(G402 11/01/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR11

(G402 11/01/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR11

[Sorry for all the jumping about, dear reader, but here are some more journal entries from my  adventures concerning Mid Point island]

DAY 461 (7th Kythorn)(June)

I'd been thinking about it for some days, but today I decided to go see if my eldest brother, Nissa was out in the Waterdavian fleet somewhere. He was a captain in the navy and his ship was called 'The Shaggy Beast'.

I flew out over the ships and saw the vessel in question. I landed and greeted my brother once I had turned back into a man. He has lost a leg! In some sea battle or other. Hopefully he will be able to get some magical help to grow it back some time soon.

Oh, I should mention, some idiot in the crew shot me with a crossbow in the wing as I came down. It went  into my feathers and caused me a minor injury. When I changed back I handed the bolt back to him with a look and said, 'I believe this is yours.' He had the decency to be shame-faced. It just goes to show, and I've often said this to people, always be kind to animals - you never know when one of them might be a druid!

I was very good to see my biggest brother after not seeing him -- for what? Over a year certainly.
He is a big fellow and of a rough complexion after many years at sea. He teased me that I needed a 'proper job', something that would 'toughen me' up.
'You have the hands of a lady!' he declared with a laugh. 'You have a woman's hand, milord! I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm.'
I suspect he was quoting some nautical banter at that point, but even so, as we ate lunch together in his cabin and I told him of my adventures in the Plane of Shadows et al, he admitted that I was  probably tough enough these days.

We talked of our family for a while, then when decency dictated I got onto the matter in hand and told him of the Xebec know as 'Anubis', Molly, the island and all my problems.

He revealed to me that the Waterdeep Navy had means by which they could detect invisible ships. (He talked at length about everburning lanterns, lenses, beams of light and things. I don't think any of it was true, some sort of Naval deception perhaps? To keep the secret of what they were actually doing, perhaps.)

Well anyway, he assured me that he would be able to let me know right away when that accursed vessel showed up and after I'd given my thanks and drank a glass or two of rum with him I flew back to Waterdeep.

It was evening when I landed. As I'd been flying, and thinking as I flew, I decided one more thing I could do was perhaps make contact with Mystra again, as I had been learning they had ways of holding the blue stuff at bay for a while.

Rather than going to one of the irritating fools I had already met I asked about a bit for the name of someone who was a bit more sensible and approachable.
I was given the name of a Cleric of Mystra known as 'Reasonable' Bob and I found him having supper by himself in tavern close to the temple.

He was indeed a 'reasonable' fellow and offered to help me if I was to perform for him a certain task...
'Do tell,' I enquired, leaning forward. I scented adventure!

(G401 14/12/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA63

(G401 14/12/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA63

DAY 464 (9th Kythorn)(June) cont ...

You may remember then, dear reader, that Fenrir, Veddic and the woman known as The Lady of the Mountain were in a dungeon, as a great deluge of water flooded the place, possibly from an underground lake above them.

As Fenrir came washing down towards them, Veddic and the Lady lashed themselves to pillars. It was a wise precaution, but due to the way fluid dynamics works (I suppose, I am no expert!) and the narrow corridor that the flood was coming through, the larger area they were in was slow to fill up. The force of the water was being spent against a side wall too.

A confused and watery fight ensued between the three heroes and the bouncing stone balls as they splashed around in the ever increasing flood, the water level rising slowly up to their ankles and then their knees.

Eventually, one by one, Fenrir blasted them all to bits, and they were able to take stock of the situation. The Exploding Rune traps were still active however, making their cold and wet slog through the dungeon even more unpleasant. They made their way down another corridor to an unexplored area, wondering what they were going to encounter next...

(G400 30/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA62

(G400 30/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA62

[While I have a chance, dear reader, I'll catch up with some of my notes about what was happening with Fenrir. Around about the same time I was mucking about on Midpoint Island, he was still having a time of it in the FAMP (or the 'Failed Alternative Material Plane', just turn left off the Plane of Shadows!)]


DAY 464 (9th Kythorn)(June) cont ...

