GM Tyranius King Xeros of Old Azlant (7-11) (Low Tier) (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Ok, fine... lets see what happens. =P
But its all Lem's fault if it all goes pear-shaped.

We're here to explore, but always it's good to have someone to blame ;D

Artian caress a jewell as he answers with a hint of sadness in his voice, For my experience, a pair of mutant fish eating one of my group as we try to save someone from several assasins and a flying sorcerer who's blasting us.

But I don't want to live something similar ever. One is more than enough.

"Oh come on. I've met braver goblins than you lot. Look, they are just runes. Probably help with feeding and watering the crew or some. That one there looks just like a bunch of grain..." says Lem lightheartedly.

Or is it a stack of fireworks? he wonders quietly to himself.

Or perhaps a bundle of spears. They do looks kind of sharp...

Milo slaps Lem's hand as the halfling looks about to press a random rune out of curiosity.

He glares at him a moment, than goes back to trying to activate the thing.

Milo and Lem scour over the strange puzzle. Taking his time and not moving anything until he was absolutely sure it would not activate any more of the ship's defenses Milo spins the base of the cube. To which point the wizard seems a bit confused. Lem quickly points out that there is a small crevice on one of the runes and Milo presses it in. The cube springs to life as it unfolds and folds back in on itself. The runes begin to glow with a white bright light.

You successfully avoided more of the ship's even nastier defenses. Though the Dc was surprisingly low for the Tier and this being a strange artifact, but meh. Have to go with what the scenario says :)

The stasis chamber shimmers for a brief moment as it releases the night hag to the ground. Grisly fetishes and rags hang off of her corpse thin frame as she lies coughing on the ground. Seeing she is surrounded by quite a few people the hag leaps into a low crouch and backs into the corner of the room. Her strangled greasy black hang hangs loosely over her face, obscuring her sneering face as her eyes dart left and right.

"Hello!" says Lem.

"We were wondering if you could tell us a bit about the boat, and what you are doing on it. And why it is here. And what the Xill are up to. and probably anything else that you might want to tell us."

He keeps his hands away from his weapons, for the moment.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

He rummages around in his knapsack for a moment. "Care for a sandwitch?"

Milo glowers at the hideous creature, the flame once more in his palm as if he's trying to decide if she needs to be torched or not.

"Scran it was then." He mutters, and instead backs away from her, and fades into the background.

How long it take to puzzle out the workings of that thing?

That thing is still alive? Jaysin seems not too surprised at the fact that the answer to his question is affirmative.

Artian moves toward the hag and squats down to talk face to face.

He smiles and tries to calm she Hello, I'm Artian.

we`ve liberated you from that crystal, and all we want is some conversation. Would you mind to talk with us?

Diplomacy aid: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19
K. planes: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 To identify it's a hag, it's the first one Artian has ever seen

@Lem: I see what you did there :)

Cornelius chimes in as well, more curious than worried about the dark denizen being freed. "Yes, why were you trapped in there?"

She sighs and places a hand to her woozy head. I have been trapped in suspended animation within the crystal hull for untold years. She looks about the walls. Many creatures are so held as the ship uses them as fuel sources. It seems I was moved by the ship into here as it slowly leeched my life force.

Her eyes widen in fear. It is the xill who now control the ship through a rare plant that was found on the Ethereal Plane that has some empathic abilities that allow the xill to tap into this helm. The hag shudders. I felt it's presence while the ship was leeching me for more fuel.

Almost as if on cue as the creeper's controller has been exterminated and the cube unlocked the connection with the ship seems to be lost as the crystal's lights begin to flicker into strange hues not seen before. Another creature appears in the plinth as the ship replaces the Hag.

How many more of these xill are here? And how many more are imprisoned?

Milo swears quietly, when the hag describes how the ship fuels itself. He starts looking around concerned about joining that reserve.

Who's in the plinth now? Can we release them too?

Lem looks confused.

"Are these the creatures we saw in the roots before?" he asks.

It is hard to tell as the Xill travel very quickly between this Plane and the Ethereal Plane. She looks to Lem. Yes. The Xill were feeding the plant with some of the ships fuel sources.

Milo looks into the plinth to see what new food source is inside. It looks to be a massive giant wreathed in flames that stand still. Frozen in time. Milo holds his hands to the cold, shapeless crystal and a tremor runs through the ship followed by a sudden surge in power as a new life-fore battery is assessed by the helm. The bulkheads and decks begin to shimmer and shift out of phase slightly as the phase spike warms up and prepares to activate.

Taking it to rounds

Round 1
Party is up

"Rasher to glim." Milo mutters, with a worried scowl.

