Much Ado About Nothing

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Summary

Adventure: Much Ado About Nothing
GM: Andrew W
Session: Summer 813 WK
Night: Thursday
Level: social

The Party:

Teeanna, A Fae Princess and Mind Mage played by Hannah

1. Haann Uberreich - Mind Mage played by Ben Taberner
2. Icarone - Human Solar Celestial played by Manu Erwin

Dramus (GM Info), A Fae Prince and Necromancer played by Mandos

1. Haahn - Mind Mage played by Ben Taberner
2. Icarone Too - Human Solar Celestial played by Manu Erwin
3. Madeira - A Fae Princess and Mind Mage played by Hannah
4. Unnamed Friend, A Fae Prince and Necromancer played by Mandos

Adventure Full.

Employer:

None yet.

Mission:

None yet.

Pay:

Piece of Mind.

Summary

'Twas the night of Dramus and Teeanna's (delayed) sixth wedding anniversary party, and then Dramus just snapped...

Details

Being a recollection of events detailed from individual reports and overheard discussions compiled by Tobias Pendleton Scribe to the D'Asheth Family.

It appears the events in question began on the night of the wedding anniversary which had been a significant focus for some days. Things were going well when it transpired that my Master was accosted by Master Haann who was claiming my Lord had turned to evil. He was soon joined in this by Mr Icarone who I not has often simply joined in events for amusements sake and such was the assumption on this occasion. However it transpired that the two were indeed serious in their allegations and the Lady Teeanna called for some assistance for her Lord. A number of people leapt in to restrain the pair and while Lord Dramus retired to a suitable distance Lady Teeanna sorted matters out.

Lord Dramus - As Dictated

They appeared to me as a pair of giant Spiders with tendrils into Teaana's head. Given the persons concerned I doubted there was any serious danger and thought I had been poisoned with a hallucinogenic initially. However the sudden attack by Haann came as a surprise and the difficulty of extracting oneself without harming my attackers was a concern.

It was later related to me that Masters Haann and Icarone had brought with them some guests from their recent expedition that had reacted poorly to an ability of my Lord to instil fear in creatures of an eight legged variety.

The contretemps continued for some time with much discussion, spell casting and philosophy of both a conversational and experimental nature before all parties were friends once more and headed off to seek a resolution to various questions raised. It is a sign of the disturbed mental state of all concerned that the party was simply abandoned by the hosts, however I can report that a good time was had by all who remained.

Lois, Kaylessa, Tamara and I ensured that bags were packed, armour was readied and other items and equipment were readied for the following morning and after breakfast and some preparation all concerned headed up to the Guild to begin their next expedition.

After a few hours the group returned to the Tower and headed to NewCourt to enter the Fae Mists.

Within the mists the group were accosted by a number of unpleasant pixies apparently exiled from their former homes, presumably due to poor manners and an unwillingness to learn. Despite a number of attempts to let them survive the encounter a small number were killed and the rest driven off allowing everyone to rest before continuing on.

After more walking through the mists the events as related by each person diverged. I will note where possible other perceptions noted with the name of the perceiver.

Thoughts of Icarone

Haan overcomes his fear of Dramus' evil presence and pins him to the ground and I follow after even though he is incredibly scary looking. Haan manages to pour a healing potion down his throat while I 'look' at him - the last magic to impact him was "truth" which doesn't make sense.

Teanna seems ok however she seems to be helping him? Dramus' servants restrain us and stop us yelling and disturbing the party. Dramus walks away from us a little and I don't feel so worried. I cast Sunlight and Dramus seems to be cured!

Teanna says I should cast a wall of Starlight so Dramus can prove he's not possessed. It's feels like a good cast. Dramus, Haan and I all walk through, however Haan is greatly hurt by the wall - opps he's dark aspected. I'm fine of course going through the wall, don't know what Teanna is worried about. I go through my wall a couple of times to reassure her and then suddenly blam! it really hurts!

After a bit of discussion and using my dragon knowledge tablet we work out Haan and I are possessed and possessing some sort of "infiltrators" who are in our heads! Teanna uses mind speech and detects an extra mind in each of us, and after some high cunning we coax the minds into revealing themselves. They were infiltrating the spiders as the spider demon? Is their enemy? however they thought we would be good allies against their enemy so decided to come along with us. They have been infiltrating for quite a long time and report to the "Leaf tenant" of "The Nothing" who needs our help.

Ater further conversation Haan and I decide that we're ok to have them in our heads for awhile and this seems to remove the evilness from around Dramus. We have a relaxing tea ceremony which helps everybody be friendlier and then retire for the evening while Dramus transports us in the Tower to the Guild.

Next day we research "the nothing", generally prepare for the unknown, sign a guild contract and have our head passengers divinated by the guild namer which shows we are not under any sort of control. Apparently the way to "the nothing" involves walking off the paths between the fae, which Dramus and Teanna are not so keen on but oh well if thats where we need to go, that's what we'll do......

