Written in three different languages, sometimes changing mid-word

Guess I should put this down. Gotta clear my head. Probably a waste of time.

Lets start with the easy part. Religion.

Blood of Vol. ‘s funny, really. It’s so obviously a trap – “Okay, so you worship your undead masters whose goal is to kill the gods? Seriously, that just screams evil cult led by evil-cult-leading-monster-thing. Who the hell falls for that shit? Blood-tithe? Really? Can you say ‘looking for fools and dupes’ any louder?”

And then, they save your life. Nurse you back to health and give you a little perspective, let you feel like maybe your fate isn’t so set in stone and just because you’ve got the almost overwhelming urge to be a murder-machine doesn’t mean that you’ve got to be a murder-machine. Because almost overwhelming isn’t overwhelming, right? And that blood-tithe thing? That has some meaning too. Doesn’t hurt that, worst case, you know it helps somebody not get eaten.

So you think, hey, maybe this shop isn’t exactly what the shingle shows? And maybe you read the pamphlet and kinda-sorta get some comfort in the fact that the world isn’t as obvious and black and white as all that.

Nope.

Exactly as printed on the tin.

Damn. It.

At least I won’t have to worry about feeling foolish for long.

I died, and I didn’t even know it.

Not that special, happens a lot. Hell, I’ve caused it to happen to other people… it’s only fair I guess.

Life’s funny that way.

I died the moment that damned mark burned on my leg. No. That’s a lie. I died when I let it be seen. By my House, by Pai. Yeah. I’m dead because of my desire to finally be a Marked House member (the price of ambition, silly peasant!) or because I just wanted to take the edge off (just like a Brellish morality tale!).

As the play-wrights demand, my ill-formed character reaped as it sowed.

Dead. Elf. Walking.

Maybe if I keep pretending it doesn’t bother me it won’t.

Can’t help but remember, father’s last words to me playing in my ears.

“Silly little girl, you are what you are and nothing can change that. What? You think you can do something else, be something else? Don’t be stupid. You are, at best, a mediocre dancer. You are too plain for whoring and your intelligence gathering acumen is decidedly underwhelming. No, where you excel, what you were born to do, is killing.”

“You are so lovely dancing amidst arterial sprays, blade flashing and spell ending, a hand of fate or a swooping hawk. I see the joy in your eyes, the song in your heart! Truly, you are my daughter.”

I think that’s when he stabbed me through the gut.

“What? You disagree? Oh what a burden this father bears, to have such a quarrelsome daughter. Do as you will, then.” He drove a dagger through my hand. “Try and fail to be something you are not. I know what will happen. Perhaps, for a while, those around you will tolerate your mediocrity, your shallow skills.”

He stabbed my other hand, fully pinning me to the ground. It hurt.

“But one day, you will draw your blade and dance. You have the same lust as I, you feel the same fire. You are a killer, and you will kill. Don’t look at me that way… fine, right, no matter. Your petty delusions of ‘making the world better’ and foolish ethics will force you to kill and kill again as surely as if you hung your shingle as an assassin, only you will be paid in lies rather than gold. When you do, child, that is all they will have you do. It defines you, and they shall see it as I. So run along, little girl, and play at being what you are not. On day, I will find you again, and when I ask you shall tell me I was right.”

“You were born to spread death.”

Lovely, right? Words of a mad bastard? Hurt more than the daggers. The thought he might be right.

Still hurts. Worse, really. Because… that’s how it’s worked out so far.

‘Cept now, I guess. What with the Mark.

Because the lich-queen-thingy only values me for my Mark, because my kids might be Marked. Yeah, that really makes me feel more worthwhile as a person.

Wait… what was my Mark called again?

Fuck.

So now the crew is wondering why I chose to work with her, rather than take the “oh, I suppose if you just give me this little artifact of godly power I’ll give you something to help you hide and then we’ll go our separate ways. No need to trouble your conscience working with the big bad lich-queen. I won’t even fuck you over. Promise!” Makes me remember something else.

“What is the greatest tool of an assassin?”

I don’t remember what I said, but he slapped me.

“Foolish child, that was a simple answer unbecoming of my protégé. The correct answer is hope. Hope for life, for other’s lives. Hope prevents action. You must never fall to hope. You must always engender hope. And, no matter how… satisfying… it may be to watch as the grim realization of their true fate dawns in the eyes your prey, you must always strike before hope is extinguished. Hope is your greatest and cruelest weapon. Search for it without fail, sow it where fields are barren then once it’s in your grasp wield it and you shall reap the greatest and the least in equal measure.”

