#Jhessail watches

[jhessail]

"Damn my lance can't hurt this creature" You LITERALLY SHOULD BE THE BEST WEAPON AGAINST HIM KARNA

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 96

AKA “A whole lot of rub and no tug”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 96  (Date: 16th October 2020)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male. <Play by Rob>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by Travis>

Summary

- Oathday, 11th Desnus in the year 815 (Second Era). Summer.

- The party begin this session, having just set sail down the inland river headed back towards the Golden Channel. Gim hands over his Lion Greataxe to Galin The Blacksmith on board the ship, to start the work needed to attach the Moon Gem to his weapon.

- The ship arrives five hours later, in the early evening, at the port city of Phlan.

- Captain Lerustah and his men have prepared the ship to look like a common merchant ship, as opposed to an armed military ship. There are less Cult forces on the jetty than the last time the party arrived during daylight hours, and after a cursory check, the ship is allowed to dock without incident.

- Trenchant uses one of his spells to disguise the entire party. Trenchant, now looking like a low and non-influential merchant lord, is accompanied by a group that appears to have scruffy looking personal guards, ugly hand maidens, and poor servants. The group leaves the dock, with a warning from a Cult Officer to behave themselves in the city or else face consequences. Trenchant shows the proper fear and submissiveness, to the Cult Officer, that allows them passage into the city.

- The party make their way over to the Tea Kettle, where the small female Halfling proprietor Madame Freona, greets them kindly but advises them that as the shop is due to close shortly they can not get service.

- When Trenchant, still disguised, speaks out loudly to Olisara Lightsong (Harper), seated in the far corner, the Harper recognises who the group is. Olisara tells Madame Freona to let these guests in and she does so, organising seats, refreshing drinks and an assortment of delicious tasting foods. The party can not remember eating this well.

- The party and Olisara, discuss what has happened since they left and about the new mission they are on. She tells them the Cult has taken over Phlan as a base of operations for locating a new Pool Of Radiance, somewhere south west, near something called Kranun’s Crater.

- The party learn that thanks to their information, Olisara is now in contact with one of the resistance leaders: Captain Jhessail Greycastle. Greycastle is now working with the Harpers and the location of her base of operations is now known. Olisara has been unable to find out who the other resistance leader is, “The Black Knight”.

- Olisara gives the party five monks robes, of the Order of Mishakai, who do regular visits to the Grimshackle Jail. They learn their contact in the Jail, Glevith, is a member of the Welcomers (Thieves Guild) and has been assisting the Harpers with information and other things during the Cult intrusion. Olisara warns the party not to attack or harm any of the City Watch guards in the Jail, as they are not bad people. She gives the party the name of one of the Watch Sergeants, Bhevek, who can escort the party to see Glevith.

- The party then head over to the Cracked Crown Inn. Ellywick, the female Gnome owner of the inn, lets the party inn. The party speak to Seranolla The Whisperer (Emerald Enclave) and discuss anything she might know about the Pool Of Radiance. She tells the party that this area has attracted many pure Arcane stars, falling from the heavens to make lakes or pools of power, known as Pools Of Radiance. A shooting star was seen heading south over Phlan a few months ago. The last known confirmed pool was just off Phlan, falling into Thorn Island where Sokol Keep stands. The stars fall all over this region, sometimes falling into the same place more than once, as if attracted to fall by some force. She believes Kranun’s Crater was a previous location where a massive star fell creating a lake size pool of power. She does not know exactly where this crater is, as this was a very long time ago, though she thinks it may lay south of Lake Enion, which forms the border of the Elvish lands. She warns the party to be on the look out for increased Bulette activity in that area.

- The party come up with a plan to enter Grimshackle Jail. The three Dwarves wait in a nearby sewer exit, keeping the Jail under observation, ready for trouble. Varis, Labarett, Naillae and Trenchant wear the Robes Of Mishakai, and approach the Jail pretending to be priests wishing to perform their regular services to the prisoners.

- The guards let the disguised party members in, and send for Sergeant Bhevek, when Trenchant asks for him by name. The Sergeant attends and leads the party away, recognising the party as the ones he was waiting for from Olisara. He takes the party up the four levels of the massive tower, passing many cells holding about a hundred prisoners. The guards are well dressed and well behaved. The prisoners do not appear mistreated.

