Iacobus Apparicio
AUDITOR
The Office of Archives and Audit
Nastersus Alchemical Supply Company
"Ever Potent - Ever Dry"
And there is an address in Absalom.
Ain't he the cutest little outsider ever?
Apparicio will try to figure out what happened--why he had some strange fit. [Know Planes 5, Heal 1, for those who are curious.] If he can't come up with any useful answers, he'll vaguely assume that some combination of the booze, yesterday's food poisoning, and the necromantic goings on of the previous evening caught up with him in strange ways.
"Hey! This guy's some big-shot lawyer from Absalom!" She rolls her eyes dramatically. "How useful would a lawyer have been when we were arguing with those lame paladins"
She flicks the card disdainfully at the still twitching body.
"Big-shot lawyer? Perhaps. The card was convenient to carry in Absalom. These things can get you places." He pauses, plainly a little shaken by his episode, but acting to brush it off. "Here, however, being a big-shot lawyer does not seem much use. The mayor is a law unto himself. And I've learnt before that the servants of Iomadae are often best left be; I'm not sure any amount of lawyering would have saved the other fellow from the likes of them. And we came through as good as could be hoped. I had my eye on them, and was ready to intercede if I thought it might help."
Apparicio takes back his cards from Kat, and files them without comment. "In other matters, I heard that you folk were journeying to the Yellow Isle. I'd be interested in seeing the island myself. Perhaps I might join you. I might be able to help you find your man over there, and the company will make the trip more interesting. The pair of you are certainly not short of entertainment value."
"Aye," mumbles the hapless Orto to Puku, with a bloodshot look askance at the glib-tongued advocate, "you'll need to come out to the Isle with us to clap eyes on the lad you're looking for, 'less y' want to wait a five-week 'ere his tour is up. But we set sail not 'til the morrow."
"And thank the Tormentor's fukken Mercy for that," he moans, then hiccoughs and spits a red-flecked gob of spume to the dirt.
"What's this one's interest, tho...? Be you in league?" he whispers, leaning in to Puku with a twitch of the nose at the lawyer.
You still don't feel right... hopefully this is not going to happen again! I expect in fact that Apparicio is extremely rattled by the experience, but his instinct to save face preserves him from showing overmuch concern before these new companions.
A dwarven crone hobbles over to Apparicio.
"Eee! A lusty young man, laid low by the dark stain on his Fate! Come with Granny for a reading... IF THOU DURST!!!! A ha ha ha ha!"
The dishevelled old fortune-teller rubs her hands together eagerly, nodding her head, making the bells in her hair chime.
A dwarven crone hobbles over to Apparicio.
"Eee! A lusty young man, laid low by the dark stain on his Fate! Come with Granny for a reading... IF THOU DURST!!!! A ha ha ha ha!"
The dishevelled old fortune-teller rubs her hands together eagerly, nodding her head, making the bells in her hair chime.
Apparicio turns to her politely--perhaps even patronisingly--and reassures her: "My dear woman you are mistaken--there is no dark stain on my fate. No. Simply a case of inclement clams followed by a little much of the sauce. I am not the lusty young man you are looking for. Down the docks you will find sailors; superstitious folk such as those are more likely to find your charms alluring..."
Then Apparicio turns from the mad dwarf to the matter at hand.
"What's this one's interest, tho...? Be you in league?" he whispers, leaning in to Puku with a twitch of the nose at the lawyer.
"I am not in league with these two, though I have found their company most amenable up until now. My interest, rather, is in the island. I have heard rumours of it and seek to confirm if they are true."
Suddenly a fearsome roar shattered the festive scene within the marketplace. Dogs bayed and tugged at their chains and babies burst into bawling. Puku clutched at his trembling namesake as it tormented him audibly for its neglect.
"Faaaaah, you'se can keep up the korero, but I gotta get a feed eh before I drop dead!"
Swaggering over to Eloise he again embraced her, enveloping her with his generous girth.
"Dont worry cuz, we'll get Mel back, no worries! You just look after Leyslands, make sure those stuffy old cocks dont lock him up eh!"
The barbarian then smiled at her with a grin that clenched the entire top half of his person, and with another bob of his eyebrows at his companions he and Orto strolled off towards an Inn, the Incorrigible Otyugh, for a mean-as feed.
Remembering what is clutched in his sweaty palm, Puku runs back to the group and hands to Kat the wooden token, which is to be used for the return of their goods from the hostelry.
Then just as abruptly he tears off back to the pub.
A dwarven crone hobbles over to Apparicio.
"Eee! A lusty young man, laid low by the dark stain on his Fate! Come with Granny for a reading... IF THOU DURST!!!! A ha ha ha ha!"
The dishevelled old fortune-teller rubs her hands together eagerly, nodding her head, making the bells in her hair chime.Apparicio turns to her politely--perhaps even patronisingly--and reassures her: "My dear woman you are mistaken--there is no dark stain on my fate. No. Simply a case of inclement clams followed by a little much of the sauce. I am not the lusty young man you are looking for. Down the docks you will find sailors; superstitious folk such as those are more likely to find your charms alluring..."
Then Apparicio turns from the mad dwarf to the matter at hand.
The crone's face sours further as you rightfully spurn her and she turns away from you, fingers twitching and she mutters, "callow knave, then carry mine own curse with the stain thou bear already"
You chuckle at this poppycock and flick a mote of dust from your shoulder.
"I am not in league with these two, though I have found their company most amenable up until now. My interest, rather, is in the island. I have heard rumours of it and seek to confirm if they are true."
The weary-eyed man-orc wrinkles his nose.
"Well if you've heard rumours that it's a stinking lump of yellow dust not fit to bear the feet of men, then you've heard the right of it. Beyond that I caint vouch for a lot."His eyes narrow.
"Say, you ain't no fire-wizard, are ya? Looking ta sniff around the voe-cano?"
"This fancy-smelling dude ain't a fire-wizard is he?"
Suddenly a fearsome roar shattered the festive scene within the marketplace. Dogs bayed and tugged at their chains and babies burst into bawling. Puku clutched at his trembling namesake as it tormented him audibly for its neglect.
"Faaaaah, you'se can keep up the korero, but I gotta get a feed eh before I drop dead!"
Swaggering over to Eloise he again embraced her, enveloping her with his generous girth.
"Dont worry cuz, we'll get Mel back, no worries! You just look after Leyslands, make sure those stuffy old cocks dont lock him up eh!"The barbarian then smiled at her with a grin that clenched the entire top half of his person, and with another bob of his eyebrows at his companions he and Orto strolled off towards an Inn, the Incorrigible Otyugh, for a mean-as feed.
