Campaign: Facets

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

Meanwhile, Claudia headed to the engine room and Doc Bascher to the medical bay, as Henrietta, A.J. and Millie snatched up weapons and headed down into the gondola.

A.J. and Millie entered the fighting chamber just behind the command deck, and cocked and loaded the two tripod-mounted arbalests there, one pointing out a window to port, and the other pointing out to starboard. Hernrietta dashed to the aft fighting chamber, and loaded both of the similarly-mounted arbalests, there.

Up on the top of the envelope, Beatrice took command of the center fighting cage, set several loaded muskets in handy racks, and sent Messie out the catwalk to the one 70 yards forward, while she sent Amon to the fighting cage 70 yards aft.

As the two Children of Kemet took their posts and loaded the arbalests, Steven watched as the dots from below grew larger, and resolved themselves into large black birds with 12-foot wingspans that seemed to crawl with burning embers.

Steven turned the Lady McShane to try to avoid the airspace directly above the island, only to watch as the flock swirled around to continue their approach toward the bow of the airship. As they did so, Steven realized they wanted to avoid the broadsides of airship, and used the magical intercom to call out that the birds seemed to possess at least some intelligence.

As the flock drew close to the bow, several broke off and streaked along each side of the airship, as well as the keel of the gondola, but the vast majority arched upwards toward the top of the envelope, where Beatrice, Amon and Messie saw the swarm burst up past the curve of the nose.

The flock of large, burning black birds gained altitude, quickly, and then stopped about a hundred feet overhead and began to circle, as the three smaller groups flashed up past Aurelia at the stern, to join the larger group.

Not at all pleased by what she was seeing, Beatrice reported the movements of the flock and, fearing the worst, Doc Bascher and Claudia began to climb up the ladders inside the envelope to provide support.

Right about then, as Beatrice feared, about a dozen of the birds folded their wings and began to dive toward the fighting cages atop the airship, while an additional group of about four peeled off and streaked toward Aurelia’s fighting cage, at the stern.

Beatrice triggered a Reverse Missile spell, just in case as, up forward, Messie did the same with a Return Missile spell – one of the few she had left. For his part, Amon grabbed the arbalest, with which he had some skill, and began to aim at the large, stooping avians.

Beatrice followed suit, as did Messie (neither of whom were very good with the ranged weapons) and then watched as the birds screamed downwards. At the last second, as the three arbalests fired, the birds released two-pound cannon-balls and then skimmed down the side of the airship, in some cases barely a foot above the fabric.

The bolts fired by all three of the top weapons marks, and two of the creatures screamed in pain as they sailed past the edge. However, the dive-bombing proved brutally accurate, as well.

Beatrice’s “Reverse Missile” spell bounced two of the heavy iron balls back to their senders, and sent them tumbling past the envelope, while Messie’s spell did the same with a third.

Unfortunately, three of birds had launched cannon-balls at Messie accurately, and the other two pounded her to the deck of her fighting cage, unconscious and badly injured. Fortunately, she’d prepared for just such an eventuality -- a triggered Healing spell stabilized her, although it didn’t repair her body well enough to bring her back to consciousness.

At the rear, a ball smashed into Amon and, although it hurt him badly, he retained consciousness long enough to pull the cocked prod from his back, and get it loaded.

In the center, Beatrice realized she’d made a terrible mistake by sending Messie and Amon to man the two positions so far away, rather than keep them close where they all could support one another. Beatrice shouted for medical assistance, and grabbed one of the muskets she’d positioned upon arrival.

At the stern, Aurelia’s bow injured one, while her own triggered Reverse Missile spell, slammed back into two others and knocked them out of the fight. At the waist arbalests, Henrietta and Millie snapped off shots that winged one adversary, each, while A.J. skewered a third with his personal heavy crossbow.

Up above, a second flight of birds stooped on the two ambulatory crew members, and launched cannon-balls, as well. Once gain, Beatrice’s spell saved her and injured a couple of attackers, but Amon went down for the count, smashed unconscious by two cannon-balls that shattered much of his rib-cage, and rapidly bleeding out from internal injuries.

Right about then, Claudia poked her head out of the hatch and asked Beatrice who needed help. Beatrice shouted for the engineer to head aft to help Amon, and send Doc Bascher forward for Messie.

Claudia dropped back below and began to run aft along the catwalk she and A.J. (based on previous experience) had decided to build beneath the apex of the envelope for just such an eventuality. Doc Bascher poked her head out of the ladder in time for Claudia to send her forward, and the two women pounded along the relatively safe routes to the wounded Egyptians.

Atop the envelope, Beatrice shot down another couple of attackers, a couple more birds discovered her and Aurelia’s defensive spells the hard way, and stopped launching salvaged cannon-balls at them. Down below, Henrietta and Millie took another couple of pot-shots, but then all their potential targets vanished.

Up above, the remaining birds all dropped out of the sky, at once, to land on the top of the envelope -- and promptly transformed into human figures, who proceeded to snatch cutlasses and other bladed weapons from belts around their waists.

Beatrice shouted the alarm to repel boarders and triggered her Lightning Armor spell, as the bird-men began to converge on the three fighting cages. Aurelia kicked open the outer door of her fighting cage, triggered a “Spider Climb” spell she had left over from the previous evening’s reconnaissance adventure, and began to run up the back of the envelope.

