Addressing Skorziak
GM: Jess
Setting
The fantasy/medieval kingdom of Durkin, briefly in Serenton and primarily in the sea a few hours from the city.
Characters
- Tok - A Jo
- Jimmy Claybourne - Jacob
- Selena Meriwether - Melissa
- Vasker Raiden - John
- Ulric Tollhouse - Brant
- Special guest appearance by Omega as Belch the unfortunate pirate.
Prep
See also: Addressing Skorziak GM Notes
Vasker was given orders by General Connery to visit Serenton and gather a monk from the House of Knowledge and meet with the infamous sea-faring smuggler known as the Muskrat and assist them in saving the kingdom. He gathered a hired blade named Tok and undertook his quest.
Ulric, having studied for weeks at the House of Knowledge was sent back with Selena to Serenton to document history which was surely about to be made, but he was also encouraged to help dispatch the demon Skorziak from the body of the ancient dragon Akriyal.
What Happened
Vasker and Tok scoured the piers and sea-side establishments until encountering a roving party of sea-urchins, complete with sea-whore flashing, wrestling in the streets and their leader handing out steins of ale.
Having met the captain of their voyage, he put Tok in charge of keeping an eye on him and keeping the sailor out of trouble while Vasker attended to other business. Tok was happy to comply once coin was in hand.
Vasker then set about finding the other individual mentioned in Connery's orders, the monk Ulrich.
After asking around, he finally ended up at the main office of the Serentonian Guards, where he negotiated his way past Warren the book-keeper to meet with Captain Dildonius.
After Vasker put Warren to work, he wandered off to eat an omelet. Upon his return, Warren had found records from a year past that Ulrich had visited a man named Sirus who was incarcerated for a blade-bare brawl in the streets. Later Ulrich had come to pick up the released villain. Vasker gathered the address of the event and visited Bertrude's Buns and Baked Goods to see if he could pick up any trail, although a year had past.
Having exchanged banter with Bertrude the Bakress and buying her buns, Vasker headed to T&T's where Ulrich had last been seen months ago.
Vasker encountered a red-haired woman on a balcony admiring the rising moon and was introduced to Selena. She invited him up to share stories. On his way up around the general store into the apartments above, he ran across Ulrich who was in pursuit of a biscuit.
The three chatted a bit and Vasker relocated from his rooms at the Gilded Stein to T&Ts, assuming he would rendezvous with Tok in the morning.
Tok and Jimmy meanwhile drank, danced, wrestled, contested at knife-throwing and generally partied until the wee hours when they crashed amid naked flesh and alcohol in the hammocks below the decks of the Pearly Swine.
Morning
- breakfast at T&Ts
- Jimmy gathered crew and supplies
- Tok pissed off gang-plank
- party collected at pier and loaded into ship
At sea
- storm strangely builds in front of the party
- island in the distance
- Selena prays
- Don Lau visits and hands over DarkBringer
- Storm gets heavier
- Navigation of stones and coral reefs becomes difficult
- caster spotted atop sea-jutting stone just before lightning strikes main-mast
- ship is righted and anchor dropped some 500 yards from shore
- cannons fired into island - one ball producing continual light
- dingy with 4 crew sent ashore to attack the darkness
- Party board dingy with Max, Beltch, and Duncan and head toward shore
- fire-ball slinging silhouette shot down by Jimmy after dingy hi-jinks
- the first 4 pirates are caught up to at the glowing cannon-ball and the group continued up and around the mountain
- found glowing cleft
- sent in Beltch to find glowing magma and dark tunnel
- party ventured into the hot cave leaving pirate crew every so often as sentries
- encountered inky blackness
- Jimmy and Beltch experiment
- Ulrich and Jimmy venture in conversing with immense and intimidating power within
- Jimmy loses sword
- Jimmy gets punched
- Jimmy falls into lava
- Selena heals Jimmy and Luna grants him sight through the darkness
- conversations with Skorziak-possessed Akriayal
- DarkBringer thrown into lava
- Dragon removes darkness
- Jimmy and Ulrich recover DarkBringer while dragon is apparently stunned
- Ulrich critically succeeds in diplomatically convincing the dragon first that he is possessed and secondly that he can only be cured by being stabbed in the heart
- Dragon is stabbed and collapses partially into the lava
- Jimmy retrieves the DrakBringer as the beasts body seems to morph beneath his fleet feet
- Mountain begins to quake and magma turns to lava flowing as rocks fall around the fleeing party
- some minor conflict about what to do with the blade resulting in Tok being magically dazed by Ulrich as he was going back to slay the dragon with the blade
- this also resulted in Selena bashing First Mate Duncan in the skull so Tok had to carry him out
- Vasker repeatedly lost his footing and had to be pulled from lava-induced doom by the grim Tok
- Another terrifying roar from deep within the mountain indicated that Ulrich's blow to the beast was not fully fatal, although it may have been mortal
- Pirate sentries were gone on exit
- Pearly Swine was raising anchor and dropping oar as the captain and party caught it via dingy and Jimmy resumed control
- As they began to carefully set back out to sea, they noted in the moonlight two narrow black-sailed vessels speeding from another side of the island. Thinking it closer than the mainland, they headed to where the vessels had left from, finding an old ship-wreck and driftwood make-shift pier and camp-site with a few caves in the rocky shore. Scrounging and searching yielded blankets and wood enough to scrap together a new sail and mast and a tortoise-shell chest full of uncut gems.
- the DarkBringer was returned to the wooden box from Don Lau, wrapped with chain and locked in Jimmy's cabin for the return voyage
- as the mast was being made well enough to get them back to Serenton the following morning, Ulrich requested assistance taking the blade back to the House of Knowledge to be dealt with