Savage Tide (Player Journal)
‘A Life of (mis)Adventure’ by Monrose Khan (half-orc fighter)
DAY 1: Received letter inviting me to meet Lady Lavinia Vanderborn at her manor house in the noble district. Writing was so fancy I could barely read the directions to her place. I had to ask the way from a snooty couple strolling through one of the parks they love so much, away from the grime and industry of the lower city. They looked at me like I’d just dropped out of their dog’s arse, couldn’t believe I had an appointment with a fancy lady like Lavinia Vanderboren. I told them she must have heard of my heroic exploits and decided to employ my services, probably as a bodyguard. When the man in the top hat suggested she might be looking for someone to clean her latrines, it was all I could not to punch him smack in his toffee nose!
Eventually found my way to the right house and banged on the front door. I was ushered inside by an elderly halfling house servant, who led me to a comfortable waiting room where three others were already seated. The one to immediately draw my attention was a bright eyed dwarf with a wild tangle of ginger hair. I’m not sure what surprised me the most, the fact that he had no beard at all – or the fact that he was grinning. All the dwarves I’ve ever met have been a dour and miserable lot, this young firebrand looked positively cheerful! One of his arms trailed over the edge of the couch and scratched behind the ear of a strange, clockwork wolf. Beside the dwarf sat an ancient gnome, hidden behind a huge tome from which he was reading. Finally, an attractive elven woman stood by the window overlooking the manor grounds, gazing out over Sasserine towards the distant wilderness beyond the city walls. These strangers introduced themselves as Dulon Meir (and his construct, Arkinax II), Kozlo Crosgrey and Alanya Oakheart. I made my way over to the latter and introduced myself, but she hadn’t heard of my heroics and seemed doggedly resistant to my rugged charm. Thwarted, I flopped down opposite the dwarf and glared at his mechanical ‘companion’, trying to understand how that jumble of whirring gears could create the semblance of life. Dulon’s enthusiastic attempt to explain only left me more confused than when I had sat down.
Footsteps approached and we all rose (except the gnome, who just continued reading his book), expecting to greet our hostess. Four hardy looking characters appeared from an antechamber, I immediately recognised them from their distinctive green armour – the Jade Ravens! You cannot pass a night drinking in Sasserine without hearing a story about one of their daring adventures. Their leader, Tolin Kientae paused and said to us; “Ah, so you must be Lavinia’s new errand boys. Well, good luck!” I was so surprised to have met one of my personal heroes that it took a few moments to register the dismissive tone with which he had addressed us. I did not have time to linger over his disdainful words, as he and the Jade Ravens walked on, the old halfling woman reappeared and swept us into the presence of her mistress.
Lavinia Vanderboren greeted us formally and bid us be seated while she explained her ‘delicate’ situation. I had trouble focussing on her words, so captivated was I by her beauty. How foolish of me to feel snubbed by Alanya, when this lovely creature had been waiting but a few rooms away. I forced myself to focus on her plight, as only by stunning Lavinia with my heroic actions could I hope to win her heart. It seems her parents recently died in a tragic fire and left the family in debt. The Vanderboren fortune will settle those balances, but the money is sealed in a secure vault beneath Castle Teraknian and Lavinia cannot get inside without her father’s enchanted ring. This ring is secure on her father’s ship; The Blue Nixie, which has been seized by a group of villains who claim Lavinia has not settled her mooring fees. She knows that she did make that payment to the harbour master’s office and suspects that the thugs have impounded her family’s boat for some nefarious purpose. Our job (for which we will each be paid two hundred gold pieces) is to find out what the thug called Soller Vark is doing aboard The Blue Nixie and recover the payment that he has stolen from her.
As we ere leaving, I notice Alanya had fallen behind to study a portrait of a serious-looking young man with a strong family resemblance to our employer. Lavinia explained that this was a painting of her estranged brother Vanthus Vanderboren. Speaking of her sibling seemed to steal some of the sunlight out of Lavinia’s smile, so I left without asking any further questions.
