with Ballast goes smoothly, but not as fast as I hope to. To motivate her I tell her about magic, and how she can learn it too, but only if she starts speaking soon. To prove my point further I firebomb the table that’s standing in my room. Ballast does not seem motivated, but at least she participated in the writing exercises.

During this lesson Roftag visits the captain, and asks her about the Elfo-Dwarven War as he didn't hear about anything while in the underworld. She tells him that the last two months it has been stale around Marymar.

Later that day I meet Square, and she asks me about the lesson. I tell her how it went, but also tell her that for Ballasts psychological development it is of most importance that she is convinced about the advantages of reading an writing as soon as possible, and by everyone around her. Including Square. Reluctantly she agrees.

While having a walk on the upper deck I stumble across Roftag. He asks me if the crow's nest he's building is good enough. I have a look at it, and realize that its only 80cm tall. Nicely I tell him that for taller people it might need to be slightly taller as well.

Meanwhile Strennun is swimming through the sea, restless and exhausted. On the fifth day he gets picked up by a trader's ship. The captain is a well-dressed woman with a black panther, who looks very similar to Kylin. It turns out that she actually is her sister who thinks that Kylin is dead. Strennun has to parlay his way out of the situation to not get thrown overboard.

Later in the week we cross a trader's boat, which turns out to be steered by Kylin's sister. We dock with them, and they reconnect. Turns out they don't seem to like each other. Kylin's sister mentions that their father left in search of Kylin and went missing ever since. She also shouldn’t be using the name Nelson anymore, as she brought shame to her family. Before they leave they bring us Strennun and a small cask. We're all quite surprised to see Strennun again, but not surprised when we learn that they were thinking about throwing him back in the water.

After some more days we finally arrive on Conder Isle, my beloved home country. I announce to the port master that I will guarantee for the foreigners, and he lets us dock for 200g. As I'm looking to see my family again after all these years I cannot wait and motivate the captain that we go and rent a coach, to make our way inlands towards Alse Edhil.

Psych Session with a gaslighting faerie

The cart starts rolling towards Alse Edhil. On the road Roftag turns to me and asks what it entails to be the first mate. I reply that firstly he is second in command to me. That he takes over if I am not around or busy. That he reports to me and that he enforces and hands on my orders to the crew. These instructions seemed to have helped him to know what his job is. The first days journey through these dense woods go past smoothly.

In the evening we arrive at camp site and Darfin instructs us to stay within the camp site, due there being fairies, pixies and willowisps around that are out to kidnap travelers. We settle down for the night with Strennun being still utterly exhausted from his swim. I take over the first watch and see from atop the carriage a bunch of lights in the forest, probably stemming from faeries. Afterwards I hand over the watch to Roftag.

Roftag diligently takes over his watch. As Kylin had pointed out there are some lights in the forest. Curiosity takes over him and he goes off and explores. He then stumbles upon a lone faerie. Roftag also plants his axe into the ground to help indicate to him where the campsite is. The faerie is very inquisitive, and asks for Roftag to follow it. Roftag declines and asks about their nature and about the tricks they play. This leads to philosophical discussion on what are good pranks to play, while the faerie tries to gaslight Roftag on where the campsite is. Luckily Roftag is adamant on where he has to go to return and finds himself back at the site to finish his watch.

The next day we set off on the next leg of our journey. Suddenly Strennun points out that there is the ocean to our left. Embarrassingly I also see this illusion with also the Devils Fall burning. I say embarrassingly because this was and illusion. At the time I did not know and ordered us to head to the beach immediately, which would take us off the safe path through the woods. Despite Roftag not seeing what I saw he begun to try and enforce the order as Strennun and Darfin were not following it. Luckily through some discussion and persuasion we stuck to the path and after a while the convincing illusion disappeared.

The following day saw us faced with another illusion which was a fork in the road. Through some clever magic from Darfin we managed to finish navigating throuh the forest and arrive in Alse Edhil.

Darfins house is as expected elegant and built into a tree. There we were greeted by Elanor, his very charming wife. Over a cup of tea Darfin inquires how his two children Nessa and Orian are doing. Both are doing well in the Ulentil. I send an eagle to Jack, to tell him that we will be staying an additional week.

We then decide to use the rest of the day to go and visit the university where Darfin used to work. The security there were the most uptight elves I have ever encountered, and that's saying something. But as the saying goes: Money rules the world. Once inside we head to the room with the talking furniture in hopes of getting more information on Sulla. There Feylin, a very cozy armchair advised us to head to the library to look for a certain book. Darfin then leads us further through the halls to the library. Here we find out that Darfins nemesis, Aran Silvaris borrowed the book 5 years ago and has not returned it yet. Well I guess we have to pay this nemesis a visit.

Global Anomalities Detection and Analysis Society

We learned that Darfin's Nemesis, an Elf called Arune Silvaris is still borrowing the book about the old gods. Before we fetch the afforementioned book, Darfin wants to rectify his deceased status. He leads us down strange corridors where some paths seem to lead into the nothingness and other things Darfin calls "pranks by students". I just hear Darfin's voice in my head "do not leave the path". When we arrive in the administration room, Darfin tells the lady that he is in fact alive, but doesn't not intend to stay. He also requests the papers that allow us to enter the academy freely. We all tell her our names: Foreman "Besm", Captain Kylinn Nelson, Kella the square, Roftag Deerrunner. On our way out we pass a small creek where the water flows up instead of down, it creeps me out.

Arune's House looks very noble, with a fenced in garden. Some of us try to shortcut over the fence and are quickly stopped by forces of nature removing them from the property. The main entrance seems to work way better and after passing a fountain with an enormous gem sitting on it, we get to the door. A servant greets us and we promply invite ourselves in. After serving us some tea in the lounge, Arune makes it clear that he still needs the book and is in his right to keep it. The captains has none of this and casts hold person on him, which he tries to counterspell, which the captain then counterspells, which triggers a magical trap in the room that also casts hold person on the captains. Now both unable to move the other party members spread out to search the home. Square takes the rooms on the right where she is slowed down by statues that startet to move. Brovara tries to go downstairs until the stairs turn into a slide that loops around, now she is only trying to get out of there. Darfin takes the path to the left and eventually finds the study, where he goes through piles of books. Square destroys the statues and I can see one of their heads rolling into the room. Brovara manages to get out of the stairs and joins Darfin on the left, adding wood splintering to all the other noise.

After waiting for the captain to snap out of it, I start to gag and tie up Arune so he shouldn't be able to use magic when the spell wears off. Just about when I finish, Arune disappears. I don't hear him reappearing anywhere so I try to pick up the Captain to follow the rest of the group, but her being frozen in motion only lets me drag her, being too unwieldy to carry. Brovara finds the book and Darfin confirms it. Knowing that Arune disappeared and is probably not sitting around somewhere we hurry outside. Before leaving the property the captain takes out the bag of holding and steals the large crystal from the fountain. We barely make it out without being followed and Darfin leads us to the Mutation guild.

Again another tree. Vespera also called Verspa lets us in, an old friend of Darfin. Downstairs we meet more people, a Dwarf called Dorum how is working on a battle machine, reminding us of the one we fought in mighttown. The guild is technically called Global anomalies detection and analysis society, but I will forget that name anyway. Darfin is led to another room where Vespera shows him a leaf that is oozing a moving black substance. "A fight is going on in the forest, and we believe a mutation to have caused it", Vespa explains.

A nice older lady brings me a sweet brown milky drink that reminds me of home, peaceful times, familiar mountains. I wonder how much has changed. When we finally get out of here I will ask the captain how I can work harder to be relieved out of service sooner.

An angry knock on the door disrupts what we're doing and we all go hide in the cellar.

An angry female voice enters the guild and we are quickly discovered. Elora (Darfin's wife) shows us wanted letters and demands an explanation. Brovara blurts out "Are these papers about our break in?", escalating the situation further. Elora lays out our option: go into the forest and solve the trouble, Bangon first ranger will help us out. She hands Darfin a letter and tells Darin to give the letter to Bangon and don't he dare open it. Darfin also hands Elora a letter that adressed to his daughter.

Before we leave the guild Kylin takes a quick peek into the captains logbook.

"Interesting choice, maybe we can explore this more next time" - Tavia

Of Elves, Hags And Other Ugly Creatures

So I was walking around in this nice, quaint forest when I was suddenly yoinked away by an odd lady dressed in all dark colors. She seemed weird. I was then handed off (or rather grabbed) by Darfin's wife, who shoved a package in my hand and shoved me further through a tree. Meanwhile she yelled something about "tell him to reach out next time". Beats me what she meant by that.

Anyway, I fall on my ass in the middle of a forest, surrounded by pretty well hidden elves. There's one elf that's not hidden. He looks old and like a ranger. Rof finally reaches out his hand and greets him. He greets back and leads us somewhere - pretty sure it's east (*Narrator: It was not east*). After a bit we get to a camp and Brovara goes to offload Darfin and Square in the medical tent. They're still passed out. No idea why. We're then led into a big tent. Probably the leader's.

Apparently these folks are the 27th ranger department - apparently the other 26 are also still around, but not here, as the leader told me in a very impatient voice - and they're here to fight the cursed area. We're supposed to help them. It's spreading and within some weeks it will probably have cursed the whole island. The leader shows us a map where we are and where the cursed area is. There's also a big clearing in there, which is most likely Sulla's Arena where we're supposed to do some occult magic involving killing people.

The cursed area spews out humanoid creatures that abduct people from the surrounding villages who are then never seen again. There's also creepy half-spider/half-human creature crawling around. Most likely there's also a hag in the middle that's kinda responsible for it? Maybe not, but she's certainly up to no good, so we ought to kill her.

I attempt to reach out to my patron to request help on how to kill a hag. I suddenly find myself at the beach surrounded by ugly creatures. There's also a horrid creature that blasts towards me and screeches in my face. I'm horribly scared, wake up from my trance and bolt it into the woods. Roftag and Kylin follow me and Roftag catches up to me at the edge of the forest. We have a talk about fear and how it also affected one of his mates in the nine hells. He gives me his big shield to feel safer. It doesn't really work but he was nice about it, so I'll keep it around for now and see what happens. Back at the tent I go to the medical tent to ask for help because I also feel very drained. Apparently I'm not the only one but the only solution is to send us off to the capital where there's more decent healers than here. That won't do, so the healer here gives me some chocolate. That's good but doesn't really help. I watch Brovara and Rof put up the tents with some help of Kylinn. After the tents are up, Rof comes over and I offer him some chocolate, but he doesn't want any. He asks me if I want to be anywhere else to which I reply not really because there's not really anywhere else to go. I have my friends here. Maybe back to my family at some point, but not now because I dont feel like leading my father's company. He then asks me how he could pay off his debts faster, to which I don't know any answer and tell him to go talk to the Captain. I also reassure him that he's a good crewmate and full member of the party and pulls his weight. After that he goes off to get some pastry.

In the evening, Kylinn also talks to Sulla and asks her how to best defeat a hag. Sulla's advice boils down to "She will use lots of Illusions and hags are usually immune to non-magical damage".

During the night, Brovara dreams of hordes of orcs coming at her wave after wave, which she then kills with wide strokes of her morning-star (*The hag tried to curse her like she did with Strennun but her mind was too strong*)

Next day we head out - without Darfin or Square as they're still passed out. After about half a day we hear a weird buzzing in the distance, which turn out to be fairies in a full-on war. After probably committing some war-crimes by blindly firing spells into the fray, we decide to just mow through them because we can't leave the path. Towards the evening, we come to the cursed part of the forest, which is shown by slumped branches and black gooey leaves everywhere.

As the party makes camp in the evening, Lynn tries to reach out to her patron, but also gets pulled into an evil vision by the hag. In her case it is her swimming in the ocean while her ship sails away over the horizon before she finally drowns.

Over night everybody's watch is just plain shit and we're lucky we don't get killed overnight. Next day, we get to a huge chasm in the floor. Kylinn being Kylinn, she throws a lightning at it, which is promptly directed back at her. She also drops a pebble down and it takes... a long time to reach the bottom. That means the chasm is... uhm, very deep. Brovara grabs into it and almost gets pulled in. Rof then has the brilliant idea to hit the edge of the chasm and it actually retreats! I also have the brilliant idea to throw a spell at it and suddenly tentacles come out and try to pull me into the chasm! Brovara is there luckily and manages to pull me away. After tireless hacking and hitting the edge of the chasm, it finally narrows enough for us to jump over it and we continue on.

More Than One Way In

After being shoved into a portal tree by my wife I wake up in some kind of medical tent, next to square. "How did I get here?" I wonder. Square wants to leave the tent and join the others as soon as possible. We walk outside and search for someone to talk to. Many heavily armoured elves are around the campsite, and by the lack of rust I deduct that this must be the elven army. We enter one of the most important looking tents, and an officer greets us. While square nonchalantly starts eating from the fruit bowl the officer tells us what happened around the region and with our friends. Seemingly the forest around us was cursed, and some hag took that as a chance for a new home. "Very interesting" I say to the officer, trying not to sound sarcastic. He commands some younglings to show us the path the rest of the crew have taken. They lead us some minutes into the forest and show me an old trail which even I struggle to really notice. To inform the captain I send off my trusty hawk with a message for the captain.

In the meantime the others continue their path and decide to set up camp at sundown. My hawk reaches them in good health and delivers the message. When it leaves the curiosity overwhelms Brovara, and unseen by the others she shoots the hawk out of the air, thinking that it must be some kind of magical illusion.

As we travel further into the forest the leaves get darker and darker, looking beyond unhealthy. Out of nowhere it feels like the trees are trying to grab us, without them actually doing it. I tell Square that I can make someone fly for a short time, and she gets really excited about it. As I want to leave this option open for dangerous situations I have to disappoint her, promising her that she would be able to fly by the end of the day. She makes some snide remarks about me not looking so good anymore which I don’t understand why, and we continue.

The others set up camp in a forest clearing. Roftag knows how to set up a tent, but not quite where and places them inside some bushes. Suddenly they feel like something is shadowing them. A tar-like person approaches Strennun. He tries to touch it and screams in agony. No longer curious he hellish rebukes the creature, exploding it into little pieces. The leftovers don’t burn, which is quite strange as tar would surely burn. Brovara senses that more of those creatures must be around them. The shoot all of them down on sight.

As the day continues we hear familiar explosions from afar. We reach the rest of the crew at the campsite they just built up. As this is the end of today I give Square the power to fly. She does some superhero landings, kicks and flies up into the sky like a bird. At the height of 30 meters she is over the treeline and has a good look at the surrounding forest. There still seems to be a good distance between us and the hag, so we should get a good night's sleep. We distribute shifts for our watches and go to bed.

I'm not quite able to sleep, as I am haunted by nightmares. I am woken up from my sleep by an explosion in our tent. There is tar-like substance everywhere, I clean it up with prestidigitation. As I cannot sleep anyways I decide to stay up. I hear Kylinn outside shooting at something. "There must be more of them" I think, and wake up Brovara, who is still snoring in a deep sleep. A tar-like person crashes into our tent and Brovara and I get hit by it. The creature starts dragging Brovara out and towards the forest. "That’s it, now I have to intervene" I think and step outside the tent. The tar creatures try to drag Brovara towards the forest, where tentacles grapple her and pull her even further. The same also happens to Roftag. Thankfully they are both able to free themselves from these vile creatures. We fight the remaining creatures while Square skilfully kills many of them, but Strennun is nowhere to be seen, as he's probably still asleep.

The next day we pack up the campsite and start our days journey further into the forest. Around the afternoon we reach a big burial mound, maybe 40 meters high. It has marble doors with primordial writing on it. Each entrance is guarded by a statue with a certain race, with some funeral prayer in the corresponding language. Square and Roftag decide to climb atop the burial mound to have a look at it, and it seems to have a light shaft. Roftag is suddenly affected by some kind of spell, and feels like jumping in the hole seems like a good idea. He asks for Strennuns shield, sits on it, and slides down into the shaft. As this seems to be out signal to enter as well Brovara starts running into the mound, taking the damage from all the traps on the way.

Roftag falls deep into the mound, landing in a pitch black hall. The only thing he senses is someone cackling while his eyes are still adjusting to the darkness.

The Bag of Holdn't

I ran straight into that tomb, silly traps firing around me, to aid Rof. He stood in the middle of a large room, bewitched by a big ugly cackling hag. I chased her but she made it to the door leading to a winding staircase before I caught her. Nasty old crone. The others caught up and we looked around. A big statue loomed in the middle of the room. Apart from the statue, eight exits (or entrances, as it actually depends which way you look) and Rof. And a magical crown on Rof’s head.

It turned out, Rof was cursed. His eyes glew with madness, just like his wolf pelt’s eyes when he’s in the heat of a battle. We never asked him about that wolf, have we? The crown grew some teeth and Rof tried to wrestle me down. Silly Rof. I commanded him - and the crown - to stop whatever they were doing and continued the chase. There was clearly no time to plan.

Me and Square ran down the stairs. Darfin followed closely and Lynn was dragging behind, trying to catch up. Rof - still controlled by the mad crown - tried to catch the Captain using a piece of rope as a lasso. Lynn magicked herself away, leaving Rof alone with Square, who yeeted (yote?) a hammer at him. The bewitched dwarf then caught Darfin but luckily - luckily for Darfin that is - he came back to senses and the crown with teeth disappeared.

By the time we reached the main chamber, we were pissed. We saw the hag behind a stone altar, doing magic. A big crystal - one that we need for the stupid chair - was floating in front of her. Now, since we arrived at a balcony, we had the high ground and used strategy to our advantage. Khella jumped off, landing firmly on her feet and ran towards the hag, grabbing a sausage from the table on the way. Rof also jumped but landed firmly on his head instead. In the meantime, I silently ran around to ambush the hag, my footsteps masked by the sound of Rof falling off the balcony.

Seconds later I heard a familiar slapping sound. Rof and Square were attacked by the weird creatures we saw outside the tomb and on the way here and they fought back. They were waiting for us, hidden below the balcony. As I got around the corner, I saw Kylin flying over the skirmish, fire and lightning bursting out of her hands, and pinning down the creatures. Slapping was soon joined by the sound of plates and cutlery, thrown by Rof. I assume Darfin was also there somewhere. I ran and plunged towards the hag’s back to pin her down, only to be pushed away by a magical wave. I was lucky to land on a bed. The bed was less lucky with a 150kg half-human landing on it and breaking it.

Using pure strength clearly had no effect, so we changed the approach and tried using other means. Rof picked up a bench and hit the hag with it, splinters flying all over the altar. I tried tossing Kylin close to the hag but I lost my grip and she tripped and fell instead. In the background, Square beat the tarry creatures as if they were her punching bags. I think I also heard Darfin shouting from the balcony so I still assume he was somewhere around.

Lynn took her Bag of Holding and tried to put the crystal in it. The crystal did not fit and went through the fabric with a loud pop. A moment later, Roftag finally managed to grab the witch and push her to the ground. Square joined a moment later, ready to beat the crap out of her. Kylin took out her double-ended trident and mocked the hag. The witch looked at Kylin, nasty smile on her face, and uttered Bold of you to say as a captain with no ship. What a stupid thing to say in such circumstances, especially since we just were on the ship several days ago. Afterwards, Kylin’s double-blade trident - there has to be a better name for it - went through the hag’s skull. Good riddance.

A moment later Darfin appeared and discussed the broken bag with Kylin. They said that everything from it was lost. Not sure what they meant exactly but I saw nothing falling out so I assume they’ll find it sooner or later. Those magic adepts always overreact, eh?

We went through the hag’s lair, finding some rations and other useful items and continued further into the tomb. All we found were sarcofph.. sarfophag.. tombs so we came back out of the haunted place, leaving it behind forever…

A Tempting Offer

After a well deserved rest we headed back to the main room with the mummy. The room was better lit than the last time we where there, hence why we decided to have a quick look outside before exploring the rest of the tomb. Outside it has also become lighter, just with still most of the colour drained. Back in the mummy room someone noticed that the room has pictures on the walls, each segment in the style of the races which then seamlessly fades over to the next style.

We then head down the South Western tunnel which lead to a similar room that we found after the hags lair. Here there were further signs of corruption trying to settle in. After convincing especially Darfin and Brovara to not commit grave-robbery we headed back and took the South Eastern path. This path lead to another room full of sarcophagi and a hole with stairs heading down into darkness. Strennun reads something about water and we decide to head down the steps. The darkness starts to engulf us. Even my new found dark vision can not see far. Darfin then comes with an idea to tie a rope to the top to help us navigate and Strennun heads off to do so. After 15 minutes we decide to follow and try and find him.

"Meanwhile Strennun out of frustration jumped down the center to find a cave at the bottom with a monolith in the center. On the walls he reads: Do not release! Out of morbid curiosity he reaches out and talks with the entity trapped inside the monolith. The entity promises him power, riches, world domination and possibility to take over the crew. Strennun though, being a simple person, declines and just asks for a way out for him and the rest of the crew. The entity shows himself as a white figure and mentions how many are evil and hurt people. So its normal in the world."

Meanwhile we still try and find a way to find Strennun. After not beeing able to find the exit we head back down. Suddenly the steps start falling away and out of nowhere I start falling. One after another the others fallow. Strennun then tells us about the entity who has introduced themselves as Anathar. We ask Zula, whether they know the place and a person named Anathar. He know decides to tell us not to head down here, like an hour too late that stupid chair. In the back we find a hidden room and Brovara begins to try and find a way through. Suddenly Strennun turns on us possessed and start trying to destroy the crystal monolith. We manage to knock him out. Out of caution, I order us to find a way out which is probably just head back up the stairs. Darfin and I successfully confirm this theory and jump back down to get the others. Meanwhile they have made some progress on the door and I compromise that we can wait 2 hours more before we leave this dangerous place.

This idea was short lived though as suddenly Brovara gets possessed by Anathar and starts taking damage from an invisible source. Again we can do nothing aside from supporting her and then just knocking her out to end the possession. Now its an order: We leave!. While rushing up the stairs and can not keep wondering, what would have happened if Anathar tried to tempt me. Or someone else who would be more willing to accept an offer like Darfin.

Chair à Maze

After the stairs we passed the entrance room with the large THING in the middle. The desire to leave is stronger than the memory of any traps. Together we run and breathe fresh air faster than strennung could spot water.

Even from afar the forrest is visibly brighter, healthier; we needn't worry anymore about our trip back. Having fullfilled our obligations to the elves the only thing keeping us on this cursed island is an offer from our chair. After marching onwards not long and we spot something strange is the distance. Approaching, some of us notice a group of people led by a hooded creature. Before we get close enough to recognise any faces, the sand and rock inf front of us are replaced by a massive, at least twenty meter tall wall. Walking into the structure it is quickly concluded that the fastest way to explore the maze would be from on top of the walls, this way if the group would reveal themselves as enemies we would also hold the advantage. The captain and Darfin make their way up using their magic, helping the rest using a rope. Square rushes ahead, the rest makes their way to the center of the maze by either jumping from wall to wall or by flying. After arriving in the middle and spotting some kind of altar together with Brovara I climb down to the ground level. While the captain and Darfin engage the group from above, Brovara plays with some contraption that allows her to move the walls. Following the trail of blood Brovara and I find Square slapping her way through the enemies' minions. We help out. Meanwhile Darfin creates a path of fire and finds the enemies leader: Wormtongue. After not much consideration, Darfin drops the purple stick and just hears an audible "#!%& his will take some time" before Wormtongue and anything in a 5m radius around him disappears. Seeing the wall Darfin was just standing on I rush to his aid, just to watch him slowly hover to the ground.

Square starts to build one of her famous gardens around the altar and blood starts to float from the corpses towards the altar. A sphere of flesh starts to grow above the labyrinth collecting all the blood. Before the sphere could burst, it disappears. Everyone gathers in the middle. "Did it work?". I hear a familiar voice in my head, Sulla's voice. He presents himself in front of us, tall and powerful.

Each of us he offers a rewards for freeing him from his wooden cage. Darfin asks him about magic but is shot down immediately "Do I look like a mage?". I ask him for a shield but get laughed at for being a coward. The only items Sulla wants to offer seem to be tools to spill more blood, this is music in Squares ears. Not only does she pledge to follow Sullas teachings, but also to spread his name in the only language he seems to speak - violence. Sulla pronounces Kella his arch priestess (todo please replace with correct title) and grants her a mean looking weapon. I get a bad feeling about this god of war thing and decline his offer. Everyone else accepts their gifts.

List of gifts: (todo please write down a name of your gift)

Are we… Pirates?

Sulla gifts us lions on which we ride back towards the port city. From afar we see a magical beam getting closer and closer. We arrive at a forest clearing, where the lions suddenly stop. As we get of they magically vanish. Strennuns lion pukes up some noble clothes, and Squares lion transforms into a necklace. Very weird, but I've seen worse.

As we walk towards the city walls an older elf in a white robe and hat steps out behind a tree. I get the feeling that he is a servant of one of the High Lords, but by his clothing he is also a high priest of the Wailing Widow. He doesn’t want to tell us his name, but he says that we travelled with one of their sons. Kylin says something about a Varis Alloro, probably a son of the Alloro family.

The priest also tells us that Varis Valorian, one of the more conservative high lords, issued an arrest warrant for Kylin Nelson for deserting the army. The ship is seized at port and the crew in prison. I never heard about this, and I always thought that Kylin is an honourable captain with a hard but good heart. Was she forced into servitude, or is she a traitor?

The priest offers to help us to get into the city to free the crew, we should meet him at dawn at the keep. We agree and give ourselves a little rest before. There is a lot of talk about burning down the city or burning down certain buildings, but I'm not fully present as I'm trying to process the new information I just got.

Towards the evening, we approach the city gate. Roftag rips out a massive spike log from the moat. Brovara steps onto Roftags shoulders and hippity hoppity over the walls. She gets attacked by some guards, but easily splatters them over the walls. The rest of us also climb over the walls, and we enter the keep. As I am the last one, I close the door. We silently kill all the guards on our way, and easily cheese through a laser maze. We reach a break room where we can hear shanties through a door, where the crew must be held prisoners. We reach the cells, where some of the crew are petrified, among others also Steve. Jack is still "alive". He tells us that they defended the ship for three days, until the elven army seized it successfully for the democracy. Half the crew was lost during the battles or were petrified. He requests to be allowed to kill the prison commander himself. Kylin grants his wish, and he leaves with two men.

We hand over some of our weapons to the members who are able to fight and leave the cells. Square and two other crewmates slap the rest of the guards to death. We hear a loud thump, as the dead body of the commander lands on the floor in front of us. Up on the tower we see Jack in the window. Outside of the keep we hear a commotion. It seems like the priest rallied up the townsfolk to protest the actions of the guards. Three rows of guards stand in front of the gate, forming a shield wall. We sneakily open the doors, and Kylin kills two rows of guards with just one spell. The townspeople flee in fear, causing an even bigger chaos. We leave towards our ship and set sails immediately.

I'm leaned against the railing and fire some firebolts towards the elven ships, setting them all aflame. I remember being a young boy, visiting the ports with my father and looking at the elven fleet in awe. boom. It was then when the wish to leave the isle and explore the world started I assume. boom. Why didn't I just do it when I first felt ready to? Why did I have to spend my best years hidden in some libraries?. boom. Am I still a good person, being associated with a war criminal?. boom. Will I ever be able to return as a respected member of society?. boom. Where is my life even going? Is this what I want for myself?. boom. I don’t even notice what's happening around me, as my mind keeps digging deeper and deeper into self-doubt. boom. We sail into the sunset, leaving the elven isle behind us.

Just Keep Swimming

It was a good call from Kylin to start firing back. The silly sods stationed at that Falloren fort should have started clearing up the city instead of firing at us. After all, we helped them with Sulla, Wyrmtongue and lifted whatever curse there was on the city.

If the troops weren’t enough, a huge ship appeared out of the fog in front of us. My sailor companions called it a flagship, which I thought was a stupid name until I noticed five flags on the masts. A rather interesting feature of the ship was the galeon’s figure depicting what elvish women definitely did not look like in reality (they only looked like this in some sailor’s songs I’ve heard from the crew and dare not repeat here).

The battle started with us approaching the flagship. There was nothing else we could have done as it was blocking our way, challenging us. Strennun immediately jumped in to the water, which is good as he is more useful swimming around the ship than in the battleground. A crewmember I have not seen before was the first to jump - a dwarf with black skin and a missing ear. Captain followed directly after, Rafiki jumping of her shoulder and grabbing one of the lines going up the mast. It stands to reason the enemy crew would try jumping onto our ship so I stayed and waited for them. Rof does not share my view and tosses a wooden pole onto the enemy ship, planning to use it to fend off the foreign sailors.

A firestorm broke out on the flagship, possibly started by Kylin, and a couple of sailors jumped over to Devilsfall. Just where I expected them. I tossed them overboard, grabbing a ribbon out of an important-looking one. Strennun later told me that after they fell into the water, he was noticed by them and they tried to attack and drown him. Silly sods should have noticed something was fishy about him. (that was a play on words, because he is a bit like a fish.)

As the fire started spreading, we cut down or drowned more and more enemy sailors. I heard a loud splash as Jack unfastened the galeon’s figure and started hauling it towards the Devilsfall. I looked up and saw Rafiki carrying two flags stolen or perhaps bitten away, from the tops of the masts. We slowly came back to our ship, regrouped and sailed away from the no-longer-flagship, leaving the remainder if its crew trying to put out the fire. It might be for good - if they weren’t able to defend themselves from us, they wouldn’t have been safe on these waters. What with all the pirates around.

