Allison's Terriock Chronicles
Oct 10, 2012 15:11:18 GMT -8
Post by ElfChild on Oct 10, 2012 15:11:18 GMT -8
Chronicle Reposts 2010
Zero
(The writing in the logbook is curvy, without many straight lines, but it isn't cursive. Every once in a while something is crossed out, and everything is written in ink.) Welcome to my logbook. Yes, I'm actually saying welcome. I'm Zero Skyhawk, the new captain of the black dawn Black Dawn. Anything Almost anything I write here is meant to be read. I suppose you could call this a ships logbook. It keeps track of the people manning the Black Dawn, as well as their items and classes. It also keeps track of what happens to the ship, when repairs need to be made, and where it goes. It also keeps track of my party's adventures. I give my crew permission to log here as well.
______________________________
I'll start with an inventory.
(The following lists are written neatly, with more straight lines then before.)
The crew is two.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a longsword and a dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak and silver gauntlets.
Looking for MAPMAKER, Trade must be Mapmaker
Looking for FIRST MATE, Class must be Amazon
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Both are going through the design process.
______________________________
(The writing returns to the style used before.)
I suppose I'll start with the older stuff. But not the REALLY old stuff. How about... The trip to Black Dust island. So, back then I was only a first mate, serving on another ship, captained by Captain Cloud. We had sailed off to Black Dust Island to rescue slaves and investigate the island. First we had to get there. First we went along until we were passing some fighting sea serpents. Sea serpents are quite an amazing sight, especially while fighting. However, some idiot decided to interfere in there battle. Have they no common sense? If any of my crew ever do something like that I will kick them off my ship. Thankfully, Cloud's ship was not destroyed, however the serpents did attack everyone on decks and we had to flee to the hold. Once we passed the serpents we had to deal with the bane of my existence. Not literally, but I hate storm type waves. They destroy my hard work. I swear, next time I multiclass I go storm just for an elder sorcery something like "I calm water". Anyway, the waves destroyed all three masts on that ship. I could put up a new one, being a shipwright and all, but only one. Thankfully, next we met a merchant ship, which sold us two new masts, which they also installed. Then we passed through a region where all the wildlife was dying and met sick merpeople. I have low tolerance for them, but I don't wish to have their curse mark, so diplomacy occurred. It's a rare thing to see me play diplomat with merfolk, but these seemed more open minded... Let us pass without their curse mark. The last leg of the boat trip was not actually on a boat. We had to get to shore. While this was a simple task for me, others had a harder time and many were attacked by yellow crabs. We reached shore okay. When we reached shore I picked up about a pocketful of red pebbles. When we got into the forest, we had to deal with goblins and people who don't speak Common. However, we got through that with very few problems, healed our injured, and headed into the mountains. At this point Captain Cloud flew off to get the ship and move it around the other side of the island so that when we rescued the slaves we would be able to get on and go. As we approached the mountains caves became apparent and we traveled up to one of them. It was a large cave with a statue on either side of it. At first we were cautious because of the statues and the way the things back in Roekron have a strange way of coming to life and killing you, but then we realized we were past the meta. No magic works there. So we had a good laugh because the statues COULDN'T come to life and then we walked on in. We must have recrossed the Meta in the cave, because my red stones started pulsing with my heartbeat and Chiron's spells were working again. We entered a long room. It was full of cots, carved out of the stone. One guy, who wore an amulet of the red rock... Heartstone I think I'm gonna call it, lay down to sleep on one. Now here's the funny thing: The amulet read, "I dream through doors, I keep my dreams, and I aspire". There was another line but I do not remember it as of right now. Anyways, the same thing was carved in this room in as many different languages as you could count and then some! Anyways, I decided to look around the room. There was a big rectangle on the wall with what looked like a carving of the amulet above it. I walked all the way down to the other end of the room. I found several pictures of what seemed to be landscapes or seascapes. Some looked familiar, but I'm not really sure where I'd seem them before. Then I saw this one other thing. Of a person. Except they were split in two and one half was in one place and the other half was in another place. Around that point the guy who had gone to sleep woke up. Future reference: The password is "I aspire". Anyway, I wanted to stay longer, but we had to leave or else Cloud would get to the meeting place and we would not be there. Because of this we continued to the mines... Where they mine the black dust that poisons the water and becomes the black shackles whose marks I still wear on my wrists. Curse the slave trade and its evil doings. Well, to say the least, we won and freed slaves. We got them on the boat and sailed back. On the way out I stuffed my pockets with red rocks from the beach, as did Naranin. We were sailing back when we met two unwelcome guests: A four master Black Shackle Gang ship manned by giants and a three master goblin ship flying one of the dumbest flags I have ever seen. Well, I suffice to say that both we and the goblins got the living daylights beaten out of us by the giants. I swam off for help, carrying Naranin with me. We met a Sayusar Guard ship. And the Sayusar guard came to our assistance and beat the living daylights out of the giants. I have no idea how he did it. Well, the remaining goblins deserted their ship and took the giants four master and I took the three master ship they left behind. Then we all sailed back. Once back at New Elianas I fixed up the goblin ship, cleaned it, got rid of the trees, and installed new masts. It was a nice ship, though the goblins did not treat it well. Once fixed it became the nice ship I've got now. I painted it and named it The Black Dawn. I resigned from my position as Cloud's First Mate and took up as position as Captain on my new ship. Captain Skyhawk of the Black Dawn. I like the sound of that.
Anyhow, there was another adventure coming with the darkness. We would rescue Sayusar's cousin Bengal from the Minotaur and it's evil undead forces. While the main force took down the Minotaur and its minions, Naranin and I went around the back to rescue the guy. Well, some dude was talking loudly in a very creepy voice. I think he was a Death Knight. Well, Naranin wanted to turn tail and run, but I just waited for the Death Knight to leave. Then we picked the guy up and ran as fast as we could. Around the time we got back, the Minotaur was being carried back to the boat as well. So we mostly all got back and then we got on the boat and sailed away. Very quickly.
Well, a couple days later we get a note from the Western Army asking for a prisoner trade. They wanted the Minotaur. Well, we weren't about to trade them the Minotaur, even if they did have Chiron and a couple others. We went off on a rescue mission. We got back all the prisoners they had and got out without loss of life. Ha. That will show them.
Naranin and I then proceeded to look around town for a mage craftsmen. See, we still had those Heartstone pebbles, and I want them forged into a longsword. We found a mage craftsmen who offered to do this for us in exchange for a map of Black Dust Island and the caves on it.
If you would like to help map the Black Dust Island or join my crew, contact me in New Elianas.
Zero
The crew is three. (+? There are couple people I'm not sure about, so I won't put their names down.)
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a normal dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, Dagnith. Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries...(?)
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Both are going through the design process. I have an idea for the flag.
______________________________
Okay, so some things have happened. First off, we did travel to the Black Dust Island to map it, but we found that others from Roekron were there, claiming it their new town of Serpentine or something to that effect. I hate them. They followed us everywhere, they were high level, and they insisted on following us everywhere. Also, they're trying to sell spots on the dream beds that WE discovered! In fact, if Chiron had not put a beacon on the other side for them to find, they wouldn't even BE here! Once I get to be a higher level, I'm going to teach them how things work out here. I wonder if I can convince my party to help me try to negotate with them so far as trade goes. I want to go back home to Roekron at least for a little while, if only to let those at home know I'm alive and well.
We mapped the island and its caves, and picked up some more heartstone rubies. There are now several littering the hold of my ship, as well as a whole barrel that belongs to (Reese's character).
Okay, so we were teleported back to town because they had decided that they could use my ship without my permission. Did I mention that I hate them? At least they DID send my ship back to town to meet me. That said, they might have gotten permission without making an enemy of me if they had just asked.
When we returned to New Elianas, we discovered that the Mage Smith who had promised to forge our blades was no longer in town. Narann and I--but mostly me--went around to taverns and inns, knowing that there was some kind of thief and assassin guild--I think Naranin knows more then she says, seeing as she is both--we descreetly put out there that we might pay anyone who brought us information about this mage craftsman. Then we did some missions while we waited for a response.
We went and played some game from Braknik which is kicking a ball around with feet and weapons. We won. The other members of our party lost.
*coughcoughworldcupcoughcough*
Then we went to explore some cave. Admitted, I didn't do much with caves. We met a Roc along the way and it was guarding a nest. Well, most people take the common sense approach, which is to leave it alone. I take the thief approach--I'm not a thief, but having had an experience I think I like the idea--and try to steal the eggs. I mean really, who WOULDN'T want a giant vicious bird as a pet! Anyways, some others had the same idea, a nature mage and (Reese's character). The nature mage distracted the bird, taking initiative and grabbing an egg. Needless to say the Roc was less then thrilled, and followed him. Then (Reese's character) and I came in with the guarding parent gone and took the remaining two eggs. While our party members continued on, we ran (and in my case flew) back to the ship for shelter. I hid the egg I had taken in a warm place in the hold. Not sure what the others did with theirs.
We returned to town after the party minus a few members did the necessary cave exploration. We proceeded to break for lunch. This was when I continued to spread word of the mission I offered to the city's well informed slightly illegal members.
After lunch, we decided we would take the Oni challenge, a challenge to reach the Oni city from the coast. However, we had recieved information from a party member who had disappeared. First he was with the Oni. Second there was some ways that we should behave so as not to offend people. Third they like short people. Fifth they liked rats. Because they liked rats, we decided it would be good to bring them rats. We went about the city catching and buying every rat we could find. I also bought a kitten. I like kittens, and if you raise a kitten around rats from a very young age they won't hunt them. See my logic?
We loaded all the rats onto the Black Dawn, and I brought my kitten. We then set sail for the isle of the Oni. We encountered no danger during the boat ride, as if the sea thought it would be enough that we faced the danger to come. We arrived, only to find the way guarded by mana-sucking mosquitoes and bloodthirsty sharks. I have never been so thankful for my flight, and I think several of the other party members are also thankful... Seeing as it allowed me to save their lives. Fortunately, our party's lone centaur managed to cross the water without trouble... I would not have been able to save her had something happened to her.
Our next encounter was with a giant peacock, and several fireflies, lightningbugs, and at least one horsefly. I flew past them, and most of the party did too. I only had to rescue a single person.
We then encountered Oni warriors. they confronted us in battle. Strangely enough, (Scott's character) was with them. He took no sides, but hovered in the battle, a quiet observer. After we had triumphed over most of the Oni, I began to heal the fallen, making it clear as they awoke that I had no intention of fighting them. The party was doing some negotiating, and at some point we were brought into the Oni Emperor's chambers.
