Session8


 * 2-23-13**
 * Introduction of Kinu and The Pirates, The Return of Mari Moonsong, and Various Social Gatherings**

We gather together and discuss new leads and options. Yuki and Wren tell the story of their visit with Rosche where they obtained the second of the four books on the list from Salience. They also learned the 2 locations of the final 2 books. One is in Waterdeep and the other is in Thay… likely in Szass Tam’s lair. However, Rosche had defeated the lich not long ago, and now would be the best time to go in and get that book. We talk about needing to charge the ship within The Astral Sea, the “tunnels” between spheres. We also discuss the impending dangers of the ship remaining in Lyrabar and Salience’s likely orders to destroy it.

Azarius receives a letter from Reegan Winterowd and Carus Vastel inviting him and his “man servant” Thorn to come talk with them in the noble Vastel estate. Belrain, one of Azarius’s mother’s sisters, married into the Vastels, but she had died young. Azarius never actually met her.

Wren mentions that she received a letter from her mother and that Crowe was being sent to join them. Erevin - “Why? What benefit would she bring?” Wren - “I don’t know... but she is much more powerful than I am.”

Erevin is on his way through the city when he is approached by a cloaked figure, who reveals herself as Kinu Shadowfall. Erevin knows her, but she travels a lot. She tells him that she has lost a friend in Thay and has heard the rumors of our possible travels there. She already has a friend in the import/export business with a boat and crew ready to go. She would like our group to go with them.

Ursus and Uther arrive at the Destiny. Maly sends Uther down to wake Posy himself, while she and Ursus hang out on the deck. Uther is shocked and uneasy about the magical Heroes’ Rest down the stairs, but making his way along the roads he finds Thorn who points him to Posy’s home. Posy doesn’t answer her door, and when Uther goes inside she attacks him. They wrestle back and forth, slamming each other into walls as Uther invites her to go on a hunt with his clan. Thorn carefully sets the broken door back up to lend them privacy and heads out. Ursus invites Maly and Melloran to the same hunt. Posy and Maly both accept.

Wren receives an invitation to the church of Sune from the High Priest.

Yuki wakes to Amynta rushing her along to get ready for her date with Harbinger. They discuss Dominic being in his lab with Wren a lot lately. Amynta seems a little worried. Yuki tells her to go talk to him… and to wear the dress. “You know the one…” Together they make Yuki beautiful for her date and she arrives for the waiting Harbinger. The other priestesses whisper around her with jealous remarks about first Axton and now the handsome Harbinger!

Wren arrives at the temple, where a priestess escorts her to a quiet courtyard where Axton confesses to her that he was the one who sent her the invitation letter… not the high priest. “Forging signatures? Tsk. So naughty!” They exchange flirting banter and he invites her to take a tour of the city with him. She teases him about being bored with the priestesses there and accepts his invitation. It doesn’t take long before she spies Yuki and The Harbinger ahead of them. Wren laughs and asks if they are there to spy on them or if Axton was trying to make Yuki jealous… he says he wants to keep an eye on her. He doesn’t trust the Harbinger. “That makes two of us.” They stop at a café where they can watch Yuki and the Harbinger go into a little restaurant off of a dark alley where they get spicy noodles. So HOT! So HOT! They talk about Shar and her mystery and why someone might be chosen by her.

Harbinger takes her to a large pond where they take a little boat ride. Axton and Wren walk along the shoreline to keep an eye on them. They blend like a romantic couple taking a stroll. Yuki asks the Harbinger if he knew her family. "Quick! She's looking! Kiss me!" He knew her parents and was an acolyte in Waterdeep when she was a child. He’s about 10 years older than Yuki.

The Harbinger leans in to kiss her, when suddenly their boat cracks in half spilling them both into the water. Axton sends Wren to rescue Harbinger while he dives down to get Yuki. Yuki is almost being dragged under by the water, like it’s living and it wants her. It’s dark and cold. She sees a girl who looks like her deep under the water, reaching up to her. She wakes up to Axton on the shoreline reviving her, and becomes distraught over him STEALING her FIRST KISS!! Wren is sitting over Harbinger deciding how much to revive him when his eyes snap open! “Why, Miss Dreamspinner, so gallant!” He pulls her in to kiss her lips, and she reaches back to slap him… but she forgets… she doesn’t even remember the kiss, though something nags in the back of her mind. Axton is offended, “I save your life and this is the thanks I get?! … Let’s go Wren.” Yuki, bewildered, “Wren? Are you alright? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Wren linked her arm into Axton’s to follow him, calling back over her shoulder, “Nothing that I can’t handle dear.” Left alone, and dripping wet… Harbinger turns his back while Yuki uses her ribbon to change clothes. They discuss dancing, but of course… Harbinger is still soaking wet.

