Chris (Pawnbroker), Nick (Mungo), Ray (Spearchucker) and Tim (Laerynthe) all showed up today. The session happened at Bruce's place because Mike opted out (too tired from traveling). Gaming next week will be at Chris's place, because Bruce won't be around (dance competition in Houston). Ray will most likely be running some kind of science fiction game (possibilities include Fading Suns, GURPS Space, and several others).
The characters started the session by spending a night in the ruins of the agaf town they had discovered at the end of the last session. The night passed uneventfully, but in the morning Spearchucker (who was on the last watch) spotted a demek hiding in a ruin across the street. Moving out to investigate, he was paralyzed by one of the eyesnakes that had already paralyzed the demek. About an hour later, the other characters rose and sent Laerynthe out to free Spearchucker and catch as many eyesnakes as possible. Thanks to his recently-acquired snake-handling skills, Laerynthe was able to capture ten eyesnakes, apparently from a very recent nest (certainly established after the sack of the town). Laerynthe also killed the paralyzed demek, so Messerbad could turn it into a zombie. Messerbad also transformed the slain demek carrying the undetonated firekeg discovered last session into a zombie. The first zombie was employed to tirelessly hack a trail through the jungles, while the firekeg zombie was instructed to follow the group at a safe distance (8-10 meters).
Spearchucker estimated that it would take about four days to get to Bridge-to-First (the Maker community at the head of the Great Lifter) from the agaf ruin.
Three days after leaving the agaf ruin, the characters found a stream of Maker-contaminated water. Mungo almost drank from it, but Pawnbroker stopped him after noticing that all the nearby plants were dead. The characters thought about following it to learn where it became poisoned, but decided not to. Spearchucker theorized that there might be a Maker factory upstream, but probably nothing associated with the Great Lifter.
Shortly after passing the poisoned stream, the characters encountered a patrol of at least two Makers and upwards of twenty demeks. The patrol opened fire on the characters with their anaquels at relatively long range, but accomplished little more than scaring Mungo with the loud noise.
Laerynthe managed to disrupt the demek anaquel line by sneaking up and throwing eyesnakes among them. The demeks were unable to resist the eyesnakes' gaze, and fell to paralysis easily. Meanwhile, Pawnbroker and Mungo used their demek crossbows to wound the patrol leader. One of the Maker's demeks tried to carry him to safety, but Pawnbroker shot the creature in the leg, and Laerynthe used his knowledge of Maker language (and his Intimidation skill) to order the demeks to stop. Within a few minutes, the characters were able to dominate those demeks that had not already fled to fallen victim to one of the Eyesnakes.
The characters managed to capture Leader-of-Inferiors, who had commanded the patrol, and fourteen of the demeks. Eight more demeks were frozen by Laerynthe's eyesnakes. The characters led the fourteen demeks back to a large eyesnake nest they had spotted several hours' travel back, then left them there. By the time they returned, the eyesnakes had killed all eight of the remaining demeks. Messerbad turned three of them to zombies (one to replace the firekeg zombie, who had been shot to bits in the confusion, and two to carry the dead demeks' equipment). The characters managed to obtain the following gear from the demek patrol:
Laerynthe took one anaquel, but left the ammunition on the demek. The firekeg demek was destroyed in the confrontation, but the firekeg was okay.
After finishing with the demeks, the characters tied Leader-of-Inferiors to a tree and interrogated him. He told them that:
The characters spent a day interrogating the Maker and feeding him jaya to get him drunk (learning in the process that he had very little resistance to jaya).
After talking to Leader-of-Inferiors, the characters decided that a side trip to Ershandin Zek to enlist the aid of the agaf might be worth trying. They estimated that it would take about five days to travel there, and that they would need to spend another day waiting for Messerbad to grow food to replace what they had eaten. At the end of their journey, they found themselves upon the shore of the Lesser Sea, easily able to see the incredible volcanic spires of Ershandin Zek on the other side of the mouth of Abbatine's Great River. They could also hear the faint strains of a Celebrant Festival deep in the jungle.
While the characters waited on the shore, they spotted a small ship heading along the shore. They elected to try and flag this ship down by detonating the firekeg, an attempt which was successful.
Soon after the blast, the ship changed course and set down anchor some distance from the shore. A boat came to shore, bearing the ship's Mate, Atrabanjin. He told the characters that his ship was from Patagian Zek, and that he and his crew answered to the Metros of that citadel. He was somewhat arrogant, but willing to take the characters aboard, especially after he realized that Mungo was oorthoi. He told the group that two days ago a crewman had been killed by a falling spar. If Mungo would say the rituals for the crewman, he would consider that passage for the whole group to Patagian Zek. Racking his brain, Mungo was able to vaguely recall something one of his relatives had said on the subject. It remains to be seen if he is able to perform them to Atrabanjin's satisfaction.
The characters have boarded the Straight Wave, Atrabanjin's ship, but Mungo has not yet performed the rituals for Atrabanjin's crewman. Each character (Pawnbroker, Mungo, Laerynthe, and Spearchucker) gained two experience points.