SESSION REPORT - SWORDS OF THE INNER SEA, SESSION 32
SESSION REPORT - SWORDS OF THE INNER SEA, SESSION 32
Receiving a delivery of scrolls in a high heroic style from the caravan-master UNUTTA DIN, the cunning warrior MAZDAK THE GRIM made plans to root out imperial influence in the court of the Warlord HUNAL CHENA. Having been introduced by his commanding officer HANNO to the warlord's son-in-law, Captain JANGANO, he received a letter of introduction and a place on a miltary caravan to his fortress. Joining the caravan with his companions FOLG SON OF FOLG, the sorcerers NILT-SIAR and THOGGOS, the mystic JUKKAR, and THE HERMIT RINPOCHE, they departed at dawn.
The adventurers made a good impression on the grizzled warlord and he offered them one of his jeweled armlets in return for Mazdak's gift, then asked if they might join him at the feast that night with a reading from the epics. Nominating the silver-tongued Jukkar for the task, he and Mazdak retired to their guestchamber and selected an episode from THE ADVENTURES OF HASMADED in which his companion tempts him toward betraying their liege, hoping to spur on guilt in any traitor listening. Meanwhile, Nilt-Siar went about conversing with those members of the court seeming of scholarly inclinations, thinking those the most likely to have been suborned by the suspected imperial agent A'SAN ANUM. After meeting the priest KARAJUNG and the quartermaster KAZOKOL, who he found more suspicious, he passed on his theories to Mazdak. Mazdak then, befriending KURA, one of the warlord's captains, learned through him and the servant-girl AGA that the quartermaster, a taciturn former warrior, limping from an old war wound, had stayed up late at the night drinking with the bookseller.
At the feast, Jukkar managed only an indifferent performance, and though Nilt-Siar used subtle magics to overhear the conversations of those about him, they learned no evidence. Mazdak then resolved to take the direct approach, and shared his suspicions with the Warlord, who, though concerned, insisted that he needed concrete evidence before accusing an old and dear companion. As the feast ended, Folg made haste to the quartermasters rooms, with Rinpoche as lookout, but as soon as he had extracted his locksmith's tools, Rinpoche's keen ears hear the footfalls of a two men - one limping - coming down the hallway. Folg took to the shadows as Rinpoche distracted them with meandering conversation, and, while he was able to convince Kura to join him on the roof, Kazokol declined and went to his chambers. Meanwhile, Mazdak, who had been tailing him, dashed to the roof as well and stealthily climbed down from the parapets with Thoggos as his lookout, and told Kura and Rinpoche to make haste to search the quartermaster's stockrooms.
Rinpoche, claiming to be acting on Hunal Chena's orders, made a futile search of the fortress's records, and Mazdak waited for Kazokol to fall to a fitful sleep, then slipped in the window and searched the room, finally slipping in a tense moment under the bed, and finding an document with an imperial seal hidden behind a loose brick near the floor. Exiting as quietly as he came, he hurried to awaken the warlord, who agreet to search the room, and finding the document to be a traitorous contract, demanded Kazokol account himself. He claimed that he acted only in love for his old friend, insisting that collaboration was their only chance for survival in the face of the coming imperial onslaught, but to no avail as with sorrow and resignation, Hunal Chena sentenced his companion to death at dawn. Soon, his head was separated from his shoulders, and, leaving the adventurers with the gift of a fine drinking horn, and with consideration of plots against rival warlords IBOSA and ZAGUR, he bid them farewell.
Returning to GUNN LATTH, where they were rewarded for their work by the Royal Physician AUNAR NUN, the companions joined forces with a wary, feverish seeming warrior, PUNGA, who sought partners in an expedition to plunder a BURIED CITADEL he had discovered deep in the jungle beyond the PEARL RIVER. They set out across the savanna, and made it into the fringes of the jungle as midnight approached. Late in their rest, Rinpoche noticed a watery shimmering drawing through the underbrush toward his sleeping companions, and tossing a quickly-quenched ember, saw it to be a GLISTENING SLIME CREATURE. Rousing the warriors, Mazdak slashed at the slippery mass, to terrifyingly little effect, and then Jukkar summoned forth a focused burst of wind to stike at it, frothing and stunning the thing. The warriors hacked at it frantically, but could scarcely harm the thing, and all breathed a sigh of relief as the creature crept away slowly into the night once it had regained its original limpid state.
