Seule's IC Freeport Storyhour (01/26/03)

[Seule]

We play in theory every week, in practice maybe 3 out of 4 weeks. I've had to change some things around because the characters are in the watch. For instance, anywhere that the adventurers are expected to interact with the watch needed to be rewritten extensively.
The players seem to be having fun, I've been playing with most of this group for years now.
Mostly, I'm interested in what people think of the format. So far I have been posting only submissions from one player, written as letters to her character's father. Unfortunately, that player just got a full-time job, and the submissions have gotten sparser. Also, there are some details she leaves out on purpose. For instance, in the first posted session, she mentions that they went undercover, but not that she was impersonating a prostitute (very badly), so as not to shock her father. I'm wondering if I should be appending my views on the sessions to the messages, to try to clarify some things. On the other hand, most storyhours are written from the omniscient view, I thought that a character's view on a game might be refreshing.

--Seule

 

[Willtell]

Appending your views where they can help the reader get a better idea of the characters character could be one way to go.

That fact >> in the first posted session, she mentions that they went undercover, but not that she was impersonating a prostitute (very badly), so as not to shock her father << is interesting and helps the reader get a better idea of the character.

Another way of doing this could be to occasionally have another characters point.

 

[Seule]

Spoilers: Deus Ex Machina

The player who was writing session reports as letter to her dad has gotten a fulltime job, and has stopped. More recently, another player (Constable Benton Fraser) has started writing reports to the Captain, and I'll post them here.
Not posted: The end of Terror in Freeport, and Holiday in the Sun. The PCs are still together, basically unchanged. We start again with the report on the module Deus Ex Machina from the Green Ronin website.


Incident Report 3690
The Case of the Missing Holy Symbols

We were on routine patrol when we detected a female scream coming from a nearby alley and we immediately went to investigate. The woman said that she had just been robbed and as we looked around we noticed the perpetrator (here after called the perp) scaling the wall. It was quickly discovered that he had just stolen Constable Endrin’s Holy Symbol and we gave chase. The perp (a Halfling no doubt working for Finn) was chased onto the roof and subsequently into the old Church of Retribution. Constable Endrin, being a Priest of Retribution gave us permission to enter the old Church and so we did. Myself and my partner, Constable Lyran, guarded the exit to the old Church while the rest of the team went to fetch backup. After returning with Constable Fenaik we all entered the old Church in search of the perp.
We discovered some strange fungus along with the body of a missing Priest of Retribution who was identified by Constable Endrin. Further investigation revealed the presence of another missing Priest of Retribution who was being held prisoner and tormented. We released the prisoner and sent him for further reinforcements from the Church of Retribution.
We came upon a strange ape-like beast locked in a room and we left it as such. We further were assaulted by the Halfling perp who we quickly subdued. We commenced to interrogate the perp where in both Constable Fenaik and Constable Endrin used undue force and struck the perp. I feel that both Constable’s should be disciplined for their use of excessive force. After manacling the perp we found and proceeded to descend a set of stairs we had discovered.
On the ground floor we soon discovered that the original front door to the Church was bricked up and we also discovered a complex maze. We easily traversed the maze and discovered a secret door in the bottom of a pit. Upon entering this door we were assaulted by a human and a gnome who seemed to possess some mental abilities as they made two of the candle stands mobile and proceeded to attack us. Further there was a strange man just completing some type of ceremony which brought to life a large statue made of all the stolen Holy Symbols.
After dispatching the human and the gnome and watching the strange man disappear using some psychic power we set out to stop the Holy Symbol Golem. We quickly discovered that we could not affect the monstrosity and it proceeded to almost kill Constable Fenaik. Only due to the heroic efforts of Constable Noewyn were we able to retreat and trap the Golem until reinforcements from the Church of Retribution arrived and both healed Constable Fenaik and destroyed the Holy Symbol Golem. Upon returning for our original perp we found that he had slipped his bonds and escaped. I would recommend questioning Finn as I am sure the perp was one of his men.
In closing I would like to recommend Constable Nowenn for a Medal of Bravery for her efforts in holding off the Golem while we rescued Constable Fenaik and escaped.
This hereby ends this incident report. The file will be left open until such time as the original perp is apprehended and/or the mysterious psychic man behind the operation.