Azarius and Thorn go to the Vastel estate. Thorn dresses in a little suit to play the part of the “man servant”. They meet a little girl who introduces herself as Tylianna. They also meet Lady Rein, the violet mask, who played the flute at the Carnival of Masks. They’re introduced to Carter Artemel of Tantras. Carus tells Azarius that she felt it would be appropriate to invite him since his aunt used to be her husband’s first wife. It was a shame that he couldn’t meet his cousins, Tybalt and Gregori who were both lost in the war on Lyrabar. She’s invited him to talk about merchant business. Azarius makes no mention to her about Gregori, our navigator, as he had asked us not to mention him in town. Carter asks Azarius where he had picked up Thorn, and Azarius spins such a convincing tale that Thorn almost believes him.

They are treated to a performance of Rein playing music while acrobats perform. The Emerald mask and the Verdigris mask from the Carnival of Masks. The Verdigris mask is very childlike and Thorn realizes she’s a halfling. Azarius goes to have brandy and cigars in the study to discuss business and contacts. The girls discuss things and ignore Thorn who uses the opportunity to sneak out and do some exploring. He’s very disappointed that the fine things in the home are magically trapped. He finds a bedroom, closed off, with a painting of a woman on the wall. The room seems to have been closed off for a while. There’s a display of a sapphire necklace… so shiny! He’s able to swap it out and returns with a heavier pocket to find the girls still chatting, none the wiser. Reegan invites Azarius to a nobleman’s poker game. Azarius agrees that if he is in town… he will attend.

Ursus, Uther, and a half dozen of their clan collect Maly and Posy from The Destiny. Uther looks mostly recovered from the night before. Maly boasts to Ursus to prepare to be bested and they exchange “gifts”. He gives maly bread and jam, “you’ll need your energy!” She gives him fruit and cherries, “to sweeten your loss.” “I will eat your fruit…” Blushing. No weapons – use your bare hands. The others head in to the woods, but Uther crosses his arms and looks to Posy, “After you.” She goes in and he follows behind her.

Maly goes way out into the woods, riding Melloran. She spots a unicorn who is unwell and stumbling. He talks with her. “I was just looking for a maiden of virtue…” He is very sick and wont last long. He falls over, a strange tendril in his mouth. He tells her he had found a patch of strange fungus, something unnatural. It burst into a cloud of red when he got close. He fled, but it was too late. He was already infected. He tells her his name is Arna Sul and that he has a son, Leitha Sul. With his dying gasp, “Please find my son… I was going to him. Please… tell him what happened to his father.” The druid shaman was so far away and there was no way to carry the unicorn to him in time… Maly, in tears, tries desperately to cure him, but the tendril explodes out of his mouth at her! She collects it in a vial, and Arna Sul fades into a mound of red mushrooms and tendrils with just his horn left. Maly takes the horn and sits for a long time, sobbing. Melloran tries to comfort her with a deer he killed, and she rubs his head sadly and tells him he’s a good boy. She makes a sketch of the tentacle mushroom mound, and they head back toward the center to meet with everyone else.

Posy finds a deer already dead, partly eaten, with cat tracks around it. She follows the tracks to find a black furred puma with tendrils coming out of its back, a displacer beast. Uther is still following her… she rages and charges in, but her claws fade through it. Its body disappears and reappears at random. Uther charges in. Posy – “it’s game time!” She catches the beast’s side as she goes by. Uther catches it and Posy latches on with both claws! The beast yowls and turns… and bites into her neck, nearly suffocating her! Uther tries to pull it off while she digs her claws into its ribs. He pulls off the tentacles and it dies, slowly releasing her from its bite. Posy is a bloody heap, “Oh yeah!” They clash into one another in a turned on, aggressive, passionate tumble that any critters nearby didn’t dare stay to watch. They bring the beast back to camp together.

Ursus sits with Maly and listens to her sad story of the unicorn. He tries to comfort her with tales of some of the clans who worship the spirit of the horse. He tells her that horses are smarter than some men, and they glance toward Uther and giggle. On their way in to town, Maly goes to the refuge and leaves a message for Rayum about the mushrooms in the woods.

Everyone returns to The Destiny and we tell tales of the day. Yuki is still traumatized by Axton's "stealing of her first kiss"... Wren tells her that's not a kiss and pulls Kale in for a demonstration of what a kiss looks like. Everyone agrees it has to be voluntary to count. Wren assures her that Axton is a good kisser, and if he had meant it... than Yuki would know. "You and Axton KISSED?!"... "Well, not really... It was just a pretend kiss...a part of the act so we wouldn't be noticed." An elf runs up to the boat to speak with Erevin… Thorn tells him he’ll get him and then just leaves him. Erevin finds the elf who has an urgent message from Lady Lionspaw, something’s happened at the docks! The chimera from the woods has been sighted trying to hide away on a boat… she was chased off and ran down the cliffs.