You may remember then, dear reader, the Fenrir, Veddic and the woman known as The Lady of the Mountain, currently roped together and masked, were making their way towards a nearby-ish dungeon. In search of more
'shards' to stick in the magical device they had found.

It was nine miles to their destination, but due to the howling dust storm they had to get through it took them five hours to travel the distance.

The eventually found the ruins, and a tunnel down to the dungeons. At the end of the tunnel, as it opened out into corridors, they saw a man on a rack, chained hand and foot. When they stepped closer, the chains seemed to tighten and the man screamed.

Fenrir tried his Ring of Knock to unlock the chains. It was a good idea but did not work. The Lady of the Mountain tried Dispel Magic, but the spell failed. Next Fenrir blasted at the rack mechanism and broke it.
The man stood, then cackled and came towards them gnashing his teeth. Fenrir asked the Lady who he was, but she didn't know. Fenrir blasted him to death, but when he died, thousands of bugs bust out of his body and Fenrir had to use more blasts to destroy them too.

The man was a Cimexomancer, an evil branch of magic that dealt with insects. I like insects, and they mean mankind no real harm, but in the FAMP these magic users had pervert the poor creatures to evil wherever they could.
When she saw the buys, the Lady realised this and told Fenrir (via writings as she does not speak).

They cautiously went down another corridor to a small room that contained three suits of holy armour. They decided to leave them for now. Detect Magic showed that they were magical, with a moderate aura of enchantment.

The central sort of corridor was trapped and Explosive Runes went off and hurt them if they were not quick enough. They found it very annoying.

Moving on from that room, up some steps to another chamber they encountered a large tentacle, coming out of a pit in the middle of the room. The tentacle had a large boney blade on the end and stabbed at them as they approached.

Fenrir blasted it until it slithered back into its pit. Beyond the chamber was some kind of forcefield though so they doubled back and tried another corridor. Fenrir went on ahead, as he could fly and not trigger the Runes and reached a room with a glass dome in the ceiling. There was nothing but darkness above the glass though, so he moved on.

At the end of the corridor was a room full of large stone balls about five feet in diameter. On his approach they started bouncing about, crashing into each other and the walls. They came straight for Fenrir who blasted away at them, but with little effect. He fled bast the dome room and the balls followed.
When they entered the room one smashed into the glass and it broke. A deluge of dark cold water flooded into the room and kept on coming. Half running, half being swept along by the torrent, Fenrir fled back to the large corridor where the others were.

They seemed to have a real problem on their hands now! Some of the dungeons in the FAMP seem to be very odd indeed.

(G399 16/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR10

(G399 16/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR10

Anyway, dear reader, while Fenrir and Veddic were having all sorts of fun in the 'FAMP' I was having a pretty unpleasant time on Midpoint Island.

To re-cap, my home at the Lost Refuge had been raided, my friends the Sharptooth Clan all slain and my ward, Molly, kidnapped by persons unknown who then sailed off on an invisible ship called the 'Anubis'.
I was magically in contact with Molly though and she had told me they were due to arrive  at Midpoint some time soon.

Fate, it seemed, was being much unkinder to me, but I was doing what I could to rescue Molly.

DAY 457 (3rd Kythorn)(June) cont...

I flew out from Waterdeep. On the way to the island I saw a flotilla of ships, flying flags of the Waterdavian Navy and the flags of some of the Noble Houses. I saw supply  ships too, and further north I saw a similar sized force of ships from Neverwinter.

I flew over them to the island and as I approached I could see that it was mountainous and rugged. It was evening, but I could still see some houses and smoke rising from cooking fires.

I was a giant owl, but I changed into a sea eagle in mid flight and eventually came to land in a tree on a mountain slope on the islands eastern coast.

I took some time to study the wildlife and plants. I saw rabbits, but not many insects.
The plant growth appeared to be new.

I observed two dogs go past, then a cat, some rats and a couple of crabs. A few birds flew past and I also saw a jellyfish that had been washed up on the beach, but overall the island seemed fairly sparse of life considering its location.

