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Sunday, August 31

Chapter 34: The Belly of the Beast - Introduction

This is an adventure set in the Freeport setting, "Black Sails Over Freeport," written by William Simoni. You can read more about Arcanis at http://www.onaraonline.org. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

I did something different with this session, running two adventures simultaneously. What happens in this thread is that Kham’s past finally catches up to him. Although it might not be immediately obvious, there are greater forces at work manipulating events, both for and against Kham. Believe it or not, this is a spiritual journey as much as it is a physical one, and it requires quite a bit of suffering for our favorite val to come out on the other side, sanity and health intact.

The hulks as described here are based off of the actual hulks used in Victorian England. As a result, they’re a lot more strict than the description in Freeport (which basically makes them big, hollowed out slums). In reality, the hulks were a source of cheap labor, which is why they were kept around for so long even though the conditions were horrible.

I also used Dragon magazine’s article on prisons, which proved very useful in creating a guard framework and routine. With the descriptions of the ships, the dwarven guards, and a blow-by-blow detail of what life was like in the hulks, the setting was ripe for a prison break.

Fortunately, Sebastian had a plan. [MORE]

Labels: arcanis

posted by Mike Tresca at 10:29 PM

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