Lord Dramus - As Dictated

The mists cleared and I found myself on a large rocky area. A somewhat confusing conversation ensued centred around the fact that to travel to our destinations we needed to change our minds somehow, this was centred around a core goal of being worried about nothing, different I should note from not being worried about anything, which apparently wouldn't get us anywhere.

After noting Icarone dropping pebbles onto rocks I approached him and found a thin crack in the ground and Icarone trying to drop pebbles into it and claiming that it was miles across and incredibly deep. I confirmed it was indeed just a thin crack and after mentioning this confirmation to Icarone he proceeded to prove it's depth by leaping down into it. I am still not sure how but I forced my way into the crack to rescue him and found him injured on the floor of a small ravine maybe 40ft deep at most. After securing him we flew up only to find the ravine now had a roof, but with some pushing we managed to slide this aside and return to the others.

Icarone 2 only wants me to eat meat.

There are giggles and leaves are dropped on us. A small table looms out of the most with a moving figurine on top that challenges us to surrender. Dramus immediately retaliates with an invitation to a picnic which is accepted by the pixie and his companions who leap out of the mist. We find out they've not eaten in 3 seasons and have been exiled from somewhere. Dramas and Teanna discuss the possibility of them finding refuge in Asheth, while we have some lunch. Teanna, Haan and I are feeling quite tired after lunch so settle down for a rest.

Dramus resists the urge to sleep (some sort of magical effect from the pixies), stops Teanna and Haan sleeping by some faerie magic that makes them dance which also wakes me up. Dramus encircles some with a wall of bones and Haan's magical flute causes others to caper also. He then backfires another wall of bones and the wall appears above us (which shouldn't be possible right!). I leap out from under the wall and get ready to cast while Teanna sacrifices some dignity to throw herself clear. Dramus is not so lucky, however thankfully the wall turns out just to be unconnected bones so he isn't squashed.

Haan gently taps a pixie to death with his flute. The pixies appear to have vanished so we start thinking of moving on, however I'm still quite sleepy and just can't get moving. Teanna is also quite sleepy however Haan and Dramus manage to resist the sleep effect, Dramus picks up Teanna to move her and then gets hit by an arrow which puts him out. Haan manages to wake him up with a pinch and rally's me awake with a shout. We put up some walls, Teanna and I turn in for some rest with the relaxing sound of the occasional arrow clattering off our roof.

Haan 2 says he can't see any mist so leaves Haan to take care of the pixie, which Dramus sees as a giant 10 foot spider so understandably gets worried and charges out to help Haan, however the pixie is brought back drained and Haan2 jumps back into his host.

We move onwards.....

We've been walking for awhile when Haan2 and Icarone2 ask us where we are going, which is quite concerning as they are supposed to be our guides! They tell us we have the wrong shape minds to travel to the Nothing and we need to worry more, however not about anything specifically. A lengthy discussion ensues about our worries and are then advised we are closer to worrying about nothing so should continue on. After walking a little further the mist begins to clear and we discover ourselves to be walking on rocky ground, although Teanna still sees mist?

The mist continues to clear for me and I notice an abyss on front of us, which no one else can see. While they all discuss how to be more worried about nothing, I drop rocks down the abyss to see how far it goes. Haan does limited precog on my state of mind and looses some willpower and magical aptitude and some bluey green goo drips out of his head.

I drop another rock over the abyss and its gotten deeper this time! Dramus can only see a crack, Haan and Teanna nothing so I try to convince Dramus the abyss is a lot bigger than just a crack but fall in. I fall about 30 feet onto a ledge and almost die but Dramus flys down to bring me back so that Haan can heal me with empathy.

Once I'm feeling better the abyss has shrunk to the size of a crack......

Two suggests to Dramus that newer versions of them (not spider like) would be able to help him, he's not keen at the moment though. Two also tells us that some of their team have been camping out in Teeanna's head but are not yet communicating back.

We discuss at length how to open the crack in the ground and are stymied for some time until Haan and I get worried about something and the abyss comes back. Haan and I tie on a rope, climb over the 'edge', the world tilts and we are hanging on to what is now the ground and can move around to a degree. Dramus can sort of come through (he still sees the crack) by holding onto my hand, however Teeanna still only sees mist and no crack so cannot come through at all.

Haan casts ESP and confirms that Teeanna has a 'team' in her head too, however Two and Haaannnn cannot talk to them. After awhile she attempts to talk to the team and they are quite hostile.

Teeanna backfires a spell I can't remember the name of and she and her team become very friendly, however her aura shows it is indefinite so Haan gets her to recover all her memories via hypnosis. This works spectacularly well and she also gets all the memories of her 'team' spanning back millennia. Teeanna's "traveling companion" is called Madeaira".

We prepare to travel / climb down the abyss....

We rope ourselves together and start down the abyss. After awhile we slip off the ground and start to fall, so Dramus averts our fall with some Featherfalls. We try getting back onto the ground/wall a couple of times with webs of light however don't quite manage it and then a soul eating puppy turns up to lick our faces and look cute. It licks my face and I feel less magically apt and a lot less will powerly.

