How many bombs can be dropped…

Sudalon :

We begin in Sudalon where the expedition team of Books, Grogg, Blargg, Vic and Curly gather up their supplies and head out trying to return to Unundu to check in on Masako and the developments of the battle. They headed out south and west around the mountains and towards the shore making for Gulfmoor. The trip was made at a quick pace and fortunately uneventful. They made the shore and headed north where they were met by guards from Gulfmoor. Books attempted to overstate his interaction with the kingdom but appropriately dropped the mayor’s name and Myla’s family name winning over the belief of the guards. They were escorted in to the mountain city where they bumped in to Mayor Farris himself who happily greeted the party. They needed transport to Unundu. The mayor was happy to make arrangements for them but they would need to give him until the next day before it would be ready.

With a little time on their hands the group decided on a return visit to Myla’s mom to check in. She was surprised by their arrival and had nothing prepared for a meal. But Books suggested they take her out for a nice meal. So off they went to a new local establishment, their treat. After the repast they returned to the Mayor who offered them lodging for the night in a home that was no longer occupied. These arrangements were a bit of a surprise. As explained by Farris there were some ‘holdvoers’ still espousing the evil ways of their previous captors. Those people were offered an opportunity to leave. Some did. Some chose to try to convert the town back and would not leave. It was necessary to use violence to remove them. The home the mayor offered for the night was one of the now no longer occupied dwellinmgs. Books told the mayor he would inform Cade in Sudalon about these now itinerant families and asked the mayor to contact Cade should there be any further negative developments and he would reach out to the rest of the group.

The next morning they were escorted to the docks and led on to a sloop Farris claimed was one of the fastest ships in their fleet. The crew of six were all happy volunteers and they shoved off as quickly as possible. They would take a more direct route out over more open ocean to save time. The first two days passed without incident but on the third day another ship was spotted. It was flying a black flag with a rising sun which the captain identified as belonging to the Hashimoto / White Ninja families. They made preparations to evade. The ship, of a 3 masted design, veered in their direction. Vic climbed up to the crow’s nest to keep an eye on the approaching vessel as the crew with the help of the party manipulated their sloop to cut through the water as quickly as possible. And move they did. With an eye on the other ship Vic, using the captain’s spyglass, spotted White Ninja on the deck. But he also saw the ship was having trouble with their sails as they became fouled, slowing them dramatically providing opportunity to make good their escape.

On the fourth day they approached the Unundu docks area. White smoke could be seen rising from various spots in the city. The captain anchored up offshore a bit away from the docks and dropped a dingy to transport the party to shore, leaving once they had been delivered. Books directed Curly to lead the team through the rocky area in a concealed manner to keep out of sight. He picked his way up away from the shore line until he and Vic spotted a hastily laid tripwire trap. Vic and Books combined to disarm the trap, identifying it as an alarm device not a damaging trap. Past this, they came out from the cover provided by the rocks out in to the open approach to the city. Spotted along the main road from the docks to the city several patrols could be seen. Their composition was obviously comprised of members of each of the families resident in Unundu. They were not separate. The group veered towards the road looking to make contact.

Once spotted a group of guards intercepted the party. Grogg greeted them with a hearty “Bong!”. Books, after admonishing Grogg for his behavior, used a Tongues spell to communicate and explained their reason for being there. Fortunately they were recognized and the guards quickly escorted them in to the city and the palace grounds of the Misawa family. Here they were met by Liaison Kouji who explained the process to meet with Masako to which everyone agreed. They were led to an entry chamber where the disarmed, placing all their weapons in storage chambers. The next step was a frisk of each member. Once completed they were led to a pair of large ornate doors. Behind those doors stood the war chamber. It was designed amphitheater style with cascading platform levels surrounding the lowest level where a low table stood bearing a relief map of the territory. On the map were several markers that appeared to indicate military force locations. Around the table stood six people. Masako greeted the party but was very disappointed by the reserved response by Grogg. She asked why so understated, which Grogg explained. Masako gave her own full throated “Bong!” and Grogg gladly replied. With this greeting complete Masako introduced the other family heads around the table. Kenji and Haru, leaders of the Takajuima and Sun clans attended by their lead advisors.

