Morrow's Savage Tide Adventure Path

[Morrow]

There is No Honor Part 3 (Dexter)

Bern whistled a happy tune to himself as he walked east along Crown Street. Life has been good of late for the proprietor of The Hungry Gorilla. The tavern has been packed to the rafters practically every night. It had been ever since Dexter, the young half orc he used to view as little more than a cheap bouncer, had started regaling the regulars with stories of his exploits. Of course the stories were pure lies. Bern no more believed Dexter,a half-orc standing nearly seven-feet-tall, was descended from the pirate Nate Black than he did the elaborate tales of Dexter's "crusade against the forces of evil in the service of a beautiful helpless young noble woman". As he mounted the stairs to his tavern a resounding cheer echoed inside. Whatever tale Dexter was spinning tonight would certainly be good for business. When he opened the door and looked inside he immediately reconsidered that assumption.

Dexter stood at the center of a growing crowd, eyes hidden by a thick mop of black dreadlocks, grinning like a maniac. Two men lay at Dexter's feet. A third charged in at Dexter from behind. The big half-orc spun faster than his size seemed to allow and took the man out at the knees with his axe.

"NO!" Bern shouted, nearly drowned out by the cries for more.

"OH, HI BERN!" Dex shouted over the din, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"This is MY tavern, what are you doing?" Bern's stomach flip-flopped as Dexter felled another drunken patron and the crowd still called for more. He caught his breath and calmed down a bit when he saw the men on the floor slowly crawling to their feet, and noted the lack of blood and limbs on his floor.

"PRACTICING!" was Dexter's incomprehensible reply, throwing a halfling across the room with his axe.

Bern took his life into his own hands, ran in, and stood in front of Dexter, eyes clenched shut, teeth gritted, arms spread wide, and waited for his death. "Bern, you could get hurt doing that." Dexter's voice was friendly but still disquieting.

"Dexter, please, what are you doing?"

"Well, see, here's what happened." The crowd cheered as Dexter went into his story for the second time that night.

"Yesterday me and my brother Garnham and Maggie, that girl I was telling you about, and Elyosha Ubgrovna Tupovna... uh... and that elf with the wolf, we found Vanthus, the evil brother of that beautiful good-hearted noble girl who we serve. Well, we almost found him. See, Garnham is a great tracker and knows the whole city like the back of his hand and he has powerful magic so we found the hide-out of the evil band of thieves he took up with. Garnham used his magic to be invisible and went inside to snoop. And we're pretty smart so we went in and there were all these animals. And we pretended to buy them. Then we were worried the bad guy might see Garnham even though he was invisible, so then uh... so, uh, MAGGIE broke one of them and we got locked outside. There was a dragon and a giant bug and a bat. There was this evil guy guarding the place. He was pretending it was a real business. But we knew he was a liar because he had this long mustache and he
kept twisting it. So that northern elf told him she wanted him to do it to her wolf and he looked at her like that was kind of weird." Dexter leaned in, "To be honest I thought it was a little weird too, I don't think she was really clear on what he does in there."

He raised his voice again. "So anyway we beat that guy up and broke into the hideout which was downstairs. It was a pretty good time. There was a giant spider and there was a dragon and we killed them. OH THE DRAGON! It's name was Gut-Tugger! It was monstrous, fangs dripping venom and evil eyes! Garnham used his magic to summon a dirt monster! It was even bigger than the dragon. We fought ferociously. I almost killed the dragon's evil mistress but she got away by turning into a cloud and the dirt monster chased her into the wall. So all in all, it was pretty good. But in the time in between tying up the villain and killing the evil lady OH! there was a dead thing. We smashed it. It smelled like it had just been dug up out of the ground. It had bloody eyes and sharp teeth and claws! But we smashed it."

Dexter's voice became somber. "But in between the dead thing and the dragon there were these other guys. I don't know about them. I think maybe they were just doing their job. Seems their job was to kill us so we had to kill them first. I felt pretty bad about that." Dexter looked down at the floor for a moment. Never one for long bouts of introspection, he looked back up grinning. "So I decided I better figure out how to stop guys like that without killing them. Now see, I could just pound em," Dex held up a ham-sized fist, "but nobody takes a body guard seriously if he don't have a big weapon," he hefted his axe in his other hand. "But sometimes in the heat of things I have a hard time not killing somebody when I chop them in half. Most of the time when you chop someone in half with an axe they die. So I'm practicing smashing guys with my axe and not killing em. THAT'S what I been up to."

"Okay, Dex, wai..."

"OKAY!" Dex shouted, the crowd started shouting again and Dexter knocked another one of Bern's patrons unconscious.

