You’ve seen the character images. How about a new ship rendering?

After looking over the images and deck plans included from the original game, I’ve come to the following conclusion: there is no possible way the ship can look like that and meet those deck plans. For one thing, the decks would be about three feet tall! So, starting from scratch, this design already has plans working, which I will post later on. The departure from the original smalljammer will also influence the next appearance of the Spelljammer itself (another work in progress.)

Next Game: December 6th, 2009.

Reminders:
No games held on November 22nd or November 29th. Eat some turkey and watch teh football!

Still reeling from the attack and escape by Thald in the streets of Nightfall, Mal knocks Angus out (who was also six sheets to the wind) for revealing a little too much in front of Sterl concerning their mission for Sanguine.

Shortly after the servants return from Miriam’s with news of the other crew members’ deaths, a low fog fills the cobblestone streets surrounding Sterl’s stone mansion. From the mist comes a regiment of skeletal warriors, cloaked in red hoods and tattered capes like a legion of reapers. The sound of something mechanical follows as catapults appear in the streets. Xax manages to send a message to the ship to have “Pretty Boy” take the ship into orbit and beyond the reach of the local lord.

An invitation arrives by courier asking for Sterl and his vampire-slaying guests to join him for dinner. Sterl asks the trust of the last born to convince them to put everything they have of value, including weapons, into his coat room. He explains that they will be searched on the way in, and anything found will likely be confiscated, so he is providing weapons for the finding. Under duress, they comply. Before leaving, a servant brings Sterl a majestic-looking long coat.

Dresnik Thald, Local Lord of Nightfall

Vampire psionicist, intolerant of braggarts

While taking in a little shore leave on Nightfall, the braggart crew of the Black Drake apparently let it be known what fearless vampire killers they were as they hit the town. Hours later, Xax and Zyn were ambushed by a self-proclaimed vampire and his ankle-biting fiends… coincidence? Had the rest of the Last Born not shown up in the nick of time to defeat him, the outcome may have been in doubt.

Sterl filled Tenth and his charges in on who they may have faced: Lord Dresnik Thald, the local district lord and the one person no one who does business wants to offend. Realizing the group was more powerful than he first guessed, Thald pulled out all the stops to either convince the group to work for him or kill them outright for defiance. For the second time, Thald found himself not only defeated but utter destroyed. So why was it that when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange structure on a world he’d never been to, unable to affect the littlest thing around him? It was then that Thald saw Xax, this time without his cloak and mask, and truly wondered if he had been blessed or cursed…

Captain Sterl of the High Giff Command

Giff warrior, retired, local Nightfall businessman

There aren’t many giff left around who remember the “old days” before the smoke powder ran out and the elves got too big for their silk britches. Sterl was a good friend to Captain Tenth’s father and a rival gambler. As a navigator for the giff fleet prior to pursuing a command of his own, Tenth believes Sterl may be in possession of sky charts revealing the location of New Kaldera or a number of suitable alternatives.

Now retired to Nightfall and required to endure doing business under the thumb of vampire lord Dresnik Thald, it looks as if Tenth and his surviving charges must make some sort of reparations to the local lord to keep Sterl in business and out of hot water. But can the Last Born really trust a giff who’s sucking up to a vampire?

Next Game: November 15th, 2009, followed by Angus’s birthday dinner!

Reminders:
No games held on November 22nd or November 29th.

Back aboard the Black Drake underway towards her next port, Zyn finishes recopying her spellbook and updates Hanos’s book as well; their contract is complete. Hanos continues to work on a new spell when not helming or sleeping.

After bringing the Drake around close to a star, Captain Tenth says a few words to commit the body of Mr. Gorus to the sky he loved. Shortly afterward, the found lifejammer helm is tossed overboard as well.

The deckhands (Mr. Mourim, Bossun Tessar, deckhand Tallek, and helmsman Drannon) have a theory about defeating the “vampires,” that Sanguine’s power permeates the ship and blesses all their weapons against the unbelieving. Tallek, very superstitious, blames Zyn for bringing bad luck upon the ship in the first place (being a female and all.) When questioned about this by Angus, Telleck takes the opportunity to explain how sailors carry on without female company in the sky through the selective use of a very special barrel (?!) The crew also feels that they should be allowed ashore first on the next port, to be fair. Tallek also seeks out Xax and ask if there’s anything he can do to make his teeth better (he’s lost a few to rot). Xax heals what he can but cannot regrow the missing teeth until his powers mature further.

Ignoring the crew, Zyn asks the captain for a turn on the helm rotation. He sends her to Xax, an act that also prompts her to ask what Xax has stashed under the helm (a portable altar?) Taking a chance, Xax leads Zyn into the chartroom and helps her achieve a meditative state. The act enables both to meet with Xax’s brothers and tell Sanguine’s story. Zyn listens, accepts, and pledges her loyalty. Xax also adds that if she ever leaves, he’ll personally rip the knowledge from her mind before she gets very far.

Zyn Hyetal

Castaway, able deckhand, half-elven mage, prodigy helmsman

Zyn was found adrift lashed to a water barrel after the ship she crewed, the Demeter, was destroyed in a fight with neogi slavers. While appearing to be human, she revealed under scrutiny her half-elven heritage. Her ears had been cut round to better pass as a human because of the reputation of the Elven Imperium and the company she keeps to survive. While elves trust elves and humans trust humans, everyone suspects a half-elf.

After finally gaining enough trust for Xax and Tenth to let Zyn helm the ship, the captain made a discovery. Zyn appears to be a “prodigy helmsman” who can not only push a helm beyond her normal limits but can take control of a helm the way puppet master takes a marionette’s strings; she could fly the ship alone if she wanted. Zyn has also proven to have a head for counting and reconciling debt, the marks of a supply officer or future merchant, as well as seems taken with the teachings of Sanguine.

Captain Tenth of the Black Drake

Captain and owner of the Black Drake

Tenth is a tall human used to working hard and expects that his orders will be carried out. As the last of a group of captain who secretly brought goods back and forth to Kaldera, he and those before him were trusted to keep the Forlorn Valley and its inhabitants a secret from the Elven Imperium. An oath is taken before the mast of the Black Drake by each captain who has commanded her to serve the interests of Kaldera in Sanguine’s name.

Now that the prophecy of the Sanguine scroll has come to pass, Tenth has accepted the charge of taking his guests across the known spheres to a new world where Sanguine’s followers can begin anew. While Tenth expects obedience from his crew, he leaves the governing and choice-making of the Last Born to Xax and confers with him on plotting the ship’s course.

Next Game: November 8th, 2009

Reminders:
No games held on November 22nd or November 29th.