AAR: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

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bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm
AAR: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:38 pm

LFG: Mawwwwiage
Time: 2020-06-16 22:00 GMT
GM: Dvarim
Circle: 5
Difficulty: Hard

Rumor: One of K'alama Kiana Syrtis's delegation has taken of the T'skrang of the Throalic niall as her husband. A great wedding procession has been planned to accompany the couples river trip back to the brides home of the Cliff City in Lalai Gorge. Moe'uhane has been asked by his niall to accompany his brother as both a witness and protection. But they are not the only people with asks of Moe'uhane.

Requested by: Moe'Uhane
Reward: Counts as Messenger Ordeal
Benefit: Improved relations between Throal and Syrtis

Notes:
- Adventure runs at 6pm EDT
- Date and time are placeholders and can change

Sign up format:

Code: Select all

[b]Name:[/b] Character name
[b]Date of Last Game Played:[/b]
[b]Circle:[/b] Circle of your character
[b]Discipline:[/b] Your character's Discipline(s)
[b]Unique:[/b] What your character is bringing to the table.
[b]Downtime:[/b] Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime: [Talent] [Step including +Karma Step if appropriate] ([Rank]) ([Further Details])
Last edited by bronzemountain on Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: LFG: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Xzandrate » Sun Jun 14, 2020 6:24 pm

Name: Moe'uhane
Date of Last Game Played: 2020-06-13
ECR: 5
Discipline: Illusionist(5)
Unique: Enhanced matrix, buffs, some socials, Pretend fireballs
Downtime: Research - step 9

iceface9
Posts:98
Joined:Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:38 pm

Re: LFG: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by iceface9 » Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:09 pm

Name: Rose
Date of Last Game Played: 6-11-2020
ECR 4
Discipline: Nethermancer (5)
Unique: Last chance, as well as good damage and debuffs
Downtime: NA

Icarus-Wolfswift
Posts:82
Joined:Fri May 08, 2020 6:15 pm

Re: LFG: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Icarus-Wolfswift » Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:55 pm

Name: Icarus Wolf-Swift
Date of Last Game Played: 6/13/2020
Circle: Circle 5
Discipline: Air Sailor
Unique: Several bottles of wines, physician kit and skill, Thread item that lets me use Karma on others rolls, booster, Climbing kit, Fishing kit, Navigation, Mule named Gus, Cart, and good time.
Downtime: I am worthless in my Downtime.

Brian L
Posts:93
Joined:Tue Apr 28, 2020 11:53 pm

Re: LFG: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Brian L » Sun Jun 14, 2020 9:22 pm

Name: Reyis Poriv
Date of Last Game Played: June 11
Circle: ECR-5
Discipline: Shaman
Unique: Spells-Buffs to Awareness, Stealth, Healing, Poison, other things.
Downtime: Animal Training (4) Step 10
Plays well with others and shares toys.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:33 am

Name: Zivilyn
ECR: 5
Last Played: Jun 13
Discipline: Shaman/Wizard 5/2
Notable Abilities: Spells, mostly buffs. Good with animals.
Downtime: Downtime: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 16 including karma (Rank 6) (can train up to 6 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 20 including karma (Rank 3). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 14 including karma (Rank 3)

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

AAR: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:58 am

AAR: Mawwwwwiage (2020-06-10)
GM: Dvarim
ECR: 5
Difficulty: Hard

Player Rewards:
Icarus: 6000LP, 713SP, 5TiP's
Moe'uhane: 6000LP, 713 SP, 5 TIPs
Reyis: 6000LP, 713SP, 5TiP's
Rose: 6000LP, 713SP, 5TiP's
Zivilyn: 6000 LP, 713 SP, 5 TIPs

Induction into the Messenger Path available.

Journal Reward: +300 LP, +178.3 SP
GM Reward: A'horangi (800 LP, 200 SP, 3 TIPs)

Downtime:
Zivilyn: Animal Training 16 (6 commands/non-combat skills), Research 20 (23 @ +20sp cost), Item History 14
Reyis: Animal Training 10
Moe'Uhane: Research 9

Summary:
Despite the efforts of the Lonely Mountain Society, the message was successfully delivered to Shivalahala Syrtis.
Last edited by bronzemountain on Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: AAR: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Xzandrate » Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:46 am

From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 5th Circle

My chaida had reached out and asked for my help. My brother K'kain has been taken to mate, and I am to escort him to her home. A'ahumare came as part of the diplomatic delegation of K'alama Kiana Syrtis, now we will escort her and my brother back to her niall. This is not just a festive journey though, diplomatic representatives of Throal, Emmis, advised that this was a very fortuitous union for the growing friendship between Throal and the Cliff City and there may be those who would hope to sabotage this procession. As such I had been authorized by the kingdom to function as protection for the procession with the assistance of the nethermancer Rose, the air sailor Icarus, the shaman Reyis, and wizardly shaman Zivilyn.

