A Sundered World: Episode 105 Synopsis

Cast

• Agron (level 3 scion psion)
• Katra "Crazy Gin" (level 3 kobold pirate)
• Sift (level 3 deva shaman)
• Terminus (level 3 cthon vampire)

Summary

Waive opted to stay behind at Spiral Harbor, in order to both help rebuild and—while there weren't any angels overseeing the archive—learn more about the swords that he and Agron wielded.

While they waited for Katra to repair her ship, they were approached by a well-sculpted cthon named Terminus. He had seen their fight against the dragon, and wished to accompany them on their travels.

Once the repairs were complete, they simultaneously celebrated their victory and mourned Ironhide's death with an excess of alcohol. After they were several mugs deep, a man approached them. He introduced himself as a Silas Tasso, captain of a merchant vessel that routinely sailed this part of the Astral.

He'd overhead them talking about finding god parts, and as thanks for saving the island from certain destruction, provided them with a linechart that lead to a god-fragment. Aside from Metacarpolis this was their only lead, and since Sift could see ley lines this meant that even without Waive they'd be able to easily locate the fragment.

After a brief, minimally damaging encounter with a star kraken, they arrived at the fragment. It was an arm, half-obscured by shimmering, golden clouds, and as they approached it saw that it was pierced by tens of thousands of swords. Ominous, but not nearly as immediately harmful as the star kraken that was perched atop it.

They descending into the clouds and searched for an entrance, hoping to avoid another kraken. When they found none they slowly emerged and circled about the arm, continuing to search in vain until Katra realized that the kraken was dead. Now concerned as to what killed it, they cautiously sailed towards the top. One they were close, they heard someone singing.

When they reached the plateau, they found a man seated next to the kraken's corpse and a vast pit. His hair and beard were both long and red, and he was clad in armor made of golden scales. A single sword pierced the kraken's eye, and a considerable portion of one of its tentacles was missing; part of it was roasting over a firepit.

They greeted him, and explained that they had come in search of godsteel. He warned them that while there might still be some near the bottom, they would have to fight for it. Katra conjured a guttering flame to light their way, and they drifted down the long shaft. They could see the faint, green glow of souls peering out from numerous cracks, but nothing challenged them for a long while.

Near the bottom a group of ten golden suits of armor, wielding golden swords, flew towards them. They ordered the party to leave, and when they refused the warriors spread out so that they could surround and attack from every direction, including above and below. Though they were outnumbered, after Agron's sword consumed two of their souls the rest retreated into the depths.

Hoping that they wouldn't return, they continued down until they came across a vast chamber. Numerous souls were gathered around a golden giant laboring over an anvil, and more emerged from a circular pit, carrying lumps of golden metal: godsteel. The giant would strike a piece with its hammer, and after the third strike the metal would transform into a suit of armor. He would then motion it towards one of the souls, and it would encase them.

They party revealed themselves, and the smith said that it would give them godsteel in exchange for Agron's sword, so that he could free the warriors trapped within. Obviously his sword refused this bargain, so he resolved to just slay the smith, devour his soul, and claim the metal. Agron sped towards the smith. He quickly shaped a piece of godsteel into a massive sword, and though Agron managed to evade the blade, his sword was unable to pierce the smith's armor.

The smith swatted Agron into the ground with the flat of his sword. He gave Agron one final chance to surrender the sword, but when he again refused raised his hammer to crush him. Before he could strike, Katra's voice rang out from behind him: she had slipped past, and was now dancing about, holding a chunk of godsteel. Her taunt gave Agron enough time to will himself away.

The smith furiously hammered his sword into a shining fire lance. He fired it at Katra, but she twisted about the blast, dodging it, and shouted for everyone to leave. In the chaos that ensued, Terminus tried to sneak past the smith and snatch some of the armor, but after barely avoiding a salvo of searing blasts he turned about to follow Katra's lead.

They ascended the shaft, but didn't make far when they heard another peal of the smith's hammer, and then saw a golden sphere hurtling towards them. There was plenty of room in the shaft, allowing them to easily avoid it. They considered trying to catch it and take it with them, but Katra realized too late that it was covered in runes, the same kind of runes inscribed her own elemental grenades.

At least they survived the explosion.

Back at the ship, as they prepared to leave another soul approached them. It was Ironhide. He returned Katra's ghostly blade and thanked her. It was because of her that he was able to enact his revenge against Panzer. He told her that he hoped they would meet again before leaving, floating down into the pit.

Behind the Scenes

Adam, the player of Waive, is out of the game for at least a few weeks, and Matthew had to abruptly duck out mid-session, so I'm not sure if we'll be playing next week, if we'll have to scrap the campaign and start fresh, or what. If we had to start all over again, what kind of a campaign would you like to see us do? Where would you want the players to go? What would you want them to face?

At the least I'm glad to have taken this setting through the motions (several times). It's been very useful design-wise to see how the classes function over extended play. The players have also asked some questions about the setting that I'd taken for granted, and even suggested additional content to help make it stand out even more than it already does.

Melissa got done proofreading it about a week ago, so over the next few days I'll be going through the doc again, updating it with corrections, clarifications, and new content. Art (the black and white stuff, anyway) is approaching the halfway mark.