I talked to one of the dogs and he told me;
'I came on a boat with my master. My master is not well, so I am hunting for food.'
'Where is your master?' I asked.
'He is over that hill, in the wrong smelling place,' he replied.
I talked for a while longer and he told me of the settlement he had come from. He had not been there that long, although dogs do not mark the passage of time that well he had been there no longer than the length of the current summer.

I let him go about his business and cast 'Lay of the Land' to get an idea of the layout of the island. There was a campsite not too far away so I turned into a dog and went to take a look. As I got closer I could smell death and corruption and something else that was hard to describe, let alone identify.

I got closer and could see a group of people all lying around in various stages of sickness. There was a camp fire at the centre of their area.
I counted 18 people of mixed races. Two were female. All were dressed in undergarments only.
I could see that some of them had blue growths on them. The blue growths were not just on the people, but on the trees and rocks.
There were more packs and bedrolls than people and a path the lead away from the camp into the islands interior.

I got closer and listened to two men talking, quietly in their delirium.
'I can't believe they left us... made us go in... did ...'
I could make out little else.

I turned into a man and came closer. I saw a dead body. As I got closer I saw that he was covered in the blue stuff, but still alive.

I turned into a human and tossed him some food and water. He mumbled and muttered answers to my questions. I recorded as much as I could:

'We came under our free will, but we've been abandoned here and left.'
How did this all come about? I asked
'This is Midpoint Island... it appeared out of the sea a month ago. and all the rumours started... About treasure and magic items... I signed up on a ship, came out, looked around... It's stronger in the mountains, there is a cave two miles away... We took everything of value... But the big bosses never came onto the island, they only took a couple of things, they threw the other stuff in the sea...'
Where are you from? I asked.
'From Waterdeep, but some of us came from Neverwinter. There are other camps about... I've only been here a few days... Some rich blokes from Waterdeep hired us...'

I did what I could for him, but I could see the blue was inside him. He was as good as dead. He said his name was Arnauds. I offered to deliver a message, but he said he had no family.

Later I skryed Molly, she seemed fine. I also saw a man on a boat, in light leather armour, with a  Waterdavian symbol on his armour.

I then skryed Gharlie, she was on one of the boats in the blockade, disguised as a man called Stannis.
A regular enlisted seaman.

I flew back to Waterdeep and took a look over the island before I left. I saw the cave, where Arnauds had said it was, a bright blue glow emanating from it.


DAY 458 (4th Kythorn)(June)

The next morning I told them all about what I had found out at the OJB. Corum arranged a Sending spell to Gharlie, but got no response.

I skryed Molly again. She was still on the ship, but wearing different clothes.

After that I went to New Olamn (in disguise) and talked to the bards. I asked about the ship "Anubis". I was told of the rumours that surrounded it, or a ship like it. A ship that could appear and disappear and travelled extraordinarily fast. It was know as the 'Ship of the Dead.' It was linked to an island called 'Ceres', some 200 years ago. It was a cursed island that had sunk  beneath the waves.

Later that evening I scryed Molly again. The ship had a shimmer about it, like it was invisible to  normal eyes. Fascinating vessel!


DAY 459 (5th Kythorn)(June)

I flew back to that annoying island again this morning. I took Rolanda with me. I am favouring the shape of Sea Eagle, or sometimes Giant Sea Eagle, at the moment. It is a wonderful feeling to be soaring high up in the sky, looking down on the vast blue sea, riding along on a gentle summer breeze.

I flew over the island looking at the camps. I found four in total, all with dead bodies in them. After that I moved on to the cave. The 'eruptions' of blue crystals from the ground was more intense around the cave. After observing the area for a while I landed and scryed Molly again.

A man was speaking to her. I caught the sentence:
'Once you've done that job, that's all you need to do, you'll be free to go.'
He then locked her in her room.

I checked in on Gharlie again, her situation had no changed.

Well, that's it for today, I think I'll fly back to Waterdeep. It will be in the dark, but that's fine, I can find my way by the stars.

DAY 460 (6th Kythorn)(June)

Another day plotting and planning at the OJB.

