Sahuagin Smackdown

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Summary

Adventure: Sahuagin Smackdown
GM: Keith Smith
Session: Winter 811
Night: Tuesday
Location Mangere Bridge
Level: Highish

Party: (expressions of interest only please - participants to be confirmed at the Guild Meeting)

• Koan - Binder, Philosopher, Mechanician, troubador, weaponsmith, blacksmith, sculptor, Spy and thief. Maker of magical things. human (Dylan)
• Grendel — Mind / Water, Military Scientist & Warrior (Pacted to local Deity). Views himself as required to offer his services for this situation. Will work for Salvage, spread his non-salvage pay amongst others that sign up if he goes on it). human (Simon)
• Bishop Velcanthus — Priest of Chantris, locus of the Community of Rowan, Wiccan/Rune, Rank 8 Healer. Recent contact with Dark Spheres and Sahuagin, and, on the whole, preferring Sahuagin. human. (Jim)
• Silverfoam — Troubador, Navigator, Military-Scientist, Mechanician ; highish courtier, philosopher, shipwright, lensmaker, healer, languages; and a few lesser skills. Quite a few spells, Namer+ Elf. (Michael P)
• Starflower — mindmage Elf. (Jacqui)
• Human the Fool — Illusionist, scaly human. (Michael S)

Employer:
Aqualina speaking for the Pasifikan Council of Chiefs (what's left of it)

Mission:
Rescue as many Pasifikans as possible from the Sahuagin and do as much damage to the Sahuagin forces as possible. Kicking them all off the Pasifikan Plateau is an added bonus.

Pay:
Pearl, Salvage, and Aqualina will throw in some cash (amount to be determined) as well as Waters of Healing and Strength. Invested Water Magics available on request.

Briefing and Knowledge

Just previous to the session, the annual Matariki celebrations were being held on the island of Waiheke. This included various competitions including surfing, canoe races, and other feats of prowess. Also held at this time is the Great Council of Chiefs where all the islands chiefs get together and discuss matters that affect the entire Pasifikan island group and resolve any disputes. However, one night, a large force of Sahuagin raided the island on many fronts and decimated the islanders present. Many were killed in the fights but several more including many of the chiefs and shamans, were captured. Locates have shown that they have been taken to the Sahuagin underwater bases around Rangiwhero, presumably to be killed and eaten by the Sahuagin. The remaining islanders have declared 'utu' and are arming for war even though there's probably not much a surface based attack can do.

Aqualina will accompany the party to help calm the remaining islanders down as well as speak to the merfolk and aquatic elves on behalf of the Council of Chiefs. She has been granted temporary Chieftain status for this mission, especially since the chief of her own island, Atiu, is among the missing.

The Adventure in Brief

Chap1. [1.Frost] Party employed. [2.Fr] Travelled by well-stocked ship overland to the Sea of Grass portal site. Arriving at the portal, found the portal key (crosspiece) missing and prepared to engage avaricious ambushers.
Chap 2. Defeated the necro & his small army. Portalled to Gwydonia; Travel to trading post.
Chap 3. Spent lots of money. Some scouted & mapped the enemy; others built useful stuff.
Chap 4. [3.Fr] Grendel & Aqualina stopped leaderless Waihekeans from a brave, fatuous counter-attack. Party stormed the prison cells in Sahuagin-controlled Atlantis ...
Chap 5. ... and rescued some prisoners.
Chap 6. Party returned prisoners to Waiheke, which was attacked by a large force. Interrogated the enemy; and Waiheke's defences were rebuilt properly.
Chap 7. [8.Fr] Itimanuka Bay assaulted, the dome broken ...
Chap 8. ... and the enemy too. Captured the general and some loot.
Chap 9. [10.Fr] Two separate attacks were made on the Stronghold near Atlantis: Islanders attacked the arena; we went to rescue the VIP captives ...
Chap 10. ... and defeated sahuagin mages, guards, priestess. Preliminary looting. Chap 11. Defeated the big bad, releasing both the captives and their captors. Serious Looting. [11.Fr] Returned to Waiheke, escorting the victorious & the injured. Celebrations and recovery. By 18. Fr, we confirmed all Sahuagin have left the plateau {"Where's our bonus"}; home by that evening.

Diary

Chapter 1: "Stick close to your disks and never go to sea".

Party introductions were made; Silverfoam is appointed MilSci & scribe.
Aqualina, the party employer, now had temporary chieftain status and hired us to find the missing islanders. Pay was 3000 per party-member … more if you whine (like the binder or illusionist). Urgent action was required, since it was likely some of the captives would be eaten. Unfortunately she forgot the list of missing, especially the important people, but under prompting from Grendel (& the offer of a "helpful" Hypnotism), the list was reconstructed. We also had some pictures of the tattoos of some of the important captives. The captives' bodies wree to be returned mostly intact or not at all.

1st of Frost. The afternoon was spent discussing options preparing ourselves & equipment, including bulk goods to be transported. Pennants are run up for all nobles on board, since each will increase our maximum speed (on land) by several mph.
Intended logistics: Since Grendel's item ensures our Shipstrength vessels won't be counterspelled, the party intends travel overland by boat (SF Rk 20) to and through the Pacifican portal in the Sea of Grass, then by ship preferable underwater (Grendel, Mage Current), failing that on the ocean surface (Silverfoam, Mage Wind), to Waiheke. The party will take as much mundane gear as they need (unlimited tonnage, maximum ship length 275'), especially food, water, stone, sand, wine, blankets (?), and lumber; but nothing that can't be readily abandoned.

Tactical strength: the party is short on frontline fighters: just Mindmage Starflower, Illusionist Human & golem#1. Support: the Bishop's rune-magicks (healing, regen, & attack bonuses); and both Grendel & Silverfoam have Empathy. Nonetheless the overall strategy is to avoid all combat except when we can eliminate the opposition at range, or by overwhelming surprise, or through magic — especially since, thanks to the Bishop, mages should aim to be at near full-fatigue as much as possible. Our top priority is to keep the party alive or, at least, comparatively secure.
STANDING ORDER#1: Keep the Bishop out of combat — to resurrect you, he must be alive himself.
STANDING ORDER#2: Keep your military scientist (Silverfoam) out of combat — or else you will lose your [normally] automatic combat initiative, your +15WP, and quite possibly your military scientist.
STANDING ORDER#3: We do not leave guild-members or their bodies behind except in extreme circumstances — especially since captured bodies will probably be eaten by the opposition.
STANDING ORDER#4: All equipment, magical or mundane, which is not being carried is presumed to be totally expendable. If any of your equipment is considered essential, ensure all other party-members know what it is & how important it is. (Silverfoam has Locate)

2nd Frost. Party left in early mid-morning, so as to arrive at the Gwydonia end of the portal, which is hours to the West (behind us), also in the early mid-morning. As per SOP, we had Grendel's multi-target Mind Speech spell up and all long duration buffs were in effect. Weather fine; made good time travelling by Shipstrength-created longboat overland (Silverfoam, River of the Mage). Suspicious birds noted in transit, but left far behind, since we travelled at almost 60mph. During the voyage ALL mages not already Purified did so. Apart from the Admiral & designated officer of the watch, passengers were free to perform down-time preparations. In particular, Binder Koan was making disks enabling two party-members to fly — tactically important when crossing hundreds of miles of Sahuagin-infested ocean giving the entire party an option to abandon ship and take to the air, hopefully out of spell range of the enemy.

