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#Post#: 422--------------------------------------------------
Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: August 13, 2018, 4:18 am
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(Previous sessions - Party wakes up shipwrecked on a small
island and begins exploring, trying to figure out what happened.
Sil released a shackled prisoner and Vilinar protested by
cutting the man open as he tried to run away into the ocean.
They then watched him drown in the waves.)
On our latest episode of "How to Win Friends and Influence
People" our heroes rested in the lair of the fiendish fungal
mass they slew. Afterwards they prepared to return to their
boat, but from atop the spire they noticed large masts with full
sails on the other side of the island. Vilinar and Ishara went
back to the boat to secure their exit while Cridec, Mar, and Sil
went to scout this new ship. On the way to the ship they
periodically spotted small primitive humanoids made of similar
fungus as the island laying dead on the ground. When they
arrived at the ship it was more wreckage, though completely
covered in grey mold and sheets of fungus giving it the
appearance of having full sails. Along the back of the ship Sil
was able to make out the worn name Nightvoice. While exploring
the cabin Sil found the ships logbook, but it was badly damaged
and would take some time to carefully go through and piece
together its contents. She put it in her pack and they went
below deck after hearing moans coming from below. Below deck
they found three more dead fungus humanoids, one of whom was
much larger than the others, and nearly two dozen piles of bone,
clothes, teeth, jewelry, coins, and other nick-naks piled
ritualistically throughout the hold. Amidst all this, tied to a
chair, was a pale and sickly looking Jask Derindi (the prisoner
Vilinar cut open and chased into the ocean). The table in front
of him was full of picked mushrooms and stews made of fungus and
his mouth was stuffed full with the "food", preventing him from
talking. Sil took the rotting bits out of his mouth and he
excitedly procliamed "Praise Nethys! Please, get me out of this
horrible place!". Sil began untying the ropes while Cridec
placed a hand on Jask's chest, causing him to scream in pain and
vomit blood until dead. Cridec said he didn't trust him and Sil
Stormed out in a fit of rage and disgust, walking into the
fungal forest alone. Cridec and Mar returned to the life boat,
but Sil was not there. They waited a few hours, but nightfall
started approaching so Mar went to check the spire cave. Half
way there he noticed Sil stalking him from the mushroom forest
and stopped to talk to her. He tried to convince her to return
with him and she agreed, but only if she was never left alone
with the others and only if Mar guarded her while she slept.
They returned and everyone sailed back to the main island just
as night fell. Sil camped far from everyone else.
Morning came and instead of retracing their tracks along the
northern cliff back to base, they decided to explore along the
southern cliff and travel to the beach at the other end of the
bay. After nearly a full day of travel, and a battle with a
giant crab, they came to a small campsite on the beach. A lone
woman stood by the water there, starring aimlessly into the
water. Mar and Sil snuck to the tree line and Cridec tried to
talk to her, but it quickly became apparent she was undead. She
charged Cridec, but he simply burnt her to re-death while
walking backwards. Her body seemed to be growing many vines with
small yellow flower buds. The campsite looked long abandoned
with only a couple driftwood shelters remaining and a well worn
game trail to the south leading into the jungle. They camped
there for the night. Sil camped far from everyone else.
As morning approached Mar heard something in the treeline and
went to wake Sil up. They hid in the tree line and snuck up
looking for the noise. Just as they spotted a man hiding in the
trees, he screamed and charged at them. He was joined by two
more who each broke off to run at a different person. The
strange men lobbed spears as they ran hitting Mar, Sil, and a
sleeping Cridec. One charged Sil wildly. She shot him in the
head and jumped into the bushes. Mar dodged a few blows till an
arrow came from the bushes and hit his assailant in the head.
Cridec put the man charging him to sleep and Mar came over to
interrogate him. Each man was human with bloodshot eyes and
teeth filed into sharp points. They wielded primitive spears and
broken scimitars and had scarification all over their bodys in
the shape of pentagrams. Each wore only a loincloth and a
necklace with a red pearl set into a wood block. The man woke up
to Mars rapier at his throat and spoke in a broken form of
pigeon infernal. Cridec asked him who he was and what he wanted.
The man replied "You come to our island. You are food now.".
Cridec intimidated him causing the man to growl defiantly, so
Mar stabbed him in the neck then tried to keep asking questions.
The man was choking on his blood so he grabbed his blade and
tried to swing at them, but an arrow came from the bushes and
hit him in the head. Sil attacked far from everyone else.
They took the necklaces from the bodies and headed south along
the game trail, tracking were the people had come from. They
came to a fork going east or west. Tracking discovered that the
3 had broken off from a much larger group of 7-10, while the
others continued west. They went east trying to find where the
group had come from. Sil sprung a snare and was pulled ten feet
up into a tree where she was impaled on a spike. She cut herself
down and watched more closely as they continued, spotting and
avoiding a couple more traps. The tracks eventually left the
trail and continued northeast into the jungle. They followed and
eventually came to a beach on the east side of the island. There
they found the largest ship wreck yet. A large vessel ran
aground with a large copper demonic figurehead, rusted over from
long exposure to the weather. The tracks continue north,
following a river inland. There they wait. Sil waits far from
everyone else.
[img]
HTML https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQu1X_UWx0O6mx4ApTqerNvUw608905s2ykA2EvQnJX-uMHRS4P[/img]
Small humanoids found on Fungus Island
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 433--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: September 16, 2018, 6:45 am
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Picking up where we left off, the party stood on a small beach
with tracks leading further inland alongside a river and a
ninety foot shipwreck alongside the cliff face. Under a large
demonic figurehead was a nameplate that read "The Brine Demon".
It was getting late in the day so Mar and Sil decided to scout
the ship rather than continue following the tracks. They did a
very thorough sweep of the ship, taking hours, and found the
entire ship had been stripped completely bare. The captains
cabin was locked and it looked as though the doors had been
damaged by numerous weapons at some point, but still stood
strong. Sil picked the lock and inside found the skeleton of the
captain laying on the floor, next to a desk, with one arm
stretched out reaching into a secret compartment. Inside was a
darkwood coffer. Sil picked the lock and found a fancy dagger
and a golden locket inside. Inside the locket was an incredibly
detailed portrait of a red haired half-elven woman with the name
Aeshemara etched along the bottom. You all decided to camp in
the ship, which seemed fairly structurally sound. During the
investigation of the ship you all noticed a strange Dimorphodon
patroling the area. It was larger than all the other
dimorphodons you had seen on the island and seemed to have blue
designs drawn across its body. It perched upon the ship and
watched you all curiously for an hour or so as you went about
your business. It never showed any signs of aggression and
eventually just flew off.
As night fell Sil and Ishara heard noises coming from the river.
Two humanoid silhouettes appeared walking through the water. One
adult size, the other child sized. They hurried out of the water
and made their way to the jungle line, where they sat and
rested. Sil woke Mar and they stealthed off the ship to scout
the situation, but Mar knocked loose some rocks and the figures
disappeared into the bushes. The little one crawled back out,
but Sil believed it to be an illusion and decided to just try
talking. Before she could get a full sentence out though, she
was overcome with fatigue and fell face first into the sand. The
larger figure stepped out of the bushes with two blades and
walked towards Sil, until a familiar voice from the bushes cried
out "There is another hiding in the shadows. Get him!". Mar
recognized the voice of Ghelik the gnome and surmised that the
other figure was Sasha. He called out to them and woke Sil.
Ghelik and Sasha looked ragged and beaten, and Sasha's clothes
were covered in blood stains. They claimed that a day after you
all left, the camp was attacked by a group of eight cannibals.
