Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

Black are the waves against the stones crashing, fair are the ships with sails white as fluttering clouds, far are the shores in the distance fading. Woods of dark pine pass into plains of swift fading gold rippling in the northern wind. The pillars of the world shine white in the distance, mountains higher than high that no mortal foot has trodden upon. Into this world strangers step unknowing, but not wholly unwilling for there is promise here as much as peril.

No princes or emperors and by the mighty and the learned of their lands soon to be forgotten, another soul lost by sea or by land. Yet not all who are discounted at the journey's start reach its end in like manner as ways to stranger worlds before the traveler's feet open.

Who shall by fate or fortune walk in the world of ice and blood?

[] Tiberius Florius Gaius, the young optius of the Third Century of the Fifth Cohort of the Legio X Equestris. Your centurion is dead in disgrace by the will of the Emperor, by the will of Cesar they say. You are too young to curse his name for the blood spilled on Egyptian soil in wars of pride and power that saw the sons of Rome cast down, but you are not so young as to name your legion Gemini as to forget the glories and the victories of Gaul.
+Lockstep Discipline (your men belong to one of the most celebrated legions of the age)
+Engineering knowledge (more than the swords of its legions, it is the skill of its engineers that has built the Empire)
-Glory starved (Long has it been since the Tenth has known any triumphs and they hunger for it)
-Fear and Disdain of Magic (While no strangers to superstition the veterans of the tenth have little care for sorcery and those who work it. It reminds too many of their stay in Egypt, and the disastrous loss that followed)

[] Sir Ronald Verley, a crusader returning from the disastrous battles of the Fifth Crusade not with absolution or with peace, but with a deep disdain of all you have seen there. Greed and pride sleep in the same bed and the blood of innocents is spilled like wine in the half of dukes prelates and princes. That lesson you learned in your heart on the sands of Egypt.
+Ship and Crew, as the one in command of most of the armed men aboard the Genovesse ship that was supposed to take you to Sicily as well as the only noblemen aboard it is an easy thing to commandeer the ship
+Fine Horseflesh, the ship holds your horses and the horses of your men, they have so far made the journey in fine form
-Broken Faith, having been lead not to the Holy Land but to Egypt to the Sack of Damieta only to then see the flower of chivalry broken as it marched on Cairo, only to see your lords deal so lightly with those they had before called as devils in human flesh you no longer know what to believe on matters spiritual or temporal
-A motley crew, between your own men at arms, the Genovesse crew and the other passengers there is little to unite you before a strange world

[] Thomas of Kent, an English merchant whose caravan had left Vienna in haste in the wee hours of the morning. You claimed that it was because the papal authorities were prepared to arrest you on trumped up charges, for no reason than being a pious son of the Church of England, in truth there may have been the matter of the copper you sold being less than pure and the spices being cut with sawdust and the wine being watered a tad, but what did it matter? You had your gold and you left your debts far behind you, farther than you thought possible in truth.
+A Wealthy Man, you got your goods' worth and a little more in Vienna and silver and gold are valuable everywhere
+An eclectic education, as a young man you had been sent all over Europe to learn from the best and the brightest even if you did not quite pick up the lessons your father might have wished
-Bad with money, for all you could sell sand to an Egyptian the gold never seems to stick to your hands
-Crooked Merchant, your usual tactics work best when you can move around

OOC: And we are off, hopefully to an interesting start. To the people coming over from ASWAH welcome to the new quest, hopefully I will be able to carry the good things from it forward, to any new readers welcome to the madness, now without the wheels of someone else's setting.

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

Name: Sir Roland Verley

Alignment: Neutral Good
Age: 23
Race: Human
Level: 5 (10250/15000 XP)
Class: Cavalier 2 (Courtly Knight, Honor Guard; Order of the Dragon) / Fighter 1 / Warlord (Bannerman) 2
Feats: Additional Traits (Sound of Mind, Sword Scion), Bodyguard (B), Combat Reflexes, Cumbrous Will (B), Deft Maneuvers, Focused Discipline (B), Improved Initiative, Iron Will (B), Mounted Combat
Traits: Influence (Diplomacy), Cooperative Combatant, Sound of Mind, Sword Scion
Languages: Anwari, English, Engur, French, Sicilian

HP: 35/35
AC: 10 + 1 (DEX) + 10 (Fullplate +1) + 3 (Shield) = 24
Initiative: +1 (DEX) + 4 (Improved Initiative) = +5
Attack:

Durendal (+1 Flaming Keen Bronze Longsword): +5 (BaB) + 2 (STR) + 1 (SS) + 1 (Enhancement) = +9 [1d8+3+1d6; Critical: 17-20/x2; Slashing]
- when using Power Attack: +7 [1d8+7+1d6]
Bronze Breaker (+1 Breaking Gauntlet): +5 (BaB) + 2 (STR) + 1 (Enhancement) = +8 [1d3+3; Critical: x2; Bludgeoning], Special: +2d6 damage vs objects
- when using Power Attack: +6 [1d3+7]
Cold Iron Short Sword: +5 (BaB) + 2 (STR) = +7 [1d6+2; Critical: 19-20/x2; Slashing]
- when using Power Attack: +5 [1d6+6]
Lance: +5 (BaB) + 2 (STR) = +7 [1d8+2; Critical: x3; Piercing]
- when using Power Attack: +5 [1d8+6]
- when Charging: +7 [2d8+4]
  - w/Power Attack: +5 [2d8+12]
Longbow: +5 (BaB) + 1 (DEX) = +6 [1d8; Critical: x3; Piercing]
Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

Weapon proficiency: Longsword, Lance, Longbow, Dagger, Short Sword

STATS:
14 (+2) Strength
12 (+1) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
12 (+1) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
16 (+3) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 6 + 1 (CON) = 7
REFLEX: 1 + 1 (DEX) = 2
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) + 2 (IW) = 3

Special:
+2 Traits bonus vs Mind-Affecting effects.
+2 Resistance bonus vs Mind-Affecting effects.
+3 Morale Bonus vs Death effects, Fatigue or Exhaustion effects, and poison or poison effects.
+2 Morale Bonus vs Fear effects. On a successful save, you gain +2 Morale bonus to attacks and CMB against the originator of the Fear effect for 1 round.
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on Marcella

SKILLS:
Bluff: 1 (Courtly Knight) + 3 (CHA) + 4 (Diplomatic Presence) = 8
Diplomacy: 8 + 3 (CHA) + 1 (Courtly Knight) + 4 (Diplomatic Presence) + 1 (Influence) = 17
Handle Animal: 6 + 3 (CHA) = 9
Intimidate: 8 + 3 (CHA) + 1 (Courtly Knight) + 4 (Diplomatic Presence) = 16
Knowledge (Arcana): 1 + 1 (INT) = 2
Perception: 8 + 0 (WIS) + 2 (Alertness w/Mount) = 8/10
Ride: 7 + 1 (DEX) = 8
Sense Motive: 8 + 1 (Courtly Knight) + 4 (Diplomatic Presence) + 2 (Alertness w/Mount) = 13/15
Survival: 3 + 0 (WIS) + 1 (OotD Protection) = 3/4

Martial Initiator Abilities:

Martial Stances:
- Stance of the Defending Shell: You gain a +1 Shield bonus to your AC.
- Pride Leader's Stance: You an all allies within 20-ft. of your position gain a +4 Morale bonus to saves vs Fear effects and Demoralization effects.
Martial Maneuvers Known:
- Iron Tortoise: Iron Shell (Counter)
- Primal Fury: Crushing Blow (Strike), Panthera on the Hunt (Strike)
- Golden Lion: Encouraging Roar (Boost), Hunting Party (Strike), Pride Movement (Boost), Tactical Strike (Strike)
Martial Maneuvers Prepared:
- Counter: Iron Shell
- Boost: Encouraging Roar, Pride Movement
- Strike: Hunting Party, Panthera on the Hunt

Special Abilities:

Bodyguard: When an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an Attack of Opportunity to attempt the Aid Another action to improve their AC.
Aid Allies: Whenever you use the Aid Another action to assist one of your allies, the ally receives a +3 bonus to his Attack Roll, Saving Throw, or skill check, or a +3 bonus to his Armor Class.
Cumbrous Will: Before rolling a Will save, you can choose to gain a +6 bonus on your saving throw. After the saving throw is resolved, regardless of the result, you are Shaken until the end of the encounter.
Mounted Combat: 1/round when your mount is hit in combat, you may attempt a Ride check as an Immediate Action to negate the hit. The hit is negated if your Ride check result is greater than the opponent's attack roll.
Tactical Presence (Ex): Your presence bolsters both yourself and your allies with one of the following effects. Changing between Tactical Presence abilities uses a Move Action.
- Diplomat's Presence: You add a +4 Competence bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive checks.
- Indomitable Presence: You and all allies within 30-ft. gain the benefits of the Diehard feat, and add a +3 Morale bonus (Charisma modifier) to Fortitude saves versus Death effects, Fatigue or Exhaustion effects, and poison or poison effects.
Challenge: 1/day, you can Challenge a foe to combat as a Swift Action. The Challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious, or combat ends.
- Your melee attacks deal +2 extra damage (equal to Cavalier level) whenever the attacks are made against the target of your Challenge, but you take a -2 penalty to AC except against attacks made by the target of your Challenge.
- Whenever you issue a Challenge, your allies receive a +1 Circumstance bonus on melee Attack Rolls against the target of your Challenge whenever you are threatening the target.
Warlord's Gambit (Ex): Use a Swift or Immediate Action to perform a Warlord's Gambit. You gain a +1 Luck bonus (1/2 Charisma modifier) to succeed. Success provides a bonus effect and recovers 3 expended maneuvers (Charisma modifier), but failure inflicts a -2 penalty on d20 rolls for 1 round.
- Unbreakable Gambit: As an Immediate Action, you make a Fortitude or Will save against a non-harmless extraordinary ability, maneuver, power, spell, spell-like or supernatural ability. Reward: You heal 9 Hit Points (3 x Charisma modifier).
- Brave Gambit: You make a Charge attack. Reward: You and all allies within 60 feet gain a +3 Morale (Charisma modifier) bonus on the damage roll of the next attack they make before the start of your next turn.

Equipment of Note:
Cold Iron Short Sword

Bronze Breaker

Appearance: This Gauntlet is wrought of black iron in menacing guise, with claws that tear and a grip that crushes.

Abilities:

+1 Breaking Gauntlet (1d3 Bludgeoning Damage)
- 2/Day as a Swift Action, the gauntlet gains the properties of Adamantine for one round. This allows attacks from the gauntlet to ignore Hardness below 20 in any attacked or Sundered objects.
- Upon command, strikes from the gauntlet deal +2d6 damage against inanimate objects and crystalline creatures on a successful hit and ignore the Hardness of objects with a Hardness of 5 or lower. This effect remains until another command is given.

Durendal

Appearance: Wrought in the image of a knight's sword of finest bronze, the mark of Oroki of Apuku can still be read upon the base of the blade, yet in its journeys from that island the work of greater smiths has been made upon it also. It burns now with white flame along its edge, as though it had never left the smith's anvil, its hilt bound in a thousand small scales that shine like emeralds in the dark.

Powers:

+1 Flaming Keen Bronze Longsword.
+2 bonus to CMD against disarm attempts.

Medallion of Mind Sentinel

Appearance: A ring wrought of flowing yellow gold in the shape of a dragon or a serpent swallowing its tail. Eyes green as grass sparkle by moonlight and by sunlight.

Ability: The medallion grants a continuous +2 resistance bonus on saves versus mind-affecting spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. If the wearer fails a save to avoid becoming dominated or confused, the amulet immediately allows the wearer to roll a second saving throw to resist the effect as a free action. If this second save is successful, the medallion's power fades away entirely and it becomes a simple piece of jewelry.

Redman's Regalia

Appearance: Wrought of bronze and carved with runes of ruin, this armor is the mark of a great king unbowed in battle til the last, and it is the mark of secret sins that one can but guess at, a home of daemons wrapped around the heart.

Abilities:

+1 Dastardly Fullplate Armor (+10 AC, Maximum Dexterity Bonus: +1, Armor Check Penalty: -5)

Spell-Break Shield

Appearance: Of shining bronze unmarred is the face of this shield, as a mirror to the light of sun and moon and of the hidden realms beyond. What meaning the runes set about its rim might have you cannot say, yet when the power of some spell or enchantment it upon the bearer they burn white as forge's fire.

Abilities:

+1 AC (Constant)
When affected by a spell of levels 1-3 the bearer may choose as a free action to roll 3d6 for Spell Resistance. If the resulting SR is defeated by more than a margin of 10, the shield gains the Broken condition. If this is repeated with the shield already broken it is destroyed. (3/Day)

Talismans:

Nikure's Grace: This silver talisman in the form of two delicate intertwined spirals glows blue whenever an evil creature targets the wearer with magic jar, possession, or a similar effect, or with a charm or compulsion spell or effect that allows the creature to exercise control over the wearer (such as suggestion, but not sleep). If the spell or effect allows a saving throw and the wearer fails it, he receives a second saving throw. If he succeeds at the second saving throw, the wearer is also protected by protection from evil for 5 rounds.
Talisman of the Deep Roots: These talismans are wrought not of gold or silver, even of copper, but the pits of mango taken from sacred trees grown in lands where none may turn axe upon the living wood upon them is inscribed the name of the tree from which they are taken, that the bearer might be guarded from sudden falls, as the tree is warded against the storm. The bearer may re-roll any failed roll against being bull rushed by magical or mundane means if this second roll succeeds they are may attempt a grapple against the enemy as a free action.

Silver

Heavy Horse (Combat Trained, Bodyguard Archetype)
N Large Magical Beast (Augmented Animal)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +12 (+14 w/Alertness)

DEFENSE:
AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+5 Dex, -1 size, +4 natural, +4 chain shirt)
HP 61 (6d8+30)
SAVES:
FORTITUDE: +10,
REFLEX: +10 (+2 vs Falling, +2 Circumstantial Bonus while on Marcella),
WILL: +5 (+2 vs Fear, +4 on subsequent rounds if allowed)

OFFENSE:
Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +8 (1d4+5), 2 hooves +8 (1d6+5)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

STATISTICS:
Str 21, Dex 20, Con 21, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 14
Base Atk +4; CMB +10; CMD 25 (29 vs. trip)
Feats: Bodyguard, Combat Reflexes, Light Armor Proficiency (B), Natural Magic (B), Run (B), Sure-Footed Stride
Languages: Anwari, English, French
Skills: +13 Acrobatics, +12 Perception (+14 w/Alertness), +11 Swim (+9 w/Armor Check Penalty)

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

Shared Vigilance (Ex): You and your designated companion gain Alertness as a bonus feat whenever you are adjacent.
Evasion (Ex): If you are subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, you take no damage if you make a successful saving throw.
Tenacious Guardian (Ex): You can always act in a surprise round (though you remain flat-footed until you act). As long as your ward is adjacent, you remain conscious (though you become staggered) when your hit points fall below 0. While below 0 hit points, you lose 1 hit point per round but gain a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks, dying only if its hit points reach a negative total equal to your Constitution score plus your total hit dice.

Spell-like abilities (CL 6): Know Direction (Constant), Detect Magic (1/Day)

Companions

Name: Tom Wodsworth

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Age: 37
Race: Human
Level: 4
Class: Fighter 4 (Drill Sergeant)
Feats: Coordinated Maneuvers(B), Deft Maneuvers, Improved Initiative(B), Pikeman's Training, Powerful Maneuvers(B), Shake It Off(B), Weapon Focus (Spear Weapons)
Traits: Wary (Perception)
Class Features: Bonus Feats, Tactician
Languages: Anwari, English, French

HP: 34/34
AC: 10 + 6 (Breastplate) + 2 (Shield) = 18
Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative)
Attack:

+1 Ghost Touch Cold Iron Spear: +4 (BaB) + 1 (STR) + 1 (Weapon Focus) + 1 (Enhancement) = +7 [1d8 + 2, Critical: x3 Piercing]
Special: +2 bonus when using the Bull Rush, Dirty Trick, Disarm, Drag, Feint, Overrun, Reposition, Steal, Sunder, or Trip Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Shortsword, Spear, Longspear

STATS:
12 (+1) Strength
10 (+0) Dexterity
14 (+2) Constitution
10 (+0) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
8 (-1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 4 + 2 (CON) = 6
REFLEX: 1 + 0 (DEX) = 1
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) = 1

Special:
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on Marcella

SKILLS:
Climb: 4 + 1 (STR) = 5
Perception: 7 + 0 (WIS) + 1 (Wary) = 8
Ride: 7 + 0 (DEX) = 7
Swim: 4 + 1 (STR) = 5
Survival: 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5

Special Abilities:

Armor Training (Ex): Whenever you are wearing armor, you reduce the Armor Check Penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increase the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by your armor by 1.
Tactician (Ex): 1/Day a a Standard Action, you can grant the Coordinated Maneuvers or Shake It Off feat to all allies within 30 feet who can see and hear you. Allies retain the use of this bonus feat for 5 rounds (3 + 1 round per 2 levels of Fighter).