Down below, A.J. took a more direct approach. He pulled open the sash of the fighting port, triggered a Hawk Flight spell, jumped out into the empty air, and began to zoom upwards, crossbow at the ready.

Meanwhile, Millie began to scramble up the ladder to the top of the envelope followed by Henrietta, leaving Steven as the only person to defend the gondola.

Claudia reached the portal below Amon, levered it up as the bird-men closed in, and hit him with a Major Healing spell to stabilize him and keep him from bleeding out.

As the engineer dragged Amon through the hatch to the catwalk, below, we ran out of time and the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

(Aurelia decides to try to break into the Great Library, alone.)
Aurelia: You can’t come with me, for lots of different reasons. A, you’ll mess it up and, B, you’ll get killed.
Beatrice: I thought you were gonna say, “And, B, you’re gonna mess it up.”

Aurelia: We don’t deal with fairies. Or Greek gods. Actually, I’d rather deal with Greek gods, than fairies.

Steven: Everything’s funny when it happens to someone else!

Aurelia: I go find A.J.!
Beatrice: ‘Cause he’s got some ‘splainin’, to do?

(Aurelia confronts A.J. about his communication skills.)
Aurelia: When did we talk about booking passengers?! If anybody gets killed in the middle of the night, I’m blaming you! If a fight breaks out, in the middle of the night, I’m blaming you! If anybody wakes me up, in the middle of the night, I’m killing you! And by, “the middle of the night,” I mean any time before 1 p.m.! Do we know, for sure, they’re not werewolf-vampire thingies?!

(Aurelia continues her rant.)
Beatrice: I’m asleep. I’m pretty sure you’re asleep, too. That’s the safest place to be.
Henrietta: Oh, I’m asleep, too!

(Aurelia wants to know how soon they can return to Alexandria.)
A.J. (surprised by the question): We’re never going back there, again.
Aurelia (Momentarily speechless, but only momentarily…): I had plans! Really good, brilliant, plans!

Aurelia: There’s no place that’s safe, in a place I’m not supposed to be.
A.J. (trying to work with her): Is there a place you wouldn’t be seen?
Aurelia: I’m not going to be seen! I have an invisibility cloak!

(Aurelia learns the group managed to secure navigation charts and journals, without her.)
Aurelia (grumbling…): Now I don’t have any reason to break into the Great Library of Alexandria.

Aurelia: We don’t do well with intelligent enemies….

A.J. (exasperated): What do you want, Rel?! Just tell me what will make you happy!
GM: Spoken like a married man.
<beat>
Bernetta (OOC): That was just rude.

(Aurelia gets caught up on what the rest of the group did, the previous evening, and learns that things didn’t go quite as well as hoped.)
Aurelia: Never say anything about thievery, or subtlety, Steve.

Aurelia: Steve is the thug? That’s so precious.

Aurelia: I’m gonna check on our “guests,” and make sure they’re not gonna kill us.

(The birds attack, and Steve tries to think of what he can do with a huge, lumbering airship that might help.)
Steve: Can I do something stupid, in three seconds?
Beatrice: Barrel roll!

##

[SionEwig]

Man I hate it in a game when you have to stop in the middle of a combat!

Anyway, I really feel for Aurelia, here she has a really great and ambitious plan, gets it started, and then discovers that it's completely unnecessary and she'll never (probably) be able to explore the Great Library. A complete bummer there.

I did love this line - " hailed a coach as if she were an honest citizen," just perfect.

Great session overall, and I will be eagerly anticipating the next.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Man I hate it in a game when you have to stop in the middle of a combat!

Anyway, I really feel for Aurelia, here she has a really great and ambitious plan, gets it started, and then discovers that it's completely unnecessary and she'll never (probably) be able to explore the Great Library. A complete bummer there.

I did love this line - " hailed a coach as if she were an honest citizen," just perfect.

Great session overall, and I will be eagerly anticipating the next.

Thanks.

It had been a little too long, and I had a lot going on around here, and messed up the ending of the session a bit. I went back and corrected it.
(Edit: then I went back and corrected it, again. Sigh.)

Fun news: Our Web master at the Denver GURPS group has gotten so busy he had to let the site lapse, and we haven't had time to get with him and transfer responsibilities to anyone. So, that's shut down, for now.

However, the silver lining is that the journal entries and other fun stuff, from over there, should start to appear in this thread, pretty soon. :)

[tshiggins]

Okay, the next session rapidly approaches. We started off in the middle of fight we left off with, last time, but then reached a much more satisfactory stopping point.

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P. (Not available, this time.)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W. (Not available, this time.)

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Guest NPCs

Amon Kosey – Another native of Aegyptus and a fellow member of the Children of Khemet, he appears as an unremarkable man, but has a hidden talent for deception who can, nonetheless, turn on the charm when needed. With an average face, an average height, and a lack of distinguishing features, he blends in with any crowd and has wandered into just about anywhere, uninvited and frequently unnoticed. -- Played by Pete T.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconically lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. Apparently the sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet.

Claudia Abigail “Cat” Tavulari – A former member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly.

