The Warlocks Contract

Scribe Notes

Summary

GM: Anne
Season: Spring 825 WK
Night: Tuesday
Location: The Smiths
Level: Medium-ish

Party

1. Michael - Elidon Ice mage, Ranger, Party Leader
   
2. Dylan - Lizette Namer, Healer
   
3. Jono- Merco Mind mage, Diplomat
   
4. Kelsie - Lila Celestial/Air
   
5. Jacqui - Minerva Celestial blast mage, Mil Sci
   
6. Keith - Aurora Air mage and fairy, Scribe.
   

Employer

An odd scroll writer (Now know as Kalipheris)

Mission

To rescue the scroll writer from whatever it is they need rescuing from

Pay

60,000sp

Scribe Notes

Session 1

Guild Meeting time and according to the Seagate Times there was some weird stuff going on in the Western Kingdoms so, when I found an adventure to go on, I was glad I had nan excuse not to get involved in that. Instead this involved a scroll that had mysteriously appeared recently and Guild Security wanted it investigated. Every divination they had thrown at it had failed and all they could determine was it was a call for help. The only thing they didn't do was open it as it would have activated its summoning magic.

After introductions, it was decided that Elidon, the least experienced of us, would be the Party Leader and Minerva, the Military Scientist. I wasn't sure how but I got appointed as Scribe.

Next thing was to obtain Greaters and Lessers. Unfortunately Aaron wasn't available, so I joined the queue for a Herkum four area Greater.

We then decided to go outside to examine the scroll case and it's contents just in case we opened up a dangerous extradimensional portal inside the Guild. From what we could tell, the scroll case had a composite magical aura, the Plane of Origin came out as Wavemeet, although that was more of a place than a plane. The case was made of coral and was not magically trapped, warded, or cursed. I was starting to worry that we were going to a very wet place.

Transportation and Hidden Script magical effects were also detected but there was still no idea of what would be triggered when the scroll case was opened. Lizette started a Divination which told us that Planar Transportation was involved and we were going to a spot where the Elemental Plane of Water met with the Elemental Plane of Earth and it was some sort of tropical beach resort. Maybe Guild Security couldn't get this information as they weren't actually planning on activating it but we were. I decided I better pack my swimsuit and beach wear - just in case. That would make Merco very happy. Speaking of Merco, he handed out some Mind Special Counter Grenados for us to use when needed.

Minerva decided to ask her spirit dragon about where we were going and it's voice spoke through Lila. We were told that Wavemeet was a holiday location and a beach town with casinos etc. Mostly inhabited by aquatic elves and the dress code was beach wear. It was also rather warm.

There were two pieces of paper in the scroll case when we finally opened it up. First was the letter requesting assistance because the writer believed their life was in danger and the second was the scroll itself. Merco read the scroll and we suddenly found ourselves on a beach. I had already 'dressed appropriately'.

 The Letter:
 Oh dear Hero’s of Might
 Or whoever can be scrounged up (preferably Heros) 
 I fear that my life may be at risk. I fear that someone I pissed off has my life in their hands. I ask for your aid. As incentive to come and help I have sent 60,000sp ahead with this letter to help in whatever you need to prepare to come to my rescue. I’ll explain more in person. When ready to meet me read the scroll out loud while stood in a 15ft space.

When we arrived, we found a group of people ogling someone inside a circle and, when we moved in for a closer look, we could see why. The entity inside was a female green skinned entity with horns who had some demonic ancestry. The GTN was 'tiefling'. Once the onlookers had been shooed away she asked who we were.

  Lila - "Don't tell the demon your names"

Taking that advice, I went with my usual alias being 'Dawn'. After we had introduced ourselves, she explained her plight. From what I understood, she had a contract with an ice djinn but the djinn had sold her contract to someone else and this 'someone else' wanted her dead. She doesn't know who.

Just then another person stepped out of the surf. He looked reptilian with shark teeth and scales. GTN - Sahuagin. He said "Prince Gallain sends his regards" before summoning two water eloementals and attacking.

The fight was over in less than six seconds. While we were moving into position to defend the tiefling, Merco set off three TK Rage bombs which sent the sahuagin and the elementals blasting back into the water killing all of them. I had taken off into the air to get a better attack angle and was caught by one sending me flipping through the air. That was silly. I should have realised he was going to do that especially since I had seen it done to great effect on our last outing together.

Afterwards, as we recovered from this, the tiefling explained that Prince Gallian is a water djinn whom she had stolen from. The 'item' in question was a friend who had been captured.

