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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7282591" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 39: THE EMPEROR'S NEW FOES</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 12</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 11 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 18 November 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>At long last, the week in Greyhawk City came to an end and the heroes' various weapons and armor were ready to be picked up. Binkadink had had his red dragonhide armor upgraded to resist fire damage; Castillan had ordered a ring made that would allow him to activate a <em>dimension door</em> effect three times per day; Finoula's longsword <em>Tahlmalaera</em> had been imbued with the <em>fiend bane</em> property, in preparation for her eventual showdown with the incubus Malaterminus; Darrien's <em>Arachnibow</em> had been enchanted to imbue an <em>icy burst</em> effect upon the arrows it shot. As the half-elf ranger picked up his beloved bow, the weapon shop proprietor mentioned, "Oh, I got a message for you: Guildmaster Bodkin wants to see you before you leave town."</p><p></p><p>"I wonder what he wants us for?" questioned Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"We find out when we find out," reasoned Gilbert. They entered the Guildhall and were escorted into a meeting room, where shortly thereafter Rale Bodkin entered alongside a middle-aged woman. "Thanks for meeting with me," said Rale. "This is my associate, <strong>Desdemona Honeytongue</strong>." The woman nodded her greetings, then spent an inordinate time staring at Finoula in puzzlement.</p><p></p><p>"I'm her sister," sighed Finoula, certain that this Desdemona likely knew Feron Dru.</p><p></p><p>Guildmaster Bodkin cleared his throat. "I have a proposal which I think will benefit both parties," he said, his ever-present smirk visible on his face. "We've had a problem – and when I say 'we,' I mean Cal Trop's merchant empire, in which I have a not-insubstantial piece. One of his ships is overdue on a return trip from Kozakura. We've tried scrying upon its captain, its crew, and on the ship itself, with no results. So it's missing, and we're not sure of its current location.</p><p></p><p>"There's another vessel on its way to Kozakura as we speak – in fact, it's about three days out, from a two-month voyage. Here's what I'd like to do: get your team inserted onto the ship before it reaches port, so you can be passed off as part of the ship's crew. That way, you'll be there in case whatever happened to the previous ship tries to repeat history with this new ship."</p><p></p><p>Rale looked straight at Gilbert Fung. "I understand you have reasons of your own to want to scope out Kozakura on the down-low. This would be a perfect opportunity. What do you say?"</p><p></p><p>"I say: we take you up on offer," replied Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>Rale gave the team a bit of background on the whole situation. The missing ship was the <em>Flying Dolphin</em>, a cargo ship captained by one <strong>Sergio Mandretti</strong>, with an able crew with years of experience. The ship arriving at Kozakura three days hence was the <em>Mermaid Queen</em>, a cargo vessel captained by <strong>Elbra Farquester</strong>, also with a well-seasoned crew. The voyage across the ocean to Kozakura normally took about eight weeks; Cal Trop had those two ships dedicated to back-and-forth voyages between the two nations (besides other ships headed to other locations).</p><p></p><p>Typically, upon arriving at Kozakura the ship's cargo was unloaded and then the crew took a day of rest and relaxation at shore, while the captain and cargomaster made arrangements for the hold to be filled with Kozakuran goods and the standard ship's provisions for the return trip. Scrying upon the ships wasn't normally done, as there had been no problems before that the ships' crews hadn't been able to handle.</p><p></p><p>Rale offered to pay 2,000 gold pieces if the Kordovians could find out what happened to the <em>Flying Dolphin</em> and engineer its safe return; another 2,000 gold pieces for a return of the ship’s cargo if it hadn't already been turned over to Kozakura; another 1,000 gold pieces for rescuing Captain Mandretti; and 50 gold pieces a head for rescuing the other crewmembers. (There were 20 crewmembers aboard the ship when the <em>Flying Dolphin</em> left port, so that came to potentially another 1,000 gold pieces.)</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the Guildmaster suggested the team bring all of their adventuring gear but have a way to stash it away so it wouldn't be readily visible. The <em>portable hole</em> seemed like the perfect solution along those lines. Rale said he could procure a set of sailor's garb for each adventurer and sent Dez off to fetch suitable clothing while the team sent Castillan back to the dragonfly ship to brief Aithanar and Jinkadoodle on their plans and return with the <em>teleport carpet</em> from the hidden hold. The carpet was plunked into the <em>portable hole</em> with most of the team's other gear, although they opted to keep their jewelry (especially those pieces which were magical in nature) and Finoula and Binkadink each retained their magical boots. Then, after dressing in their sailors' garb, the team signaled to Dez that they were ready to go.</p><p></p><p>Casting a <em>greater teleport</em> spell, Desdemona expertly landed everyone onto the deck of the <em>Mermaid Queen</em>, among a group of startled sailors. However, Captain Farquester knew Desdemona by sight and once she explained the situation the ship's captain welcomed the adventurers to her ship, more than willing to have their expertise at hand when confronting unknown dangers ahead. Satisfied that all was in place, Dez <em>teleported</em> back to Greyhawk City with a smile and a farewell wave.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of spare room for an additional seven crewmembers (and a weasel) to bunk down, as the <em>Mermaid Queen</em> was loaded pretty full. Captain Farquester offered to let them sleep on the upper deck or wherever they could squeeze in down in one of the two lower cargo holds.</p><p></p><p>"We find place to sleep down in hold," reassured Gilbert. "We be fine." He had a <em>rope trick</em> spell ready that would open an extradimensional space large enough for the lot of them - minus the one who'd be on guard duty, for they had decided among themselves to always have one of their number awake and alert at all times.</p><p></p><p>It was Darrien who ended up on the third guard shift, with the others all tucked away in the <em>rope trick</em> space Gilbert had conjured up. Three hours had passed since midnight, when the young half-elf, who could see far better than a human in low-light conditions, saw what at first looked like a patch of moonlight dancing on the waves, but soon took on a somewhat humanoid form as it got closer. Or at least a partially human shape, for while from the waist up it seemed to be a woman in all white, from the waist down her body more or less dissipated into a cloud of misty vapors which skimmed over the waves. The woman glowed slightly and was bearing down on the ship from directly ahead.</p><p></p><p>Darrien wasted no time in racing back down to the upper cargo hold to scurry up the dangling rope and poke his head into the extradimensional space holding his friends. "Wake up!" he called. "There's a ghost woman heading our way across the top of the ocean!"</p><p></p><p>Castillan and Finoula jerked out of their respective reveries. Most of the team scrambled over to Ingebold, who was unfolding the <em>portable hole</em> so Mudpie, who'd been inside the whole time, could pass up weapons to those who needed them as they called out what they were looking for. "Glaive!" called Binkadink, to have the earth elemental pass him up his trusty weapon, "<em>Tahlmalaera</em>!" called Finoula, reaching down for her longsword.</p><p></p><p>Castillan didn't bother with any of that; he was still wearing his <em>gloves of storing</em> so his weapons were ready at the snap of his fingers. Not bothering to worry about armor, he dashed up two sets of stairs to the front upper deck, to find himself nearly face-to-face with the glowing spirit. She had the almond eyes of Gilbert's mother - or at least Harriet Fung's original eyes, as she now wore the form of an orc - but her face was scrunched in an expression of extreme anger. Without a word, she passed through the wall and into the deck below the bounder.</p><p></p><p>By then, the heroes had started spilling out of the <em>rope trick</em>'s extradimensional space and heading to the stairs that led to the ship's top levels. But then the ghost-woman passed through a wall and made a bee-line straight for Gilbert Fung. The wizard held up his weapon - a <em>ghost touch quarterstaff</em> - but before he could bring it to bear the spirit passed straight through him. Gilbert gave a low moan at the coldness that permeated his entire body, but he was surprised in that his magically-enhanced eyesight hadn't triggered a warning of her undead nature. His mother had tried explaining to him as a child about such creatures; they were called ikiryo, and despite their ghostlike appearances they were spirits, not undead. An ikiryo is a spirit born of worry, Harriet had explained to her only son, and the person who birthed an ikiryo usually did so unconsciously, unaware that part of her spirit had broken off to deal with whatever it was that was causing such worry.</p><p></p><p>All of this came to Gilbert in a flash, just as he recognized the spirit's face in a momentary flash of memory: Ryuko, the wu jen who had led the ninja strike team responsible for the decapitation death of Harriet Fung. Whatever had her worried, her subconscious had attributed its cause to Gilbert Fung, and now this ikiryo would fight to the death to see Gilbert slain.</p><p></p><p>As the unnatural cold seeped through Gilbert's body, it tore away at the strength of his body, the power of his mind, and the substance of his own spirit. Diminished on all fronts, the mage staggered backwards a step as his friends stepped up to help deal with this threat.