5 June 2024

And here it is! This is the final entry to the first session of my D&D campaign, wrapping this chapter up.

The shadow monk cursed, and turned to leave, but her companion, a death-touched aasimar cleric, clamped a hand on her shoulder. “We have more urgent matters to attend to. Remember?”

The monk looked like she was about to argue, then changed her mind. “Stupid bleeping princess.”

It took Shaxes a moment to put together what she meant. “Are you referring to the ambassador from Táixià?”

The cleric woman nodded, while the monk let out another curse. The head priest watched a moment longer, one eyebrow raised in apparent amusement, before he addressed Shaxes. “Could I perhaps trouble you to look into this further? If there truly is a wayward child of the night involved, it would be best for everyone to resolve this before it escalates, especially given the… potential interference of outside forces.”

Shaxes nodded once. “What can you tell me about the situation?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. The assailant was a priest named Marcus Kensworthy, Sr. He is from a noble family with a long line of history with the church of the Eternal Rose, with all the implications related to that. He was a key figure in the concerning movements I spoke of earlier. Many priests and priestesses around him have recently begun acting strangely. His victim was one Eliza Peckham, who was one of the primary figures within the temple promoting peace between the Rose’s church and our own.”

“I see.” The Rose temple seemed like the next best place to begin searching for more answers.

As he turned to leave, though, he noticed the strange halfling pocketing… Was that the head priest’s seal? He caught the priest’s eye, but the priest shook his head. Shaxes sighed. He would let it go, then. Although… Might as well make the man work for it. He strode up to the halfling. “You. Come with me.”

The halfling shared a look with the half-elf woman and shrugged. Then, without much fuss, the two followed Shaxes to the temple of the Eternal Rose.

3 June 2024 part 2

Next bit of the Flames of Piege campaign.

When Shaxes entered the shrine of the Shadowed Princess, he found the head priest speaking with the mysterious duo from the ship, including the vampire shadow monk. It seems it had been wise to keep her existence from the strange Sunkeeper delegation.

The head priest was a thin, man with large, black robes, and skin so pale he looked like he might be dead. Which… was actually a possibility. He looked over at Shaxes as the tiefling entered, then looked behind him and asked, “New adherents?”

Shaxes looked behind him only to discover the half-elf noblewoman from the ship arguing with a dark-skinned, almost drow-like halfling in Elvish. They seemed almost as surprised to be there as Shaxes, but the half-elf shook her head and said, “No, we’re just touring around the city.”

The head priest nodded, then turned to Shaxes. The tiefling looked at the other two and asked, “I am not interrupting, am I? Nothing I wish to speak with you about is particularly urgent.”

“We ar nearly finished. How can I assist you?”

The corners of Shaxes’ mouth quirked upward by the slightest amount. “Actually, that was my question for you, Father. I’ve been sent from Trixhaven; have you had any issues? Any concerns with your local congregation?”

The priest mused for a moment or two. “No, not so far as I am aware, at least with our congregation.”

Shaxes raised an eyebrow, and the priest offered a wry smile. “Recently, a rather troublesome group of nobles among the Eternal Rose’s priests started moving in concerning ways, but it looks like that particular problem is resolving itself.”

“I wonder if that is related to the mess the Sunkeepers were telling us about,” Shaxes mused.

The monk cut in. “Eh? Sunkeepers?”

“Yes. A squadron of them confronted us at the docks, wanted to ask a few questions. It seems there was an attack at the temple of the Rose, and they suspect vampires involved. They were concerned about rumors are had a vampire aboard our ship.” At that last statement, he gave the monk a very pointed look. “Fortunately, none of us knew anything about that.”

18 May 2024

This has been a lot of fun to write. The Maranys/Myst dynamic doesn’t quite feel set in stone yet, so that could potentially shift, but for now, this is my best estimate from what their players have told me.

Straxes the Collector was used to people staring at him. It was rare enough to see tieflings at all this far north, much less as tall as he. Even before the horns, he was nearly seven feet. And the symbol of the Shadowed Princess displayed prominently over his armor certainly didn’t help matters. So he paid little heed at first to the small sailor girl who’d watched him most of the trip from Tangier, even after he’d learned she was angel-blooded in the earlier scuffle.

What he had not expected was for her to approach him shortly before their arrival in Setton. She asked, in her thick Solstranan accent, “Haven’t we met before? You look familiar.”

Shaxes blinked. He didn’t recognize the girl, but that wasn’t so unusual. He had met many people in the course of his… duties. It seemed strange she couldn’t place someone as distinctive as he was, though.

When he didn’t reply, the girl–Ayona?--nodded to herself. “Yes. You were part of that thing in Trixhaven, weren’t you? The one that would never smile.” She looked him over once more. “Yeah. You need a vacation or something. Learn to have a little fun, maybe.”

SHaxes merely raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a moment later before the ship’s captain bellowed from the helm, “You should take your own advice, lass!”

“I have fun! I have plenty of fun!”

“Like what, lassie?”

For several seconds, Shaxes watched in amusement as Ayona floundered. “I… um… I’ve killed things?”

That’s when it clicked. “Ah, yes. Trixhaven. I remember. You were the one with all the feathers.” There weren’t many of the angel-blooded who opted to follow the Shadowed Princess, after all.

The sailor girl didn’t reply, instead trying valiantly and vainly to argue with the captain. Shaxes just shook his head and returned to his bunk. As long as it didn’t effect his mission here or his Lady’s church, it wasn’t important.

The next day, as the Fortune’s Breath pulled into port, Lady Maranys Evreux was still agonizing over what she’d overheard the day before. A few months!? What was she supposed to do? She didn’t think she’d have the funds to charter a different ship, and since she was already a year or two behind Myst, Maranys wondered if she’d ever see him again.

So perhaps it can be forgiven that she wasn’t entirely cognizant of her surroundings while she exited the ship. At least, not until she noticed her purse was missing.

Before she even had time to panic, however, a short figure, barely four foot tall, with skin the color of dark chocolate and pale gray hair, offered it back to her. “Might this be yours, milady?”

Maranys gaped at him, her brain and emotions struggling to catch up with what her eyes were telling her. Then he flashed her that same smirk he always wore, and Maranys felt her cheeks flush. “Myst!? What… how… Where have–”

Before she could interrogate Myst further, a large squad of Sunkeepers arrived at the docks and began making their way towards the ship.