RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Hi guys,

Dark Season of the year 1622 rolled on. Valind's chill winds were blowing strongly from the north and your fires flickered in their hearths. Boamund and Maugis weighed the fate of Safiz al Zapar and agreed he should remain imprisoned until you returned from your impending voyage. Perhaps his wife's fate would then be clearer. His valued belongings were boxed up in the Shaven family strongroom. Safiz was distraught, still begging for mercy.

You discussed what question to leave for the Sage Scarabs and agreed, with Riftoyz's approval, that “What are the links between Granno, the Old Gods (names) and the Giranois?” might be answerable by them and might give you new clues about Giraine's past and future.

The Aeropod was outfitted and stocked and soon ready to go. You boarded it one night and cast off for the distant south: none of you, even the far-travelled Ahappi, had ever gone this far from home, down toward the continent of Pamaltela where your Agimori ancestors of Pithdaros came from.

Gothalos was northernmost of the settled islands of the formerly great island of Jrustela, now of course a shattered, cursed, Elder-race-ruled archipelago. With the winds at your back, it would be an easy week-long voyage or so. Syrr Kogag was in good spirits, even chatty as you glided across the reefs and over the seas. He made small-talk; very unlike him; then asked you for stories of your most daring exploits and heroism. Ahappi spoke up with many tales and Kogag laughed loudly at the end, overjoyed with the enthusiasm and spectacle of this true hero, he declared. Boamund tried to speak Darktongue of your heroquest encounter with Uz in the underworld, but got little more than a nod of acknowledgement at the end. But Syrr Kogag listened to any of you that spoke. Miguel humbly listened, too. Maugis was in no mood for tales of any kind!

The Uz told a story, finally, of Jeset the Uz back in the Godtime. He was an Uz without a purpose, but wandered the River Adzurana of Wonderhome (the peaceful pre-wars underworld home of Uz) and caught little fish, each of which taught him something (floating, swimming and boating) instead of being eaten. Jeset became the Ferry-Uz, plier of the underworld river, which Hoomanz call the Styx. He knows secret paths and tricks of that black place. And this myth, which Syrr Kogag so much enjoyed telling, had a reason for telling- he asked then what *his* purpose was? Yes, he plies the skies, like Jeset does the waters, and he has eaten many birds to learn their secrets. But he has come to Giraine to find out about the Fosnoir, which you agreed must be linked to the Underworld as everyone says it is. He said maybe he'd take you there sometime, and would be aided by Jeset's power, which he knows some of (his moniker “Kogag” refers to Jeset's son, Kogag the boatman who sails black ships over the ocean– I got it wrong, Kogag is not Jeset's father). So Syrr Kogag's aeropod must be a heroquesting treasure from some sort of Kogag/Jeset quest into Darkness-Sky (and Death?) realms; no mundane task!

Syrr Kogag remained standing the whole time, watching to the south; occasionally singing gently (to himself/his vessel). How he controlled the Aeropod was mostly unclear, but he seemed in a trance; rarely speaking, eating or doing anything else – especially in the daytime, when you wondered if he was even awake. You were again struck by how this Uz is civilized, cultured, noble, tall and looming; he casts his shadow in every direction (toward each onlooker), in any light. He is quiet and deeply contemplative, with an aura of confidence and power. This is a singular Uz hero.

No other creature seemed to be with him in the aeropod but there were feelings of a presence in the shadows under the canopy; disturbing to Maugis most of all, but soothing to Shaven and even Ahappi. Poor Maugis spent most of the trip shivering and crying out in terror at night, then trying to rest in the day. He regretted this nightmare-ridden voyage in a monster-ship.

Shaven spoke to Syrr Kogag of Black Arkat, of the Night Dragon and Elandra. Syrr Kogag revered the former (he is, indeed, a Malkioni Uz who is a member of Black Arkat's heresy– I forgot to emphasize that this time!) and sought this mysterious draconic entity - was the Night Dragon alive or destroyed? He was sure its power at least remained, and some of that was on Giraine; another reason he came here. And he was going with you, Shaven in particular, to slay evil “Prophets” of chaos-taint that his Uz people and religion hated as much as any of you did.

