Session 39: Undead Priests and Fiends Report
General Summary
8th of Haelynir 1524 Overnight Karl suffers no bad dreams and is awoken early by Erin to get some coffee before training. They come across Xeldarix and Simone on the deck with Erdad. It seems that Simone had a bad nightmare and is refusing the calming tea she is being offered for fear of being medicated. It seems Simone does not know if it was actually a nightmare or a vision. In the end Karl talks Simone into trying the tea. Xeldarix is very grateful for the help. Afterwards Erin takes Karl downstairs to do the first session of training. Overall Karl has an up and down session. Erin lines everyone up on the mats and the warm up begins. Basic stretches first, which moves into 100 squats, 100 push ups and 100 sits up before running in a circle with her randomly calling these out to be done with a set number. Karl is doing okay. Not too bad. He's not getting 100 by any stretch of the imagination, but the amount he is doing is correct in form as Erin watches him from the front, doing all the exercises she demands of her crew. However, Karl is already starting to feel a bit of puff before the running starts. The first time Erin calls for push ups, Karl finds it hard to do the up motion. Karl feels someone grab the bag of his shirt and pull him up. A crew member growls as Karl is holding the running circle line up. After an exchange of words, the session moves on with more nervous energy among the group. The next part Erin takes the group through some bo staff drills. When drilling Karl seems to catch his breath a bit better and find his form again. She pairs everyone up and gets them to go through the motions of some of the techniques against someone else's staff. Karl is not paired with the crew member that grabbed him but instead with Enna. She is quiet and goes at Karl's pace, pushing him to pick up speed in an encouraging matter but working with him in a positive manner. The last part is sparring. Half the group line up and face the other side. Each pair facing one another will fight for two minutes before each takes a step to the right, effectively getting a new partner. Karl really comes into his element here. The new techniques plus what he already knew starts to show through as he gets a good few hits on his opponent, using the points where he jumps back to get a glance at Erin making her opponent dance to her tune as he carefully strikes his feet before tripping him just before switch so he is now holding up his line for the change. After the twenty minutes of sparring Erin calls an end to it, dismissing her crew. Erin takes Karl through stretches before heading down to wake up Lily and fargrim. Erin rounds up Lily, Fargrim, Simone and Xeldarix for the second session of training while Karl observes. Once everyone is at the training, including Fargrim, Erin lines everyone up on the mats and the warm up begins. Basic stretches first, which moves into 100 squats, 100 push ups and 100 sits up before running in a circle with her randomly calling these out to be done with a set number. Xeldarix, Lily and fargrim are easily keeping up with the standard warm up and such. Simone is really struggling. Xeldarix tries to show Simone how to do some easier ways to do it but the young girl just isn't getting it. She's not crying but she's really teary. Erin gets everyone to start the running circle. Everyone manages to keep. Simone is still struggling with technique but seems to do okay with the running and stopping. Erin pairs everyone up and gets them to go through the motions of some of the techniques against someone else's staff. Xeldarix is quick to pair up Simone. The last part is sparring. Half the group line up and face the other side. Each pair facing one another will fight for two minutes before each takes a step to the right, effectively getting a new partner. Karl walks up and down the line of combatants, and when he’s near Simone he’d whisper some advice to her to help her with this section of the training. This does help and Simone is trying. She's getting some blows in and taking some. She catches them by surprise at times as she hits just where they step to. Lily is doing really well and so is fargrim. They get some good blows in with their partners and take some. Xeldarix seems really distracted and seems to take more blows then she was expecting, causing her to growl as her eyes flash red. Erin dismisses everyone saying breakfast is in the galley. Everyone is directed upstairs, but Fargrim grabs Karl and Lily for a quick private chat. He shares what Simone had said last night during one of her seer fits. Karl in turn shares about Simone’s nightmares which involved being eaten by golden lizards. After a stern reminder from Fargrim that this crew are pirates they separate to go with the officers that they are meant to be shadowing.