The shorter people were allowed to stand around the Oni Emperor, and we elves, humans, and a centaur, had to stand back and he wouldn't talk to us. I obeyed that rule for all of what, two minutes? Yeah, screw the stupd rules created by the misled midgets. Anyways, we brought the guy the rats. He asked about cats, and then about kittens. Well, I happenned to have my kitten which I had bought in town while we were looking for rats. He seemed to like the kitten very much. After that he made his demands--the mountains west of New Elianas for the Oni, and a promise that our people would not touch Gemlandi without either (Scott's character) or (Andy's character). These seemed pretty reasonable. I picked my cat back up once the negotiations were done and the party headed into the Oni city.
While most of the party roamed the town, (Reese's character), Naranin, and I flew into the higher city where the nobles lived, equipped with long cloaks and hoods. When we got there, (Reese's character) filled me in on some of the details of his mission. He was to steal armor from a certain Oni general. Naranin and myself decided to help him. Walking on our knees with our cloaks draped around us to appear shorter, the three of us set off to find the general. We met a person who told us the way to this general's house, and we infiltrated it through the skylight. We snuck into the room where the armor was stored, and while (Reese's character) picked up the armor and a blade that rested there, I picked up a coule sacks of money. Naranin picked the pocket of a man sleeping outside of the room. We were on our way out when the man woke and discovered these objects missing. We made a run for it, and while Naranin leapt through the skylight, I flew myself and (Reese's character) out. We ran back to the ship. I am of the hope that my face was not seen nor my race guessed, as I wore a cloak and a hood fell over my face. Having had a taste of a thief's missions, I must say the idea of joining their guild is very appealing.
I discovered back at town that the two sacs of gold I had taken contained a total of fifty gold, a useful sum seeing as I was a bit short on coin. Naranin repoorted that she had been confronted by somene who had cmpleted my mission, and for a sum of five gold--she tipped him an extra five--had revealed that the mage smith from whom we had commissioned a blade and two daggers was in Wenport, a place our party was to go anyway to drive off undead. We hastened to join them, hoping to trak down this mage ad discover whether he was aa thief or a victim of circumstances.
We discovered a large number of roaming undead in Wenport, and we set about destroying them by any mean we had about us. I myself destroyed several in aerial strikes, as well as rescuing a few unlucky party members from mana drain. Captain Cloud was also a notable facor in the battle, rescuing over twice the number of people I did. When the sun began to rise again--yes we had spent a whole day and part of a night on all these adventures--the undead began to return to their graves. I destroyed six on their way, but I am sure that was not enough to stop their attacks on the city. We did find the mage smith. He was a victim of the undead, and we found him wounded in town. He had our blades for us, and I now have a heartstone blade and Naranin two heartstone daggers. These weapons glow with our heartbeats, creating an interesting effect, I think, and they might create short bursts of light in dark spaces, though they have not been tested for this effect as of yet. They are also innately magic and so deal passively magic damage.
Zero
The crew is four.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, (Reese's Character). Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries...(?)
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Figurehead isgoing through the design process. I am working on an image of the flag. Description- A rising sun over the sea and a reflection of a bird in the water on a black plain.
_______________________
I traveled to Roekron through the Dream Gates for business. I made 350 gold selling heartstones and 50 gold which I split with (Reese's character) selling copies of the map we made of Black Dust Island/New Serpentine. My profits were 375 gold. People in Roekron seem to like my sword a lot.
I am looking for wood to expand my ship. A couple more masts and crew cabins would be some nice upgrades to build, as well as an extra space in the hold for cargo that the crew specifically wants to keep. I have no idea how much the wood for that would cost, but seeing as I have almost 400 gold to spend plus whatever Naranin will donate, I should be able to make decent upgrades. I have successfully cleared out all the heartstones that were rolling around the bottom of the hold.
This must be my shortest entry yet. Really.
Zero
The crew is five. It just keeps growing.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, (Reese's Character). Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries a dirty dark blade or a magic sword.
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Weapon-Person, (Clara's character). Assassin first tier Thief second tier, Animal tamer. Carries a large longsword, a blowgun, and a medium flail.
What do you call someone who's in charge of firing cannons or catapults or whatever weaponry your ship has?
Requisitioned by those thieves that call themselves the Wizard Trade Order. Don't make me START about them.
New Ship Under Construction: Black Sun //See the pattern? Yeah.//
Five master, will fly a personalized flag, NOT a flag of any organization/gov't. IMAGE Will paint black with "Black Sun" painted on the side in elvish. Will have a griffin figurehead. I love griffins.
_______________________
First off. I like thieves. They're fine. They take gold and gems. I HATE thieves that hide behind government and take big things. Such as ships. You know where this is going now. Those halfwits from Roekron don't seem to know how to do their own work. I worked hard to make my ship fit for humans to sail. And then the dirty thieves come up and "Requisition" it. Another name for taking it in the name of putting money in their own pockets. And I don't even LIKE them! From this point forward I will avoid giving them money if I can.
Okay, so I don't have a ship anymore. I need to build a new one. Thanks to some people in Roekron and a thieving expedition a while back, new stuff added to what I had before I had 470 gold total to spend on ship making. I went into town with my party. Technically we were looking for some Stonefingers guy, but I didn't even know why we had to find him so I was really just there to buy supplies while my party searched the town. I went to the shipyard. The materials for the actual ship itself cost me only 150 gold, but I wanted to make a living space for each member of my crew. So all and all the fee wound up totaling 300 gold, seeing as I was supplying everyone with a book, a lantern, a bed, a simple carpet, and a desk, as well as purchasing two spyglasses for the crew's general use. Spyglasses and safe lanterns cost a lot of coin. And (Reese's character) had come up with some kind of cannon. We wanted to put four cannons on our ship, so we hired a blacksmith and an alchemist to make some for us and just the materials cost was 200 gold for four cannons! (Reese's character) chipped in a hundred gold and I put in a hundred and we could afford it. So I spent 400 gold in one encounter. Wow. Oh and I'm having all the stuff I ordered sent to Oni territory for construction so that it is harder for people to requisition it.
We did find Stonefingers, but since we had no idea what we wanted him for and he was just saying that he wouldn't do whatever it was, it wasn't a useful meeting.
Some people went and got themselves blown up by some crazy wizards on a boat. Then the rest of us went to investigate some smoke elsewhere on the island where New Elianas is. We traveled a while before we came to the source of the smoke. The place looked like someone had detonated some kind of elder sorcery explosion on top of it. The place was blackened, as if it had been burned by something, and there were what (Clara's character) said were magical trees at the edges of it. Before it was a decent sized chasm, which I easily flew over. We searched the area, and eventually found a young boy--and I say that because he seemed much younger then any of our number--huddled in a corner, hidden form plain sight. He seemed panicked, and only calmed down when I gave him a small heartstone. The steady pulse seemed to calm him enough to speak to us. We learned from him that he and his people has been patrolling the island and had defeated enemy forces when a ship of mages had appeared. They cast a powerful elder sorcery such as the one our friends had seen just beforehand. I also learned that the group the boy was with had been flying Roekron banners. I would hypothesize that the mages don't like Roekron people? If I'm right, it could be good to ally with them. Someone remind me to trail a Roekron vessel and then talk to them when they show up... And remind me to bring along a nature mage.
After that some of our party went to speak with the oni about something... Yeah, all I really know about that is that Naranin brought back griffin eggs and is attempting to hatch them. Yay griffin eggs~!
Then we went to speak to a person known as the Left Hand. We did it for information and codes, and Naranin went for maps of cities, which she had been told she could only get from the Left Hand. We sailed the place where the left hand was located, and immediately had to deal with crabs and sea snakes. I can fly, and I can carry anyone smaller then a centaur with me. I carried a good number of people over the shallows to land. Needless to say that for me at least sea snakes were no big deal. On the land, we had a fairly easy time at least until we reached the cave. The cave was kind of dangerous. Ok, really dangerous. There were lines on the floor periodically, and if you crossed these lines things would shoot poison darts at you through the walls. We discovered that if you did not touch the floor they would not shoot at you, so while Naranin with her ranged-attack-proof cloak just walked on through, the rest of us used our class abilities.
We arrived at a chamber which we assumed was the Left Hand's base. We assumed that mostly because the Left Hand was there. Along with a lot of ghosty-things. The left hand asked us if we were from the home. I said yes though I had no clue what was meant. A couple party members showed some kind of coin and in doing so seemed to gain the trust of the Left Hand. Remind me to ask them about that. Again. Anyways, then the Left Hand gave them paper bits. With code. Then the Left Hand told us that to get out we had to get past the dart-shooting-things again... Except that this time they would hit us even if we were flying. I decided that there had to be a point to all that so I decided to try to get more maps or puzzles before attempting an escape. I then remembered that earlier when I had been talking to the guy at the shipyard Naranin had asked about city maps and had been redirected to the Left Hand. Wonderful. I asked the Left Hand about city maps, and was promised the map of a particular city... If we could get out. So Naranin with her epic cloak walked out and stood there letting the dart-shooting-things waste their darts on her so the rest of the party could pass behind her. She had heard me ask about the city maps and nabbed the map on her way out the other side of the passage, which WAS the desired effect. So we all got home in one piece and that half the party owes Naranin our lives. Happy ending.
Now I gotta work on the new ship.
Zero
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier Thief first tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger, wears a scarf most of the time.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, Dagnith. Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries a dirty dark blade or a magic sword.
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Weapons-Master, Sara. Assassin first tier Thief second tier, Animal tamer. Carries a large longsword, a blowgun, and a medium flail.
I hope to outfit every member of my crew with a unique heartstone weapon of some kind... More on that later.
Ship: Black Sun
Five master, flies a personalized flag, NOT a flag of any organization/gov't. "Black Sun" painted on the side in elvish. Contains living quarters for the crew, plus one person //maybe a guest? Or another potential crew-member? Maybe I should rent it out.//. Has four cannons which have a 75% chance of operating normally at any given time. New technology, there are unforeseen problems that can occur, but generally it doesn't take too long for them to fix themselves.
(A small paper is folded between the pages)
________________
First off. I would like to say that as I most certainly do not go on EVERY mission, I would appreciate it greatly if others would keep their own logs of events, even if they are not detailed. It would be helpful to try to give a complete account of the events.
Okay now I'll start talking.
I love my amazingly overpowered ship. I am amused by the fact that the Oni have some respect for me simply because I built it. One of their masters came and told me that I might be able to get some of my ship master-crafted if I talked to the Makai sages. I appreciate thir telling me that. And I certainly appreciate Oni willingness to allow my ship in their harbor. Right. So. We started in the Oni port. News had reached us via an emissary that Kcubrats, who was hiding at a safehouse in Wenport, that Kcobrats wanted to speak with us... Knew where another map bit was hidden. Another man who Chiron had met wanted to trade us a map piece in return for 50% of the profits later when we finished the map...
