NoOneofConsequence
First Post
I've decided to start chronicling the adventurers of our Shadow of the Spider Moon (spelljammer) campaign. The story is told from the point of view of my new character, Prentice Ash - a level 6 Psychic Warrior. It's written in journal form. I hope everyone enjoys it.
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My name is Prentice Ash. My mother named me Prentice, because she said that I should never cease from learning. I’m not convinced that it wasn’t a joke. Ash is the name that I earned for myself in combat, my battle name. My comrades in the first mercenary company I served with called me Ash because of my dirty, grey hair. My knack for survival in impossible situations caused one of my commanders to remark, “The fire of war leaves nothing but Ash.”
----
The Verdant Coast is hot in the dry season, and the sun beat down upon us, when my new companions and I finally emerged from the jungle. The sight of Fareach was a genuine pleasure, its painted and gabled roofs shining brightly under the tropical sky. After a year in a cave, held prisoner by lizard folk, the colonial city seemed like a bustling metropolis to me.
For the next three weeks we lived high on the treasure we took from the lizard folk, as well as from Mr Smart and his pompous half-elven hireling, Thurolust. Our tales of the ship crashed in the jungle and the Temple of Ardreth give us no shortage of drinking partners. The people of Fareach have no knowledge of spelljamming and they scoffed at each telling of a ship stuck twenty feet up a tree, twenty leagues from the coast. I guess that ignorance is bliss.
The gold was running dry when a merchant named Nataleod, from Holly Canal, sought me out with a proposition. Stories of the group’s battle with the lizard folk tribe had reached Holly Canal, a smaller settlement six hundred miles down the coast. Nataleod claimed that he and the local merchants were having some trouble with the lizard folk population in Holly Canal, and he wanted to pay us to help sort it out. He offered four hundred guilders a piece for the job, as well as the cost of the ship’s fare down and back. He assured me that it should only take a day or two in Holly Canal, with a possibility of further work, if this first job went well.
While I was arranging a meeting with my new companions I was approached by a tall woman with a cascade of long red hair and dressed in leather armour that looked like it was made of tree leaves sewn together. She said that her name was Veridian Pax and that she understood that I was a part of a company of adventurers who might be willing to take on another hand. I never say no to another blade. Besides, a short, simple job, like Holly Canal promised to be, is a great way to test new blood. I needn’t have worried, as it turned out.
When we gathered again at the Reef and Sheet, I outlined the job and introduced Pax to the crew. It turned out Pax was known to many of our company, having adventured with them in the past. In fact, she was more widely trusted than I was. After a little discussion, and some well-brewed ale, it was decided to accept the job and take ship to Holly Canal. Only Celaro, the roguish halfling who always seemed to know more than he was letting on, would not be with us; he was chasing down some old friend.
After spelljamming, ocean-bound travel always seems as rough as a pony trap over open ground. This sea journey was better than most, with the steady easterly giving a swift, smooth journey. The vessel was a trader skiff called the Coast Rose and she seemed almost to fly across the shallow bays of the Verdant Coast. Only one incident of note occurred during the journey, when two elven warbirds flew overhead. Flying at height, I was unable to make out their markings, but regardless of who they were, their presence boded ill for the treaty that protected the continent. The days of peaceful isolation are surely doomed.
As the Coast Rose turned west into the inlet of the Criaki River we caught our first glimpse of Holly Canal. Or, more specifically, of the lizard folk settlement just east of Holly Canal. It was collection of domed huts, made from wattle and daub, with a pale local mud. The settlement housed the indentured lizard folk workers who did virtually all the menial work in Holly Canal. Strictly speaking, the settlement had no name, but the locals called it Scalytown.
An hour’s sail upstream brought us to Holly Canal, and as the Coast Rose put into port we could see the extraordinary feature which gave the town its name. Running almost directly north from the docks, in a perfectly straight line, was a canal of magnificent construction. The canal predates the settlement itself and is fed by an extensive network of ancient sewers. Like the canal, the sewers are superbly constructed and, as such, the town is undoubtedly the cleanest settlement of any size in the entire of the Verdant Coast colonies. The canal goes deep inland, over three leagues, and so the town of Holly Canal enjoys much more trade and wealth than most towns its size. The town’s name derives from the wild, tropical holly bushes which grow along the steep banks of the canal, forming a natural barrier to any amphibious predators which may seek to enter the settlement from the canal.
