... because as I said before, YES, I AM crazy enough to give myself even MORE of a headache while running this thing. :P

So after at least three failed Play-by-Post internet campaigns and one failed Neverwinter Nights adaptation, I started a PnP Gestalt STAP about a month ago, connecting my now-scattered player group through the wonder that is Ventrilo. We're using a mishmash of 3.5 and Pathfinder along with a few houserules, scaling along Pathfinder's Medium XP progression.

The following are my victims... I mean players:

Gin and Jenny Woodstock: LG Dvati Monk|Fighter
A set of opposite-gender Dvati twins, a rarity that was feared by their race so the twins were abandoned at separate monasteries; thanks to their mind link they eventually discovered one another and left to meet and travel the world together. So far they seem to be serving as the party's moral compass, which tends to bring them into frequent conflict with Yuri and Mala. Jenny doesn't talk much, and tends to play watch during group meetings and such while Gin attends and passes messages.

[Note: They're using the Pathfinder Beta version of Monk and Fighter, but as a houserule I've given both classes a Paladin/Ranger like progression of Maneuvers - Monk chooses from the Swordsage list, Fighter from Warblade's. I allow the same thing for Paladin as well, letting them choose between getting spells or Crusader Maneuvers.]

Rokugo Yuri: TN River Spiritfolk Binder|Rogue/Psion (Telepath)
A Scorpion Clan member exiled from Rokugan for communing with the Dark Powers. [Nobody likes Binders, not even in Rokugan ;)] She's the most direct and charismatic of the group and has sort of become de-facto leader, and already looking to gain influence in Sasserine. Plans to go into Shadowmind on the Rogue side.

Cordor Chainror: CG Human Scout|Warblade
Cordor's player is the newest to my group, so he's playing a fairly common concept - an ex-farm boy on the run from a tyrannical king to the north after his family was killed for a reason he doesn't know. Kills things dead with a scythe. He's missed about half the sessions so far though, so he's not as fleshed out as the others yet.

Rin Gold: TN Human Ardent|Psion (Nomad)
This guy's my resident "weird concepts" player. He's essentially a nerd from a more mundane world who's been dropped into the land of his fantasies and given weird powers in the process. He constantly makes real-world references that the others don't follow, and his Psycrystal tends to put him on Autopilot during combat situations. He's the closest thing the party has to a healer. (I might have been too lenient with allowing this concept, as it's starting to drive a few of the other players nuts...)

Mala Shrenan: LN Whisper Gnome Lurk|Wilder
A super-stealthy assassin-for-hire type with a case of Laser Guided Amnesia. Unfortunately the player has some really bad luck with dice, so up until the most recent session she was constantly getting one-upped at her own game by Yuri. Also has a bit of a Napoleon complex, which Jhered and Cordor get some amusement out of exploiting.

Jhered Nightwind: NG Star Elf Duskblade|Bladewind
The closest thing this party has to a Tank. Bladewind is a custom class made by someone on the WOTC forums, modeled after the character Joachim from Castlevania (Google him if you want), and tweaked by myself and two of my players; Jhered's putting it through one of a few playtests. Strong, silent type with a dry wit. Going for Anointed Blade on Duskblade side I think.

So far we're halfway through "There Is No Honor", they took down Veldimar Krund last session and we quit just outside the door to Penkus's room. I'll post summaries of the first four sessions tomorrow... after Paizo ate my first attempt at this post I need sleep. :P

some of them classes I do not know of but good luck

When entering posts, be sure to select all + copy your entry, then click "preview". If the preview bounces you out to the main page, come back in, make your entry and then paste your post back in. That should take care of the "posts being eaten" problem.

When entering posts, be sure to select all + copy your entry, then click "preview". If the preview bounces you out to the main page, come back in, make your entry and then paste your post back in. That should take care of the "posts being eaten" problem.

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SESSION ONE

The party met with Lady Lavinia and enjoyed dinner in her estate. After the meal, she explained her dilemma - fees, dues, and taxes left over from her parents' deaths had fallen to her to solve, and without access to the family vaults she cannot pay them. The ring that serves as the key to the vault is currently on the Blue Nixie, Lavinia's ship, which is held in the city port until dues are paid. Lavinia paid the man holding her ship, Soller Vark, but Vark then denied ever receiving them and refused to release the ship. The party has been hired to find out what Vark is doing with the ship and possibly to retrieve Lavinia's stolen money.

The group investigated the docks and discovered the Nixie was not docked at the pier as expected but rather moored some distance out into the harbor. Furthermore several people were moving around on deck or standing watch. Further investigation later into the evening revealed several crates being moved into the ship's lower decks, and odd animalistic sounds coming up from below. Vark himself was seen as well, though he never left the ship and disappeared back into the belowdecks eventually.

Come the next morning Gin reported back to Lavinia to inquire if the Harbormaster was allowed to use her ship in any way while it was impounded; Lavinia seemed surprised and asked him to inquire further, as well as planning to speak with the watch about Vark having a license to transport animals.

At the beginning of next session the group plans to meet at The Drunk Bear around noon.

------

That was the "player summary" I wrote for the first session, about a month ago now. (It was actually the second, but the "technical" first had been delayed by scheduling issues and distracted players and ended up being nothing more than a prologue of meeting Lavinia and having dinner, and agreeing to her request.)

Compared to some of the other journals I've read on STAP here and on other forums and various blogs, my group was surprisingly inquisitive. They didn't just charge out and assault the ship, planning on kicking arse and taking names, which seems to be what the AP guide was written for - it seems, reading through the guide, that it was written with a combat-enthusiastic CG party in mind. So instead of spending the first session killing smugglers the players split up and went investigating. I wish I'd learned then what I learned recently at Session Four: the party splitting up is a TIME CONSUMER and a headache for the DM. Thankfully Session Five was significantly less of a headache with Parrot Island.

That said... Session One pretty much ended up being several hours of rolling social skills and Stealth/Perception while sneaking about gathering information on Vark and the current situation in the Azure District. Luckily Jhered and Rin - the two NOT-sneaky party members - managed to keep themselves busy with other things in the meanwhile.

It's also probably notable that I changed Lavinia slightly... by the next session (or if not that, definitely the third) she was getting played as more willing to bend the rules a bit if it would be advantageous for their situation, perhaps more so than she was written to be, so I shifted her from NG to CG. Don't think that'll break anything, unless I forgot something that happens later....

NG is no more beholden to "the rules" than CG as far as I am aware. CG indeed often seeks out opportunities to break "the rules", whilst NG merely obey the rules as it best suits the 'greater good'.

Other than that, it sounds like you have quite the haul in front of you for your group - which will be fun I think given their willingness to dig for dirt, establish connections with NPCs and generally open things up for you to extrapolate and build upon.

Most Adventure Paths assume a mere six months' game time passes - the later ones seem to vary from this - Legacy of Fire has a year of game time pass between the first two chapters for example - but I do believe the STAP was originally intended to take a mere six months' game time. Naturally, plenty of groups took several years' game time to play it out - mine took four or five years for example.

NG is no more beholden to "the rules" than CG as far as I am aware. CG indeed often seeks out opportunities to break "the rules", whilst NG merely obey the rules as it best suits the 'greater good'.

Other than that, it sounds like you have quite the haul in front of you for your group - which will be fun I think given their willingness to dig for dirt, establish connections with NPCs and generally open things up for you to extrapolate and build upon.

Most Adventure Paths assume a mere six months' game time passes - the later ones seem to vary from this - Legacy of Fire has a year of game time pass between the first two chapters for example - but I do believe the STAP was originally intended to take a mere six months' game time. Naturally, plenty of groups took several years' game time to play it out - mine took four or five years for example.

That said, on to...!

------

SESSION TWO

The group met at the Drunken Bear to share their gathered information; while debating their next course of action, Yuri and Gin discovered one of Vark's men had trailed them and was standing outside the meeting room eavesdropping. The group fed him some misleading information then tailed him back to the Azure District, where Yuri solicited the aid of Captain Malachai Arnos, the shipmaster who brought her to Sasserine. Captain Arnos lent the group a rowboat, which everyone except Yuri and Jenny climbed into.

The two girls swam behind the Blue Nixie, sneaking aboard from the far side while the rest of the group in the boat distracted the two men Vark had put on watch. When they were disabled the group - mostly Jhered - caused a ruckus as they came aboard, alerting the rest of the Nixie of their presence. Vark's men, and later Vark himself, attacked but where cut down in short order.

During the skirmish Vark ordered someone below to burn the contents of the hold; the fire roused one of the smuggled animals, a spider-like Rhagodessa, which attacked and killed the last of Vark's men before turning on the group. Luckily, the party managed to slay the wild beast before it devoured anyone further. Some smooth talking by Yuri - along with sending Gin, Jenny, and Rin down into the hold to search for Lavinia's missing belongings - managed to keep the group from getting arrested.

