Far Isles Session #10 - Fun with Musclebound Jerks

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 1)
Azimer (Calmonari 2)
Chaff (Vivimancer 2) with henchman Herb (Swashbuckler 1)
Einer (Fighter 1)
Villius Paticus (Cleric 1)

The two muscled guides lead the party westward a short distance. A few hundred yards beyond the plume they came to a point where the ground sloped down towards the waters edge. Tucked in below the brow of this hill were the ruins. They showed distinct signs of having been forcefully or explosively destroyed, as opposed to simply having fallen to the ravages of time. Descending the hill, the party could see two tall cyclopean pillars were the only extant structures on the surface. These, however, stood just outside of an opening in the side of the hill. There, as the sky began to darken with the setting sun, the glow of firelight was visible. Their guides led them into this room, paying especial attention to Abdul el Abdul and Einer. The rest of the party was permitted to obediently trail along behind. Inside the room were another half dozen of the muscled, shaved and naked men. They were flexing muscles, wrestling, and otherwise showing off feats of strength. Behind them against the east wall was a low stone dais, topped by a series of lit braziers and a three foot tall idol of jade and gold. The idol depicted a naked human form, muscles grotesquely swollen, eye's bulging and teeth set in a grimace. As the other muscled men gathered round, the two guides led Abdul el Abdul and Einer to stand in front of the statue and presented the fighters to their god, Manakata. They insisted that the pair join them in the rituals of Manakata. Questioning what that involved, they were told they must raise the idol above their heads. If successful, Manakata would present to them a vision of a task they must complete to gain the favor of the god. And Manakata's favor would make them more physically powerful than they could imagine!

While this was going on, the rest of the party stayed back and scoped out possible escape routes, including doors in both the north and south walls. Chaff also noted the sand covered floor in front of the dais was stained with blood and scattered bits of human flesh. They were also a little troubled to see some of the muscle men sizing them up and pointing; nothing about the situation made them feel safe.

Abdul el Abdul began questioning the men, trying to pry information about who they were (or rather had been), and what may have happened to the Duke and his entourage. Piecing together bits and hints, it seemed the muscle men were the remnants of the crew from the Dukes ship, and that the Duke and his retinue had chosen not to join them in worship of Manakata. Instead they had fled to some other, unknown place, on the island. The men began now began to get more aggressive with Einer and Abdul el Abdul, pushing them to join the rituals. The two fighters tried to stall, saying they must go away and prepare for the rituals. It took convincing, but the muscle men agreed to let the two go, but the rest of the party would have to stay in the temple as hostages.  That wasn't what the party wanted, so Chaff decided to take matters into his own hands. Passing whispered signal to the rest of the party to stand ready, the stubby vivimancer  began casting a spell and dropped a spore cloud on their gathered foes. The choking cloud dropped more then half the cultists of Manakata, incapacitated, to the floor. Those unaffected, however, advanced with fists raised and an angry growl. Herb flicked out his rope and tripped and entangled a few, but the party was soon within melee with those who pushed through the obstacles. Herb and Azimer received solid punches to the head, Herb to the point where he fell stunned to the floor. Crawling out from under his henchman, Chaff dropped a second spore cloud to covert the party's retreat. Abdul el Abdul had already taken off, followed closely by Villius Paticus (after his attempt to hold person was a bust). Azimer looped to the north, headed for the comforting embrace of the sea in that direction. That left the unconscious Herb, the stubby Chaff and new guy Einer. The fighter grabbed the tiny vivimancer, and with all his strength tossed Chaff as far as he could, giving him a head start and a chance to escape. Unfortunately, as Einer himself turned to run, he received a couple of solid blows to the back of the head and dropped unconscious next to Herb.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party manged to outdistance their half-hearted pursuers and gathered back near what they now discovered was a steam plume. Chaff sent his familiar, "Dirty Bird", back to the temple to see what had happened to Herb and Einer. By this point, the two had been stripped of all their belongings, trussed up hand and foot, and lay on the ground in front of the idol. Two men stood guard over the prisoners, and other clustered around beating  crude drums. A pair of the cultists were on the dais, ready to begin the rituals. The first was not able to lift the idol. But the second, with screams of praise to Manakata, lifted the gold and jade statue above over his head. A look of rapture crossed his face, and he slammed to idol back onto the dais. Pointing at Einer, the favored of Manakata spoke: "The great Manakata has deemed that you must die by my hand!"

Einer was unbound and shoved into a circle of the cultists, where he faced off against the favored of Manakata. The two circled and jabbed at each other, both landing blows. Einer received a hard hit and almost went down, but landed a powerful blow under his opponents jaw, cracking his neck and shattering teeth and bone. The favored of Manakata went down with a thud, and the rest of the cultists of Manakata fell into shocked silence. Einer took advantage of this, and with a shout insisted he was favored of Manakata, and must be allowed to leave to prepare for his turn in the ritual. The cultists recovered quickly however, and with a resounding howl of rage rushed at Einer to pin him down and bind him again. The naked (and therefore unencumbered) fighter leap up on top of the idol, vaulted over the crowd converging on his, and took off into the night, leaving poor Herb behind. He dodged the once more half-hearted pursuit, and rejoined the rest of the party at the steam vent. There, Abdul el Abdul provided him with a dagger and a sack to wear, as the question turned to "What next?" Obviously the Duke was not with the cultists, so they set their eyes on the two towers.

By the light of the rising moon, they trudged to the easternmost tower, the one with an opening near the base. Dirty Bird was sent up on another reconnaissance mission, and through the birds eyes, Chaff could see several more openings further up the tower, as pair of ledges or exposed platforms near the top. One of which led to the bridge connecting with the second tower.  Seeing no other easy way in, the party formed up and marched through the opening in the base of the tower. There they found a room full of gulls and the overwhelming (and to Azimer, home-like) smell of fish guts and bird droppings. Amid the screeching and circling birds, the party gave the room a cursory glance before heading through the opening in the west wall.  In this narrow room they found a row of four large stone statues, crudely human  but with oddly alien features. On the north wall a pair of enormous circular eyes gazed on the party. Chaff went closer and gazed back, which sent a chill down his spine as it felt like his muscles were starting to turn to stone.  Wanting to put that hazard behind them, they passed on through another opening in the north-east wall and into a room filled with a tangle of desiccated, thorny vines and a circular stairway going up. Swiftly they climbed the stairs into another room where the north wall glittered in their torchlight. Closer examination showed that that wall was cut through a vein of obsidian, and the stairs (which climbed further) was made of the same material. Apart from the stairs, there was a door to the east and to the south. The east door was of solid, rusted iron. It was either locked or barred from the other side, as even the combined strength of Einer and Abdul el Abdul could budge it.  Abdul el Abdul knocked on the door, hoping to find someone on the other side. He was answered by the loud screech that could only have come from a seabird of monstrous proportions. That convinced the party to head for the southern door, which opened easily into a room with no other exit and a fire place. This seemed to finally be a secure place to rest, so Chaff sparked up a fire and the party settled down to rest for the night.