Arriving on the docks, the company quickly made its way to the warehouse of Nataleod, which sat right on dockside. Once there, in the cool shade of the Nataleod’s office, the merchant outlined his particular problem and what he wanted us to do about it. He told us that there was some kind of holy man among the lizard folk who was stirring up unrest. The holy man was causing a major disruption to the trade in the town, since the main of the dock workers were lizard folk and were often not available to work, because of the holy man’s sermons.
Many of us were sympathetic to the lizard folk at this point, our previous battles with their race not withstanding, and Harmony the druid and Kakita Kai, a dai-sho warrior, both suspected that Nataleod was not telling us the whole story. However, Nataleod seemed quite genuine. He explained that other members of the ruling council had advocated resolving the problem by force but that he had persuaded them to allow him a chance to find a peaceful solution. He had called upon us to help because of our recent fame in dealing with lizard folk. It appeared that he had not heard the whole story of our battles near the Temple of Ardreth.
He explained that what he hoped that we would do was to go to Scalytown and locate the lizard folk holy man. Once we had done that he wanted us to persuade him to meet with Nataleod. Apparently it had been difficult to locate the holy man previously and he hoped that our familiarity with lizard folk culture would make us more suited to being go-betweens. After a small discussion, we accepted the job and then sat down in the shade of the warehouse’s courtyard to await the cool of the evening. Towards late afternoon, Nataleod’s foreman, a young man named Maglorix, came to show us the way to Scalytown.
As we walked the west bound road through the dunes, Kuslamarka (“Mark”) scouted out to the side of us, keeping our flank protected. In spite of his best efforts though, the sparse dune grass could not hide even his small form. His cloaked head bobbed back and forth in its peculiar way, crossbow at the ready.
During our journey we learned from Maglorix that he knew how to speak a little of the Draconic creole which was the native dialect in Scalytown. He said that by and large Scalies were never dangerous, but that since the coming of the holy man, the city watch no longer patrolled Scalytown after dark and that he himself would not accompany us into the settlement. He would wait on the outskirts and when we located the holy man, we were to send him word so that he could go and fetch Nataleod to a meeting.
Entering Scalytown, we found the outskirts almost completely deserted. Proceeding to the meeting area in the middle we found the entire population seated together on the ground. They were humming, or moaning, in a vaguely sibilant way, while a single lizard man stood before them, speaking in Draconic. The entire group seemed peaceful and were not offended by our presence. The preacher spoke of all mortals being children of the cosmos, free to strive under the sun. This was the firebrand holy man we were sent to talk to, yet none of his words were the least bit seditious or inflammatory (several of our group could speak Draconic, though the local dialect was a little troublesome).
When the sermon was over the lizard folk dispersed peacefully and returned to their homes for their evening meal. We approached the holy man, who greeted us and invited us to sit with him in the front of his tent. From him we learned that Nataleod’s story had not been entirely accurate. For the past several months there had been attacks in Scalytown by some unspecified force. Whatever was making the attacks only came at night. It left no tracks or markings and carried off its victims leaving neither blood nor any other sign of struggle. It had even taken lizard folk from their huts as they slept. The population had sent the holy man as a representative to the ruling council to seek help from the city watch. The council had refused to help and so the population of Scalytown became less inclined to leave their homes to work at nights, since they were afraid of losing relatives in their absence. The holy man now led them daily in prayers for deliverance and peace.
We told the holy man about Nataleod’s desire for a meeting and he agreed. We sent Mark to tell Maglorix to set up a meeting and then we agreed to stay and keep watch over the village, in case the “force” showed up that night.
Mark gave the message to Maglorix and then followed at a discrete distance to see if Nataleod was on the level. Soon after Maglorix entered Nataleod’s private estate, a curtained palanquin left the estate and headed towards the canal, away from the direction of Scalytown. Mark tried to follow the palanquin, but soon lost it in the unfamiliar streets, crowded as they were with night market patrons. In the hope of perhaps finding the palanquin again, Mark headed to the canal. He didn’t see the palanquin, but did observe that the sewer openings in the canal walls were large and in excellent condition.
