The Plunder of Lustria

[Tony/Kruger & Geoff/Rufus absent] Your Mission, Should you Accept : Another month on Skeggi when an Empire fleet of 3 galleons and 5 corsairs tied up at the docks. A handful of wizards disembarked: did they not read Ottokar’s flier blaming wizards for all the priests’ deaths?! Dargo sought work as a huffer/stevedore unloading the ships… which gave him opportunity to steal a flag to add to our own boat inventory. Lemmy joined the crew at the bar, buying a round of drinks to loosen their tongues. Turned out they were looking for him anyway, “ Balthazar Gelt wants to hire you .” Lemmy boarded the flag ship to stay away from eavesdroppers as Balthazar's representative confided in secrecy, “ The Empire is tired of the pirates and wants to destroy Port Reaver. But Balthazar needs you to slip into the pirate base first to retrieve an artifact. Years ago, they captured a ship out of Nippon that was carrying a gold-plated skull . We need you and your team to find it before we bomb...

All the World’s a Stage  (from William Shakespeare's play "As You Like It") We checked into the new job offer per the wanted posters regarding another priest of the High Temple of Sigmar found stabbed in Victory Park. “Honest Ottokar”, the rabble-rouser, distributed fliers with grand titles of accusations but little to no evidence.  At least the flier itself was good for 1 free drink at the Theatre Variete . Daily shows of: the hilarious Mootland Minstrels , the thrilling Erengrad Ensemble , and the talented Lena Stein playing her 10-stringed zither. These acts came to Skeggi about a month ago: could they be associated with the sudden death of priests?! We decided to observe each one. 2pm : It was a small theatre able to seat 50 patrons. The flier’s fine-print read “buy one to get one free”, with the beers cost 1 shilling each! At least we got close enough to the stage to see the trap floors in operation and ropes that controlled the curtains or lowered set pieces. T...

We finished the watch order aboard ship before rowing the dinghies back to the island in the morning.  We returned to the break in the southern wall to climb the rubble to access the ziggurat atop Zarmuda island. Dargo was the first up and encountered several lizardmen skeletons and a lizardman wraith. Ranulf was up next and tried to speak Saurian (but failed). Attempts to lead or seek prayerful guidance did not sway their advance. With some failing their cool check, and the wraith warning us to leave as we brought disease (which is why they killed the Port Reaver shipwreck survivors), we retreated to the north side of the wall. There Lemmy cast to create a bridge to span the wall and reach the base of the ziggurat where we earlier spied a door. As we crossed the bridge, we found the Port Reaver shipwreck survivors dead below with vines already growing out of them... unnatural! No wonder the wraith spoke of disease. Inside the ziggurat we found an ancient lizardmen barracks ...

The Moons Festival : There are two nights in the year in which both moons are full at the same time. The first is called  Hexensnacht  ("Witching Night") and the other one  Geheimnisnacht  ("Night of Mystery"). To most, these are greatly feared and ill-omened nights of the year, and even the most cynical skeptic will avoid the eerie light cast by the full moons. On the other hand, gatherings and ritual sacrifices are held by the worshipers of Chaos on these nights. While the others had sense to stay inside and participated in drinking challenges (Rufus even bested the dwarves and elves earning a well-deserved pounding hangover and 10gp reward), Tulkir & Ranulf chanced the night outdoors. Both swore in the morning they had seen some ‘Blessed by the Moon’ beastmen wandering the streets! At least all had days to recoup (Endeavors). With Kruger providing a list, Ranulf bartered for ship upgrades. Lemmy purchased a compass to he...

A7-Tomb of Gold or Rufus' Beating...Again It took a month for Rufus’ hip injury to heal. Time to listen to gossip about the area around the Tomb-Of-Gold : most prior groups returned beat up with reports of more Orc or Lizardmen. We provisioned and prepared for the 5-day sail to the same bay to the north and westward inland trek. Per the dry/hot/humid season, we used mud for insect repellent and to stay cool. We didn’t account for “Wanderlust fever”: despite Rufus’ protest “stick to the path”, we strayed per thoughts of avoiding Orc and other threats. Our wandering added 2 days to the trek as we struggled to navigate and forage. Noon on the 7 th day we heard Lizardmen coordinating battle plans for a siege. Lemmy climbed a tree to spot the ziggurat of concern. He saw Saurus lizardmen building defensive walls out of brush. A distant blast alerted Tulkir who noticed long-barreled guns (held by paws) aimed from the temple heights. A siege meant no rush on their part as 30+ lizardme...

The party decided to investigate the confluence of magical winds they saw on the last journey. Sailing out from Skeggi, they noticed that the marsh seemed closer to the town than before. Even stranger: the marsh was advancing from the jungle not from the sea as would be expected. The first 3 days of overland travel were in a constant downpour. The party took care to keep their feet dry not wanting to repeat the foot rot of last journey. Rufus was in the lead and soon found himself mired in quicksand. Dargo was able to pull him out using his boat hook. The next 3 days the sun came out and so did the bugs and humidity. Dargo led and didn’t notice that the game trail was subtly changing direction. He then realized that something was wrong when a savage orc arrow flew past his head. 4 orcs and a shaman and a chief attacked the party. The orcs were engaged, and the party was dealing with them, but the shaman cast Headbutt , and then an orc head materialized in front of Lemmy and ramme...

Kruger’s Converts …or is that Convicts?  Recent shipmate hires: Johan (short & hairy) & Luxus (carries a lute & sings). They were put in charge of the boat anchored in the bay as the group walked inland towards the Stellar Pyramids . Koro found the trail of plants trampled by the passing Orc. The sound of crashing announced a large Razordon spiny lizard: most hid while Ranulf climbed a tree where he used his Animal Affinity to calm the beast that became attracted to the others’ movements. Fortunately, it harmlessly continued on its way.  5 Stellar pyramids rose before us… more like monoliths arranged in a constellation pattern that Lemmy recognized as foci of magical lay-lines. Leaning against one monolith was an emaciated porter suffering from blood-rot per both broken legs. Abandoned by lizardmen who took his wizard master 2-weeks ago. Before Dargo put him out of his misery, he described Orc tracks to the west. We ignored those tracks and headed north foll...