Malta Session 48: Tengu At Breakfast, the Giant Drow and Lex Is Killed After Three Natural 20s

We pick up in the morning after a full night’s rest at the Barn. The night before our characters discussed facing the giant drow the first thing today, however; at breakfast we experience an uneasy feeling just as Jabari’s cloak indicates the presence of tengu. A quick look around and Lete picks out an odd individual sitting at a table not from our character's own table.

Jabari excuses himself  to cast a few spells before returning invisible (and undetectable) as well as being able to see invisible creatures for an upper hand in the situation.

Before long another disguised tengu joins the table where it seems this individual was recognized and expected.

Jabari, on his way back, spots two invisible flyers (my magic) flying away from him west towards the ocean. Noting that, Jabari returns to the Barn just as a small tell-tale sign of something invisible escaping just before being noticed. Captain Jabari continues to observe and notices an Italian patron that is focused on Lermang. Lete, at the table, talks of exposing or bagging one of the tengu to the other characters. Jabari attempts to dispel the tengu’s disguise. While the dispel failed to have the desired effect; the tengu reacted, got up from the table, and headed in the direction of the door. Jabari switches to the second tengu with a mythic dispel magic.

The second target, for the briefest time reverts to a tengu, then to a non-descript human. The second tengu then jolts up and runs for the door. Lete moves and immediately grapples this tengu while Carlo catches up to a building the first tengu ran to.

Soon both tengu are captured. The Knights are called for and Xenophon Erastos, the Knight of the Flame will arrive. Lete calls them out as being infiltrators and before long the tengu admit to just eating; however the individuals at the table where these two impostors were eating were asking questions about where their friends were if these two were tengu?

After about ten minutes Xenophon offers to take them to the castle. Lete and Carlo offer to assist him and accompany the Knight to the castle while explaining to him the danger these tengu indicate: They are of The Colony and are involved in replacing city leadership on Malta and are furthermore allied to Egypt and the Church of Tiamat.

After second breakfast and after some rigorous questions from some of the patrons and the giant Carlo and Lete return. Jabari however, still seeing invisible, spies the small invisible creature once again. At first it looked like a baby with small ram horns and tiny wings. However the creature vanished and was transported away without being fully identified. 

Mythic Baby

Not long after our characters are on the road with the mind of hunting the giant drow.

A half hour into our journey Jabari gets the distinct impression that someone else had been in the area where the bodies of Elsar and the unidentified male were found; this person was investigating in much the same way Jabari was investigating- trying to pickup on subtle impressions.

We continue for another two and a half hours passing travelers and daily road travel, but eventually we find a lack of animal life and are soon following a slope down where it opens up into a large worked cave opening where, in the angles of the opening, are a lot of ominous webbing.

As we approach, the scene comes off with a fear effect; many of us become shaken but Lermang becomes frightened and flees before the fun begins. We press on and enter a chamber with four chests, one in each corner, and a dead grey render in the center that look like it was in a horrific fight not more than a couple of days ago.

Marco flips open one of the chests; when it opens it releases cool perfumed air, inside appear to be clothes. Marco moves to another chest where he finds empty vials, a healers kit, waterproof cases and a small variety of clothes. Moving on each chest appears to contain a single cold stone and personal items of some unknown individual. Lete rules out the possibility of tengu cache of items.

Our character’s continue. The floor begins to slope down and eventually our characters begin to hear sounds of speech: a woman’s voice who says the name Ildgar. “Ildgar assures ***** here”

 

We continue on and around a corner to encounter not only the giant drow but three other drow, an imp, and a huge grey render/drider flesh-crafted thing.

The battle turned in their favor quickly with both Lex and Marco falling to the giant. As battle waged on the drow would flee the battle. In the end it was Lete who stuck down the drow giant and ended the fight.

Lete removes the head of the giant as the other characters retrieve the body of Lex and the fallen giant's belongings before Jabari teleports our characters to Nogammon’s druid grove to hopefully save Lex' life. (Marco was revived late in the battle) When we arrive all of us fall into a deep healing slumber- all save for Lete.