Bern squinted and walked into the back room, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Dexter was a good draw and told a good story, but Bern was getting a headache.

 

[Morrow]

There is No Honor Part 3 (Garnham)

From the journal Of K. Garnham apprentice Seeker. Translated from the Vallossan.

I have in my possession a number of letters written by Vanthus Vanderboren to Rowyn Keilani. In between honeyed promises and lustful comments he tells Rowyn how he arranged the deaths of his parents. He boasts of the brilliant way in which he had arranged their new ship to burn with them on it. His parents were a stumbling block for what needed to be done and he writes of their death in the same manner a hunter might describe a successful expedition. I don't understand this man. Loyalty to family is the first loyalty. Above church, state or guild. Family defines us. What Vanthus has done defines him as a twisted man. We obtained the letters from the Lotus Dragons' lair.

The assault went better than I had expected. The entrance to the stronghold lay beneath the Taxidermists Guildhall. I used a potion of invisibility to enter the shop with my visible companions. Elyosha spoke to the guildmaster about having Bolk stuffed, Dexter and Maggie made sufficient noise to help cover my footsteps as I searched for a hidden door. Elyosha and I had found the door at just around the time that the potion wore off. The guildmaster started to attack, but we rendered him unconscious before he could do any serious harm to us.

The door led to the Lotus Dragons. There were obvious signs that a thieves guild was here; practice areas for pickpocketing etc. We killed eleven Lotus Dragon thieves. They were novices, but very well equipped. Hand crossbows don't come cheap and they were all carrying one as well as two vials of poison and a healing potion. There was also a large humanoid undead used to guard the way to the inner sanctum.

We then came to a richly appointed room with a well turned out woman and some sort of dragon-dog creature. She appreciated the ability it took to get to her and offered us positions in the guild.

We declined.

An earth elemental summoned from a magical bauble forced her to retreat. The dragon dog died trying to give it's master the time needed to escape.

Then we found a sizable stash of money and the letters from Vanthus. In them we discovered that the lady we fought was Rowyn Keilani. Further scrutiny of the room showed that it was furnished like a brothel. Better carpeting, nicer decor, but it still could have passed as a room at the Mermaid's Secret. The few books on the shelves had such titles as "Paladin Prostitute," "The Naked Barbarians" and "Virgin Sorceress."

There is one area of note that I haven't gone into at this point. A strategy room. In it was a map of the city with various colored flags pushed into different buildings. The Vanderboren estate was marked in gold, the Taxidermists Guildhall and Keilaini estate (among others) were in blue, the Islaran manor and the temple of Maal in red. The harbormaster Lord Islaran was killed that night and the temple of Maal has never been friend to thieves so red would seem to indicate a target or an enemy. Blue appears to be allies.

Now for some speculation. Islaran was on the Dawn Council representing Azure district. His children have either expressed no interest in continuing the family legacy or HAVE GONE MISSING. His death opens up a seat on the Dawn Council. The Keilani family hails from the same district and are prominent enough that they might be considered for the position. Especially if the port was in chaos from numerous ship sinkings (a planned list of which we found in the strategy room) took place after the harbormaster's death. Heldrath is rumored to be in poor health. Rowyn has no problem working with someone who killed his parents for personal gain. Could Rowyn be behind this "illness?" Her thugs certainly were well supplied with poison. Islaran dies. Heldrath takes over than succumbs to her "illness" leaving Rowyn on the council.

Very speculative.

We have a lead on Vanthus' next move. He claims in one of the letters to Rowyn that he is set to betray Brissa and steal a cargo from her. A location and date are mentioned and I believe that we can make it if we hurry. Lavinia will need to go to the authorities with what we have.

 

[Morrow]

The Bullywug Gambit Part 1 (Garnham)

From the journal Of K. Garnham apprentice Seeker. Translated from the Vallossan.

For our service to the city we were awarded the Spire of Sasserine. There was a party. I wore a new suit and shook the hands of people who wouldn't have acknowledged my existence last week. There was punch and small cakes. Several people thought I was a wizard for some reason.

After the pomp and circumstance we departed Sasserine for Kraken's Cove aboard the Flying Fish, a fishing ship under the command of one Arlen Huxley. We made landfall opposite the cove itself and crossed overland. We hadn't gotten too far into the jungle when we were attacked by monkeys. Deformed abominations some barely able to breathe through twisted throats.

That was just the beginning. We made it to the cove in short time. We saw the smoke long before we arrived. Several ships had been set on fire. Debris littered the beach and you didn't need to be a tracker to tell that several people had made their way to caves in the rock face.

