Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lyinginbedmon 12-04-06, 03:22 PM	This is going to be something of a blog about what happens in my present nautical campaign, a continuation to my warcampaign, Construct Madness. Main Characters Ayane Oki-Ona - Human Monk/Cleric/Sacred Fist - Inigo Montoya-style Cleric of Kick-Butt, works alongside F4-17 in the quest to find Dark Shadow and tear him a new one after he killed her father. Replacement character of Arthur Binkatsu F4-17 #Warforged# - Warforged Ninja - A non-Dead-Nick like Majus, who was originally made for the great war just like every other Warforged, but was then stolen by a Ninja clan and used as a plant, before the clan was arrested and he escaped (The replacement character of Shadow Kami) Prince Majus - Half Dragon Fighter - Non-Dead-Nick amnesiac Sieghard Le'Morde - Human Dread Necromancer - Dead-Nick White Squad member (The replacement character of Aust Liadon) Agrona Wymond - Elf Ranger - Dead-Nick Black Squad member Alinas Eletrica - Human Bard - Dead-Nick head of Red Squad Artillery Anastrianna Holimion - Elf Druid - Dead-Nick head of Blue Squad Public relations Arthur Binkatsu - Human Ranger/Sorcerer/Cleric - Dead-Nick head of Black Squad Archery ex-righteous criminal for killing his military commanding officer Aust Liadon - Elf Monk 12 - Dead-Nick head of White Squad STAR with apocalyptic dreams #Deceased# C3-1 #Warforged# - Warforged Charger Barbarian - Dead-Nick Yellow Squad member with some childlike personality traits, as in human traits Dench - Half-Orc Monk - Dead-Nick Green Squad member who seems to be capable of duplicating Matrix-esque stunts F7-76 #Warforged# - Warforged Cleric - Dead-Nick Red Squad member with very maternal instincts Hector Marduk - Elf Wizard - Dead-Nick Green Squad member Henriette Vova - Yuan-Ti Pureblood Expert with Doomwatcher - Dead-Nick Blue Squad member and the resident psychiatrist Leonid Nikolai - Dracotaur Archivist - Dead-Nick White Squad member who refuses to wear any form of trousers, and who has depression problems Morganth Stormcrow - Fanelian Wizard68 [Being rebuilt] - Dead-Nick owner with connections and abilities beyond virtually any other spellcaster on the Material plane. Out-of-game, he's known to have an expected lifespan of about 2500 years (He should therefore be dead by Einderseod year 3960). Morina Stormcrow - Half-Phoenix Rogue32 [Being rebuilt] - Dead-Nick second with an extremely flirtatious personality (But no capability to go beyond flirting thanks to Morganth) and Morganth's only daughter. Ra'Ezma Barrow - Changeling Dread Necromancer - Dead-Nick Green Squad member, recently acquired an adopted daughter Rebecca [Slaymate] Raphael Jethro - Half-Celestial Paladin - Dead-Nick Blue Squad member Shadow Kami - Half-Elf Gorotsuki (Homebrew, Naruto mimic+Rogue) - Dead-Nick head of Green Squad SpecOps missing a tongue Simone Anatolius - Human Cleric with Aberrant Arms - Dead-Nick Green Squad member, the lover of Ra'Ezma with a personality of almost polar opposite. Thamior Meliamne - Elf Sorcerer - Dead-Nick head of Yellow Squad Melee The Bad Guys The trio is back to the main screen this time around, BroShaCho are tailing the DNs into Mizu Omi in search of information and equipment to help their global conquest, and of course: The destruction of those that defeated them before in order to ensure they cannot do so again. Alabaster Bronislav - Human Lich Monk 4/Blackguard11/Wizard13/Archmage2 - A powerful and evil undead who embraces finery and decadence with extreme tactical ability. He wants to take over Beldor in order to begin a campaign of takeovers of the other major cities.Alabaster was the son of a noble family. His father was a Paladin of great renown. When he was old enough, his father put him through monastic training. It was his destiny to become a paladin like his father. His mother was also well known, she was a well established wizard, who had adventured with his father. She instructed him on the basics of Wizardry. It was not long till he was well enough versed in the skills of the monastic order and his father took him in as a squire and taught him the skills of a paladin. He soon went off and joined an adventuring party, looking to make his own name. It was at this time that he met a man by the name of Morgan Shallin. Morgan was a sorcerer, and a quite powerful one at that. They travelled together for many years, and each passing year Morgan revealed more and more of his darker side, including his interest in necromancy. At first Alabaster shunned this, feeling that it was unnatural, but he eventually lost out when he saw its effectiveness. He even started to dabble in it himself. Not long after he realized that as he studied and used Necromancy, his other powers were becoming limited. It was not until he aided Morgan in the use of necromancy to destroy an innocent village, he thought that they were just going to smoke out some bandits, that he realized that his God had forsaken him, and that he had forsaken his God. Morgan laughed, knowing that this would happen sooner or later, and revelling in the experience of breaking a noble paladin. In a fit of rage he killed Morgan, and that was when he knew that he could never go back. He knew that necromancy had become a part of who he was, and he liked that part. From then on he wanted chaos to follow in his footsteps. Aust Liadon - Fiendish Elf Vampire Monk12 - A revived Dead-Nick member brainwashed into believing that they abandoned him, now working for Alabaster in order to get revenge (Not that he'd have a choice either way) Dark Shadow - Naztharune Rakshasa Assassin10/Rogue4 - Alabaster's personal assassin who uses many aliases and is primarily used for scouting. He wants to be a General in Alabaster's army to gain more power.Dark Shadow always wanted to make a name for himself. Like many Rakshasa, he craved more power. He was always jealous of the way that most Rakshasa could wield arcane magic. He never strived to gain it for himself, because he knew where his talents lay, and wasn’t about to make himself weaker just so that he could get a few spells, as enticing as they were. He took pleasure in the abilities that he did have, especially his ability to become someone new. He loved to take on a new personality every time that he entered a town, and wondered how he would go about taking money from those less intelligent than himself. It wasn’t long until just taking their money didn’t appeal to him, it was too easy. He started to kill for fun. Many people who kill for fun like to hear their victims scream, and so they target women and children. Shadow did not care for this. To him it was an art form. He wanted to make the kill as quick and seamless as possible. He wanted to see the look on the face of a strong person, the look that showed that they were dead and didn’t even know it. On one of his endeavours, he had killed an aristocrat that was said to have the toughest security, though he did not have too much of a problem getting through. Shortly after the kill, another man, dressed in a black robe and mask, entered the room. He was stunned to see that someone beat him to the kill. He identified himself as Gibbon, an assassin. He told Shadow that he showed great promise in his ability to kill. He offered him a deal, that if he let Gibbon take the credit for the kill, since it was just for Shadow’s personal fun anyways, that he would train Shadow as an assassin. He needed to be the one that killed the aristocrat to get paid. Shadow agreed, feeling that there was something that he could gain out of this, more than just his moment of enjoyment. So Gibbon doctored up the body, to leave his mark, and they withdrew. From then on they travelled together. Gibbon taught Shadow how to be a proper assassin. This included how to draw upon arcane magic to aid him. Shadow was a fast and eager student, especially to learn how to maximize his abilities and learn arcane magic at the same time. After a year of travelling, Shadow had become almost as adept at the trade as Gibbon, leaving few traits left to be passed on. Gibbon said that there was a matter to be seen to, that he must undertake alone, and never returned. It was rumoured that a man had broken into the Temple of the Inner Planes, killed many and then got sucked into a portal that was destroyed shortly after. Upon hearing this, and the varied descriptions of the man, Shadow figured that his mentor was gone for good, though he knew it was time for him to press out on his own anyways. He travelled for years, perfecting his technique whenever he had the chance. After a few more years he came upon a nearly empty town. As he worked his way through he saw two men leading a flock of people, who seemed to be rather dull and out of it. One man was wearing pure black armor that looked kind of odd, and the other looked like a circus jester clad in dull colours. He watched them go from building to building, laughing, fighting, and returning with a few more listless followers. He watched from the rooftops, enjoying the show, until he saw a large man sneaking about that was about to drop a huge axe on the armor clad man’s head. He dropped from a roof and killed the large man, astonishingly saving the armoured man’s life. The armoured man liked him, and invited him to join in on the merriment. He later identified himself as Alabaster, and told Shadow of his plans, offering Shadow a respectable position. The idea of how much fun he could have, and the power, was sufficient enough for him to pledge allegiance to Alabaster, and now take on the role of executioner to all that oppose him. He keeps a number of aliases, all of which are anagrams of his actual name. Uncle Chortle - Gray Jester (12 HD) Bard 16 - A mighty subterfuge combatant that makes good use of Bleak Ones to manipulate events.Uncle Chortle is much like any other Grey Jester in his pursuit of happiness to drain. But, Chortle is smarter than most. He found that if you can pretend that you are going spread a little joy, then the joyful run to you, and are easy fodder. He travelled far and wide slowly feeding on people, never draining on them so far that he wouldn’t be able to feed on them again. It was a strange day, the day that he met Alabaster. He saw a sleeping Paladin, wearing golden armor, and he thought that he would be able to take out a hero of all that he hoped to drain. He had tried to draw from him, but there was little happiness to draw, and he was quickly found out and defeated. Alabaster found him to be useful, and decided to take him on as a cohort. He then told him to hide and watch. As he pretended to be more gravely injured than he was, a grove of fairies came out and decided to help him. Then, when they least expected it, he turned and slaughtered the bunch of them, and told Chortle that he may feast on them. He drained them all dry, and then found that some of them changed, well at least for the little while before the last of their life force held out. From that day on he followed Alabaster, because of his ability to help him feed, and because he is in awe of his power.