I could have gone without that in the ‘flashing-before-your-eyes’.

Still, it’s relevant, and since I’m a dead elf walking, I might as well do something worthwhile until my body catches up to the inevitable. No worries about failure, I’ve already failed.

That’s why I might still to do some good. “Win” as it were. The Queen’s got three-thousand years of fucking people over, plans and power. The only reason why we will possibly end her reign is because… she wants it ended too.

I think, she could be lying. That doesn’t make us any more fucked, so it doesn’t matter.

She has hope, hope that she’ll get what she wants, hope that she can spawn her House again. And that’s the only weakness she has. So we use that hope, because hope prevents action. We keep her hope alive, and maybe, just maybe, let the world stop suffering from her pain.

Or not. Doesn’t make me any less dead.

#$ing morons, allying with psychotic donkey sucking deathcunt. Why are we even … GRHGH.

Bitch crazy!!!

Navigator’s log of events, Stormreach Zombie Invasion Night 1

Z hour as it were.

Point the first: Seems the first vampire has returned to the realm of the walking. Most unfortunate business, that.

Point the second: For the first vampire to rejoin the walking world seems it needed a significant amount of sacrifice, preferably of the sapient type. To this end it seems an invasion of the walking dead was the dish of choice and the nearest target of amassed sapient life was Stormreach. Thus zombies, skeletons, and the drowned crews of an entire fleet of life impaired sea-faring pirates. In a city where closets are in use for interment as often as the earth. Quite distasteful and dare I say… rude and a little icky.

Point the third: The Queen of the Dead is named Lady Arrandis or some such. We’ve established tenuous relations with her and she claims she mainly just wants to live again. Problem is I believe she would quite willingly sacrifice every other living thing in the world for that end. That would be unacceptable. Aside from the obvious personal reasons of not wanting to get dead myself there would be nothing of profit in the proposition and even if there were there would be no further way to capitalize on said opportunity. I may have been born to a war-torn and unstable city, but that isn’t genocide. Regime changes happen, allegiances may alter but genocides are quite a bitter fruit.

Personal notes: I have hired a door for Spike… Er… Karn Reborn? Sod it, I’m going to call him Spikarn. As he no longer sleeps this obviously enchanted and self aware door can carry on conversation I thought it would prove a nice distraction for him while the rest of us may be unavailable. Also, Pi turns out to have been a dragon and quite adept at altering her size. A rather randy one at that and while she has departed for the moment I do feel somewhat disappointed that she and I likely will not any time soon have another romp. For the peace of mind (and safety) of the crew, however; this is likely best. We carry dangerous cargo again and best if not easily tracked.

a pen scratches over several papers arrayed on a desk on its own

Another reminder – I need to remember to thank Alric for this ghostwriter system he bought in the capital of Khorvaire. It’s proved at least four times faster to log this ship’s adventures verbally.

Yesterday, reality walked right on to the deck, and crapped all over my ship.

To start off, we spent nearly an hour deliberating what to do about the so-called ’co-terminus negative plane- guarding the First, and the Priestess of Vol agreed that she would make us all protection stones. So we went back to our tower and agreed to wait 10 weeks for her to produce the necessary amulets.

I went to work on the paperwork necessary for this new Dolurrh forsaken job while Arion investigated some of his missing contacts in the city. Drosin, Lorelea, and Alrik proceeded into the city to look at some kind of new plague.

From what I can gather, Arion discovered four of his contacts dead in a room with a talking door in it, which he then hired to install in our tower … (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 1) and he discerned that these bodies might be related to the plague. So he went back to Alrik and Drosin, who were discovering that this plauge was caused supernaturally somehow.

Meanwhile, I wandered downstairs because I heard two very loud, shrill girls in Alrik’s library, so I knew he couldn’t be in there. I wandered in and they apparently heard me coming. A gorgeous human girl slid off Sailla and grabbed me and hauled me inside. What threw me off was she looked just like Pi – then when she talked just like Pi, I realized she was Pi (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 2), and I was speechless for the first ten minutes as they… pounced all over me. The next hour was a blur of legs and … other things.

