SESSION REPORT - SWORDS OF THE INNER SEA, SESSION 31
SESSION REPORT - SWORDS OF THE INNER SEA, SESSION 31
On the request of the Royal Physician AUNAR NUN, the warriors MAZDAK THE GRIM and FOLG SON OF FOLG agreed to covertly escort the Imperial Dignitary EMAASHAN GILBAR SHAREL to the city of GIKHUN TAM after much of his personal guard had been slain in an ambush by ANTI-IMPERIAL PARTISANS. Enlisting the services of the petty-sorceress SAINO, they heading out before dawn with the princeling and his remaining retainer ABTAK. Avoiding the usual caravan track, they took note of an OLD STONE CAIRN on the far side of a small crater lake, observed a trio of GIANT BEETLES, and noted the tracks of a BABOON PATROL near a rocky overhang, where they took camp for the night. By the fireside, Folg and Abtak shared a drink and a few brusque words, and later in the night, Mazdak and Saino bonded a bit over a round of smoking.
Crossing further into the desert on the chance that they might find the lost caravan of the trader UNUTTA DIN, Mazdak noticed the paths of large numbers of wild animals seeming to converge toward a certain point. Following them, he and his companions came upon a natural theatre set in a rocky prominence, where all manner of creatures, predator and prey, sat gathered together, seeming to listen intentively to the tale-telling of an elderly, robed and turbaned man. He introduced himself as HAARA THE STORYTELLER, and invited him to join the beasts as he shared his next tale, the Story of MUADANNAN AND THE LIONS. After the performance, Folg and Mazdak queried Haara, eager to learn the trick of speaking to beasts, only to be told, gnomically, that there was no "trick" at all.
Moving on, they made good time to the shore of the WHITE RIVER, where a ferryman took them to the city. Reaching the docks, Sharel invited the two warriors to join him for dinner at the palace, and after bathing and changing into fine new clothes, they ate well while attending a tense conversation between their patron of the moment and a visibly uncomfortable PRINCE JIDDAL, the Acting Governor. The two eminent fellows took their leave, as did their respective entourages, leaving them, unusually in the company of a lady familiar to Mazdak, the Princess AYIRA UB KAR, the youthful wife of the late prince ZUR ZAYUM JAA of the city of ZURENTH ZAN. As Mazdak quickly protested his innocence in the demise of her husband, she reassured his fears and then begged his aid in removing her with all haste to GUNN LATTH, her flight to Gikhun Tam having left her less well-positioned than she had hoped in the face of the recent chaos there. But first, she explained, they must also rescue from a high palace tower her twin stepdaughters, the young princesses YEKA and YEMLA. Perhaps thinking to make amends for the Princess's widowing, likely admiring of her beauty - Mazdak mused that while such a lady might not consider the favors of an erstwhile scout, she might consider those of a future conquering king - and certainly admiring the beauty of her RICHLY JEWELLED SILVER NECKLACE, he agreed to help.
Attiring themselves as Ayira's bodyguards, they visited the princesses with their stepmother, observed the lay of the land, and conversed with their ELDERLY TUTOR. Next, they rendevoused with Saino and exited into the city. After much deliberation, they hatched a plot wherein they hired TWO BOY-ACTORS, whom they disguised as TEMPLE MAIDENS (along with Saino), and used the sorceress's most carefully guarded magic to bestow upon TWO PICKLED EELS a necromantic semblance of life. Returning to the princess's chamber, under the pretense of offering the temple maidens' blessings, Folg befriended the girls with tales of adventure, while Mazdak persuaded the guards to share in his mouthwatering platter of eels, which he swallowed whole with gusto, taking care that each guard followed his lead - and that each of their portions included a ZOMBIE EEL. Then, with a quick command from Saino, the eels began to churn and writhe within the guards' gullets, and while they choked and retched, the adventurers turned their blades on them - along with Ayira, who showed herself a warrior-woman of no small skill. One guard was quickly dispatched, while another clung on to life long enough to begin a desperate stumble down the long stairs to the guard-station below. Mazdak fiercely wrestled him back to the chamber where his death waited, then hurriedly doffed his blood-soaked livery and assembled a passably unstained replacement. They had the boy-actors switch their temple-maiden's robes and wigs with the young princesses, and attired their tutor in another robe, taking the gamble that one additional priestess would go unnoticed in the entourage. Mazdak and Folg then asked the boy-actors to tell any askers that the perpetrators of this escape were their infamous, now-dead companions ROBARD THE THIRD and URSA THE MUSTACHIOED, and left then with a single rope, far to short to span the dizzying climb between the high chamber and the garden below. And then, down the stairs.
