User blog:MMetzner/Session 7 - The Mirror and the Storm

Day 8 - September 23rd 420

Day 9 - September 24th 420
 * Immediately upon waking up, Ronan placed on the Ring of Mind Shielding. The other Guardians warned about the dangers of this but Ronan declared that she wanted to discover the effects, if any. Maiya  made an attempt to steal the ring, prising it from Ronan's finger.
 * The Guardians cobbled together a breakfast comprising of steak and turnip, and spoke to Claus about the possibility of him and his neighbours coming to live on Hogstone  to live, fishing the surrounding seas. Claus  seemed impressed by the Guardians, and seemed persuaded by the offer. With that, the Guardians departed as the rains began to fall.
 * As the Jagged Pelt left the island, Ronan began her work on the taxidermy of the sea creature, scooping out the innards from within the long neck.
 * Not long after departing the island, the storm began to worsen, heavy rain and strong winds tested Inga's seafaring skills to capacity. Maiya and Gauner  had a sense that there was something out there with them - on turning around they could just about make out a ship approaching them.
 * As the ship approached, the group attempted to convince the crew that they were simple fishermen, a lie which the crew was dubious about. When the captain, clearly a pirate, demanded their ship, the Guardians knew things were only going to go one way.
 * The pirates attacked, throwing rope ladders over their ship and onto the Jagged Pelt, fighting spilled out across both ships, with pirates and Guardians both being thrown into the stormy seas, managing to cling onto ladders and haul themselves back onto the boats. Eventually the Guardians managed to pick off each pirate, taking the new, and far more seaworthy, ship for themselves. On board they found barrels of salt, apples, and fish, as well as a chest filled with 200 gold pieces.
 * The Guardians discussed names for the new ship, knowing Inga would not be aboard a ship without a name.
 * Back at Hogstone, the group docked the two ships and headed towards the Hall of Beasts. When they reached the crossroads, they felt a sense of quiet, and Britta came out of the Sleeping Stag to greet them, with a deep frown on her face.
 * Britta led the group into the inn and asked them to sit down, delivering the bad news that their companion Karkuro  had not recovered from his illness, and that not knowing when the group would be returning, Jussi  and Steffon  buried his body behind Hogstone Keep.
 * Dejected, but wanting to put the bad news behind them, the group headed to the Guardians Tower within the walls. Exploring the tower they found that the main living area and three bedrooms on the first floor were still in good condition, however musty and unused. The second floor was inaccessible, with stone having collapsed into the staircase between the first and second floors.
 * The group returned to their task of preserving the sea creature's head, Farrus attempted to make a preservative concoction, but his attempt blew up in his face. As a basic taxidermy, Ronan decided to fill the head with sand and use a strong clear alcohol to preserve it further.
 * Realising that Ronan had made a terrible job of preserving the head, Farrus decided to try and put together a wooden skeleton for the head to sit inside, keeping it sturdy. He walked to Jussi's  shop, and finding it empty, decided to start building something. It didn't come out as intended, so he decided to spend the rest of the day trying to improve it.
 * As Farrus continued working, he glanced up at a pane of glass in the workshop and saw his face engulfed in flames, the skin melting and dripping down to the floor. Instinctively he reached up to his face, but felt nothing. What he did feel was a sharp pain in his chest. He staggered, propping his hand on the wall before hearing a familiar voice in his head. "No matter how far you sail, you'll always be my puppet, Farrus".
 * As Jussi walked back towards his workshop, Farrus charged at him, knocking him to the ground and punching him harshly in the face. Jussi screamed out for help which alerted the rest of the group who ran to the courtyard. Maiya sprinted towards Farrus . pulling him off of Jussi. Farrus swung a punch at Maiya, who instinctively ducked and pushed him backwards onto the floor.
 * Farrus snapped out of it, not remembering anything that had happened since the mirror. Maiya was furious that Farrus had gone into Jussi's workshop without his asking.
 * Kyanna cast Detect Magic inside Jussi's Workshop, seeing a faint glowing aura of dark green around the mirror, detecting an enchantment spell that had been used on it.
 * The group convinced Jussi that the incident wouldn't happen again, and gave him silver for a drink at the inn. Jussi agreed to give Farrus the arrowheads he had made before the incident.
 * The Guardians headed to the Hall of Beasts to sell the poorly taxidermied, but still impressive, head of the sea creature. Farrus wandered away, as Gauner decided to follow him without his knowing.
 * Upon entering the Hall, the Guardians noticed two people staring at the Two-Headed Goblin, looking very impressed. Ronan approached Symond with the creature head, admitting the shoddy workmanship of the taxidermy but asking if they could take full payment but return later to fix it up. Symond was unimpressed by the offer, countering with 500 gold up front, and 500 on a fixed head. Ronan remarked that the real skill was in killing the beast, and negotiated up to 750 gold up front, with 250 gold once the creature was of museum quality. Symond was pleased to hear that Claus  was considering moving to Hogstone.
 * Farrus visited the recently dug grave of Karkuro, writing his name in calligraphy and burying it into the dirt as Gauner watched on from behind one of the castle walls.
 * Next, the rest of the group decided to visit Mannaphi's tower, Kyanna went to gather Farrus and together they walked the short path to the Wizard's Tower.
 * Entering the tower, the group saw a well furnished ground floor that looked like it was used as a living area. They climbed the stairs to the first floor where they found Mannaphi in his bedchamber.
 * Maiya showed Mannaphi the Ring of Mind Shielding. He could tell that it was hundreds of years old, but without his spellbook was not able to determine if there was a sould inside the ring. He asked the Guardians to retreive him a spellbook.
 * Kyanna told Mannaphi about the mirror that had haunted Farrus. Mannaphi asked the for the mirror to be brought to him so that he could inspect it further. On bringing it back, Mannaphi inspected the mirror, but did not detect any lingering magic.
 * The group headed back to the Sleeping Stag for some food, buying a round of drinks and some rabbit. Kyanna and Ronan went to bed while Farrus headed back out to inspect tracks, and then onto Mannaphi's tower. The Blood Hunter told Mannaphi vaguely about what had happened with the mirror, but held back details. Mannaphi offered to look into his books to see if he could provide answers, asking Farrus to return tomorrow. Farrus took himself to the Guardians Tower alone for the night.
 * Maiya thanked Helena for her help looking after Karkuro, and asked her to tell Goreg that they had a barrel of apples for him. And with that, the rest of the group went to bed.
 * The next morning, as Ronan woke up, she felt a pulsing on her hand, and hear the words "Helloo, is somebody wearing my ring?"