Mercenary Phoenix

[The Dungeon Master]

Mercenary Phoenix Campaign

[ghost]

Mercenary Phoenix
Pryde’s Journal

Its been a while since we’ve had any fun. I couldn’t wait to get to this festival. Apparently it happens the same time every year. I wonder, if its so popular why have we not heard anything of it till now? We finally got there after hours of walking. I hate the road. The only thing I hate more than the road is traveling with the rouge.
He’s always so whiny, and just a plain jack ass. He thinks he’s slick. Always pulling annoying pranks. I wish I could just melt his face sometimes. Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll give me a reason to. unfortunately he’s still useful… He stands about 2’ tall and every time I look at this ugly little garden gnome I just get the urge to kick him as hard as I can just to see how far he can fly. i hate Halflings… the only thing theyre good for is cooking and cleaning. And this one isn’t even good at that. Hes saposed to be this hot shot “obtainer of the unobtainable” but looking at him now im curios as to how hes survived this long. He gets caught in mor traps and has been blown up more than I did when I first learned how to harness my power. But then that’s why he goes first. So I don’t have too.. hehehe…
The other member of our marry little band is one of two female surface elves in the group. She comes in handy when the odds seem grim. Most females on the surface tend to stick with ranged weapons. She apparently doesn’t agree with the rest of her kin. Always hauling around that massive sword. Its almost as long as I am tall. And I don’t have a clue as to how she can move around in that encombersome armor. Oddly enough she doesn’t use it all that much. She prefers this tiny little pig sticker that saposed to be a dagger. I don’t understand why they would rather hack something up than simply melt it from afar. Oh well… to each his own. At least shes not bad to look at. Unlike the other one that thinks she’s cute…
The ranger is, as far as stereo types go, your classic elven warrior. Prefers to use bows at a distance and only pulls her sword as needed. But the stereotypes end there. Not much to look at. She would have made it much farther at this point in her life had she been born drow. On second though, I wouldn’t give her that honor. Id rather banish myself to the abyss than think of that catastrophe.
Enough with the introductions. After nearly a fortnight on the road we made it to a quaint tavern. and at the beginning of the festival no less. I thought our luck had finally turned until the rouge just had to go poking his nose around.
We learned that the festivities that were held annualy once a year were to celebrate the citys rise from tyranny. Something about one of the founders obliterated all the other ruling warlords and made the world a better place… blah blah blah. Im sure you can guess the rest. Point is after we found this out we got offered a job to guard his tomb. This guy has an entire order of paladins devoted to him. Even so I best be on my guard. From the looks of things they run this town. I better go along with him just to make sure he doesn’t screw anything up. After all how hard can it be to keep a few tomb raiders away for a week? Famous last words…

[ghost]