</p><p></p><p>Darrien was the first to strike, with a rapid barrage of arrows from his <em>Arachnibow</em>. He had opted not to fully exit the <em>rope trick</em> space, using his high perch as a hunter might shoot his prey from the safety of a high branch. Four arrows hit the apparition, although due to the ikiryo's insubstantiality it was difficult to determine how much damage they actually did. Binkadink brought his magical glaive crashing down and through the ikiryo's body, but again it was difficult to see if the attack had had any effect at all - the glowing woman didn't flinch, or bleed, or have wounds appear on her body. But the attack had been noticed, if only briefly, for the Ryuko-image cast her gaze for a moment at the little gnome before returning her focus onto Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>Seeing they were basically fighting a ghost-woman, Hagan cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell at her, sending all five such missiles striking her in the torso. Those definitely did deal her a blow, for there was a small explosion as each hit and her angry visage turned momentarily to a wince of pain. Finoula followed with a strike of her longsword, and the ringing of the sonic-induced magic indicated she must have hit as well. Then a dwarven warhammer comprised entirely of magical force swung down at the ikiryo, the result of a quickly-cast <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell by Ingebold.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert took a quick mental inventory of his prepared spells and realized, with his diminished mental capacity, some of his most powerful were now outside his ability to cast. Fearful that another such strike by the ikiryo might further limit his spellcasting ability, he opted to switch tactics and go for a melee attack instead. And the best way he could do that was to cast a <em>Tenser's transformation</em> upon himself.</p><p></p><p>The spell affected him immediately and he felt some of his diminished attributes buffered up and then surpassed by the spell. He felt stronger, faster, and heartier than he'd been since even before the ikiryo's attack. Striking out with his quarterstaff, he dealt the ikiryo a blow he <em>knew</em> she felt by the solid-seeming way it connected. "Take that!" he snarled at the form of the woman who had indirectly killed his mother.</p><p></p><p>The ikiryo responded wordlessly, and without uttering a single sound - but she reached out a hand curled into a claw and ripped through Gilbert's body, again draining off a bit of what made him who he was. But seeing this, Ingebold - after directing her <em>spiritual hammer</em> into another crushing blow - cast a <em>restoration</em> spell that buoyed up Gilbert's mental and physical attributes.</p><p></p><p>As she was incorporeal, many of the heroes' attacks passed through the ikiryo harmlessly. But there were enough of them for their various attacks to make it through her defenses often enough that they were whittling her essence away, and this process was made all the quicker by Hagan's <em>magic missiles</em> and Gilbert's <em>ghost touch quarterstaff</em>, which always made their mark. Before too long, Ryuko's image gave a final silent snarl of hatred and disappeared into nothingness.</p><p></p><p>"Was that...?" began Binkadink, who thought the ghost woman had looked familiar.</p><p></p><p>"I explain everything in morning," replied Gilbert. "Right now, we go back to sleep."</p><p></p><p>"You're on guard duty now," Darrien reminded the gnome, leaving him behind as the others climbed up the rope into Gilbert's extradimensional space.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The rest of the second day was uneventful. Captain Farquester had her sailors show the adventurers the rudiments of sea life, so they wouldn't stick out as newbies once they arrived in Kozakura - she wanted them to blend in as much as possible. They put in a hard day, and when night fell and Gilbert cast the <em>rope trick</em> spell again, everyone was ready for a good night's sleep.</p><p></p><p>It was early the next morning when the lookout in the crow's nest called out "Land ho!" None of the adventurers could see land yet from their vantage point, for the lookout had the advantage of height, but the fact that they were so close to their destination got them making their final preparations. The spellcasters had already prepared their spells, and the armor and weapons had been stowed back into the <em>portable hole</em> - along with Mudpie - and Ingebold had it folded up like a handkerchief and tucked into her belt.</p><p></p><p>It was then that a creature landed on the deck amid a flurry of flapping wings. Finoula instinctively made to grab the longsword she normally had belted to her hip and Castillan snapped his fingers and brought his short sword into his hand, but then he felt foolish once he realized the ship wasn't under attack - the creature on the deck was nothing more than a duck, although this one was brown and white with a dark green head.</p><p></p><p>"It's <strong>Drake</strong>!” called out the captain. "Quickly, somebody toss him a blanket!" A blanket was tossed over the duck's body, trapping him underneath. Then the shape beneath the blanket shot up, reaching the height of a man. In fact, once Drake pulled the blanket off his head and wrapped it around his otherwise naked body, the others could see that he was, in fact, now a man.</p><p></p><p>"Drake is a hengeyokai," explained Capt Farquester. "He's a friend. The crew calls him Drake, because they have a hard time pronouncing his real name correctly."</p><p></p><p>Drake began speaking in the Kozakuran language; of the adventurers, only Gilbert understood what was being spoken. He translated the drake hengeyokai's words in his own pidgin version of the common tongue.</p><p></p><p>"There a new regime in charge in Kozakura. New Emperor called <strong>Torazoku</strong>, he severing all ties to outside world. <em>Flying Dolphin</em> came to shore, sailors removed cargo. But then it left, moving north along coast rather than back across ocean like normal. It possible it getting cargo elsewhere along Kozakuran coast, but that never happen before. Drake not see ship or crew since. It may be back on way home, but maybe it commandeered for use in Kozakuran navy. Drake say it safer for to turn around now and go back way we came."</p><p></p><p>Drake was rewarded for his information with a fish, which he gulped down without chewing. However, Captain Farquester was hesitant to turn back with her ship full of cargo – she needed to restock before she could set off on another trip across the ocean. "Besides," she said, "we have you guys to keep us safe, and I want to find out what happened to Captain Mandretti's ship and crew."</p><p></p><p>"If they go north, maybe we go north too," suggested Gilbert. "We find ship, both leave together."</p><p></p><p>"Captain!" called the first mate. "I don't think that's an option any longer." There were four vessels approaching the <em>Mermaid Queen</em> from the direction of the shore ahead, two on either side. Neither ship was as big as the cargo vessel, but not by that much, and the crew sizes on each ship were on par with Captain Farquester's own forces. "If'n it comes down to a fight, we're far outnumbered," the mate said.</p><p></p><p>"We have magic, though," reminded Hagan. "A couple of <em>fireballs</em> and those ships won't be in any shape to fight us."</p><p></p><p>"We don't know if they have any wizards on their ships, though," pointed out Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"They called wu jen here," corrected Gilbert. "Anyway, we don't want to take chances. We just play like we know nothing about other ship, everything hunky-dory." He then quickly cast a spell upon himself, altering his appearance so he looked like his father, Verdant Gristwold. He didn't want his half-Kozakuran heritage tipping off any of the locals, especially if Ryuko was likely to be around. Belatedly, he regretted not having prepared enough spells to hide the true appearances of his companions, at least those who had fought Ryuko and her ninja force before.</p><p></p><p>"Ahoy, <em>Mermaid Queen</em>!" called a voice from the starboard side of the ship. "Welcome to Kozakuran waters! Please dock ship at port and unload cargo into warehouse!"</p><p></p><p>"Okay, people!" Captain Farquester called to her crew. "You heard the man! Business as usual!" And then she went to the starboard side to call back to the Kozakuran ships to acknowledge their orders.</p><p></p><p>The next few hours were both busy and tiring. To blend in as part of the crew, the Kordovians were obliged to help lug all of the cargo off the <em>Mermaid Queen</em> and into the stone warehouse directly across from the dock. Most of the bulk of the cargo was made up of hardwood lumber, as Kozakura was not a land blessed with an overabundance of trees for building materials. According to Harriet Fung's tales of her homeland, important buildings were made of stone and only the very rich used hardwoods for more than a building's exterior; much of the interior walls and doors were made of rice paper, a concept most of the heroes found difficult to comprehend. But the lumber and other goods from the vessel were finally stowed in the warehouse, and the sailors were led to another, similarly-sized building right next to where their cargo now resided.</p><p></p><p>A pair of samurai in yellow robes ushered the crew of the <em>Mermaid Queen</em> into this other building, where their names were recorded (the adventurers all came up with aliases, in case their names were ever viewed by Ryuko or anyone else aware of the attack on the Fung Estate) and they were led through a set of locked doors into a large holding chamber. "This is different," observed Captain Farquester. "These used to be individual berths, like at an inn. They've taken down the interior walls." Indeed, the room was now a large confinement barracks, with wooden benches along the outer walls and a single toilet in the back corner, surrounded by a privacy wall. She went to go question one of the samurai in his own language, but was apparently brusquely told to wait patiently for further orders.