(STORY)
from: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ~ THE TIDES OF VENGEANCE
characters: KIAN (pov), RIGOLO, VALKE
The Company takes a day to regroup on the eve of the Magoa raid, in a rare moment of high spirits.
Not long after, as Kian faces death yet again in the icy realm of the Moonchill Lord, his mind struggles to find the balance...
A long rapier-like sword with an elaborate twining black hilt and a nigh-invisible faerie glass blade that ends in a very slight cruel curve...
Rapier (d8 +1/+1), magical, finesse
transparent blade gives Advantage on first strike
+d8 Cold damage on hit (times equal to Prof per LR)
chilling effect on objects and wielder's body
resistance to Cold-based damage / Exhaustion
AT NIGHT: x1 per LR can Paralyze a target (CON save)
(STORY)
.jpg)
from: CHAPTER SIXTEEN ~ HOMECOMING characters: KIAN (pov), ELKE, CARDENA DELA VARA
Kian has returned to find a Ladroa no less complicated than when he left it. It seems that all around him is suffering - the kind that cannot be solved with simple violence.
Rather than succumbing to self-pity, sometimes one must step out of the shadows and instead choose light. And so, Kian makes an appointment with a doctor...
VALKE'S TALE
from: CHAPTER SIXTEEN ~ HOMECOMING
characters: KIAN (pov), VALKE
( STORY )
.jpg)
from: CHAPTER SIXTEEN ~ HOMECOMING characters: KIAN (pov), MISERO
With the Tyrson Company's return to Ladroa, it is time for Kian to check in on the various pots he set simmering before his departure.
In addition to providing Kian with intelligence from the streets of the city, the hidalgo Misero was left with a very special portfolio - to provide special protection services to the urchin roofdancers known as The Cats.
As always, in the Port of Masks, there are always entanglements...
from: CHAPTER EIGHT ~ LADROA ELEGY
characters: JUDEX, RIGOLO
The assassination of the Imperial Legate remains unsolved. This event and the recent tumult in Ladroa has led to unwanted scrutiny on the city from external forces... attention that may pose an existential threat to Ladroa's autonomy.
After interrogating the imprisoned Kian in his cell in the Carcelario, Mariscal Rigolo makes his report to the Grand Magistrado Judex. It is clear that Kian Grey is somehow embroiled in the recent threats to Ladroa. His avowed crimes are more than enough to put his head on the block... but is he more useful to the Mariscales alive... ?
(STORY)
.jpg "zac")
from: CHAPTER EIGHT ~ LADROA ELEGY
characters: Mariscal RIGOLO, KIAN
Tyrson's company makes a triumphant return to Ladroa after defeating Captain di Frezzi and saving the kingdom of Thessios. However, in their absence, the name of Jack Tyrson has become entangled in a string of violent crimes and intrigues. Jack and Kuan are arrested and brought before Grand Magistrado Judex.
Unwilling to let his comrades or the young Lady de Cinza become implicated in the clandestine activities he set in motion, Kian crashes the tribunal and claims responsibility for the crimes, while also defiantly challenging the court's authority. The mysterious Mariscal Rigolo appears as well, tugging at threads that Kian finds himself unprepared to answer for.
Judex adjourns and Kuan and Jack are detained. Kian is imprisoned separately in a tiny dungeon in great tower. Under cover of night, Cardena dela Vara visits his cell to counsel him, but Kian refuses her help. As Dela Vara departs, Kian learns that another visitor has also come calling...
from: CHAPTER ELEVEN ~ WINTER SOJOURN
characters: KIAN(pov), SAIOPLESIAN
After escaping the destruction of Castle Dreist, Kian and his companions return to Auspenstadt as heroes of the realm. Prince Alberingen throws a sumptuous banquet in their honour... but Kian remains troubled by his insecurities.
Feeling small and uncertain the face of a metaphysical world he doesn't fully understand, he asks the former cleric Saioplesian for guidance. But some of Kian's questions extend to Saioplesian himself...
from: CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~ VOYAGE DANS la LUNE characters: KIAN (pov), Saint INGAHILD
After defeating the fallen Titan, Khors, the party dragged this miserable creature into the shrine-sepulcher of the sleeping goddess, Kuyuu, his successor as Warden of the Moon. Once his body crossed the threshold of her domain, ancient protective spells woven into the chamber activated.