Cridec's servents dropped almost immediately. Aerys was not in
good fighting condition and Ishirou kept letting his guard down
to fill in the gaps in hers, so they didn't last much longer.
During the fray Ghelik hid in a barrel of water, or "Survived to
tell the story" as he puts it. Sasha ran into the woods once the
tide began to turn. She was pursued by 2, but was able to ambush
and kill them. The camp was ransacked and the others were taken
away. Sasha convinced Ghelik that tracking them down was the
only option, so they've been on the hunt for the past 2 days. It
turned out the group you had been back-tracking the past day
wasn't coming from their home. They were coming from destroying
yours. Everyone then returned to the ship to rest for the night.
Sil decided to decipher the logbook she got from the Nightvoice
and learned that it was an old Pathfinder Society ship led by
Venture Captain Havner Ames. The log tells of how they were
returning home to Almas, after their journey around the southern
tip of Garund, to report on a strange leathery pod they had
found in a seaside cave. During the trip the pod burst, covering
the ship in a thick layer of rust colored mold. The entire crew,
save for captain Ames, succumbed to the mold and died. In a
desperate attempt to keep the mold from spreading to the main
land, Ames set the ship on a crash course to the nearest island.
The last entry talks about how the pod had begun pulsing again
and how Ames planned to take it to a small cave he found and
hide it from the world. When Ghelik heard about this he became
ecstatic. He revealed that he is a member of the Pathfinder
Society, and though he currently isn't in the best standing with
them, the discovery of a lost ship will definitely turn things
around for him.
Sil's logbook reading reminded Mar that no one ever read the
logbook from the Jenivere, so he read it and learned that The
Jenivere’s captain seemed to be suffering from some sort of
madness that grew over the course of the ship’s final voyage.
Earlier entries from previous voyages were precise in recording
progress and events along the way, as were entries from the
first two-thirds of this last trip. Yet as he read further, the
more recent the entries got, the less common they became—in some
cases, several days were missing entries. What entries did
appear were strangely short, focusing more and more on one of
the passengers—the Varisian scholar Ieana, with whom the captain
seemed to have become obsessed. Several entries are nothing more
than poorly written love poems to Ieana, while others bemoan
Captain Kovack’s inability to please her or catch her attention.
Near the end, the entries began to take on a more ominous tone
with the captain starting to complain that other members of the
crew are eyeing “his Ieana.” In particular, he suspected his
first mate was in love with her, and writes several times about
how he wishes Alton would just “have an accident.” The final
entry was perhaps the most disturbing, for in it the captain
writes of how he’s changed course for Smuggler’s Shiv at Ieana’s
request. He hopes that the two of them can make a home on the
remote island, but also notes that the crew are growing
increasingly agitated at the ship’s new course. The captain
muses that “something may need to be done about the crew” if
their suspicions get any worse.
The next morning you all set out to find the group that had
attacked your camp. You headed back inland to the game trail and
followed it for many hours, winding all across the island. The
trail was littered with snare traps and the path diverged many
times, but with Sil and Sasha leading you were able to avoid
them all and keep to the tracks, even setting a few traps of
your own. In the middle of a ravine Sil spotted a snare trap
designed to pull someone halfway up the side of a cliff. At the
top of the cliff was a small hut, so Sil decided to climb up and
investigate. As soon as she poked her head over the top, a
waiting cannibal kicked her in the face and sent her falling 60
feet down. Mar slowed her decent with feather fall, but by the
time she landed the cannibal had run off into the jungle and
disappeared. You continued down the trail for a few more hours
being led to the south west corner of the island. The trial met
with a river and the clearing gave you clear view of a hill to
the north where an odd cluster of trees rose high above the
canopy line. The tracks continued southwest along the path,
following the river. You continued southwest for a bit until the
strange dimorphodon returned, landed on the other side of the
river, and began to stare at you intently once more. You
attempted to continue southwest but the dimorphodon would become
agitated and erratic every time you tried to turn deeper into
the jungle. Sil tried to communicate with the creature via
pantomime which seemed to only confuse it. It flew north into
the jungle a bit, so Sil and Mar convinced everyone they needed
to follow it. You turned from your path and headed north into
the untamed jungle with no trails. The dimorphodon did seem to
always stay in eyeline as it hopped through the trees northward,
and even came back to scare off a giant constrictor snake that
wanted to attack the party for entering it's territory. Sil got
heatstroke while climbing the hill.
At the top of the hill the dimorphodon disappeared behind a wall
of vegetation and you began hearing an excited female voice
calling out to you all. "Almost here! Just a little further!".
As you pushed through the last bit of jungle you came into a
clearing of neatly spaced trees with one immense banyan tree
growing in the center, and all growing high above the canopy
line. Standing in front of the large tree was a small tan woman
with long green hair. She wore what looked like a bikini top and
skirt that was made of palm fronds. To her side was an immense
lizard with yellow designs along it's body similar to the
dimorphodon. In the tree above her the largest snake any of you
had ever seen was coiled around the branches, it's body covered
in green designs. The dimorphodon soon landed nearby and the
woman greeted you all excitedly. Getting closer it became
apparent that she wasn't human at all. Her hair was actually
palm fronds, and her skin had a bark-like texture to it. She was
a dryad. She told you her name is Aycenia and she has been
looking forward to meeting you ever since she discovered you
were the ones who cured the blighted island to the north. In
exchange she offered to let you rest in her grove and help in
you in any way she can.
During conversation Aycenia asked if there was anyone else on
the blighted island. Someone taken prisoner. Sil and Mar said
yes and alluded to Jask's death. When pressed further they
completely threw Cridec under the bus. Aycenia looked upset and
made it known that her grove is a place of peace and violence
will not be tolerated. Then Jask stepped out from behind her
tree and started yelling at everyone. He looked much healthier
than a man who had died twice should have (Seriously, this guy
just wont die), and was now fairly well equipped. He carried a
well made wooden staff with the symbol of Nethys atop it, a worn
but serviceable suit of studded leather, and some fancy
jewelery. Sil and Mar eventually calmed him down, but he never
left the side of the tree, or the protection of the large
animals resting beneath it, and continued to eye the Chelaxians
constantly. Then everyone settled in and started trying to plan
a way to either defeat the cannibals, or rescue the other
castaways.
Things you have learned from Aycenia:
When asked about any other newcomers to the island she mentioned
that the cannibals took a new prisoner several days ago. One
that matches the description you gave her of Captain Alizandru
of the Jenivere. But they never held a feast and that is
strange. She also mentioned an "odd bird man, who hides inside
the crabs". She says he usually keeps to the beach to the north.
When asked about the cannibals she assured you that it is safe
here because the cannibals think she is an evil spirit and avoid
the area. They have a village south of here. There are around
20 of them. Normally they are scattered around the island, but
they have all gathered at the village, which usually only
happens when they are preparing a feast. They are led by a large
warrior who rules by fear. He is counseled by an old and cruel
woman who acts as their medicine woman. The have a large lizard
that guards the road into the village. They first arrived on the
Island 70 years ago when their ship crashed. They set up camp in
a partially built lighthouse that had been abandon years before.
At first they were trying to escape, but eventually there was
some sort of infighting and the survivors made this their
permanent home.
When asked about herself she told you she has been here her
whole life. Long before anyone inhabited the island. She doesn't
know how she came to be here, but knows that she is relatively
new compared to the history of the island. She doesn't know what
it is, but she can feel that there is something ancient beneath
the soil.
When asked about any sites of note on the island she asked to
see your map. She placed her finger in the center and ink began
to spread outward from where she touched, filling in the
interior of your map and marking key places.
The Standing Stones: Three large obelisks stand in a triangle.