The conversation between Mazdak and the guards was tense - and the encounter with another set of guards tantalizingly near the palace gates was even tenser, but holding in their sweat, they made their way into the balmy city night with no further bloodshed. Taking a late ferry back across the river, their journey back to GUNN LATTH was thankfully with little incident, and as they neared the edges of the city, they passed the lonely tree of the HOLY MAN who had widowed Ayira, a reminder of the chain of events leading to this moment. Leaving Folg to guard their charges at a local wine-house, Mazdak sought out Aunar Nun and informed him of both the success of their mission, what they had learned at the palace, and spoke in the hypothetical of the refugees thence liberated. The urbane physician responded with the hypothetical that their liberators might be rewarded in both the present and the potential, and indicated a high tower of Gunn Latth's palaces where young princesses might be safely housed. Satisfied, he and Folg delivered the royal entourage, where Ayira was given suiatably rich apartments, and the twins assigned their lofty quarters. Both warriors were given gold, and Mazdak a firm recommendation to the palace-captain HANNO, which Folg parlayed into his own recommendation-by proxy. And, of course, the necklace.
CREATURES BESTED
TWO IMPERIAL PALACE GUARDS
TREASURES RECOVERED
AUNAR NUN's Bounty for EMAASHAN GILBAR SHAREL - 1000 GP
Aunar Nun's Reward for the Three Princesses - 500 GP
A Letter of Recommendation to the Palace Guards
Two Fine Suits of Clothes
A Silver Necklace, Dripping with Jewels - 2000 GP
GRAND TOTAL - 3500 GP
XP Per Character - 1496 Each
http://i.imgur.com/IhOv9c8.png
On the request of the Royal Physician AUNAR NUN, the warriors MAZDAK THE GRIM and FOLG SON OF FOLG agreed to covertly escort the Imperial Dignitary EMAASHAN GILBAR SHAREL to the city of GIKHUN TAM after much of his personal guard had been slain in an ambush by ANTI-IMPERIAL PARTISANS. Enlisting the services of the petty-sorceress SAINO, they heading out before dawn with the princeling and his remaining retainer ABTAK. Avoiding the usual caravan track, they took note of an OLD STONE CAIRN on the far side of a small crater lake, observed a trio of GIANT BEETLES, and noted the tracks of a BABOON PATROL near a rocky overhang, where they took camp for the night. By the fireside, Folg and Abtak shared a drink and a few brusque words, and later in the night, Mazdak and Saino bonded a bit over a round of smoking.
Crossing further into the desert on the chance that they might find the lost caravan of the trader UNUTTA DIN, Mazdak noticed the paths of large numbers of wild animals seeming to converge toward a certain point. Following them, he and his companions came upon a natural theatre set in a rocky prominence, where all manner of creatures, predator and prey, sat gathered together, seeming to listen intentively to the tale-telling of an elderly, robed and turbaned man. He introduced himself as HAARA THE STORYTELLER, and invited him to join the beasts as he shared his next tale, the Story of MUADANNAN AND THE LIONS. After the performance, Folg and Mazdak queried Haara, eager to learn the trick of speaking to beasts, only to be told, gnomically, that there was no "trick" at all.
Moving on, they made good time to the shore of the WHITE RIVER, where a ferryman took them to the city. Reaching the docks, Sharel invited the two warriors to join him for dinner at the palace, and after bathing and changing into fine new clothes, they ate well while attending a tense conversation between their patron of the moment and a visibly uncomfortable PRINCE JIDDAL, the Acting Governor. The two eminent fellows took their leave, as did their respective entourages, leaving them, unusually in the company of a lady familiar to Mazdak, the Princess AYIRA UB KAR, the youthful wife of the late prince ZUR ZAYUM JAA of the city of ZURENTH ZAN. As Mazdak quickly protested his innocence in the demise of her husband, she reassured his fears and then begged his aid in removing her with all haste to GUNN LATTH, her flight to Gikhun Tam having left her less well-positioned than she had hoped in the face of the recent chaos there. But first, she explained, they must also rescue from a high palace tower her twin stepdaughters, the young princesses YEKA and YEMLA. Perhaps thinking to make amends for the Princess's widowing, likely admiring of her beauty - Mazdak mused that while such a lady might not consider the favors of an erstwhile scout, she might consider those of a future conquering king - and certainly admiring the beauty of her RICHLY JEWELLED SILVER NECKLACE, he agreed to help.