Further examination of the ship found not only the missing platinum Lavinia had paid Vark, but also the ring the group had been sent to find and a piece of paper containing a coded message. These were all returned to Lavinia by Yuri, and the group was paid 200GP apiece for their services, as well as given a job offer to work directly for Lavinia, for 500 GP a month; all accepted. Their first task in this capacity was to be undertaken the next day at noon.

------

This was really the session that started to solidify people's places in the group. Yuri became the Face (extremely amusing, as being a Scorpion she's always wearing some kind of mask), while the Monks put themselves forward as the Moral Compass (and thus were banished to the hold with Rin, whose out-of-place modern references might have put a delicate situation more on edge, while Yuri palavered with the watch) and Jhered kind of became an Enforcer type, hit first and ask questions later.

No fatalities, sadly; the closest was the Rhagodessa knocking Jenny into negatives. The players were smart enough to draw the beast away and distract it while Rin healed her. If I'd read Turin's journal before running this session I definately would have considered sticking a second Rhag down there, though... I gave the one a few extra HD to compensate for the Gestalt, so while it didn't manage to kill anyone it did take a good while to get down and inflicted some damage in the process.

Special note should be made for some of the more interesting portions of the combat for the session... notably Vark going to gut the healer and knocking him to 1 HP only to be killed D-E-D Deader Than Dead by a lucky Crit+Skirmish from Cordor's scythe - "sliced open like a frog in biology class" - or the memorable mental image of Gin using Throw Anything to hurl a thug's corpse at another thug, dubbed "kill a pirate with another pirate". (Various debating commentary about ninjas followed, mostly as to whether or not the Monks qualified, as expected.)

Though it was missing from the first session (there weren't many opportunities), my group has taken to collecting quotes, after several campaigns with some unforgettable one-liners - one of these days I'll have to explain the stories behind things like "Prepare to face the just actions of your rewards", "You/I see Fish", or "I think-talk to the rock", which have achieved near-meme status among my gaming group. So for your amusement, Session Two's memorable unpolished gems:

Discussing the plan to board the Nixie:
Yuri: "I am needed to distract Vark."
Gin: "How do you know that's where his tastes lie?" *STARES at Jhered*
Yuri: "Well I presumed his tastes lay in GOLD. But if you think my womanly charms would be better we can try that as well."
Gin: "Like I said, how do you know that's where his tastes lie?" *still staring*
Mala: "How do you know his tastes don't lay in little people?!"

On not getting caught (AKA Yay for verbal dyslexia!):
Gin: "But you were seen on the docks."
Yuri: "No, a virgin of me was seen on the docks."
Gin: "A virgin of you!?"
Jhered: "Been busy?"

Apparently nobody uses that skill these days:
Yuri: "Do you people not have disguises in this land!?"

SESSION THREE

With the signet ring retrieved and the group now working under Lavinia's name, the first task they were to undertake was the recovery of her belongings from her family's vault under Castle Teraknian. Cordor was absent, for some unexplained reason, and after some time waiting for his arrival the decision was made to take the journey without him. Lavinia had arranged for a coach to transport them to the castle, and within moments the group had crossed the entirety of Sasserine and reached the mazelike tunnels of vaults and catacombs under the castle, stopping only long enough for a clerk to identify them and point the way.

Upon opening the vault, Lavinia's fears were confirmed - two construct guardians, Iron Cobras, stood sentinel within the vault to protect it from would-be intruders. The group engaged the creatures but lacked the physical and magical force to do them much harm. After a while of combat, Rin noticed the constructs would not approach the doorway where Lavinia stood; on a hunch he took the ring from her and moved into the chamber, and the Cobras retreated to their resting places behind the pillars.

Inside the final chamber of the vault was a complicated combination lock, the only hints to its solution being the intricate carvings of monsters on the walls, and the puzzling cipher Yuri had found with the ring on the Blue Nixie. After some time of bantering - and some near conflict due to Rin trying to take matters into his own hands while the others discussed the situation - the group managed to solve the riddle and open the vault. What they found was disappointing - of the five hidden alcoves, all but one were stripped near to bare. The one remaining though held sufficient funds for Lavinia to get on her feet, as well as several ledgers filled with debts and IOU's due to the Vanderborens for various duties and favors her parents had performed but never collected on.

The group also found a large journal filled with foreign and unfamiliar maps, sketches of exotic flora and fauna, and pages upon pages of script in Lavinia's mother's handwriting, all written in Sylvan dialect. Lavinia has requested Yuri - already an accomplished scribe - to assist her in translating the work during the group's off-time.

Upon exiting the vault, the clerk revealed that the culprit behind the missing 4/5 of the Vanderboren fortune was none other than Lavinia's missing brother Vanthus. When the group returned to Vanderboren Manor, Lavinia gave a short explanation of her and Vanthus's history and some of her suspicions regarding her brother's absence in the light of this new revelation. She expressed an interest in the group finding any information they could acquire on his whereabouts and activities, giving them their second task in her employment before dismissing them for the day.

The group is now left to their own devices to pursue acquiring information on Vanthus, presumably after Cordor has been located and informed, and all have had a good night's rest.

------

This was the first of two sessions where Cordor was a no-show, in this case due to family being in the hospital. Luckily both times it's been at a point where his character could simply be absent and the session go on without him "mysteriously disappearing", and gotten to a point by the end where he could jump back in next time. He's about half a level behind the others though, maybe a bit more now that Parrot Island is (mostly) through. Soon though - by Chapter Three at the latest - he's going to have to stop missing as much or we're going to have to cancel when he can't make it, as the party will be on the sea or otherwise traveling and having someone vanish won't exactly work out.

The quotables from Session Three:

Way to Go, Idiot!:
Jhered-OOC: "His psycrystal is his Inner Retard!!" (of Rin)

Apparently it's possible:
DM-OOC: "Hold on, I need to check something."
Rin-OOC: "Whether or not we die?"
DM-OOC: "No, it's better than that."

It's contagious:
Gin/Jenny-OOC: "Jenny's a very hands-on person. While Gin is more of a debutant."

Ah, but is the pen not mightier?:
Rin-OOC: "I liked the part where you were fighting the guy with your sword." (to Jhered)

I would not advise canceling sessions for one player's absence unless the group as a whole agrees - at least, not more than once, maybe twice. Rather, use out-of-game e-mail with the player to see what he would like to do in light of developments in-game as the others relay that information. Keep him "in the background" doing stuff for Lavinia - going to Vanthus' uncle's place to dig up some dirt by way of the Uncle, gathering information on the various 'groups of interest' and otherwise doing some stuff to keep his character level at about that 'half level behind' point. If things go far enough, the absent character can accompany them on the various ships as one of the crew. Barring the player outright bailing on your group, these steps should help keep the player in the loop and the character close-ish to the rest of the active characters.

Good ideas, I'll try that. Thanks. :)

SESSION FOUR

The search for Vanthus began with yet another splitting of the group - Jhered and Rin inquired of Lady Lavinia for further information on Vanthus, Mala and Cordor headed back to the Noble District to see if anyone had seen him lurking about Castle Teraknian while emptying the vault, and the Twins searched Sunrise and Shadowshore districts for more information. Of the three the twins seemed the most successful, encountering an aspiring information merchant named Shefton Rosk who attempted to sell them information regarding Vanthus. When they refused to bite he wandered back to an abandoned warehouse; Gin and Jenny followed.

Yuri inquired in Azure District, finding a bit of information regarding Vanthus and Brissa, a thief-turned-artist operating out of Shadowshore; she also learned of Rosk and the monks, and managed to track the three of them down and get further information on Vanthus out of the information merchant, learning he had set up a smuggling base in the tunnels of Parrot Island. Yuri paid him and offered to keep him in mind for future information necessities. The three of them then ran into Mala and Cordor, following another lead into Shadowshore, then returned to the inn to meet up with the other two. Jhered was waiting there and said Rin had gone to the Library; however when the group reached the library the watchmen there said while they recognized Rin he had not been there that day.

Rin had instead gone to Azure District and tried to acquire some information in the casinos there; however after having no luck he returned to the inn in the Merchant District, where the rest of the group was waiting for him. Yuri shared the information on Brissa and Vanthus she had acquired and led the group to Brissa's art gallery in Shadowshore; however, further investigation by the group found the place abandoned, with only a few unknown missing objects as hints.

------

MORE PARTY SPLITTING UP ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH. Was so very happy when Session Five rolled around and they weren't able to divide up anymore. Adding to the list of self-recommendations for future sessions to limit situations where the party can split up too much if at all possible....

Also, much amusement to be had out of the banter between Rosk and the Monks. Would-be information merchant attempts to convince VoP monk that his business is legitimate and his information worth exchange in funds, while they try to convince him information should be free... it was an amusing five or ten minutes.

