May 06, 2006

Hook

Anna contacts you in order for a last task to end the plague. Meet in Room 2 at the Tawdry Tavern outside the Portal Farm at 10. Be discreet.

Plot Synopsis

The Meeting:

Anna meets the adventureres in a room off of the bar on schedule. She has with her the ring(campaign game notes game 3) and the sword of Isis (game from a few weeks ago... write-up pending). When everyone gets there, she tells them the following:

"The plague is worsening. Every time we gain and advantage in fighting it, something happens to throw us back to square one. In the riots that have taken hold of so much of the land, many healers have been lost. It looks now as if many of them were specifically targeted. Worse, at least one strain of the disease has become resistant to the most common forms of magical healing.

"Yet for the first time, I know what I must do. This plague can be ended. Of late I had been suffering from massive headaches, which I thought to be the result of stresses from coordinating our efforts. These pains became worse, until I would occasionally black out and my memory would be scrambled. Recently, I sought out an expert in the workings of the mind who helped me recall my missing memories and sort out the damage. As there is no easy way of saying this, I will be blunt: A large fragment of my goddess, Isis, resides within me.

"From what I have discovered in the glimpses of her thoughts, soon after Port Haven was struck by the meteors that distracted the gods circling above, A'tena came to Isis, saying that Isis' power would be needed to combat a plague like no other that would erupt on my home island of Telamin. She took a moment from helping the citizens of Port Haven to contact me, the head priestess of that island. I have a restored memory of her telling me that she would imbue me with some of her power to begin the fight while she finished helping those who would needed her elsewhere. But soon after I felt her power filling me, something went wrong. I could hear her screams in my mind, and the power flowing into me came quicker than it had before, so much that it hurt. I soon blacked out. I remembered nothing of the conversation until recently, and the acolyte who tended me told me when I awoke that the gods could not be located. Soon after, the plague began."

Anna then told them what must be done: she must perform a ritual at the location where the plague began, on her home island. She still needed two days to finish gathering power via the ring she acquired on a previous mission, and so they would begin soon, just after dinner. The adventurers discussed some things, and then the group headed over to the bar to eat before setting out.

At the bar, most adventurers sat and contemplated in silence, but Jacob, Canas, and Darnell began flirting with the barmaid. Suddenly, the barmaid took one of her mugs and bludgeoned Canas over the head. At the same moment, one of the bar patrons stabbed Jacob in the back. Things were kept from getting out of hand by a timely Divine Word from J.J., and the bar was brought to a halt as the party in turn left, some more mobile than others.

The party headed to the Portal Farm and through the restricted portal to Centralia, where they got on a boat to set out for the island, a two day trip. About an hour from their arrival, they were surprised by siege weaponry apparently coming from the air next to their ship. Next, a chicken landed on the boat and exploded. In addition, several persons leapt from that seemingly empty space and landed on their boat. Two others fell into the water next to their boat.

Some of the party sprang into action. Captain Briggs took Anna below decks, while Jacob invisibly prowls off to the side of the ship. Much of the rest of the party seems baffled by the exploding chicken. A Halt Time soon appears next to the boat, while the two persons in the water climb the side. Canas is tackled and grabbed, and J.J. takes off in the direction of the invasion after recovering from the exploding chicken. The two people finish climbing the side, and head below decks in search of Anna. After a brief battle, in which the veiled ship attacking them is Demolished, the attackers are apparently suppressed. Within a few rounds, though, a large hole appears in the bottom of the boat. A lizard in the water is chased down and killed, but it is too late as the boat begins sinking. Briggs gets Anna into a lifeboat, and Darnell casts a Shadow Mount Whale to carry others. Both vessels set out for the islands. Canas, being the most damaged, is given a healing tonic by Raz-Jerin.

Anna tells them that she needs to complete the ritual at the temple of Isis on the island, at the altar where she passed out when connected to Isis. She takes them along a hidden route to just outside the temple, where they split up to come at from both entrances. As J.J. comes in ethereally from the side, Jacob, Anna, Briggs, and Raz-Jerin reach the main entrance, which is wide open. They see a man standing there. Though he is taken down quickly, he sets off some sort of alarm. Those still outside begin seeing people emerging from buildings all around and off in the distance, every one of them rushing towards the temple. One teleports directly into the temple, only to have his head knocked off by Captain Briggs. It soon begins merging back on. A woman in particular dashes quickly in and gets to Anna in amazing time. She begins attacking Anna directly and hurts her severely. Canas and Darnell approach the rear entrance and get involved in fighting rushers from that direction. Canas is tackled, but then let go, only to die in a fireball soon after. In the middle of the battle, Raz-Jerin begins throwing sleep bombards into clusters of the party. Jacob, after fending off many of the rushing attackers, is knocked out from this. Captain Briggs and J.J. fight the woman, who refuses to go down. Anna gets to the altar, and in a spare moment, Captain Briggs completes the ritual by stabbing her through the heart with the designated sword of Isis. Anna dies and energy begins swirling around her. The mysterious woman attempts to suck it up, but is pushed back by the party. Eventually, the woman's head is cut off. The man who was regenerating from his head being cut off gets up and deals out a lot of damage, and then is Halt Timed. Raz-Jerin, who had begun plunking the party with his bow, is Halt-Timed by Darnell.

With the building closed up and the immediate threats down, Anna's body fades away and the energy shoots up to the sky. The island is searched, and a man claiming to be the real Canas is found tied up. Those with the plague feel different, but being stuck on the island, are unable to see the results.

Post-game results:

The plague loses its magical component, and reverts to a minor curable illness. Those sick are easily taken care of on their next time through the lines.

Isis is back, yet drained from the effort of stripping the plague. It is too early to determine whether she has been changed from her experiences in a human, and also how much of her is what she was and how much is Anna.

Word is spread of the efforts of those who helped in bringing back Isis, with emphasis placed on the participation and key role of Captain Briggs, the T'orite.

Revolts in progress across the world have have a lot taken out of them as the peasants who had joined in desperation begin running back to get the plague cured.



Many messes are left to clean up. We'll see what happens

Noteworthy Postgame Events