Meserankh “Messie” Paphnutius – A native of the legendary Aegyptus of the Pearl Bright Ocean, still ruled by the branch of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty descended from Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Mezzie is a mage, and a member of the Children of Khemet, who seek to overthrow the Hellenes and restore the ancient line of pharaohs. A lean, rangy, fairly attractive woman in her early 30s, who clearly missed a few meals as a child. Her face shows early signs of lines drawn by tremendous frustration at injustices she perceives. She seldom smiles.


##

As A.J. came swooping up the port side of the Lady McShane and got a look at the violent chaos on the top of the envelope, Doc Bascher reached the unconscious body of Messerankh, up at the forward fighting cage and started to drag her back inside. Meanwhile, Claudia, aft, realized she couldn’t drag Amon back into the fighting cage before she got jumped, so she cast an Utter Dome to keep the assailants away from her, while she continued to try to bring the Egyptian back to consciousness.

In the middle fighting position, nearly a dozen bird-men closed in on the crackling form of Beatrice, and three of them quickly learned the folly of using a metal weapon to stab at a lightning-clad figure. Several of them hastily stepped back, howling and clutching crippled hands.

Still, others remained undeterred and began to fumble at the latch to open the cage door, and A.J. decided that simply wouldn’t do. He triggered a Teleport spell and appeared inside the cage, on the opposite side from Beatrice, and shot one of the attackers through.

Beatrice, who had run out of loaded muskets by then, pulled out her blade and began to give the bird-men better than she was getting. About then, the hatch popped open and Millie poked her head out to assess the situation, and saw the outside of the fighting cage lined with figures poking inside with various sharp instruments in various states of (mostly poor) repair.

A.J. decided to clear the crowd out, a bit, and created a smallish air elemental. It manifested as a powerful Coriolis dust-devil, and went to the port side of the cage and began to try to bash the bird-men, there, against the iron bars of the cage.

Beatrice hacked and hewed and shocked; A.J. shot and started to cock his crossbow, and Millie and Henrietta emerged from the hatch and began to lay about them with considerable enthusiasm.

Down below in the flight cabin, Steven decided he needed to do more to contribute than just keep the airship steady, so he readied his weapons. He then opened the dormer at the top of one of the large windows so he could get a shot off.

Several of the bird-men wheeling around the dirigible noticed the opportunity, and proved happy to explore any option that didn’t involve catching their own missiles in the face. They swooped in to attack.

Steven triggered his own “Reverse Missile” spell and waited confidently until he could see the whites of their eyes. As the birds drew near the glass, he put a bullet in one, and then suddenly realized he’d just earned a serious ass-chewing from the rest of the crew.

The bird-men launched their cannon-balls, which smashed the thick glass of the flight-deck window into thousands of shards. The reverse missile spell kept any fragments from hitting Steven, but the impact left the flight deck open to a sky filled with foes.

Steven skipped backwards and triggered a “Darkness” spell as three bird-men arrowed in to take advantage of the opening.

One of them, startled by the sudden appearance of the sphere of darkness, tried to veer off and smashed into the jamb above the window, knocking itself silly (critical failure). As it began to spiral down toward the sparkling sea, far below, Steven triggered his, “Dark Vision” spell, and he blasted the two that tried to perch, on the edge of the opening.

A few more potshots out the window opening discouraged the rest of the birds from attacking, and they began to break off and fly back down toward the sea.

A few moments later, Beatrice chased off enough of her attackers that she could assess the situation atop the envelope, and saw that two of the bird-men had managed to resist getting smacked around by the air elemental by clinging to the bars of the cage. She decided to take matters into her own hands, and unleashed a Concussion spell that promptly stunned one of the bird-men, forced a second to let go -- and nearly killed A.J.’s air elemental.

Nevertheless, the blast caused the bird-men up top to start to break and run. That left Aurelia, running up the back of the ship, as the only viable target for several frustrated bird-men, circling overhead.

Aurelia crested the back end of the dirigible and shot one of the creatures in its human form. The circling attackers dove down on her, released their cannon-balls, and learned the same hard lesson about “Reverse Missiles” as their compatriots.

One spiraled out of control down the side, another fluttered downwards, crippled, and the rest broke off.

Amon woke up in time to see the fight end, as did Messie, and Beatrice opened up the door to the fighting cage and began to check the bodies of the attackers. She found about a half-dozen still alive but unconscious, and suggested they take some in for questioning.

Henrietta, who had hauled one down the slope of the envelope and pitched it over the side, asked what Beatrice thought that might accomplish? Shapeshifters or not, the archaeologist said, they remained pirates with crappy gear, and likely had little (if anything) useful to say.

Beatrice prevailed in time to save three of the prisoners, and the group hauled the limp figures down to the brig, where they used healing spells to revive the hapless bird-men.

Millie and Henrietta agreed to interrogate them, and cast the “Borrow Langugage” spell long enough to ask them a few questions. Henrietta quickly determined the language was some debased Austronesian tongue nobody had ever heard before and, moreover, she was correct in her initial assessment.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

The group learned the bird-men had arrived off the east coast of this world’s hollowed-out version of Africa years ago, on the vast back of something they called an “island-fish.” The fish, which Steven had mistaken for a small, uncharted island, had taken several generations to cross this world’s expansive version of the Indian Ocean, and had originated in an island-dotted section of the sea, very far to the east.

