01 - Storm Raiders

Ages - Age of Magic - Storms Of Magic

Storm Callers >>

Once again, the understanding of magic, and of its uses, has been developed in a new environment, that of the sea. How people have discovered and extended the possibilities of the usage of Etheric Energies is fascinating and entertaining. However, people will always be people, and treachery and evil will always show up. However, again, good triumphs.

Lead-in events

Chapter 05

Sword for twenty Irons , if son (Olaf) can defeat daughter (Abbey), with practice swords. Abbey beats Olaf, Dad, Lawrence, pays 40 irons for sword.

Dustin takes Apprentice test, being rude to Storm Caller who gave it. Dustin almost drowns on way back to city, Abbey saving him from drowning (uses magic to pull him toward her). Was delivering helmets to ships during Festival, saw him struggling in water. Not permitted by Storm Callers. A secret between Abbey and Dustin.

Dustin assigned to the Foggy Day (Captain, Roy, First Mate Syd), a ship with flexible placement (can be called to fight, if needed). A Storm Caller, but performance not the best, and swimming due to strength, not success.

Thunderclap comes home. Tor Capt), and Dahlia (Storm Caller) back in city. Missing fishing boat, Bass Mouth, found by Thunderclap, back in city.

The Murder

Chapter 29

Bronson, Magistrate’s son, murdered with Benjamin’s sword during the Festival. Guards think he did it, don’t know why, but come to house to arrest him and Abbey, because sword there. Benjamin uses magic to let her get away, telling her to go to the Collector for help. Abbey does so, escaping through the city gates to get to Jarvi, the collector (collects Arcadian things.) Someone trying to frame him.

Roy tells Dustin about murder, arrests, etc. Dustin wants to go to help Abbey, will try, not get to her in time to help, just sees her running away, to Jarvi’s. (House hidden by diagonally cut thorn bush wall.)

Jarvi tells her about her father, and his days in Arcadia. (See Characters, Benjamin ). As they talk, City Guards come to Jarvi’s, find her. Guards rough up Jarvi, Abbey attacks them, beats them with help of shocker. She and Jarvi talk, think things aren’t “right” in Holdgate, and that her father was indeed framed. Someone in Holgate working with the Barskall, as they aren’t being beaten back. That traitor will need to report back to Barskall, so will be on ship leaving that night for duty. Abbey stows away on Foggy Day to find him.

Benjamin, in jail. Jarvi comes, bribes Guard to let him visit, shocks guard, takes Benjamin out. Explains situation, traitor, Abbey’s quest to find him. Benjamin will help.

Benjamin and Jarvi decide to try to find proof of Stormcallers/ Raiders existence (See Groups, Storm Callers , Storm Raiders, to take to Magistrate.

Go to Bronson’s house to examine the scene. Theorize that he was killed by a friend, as no signs of struggle of any kind.

Benjamin and Jarvi go to see magistrate, lay the circumstantial evidence before him (Tor looking at appt book, Randall leaving with Bronson on night of murder, Tor’s territorialism about assignments). In the process, High Tide lands at dock, and requests that Magistrate come to the ship immediately

Magistrate and other Council members determine that High Tide’s crew/captain lying, jail them. Foggy Day sails into harbor.

Abbey to stay on board, as Magistrate cannot arrest her aboard Roy’s ship. After Dustin, Roy and Syd report, they will come and get her.

Dad shows up, Abbey rushes off ship to hug him. Magistrate asks her to come to Office, to clear up matters.

The Assignments

Chapter 12

Foggy Day (50 in crew) assigned to stand by to go with Stormships to fight Barskall. (to hang back and provide support). Roy takes Justin back to meet crew, learn about ship. Justin goes back to cabin, anxiety attack coming. Finds Abbey, stow-away, on ship. Believes that Benjamin’s framer will be on ship, wants to find him. Blackmailed Dustin into letting her stow away in his cabin. Ship ready, Justin calls the winds. Goes back to cabin, talks to Abbey, and Roy knocks on door, wanting a word with the two of them. Roy listens to her story re a traitor, says he’s thought the same thing, and allows her to join the crew, as a legitimate crew member.