But there was a more urgent matter on our hands. The docks were being attacked by enemy forces... Ogres. We moved out, ready to fight them. While many of us took an offensive strategy, Naranin, Dagnith and some others focused on defending the Black Sun. Many of us fell, but Naranin and the other defenders managed to hang on. I don't think they would have lasted much longer, but the enemy, who had lost more fighters then we had, pulled back. Sara and Dagnith managed to loot an enormous bow off of an enemy general. Or at least I think he was a general. We decided I'd make it into a Ballista, which the three of us would sell later and split the profits. The Oni thanked us for defending their harbor, to which I responded something along the lines of 'Thank you for letting us use your harbor, we're honored'. Then our group congregated to discuss possible courses of action. After many people including myself yelled at the party from atop a large box, it was decided we would speak to this man who was interested in giving us a map bit and negotiate a deal, and then we would sail for Makai. //I spell city names by instinct unless I have a map in front of me... Forgive possible misspellings.//
So we met this guy, and he seems to think that the full map is going to be insanely valuable. Which it will be. He also seems to think we're gonna sell it. Which we aren't if I get any say in it. Anyways, we're just agreeing to his deal when Dagnith holds up this mirror and says something like, 'Cyclone, here's the guy who stole the map' and pulls back this guy's hood to reveal this huge dirty dark scar across his face... Apparently he's a really important guy in this group of assassins and thieves... So naturally we go 'hey, that's gonna make it really hard to get his map bit' and so we knocked out Dagnith. Jackal takes this runic sword of his and smashes the mirror. Then the guy we were negotiating with says something like, 'The situation has changed. What's your friends name?' So we told him Dagnith's name. And then the guy said he wanted to talk to Dagnith. So I, naturally, was worried about Dagnith's safety since he is a member of my crew. Even if he did something really dumb. So I pestered this guy about what he was going to do to Dagnith, and he assured me that he was just going to talk with him. So I stopped bugging him. And so he talked with Dagnith and Dagnith wouldn't talk about it afterwards. What does this tell us?
Ok so then we sailed to Makai. It was a quick, uneventful journey. Uneventfulness that annoyed me at the time, but that I would later come to appreciate. We arrived in Makai, and while Naranin, Jackal, and Sara disappeared into some obscure place in the city, the rest of us wandered around speaking to people. I bought a Bladefoot ball on a whim for 5 gp and then was approached by a person... She looked like law enforcement, she carried a dirty dark dagger and another weapon which I forget. She asked me if I was the one who built the Black Sun and of course I said yes. She said she had to talk with me privately and we wandered over to the side of the street. She said it had to be more private and I said no, here was fine, and suddenly she was behind me and next thing I know I wake up and I've been resurrected by a party member and have this dirty dark scar around my neck. And then there's this piece of paper that I'm sure I didn't have before that pretty much says I'm being watched. The law enforcement person obviously killed me... And she was also right nearby. I pointed her out immediately, and then didn't see her again after that. I purchased a scarf to cover the dirty dark scar for 1 gp. Soon afterwards, I accompanied Dagnith on an attempt to find some secret place under the city... He had a map which he had copied from (the words just stop here, and there is a blank long enough for a sentence before the text continues.) We could not find the place we were looking for, maybe Dagnith had copied his map down wrong. So we found our way out of the tunnels. It seemed that the party was headed for the sages temple, so we followed them. I gave the sages a copy of the Black Sun's bluprint in exchange for entry and walked in. Give knowledge to get knowledge. My original question idea had been to ask about getting pieces of the Black Sun mastercrafted and enchanted, but right now I wanted to know who was watching me. So I produced the paper and asked the sages about it. Apparently the parchment came from Braknik, but the ink came from far away... Maybe even Roekron. Well, I suppose that tells us that whoever is watching me has lots of resources at his or her command. The rest of the group asked their questions, some about waterbreathing and some about personal matters. (Andy) asked about where to find Octokrakens. Then we left, setting sail for Wenport.
Upon reaching Wenport, we were brought to a safehouse where Kcubrats was staying. He told there were evil people who wanted the map. Powers in Roekron that wanted to control Terriock. That he had been tortured by them and they knew all our names. That we had to find the map... The entire map... And destroy it. Keep it away from the WTO... And one other thing of importance. Finwing had kept a map bit around her neck.
Thee was a unanimous vote. We had to find Finwing's corpse. And we knew it would be in the Octokraken's lair. (Andy) knew that Octokrakens liked reefs, caves, relatively small spaces. I pointed to the map, to a place on the map where a reef lay. And so we went there.
I took a group on day watch with Almun and Sara while I gave Jackal command of the night watch with Naranin and Dagnith. Captain Cloud was on day watch at first, then moved to the night watch for reasons none of us, including him, are really sure of. //Captain Cloud has become an alcoholic... and his moving to the night watch meant I didn't have to deal with him.// I'm gonna describe the encounters that I remember in the most detail.
Our first encounter was with Naiads. These are water fey of some sort, and they are obnoxious, flirtatious, and unreasonable. They also seem to enjoy torturing other beings. That said, if you figure out how to talk to them they can be useful. They claimed they were 'Playing a game' by which I mean they were charming people, taking them underwater... These are people that can't swim, let alone breathe underwater... And the naiads were treeforming and untreeforming them repeatedly, torturing them! I came out. Being an elf, I cannot be charmed, and I told them that we would play with them on the way back. And there was a short conversation in which they offered to distract the octokraken and they gave us these little clam-looking things to let us breathe under water. Almun took two, while I stored the rest below decks for later use. The rest of the day was fine sailing, and Jackal, Cloud, and I had a short conference right before we traded off shifts. We maintained our course. I went to sleep.
I was awakened early morning to find another ship alongside the Black Sun, one that the Night Shift had apparently defeated. There was some level of chaos among the party taking place in the other ship's hold. I asked what had happened and was told that on the night shift they had encountered a ghost ship, with undead on the decks and many boxes in the hold. One particularly large box had been opened and had contained a vampire of some sort. Party members were opening smaller boxes and dying. They were trying to take stuff out of the boxes and dying. I did what any sane person would. I banned people from opening any more boxes and threw all the boxes into the sea. There was some protest, but I dealt with that easily enough. There was this one problem with this item that seemed to make people paranoid that others would take it, but I had that dropped into the sea too. The fish can have it for all I care. At least it won't hinder the party again. Jackal kept the ghost ship.
So some other stuff that was less significant happens including waves damaging the ship and we eventually reach the octokraken's lair and most of us get off the boat and use a lot of those clam things. Then we swam down into the depths of the sea...
We descended into the water, quickly locating a gap in the reef which we assumed to be the Kraken's lair. the rock was covered with an odd, glowing algae. Someone touched it and they went limp, paralyzed by it. We healed them and continued on our way. Some of our party, observing this effect, got the algae all over their weapons so as to use it later. We came up against eels, which would sting you if you let them. Three of us managed to get past them, Almun, (Life mage whose name I forget), and I swam up the narrow tunnel till we reached a place where it opened up. It was a cavern. Holes in the ceiling sent beams of sunlight filtering in, falling across a piece of art. And I call it that because it was. The Octokraken had organized everything on the walls, stuck it there and made it into a kind of mosaic. Gold, jems, and bones all glinted in the light scattered light. It was a beautiful place, and looking at it I almost felt guilty about what I was about to do. Almost. We looked through the things there, looking for an amulet, for something magic, for Finwing's corpse. Finding nothing. But where was the rest of our group? It suddenly occurred to us that they might have been defeated by the eels. Which was not good. We all started back, slashing at the eels. Almun ran ahead, knowing that he could treeform our friends and we could heal them on the way out, thus preventing further problems for some time. I attacked the eels when I saw them. (Life mage) was injured and I healed him while Almun went ahead. We retreated back to the cavern area. Some others arrived. And then They appeared. Huge lobster creatures. They had blended into the walls perfectly, they had stuff on their shells as if they were part of the walls. But they were attacking us, and that definitely meant they weren't walls. We fought back pretty well, defeating most of them, then investigating the walls. Cloud found Finwing's corpse. Cloud found an amulet. A shadow moved over the ceiling holes. The octokraken likely. Then it moved away. We started removing other stuff from the walls, gathering what wealth we could find. The another lobster emerged, and we swam for the exit.
We reached the ship to find it under attack by the Octokraken. Naranin and Jackal, who had stayed back with the ship, were held in some of its many tentacles. Sara, who manned the catapult, was put in charge of destroying those tentacles and freeing them while the party dealt with the tentacles that were actually attacking the ship. I flew into the air, coming down and making a few strikes before flying upward again. Sara succeeded in her task fairly quickly. The party as a whole was having some trouble. And it was about to get worse. The head of the Kraken, vicious and heavily armored, climbed up onto the boat, wreaking havoc. The battle likely would have ended there if not for a shout of 'Death ray!' and a black spell which struck the head of the beast, leaving it limp and dead. The spell had been cast by Chiron, and had probably just saved our lives.
We began to sail back. On the way back, Cloud, Jackal, and I noticed that (Scott) was fumbling with something--a hat it looked like--that appeared to be slippery. We asked him about it, and I picked it up on the end of my blade to look at it. Then Cloud snatched it and ran. I chased him, and he put the hat on and... Suddenly he started acting like how you'd stereotype a noble. Or... (This bit looks like it was written quickly, as if it was unpleasant to write.) A captain. (Writing returns to normal.) He flew up into the sky and saw a storm coming and came down and said something like, 'From one captain to another, I see a storm coming. We should sail around it.' So that's all strange, but we sail around it, and then there's a bandit ship coming so we sail around that, //I went to bed at this point, it was dark.// and then when I was awoken we had been attacked by some pirates or something. So we strategized. There's a secret way to the back of the ship, and we used it. Almun and the other elves, including myself, got above decks. Then he ran with his shark spear, leapt onto the edge of the enemy ship, and used battle roar. The enemy went running. But since there's nowhere to really run on the sea, we decimated them.
We headed for Braknik and docked there. And... Other stuff happened. Yeah. Other stuff.
Zero
(There is a short, scribbled entry.) Things are happening. Things are moving in the world. I'm having odd dreams, of coins and blood and people. I thought gods were less prominent here. I thought they didn't give you visions usually. I've never sacrificed anything to a god in my life. Where are these dreams coming from then? Why is Cyclone important? Too many questions, not enough answers. I need answers. Why does everything hide from plain sight?
Zero
(Another short piece of writing)
I have made a decision. I have chosen my path. What has been done cannot be undone. I am a captain, a guardian. I follow Finwing's footsteps. It is my fate. I have chosen it freely. I have what I wished for, a purpose, a path.
