Session 45

Fact Sheet: Aqueel's way home

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart and Tuur. Dins was our GM. Vinnie was excused.

Date: 05-06-2024

Date in-universe at the end of the session: Friday near noon

Major developments

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Previously: session 44 Do you prefer your werewolf sautéd or on the run

Up next: session 46

Notes

As we’re filing into the taproom for breakfast, we see a cute ginger ponytail bob through the streets: it’s Mi’Kal who finally made it to town!

We decide to share Tori’s pie with apple, blood sausage and astoundingly hearty dwarven spice blends. Storm and Aqueel are united in finding it disgusting, Storm for reasons of veganism and Aqueel for reasons of congealed pig blood. Aqueel lets the half-chewed chunks fall out of his mouth when he hears its composition. The others are debating if this pie is an abomination, or if fruit and meat can work, like a honey-glazed ham with cranberries or something. As we're having this animated breakfast, we're talking about our plans:

• despite some objections about forcing Mi'Kal to work with Maya for an express order for our bag of holding (since we figure he only just arrived in town, we should let him have some family time before we drag him into further shenanigans, plus didn’t he come here for a little break from his magical studies?), Storm and Ezra agree to keep up the prank for Jacob Saree. Storm sends a message to Maya via Bella Swan, not to rush her but check her progress so we can make our own travel plans
• How do we help Aqueel? It’s clear we can no longer make him travel with us. We keep running into danger where a kid isn’t safe, even one as sturdy as Aqueel & he’s been away from home too long as it is.
  • Storm is worried that the Rosarian military and/or Halloran will keep Aqueel hostage to force Hanaïn the King of Storms to co-operate in the war between Rosaria and Kharkorin, as he's read gruesome accounts of Rosarian war chiefs before the Aaldermans became kings.
  • Ezra is convinced Halloran is a dependable, upstanding captain. They have experience in assessing captains, after all
  • Fyllion reminds us he is a pretty good liar & he knows about a lot about convoluted royal plots, often a lot more convoluted, well, he doesn’t really know it, but he trusts his instincts as a pretty great liar, so there’s that
  • Aqueel is worried that Nasser will also be aboard & his father will kill Nasser, as well as anyone aboard and he doesn’t really want that

Wendy interrupts us, bringing some more food to supplement the blood sausage. She flirts with the handsome Arch Fey at the table, “a gorgeous face she’s never seen with this lovely group before” and of course Fyllion flirts back. Using the distraction, Storm and Aqueel try to feed the blood sausage to Chalcedony, but the elfish hound lets the chunks splatter around her without making any attempt to eat them. Is she also vegan? But didn’t she horf Gladiola’s chicken that one time? Was that a roasted tofurkey then? Or does Chalcedony agree that blood sausage is gross? Since neither Storm nor Aqueel can ask Chalcedony, Storm crawls on his knees, embarrassed, to clean up the mess, with an apologetic pat on Chalcedony’s head.

After this little interruption, Storm continues: “crazy suggestion, crew, but hear me out: what if we hire Simeon to babysit Aqueel aboard the Surya? Simeon wants to leave The Vale because he’s scared of The Vale. We know Simeon is motivated by gold so we can pay half now and half when he finds us in the north where he wants to travel anyway. Fyllion sorted everything out with Simeon, so we’re bound to meet him again, right?”

After a beat where everyone just stares in silence, a lot of counterarguments erupt. Eventually we settle on Fyllion’s suggestion that we give Halloran 2 requests:

• Solace looks after Aqueel
• Halloran keeps Aqueel far away from the “dangerous prisoner” she’s “reportedly” transporting, in fact she shouldn’t even mention Aqueel’s presence to Nasser

Satisfied with that conclusion, Storm interjects again: “serious question, crew, please hear me out: what are we going to tell the Rosarian military captain about our magic? Fyllion’s crown is glowing like a firefly’s butt in a dark forest is one thing. Magical items aren't being confiscated. But shouldn’t we get our stories straight amongst ourselves about Brighty, a glowing shark with legs who sauntered through town with us, burdened with a dead werewolf?".

