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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3574793" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #8 – “Frog Chase!” (part 1 of 2) (1)Osilem, the 24th of Sek – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)A cascade of yellow powder blew out into the wind as Telémahkos emptied out each of the jars of shannis they had found in Kraken’s Cove.The Sea Wyvern moved listlessly across the corner of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Devil%27s+Grasp" target="_blank">Devil’s Grasp</a> heading towards the southern shore of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Black+Thread+Island" target="_blank">Black Thread Island</a> in the dead of night.  There was but a light wind, and Markos worked hard to get as much of it into the sails as possible, for it was not exactly most favorable to their course. Occasionally, he called over Telémahkos or Harliss to help.Down in the hold, Laarus awakened.“Is everyone okay?” the priest of Ra asked.“We’re all fine. Rise and shine!” Tim greeted him happily. “I’m still aching,” Tymon croaked from a nearby hammock.“We are alive, that means we are well enough,” Bleys said in his flat tone as he walked by, ducking to avoid the low rafters, to go up to the deck.  The watch-mage left Timotheus explaining to the priest what had happened.  Bleys looked around and saw Markos jubilant in his working the sails, as Telémahkos held the wheel. Harliss Javell was leaning over the back of the sloop and turned as she heard him, shooting him her usual smirk.  Bleys thought back on the conversation they’d had on the beach the day before, as they all waited for Markos to return from swimming down to the bottom of the cove in search of the shards of the black pearl.  Aided by a spell (2), he had held his breath for so long, it seemed he might never come back, but when he did it was with news that he had found at least some of them and they were no longer magical.   He did not go back for them.“Do you know of men called MacHaven, or Conduel?” Bleys the Aubergine had asked her, making the connection between the shannis found here and names they had gotten from Sir Quintus Gosprey. (3)Connduel she knew. He often came to Kraken’s Cove to buy goods and make arrangements for other trades, but had not been seen in a few weeks. MacHaven was Connduel’s toadie, but she only knew him by name.“And who was this Kilgante you mentioned? Some kind of chief?” Bleys asked.”Valeros Kilgante… He was the Cooper’s man, at least for now… From what I understand he had other offers…” Harliss replied.“Other offers? What do you mean?” Bleys asked.Harliss shrugged.  “The man was good with his sword from what I heard, though I never saw him use it,.The Steel Whipyour friend carries has its own reputation…” Harliss said. She gestured to the magical rapier Telémahkos now wore. “But like most men, he could be bought…”“What more can you tell me about the rapier?” Harliss had shrugged again. “Like I said, I never saw him use it.”  He asked her what she knew about a plot against House Wetherwax coming out of Kraken’s Cove.“A plot against House Wetherwax?  Why would they do that when House Wetherwax allows that place to exist as long as it can profit from it?” Harliss laughed.Bleys frowned.  “Tell me, how did you manage to trap that bestial lizard turned killer frog in that room behind the bookcase?”“Heh. It seemed that Leemo had pushed that case into place to save himself from the transformed sailors, but must have smashed open his fungi geranium in the process, because that was what killed him,” She explained. “I just happened to move it out of the way and was about to search the room for things I’d need for my raft trip, when I heard the bestial reptile turned frog approaching.  I was able to hide behind the bookcase and push it back into place when it entered, hoping it would kill off the fungi… Which I take it, it did…”“Do you have any idea what the potions Leemo had on him do?” Bleys asked.Harliss shrugged yet again.  “He was the official inspector of wild life and herbs, that included poisons and drugs.  Whatever the potion does, it is probably some kind of anti-toxin or restorative salve…”In the present, Bleys the Aubergine looked away and made his way to the prow still thinking on the little information he had gleaned from the smuggler.  She could not even tell him what the color or the name of the ship her first mate would using to reach Quillton with the bullywugs.  “We have a few possibilities hidden here and there, and no one person knows where they all are…” She had replied.Teflem, the 27th of Sek – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Within a few days boredom had set in.  The southern shallow bay of Black Thread Island passed them on the starboard side, looming over the green water with tall, forested hills, and the sloop turned north by northeast around the corner of the island and finally catching a good wind. But Markos did not seem to mind the time aboard ship. He had not spoken a single snarky word or started an argument, except for when he had to remind Timotheus for not the first time that there was not room on the boat for sparring.  It was clear that whether it be up in the mast, at the helm, or simply at the prow breathing in the briny air, Markos’ soul was set at ease when he was at sea.It was not so easy for the others, and down in the hold Bleys the Aubergine drew the leather-bound folios from his pack and started to examine them again.Laarus and Telémahkos were having a long and sometimes heated discussion near the front of the The Sea Wyvern, while Victoria and Markos discussed what their approach might be when they arrived at the Vanderboren manse.  “There’ll be a fight,” Timotheus said, walking past them.  “I am eager to get at it…” He continued to the stern of the sloop, sitting beside Harliss as he did for some time every day becoming increasingly familiar and flirty.  She played along in her own hard-edged way, but was clear in her attitude that under the present circumstances Tim had no chance.“Fine,” Laarus of Ra said to Telémahkos. “I will fetch Bleys and we shall discuss this deal with the pirate and murderess.” The priest of Ra was unhappy about the agreement to let her go once they were within easy reach of the Vanderborn manse.  He wanted to bring her to justice, as he had not made the same agreement as the others. He felt it should be discussed and made his way towards the entrance to the hold.[sblock]The sounds of merriment and laughter were swelling over lively music that danced over the golden glow of yellow paper lanterns in the darkness of evening.  He stood somewhere dark, and the light reached him from afar… The sounds just echoes on the water… He heard the creaking of timbers and looked up to see a ship docked nearby.  He read the first six letters on its name plate, T-h-e G-o-l…, but his attention was drawn to a diminutive figure appearing on the deck. “It worked for that weasel, might as well work now…” The child-like voice said as he saw it kick something.  A cask came bouncing down the gangplank and there was an explosion that sent liquid fire in all directions, lighting up the night.  Telémahkos’ flaming figure comes stumbling in his direction. He grasped at his melting face as his tortured voice moaned, “I told you we should not have followed your visions… We should have gone straight to the manor…”  There is time to deal with the treason later…”There was a second explosion behind him and went white… [/sblock]Suddenly, the priest doubled over and staggered to the edge of the boat, spitting up a stream of clear bile into the waters of the Wizard’s Sea.“Are you okay?” Victoria of Anhur hurried over to help him to his feet and check on him, while Timotheus Smith took it upon himself to get Bleys.  He went down into the dark hold and when his eyes adjusted he was taken aback.  There was Bleys, sitting atop the cask of whale oil, but he was surrounded in some kind of sepia-colored field of energy that shimmered and scintillated occasionally.  The watch-mage was motionless, holding open one of the unfolded maps from the folios found in Kraken’s Cove (4).  The other two folios were on his lap, also trapped in the field. Timotheus walked over and waved his hand in front of Bleys Winter’s face.  There was no reaction.  The warrior tried to touch the watch-mage, but the sepia-light hummed and shimmered and resisted him.“Uh. . . Everyone?  You better come down here and look at this…” He called up to the other members of the Charter of Schiereiland.“I though the Academy of Wizardry had certain minimum requirements for their student’s intelligence,” Markos said smugly.“What could have happened?” Victoria asked.“He did it to himself by opening the folio.  We knew it was warded somehow,” Markos’s amusement quickly turned to annoyance. “He’s a damn fool.”“Is there anything you can do to help him?  Can he breathe in there?” Victoria asked, concerned.“If it is the spell I think it is, he should be okay, but there will be nothing I can do about it,” Markos replied.“How long will it last?” Laarus asked.“Days… Perhaps even many days,” Markos said.  “Did I mention he was a fool?”“Perhaps there is some spell in Bleys’ book that you can use to free him…” Victoria suggested.“As much as I would like to use this as an excuse to look through Bley’s book, there would be no hope of finding the spell I would need to dispel this effect, and even if I did, I would be unable to cast it,” Markos explained with a weary tone.  He went back up on deck where Tymon had been left to watch over Harliss as she took the wheel.Victoria went up as well, and Timotheus followed, sighing, as Telémahkos was craning his neck seeing if he could get a view of the open map within the aura of sepia light.  The effect made the map impossible to read.“There is no need to discuss the Harliss issue at this point,” Laarus said to Telie.  “Well, with Bleys out of commission I am even less confident of our ability of defeating Harliss, and we know she isn’t going to go quietly if we try to bring her to the authorities,” Telémahkos replied.“It is not for that reason that I have changed my mind,” Laarus said. “I have reason to believe that the consequences of not going directly and seeking the authorities in Quillton would be not worth the risk.”“And what is that?” Telie asked, incredulously.“Your death…”“What?” Telémahkos’ mouth was suddenly dry.“I… I had a vision.  You were in it and immolated,” Laarus tried to explain.  “There was ship docked and someone exploded a cask of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Red+God+Fire" target="_blank">Red God Fire</a> and you were caught in the blast.  It was Quillton. It was very similar to the previous visions I had with the same cask, with the ‘Q’ branded into it.”“You have visions?” Telémahkos asked.“Yes, and they have always come true…”Ralem, the 1st of Ter  – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.) – Summer SolsticeAs shadows crept across the landscape of Black Thread Island to their left, the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland waiting atop the deck of the Sea Wyvern eagerly noted the lights of the approaching town of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Quillton" target="_blank">Quillton</a>. Their stomachs growled as they had gone part of the previous day and this entire one with no food, having run out of rations.