Lowdown on Silver Lake

The search for Old Orad continues

General Summary

The Forbidden City of the Phoenix: Chapter VII

Report Date

February 11^th-12^th, 1000 PCE

Report Created

May 31^st, 2019

Locations

Ah-Mun Tradepost

Silver Lake

Lowdown

Previous Session

Through the Black Ring

Campaign Event Timeline

Forbidden Zone

Open full size

The land of fallen Precursor Empires and home of the the People of the Sun

Encounters

Chasing the White Wyrm

The Dead Dog Tavern and Inn

Jegu the Spirit Talker

Lowdown Market

Visions of the Beast

In the Court of the Elzar Margraves

Synopsis

The party set out across Silver Lake with Captain Balok of Ah-Mun Tradepost and witnessed the rise of the White Wyrm. After saving the merchant ship Calabash from a swarm of giant sterling serpents, they arrived in Lowdown Village and began investigating in search of clues leading to the Moon Vault. During their search they met a Noirlan ex-pat named Munro, encountered a hostile band of Vril traders, checked the local market, and learned of a beast preying upon the peasants of Lowdown Island. In order to get access to the back country of Lowdown Island and continue their search for the Moon Vault, the party gained an audience with Margrave Toktamish and pledged to hunt the beast for him.

Detailed Summary

"Is the snake still moving away?"

- Everest evaluates a developing situation

As dusk approached on Silver Lake, the party witnessed three single mast cogs moving in pursuit of a massive 25-foot long white serpent. It rose to the surface as its pursuers neared and sent bolts of electrical fire arcing at their vessels. Two ships caught fire and started drifting listlessly. Captain Balok fell in prayer haling the beast as one of the mythical White Wyrms of Silver Lake, a race of creatures long thought to be extinct. The party decided to intervene, not to aid in the hunt but rather to help save the sailors from destruction. Marsala disembarked to help the sailors on board a derelict ship while Balok moved to support the crew struggling on board the third ship in pursuit. The party fended off a swarm of attacking sterling serpents in order to save the Calabash and its last surviving crew member.

"Oh shut up...!"

- William Benjamin helps Zen deal with a heckler

Arriving in Lowdown, the party dealt with the local harbour master, Deak Nando, and learned of The Dead Dog, a local tavern and inn operated by an old-time silver prospector from Noirlan named Munro. At the tavern the party met Munro and a young Pachucese musical performer named Dimaxa. While Zen played songs and made conversation with her, Marsala introduced himself to Munro and chatted about life back home in the Crescent City. So far so good.

When Jayne, Edmund, and Rob got involved in a card game at the ziethas table, however, Jayne's winning ways ran afoul of a band of Vril traders. In response, the Vril leader, Umagro, started heckling Zen and Dimaxa, which prompted William to vent his frustration with the locals. A brief melee broke out.

One of the Vril companions, a pit fighter known as Durance, dealt a William a brutal liver shot that left him limping in agony, but William's unseen fire took the fighter by surprise and burned his hand. Jayne leaped over a table and smashed Durance in the jaw with a drinking mug prompting a pair of Vril thugs to grapple with him. Edmund convinced some local sailors to get in on the action and warded away a stray blow. Standing apart from the action, Rob conjured a black bolt of disruptive psychic energy and fired it at Durance, an act that prompted the Vril to howl and jeer in response to the firewalking spectacle.

The fighting came to a halt when Umagro, surprised by William and Rob's unexpected displays of supernatural firewalking and outnumbered by Edmund's new sailor friends, ordered his men to back down. The murderous look in Umagro's craven eyes gave notice the matter was not yet concluded.

"The place of which I speak is known as the Black Lodge. I intend to find it."

- Jegu shares his ambition with Marsala

Before the brawl broke out at the Dead Dog, Marsala met the local holy man, a "Spirit Talker" named Jegu, who bantered coyly before Marsala made mention of his encounter with "the Smile ." Realizing Marsala had a worthwhile tale to tell, Jegu agreed to meet the next morning at dawn. The shaman and the spiritualist spoke of spirit lodges, cults of worship, and the inhabiting spirits of Silver Lake. Ominously, Jegu warned Marsala of restless spirits slithering at Old Allodee in the Lowdown back country, where an ancient snake cult had risen in the final days of the Second Orad Kingdom.