Fyllion grins that he’ll just improv an answer, should Halloran ask. When El’s incredulity is supported by the others, Fyllion makes a grand promise that he won’t lie to Halloran. Ezra spots that Fyllion has his fingers crossed behind his back… while Storm makes a big production about this promise! With the words “wow, Fyllion, you had already promised to no longer lie to any of us, but this promise about a stranger is a huge step for you. I’m so proud of you, as we all are, I’m sure! Let's have a toast with our morning coffee!”, Storm drives his claws as deeply into Fyllion’s conscience as possible. Alas, to no avail, so it seems.

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El announces that they’ll stay in the stables, because they prefer the company of Madonna and Deception to that rude captain Halloran.

Fyllion discreetly changes into Ophelia, turning off the crown’s glow. When she rejoins us, Wendy wonders why she slept in so late & Hali quips that even a bombshell like Ophelia sometimes needs her beauty sleep.

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We start walking towards the harbour where The Surya is still berthed. As we pass Ghorann’s store for magical sundries, we see that Maya Ghorann and Mi’Kal are chatting on the shop’s doorstep.

Maya waves us over: “hey Storm, your swan is inside! Thanks for your message, I was just talking about it with Mi’Kal. The physical bag is ready, and Mi’Kal figures it’ll just take us a few hours to engrave the rune inscription necessary”.

Mi’Kal is glad to see us although it’s been less than a month. We see his eyes skipping from one person to the next, lingering on Ophelia. We try to tell him that, of course he knows Ophelia, but he’s not having it. If he knew a girl as hot as her, he’d for sure remember. And then he blushes furiously. Ophelia and Ezra manage to remind Mi’Kal of “the circle of trust” till finally understanding dawns and he gets that Ophelia is Fyllion in a different form.

Ophelia asks him to talk to us before he talks with his parents. He asks if it's about Nasser, he heard that guy was imprisoned here. We agree to talk about it later, when we're not out in the open.

Ezra gives an ominous warning that Maya and Mi’Kal should make sure that the people they talk to are really the people they think. Fyllion follows it up with the magical command "transform": neither of them is the doubleganger assassin Yu. Since nothing happens, we cheerfully wish them a good day and scurry off.

As we’re walking away, we hear Mi'Kal mutter "they got even weirder than before, how is that possible? Maya, what happened here?".

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We make our way to the Surya, walking past captain Marsten's ship The Lady of Waves. On the other side of the port, we see the ship Jacob Saree travels with. On both boats, everything seems quiet and peaceful.

On the Surya’s plank, 2 guards stop us from boarding. Ezra grumbles we've been here a lot, but Hali procures the message, so we head to Halloran's cabin.

Her right-hand man Vane hisses that we took our time and then ignores our childish complaints about needing to finish our breakfast. Ezra and Ophelia notice Vane is upset we don't respect Halloran as much as he does, and suspect Vane has a little workplace crush on his captain. During the little altercation, Hali casts a little spell to create a puddle in Vane's path, but alas, he doesn't slip.

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Ophelia knocks and Halloran invites us in. She's working on star charts with a sextant and several maps, planning her upcoming trip. Ezra's eyes gleam when they see these navigational tools. Halloran nods in recognition of another nautical expert.

When she points out we are less prompt than she expected, Ophelia spins a story where Vane just didn't underscore the need for haste. Storm tries to mutter that we think that's because Vane wants her company for himself, but Ezra cuts him off. Storm rolls his eyes, Fyllion promised not to lie and here is Ophelia, lying her tush off! Halloran points out she's also not used to getting feedback on her decisions.

