Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Masha "Speed of Light" Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
NPCs:
Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)
Player Absent (In the Nega-Zone (Mostly)):
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)
Melos 2nd 2546, Sunset: Hot Springs City Ruins, The Ruined Bathhouse
The party headed back out through the change rooms; Masha gave Mahk the magic lantern, as Archer was loathe to give up hers, and regrouped in the overgrown gardens at the entrance to the bathhouse. They decided to retrace their steps and leave the city the way they had come in. As they crossed the plaza to the grand staircase, the spires of the lower terraces glittering in the sunset, Archer heard a commotion in the park to the west, which closer investigation revealed to be about ten adventurers arguing.
The party took cover behind a fountain while Archer snuck up to eavesdrop without being noticed. It turned out that a pair of wounded adventurers were being robbed by the far larger group, and were begging to be allowed to keep a gold statue, so that they could make it off the islands. Archer returned to the party to bring them up to speed, and despite her suggestion of leaving the others alone, Masha ran over to intervene, eager to help.
Sadly, Masha's attempts at peacefully resolving the situation failed, so she gave up in the face of superior numbers and walked away. As the party walked down the grand staircase, they heard the sounds of combat breaking out followed shortly by screams of pain. The party continued back to the lower terraces, but came to a stop when they realized that they might not be able to navigate the warren of alleys without Puddin'. Instead, they took a side-street that ran to the edge of the city; Archer spotted a patch of rainbow mould in an adjoining street, and they were careful to give it a wide berth.
They made it to the edge of the walls; only a step up from the city streets, but a 5m climb to the jungle below. Archer set up a rope, and they started the climbing/lowering down; Mahk fell for a single point of injury, and a dropped backpack badly bent a gold statuette, but the rest of the climbing went smoothly. The party set up camp in the shadow of the city walls, on top of a well-camouflaged nest of fire ants.
Melos 3rd 2546, Dawn: Hot Springs City Ruins
After a cold breakfast of face snake rations (which tasted of wood shavings), Masha found she could hear faint voices inside her head. With a bit of effort, she found that she was able to telepathically communicate with those nearby, which she used to surprise and confuse Mahk. Archer wondered why face snakes would give telepathy ("Hmm, maybe try asking a face snake?"), but gave up, as she was happy to eat her own normal rations. The Siren's Folly was landing nearby, on the southwest coast of the island, so the party started the trek through the jungle.
Morning
The party trekked through the jungle for several hours, until eventually emerging at... the sparkling white walls of the city ruins. They had been going in circles. After a chorus of groans and some worrying about if they were still in a second, larger bathhouse, they turned back into the jungle, Archer assuring them that she totally knew the way.
Deep in the jungle, the party heard whimpering sounds and, after some debate ("The last time we heard an animal dying, it was a bird with clouds of AIDS"), decided to investigate. They found a pair of small, lean "cows" with white, pupil-less eyes, broad, bony noses, and several tusks. As Vaelcor was absent, Archer killed them both with arrows to the eyes, and the party continued on their way.
Afternoon: Light Jungle
Emerging onto a hill that overlooked the beach, the party found themselves in a copse of colossal pine trees, several hundred feet tall and thirty feet wide, which they quickly realized had been planted in rows. Clouds of thousands of bees swarmed around the bases of the trees, and trickles of crystallized honey oozed onto the ground, which was covered in tiny purple flowers. Masha tried to figure out what was up with the bees, but failed a Naturalist default, and ultimately decided not to use her psychic snake powers in case the hive mind made her brain explode.
The party noted the details, and continued down to the beach, where they could see a dinghy with a clerk in a yellow robe surrounded by a dozen rough-looking types with the familiar yellow-painted pauldrons. Mash briefly tried her new "mind control powers" on Archer, but she didn't hear any more voices than usual, so they gave that up and approached the clerk (who they knew to be a wizard, able to spot magic items and potions), ready to negotiate their fee.
