A Bit of a Skirmish at Tripoint: A Rather Sorry Battle Across the Isles, eh? | Jan Teschner

Tripoint – So, sorry to interrupt your day, but after finding this old map in a bit of a ruined underground lab - pardon me, it was actually a subterranean one - the group learned about an expansive kingdom up north, ruled by a rather reclusive King Valili, eh? The map also showed some important supply lines between the islands, with Triptoint sending something special to Lematoa - we aren't quite sure what it is yet, sorry! Intending to politely halt the King's mysterious war effort, the party set sail. Their trip, which was only interrupted by a bit of light reading of Adventuring Basics, ended up being a bit of a mess, eh?

Island One: A Bit of a Lookout with Lots of Cannons
Approaching Tripoint - so sorry for the suddenness - the crew was greeted quite loudly by Royal Second Commander Hina, perched atop a fortified lighthouse bristling with Dragonlance Cannons. Declaring the party were sort of genocidal warmongers, which is a bit harsh, eh? Hina opened fire.
In response, Selah dashed across the ocean’s surface (sorry about her feet), Merlin swam, Ainz took flight, and Mad Matt and Marina manned the ship’s own cannons. Despite Tiyana trying to disable one cannon with a fireball - pardon me for the singeing - the remaining gun really did a number on the ship's hull.
In all that chaos, some mysterious stone bits splashed down - later we found out they were boulders from the third island’s trebuchets, which was quite uncalled for, eh?
Selah and Merlin went to the lighthouse. Selah, being a bit of an acrobat, actually walked up the wall and disarmed Hina with a rather flashy move, mockingly calling him “Captain Who???” Merlin, using much simpler methods, just punched Hina into the sky, followed by a little dive with his Trident of the Deep. Poor Hina perished, which is quite a shame, eh?

Island Two: The Stone That Was Watching (Sorry!)
The second island had some fog and some purple oozes - sorry about the stickiness. When Tiyana hit one of the runed tablets, the fog cleared, revealing Royal Mage Lothon - a bit of a smug fellow and an officer for King Valili, eh?
With quite a bit of flair, Lothon said his name would be remembered - before throwing a Fireball that set the ship on fire. The front mast burned; poor Mad Matt got a bit of a scrape, so sorry about that! More boulders fell from the third island, too.
As Mad Matt summoned a bit of a kraken to deal with the trebuchets and conjured a storm to put out the flames, Marina grew a bit tired of her cannons missing and swam straight for Lothon. Even after being hit by lightning (so sorry, that must have been painful!), she reached the shore and, with her Greataxe of the Deep, quite decisively split the mage in two. So much for his memory, eh?

Island Three: Trebuchets and a Bit of Bad Manners
At the third island, two mighty trebuchets were raining death down on the party, which is terribly rude, eh? Selah arrived quite stealthily, navigating the wall while the kraken caused a bit of a stir. One soldier tried to run away - only to be stopped by a rather grim, black-armored knight. Sorry about that.
Soon, Merlin launched himself via cannon from Island One to Three, landing right on the kraken’s squishy head - pardon me for the impact! Together with Selah, they fought the knight. Ainz, who was a bit late to the party, finally summoned a small dragon, which really lit up the battlefield, eh?

Selah was quite badly wounded but luckily survived long enough for Merlin to finish the knight with his trident. The knight's last words were a bit of a sad lament for King Valili - her failure and his burden. Quite heavy, eh?

The Spoils of Victory: A Broken Eye of the King
Among the ruins, the party found that the structure on Island Two was actually an advanced kind of seeing stone - a little magical surveillance hub used to spy on them, eh? Now it's broken and Lothon is gone, so that line of communication is cut. The king will surely realize the Tripoint outpost has fallen and that the adventurers are coming for him, which might be a bit awkward, sorry!
There is no more hiding. No more sneaking around, eh?

Next Stop: Lematoa With their ship all patched up (sorry about the holes), supplies gathered, and enemies dealt with, the party is now heading north - to Lematoa itself. King Valili is waiting, and along with him, perhaps, the truth behind this whole shadow war, eh?

The Fireball Gazette will be watching, if you don't mind!

Editor’s Note:

We are so sorry to report that we continue to receive some rather angry letters from readers. Some are defending the party and some aren't - it's all a bit much, eh? To those wondering if this group is saving the Triangle or causing trouble, we say: please stay tuned. We don't quite know ourselves yet, sorry!