Under Siege

An encounter from my Labyrinth Lord Far Isles campaign inspired by the Robert Duvall "I love the smell of napalm" scene from "Apocalypse Now". Setting is in the bayou backwoods where the forces of two coastal city states are hammering away at each other. Unknown to the fighting forces (but known to the PC's at the time), the war is actually over but word hasn't reached the back country yet. 

If you're interested in how this played out at our table, the session report can be read at:
http://dragonsbreakfast.blogspot.com/2016/07/far-isles-session-39-assault.html

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UNDER SIEGE

A small company of Xin musketeers are trapped on a sandbar.  They  laying siege to a force of Cha'nrk  raiders, holed up in an old fort on an attached island. Both have lost their boats and are stuck here. No one knows the war has ended.

Trenches and parapets with cover, burned bodies in no-mans land. Wet and smoky. 

Xin Musketeers

Captain Solond [Mk6, HP31, musket + longsword, pikemans armour AC6, 8x ever-dry gunpower]

Sergeant Lunt [Mk3, HP18, musket and half pike, pikemans armour AC6]

Musketeers (18) [Mk1, HP5, musket and short sword, pikemans armour AC6]

Pikemen (22) [F1, HP5, pike, short sword,  pikemans armour + shield AC5]

Captain Solond insists on pushing on with their fight, and will not believe the war is over without proof. Sergent Lunt can be convinced either way about the war, and is happy to abandon the fight.

Both will try to get the boat from the party, by hook or by crook; Captain Solond 'officially', Sergeant Lunt by underhanded means if necessary.  The men could go either way, or both ways.  

Pay-chest hidden in covered pit below cot in Captain Solond’s shelter: 250gp, 100sp

Cha'nrk Raiders

Commander Phraz [F5, HP30, pistol, longsword, plate mail +1 AC2 (red and black, flame on breastplate, easily recognized)] String of red jasper around neck, pay for troops (30x10gp) 

Insidiator Kolo [C5, HP22, 'firestick', war hammer, chainmail + red and black robes, AC5] Spells: 1/CLW, 1/Firelight, 1/Sanctuary, 2/Resist Fire, 2/ Hold Person, 3/Animate Dead; Potion of Plant Control

Cha'nrk Soldiers ( 20) [F1, HP5, spear, crossbow, chainmail AC5] 

Part of a raid on Xin, separated from the main force and escaped upriver. Trapped now. Would offer all sorts of rewards for help escaping, and would even keep their word. But if they have to play nasty to get the boat, look out. 

Notes

From a rules perspective I used Labyrinth Lord. "Mk" refers to the musketeer class I came up for the campaign. Details at: http://dragonsbreakfast.blogspot.com/2014/12/character-class-musketeer.html

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Spells for Ships and Boats

A few new spells from our recently ended "Far Isles" campaign. Enchantments for boats and boating. Written for Labyrinth Lord, but you're smart enough to use them for any version of the original game I'm sure.

Repair Hull (reversible)

Level: 3

Duration: Permanent

Range: 10’ per level

This spell may be used to repair breaches, warped wood, shattered planks, and other damage to the wooden hull of a ship (or other wooden structure). The volume of wood repaired is 2 cubic foot per level. In terms of ship hit points (SHP), the spell repairs 2 SHP per level of caster. 

The reverse of the spell, warp hull, damages a ships’ hull by twisting or warping the wood, permanently destroying its shape, form and strength. 

Mist Skiff

Level: 4

Duration: 6 turns + 1 turn per level

Range: 0

Casting this spell causes a cloud of mist and vapours to coalesce into the form of a small boat (equivalent to a river boat in terms of size, movement, etc). The boat requires no rowers or sails, instead being propelled by a half dozen misty, vaguely human forms. These rowers take no room. The boat is also unaffected by the effects of wind, waves, and current; it will always move at its base speed, will not be overturned by rough waters, etc. The mist skiff is also immune to normal attacks and damage, and is affected only by magical attacks. 

Enchant Boat

Level: 6

Duration: 1 day or see below

Range: Touch

This spell can be used to enchant one boat; any vessel of sailing boat size or smaller. The exact effects are up to the caster, but in general is can be used to improve one feature of the boat. For example, acceptable uses would be:

• Increase speed by 50%;

• Increase SHP by 50%; or

• Increase cargo capacity by 50%.

The duration of the spell is one day. This is based on the degree of improvement noted above. Lesser improvements will increase the duration. For example, if the speed is increased by only 25%, the duration could be doubled to 2 days. 

Enchant Ship

Level: 8

Duration: 1 day or see below

Range: Touch

This effects of the spell are the same as the 6th level spell enchant boat, except it may be used on a vassal up to the size of a large sailing ship. 

Far Isles Session #99 & #100 - Null Meets Mist

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird and riding raptor, Sue
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Wilhelm (Musketeer 2) [NPC]

Glimpsing at least one other 'yellow man', plus a second figure lurking in the room beyond the stairs, Rodrigo sensed an impossible tactical situation and bellowed to everyone "down the stairs!" And down the stairs they went, jumping off the sides of the open metal staircase in their haste to get away. The party spread out in a circle around the base of the stairs and waited for their foe to follow. It soon did, or rather another automaton with a fully functional blast cannon did. Behind it marched the one with the mangled weapon.  The first leveled it's weapon and fired a blast, thankfully missing.  Kwinsea managed to get an angle where she was able to blast both with a lightning bolt. This blew the already damaged one into it's constituent pieces, and scorched the shiny armor of the second. Chaff then followed up with a web spell that trapped it on the stairs, and it then took just a bit more pummeling from Awg, Rodrigo and Wilhelm  before it too was 'aggressively powered down'.

Meanwhile, Chaff had started casting a  chimera spell, and summoned a mossy, be-tentacled, insectoid monstrosity. He ordered this up the stairs to attack whatever it found in the room above. The rest of the party, with Rodrigo once more in the lead, followed some distance behind. They emerged to see the monster lashing out at a humanoid creature. It was tall with reddish skin and black eyes, wearing some type of silver jumpsuit, and with a collection of golden chains across it's face. Its skin and flesh were very decayed and immediately everyone figured this thing was the undead or undying Armul Urthag. The creature raised a laser pistol and shot the summoned monster as the rest of the party charged in. Wilhelm walloped it with the butt of his musket, but Awg and Rodrigo could make no contact. Kwinsea cast spider climb to get above the fray, while Chaff tucked himself behind some machinery to start summoning another chimera. Armul cast a fan of magic missiles at Kwinsea, Wilhelm and the moss monster, all of whom survived. The party followed up with some hack and slash by Awg and Rodrigo. Kwinsea tried to help from above with  a blast from her prismatic ray gem, but hit the unfortunate Wilhelm instead and thus permanently ended his employ with the party. 

Having been badly beaten by Awg and Rodrigo, Armul's next spell caused him to disappear. Both Awg and Rodrigo lashed out again, assuming he'd just gone invisible. But their weapons hit empty space. Chaff by this time has summoned his latest creation, an ooze-like multi-legged, lizard headed nightmare with poison breath. But for the moment at least, there was nothing for the creature to attack. That didn't last long, for all of a sudden Kwinsea (clinging to the ceiling), noticed a roof hatch opening and the hideous face of Armul Urthag appeared. A few words of a spell from him, and the room the party occupied exploded into a fiery inferno. Everyone suffered hideous damage to within an inch if their lives; or in Chaff's case, an inch beyond. The little vivimancer stumbled out from behind the machinery and collapsed dead on the floor.  But not before he'd directed his latest creation to breath its' foul breath on their foul foe. Kwinsea meanwhile had been trying to silence Armul, but the spell effect ended up centered on the hatch itself rather than their attacker. Awg had used his/her sword to levitate up to the hatch, and then planted a grappling hook into the creatures flesh. In return. Armul shot him with the laser pistol and Awg drifted away dead.  Kwinsea, after quaffing a healing potion, cast another silence spell and this one stuck to Armul. Rodrigo for his part had rushed over to Chaff and rifled through the vivimancers pockets, grabbing the ebony fly, which he then summoned and flew up to take Awg's place in the air. Once there he tried to grab the grappling hook and haul Armul out of the hatch. That didn't work, so dodging laser fire he simply drove his short sword into the creatures face. Armul's skull split in half, and his body slipped through the hatch and fell to the floor below. 