On nearing the portal site and dropping speed (due to spell/height restrictions, we could only go through the portal at about 2mph), previous visitors noted that the "key" (the cross-piece of the Trilithon) to the Pasifika portal was missing. There was no visible ambush, but Starflower's Finding indicated roughly where it is hidden and, through ESP sensed thoughts of Avarice in the area, although nothing came up on Telepathy.

Chapter 2: “I’ve got a brilliant idea … although it might kill me”.

Our opponent is a Necromancer, not hiding in a Dark Sphere, as first thought, merely in a Rk20 Darkness ... but it also has an undead army in the lake, protected by a black-circle type effect. Moreover there are two Necro wards on the trilithon area (Wall of bones & Mass Fear) and too many ravens above it. Starflower turns into Drake-form, to better frighten and chomp the birds and then scour the area. Suspiciously, one bird does not scare! And it takes the mighty Drake several pulses to defeat it.

The Agony spells are irritating, but the ship soon passes through the effect and we avoid it in future (since the necromancer isn’t as well hidden as it thinks it is). The Bishop’s Rk 20 light counters the darkness, but low enough in height for us to see where to counter the Necro & to attack him with pairs of phantasms, until the necromancer blinks away several times.

Then the first wave of the army: 10 large flesh-golems (made of finely-stitched Troll), clamber out of the water. Possibly to attack the ship or to set off the wards. Koan’s golems pin down a couple and the Drake flies in to finish them off. On the other wing, two more stumble into abandoned phantasms. Then a few Hellfires later, no more golems; but not everything went smoothly ...

Bishop Velcantus Hellfires the flesh-golems, accidentally including the one Koan has somehow controlled: “It was an accident — it went off while I was cleansing it”

The necromancer is done in (death buzz), but his soul —or rather its life-force, since it was a necromancer— zips off towards the raven/familiar, to be killed a second time by Orbit's flashing eyes (second death buzz).

It takes a just a little time for the zombie army (still awaiting orders) to be cleaned up; the wards to be dispelled; the Key to be inserted; and the party travels through. We quickly rush to the Trading Post for Aqualina’s urgent message and to make some purchases; slowing down as we approach and berthing the ship where directed.

Mil Sci: “Can the guards clearly recognise Aqualina?”
Aqualina: “Yes! I’m dressed in full armour”.
Koan: “Don’t worry; I can make it see-through”.

On the way, we discuss what we'd like to buy there, besides the much-lauded (& probably much-needed) Emerald Moss potions

Aqualina: “Does everyone have enough Waterbreathing”.
Human: “Yes; it's one of your pearls, remember”.
Aqualina [getting flustered]: “I've just had so many pearls in front of me … guild meeting … adventurers … doh!”
Indistinct whisperer #1: “Pearls before swine”.
Indistinct whisperer #2:“…or pearls before long-pork”.

Chapter 3: [No title yet -- get one at the trading post]

At the trading post, Aqualina meets her contacts … two Never fairies (who dwell in the N of Gwydonia). Some time is wasted over a missing fairy. Long story short: Vidia, banished by Queen Clarion for allegedly stealing pixie-dust ingredients, that Starflower establishes to be halfway to Destiny, presumably knowing what it’s doing, for a fairy. Then Glitterwing remembers the important message for Aqualina to meet with General Princess Ariel of Atlanta. At the Trading Post we purchase (using money!)

• 6 x Emerald Moss potions
• 2 x Rk6 Resistance to light potions
• 4 x Rk6 Vapour breathing potions
• 2 x Rk8 Featherfall potions
• 2 x Rk2 Starwings Scrolls

Some “Sun Rods” (torches that glow alchemically when activated) We do not get ingots of metal, silken hawsers, nor anything suggested by Koan. Heaps of mundane useful material: included many, many wooden poles, pales, & spikes; Plus ...

We also order 2x Rk11+ Aquatic Affinity potions, which will be delivered the next day. To fill in time, Mechanician Silverfoam & mage Grendel make three TK Rage traps: all successful ... as well they should be @ 23,000 the set (Silverfoam paid); one is multiple effect [range].

Starflower & the Bishop first visit Itimanuka Bay. The beauty of the bay has been befouled; the coral has been stripped to form a large coral dome. Orbit drops a Visitation rune, and checks out the patrol of Sahuagin & sharks. Starflower Phantasms them … not much serious damage, but they do have fun. Bless!

Starflower [speaking of Velcanthus]: “The rune-mage and I spend a happy hour [waves hands] … harassing the Sahuagin”.
Human the Fool: “I’m so glad you finished that sentence”.

Having previously map-scryed where many of the missing Pasifikan tribe-members are, they’ve established that they’re in the ruins of Atlantis — not so ruined. Using crystals of vision, they make a more detailed map and sketch some of city. The sahuagin stronghold also has malantee (freak sahuagin that look like merfolk).

3rd Frost. The Rk11 Aquatic Affinity potions arrive. Aqualina advises that 24 paladins, mer-elves, and merfolk will be attacking the Sahuagin in two prongs, as soon as they can: Itimanuka Bay and Attica. Ursula the Sea-witch is in the area (although she can’t be scryed).

The advice from the three Master Mil-scientists is instead to do nothing; they will just interfere in the rescue & get killed. But we can't tell them that; so, if they insist, there is a safe diversionary plan of attacking both the Sahuagin on both the E & W sides of the island (Cliff of Heroes & Itimanuka Bay) 150 miles from the real action. For verisimilitude, Grendel considers summoning a Kraken on one side & a giant squid to the other … or actually does it (?) — the details are mostly irrelevant to the main mission.

Chapter 4: "With nonspecific-small-mammal-like tread, upon the foe we steal"

For greater efficiency, the party sets off NE by ship until Grendel and Aqualina can fly due East to Waiheke using Koan's discs. On arrival, a big warrior argues loudly with Aqualina, who argues back (It's as if we could hear them all too clearly hundreds of miles away); until Grendel shouts "Enough!", and a meeting is called. With rhetoric (and just a little violence and manipulation of magical fire), Grendel, as Priest of Itimanuka oracularly announces that the Goddess has decreed that She will smite the vile sahaugin through the person of Her priest & his companions. But, should the Islanders attack, they will only kill themselves unnecessarily and, in the process, lure some sahuagin away from their well-deserved righteous destruction.

As planned, Grendel blips back to the ship with 6 biddable warriors, one of whom will come with us to better approach the prisoners. By then, we are 13 miles from the infestation (City of Abiding Hunger) near the ruins of Atlantis. Orbit has already dropped a Locate rune. SF counters & recasts his special Waterproofing spell so that all on the boat are waterproof for the next few hours.