- He ushers them up to an area that is sectioned off from the rest. A single door leads to a large cell that has no neighbours. Inside is a well appointed room, with a comfortable bed and chair, a writing desk with a papers and inks on it, along with a plate of food and cup with water.

- A figure with a stern thin face seats on the chair, holding a leather bound book. He looks up at the party, the light from a nearby lantern reflected on his slick greasy black hair. His thin lips smile slightly under a large bent nose, “I’m so glad you’ve come. I was beginning to worry that Olisara did not get my message.”

- Sergeant Bhevek moves to wait back at the door, just out of hearing, whilst the party speak to Glevith. They discuss what information he has. He confirms he knows exactly where the Cult is going, as some of his people have seen paper records and maps showing the location of Kranun’s Crater. He tells the party he is willing to give this information over if they agree to rescue his younger sister, Lilly, from her enforced servitude in the Red Glove. A brothel and gambling den run by a gang of criminals lead by an evil man by the name of Gillim. He describes his sister has attractive with long fair hair.

- The party quickly agree to this and leave Grimshackle Jail. Once back in the city proper, they head over to the brothel, a well made and maintained two story building. Trenchant disguises the party and attempts to gain entry, but when he enquires after the name of Lilly, they are refused entry by a suspicious female care taker called Madame Star.

- The party drop the disguise and approach the brothel as themselves and this time gain entry. The are greeted by Madame Star, who supervises the girls and entertainment. The party walk through a long and well appointed entry hall, under the watchful eye of two heavily armoured guards, and walking through a heavy red curtain enter a large drinking room. Various customers sit around the room, with serving girls bringing drinks and an assortment of naked women talking and laughing with the customers at the tables. A female entertainer plays a flute off to the side, with much apparent skill, as a girl dressed in translucent and revealing loose clothing, dances in front of her. Two more guards are visible standing in front of a set of large double doors behind a long wooden serving bar.

- Whilst the party remain downstairs, Sir Krondor and Trenchant ask Madame Star if they can pay to meet the girls privately. She has them disarm and leave all their weapons in a wall cupboard and then follow her up stairs to the private rooms. She makes five of the girls come out to line up for their inspection whilst Trenchant uses magic to read the minds of the presented girls to see if any of them are Lilly. When none are, he asks Madame Star about a door at the far end of the hall that has two armoured soldiers wearing House colours. She informs the pair that they are the personal guards of some nobles playing in the gambling den. The pair ask if they can join in and she leads them to the gambling den, a large lavish room, filled with more personal guards and with a round table in the middle of the room. Seated around the round table are three very well dressed men, obviously powerful merchant lords, with a large pile of coins on the table that glitter in the torch light. A thin attractive female with long fair hair, dressed in rich silk clothes, is serving drinks to the men. Trenchant quickly learns that this girl is Lilly. Sir Krondor and Trenchant have to improvise a plan to get her out.

- Not wishing to be left out, Varis decides to go out stairs too. He waits until Madame Star can show him upstairs, removes all his weapons (except for one dagger he hides) and he selects one girl to take into a private room. Once inside he begins questioning her about how many girls are here, the number of guards and other information that will help the party.

- Back in the gambling den, Sir Krondor declares he must have this serving girl immediately as she is the most beautiful thing he as ever seen. Madame Star takes Sir Krondor and Lilly out of the gambling den and into a private room, opposite to where Varis is. Sir Krondor tells Lilly they are here to rescue her but she insists that they rescue all the girls as they are all here against their will.

- Meanwhile, downstairs, Labarett has been stewing. He has been looking at the faces of the girls, which though are smiling are obvious they do not wish to be here. He can see faint bruises on some of them. His anger is building. His rage at this unjust treatment is building. He will not stand by and do nothing whilst these girls are being held, their freedom removed.

- Labarett stands up, determination on his face. Naillae looks across and sees the expression on his face, “Labarett, where are you going? We have to wait …”

- Labarett does not stop or respond, he continues to walk towards the bar, his hands moving towards his longsword.

- Ragnar quickly moves up, “Change of plans! Backup Labarett!”

- As he says this Labarett breaks into a run, his speed carrying him towards the first guard before anyone even knows what is happening. Mayhem breaks out as the battle starts. At first the guards are caught in surprise but they quickly rally and the ex-soldiers show they know how to handle themselves in a fight.