A bit cheeky inventing inns in my town, though if it suited my purposes I'd go along with it. But since it doesn't...
You're currently on top of the peninsula with Fort Quickspeak between you and the sea, and a bunch of market day stalls behind you. You can't see any inns, and the Captain's Repose is the only one you're aware of in Andersport at the moment.
You could get some stall food which would be snack level stuff like honeyed locusts and candy floss, though you might get lucky and find some meat pies if you look.
Or you could head back down into the town.
"I could use some pig-fat to line my guts, feels like I had a dozen whore's eggs dancing a conga line thru' my gullet this evening gone," says Orto. "There's a stew-hall down the ways, 'the Otyugh's Fancy', 'bout the only place we apt to find pork in the pot, if we's lucky."
The paladins have left, heading back downhill, with Leyland and Eloise in tow.
"Look for me in Murchmanor, after you find Melthorpe!" Eloise implores Kat before she leaves.
"I've never been there so all I know is that there's a temple to Iomedae, I'll leave word there so you'll know how to find me."
"Fire-wizard? No. I should be so lucky. Although it does seem I have some talent with the birds." Apparicio summons an eagle to his hand. "It's a handy talent, but scarcely fire-wizardry." Apparicio beams at his eagle, mightily proud of this talent.
"As to what I have heard of the isle, it is a long and sad tale that I'd rather not bore you with. Not least because, I'm sure, the more I tell it, the more I think you'll think me a big-city fool, a dupe who has fallen for tales of ancient remedies and such-like..."
At this point Apparicio descends into a rambling, insubstantial monologue, during which he tells a of various people that have told him of a treatment for a mysterious ailment that some loved one has.
At whatever point he thinks he is about to lose his audience, Apparicio comes to the point. "...at any rate, how much will it cost to travel to the island?"
At whatever point Apparicio is free from the previous ramble, he will turn back to his fellow travellers.
"Let us go then, yous and I, to the Otyugh's Fancy." Apparicio turns to Puku. "Your belly has made it clear that you need some 'kai'--that is what you call it, right?--while I need something to quell yesterday's clams before some other lunatic decides there's some stain on my fate, and leaves another stain on my shirt."
He brushes an imaginary mark and gestures in the direction of the Otyugh's Fancy.
- Puku and Apparicio going to the Otyugh's Fancy with Orto for breakfast.
- Kat going to the stables to retrieve their gear? (there a cart and a couple of cows so sending her off alone is perhaps a bit mean)
"C'mon sis, you had a rough night eh, screaming bloody murder an' all that, come get a feed!" Spake a bewildered Puku "No time for capers with a empty guts eh!"
Food first, gear later
"C'mon sis, you had a rough night eh, screaming bloody murder an' all that, come get a feed!" Spake a bewildered Puku "No time for capers with a empty guts eh!"
"Nah-uh!" Placing a hand on her hip and waggling her finger under Puku's nose Kat chides her boorish companion "Listen up Duckbunny, I ain't going anywhere till I find out what happened to Orna last night! Cayden's Cups! She's our friend, healer and spiritual mentor ! For all we know she could be floating face down in the harbor right now!"
"You dummies can go stuff your craws with mystery meat but I will not rest till my flaky little guru is babbling nonsense at my side!"
She rubs her belly thoughtfully
"Besides, I've had my carb allowance for today..."
"Hey big guy!" She jabs a finger at Orto " Where's your friend Lenny crawled off to? Orna took quite a shine to him, maybe she wanted to make sure he got home safe..."
Remembering what is clutched in his sweaty palm, Puku runs back to the group and hands to Kat the wooden token, which is to be used for the return of their goods from the hostelry.
"Oh, and one more thing" Kat smiles and flutters her eyelashes coquettishly "I may be a lady but i ain't your b@!~+. I'm not gonna fetch your junk for you. If Orna's in trouble I may need my blade. If you really care more about your guts than your friend then lets go cash in this chip in together and we can go our separate ways and meet up later"
"aw yip."
They go to the hostelry....
"Fire-wizard? No. I should be so lucky. Although it does seem I have some talent with the birds." Apparicio summons an eagle to his hand. "It's a handy talent, but scarcely fire-wizardry." Apparicio beams at his eagle, mightily proud of this talent.
"As to what I have heard of the isle, it is a long and sad tale that I'd rather not bore you with. Not least because, I'm sure, the more I tell it, the more I think you'll think me a big-city fool, a dupe who has fallen for tales of ancient remedies and such-like..."
At this point Apparicio descends into a rambling, insubstantial monologue, during which he tells a of various people that have told him of a treatment for a mysterious ailment that some loved one has.
** spoiler omitted **
At whatever point he thinks he is about to lose his audience, Apparicio comes to the point. "...at any rate, how much will it cost to travel to the island?"
Kat is busy hen-pecking Puku and the two of them don't seem to be paying immediate attention. Orto steps in close to you. He smells overwhelmingly stale, pickled in last night's disgrace, and with just a whiff of the tanner's yard. He addresses you in a low, whispery growl.
"Mister," says Orto, "I'm too hung over to listen to this. I ain't know what your game is or overmuch care, but while you was writhing on the ground like a cut snake I do recall the lass lifted a card from you that bears the mark of Nastersus Alchemical Supply Company. Being the same Company as owns the mine on the Yellow Isle, and the same as holds the contract with the Skippebble fer us to make runs from the mainland. Seems to me, if you was to trot over to the Company Office and have a word in the gnome's ear, you oughta be able to get on our boat no trouble, and my captain'd be calling you 'Sir'."
"So to your question - how much to get to the island? For you - I think it's gratis. Got my own question though. How much is it worth for me to play along with this line of beluga-sh!t you're selling?"
Incidentally:
You're intimidated by Orto (I rolled for it and he beat the DC to shake you by a fair margin) - so respond accordingly.
"aw yip."
They go to the hostelry....
You skirt around Fort Quickspeak again and start making your along the criss-crossing boardwalks that lead down the precipitous slope from the Fort to the beach. Orto leads the way.
"Hey big guy!" She jabs a finger at Orto " Where's your friend Lenny crawled off to? Orna took quite a shine to him, maybe she wanted to make sure he got home safe..."
"Forgive me if I don't recall exactly what happened to him last night..." Orto rumbles, "but he oughta be back at the Skippebble seeing to the loading of supplies 'ere we churn water on the morrow. But him and the rest are as like to be loafin' without me to keep them on task."
He rubs his head sorrowfully in a gesture that is now becoming familiar to you.
"Tormentor take this headache and take my damn head with it for taking your damn challenge..." he grumbles.