We made our way down to the beach and were attacked by a small group of people just as deformed as the monkeys we encountered in the jungle. At first I thought they were undead. Some had wounds that I thought would be impossible for a living being to endure, let alone stand and fight. In close combat it became obvious that they were living albeit twisted. Tainted. When we put them down they dissolved into some sort of acid. We made our way through the caves and found more tainted people and beasts. There we met Brissa; what remained of her anyway. Dexter's ax put her out of her misery.

Eventually we came across an untainted survivor. And what a specimen she was. She was in the midst of fighting half a dozen of her former companions when we first saw her. She was wading through them. Our group may have dispatched as many as she did in the same amount of time, but I doubt it. This was Captain Harliss Jarvel of the Slippery Eel and from her we found out what happened. Vanthus was caught stealing from her. He had a black pearl "as big as your fist" in his hand, Jarvel bloodied him, getting some on the pearl which went overboard. Once it hit the water it exploded. Captain Jarvel says that her vision went green for a while and when it cleared her crew were living undead. Vanthus resisted the taint and, charmer that he is, pushed the tainted Brissa overboard to make his escape.
Jarvel sent her first mate Drevanaz to seek revenge on Vanthus by killing him and his family. We managed to convince her that Lavinia is innocent. Jarvel gave us a letter to give to Drevanaz in order to spare her.

We have rejoined the Flying Fish and are returning to Sasserine to prevent Lavinia's assassination. As to the pearl itself. Jarvel claims that she was to deliver it to a buyer who was to come to the cove. She wouldn't reveal their name and, actually, seemed frightened of them. A scary thought given her amazing ability with the sword. I think that arrogant, amoral jackass Vanthus may have saved Sasserine. This pearl was a city destroyer. A little blood and water and zam; anyone who resists the taint ends up getting killed by those who didn't. There's a short list of people who have that kind of hate for Sasserine. The top of that list has an embassy there.

 

[Morrow]

The Bullywug Gambit Part 2 (Garnham)

From the journal Of K. Garnham apprentice Seeker. Translated from the Vallossan.

We returned to Sasserine aboard the Flying Fish to find the city in the midst of Empire's Fall celebrations. The streets were lined with drunken revelers making clear travel tricky. I ran ahead using a complex mix of grace and punch-the-drunk rudeness to get to the Vanderboren Manse. The others were slightly behind me.

I found out about what happened to Dexter and the others after the fact. Shortly after I left for the mansion they were approached by a group of stiltwalking street performers who turned out to be assassins sent to kill our group. The stiltwalkers were beaten thanks to warp wood spells cast by Elyosha, blunt trauma delivered by Maggie and some general ass-kicking from Dexter. The surviving stiltwalker confessed that he was hired by Heldrath Keilani as revenge for our work against the Lotus Dragons and her daughter Rowyn.

I made it to the manor and found my way inside. I wasn't that stealthy about the whole thing; I had believed that we had beat Drevanaz to Sasserine. When there was no response to my knock I picked the lock and entered the main hallway.

There were three man-frogs in the foyer. I later identified them as bullywugs. They and I had a little disagreement; they thought that I would look better with their handaxes buried in my chest and I preferred the classic lines of undamaged studded leather armor. I had killed them by the time the others arrived.

Elyosha and I searched the manor; she tracking their slime and I opening locks. We found, and killed, other bullywugs before entering a secret armory where we discovered the near-dead body of the dwarven druid from the Jade Ravens. We revived him and he told us what he knew. They had received the warning that Elyosha had sent via ensorcelled bird. The Jade Ravens were preparing to lay in the defenses when the manor was besieged by bullywugs who had entered from a decrepit access tunnel in the basement. In the assault Keskus Kull (the dwarf) lost his animal companion.

We followed the trail and came across a large female bullywug smoking some of the finer Vanderboren cigars. We killed her guards and captured her. It turns out that she is Lorb Lorb Tub, mate of some clan leader who was elsewhere in the manor. We left her unconscious under Kull's guard and proceeded upstairs to find Lavinia and the others.

There was one room that was occupied. I tried to get a peek inside by climbing around from the other room, but the place was in darkness.
Elyosha and the others went in to try to negotiate Lavinia's release with the letter given to us by Captain Jarvel. I remained outside the window in case things went the way they usually go.

Drevanaz was there with a bullywug shaman. Lavinia, Cora and the
other two male members of the Ravens were tied to chairs; Cora's throat had been slit and had been dead for some time. Drevanaz conducted his part of the negotiations while holding a blade to Lavinia's throat. Elyosha showed him the letter and explained things but Drevanaz wasn't having any of it. According to him Jarvel would have sent a token with the letter to prove it's authenticity. No token, no release of prisoners.