Lyinginbedmon 12-07-06, 07:03 PM	02/12/1954 - Bold Ventures With peace returning to Beldor once again after a number of months I'd rather not count, Morina was working at full steam to get the Dead-Nick Squad back up and running to full strength. She began by launching an exploratory mission with the Black Pearl into Mizu Omi, which Sieghard recently revealed he was from. She calculated that the trip would take them past Christmas, so she installed a Scrying Beacon into the deck to transport their presents over. Sieghard wasn't exactly pleased with the idea of going home through the barrier again... A group of people from Taeka rushed to the docks to cheer them on as they passed to round the landmass and head for the barrier, naturally they started screaming for them to turn around when they started hitting the perpetual thunderstorm that marks the barrier. Inside, the thunderstorm lasted for a depth of around 80 ft. before dissipating to reveal a much stranger landscape. Oceanic, definitely, water covered the majority of the area, but it was interspersed with patches of total darkness with flickering lights, and patches of oozing lava on top of the water. Other sections had lava shooting into the sky like an eruption, whilst the sky itself was that of nighttime with the full clear moon easily visible. However, the illumination of the area was identical to that of day, in contrast. The first issue appeared once the Pearl ran into one of the patches of darkness and struck a mechanical creature that climbed onboard, composed of dull metallic hexagonal blocks formed into a vaguely insectoid form and it was quickly joined by 4 identical brothers. The crew suffered greatly against them using their usual manufactured weapons, finding the creatures increasingly resilient to their assaults, but the natural weapons of the Belva sisters proved effective, and the raw damage of the Necromantic ballista was good enough to prevent the shattered creatures from getting back up again. Sieghard gathered the blocks up and kept them in individual bags for analysis when they got back. Taking lookout, the crew spotted a massive vaguely-circular ring glinting just next to the moon... Next came the arrival of a pair of zombified squid that appeared to have rested at the bottom of a swamp for a few too many weeks, both with a distinct symbol carved into the flesh of their heads, immediately after an almost devastating eruption of lava flanked the ship. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Lyinginbedmon/Dungeons%20and%20Dragons/Symbol.jpgThey were quickly at work handling the Captain (literally) and smashing at the rigging, presumably to prevent the ship from continuing it's voyage and thereby stranding it in position. After Zaman and Iago's shots with their spells and a couple of shots from the Necromantic ballista they both went down to the depths, much to Sieghards annoyance (He wanting to keep as many specimens as possible, hoping to cut money from the debt he still owes for the ship itself) What followed was certainly the biggest and most interesting encounter. A large block of stone with a pair of rods pointing outwards from its sides and a clear front window about the length and width of a rowboat, and thrice as tall, composed entirely of rock, landed in the water not 30 ft. from the Pearl and began training its rods on them, presumably weapons. Inside they could clearly define 3 human men, 2 dressed for combat and a third apparently piloting the stone mass. They issued a message that could certainly be heard for miles around, stating “This is Hopper 1 of the Armada vessel Cosmos, who are you?”. Needless to say, the conversation didn't go as peacefully as Sieghard would have liked, and the vessel moved to ram the Pearl. Opening fire with the ballistae, they learned that the ship was definitely shielded by a force effect similar to an all-encompassing wall of force. Sieghard was interested in expanding his fleet immediately. They shot at Sieghard with the rods, and Zaman determined that they would have to lower the shielding in that section at least to fire through, so she sent a Nonlethal fireball in through the gap with a readied action and subdued the entire trio within. The crew dragged them onboard and tied them up, Sieghard gave them a present-day lesson and the moment he mentioned Morganth their faces drew blank, though possibly because of the colossal floating steel greatship that appeared in the lower atmosphere behind Sieghard. Not long after its appearance, a Warforged fell through its hull and into the water nearby, shrieking "I'm a Doctor, not a Cannonball!". Needless to say, he mentioned himself as the ship's (Cosmos) Doctor, '5th', and seemed to have all the bedside manner of a dead leech, considering a dead patient to be a good patient (Because it means one less hassle for him), and his primary method of treatment seemed to include sticking a hand crossbow with a glowing bolt to his patients' necks to heal them (Bolt of Mass Cure Moderate Wounds) which Sieghard immediately thought to stop, to which he angrily protested that he was being paid to heal people not to be held at bolt-point by some prehistoric thugs. 5th mentioned that he had already perceived F4-17 hiding underneath the deck, and asked that Sieghard pay his dues to him (Learning soon after that this '5th' was in fact the 5th Warforged to be named F4-17 from one of the leaving crewmen). The crewmen made their way to the Hopper, now fully healed, as a 40 ft. wide gate appeared nearby and a pair of medium-sized flea-like creatures appeared, following quickly by a much larger version with 4 arms. 5th called in that they had "Kythons" and that Cosmos should take aim and eliminate them immediately. It did so, firing 31 beams of mixed magic missile and disintegrate and easily annihilating the creatures. It then dropped to immediately above the waterline and fired a massive cannon through the front of its hull through the gate, which closed immediately behind the projectile. The crewmen and 5th boarded the Hopper and it floated through the Cosmos' hull and then a trio of bullette-like creatures composed of the same metal blocks as the creatures the crew despatched earlier appeared. The ballista took aim immediately as they formed a triangle 270 ft. on a side and formed one very large gate which the Cosmos escaped through. Once they moved out of position it shrunk back down to 20 ft. and they followed, the gate closing behind them. Lastly, on their way out of the barrier, they were accosted by a pair of skeletal Rocs mounted by a similar pair of corpse-like Orcs claiming that Sieghard was dead, they were from a place called Necrosis, and that they needed a permit to pass into their waters (All in fractured english). As a way to prove Sieghard's identity, one of the Centurions (As they were called) picked Seighard up in a claw and flew him all the way to Necrosis: A massive floating city in the barrier apparently populated entirely by undead and made largely of black rock. The Centurion moved to land on an outcropping from the tallest tower in the center of the city, where it was met by the approach of a hooded figure that Seighard could only discern as having heterochromia (Red, white, and blue) that moved to fire a spell at him, but as Sieghard fell towards the floor the entire city, the hooded figure, and the Centurion vanished from site and he found himself flailing about in the water. The Pearl moved to intercept him as he started swimming towards them, picking him up a few minutes later, the other Centurion standing guard having vanished along with its twin. As he clambered onboard again, he noticed that his calves had sprouted half-inch thick useless fins on the external sides. Immediately he was worried about what else the water could do, but was overtaken by the immediate urge to answer nature's call and fled to the bathroom. Pushing perhaps a little too hard, he managed to lay 4 chicken-sized pale-as-a-sheet eggs from a small orifice between #1 and #2. He cracked one open to investigate, the crew outside completely unawares of what was going on with their Captain beyond perhaps a little reverse bowel movement from being altered, and found that the inside was essentially identical to that of a chicken egg. He decided to secret the remaining 3 eggs in his quarters, 2 in water and 1 outside. Naturally, he kept this information from the entire crew, plus Ayane and F4-17. Tactical Notes: Well...an interesting development for Sieghard there. In a week those eggs will hatch, and in another 3 they'll be fully grown Corpse creature Humans, a race he has dubbed the Faldeans. Of course, in context he doesn't know this, and is experimenting with the different conditions to see what will happen to the eggs. A lot of exposition into the barrier this time around, it obviously interacts with the timeline and warps the environment inside to a twisted boiling pot of all of them. For all of those wondering Necrosis is a necropolis dock city, whose docks are underneath a sign saying "Necrosis welcomes careful sailors". If Einderseod survives the 2nd Great War, it is started by Sieghard who is later killed and his mistress takes over. In a self-fulfilling prophecy motion, the water he landed in was ripe with the natural anaesthetic and lubricant released when he lays eggs, and tainted with the magic used to construct Necrosis. The squid were Necrocarnum zombies created during the 2nd Great War by Bel'la Oloth in order to seek out waterborne survivors. The volcanic eruptions are from either when the planet was forming, or when she destroyed it by burrowing into the core and blowing it wide apart. The Cosmos is the flagship of the Dead-Nick Armada, which was formed after the 2nd Great War and the destruction of Einderseod. It operates an Inter-Temporal Gateway which allows it to send operatives through history in an effort to salvage the planet and prevent Bel'la's release. The trio of machines that gated it were Sovices, specifically Gatcon units, which formed what is known as an 'Omnigate'. The Sovices seen before that were Bug units, presumably from the initial incursion of the Sovices onto Einderseod (Their homeworld, Jannah, is 200 LY from Einderseod), and thus were hostile in their intent to gather the rich materials of the Pearl and the crew. Lastly, the Kythons seen were part of an exploratory force sometime in the distant future set after the 2nd Great War and Einderseod's survival. They are part of the footsoldier army of Grimdolf Fanelia in his campaign to conquer Einderseod and make them bow down to him.Of course, what the players and the Pearl don't know, is that someone or something followed them out of the Barrier... Progenitor (Su): Once each week, Sieghard can release a clutch of 1d4+1 eggs. These eggs are roughly the size and shape of a chicken’s, but are remarkably pale in comparison. If allowed to grow for a month, these eggs hatch into Humans with the Corpse Creature template, and if left in water they also gain a swim speed equal to their base land speed and the Aquatic subtype. Alternatively, Sieghard can insert genetic material from other creatures applicable for the Corpse Creature template into the eggs to create Corpse creature versions of those creatures. The introduction of a positoxin or disease into his body and then the use of his Charnel Touch ability on the eggs allow the creatures birthed a +5 bonus on saving throws against those effects. Lastly, once for each creature birthed, Sieghard can activate one use of his Scabrous Touch to affect the creature with one of his Corpsecrafter feats. The creatures birthed are capable of biological meiosis, and contain their own genetic material (Though attempting reproduction with living creatures usually results in a ghastly stillborn, the alternative being a Half-Vampire if applicable), which Sieghard can then of course use to breed the creatures. During the August-September months, Sieghard is effectively in his mating season. For every week in which he does not lay a clutch of eggs, he must make a Will save (DC 10 +1 per previous check) or lay eggs immediately. During this period, these eggs are not under any compulsion to follow him, unless genetic material from other creatures is inserted. During this period, Sieghard often suffers from heatstroke and will often have a distended abdomen, though refuses to explain anything beyond a bad cask of Morin’s Ale. Undead created through this ability are subject to the limit of HD Sieghard can control, as with animate dead. It should be noted that this is actually a watered-down version of the original Progenitor ability, since Sieghard was not capable of giving birth when he received it. The first 3 eggs will hatch into 2 females and 1 male (Fully grown circa 02/01/1955), which Sieghard will name Kuro, Pedalta, and Remus Ran, and all of whom superficially resemble him. Depending on the temperature of the environment they are kept in it produces a different gender, cold for females and warm for males, the water Kuro and Pedalta are being kept in is less than room temp.
