February 04, 2006

Hook

People requested to assist in a cross country competition.

Plot Synopsis

The adventurers arrive at the Stopover Inn at various times, eventually finding themselves in the company of a rather rugged looking individual. He introduces himself as Desmond Reiley, a professional racer by trade. He explains that he has run a few dozen different competitions over the years, and there is one starting the next day, a race of Sandsailers, essentially boats with wheels that run across desert flats. He says that he won this race the previous year, but in this competition, no one ever wins twice because other teams will immeditately seek to eliminate the largest source of competition right off, and Desmond explains that that morning he found his crew chief dead. He really wants to win twice, for the sake of the history books, but he also wants to stay alive. He needs the adventurers to act as his escorts during the 4 day trial.

They negotiate a fair wage, a flat rate if they finish the race but don’t win, and a percentage of the winner’s purse if they come in first. They agree and set off. The world the race is held on is mainly a flat desert, and the starting area is dominated by tents and temporary booths, a large stone tower, as well as the pit areas for the various race teams, not all of which seem to be completely powered by sails. Desmond goes off to meet with his pit crew, followed by most of the group. Tanis asks about some of the most likely suspects to make a move during the race, and then goes off to harass some of them verbally, as well as some of the random passers-by.

The next morning, the racers all line up, the adventurers all taking places on Desmond’s sandsailer, and a flare comes from the stone tower. Everyone is immediately off, the racers separating into the desert. They witness several wrecks and crashes, Magnius having the time of his life. Nothing seems to happen that day, and as per the rules, they stop for the night and make camp. During the night, Tanis goes and investigates some of the other camps nearby, starting a fight in one before heading back with no one the wiser.

The next day, at about the halfway point, three other racers begin to close in around Desmond’s racer, looking more and more like a bad situation, when someone on the racer directly ahead casts the Cantrips spell directly in front of them, which Desmond just manages to evade. Fire is exchanged with the lead racer, and another one begins to come up from behind. Magnius tosses a home-bought gunpowder bomb onto it, which injures the crew greatly. It is quite abruptly stopped when Gorzush magically creates a solid stone wall right in front of it, the swift sailing vessel being reduced to splinters. Tanis takes a direct shot with some other kind of weapon from extreme range, and then turns shady and heads off to the most distant racer, materializing and dispatching the occupants as well as capturing one of them. The rest of the party trades shots with the leading racer, and eventually one of Magnius’s Molotov cocktails sets it on fire. Unable to put it out, the damage is eventually too much, and the racer careens to one side, effectively out of it. Tanis orders the survivors of the other racer to bring him back over to Desmond’s craft, which they do, though as soon he and the surviving goon have been offloaded, Magnius sets it on fire.

The race continues, and it comes down to the final sprint to the finish, with Desmond in second place, winning out due to a sudden malfunction of one of the tech-driven racers ahead. The group joins the winner’s festivities, and Desmond pays them, which equates to roughly 2500 silver each. They return to Jaern through the portal.

EXP: 2600

Noteworthy Postgame Events