Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
It’s another perfect day in Paradise.
The sun is the ideal temperature, just a little warm, but balanced by a cool wind that smells like hope itself. The sweet-smelling flower petals are lifted by the breeze and cascade across the meadow, landing on the turned earth of three freshly-dug graves. Fruit trees, heavy with divine fruit, provide shade and nourishment. The dark blue lake by the waterfall is cool, deep, inviting, and empty.
In this tiny fragment of heaven, voices can only be heard from the bower atop the low hill. There, thunder ripples over the chanting and prayers, and pure light streams out from somewhere within. For a few seconds, the observers are deafened by the voices of angels.
And Agar rises from the dead.
Later, once Velendo has wiped the sweat from his brow and Agar has had a chance to reacquaint himself with life, the Defenders sit around and plan. They heal, discuss what they did wrong, suggest what to do next, examine the belongings of the deceased ruffians, and talk tactics. The general consensus is that they should return with a wind walk active, fly to the Temple, and use it as their base as they scry and discern location on Brindle and his “allies.”
The items which they recovered from their foes are examined by Nolin. Several of their tattoos were psionic, crawling off the dead flesh and onto TomTom’s arm as he exerts his will on them. The most interesting object is the trident, which speaks in Nolin’s mind. “You are weak. I wish to be wielded by the creature that destroyed my former wielder. He is strong. He can destroy.” It is soon revealed to live for destruction and shattering, and the paladins confirm that it is intrinsically evil. The group gives it a taste of its own medicine and sunders its shaft, leaving the weapon head until later. As a further taunt, Aleax the sword lays on hilt upon itself, and the bent blade straightens. It’s clear that the two weapons strongly dislike one another.
Nolin and TomTom also examine an intelligent rock. “Please help!” it pleads. “I think I’m dying! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be alone. Don’t let go of me; I can’t sense people any more, and I’m scared.” It turns out to be the dwarven psion’s psicrystal, and the group watches sadly as the pathetic stone slowly dwindles away, its interior light fading along with its personality and intelligence. “Oh well,” quips Tao. “Anyone want a gem?” Everyone gives her a dirty look.
Finally, after a night’s rest, the group is ready to go back to Eversink. They pluck or eat all the sacred fruit from the trees, leaving only a single orange. Everyone but Tao shifts into wind walk, and Tao plucks down the last fruit.
The world dissolves, and the group feels themselves being ripped apart by wind. A storm is raging, rain pelting down and a strong breeze blowing in off of Mistrinith, the inland sea. Tao has on her slippers of water walking but has trouble maintaining her balance on the rough waves. Still, it isn’t hard for her to see the ship anchored nearby. Its sails are lowered in the rough weather and it is anchored, but it is flying the colors of House Meridian. Agar can pick out a figure standing on its bowdeck, staring out into the tossing ocean, wet blond hair whipping back in the wind to reveal storm-colored eyes: Shara. Quickly, the group wind walks over to her, and comes inside. Delightfully, not only is Shara there, but Kiri came with her.
Ordering the Captain to return to the docks, Shara explains. “Raevynn visited me yesterday. She told me what happened, and explained that she has had a druidic summons at the worst possible time. She wanted me to help you since she couldn’t. And luckily, Kiri is in town as well. So with directions from Raevynn, we thought we’d come meet you.” It’s hard to have a proper reunion on the small, tossing ship, but they do what they can.
Taking a small longboat to shore, the group ducks out of the driving rain into the offices of a building that House Meridian owns. Shara commandeers the interior office (and demands mulled wine and pastries), and the Defenders add Kiri and Shara into their strategy. Nolin leaves to report the attack to the Dock Guard. Finding the guard alone, he decides to charm person him. His new friend explains that the Defenders must have fought a group known as The Dockside Royals. They’re the most powerful gang down on the docks, responsible for making sure that the other gangs and miscreants stay in line. The guard doesn’t think that they work for a specific house, although he knows that they’re a thorn in the side of House Clearwater. He’s clearly afraid of them and the power they wield, even though “they’re all a bunch of cruel, ex-pirate or ex-mercenary scum. You’re best off avoiding them, my friend. They mean bad news.” Nolin confirms that the guard isn’t bribed by them, and asks the man to file a report that the Dockside Royals were involved in two attacks upon the Defenders, and that the Defenders are requesting assistance from the city. “Do you want me to come with you, Sir?” asks the charmed guard gamely. “No,” answers Nolin. “You need to do your duty, and right now your duty is here.”
Returning to the group, Nolin recounts what happens and says that the paperwork should be filed for “letting us kick these bastards’ asses.” Velendo is appalled by the charm spell, but Kiri explains that it isn’t uncommon for guards to wander around with that special daze that you only get from having three or more charm spells cast on you at once. Hearing that, Velendo worries a bit less, and he can’t deny that Nolin was efficient.
Shara casts scry and looks for Brindle. She sees a dimly lit cabin on a ship. The cabin is empty except for a cage with two seagulls. An empty hammock swings back and forth, papers sit on a desk, a ship in a bottle sits on a shelf… very nice, but where is Brindle? Probably polymorphed into a seagull, they decide, especially when a detect magic cast through the scrying mirror shows that the seagulls are radiating alteration magic. The ship in a bottle is also highly magical, radiating primarily alteration magic as well.
