A Loss in the Family

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Scribe Notes

The adventure takes place in the Far SE Archipelago during monsoon season.

Summary

Adventure: A Loss in the Family
GM: Chris C
Session: Summer 814wk
Night: Monday
Level: Low-Med

Party
  1. Ibrihim – a human air mage played by Andrew
  2. Peter Smith – a human paladin played by Mandos
  3. Icarone – a giant pixie solar celestial played by Manu (SCRIBE) (MILITARY SCIENTIST)
  4. Athos Ironfist – a dwarven fighter played by Martin (PARTY LEADER)
  5. Edwin – A human Dark Celestial mage played by Hannah

This adventure is full.

Employer
Tsayoi
Mission
Find some lost family members
Pay
Neg but 5,000 plus non familial related salvage

Military Scientist (Icarone)

Always on magics

Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Icarone Edwin Athos Peter Ibrihim ?
Carpet Flight 12 42mph on carpet 6½ hrs

As needed magics

Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Icarone Edwin Athos Peter Ibrihim ?
Feather Fall 8 fall 3 miles, 1'/sec 4½ hrs
Breathe Poison 8 Can breathe poisonous/magical gas safely 4½ hrs
Resist Cold 6 +10° 7 hrs

We have three good flying magics, and one party member who doesn't fly.

Watch Order

Watch cycle:

Night Vision & Other Enhanced Senses:

  • Ibrihim - no vision. Can target magic via smell 50' in extremis.
  • Peter - none. Can sense evil.
  • Icarone - Elf vision 160 ft - Id/target invisibility (not Walking Unseen) to rank 11. See in dark as Human on cloudy day, 160 feet open sky, 80 feet elsewhere. Witchsight
  • Athos - Dwarf vision?
  • Edwin - Witchsight

Marching Order - Front to Back

  • Ibrihim (6' 1") - out-rider
  • Peter (5' 10")
  • Athos (4' 4")
  • Edwin (6')
  • Icarone (6' 6")
  • 'Shamal', Ibrihim's semi-domesticated Sand Tornado

Scribe Notes (Icarone)

22 Breeze - Where we are employed

9 days before the Autumn guild meeting, I am discussing offers for my banapple cider recipe, when Guild security say there is a fellow guild member who needs assistance so of course I go along to see how I can help out.

Tsayoi a short (only 10ft tall) giant from Kinlu needs our help to find some of his family who have gotten lost in Lecbes or thereabouts. He promises a reward of 5,000 each silver and some sort of forged item using his family skills and connections. Tsayoi, the fire giant is studying the Lava college, a mix of Fire and Earth magics.

We need to slow portal to Elfenberg, fly to Borovia in order to portal again to Kinlu to meet Tsayoi's mother who has information for us. Apparently the Kinlu portal in Borovia is besieged at present so we may have some trouble getting to it.

The guild cartographers tell us that the Silk Islands nearby Lecbes are inhabited by giant spiders which have massive webs that connect the isles.

I pop back home to pack my gear, or rather have my gear packed and then I got a little distracted with the garden and banapples as well as making sure the bees will be ok while I'm gone. Splosh helpfully waterproofed all of my possessions for me!

Back to the guild and we get under way through the portal to Elfenberg! We will be met at the end by sergent Smyth from the navy.

The portal journey is pleasant with only the usual distractions and we are met as promised by sergent Smythe at a tavern just on the other side, so we stop for a few beers to quench our thirst after the few hours walking through the slow portal. He suggests we leave in the morning so we spend the night in the tavern, although as I find it difficult to get drunk any more I only have a few social drinks and then retire to capture my notes of the day. There will be opportunities to drink with Athos and Edwin later (Peter doesn't appear to drink due to his beliefs).

23 Breeze - Where we almost sneak through a war zone

After a few hours we land near what looks like a war zone full of orcs, humans and Drow. Smythe guides us through the chaos with various hand signals, until we are roughly 140 feet away from the portal when we spy a group of orcs and a large ogre who are about to attack friendlies near the portal. We see they are carrying what appears to be a large grenado between them so instead of rushing forward to attack, we try to help it blow up from a distance.