Lyinginbedmon 12-16-06, 06:43 PM	09/12/1954 - Home Sweet Simply put, this session saw Sieghard returning to his childhood home of Eastbrook, on the eastern side of New Cairo island. He found his two best friends, Morgan Lafayette and Deist Hindsend there, Morgan now owning her parent's antique store and making pretty good profits from it and Deist now a high-up member of the Dead Walks recently transferred from New Cairo city. However, not everything was especially sound in Eastbrook. Deist had brought with him designs and orders for a 'pylon' to be built in Eastbrook which would supposedly ward off the Lost swarming the countryside (Thus necessitating the undead of the Dead Walks). However, after catching up with Morgan Sieghard had a conversation with Deist that indicated he was being possessed by Alabaster through Magic Jar and that BroShaCho had been in Mizu Omi for a number of weeks already having followed the Pearl in. Afterwards, when Deist recaptured his lucidity, he gave Sieghard the 10cent tour of Eastbrook, including a trip to the pylon and the local library. However, Deist hadn't been entirely forthcoming and turned out to be an agent of Alabaster for constructing the pylons and acquiring bodies for animation. When he attempted to kill Sieghard, Sieg made the previously agreed upon hand signals to the Pearl floating above the hamlet to lower F4-17's rope and pull him up. Unfortunately, in their escape, they also picked up a stowaway: Morgan, who quickly got acquainted with the kids (Kuro, Pedalta, and Remus now effectively hatched and with an apparent human age of 4) Travelling to the site of Sieghard's parent's disappearance (They having died in the same barrier breach storm that took him into Einderseod and since having been revived by the Dead Walks), the Pearl crew realised that the pylon present there wasn't to ward off Lost, it was totally swamped with them. Morgan was distraught, but Sieghard could offer no explanation as to what they actually did, though he gathered up the ashes from his parent's undead bodies and held onto them for resurrection later. The Pearl then destroyed the Pylon with the Starburst ballista. Tactical Notes: The kids are getting older to the tune of 192 times human growth, which fortunately ends at the end of their first month since being laid (Or else they'd be over 100 by the end of the year), but Sieghard is just happy they've stopped crying their eyes out. Who'd have known that undead babies would make so much noise! Of course, the bad news is that BroShaCho is quite obviously up to something in Mizu Omi and either has been here longer than the Pearl or has a faster mode of transport. Neither is a good thing for the Pearl. ----------------------------------------- 16/12/1954 - Devilish Fruits Things were fairly sleepy today (Sieghard's player especially, having only gotten about 2 hours of sleep, 5 in the last 48 hours), and the Pearl sailed around to Incarna having sighted a Nightstalker along the treeline. The Pearl dropped Sieghard about 20 minutes from where the 'stalker headed to and laid anchor in a nearby stream. Sieghard made his way through the Midnight Grove and found BroShaCho (As well as about 200 undead, including Nightstalkers, White Soldiers, and Skeleton Soldiers) investigating a massive monument (About 195 ft. square) coated in draconic runes and archaic text. Sieghard, having not slept in days not that the kids are effectively 8 years old, meandered over to Alabaster (Who thankfully was more interested in examining the monument than killing him, as was virtually everyone else) and asked him about the monument. A lengthy conversation followed, in which it was revealed that BroShaCho had operations all across Mizu Omi, including in Barncoon which they had discerned had sunk 440 years (The intelligent of the group figured out that was the start of the Great War). Alabaster divulged that he had found the egg that Sieghard had cracked to investigate, and he was forced to quickly concoct a lie about its origins lest the Necro-Master learn of Seighard's Necro-Nuts :P The pylons were found to be a method of extracting incarnum energy from the ground and feeding it to the monument, in an effort to charge it and unleash its secrets. BroShaCho had laid wards around the monument that kept the Lost away effectively, so Sieghard poked some fun at them from a safe 50 ft. distance. Dark advised he didn't, and questioned him about the kids and where they came from (Sieghard supplied him false info, stating that Dark percieved them at 8 years old, and 8 years ago Sieg was still in Mizu Omi). Eventually, Sieghard was called back to the Pearl as a ruckus was emerging between the crew and the kids. Morgan was busy trying to pull Pedalta and Kuro (Str 15 each) off of Darsh (Str 20), as they dog piled him, whilst Theron attempted to sneak Remus away from the stove and his pie (Mud, Worms, and Morin's Ale...the ship is immune to fire damage, not property detonation). He managed to drag them away from their pranks, and Seig gave them all a stern talking to, stating that Theron should be listened to as the Cook and that Darsh, as Master-at-arms, has a lot of duties to perform on the ship before he can make time to play with them. With that, the Pearl moved off from Incarna and New Cairo towards a new island, Kettil Tactical Notes: Alabaster was lying about the pylons, they're actually feeding an artifact in the waters of Barncoon. With the start of next week, the kids will be virtually 12-13 human years of age, and Sieghard is dreading the moment he wakes up and they're physically legal...
Lyinginbedmon 01-01-07, 08:43 PM	23/12/1954 - History Repeating This week, the Pearl landed on Kettil island and met the nicest people you could imagine in the Kettari (Anthropomorphic animals). They provided safe harbour for the ship, the welcoming party agreed to give the whole thing a look over to ensure it was functioning perfectly, though Sieghard made sure some of the crew stayed to make certain nothing occured that he wouldn't like. Morgan and Darsh took the kids on a day out, whilst Sieghard explored the region. Of particular interest was the cave home of the infamous "Mr. White", known are the local lunatic whose existence drew Sieghard quickly through the jungle to his home. However, finding no-one there, he investigated the cave itself. Wandering through with torchlight guiding his steps, he immediately noticed that the walls of the cave were completely covered in writing. The dead-end of the cave was the most interesting, a wealth of writings that were obviously written by a madman, spouting things such as "The symbols mark the path to Heaven", "HIS fault", "They MADE it", and various mathematic sequences and numbers. Instantly intrigued by this information, Sieghard returned to the town to gather writing implements and do some research about Mr White. Upon his return, Mr White still hadn't appeared, but an undead creature wearing a porcelain mask had instead. After a brief conversation, in which Sieghard discerned that the creature had taken Mr White somewhere, Sieghard quickly dispatched the beast, which flew off into the jungle towards the shoreline. Sieghard gave chase, and after falling 100 ft. off a cliff and barely surviving, Sieghard found Mr White and briefly caught a glimpse of a massive crab-like creature shuffling into the ocean (He assumed this was BroShaCho's mysterious transport). He healed him into positive hit points, having been severely beaten (Assumed to have been tortured), before grasping faintly at the sky "The symbols mark the path to Heaven" "The symbols in the cave I'm guessing?" Sieghard responded, the albino elf-like man barely perceiving him, now stared horrified into his eyes "Sovice" he mouthed, before falling limp into death (Specific cause unknown, presumed poison) Mr White was buried at sea, the entire town mourning the loss, and the kids enjoyed their trip out with their surrogate mother (Morgan) and uncle (Darsh). Tactical Notes: So, now we have an actual name for the blocks and the wierd creatures they make. We've also seen a bit of Jannic language and script, as somehow Mr White (A leShay) managed to learn about it, probably in the barrier at some point in his immortal life. The writings on the cave walls mentioned someone called Tala, Steamboy/girl, the number 38 repeatedly, a substance called Reaction Formula, as well as the other 2 Jesters (Besides Einderseod's Blue), and a trio group he named "The Holy Threat" (BroShaCho's surviving Zakian priests). Precisely what the story was with Mr White, we may never really know, because as a result of his burial his corpse won't survive long, and Morganth is unlikely to fund a True Resurrection spell for a leShay with no good reason to do so. ----------------------------------------- 30/12/1954 - Matriculated First up, the Christmas celebrations. A Heroe's Feast, couple with dusts for the three PCs (Illusion for F4, Tracelessness for Ayane, and Negation for Sieghard). Next, the ship finally reached the next island, Hagar, a notably desolate island virtually entirely desert. However, they reached the port town of South Yellow and immediately noticed something odd: No-one was paying attention to them save three guards who stared out to sea in their general direction. Moving about and investigating, they learned that at least most of the townsfolk had strange maggot-like creatures on the back of their necks, all of which had inserted pinkish tentacles into their brains. On the town hall was nailed a notice board, which included a document revealing to some extent what was going on:BroShaCho Aside Project BM-12 Develop method of autonomously controlling creatures of various types, humans and other sentient races especially Successfully and discretely use said creatures to control a village or larger region, the more remote the better to disguise the resultant alterations in behaviour. Do NOT under any circumstances restrict access to the village. Unearth object emitting Lawful readings in the Hagar desert utilising vast manpower newly acquired. Remember to allow creatures times to rest and nutrients to prevent loss of manpower Supply object with energy to increase existing readings to the level of productivity required. If project proves successful, consider possible applications for new product Notes regarding the Hagar Artefact Object appears to be of non-human construction. It is definitively crystalline and composed of glass. Area in the immediate vicinity of the object is partially crystallised sand; this is evidence of extreme heat and/or magical activity. Assisted examination of the artefact shows that the glass material it is composed of is native to the area, but the design is unlike anything previously seen. Theories about its creation range from lunatic artificers, crazed wizards, and extraplanar visitation, to less terrestrial ideas. Local folklore indicates that a comet crash-landed in the desert and the artefact appeared soon after. This leads to the possibility that whatever created the artefact arrived on the comet and was then destroyed by the ensuing intense heat. Object continually emits distinctly Lawful signature energy as determined by the Detect series of spell techniques, indicating a highly organised and structured internal system. Whether the object is in actuality a creature or an object has yet to be determined. Trace energies emitted by the object amplify when a power source is brought within 5 ft. of it. This was evidenced by the Detect series of spells when a lit torch was brought near it. Materials brought near the artefact during these amplified periods show evidence of partial transmutation. It is speculated that the object is capable of procreation if supplied with materials and a large enough power source. Research into which energies supply the artefact best progresses smoothly. Conflicting energies, such as positive and negative, and fire and water, seem to charge the artefact the most. It is speculated that the original energy source was of similar nature. Given the present energy levels, options are being investigated for providing the artefact with large amounts of positive and negative energies.The document was obviously written by a great many different people given the various handwriting styles, and the fact that every other piece of literature in the town was written in Claw script. Wondering what the organised town was up to, Sieghard elected to wait until night to find out precisely what they were up to. Night arrived, and the town split into three distinct groups. One set up shop on one side of the town well and began a holy ceremony to the sun god Elishar. Another began a sacrificial ritual to the dark god Toldoth on the other side, the sacrifice a young female cleric of Elishar that happily laid down on the sacrificial altar. The third group dismantled the bricks of the well and hoisted up a 70 ft. tall wooden spire, which held in its tip a glass artefact. Sieghard almost immediately recognised the artefact as a block identical to those stored in the Pearl's hull. Iago worked on sniping the creature on the back of the Celebrant's neck, whilst Sieghard interrupted and managed to sever the same creature from the sacrifice's neck, bringing her round to reality moments before her perceived horrible carriage accident. Next, having eliminated the creature on the celebrant, Iago fired at the block as Sieghard set light to the spire to prevent it replicating more blocks. The block fell to the ground and Sieghard quickly barreled it up in sand and placed it in the hull, taking every precaution to prevent it from successfully creating more blocks and potentially dooming the planet (Fortunately, sand is composed of thousands of small pieces, so the block couldn't use it as material successfully unless, you guessed it, it was turned into glass). The crew then released the entire town from the creatures (Cerebrixes) and informed them of what had been happening for the past 3 months. Naturally, they were all very happy to have been released from the fraudulent reality of their captors, and bid the Pearl farewell as it moved on to Hazan. Tactical Notes: Well, it's finally happened. After fighting and killing off a considerable number of bugs in the barrier and gathering their dead blocks, the Pearl is now home and prison to a living Sovice block. Now, given adequate material, a single block and its descendants could create a Sovice Mother unit in 5 rounds. Each Mother unit produces 160 new blocks each round given sufficient materials. So, were this single, solitary, glass block to escape it's sand confines by some miracle, the planet itself probably wouldn't last long. Fortunately, though Sieghard's player has expressed delight in the thought of dooming the planet, Sieghard himself (And player too, amazingly) is scared witless of these blocks. Barring any unforeseen 'accidents' (:devil:), this block should be pretty secure, and thoughts were expressed of keeping it levitated to prevent it touching materials. Sieghard's player gets a cookie for the RP of this session :)