With a sigh of relief and a word of thanks, Kwinsea and Rodrigo searched their fallen friends for healing potions and tossed back the life giving liquors. They then respectfully dumped the bodies in the bag of holding for transport back to civilization and hopefully raising.   But first they still had to find the "Null" so they could complete their mission. While Rodrigo set to ripping jewelry out of Armul's face, Kwinsea looked around the room, There were two KRYO-Tanks, one with the same types of hoses and needles as the ones in the room below. The second had been sealed shut at some point, and inside floated a mass of the blackest black. This amorphous material showed no features, but Kwinsea got the impression that it was moving and whirling about none the less. This, based on the description given by the sage, looked to be the "Null". But what to do now; there was no obvious way to get the primordial magic force from point A to point B. There was a connector on the KRYO-Tank that was matched by an identical one on the stasis cube, but there was no way to join the two. Kwinsea and Rodrigo started to search the room, but found nothing that matched the connections, There was a small locked metal cabinet next to one of the KRYO-Tanks. There was no obvious keyhole or lock, but Kwinsea did not a smooth shiny patch on the front. She tired pushing on it to no avail, before dragging Armul's corpse over and tried his fingers. This worked, and with a 'click' the cabinet opened.  Inside there was no connector, but they did recover another laser pistol and 8 fully charged cartridges. 

Having no luck on this floor, they climbed up through the hatch to check out the roof. There they were able to examine the collection of poles, round disks, and guy-wires they'd seen from a distance. But still no connector. They headed back down the tower, searching the tank room, fallen automatons, and storage room to no avail, They even questioned Gor, who was of no help. In the end the only place left was the floor with the elevator guardians. The two were very wary, knowing they stood little hope of winning a fight at this point, But since Rodrigo had been successful in sneaking behind them before, they decided to take their chances and get into the room with the door frame and weird machinery.  Once there, they saw an obvious switch on the free-standing door frame. And after some hemming and hawing, Rodrigo reached out and flipped it on. The frame lit up and after a few moments a shimmery figure appeared in the frame. It looked like a young female of the same race as Armul Urthag, dressed in a similar silver jumpsuit and with the same golden chains on her face. The figure spoke, but in a language neither Rodrgio or Kwinsea understood. Kwinsea dug out Awg's mother of pearl egg in the hopes it would help. It didn't seem useful, but after Kwinsea had tried saying "hello, we come in peace" a few times, the hologram's speech slowly shifted to near perfect Common. "Greetings. How may I be of assistance? I detect that you carry a Mark 4.1 v2.3247 stasis cube, and four Mark 1.3 v1.112bis65a laser pistols. Do you need assistance with your technology?". Kwinsea asked quickly about connecting the stasis cube to the KRYO-Tank, and the hologram indicated it was simply a matter of using the correct dongle. She gestured vaguely to the left where a piece of machinery suddenly came to life. After a few minutes, the moving and shifting pieces stopped to revel a length of hose or wire with connectors matching that on the stasis cube. The hologram then helpfully informed the pair that the stasis cube could hold the full "4.7 uladecs" of null energy contained in the KRYO-Tank. Questioned about what that meant, and explaining the ultimate planned use of the "Null", the hologram indicated 4.7 uladecs was sufficient to form an anti-magic shield of 4.9 imperial square miles (4.2 Esarian standard miles). Which, after a few quick calculations, reveled an issue with the party's plan to save both Bellephrone and Xin from the Mists.  There wasn't enough "Null" to cover both the Anchorage  island and Xin. 

But that was a problem for another day. After first getting the hologram to recharge all their laser cartridges, Rodrigo and Kwinsea headed back to the shore boat (recovering Chaff's dinosaur along the way) and made their way back to the "No Man's Sea". Once there, they directed Lynessa to raise sail and make haste for the Anchorage and Belleprone. They were especially urgent for now they could see an eerie creeping mist on the eastern horizon; it looked like they had little time to waste. Getting back to Belephrone after a weeks' voyage, they took the sorceress up on her offer to bring back fallen companions as her payment for their help in breaking the cycle of the Mists. 

After couple of days stewing in the pot, Chaff and Awg returned more or less as before, and the party had to decide what to do. Bringing Bellephone into their confidence, they definitely committed to saving the sorceress. But they had hopes of also saving Xin, convinced now that it was the target of the returning Mists. No one really relished the thought of their home getting removed from this world to travel trapped through space and time for all eternity along with the rest of the Far Isles. Besides, all their gold was in the bank there. But they didn't really care much for the Faceless Inquisitor, and so hatched a plan. They would use a third of the "Null" to protect Bellephrone, and use the rest over Xin. But would ensure the Palace of the Faceless Inquisitor was outside the protective shield so the insane ruler would be sucked away with the rest of the Far Isles. This unfortunately, due to the geography of the city, meant several other districts of Xin would be lost (Blackmilk, UnderHulks and the Collegium).  To save as many of the people from imprisonment in the Mists as possible, the party decided to throw a party like Xin had never seen before and invite everyone from those districts especially. Then they could make sure the people stayed under the protective "Null " shield and a least they would be saved. And since, if the plan worked, the city would be ruler-less, Chaff decided to go into politics. The little vivmancer with the intestine hand would try to woo the crowds, take credit for saving them, and take over the city with help from the rest of the party. 

Within a few days, the Mist had crept within sight of the Anchorage. Bellephrone informed them all the islands to the east (the Jungle Isles, Coral Cays and others) were already engulfed. As the Mist started to lap the shores, Chaff mounted the ebony fly, and following the instructions given by the hologram, spread a protective semi-transparent magical shield over Bellephone's end of the island. With that in place, the party jumped aboard the 'No Man's Sea' and headed at top speed for Xin. There, they organized their party and Chaff quietly started paying bribes and clandestinely campaigning [19000gp total cost]. The party was a smashing success, and while the city was lost in a haze of celebration, Chaff once more use the fly to spread the "Null" shield. Everyone thought it was part of the party and cheered him on, but when the Mist moved on after a few days to reveal the missing parts of the city, they all sobered up in a hurry. Chaff, building on his new-found fame and connections, put out word of what happened and claimed credit for saving Xin. But the people saw only the gaping hole where their homes and lives had been. They instead rallied behind one of the city nobles to lead the city; the party's doppelganger enemy, Margrave Uhlan of the 30 Chains! Driven out of Xin by a raging mob, the party jumped aboard the "No Man's Sea" and headed out once more on the high seas ....

AND HERE ENDS THE 'FAR ISLES' CAMPAIGN ...

TOTAL XP

141980

GAINS

2 laser pistols & 8 cartridges
18 jeweled chains (7460gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Automatons
Armul Urthag
The Faceless Inquisitor and approx 40% or the population of Blackmilk, UnderHulks and the Collegium

LOSSES
Chaff [temporarily]
Awg [temporarily]
Wilhelm [permanently] 

Far Isles Session # 98 - Tower of Armul Urthag

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird and riding raptor, Sue
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Wilhelm (Musketeer 2) [NPC]

Finding no appropriate landing spot on the hilly end of the island, the party rowed ashore to a narrow beach at the jungles edge, and schlepped their way overland toward the tower. Before too long they intersected with a road of unusual design. The surface, rather than a rutted cart track or cobblestone surface, was made up of a continuous strip of grey stone-like material. Obviously old, but apart from a weed poking through here and there, in remarkably good shape. Since it appeared to wind from the water's edge up  to the tower itself, the party took the easy route and followed along. As they approached closer to the tower, they could see it was constructed of a similar grayish material, and covered in greenish lichen which suggested it was of ancient origin. Like the road, the stone showed no signs of mortar or seams; instead it looked to be made of one continuous piece of 'stone'. Over 150  tall', it was featureless except for a couple of banks of amber colored windows on the upper levels. In addition, the top featured a strange collection of poles, round plates and cables. As for access, there was a metal staircase wrapped round the base which led to a pair of massive metal doors about 30' above the ground. As Kwinsea started to search for traps around the stairs, she also noted a small opening at the base of the tower which was largely obscured by a collection of jungle fronds and ferns. The party went over to check this out, cutting out the foliage to uncovered a 3' high round tunnel leading into the base of the tower. Rodrigo lit a torch and tossed it in, revealing the passage to be about 40' in total length with no obvious branches to either side.  Noting that Chaff was just the perfect height to walk upright, the vivmancer was coerced into exploring further. Apart from a human skeleton sprawled across the floor at about the halfway point, he found nothing of interest except, at the end of the tunnel, a narrow shaft leading down. Collecting the rest of the party to have a look, they noted iron rungs set into the wall of the shaft. Tying the torch to some rope, Rodrigo lowered it down the shaft, finding that it descended about 60' before entering a room or space below. Rodrigo volunteered to squeeze down first, but wasn't about to trust the rungs. He reached into the bag of holding and hauled out one of the long metal bars looted from the crystal eggs. He set this across the opening, secured his rope to it, and lowered himself down. 

