The Wicked Witch of the Wet

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Summary

Scribe Notes

Adventure: The Wicked Witch of the Wet
GM: Keith Smith
Session: Winter 813wk
Night: Tuesday
Location: Villa Fabrorum
Level: Medium High/ High
Party:

Employer: Some watery bint Princess Ariel of Pasifika, sponsored by Aqualina.

Summary: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to totally smeg over the Sea Witch and make off with all of her loot. As usual, if any of your team should be caught or killed, the Guild will disavow all knowledge. This rag & string golem will run amok and cause the blame to fall upon you unless you destroy it in five seconds.
Good luck.

Salient Points:

  • Get the Sea Witch off the throne
  • Retrieve the Trident of Power
  • Find the King
  • Figure out how to let the merfolk use the Pasifika/Perelandra Portal

As a side note - what does the following prophecy mean:
When the Orb of Fire and the Orb of Ice pass in front of the Red Eye of the Giant - then the Elders that Sleep will Awaken to Regain Their Place in the Cosmos

Scribe Notes

Session one: The dreadful Pirates

Arwin, Starflower, and Thorn meet guild security, for a briefing.
A note has been received from Pasifika asking for the guild to send help, and signed 'A'. Guild security's belief is that 'A' is Aqualina, who has returned to the area after her mission there was completed this autumn. 'A' will pay 10,000sp for the help although she doesn't say if this is shared or each.
Princess Ariel of Pasifika (not 'A' as Princess's sign things properly) may also be offering a Item from the Pasifikan Adventurers Guilds vault, but as the Seawitch holds the capitol where the vault is collecting this maybe somewhat of a problem .
Aqualina's information is now a week old; she reports that Ursula the sea witch is trying to over thrown the undersea kingdom, she has captured the capitol and the Trident of Power. The king is missing, his daughter is holding out in a city to the south of Rangiwhero, and to top it all off Pasifika is now under the effect of something similar to that of the dark circle.
Ursula used an army of undead to capture the capitol Skeletons and Zombies skilled with weapon. (Zombies don't normally have any weapon skills).

Guild information on Ursula the sea witch patchy it knows she is pacted to a demon and that he turned her into a Mer-octipus /squid. It is not known if she has learned to take other forms since her transformation. She has 2 familiars and also has a litch working for her.
The Trident of Power is extremely powerful and we are told its wielder can do anything they want as long as they know how and are of royal blood; apparently it only works for those of royal blood.

We discuss how we will travel to Pasifika, and how any further help the guild might send can join us. The Guild are concerned that there may be undead hiding in the lake, and guarding the portal in the sea of grass so Arwin teleports herself out there to scout it. She find no undead, no bones, no fish, nothing there at all but a few mosquitoes, and the faint traces of the powerful magics (a force field bubble and levitation) used to scoop out the earth and form the lake.
To give others a chance to catch up with us in Pasifika the three of us decide to take a slow boat ride down to the islands. Arwin has magical boat that travels around a thousand miles a day, so we estimate is will take us 4 days to travel to Pasifika and we can look for Pirates on the way.

On the third day at sea in Arwin's floating rock coracle we sight sail. They seem to have sighted us too as they turn their ship towards our tiny boat carrying only 3 women. As they get closer we make out their pirate flag, note the crew numbers and mark who the ships captain is.
Too late he realises it's a trap and tries to turn away, as Thorn flies in to board the ship at the bow. Teleporting astern Starflower sends most of the crew tumbling to the bow where they promptly surrender to Thorn and then captures the captain. Mean while Arwin appears and quells any resistance a mid ships. The ship is taken in under a minute with the loss of only a few lives.
While Thorn guards the crew Arwin and Starflower loot the ship and question the Captain; the captains hat, coat and boots are magical, they find a small chest with about 3000sp worth of gold gems etc. and a fairy in a cage. A magical life saving ring and a treasure map are also recovered.
Arwin teleported off to the location of the treasure on the map and returned with a huge sea chest full of pearls, presacious stones and metals (approx 150,000sp worth). Taking the magic items, chests and the pixie, who is named Iridessa, we sent the pirates back their own plane; apparently we are worse than 'that boy' in Neverland.

As we approached the northern tip of Rangiwhero heading for the enchanted forest to return Iradessa, a second pixie, Prilla, popped in to collect her. So with an IOU from the Iridessa for the rescue we sped down the west coast of the island to its southern tip and found His Holiness Bishop Velcanthus and Sir Wojer waiting at the docks of the trading post near the Ancient city of Pasifika about mid morning.

Loot from the sea voyage ;
Small chest 3,000 sp worth of silver, gold, jewels etc.
Huge chest 150,000 sp worth of pearls, gold, jewels etc.
Ring, that on contact with water expands to a life preserver with Buoyancy on it.
Fancy Hat, with Milsci bonuses and Bardic voice.
Boots, with AG mod & windstorm Protection.
Fancy Jacket, with 5pt Armour, water proofing, & adjusts the weather gauge by 2 for comfort.

Session 2&3: Reinforcements

His Holiness the Bishop Velcanthus and Sir Wojer had travelled to Pasifika via the portal system and spent several days waiting in the local pub. Once all five of us had become reacquainted and gotten something to drink we went down the coast to meet our employers.
Aqualina, Princess Ariel of Pasifika (a mermaid) where waiting in a large rock pool along with Mizuno (a mermaid) Kaioh (a sea elf) and Princess Aquana (a mermaid and the ambassador to the elves). They brief us on what they would like us to help them do. 1/ Get the Sea Witch off the throne; 2/ Retrieve the Trident of Power; 3/ Find the King; 4/ Figure out how to let the merfolk use the Pasifika/Perelandra Portal.

They add to our information on Ursula; she is an E&E with some Alchemy and Necromantic magics pacted to the Sea Duke with two familiars' electric eels named flotsam and jetsam. On the surface her beef with the King is simple they are twins; she claims she was born first and should rule. Now she's taking power by force.

The sea elves claim that they have some old records that support Ursula's claim and so they and mermaids start hotly debating their validity.
The party leave them to this and decide to start out by working out how to get merfolk though the Pasifika/Perelandra Portal, so reinforcements can be brought in from Perelandra on Freya.