Pryde: Entry 2
Well that mission didn’t go as planned. First it took us two days of traveling to a mountain. Once we got to said mountain we find out that we may or may not have help coming. And that the mountain that we had been climbing is in fact a volcano with the tomb floating above the ACTIVE volcanic crater. Nothing holding it there but four chains. One for each corner. Granted they were some pretty thick chains but that did little to comfort me when the only way to cross was to walk down one of them.
So we get down these chains to the door of the tomb. And no one is supposed to have been in for years. So why was the door left open? Again, our job was to keep people out why is it every time were told not to do something the rouge takes it as an invitation? I should have burned off his hands. Of course I’m not going to let him do exactly what we were told not to do so naturally I followed them inside.
We didn’t find anyone except some ghost that had been trapped there for nearly a millennium. Said he was the master architect for the tomb. Of course I congratulated him on the brilliance of building something over an active volcano… I might just build my fortress inside one.. Anyway, he explained to us that the reason for his brilliant design was that the tomb we were in was in fact a prison. “A prison for what” I asked him. “The Nessent” he said.
Apparently the Nessent is a being from one of the nine hells that said founder had bargained with in order to destroy his rivals, or the other warlords. As the story goes he became to powerful and a group of wizards trapped him in the tomb where he could do no more harm to the people of this town. Go figure.
He first took us to a room where we could find the one weapon in the world that could “destroy” this creature. A dagger that changes whatever it hits to stone. Personally I would have preferred something a little more cliché like a “holy sword of truth” or a “hammer of lightning”. It would have been much more interesting to see this thing go up in a pillar of flames rather than just being turned into a statue.
I am glad that we found the architect it seemed like we had to stop at every door to disarm some kind of trap. The rouge isn’t much good in that department. He would rather set it off just to see what happens… I hate Halflings… so we get this dagger and stroll back down the hallway to go kill the demon and we find a treasure room with wonderful trinkets. Of course it’s trapped and in order to disarm this one we have to dig thru a wall. Well the others of course just can’t help themselves and who do they turn to but yours truly.
So I had to once again demonstrate my brilliance and melt the wall. At least I got to melt something. And of course it being me I erode away just enough. The perfect size hole so the rouge can do his thing… and what does he do? He sets it off. Never send a rouge to do a sorcerers job… Stupid garden gnome…
We didn’t really get anything out of the treasure room on account of the idiot letting the walls slam closed. oh well. Off we went to destroy the Nesscent . We came to the door that housed the actual sarcophagus to said demon. The ghost mentioned that as soon as we opened the door wed have two minutes to get out before the floor fell out from under us. I didn’t really want to be burned alive in a fiery death caused by a free fall into a lake of molten earth… fortunately for us the rouge did something good for once and disarmed the trap.
Before we walked into the room I memorized the sealing ward on the door so I could maybe find a use for this magic at a later time. Should I make it out of this place alive, It’s a good thing I’m versed in dealing with magic and other planer beings otherwise what happened next might have been very difficult.
So we enter this room and the only thing inside is a coffin. It was nothing too special. Naturally I gave the dagger to the rouge. Looking back I should have kept it. It would have made things much easier on us. So we go into this crypt expecting to be immediately overcome by the forces of hell. Luckily this was not the case. The rouge being the best with daggers decided he was going to disappear in case the creature decided to show himself. And what does sword elf do? She drops her sword at the door then walks in and proceeds to open the sarcophagus with no thought to any of us. What’s she going to do without her sword? She must have figured that out because shortly after she ran past all of us and grabbed it. Then she started attacking us. More specifically me!
The stupid blood thirsty wench tried to chop off my head. It’s a good thing for me I had already activated my mage armor. It was the only thing that saved me… bow elf had nothing to do with it even though after she put an arrow into her comrades’ heart from underneath her arm. Ok fine it was a nice shot. But she DID NOT save me!
It turns out that this thing had a corporeal form and an incorporeal form. But the way it becomes corporeal is by possessing a host. I guess you can think of who the first possession victim was. working with non mages really is a bother sometimes. They never listen…
After she got shot it was the rouges turn. He comes out of nowhere trying to stab me! Not that I was surprised. Greedy people often have no real will power. I was trying not to hurt him too. Just because it wasn’t as much fun because I know it wasn’t really him… oh well so hes fighting me and the next thing I know the two elves are gon and im standing alone in the room starring down the hallway I just came from. Blast of force just let loose…

[ghost]