Shara then casts scry, looking for the minotaur that the group had fought the day before. She finds him, gathered in a small stone room with a number of other people and (oddly enough) the sound of a crying baby. Almost instantly, though, one of them shouts out, “Silence! We’re being watched!” Then Shara feels a mind forcing itself back through the scrying link. She resists it, but it breaks through, and Shara realizes that her scry is now showing all of the Defenders to their enemy! Shaken, she drops the spell, and the Defenders scramble in a near panic out of the office back into the rain. Within minutes, they all have successfully wind walked or teleported to the Temple of Calphas.
Inside the temple, Velendo casts Discern Location on the minotaur. He learns that the creature is “in the passage of the Smugglers Tunnels, below Pillar Island, here in Eversink.” One more scry (via a scroll) reveals the location and shows five people standing in a tunnel, even though (once again) someone with tremendous strength of will mentally forces their way back through the link, revealing the Defenders’ position. The second scry is dropped, and Tao and Kiri prepared to teleport everyone in. “What did you see?” TomTom asks.
Shara answers, “Five people with their back to a wall, including a bullywug, a half-orc, a minotaur, a sea elf and a kobold. Odd group. Errr….” Her voice trails off. “I could have sworn the half-orc and the bullywug were holding hands.”
The group exchanges glances. “Reincarnation of that female half-orc?” someone asks. “No,” someone else answers. “Needs the bodies, and we took them.” Mystified, the group casts their preparatory spells and then touches either Tao or Shara. With a disorienting jolt and a slight splash, the familiar conference room is replaced by a dank tunnel. Four inches or so of water cover the floor, and the walls make this look like it was once a hallway in someone’s home, long since sunk beneath the mud. All all the Defenders of Daybreak, only Sir Malachite is not invisible.
Down the tunnel, illuminated by torches, nine people are standing in tight formation. In the front row is a bullywug, a male half-orc, and a sea elf. In the second row is a human male (the doppelganger), another sea elf, and an older human woman. And in the last row is a halfling, the minotaur, and the kobold. “Decided to return, have you?” needles the doppelganger with a smirk. “We were getting tired of waiting for you.”
Then the sound of a crying baby splits the air, and the Defenders realize with a shock that three of the mercenary pirates in front of them have babies strapped to their chests: small, pink wiggling armor, and presumably a defense against area attack spells!
"Babies?" sputters an outraged Velendo. And the battle begins.
To be continued….
The sun is the ideal temperature, just a little warm, but balanced by a cool wind that smells like hope itself. The sweet-smelling flower petals are lifted by the breeze and cascade across the meadow, landing on the turned earth of three freshly-dug graves. Fruit trees, heavy with divine fruit, provide shade and nourishment. The dark blue lake by the waterfall is cool, deep, inviting, and empty.
In this tiny fragment of heaven, voices can only be heard from the bower atop the low hill. There, thunder ripples over the chanting and prayers, and pure light streams out from somewhere within. For a few seconds, the observers are deafened by the voices of angels.
And Agar rises from the dead.
Later, once Velendo has wiped the sweat from his brow and Agar has had a chance to reacquaint himself with life, the Defenders sit around and plan. They heal, discuss what they did wrong, suggest what to do next, examine the belongings of the deceased ruffians, and talk tactics. The general consensus is that they should return with a wind walk active, fly to the Temple, and use it as their base as they scry and discern location on Brindle and his “allies.”
The items which they recovered from their foes are examined by Nolin. Several of their tattoos were psionic, crawling off the dead flesh and onto TomTom’s arm as he exerts his will on them. The most interesting object is the trident, which speaks in Nolin’s mind. “You are weak. I wish to be wielded by the creature that destroyed my former wielder. He is strong. He can destroy.” It is soon revealed to live for destruction and shattering, and the paladins confirm that it is intrinsically evil. The group gives it a taste of its own medicine and sunders its shaft, leaving the weapon head until later. As a further taunt, Aleax the sword lays on hilt upon itself, and the bent blade straightens. It’s clear that the two weapons strongly dislike one another.
Nolin and TomTom also examine an intelligent rock. “Please help!” it pleads. “I think I’m dying! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be alone. Don’t let go of me; I can’t sense people any more, and I’m scared.” It turns out to be the dwarven psion’s psicrystal, and the group watches sadly as the pathetic stone slowly dwindles away, its interior light fading along with its personality and intelligence. “Oh well,” quips Tao. “Anyone want a gem?” Everyone gives her a dirty look.
Finally, after a night’s rest, the group is ready to go back to Eversink. They pluck or eat all the sacred fruit from the trees, leaving only a single orange. Everyone but Tao shifts into wind walk, and Tao plucks down the last fruit.