Equipment of Note: +1 Ghost Touch Cold Iron Spear (+2 bonus to CMD against disarm attempts)

Name: Zaia of Alexandria
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Age: 45
Race: Human (Middle-Aged)
Level: 4
Class: Alchemist 4 (Fire Bomber)
Feats: Brew Potion (B), Extra Discovery (Infusion), Skill Focus (Alchemy), Skill Focus (Heal), Throw Anything (B)
Traits: Artisan (Alchemy), Scholar of Ruins (Knowledge Geography)
Class Features: Alchemy, Bombs (8/Day), Brew Potion, Discoveries (Infusion, Tanglefoot Bomb), Mutagen, Poison Resistance (+2), Poison Use, Swift Alchemy, Throw Anything
Languages: Anwari, Engur, Arabic, Coptic, French, Greek, Sicilian, Latin

HP: 29/29
AC: 10 + 1 (DEX) = 11
Initiative: +1 (DEX)
Attack:

Dagger: +3 (BaB) + 1 (MW) + 1 (DEX) = +5 (1d4-2, plus Poison)
Bombs: +3 (BaB) + 1 (DEX) + 1 (TA) = +5 vs Touch AC (Rather than targeting an individual, you can instead target a given space, which inflicts splash damage and effects as normal, but does not have a main target. Targeted spaces have an effective AC of 5.)
- Tanglefoot Fire Bomb: 2d6+6 Fire damage, plus 8 points of splash damage in a 5 foot radius, Range Increment: 20 feet
  - Special: The target and everyone in the splash zone are Entangled, and the target is glued in place as if affected by a Tanglefoot Bag. A successful DC 16 Reflex saving throw allows targets to avoid these effects and halves the splash damage inflicted.

Weapon proficiency: Dagger

STATS:
7 (-2) Strength
12 (+1) Dexterity
12 (+1) Constitution
19 (+4) Intelligence
14 (+2) Wisdom
12 (+1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 4 + 1 (CON) = 5
REFLEX: 4 + 1 (DEX) = 5
WILL: 1 + 2 (WIS) = 3

Special:
+2 vs Poison
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on Marcella

SKILLS:
Craft (Alchemy): 7 + 4 (INT) + 2 (Artisan) + 4 (Alchemist) + 3 (SF) = 20
Heal: 7 + 2 (WIS) + 3 (SF) = 12
Knowledge (Arcana): 7 + 4 (INT) = 11
Knowledge (Astrology): 1 + 4 (INT) = 5
Knowledge (Geography): 5 + 4 (INT) + 1 (SoR) = 10
Knowledge (Local): 1 + 4 (INT) = 5
Knowledge (Nature): 5 + 4 (INT) = 9
Linguistics: 6 + 4 (INT) = 10
Perception: 7 + 2 (WIS) = 9
Profession (Herbalist): 7 + 2 (WIS) = 9
Sense Motive: 7 + 2 (WIS) = 9
Spellcraft: 5 + 4 (INT) = 9
Use Magic Device: 4 + 1 (CHA) = 5

Alchemical Formulae Known:

Level 1: Bomber's Eye, Comprehend Languages, Crafter's Fortune, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Undead, Disguise Self, Endure Elements, Expeditious Retreat, Fabricate Disguise, Heightened Awareness, Monkey Fish, Negate Aroma, Shield, Targeted Bomb Admixture, Tears to Wine (4/Day)
Level 2: Ablative Barrier, Alter Self, Enshroud Thoughts, Focused Scrutiny, Human Potential, Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, See Invisibility, Skinsend (2/Day)

Extracts Prepared (CL 4):

Combat Loadout:
- Level 1: Bomber's Eye, Cure Light Wounds, Shield, Targeted Bomb Admixture
- Level 2: Ablative Barrier, See Invisibility
Everyday Loadout:
- Level 1: Crafter's Fortune, Cure Light Wounds, Endure Elements, Tears to Wine
- Level 2: Focused Scrutiny, See Invisibility

Special Abilities:

Poison Use (Ex): You are trained in the use of poison and cannot accidentally poison yourself when applying poison to a weapon.
Swift Alchemy (Ex): You create Alchemical items in half the normal amount of time and you can apply poison to a weapon as a Move Action.
Mutagen (Su): You can create a Mutagen in one hour of brewing. Once brewed, the Mutagen persists until used or you brew a new one. You can drink this Mutagen as a Standard Action in order to gain a +2 Natural Armor bonus and a +4 Alchemical bonus to one of your physical attributes at the expense of a -2 penalty to a mental attribute. Increasing Strength decreases Intelligence, Dexterity decreases Wisdom, and Constitution decreases Charisma. The Mutagen's effects last for 30 minutes (10 minutes per Alchemist level). You cannot benefit from more than one Mutagen effect at a time, and the effects of a new one immediately replace those of the previous Mutagen. If a non-Alchemist consumes the Mutagen, they are Nauseated for 1 hour unless they succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw (10 + 1/2 Alchemist level + INT modifier).
Bombs (Su): You can create and throw an Alchemical bomb up to 8/Day (Alchemist level + INT modifier) as a Standard Action that provokes an Attack of Opportunity. The bomb inflicts 2d6 Fire damage (+1 bonus point per damage die), plus bonus damage equal to your INT modifier, and splash damage in a 5 foot radius equal to the bomb's minimum damage. A DC 16 Reflex saving throw (10 + 1/2 Alchemist level + INT modifier) halves splash damage.
- Fire Bombadier: You only add your INT modifier as a damage bonus to bombs and other Alchemical substances if they deal Fire damage.

Talismans:

Nikure's Grace: This silver talisman in the form of two delicate intertwined spirals glows blue whenever an evil creature targets the wearer with magic jar, possession, or a similar effect, or with a charm or compulsion spell or effect that allows the creature to exercise control over the wearer (such as suggestion, but not sleep). If the spell or effect allows a saving throw and the wearer fails it, he receives a second saving throw. If he succeeds at the second saving throw, the wearer is also protected by protection from evil for 5 rounds.

Name: Inge
Alias: Sea-seeker
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Age: 10
Race: Human (Small Humanoid Child)
Level: 4
Class: Witch 4 (Ley Line Guardian, Sea Witch)
Feats: Brew Potion (B), Extra Hex*, Extra Hex (Cauldron), Touch of the Sea (Stage One)**
Traits: Easy Target, Savage, Guiding Spirit
Class Features: Conduit Surge, Hexes (Cauldron, Fortune, Healing), Patron (Storms), Sea Creature Empathy
Languages: Anwari, French, Sicilian

*Feat consumed to allow the character to take both Archetypes
**Benefits apply to Water spells rather than those with the Evil descriptor.

HP: 20/20
AC: 10 + 3 (DEX) + 1 (Size) - 1 (Easy Target) + 4 (Mage Armor) = 17
Initiative: +3 (DEX)
Spell Save: 10 + 3 (INT) + 1 (Water) + spell level
Attack:

Masterwork Wyrwood Dagger: +2 (BaB) + 3 (DEX) + 1 (Size) + 1 (MW) = +7 [1d4-2; Critical19-20/x2 Piercing]

Weapon Proficiency: Dagger, Staff

STATS:
7 (-2) Strength
16 (+3) Dexterity
12 (+1) Constitution
17 (+3) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
12 (+1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 1 + 1 (CON) = 2
REFLEX: 1 + 3 (DEX) = 4
WILL: 4 + 0 (WIS) = 4

Special:
+2 Resistance bonus against ongoing effects.
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on the Marcella

SKILLS:
Craft (Alchemy): 7 + 3 (INT) + 4 (Cauldron) = 14
Heal: 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Intimidate: 4 + 1 (CHA) = 5
Knowledge (Arcana): 7 + 3 (INT) = 10
Knowledge (Nature): 7 + 3 (INT) + 1 (Savage) = 11
Knowledge (Planes): 5 + 3 (INT) = 8
Spellcraft: 7 + 3 (INT) = 10
Survival: 5 + 0 (WIS) + 1 (Savage) = 6

Spells Known (CL 4):
Level 0: Detect Fiendish Presence, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Drench, Guidance, Light, Mending, Stabilize (At will)
Level 1: Cure Light Wounds, Mage Armor, Obscuring Mist, Snowball, Touch of the Sea (7/Day)
Level 2: Eagle Eye, Web (4/Day)

Spell-like Abilities:

Know Direction (At Will when near the sea)

Hexes:

Cauldron (Inge needs saltwater to brew potions* and must use an Ikomi-blessed cauldron*)
Fortune (36/Day; [Witch Level x INT bonus] x 3**)
Healing (36/Day; [Witch Level x INT bonus] x 3**)

Special Abilities:

Sea Creature Empathy: You can influence the attitude of water-dwelling animals and animals that live along coasts and shores, including birds, as if using Wild Empathy. You use your Witch level as your Druid level for this ability.
Guiding Spirit: Once per day as a Swift Action, you can look to your Guiding Spirit for advice. The next time you roll a d20 in that same round, roll twice and pick the better result. If one of these two rolls is a Natural 20, you can use this ability again that same day.
Conduit Surge: You are adept at channeling energy from ley lines to enhance your spells. 5/Day as a Swift Action, you can increase your effective caster level for the next spell you casts in that round by 1d4-1 levels. After performing a conduit surge, you must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + level of spell cast + number of additional caster levels granted) or become Staggered for a number of minutes equal to the level of the spell cast.

Equipment of Note:

Ikomi-blessed Cauldron of Brewing (+5 Competence bonus to Craft (Alchemy) skill checks and self-heating)
Masterwork Wyrwood Dagger
Sealskin Sheath for the dagger
Adventurer's Sash

Description: Honey gold crystal bursting forth from roots of silver, this crystal seems more akin to some fruit of the earth than anything mined by the hand of man. Having once been forged for a respected and much beloved midwife and healer of the Boar Folk of Lirman this stone seeks to preserve its bearer against all the ills of the Border Woods, from poison to dark enchantment.

Ability: The Stone of Safekeeping grants its wearer a +2 resistance bonus on all saving throws made to recover from a continuing effect, such as ongoing poison damage, daily saving throws against disease, a hold person spell, or lingering damage from an attack. This bonus does not help against initial saving throws against such effects. Should the wearer ever drop below 0 hit points, the stone heals the wearer for 2d8+3 points of damage and then crumbles to dust.

Talismans:

Nikure's Grace: This silver talisman in the form of two delicate intertwined spirals glows blue whenever an evil creature targets the wearer with magic jar, possession, or a similar effect, or with a charm or compulsion spell or effect that allows the creature to exercise control over the wearer (such as suggestion, but not sleep). If the spell or effect allows a saving throw and the wearer fails it, he receives a second saving throw. If he succeeds at the second saving throw, the wearer is also protected by protection from evil for 5 rounds.

Puzzle Box*

Name: Antonio Giustiniani
Alignment: True Neutral
Age: 38
Race: Human
Level: 4
Class: Rogue (Consigliere)
Feats: Awakened Talent (B), Fast Learner, Master of the Ledger, Persuasive (B), Wild Talent (B)
Rogue Talents: +2d6 Sneak Attack, Charmer, Coax Information, Convincing Attitude, Honeyed Words
Traits: Doubt, Hardly a Fool, Inspiring Speaker, Iron Liver
Languages: Anwari, Engur, French, Greek, Sicilian
Special: Fire Resistance 1

HP: 30/30
AC: 10 + 4 (Chainshirt) + 2 (DEX) = 16
Initiative: +2 (DEX)
Attack: +3 (BaB) + 2 (DEX) = +5
Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Light Crossbow, Rapier

STATS:
8 (-1) Strength
14 (+2) Dexterity
14 (+2) Constitution
16 (+3) Intelligence
12 (+1) Wisdom
14 (+2) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 1 + 2 (CON) = 3
REFLEX: 4 + 2 (DEX) = 6
WILL: 1 + 1 (WIS) + 1 (FG) = 3

Special:
+1 Against Illusion Spells
+2 Against Poison or Drugs
+4 Against the effects of Alcohol
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on the Marcella

SKILLS:
Appraise: 7 + 3 (INT) + 2 (MotL) = 12
Bluff: 7 + 2 (CHA) = 9
Climb: 7 - 1 (STR) = 6
Diplomacy: 7 + 2 (CHA) +2 (Persuasive) = 11/12**
Knowledge (Local): 7 + 3 (INT) = 10
Knowledge (Nobility): 7 + 3 (INT) = 10
Linguistics 7 + 3 (INT) = 10
Perception: 7 + 1 (WIS) = 8
Profession (Sailor): 7 + 1 (WIS) + 2 (MotL) = 10
Sense Motive: 7 + 1 (WIS) + 1 (Hardly a Fool) = 9/13*
Stealth 7 + 2 (DEX) = 9
Swim: 7 - 1 (STR) = 6

*Bonus applies to the Hunch task when dealing with anyone in some way related to your Profession (Sailor) skill.
**When dealing with people associated with the marketplaces in which you have invested.

Psionic Abilities: Power Points (5/Day)

Mindlink: As a Standard Action costing 1 Power Point, you can establish a telepathic bond with a willing target within 25 feet for up to 10 minutes which allows for two-way telepathic communication. Once the bond is formed, it works over any distance.

Special Abilities:

Charmer: Re-roll Diplomacy 1/day.
Coax Information (Ex): You can use Bluff or Diplomacy in place of Intimidate to force an opponent to act friendly.
Inspiring Speaker: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks when addressing crowds of 10 people or more.
Doubt: Whenever you fail a skill or ability check, you take a -4 penalty on that type of skill or ability check for the next hour.
Honeyed Words (Ex): 1/day, you can roll two dice while making a Bluff check, and take the better result. You must choose to use this ability before making the Bluff check.
Convincing Attitude: If you attempt a Diplomacy check and fail to influence a creature's attitude by 5 or more, the creature's attitude remains unchanged instead of decreasing by one step.
Combat Advisor (Ex): Whenever you miss with a melee attack against an opponent, you can designate an ally within 30 feet of the target to receive a +1 Insight bonus on their next attack roll against that opponent before your next turn.
Wild Talent: Your latent power of psionics flares to life, conferring upon you the designation of a psionic character. As a psionic character, you gain a reserve of 2 power points and can take psionic feats, metapsionic feats, and psionic item creation feats.

Boots of Cat's Luck

Description: At first sight these boots looks like nothing more than sturdy travel wear, albeit with an ostentatious fastening, but to the mage's eye there is a glint of good fortune forged into the silver, such that one should only ever fall like the cat upon its feet.

Ability: The boot's wearer always takes the minimum possible damage from falls (as the result were 1 on each die of damage incurred by the fall) and at the end of a fall always lands on his feet.

Fey Gold

Description: A lumpy piece of unworked gold imbued with the power of a Fey creature, this pendant was taken from the corpse of slain pirate lord when we ended his reign at sea.

Ability: While wearing this Fey Gold pendant around their neck, the wearer gains Fire Resistance 1 and a +1 resistance bonus on Will saving throws.

Special: The pendant's other powers, to allow the wearer use Chill Metal 1/Day and to use Mending at will to repair metallic objects, remain unavailable, as you were not its original recipient. Perhaps one of the Tinker Fey can unlock this power once more?

Talismans:

Nikure's Grace: This silver talisman in the form of two delicate intertwined spirals glows blue whenever an evil creature targets the wearer with magic jar, possession, or a similar effect, or with a charm or compulsion spell or effect that allows the creature to exercise control over the wearer (such as suggestion, but not sleep). If the spell or effect allows a saving throw and the wearer fails it, he receives a second saving throw. If he succeeds at the second saving throw, the wearer is also protected by protection from evil for 5 rounds.