At the bottom the swashbuckler found a circular room with a flat wall at one end. Around all around the walls were metal racks with panels of glass bulbs, switches and little colored squares. In the centre stood a separate panel, this one with a similar collection of lights and things, but with a massive double pull-double throw switch dominating all. When nothing jumped out at him, Rodrigo called the rest of the party to follow him down. Unfortunately, that meant Chaff had to leave his new riding dinosaur to wander free outside. Reaching the bottom, Chaff and Kwinsea both experienced a vague feeling of deja-vu; this equipment reminded them somewhat of the Kalandrian cosmic computer and the bastard space-elf barge. Definitely not your typical wizard tower look.  And speaking of looking, the party spread out to search the room. Kwinsea went to look for secret doors along the flat wall; she noted there seemed to be a hollow space behind , but could see no way to access it. Rodrigo and Awg started to argue the pros and cons of throwing the switch. Chaff listened to their exchange for a few moments, then impetuously walked over the the panel, jumped up, and hauled down the switch. Everyone froze, but when nothing happened, Chaff jumped up again to throw the switch to the upper position. This time something did happen; a deep hum filled the room, and the glass balls and coloured squares on the panels started to light up and flash in seemingly random patterns. Overhead, several long strips in the ceiling lit up, bathing everything in a cool white light. In front of Kwinsea, the stone wall slid aside to reveal a pair of metal doors.  Next to the doors was a small panel with two lit squares on it. Awg sauntered over and pressed the bottom one. There was a rumbling sound from behind the doors, and a few moments later they opened to reveal a small metal clad room. Awg and Kwinsea gingerly stepped inside, and observed another panel. This one had five squares from top to bottom. Awg reached over and pressed the second from the bottom. The doors started to close, slamming shut as Rodrigo dove over to try to stop/join them. The swashbuckler then started punching the bottom square frantically, hoping to save his companions.

The Cellar

Said companions had the sensation of being hauled up in the air, and after about half a minute, the doors slid open again. It opened up into a large circular room. There was a circular staircase going up at the far side of the room, while a larger pair of metal doors graced the right hand wall. Otherwise the room was empty as far as they could see; however they didn't look long as the doors closed again and they found themselves falling, only to have the doors open again to reveal a frantic Rodrigo staring them in the face. Reassured that the room was safe, everyone now crowded in and watched Awg press the third button. The box rose again, and after a short time opened up into another round room. Again there was a circular staircase (going up and down), but no doors in the outer wall. There was also a scattered mess of old metal crates, mostly destroyed. Poking around, Chaff uncovered a few square, metal wrapped, soft bricks. He cut one open to reveal a brown crystalline material, which a little sniffing identified as a sugary substance. Meanwhile, Awg strained his/her ears to listen over the rustling sound Chaff was making, and heard something moving over around the stairwell. Rodrigo donned the ring of invisibility and crept over the look. He found, hiding behind a few ruined crates, a rather scruffy looking man. Dressed in crude skins, he looked like he could use a square meal and a drink. Going back to the party, they decided to break out some rations and water, then go over to the man and offer him some while eating some themselves to prove it was safe. At first terrified of their strange strangers, the man soon took the offering and started to gorge himself.  Once he was done eating, Chaff said a simple 'hello'. To which the man responded, in an archaic but recognizable form of Common. Questioning him, the party learned he (who's name was Gor) came from a village in the jungle. As to how he got to the tower, Gor reveled he'd been selected with several other villagers to be sacrifices to their god Armul Urthag, who's home was this tower. The god had come to the village with his two 'yellow men', as he did once a year or so, and selected several of the youngest and fittest adults as sacrifice. It was a great honor to be selected, and Gor came along gladly. But once at the tower, he was frightened by what he saw; the sacrifices were locked in metal tubes and a multitude of things stuck in them. Gor ran away and hid, but has been too terrified to look for a way out of the tower ever since. Asked where this all happened, Gor said somewhere on the floors above. He'd been taken there in the moving metal room and didn't really know which floor the sacrifices or Armul and his yellow men were located. Asked about Armul, Gor described him as a tall man with reddish skin, but looking very old and decayed. His face was also covered in gold or something. 

The party tried to convince Gor to come with them, but he refused to leave his hiding spot. Awg gave him a dagger which Gor accepted gladly. After a quick double check of floor below via the moving room, the party decided to use the stairs to go up. With an invisible Rodrigo in the lead, they made their way to the next floor. This was not wide open. Instead, there was a corridor leading from the stairs to what they guessed was the moving room doors at the far end. Crouched motionless to each side of the doors was a humanoid figure. Halfway down the hall on each side was an opening. Rodrigo crept down to glance inside, keeping one eye on the crouched figures. Through one opening was an empty room. In the other was a strange mass of metal framework and machines. In the centre was looked like a freestanding door frame about 3'deep. The swashbuckler retreated back to the party to fill them in. But rather than explore further on this floor at the moment, they decided to continue their climb. 

"Yellow Man"

The stairs came to an end on the next level; another set of circular stairs could be seen at the far side of the room where the moving room doors should have been. This room, unlike the others below, was not lit up by the cool blue overhead lights. Instead, the only lighting was natural, coming through amber colored panels along one wall. The warm yellow light fell on a series of tanks around the perimeter of the room, 22 in total. These were made of metal with a glass door on the front. The party entered warily, going over to look at closest vessel. Inside, a withered human body floated in a greenish fluid. Stuck into the body was a multitude of hoses, wires and similar pointy things. Awg, meanwhile, went over to the windows, and discovered the centre one was actually a door. It opened onto a narrow, rail-less balcony facing the jungle to the south east. Meanwhile, inside the room the party started to fan out to look around. As they did, the bodies in the tanks suddenly jerked into movement. Doors were opened, fluid poured out, and the grotesque bodies ripped themselves from their attachments and started to shuffle towards the party. Aug called out to everyone to retreat to the balcony; they could deal with them one by one in the doorway rather than all at once. That seemed like a good idea, so they ran out the door and prepared to meet their foes. First shot went to Wilhelm and his musket, blasting down the lead body. He then got out of the way to let Kwinsea blast another dozen with a lighting bolt. But still they kept coming, so Awg and Rodrigo flanked the door and starting chopping them down one by one. Several times one of the warriors was grabbed and slammed against the door frame, but eventually all the attackers were shot, shocked or stabbed and the danger was past. 

Worried now that anyone on the floors above would be alert to their presence, the party rushed the stairs hoping to get the drop on any foes. With an invisible Rodrigio in the front, they  blundered up the stairs and right into a 'yellow man'. This was a tall humanoid, consisting of sickly beige plates assembled over a metal framework. Of more immediate interest was the raised arm which consisted of some kind of blast weapon. It fired, catching Rodrigo (and to a lessor extent Awg behind him) in a gout of flame. The swashbuckler pulled out a lighting termite grenade and jammed it in the end of the blast cannon. It exploded, slagging the automaton's weapon and spraying Rodrigo with bits of molten metal ...