Karl is shown the charts and is taken through navigation, the running of a ship in terms of finances and spoils and the idea of going to Shatterhull Isle. This evolves into a discussion of roles and their arrangement as Erin strives to learn more about the people she has allowed on her boat. In the end they come to the decision that The Forged would join her crew as officers in training officially. The conversation ends with Erin telling Karl about what the pirate crew from the other day intended to do with him if they had found him.
Lily and Wave chat, playing a friendly game of truth or dare to share information about the two different groups on board. Wave insists that a Quartermaster's strong point is in knowing their crew.
Fargrim and Ten put medical supplies away while they talk. They get onto the topic of 70% of the crew not sleeping well overnight. The situation would continue to be monitored for the moment. They do touch on each other’s history throughout the conversation. Afterward they search the boat in a daily inspection for mold.
At 11am a roar can be heard from off the right of the boat. Two bronze dragons approach and attack. Karl traps one of the dragons in a sphere of force while the other attacks the boat. Working together the crew is able to bring down one of the dragons. This is used to stop the other when the offer is made to revive the dying dragon in exchange for diplomatic discussions. During talks with the dragon named Pemri some information is revealed:
- The dragons rescued a drowning sailor that told them about Masela’s Fury sinking their ship.
- The sailor had omitted why Erin’s crew had sunk these boats.
- Simone tells the group about the dead crew on the ship and the fact the man the dragon’s saved is already dead.
- General Quint Kegsteeler is the name of the pirate who sent these people after Karl.
- Karl told them about Steve.
- The dragons owe Karl a favour.
Lily and Wave discuss Xeldarix and Lorenah who seem to be having a conflict. However, before they could come to an idea to help the pair a fight breaks out. In the end Xeldarix and Lorenah are both placed in time out with instructions to stay on their respected castle’s until they have scrubbed those decks clean. Xeldarix refuses and just sits there. Fargrim and Ten have a bit of a heart to heart about Ten’s approach to his care of the crew. At this stage he waits for people to come to him when needing help. It seems Ten’s policy is not to prevent conflict on the ship but clean up when it is over. It seems that Fargrim and Ten have two very different ideas about conflict resolution.
Karl and Enna have a private discussion about expectations on the boat and Enna warns him about Erin’s mood. Upon going to see the Captain himself, her mood is sour. She is taking it out on a punching bag while drinking, encouraging Karl to go and help himself to some of the alcohol out the back in the chart room. They discuss the idea of using Simone’s readings and scrying to get more information about the General after Karl. In the end Erin asks Karl to leave and he goes to work with Enna for the rest of the afternoon. They start to repair a sail that had apparently been damaged when the ship had been on the way to Brechlen.
Lily has some words with Lorenah about the conflict, but Lorenah is stubborn in her opinion of how things should run. In the end the idea of Xeldarix shadowing someone else might be the short term solution to the current issue. After Lily speaks with Xeldarix she agrees to consider scrubbing the deck after she has had some rest. The game of truth or dare continues. At 1pm Lily, being the mischievous girl she is, dares Wave to tell Karl that Wellmore is on the deck asking for him. Instantly, this had Karl on alert. He wakes Xeldarix up from her nap with telepathy as he cautiously makes his way to the main deck. However, Lily reveals it was all a joke and most of the people involved laugh while Xeldarix grumbles and goes back to napping. Karl heads back downstairs with Enna to keep working while the game of truth or dare continues.