- The female entertainer, actually a Bard, jumps onto the bar and starts hurtling spells at the party. Ragnar tries to summon his Spirit Guardians around him but the Bard stops the spell with a well timed Counter Spell.

- The large double doors near the bar open as more guards appear and worse yet, a massive Flesh Golem charges out. Naillae, leaps up and slides down the bar, and then leaps towards the Flesh Golem her enchanted dagger hitting and slicing down the torso of the creature. She leans back in horror as she sees her attack did nothing, her daggers having no effect.

- Ragnar looks over at the Flesh Golem shouting, “Only weapons made of adamantine can harm it!”

- Naillae quickly disengages and moves away from the Golem. The party start to panic as they realise none of them have adamantine weapons.

- Meanwhile, upstairs, the sound of the battle can be heard. All the personal guards race to surround and protect their respective lords whilst Trenchant casts a powerful Mass Suggestion spell on the group. All but one guard and one lord, falls under his suggestion, which is to accompany him and guard the girls back to the jetty.

- Varis runs out of his room, the hidden dagger now in his hands and leaps towards two brothel guards waiting at the top of a set of stairs.

- Sir Krondor comes out too but pretends to be drunk and confused. Varis runs back away from the guards just as Trenchant arrives from around the corner, casting Fear on the two guards. They both immediately run down the stairs, terror on their faces.

- Sir Krondor tells Lilly to grab all the rest of the girls and follow them downstairs.

- Meanwhile, downstairs, the fight has been continuing, as more guards have arrived to join the fight, including the gang leader Gillim. Gillim stays back, firing crossbow bolts from his office.

- Ragnar, frustrated with the battle points his finger at the open office, where Gillim and the Golem are. He casts Fireball, a small orange point of light hurtling from his finger towards the open office.

- Gim and Labarett do not notice this, the battle lust over coming them. So too, the hostile Bard does not notice Ragnar’s spell, otherwise she would have not hesitated to Counter Spell it, knowing how dangerous that spell would be in a wooden building.

- Naillae, the only one to see Ragnar cast the spell, watches the fast moving orange dot fly across the room with a look or pure shock and fear. But before she can get the words out, “You stupid son of …” a massive explosion comes from the open office as the Fireball explodes.

- Heat and wind comes out from the room. Flames begin to spread over the carpet covered wooden floor, wood reinforced clay walls, and exposed wood beam ceiling. Black smoke begins to fill the lower floor. Screams of panic fill the air, as all pretence at fighting stops as everyone begins running towards the single locked front door.

- The others upstairs hear the massive explosion which shakes the building. Sir Krondor bellows, “One job! They had one job! Just wait for us! I’m going to…”

- Trenchant interrupts him, “Not now Krondor! We need to all run! RUN!”

- There is now a massive stampede going. Everyone is trying to run to the only door, which has a massive metal bar, and three turn locks on it. One of the brothel guards is trying to open it but in his fear and panic, seeing the flames and smoke fill the room, along with a massive Flesh Golem picking up people and throwing them out of his way, his shaking hands keep failing.

- The Brothel Bard quickly steps up to him, plunging a knife into his neck, so she can instead calmly open the three locks. Labarett leans around her and with a mighty heave, pulls the heavy metal bar away. As the door opens, letting in fresh cold air, Varis shoots an arrow at the back of the Bard, dropping her dead, and clearing the doorway.

- The others from above have run downstairs and quickly retrieve their stowed gear.

- Ragnar standing near the office which is now an inferno of heat and flames, is summoning food and water, by casting his spell over and over. Each time he directs all the water to appear at the front of the fire. This is slowing the spread but only somewhat, but it is just enough to buy everyone enough time to run outside of the front door.

- The party, still escorted by the two merchants and their personal guards under a Suggestion, casually walk down the street as the tavern flames lit up the entire street. A group of Cult forces and locals are running towards the tavern.