The town is noticeably busier on your way down the cliff than it was earlier, seems there's more than a few late-risers in Andersport. Most of the traffic is against you, heading up to the market. More than once, Kat finds herself having to jostle past oblivious townsfolk.
After a while you reach the flat, somewhat sandy ground at the seaward base of the peninsula, here the fresh sea breeze mingles with aromas of pipeweed and over-ripe seafood.
You see a commotion of some sort ahead of you, a ring of people drawn up. Approaching, you spy the focus of the small crowd's attention, a dwarf in gray monastic robes, standing in a wide stance atop the back of a cart full of rubble. The driver of the cart seems to be remonstrating with him and being ignored.
"People of Andersport!" bellows the dwarf. "My name is Stonehead Kragoon! Mine is the path of blood and stone!"
At this he scoops up a fist-size rock from the rubble in the cart and smacks it powerfully into his forehead. It crumbles to gravelly fragments and dust.
"Ahh!" gasps Stonehead, as if he has just taken his first quaff of a well-earned ale. A few in the crowd throw copper pieces at his feet, which he ignores.
A trickle of blood runs down his forehead and onto the bridge of his nose as he continues.
"I live only to test strength against strength! And so grow ever stronger! I heard tell of your fighting pits, and have come here seeking worthy opponents! But the pit-bosses say to me, 'begone!' They have never heard of Stonehead Kragoon! Well, by my deeds let my name ring out! To earn my day in the pits, if I must show the true glimmer of my ore right here in the street, then let it be done!"
"Who among you will match me in the clamor of fists? Here! Now!"
He howls at the crowd, veins popping out on his neck.
There are nervous murmurs and a couple of jeers.
He shakes his head and wipes his brow, smearing blood across his face.
"None here who walk the path for it's own sake? Then see what the mountain brings!"
He reaches into his robes and withdraws something. Holding his fist aloft you see he bears a purple gem the size of a child's palm, it flashes enticingly in the sunlight.
"I stake this treasure, the prize for any who can best me! You need stake only your blood and bones! Who now among you, has the soul for some scrapping?"
Stonehead Kragoon has a blunt-featured, frankly ugly face, bristly shaven pate and a black chin-beard knotted into a single short braid that dangles somewhat ridiculously from his chin. He is powerfully built and looks like he can back up his boasts.
“How much is it worth for me to play along with this line of beluga-sh!t you're selling?"
Apparicio gulps and mutters a little blessing to himself: ”By Abadar’s golden fists I hope this day gets better quickly.”
He turns to Orto and speaks in quiet tones: ”To be honest, it’s not worth that much. The truth will come out soon enough in a small town like this, and I’m just here to do a job. This is one way to do the job, but there are others. If it gets too expensive for me I’ll just go to Mr Starks direct. That might be a better plan anyways.
”But while I’m being honest, I’m new in town and would rather have you on my side than working against me. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement...”
As you directed, Apparicio is intimidated. Apparicio is not too bound up in his secret identity, which is likely to be blown one way or another pretty soon anyways. I imagine his chief concern is that he is planning on sailing to an island, where Orto and others may put him in danger.
So what he would be attempting to do would be a Diplomacy roll, attempting to bribe Orto to shift his attitude from sceptical and pissed off to something a little more amicable. I lack the player knowledge to know what to offer.
Diplomacy is 8, Guidance gives +1 if it applies. I imagine there’s other situational modifiers—a failed bluff for one, and perhaps the bribe for another. I assume you roll; I shouldn’t know his attitude without a sense motive. My Sense Motive is 1, so I’ll probably have to take him at his word.
Play report - 6/11/2013 - just lots of shopping and Andersport flavour really
The party wisely decided not to brawl with Stonehead Kragoon on his own terms and gave the monk a wide berth, even as he brutally subdued his first two challengers.
Arriving at the stew-hall, The Otyugh's Fancy, they met the proprietor a seedy old cove named Rekkardspen. Orto and Puku tucked into bowls of surprisingly acceptable stew from the century-old cauldron (three legged, I neglected to mention, like an Otyugh).
Meantimes, Kat was approach by a townswoman, Lecky Smingles, who pegged them for adventurers and was optimistic about their funds. She revealed she had three wondrous items she was looking to sell, heirlooms from her grandfather Morfred "Leadfeet" Smingles who was first mate to Cap. Anders Quickspeak aboard the Wavemaiden (now beached and transformed into Andersport's foremost inn, The Captain's Repose).
She is looking to fund a dowry for her daughter who has a wealthy-born beau in Almas... she has:
Goggles of Night
A Ring of Water Walking
A Wondrous Stone Which Sustains the Bearer's Life E'en In The Absence of Good Air
However it was quickly established that the party's finances are far short of the value of such things, Lecky invited them to seek her out should they ever meet a windfall 'through your grave-robbin' and whatnot'.
Hunger sated, Orto left them to resume his duties at the Skippebble while the party went to the hostelry to get their stuff back. There they met Bezzly the Horse-Doctor who returned their weapons and effects without fuss, moreover they were able to trade away their cows and wheels of cheese to him (+ some coin), in exchange for an Oil of Bless Weapon and a Pot Cure MW. (It seems he is an afficianado of good dairystuffs which are in short supply in the town due to "sour grass" in the vicinity).
Next stop was the forge of blacksmith Anorus Scanlan. When they arrived they saw Anorus paying off a group of six ruffians bearing spears, each adorned with a fish skeleton tied dangling below the tip. Anorus seemed cheerful enough in his dealings with him but later the party observed the same group plainly shaking down another merchant for coin.
Further trading at the blacksmith's, with the party divesting themselves of in Mother's masterwork dagger, the beautifully carved wooden armour of Malek Woodsman, and Needle's special poisoner's dagger and sheath. In return, a greatsword and breastplate for Puku, a light crossbow for Apparicio, and a healthy heap o' geeps.
"I know just the feller to sell this on to!" Anorus intimated happily as he slid the poisoner's dagger in and out of its sheath, marvelling at the mechanism.
You learned also that Anorus possesses a magical cutlass called "the Fishman's End", its golden hilt adorned with crude engravings of smiling men dismembering fishfolk, and the phrase "Step Not On Land" etched upon the faintly glowing blade. The jovial smith bid you farewell as the cries of his wife and newborn babe from upstairs grew too insistent to put off any longer.
A brief visit to the docks at the Skippebble found that to no-one's surprise, Orto was snoozing belowdecks in his hammock. A dwarfess was suspicious of their reasons for being there but it transpired that she already had the story of last night's drinking bout and warmed greatly to the party on learning they were actors in that drama. She vouchsafed that Orna had been aboard the ship overnight in the company of the hobbit Lestiffer Finley, but had snuck away not long after dawn.
