Krastus: Well, that escalated quickly

As we traveled along the route out of Kiera, we encountered a strange statue in the water. The captain decided he wished to loot this - as any kleptomaniac would do when seeing random objects in the water.

We traveled down - thanks entirely to my excellent magic - and found ourselves in a magical arena. With a statue that offered us the chance to fight our own strengths and weaknesses for a wish. Carlton went first - brash as always. He is quite useful like that. Similar to some kind of small mammal one throws into water to see if there are predators.

As it turned out, he fought a shadow version of himself - and bested him. He wished for his twin brother - his usual amazingly poor but somehow convincing cover story - to be real and be a very likable fellow. Odd, but he went for it.

I decided that I could not let Carlton best me, so I went in for the challenge. Of course, this was not a problem for me - I am superior to everyone. Even myself. After trading blows for some time, I bested my opponent and wished for a better understanding of the magic that I use innately. Strangely since then, I have a strange....feeling. I shall have to explore this more in detail later.

Finally the captain went up and fought. And...oh and believe me this is the best part. He wished to be strong. So. He is now a Grael. A Grael! I have so many jokes for this. So many, but none are as funny as the fact he is a Grael. This will make him suffer for all the small chinese girl comments. Oh yes.

We went to the isle and to visit Terras - the Kieran prison camp. It seems I have a reputation. Though it is very offensive, as I am certainly not insane. Carlton's twin brother, meanwhile, it seems is loved. Perhaps between us we could form an effective double act. We could not work out a way into the city itself - but we did get to spy on what they are building. A ship to carry the population of Kiera. I think they know the world is sinking, and plan to welcome this as a purge of the lower orders. I admire their goals, but not their classifications. Really? Kierans are just pompous idiots. At least the captain knows his people aren't...ha! He is a Grael!...sorry. That is a very distracting thought.

We went back to Kiera, against my better advice. The idea is that we could make our way in as lumber traders. I think it is a foggy minded idea to take the whole ship into Kiera when we could just send Carlton. I built a very fine smuggler hold in the ship, where myself and Serene are taking up residence. I do hope the Kierans don't torture the captain too hard. When he is upset he tends to blubber. Grael jokes.

Sira Saran: Make a Wish it may come true, almost!

So we sail the 50 fathom seas on the search for adventure and the three hags to make the world a nice place again. This brings up all kind of strange encounters.
The most notable encounter we met this voyage was a statue. A very strange one indeed.
It came to life the moment we approached it, and for a trial of strength it grants a wish.
That said, some people always jump for the very obvious treasure.
So Carlton jumped on it and did a duel with himself that he barely survived, still he did and wished for, what I guess is a childhood dream of himself, a real brother.
Next was Krastus, making a spectacular firework, and survived against all odds his alter ego did throw at him. He wished for a intuitive understanding of magic.
Then our capt'n jumped in and after a really breathtaking melee he wished to become really strong.
From one moment to the next he turned into a huge grael. That was surprising! Giving it the fact that he is stronger now then before he got his wish!
I did not jump at the treasure. I really fear that I would die on my alter egos first shot, not a nice idea!
So I passed and so did Helene.
We proceeded further to Terras and remembering our last run into port we did a landing on the beach. Fighting through the jungle over the hills to Terras we encountered a patrol.
And then the unexpected happened the guards thought of Carlton as his brother! And it seems he is a nice guy to remember, because the guards went all over Carlton with questions.
Not to mention that there is a bounty on the crazy archmage "Mad Krastus"!
They went their way and we did proceed to Terras which was an amazing site to behold! A huge shipyard for only one ship, like a floating city, with a garrison around it and a lot of soldiers.
I really don't know how we could rescue a shipwright out of the mess.

Cortez: Be careful what you wish for

No, I mean that literally. Be careful what you wish for. We set off from the prison without much trouble, and encountered an interesting magical arena... apparently we were able to challenge ourselves to a fight. Or a mirror of ourselves. Either way, the opponent we fought was very much us. Even personality-wise, as evidenced by Carlton's mirror opponent being as strange and confusing as himself.

Three of us fought against ourselves. Carlton, Krastus, and myself. We all won our battles and were granted, of all things, a wish. Carlton wished his evil twin brother into existence, but as a good person. Krastus wished to understand his magic better. And I decided to wish for physical strength.

Nothing happened to Carlton. But we later found out there is a twin known as Barton and he is very beloved by the people around Kiera.Krastus, likewise, did not change in any obvious way.

Myself, however... well... it seems the wish granter decided the easiest way to make me stronger was to turn me into a Grael. Though I am startled every time I see my reflection, it is, decidedly, not a horrible affliction. I maintain most of my wits, though it's hard to remember if I've forgotten things, though Grael have a reputation for stupidity.