Session 2

After some discussion, Kalipheris, the letter writer, agreed to fetch us some essential supplies such as waterbreathing items, just in case. This would take twenty four hours so we were left to our devices on the beach. Merco 'requested' that Lila fetch him some rather posh looking drinks that were decorated with little umbrellas and insisted I massage his feet. I managed to make an excuse to get proper massage oil from the local shops and headed off to do that. I also purchased some more appropriate clothing for this place as well as stopping at the 'tiki bar' that Lila had got the drinks from to see what they had. By the time I got back, Minerva had completing a Reading the Sun ritual and discovered that 'Prince Gallum is in a place that must be feared near the Isle of Dread'. Her other reading was to find out who would be best to help us in our quest and she got the answer 'The Populus'.

Lila went to talk to a local merchant. The best place to go here was the Lavender Garden Casino which basically ran the town. At the mention of Prince Gallium, she got rather fearful and it was soon apparent that most people feared this entity because of what he would do if you got on his bad side - and death would have been more merciful.

We were on the lookout for information so we headed for the casino. When we arrived, Merco purchased 100,000sp worth of gaming chips and we arranged for a nights accommodation in one of their suites. It only cost us 2sp each but we were expected to spend money in the gaming rooms. So we were taken to our suite via a box shaped room that teleported us to our room. There, I decided to change into my new clothes a 't-shirt' and beach shorts over the 'bi-kini'. The 't-shirt' had writing on it in the merfolk language that I was told that said "I went to Wavemeet and all I bought was this lousy shirt" but Minerva used her translation device to determine it said "F**k. I have no idea what this T-Shirt says". Apparently it's a joke on the tourists and I did agree it was funny. Meanwhile the others had discovered from a ten year old 'employee' of the casino that Prince Gallium sails around on a very large ship that has magical traps and such aboard. He's a 'merchant' - read pirate and is very 'up himself'. Reminded me of a few nobles back in the Western Kingdom Court. Lila and Elidon also requested local clothing as well.

We had also had a look around the gaming room. which was full of various games of chance, dice games, card games and games involving little balls and spinning wheels called 'roulettes'. I didn't recognise any of them. The staff were easy to spot as they all wore a lavender coloured uniform but I also noticed the plain clothed security detail wandering around the place. It was only ten in the morning (local time) so we decided to continue on with our investigations. Merco suggested the local brothel and that was where we ended up. Somehow Elidon and I were 'volunteered' to go inside while the rest of the, party waited in the cafe across the street. Still we were all bound by Mind Speech.

The idea was to find out who of the employees had been aboard Prince Gallium's ship recently and we discovered two of the girls had, Rose and Buttercup. Rose was fully booked out for the day but the half orc madam told us that Buttercup would be free shortly. So I paid for an hour of Buttercup's time, 50 gold pieces, and asked if she could go to our suite at the casino. I also figured that, even though we were on a mission, it would be stupid not to take advantage of the local sights so I had been asking around about local attractions. I had to be very discrete though as Merco was in my mind.

Buttercup turned out to be an elegant elven woman, nearly a head taller than I was, with green eyes and glowing golden hair. She was dressed in pastels and, as I served wine, she was asked about the ship. It turned out it wasn't a floating pleasure palace as we had first thought but a working 'merchant' ship and the girls were there to 'entertain' the sailors. As far as she knew there was nothing extra ordinary about it. They had been treated well. She knew about the Isle of Dread, it was somewhere in the Sea of Ice. Message spells could be sent to the ship but they were monitored as to prevent secret communications

We hadn't used the entire hour so, while Merco took advantage of the opportunity presented, the rest of us went down to the docks to see what else we could find out - and maybe hire a sea captain and their ship for 'treasure hunting'. Unfortunately the docks wasn't outside of Merco's Mind Speech and somehow he was still complaining about his feet.

It didn't take us long to find a sailor's tavern and we were able to obtain assorted bits of information. Dangers lurked in the sea such as krakens, sirens, undead, storms, maelstroms etc etc etc. None of the captains wanted to risk their ships and crew on our behalf, We did find a crotchety old captain in the corner who was talking to himself in an unknown language. Lila managed to get his attention with the aid of a mug of ale. We discovered he was Crazy Cap'n Joe and he had a ship called 'Ol' Bessie' which he was able to sail without a crew. He also told us that the Sea of Ice was 'Hell on the Plane of Water'.

Session 3

It was three thirty in the afternoon by the time we got out of the tavern and I was hoping to spend the rest of the day in this tourist town doing touristy things. However, I was convinced not to do so as Merco was concerned I was going to be abducted or stolen - again. According to him, that seemed to be a common occurrence. Sure, it had happened, but I was sure it wasn't that frequent. So we headed off to the casino to learn some of the games. I spent most of the night hanging around the bar listening to conversations. There wasn't much interesting but we did hear that Prince Gallium had made a deal with an earth genesi that he was very pleased with. We came to the conclusion that was Kalipheris's contract. I ended up talking with an aquatic elf woman named Wynella and we ended up spending the night together. I hope we get to go swimming together before we leave. If I ever catch up to the person who told me to hang two socks on the door handle to emphasise the 'Do not enter' message, I am going to hurt them very much.

