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Campaign Diary of Abernathy's Company (runs 71-80) (1830) Sunday, April 3 – Thinking that the Yrimpa might be beyond, the party breaks the seal, but inside they find a strange sight: a man is there, suspended in a field of crackling flames. He himself is not actively on fire, but his expression is one of obvious torment. Furthermore, the man is a Sharshun. The party decides to free him, which they do by breaking another glass seal they discover on the inside of the cell. The flames go out, the man falls with a scream, and then he falls unconscious. While he’s out, Morningstar casts Memory Read and learns that the Sharshun had been imprisoned for assassinating a high-ranking Nifi Priest. (Nifi is the name of the Burning God.) Eventually he comes to, and the party questions him thoroughly. His name is Inivane, and he is (understandably) shocked to find that over 2000 years have passed while he has been imprisoned. Last he remembers, the Emperor ruled the Kingdom and the Black Circle was the prominent religion of the realm. The party doesn’t trust him, but doesn’t kill him either. (run 71 begins) Directly below Inivane’s prison is another, similar prison, with another eternally-burning inmate. This one is a woman garbed in a robe with the symbol of the Silver Shell. Sensing the potential problems, the party makes Inivane promise that he won’t start any trouble with her; he agrees on the condition that the Shell woman won’t start any trouble either. Monday, April 4 – The party frees her and performs a similar Memory Reading exercise after she drops unconscious; her name is Rosetta, and she was captured after a Silver Shell raid on some Black Circle edifice, also over a thousand years ago. Since she does not revive as quickly as Inivane, the party leaves her safely locked in one of the nearby empty cells along with a friendly note, some water, a blanket, and a Murlynd’s Spoon so that she can make herself food. Then the party, taking Inivane along, exits the prison-cell area and continues down into the depths of the Thorn. Tuesday, April 5 – At last the party reaches the end of their search. They find an iron door which opens into a stretch of hallway lined with niches; there are iron slabs set to slide out of the niches, blocking the passage. (Though unlike the similar set-up earlier, there are no traps detected here.) Spikes are applied to prevent the doors from closing behind them. At the end of the hallway is another closed iron door, and beyond that is an amazing sight. The last door opens into an immense chamber, shaped like a tall cylinder. Its surfaces are smooth like glass, but dark and swirling in strange patterns. Shapes move through the space on the other side of the glass, and one of these bumps against the glass; a huge eye looks up at them through the floor. The party realizes that the whole glass cylinder is underwater! There are a dozen large torch-stands around the circular perimeter, and four more in the center of the room. And in the upper half of the huge cylinder (which is over 100 feet tall) there are hundreds of floating crystal spheres, of sizes varying generally from 3 to 8 feet in diameter. Some of these are darkened, but others are lit with a ruddy glow, and shapes seem to be moving slowly inside them. Lastly, there is a large humanoid creature standing in the chamber, with reddish skin and a bellowing voice. It introduces itself as Habibulin, Guardian of the Air Spirits. It has been waiting for someone to come and free the creatures imprisoned above, and serving as a guardian in the meantime. It asks the party, "which of you is the Bonded One?" Kay doesn’t trust the creature, but volunteers herself. Habibulin asks her to stand in the center of the room, inside the central four torches, so that he can perform the ritual that will set the Air Spirits free. Once she’s standing there, however, Habibulin’s true nature and purpose become clear; he casts Pyrotechnics to blind some of the party members and attacks Kay. He’s a tough opponent; he flies, does devastating fire damage with his fists, and has several other magical powers. When it seems clear that Kay is not going to survive Habibulin’s attacks, Morningstar hides her in a magical Darkness, and Tor uses Dust of Illusion to make himself look like Kay. Habibulin is fooled, and when Tor emerges from the darkness, Habibulin starts focusing his attacks on the wrong target. When things seem to be going poorly for him, Habibulin appears to summon a small red dragon, which then appears to roast Tor. But the dragon turns out to be just a convincing illusion, and Tor is not truly dead. Knowing that the dragon isn’t real allows the rest of the party to concentrate on Habibulin, who is eventually slain. Kay, with a Fly spell cast upon her, flies up to one of the still-luminescent globes, but cannot open it. (In fact, touching one of the globes causes heat damage.) But Habibulin had a magical key on his body, and this, when touched to the glass globes, frees the Yrimpa trapped inside. Kay flies around the high glass cylinder, and frees about 200 Air Spirits, which resemble translucent blue humanoids wrapped in swirling mist. In the midst of their celebration, the party hears a terrible, wrenching sound. Cracks start to appear in the glass of the cylinder. The party quickly flees through the door, with the Yrimpa streaming out among them. They note that iron doors have indeed tried to slide out to block the passage, but the spikes are preventing them from closing. As they flee, the party kicks the spikes out, and the doors seal behind them – and a good thing, too, since after a few of the doors are closed, a tremendous crashing sound can be heard, as the glass chamber collapses, and the ocean comes rushing in. Fortunately, the iron doors hold, and the danger seems averted… (run 72 begins) Grey Wolf feels another churning in his gut, and Kibi reappears abruptly. Apparently, he has been (or is in the midst of being) summoned by some wizardess in another world. (Interestingly, he was summoned because he is "The Opener," and his summoner needs him to undertake a great quest to save her realm. This is particularly interesting in light of what the Eyes of Moirel had to say about "The Opener.") Kibi is somewhat dismayed to hear of the group’s predicament of imprisonment. The party hurries back to the cell in which the Rosetta was placed. After releasing her, the party tells her many details of what has happened to the world since her imprisonment. She doesn’t seem too dismayed, despite the years of torture… she says that she expected that something like this might happen. While generally non-hostile she clearly is quite fervent in her hatred of the Black Circle. Then the party tells her about Inivane (who has been keeping out of sight during the interview). Although Rosetta clearly has reservations, she agrees not to attack him or bait him into attacking her. As she and Inivane first make eye contact (and you can almost hear the ambient hostility), the sound of one of the iron doors buckling comes echoing from the direction of the glass prison. The group makes haste back the way they originally came to this area, while the Yrimpa stream around and among the party like small blue comets. The party and Yrimpa get through the water trap just as they did before -- using the Decanter of Endless water, and waiting for the trap to reset. (This must be done four times, to accommodate all the Yrimpa.) On the other side, Grey Wolf again renders the remaining mold harmless with an Ice Storm from the wand. As the party and Yrimpa leave the trap behind, they hear a distant clang as another door buckles beneath the weight of the ocean. One of the Yrimpa points in the direction of fresh air it senses, and Kibi, after being told the direction that the fiery gate faces, guesses that the Yrimpa is in fact pointing to the gate. Off they go! They all hurry through the tunnels, pausing to rest for a few hours when more people than can fit on the carpet start becoming exhausted. Oa-Lyanna, when asked if the Yrimpa want food, responds that they eat clouds. Ernie casts Create Food, and produces a large cloud which the Yrimpa quickly devour. Wednesday, April 6 – When the party reaches the cave-in caused by the tentacles, the Yrimpa are able to move the rocks. The tentacles show themselves briefly, peeking up out of the chasm, but don’t attack. (Perhaps it’s the two-hundred-odd Air Spirits which make up the creature’s mind.) After the next rest break, water begins to seep in through cracks in the floor. The group hurries onward. Later, in a long, wide passage, the water beings to fill up faster, so Tor activates the smaller version of the Burning Sail and for a few minutes some of the group is rowed along by Unseen Servants. Thursday, April 7 – With the water rising behind them all the while, the whole group reaches the fiery main gate of God’s Thorn. Tor, donning a holy symbol of Nifi found below, tries gripping the bars and forcing the gates. He only succeeds in giving himself severe burns. Then one of the Yrimpa tells Kay to have the party stand well back. Once they have done so the Yrimpa form a collective tornado, and in a fury of rushing winds unlike anything the party has ever seen, they blast open the rock around the gate, leaving a wide hole to the outside The burning iron gate (still burning) is lying on the ground a few dozen yards from the entrance. Then the Yrimpa go spiraling out into the open air, upward, and vanishing into the sky. As they do, Kay hears in her mind the sound of waves and the sea, and knows that her debt for Mrs. Horn’s life has been repaid in full. A moment later, one of the Yrimpa comes flying back down to the base of God’s Thorn and speaks with Kay. He is Yaro Karenne, the leader of the surviving Yrimpa, and he answers some of Kay’s questions regarding Bonded Ones. It seems that when the Yrimpa were imprisoned, one of them (attached to a Bonded One but separated physically) escaped. Kay is likely a descendant of that Bonded One, and Oa Lyanna is, in parallel, a descendant of that one surviving Yrimpa. Yaro goes on to say that the freed Yrimpa are returning to their city in the sky to rest. (The little strength they had was entirely spent in wrecking the gates of the Thorn.) Yaro then flies away to join his fellow Air Spirits. Afterward, Kay discovers that with Oa Lyanna’s aid, she can Fly once per day. The party camps at the foot of God’s Thorn, grateful for the fresh air and open sky. Friday, April 8 – The next day the party flies Inivane to the nearest town on the carpet, and there he leaves them with words of gratitude for his rescue. On the way back from dropping off Inivane, the body of Sovrenna is discovered in a clearing, pierced through by Forest-Demon javelins. There is no sign of King Farazil. Rosetta makes clear her displeasure that the party was just willing to let the Sharshun free without interrogating him properly. As the party prepares to head for the western coast of the island, Grey Wolf feels the odd tugging on his innards, and this time there is a specific direction from which he feels it. The party heads in that direction and discovers a large Gartine arch in the forest. Kay examines the ground in the area, and it appears that some Forest Demons vanished under it, presumably having traveled to some other place. Rather than wait for Forest Demons to potentially come pouring out of it again, the Company heads to the coast. Saturday, April 9 - Sunday, April 10 – The party travels through the forest to the western coast of the island. When they reach it, they unfold Burning Sail and sail off toward Lan Hae. Monday, April 11 - Tuesday, April 12 – The Company drops off Rosetta in Lan Hae; from there she wants to head to Ghant, where in her time the Silver Shell was based. She too thanks the party again for her rescue, and is clearly planning on continuing to hunt down worshippers of the Black Circle wherever they might be. Wednesday, April 13 - Thursday, April 14 – Sailing to Tal Hae Friday, April 15 – Late at night the Company finally returns to Tal Hae. During the first night back home, Kibi vanishes again. The party calls Ozilinsh on the Crystal Ball and fills him in on all the details of the trip to God’s Thorn. Along with the usual praise for a job well-done, Ozilinsh says he’ll need to find a replacement for Kibi who’s a bit more… um… reliable. Saturday, April 16 - Wednesday, June 15 – (run 73 begins) Training happens.. During this time: Ozilinsh appears at the Greenhouse with Aravis Telmir, a Transmuter who has been studying for years in the town of Feslin. Aravis is introduced to the party, amidst the usual chaos, as the new party mage. He passes both the Continual Light test (bright lights from which they expect Farazil would flinch) and the Masking test ("A minute from now, we want you to say the word "Sharshun" back to us.") Ozilinsh also has the big news: when the party has finished training, they are to begin their journey to Kivia, the land beyond the Uncrossable Sea. They will have to go through the so-called Gate of Fire, the Gartine Arch near Seablade Point that is currently clogged with a hostile army coming the other way. To make the trip possible the Spire is providing some magical items. Each party member gets a special Ring of Invisibility, that have the advantage that anyone wearing one can see anyone else wearing one. Of course, they have the disadvantage of only lasting for 2-6 hours (exact time unknown) from when they are first used. The party is also given a set of ear-cuffs, each of which can be used once, that allow the wearer to understand and speak any single language. (Once activated, they are "bound" to that language, and they can only be used by the person who activated them.) Most importantly the party is given a magical rope, that can be used to transport the party back to Charagan. Ozilinsh also provides some tactical information. Lastly the