Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Malta Session 43: 05/02/2019 Marco and Evagara Tie The Knot, Arriving At Ta' Fraben Island, and Carlo and Lete Tangle With A Sea Serpent

Experience Rewards for pick up of the Malta Game

All cohorts, followers, and Bonded Mind Crew gain:

DR 2/Mythic when within 1 mile of a party member

All party members, cohorts, followers and Bonded Mind Crew gain the feat Fleet

All Party Members gain :

Up to $18,000gp increase of an existing magic item, examples are increasing the enhancement bonus of a magical weapon or armor, or improving a belt of strength to a belt of strength dex or improving its bonus a step.  Only one item can be improved this way. All improvements have to be approved.  While only one item may be improved this way it is possible to end up having two improvements, example, increasing an item from a +1 to a +2 Keen.  If the improvement is a few 100gp over the listed amount I’m not going to be too worried about it

One item for up to $22,000gp. Items must be approved. May not be a ring, due to the rings found in the vault.

All Party Members and Cohorts get:  5,000gp worth of potions, scrolls, wands, misc one use items

Other treasures:

Two Carthaginian Merchant Galleons, The Algiers and The Tunisian Gallant.  You even have paperwork for them thanks to your thoroughness in the vault.

Two deeds, 100 years old to the same mine on Dellimara Island

A map said to be of Ta' Fraben Island with the symbol of a vulture carrying a spear on the bottom

(10) 10,000gp promissory notes signed by Mokeif

A ship builders crafting book, showing a design that would be powered by burning Cindermoss

A gift, of your description, for the marriage of Marco Andrezi and Evagara.



We pick up the game at a ship-moot where ship and folk alike have gathered to trade in mundane resources as well as what our characters pilfered in the vault heist of Ripae. More importantly however; folk have gathered for the wedding of Marco and Evagara.

A couple of weeks have passed for us since we left Bugibba, so far this gathering is the first time our characters get and correlate information from the many and varied individuals who have come to the wedding.

The big news on the seas is that not only did we liberate Bugibba, our character's actions inspired retaliation from a Carthaginian armada who attacked a number of Egyptian ships recently. To these people it seems our characters and Naxxar's resistance has emboldened Carthage. This perhaps signals a new power or ally in the powerful merchant city.

Also there are also rumors in the Mediterranean among sailors; as some have began to speculate, after some observations that no dragons come to Malta. Lete points out to a few individuals at the ship-moot the fear mongering the enemy utilize indicating the dragon styled armor the followers of dragons wore.

Furthermore, the vacuum left from the fall of the seven churches in Paola has led our characters to learn that the leaders of Malta are soon to convene somewhere. This leads to other news that the Malta coat of arms is to undergo a change to stop any and all unauthorized trade that has been confused as of late.

Marco receives a message from his family and an early (wedding) gift: the deed to the family winery. The winery is operated by Marco's brother and cousin, and finances are accessible through regular Eye channels. The bride and groom also receive gifts of property on Malta as well as an announcement of the renovation of Evagara’s farmstead and a suite at the Gypsy’s Heart.
Dingli Cliffs

Carlo will receive messages sent from a few Borg members on their health and condition and a clue as to how to find them: the Dingli Cliffs.

A day of drinking, feasting and exchanging of stories before the sun finally touches the sea. The late afternoon sets a picturesque back drop for the wedding. Cian, minister of Frey, says a prayer to begin the ceremony, the guests repeat, then the couple; rings are soon exchanged. When it is finished, after about twenty minutes, with so many mythic individuals present, this is the moment when the followers and attendees gain the Mythic damage reduction (as noted above). Afterward our characters are confident we could send a bonded mind-like message to our allies who are present should the need arise. 

For gifts from the characters: Jabari gives the couple a symbolic roman statue in love and Lex (along with the Boxers) give the gift of remodeling of the room of Gypsy's Heart. Lete gives the couple of lavish chariot to travel Malta and Carlo tba. 

The emissary from Naxxar give the wedding couple is two-fold: a scroll that can find any location on a physical map, the case is magically indestructible as well. Bigibba municipal gift is a horse farm in celebration of the wedding but in fact intended for our characters for our heroics in town. The horse farm is run by the halflings from the Dogtown.

Jabari receives a message token from Naxxar: '
Caution! Ghallis rock has been infiltrated and is worse than first thought. It seems the sea ranger is not who we thought. Loshe’s identity may be compromised.' Hidden in the message is a warning to beware of clones;  In turn Jabari has a spell book The Ocean Voyager for Naxxar. 

After sundown everyone returns to their ships, nearly all under false flags to avoid pirate and Egyptian entanglements, and before long it is only The Bonded Mind, and the 'new' character's galleons The Algiers and The Tunisian Gallant.

The next morning the ships lift anchor, Captain Jabari asserts we send the Galliant to Bugibba and take The Algiers with us to Ta’Fraben Island

**Ta' Fraben Island: Even the Egyptians try to avoid this island, over run with Thri-Kreen and insectoids known as Trox.  The islands foliage is overgrown and their aren't any known structures built there. The largest trees are believed to serve the Thri-Kreen while the Trox' customs are unknown. Thri-Kreen have been known to leave the island, a rare few even joining up with pirates in the region. Of course their are sailor's rumors regarding treasures buried on the island but there is no denying the ship that has laid wrecked on its shores for this last year. Beached on the island and laid open on its side, The Monger warship was believed to be a Roman merchant's prized possession. Many larcenous hearts covet whatever treasures lie in its hold.**

It takes us about ten hours of travel before Ta' Fraben Rock comes into view. Along the way we saw a number of smaller ships fleeing NW somewhat along the southern coast of Malta to Goza. Our characters also see two separate columns of smoke, separate but definitely from burning ships in the distance. About an hour from Ta' Fraben we identify a dire vulture and as our character sail closer our characters see pterodactyls in the sky. Identifying the Warmonger ship, even from a distance our characters find the ship is a treasure in resources: from the metals in its construction to its wondrous inner workings. From time to time we see sea breezes fill sails still on the masts followed by an odd sound.

We drop anchor, but it something hits the anchor causing a stir. Carlo, as a manta ray and Lete enter the sea the waters to investigate. Below the surface Carlo immediately notices a stir in marine water life, common when a predator moves through the area.

Littered on the sea bottom are several humanoid skeletons while a bit farther out Carlo and Lete spot a dark shape in the water, a large shark in the distance. Then closer than the shark is a startling sea humanoid in the water seemingly hunting the large shark in the distance.

The two characters soon realize the longer they stay in the water the more Lete and Carlo are nibbled upon by some of the carnivorous marine life.

Then suddenly a long sea serpent sneaks up behind Lete and attacks. The sea serpent attacks and immediately grapples Lete. The brawler in turn succeeds in a knockout punch- this punch works with devastating effect temporally separating everyone. Eventually our characters get a couple of free attacks on the gargantuan sea serpent; it was Carlo that killed the creature outright. With blood in the water, this incited bloodthirsty fish causing a feeding frenzy, our characters then retreated back to the ships.

Our characters decide to rest. The night is uneventful other than the inhospitable and uncomfortable environment was and how aggressive the insects are here.

We begin next session the next morning.

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