A Savage Tidings Tale

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"Is the ship in the cove yours?" Quinn asked.

"The Sea Wyvern? Nay, she were a derelect when we arrived. Its yours if ye can crew it. I've got more important things in mind. I've sent me first mate Dvoras to kill Vanthus, and his family to even the score."

"Yuo're a bit late for that," Thalas remarked, "considering Vanthus killed his parents himself, and the only surviving family member is an estranged sister. We were hired to track down and kill Vanthus ourselves, which is why we are here."

"Whom do you serve?" Harliss asked.

"Personally, myself," Thalas responded. "I'm doing this job for payback to Vanthus for personal wrongs. I won't speak for the others."

"Lavinia Vanderboren," Athal piped up, with Arjan nodding. Thalas cringed, and Harliss frowned. "She had nothing to do with this attack, or with her brother -- she's the one who hired us to bring him in."

Harliss' eyes narrowed. "Well, I believe you. But it be too late to stop Dvoras; he's already ahead of you."

"We'd better leave right away, then," Athal responded, gathering his equipment and looking at everyone else.

"Why not take some time to recover the Sea Wyvern?" Thalas asked. "We could return in style, and set ourselves up as merchants. There's surely a profit to be made there."

Athal shook his head. "No time. Our first duty is to Lavinia. You can take the ship, but you'll be returning alone."

Harliss meanwhile was scribbling on a bit of parchment, which she handed to Athal. "Here ye be. Give this to Dvoras and he'll call off his mission."

"I still say we take the ship," Thalas insisted. We're in Lavinia's hire -- she can look out for herself. It's not liek we're her only guards."

"Lavinia's been good to us!" Arjan replied. "We owe her, for all she's done for us!"

"All she's done for you, maybe," Thalas remarked. "You're the one living in the lap of luxury eating cake. She may have paid for my services, but I'm no vassal. We have the chance to set ourselves up without having to bow and scrape to some noble, and you'll throw that away to come swooping to her rescue, when she probably doesn't need rescue? I don't wish her ill, but she hired us to find Vanthus, not be her personal bodyguard."

"We're going," Athal insisted, and the others nodded. "You can come or stay, your choice."

Thalas sighed. "very well. It's against my better judgment, but since I can't sail the ship myself ..."

They headed back to the beach, and rowed the dinghy out to the waiting fishing boat and immediately set sail for Sasserine. Thalas had time to get some rest and study his spellbooks on the return journey, but for little else. The opportunity to gain freedom as a merhcant with his own ship was just too good a dream to leave behind. He resolved that after their return, if the others would not join him, he would hire a crew and return on his own to salvage the vessel.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Upon arrival in Sasserine they headed immediately to Lavinia's manor. The streets were packed with people, as today was the celebration of the Wormfall festival, and it seemed that all of Sasserine were out frolicking in the streets. There were street performers on every corner: stilt walkers, jugglers, mimes, and others.

Rhiannon suddenly gave a yell: "Those stilt walkers have alchemist's fire!" Sure enough, the red-and-white costumed stilt walkers who had been juggling bottles and vials had slowly surrounded the party without thir noticing and were just throwing down their vials into the center of the street. Flames blossomed all around them, and there was the smell of burn hair and flesh as some of the party were singed.

Thalas had escaped the worst of it, so he quickly threw a spell to enlarge Kithkanan to giant's height again, then dodged out of the way. Kithkanan was moving to use his sword to cut the walker's stilts. At their hieght, they were out of reach, but he was successful in cutting one down and the man fell to the pavement where the others could dispatch him.

The remaining five stilt walkers drew out additional vials and threw them down into the midst of the party, adding to the confusion, though Thalas felt a surge of magic as Arjan released a spell and suddenly found himself moving mroe quickly, striking one of the foes with his glaive. The enlarged Kithkanan also made quick work of two stilt walkers by using his increased height and expanded reach to attack them directly without having to strike their stilts.

Morderas, meanwhile, was engaged at the front of the group with another combatant -- a street mime dressed in black with a white skeleton outlined on the clothing. The mime was fighting barehanded, clearly adept at that fighting style, and holding his own. Athal and Arjan stuck down another two stilt walkers as Thalas channeled, preparing a strike to finish the skeleton mime, but giant Kithkanan stepped past him and knocked the mime prone with a single blow.

"Good -- I hate mimes," Thalas smiled as his magic dissipated.

The mime surrendered. "The Kellanis send their regards," she said, as Arjan moved to iterrogate her.

"No time," Athal insisted as Arjan began questioning, "we have to get to Lavinia's!" He turned and ran up the street, followed closely by Kithkanan, Rhiannon, Quinn, and Arjan. Morderas smiled, beheading the helpless mime, and rushed on. Thalas merely shook his head in disgust -- one of these dayas, he was definitely going to have to put a stop to this behavior of Morderas -- then followed the group.

They reached the manor quickly, and the signs were ominous. There were no guards at the gate, and the gate itself swung loosely from its hinges. There were signs of struggle all about the grounds where the landscaping had been disturbed, with muddy tracks of booted feet and ... others ... leading everywhere. The doors to the manor were open, and the party pounded up the steps into the entry hall.

Standing in front of them was a group of what could only be described as frog-men: squat, green warty, slimy, and holding speras as they grunted and ribbited. Bullywugs!

"Surrender or die!" Thalas shouted from the back of the group.

"Die!" croaked the bullywugs in response, as they charged. The two groups came together with a crash. Thalas, Kithkanan, and Athal all dispatched an opponent, and the adventurers continued their rush up the stairs as if they had met no opposition while Morderas remained behind to dispatch the lone survivor.

