When Good Genasi Go Bad
Dramatis Personae:
Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer
"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct
Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress
Steve, Quinn's Octopus familiar
Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin
Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue
Gill O'Darby, the Human Ranger
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once.
***** Mirtul 6, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Somewhere in the Sea of Swords
Oskar told us that we were in cavern near the sea, we were just above sea level, he could just make out the sound of waves hitting the cavern. We were trying to figure out how exactly to escape, but since we were pretty badly wounded, we needed to rest before we could do anything.
After several hours, a group of figures appeared outside of our cell, and told us that their lord had requested the presence of some of us. They took three of the crewmen, Oskar, and Sylvia.
Oskar's group was led to a throne room, and a pale female sea elf was perched on it, flanked by giants. Oskar and Sylvia were stopped at the throne, but they crewmen were taken to a separate area, where there were already several crewmen being held. The woman told Oskar that the group had been caught in her waters, and that Ctenmiir- the dwarf who had been guarding Whelm in White Plume Mountain- had told her that Oskar had stolen Whelm from him, and he wanted to know where Oskar had hidden it.
She would be letting Ctenmiir deal with Oskar, and if he cooperated they might let him live. The ship and crew were hers now. Oskar asked what they wanted in Sylvia, and the elf told him that Sylvia's father was looking for her, and was very unhappy that she'd been kidnapped- implying that the party had kidnapped her. Oskar told the elf that they had already buried her father, but the elf said that the man wasn't actually their father, Lord Neverember was and he has a bounty out for Sylvia.
Oskar said he hadn't kidnapped Sylvia, he'd just been taking care of her, which Sylvia readily confirmed. The elf said that she would make sure Sylvia was returned to her father safely. Oskar attempted to explain that he goes where she goes, and was told if he survived Ctenmiir, they might permit that.
Oskar saw one of the crew members being drug into another room, and heard chanting and screaming, before he emerged as a skeleton. After that Oskar and Sylvia were taken back to the cell, and Oskar was warned to behave, or something would happen to Amara and Carmina.
While Oskar and Sylvia were gone, Jak worked on getting himself free of the shackles. I tried to get myself free, or at least to grind enough powdered iron off mine that I could cast an enlargement spell. I hadn't been put in the shackles that prevented spell casting- I'd been unconscious for the majority of the battle, and since I've got weapons, I think they thought I was a fighter type. When I tried to grind the powdered iron off, I was reminded of my lack of physical strength, that was Bumbersnoot's department. I gave up before I hurt myself and hoped Jak would be more successful than I was- which, he was.
By the time Oskar and Sylvia were brought back to us- without the crew members who'd been taken with them- Jak had broken free. The great thing was, as soon as they got back, Sylvia started picking the locks on our cuffs. We had nothing we could do except bide our time, we were all still drained from the earlier battle.
After several hours, the hall outside our cell got hazy for a moment, like when looking through a hot desert, and a dwarf appeared, wearing all of Oskar's gear. He demanded Oskar tell him where Whelm is, and he simply could not believe that Oskar would get rid of that ax. Oskar tried to explain to him that we'd been hired to find it for the Coldfire Initiative, and that he'd given it to our employers, but this dude didn't believe him. He told Oskar to come out and talk to him, and Oskar's demeanor changed- then he was shrouded in darkness, and we heard the door open and close. Not only was Oskar gone, but so was Sylvia.
With both of them gone we needed to get out of here, so I grabbed lockpicks from Bumbersnoot's hidden compartment, and started working on the door... and I broke my fucking lockpick off in the stupid door. Since my air forge spell doesn't require any materials, I cast it on the door to the cell, heating the metal so we could get it open. There was a second door down a short hallway, which we'd heard squeak before, so I got some oil from Bumbersnoot's alchemy jug to lubricate the door before heating it up. Unfortunately the skeleton guards noticed, so Quinn hit both of them with ice bolts.