Returning to Scalytown, Mark related the results of his investigations and the party hunkered down to wait, happy to give Nataleod the benefit of the doubt, but becoming increasingly suspicious.
A short while later, there was a terrible scream from inside the holy man’s tiny hut. Harmony, who was resting beside the hut rushed in to see a hole in the floor, into which the holy man’s body had been obviously dragged. Before the hole could close, she transformed herself into the shape of constrictor snake and slithered part the way down the shaft to investigate.
The rest of the party stood at the ready, waiting to respond to any danger. Danger came in the form of an insectoid beast, which erupted from the ground beneath Aria, the beautiful, but flighty, half-elven bard. Caught in the claws of an umber hulk, Aria was almost torn to pieces in a single instant, but the creature instead flung her to the ground like a bleeding doll.
We all turned to face the creature and, looking into it eyes, I suddenly found it hard to think. I stood dumbfounded as Mark tried to put a safe distance between himself and the umber hulk. The beast was swift, though, and its claw raked Mark’s scaly back. He turned and fired a crossbow bolt straight at the beast. Pax, wielding her spiked chain like a deadly iron serpent, charged at Harmony, obviously confused by the hulk’s dire gaze, and struck the shape shifting druid with a whipping blow. In my confusion I took Pax for an enemy – after all, she was attacking Harmony – and fired on her with my Kolter Gorgon. Thankfully the musket bullet went astray, but my shot gave Pax some pause and she ceased attacking our companion.
In the meanwhile, Kakita Kai and Telara, our halfling ranger, maintained a steady stream of arrow fire at the beast. However, when it became clear that the beast might charge them, Kakita threw down his bow and with a piercing battle cry, drew forth his katana and charged the beast. His swift, downward stroke was brutal and the hulk staggered from the combined damage of Telara’s arrows, Mark’s quarrels and Kakita’s blade. It dove beneath the sands like a swimmer beneath the waves, in full retreat.
With the beast gone, the effects of its gaze soon faded. Harmony caused some consternation when she emerged from the holy man’s hut still in her snake form, but she shifted back to her human form before any further trouble occurred. After tending to Aria’s wounds, the party paused to consider what our next action should be.
--------
My name is Prentice Ash. My mother named me Prentice, because she said that I should never cease from learning. I’m not convinced that it wasn’t a joke. Ash is the name that I earned for myself in combat, my battle name. My comrades in the first mercenary company I served with called me Ash because of my dirty, grey hair. My knack for survival in impossible situations caused one of my commanders to remark, “The fire of war leaves nothing but Ash.”
----
The Verdant Coast is hot in the dry season, and the sun beat down upon us, when my new companions and I finally emerged from the jungle. The sight of Fareach was a genuine pleasure, its painted and gabled roofs shining brightly under the tropical sky. After a year in a cave, held prisoner by lizard folk, the colonial city seemed like a bustling metropolis to me.
For the next three weeks we lived high on the treasure we took from the lizard folk, as well as from Mr Smart and his pompous half-elven hireling, Thurolust. Our tales of the ship crashed in the jungle and the Temple of Ardreth give us no shortage of drinking partners. The people of Fareach have no knowledge of spelljamming and they scoffed at each telling of a ship stuck twenty feet up a tree, twenty leagues from the coast. I guess that ignorance is bliss.
The gold was running dry when a merchant named Nataleod, from Holly Canal, sought me out with a proposition. Stories of the group’s battle with the lizard folk tribe had reached Holly Canal, a smaller settlement six hundred miles down the coast. Nataleod claimed that he and the local merchants were having some trouble with the lizard folk population in Holly Canal, and he wanted to pay us to help sort it out. He offered four hundred guilders a piece for the job, as well as the cost of the ship’s fare down and back. He assured me that it should only take a day or two in Holly Canal, with a possibility of further work, if this first job went well.
While I was arranging a meeting with my new companions I was approached by a tall woman with a cascade of long red hair and dressed in leather armour that looked like it was made of tree leaves sewn together. She said that her name was Veridian Pax and that she understood that I was a part of a company of adventurers who might be willing to take on another hand. I never say no to another blade. Besides, a short, simple job, like Holly Canal promised to be, is a great way to test new blood. I needn’t have worried, as it turned out.