Next morning after spell memorizing and breakfast, the party inspected their surroundings in more detail. The walls they found covered with bas relief carvings of alien scenes; weird swaying tentacled trees, a sky with multiple moons and suns, vaguely humanoid (but-not-quite) inhabitants. Tucked into one scene was a cluster of the weird cabbage vines they found shortly after landing on the island. Otherwise the room was empty except for old straw and trash on the floor. Azimer searched the fireplace for a lever, switch, or other way of opening the bared door in the other room. The calmonari found nothing, so Chaff sent his familiar up the flue. Through the birds eyes, he could see that the fireplace was connected to another one on the other side of the wall, presumably in the room barred behind the iron door. But the hole was much  too small for anyone but the bird to squeeze through, so the party packed up and headed up the stairs again.

This they had to do quite carefully, as the brittle volcanic glass flaked away as they climbed. They emerged in a small room with a very high ceiling and niches carved in the wall. On the back wall of the niches were curved glass mirrors, and from the front of each niche stalactites of candle wax hung down towards the floor. Up above, at the edge of their torch light, was a large lens. For no particular reason, Chaff and Einer started lighting candles as the rest of the party checked out a door to the south. This opened onto an exposed ledge, from which descended a stairway carved into the side of the piller. This was placed such as to be almost unobservable to anyone outside the tower, which explained why they'd missed it in the darkness last night. There were also two benches, covered in a scattering of rusty metal bits, glass and weird mechanical pieces, plus a series of wooden panels on the west wall covered in esoteric and unintelligible formulae.

Heading back to pick up Chaff and Einer, the party climbed the spiral staircase again, emerging now into another room, exposed to the elements on the west side. Here they could now see the rope bridge which stretched through the mist and low cloud to the second tower about a 100' away. Of immediate interest, however, was a circular stone pedestal with a large yellow-green gemstone set in the top. This gem glowed with a faint light, and looking up everyone could see it was projecting an image on the ceiling.  The scene was of a night sky with brilliant stars, two moons of deep red, and a glowing purple nebula; a sky none of them had ever scene before. After staring a few moments, Azimer tried turning the pedestal, which moved easily. Each time it had traversed 90 degrees, the scene changed, showing in order:

• A jungle canopy with alien plants, similar to the scene seen in bas relief;
• A series of odd pictograms. Everyone spent some time trying to decipher them, but in the end none could make any sense of the weird figures; and 
• Dancing lights, in a hypnotic pattern. 

On viewing the last scene, Chaff, Einer and Villius all become overcome with fatigue, and dropped to the floor into unconsciousness. This did not last long, though, and the three soon rose, a little fuzzy headed but otherwise no worst for wear. 

With nothing else to see through the gem, the party turned their attention to the bridge ...

TOTAL XP
20 (for Einer)

GAINS
NIL

KILLS
1 Cultist of Manakata

LOSSES
Herb
All of Einer's gear and clothes 

Far Isles Session #9 - We're off to Save the Duke

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 1)
Azimer (Calmonari 2)
Chaff (Vivimancer 2) with henchman Herb (Swashbuckler 1)
Einer (Fighter 1)
Villius Paticus (Cleric 1)

Thorgrim had his crew hoist sail, and the "Serpents Revenge" captured a strong south wind which soon had her racing north at top speed. Fast enough, in fact, that they reached the anchorage in just a single day. Rounding the isle and coming around to the small sheltered bay, they could see it was a busy place. Torgus' Traveling Tavern was bustling on shore, and at the northern end of the beach a huddle of lean-to's had appeared. Five ships lay at anchor, and it took all of Thorgrim's skill to squeeze his vessel into the bay. Disembarking to hunt for rumors and information, the party learned about the ships:

• "Valorous Star" was still in port, hawking fine elven goods;
• A second merchant had arrived as well, the "Barbaric Wind" under the command of the swarthy Dravos;
• A large junk by the name "Pearl of Heaven";
• A small cog "Two for Trouble"; and
• The storm battered and tattered carrack, the "San Lorenzo".

Noticeably absent was the the old hulk, the "Blue Wing". A scan of the shore, however, showed the remains of that death trap sitting on the bottom in shallow water very near the new shantytown.

First stop on shore was pretty much the only stop on shore, Torgus' Tavern. They skirted the fight underway between crew members from the "Pearl of Heaven" and "San Lorenzo", and went about their business. Chaff immediately got into his cups, and Herb had to spend the night keeping the little vivimancer from trouble. Abdul el Abdul starting making the rounds of sober(ish) adventurers and crew, hoping to wheedle some maps and information out of them. He had some luck with a man and wife clerical duo by the names Niro and Vysera. They were part of the exploration party for the "Two for Trouble", and seemed pretty flush with gold. Heading back to the mainland with the "Two for Trouble", the pair planned to  leave the ship for some unexplained reason, and were a little more open to discussing where they had been than the rest of the tight-lipped lot. Trading stories, they told Albdul el Abdul about an island, covered in impenetrable jungle, but with a set of mysterious bronze doors set amongst the trees. They'd passed through the doors and found rich treasures after some hard fighting, but were coy about what exact dangers they'd faced. Niro told Abdul el Abdul the island was about 3 days good sailing to the north-east, and that as far as they knew, no one else was yet aware of it's existence.