</p><p></p><p>"There's just the one door out of here," observed Finoula, after having walked the circumference of the holding area and finding no hidden doors.</p><p></p><p>"True," admitted Hagan, "but there are also the window-slits." Up near the ceiling were narrow openings, each about the size of a brick, allowing in fresh air and a minimum of sunlight from outside. "Wezhley can easily fit through those." He lifted his weasel familiar up to a narrow window and instructed him to look around. Wezhley scampered through the opening and leaped down to the ground, giving the buildings nearby a thorough investigation.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Gilbert took Ingebold to the toilet area and, partially hidden by the privacy wall, had her unfold the <em>portable hole</em>. He then had Mudpie emerge, with instructions to glide through the ground and check out the immediate surroundings. With two familiars roaming around and mentally reporting back to their masters, the group soon had a decent idea of their immediate surroundings. Besides the two long, narrow stone buildings - the confinement area and the warehouse - there was a smaller, wooden structure. Wezhley circumnavigated this latter building, crawling up and peeking through the front windows. From his description of the room, which contained a low table, several chairs, long needles, and jars of pigment, Hagan gathered it was a tattoo parlor. Wezhley described a curtain in the back leading to the rear half of the building, but he couldn't get back there himself without entering through the front door and that was beyond his capabilities.</p><p></p><p>Mudpie had checked out the warehouse, which still held the cargo they'd brought, and was sealed up from the outside. "Wait--someone's coming," he reported over the mental link he shared with Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Who?"</p><p></p><p>"A lady on a horse."</p><p></p><p>"Stay out of sight." Mudpie sank back into the earth, leaving only the top part of his head visible, from the eyes up. From any but the closest distance, he'd look like an ordinary rock.</p><p></p><p>Several minutes later, the door to the confinement barracks - which had only been opened once before since their imprisonment, to deliver a simple meal of rice balls and slices of fish - was unlocked and a woman stepped in with two samurai as escorts. Gilbert's eyes narrowed in recognition; this was Ryuko herself. She consulted a scroll and called out names, including Elbra Farquester and the two aliases Finoula and Ingebold had given. She had them step forward, then looked at Finoula quizzically for a moment as if trying to remember if she'd seen the elf before. Then, shrugging her head, she bid them come with her. The three women prisoners looked at each other expectantly, as if deciding whether it would be best to comply or if now was a good time to drop the pretenses and make a break for it. But, given they were no closer to finding out the fate of Captain Mandretti's crew and vessel, they followed the wu jen without comment.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert mentally redirected Mudpie to surreptitiously follow the women as they exited the confinement building; the earth elemental reported back that they had been taken to the warehouse. Upon his master's instructions, the elemental sunk below the ground and popped his head up in the back of the warehouse, where he could see the four women. Ryuko had the three crewwomen line up facing the warehouse doors, then stood to the side expectantly.</p><p></p><p>"I not liking this," remarked Gilbert. "I think we gear up now." Castillan pulled out the <em>teleport carpet</em> from the <em>portable hole</em> and had a few of the sailors step onto it with him. "I'll be right back," he said, then spoke the command word and the four disappeared. A few minutes later, Castillan returned. "I squared it away with Aithanar," he said. "Let's get all of the sailors safely aboard the dragonfly vessel, and then we can deal with whatever's brewing knowing they're safe." He passed the command word on to the rest of the sailors, who disappeared from the carpet in groups of four.</p><p></p><p>Once everyone was all geared up, Castillan rolled the carpet back up and plopped it back into the hole. Then he directed Hagan, Darrien, and Binkadink into the hole, with a reminder to hold their breath while they were in there. "Let's go," the bounder said, picking up the hole once the other three had crawled into the extradimensional space; grabbing Gilbert's shoulder, he activated his new ring and he and the portly mage <em>dimension doored</em> outside the rear of the confinement barracks. The bounder flipped open the hole onto the ground, and the other three heroes climbed back out.</p><p></p><p>"It's dark out," commented Hagan as his weasel familiar came bounding back up to him to be picked up and dropped onto his favorite perch, the half-orc's shoulder. In the meantime, Gilbert had been alerted by Mudpie through the telepathic link they shared that the warehouse doors were opening and three people were entering. There was a tall man with regal bearing, dressed in elaborate robes, and flanking him on either side was a warrior in heavy armor, complete with a mask bearing the visage of a fearsome demon. The samurai bodyguards escorted the regal man directly to Ryuko, who bowed low, while two more of their rank closed the warehouse doors and stood guard outside.</p><p></p><p>"Emperor Torazoku," Ryuko said. "Your humble servant presents the individuals you sought from the foreign ship." While Mudpie had no idea what the wu jen was saying, Gilbert caught it all through their shared link and he understood the Kozakuran language just fine. "Emperor in there!" he whispered excitedly to the others. Then he directed his familiar to dive below the earth and reposition himself behind the Emperor, who stood facing the three women from the <em>Mermaid Queen</em>.</p><p></p><p>"A lowly korobokuru," he said in disdain as he examined Ingebold, mistaking her for a dwarf from his own lands. Moving on to Finoula, his expression lightened. "One of the spirit folk!" he exclaimed, examining the elf's silvery-white hair. "Yes, she will do nicely." He moved on to Elbra, and was impressed with her own golden locks. Finoula and Ingebold had no idea what this man was saying, but they got the gist of the transaction: he was examining them like cattle, apparently deciding who would be added to his group of concubines.</p><p></p><p>"Gather up," Gilbert commanded to the other male heroes, then cast a <em>teleport</em> spell that placed him directly above his buried familiar and the others just adjacent. They were all standing behind the Emperor and his two samurai bodyguards.</p><p></p><p>Ryuko stood off to the side and she saw their sudden appearance from the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to give a warning, but Darrien reacted first. A quartet of arrows went racing in her direction, to pierce her in the shoulder, the abdomen, and through her open mouth and out her cheek; the fourth one missed and ended up embedded in a piece of lumber stacked on the warehouse's shelves. Blood poured from Ryuko's mouth, and, assuming she was very near death, Hagan opted to push her the rest of the way there with a well-placed <em>magic missile</em>, sending the other four missiles to crash into the back of the samurai on the Emperor's left. The samurai grunted in surprise and pain, while Ryuko fell lifelessly to the floor, dead before she could cast a single spell.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink was the next to strike, hitting the same samurai with his magical glaive and scoring a deep groove through his armor and into his flesh. Castillan leaped forward and finished him off with a kidney-strike using his short sword, and the first of the Emperor's faithful bodyguards fell dead to the floor.</p><p></p><p>From beneath the ground, Mudpie surged upwards and forward, emerging just behind his master and grabbing hold of the doors, certain that the sounds of combat would drive the other two samurai outside to want to investigate. Gilbert Fung cast a <em>scorching ray</em> spell, splitting the four rays equally between the Emperor and his sole remaining bodyguard. Both targets reeled from the sudden attack.</p><p></p><p>Then the three women jumped into action. Finoula activated her <em>lightning amulet</em>, transforming her body into a bolt of electricity that surged through both enemies. The samurai had just struck at Binkadink with his katana and missed the little gnome completely, then backed up closer to the Emperor to provide him whatever protection he could. Ingebold pushed Elbra back away from the combat, not wanting the ship's captain to be harmed during the fight. Captain Farquester was more than willing to be led from danger, as this sort of thing was well beyond her normal duties as the captain of a merchant vessel.</p><p></p><p>The Emperor turned to face his attackers, a look of fury on his face at the effrontery of being assaulted by foreigners on his own soil. His features melted and reformed, and in the mere blink of an eye he had transformed his entire body into the form of a snarling tiger. The beast leaped forward at Hagan, who had the misfortune of being the tiger's nearest opponent. Claws ripped through the half-orc's robes and scored channels across his torso, as the beast's fangs clamped down on his shoulder, drawing blood. Wezhley dashed upon the top of his master's head in fear of his life. Hagan managed to pull himself free of the tiger's grasp, staggered back, and cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself. He had many powerful attack spells, but first he needed to ensure he'd be around long enough to cast them!