TO BE CONTINUED ...

TOTAL XP

638

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

22 Kryo-Tank Drained Villagers

LOSSES
None (yet)

Far Isles Session #97 - Palace of the Faceless Inquisitor

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird, and riding dog, Puppy Whuppy
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)

The ship was barely at the dock before Lynessa assembled the crew, distributed their pay, and released them to the taverns of the Fogbound Quays for a few days of drunken debauchery. She then turned to the business of repair and resupply, while the party likewise fanned out across Xin in pursuit of their own needs and desires over the next number of weeks.

• Chaff and Kwinsea both tracked down their previous magical mentors (Lady Volana and Xerious the Free, respectively) hoping to add to their spell-casting repertoire. After making suitable payment and performing the requested services, the two settled down to spend the next month in study. Chaff walked away with Chimera I and Blood into Rope, while Kwinsea learned Swarm Transformation and Winter's Wail;   
• In the meantime, Awg visited the calmonari villages and recruited a pair of his/her kin to replace their lost crewmen;
• Once done with spell research, Chaff went shopping for guns from Opher the Gunsmith. She had a new wheel-lock to offer [750gp] which the vivimnacer snapped up. She also showed Chaff her latest invention; a pair of massive bombards. Hideously expensive (10000gp each; 500gp of powder per shot), big (6' long, 3000lbs), destructive (4d6 ship HP damage and chance of fire damage; fires as per catapult in terms of ROF and crew), and likely unreliable. But Chaff's eyes glittered at the thought of having these big boom-boom's on the boat, so after clearing the expense with the rest of the party, he bought them both. And hired a couple of new musketeer gun crews to operate them;
• Chaff also went shopping for a new ride, getting a small raptor dinosaur at a bargain basement price from Vadaris, Predominant Lord Chamberlain of the Satyric Chamber. Dinosaurs are so yesterday among the elite; the latest fad is arctic creatures from the Cold Nar;
• The party also chipped in to get Wilhelm and Lynessa gifts in appreciation of their cheerful service. A fine cutlass for the captain and a bejeweled cuirass for the sergeant; 
• On the magic item front, the party made rounds of the temples to look for potions of healing. Unfortunately, the party is now persona non-grata at most of the temples in town due to their connection with the destruction of the Temple of the Three Virtues and the fire-balling of the Temple of Brall. But the main temple of Garu Dar was willing to deal; they were too stoned to notice what's going on. Six (6) were purchased;
• Likewise, a sage [Palova] was hired to identify the crystal fruit. They learned that crystal fruit allows the individual who eats one to access a higher intelligence (as per the spell Contact Other Plane.) She offered no advice on how one would go about eating one of the fruit without dental disaster; 
• Kwinsea also hired a different sage [Lancarious] to learn more about the liquid lighting the party had liberated from Iomnogoren's lair. She learned that it was essentially the essence of lightning in solid (well, liquid) form. Rich in elemental magic, it could probably be used for lots of magical things. But in an immediate sense, he directed Kwinsea an alchemist who could use it to make lightning related potions. In the end they used they  had to make 3 lightning thermite grenades [2d6 damage in 10' radius, save for half].

Last but not least, the party retained the services of yet another sage to research possible 'god-level magic' that would allow them to follow through on their plan to mask the mists. At the end of their busy month, the party returned to get their information. The sage Gervis described to them a substance known as "The Null". It was the primordial stuff from which magic was formed at the beginning of the universes. It is known for it's ability, among other thing, to overwhelm and mask magical emanations. Gervis did have information on the location of a sample of this "Null", in an old tower to the far south that supposedly dated from before the Godswar that set the planet back to the stone ages millennia ago. The only problem is the party would need something in which to collect the Null; it just can't be stuffed in a sack. The good news was Gervis knew where to find such a thing, an containment device known as a stasis cube. The bad news is it was hidden somewhere in the sprawling mass of the Palace of the Faceless Inquisitor. So the party now faced having to do a little break and entry into the home of the mentally unstable and horrifically powerful ruler of Xin.

After a few moments hesitation, the party decided they had no choice if they wished to go ahead with their plan. They knew a little about the Palace; as the centre of government for the city, it was actually considered public space for the most part and wandering around inside would not be difficult as long as the party didn't act too suspicious. However, the Palace was known to be an indecipherable maze made up of dozens of structures and gardens, and miles of un-mapped and un-mappable passages. Regardless, their first choice was to reconnoiter on foot, so next morning they found themselves arriving in the main courtyard of the Palace, along with the public officers, petitioners and prisoners. Choosing a stairway and door at random, they plunged in.  

They entered into a reception chamber; in one corner stood a stone fountain overflowing with a sticky mauve goo. They choose to ignore this, and exited through a second door into a gallery or museum. The walls consisted of one massive painting depicting a bacchanalian feast. While well done, it was most notable for the eerie feeling that the figures were moving about in one's peripheral vision. Also of note was the cluster of table in the centre of the room, at which sat an old man transcribing text from a massive tome. Chaff went over the engage the gentleman, Tiberian by name,  in conversation. The exasperated scribe explained he was scribing a copy of the Legal Codex of Xin in green ink. When asked why, he explained it was at the orders of the Faceless Inquisitor. And if you could please go away; he had much to do and had no desire to arose the wrath of his mercurial sovereign. Chaff apologized, then surreptitiously cast mind slave on the man to make him more cooperative. From his new best friend, Chaff learned that travel and searching in the Palace was not going to be easy. It had some means of sowing confusion on those who roamed it's halls. It was never clear how to get to where, or even where 'where' was at any given time.  If you were supposed to be 'there', the Palace would allow your destination to be easily found. Otherwise, good luck. Tiberian illustrated that point as he tired to give directions to the party, and hopelessly fumbled the attempt. 

Not sure what to make of Tiberian and his confusion, the party pushed on through another door. This led them along a covered gallery with windows overlooking some unknown courtyard, then down a few flights of stairs to a solid oak door. Once more barging in, they found themselves in what was obviously a torture chamber. Racks and chains and burning  braziers abounded. Curiously, none were in use, although the room was occupied. In the center sat a man tied to a chair, moaning in agony as second man read doggerel verse to him. The 'torturer' turned on the party and demanded to know what they wanted.  Apologizing, they stated they had gotten lost. But what, pray tell, was going on? The torturer explained the man in the chair was a poet, convicted of writing salacious and seditious verse about the Faceless Inquisitor. And his punishment was to spend 101 days listening to the worst poetry that could be found. With that, he turned back to reading to the moaning man, and the party decided leaving would be a good idea. Back up the stairs, they found the gallery oddly changed and unfamiliar; wasn't there a door over there before? Convinced now that Tiberian was right, they fumbled and stumbled around for awhile before finding their way back to the scribe, and then quickly made their way back outside. They would have to find another way besides brute exploratory force to find the stasis cube. 

Sitting down in a tavern to discuss, the party floated to idea of an aerial survey. But that was shot down as it didn't help them find the location of the cube. What they needed was to find someone with extensive knowledge and 'free passage' of the Palace, to pump them for information. What about the maintenance crew or cleaners? They might know. More inquires directed them to the west side of the Palace. Most of the cleaners and labourers lived in the adjacent Blackmilk district, and they would arrive and depart from that side of the Palace. The party set up shop there one morning to watch the process. Boatloads of people would arrive at one of several courtyards, to be met by overseers who would hand out their assignments for the day. The workers would then disappear into the mass of the Palace and re-appear at day's end to collect their pay and head home. They certainly seemed to have no trouble getting around and returning to their start point. The party decided to head into Blackmilk, find a tavern, and ask some questions. Doing so, they struct up a conversation with an old labourer by the name of Ricktor. His story of how they were able to operate in the Palace matched up with that of Tiberian the scribe; the Palace knew where they were supposed to be and would put up no obstacles in the way of their work. Given a description of the stasis cube, Ricktor seemed to recall seeing such a thing in his younger days, on display in one of the quaint little gardens of the Palace. He had no idea where that garden was; it hadn't been in his area of responsibility for 30 years.  But he called over a young custodian named Jord, who knew exactly the garden under discussion. It was now old and overgrown. And apparently dangerous, as he'd been warned not to enter it. He wasn't sure why. But he was able to give a brief description and point out the general location on a rough sketch map of the Palace. 