“The manse has its own dock and is about six miles northwest of town,” Harliss explained as they drifted by the town.  The sounds and lights of some kind of festival reached them (5) as the sloop slipped quietly through the dark water, beyond the town’s large port and looming harbor fortress.  Earlier they had seen some fishing boats in the distance, and after a brief argument regarding approaching them, they decided against trying to buy some fish from them.“I just hope we don’t starve to death when we are defeated and have to flee into the woods,” Telémahkos had said.They were only two miles past Quillton when Harliss asked Markos to bring the sloop closer to the shore. “Ya shouldn’t be missing it from here, I’d gather…” she explained.  “And thus, this is where I get off…”“Are you sure you would not rather come with us and call off your first mate?” Markos asked.“Naw, you can do with him as you need to,” Harliss replied. “No way those wugs are going to back down, and Drevoraz doesn’t mean enough to me to risk crossing them…”Harliss Javell grabbed up her pack and heaved it with all her might towards the beach.  It splashed into the shallow water.“What? No kiss good-bye?” Timotheus smiled.“You’ll have to buy that kiss later,” Harliss winked.  “Good luck!”  She dove in the water, still in her studded leather and disappeared for a few moments, before appearing about twenty feet away and swimming strongly to the shore. Soon she disappeared into the gloom, taking long strong strides through the chest-high water.“She may be a pirate and a killer, but that’s some woman,” Timotheus said wistfully.  Laarus of Ra glared at him with disapproval. Timotheus gave him a wink.The sloop continued along the coast and soon enough they noticed a large manor house atop a manicured green hill.  Markos spotted the dock as everyone else looked out for any other nearby ships, but there were none.“Well… At least it is not ablaze…” Victoria said optimistically, but there was nothing obviously wrong at all.  They could see light in one window high up on a side facing them.“Let’s go get a closer look,” Timotheus said.“We need to bring Bleys!” Victoria said.  “What if someone comes back to the ship while we are otherwise occupied and steals it with him in it?”“We can’t carry him around with us,” Timotheus said.“We’ll cover him in a blanket and stash him in those bushes on the path up the house,” Telémahkos suggested.  The others agreed, and they did just that. The young nobles made their way up the winding path as quietly as they could, walking along the sides in the shadow of the tall firs that lined it.  When they came in view of the fifteen-foot tall stone wall that surrounded the building, Telémahkos was sent ahead to sneak around and see if he could get an idea of what was going on. “We should have announced ourselves,” Larrus Raymer of Ra said to the others. “It is not right that we should send someone to sneak on to the property…”“Laarus, there was no light at the gate house and no one atop the tower… Something is wrong,” Timotheus replied.“I do not like sneaking either,” Victoria said. “But sometimes sound tactics require effective reconnaissance.”Telémahkos snuck hurriedly across the grass, hugging the wall just east of the gate and craned his neck to see if there was anyone up there.  There was none he could see.  He crept along the wall and looked around the corner into the darkness, and then tied his climbing spikes to his boots, and strained as he pulled himself up to the top of the wall.  He leapt over and ducked down, and then made his way down the length of the wall back towards the gatehouse towers atop the narrow catwalk.  He looked out at the manor house. It was three stories tall, and all the windows on the front side were dark.  A gravel path wound its way from the gate across the manicured lawn to the door of the house.  There was a fountain and a garden at the far end of the property.  Telie leapt down the other side and darted to the corner of the house.  He crept along the wall and past a side door where he froze when dogs began to bark violently right on the other side of it.  Telémahkos waited a long moment, but while the dogs did not stop, nobody came.  He hurried past the side of the house and found another set of doors and a large tree growing penned in the far corner between the wall and the house.  There was light in an upper window on both the side and back of the house. He went back, climbing the wall again and making his way to his companions to explain what he had seen.“We should announce ourselves,” Laarus of Ra said again.  “If there is trouble afoot let whomever is there come out and we shall deal with them.”“Are you mad?” Markos’ face was contorted with disdain and disbelief.“I don’t know about you, but I am not eager to have every bullywugs and pirate in that house come out and attack us all at once,” Telémahkos said. “There is no shame in using stealth against greater numbers…”Soon, Telémahkos was back atop the wall, dropping a rope to make it easier for the others to make their way up, and once they were all crouched up there, he removed the rope as the others hung down and leapt into the grass.  Telie came down last.There was a quick debate about where to go next, and as heated whispered voices floated across the lawn, they were all silenced by the front door opening.  