We proceeded to Terras, and landed far from the town and made our way over land. Running into a patrol that we did not hide from very well... in fact, we were saved by two things. The first being they mistook Carlton for this strange good-fellow named Barton Grey. And the other being they are terrified of Krastus, who apparently is named the Crazed Criminal and they have developed specific tactics in dealing with his magic.

The town of Terras is not a pleasant one. It is clearly being used as some sort of forced labor. Whether that is paid or pure slavery I cannot say, but we may still find people to rescue. If we can get in. So we've returned to Kiera to find a way in. As lumber traders, I hope. Or maybe I don't hope that. I'm not sure what to think anymore. But we must rescue this man and maybe put a dent in this evil that Kiera is up to.

Sira Saran: The Plan to break into a Prison

So we were at a prison to break in and it's on a cliff! No worries here. A lot of guards seem to be watching the walls.

A good plan was brought up so everything was fine.

But some flaws were in the plan and on approaching the wall everything went totally off the plan.
These guys seem to be prepared for attacks from the outside.
We conquered the wall at one point and with eager fighting we gained the upper hand and fought them hard.
After some gruesome death on their side, Helene summoned an elemental and the soldiers trembled in fear, fleeing the courtyard.
I would call this a victory.
A party of us then penetrated the prison and freed some of the prisoners.
Some trouble presented itself when our boat went missing for a moment, but we made it back to our ship.
We got the mirror from the mage... it looks rather odd, but if it works, it's fine with me.

Hélène: A successful escape

Our target, the prison complex, was located high on a cliff and could only be reached by ascending a small, winding path - or by climbing the cliff walls. We chose the latter approach, in the hopes of staying undetected, and so, after nightfall, we approached the cliff from below in a dinghy. From there, we scaled the jagged rock wall, one by one, with Master Krastus taking the lead, who, aided by his magic, simply scurried up vertically. Once up there, we could see specks of firelight shining from the outer wall, indicating that guards were observing the surroundings from up there.

Staying close to the wall, we looked for a suitable spot to ascend, but we had to realise soon that our approach had not been undetected, and thus, the opportunity for a stealthy operation had already passed. In fact, the guards had been heating up cauldrons of tar on the walls, and when Master Krastus and the Captain climbed the wall, they were immediately engaged by guards from both sides. It took them a while to fight themselves clear and allow us to follow them up, and when I finally did, I was presented with a rather dire scenario.

The guards all along the wall were on high alert, and their commander was assembling a firing line in the yard. A flow of additional guards rushed out of the barracks and into action behind them. Master Krastus, who had advanced onto the top of the prison building, was their main target. On the wall itself, Sira had taken a firing position, and was mercilessly discharing her firearm collection into the yard. The enemy commander threw an explosive charge at her and, incidentally, also at me. Barely dodging the thing, and with my ears still ringing, I summoned up my elemental effigy into the yard, to soak and douse the opponents' muskets and fuses. Accompanying the battle, the frantic ringing of a bell set the prison, and probably the whole town as well, to high alert, a redundant effort, with all of those gunshots.

Our onslaught did not falter, however. Faced with such formidable opposition, the enemy commander ordered a full retreat, and we ceased fighting and let them leave immediately. A column of torchlights could be seen in the distance, ascending the cliff road, so reinforcements were on their way. We concentrated on getting done with our main task quickly.

The main building was locked, and with most of the guards, the keys had escaped too, so we resorted to blowing open the door. While Sira and Carlton watched from the outside, the rest of us inspected the prison. In here, there were rows of cells, some with prisoners inside, who were held in horrible
conditions. None of them, however, matched the description we had of the man. There was, however, a platform that could be lowered deeper into the ground. Deep underground, we found a single cell occupied by three people, one doreen and two humans, bound and gagged. They appeared starved, weary and had been intentionally deprived of most of their dignity in here.

After opening the cell door, the Captain paused. He was certain he had detected a trap, a pressure plate of sorts, directly in the entrance. When pointing that out, the prisoners emphatically gave noise through their gags, as if trying to warn us. We considered our options, and finally it was decided
that the Captain would use the Archmage's magic to walk into the cell, across the ceiling. There, he ungagged the prisoners, and started to free their shackles as well.

The doreen was freed first, He appeared desiccated, and I summoned up my elemental again to soak and revigorate him. The second prisoner was our quarry, Tomas, the fire mage, who informed us that there was no trap at all in the cell, and the guards had been passing that spot all the time. Finally, the Captain freed the last prisoner, a young water mage named Kylie, a strikingly attractive woman,
at least under most other circumstances. More than a quarter of an hour had passed, and we hurried to escape.