A vision of Kuyuu pronounced her curse upon those who would desecrate her resting place. As the floor opened up vents to the molten gold core of the Moon, her protectors, the Golden Bees, swarmed about angrily.
Realizing the peril, the party beat a hasty retreat... all but Kian. In his defiance, he lingered a moment to snatch more of Kuyuu's golden treasures... which proved a moment too long.
The searing heat of the vents overwhelmed him, and the Golden Bees stung him viciously even as he fell. His body would have remained there, entombed in moongold for eternity, had not Korvuus intervened and pulled his limp form from the chamber.
The party narrowly escaped Kuyuu's halls, pursued to the very surface by the rising tide of molten gold... but for the unfortunate Kian, burned and envenomed, it was far too late.
Or was it... ?
A Holy Artifact
from: CHAPTER TEN ~ The FALL of CASTLE DREIST
characters: KIAN, VALKE, KORVUS, SOFONISBA (pov)
Following their harrowing flight from the destruction of Castle Dreist, the victorious heroes emerge from a subterranean cavern many miles away, and must track back across the Wenden Highlands and through the Nimmerende Mountains on their return journey into Auspenheim.
After days of overland winter travel, the adventurers are cold, hungry, and exhausted. From their small camp on a high ridgeline, the towers of Auspenstadt beckoned distantly in the dusky light... but as dusk turned to night, Sofonisba Orlogio's unease in the strange circumstances grew stronger...
from: CHAPTER EIGHT ~ LADROA ELEGY
characters: KIAN, VALKE, TOM FLAGSTAFF
The winter rains arrived in Ladroa with a vengeance. A week previous, the sun had presided over the triumphant spectacle of the captured slave ship Tiburon making harbour and Jack Tyrsson’s splendid procession through the streets to the Courthouse. Since that day, the skies had hung heavy with cloud, and the docks were lashed with storms that drove many late-faring ships and their crews to the congested shelter of the Puerto district.
from: CHAPTER NINE ~ INTO THE WEST
characters:
VALKE, KIAN
After delivering the lost Armour of Saint Oran to the Archbishop of Oranda, the party travels northward through the Wenden Highlands, bound for the Torvarian province of Auspenheim. There, they hope to find the mysterious artisan named Amadeo Bronzanti.
Travelling a
disused mountain path into Auspenheim, they encounter a farmstead ransacked by
Spriggans. After rescuing the farmers from the Faerie bandits, they enjoy a
cozy (if crowded) overnight repose at the farmstead. But not all of the
companions sleep soundly...
from CHAPTER EIGHT ~ LADROA ELEGY
Characters: KIAN, MISERO
After his short time in Ladroa's Carcelario, Kian is released into the city again. Owing his freedom to arrangements made with the Mariscales, he needs information.
Both his life - and potentially that of the young Lady Belasca De Cinza - hang upon his ability to untangle the web of plots that draw closer around them in Ladroa: Di Magappi, the Mariscales, los Mendigos, the Hundred Curses, and now, the murder of a high official. As a relative newcomer in the city, Kian decides to enlist the services of a dangerous man... one who is not who he seems, and whose trust is measured only in gold coins...
(STORY)
from: CHAPTER FOUR: LADROA OVERTURE CHAPTER EIGHT: LADROA ELEGY
characters: Jenyeva (POV), Kian, Belasca, The Cats
This story begins shortly after the party first arrives in Ladroa and takes up residence in the Grey Lodge, and continues through to the events following the return to Ladroa from Aesos, the Tribunal of Judex, and Kian Grey's arrest...
(STORY)
from: CHAPTER FIVE ~ LADROA OVERTURE characters: Belasca De Cinza, Kian
When a mysterious note is found in the pockets of the Vaara swordsman known as Agila (specifying only a time, a place, and the name of Lady Belasca De Cinza), it is suspected that an assassination plot is afoot, and that the young noblewoman’s life may be in danger. Having already struck up a secret correspondence with the Grey Stripes’ youthful new mistress, Kian decides to warn her of this potential threat, and also to put forth a scheme to flush out the would-be killers while protecting the lady from harm…
( STORY )
from: CHAPTER SEVEN ~ SHADOWS OVER THESSIOS
characters: KIAN, MISERO
Autumn on the Helicosian coast is pleasant. Feted as saviours of Thessios, the party reposes at the court of King Taronymes after their triumph over the evil priestess Eudoxia. Spirits are high, but as night falls, Kian discovers that suspicious minds are everywhere, even in his own camp...