To do anything about getting Merfolk from the land locked portal at Pasifika down the hill to the water a mile and a half away we will need a water supply at or near the portal so rain is summoned and we begin to flood the nearby coliseum as a reservoir before going to Perelandra to look at what we have to work with there. The portals on Freya are on an island only 6 feet above the water, and perhaps 20 -30 yards from the water. Arwin and his holiness set up a system where the Merfolk wave ride up a channel to the portal then pull themselves though to a pool on the Pasifika hill where they then are rune portalled down to the old capital under the sea.
Neither Starflower nor I are happy with this solution as it requires magics to transport people, and his holiness rune portal in particular to operate. While they are setting up this system and performing the rituals to get things working we survey and draw plans for a Giant Fish Ladder, a series of pools that lead like steps up to the portal. Six winding pool/stairs for the Paralandra portal, and 25 long canal like pools for the Pasifika portal, that once filled can be topped up by people with buckets if need be. I give these plans to Aqualina before we set out for the occupied capital of Atlantica to see what we can do about tasks 1-3.

Atlantica

Buffs prior to leaving Pasifika.

  1. 6 pack of rank 15 waters of healing
  2. 6 potions of Aquatic affinity Rk 20.
  3. 21 hrs of water breathing; existing pearls recharged plus the 3 we got for those without their own from Paralandra.
  4. Buoyancy
  5. Waterproofing
  6. Soul Shroud
  7. Mind speech
  8. Vapor breathing.
  9. Arwins tea with +45 stealth +5 fatigue -5 from die rolls.
  10. Weapon of magma on assorted weapons and 3 rocks.
  11. His holiness gave everyone 2 potions except Starflower who only got one. Just in case anyone actually got charmed, controlled etc.
  12. Arwin & Sir Wojer .... so she could acquire his elvish witch sight (talk about being used.)

Fly to within 10 miles of Atlantica, land on/in water travel in Bishop Velcanthus's bound water bubble to about 1 mile from city. Sir Wojer and Thorn travel as newts. A forward base/ fall back position is created with bound water, air filled dome and Sir Wojer and Thorn de-newted. From this base we can see that all around the city kelp is being farmed.
The last of the buffs are then added, after which we set out for the city. Starflower and Arwin scout ahead, the rest follow in his holiness's bubble.
While we travelled and set up etc. Starflower has been receiving messages via the Bardic Whispering World spell. This spell unlike its Air college counterpart is not as reliable in its delivery times, so the three parts of the message arrive slightly scrambled and out of order. Nor is it a secure form of communication as other bards have a chance of over hearing the message as it passes by them. So it's not a surprise to me when as we enter the city A Siren's Song and a cloud of bubbles stream out of the central tower towards us. Sir Wojer fails to resist the song, but is quickly restored to his senses by his holiness.
The bubbles are a swarm of moon jelly fish which Starflowers TK rage reduces to more jelly than fish. Behind them are a small group of 8 merfolk guards and 2 mages. The bard and a mind mage whose attempt to get the party on telepathy (doomed due to buffs) has resulted in incapacitation.
A brief skirmish, leaves 9 dead merfolk, the last survivor our prisoner and the party totally unscathed. When sir wojer had finished looting the dead, Bishop Velcanthus turned our prisoner into an oyster and pocketed him. Starflower protested she was still busy questioning him, his holiness pointed out that she was a mind mage and using mind speech she still could.

Loot from first encounter;
20-30 sp current on the oyster
Tridents - master worked
Breast plates - Master worked

Messages in order received:
1/probably local. Undead incursions stooped, may be heading your way. Astrology readings indicate that V is using you to get at F and F. Been
2/ having visions of tentacle horrors invading. Summoning? Warning - A obsessed with killing you, planning major assault on capital. Rest of us concerned.
3/defeated creatures, rescued dwarf from sarcophagus. Major mana flow from there heading in your direction. Location of general nodes? Other minor flows being investigated,

Bishop Velcanthus thought V was the sea duke and F & F might be the duke and Marquis of the waters.
The warning about A wanting to kill you, could mean A wants to kill U or Ursula
I'm not sure we have the whole message yet but I believe the order it was sent in is 3,1,2.

Round two in the palace

Who would have thought to protect the impregnable under water castle from air magics.
Not these Merfolk or the witch so we breezed in the back way, and ordered some surprised guards at sword point to "Take us to your leader".
The guards lead us the back way to the throne room; as Bishop Velcanthus crossed the threshold of an empty anti chamber to seal the side doors so we couldn't be flanked he broke the illusion on the room. 18 skeletons, 3 giant sehuigan Zombies and 2 coral golems are in the room 2 giant octopi and 2 giant star fish enter from those side doors and creep across the ceiling. DTJs take out the Zombies and golems, TK rages and swords take care of the rest.
We enter the throne room there is a large wormy thing in a cage and a water elemental, Esp and telepathy tell us the worm is the missing king and there are 5 more enemies in one of the side rooms. Quick sword work takes the elemental out before a spell can be prepared to banish it.
Starflower frees the controlled water mage in the next room and she collapses. That leaves an abolith brain in a large bubble with 3 sarcophagi around it. These are the controllers of the undead armies.
Arwins Sigils of no healing are used to stop the bubble around the brain repairing and its DTJed until it breaks. The brain is then killed, but not before it TK rages me across the room and Arwin is death cursed by it. (To die by the next Phantasium.)
We kill the occupants of the sarcophagi 2 of which are sehuigan, the third was another of the missing people, a dwarf. His death was accidental, an effect of trying to free him from the sarcophagi.
We stabilise the water mage and preserve the dwarf collect fluid from the brain and generally loot. There is an alchemist lab, a Shrine to the sea duke (Vepos) that also has a sign to elder powers on its floor.

We search the rest of the palace for Ursula, but all we find is a Necronomicon in her bed room. It has an elder sign on its covers, its origin is the plane of hell V resides on and it is book marked. As it is also cursed to explode on opening we don't investigate what sea witches consider bed time reading further.