We work out it eats magic (and willpower and MA!) to get bigger. Teeanna entangles it with a whip and I ask Two to drain its life force - I come around a few seconds later with a sore throat and no one will tell me what happened, although apparently whatever happened was very effective. Seems like when we cast while touching the puppy we draw mana out of it, so we cast a few things to drain it a bit and then Madeira and 2 help Teeanna and I to regain our lost stats by eating it. Dramus wants to capture the next one if we can so he can regain mana.

We learn to stand up! Hooray!

The next sequence of events have been a little difficult to piece together as it appears the travellers perceive things very differently but as best I can gather Lady Teeanna willed the group to a outcropping whereupon they discovered lizards projecting magical cold. Lady Teeanna and Master Haann both controlled a lizard each allowing further hostilities to cease and discussions and investigations ensue. "An undead spirit was inside a rock that was a tree" is the best description I have been able to gather of what further investigations uncovered and this discovery apparently scared the lizard enough that the party felt relaxed enough to sleep.

At this point their parasitic companions kidnapped them and took them through the fae mists to the realm of Sahal. Along the trip they discarded items and effect as well as kidnapping and killing a number of fae for food, the group awoke naked and injured under an Acacia tree that contained the same undead spirit mentioned earlier. At this point they were free of the parasites. They were accompanied by six moomin-trolls, three of whom had been killed and partially consumed.

After meeting a long-winded local who gave them flight the group headed to the centre of the realm in search of weapons, allies and presumably clothes.

After covering miles of savannah with steadily increasing volumes of trees they landed at the edge of the trees ahead lay a vast waste with a great fire on the horizon. After discussions and rest, an expedition was mounted to track down the recently evicted parasites and thee trail led them to the edge of the realm.

Information

"Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that [s]he does not become a monster in the process. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."

The party met some of the inhabitants of the Nightmare Court.

New Abilities

The party members gained some new temporary abilities due to their roles as exosymbionts. These include Mind Speech with their endosymbionts, Seeing The-Thing-In-Itself, Sense Danger (to symbiont), and several as yet undiscovered abilities. With the apparent loss of their symbionts, these abilities are no longer available. However, some remnants of the experience have remained...

The long-lasting abilities are:

• Haann can climb any rockface or stone wall as if walking on a steep slope, as long as he is unshod. In addition to his caprine cloven hooves and Fae nimbleness, his hooves can extrude a magical web-like fluid that allows them to stick to even oil-slick stone or brick. He can climb just past the vertical (~100°), but severe overhangs and ceilings are impossible to walk on. This does leave a very faint trail of 'hoofprints in the butter' that skilled Rangers or other observant folk may notice.
• Icarone can choose to cast his Web of Light spell as a substantial, sticky web of starlight. This web entangles objects and non-Light-aspected entities (except Spiders) as per the standard spell, but is not damaging. However, Light-aspected entities, Spiders, and Spider-kin can treat the web as a solid, springy, non-sticky net which they can stand on, leap over, hide under, or (if they are determined) tangle themselves in. This web does NOT require concentration to maintain, and requires 100 points of fire damage to destroy rather than a mere 5 points of B-class damage. Icarone can also choose to cast Web of Light normally.
• Teeanna can target Amnesia through Mind Speech (hers or anyone else's), if the target is within range of the Amnesia. If the target has a Mind Shield, Mind Cloak, or similar defence, the spell may rebound on Teeanna (GM whim); her Mind Shield and Fae-ness will not protect her, although she may resist the Amnesia's effects normally.
• Teeanna has vague and fragmentary memories of having been many different sentients, animals, and plants over many millennia, and thus may occasionally have useful insight into unusual aspects of the behaviour or abilities of things that she meets. For example, she can understand most bee dances.
• All party members have techniques for countering Possession, Mind Worms, Memetic Assault, Personality Division, Phantasm, Spectral Warrior, Nightmare, Uncanniness, Anxiety (not Fear), Heideggerian Metaphysics, and similar effects. They have no bonus to initial resistance checks, but are highly likely to overthrow the effects after a short period of time, even when this is usually impossible. For example, when targeted by a Phantasm or Spectral Warrior, they may make a 1x Willpower check each pulse (after the first) to dissipate the spell (in addition to their usual actions). Similarly, they may (choose to) resist a Nightmare every pulse until they succeed.

Addendum

Spells and Enchantments

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Dramus	Teeanna	Haann	Icarone
Faerie Luck	6	4% Stackable Greater to one Category.	Lunar	Y	?	?	?
Enchant Mortal	6	Ability to see mana/illusions.	2 hrs	N	N	N	?
Dark Vision	7	Cat Vision.	8 hrs	N	N	?	?
Icarone's DA	20	Detect Aura	This season	Effect of last magic to impact	Duration remaining of last magic to impact / Remaining duration of backfire	Effect of last magic to impact / Remaining duration of backfire / ??	N/A

Style Data

Dramus

Lady Teeanna

Master Haann

Master Icarone

Calendar

Summer 813 WK: Heat
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
			1	Dramus and Teeanna's anniversary celebration and into the fae paths and then into The Nothing	2		3		4		5		6
	7		8	Back from The Nothing	9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16		17		18		19		20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30