Pryde: Entry 3
I eventually caught up with them 2 days later back at “The Well”. The rouge told me that I had been possessed and nearly melted his head…. He had managed to doge it just in time for me to hit his leg instead… darn… we had only been gone a total of 5 days or so. The parties were still going on then we started to hear whispers of fights breaking out people randomly getting into deadly brawls over nothing at all. So naturally I went to do some research. I was at the library all day long. Found out many interesting things however nothing that would help me at all with my current predicament. Eventually we all caught up with each other. They were heading to the church to get the elf girl patched up. That’s when we heard it.
The Nescent had found itself a suitable host. It came flying at us with its tinny little claws and nasty fangs. Poison dripping from its tail. Of course I immediately let the one with the most armor in front. She also had the dagger with which to destroy the thing. We didn’t trust the Rouge to keep it. He got royally messed up by the possessed imp. After the elf girl finally stuck the thing, turning him into a very nice paper weight, everyone one had to go get a little patchwork done… except for me of course. I’m just that good. Little bugger couldn’t touch me.
We all go back to “the well” for a celebratory drink when in they come. Shackles and all. The order of paladins that had hired us to protect the tomb had now come to arrest us. Something about robbing it. Which is a load of bull because I didn’t come out of there with anything but somehow rouge managed to get me involved with his little schemes… again. And the only one with me was the giant sword, doesn’t know the meaning of stealth elf… not a good day. So we took out as many as we could and they shackled us anyway.
Damn corrupt guards. You make one comment and they knock you in the head. He’s lucky I couldn’t move my hands. I woke up in a cell with some crazy cell mate. It was just some old guy that knew the way out. He did ask if I knew how to get the lock open. Hehehe. it’s going to take them a long while to repair that cell…
After I melted the lock to the cell, we were trying to sneak down the hall past the sleeping guard but thanks to the crazy old man trying to pick his pocket, he woke up. Needless to say old man got himself killed with that one. It was almost our turn to meet the boat man when the most wonderful thing happened. Someone stabbed the guard about 8 times in the back. At first I thought it was the rouge. I thought “by the gods, he did something right for a change. Imagine my surprise when the guard dropped and I was standing face to face with another dark elf.
At first I thought it was him. The reason I came to the surface in the first place. But a second glace and a moment later made me realize it wasn’t so. He had a dark cloak on and was really good with locks. Pyriel was always good with locks. And there was something familiar about how this dark elf popped open the locks to the doors and the chest with our gear in it. Makes me wonder…
After he broke us out he lead us to a hide out. A den of thieves if you will. Except the thieves were pirates. And the pirates were the same ones that helped us out back at the tavern right before we were arrested.
The leaders name was Captain “Iron” Jack Flint. Gave the sword elf and I a choice, Either we get all of our cash that the corrupt Paladin order guards jacked from us and we could pay him back 6000 gold each. Or we could join his crew and once we earned 1000gp each we would be free to go. He wanted 6000 because he thought that we owed him 1000gp for each of the men he lost when the guards came into the tavern to arrest us. I considered a thousand a per minion a little steep so I instead took the latter of the two.
Our first assignment was to row out to a tiny little island of the coast. I hadn’t even noticed that it was there. I can only assume its where they burry their treasure. So we rowed and rowed and rowed some more. We get to the island to find the front door locked and a dead body with a dagger through its chest sitting on a crate. A little unusual if you ask me. Not unusual for pirates. But a fresh body no more than a few hours dead? That’s not our only problem, this island was supposed to be a safe. But there’s a second boat rolling in and a team of goblinoids are loading a ballista. This is going to be such a good day…

[The Dungeon Master]

...And so it went, The pair was joined by a remarkable fellow by the name of Kanal. Together they ventured through the halls of the Pirate caverns, battling the intruding forces of goblinoids and reclaiming the structure in the name of Iron Jack Flynt.

Once regrouped, The band of Privateers set sail for the shores of Dog Haven, a fabled town of scoundrels and sell-swords. Captain Flynt seems to have something in mind for The Gypsy Rose and as he and First Mate Pseudio Nukes procure arrangements, the crew sets ashore to indulge in a little mischief.....

[rhyn]

Tavern Rhyn's Journal

The captain must be angry with me, we pulled into port and I am given the duty of playing brother's keeper for those two new boots he was oh so generous as to pick up. At the cost of a few good men's lives I might add, no wonder the boswain is deep in her mug. Either way, back to the boots, I swear next time they start a fight I will leave them to it, not like I have seen my share of scars but this last time I swear I saw the gates to the underworld.

We were at the pit fights, I had kept my distance when the ranger confronted a goblin that had been there. The goblin gave some sort of signal to someone, I didn't see them till later, I couldn't just stand idly by. With the practice of moving about the ship, I leaped up on the railing surrounding the pit running across it calling one of those magical daggers to hand. As my boots hit the dirt on the other side of the pit I let the dagger fly nailing the goblin in the chest. All hell broke loose, I was nearly blindsided by a massive bugbear and his sword, gonna have a scar across my ribs from that one. The boots, held their own the ranger using both bow and sword and the mage his arcane arts, but the glory of the final strikes was mine to claim. A fatal plunge of blade into the goblin's back, a knife in the eye for the bugbear, and separated head from neck for the final goblin.

