Reckonings: On the Sea of Sorrows

[Fuzzball]

Episode 3

Tessius’ shoulders slump slightly at the sight of an overturned cart and injured men lying in the street. I hope I wake up soon is all he can think. One of the men appears to be asking weakly for help, but no one pays him any mind. Quite the opposite, several people have swarmed around them searching through their belongings, and occasionally trampling over one of them. Darcine doesn’t even pause as she passes. Tessius glances back at the men, but shrugs it off as he follows.

Darcine turns back when she notices that everyone has ceased following. The others are looking to Tessius, who has stopped and is looking disgustedly down the street. Darcine follows his gaze and sees a faint glow surrounded by swarms of rats. She stares for a few moments uncertain what to make of it, then twists back to see Tessius placing the boy on the ground. *

He looks down the hill, then back up at the injured men. Darcine places a hand on his shoulder. “That’s my friend.” Tessius points down toward the light and wonders slightly why he used that word. “If I don’t help those men, I’ll have to explain to him why. I really don’t want that, and trust me, neither do you.” He grins, “don’t worry. This should only take a moment. Oh, explain to them about the ghosts please.”

Tessius begins walking back up the hill and calls out to Marcella. He searches for her with the helm and locks on, happy that she’s kept up.

<<Is something wrong?>>

<<No, we’re going to help some people. You can come out. Just stay close.>> The sight of a pirate and two ghosts coming toward them is more than enough to cause bystanders to scatter away. <<That was easier than I thought it would be.>>

Tessius bends down over the conscious man who is too stunned by the apparition to speak. There seems little Tessius can do for him. <<Marcella, could you motion for Sean to come on over.>> He moves to another man and checks him. He closes the man’s lifeless eyes and moves on to the next.

As Tessius pulls a vial out of the haversack Sean approaches cautiously. Tessius dumps the vial of tea-like liquid down the helpless man’s throat ** then turns to Sean, who looks mortified when Marcella speaks. “He wants you to help him upright the cart.”

Sean doesn’t say anything but moves next to the cart and helps Tessius lift it. Tessius checks the third man before putting him in the cart, picks up the other unconscious man, and helps the last man up. Sean and Tessius pull the cart over to the others and they load the injured children into the cart. ***


* Spot check of Balin’s really-bad-at-hiding-even-when-he-is-trying, not to mention the fact that he glows, but I rolled a 15…so 9

**I don’t know what the tea-stuff does so I’ll try it on a person who can die without worrying too much about it.

*** A cart weighs 200lb, and I’ll say 200lb for each man and 200lb for the two teenagers. That comes to 1000lb. If Sean has strength 10 then his max load is 100lb. Tessius’ is 175lb. Dragging is times 5, so they could pull 1375lb.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[OOC: Thanks to Fuzzball for the majority of this conversation suggested via IM. Now Tessius can finally reunite with Balin!]

Darcine draws alongside Tessius as he and Sean maneuver the cart down the switchback streets, “I don’t understand. You help these men. Why? That one is terrified of you.”

“It isn’t me. They’re afraid of the ghosts. Anyway, these men were going to get help whether it was from him or me,” he points toward the rats. “I’m just trying to save myself some time and frustration.”

Unconvinced, Darcine looks back at the men in the cart, but realizes that the man she indicated is in fact terrified of the ghosts that flit about on both sides. Like a trapped animal, his eyes flit about from ghost to ghost, finally resting on someone solid, only to grow wide in horror as recognition works its way through the haze of shock.

Lost in thought till now, Ursula feels the man's gaze and returns it, sidling up to him as he lolls about in the cart. Casting an impish grin at Darcine, Ursula bends down and whispers a single word in the man's ear that brings forth a moan of helpless dread. Smiling with satisfaction, Ursula strolls up alongside Sean and admires his muscles.* Darcine shakes her head and casts her eyes down toward the rats and the distant glow.

“And him, another friend of Jacob?”

Tessius stifles a laugh. “Hardly. When people find out why Jacob was here I seriously doubt he’ll have any friends here.”

Darcine's eyes narrow, and she raises an eyebrow to ask the obvious question.

“I’m not positive, but I believe he was studying this place. I got the distinct impression his organization wanted to see what happened when someone killed the lord of this land. They seemed quite excited at the prospect of observing the destruction of this place.”