Name: Esha

Alignment: True Neutral
Age: Unknown
Race: Ajibachana (Variant Dhampir)
Level: 4
Class: Arcanist 4 (Twilight Sage)
Feats: Cosmopolitan (Bluff and Diplomacy), Extra Arcanist Exploit (Soulrider), Planewalker's Insight (B)
Traits: Outcast's Intuition, Self-Doubting, Subjective Truth, Unidentifiable Appeal
Special: Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60ft
Class Features: Arcane Reservoir, Arcanist Exploits (Aspect of Innocence, Consume Life, Twilight Barrier)
Languages: Anwari, Engur, Coptic, Sicilian

HP: 16/16
AC: 10 + 3 (DEX) + 4 (Mage Armor) = 17
Initiative: +3 (DEX)
Spell Save: 10 + 4 (INT) + spell level
Attack: +2 (BaB)

Weapon Proficiency: Staff

STATS
8 (-1) Strength
16 (+3) Dexterity
10 (+0) Constitution
18 (+4) Intelligence
8 (-1) Wisdom
14 (+2) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 1 + 0 (CON) = 1
REFLEX: 1 + 3 (DEX) = 4
WILL: 4 - 1 (WIS) = 3

Special:
-2 to the next Will save after failing the first Will save of the day.
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Reflex Saves while on Marcella

SKILLS
Bluff: 7 + 2 (CHA) + 2 (Subjective Truth) = 11
Diplomacy: 7 + 2 (CHA) + 1 (Unidentifiable Appeal) = 10
Knowledge (Arcana): 4 + 4 (INT) = 8
Knowledge (Planes): 6 + 4 (INT) + 2 (PI) = 12
Knowledge (Religion): 7 + 4 (INT) = 11
Sense Motive: 7 - 1 (WIS) + 1 (Outcast's Intuition) + 2 (Planewalker's Insight*) = 7/9*
Spellcraft: 7 + 4 (INT) = 11
Use Magic Device: 6 + 2 (CHA) + 2 (Ajibachana) = 10

*Sense Motive checks vs Outsiders

Spells Known (Arcanist Level 4):
Level 0: Daze, Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Ghost Sound, Guise of the Dead*, Mage Hand, Penumbra, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, Resistance
Level 1: Alarm, Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Expeditious Excavation, Expeditious Retreat, Lock Gaze, Mage Armor, Magic Weapon, Mindlink, Recharge Innate Magic, Repair Light Damage, Rite of Centered Mind, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Sleep
Level 2: Blindness/Deafness

Spells Prepared (CL 4**):
Level 0: Daze, Detect Magic, Guise of the Dead*, Penumbra, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost (At Will)
Level 1: Cause Fear, Mage Armor, Sleep (5/Day)
Level 2: Blindness/Deafness (3/Day)

*DR is Silver not Cold Iron
**+1 Against Dispelling (Outcast's Intuition)

Spell-like Abilities (CL 4):

Comprehend Languages (3/Day)

Arcanist Exploits: Each use of an Arcanist Exploit uses one or more points from your Arcane Reservoir.

Arcane Barrier: Provides 6 Temporary Hit Points (Arcanist level + CHA modifier) and inflicts an equal amount of Negative Energy damage on whoever breaks the barrier.
Aspect of Innocence: Gain the effects of an Innocence spell as an Immediate Action at your caster level.
Soulrider

Special Abilities:

Necromantic Focus (Ex): You must prepare at least one Necromancy spell of each spell level you can cast.
Arcane Reservoir (Su): You start each day with 5 points in your Arcane Reservoir (3 + 1/2 Arcanist level), and it can hold up to 7 points (3 + Arcanist level).
Twilight Barrier (Su): Whenever an attack removes the last Temporary Hit Point from your Arcane Barrier, the barrier lashes back at the attacker, dealing an amount of Negative Energy damage equal to the barrier's maximum Temp HP capacity.
Soulward (Su): As long as Esha has her Soulrider on Roland, she can at will as a swift action give him +2 profane bonus to will saves until her next round*. If active, it can be seen by seers with a particularly discerning eye or a specific hatred of the living dead*.
Consume Life (Su): By wresting a soul from life to death, you gain a slightly deeper understanding of mortality, fueling your curiosity and eldritch power. As a Full-Round Action, you can consume the life energy of a helpless living creature, killing it. This creature must have 2 or more Hit Dice and be below 0 hit points. You add 2 points to your Arcane Reservoir if the creature's Hit Dice equaled or exceeded your character level, or 1 point if the creature's Hit Dice equaled at least 1/2 your character level. This ability is a Death Effect.

Weaknesses:

Light Sensitivity: You are Dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a Daylight spell.
Unhallowed Birth: You take a -1 penalty to your caster level whenever you are in an area affected by Consecrate, Hallow, or a similar spell that makes an area Holy.

Equipment of Note:

Staff of Minor Arcana (10 charges): Shield (1 charge), Magic Missile (2 charges)

Name: Swift Pebble
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Age: 4
Race: Otter-kin [Tiny Magical Beast]
Level: 2
Class: Rogue (Vexing Dodger)
Feats: Deadly Agility, Deft Maneuvers (B), Improved Initiative (B)
Traits: Cliff Jumper, Recreational Fisher, Trap Finder, Unlearned (Knowledge: Nature)
Class Features: Evasion, Limb-Climber, Sneak Attack (+1d6)
Special: Darkvision 60ft, Hold Breath, Low-Light Vision, Thought Speech (60ft)

HP: 17/17
AC: 10 + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) = 17
Initiative: +5 (DEX) + 4 (Improved Initiative) = +9
Movement: 20 feet (Land), 30 feet (Water)
Attack:

Short Sword: +1 (BaB) + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) = +8 [1d3+5, Critical: 19-20/x2]

Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Short Sword

STATS:
6 (-2) Strength
20 (+5) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
14 (+2) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
10 (+0) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 0 + 1 (CON) = 1
REFLEX: 3 + 5 (DEX) = 8
WILL: 0 + 0 (WIS) = 0

Special:
+1 Trait bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid falling.

SKILLS:
Acrobatics: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Climb: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Disable Device: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (TF) = 11
Escape Artist: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Perception: 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Profession (Sailor): 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Sense Motive: 5 + 0 (WIS) + 2 (Racial) = 7
Sleight of Hand: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Stealth: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) + 1 (RF) = 19
Swim: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) = 18

Special Abilities:

Hold Breath (Ex): You can hold your breath for 52 rounds (4 times your Constitution attribute) before risking drowning or suffocating.
Thought Speech (Su): You can communicate with any other creature within 60 feet that has a language. This communication is thorough but not always perfect, particularly when dealing with abstract or arcane concepts you are not familiar with. It is possible to address multiple creatures at once using Thought Speech, although maintaining conversations with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. You lack the mechanisms to vocalize complex language.
Limb-Climber (Ex): When you are adjacent to or in the space of a corporeal creature at least one Size category larger than yourself, you can climb that creature's body with a successful Climb check against a DC equal to the target creature's CMD. Although you are holding on to the creature, this action isn't a Grapple; it doesn't provoke Attacks of Opportunity from the creature, and neither you nor the creature you climb gains the grappled condition. While you are on the climbed creature, the creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls against you (equal to the number of Sneak Attack dice you possess).

Equipment of Note: Short Sword (Tiny-sized)

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

Rules

This is a quest using the Pathfinder 1.0 System.
E6, this is a low magic setting where magic is precious and hard to get your hands on (Link to the P6 Codex).
The Elephant is in the Room, this quest uses a rule change designed to make the game more fun and engaging at low levels by eliminating feat tax.
No teleportation stronger than dimension door can be used normally. Point to point teleportation may exist somewhere in the world, but it is likely to be limited difficult to access and dangerous, do not build your character hoping to get it.
The planes are not right next door. There is no easy access to any plane, no plane shift spell or similar. The closest are the transitive shadow/ethereal/fey which all normally mirror the material and which therefore cannot be used to fast travel, though they might eventually be used to bypass material impediments.
Death and life after it: While spells that revive the very newly dead (a matter of rounds) are available as resuscitation actually bringing back the spirit of the well and proper dead is either impossible or the subject of an epic quest. Death is not a revolving door. The undead do exist and how they factor into this is best revealed in the quest.
Wealth by Level does not exist, your access to magic may be limited by circumstance and the relative scarcity of such works, but you will not be limited in amount of wealth you will be able to acquire and make use of by arbitrary limits.
Handle Animal will work on anything with animal level intelligence (INT 1-2) as well as animal behavior. This mostly applies to magical beasts, though it might apply to plant creatures and others if you know more about them specifically either through your own skills or by having it explained by an expert.

Lore

War, Sin and the Late Crusades: That the war of princes was unjust and ungodly was a matter generally accepted by the 16th century. Yes the kings of Europe were anointed by God, but that did not make their every act God's will. Some of those same princes actually used that, the Plantagenets whom Roland served as a knight in Normandy actually boasted of being children of the Devil, it made them seem more fearsome, it made their enemies quail, it gave their threats a bit more weight to them. When someone claiming the Devil himself as kin said he was going to burn your fields and poison your wells you would perhaps be more inclined to take them at their word. And yet in spite of the fact that such wars were seen as unjust pious knights still took part in them, why? Because that was just how the world worked, you sinned in war for gold, for land, for honors and for glory and then you sought absolution.

The crusades were different, they were not supposed to be sinful, but the manner in which one would be cleansed of sin, you were not fighting your coreligionists, but the heathen, who could be converted yes, but they could also be killed without worry about the rightness of the deed since the war was just right? Well this comes to a screeching halt when you get to something like the Fifth Crusade, when rather than obtaining absolution in victory or in death the people in charge settle. Does that mean that this was no different from all those other wars then? Does that mean you have been sinning all along? Or does that mean that the godly war has been stopped by the will of these princes? Either way what is the state of your soul from accepting not just defeat but settlement?

Local Calendar

41 days of Elnu-eza [Elnu Ascendant] (Spring, 1.5 lunar circles) - Elnu remakes the world for the new year,
5 days of festivities
41 days of Elnu-hamba [Elnu Descendant] (Spring, 1.5 lunar circles) - Elnu hands the world over to mankind,
4 days in between:
1. Day of Glory
2. Day of Rule
41 days of Olweje-eza [Olweje Ascendant] (Summer, 1.5 lunar circles) - Olweje drums for strife over the world (war season),
5 days of festivities, Dekokoro (Festival of the Chained Wyrms)
41 days of Olweje-hamba [Olweje Descendant] (Summer, 1.5 lunar circles) - Olweje settles the last disputes,
4 days in between, Greensinging
41 days of Ashinu-ezna [Ashinu Ascendant] (Fall, 1.5 lunar circles) - Ashinu makes the fruits ripen and the corn grow fat,
5 days of festivities, Festival of the Snapdragon
41 days of Ashin-hamba [Ashinu Descendant] (Fall, 1.5 lunar circles) - Ashinu stows his might for the next year,
4 days in between, Light's Passing
41 days of Ikomi-eza [Ikomi Ascendant] (Winter, 1.5 lunar circles) - Ikomi cleanses the world with cold and rain,
5 days of festivities
41 days of Ikomi-hamba [Ikomi Descendant] (Winter, 1.5 lunar circles) - Ikomi retreats to her deep realm,
4 days in between
4 days in between every 16 years, insert 4 days of religious festivities and sacrifices to empower the gods for the next cycle (leap days)
Ojo Iku - Day of the Dead - Day to commemorate and commune with the ancestors

Currency: Not all that glitters is Gold in the world of Age of Ice and Blood, but gold is a part of it. As you travel and discover new societies you will discover all manner of trade systems, form the simple barter based economies of hunter gatherers to the nomads driving vast herds across the cold steppe to the complex agrarian empires which boast vast and complex traditions with regards to the proper acquisition and wealth of wealth. Gold in this sense is and abstraction, it is simply how much wealth you have in a form that is not inherently bound up in the vagaries of trade and which is in no danger of being degraded in a long journey.

A herd of horses will be marked down as a herd of horses because they can still get sick or get hungry on the journey and thus die. A pile of precious metals on the other hand does not suffer that limitation and neither does a pile of polished gems or amber. If the gems are particularly large or impressive or the amber notable for some extraordinary fossil in trapped within then they will be noted. Otherwise they are 'Gold'. Local forms of currency will be mentioned in the narrative and you can try to interact with them as such if you wish, but for most purposes they will be abstracted for ease of play. There is a one to one equivalency with the standard Pathfinder gp for ease of use, though how that interacts with enchanting shall be revealed if and when you have access to an enchanter.

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

The Fellowship of Saint Nicholas

Motto: Truth from the Unknown

Leadership: Triumvirate of Antonio, Roland, and Zaia as joint council

Fleet of the Company

Marcella
Basic Construction: Eastern Mediterranean Galley, 121 ft length, 21 ft width, 130 metric tons of cargo

Touched by the Far Realm: The ship has passed though the Realm Between and it has been... changed. It Hungers for life and yet it seems bent on preserving the life of its crew.

Sails upon the Dreaming Wind: Marcella no longer sails solely with the wind of mortal realms, able to even travel against it at great need, though to linger among its rigging grows more of a strain upon the mind of man.
Ship's Eye I: All those marked by the ship gain +2 Circumstantial to Reflex Saves while on the ship.

64 Sailors not counting the captain

8 Armed with short bows
57 armed with a variety of melee weapons
- Zuan the Dragonslaying Cook
- Mad Marco

Gull Colony*

Weapons
A pair of enchanted crossbows on tripods (+1 to attack and Damage; can be fired with a voice command/free action).

Soldiers of the Company

Names and Feats

Sheets and Equipment

8 Melee Men at Arms (Warrior 3)

Man-at-Arms (Melee)
Alignment: [Varies]
Age: [Varies]
Race: Human
Level: 3
Class: Warrior
Feats: Deft Maneuvers, Pikeman's Training, Weapon Focus (Spear Weapons)
Traits: Threatening Defender
Languages: Anwari, English, French
HP: 19/19
AC: 10 + 6 (Bronze Lamellar) + 2 (Shield) = 18
Initiative: +0
Attack:

Spear: +3 (BaB) +1 (STR) +1 (Weapon Focus) = +5 [1d8 + 1, Critical: x3 Piercing]
Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Shortsword, Spear, Longspear
Armor proficiency: Light Armor, Medium Armor

STATS:
12 (+1) Strength
11 (+0) Dexterity 13 (+1) Constitution
9 (-1) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
8 (-1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 3 + 1 (CON) = 4
REFLEX: 1 + 0 (DEX) = 1
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) = 1

SKILLS:
Perception: 3
Ride: 4 Survival: 3

Man-at-Arms (Melee; Net-Fighters)
Alignment: [Varies]
Age: [Varies]
Race: Human
Level: 3
Class: Warrior
Feats: Deft Maneuvers, Net Adept, Net Maneuvering
Traits: Threatening Defender
Languages: Anwari, English, French
HP: 19/19
AC: 10 + 6 (Bronze Lamellar) + 2 (Shield) = 18
Initiative: +0

Attack:

Net: +3 (BaB) [Special]
Spear: +3 (BaB) + 1 (STR) = +4 [1d8 +1, Critical: x3 Piercing]
Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.
- You can use a net in melee to Trip or Disarm opponents instead of Entangling them. You gain a +2 bonus on Disarm checks made to use a net in this way (stacks with Deft Maneuvers).
- If you have an opponent Entangled in your net, you can attempt to Drag or Reposition that opponent as long as he is within your net's reach or you control the trailing rope on your net.

Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Longspear, Net, Shortsword, Spear
Armor proficiency: Light Armor, Medium Armor

STATS:
12 (+1) Strength
11 (+0) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
9 (-1) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
8 (-1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 3 + 1 (CON) = 4
REFLEX: 1 + 0 (DEX) = 1
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) = 1

SKILLS:
Perception: 3
Ride: 4
Survival: 3

5 Ranged Men-at-Arms (Warrior 3)

Man-at-Arms (Ranged)
Alignment: [Varies]
Age: [Varies]
Race: Human
Level: 3
Class: Warrior
Feats: Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Bow Weapons)
Traits: Killer
Languages: Anwari, English, French
HP: 16/16
AC: 10 + 4 (Chain Shirt) + 1 (Dex) = 15
Initiative: +1 (DEX)
Attack:

Shortsword: +3 (BaB) + 1 (STR) = +4 [1d6 + 1, Critical: 19-20x2; Slashing]
Composite Shortbow: +3 (BaB) + 1 (DEX) + 1 (Weapon Focus), Range Increment: 70ft.
- Normal: +5 [1d6 + 1, Critical: x3; Piercing]
- Rapid Shot: +3/+3 [1d6 + 1, Critical: x3; Piercing]
Special: You deal additional damage equal to your weapon's critical hit modifier when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon; this additional damage is added to the final total, and is not multiplied by the critical hit multiple itself.

Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Shortsword, Longbow, Shortbow

STATS:
12 (+1) Strength
13 (+1) Dexterity
11 (+0) Constitution
9 (-1) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
8 (-1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 3 + 0 (CON) = 3
REFLEX: 1 + 1 (DEX) = 2
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) = 1

SKILLS:
Perception: 3
Ride: 4 + 1 (DEX) = 5 Survival: 3

1 Knikut Barbarian

Name: Wanderer
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Age: 21
Race: Neanderthal
Level: 2
Class: Barbarian 2 (Invulnerable Rager)
Feats: Extra Rage
Traits: Indomitable Faith
Class Features: Damage Reduction (1/--), Rage (15 rounds/Day), Rage Power (Reckless Abandon)
Languages: Anwari, Wanderer's Knikut dialect
Special: Hardy (+6 HP), Low-Light Vision, Mental Fortitude
HP: 33/33

HP w/Rage: 37/37

AC: 10 + 1 (Natural) + 1 (DEX) + 4 (Chain Shirt) = 16

AC w/Rage: 10 + 1 (Natural) + 1 (DEX) - 2 (Rage) = 14
- AC w/Rage & Reckless Abandon: 10 + 1 (Natural) + 1 (DEX) - 3 (Rage) = 13

Movement: 30 feet + 10 feet (Fast Movement) = 40 feet
Initiative: +1 (DEX)
Attack:

Northern Fury (+1 Greatclub): +2 (BaB) + 3 (STR) + 1 = +6 [1d10+5, Critical: x2 Bludgeoning]
- when using Power Attack: +5 [1d10+8]
Northern Fury w/Rage: +2 (BaB) + 5 (STR) + 1 = +8 [1d10+8, Critical: x2 Bludgeoning]
- when using Reckless Abandon: +9 [1d10+8]
- when using Power Attack: +7 [1d10+11]
  - when using Power Attack & Reckless Abandon: +8 [1d10+11]
Cold Iron Spear: +2 (BaB) + 3 (STR) = +5 [1d8+3, Critical: x3 Piercing]
- when using Power Attack: +4 [1d8+6]
Cold Iron Spear w/Rage: +2 (BaB) + 5 (STR) = +7 [1d8+5, Critical: x3 Piercing]
- when using Reckless Abandon: +8 [1d8+5]
- when using Power Attack: +6 [1d8+8]
  - when using Power Attack & Reckless Abandon: +7 [1d8+8]

Weapon proficiency: Club, Dagger, Spear, Longspear
Armor proficiency: Light Armor

STATS:
16 (+3) Strength
12 (+1) Dexterity
16 (+3) Constitution
8 (-1) Intelligence
8 (-1) Wisdom
10 (+0) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 3 + 3 (CON) = 6
REFLEX: 0 + 1 (DEX) = 1
WILL: 0 - 1 (WIS) + 1 (IF) = 0
Special: +2 bonus to Will and Fortitude saving throws while Raging. +2 Racial bonus to saving throws against Illusions and Enchantments.

SKILLS:
Climb: 4 + 3 (STR) = 7
Knowledge (Nature): 5 - 1 (INT) = 4
Perception: 5 - 1 (WIS) = 4
Survival: 4 - 1 (WIS) = 3

Special Abilities:

Fast Movement (Ex): When you are not wearing Heavy Armor or carrying a heavy load, your land speed is increased by +10 feet.
Rage (Ex): You can enter a Rage or leave that state as a Free Action for up to 15 rounds per day (10 + CON modifier + 2 per level after 1st). Temporary Constitution increases do not affect your daily ability to Rage. When you stop using Rage, you are Fatigued for twice as long as you Raged, and you cannot enter a Rage while Fatigued or Exhausted. If you fall unconscious, your Rage immediately ends. Your ability to Rage is renewed each day after resting for 8 hours, although these hours do not need to be consecutive.
- Reckless Abandon (Ex): While Raging, you can further reduce your AC by -1 to increase your attack bonus by +1
- Rage Effects: +4 Morale bonus to Strength and Constitution, +2 Morale bonus to Will saves, and -2 penalty to AC. You cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-linked skills (except Acrobatics, Intimidate, and Ride), or any ability that requires patience or concentration.

Equipment of Note: Cold Iron Spear, Steel Chain Shirt

5 Anwa Warriors (Warrior 3, Horn of the Werebear ready)

Anwari Mercenary (Melee)
Alignment: [Varies]
Age: [Varies]
Race: Human
Level: 3
Class: Warrior
Feats: Deft Maneuvers, Shield Focus, Weapon Focus (Axe)

Aki: Deft Maneuvers, Shield Focus, Weapon Focus (Sword)

Traits: Pillager
Languages: Anwari
HP: 19/19
AC: 10 + 4 (Armored Coat) + 3 (Shield) = 17
Initiative: +0
Attack:

Battle Axe: +3 (BaB) +1 (STR) +1 (Weapon Focus) = +5 [1d8 + 1, Critical: x3 Slashing]
Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

Aki:
Longsword: +3 (BaB) +1 (STR) +1 (Weapon Focus) = +5 [1d8 + 1, Critical: 19-20/x2 Slashing]

Weapon proficiency: Battle Axe, Boarding Axe, Dagger, Sword
Armor proficiency: Light Armor, Medium Armor

STATS:
12 (+1) Strength
11 (+0) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
9 (-1) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
8 (-1) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 3 + 1 (CON) = 4
REFLEX: 1 + 0 (DEX) = 1
WILL: 1 + 0 (WIS) = 1

SKILLS:
Climb: 5
Perception: 3
Profession (Sailor): 4
Swim: 5

Old Fegu:
Craft (Carpentry): 4
Perception: 2
Profession (Sailor): 4
Swim: 5

One-Eyed Langa:
Perception: 3
Profession (Fisher): 4
Profession (Sailor): 4
Swim: 5

Sometimes an Anwa sailor volunteer for Horn of the Werebear*

Cor Eso, drummer of Drums of Haste

Associates

Ripper, Young Ocean Lion

9 otter-kin recruits

Runs in Rain

Megin, Kathlin

Mog, Imjarvi Gremlin (contract expires at Day of Rule, 1352)

Ooloa, Leni, Unki, Iles, Kasibo*, naunet's Changeling children we are to care for, aged from 7 1/12 to 10, Ooloa is the eldest.

Doorstep Spider, version of Phase Spider, feasting on the troubled dead in Wayfarer's Respite.

Amara, Dervish Dancer (guest in the Wayfarer's Respite from 20 Olweje-hamba 1349 until the end of next turn).

Finances of the Company

Company Animals:
-20 Horses
-2 newborns (female)

Soldier Salaries [Per Payment/Loot]:
1% per man at arms (8 melee, 5 ranged, 1 Knikut, 5 Anwa, 19 total)
2% for Tom
Total Salary Cost 21%

Ship Costs:
Sailor's Pay: 2040 gp/season
Provisions: 910 gp/season
Upkeep (Marcella): 90 gp/season
Total ship Costs: 3040 gp/season

Income from Magian Wine: 2500 gp/season**

Total Funds: 27,149 gp

Fame and Infamy

Anwa Islands 4/10: Strangers you are seemingly risen up from the foaming waves of a storms come upon the island, strange is your ship and strange is your manner. Some call you aid unlooked for in a time of need, some birds of ill omen, come to pick over the bones of the True Folk
-Lirman: 6/10: You were welcomed by the king into his hall, yet you have made few freinds among the clans, even those who were once you allies now speaking ill of your deeds. Yet none can deny that you came in timely manner with news of the darkness growing over Korman. It is said you have slain a dragon, and a dragon's head you brought forth for song and saga
-Korman: 3/10: Champions of Olweje, and bearers of His shield you have been named outlaw and kidnapper by the new king of the Island. It would be death for you to show your face in the capital, though perhaps other lords might thing better of you

Orinilu 2/10: One of your leaders is a member of the League of Captains and honored for it.

The White Lands 1/10: Your deeds are great , but they have not yet resounded upon the frozen plains from the horns of the Wyrdoki and the drums of the Danuk

Consumables

Daily Alchemy Progress by Item

Potions:
- Cure Light Wounds: x36
- Touch of the Sea: x5
Alchemical Items:
- Alchemist's Fire: x12
- Antiplague: x6
- Antitoxin: x6
- Black Adder Venom: x4
- Greenblood Oil: x2
- Holy Weapon Balm: x10
- Liquid Ice: x2
- Silver Weapon blanch: x8
- Smokestick: x4
- Sunrod: x8
- Tanglefoot Bag: x12
- Tindertwig: x18

Dragon's Blood: x5
Dose of Dream Dust: x8

Brewed from the musk of a creature long trapped in the dreaming world this concoction allows a mage to greatly enhance the effects of spells of slumber. Add 2d2 HD to the cap creatures affected by a sleep spell. Cost 150 gp/dose.

Notable possessions

Books on Alchemy and Metallurgy (+3 to Craft Alchemy and all Metal Craft skills as long as one is in a position to reference the tomes)*

Masterwork Smithing and Alchemy Tools (+2 to relevant rolls)*

Ipsit Iron Tamer's spellbook*

Cauldron of Living Bronze (Ikomi-blessed Cauldron of Brewing, +5 competence bonus on Craft (alchemy) skill checks)*

A cauldron of brewing looks like a fine cooking pot with four stout legs. The cauldron is capable of heating any liquid placed in it to a precise temperature (anywhere from just above room temperature to hot enough to boil salt water) and maintaining it indefinitely while still remaining only slightly warm to the touch on the outside. A cauldron of brewing provides a +5 competence bonus on Craft (alchemy) skill checks.

Instructions for Dragon Crafting (a book that when consulted allows an alchemist to act as though they possess Dragoncrafting at the cost of taking twice as long as with the feat)*

Drums of Haste

This set of kettle drums is carried on a shoulder strap and played one-handed using a single two-sided mallet. By making a DC 20 Perform (percussion) check, the bearer can grant the effects of a haste spell on up to 5 creatures. The drums can affect up to 25 creatures per day.

Fey Gold

While wearing a Fey Gold nugget around the neck, the wearer gains fire resistance 1 and a +1 resistance bonus on Will saving throws.

Northern Fury

Northern Fury
Description: This heavy oaken club, roughly carved, is not quite sentient, but still seems drawn to violence, dragging its wielder into battle with it if it can.

Powers:

+1 Greatclub
The wielder takes a -2 penalty on Will saves against any spells or effects that incite rage, compel hostility or otherwise contribute to starting a fight.
With the first hit made in a combat the club casts Deadly Juggernaut as a free action, but also requires the wielder to make a DC 14 Will save to retreat from melee-range of any opponent still standing. The spell can only be activated once per day.

Horn of the Werebear

Description: A horn in form but not of horn wrought, rather it seems to have been carved from a single piece of ivory by most skillful and loving craft. Carved all about its length with scenes of war that feature men and bears as well as the obviously quite painful transformation between them.

Power: A sacred relic of Olweje, when this horn is blown it can temporarily transform a warrior into large, armored monstrosity of a bear, a Zentragt. The warrior must accept the transformation willingly and after the battle for which he was transformed sacrifice the arms and armor of all foes he has slain to Olweje (by eating them in his bear-form), or else the warrior remains a Zentragt and is driven battle-mad to attack his former comrades.

The transformation takes a full round and lasts for an hour, the target of the transformation must be within 10 feet of the hornblower.

Okunrin Okomo's Hollow Drums (might be used for enchantment)*

Broken Wyrd Lantern (might serve as the base for future enchantments)*

Shadow's various potions and poisons*
Shadow's dragon tablets*

10 lbs of Ebony Vitae*

Name of Mynid the Wayguard troll to conjure him by it if we have need, he'll deal with us fairly.*

Gold Sheet*

Hedon's skull*

Dragon's corpse (Large; used x2 grip skin, x5 blood, x1 musk) (stolen)

Red Lion's head*

Ulk's head

Shadow's head

3 * Wanderlust Map

Robe of Blending

Flute of Passage (allows peaceful trade and talk with certain group of Yaryar)

Armory

Armor
8 Steel Chain Shirts
6 Norman Heavy Shields
Destroyed Banded Mail (need Make Whole to repair)

Weapons
10 Steel shortswords
1 Masterwork Drow Razor
10 Spears
4 Cold Iron spears
100 Cold Iron arrows
8 Shortbows
2 Composite Shortbows

Standing policies

Shore leave policy: only in groups of several.
Roland-Esha silent communication policy: inconspicious signals and nauseating drought for Roland to initiate silent communication from Esha though her Soulrider as per Sending when they are together / apart respectively.
Weather and danger checking when sailing policy: with Inge, via marine life and Eagle eye.
Detect magic policy: check with all detect cantrips all new things and people we interact with.
Recruit vetting policy: vet and check people we recruit with our magic.
Marcella and Wayfarer's Respite inspection policy: inspect Marcella when leaving port and Wayfarer's Respite when leaving / arriving with our magic.

Wayfarer's Respite

[X] Wayfarer's Respite Building Plan
-[X] Wooden Walls & Moat: Cost: 1,920 gold (20 SS x 160 gold x 0.6; ratio of outer vs inner walls of a 20 space stronghold)
-[X] Outbuildings/Open Space:
--[X] Alchemist's Lab (x1 space): 350 gold
--[X] Courtyard: x5 (x5 spaces, x3 of them upgraded to be suitable for training): 750 gold
--[X] Dock (x1 space): 500 gold
--[X] Guard Posts: x2 (x1 space): 600 gold
--[X] Otter-kin Burrow (x1 space, with neat underground tunnel connecting their burrow to the inner courtyard of Wayfarer's Respite): 400 gold
--[X] Stables (x4 spaces; room for 24 horses): 4,000 gold
---[X] Sub-Total: 8,520 gold
-[X] Main Structure, Ground Floor
--[X] Barracks (x2 spaces; room for 20 men): 800 gold
--[X] Baths: x2 (x1 space): 640 gold
--[X] Dining Hall/Common Area (x2 spaces): 2,000 gold
--[X] Kitchen (x1 space): 2,000 gold
--[X] Storage: x2 (x2 spaces): 500 gold
---[X] Sub-Total: 5,940 gold
-[X] Main Structure, 2nd Floor
--[X] Armory/Strongroom (x1 space): 500 gold
--[X] Bedrooms: x6 (x3 spaces, x2 separate bedrooms per space): 2,100 gold
--[X] Storage: x1 (x1 space): 250 gold
--[X] Study/Office: x2 (x1 space): 400 gold
---[X] Sub-Total: 3,250 gold
--[X] Total: 20,366.5 gold (+3% due to location, +15% due to tech limit, +3% due to Winter, -6% discount due to using Fellowship soldiers for some labor)

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

Locations and Characters of Interest

Note: Locations will be presented in the order they have been encountered in quest, either in person or as a concept. Generally only those of which significant amount is known IC will be presented.

The Blue Sea [The Mediterranean]
Dotted with small mercantile city states the sea provides a vital link in trade with the steppes and even the colder lands of the White Isles. Climate is relatively temperate with forests of evergreens and even broad-leaf trees being present north and south of the Sea

The Spear Islands [Columbretes Islands]
Small islands in the western Blue Sea which are counted sacred to Ikomi, due to the lack of reliable fresh water only a small settlement can dwell year round on the islands, using a reservoir to collect rain water, they are nominally under the authority of Orinilu the Fair. This is where the Marcella first made landfall in the new world and where it discovered the aftermath of a battle between Anwari sailors lead by Ilfa and the locals winch ended first in the death of the invaders, save only Inge, then in their rise as undead who destroyed the settlement and killed the priests.

Orinilu [Located in what would be Valencia]
Merchant city at the mouth of the river Kine grown rich off trade with the nomads to the north who bring goods from far and wide the city is well known for its glass-making and pottery as well as some of the best blue ships the Anwari know of. They are lead by a conclave of merchants and landholders which selects a 'Regency Council' of five members. The line of kings for which they are supposed to be regents was banished from the city three generations ago, but they kept the name, ruling in the came of the people and not the king. Rivals of Ibanora.
Zaia' notes.

Eriran the Seer
An Oracle more timid than bold and more mired in debt that he would like to admit, he has nonetheless proven skillful in the art of divination, if costly to make use of. The price of his aid was first the translation of a forbidden tome and then quite a hefty sum of silver. He seems to always be swinging between not wishing to be troubled with 'trifles' and not wishing to be involved in dangerous affairs.

