Triple Ace Games

[Cripple X]

Inspired by derfinsterling's The Sundered Skies Serial! thread, this thread will be a chronicle of my group's Sundered Skies Campaign. Expect some serious spoilers, so if you don't want those, please turn back now.

The Cast:

Elart: A Human Courier from Shadowhaven. He's managed to get himself a reputation as a sympathizer for the Wildlings' struggle for freedom. He often plays the part of the hero, albeit reluctantly. He has a habit of gambling and that sometimes makes trouble for him.

Hourglass : A spider Wildling who is devoted to the cause of Wildlings. He's normally friendly and full of jokes, but in combat he's bloodthirsty and savage. He currently travels with Elart on his Cloudskiff serving as a first mate of sorts.

Grey Scale: A Drakin chosen who is obsessed with realizing his own potential. He's quite powerful and cocky, but he's secretly unsure of himself. He set out from Dragon's Spine to find adventure and to prove himself.

Rexor Irongut A Dwarven Priest of the Artificer. He's currently traveling the Skies after the course was "suggested" to him by a higher ranking Steampriest. Rexor has the unpopular and heretical view that Festival and the Lightbringer are in league. He generally keeps the view to himself, but he verbally accosted a Songpriest in public and was effectively exiled from Deepsky Citadel to save face.

Our story begins...

All of our Heroes find themselves on Bridgeways. Elart and Hourglass are enjoying a drink at the Journey's End. Grey Scale is exploring the town, having not long disembarked from the frigate he bought passage on from Dragon's Spine. Rexor has been spending time visiting the holy bridges that link the islands of Bridgeways as well as assisting Marchus Bronzeye who runs the Workshop.

Soon enough all the Heroes hear frantic screams and run to investigate. Elart and Hourglass discover that zombies are attacking citizens on the Underisle and without hesitation climb down to offer aid to the citizens who are tapped there.

They fight with the zombies and manage to rescue five of the sixth citizens who are trapped on the underisle. The sixth is, sadly, overtaken while they try to fight their way toward him. Rexor and Grey Scale reach the ladder leading down to the underisle as the frantic citizens are trying to climb up. Seeing that there are two people below trying to fight off the zombies and beginning to get swarmed, he spreads his wings and, despite the strong winds, he jumps. He manages to reach the underisle safely though is very nearly blown off into the void. The heroes continue to face off against the zombies, and soon enough Rexor manages to scramble down the ladder. He calls upon the Artificer to provide blessings to these heroes. Hourglass is gifted with Mechanical Blades attached to his wrists that shoot out when he attacks (Boosted Fighting with a Raise) and Grey Scale receives steam-powered gauntlets that increase his strength (Boosted Strength). After invoking his blessings Rexor enters the fray. The heroes fare well against the zombies, and just as they are dispatching the last of the mob there is a very strong wind and three figures in robes descend down from above.

The lead robed figure raises his hand and chants. A whirlwind arises, gathers up the fallen zombies, and flings them out into the void. He then steps forward and introduces himself as Jamos the High Priest of the Lady of the Winds and his two acolytes as Machael and Lauris. He thanks the group for their intervention and the lives that they saved. The group question him about the zombies, and he admits he has no idea why they arose. Lauris says it is surely the work of the Bright Cabal. Machael tells her not to be so hasty. Jamos says he would be most greatful to the heroes if they would try to locate the cause of the attack. They agree.

Rexor, Grey Scale, and Hourglass search the graveyard while Elart goes to see what he can dig up on possible Bright Cabal activity in Bridgeways. Elart speaks to his contact at the Courier's Guild, Walton, but is unable to glean much information. Walton is even shocked that Elart would suggest that the Bright Cabal could be present on Bridgeways. Meanwhile, Rexor Greyscale, and Hourglass search the graveyard on the underisle. Rexor calls upon the Artificer again, and this time is granted a pair of goggles that greatly increase his visual acuity. In the oldest section of the graveyard they manage to find a child's doll with a small patch of blood on it. They decide to look around the graveyard to see if there is any more blood, afraid that the Bright Cabal has sacrificed a small child to raise the undead. They find a small trace of blood on a very old looking gravestone, so old, in fact, that the name was worn away by the winds. Interestingly enough, the stone seems to be the same type of stone as the sacred bridges that link the islands. They also find a small red flower growing near the gravestone, and a quick inspection of other graves shows them that no other graves have this flower. Grey Scale seems to vaguely recall something about this strange flower, but he cannot remember completely. He sets off to find a local outpost of the Athenaeum to see if their records would provide any insight.