With that information in hand, Chaff and the ebony fly got invisible and performed a scan of the Palace from the air, locating the garden with relative ease. The vivmancer then returned to pick up the rest of the crew, Kwinsea riding the fly with him, while Rodrigo and Awg rode in the bag of holding. He landed them in the least overgrown space, a well-manicured lawn dotted with flowerbeds. Kwinsea then used the stole of the sacred to cast a locate object spell, which directed her to an adjacent structure which appeared to be a thickly overgrown octagonal greenhouse. There were several doors, but before any one could get too close, a weird voice came from one of the flower beds: "I wouldn't touch the doors. Dangerous, too dangerous". Looking for the source, the party was shocked to find it came from a 15' foot long pink worm with the face of a man. Questioning the odd creature (Germander by name) , they learned first of all that he was responsible for the lovely garden they'd landed in. The worm also explained the reason for his warning; the doors were covered in a spongy fungus which will explode with an astounding blast if disturbed. Unlikely to cause harm, be definitely will attract the attention of someone or something awful. They party didn't question  the 'awful' part much, but instead turned to figure out the doors. In the end, Kwinsea braved the stole once more and cast silence 15' radius on one door. Rodrigo then bravely (and silently) opened the portal, revealing a vine chocked interior. The vines started to move, and in moments some of the tendrils had assumed the form of a woman's face. It came close to the swashbuckler, and seemed to pucker up for a kiss. Assuming it was his turn to take one of the team, Rodrigo complied. The experience left him with the faint taste of dandelion in his mouth, but the vine-lady then dispersed. This opened up the centre of the greenhouse, where Rodrigo immediately spied the stasis cube sitting on a fluted column.  He scooped this up, and then with a final farewell to Germander, the party alighted on the fly once more and headed for the "No Man's Sea. Once aboard, they instructed Lynessa to put to sea immediately, she having been pre-warned to have everything ready to go on a moments notice. 

Following the directions provided by Gervis. the "No Man's sea sailed south for an unevertful week and a half, finding themselves amidst the truly tropical Isles of Endless Smoke. Finding the isle in question was easy, and they were soon circumnavigating the small jungle island. Apart from the thick growth, the outstanding feature was the great grey monolithic tower which stood on a series of bare hills at the north-east end of the island.  Here, they hoped, they would find "The Null". 

TOTAL XP

0

GAINS

Stasis Cube

KILLS/VICTORIES

None

LOSSES
None

Far Isles Session # 96 - Empyrius at Last

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird, and riding dog, Puppy Whuppy
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes
Sgt. Wilhelm (Musketeer 2) [NPC]

They waited under the dome for about a day, but nothing happened. The party crowded once more around the bowl to ponder further steps. Kwinsea took a closer look at the seeds, and determined they were ordinary pomegranate seeds which ranged from relatively fresh to long desiccated. Chaff decided to eat a few, a difficult task given his mouth full of broken teeth. But they had no effect. Kwinsea then wandered back through the sand dunes to find a crab to speak with, to learn more about the comings and goings around the structure. The crab, in his crabby way, confirmed that the Firebird Amazons came to visit on their giant flying snakes, no more than once a moon. One would go over to the bowl, drop something in and then the whole structure would sink into the sands. The others would wait, and anywhere from hours to days later the structure would rise once more, the departed amazon re-emerge, and all would fly away once more. Asked when the last visit had occurred, the crab indicated almost two moons ago. Based on that information, they party once more tried to search and poke around the bowl, even going so far as to take out seeds and drop them back in again. But still to no avail. After some discussion, they decided the best way to proceed was to go to the translucent bubble structure which they assumed was the Firebird Amazon lair. There they could search for the elusive pomegranate tree and/or approach the amazons and ask for help. 

The party headed back to the ship, sailed up the coast a short jaunt to get closer to the bubbles, and then headed to shore once more. They decided to approach openly, in the hope the amazons would see they meant no hostile intent. After an hour or so crossing the island and climbing the low pine covered ridge that ran down the centre, the bubble structure appeared in a clearing a couple of hundred yards ahead. They didn't get much closer before a four amazons appeared from behind the structure. Three fanned out with javelins at the ready to cover the approaching party, while the fourth  stepped forward and called on the party (in Terocolidian) to halt and state their business. Chaff spoke up in answer, and explained the party meant to harm and wished only for assistance to deliver a message to the great Empyrius from some of his  former colleagues. The spokes-amazon (Hestiphalis) was brusquely non-committal until Chaff let slip something about helping Empyrius escape the mists. At that Hestiphalis became enraged, shouting that none shall take the Adonian from them.  As her three companions trotted forward to launch their missiles at the party, she raised hands and chanted a spell. Awg and Wilhelm were immediately paralyzed in place. Chaff rushed forward to get in closer range for a spell, while Kwinsea used the stole of the sacred to successfully cast silence 15' radius on Hestiphalis. The aquamancer then followed up with a seasong which dropped the three javelin wielding amazons into slumber. Realizing now she was outclassed, Hestiphalis turned and ran, outpacing the puffing Chaff and disappearing  once more behind the bubbles.  

Kwinsea once more risked the stole to dispel the hold on Awg and Wilhelm. Seeing no hope of willing help from the amazons now, the party decided to kidnap one of the sleeping women and take her back to the ship to interrogate. Just as they prepared to do so, however, trouble appeared in the distance. Three amazons on flying snakes appeared over the bubbles, headed straight for the party. Looking to fly away as well, Chaff would use the ebony fly  to carry himself and their captive away. Kwinsea had a potion of flying, while Chaff planned to use the wand of flying on Awg and Wilhelm. Unfortunately the wand crumbled after using it on Awg, which would have meant abandoning the dour musketeer to his fate. Awg gallantly refused to  leave Wilhelm behind, so Chaff passed over the ring of invisibility and cast a transparency spell, hoping to two could avoid capture and make their way back to the shore and the ships boat. Luckily, the two made it, even though the woods around them soon filled with Firebird Amazons beating the bushes to find them. 

As for the aerial pursuit, Chaff, Kwinsea and captive made it back to the ship well ahead of the amazons. Chaff first of all sent all the male crew below, then slapped their captive (Isabella) awake and cast mind slave to charm and question her. With the two flying snakes fast approaching, Chaff asked that Isabella intercede on their behalf and convince her sisters that they meant no harm and just wanted to talk to Empyrius. The enthralled  amazon was more than happy to comply, and shouted to those now hovering overhead. She talked back and forth with the leader (Ianthinia), and seemed to convince her the party was safe. Her flying snake landed on the deck (the others remaining overhead) and Ianthinia alighted to talk (through the grovelling Chaff) to the obvious leader, Kwinsea. The details were a little opaque, but it seemed that  the Firebird Amazons relied on Empryius to perpetuate the species. Generally every couple of months, when the stars were right, one of the selected amazons would go to the dome to be with Empyrius.  The time was actually now nigh, so the party asked if they could use the opportunity to come along and try meeting with the Adonian. Ianthina noted that neither of her sisters were ready, but Empyrius might be interested in someone new i.e. Kwinsea. Recalling that Chaff once had to 'take one for the team' with the Pale Lady, she agreed to the plan.

Accompanied by the Firebirds, the party returned to the pavilion. They cleaned up Kwinsea and made her presentable, then handed her a single pomegranate seed and told her to drop it into the bowl. Then everyone else left to wait outside in the dunes. The structure settled in a smooth motion until the edge of the dome was level with the sand. At the bottom, Kwinsea found herself faced with a set of red and white stone doors, guarded by a monstrosity of a cyclops. Curiously, it had what looked light a metal helmet in place of its head, and when it turned to face the aquamancer, a beam of light emanated from its eye to illuminate her. A few moments later she observed another face in eye looking back at her; a round, fleshy, man's face. After watching her for a minute, the face disappeared and the cyclops pulled a key out of it's waist band. It unlocked the door, then led Kwinsea into a short tunnel to another door Which he obligingly unlocked and moved out of the way for her to pass through. She found herself in a wide corridor lined with polished copper plates and illuminated by crystal lanterns. Here awaiting the man she'd seen in the cyclops eye, who gestured her forward down the corridor and through yet another door. Once through, Kwinsea found herself in a garden with trees, a placid pool, and a path. All illuminated from above by a warm, yellow glow. She followed the path and around some trees, there coming up a blanket and pillows laid out on the ground. Standing there was a god-like figure, small wings on his back, and naked but for a layer of gold dust. This then, she established, was Empyrius. Apart from establishing that fact, and gloating over his own majesty, Empyrius would entertain no questions until other matters had been attended too ...