Coming to the point, Ophelia explains our decision:

• we won't join the crew
• Aqueel gets the final say
• if Aqueel agrees to travel with Halloran, we'll ask Halloran to entrust Aqueel to Solace

Ezra explains we trust Halloran & we trust Aqueel to remain well-behaved. Aqueel is a little shy, but he nods his agreement from where he’s pressing his head against Hali’s hip. When Halloran questions how well we know Solace, we spin a mad tale about volunteering in the clinic and talking about the werewolf curse and discussions about music (see the different performances we invited them both to).

Halloran starts pacing while thinking out loud: though she’s relieved she won’t be responsible for the safety of a group of civilians, everyone has a job aboard her ship. She wasn’t really planning to let Solace play nanny: she needs all hands on deck. Storm whispers to Hali: “should we recommend Kekoa, who's looking for work, who speaks Aquan and who was displaced by the unrest in the Sea of Storms?”. Hali agrees it's a good idea & when Aqueel overhears us, he also concurs we can vouch for that friendly, laid-back guy. We present the idea and after an initial hesitation, Halloran agrees to at least interview this triton guy.

Ophelia leads the conversation to the next point of order: will Halloran and Solace agree to make sure that Aqueel doesn't encounter their dangerous prisoner? Halloran grumbles that she doesn’t appreciate these aspersions about how she runs her ship and about her maternal instincts, but nods that she’ll make sure of it. She doesn’t seem to connect us to “the heroes of Koh’Shar” who caused Nasser’s arrest and then skipped town before the trial.

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With a small voice, Aqueel utters his agreement: he believes us this is the best plan to get him home to his mom and dad, and he trusts us that we covered all aspects in the best way possible.

It’s a bitter-sweet moment, is this our goodbye from Aqueel?

Hali lightens the mood: of course not! Aqueel must come to the inn to say goodbye to El and the animals and besides, who can be sad when she has this awesome goodbye present for Aqueel? It’s one of the books in Common Speech they used to learn that language with an inscription of love and good wishes. Aqueel is very moved and hugs Hali: “thank you for teaching me how to say please and thank you after Storm taught me punch and poop and how to dance”! Hali reminds Aqueel of the shellphone: if he agrees to let us keep one, we'll still be able to talk.

In the inn, Aqueel will also have an opportunity to say goodbye to the kids he befriended in Wendy’s daycare corner.

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We promise we'll keep an eye out for Kekoa to pass on the interview offer. As Halloran nods while we file out, she holds Hali back for a moment: “Hali if you do end up finding your presumed father, please give Astarian the regards of an old friend, if he still remembers me”.

Of course, we’ve all overheard this incredible aside, so we start gossiping in an empty stretch of the corridor leading back to the deck.

Ophelia: do you think she's your mother?!

Hali: I hope not, I was expecting my bio mother to be a lot nicer

Storm: knowing you, I have no doubt your actual mother is very sweet, Hali

Ophelia (with a sneaky smirk): do you want to find out?

Storm creates a distraction with Bella Swan. Ezra has a stroke about using magic right in the middle of the Rosarian military. That's sufficient to distract the crew from Ophelia's casting. Ophelia slips back in the captain’s cabin & picks up 2 thoughts:

• they'll probably go out and get themselves killed but at least it won't be because of me
• I don't reckon Astarian remembers me, he has flings with so many women

When Ophelia asks Halloran to repeat the message Hali is supposed to pass on, Halloran narrates:

Astarian saved my father when my father's ship was blown to smithereens. Later I found out that it was just happenstance that my father landed on top of him while my father was sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Either way, they became friends and later he introduced my father to my mother.

I was scared of him when I was a little girl, but when I met him again as an adult, I saw a different side to him. So that’s how I know him personally, and that’s how I recognized the similarities between my friend Astarian and your friend Hali.

As soon as Ophelia steps back out of the cabin, Ezra drags us all out, away away away from the magic-users-conscripting military.

On the way off the frigate, Ophelia whispers to Hali: “I'm pretty sure she fucked your dad, but I don't think she's your mom”.