</p><p></p><p>Gilbert was just getting a good look at the tiger that had just recently been the upstart Emperor whose edicts had seen to the slaying of his mother's family, and through the blood-red haze of his own anger he made a belated discovery: the tiger's form was glowing in that arcane fashion that indicated the presence of an undead creature. But before he could pass this information on to his friends, Ingebold struck with a spell she had never cast before. Calling out the words to a <em>harm</em> spell, she felt the chilling touch of negative energy flow through her body and strike out at the tiger. Of course, since the tiger was in fact an undead creature, the <em>harm</em> spell had the opposite effect of the one intended and the wounds the beast had sustained thus far healed up instantly, bringing it back to the prime of its power.</p><p></p><p>Castillan dodged his way past the samurai and got himself into position to flank the tiger, stabbing at the muscles of the beast's left flank with his short sword, eliciting a growl of pain.</p><p></p><p>And then the locusts struck.</p><p></p><p>They had come from nowhere; one moment the air in the warehouse was clear, and the next it was covered in swarms of the buzzing insects. Castillan and Binkadink doubled over, choking, as several of the insects flew into their mouths and blocked their air passages. Finoula and Gilbert swiped ineffectively at the insects, while Darrien dodged out of the way of the nearest locust cloud.</p><p></p><p>Finoula, whose weapons were still inside the <em>portable hole</em>, activated her <em>lightning amulet</em> once again, zapping herself through the remaining samurai and the tiger-Emperor, frying a not-inconsiderable amount of locusts as she did so. The tiger growled again in anger but continued his assault on Hagan; fortunately, not much damage got past the half-orc's <em>stoneskin</em> defense.</p><p></p><p>Now fully aware of the tiger's undead status, Ingebold cast a <em>mass cure moderate wounds</em> spell, targeting both Hagan and the tiger. Hagan was healed of the damage he'd taken prior to casting his defensive spell; the tiger roared in pain as the positive energy ran through his system. By then, the two samurai outside had managed to pry open the warehouse doors despite Mudpie's best efforts, and the earth elemental was struck by a powerful katana strike by one samurai as his attention was focused on lashing out at the other samurai who was rushing past him to come to the tiger's aid.</p><p></p><p>That made all the difference to Hagan, who opted on a <em>chain lightning</em> spell now that he had sufficient targets to make it worth his while. The tiger got the brunt of the assault, with arcs flashing from him to strike the samurai bodyguards. That was enough to slay the samurai warrior who had first entered the warehouse with the Emperor.</p><p></p><p>Darrien continued shooting arrows into the tiger, but although he constantly struck true the shafts didn't seem to be doing much damage. Castillan stabbed at the tiger again, disappointed that its undead status prevented him from doing extra damage due to his knowledge of where best to strike a living organism to do the most harm.</p><p></p><p>One of the samurai struck out at Hagan, who tried dodging the blow but was unsuccessful; still, his <em>stoneskin</em> spell absorbed most of the damage, to the consternation of the katana-wielding bodyguard. Hagan responded with another <em>chain lightning</em> spell, his last for the day. By then, the tiger was looking fairly hurt; Finoula finished him off with the third and last of her lightning strikes using her own body as a weapon, courtesy of her magic amulet. Hagan was still staring at the tiger when it was slain; a look of pain crossed its face, and then, even as it started fading from view, it turned its head to face the nearest wall and began moving in that direction. To anyone else not paying attention, it would have looked like the Emperor in tiger form had dissipated into nothingness; Hagan suspected it had merely become invisible and started readying itself to pass through the nearest wall...which, come to think of it, wasn't all that dissimilar to a vampire's ability to become a cloud of mist and fly off to recuperate in its coffin. The sorcerer made a mental note to ask Gilbert about Kozakuran vampires once the battle was over.</p><p></p><p>Hagan got his chance sooner than he thought, for although the armored samurai continued to fight fiercely despite the apparent slaying of the Emperor, the odds were greatly against them and they had no spellcasting abilities. Within less than a minute they too had joined their companions in death.</p><p></p><p>The fight had attracted the attention of the samurai in the confinement facility next door and the tattoo artist who lived in the next building over, as well as the four palanquin bearers who had carried the Emperor here under the protection of the four armored samurai. The samurai bureaucrats were not interested in hearing, in their own language, of the account of their Emperor being an undead beast; honor demanded they give their lives to defend his lands against these foreign invaders, and they did exactly that after a brief battle. The tattoo artist was not bound by the samurai's concept of bushido, and he visibly blanched at the thought of Emperor Torazoku being a vampire. "That explains why he has only appeared here after the sun has gone down," he muttered to himself. Then, once Gilbert dropped his magical disguise and took on his own true appearance, the tattooist was ready to tell the heroes everything he knew.</p><p></p><p>Upon orders from the new Emperor, he had inscribed magical tattoos upon the faces, torsos, and limbs of the crew of the <em>Flying Dolphin</em>, which granted the unwilling recipients with a permanent <em>nondetection</em> effect. Similar runes had been inscribed upon the <em>Flying Dolphin</em> itself, and then the captain and crew had been forced to sail the ship north along the coast.</p><p></p><p>"We need to get out of here," advised Captain Farquester. "We need to find the <em>Dolphin</em>, but I have a responsibility to my own crew first and foremost. And the longer we stay here, the longer we risk discovery."</p><p></p><p>It was hard to argue against such logic. So while the other Kordovians returned to the <em>Mermaid Queen</em>, easily overcoming the four-person team of sailors who had been left in charge there, and Castillan used the <em>teleport carpet</em> to fetch back the ship's crew, Gilbert hired the tattooist for a quick rush job: he had the Fung crest painted on the foreheads of Ryuko and the four armored samurai bodyguards, then he personally beheaded each of the five and had their heads impaled upon pitons he hammered into the wooden columns along the pier.</p><p></p><p>Drake reappeared before the ship set sail, and after explaining to him what had happened, the hengeyokai agreed to spread the tale of the Emperor's undead status to the people of Kozakura. He also agreed to continue to search for the missing cargo vessel and its crew; he said he'd place three stones in a triangle upon the last column of the pier, so the adventurers could determine, via scrying, when it was time to return to Kozakura to rescue the <em>Flying Dolphin</em> crew from their fates.</p><p></p><p>"I suppose that all we can do for now," agreed Gilbert. Castillan was already grumbling about the conditions for Rale's bounty payments not being fulfilled just yet, but the portly wizard didn't care: he'd seen the head of the woman responsible for his mother's death removed from her shoulders and put on display. He'd also seen the Emperor who had killed all of his mother's family dead, and even if he was a vampire and would return to his unholy semblance of life, Emperor Torazoku had been dealt a blow he wouldn't soon forget.</p><p></p><p>Not bad for a half-breed not worthy of being slain by those determined to eradicate the Fung bloodline!</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Wow! At eleven weeks, this has been the longest gap between adventures we've ever experienced. This involved (among other things) a Saturday astronomy class viewing requirement (which kept Jacob in college on a weekend he was originally going to come home); a planned three-day weekend trip to visit Harry's parents, who live three hours away; Jacob moving from one apartment to another; Joey getting a last-minute all-day Saturday confirmation class requirement; and the death of a close family member. Before we knew it, eleven weeks had passed.</p><p></p><p>As we started up this adventure session, Jacob announced he wanted to run Ingebold because he hadn't done so in a long time. (It's been 77 days since we last played - <em>nobody</em> had run Ingebold in a long time!) But he opted to have her cast a <em>harm</em> spell for the first time ever, and boy did he pick a great time to have her do so! And as it was, we ended up having to end the session early, since Jacob had to go pick up his car from the shop. As a result, the tattoo artist ended up not being a combat participant, which in a way was a shame because he was a sorcerer and I'd armed him with a pair of <em>figurines of wondrous power</em>, basically a pair of <em>golden lions</em> reskinned as <em>jade foo lions</em>, that I had intended as appropriate treasure for Gilbert Fung. Fortunately, Dan was just happy for the cathartic feeling of seeing those responsible for his PC's mother's death slain themselves, so he really enjoyed the adventure.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, Ryuko had no idea she'd spawned an ikiryo. One of the Emperor's personal fortune-tellers came up with a horoscope reading that warned him a thread once thought removed was intact and threatened to unravel his plans, which Ryuko worried meant her failure to return with Harriet Fung's head as proof she had been slain. As she blamed Gilbert Fung for her failure to do so, he became the target of her worry and thus of her ikiryo. I only added that bit in because I thought the ikiryo was an interesting Kara-Tur creature, even if I did have to translate its stats from the AD&D 2nd Edition version found in a Kara-Tur <em>Monstrous Compendium</em></p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: I was tempted to wear my "Jade Warrior" T-shirt again, but then I opted to go a more subtle route. I have a green shirt we got at the Smithsonian Museum many years back, with the inscription "Arthur M. Sackler gallery" printed in such a way as to make each word (or initial) appear to be a character of an Asian language. So that stood in for "generic Kozakuran" writing to represent this adventure. (The PCs will eventually return to Kozakura once Drake finds the <em>Flying Dolphin</em>, so I'll have another chance to wear my "Jade Warrior" shirt.