The giant drow: Large scimitar, +3 unholy and conductive; magical half plate and a shield (held for trade); magical belt physical might +4 str / dex (Lete); two magical rings (electricity resistance minor (Carlo), fire resistance major- needs sized); (10) +1 long spears; two scrolls (defile armor, invisibility) (Jabari) and large potions (CSW (Lete), delay posion (Carlo), haste (Marco)); as well as a magical scale of deflection on the greyrender/drider.

Two days pass during the healing sleep. At the end of the two days there is much to explain to the old centaur about restoring life to souls that have passed. But after a total of four days Nogammon reincarnates Lex, the unchained rogue's old body absorbed into the earth.

After a time we are sure the drow were warned of our coming and after at least one of us fell, the drow believed that was all it would take for some or all of them to become ‘mythic.’

A smart plan

Ossam

Ossam was seated in the Gypsy’s Heart’s Casino enjoying his tea along with a good run of cards.  

An eye messenger tapped Ossam on the shoulder and handed him a wax seal, receipt for the delivery of Ossam’s message in Dingli.  Smiling at his good luck, Ossam realized his run of cards had foretold this success.  

Nemo would be pleased as would the bloodless charmer.  She was truly hideous!  Ossam decided then and there he’d offer to scout Dingli for their targets if for no other reason than to be far away from Morkela

Ossam played for another hour and then headed up to The Giraffe's Respite to let Nemo know that their ploy worked.

Warjden the Storm Sorcerer

He was as nondescript as a middle aged elf could be. He was a little shy of six feet tall. His hair's natural tones of golden silk were bleached by countless years of ocean sun into pale white hairs that still amply covered his head, and hung lightly atop his shoulders. He couldn't blame his slight frame on age, for he had never been strong, physically. His step was light, and quick, and a great sense of balance kept him able bodied on deck in the highest of waves, in the worst of storms.

He loved storms. Ever since his real birthday, the one on the mountain top of his island home. The day his mother died. The day he was made.

Over his many years at sea he had breathed in the fury of every sea squall he'd sailed through. He had mastered the forces of the sky. The foam of the sea-spray, the crack of lightning, and an intense appreciation of personal freedom were his weapons of war, and he had always, ALWAYS stuck by the honorable codes of the open sea. He was a good shipmate, and an adequate sailor. He knew well the waters of Malta - and her most voracious predator.

Egypt, of course, with their endless coffers of gold. Their riches were exceeded only by their greed to rule. It was incomprehensible to the empire that people didn't  belong to them. They thought everyone belonged to them, some more than others. They collected the ones they desired the most.

Warjden

Warjden had watched the officers of the new ships in dock from afar for several days now. He believed them to be wealthy, for sure, but capable also. He also had heard a couple of locals note that they seemed to appreciate the lack of Egyptian influence evident in Dingli. It was enough for him. He was on his way to offer his services and seek employment aboard The Algiers, the ship that was seeking to fill her crew here at Dingli. He was excited , and nervous, which made him smile all the way up the gangplank. It had been quite sometime since he had been excited.

Malta Session 47: 06/06/2019 The Cliff-side Tombs, and Giant Drow Problems

We begin after a couple of days of downtime, during this time Pathilan Othrutho, the Master of Tombs, will reach out to Carlo whereby arrangements can be made in order to visit the cliffside tombs. The Master of tombs offers to lead our characters; Vann Floresow the Knight of Tombs will also be accompanying us. Pathilan' skin, we realize after getting up close, seems much paler than our characters would have thought. Nevertheless he is professional and courteous when relaying the circumstances of how the bodies were found and that little to no changes were made to the conditions of the bodies when they were entombed.

The Master and Knight of Tombs escort us to the cliffs. As we travel our characters confirm with where the bodies were found (on land between Dingli and Rabat). As we walk it becomes apparent the Knight and Master of Tombs they would prefer to fly and subtly hint around at such travel. Jabari produces a fly wand and before long both the Master and Knight (of Tombs) are riding a hippocampus followed by our characters enroute to the cliffs.

After our characters arrive the Master of Tombs will dismount but the Knight stays mounted and flies off as we enter the first cliff side catacomb. The tombs, we observe, are man-made and ornate; some have gates and some are of Gothic in design; and older the family, the deeper the tomb into the cliff. We come to a door, Pathilan says words to a spell, and the tomb is opened for us. It is here we realize Pathilan is an Oread. 

