Sundered Lands 35

The Sundered Lands of Palladium

Session 35
December 4, 2016

Don't Mess With Valinya

Saturday October 28

A Parley

The Lady continues, “Well, I’m sure you are here to kill me or bring me to justice or, hells, probably just here to rob me, but I’ve got a proposition for you. Instead of all those things, why don’t you join me. Clearly you all are capable folk with little to no problem with doing what it takes to get results. I am already in position to take control of all shipping in Essanos, both legitimate and otherwise, with your help, we could expand that control to other areas as well.”

Seeker grumbles. "So, you were behind the death of the Harbormaster?"

Lady Lotus says "He was old. Dying. It was an eventual outcome. "

Wulda continues stuffing his face with food.

Seeker says "That's not an answer."

Guttugger paces the north and east sides of the room, keeping its black eyes focused on Silver.

Seeker keeps his eyes on the Lady Lotus.

Lady Lotus says "I may have information as to his demise."

Silver watches the lizard pet as she listens to the conversation

Lady Lotus says "So, are you all interested in new employment? I assume little Lavinia's bankroll will be running out soon enough. I can pay you and let you do what youre so good at doing."

Seeker nods, not happy with the wordplay. "I do not think that after all the work we went through to get here that we would be interested in your offer. Now, if you were cooperative, we might be willing to turn you over to the guard, instead of what seems like the inevitable alternative." Seeker tries to be intimidating.

Fortis slowly creeps forward to gain better visibility on the room and Mr. Rosk.

Seeker flexes his claws as he watches the Lady's response to his counterproposal. He makes it clear that he's ready to pursue violence.

The Lady seems to loose some of her bravado as she takes in Seeker in all his glory. "Well, um. I feel that this conversation isn't going where I want it to.” Lightning fast, she whips out a wand and waves it across the room. A stone wall magically appears, cutting the room in half.

Seeker says, in Wolfen. "Careful, guys, there are more of those undead bearmen around!

Let The Games Begin

Seeker fast-draws Charnag Velve

Lady Lotus says "Get them!"

Shefton Rosk pulls a potion from his pouch and begins moving toward the Ladys' chamber. The door behind Shefton opens and several more Harpies emerge.

A bright flash comes from behind Silver out in the hallway. Shefton and another Harpy throw their hands up over their faces as they are blinded by the light while the other two only seem a bit disoriented by it.

Guttugger bites at Seeker's foot with a sharp teeth and succeeds!
Seeker parries and slashes at Guttugger. Seeker's parry nearly slices Gut Tuggers face off! The beast lets out a high pitched wail!

Moonscar hears the sounds of nearby battle, checks the approach to the map room as soon as he hears the noise - then closes the door before heading toward the battle.

Silver shifts, and reaches past Seeker to snap at Guttugger. The dragon like creature makes a pathetic attempt at a dodge but Silver's teeth do not penetrate his scales. Silver snaps onto Guttugger and holds on!

Arn starts pushing his way past Silver then steps and throws his mace at Rosk

Fortis Swiftcasts a Sunbolt, and shoots it across the room.

Arn flings his enchanted mace, Olum Kanat Sican, at Shefton Rosk and he goes down in a moaning pile of leather armor

Lady Lotus says "Get off your ass and do something Wulda!"

Wulda says "Ahh, fuck. This orange was good. Ok." The mercenary stands and pulls his flail out.

Seeker says "Sorry, dude," and rapid strikes!

Wulda steps back and parries the first blow with his knife then the second with his flail. His knife explodes in a spray of metal shards. The mercenary shouts, "Sonofabitch! That was my favorite knife!"

The Harpies in the hallway look around for where that Sunbolt came from and one of them wildly swings at Fortis's torso with a club but fails!

Guttugger tries to break free of Silver's bite

Moonscar heads for the fight as fast as possible while still closing doors behind him.

Silver turns around and blows fire north up the hallway, filling it with a cone of fire and Harpy screams!

Arn swings his enchanted mace, Olum Kanat Sican, at his foe's torso and then steps up next to Silver. Another Sea Harpy crumbles to the floor.

Lady Lotus says "Don't let anyone past this door!"

Fortis takes a second to Dispel a hex of the summoned wall. He then Swiftcasts a Sunbolt and another Harpy goes down.

