Wild:28 Everyone Pleas For Our Help

Starring: Brilla, Fuelwen, Nathaniel
Guest Starring: Bo, Ethyl, Deenar, Daudhir, First Rear Admiral Unnamed Drow, Baron Von Ricksmarch, Unnamed Dwelf Bard, Cleric of Ralishaz
Challenge: Too many people begging for our attention; Kraken (negotiated)
Location: Drn Tg;
Date Played: 30 Dec 2009

Many hooks, one line

Language Crisis is an Opportunity

Nathaniel: The constellation changed everything, throwing the world into chaos. Fights over misunderstandings break out nearly every hour on many street corners. And as with any military-minded culture, chaos means opportunity.

We are approached by the First Rear Admiral with an offer to hire on as mercenaries, to take advantage of the chaos and lay claim to any of a few islands—Solipism, a desert island where we sent Daudhir, or to Dinotopia, a swampy island with unorganized lizardfolk.

We consider the offer.

Brilla: The dwarves decided to sieze the chaos and turn it into opportunity by attacking some nearby islands. The group seemed somewhat interested in the opportunities, but I wasn't too keen on working for them again. Still, pay is pay and I told them that we would sleep on it.

Fuelwen: I repeat: speak the language. No one wants to be ruled by someone that needs a translator. The stars rearranged themselves and the world lost Common. My inventory of languages is great, but not great enough. I don't even speak Dwarven! I must correct this.

I took note of the altered constellation. I would like to discuss the meaning of the portent, but a temple of Celestian seems like the best place to ask. Perhaps Killibron knows, if we ever see him again.

Save our island

Nathaniel: Brilla and Bo return from a foray into the market and return being followed by a collective of Thri-kreen. Apparently they were attempting to contact Brilla with telepathy and failing due to her resistance to all things magical. Fuelwen stepped forward to negotiate.

The thri-kreen wished for us at first to sink the dwarven ship(s) that were headed to their island. Once Fuelwen told them of the blue dragon approaching, they wished for us to sink that ship. We explained that we would talk with the Daudhir, but most likely we would only be able to help them abandon their island. They had less to offer us than the dwarves, though they did drop a small scimitar on a necklace that Ethyl informed us later was a minor magic item.

We consider the offer.

Brilla: This is a mission I can get behind. Though it doesn't get me any closer to finding the 9th circle, it does build prestigue for myself by saving a race of creatures from an island. This feels like something that could elevate my personal circle a bit higher.

I figure it can't hurt to talk to Daudhir first to see if we can fix this without setting sail.

Fuelwen: I am not terribly interested in helping the Thri-Kreen, but I wouldn't mind testing our school against Daudhir. I mostly ignore their plea, but I do offer to join Brilla on her way to speak with Duadhir.

Talking with Daudhir

Nathaniel: Daudhir's ship was preparing to leave port when we sought permission to board. Only Brilla was treated with respect. The crew was indifferent to myself and openly hostile to Fuelwen who had to abandon any idea of boarding the ship.

When Brilla returned to us, she was a bit shaken. Daudhir could not be convinced to change his course.

Brilla: Square peg... round hole... need to shower...

Fuelwen: I had an… altercation with the crew. My resolve to aid the Thri-Kreen is… strengthened.

Three hour tour

Nathaniel: The next morning we awoke to discover a dwarven family, begging us to seek out their missing family members. They had gone on an expedition to Bone Island to explore it's cavern system and are currently three weeks overdue.

We consider the offer.

Brilla: This one also has promise, but I don't know much about Bone Island. I doubt that the crew is still alive after all this time, but there is always hope. Once I do some more research into Bone Island I will consider it further.

Note for Fuelwen

Nathaniel: A note arrived for Fuelwen which Brilla opens and begins to read before the hunter rips it from her grasp. An anonymous person wishes to dine with Fuelwen and his crew to discuss the Seawolves' Folly carrying some cargo. We meet Baron Von Ricksmarch, an admitted alias, a gnomish capitalist. He offers us a large sum, over 4k gold, to smuggle someone to Great Fortress for a few days.

This "cargo" smells of something against the law. We consider the offer.

Brilla: Fuelwen got a note addressed to him in dwarven, a language he can not read. I took the liberty to recieve it for him. It said that he was to meet Baron Von Ricksmarch to discuss a potential job at a fine restaurant. I decided to invite myself and bring everyone else as well. We all could use a fine meal.

The food was fine, though the job left a bad taste in my mouth. We declined, but said we would be open to future opportunities.

Fuelwen: It was a fine meal, at the very least. We have no interest in ferrying criminals or political prisoners.