Pathilan relays to our characters that waggoneers were coming from Valletta with custom; carrion birds attracted their attention which is how they found the bodies; they then decided to transport the bodies here to Dingli. Consequently this wagon broke down so Pathilan has a keen idea exactly where the bodies were found. He says one of the waggoneers has been on the island Filfla (where the Temple of Hades is) but the other waggoneer's location is unknown.

He soon excuses himself after revealing a slab with two cadavers upon them and says to take all the time we need examining them.

Our characters discover brains of the victims are not missing but are split open; this is when Carlo will recognize the female Elsar; Carlo is sickened as he realizes something is missing from each of the individual’s brain- the same thing- whatever it is that makes them special. Carlo notices that the unknown male has a contusion- something heavy hit him from behind and could have been the killing blow. They seem to have been killed at the same time (approx. three weeks ago). Elsar bears no other wounds.

Jabari, with his physic sensitivity, examines the male cadaver and finds him to be a half-elf male maybe neutral or NG and not mythic but has a hard time classifying his profession- believes this individual was once prisoner of the Jailer.

Before we leave the Master of Tombs promises to indicate Elsar as friend of Carlo on the tomb as we wait for the Knight to return before we head back to the Dingli to pick up Ruban and fly to the location where the bodies were found.

Forty minutes later our characters locate the area where the bodies were found, here we find a stone with dried blood splattered on it. We also find a broken axle and a wagon wheel what corroborates the Master of Tombs story. Carlo, Ruban and Jabari pick up strong physic vibrations at this location and reminds them of the ghost at Ripae. No magic is detected. Jabari has a brief flash, and sees grey-white eyed giant hurling the (now) bloody stone. We find tracks of the giant but they are old and futile to follow. We decide to head back to Dingli and the Barn after our brief excursion out of town.

At the Barn Carlo sees the giant proprietor and approaches Gunred and casually asks him how long as he been in Dingli? A: 50 years. Do you know of any giant clans around Dingli? Yes, he is aware of large humanoids (giant kin) in the area and describes a location NE near Paola where there is a blighted area that attracts trolls and ogres. To the west and north there is a large dark elf. Tribes of giants? He says actual giants yes, but he knows Egyptians have giants and have taken steps to remain unnoticed. ‘Classic’ giants mostly inhabit the coast from Dingli to Cirkewwa. Carlo describes the giant Jabari saw- Gunred says it might be a slag giant.

Eventually it seems Gunred loses some patience with the questioning and soon the inquiry comes to an end.

Jabari expresses the need to venture down to the harbor and the Shoe Horn ship. Here Jabari discovers the Shoe Horn has metal presses and crates for heavy gauge paper for the press as well as books in a chest (that no one can read). The first mate, a gnome named Enlye, says they will only trade the paper along with masterwork metal plates at a value of 5,000 gp trade of commodities. Jabari feels this is overpriced and offers a trade of services- healing and removal of sickness. Final offer: CLW on every crew member and remove disease for every officer. The gnome counters with a master work blade added to the deal. Agreed. The deal is closed with delivery scheduled for the Algiers. On a side note the only nationalities Jabari can think of that are capable of having a printing press are Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The trade will take the course of a week.

The eight books (tomes that eventually will end up in the Library of Alexandria) are expert books that offer no game mechanics but are worth more than the trade in paper (8,000 gp).

Jabari next inquires about lumber and is directed to Filfla while at docks, he also confirms delivery of the new clothes had occurred. Finally he also arranged food and rum for the ships for the next thirty days.

Meanwhile Carlo and Lete return to the Borg safehouse to tell them about our ships and invites them along. Ruban asks to speak privately. He asks to spend a few days looking for other precious individuals if the responsibilities of watching Tash, Phack and Ludyn are lifted. After a month or so we can plan to meet the Bonded Mind or the Algiers at Bugibba and Ruban can report to Carlo who will try to find as many gifted individuals he can find. Ruban plans on following the west coast up to Bugibba and back to Dingli. Carlo gives him 150 gold to sustain him his travels. Finally Ruban relates his visions and monsters and describes a Mind Flayer and asks if these creatures are real. Carlo admits to little experience with Mind Flayers but does not know much about them other than what their reputation maintains.