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Along the way, we see Kekoa who's fiddling with his druid staff. Hali heads over and passes on the job offer we just created for him. It’s a short conversation, Kekoa seems a little preoccupied and after the failed date Kekoa tried to set up, Hali is also relieved to keep the conversation brief.

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We go back to the inn where we drop off Aqueel with his friends. We give El a quick run-down of how it all went down.

Wendy comes over and tells us we got a package, sent by Maya. It's the herbalism kit Hali ordered with the different recipes! She mentions that she's finishing up the oil of radiance for Bella Swan and the drafts of mind-shielding we talked about.

While we're in the tap room, we see that the sunny day is starting to turn. In fact, the weather is changing alarmingly quickly to a vicious storm. A massive lightning bolt slams into The Vale! Everyone screams in surprise and fear. Thunder and a torrent of rain add to the confusion. We hear another lightning strike hit the city!

Aqueel hurries over to us, kind of worried: “I recognize this, I think it's my dad! This kind of storm erupts wherever he goes. Unless some wizard can create the same effect, but I don’t think so!”.

While the handful patrons panic, and we try to figure out how we could intervene, Storm quickly scribbles a message for Bella Swan: “your majesty, please calm down, we're bringing your kid as quickly as possible. cordially, not-Aqueel's-kidnappers”. He begs his swan to be careful in the lightning storm.

El asks if Aqueel could use his tiny elemental to also send a message to his father, but our marid boy doesn't think his water elemental can reach his father amid all this violent weather.

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When the patrons see we’re getting ready to head outside, several of them want to tag along: Reva was visiting her aunt Wendy and now wants to check on her father Osgar in the smithy. One older man wants to check on his wife on the market, and a younger man and an elven woman want to follow us too.

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Outside everyone is panicking. This kind of storm is clearly not something The Vale is used to. We can’t deny that the weather also seems unsettlingly violent to us. People are screaming in the street, running hither and thither. Inhabitants are opening their doors to harbour random strangers from this unimaginable monsoon. With an eye on the roiling sky, Ophelia shares that the storm is definitely not natural, but she's not sure there's any point to trying to dispel it.

As we pass the smithy, Reva quickly checks on her dad Osgar. As he seems fine, she offers to accompany us into town. She’s just as tough as us and could help out with the chaos in the market where the first lightning bolt struck…? We suggest she sticks with her father for the moment.

As we get closer to the river, we see that the torrential rain from the maelstrom in the sky is matched by an equally ferocious maelstrom in the river. The water is wild and very different from the fleet river fed by several beautiful waterfalls. We also see shapes in the water: scaley armed beings are breeching the agitated surface and spreading out all over town!

We also see a figure with a staff standing on the water, making a gesture. Following that gesture, an enormous creature rises from the water: the being is 18 feet tall, with massive frills framing their face, and antennae trembling like livewires. Rust-red pearls top dark seaweed green hairlike tendrils and equally dark lips pull back from sharp predator’s fangs in an enraged roar. Hanaïn, the king of Storms has come to The Vale!

Hali uses thaumaturgy to scream "uncle Hanaïn, please calm down" but the winds prevent Hanaïn from hearing it.

We recognize the figure with the staff as Kekoa! He points his staff towards the Surya and with another deafening roar of rage we can hear even over the tempest, Hanaïn attacks the frigate.

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Meanwhile, triton warriors on hippocampi, giant water elementals and scores of shore-stalkers armed with spears continue climbing onto land in several directions, raining down destruction on the houses and shops left and right.

Ezra gets out the carpet, in the hopes of sending Hali and Aqueel in a straight line towards Hanaïn to stop this destruction and save as many lives as possible. However, before we can get organized, some of the troops spot us as a suspicious group and head in our direction!