The procession was a great number of people, more than 30 accompanied us. The wedding procession of K'kain and A'ahumare, their attendants T'salu, and V'shli, as well as the wedding planner the elf named Suvelin. In addition to this a dwarf named Kandor brought his alchemical skills to entertain the procession. There were additional dancers and a fire eater for when the alchemist was done. All of this required a small force of attendant cooks, drovers, and assistants. The supply master seemed to be rather lackluster, though his assistant Orveni the drover master seemed to be very efficient.

We spent a week moving along to Sosanopa where we were to meet a set of ships and travel down the serpent for five more days. The week on the road was like a travelling party, we enjoyed fine food and company the entire way. The alchemist had prepared light quartzes to burst into shards of coloured crystal when launched into the air. We kept a close watch on the attendees. Rose cozied up to the alchemist and found out that he had a great number of demonstrations planned and showed him a number of the crystals, he did hesitate on showing him the 'magenta' crystal that was being saved for the last night. Reyis got to know the drovers better, while Icarus got to know the cooks and beverages while under the good graces of Suvelin. I spoke with Suvelin as well and eventually helped to tame K'kain's demanding groom tendancies. I found out from Suvelin, that a number of people were added to the procession last minute, and made careful note to follow up on that. Nobody seemed immediately suspicious, but we kept vigilant. I ended up spending a great deal of time with K'kain helping to distract his anxiety and calm those around him. I checked in with my party each night to collect the intel the day had provided. Rose noticed that Kandor kept going after his supplies, and spreading them across the caravan. Icarus grew close to one of the cooks who seemed to always coincidentally forget an ingredient. Reyis found out that supply master was an incompetent drunkard who lived upon his families reputation, though his new assistant was capable but unknown in the drover social circles.

The day before we made it to Sosanopa, we figured the suspects would strike. We kept an eye on as much as we could, a couple of us independently picked up movement across the camp. Rose, Zivilyn, and myself converged and found Orveni and Kandor discussing in hushed tones in the deepest darkness, they then began to rifle through the crates and supplies. They were obviously searching for something, something we didn't want them to find. Rose slowly summoned a fog of fear and started the two. As they made a sound I took advantage and sprung forward from the darkness with a club drawn. I questioned if there were bandits, I had heard a start. They fumbled over an explanation, trying to claim some of Kandor's alchemical supplies we were missing. Rose came out of the darkness at that time. I asked Rose to accompany Kandor to collect his supplies into a central spot so we could monitor them. Orveni continued to be obstinate that there was nothing suspicious about her rummaging through all the supplies in the dead of night. With the threat of going above her head failing, I followed through and went to find Suvelin. Zivilyn showed up after I left, helping her in the most hindering way a windling can help. Suvelin was less than happy to be woken, but had become used to it. I shared my suspicions of the two collaborators and asked that we be rid of them in Sosanopa. She agreed we could part ways with Kandor, as his alchemical tricks had started to become old and stale. She balked more at loosing Orveni, but agreed to attempt to find a suitable replacement in Sosanopa. There was no luck on that.

Since we were suspicious that they were looking for something specific, we concocted a plan to give them something to look for. K'kain had confided in me that his robe was ill-fit for his greatly enhanced musculature, and was worried how it would look. We took the opportunity to have a local seamstress in Sosanopa remedy the situation, and then Rose and I worked to embedded a mock message pattern in the inside hem of the robe. Then, knowing Orveni would be as suspicious of us as we were of her, we attempted to hide the movements of the robe from her, with a spectacularly planned incompetence. We were aware of Kandor being removed form the rest of the journey and that he had claimed to have taken all of his supplies with him. However, Rose noted that he only took the supplies he had gathered the previous night, neither time including the 'magenta' supplies. Obviously they were still in the procession someplace and were key to something nefarious. We could not spot them being loaded onto the three ships that awaited us. We had little else we could do, but hope that we had done enough.