Player Characters
Edmund Andrew
Everest Bell
Jayne
Marsala
Matthaeus "Math" Mannheim
Rob
William Benjamin
Zyatok "Zen" Hangi

Missions Completed

• Acquired 1 Discovery Point towards locating the Moon Vault (Edmund shared the party's current maps with local sailors and asked about the geography)
• Moon Vault Mission: 8/12 Discovery Points (accumulated total)

Notable Treasure

• 6 sterling serpent hides (Bognar offered 300 talons for each individually; actual value unknown)

Character Rewards

• 2265 experience points were awarded to most party members after the May 2019 session.
• Marsala earns 1065

Characters Interacted With
Adelle Mirodar
Akaloni (curio shop)
Aradus
Balok (merchant captain)
Bognar Tak (outfitter)
Deak Nando (harbour master)
Dimaxa
Durance (pit fighter)
Jegu the Spirit Talker
Lucho Xirau (survivor)
Margrave Toktamish
Munro (tavern host)

"Could you toss in the gunsmithing kit too?"

- Edmund haggles for a deal

Later that morning the party went to Lowdown Market to investigate rumours of the Moon Vault and inspect the local wares. Edmund met a local outfitter named Bognar Tak and traded most of the Chastain armoury in exchange for a longarm black powder musket, including shot, powder, and a gunsmithing kit. In spite of Bognar's interest, the party decided not to sell their serpent hides just yet.

Curiosity about local lore led the party to "The Unturned Stone," a curio shop run by a Pachucese relic hunter named Akaloni. After learning that the party had recovered the Radium River guidestone of Old Orad, she told them that the second guidestone,

which the Orad commanders had placed on the Silver River, had been recovered before the founding of the Second Orad Kingdom and was kept in a crypt at the Old Allodee Refuge. A Vril war party led by the chieftain Shamash had showed Akaloni a

rubbing impression of the second stone but a week before. They confirmed that the second stone was indeed located in the Great Necropolis of Allodee Refuge. According to Akaloni, the two guidestones would surely show the way to the Moon Vault.

Akaloni proceeded to demonstrate her collection of Precursor artifacts, including a broken radiation detector, an incomplete personal force field emitter, and cracked blue V-Mod lenses. Everest and Jayne powered up the party's V-Mod goggles and learned that when operational the blue lenses granted 360 degree vision. After this demonstration Akaloni sold the broken lenses at a favourable price and informed the party that their battery discs (orazen discs) traded for 15 talons apiece in the Zone.

"We can bring back his memories, right?"

- Math remembers the Burning Sands of Trinity

After exploring the market the party followed Dimaxa to a peasant farmstead on the outskirts of town where they met young Lucho Xirau, the only survivor of the recent beast attacks plaguing the townspeople. Lucho was in a state of delirious catatonia, suffering amnesia, and barely verbal. The party used the Memory Mirror to access Lucho's locked memories and saw images of thought eaters led by a larger frost-encrusted beast attacking a peasant farm. They also saw Lucho escaping from captivity and fleeing from a jungle ruin emblazoned with coiled snake motifs.

The Second Orad Kingdom

The Lowdown culture of Orad waxed and waned in two successive reigns, that of the old Empire and that of the restored Kingdom. This “Second Kingdom” was founded in 380 PCE when returning descendants of the original Empire recovered the northern guide stone of Silver River and reclaimed the ruins of Allodee Refuge .

"Which lie should we tell him?"

- Jayne preparing for negotiations with Margrave Toktamish

Speaking with Lucho's aunt and uncle, the party learned more about Toktamish, the ruling Margrave of Lowdown Island. They also heard stories of Toktamish's master of war, Aradus, whom they later approached back at the Dead Dog in order to request an audience with Margrave Toktamish. Loose talk of silver treasure piqued Aradus's interest and he promptly arranged a reception with his avaricious master.

Toktamish proved to be a craven sort of personality, a venal, vainglorious man. After a lengthy monologue extolling his own greatness, the Margrave listened to the party's proposal and agreed to it: the party would go to the Lowdown back country in search of the rampaging beast and in exchange for free access to the island all riches uncovered during the expedition would be forfeited to Toktamish. In order to ensure the party's compliance with his terms, Toktamish sent Aradus to accompany them on their journey.

Report Date

01 Jun 2019