Session3


 * 12-29-12**
 * The Return to Lyrabar and the Attack at the Carnival of Masks**

The ship returned to the harbor of Lyrabar and is quickly greeted by other boats as it heads in for the dock. *note* The new captain, Errondale, doesn’t appear ghostly here on the ship.

Margarite, with a dozen of her paladins, and a half dozen palace guards greet us at the dock upon arrival. They escort us to the Temple of Lathander. Azarius stays behind with Errondale and Gregori on the ship to investigate more of the controls. The common people whisper as the escorted parade of people go by. The return of the ship has brought out intrigue, excitement, and confusion to the strangers who’ve returned.

There’s a crowd around the temple of Lathander. The temple is beautiful in marble and gold with a statue out front, depicting the god of the sun and new beginnings. Inside we meet the leader of the wizard tower, Lady Mercer, who’s name is also known among the noble merchant names for their wine. We also meet the leader of the sorcerer tower, Ars Salience. We find out that the ship disappeared from here, dropping many into the water of the harbor and we’ve been gone for several days. They want to know what happened and Erevin and Mally relay their tale of the burnt hooded woman who set up the crystal to blow up the ship. Ars Salience was among the group who repaired the ship, Destiny, and thinks she might be someone still seeking their revenge. We make plans to go freshen up and then return to hear his tale of The Destiny.

Erevin, Wren, and Kale travel to the Elven embassy where surely Annaisuru would want direct news of our return. On the way Erevin mentions that we can get Kale back into his normal armor and out of the otherworldly outfit he’s currently in if he’d like to have it back. Kale seems uncertain of this choice and says that the people there were good to him. Wren raises an eyebrow, but says nothing and watches. Also on the way a human woman, who introduces herself as an urban ranger by the name of Renata Winterowd. She gives her card to Erevin and extends him an invitation to meet with her at the Hidden Bounty. He is very polite and charming with her, and after she leaves he makes a small joke at her expense to Wren about card carrying city rangers. Welcomed into the embassy, we find out that Dominic is safe. He was one of the people who fell into the harbor. He is very happy to see us and tells us the tale of his helping the young Sune priestess, Amynta out of the water and back to her temple. Anna comes to greet us, very relieved we’re alive. She says she’s been holding off on sending word to Lady Lionspaw and Raven in hope that we weren’t dead and would be found soon.

Mally goes through the city riding her lion, Mellorahn, along with Posy on their way to return to the Inn of the Unexpected Monkey. They come across a druid woman, who introduces herself as Rayum Castle. Rayum recognizes Maliumpkin as a student of Esme and points out that she must be fairly new to cities. She informs her that it is unusual to have a lion roaming around in the city and it makes people nervous. Mally tells her that it makes her feel safe and keeps people from stepping on her. She offers to take her to the Refuge, a druid place on the edge of the city where they leave their companions in safe keeping. Mally informs her that she and Malleron are never apart. Rayum tries to be gentle and understanding with the young druid in the big city, and convinces her to at least go see the companion place. Its very nice and the companions are well treated with a safe place to roam and game to hunt. Rayum greets Posy and seems confused to see a gnome warrior… most gnomes are tinkerers. She takes the two of them with her across town to see the Refuge.

Thorn heads off alone toward his own little hidey hole. On the way he pauses to do a little shopping in pockets of people in the merchant district. He hears, “Stop! Thief!” but its directed at a young human girl running through the crowd with a purse dangling off of her. She’s maybe 14, and obviously an amateur. She is being chased by a merchant and his large hired muscle companion. Thorn gives her a hand after she passes by him, and tips a table to spill fruit into the street halting her pursuer who shouts curses after her. The merchant, Thorn stole from notices his missing purse and sends accusations toward the same girl as well, but she escapes. Thorn hits the potty-mouth merchant in the head with an apple before he disappears into the crowd. He notices he’s being followed by a boy, maybe 8 or 9 years old. He introduces himself as Boots, and thanks Thorn for helping his sister. He was supposed to be her lookout but got distracted. He’s a member of a thieve’s guild called The Waifs. His sister, Salem, is their leader and they have a total of 3 members with another called Knives. Boots thought Thorn was a kid and was going to invite him into their group. They’ve been a guild for 6 months. Thorn tells him to be a better lookout and tosses him a couple of his newly acquired coins. Boots thanks him, exclaiming “this thief stuff is easy” and dashes off.

