c02s03e02 - Big Answers, Big Goals day 57 Back at Cragwar, the team cashes in their remaining favor with Raskal to help cover the northern range of the athasian border for the next month.. day 57 - 85.. while the team works on recovering boat power. RaziR's crew keep eye south of Cragwar to the crag mountains. The buckled terrain makes approaching the Crags a difficult effort -- there are a limited number of paths that lead out of the Ivory Plains into Thrane without having to straight up climb.. in time alert towers could be erected at 4 or 5 key positions to have an effective look at any significant threats that come along.. But for now having points of contact to move between makes recon easier than open terrain. Back at Cragwood fort, the athasians freed from slavery are taking to training with the warforged. In a few months they'll be ready for active duty. Now that THX has access to Greater Restoration, he can ritual the angels back to flesh.. there's 35 doses of Stonecure that the interns have crafted over the past month. The interns are able to produce 4 doses of an alchemy per 5 days. Here's a list of the recipes the team knows.. -- stonecure -- petrify poison -- fire immunity -- spider slow poison -- crab tremorsense When the team comes through the front door, they're immediately alerted to infiltrating lantern archons. At first it wasn't an issue.. the occasional odd light in a corner; freefloating lights in the halls-- After a week, the lanterns congregate in the gallery where the petrified soldiers remain imprisoned. Some of the athasians report the lanterns invading their personal space, trying to connect to the athasian minds... but their natural psionics make them resist the possessing efforts of the angelic scouts. Myri the intern wasn't so resilient... and far more useful. Myri knows how to make the stonecure.. so the angels know now too. The athasians picked up right away that Myri is imprisoned because her surface thoughts immediately changed. Locking Myri in a closet, the team arrives after only a few hours of imprisonment. Here's what's going on: a week ago the first petrified angels were freed. They immediately took the opportuity to show they could temporarily summon other angels to reinforce their efforts.Those summoned angels returned back to the heavens while the possessing angels remained present to investigate the team's intentions. Then when the team assaulted the karrnath carrier, more angels were summoned in for support.. also returning to the heavens with more stories. When the 3 restored angels ended tenure on the karrnathi ship, they returned to heaven with more stories. And they all wanted more. As the archons put it... the Sovereign Flame has a lot of dogma filters in place to limit the actions and initiative that the serving angels could perform. The Fury had very little filters, and the All Spark had fewer still.. the archons recognized the purity of intention behind the team's general goals.. after Dhraksis shares their plans to wipe Kazarak away, the Lanterns are motivated to be a part of it... but they are not free to pursue their own goals.. just visiting off-record to the gallery of stone soldiers is worth an eternity of penance in their regimen. The overseeing Deva, "Beyonce" for fun, oversees the lanterns duties while interfacing with the nation of Thrane's efforts at the high-end of the church.. both civic and military. Beyonce is who the team needs to influence to provide angelic support on the war with Kazarak. The lanterns are happy to relay the message and lend aid in making the meeting connect. Detail of interest: the hound responsible for killing Frank's family is Beyonce's right hand man. That might complicate negotiations. First is first: there's grain to load. Back at Old Man Withers' grain silo.. the sturdy turtle can load enough raw wheat grain for a year to the remaining population of Bodak. When the team gets within range of Laeric's empty mekillot pickup cart, they see the throng of athasian farmers swarming around the mekillot rig. No dangers.. just anxious citizens wanting a chance to try again. Drawing close, the team wasn't ready for the static ball of psychic energy they rolled into-- without any mental shields of their own, the athasians immediately picked up on their presence and switched to swarming the Sturdy Turtle. Word had spread quickly about Fury and the All Spark.. and the athasians wanted to get in touch with the truth and purity of their emotions of rage and vengeance against the cult of Draegoth. Chanting "KILL" and "KILL DRAEGOTH" -- Frank got the crowd to calm down and focus on growing crops to stay strong and ALIVE instead of undead. They can start civil disobedience slowly and, Frank assured, he'd be back to drive Draegoth from Bodak for good. He just needed more firepower to do it. Worth noting; some of the more creative zealots of Fury climbed onto the turtle so they could "go to heaven" .. but after convincing everyone