Constable Benton Fraser

 

[Seule]

Spoilers: Madness in Freeport

Case 3266
The Case of the Jade Snake Statue, part 1

It all started when the team was invited to a pre-lighthouse party to receive the Medal of Drac for our role in rooting out Ex-Councilor Verlaine and his Temple of the Yellow Sign. A few hours into the party a strange man walked into the ballroom and made a cryptic announcement about the Cult of the Yellow Sign and that they would strike soon and be unstoppable and that the only thing that could hope to defeat their plan was a jade snake statue of the ancient God of the Snakepeople.
After changing into work clothes we immediately went to the Temple of Knowledge where we discerned that this jade statue did indeed exist but was lost under the sea many centuries ago. Further research revealed that the old pirate Black Dog had found this old temple of the Snake people some fifty years ago and had buried his old treasure in the same underground cove. Black Dog being dead we tracked down an old shipmate of his by the name of Gareth. After we agreed to pay his doctor’s bills (in the amount of 250 gp) he told us how to find this old temple.
Realizing we needed a longboat to reach the old temple of the Snakepeople we enlisted the aid of Bedwyn, the nephew of Sister Gwendolyn of the Temple of the Sea God. Bedwyn accompanied us to the snake temple site and at low tide a cave was revealed and we rowed our boat inside. We were surprised to come upon some rapids and were caught off guard and myself, my partner Constable Lyran, Constable Endrin and Constable Noewyn were thrown from the boat. We were eventually flushed out into a calm underground lake of sorts where I and my partner proceeded to swim to shore. Constable Endrin and Constable Noewyn were not so fortunate. Constable Endrin, being loaded down in heavy armor sank to the bottom and Constable Noewyn was attacked by a strange turtle-like creature. Constable Fenaik, with no thought to his own safety dove into the water and used his psychic abilities to assist Constable Endrin to the boat. Constable Noewyn was dragged to the middle of the lake and was bleeding badly. The boat was rowed out to Constable Noewyn and after a valiant struggle with the turtle creature all Constables were brought on board the boat a little worse for wear. Luckily Bedwyn had brought a generous donation of some healing potions from the Temple of the Sea God and all Constables were brought back to health.
Once on shore we found signs of an old battle and one shiny cutlass sticking out of the sand. When we examined the cutlass an undead creature, a spectre of battles past, reached out his cold hand of death for us. The quick thinking and strong faith of Constable Endrin (who is a priest in good standing of the God of Retribution) banished the undead creature back to the grave from which it spawned and we took a quick breather before we moved on.

I would like to take this opportunity to recommend Constable Fenaik for a special Medal of Valor. With no thought to his own safety he dove into the water to save both Constable Endrin and Constable Noewyn who no doubt would have perished without his assistance.

 

[Seule]