In the middle is an altar of sorts. She doesn't know what it's
for and has never seen anyone do anything with them.
The Red Mountain Devil: The dirt of the mountain in the south
east is tinted red, giving it the name Red Mountain. At the
summit there is an altar where the cannibals occasionally leave
people as offerings to the Red Mountain Devil, a large winged
reptillian creature that considers the whole island it's hunting
ground. She doesnt know what the creature is, but knows that it
draws strength from the blood of its victims and is extremely
territorial. The offerings ensure that it doesn't hunt the
cannibals.
Captain's Last Stand: A ruined structure where the captain of
the cannibals ship once lived in exile. They killed him many
years ago.
Pearl Bed: Where the cannibals dive for the red pearls they
wear.
HTML https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/images/738724/Aycenia.png
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#Post#: 436--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: October 17, 2018, 5:35 am
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The group started off in Aycenia's Grove. Vilinar pledged to
serve Jask in one task as atonement for his failure to protect
him. Jask told him to prove his innocence to the Sargavan
government. After recounting the charges against him Sil and Mar
revealed some knowledge they had kept hidden from the rest of
the group. They had found a ledger in the wreck of the Brine
Demon that detailed fraud and embezzlement of money from both
the Sargavan government and the Bloodcove pirates. It had names
and dates, and if presented to the proper authorities could
clear Jasks name. So Jask told Vilinar his mission was to keep
him alive and get him to Eledar to clear his name. Ishara danced
with the dryad then made flower crowns for all the animals.
Despite the bad blood between most people, Jask, Gelik, and
Sasha where all convinced to join in on the assault of the
cannibal village.
After a brief planning session they left the grove to attack the
cannibals village in the middle of the night. The humans had a
rough time traveling at night and slowed progress, but
eventually they followed the game trail to within a few hundred
yards of the village. They set a bunch of trip wires and bear
traps on the trail and sent Ishara and Mar to scout and lure the
cannibals to them. Ishara turned into a giant wolf spider and
unsuccessfully tried to pacify a very angry Shiv Dragon (Monitor
Lizard) that had been placed as a guard. Mar was immediately
spotted by a lookout tower and the whole village broke into war
cries as a chase ensued. Ishara stayed hidden in the bushes
watching numerous cannibals and skeletons run down the game
trail towards the awaiting party. Wave after wave of enemies
fell upon the party, but due to the traps, bolts and arrows, as
well as liberal use of sleep magic, the cannibals fell easily.
Until the leader of the tribe arrived. This mountain of a man
strode forward confidently, unphased by the large pile of bodies
his tribe had been reduced to. He dropped numerous party
members, impaling them with his scimitar and causing black rot
to spread around the wound and drain the life from them. Alas,
his downfal was his funny bone. A single joke from Gelik the
Gnome and he was reduced to a laughing buffoon. This gave the
group time to finish off the remaining cannibals and deal with a
new threat. An elderly witch arrived with a pack of skeletons
and began casting spells at the group. While the group held off
the skeletons, Ishara leapt out of the bushes and started
chewing on the face of the witch. The witch looked near death,
but launched three jets of fire at Ishara, which blasted her out
of spider form and into unconscious form. Ishara was healed and
turned into a monitor lizard, but the witch turned invisible and
ran away. Before Ishara could give chase a small monkey ran out
of the bushes and slapped her in the lizard face! Her vision
quickly left her and even though she chomped down on the monkey,
which poofed into nothingness, she was now blind and unable to
help her allies. With the witch gone and the skeletons dead
Vilinar tried to remove the tribe leaders weapon from his hand,
but succeeded only in angering him enough to stop his laughter
and bring him back into the fight. It took the combined might of
all eight people to combat him, but eventually he too fell.
Vilinar promptly pee'd on his body.
They raced to the village to finish off any stragglers and kill
the witch. The village was a series of thatch huts built around
a large stone lighthouse overlooking the water. It was empty,
save for the guard lizard still tied to a post. They split up to
search the village. Mar found a creepy hut filled with bones,
feathers, herbal concoctions, and potions. Sil Found a storage
shed full of Jerky, water barrels, and piles of equipment
belonging to the kidnapped members. Ishara took the jerky and
started trying to befriend the Lizard again. Vilinar found the
butchery where they prepared the meat of thier victims. Behind
it was a prison yard where Ishirou, Aerys, and Sedilia (Cridec's
servant) where being held. There was no sign of Malkor (Cridec's
other servant). Searching the lighthouse they found a room
filled with old ship memorabilia organized into a crude shrine,
including a large bust of asmodeus on the wall which looks to
have once been a ships figurehead. The top of the lighthouse
looked near completion, but is still not functional. The center
of the village had a large fire with a cauldron boiling water
over it. Vilinar kicked the cauldron over. Near the fire pit was
a large, foul smelling hole covered with a driftwood grate.
There were numerous stakes around the pit, each with a long vine
rope next to it. The hole descended about 30 feet into darkness.
Everyone gathered around the fire and rested for the night.
Loot List!
In a chest in the lighthouse you found several rotted bags,
4,200sp, and 180gp.
In the herbal hut you found 3 vials of unknown liquid, 2 sticks
bound in a strange alchemical substance, 3 small bags filled
with a tar-like substance, a palm-sized, rough, yellow stone,
and 8 unknown potions.
On the tribe leader you found a scimitar with a strange handle
that resembles a complex puzzle lock, a gross human skin cloak
with skulls stitched into it, a large wooden shield with a
demons face carved into it and an amulet similar to the ones the
others wear, but much more intricate and with a larger red
pearl.
On the pile of dead cannibals you found 17 sets of broken blades
or shoddily made spears, 17 red pearl amulets, an almost endless
supply of lizard food, and a sense of accomplishment!
[img]
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#Post#: 440--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: November 6, 2018, 5:57 am
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The party camped in the now abandoned cannibal village for the
night. Jask did a marathon magic detection/identification during
the night and revealed all the magic items you had accumulated.
In the morning Jask examined the the lighthouse and with the
help of Aerys started working getting it to a semi functional
state. The party decided to explore the mysterious pit in the
center of the village. They found themselves in a network of
caves beneath the lighthouse and were quickly set upon by a set
of feral undead creatures. Vilinar blocked the creatures advance
while the others quite literally popped them. The creatures
exploded into gruesome puss bombs covering both Vilinar and Mar
in rotting, putrid excretions. Vilinar puked everywhere...
twice. Behind the creatures was a chamber with numerous carved
out alcoves. In one of these alcoves they found a note, penned
in blood, on a scrap of torn leather.
"I am Captain Alizandru Kovack, betrayer of my crew and
destroyer of the good ship Jenivere. Hell would be a welcome
escape from what hideous unlife looms before me, but it is no
less a punishment than I deserve. That I was enslaved mind and
body to a serpentine demon who wore a Varisian’s skin does not
pardon me. It is my weakness that led the Jenivere, her crew,
and her passengers to their doom. That Ieana has abandoned me
here is nothing more than the fate I deserve. I do not beg
forgiveness, but I despair that she lives still, and that she
seeks something dire on this forsaken isle—she seemed
particularly interested in Red Mountain. If you read this and
you be a kind soul, seek out what I have become and destroy me,
and then seek out Ieana and slay her as well. And to those whose
lives I have helped destroy, I can only apologize from this, my
dark cradle and darker grave."