party is given Nifi uniforms, supposing that they might be useful. The Nifi are guarding the coast of the southern Balani Peninsula, but there is a gap in the defense where a single ship could approach unnoticed, assuming the crew could disembark by scaling a cliff. As the Company trains, they hear rumors that many more kobolds and gnolls have been driven out of Calnis and back to the mountains, but not by the forces of the King. Rather, they are fleeing from some huge one-eyed Gnoll who has apparently built a tremendous crystal palace in the center of the city. That Gnoll, it is said, has ousted the former leader of the Gnolls, a warchief who wore red armor. Hmmm. There are reports that the Nifi, whose advance had halted for a time at their old stronghold on the peninsula, have begun to advance slowly but steadily northward again. Another rumor says that orcs are once again attacking Hae Kalkas. Lastly, the party learns the King has given the orders that with so many enemies besetting the Kingdom, there will be (for the first time in hundreds of years) forced military service. All households have been ordered to send all but one of their able-bodied men to serve in the war. Morningstar is visited one day by a group of Ellish priestesses, each of whom has heard of her and her unusual place in the Ellish church. They all share a desire to learn from Morningstar about being more competent (especially in battle) in daylight. One is Obsidia, who has already asked to be trained. Also from Tal Hae are Previa, a Chronicler who has done research for Morningstar, and thus became interested; Maltha, another Chronicler, shy, who found in a picture of a symbol in an Ellish book that looks just like Morningstar’s black-and-white pendant from Abernathy; and Eleanor, who had a vision but won’t discuss it. Opaline is a feisty, rebellious sort from Sentinel. Lastly, there is June, an aggressive Shield of Ell from Hae Charagan who has had many dreams of war. All of them ask to be trained by Morningstar. The Spring Tourney of Werthis takes place, but the turnout is very, very low, since most who would participate are off fighting. Many of the participants are too young, too old, or in some way disabled or injured. The party does well, but it’s not very satisfying. Finally, a letter is delivered to the Greenhouse, summoning them to an audience with the King of Charagan himself, His Most August Majesty, King Crunard IV. Luxurious carriages arrive at the Greenhouse to collect the party (dressed in their finest clothes), and transport them to the Ducal palace, where the King awaits them. Before entering the palace, the party is divested of all weapons and magic items. Inside the Company is first met by Yale (the King’s advisor), who gives them a pre-audience briefing. Apparently the King is not naturally immune to the Masking, but various spells are functioning which allow him to remember and discuss Masked things without going mad. Also, the party is warned to be respectful in the King’s presence, and that even the most minor crime committed on Palace grounds (including the swiping of trinkets, she says with a glance at Flicker) is punishable by death. The party is brought before King Crunard, and he speaks to them. First he thanks the party for their work in defeating Manzanill’s scheme at the Capitol, which in turn led to the ferreting-out of a Chrik spy from the King’s Palace. Then he thanks them for agreeing to go on the mission to Kivia; he’d like to have the party participating in the war, but understands that their mission to retrieve the Crosser’s Maze is more important. He asks for information about the Black Circle, and the party tells him what they know. It is clear that hearing about usually-Masked things is difficult for the King; he stammers, pauses, and has to visibly force himself to keep his mind on the subject at hand. But he manages. In the most surprising turn of the audience, the King calls Kay to stand before him, and on the spot he makes her a General! It seems that Yaro Karenne, Lord of the Yrimpa, has visited the palace and offered the services of the Yrimpa to the King. They will fight the enemies of the Kingdom as the King directs, but only upon orders from a Bonded One. Since Kay is the only one alive who fits that description, and since by law only Generals (or the King himself) can make such orders, Crunard grants Kay the honorary position. (Later, at the Greenhouse, she receives the pins and paperwork making it official.) Lastly, the King speaks privately with both Aravis and Tor. Afterward, Tor says his meeting concerned the King’s knowledge of his true identity; apparently, the King seems to know who he is, but has agreed not to divulge that information to anyone. Aravis says his meeting concerned the death of his family at the hands of Bugbears near Feslin. Thursday, June 16 - Tuesday, June 21 – the Company sails to Balani Peninsula. Wednesday, June 22 – The party disembarks at the spot recommended by Ozilinsh, uses the flying carpet to ferry people up the cliff face, and the last one up folds and brings Burning Sail. They begin to make their way inland and southward, paralleling the coast. When they start getting close to Nifi watches and patrols, they decide to spend the remaining daylight in a low dell. Unfortunately, some patrol has picked up their footprints, and two trackers are heard approaching. It looks as though the party is caught with nowhere to hide... (run 74 begins) … but they use the current spell from the Infinity Book – Mirage Arcana – to make the dell look unoccupied, with the party members hidden by boulders and stunted trees. The trackers are baffled and eventually depart. That night the party continues, sneaking past patrols and the huge watch-fires lit by the Nifi on many hilltops. When they get close enough, they activate their special Rings of Invisibility. They creep through enemy lines, expecting to be discovered at any time, and hoping the rings last more like 6 hours than 2 hours. Thursday, June 23 – Eventually they approach a simple but huge wooden edifice, inside of which is the Gartine Arch through which the army of Fire God worshippers is invading. Kay (using her new ability with Oa Lyanna) Flies invisibly past the perimeter guards and up to the flat roof of the building – which sets of a massive magical alarm. While Nifi scurry around below, Kay shuttles the rest of the party up to the roof and then flies back and forth over the building (setting off the alarm afresh with each pass), attempting to make it look like the alarm wards are randomly misfiring. Huddled on the very center of the roof, the party is invisible from the ground, even from someone using True Seeing. With the Woodcutter sword, they carve an easily-openable hatch on the roof (not quite cutting all the way through), along with a spy hole or two. Looking down into the torch-lit building that houses the Arch, they see (and overhear) a man who looks very much like Tor arrive, a man who is referred to