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BSI: Bosum Strand Irregulars
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<blockquote data-quote="skotothalamos" data-source="post: 6141260" data-attributes="member: 83398"><p><strong>Infiltrating Axis Island</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Five of our constables boarded the RNS Impossible that evening, making their way to Axis Island. Duchess Ethelyn was trying to start a war by invading Danoran territory won in the Fourth Yerasol War. Hugh Pearsall was not present.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The constables' mission was complicated: infiltrate Axis Island by way of an undersea cave, exit the connected mine, make an overland trek to the main fortress on the island, gain entry, make it to the lighthouse and gatehouse, signal the fleet from the lighthouse, open the harbor gate, and watch the Risuri Royal Marines take back the fortress.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Once the island was secured, the constables were charged with arresting the Duchess Ethelyn and checking on Lya Jierre’s (and Mort’s) cousin Nathan Jierre, an astronomer who worked in the observatory on the island.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">During the journey, Malkie and Mort engaged in nightly philosophical and political debates with Captain Rutger Smith. Zara and Ironpeak preferred to get drunk and climb the rigging. Zara especially seemed to enjoy watching the birds from a higher vantage point, but she also took time to heckle the more sober members of the party from high up in the ship’s rigging. James spent most of his time tinkering with his Remarkable Mechanical Hat.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Forty-seven hours after departure, the Impossible arrived at Axis Island. After nightfall, black sails were hoisted, at the ship slipped into a cove. The constables used a Water Breathing scroll to enter the ocean and proceed underwater to an sea cave said to lead into a mine.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Just before entering the cave, large rocks appeared in the water above the constables. The rocks fell, catching Mort and Cazara unaware, but they both managed to extricate themselves from under the sinking rocks before being crushed on the ocean bottom. James remarked that it seemed as if there had been a planar disturbance that caused the rocks to simply appear above the constables heads.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The team proceeded warily into the submerged cave. At the end of a long tunnel, they found themselves in a large half-submerged chamber with a natural column near the middle. Scaffolding around the walls of the room and along the column seemed to indicate an excavation had been recently occurring. Unsure if the rock fall had been a planar anomaly or a trap, they attempted to move stealthily into the cave. James and Ironpeak noticed a faint glow coming from the stone pillar, which was emanating from a three-inch-diameter golden “coin.”</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">A gunshot rang out from a ledge high on the wall of the cave which seemed like an exit. Then a heavily-accented Danoran accused the constables of being “dirt worshippers” who had come to kill him. Mort and James circled around behind the pillar, Cazara skulked up the scaffolding as close to the Danoran as she dared, Ironpeak strode out of the water and stood on a platform under the ledge, and Malkie repeatedly failed to pull herself up onto the scaffolding, twice slipping off and loudly splashing back into the water.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">An earth elemental came after Ironpeak, some sort of shadow creature harried Mort (and eventually Malkie), and James exchanged fire with the Danoran, distracting him from Zara flying at his head, claws first. She found him unusually resistant to her attacks. She also noticed that he was wearing a necklace with two more of the large golden coins.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Before the combat could become too dangerous, Mort explained that the group had come to help liberate the island from the Duchess Ethelyn’s rebel Risuri forces. Mort showed the Danoran that he was himself a Danoran, and was able to defuse the situation peacefully.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The Danoran turned out to be a mine foreman by the name of Nicolas Dupiers. He explained about how the Risuri rebels had killed his men and so he had taken the golden icons and fled here to claim the third. Dupiers told a tale of how the iron miners on Axis Island had discovered three trees made of marble deep in the earth, and in each tree they had found a golden icon. The three icons depicted imagery and constellations connecting each of them with one of the planets. Dupiers had brought with him the Golden Icons of Urim (earth) and Nem (shadow), which made him resilient and hard to see. He hoped the Golden Icon of Avilona (air) would help as well. The earth elemental and shadow creature also seemed to be connected to the icons, protecting the bearer.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Dupiers pulled the icon of Avilona from its marble home, which had been eroded away by the sea cave so as to be unrecognizable. Only a large splinter of marble remained, instead of a great marble tree.