I managed to crack the shutters on the window open quietly enough to throw a blade at the half-orcs back. It was a solid, if not fatal, hit and it forced him to stumble forward and away from Lavinia. She, it seems, was playing possum. She had gotten her bonds loose and used the distraction to tumble towards a nearby sword and arm herself. We fought. The shaman summoned demons that we killed. The shaman died. We captured Drevanaz.

We still hadn't found the sorceress Liamae. That meant she was probably down in the basement. We revived the other Ravens and left them to guard Lavinia before heading down to the lower level.
I wasn't prepared for what we found there. The sorceress was there all right. They had stripped her and put her in a sheet that had bits of silverware sewn into it. There was some sort of metal eating beast that was nipping at her whenever she stopped dancing. Tub's mate reminded her that if his pet got every piece then he would kill her. We killed the beast and his guards. The beast destroyed Dexter's magical breastplate.
We took the clan head prisoner. In the end we turned Drevanaz over to the authorities and let the bullywugs leave after they had given us their equipment in recompense for the damages.

Lavinia has set us up on the top floor of the Sultry Siren so that we are closer to her when needs arise.

 

[Morrow]

The Bullywug Gambit Part 2 (Elyosha)

Dear Mother,

I cannot believe the barbarism of this swamp where I must make the case for Druzistan. I am only here because of the hope I have for bringing the local elves over to our cause. This is no safe place for free people.

I have taken employment as a bodyguard and adventurer with Lady Lavinia VanderBoren, and I am coming to have respect for her. She keeps her head and is a shrewd leader of her family’s interests, even as her psychopathic brother tries to kill her and anyone else who gets in his way. My work for her has also resulted in the Knowlern clan promising some money for our Druzistani cause.

Last week we exposed a plot by local pirates against our Lady’s life. These pirates believed wrongly that Lady VanderBoren was to blame for the destruction wrought by her murderous brother, Vanthas. The pirates had dispatched frog-people from the swamps outside the city to capture Lavinia in her home.

We had to fight our way through a street festival to get to her house, even battling crazed acrobats in the open streets. No law enforcement bothered us during this entanglement, so at least there is some basic respect for individual freedom here. When we got to Lavinia’s house, it was overrun by the frog-people. My companion Garnham had already single-handedly downed three of them, so they presented no challenge to the four of us working together.

We bested Lorb-Lorb Tub, a frog-woman fighter who was the most capable of their kind we encountered. We met another druid hiding from the frog-people; he and his colleagues also work for Lavinia, and had fallen to the frog-people only because of their overwhelming numbers and their surprise attack. Together we mourned the loss of his badger companion.

We found Lavinia and some of her other bodyguards bound upstairs. We killed the pirate Drevoraz and frog-person shaman who held them captive, but we were too late to save the kind halfling servant who had been loyal to Lavinia’s family for years. The cowards killed her because she was the weakest captive and posed the least threat.

In the cellar the true debased nature of this frog-person clan became clear. Their leader, Lorpth, was allowing his monster to torment one of the other bodyguards. Instead of tying Liamee upstairs with the others, he singled her out for torture. I shudder to think what he would have done to her if we had not arrived. I had hoped to live my life never seeing a man use a woman for his own sick purposes like that, thriving on her fear and helplessness. Naturally we killed the monster and captured Lorpth.

I have met men in Sasserine who treat everyone they encounter as tools for their own furtherance and pleasure. Men who would not survive among our people, because any civilized society would drive them out. This is a culture that survives on a system of oppression and control.

Lavinia, in her kindness, has allowed Lorpth and Lorb-Lorb Tub to go freely back to the frog-people village. I will not be so merciful.
Bolk has grown to her full size, and is even bigger than her mother. She is a fine companion and reminds me of all that we are fighting for in Druzistan. Give my love to father and our sisters, and, as always, to you, dear mother.

Your daughter, Elyoshenka

 

[Morrow]

The Bullywug Gambit Part 2 (Margaret)

“I'm no good at this, “ said the young girl, her blue eyes piercing the dim candle light.

The old woman took her hands in her own and cradled them in her lap. “What is that, my child? Release your burden.”

“But I'm no good at this, at remembering. All my life, I've followed my heart. It led me here... to you, but I feel that I've lost my way, Mother Anna.”

“My dear Margaret, do not feel that you have lost your way. There are many paths that one may take, but they are all equal in the eyes of Aster.”