Next session, off to Parrot Island. In the meanwhile... Quotables!:

The question of the campaign thus far:
Jhered: "He said he was going to the library." (of Rin)
(*group takes a carriage to the Noble District where the library is*)
Yuri: "We're looking for this young man (describes Rin)."
Librarian NPC: "Oh yes, we know him, he's a regular visitor... but he has not been here today."
(*cue collective facepalms from the rest of the group*)
Jhered: "If I was a moron, where would I go?"

Every woman has her secrets?:
Yuri: "I have found a possible location for Mister Vanderboren."
Rin: "Really? What would that be?"
Yuri: "Ah, but that would be telling."

Derailment by Literalism:
Gin: "Sharp eyes kept on the road."
Yuri-OOC: "I keep getting the mental image of their eyes poking out of their heads like sharp little knives..."
Jhered and DM-OOC: "Like the guy on Roger Rabbit?"
Jhered-OOC: "YES HIM!"

SESSION FIVE

With Shefton Rosk along as their guide, the group once again solicited the aid of Captain Arnos and acquired a small vessel and rowmen (at Yuri's expense) to reach the nearby islet of Parrot Island, where Rosk claimed Vanthus had been making use of some abandoned smuggling tunnels. The group let Rosk lead them into the island's center, where in the middle of a clearing an old trapdoor had been prepared. A hook beneath held a rope that descended a short distance into the island's depths; the group began to descend, Rosk staying behind at his own request.

Shortly after everyone had descended, Rosk suddenly fell down the shaft and died on impact, with a large bloody gash in his back; the severed rope followed soon after. The culprit was none other than Vanthus Vanderboren himself, who accompanied his murder and imprisonment of the party with veiled threats regarding their association with Lavinia and a request to "say hello to Penkus's ghost" for him while they remained below. Yuri attempted to climb back up the shaft, but Vanthus closed the trapdoor and blocked it with boulders by the time she got about halfway up.

Trapped, the group left Rosk's body and set out to explore the tunnels; it wasn't long before they ran into the first of what would soon become many groups of Zombies wandering the halls below Parrot Island. Most of the party couldn't harm them much, thanks to the tough rubbery hide they had developed; however Jhered and Yuri found that bladed edges sliced through them quite easily, and Mala eventually defaulted to using magic to destroy them as well.

After exploring some of the rooms and destroying a few Zombies, the group came upon a half-flooded room with a collapsed southern wall. Yuri went to investigate the pool and was suddenly surrouned by enormous crabs; however the Spiritfolk was able to speak to the creatures and convince them that the humanoids meant them no harm, and the crabs went back about their business, even allowing Yuri to pull a "broken claw" from their pool - a masterwork silver dagger, apparently belonging to a dead half-eaten pirate who floated some distance from the edge of the pool.

Further exploration revealed a tunnel with more Zombies and some low water, as well as brightly colored sea urchins along the walls. At the end of this tunnel was a chamber where the floor dropped away, turning knee-high water into a much deeper pool. Some of the party spotted some bulbous things floating in the far side of the water; when Gin threw a Sunrod at them they were revealed to be two more Zombies along with a Huecuva, a cursed undead with divine powers. The undead began swimming - clumsily, in the case of the Zombies - towards the party, who held the line just behind the point where the floor dropped off, preventing the undead from getting into the center of the group and flanking. There were a few tight moments, such as Rin charging to the front to cast a healing spell on one of the Zombies, only to be thrown back behind the line by Jhered, but with the help of the silver dagger the group was able to destroy the last three undead with only a few close calls and no casualties.

Yet another door awaits the party on the other side of the pool - what lurks beyond this one?

------

Another No-Cordor session, which hurt the party combat wise, another Slashing weapon user would have been really useful against the Zombies, and Maneuvers would have made up for Undead being immune to Skirmish. Ah well.

The group, minus Rin's fumble at the Veldimar encounter, was exceptionally tactics-savvy, forming up in lines with Jhered and the Monks in front so that they couldn't be flanked, which made the last fight a lot less troublesome than it could have been as I Gestalted Veldimar with Rogue (he was Olidamarran, it made sense) and planned to have him combining Huecuva slam and Inflict spells with Sneak Attacks. Except that because of their tactics he never got one....

Have to admit though, Jhered hurling Rin to the back of the party - he aced the opposed STR check after grappling him - was amusing enough to make up for it.

I've decided that if anyone else were to be insane enough to follow my lead and attempt a Gestalt version of STAP in the future, I could be helpful and provide the stats I've put together for various important NPCs and such, spare them some prep time. I'll save that for the end of a chapter, though. ;)

This week's quotes:

That's one explanation:
Yuri: "We have played this out before."
Malphas: "I have been called by thousands, how shall I remember them all? Such is my curse."
Yuri-OOC: "A bad memory is your curse? Oooooooookay...."

I hear the food's good:
(Cordor is missing again)
Yuri: "This is becoming a bad habit."
Mala: "Well, you know farm boys...."
Yuri: "... No, I don't. Why should I know farm boys...?"

Saves time, but not money on Car Insurance:
DM-OOC: "Do you want to roll Sense Motive?"
Gin/Jenny-OOC: "No, not really... the monks just sort of assume she's [Yuri] not telling us the whole truth."

Cannon fodder, perhaps?:
Gin: "Why are we following someone who led us into a closet?" (of Mala)

SESSION SIX

After destroying the accursed Huecuva, the group explored the nearby flooded tunnel; with Yuri leading the way they discovered another room filled with the stench of a rotting corpse. The dead man turned out to be Penkus, a local thief who had been trapped here by Vanthus as well; his dying letter revealed Vanthus's crimes and gave the location of an entrance to the Lotus Dragons Thieves' Guild, beneath the Taxidermist's Hall. The group also found a small remainder of smuggled treasure, including a chest full of silver and copper coins (which was ultimately left behind), a potion vault, an earth elemental gem, and several bags of gold coins and gems.

The group retraced their steps, searching for an exit to the tunnels; they traveled down one of the halls they had not investigated earlier and encountered another group of Zombies trapped behind a blockaded door. After destroying them they continued on down the last remaining hallway and discovered a fully-submerged chamber; Yuri investigated and found a tunnel leading outside the island as well as two bloated Zombies wandering about in the room. She determined that the height of the water in the room was due to tide and the group decided to wait until low tide and attempt to escape then.

After several hours the tide finally dropped enough to enter the room; the group exterminated the two remaining undead and made their way through the winding tunnel to emerge into the ocean, finally free of the tunnel's traps. Yuri helped the others swim around the island's side to the shore where their boat and rowers still remained. After investigating the island trying to find Vanthus - without luck, he'd apparently fled already - they decided to get back in their own boat and return to Sasserine, and investigate the Lotus Dragons and the Taxidermist's once they got there.

------

I made the Bloated Zombies for something completely different originally, but they were fun to throw at this group. And the addition of extra undead... eh. I still think Veldimar went down too easy, so I don't feel so bad about throwing exploding poison-filled Zombies at them afterwards.

Da Quotes:

Irony...:
Yuri: "I let the big strong people break down the door"
DM-OOC: "Skinny monks and wiry elf, you're up."

You know you were thinking it:
DM-OOC: "This party doesn't have a muscle person. We have the two skinny monks who are really good at hitting things really fast, and the elf who just happens to wear heavy armor and use a big sword."
Jhered-OOC: "And before you ask, I'm NOT compensating for anything!"
DM-OOC: "Not yet, you only have one sword."

SESSION SEVEN

The team returned to Sasserine and immediately everyone except Yuri made their way back to the inn or monastery to rest; Yuri instead followed Penkus's letter and scouted out the Taxidermist's Hall. During the night she saw a man working there leave and lock up; a few hours later she had a knife thrown at her with a letter warning her to remain uninvolved with the Lotus Dragons. Yuri chased the man who threw the knife back to Dead Dog Plaza but stopped pursuing when he leaped down the well there.

In the morning, the group quickly heard the latest news - the Harbormaster had been murdered either the night before or early that morning. Instead of investigating that, though, they went back to Lavinia's manor and presented her with Penkus's note. She asked them to continue their investigation and try to bring Vanthus in alive, or at least make his death quick. When the group left her and went about their task, though, they were distracted by Jhered getting his pocket picked. They caught the offending urchin and dragged him into an alley to question him, and fell right into an ambush.

A trio of attackers with Lotus Dragon tattoos trapped the group in the alley, nearly killing Mala with their opening volley and tossing a Tanglefoot trap at the alley entrance. The group managed to subdue two of them and killed the third as he attempted to escape. Yuri interrogated one, and after some fierce intimidation confirmed Penkus's claim that the entrance to their guildhall lay under the Taxidermist's, beneath a trapdoor in the back room; he also claimed taking him to the watch would be useless, as all the people of any worth in the city were under the guild's sway.