Lyinginbedmon 01-10-07, 03:53 PM	06/01/1955 - Bestial Greetings This week saw the Pearl and passengers visting Hazan, the less-hostile neighbour of Hagar. Arriving at a port town, it was immediately apparent that those within the port town were just as hostile as Hagar's climate, though, and a bit of prying by Morgan resolved that Argent and Nilova had paid a visit earlier spouting rumours that the Pearl was ransacking towns and raping Kettari because of bestial urges. Beyond that, Nilova had left town and Argent had become de facto leader of the place, gathering a considerable harem and a lot of allies. After acquiring the info from Morgan, the crew explored the area for supplies, only to have an explosion go off on the thankfully-fireproof Pearl. Investigating, Darsh had been knocked out pre-rage and the kids (Now fully mature adults) had been kidnapped, on the even more negative side: All 3 barrels of steel Sovice blocks had been stolen. F4-17 and Sieghard quickly confronted Argent, info being received that some of his confidants had been seen near the ship prior to the explosion. Argent wasn't willing to reveal anything too major, but wanted the parts of the Pearl installed by BroShaCho in addition to the glass block they stole from them on Hagar (It had become painfully obvious now that BroShaCho had been working Mizu Omi much longer than the Dead-Nicks had even known there was life there). To buy time for the crew to search for the Kids and the blocks using Locate Object, F4-17 and Sieghard challenged Argent to one of his favourite games: Three-Dragon Ante. After about 4 rounds of cards, Sieghard was down from 100 GP to 54, Argent was down by 9, and F4-17 was up by 55. Fortunately for Argent, few noticed he'd been getting fed coins under the table by his puppets. However, despite the Captain's losses, the crew had managed to get a location on the blocks. Well, not quite. They'd actually gotten the location on 'a' block, because every one of them is identical in shape, size, and composition, so Locate Object was having trouble distinguishing them and only found the one. Fortunately, the one block had been dropped by Argent's lackeys when they hid the disabled Kids in an under-sand cave. An empty barrel from the blocks was found in a swamp down the mountain. Doing some quick calculations based on sightings of Argent's men (Some of the villagers having gained some favour for them by them daring against Argent's control), they managed to find another cave filled with various storage. The Kids investigated and got into a fight with a prisoner held hostage in the back. The prisoner couldn't speak Common, only some bizarre gibberish they couldn't understand. Naturally, Kuro wanted to hurt him. However, Zaman was packing a Tongues spell, so the prisoner, now defined as Inzaul, was able to speak Common (Not that he liked it, considering it a basic and primitive language). He didn't seem to realise where he was, and was apparently captured by BroShaCho as they crossed the barrier. He defined himself as a member of the Janni species, and had knowledge of the Sovices, he also considered the crew to be retarded Northeners. Not knowing what to do with him, the crew decided to take him with them, which he wasn't pleased with, but after 100 minutes the spell wore off and everyone, Sieghard especially, had some peace. He didn't know what wood was, but started attempting to build a bed for himself on the ship, unfortunately where he's from the beds fold into pocket dimensions... Tactical Notes: Yup, the last surviving Janni, Inzaul. Inzaul was the test pilot for the Janni FTL drive in J-3046 and was thought to have been vaporised along with his ship when the experiment exploded. However, he had in actuality been shot across the galaxy at phenomenal speeds and crashed into the water of the Mizu Omi barrier around the early 16th century on Einderseod, the barrier's temporal qualities allowed BroShaCho to retrieve and revive him. Due to the effects of the trip, he didn't even realise he'd left Jannah. Additionally, BroShaCho has obviously been operating in Mizu Omi much longer than it has been known to be inhabited. It's not entirely known what this could implicate, but it may be difficult to reverse what they've done. It remains unknown what the pylons are for.
Lyinginbedmon 01-17-07, 03:08 PM	13/01/1955 - Inzaul Inzaul had been feeling notably melancholy of late, being on his second group of captors since his arrival on Einderseod (Which he had figured out now, having seen the moon and environmental diversity), and managed to chart a route to the very edge of the barrier that would remove only 1 island (Karnath) from their overall journey. Despite some worrying thoughts from Sieghard, the Captain (Under advisal from F4) decided to go along with the trip, allegedly to retrieve some of Inzaul's belongings that BroShaCho dumped after picking him up. Stopping by Kettil to pick up an unusually large (3-person) Diving Bell, the Pearl weighed anchor right next to the beginning of the barrier, to avoid entering it until the return trip, and Sieghard, Inzaul, and F4-17 clambered into the device and descended 200 ft. Sieghard wondered if the Kids could come along, but was assured by both Inzaul and Zaman that doing so could potentially crush them and that they shouldn't spend too long outside in the water. Diving, the edge of the barrier appeared as a strange, monolithic, foggy, mass, but eventually cleared to the point that the temporally-torn floor could be seen. Rather unnervingly, this included a massive solid mass, roughly in the shape of a pointed rectangular prism. "Ken Simbel" Inzaul whispered upon seeing it. He released the door of the bell soon after, and the trio dove into the water as it filled the bell to neck-height, and began swimming for the object (Barring F4, who decided to walk instead). Inzaul reached the object first, and the external texture revealed to both F4 and Sieghard precisely who the 'Janni' were, because it was made of around 4 million Sovice blocks, and opened a hole in its side the instant Inzaul touched it (Though he seemed surprised). Naturally, it revealed that the Janni created the pains in the periodic table that are the darned bugs. The trio climbed aboard the ship, which closed the door instantaneously and converted the required water into breathable air and the rest flushed out. The result was the sight of a somewhat unimpressive chamber, featuring one of Jannah's famous beds, some wine and a glass, a crystal sphere on a podium (Next to a humanoid skull), a distinctive chair with a bewildering table infront of it, and lastly an adamantine-powered drive with partial glass circuitry. The skull piqued Sieghard's interests first, and he inquired as to who it belonged to. After investigating a distinctive crack and some chipping on the rear of the cranium, Inzaul responded, quite impossibly, that it was his. He naturally became inconsolable when Sieghard explained that BroShaCho had probably found his corpse and resurrected him, but the lighting flared up and he became a little less annoyed when the walls suddenly were revealed to be coated in blood, with several Janni ribs jutting from the drive behind him. Refusing to continue talking about the matter, Inzaul moved to the console, which Sieghard had taken to randomly pushing buttons on and had managed to somehow produce a vertical image in mid-air he could literally put his hand through. Inzaul explained that the writing indicated that the 'ship' was approximately 200 light years from Jannah, based on imaging garnered from the sensor podium and on geographical landmarks on the relative plane of Shadow. Naturally, he became distressed and asked that Sieghard move so he could check more details. After a few moments, the images changed a number of times, and Inzaul announced that, not only was the drive completely irreparable with the local technology, but that the pressure outside the ship was going to completely crush it in a little over 36 seconds. Naturally, F4's initial response was to just how much of the technology in the ship (Simbel) they could loot before then. Inzaul suggested the bed, but the matter soon became less urgent when the sensors detected a massive creature approaching, an undead, modified-Alabaster-style, Greater Siege Crab. The sensors determined it's name as "Fluid Monarch", and it began grappling the Simbel with its claws. Ideas raced about for what to do, and Inzaul explained after some pressing that the drive required the decaying adamantine to propel the ship at faster-than-light speeds, but the majority of power came from the Trans-Planar Generator inside, which overlapped two opposing planes to produce a release of energy. This particular one was using the Positive and Negative Energy Planes. He then explained that, whilst they were kept in check at equal measures, if one were to overlap more, the generator would explode fantastically as the power built up. Sieghard and Inzaul grabbed the bed and began swimming towards the bell as F4-17, armed with the jury rigged Trans-Planar bomb, swam towards the shielded compartment of Monarch. Arriving inside, he increased the flow from the Positive Energy Plane and started swimming for dear life. Sieghard and Inzaul got in the diving bell and F4 grabbed on the side as Monarch exploded in a 50 ft. radius in a blinding white-black-grey light. The diving bell was briefly blown into the barrier itself from this detonation, but quickly regained its original orientation and was pulled back up onto the Pearl as Inzaul watched the Simbel be crushed irreparably by the pressure, all 4 million Sovice blocks crushed beyond any conceivable use or recognition. Arriving on the Pearl, Inzaul lamented that Einderseod had no possible way to power the treasured bed (Effectively 5 d20 Modern progress levels ahead of Einderseod), but Sieghard spotted the metallic cylinder sticking out of his pocket. After some tense questioning, it was retrieved from his pocket as he was held back, and Sieghard pulled it apart to reveal a metal grill that was immediately covered by a similar image to that of the control console, depicting two women (One early twenties, the other at least her fourties) and a massive horned and wooly creature infront of a building easily several miles tall. Inzaul angrily explained to the 'degenerate ape' that they were his wife and daughter, and Sieghard apologetically returned the image, as Inzaul dragged the bed to a safe location in the cargo. Tactical Notes: Naturally, major (Albeit trivial) technological artefact to have a Jannic bed on board, especially considering that when powered successfully they're all but impenetrable since they branch out onto the Ethereal Plane and provide normally impervious defenses against the denizens of that plane. The only real way to break into a Janni's bed is through the sheets, so to speak, as the bed folds upwards into a vertical position as the top vanishes into the plane, leaving a vertical and nigh-featureless metallic slab. The FTL drive would certainly be wonderful to salvage, if possible now that it's been purposefully detonated by F4. It uses adamantine as its source of FTL generation, because the particles given off by its decaying state travel at 99.999% the speed of light. Channeled sharply through the glass circuitry, they exceed light speed. These accelerated particles are then channeled into the primary Ion Drive of the whole thing and the ship is propelled at FTL, though entirely unshielded from the resultant velocity and effectivel infinite mass (Which is what made Inzaul the new wallpaper of the thing). This isn't precisely how the drive functions, more a lamens model. So yeah, mostly Inzaul exposition this week round, but the players and I both enjoyed it, and it's the first real appearance of Fluid Monarch, BroShaCho's unliving submarine. Inzaul's wife and daughter are named Kri'lin ("Good Thing") and Temain ("Big Sound"). Kri'lin worked for the investigatory service that served as the Judge, Jury, and Executioner of the Jannic law system. Temain was a singer, and a great one at that, specialising in traditional Jannic verse passed down through the generations, she was well-known for her hit single entitled Sulin Mut Imtel ("Let Me Sleep") which was a remix of several funerary dirges. The big massive hairy horned thing behind them was a Nosorog, specifically Temmy, meaning Temac, meaning "Big". He was the family pet. The building was their apartment complex in South Jannah.