“I fear that may be the problem,” said the girl. “I have been protecting my friends and the Lady Vanderborn, but I have shed much blood, and I fear that the lives I have taken cannot be justified if all paths are equal.”

The high priestess laughed. “There is no shame in death. You should know this by now. And there is no shame in taking a life when your own is at stake. You have chosen a noble path in life, and it is important that others hear your voice. If you should fall, we would welcome you back. I know that you would embrace your undeath and continue in your faith. Please, tell me what has happened that has shaken you so.”

“I don't know. It all happened so fast. We were on our way back to Vanderborn Estate to warn Lady Vanderborn...


Empire's Fall was just getting into full swing. As we made our way through the city, we saw the revelers, costumed as the dead, and I so wanted to join them, to rejoice in the celebration that the living and the dead can co-exist in harmony. Garnham had gone ahead, and suddenly, Elyosha, Dexter and I were overtaken by those I had been so entranced by. There was an acrobat and some stilt walkers. They accosted us with burning oil and knives. I was so confused, but my heart beat quickened, and I knew I must fight them to defend my friends. We overtook them easily, but it felt wrong... feeling so alive and jubilant one moment, and smashing in skulls the next.

I had very little time to reflect. It was clear that Lady Vanderborn was in danger, and we feared that Garnham may have been attacked as well. In fact, he was, but he too prevailed. The house had been overrun by bullywogs under the command of a man named Drevoraz. Captain Jarvel had given us a letter that should have ended things peacefully, but the bullywogs were not prepared to negotiate. When the first battle was over, most of them lay dead. I saved those I could, but what makes my life better than theirs? We are no different. Even worse, I felt entirely inadequate, unable to even heal my friends entirely.

We came upon a dwarf named Caskus Kell. He told us that his friends had been captured along with Lady Vanderborn, and he joined us in our quest to save them.

As we made our way into the courtyard, there was a female bullywog smoking a cigar in the dining room. I tried to talk to her, but she said that it was fun killing adventurers. Killing for fun! Imagine that. It was a shame to fight such a strong woman, but she gave us little choice. Eventually, she surrendered and told us where the others were being held.

We made our way upstairs and arranged a surprise for Drevoraz and his lackeys, with Garnham planning his attack from outside the window. Lady Vanderborn was tied up along with Caskus's friends. And Cora... poor Cora! Her throat had been slit! I am certain that dear woman has never harmed anyone, and yet there her tiny body sat, still warm and covered in her own blood. I have never been so ashamed of my humanity.

Drevoraz's shaman had some nasty tricks up his sleeve, but when I saw Cora, my blood began to boil, and I had very little mercy for them. I could tell Dexter felt the same way. Garnham busted in through the window, and hit the shaman soundly from behind. We defeated them, and released the captives, but there was one still missing- their sorceress.

We found her in the basement, being tortured by Lorpth, the leader of the bullywogs. He was using a poor, defenseless creature that destroys metal objects to frighten her, but the creature could not help what it was. I was so ashamed that we had to kill it, lest leave ourselves defenseless. At any rate, we defeated them and freed the sorceress.

Lady Vanderborn was very grateful and set us up with new lodgings at the Sultry Siren, and now she has commissioned us to accompany us to the Isle of Dread, to the Farshore Colony on the southern peninsula, rich in natural resources, but very dangerous...


“Mother Anna, I have done as you have said. I have experienced the world, but I don't see how this violence furthers our cause. I don't see how this new mission serves Aster.”

The old woman looked down at the poor creature and sighed, smoothing back her hair. “My child, you have developed talents that may serve Aster in ways I had not expected. I would like you to bring Aster's teachings with you to this godless colony. It may be dangerous, but who would be more qualified to defend herself while spreading the word of our god?”

The girl looked up into the high priestess's wise, old eyes. This time, she looked hopeful.

“You will fight, young Margaret, but you will fight for Aster. You will fight for equality and respect for all. You will be our first missionary in Farshore.”

 

[Morrow]

The Bullywug Gambit Part 2 (Dexter)

Dexter sat in the Knowlern family garden. He'd just finished dinner with his mother, a servant of the well to do elven family. He was on his way back to the Sultry Siren when he ran into Dmitriy Ivanov, a cousin of the Knowlerns he'd befriended of late. Ivan insisted Dexter wait for him in the garden, telling him he had a friend Dexter must meet. But it was growing late, and Dexter was growing bored. He'd rather be tossing back a few rounds with his friends at the Hungry Gorilla. He hadn't been there for a while and Bern was probably worried about him. He stretched out on the grass and looked up at the stars. It was a good night for waiting anyway. Just as he was beginning to doze off he heard someone approaching and sat up. Ivanov was walking through the garden with a diminutive elven woman. Dexter stood as Ivan spoke, “Dexter my friend, allow me to introduce Lady Silvermane, of the Church of Whirling Fury.”