We left the complex through the front gate, that was left open, and hustled to the cliff wall. From up there, we could see the dinghy was gone, nobody had obviously bothered to anchor it. The doreen was unconcerned by this, and took his chances by diving into the sea and escaping.

Eventually we spotted the dinghy, that was drifting several hundred paces away, and so we descended into the water, and the Captain, the most accomplished swimmer, recovered it as the rest waited close to the cliff. Finally, we could climb aboard and set course for our ship.

Carlton Grey and the Possibly Demonic Prison Break

So in the end not only did we try to break into a prison, which is quite unusual by itself, but we also did it by boat, which is even weirder. We had to climb up on a wall to even reach the prison wall, which was a bit boring if you ask me. We also had to climb up on the prison wall, but by the time we reached it, they already noticed us, so at least there was a little bit of fighting to amuse ourselves with.
From there things unfolded the usual way. I shot some people, Sira shot some people,  Krastus killed some people, the captain stabbed some people and Héléne was also there. In the end we could not beat all of the guards, because they ran away shouting something about demons. We were quite lucky that the demons wanted to visit the prison the same day we did.

Anyway, Cortez, Krastus and Héléne went down into the prison, while Sira and I stood watch against the demons. I was quite excited about meeting them, but they never showed up. That just goes to show, how cruel demons can be. After a while our friends came back with three wizards. I thought that we only wanted to get one, but maybe there was some sort of three for the price of one sale going on down there.
Then we wanted to go back to our ship, but our boat was gone. This might have been the work of the demons, although they didn't put a lot of effort in it, since the captain was able to retrieve the boat easily.
In the end, we got some sort of magical tears from the mage-privateer guy, and that was it. Supposedly they tell you some answers if you cry long enough or something, which doesn't sound very impressive at all. I guess not every magical artifact can be as amazing as my lucky monkey foot.

Krastus: We had a plan...

We sorted out a plan to enter the prison. It was cunning. It involved my great magical skill....but we got spotted. I'd managed to get myself and the captain up the cliff and we were ready to get up the wall when a lot of burning pitch was dropped at us. I avoided it, of course, and scuttled up the wall to engage those who had done it. They will not be returning home.

The captain actually did rather well in the fight, this was surprising. Pleasantly surprising. They seemed quite formidable enemies, and my new axe was quite capable in battle. Rather unfortunately they were also quite cowardly and ran away. Disappointing.

We went into the prison facility and it was more roomy than one expected - if I were a more settled crab, I might want a place like this. Anyway, we went about searching for the mages. We found some useless regular humans. Nope. We went downstairs, with my impressive - though admitedly little trained - lock picking skills. The elevator took us to the bottom and we found the mages gagged and chained up. I thought I could sense a trap so I cast my spell - spider webs are fairly easy to get in such a place - and tossed him up onto the ceiling. He promptly went over and ungagged them. It turns out the trap was a cunning ruse. Or perhaps had broken. More likely broken.

Anyway, I released them - because I'm a kind and considerate crab - and we made our escape. Unfortunately without a boat. It seems for a ship crew, we are not good with ships. No-one had thought to tie down or secure the row boat. Clearly this is not my fault, I was first off and I am very much in charge of repairing and also being an arch mage. And rampage. Also in charge of well reasoned and perfectly justified rampages. Not anchors. That is metal.

The boat was retrieved, however, And the captain got his Tears of Lys for us to discover the names of these hags. But I still fear we are not ready to face them - and while I could always escape, getting another crew as well trained as this one would prove tiresome. And still, I am fond of them. Except for Carlton's girlfriend. Humans shouldn't be snooty. They are far too soft and pink.

Cortez: On our way...

It is remarkable to me that even when faced with troubles to our plans we are still able to accomplish our missions. We were spotted on our approach to the prison. You'd think not casting a shadow would make me harder to spot... but apparently not.

Krastus and I made quick work of the walls and lowered ropes to the others and then it was a simple matter of breaking and entering the prison itself. They had firing lines set up and were prepared for such attempts, but they were not prepared for us. We cut through them, stunned them, shot fireballs at them, and shot them. Mustn't forget how we shot them... Sira, anyway.

But the guards ran away in terror. And we didn't have keys. But we did have Krastus and his lockpicks. We went into the prison and saw a lift of sorts designed to carry people, and prisoners, down to the lowest levels. I decided that the deepest level would be the best bet to find our captured mage, and I was right.