When we gathered again at the Reef and Sheet, I outlined the job and introduced Pax to the crew. It turned out Pax was known to many of our company, having adventured with them in the past. In fact, she was more widely trusted than I was. After a little discussion, and some well-brewed ale, it was decided to accept the job and take ship to Holly Canal. Only Celaro, the roguish halfling who always seemed to know more than he was letting on, would not be with us; he was chasing down some old friend.
After spelljamming, ocean-bound travel always seems as rough as a pony trap over open ground. This sea journey was better than most, with the steady easterly giving a swift, smooth journey. The vessel was a trader skiff called the Coast Rose and she seemed almost to fly across the shallow bays of the Verdant Coast. Only one incident of note occurred during the journey, when two elven warbirds flew overhead. Flying at height, I was unable to make out their markings, but regardless of who they were, their presence boded ill for the treaty that protected the continent. The days of peaceful isolation are surely doomed.
As the Coast Rose turned west into the inlet of the Criaki River we caught our first glimpse of Holly Canal. Or, more specifically, of the lizard folk settlement just east of Holly Canal. It was collection of domed huts, made from wattle and daub, with a pale local mud. The settlement housed the indentured lizard folk workers who did virtually all the menial work in Holly Canal. Strictly speaking, the settlement had no name, but the locals called it Scalytown.
An hour’s sail upstream brought us to Holly Canal, and as the Coast Rose put into port we could see the extraordinary feature which gave the town its name. Running almost directly north from the docks, in a perfectly straight line, was a canal of magnificent construction. The canal predates the settlement itself and is fed by an extensive network of ancient sewers. Like the canal, the sewers are superbly constructed and, as such, the town is undoubtedly the cleanest settlement of any size in the entire of the Verdant Coast colonies. The canal goes deep inland, over three leagues, and so the town of Holly Canal enjoys much more trade and wealth than most towns its size. The town’s name derives from the wild, tropical holly bushes which grow along the steep banks of the canal, forming a natural barrier to any amphibious predators which may seek to enter the settlement from the canal.
Arriving on the docks, the company quickly made its way to the warehouse of Nataleod, which sat right on dockside. Once there, in the cool shade of the Nataleod’s office, the merchant outlined his particular problem and what he wanted us to do about it. He told us that there was some kind of holy man among the lizard folk who was stirring up unrest. The holy man was causing a major disruption to the trade in the town, since the main of the dock workers were lizard folk and were often not available to work, because of the holy man’s sermons.
Many of us were sympathetic to the lizard folk at this point, our previous battles with their race not withstanding, and Harmony the druid and Kakita Kai, a dai-sho warrior, both suspected that Nataleod was not telling us the whole story. However, Nataleod seemed quite genuine. He explained that other members of the ruling council had advocated resolving the problem by force but that he had persuaded them to allow him a chance to find a peaceful solution. He had called upon us to help because of our recent fame in dealing with lizard folk. It appeared that he had not heard the whole story of our battles near the Temple of Ardreth.
He explained that what he hoped that we would do was to go to Scalytown and locate the lizard folk holy man. Once we had done that he wanted us to persuade him to meet with Nataleod. Apparently it had been difficult to locate the holy man previously and he hoped that our familiarity with lizard folk culture would make us more suited to being go-betweens. After a small discussion, we accepted the job and then sat down in the shade of the warehouse’s courtyard to await the cool of the evening. Towards late afternoon, Nataleod’s foreman, a young man named Maglorix, came to show us the way to Scalytown.
As we walked the west bound road through the dunes, Kuslamarka (“Mark”) scouted out to the side of us, keeping our flank protected. In spite of his best efforts though, the sparse dune grass could not hide even his small form. His cloaked head bobbed back and forth in its peculiar way, crossbow at the ready.
During our journey we learned from Maglorix that he knew how to speak a little of the Draconic creole which was the native dialect in Scalytown. He said that by and large Scalies were never dangerous, but that since the coming of the holy man, the city watch no longer patrolled Scalytown after dark and that he himself would not accompany us into the settlement. He would wait on the outskirts and when we located the holy man, we were to send him word so that he could go and fetch Nataleod to a meeting.