They headed up the stairs to Lavinia's bedroom, finding it open but with evidence of a struggle -- drag marks and dead bullywugs. No Lavinia.

Thalas suddenly remembered on of the spells he had studied the night before. He wiggled his fi8ngers and whispered: "Lavinia: where are you?"

A whisper came back:"I'm in the room, and they're here with me."

"What room?" Thaklas asked, but the response was only silence. "They have he in one of the nearby rooms," he told the others.

They returned to the landing, examined the floor for tracks, then selected a set of darkwood double doors to kick in.

From the darkened room beyond poured a swampy stench. Against the back wall, four hostages were tied to chairs -- Lavinia, her halfling serving woman, and two other servants. The halfling had had her throat cut, but the others were still alive, eyes wide with terror, for standing over them was the largest half-orc Thalas had ever seen -- muscular, tattooed, and holding a blade to Lavinia's throat.

In the corner, the source of the smell was clear: a wizened bullywug with a strange fleshy pouch at his throat who wore wrappings of sopping wet sheets.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Athal shouted: "If you're Dvoras, I have a message from Captain Harliss."

The half-orc responded: "Make a move and she dies. I'm waiting for Vanthus."

"We'll help you deal with Vanthus," Morderas suggested. "We're on your side."

"I'm not interested in sides," Dvoras responded, tightening his grip on Lavinia. "Leave".

Quinn fired an arrow, and the group launched its attack. Thalas attempted to cast a spell that would cause Dvoras' scimitar to get slippery so he would drop it, but the magic failed, and Dvoras struck Lavinia. As it turned out, she had been able to work her hands free, and was able to dodge aside at the mast moment. Lithkanan and Athal charged the half-orc, as the bullywug in the corner began chanting, causing two giant dogs smelling of fire and brimstone to appear in the room. Thala moved in, strikign one dog as e attempted to get at the bullywug, as Athal stabbed the half-orc, knocking him senseless.

Thaas dodged around the dogs, running up an dtrapping th bullywug in the corner, just as the dogs breathed fire on Kithkanan and Athal. Kithkanan screamed in pain as Arjan flanked and attacked a dog with Korlick. Morderas meanwhile bounded up behind the bullywug, and together he and Thalas quickly dispatched the creature as Athal, Arjan, and Kithkanan dispatched the dogs he had summoned. Thalas concentrated quickly, detecting magic auras, and pointed out a number of interesting items on the half-orc and bullywug that Morderas picked up for later -- a necklace, two rings, a belt, and a magical scimitar and set of armor.

"Time to go," Athal said to Lavinai, "now that we have you safe." Arjan was untying the two servants.

Lavinia shook her head. "We can't go yet. We're still missing two of the Jade Ravens. They're probably in the basement."

"Who are the Jade Ravens?" Thalas asked.

"We are," the two they had just untied responded -- a human and half-elf. "Mercenaries. We've served Lavinia's family for some time, and were fighting off the bullywug attack before we were captured."

Oh," Thalas replied, as he suddenly remembered the man from a number of days ago. "And got yourself captured. So what do you think og 'the help' now, biatch?"

"To the basement!" Athal cried, running off into the hall.

"Do we have fifteen minutes?" Thalas asked, as he followed, "you see, I'd like to prepare a spell that might help, and ...." But Athal was alrady out of sight. "Damn." He followed the crowd down the stairs, as Lavinia led them to the basement.

"Who is missing?" Morderas asked Tollern, the half-elf, as they headed down.

"Cascus, the dwarf, and our sorceress Liana." came his reply.

"And what are your skills?"


"I'm a ranger. He's the thief." Tollern pointed at the human.

They arrived in the basement. Partway into the narrow columned chamber was a cistern, which had a passage half-full of water that led out of the basement, under the walls of the manor. Wet footprints and mud were scattered about it.

"They must have come in that way," Tollern announced.

"How long did you have to go to ranger school to figure that out?" Thalas asked wryly.

Athal shushed them. Bubbling and chattering could be heard from the far end of the chamber, and they moved around the cistern and crept forward.

In the chamber beyond, a human woman in tatter clothing was tied to a column, and had been draped in a new to which were tied a number of spoons and other silverware. A strange armadillo-like creature the size of a large dog with two large feather-like feelers was leaping and pawing at her, and she had just enough range of movement to move out of the way. She was clearly terrified.

A bullywug and half-orc were watching the spectacle, laughing. "Dogpile the half-orc!" Athal shouted, as he charged the bullywug. The rest of the group surrounded the enemy warrior, but despite a number of well placed strikes he fought on, only slightly winded. Then a small green-furred creature dressed in blackmaterialized behind them, seemingly out of thin air. One stabbed Rhiannon in the back and she fell, bleeding. Athal smashed the bullywug and the strange feeleered beast in a series of punishing blows, though his sword dissolved into rust inthe process, leaving him unarmed. The green creature disappeared from sight, reappearign to stab at Morderas, but the half-drow was too quick, dodging and striking back, killing it. The rest of the group made short work of the remaining opponent, then paused to catch their breath, releasing the spoon-draped woman in the process.

"Thank you," said the sorceress Liana, the third of the Jade Ravens. "Where is Cascus?"

The dwarf was still missing.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Session 7: Set Sail from Sasserine

Thalas looked at Liane. "So what happened when the bullywugs attacked? Where is Cascus?"

The Jade Ravens looked at each other. "They just attacked. We don't know how they got in, though it seems obvious now," Tollern explained. "We fought most of them in the courtyard until we were overwhelmed."

