Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Lady Quay: Part 8 – The Hidden Vault

Kham padded down the hallway, peering around each corner before he did so. He waved the others on behind him.

He came to a door. Throwing caution to the wind, Kham opened it.

The small room was heaped with pillows of all shapes and sizes. Thick rugs covered most of the floor. A thin copper lever protruded from the northern wall. It smelled like reptile flesh.

There were sounds of combat in the hallway. Kham ignored them. He pulled the lever.

There was a grinding sound. A stone wall slid open near the lever.

Something shrieked in agony in response to whatever it was Sebastian and Vlad were doing.

The vault’s interior was totally dark and heaped with crates, five in all, each bearing a decrepit iron lock. They were quite large, almost too big to fit through the narrow doorway.

Vlad shouted an inquiry as to Kham’s whereabouts, littered with expletives.

Kham drew his special lock-picking dagger out and then popped the handle. He chose from a variety of picks. Then he concentrated, his eyes glowing briefly.

Kham twisted the picks in the lock. He was rewarded with a satisfying click. A needle hung in the air between him in the lock, then dropped to the ground. Kham’s mental shield paid off.

There was an explosion and a scream.

With a shrug, Kham put the dagger back into its sheath at his belt. He drew his two pistols. “Okay, we do this the old fashioned way.”

A thin trail of greenish gas snaked its way between Kham’s feet and climbed its way up through the lock. Kham blew the lock off.

When he opened the large chest, the medusa was curled up within, her eyes closed, arms over her chest. She looked almost peaceful.

Vlad skidded into the room, panting. “Where the hell were you?”

Kham smirked. “Doing what we came to do. Now give me a hand and help me drag this chest out into the sunlight.”

 

[talien]

Lady Quay: Conclusion

An explosion wracked the Lady Quay…then another and another in a chain of designed destruction. She had seen better days: she was a wrecked bulk of planks and torn sails, of rotten shrouds and sagging yardarms. Her keel was irreparably split, her rudder nothing but a splintered stub. Fetid seaweed clung to her warped bulkheads like rotting flesh.

“What the hell happened?” asked Vlad in horror.

The hull of the Lady Quay ruptured, cracked open like an arid desert; the aft section burst and trembled. Slowly, it began to sink in flames, plunging to her death.

Sebastian watched dispassionately.

The Lady Quay sank beneath the waves as the sun set. A few crewmen dove off the side, swimming their way to shore.

The survivors of the Lady Quay, temporarily safe, watched in awe and grief as their only way home died in the ominous Pale Sea beyond. Captain Miro watched with hollowed eyes.

“My god, Rekello,” she whispered. “What have I done?”

“What you had to do,” said Rekello. “What you always do. Turned death into a fighting chance to live.” He looked concerned over at his captain. “You hear me, Winnifer?”

Captain Miro took a deep breath and nodded her understanding to Rekello.

“Mind explaining it to the rest of us?” asked Kham.

Rekello shot Miro a glance. She nodded at him. “It doesn’t matter now.”

Miro turned to address Sebastian, Vlad, and Kham. “Several months ago, my consort Thispin Venorth and I were hired to deliver a fell cargo of Essence Ingots to Freeport. We loaded the Essence Ingots into the hold of our beautiful ketch, the Night Heron, unaware that the dangerous black bricks contained the trapped souls of once-living creatures. The ubiquitous ship rats gnawed on the crates and eventually were infected after consuming portions of the tainted ingots. When the infected rats bit the crew, fatalities quickly mounted and the frightened sailors declared an all out mutiny.” She choked, unable to go on.

Rekello picked up where she left off. “The ensuing fight was savage and bloody. The Night Heron caught fire during the fray. In order to save our lives, we slew a dozen of our own men. But Thispin was mortally wounded. He died even as the ship was sinking.”

“I fully expected to drown with him,” said Miro. “But I found the ship rising up from the clutches of the cold sea. Only days later, when my crewmates rose up as undead horrors, did I realize what happened. The Night Heron had become a ghost ship. Rekello and I were the only living people aboard the haunted vessel.”