Moving deeper into the caves they saw less feral looking undead
darting through the shadows, but weren't confronted by any until
trying to pass through a passage that led into a large room of
worked stone. Two ghouls stood upon a large serpentine idol made
of stitched together corpses and attacked as the party
approached. One of whom seemed to very much resemble the captain
of the Jenivere. Their touch caused their victims muscles to
lock up, but they were still easily dispatched and Ishara used
magic to decompose the corpse stitched idol into a mushy pile of
compost. The large room appeared to be a temple of some kind,
with numerous scenes of anthropomorphic snakes enslaving
humanoids, eating children, and other strange depictions. Large
stone snakes coiled up into the ceiling acting as support
pillars for the area. At the end of the temple a large snakes
head had been carved, holding a wooden door in it's open maw.
The stone surrounding the door was scorched and numerous empty
potion vials littered the floor around it. Beyond the door was a
small circular room with a small viper-shaped altar in the
center. The walls contained more murals of the strange
anthropomorphs, which Mar believe referenced an ancient race
known as Serpentfolk. These murals showed them using large stone
monoliths to create magical wonders. One showed an army of
humanoids being turned to zombies. Another showed them parting
the seas and crushing enemy ships. The final showed flaming
streaks of lightning being called down. Beneath the mural of
parting seas it looked like once faded ancient writing had
recently been restored by someone. None of them could read or
recognize the language, so they left and moved deeper into the
caverns.
They found similar writings carved into a cavern wall, but still
could not decipher it so they moved on till finding a source of
sea water in an offshoot cavern. Vilinar and Sil moved deeper
while Mar and Ishara checked the water. A group of ghouls
attacked Vilinar and Sil, but couldnt get past Vilinar. Mar saw
the fight taking place through an opening above him and tried to
aid magically, but drew the attention of two ghouls who jumped
off the ledge into the water next to him. The two pairs fought
separate battles till a clothed ghoul appeared before Vilinar
and Sil, crying out "You will pay for your intrusion upon the
Mother!" and began arcing bolts of dark energy at them. Sil
killed the last of the ghouls in front of Vilinar, allowing him
to charge at the new magical ghoul, but as he strode forward the
creature released a charge of necrotic energy into him that left
him unconscious and bleeding on the ground. Sil retreated to the
others who were still fighting off the last of their ghouls.
Together the three of them held off the attacks and defeated the
magical ghoul that had followed Sil, but by the time they
returned to check on Vilinar all that remained was a desecated
corpse, devoid of life. They searched the area and found nothing
but a wet nest in an area covered in serpentine drawings.
Together they dragged the body of Vilinar back to the hole
beneath the village and pulled him up, where they rested for a
moment and took some time to try and figure out what to do.
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#Post#: 442--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: December 3, 2018, 7:18 am
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After pulling Vilinar's corpse from the tunnels below the
village, Mar, Ishara, and Syl strapped it to a makeshift
stretcher and set out towards Aycenia's Grove, in the hopes that
the dryad might be able to help restore him. Aycenia said she
might know a way to help, but it wasn't guaranteed to work and
could be unpredictable. Everyone agreed to try and so they
stripped Vilinar of all his clothing and possesions while
Aycenia created a hole in the ground beneath the bows of her
tree. Vilinar was put into the hole and buried while Aycenia
performed a ritual beside the grave. As evening drew near, the
grave began to push upward and rising from the dirt was a tall,
muscular woman. She appeared human with chest length brown hair
and tan skin, but her face was slightly bestial. Her eyes were a
bright violet. Her ears came to a point. Her nose was flat with
flared nostrils, and her canines were pronounced, almost
fang-like. Vilinar had come back, but in a very different body.
They spent the night in the grove and then went back to the
lighthouse were Jask had drawn up plans to get it operational
with a few days of work from a handful of people. Ishara went
back into the caves and made charcoal rubbings of the languages
they couldnt read and brought them to Jask for translation. He
was able to decipher two phrases.
"To Command the Very Tides to Rise Up and Eschew What Lies
Below:
Empower the Four Sentinel Runes with the Blood of a Thinking
Creature Tempered by the Kiss of a Serpent’s Tongue.
Anoint the Tide Stone with Waters Brought from the Sea in a
Vessel of Purest Metal.
Invoke the Lord’s Sacred Name to Wrap His Coils around the Sea
Itself that He Might Lay Bare What Lies Below and Cast Down
Your Enemies on the Waves above."
"All Glory to Great Ydersius!"
Ishara recognized Ydersius as the name of an old serpent god
defeated by the ancient azlanti long ago. They asked Jask to
join them in searching the area to the east where they saw the
lightning bolts come from a few nights before. They were also
interested in the standing stones which they thought the
deciphered phrases could be a reference to, and exploring the
red mountain that Captain Alizandru's not had mentioned. Jask
left the lighthouse in the others hands and they set out to the
east.
They arrived at the base of the Red Mountain where the standing
stones stood atop a bluff overlooking the bay. Four large stone
monoliths, each with a serpentine rune carved in it, and a small
stone pyramid in the center. The pyramid had recently been
cleared of overgrowth. A small distance to the north was a large
crevice that held a number of rickety rope bridges that could be
used to travel numerous ledges down to the ocean water 80ft
below. Vilinar tried to walk down to the water but was met by a
large winged reptile clawing over a mound of rocks and launching
a ferocious attack. Vilinar grabbed the creature preventing it
from flying away while everyone else shot it from a distance and
everything was going pretty well. That was until, amidst the
bloody flurry of claws clashing against Vilinar, something
happened to her. Her features became much more feral and beast
like. Her ears grew larger. Her nose flared upward, and her jaw
elongated revealing a mouth full of numerous sharp teeth. She
began attacking the creature with a crazed bloodlust, biting
into it until it finally wrenched free of her grasp. The
creature flew upward, dodging everyone's attacks, and came
hurtling back down towards Syl. It landed on her and with a bite
to her neck began draining the blood from her. Mar and Vilinar
ran to get back up the cliff to aid Syl, but before they could
get there Vilinar caught Mar off guard and sunk her teeth into
him. The creature held Syl in its claws while flying back up
into the air and carried her over the cliff 95ft above the
water. Mar guarded himself from Vilinar who continued to chase
after the creature, going so far as to leap off the cliff, 15ft
into the air, and grab the creatures foot, causing them to start
to slowly lose altitude. Ishara conjured a Moon Beam on the
flying group which burned them all and knocked Syl unconscious.
The creature drop the lifeless Syl 80ft to the ocean, but mar
was waiting with feather fall to prevent her from dying. The
creature focused on Vilinar, carrying her further out to sea,
but succumbed to her frenzied gnawing, dropping them both into
the water. Again Mar used feather fall to save Vilinar. The
creature sank beneath the waves and Vilinarr frantically swam
towards Ishara and Syl who were healing at the base of the
cliff. Ishara and Syl waited for Vilinar, but as she climbed out
of the water she attacked Syl, biting her ferociously. Syl
backed away and Ishara interposed herself, attempting to talk
her down, but was simply the next to get bit. Eventually Ishara
got through to Vilinar who collapsed on the ground. Everyone
gathered and rested at the standing stones. Syl and Mar did not
trust Vilinar. Behind the stones the creature had crawled out
from they found a nest with a large amount of treasures
including, a magic javelin, a magic quiver, magic arrows, and
the desiccated corpse of the witch from the cannibal village.