Entering Scalytown, we found the outskirts almost completely deserted. Proceeding to the meeting area in the middle we found the entire population seated together on the ground. They were humming, or moaning, in a vaguely sibilant way, while a single lizard man stood before them, speaking in Draconic. The entire group seemed peaceful and were not offended by our presence. The preacher spoke of all mortals being children of the cosmos, free to strive under the sun. This was the firebrand holy man we were sent to talk to, yet none of his words were the least bit seditious or inflammatory (several of our group could speak Draconic, though the local dialect was a little troublesome).
When the sermon was over the lizard folk dispersed peacefully and returned to their homes for their evening meal. We approached the holy man, who greeted us and invited us to sit with him in the front of his tent. From him we learned that Nataleod’s story had not been entirely accurate. For the past several months there had been attacks in Scalytown by some unspecified force. Whatever was making the attacks only came at night. It left no tracks or markings and carried off its victims leaving neither blood nor any other sign of struggle. It had even taken lizard folk from their huts as they slept. The population had sent the holy man as a representative to the ruling council to seek help from the city watch. The council had refused to help and so the population of Scalytown became less inclined to leave their homes to work at nights, since they were afraid of losing relatives in their absence. The holy man now led them daily in prayers for deliverance and peace.
We told the holy man about Nataleod’s desire for a meeting and he agreed. We sent Mark to tell Maglorix to set up a meeting and then we agreed to stay and keep watch over the village, in case the “force” showed up that night.
Mark gave the message to Maglorix and then followed at a discrete distance to see if Nataleod was on the level. Soon after Maglorix entered Nataleod’s private estate, a curtained palanquin left the estate and headed towards the canal, away from the direction of Scalytown. Mark tried to follow the palanquin, but soon lost it in the unfamiliar streets, crowded as they were with night market patrons. In the hope of perhaps finding the palanquin again, Mark headed to the canal. He didn’t see the palanquin, but did observe that the sewer openings in the canal walls were large and in excellent condition.
Returning to Scalytown, Mark related the results of his investigations and the party hunkered down to wait, happy to give Nataleod the benefit of the doubt, but becoming increasingly suspicious.
A short while later, there was a terrible scream from inside the holy man’s tiny hut. Harmony, who was resting beside the hut rushed in to see a hole in the floor, into which the holy man’s body had been obviously dragged. Before the hole could close, she transformed herself into the shape of constrictor snake and slithered part the way down the shaft to investigate.
The rest of the party stood at the ready, waiting to respond to any danger. Danger came in the form of an insectoid beast, which erupted from the ground beneath Aria, the beautiful, but flighty, half-elven bard. Caught in the claws of an umber hulk, Aria was almost torn to pieces in a single instant, but the creature instead flung her to the ground like a bleeding doll.
We all turned to face the creature and, looking into it eyes, I suddenly found it hard to think. I stood dumbfounded as Mark tried to put a safe distance between himself and the umber hulk. The beast was swift, though, and its claw raked Mark’s scaly back. He turned and fired a crossbow bolt straight at the beast. Pax, wielding her spiked chain like a deadly iron serpent, charged at Harmony, obviously confused by the hulk’s dire gaze, and struck the shape shifting druid with a whipping blow. In my confusion I took Pax for an enemy – after all, she was attacking Harmony – and fired on her with my Kolter Gorgon. Thankfully the musket bullet went astray, but my shot gave Pax some pause and she ceased attacking our companion.
In the meanwhile, Kakita Kai and Telara, our halfling ranger, maintained a steady stream of arrow fire at the beast. However, when it became clear that the beast might charge them, Kakita threw down his bow and with a piercing battle cry, drew forth his katana and charged the beast. His swift, downward stroke was brutal and the hulk staggered from the combined damage of Telara’s arrows, Mark’s quarrels and Kakita’s blade. It dove beneath the sands like a swimmer beneath the waves, in full retreat.
With the beast gone, the effects of its gaze soon faded. Harmony caused some consternation when she emerged from the holy man’s hut still in her snake form, but she shifted back to her human form before any further trouble occurred. After tending to Aria’s wounds, the party paused to consider what our next action should be.