Pressing on, their travel was interrupted when an arrow whizzed over Rinpoche's head, and the marauder JITAM called out in from the trees, demanding a tribute of gold in the name of his master, the warlord Zagur, and mazdak noted ten other JUNGLE RAIDERS waiting with bows drawn. He and Rinpoche made a show of collecting the gold for the tribute, but the wily hermit took them by surprise, summoning a CLOUD OF CHOKING SMOKE to envelop several of them, and then taking advantage of the chaos, he and fold rushed forth, blades flashing. The warriors and magicians together made short work of the opposition, but not before an ill-starred arrow flew true into the neck of Jukkar, piercinging both carotid and spinal cord, sending him to a painful, if quick death. One last raider attempted to flee through the smoke, but Folg acted quickly, leaping from his horse to tackle him to the ground. Mazdak attempted to persuade him to betray his master, but he protested his loyalty to the last, and with two vicious strikes, Thoggos crushed his skull with a rock. The brutish sorcerer then defltly extracted the starry-eyed mystic's brain from his dead skull for some dark purpose, and the rest of them came to a decision to return his body to Gunn Latth for burial rather than go deeper into the jungle.
As they emerged into the open savannah, the smell of the body drew the attention of a PACK OF HYENAS, but Rinpoche sent their leader fleeing by conjuring in its mind images fearful to it, and the rest of them turned tail and followed after. Nearing the river, Thoggos saw what looked like a human figure lying among the tall grass, and, investigating, they discovered a DILIGENT LYNX guarding the dead body of a REGAL WOMAN IN EXOTIC ATTIRE, her brow crowned with a bejewelled golden fillet, a fatal arrow wound piercing her side. Mazdak offered the creature his hand, then some food, and when he was satisfied it was friendly, they recovered the body and brought it back to the city, the lynx bounding along at their heels. Visiting the Merchant House of NAKHINO looking for clues to her identity, they learned her dress to be a style thought to be of the little known inhabitants of the eastern mountains. And so they made plans for the funerals of both this fallen lady, and their fallen friend Jukkar.
CREATURES BESTED
AN IMPERIAL COLLABORATOR
A CRYSTALLINE SLIME
ELEVEN JUNGLE RAIDERS
FIVE CRAVEN HYENAS
ONE LOYAL LYNX (After a fashion)
TREASURES RECOVERED
A Brass Armlet Set With Fire Agate Stones - 50 GP
An Ivory Drinking Horn, Banded with Gold and Lapis Lazulu - 750 GP
A Purse of Gold Coins from Aunar Nun - 1000 GP
Assorted Loose Coins - 90 GP
A Fine Golden Fillet Suspending Four Pink Beryl Gems - 3500 GP
EXPERIENCE PER CHARACTER = 989 XP Each
http://i.imgur.com/Ww7lDRC.jpg
Receiving a delivery of scrolls in a high heroic style from the caravan-master UNUTTA DIN, the cunning warrior MAZDAK THE GRIM made plans to root out imperial influence in the court of the Warlord HUNAL CHENA. Having been introduced by his commanding officer HANNO to the warlord's son-in-law, Captain JANGANO, he received a letter of introduction and a place on a miltary caravan to his fortress. Joining the caravan with his companions FOLG SON OF FOLG, the sorcerers NILT-SIAR and THOGGOS, the mystic JUKKAR, and THE HERMIT RINPOCHE, they departed at dawn.
The adventurers made a good impression on the grizzled warlord and he offered them one of his jeweled armlets in return for Mazdak's gift, then asked if they might join him at the feast that night with a reading from the epics. Nominating the silver-tongued Jukkar for the task, he and Mazdak retired to their guestchamber and selected an episode from THE ADVENTURES OF HASMADED in which his companion tempts him toward betraying their liege, hoping to spur on guilt in any traitor listening. Meanwhile, Nilt-Siar went about conversing with those members of the court seeming of scholarly inclinations, thinking those the most likely to have been suborned by the suspected imperial agent A'SAN ANUM. After meeting the priest KARAJUNG and the quartermaster KAZOKOL, who he found more suspicious, he passed on his theories to Mazdak. Mazdak then, befriending KURA, one of the warlord's captains, learned through him and the servant-girl AGA that the quartermaster, a taciturn former warrior, limping from an old war wound, had stayed up late at the night drinking with the bookseller.
At the feast, Jukkar managed only an indifferent performance, and though Nilt-Siar used subtle magics to overhear the conversations of those about him, they learned no evidence. Mazdak then resolved to take the direct approach, and shared his suspicions with the Warlord, who, though concerned, insisted that he needed concrete evidence before accusing an old and dear companion. As the feast ended, Folg made haste to the quartermasters rooms, with Rinpoche as lookout, but as soon as he had extracted his locksmith's tools, Rinpoche's keen ears hear the footfalls of a two men - one limping - coming down the hallway. Folg took to the shadows as Rinpoche distracted them with meandering conversation, and, while he was able to convince Kura to join him on the roof, Kazokol declined and went to his chambers. Meanwhile, Mazdak, who had been tailing him, dashed to the roof as well and stealthily climbed down from the parapets with Thoggos as his lookout, and told Kura and Rinpoche to make haste to search the quartermaster's stockrooms.