"I was knocked out pretty quickly," Liane explained, "I don't know what happened after that."

"They are probably somewhere else in the manor," Morderas speculated. "Are there any secret rooms in the place? Here in the basement?"

Lavinia shook her head.

Thalas suddenly had a bright idea. "Arjan! Have Korlick track the bullywugs! We can probably figure out where they went." Arjan nodded, and had Korlick sniff the bullywug corpse, then encouraged the dog to lead them. Korlick bounded up the stairs to the ground floor, then turned down a hallway. They found themselves in a large trophy hall filled with stuff animals and unusual creatures.

"You're going to hell for this, Lavinia," Arjan murmurred.

Down at the end of the trophy hall, three bullywugs were clustered around the stuffed form of a giant frog that stood taller than they did. They appeared distracted.

"Kneel before thy god!" Thalas yelled in his best impersonation of a bullywug croak, as the rest of the group charged. The bullywugs were all cut down before they had a chance to defend themselves. "Guess the frog god was displeased with them," Thalas chuckled, patting the giant stuffedfrog.

"You're really going to hell for this, Lavinia," Arjan whispered, as he eyed the giant frog. Then he came to his sense, and urged Korlick on.

The dog followed another set of muddy tracks, and thy entered the main dining hall of the manor where they had first met Lavinia. Four bullywugs were there -- three sitting in chairs, feet up on the table, smoking Lavinia's finest cigars. The fourth paced at the head of the table, and was larger and better dressed than the others.

"Surrender!" Arjan shouted. "We've already killed everyone in the basement!"

The large bullywug turned. "You killed chief?" it croaked.

"Yes," Arjan replied.

"He was my husband!" the bullywug roared, drawing two kukris as the other bullywugs leaped to their feet and drew weapons. The bullywugs charged.

Kithkanan cut one in half as Quinn shot a second in the eye with an arrow. Athal leapt onto the table, attacking the leader and killing one of the subordinates. Thals leapt onto the table as well, killing a third subordinate and cleaving into the leader, but it fought on. Kithkanann and Athal then surrounded it, and Arjan stabbed with his spear, administering a death blow.

"So much for the bullywugs," Thalas observed. "But where is this dwarf?

They encouraged Korlick onward, and the dog led them out into the courtyard, where the ground was covered with blood and a dozen bullywug corpses.

"Not this way," Liane said. "this is where it started." There was no dwarf to be found. "Told you so," she said smugly. There was, however, the corpse of a large badger. "This was Cascus' companion!" Liane moaned.

"Don't worry, we'll avenge him," Arjan reassured her, and turned Korlick back toward the house.

The dog led them into a garderobe, and began pawing at the back wall.

"He's lost it," Morderaas observed, but Lavinia quickly stepped to the front.

"No, he hasn't. Of course! The armory! She stepped to the wall, manipulated something, and the wall swung open, revealing a large chamber beyond where a number of weapons hung from racks on the walls. An open coffer was spilled on the floor, and the body of a dwarf lay face up in the center of the chamber.

Thalas whistled as he looked around. He was picking up significant magic auras from some of the weapons and other equipment in the room.

Morderas dashed forward and bent to examine the dwarf. "He's still alive, barely!" he said ... but Tolern was drawing a weapon on him.

"Step away from him!" the half-elf demanded.

"What?" Modereas replied innocently. One hand was on the dwarf's head, palming a set of odd goggles he wore.

"You're trying to rob him," Tollern said. "We won't stand for that. Get out, half-breed."

Morderas protested, but Athal had to step between Tollern and Morderas to keep them from coming to blows. "Outside, Morderas," Athal insisted. "You, Tollern -- don't insult our friend, or you'll have the rest of us to face."

Tollern was about to retort when Cascus, the dwarf, coughed and woke under Rhiannon's ministrations. "What'd I miss?" he said woozily.

Their remaining search of the manor yielded nothing. The Jade Ravens went to alert the watch while Thalas' friends guarded the manor, and Lavinia did a quick inventory of key possessions. The raiders had not escaped with anything, though many items were damaged or destroyed.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thalas returned to his rooms at the Hunter's Rest to get a good night's shut eye and try and forget bug-eyed monsters and talking frogs for a bit. The next day he wanderede by the Harbormaster's office to do some research before returning to the Vanderboren Manor to divide up the spoils from their advantures.

Lavinia had paid their 200 noble monthly stipend, as well as gifting them the contents of the armory as a bonus. There were some interesting items, but nothing Thalas thought he could use, so he contented himself with a couple of potions and a magical ring that promised some sort of protective benefit, along with a share of nearly 1500 gold nobles once the remaining equipment and unwanted weapons had been sold. That gold would buy plenty of inks and scrolls to expand his spellbook as well as keep him in luxury for some time.

The group agreed, together, to chip in to have Lavinia's halfling servant reincarnated -- a reasonable gesture, Thalas figured, given her generosity with the armory. Unfortunately, the woman was less than pleased, returning to life in the body of a dwarf. At least she's alive, and shaving will keep ahead of the facial hair, Thalas mused. Besides, I have more important things to work on.

"I've got an idea that will make us all fantastically wealthy," he proposed to the others.

"Money is the root of all evil," Arjan replied, wiping pink frosting from his mouth.