In an attempt to decipher the instructions they thought
pertained to the standing stones, Ishara turned into a large
cobra and bit Vilinar on her hand. Vilinar then took her hand
and wiped her blood on all four of the monolith runes. She then
collected sea water in her helmet and poured it into the pyramid
in the center and Ishara shouted out "Ydersius!". With a loud
crack four lightning bolts shot up from the monoliths, deafening
both Syl and Mar, and the entire bay began to churn as the
waters were slowly pulled out and back into the ocean. This
revealed a lone shipwreck and large stone doors in the cliff
face that slowly opened with the receding waters. They made
their way down to the shipwreck which was a nothing more than
the rotting front half of a ship, and entered into the exposed
galley. They found nothing other than broken furniture, crabs,
and seaweed, but through a door to the captains quarters they
found a small blue winged creature. He called himself Captain
Ekubus and demanded they report to him, and his sea urchin first
mate, on the low tide. From him they were able to learn that a
"funny looking person" came a number of days ago and went
towards the "scary looking doors". With the promise of treasure
for his ship they were able to convince the captain to help them
explore the area through the doors. While the captain was
preparing himself for adventure Syl looted his cabin and
obtained a Rope of Climbing. Before they set out everyone rested
for eight hours back at the standing stones and six hours in the
stone doors shut and the bay refilled with water. The next
morning they repeated the ritual, drained the bay, gathered
Captain Ekubus, and made thier way to the stone doors. Pulling
the seaweed off the doors revealed ancient carvings depicting
fanged humanoids and beasts feasting on women. Some were able to
place the styling as Ancient Azlanti in nature and knew that an
azlanti structure this far south was very rare and an important
find. We ended as they all began down a dark corridor that ended
in stairs upward.
HTML http://a2irongods.net/wiki/images/e/e1/SS-Ekubus.jpg
Captain Ekubus
HTML https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/121368/assets/509834/redmountaindevil.jpg
Red Mountain Devil
#Post#: 481--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: July 11, 2019, 11:56 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Sil, Mar, Cridec, Vilinar, and Ishara delved deep into a
subterranean temple dedicated to an ancient vampiric deity. In
the main chamber they found Ieana, the Varisian scholar, now
revealed to be a serpentfolk woman. They attacked her
immediately before any words were spoken, killing her dead. She
had been deciphering the ancient Azlanti scripts within the
temple and many of them mentioned Saventh-Yhi, a lost city of
legend within the mwangi. The notes could be valuable so they
took them and left to return to the lighthouse. By the time they
got back the lighthouse was finished and within a few days a
merchant vessel appraoched to rescue them and their fellow
castaways. Villinar and Ishara had both been struck by vampiric
curses and decided it was safer for everyone if they stayed on
the island until they could figure out a cure.
Arriving in Eleder, the capital port city of Sargava, the
castaways said their goodbyes. Aerys left to find her captain
and Ishirou accompanied her. Jask left to find the Grand
Custodian and clear his name of the false charges laid against
him. Sasha simply wandered of jovially. Gelik offered to broker
a deal between the party and the Pathfinders for the notes they
had obtained. The notes were sold at a handsome price and the
party took some much need rest.
Around the same time a new ship arrived carrying many new would
be adventurers ready to brave the wild lands of Sargava. Sera,
an exotic looking aasimar clad in heavy armor bearing the symbol
of Abadar. Nar, a large and imposing half-orc. Thia, a quiet
half-elf with a tiny bat named Steve. Mort, an industrious
mountain dwarf and priest of the forge. And Basalt, a massive
goliath hidden beneath an eccentric gladiatorial costume.
Soon after these new adventurers arrived, they, along with the
survivors from smugglers shiv, were called to meet with a
venture captain of the Pathfinders, Amivor Glaur. Amivor hired
the lot of them to trail blaze for an expedition they were
sending to look for the Lost City of Saventh-Yhi. He asked them
to find a native guide before they left in three week and told
them of a reclusive hermit known as Nkechi who would fit nicely.
The group agreed and set off to look for Nkechi.
A few miles up the northern coast they found Nkechi's home. A
small whole in the side of a 200ft tall cliff with a conch shell
horn at the base of the cliff. They approached the horn, but
were attacked by two huge crabs resting nearby. A few people
almost washed out to sea, but victory (and crab legs!) was had.
They blew the horn and Nkechi, a priest of Gozrah, appeared.
Though he was initially very angry that they killed his dear
crabs, the party convinced him to meet with them. He tasked them
with completing two tests if they wanted his help. A trial of
water, to bring him a black pearl from the oyster beds nearby.
And a trial of air, to retrieve a fully intact feather from
Chirok, the Stormbird. The party agreed and headed further
north.
As nightfall approached the party came to a small fishing
village set back against the cliff. Mort and Sera made allies of
them by offering many large crab legs for dinner and Basalt
offered entertainment by wrestling all interested villagers. A
good night was had and in the morning the villagers showed them
were the oyster beds were and equipped them with some diving
gear. Basalt, Nar, and Mar swam out and began diving for
oysters. After numerous failed attempts, Basalt noticed that
someone was drowning nearby in the seaweed. He knew in his
heroic heart that he must immediately save them! So enthralled
with his mission was he, that he forgot to breathe and began
inhaling water. The drowning creature was in fact not a person,
but rather a large cluster of serrated seaweed that lashed out
and clung to Basalt. A fight ensued, with Basalt passing out
from lack of oxygen, but with teamwork, tactical rope work, and
a few mermaid kisses, the creature was driven away with no
casualties and a black pearl was found.
They traveled further up the the coast to a towering rock
formation known as Gozreh's Crest and the rumored lair of
Chirok, the Thunderbird. They scouted the base of the 500ft
cliff trying to decide how to proceed, but were soon confronted
by a small band of Banuwat tribesmen. Seeing the party approach
Gozreh's Crest, they had come to protect their sacred bird. The
tribesman said only the worthy may approach Chirok and
challenged the three strongest to a contest of wrestling for the
right to climb. Sera, Nar, and Basalt accepted the challenge.
Nar was beaten, but Sera won. Basalt was mid fight when he
unleashed a thunderous wave that threw his opponent back into
the water. Apparently this broke the rules and all of the
tribesmen attacked. It was a short fight filled with many moral
discussions on whether to take prisoners or not. Thia
(accidentally?) melted someones face off... no turning back now.
In the end half the tribe was dead and the others were
unconscious against the cliff. Mar and Sill offered to stay
below and keep watch while Nar led the ascent up the cliffside,
anchoring ropes every hundred feet for the others to use.
Unfortunately they ran out of rope and had to free climb the
last hundred feet. Everyone managed fairly well, except for poor
Thia who bounced majestically down the rocks numerous times,
making it to the top barely clinging to life. At the summit they
found a huge birds nest, nearly 30ft wide and 10ft high.
Feathers could be seen sticking out of the nest, but finding a
whole one proved difficult and soon a great glowing bird was
spotted descending from the clouds. The party backed off as
Chirok landed with it's nearly 50ft wingspan and screeched
angrily. Mort tried to to bribe her with old crab meat from his
pocket. It didn't work. Basalt created the illusion of a feather
and a question mark. This confused the bird, but did not lessen
it's anger. Sera made her shield glow like the tips of Chirok's
wings, but Chirok had had enough and breathed a beam of radiant
energy across half the party, burning and blinding them.
Everyone dove for cover, but not before Chirok swooped down and
grabbed Sera in her talons, lifting her off the ground and
carrying her over the cliff's edge. Thia, Basalt, and Nar tried
to grab the bird, but could not hold on. Though they did pull
free a few feathers. As Chirok turned to assault the group once
more she tossed Sera out into the air to fall over 500ft, then
let out a ear piercing screech that left half the party dazed
and confused. In the confusion both Cridec and Basalt ran off in
random directions and tumbled off the side of the cliff, falling
500ft. In a panic the rest of the party all jumped off the
cliff, hoping that Mar would be paying enough attention to catch
them with his few remaining feather falls. Thia was caught and
pinned by Chirok while trying to escape, but teleported off the
cliff and joined everyone in the free fall. Fortunately Mar was
paying attention and everyone had a rough landing, but survived.
They ran back down the coast and Chirok soon lost interest in
chasing them. The party made it back to the fishing village were
they had found the pearl and took a much needed nights rest.