Anisi, Anar and Eki
Hunters given the grim task of hunting down those who transgressed against Elnu and Ikomi, the gods of Fate and Death. By your understanding this includes fiends like the Anjo-Oru, malicious fey and wizards who work their arts in defiance of the law of the city and its environs. Hunters were more common in the days of the kings for now the temple of Elnu is no longer held in high esteem. Though your initial meeting with the three was balanced on the edge of a blade you eventually came to an understanding and earned the liking if not the trust of Anisi in your deeds in the city

Captain Ukuju
One supposes that a man chosen by the League of Captains to negotiate with Antonio, or perhaps one with enough sway to push though a foreigner just come to port into their ranks, is wealthy or powerful. Alas all you can recall of him is the odd wig. You wonder if all the nobles of the city wear such a thing.

Odorin Koire
Current lord of House Koire. The boy does not look any older than twelve or thirteen at the most, with a narrow face and a nose that one might count aristocratic if it were not just a little too upturned. A likable sort and willing to even sell land to strangers from far off places, though on the other side of things also seemingly a fine morsel for cursed wanderers looking for their next meal. You begin to wonder if the misfortunes of the House that left one so young in charge are not just coincidence

Bragi
A man who lost 5000 Golden Icari in the game with Esha. Worse still he was humiliated when he confronted her, the kind of person who would lose so much gambling might well act on impulse in other ways as well

Hengo Perys
A minor noble interested in horse breeding program.

Sigan Iskhan
Sword of the Purple who made proposition about Zaia' potions. Has a reputation as a dueler, some would even whisper assassin, though not too loudly around him

Kefele Akumu
Leader of the Purple.One might count his manner excentric as he dresses in a manner that would not earn a second look in most of Farshore. Any of the highborn who might encounter him in such a state would surely have all their worst thoughts about the Purple confirmed.... though how many would have the opportunity?

Ibanora [Located in the same area as the presumed city of Tartesos]
One of the major exporters of Tin in the western Blue Sea, the city is militaristic, lead by a Triad of Kings, one of Stone, one of Blood and one of Sea. They are the head of the Tin league, the most populous league of city states on the peninsula, though not the richest. Rivals of Orinilu.

The Mouth of the World [The Straights of Gibraltar]
The passage between the Blue Sea and the Sunset Sea, what the Anwari call the True Sea, the seaway is contested between the armies of the Tin League, particularly the phalanxes of Ibanora and the Stout Folk who had called the area home since time out of mind. Attempts have been made in the past by the city states to hold the straights and tax the trade that passes through them, but that is mostly in the form of Anwari Longships, who do not take kindly to attempts at pinching their hard earned, or hard-looted goods.

People of the Narrow Way
Knikut tribe that lives in the area of Mouth of the World. They felt the Far touched nature of Marcells from the beginning.

Bear Bane
A woman perhaps into her fortieth winter, old by the harsh seasons of the north, but here still hale and obviously a respected elder. She sailed east with the group of her people, trying to find her daughter.

Sings to Sorrow
Owl skinchanger who followed Marcella and settled near Wayfarer's Respite.

Sunset Sea/True Sea (Atlantic Ocean)
Colder and far more perilous sea than the Blue Sea, it is also called Ikomi's Sea because souls are thought to follow the sea to the west and because it is thought to stretch out endlessly westward

The Sunset Islands (Islands of the Anwa) [The Canary Islands]
A collection of eight major and many more minor islands in the Sunset Ocean, they are host to a people of skilled and far traveling mariners, traders and when the chance presents itself raiders. While the islands are rich in good timber and fine soils thy lack both tin and copper, needing to import both from far off lands. Though most of the Anwa are farmers as in other lands a significant numbers are fishers, some of which even dare to hunt the great leviathans of the deep as part of the rites of anointing new kings. These are by most accounts a people quarrelsome as they are bold with the head of every household partaking in a local assembly to which the minor lords must give account even as they can call the kings to account.

Island of Lirman [Fuerteventura]
Easternmost of the Sunset Islands and the one the Marcella made landfall upon after passing the Mouth of the world, it is flat with only a few modest peaks in the south of the islands, where it is not farmed the land is covered in forests of Laurel and other ever greens. The locals fish, farm and and brew strange red beer. There are wizards practicing their arts openly in the king's court

City of Apuku
Counting perhaps 25.000 souls the city would be called a town in other lands, but it is the largest settlement on the island. All the halls of the local clans are built around the Hearth Trees, to which they give much honor, almost as minor gods of the home. The king of the siland dwells here and he has given a princely welcome to the Marcella and her passengers.

Ohun Greenbelt
Aged and presumably learned sorcerer. He is by his own account a councilor and you have found a former regent to the young King Ansefu of Lirman, vouched for your passage onto the island and your oaths by a God not of the Anwa. Careful with his words and subtle of mind the old man is nonetheless not wholly opposed to taking risks as he did offer an important task to strangers on their first day ashore.You have agreed to make a trek on his behalf and see to the 'standing stones' he seems concerned for.

King Ansefu son of Ensefu of Lirman
A young lord new-come to power and yet unused to its ways. For all that you have found him courteous and open to tales of distant lands. He rules it seems by the consent of the clans as much as by blood and the proclamation of the priests. He might have been born a bastard, if you understood the tale of his family aright, but that does not seem to carry any special stigma among the Anwa, or perhaps they would rather have a bastard than a woman ruling them.

Lina Osane
Elder sister of the King of Lirman, by somewhere between five and ten years, she was born to a foreigner and the mark of it is still upon her, in the brilliant green of her eyes. She has taken your side at court, seemingly out of a generous impulse and a unwillingness to bear fools silently. Still there is something more it it you are suspect. She was too quick to brush off her own aid for one who is used to the games of courtly power. Has been shown to be the daughter of a sea nymph and in some manner summoned home by the fey as the pride of their aid. So far she has refused the call.

Eki Teranoa
A bear of a man at first sight and truly his voice has something of a growl to it, one who is defending his lair perhaps. Apparently the reason he and all his clan have cause to quarrel with him is a promise Antonio made with his clan's rivals, though he seemed quick indeed to belittle you and yours and that you shall not forget, no matter the cause. Second fiance of Aina. Was killed on the duel by Roland.

Onogu Iranea
Old is he and blind as a traveler in deepest whitest blizzard and white the color of his eyes, though according to Antonio any man who thinks that he has lost his wits with his sight is likely to be swiftly dissuaded of the notion, if he is lucky with words, if he is not with sharpened bronze in the back. An ally of convenience made with the promise of offering a chain shirt for study of the clan's smiths. Alas what might have been a hopeful cooperation was cut short by a chance meeting with one of his House practicing Blood magic upon hapless Boar Folk. During Light's Passing head of true Onogu Iranea was found. Later it was revealed that he was killed and replaced by one of the Formless, following the questioning of his spirit.

Almun Iranea
Bard from House Iranea who practiced Blood magic upon hapless Boar Folk. His face is pale and not in that natural manner than might show merely an aversion to the sun, but yellowing like old parchment and somehow... thin, as though there was something beneath waiting to burst forth.

Alfin Iranea
Participated in the raid on Noromo. According to Aina, his warrior reputation is exaggerated.

Darun 'Half-hand' Torag
He deserves his name honestly enough to judge from the stump of his right hand, though he is no stranger with the use of his left. Was killed on the duel by the Unke the Red during battle near Noromo.

House of Atuko
The only one House represented by a woman, still dark haired and straight backed she could be any age between forty and sixty with that particular poise that comes from having ruled long and shrewdly.

Oroki
Smith in Apuku who forged Durendal. Tall figure of a man dressed for harsh work and dirty work. Unlike most of those in Apuku, certainly most wealthy folk he keeps his beard trimmed too close for rings and chains, maybe to keep it out of the danger of the forge.

Fey of Lirman
Being called the Lonely Ones in accordance to the ancient belief that they are the spirits of an elder people who have become one with the land itself the spirits of Lirman are many things, guardians of lands, keepers of lore, hunters of unwary men

Ukuhamba
Guardian of the well between standing stones. His skin is grey as a misty morn, hair white as sea-foam rippling down to his shoulders framing a face fair, and indeed it seems as if some secret light flows through him from realms beyond this one.

Lone Branch
Treant from the Walking Woods. He looks like a tree is walking on great roots and limbs too thick around for a man to grasp them and yet bending like willow reeds, a giant crowned in leaves of green, his beard like the fine clinging vines of grapes and in his eyes an uncanny stillness.

Rokeke
Fey thief who took Tom's spear.

Ro'No'Ron
Bulabar smith. Was tricked and bound by Rokeke, later was released by Roland. Former apprentice master of your own gremlin smith

Boar Folk
Being of two natures they revere the passing of the moon, yet unlike more 'civilized' peoples they do not seem to have magicians among them. They live a semi-nomadic life, Their other form allwoing them to live off marginal clearings and woodlands, though they avoid the sea. From their looks they do not seem to be kin of most of the Anwari and they speak their own tongue among themselves

Iori
Little boy that hide during Iranea's assault on Boar Folk village.

Uhumbi
Leader of Boar Folk.

Island of Korman [Gran Canaria]

More fertile and more geographically central of the Sunset Islands Korman's tribes are richer, their ships larger and more venturesome and its ports more accustomed to traders from far off places. Mead brewed in Korman is famed throughout the islands and beyond
Aina's description of Korman towns and villages.

City of Noromo

Build not around hearth trees but the imposing pale walls of the Thousand Caves Noromo is far more of a fortress city and on its darkened alleys free sails walk untroubled, brigands in all but name looking for a master unwise enough to open their purses to them. Worship of Olweje is common during the summer and raucous when it does take place. One is more likely to find better deals on all manner of precious and valuable goods in its capital

Fioke of the Teeth
The commander of a company of free sails and raiders, though more clever and willing to negotiate than most of his ilk Fioke is a fel fighter though less for the strength of his arm or even the skill of his dagger as for the cunning with which he commands his men. You would not to meet him and his folk in a proper battle with no priests to adjudicate the trial.

Luaza
Great-grandmother of Aina, eldest and wisest druid of Anwa Islands. Old she seems almost beyond telling, her skin as dry and lied as tree bark, her hands like ancient roots knotted beneath a mantle of furs, her hair a wispy halo of white about her head. Was killed by anjo-oru.

Adetayo and Obari of Korman
Twin princes of the island who were involved in the slaying of their father and their great-grandmother Luaza at the behest of the shadow-kin, the anjo oru. They appear to be possessed by the creatures or utterly subservient to them. They have shown dark gifts from their pact, or enslavement, though not enough to judge what the source of the magic might be

Aina of Korman
Princess of the island and the only one left among the royal clan who still resists the evil which has infected their home. She has shown herself skillful in dealing with the fey, though whether by ancient pact or sorcerous powers of her own Roland does not know for certain. Her pride is unbent, though her means are limited, dependent as she is upon the favor of a foreign king.After tough and bloody war and three dead fiances she became Queen of Korman.

Negu of Orinyiya
Cruel and vicious raider, little better than those who go in Razirah against kin and that only because his neighbors would turn against him, but he is also a canny warrior and and bold in battle when he has the chance, he has taken the heads of many young and old who came against him. Was swayed on the side of anti-Obari coalition. Third fiance of Aina. Was killed during the encaunter with Pale men by the assassin.

Island of Aram [La Palma]
One of Sunset Islands from which ship with Esha sailed.

Island of Surman [El Hierro]
Westernmost of the Sunset Islands worth the name, a poor and rocky place that drives its people to sea more than any of the others.

Okunrin "the Red" Okomo
Anwari raider and drummer who tried to attack "Pride of Koire"

Isele Okomo
Quite a vengeful brother of Okunrin Okomo.

The Northlands
Beyond the forests of birch and oak that girdle the coast of the inner sea there can be found a great grassy steppe that stretches to the west until the shores of the ocean and to the east is lost in the haze of tall tales beyond the ken of any map that can be found in the markets of Apuku. Though there are hills and mountains, lakes and rivers along which one can find forests of cold pine no nation rules those lands, only tribes of the Knikut and the hosts of the Horned Riders know their paths. The former keep to the forests and the hills whereas the riders hunt the herds of wild cattle, horses, mammoth and other strange beasts on the plains. Cold is the wind from the north and swift to steal the breath of any man caught in the open when winter lays upon the land. Should one care to listen there are legends abroad of frost fiends drawn to the traveler's fire and savage beasts with fangs sharper than any dagger.

Foothills of the Greyspine [The Alps]

Watches in Darkness
The most senior, or perhaps simply the most skilled of the warriors you met in the trials of Ikomi on Korman. He is proof that just as a fine manner and a silver tongue may hide a wicked heart so too might a savage mien be the garb of a warrior honorable as he is strong

Tender
Though not truly her name of the the owl masked shaman this is what she is called so long as he has not yet chosen her guiding spirit. What this means you understand only a little, but you can respect anyone who would set off on so dangerous a journey in search of his gods and even more so one who is willing to heal a former foe moments after being defeated in a duel.

Willowbrook Hall
Cave near the cost of Sunset Sea, probably on the territory of would-be France. Home of otterkin, although cave itself was not made by them. The construction of the hall seems oddly akin to the flooded hall whence a monster waited, a dragon born of dreams and malice which claimed to have had a hand in the making of the gentle otter-kin. Is there any truth to it? You would not credit it.

Great Voice
Elderly otter-kin, about 12 years old. Lider of Willowbrook tribe.

Heavy Tail
Brother of Swift Pebble. Like his sister he too had seen the wonders that the southerners had brought with them and he too had desired them for himself and for his kin, but unlike his sister he had thought long and hard of how they might bring them to all of the people. It came to him that you could still make tools of the simpler stuff sch as copper.

White Lands (Modern day Cornwall,)
A great promontory of land thrust out into the sea, its head buried in the eternal ice of the northlands. Life here is harsher than in the woods, leaving little chance to forage and none to farm the land. Most live off the sea or off herds of great beasts that can survive on the hardy grass that does not die off within the snows.

Crowfeeder
Chief of Danuk tribe.

The Deadlands
Ice sheet of the Glacial Age.
Zaia' notes.

Virokaia
Cro-Magnon tribe which dwells on the cost somewhere south from the Willowbrook. They drive away strangers from Wormhalls wich is known among them as a place of bad omen.

Father of Rivers
The Rhine

Yarduk
Tribe which by cunning craft held the pass through the mountains that held off the frozen breath of the east wind.

The Great Lands

Inaurna Empire [Somewhere in Sub-Saharan West Africa]

One of the oldest and richest realms known to the Anwa, given the name 'Great Land' by its own folk and travelers alike it is and empire rules it is said by divine mandate from one descended of the God Elnu himself. The God Kings it is said can witness all in heir land and much beyond and they are quick to bring war and misfortune upon those who displease or defy them. Yet for all the gold in their treasury and all the tomes of lore in their great libraries the Anwa count this a decadent realm, where men bow and scrape to scribbles on clay and blood grown thin through the ages. Having heard this sort of talk before one might suspect more than a bit of Fox and Grapes in the matter

Oromo of the Hundred Towers
Capital of the Inaruna Empire, famed in song and tale as a center of commerce art and architecture as well as a city which has never fallen to a foreign invader, though not for lack of trying. Rich in both gold and silver which shine upon the tops of its many towers it is nonetheless just as notable for the repositories of knowledge from all across the world for that it is said the God Kings value above all other treasures.

Humbai
City of traders and sailors, though of a far less rough breed than the Anwa, their wide flat ships are made not to cut the currents and dare the storm, but to carry the works of the city to far off realms. In this city Ziku and Moru were born.

The Candleblight Caverns and the Deeps of Durik
Dark and perilious places, yet promising a bounty of precious things that have never seen the light of the sun to any bold enough to enter and fortunate enough to return

Region of Blue Sea

Yayar
Riders of the horned beasts, distant kin perhaps of the Wyrdoki, though far fiercer and more numerous. They do not gather many in one place save when it it time for war or for feasts in honor of their strange gods. the Yayar serve not the gods of the southern pantheon, nor yet the animal gods of the Wyrdoki in the north, rather they believe in a duality of seasonal spirits who can take the guise of men or beasts which they call the Dancers. Dancers of Summer an d Spring are counted benevolent and those of Fall and Winter more ambivalent towards the trials and tribulations of men, though the shamans of the tribe to their best to appease them. All manner of lurid and bloody rumor goes on about these rites, though as ones far-traveled you know not to pay too much heed to waging tongues

Atun [Morocco]
Herein well many men that are bold and heavy handed, leal to kin and oath, though like the shark under whose bannners they often sail they tear the meat from the flesh of any they deem weak. Much as in Orinilu there is no one master in this city, though unlike the Regency Council with no king the Circle of Teeth draw their authority directly from the citizens, they are elected once every seven years, though only a third of the Council is up for election in any one year normally

Sealkin Islands [Balearic Islands]
City Isangu (on the Eastern Sealkin Island) was founded by Agberi mystics, the Brotherhood of Nu, seeking shelter from persecution more than two centuries ago.
City Luaru (on the the Western Sealkin Island) is a heavy fortified city founded roughly at the same time as Orinilu.
Zaia' notes.