“Uh, pleased to make your uh... quaintance, your ladyship.”

The lady smiled and sat on the grass, indicating Dexter should follow. “Dmitriy had told me of your exploits Dexter. But I've heard whispers in the jungle, things you've done of which I've not yet been told.”

“Well, did he tell you about the nasty monkeys with the bony bits and the poisoned jungle and the fire?”

“Yes. I wish to hear, Dexter, of your exploits since you returned, and of your meeting with the bullywugs.” She removed a backpack and reached inside, pulling out a wooden tray three cups. She gestured to Ivanov who handed her a ceramic pitcher.

“Well, we got back to Sasserine right when the festival was starting, and this lady we worked for, we thought she might be in trouble. So my brother, he had some note or something, I wasn't really paying attention to that part, but he decided to run on ahead to her house.”

The lady poured something from the pitcher and picked up a cup with both hands and held it out to Dexter. The small cup was tiny in Dexter's hands and he threw it back like a shot of fire brandy at the Hungry Gorilla. It was bitter and metallic, and smelled of the Knowlern's root cellar. Ivan and the lady sipped theirs slowly.

“Well Empire's Fall was in full swing. It looked pretty good this year, but we had to go help Lady Vanderboren so we didn't have time get dru... ah... join in the festivities. So... whoa, that stuff's pretty good, can I have some more?”

The lady smiled and held out the pitcher. Dex grinned back and took a pull straight from the pitcher, smacking his lips. He looked up at the stars which were burning brighter than he remembered... ever.

“We were almost at the house when these acrobats and stilt-walkers attacked us. Well me and Maggie and Elyosha, you know her Ivan, she comes here some times but I don't know why, are you related? Anyway we killed them all except one who spilled his guts about why he was attacking us. I would have listened more but I didn't really care, and anyway at this point I was getting kind of antsy about Garnham, thought maybe he was in trouble, and you know, he was. So... are there more stars then there were before? I feel kinda... so... where was I? I... right, so, right, so we got to the Vanderboren house and Garnham had killed a bunch of bullywugs, frog men, you know. So we were worried about our Vanderboren, about our lady. Our... charge. So we charged! Around! Did you see that monkey? Bat? Monkeybats!”

“Dexter?” the lady prodded.

“Right, sorry. So, we went around and did our thing, you know, killed bad guys and took their stuff. That's where I got this great armor by the way. It's made out of the skin of... something. Right, so we saved this druid. His pet died, felt kinda bad about that. He helped us out some. Helped us find this big frog lady, she was a fun sort, beat her silly we did. Worked our way upstairs next,” Dex gritted his teeth, remembering how angry the incident had made him, “And our lady was tied to a chair, and Kora, she was dead.” Dexter's hands curled into fists, and his caloused knuckles cracked. “So Garnham snuck around and shot this ugly frog, and we killed a pirate because he deserved it. He deserved it twice but he could only get it once. The ugly frog brought evil friends, fiends, fearsome foul but finally feeble.” Dexter looked to the sky, distracted, as the stars crawled about like beetles, making odd shapes.”Well, we, the... lady got out and helped us kill them all real good. And we went downstairs and killed some more frogs, and there was this girl who was wearing a dress made out of knives and forks which seemed strange to me but no one else seemed to think so. What was even weirder was this crocodile thing with feelers that ate my armor. That was bad. Ruined my axe too and it was a good one. But we defeated their chief who gave up and I took his club and this armor, it smells funny and its made out of some kind of skin, I can't really tell, maybe an owlbear or an ostrich. So ah... the... you know I'm really having trouble concentrating, the stars...”

The lady and Ivanov stood. The stars danced, like sand, silver sand that moved in the wind like a tornado, he thought he saw a dancing elf but that didn't make any sense. The lady told Dexter about the Court of Stars, and Gwynharwyf, and divine fury. He listened as close as he was able. He must have fallen asleep because he had a dream, vivid dreams he could never put into words later.


Somehow Dex must have made his way into his mother's room, but he didn't remember how. His mother wasn't there, probably already doing the washing. Dexter stumbled out into the street, rubbing his head and cringing at how incredibly loud the morning sun had gotten. The world looked different this morning, and he got turned around several times on his way back to the Sultry Siren. When he finally made it there he fumbled with the handle on the door to his room until Garnham got up and opened the door for him. “Where've you been Dexter?”

“Sorry, late, uh... they moved the inn.”