Lyinginbedmon 01-26-07, 09:13 AM	20/01/1955 - Second Renaissance The Pearl travelled this week towards Vigdis, having heard that the residents (Draegloths, Krinth, and Extaminaar) were xenophobic paranoids (Morbid curiosity must fuel the Pearl's sails, methinks). Arriving however, the trip hit a snag: A wealth of mines arranged in a fractal pattern, each visibly capable of considerable explosions and armed with a pair of Spell Turrets. What's worse? Well, some of them could fly. Sieghard wasn't happy to say the least, even less so when a small rowboat began sailing through the minefield and straight towards the Pearl. Massive paranoia on Sieghard's part proved fruitful, as the Krinth inside kept referring to a "Mistress" who had given him orders to guide the Pearl through the mines to dock. Arriving in a small coastal town in Vigdis after being led precariously led through the minefield by the Krinth, the entire crew were treated to high quality guest rooms in the nearby tavern and F4 and Sieghard moved to get a drink from the harrowing situation of roughly 2000 consecutive near-death experiences, only to find that the stereotypical busty barmaid (Who F4 attempted to snag, no less) was actually Nilova Harkuul, the Zakian Ex-High Priest during Alabaster's brief reign. She explained that they were in the Body Farm, where every member of the island was being attached to a Cerebrix to convert the entire population of Vigdis' stronger-than-human inhabitants into undead (Namely, Zombies and Necropolitans, but with BroShaCho probably not for long). After a quick look to see if they had anything on their necks (Not that it would really matter if they truly did), F4 and Sieghard agreed that trying to fight the 500-man population of the Farm would be unlikely to be profitable or successful, and decided to settle down for the day before leaving the next. Nilova's orders were specifically noted as stating not to kill F4 and simply to continue converting the island, so she allowed the group accomodations and a peaceful stay provided they didn't try and mess the plan up. They complied, sheepishly The crew settled in for the night, the Pearl tied down by the 50 Draegloths around it, and the Kids watched over Inzaul (Who had a considerably heated and unintelligable argument with Nilova, which ended with the Common "And you can tell Mr Inzaul that that's a natural feature!" after he was defenestrated) Inzaul got to work trying to jury rig a generator for his bed, whilst Sieghard went for a stroll towards the town gates, with F4 following atop the nearby roofs. Arriving there, every single guard on the wall took aim at them (Including ballistae) when they approached within 70 ft. Leaving hastily, they found a pair of Cerebrixes that landed right where they had stoof a few seconds before (At 65 ft. from the gate). Realising that the guards had been attempting to keep them away to avoid their Cerebrix-ation, they promptly squished the nasty worms and went back to the Tavern. F4 settled in on a bartable, whilst Sieghard elected instead to sleep on the ship, which was unguarded at the time. Inzaul had managed to construct a crude geothermal generator and the Kids were in the pocket dimension of the bed with him for the night (No ideas, they are all adults and he's a married man with a daughter!), they would later state it was one of the best night's sleep they'd had thus far in their short lives. Morning arrived, and the Pearl set off with all the crew, but unfortunately without escort so they found it impossible to get through the minefield the same way they came. :( Next week we'll cover what happens while they attempt to leave the region Tactical Notes: Are they really under the control of the Cerebrixes? Or are they seeing reality? Well, yes, of course they're seeing reality, despite their paranoia following the encounter. I couldn't really finish the campaign very well if it was all in their heads now could I? Still, the Cerebrixes have certainly proved to inspire precisely the emotional response I was looking for when I made them, after their initial appearance attempting to revive the Glass Block. Inzaul's bed now works, provided he has a source of underground steam to fuel the generator, and in theory could prove a valuable defensive hold, given its unique design. I'm actually surprised to see the pair of F4 and Sieghard not going on any kind of anti-Alabaster rampages lately, despite having been visitors to a number of pacifist (Ie. 100% flat-footed) colonies. Not that I'm complaining, though ;)
Lyinginbedmon 02-01-07, 03:14 PM	27/01/1955 - Who is Tala? After a week stuck behind enemy lines with the fractal minefield proving impenetrable, the Pearl spied a group of religious fanatics travelling the coast carrying a large metallic box, the size of a small room. Busy trying to get out of the mines, Sieghard send the willing F4-17 to investigate, especially since their actions seem complient with their apparent reality (Ie. they didn't seem to be wearing undead scarfs :P) After being fired from one of the ballistae, the leader of the group attempt to aid F4 had he taken any injury, and introduced his group as the Worshippers of Ta'la, the divine oracle goddess. Remembering "Tala" from Mr White's cave, F4 decided to investigate the big box they were slowly carrying with them, and the leader was quick to allow it. Entering, the room was pitch black, and about 10 ft. x10 ft. x20 ft. in size. There was a distinct podium with an odd symbol on its top in the middle of the room, and a large block of what looked like ice at the back. Examining the ice, he could see a humanoid figure within, but couldn't make anything of detail or merit out. Seeming it to be the only thing of interest in the room, F4-17 placed his hand on the symbol to examine it closer. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Lyinginbedmon/Dungeons%20and%20Dragons/Symbol.jpg Immediately, the runes inscribed all over the room began to glow an unearthly blue and the curtain door vanished from sight, leaving only a new section of wall. A booming but gentle feminine voice responded into the room, asking who it was that had activated it. After some coaxing, the voice coalesced around the figure in the block and it walked out to reveal a young woman, perhaps early 20s in age and certainly human-esque. She introduced herself as Tala. Naturally, F4's player got nervous Things got degenerately worse after she started showing interest and apology about F4's initial days of life during the Great War, as well as the destruction of the rest of the 4th Battallion, when she mentioned explicitly that BroShaCho, most notably Chortle, has extreme plans for F4's existence, and that the destruction that BroShaCho's present big project could reap more destruction than even Sieghard intends to cause. Things really got worse when she revealed that her transmission (A Necrocarnum zombie with Scrying and Greater Image on it) was attracting the attention of a Steel Predator (See Fiend Folio, think Aliens). She could make F4 hit it easier and make it more vulnerable to his attacks, but she certainly didn't have the power to stop it from massacring the pilgrims. Naturally, F4-17 felt the duty of character to defend the otherwise helpless pilgrims during their holy travels and walked out boldly to fight the beast. (READ: Didn't see much other option what with the goddess in their other room, and so did it begrudgingly). Things to begin were alright, he managed to win Initiative and got some good damage using Sudden Strike, then things kept getting better and worse. He went from in its mouth to being Ethereal a number of times and quickly started running out of Ki energy, fortunately while he was Ethereal he was immune to the creature's roar ability and the mass of sonic damage it would deal. After an extensive time going in and out of corporeality, F4 started to wear the beast down, Tala's help certainly proving advantageous. With his final strokes, he removed it's ability to have children and the thing got really ticked, going at him with repeated full attacks. In his last ditch, F4 managed Sudden Strike on a Critical Hit, and ripped the creature's heart straight out of it's chest. Obviously, the pilgrims (Who had managed to hobble with the room to about 120 ft. away) rejoiced quite merrily. Re-entering the room, Tala gave her thanks, and filled F4-17 in on a few of his questions about her, including where she came from (Albeit extremely cryptically) and where she is now (Apparently somewhere that the gods can't follow, and that she won't ever leave), and gifted him and the Pearl crew the reward of shifting the mines into a clear path for them to sail through safely. However, she was soon struck by a massive headache, and fell to the ground on her knees clutching her head, strange blue markings began flickering on and off on her face, and she urged that F4 "Leave...now!". Complying hastily, F4 managed to get out of the room and half-way to the Pearl, when the room exploded, taking all 30 pilgrims with it and leaving no evidence of their existence save perhaps the smoke rising from the ground. F4-17, having just had one major religious experience, became Lawful and started a path as a Monk :cool: Oh, and her last bit of info? She wasn't a goddess or demigoddess of any kind. Tactical Notes: Well, now we know the answer to one of Mr White's questions, Tala is a person with immense power, and obviously some major issues with something or someone. F4-17 gained a level, turned Neutral, so is now a Warforged Ninja 10/Monk 1 and is taking that 20% XP penalty with joyouse neutrality. The Pearl is now able to leave Vigdis, so they'll be heading out to their next stop, Azuria. The question of why Tala is hiding from the gods is still unanswered, as is what BroShaCho are doing that will supposedly be so monumentally destructive or what they are planning for F4-17
Lyinginbedmon 02-08-07, 05:47 PM	03/02/1955 - Great Escape The Pearl managed to make its way out of the Vigdis minefield, but found a trio of 'things' trailing along behind it. Sieghard ordered Kuro & Pedalta and Franky off the ship to investigate it and then decided to ram the Pearl over them. Straight over the three mines that is. The ship immediately started taking on water, and the crew quickly maneuvred it into port in a city on Azuria, where they were joyously welcomed and open to all the amenables the city could provide legally (And some not so legally...). Morgan did some sleuthing and managed to find out that the city was controlled by the three founding families, rather, the three remaining founding families, as a large number had been gradually assassinated and defunct by an entity nicknamed by the media as "The Black Death", proported to work for the original Morana family. Whilst things were nice and quiet regarding the background familial cartels, the crew settled in for a few days while the ship was in repairs from the mines. A day before the launch, there was a number of loud splashes and Sieghard arrived on scene to find three hired guards with their throats slit in the water, along with his thankfully still alive children. The Pearl had been stolen, however. The local barmaid of a tavern they'd been paying good coin in loaned them her family's Wingship to chase it, whilst F4-17 elected for the more esoteric method of simply firing a grappling hook at the rigging and be dragged through the streets. The kids managed to grapple the sides of the ship as it left port, and F4-17 managed to climb his way up onto the decking. Sieghard angrily followed with the Wingship and the rest of the crew. A short battle between the Ninja and F4-17 plus the kids was ended, as is getting to be the norm, by Sieghard's intervening with Evard's Black Tentacles. Alas, all four of them were caught by the Japanese schoolgirl's worst nightmare, but Sieghard at this point wasn't interested in worrying about collateral damage. Having been caught, the Ninja dropped his Kama and surrendered peacefully. He introduced himself as Blake Morana, one of the first children of the Morana family that founded the city, and now a Necropolitan slave to what now remains of it, known to the media as the Black Death, used to assassinate enemies of his captors. Whilst he was around 18 years old when his slavery began, he has lost complete track of how long he's been undead, but the city is several hundred years old, making him one of the oldest people on the ship at this point (Right next to F4-17, who is around 440 years old). Blake urged that the crew simply take him away from Azuria and his captors, but Sieghard insisted on breaking the now-corrupt family, and the Pearl returned to port. Greeting some of the city guard, Sieghard managed to bluff his way past to ensure them that "The Black Death" wasn't on board and had escaped out to sea on a rowboat, or something like that ;). He and F4-17 then moved to the headquarters of the cartel, led by the Guards under the pretense of acquiring compensation for the stolen rowboat. After climbing the impressive tower, they met the present leader de facto of the family, who immediately saw through their bluff and began threatening to injure them badly if they didn't tell him where the Black Death was (His exact words were "I'm going to play a game with you pathetic losers. If ya come over here, stare me blank in the eyes and tell me where the Black Death is, I'll let you leave this building with your fingers intact", complete with Northern English accent). F4-17 suggested alternative tortures, including Roshambo, but ultimately the leader grew weary and revealed his ace in the hole: 5 sequentially linked ballistae underneath his desk, all aimed at one target and fired with a pull of a lever. At that point, as he moved to fire the ballistae and potentially erase F4 and Sieghard off the map, he was dragged into the air by his throat, as Blake arrived. He taunted the leader who had wretched his life (The original necromancer priest long dead), apologised for his late arrival (Interesting note: He doesn't use contractions, and is very formal regardless of the situation, evidence of his upbringing perhaps?), then threw him to ground and launched the ballistae. However, instead of killing him, he pinned him in a steel cage made from the ballista bolts. He then took his Kama and pulled out the man's arm, then scraped the Kama from the wrist to shoulder, leaving him physically very weak from the Wounding ability of the Kama (Both of which have it). Sieghard and F4-17 were left alone with him for a little while, so they dragged him to the tower's spire and attached him there, leaving some golden rain when he woke up. Sieghard left through the front door, F4 and Blake just jumped ninja-style and landed next to him, before the ship departed with their new Surgeon. Tactical Notes: New crew member! Yay! And what's better? Yeah, an undead ninja surgeon, with a plus 17 on Heal checks, so he can cure most ailments, and even predict the cause of death of a person up to over a week ago (Using the alternative skill uses from Complete Adventurer). Undoubtedly, with the mass humiliation that the Morana cartel just took the city will be pretty shook up for a while, hopefully the barmaid's family and the other more altruistic families will be able to repair the corrupted land. Next week, the Pearl heads to Rotem to get some rest and relaxation in the wake of the stressful last few weeks.