Finally though, we get to the best part, duplicitous schemes or not, it was time to board the boats. Actual boats to travel on the legendary Serpent River. The party ended up being spread across two ships, as it turned out the t'skrang among us were comfortable on the second ship, while the windlings stayed with their animals and Icarus on the third ship. Each day consisted of games and more partying amongst the first two ships as the river gave breadth and speed to do so, as well as a fair amount of swimming for many of us. Our group would reconvene each night for supper on the second ship, allowing us to compare notes. Icarus and Rose brought up that Orveni as well as a couple dwarves she seemed overly friendly with wore a similar crest. Historically it had been linked to the Lonely Mountain Society, a Throalic pride group that had not been known to cause issues in the past. During the collective supper times we caught sight of Orveni a numerous occasions, Icarus even tried to seduce her at one point. He never clarified how much he had been drinking prior to that. She seemed to become more and more haggard each time we encountered her, also less happy to see us. We watched from afar as she skulked through cargo and passenger rooms, giving her a wide berth to incriminate herself. We maintained the deception of the robe and actively moved it from her grasp when she moved to get closer to it.

The fourth day, just before we made it to the cliff city, the wedding party had decided to bless the second boat in the procession with their presence. I suspect they were bored and wanted more entertainment of the illusionary variety, but I know that you need to leave the audience always wanting more. So that would wait until after supper. In the mean time more games and swimming took place. Rose and Icarus were in the water and noticed a dark shape across the breadth of the river ahead. Rose swam to advise the lead ship and Icarus swam to the last ship, as they made the crew aware a great magenta burst seemed to come from our third ship and detonate high above the ships. As people were made aware of that, a great crashing of rocks could be heard, and the rattle of iron as a large chain could be seen just below the surface of the water ahead of the first boat. I suspect it had been laid just below the surface with either end attached to suspended weights, and at the right moment those weights were loosed pulling the chain taught. There have been many a t'skrang story of such tactics before the Scourge. Needless to say, the lead boat came to a slow stop and the remaining boats began to careen into it. At this point we noticed raiders upon the short, with the majority of them making their way into the water. T'skrang pirates each of them! Adventure was assuredly afoot.

The attackers swam out with a practiced smoothness. The crew of the other two boats drew swords and prepared to repel boarders. I directed the wedding party and guests below decks, and we waited to see our attackers. A pair of archers supporting the assault seemed to focus on our ship, getting a few good shots onto us. We watched the dark shapes in the water as two of them shot under the boat, and two others approached the near side. Grappling hooks hit both sides at the same time. The first shape revealed a hulking example of a t'skrang. He climbed on board and laid into Reyis and his companion with a decided thunk, and bellowing 'Chonk.' A flamboyant fellow in a dashing hat jumped up on the opposite side of the boar in front of Icarus, spat some simple banter and hit him. We could see another coming up the back side, but Zivilyn handily invoked some leopards, which are apparently not expected on a river boat. As both the t'skrang on the back side of the boat were knocked into the water. The fourth t'skrang jumped up the near side and set about attacking. Icarus returned the blow back to him. Finally, sensing that the big brute would be problemsome, and hopefully slow witted, I fogged his mind and slung an insult on the other one remaining on deck. The fog lasted long enough for Reyis and his pet to regain their footing, and Fluffy was none to pleased with the hulking beast and showed his displeasure by tearing into the beast. I prepared to extend the range of my spell to blind the archers on the shore, and the rest of the party dealth with the hulking monstrosity. Just as he shook his mind free, Reyis and Zivilyn both set leopard spirits upon him, and he took the opportunity to fall backwards into the water and flee. Nary a 'chonk' from him. The archers were blinded, arrows loosing on my position as the flash exploded. I fell back and began to get Phantom Fireball prepared. The remaining two scallywags appeared on the third ship, they both made for the mast of the ship, the first began to swing towards us. Again he was met by leopard spirits, but far more prepared this time. He spun down the rope acrobatically and landed on the rail of our ship, right in the face of two shaman and an airsailor. He was cut deeply and fell into the water to attend his chonky ally. Finally, the captain of this ragtag bunch began to swing at us as well. Icarus leapt to the third ship, slightly misjudging the distance to the actual rail, but managed grab the rail and vaulting over it. The captain dropped in front of him and a duel quickly ensued. Seeing the poor showing by their allies as they regained their sight, the archers each loosed a final arrow as they made for the treeline. As I turned to watch the duel, I could see Icarus's laughing sword catch the t'skrang captain across the back of the head and they crumpled. Icarus plucked the hat and earring from their head and tied them up.