as the Warlord. The Warlord has a tense discussion with a man who seems to be a mage. The Warlord wants the Arch to be activated so that an overdue supply transport can come through, but the mage (nervously) resists the orders, wanting a few more hours to catch any intruders before the Gate is opened. The Warlord relents, gives the mage an hour, and stalks out. After the Warlord departs, the party uses a pinch of their Dust of Illusion on Dranko to make him look like the Warlord, and sends him down off the roof. He takes off his Ring of Invisibility and bluffs his way into the wooden building (no one seems comfortable pointing out to him the change in his voice, which they notice even though Dranko does a pretty good job imitating the Warlord). Once inside, Dranko reissues the Warlord’s orders to open the Gate immediately, and brooks no protest. Some mages inside begin to cast what are presumably opening spells, while the rest of the party watches through spy-holes cut into the roof. Things seem to be going smoothly, until the mages ask Dranko to provide the final word of the spell -- it seems that Warlord has always insisted on the privilege. They look expectantly at Dranko, who of course has no idea what the final word of the Gate-opening ritual is. It looks like the plan is all going to fall apart, when Morningstar saves the day. Thinking quickly she casts Mind Read on the mage who is looking expectantly at Dranko, and of course he is thinking about the command word himself, waiting for Dranko to speak it. Then she uses the Mirror of Whispers to whisper the word directly in Dranko’s ear. Dranko gives the word, and the Gate is opened. Dranko strides through, and the rest of the Company, who have secured ropes up on the roof of the building, shimmy down the ropes and into the Gate. Everyone makes it to the other side while alarms and shouts are heard all around, since while the party is still invisible, the ropes are not. There is mass confusion, as a line of wagons immediately begins to move through the Gate in the other direction. On the other side of the Gate is a tremendous army camp on an open plain, and soon the alarm is being sounded there as well. When it becomes clear that people are looking for someone impersonating the Warlord, the party Dispels the Warlord illusion (Dranko is wearing a Nifi uniform) and casually moves away from the Gate. And right about now the Rings of Invisibility stop working, but everyone in the party is wearing a stolen Nifi uniform. Still taking advantage of the confusion, the party starts to head away from the Gate, through the huge camp – and then things get really chaotic. Grey Wolf feels a wrenching in his gut, as if all his internal organs have shifted 8 inches to the left, and about a hundred kobold-like humanoids appear in the camp, all looking and acting bewildered. The encampment erupts in ad-hoc battle. In the confusion the party escapes to outskirts of the encampment, and while escaping they spot a bound and gagged prisoner in one of the tents. His guards have run out to help fight the kobolds. The party frees him, and after a hasty introduction (his name is Carawell) they continue to flee the camp. Carawell guides the party in the what he says is the best direction to get back to his home country of Tev – they are currently in the Nifi’s kingdom, called Delfir . A Delfirian officer notices them leaving (with a prisoner no less!) and tries to stop them, and the party kills him quickly. An hour or so outside of the camp, heading generally south-east, the party hears horsemen approaching. Hoping to hide from the pursuers, the party enters a small copse of trees, and uses a Scroll of Massmorph , which makes the party members look like trees. The horsemen arrive: it is a group of about 16 Delfirians, one of whom is clearly a Priest. The Priest casts True Seeing, and spots the party hiding in the trees; a fight ensues. One of the Delfirians is a wizard who drops a Fireball on the party, but soon a Hold Person shuts down the enemy mages. The Priest remains a problem, casting a Flame Strike and then fighting fiercely hand-to-hand. The battle is vicious and bloody, but the party is victorious. There is one survivor from the Delfirian side, who chooses to surrender rather than be killed. Morningstar plants a memory in his head that he was the only survivor of the fight, and that the party members popped out of existence (as if they had been Summoned) as they were killed. The party travels for the rest of the day. They note that it seems several hours later than it should be, and also that there is snow on the ground (and some more is falling), despite the fact that it’s June. Friday, June 24 – (run 75 begins) The Company asks many questions of Carawell as they travel along. He has been spying on the Delfirians (posing as one of them) for almost a year, since there had been rumors of military activity in Delfir. He has discovered that the Delfirians believe they are being punished with cold weather by their God Nifi for failing to sow adequate destruction. The fact that it has been winter in Delfir for over two years lends credence to this belief. Carawell is a chair-maker by trade, but with his language skills (he can perfectly imitate a Delfirian accent), he volunteered for the job as a spy. He was discovered while rifling a command tent and has been kept captive ever since. (There is evidently an old treaty that prevented the Delfirians from killing him outright.) Now Carawell is leading the Company back to his home country of Tev, which is separated from Delfir by a range of mountains. There is only one pass, and it is guarded by towers manned with Tevian soldiers. He lives in the town of Lav-Set, many days journey on the far side of the pass. He mentions in passing that he wants to visit a Black Circle shrine en route, which naturally makes the party curious. It seems that in Kivia there are many small Black Circle shrines, which will answer questions or make vague pronouncements in return for a small donation of what Carawell calls "life energy." They are generally thought of as useful and benevolent, or at worst harmless. Saturday, June 25 – The party continues to travel. Sunday, June 26 – As the daylight fails, the party finds themselves moving through the ruins of an ancient town. Amidst the ruins the party sees ghosts of Delfirian soldiers, sitting in circles around ghostly fires. A Thought Capture from Morningstar finds a thought of a soldier preparing for battle. In addition to the ghosts, small (and real) flames zip along the ground in random patterns among the ruins. The party camps up on building fragments, to avoid the fires. Tor grows strangely silent, and watches the ghosts intently, deep in thought. Monday, June 27 – After the party has woken and had breakfast, Tor announces that he is going to leave the party. There is much incredulous consternation. Tor’s reasoning is thus: having seen the size of the Delfirian army massing on the Kivian side of the