His search having yielded no results, Elart returns to the Journey's End where the survivors of the attack are being cared for. Rexor, and Hourglass meet him there. There are two men, two women, and a small girl. Rexor notices that the little girl has a cut on her knee. They ask her about it, but she doesn't want to say anything. Elart manages to convince her that it's alright to tell him. She says that she was playing in the graveyard while her mother tended the fungus on the underisle and she cut her knee on a tombstone.

Grey Scale finds the local outpost of the Athenaeum. Its a smallish place packed with books, essentially a library. The woman at the counter introduces herself Lyara and asks if she can be of assistance. Grey Scale shows her the flower and says that he's looking for information on it. She says that he can peruse the books to see if he can find any information, but that there is a nominal fee of 15 cogs, an upkeep cost. He says that regrettably he does not have 15 cogs. Lyara agrees to let him view the library if he promises to add any new information he may discover on the flower to the Athenaeum's records. He agrees. He searches through books on plants and herbal remedies and finds a very obscure reference to a plant called a Blood Rose. The reference states these plants are said to grow at the sight of a blood sacrifice, but that these claims have been hither-to unsubstantiated.

Grey Scale returns to the rest of the group at the inn and relays his information. They are shocked and think the little girl’s reluctance to speak with them may indicate something more sinister. They task Hourglass with following the girl and her mother. He does so, and eventually reports back that he hasn’t seen anything suspicious. The group visits the girl and her mother’s house. It’s very modest, but she invites them in for tea. They go over the story again, and Grey Scale shows them the flower. Neither of them have ever seen one before. The group leaves, and Grey Scale follows up on a hunch. He goes to the nearest bridge and pricks his finger, letting a tiny drop of blood spill onto the stone. The blood is absorbed and small red flower blooms in its place.

Grey Scale immediately goes to Jamos on the Isle of Chimes and relates his findings. Jamos thanks him for his efforts. Grey Scale leaves the little red flower on the Altar to the Lady of the Winds. A breeze picks it up and it blows off into the void. Grey Scale then returns to the Athenaeum outpost to write a report on what he's found.

That "evening" at the Journey’s End the group watches as Harley and Quinn, the Drakin acrobats, perform the story of their fight against the zombies and their rescue of the islanders.

They group tucks in for the sleep cycle, but Elart is woken up early by a messenger from the Courier’s guild. The messenger gives him a box and says it needs to be delivered to Gateway. He wakes Hourglass and the two make preparations to set off. At breakfast he asks the other two if they would like to tag along, and they agree.

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I wanted to use the Interlude rules for the voyage to Gateway to help the players get into their characters. Here was the result.

Grey Scale: 5 (Injury) He relates the tale of how he’s always trying to prove himself, and decides he’ll climb the mast and figure out how all the rigging works. Unfortunately he bites off more than he can chew (All-thumbs hindrance) ends up tangled in the rigging and falls onto the deck with a heavy thud. Thankfully Rexor is able to help heal him.

Rexor: 10 (Wonder) Rexor describes how they witness runoff from the Draining Sea and how when the void light passes through it, it creates a huge rainbow, which reminds him all the Artificers many wondrous creations.

Hourglass: Jack (Ancedote): Hourglass relates how he sneaks into Rexor’s cabin while the latter is cleaning his firearm. He scares Rexor, causing the weapon to discharge. Thankfully, it wasn’t loaded but Rexor got a face full of powder, comically turning his face black. It reminded Hourglass of being forced to assist his former master who was an Elven potion maker, and when one of his potions didn’t come out right he beat Hourglass claiming that it was the wildling’s fault. Hourglass subsequently spends a long while in his cabin afraid Rexor will be angry.

Elart: Ace (Treasure) The crew come across as small ship that looks to have been abandoned. The find the logs and determine it was a trading vessel, but cannot determine what happened to the crew. They search the cabins and eventually stumble upon a cabin which likely belonged to an engineer. Hidden away and wrapped up they find a device, which look to be in the proto-type stage. Rexor determines that it is a steam powered propulsion device of some sort. The crew take it and any the supplies on board, vowing to report its loss when they reach Gateway.

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That's the end of our first session. We won't be playing again for three weeks due to folks being busy but after that our schedule should get back to be a lot more regular, likely every other week.

[derfinsterling]

Great! There can't be enough tales from the Skies!
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Markus
The Sundered Skies Serial - full of spoilers!