... Once the opportunity to talk arose, Kwinsea learned a few things from Empyrius. In addition to having an immensely over-inflated opinion of himself, he was also quite content in his leisurely existence as the 'father' of the Firebird Amazons. Unlike his fellow Adonians who seemed to have driven themselves to insanity in attempts to escape the mists, he had no desire to leave. He admitted he had no means to beat the mist, and explained that it was some type of abstract intelligence from between the stars that fed on magical energies. It traveled the universes, looking for places of deep magical power, then separated them from their world to join the collection of lands the party knew as the "Far Isles". The mist would drop these lands onto a new world, then lift and search that globe for another source of magical energy to collect and feed off. The only way to stop it would be an anti-magic shield or mask of some sort, to block it's 'view' of the arcane emanations. But no mortal magic would due, since even the magnificent Empyrius could not deal with the mist. It would require power on the level of the gods themselves to do the trick.

Having learned all she could, Kwinsea made her goodbyes to the magnificent Empyrius, promising to return some day. She then worked her way back past the guardians and back up to rejoin the party. She explained all she'd learned, and assured the Firebird Amazons that they were now done with Empyrius and would be on their way. Turning the charmed Isabella over to her sisters, the party headed back to the "No Man's Sea" and prepared to sail for Xin to rest, recuperate, restock and plan what to do from here. After an uneventful passage (and a 6% customs fee), they found themselves a week later tying up to the docks of the Fogbound Quays. 

TOTAL XP

12900 each [PC's]**
200 [Wilhelm]**

GAINS

Gold dust from Empyrius (10gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 Firebird Amazons [defeated/captured]

LOSSES
None

** for finding Empyrius

Far Isles Session #95 - Of Amazons and Answers

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird, and riding dog, Puppy Whuppy
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes

Back on board the "No Man's Sea", the party went about getting the crew and ready to sail. There was a noticed lack of response, however, and Lynessa appeared shortly with one of the crew, rolling a barrel of salt pork. This fellow, very politely and deferentially, raised some concerns from the crew. The "No Man's Sea" has been at sea for over three months, food and water were both getting low and maggoty (he opened the barrel to illustrate this last point), and the crew was getting anxious to get ashore and spent some of their accumulated pay. He knew it could take weeks to get back to Xin if the winds were wrong, and supplies were barely sufficient for that time. The crew was making rumblings about refusing to go on, a fact confirmed by Lynessa. The party was not yet ready to quit when they were this close to finding Empyrius, so they managed to negotiate a deal. They would get some fresh food and water, and the crew would agree to another two weeks in the Far Isles before returning to Xin. Meanwhile, Torak would  make judicious use of purify food and water to improve the maggoty and rancid stuff still left aboard. 

After some discussion, the party decided to return to the Creekmen to bargain for fresh food and maybe get more information. A day's sail brought them back to the swampy island where they'd left Korun. Having no way to contact the Creekmen, they dropped anchor and waited. They did not wait long, as their old companion arrived the next day with a boatload of company. Korun, now looking much more fit and well fed, climbed aboard with a few others to see what the party wanted. They laid out their need for fresh food and water, and their willingness to pay for those supplies. Korun, after discussion with his companions, suggested a less monetary trade. Given the party's obvious martial prowess, the Creekman asked for their help against the Blue Amazons. Specifically, to rescue some of the Amazon's slaves. A bit of questioning revealed that Korun and all the 'blue' Creekmen were the male descendants of the Blue Amazons; males were enslaved at birth and had their gill slits surgically removed to prevent escape through the underwater passages which were the only way into the Blue Amazon dwellings. The party agreed to the deal, so Korun gave them directions to the Coral Palace of the Blue Amazons, and also gave them a little info on how to get into the Palace (underwater only), plus how many slaves (about two dozen) and how many Amazons (around 50) there were.  

With that, the "No Man's Sea" was turned to the east, and after a day of fighting the wind, approached the Coral Palace. It lay at the end of a lagoon, a complex of towers covered in shell and coral. The base lay in the water , and there was no obvious way in above the surface, except maybe a couple of platforms high on one tower. The party had decided on  bargaining rather than killing, so all the male crew and musketeers were sent below, leaving only the female crew, Kwinsea and Lynessa on deck. Rodrigo was also there, but  invisible, while Chaff was made up to look like a captive slave and also stayed topside. Before proceeding further, however, Awg dove overboard to scout into the lagoon, using the shark spear to disguise himself and hopefully blend into the wildlife. He/she didn't make it far before encountering a pod of dolphins, who turned to chase the Awg-shark away. The calmonari transformed back to his normal form and joined the rest of the crew below.

Blue Amazons

Shortly thereafter, a half dozen Blue Amazons, mounted on dolphins, appeared off the bow. One shouted up to the deck (in Terocolidian), demanding to know who they were and what they wanted. With Chaff translating (and occasionally getting smack in the head from Kwinsea to maintain his cover), Kwinsea introduced herself  as an explorer from far off lands. She wove a tale of back luck and weather that left her short of crew, and had heard the Blue Amazons might be able to offer  some of their 'useless' males to supplement her remaining female crew. Seemingly satisfied with the story, and excited  of other 'amazonians' from beyond the Coral Cays, the leader (Theofia) jumped deftly from her dolphin to the ship, and climbed aboard to negotiate.  After some back and forth, Kwinsea learned the Blue Amazons, for all their martial ardor,  had a weakness for fine jewelry. In the end, she was able to bargain for six slaves in return for 4350gp worth of jewelry.  The deal made, Theofia and the others returned to the Coral Palace, and some time later reappeared carrying the slaves. One, unfortunately, did not appear to have survived the underwater trip. The other five, cowed and dejected, shuffled on deck, hands and legs chained to an iron band and their waists.  Kwinsea turned over the jewelry to Theofia, and took the opportunity to ask some questions. For one, the awkward question about how the Blue Amazons reproduced. The aquamancer learned that the Amazons cavorted with aquatic male (not men!) tritons to perpetuate the species. She then asked about Empyrius, learning that he was linked with the sorceress Firebird Amazons who dwelt on the same island. 

Conversation done, Theofia offered Kwinsea well wishes and promises of friendship, and the Blue Amazons left the ship. Which was quickly gotten underway, to get back to the Creekmen as quickly as possible. Along the way the party explained what was going on the the 'slaves', who though somewhat still in shock, were cheered by the news of their freedom. When the "No Man's Sea" arrived back at the swampy island, the Creekmen were likewise pleased to see the party had kept their bargain. And they kept their end of the bargain, and two weeks of fresh food was lifted aboard ship before they once more lifted anchor.

Firebird Amazon

This time they headed north, to the  island of Empyrius and the Firebird Amazons. After an uneventful day of sailing, the arrived off a large island of white sandy beaches and low ridges covered in pine forests. Rather than charge in blindly, Chaff summoned the ebony fly, turned himself invisible with transparency and headed off to scout the shores. Flying straight west from the ship, the first thing he encountered as he crossed the shoreline was some aerial company. Flying south down the spine of the island was a large feathered snake, on whose back sat a curiously feathered and scaled human-ish female (presumably one of the Firebird Amazons). The pair did not notice Chaff and the fly, and continued south and out of sight. Chaff continued inland, where he next noted a curious structure in a clearing in the pines. It was a collection of interconnected bobbles made of some shiny and semi-translucent material. In addition to the interconnected cluster, there was a single small bubble standing by itself just 10 yards away from the main cluster. Having reached the end of his flying time, the vivmancer could linger no longer to investigate, and returned to the "No Man's Sea".