It was about this point when Spike walked in and threw cold water on us. Another crisis. The girls decided to go down nude, but I, being the sanest of the three, put my clothes back on. As always, Pi misinterpreted the situation, and plopped down in Alrik’s lap, while he had a panic attack about his deceased wife. Seilla sat in Lorelea’s lap which… was very interesting to watch. During this particular meeting we discovered that it was possible that Lorelea’s father was behind this new plague, and we were going to have to scry him, find him, and kill him.

Pi then, in her infinite … wisdom or something… offered to bang Arion and Lorelea stomped off angrily for what I presume was me courting her then ending of frelling the first sexy nude trelk I came across. It was a moment of weakness, but I haven’t had time to discuss it. Oh and Drosin was happy for the first time I’ve ever seen him happy…(REALITY VIOLATIONS: 3) he was going to kill the undead who’d had a helping hand in making his life (and presumably the life of his ward) a living Hell.

We then assaulted the Vampire’s lair. I’ll cut through a lot of the bullshit here by saying, honestly, he had a brilliant tactic, and it flummoxed us for over an hour. Finally we assaulted the tower with ballista while the Paladin waited at the bottom with his sunblade. Through more accident than design, which seems to be our M.O., we managed to stake him, and drag him on board. We interrogated him for a while and discovered he felt like he had no choice in his actions, that he was being commanded by the Queen of the Dead, who I immediately guessed two things about – One, that she was this “Vol” everyone was so obsessed over, most likely, and two, she didn’t act like any vampire I’ve ever seen, and “Queen of the Dead” seemed like a title best bestowed on one of those Liches you only read about. Oh, and she was probably far out of our league. Well, that never stopped us before.

All in all, this guy knew very little, he was a lackey, and we wanted the main course, so we asked Lorelea what she wanted to do, and as sure as Bob’s your Uncle, Dhampyr killed a bitch.

Normally, it would have ended there. BUT – In this thing’s clothing, we discovered an amulet… and when we picked it up, a – and I quote here directly from Alrik – “sexy-sounding but creepy” voice came to us from over the Amulet and asked if we had properly killed Kessler.

I will spare the pages of this journal the gory details of the entire discussion. Suffice it to say, the Queen of the Dead told us that she put the plans in motion to rouse the first vampire. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 4) She had one question for him: Can the undead live again? The answer was yes. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 5) She’d been searching the planet for 3000 years trying to find a way to live again, not caring who, or what, got in her way, and now she had it. We were part of the means to her end.

That was when Spike took the amulet, the Queen of the Dead yelled “YOU!!!” and Spike vanished. Alrik begged her to return Spike unchanged and unharmed, and Drosin taunted her, screaming some rather nasty epithets about goat sucking and storm related vaginal orifices. She politely ignored him and returned Spike… Different.

She dropped the whammy on us that the Warforged are the souls of the dead, (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 6) returned to life, and Spike was a conquerer named Karn from the past, who tried to unite a nation under his rule. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 7) Which, if you think about it, kinda explains a lot. (But I’m not rescinding the reality violation.)

Once we were over the shock of Spike being a 2000 year old dead guy, Vol then appeared on the ship, announcing her name was Lady Arrandis, and that she started the Vol religion trying to find a way to live again, because her parents forced her into this undeath and she had no way of finding her soul. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 8) Drosin tried to blast her with Positive Energy, he tried Lay on Hands, he tried everything, and could accomplish nothing.

Half a shake after that, she turned and saw Seilla and tried to touch her, seeming to momentarily freak out. There was a strong resemblance, like they were cousins, and Arrandis revealed that Seilla must be her great descendent. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 9) Seilla asked her what the new mark on her thigh (I noticed it earlier when we were nude) was and Arrandis said it was the Mark of Death, something that only manifested through her family line, and that meant somewhere there was a dragon in Seilla’s lineage, which changed things immensely. Dragons would want her dead, because she was part hybrid, and because her skin contained another shard of the prophecy. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 10)

Arrandis commented that we were all in danger from the Dragons – many of us had recently manifested marks, and Sailla’s mark was the deadliest of all. The Dragons would be hunting us down for the kill, and Arrandis had the only safe haven. She reminded us that dragons could shape-change into anything, even gnomes, and when we all turned to look at Pi… she just waved at us and vanished.