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7282591, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 39: THE EMPEROR'S NEW FOES[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 12 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 12 Darrien, half-elf ranger 12 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 12 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 12 Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 12[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 11 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 18 November 2017 - - - At long last, the week in Greyhawk City came to an end and the heroes' various weapons and armor were ready to be picked up. Binkadink had had his red dragonhide armor upgraded to resist fire damage; Castillan had ordered a ring made that would allow him to activate a [i]dimension door[/i] effect three times per day; Finoula's longsword [i]Tahlmalaera[/i] had been imbued with the [i]fiend bane[/i] property, in preparation for her eventual showdown with the incubus Malaterminus; Darrien's [i]Arachnibow[/i] had been enchanted to imbue an [i]icy burst[/i] effect upon the arrows it shot. As the half-elf ranger picked up his beloved bow, the weapon shop proprietor mentioned, "Oh, I got a message for you: Guildmaster Bodkin wants to see you before you leave town." "I wonder what he wants us for?" questioned Darrien. "We find out when we find out," reasoned Gilbert. They entered the Guildhall and were escorted into a meeting room, where shortly thereafter Rale Bodkin entered alongside a middle-aged woman. "Thanks for meeting with me," said Rale. "This is my associate, [b]Desdemona Honeytongue[/b]." The woman nodded her greetings, then spent an inordinate time staring at Finoula in puzzlement. "I'm her sister," sighed Finoula, certain that this Desdemona likely knew Feron Dru. Guildmaster Bodkin cleared his throat. "I have a proposal which I think will benefit both parties," he said, his ever-present smirk visible on his face. "We've had a problem – and when I say 'we,' I mean Cal Trop's merchant empire, in which I have a not-insubstantial piece. One of his ships is overdue on a return trip from Kozakura. We've tried scrying upon its captain, its crew, and on the ship itself, with no results. So it's missing, and we're not sure of its current location. "There's another vessel on its way to Kozakura as we speak – in fact, it's about three days out, from a two-month voyage. Here's what I'd like to do: get your team inserted onto the ship before it reaches port, so you can be passed off as part of the ship's crew. That way, you'll be there in case whatever happened to the previous ship tries to repeat history with this new ship." Rale looked straight at Gilbert Fung. "I understand you have reasons of your own to want to scope out Kozakura on the down-low. This would be a perfect opportunity. What do you say?" "I say: we take you up on offer," replied Gilbert. Rale gave the team a bit of background on the whole situation. The missing ship was the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i], a cargo ship captained by one [b]Sergio Mandretti[/b], with an able crew with years of experience. The ship arriving at Kozakura three days hence was the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i], a cargo vessel captained by [b]Elbra Farquester[/b], also with a well-seasoned crew. The voyage across the ocean to Kozakura normally took about eight weeks; Cal Trop had those two ships dedicated to back-and-forth voyages between the two nations (besides other ships headed to other locations). Typically, upon arriving at Kozakura the ship's cargo was unloaded and then the crew took a day of rest and relaxation at shore, while the captain and cargomaster made arrangements for the hold to be filled with Kozakuran goods and the standard ship's provisions for the return trip. Scrying upon the ships wasn't normally done, as there had been no problems before that the ships' crews hadn't been able to handle. Rale offered to pay 2,000 gold pieces if the Kordovians could find out what happened to the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i] and engineer its safe return; another 2,000 gold pieces for a return of the ship’s cargo if it hadn't already been turned over to Kozakura; another 1,000 gold pieces for rescuing Captain Mandretti; and 50 gold pieces a head for rescuing the other crewmembers. (There were 20 crewmembers aboard the ship when the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i] left port, so that came to potentially another 1,000 gold pieces.) Furthermore, the Guildmaster suggested the team bring all of their adventuring gear but have a way to stash it away so it wouldn't be readily visible. The [i]portable hole[/i] seemed like the perfect solution along those lines. Rale said he could procure a set of sailor's garb for each adventurer and sent Dez off to fetch suitable clothing while the team sent Castillan back to the dragonfly ship to brief Aithanar and Jinkadoodle on their plans and return with the [i]teleport carpet[/i] from the hidden hold. The carpet was plunked into the [i]portable hole[/i] with most of the team's other gear, although they opted to keep their jewelry (especially those pieces which were magical in nature) and Finoula and Binkadink each retained their magical boots. Then, after dressing in their sailors' garb, the team signaled to Dez that they were ready to go. Casting a [i]greater teleport[/i] spell, Desdemona expertly landed everyone onto the deck of the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i], among a group of startled sailors. However, Captain Farquester knew Desdemona by sight and once she explained the situation the ship's captain welcomed the adventurers to her ship, more than willing to have their expertise at hand when confronting unknown dangers ahead. Satisfied that all was in place, Dez [i]teleported[/i] back to Greyhawk City with a smile and a farewell wave. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of spare room for an additional seven crewmembers (and a weasel) to bunk down, as the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i] was loaded pretty full. Captain Farquester offered to let them sleep on the upper deck or wherever they could squeeze in down in one of the two lower cargo holds. "We find place to sleep down in hold," reassured Gilbert. "We be fine." He had a [i]rope trick[/i] spell ready that would open an extradimensional space large enough for the lot of them - minus the one who'd be on guard duty, for they had decided among themselves to always have one of their number awake and alert at all times. It was Darrien who ended up on the third guard shift, with the others all tucked away in the [i]rope trick[/i] space Gilbert had conjured up. Three hours had passed since midnight, when the young half-elf, who could see far better than a human in low-light conditions, saw what at first looked like a patch of moonlight dancing on the waves, but soon took on a somewhat humanoid form as it got closer. Or at least a partially human shape, for while from the waist up it seemed to be a woman in all white, from the waist down her body more or less dissipated into a cloud of misty vapors which skimmed over the waves. The woman glowed slightly and was bearing down on the ship from directly ahead. Darrien wasted no time in racing back down to the upper cargo hold to scurry up the dangling rope and poke his head into the extradimensional space holding his friends. "Wake up!" he called. "There's a ghost woman heading our way across the top of the ocean!" Castillan and Finoula jerked out of their respective reveries. Most of the team scrambled over to Ingebold, who was unfolding the [i]portable hole[/i] so Mudpie, who'd been inside the whole time, could pass up weapons to those who needed them as they called out what they were looking for. "Glaive!" called Binkadink, to have the earth elemental pass him up his trusty weapon, "[i]Tahlmalaera[/i]!" called Finoula, reaching down for her longsword. Castillan didn't bother with any of that; he was still wearing his [i]gloves of storing[/i] so his weapons were ready at the snap of his fingers. Not bothering to worry about armor, he dashed up two sets of stairs to the front upper deck, to find himself nearly face-to-face with the glowing spirit. She had the almond eyes of Gilbert's mother - or at least Harriet Fung's original eyes, as she now wore the form of an orc - but her face was scrunched in an expression of extreme anger. Without a word, she passed through the wall and into the deck below the bounder. By then, the heroes had started spilling out of the [i]rope trick[/i]'s extradimensional space and heading to the stairs that led to the ship's top levels. But then the ghost-woman passed through a wall and made a bee-line straight for Gilbert Fung. The wizard held up his weapon - a [i]ghost touch quarterstaff[/i] - but before he could bring it to bear the spirit passed straight through him. Gilbert gave a low moan at the coldness that permeated his entire body, but he was surprised in that his magically-enhanced eyesight hadn't triggered a warning of her undead nature. His mother had tried explaining to him as a child about such creatures; they were called ikiryo, and despite their ghostlike appearances they were spirits, not undead. An ikiryo is a spirit born of worry, Harriet had explained to her only son, and the person who birthed an ikiryo usually did so unconsciously, unaware that part of her spirit had broken off to deal with whatever it was that was causing such worry. All of this came to Gilbert in a flash, just