The strategy is for the Bishop examine the area by Visitation. The image will be passed to Starflower who teleports in carry the rest of the party once they have been rearranged: i.e., the Bioshop is trans-moggiefied into an unspecified small furry mammal (GTN something like "casuist elf") and the rest of the party Skin-changed or otherwise shifted into mouse form. In reality, the party has been pre-buffed with Bishop's standard magicks, plus Water-breathing, 2 sets of Mind speech (obviously the Islander is only on 1 set), Water Counterspells of rank16 gen&19 spec [+78 & 87 MR] to avoid Drown spells (when in doubt, actively resist their mages); Quickness; prepared weapons/items etc ...

The first Visitation was not particularly useful; but, on the second attempt, he runs into a scry-shielded area that appears as an opaque barrier. Success! Eventually a hole in it is found and revealed to be an area by the entrance to a building guarded by 7 strapping sahuagin. The Bishop cannot use items or spells in Visitation form, but may use talents. The ground is Magical (DA: Alarm). Orbit sets off the ward and a Bard female sahuagin turns up & resets it (by Word of Power). A 14-foot high (non-mage?) sahuagin (non-mage?) sergeant bristling with weapons and an extra pair of arms, also checks on the troops and leaves.

Orbit sets off the ward again, this time a 14-footer 4-arm Namer turns up and tries to use a wand on Orbit but not quite fast enough. The party various changes or is pelted. Orbit sets of two TKR grenadoes sequentially in a 1-2 forward & back fashion that weakens the enemy. Starflower promptly ports us in and Silverfoam (the distinctively handsome mouse and Starflower's bosom buddy) is first restored and continues to demouse the remainder, intermittently raising moral ... and nothing quite raises morale like turning a mouse into a war-rhino. Mean while the Bishop Hellfires, or rather Heck-steams, the enemy — previous experimentation having established it is half as damaging underwater. But still enough to hurt multiple pre-damaged enemy ... quickly followed up with Starflower's focused TKR, Grendel's Bolt TKR, Human's multiple strikes.

The party sustains minor damage only, thanks to the Bishop's rune magicks and our general policy of our hitting them before they hit us. A couple of Sahuagin guards make the mistake of attacking the war rhino, doing no damage, just annoying it. The enemy are all killed or quelled. Opposite the target cells is another prisoner area containing merfolk or mer-elves. Whilst the rest of the party clean-up (not forgetting to loot the namer!), the Bishop, Silverfoam, and islander head into the bound-earth cells where, according to the Finding, the Pacifican captives should be.

Chapter 5: "Taken from the county jail, by a set of curious chances"

After the fray, we recovered 15 islanders (& cast Water breathing on them) plus 45 merelves/merfolk. Our position was suboptimal: Grendel advises that the Warpgate back to our ship won’t function, meaning that there wasn’t a sufficiently large egress from the complex; nor did the Bishop’s non-corporeal totem find a way out; conversely the area we were in didn’t have securable doors — rather a tactical design flaw in a prison perhaps, but then it was also a larder. Fortunately Koan’s instant stone golems were good enough to act as makeshift obstructions. The cell-blocks were bound earth, although we could perhaps Tunnel from the central store areas, especially onceanything weapon-like has been distributed to the newly liberated. The central nexus was about 30’ sq, 20’ high, with the sea-floor about 5-6 yards above that.

Starflower, whose Telepathy (200 yards) is bigger than Grendel’s, indicated that the sahuagin were closing in; so when the reptiles were closer, both mages lulled the enemy with an amusing balance of Phantasms & Nightmares ... until some bored officer cried “Release Squeaky”. Unfortunately, by the time we heard it squeaking the walls, not quite seeing it, we discovered that the gelatinous cube was not stopped by a wall of thorns. Fortunately, when it was exploded, the Bishop’s Circle of protection protected those nearby from its acid innards.

Sahuagin Tunnelled the main thorny approach, until Silverfoam switched it off; so a Wizard eye appeared, trying to sleep the Namer twice (“How rude!”). Next a Sahuagin was Teleported in just at the moment it was casting an Agony — see, even reptilian mind-mages are cold and devious and, as it turns out, had sent in an assassin-necromancer. The assassin had little chance to do in the bishop with its poisoned conch since it teleported into his 12-point Circle of protection. Then Starflower hit, Human t.f. missed, & the rhino enduranced; in response, the sahuagin never recovered from stun.

Because Grendel could see the direction whence the Sahugin teleported, Silverfoam put up a Spell Barrier (Rk 19) making it harder for more to come in. So, while the reptilian evil mind-mages moved for a better position, wewere attacked by earthmages from above (as we’d been warned), Tunelling through the ceiling and dropping down aquatroopers: falling into our trap perfectly ... since that meant there were now suitably large egresses for Grendel's magic. While the rest of the party diverted the attackers in the lobby, even dispelling one Tunnel (pretending to be worried about them), Koan & his golems protected the only entrance to the large bound-earth chamber and Grendel started casting Warpgates — one a pulse, asthe ex-prisoners lined up and stepped through to freedom. It took barely a minute to rescue them all.

Meanwhile there were minor interactions in the antechamber: Wizard-eyes, transforming ceiling remains into lethal traps, typical on-the-fly guild mayhem. But, by the time they decided to melt the ceiling, we’d decided to leave. Under cover of Light (Rank 20; the Bishop being typically illuminating), we exited through the Warpgates.

After a short jaunt to the coast, we refreshed the water for the mer-tank; then proceeded by Mage wind (SF Rk 20) to Waiheke, dropping the merfolk and merelves on the way. Koan decided to stay to assist the locals in defence.

Chapter 6: We Will Fight Them on the Beaches…

[Guest-written by Starflower while Silverfoam's attention is elsewhere]
We sailed south to Waiheke, on Silverfoam’s boat ship, figuring we’d drop the merfolk and elves there. As it turned out, some of the most important captives were missing.

Using hypnotism and mind speech, we got a better idea of what had happened to the prisoners. They remembered the Sahuagin using Mind and Celestial as well as Water magics. They had been taken before a monster Sahuagin who was the prince. This Sahuagin prince seemed to have two minds occupying the same body (according to one captive who had ranged healer empathy). He was accompanied by his consort and by eight huge bodyguards.

We arrived at Waiheke some twelve hours later — we had to water the aquatics part way there. We learned we had rescued Aqualina’s younger sister. We were missing her older brother, who had been taken to the arena along with a number of other warriors, about half the chiefs, and all of the more senior shamen.

Grendel’s kraken had done a number on the western Sahuagin complex, a series of caves on the west coast. On the east coast, the dome in Itimanuka Bay had been cracked open. No sign of the monsters.

As we were having a late supper in the village, the alarms went off, followed by the all clear. Proved to be a group of elves and merfolk, adventurers Starflower had met before, with news of the attacks. Apparently, they’d punched a hole in the blockade around this island so we can evacuate the women and children. Some of their people had checked out the sahuagin enclaves and found the western caves largely deserted. To the East, the Sahuagin had escaped into tunnels under the dome where scrying was blocked.

As we talked into the night, the first canoes came to start the evacuation to the southern islands. We asked one of the native shamen to make sea snake skin changes — these creatures are highly venomous, yet have tough skins, and breathe both air and water.

