Adventure Blog 7/16---- No witty haikus this time though if you are feeling super awesome-o and creative, go crazy! This is gonna be a LONG one because as I said it takes you from Prologue, to Part I, Act I, of the campaign proper. The training wheels are now off and you will have MUCH more latitude in how you accomplish your goals. Point of a sword or forked tongue, or something in between, your choices. Just as you were getting some much needed rest another loud fog horn except this time with actual, you know, fog! A thick mist bank had rolled in and another ship out of the mist. This one was quite odd and it turned out it was a "ship" in the loosest sense of the word at least as we understand a sea-faring vessel. It was more 'spaceship' than boat with an uhh, "unconventional" (read: evil as phuck) power source: After seeing the semi-conscious human batteries powering the vessel and the fact that it was floating 30 feet OVER the water you wisely decided to not just go in guns blazing (except the Dragonborn, because well, Dragonborn barbarian rager... ;-) ) Madame Seefay revealed herself and seemed minorly annoyed and amused that you had liberated her of some of her property. She sent her partner in crime (and probable partner in love) Lord Baelstrom the man that hired you in the first place to collect the valuable resources. The entire thing was a clever ruse to get mercenaries, sellswords, adventurers, etc. in proximity to the Silent Sea and the Citadel. Apparently once they discovered how to harness blood magic fully they realized that weak willed / spirited peasants and farmers were sort of like little triple A batteries, did not last too long. What they needed were heavy duty deep cycle marine batteries like you find on boats, stronger the person, stronger the blood, stronger the psychic "fuel". So how do we gather up the strong quickly? A-haaa! I have a brilliant idea lets get adventurers together for an adventure. Baelstrom explained that this should have been the plan from the beginning so the needless raiding and pillaging could have been avoided. Adventurers seek 3 things all of which make many of them mercilessly gullible and easy to manipulate. 1) Treasure (greed) 2) Fame (vanity) 3) Power (pride/envy) As our Good Friends(tm) at the church of the Eye and Fist of Torm will tell you, good sinners are strong willed folk! Seefay and Baelstrom use that "sin" as fuel. The religious zealots cleanse it out of people through 'purification' (read: torture) and make them whole again. Speaking of our good friends they arrived right about the same time having never really left. They had been tailing the Fast Lily in the fog virtually since they left the ship precisely fearing something of this nature would occur. Once they realized that not only was there active blood crystal on the ship but the --source-- of the blood crystal they had to act. The whole time, Lord Baelstrom and the Sorceress Seefay had been chasing the infused crystal thinking THAT was The Shards of Legend shattered relics of a long dead empire. ((And to their defense, why would they not? They are literal crystal shards with ominous and nebulous power laying inert inside of them. They would have absolutely no idea of something so innocent looking and plain as a metal container being the true source of Netheril power lifted from beyond the Shadow Plane)) Reality however, was quite different. The crystals were merely a side effect of something much more insidious (useful?), a dark sorcery so far beyond the realms of this world it does not even display as magic at all! But it's effect were pure magic as purple spiderlike tendrils started to consume life force on the ships deck. A quick struggle ensued with all 3 boats full of people with -very- different motivations for seeking "The Coffee Can" rapidly trying to secure it while Baelstrom stupidly activated a device he simply did not understand how to control. With no option left to stop the reaction except to bring it more quickly to an end High Confessor Gaius Meritus Luskania took the only course of action left to him. He used his own Shard topped staff as a spear to destroy its crystalline head in proximity to the Orb and the Coffee Can. And it worked... Some time later... hours? days? months? years? Adrift at sea on the same ship most everyone was gone excepting those in close proximity to the explosion. One of the Vindicator Paladins Thaddeus Liberatus somehow was linked to the coffee can during the massive psychic detonation and came along for the ride. After some quick Jedi Mind Tricking from Arlin the paladin spilled the proverbial beans on why the Tormites (not to be confused with Termites though maybe similar in some ways) are sooooo interested in the Shards / Artifacts. ((SIDE NOTE: I gave you the 'abridged' version during the game as to not waste time but Thaddeus rambled on quite a while as if relaying a tall tale to a good friend, here is the full excerpt below of what he communicated)) The ancient empire of Netheril which was considered the pinnacle of human evolution some 2 millenia ago delved deeply into arts and magicks the likes of which the world had never seen before. The Gods themselves felt a threat to their power, that is how mighty the mages of Netheril had become so the Gods punished and cast down all of Netheril into a cataclysm of world-breaking proportions. Centuries later, a single Netheril city survived and reappeared back in the Realms. It brought with it bizzare and alien magics even more dangerous than the more mundane ones it used before its destruction. These magics were so incomprehensible they seemed to barely function using the established 'laws' of magical power and so by definition were very unstable and uncontrollable. But man's lust for power is insatiable so they unleashed the full fury of this magic on the world and quickly rebuilt the beginnings of an empire. The Powers that Be acted much more quickly than the first time setting the single Netheril city that returned from the Shadow Plane into immediate ruination blasting it literally into a million fragments with a tremendous burst of divine energy. Thus, the Desert of Aunuroch was born and the ruins of the last Netherse city Thulanthar (The Shadow City) were wiped from existence. As thousands of years passed this story become a fairy tale to tell young mages warning them against the power of magic unchecked. Only recently, has any of this even been seen as being plausible since the rediscovery of the crystals in the mine. ((Back to the present and YOUR part of the story which as you now see can have world changing consequence potentially)) After some experimentation and some time later it was discovered that the coffee can was ffffaaaaaarrrr more than a mere container. It did 'contain' yes, but something beyond the likes anyone in this world has ever seen and even other worlds in fact. A sentience, a presence, that seems nice enough. It gifted the group with a form of limited shared telepathy, a hive mind like insects. It also showed off some impressive small feats of orientation and location and gave a basic description of what it was, why it was, and what it can do. It is however in voracious need of "fuel" to accomplish much of anything and its fuel source is questionable at best as was seen by the "batteries" on the Sky Ship. Recon Unit Nanite Based Artificial Intelligence Support #2341 (RUNBAIS 2341) was dubbed and thus re-born "Nano". Not totally understanding exactly "what" Nano is but having enough of an idea having seen wizard's constructs and such before, you took its general purpose and meaning though it speaks in a strange tongue, has no sense of humor and is quite monotone, and uses magical and sorcerous words you cannot comprehend. Thus far it has not attempted to kill you or 'eat' you yet, so that I suppose is a plus! After some quick deliberation, you were shorebound. You disembarked and started off in the strange and unfamiliar world with a sky full of foreign stars running across a group of veteran hunters. After some awkward interaction and the need to show no hostile intentions they reluctantly agreed to lead you to the road and no further with a quick. " Welcome to Barovia " P.S. Before you even ask!!! Nano explains it cannot craft the following items: Stakes, silver bullets, holy water, or crucifixes and other assorted holy symbols. :-D ;-)