Next morning, I received a mental message from Kalipheris. "Got your stuff. Meet me at the beach bar run by the minotaur." So we went there and, instead of the lady tiefling we were expecting, she had transformed into a short human man at the table in the corner. The stuff consisted off a ring, a cloak, a wooden token and a string of pearls. The ring is a tidecaller ring which grants water breathing and speak with aquatics. The cloak increases swimming speed, the token can transform into a wooden raft and each of the pearls, twelve in total, is, when crushed, grants an invested waterbreathing that lasts 24 hours.

  Merco - "It's alright Aurora. You've got other abilities"

We also found out that the entity who owns the casino chain that the Lavender Gardens are part of is an air djinn named Elmari, Merco thinks that we should find out what the Prince wants for the contract. Meanwhile Kalipheris wrote a 'return to this beach' scroll for us.

Session 4

While the scroll was being written, Merco buried a healing potion in the sand as a contingency. We then went down to the ship. The Nature of Magic on it was Improved Sailing. The captain told us it was djinn magic and he had won the ship in a card game. Once we got underway, for what would be a two to three week voyage, I settled down for a purification session and a nap. We also noticed that it appeared that the captain was talking to himself. Maybe he was talking to the ship.

Watches were sorted out and it was four days into the voyage, during my watch when we could hear singing. Sirens? I was in the crow's nest and found it rather beautiful and I started harmonising to it. I then had the urge to fly off ahead and find out where it was coming from. If I had known what was to happen later I would have been wearing my new swimsuit. Instead I was in my Caledonian getup. Anyway somehow, as I flew along, with the ship following, I realised I knew the words to this song so I joined in.

A short time later I could see a group of five women in the water. All I could see was their top halves and they weren't topless. So I flew down to join them believing it to be a really good idea to join into the chorus. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and dragged into the water.

Back on the ship, the others were preparing for battle, by being in a Silence bubble and with Mind Magics Counterspells on. Phantasms must have been hurled at the sirens - which looked like mermaids, but here, they were a separate species. with sharper teeth, fangs and claws - as the one who had grabbed me was fighting off something invisible with a trident. I had no desire to to hurt them but I also had no desire to drown so I attempted to use my emergency waterbreathing potion - and ended up fumbling and wasting most of it. Still, hopefully I got enough of it. Other sirens were attacking the ship trying to drag the people on board over the side, including the captain. Quite a lot of arrows and spells were being thrown at them.

To stop my descent into the dark deep, I activated my air wings and attempted to fly back up again. When I finally managed to get them going underwater I was able to shoot out of the water dragging the siren with me, which promptly died. For a short moment, it seemed to me that I had killed it by removing it from the water but Merco's Phantasm had finally finished it off. So, I dropped the body. Unfortunately one of the other sirens was singing and I was drawn to them and got dragged down to the dark depths again.

By the time I got back to the surface, the battle was basically over. So I landed on the deck, dripping wet and annoyed, and squelched downstairs to change into something dry.

Session 5

The bodies of all five sirens were pulled from the water and placed on deck. Unfortunately all their weapons had been lost, sunk to an unknown depth All we could find on them were five potions in squeezable leather containers, suitable for use underwater, five empty squeezable containers and some assorted coinage that was different to that used in the town. All of those potions turned out to be Rank 20 Waters of Strength. Meanwhile I had my second emergency waterbreathing potion transferred to one of the empty containers. If this sort of thing happened again, I wanted to be properly prepared.

Merco wanted to get one of the sirens resurrected in an attempt to coerce them to give up the location of their lair so it could be looted. Once Lizette did that, the siren basically cursed at us. I didn't recognise the actual language they were swearing in but it was sort of related to another aquatic language I knew - nixie. Probably merfolk which I intended to learn when we got back. Basically she refused to do any deals with landlubbers. Even when I pointed out I had gills at the time, thanks to the water breathing potion, it soon became apparent that they also really disliked aquatic elves. So Lila rendered her dead again. Lizette then resurrected another one hoping this one for be more reasonable bit this one was just as stroppy and as helpful as the other one. So that one was also killed again and all the bodies were dumped over the side. Good riddance shark bait.

Nine days into the voyage, the sky gets darker ahead because of what looked like storm clouds, and we could see ice floes in the water. As we got closer we sailed into a fog bank. I think I only got up to fifty feet or so before losing sight of the boat, and I know what Minerva would say if I went flying off by myself. So, it was Lila and Merco that flew off to scout. They discovered that the fog ringed an island that was, when they got through it, a rather pointy island that was 150 miles by 200 miles across and there was a large ship parked on the other side. However, there was some discrepancies in perceptions which made it look as if the island was bigger inside the fog bank than when seen outside it. That led to a lot of arguments about if we would shrink when we went in, but when they were divinated, there were no abnormalities in their auras.