While Albdul el Abdul worked the crowd, (and picked up a new fighter, Einer, to join the party) Azimer swam along the beach, sizing things up from that angle and reveling in the cool salt water. The calmonari encounter a pair of glum sailors huddled around a fire, about halfway between the tavern and the shantytown. The two were pretty gruff at first, but eventually explained to the fishy intruder they were sailors off the "Savage Sisters", left behind when that ship sailed off to search the unknown. It further emerged they'd been passed out drunk under the trees at the time. They were able to give Azimer some rough idea of sailing directions to the pyramid topped with golden statues (south-east), and muttered something about the first mate being a brutal ogress. All in all, they weren't too upset about being left on the beach, figuring they'd make their way back on another vessel at some time. Swimming further down the beach, Azimer noted Thorgrim scoping out the shanty-town, which struck the calmonari with foreboding. Waiting until the captain left, she/he emerged from the water and sought out the de-facto leader, an older man by the name of Boras. From him Azimer learned that Throgrim had offered to ship the refugees back to Xin for essentially free! Knowing how tight Thorgrim was with money, and his past life as a slaver, the calmonari immediately sensed a scam. He/she warned Boras about the captain, and convinced him to send a couple of men to size up the ship and note the slave shackles in the hold. And then with that good deed done, Azimer slipped backed into the water.

Everyone gathered back at the "Serpents Revenge" for the night, and next morning arose to  restock and resupply for their next voyage, whatever and wherever that may be. Chaff had somehow figured out, in his drunken stupor, how to summon a familiar. So off he went to the new merchant to buy some questionable lab supplies from Dravos. Azimer and Abdul el Abdul tagged along, and learned pretty quickly that questionable goods were Dravo's specialty. As were high prices, except oddly enough on arms and armor. Stocking up on weapons, Azimer then shipped over to the "Valorous Star" to get a load of oil and some other basic gear, and to also check for any potions or scrolls the dandy Lifjin might have. Alas, she had no magic items, but did indicate she could help identify the magical crystal heart the calmonari carried. But the 300gp price was too steep for Azimer, so he/she settled for basic gear only, also turning down the fancy blued chain-mail the elf had on offer.

Rejoining the rest of the party (now expanded to include Chaff mangy looking parrot familiar), the question became what their next steps should be? Thorgrim was making noises about just giving up on this exploration business and heading back to Xin on "honest trade". None (well, almost none) of the party was interested into going into slaving, so Abdul el Abdul laid out the information he'd learned the night before. He also pointed out that the mysterious magical crystal he'd found  was pointing back in the direction of the previously explored caves, possibly to more treasure(?) While discussing those options, they suddenly realized they'd heard nothing about the battered ship, the "San Lorenzo". Back to shore, they asked around, and found that the captain of the ship was looking to recruit a party for some sort of special mission. Intrigued by this, the party headed for the "San Lorenzo" and soon found themselves in front of the dignified older captain of the vessel, Higo de  Moncada. After some pleasantries, Captain de Moncada laid out his mission for them. He served the Duke Don Fernando Alvarez, a powerful noble of Castrillo. The Duke was a curious man, and when he heard of these "Far Isles", equip a pair of ships to go and explore, bringing family and household with him. Unfortunately, they had not explored far when the two ships encountered a vicious storm and the Duke's ship was wrecked on the shore of a small barren island. It was surrounded by reefs so the "San Lorenzo" could not approach very closely. And besides, his own cowardly and superstitious crew refused to make any attempt to land anyway. So Captain de Moncada turned about and headed back to the anchorage to look for some professional to help him save his Duke and family. The party inquired as to pay, and the captain assured them the Duke would undoubtedly offer a reward from his own wealth, and the party was certainly welcome to keep anything else they recovered on their mission. Captain de Moncada also hinted that the Duke was looking for a suitable suitor for his youngest daughter ...

Well, that sounded like a better deal than riding with a slaver, so the party headed back to the "Serpents Revenge" to gather their gear and take their leave of Thorgrim. After another day of repair to the "San Lorenzo", they sailed out of the anchorage and turned to the south-west. Fighting headwinds, however, they made slow progress. Late on the first afternoon, they spied another ship approaching through the spray on the starboard bow. The lookout yelled down that she seemed a deserted wreck. The party convinced Captain de Moncada to let them take the gig across to derelict, appealing to his honorable nature by selling it as a possible rescue mission . None of the superstitious crew of the "San Lorenzo" was about to go near the thing, so the party rowed themselves across. Once alongside, they could see what the lookout meant. The ship was stripped of masts and rigging, and the batter hull was coated in a thick rime of salt. Cautiously, they threw grappling hooks and rope to the rail and hauled themselves aboard. The deck was a shambles, and the skeletal remains of the crew lay scattered about, covered in salt. They moved down the deck towards the stern, aiming for the stern cabin door which flapped back and forth in the wind. Peering inside, it too was all a-shamble. But then suddenly, a pair of shadowy figures drifted into view.  At first, the party stood it's ground, holding tight and waiting for Villius to call an his shadowy god to drive away the fiends. Well, that didn't work, so the over-cautious cleric made his way back to the gig as quickly as possible. The rest of the party backed away a bit, weapons ready for any eventuality. Herb fired his pistol point blank through both figures, and Einer struck with such a mighty blow they all thought one of the spirits was gone. But neither had any affect, so the party hustled back to the gig, cut the lines and made for the "San Lorenzo" at high speed. No losses except a couple of grappling hooks.

There were another few days of fighting head winds before they picked up a favorable breeze. On the fifth day out from the anchorage, and according to Captain de Moncada within striking distance of the isle they sought, they came across more wreckage. This time, a couple of rafts lashed together of spars, lines, barrels and other flotsam. One carried a single sailor, the other a pair. They claimed to be survivors of the "Golden Thane", a trading vessel out of Cha'nrk on the Langushur shore. While the presence of two rafts rather than one was odd, Captain de Moncada none the less took the trio aboard the vessel, then turned back to the south-east and onto the cursed isle they sought.

What greeted the party was a inhospitable sight.  A island less than a mile long, windswept and barren, and surrounded by rocky reefs. Through the sea spray could be seen the only distinguishing features of the island; a pair of towers or rock pillars side by side in the center. de Moncada pointed out a small beach with the wreckage of a ship; the Dukes flagship, "La Juliana". The party loaded the gig with gear and then pulled for shore through the rocks and waves. Once on the beach, the first thing Azimer did was unload a massive pile of oil and rations which the calmonari proceeded to bury above the tide line. No way the party was gong to run out of oil this time! Meanwhile, the rest of the party examined the wreckage of the ship. It lay battered and and already half buried in the sand.  Inside was a jumble of shattered and ruined supplies, from which Abdul el Abdul extracted an intact cask of some liquid but there as little else to find. 

