Session 23: Detour in Razakstad

General Summary

Tadpole on Deck

The trouble starts before Razakstad. Rad Polo experiences a temporal kickback mid-flight and reverts to his earliest form, a dula-dulas tadpole flopping on the deck, gasping for water. Vutha acts without hesitation, scooping up the tadpole and depositing him in the nearest available liquid: Coyote Rose's jug of psychic beer. The tadpole swishes, breathes, and gets drunk. He also acquires telepathy.

Nyxek is quietly relieved to have one fewer strange outsider to manage. Vutha is less sanguine. He points out that the only people aboard who understood anything about the Fallacy were the dragonborn they threw overboard and the dula-dulas now floating in a beer jug. Nyxek acknowledges the problem but holds his position: pit fiends are creatures of law, to be bound in their own deals and discarded when no longer useful. Vutha trusts the Vox's wisdom. Mostly.

The question of passage to Reaver's Deep comes to a head. Thunderfox is willing to take them but points out that flying is not free and the ship needs resupply. Nyxek notes that killing Diirhaas ought to count for something. Thunderfox disagrees. Nyxek pivots, offering instead what Thunderfox actually wants: stories about the Dragon Empire and the founding of Clan Nyxek. The rest of the Claw finds this somewhat embarrassing. Thunderfox loves every word of it. He agrees to cover the entire trip himself and calls for Coyote Rose to bring up her best cask of psychic beer. This is now a party cruise.

The psychic beer distributes its gifts generously. Vutha gains the ability to drink anything into himself. Kal can make people sneeze. Nyxek produces rainbows. The Rad-pole, transferred to the full cask for more room, develops the ability to share thoughts with animals. Aginnad turns into a sphere with his face on it. The powers from the psychic beer will remain as long as they maintain their buzz. They keep drinking until they get to Razakstad.

Sight Seeing in Razakstad

The Vigilance Zephyr docks at Razakstad. The Claw disembarks while the crew handles resupply. Thunderfox is gone for approximately five minutes. It is too long.

A dockworker soulforged turns toward Vutha and speaks his dragon name. Mornualin. The construct's posture is wrong, its eyes glowing, its voice speaking badly accented Draconic through what appears to be false meat. The message is brief and urgent: Midori lost track of them for a time but has found them again. The speaker has been forced to send his monstrous creations against the Empire, but under duress. He would very much prefer not to be eaten for his crimes against the Emperor.

The eyes dim. The soulforged shudders back to itself, startled to find a draconic lizardfolk staring it down. Kal identifies the symbol stamped on this construct and the other dockworkers as the same mark scrawled on the false meat monsters that attack the Boundary for Mekka-Tiamat. Nyxek, who is a somewhat messy drunk, orders Vutha to kill it. Vutha obliges by widening his jaw. Peacekeepers blow their whistles.

Sphere Aginnad intervenes. He identifies the symbol as belonging to Father Oz, a maker of monsters, not a soldier. The Bug Brothers working the docks are mostly harmless (to the Claw) and killing them will cause more trouble with the locals than it's worth. Nyxek is still considering this when a messenger arrives with an invitation and a payment offer: Lord von Razak requests a meeting.

The Claw pauses to examine a statue in the square: the magical, powerful, multi-hatted Lanzo von Razak, rendered in stone for posterity. They decide the meeting is worth their time.

The Lord Formerly Known as Marquis Max

They are received at the summer cottage by the retired Lord Maximillian von Razak, who is extremely proud of his son and extremely willing to tell them so. He is also, it becomes clear, operating on behalf of Vox Tempest Raijin. Nyxek's scales quiver with inquisitorial fury.

Max spills what he knows, though he grows cagey when he senses Nyxek's true intentions. All of the Vox have outside contacts of some kind. He will not elaborate. What he will provide is the location of Diirhaas's stronghold: a floating fortress called Tempest Tide, stolen from some dread baron during her honeymoon. The Midori hex crystal should still lead them there.

Max makes a counteroffer. He wants the dula-dulas tadpole, and in exchange he will provide his private luxury skiff, the one he claims he fought over a tree on the moon. Vutha asks what a moon is. Max produces a model. Nyxek notes the absence of cannons and declines. They return to Thunderfox with a destination and continue north.

The Scent of Dragon's Reach

Flying northwest, following the homing crystal, a strange breeze moves through the ship. It feels like home, or something close to it. Vutha asks. Thunderfox identifies it as Dragon's Reach, home of the metallic dragons, avoided by most travelers the way they avoid the Dragon Empire. The Sentinels point out that the Empire is under attack from the outside constantly. Thunderfox shrugs. There are a lot of different folks and agendas beyond the Boundary.

Vutha suggests that what everyone needs is a God Emperor. It helps a lot. His words seem to freeze the crew in place.

It is not his words. It is magic from a boarding vessel.

Trouble Comes Calling

The Gray Angels have found them. They are looking for Draxelas. Nyxek attempts to explain that Draxelas is below deck. Trouble calls Draxelas on her ident-a-hedron, he orders them killed. The boarders agree that it is time for some piracy.

The Claw crosses over. Captain Trouble commands a crew of pirates. Kal picks up Nyxek and drops him into the middle of them, then grabs Trouble herself, flies her over the rail, and dropkicks her out of the sky. A vampire mage crawls along the outside of the hull casting spells. Vutha scrapes him off with a thrown rock. From the central cabin, a female vampire emerges looking for Trouble in a different sense entirely.

The vampire moves on Nyxek, fails, and turns to mist. The Claw tears through the crew. Nyxek calls daylight midship. Kal flanks and corners the mist. She rematerializes into the elemental tortle's grip, sees her end clearly, and offers surrender.

She will give Nyxek her ship. He senses she will keep her word, and sets his terms: take the Claw to Tempest Tide, raise no arms against them, and afterward find Draxelas and tell him to return to the Empire and confess his treachery. He asks if any other demands are needed. Vutha opens his mouth. Nyxek preempts him: not about your stomach. Vutha closes his mouth.

The vampiress agrees. "I am Chastity Sidhe," she says.

A slightly inebriated Nyxek replies, "Not for long."

The Claw now owns a sky pirate ship.