Lila then took the captain up and he picked out a bay that we could easily sail into. In retrospect, I probably should have gone too. As predicted, as soon as we sailed out of the fog, the island looked bigger, and the cove that had looked to be a tight squeeze turned out to be an easy sail in. We took a dingy in, and Lizette DAed a fern. Plane of Origin: Sea of Ice. Also it wasn't as cold here as when we were on the Sea of Ice.

The initial flights had also revealed the fact there was some sort of structure in a caldera type valley near the center of the island. First there was the 'discussion' on whether we were going to investigate that structure - and loot it, according to Merco, or go for the ship, sneak aboard and steal the contract. Eladon listened to all the arguments then announced, as party leader, we were going to the structure. Then there was the discussion of how we were going to get there. We ended up using Minerva's flying carpet so we could hug the tree line or the ground and use my flight sp3ell for the motive power, basically because I was the best and most experienced flier in the group.

The structure turned out to be a ziggurat pyramid by a lake. Beside it was a tent village - if four tents, three small and one larger, count as a village.

  Lila - "We should turn on the Mind Mage"

So Merco turned on his Telepathy and ESP. He detected animal minds in the water and Lila was a bit concerned they were piranha fish. Merco slapped the water and they all swam away. Among the tents there were eight sentient minds, four of which were on telepathy.

It was decided that one of us should sneak down there and investigate, invisibly, and it should be the one who was least likely to trip off their danger sense. That turned out to be Lila. I wanted to do but I knew I would get it from both Merco and Minerva if something went wrong. So Lila went down there to have a look. Meanwhile Minerva used a Crystal of Vision so we could see the text of the puzzle and the associated diagrams on their work table. Something to do with doors, statues, and choosing the right one.

All of them were in the large, central tent, and it seemed that they were working on a puzzle or a riddle. All the smaller tents were empty (of minds) and it seems that all the minds belonged to aquatic races.

Session 6

There were eight of them in total, and it was decided to go down and meet them. Lila had already DAed them. Their leader was a female, armour clad, sea elf named Neris. The other sea elf is Vira who was able to cast Hellfire. Two others, at first glance, looked like sea elves but were more aquatic looking. They were both tritons, both male, and also clad in armour. They were Vokath and Mira. Another two looked like humanoids that were made of sea foam. They were undines called Syllin and Orra, Finally there was a crabfolk named Kark and a Bogling, being a frog humanoid, named Brosh. Orra was able to cast Whirlwind Vortex. Kark could do Weapon of Cold and one of the tritons could do Maelstrom.

We learnt that they had been sent there by their 'boss', which we were able to determine was Prince Gilliam, in order to retrieve an item under this ziggurat that he wanted, The story of this place was that there were a series of trials to test strength and endurance versus the storm, in order to obtain this item that was located somewhere under the ziggurat. This puzzle was basically the first trial and, after three days, they were no closer to solving it.

We went to have a look at the first room in the ziggurat. There were four statues that were facing a door in the wall. Each statue bore an item, a wheel, a mirror, a mask and an hourglass. So it was decided to try Limited Precogs to see what would happen if someone went through a random door. The hourglass door resulted in the person walking backwards out of the door and fighting monsters while solving a puzzle at the same time. The mirror door resulted in a fight with their reflection, and walking through the mask door resulted in the victim losing their mind. With the wheel door, nothing untoward happened. Divinations revealed that the hourglass had loops in time combined with traps, the mirror had an illusionary trap. The whole place reeked of magic that connected everything.

Even with that information, I still couldn't see the connection between the riddle and the answer being the wheel. I was wondering if there was a linguistic or interpretation problem. Minerva pointed out that the other two represented dualities, past/future, left/right, comedy/tragedy. Still, couldn't the wheel represent forwards/backwards? Meanwhile Merco was speculating that if we were able to retrieve this object, maybe we could trade it for the contract. We discussed that among ourselves during the night which passed without incident.

We gave our results to the other group and Brosh was ecstatic. That had been his theory too but everyone else was arguing against it. The other group was also okay with the idea of us going in first and would wait seventy two hours before coming in to find us if we hadn't returned. So, that's what we did. Through the door was a long, dark, corridor which felt really oppressive. To make it worse it looked like seawater was seeping in and I was sure the wall was about to burst open and completely flood the place.

A bit further down, we encountered sliding panels that had a mage lock aura on them. They would close, trapping us, once there were more than four entities in the area. So we went through, one at s time. Thirty five feet down the corridor another aura was detected. This one summoned drowned guardians as soon as we interacted with the downed portcullis in front of us. We managed to get around this by combining a portable hole, Lila's cloak, Merco's sand ability and Lila's teleportation ability to get us through the portcullis without touching it. I'm still not quite sure how it worked.