Athos throws a couple of grenados at them and manages to coat a number of them in Greek fire so we wait a moment to see whether the explosive will in fact explode.

It doesn't explode so Peter rushes forward to attack, supported by Smythe, while the rest of us move to flanking positions and Athos takes a crossbow shot at the ogre to prevent it lobbing the grenado at the friendlies. It works! and instead of throwing the grenado away, it instead explodes (from his earlier greek fire), showering them with rocks and gas and fire. Peter and Smythe suffer a little damage, however are protected from the worst of it by the unlucky orcs and ogre.

Athos (Guest Scribe)

The knaves having suffered many grievous wounds are set upon by valiant defenders, and as they pose little further concern we continue upon our appointed task drawing close to the portal. Functionaries demand credentials which Smythe provides and they pose no further obstacle. We enter the portal and reappear some 3000 leagues away in the city of Kyoshin in the isles of Kinlu with night upon us in the evening of the 23rd.

Many soldiers guard the Kinlu end of the portal, appearing well disciplined and in good order both the Samurai erelheine and the human Ashigaru. We are met and treated with courtesy before being introduced to a servant, one Ryuku by name, who will guide us to his master Cho-ku, an Erelheine moon magus. We are escorted through the exotic streets of the great port city to an area of great houses and thence to a tower. The elderly and ill-tempered mage begins his ritual and we spend the time with Ryuku sampling the local foods, that run too much to vegetables, and the local beverages, that closely resemble water.

After an unsatisfying supper we return to Cho-ku's tower for the completion of the ritual and are transported to the Kinlu island of Shimuzhiru, home to the family of our employer. We arrive on a roofed landing above lava fields. The air smells of brimstone and although now late at night the temperature is steamy.

We are met by a juvenile giant, akin to our employer Tsayoi, and like him of much more civilized bearing than the giants of Jotunheim with which I am familiar. Young Shichulu, for that is the lad's name escorts us from the platform to stairs fashioned for giants. Negotiating these with some difficulty we arrive at a decorative pagoda where we are greeted by Lady Chika, matriarch of the clan. She is dressed after the manner of a Samurai with well fashioned swords and bow.

Lady Chika relates that her clan are traders and her son, daughter, and husband's brother have gone missing while on a trade mission to the Silk Isles, specifically the island of Lekbees. Updates from the traders ceased some 3 months past, but Lady Chika is unable to mount a personal rescue as there is unrest in Kinlu associated with the Drow invasion in the West and she and her warriors are required to remain available. Besides the obvious personal attachment to her kin, another trait that seems to me to be quite unlike the Jotuns, her kin carry a number of family heirlooms whose loss would diminish the clan. The divinations of soothsayers have been typically vague and of little use, but generally dark and forlorn in nature. One reading does suggest that the children may find wealth and power, but also hints of a fall into fire and darkness. These seem unlikely to assist in our search.

Lady Chika provides details of the missing threesome, her daughter Kozumi, an inexperienced Wiccan, her son Daishi, a Namer, and Tadashi, her husband's brother. They were accompanied by several servants and guards, making a group of not inconsiderable size and resources. She provides a letter and sigil of introduction for the family's factor in Port Avalossa in the Theropsid isles from where we will take ship upon the Seahawk for the fianl leg of our journey to Lekbees.

Taking leave of Lady Chika we return via the giant stairs to the platform. Seeing my exertions Shichulu offers to carry me and admit I was less than polite; old habits and experiences with giants are not easy to shake. Eventually we arrive back at the platform and the irascible mage performs another transport ritual which takes us nearly 1000 leagues to the West, and an hour or so after dusk, still on the 23rd.

Our arrival location is a damp, dank, and dark cave a mile or so out of town. The cave has an ancient, and once evil, statue to a snake cult, but it has been made harmless with the passage of time or the destruction of its worshipers. Tramping into town we arrive at the Guild outpost and are directed to Captain Kysarn at the Gaff & Slasher a drinking establishment frequented by nautical types. Kysarn is a member of the Guild and should be as trustworthy as any other Guild colleague.