The group decided with the twins' suggestion to take the two surviving thieves to the monastery, since the watch was apparently unfit to hold them; they also took the urchin along, and left him in the monastery's care while they dealt with the would-be assassins. The monks there suggested taking them to the Temple of Saint Cuthbert in Cudgel District; the group agreed to the idea and escorted the men in that direction thanks to a map provided by the monks.

Along the way, a second group of assassins attacked, this time only two; they opened the battle by trying to kill the two prisoners, but thanks to Gin's quick hands only managed to kill one. Both new attackers were killed in the ensuing battle, though one attempted to escape Mala finished him off with a conjured crystal spear. Now cautioned against further attacks, the group continued on to the temple with their one remaining prisoner.

------

This was kind of fun. The retooled thieves didn't fare so well in the first attempted ambush due to some lousy rolls and a party that's way too good at climbing; so I ad-libbed the second group being focused on killing off their captured friends more than attacking the group, and really enjoyed having them bull rush people off the roof when they tried to climb up; knocked one of the monks and Mala off this way, got in some falling damage on Jenny in the process (darn Gnome was too nimble :P).

Next session should be a short "hand over the crook" RP with the Cudgels, then off to meet Nemein Roblach and head into the Lotus Guildhall... assuming nothing goes wrong. Possibly will try one more attempted ambush before they get in, or might just save starting combat for in the guildhall. Everyone's Level 3 (or ECL equivalent, for the monks) now, depending on how the combat in the rest of the hall goes I may have to bump Rowyn and GT up a level or two. Just giving GT one more level would make him significantly nastier.

Quotage:

Session start delayed by a case of the giggles:
Jhered-OOC: "[Yuri] will be a bit, she's laughing too hard."
DM-OOC: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over."
Jhered-OOC: "Not yet, over."
Yuri-OOC: *laughing harder*
DM-OOC: "What'd you do now!?"
Yuri-OOC: "No, it was the DM!"
Jhered-OOC: "AH-HAH!! See who's pointing fingers now! You and your stupid Whiskey!"

It always comes down to this:
Gin/Jenny-OOC: "It was Mr. Green in the library with the wrench. Gin looks around for Tim Curry in a butler's outfit."

Bureaucracy at its finest:
Yuri: "Your suggestion has been duly noted and discarded."

The truth comes out:
Rin-OOC: "Well, my character's only along to heal, not think."

Out of context for your convenience:
DM-OOC: "[Mala]'s going to kill me with a frying pan!!"

Too Much Information:
Yuri-OOC: "Sorry, [Jhered] distracted me."
DM-OOC: "[Jhered], put your pants back on."

More out of context amusement:
Mala-OOC: "Don't make me come out there with the frying pan." (to Gin/Jenny)
Yuri-OOC: "Please don't kill my husband." (referring to Jhered, but...)

This happens a lot more frequently than we might admit:
Yuri-OOC: "[DM], give me a second. My tongue is getting ahead of my mouth."

SESSION EIGHT

After delivering their prisoner to the Saint Cuthbert church, the group made their way to the Taxidermist's Hall, following their lead from Penkus's note. There they encountered the merchant, Nemien Roblach, and Yuri immediately engaged him in conversation; after a while of discussing the merits of his job, she attempted to pry the information regarding the guild out of him. Roblach reacted violently, attacking with illusionary magic and catching Cordor in the spell then rendering himself invisible. Yuri however was able to see through the invisibility (thanks to binding Andromalius) and was able to quickly disable him.

Roblach showed the group a ladder leading down into the guildhall below; somewhere in this time Cordor wandered off once more. The group investigated a tunnel leading off away from the first chamber, and found their way first to an urchin-filled lake then into a slime-covered cave inhabited by three more of the spiderlike Rhagodessas. After eliminating them, the group backtracked into the lake chamber but fell into a trap laid by a group of Ixitxachitls, nearly felling Yuri, Rin, and Mala in their first flurry of attacks. The group rallied and was able to beat the beasts back, and eventually all six were slain.

Retracing their steps back to the ladder, the group tried the door on the other end of the first chamber, and made their way through the halls of the Lotus Guild. Before long they came across a small group of thieves in one of the barracks chambers; during the ensuing skirmish one of the thieves sounded the alarm, bringing the guild to alert before the four were defeated. The group continued investigations, finding themselves first the mess and kitchen - investigating the latter by Yuri's psycrystal and discovering the trap on the other side, and thusly choosing to avoid it - and then later the lavatory before stumbling onto the training hall.

Yuri had her psycrystal investigate, but saw nothing and entered the room to have a look around herself. Her attention was caught by a large throne on one side of the room, but while she investigated hidden assassins shot her in the back repeatedly with crossbows; before the others could come to her rescue one dropped his disguise - the dummies gathered in the center of the room were actually concealed thieves - and slit her throat.

The monks and Jhered ran to her assistance, engaging the three of the thieves who had revealed themselves; however after they were incapacitated the other three dropped their disguises and shot Rin, finishing him off as well. The group managed to kill two of these, but the third fled after making sure Rin was completely deader-than-dead.

With two of their number fallen, the group gathered up the bodies and retreated, returning to Lavinia. Rin's body vanished along the way somehow, leaving only his belongings. The monks gave their apologies and withdrew their services, leaving Sasserine; Jhered did likewise shortly after, only requesting a cart to transport Yuri's body with him wherever he was going. With only Mala remaining in her employ, Lavinia finds herself once more in need of new adventurers to continue her investigations regarding Vanthus's whereabouts.

------

The reason Cordor's there at the beginning but not after Nemien was because the first part of the session actually happened two weeks ago. The session started late and we didn't play long. Last week I was sick and canceled: Sick DM equals no game when I can't think straight. Unless I'm TRYING to run a freaky off-the-wall campaign. :P

So... my first party fatalities. I really hated to kill Yuri first - she was easily my favorite character of the group - but going in alone to a room with six hidden rogues with crossbows ready was too good an opportunity to pass up. And I still got the healer in the end too, which was my real goal for the session, mwahahahah.

Jhered and Gin & Jenny leaving was interesting and unexpected. Both had goals and plans for adventuring that would have been met in the next few chapters, but after seeing their allies fall so soon decided the payoffs of working for Lavinia were not worth the risks. So with the exception of Mala and the come-and-go Cordor (who I have a feeling will be coming less and going more, as time goes on) they decided it was in their best interests to search elsewhere for their goals.

Yuri's player is rolling up a (Human?) Weretiger Swordsage|Healer.
Rin's is making a Tibbit Rogue|Warlock.
The monks are becoming a Half-Orc VoP Druid|Barbarian.
Jhered's is becoming either a Scout|Rogue or Scout|Ninja, race he hasn't told me yet. He'll probably become the party face either way.

Last Time's/Tonight's Quotes:

Mmm Mmm Mmm, Anachronism Stew:
DM: "Cordor walks in."
Cordor: "'Sup b&#**es?"
Rin-OOC: "That sounds like something my character would say... more modern."
DM-OOC: "No... no it doesn't."
Cordor: "Okay... VERILY, 'sup b&#**es?"

Well, I guess that's obvious:
*Rin's phone rings*
Mala-OOC: "It's a giiiiiiiiiiiirl!"
Rin-OOC: "It's my Mom."

Oddly prescient:
Rin-OOC: "I don't think I have any powers that'll get us killed."
Yuri-OOC: "I'm not talking about your powers."

That's one way of looking at it:
Yuri-OOC: "I saved Jhered from having the crabs."

Character Quirks:
Jhered-OOC: "Jhered has an eyebrow twitch."
DM-OOC: "Jhered has a facial tic?"
Yuri-OOC: "He's Byakuya."

When stealthy isn't:
Yuri: *via Mind Link* "Who made noise?"
Jenny and Gin: *point at each other*

Ah, for the chance to choose your own fate:
Gin/Jenny-OOC: "There were some funny moments, like the bathroom."
Rin-OOC: "I would rather die by crossbow than by gas."

T-minus four hours to game time. Along with Mala, the party now (potentially, assuming no one horribly alienates someone :P ) includes the following:

Formerly Jhered: Hantei Yasumoto: TN Human Ninja|Scout
A clanless ronin who, ironically enough, is pursuing the now-dead Yuri. Despite his dishonorable status in Rokugan, Hantei is personable and charismatic, and plans to make an effort to make a better life for himself by completing his tasks successfully.

Formerly Gin/Jenny: Draco: NG VoP Half-Orc Druid|Barbarian/Totemist
A hulking brute who easily towers over his traveling companions, Draco is quiet and introspective, and much smarter than his Half-Orc heritage would suggest. He's taken the alternate Shapeshifter variant for druid, and spends a lot of his combat time in the form of a massive Lion.