"Noted," Thalas turned his back on Arjan. "Anyway, I've been doing some reserach. Assuming that ship is still there in Kraken's Cove, we can sail back to reclaim it in a day. It may cost us some gold or sweat equity, but we can get her ship-shape again in no time. We'll need a crew of seven to run the ship, and have to hire a capatin, but I figure we can sustain the ship for about 30 nobles each, per month, investment. With that, we'll have our own ship to run cargoes and make profits. We could go into business for ourselves, and become merchant princes! Never have to bow and scrape to a noble in Sasserine again!"

"But Lavinia's been good to us!" Arjan protested.

"Why not bring the ship back and sell it?" Kithkanan asked. "I need a little bit more gold to get my sword enchanted. Unless you want to loan me 300 nobles."

"I checked on that, too," Thalas responded. "A merchant ship like that we might be able to sell for 5,000 gold. Maybe as much as 12,000 if we mount weapons and sell it as a warship."

"Flip that ship?" Kithkanan asked. "Sounds like a nice profit."

"Yes, but we could probably make more in a couple of voyages," Thalas countered. "Sell the ship and we are still beholden to Lavinia."

"I like the idea of buying some weapons," Moderas added. "We could pimp the boat out, smuggle some cargo, shake down some pirates ..."

Though they rolled their eyes at Morderas' suggestions, the others quickly agreed, and soon they were on their way to the wharf to hire a boat and crew to return to Kraken's Cove. The trip went without incident and they soon arrived at the Cove where the Sea Wyvern rode at anchor, undisturbed. The ship was in poor shape but could be sailed with the skeleton crew they had brought, and it was soon at dock in Sasserine with a crew of newly hired sailors going over every inch of her.

Thalas spent most of the next month going over every inch of the ship in between bouts of experimenting with his spellbook, copying scrolls, and practicing his fencing on deck. He kept his rooms at the rest, though he was half-tempted to move on to the Wyvern permanently. They hadn't hired a captain, and most of the others were content to lounge at the Vanderboren estate while he made plans for a run down to Kraken's Cove to scour the jungle for exotic animals to sell as exotic pets.

About a month had passed and Thalas had finished stocking the ship for his journey when a summons came from Lavinia. He rolled his eyes, but decided to respond. If for no other reason, he'd attend out of sheer curiosity and the opportunity to get his merchant princedom established.

Lavinia assembled them all in the newly redecorated dining room. The effect of returning her wealth to her was obvious, with all the newly hired and liveried servatns about the place.

"I've been going through my mother's journal," she announced. "It seems that four years ago she and my father took a long sea voyage south in the Blue Nixie and established a small colony called Farshore on a large archipelago known as the Ilse of Dread. They planned to control the trade with that colony, for the island was rich in gems, spices, and exotic animals, and thus secure their source of wealth. My parents returned, but were murdered before they could return to resupply the colony. I plan to take up my parents' plan, and return to the island to reestablish the colony and its trade. I could use some help -- are you interested?"

"Is Vanthus there?" Moderas asked. "There's still the business of his untimely demise, you know."

"I have no idea where he is," Lavinia admitted. "But this might keep you occupied for a while. It will be a six-month journey, near enough, and we'll need to secure a second ship to go with the Blue Nixie."

Thalas suddenyl saw a bed stuffed with platinum dragons. "I know where you can hire a ship," he offered, "and it comes cheap."

Lavinia smiled. "Yes, I've heard about your ship, which is why I thought you would be interested. I'll insist on providing my own captain, though I'll pay her salary. You'll travel on your own hip to look after it while I am on the Blue Nixie."

Thalas considered. He knew that his experience sailing a dinghy around Sasserine wasn't the same as captaining a sailing ship, but he was reluctant to give up his dream of merchant princedom. Still, a captain's salary was expensive.

"We'll agree, but we'd like something in return. You say we're going to establish trade. Well, for providing 50% of the ships, albeit with your supplies, we'd live a cut of the Farshore trade -- say 20%."

Lavinia shook her head. "We don't know what we'll find there, nor when we'll return with trade goods. I don't know what we'll be bringing back."

"Fine. Then how about unlimited trading rights with Farshore for ourselves. You keep your share, but we'll run our own cargoes." Thalas countered.

"What?" Morderas whispered.

"I'll explain later," Thalas responded in hushed tones.

Lavinia considered, then agreed.

"We'll need armament, in case of pirates," Moderas put in at then end.

Lavinia reluctantly agreed to fund one ballista, on loan, and they all agreed to meet two days hence at the docks, once the ships were provisioned and the weapons mounted.

Only Arjan protested. "It isn't safe, Lavinia! You should stay here!"

"You just want to stay in the lap of luxury, and don't want your source of cupcakes to leave," Thalas pointed out. Arjan pouted, but finally agreed to come as well.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Two days later they assembled at the harbor for final loading of the Sea Wyvern and their departure. Thalas had arranged for two ballistae, not just one, to be mounted on the ship for defense, and the crew they had hired had fully provisioned the ship. All that was left was to load their passengers and cargo, meet the new captain, and set sail.

As they arrived at the wharf, there was quite a stir around the gangplank where someone was trying to lead a horse up on to the deck. Some noble fool --judging from his clothing and extravagantly styled hair -- was raising a to-do as a frustrated looking woman looked on with her arms crossed.

"I'm Avner Mervanci," the ass insisted, "And I demand that Thunderstrike be given the same lodging and rations that I am! Only the best!" The woman just rolled her eyes.

"He wants to sleep in the hold and eat hay?" Thalas asked Athal. "What an idiot."

"You're not taking that horse on our ship," Moderas interjected.

"No, the horse comes, but he says on the dock," Arjan contradicted.

"Your ship?" the woman and Avner both replied together.