“You’re not with them...?” She says it halfway between a statement and a question.

“No. While we’re talking about this, I’d like to ask you to do something for me.” Darcine blinks and gives the spymaster another of her sidelong looks. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I doubt you have it right. I want to ask you not to tell anyone that I killed the baronet...please. Especially not my companion.” Another raised eyebrow from Darcine. “I don’t want any attention. That would be more spotlight than I’m…comfortable with.”

She turns away and ponders that for several moments before deciding to change the subject. “So, your name?”

“Tessius.”

“Just Tessius? I expected something grand more.”

“Well, surnames come from parents, so that’s why I don’t have one of those.” Tessius wonders why he’s telling her this, but doesn’t stop himself. “If you really want something a little grander I suppose you could go with Tessius, Starcloak Warden and devoted servant to the royal family of Impiltur. Is that grand enough?”

“Yes, but what is Implitur?”

“A place far from here.” Tessius stops as a shining figure with white wings flies toward them. “I’m afraid the interrogation will have to be postponed for a while.” He lets go of the cart and steps to the front of the procession, holding his arms out in a non-threatening manner.

* Sean has a strength of 15, so he's slightly more helpful than expected.

[Gurthoron]

Saint Balin Cormaeril

Balin looks at the strange man who had called up to him. "Changeling?" he mutters. His mind flicks back to the worries about the doppelganger early in the voyage. His first urge is to go and interrogate this person. But the screams surrounding him draw his attention away. He stares for a long moment as the man gets pulled away, doing his best to memorize his face. Then he gets back to business.

Balin skimms low over the roof tops, searching for more people in trouble. He sees a few people fleeing down hill, clutching children as they run in terror. One group grabs his attention. Instead of fleeing they appear to be gathering to head uphill, searching for high ground. It could be a decent idea if they actually knew when this island would stop sinking. But as is they may only be prolonging the inevitable. With that thought, Balin comes sweeping in to speak with them.

"Evening folks. Look, while that high ground might look nice right now, we've got no guarantee the island will stop before it all sinks. We've got all the boats in the harbor making ready to sail, as well as some rafts. In a day we will be safe on the mainland, and you can prepare later voyages to find out what happens to the island. Please, for the sake of of your safety, go to the boats." He looks over the group, mostly directing his comments towards the apparent leaders.

As he looks around he sees a woman wandering aimlessly along. Motioning to the group to wait, he reaches her with a quick flutter. His hand glows slightly as he lightly touches her head wound, stopping the blood and hopefully mending whatever damage was beneath it. He carries her swiftly back to the group. "Take her with you. And hurry. You need to get off the island before our nice air is replaced by water."

Balin rises into the air again, heading back up the hill. Along the way he calls out to anyone he sees to get to the harbor. He paused when he comes across a moving carpet of rats. Fortunately it looks like they are avoinding people rather than attacking. Unfortunately, they are leaving a trail of mangled people. He moves in, shooing any remaining rats off the people. The grace of Lathander remains with him as he returns the various injured to at least mobile. With them healed as best he can, Balin directs them to the harbor at their best speed. When they look like they have their bearings, Balin sends them off. With that he turns to go further uphill. He notices another group slowly making its way downhill, and takes to the air to see if they need any aid.

As he gets closer, Balin is a little surprised by the group. "By Lathander, who are these people?" he mutters as he looks over the two glowing, floating females. Then he sees the leading man step forward.

"Aah."

[OOC: Sorry for being so quiet. I'm finally (and only mostly) back to healthy so I'll return to my semi-common posting. Fuzzball and I will wait a few days to continue in case you have anyting to add to this.]

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[Not much to add: the cowled figure has no face visible within the shadowy hood, but that's memorable enough in itself. The figure pulling it away is equally cowled, and both are using overland flight to head down toward the water. Proceed with the reunion of Balin and Tessius.]

[Gurthoron]

Tessius and Balin Reunited at Last!

Tessius considers what language to great Balin with as he watches recognition flow across the paladin’s face. He decides there’s nothing to hide from these people and proceeds in Damaran. “I thought you were going to wait on the boat,” even through the sarcasm Balin can tell Tessius is happy to see him.

