Mid-morning, Anarire 19, 370 F.S.
En route to the Sidhe tower on the Isle of Souls, Thargus asks others in the party who "the other ship" was, referring to Dyderic's ship who had shown up on the Isle of Souls when the Master's minions decided to launch an attack upon the Sea Tiger. The party lets him know it was a merchant named Dyderic. Thargus then tells the party that Dyderic is more than a mere merchant, dealing in extortion and black market trade (Thargus had done work for Dyderic in the past). He found it interesting that Dyderic would take interest in the party.
The party continues to investigate the archways atop the ancient Sidhe tower on the northern end of the Isle of Souls. Deliberation ensued as to the operation of the gates. In the end, Siglan's adventurous streak won out and he (with the aid of Alexis) walked under the arch with the numeral "7" inscribed on its lintel in Sidhe. He disappeared. More deliberation ensued. After a bit, curiosity won out and, one by one, everyone in the party except for Vyn and Thargus (who has been following Alexis around like a puppy) walked under the arch. Before Y'lora entered, she told Vyn that if the party did not make it back, that he was to travel back to the Sea Tiger and tell Captain N'Questra what has happened.
They did not come back.
After an hour, Vyn begins the one-day trek back to the Sea Tiger and informs Capt. N'Questra of the events, and that most likely, the rest of the party is in the Bay of Arnur Culri (according to the text found in The Master's library, this is where they believe the tower would be taking them). Vyn requests that N'Questra voyage up to Arnur Culri to pick up the party. N'Questra, realizing that the "cargo" for which he was charged with safely delivering to, and returning from, the Isle of Souls is now 1800 miles to the north, agrees to travel to Arnur Culri with the condition that he must first make a two-day delay by stopping in Nestbaggann to drop off the rescued slaves and captured minions with "somebody", as well as restock the ship's supplies. Vyn acquiesces, and travels aboard the Sea Tiger.
*flashback one day*
Arimas, Siglan, Alexis, Thain, Y'lora, Johan, and Bruno, having stepped through the teleportation arch, find themselves on the top floor of yet another similar yet very different tower. The Sidhe sigil "7" is inscribed in the middle of the floor. About the pentagon-shaped room are five more archways, each with a Sidhe numeral inscribed in their lintels (6, 9, 12, 5, and 3). Arimas notices that arches 6, 9, and 12 possess an aura whereas 5 and 3 do not. After closer interrogation of the diagram found in the tome concerning the 12 Towers, Alexis hypothesizes that all gateways may not be presently working, and some may only work one-way. In any event, after stepping into the various arches and realizing that nothing happened, the party came to the conclusion that they are stuck here.
Looking out from the windows of the tower, it could be seen that this tower was located in a large body of water, with the shore about 50 yards to the north. Siglan and Y'lora heard a splashing sound from within the tower, some floors below them. Investigating, they find that the first floor of the tower is completely submerged. Y'lora finds some relatively fresh humanoid tracks on the second floor near the stairway that leads down into the water. The tower contains nothing of noteworthiness; just some sparse and very old and decayed furniture. While investigating the second floor, Siglan hears something in the water. Looking into the stairway leading down, Y'lora sees the water boil (as in movement below the surface... not steam and such).
Returning to the top floor, the party debates on how to escape to land. Arimas apportates Y'lora out of the tower and onto shore. Soon afterwards, several of the villagers living on the coast approach Y'lora. She begins a discussions with one of them, a fisherman. She explains that her party is in the tower and needs to reach land. The fisherman wants nothing to do with "that blasted tower", explaining that they have lost some men in the past when attempting to investigate the tower in the bay. He tells of a mysterious great shark that can pull men from dry ground into the water that haunts the tower. Y'lora convinces him to let her borrow his boat (for a nice deposit of copper, of course) and she makes her way back out to the tower. Alexis and Thain are the first two to climb into the boat. Just as Thain makes his way into it, the boat shudders as something very large runs into it from below the water. Y'lora loses her balance and falls into the water.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Leaving The Master's Complex
The entire timeline of the campaign, from its onset to now, can be found here. In the middle of this post, I have described what Arimas found out about Bruno's ring when he analyzed it. I had notes on this written up ahead of time prior to last week's game session, but I couldn't find them last week, so I winged the descriptions of what was found on the ring. Well, I have now found my notes, so I've given the findings by Arimas later in this post.
