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Well, this last month my group started the Savage Tides adventure path. I thought it might be fun to keep a journal online to help me remember all the important NPCs and places we encounter. Please feel free to respond with your experiences on what we've already encountered. Please don't post about things that we haven't gotten to on this thread as I'm a player, not a DM of this one.
To start let me just give you a breakdown on the party. We play with 32 pt. buy, set in Greyhawk with Action Points from Eberron and Renaissance firearms from the DMG. The party are all humans who grew up in Sasserine. Our DM gave us a District Feat as a bonus feat. The party consists of:
Larat, Male Human Favored Soul of Bahamut
Freya, Female Human Swashbuckler
Ancelyn, Female Human Duskblade
and me, Syn, Male Human Gun Mage (adapted from Iron Kingdoms)
We started off not knowing each other except for Larat and myself, we both grew up in Merchant's District. The game starts with us receiving an invitation from Lavinia Vanderboren.
The trouble all started when I got that letter from Lavinia Vanderboren. I got to her manor around sundown and she was still in a meeting. While waiting around a couple of other people showed up, 2 girls and Larat. Eventually, the people Lavinia was speaking with before us stepped out, a human male in breastplate with a sword, a half-elf male with a bunch of daggers, a dwarf in green and brown with a spear and a human woman with a tatoo on her face, I would later find out they were the Jade Ravens. Lavinia introduced herself and said that she had heard rumors of each of us and she thought we might be able to help her. First there was Ancelyn, who had graduated at the top of her class at the House of the Dragon. Next, there was Freya, who won last year's annual summer swimming competition that the Church of Kord sponsors. Then there was Larat, who had been born under some Draconic prophecy. Finally there was myself, who was the new up and comer of the Arena and who's sister was part of the team that won the last Free City Games. My character's sister is a renowned sword fighter and was a respected member of Zelkarune's Horns she hasn't been seen since she came back briefly after winning the Champions Belt. As a result of my sister's success I hate swords and living in her shadow, which is why my character constantly talks about the superiorty of guns. We were offered 200gp each to help her get her father's ring back so she could access her family's vault. Only problem was her father's ring was on his ship which the Harbor Master had impounded and one of his dogs, Soller Vark took her money that would have gotten the ship out of impound. We settled on 300gp each and set out later that night. We found her ship, the Blue Nixie, moored away from the dock. We came up with a plan where Larat, Ancelyn and myself headed towards the ship on a rowboat we found while Freya swam to the other side to sneak aboard the boat and look for the ring. Thanks to Ancelyn and her legs we got the crew to let us aboard the ship. Things quickly devolved to fighting as Soller Vark and his crew thought to make Ancelyn their plaything. Most of the crew ran off as soon as they were injured and Soller Vark jumped ship when Freya ran behind him and used her spiked chain to injure him. He yelled something about "burn it down" and we heard a commotion from below deck. A lone crewman with a torch was lighting fires in cages with exotic animals. Using my talent with magic, I channeled a Ray of Frost and put out the torch while Ancelyn jumped down and put out another small fire with a Ray of Frost of her own. Some strange bug creature suddenly appeared and killed the crewman. I fired my gun and the thing still wasn't slowed. Ancelyn delivered a mighty swing and managed to stagger it but with its last ounce of strength, it grabbed her and delivered a nearly lethal bite. Thankfully Larat could use divine magic and he was able to save her life. We eventually found the ring and a piece of parchment listing a bunch of monsters facing sunrise or sunset. We then sailed the ship to Azure district and released the animals. In actuality we sold the animals on the black market. I had managed to stabalize the strange bug creature and we donated it to the Zelkarune's Horns for use in the arena. Pleased with our success, Lavinia offered us a job of working for her at 100gp/month. Our next mission was to escort her to Castle Teraknian and her family vault. What a mess that was! First we're attacked by an Iron Cobra, which nearly takes me out with one bite, leaving me staggered and poisoned. Then we had to figure out how to access her money which was hidden behind a combination lock, using the note we found earlier, we determined that the eyes were the key and sunrise being east meant to move the pillar to the right on the monsters facing sunrise and to the left on monsters facing sunset. The damn Umber Hulk gave us the most problem as none of us could decide how many eyes it had and it took a few tries before we got it right. I was not happy that I was so badly injured on such an easy assignment, I just wanted my money. Then we found that most of her family's funds had been depleted. Seems she has a brother who had been dipping into the family vault. Our next mission was to find her brother, Vanthus. We started by asking around in Azure District and found that he had been shacking up with a former pick pocket turned artist named Brissa, but we were unable to find any more info on either of them in Azure District. Hearing that Brissa was a pickpocket I got the idea we should try Shadowshore next. This paid off, while we had to leave most of our money at home we found that Vanthus was recently seen in the company of a known smuggler named Penkus. They were both last seen making a scene at It Still Floats. We headed over to It Still Floats and after conning the dwarven owner Panchi that a silver coin I was flipping was a platinum coin, he let us know they set sail towards Parrot Island. I tossed him the coin and ran like hell which is probably why I didn't notice the pickpocket till I ran into him. He failed to get anything from me and I noticed the attempt so he offered to take us directly to Vanthus. We had him lead the way and we went to Parrot Island on his little boat. He lead us to a hatch that lead into some smuggling tunnels, he said Vanthus was below but refused to go in. To err on the side of safety, we knocked him out and descended down expecting a trap. Vanthus then appeared above use, cutting the rope we used to get in the tunnel and throwing the now dead body of the pickpocket in the tunnel before sealing us in. I knew this guy was going to be trouble....
