RizzardosRescueJournal < CouncilOfThieves

The four of us followed our guide to a small seaside commons that had long been abandoned, Hunter was quite able to sneak ahead and discover who captured our friends, and maybe an inkling as to why, and how we might rescue them.

I now realize how strange it was seeing Hunter stalk, I am not sure I've ever seen her, and yet this is her own namesake. I wish perhaps I was good at my namesake, however I guess that is a difference, she chose that name from her life, and my life isn't chosen by my name.

We surrounded the building from three ways, from above and two sides, and at once we entered. The man there screamed, there were rats that screeched and skittered, and after a minute it was over. We had rescued the Asp man, and made it known that the Scions had saved the dozen commoners we freed from chains. The some of these slaver's work was undone, but there was still a trail to follow and our friend to be found.

The man had screamed against the evils of the city, that it was rotten and needed to be removed to allow for nature again to take the land. I agree with him, the city is rotten, but I find that the nature of man is to make their cities, and I think that the city is more like a man than a tree, that it is born and will grow, that it can be infected to then heal.

Part 2 - 9-23-11 - Battles upon the Prancing Prince

We eventually boarded the ship, both Shadow and Hunter went ahead to check for guards. We were sure it was a trap, something Vrok held as mantra through the entire exploration. Not that I like to be injured, or surprised by those who would injure me, but in ever way our paranoia had failed us.

As we neared the lowest deck, the inevitable trap was apparently sprung, and after some time I found myself returned to consciousness with the bodies of some tribal orc-kin. My haramaki does a little to protect me, but it seems that to even wild men without weapons are significantly more capable than me.

After that ambush, we found more captives but no scion, unfortunately one was some sort of nobleman. I would have rather had him tossed overboard, but eventually Vrok set him straight. I wish only people would listen to me, I bet that his axe.. and probably his height, help with that immensely.

I crawled the bilge, maybe it was just my foolish hope that our friend was there, while underneath there was an issue upstairs, had I not been stuck under the ship, I might have been useful, but instead by the time I got up, I again woke to find myself surrounded by the bodies of others.The cause of the commotion was a shou woman and a member of the Youzhi, both of these things can be very dangerous. So we followed the trial again.

Hunter ran off after we met this woman. Nobody really seems to worry about this much, maybe because she is competent, or maybe because we were busy seeing to the captives. If I had the chance.."

Part 3 - 10-7-11 - Slug Druid

From Amaya's Journal: "The night in the inn was good, I had practice impersonating a guard, I used the name Lucas, and convinced at least the barkeep that a Dotari was aligned with the Scions. Veils like these might come to be helpful, either in representing a greater support for our righteous cause, and to give false trails to those that seek to undermine us.

We had to move quickly today to capture the Shou woman, Lady Ismacco, before she set sail. With innocents and our comerade in her possession, we didn't have a choice but to confront the issue directly. We entered through some clever means of applying grease and silently searching until we found a basement. In this basement was a slug, and a man, the latter of which was soon felled from a mortal wound from Shadow's blade. His race, and capacity for both sneaking and killing things, should probably have me more alarmed if it were not sure we could trust him. Of course, can we ever really trust one of his kind?

There was much screaming, shadow had apparently been attacked after delivering this mortal blow, we all had arrived downstairs and were left to assume that the slug was the surprising cause of his caustic cataplexy and then proceeded to learn why and how things are often more complicated than they first appear. It didn't like shan, and I soon found the creatures caustic nature, and Hunter found that it did not appreciate being sliced open either. Sometime amid this screaming, stabling and slicing at the slug, things went black and I awoke to find that my friends were mostly intact and that we needed Areal's aid immediately."

Part 4 - 10-21-11 - Visions of Green

The view from Kaelyn: As she's done in the past, Elefa seemed to appear out of nowhere, though her kisses were very much appreciated this time! I'm still not entirely sure about the little woman, but she seems well meaning enough. She does have a habit of fading into the background when she deems neccesary, which might leave us vulnerable depending on when she disappears. After Shadow did some investigating he returned to inform us that Dottari Lucas, the name claimed by the guard accompanying us, was actually dead. News that we should have paid greater mind to in hind-site. The group seems rather fearful of traps and perhaps it's my lack of experience that has me unconcerned, but we spent a rather great deal of time discussing who would be checking doors first. Amaya severed a decomposing limp and had it float around to trigger traps. Rather morbid, I might say. I hope she's not developing an interest in the undead like the priestess we faced. I doubt that Hunter would appreciate that very much. When we headed downstairs, Lady Ismacco, the necromancer was waiting for us with Dalirio Teppish, a rather insane brute and his dwarven slave. On the ground of the basement there was a massive drawing of a dire rat. I could swear that it would hold more significance, perhaps the location for a summoning of a beast? We were lucky it didn't. While the priestess seemed to be the one calling the shots, Dalirio was the really scary one. He had this maniacal laugh and green smokey eyes. With just a few words and an accompanying stare he seemed to mind control Vrok and force him to go after Hunter. I have never been so impressed by Hunter's agility and skill as this night in which she avoided nearly every obstacle she faced. Amaya too proved to be rather effective, using more of her lightning fans to target multiple of our enemies at once. I'll be sure to avoid standing too close to her in the future, especially with my new armor. Dalirio gave me one of his stares and I found myself petrified. The ceiling was caving in on us! The earth was punishing me to cleanse itself! I found myself running as fast as I could. I wanted to stay and help my comrades, but I couldn't stop myself. Before I made it to the staircase I caught a glimpse of the Dottari captain appearing to pull a smaller sword out of his sword and an illusion shattered around him, revealing a Shou beneath. He attacked Hunter, but I couldn't do anything. I just kept running! I made it to the top of the staircase before I was able to regain control over myself and turn back around. With the potion of long strider I made it back as quickly as I could to see that Hunter had fallen. Elefa and Amaya fell soon after. I healed Elefa and she brought Amaya back to her feet with one of her kisses. While I was gone, Amaya seemed to piece together a piece of the puzzle, giving me one of the jade axes from the dwarf. I hit him as hard as I could and his face seemed to rot away, revealing some monstrosity beneath. He looked the same as those dead men the priestess controlled before. The dwarf fell, but Vrok was stumbling on his feet. Dalirio's green smokey gaze caught my attention again and I was stopped in my tracks. Like he had controlled me before, he did so again. I unfastened my pack and pulled out the short sword our group had found nights passed. I pulled the blade to my abdomen and plunged the weapon into my flesh. I saw Vrok fall before everything faded to black...