Gate, he is convinced that the forces of Charagan cannot win a war against them. Given his bloodlines (and his knowledge of his ancestor Davarian), he thinks he can convince the Delfirians that he is defecting and joining their side. He will attempt to use his position to gather knowledge and get it through to Charagan, and do anything else he can to sabotage the Delfirian war machine from within. Morningstar casts a battery of Detection spells and Mind Reads, to make sure Tor isn’t being magically compelled into this decision. He isn’t. After some sad good-byes, and after handing over some (but not all) of his magic items, Tor walks off, back toward Delfir. As soon as he’s gone, the pronouncements of doom begin, mostly from Grey Wolf. Makel, depressed at Tor’s departure, immediately hits the bottle again. Morale is low as the party and Carawell head out for another day of travel. In the late afternoon, Grey Wolf feels that churning feeling in his gut, as all of his organs shift several inches to the left. Immediately after, a swarm of bats appears, swirling around the party. The bats are covered with small hooks and barbs, and though the party drives them off (flapping away in all directions) with relative ease (and good use of Gust of Wind and Efficacious Monster Ward), Kay is nicked by one of the barbs. As the evening wears on, it becomes clear that Kay is suffering from some sort of unpleasant and increasingly-severe disease. Her skin glistens with sweat, dark bags appear under her eyes, and she begins to stare intensely at other party members. They figure out that something’s wrong, and try a Cure Disease spell, but the disease is so virulent it resists. Dranko force-feeds her Elixir of Health, and this cures her, but not before he catches the disease himself from touching her sweat. He goes through the same thing, and he strongly resists being force-fed more Elixir; but in the end, they make him choke it down, and he’s cured. With the disease licked, the party presses on. Tuesday, June 28 -- (run 76 begins) The next day the Company reaches the beginning of the long mountain pass between Tev and Delfir. A few minutes later they hear a distant crashing sound, almost like thunder, coming from the pass ahead. Undaunted, they press on. Shortly thereafter Carawell notes that they should have been challenged by guards, but have not been. And then the party comes across the remnants of the westernmost outpost, a large cave which usually shelters a couple dozen Tevian guards. The injuries to the bodies indicate that the guardsmen likely killed each other, and some of them have gruesome human bite marks. One set of tracks leads away from that cave, down the pass. Some hook-bats are sleeping peacefully upside-down in the guard cave; these are quickly (and safely) dispatched. The party then splits up, with one group flying ahead on the carpet and the other continuing on the ground. The flying group (Ernie, Flicker, Carawell, and Dranko) goes ahead in an attempt to get ahead of the disease. They spot several dead archers, nestled in good vantage points above the pass. Dranko leaves a note to the others (next to a body that has fallen to the ground below) that they shouldn’t lick the body. The flying group also discovers a huge landslide of debris blocking the pass. According to Carawell, this looks like the Tevians have triggered the landslide as a defense, probably thinking the disease is a precursor to a Delfirian attack. They fly on, and find an archer still alive (but near death) on a lookout spot; they save him with a Cure Disease spell, and in doing so discover the spell is effective at least some of the time. Ernie then flies back and picks up the ground-pounders, who at this point have reached the blockade, and have decided that the don't-lick message was probably from Dranko and not from enemies. Once all together, the party continues on to the end of the mountain pass. There they find two giant towers connected by a hundred-foot-long stone bridge that arcs over the pass. They enter one of them and begin to look for someone in charge, but instead discover dozens of dead or dying Tevian soldiers. The ones that are still alive are deranged; a few are eating the bodies of their dead comrades, and all around ring screams of agony or madness. Eventually they hear above the general din someone shouting coherently for help. They find a man named Louvhad barricaded in his room, which is filled with various herbs, including lots of garlic. He explains that he was chased into his room, but that the diseased soldiers would not follow him in. Kay and Dranko take some garlic and other herbs from the room, and go out to figure out which of them is keeping the diseased soldiers away. After discovering that it is, in fact, the garlic, they proceed to the signal tower at the top of the fortress. Of course when they get there, they realize they have no idea how to use the huge swiveling mirror to send a real message, so they flash some nonsense signals and then start looking for someone who knows how to send real messages. Aravis suggests that they try to force-feed garlic to one of the diseased but still-living soldiers. There is a brief battle with some of the diseased men, during which Grey Wolf fires garlic-coated crossbow bolts at one of the enemies’ legs. It seems to help almost at once, and the party manages to get him to ingest more garlic by just eating it. Ernie casts Create Food & Water, praying for garlic to supplement their supplies. It works. After munching some garlic, the party runs around the tower, trying to find anyone they can cure. (In the end, they save about a dozen men out of the 300 or so stationed at this outpost.) Meanwhile, Ernie and the first saved soldier (who knows how to use the signal tower) send a message inland to Tev, warning about the plague and the bats. Wednesday, June 29 – The next day the party hunts down some more hook-bats, and then continues on with Carawell to Lav-Set. They stop at a couple of farms to warn them about the hook-bat situation. Thursday, June 30 – Travel to Lav-Set Friday, July 1 – The party runs into a small group of Tevian soldiers and clerics who (after the signaled warning) are loaded down with garlic. They thank the party on behalf of their country (though they also seem to feel the plague is the party’s fault), and then press on toward the infected towers. Later in the day the party discovers a small Black Circle shrine on the side of the road. There is a young girl in the yard outside the building, tending to chickens. Inside the Shrine the party finds a Black Circle priest and numismatist named Sirvhad. He has devoted his life to the study of coins, both minting and history, and his own body is covered with tattoos on the subject. As Carawell has mentioned, the Black Circle priests who tend these shrines can serve as foci and conduits for powerful Divinations, at the cost of the some of the questioner’s "life energy." This energy is regenerated after about