“Okay. So. Pi was a Dragon.” (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 11)

We decided, as a group, it was time to head back to Arrandis’ place to hide. We discussed what this mark could mean, what kind of trouble we were in, and several options we had. We learned quite a bit about Karn, and that he’s a little bit nutso. We learned that Arrandis was trying to restart her family line, and needed the Dragon Eye to do it, and that she was willing to play by our silly little moral code if we would agree to be under her protection.

And we did it. We agreed. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 12) So long as she plays by our rules, we stay under her protection, and we find out how to kill the first vampire and fight off the dragons. (REALITY VIOLATIONS: 13)

But that’s it. That’s the last time. Seilla’s father has chewed her up, knifed her, and spit her out. I’ve spent my entire life fighting off a family who’s labrynthian plans always stab someone in the back to make sure we get ahead, sometimes exceedingly literally. Drosin’s broken because we had to make a deal with essentially the moral equivalent of one of the worst Karnathi war criminals who’s ever lived, and maybe he was already broken. Alrik’s obsession has been chewing him inside and turning him darker, and … well Arion has basically stayed the same.

I’ve forgotten who I was before I started. I’ve forgotten why I rebelled against my family, so backstabbing FUCKFACES like Arrandis wouldn’t win, and Paladins wouldn’t have be in moral divides by zero, and good kids like Seilla wouldn’t get stabbed.

If we’re taking this fight to the Dragons, we’re going to have to stop aimlessly screwing around and fight. We’re going to train, get better, and fight.

I’m done.

I’ve got zombies to kill, and a city to return to the living.

End log.

scratching of pen on rice paper

I have a little time to heal, but don’t feel like doing much. Monks hurt.

He stands a chance of hurting us again, but he’s displayed…honor. Such a rare thing these days, even I felt the need to spare him. Hopefully, this won’t bite us on the ass too hard.

Have to admit, the wizard made an impressive show scaring off his minions. I suspect a larger plan..why else would he have such easily-frightened people instead of fellow mercs or even actual adventurers?

Maybe he’s just cheap?

Did stall us long enough to wake up the first vampire. THAT could get ugly.

On a personal note, my fondness for the inquisitor has dropped. Sharply.

Should leave a note nailed to her door. ‘Beings keep secrets for a reason’, but she might take it wrong. Drosen would probably be amused, which might be good for him. If I recall squishy biology, too much anger and stress can pop blood vessels and kill you. Seems like he should be dead 10 times over by now, but maybe a Paladin can resist that? Something you learn while smiting?

Really, Lorelea released a whole font of anger and history with her magic, whatever it was that made us speak the truth like we did. I’m actually kind of hurt, in ways I can’t get the wizard to fix, especially by the elf. The Wizard’s…I hope he’ll be ok. I kinda like him; didn’t need the reminder about his love, I get how important that is, kind of like the bond between soldiers in a unit.

Revenge matters. Law is codified revenge against those that wrong you. My kind may come into the world as ‘adults’ by the standards of the normal races, but dammit, we also have very LIMITED viewpoints. I’ve seen more, and all laws seem to be either ‘Revenge in a set manner’ or ‘Pay us X’.

The White Raven claims to know what happened on the Day of Mourning. Drosen naturally doesn’t care. We…kind of do. He’s going to prove a problem. Potentially a fatal one at the rate he’s going, though I do sympathize with his irritation at not being able to complete a task.

The Captain may boot me off the ship if I kill him though. Or he might not. Time will tell.

scratching of ink pen on rice paper

I’ve suffered my third serious personal defeat since my creation over a decade ago.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind a defeat; you just go back for another try. But each personal one seems to have some degree of meaning behind it. Though, I’m still searching for the meaning behind that gnome arsonist.

I’d also forgotten what it was like to get kicked in the head(and when Arquebus Abbey did it, didn’t really hurt nearly as bad). I should’ve known that Red Ring invitation was a trap. I even left word with Drozen and Sailla at the shop the Captain bought. Mostly bought, Arion chipped in. A month had managed to pass before this without any real incident(anything the guard tells you differently about my nights at the Rusty Nail is a blatant lie, and a sign their rates have gone up).

I managed to find a lovely crystal-and-steel display case for some of my stoneworks, I wonder if I could get one of the artistic types in Stormreach to visit. And, of course, have the Elf check afterword to see if he\she pickpocketed anything.

Faelh was content to do some blacksmithing work, which was a rare thing after his ascension to head of his house’s affairs in this hive; I almost suspect the family EXPECTED him to kill the Kraken so they could put someone less of an asshole in charge.