We cleared the blockage after a short time, and interrogated the ruffian. He was quick to give up Orveni as his accomplice aboard the ship. We detained the pirates and conspirators until we made it to the Cliff City the next day. These were crimes on the river, and not on our boats. Justice would be determined by Syrtis. Finally the procession arrived, we were greeted by a number of people including the lahalla, she blessed the couple and took a single arrangement of flowers. To use in the upcoming wedding ceremony no doubt. Speaking of which it was grand and beautiful, I provided K'kain with draping illusions in time with his vows, drawing gasps and tears from the crowd. We ate, drank, and celebrated as if this was the most important adventure we had ever been on. Astendar blessed, it may very well be. We eventually made our way back to Throal and were thanked for our services. We found out the pirates had been ransomed back to their niall as is custom, but Orveni had no allies willing to come forward and pay for her freedom, so last we heard she was working for her freedom.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Messenger Report

Post by Xzandrate » Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:15 am

**As the magic flows across the page the words come into view**

Syrtis nuptials have great visibility, strengthen alliance with Throal.
Assets placed within procession to protect Throalic interests.

Following dossier updates required.

Faction: Lonely Mountain Society
Operating Status: Throalic political group showing prejudicial Throalic nationalism
Status: upgrade to active radicals
Notable actors:
Kandor, dwarven alchemist, specializes in communictions
Orveni, dwarven drover, specialized in logistics

Known association: T'skrang House Ishkarat

Faction: House Ishkarat
Operating Status: Unknown.
Status: upgrade to piratical sorties
Notable actors:
Ke'shof Nixu, piratical captain, possession of Ishkarat ear insignia.
Ch'onk, possible Velos hybrid, loose and dangerous


After Action Report: Lahalla Syrtis received encoded communique, we expect to receive her response some time in the near future. Acting in concert will help reinforce our common goals.

Throalic Assets: Adventuring guild adepts
Notes: Illusionist, Air Sailor, Nethermancer, Shaman, Shaman/Wizard deployed. Some were aware of parts of true agenda. Rooted out new threat to Barsaive stability and peace with acceptable results.
Conclusion: All assets of value for future endeavors.

Reporting Agent: Bearded Dragon

**The words vanish as the magic dissipates**
Last edited by Xzandrate on Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: AAR: [5H] Mawwwwiage (2020-06-16 22:00 GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:07 am

(note: the Messengers overtly deliver messages, and covertly are a vast intelligence operation. My assumption is that I was never told "hey, the Messengers want you to spy on people" or "the Messengers are ensuring that certain political machinations work out exactly as they intended", so certain parts of what happened are left a little vague under the assumption that Zivilyn didn't "need to know", and as a result he is missing some details)

From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: Mawwwwiage

As an adept, some days it is your job to go into some stinking hole and cleanse every abomination in it and just hope you don't get swallowed up in the filth yourself. And some days, you get a job like this one.

Moe, my Illusionist friend, and Icarus, an Adept recently of my acquaintance (I met him at the conclusion of the siege on Grakor) had been asked to provide some extra protection for a marriage of political significance; one that would increase the strength of the ties between House Syrtis, of the T'skrang, and a Niall that had sheltered within Throal. One of Moe's relatives was the groom, which I presume is how he got the assignment. Joining us would be Reyis, who I had also met relatively recently (we traded spells), and Rose, who I have not travelled with in some time. Apparently they wanted some added protection without drawing too much attention to the fact that we were there as hired muscle (figuratively speaking), which means that we were required to enjoy ourselves during the festivities. And we would be getting paid to do it. It really pays to make a few friends in the right place, is all I can say.

Of particular concern for some reason were the flowers. I'm really not too clear on that, but apparently the flowers were really important. Well, at the end of the day, the Shivalahala of Syrtis picked a bouquet for herself right off the ship, so I guess that was something? Maybe T'skrang place some special ritual significance on them or something, which would be pretty nice. Well, anyways, keep an eye out for anyone messing with the flowers, deal with anyone dumb enough to attack the wedding party, and keep an eye out for troublemakers in the wedding party, that was the job.

From the moment we set out, Moe and Icarus seemed to be pretty much expecting someone in the wedding party would be making trouble. We'd barely even left before they started compiling a list of anyone who had recently been added to the hired help. They immediately started getting friendly with the various workers, and found a few people were very recent additions, there was one of the cooks, a couple of hired caravan workers, the assistant to the caravan's supply master, and an alchemist who provided entertainment in the form of sparkling light crystals that he would throw up into the air and then they shattered into pieces to make an interesting scene. Seems like they were taking this pretty seriously, so I figured maybe don't get super drunk. Icarus seems to have thought the opposite, but I'm starting to get the impression that he pretty much runs on alcohol.

