Moon Catcher
| Moon Catcher | |||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||
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ShadowHaven Jurgen Mortimer | |||||||
| Mara | |||||||
Summary
Mara goes to the metaplane of man to save her mentor.
Never A Dull Moment
Mara sits in her hobbit hole, as she sits enjoying her book, Mortimer materializes. The freespirit has some disturbing news - Malia is in some sort of trouble. She appears to have been put in stasis; a rock rests on her chest that seems immovable despite being very small. Seeing that this is something of an emergency, Mara and Mortimer climb in to her new limo and head toward Mt. Rainier.
Malia's Place
The ride to the mountain cave is fairly uneventful. They talk a bit on the way, briefly discussing Pumpking Jack and the Gum Toad. At the border, Mara chats up the guard about animals, playing in to her fake identity.
Arriving at Malia's cave, they have a cautious look around. Nothing, aside from Malia's predicament, seems to be amiss. The stone resting on her is small. In the astral she appears to be sleeping and red wispy chains emanate from the stone. Despite it's size, it's impossible to move.
The pair begin a ritual to help track her whereabouts. The tendrils appear to lead into the metaplanes and so they are off. Meeting the Dweller again, Mara answers the being's questions regarding her purpose and is allowed to pass.
Friends and Reminders
Appearing cliffside in the metaplane of man, Mara and Mortimer take off over the sea making their way to a city called Celephais. Landing, they see tendrils of the chain accompanied by cloven footprints. Making their way through the city they end up in a market on the outskirts. Here Oracle draws her attention to a notebook for sale. A notebook she wrote during her training. Haggling with the seller, she agrees to review the notes and summon the seller to discuss her thoughts at a later date.
Continuing on, they bump into Jurgen exiting a tavern. The dwarf explorer is friendly and, when told of their purpose, keen to join them. The newly formed trio continues to track the tendrils and footprints, following them up a mountain path. Jurgen tells them that he's heard this is not a pleasant place; it's dangerous and can lead to very bad endings. They all continue though.
Confrontation
At the end of the trail is a large black tower next to a river. On the river is a black galleon, preparing to embark on a trip to the moon. As it takes off a few Men from Leung confront them. Mara knows them as spirit slavers. The trio dispatches them handily and while Jurgen and Morty distract reinforcements, she makes her way to climb the anchor of the ascending ship.
On the ship, she first sneaks through a hold with some rather nasty squidlike sounds coming from the dark. At the exit to the hold, she waits as two crewmembers enter, then she pushes them in while exiting and whatever it was gets them. Making her way through the ship, she comes across another Man from Leung. This spirit she cuts in half with a surprise attack and then sets his prisoner, Kier, free.
Continuing, she follows the tendrils to a door and disarms a rather large alchemical trap. Inside she finds Malia and sets her free just as Mortimer and Jurgen join them. The quintet escape the ship on a dingy and make it back to the river. Here they part ways, Jurgen returning to his home, Kier going back to his life and Malia, Mortimer and Mara returning to Malia's cave.
Rewards
- IG5 discount
- 20 karma
- 20 CDP
- +1 Wild Reputation
- May raise Malia Strongoak's loyalty to 5
- Optional Contact: Jurgen (C2/L4 Gates of Ishtar Member)
- Optional Quality: Spirit Affinity (Man)
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Mara
I'm not sure how Malia got herself into that situation. Another reminder that Spirits are as complex as metahumans. We are both glad to have her back, though. In the meantime, it's probably prudent of me to brush up on rituals, disenchanting... the areas of magic that I have largely ignored.
I'm glad to have run into Jurgen again. He's a wealth of information and, all things considered, rather pleasant company.
As for Mortimer, I sense that he and I will continue to orbit one another in this strange way.