Tarsakh 13
Tarsakh 13, 1370:
High = 35, Low = 15 (I from GJO)
No precipitation
Wind gusting to 17 mph from the north.
Clear sky.
Starting early, Darius casts Identify (rolling at 10th) on items
from the previous day:
* ring is a Ring of Shocking Grasp
* scepter is a Scepter of Entrapment with weak charges.
The following candidates for positions on the ship show up for
interviews throughout the day:
Orsa Flameshadow Sailor 2ef, NE, CHA Good
Hophorin of Citadel Adbar Boatswain df, CG, CHA Okay, Charmed
Rhaunmades "Booger" Karask Gunner's Mate hm, CG, CHA Okay
Kareefe Ardesdirask Sailor hf, LN, CHA Good
Jorrinathar Gularthralithun Boatswain hm, LG, CHA Good
Amverfay GreenMaple Sailor hf, CG, CHA Remarkable
Reldesdes "Flatfoot" Nardekker Sailor hm, CE, CHA Remarkable,
Charmed
Everyone except Hophorin was interviewed and dismissed.
Hophorin beat two Dispel Magic attempts by Brogan and was
asked to wait for the return of yesterday's (still charmed)
candidates.
Steve casts Dispel Magic:
success Hopharin, Reldesdes, Short Round, Rilillir
fail Deringa, Ramdon, Ardareth, Ardodrin
Darius casts Dispel Magic at 6th level:
success Deringa, Ramdon
fail Ardareth, Ardodrin
Darius casts Dispel Magic at 10th level:
success Ardareth,
fail Ardodrin
Dexter casts Dispel Magic and finally defeats the charm on
Ardodrin.
Brogan gets 2 Kiss of Strength from Ursula (+4 STR) and drinks a
Potion of Shopping. He appears at the edge of a courtyard near a
dock which is apparently used for a slave market. He is about a
mile underground near a river in a huge chamber which is crammed
with buildings, literally piled on top of each other. Looking
down he sees that he has arrived in a spot outlined by a fading
square painted on the cobbles, approximately 3'x3'.
Brogan sets about exploring and learns from various shopkeepers
that he is in Skullport. He learns that the "city" is divided
into roughly three levels (two in the dock/warehouse section) and
three sections - the Port, the "Trade Lanes" area in the middle,
and "the Heart" which appears to be a mixed business/residential
area. There was also an island fort in the river, which Brogan
started towards across a bridge at one point but changed his mind
because of the strange looks he was getting. Most of Brogan's
explorations were in the Port and Trade Lanes.
"Many of the buildings look as though they are ready to
topple over at any moment. (Some do.) Because of a lack of natural
resources aside from granite from the cave walls - especially a
lack of timber - most building materials have to be shipped in or
salvaged from the River Sargauth and the South Seacaves. Most wood
comes from wrecks of seagoing vessels that have met with
misfortune. While wandering the streets of the port city, one may
see the masts and ribs of ancient ships being used as supports,
the hulls and cabin windows of long-destroyed ships now reused as
walls and windows of tenements, and the rigging of ship-wrecked
vessels connecting to catwalks up above."
-- from Skullport by Joseph Wolf
During his explorations, Brogan visited or glanced in (at least)
the following business establishments:
Leech's Quick Cures (Chiurgion)
Madame Ivdanya's Fortunes Revealed
Findlewulf's Galley (Tavern)
Wugg's Necessities (basic gear)
The Hobbled Lamia (Festhall)
The Mortar and Pestle (spell components, other things?)
Buttons, Boots and Rags (tailor)
The Pierced Navel (tattoos and piercings)
Lilanth's Librams (books, 20gp and way up)
The Amberforge (metalwork, not a weaponsmith)
Delver's Folly (traps)
Emerald Fires (finesmith)
Twoedge's (weapon maintenance/repair)
Ali-bin Jafar's Textiles
Along the way he learned that the Potions of Shopping were not
common knowledge and that the square painted around his arrival
point was there because "the Skulls won't let anyone build there".