But... I fear that I have alienated Jackal. I argued with him today. He has more emotion in him then he lets on, but it's all negative. He doesn't seem to like what he is, but he doesn't seem to think there is any other option. It's sad that the only time I've seen him open up is when I anger him. He probably needs someone to care about him, but I doubt that I'm the right person to do that, given that he probably hates me... and... It's not something I can really order anyone to do.
Some part of me knows that that's not really what I should be worrying about. Some part of me knows I should be preparing for the future. But I think of Jackal as a friend... As naive as that seems. I'd like to be able to call my entire crew my friends. And yet... I can no longer trust Dagnith for fear of giving Leod information. Jackal... Well, I just ranted about that. I'm just not really sure how to deal with them now.
I suppose I just have to walk and trust in the spirit of Finwing to guide me. I need to talk to Kcubrats.
Zero
(A couple line long piece of writing.)
How do you go, in the same day, from thinking someone wants to kill you to trusting them even more then you did before? My life is so wierd.
Zero
I won't bother with an inventory. It's all the same. There is joy but that is not why I write today. Today I write to let the world see my faults.
Too long there has been too much information held by too few. Those who were there would not have used it... or released it. There is a cost for everything, and the cost of secrets hangs over my head by a ghost. I have done much good, but I have done little when it really mattered.
HA! Even in my writing I am cryptic, keeping secrets. Well, my punishment for my secrets has come in the form of guilt, and I fear that the guilt will never leave. I have decided. Let all be known! Let the world see my shadows.
I had dreams, dreams from Finwing, dreams that showed the future in symbols. I knew Kcubrats was set to die, and I did nothing. I told only my crew, a crew I knew was filled with murderers. A crew I discovered contained the person who would kill Finwing's first mate. But I did nothing. And do you know why? I did nothing because of an emotion, one viewed as a powerful form of good. An emotion called love.
I might have hoped to give warning. To give hope to those in danger, instead of condemning them by my silence. I try to bring good, but in a way Jackal was right. We have all changed, and when I first arrived I would have killed rather then let these crimes be committed. Silence has itself become a crime. And silence is unforgivable.
I know this now and the knowledge hurts because I know silence will someday again become necessary. But until then... Until then I keep secrets from no one. They cost too much.
Zero
(Very short entry. It has an entire page though and is written three times in bold black letters. From the age of the ink you can tell the three times the words were written were all a very long time apart. The third time the words are written, the ink looks much more recent.)
I hate Dlog more then I hated Leod and more than I hate the oni's stupid rules and more then I hate the Wizard Trade Order. He should die a very long and painful death by morganti.
Zero
(Yet another short writing.)
I am glad I have friends. And wits. And plans. I have a friend, a storm mage. Through him I have control. I wait. I bide my time, waiting. Time will pass and I will plot. I will think of ways. I need to meet Dlog. With my friend. Without Jackal. And then... And then I will have control. And once I have control Jackal will be free. And through this I will no longer need to watch my back so closely.
But all this comes with secrets. It is hard to keep away from secrets when they come to your front door. It is hard to keep away from secrets when they come from your front door. But once one has secrets one cannot avoid them any longer. I write with secrets in my words. I have to write with secrets in my words, else this book in the wrong hands would prove my undoing. Wait. When the time comes my secrets will be written here. When the time comes they will no longer be secrets.
Names I cannot write may be guessed by those who know me well. And others may muse. But some people must not uncover the names. Even if I die there are some who must die with me and there are some who must live. No matter what.
Ezra
(The book is plain looking. "Journal" is printed on the front in handwriting that is an attempt at neatness, but still doesn't look neat. The handwriting in the book is a messy scrawl which is barely legible at times. The edges of the page are littered with doodles of everything from people to ships to interesting symbols.)
So... After two days of adventuring I get a chance to write. And admittedly draw little pictures too. Anyways, my brother and I started adventuring. Yesterday we investigated what was eating the giant lizards. So we walked a while and came to a place where people were fishing. We asked them if they had seen any lizards and they said no so we went to the lizard stables. Then we found this frog. I mean... It was more like a frog kraken thing. And it was really huge. So it injured some people and we healed them and it retreated off to some caves just above the water's surface. Most of us jumped between outcroppings of rock in the water and chased after it. I shot a couple red crabs because they were trying to hurt my friends. We made our way into the depths of the cave to fight the frog-kraken thing and killed a bunch of its tentacle things before it left. Then we managed to get back before the tide got too high. And they gave us a small amount of coin for our efforts, which, though unnecessary, is certainly appreciated. We also went to this cave with a whole bunch of statues that came alive and attacked us.
Today I went adventuring again. Except first we did boat training. There were two captains that were on boats with us helping train us. One, Captain Whitecap, was really commanding harsh. Mom hired her to be in charge of The Finwing sometimes I think. But I think Finwing is a person or something too because mom prays to her, so maybe the ship was built for her? Anyways, back on topic. Captain Whitecap is only tier one, and seems very competent except maybe she shouldn’t take stuff so seriously. And I don’t think she likes negotiation, which worries me a little bit. Then there was Captain Clearwater. Captain Clearwater is a nice person, but I have no idea if he would be able to retain command of a ship. He’s like the opposite of Whitecap. He’s too soft and she’s too harsh. I hope there are captains out there who can be controlling but still open to ideas… I mean, “Lets hear everybody’s idea and vote” isn’t really gonna work for everything, but being all like “You WILL obey me and you’re all scum” is just giving people a reason to hate you. I wonder what Mom and Dad are like when they’re commanding ships? Mostly I see them on the Black Sun, but that’s home. It doesn’t count.
Anyways, we split into two groups and did combat training. We won most of the time, but on the last one the other group (under Whitecap) won and then before we had a chance to regroup we got word of a Grimsoleoth ship and they took off on the Finwing without us.
I guess Grimsoleoth was beating them pretty badly because by the time we caught up Grimsoleoth was pretty much about to capture the Finwing. So naturally, we stepped in and beat the living daylights out of the people on the Grimsoleoth ship. I have to say, there is one good thing about having an easily persuaded captain, and that’s that you can manipulate them into doing things that make your group more effective if necessary. I know that sounds kind of cold, but it’s true. Anyways, we won and came back, but I think mom got wind of how the first group had almost lost the Finwing because she seemed pretty annoyed and was saying something about if the group was gonna lose ships they could at least lose a different ship. I wonder why the thinks the Finwing is so important? It’s just a three masted ship.
Then we went to investigate the BrackMarket. I’m going to make it entirely clear that I went into that encounter completely unbiased. So I go up to the guy running the market and ask him, “Hey, what’s this about?” and he says, “We import goods from Roekron and sell them to you at the best prices.” And I go straight to the local blacksmith and decide that I’m gonna deter anyone with any ethics whatsoever from buying at the BrackMarket. If you don’t see the problem as quickly as I do, I’ll explain.
When you have people in Roekron do the work and import goods to Terriock, you can be pretty sure the cash is going back to Roekron. It is not going into the local economy. Besides that, 8 gp is (or was) the standard price for weapons. That means that if the people at the BrackMarket are able to make profit, they’re underpaying the craftsmen in Roekron. Not to mention that with cheaper goods taking away buyers, the local craftsmen have to charge more to make money because where they used to be able to sell, say, three things and get enough profit to survive, if they have fewer sales then they might have to get the same amount of profit they used to get from selling three things out of one sale, so they’ll have to charge a lot more for each item. Therefore people won’t buy from the local salesmen as they go for cheaper goods. Unless people are ethically sound, the local salesmen will go out of business.
I’m not real good at explaining things. I hope that was good enough.
Then we went to Makai to escort an ambassador person. But first we went to the market area. And the BrackMarket was being a source of evil there too. So I got fed up and took a pen and some paper and wrote up signs telling people to go to the local blacksmith instead of the BrackMarket and posted them all over the area including all over the back of the building that housed the BrackMarket. Maybe people will see them and do the right thing.
Then we headed off to the temple of the Makai Sages. They let me in and there was this door in the back and I knocked on it and told them I wanted knowledge and stuff and they closed the door. More people knocked and they started taking people in but they didn’t come out and I got kinda worried. By then I had figured out that there was something else in the room and I wracked my brain to think what it could be. Then my brother went in and didn’t come out and I pounded on the door not really because I knew what I was doing but because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Then they answered the door and there was a person there and they said something about being called an Oni ambassador and suddenly I ralized it was the ambassador we were trying to find and I identified the person and they let us heal our people (apparently they had wounded them, which angered me because they shouldn’t do that to my brother but I wasn’t going to shoot an ambassador so I didn’t say anything about it and then they insulted my brother which also made me angry, but shooting an ambassador in the back probably wouldn’t get me anywhere so I did nothing.
Then we went to escort the Oni ambassador. So we went through all this work fighting the Oni and everything because it was their custom and then the ambassador completely disregarded everybody but the hobbits! So I spoke up and said that the ambassador was wrong and I didn’t need any hobbits to be a completely worthy fighter and the ambassador said, “Did somebody say something?” I would have put an arrow in the Ambassador’s throat right there except that we need the respect and alliance of the Oni and so I resigned myself to threatening the hobbits who seemed to be adopting the Oni’s attitude.
So that was my adventuring. And anyone who adopts the Oni’s attitude towards others will find an arrow in them before I put up with it.
RANDOM CENTAUR GNOME
Zero
There are so many people. What do they want from me? Oh yeah. That's right. I'm an admiral. A captain. A council member. I'm a prisoner of my own ambition.
I thought I was building something. A future. No, I built a cage. And I'm trapped in the past now watching everyone run into the future. Everything is in darkness. And blood. And people come and ask me for things in the future that the past can't give them.
I'm scared of everything. Blood. Power. Death.
I can't move on until somehow I've given payment for my mistakes. But how do you give payment to the dead?
I have a job to do now. One I asked for. One I worked for. Why did I want this? Why was it ever the most important thing?
Maybe one day I'll run away, disappear, find a way to pay the dead for my mistakes. I can't yet. Not because I would be deserting my job, but because I can't desert Jackal. Or the twins. Or Naranin.
One day I will disappear. Not to remake myself, not to undo mistakes. Just to pay for those mistakes. So that I can live in the future with everyone else I know and not have strings of the past tying me down. Someday. If I can find the right answers.
Ezra
(As always, the page is covered in doodles)
Worried. Very worried. I thought over what (Reese) was hiding. I need to talk to the silent merfolk, if only through writing. I need to share ideas, but when my potential allies in figuring this out attempt to keep me out of it, the value of my words needs to be a bargaining tool. If we continue to keep secrets, how will we ever solve this puzzle? And I'm not sure we have time to waste. Worrying.
