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gaeleth:campaigns:campaign_ix:recap_19

Recap 19, Campaign IX

Evening of the 22nd of Sad, 1331 Avard.

Hadarai decided that he had critical research regarding the Eigths of Serendin, that could only be done from Lok Magius. Giving his apologies to the crew of the Dellistar and the rest of the group, he caught passage for Rilan early on the morning of the 23rd of Sad.

Johannes, Kag, Meredith, and Grania went out that same morning towards the Red Flagon – where Johannes' hired hands would supposedly check in with word from Mad Dog Island. The four of them were ambushed by a drow crossbowman from the rooftops. The drow's tactics seemed to be hit and fade style, but an impetus from Meredith had him tumbling off the roof tops and into the waiting might of Kag and Grania. Seeing he couldn't escape, the drow surrendered to Johannes – whose easily visible sigil of Arpelos marked him as an honorable priest.

The guard deferred to Prior Johannes, and the drow was scheduled for ducal execution. Meredith and Kag convinced the drow to talk soon afterwards. His name was Akaius. He had been hired to impersonate Xennith and sew discord wherever he could, especially for anyone hired on by Master Horbe. The Dellistar had been hired by Master Horbe, and anyone coming off its deck in Teras was subject to harassment. Akaius was curious as to where Garrett Fellhaft, Draelien Bloodbanner, and the mage Cephus were – though he knew that Dolon Uther was now a wanted man in Teras. Akaius seemed to be a professional assassin, whose actions were unrelated to the Duchess Genea or any other drow. The mage Toirin had hired Akaius there in Teras, some several months past.

The party regretted leaving Akaius in the jail, feeling that he would escape or be freed despite the ducal execution request that Sergeant Jon would and Sir Roose would request.

At the Red Flagon, they settled in for a patient wait, with Lo-Kag consuming quite a bit of drink. There were no games of Siege to keep him occupied, but between Meredith and Grania's dwarven chastising and coaching, he was learning – albeit quite slowly.

While Meredith tried to work a sparse morning's crowd, the others were approached by what could only be described as a 'tiny man' with a gray cloak over a bright yellow shirt. The half-sized man introduced himself as Falkrin, and asked if the party had need of someone fluent with the 'flow' – of the arcane.

Johannes nor the rest of the group had any idea how long Hadarai would be gone, and even should he return, having another mage with the party sounded like a win-win situation. Johannes and Falkrin talked for a bit, and they learned that Falkrin's people were all so short as he, and apparently inclined towards the arcane.

The four adventurers that Johannes had hired returned – beat up and bedraggled. They told of how when they arrived at Mad Dog Island the military garrison of Avris, the inn was in shambles. A mage battle of some sort had taken place, and the garrison was at a loss to explain it. The adventurers managed to find one clue, though – the only ship that had been in the area at the time was the Rakoran-registered Falling Water, destined for Chasadan, Rakore. The mages on Mad Dog Island had been unable to find the perpetrators, but to the adventurers, it seemed no stretch of the imagination to suppose that the Falling Water was involved, as it was the only non-military ship to have visited Mad Dog Island during the timeframe of the inn's destruction and Master Horbe's disappearance.

Given that one of the Eigths of Serendin had been scried in Chasadan, the link seemed important, but the party was indecisive and divided on what to do or where to go. Some wanted to go to Mad Dog Island and investigate personally, others to Chasadan, and others to speak with Hadarai up at Lok Magius.

Without any clear decision, they passed the rest of the day thinking. Kag worked for a smithy in return for spear heads. Meredith spoke with the drow enclave and passed a message to Xennith about what was going on. Johannes 'purchased' a lot of land with a burned-out building on it and hired a score of kobolds to begin clean up of the plot – in anticipation of building a temple there.

That piece of land caused a considerable fight to break out between Grania and Johannes. Grania accused Johannes of stealing from the party and from her, as he was using Hadarai's parts of their treasure to try to fund the temple – but Hadarai had promised his share of the treasure to Grania. Johannes, caught off guard by the verbal attacks, seemed only to dig himself deeper into trouble with Grania over the black diamonds taken from the gryphon aviary.

The next day, they decided to go up to Lok Magius and scry things out with Thedlar's help. Prior Johannes still had considerable pull in the area as a parish priest, and was able to get them quickly in to see Thedlar.

Dolon was still an unknown, and the scrying mirror could not help there. The Falling Water was found – in Teras; had the party but looked to the docks there in town, they would have seen the ship.

Master Horbe was found quickly enough; he was alive, though barely. It was obvious that Horbe was being tortured, chained as he was to a cobble-stoned wall, of a design unfamiliar to the party. Armed with Prince Ihoaea's and Akaius' descriptions of Toirin, the mirror scried for the mage – and found him. The mage was sitting in a second-floor office with a cobble-stoned wall similar to the type Horbe was chained up to, though the location was a bit off. Toirin immediately sensed the scrying, and responded with a magical attack, shattering the mirror.

The party quickly returned to Teras – only to find the Falling Water gone, heading to Firland to pick up materiel after dropping off a load of grain from Chasadan.

Noon of the 28th of Sad, Second Day of the Freeze, 1331 Avard.

XP Awarded

Each player received 1000 experience points for playing.
Johannes Whermak: 17555 XP (9th level)
Grania: 17505 XP (9th level)
Meredith: 13000 XP (8th level) (level up!)
Lo-Kag: 12000 XP (7th level).
Falkrin: 11000 XP (7th level).

Notes

The following notes represent the 'behind the scenes' and 'post op' actions of the players and the Dungeon Master.

Joe / DM

We met at Jalinda's place to give her boy and Sommer's children a chance to play together, on WED16SEP2009. Fred, owing to semester obligations, is bowing out of the campaign for now. One of John and Jalinda's friends, Kiersten, was immediately available for game play; he spent most of the time working out 4th Edition D&D which was new to him, and we'll see about ironing out the rest of his character very shortly.

It's hard to believe we're already in Chapter 19 of the recaps. With Fred out of the game, and Ross' character Dolon gone, no one from the original few chapters is left; it's a brand new crew with a brand new set of priorities. It'll be interesting to see how the campaign goes from here, and whether it stays true to the original premises or not. Right now, it seems that getting everyone on the same sheet of music is a challenge!

Ross / Lo-Kag

The ebb and flow of reality is hardly a predictable thing. That being said, I love how chaotic it's becoming in the campaign. There's this sense of urgency- and our arguments- it's all really good stuff.

Also, something I'll have to work on with Lo-Kag is that while he isn't extremely bright, he isn't dishonorable either. This really only applies to killing though, as a “might makes right” attitude was not considered as having anything to do with honor in his upbringing.

Kman / Falkrin

No comment.

John / Johannes

So Johannes has found himself as the senior guy on the team, with the inherited goal of finding the 8 parts. While this task seems to be the most pressing, it also seems the most daunting. With his opponent well funded, magically powerful, and in posession of a significant web of spies and allies the outlook is grim. I'm not really sure which direction to take in order to defeat this guy.

It didn't help that I was fall down sick on game night.

Jalinda / Grania

No comment.

Sommer / Meredith

Good recap, thank you! :) I am excited to see where things go from here…

gaeleth/campaigns/campaign_ix/recap_19.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/28 15:51 (external edit)