Starflower receives a further bardic magical message "Undead stopped, collapsed. Heading for castle" Grr, don't these people have any concept of a sneak attack, or an idea about waiting for proper intelligence reports before bringing the command staff into unsecured occupied territory.

Finally Starflower picks up minds on the very edge of her telepathy range deep below us, so we start searching for ways under the castle. We find a sort of ramped tunnel/stairway and start down when Sir Roger who is in the lead hits a sleep ward. After we wake him we proceed on with more care, a slowness ward, an agony ward, a necrosis ward, a noxious vapours ward. This is defiantly the right way, we can hear chanting. We hit a darkness with 10 skeletons which die to a TK rage.

Beyond is a chamber Ursula is here.

The Red Eye of the Giant

The chamber is very large roughly rectangular and high vaulted, carved from the rock under the palace. Ursula is at the far end along with her two eel familiars, the second of the missing twin water mages lays before the sea witch on an alter. Around the walls of the cavern are ledges upon which sit many chanting skulls. There are many other creatures in here between us and the sea witch, 10 shapeless horrors called Deep Ones, 20 or so serhuigan, a few are mages, a dozen are armed with crossbows, and another half dozen dead ones that are now ghasts. 2 giant crown of thorns starfish, a giant lobster, 2 water elementals and 3 marids (djins of the water persuasion).
Beyond all this is a portal displaying part of a large banded orange and white circle, with a large red spot on it. In front of this are two much smaller circles one red and one white; the red spot, the white and red circles are almost in a line.
When the Orb of Fire and the Orb of Ice pass in front of the Red Eye of the Giant - then the Elders that Sleep will Awaken to Regain Their Place in the Cosmos
It doesn't take us but a glance to realise that this is what the prophecy means and that the sea witch is going to Awaken these Elders if we don't stop her.
Sir Wojer and Thorn hold the hordes away from Starflower and Bishop Velcanthus as their magics start to lay to waste to these henchmen.
Arwin after a volley of DTJs into the elementals and Marids teleports down to the sea witch to spoil her ritual.
The mages send some phantasms after Arwin but the controlling mages are killed by Starflowers TK rage before they get to her ending the spell.
Arwin gets her wish to be the one to assassinate the sea witch and a giant mermaid with emerald scales and sea weed in her hair turns up, the Avatar of the sea duke herself.
Arwin battles the demonic avatar and the 2 eels with magical input from his holiness as the other three finish most of the rest of the horde. Only a starfish, now uncontrolled survived.
Ursula's body now reverted from her former octopus like form to a very beautiful mermaid comes back to life and starts some sort of rant about getting even for something.
Just then a crazed mermaid Princess comes charging into the cavern raging that she is going to get the bitch, trailing a stream of attendants Aqualina among them, who are trying to catch and restrain her.
Starflower suspecting some form of body possession cast her unbinding spell on Ursula, and she suddenly becomes all helpful and good. (This might be a ploy, or she really could now be free of demonic influences time will tell.)
Arwin kills the demonic avatar.
The trident of power is removed from the possession of the crazy princess and she is restrained.
Ursula helpfully strives away Arwins curse. Now she has a powerful curse in a pendant.
Ohh, and there is another of those elder symbols on the floor down here turns out it is a portal to the one up stairs.

Someone please tell me which fool let all the heirs to the kingdom into a major demonic combat Zone, because we now have both princess and the king here with us. His majesty is in his holinesses pocket.

Aqualina's Notes

After my last adventure, it was becoming apparent that Ursula, the local Sea Witch, was becoming more of a threat to the merfolk kingdom so, a few days after we got back to the Guild, I returned to Pasifika. I hope my cats aren't going to be too annoyed at me as I suspect this may take a while. Once there, I made contact with Princess Ariel, who was also rather concerned about Ursula and, with King Kierl's permission, I was given access to the Palace Library. I think he's thinking of appointing me as the merfolk liason to the Seagate Guild. I was also assigned Gabriella, who is Ariel's Lady in Waiting, and best friend, as an assistant when Ariel didn't need her. Gabriella is also part Pasifikan.

It was generally known that Ursula is actually King Kierl's twin sister but not being the firstborn meant that she wasn't in line with the throne. Instead, when it was discovered she had a high magical aptitude, it was hoped she would be satisfied with being the Court Magician. So she was trained as an E&E. Somewhere along the way, she secretly joined a cult to Vephar and became Pacted. Since demonic worship was outlawed, she was banished from the Court by her father, the then King. She disappeared for a while but turned up as a mer-octapoid, living in a cave on the outskirts of the Kingdom where she continued her studies of magic and alchemy. Somewhere in these travels, she picked up the Necro College as well as several other abilities that she had shrived with the aid of her magical seashell. She also had two demonic electric eel familiars called Flotsam and Jetsam whom she was able to scry through.

She originally had tried to use her magic for the benefit of all, but, we can only guess she became drunk with power and started scheming to take over King Kierl's kingdom when he took over from his father. Some say that the prior King's death was her doing but there's been no evidence to back that up, only hearsay and suspicion. I got the opinion, from the stories I read and heard, that at some stage, her efforts to use magic to aid sort of backfired on her as, initially her magic had unexpected side effects or didn't quite do exactly what she had in mind. Of course, it was then that she started to get the moniker as the 'Wicked Witch' or the 'Evil Sea Witch'.

Prince Kierl, before Ursula had been banished, had got married and his first child, Princess Annelise (now Queen Annelise of Perelandra), knew Ursula as an aunt and has fond memories of her. Princess Aquana was born a year or so before the banishment, but Princess Ariel was born after the banishment and King Kierl's coronation. It was also Princess Ariel, in her rebellious teenage years who sought the Sea Witch's aid in gaining legs as she had fallen in love with a Destinian human who she had seen from afar. Ursula agreed, but her price was Ariel's voice. Ariel disappeared to the land and managed to win that love but it didn't last. Still mute, and unable to return to the sea, she found her way to the Southhaven Academy for Girls and after a few years, graduated in military science and demonology as well as creative note passing and sign language. She's the only person I know who can insult people or creatively curse without saying anything. Aquana and her adventuring friends attempted to retrieve Ariel's voice from Ursula but failed. All Ursula did to them was to geas them in such a way so that they couldn't act against her at all. It wasn't until recently that a Guild party traded an abolith brain for Ariel's voice which Aquana delivered to Ariel soon after. In the meantime, Ariel had developed a great hatred for Ursula, blaming her for the situation she had found herself in.