A search of the area uncovered no signs of tracks and paths, unsurprising given the bare rock and howling wind. Chaff sent up his new familiar for a view of their surroundings. Apart from the two pillars/towers, the vivimancer could also see a nearby patch of greenery, a couple of rifts (one of which was spewing steam or smoke) and a cluster of ruins. He could also see what appeared to be a bridge spanning the tops of the two towers. Relaying this information to the rest of the party, they decided to trek across the island towards the smoking rift, checking out as many of the other locations as possible along the way. First stop was the patch of greenery, the only plants visible on the isle. They found a group of strange, blue-green vines dotted with what looked like cabbages. Before getting too close, Einer tossed a rock at one just to make sure it wasn't sentient. It appeared not, but closer investigation didn't provide much more details. Except it appeared someone had recently hacked off a large swath of thevines.

Moving on, they passed the two tower/pillars. These looked to be mostly natural, but with signs of being worked by some being. The first tower had a number of openings, including one at ground level. The second had no entrances except some openings near the top. The party passed on for now, heading for the rift. As they approached  two figures emerged from the smoke plume. They spied the party and headed towards them. The two appeared to be human males, massively muscled, completely bald and completely naked. These showed no overtly hostile signs, but pushed past most of the party, stopping in front of Einer and Abdul el Abdul. "You must come and join us in the ritual of Manakata" the two bluntly ordered the fighters.  Einer and Abdul el Abdul tried to squeeze more information out of the two brutes, but got little but gibberish about the power of Manakata and a lot of barely constrained 'roid rage. The two fighters asked about the rest of the party; could they join the ritual? Told they were free to come but were not worthy of Manakata, the party decided to follow along since they were going towards the ruins which the party was ultimately going to explore anyway



TOTAL XP
375 (exploration)

GAINS
NIL
KILLS
NIL

LOSSES
NIL

Far Isles Session # 8 - Loot, Glorious Loot!!!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 1)
Azimer (Calmonari 1)
Chaff (Vivimancer 1) with henchman Herb (Swashbuckler 1)

With a significant proportion of his away crew recovering from grievous wounds, Thorgrim reluctantly relented and allowed Azimer and Chaff to recruit help from amongst the crew of the "Serpents Revenge". Chaff convinced the ships cook, Herb, to come on board as his new retainer/carrier. Likewise, the egocentric Abdul el Abdul was more than happy to lay down the rigging lines and take up the spear in search of treasure. Suitably reinforced, the four had the jolly boat row them to shore to make one last ditch effort to recover some wealth from these caves.

Chaff suggested they investigate the largely unexplored dry well, hoping that no more crab swarms would climb out to bedevil them. Once there, Abdul el Abdul tossed a rock down the well to rouse whatever might lie below. When nothing happened, Chaff strong-armed his new henchman into climbing down the well to determine where the side passage led, and find what may lie at the bottom. Playing out 100' of rope, Abdul el Abdul held on end as Herb descended.  A quick glance down the side passage showed that it went straight east at least 30', then disappeared into darkness. Chaff shouted down the well, telling Herb to keep going unto the bottom. Herb complied, and Abdul el Abdul felt the line go slack just as he noted a faint sound above him. Looking up, the fighter spied four gliding cave lamprey about to drop on the unsuspecting group. Dropping the rope, he pulled out his grappling hook to snag one of the beasts. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten his rope was down in the well and not attached to said grappling hook. Even so, he scored a solid hit on one of the lamprey, and both it and the hook fell to the floor. Of the other three, one attached itself to Azimer, but the calmonari was able to pry it off with his/her trident. Another was bludgeoned to death by Chaff, and the fourth decided there was no easy meal to be had and glided off into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Herb down in the well had found a human-ish skull wearing an elaborate crown of coral, semi-precious gems and shells. When the sounds of combat ended on the surface, he called up for help getting out. Thankfully, the rope had gotten snagged in a crack on the floor when it was dropped, so they were able to pull the cook out of the hole. Showing off his find, Herb stated the crown must be worth at least 1400gp to his discerning eye.  Encourage by this, the party decided to explore the side passage that led out of the well. Tying the rope around the stone well, the four climbed down and east east along the 6' high passage. It did not go far, end in a blank stone wall after about 50 feet. Looking up, they saw that the ceiling at this point rose a few feet higher than the rest of the tunnel. Abdul el Abdul glanced quickly and declared there was no way out in that direction. Azimer wasn't convinced, and after a few minutes search, the calmonari discovered the ceiling was actually a round plug. Chaff ordered Herb up on Azimner shoulders to try pushing it up, but it was much too heavy for the rotund cook. Azimer tried on his/her own, but it was just a little too high to reach. In the end Abdul el Abdul climbed up on the calmonari's shoulders and lifted the plug out of the way, sliding it into a convenient (and thankfully untrapped) slot to one side of the shaft. Looking up, the fighter could see handholds on the side of the shaft, so he jumped up off Azimer's shoulders and started climbing. The others followed, and found themselves, after a 40' climb, in a passage heading east.  Moving slowly forward, Azimer got the distinct impression they'd been here before. They soon came to a Y-intersection, and realized this WAS an area they'd been before, and had the map to prove it. The shaft had led them back to the twisting tunnels west of the room full of technicolor blobs. Well, since they were close, they decided to keep heading that way, figuring there must be more treasure at the end of that trail of coins and gems they'd looted the day before. Azimer, however, first ran back to recover their rope from the well; they seemed to always be in need of more rope.

Now back at the  ooze cave, they hatched a plan. Chaff, Herb, and Abdul el Abdul would stay at one entrance to attract the mobile messes. Azimer would sneak around to the other entrance to see to where the last unexplored tunnel led. This worked well, and the calmonari was able to tip-toe past the immobile jade goops and mauve glops to the tunnel entrance. There he/she stopped, as just 5 feet inside was a ring of jade rock through which the calmonari would have to pass to proceed any further. Hesitantly, Azimer touched the ring with a belaying pin. When nothing happened, she tried again, touching it this time with a single finger. This time the ring started to vibrate, and two jade goops squeezed from the ceiling portion of the ring to fall on the calmonari. Screaming as the slimy stuff burned his/her scaly skin, Azmier ran for the exit just as the resounding BOOM of a pistol echoed from the west.

