Any Port in a Storm Drain. (24/02/2018)

As I looked down at the well dressed but unconscious elven lady bleeding out on the ground in front of me, I did have to question if I was really going in the right direction with my life?
 
The dilapidated storm sewer we were all currently stuck in was looking like an even worse choice for a place to be, than it had even been just half an hour ago.
 
Why was I doing this, instead of simple and sensible things that would allow me to quietly grow old, fat and happy...
 
-time freeze-
 
*Quill scratch*
 
Okay, okay.
 
Maybe I should start right at the beginning of this mess.
 
...As apposed to the nightmare that happened on the low sea last year, the year 3000 was supposed to be a symbolic fresh start. A year of nice, quiet and steady progress and maybe finally taking over the prime barge business that my family had run. But that all came to a sinking halt as you shall soon see.
 
By that I mean that it actually sank, not as metaphor for a poorly performing business. Every damn one of those tubs is now on the bottom of Lake Zoepiyi and it looks like the Diriall family that are probably behind it will be getting away with it.
 
Anyway, now we come to the part of the story where I manage to make things even worse.
 
I decided I could fix things, I knew best.
 
I tried my hand at cards as I had always thought myself a bit of a sharp.
 
It turns out, not sharp enough.
 
So now I'm destitute and stuck in a small village right in the South East of Lyra, on the furthest tributary of Lake Zoepiyi.
 
 
-Pages torn out-
 
 
and then we end up at the foot of the steps to the royal palace in the heart of the northern city of Gnosis.
 
The Sea Walker and I are mistaken as a pair and the guards usher us both inside the palace after seeing Muhnus's letter of introduction. We are given rooms for the night to clean up in and I have never been somewhere so glorious in my entire life. It might be and odd little room at the top of a tower that looks like it hasn't been used in a few years but still.
 
We are then brought for an audience before the ruler of this city.
 
Archmage Duchess Myra Aurelia Greenvale (a.k.a. Spark)
 
In a throne room and set of offices we meet the half elven mage with the power to bring together and keep a kingdom. Exotic food is stacked to the rafters including fruit, tarts and strawberries with buckets of cream.
 
4 other people are brought to the audience and 3 of them are new faces.
 
Arayne the mystical druid that was raised by the fey.
Tarman Blackwood the noble fighter dressed in fine steel with friends in high places.
Muhnus Unmath the Trition magic user and envoy of the sea court.
Agnes the mysterious and alien Elven Bard.
And finally myself the wandering deckhand, sometimes ships doctor and broke gambler. One of these things is not like the other.
 
 
For no real reason we are told we have been selected and are needed for an important for a mission.
 
We are told a black book with the most important military secret in the empire has been stolen!!!
 
The flying crystals which mimic the magic which keeps the islands floating.
 
The design secrets are in this book.
 
A thief has stolen it from this very room two weeks ago.
 
The only clue is a single footprint.
 
It has moss/algae that is only found in the southernmost canal leading to the old sewer system from the before times (???)
 
We are throw a sack of items and Kyan gets a pouch of Silver/Gold.
In the sack/bag is 21 days rations, a scroll written in angelic script and 6 potions.
 
Four potions of Healing (Red) = 2d4+2
One potion of Tigers Grace (Dexterity) (Green)
One potion of Bullrush (Strength) (Yellow)
One Scroll of Banishment.
 
We leave and go to the University of magic to visit the library, hopefully they will have maps or plans of the area we want to investigate.
 
We first stop at the inn that the druid and the noble are staying at to get some stuff. Lucky that I only left my sea chest at the palace so I have most of my stuff with me.
 
The elf is talking to inanimate objects and plants along the way?
 
The great college lays before us and we walk into a sea of students moving in response to some kind of bell.
 
We go to what seems like the biggest of the structures that seems to house the Archive we need.
 
We are greeted by 3 dwarfs, who could be brothers.
 
It seems knowledge has a cost in cold hard cash. The guys who went to the inn might have had a few drinks while they were there as they look about to start a fight over the payment issue.
 
The Dwarf becomes a giant fire breathing bear and I jump behind a book shelf.
 
The Elf looks inpatient and throws some elven silver metal squares on the table which the dwarf is quick to except.
 
We get our maps, a slight issue is that they are a tad out of date. The date in the book is 2760. So these things are about 240 years out of date.
 
The druid decides he remembers when all this was trees and says that it will be again if he has any say in it. He goes to talk to the parrots and then smiles. That doesn't sound like anything bad will happen because of that, no sir!
 
We make our way to the sewer entrance that appears on the map and I start to put on my armour and light a torch.
 
No idea if a 2 week lead is going to make this a dead end but for now we are being paid well and having the ruler of the city as a patron is not a half bad deal.
 
We go down some tunnels, unsure but I guess people will be pretty easy to find on account of how they don't look like rats and all.
 
Munhus says that something is following us and he wants to talk to them.
 
The things following us try to eat us.
 
Somehow in all this I end up standing over that elf I mentioned, watching her blood pool on the ground.
 
I feel the influence of the voices at the back of my head. They tell me how I can fix this, fix her... FIX THE WHOLE GOD DAMNED WORLD.
 
They grow quiet but still there.
 
I whisper out into the darkness "If what you said out in the ocean is true, then heal this elf".
 
Warmth flows out of me and the blood on the floor stirs a little. The cut on Agnes's head begins to close shut and her eyes flutter open again.
 
-Time Freeze-