"We been giving the Findsfault plenty of sh!t o'er that!"
That satisfied Kat's immediate concerns over the whereabouts of Orna Goodgrace, and they left the docks for now.
A final shopping trip up the hill to see the book-binder Osmond the Learned, who sold Apparicio scrolls of Magic Fang, Endure Elements and Levitate. Plus they got a couple of Pot CLW from the marketplace.
The next step seemed to be back to the Captain's Repose in anticipation of tracking down Orna there. Though it seems Apparicio may have business of his own to conduct.
The Skippebble sails for the Yellow Isle tomorrow morn...
"Well lads, tomorrow we venture TO THE ISLAND OF DOOM!!!" Kat secures her newly purchased pot CLW to her belt " We've done our shopping and are almost ready to go. Only one question remains... WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR!"
She scans the motley collection of market stalls before zeroing in on a trestle table laden with nautical nick-nacks. Digging though a moldering sack of Andorran naval parephenalia she draws out a slightly ridiculous bicorn hat with a cry of triumph. She dons the chapeau with a flourish and tosses the bored looking stallholder a silver piece.
"Perfect! She adjusts the hat to a jaunty angle " Now that we've lined our bellies sufficiently I suggest we spend the rest of the afternoon examining the bottoms of several tankards of ale. Cayden's church considers it a sin to embark on an adventure without a hangover of some sort. To the Captain's Repose at once!"
Okay so you head down towards the Captain's Repose, Kat's hat attracts many admiring stares and the gasps of scandalized matrons.
The sun is nearing her zenith as you approach the old ship.
You find a couple of Redcaps standing sentry at the entrance. One steps forward to block your passage.
"Woah there! The Cappin's Repose 'as 'ad a change of ownership. Ain't open for bizniz yet, new landlord's in there doing a bit of a, um, ... stocktake."
"Yeah, stocktake, yeah!" says the second Redcap.
You hear some kind of bustle and clattering happening within but can see nothing from your vantage.
Reminder - the main entrance opens into the common room and main bar, which was formerly the ship's hold.
Apparicio - can you state whether you have accompanied the others to the Captain's Repose please, or have split off to conduct other affairs.
If the latter, email me what you want to do.
At some point he has to fill Orto in, but he figures he can do that at sea. After all, Orto looks pretty comfortable.
Apparicio will head back to the Captain's Repose with the others. On seeing the ruckus inside he is immediately concerned for his possessions, such as they are. He mutters a prayer to Abadar and approaches the Redcap.
"My good man," he says to the Redcap, "I am sure that such refurbishments as you are undertaking are all for the good, and not matters of my concern. I had lodgings here and wish to continue my custom. In the meantime, I have need of documents among my personal affects. Would you be so good as to let me through to my room?"
What were the documents that you retrieved? I can't remember what you had.
Play Report 20/11/2013
Apparicio’s lawyerly patter was sufficiently glib to slide the party straight past the Redcaps barring entrance and into the Captain’s Repose. Inside they saw that a team of Redcaps were ransacking parts of the inn under the supervision of the Mayor’s steward, Torasto. Though somewhat taken aback by their presence, Apparicio’s social graces once again smoothed the way and Torasto permitted them to remain.
They met the new bartender, a retired Redcap Zobra the Unsober, an old buffoon who seemed neither skilful at the spigot nor scrupulous in the collection of recompense, which made him a fine enough drinking companion but casts serious doubt on the future revenues of the Captain’s Repose.
Blue-skinned, noble-tongued Torasto explained the Redcap’s action over sips of sherry – it having been decreed that the exiled Yolande Shelkie had wrongful possession of the Tincture of Velsharoon, supposedly an heirloom of the Quickspeak family, now the Redcaps were searching for other such contraband on the premises.
They seemed to be having little success but they had destroyed parts of the wall and floor in the common room, and ripped apart the curious taxidermic specimens that had once adorned the room.
Torasto took an interest in the party’s recent history with the Paladins of Iomedae and dropped mention that he had released a couple of moustachioed hoodlums who’d been in kept in their custody. But the party was deprived of his excellent company after a messenger arrived with news that called him away.
Apparicio took a moment to go upstairs where he found that his traveller’s chest had been hauled out onto the top deck, along with other effects from his room. The lock on his chest was missing as was 35GP, part of the money he brought with him to Andersport. But the documents he meant to retrieve remained.
Downstairs, drinking with Zobra continued and the group was re-united with the hobbit Orna Goodgrace who it transpired had been upstairs drinking chamomile tea when they arrived.
Bamboozling the simple Zobra, Kat sneaked an opportunity to search the back room behind the bar and with Puku’s help, found a lead-lined case containing Pot. Bear’s Endurance and Pot. Cat’s Grace. Otherwise it was just full of booze and pickled snacks – though there was some evidence that other items had been removed from the room recently.
Zobra was none the wiser, but Apparicio’s subsequent attempt to cause the doughty sot to overindulge and black out resulted only in a sticky bib for the lawyer, served hot & piping from the guts of Zobra. He had more success encouraging the Redcaps in the common room to sneak elsewhere for some slack sly-groggin’ – in their absence the party performed a cursory search of the common room but found nothing of note.
A sailor from the Skippebble arrived with a note from First Mate Orto, Dread Sponge of the Seas advising that the ship sailed at dawn, and that they would be expected to work their passage to appease the Captain. Drinking continued a while into the evening and at last the party retired to rest.
---
The next morning the party was up at sparrow’s fart and on the way to the docks. The town was quiet in the pre-dawn gloaming, until they rounded a street corner and were faced by three fierce thugs, two armed with spears adorned with fishbones, and one with a fearsome thick-chained flail.
(From the previous night’s drinking, Kat could dimly recollect asking about the gang with the fishbone spears, but could hazily recalled only the name “Scalers” and that they were some kind of militia to defend against attacks from fishmen).
The thugs attacked and to the party’s dismay were joined by two more who came out of hiding behind them, and three slingers assailed them from the rooftops.
We pause midway through the thrilling, predictably Grease-soaked melee that ensued, with the Scaler boss slain, his kidney’s dainty treats for Apparicio's summoned Eagle, the spearmen dead or routed, but the slingers fighting on (perhaps because they’re stuck on the rooftops). A Magic Stone from the sling of Orna Goodgrace has just cracked the skull of one of them like an egg – Puku is clinging halfway up the side of the tailor shop with bloody murder in his heart. It seems victory is not far off for Our Heroes…
Play Report 28/11/2013
Our heroes made short work of those two remaining slingers who ambushed them, toppling them from the rooftops to lie sprawled and broken, dead in the mucky street. The party looted some surprisingly useful gear from their attackers, and some curious and highly suggestive items from the apparent leader of the group of Scalers. Kat was dissuaded of a guilty notion to leave an explanatory note for the householders who would emerge to find a slaughter on their doorstep, and the party hustled on to the docks. They arrived just as the sun was peering above the horizon, beckoning them eastward to their destination.