Wulda steps back and readies his flail. Seeker yells in Wolfen, "Guys! The fight's in here! Valinya, she went through the door back here! Follow her!" Seeker slashes across Guttugger’s torso!

Valinya snaps out of her guilty thoughts and reacts to Seeker's instructions

Silver turns again, and scuttles around Seeker to be on his left

Fortis Swiftcasts another Sunbolt, attempting to hit the last standing Sea Harpy then moves to support his friends.

Bearman Zombie swings at Guttugger's torso with an axe and slices the beast in half

Wulda says "What the hell is that thing?” He then swings at Silver's torso with a flail. The head of the flail flies right past Fortis then smashes into the tiny flying brick on its return strike from behind! Fortis staggers back to the shelves and attempts not to pass out.

Seeker moves to close with the Zombie as Valinya hesitates to pass the Zombies, but then does.
She says "You really should give up now, Lady Lotus. It will all work out better for you if you do."

Silver shifts and blows fire at Wulda. Wulda narrowly ducks a gout of flame that hits the wooden wardrobe behind him. As Wulda ducks the flames Arn steps in low and swings his enchanted mace, Olum Kanat Sican, at his foe's torso.Wulda attempts to dodge Arn's attack and succeeds!

Bearman Zombie swings at Seeker's torso with a greataxe and succeeds but Seeker parries
Wulda looks around, concerned and says "So, hey, that bitch wasn't paying me enough for this. I got no real quarrel with you all. Interested in a new friend?"

Arn shouts, “Dropping your weapons is still an option boy!”

Wulda says "I'd like to hang on to it, but I sure won't be swinging it no more."

Arn suggests, “Then swing it at that pile of rotting flesh, the furry one, not your former employer, you can kill her later.”

Wulda says "Yea, I can do that," and readies his flail. "You first, dwarf." he g,ads Arn.

Seeker slashes at the Bearman Zombie, twice with rapid strikes but the undead monstrosity managed to avoid both attacks.

Valinya shoots lightning at Lady Lotus's torso with a magic and critical succeeds! She yells, "I told you to STOP!" After a pause, she continues, "It's been a pretty bad day. I'm done being polite! You have nowhere to run, anyway. Give up!"

The sound of lightning bolts comes from the next room

Silver glares at Wulda, but shifts to reach and blow fire past Seeker at the nearest zombie. Seeker feels Silver's wing tickling his inner thing. The wardrobe is starting to burn a bit from where Silver's flame hit it.

Arn flings his enchanted mace, Olum Kanat Sican, at his foe's torso.

The Bearman Zombie attempts to dodge Arn's attack and fails!

Fortis rests. Fortis sees he is sitting next to a large glass sphere with a smoky red glow coming from inside of it.

Bearman Zombie swings at Seeker's torso with a weapon and succeeds! Seeker parries and retreats.

Valinya commands Lady Lotus,"Call your abominations off or I will end you. I am not kidding!"

Lady Lotus shouts, "You win. Stand down. Everyone stand down." The bearmen zombies stop attacking. Wulda starts casually scooting toward the exit. Moonscar makes his way toward the fight, closing all the doors in between.

Valinya says "I've got her, everyone. She has surrendered."

Chatting up Wulda

Moonscar comes running into the room shouting

Fortis asks, “Anyone kind enough to loan me a healing potion would earn my substantial gratitude.”

Silver turns and goes looking for Fortis upon seeing the fight coming to a close

Seeker says, "Val, Fortis got whacked pretty bad”.

Moonscar says, in bad, heavily accented Dwarvish, "Kasoo! Kazoo! Bazookadog onthemenu!"

Wulda says "Hey, so you guys are pretty fearsome lot. I want ya to know, I didn't have no problem with ya a'tall"

Moonscar replies, “Um, oh, yeah. Uh, cool. Thanks for that.”

Valinya says "Ill come see to Fortis, someone come in here to takc are of the Lady."

Silver digs out a healing potion and sets it next to Fortis. "Can you drink this?"

Fortis says, “You'd better believe I will work on it!”

Fortis drinks just a few sips of the healing potion and begins feeling much better.

Fortis feebly reaches for the lip of the potion

The Bearman zombies stand eerily still and silent in the doorway.