The next morning they returned to Nkechi's lair and presented
him with the feather and the black pearl. Once he verified their
authenticity they were invited into his home where he had
everyone sit in a circle around a low fire. Everyone inhaled
burning herbs and chewed exotic roots. When questioned Nkechi
said they were going to commune with Gozreh. A few minutes in
everyone began to trip balls and felt their consciousness
leaving their bodies and flying up into the sky. As they watched
the vast landscape disappear into clouds alight with electrical
energy, their bodies slowly began to reform, but as animals.
Cridec was a venomous snake. Sil was a wolf. Mar was a giant
spider. Basalt was a honey badger. Sera was a horse. Thia was a
panther. Nar was a giant lizard. and Mort was a boar. Nkechi
appeared amongst them as a giant crab and proclaimed that they
were to petition Gozreh. They tried many things to gain the gods
favor, but the only response was the formation of a large red
storm in the distance that began moving rapidly towards them.
The two storms collided and a wave of snakes began to form from
the red clouds and pour forward towards everyone. A particularly
huge snake, with scale patterns similar to the serpentfolk
priestess killed on the island, led them into battle. Lightning
struck, poison gas flowed, the honey badger was swallowed whole,
but the spirit animals were able to fend off the giant snake and
it's hoard.
The party awoke around Nkechi's fire and he quickly proclaimed
that something ominous was looming over the group and that they
would need Gozreh's help. He agreed to meet them back in town
before they left. Basalt scored some of those sweet psychotropic
roots and then they returned to town. Much shopping was done.
They traded their extra thunderbird feather to Gelli at the
Unicorn's Apothecary for a large discount on many potions. They
looked over the remaining job postings and met with a man named
Krieve at the Gold Crown Shipping and Mining Company. He offered
a job tracking down a shipment that is overdue to arrive from
the Bandu Hills. For 5gp/day and a 500gp bonus upon completion
the party agreed to take the job. When asked what company name
the contract should be made out to they decided to call
themselves "The Party". Basalt and Nar hit up the tavern
nightlife and made some gold challenging people to various
contests of strength. Eventually everyone met back at the
Sargava Club. They were interrupted by Sasha Nevah joining the
table and introducing a tall elven woman named Chivane. Chivane
revealed herself to be a member of the Red Mantis Assassins and
suggested that the party work with them instead of the
pathfinders in finding Saventh-Yhi. The party said they would
need to think about it and were given a red and black cloth to
hang from their window when they had made their decision.
Before heading to bed they asked Briga, the owner of the Sargava
Club, about The Freeman Brotherhood. She told them The Freemans
were local folk heroes to the natives, but a violent group of
insurgents to the local government. They fight to stop the
oppression of their people but have recently become rather
aggressive and cause the Baron a great deal of trouble. She
mentioned that the locals hide them, so unless you're a native
or extremely trusted by them, there is no way to find them. With
that everyone went to bed.
Nkechi
HTML https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/images/611981/nkechi.png
Amivor Glaur
HTML https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/images/2276887/Amivor-Glaur.png
[img]
HTML https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/96204/assets/381052/Chivane.jpg?1413102385[/img]
#Post#: 482--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: August 5, 2019, 1:49 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The next morning, during breakfast, Gelik arrived and asked for
help organizing and guarding the expedition warehouse. Nar, Mar,
and Sil were chosen to go. Everyone else headed out to find the
Gold Crown's missing shipment. They met two Gold Crown agents at
the headquarters. Skort, a talkative human guide, and Valmor,
his quiet half-elf partner. Together they hopped in a wagon and
headed/GALLOPED out of town. At the city gates they ran into
Ishirou, another castaway from the island, who had been waiting
for them. He congratulated them on their upcoming adventure and
warned that the Aspis Consortium had wanted him to convince the
party to join them, but he refused. He had worked with them in
the past and didn't consider them good people. He also mentioned
he had been spending a lot of time with Aerys, another castaway,
and that she had told her captain about Saventh-Yhi. Her
captain, a woman named Kassata was gathering her large crew of
pirates and intended to beat the party to the city. Ishirou said
he intended to join with Aerys and that he considered the whole
thing friendly competition. He then wished everyone good luck
and left.
Outside the city The Party made for the Bandu Hills to the
northeast. After a little over a day of travel they came upon
the wagon they were looking for, but it was destroyed and
surrounded by a pack of 30+ hyenas scavenging the remains. The
party had a bit of difficulty scaring the large pack away, but
eventually, through the clever use of thaumaturgy and Basalt's
stage presence, the pack ran off. The wagon had been completely
destroyed and most of it's contents were either missing or
scavenged by the hyenas. Evidence of a brief battle remained in
the form of broken weapons, armor, and a few severed limbs.
Cridec discovered tracks among the wreckage of large humanoid
footprints and some very big dog prints. It looked as though
they had dragged things north into the mountains. Following the
tracks into the mountains they came upon a broken wagon floor
hammered into the ground with words painted in blood on it.
Basalt, being the only one who can read giant, told everyone it
said "Home. Go Away". Cridec and Thia used their familiars,
Kigbeck and Steve, to scout the area ahead and saw two deformed
dog-like creatures guarding a cavern entrance. They were
fur-less and about as tall as an average person. Thia and cridec
stealthed down above the cavern entrance and saw a large ogre
come out and start cutting up the back half of a horse to feed
to the dogs. Basalt called out to the ogre in giant and,
surprisingly, had a pretty amicable conversation with the
dimwitted creature. They offered to trade their horses and beer
for any living "food" the ogre had and the storage box taken
from the wagon. The ogre, aptly named Lump, had them come in to
talk to his family. Basalt entered and met Grump, Hump, and
Greg, the other ogres living in the cave. Greg brought out a
weeping man from the back and eventually the trade was made.
Though Lump didn't want to part with the storage box, so Basalt
was forced to make the hardest decision in his career and
offered to give Lump his bag of Fine Gravel. Lump happily agreed
and the party left with a busted storage container full of
papers and drawings, and a PTSD ridden guard named Glen. With no
horses the travel back was slow, but after a few days and a
small scare from a mountain goat, The Party made it back to
Eleder in the evening and headed home.
During dinner Briga said they had had a few visitors while they
were out and tossed a letter for Cridec on the table. Basalt
immediately read it aloud to everyone. A woman named Kassandra
Henderthorne wanted Cridec to meet her at the Adventurer's Club
and to wear something nice. Before leaving, Briga also mentioned
to Sera that the Archbanker of the church of Abadar was looking
for her. Cridec and Thia then left to meet Kassandra, Sera left
to visit the church, and Basalt prepared to do a poetry reading
for the whole tavern lamenting the loss of his dear friend, Fine
Gravel.
Cridec and Thia arrived at The Adventurers Club. A high society
social club for nobles and rich colonials. They were escorted to
the back where they met with Kassandra and an older woman
introduced as Lady Madrona Daugustana, the matriarch of Eleder.
Lady Madrona quickly excused herself and Kassandra invited them
to sit. Pleasantries were exchanged. Miscommunications about the
nature of Cridec and Thia's relationship were made. It seemed
like Cridec and Kassandra's families new each other from back in
cheliax. When they got down to business kassandra said she was
working with the Aspis Consortium in the hunt for Saventh-Yhi.
She said it would be good for both their families and she wanted
Cridec and his friends to join with her and the Consortium.
Cridec and Thia gave out another "We'll get back to you" and
then left. Thia was a strong independent woman and refused
Cridec's help out of her chair.
Sera met a man named Gilliam Choles, the Archbanker of Sargava.