Aboard the Skippebble – a remarkable but ungainly ship, propelled by two waterwheels powered by uncertain means – they met a few others of the small crew such as Bess the Dwarfess and half-orc quarter-wit ”Steady” Kenn, along with Orto, Lenny Findsfault and Grallen, already acquaintances.
Apparicio struck up a conversation with the master of the vessel, Captain Parsonpot Saltpepper, who was soon charmed by his ingratiating manner and fluency in Gnomish. Apparicio learned that the ship was of the Captain’s own design, driven by something called an Iounic Furnace. Apparicio perceived some of the Captain’s disappointment in the ship’s performance, masked by a veneer of forced cheerfulness.
It was a pleasant day, and though the Skippebble wallowed alarmingly in the moderate swells, they soon found their sea legs and passed some hours with light duties, chatting to one another and the crew. With new bonds forged in the crucible of battle, Apparicio opened up to his companions and revealed that through a special bond with some extra-planar being, he can transform into a scary monster, though he durst not do so in a place like Andersport for fear of being mistaken for a “fish-man” and set upon with hooks and cleavers.
In the course of their conversations with the crew, the party learned a few things about the Yellow Isle (thanks to some well-thrown Gather Information checks)
- Two dozen men are on the island at any given time, working six-week tours to mine sulphurous rocks from the outer edges of the volcanic crater.
- There is a colony of gullgryphs on the north side of the island, territorial creatures that are best avoided (despite their absurd appearance).
- Active volcanos are dangerous, not merely due to the risk of eruption and environmental hazards, but also the creatures from Plane of Fire that sometimes slip through to cavort in such places. The area that the sulphur miners work is on the south of the island, a bay where the crater wall has collapsed. This area is protected by a fence of druidic totems which prevents dangerous Outsiders from approaching.
- The worker’s camp is located some distance from the mine, on the western slopes outside the crater. It was relocated after the original, much closer camp was buried in a landslide some five years ago, killing all the workers on the island at the time.
- Famously, a cat was the only survivor of the earlier catastrophe. She was renamed “Lucky”.
As time passed, their destination could be discerned from the hazy horizon, an steep-sloped silhouette crowned with a great plume of steam. There was a brief clamour of excitement when a harpy with seabird plumage over-flew the ship – it cackled at the groundlings below but moved quickly on before anyone could draw back a bowstring. The Captain explained that they are canny predators and not apt to attack when outnumbered.
However, the crew’s relief was premature, for danger and deceit was in the offing. Lenny Findsfault spied what appeared to be a castaway’s raft to the larboard bow – the Skippebble hove up alongside, and Bess dived overboard with a rope ‘round her waist, swimming over to investigate. However, once aboard the raft it broke apart under her feet and she was attacked by loathsome little creatures that looked like some kind of aquatic goblinoid with the hindparts of a octopus. The party and the crew were taking steps to effect a rescue when they too were attacked by more such creatures, who rode up to the deck on the Skippebble’s waterwheels, along with their battle-pets, a pair of "true" octopi. In the ensuing battle, Bess was pulled beneath the waves, her blood streaming behind her, and Apparicio was stuck with a poisoned quill by one of the creatures, an expert with the blow-gun. That wicked thing shall poison no more, for Puku has crushed his skull. But the battle rages on, with an unknown number of assailants yet invisible beneath the waves, and the baddies have a caster on their side...
Play Report 5/12/13
...the battle finished up.
Puku, exhausted as his rage abated, fell victim to the needling spear-stabs of his foes and is slumped unconscious near the stern of the ship. Compressed beneath his comatose form, the corpse of the enemy caster.
The party and crew all have their share of wounds.
Apparicio has run out of eagles.
Now read on...
-------------
First Mate Orto slashes his scimitar downwards, flicking ropes of bluish ichor from the blade. With the weapon clutched in a white-knuckled grip, he strides over to a door below the poop deck and hammers on it with the hilt.
"You can come out now, you damned cowards!" he roars at the door.
"Easy, Orto!" calls the Captain.
"Somebody wanna patch me up?" wimpers Lenny Findsfault weakly.
"Gather around me! Let the flow of the universe soothe all ills!" calls Orna, and golden motes of light speckle around here.
Steady Kenn bursts out from belowdecks, knocking Orto back on his arse.
He's brandishing a parcel hook and one foot is stuck in a bucket.
"Lemme attem!" he cries.
Another gnome and a half-elf follow, their eyes flickering about nervously. They are garbed as engineers.
There are six corpses of the greeblies and one mess of half-cooked octopus on the deck.
One is the blow-gun fighter with the eye-patch, he wears some kind of chitnous armour.
Second is the robed caster, pinned beneath the mortally wounded Puku.
The others are naked but for their spears.
The Skippebble remains on course for the Yellow Isle.
"Puku's bleeding out!" Kat hollers at Orna, "Get over here, make sure he gets the blessing! The rest of us will huddle up."
From memory, Orna was mostly tapped out but still had two channels left, she's gonna pop 'em both...
Golden light wells from the the throat of the hobbit and spills over you all, you feel warm and sleepy for a second, then somewhat recovered...
I have applied the +7 HP to your counters in Roll20 so they remain accurate. That puts Apparicio at 16/16, Kat at 19/20, and Puku at 5/28.
------
LOOTING
Based on your positions on the map I have assumed Apparicio takes a look at the corpse of the greebly caster, and Kat checks out the feller-with the blow-gun. I also assume you Detect Magic and all the usual stuff.
Apparicio, you take a look at the body once the revived Puku deigns to roll off of it ("Far out, swimmin' down under the ground again!" you hear the battered half-orc comment, though you're not sure what this means).
The greebly lies in a pool of blue ichor with its tentacles splayed across the deck haphazardly. You prod the loathsome little thing a couple of times with your ranseur before continuing.
The robe it wears is made out of a yellow-brown leathery substance which you'd hazard is fashioned from a type of seaweed somehow. Looks like it would fit Orna, though you doubt she'd want to wear it. Non-magical, possibly of some value as a curio.
It died gripping what appears to be a wand (detects as magical). It's a long finger of pinkish-orange coral with script of some sort carved spiraling along its length.