Agber [Land roughly assosiated with Sahara]
Zaia' notes (mostly about vetala)
Has some kind of impressive building named White Arch.

Nokuma [Greece]
Land of star worshipers and skilled miners of silver, so of that silver they make bells to symbolize their gods and they hang them in their temples as tinkling curtains, an echo of the celestial dance. Thousand Gods are worshipped there. One of the cities is Ilium.

Neios
Young man from the family of keepers of Sea Gate. Organized expedition to Wormhalls in a desperate attempt to retrieve some kind of grandfather's treasure.

Glimerdale (Fey Realm near Lirman)
Glimerdale is the place of memory, the place where lightning runs in veins of stone, many, many lives of men ago it became a place for the trading of knowledge, of rumor and tale as well, true or false, fact or fancy the keepers will buy it, so long as it is honestly answered and so many of those who have a love for the knowing of things, sages and seers and then the making of things, tinkerers and tricksters.

Mynid the Wayguard
Troll who keeps the water flowing, guarded and safe. Lonely and talkative one.

Wingless
Moster of law in Glimmerdale. Born of the pixie-folk and beloved of the air he lost his wings to a hawk that was in the service of one of the sorcerer priests of the Anwa and he loves them not for that.

[/SPOILER]

DragonParadox · Aug 5, 2021

Table of Contents

Arc 0. Into the Storm: Arc 0 Post 1: An Opening
Arc 0 Post 2: Into the Storm
Arc 0 Post 3: Reading the Heavens
Arc 0 Post 4: Squire's Story
Arc 1. Isla de Muerta: Arc 1 Post 1: A Coat of Scales
Arc 1 Post 2: That Perilous Line
Arc 1 Post 3: The Weight of Oaths
Arc 1 Post 4: In the Dark of the Night
Arc 1 Post 5: Bonds of Blood
Arc 1 Post 6: Restful Contemplation
Arc 1 Post 7: With Odd Guidance
Arc 1 Post 8: On Stranger Shores
Arc 1 Post 9: By the Horns
Arc 1 Post 10: Of Eggs and Entanglements
Arc 1 Post 11: Mournful Crossroads
Arc 1 Post 12: Into the Dusk
Arc 1 Post 13: A Rising
Arc 1 Post 14: Walls of Iron
Arc 1 Post 15: Death's Heralds
Arc 1 Post 16: Blasphemies and Blandishments
Arc 1 Post 17: Convergence
Arc 1 Post 18: Trading Words and Treasures
Arc 1 Interlude 1: Upon a High and Bloodied Perch
Arc 1 Post 19: Life's Shores
Arc 1 Post 20: By Pallid Flames
Arc 1 Post 21: From the Heart
Arc 1 Post 22: Hard Choices
Arc 1 Post 21: Frothing Red and Golden Bright
Arc 1 Post 22: Striking a Balance
Arc 1 Post 23: Of Silver and Shoals
Arc 1 Post 24: Tales of Lost Souls
Arc 1 Post 25: The Vow
Arc 2. On the Far Shores: Arc 2 Post 1: Sun and Shadow
Arc 2 Post 2: Of Lands Far Off and People Near at Hand
Arc 2 Interlude 1: With Tongues of Stone
Arc 2 Post 3: Price of Passage
Arc 2 Post 4: Veiled Words
Arc 2 Post 5: Wind and Whisper
Arc 2 Post 6: In Bitter Waters
Arc 2 Post 7: Beneath Pale Boughs
Arc 2 Post 8: Seeking Sanctuary
Arc 2 Post 9: Of a Different Coat
Arc 2 Post 10: Beasts of Bronze
Arc 2 Post 11: Stranger's Hand
Arc 2 Post 12: Of Life and Death
Arc 2 Post 13: Weighting Wisdom
Arc 2 Post 14: In the Hall of the Young King
Arc 2 Post 15: Of Iron and Cutting Words
Arc 2 Post 16: Uncommon Signs
Arc 2 Interlude 2: Revelation
Arc 2 Interlude 3: Spice of Life
Arc 2 Post 17: Shattered Foundation
Arc 2 Post 18: On Darkened Ways
Arc 2 Post 19: Small Magics
Arc 2 Post 20: Of Riders and Walkers
Arc 2 Post 21: A Perilous Vice
Arc 2 Post 22: Quicksilver Voice
Arc 2 Post 23: Of Menace and Mirth
Arc 2 Post 24: Eyes Wide Open
Arc 2 Post 25: Tales on the Wind
Arc 2 Post 26: Blood under the Stars
Arc 2 Post 27: Time of Swords
Arc 2 Post 28: In Battle's Wake
Arc 2 Post 29: Wise Man's Fear
Arc 2 Post 30: Watcher in the Woods
Arc 2 Post 31: A Burden Unseen
Arc 2 Post 32: Of Cruel Cunning
Arc 2 Post 33: Fortunes of War
Arc 2 Post 34: Of Plots and Power
Arc 2 Post 35: By Hidden Streams
Arc 2 Post 36: Of Fate and Fortune
Arc 2 Post 37: Behind the Veil
Arc 3. Turning of Season, Turning of Fate: Arc 3 Post 1: Hunting the Grape
Arc 3 Post 2: A Thimbleful of Time
Arc 3 Post 3: A Brew for the Future
Arc 3 Interlude 1: Properly Perched
Arc 3 Post 4: Surer than Wings
Arc 3 Post 5: Wolves of the Sea
Arc 3 Post 6: Westward Bound
Arc 3 Post 7: Sumner's Eve
Arc 3 Post 8: Fruits of Envy
Arc 3 Post 9: A Glimpse of Darkness
Arc 3 Post 10: In Halls of Stone
Arc 3 Post 11: Words over Whispering Waters
Arc 3 Post 12: Sage Counsel
Arc 3 Post 13: Of Storm and Shadow
Arc 3 Post 14: Bones and Stones
Arc 3 Post 15: The Long and Stony Way
Arc 3 Post 16: Trial of Steel
Arc 3 Post 17: Trial of Trickery
Arc 3 Post 18: Trial of Blood
Arc 3 Post 19: Trial of Honor
Arc 3 Post 20: Trial In the Balance
Arc 3 Post 21: Trial of the Three
Arc 3 Post 22: By Crimson Eve
Arc 3 Post 23: Upon Strange Waters Set
Arc 3 Post 24: Broken Scepter
Arc 3 Post 25: A Royal Encounter
Arc 3 Post 26: Of Flight and Flame
Arc 3 Post 27: Sharp Edge of Sorrow
Arc 3 Post 28: Of Hearts Troubled and True
Arc 3 Post 29: Reaching Far
Arc 3 Post 30: Shadows Near and Far
Arc 4. As the Summer Grows: Arc 4 Post 1: Intemperate Words
Arc 4 Post 2: With Discerning Eye
Arc 4 Post 2: No Rest for the Wanderer
Arc 4 Post 3: A Mundane Solution
Arc 4 Post 4: Turn of the Wheel
Arc 4 Post 5: Weapons and Wizardry
Arc 4 Post 6: Tongue of Silver, Sword of Bronze
Arc 4 Post 7: At the Forest's Edge
Arc 4 Post 8: Beneath the Skin
Arc 4 Post 9: An Echo of Dreadful Drums
Arc 4 Post 10: To Call a Dark Herald
Arc 4 Post 11: Of Speech and Snares
Arc 4 Post 12: Ties that Bind
Arc 4 Post 13: With an Even Hand
Arc 4 Interlude 1: Of Three Skins
Arc 4 Post 14: Gifts of the Wild
Arc 4 Post 15: With Living Voice
Arc 4 Post 16: Among the Ashes
Arc 4 Post 17: Touch of Dark Flame
Arc 4 Post 18: Neath Elder Eyes
Arc 4 Post 19: Of Root and Riddle
Arc 4 Post 20: Herald's Way
Arc 4 Post 21: In Troubled Times
Arc 4 Post 22: Horse Sense
Arc 4 Post 23: A Gift Most Dear
Arc 4 Post 24: To Forge a Way Forth
Arc 4 Post 25: Where Wisdom Begins
Arc 4 Post 26: Weighing Anchor
Arc 4 Post 27: Fates Adrift
Arc 4 Post 28: A Cry for Aid
Arc 4 Post 29: The Lesser Gift
Arc 4 Post 30: Dark Waves, Dark Thoughts
Arc 4 Post 31: Revelation
Arc 4 Post 32: From Death's Slumber Woken
Arc 4 Post 33: A Study in Grey
Arc 4 Post 34: Tangle and Flame
Arc 4 Post 35: In Cursed Company
Arc 4 Post 36: Dance of Death
Arc 5. Civilization and its Perils: Arc 5 Post 1: Moonlight Requiem
Arc 5 Post 2: Secrets Writ and Freely Spoken
Arc 5 Post 3: Blessings Great and Small
Arc 5 Post 4: Black Tide Rising
Arc 5 Post 5: By Hidden Malice
Arc 5 Post 6: Dark of the Moon
Arc 5 Post 7: Bite of That Which Isn't There
Arc 5 Interlude 1: Working the Wild
Arc 5 Post 8: Worlds Near and Far
Arc 5 Post 9: In Scales of Gold
Arc 5 Post 10: Seeking Safe Harbor
Arc 5 Post 11: Whispers over Wine
Arc 5 Post 12: A Tale of Three Cities
Arc 5 Post 13: Eye of Blood and Eye of Silver
Arc 5 Post 14: Tinder and Spark
Arc 5 Post 15: Of Secret Tomes
Arc 5 Post 16: A Voice from Beyond
Arc 5 Interlude 3: By Reasons to Be
Arc 5 Post 17: Fair Servings
Arc 5 Post 17: A Seeking and a Loosing
Arc 5 Post 18: In Darkened Halls
Arc 5 Post 19: Hunter and Prey
Arc 5 Post 20: By the Horns
Arc 5 Post 21: Pendulum of Fate
Arc 5 Post 22: Before the Gates of Death
Arc 5 Post 23: Lost and Found
Arc 5 Post 24: Wanderer's Tale
Arc 5 Post 25: Those Who Fight Monsters
Arc 5 Post 26: Daughter of Pale Moonlight
Arc 5 Post 27: Shadows of the Past
Arc 5 Post 28: Finding a Path
Arc 5 Post 29: Back to Back
Arc 5 Post 30: A Particular Prize
Arc 5 Post 31: Best Laid Plans
Arc 5 Post 32: Riptide
Arc 5 Post 33: From Muck to Market
Arc 5 Post 34: Of Unwelcome Gifts
Arc 5 Post 35: Blood Artifice
Arc 5 Post 36: By Craft Molded
Arc 5 Post 37: Thunder and Rage
Arc 5 Post 38: Amid Dreadful Wheels
Arc 5 Post 39: Of Bronze and Blood
Arc 5 Post 39: The Fury and the Flame
Arc 5 Post 40: The Gift of Names
Arc 5 Post 41: The Riddle of Bronze
Arc 5 Post 42: Of Craft and Cunning
Arc 5 Post 43: In the House of the Dead
Arc 5 Post 44: Secrets Half-Spoken
Arc 6. Crossroad: Arc 6 Interlude 1: A Captain to the Sea Returning
Arc 6 Post 1: Of Pawns and Puppets
Arc 6 Post 2: Weight of the Unseen
Arc 6 Post 3: Fruit of Fear
Arc 6 Post 4: Of Rope and Knot
Arc 6 Post 5: By Sorcery and Sail
Arc 6 Interlude 2: Elder's Counsel
Arc 6 Post 6: A Song for Slaughter
Arc 6 Post 7: Poison Arrows, Deadly Dreams
Arc 6 Post 8: Of Din and Doom
Arc 6 Post 9: Upon Swift Currents
Arc 6 Post 10: Silent Drums and a Dark Lantern
Arc 6 Post 11: Leashed Lightning
Arc 6 Post 12: Words of Heart and Spirit
Arc 6 Post 13: In Balefire's Light
Arc 6 Post 14: Spar on the Sea
Arc 6 Post 15: Old Memories and a New Edge
Arc 6 Post 16: Of Paths Uncharted, Anchors Cast
Arc 6 Post 17: Crowns and Curses
Arc 6 Post 18: Northwards Turning
Arc 6 Post 19: In a Child's Eye
Arc 6 Post 20: Of Words Twice Spoken
Arc 6 Post 21: Snapping a Snare
Arc 7. What Sleeps over the Hill: Arc 7 Post 1: Rain and Shine
Arc 7 Post 2: Swift Waves, Swift Strides
Arc 7 Post 3: Touch of Death
Arc 7 Post 4: A Daunting Talk
Arc 7 Post 5: Of Beasts and Spirits
Arc 7 Post 6: Bridge of Souls
Arc 7 Interlude 1: On Stranger Tides
Arc 7 Post 7: Of Mist and Meat
Arc 7 Post 8: Stilled Strings and Strange Voices
Arc 7 Post 9: In the Halls of the Water Folk
Arc 7 Post 10: A Feast of Fishes
Arc 7 Post 11: Of Slumbering Malice
Arc 7 Post 12: The Path Forks
Arc 7 Interlude 2: Bold Heart, Soft Tread
Arc 7 Post 13: Beasts of Old
Arc 7 Post 14: An Uncommon Lock
Arc 7 Post 15: In Veil of Gold
Arc 7 Post 16: The Silent Stone
Arc 7 Post 17: Sharpening the Blade
Arc 7 Post 18: A Valorous Showing
Arc 7 Post 19: Over the Hill
Arc 7 Post 20: Bringing Thunder
Arc 7 Post 21: In Deathly Silence
Arc 7 Post 22: Spears at Dusk
Arc 7 Post 23: Upon a Bloody Edge
Arc 7 Post 24: A Straight Path
Arc 7 Post 25: Of Wandering Lions
Arc 7 Post 26: Kindness' Due
Arc 7 Post 27: A Parting and a Finding
Arc 8. Malice in the White Lands: Arc 8 Post 1: Old Friends, New Paths
Arc 8 Post 2: Steed and Scholars
Arc 8 Post 3: Of Script and Secret Words
Arc 8 Post 4: To Lands of Frost and Tin
Arc 8 Interlude 1: Heaven's Horns
Arc 8 Post 5: Trade and Tribulation
Arc 8 Post 6: From a Far Land
Arc 8 Post 7: A Shadow on the Threshold
Arc 8 Post 8: Tales of a Troubled Land
Arc 8 Post 9: Bargains of Blood
Arc 8 Post 10: Under the Wide Sky
Arc 8 Post 11: Hidden Poison
Arc 8 Post 12: On Broken Ways
Arc 8 Post 13: Fruits of Fear
Arc 8 Post 14: A Chill Upon the Heart
Arc 8 Post 15: What Was Lost
Arc 8 Post 16: By a Thread
Arc 8 Post 17: Silver Shining Bright
Arc 8 Post 18: To Guess at Unseen Threads
Arc 8 Post 19: Loose Lips
Arc 8 Post 20: Of Words Unheard
Arc 8 Post 21: Hollow Night
Arc 8 Post 22: Unbidden
Arc 8 Post 23: Damnation's End
Arc 8 Post 24: Of Scars and Ash
Arc 8 Post 25: A Glimmer in the Dark
Arc 8 Interlude 2: With Small Hands
Arc 8 Post 26: A Troubled Dawn
Arc 8 Post 27: From the Embers
Arc 8 Post 28: At the Walls
Arc 8 Interlude 3: Mists of Madness Parting
Arc 8 Post 29: Before the Great Beast
Arc 8 Post 30: One Step Ahead
Arc 8 Post 31: A Red Dawn Rises
Arc 8 Post 32: Thunder on Broken Earth
Arc 8 Post 33: By Elder Flames
Arc 8 Post 34: Making a Bargain of Necessity
Arc 8 Interlude 4: On Changing Winds
Arc 8 Post 35: The Veiled Flame
Arc 8 Post 36: Words of Wisdom, Words of Daring
Arc 8 Post 37: Writ in Flame
Arc 8 Post 38: The Measure of Vigilance
Arc 9. Return from the North: Arc 9 Interlude 1: Southward Bound
Arc 9 Post 1: Winter's Grasp
Arc 9 Post 2: Wizard's Wine, Knight's Reckoning
Arc 9 Post 3: The Perils of Insight
Arc 9 Post 4: Of Craft and Counsel
Arc 9 Post 5: Curiosity and the Cat
Arc 9 Post 6: On Common Ground