Fargrim and Ten discuss some of the great things about Dwarven structures and creations before deciding to have a sparring session. They agree to use weapons only with no prayers as they fight. In the end Fargrim is victorious as Ten yields after they exchange blows. Afterward Fargrim checks in on Karl before he heads up to the main deck. Lily is just going to see Simone as Erdad has left her alone in the kitchen and Fargrim joins her. They discuss the bad dreams that have been happening in the group and now the crew of this ship. They ask a question and do a reading with Simone. Question: “How can we prevent bad dreams on board the Masela’s Fury?” "Deciding to use your time wisely and realising where it is short and where you have all the time in the world. These dreams are a sign of help offered when needed in a moment which comes at a price. There is a strive for justice and the key to preventing these dreams is understanding to fight the fear that these dreams will bring. To prevent it a rejection of a gift is required, however there will be a struggle as not everyone will want to end this relationship. It will end if you're strong." Meanwhile Lily communes with nature about dangers in the area. Fargrim blames himself for the dreams and failing to stop the evil and in the end making a deal with evil just to try and survive. In the end Lily, Fargrim and Simone share the basics of their dreams with one another and hug to support one another. After they leave Simone to peel potatoes. Fargrim goes out onto the deck to observe while Lily goes to see Wave about some things the Captain should probably know. Wave leaves Ten in charge of the deck as he takes Lily to see the Captain. Erin does her own type of commune once Lily tells us what she’s learnt. She learns that the Kraken is 2.9 miles NorthWest of the ship and is heading West at this stage. However there are two dragon turtles in the area the ship is heading towards. Wave and Lily return to the deck to find that Ten has left the deck and gone to places unknown. After a while Lily also notices Xeldarix is missing but senses she is down below in the cabin.
Fargrim notices Xeldarix on the stern castle in the middle of a nap. He goes over to examine her and notices how exhausted she is. This wakes her. Fagrim tries to send her back to their sleeping quarters for rest, but she resists as she knows she’s in trouble and this is meant to be a punishment. They talk about the dreams and Simone’s reading, but in the end Fargrim sends Xeldarix to bed with the instruction to talk to someone about her dreams after she’s had some rest. Ten stops Xeldarix, but Fargrim is able to convince the warforge that she is medically unable to continue. After an examination, Ten does agree and that she will do her punishment after she has rested. She is sent to bed as Fargrim and Ten start to look at creating a chart to monitor this issue on the boat. They go and report the issue to the Captain and are given orders on how to monitor the situation, by checking in with the crew after each training session to monitor the health of the crew.
Karl is invited to talk to the Captain again for a deeper discussion of scrying and the magic around it. Half of the pirate nation using slavery and there is a member of Erin’s crew that has been the personal slave to General Kegsteeler. This conversation is continued with Enna when Karl goes back to fixing the sail.
At 4pm the Forged are released from their work. Lily and Fargrim go to check on Xeldarix who is sleeping in the cabin. Lily finds a few of her feathers under the bed and some strange holes in the posts of the beds. They go up to see Karl and have a discussion about the different things they learnt about their day. Afterwards Karl spends some time scribing spells while Lily watches Xeldarix sleep and Fargrim meditates.
At 6pm the officers dinner starts with Xeldarix and Ten being the only two missing. Here Shatterhull is discussed and it is decided that the team going onto the island will consist of Captain Erin, Karl, Lily, Fargrim and Enna. Simone and Xeldarix will stay on the boat. Very little is known about the island. Just that there is a cave system, a small beach area and that there is only one safe route to the beach for a boat. Karl has the idea of flying to the island rather than trying to get the boat close to the island. However, there are too many people for the fly spell. An alternative is that Karl will turn into a giant eagle to carry Erin and Lily, while Lily turns Fargrim into a giant eagle to carry Enna who is heavier. The conversations shift to the dreams and nightmares on board the boat. It is revealed at this point that Erin is the only one who has not experienced the dreams in the room. In total 26 out of the 35 people on board have had nightmares that have affected them physically, but 23 are currently under some effects of exhaustion. After the dinner Karl stays with Erin to talk, Lily plays cards with the crew and Fargrim meditates on the main deck. As each member of the Forged go to bed, Karl, Lily and Fargrim all fall into nightmares.