Attiring themselves as Ayira's bodyguards, they visited the princesses with their stepmother, observed the lay of the land, and conversed with their ELDERLY TUTOR. Next, they rendevoused with Saino and exited into the city. After much deliberation, they hatched a plot wherein they hired TWO BOY-ACTORS, whom they disguised as TEMPLE MAIDENS (along with Saino), and used the sorceress's most carefully guarded magic to bestow upon TWO PICKLED EELS a necromantic semblance of life. Returning to the princess's chamber, under the pretense of offering the temple maidens' blessings, Folg befriended the girls with tales of adventure, while Mazdak persuaded the guards to share in his mouthwatering platter of eels, which he swallowed whole with gusto, taking care that each guard followed his lead - and that each of their portions included a ZOMBIE EEL. Then, with a quick command from Saino, the eels began to churn and writhe within the guards' gullets, and while they choked and retched, the adventurers turned their blades on them - along with Ayira, who showed herself a warrior-woman of no small skill. One guard was quickly dispatched, while another clung on to life long enough to begin a desperate stumble down the long stairs to the guard-station below. Mazdak fiercely wrestled him back to the chamber where his death waited, then hurriedly doffed his blood-soaked livery and assembled a passably unstained replacement. They had the boy-actors switch their temple-maiden's robes and wigs with the young princesses, and attired their tutor in another robe, taking the gamble that one additional priestess would go unnoticed in the entourage. Mazdak and Folg then asked the boy-actors to tell any askers that the perpetrators of this escape were their infamous, now-dead companions ROBARD THE THIRD and URSA THE MUSTACHIOED, and left then with a single rope, far to short to span the dizzying climb between the high chamber and the garden below. And then, down the stairs.
The conversation between Mazdak and the guards was tense - and the encounter with another set of guards tantalizingly near the palace gates was even tenser, but holding in their sweat, they made their way into the balmy city night with no further bloodshed. Taking a late ferry back across the river, their journey back to GUNN LATTH was thankfully with little incident, and as they neared the edges of the city, they passed the lonely tree of the HOLY MAN who had widowed Ayira, a reminder of the chain of events leading to this moment. Leaving Folg to guard their charges at a local wine-house, Mazdak sought out Aunar Nun and informed him of both the success of their mission, what they had learned at the palace, and spoke in the hypothetical of the refugees thence liberated. The urbane physician responded with the hypothetical that their liberators might be rewarded in both the present and the potential, and indicated a high tower of Gunn Latth's palaces where young princesses might be safely housed. Satisfied, he and Folg delivered the royal entourage, where Ayira was given suiatably rich apartments, and the twins assigned their lofty quarters. Both warriors were given gold, and Mazdak a firm recommendation to the palace-captain HANNO, which Folg parlayed into his own recommendation-by proxy. And, of course, the necklace.
CREATURES BESTED
TWO IMPERIAL PALACE GUARDS
TREASURES RECOVERED
AUNAR NUN's Bounty for EMAASHAN GILBAR SHAREL - 1000 GP
Aunar Nun's Reward for the Three Princesses - 500 GP
A Letter of Recommendation to the Palace Guards
Two Fine Suits of Clothes
A Silver Necklace, Dripping with Jewels - 2000 GP
GRAND TOTAL - 3500 GP
XP Per Character - 1496 Each
http://i.imgur.com/IhOv9c8.png
Mazdak and Folg are the new Bing Crosby/Bob Hope, starring in THE ROAD TO ZURENTH ZANN
ReplyDeleteMazdak and Folg, Folg and Mazdak, mighty and powerful GODS!
ReplyDeleteReminder: MASDAK THE GRIM cut a deal with VOKK RINAUH to arrange to have a spiritualist brought to him. In exchange, he will introduce VOKK RINAUH to NAR BARBANDEAN BIRDA.
ReplyDelete