Arc 9 Post 7: Stories Swift and Measured
Arc 9 Post 8: A Call in the Willows
Arc 9 Post 9: Sage's Search
Arc 9 Interlude 2: Small Wonders
Arc 9 Post 10: Trust
Arc 9 Post 11: What the Waves Bring
Arc 9 Post 12: From a High Perch
Arc 9 Post 13: A Chill Welcome
Arc 9 Post 14: Of Foundered Fortune
Arc 9 Post 15: A Joining and a Parting
Arc 9 Post 16: In New Company
Arc 9 Post 17: Way of Steel
Arc 9 Interlude 3: When Stones Weep
Arc 9 Post 18: A Gleam of Red
Arc 9 Post 19: Vision and Vow
Arc 9 Post 20: Casting Anchor
Arc 9 Post 21: Questions Ringing, Questions Quiet
Arc 9 Post 22: By Heart and Horn
Arc 9 Post 23: Past the Pale
Arc 9 Post 24: Booming Thunder, Subtle Flame
Arc 9 Post 25: Of Mead and Honeyed Words
Arc 9 Post 26: The Road not Walked
Arc 9 Post 27: Forgiveness and Forethought
Arc 9 Post 28: In Broken Verse
Arc 10. Burden of Past Deeds: Arc 10 Post 1: Of Price and Passage
Arc 10 Post 2: Upturned Stones and Broken Bones
Arc 10 Interlude 1: Dance with the Dead
Arc 10 Post 3: In Murky Waters
Arc 10 Post 4: Shapes of the Sea
Arc 10 Post 5: Where Riddles Remain
Arc 10 Post 6: Of Steeds and Swordsmen
Arc 10 Post 7: Into the Sunrise
Arc 10 Interlude 2: Pride of the Past
Arc 10 Post 8: A Wandering and a Warning
Arc 10 Post 9: Dark Paths, Dark Hearts
Arc 10 Post 10: Barbs of Bronze
Arc 10 Post 11: Beast at Bay
Arc 10 Post 12: In the Shadow of the Grave
Arc 10 Post 13: Reavers' Fall
Arc 10 Post 14: Remnants Fair and Foul
Arc 10 Post 15: Writ in Blood and Memory
Arc 10 Post 16: Sharing Success
Arc 10 Post 17: A Perilous Passage
Arc 10 Post 17: The Whispering Way
Arc 10 Post 18: Of an Odd Feather
Arc 10 Post 19: Of Speech and Story
Arc 10 Post 20: In High Places
Arc 10 Post 21: In Princely Garb
Arc 10 Post 22: Kinship and Coin
Arc 10 Post 23: What Shines True
Arc 10 Post 24: Games Old and New
Arc 10 Post 25: Matching the Wager
Arc 10 Post 26: Unspoken Offer
Arc 10 Post 27: By Rumble of Hooves
Arc 10 Post 28: Of Strangers and Seers
Arc 10 Post 29: Tale of Earth and Water
Arc 10 Post 30: By Strange Stars Kinndled
Arc 10 Interlude 3: Forgiveness
Arc 11. Wayfarer's Respite: Arc 11 Post 1: Taking Land
Arc 11 Post 2: Rest Along the Way
Arc 11 Post 3: Laying Foundations
Arc 11 Post 4: An Uncommon Morning
Arc 11 Post 5: Upon New Shores
Arc 11 Post 6: In Crimson and White
Arc 11 Post 7: A Fearsome Mark
Arc 11 Post 8: Of Crows and Cunningfolk
Arc 11 Post 9: A Quarry Sought, a Hand Unclasped
Arc 11 Post 10: Sweat and Blood
Arc 11 Interlude 1: Masterful Moment
Arc 11 Post 11: Flame of Fortune
Arc 11 Post 12: Of Honor and Infamy
Arc 11 Post 13: Debts Come Due
Arc 11 Post 14: Bright Brass and Trusty Stone
Arc 11 Post 15: Trader Talk
Arc 11 Post 16: Stories Sombre and Salacious
Arc 11 Post 17: Line in the Sand
Arc 11 Post 18: Strange Bedfellows
Arc 11 Post 19: On Fine Bronze Edge
Arc 11 Post 20: In Merry Cloak Grim Herald Garbed
Arc 11 Post 21: A Proposition in Purple
Arc 11 Post 22: Discreet Deal
Arc 11 Post 23: Fortunes Great and Small
Arc 11 Interlude 2: The Healer and the Horse
Arc 11 Post 24: A Herald on the Threshold
Arc 11 Post 25: By Light Step and Hidden Hand
Arc 11 Post 26: Of Leeks and Snakes
Arc 11 Post 27: That Rabbit Might an Owl Bite
Arc 11 Post 28: New Year Arising
Arc 12. Into the Redman's War: Arc 12 Post 1: The Sword and the Sorceress
Arc 12 Post 2: Stolen Boots and Stolen Hearts
Arc 12 Post 3: Sailing by Heart
Arc 12 Post 4: On the Trail of White Wings
Arc 12 Post 5: Of Fish and Foul
Arc 12 Post 6: Shells and Spies
Arc 12 Post 7: Ship of Secrets
Arc 12 interlude 1: The Curse
Arc 12 Post 8: Under the Horns
Arc 12 Post 9: A Spar of Words
Arc 12 Post 10: Cheap for the Asking
Arc 12 Post 11: Stranger's Songs
Arc 12 Post 12: A Meeting of Minds
Arc 12 interlude 2: Small Treasures
Arc 12 Post 13: The Captain's Choice
Arc 12 Post 14: Broken Nets and Tangled Threads
Arc 12 Post 15: On Secret Paths
Arc 12 interlude 3: With Tongue Unbidden
Arc 12 Post 16: Those Who Came Before
Arc 12 Post 17: In the Scales of Fate
Arc 12 Post 18: Measure of Man and Horse
Arc 12 Post 19: Black Ships Upon the Shore Lined
Arc 12 Post 20: Familiar Faces
Arc 12 Post 21: Making Waves
Arc 12 Post 22: By Royal Counsel
Arc 12 Post 23: Veils Lifted
Arc 12 Post 24: Fires Sacred and Mundane
Arc 12 Post 25: The Horn and the Flame
Arc 12 interlude 3: Test of Spirit
Arc 12 Post 26: Of Lords and Land
Arc 12 Post 27: A Whispered Passage
Arc 12 Post 28: A Challenge from on High
Arc 12 Post 29: Storm Watch
Arc 12 Post 30: King's Fall
Arc 12 interlude 4: Broken Helm
Arc 12 Post 31: A Sage's Stroke
Arc 12 Post 32: Flight into Peril
Arc 12 Post 33: As Night and Day
Arc 12 Post 34: To Sea or Shore
Arc 12 Post 35: A Company Divided
Arc 12 Post 36: Of Songs and Slaying
Arc 12 Post 37: Surge and Snare
Arc 12 Post 38: Blades Bright and Dark
Arc 12 Post 40: Faces of War
Arc 12 Post 41: A Twist of the Tongue
Arc 12 Post 42: In Pale Shroud
Arc 12 Post 43: Wall of Steel
Arc 12 interlude 5: Makers of Marvels
Arc 12 interlude 6: On a Fel Day
Arc 12 interlude 7: The King and the Captain
Arc 12 Post 44: In the Wake of War
Arc 12 Post 45: In the Pit
Arc 12 Post 46: By Hidden Ways
Arc 12 Post 47: Doubts in the Dark
Arc 12 Post 48: On a Swift Tide
Arc 12 interlude 8: What's in a Name
Arc 12 Post 50: With Thunder and Flame
Arc 12 Post 51: Fate's Black Hand
Arc 12 Post 52: By Frost and Flame
Arc 12 Post 53: Sundered Steel
Arc 12 Post 54: On Burning Edge
Arc 12 Post 55: Of Iron Wrought
Arc 12 interlude 9: In Hollow Halls
Arc 12 Post 56: A Tenuous Triumph
Arc 12 Post 57: Quiet Vigil
Arc 13. Dangers of Victory: Arc 13 Post 1: A Night in Crimson Clad
Arc 13 Post 2: The Damned and the Fallen
Arc 13 Post 3: From Misshapen Mouth
Arc 13 Post 4: Dented Dagger
Arc 13 Post 5: A Riddle in Three Parts
Arc 13 Post 6: Threads Unwound
Arc 13 Post 7: Of Craft and Cunning
Arc 13 Post 8: Prices to Pay
Arc 13 interlude 1: In Out on the Town
Arc 13 interlude 2: Hooves of Steel, Sword of Flame
Arc 13 Post 9: From a Cracked Vessel
Arc 13 interlude 3: Vanishing Visitations
Arc 13 Post 10: The Last Cut
Arc 13 Post 11: Smoke Before Flame
Arc 13 Post 12: In Ashes Weighed
Arc 13 Post 13: Dead Eyes, Lost Hands
Arc 13 Post 14: Of Rippling Flame
Arc 13 Post 15: Queen's Judgement
Arc 13 Post 16: Black Stone and Tainted Earth
Arc 13 Post 17: What Sleeps Beneath
Arc 13 Post 18: Elder Flames
Arc 13 Post 19: A Rumble in the Depths
Arc 13 interlude 4: The Prince Twice Taken
Arc 13 Post 20: In Silent Halls
Arc 13 Post 21: Of Silver and Black
Arc 13 Post 22: More than Monsters
Arc 13 Post 23: Of Priests and Gods
Arc 13 Post 24: Argent and Purple
Arc 13 Post 25: Queen's Gambit
Arc 13 Post 26: On Paths Distant and Close
Arc 13 Post 27: Bonds of Blood and Salt
Arc 13 Post 28: The Blue and the Green
Arc 14. From the Depths: Arc 14 Post 1: In Odd Company
Arc 14 Post 2: Amid Memory's Waves
Arc 14 Post 3: To Seek and Be Found
Arc 14 Post 4: Honor's Price
Arc 14 Post 5: Of Powers and Potentates
Arc 14 Post 6: Pebble and Peril
Arc 14 Post 7: Storm Song
Arc 14 interlude 1: Into the Frey
Arc 14 Post 8: To Sink or Swim
Arc 14 Post 9: Waters Clear and Clouded
Arc 14 interlude 2: Sight Under Sea
Arc 14 interlude 3: Down the Bottle
Arc 14 Post 10: A Mother's Woes
Arc 14 Post 11: Words Under Waves
Arc 14 Post 12: Eye of the Storm
Arc 14 Post 13: Pearls of Wisdom
Arc 14 Post 14: Out of the Deep
Arc 14 Post 15: The Long Way Around
Arc 14 Post 16: Doubts Abroad
Arc 14 Post 17: A Perilous Harbor
Arc 14 Post 18: Betwixt Sea and Flame
Arc 14 Post 19: A Hand from Below
Arc 14 Post 20: Crest and Crown
Arc 14 Post 21: Something Rotten
Arc 14 Post 22: Out of the Dark
Arc 14 interlude 4: Sea's Daughter
Arc 14 Post 23: Queen's Path
Arc 14 Post 24: A Dash and a Duel
Arc 14 Post 25: Of Broken Oaths
Arc 14 Post 26: Pride and Peril
Arc 14 Post 27: Of Blasphemy and Blaze
Arc 14 Post 28: The Broken Chain
Arc 14 Post 29: The Lady Fair
Arc 14 Post 30: In a Place that Isn't There
Arc 14 interlude 5: In the Company of the Dead
Arc 14 Post 31: A Guarded Gate
Arc 14 Post 32: At the Eves of the Walking Wood
Arc 14 Post 33: Whispers in the Wood
Arc 14 Post 34: Sudden Smoke and Mirror Bright
Arc 14 Post 35: With Tangled Tongue
Arc 14 Post 36: A Small Trespass
Arc 14 Post 37: Master of the House
Arc 14 Post 38: Tea and Turmoil
Arc 14 Post 39: Lost to the Skies
Arc 14 Post 40: On Wild Wings
Arc 14 Post 41: The Silence and the Drums
Arc 14 Post 42: Where Echoes Fade
Arc 14 Post 43: Through a Darkling Realm
Arc 14 Post 44: At the Rumbling Rock
Arc 14 Post 45: A Glimmer in the Depths
Arc 14 Post 46: Runaway's Road
Arc 14 Post 47: Judgement of the Earth
Arc 14 Post 48: In the Muck
Arc 14 Post 49: Breaking Silence
Arc 14 Post 49: By Fire and Fury
Arc 14 Post 50: Gift from on High
Arc 14 Post 51: In Bloody Scales
Arc 14 Post 52: Spoils and Severing
Arc 14 interlude 6: A Tale of Two Horses
Arc 14 Post 53: The Perils of Precociousness
Arc 14 Post 54: Stepping Softly
Arc 14 Post 55: What's in a Name
Arc 14 Post 56: Into the Sunlands
Arc 14 Post 57: The Rougher Edge
Arc 14 Post 58: The Rush of Days
Arc 14 Post 59: Where Stones Might Slip
Arc 14 Post 60: Weighting Peril
Arc 14 Post 61: The Hidden Way
Arc 14 Post 62: Leviathan
Arc 14 Post 63: What Gnaws at Greatness
Arc 14 Post 64: A Knot of Serpents
Arc 14 Post 65: Mercurial Middle
Arc 14 Post 66: A Slip of the Noose
Arc 14 Post 67: Royal Rebirth
Arc 15. Sinuous Returning to Orinilu: Arc 15 Post 1: Of Lost Days
Arc 15 Post 2: Broken Wings, Silent Waves
Arc 15 Post 3: Missing a Stitch
Arc 15 Post 4: Mercurial Menace
Arc 15 Post 5: Ship Shape
Arc 15 interlude 1: Without a Paddle
Arc 15 Post 6: A Kinder Face
Arc 15 Post 7: Writ in Stone
Arc 15 Post 8: Spears Raised High
Arc 15 Post 9: Seekers Honest and Shrewd
Arc 15 Post 10: On Rough Waters
Arc 15 interlude 2: As We Go Along
Arc 15 Post 11: Weeping Skies and Troubled Seas
Arc 15 Post 12: The Sharpness of the Stylus
Arc 15 Post 13: From the Sands
Arc 15 Post 14: Thief in the Night
Arc 15 Post 15: On the Brink
Arc 15 Post 16: Dead Man's Gambit
Arc 15 Post 17: Ways and Means
Arc 15 interlude 3: Belief in Blood
Arc 15 Post 18: On Crimson Shore
Arc 15 Post 19: Kindled Hope
Arc 15 Post 20: When the Drums Begin to Play
Arc 15 Post 21: Duel and Doom
Arc 15 Post 22: Writ in Ash and Blood
Arc 15 Post 23: When Words Fray
Arc 15 Post 24: Lost and Unknowing
Arc 15 Post 25: The Ark Uncanny and the Tower Strange
Arc 15 Post 26: A Chill Welcome
Arc 15 Post 27: Shadow and Flame
Arc 15 Post 28: For the Birds
Arc 15 Post 29: Those Who Linger
Arc 15 Post 30: A Few Words More
Arc 15 interlude 4: Spider at the Door
Arc 15 post 31: Bubbling Over
Arc 15 post 32: In Uncanny Company
Arc 15 post 33: A Subtle Weave
Arc 15 post 34: To Seek the Seekers
Arc 15 post 35: On Broken Ways
Arc 15 Post 36: From Lips of Shadow Passing
Arc 15 Post 37: Crimson Lies
Arc 15 Post 38: Under the Moonlight
Arc 15 Post 39: Fetid Siren
Arc 15 Post 40: A Horror with Two Heads
Arc 15 Post 41: Into the Fray
Arc 15 Post 42: Hollow Words
Arc 15 Post 43: Faces of Ruin
Arc 15 Post 44: A Pyre for Two
Arc 15 Post 45: Of Grief and Gifts
Arc 15 Post 46: Uncanny Accountants
Arc 15 Post 46: Uncanny Accountants
Arc 16.: Arc 16 Post 1: Roots Growing Deep

DragonParadox · Aug 6, 2021

Into the Storm

August 16, 1221 Ano Domini, the Eastern Mediterranean

You are Sir Ronald Verley, a Normand, a faithful knight of your lord King Henry of England, and you are as alone as any man can be in the midst of the dark and noisome hold of a galley almost two weeks out of port. There is little enough room for a man to stretch his legs on this tub and none to be alone with your own thoughts.