Zero
(The writing in the logbook is curvy, without many straight lines, but it isn't cursive. Every once in a while something is crossed out, and everything is written in ink.) Welcome to my logbook. Yes, I'm actually saying welcome. I'm Zero Skyhawk, the new captain of the black dawn Black Dawn. Anything Almost anything I write here is meant to be read. I suppose you could call this a ships logbook. It keeps track of the people manning the Black Dawn, as well as their items and classes. It also keeps track of what happens to the ship, when repairs need to be made, and where it goes. It also keeps track of my party's adventures. I give my crew permission to log here as well.
______________________________
I'll start with an inventory.
(The following lists are written neatly, with more straight lines then before.)
The crew is two.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a longsword and a dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak and silver gauntlets.
Looking for MAPMAKER, Trade must be Mapmaker
Looking for FIRST MATE, Class must be Amazon
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Both are going through the design process.
______________________________
(The writing returns to the style used before.)
I suppose I'll start with the older stuff. But not the REALLY old stuff. How about... The trip to Black Dust island. So, back then I was only a first mate, serving on another ship, captained by Captain Cloud. We had sailed off to Black Dust Island to rescue slaves and investigate the island. First we had to get there. First we went along until we were passing some fighting sea serpents. Sea serpents are quite an amazing sight, especially while fighting. However, some idiot decided to interfere in there battle. Have they no common sense? If any of my crew ever do something like that I will kick them off my ship. Thankfully, Cloud's ship was not destroyed, however the serpents did attack everyone on decks and we had to flee to the hold. Once we passed the serpents we had to deal with the bane of my existence. Not literally, but I hate storm type waves. They destroy my hard work. I swear, next time I multiclass I go storm just for an elder sorcery something like "I calm water". Anyway, the waves destroyed all three masts on that ship. I could put up a new one, being a shipwright and all, but only one. Thankfully, next we met a merchant ship, which sold us two new masts, which they also installed. Then we passed through a region where all the wildlife was dying and met sick merpeople. I have low tolerance for them, but I don't wish to have their curse mark, so diplomacy occurred. It's a rare thing to see me play diplomat with merfolk, but these seemed more open minded... Let us pass without their curse mark. The last leg of the boat trip was not actually on a boat. We had to get to shore. While this was a simple task for me, others had a harder time and many were attacked by yellow crabs. We reached shore okay. When we reached shore I picked up about a pocketful of red pebbles. When we got into the forest, we had to deal with goblins and people who don't speak Common. However, we got through that with very few problems, healed our injured, and headed into the mountains. At this point Captain Cloud flew off to get the ship and move it around the other side of the island so that when we rescued the slaves we would be able to get on and go. As we approached the mountains caves became apparent and we traveled up to one of them. It was a large cave with a statue on either side of it. At first we were cautious because of the statues and the way the things back in Roekron have a strange way of coming to life and killing you, but then we realized we were past the meta. No magic works there. So we had a good laugh because the statues COULDN'T come to life and then we walked on in. We must have recrossed the Meta in the cave, because my red stones started pulsing with my heartbeat and Chiron's spells were working again. We entered a long room. It was full of cots, carved out of the stone. One guy, who wore an amulet of the red rock... Heartstone I think I'm gonna call it, lay down to sleep on one. Now here's the funny thing: The amulet read, "I dream through doors, I keep my dreams, and I aspire". There was another line but I do not remember it as of right now. Anyways, the same thing was carved in this room in as many different languages as you could count and then some! Anyways, I decided to look around the room. There was a big rectangle on the wall with what looked like a carving of the amulet above it. I walked all the way down to the other end of the room. I found several pictures of what seemed to be landscapes or seascapes. Some looked familiar, but I'm not really sure where I'd seem them before. Then I saw this one other thing. Of a person. Except they were split in two and one half was in one place and the other half was in another place. Around that point the guy who had gone to sleep woke up. Future reference: The password is "I aspire". Anyway, I wanted to stay longer, but we had to leave or else Cloud would get to the meeting place and we would not be there. Because of this we continued to the mines... Where they mine the black dust that poisons the water and becomes the black shackles whose marks I still wear on my wrists. Curse the slave trade and its evil doings. Well, to say the least, we won and freed slaves. We got them on the boat and sailed back. On the way out I stuffed my pockets with red rocks from the beach, as did Naranin. We were sailing back when we met two unwelcome guests: A four master Black Shackle Gang ship manned by giants and a three master goblin ship flying one of the dumbest flags I have ever seen. Well, I suffice to say that both we and the goblins got the living daylights beaten out of us by the giants. I swam off for help, carrying Naranin with me. We met a Sayusar Guard ship. And the Sayusar guard came to our assistance and beat the living daylights out of the giants. I have no idea how he did it. Well, the remaining goblins deserted their ship and took the giants four master and I took the three master ship they left behind. Then we all sailed back. Once back at New Elianas I fixed up the goblin ship, cleaned it, got rid of the trees, and installed new masts. It was a nice ship, though the goblins did not treat it well. Once fixed it became the nice ship I've got now. I painted it and named it The Black Dawn. I resigned from my position as Cloud's First Mate and took up as position as Captain on my new ship. Captain Skyhawk of the Black Dawn. I like the sound of that.
Anyhow, there was another adventure coming with the darkness. We would rescue Sayusar's cousin Bengal from the Minotaur and it's evil undead forces. While the main force took down the Minotaur and its minions, Naranin and I went around the back to rescue the guy. Well, some dude was talking loudly in a very creepy voice. I think he was a Death Knight. Well, Naranin wanted to turn tail and run, but I just waited for the Death Knight to leave. Then we picked the guy up and ran as fast as we could. Around the time we got back, the Minotaur was being carried back to the boat as well. So we mostly all got back and then we got on the boat and sailed away. Very quickly.
Well, a couple days later we get a note from the Western Army asking for a prisoner trade. They wanted the Minotaur. Well, we weren't about to trade them the Minotaur, even if they did have Chiron and a couple others. We went off on a rescue mission. We got back all the prisoners they had and got out without loss of life. Ha. That will show them.
Naranin and I then proceeded to look around town for a mage craftsmen. See, we still had those Heartstone pebbles, and I want them forged into a longsword. We found a mage craftsmen who offered to do this for us in exchange for a map of Black Dust Island and the caves on it.
If you would like to help map the Black Dust Island or join my crew, contact me in New Elianas.
Zero
The crew is three. (+? There are couple people I'm not sure about, so I won't put their names down.)
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a normal dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, Dagnith. Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries...(?)
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Both are going through the design process. I have an idea for the flag.
______________________________
Okay, so some things have happened. First off, we did travel to the Black Dust Island to map it, but we found that others from Roekron were there, claiming it their new town of Serpentine or something to that effect. I hate them. They followed us everywhere, they were high level, and they insisted on following us everywhere. Also, they're trying to sell spots on the dream beds that WE discovered! In fact, if Chiron had not put a beacon on the other side for them to find, they wouldn't even BE here! Once I get to be a higher level, I'm going to teach them how things work out here. I wonder if I can convince my party to help me try to negotate with them so far as trade goes. I want to go back home to Roekron at least for a little while, if only to let those at home know I'm alive and well.
We mapped the island and its caves, and picked up some more heartstone rubies. There are now several littering the hold of my ship, as well as a whole barrel that belongs to (Reese's character).
Okay, so we were teleported back to town because they had decided that they could use my ship without my permission. Did I mention that I hate them? At least they DID send my ship back to town to meet me. That said, they might have gotten permission without making an enemy of me if they had just asked.
When we returned to New Elianas, we discovered that the Mage Smith who had promised to forge our blades was no longer in town. Narann and I--but mostly me--went around to taverns and inns, knowing that there was some kind of thief and assassin guild--I think Naranin knows more then she says, seeing as she is both--we descreetly put out there that we might pay anyone who brought us information about this mage craftsman. Then we did some missions while we waited for a response.
We went and played some game from Braknik which is kicking a ball around with feet and weapons. We won. The other members of our party lost.
*coughcoughworldcupcoughcough*
Then we went to explore some cave. Admitted, I didn't do much with caves. We met a Roc along the way and it was guarding a nest. Well, most people take the common sense approach, which is to leave it alone. I take the thief approach--I'm not a thief, but having had an experience I think I like the idea--and try to steal the eggs. I mean really, who WOULDN'T want a giant vicious bird as a pet! Anyways, some others had the same idea, a nature mage and (Reese's character). The nature mage distracted the bird, taking initiative and grabbing an egg. Needless to say the Roc was less then thrilled, and followed him. Then (Reese's character) and I came in with the guarding parent gone and took the remaining two eggs. While our party members continued on, we ran (and in my case flew) back to the ship for shelter. I hid the egg I had taken in a warm place in the hold. Not sure what the others did with theirs.
We returned to town after the party minus a few members did the necessary cave exploration. We proceeded to break for lunch. This was when I continued to spread word of the mission I offered to the city's well informed slightly illegal members.
After lunch, we decided we would take the Oni challenge, a challenge to reach the Oni city from the coast. However, we had recieved information from a party member who had disappeared. First he was with the Oni. Second there was some ways that we should behave so as not to offend people. Third they like short people. Fifth they liked rats. Because they liked rats, we decided it would be good to bring them rats. We went about the city catching and buying every rat we could find. I also bought a kitten. I like kittens, and if you raise a kitten around rats from a very young age they won't hunt them. See my logic?
We loaded all the rats onto the Black Dawn, and I brought my kitten. We then set sail for the isle of the Oni. We encountered no danger during the boat ride, as if the sea thought it would be enough that we faced the danger to come. We arrived, only to find the way guarded by mana-sucking mosquitoes and bloodthirsty sharks. I have never been so thankful for my flight, and I think several of the other party members are also thankful... Seeing as it allowed me to save their lives. Fortunately, our party's lone centaur managed to cross the water without trouble... I would not have been able to save her had something happened to her.
Our next encounter was with a giant peacock, and several fireflies, lightningbugs, and at least one horsefly. I flew past them, and most of the party did too. I only had to rescue a single person.
We then encountered Oni warriors. they confronted us in battle. Strangely enough, (Scott's character) was with them. He took no sides, but hovered in the battle, a quiet observer. After we had triumphed over most of the Oni, I began to heal the fallen, making it clear as they awoke that I had no intention of fighting them. The party was doing some negotiating, and at some point we were brought into the Oni Emperor's chambers.
The shorter people were allowed to stand around the Oni Emperor, and we elves, humans, and a centaur, had to stand back and he wouldn't talk to us. I obeyed that rule for all of what, two minutes? Yeah, screw the stupd rules created by the misled midgets. Anyways, we brought the guy the rats. He asked about cats, and then about kittens. Well, I happenned to have my kitten which I had bought in town while we were looking for rats. He seemed to like the kitten very much. After that he made his demands--the mountains west of New Elianas for the Oni, and a promise that our people would not touch Gemlandi without either (Scott's character) or (Andy's character). These seemed pretty reasonable. I picked my cat back up once the negotiations were done and the party headed into the Oni city.