a day. Carawell himself has used this "service," and found it safe and worthwhile, though there are no guarantees about the nature, completeness, or even veracity of the answer. Some of the Company decides to ask questions. Kay asks about the nature of the plague-carrying bats, while Sirvhad sits in a plain chair the middle of a black circle drawn on the stone floor. In a deeper voice than his own, Sirvhad answers: "They are a natural consequence of current events." Grey Wolf then asks about the uncomfortable feelings in his innards. There is a pause, and Sirvhad startes to tremble. But after a tense moment he speaks: "That feeling in your guts… that is… you are the center. You are the axle. You are the place in common. The day will come when your friends will betray you, and your enemies will fight to save you." Saturday, July 2 -- (run 77 begins) travel to Lav-Set Sunday, July 3 – The Company approaches Carawell's home town of Lav-Set. In the hills above the town they can see the castle of Lord Baravhad, whom Carawell says rules northern Tev. At the outskirts of the town are some fields in which several hundred troops are training. Once in town Carawell recommends that the party stay in an inn called the Victory, and then takes his leave of the party and goes off to see his much-missed wife. Lav-Set is a medium-sized town, not nearly as big as Tal Hae. Most of its shops are for crafts – there are carpenters, tool-makers, glassblowers, clock-makers, cartwrights, stonewrights, chandlers, and lots and lots of smithies. Bows and arrows are made in great quantities. In the center of town is a large stone statue of Chav the Great, a famous war hero from a past conflict with Delfir. The party gets some of their money changed into the local currency: the mirac. (A mirac is worth half a gold piece. A min-mirac is worth half a silver, and a chit is worth half a copper.) Since they are approaching St. Jenniver’s Day (when Dranko must borrow an heirloom from the farmer Saum Derrie to save Califax somehow), the party investigates, and discovers a town farmers’ market which is currently convened. At one of the stalls they discover a woman named Mirvah Derrie and her daughter Luna. They learn that the family farm (and Mirvah’s husband Saum) is only a few miles to the east. The Victory is a large, well-kept and comfortable-seeming inn. There is a collection box for the Church of Palamir (God of Soldiers, Loyalty, Duty and Honor), and there are many swords mounted on the walls. There are about a dozen patrons seated at tables in the common room. The party is handed menus when they sit down – an odd custom! The Company is sitting down and eating, looking forward to a night in real beds for the first time in a long time, when something strange happens. One of the long chains hanging from the ceiling, with a lantern at the end, starts swinging the lantern at the party. Other similar chains lash out to the walls, twine around the swords mounted there, and start flailing away as well. The table lurches and turns itself over (sending food and dishware flying) and tries to trap party members underneath it. Within seconds, much of the decor of the Victory is attacking the party! The other patrons scramble in horror for the exits. After a small amount of fighting, Morningstar puts and end to the foolishness with a Dispel Magic, but only a couple of rounds later the decor starts to become animated and hostile again. The party heads for the exit. Grey Wolf is out first… and is immediately run over by an animated cart! As the rest of the party files out, the cart turns for another pass, but this time Kay destroys it with the Woodcutter sword as it goes by. And then the party becomes aware of pounding footsteps, and around the corner comes tromping the stone statue of Chav the Great, stone sword raised! They fight briefly, but their attacks do little damage against the statue, so they do the sensible thing – flee! They head out of town, with the statue running after them, but Chav is slow, and eventually it slows down and stops, seemingly bereft of its animation. Not long after, town guardsmen show up and detain the party. The
party is told that they should remain outside the town. Grumbling about missing
out on real beds again, the party camps outdoors. Ernie is especially upset.
Monday, July 4 -- The party is met outside by Lord Baravhad himself, come down from his castle. Baravhad explains that the party has clearly been targeted by a feared organization of assassins known as "the Animators." While he is generally sympathetic, he also requests that the party fork over some money to help pay for the damage done to the Victory. Worse, he demands that after tomorrow they not set foot in another Tevian city or town until they have proof that the Animators are no longer after them. The party spends the rest of the day shopping, picking up local-style clothes, a primer for reading and writing the local language, and various other items. They also meet again with Mirvah Derrie, and arrange to visit their family farm on St. Jenniver’s Day (July 12th). Ernie’s crisis of faith, which has building for some time, really starts to have an effect on him. He is depressed about being so far from any home, and thus out of Yondalla’s element. He is feeling helpless and isolated and quite miserable. The rest of the party tries to cheer him up. Tuesday, July 5 – Thursday, July 7 -- -- Camped outside the town, the party ID’s some magic items acquired recently in the battle with the Delfirians. Friday, July 8th - Monday, July 11 – The Company travels to the farm of Saum Derrie, but waits camped out on the main road a few hundred yards from the farm until St. Jenniver’s Day arrives. Tuesday, July 12 (St. Jenniver’s Day – Delioch) -- (run 78 begins) Today is St. Jenniver's Day. The party walks in the rain to the farmhouse of Saum Derrie, and Dranko tells him about his dream of the atrifact of Delioch. Saum (a gruff but good-natured middle-aged farmer) listens intently and then goes into his house. He comes out with a worn iron candlestick, on the base of which is scratched a "J." The Candlestick is a family heirloom, and Saum has always felt that there was something special about it. He willingly hands it over to Dranko and invites the party to stay dry in his barn. When they warn Saum that they are currently targets of the infamous Animators, he replies: "well, if you need me, I'll be hiding under the bed then." The party spends some time moving all potentially dangerous-if-animated farming equipment out of the barn. While the rain still falls outside, they spend a relatively boring day in the barn, with Oa-Lyanna cleaning up the hay to make the place more fire-safe. Around sunset, Flicker climbs into the hayloft, and Dranko lights the candle inside the Candlestick of Saint Jenniver. It glows with a soft golden light. After a few minutes of intense prayer by Dranko, and with the last failing sunlight slowly dissipating, a dome of ghostly light forms in