In Delver's folly, Brogan contracted to have some exploding glass
spheres mad for his wern. He paid 500gp in advance for 1 500gp
globe (said to be enough damage to fell the average bugbear
(ogre?) and 3 100gp globes.
After that, Brogan sought out a guide in Findlewulf's Galley and
asked to be led to a sage who might know something about the
Potion of Shopping. His guide led him to a building shaped like a
massive nautilus shell, set in the wall of the chamber that holds
Skullport, with an ornate spiral staircase leading up to the
entrance. The guide knocked at the door and Brogan was greeted by
an extremely genteel old mind flayer, who introduced himself as
Sangalor. The guide left once the door opened.
Sangalor invited Brogan in to a richly appointed sitting room and
brought him some herbal "tea" with interesting, but pleasant
spices. He listened intently to Brogan's story and indicated some
knowledge of the Potions of Shopping, which he would be willing to
impart for 10gp. He also asked Brogan how he was feeling. Brogan
had started feeling some vertigo when he entered the Illithid's
home and admitted to this. Sangalor explained that the Potions
were last crafted about 300 years ago and the last time he had
encountered anyone using one was over 100 years ago. The Potions
tended to last around 3 hours and by design would cause the user
to experience vertigo starting about 10 minutes before the potion
wore off, so that final purchases could be completed. He gave
Brogan some other general advice about travelling in Skullport
(watch your back and your purse, the island is both a defensive
fort and the slave pens) and mentioned that he typically charged
more for information but made an exception because it was a simple
question and Brogan had mentioned that he had more Potions of
Shopping. As he was saying these things, the roomstarted to fade
and Sangalor quickly but gently retrieved his teacup from Brogan,
who found himself back in Fair Winds a moment later.
Around mid-afternoon, a package arrived addressed to Rarchnarorg.
In it were 6 bottles of different spices and a two-page note. The
first page read:
"Dear Rarchnarorg,
"It was real pleasure exchanging ideas with you the other day.
Here are the spices I mentioned to you. Please let me know how
you adapt the recipe.
"Dareth Oakstature
c/o The Jade Jug Inn, Castle Ward"
The second page was a recipe for roast pheasant.
The current story running about town:
LURUAR: Word has reached Waterdeep that thousands of trees
from throughout the High Forest are picking up their roots and
migrating east, apparently filling in the northern portion of
the Delimbiyr Vale with forest so that the High Forest
stretches fully to the edge of Anauroch.
|
That night, Dexter detected 5 undead where their one vampire guard
should be. Looking out, no one saw anything besides Gorask.
Steve sent out an invisible gargoyle, which didn't see anything
more. Steve went out and bid Gorask good evening and noticed a
large bat hanging from a branch near Gorask. Steve started to ask
about the bat, but Gorask motioned for him to not mention it, so
Steve came back in, leaving the gargoyle near Gorask.
Around midnight, 5 vampire children attacked Gorask. The party
had been keeping an eye on him, so Dexter began casting
Prayer from the house, but at that point the bat turned
into a vampire who also cast a Prayer which overlapped with
Dexter's, and three other vampires stopped hiding in the shadows
and backstabbed three of the attacking kids. Henkles ran out to
help, and Ag managed to finish off two of the kids with Magic
Missilesbut it was obvious that the "adult" vampire group had
set a better ambush than the kids and the kids were swiftly
reduced to gaseous form. The vampire priest (whom the party later
learned was using Invisibility to Undead) turned gaseous
and followed the children while Henkles and the other vampires ran
around the house to where Arcturagana was, of course, trying to
talk to Maanamere.
Inside, Staric had been stalling her and suddenly heard her yell
something like "What the Hells?" and leave. Outside, she quickly
turned into a swan and flew off with three vampire bats in
pursuit. Unfortunately, magic swans fly slightly faster than
magic bats (19 vs. 18).