As the party finished looting the Tower, a robed figure looking to be The Master arrived in the complex via cart. The party speaks with him inside the Tower. They call his bluff and the imposter (named Ecbert) succumbs to the party. The end result of the "negotiations" is that the party is leaving ASAP (with a hefty pile of swag), Ecbert is staying behind in the complex. One of The Master's minions, Thargus, becomes enamored with Alexis and follows her around like a puppy. The party offers passage back to Arnur Soghal for all fifty of the slaves being held in the complex. The remaining ten or so minions of The Master run out of the main gate of the complex during negotiations with Ecbert.
Waiting on the dock for the Sea Tiger to arrive, the party sees a large ship flying The Master’s colors (and then pulling them down) sail down the river. N’Questra later tells the party that they saw a large ship pass them that came from upstream.
After some quick negotiations with Captain N’Questra, he agrees to house all fifty slaves, along with the eight minions of The Master that the party apprehended the previous day.
The party raids the larder of the complex in order to feed these extra mouths.
Information gained by the party from books in the Tower indicates that one of the 12 Towers is located on the northern end of the Isle of Souls. With some aid from Moorlun, the party has N’Questra sail around the southern end of the island, up the west coast of the island, and around its northern end. Along the way, they spot several isolated buildings on the island, scattered about its southern end.
While on board the ship, Arimas analyzed the ruby ring that Bruno found on the robed figure in The Master's complex that was standing guard over the Black Cauldron. Each of the spells enchanted onto the ring, as far as Arimas can determine, are variants of spells that he has heard of. Here is what he found:
1) the first enchantment on the ring is something that involves the opening of doors
2) the second enchantment is something that involves everlasting life
3) the third is a location-finding enchantment
4) the fourth enchantment has something to do with rapid movement
Throughout the four hours of analysis, Arimas sensed an overriding enchantment on the ring... almost as if it were yet another odd variant of spells he is not really familiar with. This one overall "impression" seems to create a tether or an anchor to something. It is difficult to discern, but Arimas' mind sees the tether as being a link to a physical place and a state of being. As he examines the enchantments' magical properties, it tends to give him a headache whenever he looks too long at the tether itself.
Making their way onto the north end of the island, the party begins scouting for Sidhe tower that is allegedly on this island. Vyn picks up an old foot trail, the party follows it, and they end up at an old (but well-built) 5-story stone tower. On the top floor of this tower, there are five archways. Three of them emanate a magical aura. Two do not. Y'lora enters into beneath one of the magical archways (labled "12" upon its lintel in Sidhe) and one of the non-magical archways (labeled "2" in Sidhe). Nothing happens in either case.
As the party finished looting the Tower, a robed figure looking to be The Master arrived in the complex via cart. The party speaks with him inside the Tower. They call his bluff and the imposter (named Ecbert) succumbs to the party. The end result of the "negotiations" is that the party is leaving ASAP (with a hefty pile of swag), Ecbert is staying behind in the complex. One of The Master's minions, Thargus, becomes enamored with Alexis and follows her around like a puppy. The party offers passage back to Arnur Soghal for all fifty of the slaves being held in the complex. The remaining ten or so minions of The Master run out of the main gate of the complex during negotiations with Ecbert.
Waiting on the dock for the Sea Tiger to arrive, the party sees a large ship flying The Master’s colors (and then pulling them down) sail down the river. N’Questra later tells the party that they saw a large ship pass them that came from upstream.
After some quick negotiations with Captain N’Questra, he agrees to house all fifty slaves, along with the eight minions of The Master that the party apprehended the previous day.
The party raids the larder of the complex in order to feed these extra mouths.
Information gained by the party from books in the Tower indicates that one of the 12 Towers is located on the northern end of the Isle of Souls. With some aid from Moorlun, the party has N’Questra sail around the southern end of the island, up the west coast of the island, and around its northern end. Along the way, they spot several isolated buildings on the island, scattered about its southern end.
While on board the ship, Arimas analyzed the ruby ring that Bruno found on the robed figure in The Master's complex that was standing guard over the Black Cauldron. Each of the spells enchanted onto the ring, as far as Arimas can determine, are variants of spells that he has heard of. Here is what he found:
1) the first enchantment on the ring is something that involves the opening of doors
2) the second enchantment is something that involves everlasting life
3) the third is a location-finding enchantment
4) the fourth enchantment has something to do with rapid movement
Throughout the four hours of analysis, Arimas sensed an overriding enchantment on the ring... almost as if it were yet another odd variant of spells he is not really familiar with. This one overall "impression" seems to create a tether or an anchor to something. It is difficult to discern, but Arimas' mind sees the tether as being a link to a physical place and a state of being. As he examines the enchantments' magical properties, it tends to give him a headache whenever he looks too long at the tether itself.