While Carlo is talking Ruban, Lete helps the teenagers Tash, Phack and Ludyn get ready to be taken to the Algiers. Carlo cautions Ruban about traveling alone and Lete will give him a potion of water breathing as a possible escape plan if he finds himself the hunted.

Not long after Carlo and Lete escort the three teenagers to the Algiers and introduce them as new crew. Their first duty is to sew and mend the new clothes.

Late in the afternoon Lex and Jabar receive an invitation from Imenagara Tetarta, Master of Coin for a late dinner for all the characters. She indicates she wishes to introduce us to Krepka Vopazoth the Master of Gates.

After a few hours of cleaning up and putting on appropriate clothes; we exit the Barn and find there is a carriage waiting for us to take to the dinner date. All characters ride, sans the women, plus Lermang and Ahumm. As we ride the driver sings impressively.

We are soon taken to an estate, situated between the garden and Sky Court, and a courtyard where Imenagara Tetarta, Krepka and the Lusfra Hallowmark as well as the Master of Tombs (who begged an invitation after hearing we were coming for the late dinner). The night was pleasant and ideal for a toast under the sky. It is when we are introduced to Krepka who admits his admiration of the Bonded Mind. He says it is a ship with character and a storied ship.

The dinner is a tour of the tastes Mediterranean and we come away with the feeling that effort and planning was put into this dinner. When desert is served Imenagara Tetarta goes into the event from a couple of nights ago. Pathilan figures it out and eventually they mention their ‘problem’… Krepka gets a sour look. 

Of late their community is not as insulated as they would like is seems, would be wise to expand their horizons and in doing to uncovered some things… Krepka says it is no secret our characters are looking to the trade routes and they are in possession of Dingli's safe harbor to our character delight. They are looking for an arrangement with powerful allies they could give us unique access to the canal and trade routes. Jabari mentions our third ship and the desire for a regular port of call for one of our ships.

These leaders of Dingli suffer from both short and long term problems when it comes to the Egyptians. Their immediate problem is a unique giant dark elf near Dingli and since his arrival normal dark elves have been seen as well as underdark dwellers. Within the last month there has been more than one normal sized drow and have heard eventually this tall drow will be a threat. They fear to simply send their knights.

Pathilan asks Carlo, comfortable in his differences, if he is inclined to help as well those who are ‘different’ like him.

These leaders have noticed as well that more than once, they had to interrupt the desalination process due to a subterranean sounds they heard just before an umber hulk broke through the dam before slaying workers.

We ask of there have been any questionable or strange behaviors from friends or acquaintances. Imenagara admits to be suspicious of Verdala (who hasn’t’ been seen, but is known fits of fancy) and Darlonis Buskett who hasn’t been herself lately. Imenagara feels like Darlonis has ghosted her.

Not everyone is agreed about how we handle our problems. Krepka says the dwarf doesn’t ally himself with anyone, but does love Dingli. Abushamen is of like mind but Lisfra has to remind Abushamen that she is the Grand Master. Then there is the Othmar, who believes we don’t have the resources to spend toward this tall drow.  

We agree to help them and with this before our characters retire for an smoke outside where we set up secret codes with each of these individuals to ensure the next time we speak to these individuals we can assure their identities. The master of Tombs gives Carlo sanctuary in his estate should he ever need it. 

Lex: How does one become a master? A: You have to be able to show a valuable skill, investment, and service to the community and when an office becomes vacant there is a selection process with the other Masters.

We end the session after the late evening.

Malta Session 46: 05/30/2019 Safehouses, Slumming It, and Master of Carpets.

We begin this week’s session in Dingli in the late afternoon and with a couple of events on the schedule for the evening. Lex was going to the Boxer safe house; Carlo planned on visiting another safe house; while the majority of the characters planned on enjoying dinner and exchanging social niceties with Akab Qeifad.

... at the Boxer safe house Lex and Ahumm found themselves introduced to the Spaniards Radcery, and Sitory. After a few moments the two indicate a third individual by the name Perban has been staying here; but neither know of his current ware bouts. They indicate Perban gets kind of pissed when they go looking for him, they think he may have a girl friend or two. They use the safe house because a group of Egyptian “dog-men” (nicknamed so because of the distinctive helms they are fond of) have been pursuing them. The Egyptians seem to have marked them as guilty parties against the Egyptians.

