Escape from Okeno
After being captured by slavers when the ship he was taking to Jalmeray was raided, the ex-accountant Unek Chuyar had no choice but to fight for his freedom.
Session 1
In Pharast 4722AR, Unek Chuyar wakes in a cellblock intended for captured creatures to be sold into slavery. It is here he meets a doctor and a large changeling woman, Ingri. After some attempt to talk to Ingri, Unek settles into nervous conversation with the doctor, asking in a panic whether he had seen a catfolk anywhere in the cellblock; he had not. A ruckus interrupts their talking as Ingri jumps to her feet to peer out of the locked door. They ask what she sees, but she doesn't know what is happening. Suddenly, the door is sprung open by The Blue Flash, a swashbuckling mousefolk with an affinity for the dramatic. In his theatrics, he announces that they are free! He has orchestrated a mass prisonbreak of one of the biggest slavers cellblock on Okeno.
The trio waste no time after the Blue Flash dashes away and head to find their weapons and armour. As luck would have it, Unek finds his wakizashi named Eurus, Ingri finds her great axe, throwing knife and armour, and the doctor finds his healers tools. As the doctor keeps watch in the hall, the two unlikely acquaintances find themselves facing a homunculus. Having never seen anything like it, the swiftly dispatch it, Unek taking a nasty bite whilst Ingri manages to avoid such a fate. They continue on to find escape after this, only to run headfirst into the Blue Flash looking somewhat worse for wear against the orcish captain of the ship. Unek and Ingri waste no time in assisting their liberator. Unek attempts to peck the orc, though to little success. Ingri then sweeps in with her greataxe, nearly downing it in only two strikes. It does not, however, stop the orc from nearly doing the same to Unek. She offers the final blow to the mouse, who gladly jabs his rapier into the bleeding gash across the orc's chest. Once it is dead, the doctor appears from hiding and takes a moment to heal Unek, though he had never worked on a tengu before.
Once off the ship and with little else to do, Unek and Ingri part ways with the doctor and follow the Blue Flash. As they travel, he tells them about another important job he would be doing later that night, and invites them to join him. A warehouse is holding even more slaves than the ship they were rescued from. There is no hesitation in their joining the mouse. He then takes them home to his massive family where they share soup with the mousefolk. It is here that the Blue Flash is called by his name and there are mentions of a missing uncle. Keeping up his bravado, he brushes off the mundane comments of his family and rushes Unek and Ingri out as soon as possible. With gratitude, they leave, happy to have full stomachs and the chance to earn more coin.
The Blue Flash leads them to a warehouse with a goblin guarding the door. Ingri suggests a more direct method of coercion or a swift ending for the goblin whereas Unek argues for a more systematic approach, looking for somewhere to sneak in. Trusting in the tengu's intellect, they walk the perimeter, sussing out another guarded door and three other goblins. Sneaking in is not likely. Going with Ingri's method, the Blue Flash decides to approach the goblin on guard whilst Unek and Ingri discuss which of them would do so. The goblin is immediately suspicious and is on guard, telling the mousefolk to move on. Not happy with this outcome, Ingri steps forward, deciding that someone closer to six-feet tall may be more useful. With intimidating prowess, she convinces the goblin to let them in under the guise of wanting to improve workers rights for guards on Okeno. It is here he reveals his name as Grik, and tells Ingri and co that the lock on the door behind him was actually poisoned. As he attempts and fails to unlock the door, another goblin comes over. Grik attempts to explain himself whilst Ingri moves her intimidating glance to the second goblin, Grok. The two decide to let the party in through the side door, past the two other gobling guards, who decide they are not paid enough to argue this decision.
Once inside, they see no slaves, but piles of boxes with a web of ropes hanging across the ceiling. In this web is an acrobatic woman with a dangerous array of knives in her holster. She declares the goblins fools and readies up for an attack. Before she can launch her barrage of attacks and order her goblin workers, Ingri offers each of them a gold piece each if they would enlist their services to her. With their finicky morals, they accepted very quickly. The fight ensues: Ingri rushes towards the woman, soon realising she cannot reach the villain with her axe if she did not clamber up the boxes. Throwing her knife for a swift and deadly strike, she angers the acrobat. The fight continues further, each member of this unlikely party attempting to hit the slippery villain. The final hit was made by Ingri, who, after being slashed near fatally, catches the acrobat on her swing down from the ceiling, bringing her axe clean through the abdomen of the woman, leaving her in two clean and brutal pieces. This place was not a slavers hold, but that of a loan shark. In the far side of the warehouse, the Blue Flash dashes to the side of another mousefolk: his brother. The uncle of the mousefolk family was no longer missing. They take the contents of the warehouse for themselves, Ingri deciding to follow Unek wherever he decides to go, the goblins following their new changeling boss.
