September 08, 2001

Game Master
Sean McLane
Adventurers
????

Hook

Once again a notice was posted in Rougtero, asking for Adventurers to go on a retrieval mission.

Plot Synopsis

(Some are continuing on the newbie adventures, but more need to be recruited) Those that come from Rougtero are informed that standard pay is 2000 silver, half up front, half available upon completion of the mission.

When all elements of the party are brought together, they are informed that they are going to rescue a child from a ship that will be sunk by pirates. The child, Devon, is six years old, and the son of a high ranking priest of Tarus. He has been foretold to be instrumental in great things in the future.

After some more initial inquiries, the party finds out that the boat that will be sunk is carrying twenty priests of Tarus, on a Holy Mission to the city of Trevon. The year is 8610. They are going to be placed in a small boat, and outfitted to look like survivors of a sunken ship.

They made plans and get their stories straight, then are transported to the time and place where the Tarusian ship will come across them and 'rescue' them. After a couple of hours of sitting in a small boat, the ship does indeed spot them, and pulls them out. They explain that their ship had been hit by pirates and sunk. As far as they knew, they were the only survivors.

The Cefo welcomed them aboard, and offered to take them to Trevon, where the ship was headed, and the party accepted. They were given room in the two spare rooms in the passenger area of the ship, which the party discovered was separate from the rest of the ship. (The only way to get to the crew quarters and hold would be to go up on deck, then back down the stairs to the crew area, which was off limits to passengers.) The party settled in, until breakfast was served on deck, about mid-morning. There they met the other Tarusians (aside from those they saw puking over the side or making observations about the weather). Their leader was a tall, grim looking man, who was accompanied by a six year old boy, the only child present on board. Right away, the party noticed that the child had a mark on his forehead that resembled an open eye.

The boy was very polite, and did nothing without looking to his father for permission first. Vaya (one of the only party members whose name i remember) tried talking with him, but was not able to get very far, except to confirm that this was indeed Devon. One of the other party members made the mistake of asking what one of the priests did, and was treated to incessant prattling about the weather. Mara (the other character I remember, who is also the only newbie) started a conversation with one of the priests that broke down when he found out that she was female. (She's a lizard. hard to tell them apart)

After breakfast, most of the party went back down to their rooms, while one remained on deck. A few hours passed, then the lookout spotted a ship on the horizon... It quickly approached, and before long, the other ship's triangular sails were visible. The party memeber went down below to tell the rest, and they got together and made their plans. All of them waited for sign of the attack, and were soon alerted to the sound of a loud boom, the lurching of the ship, and the smell of ozone. Some thought it must be an acceler, but remembered that they had been told those were not invented yet when they were asking how the ship was going to be armed. The party ran down the corridor to the room where Devon and his father were. Vaya knocked on the door, and when it was opened, she threw in a sleep bombard, and pulled the door shut. Just before the sound of two bodies hitting the floor, the party heard the boy say "See, Father, i told you so. Good bye." Other Priests of Tarus who were looking out in the hall, and were dumbfouned as the party went into the room. The group all got touching each other, picking up Devon and reading the scroll which returned them to the briefing area.

The boy was carried off, and the party was given the remainder of their payment. Everyone was given 2500 xp.

Some unanswered questions remained dangling because the party didn't look for these particular details: Who was the boy's mother? Where was she? What was the holy mission the Tarusites were undertaking? Who were the pirates? Why were they trying to destroy the ship before raiding it for loot?

As this game went off without a hitch, and ended at about 10:15, the party went on another mini-mission. They were sent to an island where a certain species of grey monkey was going to die out in a few years. They were to try to capture two of the monkeys, and bring them back alive.

They tromped through the jungle, and before long came upon a troop of monkeys up in a tree. Vaya threw a sleep bombard, and five fell out of the tree. Unfortunately four died when they hit the ground, and the fifth was badly hurt.

The party decided to try again, and went tromping through the jungle once more. They were attacked by a tiger, which roared a lot, but was largely ineffective with its attack (stupid dice). The tiger fled after the party soundly trounced it.

They came upon more monkeys, and Vaya got another sleep bombard ready. This time, the party stretched out a net underneath the monkeys to catch them when they fell. Vaya threw the b9ombard, and critted, hitting a monkey dead on. The monkey survived the crit, but caught fire as the bombard exploded, and died as it fell into the net. Three others fell into the net, and one more missed the net, and died crunching into the ground.

The party took the four living monkeys back, for their reward, and 600 xp.

Noteworthy Postgame Events