Ten foot further on, the corridor opened up to a 60ft spherical room that was full of water with a maelstrom spinning in it. In the center of the maelstrom is a dais with a lever on it. Glowing words appeared which read To command the sea, you must seize it's fury.. Merco used his TK to enter the maelstrom and pull the lever. When he does so, the water drained away, revealing an exit near the bottom of the chamber. More letters appeared You have wrestled the current and bent it to your will. The sea remembers your strength. I fluttered down to the revealed exit while the others found their own way down.

As we traversed this new corridor, it descended into water. I had to use a pearl. In total, three of the twelve pearls were used. We swam down and into a forty foot by forty foot chamber. A sphere of faint blue light illuminated this room. Just then, our own reflections swam forward towards us and grinned evilly.

Session 7

We started eying each other up and I has having a real sense of foreboding. Upon Merco's instructions, I dropped a Mind Special Grenado at our feet. I then waved at my duplicate with my left hand. She waved back, also with her left hand. So much for the theory that they were reflections. But the only minds Merco could detect were ours even though their auras came back with answers that would match our auras. Also in the room, located in the center of the floor of this 40x40x40 chamber was a five foot high cylindrical plinth with a glowing blue orb in the center. The back half of the room, behind our duplicates, was full of darkness. Minerva threw a light into the room and they shied away from it. There was a hard line where the darkness met the light and the rank of the darkness was simultaneously 'no answer' and 'demonic'. My sense of foreboding got stronger - or was that just fearful paranoia.

Merco and Elidon charged in after firing off a Mind Special Counter at the opposing Merco. Meanwhile we could hear chanting, as in some sort of spell preparation, coming from the darkness where our counterparts had retreated in, bit it didn't sound like the same sort of spells that we would have prepared. We also soon discovered that we were swimming in a liquid that had the consistency of thin treacle so it was harder to get through. At least it was still breathable. I was considering a Thunderclap to try and disrupt their casting but I was worried what the resultant shack wave would do to us. Just then they released their spells which turned out to be some sort of water pressure emanation, which resembled what a low powered thunderclap would do, and after at least three of them, I lost consciousness. Yes, they were all casting the same spell and there was some sort of demonic component to it as my Amulet of Hyperion was helping to protect me.

By the time I came to, the battle was full on, Elidon had lost an ear and my doppleganger was trying to stab me. Minerva and Merco had both killed their dopplegangers, which had dissolved into nothingness but had left them both with a uncomfortable sinking feeling in their stomach. Elidon had taken out Lila's doppleganger but had suffered no ill effect. I was in the process of drawing my dagger and attempting to stab pseudo-Aurora when I suddenly found myself swapping positions with Merco and facing pseudo-Elidon. Merco slashed out at my duplicate while Lila disintegrated pseudo-Lizette who was performing some sort of magical ritual on the plinth - and I was fairly sure it wasn't a divination. Elidon managed to get his sword well wedged into pseudo-Elidon's chest and it didn't take long for Merco to destroy pseudo-Aurora.

Minerva cast Increase Gravity on pseudo-Elidon, which basically rendered it/him unconscious. Attempts of looting were made but it seems that objects removed from them would just dissolve. So Merco finished pseudo-Elidon off.

While I searched around the place, the glowing orb was discovered to be the 'Heart of the Deep', the object that the aquatic group had been sent to acquire. It had significant attunement to the Element of Water, allows the summoning of water elementals, and enhances the abilities of water magics and entities. It had been forged by powerful water elementals at the Beginning of Time and Space. It is a foot across and is sold so it could be picked up. A Limited Precog told us that there seemed to be no consequences to Lizette picking it up so that's what happened. While all this had been going on, I was transcribing the small glyphs and runes that were written on the plinth as well as discovering four dropped items, that matched the locations where pseudos Aurora, Elidon, Lila and Lizette had fallen. They were a bracer, a helm a weapon sheath, and an amulet. Merco and Minerva were divinated and it was discovered that they were cursed with 'soul-fragmentation' for killing their duplicates. The MA was 30+.

There were no other exits from this room so we started making our way back.

Session 8

Divinations told us that those that were cursed would dream of their alternate selves, which would turn into nightmares, and they would gain no fatigue from sleep. The MA of the curse was 34. Either a rather powerful curse renewal would be required or they could have to reconcile with their dream selves. The items they we found were also divinated. The helm allowed limited precogs once per day, basically asking questions about the future. The scabbard will fit a single edged weapon or short sword and allow the weapon to be used immediately. The amulet allows, three times a day, a single target spell to 'echo' and hit a second target. The bracers allow the user to store up to six uses of a strength enhancing spell.

After some discussion, and with the help of Minerva's cushion and some potion of MA boosting that Lila had, Lizette attempted to remove Minerva's curse. Four and a half hours later, she succeeded. She then attempted to remove Merco's curse but failed. We were doing this in the large room which had the maelstrom in it but it still felt like the earth was pushing on me. I wanted out but it was decided to get the beds out and sleep in here. Lila decided to peek into Merco's nightmare and give us a running commentary.