Dwelf interview

Nathaniel: In an odd turn-of-fate, a dwelf bard approaches our vessel in the hopes of recording our stories! I give him grand detail on our adventures and each one of us, including those who departed, like Rake. He asked odd questions, but then each storyteller collects different information to enrich their stories.

Brilla: I feel this dwelf was probing a bit further than what one normally would. Nathaniel was a good choice to deal with this distraction since he does like to tell stories and he is the least technical out of all of us.

Considering the requests

Nathaniel: We debate over boons and banes of each offer and eventually we determine that we can take care of three goals of them with one boat ride—relocating the Thri-Kreen to Bone Island where we will seek out the missing dwarf family, as well as a cycloptic harpy who is rumored to live on the island.

Having decided on a course of action we politely refuse the dwarven request and hire a cleric to feed and water the Thri-kreen. It turns out that the cleric worships Ralishaz, a god who's portfolio apparently includes annoying. He is personable when he isn't doing random dumb shit around the vessel.

Brilla: Cleric for food; check. Two jobs in one voyage; check. Helping Nathaniel find a creature with poor depth perception; check. I feel that this will go well.

Fuelwen: I don't care about the Dwarven family. I don't particularly care about the Thri-Kreen, except as a tool to annoy Duadhir. But it was a Harpy that drew us together. The cyclopses are the keepers of the myths of the world. This trip will be valuable.

Saving the Thri-Kreen

Nathaniel: We sail to the desert island, unnamed, where the Thri-Kreen live. The agents who traveled with us convened a council on the matter and 27 decided on the wise course of action, leaving the island. Notably the "village" was near both an oasis and a giant hole in the ground which led to their mines.

Brilla: I guess it is hard for some to leave home, even with a dragon only a few days behind us. I didn't feel like pushing the issue so we took whatever thri-kreen had the right mind to come with us.

I also have to revoke some of the hiring privlidges that I gave Fuelwen. That cleric is very insane. He isn't quite dangerous, but a bother none the less.

Fuelwen: He was cheap, and he was available. The contract was vague, and doesn't preclude us from using him as food, instead of creating it.

Badgered by a Kraken

Nathaniel: As we traveled to Bone Island, our ship was harassed by a hurricane, followed by a tornado for several days. It was obvious that it was something intelligent and Fuelwen went under the sea to investigate.

Soon he discovered a giant eye with tentacles. Based on it's abilities and description, we determined it to be a kraken. Knowing that they are extremely intelligent and very powerful we decide to parley.

Fuelwen goes alone into the deep. I was not comfortable with this, but as the kraken could've easily killed us all no matter how we arranged ourselves, I kept myself quiet. The sea was quiet for a long time as we waited. Suddenly two tentacles reached out of the water and attacked the ship! As I pulled out components for a summoning it ripped the masthead off the front of the ship and there was calm.

Fuelwen returned, saying that the Kraken was an art collector, and would be satisfied with Bo's craftsmanship.

Brilla: Sailing was smooth for a few days until we encountered a hurricane folloed by a tornado. This repeated itself the following day, and the day after there was a switch-up to tornado then hurricane.

Knowing this was not natural and unsure of where this was coming from, we explored all avenures. Looking above the surface led to no leads as the dragon's ship was not on the horizon. This could only leave us something below the water.

At first Fuelwen had no luck finding what it was, but he then came across a giant eye. It was soon discovered that it was a kraken. A powerful creature that we and the crew were not prepared to fight, we sent Fuelwen back under to negotiate with the creature for safe passage.

We eventually agreed to a fine piece of art, though Fuelwen described the masthead before any other objects that we could have found onboard and maybe called art. It ripped the masthead off of my ship and brought it below the waves. I was not happy with this, but at least the vessel can still sail. I just hope Bo is up to making a new one.

Fuelwen: The Kraken is an apex predator, capable of smashing our ship to flinders. When I encountered him, I knew the most prudent path would be to bribe him. His desire: fine art. Bo is a sculptor, he created the rather fine figurehead. Problem solved.

It was quite a treat to meet a Kraken. I have only heard of them; to meet this king of the ocean in the flesh and to come away unscathed is feat worth recounting.

Rewards

• Hard Back Treat your strength as one point higher when calculating your carrying capacity. (wiki reward)
  • Nathaniel, Brilla, Fuelwen
• +200 GP Nathaniel (Daudhir)
• +200 GP Nathaniel (Baron Von Ricksmarch‎)
• +200 GP Nathaniel (Unnamed Dwelf Bard)
• +200 GP Nathaniel (Cleric of Ralishaz)
• +200 GP Fuelwen (First Rear Admiral)