Well, only a bit less of an asshole. Perhaps ‘More flexible’ would be a better term.

He and the Wizard were both content to do some work, while Lorelea decided to hang around at the Temple(I can understand devotion to a religion that lets you disintegrate things, and lets you control urges you don’t want, but really, enjoy yourself) and Arion went shopping. I was going to when the summons showed up.

I was actually pleased. Should’ve known better. So, I go.

Lo and behold, a trap. Imagine my surprise. The White Raven of all people. That…was surprising. Really need to talk to Sailla and Arion about putting in some kind of security setup, seems he’s had a bunch of his goons ransacking the shop, and by logical extension the ship(Zax must be out on the town), and came to the conclusion that damned dragonshard we absconded with was carried by me.

Should’ve known having built-in storage would come to back to bite me on my shiny adamantine ass sooner or later. Give the effete man credit, he offered cash for it first, a rather significant sum. Couldn’t screw over the crew like that. Can’t believe he had the gall to think 6 of his minions would be enough to take me.

16, I’ll grant that number would probably stop me. And then the honorable thing happened, yet another surprise(I really need to get better intel): honorable combat. He and I. Even got to choose the weapon. His stance gave him away, first critical bit of information:

The White Raven is a monk. So I went unarmed, fair is fair.

Second critical bit of information: He is an incredibly powerful monk. Capable of denting adamantine, as I found out the hard way(didn’t know they could). Skilled and durable too; I acquitted myself well, 30 minutes before defeat(let too much slip about combat experience in those first few minutes; Faelh’s right, I’ve started getting too cocky).

Bastard took the shard right from my shoulder storage; left everything else though, killed a man who tried to steal my money.

I should not actually respect my enemy this much, it leads to problems. Honorable, bah.

And, after some repair magic, also found out he’s stupid. Wizard finally translated that scroll; short story is, Vampires are elves that made a pact with something from Beyond that gave them eternal life and weird blood magic that let them annihilate giants, but they can’t stand sunlight. That whole ring of storms bit? Their method to protect themselves as they slept. ’pparently some escaped to the outside world, and we get the hybrids like Lorelea.

This guy’s HELPING them, the whole cell of Emerald Claw in the area is I guess. Stupid.

A visit to the local Emerald Claw watering hole turned up four important bits of information:

A. White Raven’s got a business arrangement with the owner of the EC bar; why was I not allowed to burn this place down? Let us plan his next move though.

B. Inquisitor is apparently attracted to the Elf(some House dance, I dunno) and ridiculously fast; I remember the stealth specialist in the Cyrean First and Only being able to out-run me and SHE wasn’t that fast.

C. Arion can’t swim worth a damn, but he’s getting even better at picking locks.

D. Sailla has bad taste in men. Seriously, Karnnathi? Really?

I may not need sex but I can observe and form conclusions. Her house really messed her up bad in the head.

The next day was FUN though; I think I’m going to be carrying the elf around as I fly more often; Arion..not so much. Whisper-stones are useful too.

Nothing beats soaring through a stained-glass window at a temple, dropping fire on emerald claw troops as you do so, and diving into a battle. 6 to 1 odds, too easy. EC don’t scare easy though; choir boys…yeah. White Raven was there, managed to escape with the Inquisitor after disabling Drozen far too handily for his tastes if I guess right(he was even surlier than usual).

Elf’s also learned something new, some odd battle-dance or something. Almost..pretty, for all that I couldn’t see most of it, too fast and obscured by the smoke clouds both the Raven and I threw down.

Wizard is starting to worry me; what he did to the one EC merc we captured in the reliquary…harsh. I should never get to call any actions this crew does harsh. Did get the information we needed; inquisitor was taken due to her blood needed for part of some awakening ritual, and the mercs were after some kind of special book, which they didn’t find. Or did, I’m somewhat unclear.

This temple’s sitting on some rather interesting artifacts, including some holy book; I had better sense than to grab it, it burned the Wizard’s hands. Not Sailla’s though.

Rescued Lorelea after a ruined dynamic entry, slightly anticlimactic.

Seems now we know where we’re going, and a rough idea of what we’re going to face. A highly trained last survivor of a destroyed monastery with a penchant for the dramatic, Emerald Claw mercenaries, ancient and powerful magics plus potentially a millenia-old vampiric entity.

