Rangiwhero Recon

From DQWiki

Summary

GM: Keith Smith
Level: Medium (high?)
Night: Mondays or Thursdays depending on circumstances

Players:

• Flamis - Human female firemage played by Jacqui Smith - Scribe
• Lizette - Human femsle namer/healer played by Dylan
• Vanderhan - Human male warrior played by Scott
• Veor - Human male icemage played by Bernard
•  ? - played by Ian

Briefing:
A group from the local merfolk would like assistance from the Seagate Guild in scouting out the coast and near coast areas of Rangiwhero to look for any sahuagan threats. It is not intended that combat be initiated, but positions are to be scouted out and intelligence gathered so that strike forces can be sent in to take them out.

Scribe Notes

6 Seedtime

It was a month after the Guild Meeting, and I really wasn’t expecting to find employers looking for adventurers at this late stage in the season, when I ran in to the Guild to see if there were any orders for me, and to catch up on the news. I headed along to Meeting Room One to see what was going on. Turned out to be a group of merfolk emissaries looking for some folk to scout out those Sahuagin scumbags that infest the South Seas around Rangiwhero. Sounded like fun for a Fire Mage with a trident so I settled in to listen.

Also present were:

• Lizette: Human female namer, healer and class “A” ditz. Got to keep an eye on her, she’s got a reputation for getting entire parties into deep manure.
• Vanderhan: Human warrior, extra handy in a fight, and a good reliable man.
• Veor: Human ice mage, can be a bit bossy.

The merfolk were offering good gold and pearls of water-breathing, and it sounded like fun, and a good opportunity to try out this trident thing, as well as practicing my swimming. They were talking about us scouting the island, looking for “back-doors” on the land, but I’m betting we’ll get wet. Apparently the Sahuagin had been spreading south and poaching on the merfolk’s seaweed, and they were planning on a massive assault to throw them back in their own patch of pond. Which, of course, meant a bit of work for adventurers, sniffing out the waters – though they had a team of merfolk adventurers for the actual wet work as it were. These Sahuagin were by all accounts a right bunch of nutters, believing themselves to be the only true sentient species, and there was no negotiating with them.

After explaining that, the merfolk left the room, and we sorted out that I would be military scientist (predictably Lizette, who prefers not to melee, knows nothing of military science). And scribe as well, since she apparently does prefers not to write either. As for party leader, I think we selected Vanderhan – or was it Veor? Anyhow, Veor wanted to ride down to Slippery Rock for some restoratives. I decided I’d better run and see Basalic at Bolton Bay, explain what had happened, and get some diamond weapon spells on my trident. I bought some of Grizelda’s restoratives while I was there.

8 Seedtime

At dawn we presented ourselves at dockside. There was little to be seen of the merfolk’s vessel, for like an iceberg it was mostly underwater, being a submersible. Veor rapped on the hatch and a bleary-looking mermaid came out. Apparently we were early. Still it wasn’t long before we safely stowed amidships in an air-filled compartment. The merfolk introduced themselves and explained that the vessel was propelled by elemental power. Curious, I looked at the vessel’s aura, which told me that it was a construct, had ship strength magic on it, and had been grown. Very interesting.

We were told our voyage would take a week. I could see that we’d be getting stir-crazy in this cramped space, but that’s common enough in the adventurer’s life. We talked about the up-coming adventure, and Veor had the bright idea that we should meet with the merfolk military scientists before heading in to scout the island. We discussed this with the employers, and they agreed to make the arrangements.

9-15 Seedtime – Travelling to Pasifika

It was, as I guessed, not an uncomfortable voyage, just boring and confined. We talked some more, and learned a lot more about the situation with the Merfolk and the Sahuagin. The more we found out, the more we realised that things were not looking good for the Merfolk. The Sahuagin already out-numbered them, and were breeding more warriors at a much faster rate than the Merfolk. They had entrenched themselves in at least one very defensible location to the south and were spreading from their established territory to the north. They were thought to be raiding the human population on Rangiwhero and the other Pasifikan islands, accounting for reports of missing persons at those locations.

