Lightcrash the Silver Edge (Patrick) and Huan (Tyler) returned, and while walking through the city they met with Jatya (Richard) who was a priest for an aristocratic household that was struck down by a curse, and he got a little on him, becoming a chaos monk. Now he was doing softshoe busking for coin, and Lightcrash recruited him for their show. It was the rainy season, so rain fell through the whole adventure.
They were having supper with Na Li Ka, the rocherd, when they were joined by Chan Chal, the apprentice crabbish breeder for the Shellshock Crabbish Stable. He brought along a cousin, Mukta the Fine (Tomer) [Curse my too-slow note-taking for how he became a chaos monk.]
Mukta made friends with the snailish, flirting with Slick and getting a bunch of extra rat corpses from them (the snailish catch them with mucus pad traps and eat them raw, but share them for their human friends to cook.) He had a dozen to use to make friends with animals and monsters the next day, as needed.
Bounty Crabbish
Turns out the Shellshock’s prize stud and warrior crabbish, Tatat, was prodded by Jayanti, a sluggish of the Dipaka family. Tatat sort of accidentally sheared him in half, and now Pakpao, leader of the Dipaka family, put a 100 gold piece bounty on his shell. Joshi, owner of the Shellshock stable, wanted to smuggle Tatat out through the sewers to meet a pirate ship to get out of the city until things cool down. The chaos monks were hired to do it, for 100 gold. They agreed, after being well plied with banana wine.
The next morning, they shook off their hangovers as best they could and headed over to the stable. The plan was to leave at midday, to get out of the sewers at dusk, so they wouldn’t be underground at night and wouldn’t miss the pirate ship (and would dodge as many of the bounty hunters as possible.)
Mukta agreed to lead the crabbish, so he got the harness with the jellies to attract, repel, and otherwise manage the crabbish. They hit it off. (Especially impressive was the crabbish’s oversize killing claw, with “Finishing Move” carved in the chitin in 3 languages.) They headed into the pool after getting the big iron key from Joshi, the owner, and struggled to open the gate underwater. They only managed it because Huan cast his spell to make a key lever and grant advantage.
- Transmuting Thorn. Must be cast on a thorn switch (vine or branch), turns it into an enchanted object adding +1 combat per level OR an object granting advantage to a task, lasts 1 minute per level.
The Sewers
They got down into the sewers that were swollen with rainwater (rainy season) and navigated as best they could, following the flow towards the river with Lightcrash scouting and the others holding on to the swimming crabbish. At one point they were snagged by a sewer octopus, but Lightcrash ended the fight with it by using its luminescence against it.
- Lightning Light. Cast on a light source within 10 feet per caster level, the light arcs to the target (who must be within 10 feet per caster level) and automatically hits for 1d6 per caster level. The light that arcs goes out.
The crabbish feasted on the devilfish remains in the dark, then surfaced, and they headed out. They made it through the end grating, with Mukta luring it out the narrow pipe and reconvening everyone on the beach.
To the Pirates
They headed towards where they saw the junk anchored off the coast and a longboat pulled up on the bank. They were accosted by a bandit, and shot him in the head, but he seemed invulnerable to their arrows; to stop him before he could signal to others, Lightcrash hurled an enchanted stone at him.
- Enlightening Stone. Cast on a stone, which is touched to a target, who must make a Will save or be stupefied for 1 minute per caster level, or until the target takes damage.
While he was incapacitated, they hustled along the beach to the fight. They joined in with the pirates against armored foes with horrible faces (hobgoblins) and broke their morale, as they hurled ranged weapons against the armor and saw Tatat kill an armored foe with each swipe of Finishing Move. Mukta rode triumphant on the crabbish, leaping down to strike with a spear, as others fired their ranged weapons at the armored bounty hunters.
Mukta was impressive at controlling the crabbish, and got Tatat on the raft, kicking to propel it, and onto the ship. The relieved pirates withdrew, and their captain, Ganin the Grinder, sent Yoshi back with them to report on their success so they could get paid by the stable. Mukta stayed with the pirates for the short voyage to deliver the crabbish.
Celebrations Gone Awry
They got paid, and used their newfound wealth to rent a grotto in the Singing Koi block. They blew some wealth on celebration, too; unfortunately, Lightcrash tangled with some guards when the bar fight should have been over, and got thrown in the stocks, where he was mercilessly tormented, robbed, and pelted with filth by urchins.
However, he was next to a glum wannabe adventurer, Jago. Turns out Jago wanted to join the Small Swords, but they weren’t seeing anyone, since their leader was suffering from a magical snake bite. This reminded Lightcrash that he was supposed to save the leader of the Small Swords, it was his destiny. (They also found out that Jago fell afoul of dwarves after throwing one through a paper wall in a fit of pique, and they hurt him variously and personally after that, and he also ended up in the stocks.)
Also, in telling their story about the bandit who got shot in the head and didn’t care, people waved that off; it’s a known fact that there are wererat bandits that frequent the banks, and they can’t be hurt by regular weapons. So, that’s good to know. (Silver and magic are the way to go for them. And don’t let them bite you.)
When they got out, they celebrated again, this time with a bit too much abandon.
Jatya found himself lost in the Little Heavenly Murder Tengu ghetto, within sight of a dwarven block, naked. Not sure how that happened. Shrugging he strode confidently towards home.
Lightcrash lost in a dangerous game of dominoes against Shen the Yakkish, and escaped with minimal cost but having earned the enmity of the tough gangster.
Huan can’t remember what he did, but he has a thank-you letter from the Tranquil Trail Thinker’s Guild, signed by its leader Tynabi, thanking him for his donation and his use of specialized skills to further their cause. Whatever that means.
Fictive Fantasies 