“I see. Here brother, take my old armor,” he looked Dexter up and down, “you may need to have it let out. But I'm not using it anymore and it smells better than...” he turned his nose up at the grubby hide armor his brother had appropriated from the bullywugs, “...that.” Dexter collapsed on the floor, and began snoring, and talking in his sleep, “Stars like sand, dancing like beetles, like silver... beetles.”

 

[Morrow]

What I Did Over My Six-Month Break: How to Defeat Patriarchy in Three Easy Steps

Dear Mother,

I hope you enjoy these goodberry poultices. Although Sasserine is a dreadful place to live, the Knowlern family has given me several berry
bushes superior for casting goodberry. You’ll note how substantial the poultices are. The Knowlerns have been quite helpful, and sincerely hope that these poultices might support the ailing in the forests of Druzistan.

I have befriended Liamee, whom I mentioned in my last letter, and together we have brought Lorpth of the bullywugs to the justice of the sword. The frog-people we encountered, as it turns out, call themselves “bullywugs,” which translates as “the people of the swamp” in their language.

My conscience would not let Lorpth go free after his cruel treatment of Liamee in Lavinia’s house. Yet I thought his capture should properly be Liamee’s and not mine. I paid her a visit to find her, as I would have been, seething with anger over Lorpth’s treatment of her. She was under no delusions that her capture was her fault, or that she had been shamed (although Lorpth tried to shame her). She was already planning an infiltration of the bullywug swamp with the goal of capturing Lorpth. She was happy to see me and readily accepted my help. We considered bringing our companions on the trip, but ultimately decided that unsuspecting bullywugs were well within our capabilities.

We waited until my scapulomancy told us the day was auspicious. Liamee cloaked us both in invisibility spells and we sneaked to the bullywug village under cover of darkness. The bones did not lie--Lorpth was sleeping alone in his tent, drunk, from the smell of him. I hit him about the head with my quarterstaff. Liamee brought out her scroll of hold person and was about to read it when bullywug guards entered Lorpth’s hut, under the command of Lorb-Lorb Tub.

They were all ready to engage us in combat, but I called out to Lorb-Lorb Tub. I commended her on her cunning in noticing as we entered Lorpth’s tent. I suggested that there must not be too much love lost between them, or she would have been sleeping in his arms. I complimented her on her leadership in Lavinia’s house, and especially on how she treated her enemies with honor (instead of torturing them, say). I wondered if there wasn’t some way this could end that would be beneficial to all of us women.

Lorb-Lorb Tub smiled and bit her cigar. She said, “In our tribe, leadership passes when someone beats the chief in single combat. That person then chooses the next leader.”

“A very wise system,” I said. “Liamee, wouldn’t you like to challenge Lorpth in single combat?”

“I challenge you, Lorpth of the bullywugs,” Liamee spit at him. Lorpth snored. Apparently the bullywugs brew strong liquor in the marshes.
Liamee put away her scroll of hold person and raised her hands instead. Darts of energy shot from her fingers to Lorpth’s heart. He lay dead in his stinking hut as befits a coward and a fool.

Liamee appointed Lorb-Lorb Tub to be the new chieftan of the bullywugs, of course, and we left them to tend to the body of their beaten leader. I believe it is bullywug custom to leave dead bodies outside the village for the alligators to eat. I plan to send Lorb-Lorb a box of nice cigars to congratulate her on her new position.

In other news, my friends and I are to accompany Lavinia on a mission to a colony her family planted on the Isle of Dread in the South Seas. She assures me that the natives were in no position to look after this island themselves, and that civilized colonists are a boon to everyone. I have my doubts. Nonetheless, I have been teaching Bolk to be a wolf at home on a boat. She is getting her “sea legs” remarkably fast.

I give my love to you and father, and to all our sisters in Druzistan.

Love,

Elyoshenka

 

[Morrow]

Sea Wyvern's Wake Part 1 (Garnham)

From the Journal Of K. Garnham Seeker translated from the Valossan

Lavinia has decided to undertake an expedition to the Isle of Dread.
Apparently her parents founded a colony there some time before their deaths. They were planning on resupplying the colony and bringing in new colonists, but were stopped by Vanthus' treachery.

We've been invited along to assist with violence prevention and to provide an additional ship. It seems that the abandoned ship we left in Kraken's Cove hadn't been claimed after all these months, so we sailed down, laid our claim and brought her back to Sasserine for crewing and some patch-ups. Some of Dexter's carpenter friends came and changed the Sea Wyvern into the Bronze Dragon.

None of us are sailors so a full crew had to be hired.