At length, we decided that it would be more efficient for the merfolk to go and fetch the maps and military scientist notes from their city while we began scouting Rangiwhero. They would drop us off at the north-eastern tip of the island where the Michaeline enclave was located, and we would meet them two days later at the southern point, at the Trading Post.

16 Seedtime - The Michaeline Outpost

We arrived at the northernmost point of Rangiwhero by mid-morning. The submersible dropped us off the coast around the headland from the Michaeline enclave, and we approached on foot. From a distance everything seemed normal. But as we walked closer it became evident that there was nobody tending to the orchards or vegetable gardens, and it seemed to me that they had been left untended for some time. When we came in sight of the enclosure we saw that the gates were broken, and there were signs that a battle had been fought here. Somebody had been very careful to clean up the evidence though, so as to make it seem that the site had simply been abandoned. There were no bodies, no bones, very little to be found, just a few shards of broken weapons and arrowheads.

What we did find told a disturbing story. There was a spearhead, made of whale bone, upon which a diamond-edged weapon spell had been cast, around six months ago. Veor examined it, and said that the carving was in the undersea style, and was likely to have been done by Sahuagin. When we entered the church we saw that there had been five altars here, one to each of the Powers of Light, even a tiny shrine to Sammael. The high altar, the biggest, was to Michael, and it was covered with what we realised was dried blood. Lizette divinated the church, and confirmed that it had been consecrated almost a decade ago, then had been desecrated some six months ago. Vanderhan went for a rummage in the vestry, and found the abbot’s office. Hidden in a secret compartment under the desk he found the abbot’s journal, along with a Michealine Bible and some coin. The journal spoke of disappearing people. The last entry made mention of bad weather, and “they are coming”…

I performed a flamesight ritual on a bloodied dagger we found, and saw a vision of the battle, of humans fighting these scaly shark men, the Sahuagin, It was obvious that the Sahuagin were not fighting as the usual bloodthirsty rabble, but in a coordinated fashion. Evidently, they have military scientists too, and this could not be a good thing.

On the beach we found fishing vessels and a larger ship, all of them holed. The wood had been warped by necromantic magic. Not a good thing. There was a really big shark tooth embedded in one boat, which had had animal growth cast on it. So they had Earth mages too. Which wasn’t a good thing, either.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we were done examining the scene, and nobody wanted to spend the night there. This massacre had to be reported to the authorities at the Trading Post as soon as possible, so we decided we would run for it, and overnight there. Then we would make our way north by iceberg, surveying the coast as we went.

We arrived at the trading post at dusk, to find it rather more fortified that I remembered it, with a ditch and palisade under construction and guarded by what looked like mercenaries, some of them from Khoras. There was a large working party about to knock off for the night. We headed for the Inn, which was bigger than I recalled it. There were patrols in the streets, in threes. It was decided that I needed to learn the GTN for Sahuagin so as to set up wards against them in the village.

The Innkeeper was a friendly Pasifikan native, who explained that we were just in time for dinner, and that there were hot springs, so the lady, Lizette, could have her bath. The men stayed in the common room, while we enjoyed the hot water. Then we all shared in the roasted pig, fish, sweet potato and taro. Vanderhan was in a card game by the time we got back. Apparently a small party of locals were planning on taking out the Sahuagin raiders. There were caves about ten miles up the coast which were believed to be being occupied by the Sahuagin. We dissuade them from this, and talk for a while about how to make the trading post more defensible, and construct more weapons. Then we went back to our room and talked some more, before bed.

17 Seedtime – The Ruins of Amphipolis

In the morning we went to see the town council. They were basically a bunch of merchants, and they weren’t initially happy with the advice we had for them. This started with raising the price on Sahuagin heads, from thirty silver to five hundred. They agreed to that, and to the production of spears from ship masts, with obsidian tips. As we left, we saw a bat flying in with a small person riding it, that Vanderhan identified as Sir Lucy Glitterwing, a courier from Garrison on Khoras.

