The majority of this week’s game took place over email conversations. Below is a rough transcript:
From: DM
To: Gaming Group
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 7:49 AM
After Phargaryn’s rock deploys it’s payload, things settle down. Miriana (presumably) gets her tea, Genn and Orad both leave the house to attend to ‘personal issues’ (Genn returns shortly with a bottle under his arm, but doesn’t comment to it), and Udyr and Kirmaul work on their own personal projects while Three goes about making a small meal in the kitchen – she can see the group’s had a long day, and as she’s been doing most of the grocery shopping just to fill the hours she sets to making a stew. Miriana tries to help out, but keeps getting politely shooed away by your silent houseguest. All in all, other than the brooding silence coming from Genn’s corner as he mulls something over, it’s a peaceful and quiet evening spent at home with your friends and companions.
It is thus that much more disconcerting when Selsarris walks up the stairs from your basement. “I LOOOVE what you’e done with the place.” he sneers, iridescent saliva flecking the walls. “The secret room behind the rotating wall – classy! Still, it could use a bit more decoration – perhaps you should hire a decorator? I could make a recommendation.”
As the group stares in shock and silence, there’s a crash from the kitchen as Three drops the pot she’s holding and lunges for her bow, lying unstrung against the wall. The slassan raises one of it’s front legs and with a word freezes her in place. You can see the muscles in her arms and back straining as she tries to break free of the spell, and the terror in her eyes as she continues to stare between the monster in your living room and the rest of you doing nothing.
“Please keep your guard dog on a leash, mmmm? While it doesn’t surprise me that you haven’t told your friend here of your recent partnership, I’d prefer not to have to kill again today. I’m here because you need to know of the next of your tasks in our little….endeavor.”
From: Genn Belorn
To: Gaming Group
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 9:21 AM
Genn has been oddly . . . friendly the last few days, certainly after his
confrontations with the Champion of Justice, as well as Miriana. Things
that would normally elicit a snide remark from him have only gotten a
silent smirk — even Miriana’s odd behavior and sometimes childish ways.
The other members of the Stormfront can tell he’s mulling over a burden in
his mind; the frequent loud sighs and distant look imply something weighs
heavily on his mind, or perhaps his conscience.
When the slassan appears, Genn is as shocked as everyone else, but quickly
recovers. As he speaks, he walks casually around the room toward Miriana,
trying to glance nonchalantly at his companions and the lay of the room,
and hoping the rest of the Stormfront is also moving into a position to
fight, should it come to that. “You’re right, but we’re still making
improvements. The insect problem in the basement is a particular pain in
the ass,” he quips, trying to hide his fear of the creature with sarcasm.
“For a power that’s reputed to be always lurking in the shadows and
playing behind the scenes, you’re grasp of subtly is poor — and coming
from a company such as ours, that’s almost insulting,” he continues,
growing bolder. “Let Three go; I promise I won’t let her kill you until
we’ve had our words.” He glaces over at the assassin, smiling to reassure
her and convince her to back down. “Now, what could possibly justify this
intrusion?”
From: DM
To: Gaming Group
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 10:12 AM
“To be fair, your meat did hang curtains up a few days ago. We are relatively private, lest someone kick your door in again.” With a wave, Three once more can move. She looks to Genn with a look of relief tinged with confusion, and remains close to the door and at ready should things get interesting. Meanwhile, the slassan composes itself at the head of your staircase and seems to revel in the discomfort.
“Kisonraaliisar returned to me this evening on his own two feet, a feat (it snickers) for which he seems to feel a disturbing amount of pride given that his own failure caused the issue. Regardless – your recover of his gear was impressive, timely, and seems to have had no repercussions to either your party nor to Serathis proper. So, kudos – you’ve proven your worth. Now that you have the Boots, we can move onto the next phase of our…..hmmm. Do you want to show your dog out for this, or do you care if she knows?”
From: Kirmaul
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Kirmaul seems oblivious to the tension, and is unconcerned about the possibility of a conflict. And yet, she could wield her ass fiercely at a moment’s notice. “Get on with it. How do we kill Xarthran?”
From: Udyr
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 2:05 PM
Udyr thinks to himself while staring at the slassin, “Was it a good idea to involve yourself and these people with a devil such as this?” He stands ready with his back to the corner. His hand grips his witchbag, ready if the conversation turns south.
Udyr glances at Three. “I don’t think you could say anything that could surprise her anymore than she already is.”
From: Genn Belorn
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 2:58 PM
Genn nods. “Udyr is correct. I’ve spent far too long hiding things from those who have fought” - a glance at Miriana -“and died beside me. No longer. Three has taken up arms with us, and shed blood for our benefit. If her loyalities are divided, that is something she’ll have to wrestle with. Now speak your piece, Selsarras, and then take your leave.”