“So we hatched a plan,” said Rekello. “We cloaked the ship with magic and vowed to set the undead crew to rest by delivering another shipment of the cursed cargo to Freeport, thereby passing on the taint. But…”

“Worked pretty well,” said Vlad. “Ghoul Juice nearly destroyed Freeport, thanks to you.”

“There’s no more cursed cargo,” said Sebastian. “We razed the place to the ground. All the Essence Ingots were destroyed along with the sorcerer who created them.”

“Then the curse is truly broken,” said Miro. “I had expected to go down with my ship. And with Thispin.”

“We still have the dinghies,” said Sebastian. “Perhaps we can lash a makeshift boat together. Three days time should allow me to scout ahead until we can be rescued.”

“You do that.” Kham grabbed the Captain by her waist. “What if I told you I could bring you to Freeport in the blink of an eye, sweetcheeks?”

The Captain eyed Kham but didn’t pull away. “I’d say you’ll be the only man who called me that and lived.” But she managed a grin.

“That’s all I need to hear.” Kham winked at Vlad. “See you in Freeport!”

He touched one hand to the kelpie amulet. With a flash, Kham and Captain Miro disappeared.

The other sailors who had survived the sinking of the Lady Quay, all men who hired on from Freeport, stared at them expectantly. Sebastian glared back at them.

“Don’t look at me. I don’t possess such magic. Not yet.” He flapped into the air. “I’ll cut down some trees for our raft.”

The sailors stared up in shock.

“You heard the man!” shouted Vlad. “Hop to! If we’re going to get off this island, we’ll have to work together!”

The men scurried to do Vlad’s bidding. When they were out of earshot, the Milandisian turned to address the ocean.

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Kham.”

 

[talien]

Chapter 59: Fair Salvage - Introduction

This scenario is from the Tales of Freeport adventure “Fair Salvage” from Green Ronin, by Graeme Davis and adapted to the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

Bijoux’s player had abruptly exited the campaign before I was ready to write Bijoux off completely. So it took awhile, but this is the adventure where we explain what happened to Bijoux’s people and why anyone should care. After all, they’re the Great Success or Failure (depending on how you look at it) for the Unspeakable One. Are they any better off?

More importantly, as the campaign winds to a close, it’s time to clean out the closet, so to speak. Anyone and everyone is fair game, and more than a few NPCs have served their purpose. When it comes to a murder mystery, somebody or in this case several somebodies, have to die.

This scenario is barely an adventure, actually, but more an encounter. It’s one of those adventures that seems much more interested in telling the PCs about what already happened, as opposed to actually thrusting them into the middle of a conflict. I tweaked the adventure so the PCs were at all the exciting parts and heard about the boring parts instead.

Even that resulted in very little combat, because fortunately the PCs are smart enough to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.

Now somebody tell that to Bijoux.

 

[talien]

Fair Salvage: Prologue

The Long Day’s Night eventually rescued Sebastian, Vlad, and the remaining crew of the Lady Quay. The breezed had stopped completely, so that the air hung hot and humid and utterly still. Ships had been becalmed, sometimes for weeks, with no sight of land or salvation, slowly depleting their supplies.

“Sorry boys,” said Captain Amos. “According to the charts you recovered from Marissa Lapideaux’s home, the time to open a portal to R’lyeh came and went.”

Sebastian turned the small sextant over in his hands. “Then all is lost.”

Amos clapped Sebastian on the back. “Oh, I’m sure something’ll turn up. If my boys heard right, you stopped the Unspeakable One and lived to tell about it. Opening a portal should be a piece of cake for the likes of you.”

Vlad rubbed his forehead. “If only it were that easy.”

Sebastian looked up. Something had caught his attention. “There.” He pointed. “What’s that?”

There was a glint on the water, not far off. Vlad peered over the deck at it.