We lined up all our recruits and tried to teach them some discipline. Three of them stood out. A young elf called Falaria (or Falafel? the elvish names all sound the same to me). A lizard-looking man called Danam, which emanated an aura of chill, and Nori, the dwarf who was first-in-line in the abordage. The dwarf tried mocking me so I tossed him overboard, Strennun jumped after him to save him. Nori has to learn his place in the crew. Until he does, he’ll be taking a swim regularly.

We continued sailing towards the meeting point with Tavia. Kylin immediately took to the timid Falalel and started mentoring her. Jandalf appeared and brought some of our ordered gear. Apart from that, not much happened for a couple of days until we heard Strennun shouting that he sees a ship with Thanate flag far away. We decided to approach.

As the ship grew nearer, we noticed what looks like a captain and a handful of guards standing next to each other. Kylin grabbed my arm and teleported us to negotiate. The guards started behaving aggressively so I grabbed an important-looking one and held him hanging overboard. The rest of them charged but got pacified quickly. We tell Nori to disarm the guard leader, which he does by cutting off his hand with his steel axe. Someone said this was ironic except I don’t think there was any iron involved and Nori should think twice instead of taking the words so literally.

The captain of the encountered ship claimed they are shipping grain and beer but we quickly saw through his disguise and know he was a supplies-smuggling pirate. He should be happy we left him and his crew alive. We recruited two of them though. The captain of the guard did not want to join us though. His loss. We did acquire their galeon’s figure. I wonder where Strennun keeps those.

After two weeks of uneventful sailing we approached a ship with a Draconic League flag. Strennun’s mission to swim up and check what’s on the ship ended in a failure but Captain recognized the ship and teleported aboard. Kylin later said she had a lengthy discussion about her sister and told the crew to deliver her a bottle of whisky and a letter. They also presented Kylin with a bottle of whisky and she came back, telling us to leave the ship be. She was also told that she should visit Dragon’s Inn in the capital and it has something to do with her parents. We set sail once again.

After another week of smooth sailing - interrupted only by a huge school of tuna passing by - we finally arrived at the designated meeting place. In the meantime, Falafel became quite a sailor and Nori seems to understand now that mocking me results in being thrown overboard. The third new crew member is a bit of a mystery though.

In any case, we approach the ship of Tavia and other captains. Good we did not get caught by any of the pirates on our way here.

Fuck you, and thank you!

I wake up in the morning to see the grand fleet a few hours out. What a weird dream last night. I felt like I should check on Darfin before we join the others so I head down to his room and find lost in thought.

We sit down he tells me off his thoughts and doubts and how he feels isolated as he no longer can return home as he is a fugitive there. I try and comfort him, hoping he understands that the Devilsfall would be happy to be his home. We go on and talk about our deeds. Darfin then says that we should start owning up to what we are. We are Pirates! There is no denying that anymore. Darfin the blurts out:” Fuck you and thanks you!” He then elaborates that he hates the situation but also enjoys the freedom from society. Like really fuck society. Why should we have to dress a certain way, marry, only speak one’s mind when asked or have to run a business.

By the way. Was that the first time Darfin has sworn? Surely not, but I can not remember when he has. Either way we talk a little more with me also opening up a little how cornered I felt at home. Before leaving I hand over a box which was addressed to Darfin.

When I head up back on deck, I find Roftag sparing with Nori and Brovara trying to round up the crew to do a workout. I painfully watch how she fails to engage with the crew. I do later take her to the side and try and give her some advice. Mental note, I may have to do a full workshop with her soon to help her improve her people skills.

We then arrive at the fleet and are greeted by people of Tavias crew who invite me to Tavias ship. That’s very friendly and nice of her. I appoint Roftag to take command and make sure the ship is securely docked and take Falaria with me to Tavias. Maybe Falaria can open up a little there.

Tavia welcomes us and then leads me to the dining room which is nicely decorated and set with a nice feast. During the feast we talk about what happened. I tell her of our adventures and the stupid event which lead to me loosing the logbook. She explains that Teolgrug and Greybeard have secured the Draconic Isles. Teolgrug has not arrived yet. Meanwhile Tavias crew encountered some of Hogens men on a seemingly empty island where they weird resupplying. It seems the enemy has weird means to travel. We continue chatting about random interests and are hitting it off really well.

Meanwhile Roftag and Darfin have a heart to heart about how the consequences of our actions are catching up. Darfin admits that he feels like that violence is faster and often more fun. After their talk Darfin finally decides to open the box and finds pipeweed, incense and a note from his wife.

Darfin then decides to look for a doctor to get his condition checked. The doctor does try and hint at the fact that he is probably undead, which does stir some doubt in Darfin that maybe the captain was right when she told him that he has been affected by the curse.

Strennun went off to scout out other Crowsnest to find ideas on how to improve ours. He finds one with a drunk guy who has attached himself with a rope. Strennun does not understand why one would do this as then one cannot jump into the ocean. Strennun proceeds to untie the poor guy and jump into the ocean with him. He later on finds out that the guy cannot swim.

Brovara is spending a nice evening taking a bath in Strennuns room.

Roftag is looking after the ship when he suddenly gets attacked by Falaria. Luckily Brovara and the rest of the crew comes to aid and find that its actually a Rakshasa. Roftag and Brovara then decide to warn the captain, as they are not sure if the Falaria that went with her to Tavias was actually real.

While taking a sip of some nice wine the doors to the dining room get flung open with a guard and Brovara saying we are needed. Tavia takes her hand off my arm and we both stand up to find out what the commotion was. Rof tells us of the Rakshasa attack. We quickly check that it was alone and make sure that there is no widespread panic.

Once that handled, I send Rof and Brovara back to the ship, as Tavia invited me to stay the night. I also send Falaria to hang out with the rest of Tavias crew. In her cabin she

The next morning, I happily and rejuvenated walk back to the Devilsfall. After regrouping with everyone Darfin pulls out a stack of papers with our names on them with the new bounties. Mine has gone up a little, but really by only 50 gp? I guess they are not really interested in capturing me anymore. Oh, btw here are the new bounties:

Captain Kylin Nelson: 800gp
Professor Darfin Elehni: 600gp
Mr Woodenglory: 450gp
Brovara the Tall: 350gp
Roftag Deerunner: 300gp
Rafiki: 50gp

4+1 Captains

In the morning an iron clad ship approaches the wooden isle waving Greybeard’s flag, as well as another heavily damaged ship belonging to Teolgrag. Greybeard’s ship docks and a procession of royal proportions enters the wooden isle, with Greybeard in shining armor and two giants flanking him on both sides. Judging by Darfins reaction there is a lot of magic in the air.

The Captain being escorted by Brovara and I takes place at a giant round table on one of the central ships. We take our positions close to her and stand there waiting for the other captains. Tavia takes her seat close to the captain. Greybeard makes his way to the other seat next to the captain and his guard walks right through Brovara and me. I swallow my pride and take the disrespect without causing trouble for the captain. The last two seats are filled with Teolgrag who is showing some recent battle injuries and Arokshax who clearly doesn’t voluntarily attend.

«Neutrality, not good for business eh?» - Teolgrag

Teolgrag starts to explain why he is in such a rough shape: I followed Hogan and Ondas and Wormtongue to the Deadlands. Hogans men are trying to create a new world order and talked about corruption. Hogan cut a deal with the devils, hopefully they are as trustfully as the rakshashas.

«Burnt world ain’t good for anyone» -Teolgrag

Three options are stated:

- Strike the orcs

- Find allies in Thanate Empire

- Attack Hogan directly in the deadlands

There is not much debate, Tavia and Greybeards are quickly on board, only Arokshax remains hesitant. The circle is dismissed. Brovara voices her complaints about Greybeard’s guards and challenges whoever dares to a duel. A foolish dwarf volunteers and believes his hammer stands a change against our half-human. A couple painfull looking blows are exchanged and Brovara stands on top of the table staring down on the dwarf being embedded in said table. Greyboard calls the win and offers Brovara a reward of her choosing. Brovara chooses the dwarf’s hammer as a trophy. Everyones attitute towards her changes immediately.

Greyboard repeats his offer from when we met near Mighttown, this time I don’t decline the shield. Visiting his ship I find a real smithy on the lower deck where a nice smith advises me what to pick, a wooden shield with a steel rim and spikes on the other side, decorated with a painted wolf baring his teeth.

In the evening Kylinn visits Teolgrag. He asks her about his contract with «god». [ redactet ].

Tealgrag says that he approached the edge of the stream (nobody who has gone further has ever returned). Some of his sailors swear by their mother that they saw land in the distance, but there is nothing to prove the hersay.

Teolgrag: "Kylinn, I want to retire; Be my heir, or go exploring."

Kylinn does not decide yet.

In the morning Kylinn pays Arokshax a visit, trying to get him to help the cause .. Arokshax is drunk.

Arokshax: «Can you guarantee my safety?»

Kylinn: «To be completely honest .. you will most likely die if you stay close to me .. like many others.»

Arokshax: «We both know Teolgrag, if I help you my family is save … if I don’t they will still be save but I will never see them again»

Arokshax hands Kylinn a waterskin with Grog.

DRINK

After my morning clean I fetch the Flags from Rafiki as the captain ordered. Soon after, Tavia arrives and tests out the Devilfall’s curse on one of her guards (fortunately only once) and disappears in the captains quarters. I fetch my shield from Greybeard’s shipand return to find Brovara banging on the Captain’s door.

We kill some time trying out my new shield. It does have some magical properties as Brovara’s heavy blow feels more like a child’s punch.

Kylin learns that Tavia’s Cutlass is called «Iron price»

Tavia leaves a wine bottle as a gift and the wooden isle slowly disappears.

Kylin sends one of the crewmembers out with an elvish wine in return.

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

Before leaving, we were doing some shopping. Roftag got a new shield that seems to have some magic. Darfin got some elven chainmail made that looks very pretty. I myself tried to get the rust off my weapons and a nice dwarf gave me some goop to smear on my weapons. That seemed to work.

While we were out shopping, Brovara tested her new hammer, by beating the ever-loving shit out of Square's old punching bag. On the way back to our ship, she also 'picked up some rope' - which turned out to belong to another ship. But as it started to wither the second she came onto the Devil's Fall, she decided to just leave it on deck, because more rope is clearly always more better!

The Captain gave orders to set sails. We are going to the deadlands to deal with the Orc-problem there. As it is basically on the way, we will also stop by the Thanate Empire on the way. My home! I will get to see my father again!

The other captains will be doing the following meanwhile:

Greybeard: Try and get the support of the dwarves empire by any means necessary
Arokshax: Get a supply chain up and running to supply us in the deadlands
Tavia: Take over the transport of the goods of said supply-chain
Taelgrog: Who knows? He's not the most talkative one...

After some days of sailing, I see cliffs in the distance. My home! I yell down to the ship that there's land. Soon enough, we see smoke in the distance. This is the main city. It is built in a cavern. This means that ships can be very easily inspected and it is not easy to smuggle stuff in like that. That's why we anchor outside of the cavern and transport us and our stuff along the passages along the cliffs (there are treacherous 'passageways' built into the cliffs, which are essentially just planks on the side of the bluffs, with nothing but pistons and prayers holding them up. They are heavily used by smugglers and other folks who are not exceptionally keen on their wares or ships being inspected by the harbourmaster and his staff).

Brovara does not trust her weight with the armour on to hold the planks. Rof and I take her armour and she just walks like that. That seems to work because we get to the city pretty soon. Before that, we are being inspected by the guards. Brovara takes this opportunity to put on her armour again. I have to empty my bag and lay my weapons out. I have collected quite a number of weapons because they are neat. That seems to amuse the guards because they laugh when I lay out my longsword, my club, my scimitar, my dagger, my backup dagger, the backup dagger of that dagger, the great axe, the handaxe, the rapier, the short bow and the whip. After that I have to repack everything again. While I'm at it anyway, I try to make myself presentable for my father by taking off my armour and putting on some fine clothes (they were not that fine anymore, considering what they've gone through in the past couple years, but Strennun did not seem to care all that much).

It's nice to be back in my hometown! We pass a tavern that I used to go to a lot back then. I drag my friends in there and Gunther, the bouncer greets me and shows me my usual table. It's a lot stuffier than I remember. We order stuff and then the bill comes. It's... I don't know the number but it's higher than I can count and that means it's a LOT! I don't even know if I have that much gold! So I take my bottle of wine and run out with Brovara. The others don't follow for some reason. Brovara drags me back in. We eat and drink and in the end Darfin pays - Thank you Darfin! After that we go to my father's house.

When we get there I try to enter, but for some reason the door is locked?!. Frederick, the old guard, opens a little window in the door and looks at me like I just resurfaced after seven years gone. To be fair, that is what happened, but that is not the point here. He doesn't want to let my friends in at first but I convince him and we all wait in the courtyard while he goes and does... something. Things have changed. There are strange guards in the courtyard. After a long while I go into the house and the guards don't stop me. I look for my father and find Frederick coming out of his office and come back with me to the courtyard. He keeps asking me questions about myself. Like he doesn't know me?? (Meanwhile, Brovara keeps counting seconds in the courtyard, as Strennun said he'd be back in 15min. As she gets bored of that, she tries to interact with the guards, who ignore her, provoking her ire.) After some more minutes, my father comes to the courtyard. At least I think it's my father? I can hardly recognise him. He's so old and weak and ugly? He doesn't believe that I am Strennun until I show him our signet ring. Then he finally invites us to dinner - even though we just ate before. During dinner I try to tell him everything that happened in these seven years that I was gone. Kylinn asks him for his support against the orcs in the deadlands. My father wants to speak to me in my office. Back in his office he tells me what has been happening here. There's a fight going on between the guilds but also within the guilds. This is also why he was so wary of me. Because he thinks someone could be impersonating me to harm him. I don't know why anybody would do that, but then again, I am not very smart, so I just leave it be. He wants me to burn down the warehouse of his former friend and ally - apparently he has been stealing my father's wood. If I can, I can take the wood back, but that doesn't really matter. After that, I should go to the Seahorse tavern and execute Duran in public. He apparently killed Nana! (Strennun's old maid, who was a mother-figure to him, as he never really knew his mother). He also asks to speak to Kylinn. I go back and tell my friends and fetch Kylinn. On the way back to the office, she asks me if I want to do what my father is asking - or rather ordering - of me. I tell her that I don't like it but I might do it because of family.

Kylinn has a conversation with Vodan Woodenglory, where he thanks her for 'taking care' of Strennun and ask to pay her for her time and troubles. As Strennun wants to take the crew with him to burn down the warehouse and kill Duran, he also asks her for their daily rates, just like bartering for simple hired muscle. He also tells her that he's not going to directly help her with her quest of finding support, but suggest, they make some noise and make a name of themselves to get 'the right kind of people' aware of them, before maybe being able to plead their issue in the city-hall and get support that way. Kylinn categorically refuses and tears into him, shaming him for treating his long lost and returned son like a commodity. Vodan then asks her why she left her family (He is familiar with the Nelson family) and also asks of her what she would do in his shoes. They talk about Strennun's past - he was your average rich kid who only thought about partying and spending his father's money. He does have fond memories of Strennun as a small child, but not so much when he grew older. The two continue on to discuss if leaving a legacy is important or not and in the end agree to disagree, as Vodan thinks it is the ultimate goal of life to leave something behind that your children can continue building upon and Kylinn does heavily disagree on that train of thought.

In the end, she reiterates her refusal to be hired goons for him and also refuses his hospitality.

After a while, Kylinn comes out of the office and seems very angry. She tells us that we're leaving. I am not sure because I now have to choose between long lost family and new found family. In the end I choose my new found family and we leave for a cheaper tavern. There, Kylinn and I discuss us leaving our families a bit more and Darfin also tries to help with his wisdom, but he does not really help all that much.

In the end, we decide that we will not burn down the warehouse, but I still want to get to the bottom of Nana's killing. We will capture Duran and Darfin will probe his mind to see if he did kill Nana or not. After that, Kylinn's idea is to unite the fighting guilds by posing a bigger, external threat to the trade in the Thanate empire to force them to unite against us. We then hop onto the Devil's fall to lead them directly to the orcs, where they will hopefully help us deal with them.

"The Flavia's Frivolous Fantastical Fings"

As we sat at the round table in the tavern, we started discussing the new bounties. They increased a bit, which is a good sign, pirates and wrongdoers clearly dreading us. While Darfin and Strennun disappeared somewhere, we ordered another round. When asked what he wants, Rof said "I don't care" and was served a chesse-flavoured drink. Apart from that the place smelt like piss and barkeep was rude.

After spending the night in a tavern, we set out to find influential humans to find us in our cor-age-uhs en-dev-or. The streets were difficult to navigate, with thousands of people going about their business, flowing in and out of buildings and between the levels of the city.

In search of a shortcut we stumbled upon a shop with a sign saying "Flavia's Frivolous Fantastical Fings". We went inside and indeed found a ton of fascinating fings. We approached the shopkeeper, who turned out to be a looney. She stuttered, avoided answers and asked suspicious questions. Kylin bought some magic sticks and found an intricate dagger. The dagger captures the attention of whoever looks at it. The person only realizes that when someone talks to them, otherwise they can stand and look at that weapon. It does not work on me, thought. I only look at it for a second and hear someone speaking to me. Must be my paladin training finally showing its value.

Kylin buys the dagger. She later said she sacrificed some of her good luck to get it. I also found an addition to the museum I set up on the ship. A stachoo of a face, made of rock and wood. I can already see people flocking to see it when we open. I also bought a gargoyle which I named Helmut - it is good with simple commands but very stoopid. The shopkeeper said I can buy with my darkvision ability and I happily did it as I can see very well in the dark and don't need it.

Roftag gave her his blood to learn the name. His name is Roftag Deerunner. He seems to remember something about his past because of that. Funny thing about the shopkeeper: I swear she changed her skin and hair colour while we were there.

After leaving the shop and a stroll through the city, we found a major plaza with great view on the ships and many, many stalls and little shops. We found the Trader's guild where - being welcomed by a Head Welcomer Thanani - we were asked to meet a certain Cinan Korman for a dinner. Apparently known for spice trade. The meeting was boooring and there was diplomasee and long words so I paid no attention.

We paid a visit at the Flavia's shop too. She sells us a scroll that offers some kind of protection against some type of creatures, the price being Captain's "ambition to take over a friend's legacy". I wonder how she still keeps her shop running, selling her wares for next-to-nothing and silly phrases.

Finally, we head for the ship, Helmut not being as helpful with getting us down the cliffs as I thought, hurting mister Deerunner along the way. We found Salarus on the deck playing cards. He was not happy that we visited the shop. To make up for it, Captain adds him to a list of welcome guests for the Scroll of Some Kind of Protection. We decide to wait for Strennun and Darfin before we take our next steps.

The captain, with the dagger in the office

On the ship we find the person who I need, Salarus. But first I hand over the protection spell for the ship to Jack. He seems to be very unnerved when he finds out we got it from a fey. I have never seen him this tense, but after telling us off for being reckless he heads off to incorporate the spell into the ships defences.

In the captains’ quarters I tell Salarus, that I want to know the details of the ship and if there are any other powers that it holds that we are not aware off. He does not know himself and says we would have to speak to a Demon Prince for this information. This though may come at a price. I guess we put a pin into this for later, as there is a stupid party this evening.

On deck the crew seems oddly on edge. Then Roftag comes over and asks if it is okey if they could visit a fighting pit that Strennun has mentioned. It seems that they thought I would not approve. Seriously? They should know by now that I am not against some fun. While we are talking, I ask Strennun to have a look at the inscribing on my new dagger. His vast knowledge of different runes and languages comes in handy again as he deciphers: "I do sacrifice to Rakdos, whomever I touch, I may hold a soul for your entertainment." Sounds fun. Strennun is not a fan of the dagger though. Ehhh its mine anyways. We also talk about his feeling about what has transpired so far. He mentions how he is tired of being treated like a commodity by his Dad. Very understandable. My parents were annoying, but they never would have tried to pull off something like that.

Before heading back to the ship Darfin went to FFFF. He is trying to find out what happened to him. He tells her his name and about the Devils Fall. Flavia then clears his mind so that he realizes he is undead and that he died weeks ago in the Crowsnest. Emboldened by his new condition he asks for where he could find a phylactery to become a lich. He gets a hint that he will find one to the west of here. This all he was given for the price of his moral compass.

Shortly afterwards we must get going so to make it to dinner, which we were invited too by Sinan. His mansion is as predictably ugly and pompous as someone compensating for something. We are guided by one of his servants through the courtyard and numerous hallways to the ballroom. Noticeably this place is very heavily guarded.

The ballroom is full of rich people and politicians of this city. This is going to be a very painful evening. To prepare myself I head to the nearest waiter, chug 2 glasses of alcohol that they are serving and take a third to go. Before initiating with the politicians of the room I decide to gather some intel and dirt on these people to try and find out more who is here. Apparently, he has multiple mistresses and makes a habit of ruining women’s lives. Meanwhile everyone else here seems to have also plenty of dirt on them too.

Finally, it was time to talk with Sinan. After pleasantries he invites me into his office which is right next to the ballroom. Apparently, Sinan is in a tough spot, as Woodenglory has also entered the spice trade which is putting him under pressure. That why he wants me to guard and protect his ships while sabotaging other ships. I brought up that we are here to speak with the council for mor important matters which will generally affect his trade. Upon this information Sinan admits he has already talked with Wormtongue, who was very convincing. Sinan then has the audacity to subtly hint that he could just have us arrested or killed by the guards and handed over to Wormtongue which would give him a nice price. This guy is in way over his head.

As standard diplomacy did not seem to be working with this waste of flesh, I decided to switch things up and try to use my feminine charm to win him over. So, I started throwing in a few compliments while trying not to throw up on the carpet. This seemed to get the slightest reaction out of him so I doubled down and painted him a picture of how we could rule trade and eventually the city together with our expertise while being partners. He then tests me how he will still want to mess around with other mistresses and that while I am gone at sea, I have to promise him that I would have to stay pure for him. I still have no idea how I had the strength of not slitting his throught right then and there.

With this hypothetical deal agreed upon I moved in as if I wanted to seal the deal with making out, and that idiot fell for it. Seriously who could fall for that narcistic pile of barnacles. In a quick motion I pull out my new dagger out and him close to be able to hold the dagger to his throat. I order him then to write a letter of recommendation to the council, which he does like an obediant little pet. I realize then that I cannot keep him alive, as he will he send his guards after me as soon as I am out the door. Apologizing I plant a kiss on his cheek, I guess the kiss of death, as I then slit his throat killing him on the spot.

But no blood spilled. The blood got absorbed by the dagger. Huh I guess luck is still on my side. Soo now I must get out of here before people find him dead. First, I decided to put him back into his armchair and face it away from the door towards the fireplace. While moving him I noticed how his pants seemed to wet. This guy really was all bark and no bite.

And now how do I exit alone? I admit, here I panicked a little and decided to just act to be one of his side chicks that is trying to leave quickly. In the process of leaving, I decided I should lock the door to slow down the process of finding him. Well, my act did seem to work as one of the servants quickly came to help me and assist me in finding an exit. On the way out of the ballroom, I whisper to Roftag that too leave now sneakily. At the exit I thank the maid and tell her she should find a better employer, and then I head to the inn that we stayed the night before in the hopes that the rest of our group would come up with the same idea.

Turns out they understood leave by head to the ship.

Convincing the council

In the morning the captain Nelson leaves her room and meets a gnome in the bar, a gnome of few words, a few words of mostly insults.

Brovara, Darfin and I leave the ship and start looking for the captain. We look at the places where we've been before and eventually end up talking to a rude Bouncer. Standing in our way of meeting the captain the bouncer earns a punch. Inside the captain is talking to the gnome who seems interested in working on our ship. After we join the captain at her table a short interview takes place, with Darfin casting a spell to poke any secrets the gnome may hold.

There are no secrets, the gnome wants money and changes sides quickly when more money is offered. His name - Tandyr Melebokk, short Melek.

After telling the captain about the instructions we left for Jack, she quickly writes down new instructions:

We met up
we are fine
we head to council
we will be in touch
just stand by

Darfin happily calls out his Hawki and sends it off with the message.

Together with the Melek we make our way to the large square and enter the council building. A small army is guarding this place. We are greeted by Tanani and lead to a room with desks, here the captain shows her letter of recommendation and requests an audience.

We are allowed to enter a large room with poorly made floor. Tanani announces the death of Master Sinnan. Only half the council is here, but enough to make decisions. After a break, 7 members assemble in colorful clothing, standing on a stage that elevates them above us. Sensing some magic in this room, Melekk tries to cast some detection spell which is interrupted by a familiar crooked creachure - Wormtongue. Wormtongue is introduces as "the ambassador". The captain gets to speak and states what Ondas alliance's goals are, she requests support from the humans - half their army. Together with the dwarfs they shall fight to secure our livelyhood.

The council listens and sometimes takes note, but otherwise does not show approval or rejection of Ms Nelsons proposal.

"Are you deaf?", Shouts Brovara.

"Don't you like money", Darfin remarks.

Captain adresses Wormtongue with snide remarks. Wormtongue tries to approach her but is stopped by the guards.

A bell rings and the council members retreat behind the stage.

"Did you go into cave?", Darfin asks.

Wormtongue asks us about the desert, he was looking for an ancient tomb.

5 minutes later, the bell rings and the council members return.

One member holding a paper stands up and presents the councils decision. "We have heard your plea, but also the ambassadors. Some Question your honesty. "Ambassador will not burn world, will cleanse it". He wants us to do nothing. "Ambassador of what?", I shout. "Wolf barbarian has point", the council member says. "Ambassador of Blaiddegyr (?) - master wizards", Wormtongue explains. Everyone in our crew feels the relieve after the council rules unanimously in our favor. "This does not mean we send troops, this means we talk". The council welcomes us as guests in the city and tells the ambassador (Wormtongue) to leave the city.

The council member looks at me. "Councilmember Karrak wishes to test your strength and invites you to the arena in the lower levels". The audience concludes and we leave the building. Hawki returns with a message from Jack: "understood, keem crew onboard".

As we head towards the fightclub it is apparent how people treat us nicer.

"I'll have a Nelson please"

After the crew (except Strennun) went to the "upper-class" fighting ring and won big, they were invited to a celebratory feast at some other bigwig's house. Our captain - obviously - did not let that opportunity pass to listen around in hopes of getting some gossip about her latest soul-heist. But apart from the usual things, there was not much news to be had. Darfin, on the other hand, found out, that his newly won book is apparently written in archaic elvish, a language that he can actually understand (with some trouble). After making an early exit, the crew stumbles upon their last missing member by pure chance.

"Give me my fucking money, you cheap bastard" I yell, while being slightly pummelled by the swarthy sailor who bet money that he didn't have at the underground fighting-pit. From the corner of my fading vision I see my crew pushing through the onlookers and all of a sudden my opponent is engulfed in a dark haze - Captain Nelson is helping me! I am not really appreciating that, but it's too late anyway, might as well take the chance. I quickly take the cheapskate in a chokehold and wave to the onlookers. Said cheapskate takes his chance and barrels me into Brovara's considerable chest. She throws me back rather unceremoniously and I can use that momentum to finally finish that scuffle once and for all! Turns out the fucker wasn't lying and he actually does not have any money! Three coppers is all I find! Well, I start stripping him and taking everything he has (apart from his drawers, probably for the better of both of us). My crewmates are mocking me, but it is not about the money, it is about the PRINCIPLE OF NOT BETTING MONEY YOU DO NOT HAVE!! I am ready to go down to the indebted sailor's ship, but the Captain says no... guess it was his lucky day.

Instead, we head to the tavern where I believe we can find Dunan. On the way there I get some new clothes, because mine have seen better days. The captain gets some new boots and Darfin is looking for a leather mask for himself. At that moment, Rod mumbles something about helping Jack to prepare the ship for leaving tomorrow and skedaddles off.

In the tavern, we are led to Dunan's table where he sits and laughs with four of his friends. Seems like a fair fight to me. Lynn and Darfin both order a Nelson Whiskey and I get an Ale. After some initial banter, where Dunan boasts about the murder of my precious Nana, I give him the Strennu's special: A chilly testicle-twist and a headbutt to the table. Turns out he does not appreciate that and stabs me with some fancy magical dagger.

An all-out brawl starts in the tavern, much to the shock of the other guests and staff who screamingly run out and leave us more room. Darfin really comes in clutch by doing some magic mumbo-jumbo that lets tentacles sprout out of the floor and holds them down and crushes them slowly. Everything starts out well, but then I get cocky and go in up and close... and promptly get my ass handed to me by a bloodied Dunan and his last friend. I am already at death's door and basically through it with one foot when Darfin comes swaggering in with a glass of the finest Nelson Whiskey in his hand (which he paid for at the unmanned bar)- since when does he drink whiskey?? and starts blasting the last two survivors with blasts of fire. Brovara is also unconscious on the floor, still bloodied from her last fight. Im the last moment, the captain stands up, yells something about thunder and teleports to the bar with a loud BANG. That "Bang" is in fact so loud and thunderous, that Dunan and his last friend get splattered across the opposite wall.

Darfin and Lynn quickly go about reviving their downed crewmates before I start looting everything and everybody in sight. It's the least I can do after they almost looted my life... Meanwhile the captain goes towards the kitchen and cautiously tries to open the door to let the staff know that it's safe now. She is met with every single knife and cleaver that the kitchen has to offer, as she quickly slams the door shut again. After the cooks ran out of knifes, the opens the door again and does let them know that it's safe to come out now. She also hands the interim-owner 50 GP for the trouble and cleanup. And does also complain that she ordered a Nelson Whiskey, which she never received. The interim-owner sends for the whiskey and we leave the tavern - with Dunan's dead body over Brovara's shoulders. Outside the guards are waiting for us, but the captain quickly waves them off by claiming that they attacked us first and that we are also under special protection of the council.