The world dissolves, and the group feels themselves being ripped apart by wind. A storm is raging, rain pelting down and a strong breeze blowing in off of Mistrinith, the inland sea. Tao has on her slippers of water walking but has trouble maintaining her balance on the rough waves. Still, it isn’t hard for her to see the ship anchored nearby. Its sails are lowered in the rough weather and it is anchored, but it is flying the colors of House Meridian. Agar can pick out a figure standing on its bowdeck, staring out into the tossing ocean, wet blond hair whipping back in the wind to reveal storm-colored eyes: Shara. Quickly, the group wind walks over to her, and comes inside. Delightfully, not only is Shara there, but Kiri came with her.
Ordering the Captain to return to the docks, Shara explains. “Raevynn visited me yesterday. She told me what happened, and explained that she has had a druidic summons at the worst possible time. She wanted me to help you since she couldn’t. And luckily, Kiri is in town as well. So with directions from Raevynn, we thought we’d come meet you.” It’s hard to have a proper reunion on the small, tossing ship, but they do what they can.
Taking a small longboat to shore, the group ducks out of the driving rain into the offices of a building that House Meridian owns. Shara commandeers the interior office (and demands mulled wine and pastries), and the Defenders add Kiri and Shara into their strategy. Nolin leaves to report the attack to the Dock Guard. Finding the guard alone, he decides to charm person him. His new friend explains that the Defenders must have fought a group known as The Dockside Royals. They’re the most powerful gang down on the docks, responsible for making sure that the other gangs and miscreants stay in line. The guard doesn’t think that they work for a specific house, although he knows that they’re a thorn in the side of House Clearwater. He’s clearly afraid of them and the power they wield, even though “they’re all a bunch of cruel, ex-pirate or ex-mercenary scum. You’re best off avoiding them, my friend. They mean bad news.” Nolin confirms that the guard isn’t bribed by them, and asks the man to file a report that the Dockside Royals were involved in two attacks upon the Defenders, and that the Defenders are requesting assistance from the city. “Do you want me to come with you, Sir?” asks the charmed guard gamely. “No,” answers Nolin. “You need to do your duty, and right now your duty is here.”
Returning to the group, Nolin recounts what happens and says that the paperwork should be filed for “letting us kick these bastards’ asses.” Velendo is appalled by the charm spell, but Kiri explains that it isn’t uncommon for guards to wander around with that special daze that you only get from having three or more charm spells cast on you at once. Hearing that, Velendo worries a bit less, and he can’t deny that Nolin was efficient.
Shara casts scry and looks for Brindle. She sees a dimly lit cabin on a ship. The cabin is empty except for a cage with two seagulls. An empty hammock swings back and forth, papers sit on a desk, a ship in a bottle sits on a shelf… very nice, but where is Brindle? Probably polymorphed into a seagull, they decide, especially when a detect magic cast through the scrying mirror shows that the seagulls are radiating alteration magic. The ship in a bottle is also highly magical, radiating primarily alteration magic as well.
Shara then casts scry, looking for the minotaur that the group had fought the day before. She finds him, gathered in a small stone room with a number of other people and (oddly enough) the sound of a crying baby. Almost instantly, though, one of them shouts out, “Silence! We’re being watched!” Then Shara feels a mind forcing itself back through the scrying link. She resists it, but it breaks through, and Shara realizes that her scry is now showing all of the Defenders to their enemy! Shaken, she drops the spell, and the Defenders scramble in a near panic out of the office back into the rain. Within minutes, they all have successfully wind walked or teleported to the Temple of Calphas.
Inside the temple, Velendo casts Discern Location on the minotaur. He learns that the creature is “in the passage of the Smugglers Tunnels, below Pillar Island, here in Eversink.” One more scry (via a scroll) reveals the location and shows five people standing in a tunnel, even though (once again) someone with tremendous strength of will mentally forces their way back through the link, revealing the Defenders’ position. The second scry is dropped, and Tao and Kiri prepared to teleport everyone in. “What did you see?” TomTom asks.
Shara answers, “Five people with their back to a wall, including a bullywug, a half-orc, a minotaur, a sea elf and a kobold. Odd group. Errr….” Her voice trails off. “I could have sworn the half-orc and the bullywug were holding hands.”
The group exchanges glances. “Reincarnation of that female half-orc?” someone asks. “No,” someone else answers. “Needs the bodies, and we took them.” Mystified, the group casts their preparatory spells and then touches either Tao or Shara. With a disorienting jolt and a slight splash, the familiar conference room is replaced by a dank tunnel. Four inches or so of water cover the floor, and the walls make this look like it was once a hallway in someone’s home, long since sunk beneath the mud. All all the Defenders of Daybreak, only Sir Malachite is not invisible.
Down the tunnel, illuminated by torches, nine people are standing in tight formation. In the front row is a bullywug, a male half-orc, and a sea elf. In the second row is a human male (the doppelganger), another sea elf, and an older human woman. And in the last row is a halfling, the minotaur, and the kobold. “Decided to return, have you?” needles the doppelganger with a smirk. “We were getting tired of waiting for you.”
Then the sound of a crying baby splits the air, and the Defenders realize with a shock that three of the mercenary pirates in front of them have babies strapped to their chests: small, pink wiggling armor, and presumably a defense against area attack spells!
"Babies?" sputters an outraged Velendo. And the battle begins.
To be continued….
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