I wasn't much use in combat without my dog or my stuff, so I had to stay mostly out of combat range, just using what little healing I was capable of to keep people up. At first it seemed like the fight was going okayish, since we had a lot of people on our side. But then Quinn blinked.
Ctenmiir had charmed Oskar to get him to talk, but Moradin broke the charm, allowing Oskar to attack the vampire. Things would have gone well if Sylvia hadn't decided to follow Oskar. Ctenmiir caught her just as she reached for a dagger on his belt, and put her in front of him as a shield, and vanished. Oskar went after the now invisible Ctenmiir, but Weston- the ship's mage- hit him with Tasha's hideous laughter, and got between Oskar and Ctenmiir, slowing down the infuriated holy man once he'd shaken free of the spell.
Quinn reappeared in hybrid form and attacked the nearest crew member, killing him before vanishing again. Quinn had been turned into vampire spawn after the party had been taken captive, and had been put in place as a sleeper agent. Once she'd blinked, a hag had activated her, allowing her to begin working against the crew. After another few seconds, Jak called out that Quinn had gone feral, so now we'd have to put her down. Temporarily anyway. One of the crew crumpled at my feet, so I was able to revive him. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do much of this, I have hella limited magic energy, and what little I'd already done was quickly draining me.
When Quinn next appeared she did a thunderwave at the crew. Apparently she can still do magic when she's feral, which I didn't think was possible. As much as I loathe cowardice, I tried to keep hidden in the hallway that leads to our cell, it seemed the only safe place for me. I cursed at myself for not learning more combative magic. When Quinn next appeared, she hit me, Amara, Gill, and a crew member with her ice bolts. Apparently she'd decided to go for easier targets, instead of those who were actually doing things in the battle. I thought that being feral made you a savage beast, incapable of higher thought, which should make you unable to cast spells. Something was off about Quinn being feral.
I used the last of my magical energy healing Carmina, and ducked around a corner. Glimmering spots had begun dancing in my vision, and my head was pounding. I hoped this fight ended soon. I was a sitting duck now. Quinn's next appearance made her seem even more feral. She didn't seem to be able to cast magic after that, and was instead mauling what few crew members we had left alive with her razor-sharp claws.
After what felt like forever, we were finally down to a single skeleton and Quinn, who was trading blows with Jak. The skeleton dropped Gill, so I braved going out in the open to stabilize him. He didn't need it though, he was just unconscious. I called to Carmina to get him out of sight, and in doing so, drew attention to myself. I got shot by a crossbow for my efforts. There was a pretty clear shot to the other doors in the room though, and I had a feeling my stuff was behind one of them. Carmina came out and shattered the final skeleton.
Jak was still beating on Quinn, and he now gripped her in a Bigby's Hand. She broke out, but he managed to grab her again. Quinn broke out again, and went to run, Jak grabbed at her and stumbled, she punched him, and he went down. Carmina dropped her as she ran for the doors, then checked her pulse and announced that Quinn was dead. I was having some trouble stabilizing Jak, but after a moment I got it.
Then Quinn got back up and ran smack into Oskar. Carmina yelled out in surprise, since Quinn had definitely been dead when she checked her pulse, chased her and finished her off. With all of our visible enemies- and Quinn- down, I focused on the silvery dots on my hand that lined up with NATAS, focused on them, and tried to call to her. After a few seconds, I sensed where she was. As Carmina barricaded the doors, I went to collect our belongings; though neither Oskar's or Quinn's gear was in the pile.
After our items were found, Oskar removed the barricade, and said he and Jak would go look for Sylvia; then somehow, they decided it would be Jak and Gill, since he's stealthier than Oskar. They found several pools of blood, and a chest that contained Oskar's stuff- except for his armor and shield, which Ctenmiir had been using. Then Jak and Oskar went to check on the vampire's thralls, and Jak woke up the sleeping vampires... We had to rapidly barricade the doors again.
Jak and I inspected the huge bookcase behind the remains of the throne, and he found a bunch of books in Abyssal, one of which made him start speaking Abyssal, and suddenly the opening to a magic mansion appeared before us. We drug our wounded bodies, along with Bumbersnoot and Quinn's bodies, into the mansion to sleep securely.
