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[D&D 4E PBP] Under The Sea IC: The Prologue
SimpsonsParadox
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The OOC Thread
The Players
adventfalls as Jenn Milsborough, Human Swordmage, a human blessed by the gods. She also has a cat. Backround
interrobang as Elie Darrod, Half Elf Warden, a simple farmgirl who talks to her weapon and if she says "boy howde" even once in the game she is dying a horrible death! Backround
hotran as Lara Deepstrider, Human Warlock, a Warlock who sold her soul to unknown sea creatures for longs walks on the beach, getting caught in the rain, and red coral. Backround on sheet.
Powerpuppies as Heskan, Dragonborn Sorc, an old and ethical Dragonborn who is only one 7 to 3 conversion away from having an awesome url! Backround
Rainfall as Shelakri, Kalashtar Psion, a dreamer from the Dreamlands who came here to make things correct and bribe me lots of money! Backround
Arivia as Mera, Gensai Cleric, born from the sea, studied, and let go. Locater tags optional. Backround
The Prologue: In Which The Party Will Face...Well, That Would Be Spoiling, Wouldn't It?
Whoever created this particular wagon wheel and axle combo should probably be hurt in ways that must be illegal in most parts of the civilized world. Far from being circular, the thing is an elipse, so every few seconds the left side of the wagon rises and falls. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. But it's not like you've got a choice of your ride. The SRB doesn't look for comfort, just timing and ability to be discreet. And discreet this is. Everyone knows of Caravan guards. They're like blades of grass, especially in the trading community you're headed towards. You don't know it's name. You're pretty sure you'll eventually find it out. All you were told is to get on "this wagon here, see, and get off when you hit the fifth town. You'll be met."
The fourth town is several hours behind you. The fifth town is several minutes ahead of you. You swivel your head to give a quick glance at your companions. They're all in the same wagon as you, the lead wagon, the one carrying all those barrels that go up and down and down and up with the hellspawn of a wagon wheel. The old man with the grey, patchy hair, the nervous tick with his knuckles, and that throat and chin combo that would look quite fashionable on a turkey turns back towards you.
"We're about two hours out from Kelpthith! We should be able to see the town within the hour, once we top that hill that's been blocking our view." He makes a vague hand wave towards one of the many hills nearby. "We should hit there right around noon, just in time to get our awnings up before and start restocking some vendors before the heat of the day. We..."
He continues to go on about...something. If you were really Caravan guards, well, you'd probably want to listen. Oh well. You're pretty sure you can talk in front of him. Heh, you could probably scream, wear an AoS uniform, do a jig, and wear a dress in front of him and he wouldn't see you. He just keeps going on. The pine trees slowly rolling past the uncovered wagon glint in the slowly rising morning sun. The wide road ahead of you looks quite welcoming. The old man continues to speak. The blue and sea green dwarf driving the cart behind you runs his hands through his beard for the three hundred and ninetyfifth time. And the wagon goes up and down and up and down and down and up.
Talk to one another! You'll learn more of your mission when you're in town. The OP will be updated with more out of character stuff as soon as I get home. OOC can be in Gray or in
Spoiler tags!
And...chat it up!
What About Rolls And Stuff, Simpsons?
You may roll on Orokos or IC. Please roll under the campaign name, without quotes, "Under the Sea". I will be checking your rolls. Reading your emails. Viewing you through the television. You know. The usual.
The Players
adventfalls as Jenn Milsborough, Human Swordmage, a human blessed by the gods. She also has a cat. Backround
interrobang as Elie Darrod, Half Elf Warden, a simple farmgirl who talks to her weapon and if she says "boy howde" even once in the game she is dying a horrible death! Backround
hotran as Lara Deepstrider, Human Warlock, a Warlock who sold her soul to unknown sea creatures for longs walks on the beach, getting caught in the rain, and red coral. Backround on sheet.