We take off down the beach after the chimera… but the sun is setting and she’s gotten a good start. We rely on Erevin’s tracking skills. Find a strange carving into the rock that’s illusionary. We go in through the water to find ruined buildings, likely a pirate area. The chimera has gone into one of the buildings and growls when we get close. "Now!" At Erevin's request, Wren slips up to the doorway and coats the chimera in a sticky web to hold her which allows Erevin the opportunity to charge in and pour the brass vial’s liquid down her throat. She struggles and screams. Behind us gathers three giant alligator looking people. Thorn calls out from the back, “We have company!” We have to turn our attention to the oncoming trolls, and leave the chimera fighting the web and antidote. As we fight them, their wounds continue to regenerate right before our eyes… the only thing that seems to make the damage more permanent is fire. Azarius uses his fire spells w hile Erevin and Wren launch burning arrows at them. Mari and Melloran team up to hold one, while Kale and Thorn team up on the second and Posy holds her own on the third. Yuki works fast and manages to keep all of us standing with her healing. One by one, we bring them down.

Wren, Erevin, and Yuki who are still near the building of the chimera enter to see what’s happened. An elven woman has broken out of the diseased cocoon she’s been encased in… sluffed off skin, blood, and organs… oozing and broken. Yuki gets her water and Erevin and Wren wrap her in their cloaks. She’s from Myth Coramanth. Mari Moonsong, a moonelf who had disappeared. She was a legendary singer to Ellistrae, missing for about 100 years. She was from Myth Coramanth before it moved. She passes out from the pain. We decide to sleep in the hidden area for the night. Thorn finds a crate of herbs… opium and marijuana herbs.

In the morning we carry Mari out and get a horse-drawn cot to bring her back to the elven embassy in Lyrabar. Annaisaru puts her best priests of Corellian on her. Crowe has arrived, and is there to greet us. She calls herself Wren's older and prettier sister... Maly makes faces behind her.

Yuki returns to the temple and is attacked by Amynta! “Where have you been?! How was your date?! You spent the night with him?!!” Yuki calms her friend and notices the little red bruises of love on her neck. Amynta confesses she’d gone to see Dominic. “Tell me all about it! What happened?!” but Amynta leaves her hanging, running off to something she was “late” for.

Yuki talks with Helena, who comforts her and tells her that Axton had saved her life… and he speaks glowing things about her. She is firm that Axton is to accompany her on her journey, but she agrees to sign paperwork that states he is required to scribe scrolls and anything necessary. Yuki is glowing with her new prize!

Dominic is in a very good mood. He and Erevin discuss the chimera and Mari Moonsong. Erevin agrees to set up the necessary meetings for Dom to get more information on the brass vials to make more.

Thorn goes to find his “fence” at a shop called “Odds and Ends”. A parrot calls out when Thorn enters, “Customer! All hands on deck!” Thorn is intrigued and when he finds it’s a foul mouthed parrot, he seems to take even more of a liking to it. He meets Seri Wavecrest, a halfling pirate kind of girl. She shows him a collection of lockpicks and trap disarming equipment. Thorn brings her his crate of “herbs”. She recognizes the symbol on the crate as something from The Hammer, but he’s been dead for a year. She offers him 500 gold which seems a fair price. He brings out the sapphire necklace and she offers him 1000 for it and notices the Vastel mark on it. He counters her offer for a total of 1750 gold, but he’ll make her his exclusive fence and bring everything he gets to her. She whips out a contract for him to sign that seems fair and he signs it. She requests 1 more thing to sweeten the deal… she wants him to take her on a date. He says he’ll have to take a raincheck for when he returns, and she agrees.

Wren takes Crowe to The Destiny and shows her around. Crowe acts unimpressed, but she seems wary of its power. She chooses the room next to Wren’s. She says their mother told her Wren should take the lead on this seeing as she’s survived this long. She also told her to be “civilized” since she is going to be in the civilized city.

Posy and Maly invite Uther and Ursus to go with us… “Of course! We’d be glad to! Where are we going?” “To Thay” “What?” “You’re not too scared, are you?” “No…no… we’ll go. You’ll need protection!”

We go in the morning to meet Lady Kinu… Axton arrives a little late, hurrying with a large box of scroll paper, inks, and quills. Erevin gives him no slack, “So I’m forced to take you along or lose our healer?” “Well I look at it as a way that you’ll have two healers!” … Erevin asks Yuki to escort him onto the boat, and she is hesitant but does so. We row out to a pirate ship with demon horns! The captain is red, large, and has small horns on his forehead. He is introduced as Captain Gar. Erevin does the formal introductions of each of the members of our group, including the fiery gnome, who becomes known as Posy “Earthshaker”.

We set sail into the sunset…