Yuki has one of the attractive, shiny paladins of Lathander, escort her to the Temple of Sune where she gets a bath and goes to meet High Priest, Alain and Senior Priest, Axton. Alain is pleased to see her alive. Axton comments that its interesting that she went shopping before reporting to the High Priestess… Yuki says “someone” had her doing chores and then she had a very important errand to run to thank her hero… when he inquires about her “hero”, she fills the two of them in on her story of what transpired with the explosion of the ship, the other plane, and her hero rescuing her from the villainous Malice. The story is filled in with many tangeants about hunky, beautiful elves and such. She is very fretful and expresses her concerns about the fact that Kale had been alone for 3 years, and that they needed to get to work straight away on finding Rue and Oriel. Alain takes it all in and leaves her in the care of her Senior Priest, Axton who dismisses her and puts her to work doing chores.

Anna and Erevin discuss the scheduled meeting with Ars and she says she’ll send word off to Lady Lionspaw of our safety and possibly omit some information about the missing Loch and Shri for now, so as to not have her send down Eltrue. She is hopeful that Loch can be found right away to avoid any problems… and Shri too, of course. Wren speaks with Erevin as they head toward the temple to meet with the group for dinner and the story from Ars… she questions Anna’s use of the name Eltrue, explaining that she met him as Kale’s uncle. Erevin informs her that Eltrue is Lady Lionspaw’s general.

Posy and Mally visit the Refuge with Lady Castle. There is a big lake with sectioned off areas for the different animal companions. Rayum assures her that they’ll take very good care of Mellorahn and bring in game for him to hunt. Mally is very upset at the thought of leaving him behind even for a little while. Rayum Castle tries to comfort her with her understanding and introduces her to Razormaw, her own shark companion. Mally tells her that it’s her own fault for picking a water companion who can’t go into the city. Rayum tells her he helps her with her work in the harbor. After much convincing and with a heavy heart, Mally leaves her lion in the care of the Refuge and travels on foot with Posy to the temple to meet back up with the group.

Thorn finds his hidey hole intact and untouched. He adds to his trove and trades a few things out before heading off to meet everyone else.

Yuki gives her thanks to Paladin Brightwood for his magnificent escort and we all meet back up the Temple of Lathander, Order of the Dawn. Margarite and Ars Salience are there to meet us. The Destiny comes from another world. Adventures and nobles of Lyrabar had stumbled across a piece of it and it wanted to be fixed. They went to the city of Sanctuary to the north. There they met travelers who came from another world on this ship. They managed to fix the ship. Ars informs us that most of the people who had come, had fled their world and settled in peacefully here. This happened 50 years ago. He says the ship collects heroes. There was a group of others who were trying to get the ship back. They had an artifact to control minds and hoped to ensnare the Destiny with the device. This group was called The Destiny Seekers. There was a great war in Lyrabar over the ship. After the war, the ship went dormant for a year… until the wedding. There was one of The Seekers who had survived and she may have been the burnt hooded woman who set off the crystal. He says that all of the pieces of the ship are from this plane except for one. He says the ship chose it’s heroes before and it likely chose us for a reason. We may need something personal from the people that we’re looking for. He tells us to look into some books that may help us. He gets us a list to send to Attalicus in Myth Coramanth. We can also possibly talk to Silvermane in Sanctuary.

Yuki asks if there is any way she could be involved in this and it could be explained to the Temple of Sune that she is needed… Erevin speaks up first and says that she is needed. She has first-hand knowledge of two of the people still missing and that the ship chose her as well. Wren agrees and chimes in that we need her healing skill as well she had the knowledge and first-hand experience of being on the ship when all of this happened. Ars says we can probably get a more senior priest to help, but we insist we need Yuki and Margarite says she can handle getting all the paperwork in order and make arrangements with the Temple of Sune.

Yuki travels with Erevin, Wren, and Kale to return to the elven embassy rather than the temple. Wren is sidetracked when Inali tells her that a cat is threatening her! Wren goes to investigate and talk with the cat. Kale follows her, but Erevin escorts Yuki to the embassy. After giving the kitty some delicious fish, he leads her to a magic shop, called the House of Wonders. Shandra Rossi, a witch, and her familiar cat Whiskers. She uses him to find other familiars to draw in new clientele. Magic items of all kinds can be found here. Interested in scrolls to teach new spells to Inali, Wren sets up a possible future in trades with her alchemy and leaves her with a little sample bag of herbs from Rawlinswood. Kale watches from the windows. Shandra gives Wren 2 tickets to the play of the War on Lyrabar that will be at the carnival that night.