I love my job.

scratching of ink pen on rice paper

My commander told me, as we were being bombarded by fireballs and adamantine arrows, that ‘surprise is a lack of good intel’.

Obviously gotten nowhere near enough intel lately with the shit that’s been happening.

sounds of oil dripping onto wood, a metallic sigh

Wizard didn’t get anywhere with that scroll we found, near as I gather. Even had that Drosin fellow help him out trying to talk to the elves. I’d say they as a culture have their heads stuck up their asses, but their hips aren’t nearly wide enough for that.

So then we get hired by some woman, a high-ranking member of this carved-out-of-ruins hive(maybe even a Stormlord; I forget precisely, she does have connections, harbor control and money), wants us to assassinate her boorish, drunken, spend-heavy lout of a son. Clandestine meeting with The Captain and everything; even had Arion shadow him.

I know I lack subtlety, I still think I should’ve gone along. Few beings look above them.

Believe it or not, I do have an honor code; it got tossed off the side of the ship when the payment was mentioned. Besides, this is STORMREACH, I’m practically a paladin compared to these people, let alone the rest of the crew.

I figure I’ve already sullied these hands with more blood than they’ll ever see, whats a little more?

Now, Drozen gets massively angry and leaves us. This is expected. Sailla has ISSUES with the entire idea of assassination; surprise #1. Gotten hints she wasn’t quite what she seemed, this still came as a surprise.

The inquisitor, however, had no issues. Surprise #2.

So we try and plan, reconnoiter, etc etc. I leave it to the members of the group more suited to this sort of thing, trying to worm my way through to meeting the leader of the Iron Watch; apparently it’s either make a name for yourself in the red pits, or commit a truly heinous crime.

Even the elf’s voice in my head was screaming ‘NO’, but I’ll be honest, it was tempting.

Anyway, you’d think this is where some truly cunning plan was enacted, full of intelligence, bold action, deception and a bit of swordplay?

If I could snort, I would. Captain apparently knows Maxim #11: Never be afraid to be the first to resort to violence. I don’t know the whole story, but seems he got an extra commission to destroy The Kraken(I keep wanting to say ‘RELEASE IT’, don’t know why. Must be the booze).

So while most of us are trying to be sneaky(not a good fit for me right now), he went out, bought all sorts of disguise stuff, magical and otherwise, and a one-shot fireball ring. Takes the Kraken out AND almost gets our original mark!

I can’t believe he went ahead and caused a massive explosion in a building WITHOUT ME! I’m hurt. Wounded, even, I think the Wizard would say.

Whole bunch of clandestine shit going down; Sailla even discovered someone took a hit out on us. 50 grand for the crew; I’m insulted personally, I’m easily worth 20000 gold on my own, even if some of that is ‘Go melt this thing’s armor down’. So we head to the docks, some building Arion’d scouted, and we manage to find some hidden doorways. Protected by a Mark of Death spell; I may not practice magic, but I’m familiar enough with it to know anything with ‘Death’ in it’s name is bad news.

I suggested digging around it; Elf shot it down. Then the inquisitor…walks right through it. I should’ve thought of it sooner; our talks about life and the universe made it clear she has some sort of negative energy flowing through her, and the Wizard’s ranted enough about Karnnathi necromancy for me to know Death usually equals negative energy. She finds a cloak the son used with some minions and one by one we passed through.

Note: Navigator acts drunker than he really is. Suspected, never had proof; proof found when he figured out the son was acting the drunken lout bit. How else would he know? Keep this in mind.

The next part looked like the Battle of Khoomri Pass in reverse; bodies hanging from the ceiling. Bastard was not just slaving(bad enough it’s legal in-city), decided to import from elsewhere. Then kill them for some blood ritual.

Lorelea…freaked. She’s like some oddball Vol-inspired vampire-but-not called a Dhamphir. Like, most of their strengths, almost none of the weaknesses ’cept lots of blood. Guess a bit big enough for me to swim in..

Note: get device that detects magical forcefields; I am not a Reforged, bouncing is not a good thing

Was enough. Cap’n talked her down. Think there’s something going on there, more than his usual conquests. Had to leave bodies for later; deserve better though.

Ever heard of a Rakshasa? I have, but only in passing, enough to know they’re supposed to be really bad news. So of course, the son was one of these things, some kind of extradimensional monstrosity from beyond. With a devil as a bodyguard. Powerful enough magic to make the Wizard’s spells fizzle. Thats why I’m around. I can kill a devil, hurt a outer thing.

