RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

The Captain and the wizard Maugis waited in the Tumbledown Inn for closing time, to meet with Old-Jin Sixtines, now that the ominous man Aym had left. Ahappi grew drunker and louder and more grumpy, then released his energy with a bawdy sea shanty to liven the mood of the all-too-mellow Humbertsville inn, which he did– until another drunken patron followed his song with a local Wenelian ditty, poorly delivered and thus a buzzkill. At closing time, Maugis followed Ahappi down the tower-inn's treacherous spiral stairs, and caught the scruff of the sailor's neck just in time to save him from a nasty fall.

At the bottom of the tower, you found that a local peasant was not so lucky, having given himself a bump on the head that an old, weathered man in deer antler headdress and hide clothing was tending to. Maugis tried to engage this heathen healer, who acknowledged he was indeed Old-Jin Sixtines but scolded the wizard for the interruption and made the two adventurers wait until he finished his chanting in Wenelian (releasing spirits to treat the wound: this man Sixtines was some sort of shaman). Old-Jin didn't know much about the drugs or the Losers movement, blaming the latter on some sort of spiritual weakness and lack of respect for the local spirits, and the former on vague sights he'd seen to the northeast. But the old man was clearly not that in tune with the greater political goings-on in the area and more interested in making a good few silvers off you and the occasional drunken patrons of the inn that succumbed to its perilous staircase.

You left Humbertsville on good terms with its simple Baronet and ventured into the swamps near New Arvonesse, meeting with Aym along the way and concocting a plan: you'd wait until nightfall, he'd sneak in and get a rowboat, you'd meet him at the harbour and take it to the Sekelchi which should be anchored out in the deep harbour, and you'd do your job and get out; Aym was left to his own devices. And so you proceeded with your plan. It seemed to go off without much of a hitch…

Aym showed up with the boat at the appointed hour, then you recalled that none of you were much good at the oars, but the harbour waters were calm, helping Boamund to prove his surprising talent in rowing. The Captain and Aym then swam to the Sekelchi, which stood swaying in the currents, its exotic, rickety wooden tower heaving to and fro near its prow. On the stern deck, the two stealthy men surveyed the crew: one in the crows nest, four patrolling the deck and one on guard at the tower door. With the signal, Boamund brought the boat close enough for everyone else to clamber silently on board. So far, so good. Many of you spotted Aym, crouching in the shadows of clutter on the junk's deck, withdraw a sinister dark, dull-metal blade from his *skin* on his left forearm, and that knife made you shudder— it was some cold, cruel, unusual magic.

You awaited a good moment then assaulted the thuggish guards! Maugis proved his mettle as almost a battle-mage after a prayer to their patron saint, releasing a powerful Palsy spell that rendered two guards unconscious, knocked another off balance enough to fall off the deck into the sea, and left three other guards hobbled. Ahappi sought to secure the deck first, so he charged a thug and pulverised his skull with a harpoon. As the sailor up in the crows nest maimed Maugis's left arm with a crossbow bolt, Ahappi threaded-the-needle through the rigging to leave that man's head a ruinous mass, too. Boamund engaged a thug who took a defensive position on deck- the thug dealt a nasty blow with his club that nearly hit Boamund in the head despite Boamund's heroic maneuvering, then kicked a puddle of seawater on deck to try to blind Boamund, but the great warrior deftly raised his shield and blocked it, then slew him– in just a few seconds, the ship seemed yours!

The Baronet had charged across the deck to the tower and so he burst through its door. Spotting green magic glowing at the top of the wobbly wooden spiral staircase, he sprinted upwards. He and his foe met at the top, both mis-judging the timing of the Baronet's arrival but the foe having the advantage of speed. It was a softly phosphorescent, coiling, enormous (SIZ 40!) serpent, which first used its hypnotic gaze to try to leave the lord helpless, but Shaven was no weak-willed scullion and resisted. The Baronet proceeded to deal it a series of brutal blows to the midbody, suffering only a minor wound to his leg from its (luckily non-venomous) bite, and then he dealt a powerful disembowelling blow after it accidentally tied its coils in a knot. With a hissing scream, bright green magics swirled around the tower-top room and the snake writhed, then vanished in a flash, leaving behind an old, weathered bald Kralorelan man covered in green snake-tattoos– the Captain, “Mister Home”, was dead!

Ahappi made it to the top of the stairs to find a disturbing sight: seeming entranced, Baronet Shaven had taken a sacrificial iron dagger he'd found in the sorceror's chambers and was cutting Mister Home's heart out, muttering inane poetry to himself, with Maugis busy rifling through the magician's papers and belongings. The Captain was briefly infuriated to see his foe already slain, so the heft of his harpoon met the Baronet's head– but this simply caused Lord Shaven, who had painted himself in the sorceror's greenish blood, to merely partake in his mad ritual more eagerly! Maugis and Ahappi smelled smoke coming from below: Boamund had invoked his ring of fire and was setting the Sekelchi ablaze! They grabbed the kneeling Baronet (Maugis holding his prize: a large, old tome, under his arm) and hauled him away, but the Baronet snagged a prize of his own: a section of the sorceror's guts that he bit into with relish! Disgusted, his two comrades hauled him down the stairs and, as the Baronet began to come to his senses in even greater disgust, you abandoned the Sekelchi, without a sign of Aym or any remaining crew/passengers.

The Baronet thus has retrieved a magical dagger of some value, and Maugis has the sorceror's grimoire in his possession: but soon enough Maugis realizes in dismay that it is all written in Kralorelan, a convoluted eastern tongue whose eldritch symbols very few Westerners have knowledge of! Some of you may wonder what the Baronet does with that dagger after what you saw happen in the chamber of Mister Home…

And Captain Ahappi has come away with a deep gloom and frustration– what has this all been for? He has surely pleased Saint Magasta, and slain some evil foreigners that were corrupting the people of Giraine, and earned honour in combat, but for what?

Boamund, however, is a practical man. He piloted the boat away as alarms were raised in New Arv and the Sekelchi lit the horizon with ever-brighter flames. He had helped his friends finish a mission for Big Ron and perhaps Giraine would be better for it. So he, for one, was satisfied.

You hid in the swamps on the southern shore, away from New Arv, and watched the ship burn and sink after feeble, all-too-late attempts from the village to save it. Aym Alamyn met you on that shore, slinking out of the water with his usual supple stealth. You noticed he had a bulging sack at his side, and he found the Baronet's bloody appearance humorous– if you ever had any doubts that this man was an assassin of some sort, it now was coldly apparent to you. You were wounded and did not want to venture into New Arv to investigate any further. Aym talked out loud about how he was still intrigued by the machinations afoot in that town, so you parted with him agreeing to investigate the local networks involved in distribution of the Golden Poppy drugs more.

As the adrenaline rush from your fast-paced mission's ending departed, so did you, on the long slog back to the Manor, and with much on your minds.

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