He expressed wonder at seeing a paladin of Abadar in his streets
and said he merely wanted to meet and get to know her. She told
him of their expedition to Saventh-Yhi and asked if he had any
thoughts on who they should travel with. He said she should
trust her instincts and go with whichever she thought was best
for the will of Abadar. He also mentioned that the Sargavan
Government had been asking the church for large loans recently
and he believed that they were also planning to look for
Saventh-Yhi.
Everyone met back at the Sargava Club and compared notes. The
next morning they decided to go to the Sargavan Government and
see if they could get a better deal out of them than the others.
They traveled to the palace of Baron Utilinus, Grand Custodian
of Sargava, but were stopped in the palatial gardens just
outside the courtyard. A few minutes later Jask Derindi, a
former castaway and bitter enemy of Cridec, arrived with a few
guards. After making their pitch Jask said that, despite his
disagreement, the government would like to work with them, but
would only match other people's offers and nothing more. He then
turned to leave and added that he would not be upset if they
chose to not join.
Remembering that they had never been paid for the Gold Crown
Job, everyone went to the Portside District to get their money.
Basalt tried to improv a law degree and haggle for more money,
but was quickly shot down. 700gp was paid to the party. As they
left the building they noticed large plumes of black smoke
rising from further into the district. Upon investigation they
saw people running and screaming, bursts of flame rising from
warehouses, and wild dogs running through the streets attacking
people. They dispatched a few dogs while moving forward and saw
that the pathfinders warehouse was one of the buildings on fire
and two cloaked natives were throwing Molotov cocktails on other
buildings as well. Sera pointed and screamed "Agents of Chaos!".
One of the natives tried to run, but the party quickly overtook
them and since Mar wasn't around to object, Sera placed them
under citizens arrest. Thia used magic to ask them who they are
and what they were doing. They answered "We are the Freeman
Brotherhood. We are here to stop you slaver scum from oppressing
our people!". Mort and Basalt used a combination of water
creation and Pyrotechnics to halt the fires around them. A crowd
was seen gathering further down the road so they grabbed their
captives and went to investigate. They arrived at a large
compound called The South Arcadian Whaling Company, where
another cloaked native stood on the roof of a 30ft building
holding a small bound and gagged hostage with a knife to his
throat. The hostage was Gelik! The cloaked man shouted to the
crowd below about how the bloodshed will continue until his
people are freed. While he was monologueing, Basalt snuck
through the crowd to the wall and climb up to the roof. As soon
as he got to the top, the cloaked man slit gelik's throat and
kicked to start him rolling off the roof. He turned to face
Basalt, his blade glowing white and seeming to transfer energy
into the tattoos all over his body, but Sera commanded him to
halt and he was magically compelled to do so. Basalt charged
into him, throwing them both off of the roof and into the crowd
below, while Thia teleported to the roof and caught Gelik just
before he fell to his death. Two more insurgents came out of a
hatch in the roof and started beating on Thia while she held
Gelik, but as soon as they saw the collective group
curb-stomping their leader into unconsciousness below, they all
jumped back into the hatch and ran out of the compound. Cridec
put one to sleep as he tried to get away. Gelik was healed and
we ended the session with everyone deciding what to do with the
four captives they gathered together at the base of the
building.
HTML https://i.pinimg.com/originals/89/19/a5/8919a5e4c4fe6d87be3d5709e55978e6.jpg
Agent of Chaos!
#Post#: 484--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: September 3, 2019, 9:31 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The Party decided to wait till the Sargavan Guard showed up to
handle things. A small troop arrived a few minutes later and
took control of the prisoners. They asked everyone to accompany
them to Praetor's Block so the Commander could question them.
Everyone complied and they were escorted to the city jail. After
waiting for about an hour they got an audience with commander
Ezio Egorius, the praetor of Eleder. He asked the party many
question about their involvement and seemed oddly interested if
they were involved in slave trade. After the party denied they
were he produced a note, written in polygot, found on one of the
prisoners which described them and their warehouse.
Here are the slavers you’ve been looking for. Portside,
Warehouse 104
Male goliath. Wears mask.
Male elf. Pale, bald, ritually scarred.
Female human. Wolf headed hood covers face.
Male Dwarf. Wears symbol of the forge.
Female Aasimar. Wears symbol of the wealthy father.
Male half-orc. The only one in town.
Female half-elf. Dark skinned, but not drow.
The Party denied the allegations. Commander Ezio took their
names, origins, and where they were staying, saying they would
be investigated, but were otherwise free to go for the moment.
They were given 500gp for helping stop the Freeman's assault and
headed back to The Sargava Club to discuss. Cridec pointed out
that he wasn't on the list that described them as slavers and
believed it was most likely the Aspis Consortium that had set
the Freeman's Brotherhood after them in order to send a message.
The next day everyone met with Amivour, Nkechi, and Gelik to go
over the expedition route. Since the warehouse had survived the
fire, preparations were almost complete and the party was free
to leave whenever they wished. Much to his dismay, Gelik was
told he was to accompany the party and represent the interests
of The Pathfinders. The party spent the rest of the day
purchasing a large amount of supplies and numerous horses for
the journey. Cridec and Thia informed Cassandra Henderthorne
they weren't interested in joining with the Aspis Consortium, as
the rest of the party was kicked out of the Adventurer's Club
for looking too much like Adventurer's. Cassandra was visibly
disappointed, but said she was confident they would see more of
each other and then excused herself. The party decided to just
ghost the Red Mantis Assassins and the Sargavan Government,
leaving without giving any word. The next day they did just that
with nearly a dozen fully packed horses, Nkechi, and a
stubbornly reluctant Gelik. Sil and Mar said they had things to
attend to first and would catch up as soon as they could.
Five days into traveling east, along the edge of the Laughing
Jungle, the path turned north to bypass a series of jungle
hills. Nkechi said he had heard of a mine in the hills they
could travel through to cut a days travel off their time. The
Party all agreed that nothing bad ever happens in mines so this
was a good idea and Nkechi led them into the hills. Shortly
after entering the jungle they were stalked and confronted by a
wild looking colonial woman, named Athyra, and her dinosaur
companion, Jaji. She yelled for them to leave her hunting
grounds, but Sera was able to convince her they were friendly
and just wanted to pass through the mine. Athyra warned that the
mine was a tunnel to the underworld and no one returns from
there. The party insisted that nothing bad happens in mines and
continued regardless. Since they were determined Athyra asked
them to find a locket of hers that had been lost in the mine and
said she would wait for them on the other side of the hills. The
party agreed.
Traveling on the party came to an abandoned mining camp that the
jungle had almost completely consumed. They searched the
buildings and found the journal of Feran Crinhouse, the mines
owner. The journal was fifteen years old and talked about how
they had tunneled into and adjacent mine and found a strange
glowing orb. The last entry was in a different handwriting and
just said "They’ve come up from below! They’re all dead, and
their touch withers the flesh! May the gods have mercy on us!".
The party spent the night in the abandoned barracks and entered
the mine in the morning. Immediately they realized dragging ten
pack horses through mines was going to be difficult, but not
being the type to walk away from a challenge they simply
blindfolded them and trudged on. Being a dwarf, Mort led the
way. Soon his horse stepped into a puddle that climbed up it's
leg and began enveloping it. Everyone jumped back and threw
things at the ooze, but the horse was quickly brought down and
dragged into a nearby pond by the slimy creature. They continued
on till they came to a bridge near an alcove containing an old
camp and a lock-box. While a few tried to brake into the
lock-box, others noticed hair in the water under the bridge and
it was slowly coming towards them. They were soon set upon by
four undead creatures whose touch drained all the moisture from
creatures. Two from the water and two from the ceiling above.