During my time researching, I visited the aquatic elf kingdom, in the company of Aquana, Mizuno, and Kaoh. Aquana had been appointed the merfolk kingdom's ambassador to the elves, Kaoh was the elven ambassador to the merfolk and Mizuno was along for the trip as well as wanting to formalise her relationship with Kaoh, the event that both of us had been invited to. The aquatic elves are a bit more tolerant about non-traditional marriages than the merfolk but the merfolk may have to adapt as, at the moment, because of all the wars and stuff, their population is about four maids to every man. Even the birth proportion seems to be slightly biased towards maids.

It was a really beautiful ceremony with lots of dancing, drinking and merriment - not sure if Alfheim elves do that sort of stuff - must ask Starflower sometime - but there was a lot of ritual behind it. King Ivellious was there to conduct the formal part of the ceremony, along with his new paramour, Elani. I guess I shouldn't really say where I ended up that night and with whom, but I wish the new couple much luck.

Between celebrating, sleeping, and basically partying to oh my ghod in the morning - and sometimes it wasn't the morning after the day before, but several mornings later, - I did manage to do some research in the elven library as well. Aquana had already discovered the elven ambassador's diary dating to the birth of the twins but it seemed to imply Ursula had been born first and subsequent pages had been removed. The notes that did follow supported the merfolk records that Kierl was first. It took a heck of a lot of digging, questioning, some magical divinations and one long trip to the outskirts, but we managed to find someone, a mermaid called Sesuna - strange ... I had the feeling I had heard that name before - who told us that Ursula was the true heir but, it had been decided to hide that fact, as an astrology reading fortold that Ursula would be the bane of the Kingdom. If Ursula had found that out, and maybe she had through her Pact, then talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. Might explain her anger towards Kierl and her attempts to take over. Aquana also advised us to keep this secret for now until verification could be discovered.

A few days after we had got back from seeing Sesuna was when Ursula finally struck. Just before dawn, I was awoken by the sound of the alarm and discovered that the palace was under attack by a very large swarm of undead. I also felt the same feeling I had felt when I was in the area of the Dark Circle a long time ago, which I was sure hadn't been there the night before. King Kierl was doing a masterful job of holding them off with the power of the Royal Trident, an item that can only be used by those of the royal line, but Ursula managed to take him down with her magic. Meanwhile the rest of us were engaging in a fighting retreat in the corridors. I was trying to protect Gabriella, even though I was nearly out of magical power by then, but she was grabbed by a mass of undead and I had to be dragged out of there by Kaoh before they got me too. Those that made it out retreated all the way north to the old merfolk city of Pasifika, which was in the process of being restored after it was severely damaged when Rangiwhero rose again. Ariel told us she had witnessed her father fall and Ursula getting the trident. Kierl had ordered her to leave and get help so she didn't know what had happened to her father.

There was quite a bit of discussion and arguments about what we should do next. Ariel was all for getting a strike force together and taking the castle back (for a military scientist, she can be rather abrupt) but the rest of us were able to calm her down and see reason. Mizuno was busy treating the wounded while Kaoh went to tell the elves. The rest of us meanwhile tried to figure out ways to get reinforcements from Perelandra where Queen Annelise is. The trick was getting merfolk to cross over a mile of land. I also sent a message to the Guild in order to get some 'hard bastards' but, given what I got back in return, I suspect Blitzkrieg had already got them all for the drow war in the Western Kingdoms. Still, I was grateful that I did get who and what I got. Meanwhile Kaoh arrived back with the news that elven forces were going to be standing by for instructions.

The party were briefed on the situation by Ariel, who had taken on the role of 'leader' and spokesperson, namely cause she put herself forward. However, when she was telling them about the twin birth and that Kierl was first, Aquana interrupted with the news of what we had found. Ariel went angry (rather like other redheads I know) and firmly responded that there was no way that was true and basically cutting off any of Aquana's attempts to say otherwise. Aquana finally lost her temper too and told Ariel that 'your time on land has turned you into a hard bitch' before diving underwater, presumably to cool down. Ariel looked rather contrite and decided to follow Aquana, hopefully to apologise. Kaoh later explained that Ariel had used to be a fun loving but rebellious mermaid, out seeking adventure and doing her own thing when she was supposed to be doing other stuff - just like Aquana had been. But, lately, ever since Ariel had returned, she seemed obsessed with the idea of destroying Ursula. Both Kaoh and Mizuno were rather concerned about this.

The Guild Party had already gone to Perelandra, with the view of working out a way to get reinforcements from there so Kaoh, Mizuno and I went to continue looking after the workers that were trying to rebuild Pasifika. We were also getting plagued by undead attacks and a worker reported a bunch of undead creatures were guarding something in the old throne room of the old palace. So, once Ariel and Aquana returned, still looking rather peeved with each other we went to investigate. At least they were still being civil to each other but we could feel friction.

It was just as I suspected. We had found another of Ursula's undead controlling nodes. So we attacked them from range, Mizuno and I with waterbolts, Kaoh with energy bolts and Ariel with Bolts of Starfire while Aquana provided bardic support magic. When the numbers were whittled down, Ariel, Aquana and I charged into melee with the others providing covering fire. Mizuno's healing prevented us from taking lethal damage but we were feeling rather battered by the time we reached the sarcophegus and freed the occupant, another missing member of the Gentlefolk's Exploratory Society. I guess Ariel and Aquana were feeling rather better after that fight as they high fived each other when the last opponent went down. Kaoh went off to talk to both princesses privately leaving Mizuno and I to clean up the mess as well as securing the area.

