The Best Laid Plans of Mercs and Mermen

Scribe Notes

Summary

GM: Anne
Season: Spring 823 WK
Night: Wednesday
Location: Birdlands
Level: Medium-High

Guild requires that the party takes at least ONE Water mage with Water Breathing at roughly Mid Teen Ranks
Guild Recommends that every member of the party has an underwater weapon ranked (Javelin, Spear or Trident)
Guild recommends that every member of the party has at least rank five swimming.

Party

1. Vixen - Elf Warrior Played by Kita
2. Lim - According to popular demand, now identifies as a Celestial.
3. Eugene - A cured Necromancer who now burns things.
4. Elderan - Tourist, part time Air mage.
5. Aaron - Smith, Tank, Enchanter.

Employer

Involved parties from Cecrotis

Mission

To infiltrate and stop The Marquis of Corruption plans.

Pay

To Be Discussed

Scribe Notes

Session one.

Guild Meeting Day.

We meet at the guild in a lovely, windowed meeting room with a view of the fields. There, we do a round of introductions to ensure we all know each other and are up to date with the most relevant things each can do—a few surprising changes amongst those going on this trip.
Then we meet with our employer, Felix, whom some of us have encountered on a previous adventure (A_Darkened_Mystery). They clarify some of the details on what we will be doing, but for the sake of the job, do not go into too much depth since we are not meant to be working for them. The short version is that a particular demon (The Marquis of Corruption) has been slowly amassing a cult following that has taken over a mer-city. This concerns their neighbours, and they would like the cult to cease being without causing the city to stop being.
The job clarified we stopped asking questions and planned to meet Felix tomorrow afternoon for travel to Cecrotis. We then begin planning, rapidly running into the first hiccup: our group has no proper cook, which promises plain food on the road. We do better on Military Scientists, having two of note, the same for healers, and even find a party leader in Vixen.
We discuss for a while and devise a bare-bones plan not to get ourselves killed as spies on the first day. We will turn up on the plane, lay a short false trail back to a now-mostly-destroyed town, lament our lack of well-paying mercenary work in the right places to catch some attention, and hopefully get ourselves employed by the mer-city for some of the typical jobs one uses mercenary bands for. This allows us to be ourselves still, reducing the risk of confusion and using illusionary auras to tone down an aspect or two for each of us, not to make us appear too tough.
The planning completed, we leave the guild for a feast and bonfire and ensure we have our usual preparations on before we meet Felix the next afternoon for our trip.

2nd of Thaw.

Mid-afternoon, we meet Felix at the entrance to the guild, where we take flight on the enlarged giant eagles he has provided. We pass through an aerial portal with no visible signs, an ingenious method of hiding it since reaching the right spot without knowing exactly where you are going would take a miracle. This brings us to a short distance east of Brin, and we decide to visit Brin with just the party that evening to lay a better trail before we plan to head onto Eshery the following day.

Session two.

We make fast time to Brin, jogging our way up to the gates shortly before dusk. They guide us to a suitable mercenary inn and where to find jobs. We stay the night in the Square Lantern.

3rd of Thaw.

We visit the job hall in the morning, unimpressed with most jobs. They do not have a high opinion of mercenaries. We find one heading in the right direction: an escort mission for a Lord Thorn and company. Vixen checks with the hall employees for directions to their estate.
We make our way to the Thorn Estate, gathering some light trade goods on the way and are greeted on arrival by a gate guard. We make note of the highly detailed Thorn Crest as we are shown inside.
We bargain hard, pushing that we have a cloud and can get them there in a day, and negotiate 12,000sp out of Lord Thorn, in return for our escort while he takes high-value goods to Eshery. He agrees to meet us at the East Gates this afternoon.
We collect more trade goods, some tourist trinkets for Elderan, and a few sets of cold iron armour for Aaron. Contrary to rumours and his drooling, he insists he is not planning on eating them.
Heading out early, we summon the cloud to arrive on time for Lord Thorn, then meet him at the Eastern Gate. With him is his Orcish bodyguard Ironhide, his Elvish 'Diplomat' Elandra, his Human scholar Seraphina, and four pack animals carrying his goods. We board our cloud, Elderan playing with cloud shaping along the way while we maintain an open bar for the trip.
Landing that evening at Eshery we make our way into the town, noting serious battle damage to the walls and defences being repaired. This appears months old from the looks of things. We start a meandering path through town, looking to build a reputation for ourselves in town as slightly disreputable mercenaries.