After a brief debate whether it's worth it or not, we decide to go to Dunan's family home to check if he did murder my precious Nana out of his own volition or if he was maybe hired? We try to gain entry by claiming to wanting to bring Dunan's dead body to his parents, but the guards won't let us. During a brief heated discussion between the guards and the captain, I sneak off and turn invisible. When Brovara dumps the body on the floor and the guards pick it up to bring it in, I sneak into the door with them and go to his room to hopefully find some interesting documents. Sadly I only find sticky magazines with naked women on them. I take them with me, because maybe they're worth something, and try to sneak out. Sadly, there are also guards on the inside of the door - what paranoid ass does something like that?? I am still invisible so I try to just open the door, which is immediately slammed shut again. So I go back to the guard's quarters and rattle with Dunan's chain mail I took off him and chuck that in a corner. One of the guards comes to check it out. The last guard I distract by throwing Dunan's longsword in some bushes. Sad, these things probably would have fetched a pretty penny at the market! Anyway, I meet up with the rest of the crew at the agreed upon tavern and have a well-deserved night's sleep.

The next morning, we head to the market and I get rid of half of my collected arsenal of weapons I don't need anymore before heading off to the ship. Darfin is weirdly insistent that we burn down the warehouse that my dad 'ordered' me to, but none of us really wants that, so in the end we do go off to the ship to leave Quarate behind us and sail towards the Orc Diarchy.

Turtle slavers

Do not tickle a swimming Mage's testicles!

After a not very comfortable - and not very long - night in my room, I was now standing on deck with all my fellow officers, while the Captain was holding trial over the captured slavers. They have to be punished for sure, but the Captain is not certain how to do it, so she tries to see what the crew wants. The mood is very changeable but in the end, it seems that the most popular choice is to have them fight to the death and the last man standing goes free.

The three men are encircled by the crew and someone throws in one axe (it was probably Nori, let's be honest here). Of course, everybody runs towards the axe but the Captain gets there first. But instead of killing them, he slits his own throat?!?! The remaining two fight for the axe, after one of them tries to steal a sword from a bystander and loses the hand. The other guy still has two hands and therefore wins the fight for the axe and kills his fellow slaver. While yelling about his Victory, the cursed ship works its magic and the second slaver comes back to life, killing the other guy twice, making him stay dead. This means the still standing slaver won the fight, even though he's technically dead. Funny how that works... Anyway, the Captain basically throws him overboard to maybe walk on land or I don't know. I currently have more pressing issues, my trial is coming up.

I plead guilty to insob... insuob... ins... disobeying orders because there was no point in pleading not guilty. The captain is somewhat lenient and made me scrub the deck and help Rajesh in the kitchen for a month. Also I am demoted to normal sailor for this time as well. Considering I could have been sentenced to death or sent ashore wherever we land, that could have ended worse.

After three days at sea (I think I left the kitchen about four times in this time, and two times of that was to scrub the deck), the new lookout yelled something about a ship. Darfin is fetched from his chamber and sends out his hawk to scout it out. They almost shoot it down, but it appears to be an elven military ship. Captain smells good loot, so I am sent to hack holes in the ship from the bottom. Finally I get to do some swimming again! Nori kindly gives me one of his axes and I take off. While I'm underway to the ship, I see one of their people swim towards us. I am way below water, so he does not see me, and I stupidly cast a spell on him. He still doesn't see me, but now obviously knows that he has been seen. I telepathically inform the captain of what I saw and continue. When I start hacking at the bottom of the ship, some sailors drop in and try to stop me. I throw some of my force-rays on them, but they are not very impressed. In the end, I have to dive deep down out of their view and turn invisible before shooting up again and surrounding myself in a sphere of darkness, so they cannot see me. It still takes absolute ages to hack four holes into the ship because these bastards keep trying to shoot me, so I have to evade all the time. I manage after a while tho, and swim back. When I come back to good ole Bessi I hear two big explosions....

While Strennun is hacking away at the boat, Darfin casts Water Breathing on himself, Rof, the Captain, Nori and six other people and they go to confront the mage. The mage dispels Darfin's Water Breathing but luckily the others are not affected. He does the same to Nori and Lynn. After an underwater fight, Lynn kills the mage with some magic and Nori shoots up from underneath and disembowels his dead body. Everybody heads back to the ship when more sailors are seen following Strennun back to the Devil's Fall. As soon as Strennun is inside, Lynn casts two big Lightning Bolts in the midst of the swimming sailors under water - these are the two explosions Strennun hears. Two of the sailors survive and enter the ship after Strennun.

As soon as I turn around, there are two sailors attacking me. I manage to fight one off and kill him. while screaming bloody murder. Darfin and Rof come to help me. After I kill the first one, Rof just grabs the remaining one and jumps out of the ship! That would be very bad, but I am currently kinda busy not dying, because the guy I killed obviously gets up again. Darfin tries to hold him off a bit, but I fall unconscious anyway.

When Strennun falls unconscious, Nori runs down and kills the second sailor, again, making him fully dead. Beforehand, he shoves a Healing Potion down Strennun's gullet before killing the second guy with Darfin.

Meanwhile, Rof clubs his guy to death with his shield while floating underwater. Then he swims up to the surface and threads water until the Devil's fall can circle back.

After I get so rudely woken up by having a glass bottle shoved down my throat, I get up and stumble out of the room to maybe find some more healing potions. I find my way to the kitchen, but there's only curry leaves, so I stumble on deck. The Captain tells me and Darfin to go take a nap so we don't die. Meanwhile she keeps the other ship engaged with some fireballs and other magical hijinks. We'll see how that continues, but first I really do need that nap....

Thinking about Fighting Gods

After consulting with the crew the captain finally decided to give up on trying to capture the elven battleship. As we leave the crew starts singing a shanty, answered by more sophisticated elvish songs, but our crew sings louder. I for one feel proud of Kylin, as I thought she would never be able to know her limits and give up on a project.

After travelling for some days, I finally finish deciphering the ancient spell book that I got by betting on our crew. There seem to be some useful spells in the spell book, but not many. And certainly not any spells that I haven't seen or heard of before. As soon as I finish the last quill stroke, I hear a knock on the door. It's Rajesh, whom I happily show my findings. He doesn't seem particularly impressed and tells me about some fish that the others are trying to catch. He asks if it would be better to kill them outside of the ship. "Undead fish would be kind of funny" I think to myself as I tell him that it would be a good idea to kill them outside. By the joy in his voice, they seem to be catching some very big fish. Seems like we will be eating fish for the next few weeks… I spend the rest of my morning copying some of the spells into my own spellbook.

In the meantime, the crew catches three big ass tuna, weighting approximately 1.8 tons.

Feeling young again after having learned some new spells I decide to try out my newly acquired invisibility spell. I sneak out of my room and onto the deck. I find Kylin on the upper deck. I sneak up behind her and scare the shit out of her with a loud scream. She pulls out her new dagger and has a stab at the air behind her. "Why haven't I gotten this spell much sooner" I think to myself and sneak away, giggling to myself.

With favourable weather on our side, we continue our journey towards the east. I make great progress translating the book about the cataclysm I got from Flavia. I gather the information that there used to be unlimited magic before the cataclysm, which could be accessed using lifeforce. Probably it's the same as Wormtongue used when people around him died when he cast spells. "Could it still be possible to use such forbidden forms of magic? " I think to myself, "Maybe I should share this information with other trusted magic users onboard?"

During one of the nights Kylin has a weird vision, in which she gets the impression that the Dragon Turtle is trying to get revenge on her for interfering with its will.

The next morning I leave my office to share my findings with Kylin. Leaving the hull I see that we made great progress, and finally arrived at the location described to me by Flavia. The beach is made of bright sand, which stretches miles into the land. The closer we get the more it becomes clear that this is not only the beach, but also the land around the tower, fully devoid of life. This strikes me as odd, as it seems to match exactly what I just read about forbidden magic.

On deck I find Kylin and ask her to speak with her privately. In her captains' quarters she offers me a glass of the horrid whiskey she usually drinks. "This is what pirates do, and it seems to be an acquired taste it seems" I think and accept. I tell her about my findings, and she agrees that the officers should know about it as well. We decide that it would be smart when I first finish translating my book, while Roftag and Brovara look for a good landing from where the tower can be reached the fastest. Then we would approach the tower and try to spy into it from a distance.

While the others leave to execute their part of the plan Kylin asks me to stay behind. She tells me about her vision and thoughts about the dragon turtle. "What does this have to do with me, I have ancient words to translate!" I think while I offer her my advice: Maybe we should try not to piss off the dragon turtle further on. She doesn't seem to understand that ancient gods are not to be fucked with, but with many words I can convince her.

We head towards a town on the shore, which seems to be a ghost town. Here we set anker out in the waters, just outside the "death zone". I try to finish the translation of my book.

Meanwhile Roftag is trying to find out the mystery of fish guts appearing all over the deck. Strennun tells him that he keeps finding them on deck and brings them to Rajesh. Rajesh tells him that Strennun keeps bringing them to him, despite being told to throw them overboard. Strennun tells him that Rajesh told him to throw them overboard, but he still brings them to Rajesh. Confused Roftag waits on deck, observing everything and everyone. After some hours of waiting, he sees Nori walking on deck, sneakily throwing fish guts onto the floor. "Come here Strennun, you forgot a spot" he shouts. Roftag seems happy with this conclusion.

Having two more days to waste Kylin asks Rajesh to catch her a rat. She tries casting some spells, using the rats lifeforce as power source. She does not seem to succeed but instead grows another strain of white hair. During the night she wakes up in cold sweat and get a visit from the ghost of Falaria. She tells Kylin that she died during the battle against the false dragon turtle. Someone told her that Kylin shouldn't be here. Kylin is scared and confused by this message but tells Falaria that she is welcome to stay on the ship. Falaria leaves the captains quarters and causes a big commotion of scared sailors, who think that this must be a banshee. People are being woken up and rush on deck. Kylin steps outside and clears the confusion by introducing the ghost of Falaria.

Almost finished with the last page I suddenly hear a commotion outside my study. "Three in the morning is quite early for fooleries to take place" I think, but I have more pressing matters at hand. Someone storms into my room, "Professor, we need your help with a ghost" they say. "A ghost? I have more important matters at hand than a ghost" I tell them, "only interrupt me when there are at least three ghosts". Only some minutes later I get a visit from Kylin, who tells me that she doesn't feel good about this tower, and that maybe we shouldn't try to enter it. We agree that the rest of the book might give some more insight into what's expecting us, to make a well-informed decision.

The next morning Brovara wakes up with a sleeping ghost in her room, and Roftag makes Strennun clean the deck even harder.

I have finally translated the whole book. It tells the tale of a group of people, called "the society", who was able to use the forbidden magic. They had discussions about limiting magic which lasted for decades. Some individuals tried to test the limits of their limitless magic, and in the process the "northern bridge" was destroyed. Whatever that means. Many people who were not able to use this magic, derogatorily called lowborn, were against the society and their use of limitless magic. They started hunting the members of the society.

Six lowborn adventurers succeeded and killed them off one by one. The got stronger and stronger, and their might went to their heads. There was a battle, where everyone (including the old gods) fought them, and they were banished (except for one). Some lowborn worshipped them for their deeds, which in turn made them even stronger. Then there was another fight in the planes of Marymar, in which the bay of Marymar was created.

This is where the book end. It seems to have been written by someone of the society. Therefore, we can assume that this last fight is somewhat related to the cataclysm, where the society was disbanded. The six adventurers probably are the new gods, which are well known around the continent. The ancient gods were probably members of the society or somehow connected to it.

"It's not unreasonable to assume that the new gods are still able to use the forbidden magic and prohibit us from using it by limiting our knowledge about it. Maybe Kylin wasn't that wrong about picking fights with gods."

Old Friends, New Frontiers and Screw the Orcs

It was another boooring day on the ship. Strennun was cleaning the deck with his mage hand spell, me playing fetch with Helmut and Rof sitting at the bow of the ship. Kylin and Darfin probably minding their business in their offices. Little did we know, the lazy day was about to get exciting.

As we continued, Strennun caught a glimpse of a ship following us. He also spotted that the unexpected company was flying familiar colours - the Nelson's cask. Everyone started shuffling around preparing for the imminent arrival of the ship. Everyone except for Roftag, who - after a closer analysis - turned out to be Roftag's wolf pelt with the owner missing.

The ship approached us and we welcomed Turlain - Kylin' father's good old friend. He greeted us with some Nelson's whisky and steadily entered our ship crossing the plank - his long white hair falling over his shoulders. We introduced ourselves, set up a table and let the Captains discuss their matters.

He was visibly annoyed at Kylin using the Nelson family name despite her - in his words - behaving like a buccaneer. A bold claim, given the Devilsfalls crew's commitment to fighting pirates ever since I joined. He recommended not landing in the Orcish Diarchy directly but sailing to a nearby mountain fortress and contacting Thanin - a gnome merchant who could help us out.

We discussed the logistics of navigating the Diarchy at length and began wrapping up the meeting. We also explained our plans and goals, raising some eyebrows. Do you think it wise to dance with the devil who kissed death himself? - he asked as he left.

The barren tundra of the Nomansland slowly disappeared on the horizon and gave way to forests, flatlands and faraway mountains of the Orc's domain. We sailed along the coast until we approached a fishing village. Strennun swam to make contact, which, unsurprisingly, resulted in all kinds of confusion and misunderstanding. He did however learn that the slaves belonged to Gor'Kank - a minor warlord ruling these parts.

After his return, I stepped in to explain the savage ways of the orcs. Their hideous war culture, raids, slavery. Their hatred and beastly recklessness causing them to destroy, burn and raze to the ground any human settlements they encountered. How prowess in arms and brutality elevated the current warlords - Dur'Kan and Tar'Nok - to their positions.

Having reached the docks of the fortress, we were subjected to a cold welcome. A certain Thai-Rain greeted us and immediately started questioning our presence and honesty. Thankfully, the tense moment was diffused by the Captain. We left Danaan, Nori and several more crewmembers on the ship and set out to search for Thanin.

The gnome turned out to be a gnomess! We also got invited to a banquet and seated at an honourary table. We learned that the fortress has been coping with an increasing number of orcish foraging parties and the garrison is slowly wearing thin. They even started forcing the ships arriving at the port to bolster the local defence with volunteers from the crews.

Our dining abruptly came to an end as we were informed about another foiled orcish attack. This time, the defenders managed to catch a prisoner! We rushed out to assess the situation only to find Nori, who for some reason decided to leave on an orc hunt during our absence, guarding an orc scout. The scout - heavily beaten up and barely sitting up on his own - did not recognize my name or yield any useful information. To end his worthless life, Kylin stabbed him with a dagger. (Wasn't it one of the rumoured cursed daggers she owned? Guess I'll never know).

We went to sleep afterwards. Much remains to be done and I cannot wait to face the orcs in a skirmish again.

Explosive Revelations

To head to Thinin we organize a guide to lead us up the mountain to the fort. Our guide is Delin, a slender elven women clad in a black cloak. She seems kinda pissed with us and leads us through Mountain past a stunning Waterfall. From there we can even spy some Warbands in the plains below.

After a climb next to the Waterfall we arrive at a massive lake. The lake has an unseemingly strong current as Strennun soon discovers, norrowly avoiding falling down the waterfall. Past the beatifully lake we arrive a huge staircase, where we pass the Dwarves heading to work. At the top we realize there was actually and elevator to the fort that we missed.

At the castle we are lead to Thinin's quarters. He is a small male grey gnome. We chat a little about the nearby politics of orcs and come to the conlusion that if we support Durkan we can destabalize the orcs which gives the dwarves time to help us out. After a scheming session Thinin leads us to his experiments to show us a cilindrical device pointed at a mountain hundreds of meters away. With some assistance the device is loaded and fires with an ear shattering bang at the mountain takeing a chunk of rock with it. I need this on my ship! Like maybe smaller cause not sure how well it would handle the weight. While chatting about logistics and slowly realizing that having my own boom box is not possible, Thanin mentions black powder. Didnt Rigalis call his powder that too?

Anyway I decide to mention Rigalis and that seems to stir something up. Apparently Thanin also knows Rigalis..... from books 1300 years ago. But from description it sounds like the same one. Thanin hands us the old diaries and we flick through and find a map that leads to something that the Rigalis from 1300 years ago hid during the Calamity. Through soem crossreferences with maps and what we knew of the continent back then we pinpoint the location near Marymar. Now we know our next destination after dealing with the orcs.

So I head back down while Brovara and Strennun goofed around in the fort for a few days. As soon as they arrive back we plot to take the initiative and hit a few orc camps near by. With a small crew and 2 day treck we locate one of their camps... but it was an ambush. The orcs run away while attacking us from the shadows killing some. Some crew also fall for the traps set up. Meanwhile Strennun, Borvara and I do our best to hunt down the orcs. For fear I also use a couple of fireballs to torch down the forest and incinerating a couple of orcs in the process. Saddly despite them fleeing this was clearly a loss, and we head back while the forest fire rages on.

Burning the camp

The crew approaches the gate, Rof joins the crew chasing a wolf like creature. The crew discusses how to discern orc leaders - tusks, skulls, etc. Tyrane disrespects the captain which prompts a hold person and threatening words. Tyrane tells us to find another port. Strennung scouts port.

Brovara and Rof gather the crew. Strennungs Patreon is pissed. The ships leaves the port. There are several sightings of Rof's cape on deck. The crew decides to raid the next orc camp at nightfall. At nightfall Strennun follows a slave to find a camp. The fighters of the crew assemble and prepare for the storm. Strennun turns invisible and enters the camp, killing several guards. Hearing fighting sounds, Brovara the captain and Rof also enter the fray killing several orcs and burning tents. It quickly becomes very clear that the orc warriors have left the camp and only the women, children and elderly are still here.

Leaving the embers

Brovara is collecting orc ears. We camp at the hill. The warriors went south. We take watch shifts. The captain wakes up to rabbit carcasses and cape. The captain adopts a slave without a name. Raschesh gets help by 'slaves' in his kitchen, which upsets him. Strennun walks through the camps remains. Captain orders to burn the corpses and we bake a big fire. Orc survivors leave the camp and we follow after them. The captain approaches the survivors and demands to challenge Thur'kan - Brovara helps intimidating the orcs. One of the orcs walks towards the captain, cuts off his ear and tosses it at Brovara. Strennun saw the orc approach the captain with a knife and casts a spell, immediately killing the orc. "We need both ears" - Brovara An older orc lady steps forward and tells the captain to go south to the great tree, then east hill and follow the stream, upon that hill you will find his fire. The captain and the elder orc meet later and sit down with a fire between them. What do you want? peace … for myself. There will be a decision that breaks you, you will find peace, your friend will make sure of it. Meet him at the oak, then he cannot refuse. The ork lady leaves to fetch Thur'kan.

After the ritual the captains tells Rof the plan. A ghostly lady hugs the captain, Rof tries to pull the captain out. Ghost disappears. The captain tells Rof about the wolf. Strennun, who was following the tracks of the ork lady suddenly loses track as if she disappeared. Raschesch is mad about the salves taking his job.

Meeting Thur'kan

Before leaving for the big oak-tree, we go over the plan again:

Offer Thur'kan to ally himself with us. We will support his claim to be one half of the Diarchy and in turn he agrees to not bother the dwarves or humans that are bordering his lands.
For him to ally himself with us, we need to challenge him. There are essentially two ways for that to happen
- If from inside the tribe: Challenge the leader to a duel - either to first blood or to the death
- If from outside the tribe: Both leaders choose a champion, who will then fight either to first blood or to the death.

As we are not from Thur'kan's tribe, only the second way works for us. But that's only a last resort. We will first talk to him and see where it gets us.

The next morning, the Captain orders everybody else to pack up camp and get back to the ship to be ready to sail off once we come back. We packed rations for ten days and march off towards the big oak tree. After about half a week, we reach it and I scout ahead. It is located in the middle of a depression and there is a powerful aura of magic surrounding the entire area.

While I am crawling through the high grass to get a closer look, I suddenly get greeted as a 'Servant of the Turtle'. The one greeting me turns out to be Ga'alak, the Shaman of Thur'kan. He greets me and tells me to go fetch 'my friends'. I do so, too baffled to say anything else.

When returning to the place with the Shaman, he is suddenly gone - that is until I basically run into him and he seemingly materializes out of thin air. He then greets the rest of the crew too. The Captain as 'Lady of Death', Rof as 'One who dances with the wolf', and Brovara as 'One who is driven by revenge'. He talks about how 'the crone' has announced their coming and he is to lead us to Thur'kan. Before leaving, he warns us, that The Tree is watching and no blood must be spilled on this holy ground.

Once we reach the tree itself, it is surrounded with six permanent huts, and about 30 orcs that attempt to intimidate us with a loud and rhythmic dance and shouting. The Shaman demands we leave our weapons with him before meeting the Tribe-Leader, who is awaiting in the sixth hut. It is dark in there, safe for a hearth with glowing embers. At the hearth, Thur'kan and another Orc are waiting for us

                    Strennun       Lynn
                   -----------------------
                  |                      |
         Brovara  |                      |  Thur'kan
                  |                      |
                  ------------------------
                   Roftag        Other Orc

Lynn offers Thur'kan the deal, but he insists of breaking bread first, which we do. After that, the Captain offers the deal again. Thur'kan is interested in theory, but wants one of us to complete a challenge for him to show him we're serious about it and that we can even support him in his claim. One of the following challenges needs to be completed:

A gift of a pelt from a great wolf from Rof
A treasure from the depths of the ocean from Strennun
A feast with his Orcs and Brovara that does not end in violence

The captain moves to our backup plan and offers trial by combat, which Thur'kan declines. Rof volunteers to do his challenge.

Outside again, the Shaman tells Rof to grab his weapons and follow him on top of a big boulder, where he gives him a bowl to drink, which appears to be blood (to Rof it tastes like Ale). Rof starts to feel dizzy and is pushed off the boulder by the shaman....

... and wakes up in his old camp in the nine hells with an unnatural urge to hunt. He finds paw-prints in his camp and follows the trail to a magically darkened cave with a huge wolf inside. An epic battle ensues, where Rof kills the wolf in the end after much deliberation. During the fight, he calls upon his crew-members to give him advice

Brovara: Get your revenge, kill the big wolf
Strennun: Look around you and kill the minions of the wolf first
Lynn: Trust in your instincts.