Early suspiscions fell on the assistant caravan manager and the alchemist, after I noticed that the caravan manager (Orveni?) was skulking around the camp, and I decided to follow her (discreetly, of course; that's the job, after all). She was headed for where all the cargo was being stored for the night, and ran across the alchemist (Candour?) and they started searching everything in sight. I was thinking of how I might best break this up, when it turns out that Moe and Rose had both been following the alchemist, and made their presence known... there was this creepy, ghostly fog that I think Rose created, that seemed to really set the pair of conspirators on edge. Then Moe came out with some story about hearing something and suspecting bandits. He got in a bit of a squabble with them, insisting that their behaviour was unacceptable (I can't recall what excuse he used off the top of my head, but it was pretty flimsy). They claimed that the alchemist had some of his stuff stolen, and they were looking for it. In the storage area. At midnight. With no lights. And without bringing anything up to any of the guards about any such thing having happened.

Well, Moe suggested that maybe the alchemist should put all his stuff in a tent and he and his friends would guard it (a few of the people around camp knew we were semi-famous Adepts), and when they suggested he go with the alchemist for that, Rose "conveniently" showed up asking about what was going on and offered to help the alchemist get everything settled once he "learned" about what was going on. Meanwhile, Moe insisted that the event planner be told of what was going on (he had befriended the fellow already, otherwise I suspect he wouldn't have felt so strongly about it), and lost his excuse for sticking around when he had to go tell her boss. That was my cue to step in, of course. I conjured up a Moonglow spell and showed up asking what all the ruckus was about, that I had heard someone saying something about bandits, etc. I'm not sure if she was buying it, but honestly, by the time I had shown up, there *was* a ruckus. Of course, being *ever* so helpful, I volunteered to help her look for the alchemist's missing stuff. She sent me off a little ways, but I just checked a few boxes that weren't going to have any stolen alchemical supplies (because I was quite sure there was no such thing) before coming back and saying there were no alchemical supplies, at which point she probably felt like she was being watched (which she was) and decided to go off to bed.

At this point, it was brought up that there was apparently something hidden somewhere in the caravan, and Candour and Orveni were probably searching for it with plans to... well, Moe and Icarus weren't super clear on that, either. Just that it was important that it not happen. Lucky for them they brought along some Windlings. You want to drive someone batty with tricks and distractions? You have come to the right person for the job, friend. Nobody will even think there's anything unusual going on, because everyone "knows" that Windlings are always playing tricks on people. We kept an eye on our suspects and they seemed to be unwilling to skulk around much more, considering how much attention they got the last time they tried it. Moe talked to the event planner (Suvelin?) and got the alchemist replaced (the light show was pretty neat the first time. Less exciting the eighth time. And conveniently, there was a Journeyman Illusionist right there, willing to entertain!), but Orveni was sticking around if he couldn't find a replacement because she was pretty necessary. It might have saved us some trouble if she had been replaced, but that didn't work out for us. Oh well, it turned out quite well for us later on anyways.

In due time we arrived in Sosanopa, where a small fleet of ships awaited us. Our clever leaders quickly decided to pretend like there was something important in places where there was nothing of importance. They made a big fuss about the groom's wedding robe (which the groom insisted had been made too small after he got measured... or, you know, he put on a little weight as a result of constant celebrations. One of those two things probably happened). Anyways, while getting the fit adjusted, they embroidered the hem to look like there was an important message in it (there wasn't, of course), and made like they didn't want Orveni to see it. I parked myself in a convenient corner of the servant's ship (where all the stuff was stored) and pretended to guard a random piece of cargo (chosen for its prime location), where I had an excuse to stay because I had brought Howler with me (which just goes to show you that it was *not* a bad idea to bring a horse-sized wolf to a wedding party). Conveniently, that also meant that Reyis could stick around, and Icarus stuck around too (I suspect he wanted to stay close to the beer kegs, but I didn't *see* him getting drunk). This allowed us to keep an eye on the assistant supply master who, of course, being the assistant, was doing the work while her boss (who I am told only got the job as a result of nepotism) was enjoying the party.