We set forth with our local guide to the caves. He described the cave system, as being a mostly underwater lava tube system with a number of entrances, the largest being the sea entrance, which would be a good ten feet across. There are nearby ruins, which may be the Sahuagin’s target. We would go to the ruins and there perform my ritual of speaking to my other selves.

We knew we were getting close to the ruins, when we came around a ridge and saw a giant statue of a lion, perhaps a guardian, or a sentinel marking the edge of the city. The ruins themselves were just a short way further. They had the usual broken walls, shattered columns and ruined statuary I’d expected to see. Little wooden pegs and markers showed that the professional grave robbers they call archaeologists had been here. There was a central rectangular space surrounded by the stumps of columns that looked as if it might have been the city centre, and it was here that I made my fire and began my ritual. This time I got to have an actual conversation with my former self – a young female bard, with long strawberry blond hair, called Gabrielle, who had lived in this town, thousands of years ago.

Questions:

• What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika? - Amphipolis – trading port, trading in fish, grains, and pottery. Metal came in by ship from Thrace.
• Where was this town run from, and by whom? - A council of elder statesman – in the building with the columns, which is the acropolis
• Where did they store their weapons? - Most people kept their own weapons – swords staves etc – barracks near the walls – near the acropolis – and the necropolis underneath it
• What significant underground structures were here and where were they? - The temple to Hades – in the necropolis – underground tombs – tomb of Xena will be here – also the temple to Ares
• What significant artifacts were kept here and where? - Xena’s chakram, sword and armour – probably in the necropolis.
• In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients? - Not much dealing with them – Poseidon preferred his children to keep away from the land – although the hero, Iolaus, met and fell in love with a mermaid. Never heard of Sahuagin.

Vanderhan found a plinth that looked as if it might move, and looking further, I found the lever to open it. Veor reasoned that we shouldn’t use it, because that would make it more obvious. Then there was a slight tremor in the ground. I put my ear to the ground and heard some kind of sound. Strange, especially since the wind was from the west, and that made it unlikely that it was blowing through the tunnels. Our guide showed us to the entrance to the lava tubes. The entrance was a bit jagged and rough, and Veor suggested I use the gloves of shaping to make the entrance less jagged. I also took the precaution of wearing my heavy armour. There was another rumble in the ground, like a distant explosion. We went down into the lava tunnels. It was a bit tight for Vanderhan, and my helmet kept scraping the ceiling. Then, we came out into a wider tunnel where we found tracks – of booted feet, and clawed feet. Lizette said she could hear the faint sounds of digging – coming from the direction of the town. Then rumble, rumble down the tunnel came a pair of half-starved humans dressed in rags pulling a cart full of rocks, followed by a rather smallish sharkman. We retreated up the small tunnel, and prepared an ambush. It was all over very quickly. I softened up the sahuagin with a dose of dragonflames, and Vanderhan finished him off, while Veor blocked off the tunnel with ice.

The slaves proved to be from the trading post, and on learning there were more of them, being worked until they died, and then eaten, we decided without hesitation to go back and give those sahuagin a dose of their own medicine. Broiled shark, anyone?

We disguised ourselves, Vanderhan having a belt that gave him the illusory appearance of a sahuagin, and the rest of us in rags over light armour, or indeed, no armour. Vanderhan went first, then Veor and I followed, dragging and pushing the cart we’d acquired, between us. After a while we heard the sounds of digging, and then we were confronted by a big four-armed Sahuagin. He gurgled something at Vanderhan, who grunted in return. Obviously that wasn’t enough, because the big guy came at Vanderhan, who dropped the illusion, and drew a big sword. The fight was on, and again it didn’t last very long, as Vanderhan cut the Sahuagin apart, I tossed a dragonsmite at the sharkman, and Veor iced up and went in on the attack. The only real surprise was went the Sahuagin threw one of the charges they’d been using in their mining. And it went boom! Didn’t hurt much more than your usual grenado though. We salvaged a couple of these, and used then and some ice to bring the tunnel down. After we’d brought out the slaves of course.