Arc III: Pirates and Princesses

## Arc III Characters:

* Eugene Swampass [He/Him] (Played by Reagan - He/Him) - A Shadar-Kai Swashbuckler Rogue. In the last 4 years not much has changed for him, he is still the captain of *The Riptide*, though with a new first mate since the death of Andromeda. He met Mattias at a port, lost and looking for his old crew. Swampass agreed to take him on as part of his crew and eventually his first mate when Andromeda passed away. Over the course of his reunion with the Princess and Ronnie, he loses his ship and his crew, and is haunted by visions of Asmodeus, who wants his help to get the Princesses magic in order to free himself from The Infernal Plane. Through it all he stays loyal to his friends despite everything he's lost and everything that Asmodeus promises in return.

* Ronnie Duff [He/Him] (Played by Evan - He/Him) - A Human Oath of the Crown Paladin. Ronnie has spent the past 4 years growing even closer with the Princess, since she is even more of an outcast due to the uncontrollable nature of her magic. Throughout the journey he grows an even stronger bond with Swampass, and eventually is able to let go of his crippling responsibility when Mirabella proves herself capable of protecting herself.
* Mirabella Alaric [She/Her] (Played by Kristian - He/Him) - A Human Wild Magic Sorcerer. After the traumatic events of the last Festival, Mirabella gained a set of magical abilities from Shielle's death. Though being unable to control her powers at first, she is able to get a grasp on them after learning the truth about why she was sent off to be married to one of the Syrian children. Not only that but she grows her bonds with her friends as well as with Shielle, whose consciousness had been unknowingly transferred into the Princess upon her death.

* Mattias [He/Him] (Played by Nora - She/Her) - A Dhampir Echo Knight Fighter. Matthias was a dead man, who died saving the first crew he sailed with. Upon his death he found himself on the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman. He was allowed to return to the world of the living, and gained the ability to summon a copy of his former self as an Echo in battle. After meeting and joining Swampass’ crew, he quickly moved up the ranks into First Mate and spends his time serving his captain, and searching for his old crew.

## Arc III Synopsis:

### Session 1: The Reunion

The group begins separated in half, with Swampass and Mattias on their ship *The Riptide.* Ronnie and Princess Mirabella are in a familiar position as well, on a carriage on the way to a town. But instead of a festival full of powerful sorcerers and time loops, the two are headed for a small town on the coast of the Azure bay known as Summermoon. This town is the closest port to Lyria, where the Princess is set to go and be married off to one of the children of Mother Lyrian.

After a quick reunion, and an introduction to Mattias, *The Riptide* sets sail. Mirabella and Ronnie are separated at night but soon meet up as they begin their third day on the high seas. Mattias is doing his duties as First Mate and notices and approaching ship but doesn't think much of it. He realizes his mistake quickly as the ship is moving unnaturally fast and catches up to them, opening fire. The party works with Swampass' crew in order to try and fight them off, but they are soon boarded by an Erinyes as well as a Horned Devil.

After a short spat they overhear that they are going after the Princess rather than trying to kill them all, but won't say why, other than they need her power. The Princess shows her power while fighting them with her golden infused magic, which occasionally turns red and overpowers her, causing a Wild Magic Surge. This is what sets their boat on fire and inspires a powerful Lich to also appear on the boat. He gloats to Swampass before casting Disintegrate on the hull of *The Riptide* which causes it to sink. Luckily the entire crew is able to escapes and be pulled to shore by their Captain using his Ring of Water Walking.

They land on the shores of the Lyrian Desert, with the closest town being a 3 days journey by foot, and them needing to be in the Lyrian Oasis in 4 days or risk the Lyrian family joining sides with the Vosea in the coming war.

While traveling, the group helps Mirabella practice her magic, which inspires the spirit of Shielle to awaken inside of her as it had to warn her of what was coming on the boat. She explains that the power that she heard, which Mirabella now holds, is extremely powerful but unstable within mortal beings, hence the surges of Magic that appear in the color Shielle used while in control. She also gives Mirabella access to a ruellete type spell that she has access to which can be used to cast any random spell. Doing this causes them to summon an Earth Elemental, who helps them reach The Lyria Desert City much faster than anticipated. They are greeted at the gate by Cyrus Lyrian, who takes them to his home in order for them to rest before journeying to the Lyria Oasis tomorrow.

After a short shopping spree the group separates to go to bed, all except for Swampass, who wanders about the city looking for his lost love and previous First Mate Andromeda, or some family of theirs. He doesn't find that, but does see a familiar figure of the winged Erinyes. He steps outside the city walls which keep Devils and Demons out, and she lands in front of him, introducing herself as Jocasta. She asks for his help, saying that she can give him a new ship and his crew back and all it would take is for him to hand over the Princess to them and look the other way. He refuses and tries to turn her to their side, but she denies as she can never escape her boss.