Formerly Rin: "Sneaks": CN Tibbit Rogue|Warlock
Sneaks appears for all intents and purposes to be a fuzzy white kitten who tags along with Draco and the healer. He plans to spend all his time in cat form, so I allowed him a tweaked Natural Spell feat to use his Warlock stuff without shifting into humanoid form; only the healer has seen that real form he claims. Draco apparently owes him a debt of some sort.

Formerly Yuri: Raina: CG VoP Human Weretiger Swordsage|Healer
A healer who was attacked by an afflicted lycanthrope she was trying to tend; to attempt to control her new abilities she made her way to a Sublime Way monastery and devoted herself to their teachings. After she left the monastery she took to a pilgrimage across the land, meeting Sneaks and Draco along the way.

SESSION NINE

With most of her employees either dead or gone, Lavinia gives Mala the task of finding new allies for herself to continue the infiltration of the Lotus Guild. Mala falls back on the old adventurer's standby and makes her way from tavern to tavern, inn to inn in Sasserine, starting with the Drunk Bear where her own group was staying, looking for fellow travelers seeking employment.

Draco, Raina, and Sneaks arrive in the port city under some "advice" from the Tibbit, whom both of them seem to owe money to somehow. Both are rather unimpressive in social graces and leave most people they encounter with looks of confusion as to why this strange woman is talking to her cat or why this Half-Orc seems better spoken than most of his kin yet still can't tell the proper directions to an inn. Eventually - with Sneaks giving up and leading the way - they reach their destination at The Ticklish Ogre inn and tavern and have some long-awaited food. Hilarity ensues.

At approximately the same time, Hantei Yasumoto is in the Azure District, having recently disembarked from a long and interesting sea voyage and reached his destination. After falling for a guard's poor advice and nearly getting into a bar scuffle, he eventually escapes to the much more suitable Merchant's District and - after asking around for "a woman who wears masks" - finds Mala at the Drunk Bear, looking for adventurers to help her with a "dangerous and possibly lethal job" that nevertheless promises payment. Intrigued, Yasumoto agrees and follows Mala as she makes her way to the next tavern on the list; along the way he notices she is being particularly watchful of the rooftops, and even catches a glimpse of movement there himself. Their guard is up.

At the Ogre, Yasumoto notices Raina and Draco immediately - the Half-Orc is quite loud - and suggests them to Mala. When the gnome goes to investigate though, Draco mistakes her for a child and treats her as such, prompting a near scuffle that dissolves into Mala sulking and grumbling for most of the visit. Eventually though they are persuaded to at least hear her offer, lured by the chance to earn money to pay off their debt to Sneaks.

After leaving the Ogre they catch sight of more movement above; Sneaks climbs to the roof and catches a pair of Lotus Thieves preparing an ambush and engages with an Eldritch Blast. The resulting skirmish is a bloodbath, with Yasumoto, Raina, and Draco easily leaping or climbing to the rooftops and engaging the thieves directly with exotic weapons or by just turning into a lion and chowing down. Mala leads the group, in a rather roundabout way, to Vanderboren Manor, explains the situation, and introduces them to Lavinia; despite Sneaks's suggestions otherwise, the new group decides to engage the Lotus immediately and departs for the Taxidermist's Hall.

There, Mala finds the trapdoor leading to the guildhall is stuck shut; fearing a trap Sneaks investigates, but finding none he allows Draco to tear the trapdoor off its hinges, revealing a roughly-constructed jam built into the underside locking it shut. The first thee or four doors in the guildhall are similarly blockaded, forcing Draco and Raina to break them down noisily to continue (the group decides for one reason or another not to head down the halls leading back towards the caverns where the first group found the Ixitxs and Rhagodessas) and attracts the attention of a patrolling pair of Lotus Thieves... and the half-fiendish Worg, Cruncher.

Unfortunately for them, Yasumoto catches wind of their approach and sends Mala to warn the other two (they both simply think of Sneaks as Raina's pet, and that Raina's just eccentric or something) then ducks into the room below the Taxidermist entry to let them pass, sweeping in unseen behind the group as they approach the others' position. Alerted of the incoming foes, Draco and Mala pounce on Cruncher as soon as they see him, with Raina and Sneaks joining the fray soon after, and Yasumoto makes quick work of the demonic wolf's two accomplices.

Having discovered a door behind the curtains covering the east wall of the training room, the group is poised to enter deeper into the Lair of the Lotus Dragon, and whatever dangers therein remain....

------

This session was constantly being interrupted by people dissolving into giggles. Rin/Sneaks, despite normally being known for being in a rut with only playing psions, sorcerers, or monks, was surprisingly good at playing a Trickster Rogue and manipulating the rest of the party to do his bidding. The players are beginning to fear that the role of party leader following Yuri's death may well fall to a fuzzy white kitten.

The downside of the past session was that Mala's player got a call about half an hour in from her significant other inviting her to a concert. Yuri/Raina and I were particularly annoyed as we plan our sessions several days in advance intentionally to avoid this sort of thing, and NPC'ed her for the remainder of the session. It shouldn't hurt her too much in the long run, she's nearly 4th level and all the new people started at the beginning of 3rd, XP-wise.

Cruncher disappointed. I went beyond the guide's suggestion of giving him the Fiendish template and went with full-on Half-Fiend. A well-timed Critical-Sneak Attack-Eldritch Blast shaved off most of his HP, but after the session I realized that could have been mitigated by Half-Fiend's SR but I had completely forgotten about it. This group puts out massive damage - in lion form Draco's bite is something like 1d6+14 or so, without raging, mostly thanks to massive Strength and Dread Carapace, and we haven't seven seen Raina shift yet - so the group is likely to need some more tweaks in enemies than the previous party. Between that and dealing with Mala's player the main combat of the night was fairly disappointing, but at least the rest of the session made up for it.

Also, despite the description in the post above and discussions on the character pre-game, Draco is very much NOT quiet and introspective. He's not an idiot - 11 INT and a very high WIS being a Druid - and neither does he play stupid to throw others off, but he is quite LOUD. Amusing how characters shift between concept and actual play, heh.

Quotes:

The beginning of the madness:
Busboy: "G'mornin' lady an' gent, what can I getcha?"
Raina: "Food!"
Busboy: "Yah, what kind?"
Raina: *after smelling the air in the tavern* "Sausage!"
Draco: "Meat!" *Pounds table* "And hurry, he's paying." *points at Sneaks*
Busboy: *stares at the cat*
Raina: "No seriously, he's paying. He has all the money."
Sneaks: [Feline] "Actually, YOU have all my money."
Raina: "OH!! I'm paying! With his money!"
Busboy: "Sure lady...." *wanders off*

He also makes Julienne Fries:
Mala: "So what do you do?"
Yasumoto: "It depends on what the job is for. If fight, I fight. If talk, I talk."
Raina-OOC: "If sleep with the pretty lady, I sleep with the pretty lady."
Yasumoto-OOC: "And possibly kill her in the morning."

All the grace of a sack of bricks, and the brains too:
Draco: "I shift (from Lion form to Half-Orc form) on my way down (from the roof)."
DM: "THUD!! He goes from all grace to no grace in 0.5 seconds splat."
Yasumoto-OOC: "I'm imagining him turning into Orc form and landing faceplant."
Draco-OOC: "That's what heads are for, landing on."

SESSION TEN

Continuing their investigation of the Guildhall, the group patched their wounds - what few they had - from the skirmish with Cruncher and his retainers before moving on into the inner sanctum of the Lotus Dragons. The doors now seemed to be more equipped with traps and defenses than simply barred and blocked, and Mala disabled several tripwires along the way. The first thing they encountered was yet another Rhagodessa, this one bigger than most they had encountered thus far and collared to a chain that secured it to the northern portion of its chamber; however when the group arrived the chain had been let slack allowing the monstrous spider to reach the entire room. It pounced on Sneaks as soon as he entered and nearly devoured the little cat, but the group quickly came to his rescue and pummeled the monstrosity senseless.

The next room held yet more Guild thieves, this time once again prepared for their entrance with crossbows drawn, hiding behind an upturned table in what appeared to be some sort of meeting and notice room. Draco, the first one in, was riddled with poisoned bolts but the half-orc's sturdy constitution refused to give way to the toxin; he lunged into the room despite the surprise attack and the following initial volleys and pounced over the barricade, scaring the living daylights out of two of the attacking men; the rest of the group quickly followed suit and soon wiped the floor with the bandits. Investigating the room shortly after discovered a map of Sasserine marked with color-coded flags which the group didn't bother to decipher, and a chalkboard bearing several guild notes. One included a list of names, Mala's plus her previous acquaintances (Yuri, Jhered, Gin, Jenny, and Rin), plus a checkmark by Yuri and Rin's names and a scrawled note in all capitals saying "VANTHUS FIX THIS -NOW-".