While most of the party roamed the town, (Reese's character), Naranin, and I flew into the higher city where the nobles lived, equipped with long cloaks and hoods. When we got there, (Reese's character) filled me in on some of the details of his mission. He was to steal armor from a certain Oni general. Naranin and myself decided to help him. Walking on our knees with our cloaks draped around us to appear shorter, the three of us set off to find the general. We met a person who told us the way to this general's house, and we infiltrated it through the skylight. We snuck into the room where the armor was stored, and while (Reese's character) picked up the armor and a blade that rested there, I picked up a coule sacks of money. Naranin picked the pocket of a man sleeping outside of the room. We were on our way out when the man woke and discovered these objects missing. We made a run for it, and while Naranin leapt through the skylight, I flew myself and (Reese's character) out. We ran back to the ship. I am of the hope that my face was not seen nor my race guessed, as I wore a cloak and a hood fell over my face. Having had a taste of a thief's missions, I must say the idea of joining their guild is very appealing.
I discovered back at town that the two sacs of gold I had taken contained a total of fifty gold, a useful sum seeing as I was a bit short on coin. Naranin repoorted that she had been confronted by somene who had cmpleted my mission, and for a sum of five gold--she tipped him an extra five--had revealed that the mage smith from whom we had commissioned a blade and two daggers was in Wenport, a place our party was to go anyway to drive off undead. We hastened to join them, hoping to trak down this mage ad discover whether he was aa thief or a victim of circumstances.
We discovered a large number of roaming undead in Wenport, and we set about destroying them by any mean we had about us. I myself destroyed several in aerial strikes, as well as rescuing a few unlucky party members from mana drain. Captain Cloud was also a notable facor in the battle, rescuing over twice the number of people I did. When the sun began to rise again--yes we had spent a whole day and part of a night on all these adventures--the undead began to return to their graves. I destroyed six on their way, but I am sure that was not enough to stop their attacks on the city. We did find the mage smith. He was a victim of the undead, and we found him wounded in town. He had our blades for us, and I now have a heartstone blade and Naranin two heartstone daggers. These weapons glow with our heartbeats, creating an interesting effect, I think, and they might create short bursts of light in dark spaces, though they have not been tested for this effect as of yet. They are also innately magic and so deal passively magic damage.
Zero
The crew is four.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, (Reese's Character). Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries...(?)
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Ship is the Black Dawn.
Three-master, flies no flag yet. Painted black with "Black Dawn" painted on the sides in Elvish. I hope to create a figurehead for it, as well as a personalized flag. Figurehead isgoing through the design process. I am working on an image of the flag. Description- A rising sun over the sea and a reflection of a bird in the water on a black plain.
_______________________
I traveled to Roekron through the Dream Gates for business. I made 350 gold selling heartstones and 50 gold which I split with (Reese's character) selling copies of the map we made of Black Dust Island/New Serpentine. My profits were 375 gold. People in Roekron seem to like my sword a lot.
I am looking for wood to expand my ship. A couple more masts and crew cabins would be some nice upgrades to build, as well as an extra space in the hold for cargo that the crew specifically wants to keep. I have no idea how much the wood for that would cost, but seeing as I have almost 400 gold to spend plus whatever Naranin will donate, I should be able to make decent upgrades. I have successfully cleared out all the heartstones that were rolling around the bottom of the hold.
This must be my shortest entry yet. Really.
Zero
The crew is five. It just keeps growing.
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, (Reese's Character). Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries a dirty dark blade or a magic sword.
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Weapon-Person, (Clara's character). Assassin first tier Thief second tier, Animal tamer. Carries a large longsword, a blowgun, and a medium flail.
What do you call someone who's in charge of firing cannons or catapults or whatever weaponry your ship has?
Requisitioned by those thieves that call themselves the Wizard Trade Order. Don't make me START about them.
New Ship Under Construction: Black Sun //See the pattern? Yeah.//
Five master, will fly a personalized flag, NOT a flag of any organization/gov't. IMAGE Will paint black with "Black Sun" painted on the side in elvish. Will have a griffin figurehead. I love griffins.
_______________________
First off. I like thieves. They're fine. They take gold and gems. I HATE thieves that hide behind government and take big things. Such as ships. You know where this is going now. Those halfwits from Roekron don't seem to know how to do their own work. I worked hard to make my ship fit for humans to sail. And then the dirty thieves come up and "Requisition" it. Another name for taking it in the name of putting money in their own pockets. And I don't even LIKE them! From this point forward I will avoid giving them money if I can.
Okay, so I don't have a ship anymore. I need to build a new one. Thanks to some people in Roekron and a thieving expedition a while back, new stuff added to what I had before I had 470 gold total to spend on ship making. I went into town with my party. Technically we were looking for some Stonefingers guy, but I didn't even know why we had to find him so I was really just there to buy supplies while my party searched the town. I went to the shipyard. The materials for the actual ship itself cost me only 150 gold, but I wanted to make a living space for each member of my crew. So all and all the fee wound up totaling 300 gold, seeing as I was supplying everyone with a book, a lantern, a bed, a simple carpet, and a desk, as well as purchasing two spyglasses for the crew's general use. Spyglasses and safe lanterns cost a lot of coin. And (Reese's character) had come up with some kind of cannon. We wanted to put four cannons on our ship, so we hired a blacksmith and an alchemist to make some for us and just the materials cost was 200 gold for four cannons! (Reese's character) chipped in a hundred gold and I put in a hundred and we could afford it. So I spent 400 gold in one encounter. Wow. Oh and I'm having all the stuff I ordered sent to Oni territory for construction so that it is harder for people to requisition it.
We did find Stonefingers, but since we had no idea what we wanted him for and he was just saying that he wouldn't do whatever it was, it wasn't a useful meeting.
Some people went and got themselves blown up by some crazy wizards on a boat. Then the rest of us went to investigate some smoke elsewhere on the island where New Elianas is. We traveled a while before we came to the source of the smoke. The place looked like someone had detonated some kind of elder sorcery explosion on top of it. The place was blackened, as if it had been burned by something, and there were what (Clara's character) said were magical trees at the edges of it. Before it was a decent sized chasm, which I easily flew over. We searched the area, and eventually found a young boy--and I say that because he seemed much younger then any of our number--huddled in a corner, hidden form plain sight. He seemed panicked, and only calmed down when I gave him a small heartstone. The steady pulse seemed to calm him enough to speak to us. We learned from him that he and his people has been patrolling the island and had defeated enemy forces when a ship of mages had appeared. They cast a powerful elder sorcery such as the one our friends had seen just beforehand. I also learned that the group the boy was with had been flying Roekron banners. I would hypothesize that the mages don't like Roekron people? If I'm right, it could be good to ally with them. Someone remind me to trail a Roekron vessel and then talk to them when they show up... And remind me to bring along a nature mage.
After that some of our party went to speak with the oni about something... Yeah, all I really know about that is that Naranin brought back griffin eggs and is attempting to hatch them. Yay griffin eggs~!
Then we went to speak to a person known as the Left Hand. We did it for information and codes, and Naranin went for maps of cities, which she had been told she could only get from the Left Hand. We sailed the place where the left hand was located, and immediately had to deal with crabs and sea snakes. I can fly, and I can carry anyone smaller then a centaur with me. I carried a good number of people over the shallows to land. Needless to say that for me at least sea snakes were no big deal. On the land, we had a fairly easy time at least until we reached the cave. The cave was kind of dangerous. Ok, really dangerous. There were lines on the floor periodically, and if you crossed these lines things would shoot poison darts at you through the walls. We discovered that if you did not touch the floor they would not shoot at you, so while Naranin with her ranged-attack-proof cloak just walked on through, the rest of us used our class abilities.
We arrived at a chamber which we assumed was the Left Hand's base. We assumed that mostly because the Left Hand was there. Along with a lot of ghosty-things. The left hand asked us if we were from the home. I said yes though I had no clue what was meant. A couple party members showed some kind of coin and in doing so seemed to gain the trust of the Left Hand. Remind me to ask them about that. Again. Anyways, then the Left Hand gave them paper bits. With code. Then the Left Hand told us that to get out we had to get past the dart-shooting-things again... Except that this time they would hit us even if we were flying. I decided that there had to be a point to all that so I decided to try to get more maps or puzzles before attempting an escape. I then remembered that earlier when I had been talking to the guy at the shipyard Naranin had asked about city maps and had been redirected to the Left Hand. Wonderful. I asked the Left Hand about city maps, and was promised the map of a particular city... If we could get out. So Naranin with her epic cloak walked out and stood there letting the dart-shooting-things waste their darts on her so the rest of the party could pass behind her. She had heard me ask about the city maps and nabbed the map on her way out the other side of the passage, which WAS the desired effect. So we all got home in one piece and that half the party owes Naranin our lives. Happy ending.
Now I gotta work on the new ship.
Zero
Captain, Zero Skyhawk. Amazon second tier Thief first tier, Shipwright. Carries a heartstone ruby longsword and a silver dagger, wears a scarf most of the time.
Scout, Naranin Wavetalon. Assassin second tier Thief first tier, Animal Tamer. Wears a dark cloak, two heartstone ruby daggers, and silver gauntlets.
Mapmaker, Dagnith. Storm Mage elder sorcerer Thief first tier, Mapmaker. Carries a dirty dark blade or a magic sword.
First Mate, Jackle. Assassin second tier Amazon first tier, Peacekeeper. Carries a cutlass and a glowing red sword and wears clothing like rich people wear.
Weapons-Master, Sara. Assassin first tier Thief second tier, Animal tamer. Carries a large longsword, a blowgun, and a medium flail.
I hope to outfit every member of my crew with a unique heartstone weapon of some kind... More on that later.
Ship: Black Sun
Five master, flies a personalized flag, NOT a flag of any organization/gov't. "Black Sun" painted on the side in elvish. Contains living quarters for the crew, plus one person //maybe a guest? Or another potential crew-member? Maybe I should rent it out.//. Has four cannons which have a 75% chance of operating normally at any given time. New technology, there are unforeseen problems that can occur, but generally it doesn't take too long for them to fix themselves.
(A small paper is folded between the pages)
________________
First off. I would like to say that as I most certainly do not go on EVERY mission, I would appreciate it greatly if others would keep their own logs of events, even if they are not detailed. It would be helpful to try to give a complete account of the events.
Okay now I'll start talking.
I love my amazingly overpowered ship. I am amused by the fact that the Oni have some respect for me simply because I built it. One of their masters came and told me that I might be able to get some of my ship master-crafted if I talked to the Makai sages. I appreciate thir telling me that. And I certainly appreciate Oni willingness to allow my ship in their harbor. Right. So. We started in the Oni port. News had reached us via an emissary that Kcubrats, who was hiding at a safehouse in Wenport, that Kcobrats wanted to speak with us... Knew where another map bit was hidden. Another man who Chiron had met wanted to trade us a map piece in return for 50% of the profits later when we finished the map...