Eventually Radcery and Sitory finally get around and admit that the Egyptians say they killed one of them, but they both maintain it was self-defense. Unfortunately it was an Egyptian of some one of importance- a ‘prince’?! Also their pursuers kept accusing them of being with Naxxar.

Lex presses them with questions: They have been here for about five weeks after Wally brought them to Dingli keeping them hidden in a wagon. They also have gathered a cache of items, unfortunately they have not been able to retrieve them because it is located in Mdina in a large burned out stone structure. Here, they stored a lot of what the Egyptians are looking for in an oven.

Lex expresses the desire to gather all the other Boxers together for a meeting and learns that beyond Radcery, Sitory there is just them and Perban. Beyond this news Lex is shown around the safe house including disclosing the floor safe. Lex estimates these gentlemen are likely warriors that have taken on the rogue profession; Perban is however the thug of the group and loyal to the coin. 

After is seemed the meeting was coming to a close, Ahumm asks each of them if they are injured or diseased and after a hesitant affirmation from each Ahumm sees to ending their ailments. Before he leaves Lex says that there could be some training opportunity for everyone indicating the meeting Lex wished to have and learns Perban frequents the Barn for breakfast.

... Meanwhile Carlo arrives at another safe house where Ruban greets him and immediately introduces Carlo to Tash (18), Phack (18), Ludyn (15f). After some friendly moments and a meal and when all seems relaxed it is then Carlo notices that together they all look a bit quirky in a crowd.

These individuals all recently arrived here and after listening to their story, Carlo realized these individuals all came through the portal at the end of the plank in Malta and after our character's trial. They eventually made contact with Maas with Borg House, from there they went to Bugibba looking for Carlo. In Bugibba they caught up with an individual from a tower, Ageus (a mesmerist), who brought them to Dingli. All of them save for Ruban are young and they all have subtle mental powers, albeit undeveloped. They are scared because Maas told them individuals were going to be coming for them. Tash thinks he (himself) is also a mesmerist.

After a time Ruban explains the Ageus warned them about the hunters and that there are other psychics hunting them. In their time in Dingli there has been two individuals entombed- two individuals found dead with their heads cut open. They were found on land near Dingli and Rabat. Tomorrow, Carlo says, he will approach the Master of Tombs to hopefully get permission to go to the cliffs to investigate the bodies along with Ruban.

Getting a grasp of these young people, Carlo figures Ludyn is a medium, Tash is a mesmerist, Phack seems to have physic powers possibly a spiritualist. However Ruban and Ludyn are the only two individuals who are literate while Ludyn can speaks common, Egyption, elven and two more.

... In a different corner of Dingli Lete, Marco, Evagara, Lermang, and Jabari arrive at the Flail Tree in anticipation of meeting Akab’s representatives. When we arrive it seems the affair is casual and it seems that Lete is the man of honor. Security is light and the aromas of beef and onion heavy. The furnishing were comfortable but not lavish. 

In a grand room standing to greet us are Akab Qiefad, Trorg Stal, Abushamen Hara'sis, as well as  Grand Master Lusfra Hallowmark and two unrecognizable individuals: one was Akab’s second wife and the other, a proud individual who stands out and looks like a younger Abushamen, his son who is armed and very much gear up- Dath Hara'sis. 

Almost immediately Akab introduces Lete to Trorg with a decree: "finally someone who can stand up to the giant in gladiatorial combat”. Much laughs were had until Akab at last asks if Lete has representation, alas yes Lete informs him. However Lete offers to contact his manager as a courtesy to see how to proceed. The dwarf seems unimpressed, but it seems to everyone here that Lete would clearly last more than a single strike from the giant. Meanwhile Lusfra keeps quiet for the most part while Dath admits to fighting the giant and says the giant indeed hits hard. Akab suggests 10% wager of the purse put up for the fight and explains every three months they like to celebrate and part of the celebration is a match against the giant, but the challengers have run low lately. 

Two hours of friendly conversation filled with food and drink pass. Marco will begin speaking with Lusfra indicating the uniqueness of the city. She says it reminds her of Mount Olympus indicating her Greek heritage. They make small talk of the unrest in Grece, Marco mentions Egypt and that’s when Macro catches her looking for Abushaman before speaking. But when conversation turns to Marco and Evagara being newlyweds Marco expertly shifts that line of conversation to Evagara. Lusfra offers the couple a token wedding gift in a few days, meet for breakfast at the barn and a walk in the gardens after. Soon Akab’s second wife will depart as well as the busy dwarf Trorg to Dath’s delight.