The party decided to sail south around the tip of the island, to see where the snake and rider may have gone. As the ship approached the southern cape, the party noted another curious structure amidst the sand dunes. They decided to land on shore using the ship's boat, and have a closer look. In the midst of an empty expanse of white sand dunes there stood a dome of greenish stone held aloft by fifteen bronze pillars, each shaped like a cyclops. Directly beneath the pinnacle of the dome, there could be seen a pillar or pedestal of some sort; exact details were hard to see from outside the dome, And no one was really eager to enter the dome right away, recalling Iomnogoron's warning about giant guardians. Looking around in the sand, they could see signs that someone had been here but not really recently. Curiously, the faint footprints seemed to appear out of no where; there was no path leading through the dunes to the dome.

Seeds

Rather than risk disturbing the statues, Chaff cast his insect messenger spell, hoping his tiny servant swarm could find a way to Empyrius (as they were largely convinced this was his lair). The vivimancer instructed  the insects to find Empryius and tell him the party came in peace as  emissaries from  Belephrone and H'sslik. And they wished an audience with his Exaltedness. The insects disappeared under the dome, and the party settled down to wait. And wait. And wait. The waited a day and there was no response. Mindful of their promise to the crew, they decided they needed to take more drastic action. Rodrigo donned the ring of invisibility, grabbed a letter of introduction penned by Chaff, and boldly stepped between the cyclops statues. Thankfully, the figures did not stir and Rodrigo was able to proceed towards the centre of the dome. There he found a copper pedestal holding a serpentine bowl, inside of which sat a scattering of reddish seeds. He also found Chaff's insect messenger still buzzing around, having made it no further than this in there task. The swashbuckler dropped the note into the bowl, plucked out one of the seeds, and sat down to await a response ...

TOTAL XP

1200 (exploration XP)*

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

None

LOSSES
None

*2xp per gp rule in effects

Far Isles Session # 94 - An Evening with Iomnogoron

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes

With the paralysis now ended, the party once more headed back down the stairs into the fourth egg. Flummoxed by the lack of any access into the interior of the egg, Kwinsea first tried looking for secret doors in the area around each set of stairs. But to no avail. The party then considered a route they'd avoided thus far; over the top. This required traversing the lightning field, so Chaff decided to do a little reconnaissance first with a mirror on a long pole. In the process of maneuvering the mirror around, he accidentally reflected a lighting bolt into Rodrigo. But he was rewarded with the sight of several rooms and a passage just over the wall. But how to get there with the least zapping? In the end, Kwinsea and Chaff were temporarily stuffed in the bag of holding and dragged over the wall by the brawey Awg and Rodrigo. Who'd each quaffed a half potion of lightning resistance to numb the electrical blows. Once on the other side, the two spell-casters were let out of the bag, and the party proceeded to explore down the corridor in which they found themselves.  

The corridor soon branched, and the party elected to go to the right. It led to a fairly large room with a carpeted floor. And scenes of destruction. Awg and Rodrigo entered the room, and noted it was cluttered with what appeared to be smashed furniture; beds, tables, chairs. Scattered among the ruin were three set of skeletal remains. All were splattered with a translucent dried slime, similar that found in one of the rooms explored in the first egg. Chaff and Kwinsea came in to help look around. The skeletons were human, very long dead as most of the clothing they'd been wearing was rotted away. Each did have some plain gold jewelry, however, which was scooped into the bag. But there was little else to see, so the party moved on to the second corridor. 

Here they found a room of similar size and dimensions, but without the signs of destruction. Or carpet. Instead, at the far end they found one of the egg-tanks. And it was occupied; not by an oozanderthal this time, but a seemingly normal human.  Normal and healthy on top at least; his legs were geriatricly withered and frail. He spied the party, and started to gesture for them to approach. The egg prevented verbal communication, so they party tried writing signs in every language they knew. After several attempts, Chaff discovered the man understood the vivamancer’s sketchy Terocolidian. Questioning him about the eggs and Iomnogoron, Chaff learned the man in the tank was a Terocolidian, held in stasis for hundreds, if not a thousand, years. A former servant of Iomnogoron, he crawled into the tank when his master was driven insane by the rupture of the Adonian’s extra-planner links by the Far Isles mists. Iomnogoron lashed out, killed his servants and destroyed much of the magical machinery he used to power the eggs. The Terocolidian expressed fear of his former master, noting that his mental state could swing wildly from reasonable to destructive on a whim. When asked where Iomnogoron could be found, he directed the party to the centre of this egg. When Chaff offered to release the man from the stasis tank, he at first emphatically indicated ‘No!’ It would seem the stasis was imperfect (as shown by the withered state of his legs), and the man feared he would die if released. Over the course of the conversation however, he seemed to warm to the idea of shuffling off this mortal coil. An eternity of slow death trapped in this egg was not appealing. So when the part finished questioning him, the Terocolidian solemnly gestured to the egg controls and indicate he was ready to go. Kwinsea spun the dials, opening the tank and releasing both man and fluid. Before the party’s eyes, the Terocolidian aged rapidly until after a few moment nothing was left but a withered husk. From which the party plucked some plain gold jewelry before moving on. 

Based on the dead man’s directions, Rodrigo now went around the corridor, using the mirror to (carefully) peer over the walls. He observed at least one large room right in the centre of the egg, presumably the lair of Iomnogoron. The party repeated their previous crawl over the top (sans potion of lighting resistance this time), landing in a large chamber that filled most of the remaining area of the egg. Directly in front was a basin of green stone, filled with what appeared to be the liquid essence of lighting observed in various locations elsewhere in the eggs.  A half circle of pillars lay just beyond, inside of which was a suspended and complex sphere of crystal capillaries. Beyond this little could be seen due to the large size of the room and variable lighting from the raging storm above. Also of note was the heavy curtain hanging to the left. 

While Awg examined the pool, Rodrigo pulled back the end of the curtain. There, the swashbuckler found a lurking creature.  Encased in a heavy layer of ooze or slime, it looked much like a withed and degenerate version of the statues on the upper eggs. It seemed aware of Rodrigo’s presence, and lurched forward, growing a pair of tentacles from the slime and lashing about. This, they surmised, was Iomnogoron. As he emerged from behind the curtain, Awg tried to engage Iomnogoron in conversation. Suddenly enraged, the Adonian turned its attention on the calmonari, lashing him with whipping tentacles of slime. Before matters proceed any further though, Chaff stepped forward and ensnared the thing with mind slave. Iomnogoran halted, hesitated a moment, then turned to the vivmancer to inquire (in Terocolidian) who he was and what did he want. Iomnogoron thankfully seemed relatively lucid, so Chaff started to interrogate. The information was sketchy at times, as if Iomnogoron was having trouble with his memory. Chaff learned the Adonian used the liquid lighting to power all the machines in the egg, but no longer could remember how to do that. The capillary sphere in the centre of the room was a key part of that process, but closer examination now showed it was smashed beyond any use. The vivmancer also gathered that Iomnogoron had been trying to use the liquid lighting to find a way to overcome the mist so he could escape the Far Isles; whether the insanity was due to this effort or predated it was uncertain. Chaff asked about the weird storm island, and Iomnogoton siad it was a portal or conduit to the elemental planes. Asked about Empyrius, Iomnogoron was easily able to pinpoint the island where his fellow Adonian could be found, but inquired why the party was looking for him. Told Empyrius might have information that could defeat the mist, Iomnogoron got very excited and encouraged the party to go get his help at once. And then to return and pass the secret on to Iomnogoron.

The party also asked some general questions about the origin of the Amazons (descendants of the Terocolidian woman who revolted against their misogynistic and repressive men-folk); if there were other Adonians still left in the Coral Cays (unsure, but rhymed off a few names:  Telemachis, Soloris, Hirothaylius); relations between the Adonians of old (generally live and let live, but some rivalries and wars fought by their worshipers); any treasure to give the party to help in the search for Empyris (confusion); and anything else they needed to know about Empysius ('beware the giant guardians!'). 