Balin takes a long moment looking over the group, noting the injured and the rather interesting semi-transparent people. He turns to Tessius and arches an eyebrow, “And you thought the island wasn’t going to sink out from under you. Now that we have that cleared up, would you like to introduce your friends or shall we sink beneath the ocean waves singing jaunty sea tunes?”

“Singing would be more fun, and I don’t actually know all of these people. I’ll introduce those whose names I know.” He turns to the group and begins presentations as Balin heals the injured. “This is Sean. I pulled his wife, Ellissa out of a sinkhole. Those are their children. I didn’t catch their names. The one you’re healing now, I pulled out of a burning building…”

The boy’s weeping mother cuts Tessius off. Her words come out in spurts, thanking Balin for helping her children between sobs. She begins to tell him her name but is overcome by another fit of tears. Balin places a hand on her shoulder, “no thanks necessary madam. Please calm yourself. Your children need you to be strong for them.” The woman stops trying to speak but leans heavily on Balin’s arm. He looks at Tessius quizzically.

“I didn’t catch her name either.” Tessius takes her arm gently and pulls her away so that Balin can continue. “I picked the men up off the street. The horse that originally came with this cart went berserk on them. They haven’t said anything…even if I could understand it. The others involve a rather long story, which I’ll tell you soon enough. Anyway, this is Darcine, Marcella, Ursula, and Lorel.” He addresses everyone, but mostly the last four women, “this is Saint Balin Cormaeril.”

[OOC: In case you folk don't realize, both of us wrote this in order to save time.]

[Fuzzball]

[OOC: Sorry this took so long. I caught what Gurthoron had and it wiped me out.]

Balin and Tessius head downhill

Balin nods graciously toward the strangers as Tessius introduces the few he knows. The group of commoners looks to each other and whispers among themselves as Balin finishes with the injured boy. Sean steps forward and asks politely, "Il dosh 'Saint' li setu?"*

Balin chortles a bit and Tessius reflexively looks toward Darcine, "What did he just say?"

"He said, 'If this is "Saint" then what is your name?' He misunderstands you." Darcine proceeds to introduce the two foreigners to the others using her native tongue.

"Ahh, right. I have to watch that language thing." Tessius lifts the boy out of the wagon so that Balin can reach the next man more easily. "I’d kill to get Speak to All*** cast on me an hour ago."

The last unconscious man blinks awake. He tries to mumble something as his eyes come into focus. His jaw hangs open at the sight of the shining man. Incoherent snippets of a thankful prayer spurt from the man’s lips including something about an angel. Balin ignores the ramblings and helps the man to his feet.

"We are assembling a fleet in the harbor to take away as many folk as possible. Unless there is anyone else further up this way, I suggest we head downhill as fast as possible," Tessius nods as Balin moves to the last man in the wagon and looks over his leg, "I can fix this when we get a moment of peace. For now, I can carry you. I suspect this wagon will slow us down when we have to deal with the interesting reconstruction these earthquakes are doing to the town." The man only stares as Balin lifts him easily from the wagon.

The group watches in slightly stunned silence as Balin disappears into the distance. Tessius starts down the hill still carrying the boy, but realizes after a few steps that the others aren’t following. He turns to them, "Come on. It’s time to go."

Darcine urges the others to start moving. She and Ursula walk next to Tessius and the spectres glide behind them. The rest of the group follows at a distance murmuring amongst themselves.



*Tessius is the only one who doesn’t understand this

**Balin only heals those who are unconscious so that they can be more easily transported.

*** Tongues

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Balin, Tessius and company

[The foundation of the island has been fully compromised, which means the sinking is speeding up, but actual tremors have declined. I'll include a few more tremors as the sinking island stirkes bottom and so on, but unless I say otherwise, assume that the ground is stable.]

The conversion of the docks into rafts proceeds swiftly as more and more people arrive to help, but they fill twice as swiftly, until all the ships are riding low with passengers, overflowing onto rafts port and starboard. A few desperate people still clamber aboard even after they have been declared full, but cooler heads prevail on shore, holding out for their "merciful angel" to bring them a miracle.