Had a conversation with Molly using Sending spells, purchased from a nearby temple. They cost 280 gold a time! Anyway, it went thus:

Me: 'Overheard man tell you that you had a job to do to get free. What is the job?'
Molly: 'Go into a cave on an island and bring back a blue gemstone.'
Me: 'The cave is very dangerous. I will be waiting on the island for you. Is there anything else I should know?'
Molly: 'These guys are very well funded. Heard them say your name a few times too. Please be careful.'

Whoever "these guys" were, they were starting to be very vexatious to me.


DAY 460 (6th Kythorn)(June)

Flew back to the island. Landed, scouted, camped and scryed.

No change in the situation of Molly or Gharlie.

It does look like the blue stuff is slowly spreading across the island.

I've set up camp on one of the smaller islands, it seems safe enough. If it wasn't for all this kaffuffle I would enjoy all this. Alone on an pleasant island. In happier times it would have been a nice place for a holiday.

(G2 08/02/2020 JF(GM), AP)

(G2 08/02/2020 JF(GM), AP)

M.A.V.I.S Corporate Logger System.
FILE #003
Selected Personality Type: 'Sassy'

DAY 4

At the crack of dawn Jim was driven through Rio to the favella. They city looked almost pretty in the morning light, despite the pollution. Jim sat in the back seat of the large van, checking and rechecking his gear, guns and ammo.

At the edge of the target area, the van stopped and our hero, the lovely 'Wee Jimmy' Cranky, jumped out and cautiously entered the alley directly ahead of him.

They alley opened out into a dusty street full of burnt-out cars. The locals were far from friendly though and two favella hoodlums went straight for their guns and started blasting at poor Jim.

He was heavily armoured in Metal Gear (tm) though and anything that hit just bounced off. Jim fired back and got one in the legs, then walked up and punched the other in the face, then chopped his nose of with his 'slice-n-dice' (a rather nasty cyberwear weapon if you ask me, that is a length of mono-filament that comes out of the tip of Jim's right pointer finger).

Three more hoods started shooting, from other alleys and semi-ruined buildings. Jimmy, the professional, calmly fired back, shooting the jaw off one and another through the right eye-socket. The last one fled down the street and Jimmy followed.

Bullets ricocheting off the ground and his armour, Jim moved down the street, pushing the hoods and cyber nazis aside like chaff. He met his first real challenge a bit further along though, another guy dressed in Metal Gear (tm). It was tatty and painted in swastikas, but just as effective as the armour
Jim was wearing. Jim was using an FN-RAL, but just standard ammo, and the armour was shrugging off the bullets.

The cyber Nazi was in the same boat. He threw away his Tech9 in disgust, and picked up a discarded M16. Still no effect. They closed on each other and started trading punches, with even less effect. Jim saw that this was going to be a tough fight.

(G1 18/01/2020 JF(GM), AP)

(G1 18/01/2020 JF(GM), AP)

M.A.V.I.S Corporate Logger System.
FILE #002
Selected Personality Type: 'Sassy'

So, after two boring months working for Mr Bates in Bay City, our hero, Captain Stephen 'Wee Jimmy' Cranky was ready to get into action again!

Jim go on well with Tam (although he is a mental) and pretty well with 'Alpha Team' the main security team even though a lot of them were 'corporate goons' with no military experience.
The only one he actually liked was an ex-RM sergeant called Carole Dee. She's lovely, just 5ft 2 and stocky, but  ex-bomb squad, and with full sub-dermal armour - not to be trifled with! She's 27 years old. (Alpha Team are currently just 10 people, but they do contract out for more when big events are on)

Where was I? Oh! I'd better start at the beginning:


DAY 1

My boss Will Bates (isn't he so dreamy?) wanted to keep this whole 'rescue my no-good brother from kidnappers in Brazil' on the down-low. So he officially gave Jim a holiday, but in fact sent him to contact a man called Lav Pernes. He was also given a DONG 5000 burner phone, a very expensive one, to contact the man on.

Jim jumped in a pool hovercar and booked himself into a hotel. At the bar he saw six nerds - netrunners and techies.
On closer inspection they seemed to be passing around a picture of a murdered prostitute! He decided to leave them to it. (Naughty Jim! There could have been adventure in that and a chance to kick some serious nerd ass - oh well!)