Session 2 - 29/06/2022
After almost two months, Unek and Ingri managed to secure transport off the island through Niharo, one of the Blue Flash's contacts. Whilst waiting for instructions from the priestess of Gozreh, Unek, to his surprise, was contacted out of the blue by Quakes in Shadows, who was presumed dead or sold. That same day, he reuinted with Quakes at the docks which Ingri had been working at in the prior two months. The next night, the group followed the Blue Flash directions to the meeting point he had arranged with his contact who had promised to get them off the island to Katapesh. Unfortunately, on the way, Unek's curiosity lured the group into a side alley, where they were ambushed by a pair of gnoll slavers who have been sent to hunt down Quakes. The gnolls were ruthlessly dispatched, and the fugitives managed to get away with few wounds.
Session 3 - 23/08/2022
After defeating the gnoll pirates, Ingri and Unek looted the corpses for some healing potions and coin, but Quakes announced they had to leave to check on a friend who may be in danger. Moments later, they heard a loud crash from a nearby alleyway. Upon investigation, the crash was revealed to be a catfolk and some sort of mechanised construct fighting a giant centipede whilst a ratfolk looked on. The horde of centipedes that emerged from the crates and barrels in the alleyway was defeated by Ingri, Unek, The Blue Flash, and the two newcomers - Chass and Rano.
Unek took some time to heal after the fight, as he had to recover from the giant centipede poison. The group made proper introductions to each other, where it was revelealed that Chass was an ex-navy conscript, and Rano was an optimistic inventor who hoped to change the world with his automaton invention Plexi. As Unek finished necking a trio of life elixirs, a huge gang of gnolls turned the corner, forcing the group to flee. They made their way out of the junk-filled alleyway, and spilled into a crowd of drunken sailors on shore leave. Through a bit of smooth maneuvering and nautical conversations, the group managed to find their way out of the crowd of drunkards, but not without the gnolls catching up a little.
After a few more twists and turns in the alleyway, the group ran into a vagrants camp, manned by a grouchy halfling who demanded a toll for each of the party members to pass through. Ingri paid the gatekeeper enough to make it through, and the halfling slowed down the gnolls behind them. In the next alley, Cric spotted the backdoor to his cousin's house, and dove down the cellar stairs. Rano and Plexi had to take a different route due to the small size of the ratfolk dwelling. The group navigated through Cric's cousin's house well enough, and Rano and Plexi had time to catch up. The next obstacle the group ran into was a seized gate, which was rather quickly fixed by Rano, and then sabotaged by Unek to slow the gnolls down.
The chase continued to the outskirts of the city, near the shrine, where the gang finally fought through the last bit of undergrowth, and could see the shrine. However, before the safety of the shrine could be reached, the group were attacked by a group of leshies. Two were dispatched quickly, and after a brief skirmish, Plexi dealt with the final one.
After the fight, Cric lead the party to the shrine of Gozreh, a building made from un-hewn stone and driftwood. The priestess, Naharo, greeted the party, and introduced Chase O'Neil, a Steel Falcon of the Grey Corsairs, based out of Andorran. Unek was happy to see a Grey Corsair, and Chase explained that they were to stow away on a sailing ship to Katapesh. Chase did however let them know that Chass and Rano must come with the escapees, or face the consequences. The Blue Flash made his farewells to the group, and headed off back to the city.
Session 4 - 31/08/2022
Chase lead the group through the backstreets of Okeno to a tavern, The Iron Peg Leg, where he entered a secret knock on the establishment's backdoor. A halfling minstrel with a black-eye greeted us, and after Chase assured the halfling they hadn't been followed, they were invited in by the bard, Otharia. The pub was the standard fare for Okeno, embellished by the presence of Quakes, who was just finishing a performance. Evidently, Otharia had been Quakes' bardic friend they had to check on. Quakes introduced themselves to Chass and Rano, before trying to re-introduce Otharia to the group. Otharia reminded Quakes that she was actually a Gray Corsair, and was getting the group off the island tomorrow morning. The group settled down for an evening of drinks, and Chase managed to ease the group into getting to know each other a bit better. However, as the evening wore on, a bar brawl erupted over a disagreement between a plastered halfling and a burly-looking gnoll. The bar brawl was eventually quelled by the innkeeper, and the whole crew took the nights rest in rented rooms.