From Amaya's Journal: "Leaving shadow behind we set off for Areal immediately, covering our wounds using the Al'Quardial arts, and liberal swaddaling we uneventfully retrieved from Areal several blessed vials of fortitude and Elfa, for whose blessing we were on short supply and for once I am very glad for her presence, lest I would probably not be writing this.

Upon our return we found that Shadow had been injured, and there was a guard outside, i didn't realize what Shadow had said but later I learned that this watchman was named Lucas. After distracting the watchman, running circles around the building and eventually breaking in, we found ourselves attacked by men at arms with crossbow. After dispatching them, and being forced to recruit Lucas to our ranks, we made our way downstairs. The man, calling himself Deliero was the leader apparent of this anti-city movement, with engravings on the floor of some rat god, he claimed that he sought to undermine all the city above and to return it all to nature. There was the woman we sought, and a dwarf carrying Jade there, this last note immediately caught my attention.

I wish in retrospect that I held the jade piece that Hunter paid me with, but it was sitting on my shop until I could complete her eye, however from now on I shall keep this stone at all times.

After some time of the man's ranting, and some debate as to the legal status of the slaves in question, noting that the Watchman was entirely agreeable, a fight soon broke out as an inevitable consequence that there simply could be no agreement between us and those who would rather see us dead and our friends enslaved while our home was razed to the ground.

There was much more screaming, shouting, betrayal as the watchman Lucas was a ninja in their employ, then after it all, there was darkness. I woke again, while the fighting was still going on, with thanks to Elfa, I sent Shanzi at Deliero and hid in the barrels as he incapacitated the last of my friends. I saw that only he and I remained, so I summoned more Shan against him, and yet more than ever before. And with that last bolt, I was the only one standing. I saw to everyone the best I could, laid caltrops to give some protection (why do I never use these things until too late), and after some time the rattling of the door shocked me. I had forgotten entirely there were prisoners to be freed!

I sent our comerade, Dovio, to come back with Areal. It is both exhilerating to have survived, exciting that I saved my friends, but ultimately this shows that I have the potential to do greater things, and that all my failures are only my own. While the others recover I will work on these arts harder than I have before. And harness this great arcane power so we can reclaim this town as home."

Another page later: "Today I was reminded how much I dislike my people, but am very fortunate that I can rely on them. I hope my name survives this because I will not take my own life for the sake of its honor. I might want to stay around in the Shou town and find more people there that I can stand, just in case this Jade bound spirit shows up. This lotus house was rather comfortable, but I shouldn't go back there.

I hate the other Wu that I've met, adouis ih uioh ok op up popu*."
* - Curses in other languages.

Feel free to add descriptions from your character's point of view or added comments of any kind.

Attachment	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
Dalirio.jpg	manage	27.8 K	2011-11-03 - 22:26	JosiahKnight	NPC - Dalirio Teppish
InnOfUnluckySailor.jpg	manage	457.0 K	2011-11-03 - 22:24	JosiahKnight	Location - Inn of the Unlucky Sailor
Prancing_Prince.jpg	manage	423.2 K	2011-11-03 - 22:25	JosiahKnight	Location - Prancing Prince ship
RatCultLair.jpg	manage	413.9 K	2011-11-03 - 22:25	JosiahKnight	Location - Rat Cult Lair
dwarf.jpg	manage	71.2 K	2011-11-03 - 22:26	JosiahKnight	NPC - Undead Dwarf

NPC Roll-call

Locations

Creatures

Part 1 - 9-09-11 - The Inn of the Unlucky Sailor

Part 2 - 9-23-11 - Battles upon the Prancing Prince

Part 3 - 10-7-11 - Slug Druid

Part 4 - 10-21-11 - Visions of Green

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