The bird-man villagers had taken up preying on shipping and coastal farming settlements, so the attack on the Lady McShane was just more of the same. There was nothing personal about it – the bird-men considered any living animal (including humans) as legitimate prey. They had to take the goods of the targets, as they had no resources of their own, on the living island.

During the interrogation, Henrietta noted that the bird-men, on the average, didn’t seem as intelligent as most people she’d scanned. Finally, she asked about their nature: Were they men who could turn into birds, or bird-creatures that could turn into humans?

A bit surprised by the question, the bird-men readily responded they hatched out of eggs in an eyrie in bird form, and only learned to take on human form later. It was a useful bit of protective coloration that allowed them to get closer to their human prey, they said.

A bit taken aback, and somewhat intrigued, Henrietta asked a few more questions as she monitored their thoughts, so as to help her better understand their minds. However, the spell eventually expired and, after a brief discussion, the group took them to the hatch in the floor of the gondola, and tossed them out.

The former captives transformed themselves into bird form and, still badly injured, struggled to make their way back to their island-fish home, as Steven pointed the nose of the dirigible toward the southern strait into the Gulf of Aden and firewalled the throttle.

The group had learned that most of the people in this part of the Pearl Bright Ocean referred to the lands of what would be “Arabia,” in their world, as “Nabataea,” here. Henrietta had identified the writing on the staff she’d taken from the djinnya woman as Nabataean, and that made them cautious about crossing the Arabian Peninsula to their port side.

Even though it appeared to consist of the same sort of lightly-wooded savannah as this world’s Sahara, rather than the blistering desert the djinn seemed to prefer, the group decided not to take the chance.

Once they felt confident they’d left the bird-men far enough behind, A.J., Beatrice and Steven put a piece of thin planking up to cover the hole left by the broken window, and then went to the cargo hold to dig out a replacement window.

Meanwhile, Doc Bascher took Messie and Amon in to her sick-bay, chloroformed them, and proceeded to clean and debride injuries, and re-break bones and set them, so they’d mend properly when healed with spells. Aurelia, Millie and Claudia swabbed off the top of the envelope and pitched bodies over the side.

The next day, with the use of flight spells, A.J., Steven and Beatrice fixed up the window in the gondola, and then the group decided to hang protection and healing spells on Messie and Amon, in case anything else attacked.

They did briefly discuss the possibility of granting Meserankh her own sacred space so she could cast her own spells, but A.J. pointed out that would require they make Messie a full partner and part-owner of the Lady McShane.

The magical laws of the Pearl Bright Ocean permitted vehicles – especially large, sea vessels or airships – to act as residences for the purposes of sacred spaces, but that did require the bond of ownership. While even Aurelia felt much more comfortable with the presence of Messie and Amon on the ship, and more confident that the two meant well, nobody was quite yet ready to accept them into the Red Rocks Lodge as full members.

With that, they settled into the routine of maintaining the airship and standing watches during a long voyage, and the days went by reasonably peacefully. They occasionally saw tiny dots of ships, and a few times A.J. or Steven had to climb very high to pass above powerful storms raging on the sea, below.

Fortunately, while it did prove a bit chilly at those extreme heights, the bizarrely deep atmosphere above the Pearl Bright Ocean retained enough heat that they only needed to dress a bit more warmly.

Usually, though, they stayed between 10,000 and 30,000 feet above the waves.

Most of the regular weather consisted of flickering thunderstorms in squall-lines that came up from the vast sea to their starboard side – what would’ve been “south” in their world. However, the occasional powerful gale howled down from the opposite direction, in this late “autumn” season.

Then, about 21 days after the attack by the bird-men, Steven called out that he’d spotted something extraordinary emerging from the mists, far ahead (the Pearl Bright Ocean had no horizon…). A.J. came down to the deck with a powerful set of binoculars and, when he focused them on the apparition, he saw the form of a tree that rose nearly 100 miles into the sky.

Details became apparent, as the Lady McShane drew nearer. A number of ships bobbed in the waters near the tree, whose lower branches spread out to cover a rough circle about 50 miles across. A.J. estimated the bole of the tree as nearly 10 miles across, at its base (what he could see of it).

Trails of smoke indicated the presence of larger towns on the vast branches down low, and smaller settlements a bit higher. The top two-thirds of the tree seemed to lack settlements, and thick clouds of birds swirled all around.

After a quick discussion, the group decided to skirt around the vast plant, at about 30,000 feet and 20 miles out, while they kept a sharp eye on things.

For her part, Claudia found the vast country of leaf and wood utterly enchanting, and clambered to the top of the envelope to get the best view she could. As she did so, she reported a number of the birds had swooped out to investigate this strange visitor to their territory.

Soon, dozens of birds landed on the top of the envelope, chirping and pecking, or perched on the bars of the fighting cages and the rails of the walkway. Hops About and Twirls Thrice, in magpie form, joined the throng and seemed to enjoy themselves (at least, as far as anybody could tell) as streamers of visitors continued to break off from the thick flocks around the tree, and arrow in for a look.

Claudia wondered around and looked at all the variations of form and plumage, and then suddenly spotted something she recognized. Apparently, the glowing hercinia bird the group had captured in the Orbital Realm of Jupiter had counterparts in the Pearl Bright Ocean.

She immediately called for help in capturing some and, after watching them for awhile, the group identified what they thought were female birds. They had the same general form as the males, but colors more drab.