The next morning, Lizette's next attempt worked. We then worked our way back up and finally reached the entrance. It was dusk by the time we got out and that seemed to suggest some sort of time effect as we had been in there for two and a half days according to the aquatic team. They were curious about what we discovered so we told them what had happened. We then swapped stories until we retired for the night.

A Limited Precognition told us that two of them were going to sneak up on us at about three am. Were they going to try and steal the orb? Lizette was the current holder of it so she and Merco were trying to protect it by curling around it. I parked myself on another corner on the bed with the hope that there was a different reason for a discrete meeting. Unfortunately the precog could not determine who it was. So we buffed up, just in case the worst did happen. Things like Shadowforms for instance. I was curled up in my corner, pretending to sleep while keeping a watch. My air wings were also beating slowly in case I needed to get into the air as fast as possible.

So we waited it out. It was a bit disappointing when I discovered it was one of the undines and the bogling but I guess I was keeping my hopes too high. As we watched, it looked like they were in a daze, sleepwalking perhaps. Merco's danger sense was not going off either. Could they be being drawn to the orb by some unconscious compulsion. Lila moved to intercept them and was able to wake them up. When they did they had no idea of what had happened. I took to the air so I could see their camp. Meanwhile Merco used his telepathy and ESP and discovered they were all asleep. It turned out, those two had been on watch when they were affected by the compulsion.

While the bogling went to fetch their companions, the undine, who we discovered identified as female, but I still can't tell them apart, was being divinated by Minerva. She discovered that there had been a charm and compulsion effect but it was rapidly fading. It seemed that the compulsion was causing them to covet and possess the orb. So Lizette was divinated and it was discovered she also had a compulsion effect. Merco saps Lizette then suggests Eladon carry it. We already knew it couldn't be put in an extra-dimensional item, like the portable hole, which led Minerva to speculate the orb was actually some sort of extra-dimensional prison for some sort of aquatic power.

Since it looked like we were not going to get any sleep for the rest of time before dawn, I decided to purify while everyone else was arguing about what to do with the orb.

Session 9

So they're going to ride a wave out to the ship to see if their boss will talk and make a deal with us, while we would fly. And that was basically what we did. We beat them to the beach as there was a mountain range in the way. When we landed, we could see the ship between us and a neighboring, much smaller, island. Once the other team arrived, and it looked rather unnerving seeing what looked like a tsunami coming from the forest, we waited for a few hours while some of them went to the ship to report.

Once we were told that the boss wanted to see us, we took off and flew over to the ship. They had cleared a 'runway' for us, which I didn't need by the way, for us to land on. Lila managed a ... rather unorthodox landing technique which was rather amusing, well I thought it was. The crew of the ship, a rather large number of aquatic beings were watching us with expressions ranging from idle curiosity to barely suppressed hostility. So the aquatic team, formed a wedge around us and conducted us to the rear of the ship, where the captain's cabin was located.

When we got there, upon entering, we realised this cabin was bigger on the inside than it looked from outside. The bed inside was even bigger then the giant beds we had. There was a giant sized desk, and a chair of similar scale which was facing away from us. The view out the back window was not the ocean we expected, but a grassy meadow, with flowers, a stream running through it, and a hut. There was also a large number of assorted items and other knick-knacks on display. The whole room was full of illusion magic.

The chair spun around and, in it, was a large blue skinned man with an avatar level aura, GTN - water djinn. However my illusion piercing magic told me he was only half the size but, it would be very unwise, and probably extremely rude, to comment on that, let alone even revealing that I knew. So I kept very quiet and attempted to avoid notice.

He told us that he knew stories about the orb but had never seen it, but his great grandfather was around at the time of it's creation. He also had a collection of djinns trapped in amulets, except one of the display cases was smashed and the amulet missing. That was the one Kalipheris has stolen - or retrieved, depending on one's point of view. But he did agree to trade Kalipheris's contract for the orb. Whew! Let's get out of here before he changes his mind.

Merco then pointed out that the contract itself was nowhere near the value of the orb. For a moment I feared that he was going to get angry but, instead he grinned, and a shield floated off the wall and landed on his desk. It had a composite formally living aura and it looked like the shield had a reflective surface. He then pulled out a glowing scroll, presumably the contract, and put that next to the shield. The orb then floated from Elidon's hands and into it'[s pre-prepared display case. Now can we get out of here?

Once we had the shield, and the contract, we were able to discover that the Nature of Magic on the shield was 'Reflection' but it had no additional protection magic. Currently it looked like a large round shield but we later discovered it could change shape into other sizes of shield, including bracers. It was also not magically, trapped, warded or cursed.

Merco then told him where we came from, in case he wanted to hire Guild parties for other jobs. Fortunately he decided not to push our luck any further as we were then allowed to leave. Once on the deck, we took off and flew back to our ship.