Shortly after that, the alarms went off again. No less than six waterspouts were incoming, perhaps a mile out. And there was a weird looking storm following. Then the scaly hordes came up the beach charging the palisade. A very large specimen stood in the breakers, casting fear at us. So, of course we went after him — Starflower had shape-changed and was slipstreaming on the back of FR’s flying chariot. Darkness fell over the beach as starflowre breathed on the Sahuagin mages, causing them both to fall over unconscious. FR turned one into an oyster, but then backfired and almost turned one of his pets into a shellfish, before mollusc-forming the other. Starflower flew around and about, knocking Sahuagin unconscious, as Grendel and Human sent in their nightmares, and soon the battle became a rout.

Later, we interrogated the oysters. We learned that the Sahuagin had come south, fleeing Leviathan. The Sahuagin Prince is a Mind Mage plus. The Consort is a priestess of the Duke of the Waters, and has both Air and Water Colleges. They use poisons extensively. The Sahuagin have a range of Colleges, including Necromancy, Mind, Water, Air, Celestial, Exsanguination, Rune, ...

Finally, FR countered the curse on the oysters, and after a brief brawl, Starflower turned one into an attractive female mermaid (who was promptly taken aside by Human). The other was killed, convinced to behave, then resurrected. Eventually, they both agreed to be sensible.

Finding assured us that the senior shamen and chiefs were in the main tower, and Aqualina’s brother was at the arena. There is a plan to attack the western enclave in an attempt to draw sahuagin away from the north.

Chapter 7: "Tantantara! Tzing BOOM!"

8th Frost. After 3 days on Waiheke, we travelled to Gwydonia to spy on the Itimanuka Bay complex (technical name for a sinister bad-guy building / tunnel maze / whatever). The day before, the Bishop had Bound earth in the shape of 3-ton shafts, slightly flared like an arrow head, but with a 1' hollow tube down the entire length: stable enough to be dropped vertically, quite quickly, onto the Dome transferring most of the impact to the structure; to be safe, Starflower was to Transform the bit-end into diamond. While Silverfoam directed the modified vessel, Grendel would warp onpen the floor/platform the siege-stones are standing on (in derricks holding them upright) and they would drop through, hopefully cracking the dome open.

Well, that was the plan. On arrival, we foundthat the original "Bone construction" coral dome now had large, smoother "plugs" in it — clearly the Kraken and diversionary attack did some damage. Using the usual method (Visitation Rune dropped from Orbit, Bishop popped over, DA-ed), we discovered that the plugs were Rk20 Matter transformation, with Permanency, MA 17. A scouting mission (Bishop, Silverfoam, Human on the throne, Grendel on carpet, Drake-Starflower on high overwatch) further established (Silverfoam DA-ing at maximum viable range) that the plugs were transformed from seawater. Suspicious rock "constructs" were also seen — which soon turned out to be golems.

Unfortunately the scouting mission was too successful: a plug was Dispelled, an attack force of Sahuagin swam out of the breach in a would-be ambush, except we're out of range in the sky ... expecting just such a ploy. Grendel dropped a red-iron grenade into the dome through the crowded opening. The grenade should do grievous damage to all within a 9-hex radius, more for beings near to the detonation point, but apparently it works even more effectively underwater. The force damaged the troops and, thanks to the shape of the dome, reflected off the ground, amplified, and blew the dome apart from the inside. Although we were not maximally buffed (but did have Water-breathing, counterspells, etc) we seized the moment for an impromptu assault. An invested Quickness was triggered. Silverfoam Shipstrengthed a small craft from the water and Grendel steered it underwater (Mage current), with minimum volume of effect ... just large enough to move the party on the craft, and Starflower, and a few incidental enemy bodies that attacked us head-on. In fact we had only a few enemy physically attacking, including two elementals (Banished in the following two pulses). Most of the sharks turned feral, due to the pulped sahuagin flesh in the waters, too busy feeding to attack us. Two mages were temporarily tiresome for a few pulses (modified Hellfires, etc) until quickly eliminated with no significant damage to the party.

Some of the opposition escaped into their tunnels. Indeed many were trapped by the explosion closing their valve entrances more securely than usual.

Chapter 8: "They'll none of 'em be missed"

The battle continued ...     By the time our small Famuv (fast-moving underwater vessel)returned, seven invisible Quickened "guardians" spread about the rim of the city plotting. It was not a successful subterfuge with two decent-ranged Telepathy spells running. We slowed down and started DA-ing, etc. Clearly they had regrouped. One of the sentinels bit the head of a fish as a signal (conjecturally it had Binding Life-force) and from about 5 holes, Tunnelled or forced, sahuagin began streaming (about 10 a pulse from each opening). A Mind special counterspell was placed on most of the boat, with about-to-TK Grendel outside the effect — likewise the bishop, who was who is virtually safe, despite enjoying the odour of entities magic, provided none of Grendel's potential trebles were applied as penalty to resist (range was obviously better).

From another hole emerged two bodyguards and most of a very large, hideous General (Exsanguination college; 2 PB, but we're no more than wary). They too were Quickened. Fortunately the obvious target, the Bish in his bound air (he had Water-breathing, butdeclined to use it for technical reasons), RESISTED the exanguination general spell Die by the sword, which would have forced him to abandon ALL magic casting and charge the enemy in hand-to-hand. In response, Velcanthus used lightning-version Hellfire on the ugly general, and the spell bounced back! Starflower stepped out of the counterspelled area and Mental attacked the general. Incidentally, the general had Death-curse & Call master and was pacted to Vulture-Eagle-Parrot-Apple-Radish, the so-called Sea Duchess (the same demon what the seawitch groupies with). The Famuv gunned across and down to the General (despite the Military scientist's unspoken niggle it might be cannoned instead). Silverfoam dispelled the general's Payback [Exsang special knowledge] spell responsible for the magic reflection.

Next pulse Human clubbed the ugly leader (fortunately hitting because the attack ws from behind) and Starflower also attacked it, remembering just in time NOT to kill it. Then the wiccan sahuagin understandably charged TK-Rage-ing Grendel, but was less successful than it expected because its Quickness was also dispelled, and it was promptly captured too.

After a few pulses, the remaining enemy were ground down by Telekinetic rages and we Divinated the prisoners (highlights including the exsang spells Cult; Fight to the death; Spill the blood; and Silent scream) and Grendel persuades them to voluntarily help us by unsubtle use of Bind will. Silverfoam finally picked up the Exsanguination general counterspell.

Our new friends showed us lots of useful or interesting loot. In the former category are the General's gloves; Enchant weapon disks (one-use blade-guards that trigger when the weapon is drawn); 6 Trollskins; sundry amulets; invested Virility; a Trident of Shocks that will trigger the spell cast into it. In the latter category are conch-shells with sea-snake poison and a palentìr.

Chapter 9: "Goodness me! Why, what was that?" \ "Silent be, ...". We don't use the 'C' Word

10th(?) Frost: the day of the synchronised attack on Abiding Hunger, the city-scaled infestation near the ruins of Atlantis.
The Plan: We stealthily rescue the shamans, whilst Aqualina's unpaid volunteers are seeking some savage, spectacular ... simultaneous assault.