The Traitors

Chapter 31

Abbey lost in ship’s vocabulary, but a willing worker, so OK. Syd (1st Mate, female), likes her, will try to develop skills

Two days later, outside Bode, confirmed that Barskall had taken city. Foggy Day awaiting signal to attack. Will not be allowed to attack. Dustin to provide cover of fog for ships to approach. Syd and Abbey to go ashore in dinghy, secretly, find traitors, Tor and Dahlia, as well as all three stormships captains and crews. Barskall Warriors and Tor’s Storm Raiders were working together to loot the city of anything valuable. What they couldn’t steal, they burned. What they couldn’t burn, they smashed. Fight Barskall – kill them permanently, fast. Don’t feel pain. (They don’t wear armor, so easy to identify). Syd and Abbey go back to ship to report. They do so, and as they do, Foggy Day told to surrender or sink. Tor’s men had reported, and knew that Foggy Day needed to disappear, as Tor had big plans.Tor was determined to become more than a legend. He was determined to become Ruler of all of the lands, including Arcadia.

Abbey and Dustin escape in dinghy (Try to get to Holdgate) while Tor and Dahlia take over Foggy Day. Syd volunteers to go, too. She and Tor haven’t gotten along, so future uncertain there. Dinghy disappears into fog. Come across an olerig in the sea, left over from before the Age of Madness. Agree that staying at sea is losing battle, as Tor has four ships and Callers, all not effective on dry land. Need to get to land, walk overland to Holdgate to report.

Tor, Dahlia and Tor’s first mate head for a meeting with Eril, the Barskall chief. Tor frustrated at escape of Abbey, Syd and Dustin. Eril grows impatient with waiting for their capture, waiting for attacks on other cities. Tor almost kills him, teaches him who’s boss. Eril agrees that it would not be good if Abbey et al get back to Holdgate, so will help with catching her. Eril agrees, waits.

Tor worried about Foggy Day. Can he turn Foggy Day into his fourth ship? Will Captain and crew go along? Or will he have to kill them? Tor meets, talks with Roy, offers him untold wealth and power if he will come with him, turn Storm Raider. Roy refuses, for him and his crew, so Tor will sink him and his crew and his ship at dawn the next day. Lost at sea.

Upon seeing High Tide and Summer Winds searching for them, they realize that Thunderclap is alone, guarding Foggy Day, and that if the can sabotage Thunderclap, they can steal back Foggy Day, and get back to Holdgate faster. Find that the Barskall, in looking for them, have attacked and are destroying a village. Go to help. Dustin finds a Storm Tower in the town, is calling down storm to put out town’s fires. Doing well, until Barskall calls “Storm Caller in Tower”!The Barskall attack, dumping Dustin’s sea water, but he believes Abbey, that sea water was only a focus, and uses the Earth as a focus to manage the weather, deluging them, stopping fires, sending lightning down on the Barskall. They run. The villagers have won the fight. Abbey, Syd, Dustin help villagers, who offer to give them a ride back to Borne any time they wished, to sabotage Thunderclap. NOW ! They leave for Bode, to again enlist Roy’s help, and to destroy Thunderclap.

Abbey sneaks aboard Thunderclap,waits outside Tor’s cabin for Dustin to do his thing. Dustin has realized new powers, due to using magic without touching water. Syd tells him to keep it secret, so other, less ethical Callers will not learn of it. Syd and Dustin reboard Foggy Day, find group of sailors ready to attack Thunderclap’s occupying crew, on Dustin’s signal. Upon Dustin’s giant thunderclap, Abbey threw fireballs at interior cabin doors, hoping they’d catch fire. They did, and confusion reigned on Thunderclap. Dahlia was caught downstairs, trapped in her cabin by fire. Tor spots Abbey on deck, as she hurls a fireball at the mainsail, causing it to burst into flames. Abbey jumps into water between Foggy Day and Thunderclap, using her push and Dustin’s pull to get her to Foggy Day much faster. Abbey gets to Foggy Day, getting Thunderclap’s crew cleaned off, when she sees Dahlia at the prow of Thunderclap, eyes shining, ready to do something.