There, Chaff, Abdul el Abdul and Herb were surprised when a sahuagin fish-man appeared in the tunnel behind them. Thinking fast, they tried to step aside and let him pass, so they could then watch what the goos and globs would do to the creature. But it would have nothing to do with that plan, and instead barred claws and teeth to attack the trio. Well, one shot from Herb's pistol put an end to that idea, and the slightly wounded and thoroughly frightened creature turned and ran back into the darkness.

Shortly after, Azimer rejoined the trio and spent a few minutes scrapping off the remains of jade goo and nursing some damaged skin. Stilling wondering how to defeat these things, the party tried burning an aquamarine goop with oil, but it seemed to have no effect. Figuring even if they could find a way to fight them, the number of slimy things was more than they could handle. So instead, sneakiness would have to prevail. In a repeat of the previous plan, Azimer and Abdul el Abdul would head for the unexplored tunnel to search beyond the jade ring. Herb and Chaff would stay where they were and attract the goops attention as best as they could. Once more , this seemed to work, as the mobile slimes crowded over towards the vivamancer and cook, leaving a relatively free passage for Azimer and Abdul el Abdul. The only problem was that the tunnel was now blocked by a pair of jade goops. Abdul el Abdul took care of that by flipping his bedroll onto the slime, and then he and Azmier carefully stepped through the ring (but only after first testing to ensure nothing happened when something passed through rather than touched the ring). Once on the other side, they could see more coloured rings (mauve, vermilion, aquamarine) every 10 feet. These were bypassed the same way, and the two found themselves in a cave. At the far end was a bench carved out of the rock and on it were three small, but elaborately bejeweled and carved, chests. At about this point, they heard another BOOM as Herb discharged his pistol, the signal that the glops were on the the move and Azimer and Abdul el Abudl risked being trapped. Each hastily grabbed a chest, and carrying it under one arm, leapfrogged back out of the cave, just barely ahead of their gooey pursuers.

Meeting again, the four gleefully ran to the open air of the beach with their loot. Once there, Azimer checked each for traps. Finding nothing, but noting both chests were locked, each of the four tied to jimmy the locks. Too bad Gormus was back on the ship abed, as neither were able to figure out the delicate yet complex mechanism. Oh well, brute force it is then. Abdul el Abdul was able to open his the minimal damage, by Azimer's webbed fingers managed to smash up a couple of panels while opening the second. Inside, each chest was filled mostly with decayed scraps of vellum and cloth. Azimer's also held a crystal heart, while in the other was a golden dinner plate and a strange crystal. About 6 inches long, it was inscribed with the same weird squiggle and dot writing the party had encountered previously in the caves. Chaff, being the most learned, and having examined the writing before, tried to decipher it. He had no luck, but a curious thing happened when he held it in his hand. The crystal turned like the needle if a compass, pointing to the south east. It did the same when held by the other three members of the party.


That was all well and good, but there was a third chest to recover. Following the so far successful plan, Azimer and Abdul el Abdul ran into the cave while Chaff and Herb distracted the glops. They recovered the last chest without incident, but rather than ruin this one, opted to call the jolly boat back and find someone on board ship more handy with locks than they. Back on board, Thorgrim broke into a grin for the first time in weeks, and the crew started to whoop and holler at the sight of some real treasure. The beefy captain also proved to be deft with a set of lockpicks, and the third chest was opened without damage. Inside it was the same as the other two, with the only valuable item being a couple of strips of elaborately woven gold cloth. Lothbar, the legless dwarven first mate, appraised all the treasure at quite high value, noting the two damaged chests would have been worth much more in pristine condition ...

TOTAL XP
4069

GAINS
3 elaborate bejeweled chests (800gp, 450gp, 880gp)
2 strips of woven gold cloth (100gp each)
crystal heart (200gp)
Gold dinner plate (75gp)
Crown of the Sea (1400gp)

KILLS
4 gliding lamprey

LOSSES
Surprisingly, none

Far Isles Session #7 - Where's the Damn Treasure!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Villius Paticus (Cleric 1)
Azimer (Calmonari 1)
Chaff (Vivimancer 1) with henchman Conch (Calmonari 1)

After a night of rest and a day of refit, the party was rowed back to the sea caves to search for treasure at their leisure now that their arch-nemesis was destroyed. Passing through the ruined remains of their timber and sailcloth tunnel, the party made first for the prism-shaped column covered in etched vertical and horizontal dashes. Everyone stared at it, trying to discern a pattern. Conch suddenly noted it looked like musical notation, and tried to hum the tune as best as his semi-aquatic lungs would allow. While everyone agree the calmonari was able to do a good impression of a whale song, nothing else seemed to come of the impromptu concert.

Moving on, they quickly scanned the rough stone column at the next intersection for runes or writing, and finding none then turned west to explore areas as yet unknown. They found themselves in a confusing maze of old lava tubes and dead ends, coming eventually to a "Y-intersection" with another statue. It again showed a robed human, in this case with one arm outstretched and pointing with two fingers. Oddly, it was turned such that it was almost facing a blank rock wall, with the arm pointing roughly to the north-east. After it was checked for traps, Conch tried to turn the statue clockwise. It was difficult, but the statue and base did turn about a quarter way around. The calmonari then pushed it back, with similar difficulty.

Continuing on through the intersection, the party found themselves in a long tunnel that rose gradually before coming to the sunlight. Emerging intro the open air, they found themselves standing on a ledge overlooking the sea. The "Serpents Revenge" was not in sight, and the rest of the ring of islets could be seen stretching to the horizon. Obviously having emerged on the south side of their rocky island, and with no obvious way up or down, they turned around and headed back into the caverns. Retracing steps again, they eventually looped around to the south-east, coming to a large, and as yet unexamined, cavern. This one seemed studded floor and ceiling with large blobs of colored rock (jade, aquamarine, vermilion, mauve), similar to that seen throughout the caverns in much smaller veins and nodules. Azimer was just about to step in the room when she noticed one of the blobs started to move! Watching closely, the party could see the vermilion and  aquamarine goops were slowly undulating towards them. The jade and mauve didn't move, but it was obvious now that they were not rocks but also some form of slime or glop. Mild curses echoed through the cavern as the party muttered to themselves about more blobs. Rather than push forward, the four retreated to explore further. They found more dead end tunnels, and disturbed a pair of gliding lamprey (which were both dispatched by a combination of being clubbed in mid-air by Villis' musket, followed by impalement on Chaff's dagger).