Do you even want to know? The thought is bitter as poison on the tongue, echoing another familiar voice. 'You do not want to know what is in there, son,' Sir Geoffrey, a man you would have once been proud to hear call you 'son' but whom you had parted from later with cold courtesy and words festering unspoken. You did not know what was behind the door during the siege, but you could guess, oh how well you could guess. The walls were not near thick enough to keep the screams from your ears.

That morning you eat in silence with the men. The supplies are not quite down to hardtack and salt pork, but they are close. The last of the goat meat has been thinned to a watery soup, the beast itself six days dead because most of the fodder had to be kept for Silver and the other horses. The sailors glare at you sullenly as you pass them, but say nothing, your title keeping the curses behind their teeth now that you had proven that you speak their tongue well enough to take offense.

Just as you consider if it would be worth it to seek captain Antonio and his pompous tales just for the distraction from your own thoughts, Providence decides to give you a much better one. Clouds rolled in from the west as you watched, black as pitch and swift as hell's steeds, unlike anything you had ever seen, but then you were no man of the sea.

"Madre de Dios!" you hear from your left, the ship's carpenter, an Aragonese fellow with a missing hand whose salt-scarred face usually bore a heavy scowl but now had been contorted into terrified pleading as he looked at the unnatural clouds. Would that you still had enough faith in the goodness of God to get down on your knees and pray...

The wind howls, the rain falls in sheets, pelting you like stones cast from the parapets, hail like arrows and beneath your feet the deck bucks and twists like a beast gone mad. The world becomes a blur, a mad dash to save as many as you can, ordering your men below deck and out of the way of the sailors even as you stay to help, or mayhap to perish. If it had been your lapse of faith that brought this curse upon the Marcella than the least you could do was lend your strength to the task.

...you push a piece of broken mast from the body of a cabin boy, his face pale as snow save where the blood drips in from his broken lips...

...you throw a line to a man swept overboard by the raging waters, only to see him swallowed up before he can grab it...

...you look up and see blue-green flame dancing among the sails like some strange phantoms...

The ship lurches again underfoot and for a moment you have the strangest of convictions as your stomach drops. It feels like you are not floating at all, but falling through some strange abyss. Then a great wave rises from all around the beleaguered galley as though it was a pebble cast into a pond. Two more of the crew are washed overboard and with that the furry of the sea abates, almost as swift as it had come, though the sun does not return, the skies stay laden grey.

The boy you had saved earlier is pointing at the sky with a look of mute horror on his face.

"What...?" you do not get beyond that first word, for following his finger you see a break in the clouds and you see beyond them a field of stars and the moon shinning pale silver. The storm had been fierce and terrible to behold, but it had not been so long as to take you from morning into night, on that you would stake your spurs.

It would not be long now before shock turned to panic and God help you all if panic turned to rage.

What do you do?

[] Be ready to support captain Antonio
-[] Write in (optional)

[] Take the lead and try to calm the spirits of the crew
-[] Write in (optional)

[] Write in

You are a knight, sworn to lord and land, your spurs well-earned, your weapons in battle tested, but which are your skills and which are your strengths? What do you bring with you on this journey farther than any of you yet know?

[] Write in character sheet (Level 2 Cavalier)

Ability Stats (15 Point Buy)

OOC: Originally I thought about giving you guys more class options, like three or so. The trouble is I was not able to find three classes that fit the character concept, just the one, but this is Pathfinder so there is a lot of customization you can do within that one class. So rather than try to force it for the sake of offering up multiple classes I think it would be best to just go with what fits best. BTW I did try rolling for stats, but the results were garbage, like a lot worse than the point buy would give you, so let's go with that.

DragonParadox · Aug 7, 2021

Reading the Heavens

Day One, Year Unknown

"Quiet!" the voice of captain Antonio Giustiniani rings out over the deck. His face is just as florid as you have ever seen it, but not more with excision than with drink you would judge. He had been bellowing orders during the storm and even helping with his own two hands when the need was greatest. "I said quiet! Stop gawking at the sky and..."

"Who are you to tell us son of a poxed whore?!" a scarred sailor calls from behind you. "You lead us into this cursed storm, you and your dealings with the heathens! God is punishing us for dealing with those whose hands are stained with good Christian blood!"

"You speak boldly of the mind of God for a layman," you interject quietly, laying a hand upon the hilt of your sword. A part of you hates to make the call. The image of Cardinal Pelagius consecrating the Cathedral of Daemieta while its steps were still stained with the blood of its former worshipers seeped so deep into the stone is seared into your mind. You very much doubt his like would be able to make any more sense of this storm that made day into night than any of your here, but either way it is the fate that has fallen upon this ship and those who sail upon it. All that remains for you to do is decide how you face it and that in turn shall be what sees you to the shore or to the bottom of the sea.

While the eyes of the sailors turned to you the captain seems to be reconsidering how to approach the matter. "Are we such men as upon living through that storm should now turn upon each other?" he asks in softer tones. "If this be a sign from God, and I confess that I can think of no other thing it could be, then should we then meet His test divided and clawing at each others' throats?" He motions at the broken mast. "Behold, we have made it though alive but not unscathed. There is yet work to be done and there is yet a long way to Sicily. Let us then take up the task."

There is a moment of stillness, broken only by the voice of the waves and the creaking of the galley's timbers as the crew consider his words. Antonio had taken a gamble by not meeting the scared sailor's words with swift punishment. It might make him look weak in a time when men seek strength, yet at the same time he had reminded them all of the fragility of the ship and all of you upon it before the vastness of the sea.

"You would know poxed, wouldn't you Marco?" the carpenter jeers and the other fellows seems to deflate.

"I would be honored to speak with you over dinner I suppose it would be now, noble Sir," the captain himself says in thickly accented but understandable English that you doubt anyone else on deck speaks. A good thing you had not paid mind to your mother's admonitions about learning 'the barbarous Saxon tongue'.

***

The lantern sways slowly, casting fitful shadows over the faces of the two men already waiting for you there, food still untouched, though the wine is half drunk. One is the captain Antonio Giustiniani, his face seeming grimmer and more lined than you have ever seen it, while the other is a deep chested fellow with a thick black beard almost long enough to tuck into his belt. You faintly recall him introducing himself as Doctor Zaia, though given the fact that he had to do so first in Greek, which you do not speak, then in Latin, of which you know but crumbs, the only things you had managed to catch was that he was some kind of leech and that he was a Christian, 'Copts' you think they call themselves.

"Thank you for your aid there, Sir Roland," the captain says with a smile and a shake of your hand. "It was closer than I like to think of to have all the men run hog wild and add more dead to the pile."

"I will take those thanks in the spirit they were given," you reply courteously. "Yet I cannot help but feel that I was not summoned here so soon merely out of gratitude. Is there some trouble that I could...?"

"You seem a man of reason, yes? Of logic?" Antonio interjects.

"No need to walk circles upon me like a fretful horse," you reply more sharply when you meant to. You are weary in mind, perhaps even more so than in body, wondering what the events of the day mean.

Antonio throws up his palms in exasperation. "Fine then, I will give it to you straight as acquavite and hope you do not choke on it. The stars are wrong, not in their proper places for the time and the place we should be."

"So the storm blew us off course as well as losing a day somehow?" you ask, trying to grasp what he means. The ship is well-provisioned so worst comes to worst the cargo is partly grain, as long as you do not sink you will make it to some shore.

"If only it was but that Sir Knight, if only..." for a moment he sounds much older than his years. "The guiding star, the North-Pointer, she no longer points North. The doctor here, he is a man learned in many things and he has confirmed my observations. The stars are wrong." The words hang heavy in the aid, like some foresight of doom.

How do you react?

[] Disbelief, two men can be wrong as easily as one, especially when you do not know either enough to judge their skills or their trustworthiness.

[] Horror, perhaps that fool of was sailor was not wholly wrong.

[] Acceptance, you have already seen the order of the earth break, why not that of the sky also?

[] Write in

OOC: You guys rolled for an interesting passenger, I will say that much.

DragonParadox · Aug 7, 2021

Squire's Story

Day One, Year Unknown

Slowly you clench and unclench your hand on the wine cup, unable to bring it to your lips. You should be calling them lairs, you do not know these men and cannot guess their motives, a merchant and a strange scholar from the east. Your father would call them mad to trust them. Your father is not here, he is three years in his grave, leaving you alone to care for... alone with your mother. Well why not? Why the fuck not? The earth is broken and no order is upon it, why should the heavens be any different?

It is only when you see Antonio's eyes light up that you realize you must have said some part of that aloud. "Sky's not that important. Men do not live their lives in the heavens, men like me not even the next one, eh? Merchant with a taste for wine and loose women. If there is any divine judgement to be passed here it's on me, not on you."

He says it so lightly you would almost think it idle, but for the edge of self-deprecation in his words, for that gleam of quiet sympathy. "I would rather that none of us were under any curse," you reply half in clumsy jest and half in earnest.

"I'll drink to that," the captain raises a cup and this time you raise with him. The food actually does help, it offers a sort of visceral comfort.

The day passes uneasily, with every man on board keeping an eye to the sky... but pass it does. The clouds stay soft and wispy, far off lines of white on the horizon. By mid day you have been driven inside your cabin by the heat and the pounding headache of too much wine and there you sleep... and there you dream...

***

Day Two, Year Unknown

You dream of green hills crowned with stone, some familiar keeps of sharp grey stone rising high into the cloud dotted sky, others older, wrought by the Franks when your people came to these coasts as raiders from the north bearing sword and flame, to kill and to take thralls over the cold waters. A few of them are even of the eldest sort, the fortresses of Rome who ruled in Gaul since before Christ and whose shadow is ever upon land and most of all upon the hearts of princes who who yearn for Empire.

Under your tutors' hand and even more you mother's who first put a goose quill into your hand you had learned much of those days, of the comings and goings of dukes and counts, barons and simple knights who have spilled each others blood to water the bocages. The peasants say thorns in the hedgerows are a mark of were a body has fallen, they are wrong of course, for if that had been the case then they would be all thorn and no leaf to count all the death and heartbreak that this place has seen.

"This is the greatest country in the world, of course men fought and died for it. Sat up and they will fight and die for it again," your father used to say as he sat upon the green hill and motioned to the vineyards in summertime.

It was a lesson you had taken to heart, all that you had, all that your family had gained, by sword, by leal service and by clever alliances could be taken away in an instant. The Frankish lords had not though that the Norsemen would come over the sea to settle, to live in peace and rule in wisdom and yet in time they had and now only the scholar's dusty tomes recall their badges or their mottoes, their great deeds a footnote on the pages of a history that flows ever onward, pages one over the other turned like leaves in autumn rustling

When winter came, your ninth it was, or mayhap tenth, for dreams are not good at keeping track of years you donned for the first time a weighted coat and set aside the wooden weapons for ones of true forged steel, for all that they were dulled to keep fingers still unused to the weight from mischance.

For all that knights are made in war and spurs in glory won those skills which make a knight are honed in simpler times, in cold days when one's thoughts are turned to learning the lesson not for praise but for permission to go inside and warm your hands. You had learned a lot of good curse words then, in French and English and even a few in Sicilian for the Normans had sailed far and conquered widely. But most of all you had learned a knight skills of war, how to ride and how to care for a horse, how to hunt with hound and hawk, how to fight alone and with stout friends at your side and you had learned at last to bear armor and wield weapons to be proud off.

***

You wake with a start to the sound of raised voices outside though you cannot make out what they are saying. What weapon does your hand reach for? What armor do you don?

10 Points to spend on arms and armor

Knightly Weapon (Cost 1 point each):

[] The Greatsword, a knight's weapon though and through, though one for those impetuous souls who would make due without a shield

[] The Longsword and Shield, tried and true, afoot or ahorse

[] The Light Flail, a weapon most adept in disarming the foe, to capture or to slay

[] The Lance, most chivalrous of weapons

[] The Bec de Corbin, bane of any knight to stand against you

You were in truth fascinated by weapons that were not of the finest knightly tradition (Cost 2 Points Each)

[] Light Crossbow, not chivalrous mayhap but not all wars may be won with chivalry, particularly when one stands upon a parapet no lance is long enough

[] Longbow, a weapon more for hunting than for war in the hands of a knight, but it can serve the latter purpose most deadly in a pinch

Armor:

[] Chain shirt, the simplest and lightest form of armor, even the poorest or most headlong of knights can boast as much (1 Points)

[] Chainmail, respectable protection at the cost of not too much encumbrance (2 Point)

[] Banded Mail, rather cumbersome, but still a life-saver in battle (4 Points)

[] Barding for Silver, rare armor for a rare steed
-[] Light 2 Points
-[] Heavy 4 Points

OOC: These dreams do not give you magic powers, but they do give you weapons and armor, which when one thinks about is is the cavalier equivalent thereof.you guys can propose other things, but they have to fit the time period at least a little.

DragonParadox · Aug 8, 2021

A Coat of Scales

Day Two, Year Unknown

Still bleary with the last vestiges of sleep you grasp for the hilt of your sword, feeling a touch strange as you do so. Your father's words still ring in your ears. A sword is not your belt knife and it is not for waving about to make a show of, it is a tool made for one purpose only, for man to kill his own kind. You do not wish to use it, but at need you will.

As you climb on deck you are greeted with the strange sight of more than a dozen of the crew crowded near the aft side of the ship peering into the water and shouting to each other in a melange of tongues you can only make up about half of. "It's a dolphin, leave it be...." "I've never seen a dolphin like that, it's a devil I tell you!"

Dolphin... the word almost feels like it belongs on another world. On the journey to Cyprus Ser Geoffrey had asked in jest if you want to see real mermaids and you had said yes, not really believing him, but wanting to be proven wrong. He had shown you one of the odd playful fish. skirting the water's surface and saying. 'They look enough like women to a man three months out of port.' You had taken the jape in good spirits and in truth come to enjoy looking at the odd playful creatures following the ship. There had not been any dolphins on the Marcella's journey...

You shake off the thought and head towards the commotion as the Egyptian doctor was trying to say something in the few words of Sicilian he had, to stop them, but to little avail. The same troublemaker from the day before, Marco hefts a crossbow and shoots into the water but the bolt goes wide and he actually manages to him himself in the chin with the weapon in the process.

Nervous laughter echoes over the deck, then one of the younger sailors calls. "Look it's got it in its teeth like a dog! It thinks we are playing with it."

"That ain't no dog it's a cat if ever I saw one," another says as the doctor finally makes it to the edge to get a closer look. He says something in his native tongue that you cannot make out then calls for the captain.

"Clear out, clear out you layabouts!" Antonio shouts in turn from the other side of the ship. He too had been sleeping

The two of you make it to the edge at about the same time to see an odd sight indeed. Swimming alongside the galley with a crossbow bolt still in its teeth is a creature scaled shimming blue and sea green with the tail of a fish, maybe even a dolphin specifically and the front part of... a cat. It trully does look like a cat there is no mistaking it, whiskers and all. "I suppose I got to see a sort of mermaid after all," you laugh, and the sound feels strange on your lips but it just looks so absurd that you cannot help yourself.

Zaia says something and the captain translates. "He says he has never seen anything like this and for that matter neither have I in all my years of sailing. If we could catch it this is sure to be worth a pretty penny in port..." He cuts himself off looking more closely at the sea cat. "Although we might not be the first to have that thought, see there that flash about its neck?"

Now that he had pointed it out you do see. The odd little thing has a collar around its neck, a thin strip of what looks to be white leather though it is hard to tell with the way it keeps turning end over end in the water clawing at the hull.

He points out the same thing to the doctor who nods and asks something else in return. After a quick back and forth Antonio nods. "I think we should try to catch it, bad luck be damned, this is good luck staring us in the face, good luck and a pile of silver when we make port."

What do you do?

[] Leave it up to the sailors to try to catch the creature with a net

[] Offer to try to coax the strange creature on board, it has a collar maybe it can be baited with food

[] Counsel that they leave the beast alone

[] Write in

OOC: First encounter roll, I actually rolled this one two days ago, but I underestimated how much else we would have to do in the meantime. Not yet edited.

Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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