Days passed and most of you endured the dark interior of the aeropod, save poor Maugis, who suffered endlessly and remained mostly mute except in prayer when he could manage it. But as you came within sight of the vast Jrusteli island chain, you soon saw a ray of sun break through the clouds ahead and shine onto the ocean, which glowed in response. Suddenly, you saw shapes emerging, and those shapes came toward you.

There were 10 golden-skinned humanoids with yellow-feathered wings in place of arms, and their eyes and mouths projected bright golden light as they sung triumphant, unintelligible tunes. None of you knew what they were- you were in an alien place. Watching them approach, you decided that they were not coming with benevolent intent and so you cast spells, Miguel shot arrows at them that they deftly avoided, and soon they were close enough to see and hear more clearly– and they indeed meant harm. Maugis shrieked in horror, declaring that he'd had nightmares of these very things, and he recoiled into the back of the aeropod, praying for succour. Ahappi cast a Darkness spell around you. Fraud Shaven pulled out the Foestopper fan and flapped it at them mightily, and the resulting wind blew all but one of them down and away from you. The last one tried to blind Fraud with its golden gaze, but the darkness blinded it instead, leaving it helpless. Ahappi and Boamund speared its leg, then ripped it off entirely, releasing a blinding flash. This knocked it down inside the boat, where Miguel tried to saw through its throat but just made a mess of glowing ichor that soon faded. Ahappi finally dispatched it. What an odd being…

The aeropod flew past the remaining creatures, which had been blow off course so far, and scattered and demotivated so much that they gave up the chase after a while. The Foestopper fan again proved its mettle! Ahappi later reasoned that the place these winged beings came from was Aurelion's Breakwater, but he didn't know what that was. At nightfall, Syrr Kogag stirred, and spotted the dead body. He sniffed at it and explained it was a “sky demon”. He noisily ate its leg and welcomed you to any of the rest- Shaven had to contain himself but Ahappi proudly ripped out the golden heart and gorged messily on it, much to others' disgust. He explained, “These demons were drawn to us for a reason; sent by the evil we seek. Time is important, because they seek to destroy Time, and music, and happiness, and everything that comes with them. Yet Time is still with us.” These foes were anti-twilight (Stasis-Sky) extraplanar beings who, he implied, must be servants/summonings of the Poets/Prophets. “They came from a bad place ahead of us.” That bad place, he said, was Aurelion's Breakwater, not far from Gothalos, and “a place that hates Uz, especially my lineage”.

Gothalos soon presented itself: the lush, jungly island with craggy outcrops in the interior, and the ragged harbor on its western side where humanity wrought what little civilization it could maintain. As you approached, Syrr Kogag explained that he could not leave the aeropod, that the Breakwater's power threatened it and so you must descend into the port and find information. You should not mention the Poets/Prophets but instead should ask about their allies you'd met, like the Dripping Beards or Strangers. Someone here might know more; the Sage Scarabs' information made it certain that this was the place to start. But he warned you that this was a deadly place: “Easy place to lie low in, but also easy to stick out-and get dead.” The Wolf Pirates held grip on Gothalos and were of legendary prowess and negligible mercy.

As you descended, Ahappi was intently peering over the rim of the aeropod “basket” and immediately espied his own goal: The Shadow sat moored here! His eyes gleamed with fervor.

On the docks, you spoke with the eager Harbourmaster, Munogar Sandbar, who hailed from far-off Fonrit. Ahappi spoke Seaspeech with him and haggled with Miguel's help (and Maugis knew Tradetalk too– Syrr Kogag had mentioned that few here would speak Seshnegi). Soon Munogar agreed to a fair half-way price, warning that you had no weight here to negotiate in the realm of Harrek the Berserk, who fortunately was off at sea raiding some foreign land. The Dripping Beards? Yeah he'd heard of them but they were long gone; destroyed and almost forgotten. They had nothing to do with the Wolf Pirates, he said with disdain- the real pirates were the latter ones. But as part of the bargain he offered information: yes, the Shadow was here and its captain was none other than your old associate, the grim Bar'ran Monster-Killer (of Handra/Vomiter adventures)! That was enough for Ahappi. He stalked off to confront the thief of his ship, and you rushed after him, leaving the Harbourmaster confused by Miguel who'd put an Incognito spell on you all to keep you from drawing too much attention– for now…