"Well, yes, we own the Sea Wyvern, and we've hired her out to Lavinia Vanderboren for this voyage," Thalas said. "So we get a say in what goes on."

"Well, I'm Captain Amella Venkalie," the woman introduced herself," and I'll be captaining the Sea Wyvern for this voyage. And unless you'd like to swim to the Isle of Dread, you'll take my orders and like them."

"uh ... " Thalas began, preparing to protest.

Athal stepped in to smooth things over. "We'd be happy to follow your orders aboard ship, Captain," he said smoothly, "as long as you keep in mind that it's our ship so we have some interest in what happens to her." Amella nodded assent.

"Well, what about me?" Avner butted in. "I'm Avner Mervanci, and I'm the most important person on this vessel. And I insist, Captain, that you see that Thunderstrike has the finest of accomodations."

"No horse!" Morderas insisted, looking as if he were preparing to draw a weapon.

"Horse only, no man!" Arjan countered.

"You'll get on board and accept your quarters, or you'll be sleeping in the bilges," Amella responded. "The horse will be treated appropriateyl ... for a horse."

"Should I off this guy right now?" Morderas asked Thalas.

Thalas shook his head. "Unfotunately, he belongs to the richest family in Sasserine. Offend them, and we'll never sell a cargo in this town." Mordeas looked disappointed. "That doesn't mean that a blanket party later might not be appropriate." Moderas brightened considerably.

Avner stalked sulkily up the gangplank, and Thalas took to watching the other passengers and cargo come on board. Many of the men and women loading various foodstuffs and supplies were unremarkable, but a few stood out from the others. Father Conrad was an aged priest of Heironeous, who looked a bit out of place among the others. So did "Skald", a dirty, shifty-eyed elf with a woodsy air about him. Urol Furol was an old dwarf who'd apparently lived outside all of his life, who turned out to be an expert in jungle botany. He and Arjan struck up an instant friendship -- probably having to do with their similar body odors, Thalas mused.

" ... and Lavinia promised we could stop and pick up specimens at the ruins of Tamoachan!" urol was explaining to Arjan, as Arjan led the old dwarf on board.

The last passenger was the one who looked to cause the most trouble. She was a very attractive young blonde woman, with a number of piercings but without apparently a thought in her head. Lyrith Veldaran had a very clear notion of what her looks could do to men, as she immediately began twisting Avner around her little finger.

"I'm going to make hot half-elven babies with that one," Morderas declared.

"Best of luck with that," responded Thalas.

Eventually, everything was loaded and they set sail to the east. The plan was to sail east past the blood bay, then round the point and head south, stopping at Fort Blackwell in a week to pick up supplies, then follow the coastline south until at some point they would turn south across open ocean to head for the Isle of Dread and the Farshore Colony.

The first night out, Lavinia invited evryone over to the Blue Nixie for a celebratory dinner. The seas were calm, so they lowered sail and rigged a chair on two thick lines to transfer passengers one at a time between the two ships. All of Thalas' party were invited as well as a few of the passengers from the Sea Wyvern; Lavinia had the Jade Ravens on her ship as her bodyguard.

They milled about drinking cocktails as the meal was prepared. Morderas was hitting on Lyrith shamelessly, but she eventually shrugged him off and left to fawn over Avner. Kithkanan pressed Skald for information, learning little except that the elf was a tracker of some sort. Rhiannon talked up Father Conrad, discovering that the man was headed south to stop in at Fort Blackwell for some unknown mission. Avner continued to lord it over everyone, his demonstration of what a boor he was only reinforced by Lyrith's cooing.

Thalas had a sudden stroke of genius just as the announcement was being made for dinner, and stepped out on deck to cast a quick spell before stepping back inside. He grinned when he saw who was seated opposite: Avner. Perfect

Lavinia stood up and began making some sort of speech as the various courses were being served, but Thalas wasn't paying attention -- he was focused on Avner. As each dish came out, Thalas used his spell to modify it just slightly as it was set in front of Avner. The hot dishes he cooled; the cold ones he heated. In between dishes, he slowly expanded a damp spot on the front of Avner's trousers. Avner frowned at the food initially, then became increasingly frustrated -- especially as he looked at the other guests who were digging in to their grilled mahi or chilled monkey brains with gusto. Finally he stood, throwing his fork and knife down in disgust.

"This is the worst meal I've ever had!" He announced to the group, and stormed out, followed by the laughter of the assembled party as they saw the great wet spot on the crotch of his hose. Lyrith blushed and followed.

With his amusement gone, Thalas spent the rest of the evening pumping Amella for information on captaining ships, and the risk of encountering Crimson Fleet pirates -- which seemed quite great once they were south of Fort Blackwell.

The meal finally wrapped up, and the guests, stuffed and sated, stepped out on to deck to prepare to transfer back to the Sea Wyvern. Quinn was the first to got, but as he got halfway across, the rope snapped and the chair plummeted into the ocean with Quinn still sitting in it.

At the same time, a strange green winged creature rose from the sea, flying above them, and breathed a line of foul-smelling vomit onto Arjan. Arjan screamed in pain as the acid struck him. Thalas whipped off an attack spell, striking the creature with two darts of arcane force, and then Arjan struck the creature with a spear, dropping it back into the ocean.

"I recognize that thing," Thalas told the others. "It's a water mephit -- a creature of the elements. But usually they aren't so onery, and this one was ... pickled ... somehow."

"Avner had something to to with this, I'm sure!" Morderas declared. They quickly got another rope to the Sea Wyvern rigged, and quickly transferred the rest of the party over, recovering Quinn from where he was swimming at the side of the Blue Nixie.

