Session 17
Fact Sheet: Saving Koh'Shar’s water
Date: 01-03-23
Date in-universe: it's an unspecified Tuesday, at night, when we infused the water runes & raided Nasser's secret office
Players: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.
Major developments:
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Notes
The people's reactions are extremely varied, from jubilant at the Sable Serpent's defeat to angrily worried over the continuing drought. Storm wanted to suggest Hali to play a song on her bagpipes to tip the mood into celebration but seeing she's always slightly damp... it might not be the best idea to attract attention to her! We don’t want to raise suspicions about water magic & provoke a riot. We agree to split up: while we accompany the survivors to The Slumbering Sands to settle them & to inform Enza, Hali will discretely slip away and go check with Mi'Kal.
Storm finds a street urchin to inform Eldrin of our new destination. The kid named Ruvin and he negotiates ruthlessly:
- one copper now
- one copper upon delivery of Eldrin in The Slumbering Sands.
When he finds arrives in the temple, it's easy for Ruvin to spot who's the adventurer among the handful of people... He goes to address Eldrin, who corrects him that their name is El. Disregarding that new info, Ruvin informs Eldrin he's owed a second copper. Eldrin gives him a gold piece... and the kid makes sure he's outside of the temple before lying about the worth of the coin! Eldrin lets him have it but lectures him on the value of speaking the truth. Storm and Eldrin persuade/threaten him to go to temple more often, but it's a NATURAL ONE so the urchin scampers off quickly, with two coppers from Storm & one gold from Eldrin.
Enza and the other Nawa survivors are very relieved to see their family, friends, and neighbours. In the middle of many tearful reunions, Enza accosts Storm. He’s the only one from the crew, so she’s frantic the raid went badly, and the rumours are wrong. Storm explains where everyone is: Eldrin in the temple, Ezra with Akram, Hali on an errand. Mentioning where Fyllion is, is rather awkward. Aqueel, who doesn't speak common, needs some extra reassurance.
Relieved by this information & in tears over the news of the second group expected within the hour, Enza takes charge to settle everyone. From his mother Meyrem’s embrace, Stiva mentions the man who was sacrificed.
As the mood sobers a bit, Enza once more professes their gratitude. Storm suggests the survivors might think of a way to honour Fyllion, if they really feel called to do something more than pay it forward: they could rename their town or name an inn after Fyllion, or build a statue including Fyllion, as he's the one who needs emotional support.
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Ezra checks in with Akram. They receive the reward of 1500 gold pieces in very nice pouches with gold thread: it looks like the guard helped themselves to the ostentatious means Nasser used to reward his guards and/or ruffians. Akram reassures them that Frei will get a separate bonus, like Basri and the other guards involved, since they’re on the official payroll as city guards.
As he expresses his personal gratitude, Akram warns Ezra that the town might be hostile towards us: our arrival coincided with the drought, and we keep bringing in refugees who also need water rations. Ezra shrugs it off, we're seasoned adventurers. Still, it might not be a bad idea to leave town sooner rather than later.
Akram leaves to go wait for the return of his right-hand man Basri. He’s endearingly anxious to verify his team’s condition with his own eyes.
On the way to The Slumbering Sands, Ezra buys some new equipment: a make-up box, some hair dye, embroidery threads. They’re clearly preparing a new look, aiming to be les conspicuous.
They spot Gladiola lounging in the shade of her cart with her borzoi Chalcedony & observing the coming and going on the market. Ezra informs her our mission is over & we'll probably be able to travel with her in the next few days. She's happy to offer us room & board, but she can't pay us as local folk heroes. Ezra also explains they now use the name Ezra, to be less conspicuous. Gladiola concurs.
Ezra, having experience at reading rich snobs, notices Gladiola is really quite flustered at the attention from a genuine hero, even though she's trying to front with her usual snobbery.
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Simeon (as Simone) makes clear he's got quite a lot of money from raiding Nasser's office. His tattoo works only 3 times, so within 3 hours, he'll need to disappear... That's plenty of time for fun antics and dessert, they agree.
They head over to a fancy bar, one that's not owned by Skourja (she's more of a guild master). Simeon asks for a low-key moment, to keep the attention away from them. With a wink, Fyllion shakes his hair in the wind: he’s now a human with a mop of mousey brown curls on his head. Simeon stares: “Are you really Fey royalty”? Fyllion retorts: “Why would I lie about that”?
In the ensuing conversation, Fyllion mentions he's being chased by Night Court assassins. Simeon offers to buy out the reward, but Fyllion explains he's never been to court & he doesn't think that's how it works: his enemies want him dead for his bloodline & inheritance, it’ll take more than just a reward to stop them, even it thwarts the current batch of assassins.
