ISLES OF THE IMPRISONED MOON - SESSION THREE - THE DOORS OF UTER-PHRANG

• If session one was about the battle on the Falling Star and two was about defeating the Caucus Pirate No-Dicto, then three is mainly about the island of Uter-Phrang.
• It's even longer than usual after the game for me to be writing this so if anyone who was there remembers anything I don't then let me know an I will put it in.
• As usual, this will mainly be of interest to the people that were there and will be written in a practical style that gets it down fast & clear.

Present were Jepta Crunt (Chris H), Barlang Rift (Dan Voyce) and, when he turned up, Richie Cyngler as the ancient widow Busla Monte Bul.

An impression of the Isles Imprisoned Moon by K Yani

PART ONE - ON THE FALLING STAR

The PC's begin, having defeated the Caecus Pirate No-Dicto, they are surrounded by the Cockroach clans of uter-Phrang. Jepta decides to examine the spume for useful items that have come up from the wreck
.
Looking over the side she sees only fragments of wood and the bio-luminescence of the ship sinking into the deeps, with the trailing tentacles of the under-hull following it like a falling banner.

The PC' try to instill some order and discipline in the Cockroach Clans. Barlang offers free ruffs & Jepta tries to stop them crawling all over the ship & getting into the captains wine cabinet.

Impressed with their pirate-murdering abilities, the Clans agree to help the PC's pilot the ship. They are not very good at this and numerous attempts to raise the foresail lead to it crashing to the deck multiple times.

Eventually, all the crew and the clanspeople working together manage to do something or other with most of the sails, leaving them scrappily tied up and in some cases, nailed, to their booms, the Falling Star slows in its moonwards drift past Uter-Phrang and the PC's can now see that on the moonward side the steep slope of the extinct volcano is a Silver Tagia made up of glass-needled pines, gleaming pools and shadowed valleys

Without the PC's liberal wing (Richie hadn't turned up yet and David McGrogans John Brown/Conan White Ape wasn't turning up) Jepta and Barlang decided to start a programme of feeding the Vampire Captains former larder and assigning them leaders from within the group based on which ones seemed most competent, hence their new names 'Stampy', 'Middle' and 'Catchup'.

Jepta Calls a meeting to decide what action to take next. It's generally agreed that the crew should be trying to make it to Selenium, the city of the Sub-Luniary Men (& women). To do this they will need a competent crew, provisions (the previous crew didn't eat much as they were dead).

Jepta decides to interrogate the Captains pet bird (a Raven I think) and, as she speaks Shrike, the language of Birds, is able to do so.

The Bird claims to be the 'President of Birds' and 'Best Bird Ever' but does say that it knows three Symbols of the Aurulent Empire, after translating this for the crew, Juglangsing Leptoblast says that he is familiar with the written form of this language and offers to check to make sure the bird is telling the truth.

While the bird is laboriously pecking out its three symbols onto some paper, the PC's notice another bird approaching from the island, a Silver Jay. After taking offence at the brutish communications of Barlang Rift it tells Jepta that it is a herald of King Kallias Poltari and asks their business. Ultimately it requests/demands their presence for its King and is offended when the PC's seem unwilling to trapse through a mad island bordered by poisoned coral mangroves and up a dead fucking volcano to meet him. Eventually it flies off, intimating that it will return.

Leptoblast confirms that the three signs are part of the language of the Aurulent Empire but strangely warped. After some investigation, Jepta realises that they are mirror-reversed.

Jepta investigates the Captains cabin and sees that the perch for his raven was just in view of his desk. She searches for hidden objects in the desk and finds a mirror. On viewing the Captains coded log in the mirror, Leptoblast realises that the whole log is in mirror-written Ancient Aurulent and says he can begin (slowly) decoding it.

The PC's decide that their best bet is to meet with the Cockroach Clans and maybe work out something with them or with the weird king (or kings?) that seem to live in the islands dead volcano.

They attempt to tack the ship back up the coast of Uter-Phrang to where they think the Cockroach Clan village is. With some success. The Falling Star makes it safely but two of the barrels of Whale Oil in the hold are broken and the highly flammable oil seeps into the wood of the hold.

Casting anchor, the PC's call out to the island and the Cockroach Clans swarm out on their Cockroach Carapace Canoes. They seem excited to have visitors and are happy to take the PC's through the poisoned coral mangroves and into the Island.


PART TWO - ON UTER-PHRANG

On approaching the poisoned coast, the Cockroach Clans deliberately capsize their canoes and paddle underneath them, in this manner the poisoned fronds of the coral trees are parted and run (mostly) safely over and around their upturned hulls. The PC's arrive spluttering & soaked on the island and are lead to the Village of the Clans by their frined Dan Tiger.

There, they see a mad conglomeration of stuff jammed together in the form of a sort of house/hive, with a fighting circle in the village center and a glommed-together statue of Zoophoria.

Though Busla should perhaps be paying more attention to her actions, she is constantly sketching and did manage to capture some images of what she experienced.

Cockroach Village by Busla Monte Bul (Richie Cyngler) 

A clanswoman, Serenity Kong offers to fight any of the PC's and Barlang Rift enthusiastically accepts. This provokes cheers from the crowd who love a good fight.

Barlang selects a club of white coral carved with scenes of a gigantic sea creature eating people and enters the ring. Barlang and Serentiy exchange blows, doing some peripheral damage to each other until Barlang backs away. He lures Serenity into over extending herself but, instead of smashing in her brains, he grabs her for a kiss. The crowd erupts. She knees him in the balls but, amused by his impudence, does not smash his head in on the ground. Barlang sweeps her legs and she is knocked out by the fall.

Through courage, violence and impudent flair, the PC's have once again, raised their cachet with the Cockroach Clans.