The light beyond door came streaming out, obscuring the details of the crouched silhouetted figure standing there.  Whoever or whatever it was, stuck a head out and looked around, but not noticing anything, closed the door again.The signers of the Charter of Schiereiland hurried along the shadow of the outer wall and then darted to the house gathering at its corner. Victoria winced with each hurried limp at the back of the group. The dogs began to bark again.  The party spread out along the front of the house and as Telémahkos crept towards the door it was yanked open again, and the froggy head of a bullywug stuck out and then took a step through the threshold.  It had an awkward springing step, and green and brown mottled hide, and a wide flat head and large moist eyes.  The bullywugs lacked the jagged teeth, the caustic tendrilled variety they had fought in the cove. It held a spear in its hands.  As it turned to look in their direction, Telémahkos rushed forward and thrust his rapier into its side, catching it unawares.   “Charge!” cried Timotheus as the wug croaked the alarm and Telémahkos dodged the thing’s spear thrust.  The broad-shouldered red-haired warrior slammed his flail against the thing’s ribs, and it croaked in pain again.  It ducked back into the manor as another came through the other half of the double doors, leaping high into the air to thrust its spear down on Tymon who was running to his master’s aid.  The portly young man leapt back crying out in fear. “Master Telémahkos!”Laarus called for Ra to grant him protection from chaos, as Markos moved up carefully crossbow in hand.  Victoria, who had been furthest away from the door, hobbled in the direction of the melee, still suffering from the knee injury she took in Kraken’s Cove (6).Telémahkos leapt to his left and fell into a roll, trying to startle the bullywugs into letting him past unmolested and get into a better position to flank the opponent, but the wug was too quick. (7)  Telie groaned as the spear punched into his chain shirt. He stumbled away, skulking in the shadow of the eaves away from the fight, clutching his side.Distracted by the developments, Timotheus barely had time to flick his flail to knock away the spear thrust to of a third bullywugs emerging from the house. He suffered a nasty scratch on the bridge of his nose, as it was. “Everyone move up!” Timotheus said in an even and commanding voice.  “Encircle and kill!”The veteran’s responding blow caught the wug full on in the face with such explosive force that the other bullywugs croaked in fear, and barely got out of the way when Timotheus risked a backhand swing at it.A bolt from Markos’ crossbow clattered across the melee as Tymon, long sword in hand, moved to help Timotheus flank the remaining wug.  The frog-man croaked in agony as the hireling’s sword sliced it deep in the side, sending it to the ground.  It hopped back to its feet with pained croaks, but overextended in its thrust and fell on its face once again. (8)Seeing his opportunity, Telémahkos leapt out of the shadows, and stabbed the prone bullywug through the neck. Green blood pooled around it.  He felt the warmth of Laarus’ curing spell, as the priest stepped in behind him to apply the divine healing.“I’m taking the runner! Follow me in!” Timotheus said, hurrying into the manor with his shield raised and his heavy flail at the ready.  Small lamps hung in sconces on the walls dimly lighted the foyer.  The black and gray-checkered marble floor bore a plush maroon carpet that was swollen with mucky water. The carpet led up three shallow steps that sub-divided the room, and lead to the slightly higher rear portion.  There were also two flanking wooden staircases that led up to a balcony on the second floor. Timotheus charged at the awkwardly fleeing bullywug, but it spun around and hopped away at the last moment.“Timotheus! Don’t get too far ahead,” Telémahkos called, as he and Tymon followed right behind Markos. The blonde noble stepped to one side, hoping to be out of view of any wugs in the perpendicular hallway leading out of the room on either side, or the recessed doors at the back of the chamber.The fleeing bullywug did not get far.  Tim’s heavy steps squished in the soaked rug as he used the force of his run to smash its skull.“I don’t see anymore for now,” he said, turning, but still vigilant.…to be continued…------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) This session was played on April 29, 2007.(2) The spell was <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Long+Breath" target="_blank">Long Breath</a>.(3) See Session #4(4) See Session #7(5) While the celebration of the Summer Solstice usually occurs during the day, it just so happens that the town of Quillton celebrates its founding on that same date with a festival that often goes late into the night.(6) Recovering speed lost to a critical hit requires full bed rest or a restorative spell.(7) In order to tumble through a threatened area at one-half speed as part of normal movement, provoking no attacks of opportunity while doing so, make a Tumble check. Opponents are allowed a base attack check modified by Dexterity against the Tumble check result to be allowed an attack of opportunity as normal. Check separately for each opponent you move past, in the order in which you pass them (tumbler’s choice of order in case of a tie). Each additional enemy after the first applies a -2 penalty to your Tumble check.(8) The bullywug fumbled, suffering the following result: Slip. Make Reflex check vs. DC 15 or fall prone.</blockquote>

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