Fabula Ultima 4 - The First Resort

The map so far.

The party had arrived in Baia del Sol, and took up a rest at the Wight Sands Resort, a hotel run by undead. Their night was anything but restful. As they slept, they saw a vision, a vision that cut between the Growth, the Swamp they were just in, the Terrabolt Mountain, huge sandstorms sweeping Thorton and Waystone, the dragons in the south east hiding in their homes, the floating waterfall freezing over, and a blinding light to the north west. Then, something came up from below the clouds, below the primary island. It was accelerating towards impact, but at impact, they woke up.

Three of the players went out to the balcony of their hotel rooms, with Quintus and Rei chatting about what happened, as Morgan paced nervously. Max had hidden himself under his bed.

The next day, they regrouped and went to the airship docks to try to find passage south, but all passenger ships had been grounded to free up lanes for ships carrying repair and aide supplies. They wanted to buy passage on a ship to Yuventus, but they weren’t taking passengers. The party had a quick chat and decided that they were going to get hired on this ship. To do this, they needed to find some slackers.

After some checking around, they found some people who were loafing on the dock, shooting dice. They managed to convince them to find a way to quit, if not be unable to work this flight, through illness or whatever. To help, a quick bribe helped grease the wheels, and they had 3 workers willing to help. They had to find a 4th, sleeping in a park in the town.

A quick talk to him, got him on board, and they had, potentially, an in. While in the park they also helped a woman find her missing cat, but lol lmao, Quintus was able to give the chase I had planned an end around by being able to talk to beasts. Very Funny, but also, cool use of abilities. They had to fight off some Dandylions, one adult and two youths, who had adopted the orange cat as a new family member, but they were able to rescue the animal and return it home, receiving a lighting resist pendant for their troubles.

The stage was set, and they took up a spot at a cafe near where the sailors were setting their scene up. A quick minor poisoning, and one of the ship managers came to find them. Upon seeing them fucked up, they became exasperated and was talking about being short staffed for the trip. They noticed the party, and asked if they were still looking for work, offered them some pay, and they had their way onto the ship.

The work wasn’t too bad, since most of them have had experience in some manual labor but the trip was intercepted by the ship coming under attack. A pirate crew comprised of Poor Rates and Pyre Rats attacked the ship, and were led by the captain Lennox Fontaine, the swashbuckling ratfolk leading his crew. During the fight with some of the Poor Rats, they managed to call for backup, and Lennox arrived on the scene, aiding his crew in the fight. The fight wore on, but the party managed to keep momentum in their favor. They had dealt significant damage to captain Fontaine, but he was able to escape from the scene, as a sigil flared up on his body, visible through clothing, and he transformed into a streak of lightning through the sky. After he left, the deck was in clean up of the stragglers, but something the party noticed was that some members of the pirate crew weren’t fighting back, but were instead doubled over in pain. It wasn’t many, only about 3 or 4 people, but on those people those same symbols flared up, but they ended up morphing into more monstery monsters.

The goal with this is to put a little worry with the symbols inscribed on the party. The next goal is to give them another vision about what they’re going to do to sort of nudge them in a direction. Additionally, I want them to interact with other people in various stages of the symbol development so they can try to piece together what’s causing them to evolve or transform bearers into monsters. Just more of the “taking from Final Fantasy XIII” play I’m going for.