After a dinner of Indian/Pakistani food, the SO and I arrived at the store to meet a 'new' player who joined the game, although he had played in my wacky Pathfinderish-Beta mashup game in 2008/2009.
Said player chose to play a Durn-Western Isles Vrun Gentleman Adventurer. This character's father was a native-born Durnsman who had excelled in Mathematics and was scouted by a WI university to attend; after completing his advanced studies, Pops became a Physics professor (full honours, citizenship, and married a very Aelbaanesque (i.e., pale, tall, and eccentric) noblewoman, daughter to Admiral Kinsdem. From that union, Devlyn MqKullyn was born.
--Devlyn had been born on Doran, where he was schooled and grew up before travelling to the Western Isles to complete his higher education, to broaden his horizons, and to round-out his moral character. While his mixed ancestry was a bit controversial in the WI, it was/is tamer than in the New World (although Doran has a fair population of various mixed-bloods of all sorts).
Devlyn had been away (back in the WI) during the time of the pirate attack, and returned to find the place worse for wear. While still on the ship, he had engaged in some gambling with two sharpes who had intended on swindling him, but his successes deterred them, and they excused themselves separately and departed. He was then spoken to by an old man who had appeared to have been asleep during the game, and was suggested by this fellow to speak with the Governors when he made land. Devlyn thanked him for that odd tidbit, and upon disembarking, made his way to the walled community where his let flat is located, and met Qwyl, the gardener/grounds keeper for the three elegant apartment buildings within the confines. Through Devyn's somewhat less than tactful suggestion that Qwyl's assessment that his, 'black god warned you of danger, right?', was in fact correct, Qwyl was understandably hurt that he had not been warned, considering that the man had lost an eye during the fighting. Qwyl then suggested that to make up for that Devyn could treat him to lunch at the new drinking establishment (an overturned pirate hulk dragged onto shore). Devyn agreed and went upstairs to unpack.
--He was met by a woman who claimed to be his cousin, Ylnel, from the WI. She had been on Doran for a week or so, and was encountering terrible difficulty locating and securing her 15 pieces of baggage. She hoped that her cousin could help her sort that and had been allowed by the landlady to sleep in the hallway at Devlyn's door during that time. With the opportunity to wash up Ylnel and Devyn entered the flat, where she then set herself up in the guest room while he unpacked. A furred snake (he didn't think it was poisonous) extricated itself from his larger carry-on. Qwyl picked up the snake and draped it across his shoulders like a living stole. Ylnel, Qwyl, and he had a brief intro and set out to eat lunch.
On the way there Qwyl noticed movement in the bushes and set about determining its nature: folk rising up from a covered tunnel entrance. The furred snake dissuaded them from exiting, and Qwyl began to blow on his signal whistle until both House Ahzinbakh dog handlers and the local militia both converged on the spot. The dog handlers attempted to dismiss the event, but the partisan woman leading the militia would hear none of it and called for additional backup. Devlyn took that opportunity to ditch Qwyl, and tried doing the same with Ylnel, but she clung to his arm and they set off to the Governors' Estate.
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---Introductions were mde; Ylnel was explained to be a University-level investigator in Fae Sciences, and her 15 pieces of kit being lab gear and the like; the Govs and secondary characters were involved; the Sphere was shown to Devlyn once his WI (Aelbaan) ancestry was disclosed; the ship reacted oddly to his presence and the feedback was unsettling to Ashta (!), but they went for a flight as Mela Mela and Ylnel trotted off with a guard and Ahnni to Mela's alchemical lab (guarded by her Fae friends who had warned her of the very large 'Bunk-Bunk' creatures who came out at night and stood around the other PCs and ate either their exhaled breath, or their dreams; the Fae were not certain of which), but along the way, they were almost ambushed by pirates flushed out from the jungly vegetation. Ahnni had Jaunted with one of the pirates, but was struck-ill by a charm the man was wearing (it was a stylised 'A' in some sort of silvery alloy and the Black Metal); House A dog-handlers then set their dogs on the girls but they held their own until the Sphere came to the rescue and squashed the dogs in a TK field; one handler fled into the swamp which is known to hold pirates; Ahnni was cured of an extra-planar poisoning effect generated by something emitting radiations from deep within the island; the dog handler was pursued by a TK probe and was harassed by the PCs until we wrapped it up around 11 PM.
The 'new' player was interested in downloading the .pdfs, and reading this blog (as is Tyb's player), so we may be hearing from them in the comments in the coming days/weeks.