But there was a more urgent matter on our hands. The docks were being attacked by enemy forces... Ogres. We moved out, ready to fight them. While many of us took an offensive strategy, Naranin, Dagnith and some others focused on defending the Black Sun. Many of us fell, but Naranin and the other defenders managed to hang on. I don't think they would have lasted much longer, but the enemy, who had lost more fighters then we had, pulled back. Sara and Dagnith managed to loot an enormous bow off of an enemy general. Or at least I think he was a general. We decided I'd make it into a Ballista, which the three of us would sell later and split the profits. The Oni thanked us for defending their harbor, to which I responded something along the lines of 'Thank you for letting us use your harbor, we're honored'. Then our group congregated to discuss possible courses of action. After many people including myself yelled at the party from atop a large box, it was decided we would speak to this man who was interested in giving us a map bit and negotiate a deal, and then we would sail for Makai. //I spell city names by instinct unless I have a map in front of me... Forgive possible misspellings.//
So we met this guy, and he seems to think that the full map is going to be insanely valuable. Which it will be. He also seems to think we're gonna sell it. Which we aren't if I get any say in it. Anyways, we're just agreeing to his deal when Dagnith holds up this mirror and says something like, 'Cyclone, here's the guy who stole the map' and pulls back this guy's hood to reveal this huge dirty dark scar across his face... Apparently he's a really important guy in this group of assassins and thieves... So naturally we go 'hey, that's gonna make it really hard to get his map bit' and so we knocked out Dagnith. Jackal takes this runic sword of his and smashes the mirror. Then the guy we were negotiating with says something like, 'The situation has changed. What's your friends name?' So we told him Dagnith's name. And then the guy said he wanted to talk to Dagnith. So I, naturally, was worried about Dagnith's safety since he is a member of my crew. Even if he did something really dumb. So I pestered this guy about what he was going to do to Dagnith, and he assured me that he was just going to talk with him. So I stopped bugging him. And so he talked with Dagnith and Dagnith wouldn't talk about it afterwards. What does this tell us?
Ok so then we sailed to Makai. It was a quick, uneventful journey. Uneventfulness that annoyed me at the time, but that I would later come to appreciate. We arrived in Makai, and while Naranin, Jackal, and Sara disappeared into some obscure place in the city, the rest of us wandered around speaking to people. I bought a Bladefoot ball on a whim for 5 gp and then was approached by a person... She looked like law enforcement, she carried a dirty dark dagger and another weapon which I forget. She asked me if I was the one who built the Black Sun and of course I said yes. She said she had to talk with me privately and we wandered over to the side of the street. She said it had to be more private and I said no, here was fine, and suddenly she was behind me and next thing I know I wake up and I've been resurrected by a party member and have this dirty dark scar around my neck. And then there's this piece of paper that I'm sure I didn't have before that pretty much says I'm being watched. The law enforcement person obviously killed me... And she was also right nearby. I pointed her out immediately, and then didn't see her again after that. I purchased a scarf to cover the dirty dark scar for 1 gp. Soon afterwards, I accompanied Dagnith on an attempt to find some secret place under the city... He had a map which he had copied from (the words just stop here, and there is a blank long enough for a sentence before the text continues.) We could not find the place we were looking for, maybe Dagnith had copied his map down wrong. So we found our way out of the tunnels. It seemed that the party was headed for the sages temple, so we followed them. I gave the sages a copy of the Black Sun's bluprint in exchange for entry and walked in. Give knowledge to get knowledge. My original question idea had been to ask about getting pieces of the Black Sun mastercrafted and enchanted, but right now I wanted to know who was watching me. So I produced the paper and asked the sages about it. Apparently the parchment came from Braknik, but the ink came from far away... Maybe even Roekron. Well, I suppose that tells us that whoever is watching me has lots of resources at his or her command. The rest of the group asked their questions, some about waterbreathing and some about personal matters. (Andy) asked about where to find Octokrakens. Then we left, setting sail for Wenport.
Upon reaching Wenport, we were brought to a safehouse where Kcubrats was staying. He told there were evil people who wanted the map. Powers in Roekron that wanted to control Terriock. That he had been tortured by them and they knew all our names. That we had to find the map... The entire map... And destroy it. Keep it away from the WTO... And one other thing of importance. Finwing had kept a map bit around her neck.
Thee was a unanimous vote. We had to find Finwing's corpse. And we knew it would be in the Octokraken's lair. (Andy) knew that Octokrakens liked reefs, caves, relatively small spaces. I pointed to the map, to a place on the map where a reef lay. And so we went there.
I took a group on day watch with Almun and Sara while I gave Jackal command of the night watch with Naranin and Dagnith. Captain Cloud was on day watch at first, then moved to the night watch for reasons none of us, including him, are really sure of. //Captain Cloud has become an alcoholic... and his moving to the night watch meant I didn't have to deal with him.// I'm gonna describe the encounters that I remember in the most detail.
Our first encounter was with Naiads. These are water fey of some sort, and they are obnoxious, flirtatious, and unreasonable. They also seem to enjoy torturing other beings. That said, if you figure out how to talk to them they can be useful. They claimed they were 'Playing a game' by which I mean they were charming people, taking them underwater... These are people that can't swim, let alone breathe underwater... And the naiads were treeforming and untreeforming them repeatedly, torturing them! I came out. Being an elf, I cannot be charmed, and I told them that we would play with them on the way back. And there was a short conversation in which they offered to distract the octokraken and they gave us these little clam-looking things to let us breathe under water. Almun took two, while I stored the rest below decks for later use. The rest of the day was fine sailing, and Jackal, Cloud, and I had a short conference right before we traded off shifts. We maintained our course. I went to sleep.
I was awakened early morning to find another ship alongside the Black Sun, one that the Night Shift had apparently defeated. There was some level of chaos among the party taking place in the other ship's hold. I asked what had happened and was told that on the night shift they had encountered a ghost ship, with undead on the decks and many boxes in the hold. One particularly large box had been opened and had contained a vampire of some sort. Party members were opening smaller boxes and dying. They were trying to take stuff out of the boxes and dying. I did what any sane person would. I banned people from opening any more boxes and threw all the boxes into the sea. There was some protest, but I dealt with that easily enough. There was this one problem with this item that seemed to make people paranoid that others would take it, but I had that dropped into the sea too. The fish can have it for all I care. At least it won't hinder the party again. Jackal kept the ghost ship.
So some other stuff that was less significant happens including waves damaging the ship and we eventually reach the octokraken's lair and most of us get off the boat and use a lot of those clam things. Then we swam down into the depths of the sea...
We descended into the water, quickly locating a gap in the reef which we assumed to be the Kraken's lair. the rock was covered with an odd, glowing algae. Someone touched it and they went limp, paralyzed by it. We healed them and continued on our way. Some of our party, observing this effect, got the algae all over their weapons so as to use it later. We came up against eels, which would sting you if you let them. Three of us managed to get past them, Almun, (Life mage whose name I forget), and I swam up the narrow tunnel till we reached a place where it opened up. It was a cavern. Holes in the ceiling sent beams of sunlight filtering in, falling across a piece of art. And I call it that because it was. The Octokraken had organized everything on the walls, stuck it there and made it into a kind of mosaic. Gold, jems, and bones all glinted in the light scattered light. It was a beautiful place, and looking at it I almost felt guilty about what I was about to do. Almost. We looked through the things there, looking for an amulet, for something magic, for Finwing's corpse. Finding nothing. But where was the rest of our group? It suddenly occurred to us that they might have been defeated by the eels. Which was not good. We all started back, slashing at the eels. Almun ran ahead, knowing that he could treeform our friends and we could heal them on the way out, thus preventing further problems for some time. I attacked the eels when I saw them. (Life mage) was injured and I healed him while Almun went ahead. We retreated back to the cavern area. Some others arrived. And then They appeared. Huge lobster creatures. They had blended into the walls perfectly, they had stuff on their shells as if they were part of the walls. But they were attacking us, and that definitely meant they weren't walls. We fought back pretty well, defeating most of them, then investigating the walls. Cloud found Finwing's corpse. Cloud found an amulet. A shadow moved over the ceiling holes. The octokraken likely. Then it moved away. We started removing other stuff from the walls, gathering what wealth we could find. The another lobster emerged, and we swam for the exit.
We reached the ship to find it under attack by the Octokraken. Naranin and Jackal, who had stayed back with the ship, were held in some of its many tentacles. Sara, who manned the catapult, was put in charge of destroying those tentacles and freeing them while the party dealt with the tentacles that were actually attacking the ship. I flew into the air, coming down and making a few strikes before flying upward again. Sara succeeded in her task fairly quickly. The party as a whole was having some trouble. And it was about to get worse. The head of the Kraken, vicious and heavily armored, climbed up onto the boat, wreaking havoc. The battle likely would have ended there if not for a shout of 'Death ray!' and a black spell which struck the head of the beast, leaving it limp and dead. The spell had been cast by Chiron, and had probably just saved our lives.
We began to sail back. On the way back, Cloud, Jackal, and I noticed that (Scott) was fumbling with something--a hat it looked like--that appeared to be slippery. We asked him about it, and I picked it up on the end of my blade to look at it. Then Cloud snatched it and ran. I chased him, and he put the hat on and... Suddenly he started acting like how you'd stereotype a noble. Or... (This bit looks like it was written quickly, as if it was unpleasant to write.) A captain. (Writing returns to normal.) He flew up into the sky and saw a storm coming and came down and said something like, 'From one captain to another, I see a storm coming. We should sail around it.' So that's all strange, but we sail around it, and then there's a bandit ship coming so we sail around that, //I went to bed at this point, it was dark.// and then when I was awoken we had been attacked by some pirates or something. So we strategized. There's a secret way to the back of the ship, and we used it. Almun and the other elves, including myself, got above decks. Then he ran with his shark spear, leapt onto the edge of the enemy ship, and used battle roar. The enemy went running. But since there's nowhere to really run on the sea, we decimated them.
We headed for Braknik and docked there. And... Other stuff happened. Yeah. Other stuff.
Zero
(There is a short, scribbled entry.) Things are happening. Things are moving in the world. I'm having odd dreams, of coins and blood and people. I thought gods were less prominent here. I thought they didn't give you visions usually. I've never sacrificed anything to a god in my life. Where are these dreams coming from then? Why is Cyclone important? Too many questions, not enough answers. I need answers. Why does everything hide from plain sight?
Zero
(Another short piece of writing)
I have made a decision. I have chosen my path. What has been done cannot be undone. I am a captain, a guardian. I follow Finwing's footsteps. It is my fate. I have chosen it freely. I have what I wished for, a purpose, a path.