It wasn't until the following morning that I received a message that the Guild party had returned from Perelandra, via my Conch of Summoning Merfolk I had left under a rock, marked with the Guild Crest in the pool where we had originally met. They had succeeded with a magical solution that would do the job for now but Thorn had come up with plans for a more permanent installation that didn't depend on maintaining rituals. I agreed with her and said I would arrange to get that system built. Meanwhile a force of Perelandran merfolk, led by Queen Annelise had come through. Annelise was also Aquana and Ariel's eldest sister (Ariel being the youngest) and Aquana had already said that Ariel looked up to Annelise so if anyone could sort Ariel out, Annelise could.

I also thought it worth noting that Sir Wojer came back from Perelandra, rather badly sunburnt - all over. He had managed to punch a hole in the perpetual cloud cover on Freya and was blasted by the full force of the naked sun - which was rather brighter and more powerful than it is on Alusia. Probably something to note not to do - that cloud cover is obviously there for a reason.

While the Guild party went off to scout out the palace in an attempt to see what was going on, we basically got back to what we were doing. Also that morning, Mizuno had been having visions, being the most sensitive of us to those things, which seemed to indicate that Vephar was using Ursula to summon something rather powerful and nasty to help him take out both Furcalor and Forneus and hence have sole dominion over the sea. Wasn't sure what but we all agreed we didn't need another demonic creature on the plateau so we thought it wise to inform the Guild Party of this. Unfortunately it took three Whispering Words to send the message so I hoped it wasn't too garbed by the time it got there. I also suggested we aim it at Starflower so it could be put over the mindlink I was so sure she would have up.

A few more days passed and we were dealing to another undead raid who were trying to take out the artifact we had running that was currently protecting us from the Dark Circle effect. It was probably the sixth attack in so many days and we were getting rather tired of it. Also the three princess sisters (erm, two princesses and a queen) were busy catching up. Anyway, we were in the midst of repelling an attack when all the undead suddenly stopped and fell over. Divinations told us that they were no longer being controlled and were now inert. It was like someone had thrown a switch. Scrying around the plateau, especially near Atlantica, told us that it wasn't just here either. So Ariel made the decision she was going in. When we pointed out that she was technically in command and she should be delegating, she flatly refused, insisting that she was going to confront Ursula and take the 'she-devil bitch' (her words) down once and for all. She then swam off towards Atlantica. The rest of us decided to follow, muttering something about headstrong, foolhardy and stubborn princesses and we'd better back her up before she does something completely stupid - if she wasn't already. Besides, if something happened to her, we'd never hear the end of it - even after a resurrection. Annelise assured us she'd organise a strike force and follow as soon as possible as a tertiary backup.

Sea elves don't swim as fast as merfolk so Kaoh was having difficulty keeping up and Mizuno wasn't used to fast long length swimming so I ended up wrapping everyone in a bubble of water and using a Mage Current to push us along. Which was just as well because Ariel must have been using some variant of Star Wings or something as we were having difficulty keeping up. As it was, we were about five minutes behind her as we sped into the Palace - meeting very little resistance.

Ariel darted through the rooms as if looking for someone - which she probably was. Dead bodies in the corridor, but no sign of the King, Ursula ... or Gabriella. No sign of anyone actually although we caught glimpses of some rather worried faces watching us from concealment. Ariel then found a tunnel going down which Aquana was rather sure hadn't been there a few weeks ago. She barrelled down the tunnel, not even bothering to check for wards ... and she was the only one with a decent DA talent. Fortunately, all the wards she set off were only designed to slow her down so we were hard on her fins as she burst out into this large cavern where a big fight was taking place. The bit that caught our attention was Arwen taking on a giant Ursula who was trying to zap her with the trident. Ariel attempted to charge into the attack but Aquana put on a burst of speed and tackled her sister, bringing her down to the ground with the rest of us dogpiling on top as Arwen brought Ursula down. As she collapsed, some sort of dark cloud appeared, and formed into an avatar of Vephar, who was now wielding the trident. Both the avatar and the electric eels glowed with energy but Arwen didn't seem fazed - in fact she was looking rather pleased. I guess she wants to add another demon to her list of conquests. At this point, Ariel stopped struggling and we just watched to see what happened.

Basically Arwen managed to annihilate the avatar, and both eels while deftly dodging all their attacks. We were paying more attention to the battle than Ariel as she managed to take advantage of the situation to swim up and grab the trident which was flying out of the avatar's hand as it dissipated, charge it with power and point it at Ursula who was struggling to her tentacles while preparing a spell. She was about to let loose all that stored energy when Aquana swum up, grabbed the trident as well and started grappling with her sister to wrest the trident from her grasp. Ariel was screaming at Aquana in sheer frustration while trying to maintain a bead on Ursula. I don't know if anyone else noticed but, during their struggle, some sort of dark energy flowed out of the trident and into the surrounding rock.

I'm not quite sure what happened next but, simultaneous with Arwen's death strike, Ursula cast something at the avatar while saying something in some ancient language. Mizuno, who knows a lot about such things, said later that Ursula was basically breaking her pact and attempting a banishment. As Ursula uttered those words she slumped back to the ground, her body changing from heing a mer-octopid to her original black tailed merform. Ariel was so stunned that Aquana was able to wrest the trident from her and the rest of us restrained her.

Ariel was still fuming but there wasn't very much she could do about it while Ursula explained to the party that she had been under compulsion from Vephar but, somehow she had sudden;y managed to regain control. I suspect Starflower. Anyway, she shrived off Arwen's death curse, mainly because Arwen wanted to have it in a bottle. That was when Annelise and her troupe of guards showed up. Ariel gave Aquana a look that basically said "You're in trouble now" which seemed to be confirmed when Annelise sternly ordered Aquana to 'Untie your sister this instance OR ELSE!!!". Hmmm ... I wonder what they had been up to as kids. Aquana meekly did as she was told and also, just as meekly gave up the trident to Annelise when asked. The rest of us kept a close eye on Ariel though, ready to grab her just in case. She was still looking daggers at Ursula but did nothing especially while Annelise was hugging 'Aunty Ursula' as a long lost relative - which I suppose she was. Annelise then used the trident to restore King Kierl, who had been in Father Rowan's pocket all this time.

