The Maelstrom Campaign - Chapter Seven

On the Road Again

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil

648 Post Maelstrom

Skaemon and Coil talk to, and convince, Teleran and Skye to join them in their robbery tonight. With little else to do until their flight tomorrow they decide to sleep until nightfall.
Teleran has a second dream from the moon goddess, Niius, Brother of the Moon.
Teleran awakens in a moonlit glade atop a bed of moss surrounded by massive tightly woven trees. The glade is surrounded by a creek that glistens with the silver glow of the moon and gives the glade a natural crescent shape. Teleran finds himself rising to his feet as though his body is acting against his will. He turns to face the far side of the glade as the underbrush begins to rustle. It is proceeded by a soft thudding of footsteps as something rushes towards Teleran. The underbrush bursts open as large white tiger charges into the glade. In the moonlight its white fur glows silver with moonlight, glistening like the moonlit stream. It stands in front of him and he can feel its breath on his face. Its eyes are a deep shade of purple and as Teleran stares into its eyes he can see the twisting maelstrom that surrounds the world. He reaches his hand out, as though compelled by Niius, Brother of the Moon herself, and grabs a handful of the tigers’ fur. Teleran pulls himself onto the back of the beast and it releases an unearthly roar that silences the forest all around them. Teleran sees his reflection in the creek’s clear waters, almost too vividly, and as he watches his eyes take on the same purple hue as the tiger. Looking into his reflection he can see the same maelstrom in his eyes. He awakens.

* * *

A little before everyone else is about to wake Jessica returns to Brown-on-the-water with her new shield. As everyone is getting up and getting ready Jessica has Coil and Teleran inspect the shield for her. They are able to discover some of the shields hidden properties, but it still has another effect that they didn’t understand. Jessica, who is getting ready for bed, realizes they are all getting ready to leave. They tell Jessica that they are going on a walk and she decides to leave them to it.
Everyone, with the exception of Jessica, heads back over to the shopping district in search of an alchemists’ shop. They wander the trade district searching for an alchemist to break into. Ending up near the higher end shops they discover the perfect place, a shop called the Dragons Breath Alchemist.
Skye keeps watch out front while Coil teleports Teleran and Skaemon inside with him. Teleran and Skaemon immediately start filling their bags with potions; Coil goes searching deeper in the shop for bigger secrets. Coil steps behind the sales counter and goes through employee door into the warehouse at the back of the shop. The warehouse is just storing more of the same potions that are on the salesfloor, but there are two stairways here. One leading up and one leading down.
Coil takes the stairs down into the basement with Teleran and Skaemon not far behind, now that they are done stuffing their bags. The basement is dug much deeper than most normal basements would be in a city like this one. The basement is lined wall to wall with massive boiling vats of liquids in many various colors. Potion brewing on a scale that even Skaemon believed should be impossible.
The vats are connected by pipes that run from under the cauldron up to the ceiling, and all of the pipes are leading to the back of the basement. The three of them follow the pipes which all lead to a metal box that’s glowing red hot from whatever is contained within. Coil burns his hands in order to lift box up and as he does so blindingly bright light fills the room. Coil tosses the hot metal aside revealing an engine, similar to the ones that power airships, but significantly smaller than anything known to Coil, Skaemon, or Teleran. Coil tries to put the engine in a bag, but it’s far too hot and quickly burns the bag away; meanwhile Skaemon runs back upstairs to try and hide the light with magical darkness, but the light is magical as well and cuts through the darkness.
Skye is still keeping watch out front when suddenly the windows behind her start emitting bright light. Skye ducks down to stay out of sight, but the now glowing shop is starting to draw the attention of people out at night.
Coil tries frivolously to pick up the engine, but finds he’s unable to do so. Teleran growing more and more concerned with the light emitting from the engine he decides to flee the scene, running back upstairs. Teleran runs past Skaemon and out the front door of the store. As soon as the door opens the crystal lights inside the shop begin to blink rapidly. Skaemon upon seeing this follows Teleran out the door and they begin running down the street. Coil flees from the store not long after quickly catching up to Teleran and Skaemon. Skye tries to walk away inconspicuously in the same direction as the other three.
As they flee the scene of their crime, they hear the pounding of hoofbeats headed towards them. Teleran uses his new found wild shape, becoming the white tiger from his dream, and runs down a nearby alley before the guards see him. Coil grabs Skaemon and teleports the two of them onto a nearby rooftop. Skye continues to try to remain under the radar.
As the group of horsemen pass three of them break off from the group. They dismount and circle Skye, the rest of the horsemen continue towards the alchemist. As soon as the first horseman questions why she’s here Skye turns into a werewolf and attacks the horseman. Teleran the tiger runs out of the alley he’s hiding in and mauls one of the guards bothering Skye. Skaemon turns himself into a large ape and drops down onto of the last horseman crushing him. The three horsemen are easily dealt with by the animals, causing their horses to bolt, and Teleran, Skye, and Skaemon flee the carnage.
While the other three engage the horsemen in the street, Coil continues to flee from the original crime. Once he’d travelled a few streets over Coil finds a store for working equipment and breaks in to steal a new backpack. The security here is much weaker than the alchemists store and Coil is able to easily get inside. He finds a new more durable backpack, although a bit smaller. Coil slips out with no problem and heads back to the inn.
Teleran, Skaemon, and Skye return to their normal humanoid forms and take the long way through town to get back to their inn. The three of them return just after Coil, who is waiting out front, and three of them go inside together. Once back in the room Coil yells at Teleran, Skaemon, and Skye for being reckless. Unknown to Coil the commotion of them returning wakes up Jessica who hears Coil yell at the other three for stirring up trouble, but not exactly what they did. Jessica pretends to still be sleeping and doesn’t reveal she heard anything. The whole party rests until morning.

