Looking for Players Savage Worlds Fantasy Friday Nights

[Dershem]

https://discord.gg/C9EhBwE

And the server is up for those who need it.

I'll be on and off the server and discord if anyone needs me tonight just post a message and I'll be checking them periodically.

[Zenspeedstr]

You guys keep my seat warm tomorrow. I'll be traveling irl so Bart is going to deal with some personal business while you complete the next segment.

Safe travels, Amigo. You will be missed. I'll try to keep good notes so that we can fill you in on what happens.

[Dershem]

Looks like discord is having issues connect to FG and we will figure out next steps

[Zenspeedstr]

It's Wednesday again-- almost game night! Time for another player recap of last week's session:

Last time, in Savage Tides

Now in possession of one of the two family signet rings permitting access to the Vanderboren vaults, Lavinia requested that the party accompany her the following day to reclaim enough of the family fortune to pay off their debts and stop foreclosure on the estate. In the meantime, she offered the company lodging and free run of the estate.

Wanting to make a private inquiry about Lavinia's nasty bruise, the party decided to speak to her Halfling assistant, Kora Whistlegap, in private. Kora revealed that the Jade Ravens had long been in the employ of the Vanderboren family, and that they had nothing to do with Lavinia's injury. The bruise had been courtesy of her brother Vanthus-- delivered during a nasty altercation that occurred between the siblings two weeks prior. The fight was the last time Kora and Lavinia had seen or heard from Vanthus, though Kora had a lead on where he might be found-- a middle-class Tavern called the Winged Fish located in the Azure District. They also learned from Kora that Lavinia's mother had been some sort of priestess.

The following morning, the party boarded a coach that Lavinia provided, and accompanied her to the vaults. They were greeted by a clerk, who demanded to see the signet. When Lavinia produced it, he said "Ah-- back again, I see--" something which struck the companions as an odd turn of phrase. The clerk led the group to the door to the Vanderboren vault-- intricately carved with the bas relief of a tree. Lavinia placed the ring on one of the branches, and the wall folded away revealing an entrance into an antechamber. Inside the antechamber were 3 suits of armor, which animated upon the party's entrance, and moved to attack. A tense round of combat ensued, which ended when Lavinia brandished the ring and commanded the guardians to allow the party safe passage. The suits of armor resumed a guarded formation, lowered their weapons, and returned to an inert state.

The party proceeded into the inner chamber, an octagonal room with an eight-pointed star inlaid into the ceiling and a curious rotating central column. On each of the eight walls, a different creature was carved in bas-relief: a tentacled monster, a dragon, a fish-like creature, a two-headed giant, a spherical creature with multiple eye-stalks, a gorilla-like creature with 6 eyes, and a giant black spider. The creatures' eyes were all formed by glowing red stones. After some experimentation, the party discovered that the central pillar "clicked" when rotated to each of the 8 possible positions. Through trial and error, they discovered the first and second positions of the combination, and that they had to turn the column right and left, respectively. Referring back to the note they retrieved from the Blue Nixie:

“Chimera looks to sunrise
Cyclops looks to sunset
Medusa looks to sunrise
Umber Hulk looks to sunset
Basilisk looks to sunrise“

The Companions eventually worked out that "sunrise" referred to the right (east), while "sunset" meant left (west), and that the secret to the combination was based on the number of eyes possessed by the bas-relief creatures. Once the column was turned to the correct positions in the proper directions and sequences, the wall panels slid away revealing chests. Unfortunately, most of the chests were empty. What remained was a sum of cash and jewels, some logbooks showing debts owed to the Vanderboren family, and a mysterious illustrated book written in a language that looked vaguely Elvish, but which no-one in the party could read.

A tearful Lavinia surveyed what was left of her family fortune, and realized that her brother must have come into posession of one of the family signets and gained access to the vaults. Stopping to question the clerk confirmed the group's suspicions-- someone matching Vanthus' description had been frequenting the vaults recently and removing some of the content on each visit-- the meaning of his cryptic "back again" comment upon seeing the family crest.

Returning to the estate, Lavinia offered the companions another reward if they would track down her brother. She wanted him brought back to the mansion, alive and withouut permanent/serious injury, if possible. The party agreed. They took the book to the Witchwarden tower where Deacon had contacts in order to get it translated, paying 400 Silver to obtain a magically created copy in Common. The book turned out to be a Journal written by Larissa Vanderboren (Lavinia and Vanthus' mother) about an island called "the Isle of Dread." It was written in Sylvan. After arranging for the copy to be made, the companions returned to the mansion and waited for nightfall to go to the Winged Fish.

The bartender supplied the information that Vanthus and his girlfriend, a local artist named Brissa Santos, often frequented the establishment, but hadn't been in for over a week. He told them that Vanthus kept an apartment right around the corner, however, and the companions went to investigate. They found the door to the apartment ajar, and discovered that the place had been ransacked. There was no sign of a struggle, but it appeared that someone had done a very thorough job of tossing the place, obviously looking for something. Digging through the remains, they found a letter from Brissa to Vanthus, telling him that she would be out of town for a week or so, visiting her family. The companions decided to knock on neighbors' doors, and they soon found a half-elf by the name of Shefton Rusk, who claimed to know of some ruins on a nearby island that Vanthus and his Dwarven partner Pankus had been excavating. He offered to take the group for 10 Silver.

The Companions rented a small boat from an establishment on the docks called "It Still Floats" and rowed over to Parrot Island. Shefton Rusk took them to a vertical shaft covered with a wooden portcullis. Shefton said that the shaft led down to ruins that had once been a smuggler's base, and that Vanthus was in the process of restoring the ruins in hopes of using them as a base of operations for a new smuggling ring. He refused to enter, however, saying that he would stay on the surface with the boat until the companions returned. The party descended the shaft, and just as they were regrouping at the bottom, Vanthus appeared at the top of the shaft. Hurling Shefton's body down, Vanthus told the companions to greet Pankus for him, and then sealed them inside.

Following the sounds of water, the companions began to explore the underground complex-- coming at length to a large room where they were ambushed by an army of Zombies. They managed to dispatch the undead horde with only one of their number suffering wounds.

[Sammage]

Good recap Zen!

[Zenspeedstr]

Sorry to hear you are under the weather, Dershem-- hope you feel better soon.

[Trueshaft]

yep, sorry to hear. Guess I'll see y'all next week. Feel better!

[Zenspeedstr]

Trueshaft & Sammage-- we missed you guys last night. Had a good time and finally made it out of the ruins. Mgrancey ran Mal, and I ran Bart in your absence. Bart got off a really good shot with his cutlass to the yarbles of one of the Zombie Crabs (that's right-- I said "Zombie Crabs") we were fighting that I was especially proud of. MVP of the night had to go to Mal, though. The Zombie Crabs were easily the toughest enemies we've faced so far, and the fact that we are all still breathing today and not shambling about the streets of Sasserine craving gray matter was mostly due to the fact that Mal is like an Orcish Cuisinart when he's enraged (watch out for the pointy bits). Bart also got a chance to show off his sailing prowess at the end of the session, and we all earned enough XP for an advance. I'll post a full recap again mid-week to prepare for Savage Tides Friday. In the meantime, I hope everybody has a safe and Happy Halloween. And try to avoid the undead shellfish.

[Trueshaft]

Looking forward to seeing you guys Friday. Good to know Mal finally to pull the trigger on his rage.I have silently been praying someone would actually damage him to set it off.

[Mgrancey]

Funny part is he had forgot to turn his armor on so he was actually tougher