Spoilers: Madness in Freeport

Case 3266 Part 2 Case of the Jade Statue

After Constable Endrin banished the undead creature I took the cutlass from the sand. It appeared quite valuable and I did not want anyone to steal it so I took it into protective custody until its owner could be found. Finding nothing else on the beach we boarded the boat again and went down another water passage.
We came to a primitive shrine to the God of the Sea which we surmised was very old, so I made a small offering hoping to invoke calm waters for our continuing water journey.
Down another water passage we discovered another beach, however there were several bodies impaled on spears and so we examined the beach with caution. After careful probing of the sand we discovered all the spear traps and disarmed them. I then decided to use the cutlass I had in protective custody to try to locate the jade statue we had been sent to look for. I had hoped that perhaps it contained some latent magical powers but alas no jade statue was found. It was at this point that the sight of the very valuable cutlass caused a kind of greed-lust in both Constable Fenaik and Constable Endrin and they both demanded I turn over the cutlass to them. Well, I had encountered their unique form of insanity before when we previously encountered a group of Snakemen who worshiped the Cult of the Yellow Sign (see previous reports) and recognizing the same wild-eyed look of them now, refused to give them the cutlass. It was then that Constable Endrin started to cast magic at me, trying to force me to give him the cutlass. I warned him several times to stop and when he continued I was forced to strike him with the flat of the cutlass blade and break his concentration. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough and his magic had paralyzed me. It was then that the rest of the team fell to bickering over who should keep the valuable cutlass (all having succumb to the greed-lust to which they were unfortunately prone) and in their pulling at the cutlass it fell into the water. Once I was freed from the paralyzing magic I was threatened with bodily harm by both Constable Fenaik and Constable Noewyn. I attempted to retrieve the cutlass and take it back into protective custody when my own partner Constable Lyran attempted to stop me. Realizing that being a psion and being able to remember the spot the cutlass fell into the water, she only wanted to steal the cutlass at a later time so I gently moved her aside and retrieved the cutlass myself putting it back into protective custody. It was at this time that the team came to their senses and stopped trying to steal the cutlass. I feel that perhaps my earlier donation at the Sea Shrine was having some effect.
We discovered a secret room where the pirate Black Dog had hidden his horde of treasure, the problem was that Black Dog was an undead guarding it. After Constable Endrin failed to banish Black Dog we decided to simply ask him for the jade statue we were looking for assuring him we had no interest in the rest of his gold. BlackDog explained that he did not have the statue but if we promised never to come back he would tell us of a snake door behind which the jade statue certainly was. We quickly made the promise and were off to find this snake door.
With Black Dog’s directions we easily found the snake door and after several failed attempts to open it by the rest of the team (each of them getting sprayed by some sort of poison) Constable Ving steeled herself and managed to overcome the mental trap on the door and open it. We found a room with a large snake statue of the ancient serpent god Yig as well as a watery set of stairs going down. After swimming down the stairs we came into an air-filled room where we met Alisstar, an ancient and cursed serpent servant of Yig. He told us that if we retrieved 4 holy relics of Yig, he would give us the jade statue we sought. We quickly agreed to retrieve the Amulet of the Serpent, Fangs of the Serpent, Venom of the Serpent and Scales of the Serpent.
Constable Fenaik had earlier spotted an amulet that matched the description of the one we sought and quickly retrieved it for Alisstar. We continued further down into the ancient temple of Yig to find the other 3 relics. We came upon Vrosh, the snakeman weapons master of Yig and discovered he wore the Scales of the Serpent, which is a suit of armor. Constable Ving remembered that their was a weakness in the Scales of the Serpent and so the rest of the team aimed for the hollow spot in Vrosh's armor and subdued him and recovered the second of the relics. Next we discovered 2 wounded snake men who requested that we end their suffering and they would give us a healing salve. Normally I would never condone even a mercy killing but having seen their suffering I was moved to end it and so we did. We collected our healing salve and as the hour was quite late we decided to rest and continue down further into the old temple in the morning.

I would like to end this report by stating that I feel that all the other members of my team be screened for possible mental defects, especially Constable’s Fenaik and Endrin as this is the second time they have become physically violent with me. I would also like to recommend Constable Ving for a special commendation for her discovering both the secret chamber to Black Dog and remembering the weakness in the Scales of the Serpent. Without her knowledge this mission would have surely been doomed to failure.

Constable Benton Fraser
Freeport Special Watch


DM's Notes: Benton Fraser is currently cursed to be very protective of the saber. He attacked Endrin and criticalled for high teens damage, and was being very unreasonable. This is the second or third time he's been curced or paranoid, and the others are beginning to expect it. His Will save of +0 at 4th level doesn't help. Basically, everything he says about the others regarding the sword or their actions relating to it are pretty inaccurate, he having claimed it for himself, and refuses to give it up.

 

[Seule]