4th of Thaw.

By the evening of the fourth, we have started building a reputation and have made it all the way to the dockside tavern 'The Sea Shanty' where we set up for the night.

Session three.

Finding a table, we lament our fortunes and lack of proper mercenary work as we drink cheap ale and entertain guests at our table. Late in the night, we are approached by someone far too well-dressed to hang out in a dockside tavern.
Vixen leads our conversation with Brother Tobias, who is looking for mercenaries to help out his High Priest, getting us an offer of 500 gold a person per task we complete. Some of us stay in the drinking game to mislead him as to what we are capable of, and a subtle DA mid-conversation confirms that he is a worshiper of Savnok.

Once he leaves, some of us ask the locals about him and get some background information.

• He has been in the area about three months.
• He has hired other mercenary groups, but they have not yet returned.
• The details of jobs he has mentioned are not worth the rates he offers; he is overpaying by about five times the market rate.
• He is absent the same day every week.

5th Thaw

We take a trip to a bathhouse in the morning to reduce eavesdropping on our conversation and decide to accept his offer.
With some minor bluffing, we get a 1,000 sp each downpayment from him and go with him to board his boat, the Sea Serenity, a 30' long oversized fishing vessel style ship that is enchanted to sail itself.
We relax for the trip.

6th Thaw

Near dusk, we stop in a random spot in the open sea and are told we are above the city. We get a letter of introduction from him first before we descend.
Taking note of the city's architecture, it is built primarily on vertical lines, with interconnecting 'towers'. It also is unwalled but has a much larger presence of guards and patrols than a land city would.
Thanks to Aaron's magic, we note that the Sea Serenity has a speed of at least 50 miles an hour, more than twice the speed he showed on the way here.
We pass through the patrols without issue, thanks to the letter of introduction, and find our way to the usual land dwellers' bubble, which encompasses what might be generously called a single city block.
There, we meet several people including Eleric, our young sea elf guide, who explains how the city is laid out and how they refer to places in it to find your way.

• Tide is the level of the city vertically you are on. The higher you are the wealthier/classier you are.
• Wave is roughly equivalent to a street or block; odds seem to run E/W while evens run N/S.
• Room is the equivalent of the house.

Stopping by the rooms we are allocated outside the tiny dry section, Tide 4, Wave 6, Room 16, we follow our guide all the way up to Tide 12, where the Cathedral is the lone building at this height.

Session four.

As we are shown into the Cathedral, we note how everything present is made from melded stone, the entire structure and contents a single object. A few acolytes roam the area, scrubbing at algae and the like.
Following the usual chit-chat, Elder Tidestoneheart comes out. We assume this is 'Him' as we were told earlier, and we discussed a few things with him, including what our first job will be.
He wants us to collect a 'lost' chalice in a ship's graveyard about 75 miles away. We suggest it might take us around a week to do this task, given how far away it is, though we do decline the transport offer to the location.

8th of Thaw

Having used the shark-sled express to get here, we observe a graveyard of around two dozen recognisable vessels, a quarter of which are true ocean-going ships. The area is rocky, with some coral growths explaining how they might have sunk; however, with the land being twenty miles away, we are quite suspicious that there is another cause.
Aaron spends some time scrying, and we locate a nest of Sirens, one of whom appears to have claimed the artifact we are here to recover. Doing some research in a pocket library we have, we believe we have come across a cult of Forneus.
Opting for a stealthy approach, we manage to infiltrate the ship's graveyard under the cover of wreckage and luckily discover that the chalice had been left on their altar. We steal it and go to make our escape, but discover that the shrine has a guardian, a Kraken, and it gives chase as we escape on an intact ship's skiff that we had salvaged in preparation for our getaway. As Kraken's go, this one was not too smart, keeping its Mage Current up, allowing us to surf the edge and stay ahead, only having to fight off the longer tentacles on occasion over the next couple of hours before the city comes into view.

Session five.