Most of the crew came up to help and brought some nets with them, and after several bad throws, managed to snare a few of the birds. Claudia found a healthy-looking female, carefully disentangled it from the net, and then popped it into a cage and carried it below as the group freed the rest.

After Claudia fed the frightened little bird, it perked up and eventually began to sing. Doc Bascher who, as a veterinarian, did have some experience with exotic birds, checked over the jay-sized creature for injuries.

Finding none, they put the little female in the cage with the male hercinia, and eventually the two seemed to be getting along. Thrilled, Claudia wondered if they’d mate, successfully, and produce little, glowing chicks.

Within a few hours, they’d left the sky-high tree and most of the flocks, behind. A.J. turned the ship to a more “northerly” heading to reach the vicinity of Lanka, and about a week later felt encouraged when he began to see more shipping, below.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

Not that everything, down there, seemed peaceful. Late one evening, about eight days after they’d left the tree, a flickering light on the ocean, below, drew A.J.’s eye. He got out his strong binoculars, again, and took a look.

Suddenly, the flickering flame got larger, and through the binoculars A.J. saw that some sort of sea-dragon had attacked a ship, and set it alight.

Grateful for the relative safety of the night sky, 10,000 feet up, A.J. had left the disaster far behind by morning.

As the fire portal opened overhead, that ninth day past the tree, the Red Rocks Lodge members saw the ocean, blow, dotted with lush green islands, like gigantic lily-pads on a vast garden pond. The shallow sea grew brighter as light reflected from the sand on the seabed below the clear waters, and ships of various sizes began to appear in larger numbers – the largest of which seemed to parallel A.J.’s course.

About 10 days later, Steven called out that a huge landmass with three high, volcanic peaks, had appeared ahead, and the group stopped their endless maintenance tasks to rush either to the gondola windows or the large viewport of the “Ten Forward” dining area.

As the vast island of Lanka grew more clear, A.J. and Steven noted that several of the larger ships, below, all seemed headed toward the “southwest” part of the island. Remembering the description in Capt. Tindol’s logs about the location of the port city of Kelaniya, A.J. and Steve adjusted their course slightly, and by early afternoon saw what had to be the city, ahead and below.

The ornate structures of the city extended outwards from a river that had cut a deep canyon through an escarpment that rose dramatically from the shore. High, thick walls, anchored in the cliffs of the escarpment, protected against attacks from the sea, and a deep, narrow harbor hosted dozens of large ships. Hundreds of smaller fishing vessels and coasters bobbed in the seas beyond, or used the winds to work their way hither and yon.

A.J. and Steven slowed the progress of the Lady McShane, and lowered her altitude to about 300 feet as they tried to figure out where they were expected to land.

After a bit, they noticed mooring towers perched on a wide shelf in the cliffs above the city proper, and then saw a bunch of bright flags waving in the hands of energetic signalers who seemed to want their attention.

The two pilots started to move the dirigible in that direction, slowing the engines to a crawl and trying to keep her steady in the swirling updrafts as they neared the cliff-face, ahead. Fortunately, the wind (although a bit chaotic) wasn’t all that forceful, and they eventually got close enough to one of the mooring towers that the dirigible crew could toss hawsers down to the milling ground-team, below.

Dozens of pairs of ready hands took hold of the thick lines and began to pull the Lady McShane toward one of the brightly-painted, ornately-carved towers, nearby. Aided by the dirigible’s excellent maneuverability, the tricky operation went about as well as could be expected.

Soon, the mooring tower began to roll along metal tracks, away from the edge of the shelf and toward the cliff-face, with the airship bobbing along like a pet whale on a leash. Once it drew near the cliff, a swarm of crewmen appeared at the stern and, taking the hint, the Red Rocks crew tossed additional hempen cables down to them.

The ground crew then pulled the back of the airship around so the craft lay parallel to the cliff-face, and then began to firmly lash it to huge hooks drilled into the rock. Once secured and unmoving, a small group of obvious officials appeared below the airship, and A.J. dropped the loading ramp.

As the ramp thudded to the ground, an officious individual with a writing stylus and a sheaf of paper made his way over, accompanied by a half-dozen large and well-armed guards, whom Millie noted moved with unusual quickness and grace for heavily-armored men of their size.

At Beatrice's side, the ruff of Grunt's neck stood up and he growled deep in his chest, his emerald green eyes on the approaching party.

The customs official and the crew jabbered back and forth, for a few minutes as they tried different languages on one another. They finally settled on Greek as the most practical one that everybody seemed to know.

The official went through the routine questions about origin of the airship and the purpose of the crew; informed them of the mooring fee; and filled them in on local laws and customs.

Most interestingly, the man said passage through the inland gate was absolutely forbidden to foreign visitors, “on pain of death.” He also noted that any women who came in on the ship should probably not walk the streets unaccompanied by an escort.

At A.J.'s side, the ruff of Henrietta's neck stood straight up and she barely restrained a growl, dangerously narrowed eyes on the customs party.

He also noted that, while foreign traffic was expected between the airship mooring towers and the harbor, their presence in any other neighborhood would likely draw the attention of the city guards. In essence, while their presence in Kelaniya was tolerated, it wasn’t exactly, “welcome.”