In the morning they begin a carriage ride to The Lyrian Oasis, but as they are crossing a magical bridge they are ambushed by Jocasta who attacks them with Lorenz. Lorenz runs away with his tail between his legs, but Jocasta wouldn't run and is instead killed by The Princess, who has gained a stronger control of her magic by working with Shielle rather than fighting back. The session ends with the group finally reaching their original end goal, with a few cuts and bruises along the way.

### Session 2: The Wedding From Hell

The day has finally come for Mirabella to meet each of Mother Lyrian's 4 children and choose who she will marry (as long as she agrees on the choice of course). As they enter the Lyria dining hall, Mirabella learns she will be going on short, one hour dates, with each of her four children and then eliminating two and having longer dates with the final two before meeting with Mother and deciding who she will be marrying. Her friends refuse to leave her side during all of this and Mother humors them by letting them go along as long as they don't interrupt any of the dates.

Mirabella starts with Zircon Lyrian, an Earth Genasi man. He is a man of few words with a heart of gold, literally. He takes her to The Dwarven Crags and shows her around what could be her new home, buying her jewelry and other expensive gifts.

After that she goes with Cordeila, who is very nervous but sweet. She takes Mirabella to her underwater city and to an orphanage that she volunteers most of her time at. Cordelia hints at grim intentions of Mother, but can't say more as they are being watched by her.

Cyrus sees her again and takes her fighting in his personal quarters, having a small sparing match that she wins handily. She asks him to be real and because he long ago erased the magic charms that allow Mother to hear everything within his town, he tells her that she is horrible and is just doing this in order to gain more power and found it very convenient since her father was trying to get rid of her. This strikes as cord as she didn't know that was the case and had genuinely believed that she was doing this all in an effort to help the kingdom. He comforts her as best he can before she leaves for her final date.

Aura takes her on a magical cloud ride above the continent, and asks them for the same realness she has asked of all the others. Aura reveals that they don't care much for being a leader and have been letting the people make their own decisions for years, rarely giving in to Mother's whims.

After all her dates, she asks for time to think instead of more dates, which Mother grants in an effort to keep her here rather than overwhelming her and having her run away. She goes back to their shared quarters where she asks Ronnie if he knew that her father was just pawning her off. He admits he did, but didn't want to tell her because he didn't see it that way and wanted her to get away from Henric regardless because he has always been a terrible father to her. Mirabella explodes into icy wind, turning Ronnie into a deer with Polymorph and nearly killing him. Swampass and Mattias are able to calm her down, but she again leaves to prepare, looking to go back to Cyrus, who she meets in the dining hall as he had the same idea. He asks her what her plan is and she admits she isn't sure, and only knows that she cares about him as she kisses him for the first time. They part before their impending wedding.

Meanwhile Swampass spends the day while not with the Princess thinking about his dream, where a man on the throne of Shadowfell sat obscured by shadow. He reveals himself to be the one after Mirabella and her magic and offers him something in exchange, rather than a new boat, he shows he has the soul of Andromeda. But even this is not enough to tempt him. On the same night that Mirabella sneaks out, Swampass enters the Mothers room and is able to hide as she comes in and has a conversation with Gem Lovejoy in the mirror about their worries for their kingdoms.

The next day the whole of Lyria as well as Henric Alaric join for the wedding, where the Princess steps up and announces that there will be no wedding. At this, Lorenz appears along with the Lich who attack the group, sending Swampass to the Shadowfell, and killing Ronnie Duff. Before they have a chance to get at the Princess, she along with Shielle let out a burst of magic that loops time back to the previous day just as it had before. Thankfully the two who had dealt with this previously were able to remember along with the Princess. In an effort to keep the wedding more safe, Gem Lovejoy teleports into the Oasis for the wedding.

Once again Mirabella announces there will be no wedding before the Demons appear once again. They try the same plan but are stopped when Gem brings Swampass back from the Plane of Fire and Ronnie is able to lessen the damage and avoid Power Word Kill. After dispatching the two, Mirabella is able to properly confront her father and tell everyone that she is leaving to be a free woman and adventure, but that she would return with their Prince, and kisses Cyrus. The group are given a new boat, and Swampass is given a new destination in the form of another dream. To get Andromeda back from Hell's Prison.

## Arc III Trivia:

* The theme of this Arc is the conflict between Duty and Freedom, and whether or not you should do what you want, or what is best for the people around you
* This arc introduces the endgame level big bad Asmodeus, the King of Hell who is trapped. He targets Mirabella's power in order to escape.
* Jocasta tells Swampass during their late night conversation that she and her allies have been hunting the holder of the Wild Magic for a long time, and she also drops that Shielle's pet and friend was actually poisoned by them in order to get her alone.
* Rather than play his Arc I character again, Kristian played Princess Mirabella Alaric who was an NPC up until that point
* One of the biggest parts of the Princesses character arc during this Arc was having Shielle inside her mind speaking to her. This was a decision that was made during the first session while wandering the desert to help enhance the story