Powerpuppies as Heskan, Dragonborn Sorc, an old and ethical Dragonborn who is only one 7 to 3 conversion away from having an awesome url! Backround
Rainfall as Shelakri, Kalashtar Psion, a dreamer from the Dreamlands who came here to make things correct and bribe me lots of money! Backround
Arivia as Mera, Gensai Cleric, born from the sea, studied, and let go. Locater tags optional. Backround
The Prologue: In Which The Party Will Face...Well, That Would Be Spoiling, Wouldn't It?
Whoever created this particular wagon wheel and axle combo should probably be hurt in ways that must be illegal in most parts of the civilized world. Far from being circular, the thing is an elipse, so every few seconds the left side of the wagon rises and falls. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. But it's not like you've got a choice of your ride. The SRB doesn't look for comfort, just timing and ability to be discreet. And discreet this is. Everyone knows of Caravan guards. They're like blades of grass, especially in the trading community you're headed towards. You don't know it's name. You're pretty sure you'll eventually find it out. All you were told is to get on "this wagon here, see, and get off when you hit the fifth town. You'll be met."
The fourth town is several hours behind you. The fifth town is several minutes ahead of you. You swivel your head to give a quick glance at your companions. They're all in the same wagon as you, the lead wagon, the one carrying all those barrels that go up and down and down and up with the hellspawn of a wagon wheel. The old man with the grey, patchy hair, the nervous tick with his knuckles, and that throat and chin combo that would look quite fashionable on a turkey turns back towards you.
"We're about two hours out from Kelpthith! We should be able to see the town within the hour, once we top that hill that's been blocking our view." He makes a vague hand wave towards one of the many hills nearby. "We should hit there right around noon, just in time to get our awnings up before and start restocking some vendors before the heat of the day. We..."
He continues to go on about...something. If you were really Caravan guards, well, you'd probably want to listen. Oh well. You're pretty sure you can talk in front of him. Heh, you could probably scream, wear an AoS uniform, do a jig, and wear a dress in front of him and he wouldn't see you. He just keeps going on. The pine trees slowly rolling past the uncovered wagon glint in the slowly rising morning sun. The wide road ahead of you looks quite welcoming. The old man continues to speak. The blue and sea green dwarf driving the cart behind you runs his hands through his beard for the three hundred and ninetyfifth time. And the wagon goes up and down and up and down and down and up.
Talk to one another! You'll learn more of your mission when you're in town. The OP will be updated with more out of character stuff as soon as I get home. OOC can be in Gray or in
Spoiler tags!
And...chat it up!
What About Rolls And Stuff, Simpsons?
You may roll on Orokos or IC. Please roll under the campaign name, without quotes, "Under the Sea". I will be checking your rolls. Reading your emails. Viewing you through the television. You know. The usual.
SimpsonsParadox on
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"Does anyone know who we are supposed to meet once we hit Kelpthith?"
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"I think so," she told Elie. "But the old man's not exactly helping my thought process."
"Some wagon, eh?" he tosses back at his companions.
"..ayup, the sun is very much in the hottest portion of the sky, ayup. Took us a bit longer than usual, so your contact will probably be a bit agitated. Don't mind him. Neil's good troop, ayap. He'll be the man in the blue hat with black trim. Just follow him to wherever the ay-oss has decided to send you, ayerp. Now, would you look at that sun. Just so high and so hot. It's going to be a pain standing out in the sun while restocking some of those shops, but if we can get some tea at Aunt Majorly's stall, we should..."
And he's back to talking about...something?
At that very moment, almost as if it had been planned, the long sloping left turn that has been slowly turning you back north from your eastern detour around the mountain finally yeilds its reward. Kelpthith, and the Nelith lake that it sits next to, come into view. Multiple things hit you at once. The sea green buildings that give the Kelpthith the first part of its name. Tower Island, an island in the middle of the rather large lake filled to the brim with pine trees and large towers which stretch above the needles of the evergreens surrounding them, only to end in sharp, tapering points high in the air. The handful of large sailing ships and the multitude of small fishing ships that clog up the docks and the artificial river snaking through the city. The giant...well...half...bubble...thing...stretching from the shore to tower island. The beautiful, dark blue, glinting in the sunlight water of Lake Nelith. The sights and sounds wash over you like a wave. And slowly...very slowly...you start to approach the wall and gate combination marking the entrance to Kelpthith.