Their angel, meanwhile, isn't quite sure what to do next. Having healed the burns of the little boy Cyrus and his sister Genia, Balin now faces their pleas that he return to their house to rescue their father Titus as well. Mother Anafre seems genuinely oblivious to the mention of her husband, but Darcine and Ursula try to subtly clue the paladin in to Titus's fate.*

The crowds left on the beach remain barely under control, but as the news spreads of Tessius's more unusual companions, a widening circle spreads, surrounding the companions in whispers and fearful stares. The man Balin put in charge pushes forward to lift Darcine off her feet; she introduces him as "Lartius, a fellow Memento," but his behavior hints at something deeper than comeraderie.

Giddy with delight at finding Darcine alive, Lartius calls out to others in the crowd, and soon another man steps forward. He's middle-aged, but something in his step suggests he's not actually putting as much weight on his staff as he would let on. His sweaty bald pate and gold earring glisten in the moonlight as he looks Darcine up and down approvingly, but his eyes grow wide at the sight of Ursula, and he stands a moment transfixed. Ursula glides toward him on feet now well ajusted to walking again, and a shudder runs through him.

"M-milady," he gasps, blinking back tears, "had we known...he-he ordered you forgotten, like all the rest, and we...we thought you had been slain!"

Ursula accepts his outstreched hand with a detached smile. "So it would seem...," she murmurs, catching his eyes with hers, "but tonight would seem to be a night of second chances!"

With a cry of anguish, the bald man tears off the armband that marked him as a servant of the baronet. He makes a stirring gesture in the air under his chin and raises an ivory cone to his lips.

"Pronte,**" he whispers through the cone, his voice carrying to the farthest parts of the crowd.

"You think these wraiths fearful, then?" he calls in ringing tones. "You ought to, not because they are dead, but because they are dead because of us! We offered these women to a murderer, like lambs to a butcher!"

Screams and sobs wrack the crowd as he beckons for Marcella and Lorel to come forward. Shrieks of despair and denial rise out of the crowded rafts as those afloat hear and see that their judgement is at hand.

"Some of us were deceived by a wicked man, and our memories altered at his whims," the bald man continues, "but the fact remains that we sent countless women to their deaths, and these two have returned. If they seek blood, we are at their mercy; let them choose their victims, and rest in peace!"

There is some feeble protest from a few who question the mercy of the undead, but the sheer helplessness of their circumstances forces most to join in the plea. For their part Marcella regards the crowd with pity, and Lorel hardly comprehends what's going on, so they do their best to explain to the bald man that they aren't back for revenge.

As the bald man continues his monologue, one of the men Tessius rescued from the cart accident tugs on his sleeve and points questioningly toward the fifty-foot wide swath of flotsam where the ships on either side have cast their bulk. Darcine listens to him with growing confusion, repeatedly asking for clarification before translating:

"He wants to know why no one's boarding or tying rafts to 'the biggest ship,' but I keep telling him there are rafts on all the ships I can see! I asked if it's afar off in the fog, but he insists it's directly between those two, not...behind them." As Darcine finishes, the utter wrongness of what she's saying sinks home, and she looks back out at the water fearfully.

* Joint Bluff check, successful after three rounds unless Tessius joins in sooner.

** New spell (and a nifty one!) called captain's voice. Details to follow...somewhere in the Reckonings group of threads...

[Balin or Tessius is more than welcome to respond to any or all of the above interactions. Lartius or Darcine will point out that the bald man is Xanthus "GullEye" Magison, founder of Memento Mori. Although they were prepared for spell breaking--and the resultant rude awakening awakening for their neighbors--the sinking island is forcing them to ajust their plans on the fly.]

[Fuzzball]

Tessius and Balin

Tessius finds his way to Balin easily as the crowd parts before the strange group. Despite the quiet awe surrounding them Tessius reaches out to Balin’s mind. He explains about Titus quickly and leaves Balin to tell the children.

Balin winces internally but replies, “I’m afraid it will have to wait. That boat may be a larger problem at the moment.” He pauses, then continues out loud so the others around can hear, “Keep working on getting these people to safety; I’ll go find out what is going on with this newcomer. I can’t risk those people on the rafts.”

Bowing slightly to Tessius’s entourage, Balin takes to the air with a few flaps of his wings and heads for the unknown ship.