the barn, and a dim stone room takes form. It seems that both the room and the barn are occupying the same space at the same time. In the center of this room sits Califax, alone, in a chair, wearing robes of the Black Circle. Dranko continues to pray, and Califax, who at first had a somewhat vacant expression, becomes a bit more alert and turns his head in Dranko's direction, though he still doesn't see him. In Dranko's mind, he hears the sound of waves crashing upon an unseen shore, and he knows in his soul that his debt to Brechen for Mrs. Horn's life has been paid. Then a door opens into the room, and three black-robed figures enter. One of them, a tall, thin-faced man covered with scars, who seems to be the leader, speaks to Califax: "Ah, Califax. We're all busy, as you know, so I'll get right to the point. Although you have seemed to serve the Circle well in these past months, Mokad has been wondering if seeming is the same as being. Your mind is strong, and as capable of deceiving us as deceiving our enemies. So he has devised a small test of your faith. A test easily passed, if you are true to the Circle. I personally believe this test unnecessary; your work, to the best of my knowledge, has been exemplary. But Mokad insists." A second door opens, out of which comes a fourth priest, dragging a child who stares ahead blankly. "This brat was caught spying on one of our more delicate operations. We cannot risk letting him go. He must be killed. As you can see, we have made the appropriate arrangements for an Integration. Califax, Mokad would like you to do the honors." He hands Califax a long knife, and one of the other figures bends back the neck of the child. Dranko walks over to Califax to put his hand on his shoulder (the Black Circle figures don't seem to see the party or the barn), but finds that his hand passes right through. He keeps his hand there anyway, and prays hard for Califax to do the right thing. Califax looks at the boy, and smiles. Then he tells the Black Circle figures that, yes, this is a test of his faith, and that he has passed. And he drops the knife. Two of the figures immediately step forward and force Califax down into his chair. Dranko, with a last effort of will, prays hard enough that the room suddenly becomes solid, and the figures, including Califax, can see them. A melee immediately ensues. Spells fly everywhere, including Hold Persons from both Dranko and one of the Black Circle figures, a Magic Missile from Grey Wolf, Fist of Stone from Aravis, and Lightning Bolt from the tall, thin-faced man. After a few rounds of vicious combat, the Black Circle Priests are down, as is the child (who was an unfortunate victim of the Lightning Bolt). With half the party magically Held, Grey Wolf and Aravis end up dropping their enemies in physical melee, but the Black Circle leader teleports away before he can be killed. Dranko hastily writes a note of introduction and gives it to Califax, and tells him to seek sanctuary in the Greenhouse back in Tal Hae. Then the candle goes out, and Califax, the bodies, and the room all vanish, leaving only the barn. The party sees that a corner of the barn has been blown open by the Lightning Bolt, and that the place has been left in disarray by the fighting. The party goes to sleep. Wednesday, July 13 – Under the direction of Saum Derrie, the Company spends the entire next day repairing the barn. Dranko also gives him 500 Miracs for his help, which is a fortune for the humble famer. The party spends one more night in the barn and then continues on their journey. Thursday, July 14 – The party travels south-east, through a unusually cold, wet rain. Friday, July 15 – The weather gets progressively worse…the rain is a driving downpour. The road is turning to mud. Saturday, July 16 – Toward the end of the day, which has been unseasonably cool, there is a brief period of hail, followed by an especially drenching thunderstorm. The party reaches an entirely-washed-out section of road, and is forced to stumble along the muddy grass. As the sun sets somewhere behind the clouds, Ernie spots lights in a copse of trees some fifty yards off the road. Ernie walks in that direction, and the party follows him, even though only Ernie can see the lights. As they get closer, Flicker too sees the lights, and then both the halflings can see what looks like a building nestled among the trees. Only when they are almost upon it can the others see the building. There are warm yellow lights shining out through rain-streaked windows, and a weathered wooden sign hanging on the building reads "The Inn Between" in Charagan common! Some of the party (especially Aravis and Grey Wolf) are suspicious, but the party goes in. The place is an extremely comfortable inn, filled with the scent of freshly-baked bread. The ceiling is low, with lamps hanging from thick wooden beams. A plump halfling woman (Dolly) is bustling about, and a middle-aged halfling man (Barnabas) is sitting in the back with his feet up on a table, and smoking a long pipe. Two large fluffy cats roam about the place. From the kitchen Dolly calls for the party to go dry out in front of the fire – the party notes that there are several comfy couches in front of a fireplace at one end. Once they are dry, Dolly serves them a wonderful meal: bread with honey, butter and jam; hot mulled cider; and a good beef stew. Aravis and Grey Wolf remain so suspicious that they refuse to eat any of the food, despite Dolly’s assurances. In the kitchen, Dolly calls Ernie over for a consultation about the apple dumplings she is making. She asks Ernie what is troubling him, and Ernie tells her all about his quavering morale and his homesickness. Dolly cheers him up with words of encouragement. Do you realize, she says, just how much you mean to your friends? You despair of being far from home, but you make everywhere seem like home to them. Home in the truest sense isn’t a place, she tells him. Having faith in the Goddess lets you carry "home" around with you, in your heart. About this time, it suddenly occurs to Ernie that he might in fact be speaking with Yondalla herself in some incarnation. Dolly. Barnabas. Ernie's jaw drops. Flicker has been over with Barnabas, picking up tips for dice games. Barnabas gives good pipes to both Flicker and Dranko, along with a supply of excellent tobacco. Eventually the party goes up to their rooms. There is a room for
everyone, with comfy feather beds, tubs and coppers full of steaming water,