Muttering a quick prayer to Abadar, you attempt to attune yourself to the thing and glean its secrets...
...but it defeats you, perhaps due to its exotic provenance. You are able to glean that it is infused with healing magic, and that its powers are tied to the ocean somehow.
Hanging from a sash about its shoulders it had a Small Masterwork Warhammer fashioned from what appears to be obsidian, stylized quite intriguingly into the shape of a squat creature like a seahorse, with the head of the hippocampus the head, too, of the hammer. Non-magical.
Also attached to the sash is a pouch of some sort, or at least you take it to be a pouch at first. On closer inspection, it seems organic in nature. It's brown, damp, about the size of a loaf of bread and shaped like a kidney. When you touch it, it has an unpleasantly soft and yielding surface and water wells around your fingertips where you prod it. It has a sphincter-like aperture at one end. Non-magical.
------
Kat
Inspecting the other body of what appears to be a "named" greebly, you also find an alien pouch of the type described above.
Its armour is made of gray/green chitinous plates, and the look of it reminds you of eating lobster. From what Puku's weapons have done to it you deem it inferior to conventional metal armour.
Its blowgun is made of some boney substance and has four knuckle like structure along its length.
It had some kind of sword, though the blade is a spur of cartilaginous material with close-knit, jagged teeth projecting from each edge. You test it against your thumb, the teeth are razor sharp -t though uncertain of the weapons durability you suspect it would inflict most grievous wounds.
Nothing magical on him.
The other dead greeblies are nude and carry nothing but their spears and a few pretty sea-shells.
Time for XP! - will catch up on a play report later...
Iacobus Apparicio
1000 XP
250 for his role in the bar-fight at the Captain's Repose (even tho he cheated)
300 for besting the early morning ambush by Scalers
350 for repelling the Grinne-dyloch assault on the Skippebble
100 for witnessing and surviving the passage of some titanic thing...
Katerina Crowley
950 XP
100 for proposing the drinking bout and seconding Puku, thereby winning the reluctant aid of Lenny and Orto
100 for role-playing Kat's self-destructive geas
300 for the Scaler ambush
350 for the Grinne-dyloch assault
100 for the passage of the titan
Puku
1050 XP
100 for winning the bout
200 for the bar-fight
300 for the Scaler ambush
350 for the Grinne-dyloch assault
100 for the passage of the titan
Orna also got 650 for her role in combat, leaving her just 100XP shy of Level 3. NPCs don't get 'Story' awards.
Play report 8/1/14
The Captain revealed that the greeblies who assualted the ship are known as "the Grinne-dyloch" (a name of Orcish origin), and are normally a relatively minor nautical menace. A sneak attack like this in numbers is apparently quite unusual.
The party met two more crew-members who had remained below-decks during the fight (to Orto's disgust):
Keppler, a gnome - ship's engineer
Weldon Saddler, a half-elf - his assistant
The Captain said a few words to the crew regarding the death of Bess and thanked the party for their part in repelling the assault. But he re-iterated that run must continue as the miners are depending on them to re-supply food and water.
The sailor Grallen commemorated the death of his ship-mate by firing the Grinne-dyloch corpses overboard from the catapult.
“Let their dead rain down on those fukcers, sneaking about on the ocean floor, then they’ll think twice! Then they'll think again!”
Kat and Apparicio experimented with the coral wand from the Grinne-dyloch priest, and after a false start determined that it has healing powers (equivalent to CLW), but does not work unless the subject is wet with saltwater. This is the Wand of the Ocean's Balm.
They also poked around with the disgusting spongey things, determining that one of them was full of seawater and some pulpy blue thing, then they got grossed out and decided to keep them in a bucket of salt-water for now.
Puku salvaged some flash-cooked meat from the big octopus that Captain Saltpepper blew up with black powder (+2 rations)
As the Skippebble progressed towards the island it became apparent that Keppler and the Captain were worried about the ship's performance, with the Iounic Furnace producing a fluttery, uneven torque, and the swell rising.
Due to their lateness and concern about conditions on the far side of the island, Orto and Lenny loaded up the jolly-boat with supplies to be taken the to the miner's camp on the west side of the island and set off alone.
The Skippebble continued on to the bay where they would re-supply the mine itself and take on crates of ore in the morning. It was sunset by the time they arrived, the crew showed some concern that none of the miners appeared on the jetty to welcome them.
"Perhaps they went back to camp already," Grallen surmised, "She's a treacherous trail in the dark."
The Captain was concerned that the should be expected. It was decided to ferry Grallen and the party over in a rowboat powered by Steady Kenn. This was achieved, and Kenn rowed back to the Skippebble as the high swells and rocky shores made it inadvisible to dock at the jetty.
Puku fell in the water on the way in, and since he was already wet, the group took the opportunity to further heal him with the Wand of the Ocean's Balm.
This part of the island is open to the volcanic crater to the north east, and is utterly barren. The view into the crater is obscured a few hundred feet in by great plumes of smoke, and the roar of fumeroles is as constant as the stench of sulphur.
The party headed a short walk north-east to a set of blocky utilitarian buildings, which Grallen indicated was the mining base where sulphurous rocks would be ground up and packed down for shipping to Andersport.
As the party approached, there were no signs of life, and Grallen noted that the mine's donkeys were missing from their stables, which should not be the case if the miner's had gone by stealth. Grallen became a-frighted, and thereafter the party proceeded cautiously.
The donkeys were soon discovered in a small round building housing a crankshaft - still hobbled to the wheel, they had been bloodily slaughtered. (A ginger tom-cat was also there, enjoying a meal).
In the main building (where the rocks are ground up), two of the miners where found dead, and a strange being like an obese man with leathery skin and rudimentary facial features was trapped with its legs mashed in the rock grinder. Kat recognised it as an Infernal outsider, a
nupperibbo, one of the lowest of the low in the hierarchy of the Hells.
The party were unable to communicate with the feeble, crippled monstrosity and Orna ruthlessly splattered its head apart with a Grinne-dyloch mace.
Puku exmained the soft, dry dirt around the area for tracks found the earth had a tale to tell. It seems a group of men had arrived from the east, likewise a jumbled set of "monstrous" tracks of diverse size and nature.
It appears that a group of men and monsters left again heading westward. Grallen thought it likely that the men were running for the trail back to the camp, and the monsters pursuing them. One set of booted feet also headed north, inland into the crater, as did a smaller number of monster tracks.
"That's crazy," commented Grallen, "whoever he is, once he's past the totems he'll be fukced!"