Tessius leans over to Darcine as Xanthus steps forward and asks who he is. When she explains he decides against diving into the man’s mind. Instead he refocuses on Marcella and steps forward to great “GullEye”. He speaks in Damaran, hoping Xanthus understands as well as Darcine.

“Sir, these women mean you no harm. They simply seek release from the pain they have been through. As such the lady Lorel wishes to be reunited with her brother. Is he among us?*”


*Among us meaning not only at the docks, but more specifically “Is he still living?”

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Tessius and Balin on Blaustein

"When I first came here, my friends and I helped cleanse the castle of many spirits. One of them was a young nobleman whose tongue had been cut out. It was years before I was to learn that he had come to rescue his sister from the clutches of the man who had hired us. The baronet had removed her eyes and his tongue so that--even in the same room--they'd never truly find each other..."

His eyes drift to the haversack in Tessius's hands as he trails off, and he blinks in recognition.

"How did you find it?"

Tessius has little opportunity to respond before screams for further down the beach betray a new threat: the swarms of rats fleeing their subterranean caves have joined with crazed animals fleeing inexplicably downhill. The masses of teeth and claws are heading directly towards the people waiting on the shore.

Meanwhile, as Balin flies out between the ships, he abruptly finds the water rising up to meet him. Before he can react, he plunges through the surface and into the twisting lines of a fishing net....

[Treat the mixed swarms as rat swarms; none of the other animals are factors unless they stop moving and are killed by the rats. There are ten rat swarms over an area 10'x50', and they move down the beach in a narrow column.

All of Balin's magical gear have ceased to work. I'll trust you to be honest: were your sword and shield already drawn? If not, they are inaccessible; if so, they cannot be returned and will seriously impede your swimming unless you let them go. Please let me know their status so I can finish a surprise round on the part of your opponents.]

[Gurthoron]

[OOC:

My sword and shield were still stowed as I hadn't yet determined if that was an enemy.

Do you want me to hold off on a further response or was that the entire first round?]

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[Alright, they're noted as stowed. Here's the rest of the surprise round before you get your actions:]

The net wraps around Balin, pulled roughly into place* by unseen hands even as others grope for his equipment.** His quiver and pack slip off but remain held by the net for the moment.***

[* Netting is a touch attack (+19 in this case), and Balin's flat footed, so he really has no defense against this that I can see. Balin is entangled and limited to a 10' radius of movement, not including any movement of the net as directed by the one holding it.
** Four disarm attempts, each at +19 for 23, 39, 23 and 39 (rolled two 4's and two 20's; wierd!) Two successes. Subsequent disarm attempts will target Balin's boots, jewelry, and gloves, before moving to tough stuff like belts and armor.
*** If Balin destroys the net before recovering equipment (move action for each) then the equipment sinks and must be recovered.

Balin has top initiative, but will discover after he tries to fight back that his other foes are using telekinesis. Fortunately for him, their telekinesis only affects objects. Unfortunately, there are plenty of things they can hit him with when they're done disarming and entangling him. One attacker, for example, has spent the better part of the last minute levitating a barrel of molasses over the area, waiting for the opportunity to drop in on anyone approaching the ghost ship. When (if?) Balin emerges from the water, this barrel will drop from around 200' up--ranged attack at +19 for 20d6 points of damage, not including modifiers for water.

In subsequent combat rounds, Balin's equipment will regain their magic and his foes will take preplanned actions, as explained in the following outline. All actions are performed at a distance by invisible creatures. Attacks use the "violent thrust" option of the telekinesis spell, which will prove ineffective underwater against a creature with damage resistance--don't even bother with damage. "Net 20'/40'" refers to how far the net pulls Balin out to sea. The last part refers to the action of the spellcaster who dispelled Balin's equipment.

R1: haversack; 3 disarm, net 40'; phantasmal killer DC 25
R2: belt, wings, ring; 2 disarm, 1 attack, net 40'; flesh to stone DC 22
R3: armor, quiver, bow, boots, pearl, peraipt; 2 disarm, 2 attack, net 20'; shackle (see below)
R4: bracers, gloves, etc.; 2 disarm, 2 attack, net 20'; shades (see below)

"Shackle" is a ray spell from VRA than binds a person with bands of force. They cannot move, but they can speak, see, breathe, etc. Strength check DC 30 to break the bands. There is no save. The caster has a total of 19 to hit.