From: Miriana
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 3:20 PM
Miriana grabs Three’s hand and tells her telepathically “We bargain with a snake to kill a demon. Lets hope we can afford the price we’ll pay.” (I think I can say that many words, don’t has book).
“It’s not polite to enter without knocking, Slassan. How are we going to deal with our eating-challenged mojh?”
From: DM
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 5:20 PM
Selsarris ignores your jabs and waves its front claws in a gesture that you suppose it meant to be magnanimous. Due to the ichor and poisonous ooze dripping off it’s claws, however, it doesn’t have that effect at all.
“In order for this to work, first I’ll need you to collect two items for me – a blade and a gemstone.
“The blade is made of cold iron, and was forged long ago in another form. Currently, it lies in the hands of the being known as “The Lifekeeper.” Actually, that’s a lie – it’s the CAUSE of the being known as The Lifekeeper. You see, any living thing that touches this blade grows corrupt, withers, and dies in a matter of moments, becoming flooded with The Dark – no exceptions, at least thus far. Something drove this spike deep into the tree that served as the earthly bond for one of the more powerful dryads of the Serathian swamps and, well….I imagine you know some of the rest, based on your contacts and what you’ve been up to of late. Given that you folks have issue with “The Lifekeeper” already, I don’t imagine collecting this knife will be hugely out of your way. That said – it’s a very powerful item, and as I’ve said it has a high potential of destroying you or anyone else that touches it. It’s roughly a foot long, silvery in color, is composed entirely of the same substance. It’s also completely invisible to the Collective Unconsciousness, untraceable magically, and radiates no magical aura. Guard it with your lives, as without it we cannot progress further – worse, Xarthran could use it against u….well, everything."
“The gem is guarded by a pirate named “Black-Eyed Susan”. She gone to ground now that winter approaches and the oceans grow treacherous here in the North, but I know where – there’s a village on the Gulf of Filan named Spettator where she hides. Her crew is largely Rhodin and some rogue Chorrim, but due to a recent encounter with the Noll navy she’s making repairs and resupplying. She’s taken over a lighthouse well off shore, and the villagers are too afraid of her and her crew to do much about it. I imagine you could win some accolades from them as well for removing her, but that’s irrelevant to me – I just need you to collect the stone. The stone is a clear greenish color thoroughly laced with purple ‘veins’, and pulses with a deep inner light. It’s roughly spherical, about the size of a large dog, and hovers about 2 feet off the ground if left untouched. For all intents and purposes, it has no weight."
“I have faith you can find “The Lifekeeper” on your own. As to Spettator, I had Kisonraaliisar Scry the area and make up a Memory Stone for you to use in calibrating your new Boots – it’s a visual scan of an abandoned cabin not far outside of the town. It’s empty, mostly whole, and will not draw much attention if used unless, oh, you blow it to pieces or something."
“Once you’ve claimed these items, we’ll be ready to progress to the last part of my plan. Once complete, Xarthran will be a significantly lesser threat if not neutered entirely.”
From: Genn Belorn
Date: Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 5:36 AM
Genn stares at the creature. "And the last part of the plan would be . . . " he prompts.
We began our regular session at 10AM MST on 11/13/10, and we had to recap what had happened in email to get everyone up to speed. The group had no real questions for Selsarras, so he bid them adieu and disappeared once more from their basement. I spent some time reminding the group of the various plotpoints they might have missed – namely:
1) The [[:Blood Hooks]] still hate the group.
2) Phargaryn wants to talk to them.
3) The Lifekeeper’s Sister wants them to go kill The Lifekeeper, which will then let them collect on their job to Del-Dorrin and send Three on her way.
4) Selsarras ALSO wants them to go engage The Lifekeeper, if only to retrieve an item.
5) Selsarras has tasked them to recover an item from a pirate named “Black Eyed Susan.”
The group talked about this for a bit, sent Genn off to the Tower of Infinite Knowledge to do research, and then on the next day went to go see Phargaryn. Phargaryn welcomed them into his audience hall (as always), but seemed different – he was more on topic, to the point, and less tolerant of the groups jabs. He explained that the group had already engaged the beings he was calling “the Vallorians” – a degenerate race of humanity that had gone underground long ago, and now grew hideous experiments and modifications to themselves in vast vats of flesh. He trots one out that is clearly barely hanging on to life – it’s neck is broken, and appears to be hanging on by mere scraps of flesh – and has it pull some of it’s organic armor from itself to show the group. The group killed many of these a week or so back, on the day Arkith the Lost died, and now the Vallorians seem to be working with the Hooks to make the underside of Serathis less safe for all. Phargaryn was telling his various contacts in hopes of seeing someone take action against them, and mentions that he had already talked to the “League of Justice” – much to the groups ire. Kirmaul suggests “Vengeance’s Fist”, and Phargaryn says he’ll look them up.
Miriana and Phargaryn have a conversation about how to wake ‘the dreamer’, and both give cryptic responses to each other. The group then decides to head back to base and wait for Genn to return.