Moderas and Quinn immediately stormed down to Avner's cabin, kicking in the door and throwing back the blankets to find Avner and Lyrith partially dressed and pawing each other.

"You know, now I've seen one woman naked from the waist up, and another from the waist down, so it's like I've seen a whole naked woman!" Arjan observed to Thalas, who shushed him. Morderas had drawn his blade and was holding it to Avner's throat, threatening him.

"You sabotaged the rope," he accused. "And sicced a water mephit on us!"

Avner looked at Morderas as if the half-drow had snakes crawling out of his ears. "We've been down here fooling around since we left dinner," Lyrith protested.

"Put up your blade," A voice commanded. Amella had come down to the cabin. "These two probably had nothing to do with your incident."

Moderas hesitated, then stepped back and sheathed his sword. Quinn looked around. "Someone did, though. That rope didn't cut itself." He began looking behind barrels on the deck, and soon the entire party was searching the ship.

Thalas began to look about for magical auras, moving from deck to deck as he did so. in addition to the magical equipment his companions carried, Amella and Father Conrad had magical weapons and armor, Urol and Skald had a few things, and evern Lyrith had some magical earrings.

Down in the bilges, Thalas picked up an aura of evocation magic in the back corner of the hold.

"We can see you, come out," he demanded, readying his sword. Quinn and Athal backed him up.

A middle aged fat man stepped out of hiding, dropping a rapier at his feet. "Please don't hurt me," he announced," I'm Rupert Arnas, a merchant from Sasserine. I didn't have the money to buy in to this expedition, but I needed to get away from my family, so I stowed away, Please don't hurt me!"

"Step clear of your weapon," Quinn commanded, but instead of complying, the man dove for his rapier on the deck. Thalas immediately struck with his sword, and as he did so the man's form shifted, blurring, then solidifying as a familar raven-haired woman -- Rowan Kellani, the leader of the Lotus Dragons!

"This ends here," she hissed, readying her weapon.

Thalas shrugged. "If you insist." He channeled, a new spell that would allow his strikes to pierce right through his opponent's armor. His sword thrust right into her heart, and she dropped, dead. "Bit anti-climactic, that."

They stripped her of her equipment, and Athal and Quinn took the body up to the deck to toss overboard. Rowan hadn't been doing well, and was noticeable thinner and more drawn than the last time they'd seen her. Just before they tossed the body overboard, Morderas insisted on cutting her head off, then dashed for the stairs down. Thalas follwoed out of curiosity.

Morderas kicked in Avner's door again, once again interrupting Avner's fun with Lyrith. Morderas tossed the head onto the bunk, casuing Lyrith to scream in terror.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Morderas sneered. "We found who was responsible. See?" He retrieved the head just as Amella arrived. "Assemble the passengers and crew," Morderas commanded, "we have an important announcement."

Amella began to protest, but thought better after seeing Rowan's head dripping blood on the deck. The rest of the Seaa Wyvern's contingent was soon assembled on the deck.

Moderas stalked in front of them. "Just so we're clear ... we found a stowaway on board, and here's what we did with her," he announced, tossing the decapitated head to the deck. "Just in case anyone else has any ideas about betraying this expedition."

Thalas could only shake his head in disgust. Smooth.

 

[Bigby'sCrushingHand]

I think

my next character is going to have to be a pacifist to curb these homicidal tendencies.

maybe a halfling priest who carries no weapons and wears no armor.

cutting off heads and throwing them at people is a lot of fun though.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

(Behind on updates ... apologies to our one fan.)

Session 8: Every church hides an evil cult.

Two weeks passed as they sailed south into the Azure sea headed for Fort Blackwell. Although Thalas was appreciative of the quiet time to study at first -- he was nearing breakthroughs in his spell research that could prove useful in the future -- pretty soon he was just going stir crazy. There's only so many days you can use prestidigitation to swab the deck,he reflected, before you want to shoot a magic missile up someone's nose.

Thalas wasn't the only one with cabin fever. After ten days into the trip, old Father Conrad kept asking the Captain when they would arrive. "Are we there yet?" was a reasonable question once per day, but every two hours was getting a bit much.

All of which motivated Morderas to do a bit of skulking. At nightfall, when the Captain announced that they were less than a day's sailing from Fort Blackwell, Morderas called for a crew meeting on the main deck. Everyone gathered, expecting another repeat of the severed head business from two weeks prior, but nothing happened. Five minutes passed, ten ... no Morderas. Finally, Captain Amella turned to Athal.

"So ... what's this about?" Athal turned to Thalas, who just shrugged.

"No clue."

"Back to your posts!" Amella shouted, and the crew went back to work.

Morderas appeared from the bilges a few minutes later, with a gleam in his eye. His eyes darted a bit, then he told the others: "I searched Father Conrad's cabin. There's nothign there. No holy symbol, no books, very few possessions. Something's not right about him."

"Maybe he's the leader of an evil cult," Thalas suggested wryly. "It happens in every human church eventually, I hear -- someone gets subverted, and soon the church is just a cover for the worship of some evil god." Despite hhis deadpan delivery, they all had a good laugh at the suggestion. Apparently, Morderas wasn't suffering from cabin fever -- he was suffering from paranoia.

The next day they sighted land off the port bow, and the ship turned toward massive jungle cliffs. A small opening in the cliffs led to a sheltered cove beyond, where several small ships rode at anchor, and a small town of rough stone buildings grew ramshackle on the cliffside.