We spent the time beforehand staying inland and debriefing of our new 'friends', the exsanguinating General and the Blackmage. The enemy strength was estimated at about 4,000 fighting adults, plus too many priestesses of Va-Va the unspeakable. Given the three master-level military-scientists-courtiers, things went swimmingly, until the general's head was blown off — quite unexpected from the earlier Divinations, since he wasn't Geased nor under the effect of other magicks that might erupt so violently. A post-mortem Divination revealed that he'd been targeted by an exsanguinary ritual (Head on a Splatter, or some such) probably using material freely donated when he first pacted. Fortunately the blackmage was not so important (perhaps its college was insufficiently repulsive) but, to be safe, Velcanthus changed it gender, as is typical of priests of his sort. We also Divinated the loot. Before the attack began, a crystal showed Aqulina's flotilla of war-canoes at the staging point and, when our ship was in range, Velcanthus visited her to confirm the timing of the simultaneous attacks. The namer also cast a Location spell on the employer, just in case.

So, our target was the tube/tower that contained the captive Shamans. Our planned attack was launched: party some 10 miles inland; Orbit dropping a Location rune; Velcanthus Visitationing the rune; once a target point was in view on Mind speech, a high-rank-invisible Starflower Teleported in with the rest of the party mousified, except for Velcantus (who is a separate cattygory), quickened, predominantly wearing mind conterspells; and the Skin-changes then counterspelled ASAP. This time there was a little digression as the Bishop's projection startled the guards swimming at the top entrance, then those at the base, who then charged the non-corporeal projection when it was standing immediately in front of the very concrete tower. Such fun! Unfortunately the projected image may not cross bound earth, so it entered via a door at the base.

Inside the hollow tower there were four sections including loot and artefacts pillaged from sea-dwelling cultures (in the bottom quarter), then (in the next quarter) from surface-dwelling cultures. It was not yet obvious where the prisoners were. We appeared in the middle of the tower with one squad inside on the ground and another, in formation, at the top blow-hole. The enemy reacted with surprising speed, clearly the general nature of our attack was anticipated; and Starflower's & Grendel's Telepathies indicated from the chatter of the common troupers, that both squads had mind-mages ... not unexpectedly, given our Phantasms last time. We launched a Phantasm and a Nightmare on the ground squad, with a hyper-megahex Rank-19 Air counterspell on their area to give their mindmage a nasty surprise when it attempted to throw Mind counterspells to pop the phantasms. Meanwhile Velcanthus had a Circle of protection where we were; and a rank-20 Light was cast between us and the upper squad, so that when they charged, as indeed they still did, they would be unaware of our actual disposition until much closer; likewise the upper mindmage had to waste time moving before it could cast (since we were all Mind-shielded).

Next pulse, Velcanthus cast a lightning version of Hellfire at the charging enemy; Silverfoam Ship-strengthed (Rk 20) a vessel, hull uppermost, from the fixtures, loot, & seawater, to give a tactical hard-cover surprise for the the troops once they had cleared the Light; Grendel caused acceptable minor damage to the party with as he disappeared in his lightning-transportation spell, reappearing the following pulse, zapping the ground mindmage and its remaining attendants, before bolting up to attack the upper force in due course. The charging troops were fast, although some of them missed their intended targets (thanks to Silverfoams's staff of Aloofness ["It pays to have reliable Staff"]), and were promptly clubbed by Human (who'd powered it up earlier that morning, shortly before we had a tenderised suckling-pig breakfast). Likewise Starflower overcame her unsuspecting victim in a couple of blows using a fortuitous combination of a vicious magical weapon, a certain anti-personnel skill, and attacking from behind with invisible surprise. Also Velcanthus's Mass fear in pulse-5 somewhat disturbed the assaulting enemy with a pleasant blend of mostly panic and frozen results; whereas all the party resisted. That pulse Silverfoam Dispelled the Mind shields on both enemy mindmages (one known, the other assumed), so that they might be Mental attacked, whilst Grendel let loose a Flash of light on the upper troops (since all of our party, except a Bishop, were in the shadow of the newly-created ship).

Pulse-6, Velcanthus Tormented the upper mind-mage whilst individual party-members except the namer continued to "subdue" the enemy soldiers. The following pulse Starflower and HtF both attacked the base mindmage, but it was Human who killed it. At that point all the submarine-civilisation loot and the first spell-a-ship were combined into a new vessel and the upper force crumbled. We then had just a few questions:

How many troopers had managed to escape through the light?
Where were the prisoners we came to rescue?
Were some sahuagin carcases accidentally incorporated, as it were, into the loot-ship? [A: No. Apparently it was subconsciously intentional: their skin makes good armour]

Chapter 10: "When the foeman bares his steel …”

We quickly DA-ed some of the loot and reshaped it into a 1-hex carroch that Grendel directed (Mage current) so that nearby party-members would be automatically swept along at speed. The only entrance to the level below was a valve of Diatoms/Coral shaped like a scallop shell, which Starflower eventually opened. Beneath was a 40' shaft straight down (1-hex across) to a small alcove debouching onto a larger room 25'x25' with a suspiciously dark corridor at the far side. Since the current of our opening the door had probably been sensed, Human-the-Fool’s projected image appeared at the bottom of the shaft whilst the highly invisible (E&E Rk 16) Starflower swam down, aiming to professionally "surprise and neutralise" the single sahuagin guard (a mind-mage). While Human & Starflower took on the guard, the corridor's Rk 20 Darkness was Dispelled, revealing sahuagin fighters in front of three-mages who attack us with Blackfire & Slowness. Velcanthus, the obvious target, being a mage in a bubble of air, was both slowed and damaged enough to pop his 12-point Circle of protection & still do damage. Conversely the targeted sahuagin ALL resisted Grendel's TK Rage cone as he flowed towards the enemy, whose fighters counter-charged Human, Grendel, and (unbeknownst) the invisible Starflower.

Velcanthus (shocked): "That evil mind-mage was only bait."
Human the Fool (looking pointedly at Starflower): "Good Strategy!"

Human hit the Mind-mage again, killing it, and also "bounced" a spell cast at him from the 3rd-mage; meanwhile Silverfoam dispelled the Slowness on Velcanthus and then, because Grendel's TK rage cone failed yet again, cast a rank-16 Celestial special Counterspell underneath the-mages, hoping it was higher than the presumed Mind special counterspell they were standing in (which it was).

Next pulse, Grendel decided to become a warrior, whilst Human made another sahuagin warrior go belly up, and Starflower fired a regular TK rage that the party resisted, as planned — because of their personal counterspells or, in the case of the Bishop, out of habit. After that, while Velcanthus Tormented the dark celestial sahuagin, Grendel pressed on to the trio of-mages and knocked down the E&E, and their counterspell was upgraded to a Counter-water-special (after ascertaining that was the college of the 3rd-mage, since it probably had kill spells such as Drown). The last 2-mages of that group-mages were eliminated in the next 2 pulses

Velcanthus cast a timely Mass fear, just before a couple of sahuagin came through one of the side-doors, and the other sahuagin decided to maximise their safety. One sahuagin-mage however was merely wary (DA on it: Air-mage; very sick!) and, because the party had the initiative, Silverfoam dropped a Rk-19 Air-special counterspell as Velcanthus resisted . . . just before the sahuagin air-mage cast and backfired (180-odd off the die roll tends to do that). The party cleaned up the disabled and cowering remnants of the enemy, and looted of course, especially the adjacent room which was a fane for the demon F*RF*R.