They government of Kelaniya expected visitors to finish their business without delay, and then leave as quickly as possible, weather permitting.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

A.J.: Marines use their bayonets to steady their aim. Stab! Bang!

Beatrice: Note to self! Do not use Concussion against an air elemental!

Millie: Since when do we take prisoners?
Henrietta: I’m gonna shove them off the ship!
Beatrice: We don’t kill helpless prisoners!
Henrietta: I’m not killing them, I’m getting them off my ship!
A.J.: We’ve had a weird role-reversal.

Doc Bascher (holds up a sterile white cloth): Does this smell like chloroform, to you?
Amon:What’s chloro…? (passes out)

(Steve’s actions result in a shattered gondola window.)
Millie: You’re glad you don’t know what a, “photograph” is.

A.J.: What did you to do my window?!
Beatrice(sing-song): You’re in trouble! You’re in trouble! I’m glad it’s you, because it’s usually me!

Beatrice(raises ethical concerns): Mind Control is over the edge!
Henrietta: There’s nothing wrong with Mind Control.
Millie: There’s nothing wrong with Mind Control!

(The group discusses what to do with the prisoners.)
A.J.: Not very many people in the crew want to cast spells to heal things who tried to eat them.
Millie: Unless we get to keep them!

(The Lankan customs official explains the restrictions that apply to foreign visitors.)
Steve: Rel’s gonna have fun.

(A.J. expresses concern that the restrictions may make it difficult for them to learn about the seas beyond Lanka.)
Beatrice: I suck at getting information. I’m just going to get some pomegranates.

##

[SionEwig]

Another interesting session and a good write up of course. I feel sorry for Stephen there, stuck piloting the ship while all the fun stuff goes on outside. It can be very frustrating to be stuck in that situation. Luckily no serious trouble excepting for the broken window.

I'm a little surprised that they didn't decide to do a little exploring of the giant tree. I know that something like that would have been tempting for me personally. Also them not investigating the stricken ship. Both a bit uncharacteristic of the group.

Can't wait for the next session writeup.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Another interesting session and a good write up of course. I feel sorry for Stephen there, stuck piloting the ship while all the fun stuff goes on outside. It can be very frustrating to be stuck in that situation. Luckily no serious trouble excepting for the broken window.

I'm a little surprised that they didn't decide to do a little exploring of the giant tree. I know that something like that would have been tempting for me personally. Also them not investigating the stricken ship. Both a bit uncharacteristic of the group.

Can't wait for the next session writeup.

Yeah, I thought they might go for the tree.
The sky-high tree is actually one of my favorite entries, in the Fantasy Bestiary. I just like the whole idea of it. :)

As for moving the dirigible down to investigate something that set an entire sailing ship alight, I wasn't surprised.
I like random encounters, like that, because they give the setting a "busy" feel, as if other stories are going on, all around the PCs.

It's especially nice if you've given the world some thought, and you can sorta come up with a story about why things might happen.
I mean, I knew the trade-route to Lanka would have ships on it, even when not in the Monsoon Season, as magically modeled in the Pearl Bright Ocean.

That means, any opportunistic sea-monsters would lurk along the trade routes -- but would soon learn about cannon-fire.
So, attack at night -- and then I imagine what that would look like from the flight-deck of dirigible, 10,000 feet up.

A flickering spark on the dark waters below.
Suddenly, it flares up into the shape of a ship's burning sails and the observer, above, realizes what he sees.

Sometimes, a simple description sparks the imagination more than florid descriptions, because the listener fills in what's left out and, in so doing, gets pulled deeper into the imagery.

[tshiggins]

So, everybody’s schedule worked out in such a way that we’ll have two sessions in February, so I need to complete the write-up for the last one.

At this point, Phoenix has moved on to other things, and so we don’t think she’ll play Messerankh, any longer. That’s not too surprising, as she’s about the same age as Rebecca, when Rebecca played Sunmi Jones, and high school kids frequently have better things to do than hang out with a bunch of grown-up gamers on weekends.

Pete is sticking with it, though, and Bennie made it this time, so we had a good selection of funny quotes.

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P.

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Guest NPCs

Amon Kosey – Another native of Aegyptus and a fellow member of the Children of Khemet, he appears as an unremarkable man, but has a hidden talent for deception who can, nonetheless, turn on the charm when needed. With an average face, an average height, and a lack of distinguishing features, he blends in with any crowd and has wandered into just about anywhere, uninvited and frequently unnoticed. -- Played by Pete T.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconically lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. Apparently the sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet.

Claudia Abigail “Cat” Tavulari – A former member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly.

Meserankh “Messie” Paphnutius – A native of the legendary Aegyptus of the Pearl Bright Ocean, still ruled by the branch of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty descended from Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Mezzie is a mage, and a member of the Children of Khemet, who seek to overthrow the Hellenes and restore the ancient line of pharaohs. A lean, rangy, fairly attractive woman in her early 30s, who clearly missed a few meals as a child. Her face shows early signs of lines drawn by tremendous frustration at injustices she perceives. She seldom smiles.

##

Upon the departure of the Lankan customs official, the crew of the Lady McShane tromped back up the loading ramp, pulled it up behind them, and then moved up to the “Ten Forward” dining area to talk through what the official had said. Aurelia joined them there, and reacted predictably when informed of the restrictions on travel – and the recommendations about women walking the streets alone.