Fyllion ruminates about his childhood with his mentor, the satyr Ifykon. One of his lessons was "always tell people about the best version of yourself". Simeon gets ever more enamoured: beneath Fyllion’s glamour and sparkle, there's a lot of depth. Fyllion blushes a little.
They also discuss the fight with Na'Dir & Fyllion even mentions his deal with the devil Virgil. Simeon is worried about making deals with the devil, but then again, he also got his magical tattoo through unsavoury means...
Simeon admits his kills are his attempts at chasing the high of that first night when he finished his tormentors and conquered his freedom. However, every kill is paltry in comparison & before he knew it, he had a reputation and fell in with bad company...
They discuss where they've travelled and where they might go. Simeon isn't known in the north, so he figures he’s heading that way to be safe & consider a new direction for his life… Perhaps they could meet up there somewhere? Simeon can't travel with us, unfortunately.
Fyllion mentions his memory loss & seeing himself die & the way he assumes we plan to take Aqueel with us to free him.
They confess they're both each other's first first date! They’re quick to reassure each other and themselves, though: it’s only the dating part that’s new for them. They enjoy some lovely water & nice food.
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Hali makes her way over to Mi'Kal's shop. It's closed but a light is on in the back. As soon as Mi'Kal spots her, he opens the door. Hali reassures him we're safe and managed to save more people. That'll probably be enough to convince Akram to let us put in the runes.
Mi'Kal asks that we leave him out of it, he doesn't want to live among people who know about his magical talents. Hali remembers there's another well connecting to the same tunnels. Based on her recollections, Mi'Kal can pinpoint where it is, so they agree he'll sneak in that way. Mi'Kal will have to infuse the glyphs with magic so everyone from our crew who has any juice to give should participate.
His notebook and some puddles everywhere prove he's been hard at work & managed to figure it all out. with Shape Water, Hali helps him clean up his workspace. As she does so, Hali spots a small rug with runes woven in the fabric & some glowing stones illuminating his space. Hali grins that runes are clearly his thing. Mi'Kal explains he's making a flying carpet. This prototype might be able to carry one person. Hali expresses interest & then asks about the pan'demonium. Mi’Kal is overjoyed!
They agree that tomorrow morning, Hali will message Mi'Kal (with the earrings) when Akram approves our plan. That way, no one will know of his involvement.
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Basri, the three guards and the prisoners arrive in the square, climbing up through Nasser's mansion rather than the well. The city’s rumours continue to explode: it would appear Nasser’s reputation is terminally shot.
As well as Akram, Frei is there to welcome them: in the joy of our success, Frei is fully welcomed back by her colleagues.
Basri leans in and in his gratitude promises to back us when we ask Akram's leniency for our use of magic. Storm wonders when we should negotiate our freedom as magic users with Akram while he's flush with gratitude. Ezra messages Fyllion, our best bullshitty liar:
- is he okay if we tell Akram about his magic & can he lead the negotiations: Fyllion figures his reputation is based on his mystifying magic just as much as on his unforgettable music, so he doesn’t see the problem (even though right now, he’s transformed into a human man)
- can Simeon help out with a disguise kit, Ezra wants to be able to change their appearance, but they don't have the same magic Fyllion and Simeon have: Simeon agrees to loan it, giving it back will be another reason to meet up again.
They agree to meet in the Slumbering Sands in half an hour.
Now Akram’s seen his team is safe, Akram walks over to us once again. We seize the opportunity: we succeeded with the gods' help, with luck and with a small secret ingredient... He hustles us into the privacy of his office, where Hali demonstrates her water magic. Akram is less surprised than we expected. He could read the signs in our stolen skiff and the feats we've pulled off, beyond anything even his best guards could manage.
He's not angry, but he IS disappointed we tried to lie to him. Hali apologises on our behalf: we were worried about being conscripted into the Rosarian army. Akram urges us to consider our country's need, but won't force us, since we unmasked Nasser, solved Jahadi's murder, defeated the Sable Serpent…
Relieved, we carry on: Hali explains there's a way to restore the flow of water. We just need some more leniency... Akram grumbles he doesn't really have a choice: the town has far outgrown the available water, even with the strictest rations.
Akram raises the point of Nasser being aware of our magic. He suggests we conclude our business in town and move on before Nasser's trial starts in 3 days. That suits us fine, so we concur. As we leave, Storm rolls his eyes in disbelief Akram really tried the dad-move of "not mad, just disappointed" on us.
