Episode 51: The Siege of Prin

General Summary

As Gideon, Reylan, and Tetran (in disguise as "Mary") stayed behind to debrief Marcus and his men as to the occurrences of the evening, the remainder of the group made their way stealthily to the docks with their captive, hoping to gain more information on the attack. As each group made their way back to the Falcon, warhorns sounded throughout the harbor and everyone watched as suhuagin emerged from the surf.
The stealthy team were the first to reach the dock of the Falcon only to find themselves suddenly surrounded and the ship itself being boarded from each side. While the crew stood their ground, the rangers and sniper scrambled to take optimal positions while at the same time trying to secure their captive.
Further east, Gideon, Reylan, and Tetran were trying their best to rush through the streets, cutting through the suhuagin on their way. As Reylan took flight with Nyx, the two were witness to a wyvern falling from the sky and a warship of Prin knights and soldiers getting overrun by the invaders of the deep. From their vantage, they also saw that the suhuagin had control of a ballista and were aiming straight for them.
Meanwhile, on the ground and left to run by foot, Tetran and Gideon came across a group of suhuagin putting together another ballista for an attack. While Gideon was able to use his shield to expertly deflect it away from both Tetran and himself, he was unable to reach them before they launched a second that was able to graze the warlock that was running past.
Back on the western side of the harbor, as waves upon waves of suhuagin started to climb aboard the Falcon, some instead turned their attention to the group on the dock. Vasya found herself flanked by two warriors and while she was able to cut into them quite deep they still advanced with Solanos and Daro came to her aid and Sarku's Merkava lending a flamethrower blast on those approaching.
Free to move about and believing the other group to be en route, Vasya rushed to the nearby stables sending Terra aboard the ship to assist the crew and leaving the captive with Solanos. She was able to reach Lightning and communicate to him that they needed to save Tetran and the others before taking the reins and charging out with him. Nearby, Gideon's mount Luciernaga had heard this and broke free of the stable rushing out and following the two. Not long after she rode out, the ranger and horses were joined by Sarku who had slid down from his vantage spot on the roof and landed on the rear of the warhorse lending an artillerist's hand.
Nearby, up on a rooftop, Valentine was trying to snipe off boarding suhuagin while running from one that had managed to turn invisible. However, as he wasn't able to see his opponent, the warrior had snuck up on him managing to pierce him with its weapon- which had a nasty magical effect that stunned Valentine and started to flood his lungs with water-- before throwing him off his perch.
Incapacitated and far from sight of the others, Valentine began to drown, watching the creature ready itself to spear him from high above. Yet, not a moment later, the ranger watched as a rope arrow speared the now visible suhuagin through the shoulder. From a block away, Vasya had caught sight of the incident and aimed true to shoot the creature, anchoring the rope to the saddlehorn and feeling it pull taught as it pulled its target down onto the pavement dragging it behind them.
Back east, Reylan and Nyx shot toward the ballista aimed at them spotting a nearby wyvern knight on the same dock whose mount was felled in the waters besides him. As both dragon and rider engaged with the trio of suhuagin to assist the knight, the warship closeby crashed into their dock nearly knocking them over and seemingly attracting nearby sharks though Reylan could only assume they had also been summoned to attack them. Her guess was only proven right when one of the sharks breached the water to attack the wyvern knight, taking some of his arm and grievously wounding him. Using whatever healing she had, she poured it into his wound before leaving him a healing potion and flying off in an attempt to assist the warship.
Running west and hoping to meet the others instead of trouble, Tetran rushed past seeing the chaos of the crashing ship, hoping that he and Gideon could reach their dock to leave. However, right before turning a corner, he pulled back trying to hide from a nearby suhuagin only to have his location be given away by stray cat that had stumbled upon him from up above. The watery warrior would have killed him having sunk its claws in too deep were it not for both Gideon and Vasya showing up almost immediately, killing the creature upon arrival. Reunited and then mounted on their horses, the rest raced back to their dock hoping that the crew of the Falcon was holding up.
Back at the ship, with Jolly having noticed Valentine off in the distance and running to help, those two were able to retrieve the last horse and return at the same time as the riders with Reylan and Nyx circling the skies above them searching for any threat. As everyone helped with getting the ship set off, everyone on deck was witness to the sudden appearance of a gargantuan red shark attacking the defensive arcane towers on the Isles that were firing upon invaders.
Not long after setting sail and gaining some distance away from the city heading out with other evacuating ships, an eerie green light filled the sky. Dread struck through those who knew what it meant and as everyone stood on the bow of the ship, they witnessed portals opening just beyond the gates of the city... the Rasa rift raid had begun- and were instantly met with clashing steel as Prin soldiers rushed to the defenses.
Assuming they were in safe waters after sailing a couple of hours away from the city, the party settled below deck to recover and talk to one other. Tetran opined that they had wasted time and it had cost the life of one of their own in the process, not only that- the city was set to fall as not only was it to be sunk but it was to be invaded on two fronts and would probably not be standing if they ever returned. While his opinion clashed with the belief of Gideon, Reylan, and Vasya, the trio stated that no matter what they were determined to help whatever the case may be, now and moving forward. The somber mood left everyone exhausted yet restless, but eventually, most found some rest.
The following morning, all of the party (save for Gideon) recalled that a captive was brought down to the lower decks and rushed down only to be witness to a drying out suhuagin-- who Valentine was able to determine is a suhuagin hybrid. While Valentine moved ahead with interrogation via poison, unnerving both Reylan and Vasya, the hybrid eventually did answer all questions asked of it (see sidebar: Notes) once Reylan restored it somewhat. It revealed that it was following the will of the Shark Queen who Tetran was able to recall from stories. When the creature was knocked unconscious due to the side effects of the poison, a mercy killing was carried out with Reylan summoning the Arclight through the creature's heart and Valentine following up. Not one to let anything go to waste before burial rites, Sarku was able to harvest some arcanic use from the corpse.
On the deck, while Solanos asked for a heading, Reylan messaged Marcus to give a brief report on last night as well as inquire about the city. Though she had heard from a mysterious message that it was safe, she was reassured with Marcus's reply and gratitude that there was indeed a city of Prin to return to.