Getting tired of dead ends, the party headed back through the room with the crystal skull and quartz pillars. Azimer did a quick recon of the pillars, but then the whole party headed for the exit, coming soon to another large chamber. This one had a floor covered in closely spaced 2" spikes of rock, which would make traversing it difficult. Scattered across the floor was a selection of old bones. Looking up was by now a modus operandi. Which was good, as that revealed a cluster of 10 gliding lamprey clinging to the ceiling and ready to descend on anyone foolish enough to enter the room. Rather than fall into that trap, the four hatched a nefarious plan. Azimer tossed one of the previously slaughtered lamprey just inside the rooms entrance (the calmonari having scooped them up for a later snack). This attracted six of the lamprey on the ceiling, and these glided down for a cannibalistic feast. When they did, Azimer tossed a net over the group to catch them. Unfortunately, his/her timing was off, and the six had sucked the body dry of blood and squirmed away before they could be entangled in the net. Undeterred, the calmonari tossed another dead lamprey, and this time all 10 descended for the feast.  Markedly more successful with the net this time, Azimer trapped about half of them, and Chaff dropped a spore cloud on the whole group to incapacitate as many as possible. Conch took his lamp and broke it over the net (Chaff then lighting the oil for his henchman) and the smell of burning seafood filled the air. Azimer and Villius took aim at the remaining lamprey with musket, javelin and dagger. That didn't make much of a dent in the squirmy foes, so the cleric used his scroll to summon a spiritual hammer to smite them. Which did work better, but three of the slimy things still managed to escape and crawl back up to the ceiling of the chamber. Azimer boldly entered the room to draw them down. Which worked quite well, as one latched on to his/her leg and started draining blood. A second attached itself to the other calmonari to do the same. Azimer managed to use his/her trident to pry off the one on his/her leg, but alas Conch was drained to death by the one on his neck. Villius and Azimer pummeled the third one to death, but meanwhile the one on Conch detached and started to crawl up to the ceiling again. Villius took careful aim with his musket, and was successful in turning that last lamprey into a bloody smear on the rock above.

Chaff hauled himself out of this carrier on Conch's back, and the three remaining adventurers now carefully entered the room. With Azimer in the lead, they hugged the perimeter, avoiding both spikes and any hidden lamprey. They also rustled through the piles of bone as they went, but found nothing of interest. Exiting a tunnel on the opposite wall, they headed north again along a long passage, and soon found themselves back in sunlight on the beach.   With mutterings of wild goose chases and flying seafood, they steeled themselves to face the blob chamber, it being the last completely uncharted area. They approached it from another direction this time, but once more found a mass of technicolor goop, glop and slime awaiting them. There was, however, some treasure at this end of the room. A scattering of coins and a few gems lay along the floor, seeming to lead from another tunnel at the east end of the chamber. They tired to get at the treasure, but the colored masses slowly advanced and pined them in the entrance. But theses things did not leave the room to pursue the party. Knowing there was a second entrance, Azimer and Chaff stayed where they were to distract the things. Villius, meanwhile, looped around to enter the room from the rear, and try to scoop up some treasure before their oozy foes knew he was there. Which worked, and he was able to recover a few fistfuls of silver coins before running off as the things approached. Oddly enough, Azimer and Chaff could see the cleric pointedly ignored the obviously more valuable gems scattered at his feet. Chaff gave Villius a dirty look when he rejoined the group, and the little vivmancer told Villius and Azimer to make themselves useful and guard his back while he did the treasure recovery. Casting a series on cantrips, Chaff painstaking nudged the gems across the room and within arms reach. This took quite some time, but luckily they were not disturbed by any further dangers.

But that was enough for the frustrated trio, so they headed back to the beach and thence to the ship. Where Thorgrim met them crossly, demanding to see the vast piles of treasure he had been promised! The captain was starting to get that look like he was going to make this voyage profitable one way or another ....

TOTAL XP
492

GAINS
3 rose quartz (75gp each), 1 smoky quartz (50gp). 1 lapis lazuli (25gp)
88 sp

KILLS
11 gliding lamprey

LOSSES
Conch the Calmonari
A little bit of sanity

Gods and Cults of Langushur

The languid swamps, volcanic mountains and stormy seas of the Langushur coast long held no attraction for the human race. Until about 800 years ago, the area was home to very few people, left mostly to those not quite human. When people did come, they hailed mainly from the south-eastern shores of Easrae. These were refugees and fugitives who choose to not live under the sway of the expanding Second Imperium and be forced to convert to the Church of the Three Virtues. As such, the gods and cults of Langushur reflect an older, polytheistic, and often crueler relationship between gods and men than is the norm in the lands around the Inner Sea. Many are the gods of the Far Shore, most to be appeased rather than worshiped. A selection is detailed below.

Ysridyl

The Lady of Storms, The Sea Witch, Crone of Wind and Destruction, 

Appearance: A woman dressed in a tattered dress of grey and blue, with four arms  and a demonic visage. 

Symbol: Four arms extending from a swirling storm cloud, like the spokes of a wheel.

Notes: The priests of Ysridyl will appease the goddess by sacrificing a youth at the height of the winter storm season, throwing him or her off the cliffs and into the sea

Brall

He Who Hides Secrets in the Depths, The Bloated One, The Drowned God

Appearance: A bloated, waterlogged corpse.

Symbol: Skull with seaweed in eye sockets

Notes: Initiation into the cult involves being ritually drowned three times; occasionally the ceremony goes amiss and the initiate goes immediately to join the Drowned God. 

Mon-Roth

The Mother Egg, The Ever Ovid, The Formless One 

Appearance: A spherical, pulsating mass of slime, with vaguely human head and appendages that appear and disappear seemingly at random. 

Symbol: A black egg

Notes: The initiates of Mon-Roth all have a colony of some type of slime or ooze grafted to their bodies, to better (and literally) spread to work of their goddess over the world. Only regular ingestion of specific drugs and herbs keep the guest protoplasm from taking over the initiates body.   