After clearing the room, Sneaks and Raina smelled something rotting beyond the next door; investigation revealed another undead monstrosity, a zombified bugbear. Draco charged the beast immediately, and the others rushed into finish it shortly after, allowing it only one swing of its morningstar before destruction. The area beyond seemed to be a private dwelling for someone of wealth and importance, a guess soon proved true when behind yet another closed (but not locked) door was nothing more than a beautiful redheaded woman sitting on a pile of cushions. She attempted to engage the group in conversation, trying to persuade them to accept an offer of employment on her behalf; however only Yasumoto expressed even the slightest passing interest, the others showing outright disdain or in Sneaks's case apathy. When the group attempted to investigate further and Raina defaulted to trying to intimidate the woman into submission, she instead drew her weapon and went on the attack, calling her draconic companion/pet Gut Tugger out of his hiding place in the cushions.

The ensuing battle was short but fairly vicious. The Lady Lotus launched into attacks with shadows stretching from her fingers and light dancing along her blade, while Gut Tugger blasted the group with acid and darted about biting into foes as he bolted by. While her back was turned, Yasumoto dug his blade into the Lady Lotus's side, whispering a curse for "stealing his kill" by having Yuri murdered. Gravely wounded she retreated, downing a potion of Gaseous Form as she did so just in time to see Raina assume her Weretiger form and rip Gut Tugger to shreds. Howling and sobbing, shouting threats and promises of vengeance, the Guildmistress fled into the piping in the sauna and disappeared.

The group made their way back to the mess hall, intent on investigating the rest of the complex, and Sneaks found his way into the kitchen, rousing the many caged birds there. Opening the south door triggered a hastily-erected trap that flung boiling something into the mess hall, easily missing Sneaks who was too small and off to the side to be struck. Further investigation by he and Draco discovered a cowardly little kobold named Churtle hidden in a pile of blankets in a small room behind the kitchen; terrified by the half-orc's lion form the kobold clung to Raina and begged for mercy, offering her culinary skills to the group in exchange for a promise of her well-being. Much to Mala's Gnomish disdain Raina accepted, calmly and easily carrying the tiny kobold out of the room and assuring her the lion-that-wasn't-a-lion wouldn't do her any harm.

Next time, the investigation of the now-leaderless guild's hall continues...

------

Can you spell "curb-stomp"? Rowyn (level 6) and Gut Tugger (level 5 plus 1 Dragon HD) lasted all of two and three rounds respectively. Rowyn was only saved by her rogue trick - Resiliency, gains Temp HP when brought to negatives for long enough to drink potion, retreat, and get healed - and GT lasted long enough to nearly kill Sneaks (I love Improved Skirmish) before getting laid into with a full attack from the Weretiger CLAW CLAW RAKE BITE RIP AND TEAR that brought him to -25. That part was a bit vicious on Raina's behalf, as she did it right in front of gaseous formed Rowyn who had spent her last round tumbling away and drinking the potion and hadn't been able to fully retreat yet. The one consolation was that his Dragon Shaman aura brought Raina down 4 points of Acid damage per swipe - the lycan had the highest hit points of the entire group and was at about 1/3 to 1/2 HP by the time she was done, after a Shadow Garrote and a well-timed stab from Rowyn.

Speaking of... Rowyn this time was Rogue/Bard|Swordsage. Now that she knows what she's up against I'm pretty sure she's going to do retraining as well as gain some levels - more Rogue, less Bard on the first side, and swap to Warblade on the second I think - and you can bet dollars to doughnuts she's going to have a silvered sword and something to protect herself or mitigate some of that massive damage - Ring of Regeneration maybe? I'll figure it out when I get there. Needless to say that when the party comes for her again she's going to be equipped both to deal and to take some severe hurt.

Only one good quote this time that I managed to catch:

Style confusion:
DM: "Is Draco going to let Mala pick the lock or just beat down the door?"
Mala: *wedges herself between Draco and the door* "Let a professional do this."
Draco: "I'm considering whether or not to use you as a battering ram."

SESSION ELEVEN

The investigation of the guildhall continued, with Raina carrying the recently acquired kobold cook Churtle along with them to keep her safe from Mala's vicious glare and the stabbings that were likely to follow. After giving a second lookover to the barracks and the liquor stores, the group headed down an unexplored hallway that quickly took them into a large chamber rank with the scent of blood, sour meat, scorched leather, wet fur, and brimstone... the dwelling, most likely, of the fiendish worg they had slain not long ago. Beyond were a set of empty cells, followed by a door leading into a large torture room. Three men, one wearing a leather apron and armed with knives and branding irons, stood over a bound man in rags apparently about to begin working on him when the group burst into the room and went on the attack.

When Raina moved through the brawl to release the prisoner, she noticed the ropes holding him were tied to slip when pulled, poorly knotted and obviously indicative of a trap. His rouse broken, the "prisoner" - the Guild's torture master, Kersh Reftun - went on the assault, punching and headbutting his would-be rescuer, while she held him pinned to the table as her allies decimated his three goons. After demanding his surrender twice, Raina knocked the torturer into unconsciousness and tied him to the rack with more sturdy knots, then left Churtle - armed with her rolling pin - to make sure he remained unconscious. The group investigated his chambers and found his stores of food and his footlocker (the latter of which Raina left in Churtle's care), then moved on.

The group soon stumbled upon an observation room with four more thieves in it; thanks to Mala and Sneaks's stealth they got the drop on the group so they were completely unprepared when Draco charged in and shoved one of their number through the window they were looking through and out into the pool of water beyond. The group went on the assault, quickly killing two of the men while Raina tossed the last one out into the pool with his partner; Yasumoto then turned a large lever on the wall, releasing some kind of restraint behind it as well as loosening a rattling chain somewhere to the west. Moments later a massive Dire Crocodile charged out of the west side of the cave and bit down on one of the thieves, tearing into him with abandon, while his companion fled.

Eager to head him off, Draco and Mala moved into a hallway they had passed on their way in; through sheer luck the thief entered the hallway from the other side and was nearly knocked out right there by Draco's sudden charge. Wounded and helpless he fell begging for mercy, which Draco answered by knocking him out with a solid punch. The group tied him up and left him in the torture room with Churtle.

Roused by the crocodile's appearance, Draco convinced the others to join him in testing himself against such a superior predator; the group entered the cave by way of the tunnel the thief had used to escape - after sending Yasumoto to turn the water back off so the flooding in the Crucible stopped - and charged the beast, which was distracted by finishing off its meal of Soaked Lotus Dragon. The group pummeled it fairly quickly, but a shot to the head by Raina saved the beast from death by knocking it unconscious.

Next time, they continue on with the remainder of their exploration....

------

I love Churtle. She and Raina bonded immediately and she's come to consider her as her contact to the group. She won't do anything unless Raina tells her to. That said, Mala wants to kill Churtle on principle. At one point Mala almost got caught trying to backstab the kobold only to be caught by Raina; her parting warning to Churtle was "She won't always be here to save you," which Raina countered (after Mala left) with "She won't always be here to threaten you." Churtle hasn't even seen her go Weretiger yet, but she's pretty confident Raina would have the upper hand in a fight.

One Lotus Dragon and Kersh Reftun are unconscious and bound prisoners, plus whatever Draco decides to do with the Dire Croc. They have the Guildhall about 2/3 explored.

Le Quotes:

Idle Chat: (From MapTool's chatbox)
Raina: Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh I wish I was an oscar meyer weiner
Yasumoto: No
Raina: :P
Sneaks: .....
Raina: I'm bored, I have snapple
DM_Edge: lol
Yasumoto: Just.........no
Sneaks: Ack! Too much crazy!
Raina: Mrow?
Draco: why oscar meyer? why not a different brand?
DM_Edge: Because Oscar wrote the song?
Raina: cause other brands don't fit the song
DM_Edge: My question is why anyone would wish to be a hot dog
Sneaks: Better than being a sloppy joe.
Raina: soooooooo many comments
DM_Edge: lol
Draco: hey now your going too far nothing is better then that

Watch Your Footing:
Draco: "Aaaugh, Sneaks just stepped in something!"
Sneaks: *moves, Mala moves into his abandoned square* "Well now Mala's in it."
Mala: "Ewwww!"
Sneaks: "I search the room, anything interesting?"

Awkward Moment...:
Raina-OOC: *has Kersh Reftun pinned to the rack* "She's straddling him on the table...."
Draco-OOC: "Typical."

Arrogant Kung Fu Guy:
Raina-OOC: "He [Kersh] doesn't try to break the grapple and escape?"
DM-OOC: "He's an arrogant sexist bastard and an unarmed combat specialist. He doesn't need to break free to hit you and he doesn't think you can beat him."
Draco-OOC: "Wait, you didn't tell us it was Vanthus!"