Tella purred with approval at the swordmage's assertion as a smile spread across Jenn's face.
"Just like the silver towers of Karan-Al, where the wind-spirits danced in the dreams of young men. Except different. More... normal."
"Dancing dream spirits? Sounds like you've been dragged even farther than rest of us to get here, miss....?" her voice trails off, realizing that she isn't sure what to call the speaker.
You're not exactly normal yourself, old man.
Turning toward Shelakri, he echoes Lara's question. "I, too, would like to hear the tale, if you're willing to tell it. I've actually met a 'genasi' once before," he adds, motioning toward Mera, "but this is the first time I've had the pleasure of meeting someone who fills the air with music."
"It is not so fantastic. In the lands of Miskator, the grand city of Karan-Al stands, a bastion against the wilderness of mortal souls. Young boys frolic amidst the tower-tops, and wind-spirits let them fly, for a time, before waking. Nothing compared to this view. It is incredible."
"I've no clue. I didn't exactly get the most forthcoming of introductions to Special Requisitions, just two Alliance privates telling me it would go badly for me if I wasn't on the wagon in the morning."
She giggles, giving the impression of a scrawny but contented barn cat. "I would have liked to see them try and drag me.."
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"Hmmm....something worth guarding. That does make sense." She taps one of the barrelheads with the hilt of her dagger. "Anyone up for seeing what requires tending by such a distinguished group as ourselves?"
As if summoned by his chin jutting skills, at that exact moment another wagon pulls around the corner ahead of you and comes to a rather smart stop next to the wagon you have called home for the last few days. The contrast couldn't be more clear. The worn, old, open wagon driven by the equally worn, old, and open driver as compared to the relatively new and covered wagon and its fresh shaven, looks-like-he-was-made-out-of-stone driver. Another thing catches your eye as you disembark from your transportation: the clothing the driver is wearing. It's the typical blue and green worn by Alliance of Sphere military officers, but, more than that, it's a few tiny letters on his sleeve: SRB. The back of the wagon looks decidedly plain, you decide as you scurry into the back, except for a few odds and ends. Cloth covering. A few pots and some utensils. Benches nailed into the sides.
Oh. And a man covered in a blanket on the floor. That's probably not standard.
As soon as the last of you crawl in the back, the wagon is off, quickly picking up speed on what you can determine are four perfectly circular wheels, and turning back onto the main road. The moment you pick up speed, the blankets stir and are pushed up by a man wearing the same uniform as the driver. He rubs his eyes, yawns...and then freezes for a moment when he sees all of you in the back with him. A few moments of awkward pause follow until he lets out a low chuckle before he looks past the first of you to scamper in and speaks in a rather booming voice aimed towards the front of the wagon.
"Hey, Olthum, what did I say for you to do when we picked up the reinforcements?"
A muffled response answers. It sounds like "Wake you, sorry" but it also could of been "Put crabs down your pants and dance the jig." It's probably the first. Probably. The man you can only assume is Neil just lets out another chuckle, runs his a hand through his hair, lets out a pent out breath, and pulls the lid off of one of the pots. The wonderful smell of soup reaches your nostrils at roughly the same time as his voice.
"Soup, anyone? I know the old man probably didn't give you any lunch. He's not exactly the most personable person. He will, however, get you where you need to go within a few hours of when he says he will, which is always a blessing we're happy to have."
The man reaches into another pot...and pulls out a rather large map. He spreads it on the floor and jabs his finger at a giant drawing of a gate. You realize that this is a map of Kelpthith.
"We're roughly here, along this north/south road. Our destination is here, Bridge District, also commonly referred to as the 'Bubble Zone'. There you'll join up with the rest of us SRB-ers for the mission tonight...which you haven't been told about, have you? Right. Alright. A bit of history before the mission."
Another map, this one of an island with a large amount of numbers on it.