Returning to the Inn of the Unexpected Monkey, Posy is informed that there were some large people looking for her… they are supposed to return to see her tonight. She asks Hoppy to inform her when they arrive.

Erevin and Yuki arrive at the embassy where he introduces her to Anna. Yuki lavishes her with compliments. Anna introduces them to a lunar elf named Mahimi Gladerunner, also known as The Azure Mask with the Carnival of Masks. She explains that the leaders of the carnival wear masks and each color represents an art. The Azure Mask represents dance. The masks deal with the higher clientele, nobles, balls, etc. Gladerunner has spent months recovering from her ordeal and is ready to dance again, and she was wanting companionship tonight for the carnival. When Erevin asks about her ordeal, Anna explains that there were disappearances of elves, including Lady Gladerunner. When things were looked into, they found a mad wizard named Crucible, an ancient netherease. The Netherease people 1000 years ago tried to become gods. The goddess of magic took away her gift of magic when that happened and left cities without any magic at all. Crucible’s specialty was mixing life. He was searching for the perfect being. He used elves and mixed them with orcs and other things to create new beings with the grace and speed of elves mixed with claws, teeth, and the strength of other things. He was part of the attack on Lyrabar and was working with The Destiny Seekers. It was Lyrabar’s investigation into the elven disappearances and their work to find an antidote that brought in Myth Coramanth’s involvement and aid. Crucible is now known to take over other bodies and doesn’t have one of his own anymore. Wren and Kale arrive to rejoin Erevin and Yuki. Introductions to Lady Gladerunner, The Azure Mask. Discuss the magic shop and possible future deals and inquiries to be made. Yuki asks Dom to invite and escort Amynta to the carnival with them.

Get a nice carriage and gather together for the carnival. Tour part of the city on the way before arriving at the carnival. Brightly colored tents and lanterns, the smells of fried foods, animals, and dung. Various clowns around, not the creepy kind. A man dressed in white, introduces himself as The Ivory Mask and introduces us to The Obsidian Mask, a woman dressed in black. They are the ushers who show us around. Mally buys a raven-like black bird mask. We are treated very well as guests of Lady Annaisuru Lionspaw. There’s llamas, elephants, and other unique animals that we’ve never seen. Meet The Emerald Mask and The Veridion Mask dressed in Dark green and Light green bird masks amidst human and halfling acrobats. See Lady Natalie Rein, The Violet Mask, practicing her flute. Her father is getting on in years and isn’t there for this performance. The Carnival of Masks is the finest performers in the land.

An audience of about 500 gather to watch. Night falls with a starry sky. Torches are lit. Illusion magic is cast to create the set. Costumed giants, orcs, and villainous people besiege the city of Lyrabar. Shiny paladins ride out to battle. The Crimson Mask performs as the hero, Renata Winterowd. Paper mache dragons move over the city. The Scarlet Mask, Lady Vivian Dulsaer, performs as Liason Annaisuru Lionspaw. She plays out her mannerisms and accent flawlessly. Large Battle – explosion of light! Lyrabar was saved! The dragons go down. There is applause and a standing ovation. The cast gathers to bow. The Crimson Mask, Rhianna Dulsaer, comes down to address Erevin personally, “Mr. Moonsong, how did you enjoy the play?” “I found it very moving.” She seems confused, saying that her sister Vivian, who had played Anna Lionspaw, had wanted to come down and meet him, but she didn’t seem be around. We decide to go to her tent to see her instead.

A large burly man guards the door and refuses us entrance. He says Lady Vivian does not wish to be disturbed. Rhianna doesn’t recognize the guard. Yuki steps forward and “commands” him to allow us entrance. Inside, a guard is slumped in a chair. We dash down the hall to find 6 people with octopus like masks and Lady Vivian on a box with tentacles reaching out to grab her. On the front of the box a living eye blinks. Battle. The octopus masks are oozy creatures that mind control. 5 of the people here are members of the carnival that have been overtaken. There is one dressed in a purple robe who doesn’t belong. Kill the box, fight off the people, rescue Vivian. The purple robed leader exclaims that the walls are weakening and the master comes.

The rest of the carnival seems blissfully ignorant as to what happened. We take our leave. At the Inn of the Unexpected Monkey, Posy giggles as she watches the ghostly form of Jerome the Gnome sit on top of Thorn and picks his nose.