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Ezra meets up with Simeon & they change their look. Simeon cheekily apologises for stabbing Ezra in the butt – few people ever leave an encounter with the Slasher of Sashari, and now Ezra has his signature to prove they survived! They build a tentative rapport.
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We do some shopping for rations and such. As a group we get
- Mi'Kal's carpet (as soon as he can finish it)
- a camel with saddle bags and a saddle and some hay to carry our luggage, even though Gladiola offered us a spot on her cart
- a map of the region around the Vale
While looking for a parasol, Storm runs into Mondregen. Mondregen is begrudgingly impressed by our success. When he starts snarking that perhaps our crew did deserve the deference we’d been shown last time he’d seen us, something in Storm snaps…
With help from the Sangrün bloodletting dagger, Storm isolates Mondregen in a fitting room, where he confesses he’s lost an undefined amount of memories. Storm cuts his hand to show the dagger’s power, copying Aqueel and Hali’s trick of shaping water/blood into a puppet show. Mondregen turns out to be surprisingly helpful and sympathetic (as far as he’s able):
- he’s relieved there’s a reason for Storm’s increasing weirdness, even though memory loss is worrying in and of itself & Mondregen still doesn’t understand why Storm wants to hang out with some dumb wet pirates
- he reminds Storm of our obligations and connections: the Reinsinger Finnilash would never interfere with a züchtungsreise due to its personal religious component, but a premiere at King Mordecai’s coronation is nothing to sneeze at. Also, has Storm even contacted princess Lydia since her father’s funeral??
- Mondregen was referring to King Balthazar’s funeral:
- Storm was there with the full crew from the Young Kraken (as far as Mondregen could tell, it’s not like he knows the crew, but the little gnome captain & his polecat goddaughter were there with Eldrin, Ezra, Fyllion and Hali
- We were accompanying a venerated war hero from many years past, the powerful mage Eluviel… which accounts for the mix of deference, courtesy and fear surrounding us
- Though prince Mordecai expected both us and Eluviel, it wasn’t a happy meeting & Eluviel was clearly invited for ulterior motives
- Mondregen also reiterated the embarrassing incident that kept him in Breheima till now: Storm gathers Mondregen was mistaken for Santiago in the search for Aashvi Saree. The royal soldiers that boarded his ship ruined some of the more delicate fabrics he’d collected on his züchtungsreise, but if they mentioned anything about the Friends of the Weave, he didn’t pick up on it
Storm makes Mondregen swear on this bloodletting dagger to keep the secret. When the relief of telling the truth settles in, Storm realises he made the dumb mistake he’s always scorned Dean and Sam Winchester for: this bloodletting cut in his hand palm is like a papercut to the n-th power and it’ll hurt for days! Wait a minute… could Storm use the dagger to cast a spell of healing…? No, the effects of the dagger are probably worse than the cut itself. While Storm is flapping his fingers to make the cut gape like a little mouth, Mondregen stares: “That’s going to scar, just like the burn Virgil’s totem left in your other palm… are you trying to collect the stigmata of dumbassery”?
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Eventually we all meet up in the Moonflower, where Fyllion is hiding Simeon/Simone in his room. Fyllion notices Virgil stopped listening in, too embarrassed by the sweet nothings to even bother to spy on Fyllion’s frankly amazingly openhearted confessions!
Eldrin rides up on their new camel. Ezra lifts their eyes to the heavens to pray to captain Magpie over this "ship of the desert" joke. Eldrin explains it’s not a joke! They called the camel "Virgil's lover"; Ezra proposes we shorten that to Lolo, while Storm snickers "Foot Pic" might be a good nickname. In the end Eldrin settles on Madonna.
Atop their camel, Eldrin sees Frei stroll up with her mother Yorla. She's come to thank us for returning her Lunafreia & gifts us homemade mooncakes & horchata. With tears in her eyes, she offers us Lunaire’s blessing for returning her daughter to her and restoring her honour and social position: "May the starlight guide you”. Then she goes on to embarrass her daughter once again: “Though she’s too shy to say so, Frei will really miss you, and you’re always welcome here". Blushing fiercely, Frei mumbles she agrees. Ezra reassures her we'll never forget her & we’ll be sure to drop in on her if we ever return to the desert.
As we wind down for the night with Enza and Aqueel in the Moonflower,
- Ezra embroiders a handkerchief as a goodbye present for Enza, while they teach Aqueel some more common & Storm some Aquan
- Eldrin brushes their camel & they bond
- Fyllion hangs Simeon's bloodied shirt on the doorknob, expecting to keep all others out. Fyllion's performance that night is a NATURAL TWENTY!