It was now dark and a terrified Grallen was eager to return to the Skippebble. The party walked back to the end of the jetty and used a magically illuminated pebble to signal the Skippebble.
As they waited for Steady Kenn to come back and pick them up, they heard a buzzing noise something like a giant blow-fly moving around in their vicinity. They were unable to determine the source and were discussing the matter with alarm when a new noise intruded above the roar of the fumeroles and the wash of the sea. A long creaking moan, distant to the north, and an ongoing series of concussive thuds. Puku, blessed with his orcish night vision, moved a ways north to investigate as the sounds got louder and the party began to feel the great thumps tremble the ground beneath their feet.
Meanwhile the others could spy the rowboat slowly approaching with a lantern on its prow.
Puku saw lights, low in the sky inland. Bands of dull orange, swinging in strange sweeps, somethimes winking in and out, and getting closer even as the oppressive noise did.
Puku ran back to the party. Something gargantuan was headed their way. Grallen broke and began hollering at Steady Kenn to hurry up, and the confused cries of the half-wit came back.
Puku threw a light-shedding pebble towards the approaching titan thing, and the party glimpsed party of a huge gray leg, and a lizard-like foot of bone easily some twenty-feet across.
It was clear that the rowboat would never reach them in time, and the party ran to the base of the jetty and started heading around the rocks to the south-east.
The giant thing stepped out into the sea, the crash of its feet raising great waves that surged across the bay, threatening to drag our heroes from the rocks and into the whirling waters.
The party distantly heard cries of alarm from the Skippebble.
Puku and Apparicio were both washed into the water and were fortunate to survive, but in the end everyone was able to clamber up high enough to be safe, though Kat sprained her ankle along the way.
The titanic thing had moved past them, straight out into the bay, and the party heard cries of alarm, screams and the crack and crunch of timber torn asunder.
With his night-vision, Puku had discerned the outlines of the thing asit passed, and its general lines perversely reminded him of the tiny emerald-green geckos of the forest at home. His view was unclear, just glimpses stolen while clambering over the rocks for dear life, but he thought the thing must be a hundred foot long or more.
Cold, bedraggled, clinging to the rocks, the part waited some ten minutes or so, at last it seemed the horror had passed.
They climbed back on shore and moved around the back of the small headland they had been climbing, to a bay on the other side, keeping the headland between them and the path the titan had just followed.
Now, sore, wet and exhausted, they sit slumped on the soft earth just above the rocky shore, coonsidering their fate.
To the south-east, a yellow sickle moon is rising over the ocean, swollen fat and stark in its detail. It's kind of beautiful.
Apparicio has lost his ranseur. He and Puku may have lost other items, I'll make some rolls later.
Currently the sky is mostly clear and now that the moon has risen the light is a bit better for non-Pukus. There is a breeze that's making you shiver as you're all soaked to the bone.
"Puku! The Skippebble! Can you see it! Where's Steady Kenn! Is everyone OK!"
Kat winces as she puts weight on her injured ankle
"Orna, babe. Can you have a look at my ankle? I think I twisted it..."
Orna stops smirking at the moonrise and toddles over, clucking sympathetically.
"Well Kat I'm about pooped! I don't think I open myself to The Flow right now, my head's all muddled... let's get that boot off though."
Kat grits her teeth as Orna carefully removes her right boot.
She lays her plump little palms on the ankle and begins tenderly kneading at the inflammed flesh...
...she works at the injury for several minutes. The whole time she is explaining her belief that sparrows are capable of entering human dreams. Kat feels like alternating hot and cool fluids are pulsing through the joint, even as Orna's weird words slather her brain. Gradually she realizes the pain has eased.
Orna anoints Kat's ankle in a white unguent and tightly binds the joint with bandages.
She nods at Kat and smiles with satisfaction.
"Should be a bit better."
She yawns and stretches.
"Huh, I was hoping to sleep in a hammock tonight like a real sailor! I guess it's not to be. There must be somewhere comfortable around here, don't you think?"
Kat regained 1 HP and no longer has a penalty to her base speed. But she can't charge or run in combat for the time being.
Orna used up 1 use of her healer's kit.
Speaking of "hardcore", characters who fell into the raging waters might've lost or had their items damaged.
Randomly determined, with some semi-rational adjustment of the odds based on the type of item
Apparicio takes stock.
* He dropped his ranseur.
* His pouch of sling bullets has been ripped from his belt. Great, a sling with no bullets...
One strap of his backpack slipped the buckle, luckily he caught the other strap in the crook of his elbow and didn't lose the whole thing, but it's been saturated, battered, and hanging half open while he was roiled around...
* Dag nab it! One of his Pot CLW shattered.
* Good thing he kept his papers in a scroll box. Wait a minute, where's the scroll box? Sh!t...!
* What? My Thief's Tools missing as well!?!?
Everything else is okay.
Apparicio congratulates himself on not bringing any rations because he hates soggy food.
[b]Puku[b] takes stock...
Aw, pretty sweet...?
His morningstar is gone.
In the pack, everything got wet but two of Puku's food rations have deteriorated into inedible mush.
That's all.
"Aw bo, stink as! You lost all your sh!t eh!" The Barbarian attempted to console the shivering popinjay, "We'll go look for stuff in the morning eh! No worries!"
Puku looks up from his offhand comment to look directly at the currently transmogrofied Appariccio, and with a start, toppled backwards off his rock.
"Aw eh!" He ejaculated, emerging again, "I'd forgot you was a big taniwha now eh!"
Play report 23/1/14
As Kat stood and tested her weight on her bandaged ankle, she noticed a flat smooth surface among the rocks, catching the moonlight. Approaching closer, it proved to be a long wooden case, of fine make but battered by the elements. And a strangely familiar case at that - last seen in the Twisted Tiki back at Woodenhead, it was part of the family's effects brought from Almas - how did it come to be here?
Opening it, Kat found what she dared to hope for - it contained the heirloom blade of her great-great-uncle Abaddon Crowley, who had met his fate somewhere on an expedition to the Frozen North. The blade was known to be most puissant, a magical artefact with a mind of its own - yet since re-appearing mysteriously in the Crowley vault three generations ago, it had been silent and inert. And now it had seemingly transported itself once again.
Gripping the hilt, Kat felt something new, a responding surge of warmth and the tingle of mysterious energies warping about the black-bladed scimitar. The blade awakens!
"HI THERE!!! YOU MUST BE MY 'TRUE WIELDER'!!!" the scimitar yelled into her mind with excessive cheer.
After decades dormant, the thing seemed keen to bond with her - super-keen! The blade named itself as Thok-Mur-El and, seemingly eager for the taste of blood, nonchalantly suggested that she stab Puku or Apparicio (now transformed into Der Schrecken). It seemed unperturbed by her refusal, but continued to harp on about its thirst.