Making their way onto the north end of the island, the party begins scouting for Sidhe tower that is allegedly on this island. Vyn picks up an old foot trail, the party follows it, and they end up at an old (but well-built) 5-story stone tower. On the top floor of this tower, there are five archways. Three of them emanate a magical aura. Two do not. Y'lora enters into beneath one of the magical archways (labled "12" upon its lintel in Sidhe) and one of the non-magical archways (labeled "2" in Sidhe). Nothing happens in either case.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Negotiations at the Tower
After a half hour of ensuring that the tower is secure, Vyn noticed a horse-drawn cart enter the complex from the west gate. Throught the driving rain, he could make out one individual driving the cart. The cart stopped in front of a building to the southwest of the tower, whereby the driver dismounted and began speaking with several of the minions who were in that building. Alexis asked Verinda and Frederick if they could determine who it was who had just arrived. After a long look through the rain, Frederick stated, "That is the Master."
Y'lora, being a shoot-'em-all-and-let-[deity of choice]-sort-'em-out kind of an elf, opened one of the windows in the Tower and took aim at the robed individual that Frederick had identified as the Master. The minions noticed the window opening and quickly ducked back into the building from which they had emerged. The Master shouted from the building, wishing to discuss the present situation like civilized people. He wished for both sides to meet in the gazebo in front of the Tower, without weapons.
Siglan and Alexis, trying to ascertain the Master's motives, did not sense deception in his voice. However, it did appear to them that this person (who appeared to be the Master) lacked a sense of confidence in his voice.
The session ended with the party coming to the mutual conclusion that this guy probably is not the Master. Siglan, Vyn, Alexis, and Y'lora discussed how to handle the situation. Suggestions were:
Y'lora: have Alexis cast an illusion on Verinda, making her appear to be Y'lora. Then, send out the party (with Verinda posing as Y'lora) while Y'lora stays in the tower and takes up a line of fire on the gazebo just in case negotiations go awry.
Alexis: have Verinda and Frederick come out with the party to the gazebo, showing the minions that the party is NOT here to wantonly slay all who breathe (i.e., that they are indeed willing to talk).
Siglan: We have their tower. Have THEM come to US. We are in a defensible (sp?) position... they are in no position to negotiate on any terms other than ours. Besides, if this guy really were the Master, he wouldn't be so willing to negotiate to get his tower back; he'd just come in with guns ablazing.
So, that's where we are now.
This upcoming Friday, there will be no game session (Renaissance Fair!!!). So, we will pick up on Friday, Sept. 14 with Bruno, Arimas, and Johan suddenly springing back into action.
Please feel free to use the next two weeks to discuss among yourselves via e-mail as to the actions of the party when we pick back up on the 14th. And leave me off the distribution list... the GM having a priori knowledge of the players' actions is not always a good thing. [evil grin]
Y'lora, being a shoot-'em-all-and-let-[deity of choice]
Siglan and Alexis, trying to ascertain the Master's motives, did not sense deception in his voice. However, it did appear to them that this person (who appeared to be the Master) lacked a sense of confidence in his voice.
The session ended with the party coming to the mutual conclusion that this guy probably is not the Master. Siglan, Vyn, Alexis, and Y'lora discussed how to handle the situation. Suggestions were:
Y'lora: have Alexis cast an illusion on Verinda, making her appear to be Y'lora. Then, send out the party (with Verinda posing as Y'lora) while Y'lora stays in the tower and takes up a line of fire on the gazebo just in case negotiations go awry.
Alexis: have Verinda and Frederick come out with the party to the gazebo, showing the minions that the party is NOT here to wantonly slay all who breathe (i.e., that they are indeed willing to talk).
Siglan: We have their tower. Have THEM come to US. We are in a defensible (sp?) position... they are in no position to negotiate on any terms other than ours. Besides, if this guy really were the Master, he wouldn't be so willing to negotiate to get his tower back; he'd just come in with guns ablazing.
So, that's where we are now.
This upcoming Friday, there will be no game session (Renaissance Fair!!!). So, we will pick up on Friday, Sept. 14 with Bruno, Arimas, and Johan suddenly springing back into action.
Please feel free to use the next two weeks to discuss among yourselves via e-mail as to the actions of the party when we pick back up on the 14th. And leave me off the distribution list... the GM having a priori knowledge of the players' actions is not always a good thing. [evil grin]
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