Kierl basically took charge. After using the trident to 'de-polyp' everyone (including Gabriella) and basically clean up the mess, we all told him what had happened. It took a few deliberations before he made his decisions. Ariel was to go with Annelise to spend some time in Perelandra, for a year or so, hopefully to learn some restraint and manners. As for Ursula he finally decided to banish her to the land and only to return once she had found redemption for what she had done, something Ursula was anxious to do. Starflower offered to look after her. I was really hoping it would work out. King Kierl also asked me to return as soon as I could to help him sort out the repercussions and also act as some sort of informal ambassador to the islands and the Guild, something I was happy to do, especially since all three of his daughters were going to be away for a while.

Awards

Experience points (7 sessions) - before racial tax
Arwen Rowan (Father) Starflower Thorn Wojer (Sir)
19500 18500 20000 20700 20500
Experience spent during game
0 0 0 0 0
Experience to Spend
19500 18500 20000 20700 20500
Lucre (in Silver Pennies - after 10% Guild Tax - before loot):
289445.4sp 289445.4sp 289445.4sp 289445.4sp 289445.4sp
Arcane Points Earned
40 40 40 50 40

Masterworks Gained

  • Arwen (she knows what for)

Time on adventure

  • 10 days if returning by portal.
  • 13 days if returning by Arwin's boat

Loot

Loot obtained during the course of the Adventure

  • The Admiral's Hat [Starflower]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Enhancement, Bardic
    • Physical Appearance: This is a black felt hat sea trimmed with gold.
    • Dimensions: The hat adjusts to comfortably fit any humanoid head.
    • Weight: 2lb
    • Effects: The wearer of this hat gains the naval military scientist ability if they do not have it already, and if they do have it, they gain +2 to their effective military scientist rank in naval engagements. The hat also confers the Bardic project voice ability, so that the wearer can always be heard clearly within 3000ft.
    • Cost: 5000 sp
  • The Captain's Coat
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Protection
    • Physical Appearance: This is a long coat, made of black leather, trimmed in gold.
    • Dimensions: The coat is made to fit a well-built human male, 6ft in height. It is loose enough to be worn by most humans or elves. It would look rather silly on a halfling or giant!
    • Weight: 5lb
    • Effects: This coat acts as well-crafted leather armour on the wearer, conferring 5 points of armour. It may be worn over other armour, but does not stack, and only the highest protection value applies. The coat is under a permanent waterproofing which extends to protect the wearer against rain and sea-spray. In addition, the effects of inclement weather on the weather scale tables are reduced by 2 for the wearer (in the direction of comfort).
    • Cost: 5000 sp
  • Boots of Steadiness [Thorn]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Balance
    • Physical Appearance: These are black leather sea boots.
    • Dimensions: The boots adjust to comfortably fit any humanoid feet.
    • Weight: 2lb
    • Effects: The wearer of these boots modifies all agility rolls to stay upright on a heaving deck (or similar) by one degree of difficulty in favour of the wearer. The wearer is immune to the effects of the Windstorm spell (Air S-16). The boots are under a permanent waterproofing which extends to keep the wearer's feet dry.
    • Cost: 5000sp
  • Life Preserver Ring [Wojer]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Flotation
    • Physical Appearance: This is a simple ring, striped in red and white.
    • Dimensions: The ring adjusts to fit any humanoid finger.
    • Weight: Negligible
    • Effects: Should the wearer of this ring fall into the sea or any other large body of water, the ring instantly expands into a red and white striped flotation ring that will enable the wearer to float on the surface. Alternatively the ring can be tossed into the water for the same effect.. If the ring is allowed to thoroughly dry out after use, it will return to its former state.
    • Cost: 1000sp
  • Pearls of Waterbreathing (3) [FR, SW, A]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Storage
    • Physical Appearance: A spherical pearl, 1cm in diametre.
    • Weight: Negligible
    • Effects: It looks like an ordinary pearl, but instead is a receptable for a WaterBreathing spell. The pearl has to be placed near the wearer's skin in order to function. When a Water Mage holds the pearl and casts a WaterBreathing, the spell is immediately absorbed by the pearl and split into a number of charges equal to the number of hours that the spell would normally run. Each charge lasts for an hour and has a base chance of 45% + 3/rank of spell initially installed. The pearl can only be recharged when it is empty. If a backfire occurs when charging there is a 5% * spellrank chance that the pearl will crack and be rendered useless. As a safety feature, if the current charge runs out while the user is still underwater the next charge, if present, automatically activates. The user will be aware that this occurs.
    • Cost: 4000sp
  • Potion of Death Curse [Arwen]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Death
    • Magically Trapped, Warded, or Cursed: Yes
    • Weight: Half pound.
    • Effects: The imbiber of this potion will have the following Death Curse inflicted on them. "You will attract all Phantasms in the vicinity and be instantly killed by the first one that hits you". The entire potion must be consumed.
    • Cost: 0gp
  • Iridessa's Favour [Starflower]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Fae Light
    • Weight: Negligible
    • Effects: This is a half sunflower seed which has been impregnated with pixie dust and glows with a pale light. The magic is there to make sure it can't be forged. The bearer of this token is owed a favour by the Light Talent Never-fairy Iridessa. The favour must be something that her and her friends can accomplish and must also be approved by the fae Queen. This can range from a service to a gift but the favour cannot be anything that would cause harm to any entity or the Natural World. Any attempt to do so will destroy the token. Once used, the token will stop glowing.
    • Value: 5000gp
  • Orb of Will [Rowan]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Mana Manipulation
    • Weight: 8oz

** Effects: This crystal, if held in the hand, allows the maintenance of a concentration spell when it would otherwise be broken. The orb does not impair spell casting (i.e. you can cast with the hand holding the orb) and provide a 20 point bonus to making concentration checks. Should the wielder be running two concentration spells and circumstances dictate that they lose concentration, the spell held in their feeble organic mind is lost. The orb only needs to be in the Adept's possession to run the second concentration spell once started but should be in the hand to actively start and maintain the spell.