After killing the wolf, Rof drags the huge beast out of the cave and suddenly appears in the Orc-camp again, bloody and wounded.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 = Rebellion in Goblin Town =
+Hearing of some struggles in the east the party heads out. Finding a valley controlled by goblins. A colourful band of rebells is fighting for their liberty against the repressive regiem of the Goblin King.
+The party wants to help and sets out to hunt down some patrols and to pick up supplies. On their way back they decide to take a more dangerous short cut, which lead them into a runied dwarven underground city. The city is inhabited by mutated spiders and a Drider. Fighting their way through the city they then find the Drider in the throne room in which they challange her to battle. Infighting and bickering amongst the party leads to a loss of battle.
+The surving members are handed over to the goblins, which parade them through the valley as openly as possible. Allowing the rebels and their crew to locate and free them. Wanting revenge the party sets out to target the King himself.
+With the king dead his empire curmbles, his generals fight amongst each other allowing a new dwarven kingdom growing out of it's ashes.
 [[Rebellion in Goblin Town|Read all recaps]]
 = An Excursion to the Hells =
+Testing the skills of the party the dwarven pirate captain Greybeard asks them to pick up a package from Durnkuldir. Sneaking into the basement of the Genral Axethain they find the young dwarf Ozmock, Greybeards nephew.
+Yet soon after Ozmock is kidnapped by Deviles on their way back to Greybeard, prompting them to follow them to the Nine Hells. A place full of fighting and constant struggles for power.
+At first the party tries to break into the fortified camp of one of the Warlords, yet the resistance is stronger than they thought. If it wasn't for the support of their friend Captaing Teolgrag they would not have been able to return from the hells with the young Ozmock.
 [[An Excursion to the Hells|Read all recaps]]
-== Heading for New Shores ==
+= The Breaking of the Council =
+Being a member of the Council since their first visit to Might Town the party tried to build up releations with some of the captains, mainly with Captain Teolgrag and Capatain Greybeard. Which is achieved by helping out with some tiresome tasks and other favours.
+On a return trip to Might Town they find the city in turmoil, knowing their captain is in the city hall they charge in and find Ondas' and Hogans men currently trying to take over the city. In the mean time the Council is informed about a new opportunity, which results in the breaking of the Council.
+Fighting to liberate the city the party makes a new friend Captain Tavia.
+[[A Broken Council|Read all recaps]]
+= Current Chapter =
+== Strennun goes Swimming ==
+So we're still on the way to this Elven island somewhere down south-south-east. Can't see shit tho because there's thick fog all around. Not even I can see anything and usually I don't have any problem seeing through all kinds of stuff. Weird...
+Anyway, i scout out the area underwater, but can't see shit either. When I get back, somebody yells something about a whirlpool and everybody loses their minds. The ship is on the verge of falling in and the Captain doesn't seem to know if she should steer in or out of the thing. I, for myself, know what I'll be doing, I'm gonna jump in and see what's on the other side. I mean, what's the worst that can happen right??
+----
+Strennun yeets himself into the building whirlpool, just as Kylin manages to get a hold of the ship and slowly but surely steer it out of the pool. She does so by jamming her sword into a gap of the steering wheel and with some help from another crew-member and Square.
+Meanwhile, Rof saw Strennun jump overboard, but thought that this act of sheer stupidity was not done voluntarily (Because who in their right minds would even THINK of doing such a thing?? What he failed to consider is that Strennun is not even remotely close to being in his right mind...) and made it his mission to go save him. He rappelled himself down the side of the ship into the whirlpool - where Strennun more less happily goes merry-round. He manages to catch him, but gets socked in the face by Strennun and lets him be before getting pulled up to the ship again by Square.
+----
+So I get pulled down and over and down and over and down and over and... you get the picture. At some point I get spit out somewhere underwater?
+[[File:Arath Underwater-Dome.jpg|frameless|800px|Rough Sketch Strennun's Underwater Dome]]
+It's pitch-black but I can still see some stuff and can also breathe underwater, so I go and see what's up and also where's up. I swim and swim and swim... and get to the sea-floor. I turn around and swim and swim and swim... and get to some weird structure? Metal? I think? I go along it and get to some pillars that go all the way down to the sea-floor and frame a passage. I continue until I get out of the passage and am in open water.
+----
-''How nice Darfin must have it right now, sitting comfortably and quiet in the library. I imagine him drinking some tea, probably with that brackish goblin water. ''
+Meanwhile, Strennun's absence has been noticed on the Devil's Fall and Square is up and ready to replace him with a (more less) trained dolphin - The idea is not met with a lot of enthusiasm. Kylin excuses herself to the Captain's Quarter and lights a candle for Strennun.
-- Oratos
-Darfin learns about how the Stoneaxes clan ruled over this valley, the gold they found and the great cataclysm that happened 1000 years ago. Unlike the other Dwarven Kingdoms the Stoneaxes did not participate in the republic and held their isolation policies until the fall of the kingdom 200 years ago, when it was overwhelmed by the force of the goblins and the destructive power of a dragon.
+----
-Heavily breathing Strennun, Miss Nelson and I return to the cave where we scheduled to meet up with the rebels. After returning to the large room, we find some of the rebels fighting the devils who have now defeated the hobgoblins. After things turn sour for the rebels, Miss Nelson and Strennun help the remaining slaves with cover fire to escape the cave. Not many make it, but as a last resort Miss Nelson collapses the cave with a loud thunder.
+So I'm in the water, I don't know where, I don't know why and I don't really know how. I reach out to the dragon-turtle but get ignored for some reason. Maybe I offended it somehow?? But wait! There's a faint light in the distance! I swim towards it and when I reach it, a huge mouth opens with teeth as big as my forearm! I get the fuck out of there and swim up and up and up and up.... for more than an hour. Gotta dodge some big sharks on the way up but I make it. It's open water and I have no idea where I am. Probably not too far off where I jumped into that whirlpool. So if my kalkulatins are correct, this Elven island should be somewhere South-South-East. Gotta reach it at some point I suppose, and I'm faster than the ship anyway, so let's go. I reach out to the dragon-turtle again, but only silence. Welp, swimming in silence it is then.
-At the basecamp Darfin finds Rigalis flying while his two brutes hold the rope that secures him to the ground.
-We meet up with Darfin to take the shorter route through the mountain, where we find kobolds carrying the remains of what Darfin describes as the remains of the spider queen. After trading the Kobolds some of our rations for a part of the spider queen we continue our way through the mountain. We take a short rest while Darfin inspects the spider queen’s limb. Sitting atop his chest Darfin makes several observations: There was a magical liquid inside the limb that seems to be responsible for the transformation forced by transmutation magic, but the magic was vanishing quickly.
+----
-Meanwhile Strennun has a mythical experience in which he is submerged, following a twinkle at the bottom of the sea. The twinkle is coming from a glass panel that protects a grave from the water, a dwarven tombstone that has weird crystallizations around it.
+On the Devli's Fall, Darfin adds the newly 'discovered' whirlpool to the map while Square is trying to teach Ballast how to swim. This is accomplished by rappelling her down the side of the ship (that's moving at 50 knots at the time) and waterboarding her until she starts paddling, before pulling her up shortly before she drowns.
-After resting we are informed that the kobolds want to claim the dragon’s gold because we found it in their mountain. Miss Nelson challenges the leader of the Kobolds to a duel and the Kobolds accept. After missing the first punch I try to demoralize the Kobold’s leader but weave more magic than expected into my insult and instantly knock out the Kobold. The Kobolds call me out for foul game and start tossing stones at me. It was not my smooth tongue getting me out of this situation but Miss Nelsons pragmatic thinking. A lighting-ball later we run out of the cave. The Kobolds are shadowing us but we arrive at the [[Devilsfall]] without further incidents.
+To let off some steam, Ballast goes off to slap Rof, who's had enough and escalates this issue to the Captain. A stern discussion is had and Ballast is sent off to scrub the deck with Rof and will not be allowed to slap any more people. Furthermore, she will be spending half-days with other members of the crew to learn useful skills:
-Jack welcomes us. There was a mutiny because of food shortages and the halflings called Baldar lost his hand for it. Jack was also able to make major reconstructions to the ship's interior. The captains quarters now have a wooden vitrine filled with booze and even a distillery, Strennuns room now has a pool and an exit through the ships wall, Darfins room has several shelves, a dissecting table and his mysterious chest. And mine has a desk and a whetstone.
+* Rashesh:           Cooking
-After setting sail, I commission wooden trainings weapons from Jack and announce a tournament for the hole that Wiscas left. We also learn from Darfins bird that Strennuns vision was real and the dwarven grave really has crystallized.
+* Darfin:            Reading / Writing / Speaking
+* Jack:              Carpenting / Handiwork
+* Brovara:           Religion / Morality
+* Rof:               Humility / Survival
+* Kylin:             Leadership
+* Kurwash:           Music and Arts
-The tournament proceeds and we have several contenders:
+While Kylin and Square are having this discussion, Rof is under deck and gets jumped by crew-members that are planning a mutiny, because he doesn't want to be part of this mutiny. A tussle ensues and Kylin, Darfin and Square are on scene. The mutineers attempt to frame Rof of starting the mutiny and the Captain is inclined to believe them. The leadership retreats to the Captain's quarters and Square manages to persuade her that this mutiny couldn't have been started by Rof because why would he? He promptly gets promoted to First Mate (Square's role so far) and Square gets delegated to 'Chief Slappening Officer', meaning she'll be responsible for training and security of the crew.
-* A tiny fat gnome with patchy hair wearing a sailor suit.
-* A hairy dwarf wearing shorts, a shield and having half of this beard missing.
-* A red dragonborn showing off a goatee wearing a chest belt.
-* A human with curly hair, moustache, well dressed and "French".
-The Dragonborn wins and we have our new combat officer: [[Ninmar]].
-The next morning, we reach the river triangle and fog makes it hard to navigate. A female voice ensnares anyone hearing it, and people start jumping the ship. After seeing miss Nelson jump into the water, Strennun calls me and Darfin. We resist the call and Strennun saves the people while I steer the ship. Darfin flies towards the voice and returns after silencing it for good.
+The crew-members who instigated the mutiny are being thrown onto the skiff with rations for three days (not enough to reach the shore) and sent out to sea. One of the mutineers - Rushk'all - hides and grovels in front of the captain and gets sent to the brig instead, where he will be overturned to the authorities in the next port.
-Following the river, we see corpses walking on the east coast. Shortly after we arrive in [[Durnkuldir]].
+Meanwhile, Darfin finally gets to talk with Sulla. He can convince them to agree to a talk with the rest of the leadership - but Sulla only agrees under the condition that they're tied together, so Sulla can't be thrown overboard. They also know that Death itself sent Kylin that strange vision of the Gods fighting against other Gods that she had some nights ago.
-== A new friend?? ==
+== Strennun Almost Drowns ==
-''Overnight, Darfin asks [[Jack the headless Pirate|Jack]] to throw his ominous closed crate overboard he has kept a secret from the whole crew.''
-After the thing with the ugly mermaids and the other creepy undeds we made our way up the river Bland. I went out for a morning swim and saw that they are building a big bridge over the river. That river is at least three shiplengs wide and it looks like dey want to make it at least one shiphight high!
+Today is [[Roftag Deerrunner|Roftag's]] first day as an officer. Angrily he wakes up Steve and starts scrubbing the deck with him as a habit. I tell someone to fetch me all the officers to have a chat with Sulla in my room. As promised, I tie them in chair form to my buttocks, sitting on them for further safety. Sulla knows that they have to convince the crew with insider knowledge that only an elder god might know.
-Captain Nelson blows her horn to make the ship go faster and the dwarven city blows their horn to say that dey hear us.
-Shortly after de bridge, two smaller boats are coming abord our ship. Dey say deyre of clan Oak-Flayer and ask if deres anything on the ship that's not supposed to get into the city. I dunno if ded people who are not ded fall under dat category, so I just say nothing. After de dwarves leave, we go to the port of de dwarven city wit the complicated name ([[Durnkuldir]]) and de portmaster tries to scam money out of us like dey always do. I thought that was only with pirates but apparently dats also wit normal ships. Oratos tries to reason wit the portmaster but in the end he still pays 80 GP for four days. That means.... a lot of gold per day!
-The city of [[Durnkuldir]] consists of three rings:
+As soon as everyone is here [[Sulla]] introduces themselves as the god of fighting. They also talk about [[Mortius]], the god of death and one of the old ones, who gave the vision to [[Kylin Nelson|Kylin]]. She asks about the new gods, and Sulla explains that they were commoners who got more and more powerful, until they challenged the old gods themselves. After they won, they limited the powers of the peasants, which coincidentally was the same thing the old gods wanted to do. Some of the new gods are the [[Ghostly Lady]], who has a brother with a gun, and [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Milil Milil], a narcissist who cannot take criticism and mocks people to death. The new gods are on Sullas list of enemies.
-* '''Outermost ring:''' Markets and trading
-* '''Middle ring:''' Industry and manufacturing
-* '''Innermost ring:''' Residential area of the nobles
-(Additionally, there's the port and the slums for the non-nobility 'residential area')
+Lyn asks Sulla about the [[Dragon Turtle]]. It seems to predate Sulla and is also more powerful. Lyn then asks if the Dragon Turtle is on Sullas list. Sulla tried to hunt it in the past, but never succeeded. Inspired by this Lyn asks what might happen if you kill a god. Sulla tells us that if you are able to kill a god, you might as well become one yourself.
-In dese four days we stay here, Kylin tells Jack to stock up de ship and deyre also trying to get more people to join the crew. But also, we need to get a package for som important dwarf we met in the city under de mountain ([[Council of the Seven Captains|Greybeard]]).
+[[Square]] then tells Sulla that she wants to be thought by Sulla and offers them the head of a new god. They tell her that she has to kill to get stronger anyways. Square then agrees and says that she will inform Sulla when she killed people. It was a very strange but fitting conversation all the way.
-Firstly, we go to the 'Lusty Maiden' to get a drink and mebbe find some men to join de crew. There we find somebody we didn't expect: The pale elf who wanted us to steal de red sunstone! ([Belari Tolval|Belari]]). He sits in a table with a dwarf who's about as wide as he or she?? is tall! Apparently, it's a woman and she introduces herself as [[Kella|Kella the Square]].
+Sulla then explains that they need crystals filled with souls of those who fell in battle to be able to break the curse that is upon them. This can only be done in a temple that is devoted to Sulla like a big arena, and there seems to be one of those on [[Conder Isle]].
-Turns out Belari and Kella are up to join de crew, but Oratos wants to fight Kella to see how good she can fight. Dat should be fun! I find some people to bet because deres no way dis dwarf can beat our Oratos! ...
-Okey so dis dwarf beat the shit out of Oratos and I lost 15 silver coins! She didn't even need de wooden sord Oratos gave to her! just straight up slapped the hell out of him!
+[[Brovara]] chimes in by asking why we should help Sulla. They tell us that the can help us and give us power. "This seems kind of contradictory", I think to myself, "they tried to limit commoners powers back in the day, why should they just give it away?" It seems like this needs to be talked about further with the crew only.
-Kylin didn't even get to see dis fight because she was outside wit the barmaid who sliped him a note when we were ordering out drinks. De note was in dwarven so I had to read it to her and it said 'are you the one Greybeard sent? meet me outside in 15min'. Outside she gives him anoter note - of course in dwarven again! - wit an address and to go there at 8pm. I cannot really read the address because reading is not my strongest thing - but swimming is!. Luckily Kella wants to join de crew so she can read the note and tell Kylin the address.
+After all the questions are asked and all the answers are given Square asks if Sulla wants to stay in her room. Sulla is in favour of this idea, because there is more blood in her room. I'm okay with this, as long as people trust Sulla and get along with them.
-It was only lunchtime then, so we went shopping. Darfin tries to get a good robe but it's too expensive for him, so he gets the second-best one that's only about half the price. I get helth potions and captain Nelson too. Kella gets a hammer and Oratos gets some nice shortswords because he somehow doesn't want to use his rely big sword he always carries around with him.
+The first lesson with Ballast goes smoothly, but not as fast as I hope to. To motivate her I tell her about magic, and how she can learn it too, but only if she starts speaking soon. To prove my point further I firebomb the table that’s standing in my room. Ballast does not seem motivated, but at least she participated in the writing exercises.
-In de evening we go to the address and Kylin knocks, but nobody opens. We read de note again and Kella sais that you have to knock in a special pattern for them to open. Kylin knocks in that pattern, and someone looks out to look at you and den opens a lot of locks before letting us in.
+''During this lesson Roftag visits the captain, and asks her about the [[Elfo-Dwarven War]] as he didn't hear about anything while in the underworld. She tells him that the last two months it has been stale around Marymar.''
-We get lead into a common room with some chairs and one big chair with a probably important dwarf in it. He tells us something about a lost package from the brother of Greybeard that we should get back. Dude with the package is in the inner circle and we get payd for bringing it back. To get us in more easier, Darfin gets some fancy democrats robe with the [[Democracy of Cahemelle|Democracys]] insignias on em. Probably fake but it might get us in the inner circle so who cares.
+Later that day I meet Square, and she asks me about the lesson. I tell her how it went, but also tell her that for Ballasts psychological development it is of most importance that she is convinced about the advantages of reading an writing as soon as possible, and by everyone around her. Including Square. Reluctantly she agrees.
-Apparently, the guy is called [[Wernan Axethain]] and is some high up in the northern army. Also, there are fifteen guards posted around the house so sneking in could be difficult. But anyway, details are a bit woozi because someone gave me a mug and I thought it was beer and necked it. But it was Whisky and I got wasted instead.
+While having a walk on the upper deck I stumble across Roftag. He asks me if the crow's nest he's building is good enough. I have a look at it, and realize that its only 80cm tall. Nicely I tell him that for taller people it might need to be slightly taller as well.
-Back on the ship, Darfin wants us to tell something about some weird experiment he has done. Apparently if you die while on the ship, you die (big surprise...) but if you die on the ship, you get unded. He tried that with some animals or so and now wants to do the same with persons to see if they com back to life.
+''Meanwhile [[Strennun]] is swimming through the sea, restless and exhausted. On the fifth day he gets picked up by a trader's ship. The captain is a well-dressed woman with a black panther, who looks very similar to Kylin. It turns out that she actually is her sister who thinks that Kylin is dead. Strennun has to parlay his way out of the situation to not get thrown overboard.''
-Kella and I go to the local thieves guild to maybe find someone to take this hard job off us (''Editor's Note:'' Misunderstanding, they were sent out to gather information on the house and Wernan that might make the job easier). We find them in some underground cave and thers a shady half-elf that says he do it for 900GP. Thats a lot of money. We say that we meet at the rugged inn later to discuss details. We go back to the crew and tell the news. Apparently I have not understod that correctly and we only needed to get information. We meet up at the inn and tell the guy we are not interested. Kylin gives me 20GP to give to him 'for his troubles'. Guy wants more and I have to pay him another 20GP from my own money. Asshole.
+Later in the week we cross a trader's boat, which turns out to be steered by Kylin's sister. We dock with them, and they reconnect. Turns out they don't seem to like each other. Kylin's sister mentions that their father left in search of Kylin and went missing ever since. She also shouldn’t be using the name Nelson anymore, as she brought shame to her family. Before they leave they bring us Strennun and a small cask. We're all quite surprised to see Strennun again, but not surprised when we learn that they were thinking about throwing him back in the water.
-''Meanwhile, Darfin lets his familiar case the house. It's a nice house with five stories and surrounded by a garden, which is regularly patrolled by guards. The second and third floor also have balconies, which have their own posted guard. The garden provides a lot of cover due to a multitude of shrubberies in the gardens.''
+After some more days we finally arrive on Conder Isle, my beloved home country. I announce to the port master that I will guarantee for the foreigners, and he lets us dock for 200g. As I'm looking to see my family again after all these years I cannot wait and motivate the captain that we go and rent a coach, to make our way inlands towards [[Alse Edhil]].
-Afterwards, the rest of the group checks out the inner circle themselves. Naturally they get held up at the gate and Oratos tries to defuse the situation by asking for restaurant recommendations and then excusing himself to eat there. In the end, Darfin uses his fake robes to get the guards to let them in under the pretence that the others of the group would really love to take a look at the citadel.
-There's a lot of guards from the city-guard patrolling the entirety of the inner circle and you could get additionally, private security for your house if you think you need it, but it's mostly net needed anyway.
-Darfin talks to some people in a little park and finds out theat the Orcs are currently marching again, so the northern army has moved out to meet them. As our guy is the general of said northern army, he's out as well - as are most of the residents in the inner circle. Either to get to safety pre-emptively or because they're marching with the northern army. [[Mokhed Mindbuckler]], a very eager dwarf and scribe for the nobility of the city, also invites Darfin to a gala-dinner at the citadel at the end of this week.
-''Meanwhile, Oratos is enjoying a nice dinner and looking for a new chef for the ship. Sadly, all the 'good' chefs don't want to work in a ship-kitchen, but he gets a recommendation to look for [[Rashesh]], as he might be interested in the Gig.''
+== Psych Session with a gaslighting faerie ==
-After we meet on the ship again, the others tell of what they saw in the inner circle. We decide to try and get in through the sewers. Belari and I will go and try and find a way. We go into the sewers and almost get lost sometimes but find a way and an exit that exits right next to the house. Then we go back and almost get lost again but Belari uses Breadcrumbs or something to help us keep track. Smart idea.
+The cart starts rolling towards [[Alse Edhil]]. On the road [[Roftag Deerrunner|Roftag]] turns to me and asks what it entails to be the first mate. I reply that firstly he is second in command to me. That he takes over if I am not around or busy. That he reports to me and that he enforces and hands on my orders to the crew. These instructions seemed to have helped him to know what his job is. The first days journey through these dense woods go past smoothly.
-== And who are you? ==
+In the evening we arrive at camp site and [[Darfin]] instructs us to stay within the camp site, due there being fairies, pixies and willowisps around that are out to kidnap travelers. We settle down for the night with [[Strennun]] being still utterly exhausted from his swim. I take over the first watch and see from atop the carriage a bunch of lights in the forest, probably stemming from faeries. Afterwards I hand over the watch to Roftag.
-The second morning in [[Durnkuldir]] we wake up to [[Strennun]] leaving for important business. He did no tell us where he went, nor why and for how long. As we plan on spending the next days in crowded areas around the city I believe it is best to come up with a safe word for occasional confusions with Rakshasas and other impostors. As a group we come up with a question and answer system, pretty clever thing: The first person asks: "How is the dwarf?" and the second person answers with "round". This is a reference to [[Kella]], who is pretty square. On the other note I really hope [[Kylin Nelson|the captain]] and the other crewmembers are right with their judgment to trust them into the inner circle.
+''Roftag diligently takes over his watch. As Kylin had pointed out there are some lights in the forest. Curiosity takes over him and he goes off and explores. He then stumbles upon a lone faerie. Roftag also plants his axe into the ground to help indicate to him where the campsite is. The faerie is very inquisitive, and asks for Roftag to follow it. Roftag declines and asks about their nature and about the tricks they play. This leads to  philosophical discussion on what are good pranks to play, while the faerie tries to gaslight Roftag on where the campsite is. Luckily Roftag is adamant on where he has to go to return and finds himself back at the site to finish his watch.''
-We enjoy our breakfast which our new chef [[Rashesh]] cooked for us with the spiciest spices in the known world. I remind the crew that we talked about bringing dead people on the ship, and some low life humanoid to kill aboard. The still seem to agree with those ideas, so hopefully we can arrange something during the break in.
+The next day we set off on the next leg of our journey. Suddenly Strennun points out that there is the ocean to our left. Embarrassingly I also see this illusion with also the Devils Fall burning. I say embarrassingly because this was and illusion. At the time I did not know and ordered us to head to the beach immediately, which would take us off the safe path through the woods. Despite Roftag not seeing what I saw he begun to try and enforce the order as Strennun and Darfin were not following it. Luckily through some discussion and persuasion we stuck to the path and after a while the convincing illusion disappeared.
-Suddenly we hear a loud commotion on the upper decks. The captain asks [[Ninmar]], the new combat officer, to bring her the loudest two. They talk about monsters in the sewers and if they exist or not. Hopefully there is something magical going on, I will be pretty disappointed if not. By the advice of [[Oratos Orof|Orof]] the captain punishes them by taking them with us on our mission into the mansion of general [[Wernan Axethain]]. I loudly exclaim that I find it to be a bad Idea, but get ignored nonetheless.
+The following day saw us faced with another illusion which was a fork in the road. Through some clever magic from Darfin we managed to finish navigating throuh the forest and arrive in Alse Edhil.
-Sometime later we enter the sewers lead by [[Belari]], who more or less remembers the way he took with Strennun the day before to exit directly into the generals estate. I magically make the noses of the punished guys smell like flowers so I don’t have to hear them complain all the time. Guided by Kylins and my light we make it through the long and twisted channels of the sewers.
+Darfins house is as expected elegant and built into a tree. There we were greeted by Elanor, his very charming wife. Over a cup of tea Darfin inquires how his two children Nessa and Orian are doing. Both are doing well in the Ulentil. I send an eagle to Jack, to tell him that we will be staying an additional week.
-Halfway through we encounter some tentacles in the walls, which attack us straight away. Out of the walls comes a monster made out entirely of biodegradable material. Something like a plant, but not really. Sadly it gets blasted away before I can really have a look at it. The remains however do not seem to be magical or mutated at all, so if this creature was magical at all its magic died with it. I guess we should be on the lookout for similar creatures further into the sewers.
+We then decide to use the rest of the day to go and visit the university where Darfin used to work. The security there were the most uptight elves I have ever encountered, and that's saying something. But as the saying goes: Money rules the world. Once inside we head to the room with the talking furniture in hopes of getting more information on Sulla. There Feylin, a very cozy armchair advised us to head to the library to look for a certain book. Darfin then leads us further through the halls to the library. Here we find out that Darfins nemesis, Aran Silvaris borrowed the book 5 years ago and has not returned it yet. Well I guess we have to pay this nemesis a visit.
-After we gather ourself again we send the scared to death, already punished enough crewmembers back and continue further into the sewers. Finally we arrive at some ropes which Strennun and Belari left behind the day before, to climb up into the estate. We exit through an entrance in the gardens, and do our best to sneak into the estate without being noticed. As I exist as the last one I cannot make out anyone else, they seem to be hiding well enough for not even me noticing them. As a distraction I cast the illusion of a greased pig running around through the gardens.
+== Global Anomalities Detection and Analysis Society ==
-I see the others sneaking towards the door, and decide to do the same. We all get inside, and Kella kills the first guard we meet without hesitation. Orof seems to be disguised as a gardener of the estate. We make our way downstairs into the cellars. The other crewmates kill another three guards with excessive force, and Belari picks open a massive stone door in our way. Behind it is a staircase which we descend quickly as it sounds like more guards are arriving behind us.
+We learned that Darfin's Nemesis, an Elf called Arune Silvaris is still borrowing the book about the old gods. Before we fetch the afforementioned book, Darfin wants to rectify his deceased status. He leads us down strange corridors where some paths seem to lead into the nothingness and other things Darfin calls "pranks by students". I just hear Darfin's voice in my head "do not leave the path". When we arrive in the administration room, Darfin tells the lady that he is in fact alive, but doesn't not intend to stay. He also requests the papers that allow us to enter the academy freely. We all tell her our names: Foreman "Besm", Captain Kylinn Nelson, Kella the square, Roftag Deerrunner. On our way out we pass a small creek where the water flows up instead of down, it creeps me out.
-We arrive in a small chamber full of books, with a dwarf in a wheelchair named [[Ozmock]] in the center. Seems like the package we are taking back with us is another living being. He asks us to take as many of the books as we can with us, which I can totally understand. I try to search the books for the ones which seem to be the most important of them all, as Kylin get Orof which stayed behind to hold the door as long as he can. We leave with Ozmock and some of his books through a secret door, which leads us through a different part of the sewers than we went through just some minutes before. Orof leaves the rake he used to disguise himself with behind, and funnily enough we hear one of the guards stepping on it.
+Arune's House looks very noble, with a fenced in garden. Some of us try to shortcut over the fence and are quickly stopped by forces of nature removing them from the property. The main entrance seems to work way better and after passing a fountain with an enormous gem sitting on it, we get to the door. A servant greets us and we promply invite ourselves in. After serving us some tea in the lounge, Arune makes it clear that he still needs the book and is in his right to keep it. The captains has none of this and casts hold person on him, which he tries to counterspell, which the captain then counterspells, which triggers a magical trap in the room that also casts hold person on the captains.
+Now both unable to move the other party members spread out to search the home. Square takes the rooms on the right where she is slowed down by statues that startet to move. Brovara tries to go downstairs until the stairs turn into a slide that loops around, now she is only trying to get out of there. Darfin takes the path to the left and eventually finds the study, where he goes through piles of books. Square destroys the statues and I can see one of their heads rolling into the room. Brovara manages to get out of the stairs and joins Darfin on the left, adding wood splintering to all the other noise.
-In the outer circle we leave the sewers again, and split up to finish the mission. Orof and I push Ozmock back to the ship, as the rest fetches the punished crewmembers from the other entrance to meet back at the ship. Sadly during the whole mission, we forgot to follow our experiment with the ship, which means we need to find some other humanoids to bring back to the ship to experiment with.
+After waiting for the captain to snap out of it, I start to gag and tie up Arune so he shouldn't be able to use magic when the spell wears off. Just about when I finish, Arune disappears. I don't hear him reappearing anywhere so I try to pick up the Captain to follow the rest of the group, but her being frozen in motion only lets me drag her, being too unwieldy to carry. Brovara finds the book and Darfin confirms it. Knowing that Arune disappeared and is probably not sitting around somewhere we hurry outside. Before leaving the property the captain takes out the bag of holding and steals the large crystal from the fountain. We barely make it out without being followed and Darfin leads us to the Mutation guild.
-== A devilish surprise ==
+Again another tree. Vespera also called Verspa lets us in, an old friend of Darfin. Downstairs we meet more people, a Dwarf called Dorum how is working on a battle machine, reminding us of the one we fought in mighttown. The guild is technically called Global anomalies detection and analysis society, but I will forget that name anyway. Darfin is led to another room where Vespera shows him a leaf that is oozing a moving black substance. "A fight is going on in the forest, and we believe a mutation to have caused it", Vespa explains.
-After bringing back the ekhem... "package" to the ship we gathered on the top deck to discuss the next steps. All of a sudden, a silhouette emerged from the water and jumped onboard. It was [[Strennun]]! Wet and fishy as always. When we were busy with them dwarves, he went (swam?) around taking care of turtle hunters. I wonder where he found them as I have not seen any turtles around. While [[Oratos]] went to prepare some "statements", we went under the deck together with [[Ozmock]] to see our new rooms. [[Khela]] got a very nice room she seemed to like and then we went to my new room where absolutely nothing happened and I was not scared of a monkey.
+A nice older lady brings me a sweet brown milky drink that reminds me of home, peaceful times, familiar mountains. I wonder how much has changed. When we finally get out of here I will ask the captain how I can work harder to be relieved out of service sooner.
-Some time later, [[Darfin]] continued rambling about his experiments and finding low level humanoids to experiment on. While finding low humanoids shouldn't be a problem - what with all the dwarves in the city - we were distracted by a misterious figure that introduced itself as [[Shomal]]. He wished to join our crew so we let him tag along. We went through a round of introductions on our way to a tavern. Since we grew tired of the Lusty Maid, we decided to give another one a try and ended up approaching the Mermaid's Flair. The new tavern however seemed to be in the middle of a brawl as indicated by all the furniture being thrown out of the window, so Captain advised we continue our search. The only person happy with the outcome was Strennun, who intercepted a fine chair and promptly took it with him.
+An angry knock on the door disrupts what we're doing and we all go hide in the cellar.
-During our journey through the port we passed places with names such as the Naughty Nymph, the Captain's Daughter, the Busty Barmaid or the Hole Drillers (must be a mining supplies shop) and ended up in the Rustic Meat - an ordinary-looking port tavern, which, unlike the others, stood up to its name. After a round of ale - or, in Darfin's case, a cup of tea -  Shomal and Khela engaged in a friendly fight that ended up in a decisive win for her. We asked the barmaid about the rumours and the news about the brake-in to the [[Axethane]]'s house were indeed the talk of the town. We convinced the barmaid that the burglars were actually humans and gave her fake descriptions. Before we went back to the ship, Shomal explained that he is chased by a Fiend, which adds another enemy following our crew with malicious intents. At least the what's-left-of-the-drow-guild that swore to find me seem to have lost my trail...
+An angry female voice enters the guild and we are quickly discovered. Elora (Darfin's wife) shows us wanted letters and demands an explanation. Brovara blurts out "Are these papers about our break in?", escalating the situation further. Elora lays out our option: go into the forest and solve the trouble, Bangon first ranger will help us out. She hands Darfin a letter and tells Darin to give the letter to Bangon and don't he dare open it. Darfin also hands Elora a letter that adressed to his daughter.
-Next morning on the ship, yet another new visitor arrived. He wore a purple dress, had a long tail and introduced himself as an acquirer of certain goods - later I was told his name is [[Salarus]]. He also offered Darfin a scroll of waterbreathing demanding an outraging sum of two-and-a-half thousand gold pieces for it! And the Captain agreed! After a rather uneventful day spent on shopping and wandering around the city, we finally set sail.
+Before we leave the guild Kylin takes a quick peek into the captains logbook.
-The journey started off with a storm. Half of the crew fell overboard and the raging sea almost claimed me and Khela! Luckily Strennun rushed to save us. After another foggy day, we noticed a ship ahead of us. Its flag showed the human empire colours and it started slowly changing the course to avoid us. Strennun grabbed an axe and jumped overboard to scout the ship and, after a considerable amount of time, returned without the axe. The ship proceeded to sink and our Captain agreed to shelter its crew - we even got Strennun to go back to the soon-to-be wreck and salvage some barrels. Two more days passed without much happening - although the Captain seemed a bit more weary than usual.
+"Interesting choice, maybe we can explore this more next time" - Tavia
-On the ninth night, just as I was expecting that nothing bad would happen, we were woken up by a huge racket coming from the Captain's room. As it turned out, the devils appeared on the deck and the Captain was stabbed with a dagger in her sleep! I wonder how they made it past the keen eyes of our night watch. Khela was first on the deck and, before the bearded devils knew it, started slapping. As I made it to the deck, I saw the Captain flying high above, casting her spells. Others also kept their distance and hurled magic projectiles at the intruders - with the obvious exception of our slapping monk, who was hard at work in the front line. "Who are you?! What do you want from us?!" the crew members shouted in many languages, some of them I never heard before, yet no answer came. We quickly dispatched the foes but as the last one dropped on the wooden deck, they rose again! It must have been the ship's curse keeping them alive!
+== Of Elves, Hags And Other Ugly Creatures ==
-We started the battle anew, soon seeing how the devils loose their strength. I kept shooting arrows, I saw Strennun and Shomal casting their projectiles. One of the devils was incapacitated by the Captain. "Drown them!" shouted Darfin as he cast the water breathing spell on us. He grabbed the immobilized beast and dragged it underwater. Khela caught the remaining two - by now either dead again or dying - and jumped into the water, holding them tight, shrieking "fish me out!". Strennun jumped after them to drag the beasts to the seabed. As the deck emptied out, I followed the Captain to he room to calm my nerves - she took a bottle of fine whisky and offered me a glass. A moment later, Shalom and Khela joined. Khela needed healing very badly and I was amazed how the Captain simply poured a healing potion into her drink and got her into shape.
+So I was walking around in this nice, quaint forest when I was suddenly yoinked away by an odd lady dressed in all dark colors. She seemed weird. I was then handed off (or rather grabbed) by Darfin's wife, who shoved a package in my hand and shoved me further through a tree. Meanwhile she yelled something about "tell him to reach out next time". Beats me what she meant by that.
-A moment later, the rest of the crewmembers joined us, telling us that the devils are gone for good. We decided to get some rest but I could not get much sleep the entire night. The sun is rising so hopefully we investigate the unexpected visit during the day...
+Anyway, I fall on my ass in the middle of a forest, surrounded by pretty well hidden elves. There's one elf that's not hidden. He looks old and like a ranger. Rof finally reaches out his hand and greets him. He greets back and leads us somewhere - pretty sure it's east (*Narrator: It was not east*). After a bit we get to a camp and Brovara goes to offload Darfin and Square in the medical tent. They're still passed out. No idea why. We're then led into a big tent. Probably the leader's.
-== The ass-kicking from Hell ==
+Apparently these folks are the 27th ranger department - apparently the other 26 are also still around, but not here, as the leader told me in a very impatient voice - and they're here to fight the cursed area. We're supposed to help them. It's spreading and within some weeks it will probably have cursed the whole island. The leader shows us a map where we are and where the cursed area is. There's also a big clearing in there, which is most likely Sulla's Arena where we're supposed to do some occult magic involving killing people.
-Okay listen up losers because shit went down.
+The cursed area spews out humanoid creatures that abduct people from the surrounding villages who are then never seen again. There's also creepy half-spider/half-human creature crawling around. Most likely there's also a hag in the middle that's kinda responsible for it? Maybe not, but she's certainly up to no good, so we ought to kill her.
-As we were cleaning ourselves up after the battle and figuring out what THE HELL just happened, something new had to come up of course. I was lying on the floor of the Captain’s office and holding on to my healing whiskey for dear life as I heard [[Oratos Orof|Oratos]] calling everyone from the lower deck that Ozmock disappeared. Super weird. [[Belari]] and [[Kylin Nelson|Kylin]] went to the lower deck to help him out and I barely crawled behind them (not my proudest moment, I admit). [[Darfin Elehni|Darfin]]’s room, where Ozmock should be, was messy, full of books fallen off shelves. In the middle, there was Ozmock’s empty wheelchair.
+I attempt to reach out to my patron to request help on how to kill a hag. I suddenly find myself at the beach surrounded by ugly creatures. There's also a horrid creature that blasts towards me and screeches in my face. I'm horribly scared, wake up from my trance and bolt it into the woods. Roftag and Kylin follow me and Roftag catches up to me at the edge of the forest. We have a talk about fear and how it also affected one of his mates in the nine hells. He gives me his big shield to feel safer. It doesn't really work but he was nice about it, so I'll keep it around for now and see what happens. Back at the tent I go to the medical tent to ask for help because I also feel very drained. Apparently I'm not the only one but the only solution is to send us off to the capital where there's more decent healers than here. That won't do, so the healer here gives me some chocolate. That's good but doesn't really help. I watch Brovara and Rof put up the tents with some help of Kylinn. After the tents are up, Rof comes over and I offer him some chocolate, but he doesn't want any. He asks me if I want to be anywhere else to which I reply not really because there's not really anywhere else to go. I have my friends here. Maybe back to my family at some point, but not now because I dont feel like leading my father's company. He then asks me how he could pay off his debts faster, to which I don't know any answer and tell him to go talk to the Captain. I also reassure him that he's a good crewmate and full member of the party and pulls his weight. After that he goes off to get some pastry.
-Darfin also showed up, all wet from drowning the devils and covered in seaweed, and he got immediately pissed about the books being messy. He’s supposed to be so smart and all but somehow, he couldn’t explain how Ozmock could have disappeared from his room. Apparently, Steve and Jason (aka The Two Idiots) were responsible for him but turns out they were napping. Like I said – idiots. While going through the mess in Darfin’s room, we found a mysterious scroll in a language that none of us knew or even ever saw. Some books were also missing – the ones that Darfin and Ozmock went through last while doing their research. Belari also noticed weird burnt markings on the walls and the ceiling, forming a huge ring. Darfin didn’t detect any magic left in the room, but at least from the notes scattered around the floor he found out that Ozmock’s research was mostly focused on jumping to other planes.
+----
-All in all, there were more questions than answers, so we summoned [[Salarus]] – maybe he could help us decode the scroll at least. Based on the night’s events, we also decided to reorganize the crew. From now on there will be teams specialized in different tasks: sails, shifts, helping in the kitchen and cleaning. The last one will go to The Two Idiots with hope that they’ll do the least damage there. We also finally noticed that [[Shomal]] and [[Strennun]] were nowhere to be found. Whoops.
-In the morning, Belari came up to the deck and saw our ship looking like a casino full of tieflings playing games and gambling. He woke up Kylin and everyone assembled on deck to meet Salarus. Creepy as he was, he turned out quite helpful. The scroll was an order to kidnap Ozmock, not a ransom note like we suspected. The order came from [[Sinbar]] – an ambitious warlord from the first layer of the Nine Hells. He apparently somehow survived 20 years in the Nine Hells already, so that’s hella impressive (HELLa - get it?). Salarus offered to help us get to Sinbar (that is, to ACTUAL HELL) and, more importantly, back to the ship in one piece. The deal was: we pay 900 GP per person and for that we get a 3-day-long trip to hell. After 3 days exactly, we either show up in the predetermined spot to be taken back to our ship, or we’re on our own. Sounded super dangerous, I was hyped.
+In the evening, Kylinn also talks to Sulla and asks her how to best defeat a hag. Sulla's advice boils down to "She will use lots of Illusions and hags are usually immune to non-magical damage".
-First though, we did some extra research and asked a million questions. Turns out that time in the Nine Hells passes differently than here – having stayed in Nine Hells for 3 days, we’d be back to the ship only 3 hours after we had left. Sinbar had a team of about 60 people. Why he kidnapped Ozmock was unclear – it may have been a trap. In the meantime, we also discovered that Shomal was there all along – he can shapeshift and right now he looked exactly like [[Jack the headless Pirate|Jack]]! Really cool, I gotta admit. If I could shapeshift, I would make myself a little bit more evenly square. Strennun was still missing but we all assumed he was just still in the water - once he gets in, he’s impossible to drag out.
+During the night, Brovara dreams of hordes of orcs coming at her wave after wave, which she then kills with wide strokes of her morning-star (*The hag tried to curse her like she did with Strennun but her mind was too strong*)
-And so, we got ready and formed a plan. We had to choose to either find and attack the transport moving Ozmock to Sinbar’s camp, or to ambush the camp directly. We went with the second option and boy, were we wrong.
+-----
-We arrived in a field of knee-high grass, totally not what I imagined the Nine Hells to be. In the distance we could see 2 massive groups charging at each other to battle, which was awesome. We started walking away from the sun, in the direction of Sinbar’s camp. Getting there took us the rest of the day and when we arrived by the camp, it was night and we started investigating. The camp was build right next to a huge stone wall. The other 3 sides of the camp were protected by a palisade. We decided to burn out a hole in the palisade, right by the stone wall and sneak through it. Inside, there was a row of small buildings going all around the camp by the palisade. In the middle of the camp we saw 3 huge Blue Dudes that were keeping watch. On the stone wall there was an opening into a cave of some sort.
+Next day we head out - without Darfin or Square as they're still passed out. After about half a day we hear a weird buzzing in the distance, which turn out to be fairies in a full-on war. After probably committing some war-crimes by blindly firing spells into the fray, we decide to just mow through them because we can't leave the path. Towards the evening, we come to the cursed part of the forest, which is shown by slumped branches and black gooey leaves everywhere.
-Darfin and Shomal became invisible and started investigating the houses but didn’t find Ozmock in any of them. Just some of Sinbar’s people, unaware of our presence. At first, we tried to be all sneaky about this ambush and carefully headed along the stone wall towards the cave opening. Unfortunately, one of the Blue Dudes noticed us, so I obviously started slappin’ like there's no tomorrow. Darfin immediately joined with his spells, and I heard Belari’s arrows flying by my ear. I heard some teleport cracks and I saw Shomal and Kylin appearing in the cave opening. I think I also saw Oratos still trying to sneak into the cave thanks to the commotion. The Blue Dudes were proper opponents and I won’t lie, we were getting our asses kicked big time. They were hitting us with those massive rays of cold and were wounding many of us at once. We managed to kill one Blue Dude but that wasn’t enough. As much shooting, slapping and casting as we did, we couldn’t stand a chance. We were slowly backing into the cave opening, only to be wiped unconscious by one last cold blow.
+--------
+As the party makes camp in the evening, Lynn tries to reach out to her patron, but also gets pulled into an evil vision by the hag. In her case it is her swimming in the ocean while her ship sails away over the horizon before she finally drowns.
+---------
-Just before I blacked out, I saw Oratos, Belari and Shomal lying on the ground beside me. They were so beat up I don’t think they’ll come out of this alive. Kylin was wounded and lying just behind me, I think.
+Over night everybody's watch is just plain shit and we're lucky we don't get killed overnight. Next day, we get to a huge chasm in the floor. Kylinn being Kylinn, she throws a lightning at it, which is promptly directed back at her. She also drops a pebble down and it takes... a long time to reach the bottom. That means the chasm is... uhm, very deep. Brovara grabs into it and almost gets pulled in. Rof then has the brilliant idea to hit the edge of the chasm and it actually retreats! I also have the brilliant idea to throw a spell at it and suddenly tentacles come out and try to pull me into the chasm! Brovara is there luckily and manages to pull me away. After tireless hacking and hitting the edge of the chasm, it finally narrows enough for us to jump over it and we continue on.
-I saw a blurry shape of Darfin still standing and screaming “Come at meeeee” but I think the remaining Blue Dudes vanished?
+== More Than One Way In ==
-Maybe I’m hallucinating.
+After being shoved into a portal tree by my wife I wake up in some kind of medical tent, next to square. "How did I get here?" I wonder. Square wants to leave the tent and join the others as soon as possible. We walk outside and search for someone to talk to. Many heavily armoured elves are around the campsite, and by the lack of rust I deduct that this must be the elven army.
+We enter one of the most important looking tents, and an officer greets us. While square nonchalantly starts eating from the fruit bowl the officer tells us what happened around the region and with our friends. Seemingly the forest around us was cursed, and some hag took that as a chance for a new home. "Very interesting" I say to the officer, trying not to sound sarcastic. He commands some younglings to show us the path the rest of the crew have taken.
+They lead us some minutes into the forest and show me an old trail which even I struggle to really notice. To inform the captain I send off my trusty hawk with a message for the captain.
-I just gotta close my eyes for just one second.
+''In the meantime the others continue their path and decide to set up camp at sundown. My hawk reaches them in good health and delivers the message. When it leaves the curiosity overwhelms Brovara, and unseen by the others she shoots the hawk out of the air, thinking that it must be some kind of magical illusion.''
-<div style="text-align: center;">
+As we travel further into the forest the leaves get darker and darker, looking beyond unhealthy. Out of nowhere it feels like the trees are trying to grab us, without them actually doing it. I tell Square that I can make someone fly for a short time, and she gets really excited about it.  As I want to leave this option open for dangerous situations I have to disappoint her, promising her that she would be able to fly by the end of the day. She makes some snide remarks about me not looking so good anymore which I don’t understand why, and we continue.
-''IN LOVING MEMORY OF:''
-''[[Oratos Orof|Oratos]], my favorite sparing buddy''
+''The others set up camp in a forest clearing. Roftag knows how to set up a tent, but not quite where and places them inside some bushes. Suddenly they feel like something is shadowing them. A tar-like person approaches Strennun. He tries to touch it and screams in agony. No longer curious he hellish rebukes the creature, exploding it into little pieces. The leftovers don’t burn, which is quite strange as tar would surely burn. Brovara senses that more of those creatures must be around them. The shoot all of them down on sight.''
-''[[Belari]], who was not at all afraid of the monkey''
+As the day continues we hear familiar explosions from afar. We reach the rest of the crew at the campsite they just built up. As this is the end of today I give Square the power to fly. She does some superhero landings, kicks and flies up into the sky like a bird. At the height of 30 meters she is over the treeline and has a good look at the surrounding forest. There still seems to be a good distance between us and the hag, so we should get a good night's sleep. We distribute shifts for our watches and go to bed.
-''[[Shomal]], who was very handsome, no matter what shape he took''
+I'm not quite able to sleep, as I am haunted by nightmares. I am woken up from my sleep by an explosion in our tent. There is tar-like substance everywhere, I clean it up with prestidigitation. As I cannot sleep anyways I decide to stay up. I hear Kylinn outside shooting at something. "There must be more of them" I think, and wake up Brovara, who is still snoring in a deep sleep. A tar-like person crashes into our tent and Brovara and I get hit by it. The creature starts dragging Brovara out and towards the forest. "That’s it, now I have to intervene" I think and step outside the tent. The tar creatures try to drag Brovara towards the forest, where tentacles grapple her and pull her even further. The same also happens to Roftag. Thankfully they are both able to free themselves from these vile creatures. We fight the remaining creatures while Square skilfully kills many of them, but Strennun is nowhere to be seen, as he's probably still asleep.
-</div>
-== Blue Devils, Bushes and Ambushes ==
+The next day we pack up the campsite and start our days journey further into the forest. Around the afternoon we reach a big burial mound, maybe 40 meters high. It has marble doors with primordial writing on it. Each entrance is guarded by a statue with a certain race, with some funeral prayer in the corresponding language. Square and Roftag decide to climb atop the burial mound to have a look at it, and it seems to have a light shaft. Roftag is suddenly affected by some kind of spell, and feels like jumping in the hole seems like a good idea. He asks for Strennuns shield, sits on it, and slides down into the shaft. As this seems to be out signal to enter as well Brovara starts running into the mound, taking the damage from all the traps on the way.
-Strennun while trying to enter the Devilsfall from below, sees the keel of another ship close by.
+''Roftag falls deep into the mound, landing in a pitch black hall. The only thing he senses is someone cackling while his eyes are still adjusting to the darkness.''
-Leaving a trail of puddles, he walks up to the main deck where he is greeted by a nervous crew and one of the great captains (Teolgrog) steering the ship. Skipping any unnecessary detail, Teolgrog explains what is about to happen.
-'''''The others are in hell and we will get them out of there.'''
+== The Bag of Holdn't ==
-One of the Goaliths surrounding Teolgrog grabs Jason, holds him against the helm and slits his throat.
+I ran straight into that tomb, silly traps firing around me, to aid Rof. He stood in the middle of a large room, bewitched by a big ugly cackling hag. I chased her but she made it to the door leading to a winding staircase before I caught her. Nasty old crone. The others caught up and we looked around. A big statue loomed in the middle of the room. Apart from the statue, eight exits (or entrances, as it actually depends which way you look) and Rof. And a magical crown on Rof’s head.
-Teolgrog grabs the bloody wheel and spins it left and right, causing the ship to roll from side to side.
- after one last roll
+It turned out, Rof was cursed. His eyes glew with madness, just like his wolf pelt’s eyes when he’s in the heat of a battle. We never asked him about that wolf, have we? The crown grew some teeth and Rof tried to wrestle me down. Silly Rof. I commanded him - and the crown - to stop whatever they were doing and continued the chase. There was clearly no time to plan.
- Strennuns lungs fill with water
- one pleasant feeling
-Darfin, resting in the forest near the devil camp hears a loud crackling followed by thunder.
+Me and Square ran down the stairs. Darfin followed closely and Lynn was dragging behind, trying to catch up. Rof - still controlled by the mad crown - tried to catch the Captain using a piece of rope as a lasso. Lynn magicked herself away, leaving Rof alone with Square, who yeeted (yote?) a hammer at him. The bewitched dwarf then caught Darfin but luckily - luckily for Darfin that is - he came back to senses and the crown with teeth disappeared.
-The Devilsfall shoots out of the water in the small pond next to the Devil's camp.
+By the time we reached the main chamber, we were pissed. We saw the hag behind a stone altar, doing magic. A big crystal - one that we need for the stupid chair - was floating in front of her. Now, since we arrived at a balcony, we had the high ground and used strategy to our advantage. Khella jumped off, landing firmly on her feet and ran towards the hag, grabbing a sausage from the table on the way. Rof also jumped but landed firmly on his head instead. In the meantime, I silently ran around to ambush the hag, my footsteps masked by the sound of Rof falling off the balcony.
-Jack and some undead crewmates jump off the ship and Teolgrog with his guards follow by boat.
-Strennun, faster than anyone jumps off the boat and runs towards the Devil camp's gate.
-In The forrest, the survivors recovered at a rate only possible in this place, and the decision is made to check out the thunder. Coming out of the woods the party spots the devilsfall which is taking up almost the whole pond. They also spot Strennun near the gate who is now running towards the group. Ozmock's whereabouts are still unknown so leaving is not an option. Votes are cast and raiding the camp (Jack, Strennun, Kylinn) wins over setting up an ambush (Square, Darfin)
+Seconds later I heard a familiar slapping sound. Rof and Square were attacked by the weird creatures we saw outside the tomb and on the way here and they fought back. They were waiting for us, hidden below the balcony. As I got around the corner, I saw Kylin flying over the skirmish, fire and lightning bursting out of her hands, and pinning down the creatures. Slapping was soon joined by the sound of plates and cutlery, thrown by Rof. I assume Darfin was also there somewhere. I ran and plunged towards the hag’s back to pin her down, only to be pushed away by a magical wave. I was lucky to land on a bed. The bed was less lucky with a 150kg half-human landing on it and breaking it.
-Before any buildings are burnt down, Strennung turns invisible and scouts out the camp. Using all his fingers he counts 30 devils and zero Ozmocks. With this knowledge Strennun changes his vote to ambush.
+Using pure strength clearly had no effect, so we changed the approach and tried using other means. Rof picked up a bench and hit the hag with it, splinters flying all over the altar. I tried tossing Kylin close to the hag but I lost my grip and she tripped and fell instead. In the background, Square beat the tarry creatures as if they were her punching bags. I think I also heard Darfin shouting from the balcony so I still assume he was somewhere around.
-During my last hunt I broke the shaft of my spear so all I got left is my trusty shield. The road outside the forest is leading to a camp so maybe I can catch some lone wanderer and get a new weapon. I tie the shield to my back, push the wolf hide down my face and look for a good ambush spot.
+Lynn took her Bag of Holding and tried to put the crystal in it. The crystal did not fit and went through the fabric with a loud pop. A moment later, Roftag finally managed to grab the witch and push her to the ground. Square joined a moment later, ready to beat the crap out of her. Kylin took out her double-ended trident and mocked the hag. The witch looked at Kylin, nasty smile on her face, and uttered ''Bold of you to say as a captain with no ship''. What a stupid thing to say in such circumstances, especially since we just were on the ship several days ago. Afterwards, Kylin’s double-blade trident - there has to be a better name for it - went through the hag’s skull. Good riddance.
-A long time goes by until I see something moving in the distance, I silently swear as I spot multiple creatures. Just one of them getting away might mean trouble so I slow down my breath, and try to let them pass. The group is lead by a blue devil, quiet short compared to those I've seen before and lacking the horns. Following the devil are a humand and a dwarf. They stop and the devil throws something at my bush, has it spotted me? I resist throwing it back, maybe it was just a fluke. IMRID AMRAD URSUL, the devil is approaching me. As the devil grabs into my bush I pull it in and try to disable it. It's weak but just when I feel like I can subdue it, something bright pierces my skin, and the tall human attacks me with magic. After I lost hold of the devil the human seems willing to talk, but the devil still keeps hitting me. I'm not good with words but not having seen anything non-demonic and even willing to talk, I try my best. Apparently they know a way out of here, but for an insane price. Nevertheless I offer my service expecting to work for a long time. The dwarf is still skeptical of my skills. At least I will get to see my home again.
+A moment later Darfin appeared and discussed the broken bag with Kylin. They said that everything from it was lost. Not sure what they meant exactly but I saw nothing falling out so I assume they’ll find it sooner or later. Those magic adepts always overreact, eh?
-<nowiki>*bullying occurs, additional waterskin is aquired*</nowiki>
+We went through the hag’s lair, finding some rations and other useful items and continued further into the tomb. All we found were sarcofph.. sarfophag.. tombs so we came back out of the haunted place, leaving it behind forever…
-My first assignment will be to help in an ambush on some devil slavers, nice. We ended the battle without major resistance and having saved a young dwarf and an orcish woman called Brovara. The group has some scary fighter and even the orc killed some devils. Afte the fight I lead them to the battlegrounds where they claim their "exit" is located. It's far so we spend one more night in the forrest, hopefully my last night in these lands. The hill near the battlegrounds indeed has changed, there is now a colorful tent looking like it doesn't belong here. A Devil awaits us and pleasantries are exchanged, I try to keep to myself.
+==A Tempting Offer==
-Debt to Salarus: 2700 GP
+After a well deserved rest we headed back to the main room with the mummy. The room was better lit than the last time we where there, hence why we decided to have a quick look outside before exploring the rest of the tomb. Outside it has also become lighter, just with still most of the colour drained. Back in the mummy room someone noticed that the room has pictures on the walls, each segment in the style of the races which then seamlessly fades over to the next style.
-When we leave the tent we arrive on a ship. After being introduced to the important people, Jack and Square organise a tournament and with tournament I mean, a fight between Brovara and me. The winner gets to fight Square. We both get wooden weapons and a circle forms around us. Comfortably dodging all attacks of Brovara who is unsuccessfully hiding behind her shield. I get in some hits, but then she tells me to surrender, and so I do. I'm confused but won't protest. Square instead of fighting just Brovara, tries to punch both of us but with some weird open handed attacks but fails miserably. Later I'm lead to a room and the elf asks me to participate in some magical ritual. Brovara and I will be asked questions to prove that we are not some devil followers.
+We then head down the South Western tunnel which lead to a similar room that we found after the hags lair. Here there were further signs of corruption trying to settle in. After convincing  especially Darfin and Brovara to not commit grave-robbery we headed back and took the South Eastern path. This path lead to another room full of sarcophagi and a hole with stairs heading down into darkness. Strennun reads something about water and we decide to head down the steps. The darkness starts to engulf us. Even my new found dark vision can not see far. Darfin then comes with an idea to tie a rope to the top to help us navigate and Strennun heads off to do so. After 15 minutes we decide to follow and try and find him.
-Some gained insight ..
+"Meanwhile Strennun out of frustration jumped down the center to find a cave at the bottom with a monolith in the center. On the walls he reads: Do not release! Out of morbid curiosity he reaches out and talks with the entity trapped inside the monolith. The entity promises him power, riches, world domination and possibility to take over the crew. Strennun though, being a simple person, declines and just asks for a way out for him and the rest of the crew. The entity shows himself as a white figure and mentions how many are evil and hurt people. So its normal in the world."
-Brovara:
+Meanwhile we still try and find a way to find Strennun. After not beeing able to find the exit we head back down. Suddenly the steps start falling away and out of nowhere I start falling. One after another the others fallow. Strennun then tells us about the entity who has introduced themselves as Anathar. We ask Zula, whether they know the place and a person named Anathar. He know decides to tell us not to head down here, like an hour too late that stupid chair. In the back we find a hidden room and Brovara begins to try and find a way through. Suddenly Strennun turns on us possessed and start trying to destroy the crystal monolith. We manage to knock him out. Out of caution, I order us to find a way out which is probably just head back up the stairs. Darfin and I successfully confirm this theory and jump back down to get the others. Meanwhile they have made some progress on the door and I compromise that we can wait 2 hours more before we leave this dangerous place.
-Hates Orcs for theirs frequent raids on her homelands.
-Protected her people from evil and local orc raiders had tales about her.
-She was part of an order that she left over disagreements of it being to passive.
-She also got a book from the monastery.
-Roftag:
+This idea was short lived though as suddenly Brovara gets possessed by Anathar and starts taking damage from an invisible source. Again we can do nothing aside from supporting her and then just knocking her out to end the possession. Now its an order: We leave!. While rushing up the stairs and can not keep wondering, what would have happened if Anathar tried to tempt me. Or someone else who would be more willing to accept an offer like Darfin.
-Seeing off my parents after leaving my village.
-Delivering packages for the academy.
-The crater where the academy is located.
-Loud explosions in the background.
-= The Breaking of the Council =
-[[A Broken Council|Read all recaps]]
+== Chair à Maze ==
+After the stairs we passed the entrance room with the large THING in the middle. The desire to leave is stronger than the memory of any traps. Together we run and breathe fresh air faster than strennung could spot water.
+Even from afar the forrest is visibly brighter, healthier; we needn't worry anymore about our trip back. Having fullfilled our obligations to the elves the only thing keeping us on this cursed island is an offer from our chair. After marching onwards not long and we spot something strange is the distance. Approaching, some of us notice a group of people led by a hooded creature. Before we get close enough to recognise any faces, the sand and rock inf front of us are replaced by a massive, at least twenty meter tall wall. Walking into the structure it is quickly concluded that the fastest way to explore the maze would be from on top of the walls, this way if the group would reveal themselves as enemies we would also hold the advantage. The captain and Darfin make their way up using their magic, helping the rest using a rope. Square rushes ahead, the rest makes their way to the center of the maze by either jumping from wall to wall or by flying. After arriving in the middle and spotting some kind of altar together with Brovara I climb down to the ground level. While the captain and Darfin engage the group from above, Brovara plays with some contraption that allows her to move the walls. Following the trail of blood Brovara and I find Square slapping her way through the enemies' minions. We help out. Meanwhile Darfin creates a path of fire and finds the enemies leader: Wormtongue. After not much consideration, Darfin drops the purple stick and just hears an audible "#!%& his will take some time" before Wormtongue and anything in a 5m radius around him disappears. Seeing the wall Darfin was just standing on I rush to his aid, just to watch him slowly hover to the ground.
+Square starts to build one of her famous gardens around the altar and blood starts to float from the corpses towards the altar. A sphere of flesh starts to grow above the labyrinth collecting all the blood. Before the sphere could burst, it disappears. Everyone gathers in the middle. "Did it work?". I hear a familiar voice in my head, Sulla's voice. He presents himself in front of us, tall and powerful.
+Each of us he offers a rewards for freeing him from his wooden cage. Darfin asks him about magic but is shot down immediately "Do I look like a mage?". I ask him for a shield but get laughed at for being a coward. The only items Sulla wants to offer seem to be tools to spill more blood, this is music in Squares ears. Not only does she pledge to follow Sullas teachings, but also to spread his name in the only language he seems to speak - violence. Sulla pronounces Kella his arch priestess (todo please replace with correct title) and grants her a mean looking weapon. I get a bad feeling about this god of war thing and decline his offer. Everyone else accepts their gifts.
+List of gifts:
+(todo please write down a name of your gift)
+== Are we… Pirates? ==
+[[Sulla]] gifts us lions on which we ride back towards the port city. From afar we see a magical beam getting closer and closer. We arrive at a forest clearing, where the lions suddenly stop. As we get of they magically vanish. [[Strennun|Strennuns]] lion pukes up some noble clothes, and [[Kella|Squares]] lion transforms into a necklace. Very weird, but I've seen worse.
+As we walk towards the city walls an [[older elf in a white robe and hat]] steps out behind a tree. I get the feeling that he is a servant of one of the [[High Lords]], but by his clothing he is also a high priest of the [[Wailing Widow]]. He doesn’t want to tell us his name, but he says that we travelled with one of their sons. [[Kylin Nelson|Kylin]] says something about a [[Varis Alloro]], probably a son of the Alloro family.
+The priest also tells us that [[Varis Valorian]], one of the more conservative high lords, issued an arrest warrant for Kylin Nelson for deserting the army. The ship is seized at port and the crew in prison. I never heard about this, and I always thought that Kylin is an honourable captain with a hard but good heart. Was she forced into servitude, or is she a traitor?
+The priest offers to help us to get into the city to free the crew, we should meet him at dawn at the keep. We agree and give ourselves a little rest before. There is a lot of talk about burning down the city or burning down certain buildings, but I'm not fully present as I'm trying to process the new information I just got.
+Towards the evening, we approach the city gate. [[Roftag Deerrunner|Roftag]] rips out a massive spike log from the moat. [[Brovara]] steps onto Roftags shoulders and hippity hoppity over the walls. She gets attacked by some guards, but easily splatters them over the walls. The rest of us also climb over the walls, and we enter the keep. As I am the last one, I close the door. We silently kill all the guards on our way, and easily cheese through a laser maze. We reach a break room where we can hear shanties through a door, where the crew must be held prisoners. We reach the cells, where some of the crew are petrified, among others also Steve. [[Jack the headless Pirate|Jack]] is still "alive". He tells us that they defended the ship for three days, until the elven army seized it successfully for the [[Democracy of Cahemelle|democracy]]. Half the crew was lost during the battles or were petrified. He requests to be allowed to kill the prison commander himself. Kylin grants his wish, and he leaves with two men.
+We hand over some of our weapons to the members who are able to fight and leave the cells. Square and two other crewmates slap the rest of the guards to death. We hear a loud thump, as the dead body of the commander lands on the floor in front of us. Up on the tower we see Jack in the window. Outside of the keep we hear a commotion. It seems like the priest rallied up the townsfolk to protest the actions of the guards. Three rows of guards stand in front of the gate, forming a shield wall. We sneakily open the doors, and Kylin kills two rows of guards with just one spell. The townspeople flee in fear, causing an even bigger chaos. We leave towards our ship and set sails immediately.
+I'm leaned against the railing and fire some firebolts towards the elven ships, setting them all aflame. I remember being a young boy, visiting the ports with my father and looking at the elven fleet in awe. '''boom'''. It was then when the wish to leave the [[Conder Isle|isle]] and explore the world started I assume. '''boom'''. ''Why didn't I just do it when I first felt ready to? Why did I have to spend my best years hidden in some libraries?''. '''boom'''. ''Am I still a good person, being associated with a war criminal?''. '''boom'''. ''Will I ever be able to return as a respected member of society?''. '''boom'''. ''Where is my life even going? Is this what I want for myself?''. '''boom'''. I don’t even notice what's happening around me, as my mind keeps digging deeper and deeper into self-doubt. '''boom'''. We sail into the sunset, leaving the elven isle behind us.
+== Just Keep Swimming ==
+It was a good call from Kylin to start firing back. The silly sods stationed at that Falloren fort should have started clearing up the city instead of firing at us. After all, we helped them with Sulla, Wyrmtongue and lifted whatever curse there was on the city.
+If the troops weren’t enough, a huge ship appeared out of the fog in front of us. My sailor companions called it a flagship, which I thought was a stupid name until I noticed five flags on the masts. A rather interesting feature of the ship was the galeon’s figure depicting what elvish women definitely did not look like in reality (they only looked like this in some sailor’s songs I’ve heard from the crew and dare not repeat here).
+The battle started with us approaching the flagship. There was nothing else we could have done as it was blocking our way, challenging us. Strennun immediately jumped in to the water, which is good as he is more useful swimming around the ship than in the battleground. A crewmember I have not seen before was the first to jump - a dwarf with black skin and a missing ear. Captain followed directly after, Rafiki jumping of her shoulder and grabbing one of the lines going up the mast. It stands to reason the enemy crew would try jumping onto our ship so I stayed and waited for them. Rof does not share my view and tosses a wooden pole onto the enemy ship, planning to use it to fend off the foreign sailors.
+A firestorm broke out on the flagship, possibly started by Kylin, and a couple of sailors jumped over to Devilsfall. Just where I expected them. I tossed them overboard, grabbing a ribbon out of an important-looking one. Strennun later told me that after they fell into the water, he was noticed by them and they tried to attack and drown him. Silly sods should have noticed something was fishy about him. (that was a play on words, because he is a bit like a fish.)
+As the fire started spreading, we cut down or drowned more and more enemy sailors. I heard a loud splash as Jack unfastened the galeon’s figure and started hauling it towards the Devilsfall. I looked up and saw Rafiki carrying two flags stolen or perhaps bitten away, from the tops of the masts. We slowly came back to our ship, regrouped and sailed away from the no-longer-flagship, leaving the remainder if its crew trying to put out the fire. It might be for good - if they weren’t able to defend themselves from us, they wouldn’t have been safe on these waters. What with all the pirates around.
+We lined up all our recruits and tried to teach them some discipline. Three of them stood out. A young elf called Falaria (or Falafel? the elvish names all sound the same to me). A lizard-looking man called Danam, which emanated an aura of chill, and Nori, the dwarf who was first-in-line in the abordage. The dwarf tried mocking me so I tossed him overboard, Strennun jumped after him to save him. Nori has to learn his place in the crew. Until he does, he’ll be taking a swim regularly.
+We continued sailing towards the meeting point with Tavia. Kylin immediately took to the timid Falalel and started mentoring her. Jandalf appeared and brought some of our ordered gear. Apart from that, not much happened for a couple of days until we heard Strennun shouting that he sees a ship with Thanate flag far away. We decided to approach.
+As the ship grew nearer, we noticed what looks like a captain and a handful of guards standing next to each other. Kylin grabbed my arm and teleported us to negotiate. The guards started behaving aggressively so I grabbed an important-looking one and held him hanging overboard. The rest of them charged but got pacified quickly. We tell Nori to disarm the guard leader, which he does by cutting off his hand with his steel axe. Someone said this was ironic except I don’t think there was any iron involved and Nori should think twice instead of taking the words so literally.
+The captain of the encountered ship claimed they are shipping grain and beer but we quickly saw through his disguise and know he was a supplies-smuggling pirate. He should be happy we left him and his crew alive. We recruited two of them though. The captain of the guard did not want to join us though. His loss. We did acquire their galeon’s figure. I wonder where Strennun keeps those.
+After two weeks of uneventful sailing we approached a ship with a Draconic League flag. Strennun’s mission to swim up and check what’s on the ship ended in a failure but Captain recognized the ship and teleported aboard. Kylin later said she had a lengthy discussion about her sister and told the crew to deliver her a bottle of whisky and a letter. They also presented Kylin with a bottle of whisky and she came back, telling us to leave the ship be. She was also told that she should visit Dragon’s Inn in the capital and it has something to do with her parents. We set sail once again.
+After another week of smooth sailing - interrupted only by a huge school of tuna passing by - we finally arrived at the designated meeting place. In the meantime, Falafel became quite a sailor and Nori seems to understand now that mocking me results in being thrown overboard. The third new crew member is a bit of a mystery though.
+In any case, we approach the ship of Tavia and other captains. Good we did not get caught by any of the pirates on our way here.
+== Fuck you, and thank you! ==
+I wake up in the morning to see the grand fleet a few hours out. What a weird dream last night. I felt like I should check on Darfin before we join the others so I head down to his room and find lost in thought.
+We sit down he tells me off his thoughts and doubts and how he feels isolated as he no longer can return home as he is a fugitive there. I try and comfort him, hoping he understands that the Devilsfall would be happy to be his home. We go on and talk about our deeds. Darfin then says that we should start owning up to what we are. We are Pirates! There is no denying that anymore. Darfin the blurts out:” Fuck you and thanks you!” He then elaborates that he hates the situation but also enjoys the freedom from society. Like really fuck society. Why should we have to dress a certain way, marry, only speak one’s mind when asked or have to run a business.
+By the way. Was that the first time Darfin has sworn? Surely not, but I can not remember when he has. Either way we talk a little more with me also opening up a little how cornered I felt at home. Before leaving I hand over a box which was addressed to Darfin.
+When I head up back on deck, I find Roftag sparing with Nori and Brovara trying to round up the crew to do a workout. I painfully watch how she fails to engage with the crew. I do later take her to the side and try and give her some advice. Mental note, I may have to do a full workshop with her soon to help her improve her people skills.
+We then arrive at the fleet and are greeted by people of Tavias crew who invite me to Tavias ship. That’s very friendly and nice of her. I appoint Roftag to take command and make sure the ship is securely docked and take Falaria with me to Tavias. Maybe Falaria can open up a little there.
+Tavia welcomes us and then leads me to the dining room which is nicely decorated and set with a nice feast. During the feast we talk about what happened. I tell her of our adventures and the stupid event which lead to me loosing the logbook. She explains that Teolgrug and Greybeard have secured the Draconic Isles. Teolgrug has not arrived yet. Meanwhile Tavias crew encountered some of Hogens men on a seemingly empty island where they weird resupplying. It seems the enemy has weird means to travel. We continue chatting about random interests and are hitting it off really well.
+''Meanwhile Roftag and Darfin have a heart to heart about how the consequences of our actions are catching up. Darfin admits that he feels like that violence is faster and often more fun. After their talk Darfin finally decides to open the box and finds pipeweed, incense and a note from his wife.''
+''Darfin then decides to look for a doctor to get his condition checked. The doctor does try and hint at the fact that he is probably undead, which does stir some doubt in Darfin that maybe the captain was right when she told him that he has been affected by the curse.''
+''Strennun went off to scout out other Crowsnest to find ideas on how to improve ours. He finds one with a drunk guy who has attached himself with a rope. Strennun does not understand why one would do this as then one cannot jump into the ocean. Strennun proceeds to untie the poor guy and jump into the ocean with him. He later on finds out that the guy cannot swim.''
+''Brovara is spending a nice evening taking a bath in Strennuns room.''
+''Roftag is looking after the ship when he suddenly gets attacked by Falaria. Luckily Brovara and the rest of the crew comes to aid and find that its actually a Rakshasa. Roftag and Brovara then decide to warn the captain, as they are not sure if the Falaria that went with her to Tavias was actually real. ''
+While taking a sip of some nice wine the doors to the dining room get flung open with a guard and Brovara saying we are needed. Tavia takes her hand off my arm and we both stand up to find out what the commotion was. Rof tells us of the Rakshasa attack. We quickly check that it was alone and make sure that there is no widespread panic.
+Once that handled, I send Rof and Brovara back to the ship, as Tavia invited me to stay the night. I also send Falaria to hang out with the rest of Tavias crew. In her cabin she {{#spoiler: fetches a bottle of wine and two glasses and invites me on her bunk. There…… Really perv. I see you were hoping to read some spicy smut here in my diary. Respect my fucking privacy! What happened is between me, Tavia and the woodlice. I hope you feel ashamed of yourself. Maybe sit down and think about your own miserable life and why you would want to invade someone’s privacy. If I catch you again, I will fucking slice your dick off and make you eat it unseasoned. You got that? Right back to the story. }}
+The next morning, I happily and rejuvenated walk back to the Devilsfall. After regrouping with everyone Darfin pulls out a stack of papers with our names on them with the new bounties. Mine has gone up a little, but really by only 50 gp? I guess they are not really interested in capturing me anymore. Oh, btw here are the new bounties:
+* Captain Kylin Nelson: 800gp
+* Professor Darfin Elehni: 600gp
+* Mr Woodenglory: 450gp
+* Brovara the Tall: 350gp
+* Roftag Deerunner: 300gp
+* Rafiki: 50gp
+== 4+1 Captains ==
+In the morning an iron clad ship approaches the wooden isle waving Greybeard’s flag, as well as another heavily damaged ship belonging to Teolgrag. Greybeard’s ship docks and a procession of royal proportions enters the wooden isle, with Greybeard in shining armor and two giants flanking him on both sides. Judging by Darfins reaction there is a lot of magic in the air.
+The Captain being escorted by Brovara and I takes place at a giant round table on one of the central ships. We take our positions close to her and stand there waiting for the other captains. Tavia takes her seat close to the captain. Greybeard makes his way to the other seat next to the captain and his guard walks right through Brovara and me. I swallow my pride and take the disrespect without causing trouble for the captain. The last two seats are filled with Teolgrag who is showing some recent battle injuries and Arokshax who clearly doesn’t voluntarily attend.
+«Neutrality, not good for business eh?» - Teolgrag
+Teolgrag starts to explain why he is in such a rough shape: I followed Hogan and Ondas and Wormtongue to the Deadlands. Hogans men are trying to create a new world order and talked about corruption. Hogan cut a deal with the devils, hopefully they are as trustfully as the rakshashas.
+«Burnt world ain’t good for anyone» -Teolgrag
+Three options are stated:
+-	Strike the orcs
+-	Find allies in Thanate Empire
+-	Attack Hogan directly in the deadlands
+There is not much debate, Tavia and Greybeards are quickly on board, only Arokshax remains hesitant. The circle is dismissed. Brovara voices her complaints about Greybeard’s guards and challenges whoever dares to a duel. A foolish dwarf volunteers and believes his hammer stands a change against our half-human. A couple painfull looking blows are exchanged and Brovara stands on top of the table staring down on the dwarf being embedded in said table. Greyboard calls the win and offers Brovara a reward of her choosing. Brovara chooses the dwarf’s hammer as a trophy. Everyones attitute towards her changes immediately.
+Greyboard repeats his offer from when we met near Mighttown, this time I don’t decline the shield. Visiting his ship I find a real smithy on the lower deck where a nice smith advises me what to pick, a wooden shield with a steel rim and spikes on the other side, decorated with a painted wolf baring his teeth.
+In the evening Kylinn visits Teolgrag. He asks her about his contract with «god». [ redactet ].
+Tealgrag says that he approached the edge of the stream (nobody who has gone further has ever returned). Some of his sailors swear by their mother that they saw land in the distance, but there is nothing to prove the hersay.
+Teolgrag: "Kylinn, I want to retire; Be my heir, or go exploring."
+Kylinn does not decide yet.
+In the morning Kylinn pays Arokshax a visit, trying to get him to help the cause .. Arokshax is drunk.
+Arokshax: «Can you guarantee my safety?»
+Kylinn: «To be completely honest .. you will most likely die if you stay close to me .. like many others.»
+Arokshax: «We both know Teolgrag, if I help you my family is save … if I don’t they will still be save but I will never see them again»
+Arokshax hands Kylinn a waterskin with Grog.
+DRINK
+''
+After my morning clean I fetch the Flags from Rafiki as the captain ordered. Soon after, Tavia arrives and tests out the Devilfall’s curse on one of her guards (fortunately only once) and disappears in the captains quarters. I fetch my shield from Greybeard’s shipand return to find Brovara banging on the Captain’s door.
+''
+We kill some time trying out my new shield. It does have some magical properties as Brovara’s heavy blow feels more like a child’s punch.
+Kylin learns that Tavia’s Cutlass is called «Iron price»
+Tavia leaves a wine bottle as a gift and the wooden isle slowly disappears.
+Kylin sends one of the crewmembers out with an elvish wine in return.
+== "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." ==
+Before leaving, we were doing some shopping. Roftag got a new shield that seems to have some magic. Darfin got some elven chainmail made that looks very pretty. I myself tried to get the rust off my weapons and a nice dwarf gave me some goop to smear on my weapons. That seemed to work.
+While we were out shopping, Brovara tested her new hammer, by beating the ever-loving shit out of Square's old punching bag. On the way back to our ship, she also 'picked up some rope' - which turned out to belong to another ship. But as it started to wither the second she came onto the Devil's Fall, she decided to just leave it on deck, because more rope is clearly always more better!
+The Captain gave orders to set sails. We are going to the deadlands to deal with the Orc-problem there. As it is basically on the way, we will also stop by the Thanate Empire on the way. My home! I will get to see my father again!
+------
+The other captains will be doing the following meanwhile:
+* '''Greybeard:''' Try and get the support of the dwarves empire by any means necessary
+* '''Arokshax:''' Get a supply chain up and running to supply us in the deadlands
+* '''Tavia:''' Take over the transport of the goods of said supply-chain
+* '''Taelgrog:''' Who knows? He's not the most talkative one...
+-----
+After some days of sailing, I see cliffs in the distance. My home! I yell down to the ship that there's land. Soon enough, we see smoke in the distance. This is the main city. It is built in a cavern. This means that ships can be very easily inspected and it is not easy to smuggle stuff in like that. That's why we anchor outside of the cavern and transport us and our stuff along the passages along the cliffs (there are treacherous 'passageways' built into the cliffs, which are essentially just planks on the side of the bluffs, with nothing but pistons and prayers holding them up. They are heavily used by smugglers and other folks who are not exceptionally keen on their wares or ships being inspected by the harbourmaster and his staff).
+Brovara does not trust her weight with the armour on to hold the planks. Rof and I take her armour and she just walks like that. That seems to work because we get to the city pretty soon. Before that, we are being inspected by the guards. Brovara takes this opportunity to put on her armour again. I have to empty my bag and lay my weapons out. I have collected quite a number of weapons because they are neat. That seems to amuse the guards because they laugh when I lay out my longsword, my club, my scimitar, my dagger, my backup dagger, the backup dagger of that dagger, the great axe, the handaxe, the rapier, the short bow and the whip. After that I have to repack everything again. While I'm at it anyway, I try to make myself presentable for my father by taking off my armour and putting on some fine clothes (they were not that fine anymore, considering what they've gone through in the past couple years, but Strennun did not seem to care all that much).
+It's nice to be back in my hometown! We pass a tavern that I used to go to a lot back then. I drag my friends in there and Gunther, the bouncer greets me and shows me my usual table. It's a lot stuffier than I remember. We order stuff and then the bill comes. It's... I don't know the number but it's higher than I can count and that means it's a LOT! I don't even know if I have that much gold! So I take my bottle of wine and run out with Brovara. The others don't follow for some reason. Brovara drags me back in. We eat and drink and in the end Darfin pays - Thank you Darfin! After that we go to my father's house.
+When we get there I try to enter, but for some reason the door is locked?!. Frederick, the old guard, opens a little window in the door and looks at me like I just resurfaced after seven years gone. To be fair, that is what happened, but that is not the point here. He doesn't want to let my friends in at first but I convince him and we all wait in the courtyard while he goes and does... something. Things have changed. There are strange guards in the courtyard. After a long while I go into the house and the guards don't stop me. I look for my father and find Frederick coming out of his office and come back with me to the courtyard. He keeps asking me questions about myself. Like he doesn't know me?? (Meanwhile, Brovara keeps counting seconds in the courtyard, as Strennun said he'd be back in 15min. As she gets bored of that, she tries to interact with the guards, who ignore her, provoking her ire.)
+After some more minutes, my father comes to the courtyard. At least I think it's my father? I can hardly recognise him. He's so old and weak and ugly? He doesn't believe that I am Strennun until I show him our signet ring. Then he finally invites us to dinner - even though we just ate before. During dinner I try to tell him everything that happened in these seven years that I was gone. Kylinn asks him for his support against the orcs in the deadlands. My father wants to speak to me in my office.
+Back in his office he tells me what has been happening here. There's a fight going on between the guilds but also within the guilds. This is also why he was so wary of me. Because he thinks someone could be impersonating me to harm him. I don't know why anybody would do that, but then again, I am not very smart, so I just leave it be. He wants me to burn down the warehouse of his former friend and ally - apparently he has been stealing my father's wood. If I can, I can take the wood back, but that doesn't really matter. After that, I should go to the Seahorse tavern and execute Duran in public. He apparently killed Nana! (Strennun's old maid, who was a mother-figure to him, as he never really knew his mother). He also asks to speak to Kylinn. I go back and tell my friends and fetch Kylinn. On the way back to the office, she asks me if I want to do what my father is asking - or rather ordering - of me. I tell her that I don't like it but I might do it because of family.
+-------
+Kylinn has a conversation with Vodan Woodenglory, where he thanks her for 'taking care' of Strennun and ask to pay her for her time and troubles. As Strennun wants to take the crew with him to burn down the warehouse and kill Duran, he also asks her for their daily rates, just like bartering for simple hired muscle. He also tells her that he's not going to directly help her with her quest of finding support, but suggest, they make some noise and make a name of themselves to get 'the right kind of people' aware of them, before maybe being able to plead their issue in the city-hall and get support that way.
+Kylinn categorically refuses and tears into him, shaming him for treating his long lost and returned son like a commodity. Vodan then asks her why she left her family (He is familiar with the Nelson family) and also asks of her what she would do in his shoes. They talk about Strennun's past - he was your average rich kid who only thought about partying and spending his father's money. He does have fond memories of Strennun as a small child, but not so much when he grew older. The two continue on to discuss if leaving a legacy is important or not and in the end agree to disagree, as Vodan thinks it is the ultimate goal of life to leave something behind that your children can continue building upon and Kylinn does heavily disagree on that train of thought.
+In the end, she reiterates her refusal to be hired goons for him and also refuses his hospitality.
+-------
+After a while, Kylinn comes out of the office and seems very angry. She tells us that we're leaving. I am not sure because I now have to choose between long lost family and new found family. In the end I choose my new found family and we leave for a cheaper tavern. There, Kylinn and I discuss us leaving our families a bit more and Darfin also tries to help with his wisdom, but he does not really help all that much.
+In the end, we decide that we will not burn down the warehouse, but I still want to get to the bottom of Nana's killing. We will capture Duran and Darfin will probe his mind to see if he did kill Nana or not. After that, Kylinn's idea is to unite the fighting guilds by posing a bigger, external threat to the trade in the Thanate empire to force them to unite against us. We then hop onto the Devil's fall to lead them directly to the orcs, where they will hopefully help us deal with them.
+== "The Flavia's Frivolous Fantastical Fings" ==
+As we sat at the round table in the tavern, we started discussing the new bounties. They increased a bit, which is a good sign, pirates and wrongdoers clearly dreading us. While Darfin and Strennun disappeared somewhere, we ordered another round. When asked what he wants, Rof said "I don't care" and was served a chesse-flavoured drink. Apart from that the place smelt like piss and barkeep was rude.
+After spending the night in a tavern, we set out to find influential humans to find us in our cor-age-uhs en-dev-or. The streets were difficult to navigate, with thousands of people going about their business, flowing in and out of buildings and between the levels of the city.
+In search of a shortcut we stumbled upon a shop with a sign saying "Flavia's Frivolous Fantastical Fings". We went inside and indeed found a ton of fascinating fings. We approached the shopkeeper, who turned out to be a looney. She stuttered, avoided answers and asked suspicious questions. Kylin bought some magic sticks and found an intricate dagger. The dagger captures the attention of whoever looks at it. The person only realizes that when someone talks to them, otherwise they can stand and look at that weapon. It does not work on me, thought. I only look at it for a second and hear someone speaking to me. Must be my paladin training finally showing its value.
+Kylin buys the dagger. She later said she sacrificed some of her good luck to get it. I also found an addition to the museum I set up on the ship. A ''stachoo of a face'', made of rock and wood. I can already see people flocking to see it when we open. I also bought a gargoyle which I named Helmut - it is good with simple commands but very stoopid. The shopkeeper said I can buy with my darkvision ability and I happily did it as I can see very well in the dark and don't need it.
+Roftag gave her his blood to learn the name. His name is Roftag Deerunner. He seems to remember something about his past because of that. Funny thing about the shopkeeper: I swear she changed her skin and hair colour while we were there.
+After leaving the shop and a stroll through the city, we found a major plaza with great view on the ships and many, many stalls and little shops. We found the Trader's guild where - being welcomed by a Head Welcomer Thanani - we were asked to meet a certain Cinan Korman for a dinner. Apparently known for spice trade. The meeting was boooring and there was diplomasee and long words so I paid no attention.
+We paid a visit at the Flavia's shop too. She sells us a scroll that offers some kind of protection against some type of creatures, the price being Captain's "ambition to take over a friend's legacy". I wonder how she still keeps her shop running, selling her wares for next-to-nothing and silly phrases.
+Finally, we head for the ship, Helmut not being as helpful with getting us down the cliffs as I thought, hurting mister Deerunner along the way. We found Salarus on the deck playing cards. He was ''not'' happy that we visited the shop. To make up for it, Captain adds him to a list of welcome guests for the Scroll of Some Kind of Protection. We decide to wait for Strennun and Darfin before we take our next steps.
+== The captain, with the dagger in the office ==
+On the ship we find the person who I need, Salarus. But first I hand over the protection spell for the ship to Jack. He seems to be very unnerved when he finds out we got it from a fey. I have never seen him this tense, but after telling us off for being reckless he heads off to incorporate the spell into the ships defences.
+In the captains’ quarters I tell Salarus, that I want to know the details of the ship and if there are any other powers that it holds that we are not aware off. He does not know himself and says we would have to speak to a Demon Prince for this information. This though may come at a price. I guess we put a pin into this for later, as there is a stupid party this evening.
+On deck the crew seems oddly on edge. Then Roftag comes over and asks if it is okey if they could visit a fighting pit that Strennun has mentioned. It seems that they thought I would not approve. Seriously? They should know by now that I am not against some fun. While we are talking, I ask Strennun to have a look at the inscribing on my new dagger. His vast knowledge of different runes and languages comes in handy again as he deciphers: "I do sacrifice to Rakdos, whomever I touch, I may hold a soul for your entertainment." Sounds fun. Strennun is not a fan of the dagger though. Ehhh its mine anyways. We also talk about his feeling about what has transpired so far. He mentions how he is tired of being treated like a commodity by his Dad. Very understandable. My parents were annoying, but they never would have tried to pull off something like that.
+-------
+Before heading back to the ship Darfin went to FFFF. He is trying to find out what happened to him. He tells her his name and about the Devils Fall. Flavia then clears his mind so that he realizes he is undead and that he died weeks ago in the Crowsnest. Emboldened by his new condition he asks for where he could find a phylactery to become a lich. He gets a hint that he will find one to the west of here. This all he was given for the price of his moral compass.
+-------
+Shortly afterwards we must get going so to make it to dinner, which we were invited too by Sinan. His mansion is as predictably ugly and pompous as someone compensating for something. We are guided by one of his servants through the courtyard and numerous hallways to the ballroom. Noticeably this place is very heavily guarded.
+The ballroom is full of rich people and politicians of this city. This is going to be a very painful evening. To prepare myself I head to the nearest waiter, chug 2 glasses of alcohol that they are serving and take a third to go. Before initiating with the politicians of the room I decide to gather some intel and dirt on these people to try and find out more who is here. Apparently, he has multiple mistresses and makes a habit of ruining women’s lives. Meanwhile everyone else here seems to have also plenty of dirt on them too.
+Finally, it was time to talk with Sinan. After pleasantries he invites me into his office which is right next to the ballroom. Apparently, Sinan is in a tough spot, as Woodenglory has also entered the spice trade which is putting him under pressure. That why he wants me to guard and protect his ships while sabotaging other ships. I brought up that we are here to speak with the council for mor important matters which will generally affect his trade. Upon this information Sinan admits he has already talked with Wormtongue, who was very convincing. Sinan then has the audacity to subtly hint that he could just have us arrested or killed by the guards and handed over to Wormtongue which would give him a nice price. This guy is in way over his head.
+As standard diplomacy did not seem to be working with this waste of flesh, I decided to switch things up and try to use my feminine charm to win him over. So, I started throwing in a few compliments while trying not to throw up on the carpet. This seemed to get the slightest reaction out of him so I doubled down and painted him a picture of how we could rule trade and eventually the city together with our expertise while being partners. He then tests me how he will still want to mess around with other mistresses and that while I am gone at sea, I have to promise him that I would have to stay pure for him. I still have no idea how I had the strength of not slitting his throught right then and there.
+With this hypothetical deal agreed upon I moved in as if I wanted to seal the deal with making out, and that idiot fell for it. Seriously who could fall for that narcistic pile of barnacles. In a quick motion I pull out my new dagger out and him close to be able to hold the dagger to his throat. I order him then to write a letter of recommendation to the council, which he does like an obediant little pet. I realize then that I cannot keep him alive, as he will he send his guards after me as soon as I am out the door. Apologizing I plant a kiss on his cheek, I guess the kiss of death, as I then slit his throat killing him on the spot.
+But no blood spilled. The blood got absorbed by the dagger. Huh I guess luck is still on my side. Soo now I must get out of here before people find him dead. First, I decided to put him back into his armchair and face it away from the door towards the fireplace. While moving him I noticed how his pants seemed to wet. This guy really was all bark and no bite.
+And now how do I exit alone? I admit, here I panicked a little and decided to just act to be one of his side chicks that is trying to leave quickly. In the process of leaving, I decided I should lock the door to slow down the process of finding him. Well, my act did seem to work as one of the servants quickly came to help me and assist me in finding an exit. On the way out of the ballroom, I whisper to Roftag that too leave now sneakily. At the exit I thank the maid and tell her she should find a better employer, and then I head to the inn that we stayed the night before in the hopes that the rest of our group would come up with the same idea.
+Turns out they understood leave by head to the ship.
+== Convincing the council ==
+In the morning the captain Nelson leaves her room and meets a gnome in the bar, a gnome of few words, a few words of mostly insults.
+Brovara, Darfin and I leave the ship and start looking for the captain. We look at the places where we've been before and eventually end up talking to a rude Bouncer. Standing in our way of meeting the captain the bouncer earns a punch. Inside the captain is talking to the gnome who seems interested in working on our ship. After we join the captain at her table a short interview takes place, with Darfin casting a spell to poke any secrets the gnome may hold.
+There are no secrets, the gnome wants money and changes sides quickly when more money is offered. His name - Tandyr Melebokk, short Melek.
+After telling the captain about the instructions we left for Jack, she quickly writes down new instructions:
+<blockquote>
+We met up
+we are fine
+we head to council
+we will be in touch
+just stand by
+</blockquote>
+Darfin happily calls out his Hawki and sends it off with the message.
+Together with the Melek we make our way to the large square and enter the council building. A small army is guarding this place. We are greeted by Tanani and lead to a room with desks, here the captain shows her letter of recommendation and requests an audience.
+We are allowed to enter a large room with poorly made floor. Tanani announces the death of Master Sinnan. Only half the council is here, but enough to make decisions. After a break, 7 members assemble in colorful clothing, standing on a stage that elevates them above us. Sensing some magic in this room, Melekk tries to cast some detection spell which is interrupted by a familiar crooked creachure - Wormtongue. Wormtongue is introduces as "the ambassador". The captain gets to speak and states what Ondas alliance's goals are, she requests support from the humans - half their army. Together with the dwarfs they shall fight to secure our livelyhood.
+The council listens and sometimes takes note, but otherwise does not show approval or rejection of Ms Nelsons proposal.
+"Are you deaf?", Shouts Brovara.
-== Of Talking Chairs, Slapping Squares and Crunchy Lizard Lairs ==
+"Don't you like money", Darfin remarks.
-'''Question''': What subject do you avoid talking about?
+Captain adresses Wormtongue with snide remarks. Wormtongue tries to approach her but is stopped by the guards.
-* Brovara: Family
-* Square: What happens in the mines
-* Roftag: Politics
-* Strennun: His period of inservitude
-* Kylinn: Family
-----
+A bell rings and the council members retreat behind the stage.
-While we are sailing in the foggy sea, our dude in the crow‘s nest shouts out that there is another ship. Soon after we hear the horn they use to tell us that they are where they are. Because we can still not see them, the Captain sends me out to investigate. I swom over to the other ship and am surprised. The ship is entirely made out of metal! it is also very big! Has a lot of oars and also a big ram that they probably use to ram other ships. When I watch into the ship, I see dwarves rowing. I swim back to the Captain and tell her what I saw. The Captain decides to also blow the horn to confirm our existence.
+"Did you go into cave?", Darfin asks.
-The dwarves are part of Greybeard's crew and the Captain of their ship, Throngel, comes on our ship to steer it into the hideout. I try to stay with the other ship to see if they do something fucky. But our ship is much faster and we soon leave them behind. When we leave them behind, I return to our ship and tell the Captain.
+Wormtongue asks us about the desert, he was looking for an ancient tomb.
-In the hideout we meet Greybeard, who gladly takes Ozmock in and shows him his library. Apparently Ozmock doesn‘t even know him? He also takes Darfin with him. We then go to eat dinner with him. The Captain also gets 4 Health Potions and an antidote for petrification from him. Square then also gets gloves of slapping from him. Roff cries for some reason (he tells Square that. this whole athmosphere with ale, laughter and meat reminds him of home, of better times.).
+minutes later, the bell rings and the council members return.
-Greybeard then asks us to check out a vineyard that he bought where people disappeared. Even though he cried, Greybeard offers Rof a free pick of weapon from his smithy, so he and Bro bugger off. I spend a beautiful night in the hideout‘s hot springs. (Meanwhile, Kylinn goes back to the ship and unsuccessfully tries to reach Salarus) It‘s been a long time since I slept that good!!
+One member holding a paper stands up and presents the councils decision. "We have heard your plea, but also the ambassadors. Some Question your honesty. "Ambassador will not burn world, will cleanse it". He wants us to do nothing. "Ambassador of what?", I shout. "Wolf barbarian has point", the council member says. "Ambassador of Blaiddegyr (?) - master wizards", Wormtongue explains. Everyone in our crew feels the relieve after the council rules unanimously in our favor. "This does not mean we send troops, this means we talk". The council welcomes us as guests in the city and tells the ambassador (Wormtongue) to leave the city.
-The next day we set off to the vineyard. When we get there, there are a lot of beautiful statues but Square says that they‘re weird because the stone is very young in some and very old in others. They were also dragged here. We check out the house and the door locks behind us. Weird. We check out a room and the door also slams shut behind us.
-Brovara punches through a window but it is not a window but just an illusion.
+The council member looks at me. "Councilmember Karrak wishes to test your strength and invites you to the arena in the lower levels". The audience concludes and we leave the building. Hawki returns with a message from Jack: "understood, keem crew onboard".
-I check if the chair in the corner is also an illusion by lightly stabbing it with my rapier. It comes to life and yells at me for doing that. It‘s called Sulla and it‘s an asshole. I also punch through the ‚window‘ but not like Brovara. I get grabbed by a ghostly hand and pulled out of the window! The person grabbing me is a ghostly woman who tries to enter me??. The  window I got pulled through suddenly moves away. I sprint towards the window and jump back into the room. The ghost follows me and also jumps into the room. Then it possesses Rof. Square then beats the ghost out of Rof again, but also beats Rof by doing so. Then she also beats the ghost out of the ghost.
-Meanwhile, Bro takes Sulla, the talking chair and tries to throw it out of the window but it keeps hanging on and bites Bro! Bro then gets pulled out of the Window as well - with the chair. Square jumps after them and grabs the chair. She absolutely YEETS the chair behind her further into the void and Bro and Square run back to the room.
-I try to open door but it‘s still locked. I look through the keyhole and something looks back?! I stab the eye with my rapier and the whole room shakes, the wardrobe opens and we get thrown into a cave that opens behind the wardrobe.
+As we head towards the fightclub it is apparent how people treat us nicer.
-We walk around in the cave down there and get attacked by two basiliks. We easily kill them - even before I got a hit in! That one time when I took out my anger on the dead beast, it fell on me and almost squished me to death! We also take some venom of the beasts because Darfin would probably kill us if we didn‘t. We also take some Basilisk-eggs with us.
+== "I'll have a Nelson please" ==
-When we get back out of the cave, the chair that Square is there. It must have climbed back into the window. It keeps arguing with me and the others because we don‘t want to take it with us. It claims that it was a Godlike creature once and even says that it knows my old one! If this is true and it tells the turtle that I have treated the chair badly I am very afraid! In the end we lock it in the room and I put Gertrude - my other trusty (non-talking!!) chair under the door-handle so the annoying thing is trapped. We then explore the rest of the house. There is a kitchen with a lot of mold and two - non-talking - stools. There is also a library with two armchairs that also don‘t talk. But the talking chair yelled from the other room when I stabbed it. We ask it if it is a hive-mind and it says no. The last room is an empty room with broken stairs to the upstairs. Brovara helps Rof and Kylinn up and they say that it‘s just storage.
+After the crew (except Strennun) went to the "upper-class" fighting ring and won big, they were invited to a celebratory feast at some other bigwig's house. Our captain - obviously - did not let that opportunity pass to listen around in hopes of getting some gossip about her latest soul-heist. But apart from the usual things, there was not much news to be had. Darfin, on the other hand, found out, that his newly won book is apparently written in archaic elvish, a language that he can actually understand (with some trouble). After making an early exit, the crew stumbles upon their last missing member by pure chance.
-Square really wants to take the chair with her for whatever reason. We argue some more and then in the end Square takes it with her. The chair claims that it was transformed to the chair by adventurers some… a long time ago (roughly 1300 years). I can‘t even blame them, I would have done the same.
+"Give me my fucking money, you cheap bastard" I yell, while being slightly pummelled by the swarthy sailor who bet money that he didn't have at the underground fighting-pit. From the corner of my fading vision I see my crew pushing through the onlookers and all of a sudden my opponent is engulfed in a dark haze - Captain Nelson is helping me! I am not really appreciating that, but it's too late anyway, might as well take the chance. I quickly take the cheapskate in a chokehold and wave to the onlookers. Said cheapskate takes his chance and barrels me into Brovara's considerable chest. She throws me back rather unceremoniously and I can use that momentum to finally finish that scuffle once and for all! Turns out the fucker wasn't lying and he actually does not have any money! Three coppers is all I find! Well, I start stripping him and taking everything he has (apart from his drawers, probably for the better of both of us). My crewmates are mocking me, but it is not about the money, it is about the PRINCIPLE OF NOT BETTING MONEY YOU DO NOT HAVE!! I am ready to go down to the indebted sailor's ship, but the Captain says no... guess it was his lucky day.
-The chair also says that the house is haunted by the daughter of the owner of the vineyard that owned the thing before greybeard bought it. That owner used the basilisks to turn competitors to stone before he died as well. The daughter then dragged all the unwelcome visitors that were turned to stone into the street before the house to tell all other potential visitors to fuck off… charming.
+Instead, we head to the tavern where I believe we can find Dunan. On the way there I get some new clothes, because mine have seen better days. The captain gets some new boots and Darfin is looking for a leather mask for himself. At that moment, Rod mumbles something about helping Jack to prepare the ship for leaving tomorrow and skedaddles off.
-Kylinn nukes the house to be sure that nothing cursed stays behind - we‘re taking the only cursed item with us.
-Back at Greybeard‘s, we get a dinner again and Kylinn asks for a new, additional ship. Greybeard says he might be able to get one but not right now. After another night in the heavenly hot springs we get on the boat and just leave a skeleton-crew behind for the potential new ship. Kylinn goes with Greybeard to some boring council meeting and we‘re waiting for Darfin to get his ass out of the library so we can leave.
+In the tavern, we are led to Dunan's table where he sits and laughs with four of his friends. Seems like a fair fight to me. Lynn and Darfin both order a Nelson Whiskey and I get an Ale. After some initial banter, where Dunan boasts about the murder of my precious Nana, I give him the Strennu's special: A chilly testicle-twist and a headbutt to the table. Turns out he does not appreciate that and stabs me with some fancy magical dagger.
-== High Treason? ==
+An all-out brawl starts in the tavern, much to the shock of the other guests and staff who screamingly run out and leave us more room. Darfin really comes in clutch by doing some magic mumbo-jumbo that lets tentacles sprout out of the floor and holds them down and crushes them slowly. Everything starts out well, but then I get cocky and go in up and close... and promptly get my ass handed to me by a bloodied Dunan and his last friend. I am already at death's door and basically through it with one foot when Darfin comes swaggering in with a glass of the finest Nelson Whiskey in his hand (which he paid for at the unmanned bar)- since when does he drink whiskey?? and starts blasting the last two survivors with blasts of fire. Brovara is also unconscious on the floor, still bloodied from her last fight. Im the last moment, the captain stands up, yells something about thunder and teleports to the bar with a loud BANG. That "Bang" is in fact so loud and thunderous, that Dunan and his last friend get splattered across the opposite wall.
-"This library is majestic", I think to myself, as I hear a familiar voice from behind. "Professor, we should move the ship to [[Mighttown]]", [[Jack the headless Pirate|Jack]] says. "I haven't even started reading the good stuff yet, and they already want to leave? I don't even remember how long I've been in here...". "You're the next in line after [[Kylin Nelson|Captain Nelson]] in seniority, as the first mate sadly passed away." he says. I do not like this, as responsibility might interfere with my research, so we compromise to meet up with the rest of the officers outside.
+Darfin and Lynn quickly go about reviving their downed crewmates before I start looting everything and everybody in sight. It's the least I can do after they almost looted my life... Meanwhile the captain goes towards the kitchen and cautiously tries to open the door to let the staff know that it's safe now. She is met with every single knife and cleaver that the kitchen has to offer, as she quickly slams the door shut again. After the cooks ran out of knifes, the opens the door again and does let them know that it's safe to come out now. She also hands the interim-owner 50 GP for the trouble and cleanup. And does also complain that she ordered a Nelson Whiskey, which she never received. The interim-owner sends for the whiskey and we leave the tavern - with Dunan's dead body over Brovara's shoulders. Outside the guards are waiting for us, but the captain quickly waves them off by claiming that they attacked us first and that we are also under special protection of the council.
-We all agree on letting Jack leave with the crew to Mighttown in the shadows of the night, while we travel there by foot the next day. [[Brovara]] tells me about some books he got for me, and a magical talking chair they found. I follow her onto the ship to get the books, which sadly turn out to be worthless fiction and a travelling guide to the [[Darnach Islet]]. We all meet up at [[Square|Squares]] room to have a look at the magic chair they were talking about. Strangely there is no chair to be found, but a bed that radiates transmutation magic. The bed tells us that it is an elder who is over ten thousand years old. It tells me that it survived the [[Arath#History|Cataclysm]] and has many stories to tell about it. Sadly it gets offended by the others' stupid questions, and stops talking to us.
+After a brief debate whether it's worth it or not, we decide to go to Dunan's family home to check if he did murder my precious Nana out of his own volition or if he was maybe hired? We try to gain entry by claiming to wanting to bring Dunan's dead body to his parents, but the guards won't let us. During a brief heated discussion between the guards and the captain, I sneak off and turn invisible. When Brovara dumps the body on the floor and the guards pick it up to bring it in, I sneak into the door with them and go to his room to hopefully find some interesting documents. Sadly I only find sticky magazines with naked women on them. I take them with me, because maybe they're worth something, and try to sneak out. Sadly, there are also guards on the inside of the door - what paranoid ass does something like that?? I am still invisible so I try to just open the door, which is immediately slammed shut again. So I go back to the guard's quarters and rattle with Dunan's chain mail I took off him and chuck that in a corner. One of the guards comes to check it out. The last guard I distract by throwing Dunan's longsword in some bushes. Sad, these things probably would have fetched a pretty penny at the market! Anyway, I meet up with the rest of the crew at the agreed upon tavern and have a well-deserved night's sleep.
-In that moment Jack comes around yelling orders at Brovara and Rof to start working the ship. As we still have a lot of traumata to go through as a group, I tell him that they will join us by foot on the way to Mighttown. As we leave the ship I tell the others abouts the [[Alse Edhil#Talking Furniture Study Room|talking furniture study room]] at the University for Health and Destruction in Alse Edhil, where I did my professorship. I invite them all to join me for a tour of the university if we ever go there, which hopefully we can sometime in the future. Someone proposed that we could bring the elder chair there, but I remind them that we should be in good spirits with the elder. If it is released by us or some other influence, we should not be on the list of its enemies. As I go to sleep I skim through the travel guide as my bedtime reading.
+The next morning, we head to the market and I get rid of half of my collected arsenal of weapons I don't need anymore before heading off to the ship. Darfin is weirdly insistent that we burn down the warehouse that my dad 'ordered' me to, but none of us really wants that, so in the end we do go off to the ship to leave Quarate behind us and sail towards the Orc Diarchy.
-The next day we meet at the great hall with [[Council of the Seven Captains|Greybeard's]] relatives, namely his brother TODO and [[Ozmock]]. [[Rof]] eats a lot of cheese, and even asks for more to take on the journey. Ozmock asks me about the books I was given, but I have to disappoint him because they are worthless for our research. I left them in my room, if he wants to read them. I announce our departure and we leave for our trek.
+== Turtle slavers ==
-On the way to Mighttown I tell the others about the importance of announcing one's departure, as they were all confused about the formality. Rof tells me that in dwarven culture you just stay until you get kicked out, which is a new and interesting concept for me. But what if you must leave? Hmmm… I talk with [[Strennun]] about his family and he tells me about his father's business, and that he left because he didn't want to take the business over. He's not a numbers guy, therefore he doesn't see himself leading a business. I tell him that he can employ someone to do the numbers, and just do the managing himself, but he seems to not be confident in his own abilities.
+== Do not tickle a swimming Mage's testicles! ==
-As we get closer to Mighttown more and more carts with injured people cross our way, looking like they are fleeing from something. Rof asks a limping injured dwarf what's happening, and he tells us that Hogan's and Ondas' people united to fight with Teolgrag's people in the middle of Mighttown, which is strictly against the [[Council of the Seven Captains|councils]] rules. Yet we don't really know who started the fighting. I release my hawk, and see many people fighting around the town hall, as well as people trying to storm the [[Devilsfall]]. We try to discuss a plan on what to do now, as Square announces that Kylin made her first mate. I'm disappointed that I wasn't askes, but also relieved that the burden is not on me anymore. She asks me if we both want to be ½ mate, but I decline her offer thankfully.
+After a not very comfortable - and not very long - night in my room, I was now standing on deck with all my fellow officers, while the Captain was holding trial over the captured slavers. They have to be punished for sure, but the Captain is not certain how to do it, so she tries to see what the crew wants. The mood is very changeable but in the end, it seems that the most popular choice is to have them fight to the death and the last man standing goes free.
-We enter the city on Square's command and try to fight our way to the town hall. On the way there a strange voice whispers "come here" from the dark, but as we have other things to do we ignore it. Strennun steps on a magic landmine, and almost gets ripped into pieces by it. To continue safely I try to detect other mines on our way. Strennun gets stopped by a saber around the corner. "Who are you aligned with?" they ask us, and we tell them "with Captain Nelson". The people around the corner tell us that they are with Teolgrag and that the others started the fight. Teolgrog arrived with his whole armada, which is pretty provocative, so we don't know who is really to blame here. Anyways they show us a safe path to get to the townhall through private houses and over roofs.
+The three men are encircled by the crew and someone throws in one axe (it was probably Nori, let's be honest here). Of course, everybody runs towards the axe but the Captain gets there first. But instead of killing them, he slits his own throat?!?! The remaining two fight for the axe, after one of them tries to steal a sword from a bystander and loses the hand. The other guy still has two hands and therefore wins the fight for the axe and kills his fellow slaver. While yelling about his Victory, the cursed ship works its magic and the second slaver comes back to life, killing the other guy twice, making him stay dead. This means the still standing slaver won the fight, even though he's technically dead. Funny how that works... Anyway, the Captain basically throws him overboard to maybe walk on land or I don't know. I currently have more pressing issues, my trial is coming up.
-As we exit to the street again shambling mound appears out of the blue, and we destroy it with ease. We pass some barricades and hear the strange voice again. It turns out to be a combat healer, aligned with Teolgrag who heals us before we continue any further. Arriving at the town hall we see some people defending the main entrance, while others are attacking it in great numbers.
+I plead guilty to insob... insuob... ins... disobeying orders because there was no point in pleading not guilty. The captain is somewhat lenient and made me scrub the deck and help Rajesh in the kitchen for a month. Also I am demoted to normal sailor for this time as well. Considering I could have been sentenced to death or sent ashore wherever we land, that could have ended worse.
+----------
+After three days at sea (I think I left the kitchen about four times in this time, and two times of that was to scrub the deck), the new lookout yelled something about a ship. Darfin is fetched from his chamber and sends out his hawk to scout it out. They almost shoot it down, but it appears to be an elven military ship. Captain smells good loot, so I am sent to hack holes in the ship from the bottom. Finally I get to do some swimming again! Nori kindly gives me one of his axes and I take off. While I'm underway to the ship, I see one of their people swim towards us. I am way below water, so he does not see me, and I stupidly cast a spell on him. He still doesn't see me, but now obviously knows that he has been seen. I telepathically inform the captain of what I saw and continue. When I start hacking at the bottom of the ship, some sailors drop in and try to stop me. I throw some of my force-rays on them, but they are not very impressed. In the end, I have to dive deep down out of their view and turn invisible before shooting up again and surrounding myself in a sphere of darkness, so they cannot see me. It still takes absolute ages to hack four holes into the ship because these bastards keep trying to shoot me, so I have to evade all the time. I manage after a while tho, and swim back. When I come back to good ole Bessi I hear two big explosions....
-== Might we finally get out of this Town? ==
+-----------
-I hate splitting up with my team. We really should have stayed together in the first place. And yet, as we approached the town square of [[Mighttown]], [[Strennun]] and [[Kella]] stayed behind. I didn't catch why, had to pay attention instead. Moments later, I found myself alone with [[Darfin_Elehni|Darfin]] and [[Roftag_Deerrunner|Roftag]], staring at the town hall. There was a barricade built in front of it. A couple of brutes roaming around. [[Kylin_Nelson|Kylin]] was trapped inside the building.
+<blockquote>While Strennun is hacking away at the boat, Darfin casts Water Breathing on himself, Rof, the Captain, Nori and six other people and they go to confront the mage. The mage dispels Darfin's Water Breathing but luckily the others are not affected. He does the same to Nori and Lynn. After an underwater fight, Lynn kills the mage with some magic and Nori shoots up from underneath and disembowels his dead body. Everybody heads back to the ship when more sailors are seen following Strennun back to the Devil's Fall. As soon as Strennun is inside, Lynn casts two big Lightning Bolts in the midst of the swimming sailors under water - these are the two explosions Strennun hears. Two of the sailors survive and enter the ship after Strennun.</blockquote>
-[[File:Might town-small.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Town Map of Mighttown]]
+-------------
-We went with a smart plan.
+As soon as I turn around, there are two sailors attacking me. I manage to fight one off and kill him. while screaming bloody murder. Darfin and Rof come to help me. After I kill the first one, Rof just grabs the remaining one and jumps out of the ship! That would be very bad, but I am currently kinda busy not dying, because the guy I killed obviously gets up again. Darfin tries to hold him off a bit, but I fall unconscious anyway.
-First, break into a house. Despite my kicking, the door wouldn't budge. Luckily, Roftag pried it open, and we got in. The owners must have left in a hurry...
-Second, find something that goes on a barricade. Me and Rof grabbed a table, Darfin found a tiny chair. I admit the old elf is not too keen on real, muscle work.
-Third, pretend to be one of Hogan's oafs. We walked out with the furniture and moved towards the blockade. It could have worked but we botched it.
-On our way to the barricade the pirates started shouting at us. They ordered us to stop. Suddenly, I heard springs or other mechanisms and Darfin got launched into the air! Those buggers trapped the entire square! The impact threw me and Roftag on the floor. The guards were as confused as we were. One of them picked me up. Rof continued dragging the table, Darfin moved towards the guards muttering something. They've caught on to our ruse. As one of them shot at us, I noticed Darfin's fingers starting to glow. I reached for my old, reliable Morningstar and Roftag grabbed the table firmly, poised for a swing...
+-------------
-As I later learned, Kylin did not fare much better. She attended the Council of the Captains. Nasty buggers, some of them captain. Especially [[Council of the Seven Captains|Hogan]] and [[Council of the Seven Captains|Ondas]], whose thugs were demolishing the defenseless city... So, Kylin arrived with Greybeard. They entered via a long tunnel leading from the hideout. She said the atmosphere was tense. Whispers, angry looks, captains checking their journals. Then, an unexpected guest entered. It was [[Hooded Adversary|Wormtongue]] - a nasty, sneaky chap. He offers to form an alliance. He wants to rob ships, steal booty, and raid innocent people. Captain rejected the offer straight away - a good call. The rest wanted to think about it. She talked with Ondas, the annoying brute. She also approached [[Council of the Seven Captains|Tavia]] - new scar on her face - and advised to ignore the Wormtongue. The Council voted and the votes are split. Hogan declared a war among the captains - a BAD call. Kylin smells a trap and proceeds to the main entrance. Just in time too...
+<blockquote>When Strennun falls unconscious, Nori runs down and kills the second sailor, again, making him fully dead. Beforehand, he shoves a Healing Potion down Strennun's gullet before killing the second guy with Darfin.</blockquote>
+<blockquote>Meanwhile, Rof clubs his guy to death with his shield while floating underwater. Then he swims up to the surface and threads water until the Devil's fall can circle back.</blockquote>
-Outside of the town hall, things looked rough. As I smashed one of the guards, he burst into flames. Moments later, a fire elemental appeared in his place. In the distance, I heard a shriek. Darfin held a palm to a guards's face, hands blazing with power. The guard did not stand a chance. Next to me, Roftag swung a table into another guard, smashing him to the ground. The eyes on the wolf's head he was wearing seemed to gleam. Then, we were engulfed by fire - another trap, I guess. Darfin ran away, I ran towards the fountain, Rof fell on the cobblestones. I jumped into the fountain and tried to extinguish his pelt. The elemental chased after us and dealed a crushing blow to Rof. And then, suddenly, silence.
+------------
-I've seen everyone moving, SEEN them shouting, but the sound was... gone. There was no time to dwell on that. I grabbed the elemental and dived into a fountain with him. The water changed into vapour. it should have sizzled but it... didn't. I saw fiery rays hurled at the guards - they came from Darfin's hands. Then I noticed the town hall doors swung open. It was Kylin! She started flying, seemed to be dodging something. Then she cast spell after spell, almost blinding me with the intensity. The dying guards were tossed around, crashing into the building. Back in the square's center I parried and deflected everything they threw at me. Not the first time my shield saved my ass. Wish Kella was here, she would have loved the brawl. Two more spells from Darfin and the guards were gone. One of them fled. May he live to tell a tale about our crew!
+After I get so rudely woken up by having a glass bottle shoved down my throat, I get up and stumble out of the room to maybe find some more healing potions. I find my way to the kitchen, but there's only curry leaves, so I stumble on deck. The Captain tells me and Darfin to go take a nap so we don't die. Meanwhile she keeps the other ship engaged with some fireballs and other magical hijinks. We'll see how that continues, but first I really do need that nap....
-[[File:Mighttown-temple.png|350px|thumb|right|The temple of Mighttown]]
+== Thinking about Fighting Gods ==
-I picked up Rof - maybe there was still hope for him. Darfin said he read about a temple in the trade district in the traveller's guide. Good that he actually reads books. The streets seemed deserted and fights in the distance quieter. We navigated the city with no issues. The temple was gigantic, with a steep roof. There were two statues in front. I did not recognize them, probably local gods. We were almost let in by an elf. Almost, because Kylin was not. The elf said she would desecrate the holy ground. Reminded me of my monastery, 'desecration' and 'holy' were words used to excuse many otherwise stupid actions. The master of the temple said Rof is dead. He demanded an incredible amount of money. Twenty-five thousand gold. Of course, we didn't have that with us. Darfin bargained and managed to increase the price to thirty thousand gold. AND he agreed! Hope he knows what he's doing. The resurrection ritual began, Darfin made for the ship to fetch the money. The chanting was... eerie and soothing. I decided to stay and rest at the temple.
+After consulting with the crew the captain finally decided to give up on trying to capture the elven battleship. As we leave the crew starts singing a shanty, answered by more sophisticated elvish songs, but our crew sings louder. I for one feel proud of [[Kylin Nelson|Kylin]], as I thought she would never be able to know her limits and give up on a project.
-Kylin and Darfin soon came back with the money. All shook up. They were met on the ship by [[Salarus]]. The ship was full of his servants. He protected the ship during our adventure in the city. Was a good idea for the captain to summon him. Not everything went as planned though. Jason, dubbed one of the bubbling idiots, lost his life. Pity, I started to like him... Captain and the old elf brought the money with them. Thousands of gold! I dare not ask where they found it or if it was real. The ritual ended soon, and we saw Rof. He was alive! He is charred, burnt and blistered and I have killed orcs who looked less ugly. But he is back with us, the lucky bastard. Darfin started arguing with one of the elves. Something about theory, nothing I'd care about, so I just took Rof to the Devilsfall.
+After travelling for some days, I finally finish deciphering the ancient spell book that I got by betting on our crew. There seem to be some useful spells in the spell book, but not many. And certainly not any spells that I haven't seen or heard of before. As soon as I finish the last quill stroke, I hear a knock on the door. It's [[Rajesh]], whom I happily show my findings. He doesn't seem particularly impressed and tells me about some fish that the others are trying to catch. He asks if it would be better to kill them outside of the ship. "''Undead fish would be kind of funny''" I think to myself as I tell him that it would be a good idea to kill them outside. By the joy in his voice, they seem to be catching some very big fish. Seems like we will be eating fish for the next few weeks… I spend the rest of my morning copying some of the spells into my own spellbook.
-Back on the ship, Salarus demanded 1200 gold for the protection fee. Sly little devil. The captain made a request to see the creator of the ship. Salarus was more than happy to fulfil the wish and demanded another 1500 gold pieces to find out! Wherever the money comes from, I hope it never runs out. Darfin offered us all some damn good tea. As we drank it, we were reminded about the little girl, who we promised to bring to safety. I hope at least Square and Strennun remembered about her...
+''In the meantime, the crew catches three big ass tuna, weighting approximately 1.8 tons.''
-== Getting Ballast ==
+Feeling young again after having learned some new spells I decide to try out my newly acquired invisibility spell. I sneak out of my room and onto the deck. I find Kylin on the upper deck. I sneak up behind her and scare the shit out of her with a loud scream. She pulls out her new dagger and has a stab at the air behind her. "''Why haven't I gotten this spell much sooner''" I think to myself and sneak away, giggling to myself.
-Soooo this is a tale of how we lied to a kid saying we’d come back for it. And then turned out we didn’t really lie and we actually came back for it, argh.
+With favourable weather on our side, we continue our journey towards the east. I make great progress translating the book about the cataclysm I got from [[Flavia]]. I gather the information that there used to be unlimited magic before the cataclysm, which could be accessed using lifeforce. Probably it's the same as [[Hooded Adversary|Wormtongue]] used when people around him died when he cast spells. "''Could it still be possible to use such forbidden forms of magic? ''" I think to myself, "Maybe I should share this information with other trusted magic users onboard?''"
-So anyway, [[Kylin_Nelson|the Captain]] and [[Roftag_Deerrunner|Rof]] insisted that we go and we did. Took us like 20 minutes of *trying* to walk stealthily (as in: most of us were actually stealthy and [[Brovara]] and the Captain did their best). The way there was kinda tricky because of all the traps we had to avoid – luckily [[Strennun]] was leading, and he managed to notice most of them (except for one time when he got distracted and got tossed back, hilarious). Rof dodged one more trap, [[Darfin_Elehni|Darfin]] tried tapping cobblestones with his staff and that also worked pretty well. We had to climb over a barricade, avoided a tentacle monster, yada yada yada... We finally reached the house where we left the kid. It was probably scared and would hide somewhere if it heard any noise, so Strennun brilliantly kicked open the door extra loudly so it’s EASIER to find it. With a bit of a hustle, we found the little fucker (still wouldn’t tell us its name) and started wondering what to do with it. After a small debate we chose to take the kid to the ship rather than to the church. Luckily, the way back was uneventful (except for finding some loser to slap for no reason, that was fun).
+''During one of the nights Kylin has a weird vision, in which she gets the impression that the [[Dragon Turtle]] is trying to get revenge on her for interfering with its will.''
-When we got to the ship, it turned out that the way out of the city by water was blocked and that our rudder was broken, so we couldn’t sail out right away. Strennun took a swim to maybe steal some other ship’s rudder. Instead, he discovered that underwater there’s a whole bunch of humanoids all around him. He tried to distract them with noise but got caught by the ankle by *something* instead – he got out but there was no stealing the rudder. We’d have to wait 2 days to fix it, so we kept ourselves busy.
