RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Hi all,

The mad Baronet finished his sonnet before a transfixed audience as the sense of disaster crept over them, and Quick Sister called her amphibian brethren to her while Apatune fled. Cyroosta crumpled to her knees, praying and largely unresponsive. Much of the audience began fleeing as madness struck some of their members and as six writhing blood-red two-headed serpents (Amphisboenae) leapt out of the now-seething fumarole-like crater on the hilltop, where the main ceremony participants stood.

Quick Sister became a giant frog-toad-thing with the addition of her kin to her mass, and leapt away, returning to her home by Toadhaven to sulk, like the rest of her contingent. Townsfolk soon found that there were no toads or frogs to be seen in Aria's Well this summer, and the blight of insects that typified these times became markedly worse.

Maugis found himself surrounded by a glowing pyramid of Law magic and unleashed its power, paralyzing a few of the serpents that were rolling as hoops downhill to pursue audience members. On the hill, Boamund quickly struck down one serpent, and then Ahappi two others in rapid succession. One of the snakes that made it downhill leapt and bit a peasant on the neck, remaining attached and then vomiting corrosive bloody venom onto him when Maugis palsied it, causing the terrible demise of that merchant. Miguel ran to the defense of the peasants and soon faced a serpent, which also leapt and bit him, leaving him unconscious and in great mortal threat, but Maugis soon ran to help remove the venom and probably saved him.

That serpent left Miguel to viciously chase other victims, but by then Baron Ronalio Jabaal and his men were mopping up the remaining creatures. The Baron unleashed dark magic that conjured a huge fist that smashed his enemies- it was your first time seeing him and his soldiers in action with their mighty magics and skills, and it was impressive! The Baronet, however, continued to babble and crack jokes, with Boamund soon getting fed up and decking him to the ground.

The Captain was disappointed by the short supply of foes to face on the hilltop now, and looked into the fuming crater, poking its crusty surface with his spear and calling for the demonic foe that surely lurked within to come face him. But oddly, nothing emerged. The crater remained as a scar upon the land, frightening the local peasantry away from that site for weeks to come.

Cyroosta was still oblivious to the fracas and the Captain overheard her praying first to her Pamaltelan ancestors and spirits, and to local Pithdaran Malkioni saints and to Makan, but then her prayers shifted to the Giranois Old Gods as her trance deepened, and she was exhorting Deep Mother to save her… but nothing changed for her, and she was left visibly shaken, weak, and looking a decade older. Boamund soon helped her back to the Manor, where she remained in desperate, grief-stricken isolation and withdrawal. Some felt sorry for the crone; others blamed it all on her (and Apatune's) scheming, and others just didn't care.

The Baron mounted the hilltop and proclaimed in a powerful voice, “The good Baronet Shaven has fallen ill and must needs rest. In his place, Lord Boamund has my blessing as Talar of this estate of Aria's Well. So speaks the Baron!” And so Boamund became the new Baronet Shaven. But the settlement of Aria's Well had been dealt a terrible blow by these events. As Boamund, Maugis, Miguel and the Baron's men worked with the locals to restore order, it became clear that about a third of the villagers had fled the area- some under the Baron's care back to St Thosos, but others off in many directions into the wilderness. Most of these were the people least loyal to the Baronet in recent strife, but some others fled either insane from the Purple Sonnet's curse or in utter terror.

What happened to some other visitors, such as some unfamiliar and familiar Giranois guests, was less clear, and no one seemed to wonder. But all wedding gifts were taken either by their gifters or by others, except that Boamund later found an iron sphere with a curious Seshnegi inscription on it, which had come from some unnamed benefactor. He secured it away in the manor. Orsatus and his men had also vanished in the commotion, but came wandering back into town in coming days as if nothing had happened, quietly returning to service. As the Baron left that evening, he reminded Boamund that he was in charge of the new stable and five gifted cavalry horses, which would remain at Aria's Well. As for the new tavern, the locals were too distracted or dispersed to carry it's plan forward soon, and Maugis tut-tutted that there would be no serpent in its design!