While talking to Dan Tigers Jepta learns that some of the pirates from the ship of the Aye-Aye pirate Captain No-Dicto have made it to the island and that the Clanspeople are very happily hunting them through the fungal and lichen forests for sport, though in every hunt a few Clanspeople do not come back. She also learns that there are numerous Kings living in the mountain, that they very occasionally trade with the clans for a few necessary things (they helped them build the Crab-Mills which turn on the lower slopes of the Volcano) and that the Clans are sort-of-but-not-really subjects of the Kings.

As the PC's feed on the pearlescent hypnagogic fruit of the Isle, on dream-algae and smashed crabs, Barlang manages to successfully sleep with Serentiy Kong.

The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of another bird, this time a Shrike claiming to be a herald for King Mygdon Hoebacke. The shrike attempts to engage the PC's in a conspiracy against King Polinari, asking them the retrieve that kings lost sliver arm and bestow it upon Hooebacke instead, but, being already warned of this King by the Dan Tigers, the PC's do not accept this offer and Jepta grabs it out of the air and humiliates it before releasing it and throwing rocks at it as it flies away, swearing revenge.

The PC's decide to wait in the Village for a few days so that Barlang Rift can heal (presumably also giving him time to prosecute more amorous entrails with Serentiy Kong). After about four days the Silver jay of King Poltari finds them (somewhat out of breath after searching for them for several days). They agree to visit the King if he will bring them by 'door' rather than by them traipsing across the island. The Jay agrees and a day or so late the PC's are waiting by a blank standing stone with an odd symbol scrawled on it, preparing the meet the King.

A door opens in the stone and the PC's look through to see a huge throne room carved from volcanic Basalt, King Poltari is a masked figure wrapped in bandages, covered with robes and wearing both a mask and a crown. The air is full of burning incense to disguise a rather unpleasant smell. The throne room has no doors.

King Kallias Poltari by Busla Monte Bul (Richie C)

They go in. Jepta addresses the King in Elagaic and earns his respect thereby. The King tells them that this is the City of Athenoptica (the Doorless City of the Drowned Kings, though they didn't get all that at the time). After some conversation the King does indeed ask for help retrieving his lost Silver Arm.

He was investigating a creature on the Moonward side of Uter-Phrang. A gigantic and immortal Silver Boar. Perhaps because of the influence of the Imprisoned Moon, many strange and possibly semi-divine moon-related creatures can be found on the islands surrounding it. It may be that they fell or were captured by the Moon or simply draw to it, it may be that the islands themselves grew up around them somehow.

Regardless, this boar ripped off Poltari's arm and he barely escaped with his un-life. The creature is exceedingly dangerous and can only be killed with a weapon of Ice.

The PC's bargain with the King and agree to help him in exchange for the services of:

- 16 Able sailors with shipwright skills
- A navigator
- and basic materials for repairing a ship

He agrees.

In order to find the ice with which to kill the Silver Boar, the PC's ask the King to open a door to somewhere very cold. After thinking for a moment the King says "Dryhthelm" and a (for the PC's) blazing pillar of white light and freezing air lances into the chamber. Jepta manages to freeze some bullets for her revolver and Busla coats the end of her cane with ice. Barlang takes little interest in these events. Poltari closes the door just as some kind of insectoid figure seems to notice it from the other side.

With no further ado, Poltari opens another door to the lair of the Silver Boar. The PC's Issie bravely into it but are surprised to see a battle already taking place inside. An outcast olm, Crab-Man marked with the words 'Mister Snips', a Lamprey Dwarf and Anemone-Man are all trying to destroy the Silver Boar which occupies the cavern. The Olm attempts to drive an icicle into its back.

A Lamprey Dwarf by Busla Monte Bul (Richie C)

Using this as cover, our heroes edge around the wall of the cavern until noticed by the Shrike they previously humiliated. It screams and a transparent and almost-invisible Crayman looms out of the darkness and attacks Barlang Rift.

As Barlang and Busla fight the Crayman and the Boar tramples, gouges and kills everything else, Jepta locates the silver arm, clearly pulsing with magical energy, and pulls it out of the walls of the Boars Den.

Barlang is nearly killed by the Craymen but, at the last moment, Busla finishes it off with her icy cane. The three heroes dash for the exit, hoping for a quick escape, the Silver Boar however has killed all the surviving pirates and has now noticed the PC's.........

ALSO

HOLY TITS CAN YOU BELIEVE (this is still going on, I'm literally dying (I went for a run today, so that's nice, I AM NOT GOING TO STOP DONG THIS) here, I have to move to Birkenhead soon) I'M STILL PIMPING THIS STUFF I DON'T EVEN GET PAID WHEN HE SELLS ONE????

In-depth interviews with David McGrogan, David Fucking McGrogan he's a Doctor of (the philosophy of) Law you ding-dongs! (and a goddammn Tory, (Labour is a real mess right now) maybe the only one in the OSR, he's endangered!) creator of Yoon-Suin, Chris McDowall (did you even know he invented a whole bunch of wierd games before this one??  (they are not bad, take a look at sooga games) I bet you didn't!!) creator of 'Into the Odd' the very game we were playing in this AP and Patrick Stuart, (I want that fucking ennie Zak, I want the whole (quietly crushed that we only won the silver when the book he wrote on his own won gold) fucking thing) winner of half a silver ennie for Maze of the Blue Medusa, all as one purchase. Not to mention art by Scrap Princess, Matthew Adams, Jonny Gray, Kathry Jenkins, Anxious P and Jeremy Duncan!!!!! I'm going to keep copy-pasting and adding to this bullshit (I'm still (I won't give up) doing it!) till they are sold out motherfuckers!!!