Karl’s world is cold. He can’t move. Not even a muscle. The world is amber all around him. It feels like an eternity that he’s stuck this way before he finally hears a voice in his ear. “Karl. We’re going to try to scry on you. Don’t resist it. We’re gonna find you.” It’s Fargrim, but it feels like it has been so long since he’d heard his voice that he can’t be sure. Karl tries to respond but all that seems to come from him is the gentle sound of bells and gentle crystals hitting each other. Regardless he doesn’t resist. He allows himself to be looked upon. He has no idea if it worked, but his view of the world is moving. It’s hard to see through the amber, but he can when he really focuses. Eldin is out for a walk with him again. She prattles on as if he can answer her from his crystal prison. She buys a basket of fruit, meats and such for home and sighs to herself. “Karl you won’t mind if you lend me some of your power for this right?” Karl feels the pull of power from him as she casts Unseen Servant to carry the things for her. The pull feels similar to a dizzy spell coming over him with a slight drop to his stomach. “Can’t have myself wasting my magic like that, now can I? Not when I have you to keep me company.” Edlin chuckles to herself as they walk back to her estate. It had been like this for months. Every day Edlin drained him with either some superficial use of magic for petty means or pulling deeper from him with her experiments and enchanting before hanging him up on the shelf for the night. Every day this happens, he feels more and more of his hope slipping away as he has no choice but to passively watch his life be drained from him and physically just pass him by. No one ever notices him in the staff no matter how often Edlin takes him out for these little walks. Suddenly, on the way to the estate, Lily, followed by the rest of Karl’s friends, jumps out to attack Edlin. “Well now. How about we show them what for, Karl?” Edlin smirks as Karl feels his whole body start to burn from the power being drawn from him as a fireball is launched at his friends.
Fargim hears a soft chime of metal in the breeze as he continues his hymns. The smell of sage fills his nose. The abandoned church of Avani seems to be rebuilding itself up around him as he continues the ritual of hallowing it. Xeldarix is nearby, doing the same as him. A warm light seems to be coming from the ceiling, as if Haelyn and Avani themselves bless this ritual. The ritual is starting to come to an end. Xeldarix and Fargrim knee with one hand on the floor and say the final hymns. For a brief moment Fargrim feels something within him move as if he knows he has done the right thing. He looks up and smiles at Xeldarix, she does the same. However, the feeling of good starts to rapidly fade as Fargrim smells sulfur in the air. He watches as Xeldarix’s horns grow back in, her skin rapidly darkens and her eyes turn red. “Thank you for your help, Fargrim. Asmodeus will appreciate all you have done to dedicate their entire plane to him. You have done well.” She laughs at him. Fargrim tries to pull away, but his hand is stuck to the floor. He can’t run. A burning heat starts up his arm as thunder can be heard around them. Xeldarix gets up with no problem and slowly walks over to Fargrim. She kneels down beside him and gives him a peck on the side of the cheek. “Tell them Grandma sent you.” She whispers as Fargrim is suddenly pulled down through the floorboards in a rapid, jerking motion into a pit of fire.
Lily is flying. It’s the best feeling in the world. Xeldarix is watching from below with a smile. The power never lasts long, but Lily enjoys every chance to use it to keep her and her friends safe. It bothered her that Xeldarix always seemed to… feel when she used it. Over the next few months they go on many adventures. Lily grows stronger and stronger with each fight and trip they take. Xeldarix is always there as silent support. However, with each trip Lily starts to notice that Xeldarix grows weaker and weaker, eventually starting to shrink in size. “Your power had to come from somewhere… I have no god to offer you, so I gave mine.” The tiny Xeldarix explains as Lily carries her. Xeldarix seems to sleep more and more these days. Lily is worried that one day she won’t wake up. She tries to avoid using the power once she realised what it was doing to her friend, but the more they travelled, the more she seemed to need it to keep them both safe. Hell had been sending more agents after them and Xeldarix seemed unable to drive them away anymore, relying on Lily to be able to do it. It was with great horror that Lily watched another Erinyes finally get hold of Xeldarix and break her neck, letting the tiny body drop to the ground from her hands. The power Lily had been given was evaporating from her. The devil laughed and cackled as this happened. “Thank you, silly mortal. If it wasn’t for you we would never have been able to kill her. Now… you should join her.” Lily struggles and is able to pull free and get to Xeldarix. She's too late to save her but the dream ends with her fleeing with Xeldarix's body instead of dying herself like she felt was the desired end for the dream.9th of Haelynir 1524 At 2am the boat is jolted awake by a dragon turtle grabbing the rudder of the boat. Thanks to getting a heads up Erin is ready with a bribe to the creatures to buy them passage through their territory. Everyone who wakes up goes back to bed without there being any drama. Xeldarix finally scrubs the deck as she was meant to the previous day. Lily falls asleep on the deck watching Xeldarix, but when she wakes up she finds herself back in her hammock.