as he recognized the spirit's face in a momentary flash of memory: Ryuko, the wu jen who had led the ninja strike team responsible for the decapitation death of Harriet Fung. Whatever had her worried, her subconscious had attributed its cause to Gilbert Fung, and now this ikiryo would fight to the death to see Gilbert slain. As the unnatural cold seeped through Gilbert's body, it tore away at the strength of his body, the power of his mind, and the substance of his own spirit. Diminished on all fronts, the mage staggered backwards a step as his friends stepped up to help deal with this threat. Darrien was the first to strike, with a rapid barrage of arrows from his [i]Arachnibow[/i]. He had opted not to fully exit the [i]rope trick[/i] space, using his high perch as a hunter might shoot his prey from the safety of a high branch. Four arrows hit the apparition, although due to the ikiryo's insubstantiality it was difficult to determine how much damage they actually did. Binkadink brought his magical glaive crashing down and through the ikiryo's body, but again it was difficult to see if the attack had had any effect at all - the glowing woman didn't flinch, or bleed, or have wounds appear on her body. But the attack had been noticed, if only briefly, for the Ryuko-image cast her gaze for a moment at the little gnome before returning her focus onto Gilbert. Seeing they were basically fighting a ghost-woman, Hagan cast a [i]magic missile[/i] spell at her, sending all five such missiles striking her in the torso. Those definitely did deal her a blow, for there was a small explosion as each hit and her angry visage turned momentarily to a wince of pain. Finoula followed with a strike of her longsword, and the ringing of the sonic-induced magic indicated she must have hit as well. Then a dwarven warhammer comprised entirely of magical force swung down at the ikiryo, the result of a quickly-cast [i]spiritual weapon[/i] spell by Ingebold. Gilbert took a quick mental inventory of his prepared spells and realized, with his diminished mental capacity, some of his most powerful were now outside his ability to cast. Fearful that another such strike by the ikiryo might further limit his spellcasting ability, he opted to switch tactics and go for a melee attack instead. And the best way he could do that was to cast a [i]Tenser's transformation[/i] upon himself. The spell affected him immediately and he felt some of his diminished attributes buffered up and then surpassed by the spell. He felt stronger, faster, and heartier than he'd been since even before the ikiryo's attack. Striking out with his quarterstaff, he dealt the ikiryo a blow he [i]knew[/i] she felt by the solid-seeming way it connected. "Take that!" he snarled at the form of the woman who had indirectly killed his mother. The ikiryo responded wordlessly, and without uttering a single sound - but she reached out a hand curled into a claw and ripped through Gilbert's body, again draining off a bit of what made him who he was. But seeing this, Ingebold - after directing her [i]spiritual hammer[/i] into another crushing blow - cast a [i]restoration[/i] spell that buoyed up Gilbert's mental and physical attributes. As she was incorporeal, many of the heroes' attacks passed through the ikiryo harmlessly. But there were enough of them for their various attacks to make it through her defenses often enough that they were whittling her essence away, and this process was made all the quicker by Hagan's [i]magic missiles[/i] and Gilbert's [i]ghost touch quarterstaff[/i], which always made their mark. Before too long, Ryuko's image gave a final silent snarl of hatred and disappeared into nothingness. "Was that...?" began Binkadink, who thought the ghost woman had looked familiar. "I explain everything in morning," replied Gilbert. "Right now, we go back to sleep." "You're on guard duty now," Darrien reminded the gnome, leaving him behind as the others climbed up the rope into Gilbert's extradimensional space. - - - The rest of the second day was uneventful. Captain Farquester had her sailors show the adventurers the rudiments of sea life, so they wouldn't stick out as newbies once they arrived in Kozakura - she wanted them to blend in as much as possible. They put in a hard day, and when night fell and Gilbert cast the [i]rope trick[/i] spell again, everyone was ready for a good night's sleep. It was early the next morning when the lookout in the crow's nest called out "Land ho!" None of the adventurers could see land yet from their vantage point, for the lookout had the advantage of height, but the fact that they were so close to their destination got them making their final preparations. The spellcasters had already prepared their spells, and the armor and weapons had been stowed back into the [i]portable hole[/i] - along with Mudpie - and Ingebold had it folded up like a handkerchief and tucked into her belt. It was then that a creature landed on the deck amid a flurry of flapping wings. Finoula instinctively made to grab the longsword she normally had belted to her hip and Castillan snapped his fingers and brought his short sword into his hand, but then he felt foolish once he realized the ship wasn't under attack - the creature on the deck was nothing more than a duck, although this one was brown and white with a dark green head. "It's [b]Drake[/b]!” called out the captain. "Quickly, somebody toss him a blanket!" A blanket was tossed over the duck's body, trapping him underneath. Then the shape beneath the blanket shot up, reaching the height of a man. In fact, once Drake pulled the blanket off his head and wrapped it around his otherwise naked body, the others could see that he was, in fact, now a man. "Drake is a hengeyokai," explained Capt Farquester. "He's a friend. The crew calls him Drake, because they have a hard time pronouncing his real name correctly." Drake began speaking in the Kozakuran language; of the adventurers, only Gilbert understood what was being spoken. He translated the drake hengeyokai's words in his own pidgin version of the common tongue. "There a new regime in charge in Kozakura. New Emperor called [b]Torazoku[/b], he severing all ties to outside world. [i]Flying Dolphin[/i] came to shore, sailors removed cargo. But then it left, moving north along coast rather than back across ocean like normal. It possible it getting cargo elsewhere along Kozakuran coast, but that never happen before. Drake not see ship or crew since. It may be back on way home, but maybe it commandeered for use in Kozakuran navy. Drake say it safer for to turn around now and go back way we came." Drake was rewarded for his information with a fish, which he gulped down without chewing. However, Captain Farquester was hesitant to turn back with her ship full of cargo – she needed to restock before she could set off on another trip across the ocean. "Besides," she said, "we have you guys to keep us safe, and I want to find out what happened to Captain Mandretti's ship and crew." "If they go north, maybe we go north too," suggested Gilbert. "We find ship, both leave together." "Captain!" called the first mate. "I don't think that's an option any longer." There were four vessels approaching the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i] from the direction of the shore ahead, two on either side. Neither ship was as big as the cargo vessel, but not by that much, and the crew sizes on each ship were on par with Captain Farquester's own forces. "If'n it comes down to a fight, we're far outnumbered," the mate said. "We have magic, though," reminded Hagan. "A couple of [i]fireballs[/i] and those ships won't be in any shape to fight us." "We don't know if they have any wizards on their ships, though," pointed out Finoula. "They called wu jen here," corrected Gilbert. "Anyway, we don't want to take chances. We just play like we know nothing about other ship, everything hunky-dory." He then quickly cast a spell upon himself, altering his appearance so he looked like his father, Verdant Gristwold. He didn't want his half-Kozakuran heritage tipping off any of the locals, especially if Ryuko was likely to be around. Belatedly, he regretted not having prepared enough spells to hide the true appearances of his companions, at least those who had fought Ryuko and her ninja force before. "Ahoy, [i]Mermaid Queen[/i]!" called a voice from the starboard side of the ship. "Welcome to Kozakuran waters! Please dock ship at port and unload cargo into warehouse!" "Okay, people!" Captain Farquester called to her crew. "You heard the man! Business as usual!" And then she went to the starboard side to call back to the Kozakuran ships to acknowledge their orders. The next few hours were both busy and tiring. To blend in as part of the crew, the Kordovians were obliged to help lug all of the cargo off the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i] and into the stone warehouse directly across from the dock. Most of the bulk of the cargo was made up of hardwood lumber, as Kozakura was not a land blessed with an overabundance of trees for building materials. According to Harriet Fung's tales of her homeland, important buildings were made of stone and only the very rich used hardwoods for more than a building's exterior; much of the interior walls and doors were made of rice paper, a concept most of the heroes found difficult to comprehend. But the lumber and other goods from the vessel were finally stowed in the warehouse, and the sailors were led to another, similarly-sized building right next to where their cargo now resided. A pair of samurai in yellow robes ushered the crew of the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i] into this other building, where their names were recorded (the adventurers all came up with aliases, in case their names were ever viewed by Ryuko or anyone else aware of the attack on the Fung Estate) and they were led through a set of locked doors into a large holding chamber. "This is different," observed Captain Farquester. "These used to be individual berths, like at an inn. They've taken down the interior walls." Indeed, the room was now a large confinement barracks, with wooden benches along