<And as the party walk away from the scene of destruction, the sound of fire and battle as the Flesh Golem begins randomly attacking the arriving Cult Forces, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “Ships Passing In The Night” - Enter Phlan Undetected By Cult = 500 XP

- “In And Out Again” - Rescue Lilly Undetected = FAIL

- “Freedom For All” - Release Entrapped Women (12) = 2400 XP

- “Secrets & Lies” - Recover Blackmail Journal of Gillim = FAIL

Creatures Overcome

- Gang Enforcers = 3500 XP

- Bard = 450 XP

- Gang Leader (Gillim) = 100 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 125088 + 1240 = 126328

Arthur : 99794 + 992 = 100786 (Level up to Level 12)

John : 95611 + 744 = 96355

Travis : 114986 + 992 = 115978

Paul : 104469 + 992 = 105461

Bob : 115627 + 992 = 116619

NPC (Naillae) : + (496)

[gwimulchorom]

Xonus Salem was once a proud Black Fist tactician, having served under the original general Jhessail Greycastle faithfully and devoted under the banner of Bane. When his fiancee was killed by the traitors of their faction- the Tears of Virulence, Xonus fell into great depression and chose to demote himself to a captain, returning to the garrisons to serve quietly while fending off the threat that would eventually overrun the city. 

When the city was taken over by the Maimed Virulence and his minions, however, Xonus found his faith being irrevocably shaken when even the tenets of violence was unable to help him cleave through the extensive forces that protected the city, and when an elder elemental promised him the power of chromancy to reverse the effects of the terror caused to his state, Xonus took it in a heartbeat, rallying a group of adventurers to his cause in an attempt to change his story once and for all. 

This didn’t come with a cost however, having tapped into magic far beyond what even the best mages were capable of, and Xonus was ripped into shreds by the threads of time when his timeline was transformed, as though he had never existed at all. With the pact he made, however, Xonus was disallowed from his own death, and manifested as a Blackguard in the reclaimed Phlan, now bound to serve the elder elemental Tharizdun. Pretending he had never left, and traumatised by the horrific method he had died, Xonus continues to serve as a member of Phlan’s Black Watch, careful with his new oath but also conscious of the chaos he now invited within him. 

[jhessail]

"I'm going to get revenge on Lina Inverse for killing Gaav!"

But...bro...she didn't kill him. She got her ass handed to her and then we got the plot twist of a boss she literally needed to make herself into an avatar of a universal being to beat him.

Bro...

[jhessail]

YOU LITERALLY DRAGON HEARTED THIS FATE!?

[jhessail]

*head in hands* The made up episode for their childhood was so sweet and I'm glad it exists.

[jhessail]

So I watched the first four episodes of the new Trigun reboot annnnd I only have one complaint and I guess it's an understandable complaint. The pacing is AWFUL and I don't know if it's because they're going under the assumption that everyone watching it has watched the first anime and they're just rushing to the new stuff or something else. Otherwise the animation is gorgeous and I like the new designs in motion. The new voice actors aren't awful either and of course Johnny returning to be Vash is just chef's kiss. Also Knives is legitimately WAY more terrifying and that's great. But that's my 4 episode review of Trigun Stampede, two weeks from now (likely) I will add more to this.

[jhessail]

You know my dvd SAYS Funimation but I keep hearing 4-kids voice actors

[jhessail]

Slayers is actually a great anime and the epitome of what an almost tabletop party should be like.

(Everyone is powerful in their own ways but also know when to gtfo but also will stubbornly save each other while calling each other names)

[jhessail]

...This does not feel like a 90s version of That 70s show.

[jhessail]

Bro I don't know what I was expecting what Franziska's dub voice would be but it is a pleasant surprise.

[jhessail]

*starts watching YGO Vrains* NO CHEESY DUB OPENING 0/10

[jhessail]

Me: *starts watching Slayers* *spit take when I hear Eric Stuart and dies at the mental img of Seto Kaiba commenting about flat chests*

[jhessail]

Riley x Declan duel *Head in hands* Do we really need this

[jhessail]

So I think I finally understand why I keep having to take a break for YGO Arc-V pretty much after every duel (which is on average two episodes) but didn't have to for any of the other YGO series even when there were terrible things happening (or like my rage for the mind wipe trope in Zexal, f you Vetrix in that arc!).

And it's because they keep giving a tiny bit of hope and then smashing it into pieces and it gets so tiring especially when you've taken characters from shows that I loved and made them useless in this story, HELL you even took the PROTAGONIST and made him just as useless! And here's the thing, I don't hate that, but I hate how it's just making me angry and care less and less with where this anime is going.

So I take a break so I can potentially get invested in it again Arc-V fans I am SO sorry if this ends up being the YGO series I never finish.

[jhessail]

"The dessert falls flat because it's too sweet"

Your critique is already invalid from that statement