Meanwhile Starflower ESPed, concentrating on those that failed the Telepathy: identifying in particular a human smith working in an air-filled chamber and, at the far edge of her range westwards, minds that might be the islander shamans we sought, but they were very faint as if in a deep, dreamless sleep. At the same time, Velcanthus called up a genius loci and roughly mapped out the area.

We reformed the boat, including the Sahuagin bodies & the material from the main tower, and travelled to a large hall with giant shark-teeth in the ceiling (securely attached, fortunately). There were three large doors made of dolphin, merfolk, and sahuagin bones. Behind the first door were steps leading up to a raised air-pocket and a human, naked bar a kilt, making weapons at a forge — who was happy to be rescued. He was Hamish of the Stewart clan, an armourer. So timely, considering how much raw material we had collected (namely, 5-point plus natural armour sahuagin bodies)

Orbit went with the totem and identified a sahuagin King or Baron, and in the vault where the shamans lay, an abomination in their middle performing a ritual. Oh dear!

Chapter 11: "All is right as right can be"

We briefly discussed our options: the most important thing was the ritual. We didn’t know what it was, but it had to stop. The last TK rage grenado featured stongly in the discussions.

Starflower: “We could always TK Rage them and then Raise the bodies.”
Human: “Not raise them . . . but possibly resurrect.”

Velcanthus went non-corporeal to scout the ritual chamber, although he first had to go though the Presence Chamber, where the king on his throne was plotting with the priestesses, flanked by some water elementals, while some tough guards were lined up facing the entrance doors, as if they expected a violent band of thugs to burst through there and assault them. Such fun to be under-estimated! The ritual room had bound-earth walls as much of the presence-chamber. Fortunately the bishop was able to agilely weasel through spaces too small for a normal humanoid to crawl, although he most definitely was not in weasel form. Because of his small shape，he was able to find and fit through a secret door in the usual place (behind the throne).

The Abomination was a giant, multi-eyed Aboleth (pacted; mind-college, with enhancements). About it the islanders' bodies were laid like the petals of a daisy. The captives had multiple magicks on them including Binding will, Control person, and Damage binding (linked to the Aboleth).

The layout of the chambers meant that Grendel could not Warpgate us in (or out). While we were scrying the presence-room, the Kraken died off-stage. The best plan was for us to retreat to the air-chamber with the forge, to disrupt the ritual by Grendel summoning the Eboleth: efficient and effective. Unfortunately, since it was a mind-mage, it Teleported to us. Simultanesously the Baron's group charged out of its chamber. We should have predicted that: tricks, tricksy mind-mages. Several party-members closed and attacked, with the damage bouncing back to the captives . . . fortunately it spread the damage around. Velcanthus put up a Wall of thorns to delay the entry of the Baron's group, while Human tried to blockade the smaller side entrance, in case they pincer-attacked.

It was easy to hit the Aboloth with its negligible defence, especially once its Force shield was Dispelled (although still tough and naturally armoured), however it was innately able to cast as if quickened, possibly in addition to other actions. So, to amuse the enemy, several party-members pretended to be struck by TK rage; we all had Mindcloak, and it seemed to believe us since it kept trying to cast simultaneously with an attack with a myriad of limbs, tentacles, and appendages . . . all the while Starflower grappled its slimy body with her mentacles, out-strengthing it so that it could not flee.

Human (of Starflower): "She's got courtesan; she's used to manipulating appendages"

Silverfoam: "You can tell a high party by their ability to recognise the word ovipositor in almost any language".

Human: "[censored]"
Velcanthus: "There are moments when you're smutty, and others when you're downright repulsive".

A special potion-grenado was thown and Velcanthus cast Hellfires, which had the effect of slowly, mystically, starting to burning the Abolith, starting from its limbs. Silverfoam saw through Manasight that it had 12 "chords" leading back in the direction of the ritual chamber (one for each captive shaman) and a 13th of a slightly different colour: on the second attempt he managed to Dispell the 13th chord. The Baron broke through the thorns in a few pulses and charged up the steps, whereupon Velcanthus put up a new wall behind it. And the sahuagin Baron rushed into combat and smote the Abolith severely from behind.

The next pulse the last of the Abolith, its head, crumbled to dust. We then noticed that there appeared to be the corpse of a one-eyed juvenile abolith on the Baron's shoulder and the Baron's violent language confirms, as suspected, that the Abolith had been controlling the Baron. Doh! Thats is what the witness meant by a sahuagin prince "with two minds". Given that he was controlled, the party pragmatically refrained from attacking the Baron, who similarly declines to call in his guards, mages, and elementals. A truce was called and they party given 5 minutes to leave unhindered with the plunder tribute and remaining detainees, extended to 10 minutes as the party, with calm arrogance, insisted more time is necessary to stabilise the Baron’s “guests”.

While Grendel and the SFs (Starflower & Silverfoam) take two minutes to Empathy the Islanders up to reasonable health, Dispel the controls, etc, and re-Hypnotise them to return their willpower. The others quickly identified all potentially valuable items and found the secret door to the real treasure (under the bedroom) with an efficient rapacity that is the hallmark of a truly experienced guild party.

The throne room had two other adjacent chambers. First a large study entirely done out in black on black . . . it’s almost as if he knew the taste of his pillagers: tiled in black obsidian, conveniently for Silverfoam (remodelling bathrooms in an off-plane chateau), with a large obsidian or Granite lectern (immediately claimed by the bishop) and other black fripperies. Then a spherical bedroom done in white on pearly white (Yay! Can never have too many tiles) with a large view across a large private undersea reserve. Both rooms are quickly stripped: S.O.P. Rank-20 Ship Strength.

Plan A, obviously, was to blockade the grand double-doors and have Starflower Transform the window so that the party could take a mage-currented boat with the loot (and rescued prisoners) back to base without confronting the by-then rebuffed King and the remnants of his court who would have fought to the death-cursed bitter end (and for pacted, petty royalty and priestesses that can be a very messy, bitter end indeed) — in the military scientists’ opinions it have been a close thing . . . and the known exit that way is very narrow. Too narrow? Fortunately a large secret exit is found from the ritual chamber, and the party & loot & rescuees Plan B-ed in a narrow longboat down this passageway that reached the Trench. Then a quick 45-degree climb to the surface and a Rank-20 Mage-wind to the coast and our base. All eyes, ESP, & Telepathy were alert for the enemy, since there was a slight chance that the sahuagin could have caught up to the party before they beached (e.g., Rk-20 wave riding); but the heroes & loot & rescuees were unharried. One wonders how long the Baron and his forces waited for the party to exit before breaking down the doors?

The next day, the party escorted the victorious and wounded back to Waiheke, for serious recooperation, divination, and [mostly] celebration. A week later, word was received that the Sahuagin have abandonned the entire plateau area and most of the party had returned to the Guild (via the Trading post, the Sea of Grass portal, then by overland barge or flying) by that evening.