the outer walls and a single toilet in the back corner, surrounded by a privacy wall. She went to go question one of the samurai in his own language, but was apparently brusquely told to wait patiently for further orders. "There's just the one door out of here," observed Finoula, after having walked the circumference of the holding area and finding no hidden doors. "True," admitted Hagan, "but there are also the window-slits." Up near the ceiling were narrow openings, each about the size of a brick, allowing in fresh air and a minimum of sunlight from outside. "Wezhley can easily fit through those." He lifted his weasel familiar up to a narrow window and instructed him to look around. Wezhley scampered through the opening and leaped down to the ground, giving the buildings nearby a thorough investigation. In the meantime, Gilbert took Ingebold to the toilet area and, partially hidden by the privacy wall, had her unfold the [i]portable hole[/i]. He then had Mudpie emerge, with instructions to glide through the ground and check out the immediate surroundings. With two familiars roaming around and mentally reporting back to their masters, the group soon had a decent idea of their immediate surroundings. Besides the two long, narrow stone buildings - the confinement area and the warehouse - there was a smaller, wooden structure. Wezhley circumnavigated this latter building, crawling up and peeking through the front windows. From his description of the room, which contained a low table, several chairs, long needles, and jars of pigment, Hagan gathered it was a tattoo parlor. Wezhley described a curtain in the back leading to the rear half of the building, but he couldn't get back there himself without entering through the front door and that was beyond his capabilities. Mudpie had checked out the warehouse, which still held the cargo they'd brought, and was sealed up from the outside. "Wait--someone's coming," he reported over the mental link he shared with Gilbert. "Who?" "A lady on a horse." "Stay out of sight." Mudpie sank back into the earth, leaving only the top part of his head visible, from the eyes up. From any but the closest distance, he'd look like an ordinary rock. Several minutes later, the door to the confinement barracks - which had only been opened once before since their imprisonment, to deliver a simple meal of rice balls and slices of fish - was unlocked and a woman stepped in with two samurai as escorts. Gilbert's eyes narrowed in recognition; this was Ryuko herself. She consulted a scroll and called out names, including Elbra Farquester and the two aliases Finoula and Ingebold had given. She had them step forward, then looked at Finoula quizzically for a moment as if trying to remember if she'd seen the elf before. Then, shrugging her head, she bid them come with her. The three women prisoners looked at each other expectantly, as if deciding whether it would be best to comply or if now was a good time to drop the pretenses and make a break for it. But, given they were no closer to finding out the fate of Captain Mandretti's crew and vessel, they followed the wu jen without comment. Gilbert mentally redirected Mudpie to surreptitiously follow the women as they exited the confinement building; the earth elemental reported back that they had been taken to the warehouse. Upon his master's instructions, the elemental sunk below the ground and popped his head up in the back of the warehouse, where he could see the four women. Ryuko had the three crewwomen line up facing the warehouse doors, then stood to the side expectantly. "I not liking this," remarked Gilbert. "I think we gear up now." Castillan pulled out the [i]teleport carpet[/i] from the [i]portable hole[/i] and had a few of the sailors step onto it with him. "I'll be right back," he said, then spoke the command word and the four disappeared. A few minutes later, Castillan returned. "I squared it away with Aithanar," he said. "Let's get all of the sailors safely aboard the dragonfly vessel, and then we can deal with whatever's brewing knowing they're safe." He passed the command word on to the rest of the sailors, who disappeared from the carpet in groups of four. Once everyone was all geared up, Castillan rolled the carpet back up and plopped it back into the hole. Then he directed Hagan, Darrien, and Binkadink into the hole, with a reminder to hold their breath while they were in there. "Let's go," the bounder said, picking up the hole once the other three had crawled into the extradimensional space; grabbing Gilbert's shoulder, he activated his new ring and he and the portly mage [i]dimension doored[/i] outside the rear of the confinement barracks. The bounder flipped open the hole onto the ground, and the other three heroes climbed back out. "It's dark out," commented Hagan as his weasel familiar came bounding back up to him to be picked up and dropped onto his favorite perch, the half-orc's shoulder. In the meantime, Gilbert had been alerted by Mudpie through the telepathic link they shared that the warehouse doors were opening and three people were entering. There was a tall man with regal bearing, dressed in elaborate robes, and flanking him on either side was a warrior in heavy armor, complete with a mask bearing the visage of a fearsome demon. The samurai bodyguards escorted the regal man directly to Ryuko, who bowed low, while two more of their rank closed the warehouse doors and stood guard outside. "Emperor Torazoku," Ryuko said. "Your humble servant presents the individuals you sought from the foreign ship." While Mudpie had no idea what the wu jen was saying, Gilbert caught it all through their shared link and he understood the Kozakuran language just fine. "Emperor in there!" he whispered excitedly to the others. Then he directed his familiar to dive below the earth and reposition himself behind the Emperor, who stood facing the three women from the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i]. "A lowly korobokuru," he said in disdain as he examined Ingebold, mistaking her for a dwarf from his own lands. Moving on to Finoula, his expression lightened. "One of the spirit folk!" he exclaimed, examining the elf's silvery-white hair. "Yes, she will do nicely." He moved on to Elbra, and was impressed with her own golden locks. Finoula and Ingebold had no idea what this man was saying, but they got the gist of the transaction: he was examining them like cattle, apparently deciding who would be added to his group of concubines. "Gather up," Gilbert commanded to the other male heroes, then cast a [i]teleport[/i] spell that placed him directly above his buried familiar and the others just adjacent. They were all standing behind the Emperor and his two samurai bodyguards. Ryuko stood off to the side and she saw their sudden appearance from the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to give a warning, but Darrien reacted first. A quartet of arrows went racing in her direction, to pierce her in the shoulder, the abdomen, and through her open mouth and out her cheek; the fourth one missed and ended up embedded in a piece of lumber stacked on the warehouse's shelves. Blood poured from Ryuko's mouth, and, assuming she was very near death, Hagan opted to push her the rest of the way there with a well-placed [i]magic missile[/i], sending the other four missiles to crash into the back of the samurai on the Emperor's left. The samurai grunted in surprise and pain, while Ryuko fell lifelessly to the floor, dead before she could cast a single spell. Binkadink was the next to strike, hitting the same samurai with his magical glaive and scoring a deep groove through his armor and into his flesh. Castillan leaped forward and finished him off with a kidney-strike using his short sword, and the first of the Emperor's faithful bodyguards fell dead to the floor. From beneath the ground, Mudpie surged upwards and forward, emerging just behind his master and grabbing hold of the doors, certain that the sounds of combat would drive the other two samurai outside to want to investigate. Gilbert Fung cast a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell, splitting the four rays equally between the Emperor and his sole remaining bodyguard. Both targets reeled from the sudden attack. Then the three women jumped into action. Finoula activated her [i]lightning amulet[/i], transforming her body into a bolt of electricity that surged through both enemies. The samurai had just struck at Binkadink with his katana and missed the little gnome completely, then backed up closer to the Emperor to provide him whatever protection he could. Ingebold pushed Elbra back away from the combat, not wanting the ship's captain to be harmed during the fight. Captain Farquester was more than willing to be led from danger, as this sort of thing was well beyond her normal duties as the captain of a merchant vessel. The Emperor turned to face his attackers, a look of fury on his face at the effrontery of being assaulted by foreigners on his own soil. His features melted and reformed, and in the mere blink of an eye he had transformed his entire body into the form of a snarling tiger. The beast leaped forward at Hagan, who had the misfortune of being the tiger's nearest opponent. Claws ripped through the half-orc's robes and scored channels across his torso, as the beast's fangs clamped down on his shoulder, drawing blood. Wezhley dashed upon the top of his master's head in fear of his life. Hagan managed to pull himself free of the tiger's grasp, staggered back, and cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell upon himself. He had many powerful attack spells, but first he needed to ensure he'd be around long enough to cast them! Gilbert was just getting a good look at the tiger that had just recently been the upstart Emperor whose edicts had seen to the slaying of his mother's family, and through the blood-red haze of his own anger he made a belated discovery: the tiger's form was glowing in that arcane fashion that indicated the presence of an undead creature. But before he could pass this information on to his friends, Ingebold struck with a spell she had never cast before. Calling out the