Report Date

12 Dec 2020

Feats & Features

Valentine	Slayer's Prey (1)
Reylan	CD: Guided Strike

Signature Spells

Reylan	Enhance Familiar
Vasya	Hunter's Mark (1)

Notes

⦿ Technically, the eastern party split into two duos with Reylan and Nyx assisting with the battle in the harbor and Tetran and Gideon fighting their way through the dockside.

⦿ While funeral rites were given to Ecks before her burial at sea, Tetran had a few words for her as well as Jolly a song for her.

⦿ All the rooms of the Falcon are once more filled with Sarku's arrival as he takes one of the empty rooms closeby to the others with Tetran being the only one of the party on the lower deck and Reylan having seemingly taken up residence within the captain's quarters.

⦿ Tetran was able to recall information about the Shark Queen from a text he read and revealed what he knew to the others that the Shark Queen resided in the depths of the Queens' Sea and that the throne of the deep allowed whoever sat upon it to be ruler of the seas able to control the will of sharks in the kingdom.

⦿ While Reylan did use Lesser Restoration on the captive creature, she did it more to alleviate the side effect of the agony poison unknowing of the side effect where the creature was rendered unconscious.

⦿ Though initially reluctant to kill the suhuagin hybrid prisoner, Reylan relented to Tetran's counterpoint as well as the knowledge that a reversal was not in their realm of knowledge and that it was most likely impossible leading her to summon the Arclight through the heart of the creature before Valentine's held strike followed through.

Questions to the Prisoner _{To be Transcribed}

Valentine: Why were you attacking the city?
Suhuagin Hybrid: We follow what we are told.
V: And what were you told?
SH: To take those that were alone. To bring them to the Shark Queen.
V: Why?
SH: I do not know.
[Vasya whispers a suggestion]
V: What is your earliest memory.
SH: (hesitates) Baking. (pauses) Then, cold. (breathes heavy) Then, water.

Trivia

⦿ Prior to the appearance of the Rasa on the gates of Prin, the only ones on the Falcon who weren't witness to the telltale sign of a Rasa raid were Chase, Devona, Sarku, and Tetran.

⦿ It has been 0 days since an allied NPC death, the last being Tavard, Cydir, and Crendor during the skirmish with the reavers ( Episode 18)-- also in Barisea.

⦿ The Merkava, Sarku's artificer protector, is named after the Merkava tank a main battle tank used by the Israel Defense Forces.

Music

Session 51 Stats and Sidenotes

⦿ In defending Sarku and assisting Vasya, the Merkava (mechanical protector) burnt and felled Daro (Solanos's blue falcon) who had dove in to help a flanked Vasya. Luckily, Solanos was able to reach his companion and feed it a potion.
⦿ Ecks was killed during a wave of suhuagin attacks.
⦿ The crew was able to defend themselves quite well with the counts as follows only confirmed during the session: Solanos (4), Jolly (2), Chase (1). The rest were confirmed as struck down by the crew but were GM rolled and not revealed.