I was told the important thing was on the middle ship, so when Orveni went there and started searching, I suggested to Icarus that it was the perfect time for his (frankly terrible) plan to seduce Orveni. Fortunately, it didn't matter if he succeeded or not, because wow, he was really not good at it. Thankfully, all we really cared about was that he had an excuse to be near her, and when she shot him down and then stormed off, that made it pretty awkward for her to come back and start searching the ship for... well, whatever it was (still not entirely clear on that). The next day, she was searching rooms on the front ship, so maybe the plan with the robe worked out, and the crates I was busy pretending to pretend I wasn't not guarding... or... ermm.. well, whatever, the completely unimportant crates I was sitting near had been disturbed while I was attending a party. I made a point of noticing that they had been disturbed, and skipped a dinner party to watch them, just so she could feel like there was something important there that she had missed. I got lots of practice in basketweaving, which was pretty relaxing seeing as how I hadn't really had to do much except go to the occasional party and keep Howler from biting anyone (a steady diet of leftovers helped with that, although I do worry he'll put on weight if he spends too much time lounging around a riverboat all day).

At some point, it seems that Orveni got desperate (which meant she wasn't finding what she needed). We got to a particular part of the river where she had arranged for us to get attacked by pirates when she lit off a signal using one of the alchemist's sparkly light things, a special one that he had been saving for "the grand finale". It had gone missing earlier, and we unfortunately hadn't been able to track it down. We could've just sent it back to the alchemist no problem if we'd spotted it, since he of course had been let go back in Sosanopa, but I guess they had planned this in an act of desperation. Apparently she was planning to search all three ships while everyone was busy fending off a pirate attack. This was, of course, a terrible plan; all the noncombatants went below decks, for one thing, which makes it hard to not be noticed searching for something when everyone is around you, and let's face it, a small band of pirates were not going to do much against a small fleet of riverboats guarded by Adepts (I say small meaning in comparison to three ship's crews worth of boatsmen, to be clear). The pirates had stretched a chain across the part of the river we were passing through, and pulled it up to stop us in our tracks. Then a bunch of them swam out to attack.

We Adepts held the centre, which is where their leaders charged, while the ship crews fended off the rest of the pirates. The fight was not very long, but quite decisive (I don't know how she planned to search everything in under a minute; I did say it was a terrible plan). I didn't much enjoy the arrow the pirate's archers put in me, and there was a close moment where a huge T'skrang that didn't seem to be much for words nearly squished Reyis before Moe dazed him into next week, but as they were climbing I was able to Invoke a pair of Leopard Spirits to knock two of them back into the water, where they spent a while trying to get to another ship to jump across to ours, and the remaining one got chewed and chopped badly enough that he decided to go for a nice, long, deep, icky swim in the water. In fairness, he certainly figured out the best way to escape; no way was I about the chase him into *that* unless I absolutely had to, and we already had two captives who I was quite certain would be willing to give up their co-conspirator (I mean, we already knew who it was, but it helps to have proof). Orveni was captured while trying to find the important thing in all the wrong places, we brought along the captured pirates to Syrtis and collected a bounty (part of it, that is; obviously, the ships weren't ours, but they did appreciate the help), I am told the pirates we brought in got ransomed back to their Niall, and Orveni gets to spend lots and lots and lots of time working off her fine for piracy, since she doesn't have anyone with deep pockets to ransom her back.

It seems that the troublemakers were from some group that believes Throal should be isolationist. What a bunch of rubbish. Trade and cooperation are how Namegivers work. We form communities so that we can exchange our skills and abilities, forming a combined work that is greater than its parts. A basket made with only one reed could never hold much of anything, but a basket made from many reeds can hold all kinds of useful things, and is a useful tool for making life easier. Even the mighty dragons profit from the exchange of things, although certainly not on the same level or for the same goods as a carpenter or a brewer might. It is this very exchange that Orveni's own vocation depends on, and the exchange of ideas is as important as any other exchange to keep us strong. Throal is strong, but it can be so much stronger if it draws from the well of ideas and talents and skills it is surrounded by.

well, she can learn to appreciate the T'skrang while she's stuck there working off her fine. Perhaps when she comes back, she'll find that she has been changed by her time in the cliff city, and the isolationist fools she spent all her time around will reject her for being too "other". It would serve her right.

(this is the end of the portion that was submitted to the Great Library)

Oh, yes, and serendipitously, while we went ashore to deal with the chain the pirates had drawn up in front of us, I spotted a very fancy amulet gleaming in the grass. One of the pirates must have dropped it when they turned tail and ran. A quick glance in the astral revealed that it is a thread item; what luck! I quickly threw it in my backpack for later investigation. I could definitely use a few more jobs like this; good food, entertainment, getting paid to prank someone until they want to rip their hair out in frustration, *and* a thread item? It can't get much better than that.

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