words to a [i]harm[/i] spell, she felt the chilling touch of negative energy flow through her body and strike out at the tiger. Of course, since the tiger was in fact an undead creature, the [i]harm[/i] spell had the opposite effect of the one intended and the wounds the beast had sustained thus far healed up instantly, bringing it back to the prime of its power. Castillan dodged his way past the samurai and got himself into position to flank the tiger, stabbing at the muscles of the beast's left flank with his short sword, eliciting a growl of pain. And then the locusts struck. They had come from nowhere; one moment the air in the warehouse was clear, and the next it was covered in swarms of the buzzing insects. Castillan and Binkadink doubled over, choking, as several of the insects flew into their mouths and blocked their air passages. Finoula and Gilbert swiped ineffectively at the insects, while Darrien dodged out of the way of the nearest locust cloud. Finoula, whose weapons were still inside the [i]portable hole[/i], activated her [i]lightning amulet[/i] once again, zapping herself through the remaining samurai and the tiger-Emperor, frying a not-inconsiderable amount of locusts as she did so. The tiger growled again in anger but continued his assault on Hagan; fortunately, not much damage got past the half-orc's [i]stoneskin[/i] defense. Now fully aware of the tiger's undead status, Ingebold cast a [i]mass cure moderate wounds[/i] spell, targeting both Hagan and the tiger. Hagan was healed of the damage he'd taken prior to casting his defensive spell; the tiger roared in pain as the positive energy ran through his system. By then, the two samurai outside had managed to pry open the warehouse doors despite Mudpie's best efforts, and the earth elemental was struck by a powerful katana strike by one samurai as his attention was focused on lashing out at the other samurai who was rushing past him to come to the tiger's aid. That made all the difference to Hagan, who opted on a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell now that he had sufficient targets to make it worth his while. The tiger got the brunt of the assault, with arcs flashing from him to strike the samurai bodyguards. That was enough to slay the samurai warrior who had first entered the warehouse with the Emperor. Darrien continued shooting arrows into the tiger, but although he constantly struck true the shafts didn't seem to be doing much damage. Castillan stabbed at the tiger again, disappointed that its undead status prevented him from doing extra damage due to his knowledge of where best to strike a living organism to do the most harm. One of the samurai struck out at Hagan, who tried dodging the blow but was unsuccessful; still, his [i]stoneskin[/i] spell absorbed most of the damage, to the consternation of the katana-wielding bodyguard. Hagan responded with another [i]chain lightning[/i] spell, his last for the day. By then, the tiger was looking fairly hurt; Finoula finished him off with the third and last of her lightning strikes using her own body as a weapon, courtesy of her magic amulet. Hagan was still staring at the tiger when it was slain; a look of pain crossed its face, and then, even as it started fading from view, it turned its head to face the nearest wall and began moving in that direction. To anyone else not paying attention, it would have looked like the Emperor in tiger form had dissipated into nothingness; Hagan suspected it had merely become invisible and started readying itself to pass through the nearest wall...which, come to think of it, wasn't all that dissimilar to a vampire's ability to become a cloud of mist and fly off to recuperate in its coffin. The sorcerer made a mental note to ask Gilbert about Kozakuran vampires once the battle was over. Hagan got his chance sooner than he thought, for although the armored samurai continued to fight fiercely despite the apparent slaying of the Emperor, the odds were greatly against them and they had no spellcasting abilities. Within less than a minute they too had joined their companions in death. The fight had attracted the attention of the samurai in the confinement facility next door and the tattoo artist who lived in the next building over, as well as the four palanquin bearers who had carried the Emperor here under the protection of the four armored samurai. The samurai bureaucrats were not interested in hearing, in their own language, of the account of their Emperor being an undead beast; honor demanded they give their lives to defend his lands against these foreign invaders, and they did exactly that after a brief battle. The tattoo artist was not bound by the samurai's concept of bushido, and he visibly blanched at the thought of Emperor Torazoku being a vampire. "That explains why he has only appeared here after the sun has gone down," he muttered to himself. Then, once Gilbert dropped his magical disguise and took on his own true appearance, the tattooist was ready to tell the heroes everything he knew. Upon orders from the new Emperor, he had inscribed magical tattoos upon the faces, torsos, and limbs of the crew of the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i], which granted the unwilling recipients with a permanent [i]nondetection[/i] effect. Similar runes had been inscribed upon the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i] itself, and then the captain and crew had been forced to sail the ship north along the coast. "We need to get out of here," advised Captain Farquester. "We need to find the [i]Dolphin[/i], but I have a responsibility to my own crew first and foremost. And the longer we stay here, the longer we risk discovery." It was hard to argue against such logic. So while the other Kordovians returned to the [i]Mermaid Queen[/i], easily overcoming the four-person team of sailors who had been left in charge there, and Castillan used the [i]teleport carpet[/i] to fetch back the ship's crew, Gilbert hired the tattooist for a quick rush job: he had the Fung crest painted on the foreheads of Ryuko and the four armored samurai bodyguards, then he personally beheaded each of the five and had their heads impaled upon pitons he hammered into the wooden columns along the pier. Drake reappeared before the ship set sail, and after explaining to him what had happened, the hengeyokai agreed to spread the tale of the Emperor's undead status to the people of Kozakura. He also agreed to continue to search for the missing cargo vessel and its crew; he said he'd place three stones in a triangle upon the last column of the pier, so the adventurers could determine, via scrying, when it was time to return to Kozakura to rescue the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i] crew from their fates. "I suppose that all we can do for now," agreed Gilbert. Castillan was already grumbling about the conditions for Rale's bounty payments not being fulfilled just yet, but the portly wizard didn't care: he'd seen the head of the woman responsible for his mother's death removed from her shoulders and put on display. He'd also seen the Emperor who had killed all of his mother's family dead, and even if he was a vampire and would return to his unholy semblance of life, Emperor Torazoku had been dealt a blow he wouldn't soon forget. Not bad for a half-breed not worthy of being slain by those determined to eradicate the Fung bloodline! - - - Wow! At eleven weeks, this has been the longest gap between adventures we've ever experienced. This involved (among other things) a Saturday astronomy class viewing requirement (which kept Jacob in college on a weekend he was originally going to come home); a planned three-day weekend trip to visit Harry's parents, who live three hours away; Jacob moving from one apartment to another; Joey getting a last-minute all-day Saturday confirmation class requirement; and the death of a close family member. Before we knew it, eleven weeks had passed. As we started up this adventure session, Jacob announced he wanted to run Ingebold because he hadn't done so in a long time. (It's been 77 days since we last played - [i]nobody[/i] had run Ingebold in a long time!) But he opted to have her cast a [i]harm[/i] spell for the first time ever, and boy did he pick a great time to have her do so! And as it was, we ended up having to end the session early, since Jacob had to go pick up his car from the shop. As a result, the tattoo artist ended up not being a combat participant, which in a way was a shame because he was a sorcerer and I'd armed him with a pair of [i]figurines of wondrous power[/i], basically a pair of [i]golden lions[/i] reskinned as [i]jade foo lions[/i], that I had intended as appropriate treasure for Gilbert Fung. Fortunately, Dan was just happy for the cathartic feeling of seeing those responsible for his PC's mother's death slain themselves, so he really enjoyed the adventure. Incidentally, Ryuko had no idea she'd spawned an ikiryo. One of the Emperor's personal fortune-tellers came up with a horoscope reading that warned him a thread once thought removed was intact and threatened to unravel his plans, which Ryuko worried meant her failure to return with Harriet Fung's head as proof she had been slain. As she blamed Gilbert Fung for her failure to do so, he became the target of her worry and thus of her ikiryo. I only added that bit in because I thought the ikiryo was an interesting Kara-Tur creature, even if I did have to translate its stats from the AD&D 2nd Edition version found in a Kara-Tur [i]Monstrous Compendium[/i] - - - T-Shirt Worn: I was tempted to wear my "Jade Warrior" T-shirt again, but then I opted to go a more subtle route. I have a green shirt we got at the Smithsonian Museum many years back, with the inscription "Arthur M. Sackler gallery" printed in such a way as to make each word (or initial) appear to be a character of an Asian language. So that stood in for "generic Kozakuran" writing to represent this adventure. (The PCs will eventually return to Kozakura once Drake finds the [i]Flying Dolphin[/i], so I'll have another chance to wear my "Jade Warrior" shirt.) [/QUOTE]
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