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Dupiers offered to show the constables the way out of the mine so they could finish their mission to liberate the island. Mort and Ironpeak and Cazara managed to talk the man into donating the Golden Icons to their cause, on the condition that they stay on Danoran soil and be returned when the island was officially returned to Danoran control. He made a point of handing the icons only to Mort Stark, as a representative of the government of Danor. James asked about the sudden rock fall and Dupiers explained that sometimes stray thoughts could cause strange happenings on Axis Island. He showed the group the iron spikes that his miners had driven into the walls of the mine every thirty feet. Dupier claimed that these spikes helped to ground reality so that strange things were less likely to happen.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The group thanked Dupiers and exited the mine. Dupier had given them directions to the fort, which involved crossing over a wooded mountain ridge. On their way down the far side of the ridge, the group found themselves suddenly standing in knee-high water in wooded marsh with yellow frogs, a purple sky, and a bright blue sun. James reached into his bag for an iron spike and immediately shoved it into the squishy mud beneath his feet and the group found themselves on Axis Island again.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">A few miles farther along, James and Zara spied a nearby iron golem stumbling around through the woods with no head. The oil spurting from the construct seemed strange to James, but he wisely decided to keep a safe distance from the flailing machine.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">After a few hours of travel, the group arrived at the fortress, where James was ready to use a Passwall scroll to go through the wall. Fearing that there might be a guard patrol on the other side of that wall, Zara claimed the Icon of Avilona and flew to the top of the outer wall. From atop the wall, she noticed a commotion at a nearby stable which seemed to have been converted into a prison. The commotion seemed to be distracting the guards, so she signaled James, who used the scroll, and the group hurried through the wall.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The town inside the fortress offered new challenges. Duchess Ethelyn’s rebel troops were everywhere. The infiltrators were going to have to find some way to pass as rebels (with a Tiefling in the group) in order to pass the harbor gate to get to the lighthouse so they could signal the fleet (and open the sea gate).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Cazara observed that the rebels were still wearing their Risuri Army or Shale Police uniforms, but had added red sashes. A plan to distract the guards, gain some allies, and get some red sashes was quickly formed. The group started working on a plan to go to the makeshift prison and break out the prisoners. After a few scrapped plans, someone remembered that Mort looked a lot like a Danoran (since he is one), and a Chewbacca Gambit was put into motion. Mort was fake-shackled. Ironpeak and Malkie were to play the part of the patrol that had found him. James and Cazara waited nearby in case anything went wrong.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">The team talked their way past the guards outside the prison and made their way inside to a small caged receiving area inside the makeshift brig (which had been converted from a stable). With only two guards in the area, Malkie drew her gun, intending to shoot one. Before she could find her target, Mort drew a dagger and slashed at one of the guards from atop Ironpeak’s shoulder. Ironpeak threw Mort down onto the guard, yelling that the prisoner was armed. Mort managed to kill one guard before they could get their swords out. Seeing that Malkie and Ironpeak were drawing weapons, and with no evidence yet that they were not on his side, the remaining guard slashed at Mort and then was taken out by Ironpeak. Malkie just put her gun away.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"><em>Malkie’s player said</em>,<em>“I shoot one of the guards,” and the entire table went “noooo” (since they’d just talked their way past twice as many gaurds outside the jail) so I had them </em><em>roll for initiative to see if they could stop her. Malkie got dead last, but I</em> <em>decided the guards were not ready, so the PCs would get a surprise round and</em> <em>then I would roll the guards’ initiative. Once they knew they had surprise,</em> <em>they forgot about stopping Malkie and just went into attack mode. Mort used</em> <em>quick draw to attack with his surprise action. Ironpeak used Mort as an</em> <em>improvised thrown weapon with her surprise action. Malkie drew her weapon. The</em> <em>guards ended up second in initiative. Mort killed one on his first round. The</em> <em>other one missed him. Ironpeak got her sword out and killed the other one. Then Malkie finally had a chance to shoot someone, but there was no one left to shoot. I</em> <em>love that I was able to apply the game mechanics to let it happen organically,</em> <em>rather than just letting the person with the first idea control the flow of the game.