Back on board Cap'n Crazy Joe's ship, Minerva started divinating the shield. Turned out, with this shield, one could train to use shields to double the amount than normal and, also there was a change that spells cast at the wielder could be reflected back to the caster. but with a reduced amount of power.

Merco, then decided to use the 'Return to the Beach' scroll to zap us all back, leaving the captain to sail his boat all the way back by himself. Once on the beach, Merco dug up the healing potion he had left while I sent a Whispering Wind message to Kalipheris to meet us on the beach. She soon arrived and, after a short pause, where I was worried Merco was going to keep the contract for his own personal 'gain', it was handed over. The aura strength on the contract was also Avatar level.

That was then we discovered that Kalipheris can't send us back to the Guild. After a short panic, thinking we were trapped here for the rest of our lives, Merco remembered he had a way to return. Then I guess the Guild could summon us back. Whew! Since we had finished this job we decided to see if there was any other job offerings on hand - seems the others wanted to maximise our earnings - we wandered over to the town notice board. Three things caught our eye - exploding jellyfish in a restaurant, a stubborn crab in a warehouse, and a singing anchor that was driving a ship's crew crazy. They all seemed simple enough for a team of our talents, so we decided to investigate.

The stubborn crab in the warehouse turned out to be a fifteen foot reef crab that was attracted to shiny objects, and refused to leave because of the shiny objects in the warehouse. However Minerva was able to lead it out with an even shinier object - basically a light spell. It was also asking "Where's Sally?" Once it was out, Merco then started sending Phantasms at it, presumably to kill it. Just them this little sea elf girl ran up, saw the crab and said "Coconut. There you are". Presumably that was Sally. She led the crab away, after we healed it up a bit and we earned seventy five silvers. We also discovered that Merco is not good with children.

Since we were in the docks, we decided to investigate the anchor next. The ship it was attached to was called 'Sea Lark' and every night, it vibrated with a tuneless hum that was keeping the crew awake, and really annoyed.

Session 10

Lila, followed by Lizette and Minerva, who all had waterbreathing items, dived down to have a look at the anchor. They discovered it was covered in barnacles, kelp was draped over it and it was made of cold iron. The anchor itself had no significant aura, neither did the attached kelp but the barnacles, who all had the same aura, had a Nature of Magic as Entrapment. There was no answer to the question about what counterspell would counter it. They could also hear a faint hum that seemed to rise and fall like a fast heartbeat.

So we hauled the anchor up so Minerva could divinate it. It took her two attempts to do so. In the meantime Lila and I went below to rustle up some tea and snacks. The anchor proved to be mundane but there was an aura of an entity inside or around it. Meanwhile Merco picked up a mind with ESP - and it wasn't a hive mind of barnacles. There was also a fae aspect about the aura so I tried talking to it in nixie, and could barely hear a reply. I managed to convince her not to resist Merco's telepathy so we were able to have a conversation over mind speech with me translating back and forth.

She told us that the anchor had landed on her - and there's a water elemental involved too. It soon became apparent that the barnacles were keeping her in there and that the water elemental didn't want them hurt so Lila concocted a compound to unstick them while I dropped each one in a bucket of fresh seawater to keep them alive. Finally a two inch tall sea sprite appeared out of the anchor and we took an instant liking for each other. Long lived sentient, water sprite, highest level magical ability - geyser. She then left with the barnacles to go back to her collection of 'shinies'. We got paid another 200 shines - erm - silver coins for that one.

Finally was the restaurant. It turned out that what was happening that the jellyfish kept getting agitated and were shooting electricity at everyone. What they needed was someone who could calm jellyfish and their last one had left employment. That was then Lila had a clever idea and wondered if our new water sprite friend could do it. Fortunately she was still in Mind Speech range so I was able to ask the question. Yes she could and she was quite happy to come back, live with jellyfish in their tank, keep them calm and, in return, she would be given 'shinies'. I ended up making sure she didn't get ripped off by the restaurant and negotiated a fair and just agreement for all concerned. I also told her she could exchange those 'shinies' for better 'shinies' when she had enough. Maybe I'll get her some small gems before we go to add to the collection. We ended up with a free meal and I discovered that they didn't make dessert jellies out of the jellyfish but they were part of the main course.

That evening, it was back to the casino, and we tried some of the easier games out - at least I did - and managed to triple my initial stake of 100sp. Wynella was also there and we had another enjoyable night together. I think it turned into a friendly game of 'Spy v Spy' like who could learn the most from the other without giving too much away.

During our time at the casino, we overheard talk of this 'interdimensional market' that was turning up tomorrow. Naturally we were all curious about this so the next morning, after purification and breakfast, we went to find out more, also vetoing Merco's plan of mugging people for loot. We did follow his other plan of talking to the guard and seeing if they had any problems they needed solving but, they had nothing for us.