A challenge!

‘Cept for Maxim #12: If you’re not willing to AoE your own position, you’re not willing to win.

I’d forgotten that headband the Captain wears isn’t just for looks; it holds a bunch of mental power or something he generates, but what does matter is he bombarded both of them with raw POWER. Disrupted a portal too; devil went down like a sorcerer on the front lines.

Between the Cap’n, the Wizard managing to freeze the thing somehow(not hard to tell when he’s casting, even if i don’t usually know what unless its fireball, he likes that), Arion the elf and I stabbing it, it goes down.

Yay us. Lots of evil stuff, some odd book nobody would even touch, and I claimed the weapon of the devil as is my right; some kind of magic glaive, have to get the Wizard or Sailla to tell me what it is(think she’s got that kind of magic, anyway, not exactly come up much until recently).

Some Silver flame set up shop down there, and we go to report.

Aaaaand instead of being thrown in jail or something, we get protected by the Stormlords(at least in-city), more information about what went down on the Day of Mourning, and 20,000 gold.

Each.

If I had a heart, it might’ve stopped there. I don’t know where we’re going from here, but..I’m almost starting to like this city.

Need to talk to the Elf, Wizard and Navigator about getting some magic done, and specifically about learning how to be stealthy.

Picturing the look of shock, the final moments of ’Where’d that Warforged come from?!’, pleases me.

It might even end up on the Lord of Blade’s face one day. I’ll get him yet. Somehow.

scratching of an ink pen on rice paper

‘I can fly now. Badly, but practice makes perfect. Or something like that, my commander wasn’t big on philosophy back in the day.’

surprisingly detailed sketch of the flight docent

‘Thinking ahead can suck, but it can get you wonderful toys. I’m still working on methods for keeping vampires from being sneaky bastards; spent most of the flight to Stormreach talking with the Inquisitor..something’s off about her. I like it. A city on the edge of a primeval jungle continent I’m told is larger than Khorvaire, filled with monsters, devious natives, more monsters, and cunning traps.

Oh, and loot.

I’d only seen the place vaguely from the air and when I heard that I fell in love. Seems the city itself is run by a bunch of pirates who went legit; the Elf said we’d fit right in, I was inclined to agree, and we were both right. Also discovered the Inquisitor woman has a nasty sense of humor. I had to break out a bottle of the emergency ale for our navigator; only ever saw him sober once before this, wasn’t pretty.

Funny though. Very funny.

A whole lot of my kind call this place home, or at least hang out at a bar called the Rusty Nail; kinda shocked me, but I got over it pretty quick.
Then I discovered warforged beer. Well, I guess ‘Happy Oil’ would be a better name; I love the stuff, but I lose my edge, I can’t fail The Captain or crew like that. Beat a bunch of warforged in arm wrestling, including one who shouldn’t have lost; they’ve gotten weak.

personal note: investigate Iron Watch, must talk to leader. He may know something.

The wizard actually bought a crate, and then some. I think I know what he’s up to, the squishy little spellslinger, and it almost brings a smile to my faceplate.

another personal note: get the Cannith man to make emergency induction port

Stormreach’s markets suck. Must be spoiled, will need to restock if we ever return home.

Captain has a really…unusual family. Well, more unusual than I thought, I guess. And she offered me a higher pay rate; can’t leave The Captain, but maybe mercenary work…hmm..

Discovered that the ship’s elemental is named Zax; feels good to be able to refer to a worthy being by its proper name, as opposed to ‘Uh, Ship’; Arion, Sailla, Faelh, Zax, the wizard. Works for me. Got us to Xen’drik in record time, I guess, since time goes all wobbley. I resisted the urge to ask to drop off the side of the ship(pre-wings!) to fight some giant scorpions; I bet I could sell the meat.

Investigated dig site; Emerald Claw was here, judging by the swords in the gravesite, guess they picked the site clean. Descended into crypt, wizard of course poked around and managed to find a hidden gateway.

Right into a room with a Gelatinous Cube; Navigator was concerned as I was. Damn things can eat me.

Bright idea: Flinging fireball at it. Good show wizard.

Not-so-Bright idea: Flinging fireball in room where floor is covered in oil. Check your surroundings next time.

