| Session 23: Ally of Anarchy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Real World Date | January 24th, 2015 |
| Game Date | May 29 - 30, Year 0 |
| Location | Yeula'Kai |
| Enemies | Lab guards |
| NPCs | The Nightingale Bandit |
| previous Session 22: Kill or be Killed |
next Session 24: A Close Call |
The Party escapes from the lab on Kirabo and returns to the southern shore of Yeula'Kai. They encounter an Illithid for the first time.
Synopsis[]
The Party meets Gurmph the half-orc as they escape the facility on Kirabo. Upon returning to Yeula'Kai, they reluctantly team up with The Nightingale Bandit to escape the encroaching Illithid pursuit.
Full Account[]
The fight to escape the laboratory continues where it left off last session! The bison kicks things off by impaling someone. Kal and Emilie double-team another guard, while Isaac’s mind slave comes back to his senses and flees, leaving the gate key and his shotgun on the grass. Namfoodle opens the gate, and The Party makes a hasty exit. They find themselves on the opposite side of the facility from where they entered. Of course. Emilie suggests that they take the path rather than braving the forest, because the journey to their boat will be shorter, time is of the essence, and the lab staff probably knows the forest anyway. The party continues to hear the aftermath of the struggle, but they don’t see anyone. The facility seems to be on lockdown still. They had no interest in killing our heroes; they just wanted them out! If only they had given the party a chance to speak. So much blood shed for nothing. But when is it ever for something, you know? Like when is war ever a good idea, bro? Just sadness, man. That’s all that ever comes of
okay anyway, the bison licks Vic (aw, symmetry) and returns to the Celestial Plane. The Party reaches Merek’s home unhindered, but there is a large figure pushing their boat into the sea. Nam discerns it to be a half-orc. On an island of elves. What? Anyway, as it tries to escape, Isaac uses a scroll of Hold Person to freeze him in his tracks (which also causes a bunch of noses to spawn on Isaac’s fingers. GGroSss).
The half-orc appears starved and feral. Isaac asks him if he’s been held captive in the lab since arriving at the island. That would explain why only elves live on Kirabo – all of the other races have been apprehended for studies… or killed. As the paralysis fades, the half-orc considers the party’s races and language of choice and chooses to trust them. He introduces himself as Gurmph. Isaac feeds him from his pack, and he collapses into the boat. The party boards and Emilie and Kal take up the rows. Gurmph confirms the party’s suspicions that the elves of Kirabo were experimenting on other races. He says that he came to the island just exploring, but he and his company were captured. He’s the only one who made it out. Elves were asked to join the ranks. Others were not.
“And you call ME racist,” Emilie mutters to Namfoodle.
It’s now the evening of the last day of the party’s booking at the Golden Dream resort. Isaac offers up the booking to Gurmph, who could probably use some R&R, TLC, and other acronyms. Gurmph is put off by the offer and says he will go.
“Great!” Isaac says. Gurmph turns to leave. “Oh, that’s what you meant by 'go.' Okay.”
Isaac is able to get Gurmph to take a gift of some gold. Gurmph asks for Isaac’s name and says he will remember him.
The Party returns to the Golden Dream and decides to lounge for the rest of the night. (“We just ruined an entire civilization, and I deserve a massage!” --Isaac)
Emilie goes to her room to journal, and Namfoodle goes to get some food. The other three go to get massages. They find The Nightingale Bandit in the parlor, making out with a masseuse. When they are interrupted, the masseuse excuses herself. Isaac bullshits a story of why they went to Kirabo and what they found there, but the Bandit sees right through him and knows that the adventurers have gotten another segment of the Tome. He hints that the books are nothing but trouble and that the party should probably skedaddle out of Yeula’Kai. Not clear if it was a threat or a warning, but seemed like the latter. After indulging in their massages, the trio returns to the suite and constructs a plan with Namfoodle and Emilie. The next destination will be the tome segment off the northern coast of Zyne Vul, since if Yeula’Kai isn’t safe, then the lands around Enderland probably are right now.
The resort is fairly far inland, so it will be quite a trek to get back to a port. It might be better to stay the night and take the giraffe carriage that brought the heroes here, than to leave on foot right now. But it turns out that an emergency giraffe carriage is leaving very soon despite the late hour, due to another party’s cancelled booking! What luck!
The other party turns out to be The Nightingale Bandit because OF COURSE IT IS.
“This is very familiar,” Isaac comments as the giraffes waltz across the desert plains. “There’s a carriage… there’s a Nightingale Bandit… giraffes are here.”
“Giraffes?” Emilie asks.
“There were giraffes back then,” Isaac insists.
The carriage reaches the coast just before dawn. The port town is as the party left it, but the docked ships have changed. There is but one, and it is huge and black and somewhat organic and creepy. Seeing this, The Nightingale Bandit darts into a bush. Isaac follows, and the bandit hisses, “Find your own spot!!”
Namfoodle does not detect undead, so zombie pirates are out of the question.
A bubbling sound emits from a cloaked figure that disembarks and tries to book passage to the Golden Dream, but the girl at the counter turns him away, saying that the services are closed until morning. The presumed Illithid returns to his ship and waits. Fortunately, it looks like the Illithids don’t know that the tome from Kirabo has already been recovered, since that’s where they seem to be headed.
“What was that?” Namfoodle asks the bandit.
“You remember that I told you the elf (Atamant) and the shiny lady (Lanaea) weren’t working alone?” he responds. “I think they’re working for these mind-flayers. Well, I’m off!”
He goes to his boat, which is tied up further away. He has no crew. Namfoodle and Isaac propose that the party becomes the crew just for a time so that maybe they could leave Yeula’Kai please? He actually agrees! On the condition that Isaac is nicer, we pay him, and we have a destination that’s convenient for him. Namfoodle is a FANTASTIC negotiator and I wish I remembered everything he said but it all happened so fast. But in short, he got the Bandit to take the party to the tundra north of Enderland! Close enough to walk to their true destination, but far enough away that he won’t know where they’re going. The Party is getting this show on the road!
Session Documents[]
- Encounter 22.2 Facility Courtyard