Eventually Jabari brings up business and the fact our company has a few ships and shipping capability and how our characters can carry new flags of the ports. They say they can add a strip or tassel that could give our ships ease of passage most of the talk of business is referred to the Master of Coin.

Eventually a night cap is enjoyed on one of the towers looking down on Dingli save for Lusfra. Abushamon eventually gets around to asking our characters a personal question, how long do we plan on staying? Jabari admits to staying a week to ten days. However that may not leave enough time to schedule a celebratory match but we promise to play it by ear.

At the end of the night the party lasted about 5 hours before the characters retire to the luxurious barn and under worsening weather conditions as it seems a cloud has descended on Dingli blanketing it with fog.

When we arrive to the Barn it is evident there are more people here from below. This is the first time since our arrival that were are taken note of and watched by other travelers passing through.

At the barn there are two messages: one for Lex the other for Lermang (one that was seemingly was delivered to every major town in Malta). The message for Lermang is an offer of 5000 gold for information regarding any of our characters. With this message is an Egyptian stamp and where funds can be acquired: Hagar Qim.

Lex’s message is from the Boxers- a forwarded request from an alchemist Riche in Birzebbuga who offers top coin for cinder moss. In the note the Boxers indicate that this request is made in more than one place and not directed towards our characters or Lex specifically.

The night becomes late; Carlo retires for the night, but the rest of the characters advance to the Barn game room. We start a game of cards while Jabari keeps is sea eyes open.

Not long after a card game is started large man enters the game room with a woman (we later learn is the Master of Coin) and takes a long gander at Lex and introduces himself as Perban and introduces the woman as Imenagara Tetarta- he is totally oblivious that she is the Master of Coin.

As the night progresses it occurs to our characters that of all the people, Imenagara happens to get the most information from us as far as where we’ve been and could discern individuals we likely know or had encountered in our travels. She is very adept at court intrigue. Marco, in turn, keeps the conversation going offering social diversion for Lex as the card game plays through the night.

The first hour Marco and Lex take some losses, Lete makes a gold when Jabari notices a couple individuals who were watching us leave after about an hour. The next hour sees Marco’s cousin arrive but leave after a couple of uncomfortable moments but it was Lex as the winner of the hour. Lex makes small talk about Imenagara's ‘bodyguard’ and find’s out he is just someone she is ‘seeing’.

Jabari picks up on that almost everyone, among the sailors, our characters are obviously wealthy and have more than one ship and gossip soon spreads that work could be had for individuals who's employment ended with their arrival to Dingli.

The night wanes and patrons slowly filter out when eventually a clatter is heard upstairs getting nearly everyone’s attention. Jabari, Lermang and Lete move to check out the clamor. Jabari and Lermag move up a lesser used stair way and Lete moves to stairs from the den.

Zhikal

Upon arriving up stairs Jabari notes an open chest in a hall open and rifled through and four fleeing individuals. Lete encounters the four the other direction. Two of them were chasing Zhikal Marco’s cousin who runs down a parallel hall. Carlo, awakened by the clatter, gets up and is able to subdue the second with a hall runner as Lete flies after Marco’s cousin.

Once subdued Zhikal says he was after one of two chests brought up from below, he believes one of the chests contain maps and these maps are what he was looking for. The other guy was just helping him. The maps came from the ship Sunken Dreams a former Egyptian ship now controlled by a merchant from Hagar Qim. The map is a silver train route.

Unger told him about a halfling ship that had the map; and he said it was the only way Khikal could pay the debt/fine Unger says he owes (10K gold). Khikal says the sailor that was helping him with stealing the maps was lied to and should not be punished. The two sailors from the Sunken Dreams confirm the halfling’s name is Briar Renatta.

We let Khikal’s accomplice go but keep Khikal in our company while Marco figures out a way to solve his 10k gold problem with Unger. Our characters decide to retire for the night but before that Jabari supplies Lete with a keep watch spell allowing the brawler to keep watch all evening.

We begin next week’s session a couple of days later on the morning of the fourth day.