Magic active on Fr. Rowan
Magical Preparation	Rk	Effects	Dur
Blessing	10	+10 SC & 10 vs Fear	55 mins
Solar Protection	6	+14 vs Light/Solar -1 Light/Solar damage, see in Rk 20 Light	70 mins
Mind Cloak	10	+ 30 MR vs Compels, Charms, Controls, Bindings, conceals pact and thoughts	21 hrs
Circle of Protection	12	Ignore 1st 12 damage per Pulse, +3 to attackers die roll	6 ½ hrs
Rune of Truth	6	BC 58% notice deceptions	55 mins
Greater Heart Rune	8	Heals 7 EN when EN damage taken	9 days
Rune of Willow Healing	12	Heals 3 EN per Pulse	14 Pulses
Sacrifice	12	Resist or be reduced -1 EN, heals 12	130 secs

FOOTNOTES

As of the week before the Guild meeting, there have been no sahuagin spotted although there is a possibility that there may be isolated pockets in deserted places on the plateau as well as the deeper areas of the side of the plateau as it plunges into the deeps. The sunken city of Atlantis, located at the northern tip of the Pasifikan Plateau and just north of the sahuagin city is being used as an operations base to keep an eye on the northern regions in case the sahuagin decide to return.

The sahuagin city has been left alone for now as efforts have been directed into cleaning up the mess. Several thousand merfolk and aquatic elves as well as a few hundred islanders are still missing, presumably eaten. There are plans to explore it later and make sure that the sahuagin haven't left any nasty surprises behind. They are however, quite sure, that no prisoners have been left behind. An expedition is underway to the northern ocean to rescue any captives the sahuagin may have taken with them, and also to find out what is up there. All that is known so far is that it is mostly deep ocean with seamounts scattered about, some high enough to be islands. There are also black smokers and active volcanos.

There are also plans to try and set up a new Pasifikan Adventurer's Fraternity along the lines of the Seagate Guild. One of their first tasks will be the exploration of the Zeylandia Plateau to the south, with the view for colonization, so that the population isn't all in one basket.

The merfolk are still suspicious of why the Sea Witch wanted an abolith brain and several dead sahuagin. They're keeping an eye on her.

Incidently, the missing Never Fairy, Vidia, was found by Prilla. Vidia had been captured by a mage on a Destinian ship as an 'interesting specimen'.

SGT Snippets & Gossip

GM: "You notice Aqualina wearing a large cloak with an aura of respect & dignity."
Anonymous: "What? Just cos she's wearing clothes for once?"

Koan, the binder: "Do sea-elves speak any Elvish?"
SF [a Sea Elf]: "Do you mean Sea Elves or underwater Mer-elves ... there is quite a difference."
Human The Fool: "Yeah! One's a vegetable, the other's a fish."

Grendel: "I'll bring my War-rhino, although some parties might object to having one on a boat."
Velcanthus: "That's because of the stench."
Siverfoam: "Not a problem. We'll be schooner-rigged, so my Mage Wind always comes over the bow."
Velcanthus: "That's just so your silk scarf will flutter in the right direction. Typical poncy Elf!"
SF: "Actually it's a cloak. [In a whisper] And you've forgotten the importance of elegantly billowing hair."

Koan (Binder & journeyman MilSci): "Don't treat them like people ... they're merely tools"
SF: With an attitude like that, you'll do well as a Military Scientist; not popular, but definitely successful."
Koan: "I meant my golems."

FR: "I really don’t want to run into a sea witch."
Starflower: "We’ve met the sea witch. She’s a bitch."

Starflower & others [to SF, Scribe]: "That's going in the Scribe notes."
Silverfoam [confused]: "What did I say? You can't expect me to both scintillate and listen to what I say".

Human: "Spirit-walking? We used to call it pub-crawling…"

Buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Grendel	SF	Human	Dylan	the Bishop	Starflower
Blessing	10	+10 SC & 10 vs Fear	55 mins
Rune Shield	11	+16 DEF +2 Prot	12 hrs
Greater Heart Rune	8	Restores 7 EN when EN damage taken	9 days
Willow Healing	12	Cures 3 EN/Pulse for 14 Pulses	24 hrs
Rune of Truth	6	PC + 12% to notice deceptions	70 mins
Std Counters	8-19	+54-87 MR
Raise Morale		+10-15 WP

Treasure

Ring of Waterbreathing

This silver ring with a scaly pattern on it contains 6 charges of R20 Waterbreathing. BC:105% Value: 6000sp

Strength of Stone Pebble

This egg sized pebble, when a possession, confers a permanent Rank 20 Strength of Stone, granting 20 extra points to Endurance. Value: 40,000sp

Circlet of Mind Shield

This bronze circlet, when worn, grants a permanent Rank 10 Mind Shield on the wearer. Value: 15,000sp

Captain's Coat

This heavy woolen coat prevents the wearer from getting wet in rain and seaspray. It also grants a permanent r20 Air Resist Cold on the wearer. Agility checks for retaining one's balance, on a heaving or pitching ship's deck, are taken at one more i.e, x3 AG becomes x4 AG etc. It also grants a Predict Weather talent at Rank 18 if the wearer doesn't already have it at a higher rank. Weight 4lbs. Value 42,000sp

Captain's Lantern

This greenglass and brass lantern constantly protects the ship it is mounted on with an effect similar to the Bardic Implanting Sounds ritual which can produce an alarm. The captain of the ship can speak a command word while touching a silver penny to the underside of the lantern to create a lantern token. Any sentient being that boards the ship sets off the alarm unless they possess a lantern token. At any time, the captain can cancel all the current tokens. Any token radiates a slight magical effect that is linked to the lantern. The lantern doesn't have to be lit to provide protection. Weight: 2lbs. Value 60,000sp

Everfull Sail

Sails crafted of a sky-blue canvas with silver flecking, these magical sails are always filled with a strong wind when fully unfurled. The wind created behind the sails is sufficient to drive the ship forward at it's full normal speed and the sail ignores any other wind that is blowing contrary. The winds stop when the sails are furled, cut, or otherwise taken down. If the sail is cut then the magic is ruined. A ship requires one set of these sails per mast or the magic doesn't function. They still work as normal sails though. Weight: 500lbs. Value: 25,000sp

Spool of Rope

This spool contains 500ft of silk rope, yet the entire spool weighs only a single pound. The spool comes with a belt loop so it can be hung off an adventurer's belt. To use the spool, the owner feeds out as much rope as required and, when finished, simply winds it back. The rope cannot be seperated by the spool. Any portion cut off disappears but the spool immediately regenerates the missing length. The rope from the spool can be spliced with another rope but the extra rope cannot be wound back into the spool. Value 10,000sp

Sais of Shocking

These twin sais, one red, the other blue, work as normal sais if used seperately. If used together, the one in the primary hand adds +10SC +2D while the one in the off hand adds +10DEF, +5SC +1D. If both sais hit a single opponent, the opponent is stunned even if they normally wouldn't be. These sais may also be used to shock someone awake or restart a heart if the heart was stopped within the last 5 pulses. Value 10,000sp

Belaying Pin

When hit by this weapon, the opponent's next action is 'belayed' as they are stunned. If the blow would not have ordinary stunned them, then they recover from stun as their action or at the end of the pulse. A belaying pin is a Class C weapon and is treated the same as a Crude Club but ranks as Sap. It will take weapon spells. Value 5,000sp

Serpentine Talon Sheaths

• Plane of Origin: Alusia
• Nature of Magic: None
• Physical Appearance: These are a set of claw sheaths that fit over the claws of an entity. They are made from the teeth of a sea serpent.
• Dimensions: The claw sheathes fit over any medium sized claws.
• Weight: 1oz each
• Effects: The claws are considered magical for the purpose of what they will hit due to the materials from which they are made. They are a valid target for weapon spells.
• Value: 400 sp

Halfglobe of Illumination

(x 18)
This is a clear glass halfglobe, 1ft in diameter, containing a permanent Rank 11 Celestial Illumination. It is designed to be affixed to a ceiling or wall to provide continuous illumination. If it is damaged by an EN blow, the magic goes away.