“Well, I’ll be…” said Amos. He handed Vlad the spyglass. “See for yourself.”

Vlad looked through the scope.

It was a whale-shaped construct, composed entirely of thick, clear glass. It was hundreds of feet long. The body was fashioned with the appropriate dorsal hump, medium-sized flippers, and a powerful fluke. Its huge, bulky head took up nearly a third of its total body length. A single angled blowhole was located on the far left top of its forehead, projecting streams of visible white air. The slim and narrow lower jaw of the glass whale was lined with peg-like teeth that fit into grooves along its robust upper jaw. Tiny figures moved within it.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know,” said Amos. “But it has no sails and she’s running against the wind. How is that possible?”

“Anything’s possible, with the right magic,” said Sebastian. “But to outfit a ship of this size with such an enchantment would be fantastically expensive.”

“Maybe it’s a ghost ship,” offered Vlad. “We’ve seen a few of those lately.”

Amos shook his head. “The weather’s calm. Visibility’s good. The ship looks solid enough to me.”

With a splash of its tail, the gigantic glass whale disappeared into the deaths.

“That’s worrisome,” said Vlad. “If whoever pilots that ship joins Coryan’s civil war, they could blow Freeport right out of the water.”

“Worse,” said Amos, “they could outbid Freeport’s buccaneers!”

Sebastian just shook his head.

 

[talien]

Fair Salvage: Part 1 – The Unfortunate Antiquarian

Falthar’s Curios was only fifteen feet wide, but it was a good fifty feet long. It almost seemed that the building was an afterthought, crammed between two existing structures with little regard for functionality. Falthar made it work though. The front room was normally stuffed with curiosities from floor to rafters.

Kham found the door unlocked, the shop’s contents scattered. The furniture was reduced to kindling.

“Falthar!” shouted Kham.

Falthar val’Abebi lay on the floor in several pieces, badly charred but still identifiable. It had not been disturbed. Given the recent corruption scandal sweeping Freeport, none of the Sea Lord’s Guard had yet arrived despite several citizens raising the hue and cry.

Kham leaned down to inspect the corpse. The damage suffered by the corpse was consistent with magic. And yet, there was none of the widespread fire damage that one would expect from something so powerful.

“Skiz, look around,” said Kham.

The talking rat hopped out of Kham’s haversack and climbed down his pant leg. He paused to sniff the corpse.

“That’s not dinner,” Kham said sternly.

Skiz shot Kham a hurt look. Then he resumed sniffing the rest of the room.

“Strange smell here boss. Something weird.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Kham. “There’s a lot of valuable items in here. Either the murderer wasn’t interested in profit, or he didn’t realize their value.”

“Falthar was connected, right boss? Who would mess with him?”

Kham shook his head. “I don’t know. But whoever it is, they’re gonna pay.”

 

[Neurotic]

I'm all caught up. And now have to wait for next installment. Luckily, you're posting like Lazybones

Good work everyone!

Now few questions: what happened when character(s) died? Did you loose players or they changed characters? Bijoux and Calcyte primarily.

 

[talien]

Good question,

Short answer: They quit.

My sister-in-law didn't really have the time to play, and my brother's interest flagged soon after. There were a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that because they weren't playing often enough they started to lag tremendously in power levels.

The other reason was that when they did show up, adding two additional players tended to make the game very chaotic, since it usually swelled our total number of players to seven. Because they were both new to D&D, this made it a bit boring.

The problem was that with the ever changing schedules of my players, I wasn't really willing to restrict the number of players. I applied a lot of what I learned to my d20 modern game.

I'm also beginning to realize that campaigns work best if I have a conclusion to the campaign in mind, as player interest tends to flag over the years.

Thanks for your comment!

 

[talien]

Fair Salvage: Part 2 – The Collector

The brutal murder of Falthar cast a pall over the surrounding area. Some people were afraid to go out at night, while others formed themselves into vigilante groups and patrolled the streets in search of evildoers. There were several cases of mistaken identity that resulted in innocent people being stopped, beaten, and even lynched.