* * *

Once the whole party is awake, they get ready to head across town to catch their airship. They decide to get some new supplies before they set out and the party returns to the trade district. As they walk the main strip of shops, they see a crime scene up ahead, right around where their fight happened the night before. Skye turns and goes into the first shop she sees and the rest of the party follows behind. They go into what turns out to be a middle tier clothing shop. They decide to pick out some new cloths. Skye changers her appearance the most, adding a charcoal gray cloak to her outfit.
After leaving the shop the continue towards the military district, passing the crime scene on the way. The crime scene is being investigated by a handful of inquisitors and an arbiter. Just as the party is about to pass by the arbiter turns, looking right at the party, and locks eyes with Skye. Neither of them says anything and the party continues on their way.
Once in the military district they make their way to The Iron Fortress. The arbiter who is heading up their taskforce is waiting out front of the building. He leads them through the fortress into a large training field behind it. There were several inquisitors out training in the yard, but none paid them any mind. On the far side of the field were airships for the Iron Order to use, one of which was currently being geared up to fly. The arbiter bids them farewell as the board the airship and the party sets sail for Ambracia. For once the flight is relatively uneventful and they land near Ishti Thalore in the evening.

* * *

The party gathers their belongs and sets out towards the city of Ishti Thalore. The party is just across the gap bridge, from Astryia and the elven continent of Isilvalen, around noon. There is an imperial guard garrison stationed at the bridge to protect traders and try to keep the roads clear of highwaymen. Armed people would normally be searched before passing, but the party is able to get through with no hassle by flashing their imperial security badges.
Once across the bridge the party enter the massive forest known as the Kaalsari Great Greenwood. The enormous forest of trees so tightly woven together you could never see more than two or three trees deep staring into the forest. The underbrush is so thick the ground cannot be seen through it, but neither it nor the trees extend onto the road. The canopy is at least 100 feet tall at the lowest and fully covers the road far above. Light shines through the canopy to the ground giving it a deep green hue. The path twists more aggressively here in the greenwood as it twists with the natural patterns of the land never cutting through.
Time is hard to tell here, but what feels like several hours go by while they continue through the forest. After countless twists and turns the party rounds a bend in the road to see a group of travelers ahead. Coil uses invisibility to hide and moves ahead of the party in case they need to fight. As the two groups get closer the party realizes that the other group is armed and acting aggressive. Once within earshot Jessica tell the other group that they don’t want to fight and they’re just passing through, but they just laugh.
The travelers begin to spread out to surround the party. As the travelers separate, they reveal a man standing behind them. It’s an elven man in a deep purple cloak, that looks very similar to the black cloaks cloak aside from its color; his face is also not hidden by the hood like the black cloaks were. He has dark hair, very pointed features, and a bit of a long face that is easy to recognize if you’ve seen him before. Skaemon recognizes this man as one of the people that betrayed him. However, Skye also recognizes him from the stories she was told by her father about the person that cast him out of his homeland.
Skaemon and Skye immediately look ready to fight and seeing this Coil drops his invisibility in front on of the highwaymen and attacks them while they’re surprised. The axe wielding highwaymen move in on the party with their weapons ready. The highwaymen archers and purple cloaked mans’ mage detail start raining attacks on the party from afar. The purple cloaked man starts casting a powerful spell and his cloak begins glowing with purple arcane energy.
The party fights valiantly, quickly taking down the axe wielding highwaymen and one of the archers, but after being blasted by waves of ice and fire from the mages Teleran is struck down and falls unconscious. The purple cloaked man is able to finish his spell and drops his cloak to the ground. Arcane energy amasses above it and the man steps inside of it vanishing instantly. After a few moments the arcane energy disperses and the cloak is left lying on the ground.
Coil grabs Teleran and teleports him a safe distance away while they finish off the rest of the highwaymen. Skye, just barely clinging to consciousness, cuts down the last still standing highwaymen archer and Skaemon finishes of the purple cloaked man’s mages. Jessica goes to help Teleran and restores him to consciousness.
Skaemon grabs the now dormant purple cloak off the ground and the party hurries on their way. After only a few more twists in the road the party rounds a bend to find themselves at the edge of the forest looking out into the barren and destroyed landscape surrounding Ishti Thalore, the Arcanic Wastes. The sun is setting as the party exits the greenwood…