So we went to check out the market, which we would be told would be in an open field behind the town. When we got there, all we could see was an shimmering archway that looked like it was made out of moonlight. We discovered that was the entrance to the 'Moonlight Market' and after going through it, we found ourselves on floating islands that was surrounded by stars in all directions. Astral Space someone called it. Whatever it was, it was SO pretty. The whole area was flooded with an avatar level aura.

((Shopping results to be added later))

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

‘’How much time does the party spend sleeping, eating, traveling, doing rituals, etc each day’’

Travel Magics

‘’What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if duration is longer than usual travel time.’’ ‘’Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.’’

Watch Order

Day Watch. ‘’Used when stationary, or on a larger transport such as a ship’’
First (6am to 10am) - Lizette, Merco
Second (10am to 2pm) - Aurora, Minerva
Third (2pm to 6pm) - Elidon, Lila

Night watch
First - (6pm to 10pm) - Lizette, Merco
Second - (10pm to 2am) - Aurora, Minerva
Third - (2pm to 6am) - Elidon, Lila

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File Liz Merco	Single File Elidon Elf dude. Lizette (babe). Lila (babe). Minerva (Lunar babe). Aurora (fairy babe). Merco short hunk. Guard IV & Tracker VII (Mercos dogs).

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Au	El	Lil	Liz	Me	Mi
Shadowform (Lil)	15	+32 def melee, ranged; +16 def close	8 hrs	Y	?	?	Y	Y	?
Coruscade (Mi) (Party Cast)	17	+36 def melee, ranged; +18 def close	9 hrs	N	Y	?	?	?	?
Fire Armour (Lil+)	10	44 ablative fire protection	11 Hrs	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Fireproofing (Lil+)	10	Fireproofing	11 Hrs	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
?? (??)	##	??	??	?	?	?	?	?	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Au	El	Lil	Liz	Me	Mi
Strength of Darkness (Lil)	1	+7 PS	130 min	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Feather Falling (Au/Lil)	10/6	Fall no more than 5'/pulse	5.5/3.5 hrs	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Vapour Breathing (Au/Lil)	10/6	Allows flight to 20,000 feet	5.5/3.5 hrs	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Shadow Wings (Lil)	6	36 mph, 126 miles range	3.5 hrs	N	?	?	?	?	?
Flying (Au)	20	50mph flight - 525 mile range	10.5 hrs	N	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Wings of Light (Mi) (Party Cast)	10	40 mph, 220 miles range	5.5 hrs	N	?	?	?	?	?
Witchsight (Mi) (Party Cast)	12		6.5 hours	N	?	?	Y	N	?
Lightning Strike (Lil)	5	[D-4]+7, save for 1/2	5hrs	Y	Y	?	?	?	?
Barrier of Wind (Lil/Au)	4/8	20/21 def vs missiles, 15/13 in melee or close	150/270ins	Y	?	?	?	?	?
Walking Unseen (Lil) or (Min - Party Cast)	6		7 hrs	Y	?	?	?	?	?
Create Light Sword (Min)(Party Cast)	8	+9 SC, +3 Dam	13 min	N	Y	?	?	?	?
Weapon of Flames (Li+)	10	+11 SC, +6 Dam, +11 dam vs undead, cold, water	22 min	Y	Y	?	?	?	?
Resistance to Light (Min)(Party cast)	10	+12 resist light, see through rk20 light	110 min	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?
Mind Speech (Me)	20	Range 630ft	210 mins	Y	?	?	?	?	?
Mind Special Knowledge Counterspell (Me)	12	+66% magic resistance to Special Knowledge Mind magics	D+17 mins	Y	?	?	?	?	?
?? (??)	##	??	??	?	?	?	?	?	?

Loot and Expenses

SP & other cash value loot

• Gambling profit of twice our initial stake.

Significant Items

• From Kalipheris
  • Twelve Pearls of Waterbreathing - 24 hours duration (3 used)
  • The Tidecaller Ring - grants Waterbreathing and Speak to Aquatics
  • A Cloak - enhances swimming speed.
  • A wooden token that can turn into a raft
  • [s]A Scroll of Return to the Beach[/s].
• From the Sirens
  • Rank 20 Waters of Strength - in underwater squeezy vials (x5)
  • Empty squeezy vials (x5) [Aurora purloined one to put a Waterbreathing Potion in]
• From our dopplegangers
  • A Helm
  • Weapon Sheath
  • Amulet
  • Bracer
• From Prince Gallum
  • A Shield with reflective properties

Purchases

• Appropriate clothing for Wavemeet

Calendar

Spring
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Candlemansa
Thaw (10)
			1	Guild Meeting	2		3		4		5	The Carzalan Generals Ball	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
Seedtime (11)
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8	Rites of Thunor	9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Equinox	16		17	Eostre	18	The Seagate Spring Ball
	19		20		21		22		23		24		25
	26		27		28		29		30
Blossom (12)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21	Floralia	22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Walpurgisnacht