In the morning, the Forged joined for the first session of training. The group really struggles. By the end of it Karl is the only one still standing. The cardio is the same as yesterday. Karl, Xeldarix and Fargrim can't find their rhythm. The running has everyone but Karl falling over their own feet. They do hand to hand fighting today but Erin calls it before Sparring when she sees most of her crew and the new people struggling. Xeldarix is puffed and stumbling, Fargrim and Lily are the same. Karl somehow is still on his feet. Xeldarix retreats back to the groups cabin as the sound of Lorenah’s muffled screams can be heard from the officer’s cabin. Erin and Karl investigate to find Lorenah has been expertly tied to her bed with rope and sailor knots. Ten and Fargrim talk to the crew to try and get an idea of how many experienced exhausting nightmares. Lily follows Xeldarix to have a private chat that ends with Alexis takes over. They talk a little before Karl and Erin come in where Erin meets Alexis. In the second session somehow and much to Erin's surprise Simone is doing better than most of her crew. Lorenah is glaring daggers at an oblivious Alexis who is doing much better than Xeldarix had done as both the girls do very well through the whole thing. Erin still ends it early before sparring much to Lorenah's disappointment. Enna manages rangle Alexis into scraping the barnacles off the bottom of the boat, while Ten and Fargrim give their medical report to Erin and Karl about the state of the crew. Lily manages to strike Ten with lightning while making him very excited. Over the two nights only one crew member and Erin have not have nightmares over the last two nights. About two thirds of the crew were willing to tell Fargrim about their dreams which all had themes around fear, despair and regrets individual to each person. After a bit of a discussion about this they agree they need to do a reading with Simone to move forward. Question: "What is the gift that is being offered that is causing nightmares to the crew and The Forged?" Answer: “When considering the gift that bestows these nightmares, consider those you trust carefully to make sure those you wish to keep safe when you attempt to reject it. This gift has been passed to many travellers as it wishes to offer a path for these it gives these nightmares that it considers to be wisdom despite the fear it brings. This gift is a soul remade that never moved on when it was their time and now seeks to remake who the person holding the gift and those around them.” Karl and Fargrim quickly realise that Lily’s sword, Gus, might be the cause of all this. They invite Lily into the chart room to discuss this. Simone goes back to the galley. Lily is told about the question and comes to the same conclusion. She mentally connects with the sword and talks to it. They discuss the dreams and Lily negotiates that the dreams only affect her group and not the crew. Gus will rotate through the group. When discussing the idea that they might need to re-address this later if it gets worse Lily suddenly says she hears rats and lays down on the floor to listen. Karl uses his detect life ability to reassure Erin there are no rats on her boat. After this they end the meeting Lily comes out of the room to see Lorenah fiddling with Alexis’ rope keeping her attached to the boat. It is slightly loose. Fargrim tries to fix it but drops the rope completely. Lily summons a dolphin to stop Alexis from being left behind. Between Enna, Wave and the dolphin they get Alexis back on the boat. Lorenah is sent under the boat to do what the other two had started as punishment. Wave spends the day teaching Lily and Fargrim about the different types of knots used on the ship. Meanwhile Karl and Erin talk more about the ship and those on it. Afterwards Erin tries to take Karl up to the rigging, but he’s so tired he falls out and has to cast Feather fall to catch himself. The rest of the day is uneventful. After 4pm when everyone is released Karl scribes his spells while Erin meditates, Lily naps for an hour and Fargrim has a chat with Alexis. An hour later Lily has her own chat with Alexis before dinner, while