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.”

21 May 2024

Yeah, I missed Monday. I plan to catch up soon enough; I still need to write my poem for the week, after all.

This was a tricky scene to write in some ways; I wanted to smooth things out, include foreshadowing bits, and make the conversation fit the reality of the situation better now that i’ve prepped more and have a deeper understanding of what that is. I think it turned out well, though, and I really got in the groove here.

…towards the ship. They halted, and one of them stepped forward. “I am Commander Slepoy of the [unit name/title]. I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you mind accompanying me for a few minutes? I have a few questions for all of you.”

From behind Maranys, the sailor girl muttered a phrase–one Maranys recognized as the spell “prestidigitation”–and the next moment an absolutely fold stench started wafting from the commander, like sewage that had been sitting in the sun for hours. A number of Sunkeepers turned and glared at the girl, but to the commander’s credit, he (mostly) kept his composure.

The tiefling–Shaxes?--stepped forward. “If you mean to inquire about the status of the ship, we were attacked by a kraken. The good captain and a number of other, powerful passengers dealt with it, while we helped fend off its sahuagin followers. Is there anything else you needed?”

Maranys noticed one fellow, a young man with warm brown hair, first eyed Shaxes’ horns, then his holy symbol, and sneered. The tiefling himself didn’t respond; if anything, he seemed more resigned to it than anything.

The commanger replied, “That is helpful, thank you, but that is not why I am here. I don’t intend to take much of your time; would you mind following me?”

With narrowed eyes, Maranys studied the commander. What did he want, then? She noticed that his eyes flicked over everyone who left the ship. Was he looking for someone? A passenger, perhaps? Since when did the Sunkeepers have this kind of authority in Oileanda, anyway?

She decided it would likely be more trouble than it was worth to get away, so she accompanied the commander into a nearby warehouse. Both Shaxes and George, an axe-wielding mercenary who’d drawn the attention of a sahuagin attacking her during their previous fight, joined them, though george looked a little green in the face. Was he still feeling seasick? Or maybe he just ate something that disagreed with him. Maranys also thought she caught sight of the water genasi from the ship slipping in with them.

It wasn’t until they were inside that she realized Myst hadn’t joined her. She looked out the window and found him out there, flashing that same infuriating smirk, next to the sailor girl who’d stunk up the commander’s collar. Fortunately, the girl had decided to undo her spell before slipping away.

Commander Slepoy cleared his throat. Maranys turned his attention back to him, and he asked, “I apologize if this seems strange, but we heard a troubling report, given the circumstances. Do you know if, among the passengers aboard your vessel, any of them may have been a vampire?”

Maranys immediately thought of the heavily cloaked shadow monk that helped them fend off the kraken. Except, well… She didn’t know for sure, and this was definitely more trouble than it was worth. So it was with no guilt that she beamed at the commander. “Nope. Haven’t seen anything.”

Shaxes shook his head, and poor George just looked more nauseous than ever. The tiefling asked, “If I may, why are you asking?”

The commander grimaced. “There’s… been an incident at the Temple of the Rose. We believe it is related to vampires in some way; if we are correct, evidence indicates the mastermind is not local. We figured they may be coming in person to move the work forward or some such, and wanted to prevent the issue from escalating.”

Shaxes raised an eyebrow, but he only said, “I am not aware of any vampires aboard the ship.”

The commander sighed and nodded, then excused them. Maranys turned to leave, but nearly ran into the unpleasant Sunkeeper from before. He’d approached for the sole purpose of spitting at Shaxes’ feet. For his part, though, the tiefling merely sighed.

Once outside, Maranys made a beeline for Myst. “Where have you been? Why didn’t you write me to let me know where you were, or that you were okay, or–”

In Elvish, still smirking, Myst cut her off. “I take it you missed me then?”

Maranys wasn’t sure if her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment or fury, and she started getting after Myst, absentmindedly following Shaxes deeper into the city.

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.