Hypocrisy Killed the Cat:
Sneaks: [Feline] "Just knock him [Kersh] out."
Raina: "Wor-king on it!"
Sneaks-OOC: "Okay, I fire an eldritch blast at him."
Draco-OOC: "Waitwait, you just said 'knock him out' then proceeded to shoot death at him. What the hell man?"

They're always hiring:
Churtle: "I like this job. I'll be bodyguard in the future." *while sitting on Kersh's chest, knocking him out with a rolling pin whenever he comes to*

Preacher, doesn't the Bible have rules for that?:
Mala: "When Raina comes back she sees Mala with her sword drawn about to stab the critter thing [Churtle]."
Raina-OOC: "Roll initiative."
Draco-OOC: "Are we about to lose a party member?"
DM-OOC: "No, she's Exalted, she's not allowed to kill party members. The rules are very specific on killing. They are however somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."

Well, as was probably obvious to most of my readers, my group bungled the Weretiger template resulting in a character far too powerful for the group at its current level. So, with a wave of the DM wand, the Weretiger Healer|Swordsage Raina Ridathali became Faelyn Morghanna, a Feytouched Human Healer|Spirit Shaman. No re-introduction or anything, just a DM retcon, since this was my screwup in the first place.

That said, on to...

SESSION TWELVE

Still in the depths of the Lotus Dragons' guildhall, the group divided in half - Mala and Draco investigating the secret door found in the Dire Crocodile's tunnel, Sneaks and Yasumoto investigating the other hallway and domed room, with Faelyn eventually deciding to follow the latter. Investigation quickly discovered the one-way windows in the halls around the Crucible and the illusionary wall hiding the observation room where the thieves had been, before the group found that the halls just looped around and met each other on the other side.

Investigating the last remaining hallway in the guildhall unveiled a waiting room and guest bedroom, where Sneaks discovered a scrap of paper with a drawing of a room, with something circular in its center and a long list of numbers underneath. Further investigation discovered several uninhabited waiting rooms and such, before at last opening into a small underground harbor. The group discovered the dead bodies of the ixitxachitls floating there and some crabs inhabiting one of the beaches, but otherwise it was empty and they eventually went on their way.

Faelyn and Yasumoto returned to the torture room where their prisoners and Churtle awaited, while Draco went back to the Crocodile's chamber. After inciting it, he led it through the halls - letting it destroy several doors in the process - and eventually led it to the port, where he knocked it out and left it to find its own way out when it woke. Mala and Sneaks returned to Lady Lotus's chambers and resumed appraising and gathering the treasure there, and were eventually joined by Faelyn, who found herself immediately drawn to Lady Lotus's clothing and jewelry and soon had scavenged nearly all of it while Mala was busy elsewhere.

Mala took the time to go through the ledger of notes and letters she'd found, and discovered several incriminating love letters from Vanthus to her, revealing his part in the murder of Sir and Lady Vanderboren and his betrayal of Penkus, as well as their intent to betray a future meeting with a group of pirates at a place called Kraken's Cove. With this, the posters of Sasserine marked by flags and Sasserine's harbor with ships flying the Lotus Dragon flag, and the two prisoners, the group felt they had enough proof to bring the guild to justice; they gathered up their spoils and returned to Vanderboren Manor, stopping along the way at the Church of Saint Cuthbert to turn over Kersh Reftun and the other captured thief and report their findings to the watch.

The group then returned to Lavinia and informed her of their findings, returning the spoils marked with her family's crest and Vanthus's letters to complete their story. Lavinia was momentarily shaken but quickly regained her calm, and has put her full intentions behind bringing Vanthus to justice, with the aid of the party as her employees. Each of the group was awarded a 1000 GP bonus for their efforts, and a few days later a messenger appeared and invited all of them (including Sneaks, who despite appearing as a cat the messenger still addressed directly) to a banquet held by Lord Worrin Lidu in celebration of their valor.

Attending that banquet marks the end of this journey and the beginning of the next chapter in the tale.

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At last, done with There Is No Honor! Despite not only a complete party shakeup just before the climactic battle but a PC retcon due to DM epic fail, we are at last at the end of this first section of the story. The party is just over ECL 4, slightly ahead of the curve perhaps, but as we all well know they'll need every advantage they can get when they get into Chapter Two: The Bullywug Gambit.

Quotage:

It always takes forever:
DM-OOC: *Draco is sitting on a pier in a cave* "Looking for anything in particular out there Draco?"
Draco-OOC: "Just waiting for the boat to Stormwind."

Druid Humor:
Faelyn: "Where'd everyone else go?"
Draco: "Crocodile."
Faelyn: "What about the crocodile?"
Draco: "You saw how fat it was."
Faelyn: "Don't say that!" *runs to go check on the crocodile*
Draco: "I was joking!" *chases*

Chaos and Nobility:
*PCs have been invited to Lord Lidu's banquet*
Draco-OOC: "This is gonna be awesome."
Sneaks-OOC: "This is gonna be fun."
Yasumoto-OOC: "This is gonna suck."
Faelyn-OOC: "This is gonna give my character nightmares."

CHAPTER TWO - PROLOGUE

After a week of commerce, training, investigation, and relaxation, the group convened once more in full to attend Lord Lidu's banquet.

Draco made quite a scene of himself with his first exposure to alcohol in the form of "berry water" and Dwarven Holy Water served at the gathering. Faelyn spent most of the night on the dance floor entrancing (and sometimes charming) various young men for her entertainment; among the most memorable of these was one Avner Meravanchi, a young scion of a noble house of Sasserine known for their investments in "alternate forms of entertainment" according to Lavinia. Sneaks mostly played chaperon, watching Faelyn from afar and preparing to intervene - possibly violently - if he thought any of the men might try to take advantage of her... at least, that is, until a noblewoman's daughter decided to make him her lap cat for the night. Mala mingled among the guests, occasionally dancing with some of the dwarven and halfling nobles, while doing her best to keep an eye on Draco's antics. Yasumoto probably did the most work of the group, after disguising himself as a local noble he managed to find himself just within earshot of a certain noblewoman of House Kellani, whom he overheard discussing "the Guild", someone named "Rowyn", "those adventurers", and "dealing with them" with a small group of younger noblewomen while he managed to go unnoticed; her gaze also tended to follow Draco, Faelyn, and Mala around as they enjoyed themselves at the banquet.

Shortly after the actual banquet feast was served, followed by the presentation by Lord Lidu, who awarded each of the party members - including Sneaks, after a moment of confusion as to why only four had come when he had been informed there were five - with a medallion marking them as valiant protectors and defenders of Sasserine. Following this the banquet quickly wound down and the group retired to Vanderboren Manor.

After some troublesome pranks the following morning, the group finally convened in Lavinia's parlor to plan their next move in pursuit of Vanthus. The area the group has identified as the most likely location of Kraken's Cove is approximately forty miles from Sasserine through swamp and mire, sixty by coastline; according to sea-familiar Yasumoto, it would take them five days to reach the target by land, two or three by rowboat and a little over half a day by fishing boat or cogboat. The group agreed to charter one of the latter and plan to leave for Bloody Bay sometime later that day.

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Some interesting interplay and some foreshadowing thanks to the conveniently-provided plot device of the banquet, introducing Lady Kellani and Avner as well as a few other nobles the group never acquired the names of. Sadly I missed most of the quotes tonight, didn't have my normal computer and we gamed in person since Faelyn and Yasumoto's players were in town for the weekend so I didn't have most of my ready-and-prepared notepad docs on hand. :P

What we have here is a failure to communicate:
Sneaks: [using magic to speak Common] "Draco we need to go kill something."
Draco: "Why do we need to go kill something?"
Sneaks: "We need to go find Vanthus."
Draco: "Why do we need to find Vanthus?"
Sneaks: "That's what we were hired for."
Draco-OOC: "Y'know I'm not really talking 'cause I'm in Lion form."

SESSION ONE

With Yasumoto at the lead, the group headed to the docks district to elicit the aid of a shipping boat and crew in reaching their destination of Kraken's Cove within Blood Bay. Though the captain of the ship they eventually decided on, the Whispering Wind, paled at first at the nature of the request, Yasumoto's persuasive capabilities and the changing hands of some gold smoothed things over and the vessel departed shortly before noon.

After some amusing shenanigans aboard the vessel and spotting some froglike bullywugs along the shore, about an hour and a half before sundown the entire ship was assaulted by the sound of a distant booming, followed by a violent blast of wind that knocked several sailors off their feet and set the boat momentarily to rocking wildly in the sea. The vessel quickly recovered thanks to the expertise of its crew, but a half hour later a new event caught the attention of all save sleeping Draco: a brilliant fireball lit up the dusk sky from somewhere off in the distance ahead. Sneaks made his way down to the captain's chambers to where he was making notes on a map and confirmed his suspicions - the explosion and resulting inferno had come from Blood Bay.