"Fort Blackwell port," Avner declaimed, "a more wretched hive of ..."

"Stow it, Avner," Amella commanded. "We'll be docking shortly to take on supplies. We leave again at sunrise. Don't be late or you'll be left."

Father Conrad was the first down the ganplank when they finally docked. Thalas was just happy to be on solid ground for a while, and away from some of the other idiot passengers. This merchant prince business was turning out to have a few more downsides than he'd first considered. He wandered the rough stone streets, finally stopping at a ramshackle building with the sign of a tavern out front.

"Ah, civilization!" He stroleld in, took in the few locals, and had a seat. "Wine, please, your best," he motioned to the serving wench.

Thalas soon had ten bottles of the finest local vintage linend up in front of him, sampling. "My first find! We'll buy up samples, and trade them in Sasserine! A fortune to be had! Anyone want a taste?" The rest of the party was there, minus Morderas who had wandered off somewhere, as well as Urol Furol, who had tagged along with Arjan. Happily, Avner had chosen to remain aboard ship, so they were free of his noxious presence. Thalas happily sipped -- some might say guzzled -- his new find.

Several hours passed, during which time the wine grew to taste better, the music became finer, and the serving wenches more attractive. Thalas was happily in his cups, having just had some visionary ideas about combineing a pinky jab with a word in Abyssal and a bit of cheddar cheese pinched just so, when Morderas skulked into the tavern.

"Father Conrad disappeared!" he told the others. "I followed him to the temple on the hill, where I found a bunch of red robes who didn't know who he was, and claimed not to have seen him. I killed one, and got this." He held out a piece of parchment with strange writing on it.

"You did WHAT?" Athal asked.

"Well, I didn't have much choice," Morderas replied. "He trheatened me. Plus I heard screaming. Strange things are afoot at the temple of Heironious, I tell you."

Rhiannon was shaking her head. This was not headed anywhere pleasant. Thalas held up a hand, wobbled, and squinted at the paper. "Donth know the languath," Thalas said, "but waith." He made a few gestures, and referred to a rune-covered leaf, crushing it. "Ah, yeth, now ith makes thenth. Ith a litht of nameth. thayth here that thome of them have been 'impregnathed.' Evil culthisth, like I said!" He lowered his head to the table.

"See?" Morderas said.

Athal considered, then rose. "Fine, we'll check it out, but only until we can find Father Conrad. No unnecessary killing. If this turns out to be nothing, we're turnign you over to the watch here when we leave."

"Something's wrong, I swear," Morderas insisted. They followed him into the night, Thalas staggering and weaving a bit, and sucking down a vile human drink that Arjan pushed on him to clear his head, somthing they called "coffee".

The shrine to Heironeous was a large building, dark, with only two torches burning in the main chapel, which was quiet.

"Something's not right," Rhiannon agreed. "Where are the paladins? There would always be a paladin on guard here, day or night."

"There wasn't anyone here when I cam ebefore," Morderas said. He pointed to two doors at the back. "I went in the right door and found six monks; down the left was the office of the one I killed."

They headed down the passage behind the right door, down a flight of stairs, into an empty bunkroom, and through a doro at the back, which dead ended. The floors were bare stone, but the wall construction wood, and it was hot and damp, even though they had descended below ground level. Morderas found a concealed door at the back of the room, revealing another wooden staircase leading down, and they trooped down it.

"Look, frogs!" Arjan said. The sound of croaking frogs could be head echoing from the darkness ahead, and several small green frogs hopped about the landing one which they were standing.

"Stupid frogs," Thalas muttered, as he booted one down the passageway.

Arjan flew into a fury, aiming a spear at Thalas' chest. Thals stepped back, but Athal had to step between them to keep Arjan from charging. Thalas looked, and felt, bewildered.

"He attacked that innocent frog!" Arjan hissed in a froth.

"So?" Thalas countered wittily.

"Not now!" Athal commanded, bodily turning Arjan and pushing him down the corridor. Thalas waited, then joined the end of the line, shaking his head. Not that he really had anything against frogs, but so many of them in one place was creepy.

They entered a large, lit chambe whose walls were carved with bas-reliefs of frog-like people in all sorts of strange poses, performing unspeakable sexual acts with humans. "Cult," Thalas muttered. "Told you." Humans have the strangest tastes. He looked at one particularly perverted carving. I'm not even sure that's physically possible.

Four figures emerged from the shadows at the far end of the room, formed a line, and charged forward croaking. Two were men, but two were some sort of frog-men -- not quite human, but not quite bullywugs.

Thalas wiggled his fingers, and a blast of snowballs burst among the frog men, pummeling them. Neat trick.

Morderas, Kithkanan, and Athal charged forward, each taking an opponent, and one of the humans was soon down. One of the frog things shouted -- an impressively loud sound -- and Morderas staggered back, suddenly unable to continue fighting. Kithkanan hacked at the frog thing, and Thalas moved forward, readying his glaive. Arjan eyed him, briefly, and Thalas returned the glare, until Arjan turned at aimed his spear at one of the frog creatures. Thalas stepepd forward and cut own one of the humns as Athals and Kithkanan succeeded in knocking out the two frog things.

Moderas slowly recovered, and they proceeded into another large chamber leaving Quinn back to guard another door. Morderas strode forward to open a door, and there was a sudden blast of heat and light.