Beatrice mentioned that Grunt did not like the guards who accompanied the customs agent, and Millie reported her observations about the graceful movement she’d noticed.

The group decided to exercise a bit more caution than usual, until they understood the situation better. However, A.J. noted that they did need to re-supply the ship and see what scuttlebutt they could uncover about the sea past Lanka.

Still, given how sensitive the Lankans were toward foreign activities, and how the group had an unfortunate tendency to upset and annoy people, A.J. said he would stay behind to guard the airship and make sure Claudia and Doc Bascher stayed safe.

With that, Steven, Beatrice, Millie and Amon decided to take the switch-back road down the cliff from the airship mooring area to the town, proper, to get a first look at the resupply situation. But first, they decided to indulge in a quick overview (with binoculars) from the safety of the airship.

The town mostly consisted of white-washed brick structures with tiled roofs, and in that way had apparently reached a similar solution as the Greeks to the need to stay cool in a hot environment. However, that’s pretty much where the similarities ended.

Whereas Greek cities featured courtyard homes and blocks of mostly-unadorned (at least, on the outside…), shining white structures topped with ceramic tiles of various sorts, the Lankans had decorated their homes with vivid splashes of color and richly-detailed carvings near the doors and windows, and tucked up beneath the edges of the roofs.

The Lankan women also wore bright saris that beautifully complemented their deeply dark skin, similar to that of the Dravidian people in the southern India of their world. The men, on the other hand, usually wore white, baggy trousers and white tunics (or, if laborers, went bare-chested), with bright sashes around their waists.

Both sexes walked around barefoot or wore rope sandals, but the group spotted very little leather, anywhere.

However, one thing really struck them as strange – unlike in the cities of their world’s India, they didn’t see a single cow wandering the streets of Kelaniya. In fact, the members of the Red Rocks Lodge saw few draft animals, either; humans did most of the carrying, or hauled goods in hand-drawn carts.

Having taken their quick look around, the quartet headed down the hill toward the narrow, deep harbor at the mouth of the river. They soon plunged into the throng of humanity, and noticed one other difference they couldn’t have seen through binoculars.

The town smelled far less awful than most cities of this size and technological sophistication they’d seen. The Lankans seemed a cleanly people, and the lack of animal waste cut down on odors, as well as flies and other vermin.

On this first outing, Steven, Beatrice, Millie and Amon stuck to the wider streets that went from the airship towers to the harbor. Not that they were all that roomy – structures rose several stories on both sides and turned the streets into canyons, while cotton tarps dyed in numerous colors stretched across the street, fairly frequently, to keep the heat from the portal above from beating down directly on the cobblestones.

As they maneuvered through the crowds and neared the docks, the number of obvious foreigners began to increase. They knew the monsoon winds hadn’t yet picked up, and that left a number of ships floating in the harbor, awaiting for the chance to sail back toward the Red Sea passage.

The foreign sailors seemed to favor the shops with indoor seating, but with wide windows, or simply open-front buildings separated from the streets with railings. The group came across one such place, from which wafted spicey, delectable smells, and noted it had a fair number of foreign sailors.

After a quick palaver, they decided to stop in and have a snack and see if they could learn anything.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

An older woman showed them a table, jabbered at them for a moment to establish a common language, settled on Greek, and then went over the items on a menu heavy on fish, vegetables and rice. The group made their selections, asked for drinks, and took a quick look around.

They quickly noted that most of the people in the restaurant seemed just as interested in them. However, they also noted that, as the establishment had no bar, any introductions would have to take place between tables, in voices everybody could hear.

Still, Amon decided to take the plunge, and struck up a conversation with the neighbors at the nearest table. He soon learned that pretty much everyone had deduced they’d come in on the new airship, and that most of the merchant-ship crews kept to themselves, or socialized mostly with one another.

Amon expressed surprise at that, since it seemed a pretty narrow social circle, and was told that, while the locals were never anything other than polite, they kept all relationships strictly professional. While a few paler-skinned locals indicated that at least some intimate contact took place, this port lacked the more “physical” services one might expect.

In fact, the sailors told Amon the people of Kelaniya seemed to utterly lack any sort of interest in social contact with foreigners, and they knew of no businesses that provided a space that would facilitate such interactions.

As such, most preferred to avoid this sort of long layover in Kelaniya – not because it was dangerous to foreigners (it seemed quite peaceful, as long as one stuck to the strict rules); or because of the harbor fees (high, but not outrageous, and easily recovered when the ships reached home with their cargos); but simply because most everyone found it utterly tedious.

At that point, Amon tried to turn the conversation to points east, but hit a stone wall. Nobody had any information about the seas beyond Lanka or, if they did know, they did a great job at feigning ignorance.

While Amon had been schmoozing with the other sailors, Millie decided to take a closer look at the large mural painted on the wall of the café. She soon noted that it seemed to visually represent some sort of story.

The first picture portrayed a bunch of people -- Lankans from the dark pigment used to paint them -- armed with various weapons, involved in some sort of terrible conflict. The next in the sequence showed the arrival at the conflict of a number of humanoid, animalistic beasts of some sort.

Millie saw that the next picture showed the beast-men tearing into the violent mob of people, wreaking great havoc and shedding much blood. The last picture of the mural portrayed heroic figures, dressed vaguely like the visored constables, watching over the Lankans engaged in peaceful pursuits, and celebrating prosperity.