</em></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Inside the prison, the guards met with Danoran Lieutenant Hessar Merseine, who had already organized the prisoners for resistance. Merseine led his hundred prisoners away from the direction of the lighthouse, starting the second battle for Axis Island within a week. With most of the rebels suddenly busy, it was fairly easy for the group to make their way through the harbor gate in a wagon (with Mort hidden inside). While most of the group approached the lighthouse in the traditional fashion, Cazara took the Pyrotechnics scroll and climbed back outside the fortress. She was in position to scale the lighthouse from the outside and signal the fleet while the others took control of the sea gate controls.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Find out what happens next week when the constables go…</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'arial'">To the Lighthouse!</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="skotothalamos, post: 6141260, member: 83398"] [b]Infiltrating Axis Island[/b] [SIZE=2][FONT=arial]Five of our constables boarded the RNS Impossible that evening, making their way to Axis Island. Duchess Ethelyn was trying to start a war by invading Danoran territory won in the Fourth Yerasol War. Hugh Pearsall was not present. The constables' mission was complicated: infiltrate Axis Island by way of an undersea cave, exit the connected mine, make an overland trek to the main fortress on the island, gain entry, make it to the lighthouse and gatehouse, signal the fleet from the lighthouse, open the harbor gate, and watch the Risuri Royal Marines take back the fortress. Once the island was secured, the constables were charged with arresting the Duchess Ethelyn and checking on Lya Jierre’s (and Mort’s) cousin Nathan Jierre, an astronomer who worked in the observatory on the island. During the journey, Malkie and Mort engaged in nightly philosophical and political debates with Captain Rutger Smith. Zara and Ironpeak preferred to get drunk and climb the rigging. Zara especially seemed to enjoy watching the birds from a higher vantage point, but she also took time to heckle the more sober members of the party from high up in the ship’s rigging. James spent most of his time tinkering with his Remarkable Mechanical Hat. Forty-seven hours after departure, the Impossible arrived at Axis Island. After nightfall, black sails were hoisted, at the ship slipped into a cove. The constables used a Water Breathing scroll to enter the ocean and proceed underwater to an sea cave said to lead into a mine. Just before entering the cave, large rocks appeared in the water above the constables. The rocks fell, catching Mort and Cazara unaware, but they both managed to extricate themselves from under the sinking rocks before being crushed on the ocean bottom. James remarked that it seemed as if there had been a planar disturbance that caused the rocks to simply appear above the constables heads. The team proceeded warily into the submerged cave. At the end of a long tunnel, they found themselves in a large half-submerged chamber with a natural column near the middle. Scaffolding around the walls of the room and along the column seemed to indicate an excavation had been recently occurring. Unsure if the rock fall had been a planar anomaly or a trap, they attempted to move stealthily into the cave. James and Ironpeak noticed a faint glow coming from the stone pillar, which was emanating from a three-inch-diameter golden “coin.” A gunshot rang out from a ledge high on the wall of the cave which seemed like an exit. Then a heavily-accented Danoran accused the constables of being “dirt worshippers” who had come to kill him. Mort and James circled around behind the pillar, Cazara skulked up the scaffolding as close to the Danoran as she dared, Ironpeak strode out of the water and stood on a platform under the ledge, and Malkie repeatedly failed to pull herself up onto the scaffolding, twice slipping off and loudly splashing back into the water. An earth elemental came after Ironpeak, some sort of shadow creature harried Mort (and eventually Malkie), and James exchanged fire with the Danoran, distracting him from Zara flying at his head, claws first. She found him unusually resistant to her attacks. She also noticed that he was wearing a necklace with two more of the large golden coins. Before the combat could become too dangerous, Mort explained that the group had come to help liberate the island from the Duchess Ethelyn’s rebel Risuri forces. Mort showed the Danoran that he was himself a Danoran, and was able to defuse the situation peacefully. The Danoran turned out to be a mine foreman by the name of Nicolas Dupiers. He explained about how the Risuri rebels had killed his men and so he had taken the golden icons and fled here to claim the third. Dupiers told a tale of how the iron miners on Axis Island had discovered three trees made of marble deep in the earth, and in each tree they had found a golden icon. The three icons depicted imagery and constellations connecting each of them with one of the planets. Dupiers had brought with him the Golden Icons of Urim (earth) and Nem (shadow), which made him resilient and hard to see. He hoped the Golden Icon of Avilona (air) would help as well. The earth elemental and shadow creature also seemed to be connected to the icons, protecting the bearer. Dupiers pulled the icon of Avilona from its marble home, which had been eroded away by the sea cave so as to be unrecognizable. Only a large splinter of marble remained, instead of a great marble tree. Dupiers offered to show the constables the way out of the mine so they could finish their mission to liberate the island. Mort and Ironpeak and Cazara managed to talk the man into donating the Golden Icons to their cause, on the