Session 8
Fact Sheet: Hello Aqueel, so long Simeon
Date: Wednesday 12-10-22
Date in-universe: still an unspecified Friday, before lunch
Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Tuur & Vinnie. Dins was our GM. Meinhart was excused.
Major developments:
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Notes
While most of the crew is fighting the bandits, Fyllion is still paralyzed and drooling on the bench where Simeon dumped him. Suddenly Fyllion notices Enza running in. She spots him & runs up in surprise. Where the other patrons had avoided him as drunk in the middle of the day, Enza realizes something is wrong with Fyllion. She concludes the same thing happened as with Akram's guards. She dashes off to get help from Skourja and Mi’Kal.
15 minutes later, reinforcements arrive. Mi’Kal administers the antidote and tries to recover the cost, because lily of the valley is hard to get in the desert. When Fyllion flops on the floor like a dead fish, Enza pays Mi’Kal 15 gold. Feeling bad, Fyllion reimburses her, especially because Mi’Kal is probably overcharging. Mi’Kal convinces him to buy a spare dose & Fyllion complies. Mi’Kal leaves.
Fyllion changes back to his Eladrin form. Fyllion lies about not really knowing what happened. Enza explains what's happening with the group in the well, at the instigation of some rat. She had tried to reach Akram first, but he's been stuck in an important meeting with the remaining council members, which she isn't allowed to interrupt.
They head to the well together. Fyllion tries to hide his panic and exhaustion... She's holding back on mothering him too much, but she's noticed all the same.
Before Fyllion jumps into the well, he asks for a hug. Enza's hug is very warm and kind, so Fyllion, having grown up without a mother, breaks down a little. Enza doesn't dare join him (adventuring isn't in her skillset).
Fyllion follows the route we also took.
- The water weird is swimming in the well but doesn't bother with Fyllion
- Fyllion figures out the illusion door
- Fyllion finds the bloody bag with the empty vials of paralysis potion and the strip of purple cloth, wet with blood. He doesn't take anything
- Fyllion reaches Aqueel’s bedroom/prison. He eats some of Aqueel’s cookies and keeps following our wet footsteps.
In the room with the crew, he finally finds the others. Storm is covered in blood from the waist down. He walks in, offering cookies. Finally, we're all in the pool room with the submerged cage, in which a tiny figure is huddled.
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Hali dives under water to talk to Aqueel. The nereid boy has his own musical theme!
As adults, nereids have an innate tendency to rule over others, because they're naturally so powerful. However, as kids, they're more on the level of a genasi, like Hali herself. As Hali approaches, she sees Aqueel is both curious and afraid. She reassures him we're nice pirates, here to help. Aqueel and Ezra bond over the coolness of pirates.
Aqueel mentions the meanest bandit has the key to the cage, so Ezra and Eldrin go check. Hali, Fyllion and Frey banter a bit while they wait, from cookies to underwater eating and raccoons.
Ezra found the key & swims over to Hali to hand it over. Aqueel is frightened by the sight of his first shifter ever... and turns himself invisible! Hali can convince him & they get him out of the cage.
Aqueel swims very elegantly and wonders about the crew.
He's especially surprised by Hali: she looks like Aqueel, and he thought everyone on the surface in the sea of sands hates people like them. Hali explains that we're part of a pirate crew, passing through Koh'Shar. When he hears we're hoping to head to the Sea of Storms (between Breheima and Kharkhorin), Aqueel is delighted: that's where he's from. His father is the king of the sea of storms!
Hali is very curious; she only knows the northern seas. She wonders if Aqueel would like to join us part of the way, in order to return to the sea of storms...? Aqueel explains Nasser told him everyone on the surface would want to hurt him, for not belonging in the Sand Sea. How does Hali keep people from hurting her or being mean? Hali suggests playing the bagpipes is what makes people friendly to her. During their discussion, it becomes clear that Aqueel is suffering from Stockholm syndrome towards Nasser:
- he's grateful for the hidden room
- he's okay with one weekly visit to "his big room" with more toys in the main house (up the stairs)
- he's convinced the surface is dangerous because no one would be friendly
- he doesn't mind being used for his powers over the water (making it flow & summoning it)
Ezra has been translating.