Rinpoche, claiming to be acting on Hunal Chena's orders, made a futile search of the fortress's records, and Mazdak waited for Kazokol to fall to a fitful sleep, then slipped in the window and searched the room, finally slipping in a tense moment under the bed, and finding an document with an imperial seal hidden behind a loose brick near the floor. Exiting as quietly as he came, he hurried to awaken the warlord, who agreet to search the room, and finding the document to be a traitorous contract, demanded Kazokol account himself. He claimed that he acted only in love for his old friend, insisting that collaboration was their only chance for survival in the face of the coming imperial onslaught, but to no avail as with sorrow and resignation, Hunal Chena sentenced his companion to death at dawn. Soon, his head was separated from his shoulders, and, leaving the adventurers with the gift of a fine drinking horn, and with consideration of plots against rival warlords IBOSA and ZAGUR, he bid them farewell.
Returning to GUNN LATTH, where they were rewarded for their work by the Royal Physician AUNAR NUN, the companions joined forces with a wary, feverish seeming warrior, PUNGA, who sought partners in an expedition to plunder a BURIED CITADEL he had discovered deep in the jungle beyond the PEARL RIVER. They set out across the savanna, and made it into the fringes of the jungle as midnight approached. Late in their rest, Rinpoche noticed a watery shimmering drawing through the underbrush toward his sleeping companions, and tossing a quickly-quenched ember, saw it to be a GLISTENING SLIME CREATURE. Rousing the warriors, Mazdak slashed at the slippery mass, to terrifyingly little effect, and then Jukkar summoned forth a focused burst of wind to stike at it, frothing and stunning the thing. The warriors hacked at it frantically, but could scarcely harm the thing, and all breathed a sigh of relief as the creature crept away slowly into the night once it had regained its original limpid state.
Pressing on, their travel was interrupted when an arrow whizzed over Rinpoche's head, and the marauder JITAM called out in from the trees, demanding a tribute of gold in the name of his master, the warlord Zagur, and mazdak noted ten other JUNGLE RAIDERS waiting with bows drawn. He and Rinpoche made a show of collecting the gold for the tribute, but the wily hermit took them by surprise, summoning a CLOUD OF CHOKING SMOKE to envelop several of them, and then taking advantage of the chaos, he and fold rushed forth, blades flashing. The warriors and magicians together made short work of the opposition, but not before an ill-starred arrow flew true into the neck of Jukkar, piercinging both carotid and spinal cord, sending him to a painful, if quick death. One last raider attempted to flee through the smoke, but Folg acted quickly, leaping from his horse to tackle him to the ground. Mazdak attempted to persuade him to betray his master, but he protested his loyalty to the last, and with two vicious strikes, Thoggos crushed his skull with a rock. The brutish sorcerer then defltly extracted the starry-eyed mystic's brain from his dead skull for some dark purpose, and the rest of them came to a decision to return his body to Gunn Latth for burial rather than go deeper into the jungle.
As they emerged into the open savannah, the smell of the body drew the attention of a PACK OF HYENAS, but Rinpoche sent their leader fleeing by conjuring in its mind images fearful to it, and the rest of them turned tail and followed after. Nearing the river, Thoggos saw what looked like a human figure lying among the tall grass, and, investigating, they discovered a DILIGENT LYNX guarding the dead body of a REGAL WOMAN IN EXOTIC ATTIRE, her brow crowned with a bejewelled golden fillet, a fatal arrow wound piercing her side. Mazdak offered the creature his hand, then some food, and when he was satisfied it was friendly, they recovered the body and brought it back to the city, the lynx bounding along at their heels. Visiting the Merchant House of NAKHINO looking for clues to her identity, they learned her dress to be a style thought to be of the little known inhabitants of the eastern mountains. And so they made plans for the funerals of both this fallen lady, and their fallen friend Jukkar.
CREATURES BESTED
AN IMPERIAL COLLABORATOR
A CRYSTALLINE SLIME
ELEVEN JUNGLE RAIDERS
FIVE CRAVEN HYENAS
ONE LOYAL LYNX (After a fashion)
TREASURES RECOVERED
A Brass Armlet Set With Fire Agate Stones - 50 GP
An Ivory Drinking Horn, Banded with Gold and Lapis Lazulu - 750 GP
A Purse of Gold Coins from Aunar Nun - 1000 GP
Assorted Loose Coins - 90 GP
A Fine Golden Fillet Suspending Four Pink Beryl Gems - 3500 GP
EXPERIENCE PER CHARACTER = 989 XP Each
http://i.imgur.com/Ww7lDRC.jpg
I ruled that it does not; it would end up being the default with a few characters getting shorted Maxim Golubchik
ReplyDeleteYou will all be very relieved to know that the names of the MERCHANT and the FARMER have been recovered, leaving only a FISHERMAN and a SHEPHERD unidentified.
ReplyDelete(I'm not entirely sure the SHEPHERD's name was ever learned by the party in the time before his demise at the hand of a Baboon-thrown stone.)
ReplyDelete