After a few drinks Jim went to his room and bed.


DAY 2

Today Jim spent some of his expenses money on new gear, wisely expecting to be in a fire fight some time soon.
This included a high tech helmet that could be worn around the neck and would cover his head in the first sign of danger. Jim had a morbid fear of being shot in the head.
The 'Bullet Smasher 9000' it was called and cost 1500 bucks.

After lunch he contacted Lav Pernes and met him at the 'The Pink Ice Cream Bar and Lounge'. It was a simple enough meeting though, he was given tickets to Rio and the contact details for Isabella.

Jim went back to his hotel and crated up his gear. He'd pick it up on the flipside.


DAY 3

It was a morning flight and he got in to Rio at 3pm. He was met at the airport by Isabella. She's a nice enoughgal as far as I know, in her 30s, has some high end cybergear. She's part of the Antifa crowd down that way.
She drove him into the city in an expensive looking 4x4.

That's right folks, Nigel 'Mazzie' Bates had only managed to get himself kidnapped by Nazis! And not just Nazis, but Cyber-Nazis! And believe you me, that's the worst kind of Nazi. He'd fallen in with a bad crowd, apparently, and this was how it had all ended up. Isabella filled in Jim with more details as she drove him to a safe house.

Jim noted that the air quality in the city was very bad. The safe house contained two tough looking Antifa guys. Together with them and Isabella they went over the plan. It was straight forward enough. They'd drop him off in the area of the favella where Bates was known to be, then once he was found, Jim was to send up a flare for Osprey extraction and straight back to the good old USA. Go Team!

He spent the rest of the evening gambling and drinking tequila. They had a nice room set by for him though and he went to get some kip before the big day.

Cyberpunk 2020

M.A.V.I.S Personnel Record (MAVIS = Megasoft Artificial Very Intelligent System)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Name: Captain Stephen 'Wee Jimmy' Cranky 
Birthplace: Twatt, Orkney, Scotland
Age: 24 years old

Current Location: Bay City, USA

(Bay City is a West Coast Tech Hub)

Reports to: Will Bates, CEO of Megasoft

Notes:

Captain Cranky was born in Scotland. His family emigrated to the USA when he was 14 years old.
He is a US citizen.

Current Assignment: Personal Bodyguard to Will Bates, CEO.

Other Duties include: Liaison with 'Alpha Team'. Co-ordinate with them during convention and other activities involving the primary. Back to Back with 'Big Tam' Mcleod.

'Alpha Team' currently run by an ex-corp black ops woman called Bella Witchelm.

Notes:
Tam and Jimmy do not get on with Ms Witchelm.
They are good friend with another Alpha team member - ex-RM sergeant Carole Dee.
Tam is very snobbish about non-military 'corporate goons'.
Jimmy is on day shift, Tam on nights.

3 years degree - Mechanical Engineering

1 year officer training

- 3 years in army
inc 1 year in Delta Force
- 1 tour Iraq
- 1 tour Afghanistan
- 1 tour Edinburgh fighting the SNP separatists

Note that this current set up, of two 'body men' that follow Mr Bates 24/7 and a secondary 'Alpha Team' that cover the conventions, travel arrangements etc. was put into place after the attempted assassination that resulted in the death of his wife.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

M.A.V.I.S Corporate Logger System.
FILE #001
Selected Personality Type: 'Sassy'

Howdy folks! Well that's the boring stuff out of the way, let's get down to the fun shall we? Jim and Tam were great pals, but it's fair to say that Tam, being clearly a mental, was not so favoured by Mr Bates so when he had a very sensitive task to perform he turned to the lovely young Jim for help!

A special mission you ask? Why, of course! It sounded simple, but these things often do. Take a flight to Rio, meet a girl called 'Isabella' who would give him more details on ... wait for it ... rescuing Mr Bates's wayward brother (Nigel 'Mazzie' Bates) from kidnappers! Go to the favella, hunt him out and radio an Osprey for extraction.

Well, our Jimmy jumped at the chance of course! His job had been so boring up until now. He smiled to himself, thinking of getting back into the action at last.