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Over breakfast, we discuss how to help Mi'Kal: he'll need 10 spell slots, so we'll all need to help him. Ezra messages Mi'Kal we're about ready.
We head over to the well, where Frei leads the guard away. We slip by the water weird & meet up with Mi'Kal. He's ready with his notebook & a sharp chisel. Hali repeats the explanation of our plan to Aqueel: we're not ever leaving him in such a situation again, but if he can show us where he summoned the water, that would be helpful. With some trepidation, Aqueel agrees.
Everyone except Aqueel, Storm and Ezra release their magic into the runes. A blue glow has the earth rumbling & suddenly a geyser erupts from the pool where once Aqueel lived... delightfully wet and cool water overflows into the side channels. It's a lot less elegant than when Nasser controlled the flow, but the water is back! We hear jubilant gasps echoing down the well, the population has noticed and is ready to celebrate their luck!
Exhausted, Mi'Kal sits down on Aqueel's former bed & slumps into a nap.
Quietly, Ezra helps Aqueel pick up some more of his things, since last time he only left with his plushie and his conch shell.
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Ezra notices Basri's guards removed the runes barring the door leading from Aqueel’s prison room to Nasser’s mansion… so we decide to go check if there’s any loot left!
It's a very luxurious, stately home. We notice that any old heirlooms are rather simple: it's clear that, like the whole of Koh'Shar, Nasser got a lot richer than his family used to be, even as merchant-kings. It’s also clear the space has been looted: his hired goons helped themselves when they noticed the tides were turning & Akram’s guards have been here too, looking for evidence.
We still check Nasser’s office, with an ostentatious desk and several family paintings. Looking for a beloved item to steal, Ezra spots a little statuette of a shark, a strange thing to find in the desert. When they inspect it more closely, they realise it functions as a handle & the bookcase hinges forward! We enter his secret room with:
- another desk
- a dried out bowl, eerily reminiscent of Na’Dir’s blood pool, which as a parody of Lunaire’s moon pool
- bookcases with several magical texts
- a book about the history of Breheima, lying open on a passage about Sangrün the blood god who was revered here before the influence of Soliman and Lunaire reached Breheima: Storm takes it
- a compendium on different creatures, including water genies: Hali takes
- a larger statue of the same monstrous-looking shark, radiating a strange and creepy vibe: Hali and Ezra recognize Sekolah, the demonic god of the deep, worshipped by the Sahagin (the underwater equivalent of goblins). Secola is a powerful entity, probably the source of Nasser's power. We’re all wary of the statue, so we don’t notice if Aqueel reacts to the statue in any way
- 2 spell scrolls: Fyllion picks them up
- documents and notes pinned to the wall where he actively works
- the circle event in Koh'Shar 2 years ago: Hali takes it
- the Sable Serpent: Eldrin reads them with a NATURAL TWENTY Hemo-mancer and diviner Sangrün was worshipped in the desert before Soliman & lunaire, the earth had a beating heart that needed to be nurtured with blood, nowadays only fiends and outcasts still follow that belief, though some worshippers are presumed to be immortal
- us: we all check it & marvel at Nasser’s snobbiness even in his personal notes. Ezra removes the paper so it can't be entered in evidence
- Aqueel: it establishes Aqueel can't read a map, so he doesn't know how to explain where his home is. Ezra takes it
- the war: Storm takes it – Nasser sussed out the Thalmerian fleet is gathering at Dhara in the sea of storms as back up for Rosaria & protection for Breheima; he's baffled by the idea that Kharkhorin would be behind the attack on Lharsham, all their mages were killed in the war 50 yrs ago.
- Eldrin notices a note about Gwyleth, a well-known elven swordsmith in the town next to King's Crossing next to the double lakes in Rosaria, the Lake of the Mother & the Lake of the Child… is there a connection to the black blade Eldrin carries?
As we leave the hidden room, Storm swipes some water off Aqueel’s forehead and moistens the shark statue’s lips… but nothing happens.
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On our way out, we decide to raid Nasser’s bedroom: we simply take everything. There’s only one Saree piece, a slim-cut robe from a collection, like, a decade ago. Storm takes it, even though it fits him more like a tunic than a robe.
We find Mi'Kal and wake him up to leave. We're set to leave town after one last night in the Moonflower.
Episode Line-up
Previous: session 16 Sangrün's champion, Lunaire's champion
Next up: session 18 Leaving Koh'Shar