The party set off early the next morning to pick up the last members of the breakout squad, a young family who needed to get off the island desperately. At the family's hut in the shanty town, Chase did the corsair's knock, but as the door swung open, it revealed a gnoll cultist chanting in a summoning circle. The ritual produced three quasits, which charged out of the hut and attacked the party. During the fight, the cultist produced some deadly negative energy waves, and it was only through Plexi's devastating blows and Unek's use of gnoll tradition against the quasits. However, Unek and Ingri were badly wounded, and the party had to stop off at an alchemists store on the way to the Yellow Harbour.
At the harbour, the crew were ambushed by The White Leopard, a brutal gnoll bounty hunter and his crew. After a few quips, the expected fight quickly broke out when Unek hurled a glass bottle nearly 60 feet into the White Leopard's face. The fight proceeded in a flurry of blows, and the White Leopard was driven off - but not slain. The party made it onto the ship, and after Chase had a few words with the captain, they were ferried into the hold. Moments later, the ship departed the Yellow Harbour.
Session 5 - 18/01/2023
As the ship drew into Katapesh's main harbour, Chase explained that the group ought to be careful in the market, as their lack of cash would make them a target for the fastest scams and harshest hagglers. Chase and Chass chose to head north to Andoran, whilst Quakes resolved to stay in the city to try and earn some coin. Setting off into the markets, the group were rapidly accosted by a trio of Gentleman's Consortium members trying to pull a fast one. Negotiations failed, and a fight broke out as soon as the gents summoned some strange creatures from their amulets. The fight was resolved in the middle of the bustling street after the summoned Lemures had been slain. Ingri blunt-smacked one of the gents in the face, and this prompted the other two to turn tail and run.
The quintet fled the scene, and swung by a detective's shop on the way to Chase's safehouse for Unek to buy an investigative kit. After some lovely dhal, the group moved on to find the safehouse had been occupied by an incredibly high gnome. The gnome panicked and, assuming the party were tax collectors, the pesh-smoker and his friends attacked the party. After Unek bored the gnome with property law, his friends were easy enough to scare into leaving. Unek started getting second-hand high as the party cleared the stoners out, and soon enough, all but Ingri had succumbed to the pesh. After some hijinks, Chase fell asleep, Rano ate a fair portion of Ingri's rations, and Unek had a slightly up and down emotional ride.
The next morning, Chase, slightly hungover, made a sincere farewell. Unek, Plexi, Rano, and Ingri travelled south to the Chuyar docks. The docks were a sorry sight, no better than the day Unek had set off towards Jalmeray. The Tengu lamented to his friends that none of his extended family had been around to repair or reclaim the port. A small boat at the docks revealed Graham Yona was the contact Chase had fixed a ride to Jalmeray with, and the old pirate introduced himself warmly to the crew.
Session 6 - 19/06/2023
Plexi, Rano, Ingri and Unek boarded Graham's ship, The Young Dawnflower, and quickly noticed that the reformed pirate seemed a little shifty. He confessed to Unek that he wanted to be away from here as soon as possible. However, it was quickly revealed that Graham had been followed, when a pirate junk ship pulled into the docks and a small crew jumped out. Their leader, a grippli, demanded that Graham came along with them and restored their reputation as free pirates.
The fight swiftly broke out once Graham refused to be abducted, his new accomplices stepping into defend him. Unek identified the Grippli captain and one of his minions, which covered Ingri to make a running strike at the lackey and slay him in two strikes. The piratical halfling summoned a mitflit near Ingri, and the little fey managed to land a few hits. Plexi closed the distance to support Ingri whilst Rano put a bullet in the mitflit. In a quick turn of events, the brother of the dead pirate blasted Ingri with his flintlock, dealing a nasty wound. Unek closed the distance to Culver, the Grippli, and did his best to support Ingri. However, a firebomb strike from Culver knocked Ingri out of the fight. Graham brought up the backline and healed Ingri before putting a bullet in the injured pirate, killing him.
