New today: how will the party divvy up loot? Will they find a cheap ship to take them to the southern continent of dinosaur-riding-lizardfolk? Will the swashbuckler get jealous over the fact that the corpse-lover is so much more handsome and suave than he is?
Tune in… some time later I guess… for the thrilling beginning to the final pre main plot story ark. Dun dun dun!
Critical Message from Finn’s Magic Ring
That post was short and lame. Lamer than your face. Next time, how about some details Sherlock?
You do realize that I’m writing about something that hasn’t happened yet, right?
It is somewhat hard to give details about a gaming session that will take place in another few hours.
He’s a FUTURE PSYCHIC!
That went quicker than I thought. Dividing up loot took only about an hour and a half.
Hey! We ALSO got a name, and a logo.
“Hey, necromancer! NECRO-MANCER! Necro necro necro necro mancer! Hey you!”
For once, Jenks isn’t the one saying the stupid stuff. 
Following the successful completion of Operation: Save the Girl and the collection of the reward for said mission, the party turned to the very important task of splitting the loot. After much arguing, they settled on giving 35% cuts to Phaistos and Vrai, 20% to Khel, and 10% to Jenks. They then split up the magical items they found, the most noteworthy of which was a wand that cast random spells when activated. Calven the Swashbuckler took that one. The party then settled on a name (The Sunset Order) and created a charter, and then registered their company with the government of Schale. Registration provided a few perks, such as being allowed to carry weapons inside cities and being added to a pool of potential candidates for government operations; on the other hand, it meant that if any member was caught doing something illegal, the entire party could be jailed.
With the Sunset Order established, the party turned to their next adventure. Over the next few weeks, the party stayed in Karmage. Vrai decided to search for a means of attaining one of his long-term goals, and quickly. Jenks agreed to help him, and together they pored over countless tomes in the library. Together, they discovered three possible avenues to attain Vrai’s goal:
To the far, far West, beyond the edge of the known world, lies a mystical land filled with exotic wonders of all types. Few men have ever sailed off the edge of the world and returned, but those who did told tales of unlimited riches, strange beasts, and shamans who live forever.
Near the Central Continent lies a much smaller continent. This is the birthplace of humanity, and home to its first great empire, ruled over by a council of immortal mages. But though the councilors were immune to the ravage of time, they weren’t immune to each other; and through their own treachery, they eventually all died off, their empire collapsed, and the Western Continent became nothing more than a wasteland, filled with ravenous beasts. Legend says that deep within the ruins of the ancient Council Hall lies the secret to immortality.
Daerom, the Land of Reptiles, lies to the South. This land, ruled by lizardfolk, troglodytes, and yuan-ti, was once also the home of a powerful human Archmage named Oxyman. In his time, he managed to conquer a vast empire on the desert sands of Daerom. It is said that he achieved immortality through the use of powerful magic, which he used to summon Djinns from the Elemental Plane of Air and force them to grant him Wishes. While Oxyman is long gone and his empire crumbled, it is said that the secret to his art still lies within his ancient tower, somewhere in the sands of Daerom.
The party took a vote, and it was decided that the best course of action is to head South. The party found a captain to take them down and so they set off. On the way, they found out that the Southern Continent is ruled by a strict authoritarian theocracy (Think North Korea+Iran), and that Softskins (IE, Not Lizards) are considered the lowest of the low. Further, paperwork is key to survival, and even the smallest mistake can get you and your family thrown in the Arena, where you will fight to the death. With this encouraging news, the Order arrived in Daerom.
The party set off through the city, looking for an inn. Schelty was disguised as a Gnomish-made construct of some sort. On the way, they witnessed the various abuses that the lizardfolk population did to the Softskins. Finally, they reached a small inn. Calven and Phaistos waited inside while Khel took Jenks’ whip and disguised Jenks and Vrai as slaves. Together, they set off for the town library, where they found a book about ancient mages. Jenks discovered that the wizard’s tower is on the northern shore of Daerom, about halway between the port city and the edge of the continent. Further, they found out that Oxyman was a very powerful Archmage skilled in the use of Force Magic.
Meanwhile, Calven went into the bar at the inn he was staying at. It was a pretty grim establishment, with most of its customers being slaves. An attractive human female caught his eye, and he sat down to talk to her. He found out that she was a slave with sorcerous powers, which made her both valuable and dangerous. A local group of Yuan Ti cultists bought her.
While Calven contemplated ways to rescue the girl, the other party members returned. Calven asked them if the would help him rescue the girl, to which Vrai responded condescendingly; Calven angrily referred to him as a Necromancer. Unfortunately, a nearby patron heard them. He demanded to know if they knew the whereabouts of Robert the Black, a wanted necromancer with a bounty on his head. After checking the party’s papers, the man left, but Vrai was very mad at Calven, and refused to help him rescue the girl. In fact, he demanded that they leave town that instant and set off for their goal. An argument ensued, until Meeps volunteered to try and get the girl. Meeps went unnoticed by the border inspectors, and so was not registered as a member of the Sunset Order; therefore if he was caught, he would be the only one tossed in the Arena. The party hastily departed, buying pack animals and supplies for the journey ahead, while Meep went into the city alone.
The last 45 minutes of the session involved the party arguing over whether they should buy a Trihorn (Triceratops) or a Hunchbacked Walker (Iguanodon) for transportation, with Jenks insisting that he needed a raptor. As Phaistos’ player said, “I don’t remember them spending this much time talking about horses in Lord of the Rings”, and I’d like to apologize to the players. From now on, the price of mounts will include a month’s supply of food.
But alas my idea was quickly shot down. No creating an army of Were-Rat-tors for my own use. Damn.
The party really, really needs to get away from all that “Wah, wah, I have a mount that requires food and water and can get tired and slow down. Boo hoo!” stuff. Undead mounts for everybody!
I rather enjoyed playing the cruel overseer. Perhaps a bit too much…
Welcome to the dark side.
We have minions.
Sigh. Inside every good guy is a bad guy trying to get out. 
It’s a skeleton.
Vrai can help.
There’s a spell that animates a skeleton while its still inside. It then claws its way our and proceeds to murder.
Cool.
I hereby petition to have the spell named Dance in Your Bones.
The party finally set out, if not at a run then at least at a quick jog, as they left the city. The party left in such a hurry that they actually forgot to pick up a map and/or a compass. That necessitated a brief stop while Jenks and Khel went back to get a map and Meep entered camp with the runaway slavegirl.
The Dremo began telling her about how eeeevil and unlovable many of the party members were, while the slavegirl (Klara) nodded along. She finally began to get the idea when she blasted a bird out of the sky with Magic Missile and Vrai happily Animated the bird, as he needed a new animal familiar.
Eventually, the party ran into a [del]random encounter[/del] pack of angry nasty lizards. A taste of temporary lunacy may have been responsible for Vrai charging the leading lizard, thereby letting it jump-thwamp onto Schelty and break her a bit. The party emerged mostly unscathed however, except the slavegirl who was nearly killed (not that Vrai noticed).
Hopefully next adventure will see something happening other than bickering and traveling… although we’re most likely going to be getting into dark territory as a Jenis is now interested in Vrai’s special services. And Vrai has been pondering what he could do with the revolution that the rest of the Order seems so keen to instigate…
The reason Finn doesn’t like the bickering is that Vrai is the only one NOT trying to get in Klara’s pants.