The clerk informed them that their "introductory" rate of 10% had expired, and they now had to pay the regular fee of 50% of all loot acquired; it was all clearly written in the contracts they had signed. Begrudgingly, the party handed over most of their gold, bribed the official to ignore their many magic items, and made their way aboard. While they waited for the ship to set sail at sunset, the party saw another group of adventurers cut down by the guards waiting there.
Late in the afternoon, Argua's "boyfriend" came aboard, and Masha gave him the bad news: Argua was dead. She also gave him the Shadowmantle signet ring, and told him that he was now in charge of her lands. As per usual, he didn't say anything, and his reaction was hidden by his great helm, but he nodded solemnly. The Siren's Folly made it back to Swordfish Bay without further issues, and the party took a well deserved rest at Rand's Place, the inn built around a giant gorilla's ribcage.
Melos 4th 2546: Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
The party looked to sell their gear on market day, but realized that without Puddin', they didn't really have a good salesperson. Eventually, Mahk was chosen to sell their stuff; with only -2 to Reactions and no negative Wealth, he was by far the best choice. Jenny decided that she had done enough free labour to pay back her debt, but the party decided to pay her to stay on.
Melos 5th-6th 2546
The party decided to wait for the next sailing to the southwest coast, and in the meantime, found some new recruits:
New PCs:
Lucien Castamere - High Elf Warlock (250 points)
Merlin Magicus - Human Wizard (250 points)
Lucien Castamere was a garishly-dressed servant of the Princess of Snowflakes, a mercurial and powerful fey lady, and on a quest to free his sister from her Drow kidnappers. He has been sent to the Swordfish Islands by the Princess, who is intrigued by the secrets of the ancient elven culture that once lived there.
Merlin Magicus was a wizard of the realm, from a long line of wizards, and hailed from the kingdoms to the east, here to bring the light of civilization and order to the islands (and wealth and prestige to his liegelord). More importantly, he knew Coolness, Flight and Seeker, which might help in their search for the rod segment.
Melos 7th, 2546, Morning: Hot Springs Island, Southwest Coast
Merlin cast Coolness on everybody, so they'd be less affected by the heat of the jungle, and they started off to the city to the northwest. Along the way, they came across some of the "bony cows" sleeping in the jungle, but after Merlin determined them to not be magical, they were ignored, and the party continued on. As they trudged along, Lucien and Archer found themselves suddenly grabbed by a swarm vines that dropped out of the canopy, and being crushed.
Masha saw Archer and "one of those nerds we hired" being constricted, and kicked one of the vines on Archer, breaking it off, though three still held Archer tight while she drew her cavalry sabre. Likewise, Lucien drew his smallsword, while Merlin tried for a 2d Stone Missile, but failed. Mahk tried shield bashing a vine, but to no effect, and Jenny got her large knife ready. The vines continued to crush Archer and Lucien, while another cluster restrained Merlin (with a crit) and constricted him for a major wound. More vines tried to grab Masha twice, but she managed to dodge it with ease.
Notes:
I realized during this session that I'd allowed people who'd lost FP due to lack of sleep in the alternate dimension bathhouse had gained it back by normal resting, which shouldn't have been possible without proper sleep.
Thanks to everybody failing the rolls to understand the contracts way back when, the party got blindsided by the "introductory rate" and current change.
There was a long digression into seeing how well Flying Carpet would work, and it turns out: very inefficiently. It costs all a starting Wizard's FP just to lift himself and one other person, but he could ferry a larger group across, say, a channel dividing two islands over the course of about 1 full day.
The Warlock is basically the Saint, but with a more Wizard-y skill list. The main differences are that they use Mana rather than Sanctity, and that they get the Duty disadvantage, which gives them secret objectives they must complete or else lose their powers.
XP was 0, because not much happened.
MVP went to Archer for being the only one with Navigation; without it, they probably wouldn't have made it out.
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