About ten miles from the city, the cavalry arrives in the form of a number of priests employing underwater earth magic, and the Kraken is driven into retreat leaving us to make the city at our now greatly reduced speed. Mooring the boat at our temporary home, we head on up to the Cathedral to chat with 'Him'.
The Chalice is passed over as we debrief, and we get our 2,500 gold in return. Heading off we rest and explore the city over the next few days as we get over our narrow escape, finding our way around the market and collecting a range of trinkets for Elderan.
We also happen to discover where the chalice is being kept now, the hidden door in the side of the cathedral to get into the odd larger on the inside area the chalice is kept in, and a variety of other information that would tell a hostile group how to break into the temple. Their information security is not the best.

10th Thaw

While traveling the city we notice signs that a hostile group may have used the hidden entrance, so those of us in the area stick our heads in to find out if we can spot what is going on.

Session six.

We fail to spot any intruders in our looking before we are disturbed by the city alarm being sounded. Exiting the cathedral we find the city under attack by a giant sea serpent demon, probably Forneus, a Kraken, and a number of regular sea serpents.
Connecting up with the rest of the party who had fled the markets at the start of the disturbance, we move to help the guards fight off the sea serpents, leaving the Demon & Kraken to the priests.
About half the sea serpents are slain when the demon is finally banished, at which stage the kraken and the remaining sea serpents flee. Several of us are wounded during this time, so we withdraw to our dwelling to rest and recover.

12th Thaw.

Two days of recovery later, we have finished healing, just as we get a summons from the temple to meet with 'Him', presumably to discuss another task.
On arrival we can see that he is doing poorly, possibly having not slept since the attack, and he discusses our next job, recovery of a statuette from a sunken cave about 200 miles away, that may be guarded by Water Elementals or similar.
We also get a letter of payment to take to the guard captain for our work defending the city, which comes out to 625 gold, as they do not consider it a full sized task.
Preparing for the trip to the cave, we give an estimate of two weeks of travel there and back using fish to tow us, and make sure to stock up plenty of provisions before leaving the city the next morning.

15th Thaw.

Early in the morning we note the appearance of a scrying sensor of some kind. We think it is the viewpoint of a variant crystal ball or similar, and take a guess that our employers must be checking up on us for some reason.
No other threats show themselves that day as we continue our way towards the cave.

Session seven.

Short version scribe notes.
We continue and reach the area, taking several days to scout and explore to find the cave and work out what is defending it.
We identify several water elementals guarding the area, but not much else of note, and launch an attack on the cave.
The elementals fall back into the cave and then execute an ambush, resulting in a tough fight.
Looting the cave afterwards, we discover several corpses as well as a pile of jewellery, coins, and other such saleable items. However, the Statuette we were seeking can not be found.
We take another day to search the area incase we had the wrong cave, before concluding that the corpses must only have been part of a group and the remainder must have stolen the statuette and left their companions to die.

Session eight.

27th Thaw

Arriving back in the city after several days of travel, we report on our failure to find the figurine and our suspicions that the corpses we found were part of a larger group that stole it.
'Him' is unhappy but accepts that we did our best and pays us for this before suggesting a new job.
He wants us to go and kill the Kraken, as it has been attacking groups leaving town, and they are starting to run low on mercenary groups prepared to do any work.
We discussed this for a bit before agreeing that we might be able to achieve this as part of a larger group. He agrees to find a melee-heavy group to help us with this task.
He also lets us know that the payment for this task is likely to be extra above the standard rates.

28th Thaw

We spent some time scouring the city merchants for a few supplies to help us with this and do some additional work to prepare.
Of note, we meet Ted the Crab Merchant, a literal crab of unusual size who runs a business involving shiny things and Lireon, a sea elf capable of Divination who identifies the armours we looted.
Finding them to be good people, we provide references for if they leave town and head to human-controlled areas.

29th Thaw

Meeting with the other group led by the Elf Elowen, we decided to use a variation on the traditional hammer and anvil, with Elowen acting as the Anvil. At the same time, we move in with a flanking ambush as the Hammer force, though primarily with ranged weapons.
Using a locate to track the Kraken to start discussing terrain, we spot that it is in the direction of another group and far closer to the city than we expected, so we cut our discussions short and head out in an attempted rescue. Elowen travels fast with Celestial Aquatics summoned as transport and combat companions while we search for a bit and find a whale prepared to tow us.

Arriving at the Krakens location, we see the last of the mercenary group we hoped to save be torn apart, and Elowen starts the attack while we move into position.