Finding the captain and his crew we spend time bonding over decent ale and eventually roll down to the docks to embark for departure an hour before dawn.

23-24-25 Breeze - All at sea

The morning of the 24th finds us out at sea aboard the excellent Seahawk, a galleon of Destinian design salavaged as a wreck some years ago (originally the Infanta's Dream), and graced with an additional party member who joined us in the night.

Sowlean, for such she is named, wears far too much glitter after a full nights drinking, and has it seems taken up a life of adventure to escape her family's pig farm - there may be more to the story than this, what young woman would abandon as a dowry even a share of a pig farm? Perhaps among the southerners it is different, but in the north pig farming is a most honourable profession; pork is the very food of the gods. She claims to be a Mind Mage and other members of our group say she is well known as a lawyer. I'm unsure which of these explains the wings and which the propensity for gaudy dress. I decide to call her Ljolmi (Glitter).

The next two days pass uneventfully, the crew taking the opportunity, as sailors are wont, to spin fantastic tails of the exotic locals of Lekbees, some of which may prove accurate. Of particular note are a number of cannibal tribes collectively know as the Yarrashin who decorate their borders with the traditional skulls on poles, spiders of unusual size, snakes, lions, tigers, leopards, sloth bears, red ants, crocodiles, frogs, and the Dholes that inhabit the lava tubes beneath the land. The local trade tongue is Mylae which (???) speaks at least to some degree.

Rekk (Dust - Ibrahim) scouts in the air, Rokk (Rock - Peter), Dükk (Dark - Edwin), Ljolmi, and I converse with the sailors, Hopp (Bouncy - Icarone) remains in our cabin suffering an illness.

On the second day a stormfront appears on the horizon. We are nearing our destination but the waters around Lekbees are dangerous with many reefs, and Captain Kysarn does not wish to attempt the crossing into Manet Sound (the so-called inland see of Lekbees) running ahead of a storm. Rekk takes flight and using his desert magics (that fortunately appear effective at sea) to pull the storm to a different heading.

On the morning of the 25th a sea creture is summoned by one of the crew to guide us through the reefs to the port of <name?>. Approaching the port there are many small lanterns floating on the water, a local festival it transpires "Hyang's day", a festival of good luck. We arrive at a stone pier and disembark.

Kysarn and his crew recommend (Golden Hawk, Red Dog, Sailors Shanty), or warn us away from (Mermaid's Revenge), several establishments. The Seahawk will be back here in 3 weeks; we arrange to leave a message at the Golden Hawk inn.

Rekk attempts to hire away one of Kysarn's crew but he is rebuffed despite his generous offer. Ibrahim: We'll pay you wages... we'll even garnish them.

We head into town and hope to find trace of the giants. A locate to 120 miles gives no result.

Appendix

A - Individuals we Met or Heard about

B - Locations we Went

C - Loot we acquired or expenses we incurred

Calendar

Summer

  Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Breeze (3)
  1   2  
3 Day of Death 4   5   6   7   8   9  
10   11   12   13   14   15   16  
17   18   19   20   21   22 We are employed and travel to Elfenberg 23 We fly to Borovia and almost sneak through a warzone
24   25   26   27   28   29   30  

Autumn

  Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Lugnasad
Fruit (4)
  1 Guild Meeting 2   3   4   5   6  
7   8   9   10   11   12   13  
14   15   16   17   18   19   20  
21   22   23   24   25   26   27  
28   29   30    
Harvest (5)
  1   2   3   4  
5   6   7   8   9   10   11  
12   13   14   15 Equinox 16   17 Seagate Autumn Fair 18 Seagate Autumn Fair
19 Harvest Moon 20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29 Michaelmas 30    
Vintage(6)
  1   2  
3   4   5   6   7   8   9  
10   11   12   13   14   15   16  
17 Blood Moon 18   19   20   21   22   23  
24   25   26   27   28   29   30 Beerfest