Lyinginbedmon 02-14-07, 12:03 PM	10/02/1955 - Happy Days This week, the group in need of some relaxation decided to head to Rotem for a short holiday. Whilst there, they met up with Alabaster, Valius, and Dark, and managed to put aside their differences for some holiday fun. They had: A fishing competition (Both with rods (Between Valius and Sieghard) and with bare hands (Between Dark and F4-17)) A ship race (Between the Fluid Monarch and the Black Pearl) A volleyball game with the kids Ice creamSieghard spent most of his time sitting out, preferring to look in the local bookstores, then read some acquisitions in a cafe with some green tea and cakes. F4-17 also went shopping and managed to acquire a beachball, a silver holy symbol of Xan Yae (His new deity), and the shrunken head of a Warforged. The latter two of which he purchased from a very strange old man who seemed himself to be a major artifact judging by Sieghard's reaction under detect magic, but whilst on holiday it was decided against investigating it. Sieghard also acquired a silver replica of the symbol seen on the necrocarnum squid's and of the Ta'La followers (IE: The Ediction Protocol symbol). The kids all bought swimsuits, with Pedalta's turning out to be the most revealing (It was designed for racing, rather than normal swimming), whilst Kuro purchased a one-piece swimsuit and Remus purchased the equivalent of swimming shorts. Naturally, Pedalta began attracting a large number of fanboys, so Sieghard introduced them to his 3 Rules for dating his daughter: Don't If you do, I'll kill you If you manage anyway, I'll ensure you join my minions list:D As night hit, most of the crew went partying in the streets as the Rotem equivalent of Mardi Gras hit. F4 and Sieghard acquired beads from a seller who promptly then vanished into the crowds. They learned quite soon under the drug-hazed showers of alcohol that giving beads to women (And some men) would make them flash what was concealed beneath their tops (Men took something else out to flash, but I'm not going to say what). F4 started gathering a harem as Sieghard managed to get a more-than-willing drunken girl to head to a seaside tavern with him, almost asking the same of Kuro on the way (Fortunately, the alcohol seemed to affect undead too, so she doesn't remember this...he does though). In the morning, Sieghard awoke before his night's companion, only to reveal horror as he found out it was in actuality Morgan (Still asleep, fortunately). He took a moment to consider how high up the room was from the ground, then quietly snuck out before she awoke. In her resulting hangover, Morgan wasn't particularly one for finding out who she had been with that night, but the lack of additional clothing in the room led her to believe she'd simply wandered in during the night and gotten a room. Tactical Notes: Everyone agreed it was easily one of their best vacations, and the group are very pleased it went through (Though naturally there are some parts that they would rather forget...). We learned a lot about the BroShaCho heads, namely that they aren't indiscriminate murderers plotting the downfall of civilisation, but do in fact have basic needs and emotions, even to the point of having fun the way others do. The Fluid Monarch saw a good use in showcasing it's abilities, including it's speed in comparison to the Pearl. The kids got to know the heads too, and overall found them quite charming and nice (Though Sieghard is applying his 3 rules to them as well). Oh, and Pedalta has to get a less-aerodynamic swimsuit for the next time they go to the beach... Overall, a very good session :)
tankschmidt 02-14-07, 02:23 PM	Sounds like a lot of fun. How did the competitions go? And who won the ship race?
Lyinginbedmon 02-14-07, 03:00 PM	Sounds like a lot of fun. How did the competitions go? Sieghard won the fishing contest over Valius F4-17 beat Dark in the other fishing contest, but spent twice as long getting equal with his total after 5 rounds. The volleyball match between the crew and BroShaCho ended in a near stalemate, at 7-8 to the crew (Though BroShaCho disputed that they'd let them win) And who won the ship race? The Pearl won the ship race, but only by sticking a large number of zombie wyverns infront of the Monarch to slow it's passage
tankschmidt 02-14-07, 04:13 PM	...but only by sticking a large number of zombie wyverns infront of the Monarch to slow it's passage Sigh... I must miss so many details that don't make it to print...
Lyinginbedmon 02-23-07, 05:01 PM	17/02/1955 - Platinum Enticed greatly by the tales of Platinum Samuel having left his hoarded millions on the self-named jungle island of Platinum, the Pearl headed to it in search of Samuel's treasure (Which was estimated by the Kettari as being a value easily capable of purchasing 3 Pearls, which suffice it to say is a lot). They arrive on the shoreline around noon, and Sieghard immediately began asking around for volunteers to venture into what he described as "The jungle of death and doom". Naturally, there weren't many takers, and he was eventually left with the decision of mutiny or just the Kids. Naturally, the remaining crew decided to haul anchor a few miles out to sea before they got shanghaied. Entering a few hundred feet into the jungle, the group were immediately unnerved by a simple fact that took them half an hour to notice: There were no birds, not a single 'caw' could be heard, let alone the rustling of other animals. It was as if the entire island was dead. After a significant time searching, they found a hatch leading underground. Hesitant to enter, Sieghard dropped down himself, and was greeted by a successive chain of lights that lit up the lengthy corridor. A sharp chill went down his spine and his soul seemingly grew dim as magic was extinguished from the corridor. Taking a few steps in, he was grazed significantly by a scything blade that appeared from the ceiling and began swinging as a pendulum. After a longer time checking cautiously around it, he managed to find the proverbial 'off' switch, and deactivated the trap for the next 10 minutes. Things were then exacerbated when he stepped 5 ft. further and was almost struck by yet another scything blade. The steady line of Kids and crew behind him was steadily gaining on the morale of a weevil in an exterminator's van. However, after a while, and the idea of using Inzaul's personal shield to shatter the blade, they managed to get through all 15 such blades without additional harm or injury. However, things didn't really pick up with the next trap at the end of the corridor, a slightly depressed room with a heavy steel door on the opposite side and a very small, finger-sized, hole in the right side. The Kids and Sieghard stepped in, the crew standing cautiously outside the room, when a large stone slab slammed down from the ceiling and sealed the room. Sieghard felt some optimisim as his magic came back (The word "mojo" was uttered...groan), but this soon fell flat once the room started bubbling up from the floor with water, easily filling the room in under a minute. The Kids got to work beating the heck out the stone as Sieghard summoned some assistants in the form of Ogre zombies. Eventually, before Sieghard had to hold his breath (Which with a Constitution of 10 wouldn't have been pretty), the slab cracked and collapsed, partially flooding the corridor. Next up to investigate was the hole in the wall, which Sieghard peered through to see, of all things, a finger, which then produced a small red bead and fired it towards the 20 by 20 by 20 room. Sieghard took a moment to realise what, precisely, the entire trap meant, and took the full brunt of the Fireball to the face, miraculously surviving. Not particularly happy after being dragged to his smoldering feet from the watery floor, Sieghard broke through the steel door and beheld a considerably sized laboratory, filled to the brim with scientific equipment and magical boilers, which spewed steam into massive funnels and pipes. Apparently, whoever lived here was researching steam power, or using it. The answer soon arrived when they turned the corner and found an elderly bearded Aquatic Elf, who held his hands up in surrender and quickly asked that they not harm him or his equipment, introducing himself as Lloyd Yuge*, an exiled scientist from Einderseod and an advocate of steam power. He explained some of the things he was researching, including a possible Steam-powered Drive for ships, the designs of which were in the back of the laboratory. However, fate being fickle and bullyish of the PCs (:P), a loud rumbling sound heard outside in the jungle culminated in the back of the lab completely collapsing, as the ill-remembered Fluid Monarch made his return appearance by assaulting the island in search of Lloyd and his research. Lloyd and the crew hastily made their escape, and out to sea as the Monarch began chasing them, Lloyd had Iago aim the ballista to a precise point on the island, directly above the boilers. The resultant explosion quickly saw to the demise of the Monarch, and the flabbergasting of the crew and Sieghard. Inzaul just wanted to know how he could use this primitive technology to fuel his bed, and the two quickly became good colleagues inside of a Tongues effect. With the provision that he be allowed to continue his experiments on-ship, Lloyd quickly became the Ship's Mage. Being steam-oriented, a spellcaster such as he on the ocean is a big issue for their enemies :D Tactical Notes: Well, fire spell-heavy Sorcerer, big ocean, Steam Mage feat = The Black Pearl's latest crewmember, the Steam Mage himself :) In other notes, Lloyd's arrival will have some very profound implications on the crew and especially the PCs, and ultimately may very well decide the fate of the entire Dead-Nick Squad. I'm not saying exactly how, but I will say it will have very little to do with his steam research. At 292 he's also one of the oldest crewmen, and has spent 150 years of it in Mizu Omi. He has a grandson he doesn't know about (Aquatic Half-Elf) and a son he was not on good terms with (Aquatic Elf) in Einderseod. His niece also sits on the ruling Elven high council, at least she did prior to his leave. *For those that don't know, this is also the name of a steam-researching scientist from the anime film, Steamboy. Trust me when I say this is a lot more important in a later campaign which in no way duplicates the events of the film. I'll note now that Lloyd has a big tactical spell on his list: Raise from the Deep. This may be of issue next session :cool:
Lyinginbedmon 02-25-07, 01:06 PM	24/02/1955 - Prophetic This session saw the Pearl travelling, after learning of brief historical info, to Barncoon. On the surface, the water was fairly murky, making it difficult to pick out anything below (Barncoon having sank to the ocean floor approzimately 440 years prior, for reasons unknown though they weren't involved heavily in inter-islandic affairs so it is thought to be their own doing). Sieghard sent Kuro, Pedalta, Lloyd, and Franky down to take a look around, and they returned swiftly with the grim news that BroShaCho had already arrived and set up about 7 Soul Flux Generators (An abandoned 12th century Elven technology, also banned for crimes against life in Einderseod) around a large device composed of two metallic rings, with a Sphere of Annihilation in the center of the two. Ideas were thrown about as to how to prevent them from utilising the technology, as Lloyd warned that using it via the SFGs would cause the deaths of potentially hundreds of people around the pylons seen in other settlements. Whilst Sieghard wasn't in any happy about the idea, it was put forward to purposefully sink the Pearl and use the ballistae underwater to demolish the SFGs and the controls of the device. And so, everyone aimed down whilst Sieghard went off to bawl his eyes out. After a few rounds of sinking, the crew all aided Iago in aiming and firing the ballistae and managed to wipe out a large number of the Skeleton Soldiers working on the device, including some damage to the device itself and to 2 of the SFGs. Sieghard moved in to get some close-quarters looks, and discovered that in a translated piece of tiling, the area was dubbed "Project 6.16" by the original residents. The last of the soldiers were destroyed, as Sieghard began pressing random buttons he couldn't understand on the controls, which were then struck by some of the fallout from the Starburst ballista and gave him a nasty shock. To finish things off, the last soldiers were destroyed by the ballistae, but the bolts crashed into the SFGs and supplied their own magic energy into the device, activating it but fortunately not killing anyone. The rings whirled about eachother violently, the energies of the device pumping directly into the Sphere, until they broke apart and the Sphere tore open into a massive 'gash' in reality itself. Sieghard grabbed some seaweed and cautiously pushed it into the rift, only to have to pull his hand out against significant force as the seaweed was ripped from it. The large, fluctuating, white-lit phenomenon then grew dark and began to 'self-heal', but not before dropping a large scorpion-lobster creature through. And so, Kuro and Pedalta began strafing the creature with Swim-By Attacks, whilst Sieghard did his best to use Spectral Hand to Inflict it to unconsciousness, and the remainder of the crew ballista'd it to death. Eventually, after nearly killing Sieghard (I believe his final total was 1 HP, mostly from it destroying his Hand), the creature slumped into unconsciousness at -6 HP. Sieghard then attempted to Fell Animate it, but only succeeded in destroying it entirely, as it was not native to the universe it ceased to exist upon it's death, and despite all the searching of his Allips Sieghard couldn't locate the body after it ethereally dropped beneath the ocean floor. Disappointed at losing the creature's remains, Sieghard decided that some exploring was in order to find something of value around the ruins, most of which seemed significantly battle damaged. Lloyd managed to find an air pocket in a large room that was mostly sealed by rubble, through what seemed to be a water (At least, we hoped it was water) pipe went in from underneath. Inside, they found a desk, a chair, a newspaper, an interesting pen, and lastly: The naturally mummified remains of dead female Barncoon resident. Sieghard began the process of retrieving it with a Gentle Repose spell, but as he touched it the room was flooded with light and therein stood the image of Tala oncemore, who smiled, and said simply "Thank you" before vanishing once more. Sieghard became more tempered towards preserving the body for investigation, be it via resurrection, animation, or just Speak with Dead, but it soon proved to be too fragile, Repose simply stalled it's deterioration, but the body itself was too fragile to safely move without it completely dissolving. Eventually, Lloyd returned the ship to the surface with Raise from the Deep, and Zaman used Comprehend Languages to examine the newspaper, the front page displaying an image of a young schoolgirl surrounded by both bodyguards and reporters, it spoke of a miracle child named Tala. Tactical Notes: OOC, the creature was known as the Vi-Claw Mk.3, used by the nation of Terrus in the Idol Wars of I-27, ultimately filed for deletion until it was yanked out by the device. Having learned that the child in the newspaper is Tala, Sieghard's player is understandably horrified now, because he's convinced himself somehow that Tala must be ID38 (Aka Bel'la Oloth, single enemy of the Great War 440 years ago). However, I have explained to him that simply because ID38 was apparently unleashed on the world from Barncoon and that Tala lived there, doesn't mean the two are one and the same. After all, I live in England, Prince Harry is from England, it doesn't mean I'm Prince Harry :P. Besides that, it seems more logical to me to assume that the "miracle child Tala" from Barncoon would simply appear to prevent BroShaCho from unleashing ID38 or another of the ID programs. He also thought I was trying my darndest to stop him from investigating Barncoon with the body, but I explained that even using Speak With Dead will be problematic, as the soul itself was actually eaten and Tala had to animate it (However briefly) to deliver her message. Next week, the Pearl heads to the last island on the trip, Outlands
Lyinginbedmon 03-17-07, 05:00 PM	03/03/1955 - Legacy Not much to say about this session, the most important parts were: We met the liason for Mizu Omi, Red Jester, and Sieghard was also taken temporarily to the Dark Zone, catching a glimpse of the Genesis, before being hurled through what was essentially a wormhole, seeing a number of different constellations including the planet Jannah. We also met Ages, originally the dragon familiar to Platinum Samuel, who defends Outlands in as discrete a way as possible to prevent any interlopers from discovering Platinum's treasure, accessable through the active volcano and hidden in part of it's magma chamber. His efforts to scare away the Pearl included using his breath weapon to mimic a magma 'gurgle' from the volcano, noxious and toxic gases released from underwater (Which have also acted to fool the rest of the crew into thinking that Sieghard's entire experience with Ages was a hallucination), to charging through the dense forest to produce a distinct trail that ends abruptly. Jester tricked the crew into handing over the glass Sovice block, which he hurled into the volcano, telling them that given time it could adapt enough to convert the sand it was being contained with. As payment, he gave Sieghard an item from the main store of Platinum's treasure, a bag with an extremely good lock, to give to Morganth, promising him that it would pay off his ship Tactical Notes: In all, most of the revelations of this session were of a second Jester and the ultimate cosmology of the universes (The Genesis being the home of the Overlords, and where all universes ultimately are created, controlled, and monitored. The Jesters being liasons to the universe the Overlords are watching at any given time). As Sieghard learns in the next session, the barrel the crew brought up in a hurry wasn't the one holding the block, but was in fact the Captain's personal supply of Mead. To quote Jack Sparrow "But why is the Rum gone?!" :D Lastly, I heartily apologise for the tardiness of this post, I've been really busy with sickness (Both physical and mental) and schoolwork lately
Lyinginbedmon 03-23-07, 08:45 PM	17/03/1955 - Grievous Return This week started out with preparations to head back through the barrier to home. After tying everything down and praying to whatever gods were listening, the Black Pearl set out to meet its fate. Unfortunately, the weather didn't seem to bode well, the barrier's wall decidedly chaotic with a storm front covering most of the normally dark clouds. Heading through, lightning managed to ignite some of the ropes, but luckily the driving rain managed to put most of them out anyways. The ropes were repaired and tightened and the ship continued on. Luckily, the ship itself was immune to fire. Entering into the main inner section of the barrier, things were looking up. The weather was very calm, though the storm front evident from outside was heading around the barrier like a clock hand. Inside it could be seen vaguely humanoid shapes, none of which looked friendly so the original route (Mapped from the undoubtedly-now-inaccurate maps of the first trip) was modified to avoid it as much as possible. However, this was not to be, as a second storm front coming from the opposite direction managed to broil together into Meriphistreus, an Omnimental trapped in the barrier for over 4 centuries. After a brief fire-fight with it (Oy the irony), Morgan managed to diplomatically resolve the issues between the crew and Meri and they gained a new ally. Having been in the barrier for a substantial amount of time, Meri informed the crew that whatever was in the clouds was certainly not friendly and was in fact hostile in the extreme, consisting of the creatures of New Cairo folkloric nightmares. His major beef with the Pearl was that, on their way through the first time, they ran straight through him during Meri's latest attempt to escape the barrier after being chased by the stormfront. He also informed them that there was a mysterious large swan-shaped boat just down the corridor away from the clouds with a distinctive portal beside it. Leaving Meri alone to continue avoiding the clouds, the Pearl made a quick detour to check out the boat. Arriving there, they found a pair of warforged-esque creatures (One Medium and one Small) and a medium-sized bluish-black creature dressed in little more than elaborately designed gauntlets and loincloth, who quickly spoke to them telepathically to approach no further. Turning around, there was an immediate commotion from the warforged (A hulking third appeared through the portal looking decidedly like an early Charger model, but participated little in the conversation), who began wondering if a member of the crew was some legendary figure. Realising that they couldn't find out any other way, they told Atoun (The telepathic blue guy) to test them. He quickly attacked Sieghard, displaying talents that could really only be described as being ripped straight from George Lucas' haydays. Due largely to Sieghard, his task was soon done, and he confirmed to SPD-13 and RB-34 that it really was 'him'. They then introduced themselves as agents of the great city of Spira, looking for the one person that could help them. After a brief argument about whether it was ethically right to steal a person from another reality to help their own (In which Atoun brought up the issue that it wasn't just their world in jeopardy, Proteus was as well), they inquired as to the location of Inzaul, last survivor of the Janni race (Luckily for him, Inzaul couldn't understand what they were saying at the time due to a lack of Common). Despite bluffing from Sieghard, Atoun levitated the right guy and DV-5 began setting up a triangle of 7 ft. tall stony obelisks on the boat, which creaked under their ton weights, as SPD-13 began attaching uppards of 20 crystalline objects to them and began typing things into a strangely incomprehensible screen of symbols. Things began to make sense from Mr White's cave wall, "the symbols mark the path to heaven" and "they made it" certainly came to mind. And so, SPD opened a new portal and the trio plus Inzaul left, Inzaul vaguely recognising the technology of the obelisks but at the same time not certain of its source. However, one stayed behind for a moment, DV-5. He stuck his hand into his portable hole and pulled from it a small crystalline block with a metal cap, which glowed internally with a dim white light. He held out his hand to Sieghard, offering the object, and said simply "This is your story". Sieghard, confused as always, took the object, and DV-5 stepped through the portal onto the marble balcony of some far-off, three-mooned land. The stars seemed oddly familiar to him, but it didn't last long, the base of one of the obelisks started to catch fire and