condition that they stay on Danoran soil and be returned when the island was officially returned to Danoran control. He made a point of handing the icons only to Mort Stark, as a representative of the government of Danor. James asked about the sudden rock fall and Dupiers explained that sometimes stray thoughts could cause strange happenings on Axis Island. He showed the group the iron spikes that his miners had driven into the walls of the mine every thirty feet. Dupier claimed that these spikes helped to ground reality so that strange things were less likely to happen. The group thanked Dupiers and exited the mine. Dupier had given them directions to the fort, which involved crossing over a wooded mountain ridge. On their way down the far side of the ridge, the group found themselves suddenly standing in knee-high water in wooded marsh with yellow frogs, a purple sky, and a bright blue sun. James reached into his bag for an iron spike and immediately shoved it into the squishy mud beneath his feet and the group found themselves on Axis Island again. A few miles farther along, James and Zara spied a nearby iron golem stumbling around through the woods with no head. The oil spurting from the construct seemed strange to James, but he wisely decided to keep a safe distance from the flailing machine. After a few hours of travel, the group arrived at the fortress, where James was ready to use a Passwall scroll to go through the wall. Fearing that there might be a guard patrol on the other side of that wall, Zara claimed the Icon of Avilona and flew to the top of the outer wall. From atop the wall, she noticed a commotion at a nearby stable which seemed to have been converted into a prison. The commotion seemed to be distracting the guards, so she signaled James, who used the scroll, and the group hurried through the wall. The town inside the fortress offered new challenges. Duchess Ethelyn’s rebel troops were everywhere. The infiltrators were going to have to find some way to pass as rebels (with a Tiefling in the group) in order to pass the harbor gate to get to the lighthouse so they could signal the fleet (and open the sea gate). Cazara observed that the rebels were still wearing their Risuri Army or Shale Police uniforms, but had added red sashes. A plan to distract the guards, gain some allies, and get some red sashes was quickly formed. The group started working on a plan to go to the makeshift prison and break out the prisoners. After a few scrapped plans, someone remembered that Mort looked a lot like a Danoran (since he is one), and a Chewbacca Gambit was put into motion. Mort was fake-shackled. Ironpeak and Malkie were to play the part of the patrol that had found him. James and Cazara waited nearby in case anything went wrong. The team talked their way past the guards outside the prison and made their way inside to a small caged receiving area inside the makeshift brig (which had been converted from a stable). With only two guards in the area, Malkie drew her gun, intending to shoot one. Before she could find her target, Mort drew a dagger and slashed at one of the guards from atop Ironpeak’s shoulder. Ironpeak threw Mort down onto the guard, yelling that the prisoner was armed. Mort managed to kill one guard before they could get their swords out. Seeing that Malkie and Ironpeak were drawing weapons, and with no evidence yet that they were not on his side, the remaining guard slashed at Mort and then was taken out by Ironpeak. Malkie just put her gun away. [I]Malkie’s player said[/I],[I]“I shoot one of the guards,” and the entire table went “noooo” (since they’d just talked their way past twice as many gaurds outside the jail) so I had them [/I][I]roll for initiative to see if they could stop her. Malkie got dead last, but I[/I] [I]decided the guards were not ready, so the PCs would get a surprise round and[/I] [I]then I would roll the guards’ initiative. Once they knew they had surprise,[/I] [I]they forgot about stopping Malkie and just went into attack mode. Mort used[/I] [I]quick draw to attack with his surprise action. Ironpeak used Mort as an[/I] [I]improvised thrown weapon with her surprise action. Malkie drew her weapon. The[/I] [I]guards ended up second in initiative. Mort killed one on his first round. The[/I] [I]other one missed him. Ironpeak got her sword out and killed the other one. Then Malkie finally had a chance to shoot someone, but there was no one left to shoot. I[/I] [I]love that I was able to apply the game mechanics to let it happen organically,[/I] [I]rather than just letting the person with the first idea control the flow of the game.[/I] Inside the prison, the guards met with Danoran Lieutenant Hessar Merseine, who had already organized the prisoners for resistance. Merseine led his hundred prisoners away from the direction of the lighthouse, starting the second battle for Axis Island within a week. With most of the rebels suddenly busy, it was fairly easy for the group to make their way through the harbor gate in a wagon (with Mort hidden inside). While most of the group approached the lighthouse in the traditional fashion, Cazara took the Pyrotechnics scroll and climbed back outside the fortress. She was in position to scale the lighthouse from the outside and signal the fleet while the others took control of the sea gate controls. Find out what happens next week when the constables go… To the Lighthouse![/FONT][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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