An almost palpable sense of dread hung over the neighborhood, but the rest of the city carried on its business as usual—a murder, however gruesome, was not a serious thing in Freeport, so long as it happened at a comfortable distance.

Sebastian joined Vlad and Kham in front of a two-story house on a leafy side street off Wave Avenue.

“Why have you summoned us here?” the dark-kin asked as he landed.

“Maybe you should stop flying around the city,” Kham said in irritation. “You could get lynched.”

Sebastian let a sly smile cross his lips. “They’ve already tried.”

It was understandable, said the Sea Lord’s Guard. Sebastian fit the description of the strange creatures seen roaming the city at night. They were never clearly seen and were described as nothing more than distorted shadows slipping in and out of the darkness. The stories told of glowing red eyes and tall, misshapen figures as thin as an elf but as tall as an ogre.

Vlad looked up at the house. “Where are we, anyway?”

“Aljandros Haddon’s house,” Kham said flatly.

“Aljandros too?” Vlad looked sideways at Kham. “Is there something you want to share with us?”

Kham shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I can’t help it if I know a lot of people.”

“A lot of dead people,” said Vlad.

Sebastian flapped up to the second story. “The bars on this window have been pulled apart with great force.” He peered closer at the window. “It looks as if they were melted and then bent.”

The dark-kin flew through the window while the others took the steps. Once again, the Sea Lord’s Guard was nowhere to be found.

Aljandros’ bedroom was a mess, with contents scattered about as if a tornado hit it.

Sebastian nudged something with his foot. “This was Aljandros.”

Kham turned over a few books, sorting through the remains of what were once shelves.

“Looking for something?” asked Vlad.

Kham nodded. “Aljandros was never happier than when he was showing off his latest find. Less than a week ago, he invited several other collectors to his house to admire his latest acquisition, an ornate bowl.”

“So?” asked Vlad. “You think he was killed over a bowl?”

“It wasn’t just any bowl. It was made of an unknown metal and about the size of half a coconut.” Kham frowned. “It was taken from the same wreck that Freeport’s Siege Cannons came from.”

“I thought the Freeport cannons were from Altheria,” said Vlad.

Kham whirled on him. “Altheria would never supply such things to Freeport.”

Vlad was taken aback. “Sorry. Didn’t realize it was a sore subject.”

Kham smoothed his overcoat down. “I went to prison over the rights to blackpowder pistols, remember? It’s all because of the damn gnomes.”

“But these cannons and this bowl didn’t come from gnomes.” Sebastian’s eyes glowed as he scanned the room. “The bowl is not here.”

“Now what?” asked Vlad.

Kham kicked some debris aside as he left the room. “Now we go visit the Siege Cannons.”

 

[talien]

Fair Salvage: Part 3 – Assault on the Towers

The most impressive part of the Old City’s defenses was the five arcane fire cannons atop each one of the walls’ towers.

“The massive brass and iron armaments were salvaged from a mysterious hulk, found beached on the windward side of A’Val after a savage storm.” Kham climbed the winding outer steps up one of the towers. “It was impossibly large by Freeport standards. Sea Lord Francisco paid an exorbitant amount of money to acquire what were at first regarded as expensive curiosities.”

“Have they ever been fired?” asked Vlad.

Kham nodded. “The next marauding fleet that cruised into Freeport Harbor bent on stemming the tide of piracy received a surprising reception. Once the fleet’s flagship was reduced to a floating bonfire by one shot from the top of the Freeport battlements, the rest of the invaders quickly moved on.”

Two guards stopped his ascent with large clubs. “Halt!” said one of the guards.

There was a shout beyond the guards.

Kham swigged a potion and disappeared. The guards blinked and looked around.

Sebastian snapped out his wings. The guards readied their polearms, only to have the dark-kin spiral up past them.