Anthor
Peacemaker, The Lord of War and Peace
Appearance: A ruddy, bearded giant with a flail in place of each arm.
Symbol: Olive branch and flail
Notes: Followers of Anthor are dedicated to peace, even if they have to shed much blood to achieve it. Cultists form roving gangs which enforce peace wherever they deem it necessary.

Garu Dar
Master of the Impenetrable Void, The Faceless Night
Appearance: A robed, emaciated and androgynous body, with a star filled void in place of a head.
Symbol: Three stars on a black field.
Notes: Initiates of Gaaru Dar imbibe yellow lotus on a massive scale, hoping to penetrate the Void in their visions and learn it's secrets. As a result, their physical appearance in this world leaves much to be desired.

Krug
He of a Thousand Eyes, The All-Seeing Master, Secret-Stealer
Appearance: A 30 foot tall giant in chain mail and open-face helm, inside which can be seen hundreds of eye-stalks in place of a head.
Symbol: A circle filled wilh a dozen smaller circles
Notes: The cult of Krug excels at brazen greed and unrestrained quest for power. No action is too dark in pursuit of these goals. Popular with bankers, spies and adventurers.

Shakrazil 
The Blood Drinker, The Power in the Rot, Lurker in Black Waters
Appearance: A giant black leach, hundreds of feet in length.
Symbol: Three leaches intertwined
Notes: Followers of Shakrazil feed the god with their own blood; the blood off an unwilling sacrifice is considered impure for their master. The cultists, on the other hand, have no such scruples when it comes to choosing their sacrament. Vampires and vivimancers abound in the worship of this deity.

The Leviathan
Watery Lord, World-Swallower,
Appearance: A great sperm whale, miles in length.
Symbol: Whale and globe
Notes: Cultists believe the world was spawned by their god, and ultimately will be consumed by him at the end of time. Rumor is they can summon the god's lessor kin to do their bidding, but only if they sacrifice themselves after the service has been rendered.

Xhusa the Radient
Goddess of Beauty, The Unblemished Lady, Beauty-Death
Appearance: A stunningly, otherworldly beautiful, human female.
Symbol: Golden Dagger
Notes: Devotes believe the quest for beauty is the goal of life. Priestess of Xhusa (there are no priests) will in fact take their own life rather than have their beauty marred. It's a small (and shrinking) cult.

Toi-Su
Decadent He, Somnolent Reveler, Writher
Appearance: A hairless bald man with the lower body of a slug
Symbol: Slug surrounded by a golden halo
Notes: Fat and shaved devotees demonstrate adherence to the faith in various carnal and dipsomaniac debaucheries. Philosophy of enlightened and over-enthusiastic hedonism. Quite harmless really.  

The Gem Gates of the Wind Wizards of Foronaxos

The Wind Wizards of Foronaxos were a semi-mythical cabal of powerful mages, whose origins stretch back to before the Godwars that destroyed the first fabled civilizations of man. The last known member of the order was last seen several hundred years ago, and they would appear to exist no more. They specialized in teleportation, telekinetic and extra-planer travel. Many of the currently known enchantments related to such matters can be traced back to them. They are best known, however, for the magical gem gates they constructed, which allowed instantaneous travel between far distant points scattered across the world.

The gates are typically oval or round portals caved out of stone, but can take almost any form. The only constant feature is a series of peculiar slots or receptacles arranged around the perimeter. The gates are powered by precious gems; star ruby, star sapphire, fire opal, blue diamond, and star topaz. To use the gate, gems are inserted into the slots. Each gate is tuned to particular combination and number of gems; inserting the right number/types/order of gems into any other gate would allow travel to the gate defined by that gem combination. 

  

Gates have a variable number of slots or receptacles. It is not possible to travel directly to a destination gate if the starting gate does not have enough slots to accommodate the required number of gems.

Unless someone is left behind to remove them from their slots, gems must be left in the gate after the traveler has passed through; there is no way to remove them after passing through the gate. Eventually the gate drains the power of the gems and they will crumble to dust. How long a given set of gems remain viable is highly variable and also highly unpredictable. In general, however, a set of gems will power a gate for a period ranging from days to weeks.

Gate locations and gem combinations currently discovered by the party are:

Gate Location	# Gem Slots	Gem Combination*
Westmist	6	R R S R
Forbidden City	6	R R R R R R
Kunth	5	R R R R R S
Land of 1000 Wizards	?	S T R R
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #1	?	S S S S S S
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #2	?	S R R S
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #3	?	R T T R S
* S = Star Sapphire, R = Star Ruby, T = Star Topaz, O = Fire Opal, D = Blue Diamond

Westmist Session #100 - Brigands and Nobles

As twilight descended, the still invisible Kern and Erijay scouted around the ruined keep. Apart from smoke rising from the interior, there was no obvious activity. No guards on the crumbling walls or towers, no pickets in the treeline.They did find the main gate,which was closed and presumably barred or locked. Rather than force their way in, the two decided to position themselves near the gate, and hopefully sneak in behind some returning brigands. It wasn't long before they indeed observed a small party of men emerge from the woods, pulling a cart loaded with firewood, some small game, and casks. When the reached the gate, they called out, and a few minutes latter a guard appeared in the tower above. After a short conversation in a foreign tongue between the guard and returning men, the gate started to open. As the foraging party entered, Kern and Erijay slipped in quietly behind them. They passed into the gatehouse and through another gate (each raised by a separate windlass). From there they headed down a narrow passage, open to the sky, that entered into the inner courtyard. Kern and Erijay did not follow, having observed a number of campfires and a significant number of brigands gathered there. 

http://gertsamtkunstwerk.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00e551ef630088340192ab286987970d-pi

Now left alone in the narrow passage, they decided to check out the doors they'd passed on the way in. Using a combination of listening at doors and searching for minds using the medallion of thoughts plucked from Jax, they found that three of the four doors appeared to have no one behind them. On the opposite side of the fourth door a number of human minds were encountered, including several brigands and a noble or leader of some type. Sifting through their thoughts, Kern was able to get a rough layout of the keep, including the fact that the main living quarters were not in the keep itself. Not sure what to make of that, the two went to investigate the other three doors. Two lead into the defenses surrounding the gatehouse, while the third led into a small, bare room seemingly carved out of the side of the cliff. Erijay decided to search for secret doors, while Kern started the process of summoning with the censor of controlling air elementals, to have it ready to summon in case all hell broke loose. 