1. Storm hurries to put Aqueel on the carpet. He takes a better position & tries to courtier the closest triton. When that fails, he garbles in broken Aquan "we bring child Aqueel home. No pain! You, friends, help us?"... but it's unclear if anyone is listening. Rather to the contrary, when they hear the name Aqueel, they drop in more menacing attack poses
2. Hali joins Aqueel on the carpet & they choose a new position, getting ready to fly away. She calls out in Aquan "I'm taking my nephew Aqueel back to uncle Hanaïn" and then asks a question "you're not here to kidnap Aqueel, are you". They scream back "you're the kidnappers, we'll get rid of you, landbreathers"
3. Aqueel squeaks out "they're not the kidnappers, they're good people! I'm going to see dad, even though he's angry, and you can't stop me". His words don't have a lot of sway, the troops hurl back that he's brainwashed
4. one of the shore-stalkers mounts his hippocampus and flies up after the carpet. He swings his sword at Hali who tries to cover Aqueel. Hali is hurt twice! The second one attacks Storm in melee: one of his two attacks hit. The sea-urchin blades poison Hali and Storm, it feels numb and burning at the same time. Hali recognizes the sea-urchin poison -- this will cause a lasting paralysis should any of us succumb to it! The last one mounts too and hits Hali once with an arrow. Hali looks terrible and Aqueel squeals in anger: he's worried about Hali and frustrated that the troops don't listen to their estranged princeling
5. Ezra instructs the civilians who were following us to hide. They refuse because they want to find their loved ones as quickly as possible. With a snarl of "idiots", Ezra starts to climb on the largest house in the street. On the roof they shift into their tiger form and launches a non-lethal attack on the nearest of the flying hippocampi. With their second attack, they hit the guy on the horse but despite Baaloo's help, Ezra can't unseat him.
6. Ophelia starts a panicked song: “fly you fools & stop moving, you uglies”! With a mantle of inspiration, Ophelia gives temporary hit points and allows the carpet to fly away. With the same song on the lyre Dawnless, Ophelia casts hold person and paralyses the one in the middle. Ophelia takes a new position
7. the hippocampi work as mounts right now, so they don't do anything

A lightning bolt hurtles down towards the street where we are. It slams right by the flying carpet (thanks for that roll, Dins) and hurts Hali in the fly-by (with a NATURAL SIX and a NATURAL ONE), barely missing Aqueel. The carpet is sucked into the wake of the bolt and seems to have trouble maintaining its altitude.

1. Storm creates 3 doubles around him with mirror image, uses dancer's influence on the enemy in front of him and pleads for Bella Swan to come through (a desperate and useless plea, because of the storm and the distance from the inn where the swan started)
2. Hali cures her own wounds & drive the carpet forward
3. Aqueel screams "leave my friends alone" and summons his tiny water elemental on one of the rooftops to protect their exit. He worries over Hali, who reassures him she’s mostly fine
4. the paralyzed one tries to shake off Ophelia's spell but doesn't manage to. The triton with his bow pursues the flying carpet and the one in front of Storm decides to target our enchanter Ophelia, suffering a vicious kick from Storm's golden sandals. Limping from the pain and still under the dancer's influence, he completely whiffs, and Ophelia remains safe.
5. Ezra repeats their attack on the guy in Ophelia's hold person: they knock the guy off the hippocampus causing him to crash on the ground (with a NATURAL SIX damage). Ezra's second attack hits the enemy attacking Fyllion with a NATURAL TWENTY! Ezra jumps to another roof but slips upon landing and dangles from the gutter
6. Ophelia dashes forward into the street, cleverly evading an attack of opportunity. Then she misty steps onto the roof, next to Aqueel's water elemental
7. the riderless hippocampus decides to slap Ezra with his tail, but our captain manages to cling to the roof's gutter

The lightning strike hits the street right in front of Storm & turns one of our enemies to charcoal confetti (thanks for that roll, Dins!). Storm and the triplicates are safe.

Storyline

Previously: session 44

Up next: session 46