That left Vlad. He smiled. “Do you know who I am?” He flashed the Symbol of Drac. “I’m a good friend of the Commissioner.“

The guards looked at each other. Finally, with a unified shrug, they let him pass.

Four tall and thin humanoids were stalking up the stairs. They somehow obscured their appearance, their features cloaked in shadow. Another pair of guards were ahead of them, shield and halberds at the ready. A smoking hole in the wall near the guards was mute testament to the beginnings of a conflict.

Sebastian landed behind them. “Stop! What do you want with the Siege Cannons?”

Vlad stood behind Sebastian, sword at the ready.

One of the creatures turned to face the dark-kin, its eyes glowing a bright red. Its skin was matte black in color. A series of images flashed through his mind.

He saw the k’n-yan overtaking the fihali homeworld. As it was absorbed into Carcosa, several fihali escaped on whale-shaped glass ships. They warped and shimmered, only to appear in Arcanis.

Except that they did not all appear at the same time and place. One of them appeared two hundred years in the past. Another appeared only recently. Of the other ships, there was no sign. When they arrived, the fihali were changed, caught between two worlds.

Sebastian was overcome by a great feeling of sadness. Then, he saw a view of the inside of the great ship, which slowly filled up with strangely-wrought objects of various types, including the metal bowl taken from Aljandros’ collection, accompanied by a feeling of puzzlement. Next, there was a picture of one of the siege cannons, accompanied by a feeling of anger.

It was a two-way form of communication. Sebastian’s mind relayed one image clearly: A man sat near a tree with a dog at his feet. He played a lute and sang a song for a woman standing on a nearby balcony. An immature spawn of Hastur was slowly crawling up to the balcony toward the woman. High overhead, a crescent moon shone. The entire image was upside down…

The black fihali’s eyes narrowed.

“Halt!” shouted a heroic voice. “I, Henry Gow, will not let you pass!” The young-looking wizard shouldered his way past the two guards. “Back, foul creatures! Fear my mighty magic! Hypnos regula!”

Henry’s outstretched hands flashed a dizzying pattern of bright lights. The color caused the black fihali to recoil.

“No, wait—“ said Sebastian. But it was too late.

One by one, they shimmered and warped out of the air.

“Ha!” shouted Henry. He pointed at Sebastian. “I do not fear you, monster! Back, I say, BACK!”

“Fool,” snarled Sebastian. “I was communicating with them!” There was a whip-cracking sound. A purple welt appeared on Henry’s neck, the aftereffects of Sebastian’s poisonous tail.

The wizard collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“I didn’t know your tail could do that…” Vlad looked down at the unconscious wizard. “Now what?”

Sebastian’s tail twitched. “Now we pay a visit to the wreckage where Freeport retrieved those Siege Cannons.”

Kham appeared next to Vlad. “You may want to postpone that trip.”

“Why?” asked Vlad.

Kham pointed. Dozens of torches bobbed in the darkness. “It looks like somebody’s about to get lynched.”

For a heart-stopping moment, the object of the lynch mob’s rage was visible on a torch-lit platform. A rope was tied around her neck.

It was Bijoux.

“Not again!” shouted Sebastian. His allies didn’t have a chance to ask him what he meant before the dark-kin launched himself off the edge of the tower.

 

[talien]

Fair Salvage: Conclusion

The crowd roared as the designated executioner wrapped the noose tightly around Bijoux’s neck. She was easy prey, muttering feverishly to herself, eyes rolling. They bound her hands and feet so that she couldn’t glide to safety. Then, with a mighty heave, they shoved her off the stone steps of one of the other towers.

There was a flash of black and the rope snapped. Bijoux was snatched out of the air by something moving fast.

Sebastian flew all the way to the beach before he let Bijoux go. He slashed open her bindings.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to her. “The card…the card forced me to do things…”

Bijoux didn’t seem to hear him. She wobbled steadily to her feet. “They’re calling me,” she whispered. “They’re trapped between worlds.”