The "shade" chosen by the caster is a fiendish giant squid. According to the rules of RL, any "shadow" spells are 20% more real than normal..which means saving against shades does absolutely nothing! Also according to the rules of RL, the squid will turn into three uncontrolled undead shadows at the spell's end unless the caster saves against his own spell. The caster of this spell plans to dismiss the spell and fail this save deliberately if the squid is about to die or seems otherwise useless. The squid will only attack Balin, but the shadows will have a free-for-all.

Whew, any questions?]

[Fuzzball]

Oh Rats!

Tessius thrusts the bag into Gulleye's hands. "There are some things in there I'll want back" He moves easily through the crowd, toward the screams. Marcella, could you keep an eye on Balin please. It would be mu... His words are cut off as he tumbles out of range.

The shortswords he had been carrying appear in his hands seemingly from nowhere, and he stands waiting for the rats to come to him. As they pour over him, he feels their small claws everywhere. They don't hurt and he slices into the creatures with a flurry of steel. The rats squeal in horrid death-shrieks as his blades slice through them. When the stench of the vermin becomes too much he holds his hand over his nose and moves down the hill trying to keep them within range. If there were anything in his stomach he would probably lose it but instead he chokes back the nausea and continues to swing at the mass of rats.



[OOC: Here is the info for the "fight". He'll have to spend 12 rounds (a little over a minute) in range in order to do enough damage to destroy them.

10 rat swarms @ 13 hp each = 130 hp
Can't do damage to Tessius, but Fort 12 or disease
Fort 12 each round or be nauseated for 1 round (move only)
Two-Weapon Fighting w/shortswords = 6 hits when taking 2 = 6d6+9
Half damage for slashing against swarms

Round 1 = 17.5 damage
Nauseated in rounds 4, 6, and 11
(Round, Damage) (2, 15.5) (3, 16) (5, 12.5) (7, 13) (8, 15.5) (9, 18 ) (10, 15)
15 damage in round 12 brings the total to 138 and the swarm is dead!
And just for fun...Tessius fails 4 Fort saves against Filth Fever...as if there was any doubt on that one...[/url]
Sorry that took so long...Character sheet issues...
Oh, and Marcella can interpret the request any way she likes. ]

[Gurthoron]

Saint Balin Cormaeril

Balin gulped in a quick breath before he submerged encased in the net. "So the good captain learned some caution," he thought quietly. Shrugging, he flicked his fingers and awaited his sword. When nothing happened he tried again, then took a look at the rest of his equipment. The engraved flames of his armor were no longer glowing, and his cloak had reverted to its non-flying form. It appeared that the captain had pulled out all sorts of tricks for this encounter.

Balin shook away a small hint of fear and gauged the situation. He was a very poor swimmer, and with his armor and this net it would be a struggle to reach the surface. However, with his wings he could easily propel himself up. Ignoring the tugging that sadly deprived him of his backpack and quiver, Balin focused his energies on himself. A knot of energy gathers at his center, which he releases with a silent prayer towards the invisible force negating his items.

[OOC: Casting Break Enchantment in an attempt to clear whatever it is holding his items in check. Since he can't break the ropes (Needs to roll a 19 or 20) and can't really swim (Currently sitting at a +0 modifier to swim) Balin pretty much needs to get his items back. Since this is a standard action he has 16 rounds left before he needs to make drowning checks.]

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[Your items were merely suppressed temporarily by a targeted dispel. It's an instantaneous effect, so you have nothing to counter with your spell. Did you make your save for the first round, against the phantasmal killer?]

[Gurthoron]

[OOC: Ah, thats what it was. For some reason I got the impression it was some sort term curse or the like. As for the save, I was going to let you roll for it as I have the tendency to critically fail instant death spells and its the kind of important roll you want to make sure is kosher. Sorry, I meant to tell you that and I forgot on my post. I believe I do have to critically fail that save, but I've lost on those sort of long shots multiple times in the past. Thanks for your patience with us getting our character sheet issues fixed. I take it then that the items will be magical again by Balin's next turn?]