Oskar told us that we were in cavern near the sea, we were just above sea level, he could just make out the sound of waves hitting the cavern. We were trying to figure out how exactly to escape, but since we were pretty badly wounded, we needed to rest before we could do anything.
After several hours, a group of figures appeared outside of our cell, and told us that their lord had requested the presence of some of us. They took three of the crewmen, Oskar, and Sylvia.
Oskar's group was led to a throne room, and a pale female sea elf was perched on it, flanked by giants. Oskar and Sylvia were stopped at the throne, but they crewmen were taken to a separate area, where there were already several crewmen being held. The woman told Oskar that the group had been caught in her waters, and that Ctenmiir- the dwarf who had been guarding Whelm in White Plume Mountain- had told her that Oskar had stolen Whelm from him, and he wanted to know where Oskar had hidden it.
She would be letting Ctenmiir deal with Oskar, and if he cooperated they might let him live. The ship and crew were hers now. Oskar asked what they wanted in Sylvia, and the elf told him that Sylvia's father was looking for her, and was very unhappy that she'd been kidnapped- implying that the party had kidnapped her. Oskar told the elf that they had already buried her father, but the elf said that the man wasn't actually their father, Lord Neverember was and he has a bounty out for Sylvia.
Oskar said he hadn't kidnapped Sylvia, he'd just been taking care of her, which Sylvia readily confirmed. The elf said that she would make sure Sylvia was returned to her father safely. Oskar attempted to explain that he goes where she goes, and was told if he survived Ctenmiir, they might permit that.
Oskar saw one of the crew members being drug into another room, and heard chanting and screaming, before he emerged as a skeleton. After that Oskar and Sylvia were taken back to the cell, and Oskar was warned to behave, or something would happen to Amara and Carmina.
While Oskar and Sylvia were gone, Jak worked on getting himself free of the shackles. I tried to get myself free, or at least to grind enough powdered iron off mine that I could cast an enlargement spell. I hadn't been put in the shackles that prevented spell casting- I'd been unconscious for the majority of the battle, and since I've got weapons, I think they thought I was a fighter type. When I tried to grind the powdered iron off, I was reminded of my lack of physical strength, that was Bumbersnoot's department. I gave up before I hurt myself and hoped Jak would be more successful than I was- which, he was.
By the time Oskar and Sylvia were brought back to us- without the crew members who'd been taken with them- Jak had broken free. The great thing was, as soon as they got back, Sylvia started picking the locks on our cuffs. We had nothing we could do except bide our time, we were all still drained from the earlier battle.
After several hours, the hall outside our cell got hazy for a moment, like when looking through a hot desert, and a dwarf appeared, wearing all of Oskar's gear. He demanded Oskar tell him where Whelm is, and he simply could not believe that Oskar would get rid of that ax. Oskar tried to explain to him that we'd been hired to find it for the Coldfire Initiative, and that he'd given it to our employers, but this dude didn't believe him. He told Oskar to come out and talk to him, and Oskar's demeanor changed- then he was shrouded in darkness, and we heard the door open and close. Not only was Oskar gone, but so was Sylvia.
With both of them gone we needed to get out of here, so I grabbed lockpicks from Bumbersnoot's hidden compartment, and started working on the door... and I broke my fucking lockpick off in the stupid door. Since my air forge spell doesn't require any materials, I cast it on the door to the cell, heating the metal so we could get it open. There was a second door down a short hallway, which we'd heard squeak before, so I got some oil from Bumbersnoot's alchemy jug to lubricate the door before heating it up. Unfortunately the skeleton guards noticed, so Quinn hit both of them with ice bolts.
I wasn't much use in combat without my dog or my stuff, so I had to stay mostly out of combat range, just using what little healing I was capable of to keep people up. At first it seemed like the fight was going okayish, since we had a lot of people on our side. But then Quinn blinked.
