Party:
The Plumage of Spring (Sorcerer 1) - Grey Woman
The Meek Sun (Thief 2) - Grey Woman
Slough (Halfling 1) - Mutant Man
The Last Walker (Fighting-man 1) [Retainer] - Ulfire Man
The Dreamer of Skies (Normal Man 0) [Retainer] - Gold Man
The party splits: Meek Sun, Walker, and Slough attempt another barrow-delving mission along with the Gold retainer Dreamer of Skies (paid double) and instead found ten disturbing rocks sticking out of the ground, seemingly as deep as could be dug. They found a few coins and many bones, but using their ten-foot pole gave away no secrets.
Slough is made to stand between the rocks and finds that they snap shut to capture the victim; he escapes with dexterity and is resentful.
With this little treasure they return to the river settlement and rent a canoe with the intent of finding the Gold mercenaries’ lost ship. The bailiff nor the Judge bother them; they brush this off as the gift being acceptable. They head west the next day and carefully search the riverbanks. A giant crocodile raises up to eat them but is shot at and fled from.
They overshoot their target and end up in a large lake; that evening they come across another camp on stilts and ask to rest. The place is run by mutants with hairless rat-heads and is a kind of drug lab. Fumes are rampant, hash and lotus are processed here.
Meek Sun remembers this from the smuggler’s memory (and how untrustworthy he was) and said instead they were sent by The Judge of Stones. So they received hospitality for the night and exchange information: the last batch of hash was stolen by raiders, and across the lake is the citadel of a sorcerer who produces lotuses.
The mutants were agitated by this information, but couldn’t give any help. That night, one of them came upon the party with a dab of hash and offered to sell it under the table.
Last Walker did his mind-trick and learned this was a test to see if the party were underhanded thieves and robbers, and he said they would not partake, and explained later once alone. Meek Sun made a mark in Robber Code to meet up with the smuggler again in a week.
Next they offered to canoe over to the rumored Sorcerer across the lake and pick up some lotuses. They did so. Across the lake was indeed a citadel: a six-leveled stepped tower on solid ground overlooking the water. And when they came upon the tower five robed Jale men watched them and called that interlopers and smugglers of the Grey people were not welcome.
When approached they hoisted nets as if to capture the party, but were waved away by the party saying they were here to pick up lotuses. Access was worked out, the party paying ten coins each through a lowered bag and getting up via a ladder.
The tower was newly-constructed; bare on the outside but humid and thick with pollen inside. They were led up to a higher level with clearer air to meet the ruling sorcerer, The Flower of Peace, who for all of the Jale people seemed to have hair—strange, and stranger still that the sorcerer was a cheerful personality and received them well.
They talked about plants (the sorcerer was an expert in the topic) but could not take any lotuses for there was no bond of trust between them. The party offered one of the poison dealing-fruit (now overripe and mushy) in exchange for lotus as a personal deal. They traded half of their fruit for one blossom of the white lotus, poison for poison.
There they saw that the Flower of Spring kept in the center of the tower a kind of hydroponic pool where the lotuses reached up through infused water. Sorcery and technology together struck the party for none had seen such devices before. Meek Sun contemplated robbery but thought against it.
Then they talked of the pirates on the river robbing hash and lotus, and how they must have come from the waters that ran east through Lahag. The sorcerer was interested in this and wanted fungal samples, and so said slaying any river pirates was a good thing. Perhaps if the party were to slay the pirates, they would also act as protection for the sorcerer for that later trip? A tentative agreement.
They also paid for sage services, and found the ring they recovered was proof against fire and lasers, and the hooked sword a sorcerer-killer.
So they left (being shaken down for an extra coin each to use the ladder) and returned to the mutant drug lab settlement with their white lotus, and had it ground into a fine powder they learned would make the imbiber turn into a mindless zombie that followed all commands.
Why would the mutants make such drugs? Because the knowledge was scarce and kept a close secret, which made them valuable to settlements and sorcerers alike. And the production was risky, risking explosion from fumes, to keep them at arm’s length from most other dangers.
And that was well but the mutants would not fight half a hundred pirates even if told by the Judge of Stones; Meek Sun said it was a shame for they had gifts for those who would join the battle, and made the bone icon of a god they had found to be an idol of potency.
So the drug-makers agreed to help a little, and told of a shipwreck they knew about not far to the east. They would also make the drug-lab open to the party if they had hash or lotus to prepare.
Excited about the ship, they again headed east and kept eyes on every likely rock, tree, or patch of creeping vine. It was Slough and Walker who found it: a shape overtaken by roots and opportunistic creepers, but unmistakably a longship. Their Gold retainer was certain it was his old ship, and spirits were high.
Currents around the wreck were fast and fierce under the surface, and it appeared to be foundered on a rock a little away from solid ground. Slough was sent to stand on the water and act as an anchor; between this and furious paddling the party drew close to the wreck.
Their approach was covered by the sounds of rushing water, and they sensed there was a strange scent and a stranger color coming from the wreck. Walker, his well of psychic talent low, disembarked first to identify it.
It was a beast, a terrible huge moth with wings whose edges the eye could not focus on and which seemed to stretch into forever. Walker, for his bravery, tried to slay it, but found even its position evaded his blade.
It rose up, extended its full impossible wingspan, and flapped down a thick cloud of dust in a color that escaped words but was brighter and darker than the stars.*
The party fled this, Meek Sun and Dreamer leaping aboard to drag Walker back and ride the current to safety. Walker had fallen, his eyes wide open and streaming tears, and he wept and screamed for the end of the world and the purpose of Man.
And the beast pursued in flight, twice as fast as the party. It dive-bombed the raft with claws, and received a dagger in exchange. It attacked again and attempted to carry off Dreamer, who was knocked down but escaped its clutches.
The pursuit continued. Facing two companions down and a monster of terrible strength, Meek Sun yelled for Slough to slip his ring and dive to the underside of the raft, and did so herself while grabbing Walker.
So the two took their companions and dove and struggled to hold both in hand while not drowning.
Tragedy struck, the underwater current was too strong and carried off Slough and Dreamer into the murky beyond, clinging to each other. Meek Sun held on critically well, and balanced carrying a body, breathing, and getting Walker to breathe.
So moments passed that felt like days, and the scattered party washed up in a distant place far from each other.
Slough had saved Dreamer, and they tumbled underwater until the current brought them north to a calmer lakeside where the fish nibbled at them.
Meek Sun and Walker clung to the raft until Walker came back to his senses, then they waited until the raft itself stuck on banyan roots.
The giant insect had left them alone, and night was falling.
Book of The Dead
Boss - Abandoned in a temple
The Lurking Minion - Sacrificed for power
The Quiet Breath - Struck down by a ghoul
Rattlebones - Killed by a vengeful acolyte
The Burrowing Excellence - Frozen in place by a Spawn
The Eyes of True Men - Putrefied from within by delayed poison
No comments:
Post a Comment