Well, our group managed to find ourselves trapped in some old smuggling tunnels beneath Parrot Island and to our dismay, it seemed we were not alone. The bloody tunnels were filled with undead horrors. Things got a bit rough at one point, so we jury rigged a couple of doors shut and set watches in an abandoned room we found that had some beds. Some zombies broke in during our last watch but we were rested and prepared for the undead menace. While searching for another way out, we found the body of Penkus, the smuggler who was working with Vanthus. He had a note which pointed to Vanthus as the instigator of his demise. The note also mentioned a group known as The Lotus which could be found beneath Taxidermist Hall that Vanthus was apparently working with. In the same area we also found several locked chests and uncovered a gem which could summon forth an earth elemental for a short time. We rushed back to the original entrance and were able to use the Earth Elemental to clear the obstruction over the exit and secure a rope so we could escape. Once out we started searching for information about the Lotus and discovered that the Lotus referred to The Lotus Dragons, the toughest gang of thieves in Sasserine. Our asking questions did not go unnoticed. We were warned by a mysterious appearing note that if we continued to "poke our noses where they don't belong" we'd meet an unfortunate accident. We decided to lay low for a few days and get to know our employer. After the brief delay, we headed for Taxidermist Hall to attempt to find the entrance to the Lotus Dragons hideout. The owner of the Taxidermist Hall was none to cooperative and after a brief fight which resulted in some minor fire damage and the loss of several stuffed monsters, we found where the entrance to the hideout was and received some keys so we could enter. I just hope we're prepared to take on a group of thieves in their own den...
We entered into the Lotus' den and after heading down a hallway found a pool with two watery tunnels leading out of it. Entering the pool was probably the dumbest idea I've had yet... Turns out it was guarded by a bunch of strange ray like creatures that outmaneuvered us and delivered vicious wounds upon our bodies. Twice, I felt the clammy hand of death touch my soul only to be repelled by Larat's timely healing. We beat a retreat to the shore and once out of the water, the advantage quickly turned to us. The remaining creatures swam out one of the tunnels, allowing us to enter the other. We found a small beach there and 3 of the strange bug creature we fought below the Blue Nixie. Having faced this foe before, we were better prepared and they fell with little effort on our part. Unfortunately, there was only a dead end past the bugs which meant we had to swim through the tunnel again. The damn ray creatures were waiting for us and attacked as soon as we exited the tunnel. While we finally defeated all of them I once again fell victim to their attacks and found myself in a dark tunnel with a strange light at the end. Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared in the tunnel. It spoke in an unsettling voice and asked if I wanted to live. Of course I wanted to live, what kind of question was that? The figure held out its hand and I noticed it had six fingers. The voice came again and offered me the power to survive, the power to live all I had to do was take its hand and power would be mine. I grasped the hand and the voice screamed in my head, "You belong to me now! My power shall course through your veins and you shall live! But should you fall, then all that you are becomes mine as I take back my power!" When I awoke my companions had already finished off the rays and pulled me from the water. I knew then that I had made a terrible mistake. Still I did have a new power burning within me which I found out later allows me to blast my foes with arcane energy, although it seemed I traded off my skill with pistol and traditional spells for that power. I found that with my new power I could take an aquatic form by calling on the River Styx. I swam down the tunnel the rays came from and found another entrance into the Lotus' den. Figuring they knew we were coming from the Taxidermist Hall we headed towards this new entrance and managed to clear a room with some Lotus Dragons in it. Now we were finally makin progress. We encountered a Worg in another room but after conning it into thinking we belong there we were able to get into the rest of the lair. Man, Vanthus had better be down here after everything we've gone through!
The GunMage wasn't really working out as a class for me, so my DM allowed me to change my character into a Warlock, we just waited till we gained a level and I came up with the idea that I got the power from Graz'zt when I was dropped to negatives for the third time that night.
While continuing to explore the Lotus Dragon Den, I found that I could trust myself less. The new power I had gained gave a euphoric sensation whenever I managed to kill a foe. I feel like something is whispering to me to crush any who get in my way. Had my companions not continued to stop me, who knows how far I may have fallen. We caught a lucky break when we ran into a kobold cook named, Churtle. Churtle led us through the winding passages to reach her mistress, the leader of the Lotus Dragons. Along the way we encountered Soller Vark once more. I blasted him with arcane energy but my companions knocked him out before I could finish him off. Once they tied him up and brought him back to consciousness, we got him to tell us where Vanthus is. According to Vark, Vanthus was heading out to meet the Crimson Fleet in an attempt to steal from them. Vanthus is a bigger fool than I first thought him to be. Stealing from the Crimson Fleet is a sure fire way to get himself killed. Ancelyn knocked Vark out once more and we continued to follow Churtle to her mistress' chambers. Churtle's mistress and leader of the Lotus Dragons was Rowyn Kellani. We managed to ruin any chance Vanthus had of returning to the Lotus Dragons by presenting the note from Penkus to Rowyn. We were then offered a very lucrative position of working with the Lotus Dragons, all we had to do was take the remaining money from Lavinia's vault. I would have been up for it but the others could not betray a former employer that way. Rowyn then launched an attack, having her dragon-like companion, Gut Tugger attack us. Rowyn in the meantime drank a potion and became a cloud of smoke. She managed to float through a crack in a wall then after rematerializing she drank another potion which allowed her to run away faster then I could catch up. My companions managed to finish off Gut Tugger at least and we proceeded to loot her cache. We found a fair amount of wealth including a large sum of the missing Vanderboren treasury. We also found love letters to Rowyn from Vanthus, which included details of his murdering his parents. We returned to Lavinia and gave her back the money that rightfully belonged to her. We also presented her with the letters detailing how her brother murdered their parents. Lavinia was naturally heart broken and now presented us with the new challenge of bringing her brother to justice, though if he should die in the process she won't shed too many tears. After all the hassle we've gone through to locate her brother, we finally got a couple of days off.