Mort turned undead and sent a few running, but by the time they
had finished them off a horse had been desiccated and Basalt was
drained of much moisture and energy (two points of exhaustion).
The lock-box contained 500 gold and the deed to the mine, naming
Athyra Crinhouse as the next of kin. They continued on until
seeing a blue glow from around a corner. Thia had Steve the Bat
scout and saw a large glass dome sitting on a small island,
surrounded by dead bodies. A similar bridge connected the path
they were on to the mouth of a jagged opening in the glass dome.
There were two undead creatures standing in the opening. One
with glowing blue eyes. The party tried to hug the wall and
slink past the dome, but the two creatures leapt out at them.
The creatures drained the party of a bit more moisture, but Sera
cast daylight causing them to shrink back in pain. The dome
repeatedly pulsed blue light causing the pair to heal wounds, so
the party switched tactics and began attacking the dome. Thia
was pulled underwater and dragged away by one of the creatures,
but in a final blow of divine fury Sera shattered the entire orb
causing the life to leave all the undead. Nar fished the blue
eyed corpse out of the water and pulled a silver locket off of
it. Inside was a picture of a well dressed man and his young
daughter.
That is were we finished.
Athyra and Jaji
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#Post#: 503--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: October 8, 2019, 11:48 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The party woke from their nap in the abandoned mine and
continued onward to the surface. There they met Athyra and
returned her locket to her. In gratitude she offered to scout
for them on there journey and alert them to any danger she sees.
A few days back on the road and they came across a large
gathering of merchants camping together. The party decided to
camp alongside them. Basalt overtook a cockfight by challenging
a large Golem, named The Freshmaker, to a duel, and in a
surprising upset actually managed to win, earning the group a
fair amount of money. This introduced them to the Golem's owner.
An eccentric merchant of minor magics and wax based fragrances
by the name of Wrigley Spearmint. Sil and Mar caught up with the
group here and, after everyone caught up, the group went to
sleep and continued on in the morning.
A few more days in Athyra alerted the group to a camp that had
been abandoned after a fight. The party investigated and found
the remnants of the Sargavan Government's expeditions. It looked
as though they had been preparing a fresh kill when they were
attacked by two large tyrannosaurus' and fled into the jungle to
the south. Sil and Mar insisted that the group attempt to
rescue Jask, who was supposed to be with the Sargavan's group,
so they followed the path of carnage into the jungle. Nightfall
came and the party lost the trail, but soon heard the sounds of
two large creatures hunting them. They prepared for battle, Mort
engineering a crude spike trap in front of himself. The first of
the T-Rex appeared and was immediately charmed by Nkechi. He
talked to the T-Rex and convinced it to go tell it's friend to
leave. A heated T-Rex argument could be heard in the distance,
and through the eyes of Steve the bat they could see it wasn't
going well. Their friendly T-Rex (Dino) was bitten and driven
off by the other (Dina), who then continued to hunt the party.
As Dina appeared before the party Nkechi charmed her as well. He
convinced her not to eat them and to go finish eating the corpse
back at the destroyed camp, but on her way she stepped on Mort's
spike trap and broke the charm. Nkechi was promptly chomped
nearly to death, but the party killed Dina before he was fully
gone. T-Rex trophies were gathered and the tracking of Jask
continued. After an entire night of tracking they found what was
left of the Sargavan's expedition hiding in a large tree. Jask
was very grateful to see Sil and Mar, and appreciative of the
groups efforts. Everyone slept and the next morning left,
traveling together all the way to Kalabuto.
Upon entering Kalabuto they met a small zenj girl who sold them
all hand made tribal fetishes that may, or may not, serve any
kind of use. Gelik said their contact, a dwarf named Chieton,
was supposed to be in The Shrunken Head Inn. They asked the
little girl for directions and she was happy to point them in
the right direction while riding on Basalt's shoulders. The
Sargavan's parted ways to resupply their own expedition and Jask
told Sil he would be staying at the Shaman's Totem Inn if she
needed him. The party then entered the Shrunken Head and, amidst
the drunken patrons and native dancing girls, met with Chieton
to plan the second half of their journey.
#Post#: 504--------------------------------------------------
Re: Recaps for the Absent
DIR By: Dathous
Date: October 29, 2019, 9:38 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The Party adjourned to Cheiton's house to plan their journey
away from prying eyes. Cheiton explained the easiest route to
Tazion and told of numerous hazards along the way. Once everyone
was satisfied they went back to the Shrunken Head Inn to sleep
before continuing on in the morning.
The Party was attacked in the middle of the night by assassins
wearing bandana masks and wielding poisoned blades. Cridec was
alone in his room and though he did nuke his assailant to death
rapidly, he was heavily wounded in the process. Nar was also
alone, but after realizing the assassin had touched his axe, the
ensuing blind rage was enough to allow him to beat his assailant
to death with his bare hands. Thia and Sera had a tough fight in
their room, Sera not being able to find her sword and being
knocked unconscious numerous times. Thia's icy defenses saved
the day, freezing the assassin in in place. Mar, Mort, and
Basalt had little problem chasing their assailant into a full
retreat out their bedroom window. while Basalt and Mar finished
off the attacker in the street, Mort, clad only in his finest
speedo, attempted to help the others and soon found out the
entire floor was heavily trapped. Exploding lightning glyphs,
magic rope snares, grease pits, and jammed doors had been placed
all over outside their rooms and a wizard waited to shoot bolts
of acid at them. Slowly they fought their way to the wizard and
subdued him, with Cridec left in a stupor and Basalt gently
swinging upside down, sleeping like a baby. They looted everyone
and found a black and red handkerchief, much like the one they
had gotten from the Red Mantis Assassins. They interrogated the
wizard and learned they were a mercenary group called the River
Rats that were hired to subdue and detain the party. Everyone
agreed that all signs pointed to the Red Mantis having hired
them. The party then killed the wizard and left the inn in
broken burning shambles to go get rest at Cheiton's house.
The next morning the party got out of town before any questions
or retaliations could be sent their way and continued their
journey towards the screaming jungle. They met some locals along
the banks of The Lake of Vanishing Armies, debated the moral
implications of weaponizing leashed Juju zombies, ignored a
magic ritual involving boar intestines, and after weeks of
travel found themselves alongside what they assumed to be the
Ruins of Liclac. The party decided to move on, but Thia was
drawn to the iconography of the ruins, feeling that they bore a
resemblance to a reoccurring dream she had been having. She told
the party of her dreams and, being worried that someone might be
in need, decided to explore the ruins.
Thia's Dream
She walks alone through a dense jungle, following the sound of
running water and animals in the distance. She comes to a river
where a group of animals bathe along the shore. On the opposite
side of the river two elephants bathe beneath a large waterfall
falling from a height beyond her view. She steps into the water
and tries to swim towards the elephants, but finds herself
swimming up the waterfall toward the mouth of a giant crocodile,
which the water pours from. She swims into the open mouth of the
crocodile until all light is left behind, and she is swimming
blindly. Eventually she feels a muddy bank and pulls herself out
of the water. A bright light appears in the distance. It is the
sun rising and she sees that, though she is still soaking wet,
she is now surrounded by a dry and broken land in all
directions. The only sign of life is a lone tree a short
distance before her. Beneath the tree a beautiful woman with
large feathered wings kneels, gently sobbing. She approaches,
but as she nears, the roots of the tree begin to pull the woman
beneath the ground and she arrives just as the woman is pulled
beneath the earth. She digs to find her, but soon notices that
the leaves of this tree are actually thousands of snake tails
writhing independently. They extend and reach for her,
attempting to wrap her in their coils, but she awakens.
Cheiton
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