At the Shadow, Ahappi called out and was faced by the ivory-eyed menacing captain, who invited him on board to settle their differences. The two cast their magics, with you having contributed a wide array of spells on Ahappi in advance. Miguel called rats from around the shanty-town to invade the boat, keeping the crew busy, but they also left the two warriors a wide berth to duel. The fight was on!

Bar'ran was fastest, jabbing with his magicked harpoon with massive force but only scratching Ahappi. Ahappi's blow in response seemed to about end the duel already, spearing into the cruel Magastan priest's eyesocket and ripping out that enchanted ivory eye– but, calling on the power of death he'd found in Magasta's Pool heroquest, Bar'ran amazing survived the wound, but staggered. Ahappi dealt his chest some bitter wounds but then was disarmed. Ahappi then invoked his Truestone power to become a black Wyrm, flapping on batlike wings and lashing with terrible jaws. Bar'ran dropped his harpoon in the struggle and, although he came close to picking it up again, a final blow from those wyrm jaws rent his ribs asunder and he twitched in Ahappi's dripping jaws. Before the gathering crowd's astonished eyes, the captain-wyrm crunched on and swallowed the famed heroquester's body whole! It was over. Ahappi roared out to Magasta and The Shadow that he was the greatest sailor-hero, and his ship mentally agreed to him that this was true. Cowed and amazed, the crew kneeled before him and pledged their devotion, acknowledging that Bar'ran was no more and this was a fair duel that bestowed The Shadow back to Ahappi's ownership. Ahappi returned to his human form but still blazed with glory and re-discovered passion. He was no longer adrift– he'd proven himself to his god and his ship and to the world!

Amur van Zed, the Fonritian ship's mate who handled most of Bar'ran's mundane business including some with you in the past, presented himself in obeisance. He confided that Bar'ran had done some naughty things, trapping murdered souls into the hull of The Shadow, which left the ship in an ill mood but was fueling them for a new voyage into Hell. Amur felt that this was wrong and the right thing to do would be to let the ghosts free for a “burial” out at sea, but this was the new Captain's decision– he agreed, and liked Amur's honesty. Another crewman brought the bloody ivory eye to Ahappi. It had lost its glow but was a nice trophy. The harpoon that Bar'ran wielded was just a harpoon; Magasta gave whatever Bar'ran did its own special power, and anything else of Bar'rans was gone in the belly of the wyrm. But that belly had quickly digested some of Bar'ran's power of the Sea, which Ahappi felt inside him, and it made him chortle with pride.

You came aboard, with Miguel calling off the rats into the sea (sharks were there and made a good meal of them!) and Fraud offering a cask of rum to Ahappi, who took a big draught in celebration (and saw a vision of the Fosnoir's black waters, being now able to see deep into them for a moment, and noticing bleak dragonships of the Waertagi resting on the floor of that abyss!). Now The Shadow was back in your possession, and it was time to explore this depraved town of Gothalos! The crew returned the Shadow to good order after all the commotion. A crowd still watched, wondering at the significance of this duel and the dragon-thing that had briefly manifested. But they didn't seem so surprised; maybe amazing things like this happened all the time in Gothalos!

Amur said that the cloud across the harbor, at the “bar” (Ygg's Groggs), was The Gothalos, a spirit of the Ygg people who formed the bulk of the barbarian Wolf Pirate hordes. They were winter-folk who liked the cold that this cloud-spirit brought to the bar, and you could see that immense cloud sending tendrils of mist into the bar to serve, to chill drinks, and to interfere in matters where it wished. Looking around the rest of the town from the harbor, you could see much more within the robust stockade, and a vast jungle beyond the well-guarded gates. It was time to figure out what secrets of your enemies this place might divulge, and the “bar” seemed a good starting point…

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