• The fight is incredibly short, with the Kraken bringing all its tentacles to bear on Elowen and her companions at once, much to their surprise.
  
• When we reach our firing positions merely 10 seconds later, half of their group is already torn to pieces, and we unleash our prepared barrage, complete with enchanted arrows and bolts.
  
• Aaron's armour-stripping bolt does heavy damage to the Krakens' hide, allowing Elowen to continue cutting the tentacles to pieces as we continue to pour damage in. Still, we fail to finish the fight before they are all torn apart.
  
• Elowen's last blows did, however, leave the Kraken in a vulnerable enough state that we could bring it down just as the tentacles grapple us, leaving us on a battlefield covered in gore.
  

Processing the Kraken's remains, we also collect the belongings of Elowen's six and the four other mercenary corpses we can find before making a camp a short distance away to heal.

Session nine.

1st Seedtime

We finish healing and head back to the city finding it a bit quieter than we left it, as if people are staying indoors.
Reporting to the temple we however find the temple busier with 5 acolytes and priests hanging around the pews and worship altar.
Speaking with 'Him' we explain that we were too late to save the other team, and that the Kraken was obviously blessed by a demon from how it fought. We get our payment from him for this, but he has no new tasks for us currently.

The party heads to the dry district (small city block), to catch up on the current gossip.

• There are some people in the city who don't like the current rule, they want to go back to the good old days of being independent.
• Some people have been vanishing in the night.
• The Temple pays to keep the guards well supplied and equipped so that they can keep the city safe.
• A couple of days ago all the priests were recalled to the temple, and haven't been seen leaving it since.

We are concerned that something serious is going on in town, and Vixen and Elderan spend some time combing the lower Tides looking for evidence of troublemakers, while the rest of us make sure we are ready for trouble.

Session Ten

3rd Seedtime

Alarms go off signaling an attack on the temple, and we head there to see what is going on, rapidly finding ourselves in a fight soon after we walk in the front doors.

Session Eleven

The fighting continues and escalates; we find ourselves facing elementals, cultists, and even a demonic avatar.
Making use of some tactical options to force short pauses in the fighting and using our extensive potion supplies to push through, we eventually slay the demonic avatar and elementals.
By the time the fighting is over, the high priest of the temple is dead, and the temple is in ruins and danger of collapse.

Session Twelve

With our temple employers now dead and the cultists also dead, we withdraw to our living quarters and spend time in the city for the next couple of weeks, waiting in case trouble rises somewhere.

21st Seedtime

With a distinct lack of trouble on the horizon and a lack of employment, we decided now might be the right time to return. Stopping by the air block, we ask if any of the surviving mercenaries would like a ride back to Eshery, which most of them take up, having lost their water mages somewhere along the way.

23rd Seedtime

The trip back to Eshery is without any real trouble, and we convert most of the mundane equipment into cash, before connecting up with our portal home.

Notes

Thorn Crest: Oak tree, Royal blue background, Silver roots, Three golden acorns, Cresent moon, Gold border of runes. The runes on the crest at the estate have magic on them.

Cover Identities

Current party cover is as themselves, but with a slightly toned down presentation and illusionary auras.

Vixen

No illusionary aura, Cecrotis native, ??? ???

Lim

No illusionary aura, Cecrotis native, Hedge mage.

Eugene

No illusionary aura, Cecrotis native, ??? ???

Elderan

No illusionary aura, Cecrotis native, ??? ???

Aaron

No illusionary aura, Cecrotis native, Journeyman skills.

Mil-Sci

Primary Mil-Sci: Eugene.
Secondary Mil-Sci: Aaron.

Daily pattern

How much time does the party spend sleeping, eating, travelling, doing rituals, etc. each day

• Morning & Evening 12/24 Restoratives for fatigue recovery after casting.
• Dawn & Dusk ritual slots for each person. (Varies slightly for Lighting conditions and watches.)

Travel Magics

What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if the duration is longer than usual travel time. Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.

• Cloud.
• Wave Riding.
• Giant Marching Stick.

Watch Order

Watch Order
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Lim						Aaron
Elderan				Vixen				Eugene

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File	Single File

Buffs

Aaron has Rank 11 Enhance Enchant so durations can be extended.
He also has Rank 17 Greater Enchantment so +18 on all 4 areas.
Lim supplies General Water Breathing / Water Proofing at all times.