Our captain is Amella Venaklie. She's a widow and former smuggler. Tough. No-nonsense. Dislikes gnomes. Our navigator is Urol Forol a gnome who has been trying desperately to get the Captain to like him. Urol is a naturalist and has a certain .... musky aroma about him. Neither that nor his attempts to get into her good books have changed the Captain's views. Others include our first mate Augustus Wendt, able seamen Lirith Veldirose, Lyle Underfoot, Skald and Jess Mobley as well as cabin boy Tavey Nesk. Tavey has already developed a fairly strong crush on Maggie.

In addition to ourselves we have ten passengers. The Warren family (Elsa, Arlis and daughter Brianna), the sisters Therese (tailor) and Beatrice (cook) Thoms, Father Feres a cleric of Darmon and a potter named Yelda are soon-to-be colonists.

We are also joined by nobleman Avner Meravanchi, his two servants Chisk and Asper and Avner's ego. There's also a war horse named Thunderstrike taking up space in the hold.

We set out from Sasserine under blue skies and steady winds.
Three days out the Nixie sent word that Lavinia wanted Captain Venaklie, Avner and the Silver Beetles to join her for dinner that evening. That evening the two ships pulled in close to one another and used a tether line to bring us across.

Dinner was an excellent affair all around. I was seated beside Lavinia. She was, if possible, even more radiant than usual.

I sat opposite Tolin from the Jade Ravens. He was amiable enough and we didn't exchange words.

Liamae sat on my other side. I have to admit that I was a bit concerned at first. I had been trying to avoid her since the bullywug affair. After Lorpth was defeated I offered her my cloak and got her upstairs. At the time she seemed a little too grateful for my comfort. I didn't want to take advantage so I kept myself away. Apparently she and Elyosha had an adventure of their own. The two snuck into the bullywug village and came across Lorpth alone in his hut. He was drunk and the two planned to spirit him back to Sasserine and justice when they were interrupted by Lorb Lorb Tub. Reading between the lines it seems that Tub wanted Lorpth's position and was willing to accept a challenge from Liamae on behalf of the drunk, unconscious, Lorpth. Liamae killed him easily and appointed Tub the new leader. One person's revenge is another frog's political assassination. Liamae was in excellent spirits and there was none of the awkwardness I was afraid of.

We also discovered that Keskus had found a new animal companion to take the place of his fallen badger. A dolphin; don't ask me for it's name.

Also of note was the fact that Avner was seated on the opposite end of the table from Lavinia. The captain of the Nixie was directly opposite her and Avner was to his right.

Dinner ended and we made our way back to the Dragon. Dexter took the rope first and went into the drink. The rope had been shot or rigged to fail. Then a mephit flew up into the air. I heard sounds of spell casting going on aboard the Dragon and so imbibed a potion to give me the wherewithal to make the jump between ships.

I landed on deck at the same time that a shark appeared in the water beside Dexter. I looked, but could see no sign of anyone casting or who had just cast, so I went below decks to investigate.

Nothing.

Elyosha dealt with the shark and the mephit didn't stand much of a chance. We either had a turncoat or a stowaway.

The next day we rounded up the most likely turncoats and placed them in Maggie's zone of truth. We did discover that Feres was a con man pretending to be a cleric of Darmon. Apparently things had gotten too hot for him and he was traveling incognito.

We couldn't find a turncoat.

I turned the ship upsidedown and found evidence of someone else living on board. The next day Maggie went through the ship with an invisibility purge and we found our stowaway. Rowyn Keilani. We took her alive and decided to place her in service aboard the ship in lieu of imprisonment.

A few days later we arrived in port and took on supplies,
While taking some shore leave Elyosha, Maggie and I heard a scream from a nearby alley. Investigating the scream we discovered a man being assaulted by what looked like halflings. Elyosha later identified them as Redcaps; evil fey so named because they dipped their hats in the blood of their victims. When they died the flesh quickly burned leaving behind nothing but one tooth. Elyosha has started a necklace with the three we defeated in the alley.

Volk was sent back to the ship to gather Dexter. Elyosha backtracked to the redcaps lair where we fought an older, more powerful redcap.

 

[Morrow]

A Note to Keskus (Garnham)

Sent via messenger to Keskus of the Jade Ravens.


Keskus,

We ran into a band of Red Caps outside one of the local taverns. We beat them off, but it was harder without cold iron weapons.
I don't know if this is a sign of things to come, but I'm picking up a few items while I can.

I don't know if the Raven's have any cold iron or desire it, but if you don't and do, there's a shop called Pyrites Cove three streets over from where the Nixie's docked.

Yours truly,

K. Garnham