soap, fluffy towels, small fireplaces – and cat doors. Sunday, July 17 – The next morning, Ernie awakes first and discovers that the Inn is gone. The party is sleeping in a very well prepared campsite, and the sun is shining down through the trees. Nearby is a small stack of sealed jars of jam, and carefully wrapped traveling cakes. It’s a beautiful day, he thinks to himself. "Rise and shine everyone!" (run 79 begins) The rest of the party wakes, and they continue to journey south-east to the city of Trev-Lyndyn, which is a free city on the border of Tev and the country of Dir-Tolia . (The party had picked up rumors in Tev that the Animators might be based there.) Flicker announces that Barnabas had given him the name of a possible contact for the Animators: Bryce. Monday, July 18 – Travel to Trev-Lyndyn Tuesday, July 19 – As night falls, the Company chances upon some travelers with a wagon who have camped for the evening. The master of the wagon is a merchant named Hylwyn, who is transporting crates of fruit and some bucklers to Lav-Set. He has two large hired guards named Srenvhad and Twyll. Ernie challenges one of them to an arm-wrestling contest, and wins with a little help from Yondalla. Hylwyn has some interesting news: he recalls that a few weeks earlier, a big man with a black beard and long black hair had asked him if he had seen a group of foreign travelers which included two halflings and a big fighter with spiky armor. Then, only six days ago, a man in Trev-Lyndyn asked him to be on the lookout for a similar group. That man’s name is Falva, and he is awaiting the party in an inn called the Golden Bell. Wednesday, July 20 - Thursday, July 21 – Travel to Trev-Lyndyn Friday, July 22 – The party arrives in Trev-Lyndyn, a bustling city through which the Softwater River runs. There are seven bridges that cross it, and it is by the bridges that most directions are given. The party immediately seeks out Falva at the Golden Bell. Falva is a Tevian merchant who sells ornate pottery in Trev-Lyndyn, and who was contacted about a week ago by a Delfirian cleric of Nifi. The priest gave him 500 Miracs to spend a week asking merchants to look for the party and send them back to him. Now that the party has arrived, Falva asks them (as instructed by the priest) if they would please return the Flying Carpet. It seems that the Carpet is an important religious artifact to the Delfirians, and is called in their holy tongue the Vyasa Vya. When the party refuses, Falva goes on to offer them 2500 Miracs for it. When the party still politely declines, Falva shrugs, thanks the party for their time, and tells them they will no longer be bothered. Morningstar’s Detect Thoughts confirms that Falva has not been deceptive. That evening Dranko and Flicker use their rogue-ly abilities to send a message to Bryce, requesting an meeting. Bryce, they hear, is a shady figure purported to be a high-ranking member of the local thieves’ guild (known as the Lurkers). No obvious connection to the Animators is known. Saturday, July 23 – An unknown person contacts the party (with an anonymous note), telling them that they have arranged a meeting with Bryce that evening. At night they head into one of the more disreputable parts of town, to an old warehouse where the meeting is to take place. They are admitted, and the warehouse is filled with statues, presumably to discourage any bad-faith dealing on the part of the party. Bryce, a huge man, sits behind a desk at the far end of the warehouse. Bryce tells them that, frankly, he was hoping to get a chance to talk with the party. The Animators have never failed to carry through on a job, but they have never been hired to kill anyone as tough as the party. Bryce makes the party an offer: for 1000 Miracs, and a promise never to discuss this deal, the Animators will drop their contract on the party. The party accepts these terms in the proverbial heartbeat. Sunday, July 24 - Sunday, September 6 – (run 80 begins) The party trains in Trev-Lyndyn. During this time: Dranko is trained by a one-eyed Lurker named Chalwyn. Aravis and Grey Wolf are trained by an irascible mage named Nanvhad. Kay trains some on her own, and some with a local guardsman. Oa-Lyanna grows strong enough to learn a new spell-like ability, a powerful whirlwind attack. Morningstar receives a dream-visit from Previa. She and the others who sought Morningstar out a while back have figured out how to contact her in the Dreamscape. They report that they have joined on with Amber’s Illuminated Sisters; Previa, at least, thinks they will be useful if nudged in the right direction. They express a renewed desire for Morningstar to teach them how to be effective fighters in Ava Dormo, especially in the light. Lastly Previa reports that the war situation back home is getting worse. The Delfirians have pushed up the Balani Peninsula, and are threatening to take Hydra in the next few months unless they are slowed. On the positive side, there are rumors that an army of Air Elementals help defeat the orcs at Hae Kalkas. One night, while the party is asleep in the Flippant Fish Inn, Grey Wolf is woken up by that awful churning feeling in his bowels, and seconds later a vast jungle appears superimposed over the inn. Strange birds cry overhead, thick vegetation and trees are all around, and animal noises fill the air. From elsewhere in the inn people start shouting and screaming. A woman comes bursting out of her room down the hall, screaming about a swarm of insects. And out from another room a small monkey comes ambling out. The party befriends the monkey. (DM’s note: here the game-master learns that, if he ever has to entertain the party for a few hours without benefit of prepared materials, he needs only introduce a monkey into the game, and voila!) Many amusing monkey antics follow. When the party realizes that it would be impractical to take the monkey with them, Dranko sells it to Chalwyn and the Lurkers for its thieving potential. One more time before the party leaves, they are approached by Falva. His employer has asked him to make one more plea for the Vyasa Vya. To his last offer he adds a promise that the Flying Carpet would not be used in the war against Charagan. The party again says no, though they give Falva a counteroffer: If the Delfirians withdraw their army from Charagan and give up their war, then the party would give them back their holy artifact. Falva says he will pass the offer along. Monday, September 7 - Tuesday, September 8 – So the party’s actual quest, based on the letter to Manzanill from the mysterious "P," is to go to the city of Djaw and find out information about the Crosser’s Maze. Having heard that Djaw is one of the "Jewels of the Plains," a string of free cities to the south-east, the party travels through the small kingdom of Dir-Tolia in that direction. Wednesday, September 9 – – While traveling along the road from Trev-Lyndyn to the town of Bynbur, half of the party is suddenly enveloped in a cloud of choking green gas. It’s an ambush! There is a force of ogres and orcs doing the ambushing, and they greatly outnumber the party. Unfortunately for them, the party has mages with Fireballs , and the monsters are soon mopped up. (run 81 begins) In the nearby cave that the humanoids used for a base, the party finds some good loot, and also a crate containing some pots of a chocolate-smelling powder. Dranko tastes some of it, and when he reports feeling somewhat stronger and more alert afterward, Kay also takes a taste. |