“I killed so many.” Sebastian fell to his knees. “There were a dozen, I think, in Carcosa. They didn’t know what hit them.” He could still smell the stench of burning flesh. “The King in Yellow forced my hand…”

Vlad and Kham arrived a few minutes later, panting.

Vlad put his hands on his knees. “You have to leave. The mob is coming this way.”

Sure enough, the pool of angry fireflies that were the mob’s torches had transformed into a serpent of flame, winding its way through Freeport and towards the beach.

Kham stared out at the water. “Uh, guys…”

Vlad looked over at Kham. “What now?”

“The water out there…it doesn’t look right. It’s broken up somehow, like something…”

“Invisible,” said Sebastian. “The fihali have come to avenge their brothers.” He stood up and stretched out his wings, a good span of twelve feet. “So be it. I am not afraid to die.”

“Are you nuts?” said Vlad.

“Yep,” answered Kham.

A glowing white cannon appeared in mid-air about a hundred yards out. There was an odd whirring sound and the cannon’s barrel flared brighter.

“I don’t think they’re aiming for Sebastian,” said Kham. “I think they’re aiming for the mob.”

The crowd had hit the beach. Their angry shouts were audible.

“If they shoot now, it’ll be a massacre!” shouted Vlad. He drew his sword, but knew that even Grungronazharr couldn’t stop the blast.

“No!” shouted Bijoux. “Calactyte, NO!” She launched herself in the air. “We have to help him!”

“What the hell is she talking about?” asked Kham.

“Bijoux’s delirious,” said Sebastian. “She thinks she’s back in Semar.”

Vlad pounded towards the crowd. If he could get there in time, maybe there was a chance…

The fihali flew towards the cannon, intercepting the blast before it could expand further. There was a terrific explosion that knocked them to the ground. For a moment, a white light as bright as the sun at high noon illuminated the beach.

A great wail went up from the crowd. Terrified, it quickly dispersed.

Vlad fell to his knees, his entire body drifting smoke that whipped in the shore winds. Bijoux’s sacrifice was enough to slow the blast but not stop it. Grungronazharr absorbed what it could, but the explosion was too powerful.

Kham ran over to Vlad and felt his pulse. “He’s alive. Barely.” There was no sign of Bijoux.

“They will never know her sacrifice,” Sebastian said sadly.

When the light finally faded, a small, featureless boat parted the water. More cloaked figures stood stiffly in its center as it propelled itself towards the beach, parting the water without oar or sail.

Sebastian took a few steps towards the boat and waited.

The black fihali stepped out of the boat, one by one. They turned to face Sebastian.

“I…I am sorry.” Sebastian choked. “I was mad.”

“Who are you talking to?” asked Kham. He couldn’t hear the other part of the conversation.

“We cannot give you the Cannons,” said Sebastian. “Freeport needs them to survive.”

The black fihali inclined its head, staring at Sebastian curiously.

“Bijoux’s sacrifice should not be in vain. There can be peace between us, despite our past sins. I will help you.”

The fihali nodded. Sebastian nodded back.

“That is a very generous offer. I will discuss with my companions.”

The dark-kin turned to Kham. “They need the cannons to attack a k’n-yan ship. It too crashed here when the fihali homeworld was destroyed. But in light of Bijoux’s sacrifice, they are willing to use my firepower instead. I offer it to them freely as recompense for the murders I committed.”

“Murders?” asked Kham.

“In exchange, they will give us access to something called the Moonsilver Orb. It can open a portal to R’lyeh. That’s our only chance to stop Leviathan.”

Kham peered at Sebastian. “You’re going to do this whether we go with you or not, huh?”

Sebastian nodded.

Kham flashed him a grin. “It’s good to have the old Sebastian back. I’m in.”

“And me,” said a gruff familiar voice. Beldin stumped across the sands, having just returned from Solanos Mor. “It’ll take a dwarf to show you how to navigate the high seas.”