Gameplay Journal 9: "The" Fishing Trip

Only one long boat survived the firestorm, Suri and I quickly hurried the others into it, and I cut the lines. Flyboy took off on his glider, and got some wicked lift from the blast. The gnome may seem a little dim, but he can row a boat! He was paddling the nine of us, faster than any of us could run. Deep waters, a fast pace, a lucky fishing rod, no fisherman could pass up the opportunity to troll for marlin.

The line trails behind us, I patiently wait. We watch the ship burn, and tend to our wounded. Something bites, I pull to set the hook, it pulls back, I fall in. The huge fish freaks, and sprints back towards the ship. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I managed to get my feet under me, and I skated on top of the water. The marlin starts to dive as it nears the ship, I take in a lung full of air and dive with it.

There's a serenely peaceful moment of chaos. The ship is mostly underwater, and the squids legs drift slowly with the tide. Bodies of most unfortunate crewmen sink to join Cthulhu's ranks. As I surface on the other side, I notice Hawk has lowered a rope to me, I refuse to relinquish my grip, but the rope finds its way round my waist. The gnome had launched the boat through the flames of the sinking ship. He leapt from the row boat, tied the rope round me, and leapt back to the boat before it could splash back into the water.

I reel myself in as close as i can get to the fleeing fish, and dive forward to tackle it. With a mighty heave, and a lucky wind, Hawk pulls us both out of the sea and towards shore. When we land, I bury my hatchet into the fishes head to end its torment, and thank Ebisu for the good fortune.

As the sun set, we raised a bonfire. Partly to cook the fish, but more to honor our fallen comrade. It was late in the night before the festivities ended. All were stuffed with good food, and shouting their last goodbyes to Melgar; the bard who could talk his way onto the throne as easily as he could soothe the blood-lust of a dozen orcs.

Gameplay 8: Close Encounter

The large amount waste we've dumped in the water seems to have angered a giant squid. Its tentacles reached higher than the crow's nest as it hoisted itself aboard. Melgar attempted to produce tentacles of his own, but magic has a funny way of backfiring these days. While he struggled to free himself from his own spell, I charged up one was the beast's tentacles, and Suri (the gloomy elf) rushes the crew below deck. I draw my swords and slash out it's eye with a quick flourish. Melgar manages to free himself, he grabs a barrel of tar with each tentacle and a torch in each hand. He's seems bent on a suicide run.

I leapt over the manic bard, and tumbled onto the deck. BOOM! Fire, smoke, the distinct smell of grilled calamari! It seems no one was immediately injured but Melgar, who just gave his life to save his friends.

Vain fool, you needn’t have thrown your life away.

Gameplay Journal 7: Gnomeish Propulsion

Is it so much to ask for some peace and quiet with nature? Melgar's (the bard) gone and managed to inherit himself a pirate ship. Don't ask how. Anyway, adventure awaits on the high seas, yarr!

We found a large supply of tar in the ship's hold, along with 500 pigeons. The gnome had not seen tar before and ate a handful before we could stop him. His inhuman bowels are removing the toxin at high velocity. Flyboy (the ranger with a hang glider obsession) has devised a way to use this to power the ship. I feel little sorrow for the simpleton as he is tied to the stern, but propulsion produced by this violent reaction is incredible. 

A few minutes later, our small ship had traveled a distance that may have taken all day in the slight breeze.

Gameplay Journal 6: A Little Leisure

While the gnome constructed his monument, I intended to try out my new fishing rod. It works BRILLIANTLY! I've never caught so many large fish from shore! I quickly prepared a fire, and smoked the meat of three of the salmon. Not wanting to waste good food, I sold the rest at the docks. This morning was a nice break from the thrills.

In the market however, the remainder of the party seems to think they are well disguised in suspicious cloaks. They are attempting to gain passage on a ship to Tantras. I'm certain something awful is about to happen.

Gameplay Journal 5: Return to Elmwood

As we flew back over the Scimitar Spine in the wastelands of Anauroch, we were pursued by a young green dragon. This dragon was male, and seemed not so much in the mood for eating us as mating with our ride. I managed to keep the party from starting an unnecessary engagement. With some unfortunately unforgettable details regarding scent production, I convinced the dragon that we were neither a good mate nor threat to his territory. It lost interest before we cleared Anauroch.

I have noticed a weakness with the gnome's piloting, his landings tend to break things. His repairs had been in haste, more so than we'd realized, and pieces began to fall from the stone beast. The gnome did what he could to shave weight from the statue's underbelly. Great chunks of stone plummeted to the ground. My gaze fixed one such boulder which was on a collision course with a band of armed riders. They never saw what hit them.

Even after shedding all that stone, we braced ourselves for a "forced landing", which I'm pretty sure means the pilot doesn't know why we're still flying. We crashed just outside of Elmwood. The dragon statue was irreparable. The gnome declared he would take three days to build a shrine to his magnificent creation.

Gameplay Journal 4: Elysium

As we journey through the grotto, we felt at peace. This place is Good and Safe. We seem to be led to a clearing, where lies an unconscious elf. I would say she was young, but who can truly gauge an elf’s age? She is dressed in clerical garb, and the gloomy elf cries out when she see's who it is. Apparently a good friend of hers had died before I'd arrived, but it appears whatever deity owns this forest took pity and retrieved the cleric from beyond. The gnome calls to her, I dump water on her face, but the cleric remains asleep. The gloomy one lifts the girls head, and to make up for what must have been an abrupt and violent end, kisses her with a lover's passion.

The fairy tales were apparently true for once, an enchanted sleep can be broken with a kiss. The cleric seems nice enough, but is a bit hot tempered about losing a fight. The (previously) gloomy one fills in the cleric on what she's missed as we continue our walk. Then the deity presented herself to us, and offered us gifts. The cleric had already received her life, and the gloomy one seemed contented with that as well. The guy who's constantly trying to tame MY wargs was little more creative and scored a portable hang glider. I got myself a magic fishing rod, I love fishing.

Apparently finishing their goal of retrieving a friend, we hiked our way back to the dragon. The gnome is a brilliant mason and had it operable in just a couple hours. We were soon returning to Elventree.

Gameplay Journal 3: The Star Mounts

The Star Mountains in the far west was our next destination, across wastelands home to only bandits and beasts. For days we flew, until reached the forest. This was not our pilots best landing. One of the legs broke and the wing was cracking. This apparently was not the prime concern at the moment, as we abandoned it and headed off into the woods. The gloomy girl must've lived around here because she quickly found a path that led to a beautiful waterfall.

The gnome and bard walked over to the waterfall, and the gnome threw him to the top. The bard started singing, it must've been good because the animals of the forest seemed entranced by it. I got a clean kill on a distracted deer, and we had venison enough to last the party a week. Though I had forgotten about the gnome's incredible appetite.

The bard has stumbled across a large hidden tunnel behind the waterfall. The gnome dug his own, less hidden tunnel. I sent Snort in with a torch when I noticed they had forgotten to bring their own. While everyone was trying to figure out some riddle to open a door, I finished cooking and preserving our meal. When I caught up with them later, it turned out Snort was the one who solved the riddle (guess who gets a prime cut of venison tonight!). The tunnel led into a hidden grotto, clearly home to some deity. I dare not make a fool of myself here.