http://tammyj.net/dir/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/old-big-padlock-10818436.jpg

Erijay found nothing along the walls, but deftly spied a suspicious flagstone on the floor. It was lifted out of the way to uncover a passageway 10' below, heading roughly north into the cliff. Kern, once more listening and brain prying, sensed canine minds in the passage below. Erijay cast sleep to take down the animals, and the two entered the passage. Stepping over the sleeping bodies of 3 wolves, they quickly came to a branching tunnel leading left, and a door straight ahead. The branch ended in a heavy leather curtain, while the door was locked with a massive metal padlock. Kern probed beyond the curtain with the medallion, detecting faint thoughts of men both awake and asleep. A quick look, however, revealed nothing but an empty room. Going back to the door, Erijay stood guard while Kern quietly picked the lock and opened the door. On the other side was a storeroom, filled with crates, barrels and a pair of small footlockers/lock boxes. Kern pried open one lockbox, finding it stuffed full of gems! As he went to check the second, however, Erijay passed a silent warning; men were approaching.  Erijay carefully shut the door and replaced the lock (but not locking it), hoping the brigands would pass on by, she being still invisible. As the brigands approached, however, the leader noticed the open lock and screamed a warning as he drew his sword. Erijay slipped the lock out of the hasp so Kern wouldn't be trapped, then dropped invisible to the floor. The leader swung wildly, but the spear-wielding brigand behind him struck the elf a hard blow. Kern, meanwhile, threw open the door , brandishing his somewhat worst-for-wear preserved medusa head, but to no avail. Erijay now crawled through the melee and behind Kern, to be in a better position to cast her spells from a protected location. A trio of magic missiles slammed into the katana swinging leader, and another spell hasted Kern and Erijay.  The elf next polymorphed herself into a giant python as Kern struck the patrol leader dead with a final swing of the great silver hammer of Lughrin. Erijay then struck at the remaining brigands, crushing and slaying two. The third, however, had already run off to get help, and the sounds of shouting and approaching reinforcements came from beyond the curtain in the passageway. 

http://img07.deviantart.net/30c2/i/2008/166/2/7/wolf_katana_lucian_by_itachisan666.jpg

Kern, pausing only briefly to lift the shiny sword from the corpse on the floor, went back into the room and threw open the second foot locker. In it lay the books for which Toi !lo was waiting. Slamming the case shut, Kern threw it onto his shoulder and he and the snake-Erijay headed back from whence they came. Hasted, they were able to keep ahead of their pursuers and get back to the front gate. There they had to pause as Kern turned the windlass and snake-Erijay stood guard. He was just getting it open when a crowd of brigands burst into the passage. Erijay slithered into the gatehouse, switched back to elf form, and incinerated their pursuers with a  fireball. Throwing open the second gate, they fled into the night, dodging a volley of spears from the guard tower. 

The duo raced back to their horses, and galloped west along the Road of the High Sun, reaching the city of Kunth the next morning. There, they once more requested the presence of their minder "Perfect Spreading of Merit", who led them back to Toi !lo's library to trade the recovered books for more information on the Wastes of the Loathsome Gods. Toi !lo let it be known there was little left of civilization in the blasted wastes. A scattered of insular villagers and nomads, long tumbled ruins, and loathsome twisted beasts of chaos spawned by the pure evil of the place. He suggested the best place to search for the Fetters of the Gods would be in the ruins of the capital of the once dreaded D'war empire, which had risen and fallen in power along with the fortunes of the Loathsome Gods. At Kern's request, the slug man also researched some gem combinations for the gate which could get them to or close to the Wastes. Toi !lo came up with three that should lead to gates in the general area of the Wastes, but could not say for sure which would be closest to the ruined city. He also, once more at Kern's request (and in return for another gift), provided a gem combination to a gate in the Land of 1000 Wizards. Erijay, again in return for more gifts, was able to get information on the four artifacts listed in the book she had recovered so long ago. The "Golden Mask of Nythal" and "Skull of Chodak" could be found in the Land of 1000 Wizards, while the "Machine of Radioactive Light" and "Throne of the Ancient Ones" were both to be found in the Burned Lands. 

https://i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0381/96/1424462737704.jpg

Thanking the illustrious slug-man, Kern and Erijay took their leave. Kern, recalling the treasure they'd recovered from the Hanging Tree while crossing the Untamed Lands with the barbarians, showed "Perfect Spreading of Merit" the signet ring recovered with the Kunth woman's skeleton. Examining it, he told Kern the wearer had been a member of the "Pearl" clan, a powerful human noble family in the city. In fact, the patriarch of the family was one of the 11 nobles who ruled the city in the name of the slug-men. The ring in fact had belonged to the patriarch's daughter "The Radiant Pearl of Kunth". The young woman had disappeared some years ago, supposedly kidnapped and carried off by a secret lover. Kern, sensing the chance to do the right thing to get a powerful ally in Kunth. asked "Perfect Spreading of Merit" to get them an audience with the family so he could return their daughter's remains and belongings. Their minder complied, and several days later Kern and Erijay found themselves at a palatial manor house in a rich part of the city. Led into a great hall, there they found, sitting at the head of a long table, was the clan patriarch, "Unchanging Noble One". Behind him stood a grim faced guard, and  to each side sat a woman. The lady to his right was obviously his  wife, while the relationship  of the other was uncertain. Kern explained who he was, how he had come into possession of his daughter's remains, and returned her bones, clothes and jewelry to the family. Glancing around, Kern was a little startled to see that of the four, it was the guard captain and the second woman who seemed most upset to learn the fate of  "The Radiant Pearl of Kunth". He did not dwell on it long however, as the patriarch thanked him for finally bringing closure to the family. He presented Kern and Erijay with rich robes of fur, fish-scale and gems in thanks for their service, and then signaled the guard to take the them away. The guard led them though the manor to the front gardens, and to Kern and Erijay's surprise, there rushed "Perfect Spreading of Merit" out the door. The guard then very quickly spoke in broken, heavily accented Common, asking if the body of a man of Kunth was found with "The Radiant Pearl of Kunth". When told there was not, he grunted and sent the duo on their way. Puzzled, the two headed back to the Forgein Quarter to wait for Bjorn to fully recover and begin their search for the Fetters of the Gods.