Books presented the Talking Crystals he carried along with the music box gift for Masako. They began discussing the current situation, reviewing the war developments. The Hashimoto clan had attacked. The three Unundu clans joined forces to defend. Using some hidden defensive positions they were able to outflank and destroy much of the attacking force, repelling them in to a retreat. As this information was shared the doors opened again and two very ornately dressed men entered, interrupting the conversation, taking control of the room. The first words from their mouths announced there would be no more open transit through the kingdom. The Emperor has enacted a state or martial law. These were Ministers Masahiro and Satoshi.

Grogg greeted them silently with a respectful bow and was followed by the rest of the party. A very lengthy discussion followed addressing the current military and political situation. When the issue of Hashimoto’s clan being severely reduced Blargg asked why they could not recall their forces from around the continent. The ministers were unaware of what he referred. His explanation of what he considered the obvious connection between Hashimoto and the White Ninja he was greeted by an admonishment for making accusations without proof. This was the first, but not last, condescending address from the ministers. It became apparent the three leaders deferred to these ministers and would not argue. Blargg and Grogg let the issue drop.

The depth of the reduction of force was further defined that Hashimoto no longer had the forces to provide military and security forces for the Emperor to which Kenji commented he had no idea they had so severely wounded them. After a few more details had been shared the group was asked to excuse themselves and remove themselves from the territory by the Ministers in respect for the current dictate of the Emperor. Kouji and Riku, perhaps Masako’s highest ranking General and personal attendant would escort them out and provide anything they needed.

In another chamber the representatives opened up quite a bit. Books asked for travel authorization papers for their group members to return to train with the local military teachers as suggested by the ministers. Kouji would have these drawn up for Books, Grogg, Blargg and Vic. Books discussed the ship they encountered and the flag it was flying providing warning for Riku, which he took to heart. Then the discussion turned to the Hashimoto clan and the White Ninja spreading around the continent. Simbala was mentioned. Riku commented his insiders in Anpuru had informed him the royal family of Simbala was alive and held in prison in Anpuru under the control of the Hashimoto’s. Books knew this was information Jade would want as soon as he could reach her. Travel arrangements for the group to return to Gulfmoor were to be made along with a military escort, And lastly, Grogg asked if he could get new clothes in the fashion of the ministers befitting his diplomatic position. Kouji was happy to oblige but on short notice he would have to make the best of what he had available. Before they left in the morning Kouji brought a variety of outfits for Grogg to try on. It took a few attempts but a very close fit was finally found along with a pair of shoes and toe socks. Grogg would need some very minor alterations to make the clothes fit perfectly but they would do.

The group was escorted to the docks to a waiting ship. They boarded and were returned to Gulfmoor where they filled Mayor Farris in on all the juicy developments. They shared the details regarding ships flying the black flags and there was no longer transit permitted through the territory. After a nights rest they continued on to Sudalon to meet up with Ruurik. Warnings about the White Ninja influence possibly penetrating in to Sudalon were explained to share with the local authorities. After which Books made contact with SD via Talking Crystal where he started to explain the situation and eventually requested Teleport transportation back to Midway where it would be easier to get in to all the details. SD was happy to make arrangements with the Wizard’s Guild to have the service provided and the group returned to Midway well ahead of their original party members that were caravanning back from Sudalon. Key details he shared were the Hashimoto’s provided military and security for the Emperor and the territory was now prohibiting travel transit. Books let Raifer know who has travel passes in their name. One of the more interesting developments from the discussin was that Tao would provide language lessons to any that wanted it for the local language of the territory. Grogg and some others were immediately interested.