the crystals around them burst into flame in a hellish circle as the boat began to collapse beneath them. The crew immediately made extreme efforts to salvage the obelisks, managing barely to save one before the other two and the remains of the swan boat sank to the bottom of barrier's waters. The Pearl headed back, trying as hard as possible to make the grandest entrance to Einderseod, where they attracted a significant crowd who rejoiced their survival and welcomed their return. Morganth arrived to debrief the expedition, especially Sieghard, and to update them about current events. The glass block, the Obelisk, Inzaul's transplanar bed, and an assortment of Mizu Omi meads were all shipped carefully to the headquarters, Sieghard giving explicit instructions on how to contain the block safely. Study on the items began almost immediately, as Sieghard handed over the strange back that Red Jester gave him. Morganth opened it, revealing a small metal pad with an inscription upon it. Waving his hand over it, a small illusionary picture appeared of a little girl playing with a young man with snow white hair as a whimsical tune (http://www.angelfire.com/ny/dianaclaire/images/mayuka.mid) played in the background. The inscription read "Maria Fanelia". Morganth had no idea what it meant, except that it was very important if one the Jesters gave it to him, and swiftly repealed the cost of the Black Pearl on Sieghard's accounts, for now. Sieghard, exhausted, went to his bed and slept for a couple of days without interruption. Tactical Notes: Yup, Maria Fanelia, daughter of Grimdolf Fanelia. Morganth was created in an experiment by Grimdolf to produce the ultimate creature, which he would then inhabit to lead his armies to conquer the Material plane. Maria became a good friend of Morganth, and helped him to escape, whereupon he lost his entire memory. As a result, this is a major step towards him remembering exactly who (And what) he is, and is a nice sentimental touch for Maria, who know labours away at Grimdolf's behest as the Tarrasque herself (Her punishment for helping Morganth). Atoun is a Material plane Elemental species called a Centon. They used to be humanoids but used advanced magic and genetics to 'ascend' to their new state of 'perfection' and live in the Proteus galaxy, which is about 432,802 light years from the base galaxy of Sendfri, and most notably engages in battle with the Faldean Empire. As a result, Sieghard's player (Knowing this OOC) is fairly worried about the whole Jedi effect I gave to Atoun, who is also knownas the Great Atoun and was a military leader against the Empire. The test was to see if Sieghard could best him, since in his reality he was the only person who ever did. DV-5, RB-34, and SPD-13 are from the city of Spira, a Zero-One city that is a large trade center for the Sendfri Commonwealth. They operate for the Temporal Agency and disobeyed orders and strict laws to acquire rare Sovice technology and hijack a Nanogate to find Inzaul, in order to try and stop the rapidly approaching Big Machine War, a Sovice civil war that will span galaxies. The technologies used here were: Nanogate - Essentially a gate effect that latches on to the existing Sovice Omnigate network to produce semi-instantaneous travel to anywhere you have the co-ordinates of. Requires power and all three tablets to work, all of which must be 20 ft. from each other. With just 1, there's no way to use it to log onto the network. Temporal Node - When attached to a Nanogate, allows you to travel 105 years (Or 100 Jannic years) through time per node attached, opening a portal for 10 minutes only and causing damage to the tablets involved. With 21 nodes, that would put the destination time around 4160. <Ex-I'm not telling on the glowy white thing> So, that's the end of this campaign. The next campaign is #6 - In Thy Name. A religious campaign centering around the remnants of the Zakian faith from BroShaCho's occupation. There'll be a oneshot adventure on 24/03/2007* run by F4-17's player (So you'll see me behind a character sheet for the first time in over 2 years) that I'll post the details of here, and then look out for the new thread for In Thy Name
Lyinginbedmon 03-25-07, 06:51 AM	*Unfortunately, I bear some bad news. Because the DM for the oneshot is bogged down with coursework at the moment, we've had to postpone the session. Hopefully, it will be carried out with much joy on 31/03/2007
Lyinginbedmon 03-31-07, 07:46 AM	Okay, I didn't lie, I was retconned. The oneshot is set for 07/04/2007 now. Yes, I'm a lot more punctual :P Apparently writer's block is to blame for this week
Lyinginbedmon 04-08-07, 07:49 PM	Okay, for unknown reasons, our oneshot DM didn't show for the fourth week in a row. So, desparate to play, I relinquished my chance for player-dom to wing a oneshot with the remaining player, who used Sieghard for the adventure. Not wanting him to go completely to waste, I also used my intended character as an NPC. 24/03/1955 - Tapping the Wellspring And strangling the temp DM... Sieghard was called in to Morganth's office with word on a detective to find some method of reanimating the Barncoon mummy, he suggested the local laughing stock of the Guards, John Smadar, aka the "Clockwork Detective". The detectives in the Guards being a little busy at the moment handling some issues between the resident religions and the recent upsurge of Zakian worshippers. Sieghard went to Emily Investigations, home to W40-12 or John Smadar, a Warforged. The interior of the office was remarkably luxurious, appearing closer to the home of some forgotten Victorian Lord than a ridiculed detective. John welcomed his new client and offered his services alongside a cup of his special blend of green tea (Sieghard was a tad nervous when he mentioned "It is a little different each time, so I am afraid I cannot guarantee the taste", but it turned out wonderful all the same). Sieghard explained his requirements to find somehting of extreme power to restore the mummy and then revive it with conscience intact. Following some leads, the pair paid a visit to the royal catacombs, including the burial plots of the Beldars, founders of the country (No relation to Beldar Hasselfeld, one of the Dead-Nick founders, who was buried some 70 ft. away) who lost their reign during the Great War due to genocide. Sieghard was bound to not use his necromancy on the plethora of corpses around, much to his chagrin. Following through the main Beldar mausoleum, they found themselves in a massive underground graveyard constructed by Burlington Ltd. architects centuries ago. The size of the area was easily discovered once the oil lines around the walls were lit. After spending 9 hours of relentless walking, they found the centre of the graveyard in the form of the Elishar shrine. Following some religious background info courtesy of John, Sieghard borrowed the wooden goblet from the shrine which related to an old legend of Elishar's chosen priests using the waters of a wooden goblet to revive the dead and the two quickly left before the sun rose.* The next day, John brought a carriage with full horse trail to take them to the nearby mountains, though still a 3 hour trip. Arriving, there were two obvious places to check for magic items: the cave home for the local Rage Drake, or the cave home for the local Ssvaklor and his cabal of Yuan-ti. Considering his own safety, Sieghard decided on the former. The two clambered up the mountain and eventually came across the cave, seeing nor hearing any sign of the Rage Drake. Venturing in, they started hearing snoring but they couldn't find the source. However, they did find a very large pile of gems heaped up at the back of the cave. John held lookout whilst Sieghard starting carefully removing and placing the gems into the Handy Haversack he 'borrowed' from F4-17 (Yes, we're vindictive :evillaugh ). After a few of the gems, however, there was a small silver ring with a pair of rubys and space for a third. Sieghard plucked it from the pile and a cascade revealed a red fleshy surface behind the gems. Immediately terrified, John was given instructions to grab both a gem and Sieghard's collapsed body while he magic jar'd the Drake. Doing so, Sieghard got up from inside the pile and found a distinct mucus layer just infront of his tail, and was then instantly stricken by the temptation to eat some of the gems. After doing so (Ad hoc DC 30 Will save, Sieg managed a 28), (s)he was immediately struck by intense pain in his lower abdommen and returned to the remains of the pile to lay 5 eggs**. Immediately wavering in his devotion to whatever gods were watching, Sieghard considered purposefully crushing herself in a rockslide, but was persuaded against it for the consequences upon the eggs. He took 2 of the eggs to compensate for the loss of gems (Which had been piled up as a food source for the young since Rage Drakes usually collect them for snacks) and then set about putting the body back in its original position. Afterwards, the pair made their getaway as hastily as possible. Overall acquisition was roughly 180 gems of varying quality. Back in the city, the two visited a dealer in the marketplace who valued the gems at varying prices from 5 GP to 7 under intimidation, but Morgan served as a second opinion to value them at an average of 11-1/9 in value, for a total of 2000 GP, which was swiftly extricated from the weasely dealer. John was rewarded with his 1800 GP payment and a Rage Drake egg which he hoped to ween off of live meat and rampaging. The second egg made a good meal, though it was a little bloody and left some of the subordinates with severe heartburn. That evening using the ring, Sieghard made the following sequence: Wish the 1st – "I wish for the corpse of this Barncoon female I am holding infront of me to be returned to the original condition as it was immediately following its death." Cast animate dead Wish the 2nd – "I wish for this zombie under my control that is standing infront of me to acquire the mental faculties of the person it was in life immediately before their death."The result was a human zombie expert 2, screaming in horror and raving insanity because of the circumstances of her death. Looking briefly at the optional Sanity rules on d20SRD.org, we calculated her Sanity to be a nice -50. Her symptoms are: Aberrant behaviour - Crawls into corners at first option and rejects all physical contact Delusions - Believes the present world doesn't exist and is a tormenting illusion created by ID38 Hallucinations - Persistently sees ID38 in the vicinity, glaring wickedly Incoherence - Weeping, babbling, experiences temporary moments of clarity wherein she is capable only of communicating her terror brieflyShe was soon sent to Vova for counselling, though there's little hope she'll be mentally cogent anytime soon.*** Tactical Notes: *First note, given that it took a pair of 30 ft. movement creatures 9 hours to walk to the centre, that would make Burlington Ltd. about 123 miles in diameter. **Second note, this little curio isn't as baseless and deus ex machina as one might think. When a dog births her puppies, she consumes her own placenta, which releases chemicals that kick start her production of milk. Granted, Dragons aren't really known for this, but it's probably not something WotC would slip into the Draconomicon and Rage Drakes aren't true dragons. ***Third note, this was not a deliberate railroad by me, her backstory was written as her having been driven insane before she was ever picked up. Okay, that's officially the end of In Blackest Night :ghosted:, stay tuned soon for In Thy Name. :bravo: