The Imminent Doom
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 grew 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 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 interesting fings. Kylin found some magic sticks and approached the shopkeep, who turned out to be a looney. She stuttered, avoided questions and suggested things I will not repeat here.
Kylin buys some magic sticks and finds an intricate dagger. The dagger captures the attention of whoever looks at it. The person only realizes that when someones 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. 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 skil 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 Rof along the way. We find Salarus on deck playing cards. He is unhappy 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.