A step from death's door and we won, Nuke found us shortly after, and between the ale and a few potions I feel better, besides I have found that after all was told I came back to the ship a good deal more wealthy than before. Just need to get the coin changed into something easier to carry.

[Saydist]

Is it too much to ask to drown my sorrows in a cool lager, undisturbed? Evidently so.
So there I was, sitting in the less than glamorous bar, The Crawfish, in the shady town of Doghaven. Although I wanted to enjoy some solitude, I couldn't fault Darmour for needing some companionship. Thankfully after Darmour bought me a beer, the brute of a bartender let slip that there were some fights going on in the Pit, and my companion quickly made his way to the door. But as my luck would have it, just as soon as his seat was vacated I was joined by two more crewmates- Solan, an elven monk, and also one of our ship's gunners, and Marcus, a maenad psion, our acting ship mage for lack of better label.
Just before their arrival I had spotted a table in the back corner with two goblins, a bugbear, and a hobgoblin. Well, until the bugbear left shortly after Darmour did. And to my delight, dry sarcasm intentional, the table of delinquents noticed my presence as well. Oh if only I could understand their gibberish, because I was quite sure they were talking about me too. And that's not just me being paranoid and in the mood for a good fight.
Solan must have been feeling the electricity in the air as well, because he quickly suggested we move to the vacant table next to theirs.
I threw back the last of my lager and ordered another, and we strolled past the other patrons and made ourselves comfortable next to the troublesome trio. Soon after we settled in, the goblins were joined by two more goblins and an orc. Not only did the tension in the air increase, so did the putrid smell of body odor. I choked back my urge to vomit and raised my hand to my nose in disgust.

[Saydist]

My desire to breathe fresh air almost caused me to suggest finding a table farther away. Wait, what? And risk them thinking I was a coward? Maybe I could order a round of soap chips and have them sent over to the table. As I pondered ways to make the world a little less disgusting, fate stepped in in the form of the bartenders slave kobald, Piktik. I had been purposely trying to ignore the less than humane treatment he had been receiving from the bartender thus far. It was not my place... yet anyway. But when the table of unbathed miscreants beside us took it upon themselves to turn him into their ragdoll, our small group had had enough. A goblin had Piktik by the throat, making his life extremely uncomfortable. Marcus exerted his mind power by, I don't know, snapping his fingers or doing whatever the hell he does, I don't get it. Anyway, the goblin straight keels over and dies. Just like that.
My hands started twitching, begging to wield my weapon. I stood quickly and grabbed my bow, for no real reason other than I just wanted to. It felt right. In hindsight, I probably could have waited.
The bartender ran to Piktik and an argument ensued between him and the table of smelly brutes. They accused poor Piktik of killing the goblin with the clean dagger that had fallen from his sleeve, although there was no knife wound on the goblins body. Bunch of brains that group was.
Didn't matter to them, though. The bartender offered Piktik up to the group as payment for their loss. As soon as he was away from the table, the group began beating him again. Unable to withstand it any longer, I shot my bow at the hobgoblin. Unfortunately the arrow must have been a bit flat, because it bounced off of his armor and into the wall. He seemed a bit miffed at this action, for reasons I can't quite fathom. Dry sarcasm again, in case you didn't catch it. I'm good for that. It's what I do.

[Saydist]

So just like that a brawl broke out. It was glorious. I retired my useless bow and drew my beautiful, glorious masterwork greatsword. The hobgoblin got in a few good blows, but I had the upper hand. And not just because I'm taller. But because I'm better. I really am. And I bathe. And I like to think that the weeks and months of dirt that had accumulated on his body slowed his wretched little movements down, and that played a part in his pathetic death. That would teach those bastards to bathe more often.
Anyway, by the time I was done, so was the rest of the battle. I turned around in time to see a wall of flame, and Marcus trying to talk his way out of another fight with some innocent bystanders with singed armhairs. Instead he bought them some beers. Stupid drunks.
In the end we found Piktik licking his wounds and picking the pockets of the dead pile of filth. The greedy bartender tried saying Piktik belonged to him again, but when faced with the wrath of the three of us, after all that had just unfolded in front of him, he granted Piktik his freedom and scurried away to get us more beers. On Piktik.
All in all not a bad night. And now we have a new addition to our boats crew. I hope Capn Jack likes kobalds.