The Captain spoke briefly with the Baron before they parted, and accepted the invitation to come serve him off the St Thosos port for a time, to pursue common foes upon the seas. And so The Shadow left that night, and stories filtered back to Aria's Well in coming weeks that it had indeed found glory and plunder as a privateer. In turn, the Baron and his men took the ex-Baronet back to St Thosos that night, with Jett giving Fraud Shaven personal attention with a soothing warmth and concern. In private, the Baron told the ex-Baronet that he blamed the women Cyroosta and Apatune for the anarchy at the ceremony, not-too-subtly noting that he too had been in such a situation of being used as a political pawn and pressured into undesired nuptials… He confided that Fraud would find more peace in his keep, attended by like-minded men and immersed in a strong, masculine environment.

Jett later spoke to Fraud Shaven of the Purple Sonnet, which was a blight upon the coasts and cities of the world lately, and which he sought to learn more of- was it simply a symptom of the Disorder of the growing Hero Wars, or was it a chaotic driving force? He also comforted the lord with stories of his faith (Elandra) and how Arkat and his saint had worked together before, finding peace and common ground with rituals they shared, and he shared these with the Baronet to ease his madness and unrest. Soon, the ex-Baronet returned to reason and logic, calmly examining his current situation in his tower room at the Baron's keep, and Jett regularly attended to his needs with friendly attentiveness. Jett may have overstepped his bounds when noting that the Baronet might be better off without a bride and that he might see his undesirable position in a different light later, finding a way to lead as a man without needing women's wisdom constantly in his ear, but there was some trust established as Lord Shaven found new inner peace.

Later, the unusually refined Uz (troll) named Riftoyz visited Fraud there, and shared a darkness ritual that also eased the Baronet's mind, although the initial terror of the embracing darkness gave Fraud a shock and would have killed a lesser man. There were mentions of Black Arkat and other powers, including the Night Dragon (which none of you had heard of in a year or more), and thoughts of a different purpose in life, tuned more to his secret faith, crept into Lord Shaven's mind.

Back in Aria's Well, Miguel discovered that the well itself had become a regular hangout for the swamp spider visitor, and it had woven threads that it soon draped around the well, creating a musical instrument that played lute-like sounds when strummed, and this music echoed within the well, making a fine if poignant atmosphere there. Miguel tried to enhance this atmosphere with a sung tune, but this served more to drive the spider away for a while than to create harmony. Miguel also got rebuffed by the Mraloti elder Narak, who wondered if her folk should stay here in this crazy place or find a new home, and who did not appreciate his “presumption” that she wanted his input on her maunderings.

Fire Season began to pass, and while the town returned to some stability it was not the same place again. Tales came back of Dronari from your home who'd been lost in the swamps and terrible things that had (or might have) happened to them, and also tales came of how Aria's Well was mocked by other settlements as a place that was too doom-laden for any but fools to dwell in. Rokari priests and monks up and down the island were known to be clucking their tongues and reminding locals of the consequences of mixing with heretics and heathens like the people of the 'Well.

Maugis turned his attention more to what the Vadeli were up to in your area, concerned about their degree of meddling. In bad times like this, it was all the more likely that desperate, otherwise good Malkioni might turn a blind eye to Vadeli misdeeds or even seek out their “help.”

But what could the leaders of Aria's Well do? The problems were simply overwhelming, and the loss of the leadership of Fraud Shaven, Cyroosta and Captain Ahappi all in one day left them struggling just to keep daily business on track. Rumours of dragonkind (wyverns?) on the north island, Giranois raising new troubles, undead and demons, Vadeli schemes, disease, bandits and pirates, cackling babes' disappearance and whispers of awakening evils came to you, but what was a fractured town to do about it?

Buzzing, biting flies, sweltering heat and stinking swamps: Giraine's summer and your young settlement's predicament left more than a few minds thinking of other lands that might hold more promise, and dreams of a better life elsewhere. And then… then things got even worse. But that's a story for next time.

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