Millie returned to the table as the food arrived, and jotted a few notes about the paintings. After ending their meal, the group headed to a market square to secure supplies for the long voyage “east,” located a likely Kelaniyan merchant, and entered negotiations.

They soon found themselves stocked up and arranged for delivery, at which point Amon tried to pump the man for any information about the eastern seas. The man shut them down, immediately, and politely let them know that, if their business was concluded, they needed to move on.

A bit frustrated, the group kept moving to the docks, figuring that whole-salers who took in cargoes from everywhere might be a little more forthcoming. As they walked along, Millie noted that the various statues that adorned the structures seemed to portray the same sort of beastly figures and prosperous people she’d seen painted on the café walls.

However, as they strolled along the street one block off the wharfs, they saw three of the burly, well armored and visored city guards, ahead, whose attention seemed riveted to the inside of a kiosk. The Kelaniyans seemed a bit unnerved by the situation and gave the guards wide berth, heading off to a different street rather than get close to whatever was happening.

So, of course, the quartet had to take a closer look.

As they drew near, the group went to the opposite side of the street from the kiosk, so they could look inside the open front. Soon, they found a spot that let them look past the three guards to the interior, and blinked in amazement.

A beautiful, blue-skinned djinniya seemed engaged in strident negotiations with the Kelaniyan spice-trader, who was apparently holding his own against the notoriously short-tempered being from the para-elemental plane of Heat. For her part, the djinn woman studiously ignored the three constables standing at alert not far behind her, managed to keep a cool head, and concluded the negotiations after a bit.

Still, the group could tell the effort had taken its toll on the djinniya, as she strode rather stiff-legged out of the kiosk, took a curving path around the constables while studiously not looking at them, and then headed off down the street as they trailed along about a block behind.

The merchant tied a rope across the front of the shop and headed toward the back before the group could enter, so Steven called out and asked if he were interested in any other business. The shaky voice from the back of the shop told them the place had closed for the day, and they should come back later.

Somewhat bemused by what they’d just witnessed, the group kept moving until they spotted another kiosk, the nature of which Amon identified, on sight. A selection of baskets and bins held a wide variety of spices, and Amon said that, in Alexandria, such a shop on the waterfront held samples of the goods it had available, in bulk.
https://chainomad.com/wp-content/upl...0-1024x768.jpg

So the group walked in and one of the two men, there, greeted them warmly. Amon opened with a pretty standard inquiry about selection, quality and price, and then moved to amounts available now and items usually in stock as compared to those harder to get.

From there, Amon tried to move the conversation to points east, and was promptly shut down. When he tried to push, a bit, the men flatly told the group they needed to leave the shop, “right now.”

Thoroughly stymied and rather mystified, the group decided to walk back up the bluff and, as they rose high enough to see the harbor, clearly, Steven noticed something so obvious that everybody had missed it, completely.

He recognized the lines and builds of every single ship in the harbor. As a Marine Corps veteran of conflicts in Afghanistan and other points east, who had spent a fair amount of time stationed in Okinawa and Taiwan, Steven had seen plenty of examples of junks, dhows and other historical vessels that had hailed from his world’s Eastern and Southern Asia.

Given the historical parallels he’d seen, thus far, Steven expected to see similar ships, here. While they had spotted any number of small, lateen-rigged dhows as they approached Lanka, they had seen no bamboo-sailed junks, legendary for their sturdiness.

No ships from east of Lanka had moored in the harbor at Kelaniya.

While Steven, Beatrice, Millie and Amon went shopping, Aurelia decided to take a more discrete look around. Displeased with the constraints on travel dictated by the customs official, the former high school art history teacher donned her invisibility cloak and didn’t take to the crowded streets.

Instead, Aurelia tried to pick a path through the less-crowded side-streets and alleys so nobody would accidentally bump into her, and she managed to do so with little difficulty. She soon saw a different sort of city, one devoid of familiar clothing, gear or dialects, filled with the babble of an unfamiliar language, mysterious caste marks in a wide variety of shapes and colors on every forehead, and smells she hadn’t encountered since she’d left her 21st Century world.

As she wondered through the streets, Aurelia took a closer look at the brightly painted statues that festooned the buildings everywhere, and soon something began to nibble at the edges of her consciousness. She looked closer at the statues, and then at the painted walls, and a memory from her long-neglected background in art history percolated to the surface of her mind.

None of the statues or painted collages featured any Hindu gods. Nor did they portray any brahma cattle. Not one.

A bit weirded out by that realization, Aurelia flitted along carefully, watching as the citizens of Kelaniya went about the business of their everyday lives, until she spotted one of the town guards, ahead. She decided to follow him, for awhile, to learn what she could.

First off, Aurelia noticed that the regular street people, regardless of dress and caste-mark, almost subconsciously stepped aside so as to pass by the constable, well out of his reach. Then, she took a closer look at the lacquered, heavy armor worn by the guard, and noted it had no dings, dents, marks or scratches; it shone with a bright polish, as if brand new.

The guards head moved back and forth as he scanned the crowed, but the visor concealed his face. He seemed content with the deference shown by the Lankans around him, and he made no effort to interact with any of them.

(continued...)