to take it slower.. Dhraksis and Frank gave out emblems of Fury-- which they carved into their arms immediately as a sign of devotion. when Frank healed their wounds, he left the Fury as a scar. This was delightful to both Frank and Dhraksis that immediately made it a thing. heading home, the paladins catch up with THX back at the church in town... during his absence he had lost and gained interest of the community.. a total of 23 in the congregation plus the athasian fanatic TripleA. After serving the masses and the All Spark, THX jumped aboard the Sturdy Turtle and the teanm kicked eastward to Olath where Squad 5, the Flame Knight wetworks team, was taking shore leave from day 58 to 63. Day 58 (raining) The team got to Olath a bit ahead of schedule, providing time to do some replacement boat shopping before Squad 5 would be on the streets. Olath is a military town. The navy base is the largest job provider in the community, but there is also an active civilian shipyard and a huge fishing fleet that ventures out daily into the ether to hunt the largest fish they could dare. The team finds themselves at Honest Henry, who works repairs, salvage, and resale of ships. He had an upper-end luxury yacht for sale on consignment for a Lord Ir'Aladai who was already buying the more recent model of yacht, leaving this air helm behind. The team couldn't afford it, of course, but they managed to barter a favor... Turns out Honest Henry has been hiding a lucrative business from taxation. Immense oysters grow in a hidden grotto along the Wall Below 60 miles southward, 5 miles down. These oysters grow pearls large enough to power a crystal ball, or any other numerous magicl foci or other uses. House Maratan -- the 6th house of Llazhaar -- has found the operation and has pushed Honest Henry off the treasure trove. The team is happy to engage. On a small fishing barge, the team follows the route to the hidden grotto and see the pirates peeling open shells 8 feet across to fetch pearls the size of a man's head. The pirates are on the backs of giant riding seahorses adapted to swimming the ether miles below surface. Ignoring the protests of the barge owner-- the team charges as best the barge can muster to capture and/or kill as many of the [irates as they can. the lookout pirates bolt seaward immediately upon seeing the team approaching while the rest of the pirates continue to tug at the treasures pried open. Once the team starts opening fire on the pirates they all cut their losses and scatter DHraksis has little trouble sniping the fleeing pirates one by one.. the team nab a few seahorses and slap a pirate around in the process of pursuing the straggling pirates back to the cargo ship the pirates call Home.. a massive crab design with horizontal sails more fit for stability in the depths than for fast movement above surface of the floating continents' horizon. Ditching the fishing barge, the team pursues on seahorse moments behind the surviving pirates. It would take at least a few minutes for the pirates to explain the alarm befor the facility is awake... they barge right into the stables where the seahorses flitted to for nibbles and grubs of dinner time.the young stableboy flips out when Frank brandishes his massive weapon demanding audince with the Captain to Parlay. The stableboy panicked and ran away into the ship proper. On a natural 20 intimidation check, The team pursued-- screaming all the way to panic the boy into keep running . Demanding the captain, knocking people aside and blasting through furiture and doors right on the kid's heels. Sure enough, the boy led them straight to the bridge where the captain was in the middle of having some drinks with his bridge crew hen the boy fell down exhausted from the pursuit. The ship's captain had time to stand up and start a question when Frank crit attacked a massive gleaming sword right down the middle of the surprised pirate, splitting apart to everyone's horror. Except for Frank and Dhraksis who invited everyone to leave the ship or serve The Fury immediately. It only took one headshot off Dhraksis' long arm to polarize the masses- the vast majority took to the lifeboats to abandon ship. in the end, only 8 pirates flipped teams and took a Brankd of Fury on their arm just as the athasians did to show their devotion-- now the paladins are forcing newcomers to be branded as proof of their commitment. That was wicked efficient. 