  • Effects: When held in the hand, this orb
does not hinder Preparing or Casting magic
provides a 20 point bonus to Concentration Checks
allows the bearer to ignore the Concentration limitation on the duration of one (only) spell when they are Casting it.
Clarification
If the Adept's Concentration is broken, the magic being maintained by the orb will not end. Any other Concentration magic the Adept is sustaining will, however.
Once the spell is cast, the orb need not be held, although it must still be in the Adept's possession.
  • Value: 15,000sp
For the orb, Rowan trades to
→Starflower:
  • Iron Boar Charm
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Summer
    • Weight:5 oz
    • Effects:This small charm in the shape of a boar is crudely carved from iron. It will add 5 to the wearer's Willpower for the purposes of calculating bonuses for the College of Sorceries of the Mind.
Note: This bonus stacked with Fr. Rowan's increased WP effect (WP 40 vs College of the Sorceries of the Mind)
The Summer King, Winter 806, Value: 1,500sp, G.M. Callum Thorpe 021 075 6353
→Thorn
  • Flare Crystal
    • Plane of Origin: Haven
    • Nature of Magic: Crystal
    • Weight:1 lb
    • Effects:A large star-shaped crystal that needs to be worn/carried somewhere exposed - shield boss or peak of helms are popular with the Dwarves. Provided it is exposed to sunlight for at least 4 hours (does not need to be contiguous), it absorbs sunlight to charge up for one Sun-Flare. The effective rank of the flare is 2 x Hours spent charging (max rk 20).
Releasing the flare is a pass action (and touching the crystal), Flash-of-light effect, D+(Rank/2) damage resist for half. The flash is concentrated sunlight, double damage vs undead and potentially slaying creatures that are vulnerable to sunlight (resist or die).
Adventure: We did offer to pay Summer 812, Value: 30,000sp, GM: Stephen Martin
→Arwen:
One of the Shriven Potions.
  • Tridents - master worked +5SC +1D (x20) - 1000sp each [4 each]
  • Sets of Shell laminated breast plates - Master worked (x20) +2 Protection, protects against physical attacks made to the chest, but if such a Specific Grievous Injury is generated, the Protection value of the breastplate is reduced by 1. This armour can only be repaired in Pasifika, and only if at least 1 point of Protection remains.

These breasplates only stacks with soft armours. - 500sp each [4 each]

  • Potions of Banishment (x5 - one each if the PC wants it) - These potions allow the imbiber to then cast the Banishment (S-2) spell as if they were a Rank 10 Namer if they are on their Plane of Origin. If they are off-plane, it instead acts as if it's a 'Get Out of Plane' potion, sending the imbiber to their home plane as if they were the target of the Namer Ritual of Expulsion (R-2). Value: 5000sp each.

Potions of Shriven Talents

Drinking one of these bestows the stored talent at Rank 0. They are then ranked as normal. Value 2000sp each. One each is offered from the list.

  • Resist Pain [Arwen] - in exchange for post-adventure services
  • Resist Pain
  • Sense Danger [Arwen]
  • Sense Danger
  • Resist Temperature
  • Project Image [Wojer]
  • Project Image [Arwen] (was Father Rowan's pick - given to Arwen)
  • Project Image
  • Namer Detect Aura
  • Namer Detect Aura
  • Quickcast
  • Ask the Dead
  • Enhance Vision
  • Enhance Vision
  • Enhance Vision
  • Necrogeny
  • Aquatic Affinity
  • Resist Hardship
  • Infravision [Thorn]
  • Infravision

A pick from the Pasifikan Guild Vaults each

Current Contents

  • Buckler of Shielding [Thorn]
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Shielding
    • Weight: Negligible
    • Description:This item is a disc, like a miniature buckler, which is usually worn around the off-hand wrist. The face of the bracer is inscribed with a generic humanoid form circled by 11 pentagons.
    • Effects: The bracer modifies the wearer's Force Shield spell as follows when worn: 11 unseeable pentagonal planes of protection that float around the target on all sides are created. This increases their Defense by 5(+1/Rank) against all attacks at any range or from any direction. In addition, the spell deflects up to the first Rank points of physical damage (minimum 1) per pulse. This only applies to physical damage and has no effect on magic etc, although it can be applied to damage from spells like Diamond Javelins, Ice Bolt or Ice Projectiles. Nor does it protect against hits directly to EN or Specific Grievous Injuries.
    • Value: 5000sp
  • Copper Scroll of Mental Discipline and Fortitude
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Mental Discipline
    • Weight: 8oz
    • Effect: 24 hours after this scroll is opened, it will crumble to a greenish dust. Whoever reads from this scroll for 4 hours must permanently sacrifice 3 EN (which may be bought back in the usual way). From then on, they may advance their FT by 1 per Adventure or Season, whichever is less. There is no upper limit to which their FT value can ascend.
    • Value: Quest (Guild will value it as 20,000sp against the initial loot)
  • Airy Arc of Ballistic Movement
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Movement
    • Weight: Negligible
    • Effect: This pendant, inscribed with the image of a man leaping a tall building, modifies the Air Flight spell to allow the wearer to 'leap' into the air and travel in a ballistic arc to any hex within Rank (of Air Flight) + 1 hexes. This costs 2FT per leap. The Adept is picked up by a strong gust of wind and blasted in a parabolic arc to the target hex and dumped there. A landing roll needs to be made at the end to see how bad it is. The most likely consequence of a failure that can happen is that they fall prone and have to spend an action getting back up again (The GM is encouraged to improvise humourous results)
    • Value: 10,000sp
  • Aquatic Metallic Robes of the Arcane
    • Plane of Origin: Alusia
    • Nature of Magic: Protection
    • Weight: 12lbs
    • Effect: This seagreen coloured robe is intricately woven from fibres of an unusual metal, being an alloy of mithril and iridium. It will allow an adept to cast with no penalty. The robe confers a number of protections:
      • Reduces all damage from any source by 7 +1 for every 5 WP over 15. The wearers ranks in Philosopher, Alchemist and Astrologer are added to the WP to determine this bonus.
      • +5 Magical Resistance
      • +5 Defense
      • The wearer is treated as having Rank 0 in Aquatic Affinity unless they already have Rank in the Talent.
    • Additional notes:
      • The Weight Factor is 2 and there are no AG or Stealth modifiers
      • If damaged, the Robes require the attentions of a Rank 10 Armourer at a cost of 1,500sp per point of Protection repaired
      • Can be swum in without any penalty, in addition, will instantly dry after being returned to the air.
      • Created from blending Father Rowan's Green Metallic Robes and Black Dragon Armour with the power of the Royal Trident.
  • Megahex Protection from Agony [Arwen]
    • (writeup to come)