Abbey gives Dustin a pep talk about using his magic to help Foggy Day escape before Dahlia acts, and he comes through. Starts wind filling Foggy Day’s sails, Dahlia stops the wind. Dustin pulls wind to his ship, she pulls wind to her ship – stalemate, until Abbey tells him to push the wind at them so they’ll go backwards, toward Bode. Might wash up on shore! Dustin does, Dahlia loses concentration, falls off prow of ship, Foggy Day ‘s sails fill, she’s off to Holdgate!. Thunderclap can’t catch her with (mainsails burned). High Tide and Summer Wind (Wallace, Storm Caller), heading toward Foggy Day. Dustin wants to let them catch up, so that the crews can swim to shore after he sinks them. Three lightning bolts caused fire and damage to Summer Wind, the fourth cracked and felled the mainmast. Clear the ship was going down, crew swimming to shore

In Holdgate,Jarvi and Benjamin have convince the Magistrate that there is indeed reason to worry when Storm Ships return, so start to plan a defense. Foggy Day comes home, confirming their information, and helping with the defensive plans. Citizens volunteer to help, (all 50 of them), but won't be enough to fight Tor. Most able-bodied were already on ships away from City. Method of attack uncertain. Barskall helpers? Daylight? Night time? In the future? Soon? Uncertainty causing anxiety. Syd tries to encourage, buck them up. Benjamin gives Dustin a magitec shock-rod, as his defense when he is storm calling, and someone might try to attack him.

There would be twenty small boats, each with ten sailors. The idea was to row out to Thunderclap as it approached Holdgate and overwhelm it, attacking with hooks and boarding as quickly as possible. The boats were just one small part of the plan, but the idea was that Dahlia would be so distracted by the larger threats that she wouldn’t pay attention to the small boats rowing toward her. Undertow and Wavebreak’s Storm Callers would keep Dahlia busy while the sailors on those ships as well as those on the small boats attempted to board. When Thunderclap appeared, it was indeed boarded, and found to be empty, with only five crew aboard, who had orders to surrender. Tor and Dahlia don’t want to raid Holdgate; they wants to conquer it! They was already in the city.

Meanwhile, Harald and Dustin on the Storm Wall, argue about strategy. Dustin goes into city to see what was going on, as fog thicker there than at sea. The street was full of Storm Raiders, fighting the citizens. Syd and her militia were doing their best, but they were greatly outnumbered. The entire crew of Thunderclap was here in these streets. Who was on the ship? Dustin finds Dahlia in the city, in a wagon with a trough of sea water. She calls Randall to kill Dustin while she destroys the city. Dustin used magitech staff to kill him. But he didn’t kill him, only stunned him. Randall came to, hit Dustin as he was overpowering Dahlia. Abbey, Benjamin and crew come into the city. Abbey sees Randall standing over Dustin, about to stun (kill) him with the magitech rod. She jumps on him, fights him. Keeps fighting Randall until Olaf shows up, stabs Randall in the neck, kills him. Now Olaf is the better swordsman!

Abbey shocks Dahlia through the water, incapacitates her. Dahlia rescued by a Tor crewman, escapes. Abbey goes after Tor, where the Storm Callers are, on the Wall, realizing finally that this was all just a test-run. Tor taunts her. Haven’t you figured it out? A heavily-fortified, land-locked city with magical defenses? My target is Arcadia.” Tor and Abbey begin fighting with swords, Tor winning. Then Abbey used magic, and pulled Tor onto her blade, killing him.

After the Battle

Chapter Epilogue

It’s not over.

Tor had said he has an army of Barskall Warriors hidden somewhere on the Kaldfell Peninsula. He had other allies across the sea. Not only that, but we just lost six Storm Callers. I know you’re optimistic that we’ll quickly catch Dahlia, but I’m not so sure. The way Tor made it sound, they have allies everywhere.

Syd needed to find out about her brother. To do this, she needed to find Dahlia, the only one left who could tell her.

"What’s next for you, Abbey?" asked Benjamin. Now that you mention it, I do sort of have a job offer on The Foggy Day. And I did enjoy sailing. Captain Abbey. I kind of like the sound of that.” I hardly think they’ll start me at captain. , you’ll work your way up in no time. Wouldn’t it be sweet? You and Dustin, Storm Captain and Storm Caller. Running your own crew. Fighting Barskall.”

Dahlia was grateful she’d had the foresight to keep The Winter Night around in case they ever needed to make a fast escape. Tor had been shortsighted. Dahlia smiled as she thought about the upcoming voyages she’d make once she claimed a ship worthy of her. It would be nice to rule directly rather than through a proxy. It was a silly tradition that a ship needed both a Storm Captain and a Storm Caller. It was more efficient to have one person do both jobs.

But she was getting ahead of herself. Learn the secret to Storm Calling on dry land. Get her fleet, get her army, conquer Arcadia, then use the riches of Arcadia to take over wherever she damn well pleased. She had a plan, she just needed to execute it.