Silver turns and watches Wulda closely, and does her best "Unhappy Dragon" impression

After taking a moment of relief at his improved but still critical state Fortis draws Valinya's attention to the globe. "Does that look dangerous to you?"

Wulda stops and looks at Silver

Wulda says "Oh, did you want me to stick around? I was gonna get out of here."

Valinya casts a Major Healing on Fortis and says "Think I will need to do that again "

Fortis sighs, “Oww... Ahhhh... THank You”

She once again heals Fortis, but she now looks extremely tired.

Fortis says, “That is fantastic Val. I need to think of a really nice way to repay you. Is there anything I can get you for now?”

Valinya says "You can start by never getting splatted like that again."

Fortis says, "Hey, I'll work on it"

Silver shouts, "HEY! You messed up my friend, I think you can AT LEAST answers some questions!"

Wulda looks puzzled.

Wulda says "Your friend?"

Wulda says "I was trying to not hit any of ya. Wasn't that obvious? Only thing I hit was that weird flying brick."

Silver says, "You smacked him with your spikey ball there. Yeah, he likes hiding in his illusions."

Moonscar busts out laughing and adds, “Everyone wants to at some point or another.”

Wulda says "How was I supposed to know. I was trying to get myself away from these Harpies. Seems to me that they are a bunch of hooligans. I didn't realize what I was getting into.”

Moonscar says, “Restraint is what sets the rest of us apart, well, some of us, sometimes.”

Subduing to the Lady

Seeker makes his way past the Bearmen to guard the Lady Lotus. He finds the Lady sitting on the end of her bed. Her rapier is on the floor next to 2 wands and a knife. He says, "Sorry, ma'am, but it really was unlikely to end any differently." He looks around the room. "To the victors, right?"

Lady Lotus says "I will show you where my treasury is if you let me leave with my belongings and a few things from the other room. I will leave the city and never return."

Seeker says, “Ma'am, I think we'd have to take that on a case-by-case basis. But we can start there." Seeker continues, "Now, for starters, tell me about Vanthus."

Seeker sees a twinkle in the Lady's eye and a slight smile cross her lips. "What do you want to know about Vanthus?"

Seeker says, "As you pointed out, we're associates of Lavinia Vanderboren. She'd like to know where her brother is, and where the money he plundered from his family might be."

Lady Lotus says "I have her money. Most of it anyway. And other money too. Lots of it. I have lots of cash. Take it. Take it all. As for Vanthus, he has left the city. Not far though."

Seeker says, "And what exactly do you want to take with you?"

The Lady replies, “My sword, my gear, a few changes of clothing. Maybe some of my perfume. It's hard to get stuff. Very nice." She motions toward a dressing table near where Moonscar is standing. Both Seeker and Moonscar can smell a medley of perfume scents in this room, which is apparently her bedroom.

The floor of this room is thickly carpeted, and the walls have been smoothed with plaster and painted a soothing light green. A delicate crystalline chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling. To the south, a dressing table sits next to a padded stool, and a large canopied bed with silk sheets looms to the southeast. Between these two objects sits a heap of oversized cushions. The ceiling in this room is vaulted to 15’ in the center where the lit chandelier hangs. The ceiling slopes down to 10’ along the sides. Several other lamps hang at various places along the wall.

Arn takes up a guard position out in the hallway.

The wardrobe has become engulfed in flames, filling in the room with thick black smoke. The carpet is beginning to catch fire as well.

Silver looks around and asks, "Can someone put out that fire?"

Moonscar says, “Brother, has she agreed to hand over the McGoosegg?”

Lady Lotus says "Cough, cough. Don't you think we should leave?"

When no one else makes any attempt to put the fire out, Silver casts Extinguish Fire

Seeker says "I think we're fine for now. Now, we're interested in something called a Shadow Pearl. We'd need that handed over, first of all."

Lady Lotus says "Shadow Pearl? I’m not sure what that is. Sounds valuable though."

Moonsca says, “it's not. But it was smuggled in as if it was and if you'd known about it you'd never have agreed to help, but you didn't, so you did, and then we came knocking to clean up the mess.”

Lady Lotus looks confused at Moonscars line of questioning.

Moonscar adds, “before it gets a thousand times messier”

Seeker thinks she is telling the truth about the Shadow Pearl.