• Weight: 10lbs
• Value: 1100sp

Wand of Banishment

• Charges: 10
• Cast Chance: 110%
• Value: 30,000sp
• Effects: This wand is charged with the Dimensional Weaving version of Banishment (otherwise known as Return to Home Plane). It emits a beam of yellowish light and if this light hits an extraplaner target, it needs to make an MR check otherwise it is immediately sent back to it's Plane of Origin. This spell is a Special Knowledge spell of the Dimensional Weaving College. If the target is native to the plane, nothing happens and the charge is wasted.

Wand of Coloured Bolts of Starfire

• Charges: 10
• Aura: Magic, Storage.
• POO: Alusia.

• Effects: It is invested with Bolt of Starfire, Rank 10, BC 85%
  

Each bolt does (D-4)+10 damage except as indicated below

Upon activation, the wielder can nominate the colour of the bolt. If they don’t, the GM can pick one. Specific colours can do double damage against particular types of targets (cf Phaeton's modified Bolt of Starfire ). The colours and targets are:

• Red - Creatures of Water
• Pink - Creatures of Ice
• Green - Creatures of Fire
• Orange - Creatures of Air
• Blue - Creatures of Earth
• Yellow - Undead
• White - Unholy (Demons and Devils etc)
• Black - Holy (Angels, Powers of Light etc)
• Purple - Illusions and Phantasms
• Grey - Golems and Constructs

A GM may add others at his/her discretion

Value 11,000sp

Commander and Troop Headbands

(x2) These are usually made in sets of seven, one gold band, for the commander and silver bands for each of the underlings. Whoever wears the gold band can cast a Self only spell that only affects them (eg Mind Shield) and anyone wearing the matching silver headbands also get the spell. Also, if a Mind mage is wearing a gold band, they can cast Mind Speech and as well as linking up all the matching silver band wearers, regardless of range on the same plane, any other gold band wearers within a mile will also get the mind speech. It is rumoured that further up in the herarchy is a platinum band that can link up with gold bands, and copper bands below the silver bands. Value: 100,000 per set.

Shocking Trident

• (x6)
• Plane of Origin: Alusia
• Nature of Magic: Air
• Physical Appearance: This Merfolk-style trident has a electric blue fork which appears to be faintly sparkling when charged.
• Dimensions: The trident is approximately six feet long.
• Weight: 5lb
• Effects: This magical trident does an additional +1 damage and +5% to hit. When triggered, at a cost of 2 fatigue, it may deliver a shock to the next target succesfully hit by the wielder. If the target fails to resist, it is stunned, and takes D+2 additional damage. This device functions normally under water.
• Value: 7500 sp

Trident of Spell Storing

• (x6)
• Plane of Origin: Alusia
• Nature of Magic: Spell Storing
• Physical Appearance: This trident looks like a standard trident but, when a spell is in the central prong, the prong will glow with an coloured aura that is related to the spell within.
• Dimensions: 6ft long
• Weight: 5lbs
• Effects: this trident is weaponsmithed to deliver an additional +1 dam and +5% to hit. The central prong can be used to store a spell and the spell stored must be one that travels from the caster to one or more targets. A mage must use a standard prepare/fire action pair to insert the spell but the spell can be used as a fire action, effects being as if the caster has fired it. If the caster backfires while inserting the spell, anything other than an extra fatigue loss will render the trident unable to store spells any more. Weapon enhancement spells can be put on the trident as normal regardless of the status of the central prong.
• Value: 10,000sp

Essense of Abolith

The Ash of the Abolith can be used, by a Master Alchemist to make a potion that will convey the following effects. There is enough ash to make two potions. Each potion, once made, has the following effects:

• +1 Willpower. Willpower can immediately be raised by one. This also raises the racial maximum by one.
• A Mind Shield can be raised in one pulse as if the Imbiber is Quickened - only if they can cast the spell themselves. In addition, the resulting Mind Cloak covers a megahex - centered on the Mind Mage.
• Doubles the duration of ESP.
• The imbiber gains a Perminent Resistance to all Mind Magics as if they were under a Rank 20 Purification (+21 MR v Mind). This stacks with standard purification.
• A user can only benefit from one dose. They do NOT stack.
• Usable only by Mind Mages.
• Value: Quest. (50,000)

Scallop Shell of Directed TK Rage

(x2) Once a day, the wielder of this shell can direct a TK rage in a fan like pattern in such a way that they can target 0 + 1 per 2 ranks specific entities to be affected by their TK Rage. It also doubles the range. Other entities that would otherwise be in the area of effect of a normal TK Rage are unaffected. Value 10,000gp

Amulet of Trollskin - Type 1

(x10) One use Rank 20 Trollskins. Will kick in once the wearer takes EN damage. Once activated, they're just pretty. Value 2,500gp.

Amulet of Trollskin - Type 2

Kicks in a trollskin when the wearer falls below 0 EN. It will keeps trying to regenerate the wearer until he/she is back to full EN or has been knocked down to minus twice their original EN score.

Value 15,000sp.

Enhance Weapon Disks

(x20) One use Rank 20 Enhance Weapon. Designed to be stuck on the hilt and activated. Will crumble into dust once used. Value 2,500gp.

Miscellaneous Wiccan Amulets

• (lots)
• Amulets of Diamonds (+2 SC) - 8000gp
• Amulets of Luck (+3 MR +2 DEF) - 2400gp
• Amulets of Elder Flowers - 400sp
• Amulets of Virility - 1000gp
• Amulets of Aquilegius - 2400gp

Treasure Distribution

Item	#	Weight

Calendar

	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
Winter: Frost (7)
		Samhain	1	Guild Meeting	2	S.Grass; T.Post; scouting	3	T.Post; Waiheke; N.Point	4	Battle of Waiheke	5		6
	7		8	Battle of Itimanuka Bay	9		10	N. Point; Battle of Atlantis	11	Waiheke	12		13
	14		15		16		17		18	Back at Guild	19		20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30
Winter: Snow (8)
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8		9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Solstice	16		17		18	Yuletide
	19	Days of Chaos	20	2nd DoC	21	3rd DoC	22	4th DoC	23	5th DoC	24	6th DoC	25	7th DoC
	26	8th DoC	27	9th DoC	28	10th DoC	29	11th DoC	30	Twelfth Night
Winter: Ice (8)
											1		2
	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