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rank	Effects	Duration	Aaron	Elderan	Eugene	Lim	Vixen	?	?
Enchant Armour (Aa)	15	32 def and +1 pt	21 Days	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?
Arrow Flight (El)	15	16SC 5 Dmg 8 Ranged weapons	21 Days	Jav	Bow	?	Bow	Jav	?	?
Enchant Weapon (Aa)	11	+12 SC +4 dam	21 Days	H&H	?	?	H&H	?	?	?
Eleutherian Ward (Aa)	9	take 2 off AG penalty for Armour/Encumbrance. +29 vs entangling, can't be slowed.	5/9.5 Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?
Vapour Breathing (El)	10	Breathe gases	6.5 Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?
Hot Wind (El)	11	27/16 def -11 to Fire and Ice Dmg	6 Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?
Feather Falling (El)	9	slow plummet	5 Hours	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?	?
Buoyancy (Li)	10	Up/Down in water at will. Up to 25' a pulse.	5.5 Hours	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?	?
Name (??)	##	????	? Hours	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rank	Effects	Duration	Aaron	Elderan	Eugene	Lim	Vixen	?	?
Scales (Aa)	15	50 pt ablative	25/36 Mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?
Arrow Flight (El)	15	16SC 5 Dmg 8 Ranged weapons	20 Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Waters of Strength (Li)	20	[D-2] + 20 Strength for 105 minutes after the potion is drunk.	25 Mins	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?	?
Water Walking (Li)	7	Walk on Water, 5 Targets	40 Mins	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	Sit	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Loot and Expenses

SP & other cash value loot

• 2,500 gold. - Recovering the Chalice for 'Him'
• 625 gold. - Defending the city from Sea Serpents.
• 2,500 gold. - Attempted recovery of the Statuette for 'Him'
• Assorted jewellery, gems and other valuables from Statuette cave.
• 5,000 gold. - Kraken slaying.
• Mission payment.

• Sale of two ships.

Significant Items

• Yellow Dragonhide. - Grow Dragon snout, breath weapon, Grow dragon claws, +4 DM to unarmed. Short duration on transformations. (Vixen currently using)
• T.S. Heavy Plate. - Giant plate that shrinks if the wearer shrinks, must be put on while giant-sized. (Aaron currently using)
• T.S. Chain - Small ablative pool that takes three days to recover. (Lim currently using)
• Armoured robes. - Negates some cast penalties from environmental conditions. (Eugene currently using)
• High priests' armour.
• Potions - payment.
• Elderan's ship carving.
• Piece of temple rock.

Purchases

• Cultist Acolyte robes - Forgery * 2
• 2,500sp herbs for Healing potions.
• 2,000sp for divination.
• 6,000sp for Quick Cast potion * 1.

Minor Items

• Cultist amulet collection * 2 - non-standard.
• Cultist potion collection * 2.
• Cultist armour * 2.
• Cultist Acolyte robes * 2.
• Cultist Priest dagger.
• Cultist Priest wand - N.o.M. Quickening.
• Cultist Priest robes.
• Stuff from 3 more priests.
• Kraken corpse harvest.
• Stuff from high priests' room.

Calendar

Spring
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Candlemansa
Thaw (10)
			1	Guild Meeting	2	Leave guild, reach Brin	3	Land in Eshery, drink.	4	Get hired, again.	5	The Carzalan Generals Ball	6	Reach Aquamaris.
	7		8	'Steal' a Chalice.	9		10	Attack on the city.	11		12	New job to steal a statuette.	13
	14		15	Someone checks up on us.	16		17	We reach the cave.	18		19		20
	21		22	Attack on the cave.	23		24		25		26		27	Return to the city sans statuette.
	28		29	Attack on the Kraken.	30
Seedtime (11)
							1	Kraken slayers return.	2		3	Temple is attacked.	4
	5		6		7		8	Rites of Thunor	9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Equinox	16		17	Eostre	18	The Seagate Spring Ball
	19		20		21	Party leaves Aquamaris	22		23	Arrive in Eshery	24		25	Return to guild.
	26		27		28		29		30
Blossom (12)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21	Floralia	22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Walpurgisnacht