DAY 1 (continued): We headed straight for the harbour district, where Lavinia had told us The Blue Nixie would be moored. The ship was not where it was supposed to be, but I spotted it anchored some hundred feet from the end of the pier, out in open water. Nobody wanted to risk swimming out to the vessel (fishermen speak of predatory creatures lurking beneath the surface of the bay), so we paid a grizzled, old angler to row us out to the boat. Our approach was challenged by a pair of crossbow-wielding goons. We told them we had been sent by Lavinia Vanderboren to pay Soller Vark the money that was owed. This was, of course, a complete fabrication, while the chest that we had ferried out from the mainland was certainly not empty, nor did it contain gold. The mooks agreed for two of us to come aboard while they went to fetch their boss. Dulon and I climbed up alone. The dwarven artificer had left his clockwork wolf on the dockyards for fear of it falling into the water.
Soller Vark turned out to be a singularly unpleasant and unsanitary brute, who expressed his coarse displeasure that Lavinia had not “bought her fine ass” down to pay her debts in person. It was all I could do to restrain myself from attacking him there and then! Vark snatched the chest out of Dulon’s hands and wrenched open the lid – out popped the clockwork spider that the dwarf had hidden inside! As Vark struggled to detach the tiny construct from his face, Dulon and I attacked! I drove my spear through the throat of the nearest smuggler, while my dwarven ally produced a sawn-off blunderbuss from inside his coat and blasted a second thug into a fine, red mist. Below us, Alanya and Kozlo had started to climb. Surprised, the rest of the smugglers wasted precious seconds just staring at us in slack-jawed astonishment before groping for their weapons. Vark snatched his sword from his belt and slashed blindly at Dulon, who blocked the blade with the barrel of his firearm. More smugglers rushed across the deck to help their boss and I moved to intercept them. Before I could reach them, they were engulfed in a cone of fiery death! I stared all around for this new threat and saw Kozlo smirking at me, the end of his staff still smoking slightly. The gnome is a wizard?! I didn’t have too long to think about this development as some of the thugs on the edge of the blast had only been shaken. I jabbed one with my spear and down he went, pinned to the scorched deck. Then I noticed that the gnome’s magic had set the ship ablaze! Bloody wizard!!!
There was a lot of commotion in the hold, a bowel-loosening roar followed by quite a lot of screaming as something huge burst through the deck from below – a vast, bristly monster that looked like some nightmarish cross between a spider and a rhinoceros! Soller Vark had not noticed the creature clambering out of the gaping hole in the deck, he still had the mechanical spider hugging his face and was preoccupied fighting Dulon. He managed to disarm the dwarf and deal him a bloody gash across his chest! I was too far away to help, but I saw Alanya raise her bow and take aim at Vark. Kozlo grabbed her arm and urged her to save her arrows. Moments later, the beast from the hold attacked Vark, impaling the villain on the gnarled horn above its cluster of malevolent eyes. Now that the monster had dealt with Vark, the elf fired on it – but her arrow only bounced off its tough, chitinous armour and caused it to orientate its next charge on her! Even Kozlo’s magic failed to stun the beast! Hoping to distract the monster before it trampled Alanya beneath its eight rough-shod hooves (as far I am concerned, the gnome could do with a bit of trampling, builds character), I charged and drove my spear between the plates of its armour. The beast roared in pain and anger, I had its full attention now! Hopefully Alanya noticed my bravery. Maybe someone would tell Lavinia too. If I were wounded in this fight, might I wake up with both beauties at my bedside, feeding me grapes and nursing me back health with soft words and softer touches…? The remaining smugglers seemed to have lost the will to fight and were leaping from the burning ship into the sea. The beast lunged at me, but I turned the attack aside with my spear and countered. As the monster opened its mouth to bellow its fury full in my face, Kozlo hopped between us and projected a cone of fire straight down the beast’s gullet, cooking it from the inside out. The wizard smirked up at me as Alanya rushed over to congratulate him on his bravery. Bloody wizard!!!!!