+The next morning I leave my office to share my findings with Kylin. Leaving the hull I see that we made great progress, and finally arrived at the location described to me by Flavia. The beach is made of bright sand, which stretches miles into the land. The closer we get the more it becomes clear that this is not only the beach, but also the land around the tower, fully devoid of life. This strikes me as odd, as it seems to match exactly what I just read about forbidden magic.
-The Captain wrote to other captains in the log. She asked [[Council of the Seven Captains|Teolgrag and Tavia]] for any news on the water blockade and asked [[Council of the Seven Captains|Greybeard]] how we can help in the city. Darfin went looking for Sulla on the lower deck and Rof and Strennun had a sweet, slightly awkward conversation (“You’re just half devil”) where they decided on cease-fire. I myself figured that the kid (which we named Mighty Ballast btw) may not be as much of a waste of space as I thought. I decided to teach it how to fight and I gotta say, it’s a quick learner. At some point we even used Steve as a moving target. Best. Idea. Ever.
+On deck I find Kylin and ask her to speak with her privately. In her captains' quarters she offers me a glass of the horrid whiskey she usually drinks. "''This is what pirates do, and it seems to be an acquired taste it seems''" I think and accept. I tell her about my findings, and she agrees that the officers should know about it as well. We decide that it would be smart when I first finish translating my book, while [[Roftag Deerrunner|Roftag]] and [[Brovara]] look for a good landing from where the tower can be reached the fastest. Then we would approach the tower and try to spy into it from a distance.
-''During the night nothing happened. I wondered if Darfin was successful at finding Sulla. Maybe he found him in his cabin and they talked all night? Maybe Sulla told him how he was a war god on the defending side of a huge war long, long ago? That his brother was killed and Sulla himself was one of the first to die? And maybe he said he had some unfinished business with our gods and wants revenge? Maybe Sulla gave Darfin a quest to find his old temple, which is so old that cannot be found on any existing map? Maybe he told him of tales that are so old and so horrid that no man can or will talk about it and only some oldest elves can remember these events? Who knows, or maybe he just snored all night over some book. The next day he just told us he couldn’t find Sulla.''
+While the others leave to execute their part of the plan Kylin asks me to stay behind. She tells me about her vision and thoughts about the dragon turtle. "''What does this have to do with me, I have ancient words to translate!''" I think while I offer her my advice: Maybe we should try not to piss off the dragon turtle further on. She doesn't seem to understand that ancient gods are not to be fucked with, but with many words I can convince her.
-In the morning the crew had a training session to learn that if someone dies, their body has to be brought on board asap. Nimar makes a pretty good instructor, he even threw someone overboard for practice. This also opened a whole debate if everyone even wants to be brought back so Darfin and Captain had a looong discussion and finally decided to make a survey among the crew if they prefer to die-die or become-a-zombie-die.
+We head towards a town on the shore, which seems to be a ghost town. Here we set anker out in the waters, just outside the "death zone". I try to finish the translation of my book.
-The Captain got the responses from other captains: Teolgrag seemed concerned about the water blockade. Tavia wrote “knock-knock”, so we responded with “Who’s there?”. This joke better have a killer punchline. I feel like we’ve been waiting for her response for like a month. Most importantly, Greybeard asked us for help. He said he needed us to find the people that are hiding in the many buildings in the city. This meant one thing: FIGHT!
+''Meanwhile Roftag is trying to find out the mystery of fish guts appearing all over the deck. Strennun tells him that he keeps finding them on deck and brings them to Rajesh. Rajesh tells him that Strennun keeps bringing them to him, despite being told to throw them overboard. Strennun tells him that Rajesh told him to throw them overboard, but he still brings them to Rajesh. Confused Roftag waits on deck, observing everything and everyone. After some hours of waiting, he sees [[Nori]] walking on deck, sneakily throwing fish guts onto the floor. "''Come here Strennun, you forgot a spot''" he shouts. Roftag seems happy with this conclusion.''
-We went to the city and decided to lure the fuckers out of the buildings by creating an illusion of [[Council of the Seven Captains|Hogan]] calling them to battle. This worked perfectly and we lured out around 17 people. With the Captain’s thunders, my slaps, Rof throwing pebbles and Brovara slicing through people like butter, we quickly ended up with a neat pile of corpses in somebody’s carrot garden.
+''Having two more days to waste Kylin asks Rajesh to catch her a rat. She tries casting some spells, using the rats lifeforce as power source. She does not seem to succeed but instead grows another strain of white hair. During the night she wakes up in cold sweat and get a visit from the ghost of [[Falaria]]. She tells Kylin that she died during the battle against the false dragon turtle. Someone told her that Kylin shouldn't be here. Kylin is scared and confused by this message but tells Falaria that she is welcome to stay on the ship. Falaria leaves the captains quarters and causes a big commotion of scared sailors, who think that this must be a banshee. People are being woken up and rush on deck. Kylin steps outside and clears the confusion by introducing the ghost of Falaria.''
-And we thought that would be all – and then a corpse fell through some building’s window. Strennun attacked whoever was inside and Brovara entered to investigate. She found a soon-to-be corpse on the ground. They whispered “Controool” and died. A very random ending to a very random day. And we still haven’t finished Tavia’s joke.
+Almost finished with the last page I suddenly hear a commotion outside my study. "''Three in the morning is quite early for fooleries to take place''" I think, but I have more pressing matters at hand. Someone storms into my room, "''Professor, we need your help with a ghost''" they say. "''A ghost? I have more important matters at hand than a ghost"'' I tell them, "''only interrupt me when there are at least three ghosts"''. Only some minutes later I get a visit from Kylin, who tells me that she doesn't feel good about this tower, and that maybe we shouldn't try to enter it. We agree that the rest of the book might give some more insight into what's expecting us, to make a well-informed decision.
-== Light the way ==
+''The next morning Brovara wakes up with a sleeping ghost in her room, and Roftag makes Strennun clean the deck even harder.''
-The fight was fought quick and effectively. To our flank [[Roftag_Deerrunner|Rof]] and I spot a platoon of Greybeards men making their way to our battlefield. One of their scouts mention that there is a metallic beast running rampage in the Trade district, which has killed quite a few dwarves. I decided to offer our help in dealing with the beast after we have cought our breaths here. During our small rest [[Kella]] and [[Brovara]] finished what will surely become a tourist attraction; the [[Corpse Garden]].
+I have finally translated the whole book. It tells the tale of a group of people, called "the society", who was able to use the forbidden magic. They had discussions about limiting magic which lasted for decades. Some individuals tried to test the limits of their limitless magic, and in the process the "northern bridge" was destroyed. Whatever that means. Many people who were not able to use this magic, derogatorily called lowborn, were against the society and their use of limitless magic. They started hunting the members of the society.
-[[Tavia]]: Knock, Knock
+Six lowborn adventurers succeeded and killed them off one by one. The got stronger and stronger, and their might went to their heads. There was a battle, where everyone (including the old gods) fought them, and they were banished (except for one). Some lowborn worshipped them for their deeds, which in turn made them even stronger. Then there was another fight in the planes of [[Marymar]], in which the bay of Marymar was created.
-[[Kylin_Nelson|Me]]: Whos there?
+This is where the book end. It seems to have been written by someone of the society. Therefore, we can assume that this last fight is somewhat related to the cataclysm, where the society was disbanded. The six adventurers probably are the new gods, which are well known around the continent. The ancient gods were probably members of the society or somehow connected to it.
-After the rest we make our way to the Trade district. There we find a bunch of people building up a barricade and lead by Lieutenant Greg who seems to be quite over his head and can not give us any hints on what this beast is. Turns out though it was a mechanical bull that made kebabs out of dwarves on a weekday and petrified unfortunates on the weekends. During the fight Kella got hit by the petrifying gas and got turned to stone. Luckily I had a potion of antipetrification on me and could reverse the effect immediately. We carve up the body, extract a phial of the gas and manage to sever the head of the torso. The head will either be a fine decoration on my wall or a nice device to break through hulls of Hogans ships.
+"''It's not unreasonable to assume that the new gods are still able to use the forbidden magic and prohibit us from using it by limiting our knowledge about it. Maybe Kylin wasn't that wrong about picking fights with gods.''"
-On our way back we head by a Boxing school to pick up some items for Kella and Ballast. Additianally we made two further detors to the blacksmith and the armorer. After some brief shopping we finally make it back to the ship.
+== Old Friends, New Frontiers and Screw the Orcs ==
-[[Tavia]]: Misses
+It was another boooring day on the ship. [[Strennun]] was cleaning the deck with his mage hand spell, me playing fetch with Helmut and Rof sitting at the bow of the ship. [[Kylin]] and [[Darfin]] probably minding their business in their offices. Little did we know, the lazy day was about to get exciting.
-[[Kylin_Nelson|Me]]: Misses who?
+As we continued, Strennun caught a glimpse of a ship following us. He also spotted that the unexpected company was flying familiar colours - the Nelson's cask. Everyone started shuffling around preparing for the imminent arrival of the ship. Everyone except for [[Roftag]], who - after a closer analysis - turned out to be Roftag's wolf pelt with the owner missing.
-Once on the ship I find Salurus has paid us a visit while we were gone and delivered on my request. On my table lies a small bean with a note from Salurus. With this vision I had a weird vision. First I felt like I was suddenly drowning, to suddenly see the whole continent surrounded by 6 figures. One of the I recognize as Milin. That weird bard that the horny gnome was on about a couple of months ago. Another was just a guy with a musket. Then a Goliath with two clubs, similar to the clubs from Teolgrugs guards. Then a human with a long-sword, a woman in an elegant dress and long red hair and finally the Fairy like bitch that killed 3 of my men. I wish I could have killed her right there. But the vision changed to show me these figures fighting large creatures. The fight concludes with a Turtle like creature fleeing into the sea while another hides in the mountains. Then a new fight breaks out. But this one is between men, dwarves, elves and other races. This war was accompanied by a voice saying: "See what they have done. See what they created. Help me destroy them. Liberate them off this world that is suffering. Will you be my Champion?".
+The ship approached us and we welcomed [[Turlain]] - Kylin' father's good old friend. He greeted us with some Nelson's whisky and steadily entered our ship crossing the plank - his long white hair falling over his shoulders. We introduced ourselves, set up a table and let the Captains discuss their matters.
-As the Fairy bitch is anyway going to die I feel what is there to loose. I accept the offer. In that moment I get the feeling of being buried alive. I fight against it. I dig and dig and dig. And then break the surface, to find myself in a graveyard with a bunch of candles. I go through looking at the individual graves. I find Porofs grave and Alluros, both with a warm lit candle. Then I find Jasons grave, Orofs grave and a bunch of others that I recognize. All cold. No light. No candle. The voice comes again:"Guide these people."
+He was visibly annoyed at Kylin using the Nelson family name despite her - in his words - behaving like a buccaneer. A bold claim, given the Devilsfalls crew's commitment to fighting pirates ever since I joined. He recommended not landing in the Orcish Diarchy directly but sailing to a nearby mountain fortress and contacting Thanin - a gnome merchant who could help us out.
-I wake up and look around. I am back in my office. Next to me on the floor lies Darfin for some reason and some chalk runes. I check that he is alive and wake him. As soon as he stirs he starts screaming in panic until he calms down. Once he has calmed down from his nightmare I call in a meeting to discuss the matters I saw. Maybe someone knows something of these gods that Milin and the others belong to. And maybe Strennun can help us with his knowledge on giant turtles. Darfin explains how the gods can be split in the old and the new gods. This probably means that the new gods overthrew the old gods letting some random children to take over.
+We discussed the logistics of navigating the Diarchy at length and began wrapping up the meeting. We also explained our plans and goals, raising some eyebrows. ''Do you think it wise to dance with the devil who kissed death himself?'' - he asked as he left.
-Throughout the conversation Darfin and the others offer their opinions to help us find a plan. The discussion went on about the chair and Dafin voicing his suspicion that the chair could be and old god. I dont know if Darfin was still suffering from his Nightmare but he suddenly turns some advice into an attack, claiming its ridiculous that women and I could be a captain. Thats the first time I had to call my trusted friends and council in order. I call Darfin to stay after the meeting, to give him a chance to explain his wording. He still seemed off.
+The barren tundra of the Nomansland slowly disappeared on the horizon and gave way to forests, flatlands and faraway mountains of the Orc's domain. We sailed along the coast until we approached a fishing village. Strennun swam to make contact, which, unsurprisingly, resulted in all kinds of confusion and misunderstanding. He did however learn that the slaves belonged to Gor'Kank - a minor warlord ruling these parts.
-After dismissing him I go out on deck to cool of and to enjoy the morning sea breeze. I look down at my log book to read:
+After his return, I stepped in to explain the savage ways of the orcs. Their hideous war culture, raids, slavery. Their hatred and beastly recklessness causing them to destroy, burn and raze to the ground any human settlements they encountered. How prowess in arms and brutality elevated the current warlords - [[Orc Warlords|Dur'Kan]] and [[Orc Warlords|Tar'Nok]] - to their positions.
-[[Tavia]]: Ms. Breakthrough
+Having reached the docks of the fortress, we were subjected to a cold welcome. A certain Thai-Rain greeted us and immediately started questioning our presence and honesty. Thankfully, the tense moment was diffused by the Captain. We left Danaan, Nori and several more crewmembers on the ship and set out to search for Thanin.
-which was accompanied by a crash of wood splintering afar and a bunch of confused men screaming.
+The gnome turned out to be a gnomess! We also got invited to a banquet and seated at an honourary table. We learned that the fortress has been coping with an increasing number of orcish foraging parties and the garrison is slowly wearing thin. They even started forcing the ships arriving at the port to bolster the local defence with volunteers from the crews.
-== The Blockade ==
+Our dining abruptly came to an end as we were informed about another foiled orcish attack. This time, the defenders managed to catch a prisoner! We rushed out to assess the situation only to find Nori, who for some reason decided to leave on an orc hunt during our absence, guarding an orc scout. The scout - heavily beaten up and barely sitting up on his own - did not recognize my name or yield any useful information. To end his worthless life, Kylin stabbed him with a dagger. (Wasn't it one of the rumoured cursed daggers she owned? Guess I'll never know).
-Trying to help with the blockade, the devilsfall approaches one of the ships. Everyone does what they do best so fights start up everywhere. Square enters the enemy ship with a superhero landing, Darfin cuts off half their crew with a huge line of flames and the captains blows up everyone in a large circle. Darfin climbs up the mast to rain down spells from the crowsnest and Square gets quickly surrounded and as is tradition, so does Brovara. After almost falling between the boats I manage to climb up their railing and start tossing people overboard where they meet Strennun. The captain directly goes for their head and attacks their leader. Unseen by everyone Darfin seems to struggle with arrows raining down on him from several enemy archers. Eventually the arrows overwhelm him and he drops only our captains notices this and with a loud bang teleports over to help. Meanwhile I notice Square drop to the floor and not getting up. I try my best waking her up but the best I manage is to stop the bleeding.
+We went to sleep afterwards. Much remains to be done and I cannot wait to face the orcs in a skirmish again.
-After unsuccessfully trying to make darfin gulp down the potion, Kylin proclaims: "Well, he's dead".
-Surrounded and having to watch over Square I scream for help. Kylinn descends upon the enemy survivors and unsurvives them. Brovara carges the last one standing and with a loud crunch compresses him agains my shields. Before anyone can even consider taking over the ship, it starts to sink .. STREEEENNNUUUN. Darfin gets up.
-Back on the ship the captains makes a quick count: 3 crew members died in action, 3 people from mighttown and 1 hogan deserter joined the crew
+== Explosive Revelations ==
+To head to Thinin we organize a guide to lead us up the mountain to the fort. Our guide is Delin, a slender elven women clad in a black cloak. She seems kinda pissed with us and leads us through Mountain past a stunning Waterfall. From there we can even spy some Warbands in the plains below.
-The hogan deserter who caused some protest from Brovara is and Orc called Kra'vash and is carrying some instrument with strings.
+After a climb next to the Waterfall we arrive at a massive lake. The lake has an unseemingly strong current as Strennun soon discovers, norrowly avoiding falling down the waterfall. Past the beatifully lake we arrive a huge staircase, where we pass the Dwarves heading to work. At the top we realize there was actually and elevator to the fort that we missed.
-Square returns to her room and gets greeted by a slap. Brovara asks Darfin about the fight, but the doesn't seem to remember and feels normal. Brovara also tells Jack to improve the crowsnest to protect from arrows.
+At the castle we are lead to Thinin's quarters. He is a small male grey gnome. We chat a little about the nearby politics of orcs and come to the conlusion that if we support Durkan we can destabalize the orcs which gives the dwarves time to help us out. After a scheming session Thinin leads us to his experiments to show us a cilindrical device pointed at a mountain hundreds of meters away. With some assistance the device is loaded and fires with an ear shattering bang at the mountain takeing a chunk of rock with it. I need this on my ship! Like maybe smaller cause not sure how well it would handle the weight. While chatting about logistics and slowly realizing that having my own boom box is not possible, Thanin mentions black powder. Didnt Rigalis call his powder that too?
-After leaving the blockade behind, Kylinn invites Darfin for tea. When she enters the captains room there is a stench of tabaco in the air and a rakshasa sitting on a chair. The rakshasa refuses to share his name and introduces himself as Grand Master. He tells his price for leaving, hinting that he didn't come alone. Knowing the condition of the crew Kylinn makes a counter offer, adding 1000 gold pieces on top of the 2500 gold pieces, if the rakshasa would get rid of someone for her each month. Half of the sum shall be paid at the beginning and half of it at the end of each month. The Rakshasa steps through a gate and only leaves a paper. Darfin worrying asks the captain "How is the Dwarf?". "Spherical" Kylinn responds.
+Anyway I decide to mention Rigalis and that seems to stir something up. Apparently Thanin also knows Rigalis..... from books 1300 years ago. But from description it sounds like the same one. Thanin hands us the old diaries and we flick through and find a map that leads to something that the Rigalis from 1300 years ago hid during the Calamity. Through soem crossreferences with maps and what we knew of the continent back then we pinpoint the location near Marymar. Now we know our next destination after dealing with the orcs.
-The party is gathered and everyone is informed about the rakshasas. Orders are given and the dead bodies of crewmates are brough on deck: Orof, Shamal, Belari, Jason and three others. A seaburial is called. The dead bodies are put on rafts, arrows are distributed and everyone becomes quiet. Rashesh misses his best curry fan and Steve mournes over the loss of Jason. Kylin gives some encouraging words and on her mark Strennun pushes the floats away from the ship.
+So I head back down while Brovara and Strennun goofed around in the fort for a few days. As soon as they arrive back we plot to take the initiative and hit a few orc camps near by. With a small crew and 2 day treck we locate one of their camps... but it was an ambush. The orcs run away while attacking us from the shadows killing some. Some crew also fall for the traps set up. Meanwhile Strennun, Borvara and I do our best to hunt down the orcs. For fear I also use a couple of fireballs to torch down the forest and incinerating a couple of orcs in the process. Saddly despite them fleeing this was clearly a loss, and we head back while the forest fire rages on.
-Fire
-The rafts start burning und slowly fade into the distance.
-Kylin finds Steve grieving under deck. He seems obsessed about revenge and Kylinn's words don't seem to reach him. After being handed a bucket of alcohol I ask Brovara on advice how to protect the other crewmembers  "use the fact they ignore you to your advantage" is all I get. Afterwards I seek out Square and Darfin to apologize; Square for the wakeup slap and Darfin for doubting his judgement on Sulla.
-Brovara asks Kylinn about darfin. "Darfin is still Darfin" is Kylinn's response. When the sun is gone Darfin creates some fireworks to finish the day. "Goodbye Kur'vash" - Brovara
+==Burning the camp==
-[[File:Ballast_secret_mission.png|200px|thumb|one of the many captains logbook pages]]
+The crew approaches the gate, Rof joins the crew chasing a wolf like creature. The crew discusses how to discern orc leaders - tusks, skulls, etc.
+Tyrane disrespects the captain which prompts a hold person and threatening words. Tyrane tells us to find another port. Strennung scouts port.
-When everyone is either sleeping or passed out from the drinking Square sends Balast on a mission. Sneak into the captains room, reach into her bag, pull out the logbook and draw the following into it.
+Brovara and Rof gather the crew. Strennungs Patreon is pissed.
+The ships leaves the port.
+There are several sightings of Rof's cape on deck. The crew decides to raid the next orc camp at nightfall.
+At nightfall Strennun follows a slave to find a camp. The fighters of the crew assemble and prepare for the storm. Strennun turns invisible and enters the camp, killing several guards. Hearing fighting sounds, Brovara the captain and Rof also enter the fray killing several orcs and burning tents. It quickly becomes very clear that the orc warriors have left the camp and only the women, children and elderly are still here.
-The mission was a success, but Balast forgot to put the logbook back into the bag.
-== Strennun goes Swimming ==
-So we're still on the way to this Elven island somewhere down south-south-east. Can't see shit tho because there's thick fog all around. Not even I can see anything and usually I don't have any problem seeing through all kinds of stuff. Weird...
+==Leaving the embers==
-Anyway, i scout out the area underwater, but can't see shit either. When I get back, somebody yells something about a whirlpool and everybody loses their minds. The ship is on the verge of falling in and the Captain doesn't seem to know if she should steer in or out of the thing. I, for myself, know what I'll be doing, I'm gonna jump in and see what's on the other side. I mean, what's the worst that can happen right??
+Brovara is collecting orc ears. We camp at the hill. The warriors went south. We take watch shifts. The captain wakes up to rabbit carcasses and cape. The captain adopts a slave without a name. Raschesh gets help by 'slaves' in his kitchen, which upsets him. Strennun walks through the camps remains. Captain orders to burn the corpses and we bake a big fire. Orc survivors leave the camp and we follow after them.
+The captain approaches the survivors and demands to challenge Thur'kan - Brovara helps intimidating the orcs. One of the orcs walks towards the captain, cuts off his ear and tosses it at Brovara. Strennun saw the orc approach the captain with a knife and casts a spell, immediately killing the orc. "We need both ears" - Brovara
+An older orc lady steps forward and tells the captain to go south to the great tree, then east hill and follow the stream, upon that hill you will find his fire.
+The captain and the elder orc meet later and sit down with a fire between them.
+What do you want? peace … for myself.
+There will be a decision that breaks you, you will find peace, your friend will make sure of it.
+Meet him at the oak, then he cannot refuse. The ork lady leaves to fetch Thur'kan.
-----
+After the ritual the captains tells Rof the plan. A ghostly lady hugs the captain, Rof tries to pull the captain out. Ghost disappears. The captain tells Rof about the wolf.
+Strennun, who was following the tracks of the ork lady suddenly loses track as if she disappeared.
+Raschesch is mad about the salves taking his job.
-Strennun yeets himself into the building whirlpool, just as Kylinn manages to get a hold of the ship and slowly but surely steer it out of the pool. She does so by jamming her sword into a gap of the steering wheel and with some help from another crew-member and Square.
+== Meeting Thur'kan ==
-Meanwhile, Rof saw Strennun jump overboard, but thought that this act of sheer stupidity was not done voluntarily (Because who in their right minds would even THINK of doing such a thing?? What he failed to consider is that Strennun is not even remotely close to being in his right mind...) and made it his mission to go save him. He rappelled himself down the side of the ship into the whirlpool - where Strennun more less happily goes merry-round. He manages to catch him, but gets socked in the face by Strennun and lets him be before getting pulled up to the ship again by Square.
+Before leaving for the big oak-tree, we go over the plan again:
+* Offer Thur'kan to ally himself with us. We will support his claim to be one half of the Diarchy and in turn he agrees to not bother the dwarves or humans that are bordering his lands.
+* For him to ally himself with us, we need to challenge him. There are essentially two ways for that to happen
+** If from inside the tribe: Challenge the leader to a duel - either to first blood or to the death
+** If from outside the tribe: Both leaders choose a champion, who will then fight either to first blood or to the death.
-----
+As we are not from Thur'kan's tribe, only the second way works for us. But that's only a last resort. We will first talk to him and see where it gets us.
-So I get pulled down and over and down and over and down and over and... you get the picture. At some point I get spit out somewhere underwater?
+The next morning, the Captain orders everybody else to pack up camp and get back to the ship to be ready to sail off once we come back. We packed rations for ten days and march off towards the big oak tree. After about half a week, we reach it and I scout ahead. It is located in the middle of a depression and there is a powerful aura of magic surrounding the entire area.
-[[File:Arath Underwater-Dome.jpg|frameless|800px|Rough Sketch Strennun's Underwater Dome]]
+While I am crawling through the high grass to get a closer look, I suddenly get greeted as a 'Servant of the Turtle'. The one greeting me turns out to be Ga'alak, the Shaman of Thur'kan. He greets me and tells me to go fetch 'my friends'. I do so, too baffled to say anything else.
-It's pitch-black but I can still see some stuff and can also breathe underwater, so I go and see what's up and also where's up. I swim and swim and swim... and get to the sea-floor. I turn around and swim and swim and swim... and get to some weird structure? Metal? I think? I go along it and get to some pillars that go all the way down to the sea-floor and frame a passage. I continue until I get out of the passage and am in open water.
+When returning to the place with the Shaman, he is suddenly gone - that is until I basically run into him and he seemingly materializes out of thin air. He then greets the rest of the crew too. The Captain as 'Lady of Death', Rof as 'One who dances with the wolf', and Brovara as 'One who is driven by revenge'. He talks about how 'the crone' has announced their coming and he is to lead us to Thur'kan. Before leaving, he warns us, that The Tree is watching and no blood must be spilled on this holy ground.
-----
+Once we reach the tree itself, it is surrounded with six permanent huts, and about 30 orcs that attempt to intimidate us with a loud and rhythmic dance and shouting. The Shaman demands we leave our weapons with him before meeting the Tribe-Leader, who is awaiting in the sixth hut. It is dark in there, safe for a hearth with glowing embers. At the hearth, Thur'kan and another Orc are waiting for us
-Meanwhile, Strennun's absence has been noticed on the Devil's Fall and Square is up and ready to replace him with a (more less) trained dolphin - The idea is not met with a lot of enthusiasm. Kylinn excuses herself to the Captain's Quarter and lights a candle for Strennun.
-----
+                     Strennun       Lynn
+                    -----------------------
+                   |                      |
+          Brovara  |                      |  Thur'kan
+                   |                      |
+                   ------------------------
+                    Roftag        Other Orc
-So I'm in the water, I don't know where, I don't know why and I don't really know how. I reach out to the dragon-turtle but get ignored for some reason. Maybe I offended it somehow?? But wait! There's a faint light in the distance! I swim towards it and when I reach it, a huge mouth opens with teeth as big as my forearm! I get the fuck out of there and swim up and up and up and up.... for more than an hour. Gotta dodge some big sharks on the way up but I make it. It's open water and I have no idea where I am. Probably not too far off where I jumped into that whirlpool. So if my kalkulatins are correct, this Elven island should be somewhere South-South-East. Gotta reach it at some point I suppose, and I'm faster than the ship anyway, so let's go. I reach out to the dragon-turtle again, but only silence. Welp, swimming in silence it is then.
-----
+Lynn offers Thur'kan the deal, but he insists of breaking bread first, which we do. After that, the Captain offers the deal again. Thur'kan is interested in theory, but wants one of us to complete a challenge for him to show him we're serious about it and that we can even support him in his claim. One of the following challenges needs to be completed:
-On the Devli's Fall, Darfin adds the newly 'discovered' whirlpool to the map while Square is trying to teach Ballast how to swim. This is accomplished by rappelling her down the side of the ship (that's moving at 50 knots at the time) and waterboarding her until she starts paddling, before pulling her up shortly before she drowns.
+* A gift of a pelt from a great wolf from Rof
+* A treasure from the depths of the ocean from Strennun
+* A feast with his Orcs and Brovara that does not end in violence
-To let off some steam, Ballast goes off to slap Rof, who's had enough and escalates this issue to the Captain. A stern discussion is had and Ballast is sent off to scrub the deck with Rof and will not be allowed to slap any more people. Furthermore, she will be spending half-days with other members of the crew to learn useful skills:
+The captain moves to our backup plan and offers trial by combat, which Thur'kan declines. Rof volunteers to do his challenge.
-* Rashesh:           Cooking
+Outside again, the Shaman tells Rof to grab his weapons and follow him on top of a big boulder, where he gives him a bowl to drink, which appears to be blood (to Rof it tastes like Ale). Rof starts to feel dizzy and is pushed off the boulder by the shaman....
-* Darfin:            Reading / Writing / Speaking
-* Jack:              Carpenting / Handiwork
-* Brovara:           Religion / Morality
-* Rof:               Humility / Survival
-* Kylinn:            Leadership
-* Kurwash:           Music and Arts
-While Kylinn and Square are having this discussion, Rof is under deck and gets jumped by crew-members that are planning a mutiny, because he doesn't want to be part of this mutiny. A tussle ensues and Kylinn, Darfin and Square are on scene. The mutineers attempt to frame Rof of starting the mutiny and the Captain is inclined to believe them. The leadership retreats to the Captain's quarters and Square manages to persuade her that this mutiny couldn't have been started by Rof because why would he? He promptly gets promoted to First Mate (Square's role so far) and Square gets delegated to 'Chief Slappening Officer', meaning she'll be responsible for training and security of the crew.
+... and wakes up in his old camp in the nine hells with an unnatural urge to hunt. He finds paw-prints in his camp and follows the trail to a magically darkened cave with a huge wolf inside. An epic battle ensues, where Rof kills the wolf in the end after much deliberation. During the fight, he calls upon his crew-members to give him advice
-The crew-members who instigated the mutiny are being thrown onto the skiff with rations for three days (not enough to reach the shore) and sent out to sea. One of the mutineers - Rushk'all - hides and grovels in front of the captain and gets sent to the brig instead, where he will be overturned to the authorities in the next port.
+* Brovara: Get your revenge, kill the big wolf
+* Strennun: Look around you and kill the minions of the wolf first
+* Lynn: Trust in your instincts.
-Meanwhile, Darfin finally gets to talk with Sulla. He can convince them to agree to a talk with the rest of the leadership - but Sulla only agrees under the condition that they're tied together, so Sulla can't be thrown overboard. They also know that Death itself sent Kylinn that strange vision of the Gods fighting against other Gods that she had some nights ago.
+After killing the wolf, Rof drags the huge beast out of the cave and suddenly appears in the Orc-camp again, bloody and wounded.

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The Imminent Doom: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:09, 2 November 2025

The Fall of Marymar

Rebellion in Goblin Town

An Excursion to the Hells

The Breaking of the Council

Current Chapter

Strennun goes Swimming

Strennun Almost Drowns

Psych Session with a gaslighting faerie

Global Anomalities Detection and Analysis Society

Of Elves, Hags And Other Ugly Creatures

More Than One Way In

The Bag of Holdn't

A Tempting Offer

Chair à Maze

Are we… Pirates?

Just Keep Swimming

Fuck you, and thank you!

4+1 Captains

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

"The Flavia's Frivolous Fantastical Fings"

The captain, with the dagger in the office

Convincing the council

"I'll have a Nelson please"

Turtle slavers

Do not tickle a swimming Mage's testicles!

Thinking about Fighting Gods

Old Friends, New Frontiers and Screw the Orcs

Explosive Revelations

Burning the camp

Leaving the embers

Meeting Thur'kan

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