[hamburg]

So man, I chopped this guy's head off tonight. His name was like Orgrimmar or Orcimar, or Orgithar, one of those. And I met some dude who bought me some gnarley drink calls devil's piss or devil's blood--something like that. I agreed to be his bodyguard for 1 silver a day and A MUG OF ALE that he's going to personally give to me daily! What a fuckin deal! Also there's talk of some gimpy goblins coming over from afar and fucking up Doghaven. I kinda like the place though so I don't think I'm gonna let that shit happen. Also my new trusty accountant got into a brawl with some dude who he stabbed in the heart. He was Orgimmer's best man or something so no worries there, dude had it coming to him if you ask me. There was this devastatingly hot chick there who told him to finish that fuck off, it was great. He stabbed him in the heart like twenty times after he had already kicked his ass, it was quite Amurican! There was this other snotty little drunkard hanging out at the bar who threw an ashe tray at the bar tender which was pretty sweet. But he's little ass passed out amidst all the action so he wasn't of any real value.

[killy429]

From the journal of Kanal.

In the two weeks that Captain “Iron” Jack Flint and his crew liberated me from prison, to which I was sent for being an Aventi; things have been more interesting than I am use to. I traveled from my home of Ell Wynn Port to the town of Tirna’cil for their famed festival. I was unaware of their dislike for those who aren’t human. Once my swimming fins were known to be real and not just part of a costume they threw me in the dungeon faster than a jetting squid. I sat alone in my cell for three days, until I had the privilege to share it with two female Elves, a Dark Elf, and a most beguiling Halfling. They didn’t seem too interested that I was there and minded their own.
I learned that the four sharing my already crowded cell were incarcerated for robbing a tomb. That’s not a very honorable or pious thing to do. We Aventi are a proud race and live by twelve virtues: honor, loyalty, bravery, piety, civility, strength, perseverance, dedication, humility, obligation, respect, and peacefulness. Even though I did not approve of their actions I began to see that they weren’t all that bad, even the Drow. Then after about two days of having company something unexpected happened, we were broken out of our prison. Although, I don’t think our rescuers intended to brake me out, I was grateful.
Now that we were freed we had the opportunity to either pay for our rescue with coin or service. Since I had been lacking sufficient funds I had no choice but the latter. I signed the Articles of the Gypsy Rose, Captain Flint’s ship, and was bound to his service. Even though the life of a pirate isn’t the most lawful of occupations, I was now bound by honor and duty to serve my new Captain. He sent us off to their base of operations to wait for further instructions. Upon reaching the island they used as a stronghold, we discovered it was occupied by a band of Goblinoids and Orcs. My new companions and I dispatched the invaders. When the captain arrived we set sail for the town of Doghaven, a town lacking law and order and frequented by pirates and smugglers, to upgrade the Rose.
Our arrival at Doghaven was the beginning of something way bigger than anyone expected. We discovered that a group of Goblins and Orcs, the same from the island, want to take over Doghaven and claim it as their own. So began the task of recruiting able bodies to help and fend of the attack. The chief Boatswain and one of the Gunners were able to recruit the crew and ship of Orgithar the orc, with the help of a friendly Half-Orc, Carl Hamburg. I too wanted to prove myself as a worthy member of the crew so I set about trying to find some help. After asking around I directed to a man with a band of thirty capable men. His name was Rainer and I found him at a bar called The Razor’s Edge. I was able to get him to join the cause after talking to the captain about his payment for helping fight. He asked to be given passage to Kingsland Heights. Now that we have gathered a sizable force we are ready to attempt to defend the city. Now we just wait, wait for the invaders to arrive. I hate waiting.