A few hours after midnight, after the group managed to gain themselves a few hours' rest, they arrived at the northern end of Blood Bay and found a beat suitable to disembark and make the rest of the journey to Kraken's Cove on foot; Yasumoto gave the captain some extra gold to hold anchor until he returned, though the captain warned him that if he saw another explosion he would not wait for their return. It wasn't long into their trek that the group was assaulted by sounds of wild animals far more aggressive than expected; not too long after that they encountered trees full of parrots with unspeakable and monstrous mutations, eagerly tearing their normal cousins to ribbons. Draco attempted a roar to frighten them off, but the freakish birds rallied and swarmed, attacking the group en masse until enough of their number had been slain to break up the flock. The slain parrots exploded in a gory mass of acid, leaving a terrible stain on the landscape, and their fanged bites and wicked claws left burning, diseased wounds on the party, which Faelyn promptly healed.

Upon reaching the entrance of Kraken's Cove, the group spotted a majestic ship moored some great distance out into the harbor, its sails and figurehead decorated with grand wyvern motifs. Shortly after they spotted a tree filled with monkeys as equally mutant as the parrots had been, which also attacked when Draco attempted to frighten them off, and were just as promptly slain, though Sneaks was infected with whatever illness their bites spread and Faelyn lacked further magic to amend the issue at the time. The interior of the cove was much less peaceful than the one distant ship, however: the other vessels in the harbor were blazing aflame as was a reflective slick along the water's surface, and the beach was littered with viciously and disturbingly scattered corpses. Two men garbed in sailors' equipment and carrying scimitars hunched over one such corpse, both even more freakishly abberant than the monkeys and parrots and gleefully devouring the corpse's remains. The group swiftly destroyed them both.

They then entered the cave, and found themselves faced with two paths. Faelyn attempted an omen of peril to determine which path to take, but the response she received was an unbelievable omen of peace and serenity. The group eventually decided to first scout the left path, which led into a large chamber obviously once used as a mess hall. The area was littered with half- and partially-consumed corpses, and three more mutated sailors - one a very heavily-built cook wielding a cleaver with a huge gaping mouth filled with enormous teeth in his belly - stood over the remnants of one such corpse which was currently being simmered over a barely-controlled fire. The group charged, but Mala found herself too far ahead and the bestial men swarmed her, inflicting horrible wounds before the others could come to her aid.

After the cook was slain, a fourth abberation entered the fray - a freakish parody of monkey and racoon with bulging eyes, boneless wriggling fingers and a mouth that stretched literally from ear to ear, clutching a kukri in its puply hands. This creature attempted to attack Yasumoto but only dealt minimal damage, then attempted to leap over and attack Sneaks after being struck by his eldritch blast only to be torn apart by Draco and Yasumoto on the way. The group continued the battle against the remaining monstrosities, ending when a wild tendril of magic from Sneaks turned the final mutant into a statue, which Draco promptly smashed.

There is now the path to the right back at the cave's entrance that they had not explored and the tunnel from which the flying raccoon creature emerged for the group to investigate.

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Mwahahahahahahahahahahah!!! Oh I had so much fun describing the savage creatures to the group. Maybe a little too much, more than is healthy likely. So many possibilities, so much freakiness! So much mood to set, which according to the players I did well save for when I introduced the cook - as soon as he saw Draco he grinned (with the mouth on his face) and pointed his cleaver, while the mouth in his stomach yelled "FFFEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSTTT!!!!" before they charged. Apparently I did that slightly too loud and/or slightly too close to the mike for my players' tastes. I made a point of being more quiet and more hissssss ssneeeeeeeeakky when Navesh Wyvernsting made his entrance.

Da Quotes:

Minds in the Gutter:
Mala: "I go to drown the little lizard [Churtle]."
DM: "You can't find the little lizard."
Yasumoto-OOC: "She's in my pocket."
DM-OOC: "That takes talent."
Draco-OOC: "Ok I couldn't help it, I just took that whole conversation to a weird sexual place."
Yasumoto-OOC: "Who needs a lucky rabbit's foot when you have a lucky kobold in your jeans?"
Draco-OOC: "And I am now permanently in the weird sexual place. Oh god it does not stop."
Yasumoto-OOC: "I broke him already!! YES!!!"

The Fey Mindset:
DM: "[Yasumoto,] Roll sense motive. Those who wish may roll assist."
Faelyn-OOC: "No, but I may charm his [fishing boat captain's] pants off... wait that's not what I meant...."

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!:
DM: "I need a reflex save from Mala and Yasumoto."
Yasumoto: "I'm just twistin' and turnin' and everything today."
Draco-OOC: "Am I the only one who sees him breakdancing?"
DM-OOC: "Capoeira Ninja!"
Yasumoto-OOC: "Just so long as Vanilla Ice isn't playing in the background."
Draco-OOC: "Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!"
DM and Faelyn-OOC: "Dundundun dunna dunna..."
Faelyn-OOC: "Under Pressure...."
Yasumoto-OOC: "I will KILL YOU."

SESSION TWO

Continuing their explorations of Kraken's Cove, the party regrouped in the corridor outside the makeshift mess hall to prepare for their next move while Sneaks investigated the chamber off down the right path. The cat explored the room, weaving amidst the shrouds of silk hanging from ropes just below the ceiling for a while before the scent of taint and something unfamiliar stung his nose. Moments later a huge, freakish reptilian creature lunged out of the darkness at him, and Sneaks fled back to the party, getting caught in the side with one hooked claw in the process but making his escape. The group moved in moments later and found themselves face to face with a monstrous Deinonychus infested with the same mutations as the monkeys, parrots, and humans they had already encountered. After tearing a fair-sized chunk out of Draco and nearly felling Mala in one furious frenzy of claws and teeth, the group managed to put the beast down.

While the group licked their wounds Sneaks wandered off yet again, into a corridor leading to a small room with two mutant Krenshars in it; he scanned them for magic and found what he determined to be a clue as to the source of the mutations, but while he was doing this the creatures lunged to the ends of their chains and snapped him up in their jaws. He quickly fled back into the room where the others were, but the infection had already taken root. The group, thanks to the Krenshars' movement being limited by their chains, easily finished them off from range.

The group was stalled for some time by Draco wandering off down a side corridor back to the beach in an angry fit over a perceived sleight from Faelyn, and it took several minutes to get the team back on-course; this was partially assisted by the sudden sound of rattling metal from the left corridor out of the silk chamber. When the group finally got around to investigating they found a room lined with cages filled with humanoids of all different kinds, afflicted with the mutation and thrashing with abandon against their bonds, and their fury only intensified when living intruders entered their midst. Draco went back into the hall and smashed down a wooden barricade concealing a small laboratory, and used one of the broken beams to make a wooden longspear. While he did that Sneaks investigated the room; under one table was a pair of halfling- or gnome-sized boots sticking out, but when Sneaks went to get a closer look one of the massive fungi standing along the walls suddenly became animate and lashed out at him with poisoned tentacles. Sneaks retreated and Mala finished off the purple fungus with a single Crystal Shard.

Draco used his newly-crafted spear to put the poor creatures in the cages out of their misery, then the group moved on to the trophy room. Mala unlocked the three gold- and gem-filled chests and she and Faelyn pocketed most of the gems and pearls, leaving the coins to be gathered later. Yasumoto scouted ahead and found a mutated woman hunched on the beach in a chamber to the south and two more mutant pirates wandering the labyrinthine areas to the east; Draco went west and found a small storage room with weapons and blankets and other useful things and claimed a javelin for himself. Yasumoto returned to the group minus Draco and informed them of the two in the maze, and Sneaks went to fetch Draco, who simply roared and summoned the creatures to engage him. They were joined by a third who Yasumoto hadn't spotted, and moments later by the woman from the beach. This latter charged in screaming of "her love" and ranting of her hunger, and took a few moments to realize that Yasumoto was "not my love, not Vanthus! Where's Vanthus!?" She and her three blighted fellows were swiftly put down with minimal casualties.

Only the labyrinth and the areas beyond remain unexplored....

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Mwahahahahahah, Ripclaw!! LOVE me some Pounce. Knocked Draco to half HP in one round and Mala all the way to -1 from full HP in another. Advanced him to 6 HD, thankfully, as he would have been down in one round if I hadn't; as it was he lasted three and inflicted major damage in that short time. Sadly I rolled pitiful on his "free bite" when Draco killed him and he missed unconscious Mala, and his acid burst only knocked her to -6.

No game next week due to various Thanksgiving complications. Week after that (hopefully) introducing Harliss Javell, back to Sasserine and the Bullywug Gambit, as well as possibly introducing Dresylaer, CG Killoren Bard|Proselyte, being played by one of my best friends and a former roommate recently returned from a military tour in Korea.

No quotes this week, the DM didn't keep tabs like he usually does....