"This is Helkin Island, also referred to as "Tower Island". Why? 'Cause it's got towers on it. That's why. Anyways, it's jointly owned by a bunch of mages and the city of Kelpthith. The mages use it as a school of sorts, as well as both storage for some of their more dangerous items and a training ground for some of the magic that will be needed if we ever want to retake the spheres. The city uses it as storage, plain and simple. There are roughly thirty towers on the island. The total number of towers doesn't concern us. What concerns us are these two towers: Towers Thirteen and and Fourteen. Both are owned by the city. Unlike the mage towers, city towers are almost never entered unless someone needs something from city storage, or their semi-annual inventory to make sure the city's items haven't been stolen."
"It is perhaps to our luck, and to the city's great detriment, that one of those inventories start last week. Four days ago, tower thirteen was cracked up, a city inspector went in...and several undead, a flock of arrows, and one dead city inspector came out. The undead were put down, tower thirteen was sealed, the island was put off limits, and tower fourteen, only a few yards away, was also sealed just in case. As you might expect, the city isn't exactly ecstatic about letting everybody know that the undead have taken over city property, so they're explaining it away as mage testing, and is why we were called in. Over the past three days, we've been casing the towers, collecting equipment, and collecting men and woman from around the SRB to get here and help us clear out the tower. "
"That's where you come in. With you six, we've got enough manpower to both assault the undead lodged in tower thirteen, clear out whatever may be in tower fourteen, and find out why the hell they were in the cities towers anyway. Right now were heading over to a staging area where you'll hear the full plan, meet the rest of the SRB in the area, and rest up until we launch the assault tonight."
With that mouthful done, he pulls his finger away from his map, looks up at you all, and raises an eyebrow.
"Any questions?"
"These towers, full of dangerous magic and all; I'd figure they're usually well looked after. Any idea how Thirteen got to be full of walking corpses?"
"Looks like you all haven't had anything to eat. Here, have some bread to. Now, as to your question. Tower thirteen wasn't a mage tower, so there weren't any of the usual magical guards put in place to make sure that nothing powerful or world ending was touched. No, tower thirteen....oh, it's in one of these pots...ah, here we are. Tower Thirteen, T13, teeeeee-EEEEEEEEEE-eeeeeeee ower thirteen, uh, yeah, here it is. 'Tower Thirteen Inventory', as of six months ago. It looks like tower thirteen holds a bunch of shipping records, as well as most of the cities original merchant permits. Towers Five, Six, and Seven hold most of the newer records. As for Tower Fourteen, it holds....looks like storage for the nobles of the city, as well as a place to stuff the stuff required for most of the speeches the nobles give from time to time. You know, chairs for the crowd, rope to rope off an area, stages and a podium for the speaker, stuff like that."
"Now, if you mean how did undead get into any tower, period, without anyone seeing them...well, that's what we hope to be finding out tonight."
"So, one tower newly filled with corpses, and one with piles of rich folk theater props. Though I think we can guess, where exactly do we come in? And who are the rest of these SRB?"
"Maybe they came through the floor? Skeletons can move through the dirt very easily."
"You...you're not getting this whole military thing, are you? There is no bonus. You're not rescuing shopkeepers, you're working in an organized militar...ree...ah, what the hell. You can keep whatever's on the skeletons, so long as its not information or the like. You do, however, get a salary, so, you know. Steady income and all."
He shakes his head and starts to respond to more questions.
"The rest of the SRB...well, you'll meet them soon enough, but they're petty much like you. People with more talent than the average grunt with a sword. People who, when asked to rush a tower full of undead, only respond with asking me about bonuses. You know. You people."
"Anyways, coming through the floor is the current thought, but we really do hope to learn more once we're actually inside tower thirteen. This ties directly in to the part where you come in. The short and dirty version is that you'll be our sweep and recon team. You'll sweep the grounds near Tower Thirteen and Fourteen, looking both for stray undead and for any signs of where they came from. Once that's complete, you'll crack open tower fourteen and give it the quick poke to make sure that it's empty. After that, you should be clear to come over to tower thirteen and get further instructions."
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