Fargrim meditates with a shut down Ten. After dinner Lily scrys on General Quint Kegsteeler. Erin pulls out a picture of a tiefling. She explains he has tan skin and totally white eyes. He has medium-length wavy black and gray hair. Ram-like horns curve out from his head. He is quite muscular. He is 69 years old (adult), 5 ft, 2 in (157 cm) tall. Her scry is successful. She watches as two slaves do horn maintenance for the general. He receives some news that the ships he had sent are sunk, but does not know who did it. Lily can tell he’s maintaining a cool mask but is very mad at the news. He collects a slave that looks like Karl and the scry ends. Erin sends everyone but Karl away as her mood has soured. They talk before retiring for the night. Karl sends off a number of sending spells before finishing his night. 10th of Haelynir 1524 The morning is colder than usual. Not unheard of for late spring thing far North but still unexpected. Everyone but Simone and Alexis/Xeldarix is up for the first session of training. Everyone does okay, but the effects of the dreams are still evident in the crew. After the training Lily goes back to see Xeldarix/Alexis but finds them and Simone missing. She tracks them down to Karl’s room. Xeldarix is back in control of the body. It seems neither of them had slept well and were attempting to hide from training. Lily convinces them to come out and join training. Afterwards they retreat back to the room to rest. At 8am when Karl, Lily, Fargrim, Wave and Erin come onto the deck Lily spots a wave moving strangely towards the boat. They brace for impact that never arrives. Instead a man comes out from the water. Its face and body are covered in seaweed, sea stars and some sponges. It claims to be here on the behalf of the Kraken as one of it’s priests. It demands that the boat offer tribute to his master with ten precious items. Either personally precious or monetarily. Lily pretends to go look for some and slips into Karl’s cabin where Xeldarix is to cast Commune with Nature. She finds the Kraken is South of the boat and heading North towards it. Karl and Erin do not like this. Erin hasn’t heard of the Kraken ever allowing passage as it is just a beast that destroys things. They decide to refuse the kind offer of likely false passage and attack the man. He summons black tentacles to attack them while making his escape back into the water. Lily chases him down and brings him back up to the surface as a killer whale. Working together they kill it, only for it to dissolve into sea creatures. The boat returns to its routine. Karl takes a short rest to find Xeldarix and Simone resting in his room. He quietly sits at his desk and allows them to rest. After their shift ends at 4pm Lily went to the cabin to meditate and Fargrim roams the ship while Karl starts on his back up spellbook.
At 5pm they all get a mental call for help from Xeldarix as she is attacked by agents sent by hell for her. A chained devil had her restrained while a large group of Barbed Devils ripped into her. Karl is the first on the scene and he managed to cut off 6 of the Barbed Devils and the Chain Devil with his wall of force. Erin, Lily and Fargrim all arrive to destroy the 3 Barbed Devils not caught by the spell which starts to set fire to the cabin, but Karl puts it out. The room is damaged by the wall of force and the fire, but not beyond repair. Karl convinces the devils to leave as they would be going either of their own choice or in pieces. Erin retires to her cabin for a short rest and the group talks about what happened, coming up with the idea to Hallow the boat against fiends to try and keep Xeldarix safe from further attacks. Karl says he will try to convince the captain to pull in at a port so there is less of a chance the spell will be interrupted. Xeldarix leaves to get some rest back in the group’s cabin as this one will need to be repaired once Enna has been informed of the damage.
Rewards Granted
A favour from a dragon.
Notes
| Name | XP | Total | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 3750 | 69,260 | 10 |
| Karl | 3750 | 69,260 | 10 |
| Lily | 3750 | 69,260 | 10 |
| Simone | 3750 | 43,085 | 8 |
