Session 11 (The Pirates of Atlas)

 

"Session 11"
The Pirates of Atlas episode
Episode no.	Episode 11
Original air date	September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)

"Session 11" is the eleventh session of the campaign The Pirates of Atlas.

Synopsis

Session 10.5

Willem and Maren departed from their crew during their time in Haki to train with The Elder himself for the year, during their training The Elder taught them to fight together, as captain and first mate, and within the end of their training The Elder bestowed a gift upon Willem, at the peak of Haki sits a mystical sacred pool, one that once a name is spoken to it, it will protect it from the hands of death, but only once. Willem chose himself in this ritual, so that he may use his first life offensively, not worrying about the realm of death. Halfway into their training they were visited by a mage with silver hair, her features similar to that of their crewmate, they found themselves meeting with Azula’s sister Kira. Kira told them that the Stormlord killed Azula within his court, and Kira wishes for revenge. She told Willem she has been working on a plan for the last 8 years to take him out, she was just missing someone strong enough to fight him. Since her sister put her faith in them, Kira will do the same. The captain agreed to be in contact and continued his training for the year with Maren. At the end they were both given their weapons, Willem received a massive hammer, and Maren a staff. Reuniting with their crew in Atlas, they ventured together towards the Ruby Queen.

Main session

The session began with the crew preparing to sail off to The Ruby Queen. While on the boat alone, Ryul was approached with the second in command of the Nightingale’s “watcher,” He came to inform him of his next mission, to deliver a package to the Ruby Queen, and after the meeting he is ordered to assassinate Diana, and rendezvous with a boat within Elytra’s port to escape. Ryul was told the package was already in his room, before being able to do anything the crew joined back the boat. Discussing the logistics of the ships, the captain made the call to sail out. With the upgrades to the ship, what would be a year-long voyage was cut down to 4 months.

Traveling through the ocean, the crew discusses the Grand Admiral’s offer and comes to the conclusion of striking a deal with the Ruby Queen, but not joining the Navy just yet. As they sailed for months, Ryul decided to disobey orders and attempt to uncover what’s inside the package. Ryul successfully disarmed the protective device around the package and uncovered a bomb, bringing Reyen in to analyze its magical properties, Reyen evaluated it to have a blasting radius of 60 miles, and said this bomb is meant to destroy a city.

Ryul and Reyen approached Willem in private and informed him about the situation, with discussion back and forth Willem brought its attention to the whole crew and spoke of a plan to use the bomb on Stormwind to kill the Stormlord, Willem discussed that he can come back to life once. The crew however argued the morality of the plan, the bomb would also kill the entire city of Stormwind. A heated discussion revealed people's sense of morals. Willem and Durgl were okay with the casualties while Serana and Ryul were heavily against it. Ryul entered a stalemate with the captain stating that the bomb wont go off unless he gives the green light, and he will never do that to bomb innocents. Instead they teleported the bomb into an extraplanar existence created by Reyen where it would be safe and can be summoned if needed. As they eventually made it to the first sign of Elytra they came across a massive tidal wave that acted as a gate into the city. A gate in the center that forces everyone to a bottleneck, Elytra has full control over who comes in and goes out.

Upon arriving at the docks Durgl met another grung bard that challenged him into a poetry contest. An intense battle of poetry left the challenger defeated but he gained a newfound respect for Durgl. As the party entered Elytra they were met with its beauty. A city built on the water, boats were a method of transport within the city itself. Entering further they discover the city was divided into two districts. The first district focused on scientific, arcane, and artistic knowledge and production that held a victorian steampunk aesthetic, while the second district was a dark gothic vampire like city that focused on living and entertainment.

As the party ventured through they were brought into a private suite with luxurious benefits until their meeting with the Ruby Queen. During this time Serena headed to the city and interviewed people in regards to their perception of the Ruby Queen. Receiving various answers that called to the Cities main promise, “ a city of second chances.” When the moment came the crew were escorted to the Ruby Palace. An architectural marvel that tipped the palace resembled the architect of Haikuno, and even the royal guards were dressed in robes of black and red with Oni masks donned on. As the crew headed to the front gate they met a minotaur by the name of Volkath. He addressed himself as the Prime Guard and warned them that any threats of combat would be met with death.

As the crew finally stepped inside they found a handful of members that make up the Ruby Court. First they met Fae, A white haired mage who acts as second-in-command to the Ruby Queen, next was Izmel, the court mage, then there was Ash a silver haired swordsman, and last but not least stood Driekfin, who is an old friend and familiar face to Maren. As the Ruby Queen addressed them they began to speak about the offer made by the Grand Admiral. They pleaded that the Ruby Queen join them in the mission to take out the Stormlord. With back and forth conversations eventually the Ruby Queen agreed so long as Atlas recognizes Elytra as a sovereign nation, one that now has royal claim and is recognized as a kingdom. The Ruby Queen expressed that as long as her people are regarded as pirates, they have no hope to open trade deals, nor connect to the world without being imprisoned, as such should the Queen of Atlas officiate Elytra, then she would join in the crusade against the Stormlord. The crew agreed, and then the attention turned to Diana, Allie’s sister. As the Ruby Queen welcomed her sister, she told her that just because she is blood does not mean she gets any handouts and that she must earn her right as Allie did hers. At this moment Diana protested with anger, stating that Allie did not escape anything but just threw it on her. She is the one who was forced to honor the deal that Allie was supposed to and all that her sister did was run away from it. At this point Diana was tearing up, and Allie seeing her sister's pain told the crew she would like to speak to her alone.

The crew agreed and made their leave, except for Serena and Willem, Serena spoke to the Ruby Queen, stating that she sees her future within Elytra and wishes to gain a significant role in its progression, The Ruby Queen stated that the role could be hers if she was to earn it, and as a gift for joining now, the Ruby Queen can turn her into a half-vampire. Agreeing to the deal, Serena was transformed into one by The Ruby Queen. As for Willem, he spoke with Ash after noticing she was also an echo knight. They both wondered how the other learned this style of fighting. Ash told Willem that her master was a knight that also said a voice spoke to him, however he disappeared in the Paragon, an ancient temple that was believed to be the center of all religions in the world. As the crew exited out, Maren and Driekfin discussed how they ended up where they are, he told Maren that he now has the ability to command sea beasts and the two of them left to swim underwater so that she may meet his friends, after leaving Ryul and Durgl were playing rock paper scissors with Volkath when Ryul began hearing a whimsical sound of clown music, his expression and body turned to dread as a portal began opening up behind him and Ryul was faced with The Jesters, a team of high level killers within his organizations that are only sent to kill everything around them. As the lead Jester, calling himself King, look at Ryul, he told him that he betrayed the order, and now, now he must die.

Featured characters

Player characters

• Akula (absent)
• Anradeem Pravuil (absent)
• Durgl
• Jué Zosteif (absent)
• Ryul Vidro
• Serena Lockwood
• Maren
• Willem

Notes

• This was the first session which Centrist16, the primary writer, was unable to attend. Consequently, the synopsis was written and handled by the DM M0nke_Mode, with contributory notes from Freestyl3.