RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

The Captain's blowing of the conch shell turned out to just produce bubbles. You pursued more spirits as the ship continued to collapse upon itself and the rust-cloud and debris rendered it obscured. Miguel, suddenly obsessed with returning home to check on his family, as a wave of emotion hit you all, swam back to the surface and re-boarded the Shadow, soon joined by the rest of you once you'd tired of Mostali spook-hunting.

The Captain blew the shell once back on deck and its sonorous call echoed over the waves. Soon enough, the Ouori came, featuring jolly old Gumthunooreebou, who said he'd bring the news of the Drowned Castle's fall to his Great King Sumbinaroomeesh. He recommended that you return home and the ouori would find you there later. They seem to take their time.

Strange time-slips continued to plague you; whatever their cause was, the end of the castle-ship did not resolve it. Most now seemed to cause you to leap forward in time, and seemed to be harmless or even helpful. You wondered if they were actually intentionally helping you, then a bad time-slip happened in which the Shadow drifted forward and grazed the reefs, causing the Shadow to roll violently and one sailor to fall into the seas (quickly saved). Each of you appeared somewhere unusual on the ship (space had warped too?)- the Captain in the crow's nest, and Miguel at the wheel, gingerly holding it until a crew member could step in and take control until the Captain returned.

You eventually neared St Thosos, and then saw a curious thing: four red sails in the distance! Vadeli, the Captain hoped? You raced for them with Fraud Shaven fanning wind into the sails with his magic fan, but they were far ahead and moving swiftly themselves, so you only closed the distance enough to inspect them more, before they arrived at St Thosos port and docked. You realized that they were not Vadeli, but rather crimson-sailed vessels of the far-off Lunar Empire, as the white runes of Moon on their sails demonstrated. As you approached, you caught wind of a vile, rotting stench coming from their direction, and spotted bald, white-robed women on board as the main crew, but naked men as the rowers. The women, you soon discerned, all looked unusually similar, with pale skin and nothing on them but a broken scimitar hanging from a cord at their side.

A crowd had gathered at the dock where the four ships anchored, and you drew up the Shadow there as well. Men, especially, amongst the crowd were gawking at these gorgeous women. Merchant ships crewed by women, except male slaves at the oars? How strange! And soon it was obvious that the rowers were not living, but rather undead zombies of various human ethnicities, buzzing with flies and pecked at by seabirds– it was their decay that was the source of the stench, although the ships' hulls, too, seemed to be uncommonly decomposed. Some of the women crew had gone ashore and were followed by onlookers. What business could these moon worshippers have so far to the west?

You approached and soon Ahappi addressed the apparent leader, on board the ship The First White. Apparently she was called The Veritalba. Her voice was unnerving- although spoken in her native tongue, it was heard in your minds in your own native tongue, fluently, and beautifully. Moreso, her words had the power- magical or otherwise- to entrance others. A few of you were silenced by this, but Ahappi spoke out, warning her to ensorcel none of the people here and take no dead from your people to re-crew their ships. She spoke back, calmly but condescendingly referring to him and other critics as “colour-blinded”, and then swiftly preaching peace and prayer to the White Moon, which is what it turned out they seemed to represent. She launched into some sort of prophecy as Maugis loudly began preaching against her:

“As blood precedes a birth, As a child becomes a woman. As night passes into day, as summer follows winter, so shall the White Moon follow the Scarlet. The worst war of the world can only be followed by the best peace of the world. The White Moon is the Moon of Peace, For none can be warlike when all weapons are broken. The White Moon is the Moon of Calm, For none are quieter than the dead. The White Moon is the Moon of Beauty, But who shall remain to admire her? In time, all colours will bleach unto white, All lies will wither and truth will emerge from their husks.”

Maugis did not like these white women one bit, and engaged with her in brief debate, feeling that the commonalities between his Whyte Wyzard faith and these White Wonders, as they called themselves, were disturbing all the moreso because they were so different, with women leading the faith(!) and males as slaves(!)– and undead at that! Such blasphemy almost felt like chaos-worship to him, and he was not alone…

Jett and Baron Ronalio soon came down to the docks, concerned and speaking firmly to The Veritalba. Jett listed briefly then ushered Fraud Shaven away to the keep, fearing for his mental state. Boamund soon joined them. Ron proclaimed: “I see you come in peace, but you come in a way that disturbs the peace of my land, white women from afar. Finish your business and then depart and do not return to my port.” To which she replied “We will do as you say. Many are colour-blinded and do not see that their disturbance comes from within, not from us- when the White Moon's light shines upon them, they will be at peace. I sense your disturbance, lord of the land- the darkness of your torment hangs heavy upon your brow as if the whole Castle of Lead were suspended from there. Black is the absence of white; let the light shine upon you and the blackness will fade like all colour is fated to. Peace be with you, fair lord.”

The Baron was left slack-jawed at hearing this, caught up in her mellifluous words, but one of his guards kept his wits and picked up the Baron, carrying him off to his keep. The guard spoke tensely with Ahappi, who sought to take the Baron into the waters for safety (he'd been knocking some of the onlookers in, which did help break their trance), and insisted that he'd take the Baron home. Then Ahappi confronted The Veritalba, shifting to a more threatening tone, but she replied (with some more edge to her tone) that he was not in charge here but the Baron was, and she'd been given the right to do her business by the Baron's rules, so she would.

No one managed to get the “Moonies”, as locals began to call them, to say what they truly were doing in these parts of the world, but your leaders began to worry that it was not good. Maugis kept preaching Malkionism to the faithful and had gathered a small audience of admirers as the night moved on. Ahappi kept watch on the ships in grim outrage, and Boamund soon joined them once he was reassured that the Baron was OK. Miguel had been transfixed by the Moonies' words, but shook off a feeling of obsession with The Veritalba, realizing that a new affection for her was unnatural.

Just what you needed. More foreign meddlers, mad faiths and undead on Giraine. You hoped they'd do as they pledged and move on by dawn- it seemed they were here mainly for supplies and repair materials, as the remaining women crew returned home for the night with those goods (and no dead bodies).

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