Sensing Iomnogoron mental stability might not last much longer, the party wisely took leave of him. Filling their canteens with lighting essence (just in case ...), they proceed back over the wall. Before leaving the egg, however, they used the mirror to locate two further rooms. Thinking these might hold Iomnogorons treasure, Rodrigo crawled over the wall to check one, while Awg and Chaff checked the other. Rodrigo’s room contained a large sphere suspended in mid-air. It was constructed of tightly woven metal mesh, one piece of which extended into the lighting field above. Inside there could be seen hundreds of small objects floating around, but it was difficult to tell exactly what they were. And given the likely electrified nature of the cage, the swashbuckler choose not to disturb it at this time. In the other room, Awg and Chaff found a stone basin, covered with a scintillating, semi-opaque force field. Again, beyond the field could be seen some objects of indeterminate identity. But when minor poking and prodding did nothing, the calmonari and vivimancer decided to not push their luck and crawled back over the wall to rejoin the rest of the crew. The  party also checked out a couple of other rooms 'over the top'. Both contained a circle of pillars. One was otherwise unoccupied, while the other had a strange square machine with a large funnel on the top. But as with the two previous rooms, the party felt it best to just leave these rooms alone. And they then proceeded back through the eggs and ultimately back to the “No Man’s Sea”, making plans to finally sail to find Empyrius. 

TOTAL XP

2400*

GAINS

12 Pieces of Golden Jewelry (100gp each)

KILLS/VICTORIES

None

LOSSES
None

*2xp per gp rule in effects

Far Isles Session #93 - The Dragon Whisperer

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes

The party opted to check what lay beyond the door before proceeding further. It opened into a larger room with multiple alcoves around the perimeter. In the centre of the room was another statue. This one was curiously coated in some sort of a thick transparent layer of stuff. The statue itself appeared to depict the same man or creature as the other three, but in this case the depiction showed a less-heroic and more care-worn figure.  Examining floor before anyone stepped into the room, Kwinsea discovered it was cut into a grid of squares, no more then a finger's width across. She pushed down on the floor with a pole, then with a boot on a pole, to see if anything happened. Nothing did, but they were still wary of walking across the floor. So Awg tossed a rope and grappling hook across to the statue, and then used the levitation power of his/her cutlass to cross the room. Once at the statue, the calmonari sliced off a few slabs of the clear material, which proved to be jellylike in consistency. Finding nothing else of interest about the statue or the room, he returned as he came and the party moved on. 

Interested in filling the gaps on their map, the party made their way back through the teleporters until they came to the room with the clear tube (which they had cut off). There was a large blank spot on the map just north of this room. Awg hauled out the crystal cutter with plans to slice through the north wall; however, nothing happened when he/she pulled the starter chain. It would seem it had run out of charges or power. Disappointed, the party resigned themselves to leaving the map space blank and instead headed back into the perimeter corridor to explore further. They found nothing of interest until they'd made it halfway around the circumference of the egg. Here, 180 degrees from their original entry chamber, was another almost identical room. In this case the tube entered through the east wall rather than dropping down from the lightning field. Of perhaps more immediate interest was the inhabitant of the room; curled around the end of the tube was a small blue dragon. It showed no sign of having seen the party, and in fact appeared to be asleep. 

Xithanilix the Dragon

The party pulled back into the corridor to discuss what to do next. While it was tempting to take advantage of the snoozing serpent and attack, they realized they'd be in trouble if they weren't successful with their first blows. And maybe the dragon could be bargained with; maybe it had information of interest to the party. In they end they decided to try talking. Rodrigo volunteered to be the negotiator, while the rest of the party took up positions in the corridor to provide support if necessary. After prepping with a potion of haste, potion of lightning resistance and the  gloves of dexterity borrowed from Kwinsea, the swashbuckler strode into the room. Rodrigo cleared his throat (loudly) several times until the beast awoke. It was startled at first, drawing back from the human intruder  until it cleared the sleep from it's brain. It then spread it's wings and arched it's neck towards Rodrigo, and in a whispering voice demanded to know who he was and what he wanted. With great obsequious, Rodrigo explained they were merely searching for information, specifically about Empyrius. The dragon did not know the name, and became highly insulted and agitated when Rodrigo suggested the beasts master might know more. The dragon Xithanilix knows no master! With proper grovelling, Rodrgio placated Xithanilix and over time learned the dragon had gotten into the egg when quite young and was now unable to leave due to it's size. And she was much interested in leaving. 

Rodrigo took his leave, and rejoined the party to discuss what they could do. Meanwhile, Xithanilix had taken wing and risen into the lighting field to keep an eye on them all. Chaff noted he knew a spell that would allow the dragon to stretch out and squeeze up the entry tube, and thence out through the open door on the second egg. He suggested they offer that option in return for whatever the dragon could tell them about the egg and the creature Iomnogoron who controlled the eggs. Going back to the dragons' lair (which they now noted had a small scattering if treasure in addition to the piles of bones noted earlier), they waited for the dragon to return and made the offer.  After some further negotiation and paranoia, a deal was struck. Xithanilix would accept the elasticity spell. But to ensure against betrayal, she instated that she cast a spell trapping one of the party, to be dispelled upon her successful escape. And one of the party would crawl up the tube ahead of her, so she could scorch him if there was any betrayal. In the end the party agreed. Rodrigo would lead the way up the tube, and Awg agreed to be en-spelled. Chaff also negotiated for the curious looking oil lamp he spied in the treasure pile. To which Xithanilix agreed and then directed the party to gather the rest of the treasure and provide to her in a sack. 

Chaff had to memorize the spell, so the party settled in for the night under the unblinking eyes of the dragon.  Next morning, before Chaff cast the spell, they questioned the dragon about the egg. This confirmed the general layout of the teleporter-statue rooms, which filled much of the blank spaces on their map. Xithanilix also explained that the Adonian Iomnogoron was quite crazy; one minute lucid and normal, and the next raging and incomprehensible. And dangerous. The party also used the chance to plant the idea in the dragons' head to go after the 'great cannibal treasure' they'd seen, in the hopes it would be fooled into heading to the far west rather than raking their own ship with lighting bolts once it escaped the eggs. In the end all went according to plan; Xithanilix escaped and kept her word to release Awg and not blast Rodrigo.

With that excitement over, the party got back to exploration. Thinking of nowhere else to explore in

Gelatinous Triangle

this egg, they headed for the stairs to go down to the final and fourth egg. These twisted and turned before leading into a corridor, which after following for some time the party discovered was a perimeter corridor similar to those in the upper eggs. When they followed it around, they discovered nothing more interesting than another set up stairs going up. Before trying to untangle the empty mystery of this egg, the party decided to go up these other stairs to see where they led. They led in fact into the entry chamber of one of the teleporter rooms. Realizing they hadn't explored the other connected chamber in this group of rooms, the party moved through the archway and spread out to explore. The room had a curiously angled large alcove at the far end, and they all congregated there. And too late realized the alcove was not empty, but instead there were four gelatinous and largely transparent creatures lairing there. Lurching forward, they things slammed into the party, and both Awg and Kwinsea were immediately paralyzed. The gelatinous triangles then struck again and again, and it started to look grim for the party. To save the day, Rodrigo guzzled a potion of growth, sprouting to enormous size. So large he had to hunch over to avoid getting blasted by the lightning field. The now giant swashbuckler grabbed the paralyzed party members and tossed them down the stairs to safety. In the meantime, Chaff had retreated behind his big comrade, and used instinct to drive one of the gelatinous triangles away. Rodrigo then laid into the remaining three with muscle and sword. Soon all were destroyed. And then for good measure, he chased down the last one and stomped it too. He then sat down (and almost on) Chaff to wait for the potions effect to wear off, which coincidentally happened at about the same time as Awg and Kwinsea's paralysis lifted. 

TOTAL XP
3110*

GAINS

Golden Oil Lamp (100gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

4 Gelatinous Triangles
Xithanilix the Blue Dragon [bargained with, rather than killed]

LOSSES
none

*2xp per gp rule in effects