Spoilers: Madness in Freeport

Case 3266 Part 3 The Case of the Jade Statue

After standing watch for the night (to keep the sword away from those thieving bastards) we continued down into the depths of the snake temple. Constable Endrin again held the undead creature guarding the stairs at bay and Constable Noewyn feebly attempted to slay the creature but it took myself and my new gleaming cutlass to end the foul creatures existence. After this I really noticed the other Constables eying my new cutlass, especially that conniving Constable Lyran, my so-called partner. She went invisible and I could just feel her eyes burning into my cutlass and feel her lust for my weapon.
Once downstairs we discovered a spiked shut room with a quite insane snake man named Sseth. He promised to help us if we entered the room to talk to him but we politely declined. Further on we found two apprentices of Alisstar by the names of Arness and Hursst who both promised us much treasure if we would kill the other. They both seemed to think that the other was to blame for the cataclysm that befell the snake people all those many years ago. Again we politely declined.
We found Allisstar’s room and his journal which explained much of what happened to the temple to put it in its current state. It was at this time, while I was momentarily distracted by the journal that Constable Lyran, the sneaky bitch that she is, decided to show herself and try to steal my cutlass. Well I would not take anymore of this and passed a quick sentence of death on her and proceeded to carry out my sentence. At this time the other backstabbing Constables joined the fray and also pawed their greedy hands at my cutlass. While fending them off Constable Endrin cast some type spell on me and suddenly I realized that that filthy cutlass was controlling me and making me do all those awful things to my friends and partner. I quickly came to my senses and cast the demon spawned cutlass into the corner.
I would like to take this time to formally apologize to my fellow Constables and especially my partner Constable Lyran. Most of my previous report was drastically skewed by the influence of the cutlass and should be treated as such. I will finish the reports on this case and then would like to formally offer my resignation from the Watch and turn myself in for the attempted murder of both Constable Endrin and Constable Lyran.
Once I regained my senses we continued down another set of stairs and encountered a statue of the ancient snake god yig. We discovered that if we covered the eyes on the statue the light emanating from them was shaded and a door at the end of the hallway opened. We discovered a giant undead snake in the chamber and after slaying it took its fangs which turned out to be one of the artifacts we were looking for.
Having exhausted all leads we returned to Sseth and went into his room to talk to him. He offered us information on the final artifact if we answered a riddle for him. Easily coming up with the answer we followed Sseth’s instructions and recovered the final artifact. We then returned to Allisstar.
Allistar, with the help of Constable Ving, performed the cleansing ritual to appease yig and then gave us the Jade Statue we had been searching for these last 2 days. The temple started to collapse and so we rowed a hasty retreat from the cave and made our way back to Freeport. We suspected foul play at the new lighthouse and since we could not get close to it to warn anybody during the day we waited until night and then approached the lighthouse to try and stop whatever strangeness was afoot.

So ends part 3 of this report

Constable Benton Fraser

 

[Gizzard]

Not posted: The end of Terror in Freeport, and Holiday in the Sun.

I'd like to see a quick synopsis of how TiF ended if you get the chance. I'm running TiF right now and you left off right where I fear the real danger will start (crushy crushy!).

Also, what level were your characters during these various events? I guess they must be first level since they never mention the endless joy of new knowledge and skills gained? ;-)

Tangent: I ran Holiday in the Sun right after DiF to give the players enough XP to go to 2nd level. It was probably their favorite day, as there was always something going on. Either Lydon was running an event on the pier or there was a fight to be had (or to bet on) down in the Dwarfs bareknuckle ring. One interesting thing I notice about running a city adventure is that there definitely are "down days" and "up days" - days where people are frustrated because they can't tell if they are on the right path, and days where they are happy because there are things to kill (and therefore they are on the right path.) Swagfest is nice because there is plenty to do, and no pressure to make the "right" decision. A good break after the chaos of dealing with the Snakemen.

 

[Seule]

The rest of TiF went pretty much how the mod expected, the biggest difference was right at the end of the session that was posted. The Crusher almost killed several of them, they managed to get the door open and scramble out, the last to exit was while it was shaking while tipped up, so there were some Strength checks made there, that were critical.

As of the current session (not posted yet, happened yesterday) the last character made it to 5th level, and a few made it to 6th. After Of Sound Mind, several were close or made it to 3rd, as I recall. Levelling up is something that happens offstage, and as such, it's not something the characters really comment on.

Swagfest was one of the sessions that I feel I didn't run very well. Stuff happened, but the death of the Captain to the assassin put a damper on the festivities (Endrin was chasing the assassin, and Ving failed to patch him up before he died of his wounds). Actually, Deus Ex Machina they found frustrating as well, but I think I've gotten back into the groove. After Madness I'll be moving on to the Banewarrens, and that should keep them occupied for several levels.

--Seule

 

[Seule]