We found not just him, but two other mages, bound and gagged to a wall. After avoiding any and all traps that might have been there, we freed the mages. One was, fortunately, Thomas the Orange. Another was an attractive woman, and another Doreen! We fled to the surface and made our way to our dingy escape... only to find that no one secured it before we left. I managed to swim to it and bring it back to us. The Doreen Mage left, since he could swim. Thomas and the Woman joined us on our ship. I explained to Thomas, who is a countryman of mine, the situation we are in, and what we were searching for.

He gave me the Tears of Lys. Or, I suppose, the Tear of Lys. Once there were twelve, now only one remains. And he explained that one must hold onto the Tear in your hand, think of your greatest loss, and let your tears fall onto the gem. At which point Lys will grant you what you most desire. I suppose we will have to ask for the names of the hags when the time is right.

Thomas left with more thanks, and I suppose we made a decent impression on him and his crew. Even if I did have to punch on of them out for being a little cowardly.

This also makes me believe Krastus when he said he might not be working for the Kierans... or it's deeper cover. I think we need to see about Terras before we leave. That will settle it, once and for all, whether anyone is spying. And we'll strike a real blow against such a terrible Empire.

Hélène: Another daring rescue?

Although we knew now that our ship was the focus of Kieran agents, we had no choice other than to continue in our quest, and we decided to leave port quickly, lest the situation escalate further. The Captain plotted a search route along the Gray Isles, and after about a day of travel, we indeed encountered another ship, but it was not the one we - or anybody at all - sought.

We saw a large rowboat, of rather antique construction, and horrifyingly, there were bodies displayed on crucifixed displayed along the railing. This was the flagship of the dreaded Inquisition, trailed in the distance by two heavy galleons, and it pursued us. Since our quarry was a fire mage, the Captain reckoned that if we claimed we were enemies of his, the Inquisitors might be willing to share information they might have about him. I, on the other hand, was wary; In my childhood, I had been raised a proper Catholic, and to people from my age, the methods of this Inquisition felt crude and monstrous. I made a point to brief everyone, especially Carlton, not to mention that anyone aboard had any knowledge of magic.

So we hailed them, went alongside, and the Inquisitors came aboard. It was not Torquemada himself, but another native Spaniard, and indeed his prime objective was to ascertain if there were any mages on board, or if anyone had seen any display of magic. We answered as we had rehearsed, and even if Carlton overdid it a little, the Inquisitor seemed satisfied. The Captain then took the opportunity to ask his own questions, but we did not get any new leads from them. However, the keen Inquisitor noticed that in bright daylight, the Captain was missing both his shadow and a good explanation for that.
Warily, he left our ship for now, and we cast off. It appeared as if they were shadowing us after that, and when we sailed away, our ship, augmented as it was with magical implements and Master Krastus' zephyr, exhibited a clearly supernatural performance, and they turned once more to chase us. The same magic, of course, allowed us to escape easily, at least until we would meet them again.

We continued our patrol, and while sailing around the Isla de Dios, spotted a small settlement which we approached. This was rumoured to be the Inquisitors' home port, but they were away, at any rate. In light of its proximity to Kiera, the village itself appeared rather struggling and not very welcoming, but as we kept a low profile, we could replenish our supplies here. Meanwhile, the others had found an old man, a local official of sorts, who had news about our quarry, but he demanded a sizable amount of money for it. I managed to haggle him down a little, and in the end, we bought some very detailed, and hopefully correct information: The ship we were looking for was called the Valiant, and it was currently docked at Peltos, a port to the north.

We immediately set a course, and after but two days of very fast sailing, reached the port. We sought out a local tavern, and there we found some of the Valiant's crew, who reported that our man had been arrested in town and was about to be turned over to the Inquisitors, whose arrival was expected shortly. His crewmates had opted for the safe course of action, and not attempted a rescue, and this prompted our Captain, who, as we had learned many times, would never shy away from adversity to save any of us, to name them cowards. This was taken as an insult, and nearly resulted in a tavern brawl, but the Captain suggested a fair fistfight between him and their leader. As desasters in taverns go, this felt like a marked improvement to me.

Our Captain took some heavy punches, but finally he prevailed, and impressed the other group. They were still unwilling to risk themselves in a rescue attempt, but shared any information they had with us. Tomas was apparently held in a prison complex on top of a cliff overseeing the coastline, and it was up to us to conceive a good plan. I remarked that I'd prefer the most stealthy approach, arguing that if we were able to succeed while evading detection at large, the rescue would probably be blamed on the Valiant's crew at first, giving us time to escape. Meanwhile Master Krastus went on to find a suitable space aboard our ship to install a small hidden compartment; We'd be able to hide Tomas, or anyone else, there if the local authorities decided to search the ship.

