RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Last time, day 3 in Handra, you awoke after uneasy dreams that seemed to be taking on more and more of a realistic nature. Indeed, that morning when you went to the Blue Dock inn to gather thoughts and information while waiting for developments, you were greeted with a strange spectacle- some kind of elder, magician or shaman of the Ludoch appeared in spectral form. While he terrified the groggy sailors, you tried to communicate with it (the Captain attempted his Seaspeech) but made little progress although he seemed to think YOU were ghosts/demons and not supposed to be there. After he was driven off (disappearing through a wall), you wondered if the drowning of Handra that the Captain had dreamed of was slowly coming true in some spiritual way.

While you pondered this, and Boamund read up on the history of the city (learning about how drowned cities/prophets were a key part of its mythology), the Baronet had a private meeting with Old Teelis of the Elandra cult (Thieves' Guild??) at the Fen Steps. This simply dressed man with a grey crewcut told the Baronet that the Night Dragon (?!You hadn't heard this name in awhile!?) had some old (2nd age or earlier) relationship with Elandra and/or Arkat, and that Arkati and St Magastan(?) heroes had worked together in the past against some common foes (Godlearners?). Teelis was uncertain about all the connections himself, but said he was playing a mythical role in connecting far-flung people and could direct the Baronet to other Arkati nearby. He promised to get in touch, and the Baronet left in greater confusion than he'd arrived.

You decided to head for the Temple of Handra to see if any clues lay therein. At one point along your trip, you stopped by the great pier (jetty) where the Seamen's Guild plied their trade with the mermen. You didn't find any clues, but watched a horrible scene as a sailor ran toward you clutching at his face and choking, and as you grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground a spectral crab crawled out of his mouth and skittered away! The sailor survived, traumatized and bleeding, and a hubbub was spreading across Mooring Isle- bad things were happening more and more often. The Captain pronounced that a doom was coming and that people should flee Handra– this did not help the escalating situation. It seemed that this tall, dark, bearded foreigner was a new prophet come to Handra, and not speaking the words of hope that Handrans were used to from their prophets!

At the Temple of Handra, you found that the panic was growing across the whole city, and people had gathered about the steps of the church to solicit aid or succour from the priesthood. Eventually the bishop stepped out of the grand doors and tried to placate them, but the Captain shouted him down with his message of doom and despair, and the bishop could do naught but retreat to his Church and pray, leaving his subjects scattering in disarray. As you tried to get into the temple through the growing crowds, a growling voice came from the nearby sea– a great grey sea serpent raised its head and called for the Captain! It motioned for you all to climb aboard its coiled back, then brought you back to Mooring Isle where it shifted into the grey, hairless form of Stormswallower, the Ludoch wizard. She brought you into the Smoke House, where you saw the bodiless form of The Butler, the statuesque form of some brazened magical entity, a courtyard full of pigs, and (deep in the house's bowels) a laboratory room where some strange (Mostali?) figure dabbled amidst glass tubes and crucibles (later you heard a boom and saw the smoke that gave the house its name).

In a basement room, Stormswallower showed you a fountain of clear water that sprung from the floor, and gave the captain an aluminium Scrying Bowl, fashioned with a leaping fish at either end of its oval shape. She said this bowl would allow the Captain to communicate with her from afar. This might be important, she said, because HE was partly to blame for the city's troubles! HE was being drawn into a heroquest, whether as the main participant or as a helper/foe/station she was not sure. Stormswallower was sure her powers could save the city from any side effects of this quest (she thought maybe the Captain's dreams of a drowned city were just one possible outcome of the quest?). The events of the quest seemed to be focused on Mooring Isle as it manifested, but said that it was up to you to solve the crisis and finish (or stop?) whatever the Heroquest entailed– and the time for that was drawing very near…

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