Ctenmiir had charmed Oskar to get him to talk, but Moradin broke the charm, allowing Oskar to attack the vampire. Things would have gone well if Sylvia hadn't decided to follow Oskar. Ctenmiir caught her just as she reached for a dagger on his belt, and put her in front of him as a shield, and vanished. Oskar went after the now invisible Ctenmiir, but Weston- the ship's mage- hit him with Tasha's hideous laughter, and got between Oskar and Ctenmiir, slowing down the infuriated holy man once he'd shaken free of the spell.
Quinn reappeared in hybrid form and attacked the nearest crew member, killing him before vanishing again. Quinn had been turned into vampire spawn after the party had been taken captive, and had been put in place as a sleeper agent. Once she'd blinked, a hag had activated her, allowing her to begin working against the crew. After another few seconds, Jak called out that Quinn had gone feral, so now we'd have to put her down. Temporarily anyway. One of the crew crumpled at my feet, so I was able to revive him. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do much of this, I have hella limited magic energy, and what little I'd already done was quickly draining me.
When Quinn next appeared she did a thunderwave at the crew. Apparently she can still do magic when she's feral, which I didn't think was possible. As much as I loathe cowardice, I tried to keep hidden in the hallway that leads to our cell, it seemed the only safe place for me. I cursed at myself for not learning more combative magic. When Quinn next appeared, she hit me, Amara, Gill, and a crew member with her ice bolts. Apparently she'd decided to go for easier targets, instead of those who were actually doing things in the battle. I thought that being feral made you a savage beast, incapable of higher thought, which should make you unable to cast spells. Something was off about Quinn being feral.
I used the last of my magical energy healing Carmina, and ducked around a corner. Glimmering spots had begun dancing in my vision, and my head was pounding. I hoped this fight ended soon. I was a sitting duck now. Quinn's next appearance made her seem even more feral. She didn't seem to be able to cast magic after that, and was instead mauling what few crew members we had left alive with her razor-sharp claws.
After what felt like forever, we were finally down to a single skeleton and Quinn, who was trading blows with Jak. The skeleton dropped Gill, so I braved going out in the open to stabilize him. He didn't need it though, he was just unconscious. I called to Carmina to get him out of sight, and in doing so, drew attention to myself. I got shot by a crossbow for my efforts. There was a pretty clear shot to the other doors in the room though, and I had a feeling my stuff was behind one of them. Carmina came out and shattered the final skeleton.
Jak was still beating on Quinn, and he now gripped her in a Bigby's Hand. She broke out, but he managed to grab her again. Quinn broke out again, and went to run, Jak grabbed at her and stumbled, she punched him, and he went down. Carmina dropped her as she ran for the doors, then checked her pulse and announced that Quinn was dead. I was having some trouble stabilizing Jak, but after a moment I got it.
Then Quinn got back up and ran smack into Oskar. Carmina yelled out in surprise, since Quinn had definitely been dead when she checked her pulse, chased her and finished her off. With all of our visible enemies- and Quinn- down, I focused on the silvery dots on my hand that lined up with NATAS, focused on them, and tried to call to her. After a few seconds, I sensed where she was. As Carmina barricaded the doors, I went to collect our belongings; though neither Oskar's or Quinn's gear was in the pile.
After our items were found, Oskar removed the barricade, and said he and Jak would go look for Sylvia; then somehow, they decided it would be Jak and Gill, since he's stealthier than Oskar. They found several pools of blood, and a chest that contained Oskar's stuff- except for his armor and shield, which Ctenmiir had been using. Then Jak and Oskar went to check on the vampire's thralls, and Jak woke up the sleeping vampires... We had to rapidly barricade the doors again.
Jak and I inspected the huge bookcase behind the remains of the throne, and he found a bunch of books in Abyssal, one of which made him start speaking Abyssal, and suddenly the opening to a magic mansion appeared before us. We drug our wounded bodies, along with Bumbersnoot and Quinn's bodies, into the mansion to sleep securely.
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