Still, all this required we succeeded in our rescue, and with the Inquisitors about to arrive any day, we had to make haste with our plans.

Krastus: This should be easy...

Well, that was an eventful few days from Kiera.

We bumped into a very impressive but highly inefficient human ship run by the strange dress wearing folk that Carlton seems friendly with. The captain was...well. Shall we just say that recent tolls have clearly had an effect on his guile? Hiding our magical elements was never going to be easy, but having our shadowless captain standing out in the sun wasn't our best move. Thankfully though those same magical elements, like our sails and my skills, allowed us to escape these fellows.

Another group for us to avoid - or kill. I really don't like their anti-Mage and anti-Scurillian bias, so really I'm fine with either solution at this time.

We headed around - found a small fishing village that turned out to be their home base. They did have information about the mage we were after though. We got around to one of the Kieran...well. Towns? It is hard to call them that. Open air prisons perhaps? And within this one, it seems, there was a real prison.

And within that real prison? Our mage.

His crew filled us in but were rather unwilling to help us in liberating him.

This leaves it up to us.

If only there was an archmage who had been experimenting with magic to allow him to scale walls after recent difficulties, and if only people listened to him...

Oh well, I'm sure I will get a chance to try out my new axe regardless.

Carlton Grey and the and the Hunt for the Magic Privateer

We left Kiera again, and decided to search for the magic privateer, but we only found some inquisition people at first. We decided to ask for directions, but they were more interested in us and magic. They were quite friendly, but the captain said that we should not talk to them about magic at all, so we did not. 

I heard they were angry at magic stuff anyway so it seems pretty stupid that they are constantly searching for it. We did not tell them anything, so they left the ship.

Next we visited a little town, where we bought some food, and asked around for our magic man. I found a nice guy, who helped us out for some money that he will use to get to Kiera. I wanted to convince him to come with us, but he did not want to. Maybe he was really keen on visiting the zoo or something. Anyway, now we knew where to find the magic privateer, so we did not have to search the seas anymore.

We arrived at Paltos a few days later. It is a small town with a nice tavern and a not so nice jail. The guy we are looking for is in the later, so I guess he is not to clever.  We need to get him out somehow, if we want to talk to him at all.
We met his friends in the pub, who were really afraid of trying to help him. They got pretty annoyed when Cortez told them though, so they must not have known. In the end one of them fought Cortez to decide if he was right. Sadly Cortez won, so this means that they are indeed cowards and won’t help us freeing their captain and we have to do it alone.

Next we have to break into a prison and then hide the guy once we got him out. I do not know if it is going to be worth it. I mean if he was a real magician, then he could have escaped from there, even if he was bound with chains and underwater.

Cortez: The Hunt for the Necklace

We've begun a quest to save the world... and we possibly have at least one traitor on board. So the only thing to do is attack the Kieran Empire. The more I find out, the more I realize this Empire is possibly more vile than any other in this world. Including the Pirates that we poisoned... accidentally.

Our hunt took us into contact with the Inquisition. I, perhaps foolishly, allowed them on board our ship so we might hear word about the Fire Mage we're searching for. But they seemed to want to ask most of the questions. They also seemed to have noticed my lack of a shadow. And our magical sails. It is worth noting that we are being hunted by the Inquisition. But, really, it's not a huge surprise when you think about how any interaction with them may have gone.

We were fortunate enough to make a quick dock on the Grey Isles in a tiny fishing village called Isla Dios. Carlton found out that, indeed, the ship and our mage were in Paltos. We set sail at once and thanks to my skill, Krastus's zephyrs, and our magic sails we arrived there in two short days. It's really amazing the distance we've been able to cover.

We found the crew of the ship in a tavern and soon enough heard that the mage has been captured by the authorities. No one can say what for. A theory is that they might be selling him to the Inquisition. That's very bad for our quest as you can imagine. So there is nothing to it, jailbreak.

I had words to the crew as they basically were unwilling to help in any way. I called them cowards. It's what they are. I'd never leave a member of my crew behind. But before it turned into a massive bar brawl, which we really can't afford right now, I called out their biggest and fought him fist to fist. It was going back and forth for a while, and I got a pretty good punch in and took him down and out. We entertained the others enough that a bigger fight didn't break out and we were left alone to plan.

The plan is simple. Scale the cliffs to the prison. Scale the walls of the prison. Subdue the guards and enter the prison itself. Find the mage. Get out. I really do want the mage alive. But we'll have to see what state he is in. And we have to act quickly, as I have a feeling the Inquisition is arriving soon. Maybe by the dawn. Hopefully not, however.

Time to go.