35 etherhorses, a cargo crabship bristling with weapons, and a job well-down. While the team and pirates scrape off any Maratan symbols from teh ship's exterior as they fly it straight to Honest Henry as proof of their victory... Henry hands over the luxury ship and the team maeks arrangements with Henry to keep his oyster scheme under his control. the team lands a very lucrative agreement equalling 1 new ship every d4 months plus a barrel full of incredibly valuable pearls. Good day's work. Last task on the list for Olath -- Squad 5. The team is getting drunk early at a navy bar named the Screwed Pooch. THX uses jedi mind tricks to get the corporal to start talking about crazy missions.. and then weaves in suggestion to talk about the passage house raid. Squad 5 got activated to frly from Aruldusk to Passage to cleanse a house of remnant Cyran spies. There's a dozen in the squad, and on board the freight ship the team spent 12 hours with who were titled, "Colonol Tandy and The Houndsman" These two, the squad described as Serious Veterans. Houndsman was a dog-man.. like a shifter or werewolf. Jet black with silvery sheen doberman / human crossbreed of radiant perfection.. standing solid above 7 feet and 4 feet broad-- the specimen was imposing. Col. Linda looked for lack of a better word-- like a housewife. But she never blinked, and had a low, solid cadence to her speach that hinted at a distant history. During the 12 hours the two operatives were able to pull personal details from the team-- unified them at a depth they hadn't experienced before. the houndsman analyzed the team's tactical configurations and provided legitimate insight worth adopting. Col. Linda was personable but never shifted in her seat, never ate or drank, never blinked. but she looked right through each of them. Relating offhand comments and questions to battle fields beyond human experience-- along the cliff walls of acheron, making a stand in the maw of the abyss, untethering anchor towns on the edge of hells-- her confidence in the day's operation was beyond inspiring. In town-- The Houndsman's Passwall trigger punched a hole through the sleeper cell house right into the basement prep room. Col LInda dropped a radiant bomb on the cyran spies and Houndsman followed right behind, shredding half the participants in one go. 4 of the conspirators tripped their own passwall while two of the targets teleported away -- from Laila's previous research we know those two were Frank's wife and uncle.. From the crew's report, their sargeant stayed behind with the operatives in the house while the rest of Squad 5 pursued the 4 cyran agents. They were eventually captured, but by the time squad 5 reunited with the sergeant, the two operatives were gone. Sarge wouldn't talk about what she saw-- she just retired from spec ops work for a deskjob in Flamekeep. Frank wanted to know the chain of command above.. - 10 grunts on the squad - cpl. tripps who told the story - sargent bobbi retired after the op was finished - Lt. Braalsh based in Aruldusk activated Squad 5 for the mission, and coordinated the air ship for squad 5, houndsman and Col. Linda from Aruldusk to the city of Passage. - Cardinal Ir'Adel is the soveriegn noble that oversees law and operations of the city Passage; Lt. Braalsh targeted the air ship to land in the Cardinal's fortress to be unassuming. - Bishop Answard operates out of Flamekeep-- overseeing the intelligence and tacticals for the Squad 5 operations, and informing both Cardinal Ir'Adel and Lt. Braalsh of the operation in motion. The team already has a meeting in the works with Beyonce who outranks the full list here... their next move is patience. day 59 Taking the new boats back to Cragwood.. the cargo ship can roam between cragwar and land's end .. the seahorses need ether every d4 days... this patrol pattern allows for the seahorses to have regular exposure to the depths. That leaves the team open with The Sturdy Turtle, Razir, and the Marion. While THX preps a hallow space in his church, and Frank begins scuttling the crew among the ships to get a balanced mix of factions to blend cultures... Dhraksis takes a seahorse down the subterrainean access beneath Cragwar to begin scouting the area. The seahorse is skittish about being under a roof, but the animals are incredibly responsive to encouragement-- willing to stay strong, Dhraksis begins poking about. After an hour or so of flitting along the northern wall, the silence is disturbed by a frantic chase. A psionic plead for help in Dhraksis' mind leads him into a tribal drow girl riding a large octopus, pursued by a mass of black tentacles like out of the barrel. punching a bolt through the mass with a 3rd level smite stacked gets a crit hit, blowing a massive hole through the tumbling mass of do-not-touch. leading the way, Dhraksis shows the drow rider to the cragwood dock and up into safety. time enough to learn more about her after a long rest... dropping both sets of blast doors to dissuade any lurking terrors, this newcomer may have knowledge of how a ship could get down underground.. perhaps a cave network that leads to the external world... <<end of session>> time spent in game: 2 days currently End of Day 59. (still raining) 1/3 to level 10 Loot Acquaired ` cargo crabship ` the marion ` 8 pirates ` 35 giant seahorses ` pearl to trade for weapons etc. ` honest henry provides 1 ship every 1d4 months Loot Expended ` raskal favor for help with the desert border patrol while recoverin ships.