"Morderas is down!" Kithkanan shouted, and Rhiannon began running forward, just as there came a warning from Arjan:

"Four more coming from behind!" They were caught in a vise.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thalas, Athal, and Arjan hustled back to form a line in front of the door in the original chamber, where Quinn was busy pouring oil from a flask to form a small pool in front of the door. Kithkanan and Rhiannon remained in the other room, fighting two more frog-people over Morderas' unconscious body. They were hard pressed, and Rhiannon was at best keeping Kithkanan propped up against the inevitable.

Four more opponents -- two humans, two frog-menk -- barrelled through the doorway encountering Quinn's pool of oil, which he lit with a torch. Howling, they moved away from the flames. Thals landed a telling blow on oe frog-man as it moved, then dropped a human monk with a strike and cleaved into the second frog man. With the battle beginning to turn their way, he cast a spell, transporting Athal to stand beside Kithkanan while bringing Morderas into their room. With Arjan and Quinn's blows beginning to strike true on their remaining opponents, Thalas headed for the other room, casting a spell of growth as he moved to increase his reach and striking power. His head soon scraped against the ceiling, and he arrived just as Kithkanan and Athal succeeded in putting down their two opponents.

"Darn ... waste of a spell," he mused, just as a voice came from beyond the door that Morderas had not quite fully opened before the blast of fire knocked him out.

"Intruders, heretics, you despoil the temple!"

Moderas came streaking past, back on his feet and eager for revenge, and he charged into the next room, followed by Athal and Thalas. Morderas managed to corner the speaker -- another frog-man, but wearing an odd skin as a cloak -- and Athal soon sent the creature to meet its god.

If anything, this room was carved with runes and reliefs even more obscene than any they had yet seen. Thalas looked around, checking for magic auras, as Morderas stripped the cloak and a set of magic bracers from their last opponent.

The rest of the party soon joined them, and Arjan summoned his favorite companion, wolf-bear, from whatever nether regions the creature dwelt in when it wasn't accompanying them. They sent wolf-bear through a door to the right, following after.

The room they entered was like nothing Thalas had ever seen before. The back of the room was dominated by an altar and a statue of a giant, two-headed, bipedal frog. Hundreds of tiny green frogs carpeted the floor, croaking in unison. A living duplicate of the frog-god statue stood standing in front of it, complete with red skin and two deformed heads. To the side a woman in red metal armor scowled at them, then screeched:

"You may have killed my brother, but wizards of the hopping prophet are not so foolish! The last think you will feel will be the might of Zebolage!"

Thalas cautiously followed Morderas and Kithkanan into the room, both of whom, with wolf-bear, were trying to corner the woman in red. Thalas blasted her with a ball of fire, just as she vomited a noxious green gas all over Kithkanan that had him reeling out of the way. Athal and the others surrounded the living version of the statue.

Thalas shifted to his glaive, striking at the statue just as Athal landed a blow that killed the creature. Morderas had finally put the woman down, and they turned to searching the chamber while Arjan consoled the many small frogs that were still hopping around underfoot.

Morderas managed to find a secret cache under the statue that contained a wealth of weapons and gold ... so much gold, Thalas wasn't sure they could carry it all as they began to empty sacks and backpacks and load themselves down.

Quinn, meanwhile, reported that the room next door was an abatoir -- tables covered with bloody, dead human bodies whose abdomenal cavities had been exploded from the inside out. All wore the robes of priests and paladins of Heironeous, and Father Conrad was among them.

"See," Thalas said, "all human churches become the home of evil cults eventually."

"Do you smell smoke?" Arjan asked. "I smell smoke."

There was a thin layer of smoke beginning to enter the room, and the crackling of fire could be heard in the distance. Thalas, Morderas, and Kithkanan quickly loaded themselves down with bags of gold as the others led the way back the way they had come.

The temple was indeed burning, the wooden wall and stair construction having been fed by some sort of accelerant. They gained the main floor of the temple just as the burning stairs gave way behind them. The pews, altars, and decoration were all burning ... and five men in red robes were darting out the open door of the temple, shouting "They've burned the temple! They've burned the temple! Guards, guards! Call the watch!"

Morderas glanced around for other exits, but with the rapidly rising flame and smoke they had no choice but to exit out the main doors ... into a crowd of armed people and Fort Blackwell's watch. One of the men in red was having a hurried conversation with the sergeant of the watch. Athal strode forward, as Thalas, Morderas, and Kithkanan tried to look nonchalant and inconspicuous, loaded down as they wree with bulging sacks of gold.

"They defiled and burned the temple!" the man claimed, gesticulating wildly.

"No. These men are members of some vile frog cult. There was a hideous temple in the basemwent, where all of the priests of Heironeous had been sacrificed." Athal pulled out the frog-skin cloak the red priest had been wearing. "The fire will burn the temple and the bodies, but we brought this out as proof."

The militia sergeant looked around at the seven heavily armed and slightly bloody adventurers, considered, weighed his sword ... and then stepped from their path.

"I'd recommend you not remain long in Fort Blackwell," he growled as the others hustled past. His men were rounding up the five red-robed men for questioning.

Thalas was quite happy when they returned to the ship, waking Amella. "We'd better get going early, if everyoe is aboard."

"What happened?" she asked.

"We did Fort Blackwell a favor, but they might not see it that way when the sun comes up." The entire town was now lit by the burning temple of Heironeous, and the shouts of "Fire, fire" and "Water, water" could clearly be heard.

"Do you adventurers ever find anyone or anything you don't kill, burn, destroy, or loot?" Amella asked.

"What would be the fun in that?" Morderas replied.

 

[Abciximab]

I'm pretty sure you have more then 1 fan.

Session 8: Every church hides an evil cult. - So true.

Enjoyed the Druid's concern for the "helpless frogs".