Moonscar continues, “I know that's confusing, so please, think carefully”

Lady Lotus says "Being smuggled in on a ship? "Do you know by who?"

Moonscar continues accusing her, “You've helped someone do something, you'd probably consider them foreigners, they certainly wouldn't have stuck around.”

She thinks for a moment, “Hmm. That might be what Vanthus is looking into. He is following up a lead on some valuable cargo coming in from somewhere south. Using Kraken's Cove as a staging point. It's a little outside of our sphere of influence but, you know, gotta expand to grow.”

Seeker says "Okay, so Vanthus is at Kraken's Cove?

Moonscar scoffs, “Vanthus is ambitious but stupid”

Lady Lotus says "Yes, that’s where he was heading."

Moonscar asks, “Is it on one of the maps?”

Lady Lotus says "He was taking some Harpies and hired swords out there to try to take the shipment." She then looks at Moonscar, "One of our maps? No, it’s a ways out. not in Essanos.

Seeker says "I'm sure someone interested in controlling shipping has maps that might include the location of Kraken Cove."

Moonscar comments in Wolfen, “Probably in the chart book off the Nixie”

Lady Lotus says "I mean yea, I can show you. Its about 50 miles down the coast to the east."

Fortis continues to inventory the shelf and, when he finishes, shifts his illusion disguise back to the dwarf and joins his friends in the interrogation of the Lady Lotus.

Seeker responds to Moonscar, in Wolfen, “That may be true, but I want to see what she will do to help us.”

Seeker grins a toothy grin, "Thank you, let's do that."

Moonscar continues, in Wolfen, “Speaking of which - I think she needs to be ready to sail quickly and not on the course just given.”

Fortis in the Dwarven form of Frump, leans against the wall and starts assessing the items Lady Lotus is carrying.

Silver keeps an eye out on what's going on, but otherwise rests

Seeker says "There is also the matter of the Harbormaster. I'd like someone to pay for that."

Lady Lotus says "Shefton Rosk killed the Harbormaster. With help from Vanthus"

Moonscar asks, “Why?”

Fortis perks up at that accusation and ensures she is telling the truth

Moonscar says, “Vanthus had no chance of succeeding him in the job. So which of the houses actually pulls your strings?”

Lady Lotus looks down, away from Moonscar's question.

Lady Lotus says "My mother is Heldrath Kellani. I am Rowyn Kellani, of House Kellani"

Fortis suggests, “We can take his corpse to Commander Vilasek.”

Moonscar smiles at the admission of truth, “There, doesn't that feel better now?”

Lady Lotus says "She is not aware of my actions, though I suspect she knows some."
Seeker believes she is being truthful.

Having some of his conspiracy suspicions confirmed Moonscar is radiating smug, ‘So tell me, what would you do to someone who was trying to, quite literally, raze this city to the ground along with everyone in it?”

Lady Lotus says "Oh, you mean the fires above? Most of those buildings are abandoned, or owned for my use anyway."

Moonscar counters, “I mean really, posing a another smuggling organization, intent on eliminating the entire city.”

Lady Lotus looks confused and says "I would never do that. This city is my home. I love Essanos."

Moonscar explains, “I'm sorry to inform you that you have in fact assisted in doing precisely that.
If our actions have seemed strange, and our motives confusing, then realize that that is why we are here and we do not give the slightest flying fuck about your little criminal band. And I'm sure that you really want to start telling us all the whole truth about things, not just the little pieces you've been dangling because the lies you mix in are to cover things we don't care about, but only serve to cloud those which do matter.”
Lady Lotus responds directly to Moonscar, “I have no idea what you are talking about."

Frump stares at Lady Lotus, "Who was shrouding Vanthus in concealment magics?"

Rowyn looks at Frump, "I don't know how he was doing that. I wasn't able to scry him either. I think it might be his ring, though."

Cast of Characters: 

+Arne Jamtgaard plays Seeker, a teenage Wolfen Warlord

+Stephen Kolmetz plays Valinya, an Elven Wildsong Mage

+Mike Biancone plays Arn, a surly Dwarven Warrior

+Amergin O'Kai plays Moonscar, the esoteric Kankoran Druid

+Daniel White plays Silver, a young and curious Dragon
and +Jason GURPS as the GM