Had to use flask of alchemical frost from utility compartments; note, buy 10, Alrik’s fond of fire. Zax helped suck air out of pit, put fire out; wish I knew what to get him in return(NEVER underestimate being nice to the extraplanar royalty with control of air).

Discovered ancient scroll of some kind; I couldn’t read it, no surprise. Neither could anyone else, bit of a bigger surprise. Further exploration discovered burial coffins with Giant skeletons, watched over by Giant spirit\ghost. Think the wizard released it from servitude; might come back to bite us in the ass(it’ll break a few teeth on mine).

Found Ancient Warforged; it’s made out of a matte-black metal I am not familiar with, is larger than even the hulking bruiser I accidentally embarrassed back at the Rusty Nail, and made out of stone, not wood. Brought it along, of course.

And I got my wings. Can I say how pleased I am with this? Wizard wants to study the body, the Elf wants to loot(can’t blame her), Arion and Faelh both seem to want to leave. Not too worried; anything squishy in this jungle I can kill, anything magical we’ve got firepower for…and anything bigger is either going to use us or kill us and the whole wretched hive of Stormreach.

So why worry?

So we open with the crew of the airship, [Midnight Runner], storming a small sea-going merchant ship. While the rest of the crew engages the sailors, Captain [Faelh] heads below decks and intimidates the cannoneers into abandoning their posts. Turning the cannons upward, combine with [Spike] gets a little overeager and winds up tearing up the deck as he jumps around, and the captain is brought crashing down into the cargo hold. Forcing a surrender, the crew of the Midnight Runner let the crew flee on lifeboats, while they abscond with the cargo and burn the ship down.

Returning to [Sharn], the crew get a few days rest while they fence their cargo through [Jovi], a rather cranky gnome. Eventually they’re approached by Erix, a middle man for [House Tarkanan], one of the local mobs. They want the crew to intercept an artifact, the [Eye of the Dragon], en route from [Xen’drik] by air ship. The price is agreed upon and the adventurers set off. However, as they reach the skydock, they’re set upon by thugs, advising them to drop the commission.

However, the crew make quick work of them with the unexpected aid of a cleric and inquisitor of the Silver Flame. The two introduce themselves, and explain they were tracking the thugs who were stalking them. Lorelea, the Inquisitor, is hunting their employer, and would like to accompany them in case their boss tries again. The captain agrees, and off they go.

A few days later, they intercept the other airship, only to find it under attack. Disabling the sea-vessel the attackers used to sneak up under the airship, the crew pulls up along side. The crew of the other ship has already fallen, but the adventurers set upon their attackers. Things become complicated when vampire spawn join the fray, apparently leading the thugs. Two engage our heroes, while another steals away into the captain’s cabin.

The thugs and spawn are dispatched, but not before the leader appeas on deck and fires a wand that shatters the binding spells holding both elemental rings in place. The two airships begin to fall, with the vampire dissolving into mist, taking the Eye with him. The storm elemental powering their ship emerges, and unlike the fire elemental on the other vessel which is going on a rampage, it negotiates with them. The elemental volunteers to save their lives and return to the ring, on the condition that it not be re-bound and allowed to take “shore leave” in Sharn. Surprised (and desperate) the crew accepts.

Now safe, the crew storms the sailing vessel that delivered the attackers, and find the two vampire spawn ensconced in their coffins with one notably empty. The priests destroy one and interrogate the other, who names their quarry, Lord Alaric Kessler, a Karrnathi noble staying in Sharn. After they ash him, they return to the city and set about locating their quarry.

It took some time, including stumbling through a few false leads, but they eventually found his home in Ambassador Heights. Spike arranged a small protest by some local Warforged to distract the city watch, while the crew executed a daylight raid down the side of the tower. Only a handful of vampire spawn remained to guard their master, and were quickly dispatched. Eventually the lord of the house rose, only to flee before his final defenses could be breached, leaving his prize behind, much to the chagrin of Lorelea.

After retrieving the Eye from the heavily trapped safe, Alrik noticed it seemed to have an effect upon his Dragonmark, allowing him to use it more frequently. It also seemed to have an effect on the un-marked Drosyn, though it faded when the Eye was taken away from him. Deciding the Eye was too dangerous to hand over to House Tarkanan, the crew of the ship decided to take it and flee. Settling their debts, the crew quickly fled back to their ship and made haste to the perfect place from criminals to lie low, even from their own kind: Stormreach.