Stuff for the Seagate Times

  • Father Rowan to Sir Wojer (several times) - "Put your clothes back on"
  • What's Hot: Aquatic Elf Twins

Reference

MilSci

Skirmish Formations Watches
Default Double File Single File 3-4 Hrs per Watch
Thorn   Sir Wojer Thorn   Sir Wojer Thorn Rowan
  Rowan   Rowan Sir Wojer Sir Wojer
Starflower   Arwen Starflower   Arwen Rowan Arwen
Arwen Starflower
Starflower Thorn

Buffs

Magic Rk Effects Dur St AV BV TH WO
Strength of Stone (Arwen) 16 +16 Endurance 17 hours EN EN EN EN EN
Armour of Earth (Arwen) 20 42 Def, 1 Damage Reduction 10½ hrs
Greater Heart Rune (Rowan) 8 Cures 7 EN when EN is damaged 9 days
Willow Healing (Rowan) 12 Cures 3 EN per Pulse for 14 Pulses 24 hrs
Rune Shield (Rowan) 12 +17 Def +3 Prot, avoid a Spec. Griev. 13 hrs
Bless (Rowan) 10 +10 SC +10 vs Fear (10 targets) 55 min
Weapon of Magma (Arwen) 8 +13 SC +8 damage (max) 4½ hrs
Trollskin (Arwen) 7 +1 EN / pulse 65 secs
Mind Shield (Thorn) 12 +34MR vs Mental Attack Mind Can't be Read. 25 hrs
Force Shield (Thorn) 7 +12 def 80 mins
Wings of the Phoenix (Thorn) 10 Fly at 40 mph on firery Wings 5½ hrs
Spell name (Cast by) ? hours

The Bishop

The Bishop always has these personal defences in place
Circle of Protection: absorbs the first 20 DP per Pulse, adds 5 to attacker's die roll
Soul Shroud: mind or pact cannot be read, +30 to resist effects that Charm, Compel or Bind.
When dangerous
Hex Field (min of (5 blows or 5 ½ hrs))
Solar Protection (+14 vs light/solar efect, -1 damage vs light/solar, 70 mins)

Also, various shapes if things look as if they're about to turn to custard.

The Bishop's Spell Rack
Incantation Rk FT Constraints
Hedge Maze 10 2 Unracks
Hellfire - Spell Magazine 18 3 Unracks
Hex Field 10 2 Unracks
Morning Routine
Purifiy if needed 1 hr
rack Mind Cloak - Minor AoE 1 hr
rack Spell Magazine 1 hr
Bind Air 1/2 hr

Arwen

Arwen always has these personal defences in place
* Her personal Armour of Earth forces attackers to add 5 to their die rolls when attempting to strike her.
* Is always in contact with the Earth.
* Can attempt to resist Fear that cannot normally be resisted.
* Immune to Kidney strikes / damage and Agony (the spell).
* Has a special resistance roll (in addition to any other allowed resistance roll) for damage against the Chest, Abdomen, groin including the organs there in (be it from physical damage, including SpecGrevs or Spells that specifically target the area, such as necromantic "Hand of Death").
* Can ask the GM to re-roll Spec Grevs against her, the second roll in this case will stand.
* Has Enhanced Vision (Rank 16) See Invisible, Illusions, Through obscurements.
* Has Coloured Dark Vision (Rank 11) (standard plus can DA in the dark).
* Detect Aura functions as per Namer DA.
* If damaged to zero or less endurance will turn into an Earth Elemental.
* If melee striking using her Rapier will quicken herself and her primary target (the one being strike by the Rapier - old style)
Arwen's Spell Rack
Incantation Rk FT Constraints
Weapon of Magma 8 Does not unrack
Grounding 4 Does not unrack
3 alternatives 20,20,16 2,0,0 Unracks
Routine is Stone Ward just before bed, then Rack StrOfStone AOE, use in morning, rack AoEarth AOE and use

Thorn

Sense Danger 88%
Enhanced Vision -(Rank 20) See invis, though fog etc. Range 210 ft.
Mind Shield - 25hr per cast, renewed each morning.
DA (namer) 100% out to 10-11ft
Infravision - when using item range 85 ft.
Thorn's Swords glow softly in the dark. The glow discomforts demons or undead and if they are within 50ft the glow will increase to Illuminate them.

Thorn would like an hour at/after noon to ritually renew a spell effect on a sword, and she needs to rebind the will of her dagger every 5 days.
Thorn normally doesn't Purify.

People

  • Princess Ariel - Star celestial mermaid
  • Pricess Aquana - Bard mermaid troubadour - ambassador to the aquatic elves
  • Healer Mizuno - Water mage/master healer mermaid
  • Ambassador Kaoh - Aquatic elf ambassador to the merfolk. E&E mage.
  • Queen Annelise - Ruler of Perelandra and sister of Ariel and Aquana

Places

  • Atlantica - Capital city of the mer-kingdom
  • Perelandra - Undersea city on Freya

Calendar

Winter: Frost 813 (7)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Samhain 1 Guild Meeting 2 3 women in a boat 3 4 5 Pirates (Loot) 6 Party meet up at docks
7 Set out for undersea capital 8 Retake capitol 9 Collect our payment, loot etc. 10 11 12 13 Slow boat home returns to Seagate
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
Winter: Snow 813 (8)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Solstice 16 17 18 Yuletide
19 Days of Chaos 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 Twelth Night 1 2
Winter: Ice 813 (9)
3 4 5 6 First Plough 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30