"Unlaggin' the hag musta jiggered this barmy shake right proper!"

"It's firin' up." He adds, looking back at the others. "Less we wanna go on accounts, might wanna book."

He starts looking around for an exit.

Let's try one of these dorrs then. Perhaps we can shut it down from in there.

Jaysin will point at the southernmost door and wait for someone to open it.

"If we free all the other "fuel" then presumably it won't be able to leave, and will be no threat to Absalom and give us a fantastic chance to study it.." notes Lem...

"But who is commanding the ship if we have the helm?"

Sense motive: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13 To see if the hag is lying us

Artian recast his shield of faith before open the door Jaysin suggested. Yes, we have to try to stop it.

I don't like how the whole thing od use creatures as fuel. Not at all.

The Hag shudders. There is not enough time to stop the ship. I have felt its presence for centuries. There is less than a minute before the ship and everyone of us on board is transported to the Deep Ethereal.

From what Artian can tell the Hag seems to be absolutely truthful with every word she says. Shielding himself Artian opens the southern door to what looks to be the helmsman's cabin.

These chambers served as the day room and private quarters of the ship’s original helmsman. They are no longer occupied and have been stripped of all furnishings.

Milo looks about for an exit and realizes that the stairs to the west must go straight to the deck with the collapsed crystalline golem and fire projectors.

Round 2
Party is up

Then maybe we should be leaving!

I'm not sure what to do. I'm assuming the investigation did not lead to any clues about disabling this thing?

Perhaps simply trying to destroy this plinth would do it? Jaysin draws an adamantine arrow as a suggestion.

Lem listens to the hag and then makes a dash for the stairs upwards.

"Come on, either we get off the ship, or we get an awesome view of the deep ethereal. Either way, its all happening up on deck."

Jaysin nods in agreement and hustles after the bard.

Though Jaysin is ready to destroy the plinth he quickly realizes that the crystal looks to be significantly harder and more durable than the ships defenses and takes off after Lem and the hag as the group hustles off of the ship.

Reaching the deck you quickly see that the Guardsman have abandoned the deck and mystical energies play about and arc off of the massive phase spike. With barely enough time to reach the skiff down in the water the King Xeros is rapidly engulfed in magical energies and a thick grey mist. Within the blink of an eye the skiff lurches in the water as suddenly the King Xeros is nowhere to be seen as the ship quickly slips away again and is once more lost among the mists of gray to continue its mysterious mission.

That is the end of the Scenario. Go ahead and continue to RP if you wish. You bypassed more of the ships defenses figuring out teh puzzle. With each failure it would have fire a Disintegration ray or some really nasty creatures. A bit anti-climatic but a good mystery ship that will hopefully return later.

"Bloody hell." Milo mutters, as the crystalline ship disappears once more.

What happened with the hag?

You finally said something I can understand and agree with.

I couldn't have said it better than you, Jaysin says Artian before he takes a deep breath and recovers from the run.

Yes, can we take the hag to the Grand Lodge? A witness can help to make a better report ;D

"At least this shows us that even evil creatures are capable of good acts if treated fairly.", Cornelius trying to find some meaning to his presence here.

"And thank you all for your efforts; each of us was here for a reason, with minimal loss to people. But perhaps, a collection for family of the poor guard who was felled by that automated golem?"

Out of breath as he jumps off the ship barely in time to avoid travelling to other dimensions, Jhalan slowly recovers. "At least we freed a captive creature. It's a start. I wouldn't complain."

Thanks for running this scenario! Anti-climatic indeed, but I liked the scenario overall.

"Perhaps... But what of all those poor creatures left to feed the ship?" wonders Lem.

"Still, I think I might make up a new tune about this... The lay of the King Xeros."

He shudders at the memory of the horrible Xill.

"Is everyone okay now? "

The Hag followed you down into the skiv. She is too weak to do much else.

Yea the puzzle box was only DC 20. I think they definitely could have bumped that up to 30 for this tier. considering it is ancient and alien.

Will get Chronicles out tomorrow.

All of us are well now, but you're right Lem: there are still creatures in the ship that don't deserve their fate. And more will be captured.

Our only hope is the little knowledge we had of the ship can help to destroy it the next time it appears

And to be part of that destruction team. Also I had enjoyed the game and the end had left me wanting more.

Reporting the mission to check it in the faction card: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3
Portfolio reroll, 2 stars: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

I'm fine now that we're out of there. I just knew something there would kill us in the end if we didn't leave when we did.

Yeah, I liked it but I expected one last fight to get off the ship or the like. Kinda took me by surprise when it ended!

OTOH now Jaysin is free for a GM V game if I so desire.