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Aqueel got lost somehow, that's how he wound up here. He mentions his father, as king, behaved in much the same way as Nasser: one offers protection to one's vassals, as long as they're obedient and useful.
In an attempt to bond, we share some of our own pain:
- Hali never knew her father
- Ezra's mother was also unkind
Aqueel mentions his uncle has the same eyes as Hali. His uncle used to travel a lot, and before Aqueel was born, his uncle traversed the northern seas. Aqueel’s mention of Hanaïn, the king of storms his father, unlocks a memory for Hali.
Hali's unlocked memory
Hali's on the Young Kraken, early in the morning in the Southern Ocean, in the Sea of Storms in particular. She sees the crew bustling about: captain Magpie with his maps, Ezra in the crow's nest, Ezra's pet tiger Saksham, etc.
The door to the cabins opens & out steps Leith, the blind priestess who's accompanying us. This is an important day for our mission, so she wouldn't want to miss it by staying in her cabin, no matter how hard it is to traverse the deck of a ship in motion as a blind person.
She asks Hali if Hali is nervous, since Hali might soon meet a relative. We need to get to the portal to the plane of water, in order to reach the city of glass, so the social aspects must go smoothly. Two years ago, all went well, so hopefully Hanaïn hasn't changed his mind. If he has, we'd have to find a way to the plane of fire, to visit the city of brass, much less pleasant.
Suddenly the mood sours a lot: heavy rain dashes down, kelpies and sea elves ride tornadoes surrounding the ship, there's a whirlpool close by, from which rises an imposing nereid with a trident. This is Hanaïn, king of storms, and he screams to the heavens AQUEEL!
This is a full-on ambush. As bolts of lightning fall from his trident, Eluviel (a tall, dark, mysterious figure wearing a golden mask) steps out of the cabins. He suggests we flee.
Hali's memory ends, and her attention returns to the conversation with Aqueel in Nasser's basement.
Hali staggers from the memory, and shares a little with Aqueel. Aqueel realizes Hali saw Hanaïn after he got here. With yearning he asks if his dad is worried about him. With a little voice, Aqueel tells the story of how Eluviel caused his exile:
- they were living in their palace as the family of the king of Storms, who rules the Sea of Storms, no big deal
- suddenly a pillar appeared. When they explored, it turned out to be an island, that had appeared out of nowhere
- the strangers up there came to use Hanaïn's portal, like many traders and travellers. Hanaïn forbade Aqueel from ever going onto the island
- in the pillar, there were a lot of caves from which stuff flushed out into the ocean, so Aqueel’s brother dared him to go in one of the caves
- they found a hatch and used it as a clubhouse, until the day runes suddenly started glowing and the whole place moved, and they arrived here in these basement caves
- Aqueel went out to look around in the basement, at the floating crates and such... and when the runes activated again, and made the island disappear, he got left behind and was stuck
- Nasser was mad over the destruction, but took care of Aqueel when he saw Aqueel has powers.
When Aqueel realizes from Hali's story that his dad doesn't know where he is, he snivels he misses home, not for the servants but for his family. Though Aqueel is getting used to his life here, Hali promises we'll tell his dad, if we ever meet him again.
Ezra asks about the water elemental: Aqueel typically gave it to Nasser to help keep him safe. Nasser and the guards assigned to Aqueel are the only ones who know about Aqueel. However, the bandits who came into the cave appear to know about him too... They were surprised by a guy who came from the other direction and started injecting them in their necks. A sleeping gas knocked Aqueel out, so he doesn't know what else happened.
Eldrin wants to help the kid home, but what about Koh'Shar's prosperity, which depends to the extra water.
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With a NATURAL TWENTY, Eldrin notices a little rat moving pebbles from the cave-in. He wonders if we're stalking him, or the weirdo guy with the purple scarf who's dying in there. Should we like to stare, or do we prefer to help move the rocks so Ratthew can reach his family. Ezra and Fyllion start to help. Ezra's sand snake Baaloo also helps, even though Ratthew isn't very eager about the presence of a snake.
Everyone rolls VERY BADLY, Eldrin only a NATURAL ONE. It's very slow going. Aqueel wonders why we want to move those rocks, it's where the bad guy went... Ezra says we want to arrest him, because he was bad to us too. Aqueel launches a massive jet of water & moves all the rocks aside. Then he dashes back to Hali.
