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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6818343" data-attributes="member: 6801286">Fun with random tables, or how to have a great evening without preparing ANYTHINGI was a bit swamped with work this week, coding a game of my own design, and did not dedicate any time to actually preparing this week's session. Preparation normally takes a ton of work, and I just didn't feel like doing that this time. So I figured I'd wing it, and just improvise. I assumed that I would fill the evening with all the stuff the players wanted to do in downtime, and with my random tables... and that is exactly what I did. Meeting with Mwinji the SplendidThe players arrived on Abyscus, where they met the elder of the Kooghans, Mwinji the Splendid. We played out their meeting, where they discussed all the end of the world stuff, as well as the plans with uniting the pirate factions, buying a new ship, defeating Hydra, and a Kturgian pirate by the name of Karagoz. Buying a great ship turned out to be a bit of a problem, since it takes months to build one. So instead they discussed the idea that the players would take their small fleet of ships, and defeat Karagoz instead, and take his Great Ship. They would need to find him first of course, but he has been terrorizing the local waters and attacking the other pirates.Mwinji also told them more about the Circle of Azarah. This group of banished sorcerers and witches now support Hydra, and one of them is a Kooghan. Aram Seen the Unseen was a Kooghan who was banished from Abyscus for being cursed with an evil fate. He is one of the few of the Circle of Azarah who didn't really commit any atrocities to be deserved to be banished. But the Kooghans are highly religious, and his white hair was deemed a bad omen to the dark skinned Kooghans. Aram Seen the Unseen is a master of illusions and teleportation, which may explain why they haven't been able to discover the base of operations of the Circle of Azarah yet. The players also learned that another witch called Lady Yori, whom they killed early in the campaign, is actually a master of deception. So it is a fair bet that this oriental witch is still alive and kicking.Penny DreadfulWhile buying various provisions and new weapons, captain William decides that he should seek out another Kooghan pirate captain: Penny Dreadful. This female pirate captain may know more about the Kturgian pirate Karagoz, since she was one of the few to outrun his ship. However, this woman was known to be rather rough, and into 'wrestling' to meet with new comers. What the players were not ready for however, was that she would start a massive bar fight with their captain almost immediately, to test his strength. The both of them ended up completely trashing the place, much to the entertainment of the players (wielding bar stools as weapons is awesome). By the end of the fight, Penny Dreadful was out cold, the bar had been evacuated, and now looked like a war zone. "Is this what you call diplomacy?" -Amaziah asked.Back to Witchclaw[ATTACH]74093[/ATTACH]While all this fighting takes place, Shifter and Bioran take one of the ships to make a short trip to the island of Witchclaw, where the Speakers of the Dead live. Sitaara joins them, and she also brings Chantal Delcourt with them, who is the young assistant who joined the wizard Aldric, who also traveled with them to Abyscus. Sitaara knows that Chantal has secretly been practicing higher level magic, while Aldric still thinks his innocent assistant can only cast cantrips. Sitaara obviously has her own dark agenda, and sees an opportunity to influence Chantal. Sitaara's excuse however, is that Chantal was already interested, and she simply obliged in her curiosity. Shortly after leaving Abyscus, Bioran and Shifter are witness to another crashing meteor barely missing their ship on the way there (a random encounter) and decide to mark the location, so they can dive for it later.They enter the harbor of Witchclaw, and once again witness the undead trapped in cages in the harbor, as a warning to enemies of the Speakers of the Dead. This is a set up for what would follow later....ShoppingBioran and Shifter shop around a bit at the local magic store on Witchclaw. They know  the store sells both useful items, and dangerous cursed items. They  happen to sell an item called a Memory Orb, which is an orb in which you  can permanently store a memory. This allows you to show the memory to  others, but if the orb ever breaks, the memory is lost forever. The lady  at the store says they sell 3. They used to have 4, but they've only  had one customer for them: A lady who came in, bought an orb,  immediately used it, and smashed the orb. The players discuss the danger  of such an item. It is great for getting rid of unpleasant memories  perhaps (as this lady probably did), or for hiding dangerous secrets...  but it is a huge risk. They try to ask the lady of the store about the  identity of the customer, but they fail their check and are unable to  obtain that information from her. It is against store policy to violate  the privacy of their clients.The CrystalAfter some shopping and crafting, they set out to have a Lesser True Death Crystal  made for them, which would allow them to upgrade a weapon with extra  damage to undead, and also make the weapon Ghosttouch. I decided to  attach a short expedition to this item (might as well make it an  interesting encounter). They are told that they must travel to the Tower of Necrosis, on the unexplored west side of the island. The area outside the main city of Ravenheart is called the Garden of the Dead,  and is a wild unexplored forest full of ghosts and undead. The tower is  located offshore, but can be accessed by foot as the tides lower.Journey to the tower of NecrosisThey must first trek a bit across the Garden of the Dead, where they discover an abandoned old magical altar to the God of Death. I made a secret roll to see if it was guarded by ghosts, but it wasn't. They memorized the location of the altar, and continued towards the western coast of the island. The tide was low, only knee high. Surrounding them was a vast graveyard of shipwrecks, all haunted. They silently made their way across to the tower.The tower is a frightful sight. It is decorated with a crown of large statues near the top, facing in all directions with outstretched arms that hold cages. In the cages are people that have been cursed with unlife; they have deliberately been turned into undead to punish them for all eternity. This is a sight similar to what they saw in the harbor of Ravenheart, but it would seem that the undead are created at this tower. Inside the tower they meet with Skua Fleshweaver, whose ominous name already made my players quiver. They also notice countless copper plates on the walls of the tower with the shapes of people in them. They seem like coffins in which undead are imprisoned.Bioran is curious regarding anything involving magic, and thus eager to see the process of creating the magic item.... he would soon regret his curiosity. Shifter also has some questions regarding alchemy.... But the Skua can see that he is good at heart, and says: "We'll see if you still feel the same after we make the crystal."They are taken to the third floor of the tower via a magical winding stairs (which instantly takes them to the top). The Skua asks Bioran if he has any moral preference, or preference of color, to which he answers no. To their horror they then witness how a screaming prisoner is brought in, whose heart is then removed by a gigantic machine, and transformed into the gem before their eyes. They already knew the Speakers of the Dead were evil, but this just confirmed it. The Skua informs Bioran that the person they used only committed a light crime, such as looking at a Skua the wrong way. Their crimes and gender affect the color of the crystal.Bioran and the Skua discuss the Circle of Azarah briefly, and Sharokina Pitchwater, a Speaker of the Dead who was banished from Witchclaw and robbed of her Skua title. She explains that necromancy is not considered a crime on Witchclaw, unless a Speaker of the Dead uses it against one of her own race, which is what Sharokina did.Now that they know how these crystals are made, they have to seriously consider the moral consequences, and whether they want to buy more crystals. They agree not to tell the rest of the crew or their captain of what just transpired.Skua Fleshweaver: "Did you still have alchemy questions?"Shifter: "I think I'll pass..."Shifter: "Maybe we should buy one of those Memory Orbs now..."Bioran: "-And smash it. I do not want to remember this."</blockquote>

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