Egypt :

The group of Halrfold, Lilli, Jade, Erik, Cord, Rispin, Gwyn, Rennala and Ben had time to kill and some tasks to attend. Halrfold began his Bardic training of Illusionist spells. Rispin her Magic-User spells at the Wizard’s Guild, Gwyn his Clerical training at the temple. While Lilli was learning new horsemanship skills Cord trained his new horse and Rennala worked with her new horse as given her by Cord. Ben worked to gather up map information about the area and compose formal maps of the cavern system they traversed when leaving the crevasse. Jade took the time to continue investigating for any sign of her family unaware the shoe had dropped on this information.

A month passed and those tasks were completed. Word had been shared with the local churches regarding exchanges with the temples in Midway and over the two weeks crates began to arrive for transport. Uncle Puddy offered his chambers as the holding location as he gathered up materials to be send back to Kozmo. The group decided to give the remaining dino meat they had collected on the trip to the widow they had helped. She was able to take the meat and sell it for a very nice profit. Gwyn went further searching for work the woman could do to help her family now that her husband, an honored, respected and beloved member of the community was gone. By luck, he found work for her in the temple office. Gwyn went even further, helping her in her home attending the other children as she taught her older kids how to work the loom to make the family rugs they sell for a living.

Cord checked back with the assayer he had left one of the glowing rocks to investigate. The development was odd. He could not identify why the rock glowed until he broke off and crushed the rock. Whereupon a glowing liquid was extracted from the crushed stone. The stone itself was typical, the liquid is what glowed, but he could not identify the dull pale glowing liquid. Cord thanked him for the work and collected the materials. Next they checked in with the local detective that worked the murder case to find out if anyone had claimed the body of the White Ninja. But, alas, no one claimed it. What did happen was probably predictable. A kid came to the police station with an envelope containing a letter and some money. They letter directed the police to cremate the body and the money was to pay for the work. That lead gone Cord shared word of the method of influence the White Ninja have been using to grab control of many places. The detective took the information with great concern.

Lastly, a few of the party decided to frequent some of the establishments catering to non locals in an effort to find out why so many travelers have been passing through. Gwyn chatted up one wary traveler but was able to slowly gain his confidence. His story was …. Interesting … to say the least. He came from Cross River looking for work. Some travelers passing through had spread word of work that was available. Interested parties should go to Egypt and inquire at the docks. The work was paying 100 gold per week. Those hired would be taken by ship east to the continent of Archindom a few weeks sail away to be employed as muscle.

The last 30 days of their stay were spent as Halrfold trained with Shin Liu in the mystical ways of unarmed combat employed by those from the Oriental territory.

Midway:

SD called a meeting of the business owners, calling all of them in to a private session for an important security discussion. Everyone was represented except for the establishments Bottle It, Wanna Slug and Pick Me. He did not wait. The trouble presented by the White Ninja was presented. He asked Kozmo to share his story about how he was approached in an effort to essentially take over the business. SD illuminated this was the beginning of their effort to take over and it should NOT be allowed to happen. Several other business owners produced a similar business card to the one Kozmo had. Pete the Lizard Man made it clear he was approached and declined any offer. Leo of Leo’s Maps was confused why he was being restricted from selling his business if he wanted. SD made it clear as he could that no one should accept any of these offers in any way because this influence was one they did not want in their city. He offered to buy anyone out should they want to sell and should anyone have signed papers from these representatives they would find a means to break the contract. As a last speaker Vora stepped up to confirm the methods being employed based on his experiences in Simbala. He went further to state he would happily match any offer to prevent this element from getting a foothold in Midway.

Top of page

Previous Session Notes

Next Session Notes

Back to the History Index

Back to the Dungeon

This page and its contents are presented solely for the purpose of the RPG game events conducted by a private group. Any references to people or places is explicitly within the context of these RPG games and has no connection to any other similarly named source.