Despite the extra water, we can still follow the trail of blood... till we find Simeon with his purple scarf. Fyllion casts healing words & Eldrin is delighted that we can now hurt Simeon some more for having killed Saatia. Ezra and Fyllion respond with shock and disapproval: what is going on with Eldrin and their weird behaviour?
Ezra ties up Simeon, he's still poisoned a lot. Fyllion administers the antidote, over Eldrin's protests. Fyllion snaps that Simeon didn't kill him when he could have. With a deep sigh, Simeon mutters "thanks Fyll".
Simeon explains he didn't want to kill Saatia, but he didn't have a choice. He gave her the kindest and quickest death he could, which is more than anyone form the Sable Serpent would have done. Eldrin remains in favour of killing him, though.
A debate develops:
- can we leverage Aqueel’s rescue into a favour from Nasser? Given his treatment of Frei, and his murdering Marduk and Jahadi, and Aqueel’s imprisonment, we don't like that idea
- Can we kill Simeon as vengeance for Saatia's death? Only Eldrin is in favour. The others argue that it's against our code, but Eldrin maintains (correctly) there's nothing in the code about not killing our enemies, be it in battle or in revenge
- Can we arrest Simeon for a reward? As a member of the Sable Serpent, he must be worth something.
Incensed, Simeon interrupts that he's NOT a member of the Sable Serpent, he only worked with them as freelance assassin. The contract on Nasser was worth it, because Nasser enslaved Aqueel. Simeon was a slave as a child and it's what warped him into who he is now.
Eldrin pulls his sword. Fyllion tries to convince them not to, and uses "suggestion" on Eldrin, but Eldrin shakes it off. Frei puts her hand on their shoulder to talk to him, but Eldrin keeps suggesting we kill Simeon, because it feels personal. In the end, Eldrin agrees to abide to the democratic decision, as the code dictates. Simeon offers the location of Nadir, who's planning to sacrifice a bunch of people and creatures. Simeon thinks we should kill the remaining bandits, he's certain they'll still try to kidnap Aqueel, endangering his life.
We decide to
- warn Akram about the things we learned, incl. Nasser's deeds towards Aqueel
- act on the info about Na'Dir's slaves, who're probably from Enza's village, whom we promised to help
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Aqueel wants to return to his room, to check in with Nasser on his shellphone.
Simeon hobbles over to Fyllion, slowly and painfully. He leans closer, bending over Fyllion's shoulder to whisper into his ear... that the blockade should be restored, because this is the path to the Sable Serpent's hide-out, and they might try to come through again. The group refuses.
In Aqueel’s bedroom, Hali and Aqueel meet a bunch of Nasser's guards, as well as Nasser. They're clearly searching for Aqueel. Hali calls out a warning, so Ezra and Storm head over, while Simeon and Fyllion hang back. Eldrin doesn't step away from Simeon.
Nasser calls us trespassers and claims Aqueel as his child. Hali objects, so Nasser calls her a li'l skank. Hali reminds Aqueel that we never forced Aqueel to do anything. Through shaping water, Hali solicits a smile from Aqueel, so Aqueel remains close to Hali.
Nasser wants to talk as adults and offers Aqueel the use of the main house. Ezra and Hali tell him it's his choice. As Aqueel walks away with one of the guards, Hali says "I'll tell your dad you're alright" & with their magical earring Ezra adds "if there's a problem, just yell and we'll come help". Aqueel replies in appreciation "thank you, yarrrr".
Hali explains why we went into the well & what happened. Nasser doesn't buy it; he's convinced we're in league with Na'Dir. He knew we were trouble as soon as he saw us with Frey. We start the discussion:
- Hali explains about cleaning the water weird, but Nasser responds sarcastically. He doesn't believe in good Samaritans
- Nasser is furious about our talking to his child
- Nasser feels we saw too much evidence of his dealings (either the brand on the crates or the paperwork)
Nasser is in his element, negotiating with us. We're all criminals here, he has intelligence all through the city, so he knows all about us.