The blade seemed to remember little about itself other than its name and a distant memory of cold.
While Kat communed telepathically with her blade, the others discussed the next move. From the sounds they'd heard, they feared the Skippebble was wrecked. They decided to walk back around to the bay to confirm this, and check for any survivors or salvage washed ashore before moving to the shelter of the rock-cracking house for a much-needed rest.
The group moved back around the headland, and above the surge of the sea, Orna heard someone's cries for help out over the water. Der Schrecken, as swift in water as on land, dived off the jetty to investigate. Powering through the swell without too much difficulty, he came upon the half-orc Steady Kenn, clinging to a spar and clearly exhausted. Unfortunately, the dull-witted cabin boy took fright at the sight of Apparicio in his monstrous form and attempted to swim away. As Apparicio remonstrated with him, he felt a painful stab in his leg, and a heartbeat later Steady Kenn slipped suddenly beneath the waves.
Apparicio ducked beneath the waves, only to see - the Grinne-dyloch had struck again! Two had grappled Steady Kenn by the legs and were dragging him away. The half-orc clutched frantically towards Apparicio, his life's breath bubbling from his throat, but the summoner turned, leaving him to die.
Another of the Grinne-dyloch was between Der Schrecken and Der Shore - it jabbed Apparicio once more with its spear, but then the great rubber-skinned brute tore the squiddish greebly apart with one pass of his ghastly paws.
Apparicio swung back to shore - his compatriots had found nothing of value in their beach-combing. They moved back to the mine and prepared to rest in the tool shed...
Der Schrecken stalked over to the snoring Puku, and gently shook him with one claw. His deep, gurgling voice muttered, ”It is time to wake, friend.” This was not welcome news.
Once the half-orc had returned to his normal good-natured alertness, Der Schrecken desultorily spread out Apparicio’s bedroll, and put his blanket next to it. That little popinjay will be needing these. The monster then spread himself out there.
Sleep did not come quickly, but when it did Der Schrecken’s figure shuddered, almost as if having a seizure, and then shrunk back to the clothed form of Apparicio, who instinctively groped for his blanket and rolled himself up in it, muttering vaguely about his mother.
Apparicio slept heavily, with thin whistling snores. It had been a long time since he had fused with Der Schrecken; he had almost forgotten the power it represented, and the sensation of ripping enemies apart. He muttered words and grew large; his teeth ground as dreamed of ripping those grindillochs apart with his teeth, now massive and sharp.
(Of course, all Puku heard was Apparicio grinding his teeth, as if in anxiety.)
Somewhere, the jaundiced face of Ragnor appeared, floating out of the smoke like it used to when Apparicio was on the nod. Ragnor was rambling about what his eidolon had taught him of the planes. ”So you can see that all the planes are connected, and the problem is not sulphur but fluoride. Our brains are being rotted by it so we cannot see the truth of the shape-changing lizards...”
Apparicio could see now that Ragnor had been sliding between truths and half-truths, incapable of seeing the difference between his opium-fueled fantasies and the visions sent to him by Der Schrecken. Indeed, Apparicio now shared those visions, and could see fragments of those worlds. He could hear Der Schrecken’s voice explaining things.
Among the beings he saw were familiar animals--even that same sea eagle that had wreaked so much carnage, now stronger. There were wolves, giant spiders, and sea creatures like squid and even hideous octopuses. He could call them to his hand, and they would go where he pointed. He took pleasure in sending the nasty octopuses to the mouths of the wolves, who ripped them to pieces. He laughed, muttering ”Damned octopuses!”
(Puku simply heard him mutter ”octopuses”. Perhaps he was having a nightmare?)
Sitting up abruptly in his troubled sleep, Apparicio hoicked a prodigious ball of spittle out of his mouth; a brief look would have revealed that on hitting the ground it sizzled, leaving a black mark. But Puku was the only one awake, and he had no interest in investigating the effects of Apparico’s new cantrip “Acid Splash”. Apparicio rolled back into his blanket and slept soundly, silently.
Travelling over the sea from Absalom in long conversations with sailors and fellow travellers, and then in Andersport and more lately in conversation with Captain Parsonsnot Saltpepper, Apparicio has learned much of the natural world and how to live in it. It had scarcely seemed real in the big smoke, but now that things were dismally real, what had been abstract came into clear focus.
"Hey Hon! Time to get up!"
Kat rubs her bleary eyes and sits up, she had been dreaming of swimming in a sea of warm, sticky wine.. or was it blood?
Thok-Mur-El's voice chirps cheerfully inside her head
"Boy I'm famished! Are you sure you couldn't slide into that big green guys heart? Maybe just for a little bit? he's sleeping, he wouldn't even notice..."
Kat groans " Cayden's balls! I told you blade, Puku is a friend! If what I read at the academy was true where theres one demon there's a hundred! This island is probably crawling with them! There'll be plenty of nasty souls for you to drink soon enough!"
"If you say so hon!"
Kat sits down with her spellbook and begins the complicated process of cramming the squirming arcane symbols into her mind. She concentrates on some notes she has scrabbled in the margin, an invisibility spell? Not quite..
She notices something moving out of the corner of her eye. A small dark shape scuttles into the stone crusher room.
Drawing her sword she sneaks over to investigate. To her horror a cockroach the size of a small dog is gnawing on the limb arm of one of the slain miners
"Ew! Gross!"
She lashes out with her sword at the vermin
"Oh boy!" Thok-Mur-El squeals - the scimitar seems to shimmer for a moment as oily black flames writhe along the blade.
Kat eyes widen! Necromancy!
The ruby at the swords hilt glows red for a moment and seems to strike of its own volition.
Kat thrusts at the bug but the weight of the sword drags her arm down. The bug scuttles away unharmed
"Aw nuts! We nearly had em!"
The dark flames gutter out
"Say, we aren't gonna get far if you use me like you did your little pig sticker!" The sword jiggles in her grip
"But all I ever learnt was fencing, and I'm not strong enough to use use you like a rapier!" Kat whines
"Aw heck girl! You don't have to be strong! You just gotta be quick! More importantly, you gotta have style! Try using me again, this time with some fancy foot work"
With the encouragement and advice of Thok-Mur-El Kat soon gains confidence wielding the black blade. A combination of skips, feints and twirls allows her to use her momentum to slash with the blade with great force
"Great work honey! I think we're gonna have a lot of fun together!" Thok-Mur-El laughs
"But seriously, I gotta feed soon or I'm liable to lose my f%@#ing mind..."