Culver surrendered when the gnome was slain by Unek, and Graham elected to let the Grippli go alive, though he did give him a shiner for mentioning Irwin, his son.
The group set off on The Young Dawnflower into the bay of Katapesh, sharing stories of their origins with a bottle of wine whilst the weather still held out. Graham warned Unek that it might be difficult to find his sword in the seedy underbelly of Jalmeray, as the powers that be try to keep tourists away from it.
After a long sail in good weather, the Dawnflower came upon a wreck beset by mists. Unek spotted two serpent-like creatures in the water, and they made moves to board Graham's boat. An opening volley of spears was loosed by the serpentine creatures whilst the crew hunkered down around the main-mast. As they jumped on to the ship, Unek sussed their weaknesses, and that led to Graham demoralising one of the devils and blasting away half its shoulder.
After the two small sea devils were dispatched, a much stronger devil swam up to the boat. Unek determined that it was likely unwise. Despite the lack of apparent wisdom, the sea devil was strong enough to knock Graham unconscious in a single spear blow. Seeing their captain downed, the whole party closed in on the sea devil, and went to work on it. After the devil took a few blows, the fruit of its earlier muttering was revealed - a large shark leapt from the water and took a chunk out of Plexi. Eventually, between the joint efforts of Unek and Plexi, the sea devil fell, and the recently healed Graham helmed the ship to outrun the shark.
Session 7 - 23/08/2023
Unek dreamt strange dreams on the last night of The Young Dawnflower's voyage. He saw many scenes, including one of a strange dome of immense proportion with a gravitational sense of enticement, then a view inside of strange corridors, shifting sands, demonic faces, a silhouette of a stalking predator cast upon a limestone wall, and then finally, his lost family sword. A voice rang out to him from the darkness - "come to Prada Henan". Unek awoke abruptly, and went upstairs to ask Graham about the place, which it turned out the old sailor was familiar with. It was apparently a settlement on the eastern side of Jalmeray which resembled Vudra quite strongly. The dome was likely the Murmurdome, a huge temple where people were known to go missing.
The next morning, the group sailed into the bustling port of Prada Henan, and met Ashta, a halfling who Chase had recruited to help them find Unek's heirloom. Surpisingly, the halfling informed the group that he had managed to find Unek's sword, and it was in a cargo warehouse on the dockside.
When they got there however, Ashta locked the party in, and they were ambushed by a pair of hydromancers. Ingri, Rano, and Graham quickly disposed of the hydromancers, but a new enemy entered the warehouse - an undine ogre. It made its appearance and immediately struck Ingri across the shoulder with a brutal strike from an anchor it was wielding as a flail. Luckily, Plexi was on-hand to help, healing Ingri and dealing a few brutal blows to the ogre, securing victory for the team.
Ashta mistakenly stuck their head in after the fight, and was grabbed by Rano, but they charmed the inventor and managed to get away. Graham was particularly confused as he didn't know Ashta was a spellcaster.
Session 8 - 08/09/2023
Found a bound and gagged goblin stuck in a crate in the warehouse. Ingri ungagged him, and we set to asking him about the situation. The goblin introduced himself as Krenk, our original intended contact. He confirmed that Ashta was meant to be on holiday, meaning the version we met was likely a doppelganger. Krenk disclosed that somebody with the initials WL had purchased my sword from the crime boss Auntie.
We went to hit the streets and gather information. Ingri went to resupply. She met with an undine smuggler, who was exasperated that she was trying to conduct simple honest business. Ingri found a much better, if slightly destitute blacksmith, who was willing to trade her Unek's handwraps for a potent shortbow.
Turns out Prada Hadan was a normal fishing village until the Murmurdome appeared mysteriously one day. After a few hours of canvassing smugglers and criminals, Unek and Ranno managed to find out that Auntie's Accountants keep track of everything that moves through the Prada Hanan underworld. Found out the location of the guy who organised Auntie's couriers. Met up with Ingri after she had finished shopping and sourcing items. Took some time to repair our gear and heal.
Killed the guards working security at Auntie's Accountants. This caused a massive uproar and we had to get in and out quickly. Found out that the WL had a yellow-sailed ship, and figured out he was the White Leopard from Okeno.
Once we emerged from the hideout, we were immediately chased by Matravash-worshipping city guards. We headed to the murmurdome but got caught up in a crowd and arrested.