Our main charge is that he enslaves Aqueel and lies about the danger on the surface. Nasser rebuffs us: Aqueel can create water & open portals to the plane of water. Anyone else would work him a lot harder and not care about hurting him. We point out that that's not our experience with Hali, who has similar gifts. She prepares a tiny tidal wave against the guards as a demonstration, but with a casual wave of his hand, Nasser counter spells it. He sneers that's a spell he's learnt long ago from Aqueel.
When Nasser gives us one last chance to explain what we want, Ezra snaps that they want Aqueel to be free to go home, or Nasser's best effort to contact Aqueel’s family to come pick him up. Nasser boasts he did it for the good of Koh’Shar, while being as good as possible to Aqueel. Ezra growls that Nasser is just a bad person.
From the backroom, Eldrin calls "does no one care what I want". In this moment of Eldrin's inattention, Simeon rubs his head on Fyllion's shoulder and whispers another thank you.
The conversation breaks down: Eldrin tries to cast hex, and Nasser counter spells it. In response, Nasser summons a bunch of black tentacles!
Some flashes from the fight:
- Storm decides to guard Simeon, while the others fight. Fyllion implores Simeon to behave before he joins the fight
- Fyllion gives a rock concert in his mantle of inspiration to give everyone temporary hit points
- Ezra freed Hali from the tentacles and Ezra's snake of sand hurt Nasser with a NATURAL SIX
- Nasser fights with a lot of magic
- Aqueel joins the fight invisibly, but he recoils from some of the violence
- Eldrin uses their cursed sword again, with a black and creepy eldritch blast. The sword quivers their hand, to correct their aim while radiating freezing cold all up their arm. Eldrin also used Hellish rebuke and burns one guard right in his golden armour
- Hali fought bravely but was knocked unconscious. Luckily Eldrin can heal her
- Eldrin also gets knocked unconscious, but luckily Hali can give them pemmican
- Nasser, being petty, just blasts everyone in range with a tidal wave, knocking Eldrin unconscious again & bowling over Frey and his own guard
- Simeon keeps bitching at Fyllion: why isn't he allowed to fight, why is Storm his guardian, what is happening, why does Fyllion keep running between rooms, etc. etc.
Aqueel becomes visible and begs us not to kill Nasser, but it's too late to stop Fyllion's dissonant whispers. Hali stabilises Eldrin again & the last guard surrenders.
Aqueel panics that Nasser is dying. Hali and Ezra work together, though they don't have any spells or materials left. We explain how the conservation escalated and Nasser attacked us. Aqueel apologises, which is a worrying tendency in such a young child.
The last guard escapes, but nothing seems to happen. So, we take a short rest - Nasser won't wake up for 3 hours anyway. The 2 bandits are nervous but behave.
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During the short rest, Eldrin becomes attuned to their repaired sword. Their bloodlust keeps itching at them. They fall in an uneasy slumber and have a dream: they're standing on dunes of black sand under a black sky, with no moon visible... until suddenly a giant moon opens like a giant eye, peering into Eldrin. When Eldrin startled awake, something has changed - the shadows are no longer dark, but the light is now grating on their eyes. He's attuned to Eldrin's blackblade in its dormant form and has acquired the curse of sunlight sensitivity.
Ezra has noticed and comes over to check on Eldrin. Eldrin shrugs it off as just a headache.
We admire the repaired sword, but we're worried about Eldrin. Especially Ezra's worry is plainly visible.
Frey organises the evidence, preparing the hand-over of Nasser to Akram. Ezra explains the situation to Aqueel, including Nasser's misdeeds, and offers he can stick with us. Aqueel agrees, picking up his shellphone and offering it to Hali. Ezra takes his plushie, so he can have it later.
Simeon explains he enjoys killing, but he focuses on slave masters, so he feels more noble than us, for beating up Nasser in front of Aqueel.
A man of his word, he explains how to find Na'Dir in an old Lunaire temple, with its prisoners (either slaves, or recruits, or sacrifices). He mentions he doesn't even know what type of creature Na'Dir is. Fyllion makes an agreement: Fyllion gives Simeon a dagger, Simeon shifts into Fyllion and Fyllion shifts into Simeon. After squeezing his shoulder and whispering a choked-up thanks, Simeon casually walks away while Fyllion lies down on the floor to pretend he's Simeon, fainted.