But... I fear that I have alienated Jackal. I argued with him today. He has more emotion in him then he lets on, but it's all negative. He doesn't seem to like what he is, but he doesn't seem to think there is any other option. It's sad that the only time I've seen him open up is when I anger him. He probably needs someone to care about him, but I doubt that I'm the right person to do that, given that he probably hates me... and... It's not something I can really order anyone to do.
Some part of me knows that that's not really what I should be worrying about. Some part of me knows I should be preparing for the future. But I think of Jackal as a friend... As naive as that seems. I'd like to be able to call my entire crew my friends. And yet... I can no longer trust Dagnith for fear of giving Leod information. Jackal... Well, I just ranted about that. I'm just not really sure how to deal with them now.
I suppose I just have to walk and trust in the spirit of Finwing to guide me. I need to talk to Kcubrats.
Zero
(A couple line long piece of writing.)
How do you go, in the same day, from thinking someone wants to kill you to trusting them even more then you did before? My life is so wierd.
Zero
I won't bother with an inventory. It's all the same. There is joy but that is not why I write today. Today I write to let the world see my faults.
Too long there has been too much information held by too few. Those who were there would not have used it... or released it. There is a cost for everything, and the cost of secrets hangs over my head by a ghost. I have done much good, but I have done little when it really mattered.
HA! Even in my writing I am cryptic, keeping secrets. Well, my punishment for my secrets has come in the form of guilt, and I fear that the guilt will never leave. I have decided. Let all be known! Let the world see my shadows.
I had dreams, dreams from Finwing, dreams that showed the future in symbols. I knew Kcubrats was set to die, and I did nothing. I told only my crew, a crew I knew was filled with murderers. A crew I discovered contained the person who would kill Finwing's first mate. But I did nothing. And do you know why? I did nothing because of an emotion, one viewed as a powerful form of good. An emotion called love.
I might have hoped to give warning. To give hope to those in danger, instead of condemning them by my silence. I try to bring good, but in a way Jackal was right. We have all changed, and when I first arrived I would have killed rather then let these crimes be committed. Silence has itself become a crime. And silence is unforgivable.
I know this now and the knowledge hurts because I know silence will someday again become necessary. But until then... Until then I keep secrets from no one. They cost too much.
Zero
(Very short entry. It has an entire page though and is written three times in bold black letters. From the age of the ink you can tell the three times the words were written were all a very long time apart. The third time the words are written, the ink looks much more recent.)
I hate Dlog more then I hated Leod and more than I hate the oni's stupid rules and more then I hate the Wizard Trade Order. He should die a very long and painful death by morganti.
Zero
(Yet another short writing.)
I am glad I have friends. And wits. And plans. I have a friend, a storm mage. Through him I have control. I wait. I bide my time, waiting. Time will pass and I will plot. I will think of ways. I need to meet Dlog. With my friend. Without Jackal. And then... And then I will have control. And once I have control Jackal will be free. And through this I will no longer need to watch my back so closely.
But all this comes with secrets. It is hard to keep away from secrets when they come to your front door. It is hard to keep away from secrets when they come from your front door. But once one has secrets one cannot avoid them any longer. I write with secrets in my words. I have to write with secrets in my words, else this book in the wrong hands would prove my undoing. Wait. When the time comes my secrets will be written here. When the time comes they will no longer be secrets.
Names I cannot write may be guessed by those who know me well. And others may muse. But some people must not uncover the names. Even if I die there are some who must die with me and there are some who must live. No matter what.
Ezra
(The book is plain looking. "Journal" is printed on the front in handwriting that is an attempt at neatness, but still doesn't look neat. The handwriting in the book is a messy scrawl which is barely legible at times. The edges of the page are littered with doodles of everything from people to ships to interesting symbols.)
So... After two days of adventuring I get a chance to write. And admittedly draw little pictures too. Anyways, my brother and I started adventuring. Yesterday we investigated what was eating the giant lizards. So we walked a while and came to a place where people were fishing. We asked them if they had seen any lizards and they said no so we went to the lizard stables. Then we found this frog. I mean... It was more like a frog kraken thing. And it was really huge. So it injured some people and we healed them and it retreated off to some caves just above the water's surface. Most of us jumped between outcroppings of rock in the water and chased after it. I shot a couple red crabs because they were trying to hurt my friends. We made our way into the depths of the cave to fight the frog-kraken thing and killed a bunch of its tentacle things before it left. Then we managed to get back before the tide got too high. And they gave us a small amount of coin for our efforts, which, though unnecessary, is certainly appreciated. We also went to this cave with a whole bunch of statues that came alive and attacked us.
Today I went adventuring again. Except first we did boat training. There were two captains that were on boats with us helping train us. One, Captain Whitecap, was really commanding harsh. Mom hired her to be in charge of The Finwing sometimes I think. But I think Finwing is a person or something too because mom prays to her, so maybe the ship was built for her? Anyways, back on topic. Captain Whitecap is only tier one, and seems very competent except maybe she shouldn’t take stuff so seriously. And I don’t think she likes negotiation, which worries me a little bit. Then there was Captain Clearwater. Captain Clearwater is a nice person, but I have no idea if he would be able to retain command of a ship. He’s like the opposite of Whitecap. He’s too soft and she’s too harsh. I hope there are captains out there who can be controlling but still open to ideas… I mean, “Lets hear everybody’s idea and vote” isn’t really gonna work for everything, but being all like “You WILL obey me and you’re all scum” is just giving people a reason to hate you. I wonder what Mom and Dad are like when they’re commanding ships? Mostly I see them on the Black Sun, but that’s home. It doesn’t count.
Anyways, we split into two groups and did combat training. We won most of the time, but on the last one the other group (under Whitecap) won and then before we had a chance to regroup we got word of a Grimsoleoth ship and they took off on the Finwing without us.
I guess Grimsoleoth was beating them pretty badly because by the time we caught up Grimsoleoth was pretty much about to capture the Finwing. So naturally, we stepped in and beat the living daylights out of the people on the Grimsoleoth ship. I have to say, there is one good thing about having an easily persuaded captain, and that’s that you can manipulate them into doing things that make your group more effective if necessary. I know that sounds kind of cold, but it’s true. Anyways, we won and came back, but I think mom got wind of how the first group had almost lost the Finwing because she seemed pretty annoyed and was saying something about if the group was gonna lose ships they could at least lose a different ship. I wonder why the thinks the Finwing is so important? It’s just a three masted ship.
Then we went to investigate the BrackMarket. I’m going to make it entirely clear that I went into that encounter completely unbiased. So I go up to the guy running the market and ask him, “Hey, what’s this about?” and he says, “We import goods from Roekron and sell them to you at the best prices.” And I go straight to the local blacksmith and decide that I’m gonna deter anyone with any ethics whatsoever from buying at the BrackMarket. If you don’t see the problem as quickly as I do, I’ll explain.
When you have people in Roekron do the work and import goods to Terriock, you can be pretty sure the cash is going back to Roekron. It is not going into the local economy. Besides that, 8 gp is (or was) the standard price for weapons. That means that if the people at the BrackMarket are able to make profit, they’re underpaying the craftsmen in Roekron. Not to mention that with cheaper goods taking away buyers, the local craftsmen have to charge more to make money because where they used to be able to sell, say, three things and get enough profit to survive, if they have fewer sales then they might have to get the same amount of profit they used to get from selling three things out of one sale, so they’ll have to charge a lot more for each item. Therefore people won’t buy from the local salesmen as they go for cheaper goods. Unless people are ethically sound, the local salesmen will go out of business.
I’m not real good at explaining things. I hope that was good enough.
Then we went to Makai to escort an ambassador person. But first we went to the market area. And the BrackMarket was being a source of evil there too. So I got fed up and took a pen and some paper and wrote up signs telling people to go to the local blacksmith instead of the BrackMarket and posted them all over the area including all over the back of the building that housed the BrackMarket. Maybe people will see them and do the right thing.
Then we headed off to the temple of the Makai Sages. They let me in and there was this door in the back and I knocked on it and told them I wanted knowledge and stuff and they closed the door. More people knocked and they started taking people in but they didn’t come out and I got kinda worried. By then I had figured out that there was something else in the room and I wracked my brain to think what it could be. Then my brother went in and didn’t come out and I pounded on the door not really because I knew what I was doing but because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Then they answered the door and there was a person there and they said something about being called an Oni ambassador and suddenly I ralized it was the ambassador we were trying to find and I identified the person and they let us heal our people (apparently they had wounded them, which angered me because they shouldn’t do that to my brother but I wasn’t going to shoot an ambassador so I didn’t say anything about it and then they insulted my brother which also made me angry, but shooting an ambassador in the back probably wouldn’t get me anywhere so I did nothing.
Then we went to escort the Oni ambassador. So we went through all this work fighting the Oni and everything because it was their custom and then the ambassador completely disregarded everybody but the hobbits! So I spoke up and said that the ambassador was wrong and I didn’t need any hobbits to be a completely worthy fighter and the ambassador said, “Did somebody say something?” I would have put an arrow in the Ambassador’s throat right there except that we need the respect and alliance of the Oni and so I resigned myself to threatening the hobbits who seemed to be adopting the Oni’s attitude.
So that was my adventuring. And anyone who adopts the Oni’s attitude towards others will find an arrow in them before I put up with it.
RANDOM CENTAUR GNOME
Zero
There are so many people. What do they want from me? Oh yeah. That's right. I'm an admiral. A captain. A council member. I'm a prisoner of my own ambition.
I thought I was building something. A future. No, I built a cage. And I'm trapped in the past now watching everyone run into the future. Everything is in darkness. And blood. And people come and ask me for things in the future that the past can't give them.
I'm scared of everything. Blood. Power. Death.
I can't move on until somehow I've given payment for my mistakes. But how do you give payment to the dead?
I have a job to do now. One I asked for. One I worked for. Why did I want this? Why was it ever the most important thing?
Maybe one day I'll run away, disappear, find a way to pay the dead for my mistakes. I can't yet. Not because I would be deserting my job, but because I can't desert Jackal. Or the twins. Or Naranin.
One day I will disappear. Not to remake myself, not to undo mistakes. Just to pay for those mistakes. So that I can live in the future with everyone else I know and not have strings of the past tying me down. Someday. If I can find the right answers.
Ezra
(As always, the page is covered in doodles)
Worried. Very worried. I thought over what (Reese) was hiding. I need to talk to the silent merfolk, if only through writing. I need to share ideas, but when my potential allies in figuring this out attempt to keep me out of it, the value of my words needs to be a bargaining tool. If we continue to keep secrets, how will we ever solve this puzzle? And I'm not sure we have time to waste. Worrying.