Spoilers: Madness in Freeport

Case 3266A Assault on the Lighthouse

We rowed out to the light house narrowly avoiding the many patrols meant to discourage just our sort of visit. When we arrived at the island we quickly discovered that all the doors were barred from the inside and so Constable Fenaik decided to climb in a second story window and unbar the door from the inside. Constable Fenaik was unfortunately discovered by the guards inside and a fight quickly broke out. Constable Fenaik managed to unbar the door and when the rest of the team entered the lighthouse we quickly subdued the guards. We then discovered that they were all members of the Cult of the Yellow Sign (which we had suspected all along), and so we quickly proceeded to stop what ever dastardly plan the Cult was trying to put into motion.
We climbed the stairs to the second level of the lighthouse whereupon we discovered several more cultists including a priest who called down the curses of his Unspeakable God upon us. Led by Constable Endrin (a priest of the God of Retribution) we countered with our own faith in the God of Retribution and quickly subdued the Cultists and their foul priest. There was an alter to the God of the Sea which had be defiled with the symbol of the Unspeakable One. Upon searching the second floor we discovered the body of a local thief whom we recognized from having arrested her on petty theft charges in the past. She was dead not more than an hour ago from a crossbow bolt in the back. We also discovered 2 large statues of the Gods of the Sea and War. We found that the arms on the statues moved and when we pulled them down a secret door opened to reveal a set of stairs leading up to the higher portions of the lighthouse. Fearing what the Cult was about to do we quickly ascended the stairs.
We entered the third level of the lighthouse and came into some sort of sacrifice room. The floor was littered with Thick Debris including the carnal stench of many dead bodies. [Note: Thick Debris is gaming code for 'Feel free to search this room.' Thin Debris is 'There is nothing to find here, don't bother'.] We found another set of stairs going up but before we could use them a horrific creature from our nightmares attacked. It was a fleshy blob of many eyes and mouths and made a cacophonous wail that could drive a person insane. As we steeled ourselves for combat it spat out a glowing ball that exploded in a blinding flash. Luckily we were all holding our ears and looking away due to its gibbering and were unaffected by the flash. [Note: All 6 characters made both Will and Fort saves of 13 to avoid being confused and blinded. They were very lucky.] Constables Endrin and Winterborn moved to slay the beast but quickly started to sink into a sickening morass surrounding the creature. Not wishing that fate onto my teammates I dropped my weapon and proceeded to pull the Constables out of the mire. Meanwhile Constable Fenaik, using the long reach of his chain kept the creature busy while my partner Constable Lyran used her mastery of her psychic abilities to end the beasts miserable existence. We then regrouped and took the stairs to the upper levels of the lighthouse.
Upon entering the upper reaches of the lighthouse we found a set of stairs running up the side over a hundred feet to the very top of the lighthouse. At the top of these stairs we could barely make out the forms of several more cultists as well as that of Milton Drac the very Sea Lord of Freeport. Lord Drac proceeded to tell us that we would not stop him from summoning the Unspeakable One and raining destruction down on Freeport. Since Lord Drac just admitted to a felony we had no other choice but to climb the stairs and arrest him. He however fled to the very upper reaches of the lighthouse and his cronies attempted to impede our progress. We informed them that aiding the escape of a felon is also a crime but they persisted and we were forced to subdue them as well. [Note: There was no actual due process here, Benton is inserting it after the fact to make them look good. They just killed them.] One of the Cultists which Mr. Drac called by name used some strange abilities to fly into the air and conjured a wall of raging fire between us and the Cultists. We later discovered that he displayed something called Arcane Magic but I am still unclear what this is. I await the report from the Temple of Knowledge before I can fully complete this report upon the use of Arcane Magic. In the mean time, while using bow fire to pin down the cultists, Constable Fenaik and myself braved the wall of flames and subdued the cultists behind it. It is worth mentioning that Constable Fenaik was grievously wounded in this assault and came close to death. I would like to recommend Constable Fenaik for the Purple Heart medal for valor under fire. While I was subduing the rest of the Cultists, my teammates were using bow fire and Constable Lyran’s considerable mental abilities to subdue our flying adversary. At this time I would like to recommend my partner Constable Lyran for the Golden Brain medal, for effective use of mental powers in a combat situation. [Note: This is an entirely made up medal. Cool nonetheless.] We surely would have fallen to the Cultists were it not for her timely and effective application of mental force.
Having a felony suspect escaping we quickly brought Constable Fenaik back to health and continued up the stairs in pursuit of Lord Drac.

 

[Gizzard]

Stuff happened, but the death of the Captain to the assassin put a damper on the festivities (Endrin was chasing the assassin, and Ving failed to patch him up before he died of his wounds).

I didn't allow the Assassin to auto-kill the Captain; after all, what fun is a dead pirate? ;-) And two Fighters with 18 STR (point-buy) made it so Jesswyn didnt have a chance to finish the work she started. Had to jump for it after one round, no time for the CDG. Actually, what all the players loved was the goofy games; "Jacks Last Stand" and "The Fat Rat". We'll see how much they like the Crusher. :-0

Glad the last few session have been good. Keep having fun.